Cold Weather = Soup Weather

In keeping up with the leftovers theme, I made a batch of soup yesterday. I've been buying quite a bit of celery lately and when I just eat the stalks, I'm left with the top stalks and leaves. Not wanting that to go to waste I decided to make soup. I used the leftover celery, 1 medium onion, a clove of garlic, and 1 bunch kale. I seasoned the the soup with Mexican seasoning, chipotle cayenne, salt, and pepper. I also added about a 1/4 cup of black beans to help give more of a creamy consistency. Adding the chipotle cayenne made it spicy but so good. I added a dollop of Greek yogurt and cilantro for my lunch today. One of the nice things about making soup is that the measurements don't need to be exact. It's always fun making a batch because I end up adding more ingredients as I go along. I'm thinking of some variations I can do with this so a real recipe will be up soon.

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope everyone ate delicious food and enjoyed their day with family. My day was spent with my mom. I was in the kitchen while she was in the living room watching movies (her favorite thing to do.) She would frequent the kitchen to see if I needed any help, and she cut the veggies for the stuffing and gravy. Since I'm still trying to stick with the Candida diet as best I can, I planned a gluten and sugar free menu. We also did without a whole turkey. I picked up a bone in half breast at the health food store. It was the perfect size for two people with some leftover. 

Our dinner consisted of roasted kabocha squash mash, quinoa stuffing made with Julian Bakery dinner bread, steamed green and wax beans, turkey, cranberry sauce sweetened with xylitol, and a gravy made from carrots, celery, onion, and shallot that were roasted with the turkey breast. Everything was so yummy. The traditional Thanksgiving food I grew up on was not the healthiest so being able to prepare such a healthy meal is something I am thankful for.

Here is another pretty shot of the Valley I took on my walk this morning.

Not Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

The mood of this week has been wonderfully different. I always love when my normal routine gets shifted. Sunday, which was my Friday, was spent working at the shop. It was a cold and rainy day but people still came in to get some yummy cupcakes. Even though I'm in the kitchen, it's when I work in the shop I really crave a cupcake. The flavors were so good this week and two months with no sugar made me want one even more. I gave in and ate a mini pumpkin cranberry. It was amazing. I also had some wine that night. I was worried that once I consumed sugar again I would get sick or have a flare up but I felt fine. I know it's something I just really need to monitor. I've also been house sitting since Sunday. It's like a mini vacation for me which I love. The rainy Sunday evening was spent making dinner with the boy I have a crush on and watching movies.

Brown rice pasta with chicken, broccoli, and an arugula salad.

The next night I made chicken enchiladas. Daiya vegan cheese is my favorite for this recipe. He was a bit worried when I said I would be using vegan cheese. I think he liked them though.

From both dinners we had food leftover. For the past two days I have been using these leftovers to make my lunch and dinner.

An arugula salad topped with a chicken enchilada, brown rice and beans, more Daiya cheese and ancho chile powder.

I mixed together the last of the enchilada, rice and beans and reheated in the oven with more Daiya cheese sprinkled on top. I really love this cheese. I served it on a bed of spinach with a side of avocado, cilantro and tortilla flax chips. Lots of lime juice made this extra yummy.

For the pasta leftovers I sauteed some green and red bell peppers. Served over a bed of spinach and topped with pine nuts. Pasta and pine nuts are quite the combination.

As for tonight, I ate the rest of the pasta over a bed of arugula with steamed broccoli.

Here is a shot from today's walk. It was chilly out but I very much enjoyed it. I think Fall might be my favorite season.

 Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Stir Fries and a Scramble

 I haven't been doing as much experimental cooking lately but I have been keeping up on making some yummy dinners. I also haven't been cooking in my own kitchen. I made a new friend who I happen to have a crush on. We've been making dinner at his house a lot. I thought it was going to be difficult eating together since I have so many restrictions but he's really accommodating and respectful of my dietary needs. Since my diet consists basically of veggies, protein, and grains, stir fry seemed to be a good choice. We've been making them a lot but each time a little different depending on the veggies or protein used. I wouldn't say I'm bad at preparing meat or poultry but I definitely don't take the time to season it when it comes to making a stir fry. It's amazing how proper seasoning can tie the entire dish together and add so much extra flavor. He is in charge of the protein portion of the meal and I take care of the veggies. The rice portion is a team effort. Cooking is such a love of mine and being able to share that experience with someone else who I enjoy spending time with is really nice. 

 

In addition to our stir fry dinners we made a veggie scramble for breakfast one morning. He's into adding serrano peppers on everything and it's starting to rub off on me. It's so incredibly spicy but so good.

Kabocha Squash

Have I ever mentioned that I love Wednesdays? Well I do. It's my Monday so I'm back in the Kitchen with Amber for prep. It's also the day of farmers market. I met up with Vanessa this afternoon and we walked into town. She's been up north for the past week so it was nice to see her and catch up. I picked the usual chard, celery, pasilla chiles, lettuce, and bell peppers, but was curious about all the squash that are now available. I haven't done too much cooking with squash. I think I always thought they were too difficult but really, they are one of the easiest things to cook. I asked the woman at the Roots stand if the small orange squash was a mini pumpkin. She said it was a Kabocha squash also known as a Japanese pumpkin. She noted that the taste is sweeter than pumpkin and explained how to cook them. Cut in half and brush with olive oil. Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350°. Mine took close to 50 minutes. I scraped out the seeds to cook on a separate tray. They were seasoned with a little bit of olive oil and course salt. I had no idea what to pair with this so I decided to steam some broccoli and that's when I had the idea to stuff it in the squash with the toasted seeds. It was such a simple dinner but so yummy. I can't wait for next Wednesday so I can purchase more. Okra was another first time purchase today which I've also never cooked with. Some research needs to be done. When I think of okra I remember myself and my childhood best friend eating pickled okra right out of the jar. Oh yeah, and the Torkelsons. Remember that show?

Made this green drink earlier for my snack... I can now include granny smith apples into my diet which makes me a very happy girl. A month without fruit is no fun. Lots of ginger and lemon, apple, and celery leaves and stalks.

Also pretty excited about my new book purchase

Today was a good day. Hope everyone else enjoyed themselves.

The Happiest Place on Earth.

After I gave this blog a makeover last night I made some edits to the "about me" section. I re-read what I wrote about why I started this blog. "I started this blog to express my passion for healthy natural food and things that make me happy." Being in the kitchen cooking and experimenting makes me very happy but there are other factors as well that contribute to my happiness. Disneyland is one of them. My mom was a travel agent while I was growing up so we took trips there at least two, if not three times a year. To me, this really is the happiest place on earth. Vanessa and I took a day trip last Monday. I know I'm late on the posting but after not sticking to my diet completely that day, I had a major food hangover/coma for the next few days that followed. I've cleaned up my diet even more so since returning and I'm finally starting to feel like the supplements and diet are working. I have started including granny smith apples into my diet. I feel that these have really helped me not feel so spacey. Okay, back to Disneyland. It was awesome. It had been two years since I'd been there. I love this time of year with all the Halloween and Nightmare Before Christmas decorations. I felt like a little kid again and was filled with so much happiness and excitement.

My all time favorite ride. Yes, I bought Minnie ears to wear.

 California Adventure at sunset. Such a beautiful way to end a lovely day.

Sugar and Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

 The weather is finally cooling down a bit and it’s starting to feel like fall. I love seeing the all the colored leaves falling from the trees. In keeping with the season, pumpkin cheesecake was one of the flavors on the weekly menu for Enjoy Cupcakes this past week. Not being able to eat sugar or gluten was torturous on me. On Sunday morning while at work, I was thinking to myself how I could make a gluten and sugar free pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is approaching and I need an alternative. I’ve been making quiches lately so I thought I could use a similar recipe for the crust. In my first attempt I used equal parts almond and coconut flour with equal parts water, grapeseed oil, and almond milk. This crust came out too thick and dry. The recipe for the filling was found on Kath Eats Real Food. The end result had too much spice added to it giving the mixture a grainy texture. Overall it was decent but I knew I could make it even better with some revisions. Today I made my second attempt. The recipe is below. After my first bite I knew my alterations had paid off. I will be making this for Thanksgiving. A larger batch of course. This mini pumpkin pie can be eaten in one sitting by one person. Yes, that would be me.

Sugar and Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

For the crust

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon almond flour

1 Tablespoon coconut flour

1 Tablespoon ground flax

1 + 1/2 Tablespoons Earth Balance (I use the soy free)

1 teaspoon xylitol

1/2 teaspoon water

pinch of salt

Sift together all dry ingredients. Beat butter until well combined and then add the water. Form dough in a ramekin and bake for about 13 minutes at 350°. 

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

For the filling

1/2 cup organic canned pumpkin (fresh could be used in place)

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

37 drops liquid stevia (I use the Kal brand.)

3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

dash of vanilla extract

Mix well to combine

Once your pie crust is completely cooled, fill with pumpkin pie filling.

Garnish with slivered almonds if desired... Chopped pecans would probably be good too.

Place in freezer for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove and enjoy the pumpkin pie goodness without sugar or gluten.