Yumprint

I'm having fun with a new place to save recipes. It's called Yumprint. You get a button that pops up whenever you are looking at a recipe. You can create cookbooks for catagories like dessert, salads. You can later print them up or print up a shopping list and you can follow other peoples recipes.

Linda

Internet Inspiration and Motivation on Cooking Real Food

This post got accidentally posted on Saturday while I was trying to edit it, so this is the edited version for anyone that got the first one.

One of the things I love about the Internet is getting inspiration and motivation from what other people are doing.

Lately I've been following Granny's Vital Vitals. She talks about real food and a traditional diet like granny ate.

For those that struggle with cooking she has her Granny Plan, to help them start to cook from scratch and to cook real food. One of the things I benefited from her writing was the idea that granny was a plain cook. We have so many choices now that it can be overwhelming. Some of us feel dinner has to be a gourmet feast every day and that good plain food is boring. She encourages us to focus instead on cooking real food in a healthy way and become very familiar with some basic recipes. These are your go to recipes that you don't have to think too hard about.

The reason this spoke to me is because we are foodies. It all started with Julia Child when I was raising a family. I loved all that but now I'm tired and cooking can be a chore sometimes. Many of us just get tired of cooking after so many years of it. So I struggle to feed myself at times and settle for prepared meals from the grocery deli or junk food even though I know it isn't frugal or healthy.

With all we are hearing about GMO's I really want to know what I'm eating and unless I'm buying and cooking my own food I won't know. So the idea of keeping it simple and having those go to recipes in my back pocket sounds like it would help me resist the easy way out when I'm tired. A lot of my favorite recipes don't appeal now, so I need some lighter and easier ones that fit in my diabetes diet.

Another point she makes, that spoke to me, is not to feel guilty if you can't do it all.  It's impossible for most of to buy all our meat grass fed and all our veggies organic and all our dairy and chickens pastured. So you have to just try and continue to one by one start to change to better choices and don't worry about it when you have to compromise as long as you are making progress in the right direction. Her Granny Plan shows you how to do that. That has freed me up to not have that all or nothing mind set, but to do the best I can and know that I'm working on it. I do have those perfectionist tendencies.

Even though I am a granny she is talking about my grandmother's era, not mine. She was Portuguese and I remember how we all loved it when she made her Portuguese specialties. In my mother's era they used a lot of canned foods. I remember being forced to eat canned spinach and peas yuck. Even though I've been cooking for many years each new season of our life brings new challenges. It's never too late to learn. These may not be your issues, but she has a lot more to say, so check out her blog.

Linda

Sugar Free Blueberry Preserves

I used this recipe by Against All Grain for her pectin free jam. I just left out the honey and used stevia. I put in a good squirt and then after it was done and cooled wanted it a little sweeter so I added a bit more. That is one good thing about stevia is that you can add more later. You don't want to put too much in to begin with because  it can start to taste bitter.

This recipe used lemon and I would like to try it again with orange or lime just for variety.

So I decided to make this because I don't want to feel I can't have any sweets and you can't really buy things with stevia. I can put this on pancakes or toast or yogurt. Later on I want to try some of the recipes I've already made with stevia.

Linda

Paleo Bread

I made Against All Grain's sandwich bread recipe. It's a good one. It has nut butter in it and coconut flour, no almond flour in this one. She used cashew butter but I didn't have any and so I used almond butter instead that is why mine didn't turn out light colored like hers, but I did't really care about that part. I also used a metal pan instead of the glass.

If you decide to try this read all the directions first. She uses 2 mixers. I just emptied and washed mine and used again, but next time I think I will use my food processor for mixing the nut butter and other ingredients.

I did substitute stevia, 2 drops, for the honey. Someone in the comments also uses stevia and had done that. It worked fine.

I made an open faced tuna sandwich out of it. I liked it.

Linda

La Tartine Gourmande

I got this great French Cookbook, "La Tartine Gourmande" by Beatrice Peltre, out of the library. Her photos are beautiful and her recipes are very interesting. She has a great blog here.

I'd like to make her Marjoram-Flavored Ricotta and Zucchini Tart or Chocolate and Plum Almond Cake.

Linda

Low Carb Banana Muffin with Chocolate Chips

Here is another great recipe from Against All Grain.

This recipe is probably not as low carb because of the banana.

If you try this read the recipe before you start. It has a lot of steps, but they are delicious. I didn't have pecans so I used walnuts. I used about 1/2 the honey, but otherwise I followed the recipe. I did cook them a little longer. It's hard to tell with these flours when they are done and with all that banana I was afraid they would be soggy, but they turn out great. They have mostly coconut flour with a little almond flour.

I think you could use applesauce instead of the banana. I'd like to try substituting another fruit and see what happens.

Linda

Lunch in Paris

I was looking for some french cookbooks in my library catalogue and this book came up. It's actually a biography but has some recipes too. It's a cute story like some others I've read about a girl who falls in love with a Frenchman and goes to live in Paris and what it's like dealing with the French as an American.

I found out she has a blog with lots of recipes here.

Linda

Artichoke, Kalamati Olive, Sun Dried Tomato and Arugula Grain-Free Pizza

I took my pizza dough out of the freezer. The link to the pizza dough recipe is in this post.

I saw a recipe in one of those old gardening magazines I've been looking through for Spring Pizza and it sounded good so I gave it a try.

1. Mix minced garlic with 2 tabs. olive oil and spread on pizza.
2. Place thinly sliced Mozzarella cheese evenly over pizza.
3. Place cooked artichoke hearts over the cheese ( I used frozen, but the recipe cook fresh baby artichokes. The frozen ones were a little bland, I steamed them. I think next time I might sauteed them a bit with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper.)
4. Sprinkle over that pitted kalamati olives and some fresh oregano if you have it. I used dried.

5. Bake in a 450 oven for 10 mins. My crust was very thin and the almond meal crust cook pretty fast. The recipe used a 500 oven for 10 mins. It would have been a regular pizza crust.

6. Take out of oven and top with arugula and Parmesan cheese. You can pop it back into the oven for a couple of mins. to wilt the arugula and melt the cheese. I didn't and it was delicious.

Linda

Tarte-Grain-Free Leek and Goat Cheese

This recipe comes from Real Sustenance

I wanted to learn to make a good tart shell and this is a really good one, plus that Leek and Goat Cheese Tarte is wonderful, very rich, a little goes a long way. In France they eat these for lunch, great with a salad. It make a good meatless meal as long as you can have dairy.

This is a press in dough so you can't do a top crust. It was easy and has a nice flavor. You need a tart pan, I'm not sure how well it would work with a regular pie pan.

Hamburger Buns- Grain Free

I'm trying to learn to replace some of the wheat products that I can no longer eat, so I tried this recipe for hamburger buns with the idea of a substitute for sandwich bread. So far I haven't found a really good bread recipe. Anyway these were pretty good. They are a little  too bulky for a hamburger. I had a hard time wrapping my mouth around it. It was also too much bread and not enough meat. So next time I think I'll do my hamburger open faced.

The recipe is from Against All Grains again. Her's look a little prettier than mine. It's a learning curve. lol

I also like that she said you could freeze these and then toast them.

Linda

Priorities When My Energy is Low

I've been kind of low energy lately and I decided it was time to look at my priorities again, they keep changing. My idea was to make a list, for when I'm not up to my regular schedule, of what is most important.

I decided after my Quiet Time eating properly was my most important priority and that means cooking and grocery shopping and keeping the kitchen tidy.

So I've given myself permission to put those things first and other housework second.

I did list all my chores in order of priority daily and weekly so that I know their order of importance. There are some things that have to be done and there are things that should be done but it's not the end of the world if they wait until I'm having a better day. I realize why I don't dust very often because without realizing it I've already decided it's low on my priority list.

 Clarifying my priorities helps me to not feel guilty about choosing to let some chores go and at the same time it shows me where I need to put my energies.

After writing this list I felt more energized. Just knowing what I needed to do helped me to direct my energy towards cooking and working on  eating healthy.

It takes time and energy to cook from scratch and when you aren't feeling very energetic getting something easy and probably not as healthy is often what we do. So I've told myself not only that some chores can wait, but also that eating healthy is at the top of my priority list and that I need to make the effort to cook healthy foods and not go for the premade less healthy choice.

Now if I could come up with some healthy choices to have in my freezer or pantry that are ready to go that would be even better, something to work on.

Linda

Homemade Vegetable Stock

I decided I should learn to make a good vegetable stock. It's cheaper than buying it ready made, it tastes better and it's full of nutrients.

I looked up some articles about it and here is the one I used yesterday to make my stock. It actually only cooks for an hour once you get all your vegs. prepped, so that's not bad.

 I followed their recipe without any changes or additions and I found it to be a little too sweet for me. Also this recipe only makes a quart. It's a lot of vegs. for only a quart of stock so next time I'm going to try this recipe.

 Both articles have some good tips on making a good vegetable stock. You can make many variation so as time goes on I want to try different vegs. in my stock until I find the one I really like. I want something savory and not too sweet. It would also be nice to make richer and lighter ones for different things. I also have recipes for roasted veggie stock which I think I'll try next time because I scorched my onions when I was cooking them in oil.

Linda

Susan Branch-Autumn

I always like to get out Susan's Autumn book at this time of the year. I found some recipes I'd like to try-

1. Figs and Goat Cheese
2. Wild Mushroom Toast
3. Gorgonzola Cream
4. Prosciutto Pears
5. Butternut Squash Soup
6. Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
7. Apple Crisp

I've been enjoying figs while they are season and with goat cheese, yum. We love the dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon that they serve at the tapas restaurant and this is the same thing but with fresh figs.

Happy fall cooking.
Linda

FFK Challenge 2 Get Ahead Do a Little Something Extra

Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge 2- Get Ahead, Do a Little Something Extra, from Heavenly Homemaker

Well actually I've been doing this one. Since I decided to add beans back into my diet I've been cooking large amounts and freezing them. I've done black beans and this week cannellini beans.

Yesterday I also made some spiced pear sauce and froze half of it. I'm waiting for my nectarines to get ripe enough to make my own all-fruit and I freeze that.

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with all the culturing I'm doing and scratch cooking.

Linda

Summer Squash

I thought I'd repost a post I just did on my Reboot blog for those of you that don't follow it. It's about the health benefits of summer squash and has recipe links on the bottom. I'm doing a series of these posts on different healthy food, mostly veggies.

Linda

What I've Been Eating Lately

Lucinato Kale

Sauteed kale with garlic and an egg on top. My dd loves sauteed kale and garlic but me so so, but add the egg and it's a different dish. I should have taken out the large part of the stem because they didn't get cooked enough.

Kale is a cancer fighter and helps lower cholesterol, also helps to prevent cataracts. It also helps prevent atherosclerosis and inflammation. This information came from WHF. They have a recipe for the kale and poached egg, but I didn't use it. It's low fat, mine isn't. I Sauteed the kale and garlic in olive oil and fried the egg in more olive oil. I'm not afraid of fat and olive oil is very healthy for you, but keep the heat med. too hot and the olive oil becomes unhealthy. Hope this isn't TMI. I'm so enthusiastic I have a hard time editing myself.

Cauliflower Mash with Sauteed Red Cabbage and Red Onion with Balsamic.

Cauliflower Mash with Garlic, Steamed Brussels Sprouts, Red Cabbage Slaw.

Linda

Dill Zucchini Pancaks from Serious Eats

Here is another interesting veggie dish from Serious Eats. For me I would have to substitute almond flour for the regular and coconut milk yogurt for the regular, but I think it would be good. Serious Eats has been on a roll lately, I guess because it's zucchini is seasonal.

Linda

Grilled Zucchini by Serious Eats

Another great veggie article by Serious Eats saw it on Pinterest. It's how to grill zucchini but has some great recipes for using it. I've been wanting to make a grilled veggie plate. I'm just juicing today, but tomorrow will give it a try.

Linda

Vegetable Platter From Serious Eats

Photo from Serious Eats. I found this great article about how to assemble an awesome veggie platter here on Serious Eats.

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm focused on the juicing and eating my veggies. But I said I would post any great recipes I ran across so here it is.

Linda

Fennel Apple Juice

My afternoon juice. I made this one up myself.

Fennel Apple Juice

1 granny smith apple
1 braeburn apple
1 fennel bulb
1 zucchini
1 knob of ginger

Linda