I admit, the addition of a "just recipes" page to my blog is mostly selfish but I really think it could help other people like me too.  So many nights I make these recipes in my own home and end up saying to myself, "what temperature was that again?" or "how much cumin was that supposed to be?" well now instead of booting up the laptop to search my blog because searching it with my iPod results in a lot of squinting and whining, all of my recipes will be on one page - no searching, just scroll!  I hope everyone enjoys this feature.  Ill continue to post recipes in my blog updates and also add them to the recipes page to be part of the big list for easy finding later.  Tell me what you think... I thought originally that Id be able to do multiple "posts" on the 2nd page but that doesnt seem possible so Ive just made it into a big list to scroll through.  The recipes will basically be listed in chronological order with the newest one on top.  Tell me what you think!  :)

Oh!  Also, Ive added the email addresses of a few people who read regularly/subscribe to a distribution list.  For some reason this notification will only allow me to send to 10 people so if youre on the list and dont want the notifications please let me know and if youre not and you want to get on the wait list for being one of those 10 people, let me know too!  lol

Read More..

Day 166 here and feeling better about my food choices this week.  Last night I ran into a recipe (on the back of a package of frozen turkey burgers no less) that I think a lot of people would like.  AND it uses ingredients that may already be in the house from making the avocado salsa chicken!  I did some tweaking, as usual, and came out with a recipe that makes frozen turkey burgers into a gourmet meal.  I call them... wait for it...

TEXI-BURGERS (As in Mexican flavor turkey burgers!)
makes 4 servings

4 Jennie-0 All Natural Turkey Burgers - Made from Lean White Meat
4 slices reduced fat cheese (American or cheddar recommended)
1/2 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh salsa (such as Natures Promise medium organic salsa)
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
2 Tbsp taco seasoning

Grill turkey burgers according to package instructions.  While grilling, mix together sour cream and taco seasoning.  If you dont have pre-packaged taco seasoning on hand, heres a great recipe that I used to make it from scratch (except I left out the crushed red pepper flakes because I dont like them):  All Recipes Taco Seasoning I Recipe.  When turkey burgers are fully cooked, add 1 slice of cheese (approx. 1/2 oz) to each burger then remove from grill when melted.  Top each turkey cheeseburger with taco sauce, sliced avocado & 2 Tbsp salsa.  Voila, Texi-Burgers!  Can also be served on a kaiser roll for those not concerned with carbs. 

This is a great recipe for using up the other half of an avocado and some of the salsa leftover from making the avocado salsa chicken.  I guess Ive been on an avocado kick lately!  Last night I made these with Land O Lakes American cheese slices because we always have it in the house for my husband (and the dog).  So mine last night was 160 calories from the burger, 50 calories from the cheese (would be less using reduced fat or 2%), <5 calories from salsa, ~40 calories for <1oz avocado, and ~25 calories for the taco "sauce" - making my whole burger a total of 280 calories.  Of course, I counted the avocado toward my "healthy fat" for the day and since I had my burger on lettuce instead of a bun, I counted the two lettuce leaf pieces and salsa as one of my vegetable servings for the day.

I actually cant wait to have these again!

Read More..

I spent New Years Eve doing all of the things I liked doing most in the year that came before which is what I hear youre supposed to do for a successful new year.  Not the least of these things was spending a ridiculous and enjoyable amount of time in the kitchen cooking with the chef while the fella supervised.  We decided to do a gluten free pizza party and it was splendid.  I worked with two crust recipes Ive tried before with interesting toppings and the chef to my great pleasure tried something purple.

 

 Almond Flour Zatar Pizza

The first crust was the much loved almond flour variety that the fella and I have been making off and on all year.  I found out totally accidentally that it comes out it a much better crust texture if you half the recipe and go for a mini sized thinner crust. 

Once the crust was par baked I used a pastry brush to slather it with oil from the huge jar of sun dried tomatoes I always have in the back of the fridge.  Then I sprinkled it with my newest obsession, zatar seasoning.  I added, a wee bit of feta, some grape tomatoes, and marinated artichokes.  A couple more minutes in the oven and it was amazing.  This was simple but my favorite pizza of the evening,  I will be making this again many time over.

 

Flax Seed Crust with Roasted Veggies

Next up for turning the flax seed focaccia recipe into a crust which worked out pretty well.  I halved that recipe too so it would fit into a well greased cake pan.  The only problem was once it had moist ingredients and melted cheese on it, the crust got a little too wet.  We decided it needed to cook longer or be cooked once, refrigerated, toasted in the oven and then decorated with toppings.  This situation will obviously require more experimentation.  Oh darn.

On this pizza I wanted to do something more traditional.   So I put some left over pasta sauce on it, roasted some veggies, threw on some sun dried tomatoes and covered it all with mozzarella and baby portabellas tossed in balsamic vinegar.  It was tasty but the slightly too wet texture of the crust was a bit of a turn off so it wasnt our favorite.  The crust did do a good job of imitating the taste of a hearty whole wheat type crust though so Ill continue to play with this one until I get it right. 

Purple Rice Flour Crust

The chef will have to explain to the world what he did the create the purple rice flour crust.  All I know is it was very yummy and while it was cooking it looked like the surface of the moon and he has the pictures to prove it.  So lets all bother him until he posts about that.

What I do know was that the crust had a really nice texture right out of the oven but suffered from sogginess as it cooled.  So this crust will require more experiments before its perfect as well.  With roasted eggplant, Parmesan, fig vinegar, and a goat cheese red wine reduction sauce it was as near to perfect as I could hope for something that pretty to be. 

Leatherwood South African Cab 

The only disappointment of the evening was the wine I picked.  In my defense my boss at the wine store I work at raved about it saying it was the best Cab in the store in the $11 to $15 range.  He almost always has impeccable taste so I believed him, needing something big and tannic to hold up to a bunch of pizzas.  Sadly it was a watery very blah wine.  You know the kind of wine Im talking about--its fine, not bad but not good.  It just tasted like wine it had nothing going on in it. 

Happily after dinner we were off to Lindsays to have more sparking wine cocktails than most people could possibly imagine.  That helped me to forget the very so so wine.  And we got to confuse our friends by serving them the pizza left overs.  I did have to bow out to go to bed early, having a low key ringing in the new year with the dog and my favorite guys.  But I couldnt have been happier doing it.  All in all its been my favorite new years even so far.  If you ask me all the other holidays could be improved with pizza.  

Read More..

This is what dinner looks like when I neglect to plan out recipes ahead of time.  Dont get me wrong, it was delicious but more random than Im used to.

The fella and I were both hungry and uninspired.  All we had were a couple random vegetables and a bunch of dry beans that no one wanted to put the effort into boiling.  Then while looking through the oddities of my cupboard I found one can of white beans neither of us could remember buying.  Not one to look down upon random dinner providing beans, I whipped them into a dip I remembered seeing in my food blog browsing earlier in the day.  And tada we had protein and an almost balanced meal.

Im not a fan of raw garlic (its not a fan of me either I found out in my elimination dieting so at least the feeling is mutual) so I cooked mine before adding it.  But if youre a the garlicky-er the better type and loss in a few cloves raw, this is the easiest dip imaginable.  Its like hummus for when youre all hummus-ed out or not in the mood to plan ahead for soaking chickpeas.  Especially on the forbidden corn chips this dip was extraordinary. 

White Bean Dip

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups (or 1 15-ounce can) cooked white beans

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 a lemon, juiced 
salt and pepper, to taste


If you decide to cook the garlic, saute it briefly in the olive oil over medium heat just until it is no longer raw before tossing in the food processor.


If using canned beans, drain and rinse them, then place in food processor.  If using dried beans, cook 1 cup of white beans of your choice using your preferred method and put in food processor when cooked through.


Put all of the remaining ingredients in the food processor with the garlic and beans and pulse a few times until the mixture is very smooth.  Check the seasoning to see if more salt, pepper or thyme is needed.  Also add additional liquid at this point if you would like the dip to be thinner.  Blend again until well combined. 

Modified from an original recipe at Affairs of Living blog.

Read More..

Since I made a page just for recipes, I thought it was only suitable to also have a page dedicated just to photos of my progress... well and a few funny old Halloween photos for reference!  Enjoy the Photos!

Read More..