Mmmm....Bacon

Tot has been eating a lot of grilled cheeses lately which has led me to wonder if I can create my own versions of some awesome adult friendly grilled cheese sandwiches. So, I’ll be starting to do that very soon. But, it’s also led to that time of year when the weather is just H-O-T and we want something that’s filling but doesn’t weigh you down for dinner. So, we’ve been doing a version of BLT’s. If you think you can’t improve on a BLT you’re wrong. There’s a whole other level of awesome. Have I mentioned a recent love of avocados? When I was younger I wouldn’t go near them because of having the honor of trying the world’s worst guacamole. Within the last three years is when I’ve come to love guacamole and avocados. Well, welcome to my world with the TABLE sandwich. Or BLEAT or BLATE or however you want to call it. We go with TABLE. It’s a loaded sandwich and is delicious.
You need:
A couple already cooked and chilled hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced
1 lb bacon (thick center cut is the best)
1 medium ripe tomato sliced
A couple leaves of iceberg or romaine lettuce
2 very ripe avocados (mash half to spread and slice the other half)
Toast
Mayo (optional)
Fry up a pound of thick center cut bacon. This will be enough for two adult sandwiches and a slice each for the mostly vegetarian kiddos who go berserk for bacon which is no surprise. We bake ours in the oven to cook it because I hate getting burned with pan frying. While it’s cooking do your other prep work of slicing and washing the vegetables. When it’s ready to assemble put it together however you like. Hubs doesn’t use mayo on his. This is one of my few mayo exceptions, but I use maybe two teaspoons total. Just a very fine layer on both pieces of hot toast. I work with one side of the toast after that and use the other piece to close the sandwich because it is loaded down. On the side I’m working on I take half an avocado and spread it onto the mayo’ed up toast. On top of that I put a couple pieces of piping hot bacon, then some lettuce, then the sliced hard boiled egg, the other half of one avocado sliced. Then top it off with a slice of two of ripe tomato and close the sandwich up. The tomato works well with having a little mayo against it. Sit down and enjoy. Keep a napkin near by and make sure to grab anything that tries to escape. I do this sandwich as well without the bacon and it is also very good on a hot summer’s day. Enjoy!

P.S. I'd post a pic but it was relatively dark in the kitchen the other night when I took a pic and I couldn't resist the sandwich. It was crumbs before I thought to go into the sewing room for better light. Next time.

A different take on cookies

Life is busy lately and I've needed a mental break from trying to think of anything creative because with two toddlers I fear creativity will never come back! We love cookies in our house, especially chocolate chip. Here's what I do when we make ours. They're not healthy but they are tasty!

What you need:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup brewer's yeast (buy on Amazon or local health food shop)
1 cup softened butter or coconut oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 white sugar (you can probably omit the plain white, but I haven't tried it)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
2 extra large eggs
12 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix first four dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Cream butter, sugars, vanilla extract and molasses in large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Gradually add in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Scoop onto cookie sheet with cookie scoop for even cookies. Bake for 9-11 minutes on metal pan or 11-13 on stoneware reducing time as needed. Makes 48-60 cookies.

Tot loves helping make these as does Daredevil. I measure it out and they put it in the mixer bowl. It's a half hour of hamony and peace in the kitchen.

Chicken Fried Rice

I have to admit I have a problem when it comes to eating out. I love going to the restaurants because someone comes to wait on me and I don't have to do dishes! But, that kills the budget. I decided yesterday I really wanted some fried rice. We had chicken in the house because hubs made some cutlets for work the other day so I was using it up. So, without further adieu here's the recipe. It's pretty close to takeout. Hubs even enjoyed it as leftovers for lunch. And it would be 4 servings if you actually remember to eat during the day and maybe serving some spring rolls on the side. I had two huge bowls because it was all I ate.

Chicken fried rice.

2 chicken breasts pounded, sliced into strips then cut into pieces

Jasmine rice 2 cups dry rice cooked in 3 cups water and a little salt. (extra was for the kids)

Cook these ahead of time then stick in the fridge to cool until dinner time. I used my cast iron skillet to pound out the chicken because Daredevil ran off with the mallet and it's currently in an undisclosed location. I put a piece of saran wrap over it before I pounded it. Then when it was all ready to cook I seasoned it with more salt and some fresh cracked black pepper. And usually when I talk about salt it's kosher. It adds a nice flavor in the cooking. The Morton's just sits in a shaker on the table for anyone wanting more salt on their dish.

When it's time for dinner have ready:

1/2 sliced onion
4 oz. sliced mushrooms (more if you're in the mood)
Green onions sliced
1 cup of peas and carrots (I used frozen)
Chilled rice
Chilled chicken
Several handfuls of bean sprouts washed and drained
3 eggs ready to scramble

In the wok:
lightly spray the very bottom to scramble up the eggs. When they are scrambled and starting to turn golden brown take them out and set aside.

Then add sesame oil. I also added a little canola just to help with the temperature because I'm getting used to the new stove. Probably 1 heaping tablespoon of sesame oil and 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil. Let it get nice and hot. It should smell like nirvana in your kitchen.

When the oil is heated add the onions and mushrooms and start cooking them. Add some more salt and pepper. When they start cooking about 2 minutes then add the chicken. Another 2 minutes, add the peas and carrots, green onions and sprouts. Let it all cook for another 2 minutes or so when things just start to wilt nicely. Then add the egg and rice back in. At this point you'll also start adding soy sauce in. I eyeballed it so I can't tell you how much I added. Probably a tablespoon or two. Add another little bit of salt and black pepper if it's not the level you're looking for (TASTE IT!). If it's good slap that on a plate and call it good. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to cook. Add another drizzle of the sesame oil and let everyone add their own extra soy sauce. And I'm probably making this again this week as a flat out vegetable one and going hog wild with the mushrooms, onions and sprouts. Enjoy everyone! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

A little bit on Day 2

I think I've found my new comfort food. Seriously, I'm in love. I was going to put some black eyed peas in it but didn't think ahead with the cooking so I left them out. I made some brown rice though. And as the main part I carmelized up half an onion in a little olive oil and I sliced up 3 small Portobello mushrooms into thick slices. I seasoned the mushroom and onions with some garlic powder, a little garlic salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little paprika. Put the mixture over the cooked rice and eat. Delicious! For the meat eaters this would probably go well with a steak? Ok, off to tend to a feverish Tot. He's not been feeling well the past couple days. Hoping he's feeling well enough for school tomorrow.

One hour at a time

I love food! And I love it so much that coupled with my constant hunger as a lactating/breastfeeding mother, and bouts of depression throughout my adult life (where I'd eat often only meal a day because all I wanted to do was crawl under a rock) I'm overweight. And I need to do something about it. For me. For Hubs. And for Tot and Daredevil. But, really for me. I'm tired of avoiding mirrors. Although I've never really liked what I saw in them anyway and that comes from 30+ years of being told/eavesdropping (yep, I've done my fair share of that and I'll admit it. It's amazing what you hear when people think you aren't listening!) I was ugly/fat/not good enough/never amount to anything/blah blah blah. Fill in the blank. Needless to say my self worth some days are shot. And it shouldn't be.

So, I'm working to maybe change that a little bit. I want to get healthy again and shed a few of the pounds I've picked up in the past ten years. I signed up for Weight Watchers at home. I tried originally signing up for the online stuff but got screwed on that one because it's all online and I didn't realize that one. So, that was a whole lot of wasted money. I found the at home one and bought that but dang it I want my money back from the online program that I NEVER used. Who has more than a few minutes a day to sit at a computer and look all that crap up?! Not me. Daredevil throws a fit if I even look at my computer. And the reason she's not throwing one right now is because she is conveniently occupied cleaning the floor with one of the napkins I made for the kids. It has minkee on it. And if she's not trying to wipe up the dust bunnies she's chasing Tot. So, they're both occupied for five whole minutes. It's a win-win situation in my book. Anyway, back to topic. With my love of food I've decided that I need to take this diet thing one hour at a time. I can't commit to more than that. I just can't. It's not in me so don't even tell me that I can do it for longer than an hour. I'll roll my eyes at you and visualize me shoving a bunch of marbles in your mouth. So 1 hour. That's it! I've asked one of my friends whose also doing the online program to help me kinda stay on track. Some accountability and a buddy will be good.

This morning is the first day of it all. My goals for the week are no fast food and no soda. The no fast food is hard because I haven't felt like cooking with only the little electric burner. And the soda is really hard because I now have no means of even just a little bit of caffeine to get through the bad days. And I'm not drinking coffee black. And I only have herbal teas in the house which are lovely but they are no sugary soft drink. I'll have to switch over to the teas though for my non-water beverage of choice.

So, let's get to hour 1 which is breakfast.
I had oatmeal! I put some steel cut oats in the crock pot last night because I wanted to try that and see how it was. I didn't put enough water in because it burned a little on the top. I'm an idiot and wasted something really good. But, the oatmeal that didn't become a nasty hard crust was really nice looking. So, I'll be doing that more often I think. And I have enough leftover for at least two more breakfasts. Here's what my bowl looked like after it was doctored up....

I had Daredevil try a little bit before I added the nuts in and she kept coming back to taste it so that was pretty cool. One of my kids likes oatmeal. Yay! I actually like oatmeal and will have it for dinner on occasion.

Fruit and Nut Oatmeal (for a whopping 17 points for anyone counting)

1/2 cup cooked steel cut oatmeal

2 TBSP ground flaxseed meal

1/4 c. dried cherries

1 oz. walnuts

1/3 c. oat milk unsweetened (we're on the dairy free bandwagon again)

1 TBSP. sugar

This was honestly very good. I've already drank a liter of water though and am still hungry. But, this recipe for breakfast is definitely a keeper since it tasted good. And I like that the oat milk just kind of blended in with the flavor and that I was able to help keep the oatmeal from being dried out nastiness. I'm going to package up the rest of the oatmeal so it's ready to grab and heat. I'm leaving out the nuts though so that Daredevil can try it before I add them in. I'd like to keep her liking oatmeal. The sugar is a lot but again I just want food that tastes good. With that Daredevil is pulling on my shirt so it's time to go. Wish me luck!

Crockpot Salmon. Yep, you read that right

So I ran out of propane over the weekend. And when I went to go setup an account to have more propane delivered I found out that they want to do a leak check on top of the very nice and high costs of the propane with delivery. Let's face it a 75 gallon propane tank is not going to fit in my tiny little hybrid. And this stove is probably not going to pass a leak check. So, that got me to thinking and panicking. How am I going to cook? Especially how am I going to make pasta for Tot? So I went out and bought one of those dual burner hot plates. It's going to sit on the stovetop. And I can utilize my two crockpots for the rest of the cooking. I'm lazy enough that I can handle everything being in one pot, right? Well, the first dish was salmon. I made stuffing and squash to go along with it in the microwave. Told you I was lazy!

Awesome Salmon:
1-1.5 lb salmon filet. (I left the skin on)

Sauce/glaze:
1 TBSP. Spicy Brown mustard (I used grey poupon with the onions in it)
1 tsp. honey
3 heaping TBSP. coarse ground country mustard (I used the grey poupon on this one too)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I eyeballed it.  There was probably a little more than that.)

Mix these 4 ingredients together until they are nicely incorporated and almost runny.

Put the salmon in a very well greased/sprayed crock pot skin side down. Dump the sauce over the salmon and make sure to spread it on as much of the fish as possible. Set the cooker on low for 2.5 hours. Then enjoy!

This was really good. The babysitter liked it. Tot at least looked at it but he wasn't in any mood to try anything last night. I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a picture of my plate so I took one of Tot's and trust me when I say that the picture does the meal no justice. And I actually spooned the sauce from the crockpot over my squash because I ate that last and the sauce started thicken up in there a little as it cooled down. So, this is a keeper!

Enchiladas and Cornbread, oh my!

I have had the worst craving for these two things. And most places I've been to usually make savory cornbread and while that's fine and dandy I just have never loved it. I'll eat it but usually regret it because it's just not the right flavor for me. So, I gave this recipe a whirl. It turned out really good and this dish was dairy free for those wondering. I used almond milk in lieu of the skim milk because that's what I had on hand and there was no flavor difference. To be honest it was the flavor I was looking for. A slightly sweet, but nice and dense cornbread. And I made it in my 2 quart crock pot!

I would never have thought you could make cornbread in a crockpot, but I don't have a working oven so I'm in a need to get creative mode. Hubs has tried a couple times to light the oven and it just doesn't work. A bummer because I love to cook almost as much as I love to eat. Scratch that, it's an even 50/50. I just hate the clean up. Anyway, try this sometime. I mixed the ingredients together and dumped it all in my greased crock and let it cook on high for almost 4 hours. It got a little brown on the edges which I actually like because it's kind of a carmelized taste.

Ok, onto the main star of the evening. I didn't do this dairy free because I had ingredients in the house that needed using up and I decided to cheat. I know I'll pay for it later as will Baby, but let me tell you it really was worth it. I also used prepackaged ingredients because I didn't have anything on hand. I haven't soaked a pot of beans yet and I don't have a pressure canner yet to do my own tomatoes. As for enchilada sauce I'm really about being lazy today so that's what I did. I've got a recipe from scratch though that I'll post once I dig it out.

Corn tortillas (6" diameter)

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion diced

5 cloves garlic finely diced

2 10 oz. cans medium enchilada sauce

1 10 oz. can of black beans drained and rinsed very well

1 can mild Rotel

8 oz. shredded Mexican cheese

In a skillet brown up some ground beef and chop it to the consistency you want. I did mine on the smaller side of being pretty well chopped up in there. I also used 93/7 beef. I hate using 80/20 beef 99% of the time so I use meat with less fat. (Part of the reason for this is that I hate draining meat and the other part is that the high fat meat is still pretty expensive and so much of it cooks out because it's fat which is a rip-off to me.) Anyway, once it's cooked turn up the heat for a minute and it'll cook off the grease, and throw in your onions then garlic. Once you hear the onions starting to sizzle turn the heat back down. Then add the black beans and just let things warm up for a minute. Turn off the heat and let it sit for little bit to cool off. Do some dishes. Or you can make some cowboy caviar which is what I did.

When the meat mixture is cool.....
Grease your 4 qt. or 6 qt.crock very well. I, surprisingly, remembered this step today! I've been notorious lately for forgetting to do so.
In the bottom scoop a little enchilada sauce then place tortillas to cover the bottom. I used 4 for the bottom of my crock. Then a spoon of the Rotel. Layer meat, another couple spoons of sauce, then cheese. Top with more tortillas. Do this until you run out. I think mine had three layers. Make sure you have some sauce and cheese left to round out the top of your tortillas there. Place on high and cook for 4 hours. I think I could have gotten away with it cooking only 3 hours but it was really good. It had flavor and a little kick to it. Garnish with whatever you like: salsa, sour cream, lettuce, olives. You get the idea!

Ok, onto the bonus of the cowboy caviar. I had this for the first time in my life just last month! Oh wow, what have I been missing. My good friend, the lovely V, is who introduced me to it. Here's what you need:

1 small can of black eyed peas drained and rinsed
a few stems/leaves of cilantro washed/dried and chopped (I just pinched and pulled off the bunch)
3 roma tomatoes seeded and chopped
2 green onions washed and chopped
1/2 large red onion diced
Pinch of kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
3 oz. of Italian dressing

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips.

Ok, so I have a full stomach and after writing this I'm ready for a third helping! Happy eating.  And don't worry, I will be tinkering soon and coming up with a tasty vegetarian recipe for this as well. ;-)

Ratatouille

There are so many variations on this. But, we had it for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. Very filling and vegetarian to boot for me as well as dairy free. I have to admit I've fallen off the dairy free bandwagon the past week and Baby has let me know with massive spit up the past couple days that she still can't handle it in any amount so I'm cutting it back out of my diet again.

Anyway, in a large pan sauté up a large onion sliced and 4 garlic cloves in olive oil.

Once they have cooked set them aside. Then add to the pan some more olive oil with 2 cups cubed eggplant, 4 green peppers sliced, 3 cups zucchini cubed, and 2 cups of fresh tomato. Let sauté for about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and onions back to the pan. Cover and let simmer until vegetables are soft. Add 1/2 cup tomato sauce to give it more broth. Serve over warm crusty bread. It's fantastic!

Mmmm....Guacamole

I used to hate the stuff.  For good reason. I hadn't had good guac.  A travesty for sure.  It had mayonaise in it.  Who does that?! Crappy restaurants, that's who.  Then I tried Wholly Guacamole and it's pretty good but it gets expensive for not a lot of snack.  So I made my own for about the same price but more of it.

Here's what you need:
3 ripe avocados
1/2 large tomato seeded and diced
1/4 large red onion finely chopped
The juice of one lime
A generous pinch of kosher salt
1/4 of a small jalapeno chopped finely
A couple leaves of cilantro very finely chopped
1 garlic clove mashed into a paste or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt to taste

In a small prep bowl put in the lime juice and salt and set aside.

In your serving bowl put your avocados in and start with a couple mashes.  Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the lime juice and salt.  Mash it together until it's almost to the consistency you want.  When it's almost there add your lime juice and salt and mix in.  Add any additional salt to your particular tastes.  Serve with chips.  It shouldn't last past the snack time, it's so good.  I apologize for the poor pic.  I'll have to get a better one next time.  I couldn't resist snacking!  :-)

I went and edited the amount of jalapeno because using the whole one is very spicy.  If you don't want hot and just a good flavor try it amended.  It is fantastic!

Orange Curry Shrimp

2 cups cooked brown rice cooked with:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Then in a pan:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped however you prefer
1 lb of shrimp (I used the small precooked-deveined-no-tail-guys this time)
1 1/2 TBSP curry powder
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (I use the juice from the two oranges I zested...so really every bit of juice you get out of that is what you use)
orange zest from 2 oranges


Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, and stir in the onion until it has sweated. Mix curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup of the OJ into the skillet. Bring to a boil and let cook 3-5 minutes on medium high to let the flavors come together. Reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes until some of the water reduces. Stir in the orange zest and shrimp and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes depending on size of shrimp to heat or cook if using raw shrimp. Mix in the rice to serve. Garnish with more parsley and segmented orange slices if desired. Very tasty.

As always, adjust seasonings to your taste. We love the taste of curry. I recommend getting a good one that has more than just the three ingredients of coriander, fenugreek and pepper in it. We use one that we picked up from Whole Foods. But McCormick makes a decent curry if you get the one in the plastic jar surprisingly. The one in the glass jar only has three main ingredients and really is a huge disappointment.  The great thing about this recipe is that is an easy step into Eastern foods.  I'm sure it can be further modified to really get a true Indian flavor, but I don't have anyone that can show me more of how to authentically cook that way.  So, I just experiment.  Enjoy!

There's no more butter!

I miss butter. I love butter. Butter is my very good friend. I use it in baking/cooking and on bread or toast. Since that is a no go right now I need something for my bread and butter or garlic bread cravings. And I'm also lacking fat in my diet to some degree because I don't eat much meat and now I have no dairy in it. So needless to say some days this past week I've felt a little funky mentally. I got it in my head that I really wanted some Italian bread one night last week. And hubs who really does try to come to the craving rescue went along with helping me figure out what would work. My solution to this was to make dipping oil. You know...the stuff you get served in really good Italian restaurants. This turned out pretty good although I'm still trying to debate the flavors I want when I grow tired of this combo. But, it has garlic in it so I don't know if that will happen. I might have to try and roast the garlic just a wee bit some time to see how that flavor is.

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 small cloves garlic minced very fine
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all of these together and let sit for an hour before serving up for dipping. The flavors come together and you'll be fighting everyone else for it. Not the best picture but I was being pulled on by a toddler who wanted very badly to help.

Got Bread?

So, after looking at a lot of bread in the bread aisle I can't seem to find a sandwich bread to enjoy when I want a sandwich. And being this past weekend had a holiday in it I of course had to have egg salad since I took the time to dye eggs with my over-excited toddler. So, I took the ten minutes to add ingredients to my bread machine to make some bread. I took the recipe from my Oster Expressbake breadmaker book and made it as follows:

1.5Lb. Loaf

1 cup water
2 TBSP coconut oil
3 TBSP almond milk (I think you can try this with any other milk like hemp or oat if you're nut allergic)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups bread flour
1 TBSP sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions:
Add measured liquid ingredients to pan.
Add measured dry ingredients to pan, except yeast.
Form a well in the flour and add yeast. (This machine says for the yeast to never touch the liquid while you're working with it)
Put pan in the machine and select the basic setting, crust color (I did medium) and the start button.

It does taste good. I think next time I need to warm up the coconut oil before adding it though because a little bit of it did clump up in one area. The bread does taste good though which is really the point of the end result.