Nom, Nom, Nom...Sausage, Cabbage & Rice

Luckily I had this dinner in mind prior to visiting the grocery store tonight.  It's overwhelming when you've hit that point in your grocery routine where you need to stock up on - what seems to be - everything!  And then you go to the store HUNGRY!  Not a good plan...

I grabbed this idea from Everyday Paleo. I used purple cabbage instead of green and added this mixture to rice (which, with the paleo diet, you would not do).

2 Italian sausage
1/4 of a purple cabbage, cut up
1/3 of an onion, diced
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1. Take the casing off of the sausages, ground and brown the meat.  Set aside.

2. Add a bit of margarine (the good kind!) to the same pan, throw in the onions.  Cook for 5 min.

3. Add in the cabbage.  Cook for 7 min.

4. Re-add the sausage, add spices and mix it all together.

Serve on rice, lettuce cups, or eat as is!

Food for Thought

As I missed a lot of great meals on here, I thought I'd post the "ideas" of the meals!  They may not be the best photos, but perhaps something will inspire you.

Brown rice pasta with diced tomatoes and lentils

Brown rice pasta with pork, peppers and broccoli

Another of J's concoctions :)

"Flax" Chicken fingers and sweet potato fries

Pasta with chicken, diced tomatoes and zucchini

Jambalaya (using chicken and turkey keilbasa)

J's concoction: Veggie and eggs benedict on toast!

Curried Potatoes

I'm sure I could track down the actual recipe (or close to) if anyone is out there...and extremely interested. :)

Types of Diets

It's so difficult to find sites listing recipes and products that your exact intolerances or allergies match.  So, it's good to start your research understanding what kinds of "diets" are out there that could be similar to your needs.

For me, the whole "Clean Eating" term was perfect.  Yes, you can still have cheese and milk in this style of eating, but it's also easy to remove ingredients like that or tofu or edamame, or replace cane sugar with maple sugar, etc.  Soy and dairy is found in so many processed foods, so following a blog or a magazine that doesn't eat anything processed seemed like the perfect starting point for me.

Other styles/diets to consider when looking for recipes and resources that match your diet:
(*Remember, it is so easier to add ingredients to your meal once you have that base!)


Vegan: Eating a plant-based diet.  Unlike a typical vegetarian diet (that doesn't eat meat, poultry, and often fish), a vegan diet will not consist of other animal products: eggs, dairy, and often, honey.

Whole Foods: Consuming foods which occur naturally (nothing processed that contains any type of additive).  You can find a lot of websites and magazines, similar to "clean eating", on eating whole foods.

Paleolithic (Paleo) Diet: This is known as the caveman diet.  "The human body evolved for more than 2 million years with the food found in nature: game meat, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts. The human race was thriving on this diet high in animal fat and proteins and low in carbohydrates, but things changed when we introduced unnatural foods to our bodies." Foods that are not eaten on this diet: legumes (beans, soy, peanuts, etc), dairy, added sugars, vegetable oils, starchy vegetables (potatoes, artichokes, etc), grain and corn, chemical food additives.

Enough is Enough.

Alright.  Clearly I have taken a long enough break.  Looking on the bright side, I have become accustomed to throwing together a meal or two, that all meals have been thrown together once getting home each night.  After spending so many days and weeks whining that it was a lot of work to find things to cook, this is a major plus!

Having said that, it's time to get back to it.  Time to add some new types of meals to my repertoire.  After a weekend away with mussels, pork chops and potatoes (all extremely delicious, if I might add), I'm craving color.  I'm craving lots and lots of veg!  Starting the week with an empty kitchen/fridge sucks.  It's not recommended.  Somehow I did, surprisingly, throw together a good pasta salad this morning - piece of cake (which is what I need for lunches...):

Rainbow pasta (it's new, it gives you more veg. serving)
Diced vegetables (celery, tomato, yellow pepper)
Ripped/Chopped spinach

Toss the above with a wee bit of Renee's 1/2 Caesar and you're good to go!

I just spent half of my lunch hour looking at recipes on cleaneatingmag.com.  They share different recipes than they do in the magazine.  There's a special on on their website to get two free issues if you describe. I highly recommend it!  There are a lot of things that have dairy listed in the ingredients, but I find it's a good read and great to go back to when looking for recipes...it's even better once you get the hang of substitutions!  The rule for this magazine is that you don't cook with anything that has more than 3 ingredients listed - that would be considered a "man-made food item", similar to what Michael Pollan names a "food-like substance" in his book Food Rules. My mom bought me this book - you should all go out and get it.  It is an extremely short read, sometimes only a sentence a page, but it puts all of the things that you already thought of or know about food in one place.  My favorite:  "Don't eat anything that your grandmother (or great-grandmother, depending on your age) wouldn't recognize as food".  Brilliant.

"Skinny" Sloppy Joes

Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine, November/December 2010.

I forgot that I had made this recipe awhile back and it was a major hit. Another addition to our home Go-To-List.  I hadn't had a Sloppy Joe in so long - and having it with pork (rather than beef) and a load of vegetables just made it so much better.

For buns, I recommend whatever you want to use.  We used Snairs buns that are pretty healthy.  Clean Eating recommends the thin hamburger buns (PC brand is dairy free!). The other great thing about this recipe is that it's completely following the Whole Foods way of living.  With the exception of the pasta sauce (and the magazine gives a great recipe for making your own), everything is not processed!

What You Need (what I did):
- 1 lb of ground pork
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 med. onion, diced
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 med zucchini, diced
- 1 small eggplant, diced
- 1 1/2 cups of pasta sauce (NN brand from Super Store or homemade)
- 1 tbsp of honey
- buns

Here's How to Make the Magic Happen:
1.  Heat a skillet, add your oil, then add your pork, garlic and onion.  Cook until browned. Drain any excess liquid.
2.  Add chili and cayenne.  Cook for another minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
3.  In same pan, add peppers. zucchini and eggplant.  Cook for 5 minutes.
4.  Add pork mixture back into the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 - 12 minutes until vegetables are all tender.
5.  Add pasta sauce, honey and 2 tbsp of water.  Mix together until the mixture begins to bubble.

You're done - throw it on your bun and grab a lot of napkins!  I recommend going out and making these.  Do it!

Happy Monday!

Lucky me, I don't have a list of recipes to write about from the weekend:  I was cooked for.

Having friends and a lovely fiance who, both, appreciate your diet and have the ability to cook extremely well is awesome.  On Saturday I was able to start my day off with a, in my mind, gourmet breakfast of egg on toast.  On top of the egg and toast?  This amazing mixture of pork sausage (*check labels), peppers, onions and mushrooms with homemade dill hollandaise sauce to boot!

For dinner, J "threw together" a huge wok-full of red/peanut curry mixed with a variety of Chinese, Thai and Laotian flavors. (We get to enjoy this again tonight!)

And our friend, Amanda, cooked us a delicious lemon pepper pork chop, brown rice with veg and a side of caesar salad (Renee's 1/2 Caesar for the dressing).  It's so much fun to have a "safe" meal that someone else has cooked! The downside is that I don't always have a recipe to share, but at least I can talk about the possibilities of meal combinations.

This was actually two weekends in a row of this bliss. Last weekend, my mom cooked up some vegetable chili and Chicken/Shrimp paella. This reminds me that I need to track down those recipes....

Have a great week to whoever is out there reading!

Stir-Fried But Soy-Free

Quick update this evening.  Threw together a delicious stir fry tonight.

Slice up some pork, mushrooms, onion, and broccoli.

Stir fry the pork with 3 cloves of minced garlic and the onions.  Pour about a tablespoon and a half of fish sauce (or oyster sauce) onto the mixture.  I also sprinkled a tablespoon of a Asian Stir Fry mix that I have from an Epicure spice party.

Once this was cooked, I threw in the mushrooms and brocolli.   I added a little extra fish sauce, along with a bit of vegetable broth (1/4 cup) to let it all simmer in some flavor.

*While this was all happening, my jasmine rice was cooking away in the rice cooker (any rice would be great with this)*

Once the rice was almost ready, I cracked an egg into the pan and fried it up with the stir fry mixture.  Then, I added the rice and cooked for another couple of minutes.  An accomplishment is learning that you can still have tasty Asian food without having to fill it with soy!

What I'm Currently Eating for Lunch

Just a quick note on lunch:

For the most part, Jon and I cook enough supper for leftovers for our lunches.  We sometimes take sandwiches, but I truly think that my schooldays have ruined me from enjoying a good pre-made sandwich.  Don't get me wrong:  sandwiches are delicious - when they're first made and when you have the opportunity to toast it.

Other than the above option and salads, it's really good to have something in your drawer at work for days when you just didn't get your s*@! together to be creative.  I know it's not the healthiest route, but sometimes - whether you like it or not - convenience enters the picture.

Introducing:  Nile Spice soup mixes.  I've only had: Red Beans and Rice, Lentil Soup and am currently eating Couscous Lentil Curry, so I can not speak for all kinds being free of dairy soy and sugar.

As always with cups of anything, you're contending with high sodium.  But with a little boiled water, you have a quick, allergy-free delicious lunch!  It kind of reminds me of the delicious ease of grabbing a cup of ramen or potato meal in Korea.

Back to enjoying some Coucous Curry at my desk....

I Welcome You Back, Pizza

Throughout the day, I get wafts of air coming up into my office from the kitchens on the first floor.  Working in the student union building on campus has its perks when you're a person who can eat anything:  Tim Hortons, pub and pizza galore!  Working in this same building with constant wafts of pizza scent coming through to your office can be a form of torture for someone like me.

I'm pretty good, though. I no longer have this need or desire to "cheat".  I can hold back.  I think I developed this skill from teaching in South Korea.  Odd comparison, I know, but weekly (and sometimes every other day) we (the 10 English teachers) would receive an entire cake or a box of Krispy Kreme donuts or somtimes both of those things from one of the lovely mothers.  I became so completely decentized to walking in to see a giant cake just for us, that I no longer really "saw them".  I got used to ignoring those tempting Krispy Kreme chocolate dipped donuts....

Anyway, the point is that I don't cheat - or at least, I try not to. I stick to my guns.  But I still get cravings.  Tonight's menu was one that fulfilled this long-lingering craving of mine:  PIZZA!

After much review of the pizza crusts and nan bread options at the grocery store, I realized it was just easier to go the tortilla-crust route. I baked this at 450 for like 5 minutes, checking on it.  The time will really depend on what ingredients are used.  After about 5 minutes, I switched the oven over to broil and took it out just before it started to really brown.

Pizza #1 (or half of my pizza)
Spanish Chorizo (made of pork)
No Name Original Pasta Sauce
Chopped tomato
Baby Spinach
Oregano
Rice Cheese (make sure it's both dairy and soy free)


Pizza #2 (or the other half of my pizza)
Pasta Sauce
Ham (deli ham cut up / as few ingredients in the ham as possible!)
Pineapple chunks (there is a new "fruit cup" that has the fruit in natural fruit juices, rather than syrup)
Mushrooms, sliced
Rice Cheese
 
These were both really tasty and completely hit the spot.  Don't expect the cheese to taste like cheese on it's own, or to melt like cheese, but it does the trick on food like this or a sandwich!

*Note:  Some things DO have a bit of sugar in them.  I've written this before but all of my used-ingredients are free of all dairy and soy and attempt to free of sugar as much as possible.  So long as it's not one of the top 3 ingredients, and it's not the SOLE thing I'm eating, I will accept it into the diet.  My preference is obviously ZERO sugar which is entirely possible when making everything from scratch!

Comfort Foodie Goodness

Through these winter months, I'm really growing to appreciate "comfort food".  Comfort food, to me, has always been something that your mother, father, or grandmother could achieve in their cooking - but never me.  Not that I've ever tried.  It just seemed that the "comfort" tag came from who was doing the cooking, perhaps?

After re-introducing myself into the Maritimes' meat-and-potatoes way of doing supper, I have found that I, too, have the ability to make a healthy meal that feels like home. Roasts, baked potatoes, carrots, stews.  They all feel like home to me.  Home, in the sense of family-cooking, because I am fortunate enough to only live about a half hour away from most of my family.

Anyway, back to food....This stew was so easy (the kind you can walk away from while it's on the stove) and tasty, we'll for sure add this on our Go-To List.

Italian Shrimp Stew
Clean Eating Magazine, January 2011

1. In a pot, heat oil over medium heat.
Add:
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 small peeled and chopped potatoes
- 1 tsp of dried rosemary

2.  Stir and saute for about 2 minutes.
Add in:
- 2 cups of chopped (cut in half) cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups of Organics vegetable broth

3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

4.  Uncover the pot and test the potatoes.  If they are not yet very soft, cook for another 3 - 5 minutes (I had to cook them for the full extra 5 minutes).

5.  Once potatoes are done, mash a few to thicken the sauce.

6.  Add:
- 18 oz medium uncooked shrimp (de-tailed).
7.  Cover and cook for 2 minutes.  Cook through until shrimp are pink.

Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!  Be prepared....it's tasty!  

Salad:  Spinach, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries with Renee's Cucumber and Dill

Well - hello there, Blog.  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  Three days shy of a month is pretty long.

I could say that I was embarrassed to write because, well, it was the holidays...and we all know how the holidays go with eating.  I could say that I've been busy.  I could say that I've been sick.  I could say that I just haven't been cooking.  Or motivated.  Or have had the time or patience to do the 'right' kind of grocery shopping.

I won't settle on any of these excuses.  I just haven't been here.  For reasons that do involve some of the above, I took a month break.  I'm back in, though.  I'm making the grocery lists as we speak.  I'm perusing the two Clean Eating magazines that I have here with me.  I'm checking out my new Clean Start cook book.  I've got my "cooking plans" book out for lists, my journal out for listing the names and locations of recipes.  I've got my Flavor Thesaurus out.

Thanks to the lovely people in my life, I really can start the new year off in a great way. I have resources for recipes.  I have resources for getting organized and getting motivated.  I EVEN have grocery money to boot! Who cares if New Year's Resolutions do not start on January 1st.  A resolution just gives you the opportunity to kick your butt in gear.  If you can put that pressure or motivation upon yourself at any other point, why not just start when you're ready?

The great thing that's written in the front of my new Clean Start book (courtesy of Jessica!) is that "...you don't have to do it all at once".  It's all about changing something.  Cutting out one processed food item.  Or cutting out sugar.  Or buying one new kind of vegetable during each grocery order.  Think of whatever start you (or I), as an individual, can make - and just do it!  Now, I feel as though I've already done my BIG "start".  The gun has gone off.  I've cut all of my "bad" things out.  Now it's about being organized.  It's about getting back on track.  It's about more freshness.  More greens.  More local.  More chatting with other foodies (in the healthy sense, not the Julia Childs butter-crazed sense).

It's a stormy day here.  Groceries will happen on whatever day the snow goes away.  For now, blogging again and that's a start.  So I here I go. I'm back.  Hope I didn't lose you.

Happy New Start!

A Whole Lotta Baked Chicken

I'm all about optimizing the leftover situation for lunches - and if possible, for suppers.  J came home with a big package of like 10 chicken thighs.  Instead of portioning them out and freezing them, in the 10 x 13 pan they went!

Although I hate cooking bone-in chicken, it does go a lot further for the cost.  All you need is the chicken, spices, margarine, white wine, mushrooms and flour.

What I did:
1.  After preheating the oven to 400 F, I melted a couple of tbsp of margarine (Becel vegan!) in my roasting pan (or my "10x13" pan).
2.  Once melted, I mixed around some cayenne, salt, pepper and thyme with the butter.  (1/2 to 1 tsp of each, depending on what you like).
3.  Dip each piece of chicken in flour (on a plate) and then in the pan.  Cover both sides of the chicken in the margarine and spices.
4.  Bake for 30 minutes.
5.  After the 30 minutes, turn each piece of chicken and throw in a bunch of sliced mushrooms.  Cover pan with 3/4 cup of white wine.
6.  Cover with tin foil (I forgot this step and it was fine) and bake on 350 for the remaining 30 minutes.

Done~!

A New Kind of Pasta...

I don't really have a recipe for this, and haven't had recipes to post in a bit because - believe it or not - I am becoming very comfortable with things in the kitchen and am beginning to just throw things together!  I feel as though some things aren't necessary to have an exact recipe anyway, and this is one of them....

I had some leftover coconut milk in the fridge so I made a pasta sauce mixing regular No Name Pasta Sauce with coconut milk.  I added some herbs (whatever is on hand), leeks (onion ), yu choy (spinach) and tomatoes.  J added shrimp for a bit more meat, but the intention was for it to me veggie.

Surprisingly the red sauce plus coconut cream taste went extremely well together!

Carrot & Parsnip Fries

Who would have thunk it?  Yes, thunk it.  One - I like parsnips.  Two - Parsnips and carrots make a delicious and healthy substitute for fries!

Garlic salt, pepper - whatever you like.  This was my first time cooking with parsnips and they did not smell.  I heard they're quite smelly - maybe when you boil them?  I just made a single layer of carrots and parsnips and tossed them with oil and threw them in the oven as if they were sweet potato fries. 

Holiday Banking How-To's

Every year, my mom, sister and I try to have a baking day together so that we can share and trade recipes and baked goods.  It's a win-win situation where we can spend the day together, while also getting a bigger variety of goodies to take home!

This year, however, presented quite a challenge with finding recipes without sugar and dairy.  You can find one or the other, but both is very difficult.  I will lay out the three recipes that I followed, however, I will not say this is an entirely "sugar-free" post.  Some of these baked goods did have a little bit of sugar added in (not by me), because there was a bit of sugar in the coconut or in the carob chips (maybe?).  I try to live by excluding absolutely all soy and dairy and can live with sugar so long as it's not in the top three of ingredient amounts.  I cut out sugar wherever I can, but sometimes I find I just have to choose my battles.  Soy and dairy seems to be the worst for me, so that's what I focus on.  That being said, I AM strict with sugar...but the reality is is that I'm intolerant to 3 of the most common label items.  Again, choose your battles.

Recipes to come on these 3....need a break!!


Peanut Butter Fudge


Maple Sugar Cookies!

Coconut Fruit Balls!

Recipe: Mushroom Cream Sauce Pasta

I don't know about everyone else, but I often choose my dinner based on the ingredients that I have in my kitchen.  I see so many recipes on blogs I follow, in my Clean Eating magazine and in all of my good cookbooks, but it seems I am always looking at them when I do not have the ingredients required.  It's almost like I need some kind of database that searches through the books, magazines and blogs for similarities.  I.e. "This week is zucchini week.  Here are all of your recipes using zucchinis.".  And so on.

I just received my first Clean Eating magazine in the mail (thanks to the subscription from Jon's mom!) and am drooling over many of the recipes.  There are foods listed that I have never even heard of!  I, now, some how have to wrap my head around going to the grocery store with a plan and purpose outside of my norm.  I need to look for the recipes PRIOR to going.  Find the commonalities, and just do it.

That being said, we still enjoy all of our meals.  Surprisingly, I feel as though there is quite diversity in what we eat, considering we eat the same basic ingredients weekly!

Tonight's menu:  Another variation of a cream sauce!  Note:  Although this was made with chicken, I think it would be equally good without.

Ingredients

- 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (or not)

- 1/2 of a medium onion, diced

- 1 clove of garlic, minced

- 1/4 cup of broth (vegetable or chicken), 2 tbsp separated.

- 1/2 cup of coconut milk

- 1 cup of sliced button mushrooms (or more if you like lots of mushrooms!) 

- 1 tsp of thyme (or 1 tbsp of fresh thyme if you have it)

- salt, pepper

- 1 tbsp of cornstarch

- oil

What To Do 

While boiling the water and cooking pasta.....

1.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Cook in oil.  Once done, remove and place aside (in foil to keep warm)

2.  Cook onions

3.  Add garlic and mushrooms

4. Add broth and cook for a minute.

5.  Stir in coconut milk and cook for 2 minutes.

6.  Add thyme, salt, pepper, 2 more tbsp of broth and cornstarch.  I also threw the chicken back in to warm it up.

7.  Let it simmer for a minute or two then serve over pasta!  I used Spaghettini ....

Recipe: Butternut Squash & Chicken

Two nights ago, we threw some cut up (already cut up from Super Store) butternut squash in the oven along with our sweet potato fries.  Squash fries are actually really yummy!  (Clearly, you can't expect the squash to get crispy in any way)  Sprinkled with garlic salt, salt, pepper and Montreal Steak Spice...it was a great combination!

Anyway, I had left over squash to use last night for supper and finally had some boneless chicken to cook.  Chicken is always the most expensive thing for us to pick up at the grocery store.  If only I ate red meat....grocery bills including meat would be so much easier!

After visiting my friend, Google, and typing in the words "butternut squash" and "chicken", I found this from Chatelaine.

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 boneless chicken breasts, but into strips (not pieces)
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp of garlic salt
- vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup of chicken broth (Brand:  Organics Biologique)
- Remainder of butternut squash (it calls for 3 cups, but I'd say I had 2 cups)
- Leek:  The recipe called for 1 green onion, so I thinly sliced a leek to be about the same amount

What To Do
1.  Cover chicken with cinnamon and garlic salt.  Cook in pan and remove (place in tin foil so it doesn't get cold).
2.  Pour broth in pan and add squash.  Let it simmer/cook for 8 - 10 minutes until you can lightly mash pieces of the squash until it absorbs all of broth.
3.  In the last minute, add in leeks.

While I was doing all of this, I had put basmati rice in my rice cooker.  The recipe called for more squash and more chicken, but I used less and served it on rice.  Very different (but good) to have sweet for supper!

Honey...I'm Gonna Be Late (Recipe: Lemon Grass-Shrimp Soup)

I just made this tonight because Jon was going to be a bit late coming home from work.  Our kitchen has been rearranged (I.e. moved all coffee items to a shelf outside of our small kitchen - we love our coffees and cappucicnos, so it cleared a lot of space) and cleaned.  Every time this happens, I become really motivated to find a "different" recipe - or come up with something on my own - and lay all of my ingredients out on my neat counter top.  Seeing as I had more time to play/work with tonight, I thought I'd dig into another type of soup I've been dreaming about....

Tonight's menu:  Lemon Grass - Shrimp Soup with a side of Red Curry Tuna and Crackers.  I found this recipe online, but did more of my own changes and additions than anything.

Noodle Soup
1.  Heat 2 cups of water and 1 cup of broth in a soup pot on the stove.
2.  Prepare other ingredients:
- Smash 1 stick of lemon grass and cut into 1 inch pieces
- Cut a 1 inch piece of ginger into pieces, big enough to take out of soup later
- Prepare 1 tbsp of fish sauce, 1 tsp of maple sugar, and 2 tsp of red chili paste
- Cut 4 large button mushrooms
- Prepare 3 tbsp of lime juice
- Have about 20 small shrimp ready to go (I had cooked shrimp)
- Rice noodles - enough for 2

3.  Add lemon grass and ginger to pot.  Boil for 5 minutes.
4.  Add fish sauce, sugar, and chili paste.  Boil for another few minutes.
5.  Add mushrooms and lime juice.
6.  Add shrimp.  If cooked, turn soup down and let it simmer.
7.  Four minutes prior to eating, add noodles in.
8.  Serve with fresh cilantro on top!

**This recipe was altered from another one I saw which means it can be altered just as easy again from this.  It turned out to be in between a good Vietnamese Pho and a Thai Hot and Sour soup.  Yum Yum!

Tuna and Crackers
Assuming Jon would be coming home extremely hungry, I thought we needed a bit of "crunch" to go along with the soup:

 1 can of tuna
1/2 tsp of red curry paste
1/4 cup of mayo

Mix together and add cilantro.  Serve on crackers. :)

Yu Choy?

....It's like Bok Choy meets Spinach!  Sure...why not.  Let's do something with it!

Sunday Night Meal:  Trout with a side of pasta tossed with yu choy

Trout - Pan Fried
Toss in flour mixture (flour, cajun, oregano, salt, pepper...any mixture of spices).  J took care of this one.

Yu Choy
In our wok, I heated 2 tbsp of oil and added 3 WHOLE garlic cloves.  The recipe I found said to cook the garlic until it browns (not burns) but, for me, it browned almost immediately.  After a bit of panic, the oil seemed to settle the garlic continued to brown - not burn.  I added about 1/2 lb (to be honest, I am not sure how much that is but I added about 4 small bunches of this stuff, washed and the very end of the bottoms cut off) of yu choy.  Stir quickly to coat in "garlic oil".

Then, I added 1/4 cup of broth and a 1/4 cup of water and let the leave simmer for around 3 - 5 minutes.

Pasta
Toss the pasta with a bit of margarine and throw the yu choy mixture in for a light side dish.

An interesting success...

Wrap Me in Lettuce and Call Me Perfect

We found another Go-To recipe!

I found this recipe on Nuts Online and thought I would try it out after a long day of shopping.  We did not feel like eating, let alone cooking, but I thought I'd push through and try it anyway....

This was a hit. We couldn't stop eating it.  I'm almost  ready to make it again.  I think the addition of peanut butter on this was so surprising, that it made us really pay attention to how tasty it was.  The peanut butter also filled us up without having to have meat!

I made a few alterations to my dinner, based on ingredients I had,  I will post what I did; you can find the original recipe above.

Ingredients
1 cup Quinoa
2 cups water
2 tsp of bouillon (chicken of vegetable)
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp of chili flakes
2 tsp of chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp of oil
1 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp of lime juice
1 tsp of salt
A small bit of leeks
1/2 cup of Peanut Butter (100% peanuts Crunchy)
1/4 of crushed almonds


How-To

Combine quinoa, water and bouillon cube in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil; Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Cool. In a medium large bowl, combine ginger, leeks, garlic, red pepper flakes and cilantro.  (*Prior to adding, I lightly fried the leeks, ginger and garlic so it wouldn't be as harsh).   Add cooled quinoa and stir to mix. In a jar or small bowl, whisk together olive oil, maple syrup, lime juice, and salt. Pour over quinoa mixture. Cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, spread 1 tablespoon peanut butter on each lettuce leaf. Top with about 1/3 cup quinoa mixture and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of nuts. Roll up and enjoy. Substitutions/Variations for this recipe: - Peanut Butter / Almond Butter - Peanuts / Almonds - Lime juice / Lemon Juice - Leeks / Scallions - Maple Syrup / Honey