Recipes

3/16/12:  Happy Spring!!!!
 
I was in a baking mood Wednesday but have been working really hard to cut "crap" out of my mouth.  I have done a lot of reading on the paleo lifestyle and have adopted all most of the principles.  Fresh, gluten free, dairy free eating.  Lots of fruit, vegetables, nuts, and meat.  No packaged foods...it is nice to cut that stuff out but difficult when in a rush!  Imagine trying to back when you have cut out gluten and dairy!  It turned out much better than anticipated and made for some guilt free eating.  Even CJ and Lily loved the new recipes...they are keepers!!!

Banana Bread

recipe found here...Elana's Pantry

• 3 bananas (about 1 ½ cups) mashed
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ¼ cup vegan palm oil shortening (I used coconut oil because I didn't have palm oil on hand)
• 2 cups blanched almond flour (I used 1 3/4 cup almond flour and 1/4 cup flaxseed mill)
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Place bananas, eggs, vanilla, honey and shortening in a food processor
2. Pulse ingredients together
3. Pulse in almond flour, salt and baking soda
4. Scoop batter into a greased 7.5" x 3.5" Magic Line Loaf Pan
5. Bake at 350° for 55-65 minutes (I am not sure how long I ended up cooking mine for since I had a power failure in the middle of baking...good thing I walked in for a coffee refill)
   
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool
7. Great with a cup of coffee and topped with a little almond butter or flax seed butter

 Ummmm, oops!!

 Very moist and flavorful!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

recipe found here...Elanas Pantry

• 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup grapeseed oil (there is some debate if grapeseed oil is paleo but I went with it although next time I am going to use coconut oil)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup agave nectar (I used honey instead)
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Form ½ 1-inch balls and press onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes
6. Cool and serve

Makes 24 cookies

 Did it past the taste test?  YES!!!

January 2012
Wednesday night I wanted to throw together something quick and easy.  Lily LOVES spinach almost as much as I do but I didn't think she would go for this recipe.  She helped me make it and went on and on and on about how amazing it smelled.  And even better, she went on and on and on about how yummy it was.  She asked if she could bring some for her teacher to have a taste.  Here is the recipe.  The best news, it may took 10 minutes from start to finish!

Stracciatella with Spinach
from Food and Wine magazine

  Ingredients

• Ingredients
  1. 3 large eggs
  2. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I didn't have any parsley on hand so we left it out)
  3. 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  4. Salt and freshly ground pepper
  5. 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
  6. 2 quarts chicken stock
  7. 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves (I used closer to 2-2 1/2 cups spinach)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, parsley, nutmeg and a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Stir in the 1/2 cup of grated cheese.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the stock to a boil over moderately high heat. Vigorously whisk in the eggs, then stir in the spinach. Cook over low heat, stirring a few times, until the egg and spinach are cooked, 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into small bowls and serve with more cheese.

That's it.  Super easy which is great for a cold night when you are feeling lazy and don't want to cook an elaborate meal.

I love to cook but get so tired of being the one to always come up with the menu each week.  It stiffles my creativity in the kitchen when I have to chose something to eat every time I cook.  Each time I ask CJ what he wants for dinner he always responds "Whatever you want".  That is not helpful!  So this Sunday, my usual meal planning day, we started a new weekly routine.  I handed CJ a list, a notebook,  and a 3 x 5 notecard.  The list was a family shopping list that included vegetables, fruits, grains, proteins, nuts, etc.  He can put anything that sounds good on the list.  The notebook has recipes I have printed out or clippings from magazines (mainly Food and Wine).  He can flip through and tell me anything that sounds good.  I take the list and the suggested recipes and create meals from it.  It helps me think outside the box and come up with dinners that I wouldn't normally make (or even want).

The shopping list I made is adapted from http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/get-started/shopping-list/  Check it out!!

Things on the list for this week:  peaches (not in season so we got fresh frozen to thaw and eat with yogurt), mango, avocado, snow peas, broccoli

Suggested recipes:  sizzling beef recipe, broccoli cheddar supreme, tomato basil soup

So our plan for the week is...
Monday:  sizzling beef with brown rice and stir fry vegetables
Tuesday:  broccoli cheddar supreme and spinach salad with carrots, avocado, tomato, and toasted pecans with balsamic vinaigrette
Wednesday:  Tomato basil soup with grilled cheese "dippers"
Thursday:  left overs
Friday-Tuesday:  BEACH!!!

Here is tonight's recipe...

Korean Sizzling Beef 

(adapted from Food and Wine) 

1/4 cup soy sauce 

2 tablespoons sugar 

2 tablespoons dry white wine (I only had a bottle of pinot grigio and it worked great)

2 large garlic cloves, very finely chopped 

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (I used olive oil)

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper 

1.5 pound beef flank steak, cut across the grain into twenty 1/4-inch-thick slices

1. In a large, shallow dish, combine the soy sauce with the sugar, white wine, chopped garlic, oil and crushed red pepper, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the sliced flank steak and coat thoroughly in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate the steak for at least 4 hours or overnight.(I marinated for 6 hours...perfect!)
2. Working in batches, grill the steak over high heat until the slices are richly browned and medium-rare, about 30 seconds per side. Transfer the steak to a serving platter and serve with the grilled scallions and steamed rice.   (I cooked the meat on the stove top.  I used a pan coated with olive oil on medium high heat.  I cooked the beef about one minute on each side which was perfect!)

Before I started the beef I started the brown rice.  It was ten minute boil in bag.  I used 1/2 water and 1/2 low sodium chicken broth to cook the rice.  While it was cooking, I cooked the beef.  Once the beef was done I used the same pan and the leftover juices to empty a bag of organic Kroger stir fry vegetables and cooked them for approximately 4 minutes (until slightly soft).  During the last minute I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top and mixed them in.

I plated with the food in a bowl the rice on the bottom, then the beef with the vegetables on the side.  I sprinkled La Choy rice noodles on top for a little added crunch.


So yummy!!  Glad CJ picked something out for us tonight!

Smoothie with a Zing!

I love smoothies!  However I usually stick to the same ingredients and I have been looking for something to spice it up a little bit lately.  Here is this mornings creation...

- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup kale
-1/2 cup fresh frozen berries (raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries)
-1/2-1 cup cup yogurt
-1 tbsp fresh ginger...perfect addition to spice things up a little, gave it some zing :-)

I like my smoothies thick like a milkshake.  If you don't like them thick, use milk instead of yogurt.
I enjoyed my smoothie on the back porch on this beautiful day with some good reading.  Now I should really think about getting my bike down from the rack and get on the road for a bit.