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Cooking Marathon Recap #2: Breakfast Dishes

Day two of the Labor Day weekend cooking craziness was the most intense. Sara and I started at 11 a.m. and called it a day at 1 a.m. We were very productive during those 14 hours.

We kicked it off with breakfast food recipes and up first was an adapted version of the granola I fell in love with last month.

The allergy ingredient modifications to my already adapted granola recipe are:

5 gluten free brown rice cakes
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup mixed nuts sunflower seeds
1/3 cup agave nectar
5 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup dried fruit (Banana in this batch)

The directions for baking it are the same as before.

Sara and I made four pans of the yummy stuff!

The second breakfast item we dished out was apple filled pancakes. Words cannot describe how amazingly delicious these are. It's like biting into an apple pie pastry but without all the additives. Sooooo delectable.

Slice a few apples. However many pancakes you anticipate making.

Mix up a pancake batter.

I used this gluten free pancake mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen because it was seriously the only mix in the gluten free baking section of the Natural Groceries that met all my allergy requirements. A lot of gluten-free mixes have corn in them and that's on my don't-eat-or-else list. It was quite the happy accident that only one box met my needs, because this pancake mix is the best mix (gluten-free or otherwise) that I have ever had. Ever.

Once the batter is ready, dip the apple slices into the batter and cook as per box instructions.

For me it was two minutes on each side of the cake. 

The filling is perfectly cooked and oh so good. I will add cinnamon next time though, that would really knock these out of the park.

This is the quantity we had after eating a few stacks for lunch. Hey, cooking really works up an appetite!

Cooking Marathon Recap #1: Saturday Prep Night

Alright, I took quite the hiatus from blogging, but only because I've been très busy with school, work, and an improved social life.

Plus, I got my test results back from my food sensitivities blood work and that has been a lot of information to digest.

I am back, however, and ready to give the 411 on the cooking craziness that happened the past few weeks.

First things first. In light of my allergy results, all recipes featured from here on out will be free of...

almonds

anchovies

apricots

asparagus

barley

green beans

lima beans

pinto beans

red beans

bran

brazil nuts

brussel sprouts

buckwheat

carrots

casein

cashew

blue cheese

cheddar cheese

cherries

coffee

corn

cranberries

egg yolk

flaxseed

gluten

hazelnuts

malt

honeydew melon

cow's milk

goat's milk

millet

oats

onion

black-eyed peas

peanuts

pecans

cayenne pepper

red pepper

pineapple

rye

sesame

tomatoes

black walnuts

watermelon

wheat

baker's yeast

yogurt

And now you see why I might have been a bit overwhelmed.

Anyways, after receiving my test results, Sara and I sorted out a slightly daunting list of recipes to make during the three days I was home for Labor Day and then headed to Natural Groceries to stock up on ingredients.

A cutesy cousin with a cutie pumpkin! We get a little bit silly when shopping... and basically doing anything.

With a few hours of shopping under our belts, we returned home with two shopping carts worth of groceries and then started on food preparation. 

By the end of the night, all the vegetables needed for the recipes were chopped, the beans were soaking, and the squash, pumpkin, and beets were cubed and steamed.

AHHH BEETS!!!!

It was a lot of work, but everything was ready to go for Sunday, when the real work began.

That's one stocked fridge!

So, So Much Cooking

Sara and I had quite the cooking extravaganza over the long weekend. It was so intense that even posting about it is overwhelming. We have So. Much. Food.

I doubt I will have to do any serious food prep for the next month.

Here's a sneak preview until I get the nerve to sit down and sort out all the photos from Saturday, Sunday, and Monday's marathon.

Note: we made the granola, not the bananas.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig.

Welp, my food options got pretty limited by the end of the week.  Good thing I'm home for the holiday weekend and can get some serious cooking done!

Wednesday night I scrounged through the fridge and freezer and managed to throw together a decent meal.

Cooked quinoa heated in a frying pan with frozen carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

Plus a bowl of frozen fruit that I thawed.

Thursday's lunch was another pathetic example of the healthy options for me in the university union.
A raw veggie cup, bag of brown rice chips, and a soy chai latte. (All a little overpriced of course.)

I drove home Friday morning and arrived around 12:30 pm, just in time for lunch! My first stop in town (after dropping clothes off at my parents of course) was the local health food store.  Then home to whip up an easy, tasty, healthy pizza.

Gluten free tortilla with organic tomato sauce and spinach leaves, baked at 350 degrees for 15 or so minutes. Basically until the tortilla was brown around the edges.  Delish!!

Many more Labor Day weekend cooking pics to come!

Over Priced Much?

Since I failed to ration my granola, I've had to resort to stopping by the university's union to pick up light lunches and snacks. The prices are pretty ridiculous. Nothing like a $7.25 lunch consisting of a fruit cup and napkin full if nuts to inspire a weekend of baking. I foresee much food prep happening come Friday.

Seriously not worth the money. I bet I could have made at least a week's worth of munchies for that cost!

Holy burst of flavor, Batman!

As per my weekend goal, I tried out a gluten-free granola recipe that did not contain oats. The recipe was really easy and tastes ...

INCREDIBLE!

Good golly, this granola is the cat's pajamas. It is a perfect blend of sweet and salty with a satisfying crunch. I need to make another batch STAT since this one is nearly gone. Hello new go-to breakfast and snack.

I pulled this recipe from the 120+ recipes I have pinned on Pinterest right now. I happened to have most of the ingredients in my pantry, so it ended up being very affordable as well as delectable. The recipe needed some modifications to fit my diet plan, so the following is my altered version of Vegetarian Times' Quinoa-Rice Granola.

Ingredients
5 gluten free brown rice cakes
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1/3 cup agave nectar
5 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup dried fruit (I used dried mango)

First, crumble the rice cakes in a bowl.  The pieces should be fairly small, about 1/2 to 1/4 inch.

Next, stir in quinoa flakes and mixed nuts.



In a separate bowl, mix together the agave, oil and cinnamon.

Then pour it over the rice/quinoa mixture and stir until well coated.

 

Spread it onto a parchment paper lined pan (or two). I only lined one of my pans and that was a big mistake.



Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Stir the granola and then bake for another 10 minutes. It should be golden brown. Let it cool on the baking pans until completely cool and crispy.

 

Next brake it into clusters and mix in the dried fruit. Store in an air-tight container and try not to eat the entire batch in one sitting.

Et voilà! Scrumdiddlyumptious oat-free gluten-free goodness.

Adorable Eats

Golly gee I can't say this enough, I just adore my little pink crock buddy. Perfectly heated meals each and every time we dine together. It had been 48 days since I last microwaved food, a feat that would be excruciatingly difficult without this cute addition to my kitchen.

 

Look how yummy those fajita veggies look. Hot but not soggy and as delicious as when they were fresh off the pan.

 

 

I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT.

Antici................pation

Yesterday's appointment with the natural health doctor was via phone since I'm living the university life again.  I was really hoping he'd tell me my food allergy test results are in and then say those glorious words I'm dying to hear: "you aren't allergic to oats."

Alas, my food sensitivities blood work has not come back yet.  Perhaps next week, but likely the week after.  Two more weeks of living an oatless life. 

I'm trying to accept that I may not get the news I want when the time does come, but hey a girl can dream right? The past several weeks I've been cooking under the assumption that this no-oat diet is temporary. But, my goal this weekend is to make an oat-free and gluten-free granola snack. Maybe a few tasty non-oat snack recipes in my repertoire will soften the blow I'm anticipating any week now. Granola pics to come!

Flavorful Salad on a Budget

I've been in the mood for a salad dish that fits my teeny tiny college budget without bland flavor or time consuming instructions. My meals became quite monotonous this week and something had to be done, so Tuesday after work I headed over to the grocery store with ingredients for the recipe below in mind. Lucky me, all the ingredients were super cheap and I already had several stocked in my pantry.

Inexpensive? Check.

The recipe I used is from a collective cookbook that my natural health doctor put together after a patient potluck. I altered it a smidgen to fit my diet specifications, but I have the original at the end of this post.

The dressing needs to refrigerate for a few hours so I got that started first. In my trusty Magic Bullet I blended 1 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 Tbs low sodium soy sauce, and 3/4 cup sugar.

It looked weird.

I stuck the bullet of dressing in the fridge and let it chill for two hours.

Next I heated 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan and browned 1/4 cup sunflower seeds with approximately 3oz gluten free rice noodles. The recipe called for a block of buckwheat ramen noodles, but those aren't gluten free so I estimated a weight equivalent in rice noodles. I'm resourceful like that.

The 1/4 cup of oil that the recipe called for was way to much as far as I'm concerned. Next time (and there will be a next time!) I will just drizzle oil over the pan.

I let the now lightly browned noodles and seeds cool while I combined 1 bag of cole slaw and 1 bag of broccoli slaw in a large mixing bowl.

Then I added the seeds and noodles to the cabbage and tossed it again.

 

The refrigerated dressing went on next, followed by one final toss. The original instructed to refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving, but I like my cabbage salads to sit for a day. Maybe I'm the only one, in which case go a head and eat it the same day you make it, but I love a slightly soggy cabbage.

 

The next day it looked like this and tasted awesome!! I foresee this salad making its way into my regular lunch lineup.

 

 

 

It was so tasty I had to have a bowl of it for supper too.

 

Easy? Check.

 

Delicious? Double check.



 

 

 

Original Recipe from Abi Stevens

Ramen/Cabbage Salad
1 bag cole slaw with shredded carrots, or equivalent amount of home-shredded cabbage/ vegetables
1 bag broccoli slaw with shredded carrots
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 square King Soba ramen noodles, broken into small pieces (these are made with buckwheat flour)

1/4 cup oil

Dressing

1 cup oil

1/4 cup vinegar

2 Tbs coconut aminos (or soy sauce, if you can have it)

3/4 cup sugar, or a blend of sugar and stevia

Blend dressing ingredients together in a blender and store in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Brown noodles and sunflower seeds in oil, strain, and let cool. Ad to cole slaw mix. Toss in dressing and refrigerate for 20 minutes or so before serving.

Getting Steamy

Classes are one day away. One day before I enter school mode.

Eat. Learn. Eat. Work. Study. Eat. Study. Work. Sleep. Repeat.

I don't often have time to do serious cooking until the weekend, so I'm stocking my freezer with ready-to-bake meals for week night suppers and easy lunches. Yesterday's endeavor was foil steam pouches.

I laid out pieces of foil approximately 16 inches long. Then I folded them in half the short way, unfolded them, and turned up the edges on one half to make a bowl shape.
In each bowl I added chopped sweet potato, onion, carrots, celery, and green beans.

Then I put cooked lentils leftover from a meal the other night on top. I sprinkled herbs de Provence over the ensemble.

For the moisture I added 1/4 cup of frozen vegetable broth. It will melt around the vegetables and steam them in the oven. In my ice cube trays, 1/4 cup equals 3 cubes.

On a side note, freezing broth in ice cube trays is a fantastic way to preserve a whole carton of broth if you are like me and only cook with a little at a time. I just thaw as much as I need without wasting half a container.

Next fold over the other foil half and crimp the edges. I was careful to roll the edges several times to prevent leaks.

After that they are ready for the freezer! When I'm ready to eat one I heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

A word of caution: Be careful opening the cooked foil packets as steam will release and can easily burn you. I may be speaking from experience.

I couldn't wait until next week to have a packet, so I baked one for last night's dinner. It could have used more herbs and I think the next batch I will add a little garlic or curry for more flavor. The veggies were perfectly cooked though! One less thing I will have to worry about this week as yet another exciting semester kicks off.

Drive-In Treats

Last Friday was movie night. Specifically drive-in movie night. I adore the drive-in. It's much fun and fantastically affordable for the small budget student such as myself. The Starlite in Wichita is my theater of choice. I think it might be the only drive-in left in the state, but regardless it is definitely the only one left within 50 miles of my house. They charge $5 per person (or $10 per carload depending on the season) and you get to see three movies. If sitting in your car watching movies with the radio or outside in lawn chairs isn't awesome enough, it is one heck of a deal too.

The first movie usually starts around 9pm, aka. dusk, so I try to leave the house around 8. However, the movie night prep work begins much earlier in the day with snack preparations. Usually I spend the afternoon making granola bars and all sorts of yummy treats to munch on all night, but once again I got some sad food news from my doctor and I'm off oats for several weeks. Apparently feeling ill a few hours after I eat oats each day isn't a coincidence. We're hoping it's just the gluten in the oats and I'll be able to switch to gluten free and continue my oatmeal-centric lifestyle, but who knows, maybe I'm allergic to oats. I'll know for sure when my food sensitivities blood work comes back, but until then I am off oats.

Oats are my go-to snack ingredient, so for last week's drive-in I had to rack my brain for something tasty that did not contain oaty magical goodness. What I came up with was trail mix. Not very original or thrilling at all, but delicious nonetheless.

My treat of the night consisted of equal parts soy nuts, almonds, peanuts, dried cranberries, and cocoa roasted almonds. Pumpkin seeds and cashews would have been good to add too, but I was on a limited grocery budget.

With trail mix in hand, my family and I enjoyed a splendid Starlite triple feature of Total Recall, The Dark Night Rises, and The Amazing Spiderman. A fantastic way to spend my last Friday before I returned to school.

Not Even a Goodbye Nibble

Last week I took a big leap forward in my food venture and began seeing a natural health concierge to manage my health through lifestyle choices rather than prescriptions and medical bills. I've been quite thrilled about the whole thing. I knew it would mean some changes, but I'm ready to end my perpetual sickness and feel well. The doctor and I had an initial meeting to discuss my interest in the process and then a second to hash out my history, situation, and goals. I waited as patiently as possible for the third visit, but it was tough. It's all just so exciting! The third visit was when I received my initial seven page report he compiled on what to eat to accomplish both the goals I view most important and the ones he sees as pertinent.

Now I knew going into this appointment that I was going to be making some diet altercations afterwards. That was the whole point and I was ready, or so I thought.

No meat. Hey not a problem, I'm vegetarian!

No dairy. Eh, I've been avoiding that for a few months now anyways. No big deal.

No black teas. Well that's not fun, but okay. Green tea is just as lovely.

No wheat. Whoa what? Hold on there. Just sticking to 100% whole wheat doesn't cut it? NONE AT ALL?!

And the list went on.

Wheat is a staple ingredient in just about every meal I make. I love bread. LOVE it. It's so scrumptious. Fluffy and crunchy at the same time. A daily delight for my taste buds. Of all the things he outlined for me at that appointment, eliminating wheat was the biggest blow. There were many things he covered in those seven pages, so I suppose I should be grateful that I'm only hung up on one detail. But golly, I didn't even get a last taste! Not a goodbye sandwich or even a farewell tortilla chip.

To make matters worse, I had baked a new bread recipe the day before and still had half the loaf left. It taunted me all weekend. I seriously contemplated cutting off a slice (or five) and starting the new and improved diet the next day, but I resisted. That would've been wrong and a weak way to start the food plan. I haven't caved and I hope I don't because I am committed to this nutrition lifestyle plan. However, had I known that piece I sliced from the warm freshly baked loaf Friday night would be my last wheaty bite, I would have snarfed down the entire loaf.

I'll miss you, wheat.

Oh Pink Lunch Crock, You Had Me at "Flavorful Meals On-The-Go"

I'm mixing things up with a podcast post today. In this four minute and thirty second audio, the main focus is on the current star of my lunches. Wonderful Crock-Pot Lunch Crock Food Warmer, I don't know how I could get by without you at the office and in my kitchen each and every day.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

As promised in the audio, click here for the Crock-Pot web site's product details for the Lunch Crock.

When You'd Rather Watch than Read

This post is a quickie. My last post mentioned the books my Eat to Live book club has read, but I completely left out that we will be adding documentaries to our discussion topic repertoire. We haven't watched any as a group yet, but Dr. Garrett, our fearless leader, has recommended some that cousin Sara and I have watched together.

One is Food Inc. and the other is Forks Over Knives. Both were fantastic and eye opening, but oh my I just loved Forks Over Knives. It was seriously top-notch and totally covered the main health points we have been hitting in our book club lately. It talks about the dangers of dairy and genetically modified ingredients and the powerful impact not eating meat can have on a diet. I also loved the footage they filmed in Eastern countries before and after being exposed to a Western diet. It's really powerful stuff.

Here is the trailer to Forks Over Knives. It is available for instant streaming on Netflix and if you are a subscriber I highly suggest you check it out. Enjoy and I'll keep you posted when we start watching more films.

Reading about Eating (aka Sunday Afternoon Support Group)

'Tis Sunday. Generally I do not accomplish a whole lot this day of the week, what with the many intentions I have for the weekend and the very little follow through that actually occurs. However, since last spring there has been a smidgen more structure to my Sunday afternoons. I joined a book club that focuses on healthy eating. It is lead by a local natural medicine health concierge who selects the books we cover and leads the discussions that follow. He also answers our endless stream of questions as we discover together some pretty shocking information about lifestyle choices.

We read about everything from dangerous chemical ingredients in everyday processed food at the grocery store to myths and lies about nutritional value perpetrated by corporate industries and government administration. It's not all negative talk though, we also learn the truths about foods and ways to engage in healthy eating that contrasts the Western diet.

We meet just about every Sunday for an hour and it has been so much fun. I have really enjoyed the discussions and it is so helpful to have a doctor there to decipher the sometimes confusing texts. So far we have read The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I highly recommend checking these out. Michael Pollan's book was more fun to read in my opinion, but both were fascinating insights to what's really happening to the food we eat before it reaches our plates. The nice part about Pollan's book is that it didn't just scare you with horrid facts, it also helped explain a better approach to eating. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants" is the simple phrase he structures the book around, and it's so true!

There isn't a book club meeting today since we are taking a break between books, so I probably will end up watching a lot of Olympic coverage and not get much done.  But, I'm very much looking forward to our next book. The Great American Detox Diet is our next adventure and it is written by Alex Jamieson, wife to Morgan Spurlock who you might know from the movie Super Size Me. 

I LOVE Morgan Spurlock. Love his movies. Love him.

Anyways, I am excited to read what his wife has to say on nutritional eating. She is a holistic health counselor and has written other books on eating vegan. She also undid the damage Morgan did to his body when he filmed Super Size Me so clearly she has some useful food magic knowledge.

I could start reading it now and get ahead for our next book club meeting, but Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are calling to me. Televised Olympics it is.

2am Waffle Madness

Cooking everything from actual food takes more than ninety seconds. Yeah, the yellow powder in macaroni boxes isn't actually cheese. Plus, since I'm not microwaving at all (17 days and going strong!) there really isn't a quick cook option for me. But that does not mean delicious, amazingly healthy meals can't be ready at a moment's notice! It just takes careful planning and forethought.

My cousin Sara and I are experimenting with various techniques for prepping meals in advance so that we don't have to spend an hour or two in the kitchen every night. I'll post more on our mason jar endeavors another day, but first I want to highlight the waffle marathon we completed late Tuesday night.

We started a little before 9pm and finished at 2:30am. The idea is that by devoting one evening to making a bunch of buckwheat waffles, we can have frozen waffles for breakfasts and dinners for weeks to come.

I think we mixed four batches of buckwheat batter. It was super simple, just some organic buckwheat pancake and waffle mix, almond milk, eggs (from local chickens), olive oil, and honey.

I whisked batter and Sara ran the waffle iron. The first few rounds turned out a bit interesting, but we experimented and the last half of the waffle results look awesome. We found that filling the iron quite full had the best results since the batter filled the squares better.

We cooked until we ran out of milk. Then we let the waffles cool, wrapped them in pairs in tin foil, and put them in the freezer. By using tin foil to wrap them, we will be able to pop the packets directly into the toaster oven and they'll crisp evenly. These waffles also fit in my normal toaster, so that's a speedy option as well.

We didn't really get the quantity of waffles that we were hoping. This is a photo of the waffles minus the ones we ate along the way. It's been decided that next time we will have two irons going at once and mix the batter in one large batch. That should have better results I think.

It was a lot of fun regardless. They taste amazing by the way.

Topeka Market Map

For you Topeka folks, here is the map to get to the downtown farmer's market that I mentioned earlier. They also have a handy website with lots of lovely info such as vendor lists, hours, and who to call if you loose something while you're there.

It's my full intent at this point to go on a bi-weekly basis. We'll see...


View Larger Map

Making Time for Zucchini

Work projects, school deadlines, and family what-not make up the hurricane of busyness that is my life right now. It seems like I'm always finishing up one thing just in time to run off somewhere else and work on another. Despite all this racing about, I did make time to pickle some zucchini over the weekend.

I had quite a few zucchini in the fridge that needed to be used soon before they got too squashy and weird. I've had this recipe for Spicy Zucchini Pickles pinned on my recipes board for a while now and it seemed like the perfect time to try it.

I don't actually like pickles. At all. They are gross. But I'm hoping that pickling zucchini will have different taste results. I also really like the spices that go in the jars.

Following the recipe, I began with about 2 pounds of zucchini.

I washed them and sliced them up into sticks.

Then I brought 2 1/4 cups white wine vinegar, 1 1/2 cups water, 2 Tablespoons salt, and 1/4 cup sugar to a boil. After it was boiling nicely I put in about a quarter of the squash sticks and boiled them for about 3 minutes. The recipe says "until it is khaki colored."

I had pint jars waiting and when the sticks were done I used tongs to pull them from the water and slip them into the first jar. I continued with this boiling for 3 minutes process until all the zucchini was boiled and in jars.

I added 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon dill seed to each jar. Then I poured the hot liquid from the pan into each jar so that the zucchini was covered. The lids were screwed on next and then the jars cooled for a while before I put them in the fridge. They need to refrigerate for at least a week before eating so I don't know if they turned out yet. I'll let you know!