Cheat meals. Go big or go home.

Posted on March 30, 2014 by chatty

If I’m going to lose points for this nutrition challenge then it better be for a) good food b) good company c) a AND b!
First, Westward for happy hour. So, oysters, of course. I also ordered the wild salmon gravlax. Oh, and a glass of Malbec. Okay, 2 glasses. I was nearly compliant, but I planned to cheat so had to enjoy the crostini, the bite of lamb burger (with the bun) and the potato chip (dipped in mayo. Mayo!). For dessert, a couple of these little doughnuts.

Can’t go wrong with fried dough, am I right?

Next night, date night! Both of us were dead tired from lack of sleep (I can’t say I know what kept the husband awake, but I am a poor sleeper after a couple glasses of wine, especially when I’ve been abstaining and my tolerance isn’t up), but weren’t going to lose this chance. Pub at Third Place, here we come. Hale’s Cream Ale, truffle popcorn and a burger.

We split the burger. Sounds dorky, but it was a smart choice.

The chattychaw slaw

Posted on March 25, 2014 by chatty

Remember my previous confession about frugality? Well, I had one additional ingredient in the fridge which I wanted to play with, and I found the solution. We had a half of a head of cabbage from our St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Something we do not normally include in our repertoire. So, how about … A cole slaw? Better yet, an Asian slaw?
It’s no coincidence our kitchen is somewhat stocked with Asian/Chinese provisions, so here goes. The dressing can be tweaked depending on your preferences. I personally do not like heavily dressed salads. The husband laughs at me when he sees how sparingly I use condiments and dressings. It is kind of ridiculous. So, what is agreeable to me may not be to you, which is why I suggest tweaking to your tastes. You may want to add a little honey into the mix, or more aminos. Again, since I just used what was on hand, I didn’t have a complete dish. Some cilantro and scallions would have made it better.

2 cups green cabbage, shredded
12-ish slices of cucumbers, the cut into strips
1/2 c carrot matchsticks
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Ginger root*
Sesame seeds

Combine all the veggies.
In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients until we’ll combined. If it is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. Taste and adjust ingredients to your desire (want it spicier? More red pepper flakes. More tangy? More vinegar. Etc)
*A note about the ginger root … On a tip from NomNomPaleo I took my little knob of ginger root and froze it. Now when I need some I take it out of the freezer, peel off the skin and grate using a microplaner. Voila, the essence of the ginger, without the intensity of accidentally chomping on a matchstick or coin. So, just grate this to your taste.
Pour dressing over veggies and mix well. Sprinkle sesame seeds over and shake/mix well.

The dressing is reminiscent of a Peanut Noodle dish I side to loved to make in college. It was, more or less, spaghetti dressed in a sauce made of peanut butter, sesame oil, rice vinegar and sugar. And now it’s not such a wonder why I gained so much weight during the college years.

I’m letting it sit in the fridge overnight. In addition to the cilantro, maybe some grilled chicken for a little protein? Write that down!

Baked spaghetti-like squash casserole

Posted on March 24, 2014 by chatty

File this under “tastes way better than it looks.” For this casserole dish I heavily cribbed from PaleOMG’s Almost 5 ingredient pizza spaghetti pie. What caught my eye was the pizza part of the name. But the taste most definitely reminded me of a baked spaghetti/pasta dish (yes, I know I just ranted about how this squash doesn’t taste like pasta … baked like this I need to rethink my original declaration). The kiddo, upon further investigation of her plate, actually asked, “Mom, is this… spaghetti?”

Now, what a decision point. Do I lie and say yes, with the hope that she’ll eat it? I mean, I’ve already committed a lie of omission by not mentioning the chopped onion. Do I dare test the karmic waters?

“It’s spaghetti… squash!” I exclaimed. Couldn’t do it. Eventually she would figure it out and then would use it against me, I’m sure. And fortunately for us she still ate most of her portion.

So, this is a baked casserole, made with our favorite pizza ingredients: sausage, mushrooms, onions. Rather than repeat PaleOMG’s recipe, I’m going to send you all there, and list out the tweaks I made here:
Instead of ground pork sausage, I used two Mild Italian Chicken Sausage links (approx 3/4 lb) from Whole Foods, which I cooked/browned then sliced before adding into the sauce mix.
I added sliced mushrooms to the sautéed onions, and used Italian Seasoning instead of dried basil.
I beat two eggs with 3 tbsp of liquid egg whites.
I also grated a small amount of Parm-Reg on top while it rested, which I easily could have done without. I’m playing to a mixed audience, here.

Presented with a salad and steamed broccoli.

The verdict was three thumbs up. Husband went for thirds. I probably ate more than I intended to. Reheated the next day for lunch, still great-tasting.

Pumpkin pie chia pudding

Posted on March 24, 2014 by chatty

A few things to review here. First, here are my three fave paleo sites for food inspiration. All of these bloggers, I believe, also have print books out now as well.

PaleOMG. Funny posts. Lots of desserts. Very personal, fun to read.
NomNomPaleo. Asian flair, amazing photography, though can be intimidating (sous vide? Really?). These guys also have an app that is fun, easy to use with more great photography.
Elana’s Pantry. I get the feeling she’s been cooking paleo before paleo was “in”. It’s a family lifestyle by necessity, and there are so many traditional recipes catered to a gluten-free audience. Also lots of baked good here, too.

Okay. That is out of the way. On to part two. I am what you might call frugal. If I’m going to spend $2 on a can of coconut milk, you better believe I’m gonna use all of it, even if the first recipe I use it for call for just a 1/2 cup. But, you see, I’m frugal in a ridiculous way. Because in an effort to use up the rest of the coconut milk I needed for my not-quite quiche, I went out and bought a can of pumpkin and some new pumpkin pie spice (which, during the off season, is a bit more expensive). How smart am I?

Anyway, I got into my head that I should make a pumpkin custard. All three sites above have some great pumpkin dessert recipes, but in the end I cribbed from PaleOMG again, and created an interesting dessert, pumpkin-pie-chia-pudding. This is based on Juli’s Pumpkin Pie Blizzard.

3 Medjool dates, pitted
1 c full fat coconut milk
1/2 c canned pumpkin
3 tbsp chia seeds
Boiling water
Pumpkin pie spice (PPS)

In a ramekin place pour boiling water over the dates and let them sit and soften for at least 5 minutes. Once they are softened, mash them a little bit and throw them in a blender.
Add coconut milk and blend until smooth.
Add pumpkin and blend some more.
Sprinkle PPS to your heart’s and taste’s desire. I gave it a good 10 shakes or so, then blend again.
Pour into a container. Gradually fold in chia sends, one tbsp at a time, until well mixed.
Cover and chill in the fridge overnight. After the first two hours, take it out to stir and taste.

It’s like a whipped pumpkin pie dessert. Tasty.

Good news. I have finished my open can of coconut milk. Bad news, I have an open can of pumpkin I need to use. Sigh. I think some pumpkin recipes are in my future.

Not-quite quiche

Posted on March 22, 2014 by chatty

I like quiche. Homemade crusts. Eggs. Cheese. Butter and milk. Did I mention the crust. I had considered doing a sausage pizza-like casserole for dinner but the husband wasn’t feeling it. Too much pork this week, which I couldn’t argue. So. How about a crustless quiche?

I was anticipating a child revolt, so on half of the dish I grated parm-reg on top, then while it rested added shredded cheddar cheese.

Mommy, usually the quiche has something else on the bottom … Like a crust? Wow. Nothing gets by you, kiddo. Still, she ate her serving, which is always a win.

Husband also gave it the approval, though his feedback was if you don’t expect it to be quiche, then it’s fine. I often feel that way with paleoized meals, so I understand. Despite the coconut milk, it does not taste coconutty. It does get a custardy texture though. So call this a savory egg custard. Call it a not-quite quiche. Call it a tasty meal.

1-2 tbsp choice of fat (I used ghee)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
6-8 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 c baby spinach
5 eggs
3 tbsp egg whites
1 c full fat coconut milk
Salt/pepper
Nutmeg
6 or more grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 350.
Heat oil in a sauté pan, med heat. Add onions around 5-8 minutes. Add mushrooms and spinach and cook for a few more minutes. Doesn’t need to be cooked thoroughly. I’m just looking to soften and flavor. Season with salt, pepper. Set aside
In a large bowl beat eggs/whites thoroughly. Whisk in coconut milk, season and include grated nutmeg, or whatever else you want to season with, and mix well.
Coat a square casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour a little of the egg mixture on the bottom, enough to just cover the bottom. Add in the onion/mushroom/spinach mixture, draining as much liquid as possible beforehand. Spread it evenly around, then pour remainder of egg mixture into dish. Top with halved tomatoes.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Check for doneness using the toothpick test. Also, the edges should be brown and trying to separated from the side of the dish.
Remove from oven, cover and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
Divide into quarters or eighths. Serves 4, with a salad and veggie on the side.

Paleo Almond Joy-Stack (personal size)

Posted on March 18, 2014 by chatty

Stressful times call for stress eating, made more difficult by this no-grains, no-sugar thing. I want cake, I say. Just walk to the store, Husband says. Cake?? says kiddo. No, I say. No grains.
So, I compromised. Docked myself a point for sugar, and made a single microwaveable paleo brownie (since we don’t have a microwave, we baked at 350 for 20 minutes. Not exactly instant gratification but it did hit the spot).

For my next trick, I took ingredients on hand and created this exciting concoction. More like a little candy, like an almond joy, but sort of shaped like a haystack. Thus, the moniker Joy-Stack.

Now, since we made single serving brownies, it made sense to make a small batch of these as well. Plus, as mentioned earlier, I used what I had, and only had a limited amount of coconut. These remind me of the ones I made a while ago that are in the cover photo above, but more candy-like.

It goes something like this …

1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp raw honey
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp almond butter

Melt the oil over low heat, stir in honey. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Using a teaspoon, scoop out a little ball, place it in a mini cupcake wrapper. Have some liquid chocolatey goodness leftover? No problem. Carefully add the extra goodness into the cups. Stick them in the frige for at least 30 minutes.
This mini batch made about six candies. Enough to enjoy and share!

Sometimes, I feel like a nut.

Kiss me, though, I’m not Irish

Posted on March 17, 2014 by chatty

I’m not Irish, but I married into the Irish, and suddenly I’m all into making this St. Patrick’s day meal. Last year was my first attempt as corned beef and cabbage, so I did pretty much a repeat of last year’s dinner. The downside for me is that it’s in the middle of my nutrition challenge (really?!). That just means, a low-point day for me. I couldn’t NOT add Guinness into the crock pot. Just had to use a little brown sugar for the corned beef. I couldn’t not make Irish Soda Bread. I mean, I could have, but this is a once-a-year meal, so I indulged.

Corned Beef & Cabbage, with root vegetables and Irish soda bread

The corned beef was a pacakged deal from Met Market, Wagyu Beef that included seasonings. The recipe from NYMSCC was quite similar to the other ones I found online. I placed red potatoes, quartered, a couple of small carrots and a parsnip on the bottom of the slow cooker then added the beef on top with additional spices. Poured in a can of Guinness then added additional water, so that the beef was just covered (per the recipe), though it seemed to me like a lot of liquid, I went with it.

Turned the SC on low for 9 hours, I took out the beef and vegetables and put them on a platter. Then added the cabbage, cut into wedges and held together by some kitchen twine. On high for 15-20 more minutes while the meat rested. Soup’s On.

The entire family enjoyed the meat and potatoes and not so much the bread. I will have to find a different version that doesn’t have raisins next time (I like the raisins, no one else does. I brought it to work for the crew to finish up and it disappeared from the kitchen pretty quickly, i suspect).

This was last night’s work. Tonight, the actual day, we had leftovers (which means no cooking for the husband three days in a row. That must be a record). As the finale the kid and I made a Green Smoothie. Recipe below:

Green Smoothie

Blend together a cup of chopped kale with a cup of coconut water. Based on what was in my kitchen 1/2 large banana, 1 small apple (peeled and chopped), a handful of frozen grapes. Blend until mixed. This made enough for two 8-oz glasses or so (see above).

This recipe idea courtesy of Pinterest! Woot.

Erin Go Bragh, as the Irish say.

Chicken tenders, paleo-style

Posted on March 16, 2014 by chatty

Lots of recipes online for a paleo chicken fingers, and what I love about bloggers and the interwebs is with every version of a recipe, other users comment on how to make it better. It leaves you with tons of ways to go about it. Hopefully everyone is civil about it but hey, it is the interwebs…

At Trader Joes in the spice section they have this thing called “Everyday Seasonings“. It’s a bunch of the same spices you always use, in a bottle with its own grinder so you can grind and use as needed. I am a big fan, and used it with the flour in addition to the other spices, as you’ll see below.

Almond-Crusted Chicken
1 lb boneless chicken breast, or a pkg of 2 breasts
2 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1-1.5 c almond flour
1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds, ground with the mortar and pestle.
1 tsp TJ’s Everyday Seasoning
Paprika, for the chicken.

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray that with nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl beat eggs with lemon.
On a plate combine the flour and seasonings well.
Slice up the chicken into even pieces. Tip 1: one blogging chef suggested sticking the chicken in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up and make it easier to slice. Each breast gave me 6 or 7 pieces.
Season the chicken with salt and paprika.
Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, then roll it into the almond flour, place on the sheet. Dredge, roll, place. Season the crusted pieces before throwing into oven.
Bake for 25 minutes, turning once.
I’m anal when cooking chicken, so I always use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. 180 degrees.

The chicken was good, not great. A tad dry. Might want to brine the chicken next time around.
Other notes: on a few of these I double dipped (dredged and rolled twice before sending to the baking sheet) though I’m not sure I could tell the difference between those and the single dunk ones.
For the non-paleo eaters in the house, I used the microplane and grated parm-reg on a few. I used a paleo BBQ sauce as a dipper. Husband used sweet rays BBQ sauce.
Served on the side, “crunchy” green beans, ( i.e. stir-fried, seasoned with lemon zest, ginger and garlic.)
I also had a garden salad with olive oil and vinegar. Husband and kid had a side of onion rings. Must be nice.

Paleo granola

Posted on March 15, 2014 by chatty

This is an easy one. Also easy to O.D. on, so I won’t make this one very often. It was hard to not eat this by the handful, and I really don’t need handfuls of nuts on a regular basis. But here it is, courtesy of an FB friend from grade school.
1 c almonds (slivered, though I just chopped raw almonds I already had in the kitchen)
3/4 c chopped pecans
1 c pumpkin seeds
1/2 c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c raisins
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine nuts and seeds (mix and match depending on what you have or like).
Heat and melt coconut oil. Add sweeteners, mix well.
Drizzle oil/sweeteners over the nuts and mix well until thoroughly coated.
Spread out over parchment
Bake for 20 or so minutes, stirring throughout. Cool and enjoy.

It’s very easy to go from done to burnt, like seconds. Like when you’re toasting nuts on the stove, by the time you can smell the aroma of the nuts it’s too late, they’ve probably begun to burn. I did check and stir every 5-6 minutes, just got distracted by life, so it goes.
Next time I think I’ll add the raisins in after they come out of the oven, or perhaps halfway through the baking process. They were a little too hard and chewy for my taste.
I stored this in Ziploc bags for well over a week. There was a slight burnt taste thanks to my oversight but definitely still worth eating. I’ll know better next time, but as I mentioned at the top, it’s too tempting to overeat this stuff, I don’t think I’ll be making it often.

For anyone keeping score, while I’m posting this during the nutrition challenge, I made and finished this last month, so I didn’t lose point with the agave, okay?

**UPDATE** I did this one again with the tweaks above, and a few more … Used just 1 tbsp of coconut oil and 2 tbsp of raw honey. It wasn’t as clumpy, but also wasn’t as oily, which I preferred. I added raisins 10 minutes in, and took out to cool five minutes after the raisins went in (so a total 15 minutes)

Very happy with these edits. Fun, easy, way too addictive.

Real food redux

Posted on March 14, 2014 by chatty

The Sound Crossfit Nutrition Challenge is back. We are now on day 5, and the only point I’ve lost so far is not drinking enough water (see previous post. Why is it so hard for me but not others). Background: you get points for avoiding grains, sugar and alcohol and eating more veggies and protein, water.

Soo this was my last fun meal. Looks a lot like my last “whole-30-breakup” meal, right? South Philly slice and Pagliaccio salad, a little wine on the side. I’m pretty sure some chocolate and cookies were also enjoyed that night as well.

And here is the next night’s meal, first day of the challenge. Turkey sliders (no bun of course, but topped with a perfectly ripe avocado), salad with olive oil & vinegar, and mashed cauliflower. The kid was interested in trying zucchini so I broiled thin slices (easy recipe). A little overdone, but she still liked them.

Honestly, this is one of those times where the picture doesn’t do the meal justice. I was pleasantly surprised with how the turkey came out. Both the husband and the kid liked the sliders.

I also see more zucchini in our future. With St Patrick’s Day coming up. I also see some low-points days in my future.

Chatty Cha

dessert first