Dinner

Well, as of Day 21 we are doing fine. There have been a few bumps, but nothing major. We did take Friday night off and Drew, Ben & I all had a chocolate from the chocolate fetish. Oh so yummy. :) More than avoiding sugar and processed foods, my problem has been more finding things to cook that don't involve wheat, spelt, rice, dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream) and strawberries and blueberries. :) Tonight we had a good night though. :)

Afternoon Snack: Guacamole

2 avocados
2 cloves of garlic
1 inch of jalapeno (I took the seeds out)
1 tomatilla (optional, I just love the flavor)
2 T purple onion
juice from one lime
1 roma tomato (I look the seeds out to make it less watery)
salt

Chop it all up, mix it together and break out the corn chips. Naomi couldn't get enough. I don't know if there is anything better than fresh guacamole.

For dinner we had pan fried Pork Chops with olive oil, salt, pepper and sage.

And then THIS spaghetti squash recipe. We obviously omitted the feta, and I didn't have basil, we used tomatoes, spinach and olives. But you could really use anything. Ben like it, and Naomi loved it. (I think this is pretty standard when it comes to food for these two).

And for dessert we whipped some peanut-butter-banana smoothies. Yummy!

2 Bananas
8 ice cubes
1 big scoop of peanut (or almond) butter
unsweetened almond milk
a tsp ish of agave nectar.

What Are We Eating???

After some of you read a recent post about our 100 Day Food Challenge/food allergies and wondered WHAT ARE WE EATING?

Well, with a husband that is out of town my motivation to cook is slim to none, but we do eat a lot of eggs, oatmeal (raisins, cinnamon, apples etc.) And I love my vitamix! Kiwi, banana, orange, carrot, tomato spinach smoothies that the kids suck down! And peanut butter/banana/almond milk smoothies for a treat or 1/3 cup nuts (or peanut butter) 1/3 c. honey and 1 c oats blended and then rolled in sesame seeds... yummy. One of my favorite foods is tacos... minus the cheese and sour cream of course... but corn tortillas or chips, lettuce/spinach, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, ground beef and black beans... and liberal amounts of salsa... so yummy! And here are a few recipes I have found!

Chickpea Salad (sort of like Tuna salad but chickpeas instead)

2 c garbonzo beans (mashed, but chucks are fine)
1 stalk celery (or more if you like the crunch like I do)
1/4 onion, finely chopped (or less if you don't like raw onion like I do :)
1 T mayo
1 T lemon juice
1 t dill
salt and pepper

I added a little more mayo, and added some of my mother-in-law's amazing cucumber sweet relish... great for a bite when you are hungry or Friday night dinner and a movie night with crackers or for me... corn cakes (like rice cakes).

Granola - this one has brown sugar but next time I make it I am going to add a little more honey instead

6 c rolled oats
1/2 brown sugar (I will leave this out next time)
3/4 c. wheat germ (I have substituted oat bran since we aren't doing wheat)
1/2 c coconut (unsweetened)
1/3 c seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin... And I usually add a lot more than called for)
1. c nuts (I just chop up whatever I have at the time)
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/3 c honey
1/2 t vanilla
raisins or crasins to taste


Heat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients except oats then add to oats. Whisk together oil, honey and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients and stir til coated. Spread in pan and bake stirring occasionally until golden (not brown :). Add raisins or crasins. Let cool and store!

I have just received two of my three cookbooks and have been pouring over them. The first is called Nourishing Traditions, all about being soaking grains, good and bad fats and all kinds of stuff like that, I will tell you more once I have read more! The second is The Cancer Fighting Kitchen. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall and she got this book shortly after that. Although I am not doing it so much for the cancer fighting part, I have loved everything she has made of it. Using nothing but real ingredients with tons of flavor... everything from making broth and garbonzo bean patties to Baby Bok Choy with Yams & Ginger and Edamama Avocado Dip with Wasabi. I can't wait to plan my menu for next week with it! The same author has another book called One Bite At A Time that I may get soon as well. Lots of veges, beans, lentils, and spices... how can you go wrong? And the book that is coming is called The Natural Nine, it has been out of print for 25 years, but I found it on Amazon... (30 cents!) my mom had it growing up but had lost it, but I still remember her barley pancakes that were to die for! It is all about using whole grains... all kinds of fun!

Apples, Apples and More Apples!

Well, it is that season! Our life has been filled with apples, applesauce, apple pie filling, german apple pancakes, apple slices, apple cider and so much more... :)

Last week my mother-in-law, Sarah, and I went out to Hickory Nut Gap Farm (a local farm here) and bought 4 bushels of apples. While Sarah filled boxes with apples, the owner took Ben (and her two little grandchildren) on a little tour of the farm. We saw horses, piglets, calves and got to stand in the chicken coop while hundreds of "teenage" chicks ran around our ankles! Ben had a blast! Here are a few pictures of Annie (the farmer) and her two grand kids teaching Ben how to swing on a rope!

Checking for eggs in the hay!

Getting ready!

Showing Ben how it's done!

Sarah and I spent two whole days last week making applesauce and apple pie filling (which I use for apple crisp mostly). We got about 10 quarts each of applesauce and 6 quarts of pie filling.

And we have been eating lots and lots of apples! Here is a recipe that I found (and modified :-P) for an apple coffeecake that was very yummy!

APPLE COFFEE CAKE

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 cup applesauce
  
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 4 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 5 tablespoons white sugar
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10 inch bunt pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, applesauce, eggs. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture, alternately with orange juice, until smooth. In a small bowl, combine 5 tablespoons white sugar, 5 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
3. Pour 1/2 of batter into prepared pan. Add 2/3 of the apples then 2/3 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat laying with remaining ingredients.
4. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 60 to 80 minutes. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes, invert on a plate and serve.

I added the glaze of powdered sugar, cinnamon & vanilla. :)

Girls Night In

Last night I invited a few friends over and we had a wonderful "girls night in." Everyone brought a part of the meal and we cooked and ate together. Here are a few pictures. :)


Horray for such wonderful friends! L-R: Eliza, Melanie, Susannah & Lara.

Melanie & Susannah lovin' on Naomi. And you can see the amazing Bruchetta that Eliza made behind Susannah. :)
Just enjoying each other's company. :)
Pesto pasta (with basil picked yesterday from my mother-in-law's garden) with squash, tomatoes and chicken.


Yummy salad.

Gazpacho.

Strawberry limeade.

Melanie loves her ice cream! And her whipped cream... especially when it is freshly made in the vita-mix. :)

And a recipe that a few friends requested:

World's Easiest Bread Sticks

2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

In a medium blow combine warm water, yeast and sugar. Add flour and salt and mix together. Dumb onto a large stone or cookie sheet and spread out with spatula making it about 1/4 to 1/2 thick. Sprinkle with garlic salt, rosemary and parmesan cheese (or whatever you want) and bake at 425 for about 12-14 minutes (or until the top is golden). Let cook for a minute of two and then cut and serve. :) It it more of fociccia bread than bread sticks. Great for dipping in olive oil!

Making Yogurt

In case you wanted to know, here is the recipe I used to make yogurt. :) It us fun, and surprisingly easy! I figured it costs me about $4 to make a half gallon of organic greek yogurt. Almost half that cost is the cheesecloth which you can't reuse, so I am going to try a strainer this time, or maybe the "cheesecloth" towels, at least I could wash those. That would take my cost to just the cost of the milk, which is about $5 a gallon!

Yogurt

Heat the fresh milk to 190 degrees, or to the point that it’s steaming and beginning to form bubbles.

Let the milk cool to around 110 to 115 degrees, somewhere between very warm and hot. For each quart of milk, stir in two tablespoons of yogurt, either store-bought or from your last batch (just something with live active cultures), thinning it first with a little of the milk.

Then put the milk in a warm jar or container or an insulated bottle, cover it, and keep the milk still and warm until it sets, usually 12-14 hours. You can simply swaddle a quart jar in several kitchen towels. You can also put the container in an oven with the light bulb on. (I put mine in the garage).

Once the yogurt sets, refrigerate it to firm its structure and slow the continuing acid production. To make a thick Greek-style yogurt, spoon it into a fine-mesh strainer or colander lined with cheesecloth, and let the whey and its lactic acid drain into a bowl for several hours. (Don’t discard the whey, whose yellow-green tint comes from riboflavin. It makes a refreshing cool drink, touched up with a little sugar or salt.)

There is also a GREAT YOU-TUBE video of a greek man making greek yogurt, it was really helpful! :)

Happy yogurt making!

Curried Couscous

I got this recipe from a woman at church and loved it, so I thought I would share... cause the world needs good recipes. :)

Curried Couscous

1 ½ cups couscous

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 ½ cups boiling water

¼ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup good olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp curry powder

¼ tsp ground turmeric

1 ½ tsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ cup grated (or small-diced) carrots

½ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

½ cup currants

¼ cup blanched, sliced/slivered almonds

2 scallions thinly sliced (white and green part)

¼ cup purple onion

Place the couscous in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour over couscous. Cover tightly (I did plastic wrap) and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Wisk together the olive oil, yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, curry powder, turmeric, salt and pepper. Add carrots, parsley, currants, almonds, scallions and red onions. Mix well and taste for seasoning. Serve at room temperature.

Changes I made/would make:

Add a little more olive oil and yogurt… maybe 1/3 cup… it is a little dry, especially if you add extra veggies. It needed more salt and pepper… I also added some lemon juice (like the juice from half a lemon). I replaced the parsley with cilantro… WAY more flavor. I replaced the currants with crasins. I added more almonds, carrots and cilantro, and I added tomato and would add cucumber and maybe even broccoli next time. I added a bunch more green onions, but I skipped the purple onion. So just have fun with it, you really can’t go wrong! It is SOO yummy!! (Before you serve it, make sure it isn’t too dry, I added a bunch more yogurt right before I served it.)

Try Something New!!

Fall is in the air, and I am pulling out all the old amazing fall recipes. So, here is what we are having for dinner. It is a recipe that my mom made when I was little. I have always thought my mom was a great cook, and then I grew up and realized she is still a good cook, but all her recipes come from two cookbooks!! HA!! I am now in possession of these two cookbooks, so it is only a matter of time before I become at least half the cook my mom is. If only I could stop modifying recipes! However, I don’t think it is possible. For example in the following recipe, I almost double the meat (for the meat loving man in my life), I 8x or more the pepper (who puts 1/8 tsp of anything in a recipe??? It is not even worth it in such a small amount) and make whatever other modifications are necessary. :) So without further ramblings here is the recipe (Jen K, this is the one I commented about, I thought the world needed it too).

CHICKEN CIDER STEW

2 C. apple cider or juice
3 T. catsup
2 slices bacon, cut up
1 ½ t. salt
¼ t. dried savory (you can use Italian seasoning)
¼ t. dried basil
1/8 t. pepper
1 2-2 ½ lb. broiler fryer chicken, cut up
4 carrots, thinly sliced
2 med. Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up
2 med. Onions, finely chopped (approx 1 cup)
1 stalk celery, cut into 1 in pieces
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped (approx 1 cup)
3 T. flour

In large pot stir together 1st 7 ingredients. Add chicken. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, celery and apple. Cover and summer above for 30 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender. Blend the four and ¼ c. cold water, stir into stew. Cook and stir til mixture is thickened and bubbly. Serves 4.

You can also make it in a crock pot, just save ½ cup of the cider for the end, and mix it with the flour before serving. 10-12 hours.

P.S. Great with dumplings, drop biscuits or cornbread. :)