Yogurt...fail!

Sometimes life doesn't go the way you planned. I was so proud of myself for get dinner partly together, yogurt in crockpot and life semi organized before I left for work this morning. When I came back, I noticed that my yogurt water bath was a bit cool so I turned on the crockpot and set the timer. I thought I had set it for 15 min. Instead a hour and 50 min. Oh well, I guess Ill be going to the store and buying more milk and yogurt to start my yogurt.

Homemade Tortillas with Coconut Oil

Homemade tortillas, oh how I've missed thee.  It has been way too long since I've had any tortilla let alone a good homemade one.  Then the other day I got this craving for carnitas. Finally the day had come. I had the meat in the crock pot and I had on my to-do list to stop and get some of those uncooked tortillas from the store. And well, I totally forgot. It wasn't until I got home, finished up the meat, made guacamole, and got all the other toppings ready that I realized that I didn't have any tortillas. Well, thanks to living in Mexico for two years, I just decided to whip some up real quick.  However, since cleaning out my pantry for the whole30 cleanse, I only had olive oil and coconut oil on hand.  I have tried making tortillas from olive oil and have not enjoyed them in the lease, so coconut oil was my only option.  Necessity is the mother of invention: they were some of the best tortillas I have ever had. Even Curtis loved them (and he hates all things coconut).
So, without further adue, here is the recipe.

Homemade Tortillas with Coconut Oil
2 C-flour (I know, I'm bad, I used the unhealthy white kind), plus extra for rolling
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 C.-coconut oil
approx. 3/4 C. hot water
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Add coconut oil.  Using fork, knife and any other utensil of your choice, attempt to cut in the coconut oil (that was probably the hardest part to the whole thing). When the mixture resembles crumbs and coconut oil is in small pieces mixed throughout the flour, add in 2/3 C. hot water and stir, then add in a little at a time so as to not get the dough too wet. Once its in a ball, need it several times and then divide it into small balls. This batch made about ten-10" tortillas.  Now coat eat ball in flour and roll out into a tortilla shape.  Immediately place on griddle or frying pan (medium heat) and cook.   Enjoy warm.
Note: With the tortillas being made with coconut oil, when they are cold, they are hard. When they are warm, they are soft and delicious.

Step 2-in making a perfect tortilla

Oh, you're asking me how to roll a perfect tortilla? You know that when I was in Mexico I was told that I couldn't get married until my tortillas were round.  Once I knew all their secrets to making round tortillas, I could whip out perfectly round tortillas just as fast as any Mexican could. Unfortunately it meant that i was eligible and conversations thereafter where...um...rather interesting.
1) Take dough ball. Roll to make sure that it is round and without creases
2) Completely coat in flour and flatten a bit with palm of hand
3) Now pretend that the dough ball is a clock. With the rolling pin, roll from 6:00-12:00 and then back to 6:00. Only.
4) Flip tortilla over and rotate one-quarter turn (for example I rotate from 12:00-9:00)
5) Repeat steps 3-4 until tortilla is super thin.
6) Enjoy your perfectly round tortillas and start looking for a man!

Berry Sauce over Vanilla Ice Cream

Valentine's day has never been a big thing around here. We like a nice meal with some good wine or beer, and I expect flowers. We don't like joining all the other couples in overly crowded restaurants being as cheesy as they can be over an overly priced meal. Normally we splurge and get us some nice steaks that he cooks and I make something for dessert (we have some side dishes too), and call it a night. This year due to an inconvenient work schedule we changed it up a bit. Forget the fancy meal and the messy kitchen, Curtis brought home our favorite Luigi pizza and flowers, we opened up a nice bottle of Wild Horse Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 and watched a movie. It was a perfect evening that we topped off with a super easy dessert:

Berry Sauce:
1 C. Mixed Berries (I did fresh blackberries and blueberries, but frozen would work just as well)
1/2 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Water
1oz. Spiced Rum (optional)
Mix the berries, sugar, and water over a medium-low heat. Once the mixture is hot, take a potato masher and break up the berries a little bit so it's less chunky. Continue to cook until the water has evaporated and it becomes a thicker sauce. At the very end, add the spiced rum. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream. I also added some granola on top just for fun.

Sometimes simple can be great!

Sourdough Waffles

I love working with "bugs." I'm not talking about the creepy crawling ones that you need to squish with your shoe, I'm talking about the tiny ones that work miracles. These bugs make my wort into beer, my tea into kombucha, and my flour/water into a sourdough starter. Thankfully I didn't have to go through the trouble to urge the little guys into doing there job to make a starter and a friend gave me part of hers that is over 100years old! I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I did a happy dance. The first thing I made is sourdough waffles. They were amazing. Even my husband liked them (he eats everything I give him, but I know when I can repeat something and when I should never make something again). So without making you read more of my babblings, here is the recipe.

Sourdough Waffles (adapted from the 101 similar recipes online):
In a blender the night before, mix:
1 1/4 c.-whole wheat flour (thanks mom for your grinder)
2 T-honey
1/3 c.-active starter (I fed mine about 12 hours before I started my waffles)
1/2 c.-Greek yogurt
1/2c.-coconut milk (most recipes call for buttermilk. I never have it in my fridge so I did with what I had on hand and probably will never buy buttermilk for this recipe)
Note: if it is really think and having a hard time mixing, add some water

In the morning, whip all this together and then add to blender:
3 eggs
2 T melted butter (could probably use melted coconut oil)
1/4 t.-salt
1/2t.-baking soda
Note:if it's too thick, you can add some water.
Cook according to your waffle maker and instructions. Add whatever toppings that you want and enjoy. With my waffle maker, I made about 8 waffles.
Note: These freeze well. Just reheat in the oven or toaster oven.

Healthy Chicken Nuggets

Sometimes I think I never grew up, especially when it comes to chicken nuggets.  I can remember countless times when at a restaurant and the only thing I ever saw on the menu were chicken nuggets.  They were my go to whenever the menu had more that chicken nuggets on it.  I liked them with bbq sauce, ranch dressing, honey mustard, and any other dipping sauce.  I have never made chicken nuggets because the frying thing is just not something I would ever do in my own kitchen. And since my life style and kitchen have become more and more healthy, I have even stopped ordering chicken nuggets when I go out to eat.  Now all that has changed, and its all my sister's fault.  I went up to her house to watch the super bowl and low and behold, on the counter, there were homemade chicken nuggets calling my name.  I ate too many, stole her recipe, and made a HUGE batch so I will always have chicken nuggets ready for my chicken nugget cravings.  I have no guilt though because these are healthy...I promise!

I doubled the recipe. I like chicken nuggets.

Chicken Nuggets (recipe adapted from here):

1 lb- Boneless Chicken (breasts or thighs)

1 small sweet potato (yielding about 1 cup)

1 whole egg

1 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

about 1tsp. salt

approx. 1/2 cup-rice flour

coconut oil

Bake sweet potato at 400f until soft (or if you're lazy and didn't think ahead, throw it in the microwave for a few minutes).  Using a food processor, grind the chicken and add to a mixing bowl. Next, add cooked sweet potato, egg and spices to food processor and blend until smooth. Mix ground chicken and sweet potato concoction together.  Heat a couple tablespoons of coconut oil in a frying pan.  Using a spoon, scoop up some chicken mixture, roll around in rice flour and flatten in the frying pan. When lightly golden, flip and place on cookie sheet (if you're going to eat them right away or paper towels if you're going to freeze them).  Continue adding coconut oil and chicken mixture to pan until you're done.  If you're going to eat them right away, heat up oven to 375f and cook for a couple of minutes to insure the chicken is completely cooked.  Makes approx. 20 nuggets.
Note: if you would like to freeze these, hold off on the baking until you want to eat them.

Homemade Ranch Dip:

2/3 cup- homemade yogurt

3 T. -mayo

juice from 1/2 lemon (or 2 T-rice vinegar)

1/2 tsp-salt (may need more depending on your preference)

1/2 tsp-onion powder

1/2 tsp-garlic powder

1/2 tsp-lemon pepper 

1 tsp. soy sauce (this is the secret ingredient to homemade ranch dressing, but you can omit this if you have gluten sensitivities)

Mix all together. Test the flavor to see if its right for you.  If it has too much flavor, add more yogurt. If its too thick, add milk. If it needs more flavor, add more spices.  Go out on a limb, try something new, have fun with this recipe and make it yours!

Perfect dinner for the kid in me (well, and a beer for the adult in me too)

I finished!

So a week ago (I know this post is really late) I finished 30 days of not eating any dairy, grains, legumes, sugar, or alcohol. At times it was hard, at times I wanted to give up, but honestly I'm too competitive to have given up before the 30 days were up. Looking back, I'm glad I did it. I didn't notice any huge improvements, but I lost 8lbs and it changed the way I think about food and what to put in my body. Now eating unhealthy food makes me feel sick to my stomach and completely steals my energy. So honestly, I now love having a full breakfast of eggs with sweet potato hash browns or acorn squash. Cereal or a smoothie is just not enough nutrition to start out my busy days. Sipping peppermint tea at night is now a favorite pass time. Cooking healthy and whole meals has become fairly easy. So, thats my story.

Day 27-Monday (work started for me and whole meals went out the window)
Breakfast: eggs with acorn squash
Lunch: Curtis has leftover roast, I ended up staying at work longer than anticipated and just ate a smashed larabar found in my purse
Dinner: I found time to make some sauce and Curtis made himself zucchini noodles.

Day 28-Tuesday
Breakfast: eggs with potato pancakes and coffee with coconut milk
Lunch: leftover tortilla soup with 1/2 avocado, some cashews and an apple
Dinner: Curtis had grilled lemon salmon and a salad. I ran out the door to go to a sub job and again ate a smashed larabar from my purse.
(note: the larabars are nice but I definitely notice that it doesn't keep my energy levels up for a long period of time. I need to start packing better lunches)

Day 29-Wednesday
Breakfast: eggs with potato pancakes and coffee with coconut milk
Lunch: leftover tortilla soup with 1/2 avocado, an apple and some coconut flakes
Dinner: leftover sauce over zucchini noodles

Day 30-Thursday (january 31st!)
Breakfast: my now favorite breakfast: eggs with acorn squash and coffee with coconut milk
Lunch: salad with leftover roast and an apple, celery sticks, and coconut flakes
Dinner: BBQ ribs, mashed sweet potato/turnips, and a salad.

Typical breakfast

Oh Beer, how I've missed thee!!!
Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger at Russian River  Brewing Company