Eeeeeewwwww!

Just in time for Freaky Food Friday! A batch of disgu--eeewww--sting concoctions from yours truly. Well, not that I actually think they're that gross--but I think my husband would beg to differ! :)

But, as we food bloggers know, the food that looks the strangest can often times taste the best--and be good for you too! Number One:

The Smeeeeewwwwthie!

Spinach, blueberries, stevia, cocoa powder, cinnamon and a few chunks of banana. Looks disgusting, tastes delicious! The chocolate flavor was pretty faint, but just added a nice hint of flavor while masking the gritty taste of the spinach. I love getting 2 full servings of veggies before lunch time!

Second: Neeeeewwwwdles!

Not that I have anything AT ALL against normal noodles, but finding a worthy pasta swap is kind of a fun little experimentation for me. I tired kelp noodles not too long ago, and couldn't resist these yam noodles when I spotted them in our Asian grocery.

These shiritaki noodles are almost identical to the famous Tofu Shiritaki, minus the tofu. I used to love the Tofu Shiritaki, but obviously the soy factor is a problem for me, so I was super excited to see the soy-free original version.

These noodles so require a bit of extra attention. After rinsing and draining extremely well ( warning! DO NOT smell them right as you open the bag--bad news bears fer real), I steamed them in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes and patted them dry with a clean dishtowel. I think cooking them for a little bit removes any of the briny taste and leaves them actually smelling like yams (instead of sewage).

Served with homemade turkey meatballs and spicy marinara. Yum Yum. :)

I did like these better than the kelp noodles. The shiritaki are much more like regular pasta, albeit finer and a little more chewy. But I do think they provide a great lighter base for more sturdy meal components such as protein, sauce, veggies and cheese.

There are basically no nutrition facts for these noodles--There are 2.5 servings per package, but each serving clocks 0 calories, fat, protein--nothing! While I am sure there is a minimal amount of calories and nutrients, the only ingredients are purified water, yam flour and hydrated lime. Now that's kind of freaky!

I know I have been kind of a bad blogger lately, and I really do miss everyone! My sister just announced a wedding date--in 8 weeks--so we are scrambling around trying to get that business under control. Plus work is very energy-consuming at the moment. Yeesh.

But also to be totally honest, sometimes I really enjoy not focusing so much on food in the day to day affairs. When I was locked into my ED, food was all I thought about, and now it's kind of refreshing to remove that fixation from some of my activities. Not that I am going anywhere though! This blog has served as an invaluable tool for me throughout the worst of my disorder and my continuing recovery. I know you all understand :)

Have a glorious weekend. And tell me--what freaky food do you love that looks disgusting, but tastes amazing? Love you lots! xoxo

Super Duper NON-Meat-Filled

After that smokey, super-duper meat-filled post this weekend, this one will be a wee bit of a contrast! Here is my second go around of Meatless Monday, documented this time because I am smart(ass).

I have been looking forward to making this for a looooong time, ever since I saw it on Janetha's blog back in December! Of course I modified the recipe a little, like any good experimentarian. I almost used my leftover kelp noodles, but decided to keep the carbs up in this one :)

Sun dried Tomato and White Bean Pasta with Pesto

A while ago, Ronzoni sent me some of their pasta to try, and I have been hooked ever since. I know that some people find the taste of whole wheat pasta a little bitter, but I love the nuttiness and grainier texture.

This dinner came together super quickly. As the pasta was boiling, I sauteed up about 1/4 of an onion. I am cutting back. Um, just kidding. Then I added a few sliced mushrooms and some fresh spinach.

Janetha's original version had chicken in it, but since it was Meatless Monday, I went with some rinsed and drained white beans for protein instead.

Of course, I couldn't go without the sun dried tomatoes--they were totally the reason I was after this recipe in the first place!

I chopped about 5 or 6 of them, and then mixed them with the cooked pasta, sauteed veggies and the other star ingredients:

Delicious basil pesto and laughing cow. Yummy. It's basilicious. That's what it says on the package! Ha ha!

Rocks my socks. Anyhow, since Dustin is out of towners this week, I decided to take advantage of my alone time and do some healthified, also meat-free baking that I knew would be non-husband approved. BUT, definitely Emily-approved! And more importantly, April-invented!
I baked up a mini loaf of April's Low Carb Sweet Bread, with just a couple of modifications, using 3 egg whites in place of egg substitute, and halving all ingredients. I also subbed in 1/4 c. quick oats for some of the ground flax seed.

Sadly, my attempt turned out a little bitter--I should have added more stevia. April's original recipe calls for 2 tsp of pure stevia extract and I just threw in two packets of NuNaturals because it was all I had. However I remedied it in a hurry by creating what else? A cottage cheese concoction!

1/2 c. lowfat cottage cheese, suncrystals, powdered peanut butter and banana slices. Dang, should have made more than half a batch!

Oh jeez, I just realized I didn't really have one original idea in this whole post--just a copy cat! Oh well. That is one thing I love about blogging is gleaning new tips and tricks from all my friends and their fantastic minds! Luckily, I have the whole rest of the week to think up some crazy kitchen experiments with D gone. Truly, I miss him terribly, but it is really fun for me to come up with things to suit my taste alone. We'll see if any of them are decent enough to make it onto the blog :) What are your favorite ways to spend your alone time?

For me, reading, calling old friends to catch up, making up exercises and watching crappy TV top the list. I even got to catch Biggest Loser tonight, which D hates! I have such a girlie crush on Jillian! She is fabulous. And Bob has nice teeth. And I think the drama is hilarious. You can tell they totally play to the camera, big time! Ok, enough now. Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing evening. Happy Humpday tomorrow! xoxo

Freaky Fake Noodles and Pretty Pink Everything Else

Hi there everyone! Well, when I mentioned I would probably be blogging less frequently, I certainly didn't expect a whole week to go by before I posted anything! Speaking of my last post, thanks so much for all your incredible sweet comments on my wedding and your anniversary wishes! You guys are so nice! Anyhowzzles, there has definitely been a lot going on in the food world and other wise, so lets hop to it shall we?

First up, let me show you a little of the things that have been keeping me occupied...
one the food front, we have experienced the passing of a few greats recently including my beloved PB2 (unpictured), crunchy Sunbutter and super chunky peanut butter.
You can see I don't typically leave enough remnants for OIAJ so that was no consolation, but to be fair I'm not that disappointed. I tired them once, and found it a little too messy and not nearly enough nut butter to go around (as evidenced by my thorough cleaning job above).

We also had our very first meatless Monday, which sadly, went undocumented, but was delicious. I know it would be a lot more appealing with pictures, but I enthusiastically encourage you to try the Rice and Beans recipe from Eat, Drink and be Vegan. I modified it a little bit, adding half an orange bell pepper and 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels. I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth since that's what we had on hand. Very delicious, but beware, because it makes "four" VERY generous portions (we got 6). Even though I am not vegan, I checked out that cookbook from the library a while ago and found a lot of great recipes. I would love my own copy because I only got to copy down a few especially enticing ideas.

I have a fantastic Freaky Food Friday for you today, too! I have been looking for this particular product FOREVER since seeing it on the other Emily's blog this summer. I had just about given up hope of ever locating them in Utah, when I spotted them at a local natural foods store:

Kelp Noodles!


Yipeeeeeeee!!! I was so, so pumped to try these, but upon opening the bag,

I made the mistake of taking a big whiff---ick!! Like sea water and brine. Of course! Luckily, I am not one to let a little weird smell deter me from my plans ( this IS freaky food, after all!).

After rinsing them very well and steaming them for a few minutes in the microwave, I topped them with garlic powder, chunky tomato marinara sauce , two extra lean meatballs and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Not bad! Although the texture was not really similar at all to traditional pasta--kind of chewy and oddly crunchy--I thought it tasted just fine and was a perfectly reasonable substitute. If any of you have ever tried the tofu shirataki noodles, they reminded me a lot of those. I used to think those things were so cool before I discovered my soy sensitivity. Now I know why they gave me such a bad tummy ache!

No problems at all with the kelp noodles, though. The stats were really interesting, too. Actually, there almost were NO stats! A four ounce serving only has 6 calories and the only ingredients are kelp, sodium alginate (sodium salt extracted from a brown seaweed), and water. The only other component of nutrition was 15% DV of calcium.

I don't know that I'll be eating these on a regular basis because they are pretty expensive (plus I am pretty sure D wouldn't touch them with a 10-ft pole), but they were really fun to try!

Some other fun things I have been keeping myself busy with:

Making Fruity Pebbles treats for my little Sunday School class. Ok and let's be honest, for Dustin, too :) Look at how cool that picture is though! I have to admit that I snuck some Fruity Pebbles into my greek yogurt, and holy cow those puppies are SWEET!! Even against the sour tang of the yogurt, they were almost too much. Wow. Do people really eat those for breakfast? Dang. I'm not saying it wasn't delicious though!

I have also been making an attempt to work out my brain as much as I work out my body--


D got me a subscription to our local newspaper for our anniversary. This may not seem very romantic to most, but he knows me so well! Usually, the only source of real news I get is from the Today show, so it's nice to be able to keep informed on public affairs. Plus, I used to love getting the morning paper and reading the comics and doing the crosswords every day when I was growing up. Now, I love the ads and the Sunday coupons, too! Lucky girl, I got a 12 week subscription and I feel enriched already!

I am making a concerted effort to read more as well, but sometimes it really does hurt my brain too much after a long day. reading is seriously my all time favorite hobby next to cooking, but these books aren't' exactly as light and fluffy as the Sookie Stackhouse novels I've been hooked on! Jenny Scheaffer's new book, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, is incredible and even better than her first offering (Life Without Ed). Unfortunately sometimes it really hits me in terms of my recovery and I have to take a break from reading it in order to process.

I also love this Malcolm Gladwell book, The Tipping Point. Yeas, I know it's old and you've probably already read it, but it is so interesting! Sadly, I don't think I hold any of the qualities he elaborates on just yet, so it kind of makes me feel like a loser. I am only a few chapters in though!
More fun things!

I got this most adorable mug at Target the other day and I am completely in love! I collected polar bears when I was younger, plus it's pink, plus it has a heart on it! And it holds tea! What could be more perfect? Ha ha! I love that my birthday is in February because everything in the stores is pink with hearts, so I feel like it's all decorated just for me! ( I wonder how it is possible to simultaneously be 82 and 12 at the same time--old lady and little pink princess!)

Speaking of hearts, my hottie friend Janetha B is holding a sweet Valentine's Day exchange, so don't forget to sign up and spread the love!

Special K is also caring and sharing again with a tea exchange (you KNOW i was all over that one!), so check that one out too!

I really will be posting more frequently to avoid the textbook-sized entries, so thanks for sticking this one through til the end :)

Questions: Are you closer to 82 or 12 yourself? I think it's hilarious that I would rather spend Saturday night at home with my crossword and mug of tea and at the same time die over anything that is pink and foufy. That's just me :) And you now know I used to collect polar bears--what about you? Any kiddie collections you may or may not still have an affinity for?

Happy Friday! (AND Happy End of this Post--you really are a trooper!) xoxo

Creative Kitchen

I had a bunch of fresh veggies in the fridge and some leftover garbanzo beans that I wanted to use up tonight, so when I got home from work, it was time to get creative in the kitchen. Voila!

Lemon and Herb Summer Medley Pasta This was super easy and could probably be modified a million different ways, so I'm not even sure it's a recipe. Here's how it all got thrown together: Begin by sauteing as much onion as you like (and for me, that's a lot). Chop up the majority of veggies in your fridge such as half a red bell pepper, a small yellow squashie, one zucchini, , two mushrooms and most of a nearly dead tomato and added them to the mix in that order.

As the veggies began to brown sprinkle them with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano and thyme. All spices here are to taste. I don't like to recommend increments because I tend to like my food A LOT spicier than most, and I'm particularly heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes. I don't really do subtle very often when it comes to food. While I certainly can appreciate a lighter flavor bouquet, I usually like to keep things poppin'.

Stir in the very last of a jar of minced garlic (about 1 1/2 tsp.) and a few tablespoons of lemon juice towards the end of cooking so as not to burn the garlic.

Cook some whole wheat penne at the same time, and stir in a couple spoonfuls of cooking water along with some parmesan cheese after the veggie mix is removed from the heat to create a little saucy goodness. Toss in some random leftover beans (garbanzo and black), and spoon veggies over pasta. Top with extra cheese if you please. This culinary experiment turned out well and was the perfect light and summery dish to unwind with this evening. I hope everyone else is doing relaxing things tonight as well and enjoying their time. I'm off to unwind some more with another perfectly light and summery treat (No not ice cream. I already had some of that)--the second Southern Vampire novel by Charlaine Harris--has anyone else read these? Such a guilty pleasure : )

Chipotle Shells and Black Beans

This was a recipe I cribbed from the Cooking Light web site, but as usual, I modified the bejeesus out of it, so I think it's safe to post my variation. Hubz loved this, although it was very spicy and could benefit from the addition of more cheese.

• 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped, plus 1 tsp sauce
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  
• 1/2 small onion, diced
  
• 1 tbs. flour
  
• 1/2 tsp teaspoon chili powder
• sprinkling of salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (or more...we looooove cumin in this house, so I'm pretty generous with it)
  
• 1 1/3 cups skim milk
• 1/2 shredded cheese (like I said, it could def use more, but this was all we had at the time)
  
• 3 c. cooked leftover pasta of any kind
• 1/2 c black beans, drained
  

Spray a big pot with cooking spray and sautee the onion, adding the red pepper after about a minute. Add adobo chili, sauce, all spices and flour, cook for about one minute. Add the milk gradually, stirring constantly, and cook until the sauce thickens and becomes bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Add cooked pasta and beans to sauce, stirring to coat. Pour mixture into a 9x9 casserole dish coated in cooking spray. Sprinkle more cheese on top and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until warmed through. Makes 3-4 servings.
We added the beans for a little protein power, but I think this would also be great with shredded chicken (and beans!), or more veggies like bell peppers and corn. This served the two of us twice, and the recipe could easily be doubled for more.