Friday, February 26, 2010

Behind!!

Mk, so at the end of my last blog, I noted that plans usually fail. My plans for this week failed. Although, I can't say I mind. I rather prefer the way this week has turned out :) Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've made some pretty incredible things since my last entry. The reason I've been putting off posting is because, I'm ashamed to say, I've neglected the visual part of this site. I made awesome dish after awesome dish and didn't take a single picture! THE SHAME!! Alas, I still want to share my recipes and the epicness of my food this week.
Monday night we went to Chili's for dinner. I was sorely disappointed in Chili's. I ordered a small shrimp salad. Their small salad is fairly large and their large salad is fairly massive. So I ordered a small only to discover that ::gasp:: it's actually small! There were four measly shrimp on the whole salad. Three tiny chunks of pineapple. Washed out green tinted lettuce. Not green lettuce, mind you, white lettuce with green tint. Disgusting. I kindly, politely sent it back, explaining that if I pay $10 for a salad, I should receive $10 worth of salad. At least $7 worth of salad, I think. I ate the chicken off of Jason's salad. By the way, his salad cost less than mine, had more meat, lettuce, and veggies. Why? I don't know. Thank you waitress, for being kind about it.
Tuesday night I made Black Bean Burgers! They were amazing! I gotta brag on this. They were the best black bean burgers I have ever tasted. Notice I said burgers because Mrs H made black bean patties last week that were pretty stupendous. We had cheesy grits over her patties. I made actual burgers. Sort of. I couldn't bring myself to spend $15 on a package of burger buns (The same people that make Genesis bread make these buns) and I wasn't about to buy white or wheat which are mostly bleached flour. Side note: If you're going to switch to whole wheat or whole grain breads, read up and do your research first. It may not be worth it. Producers know how to trick consumers with words and stamps like "organic" or "whole grain." My preference is Genesis bread. It's a very meaty bread, if that makes any sense at all. So I went ahead and toasted Genesis bread and called it a hamburger bun. Here's the recipe:
Black Bean Burgers
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small onion (coarsely chopped)
1 medium red pepper (chopped)
4 medium cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 can black beans (drained)
1 cup cooked brown basmati rice
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, and garlic. Cook while stirring frequently until soft and onions are translucent. Stir in cumin, turmeric, and cook for an additional minute. In a food processor, combine beans, rice and onion/pepper/garlic mixture. Transfer to a large bowl. Add breadcrumbs and mix well. Season with salt and hot pepper if desired. Flatten 1/4 cup amounts of mix into patties and they are ready for the grill. Cook about 3-5 minutes each side. Save some of the mix (enough for two patties) for the next recipe. If you've got plenty of mouths to feed and you're not worried about left overs, go ahead and make the last two patties :) Sidenote: My mama always told me that cooking's messy. When you're adding in the breadcrumbs, dig those hands in and mix that way then just make your patties from there :)

Wednesday was spent at the H home as usual but I made enchiladas for lunch for Jason with leftovers from the burgers.
Black Bean Enchiladas
2 patties worth of black bean mix
4 flour tortillas
1 small can enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar

Warm enchilada sauce slowly. Meanwhile, toast the tortillas until slightly brown. Once sauce is warm and slowly boiling, add black bean mix and stir. Season to taste. Spoon mix into the center of the tortilla in a line. Top with cheese and roll up. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Place in oven safe bowl and pour remaining mix on top. Top with the rest of the cheese. Cover with tin foil and warm at 325 for 10 minutes. Send him to work with a fork, the dish, and lots of napkins.

For lunch on Wednesday, I have no idea what I ate. All I can remember is the Rhubarb Crisp. The H family is from up north and they eat northern things on occasion. Typically, I am one to not eat northern foods but this stuff is spec-tac-ular! I am going to keep my eyes peeled for some rhubarb.
Dinner was Mrs H's pizza. She made one meat lovers, one veggie lovers, and one cheese. I had several slices of the veggie and it was pretty fantastic. I can't make crust like that :/ I've tried several times now to make some sort of crust and it just never turns out quite right. You'll read more about that in a minute.
Thursday for lunch, I had a grilled chicken sandwich. Bread, garlic mayonnaise (it was organic and had actual garlic in it!), left over chicken that Sharon made Wednesday, Roma tomato, mozzarella, spring lettuce. It was pretty tasty.
For dinner, it was Dad's birthday so Jason and I cooked dinner for him. I made pesto salad and warm apple pie. Jason grilled steak. I juiced some orange carrot apple juice and Sharon made tea. It was a very lovely dinner. Jason is a fantastic steak cooker! I didn't save the recipe that I used but that's alright because I'm planning to use a different one next time. The pie crust I made wasn't too fantastic either so I'm not even going to bother posting that recipe either.
Friday was a pretty good day as well. I made pesto tacos which are basically pesto sandwiches except in a tortilla instead of bread slices. I baby sat and drank lots and lots of water as well as a glass of tea. For dinner, Jason, Ethan, and I went to Jason's Deli and ate soup and salad. I only had one helping of pudding! Woo!
Tomorrow, we are celebrating several birthdays. Me, Jason, Dad, Sharon, and Casi all have January/February/March birthdays so we are celebrating all together for the second year in a row. I do believe this is a new family tradition. I am making ceasar dressing to go on a salad.
I'll try to get back on that picture taking part for my next post. I'll also try to keep the posts more frequent so that they're not super duper long like this one.
Til later!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Menu

Menu for this week:

Tuesday Dinner
Black Bean Burgers

Wednesday Lunch
Black Bean Enchiladas

Wednesday Dinner
Pesto Salads

Thursday Lunch
Pesto Sandwiches

Thursday Dinner
5 Bean Salad

Friday Lunch
Veggie Salad

Friday Dinner
Casserole

Saturday Lunch
Grilled Cheese

Saturday Dinner
Cesar Salad

Sunday Dinner
Tomato Sandwich

That's the plan at least. We all know, plans fail :)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Epic Salmon

Epic Salmon
1 to 1 1/2 lbs fresh salmon

1/4 tsp course sea salt
1/2 tsp course black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp basil
1 Tblsp lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tblsp Olive Oil
Heat olive oil in skillet until almost smoking. Sprinkle salt and pepper on fillets and sear on both sides on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until darkened.
Warm olive oil, wine, lemon juice and remaining dry spices. Remove salmon from skillet and place on a plate and pour sauce over all. Enjoy!!

So as it turns out, salmon comes with some skin/scales thing on the bottom of it. It completely freaked me out. Jason had to prep the fish for me. This is the first time I've ever cooked fish and I don't know how I will ever get used to that gross bottom part. Eeeek.
I also made a a salad that went with it and used the dressing from earlier today. It was pretty tasty. But it did not compare with the Epic Salmon. I adore the sauce. Here's the original recipe.

Friday & Saturday


I stole this idea from Mrs H but edited a few things, as usual. Mostly because I didn't have all the right ingredients. This is a personal salad. Make for yourself for a snack. All the amounts would be doubled, if not tripled for two.
Tomato Salad
olive oil
1 Roma tomato, sliced
10 black olives, pitted
1 tbsp green pepper, diced
1 tbsp white onion, diced
1 tbsp mozzarella, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
sea salt
dried oregano
dried thyme
dried rosemary
fresh garlic, minced

In a mason jar, combine olive oil, vinegar, and agave. Add salt, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and garlic to mix. Seal and set in freezer.
Saute diced onion and diced pepper in cast iron skillet. Slice tomato and arrange in bowl. Add mozzarella and olives. Top with sauteed veggies. Pull dressing out of the freezer and pour on top.
Place remaining dressing in refrigerator. Enjoy :)

Of course, for breakfast, I had a bacon egg taco. For dinner last night, I had a veggie salad (all of my veggies diced and thrown together). For lunch yesterday, I had a grilled cheese sandwich.



Grilled Cheese
4 slices of Genesis bread
2 Roma tomato
1/4 cup red onion
1/4 cup green onion
1/4 cup green pepper
Spring lettuce
mozzarella
olive oil
Dice one tomato, red onion, green onion, and green pepper. Saute in olive oil. Drizzle bread with olive oil. Slice remaining tomato, and mozzarella. Grill bread on cast iron skillet. After you flip the bread, add the cheese, tomato, and lettuce. Place sauteed veggies on top of lettuce and add second slice of bread on top. Leave on skillet for a few more minutes to let the cheese melt.


Tonight, we're supposed to be grilling salmon. We'll see how that goes.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Wednesday Thursday

Yesterday, Mrs H made black bean patties. EPIC! She got the recipe off of Food Network. She also made some cheesy grits to go on top of the black bean patty. At first, that sounded gross to me, but if Mrs H thinks it's good, I'll give it a try. It was not only good, but it was grrrrrrrrrrreat! I'm putting it on the menu for next week. There are a few things to edit to make it vegan, but I can make it work, hopefully. To my few and far between readers, if you have yet to visit Mrs H's blog yet, go now. She's great. For lunch, we just ate here and there, like usual. For breakfast, I had a bagel with eggs and a banana. Today for breakfast, I had another bagel. Dad wouldn't buy me the donuts that I really wanted because "They're not on the diet." From the man that tells me everything needs meat. For lunch, Dad took me to a neat little burger joint. I worked there a few summers ago and I trust the meat. It's not healthily cooked but it's not from testosterone pumped cows. They buy their beef from local farmers. I appreciate that. For dinner, we're either gonna do a Fiesta Salad again (Jason really liked that but I didn't care too much for it) or we'll do my new Grilled Cheese. I haven't decided yet what I want to fix.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Veggie Salad

So my dinner guest for the evening rearranged plans. But then Sharon's mom decided to show up and again, we had a full table. I made a simple veggie salad set up in a buffet kind of style. The bed is made up of spinach leaves, spring lettuce, cilantro, and broccoli top.
The cheese is mozzarella, provolone, and feta. The veggies are red onion, green onion, cucumber, tomato, green bell pepper, celery, and black olives. The bed was tossed in my Italian dressing.

Equal parts vinegar and olive oil. 2 tablespoons agave nectar, minced garlic, minced red onion, rosemary, thyme, and sea salt. It was pretty good. I've made better dressing but the salad itself was pretty awesome.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Monday Dinner








Pesto Samich
Genesis bread, grilled
Pesto
Roma tomato, sliced
Mozzarella cheese, sliced

Menu

Monday-
Dinner-Pesto Samich

Tuesday
Lunch-Leftovers
Dinner-Veggie Salad, pudding

Wednesday
Lunch-H home
Dinner-H home

Thursday
Lunch-Sandwich, finger veggies
Dinner-Fiesta Salad, applesauce

Friday
Lunch-Leftovers
Dinner-Grilled Cheese

Saturday
Lunch-Tomato Salad

Sunday
Lunch-out to eat/veggie salad
Dinner-Leftovers

Yesterday Today

Yesterday was absolute magic. So superbly amazing I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of the day! I am not going to pretend I even tried to eat healthy yesterday. It was too perfect to feel guilty about.
For breakfast, Jason bought me a kolache. It was the perfect breakfast. I was so hungry and I was craving something warm and filling and then he showed up with a warm, filling kolache. Superb, Babe :)
For lunch, we skipped because we planned on an early dinner. Around 4, we showed up a Red Lobster. Around 4:30 we sat down. I had the New York Strip Lobster and Shrimp Oscar. It was AAAAAMAAAAZIIIING!! Absolute perfection. I am finally allowed to eat steak again. (I've been allowed to eat steak but it had to be cooked well done. That's not a steak, that's a burnt piece of meat.) It was medium rare. It was juicy and tasty and delicious and oh my gosh! Then it was topped with shrimp and lobster meat sauteed in a garlic butter sauce. All over garlic mashed potatoes. My mouth did a little dance. Jason had one of their specials. I don't remember what it was called but it had lobster, scallops, and shrimp. We had the lobster artichoke dip for appetizer (big surprise, right? haha) and that bread! Oh! The bread. We ate far too much bread but how can you stop eating that bread? You can't. We took some to go. Oh ya, and we had ceasar salads too. They were alright but the croutons were few and far between. The dressing was watery. And the lettuce was iceberg. But it satisfied that little twing of guilt. "But, Conscience! I ate a salad! Geez! Leave me alone for now!" Haha. I meant to take pictures of the food but I ate it too quickly. I was concerned with eating, not blogging. Lol.
Today, I start anew. I am going to eat a salad for lunch, then a salad for dinner. We are going to do our weekly shopping that we skipped last week and then we are going to be good for all time. God help us.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Rest of the Ugly Week

Wednesday ended pretty well. Baked potato with chives and butter. The rest of the week was incredibly horribly ugly. Fast food, burgers, sodas, pizza, YUCK! It made my taste buds scream for joy but my stomach and my energy level and my resolve feel just awful. The bad part is, I can't fix it right now. Jason is out of town on a men's retreat (I don't feel like cooking single servings: just for me). My bestie is coming over tonight (we don't eat too well when we're together)Tomorrow morning is church (we all know how well I eat there). Tomorrow night is Red Lobster for Valentines Day (Yes, I'm getting tasty food. It's friggin Valentine's Day). So the best I can do right now is say that I'll start healthy again on Monday. Juice and salad and fruit and all sorts of tasty things that make me look and feel wonderful. For now, I'm going to go eat cold pizza.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Tuesday Wednesday

For dinner yesterday, we ate at some Vietnamese place. It was not to my liking. Jason enjoyed it but I did not. I can't tell you what I ate. Not because it's a secret, but because I can't pronounce it, spell it, or even remember it. Haha. Jason assures me that it was not alive when I ate it. It was not alive within the hour before I ate it. I assure him, that I will not eat it again. For breakfast, today, I had orange juice and grapes. For lunch, Mrs H and Sarah made an awesome fruit salad. I've got one meal left for the day. Can I make it? YES I CAN!
Mrs H and Sarah's Fruit Salad
Strawberries, quartered
Apples, diced
Oranges, wedged
Coconut, shredded
Lemon juice
Honey
Mix lemon juice and honey together. Combine everything else together. Toss in lemon/honey.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tuesday - Breakfast

I created this morning. It was completely on a whim. I mentioned to Jason that we might have avocado sandwiches and leftovers tonight. He said "Ooo! Let's put some of that mozzarella on the sandwiches!" I thought Hmmmmm.... That's a nice idea. But grilled cheese is a better one! So I decided to make grilled Genesis bread mozzarella cheese sandwiches. But oh my! That wasn't good enough. I needed onions. I need peppers. I needed taste and flavor and pizazz! Viola! New awesome sandwich has been created!!
Grilled Cheese
4 slices Genesis bread
4 slices mozzarella cheese
1 slice red onion (4 or 5 actual rings)
1/4 cup green bell pepper (diced)
1/4 cup green onions (diced)
1/4 cup portabella mushroom (diced)
extra virgin olive oil
Brush the bread with olive oil. Cover pan with thin layer of olive oil to grill. Place bread on skillet, once hot. Saute pepper, green onion, and mushroom together in separate skillet. Set aside. Flip bread and place cheese on each slice. Grill onion. Put half of the veggies on one side of bread and cover with opposite bread slice. Use other half of veggies for the second sandwich. Enjoy!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Monday

Last night was the Super Bowl. Way to go, Saints! We went to the party at Khon's where we ate bratwurst, jambalaya, and various other non-healthy foods. So today, I did much better (until the ice cream sandwich after dinner). For lunch, I had some epic vegetable juice. For dinner, I made Sweet Potato Casserole. Dessert was banana chocolate pudding. I tried something new with that. It wasn't as good, and I probably won't make it ever again. I think but it may be because the sweet potato was so amazing and sweet and wonderful. Even Daddy liked the casserole. Jason and I watched a movie after dinner (Zombieland = awesome) and then went to the corner store for some ice cream. Not terrificly healthy, but definitely terrificly tasty.
Epic Juice
1 lb carrots
1 gala apple, peeled and cored
1 large orange
Throw it all into the juicer. Seal it up in a mason jar and put in the fridge for an hour or two. Enjoy the epicness.

Sweet Potato Casserole
4-5 large sweet potatoes
2 cups almond milk
1 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
olive oil
Scrub the potatoes and stab repeatedly with a fork. Wrap in tin foil and bake at 425 for 60-70 minutes. Unwrap and peel. Slice potatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Cover your baking baking dish with olive oil. Layer sweet potato slices into dish. In a bowl, whisk together almond milk, maple syrup, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and salt. Pour over potatoes and bake in a 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

New Less Awesome Pudding
3 tablespoons Greek pudding
4 bananas
1 avocado
1 tablespoon raw cocoa
1 tablespoon flaxmeal
2 tablespoons agave nectar
Blend everything together in a food processor. Pour into bowl and chill.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Birthday Weekend

Yesterday, was Jason's birthday! He turned 29. He is now one full year away from the big three ohhh. We celebrated with some friends at Benihana's. Jason really likes Japanese food and we all really enjoyed the hibachi grill and show. Afterward, we all wanted Starbucks. Jason enjoyed his regular caramel soy machiado and I tried the apple spice latte. I like the apple spice latte. We then went to Khon's to celebrate with some more good friends :)

Today, I finally got to make my Fiesta Salad
that I edited from hacres.com. It was super tasty! We spent the afternoon at the park enjoying the sunlight and the warm weather. Tonight, we made homemade pizza! This is my first time to make dough. I'm pretty proud of myself. Here's what I've learned about homemade pizza:
-use eggs, not a substitute.
-do NOT put pizza on the bottom rack.
-mozzarella cheese is greasy. very, very greasy.
-follow instructions to the letter.
-do not kneed dough after it rises.
-do not be discouraged. next time will be better.

Fiesta Salad
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
1 cup scallions (chopped)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
2 ribs celery (chopped)
1/2 cup carrots (shredded)
1/4 cup roma tomatoes (chopped)
Place all ingredients in on a bed of romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, and red cabbage leaves.

Italian Dressing
equal parts extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar
agave or other sweetener
rosemary
basil
fresh garlic (minced)
fresh sweet onion (minced)
sea salt
Mix together in Mason jar and shake well. Chill and serve.

Margherita Pizza
1/2 lb. plum Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
6 fresh basil leaves cut into julienne strips
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
1 package gluten free pizza crust
2 tbsp flax seed meal
6 tbsp water
yeast packet

Preheat oven to 425.
Combine 2 Tbls. olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, and salt in bowl.
Allow to marinate while making dough.
Combine water and yeast.
Combine flax and 6 tbsp of water together. Let sit for one minute.
Combine yeast/water, flax/water, and oil together and blend.
Add pizza crust and whisk until thick
Cover and let rise for 20 minutes
Bake 7-9 minutes
Brush dough crust lightly with olive oil.
Top with cheese, then tomatoes.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 8−10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.
Remove from oven and top with feta cheese, then basil.
Cool on a wire rack for 2−3 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

Best 6 Doctors

The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they'll ease
Your will they'll mend
And charge you not a shilling.

Wayne Fields

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday wasn't too good. I ate semi healthy at Bible Study in the morning and semi healthy at the H house for lunch. Then! Oh, then... Pizza and soda at Synergy. Oh my my my. ::shakes head::
Thursday was worse. For breakfast, I had Shipleys. Two kolaches and a dozen doughnut holes. Lunch was awful. Macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, and a Subway sandwich. For dinner, I was full and didn't eat anything.
We went shopping tonight. Two days after we planned to. I've got groceries through to Tuesday. No more going out to eat! We've got to plan on better things and actually follow through. After shopping, my tummy started rumbling. So we pulled out the buttermilk and made some pancakes! I left the kitchen to leave Jason to pancake making. I requested silver dollar pancakes. They feel more like a snack than big pancakes.
Then when I wasn't expecting it at all, Jason walks over to the table where I'm sitting and puts a plate down. I say "thank you" without really looking at it. Then I double take and realize that it said my name! How neat is that?! A heart soon followed. Then the very last was a flower. I was so blown away. It was amazing.
Afterward, I felt fat but very, very loved.
Friday is Jason's 29th birthday :) Some friends are coming over and we're eating Fiesta Salad! Woo! Happy birthday, my love!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tuesday

Today went fairly well, I think. For breakfast, I had an orange. For lunch, I had left overs. For dinner, Mrs H made spaghetti and meat balls. I attempted to resist the meatballs by bringing my own tomato sauce. But it just wasn't as tasty. Jason said that my sauce had definite potential. We could play with the spices and such and make it killer. But choosing between a tried-and-true meatball sauce that everyone was chowing down on and a its-got-potential raw sauce that I attempted to make in a hurry... I just couldn't say no to those amazing meatballs. Then, we had ice cream. Then, we had popcorn. Oh man. This popcorn was probably the best popcorn I've ever tasted. It was Ohioan. It was popped in a popcorn maker thingy. It was big and white and fluffy and crunchy and salty and oh so perfect. Seriously... awesome.

Its-Got-Potential Raw Sauce

3 vine-ripened tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
oregano
basil
rosemary
cayenne pepper
2 medium scallions
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

I wish I could give you exact measurements on how much of each spice to use but the original calls for fresh herbs but I don't have an herb garden and I didn't want to spend $5 on every single herb. So we used dry herbs. When I asked Jason to put everything in, he used his best judgment instead of measuring it out so I don't know how much went in to ours. But hey, what else is a Sicilian going to do?

On the Menu

So it's shopping time again! I have now learned how to link it up so expect more links. I am still going to post what I do but now ya'll will have the original recipe to compare :) I'm pretty excited about that. Here's the menu for the week. I'm going to be trying lots of new things this week so wish me luck!

Tuesday
Lunch- Left over Avocado Soup
Dinner- Fettuccine Not Alfredo
Wednesday
Lunch- Sandwich
Dinner- at the H Home
Thursday
Lunch- Sandwich
Dinner- Caribbean Salad, Peaches Sunday
Friday
Lunch- Left over Caribbean Salad
Dinner- Fiesta Salad
Saturday
Lunch- Left over Fiesta Salad
Dinner- Margherita Pizza
Sunday
Lunch- Out
Dinner- Veggie Wrap, Pudding
Monday
Lunch- Left over Veggie Wrap
Dinner- Sweet Potato Casserole
Tuesday
Lunch-Sandwich
Dinner- Left over Sweet Potato Casserole, Veggie Salad

Monday, February 1, 2010

Monday - Dinner


Jason and I ate at Sandy Magee's last week and I had some Chilled Avocado Soup. I searched high and low for a recipe. I came across several but I really wanted to find one from a trusted source rather than just another online blog. Finally, my uncle's niece (She's not my cousin. I may be getting our relation mixed up somehow. We're family. That's what I know.) emailed me her chilled avocado soup recipe. I adapted this recipe from hers. I posted what I did but put in parenthesis the original.

Chilled Avocado Soup
5 avocados, peeled pitted and mashed (4 avocados)
2 cucumbers, diced (3 cucumbers)
3 garlic gloves, crushed (2 garlic cloves)
4 cups buttermilk
1 cup plain yogurt (2/3 cup yogurt)
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cayenne (1 tsp tabasco)
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp dried basil (1 cup fresh basil, chopped)
(1/2 cup red onion)

Blend everything in a food processor until smooth.


I also made stuffed celery tonight. Except I didn't have an extra avocado so it didn't turn out quite right. It was still pretty delicious. I'm just going to post the original recipe and promise to do it correctly next time.

Stuffed Celery
5 celery stalks
1 avocado, peeled pitted and mashed
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cups green chilies, finely chopped
seat salt to taste

Combine everything except the celery sticks. Cut celery sticks into quarters and arrange on a plate. Stuff the celery and enjoy!

We drank more Arnold Palmer with dinner and we were all over proud of ourselves. Then we watched a movie and they ate ice cream. Then we really, really craved ice cream. Then we went to the store and bought ice cream. We came home and ate ice cream. After doing sooooo good with dinner, we messed it up with ice cream. Tomorrow is Fettuccine Not Alfredo. We'll see how that goes.

This Weekend


Saturday morning I had eggs, fruit, and yogurt.
Veggie Egg Delight
1/2 cup Green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup Red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup Portabella mushroom, finely diced
1/2 cup Roma tomatoes, finely diced
Shredded cheese to taste (I prefer mozzarella but in the picture, I used cheddar)
3 farm fresh eggs
Rosemary
Thyme
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh basil, minced
Smidgen of milk
Olive oil

Heat up your skillet. Pour enough olive oil in to cover the bottom. Break the eggs into a bowl with the milk. Whip with a fork until frothy. Add your spices. Set aside. Throw all of your veggies into the skillet. Add a smidgen more olive oil to keep it from drying out. The tastiest way to cook them is let them simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes. The healthiest way is to flash sautee. Turn the heat up and stir them in olive oil for a few minutes. When you bite into the veggies, they will still crunch this way. Add your eggs once the veggies are cooked to your liking. Scramble at medium heat. I prefer hard scrambled so I usually leave them on the stove for about 5 minutes. If you want soft scrambled (more runny), it takes less than 2 minutes. You have to keep stirring them so they don't burn to the bottom of the pan. Turn off the stove and remove pan from heat. Sprinkle cheese over top and let sit while you prepare your yogurt.

Sweet Vanilla Yogurt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons agave nectar
vanilla extract to taste
1/4 cup grapenuts

This is a variation on a recipe I used earlier this week. I made this one pretty and didn't stir it up together until I sat down to eat it. If you want pretty, follow these instructions. If you want just regular yogurt, follow Thursday or Friday - breakfast lunch. Although, I made both of those pretty too.
Scoop the yogurt into a pretty bowl in a nice round plop. Using a the back of a spoon, make a shallow lake in the top. Pour the agave into the lake, allowing it to spill over the edges. Pour the vanilla into the lake. Most if it will stay in the top, making it darker. Sprinkle your grapenuts over the entire bowl like tiny, leafless trees. Viola! You've got a bowl of yogurt that looks like a snowy hill in the winter! Not my winter, of course. I live in Texas.

The last part is mostly up to you. Choose your favorite sweet fruits, cut them up, and enjoy! I used strawberries, bananas, and grapes. Grapes don't fare too well with the sweet yogurt but they taste wonderful by themselves :)

By now, your cheese has melted. Slide the entire egg creation onto a plate. Don't scoop it out, slide it, so the cheese stays on top. Serve it all together and you've got a delicious, mostly healthy*, filling breakfast!

*Yogurt gets an 8 on a scale of 10 for healthiness because it's a dairy product and those aren't too good for you all the time. I wouldn't recommend eating dairy daily. Fruit gets a 10, as long as its fresh. Frozen fruits only go down to a 9 though. In deliciousness, frozen fruits get a 6 and fresh gets a 10. The eggs get a 5 because they aren't healthy but they aren't detrimental. The longer you cook the veggies, the less healthy they become. I recommend flash sauteed.




Saturday for lunch was pizza. I did not cook because we went out antique shopping. I know what you're thinking. Pizza isn't on the diet! Oh, my friend, you are wrong! It may not be incredibly healthy, but it sure was close! Its called a Margherita Pizza. No, you can't drink it. No, you won't get drunk. Yes, your tummy and taste buds will scream in delight! We ordered it from a local pizzeria that operates with a stone oven. They claim to have all fresh ingredients and their crust is whole wheat. No, it didn't taste like whole wheat. Yes, the ingredients tasted like they were over nighted directly from Sicily. I have yet to try to make it myself but I can almost guarantee it's on the menu sometime in the next week or two. I have yet to decide on a specific recipe but here's the basic ingredients (I've gathered this from looking at several online recipes: parsley, garlic, oregano, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, feta. I've seen some that has onion, some that adds chicken, and various other things. Basically, tomato, mozzarella, and basil give this pizza a superb, one of a kind taste.
Saturday snack I had some cut up fruits with agave drizzled over it. Dad cooked chicken breast for dinner with avocado toast. Tasty.
Sunday breakfast was again very difficult for me. I ate chips and drank a root beer about 10 AM. Lunch was a little better but still not fantastic. It was fend for yourself at the Hochstettler home. Which always ends up a tasty meal, regardless. I had a croissant with some very delicious, very soft cheese. I also ate part of an apple and some macaroni. Last night for dinner was semi healthy. We ate at Olive Garden. Spinach artichoke dip for appetizer. We both had creamy soups for starters, and way too much bread. I then had the stuffed chicken with mushroom garlic mashed potatoes. Jason had the seafood fettuccine. To be honest, though, I don't entirely remember what he had only that it was noodles and seafood. He added cayenne to it. Who's surprised? Not I. No, that's not a picture of the dip from last night. That's a Google image. We ate last night's food too fast to capture it on film... er... SD card... I am currently searching for the perfect spinach artichoke dip online because Jason absolutely loves the stuff. It is our appetizer where ever we go.
This morning, I woke up a bit late and decided to eat lunch for breakfast instead of the other way around, which I have been doing the past week. I had left over bread and stuffed chicken from Olive Garden with a homemade Arnold Palmer.

In conclusion, weekends are not very healthy for me. I slip easily and blog lazily. Oops.

Tonight is the chilled avocado soup I've been itching to make and a small veggie salad with avocado dressing.


Til' 'morrow