New tools in the kitchen

With the decision to weekly make egg cups for my husband, we found the not so nice issue that came with that task, and that has been eggs that aggressively stick to my standard muffin tins. So we took the next step in the challenge and tried paper liners and the stubborn egg have stuck to those too. But this week has been a triumph in the challenge with sticking eggs. 
As a result I began the tasks of researching different silicone products on the market, which my first thought was a product called Flexipan (which I already own several pieces), which is made by the people who make the Silpats, but they come with a healthy price tag (some over $100). This past week I had a chance to speak with our pastry chef at work regarding this issue and asked her if she had a source of the Flexipans that might not be as expensive as my retail sources, which triggered a discussion regarding other products on the market. After a looking at several product options she headed to the kitchen and came back with one of her personal pans which turned out to be a cheap (around $10-$20) home silicone jumbo muffin tray and told me to give it a try and see what I thought. 
With my test pan in hand I headed for the kitchen today to find myself over joyed with the results, after letting the muffins cool for ten minutes I flipped the pan over onto a rack and they fell out of the pan effortlessly, and with a quick wipe with a soapy dish cloth the pan was clean again. So needless to say, I've been on Amazon.com and have ordered a couple of pans in different sizes that will be here before the week is out and I will be making egg cups that are stress free! my solution has been found.

Just out of the oven

The flip after 10 minutes cool time

The freshly washed pan

Packing up for storage in the frig for the week.

Steak Bites & Kale Salad

This morning I went out to get food for the dogs and as I walked past our freezer, I figured I better get out some meat for dinner, or I would be left scrounging around for something to eat after a long day at work.  I found a package of sirloin steaks which are not my favorites, but they were the first package I grabbed. 

Steak Bites

With my protein selected, now the question is what to do with it. One of my favorite Happy Hour goodies at our restaurant is steak bites. So with that in mind, I took my steaks and cubed them into cubes approximately 1 to 1.5 inches. Tossed them with salt & pepper and caramelized them in a hot oiled cast iron fry pan, turning to brown on all sides. Depending on how much you are cooking off, you may need to cook several batches in order to cook them quick enough and over cook the meat. At work they serve the bites with a horseradish sauce which I was really in the mood for, but my quickie stop at the grocery store found that all bottled, shelf safe horseradish sauce had either high fructose corn syrup or sugar and an assortment of unknown items in them, nor did that store have any fresh horseradish to allow me to make my own. So I settle on a roasted garlic aioli that I already had in the frig.

Kale Salad

As a side to go with our steak, I knew it was time for some hearty greens, so I put to use the kale, yellow bell pepper, green onions and radishes I had on hand and came up with a yummy salad. After removing the stems from the kale, I tossed the kale into the food processor with the chopping blade and pulsed until it was finely chopped (this took several batches to get all of it prepared). I thin sliced a full bunch of green onions, diced a bell pepper, and tossed the washed and trimmed radishes in to the food processor and finely chopped as well. In a large bowl I tossed all vegetables together with what is now becoming my favorite dressing and we were ready to eat (now that dinner is over, toasted sunflower seeds or other nuts would have been good in this salad too.)

Dressing for salad is thanks to Maria: http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/super-salad-dressing-and-mct-oils/  

Egg Cups - making things easy

With laundry load number two in the dryer and load number three in the washer, Les Miserables running on the TV, I jumped into the kitchen to get our meals prepped for the week ahead. 

We have a bit of leftovers from the weekend that will take care of a few of the lunches, but breakfast needs to be covered. When we first started this eating adventure, we tested the idea of egg cups which turned out to be pretty good. Last week due to a time crunch we went with plain boiled eggs, so when I asked my husband what he wanted for breakfast, he asked for the egg cups again. So I figured it time to share the egg cups with you.

Egg Cups
These like everything else I cook this is something you can modify the heck out of it. So for this batch we picked the following.

1/2 lb breakfast sausage (you can pick you meat of choice, bacon, ham, whatever)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 c. frozen spinach, thawed, and squeezed in a towel to get rid of the excess moisture.
1 c. Grated cheese (we used Colby & a white cheddar with horseradish)
Salt & Pepper
12 eggs
splash of milk (Option)
Coconut oil for greasing muffin tins.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Grease  (12) muffin tins, or line with wax liners

Brown off meat and onions, drain on paper towel. Mix drained spinach, cheese, cooked meat & onions, and salt & pepper, place in muffin tins.

Mix eggs & milk with a stick blender is best, it breaks up the stringy w
hites so they are easy to ladle over the meat mixture in the muffin tins, leaving  room at the top, they rise when cooking.

Bake for 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from tin. I put ours in a sealed container and they keep nicely in the frig for the week.



As for modifications, I see a batch with sauteed mushrooms and bacon in our future, maybe some chopped Kale, shape cheddar....hmmm, options, options, options!


Now its time to get back to that laundry project....oops.

"Spaghetti" Comfort food Paleo Style

Well it's year end for bookkeeper and accountants, piles of report, new reports to start, updates to be made, books to balance, file cabinets to purge, and overtime to put it, and right now I'm in the thick of it. 

So what do I crave, but starchy comfort foods that can be made quickly, so with in mind I decided to combine a couple of my favorites into a healthy combination I can feel good about eating and feel the need for something something hearty.

Spaghetti My Way
1 lb, ground beef, Italian sausage (chicken or pork) or any combination
1 Jar of your favorite sugar free spaghetti sauce
3/4 Head cabbage, sliced thin ribbons
1 Lg Yellow onion, sliced 
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan Cheese - grated for garnish

 In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, toss cabbage & onions in olive oil, season well with salt and pepper. Continue to turn over with thongs until cooked down and onions are translucent.

While cabbage mixture cooks, brown meat in a second skillet or stock pot. Add jarred sauce to meat and heat thoroughly.

  

Serve meat sauce over cabbage and garnish with cheese.



 

Taking the Next Step

As I wrote in my last post, we have had an unusually crazy year, and in addition to what I had listed, just a few weeks ago it was also realized that I am now longer the only diabetic in the house, my husband now carries that tag as well. So in an effort to get him on track with a low sugar plan, we dove into to the task of what will he eat for breakfast, for snacks and lunch while he is away from home and in an environment that leaves much to be desired for those trying to take care of themselves.

With a chicken roasted off, I made a batch of curry chicken salad that he can take for lunch, I cooked off egg cups that he can warm up for breakfast when he gets to work (he leaves the house at 4am), and prepped up a piles of raw vegetables that we can take for snacks along with the mixed nuts that he had been taking before. 

Change will always come with growing pains, making good choices is difficult and if you attempt to wing it, you can find yourself in the weeds and back at square one. It is never perfect as we make different choices and have days we fall off the wagon and need to start again. As we look at the new year, think about little changes you can make that you can handle and will be able to continue for the long haul. Making healthy changes can improve our quality of life, and if we continue to make little changes toward your goals you will have a better chance of reaching them.

It's been a busy day with shopping, and all the food prep,but with a stocked frig I think we are ready to face the week and now I can get a bit of rest between loads of laundry and crawling off to bed.

Confetti Salad

This past year has been a doozy for us, we started off with four funerals between April and June, right into a joyous time with my oldest son's wedding, a camp out, emergency bypass surgery for my Dad,  an arrest and court appearances (a family member), another funeral (my step father), and several rounds of sickness. It has seemed to be just one thing after another and I can say I'm ready to see this year come to an end and looking forward to the year to come. Praying that the coming year is a bit more settled than this past one.

I'm not one to set my self up for failure with resolutions each year, and this year is no different, but I stumble across a new book that I have taken to heart the more I've read. I had started the process of removing gluten and other grains from my diet earlier this year, but this book (and her website, listed below) had given me a deeper look into why eating this way, with even more changes, is beneficial to my health, diabetes and my weight. I've been following the plan for the past three days and my blood sugars are in normal ranges and down several pounds. So you will be seeing lots recipes that are acceptable under the guidelines of this new style of eating.

I mentioned earlier that we had the privilege of participating in my son's wedding this summer, and I provided the meal for the rehearsal, which since this was going to be an outdoor wedding, we went with a picnic on the lawn after the wrapping up the rehearsal. So today I'm sharing one of the salads we provided for that meal which with minimal changes event fits my current food plan. I've had requests for this recipe since then and I'm now getting around to posting it here so it can be shared and enjoyed by others.

Confetti Salad
1/2 lb Bacon, cooked off  & crumbled
1 Head Cauliflower
2 Bunches Broccoli
2 Carrots - small dice or grated
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1/2 Red Onion
1 C. Cheese - Grated
1 C Slivered Almonds - toasted

Chop cauliflower and broccoli into bit sized pieces, mince onion. Toss vegetables in large mixing bowl, add almonds,cheese and bacon, toss with dressing (listed below) and chill before serving.

This is a recipe that you can modify to you own taste by omitting or adding anything you want. I've left out the cheese for my non-dairy people, or the bacon for the vegetarians, or certain veg for my picky eaters. I've been known to add any stray veg that I might have in the frig, cooked asparagus, love sliced up radishes, jicama, shredded cabbage,  pretty much what ever I was in the mood for including cubed up leftover chicken made a great dinner salad on a hot evening.

Dressing
1 C Mayonnaise
1/3 C. Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4 C. Sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a sealed container (I use a mason jar) and shake. Taste and adjust sugar and salt & pepper to taste. I have also substituted Stevia for the sugar and it works just fine.

With the changes in my diet this is now my salad dressing of choice, check out Maria's Super Salad Dressing. If you snoop around here site you will see what changes I have been making.
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/super-salad-dressing-and-mct-oils/

  

Tonight's salad modifiers included a cheater bag of Broccoli Slaw that has pea pods and other veg in it that I added chopped cauliflower, cheese, bacon & nuts, and tossed with Maria's dressing and it was just a yummy as the batch made last summer!

Shepards Pie

After doing some time under the weather and dealing with a death in the family, I've found my system out of sorts and in dire need of some clean eating. So its time to get back on track with meal planning to set my system back on a normal keel and get back to sharing my recipes with you.

So with that in mind and frost on my windows I've opted for a long enjoyed favorite with just a few modifications to meet my dietary needs.

Shepard's Pie
4 cups mashed potatoes (left over work great, especially cheesy ones, heated)
2 med onions, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
4 med carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
4 stalks celery, (1 cup)
Olive Oil
1 lb Ground beef
3 Tbsp Sun Dried Tomato, chopped 
2+ c. Chicken stock
2-3 Tbsp Arrowroot
Salt & Pepper 

Preheat oven to 350 degree.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a oven proof dutch oven (my favorite is an enameled cast iron one from Ikea), over medium heat. Saute the onions until soft and translucent. Add carrots and celery and cook an additional 10 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking it up as it browns. Add chopped tomatoes, and salt & pepper to taste.
Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Make a slurry out of the arrowroot and add to the simmering pot a little at  time until thickened into a nice gravy consistency.  
Spread potatoes evenly across the meat and gravy mixture and place in oven until lightly browned, 30 - 50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes and serve. No wheat, just lots of hot goodness.

See may alterations below.

Heading for the oven

Browned and bubbling up around the edges.

I used red potatoes with the skins on for my mashed potatoes, and they were mixed with sour cream, butter, milk and white cheddar w/horseradish. They were made fresh while the meat & gravy cooked.

Because everything was hot and cooked through, I was able to just put the final product under the broiler to brown off the potatoes and we were ready to eat from start to finish in about an hour, including making the mashed potatoes.

Digging in!