Menu of the Week

Yummy sides & salads:
- French carrot salad
- Beet and quinoa tabouli

Fish & other things:
- Fish (trout? salmon?) fillets w/vegetable ribbons en papillote
- Fennel and green pea soup w/wasabi-flavored whipped cream and sautéed shrimp
- Harvest roast chicken w/grapes, olives, and rosemary

Sweet little treats:
- Chocolate crepes

I'm thinking this will be a delicious, flavor filled week.

Let's cook this!

Let them eat...muffins!

 

 

Did I get you?  Admit it you are totally sucked into the goodness that is the Banana Chocolate Hazelnut muffin shown above.  As well you should be!  It was (and for the remaining 14, will be) absolutely delicious.  As I mentioned in prior posts, I am dating a lovely, gluten averse man.  This muffin was attempt #2 at using alternative flours.  Gluten free challenge accepted!

I had 3 creepy brown bananas that were just screaming to be squished up and combined with buckwheat, hazelnut and quinoa flours as well as yummy chunks of Ghirardelli dark chocolate.  So, I filled my condo with the smell of baking muffins and prayed for success. 

 

 

 

 

 

These can easily be frozen and reheated for a delicious treat whenever the mood strikes.  If Adam is a lucky man, I may save a few frozen muffins for him to taste test.  I'm sure he'll agree...prayer answered.  SUCCESS!!!

 

Let's cook this!

Snuffles...

No cooking this week. This week is filled with chicken soup, eucalyptus oil steams and lots of liquids. I am out sick and nothing seems to taste good. Nor do I have the energy to make a splendid meal.

Perhaps next week?

Be well everyone!

Soup's Up!

And she’s back folks!

So I made some pretty great meals last week and over the weekend. Let’s dig in...

Thursday’s delicious dish was Carrot & Red Lentil soup with Coconut Milk. Delicious!!! There is something so appealing about chopping the veggies, sautéing everything together and finally getting the chance to blend it into a smooth, delicious soup. Not only was it tasty, but super healthy. I added a swirl of additional coconut milk to the top for some style and a little chopped cilantro and crushed red pepper for spice. Doesn’t it look delicious!?

Next I am really trying to hone my gluten free baking skills. This is a tricky endeavor, in my opinion. And this is mostly because there are so many flour options one must have. And once you’ve got them you’ve got to find the right mixture. Baking in its most basic form is a chemistry experiment, but add in the complexity of flour combinations and we’ve got PhD style baking! So far so good! I baked a Chocolate Cake with Plums Apples (seasonally appropriate fruit of choice, though plums would be great too). My flour combo of choice was almond flour and sweet white rice flour. This paired well with the chocolate and gave a subtle nutty flavor. Yum!

This weekend I may have gone off the wagon a tad. Though, nothing was altogether too unhealthy. All homemade, and for the most part organic, but 3 days of meat dishes and I can already tell a difference in my body. I can’t help myself though! I enjoy cooking for Adam J. And cook I did.

Saturday – Chicken noodle soup….I stick a quartered apple in the broth for 8 or 10 minutes while it boils away to infuse the broth with a slightly sweet and apple-y flavor. I also tend to leave the noodles on the side, so we can add as many of as few as we want. It also keeps the soup soupy and not like a big pile of chicken flavored noodle stew. Not that that’d be a bad thing.

Sunday – Beef stew. Loads of veggies. Cooked at a low temperature for several hours in the oven. Flat out delish when it’s cold, rainy and weird out, which it has been for days. I’m sort of wishing I had the foresight to fill up a Tupperware and bring some home.

Monday – Chicken Chili!!! Yes. This was a true winner. This is the perfect pot of food for a group of people. Oh so delicious and good for you. I like mine topped with sour cream and some tortilla chips.

Sorry kids, just the one picture of those little delicacies. I was too busy eating!

Menu for this week: TBD

Let's cook this!



I may be the least consistent blogger out there, however I've been challenged to work my way, Julie & Julia style through 2 new cook books I recently purchased in my quest to live better and be healthier. What better way to keep myself accountable than to blog! So here goes nothing.

This past year I noticed that I was gaining weight (public admission!) and my favorite jeans no longer fit. I am not one of those girls who weigh herself constantly. I don’t know about you, but I only step on a scale once a year at my annual physical and even then I don’t really pay attention to the number the nurse reads off. However, when the jeans no longer fit you know you’ve got to dig deep and lose some weight.

For me losing weight is also going to involve a lifestyle and dietary shift. I am dating a wonderful, albeit, gluten averse fellow (hi Adam!) and don’t want to make him sick every time I bake or cook something! This means I need to experiment with various flours, of which there are so many! Also, gluten free pasta. Along with the gluten change I am cutting down on my dairy intake and have really taken to Almond Milk. And I am really curtailing meat in my diet.

After researching recipes and avidly reading foodie blogs across the internet I found two cookbooks, one more gluten-free than the other, Smitten Kitchen and La Tartine Gourmande. From these I will cook my weekly meals and write up my experiences and hopefully the positive physical changes I experience.

Last night I made a lovely (gluten free) tagliatelle with zucchini and lime. Delicious, and really pretty when made.  Check out the picture above. Who doesn’t love a beautiful meal on their plate? I highly recommend. I might pump up the spice and lime in the dish a bit. However, I tend to like those flavors and want more more more!

I should note that I’ve been slowly easing into this for the past 3 or 4 weeks and have already noticed a change in my body. Adios small belly. Was it the gluten or the milk? Or maybe both? I’m not sure, but I’ll take the results!

Will blog later with the results of tonight’s dinner:

Carrot Red Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk
Zucchini/Carrot Salad
Chocolate Cake with Plums

Bon Appetite!