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?

Day 4

I suck at life when I'm sick. For the first time ever, I completely burned dinner. As in, charred and black. I can't even tell you what happened so I'm going to blame it on the fact that I can't smell and my head feels like a water balloon.

Waiting for hubs to get home from work to see what he wants to do about this - my guess is that he'll seize this opportunity to grab some takeout. Fail.

Anyway, the rest of the day was okay. I was craving snacks today - nothing in particular, but I wanted something crunchy. Good thing I threw out all of the chips and chex mix!

Breakfast: 4 small wheat-free, gluten-free toaster waffles courtesy of Trader Joe's. Not so great since they do have potato starch, but I still avoided the wheat.

Lunch: Leftover minestrone soup.

Dinner: Was supposed to be maple pecan crusted chicken with a side of roasted brussels sprouts (those came out just fine) but now it's TBD.

Drinks: Tons of water and tea.

Snacks: I think I had 2 or 3 oranges (I bought an 8 lb bag at Whole Foods for $6 so I'll be eating these for a while!) I also had one square of chocolate.

Overall: Definitely not my best day and I'm only 4 days in. Like I said earlier, my head feels like an overfilled water balloon so I had zero desire to cook breakfast this morning. And as for dinner, I haven't even cleaned it up. I just want it to go away so I can go to bed.

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!

Chicken Lemon Soup

It's autumn back in New England which means that I probably would have already made this soup a dozen times or so. 

After moving in Florida, I actually felt sad when I thought it would be hot all the time because I wouldn't be able to make this soup. It's so delicious and it is my husband's favorite. So you can imagine my excitement when the temperatures down here have dipped into the upper 50s. It's super easy to make, so here is the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot (I put crinkle cut carrots in mine this time because they're what was in the fridge).
• 2 Tbsp butter (I find I always end up needing more)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cans low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup cooked chicken (I buy whatever is on sale, cook it and throw it in here. I've also used a rotisserie chicken when in a hurry as well as leftovers)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp white wine (optional - and I think I've only added this once or twice)
• Lemon pepper seasoning to taste

Directions:

• In a large pot, sauté carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender (picture 1 - top left) 
• Stir in flour until blended (should be thick and clumpy; picture 2 - top right)
• Slowly stir in broth
• Add rice (oh yeah I forgot about that. I never add rice anymore), chicken, salt, pepper and garlic (picture 3 - bottom left). I also dump in tons of lemon pepper seasoning here. This is a soup that my husband and I both like with a lot of extra added flavor. So I typically load up.
• Bring to boil
• Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for around 15 minutes (sometimes it goes longer if I'm busy doing something else. If this happens, just make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as you stir.)
• Reduce heat to low and add milk, lemon juice and wine (if using). Cook 5-10 minutes more and serve (picture 4 - bottom right).

Chicken Lemon Soup

I've doubled and tripled this recipe and have made it so many times that I rarely measure anything out. Even the veggies - I think I did 1/2 an onion, 2 celery stalks and a handful or two of carrots. 

It's a hearty, creamy soup that everyone will love. I would have let Baby J try it out but I put way too much lemon pepper seasoning in there. Maybe next time I'll stick to the actual recipe so she could try it. 

Enjoy!

Carrots

Homemade Carrots

Ingredients:

Carrots (I used Parisian carrots because I liked the size of them. so I figured, why not? Any carrots will work.)

Water

How to Make:

1) I boiled these carrots until they were fork tender. 

2) Just like I did with the green beans, I first added some water to the Vitamix and then added the carrots. 

3) Turn Vitamix on Variable. Start at 1 and quickly turn up to 10. Let blend about 1-2 minutes until the carrots are pureed.

Pears

Homemade Pears

Ingredients:

Organic Pear

1. Peel pear, remove core and seeds, and chop up.

2. Using my [favorite] immersion blender again,  just mash up the pear. When pears are ripe they will mush up easily. 

That's it! Pears are really simple and another favorite of Baby J!

Mangoes

Homemade mango for breakfast

In my Clean Eating post I said that I would start putting recipes and pictures for all of Baby J's food. This morning she had mango for breakfast and this is super easy to make! 

Ingredients:

1 ripe mango

To make:

1. Peel the mango and chop it up 

    **I find mangoes to be a pain to chop because of their weird pit. So it may not look pretty, but as long as you just cut the fleshy part it's fine.

2. I use my cuisinart immersion blender for SO many things - seriously it's one of my favorite kitchen gadgets - and find that it's perfect for soft fruits like mangoes and pears. Blend until smooth.

And that's it! Baby J LOVES mango so we go through quite a bit of it. I haven't tried freezing any of her food but you probably could. Pinterest suggests freezing portions in ice cube trays. It's definitely worth trying!

Clean Eating

What is wrong with this picture?

I know that the "in" thing right now is baby led weaning. Everyone is doing it, right? Letting baby decide when she's ready for solids and skipping cereal altogether. It sounds like a great idea, but not for us. 

For starters, Baby J decided that after months of sleeping through the night, she was going to regress. We were up 2-3 times a night. She would nurse and be back in bed within 15 minutes. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Once I'm up, I'm up. So I figured that maybe she just wasn't satisfied from breast milk alone. 

I bought Gerber's organic brown rice cereal, mixed it with breast milk, and started her on it at four months. It was an experience for sure. She LOVED her cereal and I loved having that experience with her. 

Then I read the ingredients and WOW! There are a lot of them! It was then that I decided I would make all of Baby J's food. I mean, I'm not going to work every day so I have no reason NOT to make sure she eats as healthily as she can. 

I'm not going to lie - making baby food isn't always convenient. It's much easier to just grab a few jars or pouches of organic baby food from Whole Foods, but it's worth it [to me] to know exactly what is going into her little tummy. 

Check out the picture above. It's Gerber's organic bananas. Look at ALL OF THOSE ingredients! Tuna oil!?!?! I find that to be pretty gross. Then there's gelatin and a few other things that I cannot identify. Convenient? Absolutely. Healthy? I think it's like formula. I just cannot understand how feeding a baby artificial stuff is healthy. 

Yeah, I get that millions of people feed their babies formula and prepackaged baby food. But millions of people also eat McDonald's, White Castle and the like. 

So it has been some trial and error when making Baby J's food. I have to remember to take pictures of the process and then upload them here. 

So far we have made                                 Ingredients                  

Bananas                                                       Bananas

Mangoes                                                      Mangoes

Green beans                                                Green beans, water

Peas                                                             Peas

Sweet potatoes                                            Sweet potatoes, breast milk

Also, think about the shelf life of store-bought baby food. That can stay on the shelf for months. Hell, some of it is probably older than Baby J!!! Gross!!!

I really love knowing exactly what is in the food she is eating. I also use organic fruits and vegetables - so I still can't understand why there are so many ingredients in Gerber's organic bananas. It's just crazy!