So about that Wheat Belly diet...

It's stupid. While some people swear by it, I just can't. I made it a little more than a week. Over the course of that week, here's what I learned:

1) I really don't eat that much bread or pasta anyway. Adding a menial amount of crushed crackers or bread crumbs to one of my recipes is not preventing me from losing weight. Nor is one bowl of protein and fiber packed steel cut oats in the morning.

2) More veggies are good. I actually love vegetables to begin with - especially when they're fresh - and I have been making more of a conscious effort to make more of them since I started this a week ago. So that's a plus.

3) Shiritaki noodles are disgusting. I didn't actually eat them because the smell was so rancid (the package actually tells you to boil or microwave the noodles first to help weaken the "natural aroma" of these nasty things). They smell like chemicals.

4) I just can't do "diets". Just knowing that I couldn't have something only made me crave it. So yes, I totally failed.

Well, at least I tried it, right?

Minestrone Soup

This soup is so easy to make and is a great way to get rid of those veggies in your fridge that are looking a little...well, less than fresh.

Being sick and exhausted, I did this as quickly as I could. There's a lot you can add to this soup (zucchini, fresh green beans, kidney beans, ground beef or turkey, tiny pasta, etc.) but I kept it simple this time.

Ingredients:

• 1 large (or two medium) yellow onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 stalks of celery
• 4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced. Or you can use a few handfuls of chopped baby carrots - I never measure these out. I just add however many I want)
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I don't drain them)
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• Palmful of italian seasoning

Directions: 

• In a medium-large soup pot, saute onion, garlic and celery until softened in vegetable oil. 
• Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper and seasonings. Bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer for one hour. 

If you want to add zucchini, beans, pasta, add after one hour and then simmer another 20 minutes before serving. 

If adding ground beef or turkey, cook the meat first and then add with the zucchini, beans, etc. 

Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Tex-Mex Quinoa Bake

Every so often my husband and I like to mix it up and go vegetarian for a few days. I feel like it cleans out my whole system (there may be absolutely zero truth to that, but that's how I feel). Anyway, although it looks like birdseed, quinoa is both protein- and fiber-rich and this recipe actually makes it taste great. I found this in my September 2014 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil cooking spray (I used Safflower Oil)
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed (I used the multi-colored quinoa and rarely rinse because I'm lazy)
• 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp sea salt, divided (I used kosher salt)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small, sweet onion, finely chopped (this manual food processor is my FAVE for chopping onions!!!)
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped (sometimes I use different colors because it's fun)
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels (I used a can)
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 oz shredded Mexican cheese blend of a mix of half cheddar and half Jack cheese (about 1 cup packed)
• 1/4 cup packed chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I usually have this on hand when I make this dish because I make fresh guacamole to go with it. However, I've made it without and it is still good)

Tools Used:

• Manual Food Processor 
• Executive 12" Skillet 
• Bamboo Specialty Cooking Set

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in quinoa and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add cumin and coriander, and stir gently to combine.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet on medium-high, heat oil. Add onion, bell pepper, black pepper, and remaining 1/8 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (about 8-10 minutes). 
• Add corn and 1/4 cup water (I don't add the water when using canned corn which is most of the time) and simmer until most of the liquid evaporates and the corn is heated through, about 3 minutes. 
• Add black beans and cook, stirring occasionally until heated through, about 1 minute. 
  
• Add mixture to the bowl with cooked quinoa and stir gently to combine. Stir in 3 oz cheese and cilantro.
• Transfer quinoa mixture to a baking dish and sprinkle remaining 1 oz cheese over top. Bake until cheese is melted, 10-12 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes before serving. 
  

  

  
• Top with freshly made guacamole and enjoy!

Apple Crisp

You've never really tried apple crisp until you've had this recipe.

This is another dessert I made for Thanksgiving and really, this should be as much of a Thanksgiving staple as the turkey.

You're welcome!

Ingredients:

• 8-10 apples, thinly sliced and peeled using the apple peeler/corer/slicer tool. You can also grab the stand if you want to make your life really easy. 
• I mix them up. I use some golden delicious, some granny smith and some gala. Or whatever else says good for baking.
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick of butter (melted)
• Lemon juice
• Vanilla 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• After you've peeled and sliced the apples (make sure to discard seeds, stems and cores), sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice and dump into a your rectangular stone baker. This time, I actually just used a foil tin thing because I doubled the recipe. 
  

  
  
• In your classic batter bowl, mix sugar and flour together. Then add eggs and mix well. The mix will be a little lumpy.
  
• Sprinkle the mix over the apples, doing your best to cover all of them. 
• Drizzle the melted butter over the apple/flour/sugar mix.
  
• Sprinkle a small amount of vanilla over the mix (no more than a tablespoon or so).
  
• Sprinkle cinnamon over the entire thing - as much as you'd like. I really cover mine. 
  
• Bake for 45-60 minutes. 
• Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Congratulations - you have now experienced a little bit of heaven on earth. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I know I did. 

We spent Turkey Day this year at my aunt and uncle's house (which meant NO leftovers...sob...) and I put myself on dessert duty. One of the desserts I made were these yummy pumpkin cranberry cookies that my mom made when I was a kid. They're supposed to be jumbo cookies (hence the crazy amount of ingredients) but I just made several batches of regular sized globs of goodness. No joke - this recipe made about 5 dozen cookies!

So here you go:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups uncooked oatmeal
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter (softened)
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups cooked pumpkin (I used canned instead. 2 cups is slightly more than one whole can)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp vanilla

Pampered Chef Tools Used:

• Classic Batter Bowl
• Easy read measuring cup
• Large mixing bowl (not pictured)
• Measuring Spoon Set
• Mini Nylon Serving Spatula
• Mix 'N Scraper
• Medium Bar Pan (I should have used the large because of the amount of cookies I made!)
• Medium Stainless Steel Scoop
• Stackable Cooling Rack Set (not pictured)
• Silicone Oven Mitts

Pampered Chef Kitchen Essentials

The tools I listed above really are essentials - things that every cook should have in his/her kitchen. The reason I love Pampered Chef is that their stuff lasts FOREVER. Seriously - I have a few tools (one being a batter bowl) that are almost ten years old. I've never had to replace anything unless I wanted to. So it is definitely safe to say that your money is well spent.

And can we please talk about stoneware? I mean, I'm a stoneware newbie but WOW! Talk about even cooking. I swear that everything I cook in or on my stoneware comes out perfectly. I have my eye on the Deep Covered Baker next ;)

Okay, back to the cookies! 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine oats, flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside
  
• Cream the butter. Gradually add sugars and beat until light and fluffy 
• Add egg and vanilla. Mix well (I ended up using an electric mixer here)
  
• Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. 
  
  
  
  
• Stir in cranberries. 
• Drop scoops onto the bar pan (they don't have to be spaced far apart since they don't expand much)
  
• Bake 20-25 minutes (I baked each batch for 22 minutes).

Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

Mmmmm.....comfort food. 

This is a great recipe because you can pretty much use what you already have in your fridge or freezer. I had celery and carrots that weren't looking so pretty anymore, so this is what I came up with. 

I don't always measure things out but I think I kept pretty good track with this one. 

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut up with my new favorite tool - Pampered Chef's Professional Shears
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 onion (I never chop these by hand. I use my amazing manual food processor)
• Salt and pepper
• Two frozen, deep dish pie crusts (because I absolutely hate making pie crust from scratch). I took them out of the freezer just before I started cooking and they were perfectly defrosted by the time I was ready to use them.
• 1 1/3 cups chicken broth
• 1 stick of butter
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

You can add whatever floats your boat - peas, potatoes, corn, whatever. I prefer to stick to plain old onion, carrots and celery. 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Chop everything up. Season chicken pieces with some salt and pepper.
• Add butter (1 Tbsp at a time - I think I used about 4-5 Tbsp) to 12" executive skillet  until melted. 
• Sautee onion, carrot, celery and chicken in butter until cooked (add more butter if necessary).
• Once the chicken is fully cooked, move the mixture into one of the pie crusts using a scoop 'n drain.
• I put the pie on a baking sheet just in case anything bubbles out while cooking.  

• In the same skillet, make a rue (this is 5 Tbsp butter plus 1/3 cup flour and whisk into a clumpy mess. See top left picture)
• Add chicken broth and milk to the rue (top right)
• Whisk over medium heat until nice and thick (bottom left)
• Pour the thickened mixture over the chicken mixture in the crust. You may not use all of it - I had some left over that I discarded (bottom right)

• Take the second pie crust and loosen the edges. Drop it on top of the filled crust and let it sit there for a minute or two. I think the heat from the bottom crust will help loosen the top just enough so it falls right out. 

• Using pre-made pie crusts doesn't yield you the most beautiful of creations, but it works. Pinch the edges of the top and bottom crust together. 
• Put in the oven for 30 minutes. 
• When it's done, let it sit for 5-10 minutes (my husband couldn't wait and cut into it before I even had a chance to take a picture of the finished product!!! I was putting J to bed. But you get the gist.)

Enjoy!