tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19595306589444723062024-02-18T22:36:35.968-08:00The Missing IngredientI'm not quite Paleo,
but I am gluten-free & dairy-free. I don't follow instructions well
(as you soon will see).
My pantry isn't bare,
but it's always missing something.
I decided that instead of just pinning a million recipes that sounded awesome, I'd finally start trying to make a few of them. The only problem is that missing ingredient.... and those pesky directions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-22333575626843621852013-10-11T12:46:00.000-07:002013-10-11T12:46:24.205-07:00Whole 30 Approved Skillet Chicken DivanI was introduced to "Chicken Broccoli Casserole" when I was in college. I'd never had it before then and I doubt I ever would have eaten it in college if they hadn't consistently served it on the same day the served "Shit on a Shingle" (or whatever less negative name you call it). Eventually, I did try both of these dishes and found that I actually really like Chicken Broccoli Casserole. I've made it a few dozen times over the years when I get the urge, but haven't had it in at least two years, and that's been largely due to the high dairy content. So, I was quite happy when I stumbled upon <a href="http://popularpaleo.com/2013/07/14/skillet-chicken-divan-dairy-free/" target="_blank">this recipe</a> and realized it was basically the same thing, except dairy-free. As soon as I read it I knew I'd be giving it a try and soon. Soon turned out to be the very next day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17g7HavPeqOKC5hNRBDClEHQflcG9gwGHHAXZhaVVKku5S6NX_tj7XXChXP6q-G2uMLg31ZQ7sLUcNwEr6KVxKr5vL0-GK46lC7WH_NJk6E_kAK_RqIXSz-PBdVN2qaIS35xFO2gVIpE/s1600/20131009_162447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17g7HavPeqOKC5hNRBDClEHQflcG9gwGHHAXZhaVVKku5S6NX_tj7XXChXP6q-G2uMLg31ZQ7sLUcNwEr6KVxKr5vL0-GK46lC7WH_NJk6E_kAK_RqIXSz-PBdVN2qaIS35xFO2gVIpE/s200/20131009_162447.jpg" width="150" /></a>I headed to the store earlier today to make sure I had the couple of ingredients I knew I was lacking: cashews and broccoli. The fresh broccoli was looking a little piqued so I opted for frozen. It was 4:30 when I decided I should pull up the recipe and make sure I knew what I was doing before I started cooking... and that's when I saw that I needed to soak the cashews. Luckily, she provided a quick way to do so, or I'd have had to put this dish off until tomorrow. So, I got those going knowing I still had plenty of time before Paul got home and finished working out.<br />
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Once Paul got home I started on the rest, cooking the chicken and throwing everything else in the blender. <br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2TNkXr3lyHjAPOkLqq2ndFBo6-KfHH9RD4vMYnUeyw9aSdmaV7ykS2PxevdlrBA37h06469PoR6OwSG79MDX8v_xaLe1EQXXt2TCRQnaBfGKsQPpqb3R4E90az-iiwmBNULHWugIlWc/s1600/20131009_180128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2TNkXr3lyHjAPOkLqq2ndFBo6-KfHH9RD4vMYnUeyw9aSdmaV7ykS2PxevdlrBA37h06469PoR6OwSG79MDX8v_xaLe1EQXXt2TCRQnaBfGKsQPpqb3R4E90az-iiwmBNULHWugIlWc/s320/20131009_180128.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Somehow I missed the part about adding the chicken stock to the blender
so I was fighting to get everything to cream. I finally pulled it out of
the regular blender and ran it through my Tribest (which will blend anything) and got it fairly creamy. I then added that to the pan with the broccoli and chicken and poured in the chicken stock stirring it all together.<br />
<br />I let that cook down for a little bit and walla! Paul finished working out and commented that he smelled curry (which made him happy and more willing to try something that I wouldn't give him the ingredient list for). I wasn't sure how he'd react but he was quite happy with it (as was I). I'm sure it would be better if I'd added the chicken stock during the blend phase, but it was still very good and now I know how to make a dairy free cream sauce.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GuucmdYjEL6slf7mt7NyGoWoV9VNF3J8Ukh7ec4IWzeeISNbX_RojPshyphenhyphen5p9JIPTFn2jO8znN23y4G0PaVs8fjhWB3a7q16EVzM90bqt45dAUFOPmFUeUVYOnuqnBCt-DLD1OKW5A90/s1600/20131009_181700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GuucmdYjEL6slf7mt7NyGoWoV9VNF3J8Ukh7ec4IWzeeISNbX_RojPshyphenhyphen5p9JIPTFn2jO8znN23y4G0PaVs8fjhWB3a7q16EVzM90bqt45dAUFOPmFUeUVYOnuqnBCt-DLD1OKW5A90/s320/20131009_181700.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Ok, it looks a little gross, but it was really really good. Oh, and I topped it with almond meal instead of the flax meal, which did give it that nice bread-crumb texture. I'd definitely make this again.<br /><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-82069390681185572892013-02-19T11:36:00.001-08:002013-02-19T11:36:08.559-08:00Bacon covered meatloaf for 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvd2EKvCWVgmd7izCVvL2cLlmzDiSc6fsBrSNQA52V7ZZoEztq_EfMjWyBgkgwIiYw1qDyAplhtvCvLVluuvDkbAZj8nr9xQ5nTfC9oh9skkUaMT4BVxS5uFcvOvJ_NM6Vq0eT3Rw-B9k/s1600/20130218_184556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvd2EKvCWVgmd7izCVvL2cLlmzDiSc6fsBrSNQA52V7ZZoEztq_EfMjWyBgkgwIiYw1qDyAplhtvCvLVluuvDkbAZj8nr9xQ5nTfC9oh9skkUaMT4BVxS5uFcvOvJ_NM6Vq0eT3Rw-B9k/s200/20130218_184556.jpg" width="150" /> </a> </div>
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As soon as I saw <a href="http://fastpaleo.com/bacon-crusted-sausage-pepper-meatloaf/" target="_blank">this <u>recipe,</u></a> I knew I had to make it and soon. Everything is better with bacon, after all. Luckily, we had some chicken sausage in the freezer. I forget the brand but it was a gluten-free chicken sausage we picked up at CostCo. I will say that this particular sausage seemed really greasy when we cooked it. We were all out of ground beef, though, so that meant a run to CostCo. Once I had everything in hand I set out to make the meatloaf of all meatloafs.<br />
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I've really got to get better at taking more pics as I go, but it's a little hard when your hands are all sticky and covered in meat mixture. Since there are only 2 of us, I cut the recipe in about half. My recipe looked like this:<br />
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1lb ground beef<br />
2-3 chicken sausages (casings removed)<br />
1 egg<br />
1/2 red pepper (diced)<br />
1/2 red onion (diced)<br />
handful of parsley (I used dried because it was all I had)<br />
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)<br />
1/2 cup almond flour<br />
3Tbsp horseradish mustard (we had Dijon but horseradish just sounded better)<br />
2 Tbsp bbq sauce<br />
1/2 lb of bacon<br />
salt, pepper<br />
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Preheat over to 350. Grease your loaf pan with coconut oil. (Do this first or, like me, you'll have to get someone else to do it later when your hands are all covered in meat). Mix the ground meat, sausage, egg, red pepper, onion, almond flour, garlic, mustard, salt & pepper together in a bowl. Use your hands, it's really the only way to mix a meatloaf. Form it into a nice loaf shape and drop it into the greased loaf pan. Salt & Pepper the top of the loaf. Cover the top with BBQ sauce. Then cover it with bacon. I tried to lay them out ahead of time like they did in the other recipe but then I couldn't figure out how to transfer them to the loaf. So, I laid a few pieces across the loaf in one direction then went back the other way and so on, until it was nice and covered. Then place it in the over for 90 minutes. Note, I found that my loaf was creating a lot of grease (I blame the sausages I used) so I took it out at about 60 minutes and drained most of the grease off.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ZP6eoKLin4G694np8BZQXreCjC8pTVR3XJYE569p-xQWyuQ99vNzbtlg20eLaIqgRrd_f9p7NDLVUwrIUXujk0j8jYw7eKVNgzJW-hBNZSeSPMIbRV5BDECotkYYguJEXcJS0hZZppA/s1600/20130218_184751-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ZP6eoKLin4G694np8BZQXreCjC8pTVR3XJYE569p-xQWyuQ99vNzbtlg20eLaIqgRrd_f9p7NDLVUwrIUXujk0j8jYw7eKVNgzJW-hBNZSeSPMIbRV5BDECotkYYguJEXcJS0hZZppA/s200/20130218_184751-1.jpg" width="193" /></a><br />
I served our meat loaf with some nice sauteed (and slightly crispy) baby bella mushrooms. It was quite yummy. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-28694005985655228602013-02-17T23:24:00.000-08:002013-02-17T23:24:17.236-08:00Brownies > Bread<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6imypEjK7YhpOx6niRGDcQUXm1SYPqXbl780JRkMGu0dt5Xu-_QnHtQJYfuIm-ifgRcFTjSVQji2TTi6W0dZeoT8shFAwAjLwYbLSdZ9TXaUfGVatWxM1ORoGGrbn17C8xnItqYwlx4/s1600/20130217_191304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6imypEjK7YhpOx6niRGDcQUXm1SYPqXbl780JRkMGu0dt5Xu-_QnHtQJYfuIm-ifgRcFTjSVQji2TTi6W0dZeoT8shFAwAjLwYbLSdZ9TXaUfGVatWxM1ORoGGrbn17C8xnItqYwlx4/s200/20130217_191304.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
I was trying to make bread, really I was.<br />
I've been wanting to try this <a href="http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/05/21/grain-free-white-bread-paleo-and-scd/" target="_blank">Paleo bread recipe</a> for a while and today I was all set to do just that. Unfortunately, I only managed to properly seperate 3 eggs. I ended up dropping the yolk of the fourth egg into my whites and there went my plan.<br />
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Left with 4 eggs, I had to find something to do with them, so I went through my dessert board, figuring that I'd find something I could do with 4 eggs. Then I found <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/196188127489517267/" target="_blank">these brownies</a> sitting at the top of my Paleo dessert board. <br />
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I whipped everything together wondering how well this would really work. I was craving some coffee so I threw a little into the mix before throwing it in the oven.<br />
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Ok, so I didn't wait 3 hours (or throw them in the fridge), I cut in after about 20 minutes because I just had to know. In the picture above you can see that they are actually a rather cakey brownie and honestly were a little dry. I'm hoping that maybe after they sit a little while and cool off they will be a little better. I expected fudgier brownies since they were flourless.<br />
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Trying them again a few hours later and pieces in the middle seem to be somewhat fudgy but at the same time still really dry. Hubby tried them and said they were good, but dry. He suggestd that the added coffee may have decreased the moisture.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-20111724913512497172013-02-13T10:51:00.004-08:002013-02-13T10:51:59.227-08:00Coconut milk coffee creamer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwd99qcIHrFVlUDGiz04iizYUbRWG2PtgTCKrQBqr0kvwUuH9hbMYsYZpDhHQB1AaauMH0UzSX_Wqom9YQGYKT19yDibn1o0hiDEXq5_jh30Bf88SXGoItqTPGnKZSwadFbDT8sT7hdqs/s1600/20130213_122500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwd99qcIHrFVlUDGiz04iizYUbRWG2PtgTCKrQBqr0kvwUuH9hbMYsYZpDhHQB1AaauMH0UzSX_Wqom9YQGYKT19yDibn1o0hiDEXq5_jh30Bf88SXGoItqTPGnKZSwadFbDT8sT7hdqs/s200/20130213_122500.jpg" width="200" /> </a> I've been gluten and dairy free for a little over a year now. I'm not a fan of the processed milks and creamers, but I do like something in my coffee. I've taken to just using canned coconut milk or fresh almond milk. I'd run across<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/196188127489455592/" target="_blank"> this recipe on Pinterest</a> for Coconut Milk Creamer. There's just two problems with it... butter and egg. The two Paleo foods that I avoid.</div>
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I decided to try my own take on this recipe. </div>
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1 can coconut milk</div>
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1/2 banana</div>
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1 tsp Vanilla</div>
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1 tsp Peppermint extract</div>
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I put all that in the blender and blend well. Store it in the fridge until needed. </div>
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Depending on the fat quality of your milk, it will stiffen into a heavier cream in the refrigerator. If you use a full fat coconut milk it will become not unlike a really good frosting or (frozen) cool whip after a few hours in the fridge. Then you can just eat it with a spoon. Nope, I've never done that... never! :)</div>
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When ready to drink, add 10oz hot coffee plus 1/2 cup of above creamer to blender and blend. It will give you a nice frothy consistency, not unlike cappuccino. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-48721405040311410392013-02-05T16:09:00.000-08:002013-02-06T10:12:40.784-08:00DIY Valentine: Restaurant PassportOn the lookout for an idea (any idea) of something to give my hubby for Valentines Day (I am notoriously unromantic, to the point of often forgoing gifts), I ran across <a href="http://thespottedfox.com/diy-projects/diy-valentine-food-passport" target="_blank">this little gem</a> on Pinterest. <br />
What an awesome idea, especially considering we often find ourself (just as Steph did) hitting up the same restaurants time and again. My food restrictions don't help and because of said restrictions I often get stuck picking where we eat. So, what better way to offer him a little control over where we eat than giving him a prepared list of restaurants that offer food I can eat. Plus it makes for a fun way to ensure that we try some new places this year.<br />
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The problem: My hand-writing is awful and all I could imagine was how junky a notebook with my writing in it would look. So, I decided why not make something that looks a little bit nicer, and so I did.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmsknz_Ikl8bM5Ixs3GvYMgVJRqTjxKuGraQR3N8qu4gj1Cxxt_lnrBp4RRGKnlw73CCjRJTEWbQCVD_xGrhJydhkizBCVUGAH9Ew1jc7NaeQKjCHi6qJFsasUxd63IVCa6XbgDN-9Z0k/s1600/passport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmsknz_Ikl8bM5Ixs3GvYMgVJRqTjxKuGraQR3N8qu4gj1Cxxt_lnrBp4RRGKnlw73CCjRJTEWbQCVD_xGrhJydhkizBCVUGAH9Ew1jc7NaeQKjCHi6qJFsasUxd63IVCa6XbgDN-9Z0k/s320/passport.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The notebook: I found at Dollar Tree (for, you guessed it, $1). Next I needed to print up the pages to go inside. I figured out that if I could find a template that would do 6 to a page it would work perfect. Since I suck at Word and have no idea how to make a template from scratch, I did a little search and found one I could modify and created the template to the left. If you'd like this template just email me and I'll be happy to send it to you.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDb7RX3GuUIcJwKXJikmuhaq248ETuLA7FPVJj8qOipkPqgmcpx4LBtYxu-nS0Xuq_6IFxu5M6u-Q38Q70traqKsUWPUtCM7GYhfMdAjIWnhvFiYVhFBl8Qxqn9n35G7HVB0BysnHmgYA/s1600/20130205_174755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDb7RX3GuUIcJwKXJikmuhaq248ETuLA7FPVJj8qOipkPqgmcpx4LBtYxu-nS0Xuq_6IFxu5M6u-Q38Q70traqKsUWPUtCM7GYhfMdAjIWnhvFiYVhFBl8Qxqn9n35G7HVB0BysnHmgYA/s200/20130205_174755.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I then printed the template onto 8x11 sticker paper to make things easier. And attached a little heart sticker onto each page (so we can mark off when each restaurant is visited). I didn't put the restaurants into any particular order. Thinking about this, I probably should have alphabetized them to make them easier to find when we do visit them. I'm also thinking that some restaurants may get visited multiple times, so I should probably add some extra stickers in the back.<br />
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I put the stars on the pages so that we could fill in a rating for each restaurant. Also, I only put one restaurant every other page, leaving the left hand page empty. I figured this would give us space to write our thoughts, or share anything special about that visit. If you wanted, you could also fill in the stars to indicate price-range. I think if I did that, I'd only do 3 stars on the page. <br />
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Next was the Passport Cover. Initially, I was going to try to modify the looks of an actual Passport cover, but as I played with it and found a cool picture, I changed my mind. A big thank you to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/boudewijnberends/5519409147/">Boudewijn Berends</a> for making<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/boudewijnberends/5519409147/" target="_blank"> this photo</a> available via creative commons. I edited it just a bit to add the text "2013 Restaurant Passport", printed it out on another sticker sheet and stuck it on the cover of my notebook. Here are the end results.<br />
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If I did it again I'd buy a different type of notebook. Instead of a cheap $1 notebook, I'd find a journal type notebook that was made to stretch out. I already noticed that a page in the back of this notebook is coming loose. I've got time so I'm tempted to redo it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSPKgPTNnhfN6Vtnkzil8EKZk1ksuqY-hJKxA8Uh8cAauNX1bM-RAJvkOsZVwFpW5sbq-Fc8_K6k8dzNVGVQikkahZTeb5NXTfyu57dyRvvVc2nVALci_RtKbPobrfOL2XuV97S_JOFw/s1600/passportcover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSPKgPTNnhfN6Vtnkzil8EKZk1ksuqY-hJKxA8Uh8cAauNX1bM-RAJvkOsZVwFpW5sbq-Fc8_K6k8dzNVGVQikkahZTeb5NXTfyu57dyRvvVc2nVALci_RtKbPobrfOL2XuV97S_JOFw/s320/passportcover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikCbm5HwGR54jG_I9i3qcBnSzpvkYp4_RCt25lZolHYZXSMxDaNHXogK0WwxET-JZ3L7bQmEcB66LQwMil4NBCgNDWmCrXkuubI_MTyrYHGl3RjjI_-BLvRZMeWUUKCTgJ0KPCzzfXRLM/s1600/20130205_174735.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikCbm5HwGR54jG_I9i3qcBnSzpvkYp4_RCt25lZolHYZXSMxDaNHXogK0WwxET-JZ3L7bQmEcB66LQwMil4NBCgNDWmCrXkuubI_MTyrYHGl3RjjI_-BLvRZMeWUUKCTgJ0KPCzzfXRLM/s320/20130205_174735.jpg" width="320" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-52592414128306644792013-01-17T14:51:00.001-08:002013-01-17T14:51:43.240-08:00Paleo Banana Bread<div dir="ltr">
I blame the change in hormones following my surgery (or something), as today I seem to be in full on "nesting" mode and can't seem to focus on much else. I started off the morning making <a href="http://fibrokitty.blogspot.com/2012/02/recipe-bulked-up-crockpot-hot-sour-soup.html" target="_blank">Hot & Sour Soup</a> (of course I was missing most of the veggies and tofu, and it was snowing outside, so it's not quite the same as the recipe I posted previously). I haven't tried the soup yet because someone got me a little distracted... with banana bread.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxLJjCNu9Vc0rnQLFZ_QB_ykpzqJssPEHK7OOnZuOTe3UKmux_ju6UuiFwtN85KBl24fgdVoItWYg4Ve4y0QfOKgiE_DgRfeLpea1_Z4GsAxvN-e-3wBajKmNADY3sLM2TupmWo9t_GQ/s1600/20130117_155149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Paleo Banana Bread" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxLJjCNu9Vc0rnQLFZ_QB_ykpzqJssPEHK7OOnZuOTe3UKmux_ju6UuiFwtN85KBl24fgdVoItWYg4Ve4y0QfOKgiE_DgRfeLpea1_Z4GsAxvN-e-3wBajKmNADY3sLM2TupmWo9t_GQ/s200/20130117_155149.jpg" title="Paleo Banana Bread" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paleo Banana Bread</td></tr>
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My friend Cassy posted <a href="http://www.threenewleaves.com/recipes/paleo-banana-bread/" target="_blank">this recipe</a> on Facebook and tagged me with it. I think the implication was "let's get the person who probably has the ingredients to make it and try it before I waste my time, etc". I took the challenge and learned a lot in the process. As I was making it I texted her "This better be good because I'm using the last of my almond flour". Turned out I had exactly 2 cups left (might have been more if I'd had a sifter).<br />
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Of course, since I'm completely incapable of following recipes, my recipe was more like this:<br />
<br />
3 eggs, separated (keep the yolks and whites separate!)<br />
<span style="color: red;">3 or 4 tbsp honey (up to you!)</span> <br />
<span style="color: red;">4 tbsp (soft) coconut oil (you may need to warm it up if it's hard).</span><br />
3 mashed bananas (3 small, or 2-3 big)<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
<span style="color: red;">1 tsp ground cinnamon</span><br />
2 cups almond flour<br />
<span style="color: red;">1 cup pecans <br /><span style="color: black;">2 <span style="color: black;">large handfuls of <span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">chocolate</span> chips</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">Directions: </span></span></span></span><br />
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<ol><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2z_i0B5fG1H6ujTcE_0rHHvqInMP_cFZyfOaJrMvf-3CZB92_YVq13RIncdbsMx2FfHc9T7KiUuoJ91jj1-tNgCPvVOdDEJo5BZr2prZjSbFJq_lLNXXzvTueLNVAfQhqQR4Z7L2sl1A/s1600/20130117_142216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2z_i0B5fG1H6ujTcE_0rHHvqInMP_cFZyfOaJrMvf-3CZB92_YVq13RIncdbsMx2FfHc9T7KiUuoJ91jj1-tNgCPvVOdDEJo5BZr2prZjSbFJq_lLNXXzvTueLNVAfQhqQR4Z7L2sl1A/s200/20130117_142216.jpg" width="150" /></a>
<li> Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.</li>
<li>Cream the egg yolks and honey in a large bowl until light and
fluffy. I use a hand-held mixer for this. <span style="color: red;">It didn't take long</span>.</li>
<li> Add the coconut oil, vanilla, and mashed banana to the bowl, mixing well.</li>
<li>In a smaller separate bowl, mix the cinnamon, baking powder and almond flour and sift well. </li>
<li>Add that mixture of spices and powder to the bowl and stir well.</li>
<li> In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. <span style="color: red;">Use hand mixer on high</span>. <i>Stiff peaks are vital.</i> </li>
<li> Fold the egg whites into the banana mixture to pull it away from
the sides before gradually folding the rest of the egg whites into the
mixture.</li>
<li><span style="color: red;">Add nuts and chocolate chips (if desired)</span><i><br /></i></li>
<li>Grease bread pan with coconut oil (or butter)<i></i></li>
<li> Place in oven for 40-45 minutes, <span style="color: red;">until top is golden brown</span>. </li>
<li>While the bread is still warm coat the top with butter or substitute (I use coconut spread)<i><br /></i></li>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">I did my best to actually follow the directions given. However....</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> I use coconut oil in EVERYTHING </span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">I like a LOT of cinnamon</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">I don't own a sifter (I need to rectify that).</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- I was running low on honey so I used a little less, figured the bananas would be sweet enough (and I was right).</span></span></span></span></span> </li>
<li>Everything is better with chocolate! </li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why can't I get stiff peaks?</td></tr>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> I had never whipped eggs to a hard peak in my life. I guess there is a first time for everything, and as usual this first time didn't go so well.The picture on the left is me NOT getting it right. I literally stood there with the mixer for probably 15 minutes. Paul came home from work early and I told him what I was doing. He looked at me and said "why don't you try putting it on high?". I did that... it didn't help. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;">Tip:</span> Make absolutely sure that you don't get any yolk in your egg whites or they will not get stiff! That said, I ended up using 6 eggs for this recipe because I had to start over.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">I used coconut oil to coat my bread pan and when I first pulled the bread out and tasted it I felt like it was missing something. That's where I decided to try a good coat of coconut spread (I don't do butter) on the top. It tastes just like butter so it gave it that same flavor and tasted quite good. I took Paul a piece to try and when I tried to walk away after his first bite he grabbed the rest out of my hand, then came back for me. Verdict: It was worth using the last of my almond flour and wasting 3 eggs to make.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-47270381919028884942013-01-03T23:06:00.000-08:002013-01-03T23:06:09.154-08:00Winter Art Pieces (Playing with my Cricut)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjPDCLSx3zviXNQ3PkJm2ICJ6XkF6M0mLIuRRH4Abx2LZKnItntd26j6aCfSSddWTelgxeSOQyOTvfaafj72B9EZueRbQO4A02cYAJD-RFqMX5iHqMwdNvkx1PU8p9bmc-ZKPdlo9rsc/s1600/061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjPDCLSx3zviXNQ3PkJm2ICJ6XkF6M0mLIuRRH4Abx2LZKnItntd26j6aCfSSddWTelgxeSOQyOTvfaafj72B9EZueRbQO4A02cYAJD-RFqMX5iHqMwdNvkx1PU8p9bmc-ZKPdlo9rsc/s320/061.jpg" width="281" /></a>Mostly this blog is things that I found on Pinterest and was inspired to try to create. In this case, I didn't find my inspiration on Pinterest, but rather on the shelf at TJ Maxx. I saw this cute art piece hanging on the end of the rack as I wondered through the store on Black Friday. I don't know what I was thinking even going in the store that day (but I did find a good supply of yummy GF cookies). I thought this was really cute but felt like it was totally something I could create on my own. Initially, I thought I would actually try to recreate it, but that's just not who I am. In the end, I just used it for inspiration.<br />
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In October I convinced my husband that I<b> needed</b> a Cricut. I'm still not really sure how I pulled that off, other than that he seems to have an issue saying "no" to me, so unless I talk myself out of something I want I usually end up with it. Since I hadn't had time to really do much with it, this project became my first one using the machine. I'd played around with it a little bit cutting some basic shapes and just getting a handle on how to use it, but this time it was on purpose. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pEmp3NrRcwLBiBpBgKJYnJIY8X7aaz5A7gKlZ4kRKzX-n8JVAigWj9e8CRrv_uCIH4EOGtBiQ1X_d8-PZpmASV3qLr3cpvVGleSfll_uvXm1lT2nEbVk8Y1CZl9QlypY94nk9l2TKjk/s1600/2012-12-10_19-31-25_484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pEmp3NrRcwLBiBpBgKJYnJIY8X7aaz5A7gKlZ4kRKzX-n8JVAigWj9e8CRrv_uCIH4EOGtBiQ1X_d8-PZpmASV3qLr3cpvVGleSfll_uvXm1lT2nEbVk8Y1CZl9QlypY94nk9l2TKjk/s320/2012-12-10_19-31-25_484.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
First I had to find a reindeer, there are tons of cartidges with reindeer on them, but I ended up buying (via the Craft Room) the basic Christmas cartridge, which had several reindeer options, as well as lots of other good winter and Christmas images. From there I printed off the my reindeer of choice on several different cardstocks (including a basic brown). I had already created some shapes to make snowflakes with (during my earlier testing of my new toy). <br />
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The one thing I really loved about the original image above was the burlap background with the worn paper look on top of it, so I decided to stick with that. For the base I used a piece of wood (if I did it over again I would just use a 12x18 canvas). I covered the wood with the burlap (which was a learning process for me) using spray adhesive and staples. Then I built my main image on a piece of poster board before I adhered it onto the burlap. The top half of the background image is a napkin (I seperated the layers and just used the top layer with the color), then I used pieces from 3 different scrapbook papers. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, really not much like the original inspiration other than that they both have a reindeer. Looking at it now there are definitely things I'd do differently if I had it to do over, but that's always the way it is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJMmnRLn62qHQBG4GXbcofA5SEgm2K1cuUybZyP9uNJwk6O60BytmvXPp9d0Z3aT8H3Vz1_ecl4h_JizokG66KBsIYCG2q_dvy9St9yItIrOr22QXFxKb2GSMGwMNrDrtO9y810CRVEo/s1600/2012-12-15_09-44-08_81.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJMmnRLn62qHQBG4GXbcofA5SEgm2K1cuUybZyP9uNJwk6O60BytmvXPp9d0Z3aT8H3Vz1_ecl4h_JizokG66KBsIYCG2q_dvy9St9yItIrOr22QXFxKb2GSMGwMNrDrtO9y810CRVEo/s320/2012-12-15_09-44-08_81.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
While I was playing with Christmas themes, I used some tree images and some of my left-over snowflakes and put this together. More for practice with the Cricut than anything else. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-62514194980543953422012-12-18T15:12:00.000-08:002012-12-18T15:12:02.656-08:00Mashed CauliflowerThere are a ton of recipes out there on various Paleo (and healthy) sites touting the use of cauliflower as a healthier (and just as tasty) substitute for Mashed Potatoes. I finally decided to find out for myself. Using <a href="http://stupideasypaleo.com/2012/09/04/cauliflower-mash/#" target="_blank">this recipe</a> as my base I steamed the cauliflower and garlic, added some salt & pepper and set my Ninja to the task of "mashing" the cauliflower.<br />
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End result: if you like grits you might be ok with this potato substitute, but I'll stick to mashed potatoes. I've never been a fan of grits... as that gritty texture just doesn't do it for me. Mashed cauliflower has that same gritty texture. Or did I do something wrong? If I did something wrong, please tell me, but I doubt I'll be trying this again any time soon.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-12345375527541537742012-12-10T13:41:00.001-08:002012-12-10T13:41:26.008-08:00Pinterest ThanksgivingI should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't. I pulled a lot of ideas from Pinterest for Thanksgiving this year, as I tried to make my favorite dishes in a way that I could eat them. Some went well, others not so much.<br />
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The Turkey - yeah, I cooked it to death. Usually, my turkeys are awesome, it would figure that this year being the one year that I needed to stick to the turkey I made rather than risking what someone else made that my turkey would turn out like jerky.<br />
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The dressing - I started with <a href="http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/gluten-free-cornbread-dressing-recipe/" target="_blank">this recipe</a> I found on Pinterest. Except that instead of using their recipe for Southern Cornbread. I used Bob's Red Mill cornbread mix.... which I later learned is Northern Cornbread (sweet). Had it not been for that one change, this would have been really good cornbread stuffing. Instead, I had to load it down with salt to cut the sweetness.<br />
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Mashed Potatoes - Seriously, if all I had for Thanksgiving were these three items and gravy. I'd be a happy camper... For the potatoes, I used<a href="http://www.theppk.com/2010/10/fluffy-mashed-potatoes/" target="_blank"> this recipe</a> (but with red potatoes). Luckily, these actually turned out very good. I didn't miss having dairy in them at all, they were so good and creamy.<br />
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Next was dessert. I went with one already tested recipe, the <a href="http://pintestkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/09/pintest-vegan-pumpkin-pie-cheesecake.html" target="_blank">Vegan Raw Pumpkin</a> "Cheesecake". It got mixed reviews. I think I liked it more than most. One of my cousins said it tasted more like sweet potatoes than Pumpkin (perhaps it needed more spice). Given that this was one of about 4 different Pumpkin pies... I was happy if anyone even tried it. In addition to the Pumpkin "cheesecake". I also made two different chocolate coconut recipes. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/11/03/guest-post-chocolate-macaroons/" target="_blank">Chocolate Macaroons</a> - OMG! These were so good, although I may have been the only one who thought so. These are the cooked ones, I melted a little chocolate over the top and they were so yummy. Others seemed to prefer the <a href="http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/grain-free-goodies/raw-chocolate-pumpkin-pecan-macaroons/" target="_blank">raw chocolate coconut pumpkin macaroons</a>. Honestly, they were both really good. One of my aunts thought the Chocolate Macaroons were the No-bake oatmeal cookies my mom used to make... only to find out they were coconut (something she's evidently slightly allergic to), after she'd eaten 2 of them. Both of these recipes were so easy to make that you could make them any time you have a chocolate craving then keep the leftovers in the freezer for later.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-11879673662356229342012-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:002012-09-21T08:26:16.313-07:00Zucchini Soup with QuinoaEarlier this week I picked up a big basket of various veggies at my local Farmers Market. This was one of those "special" baskets where they had combined a bunch of things that they need to get sold. There was enough stuff in this basket to fill an entire grocery bag. When I got it home and went through it, I found that about half of what I'd gotten was zucchini. This wasn't a bad thing since I really like zucchini. Unfortunately, my hubby won't touch the stuff. That said, I typically just saute it in some coconut (or olive) oil with some salt and pepper. Or, if I'm feeling lazy throw it on a baking sheet and roast it. However, with this much zucchini I knew there was no way I was going to eat it all my usual way.<br />
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First off I tried juicing it. Since, I juice A LOT I figured I should try it. I looked online and in my big book of juicing and found a few recipes. From what I found it seemed the best bet was mixing it with apple, or using it in my green juice in place of the usual cucumber. I did both of those and both were quite tasty.<br />
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As I sat awake at 5am this morning for no apparent reason I started to wonder what a zucchini soup would taste like. A year ago I never would have considered it, but with all the juicing and diet changes in the last 8 months a lot of things sound good now that never would have before. So, I went online and found <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/health/nutrition/pureed-zucchini-soup-with-curry-recipes-for-health.html?_r=0" target="_blank">this recipe on the NY Times website</a>. It sounded pretty tasty and I had everything on hand to give it a go. And that is how my husband found me cutting up zucchini at 6am.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDc-ulh1TSBgGUe3OAgoMrG8WtvSs7zS5LjiEDPOwtmGOxDFav8OB4KRMJf0tVSXSZMxY1Hf1d0VnxEis4zgz-XYLv_b2aB8VH6HRsp9U3_zs2I5CpzRqnQq8Vuw7tjmr1lNwxYxJAd4/s1600/2012-09-21_07-50-26_547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDc-ulh1TSBgGUe3OAgoMrG8WtvSs7zS5LjiEDPOwtmGOxDFav8OB4KRMJf0tVSXSZMxY1Hf1d0VnxEis4zgz-XYLv_b2aB8VH6HRsp9U3_zs2I5CpzRqnQq8Vuw7tjmr1lNwxYxJAd4/s320/2012-09-21_07-50-26_547.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Of course, I wouldn't be blogging about this if I'd actually followed the recipe to the tee. It all started off ok, until I realized that there was rice in that recipe. I don't know how I missed that when I initially read it, but as I was following the directions I realized this little fact. I don't eat rice, it doesn't like me. Luckily, I had picked up a bag of Quinoa last week. I've never made quinoa, and I've really only had it maybe twice. So, this was totally foreign to me. It didn't help that I could not find instructions on the bag for how to cook it. There were recipes for things to make with it, but no basic instructions. So, I figured it must be pretty much like rice and just added it to the soup mixture where the recipe said to add rice.<br />
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So, my actual recipe looked a bit like this:<br />
2tbsp Coconut Oil<br />1/2 Onion - diced<br />3 cloves garlic<br />
2 med-large zucchini (peeled & diced)<br />2 tsp curry paste (cuz I didn't have curry powder)<br />maybe 6 cups vegetable broth<br />1/2 c Quinoa<br />
salt (lots)<br />pepper (lots)<br />
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Saute the onion in the coconut oil, add the garlic, add the zucchini and saute for a few more minutes. Add the curry paste, veg broth & quinoa. Add salt & pepper. Bring to boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes. I really didn't want my soup to be pureed. So, I just mashed the zucchini with a potato masher.<br />
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As it cooked it thickened and became almost a poridge. I added more salt & pepper. All in all, it quite tasty. I couldn't help but think that if I was feeling sick this would be the perfect alternative to chicken soup.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-54052082108495343322012-09-04T15:44:00.000-07:002012-09-04T17:45:31.909-07:00Pintest: Vegan Pumpkin Pie CheesecakeGoing gluten & dairy free has been interesting, but not nearly as interesting as it will be in about 2 months when I start trying to figure out how to make Thanksgiving dinner. So, when I saw <a href="http://www.damyhealth.com/2012/02/vegan-pumpkin-pie-cheesecake/">DAMY's recipe for vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake</a>, I thought I'd try to get a head start. And, when I showed it to hubby, he let me know (with that look in his eyes) that I was going to have to test this recipe sooner rather than later.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: I had taken all kinds of great pictures during the process of making this, but evidently my phone ate them. </span><br />
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Now, I'm all about some substitutions, and I still say this could be made with almond butter, but he let me know that wasn't going to happen. So, while at Earth Fare (the closest thing we have around here to Whole Foods) I picked up a $10 jar of Cashew Butter. Man, is that stuff expensive! And since I couldn't seem to sit still last night and needed a distraction from an upset tummy and boredom, I figured I'd cook instead of eat.<br />
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So, as instructed, I mixed up all the ingredients (a word I evidently can't spell) for the filling. Doing so, used about 1/3 of a jar of the Cashew butter and about 1/2 the can of pumpkin. Seeing this, I just said screw it and doubled the entire recipe. Call me crazy! For the record, I used 4Tbsp honey & 2 packets of Stevia (ok, Truvia) for the entire (double) filling batch.<br />
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When it came time to make the crust, my substitutions started showing. I only had a handful of pecans in the house, so I decided to try making the crust with almonds instead (something we always have on hand). Since I'd already doubled the filling, I figured I'd go ahead and double the crust recipe too. Looking back, that might have been either a mistake or a genius idea. I probably didn't need as many almonds as I used, as I ended up adding a few extra dates just to get everything to mix good enough to form a decent crust. It never did form that dough-like consistency that Amy had mentioned in her recipe. I finally just gave up and decided to work with what I had and it did press together well enough to form into the bottom of the dish, like a good crust should. However, I didn't take into account that I was still using the same size baking dish. So, I had a lot left-over.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxg0QnWV4-wEgBM5FfCPZFkXd9IE1wyO-GQqmziqPLCqbX1NzR0VtD6ez1Wq_svtigPvFHdQI4xrGP6Aks2ZLA4JFVylNMoQDyuJKBKutb2eX_WtPjPZw6fMXLsVPs7Y6FNYAxMfPs9g4/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxg0QnWV4-wEgBM5FfCPZFkXd9IE1wyO-GQqmziqPLCqbX1NzR0VtD6ez1Wq_svtigPvFHdQI4xrGP6Aks2ZLA4JFVylNMoQDyuJKBKutb2eX_WtPjPZw6fMXLsVPs7Y6FNYAxMfPs9g4/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished Product</td></tr>
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After pouring in the filling, I topped it all off with a little left-over crust mixture, some coconut and a few pecan pieces. Hubby was sadly disappointed to find out that it had to sit in the freezer all night before he could try it. I did, however, let him taste the filling and we both agreed that it tasted great and should make for an excellent Pumpkin Pie substitute once it reached the proper consistency.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO19BYwNO2H0bCbtEd_T-i24Mh65AsB3phz0ZU9szPoHei_WF7yezfHx-VGpW3oP_g_zxhc6Autt60pFSK2i0DXck9clufmEO1MsXfKbw0H9h1ADTRN6Hr-t4YSdK1LLHpzIHhOc32zGA/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO19BYwNO2H0bCbtEd_T-i24Mh65AsB3phz0ZU9szPoHei_WF7yezfHx-VGpW3oP_g_zxhc6Autt60pFSK2i0DXck9clufmEO1MsXfKbw0H9h1ADTRN6Hr-t4YSdK1LLHpzIHhOc32zGA/s200/008.JPG" width="200" /></a>I figured I had to do something with all that left-over crust mixture and it seemed like the perfect base for some Larabar like snack bars. So, I combined it with the remnant of filling mixture that remained in the small processor bowl and mixed it all together. I mashed that out into a flat pan and stuck it in the fridge.<br />
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This evening when he came home, he found me taking pictures of the finished product (since my phone ate all the pics I took last night). The bars on the left turned out really good. There was just enough pumpkin filling left in the processor when I added the left-over crust to give a perfect pumpkin pie flavor to the "larabars". They got his seal of approval with a "I hope you wrote down the recipe". Well, I did. Kind of. The problem is that in order to make those, I have to make the whole pumpkin pie thing (and that is a little spendy). He said he was ok with that. Then he tried the actual "cheese"cake. He commented that he felt like it was missing something, but could'nt quite figure out what it was. My thoughts were the only thing it could be missing was whipped cream. That said, it was better than any real pumpkin pie without whipped cream, and as good (or better) than any pumpkin cheesecake. We definitely have a win here (substitutions and all).<br />
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Tip: This is best closer to the frozen consistency. The longer it sat in the fridge the closer to a pudding texture it got.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-43785576533953106692012-08-29T16:33:00.002-07:002012-08-29T16:33:36.136-07:00PinTest: Super Moist Zuchini BreadSo, I'd been thinking for a while that I really needed to start actually trying some of these recipes I keep adding to my boards on <a href="http://pinterest.com/drunkitty/">Pinterest</a>. Julie over at <a href="http://www.paleomg.com/">PaleOMG</a> FORCED me to start with her <a href="http://paleomg.com/moist-chocolate-zucchini-bread/">Moist Chocolate Zuchini Bread</a>. Ok, she didn't really force me, it was more like she's never met me and has no idea who I am, but I love to follow her blog (and we have the same name, so I feel this kinship). PLUS, I've really just wanted zucchini bread for a while, and have had no idea how to make it, especially now that I'm not eating grains. I guess you could say she inspired me to actually cook something, instead of just pinning it.<br />
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I remember the first time I ever had zucchini bread. I probably turned my nose up at it, the idea of zucchini in a bread. I was visiting my Grandmother in Traverse City, MI and she'd taken me to the zoo. In the parking lot there was a Farmer's Market set up and someone was selling zucchini bread. They let me sample a bite and I was in love. I still remember it almost 30 years later. I've spent the last 30 years thinking about that zucchini bread and somehow have never since had another. It's like my first love of veggie breads, and I've never given another a chance to compare. <br />
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I've wanted to try making it, but I had no idea how. And, really, until recently I had little interest in making "healthy" foods. Of course, it got more complicated when recently I also stopped eating grains. So, that left me wanting to try my hand at this "healthy" food but unable to eat "bread". What to do!? Then Julie came along and swooped down like some sort of Fairy Godmother with her recipe. I just had to try it. Then, this afternoon I was at the Farmer's Market and I saw the zucchini and it was like a sign. Today was the day.<br />
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I couldn't remember anything about the recipe (of course), other than that it was MOIST and made with zucchini and coconut flour. I had no idea how much of anything or whether or not I had everything I'd need to make it. Of course, I probably didn't. So, I bought a half dozen zucchini (just in case) and headed home. <br />
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Step 1 (she says) shred your zucchini. WTF? How do you shred zucchini? A few weeks ago I bought this really cool salad spinner at CostCo that also had a mandolin slicer/shredder attachment, so I was all psyched to try it out. I've used it a few times to spin my greens, but this was the first try at using the slicer/shredder feature... and wouldn't you know this would be the first place things would go wrong. The thing did not fit together right. Every time I'd try to shred the top would pop off the bowl and make a mess. So, I finally held it down and gave up on the food pusher thing and just used it like a cheese grater.<br />
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Step 2 (she says) get the water out of the zucchini. Another WTF?! Moment and I'm standing in the kitchen trying to spin the zucchini in my salad spinner. That helped a little, but I was still left doing the paper towel method she described.<br />
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Step 3 - combine the zucchini with all the other ingredients. This is where I should point out that a)I never read through an entire recipe before I start and b) I don't follow directions well. So, I just started adding the things she said to add. My amounts were estimates (sometimes) and I found that I was out of two things... vanilla extract and baking soda. I used Almond Butter, because that's the only nut butter I had on hand. I mixed it all up anyway. Instead of mini loaf pans (since I don't have those), I poured the batter into a muffin pan and popped it into the oven.<br />
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I will say that the batter taste test passed. The batter was good. The muffins when they exited the oven looked very good. But, the real test is in eating them. So, I did. I think I needed the vanilla extract. They also needed nuts (imo). I gave hubby a bite before I told him that they contained zucchini (which he hates). His response "They need something. I don't hate them, but I don't love them." Then I told them they had zuchini, to which he responded "you must have cooked it all out." We'll call this one a draw. We don't hate it, but we don't love it. It needs work (or at the very minimum all of the required ingredients).<br />
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Before I was finished writing this entry, hubby had grabbed a muffin of his own. I guess if the true test is "will he eat it?", these MOIST Chocolate Zucchini muffins passed the test.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662113021220224159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959530658944472306.post-44760284254689479692012-02-12T14:54:00.000-08:002013-01-17T14:56:04.299-08:00Bulked up Hot & Sour SoupOk, so I've gotten a little addicted to <a href="http://pinterest.com/drunkitty/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>, as I've found some really awesome recipes there. One that I ran across was Crockpot Hot & Sour soup. I was happy when I found the recipe as it was also gluten-free. Then I found another recipe for Hot & Sour soup... and well, I'm really just not known for following recipes. So, I used those two as a base and created my own, adding more veggies to bulk it up a little, and after waiting a day for it to cook in the crockpot.... it is delicious! So, I thought I'd share.<br />
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Dealing with Fibro, cooking needs to be about keeping things simple and that's where Crockpots are awesome. This soup requires very little prep and the crockpot does all the work.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
3 cups water</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 cups chicken broth</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2tsp white pepper</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 cup soy sauce</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1tbsp sesame oil</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/2 cup white wine vinegar</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 medium kale leaves (about 1 cup chopped with large stem removed)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 medium carrots</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 asparagus stalks</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8oz package of mushrooms (sliced)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 chicken breasts - cooked & <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>finely chopped (I used a rotisserie chicken)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/2lb of tofu cubed </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 can of bamboo shoots </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Finely chop the veggies and chicken. Cube the tofu. I used a rotisserie chicken so that made life even easier. If you opt to use regular chicken breasts, dice up the chicken and cook it in some canola or olive oil.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Add all of the items above to the crockpot and cook on high for 4-5 hours (or low for 9-10 or longer). It's soup. The longer you let it cook the better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8Z1fjsOHUHHHLkVTLKtYtNz55PyPhhaQCry29EfYauoe3HrGx2h7KseEIUQ6dPDNx-pnUabNFnlCWE9mmOr3tIY6oInW6HgOs6R5b1eGjoklS4kPHHagDrUEFcI1oOEQIOCq1z5N3plI/s1600/soup.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8Z1fjsOHUHHHLkVTLKtYtNz55PyPhhaQCry29EfYauoe3HrGx2h7KseEIUQ6dPDNx-pnUabNFnlCWE9mmOr3tIY6oInW6HgOs6R5b1eGjoklS4kPHHagDrUEFcI1oOEQIOCq1z5N3plI/s200/soup.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love my Hot & Sour soup both HOT and SOUR! You can adjust those levels by increasing/ decreasing the vinegar (sour) or the pepper (hot).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn't really think about just how much everything would cook down. Next time I do this I would probably double all the veggies and add a second can of bamboo shoots.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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