Vegetti

So I recently purchased this handy little kitchen gadget. I had my doubts, and kind of thought it was silly and wouldn't work. It does work, and is fabulous. It turns zucchini into perfect noodles, and takes out all of the seeds.

I used it with regular spaghetti sauce to make this awesome dish below. It was fantastic! I highly recommend it, and it is super easy to use!

Gluten Free Vegan Pancakes

These Pancakes are Delicious! you wouldn't even know they were vegan or gluten free! I topped mine with Melt, butter alternative and real Maple Syrup. Maple Syrup is A-MAZING!

Pancake Batter Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup gluten-free baking flour
2 tablespoons Stevia
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon organic sea salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk,
3 tablespoons melt butter alternative
2 ener-g egg replacer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl Heat griddle to 350°.  Coat lightly with spray coconut oil, I do not use any chemical based sprays!

This recipe should yield 12 large pancakes.

Adapted from:http://niceglutes.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/gluten-free-dairy-free-vegan-pancakes-with-fruit-sauce/

Gluten Free/Vegan Lemon Balm Rhubarb Bread

Rhubarb Lemon Balm  Bread:

Adapted from Rhubarb Lemon Balm Tea Bread

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup grape seed oil
1 cup almond milk
1 ener-g egg re placer
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped uncooked fresh rhubarb
1/4 cup stevia
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh lemon balm
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon MELT (butter alternative)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9X13 pan or several bread pans. 

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl, pour into greased pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

This makes a lot of bread! It was so moist and delicious that it could be made into a cake with a topping. My husband and I ate almost the whole pan in one day. My husband liked it so much he asked me to make it again, and didn't notice it was gluten free or vegan! A great way to use some fun ingredients. 

Meatless Monday

In an effort to get back on track I made this dish. I was thinking about pasta primavera, but didn't have all the veggies I needed. I threw what I had in a pan with some olive oil and garlic to saute. Then added jarred sauce, shrimp and put it over spaghetti squash. The veggies I had in the house were broccoli, red pepper, carrots, onion, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and spinach. It was pretty good!

Paleo by default

So I will start by saying that I have recently transformed my diet, and am now gluten free, and mostly soy and egg free. After over a year of chronic headaches and fatigue that no Dr. could seem to explain, and no scan could provide a cause, I became frustrated. My neurologist related the fatigue back to my Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, but the headaches were still unexplained. Fed, up and determined I began diligently researching natural remedies, and possible causes to my aliments. I went to an allergist, and was tested for possible food allergies. And what do you know,  just as I thought, I had some. I began detoxing my body, and eliminating the foods I was most sensitive to (gluten, soy, and eggs). The elimination of these foods drastically improved the way I was feeling, significantly reduced my fatigue and completely cured my headaches! In the mean time, I began doing a little research regarding diets that reduced MS symptoms. There are a few out there, so taking information from everything I had read, I began trying to heal myself with healthy food! I am currently limiting my meat intake, and don't eat meat everyday.  The meat I do eat is bison, chicken and fish. I buy bison from a local farmer,  chicken from a small Amish market which is organic, and the fish I don't purchase anywhere special, but do purchase wild caught (the environment of farm raised fish, and the "food" they are fed has made me form an opinion to avoid it). For those of you who are freaked out at the thought of eating bison, DON'T BE! It is a very lean meat, and is similar to beef. In my opinion, if I didn't know it wasn't beef I wouldn't know the difference. It is significantly lower in fat as well. Here is a comparison chart

	Fat (grams )	Calories (kcal)	Cholesterol (mg)	Iron (mg)	Vitamin B12 (mcg)
Bison	2.42	143	82	3.42	2.86
Beef (choice)	10.15	219	86	2.99	2.65
Beef (select)	8.09	201	86	2.99	2.64
Pork	9.66	212	86	1.1	0.75
Chicken (skinless)	7.41	190	89	1.21	0.33
Sockeye Salmon	10.97	216	87	0.55	5.80
Source: USDA

Bison is my go to ground meat. Prior to my research, ground turkey was my go to meat, until I discovered that most ground turkey is not just the white meat. Its dark meat, fatty meat, and sometimes skin as well. So unless you are buying all white, skinless meat specifically, you may not be getting what you think you are, and the fat content in it may be high than lean beef (ugh, I know!). I can say that I have purchased skinless, all white ground turkey, and the consistency is not like beef or bison. It is more like a piece of chicken cut up, and I honestly didn't care for it. Make the switch to bison!!

Most of these recipes have been adopted from recipes I have found online. I will post the sites along with the pictures of the items I have made. As a result of food allergies, and my MS symptom reduction diet, I am mostly paleo. Although I eat dairy, which I don't believe is Paleo.. So on to my creations!
Things I've made to eat, are also posted on my Pintrest boards, so feel free to follow me on Pintrest

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti:

For this dish, I did not follow a recipe. I used spaghetti squash as the "noodles." The marinara was just a pre-made store brand that I added squash, zucchini, onion, pepper, and bison to. Tah dah.. Dinner :) 

"Mac and Cheese" Spaghetti Squash:

The recipe originate from: http://www.evilshenanigans.com/2013/04/cheesy-baked-spaghetti-squash/.  A couple of changes I made were using gluten free flour, low fat organic milk instead of cream and fresh spinach instead of frozen.  Fresh spinach 1 tastes better, and 2 wilts when it is heated and is similar to frozen thawed spinach after (who knew). I always use fresh spinach where it calls for frozen. I do not know what the equivalent of fresh to frozen is, I usually "eye ball it." (so technical I know). I also added some chick peas to this with some of the leftovers, and it was delicious!

Paleo Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe derived from: http://eating4balance.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/coconut-flour-cinnamon-rolls/.  All things considered these were very good! They are no ooey, gooey processed, fat filled, Cinnabon (man they are good), but it is pretty tasted for a much healthier version! A couple of tweaks I made with this were that I used Ener-g egg substitute instead of flax seed. This can be purchase at a local health food store, or in the specialty diet section at your local grocery store. Ener-g is a powder that is mixed with water to produce an egg like consistency gel. I have not had any problems with recipes not turning out with this substitution. It works well!! One thing I would mention about the coconut oil/flour is that it gave me terrible heartburn, and tummy troubles. I don't know if it was the flour or the oil, but I am thinking it was the oil because it was very strong in the recipe. So I may try it again with less coconut oil, or a replacement. I drink coconut water, and eat raw coconut with no issues, so I don't want to rule coconut out of my diet permanently!! Also I topped these with raw honey. If you have not tasted raw honey, I highly encourage you to do so! I had read many articles about honey from the grocery stores being mostly high fructose corn syrup, flavored to taste like honey. I thought, yeah right, they can't do that! Until I tasted raw, locally produced honey... Wow, what a difference! 

Almond Bread:

Adapted from: http://www.elanaspantry.com/simple-bread/. The only change I made to this recipe was that I used ener-g (see previous recipe for details), instead of eggs. The consistency is much like corn bread, with a slight taste of almond. 

Zucchini Boat:

Derived from : http://recipesweet.net/stuffed-zucchini/ This recipe really just gave me the idea for what I made. Looking back, I did not follow it what so ever. I cleaned out the middle of the zucchini and added store bought marinara, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. I am new to cooking, so I guess on cooking temperatures and times. I  time things by "watching them" to see when they look done. My husband loves these, and they are super simple to through together for a quick meal!!

Adventures In Cooking

So I have said this a million times in the past couple of weeks since Ive started actually cooking real food for myself, "I just want to take pictures of everything Ive been making and post them online... Well I did! Here are a few things I've made in the past few days that are super yummy and easy to make! Did I mention they are healthy? It literally amazes me that I am able to make healthy food, that is yummy, easy, and that I actually want to eat. Oh and did I mention I am not starving an hour later drinking water, and chewing gum trying to convince myself Im not hungry! Its true...

So I am not going to lie here and say that I thought of any of these things on my own. I didn't, I have never really cooked consistently on my own. A lot of the ideas I have gotten from other bloggers on Pinterest, and Weigh Watchers.com. I am not claiming to be a professional chef or anything, but here are some of the things Ive made. You can add or modify them in any way to suit your own taste. I also have not used any techniqual terms, and basically don't have a clue what I'm doing in the kitchen. So feed back, and ideas are always helpful for me :)...

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So the first food adventure I took was making chicken fried rice!! I got the basis for this recipe from weight watchers.

This is not a photo a took, its from the website, but mine was very similiar. The ingredients I used were:

One pound bag of stir fry vegetables

One 14 oz can of bean sprouts

Frozen boneless skinless chicken breast

2 eggs

3 cups of cooked brown rice

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

8oz of boneless skinless chicken breast

I microwaved the frozen veggies with a little water, until they were thawed.

I grilled the chicken on my George Forman grill without using any extra fat, and cut it into large chunks.

I then cooked two large eggs in a frying pan using cooking spray. I let them cook a little and once they began to cook I started stirring them. Once the eggs were done, I added the vegetables, cooked brown rice, and the soy sauce into the frying pan. Once everything was mixed nicely and cooked all the way through it was served...

2 cups is about one serving, and this makes about 8. Each serving is about 4-5 weight watchers points.

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This is what I like to call my better than McDonald's oatmeal. This is not really cooking, but since I eat oatmeal on a daily basis, I was all excited with myself for getting creative!

I used:

Meijer Brown Sugar, High Fiber Instant Oatmeal (but really any kind will do)

1/4 cup of craisins

1 small granny smith apple

8 chopped almonds

It is the perfect blend of sweetness and it keeps you full for hours in the morning. This makes one serving and is 8 weight watchers points. I don't always use the almonds, and that will also save you two points!!

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This idea I got from Pintrest, Im not exactly sure which blog it was, but Ive seen it on there a few times. It is crock pot chicken. I made tacos, and quesadilla's from it

I used:

 Thawed (previously frozen) boneless skinless chicken tenders

1 packet of taco seasoning (any kind will do)

1 16 oz jar of salsa (any kind will do)

The directions I found online said to cook this all in the crock pot on high for 6 hours. I cooked it on high for about 2 hours, but it may depend on your crock pot, or how much you are making. (This was the first time Ive ever used a crock pot, so I have no idea).

Once the chicken was cooked all the way through I took two forks and pulled all the pieces apart.

The tacos and quesadilla's have the same basic ingredients:

2oz of the crock pot chicken

La Tortilla High Fiber Low Carb Tortillas

Diced Tomato

Lettuce

Onion

Low Fat Cheese (I used less than one 1/2 serving for the tacos)

Greek Yogurt (sour cream substitute, I used about 2 tbsps)

For the quesadilla's I added an 2 full servings of cheese and baked it in the oven until the tortilla was crispy and the cheese was melted. For the tacos I just put the ingredients in the tortilla.

Each taco and quesadilla is one serving, the taco's are 5 weight watcher points, and the quesadilla's are 8 because of the extra cheese.

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This is a single serving of Cookie Dough Oatmeal Cake

This recipe I got from the blog chocolatecoveredkatie.com. She has lots of deserts, and yummy stuff I can not wait to try!!! Although this has cake right in the title, I just saw the oatmeal part, and made it for breakfast! 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oats (50g)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

 1 1/2 T Sugar Free Maple Syrup 

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (60g) (Or sub banana)

1/4 cup skim milk

1/8 tsp salt

Mix ingredient together in a mixing bowl and bake in either two muffin tins, or in one large oven safe bowl on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. I divided the mixture into two muffin tins and added sugar free cool whip it was yummy!!

This makes one serving which is 8 weigh watchers points, but if you divide it in two muffin tins you have two 4 point treats :)

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Smoothies!!!

So believe it or not, this is the same smoothie, except the one on the left has spinach in it. Both taste about the same, and if you are tracking weigh watchers points both are 0 points.

Ingredients:

1 large handful of frozen unsweetened mango

1 large handful of frozen unsweetened strawberries

1 large banana

2 Cups raspberry ice crystal light (any flavor will do)

Ice to taste

** If you are adding spinach, I used about 2-3 cups chopped

So these have been my adventures so far...