The Scene Resurrected

Wow. It has been a long time. My 16 year old bottomless pit is now 19 and still a bottomless pit. His biological sister and her husband have "joined" our family, in heart if not by law. And my new "son-in-law" is trained in the culinary arts. So cool. I have learned so much and he says he has also learned from me. So that is exciting.

Something else that happened that is both exciting and sucks at the same time is that I discovered some allergies. Sucks because it really really limits what I can eat, but it is exciting because after more illnesses and way more weight gain, I have found that these "allergies" are a large contributing factor.  I am allergic to all things soy. xantham gum (I thought I needed to be wheat free so I ate a lot of gluten free products in place of wheat and guess what is in gluten free products as a thickener and to hold the product together... yep, xantham gum. It is also in most processed foods and sauces and condiments). I am also allergic to aspartame and seasonings popular in jerky and curries. And just lately, by accident, we discovered that I may have some kind of issue with olive oil. *sigh*  When I go back to my naturopath I will take in the oils I use for cooking and have them all tested for allergies.  I am hoping it was just a bad batch or something. But we will find out for sure. I will not rest until I know if my oil is causing me distress!

The other thing I have done is take on my chiropractor's advice and sort of follow a diet he promotes called the Ideal Protein diet.  I did my research and I cannot purchase many of their meals. Most of them contain either soy or xantham gum, of course. But the idea of eating fewer than 9 grams of carbs a day is a good one for me. And I lost 16 lbs the first month I was on it. It is hard to only have 9 grams of carbs a day, though and I went off of it for the month of May. Too many celebrations in May this year. And I gained back 14 lbs. But then the first week back on the low carb thing and I dropped 8 lbs again. I have not gotten back to the 9 grams a day, but getting there. Anyway, I do end up taking more supplements but it is really doing a good thing getting rid of my edema and some of the fat too. And I feel much better on lower carbs.

So all of that means my cooking has changed. I still will cook carbohydrates for my husband and bottomless pit, but not many sauces or anything. I make my salad dressings, sauces, and marinades from scratch. When I first started the ideal protein diet I was also still doing an antifungal diet as well and that really limited me because I couldn't use vinegars or anything. Only lemon juice and oils for my dressings and marinades. I have since gone off of that and it has opened up all the different vinegars for me now. But then I thought, others may need very low carbs, so perhaps some of my concoctions should be blogged about. So this is why I have resurrected this blog.  Most of the recipes I share now will be geared toward very low or no carb meals.

So if you are interested in low and no carb eating, even if only for the odd meal...  follow along! I will be aiming for at least one post a week. :)  In the meantime, Ciao for now!!

Missing in Action

I have been missing in action. Lately. Just have not been doing a lot of cooking lately. I just wasn't feeling well. Things are starting to look up so there will be some new posts with yummy pictures and recipes featuring some of the interesting foods I get from Bountiful Baskets, Zaycon Foods, and Tastefully Simple. So keep an eye out for some new posts from me. :)

Wilted Arugula, Spinach and Herb Quinoa, and Broiled Pork Chop with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.

It's been a while since I have done any cooking, and tonight's fare was an easy one, but something I felt I could share.
On the menu tonight was:   Wilted Arugula, Spinach and Herb Quinoa with grape tomatoes and green onion, and Broiled Pork Chops with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.  Two of the three dishes used Tastefully Simple products.  (That was what simplified the preparation of the meal for me.)

So what I am going to do is post my pictures and tell you what I did because I didn't follow any recipes. Now, I cook by taste, so I will try to estimate the amounts but you go right ahead and tweak them to meet your own taste buds. :)

Wilted Arugula

2Tbsp grapeseed oil  

2 cloves garlic, chopped or sliced thinly

1 bunch of arugula, leaves and stems cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in the sautee pan. I like using grapeseed oil rather than olive oil because it withstands higher heat without breaking down.  Add the garlic and sautee until the garlic becomes aromatic and golden, but not brown. Add the arugula. and sautee for about 2 minutes until it begins to wilt. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir, cover, reduce heat, and let it cook until the vinegar is mostly absorbed (about 2 to 3 minutes). At this point I left it covered and removed from heat until the rest of the meal was done, about 5 minutes later. My timing was a little off this day. 

If you love the Tastefully Simple products, try using Tastefully Simple Roasted Garlic Infused Oil instead of the grapeseed oil for a little garlic flavor. 

Spinach and Herb Quinoa with Grape Tomatoes and Green Onion

 1 c. quinoa

2 c. water

2 Tbsp Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb dip mix

2 green onions, sliced 

6 grape tomatoes, cut in half. 

Bring the water and quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer until the water is absorbed, about 10 - 15 minutes.  At about 9 minutes, add the spinach and herb dip mix and stir.  Add the tomatoes and onions and cover, turn off heat but leave the pot on the burner until the rest of dinner is ready. This warms the tomatoes but doesn't cook them. 

Broiled Pork Chops with Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce

Pork chops

Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt 

Pepper to taste

Tastefully Simple Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce 

Spray a broiler pan with non stick spray. Salt and pepper both sides of the chops to taste. Place under a broiler in the center of the oven.  

Every five minutes flip the chops until they are done. The last five minutes add the Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce.  

Serve all together and enjoy. :)  

You can try other finishing sauces as well. Or try fresh or frozen fruit with a bit of sugar on top of your chops. 

Now its your turn. Have fun cooking!  

Sorry I didn't put into metric. These will be pretty easy to convert though. ;-)

Swiss Cheese, Ham and Asparagus Bake

After a few days off from fancy cooking, I went fast and easy today with a recipe from Kraft.  

Tonights Menu: Swiss Cheese, Ham and Asparagus Bake

Click here for the recipe 

This was super easy and a keeper for my family. I bought cubed ham but this would be a great way to use up leftover ham at Easter or other times. I think if you wanted a different flavor you could substitute any cream soup, but the celery soup really compliments the flavor of the asparagus in this. My son said, "Mom, It  was as if the asparagus disappeared!"  

Your turn to give it a try. Enjoy! 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes and Wilted Arugula with Fennel

Tonight for dinner the menu was Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes, Wilted Arugula with Fennel (my own adaptation) and broiled steak with Tastefully Simple's Ultimate Steak Seasoning.  

The Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes came from the Food Network.  You can find that recipe here. I followed it exactly.  My family really liked it. It is a keeper.  

The wilted arugula and fennel is my own combination based on a recipe from Martha Stewart. The original recipe is here.  Mine is below.  

Wilted Arugula and Fennel

1 Tbsp grapeseed oil  (I like it because it handles heat better than olive oil)

1 garlic clove

1 frond and the portion of bulb it is attached to of fennel 

1 smallish bunch of arugula, washed and dried and chopped

2 Tbsp balsamic Vinegar

salt and pepper to taste. 

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Dice the garlic clove and add to the oil. Sautee until the garlic just begins to turn color. Add chopped frond and portion of bulb of fennel. Sautee with the garlic about 3 minutes. Add chopped arugula and sautee for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the balsamic vinegar over the mixture and sautee a few minutes longer until most of the vinegar is absorbed.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

I like the addition of the fennel. The licorice like flavor of the fennel really blends well with the peppery flavor of the arugula. I could see adding some tomatoes to it to give it a splash of color, just before the balsamic vinegar. 

My family liked it too. This was a keeper as well. :) 

Now its your turn. Enjoy. 

Creamy Artichoke Chicken

Tonight's fare is from the collection of recipes on my Tastefully Simple website.  

So this recipe is     Creamy Artichoke Chicken. 

You can get the recipe here.  If you like what you see and want to get the Tastefully Simple Warm Artichoke and Spinach Dip Mix, you can order it from that site as well.

This recipe is a slow cooker recipe. Funny thing...  I decided to doctor up the recipe like I often do and add zucchini and tomatoes to it about 45 minutes before we were to eat so they wouldn't be mushy. I went to add the vegetables and realized I hadn't turned the slow cooker on!!  So I transferred everything into a casserole dish and baked it at 350 degrees F for about an hour. I put the vegetables in it when I transferred it and gave it all a stir and they were fine, not too mushy.  About half an hour later I started boiling the water for my rice pasta. Then 15 minutes later I added the cheese. I did not have swiss so I added a cheese blend that I had which was already shredded. (I cheat. LOL).  It was wonderful. Here is what the final outcome looked like. 

In the recipe it tells you to serve it over top of potatoes, or pasta or rice. So it is very versatile. I personally think this recipe would be good with any vegetables added-- try spinach in the last half hour or so of cooking, or carrots added at the beginning, on the bottom of the slow cooker. I think broccoli added in the last hour or so would be good too.  I just have zucchini and tomatoes to use up so I added some. My husband, the zucchini hater, said I can put zucchini in this dish any time and serve it to him. 

So I guess this one is a keeper too!!  

Now give it a try yourself. Enjoy! 

Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad and Pizza Night!

It's Saturday!! Today for lunch I made us that wilted spinach and asparagus salad for which I posted the link the other day as as bonus.  Tonight is Pizza Saturday at our house. Now, we live 5 miles from the nearest town in which places are only open really during Tourist season and about 20 miles from any other town. So its not like we can just pick up a phone and call a place to have the pizza delivered. Either I bring it home with me if I am out, we go out to eat, or we eat frozen or serve it ourselves. I mentioned earlier that I am trying to keep my wheat intake to a minimum.  (Wheat, not gluten... I need to make that distinction)  So now that the best pizza place in the entire world (well, maybe this side of the Mississippi for sure) is open again, I treat myself to it every other week. On the off weeks I try to get myself a wheat free pizza somewhere, either frozen, make it myself or pick it up from a place in town that sells gluten free pizzas.  Tonight is a night that we go out to Big Time Pizza in Keystone, SD.  Run by Robert and Marie Davis, its a wonderful little Mom and Pop type place. Their daughter works there, last summer their son worked there as well. And it is by far the best pizza our family has ever had. A little pricier than we normally spend when we go out, but definitely worth it. SO WORTH IT. And they serve Baltika, Russian Beer which is a big hit for the beer drinkers out there.  If anyone is ever going through the Black Hills between March and December, its a definite stopping place. You can visit their page on Facebook. 

So now for the main event:  

Wilted Spinach and Asparagus Salad. 

(I know, my picture-taking skills are not the greatest, but you get the idea...  )

The link to it is here.

I do have some notes about this salad.  I changed a few things. I did not have red onion so I used Tastefully Simple's Onion, Onion.  It would likely be more colorful with red onion. I also used Tastefully Simple's Garlic, Garlic instead of fresh garlic because of time. (And you use less of the dried seasonings than you do of the fresh).Other than that I followed the directions in the recipe.  

Some things I would do differently next time...  I would cut the spears up into bite sized pieces or blanch them until they are softer. I do think they were lovely being still a little crisp but I like a salad where I don't have to cut things with my knife.  That's just me.  The other thing I would do differently is that in the recipe, they have you putting the 3 T of balsamic vinegar and the 2 T of oil into the frying pan and whisking with the herbs there. I found it quite difficult to whisk the oil and vinegar together in such a large area when there was so little of it. I would probably whisk the oil and vinegar together first in a small bowl, maybe with the onion and garlic but not necessarily. Then I can get them together well without it flying all over the place. I am not the neatest of chefs. LOL  

Other than that, I loved it. My son was neutral, and my husband liked it ok, but he's tired of asparagus.  So in my book, that means this one is a keeper. 

Now go and try it for yourself. Happy Eating!