The Real Weekend Update

Happy Monday. I'll start with this statement, as I attempt to make this blog less about successes only and more about our real moments.

This weekend, I had KFC original chicken and a diet coke and I don't really want to talk about it.


There, I said it. Technically it wasn't cheating as far as my intolerance diet goes, but do I need to go into it any further about why it was bad? I'm putting it out there to confess (mostly to myself) that I still have a weak area when it comes to a greasy, bad, bad craving.


Moving on....Here are my quick updates from the last few days:

1.  My newly discovered breakfast cereal, how I love thee. Kashi, as we all know, is extremely great for you but I have yet to really find anything that didn't have either milk or soy in it.  So here it is: flavorful 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs (with evaporated cane juice, but alas...).  Great way to start my Monday morning, especially when you're waking up with a case of the Mondays...

2.  I caved in another area last week: boxed food. Yes, I know. It's case of the "two steps forward, one step back" - but really, as much as I want this blog to be 100% healthy food and whole foods all of the time, it's not. The purpose of this blog was to encourage better eating, but to still be realistic in our everyday lives. We were craving burgers and since I don't eat red meat, we went to the obvious turkey or chicken burger option. I know there are many great recipes out there to make your own - and I do plan to take advantage of some of those  - but  to the grocery store we went.  The safe kind: President's Choice Blue Menu  Thick and Juicy Turkey Burgers. I made homemade spicy mayo to add with my rice cheese and President's Choice thin whole wheat hamburger bun and voila! - a tasty turkey burger. To "summer" (and healthy) it up a bit more, I threw together a melange of vegetables and mandarin oranges for a fresh side salad (no dressing required when using mandarin oranges)!

3. A Success and a Failure:
Alright, I eyed this amazing recipe last week and patiently awaited for an appropriate time to try it out.  This turned out to be amazing - but also not.  The topping and the base flavoring were so great, but my execution of cooking the "dough" was not so good. I have never been a very strong baker so cookies, muffins, rolls, etc are never particularly grand when I'm the cook. Not only do I not have the experience, but I'm completely lacking in any common sense with it - this area is my sister's forte. So here it was: a recipe that required me to cook up a flat bread and nervous little me, undercooked the bread and ended up with a really dough-y mixture.  Now this being said: the first little guy was SO delicious but you just couldn't handle much more bread after that.  Take a look at the original recipe and my notes, and learn from my mistakes. I do recommend trying this out because it still was yummers....

Don't you love our ghetto pan?

Whether correct or not, this is what I used and did for the dough:  :)

2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup rice milk, 3/4 cup oil + extra for frying

I combined the dry ingredients and then poured in the liquid and mixed until smooth.  I divided the dough mixture into 6 pieces and flattened them out on a floured surface.  I cooked each piece in a warm pan (2 minutes per side).

Toppings:

Italian sausage (or veggie-only works!), asparagus, orange pepper, broccoli, spinach, pine nut hummus, shredded rice cheese (Jon got regular, of course!)

I cooked the sausage in one pan and cooked the veggies together until they were soft enough, but still a bit crispy.  

Building the Meal:

On top of the dough, I spread out the delicious hummus that I found at Sobeys, then a layer or spinach, followed by the sausage and vegetable combination.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted - although that doesn't really happen with rice cheese... :)  

4. I think that's all. Last night I made one of our Go-To meals from before and remembered entirely why it made it on that list. Scalloped Potatoes are sooo good, especially if you load them with mushrooms and onions and have a meal of it!  Here's the for this delight.

So there it is. An update, a confession or two and a recipe. Happy Monday! Back at it this week with more recipes to try out!  Anyone have anything to share from their weekend? Guilty pleasures? Cheats? Healthy recipes that worked, or maybe didn't?