Keeping up with Clean Eating and Our Second Anniversary...

I have a garden this year! I am so excited to have a cheap source for organic, seasonal, local produce...but I am also excited to plant it and work in it. I am still working on the planting part, but it is shaping up nicely. To the left you can see ground cherry and Brussels sprouts plants...and over on the right is corn, squash, and some tomato plants. I am so excited for the vegetables to ripen and be reading for eating and preserving so that we can enjoy "real food" all year long! Speaking of "real food" we have been keeping up with our pledges, I just haven't been posting on it. The last couple weeks have been very basic things...and mostly things that we have already incorporated. 2 weeks ago was "no lite, reduced-fat, or fat free foods"...done. (If you look they are mostly no lower in calories...so why would I eat something that tastes gross?) Last week was "100% whole grain", and actually this one I struggled with. We eat mostly all whole grain...the part I have trouble with is making my own bread and pasta. It is much harder to make whole grain breads and pastas...so often I use white flour. However, ANY grain product that I buy from the store is 100% whole grain. And this week is "Stop eating when you are full"...this one is actually one that we have been working on for awhile. My husband especially, rushes through meals, taking large bites, and not savoring anything. We are working on slowing down and taking the time to enjoy our food and the time together.
We also still enjoy cooking together. And as I am trying to encorporate more vegetables into our diets, I welcome my husbands input. So the other day I asked him what would make it more enjoyable to eat the veggies I send him with lunch. He actually said he didn't care for ranch dressing anymore (YES! Mission accomplished!)...originally this was the only way that he would eat raw veggies, so I let him have it but I didn't like it. Now apparently he is sick of it and wanted something different...his suggested solution was hummus...specifically spinach artichoke hummus. Wow, I certainly can't complain about that! So off to the store we went for garbanzo beans, spinach, artichokes, and Parmesan cheese. We didn't really work off of a recipe...just combined the above ingredients (after cooking and draining the spinach) with olive oil, salt and pepper, and tahini. I wanted roasted garlic hummus, so I also roasted some garlic, and following the same basic formula above, made that too. He actually made his hummus all by himself, and proclaimed that it wast some of the best hummus ever, and was a very good substitute for (very unhealthy) spinach artichoke dip. It has been in his lunch everyday this week...and I am happy to report all veggies have been eaten! (on a side note...I was slightly less happy with mine...I only used 2 cloves of garlic and it really needed more.)
This week was our 2 year anniversary...it has been the craziest, hardest, best 2 years of our lives! We wanted to have a nice dinner together, but we were very limited on time. The previous day we had had a long day together in Door County, but the day of our anniversary, my husband worked until early afternoon, and had a class in the early evening. So we planned a nice, early dinner to eat at home. Since mostly cutting out soda, I have been looking for fun drink recipes to replace it. We had a watermelon sitting in our fridge to use up so I centered my search around this. I found a wonderful recipe for Watermelon-Ginger Agua Fresca. My husband isn't crazy about watermelon, but his favorite soda was ginger ale (actually green tea ginger ale), so the ginger added a nice kick and a flavor that he loved! Basically the watermelon is pureed in the blender then strained to get out most of the pulp. But if you ever wanted to know that watermelon is actually mostly water, all you have to do is make this recipe and let it sit for awhile...
It starts to separate out so you can see the clear liquid on top, and a little of the pulp, that makes it through the cheesecloth, on the bottom. Once I had figured out the drink I sat down to the hard part of figuring out what the actual dinner should be! My husband had been talking for awhile about a portabella burger that he used to get. So when portabella's were on sale last week I bought two. Now what I didn't know is that the burger that my husband was referring to actually had meat with it! It lead to some confusion, when I informed him that we would just be grilling the mushrooms, but we figured everything out. The first thing that I worked on were the French Fries. I decided to make 2 different kinds of fries to give some variety. The first were sliced Yukon Gold's with rosemary soaked in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper before baking, and shredded Parmesan cheese afterward. The second kind of fries were sweet potato fries with cayenne pepper and a little sugar mixed with olive oil, then sprinkled with season salt before baking. The next thing was grilling the mushrooms. We decided on a pesto burger, with sun-dried tomato mayonnaise, with fresh mozzarella. Now the mushrooms had about a 6 inch diameter, so needless to say they would not have fit on a regular bun (and why would you want a sandwich this sophisticated on a fluffy white bun?!?) So I could either buy something...or make something...lets just say it wasn't a very hard decision. :-) I found a recipe on King Arthur Flour for Ciabatta Rolls. They worked out very well for the most part, but I followed the recipe, against my better judgement, to make indents in the dough before baking. This deflated them too much, so next time I would skip that part, especially if I am intending to use them as buns. (This is a prime example of when I have a hard time sticking to the "100% whole grain" rule...although I figure if I am making it, it is probably better for me than anything in the store...)
Anyway... we spread the bottom of the rolls with homemade pesto (frozen from last year's basil), and spread the top with sun-dried mayo (tomatoes I dried last year combined with "Lemonaise"). The mushrooms were then grilled, and the cheese melted on top.
The table was set and drinks poured...I had a little fun with the drinks! We have some wine glasses and I had some limes in the fridge, so we had festive, fun looking drinks! The overall result was wonderful!
The "burgers" actually kind of had a meat taste...I think it mainly came from the juices that cooking it brought out. But the flavor was wonderful, the bun was actually perfect, and the sauces and cheese were a great compliment! The fries were also a success...and my husband who doesn't generally like sweet potatoes, said they were his favorite of the two!
We had a wonderful, relaxing dinner, as we talked about the last 2 years together...the excitements and disappointments, the trials and blessings, and all the fun times we have had! We can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the coming year!

Trying New Foods

This week our real food pledge is to try 2 new foods that we have never tried before. (last week was no fast foods or fried foods...not much to write about there...but if you are looking for a fabulous baked fried try this recipe from Quick Cooking!)I love making new foods! I also love making foods that my husband likes...and new foods and foods my husband likes are not always the same thing. My husband is always willing to try new foods, but I do know if I want to make him really happy I will just stick to one of his tried and true favorites. Above is a picture of a night that I made one of his favorites...tacos with fried corn tortillas, with Mexican grapefruit soda. He loves Mexican foods...but there is absolutely nothing about tacos that is new, different, or exotic. Another one of my husband's favorites is cinnamon raisin bread. I make a recipe of Pilgrim Bread (recipe that my mom got from a dear friend), roll out the dough and sprinkle with half a box of raisins and cinnamon, roll it up and bake it...it usually lasts about 2 days. Another favorite of his is just simply homemade bread (any kind). This week I wanted to try a new whole wheat sandwich bread, so I tried a recipe from King Arthur Flour, with sunflower seeds and walnuts. I love the different taste and texture of the bread...my husband has yet to try it so we will see! I love the sweet comments that he comes up with when I have him try new things! I try and pair new things, with a favorite of his so at least there will be something he likes. The other night I made lemon pepper tilapia (a favorite), roasted beans and carrots (a safe veggie side), and mushroom risotto. Now, I learned from my mother, that you never tell a husband that you aren't sure if he will like something...because if you tell him you don't think he will like it...he won't. I have found that to be good advice...there have been times when I really didn't think my husband would like something, but I kept my mouth shut, and he usually ends up loving (or at least liking) most dishes. So he has had mushroom risotto before...but I made it different this time. I used cream sherry (left over from a potato leek soup) to cook the mushrooms. Definitely, a different kind of flavor. He picked up on it right away...I could see the look on his face that he wasn't quite sure what to make of this taste. I asked him what he thought of the risotto...his response "It tastes...ummm....sophisticated." HAHA! He did end up liking it and finished the rest of it for dinner the next night, but I loved his descriptive first impression.
So as I have been trying to add new foods and tastes to our menu, I have expanded my cooking experience. Last night dinner was a quiche in a whole wheat pie crust (when the real food pledge to eat only whole grains, that week will be a breeze!). To add some "new" or at least "not used often" vegetables...I made it with mushrooms and asparagus. Add
some onions and a little sharp cheddar and you have a wonderful dinner with so much flavor you don't even miss having a meat like bacon, sausage or ham. But while it is a little more unusual...it is far from new. I was really stumped about what new food to try...I thought of all the new foods my husband has tried since we have been married...curry, tofu, mussels, crab, kale, quinoa, persimmons, spaghetti squash, barley, hummus, napa cabbage, bean sprouts, polenta, dates, figs, almond butter, pomegranate, coconut milk, saffron, rye crisp bread, bamboo shoots...what a man! He took it all in stride, but I knew I needed to come up with something good...something that would really push him out of his comfort zone. Then I hit on it...escargot!
My dad had brought be back a can of escargot when he was in France on business...it has been sitting in my cupboard...begging me to use it...and striking fear in the heart of my husband! So this weekend we will be having escargot...nice yummy slugs! To be fair, I told my husband that I would try my best to duplicate a recipe that I had made as a chef (its not so easy to make your own port wine sauce...). So last night I reduced a whole bottle of tawny port, and 3 cups of beef stock to about a cup and a half. To this thick, rich sauce I will add some herbs, garlic, shallots, porcini mushrooms (another new food!), just a splash of cream...and the escargot! So they will mostly be disguised by the mushrooms and sauce...but he will know that they are there...and will know what they are! My challenge after that is to find a real food that I haven't tried...that won't totally break the bank...any ideas?

Grass-fed Beef and Green Cleaning

Before getting to the real point of this entry (beef and cleaning), I just had to start with my sun tea. I had received a sun tea pitcher for a shower present and had used it for the past 2 years, until the seal wore out, and it started leaking all over. So I was thrilled to find a new one (they are not easy to find!), and today I made my first sun tea of the season! So it has been an altogether exciting day!
To add to the excitement of the day, I found that a local grocery store that now carries locally raised, grass-fed beef, had some packages that had a sell-by date of today. So this morning, I went in and asked if they would be discounted...I was told they would be and that if I waited a couple minutes they would have them ready for me. Wonderful! I was particularly excited about this because our "real food" mini pledge for this week is "eating only locally raised, grass fed meats, and not making meat a focal point of a meal, but rather as a side item or flavoring". So I had about 7 pounds of meat that needed to be sold today...meaning that I had to do something with it today! So getting home from work around 3, I set about preparing the meat, and freezing it. The first recipe was a childhood favorite of mine: Porcupine balls. Basically they are meatballs with rice, cooked in a tomato juice sauce, along with sliced onions and peppers. My mom's recipe consists of mixing 1 lb. ground beef, 1/2 c. long grain rice (I used brown rice because that's all I have, so we shall see if it works out, I am assuming that the cooking time will just be longer), 1 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Then the mixture is shaped into balls, and either cooked right away (slice and onion and pepper and layer them over the meatballs in a covered baking dish, pour a #2 can of tomato juice over, and cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-1 1/2 hours...or until the rice is tender). I didn't want to use them tonight so I froze them uncooked.
The next thing I made was just plain meatballs. Well, they aren't really plain meatballs...they are the best meatballs you will ever have! Some of that comes from the ingredients (cheese and a little Italian sausage, make for great meatballs!) but mostly it comes from the cooking method I think. The raw meatballs are cooked right in the spaghetti sauce. This allows all of the good meat juices and flavor to permeate all of the sauce. This recipe is another very simple one, simply mix 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, 1/2 lb pork (or Italian sausage), 1 c. dry bread crumbs, 2 t. salt, 3/4 t. pepper, 2 or 3 beaten eggs, 6 T. grated Italian cheese, 1 T. parsley (fresh is best but dried will do), and 2 garlic cloves, minced. Again with this recipe I froze the raw meatballs, and when I am ready to serve them I will thaw and cook in the sauce (for about an hour). With the rest of the meat I simply cooked it with diced onion, and froze it in 1 c. quantities to use later for various recipes calling for ground beef.
Another recipe that I would like to share on the topic of eating local, grass-fed meat, is shepherd's pie. I found this recipe while looking for ways to use the ground lamb that I had purchased and frozen a couple of weeks ago. This is a recipe for a true "shepherd's pie"...after being confused about the difference between a shepherd's pie and a cottage pie, I looked up the difference, and while today both terms are generally used interchangeably, a shepherd's pie is made with lamb (that one does make sense), while a cottage pie is made with beef (no idea how someone came up with that one!). I made a few of my own tweaks to the recipe, mainly I added sliced mushrooms to the vegetable mix, and I added some sour cream and cream cheese to the mashed potatoes (not much, I had 2 almost empty containers that I needed to used up some how, and this recipe provided a great opportunity!). Anyway, the dish was fabulous, and I was very excited to be cooking with lamb. If you would like to find out more about the lamb you can check out Strauss Farm's website. Based in Franklin, WI, it is where the lamb, and beef were raised. Eventually I would like to be able to find an even more local farmer to get my meat from, until then I will do the best I can.

Now moving on to a very different topic, but one that I have been wanting to put down some thoughts on for awhile. Homemade cleaners. For several years my mom has made her own all purpose household cleaner, which in my opinion works better than anything you can buy in the store...and you don't have to worry about the nasty chemicals. The "recipe" is simply: 2 T. vinegar, 2 c. warm water, 1/2 t. liquid soap (not dish washing liquid or hand soap...it is just labeled liquid soap), and 1 t. borax. So that I have been making and using, for awhile...but I wanted to try out some new cleaning product "recipes" to save money, and to avoid the toxicity ofcommercial cleaners. The most concerning thing I found was in the toxicity of dishwasher detergent. I think that bothered me most because it is used in the kitchen, to clean plates and utensils. Not exactly where you want to be using highly toxic materials. So off I went to find a recipe to make my own. My recipe is 1 c. washing soda or baking soda, 1 c. borax, 1/4 c. kosher salt, and 1/4 c. citric acid. To run a load of dishes through the dishwasher I place 1 T. of my homemade detergent in the detergent compartment, 5 drops of liquid dish soap (for grease cutting) just on the inside door of the dishwasher to act as a pre-wash (no more than 5 drops or you will have suds exploding out of your dishwasher, for those of you who don't know that!), and I use vinegar as my rinse aid, to keep my glasses spotless and shiny! The last cleaning thing that I made was hand soap. This was a very basic recipe of a gallon of distilled water, 2 T. liquid glycerin, and a bar of soap. The soap is grated and dissolved and cooked in the water. Then the glycerin is added, and the mixture is cooled, thickened, and mixed to the proper consistency. I made an entire gallon of hand soap (with all natural soap) for $4. I can't find cheap liquid soap that inexpensively around here! So it was well worth, the little extra time and effort! I love having the ability to make cheap cleaners that I can feel good about using with my family. Trying to get into these habits now, so that as the craziness of life continues, hopefully I can keep up with some of them! :-)

"Real" Beverages

This week's new nutritional challenge is drinking only "real" beverages. This one has been an easy one for my husband and I because we mostly only drink "real" beverages. This week we are limited to drinking water, milk, tea, and coffee. 100% juice is allowed, but according to the rules, only once a week. This is an exception that we are going to make, mostly because my husband loves his morning juice! Pretty much the only juice that my husband likes is the Simply Orange "High Pulp". Probably 3-4 mornings a week, we each have a small glass (6 oz). For me this is a reasonable juice consumption, and it is not our main beverage, or source of fruits. We drink water with just about every meal, so that is no problem. We both enjoy our caffeinated beverages as well...so I was very glad that those were included this week! I drink quite a bit of tea (hot and iced), and my husband likes a cup of coffee (black) every morning. The other thing that we drink (and use in cereal), is raw milk. Raw milk from an organic producer, is not only free of hormones, and antibiotics, but also contains undamaged amino acids, lacoferrin (iron binding protein), conjugated linoleic acid (strengthens immune system and lowers food allergies), and over 60 fully intact enzymes to aid in maintaining digestive health. Many of these beneficial components are destroyed during the pasteurization and homogenization processes.
So this is going to be an easy week...which is nice as we are still working on consistently implementing 2 servings of fruits and vegetables each meals for every meal!

Nutritional Lifestyle Change

My husband and I have decided...okay, I decided...with my husbands enthusiastic support...okay, not always enthusiastic...to make a nutritional lifestyle change. No we are not going on a diet...actually this is the opposite of a diet...diets by nature are short term (because what is being eaten is not sustainable for a lifetime) and ineffective (usually because rapid weight loss is the goal). What we are doing is gradually removing processed foods from our diet and replacing them with whole (or real) foods. This not only means no Twinkes (which have no real food in them...), but also cutting out things like artificial sweeteners, anything unnaturally low fat (basically anything labeled "low fat", "lite" or "fat free"), anything refined (not limited to but including most oils, white bread products, and sugary foods), and anything artificial (colorings, preservatives, additives in meat and dairy products). I know that's a long list of things that we aren't going to be able to eat...but you should see what we can eat! The plan that we are following to get us started is found at the 100 Days of Real Food website. The link will take you to the reasons for cutting out processed food...and if you are interested in learning more, we are doing the 100 Days of mini pledges. I am a fan of gradual changes and not trying to make drastic changes all at once...so, adding a new goal each week is more manageable to me than trying to implement everything all at once. So we are on week 1: 2 fruits/vegetables at every meal (juice doesn't count because it is a concentrated sugar...eat a piece of fruit to get all the benefits!). So I just thought that I would share some of the meals I have been making to help implement more fruits and vegetable into our diet. The first one (and probably the one that I am most excited about is a Kale Quinoa Berry Salad. I got the idea when visiting my grandparents and sister in Cleveland, OH. While there we stopped at the cutest little bakery/deli/coffee shop and for lunch (among many other delicious and healthy options) was a Kale Quinoa Berry Salad...instant inspiration...especially as I had bought a bunch of kale right before leaving for Ohio. So when I arrived home I decided to make my own version. The basic components were easy...washed and chopped kale...cooked quinoa...and chopped berries (and I added kiwi). The dressing was by far the hardest part. I tried looking up some recipes, but to no avail. They all wanted to combine a lot of spices and herbs...I wanted the flavor to come from the bitter kale, the sweet berries, and the nutty quinoa. So I created my own dressing. For Christmas my sister had given me some really cool flavored oils and vinegars...so I combined 1/4 c. Pomegranate White Balsamic Vinegar, 1 Tbsp. Blood Orange Olive Oil, 1 tsp. honey, and 1 tsp. Dijon mustard. I tasted it and knew it would be perfect for the salad! I combined the dressing with the kale and quinoa and let it sit. Because of the texture of kale it is good to let it sit for awhile. While lettuce wilts if left in a dressing too long, kale actually softens some to make it a little more palatable...although I like a stiffer salad so I don't mind it not sitting in dressing. I tossed the berries in right before serving, so they wouldn't get too mushy. While my husband's initial response to my healthy dinner was to pour Easter candy in his bowl...he actually ended up really liking it! The curliness of the kale leaves was a new sensation for him, but overall the salad was given rave reviews by my food critic.



Another meal that supplies several servings of vegetables is gyros. I usually make these with ground beef...although I had found ground lamb on sale last week so I went for the more authentic option (and my favorite...I love lamb!) The lamb is combined with some herbs and then grilled. Then it is served with whole wheat pita bread, lettuce, tomato, and tzatziki sauce. The sauce is what really makes the meal...it is a combination of plain yogurt, cucumbers, and garlic.

Everything is then stuffed in the pita...for a very easy, healthy, tasty meal! The recipe that I use is from the Taste of Home website (and cookbooks).

Other "vegeie dense" foods that I have made recently include:





Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas









Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Another thing that is very helpful for getting the most fruits and vegetables in your diet is to make work/school lunches. You can see what a lunch might look like for my husband and I...the funny looking thing on the far left is a Barley, Corn, Mushroom Salad (with avocado, and adapted from this website). The lunch is then rounded off with fresh cut pineapple, and blackberries.

Healthy, whole, real foods are not always the easiest or the cheapest...but they are best. So here we are on a new food journey! :-)

Spring Break Cooking...

I love Spring Break. I always enjoyed the down time, catching up on sleep, and being reminded that there is more to life than school. So this week for my husband's Spring Break, I wanted to make sure he was able to enjoy the time off of school and that we had fun things to do together. So of course I made a list of all the fun recipes that I had been wanting to be trying, bought the ingredients, and planned our week!
One of the first things that I had been wanting to try was making my own chocolate. I found a recipe for "healthy" homemade chocolate (wheat, dairy, and gluten free, for those who are interested...). The above picture isn't the best quality (turns out my camera doesn't like focusing on a dark blob...), but that is the hardened mixture of dutch process cocoa, unrefined coconut oil, and agave syrup. It does have a definite coconut undertone, but other than that is a fabulous, (very dark!) chocolate!
Another thing that I have been dying to try is homemade ice cream. I found a recipe for Vanilla Bean Gelato so we decided to give that a try! I absolutely love vanilla ice cream...real vanilla. Vanilla is not an absence of flavor...like the fake stuff in the grocery stores is...vanilla is an exotic, tropical flavor. Now that I am getting raw milk again, I have a regular supply of cream skimmed off the top of the milk. That, and the vanilla beans found at the General Store, gave me the most critical ingredients for the gelato.
The vanilla beans are first split lengthwise then the seeds are scraped out.
Then the milk, cream, seeds, and the whole bean are then brought to a simmer.
Then egg yokes are creamed with sugar.
My wonderful husband, took care of the eggs and sugar... :-) Then the egg mixture is then cooked in the cream mixture to thicken it.
After that we cooled the mixture by placing the bowl in a sink filled with ice water.
Then the ice cream mixture is placed in the ice cream maker and left to churn!
The mixture froze quickly...then we froze it more...we had some right after it was made, now we are saving the rest to have with some fresh berries!
Another thing that I had been wanting to make was corned beef sandwiches. So for St. Patrick's Day we had "ruben-ish" sandwiches. So, I boiled the corned beef, made rye bread...and bacon mayo (I don't like thousand island dressing...and I had had a corned beef with bacon mayo before and loved it...I know, I know...nothing healthy about bacon mayo). The sandwiches were a hit...I think we have a new family tradition!
Well...this isn't cooking, but a sweet friend gave us a new set of nice dishes, and some extra pieces like bowls and candy dishes...and my husband helped me pack all of them away!
I also found a recipe for strawberry lemon muffins...and couldn't wait to try it! So, it went on the spring break list!
There was lots of fresh lemon zest in the batter...
...and 3 cups of fresh strawberries!
The batter was mixed...
and the strawberries were coated with flour (to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins)
And placed in the oven to bake.
They came out beautiful golden brown.
Some of the muffins were sprinkled with Swedish pearl sugar, and some with a lemon glaze. Tmuffins turned out beautiful and were very tasty!
Another thing that I had been wanting to try was a copy cat version of Starbucks spinach feta breakfast wrap. The filling was sauteed spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and feta cheese. The finished mixture smelled just like the Starbucks one! To make it "right" I got whole wheat flour tortillas...
Then I cooked an egg white and placed it on the flour tortilla.
The filling mixture is then placed on top...
...and rolled up! What a fabulous (and super healthy!) breakfast!
The only thing that made it better was a glass of orange juice, and fresh berries! This is probably my new favorite breakfast...
Well, that's it for now...but the week is only half over...still more time for cooking!