Sunday Mornings

As a kid, weekends were golden. No school, no rushing around and I could do what I want (for the most part).  Saturdays, my Mom deemed cleaning days. We turned up the stereo and everyone worked on a room. After that we were free to ourselves. I'd spent the afternoon and evening reading, watching TV or out with friends.

Sundays mornings were spent eating some form of brunch.  Pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, cinnamon rolls, orange juice, coffee. I've memories of my Mom making perfect omelets even though she doesn't eat eggs.  She'd get out the shiny silver waffle maker and boil down water and maple flavoring for syrup. 

My Dad was less conventional about cooking. He grew up the son of a farmer who never had to think about cooking, because my Grandma did it all. He'd make freshly grated hash brown potatoes with large pieces of onion, scrambled eggs and diced hot dogs. Then we'd squirt copious amounts of ketchup all over it before eating. 

Food is connected to my childhood memories, whether I like it or not. And while my relationship with food is a bit broken, I still treasure those memories. They speak to a childlike innocence, lazy and relaxing days.  They are emotionally comforting in a time where I'm not quite sure where I fit in right now.

Yesterday was a Sunday golden day. A day I made sure to live presently in, all day. I feel as though the dog tried sleeping on my face all night, but let me sleep until 8 am. I woke up to pumpkin coffee with a dab of cream. I concocted a breakfast of potato hash with bacon, onion, jalapenos, cooking on the stove. Finished, I topped it with runny eggs and sharp salty cheddar for me, instant grits and runny eggs for Pete. We are in front of the TV, talking about the weekend. I am relaxed and present.

I read my new cookbook and crocheted a bit after breakfast. Relaxing with a warm sleepy puppy and a blanket my Grandma crocheted for my high school graduation. All the while watching reruns of Law and Order. The sun glowed through the blinds in the living room and made the cold outside seem much warmer. Golden. 

It's Sunday nights where I feel most like an adult. Sundays are when I bake bread and cakes. I roast whole chickens with root veggies. I slow cook turkey sausage chili with cornbread. The making of large meals again reminds me of my childhood. Of sitting round a table in the dark evening with tender roast, buttered carrots and soft potatoes. Of pieces of white bread with butter and the TV running the evening news or a football game.

This Sunday I made Turkey Wild Rice Hotdish with a crusty whole grain honey bread. Between dinner and breakfast, I made some new golden food memories. 

Taco Pie? Mexican Cornbread Casserole?

Last week when I was grocery shopping I found lots of great fresh produce.  And as I do a lot, I ended up shopping while creating a recipe in my head.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't...  This time it did.  Only I can't figure out what to call it.  Taco Pie sounds, well, not great.  Mexican Cornbread Casserole?  Really it's the best I can come up with.

Take these items:  can of diced chilis, can of reduced sodium black beans, small can of reduced sodium tomato sauce and your favorite salsa.

Add the corn from one large ear and 1/2 cup each of red, yellow and green pepper along with cornbread and some other things.  Here's the whole recipe:

Mexican Cornbread Casserole

• 1/2 pound lean ground turkey, chicken or beef.
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning.  I make my own with the recipe here.
• 1 1/2 cup diced bell peppers - any color
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 1 cup of your favorite salsa
• 1 can diced chilis.  I would have used jalapeno if I had a fresh one.
• 1 small can reduced sodium tomato sauce
• 1 can reduced sodium black beans

For the Cornbread portion:

• 2/3 cup wheat flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 2 tblsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tblsp oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese



Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Brown crumbled meat in pan and add taco seasoning. 

In a large bowl mix the meat, the veggies, the beans, salsa and the tomato sauce well.  I added some other spices like cumin, chili powder and hot sauce to our liking. 

Spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with non stick spray and wipe most of it out.  Pour in the mixture and set aside.

Mix together the cornbread.  Drop by spoonfuls over the top of the dish.  Spread out as much as possible.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cornbread is done.

Eating Cleaner...

I've mentioned before that I'm trying to eat clean and have Pete eat clean too.  I'm sure you've heard of clean eating before, right?  Basically it's trying to cut out as many processed foods as you can.  There's even a magazine called Clean Eating.  There are several books:  Eat Clean Diet, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Clean, and Clean Start.

I started out trying not to shop in the inner aisles of the grocery store.  The place where things are boxed, bagged and canned.  I tried to focus more on the outside of the store where things are in their natural forms - meat, produce and dairy.  Now that's not to say that I never buy anything canned or boxed.  I still buy pasta, canned tomatoes (because the fresh ones aren't really good this time of year), some canned beans, pickles and things like that.  But I don't buy already shredded cheese, hamburger helpers, creamed soups, macaroni and cheese, boxed cookies, jarred salsas, boxed cake mixes and things like that.  Instead I try to create my own or find a recipe online that helps me create my own versions of this.

Macaroni and cheese is just a milk based white sauce with cheese and pasta.  Hamburger helper is just hamburger (or in our case ground turkey) with pasta or rice and a sauce.  I can do that myself and know where everything is coming from.  Salsa is just tomatoes, spices, garlic, peppers, onions and some lime juice.  Spaghetti sauce is tomatoes, a squirt of tomato paste, onions, garlic and spices cooked down. 

Initially I was confused about trying to eat clean.  It seemed overwhelming to cut everything out cold turkey.  Overwhelming and time consuming. I took a step back and decided to make small changes that we could live with and keep trying.  I stopped buying boxed meals.  It takes a little more planning, but it can be done.  I tried to stick to meats, a starch and a veggie for a few weeks.  When that became easy I started something new.  And so on. 

When I look at my grocery cart 12 months ago it was full of boxed versions of granola bars, meals, quick/easy things.  Now I see about 30% fresh produce, 30% meats/fish, 20% dairy and about 20% quick/easy items like canned tomatoes, frozen veggies and such.

My latest challenge is that I want to make my own yogurt.  I eat Fage Greek Yogurt like it's going out of style.  At 1.29-1.79 an 8 ounce container it's expensive.  But I love the flavor, the texture and the tang.  I found a recipe online for yogurt and this weekend I'm going to try it.

Yogurt
1/2 gallon whole milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt with LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES

To start out with you'll need a container of yogurt to get the live active cultures.  After the first batch you can use your own yogurt and you won't need to buy it.

In a crockpot on low, heat your milk for 2 hours.  Turn off the crockpot and let the milk cool with the lid on for 3 hours.  Mix in 1/2 cup yogurt with live active cultures .  Wrap the crockpot in a large towel and let it sit overnight or 8 hours. 

I'll let you know next week how it turns out!

My New Favorite Comfort Food

There are times that I struggle with how to make myself comfort food that tastes good, comforts and is somewhat good for me.  I think that this is one of those recipes.  And it's a bonus that Pete likes it because he's not a "hot-dish", one pot, comfort food kind of guy.

Taco Cheeseburger Mac

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 package low sodium taco seasoning
1.5 cups low sodium beef or turkey broth
1 can Rotel
1 cup Dreamfield's Low Carb Macaroni

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup low fat milk
1 cup shredded cheese I used 1/2 pepper jack and 1/2 cheddar
Salt, pepper and Chipotle Pepper Sauce

In a large fry pan, brown the turkey with 1/2 of the taco seasoning.  Drain any juice from the turkey.  Add the remaining taco seasoning, Rotel and broth.  Stir well.  Add in the macaroni, cover and cook for 12-14 minutes or until the macaroni is cooked through.

While the macaroni is cooking, add the butter to a small sauce pan.  Once melted, sprinkle int he flour and whisk for 5 minute or until a very light caramel color.  Whisk in the milk slowly and cook on medium high heat until thickened.  Add in the shredded cheese of the heat and stir well.

Once the macaroni is done, uncover the pan and look for about 5 minute or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  It's ok if there is about 1/2-3/4 cup remaining.  Add in the cheese sauce and stir well.  Cook about 5 minutes or until the juice/sauce is thickened.  I add the chipotle sauce at the end to make it as spicy as I want.

I modified the recipe that I found at Kevin and Amanda.  YUM!  I tried to calculate the calories, but can't really find information for some of the things.  The nearest I can find is that 1/4 of the recipe is 400 calories, 25 grams fat, 28 grams carbs and 35 grams protein.  While it's more calories than I would like, the carbs are so low and the protein is so high.  It's a balancing act for sure, but I'm ok with this once and a while.

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Taco Seasoning:  The little packets you get from the store are so high in sodium.  I've taken to making my own recipe.  Use about 3 tablespoons per pound of meat with 1/2 tablespoon flour and 2/3 cup water for regular tacos.

1 Tablespoon dark chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon pepper

Mix well and store in airtight container.

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Rotel is also full of things that I don't necessarily want.  When a recipe calls for it, I use 1 can of low salt, small diced tomatoes and 1 can diced chilies.

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I've also taken to shredding all my cheese again from blocks that I buy.  Did you know that it has things like potato starch, powdered cellulose, calcium carbonate and other things.  I have blocks of cheese that I regularly use in the fridge and just grate what I need when I need it.  Interestingly it melts much better than the preshredded stuff.

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And lastly I've been making my own broths also.  When I make a whole chicken I use the leftovers and simmer them all day in a crockpot with water, some celery, carrots and onion.  After it's cooked all day I put it in the fridge overnight and then skim the fat off the top.  Then I freeze it in 2 cup portions.  I do the same thing with a turkey breast and with any leftover roasts or bone in red meat for beef broth.

My journey with Tuna.

I have memories of a child sitting in the kitchen in our apartment.  The walls were wallpapered with colorful flowers on a white background.  The floor was rolled vinyl and unmemorable in pattern.  The table had shiny, tubular metal legs that curved at the corners.  The tabletop was mottled grey, white and some cream.

I remember sitting at that table and eating tuna sandwiches with pickles on the side.  I remember that shortly after that my parents tried the "Tuna Diet" where you were to eat large quantities of tuna in a short amount of time.  Shortly after that, we stopped eating tuna on a regular basis.  My Mom would buy me the cans of tuna every once and a while as a treat.  There would be several diet attempts after that - Grapefruit Diet and the Cabbage Soup Diet.  Each time we'd stop eating whatever the main ingredient was.  To be honest, I kind of giggle when reading about these kinds of diets.  How absurd they sound!

Tuna and I persevered though.  I love my tuna packed in water and drained, a tiny bit of mayo (just enough to barely hold it together), a teaspoon of dijon mustard, 10 green olives chopped, a tablespoon of parmesan cheese, black pepper and some chopped parsely.  If I have it, I add minced celery.  I love it plain, with crackers, on toast and in a melt.

Fresh tuna is another story.  It's like salmon to me - mysterious and appealing.  For the record I do not like salmon unless it's smoked.  I keep trying it and it just does nothing for me.  The texture and the strong taste is off-putting.  So a few weeks ago I bought Pete salmon and instead to my usual tilapia I bought a fresh tuna steak.  I brought it home and marinaded it some soy, ginger and garlic and baked it with his salmon.  Verdict?  It tasted just like canned tuna.  Hmmm....

This weekend I was determined to try it again.  I asked for recipes on facebook and searched online.  I found a good recipe and learned that you're only supposed to cook it a minute on each side and eat it rare.  Ummmmm.....Ok.  I marinaded in soy, garlic, honey and wasabi paste.  the marinade was delicious.  I grilled it this time on the grill pan I have after dipping in sesame seeds on both sides.  1 minute was not very long and it was still all pink so I went for 1.5 minutes on each side.

Verdict?  The outsides that were cooked longer were ok, but still lacked intense flavor that I thought would be there.  The middle?  I couldn't eat it because rare tuna to me is...icky. 

I think my journey with fresh tuna is over.  Canned tuna, will you take me back?

I like Turnips!

After attending the class by KitchenWerks I did a little shopping.  I knew that I had ground turkey that I had to use.  I also knew that I wanted to make things that aren't necessarily appealing to Pete.  So I bought a sweet potato, a yam, some green top carrots, red beets, red onion and turnips along with the other things that I grabbed while shopping.

Sunday we woke up and went to the gym where I realized that I've dropped my per mile time by 5 minutes since last year.  So while I'm not quite running all the time, I'm walking pretty fast and putting 8-10 intervals of 1-1.5 minutes of running in my 30 or 40 minutes on the treadmill.  I was pretty proud of myself.

We came home and I made myself breakfast:  2 eggs, 1 cup packed fresh spinach, 2 diced green onions, 2 slices low salt deli ham chopped, 2 diced mushrooms, 1/8 cup dicd red pepper.  I made it into scrambled eggs and added 2 small slices of rye bread.  Actually I had this for both Saturday and Sunday breakfast. 

Breakfast was so late that I had a snack of 4 slices of low salt salami, 2 slices of swiss lace cheese and 2-1 inch slices of red pepper.

Dinner was awesome!  All those veggies up there?  I cut them into similar sizes and drizzled with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and put them on a sheet pan with Pink Himalayan salt and cracked pepper.  I roasted them at 425 for 40 minutes.  They were DEVINE!  All of the veggies get caramelized and turn sweet and so flavorful.  I cooked the ground turkey into burgers with ginger, diced green onion, soy and 1 teaspoon sesame oil.

Remember those lasagna rolls that I made last week?  I had 3 meals off them and ate  total of 4 of them.  The remaining 5 I wrapped up individually and put in the freezer.  I can either defrost them and heat in the microwave or oven and instant dinner.

By the way, I have pictures of all of this!  Where are they you ask?  Well, they're on my phone and the emails have been sent to my computer - but for some reason they're in outer space floating around somewhere - all 3 copies of them.  When they reach my Earthly email I'll post them...

Lasagna Rolls

So Pete is home and resting and good.  He's a bit sore in the abdomen, but other than that feels fine.

I'm taking the time that he can't eat real food to make things that he doesn't like, but I'm trying to make them better for me.  This is one of those things.

Spinach, Mushroom and Olive Lasanga Rolls

9 cooked & cooked lasagna noodles
10 ounces skim ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 large bag of fresh spinach
1 small red onion, minced and split into 3 portions
1 container of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons garlic split into 2 portions
1 small can of sliced black olives
1 jar of your favorite marinara
1/4 cup shredded maxarella
salt & pepper

In a large skillet, put 2 teaspoons olive oil and let it heat up.  Add 1/3 of the onion and 1 teaspoon garlic.  Cook for 1 minute and then add the whole bag of spinach.  Let it wilt, stirring, for 4-5 minutes.  Remove to a bowl lined with 3 layers of paper towels.  In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon olive oil and let it heat.  Add 1/3 of the onion and the other teaspoon of garlic.  Add the mushrooms and saute for 4-5 minutes or until they're cooked and slightly shrunk.  Remove to a bowl lined with paper towel.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Take a 9x9 pan and lightly spray with olive oil and then put 1 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom.

In a large bowl mix the cheeses, the remaining onion, the black olives and the beaten egg.  Squeeze out the excess water from the spinach and add to the bowl.  Squeeze out the excess water from the mushrooms and add those.  Mix well, salt and pepper.

On a flexible cutting board, lay out one cooked noodle.  Put 1/3 cup cheese mixture on the noodle and spread it out, leaving 2 inches on the end with no mixture.  Roll up so that the free noodle is on the outside.  Lay it seam side down in the pan and repeat until they're all done.  Pour 2 cups of sauce over the rolls, covering them all.

Bake 40 minutes at 400.

The recipe counter that I use says that it has 255 calories, 8 grams fat, 25 grams carbs, 5 grams fiber and 11 grams protein.

And since Pete is resting, let's not tell him that I started a burner on fire while making this, ok?