A new adventure!

So, yesterday I signed it. I am now a Pampered Chef consultant. Yep, that means I get a bunch of cool, new, spiffy kitchen gadgets that I can take to your house and use to make yummy food! Yay! I admit that the business aspect is kinda intimidating. Supposed to get people to buy as much as possible? How I'm going to encourage that when I'm so frugal with my own money is a question I've yet to answer. I just hope to find people who are willing/want me to come over and cook and put on a little show for them! I'm so excited for that! And I'll be aiming for food allergies and issues like that-you know, celiac, lactose intolerant, vegan, diabetic, etc. ^_^ So if that somehow seems interesting to you, leave a comment and we can chitchat about it.

Last night I hosted a Pampered Chef ladies night, and my friend came to show her wares and make us dinner. (spicy beef and broccoli stir fry, most excellent!) She was a good sport, letting me change a few of the ingredients she was using. (Corn starch? That's a no-no here with me in the house, so I subbed that with arrowroot. And the soy sauce that's in your kitchen has wheat in it, but the soy sauce I have in my kitchen is wheat-free. And the only brand of wheat-free soy sauce that is currently out there!) So she made dinner, and me, being me, had to have something else to snack  on/call dessert. I had been debating long and hard over this, but then I had the perfect solution. Some type of baked good! (surprised? I didn't think so.) It was just narrowing it down to what kind of baked good that was the difficult part. Bring in SCV freecycle to help with that problem!

What is SCV freecycle? Well, the city we live in-Santa Clarita Valley-has a little thing going on, that if you have something in good condition, that you don't want anymore, you can post it online, and those of us who ARE interested in it, can claim dibs and pick it up. For free. This is how I recently aquired my new salad spinner. A lovely gal friend of mine knew I was wishing for one, saw it on the listing and brought it to my attention. Later that day, I was the happy owner of my own salad spinnner! Yay! Well, similar thing happened yesterday. Except, it was a listing for zuccini. Yep, for zuccini. Three zuccini, "small, medium and large". Well, small was twice as big as what you see in the store. Medium matched the length of my elbow to my wrist. And I could've used the large zuccini to kill someone! The large zuccini did not fit in my fridge, that's how big it is. (I personally would've said, three zuccini, large, huge and monsterous) But hey, three zuccini for free! I'll take em!

So I had a brilliant idea. How about, I, the girl who LOATHED zuccini bread, how about I make zuccini muffins and bread? Growing up, zuccini was alright. I like how my Mom would cook it-steam it, add a bit of salt and butter, and serve.Simple and delicious. That, I liked. Zuccini served in an unnatural way, (ie, baked goods, fried zuccini, zuccini IN foods...) that was disgusting to me. So, for me, who as of yesterday morning didn't even know if I liked zuccini bread yet, the fact that such an idea came to me and I thought it sounded good?...that says something. This food thing is really changing my perceptions and my likes/dislikes. Yeah.

I looked online, searched for a couple gluten-free recipes, and found one that looked good. Yay for Gluten Free Girl and the Chef! They have yet to fail me. ^_^ I did make a few alterations, but that's just a normal thing for me. What recipe don't I tweak to some extent?..

The ladies enjoyed the zuccini muffins. *huzzah!* And I found them overly addicting. I think I more than 10...but I stopped counting after 4...so...yeah... Thankfully, they are fairly healthy and not crazy carbs, but that's also because I made them small. Which is a very good thing, considering how many I packed away!

So here's my new favorite recipe. I think I'll be making a LOT of these this week!


60 grams teff flour
60 grams quinoa flour
60 grams brown rice flour
240 grams sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
1 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups fresh-grated zucchini
2/3 cup (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Options- chopped pecans, carob chips, cranberries, cherries, sunflower seeds, you-want-it-you-add-it..

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Sift the flours together, and add remaining dry ingredients.
3. Combine eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add the zuccini and melted butter, and stir together gently.
4. Sprinkle the soda and salt on the mix, and incorporate. Add the flour slowly, until its fully mixed.
5. Here's your options. Make into little muffins. Or make into bread. It'll make two 9x5 loaves, or about 50 some mini muffins. Your choice. Choose, and grease the appropriate pans.
6. Here's your next choice. Straight up zuccini bread? Or something else added to it? I split my dough into four separate bowls yesterday, and made a variety. One regular batch of zuccini muffins. One batch with chopped pecans. One batch with carob chips. And one batch with chopped cranberries. All are good.
7. For bread, bake it 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 20 minutes before flipping. For mini muffins, about 20 minutes is suffient bake time. I cooled them for 10 minutes before flipping.

The recipe gave me about 55 mini muffins, and for a regular batch were 73 calories and 11 carbs. So good!

Zuccini mini-muffin with cranberries and butter-YUM!

Sweet Potato's are awesome!

Diced sweet potato and pork chop, served with scrambled eggs...mmmmm...

It's sweet potato season, and That Bearded Guy and I are on such a sweet potato kick! Sweet potato fries, sweet potato hash browns, sweet potato in eggs, roasted sweet potatos, diced sweet potato and pork chops..and there are so many more recipes we have yet to try! Oh how I love this season!

Not only do they taste good, but they are very  high ranking as far as nutritional benefits. Extremely high in Vitamins A and C. Anti inflammatory, and helps to reduce asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. They are a good source of Vitamin B6-which helps to prevent heart attack and stroke. They also have a rather fair dose of manganese, folic acid, copper and iron. For being called a "sweet" potato, it's actually very low in sugar, and actually helps to regulate blood sugar levels for those who are diabetic! There is a significant amount of dietary fiber found in this marvelous root, and when consumed-especially with the skin on- it promotes a healthy digestive system, relieving constipation and helping to prevent colon cancer. High in potassium, they are great for those who work out or who suffer from muscle cramps, lackluster energy or injuries. For those of us that need to be careful with our carbs, these are a complex carb, and much better for us to be consuming. These are truly a God-sent veggie!

If you want to pick one out, stick with the typical rules for fruits and veggies. No broken skin, no bruises or cracks, etc. Firm, and pick out the darkest color you can find. The darker the color-the better the nutrition! Steaming is a cooking method that is preferred over boiling, as boiling will leech out the water-soluble nutrients.

So there's todays lesson about sweet potato's.. ^_^

This morning we had sweet potato with breakfast, and that's why it's on my mind. We had our typical scrambled eggs with onion and bell pepper in it, and then I made a little side dish of cubed sweet potato's and cubed pork chop. As TBG said, it was made of win. Woo hoo! And it was an incredibly simple recipe to come up with. The sweet potato I used was just a 1/4 of the leftover sweet potato from the morning prior. TBG has been in charge of Sunday morning breakfast, and he accidently used one of the biggest potato's we had on hand when he made the hash, so he saved half for later use. So I used half of that half, and am saving that for tomorrow morning! *yay!*

Uber simple pork/sweet potato yumminess

1 pork chop
1 sweet potato
maple syrup (roughly 1 TBSP)
salt and pepper
cinnamon
butter/oil

Lightly sprinkle the pork chop with salt and pepper. Coat the bottom of a stir fry pan with oil or butter, and turn the heat on high. Once that oil ripples, carefully toss in that pork chop and sear one side. (I sear mine for about 5 minutes) Flip that baby over and sear the other side. Remove from heat and once cool, cube.

If you bought organic sweet potato, then scrub that potato really well, and you can make this dish with the skin on. (more dietary fiber!) If you prefer skin off either way, then peel the skin off, and then cube. Using the leftover oil/butter from cooking the pork chop, toss the cubed potato in, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Put a lid over the sweet potatos, but first add about a 1/2 cup of water, to help them steam and cook a bit faster. Stir every couple minutes, until they start to get tender. Add in the cubed pork. Lightly drizzle with maple syrup, and reduce the heat. Quickly finish getting breakfast ready! Stir the pork and potato mixture, and serve hot. Enjoy.

Serves about 4, depending on the size of your potato and chop. 100 calories and 10 carbs a serving.

TBG melted into his chair this morning upon tasting this. It is delightful! And so very wonderful with how healthy it is, and how long it holds us over until lunch. Serve with eggs and you'll be enjoying a lovely, gastronomically pleasing breakfast delight.

You've got to try it!

Autumn weather and Autumn drinks

It's feeling like Autumn again, and this is the season for hot, steamy drinks and cuddling on the couch with kitties. Unfortunately, there's only so much tea I can drink before I start really craving my Starbucks. Specifically, the pumpkin latte and the caramel macciato. Now, I've yet to figure out the later drink, but I did come up with a feasible pumpkin latte! The main difficulty is that all recipes I looked at online or through friends used pumpkin flavored syrup-and that involoves corn syrups and sugars. And to further complicate it, it's a drink that is at its best creamy peak with heavy cream. *le sigh*

For the moment, I am content with my pumpkin spice latte recipe. But I figure that will change soon enough, once I've had enough time to think about it. In the meantime, I'll post the recipe and get input on it. If anyone has any suggestions or personal recipe improvements, let me know!

(Serves 2)

‎1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups almond milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove
dash of mace

Toss all the above into the food processor and blend well. Then pour it into a small saucepan on the stovetop, and heat for about 10 minutes on low. (do NOT boil! That will destroy flavor!) After it's fully hot and yummy smelling, pour into 2 mugs and serve. If you're allowed dairy and sugar, dollop some whip cream on it, and then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. If you have texture problems, you will want to strain the drink before serving, just fyi..

The calorie and carb count will vary, depending on the milk you use.. just know that it is in the 420-580 range for calories, and 15-18 carb range.. But it's worth it! (at least, it is when you can't go to Starbucks..)

Someday I'll get a bigger food processor...

Note how it's simmering, but not BOILING...
I did turn the heat down after the picture..

I am ready for Christmas music!

Who knows the rain dance?...

...can they teach it to me please?

Finally. A chance to sit down and write! I have quinoa millet bread in the oven to rise, dinner is already planned and ready to go, and now, finally, a wee bit of time to blog! Huzzah!

But before I get to food. It needs to be said. TODAY'S WEATHER IS AMAZING!!! It is overcast, it is cloudy-I had SPRINKLES on my windshield this morning! I love autumn! I wish we had a real autumn more like this more often! (woah, I hope that last sentence made some sense...) Anyways, its rare to have actual weather here in southern california, and today is a gorgeous day. No bright sunlight, no obnoxious heat, no sweat.. ^_^ Someday we'll move to Seattle or somewhere with seasons...

One of the things that had bothered me with my new diet is that I can't have granola bars anymore. Which, even now, is true. I cannot have granola bars. Granola has oats. I cannot have oats. But I CAN have a yummy little energy bar that's a meal replacement type bar. These are healthy, these are tasty, these are actually rather satisfying! I created them completely and utterly on my own, and I have to say, I think they're pretty darn good if I say so myself. (of course, my hubby also thinks they're pretty darn good, otherwise I'd hesitate to post something about them!) For lack of a better name, they are currently called millet/flax energy bars. I will happily take suggestions on more clever names! Please, throw name ideas my way!

I actually had one today for my little lunch. When out and about on the road, they come in handy. Granted, this recipe I'm posting is not yet perfected. I need to make a batch again and tweak a few things so they'll stick together better. They can be rather crumbly if room temperature. We keep our bars in the freezer, and they are stupendous when freezer cold! I have crumbled a few bars and toasted them to make some granola to go over yogurt. That was good. Mmmm, yes, that was good. It's a versatile recipe. Play with it, make it into something of your own. Enjoy it.

2 cups crunchy flax (found in the gluten-free section as a cereal)
1 1/2 cups millet (not the flour!)
1/3 cups diced almonds
1 cup hemp seed
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 TBSP flax seed
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/4 cup almond butter
1 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup applesauce

I plan to add next time:
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 egg
2 TBSP flax meal

Mix the dry ingredients together first. Blend the wet ingredients together, then add to the dry. Mix gently. Pour into a pre-greased baking sheet, and smooth the top so it's flat. Pop into a pre-heated oven set at 350. Bake for roughly 20 minutes. The edges should look golden brown, and the center will look just done. Allow it to cool for a bit, and once its not baking hot, pop it into the fridge until it's completely cool. THEN cut into it and enjoy!

Makes 40+ servings. 170 calories and 17 carbs a serving.

The larger pieces are crunchy flax. The smaller, finer meal
is the millet. Just in case you were wondering.

Yay for almonds!

Done!

This one I added some carob frosting to. Mmmm..

And this is how it without the frosting. So insanely good!

Last night as TBG and I were laying in bed and talking, the topic somehow turned to food-strangely enough-and sweet potato's were mentioned. And after discussing sweet potato's and how awesome they are, we fell asleep. I dreamt of sweet potato's. I woke up this morning, craving sweet potato's. So what would any normal, sane, hungry woman do for her family's breakfast at 5am? MAKE SWEET POTATO'S, of COURSE! *maniacal laugh*

My one dilemna was that I had no idea what I could do with sweet potato's for breakfast. I did a bit of googling, did a bit of thinking, and I finally decided. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Yep, at 5am, and with experimenting, we'd start simple. Somehow, it just seemed wise. (and I think it IS wise at that hour!) So I just used one sweet potato, 4 eggs, a glug of coconut milk, 1 tsp chili powder, 2 bacon, some diced onion and a few pinches of salt. It was lovely.

Here's what I did: cleaned the sweet potato really well, and then wrapped in foil. Tossed that baby into the toaster oven for a couple minutes to start softening it up. Let it cool a moment or two. Peeled it. Cubed it into small cubes. Cooked the bacon while the sweet potato was heating. Mixed up my eggs with the milk, chili and salt. Ripped up the bacon into small little pieces. Tossed the cubed potato and some diced onion into a buttered pan. Sauteed for a bit, until the potato was tender and the onions were carmalized. At that point I added the bacon and then poured the eggs over. Cooked and stirred until the egg was done, then served. Yummy! TBG and I were rather pleased with this "winner" of a recipe. Yay for successful experimentation at early hours of the morning! ^_^

Before I added the onion, I added a tiny amount of water
and put the lid on the pan for about 3 minutes. Smelled soo good!

Just added the egg. The smell of it cooking was divine!

A horribly lit image of what we enjoyed this morning. Mmm..
Thank you Lord for taste buds and such a lovely
variety of foods for our dining pleasure!

And one add on for today. Super simple apple dessert recipe. Here's what you need:

Green apple (tart!)
Maple syrup
Cinnamon
Maple pecans

Slice the apple thinly. Lightly toss with cinnamon until lightly coated. Place in small oven/microwave safe dish. Drizzle maple syrup over. If in a hurry, cook in microwave on high for about a minute, or until apple is tender. Or bake in oven at 350 for a couple minutes until apple is tender. (you can make this with as many apples as you want to make as much as you want) Chop pecans into small pieces. Add to the top and bake for an additional minute or two. Serve hot. If you can eat dairy, enjoy some with ice cream.

TBG and I love this. It's so super simple, and tastes great! It's a fairly healthy recipe too-it just depends on if you decide to drizzle or drown your apples in the maple syrup. ^_^

This dessert was inspired by apple pie during a fierce Skip-Bo match one night. ...my brain cells are always thinking about food. I admit it.

Good simple dessert

Bento

Now, if you are like most Americans, you probably don't know much Japanese. (so sad!) So you probably have no idea what bento is. Bento is a healthy home-packed cuisine-breakfast, lunch or dinner-that is for one person. A typical bento would have rice, fish or some type of meat, and a surplus of veggies or pickled veggie, typically put into a cute box shaped container. (or in my case, it was just a tupperware that was a bit to big to be a proper size bento for me, but it was all I had..)
I aspire to someday get such a lovely bento box for myself. I like the ones that have little movable section walls, or to get a solid box and get the little cups to go in it. Bento boxes come in all shapes and sizes, depending on if you are an adult or child, male or female, etc. You get the proper size based on what you food calorie needs should be. You can make traditional bento, Americanized bento, whatever type of bento you want!

It's best to have a small bento box, as you will be filling it FULL. You want it as full as possible, packed tightly, so if it gets flipped over, your bento won't get mixed around. It's as much about the food as it is about the appearance. It should look appetizing and taste appetizing.

On Friday I made myself a bento for dinner, as our family was going out to eat at a Japanese restaurant for my sister-in-law's birthday. I love the restaurant-but it's not friendly for those of us who are wheat free. (traditional soy sauce has wheat in it, and soy sauce is in EVERYTHING!) I wanted to stick with the Japanese theme-and seeing as how I have wheat free soy sauce on hand at home-I decided to have fun and run with it. So here's what I made:

What's in it? Well, we'll start on the left side. Below the mat of zuccini (which is what that woven, thin, green vegetable is) I have a bed of brown rice. Above the zuccini mat is braised kale and onion. The orange is cooked butternut squash that I cut out with cookie cutters. I used nori (dried seaweed) to make the pumpkin face. The bottom right is sweet pepper and carrot confetti on a bed of zuccini. The upper right hand corner is exactly 3 oz of chicken-cooked in soy and sake and a tiny bit of garlic.

It was sooo good!

I made the butternut squash first. Cut a tiny sliver off my huge squash. Used cookie cutters to cut it. (while raw) Put water in my skillet, cooked both sides until tender. Carefully pulled out and cooled. Easy.

The braised kale was beyond simple. Get out a skillet. Toss in some butter. Add a bit of diced onion. Cook until almost clear. Toss in a bit of minced garlic. (up to your preference how much) Add in rinsed kale and some soy sauce. Stir until it wilts. Serve, or allow to cool a few minutes before putting in bento box.

The confetti? Dice up bell pepper, onion and carrots. Toss into pan with soy sauce, ginger and water. Cook until tender. Serve or put into bento box.

The chicken was also extremely easy. Dice up chicken. Toss in pan and brown sides slightly. Add 1-2 TBSP sake, and 1-2 TBSP soy, and 1/4 cup water. Cook until meat is no longer pink, and the liquid is all evaporated/absorbed. Stir around the pan to get all the good brown tastyness. Serve or put into bento box.

And I did it all in the same skillet. (the rice was leftover from a previous dinner) It was a most excellent dinner. I forgot how much fun it is to make bento-and how easy too! I plan to be doing this quite a bit for That Bearded Guy and I-how can I not?

Remind me later to tell ya'all about the oat-free granola I made. I think I'll just call them oat-free power bars. I used millet, flax and hemp seeds. And. It. Was. Good! TBG was raving about them-as was I! So extremely healthy-so extremely tasty! And filling too! Perfect for a side with breakfast, a snack, or even a hearty dessert! Yay!

Someday I'll have time to blog a bit on Thursdays too...

Argh! Once again, the week gets away from me, and then suddenly I have a whole bunch of recipes to share, and so little time to type it all! The one saving grace for me writing all this on Saturday's, is that TBG will play through Final Fantasy 13 while I sit on the couch typing. And whenever we get to a story scene, we'll watch it together, and then I'll go back to blogging. Good times. ^_^

I may break this into chunks, all the recipes I want to list..but we'll start with the risotto for now. I'll decide if I'm breaking this up more later.

Butternut squash risotto. So lovely. I know I was a bit intimidated with the idea of making risotto. Risotto. Somehow, it just sounds intimidating. (at least, it does to me!) I can't really explain it. It doesn't have a title that clicks in my head with "easy". So I just naturally assume it's going to be hard and difficult and it will somehow turn out horribly. Such a little pessimist! How wrong I was!

This was a recipe a girlfriend gave me to try, and it really, truly was easy. And tasted great! We served it with a pork chop and some broccoli. Bacon and green beans would be lovely too.

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed butternut squash (peeled)
2 TBSP butter
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 cups hot chicken stock

1. Steam your squash cubes until fork tender. Mash them up in a bowl
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat; add onion. Stir onion until it softens, and then add the rice. Stir it until the rice is glossy with the butter, and the onion browns slightly.
3. Pour in the white wine. Stirring until it evaporates.
4. Stir in the mashed squash, and 1/3 of the chicken broth, reduce heat slightly, and keep stirring until the broth soaks in. Add 1/3 more stock, and again, stir until it evaporates. (your arm should be feeling a little sore by this point. Did I mention its also great for working up your appetite?) Add the last of the stock once what is in the pot has evaporated. Risotto should be looking creamy and yummy.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add parmesan cheese if you so desire and can have dairy.

My lovely cubed butternut squash...and yeah, I didn't
measure how much squash I had...I know I have more
than 2 cups though...details... >_>

With my first bit of liquid added

See how it's absorbing it all? Mmmm..getting close!

Save the seeds, and you can toast them like you would
pumpkin seeds! Tasty, and a healthy little snack.

Serves 4- 283 calories and 48 carbs


So I used to make TBG sandwiches that he would take to work for lunch. It's been rather torturous for me, to smell such bread, and not be able to have even the tiniest crumb from it. And now that he's dairy free, it adds a small layer of difficulty to find bread that he can have.

Well. No more. I discovered one of the most amazing recipes EVER earlier this week on one of the blogs I stalk. http://glutenfreemommy.com/ Natalie is amazing. She has some great recipes for desserts and foods, but the recipe that has our temporal, earthly gratitude is for her Millet Oatmeal Bread. Now, I can't have oatmeal, so I had to make a few small alterations, but my, oh my, is it worth it! TBG raves about this being the best sandwich bread he's ever had. (and that's saying something there!) I love adding butter and honey with it. Mmm.. When I made the bread, I had a tiny bit more dough than bread pan, so I made two muffins of it. O_O I will be making muffins of this for breakfast later this week. We love it.

So, all credit goes to her! But I will be renaming it for my purposes here, as it is not an oatmeal bread that I make. I hereby name it Millet Quinoa Bread. (of awesome, amazing, gastronomical delight!)

If you make it how it's written, you will not be disappointed. And if you're too skeptical to try it, let me know, I'll bake you some muffins to try out!

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
3/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup arrowroot starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup flax seed meal (sift, and save the chaf-like part)
1 TBSP xanthan gum
3 eggs
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 packet active dry yeast + 1 TBSP coconut sugar (for proofing yeast)
1 TBSP maple syrup
3 TBSP coconut sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup heated water
1 cup heated water

1. Pull out all your dry ingredients and eggs a bit early, and let them all sit out until room temperature. Preheat oven to 200 if its too cold in your house for the dough to rise later-you'll be using that lightly heated oven to make it rise later.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients. (I sifted the flax seed separately first, and then added it to the other dry ingredients)
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, syrup, vinegar and butter together.
4. In yet another bowl, mix yeast and sugar. Add 1/4 cup warm water. If it isn't bubbling and proofed in 10 minutes, THROW IT OUT and start again. You need it proofed!
5. Once that yeast is ready, add the wet to dry. Add the yeast. Slowly add the remaining water until you reach the proper dough consistency. (thick cake batter) Beat the dough on high for 10-15 minutes.
6. If you accidently added too much water, add some more rice flour until you get it to where it should be. (if you really, really added too much water, add a bit from each flour as you go)
7. Put the dough in your pre-sprayed pan, and allow it to rise for 1-1/2 hours. Once it crests over the pan, its ready. If you had it in the oven to rise, pull it out to preheat the oven to 350. Once the oven is preheated, you're almost ready. Take that bit of flax that was leftover from sifting, and sprinke over the wet dough top. Now you can pop that baby in for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick draws out clean.
8. Cool for as long as you can before cutting into it. If you HAVE to cut into it while it's still hot, spray your bread knife with pam each time you slice.

Serves about 18-depending on your slices-and is about 111 calories and 18 carbs each slice

Most delicious bread EVER!!

my cat snores like Darth Vader breathes...

...and he's currently curled up on my left hand, so I'm typing with only my right hand..we'll see how far I get like this. It's only a small hinderance-and my lap is only slightly numb from being in the same position for so long. But this is me, a total pushover when it comes to my furry kids. So I won't disturb him at all, I'll just patiently wait for him to move first. (I'm just glad that today I'm not in desperate need of using the bathroom!)

But I didn't come back this afternoon to talk about snoring kitties, numb limbs and needing the bathroom. No, there are much bigger and better things to discuss. For one example, food. Yummy food. Food that makes you sit back with a content sigh and a happiness to be alive.

*ah, that works, TBG just got home from work, and Sephiroth moved to greet him. Welcome back left hand! Typing will be so much quicker and easier now!*

Where was I? Ah yes, food that makes the tastebuds shiver and delight, and makes your tummy happy to be your tummy. I do find it rather amusing, all in all. I get told I have food sensitivities to the point of near allergy, and that I need to cut out those foods. In my mind, I'm thinking that my food enjoyment level is going to massively drop. But, in reality, it's so far from the truth! Now, for once in my life, I am really going out of my way to experiment and try new foods, to see what new flavors and textures I can find. I have discovered sauces and glazes that are heavenly-that I would never had tried if it wasn't for this! Found new grains and healthy options, new vegetables, and new ways to cook the fruits and veggies that I've had countless times. I'm eating healthier than ever before-and I'm eating more diversely than ever before! I didn't realize that I was in a bit of a cooking rut before, but looking back, I can see I kinda was. I had my two months worth of approved meals, and I just rotated them. How boring! I'm learning to cook with what's in season-using fruits and vegetables that are in their peak times-with flavors that are simply explosive and exquisite! I have to think outside the box, what can I make that doesn't have wheat, sugar, dairy, corn or oats? I can't really on a simple pizza to throw in the oven when I'm fed up with cooking. I can't just order out, or pull a ready-made meal from the freezer. (which is a good thing, considering the preservatives and calories and general unhealthiness of it all. All of which I hadn't really thought about until I'm at this point, and I've discovered how much better my body functions without all that junk) My eyes have been opened to a whole new way of life-and it's beautiful!

 Yes, I have developed quite the passion for the kitchen. I think my sole reason that I want to move now is just so I can have more kitchen space. Can you imagine? *drools at mental picture* All the counter space...and the cabinet space to store my various doodads and gadgets....ohh...it's so pretty...

I can only hope and pray that some of my enthuiasim will rub off onto those who read this. The kitchen is no boring place-unless you allow it and make it into a boring place. Have fun! Turn up some music and get ready for the kitchen dance! The mind that's whirling away, the hands that are chopping and dicing to the rhythm of the kitchen, the step-twirl of moving pans and ingredients from one side of the kitchen to the other, the delight that comes from what's happening...it is a dance. And it is lovely.

 Food. Up until this point, I just took food for granted. It was something the Lord made for us to give us sustenance and nutrition. And it was also sometimes colorful and pretty, and usually tasted good-depending on what it was-although some things I thought were disgusting. But it was just that. Food. Meh. Now I have an appreciation for food. And for all this, I am grateful for my nutritionalist and my food sensitivities.

All that to get to the point. Last nights dinner. Seared pork chops with a plum glaze, roasted sweet potato's and green beans. Oh baby. Oh baby. TBG and I were amazed. Our mouths were filled with such wonderful flavors, the sweet and tangy, the savory....mmm...and thankfully, our pork chops were HUGE, so we each cut our chop in half and saved that half for tonights dinner. ^_^ So tonight I'm making more roasted sweet potato's and green beans. Which we're already looking forward to. With eager anticipation.

We'll start with the roasted sweet potato. Technically, it was only one sweet potato, and a pale gold at that. But it was also a very large potato! Peel it, slice it into rounds, cover with 2 tsp EVOO and some salt and pepper (1/2 tsp each). Bake in oven that's preheated to 400 for 30ish minutes. You may need to go as long as 45 minutes to get the crispier edges. (or, if you are actively in the kitchen, turn it up to 425) I flipped mine at about 20 minutes, so both sides would be lovely and roasted. Serve hot.

Peeled-so how huge it is?!

Diced up. I find it easiest to put all the potato in a bag, add the EVOO
and salt and pepper to them in the bag, and then shake it around. Gets
a more even coating.

 For whatever reason, it doesn't like my picture of them on their pan-so I'll take a new picture tonight to post.

But that's just a simple side dish that's really, really good. The amazing dish is the main dish. Seared pork chops. With plum sauce. *melts just thinking about it* I have to give Shauna the credit-she's amazing. I got this recipe from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. If you haven't checked out her site-you are missing out! Google Gluten Free Girl and the Chef-you'll find her on the top of the list. (she has a blogspot like mine) Amazing food. Amazing!

2 TBSP high quality, unsalted butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
12 plums, washed and quartered
a handful sugar-or 1/4 cup honey
2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup orange juice (I just squeezed fresh oranges, added actually closer to a full cup than half a cup..oh well!)

1. Melt the butter over medium high heat.
2. Add the onion and stir until it gets soft-then add the plum slivers. Stir and saute that yummyness.
3. When those plums start to get soft and sag, add the vinegar and sugar/honey.
4. Let those simmer-and while they simmer, sear those pork chops! Sear them in hot oil in an iron skillet, so once those are done and ready, it can go in the oven. Preheat the oven if you aren't making the sweet potato's) 
5. When the plum flesh is tender and falls apart at a fork touch, add the orange juice. Simmer and stir until the smell drives you crazy. (or you become impatient. Whichever is first)
6. Pour that amazingness over your seared pork chops. Pop it all into the oven for about 20-30 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, wait til it reads 155 degrees in the meat. If not, just wait for about 25 minutes. (of course, if you have uber thick chops, I'd recommend waiting longer)
7. Bring out of oven, serve, and enjoy!

Butter and onion-I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of onion,
but it smelled soo good in that there butter!

Searing the pork chops. I randomly used
peanut oil for no reason, other than it was there to be used.

Just added the plums. Mmm..

With the balsamic vinegar, and after being cooked for awhile

Some of my plums weren't at the desired level of tenderness, so I helped
them to tenderize. ^_^ A few whirls helped break em down. Which was really
nice, because then we had large chunks of plum, and smaller, thicker glaze.

Poured that plum glaze over, popped in the oven, and this is what it looked
like when it came out! Does that not look utterly amazing?!

All together here. Next time I make this all again, I plan to use
"normal" yams-the vibrant orange/red. I let TBG pick out the ones I use--
the pale gold. They taste great-but I enjoy the color of the others better. ^_^

The sauce serves 4 people, is 77 calories and 6 carbs.
The roasted sweet potato's serve 2 people, and are 113 calories and 12 carbs.

Fun with squash

I'm supposed to count my carbs. And only have 150 carbs a day. And I love to bake.

 In case you couldn't tell at all...but it's only a small hobby/addiction..not that big a deal...

And I'm supposed to watch my carb intake?

Does anyone else see a problem with this idea?

But here's the good news-I have discovered a vegetarian recipe (that I then added bacon to) that is very low calorie and low carb and is really filling. So I can have that for lunch or dinner-and then fill in the carb space I have left that day with baked goods! It's perfect!

  What is this amazing meal I can have that allows  me to then leisurely enjoy my carbs? Spaghetti squash and veggies. (with added bacon for those who want their meat!)

It's kinda like a hot salad or something of that type. Maybe a cross between a stir fry and a salad? Something yummy crossed with something yummy. We'll stick with that description. It's the most accurate. ^_^ And I'll admit-up to this recipe, I had never had spaghetti squash, and had NO IDEA what to expect. I knew I liked butternut squash-and so I was expecting something like that. Which it wasn't. But that's ok-this gives me more to play with for veggies!

The recipe serves 2-3 people, but that also depends on how large a squash you get. Our squash was roughly 6 inches long, and we each had a hearty sized portion, plus another portion leftover for me and my lunch the next day.

Hot Spaghetti Squash and Veggies Salad

1 spaghetti squash

2 TBSP EVOO

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups tomato's, chopped

3 TBSP olives, minced

2 TBSP basil

1 zuccini

1. Slice squash in half length-wise, scoop out seeds and guts. Place face down in pyrex (whatever size will fit your squash) and pour water about halfway up the pyrex. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until squash is tender. (poke a fork into the flesh, if it slides in easily, you're ready for the next step)
2. Pull squash out of oven and out of water, set aside to cool.
3. Heat oil in skillet. Add onions and saute until tender. Add garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes. Sitr in tomato's, zuccini and olives. Stir and cook.
4. Go back to that squash. It should be *somewhat* cooled enough to handle. Using a spoon, pull all those little squash noodles out. Break them up a bit, so you don't have squash chunks. Toss squash with veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
5. If you want your squash salad to not be vegetarian, cook up two slices of bacon, break up those cooked pieces, and toss into your salad. Very, very good.

Without bacon- 200 calories and 16 carbs. Mmmm!

Just added all those lovely veggies! At this point, when I was making it,
I was getting more and more skeptical about this recipe being worth my
time and effort. Now, I'm debating if squash three times a week or more is
a bad thing. ...I want to buy more squash and make more!

Because it was just for TBG and I, I decided to be slightly creative,
and served the salad in the squash rind. (but please put it all
in a bowl first, that could get rather messy if you aren't careful!)

You have to try this out sometime, it's so good! Enjoy adding other veggies and trying out new methods for it. Food is meant to be enjoyed and played with. (despite what your Mom or Grandma told you as a kid) Change it up and enjoy the tastebuds God blessed you with.