Chicken and Spinach and Onion, Oh My!

Greetings,

I am somewhat ashamed of myself. For the duration of finals, various sicknesses and moving out for the summer - I have been terribly remiss in my blogging duties. Please accept my humble apologies, and know that I will endeavor to be better in the future.

As an apology offering, I have a new favorite recipe to present for your perusal and consideration. It is a 'Primavera' recipe...which made me highly hesitant to try it at all, but it tastes wonderful!

This is super easy to cook in a dorm; I can testify, pinky swear. I tried this one a month ago while school was still in session and it was a wonderful 'healthy' option for trying to get into shape. I stole this recipe from Whole Foods, I confess. But that's okay...I'll give Whole Foods this victory....the taste is completely worth it.

Quinoa Primavera

Ingredients:

• 1 c.of cooked quinoa (I cooked in my rice cooker)
• Cooking Oil (I used Grapeseed oil - the actual recipe recommends Olive Oil)
• 1/2 c. chopped onion (Don't forget that the type of onion changes the taste of the recipe; yellow onions are my favorite)
• 1/2 lb. uncooked asparagus
• 1 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 c. cooked shredded chicken (or ~ 2.5 cooked chicken breasts)***
• 1 c. baby spinach leaves
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat with the asparagus and onion. Cook for ~ 5-7 minutes; until the asparagus is bright green and tender.
2. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
3. Add chicken, spinach and quinoa (in that order). Cook for 3-5 minutes; until the spinach is wilted.
4. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste.

***I have used both crock-pot cooked chicken as well as baking the chicken breasts. For the baked chicken breasts, I greased the chicken (and the pan too, of course) and covered it in seasoning. I then baked it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for ~40 minutes (until the center wasn't pink anymore).

It's super yummy - I highly recommend at least trying it, and also trying a variation of vegetables! It is reminiscent of high school for me (when I could still eat food) and using random vegetables in a stir-fry to eat over rice. It's a great meal for an evening after a workout or for a hot summer night, because it isn't too heavy but is still filling enough that you aren't immediately hungry an hour later.

I hope you're having a wonderful summer! Enjoy the sunshine and academic hiatus :)

On this Holy of Holy days..

So rather than be a good Catholic and fast today from food (which I technically can't do to begin with...though this is irrelevant) I baked again. I am enjoying my Easter respite by taking full advantage of having a full kitchen available...glorious.

The beauty of gluten-free flours and a full-sized kitchen! Mr. Woo, if you manage to get an off-campus apartment with a full kitchen...I just might have to move in. Please be fore-warned though...this is not actually because of you...I'm just using you for your oven and dishwasher.

I discovered new recipes! I'm going to be honest...this is going to take work to bake in my dorm...but I think I very well might have to try.

Apple Sauce Cake

That's right. It's made out of applesauce.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter (softened)
• 2/3 cup of agave
• 1 egg's worth of egg substitute
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened, organic applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour (I used 1.5 cups Amaranth flour, .5 c. potato starch flour)
• 2 tsp. baking soda

How to make it:

• Cream the butter and agave together
• Add egg sub. and vanilla
• mix in other ingredients
• Put in a buttered 9x13 in. pan
• Bake at 315 degrees for one hour

It's delicious. It has a spongey texture, even though when you look at it the cake doesn't look completely baked all the way through. It tastes very very similar to a "real" white cake! The mix tastes almost exactly like it...I can't stop picking at it, even without the icing on top!

I also made a pineapple upside down 'cake', but the cake batter on top was not nearly as yummy as the other cake I made.

So what I will actually do in the future, is use the applesauce cake batter and pour it on top of thinly sliced fresh pineapple (with agave drizzled on top of the fruit :) ) and then bake it at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. That will be a delicious cake....

Happy Easter!!!

If you're feeling hungry...

So instead of writing a research paper - I decided to bake. :)

Definitely a good decision.

Banana Bread

(gluten-free, nut-free)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs equivalent flaxseed sub. (or just 2 eggs, if you can have them)
• 1/2 c. melted refined coconut oil
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. agave syrup**
• 5 mashed bananas
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (I didn't have baking powder - I used a substitute: 3/4 tsp. baking soda mixed with some coconut milk and 3/4 c. agave syrup)
• 1 c. potato starch flour
• 1 1/2 c. amaranth flour (you could easily use rice flour, which is what the recipe actually called for)

** You can use honey or sugar.

Mix all of the ingredients together. Place in a greased pan and bake for about 50 min. at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy!

Difficulties/Lessons learned:

• This is a really hard recipe for dorm life. What I figured out is that it is possible to cook it in a rice cooker, but you have to leave the rice cooker on for hours and it makes it very dense and leaves the bread kind of goopy.
• The trick is to bake in thin layers, either in a toaster oven or in an electric skillet that has measures heat in degrees as opposed to settings. The skillet would make the batter more like eating a muffin-like pancake, but I think that it would work okay.

Overall: a success! Namely because I found a flour combination that works for my diet, and the taste was just like banana bread even if the actual baking process was difficult. The taste was the important part in my opinion, because you can always experiment with ways to make the baking process work better.

enjoy!

To Whom It May Concern:

I was able to have kefir this week! No, it is not some mystical hallucinogenic illegal substance that I recently discovered and experienced. Kefir is a probiotic beverage cultured from dairy. In laymen's terms: it's a more liquid version of plain yogurt that is full of good digestive bacteria. It is filling, delicious and easy to mix with other ingredients to create a variety of yummy dairy-creations. Why is this a big deal? It will be the first dairy product I will have successfully reintroduced (outside of butter) into my diet. I haven't been able to consistently consume dairy in several years, and it has been two years since I officially completely removed it from my diet.

I have also been craving sweet and baked goods lately, and wanted to pass on a recipe I found in an allergy-friendly cookbook last summer. The cookbook is titled "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet" and contains recipes that are Grain-free, lactose-free, and sugar-free. The recipes are easily adapted to accommodate allergens (particularly soy) that may be included in the recipes. If you struggle with gluten-intolerance or multiple food-allergies: I highly recommend this cookbook. I also found a blog that has a lot of similar recipes on it: Specific Carbohydrate Diet

I love this particular recipe and ate it often in a past life, but be warned that it does make a mess. Just trust me. It is worth the clean-up if you are craving sweet foods.

I'm going to type in the recipe as it was written, and insert my modifications in parentheses next to each step.

Hazelnut-Vanilla Pancakes

You'll Need:

• 1 cup of almond flour
• 1/4 cup of hazelnuts (I left this ingredient out)
• 4 eggs (substitute: 4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed boiled in 3/4 c. water until gelatinous)**
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Butter

**Boiled ground flaxseed acts as the binding agent needed for the recipe. This is usable in any recipe in place of eggs.

Blend all of these ingredients (except for the butter) together (recommended for a blender, but easily done by hand). The butter is used to fry the pancakes in; so butter up the pan! You then simply fry the batter. A tricky part that I found when frying the pancakes is that the pancakes tend to enjoy falling apart and giving you a minor heart attack as they do so - it's best to make them as thin and small as you feasibly can. The good news, is that even if they do fall apart while frying, it is easy to mold them into a small mound that you can continue to flip and fry until they are cooked. The almond flour makes them crumbly, but even though they may look...interesting, they are delicious.

Syrup:

• 1/16 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• cinnamon

The syrup is simple: heat the ingredients together (add as much or little cinnamon as your heart desires) for one minute. It is recommended that you do it in a pan, but you can just as easily do it in the microwave.

Delicious. You should try it at least once, even if you despise me for the mess that you will make :)

Tip(s):

• Wear comfortable shoes to lab, and understand that you will often require a heating pad after being on your feet in said lab all day.
• Study and write ahead of time. Procrastinating on a research paper will only end in trouble and madness.

Victory, Thy Name is Chuck!

The cook was down against EE, 5 to 498. Bedraggled, tired, bored and ill, she was at her wits end to come up with a plan that would assist her in the ultimate challenge: feeding herself a delicious meal. What was the poor young cook to do? All of her other attempts were washed out and overused, but something had to be done. In a desperate cry for help, she called out to her adoring mother, begging for inspiration. But alas! Poor Mum was out of ideas when such limited means were available. Heartbroken, the young cook had all but given up when Mum mentioned her plans for the rest of the clan: pot roast. In a flash of tactical genius, the cook dashed to the store to find the ingredients for adapting the recipe she had loved as a child. Surmounting her personal doubts, the young cook emerged seven hours later: victorious! The recipe had been perfected, and points were scored against the dragon that is EoE. Though still behind, the cook continues on, re-energized in her battle against the evil E.E.

I do enjoy a good story.

I really did find a wonderful adaption to one of my favorite recipes that my Grandparents always made when I was little: pot roast. Yes, it sounds somewhat boring and unappetizing, but I promise that it is flavorful and filling.

My latest and greatest: "Grandma Lynn's Pot Roast: E.E. style"

Ingredients:

• 1 Chuck Roast
• 5-8 Medium Carrots
• 4-7 Red Potatoes
• 1/2 White Onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder (optional)

Put some small amount of Grapeseed oil in the bottom of your crock-pot (just enough to wet the bottom - not too much) and place your chuck roast in the pot. Chop up all of your vegetables and dump them on and around the roast. Generously cover in salt, pepper and garlic salt. Pour in 1 glass of water (I adore precise measurements, don't you?) and make sure that everything is wet. Cover, turn on high for 6-8 hours or low for 8-10. Voila! The food is finished! I added extra salt and onion powder at the end to add an extra burst of flavor, but with or without these small additions: it is delicious.

Tips/Preferences:

• I like using a chuck roast, because it has good flavor and is a fattier cut. For sick children, you need as many good fats (like those found in good meats) as you can cram into a meal. It can be very difficult for E.E. patients (because of dietary restrictions) to keep enough fat in their diet. Ignore the social norm of buying leaner meats - you need the fat to keep healthy! Many people tend to view fat as bad - and in the way that most Americans consume it, this is entirely accurate. However, animal fat is good for you (in moderation; please don't be a glutton) and helps to put enough meat on your bones to keep yourself from appearing (and actually being) underweight. This will also help to ensure that metabolism and neural functions are working smoothly.
• Spend the few extra dollars to buy a good, big roast. It will give you more bang for your buck because of the extra meat, and you really need to use the antibiotic/hormone free/free range meats whenever possible. These are the meats/poultry that will really help to heal your digestive track.
• Remember, roast cooks differently - so the meat will still have a pinkish color when cooked. You'll know that the food is ready when the vegetables (particularly the carrots) are soft and the meat is easily pulled apart with a fork.
• If you accidentally add too much water, prop the lid open at the end of the cooking time and let it cook for approximately 30 extra minutes. The extra cooking time won't hurt the meal, and it will evaporate some of the water out so that the food is less like a stew and more like a roast.

The beautiful part about this recipe, is that it is the epitome of simple crock-pot cooking. It truly is as easy as chopping everything up and dumping it into the pot for several hours, with delicious results!

Tip(s) of the Day:

• Eat well. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it really can be difficult to force yourself to make the effort of cooking everything from scratch and cleaning the mess up afterwards. My roommates will be the first to tell you that oftentimes, I have to split the process up into two separate sessions to be able to handle the time and energy it can take. You will always feel better if you take the time (no matter how annoying) to make truly wholesome meals. Food is your medicine for your body; if you prepare wholesome things to put into your system, your body will thank and repay you tenfold. It's kind of like sleep...only I'm still working on, err....'perfecting' that part. :)
• Make a rainbow when you cook. You know that you are covering most of the basic nutritional needs your body has if your food is colorful. For example, a stir fry is most complete when it contains ingredients like: onions (white), red peppers (red), green beans (green), carrots (orange), garlic (because it is good for digestion), etc. Any sort of vegetable you can add to the color combination - do so!
• Use a buddy system for disciplinary/accountability purposes. It's hard to follow all the rules by yourself in most aspects of life, so make a pact with a friend or family member to hold each other accountable in your lifestyle.