Sesame Chicken

Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 c. honey
1/4 soy sauce
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 c. sesame seeds
2 pounds boneless, skinless chix thighs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix ingredients and dip chicken in it.
3. Place in 9x13 baking dish, lightly greased.
4. Bake 45 min.

This was quick and easy and tasty!

Raw Pad Thai

Base:

2 medium zucchinis, washed and ends trimmed

1 large carrot, washed and ends trimmed

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/2 each red and yellow pepper, thinly sliced

1 cup slivered red or white cabbage

1 green apple, julienned

3/4 cup finely chopped cauliflower

3 Tbsp grated or shredded coconut

Sauce:

3 Tbsp maple syrup or agave nectar

juice of one lemon (about 2-3 Tbsp)

2 small cloves garlic, minced

4 dry unsweetened dates, soaked in room temp water for 2 hours*

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup natural almond butter

up to 1/2 cup water, to thin the sauce

To create the “noodles,” peel the zucchini lengthwise with a carrot peeler, rotating it as you go, to create long, thin strips Arrange on a large platter. Repeat with the carrot to create long strips, or grate it if you prefer. Place the carrot, onion, peppers, cabbage, apple and cauliflower in a large bowl.

In a blender, combine all sauce ingredients and 2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup of the water. Blend to combine, then test thickness. Add more water, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. (I hear it's good thick, as the natural moisture in the veggies thins it out).

Pour the sauce over the vegetables in the bowl and toss. Spoon the veggie mixture over the zucchini “noodles,” then sprinkle with the coconut. Toss, then serve immediately. Makes 4 large servings. Will keep, covered in the refrigerator, up to 2 days.

Thai Custard Pudding and Coconut Pumpkin Custard

Haven't tried this yet (I need glass bowls) but doesn't it sound AMAZING?!

Thai Custard Pudding
5 eggs
1 cup full fat coconut milk
½ cup sweetener (honey, maple syrup, Sucanat) OR ¼ cup sweetener & 5 drops of Stevia
pinch of sea salt
splash of vanilla extract

Mix everything in a glass bowl.
Set bowl into larger glass bowl with water reaching halfway up the sides.
Bake at 325F for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Doesn't that sound yummy?!
I love all things coconut.

Coconut Pumpkin Custard
1 - 13.50z can of full fat coconut milk
1 c. pumpkin puree
¾ cup sugar (I used Sucanat)
4 large eggs
½ t. salt
½ t. coconut extract (omitted it cause i didn't have any)
¼ t. nutmeg (I substituted with pumpkin pie spice)

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Wisk ingredient together
3. Fill 6 Ramekins ⅔ of the way full
4. Place ramekins in a large baking pan filled with water
5. Bake 40 minutes

I made this. Waaay too eggy. Will not make again.

Sheperd's Pie

This was fantastic!!! Naomi didn't like it but she doesn't like onions or peppers. Without those she might have liked it. I LOVED it!!! Got the recipe from Wellness Mama.

Shepard's Pie:

• 2 (or more) pounds of ground beef, turkey or other meat
• 2-3 heads of cauliflower or 3-4 bags of frozen cauliflower
• 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (no corn! It’s not a veggie!)
• 1-2 onions
• 1 egg
• Seasonings to taste (I used natural beef bouillon, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and a little cayenne)
• 3-4 Tablespoons of butter
• 4 ounces of cream cheese (optional)
• Cheese to top (optional)

How to Make Healthy Shepard/Cottage Pie:

1. Brown meat in large skillet and season to taste when cooked. Set aside.
2. Saute diced onion in skillet until somewhat soft. Set aside with meat.
3. Pour mixed veggies in the skillet to heat on low heat and in the meantime…
4. In large pot, boil several cups of water. Add cauliflower, cover, and cook until soft enough to mash.
5. Remove the pot from the heat, pour off the water, and add butter and cream cheese to the pot.
6. Add spices and mash. (I use a hand blender to make it really smooth)
7. Mixed veggies should be cooked by now.
8. Mix the meat, onions mixed veggies, raw egg and any additional seasonings and put in bottom of 9×13 baking dish.
9. Spread mashed cauliflower mixture over it until smooth.
10. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.
11. Add cheese and bake 5 additional minutes (optional).
12. Serve warm (ore reheat later)

I used ground turkey, fresh red pepper and snap peas for the veggies and topped it with raw cheddar cheese. Divine, I tell you. I am going to be making this again really soon.

Fried Fish and Sauteed Butternut Squash

We both loved this!

Coconut Fried Fish

Ingredients:
4 white fish fillets
1 T. coconut oil
1 egg
1 c. coconut flour
assorted spices

1. Beat egg in bowl.
2. Dip the white fish fillets into the beaten egg.
3. Dredge them in coconut flour that you have doctored up with spices. I used Turmeric (anti inflammatory), cayenne, sea salt, black pepper and I don't know what else.
4. Place them in a pan where you have melted the coconut oil (my new love).
5. Pan fry them for about 4 minutes per side taking care to not jostle them too much lest the coating will all fall off.
6. Flip, finish frying and enjoy!

I paired it with some sauteed butternut squash, which we both also loved.

Ingredients:

Sauteed Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
1 whole butternut squash
coconut oil
sea sat

1. Place the uncut butternut squash in the oven and bake it on 350F for about an hour. I didn't even bother to wash it or remove the sticker!
2. When soft, remove the seeds and scoop out the flesh.
3. Put some in a pan with some coconut oil and a little sea salt.
4. Saute until hot.

Can I tell you how much I love coconut oil and even more so now that I have learned that even though it's a saturated fat it's good for you! Yay!!!

Weekly Menu

146.4
I ate way fewer grains but still didn't exercise.
Took vitamins twice.
Inflammation and bad joint pain.
A lot of stress.
Slept poorly.
It was a busy week and next week will be a bit calmer but I have still have way too much going on to do much cooking this week so I am going super simple.

Meals:

Spaghetti
Ethiopian food to celebrate ALMI DAY! -- OUR FIRST YEAR TOGETHER!
Sweet and Saucy Chicken
leftovers
Tomato soup and tuna melts

Sweet and Saucy Chicken (from the Moms Who Think website)

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups salsa
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons honey dijon mustard

>Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine all ingredients and place in 13x9" pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40-45 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Next week I will do 30 Day Shred!!
Have a great week!

Sweet Aromatic Chicken

I ditched the Chicken Marbella idea and decided to make this instead. Much less labor intensive. It sounded (and smelled!) really good but it was just ok. Naomi didn't like it at all but maybe that's because she really just wanted to eat bananas. Maybe it will be better tomorrow.



This is right before I turned on the Crock Pot. Man, I love that thing. I need to use it more.

Sourdough French Toast

Lately I've been reading about how fermented foods aid in health. We're trying to go grain-free but going cold turkey is hard and makes preparing lunches difficult so I decided sourdough would be okay. Yesterday, at Trader Joe's I found what I was looking for. I read it needs to be made with a sourdough starter. They had two types of sourdough but only one was made with a sourdough starter so that's the one I bought. I was never really a fan of sourdough but this was very tasty! It's great for french toast, too, because it really holds up well to the egg mixture.

This is how I made it. I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl and added ½ c. milk. Then I added 2T of maple syrup, ¼ t. of cinnamon, ½ t. of vanilla and a dash of salt. Let the bread soak up the egg mixture, about 5 min. or so, and then fry it up in some butter. Yum! Next time I will probably use coconut milk in the recipe and coconut oil in the pan. Mmmm.. I love all things coconut. I really liked it and Naomi thought it was great, too!

Weekly Menu

Someone is snuggled in my lap as I search for recipes in assorted scattered cookbooks. She picked up a cold this week which escalated into a fever. The fever finally broke but Little Miss is still coughing, a bit lethargic and in need of snuggles. No problem. I got that.



Here's this week recap and menus.

Vitamins?
Sun & Mon-yes

Tues,Wed, Thurs -no
Fri & Sat -yes

Workout?
Mon-Sat: no

Joint Pain- moderate
Weight - 146.0
Bodyfat? A lot.
Measurements? Still no clue.


I am am digging the menu planning! I am learning to cook new things and I love feeding her (and myself) real food. And frankly, with my our health concerns it's necessary.

Last week, instead of the coconut rice with raisins to go with the curried chicken, I made a Tanzanian dish of chickpeas in coconut milk. I thought she would love it because she loves garbanzo beans and she did at first. She called it "soup". It did kind of have a soupy consistency. But the recipe said to prepare it a day ahead so the flavors melded and this was very true. Day 1 it was very average (more bland) and but she loved it. And on day 2 she was no longer a fan.

The curried chicken, also average on day 1, was fantastic however on days2, 3 and 4. She wasn't excited about it but I loved it! Here's the recipe:

Curried Chicken
1.5 pounds on skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs
3 T oil
3 T curry powder
1c unsweetened coconut milk
¼ salt
2 T lime juice

Cut chicken into 2" pieces. Heat oil in frying pan. Add chicken with curry. Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken begins to brown. About 5 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to medium and stir in coconut milk. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce begins to thicken. abut anther 5 minutes or so. Season with salt. Then stir in the lime juice. Cook for 1 minute longer. Serve. Yum!! (Warning: Your house will smell like curry for days if that sort of thing bothers you.)

The onion soup is in the crock. I hope it's good.

This week's menu plan -- dinners

Sunday - onion soup and leftovers

Monday -stir fried rice with chicken and broccoli

Tuesday - onion soup and leftovers

Wednesday -mango ginger pork roast with spinach

Thursday -bunless turkey burgers and salad or leftover veggies

Friday -leftovers or tuna salad

Saturday - some appealing veggie crock pot dish which i haven't found yet

Here's the pork recipe. It looks amazing in the cookbook photo.

Mango Ginger Pork

1 pork shoulder roast (about 4 pounds)
½ - 1 t. ground ginger
2 c. mango salsa
2 T honey
¼ c. apricot preserves
salt and pepper to taste

Season roast with ginger, salt and pepper. Transfer to the Crock Pot.
Combine salsa, honey and preserves and pour over roast. Cover.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.
Turn Crock Pot to high and cook 3-4 more hours or until the roast is tender.
Serve over rice if desired.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Don't Be Jealous

But this is what I am about to eat...

Dates wrapped in bacon, sliced Granny Smith apple and red wine. OMG. Amazing.

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients:
1 package (8 oz) nitrate-free bacon
1 pound dates (organic if possible)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the bacon slices in half.
3. Pit the dates with your fingers or with a paring knife.
4. Wrap each date with a half a slice of bacon. Use toothpicks if necessary.
5. Set on a baking dish, ideally one with high sides, so the bacon grease doesn’t spill all over your oven when it melts.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bacon gets crispy.

Source: Cheeseslave

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This doesn't really have the consistency of cake, more like a souffle or something, but it was good. Almi LOVED it! She even finished all her broccoli to try it. lol These pics aren't great but here you can see her trying to get every last bite! :)


Recipe (once again from elanaspantry.com):

3 large eggs, separated
¼ t. salt (I used less)
½ c. agave nectar
¼ c. grapeseed oil
1 c. mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
½ c. cocoa powder

1. In a Vitamix, whip egg yolks, agace and salt on medium for 1-2 minutes
2. Add grapeseed oil and banana and blend another minute or two
3. Blend in cocoa powder
4. In a bowl, whip egg whites to stiff peaks
5. Gently fold in contents of Vitamix into bowl with egg whites
6. Grease a 9" springfoam pan and pour in batter (I used a regular 8x8 glass dish)
7. Bake at 350᠐ for 25-30 minutes.

Coconut Pumpkin Muffins

Oh, leisurely Sundays. How I love thee!!!

I woke up at 4:30 am (went to bed with her at 8:30) so after browsing the internet and signing up for Swagbucks I decided to go downstairs and cook. She didn't wake up until 7:45 so I had time to make some cranberry sauce to freeze for Thanksgiving and some pumpkin muffins for breakfast. I made them about two weeks ago but forgot the maple syrup when copying down the recipe. Not as good without that ingredient, let me tell you! Today they were downright yummy (even though I forgot the vanilla today)! Regardless, we didn't add anything to them but a bit of Earth Balance when they were fresh out of the oven. Soooo good!


Here's the recipe:

½ c. coconut flour
2 t. pumpkin pie spice
½ t. salt (I added less)
½ t. baking soda
6 eggs
4 T coconut oil or butter (I used Earth Balance), melted
⅓ c. pure maple syrup
1 t. vanilla

Heat oven to 400०F.
Grease muffin tins well.
Sift dry ingredients in small bowl.
Wisk eggs and add wet ingredients.
Add flour mixture to egg mixture, blending well til lumps disappear but not more than necessary.
Spoon into muffin tins, about ⅔ full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or when toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Serve warm.

Apple Crisp

I printed out a whole host of recipes recently and put them all together in a 3-ring binder. I have been meaning to make this for awhile, but since it's made with almond flour and I don't let Almi eat peanuts or tree nuts I had to wait until she was asleep to make it. Last night I finally got my chance and boy, was it worth the wait!

First I whipped up the topping.
Then I peeled the apples.
Then I sliced the apples. I love this apple slicer! I use it all the time.
I assembled the apple sliced in an 8x8 dish. I read somewhere that when you are making applesauce you should use a variety of apples so I did the same thing with my apple crisp. I think there were Gala, Fuji and McIntosh in there.
Next I plopped on the topping--which I sampled quite a bit of after mixing it up. It wasn't very sweet but I decided to follow the recipe as directed.
I set the timer for 40 minutes. 50 seemed awfully long and I was afraid it was going to burn but when I checked it the apples weren't as soft as I wanted them to be so I cooked it for the entire 50 minutes, plus the ten uncovered. Here it is finished and ready to eat (yeah, I already served myself some pre-photo). I may have actually kept it in another 5-10 minutes longer to get it more crispy and browned but Naomi was crying loudly from her crib, which she never does, so I ran to attend to her.
Let me tell you, this is amazingly good! I highly recommend it if you are looking for a way to use up some of your fall apple stash or just crave a healthy dessert. It could be sweeter but I guess that's because I am used to eating overly sweetened desserts with refined white sugar. I drizzled a bit of honey on my serving and that was perfect. I could also see maybe warming up some maple syrup and drizzling that on top or pouring on a bit of vanilla almond milk. I will definitely try those suggestions this weekend. Now the trick is to find a way to sneak and eat this.

I got the recipe from Elena's Pantry. Love that site!

P.S. I only got a small sample of this last night because Almi cried for over an hour and was only consoled with some ibuprofin and getting into Mommy's bed to go back to sleep. I think she may have an ear infection because she was saying "Owie!" and holding onto her left ear. I didn't sleep very well last night with her in there coughing and poking me so I'm glad I whipped up this yummy dessert to come home to tonight.

Monkey Bread

I love lazy Saturdays. No alarm clock. No rushing around the house to get to daycare or work. Usually I have to rush her out the door with some Cheerios and a sippy cup full of rice milk but on Saturdays I have time to prepare a hot breakfast. My little helper was there to watch all the steps.


Can I tell you how much I love having her in the learning tower? It was such a great purchase! Here it is last fall all lonely without a child in it. :)


My coworkers turned me onto Monkey Bread. Yum-my!!! I substituted Sucranat for the brown sugar and Earth Balance for the butter in an effort to create some sort of healthier version but this is one baked good where you really oughtta follow the recipe as instructed. Sacrificing the taste just wasn't worth the 25 calories we may have saved. We ate my version--it wasn't bad-- and it was easy to resist eating the whole thing which is a definite plus, but the real McCoy is delicious!! Honestly, if it weren't a zillion calories per heavenly slice, I would probably make it every weekend.


While we were waiting for it to bake, we had a conversation.

Vegan Brownies

I made these once before and I told myself then I would make them for my daughter when she came home. Well, she's home so we made them today! I started them last night but was too tired to shred the zucchini so I finished them while she was eating her breakfast. After she ate her eggs I gave her the spoon to lick. She enjoyed that :)


Then I tried to clean her up and take her out of her high chair but she insisted, I mean insisted, on trying some of the zucchini so I let her. Shredded, raw zucchini. I didn't think she'd like it. I don't like it. So bland. Not my girl. She gobbled it up! One thing I can say, she really likes vegetables! How awesome is that? (She signs banana in this video too. So cute!)



Here's the recipe if you want to make them. I loved them last year during Lent when I was off meat and dairy and wasn't used to eating a ton of junk food and could not wait to make them again. Now, I must admit, though I am not eating a ton of junk food they really aren't as good as I remembered. But, they are full of zucchini so if your kid likes them you won't feel bad about giving her some.
My kid? Not so much. I was so excited to give her a healthy dessert but she ate one bite and was done with it. So much for that idea! Guess I have to stick to the plain, ol' vegetable.

And Injera, Too!

As I was making those egg crepes I kept thinking I need to be learning how to make injera. Learning how to make it is certainly not a necessity living in this area; it's easily accessible at the many, many, many Ethiopian restaurants and markets scattered all over the city. Plus, I have Ethiopian friends just up the road who are more than happy to show me how to make authentic injera -- well as authentic as possible considering the altitude and ingredients. Teff is easily available but I think how and where it's grown factors in. But learning how to prepare Ethiopian dishes myself is important to me and injera is eaten at every meal. Whether I make it myself or go out and buy it, I certainly need to stock up because from my experience that is pretty much all she has probably ever eaten. The toddlers in the orphanage where I volunteered ate injera and wot for every single meal. Every. single. day.

I imagine it's the same with Almaz. Add to that that toddlers can be finicky anyway, well having injera in the house at all times (at least in the beginning) is a smart idea.

Well, how happy was I to discover this injera recipe in that same cookbook?! It is a very simplified way to make injera so it probably doesn't taste "authentic" but I'm no injera expert and an Americanized version suits my palate better. The injera in Ethiopia is very dark and very bitter and I actually preferred the version they brought out to farenji in restaurants.

Here's the recipe if you are interested:

If someone tries it, please let me know how it turns out. Thanks!


(Source: Extending the Table... A World Community Cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach)

Somali Egg Crepes

I woke up yesterday thinking pancakes would be nice to go along with this snowy weather but I didn't have any pancake mix so I pulled this cookbook off my bookshelf.I love this cookbook! It has such a wonderful variety of recipes from all over the world. I need to use it more often. So, I flipped through and found this recipe for which most of the ingredients I had on hand.Close enough to pancakes! I decided to try them. I documented the process for you. First up? Sugar. Check. My sugar is brown and white because it's a mix of regular sugar and Sucanat.
Next eggs. Well, I only had egg whites so that's what I used.
Baking powder. Check. Though I couldn't find my half teaspoon measuring spoon so I had to estimate.
Cloves. Check. Improvised again.Milk. Check.Flour. Check. Only wheat flour on hand.I mixed everything up and heated up the non-stick frying pan. I used just a bit of non-stick spray and poured in some batter. I spread it around and waited for it to bubble. Looking good!Then I tried to flip it. Fail. Learn from my mistakes. First of all, don't put on the non-stick spray judiciously, trying to save calories. No, use way more than you normally would. Or switch to butter. I switched to Earth Balance. Second, make sure your batter is really thin. Once I made these adjustments, they came out great.Pretty tasty! A bit heavy on the clove flavoring, though, for my taste. I might try cinnamon next time. But, I like that they are portable, no crumbs (great for kids in carseats) and very inexpensive to make. Maybe you'd like to try them!

Yum

I just whipped myself up a lovely summer meal for dinner tonight. I wanted to use up some of the foods that I already have around the house and I wanted it to be light.... et voila´! Tuna with cannellini beans. Superbe!

First I drained the tuna and put a scoop on my plate. Then I rinsed the beans and plopped some down on the tuna. Then drizzled them both with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and added some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. Then I cut up some avocado, tomato and white onion and it was ready. It was quick. It was easy. Et c'était délicieux! (My French is WAY rusty! Feel free to correct me!)

Strawberry Bread

I love summer! To me it's the best season of the year hands down. I love water. I love swimming and beaches and pools. I love boating and kayaking and jet skiing. I love the weather, the sunshine, the warmth, the lazy days with no job to go to, not having to set an alarm and staying up until I'm tired. I love ice cream cones on hot days and sundresses and ceiling fans. And I love summer meals --especially the fruits and vegetables of summer... corn, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, etc. Yum-my.

So the other day I purchased 3 pints of strawberries. I know strawberries; they don't last long, even if you don't wash them. This morning I looked in the refrigerator and realized I still had two pints left and decided today was the day to make Strawberry Bread.



I read about Strawberry Bread on someone's blog last week and it sounded so good (hence the huge strawberry purchase). I had never heard of it but I love zucchini bread and banana bread so I figured it had to be good and this morning I made some. I had to tweak the recipe a bit because I didn't have any applesauce or sugar. I rarely bake with sugar so I used Sucanat, substituted plain Greek yogurt in place of the applesauce and added more strawberries.

I had a slice while it was still warm. My version was very moist and just a tad sweet. Very wholesome! Delicious for breakfast or dessert, by itself or with some butter and jam. Try it!


Strawberry Bread (my version)

* 1 cup all purpose flour
* 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 and 1/2 cup of strawberries, washed and sliced
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 3/4 cup Sucanat
* 1/4 cup canola oil
* 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a larger bowl beat together the vanilla, eggs, Sucanat, oil and yogurt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until fully combined. Fold in the strawberries. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.