Vegetarian kale lentil white bean soup

1/2 small onion
minced garlic
carrots
quarter red bell pepper
fresh kale
1 can vegetable broth
1 sm can tomato sauce
1 can cannellini beans
1/2 bag dried green lentils
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp creole seasoning
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt & pepper



Sautee half a small chopped onion in a bit of oil
When cooked add 3 teaspoons of jarred minced garlic or equivalent, handful of carrots (I buy a bag of thin shreds or something in the produce area), and some chopped red pepper. I'm not sure how much I added, I just keep a bag of it in my freezer. Maybe a quarter of a pepper? A half might be good if you really like pepper. Cook for a few minutes stirring often. Chop up the kale and add it. I used 3 big leaves. Stir, then add a regular can of vegetable broth, small can of tomato sauce (diced tomatoes might be good too if you like them), can of rinsed cannellini beans, half a small bag of dried green lentils, water and spices. I didn't measure but maybe 2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp creole seasoning, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp basil, some pepper. I couldn't find the marijom or that would have been good too. Simmer for about a half hour stirring randomly.

Homemade General Tso's Chicken

Alright, the amounts are going to be total guesses. I didn't measure anything and was using a few different recipes to figure out what to do so just taste the sauce and see what you think.

Chop up a chicken breast into pieces whatever size you like. I did chunks, my dad did big strips.

Mix together 3 eggs and about 1/2c corn starch. Dip the chicken in that batter and fry in some oil until golden and cooked inside.

For the sauce. Saute some minced garlic (maybe a teaspoon) in some oil. If you have real ginger or whole dried chilies saute that. I used powdered and paste. When the garlic is cooked add 1/4c water, maybe 1 tsp? chili paste (I added WAY too much the first time so if you don't like spicy start slow and add more from there. I added a couple tablespoons and had to double the rest of the ingredients and it was still pretty hot), 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger. Stir and lightly simmer until it reduces a bit. Because I didn't want a ton of sugar it won't thicken all the way so I added a dash of corn starch to it. If you add more sugar it should gel when cooked.

I'm pretty sure thats everything I did. Like I said, I don't measure anything. I just grab a spoon and scoop stuff. So taste it and adjust to your tastes. You want a little tang (the vinegar), a little spice and a little sweet. Also, I should have doubled how much sauce I made. This was enough to coat the chicken, but I wanted more to cover my broccoli and rice. You could probably vary this recipe a lot. Add pineapple juice, more vinegar, and less spice for more of a sweet and sour, no spice and orange zest and orange juice for more of an orange chicken. I might have to try more stuff with it. The batter is awesome too. Very similar to a beer batter. 

Learning to use balsamic vinegar

I have been quite uninspired in the kitchen lately.  I feel that this is probably due to the fact that I'm feeding three teen girls and a pre-teen boy which basically equals a locust swarm.  However, yesterday, after three days of torrential rain (which we desperately needed), I decided I needed to hit the grocery store for fresh produce.  I wandered the produce aisle with pulled pork as my entree in mind.  The locust won't eat asparagus.  The locusts have eaten a lot of green beans lately and probably need some different nutrients.  The locusts will eat whatever fruit I place before them, so I picked three awesomely huge Pink Lady apples and several bananas.  I continued my search for vegetables.  I found some beautiful brussels sprouts, but knowing only half of us would eat them, I picked up some cucumbers and tomatoes.  

To prepare the brussels sprouts, I quartered them and dumped them into a skillet.  I drizzled some olive oil, garlic, and basalmic vinegar over and sauteed them.  I have to say, those were the best sprouts I've ever eaten.  And foo on the locusts for they don't know what's truly tasty. Or, maybe, Hunh. That's more for me.

My vinegar has been around since Stonehenge was built, so I'm planning on a fresh bottle next grocery day and more experiments.

Thyme Pork Chops with Apple and Onion and Candied Carrots

Sprinkled flour (quiona flour is what I used) on a plate. Sprinkled a decent amount of thyme and a little poultry seasoning on the flour, coated the pork chops with it. I sprinkled more seasoning on the flour each time I flipped the pork to make sure the seasoning got on all the meat. Pan fried with some oil over a medium/medium low heat until done. While they were cooking I let half a small onion cook with some olive oil over low heat. While things cooked I peeled and sliced the apple. It was an ambrosia apple which is my new favorite. When the pork was done I set it aside and poured some white wine (Riunite D'Oro is what I had and its a really good wine) in the pan to dissolve the flour and spices that were in the pan. After a minute I added the apples and the cooked onion, mixed it all up, and covered, cooking until the apples were a little tender and the wine was gone, stiring at one point. Added a blog of butter that had been seasoned with parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Stirred the butter in so it would melt then poured it over the pork chops. It was amazing. 

The carrots are just candied in butter and brown sugar. 

Sweet Potato Hash and Eggs

I was too hungry to bother getting a better picture. It was amazing though. I microwaved a sweet potato for 4 minutes then diced up half of it. I then sauteed it over a medium heat with a bit of oil, salt and pepper, and some diced onion. When it was done I added some already cooked breakfast sausage and finished it off together. It was crazy amazing. I ate it with over easy eggs. 

This weeks menu

This weeks menu

Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls - Using green and red peppers, zucchini, green onions, and asparagus.

Served with roasted red potatoes and going to attempt Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes

Pork Loin Chops. Planning on just making them with apple and sage although this Pork Tenderloin with Pan Sauce had an amazing flavor so I might end up doing this instead. Its being served with green beans.

Cilantro Chili Chicken Skewers served with a side salad with snow peas and a citrus ginger dressing I have

If I don't use the apple in the pork I may try this for a lunch. Chickpea, Apple and Cashew Salad with Tahini Dressing

 Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa 

and Steak Kabobs with pineapple, peppers, onion, and I'm not sure yet.

High Fiber, Low Sugar Almond Butter Balls

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Calcium
Psyllium Husk Powder, 2 TBSP (9g)	68	16	0	0	14	6
Organic Agave Syrup, 0.5 Tbs	30	8	0	0	1	0
Shelled Walnuts, 1 oz	180	4	18	4	2	3
Crunchy Almond Butter, 2 tablespoon	180	6	16	7	4	8
Coconut Oil, 2 Tbsp (14g)	240	0	28	0	0	0
Ghiradelli - Semi Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips, 4.5 g (2 Tbsp)	21	3	1	0	0	0
Coconut Flour, 4 Tbsp	120	16	4	4	10	0
Almond Meal / Flour, 1/8 cup	80	3	7	3	2	3
Golden Flax Meal, 3 tbsp	105	8	8	5	6	3
Add Ingredient

Total:	1,024	64	82	23	39	23
Per Serving:	256	16	21	6	10	6

So I've been focused on getting more fiber into my diet but finding ways to get flax or psyillium husk into my food without drinking it straight up or making a smoothie was getting complicating. So I decided to try and come up with a.... something. I had almond butter balls in mind but they're really high sugar. And I'm back on my low carb diet now. I researched cracker recipes but I couldn't come up with anything (most of them took 3+ hours to bake. I'm too impatient for that). So here we are. I melted together the oil, almond butter, and agave syrup first then mixed in the dry. I separated the chocolate chips into 8 piles, scooped the mixture on top evenly, and wrapped individually in saran wrap. So each one has 3 net carbs and 5 grams of fiber. Seemed like a good plan to me.  

Pork Tenderloin, Wilted Spinach and Cranberry Salad

I'm back on the diet (again) lol. I'm not being super strict again. Everytime I do I feel like crap. I've been about 50-60 carbs the last 3 days. I figure thats not too bad. I'm mainly avoiding the granola bar, 3 cookies, and 2 mikes lemonades lol.

I thought I'd write down what I made yesterday though because it was amazing.



I made this pork. Basically you look a pork loin like normal, I used salt and pepper and seared the outside, then baked it for about 20 minutes at 425. Then when its almost done, maybe 5-10 degrees away, I took it out and mixed some dijon mustard and some real seedy stone ground regular mustard and put that all over it. Then I carefully patted some brown sugar on it while hitting the thermometer and burning my hand lol. I used as little brown sugar as possible. I baked it till done. It was quite amazing.

I then made a wilted spinach cranberry salad. I looked at recipes online but couldn't find one so made it up. It was frozen cranberries, maybe 1 tablespoon of white sugar, some water. I simmered it till it started to combine. Then remembered pepper and added a small dash of that. I added maybe a tsp of olive oil, then a bunch of spinach and turned off the heat and put a lid on it. After a few minutes I tossed it all up. It was delicious!

That was all served with deviled eggs. It was somewhere between 20-30 carbs for the whole meal. It was great too.


Tonight was bacon cheeseburgers with coleslaw. Again, delicious.

Another Pinterest success.

The recipe:

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

I made most of the chicken following the recipe as directed. For bread crumbs, I used stuffing for some additional flavor. It was very good, though I personally felt that the cheese sauce overpowered the other flavors.  My chef-in-training was of the same opinion as I was.

I made some of the chicken using almond milk and Daiya cheese.  Chef-in-training and I both felt it was tastier.  

I will make clear that there are no leftovers.  Every last bite is gone.  This recipe would easily lend itself to playing with spices and I think it would always be good.

The entire meal was very carb heavy, but that's what my crew likes.  We toasted English muffins and spread garlic/oregano butter on them; we had sweet corn as well.

corn & chickpea fiesta salad with cilantro-lime vinaigrette

http://www.ateaspoonofhappiness.com/corn-chickpea-fiesta-salad-with-cilantro-lime-vinaigrette/

Made this with orange pepper, no tomatoes, only a tiny bit of onion, and deseeded regular cucumber. Oh and a little red wine vinegar in the dressing. Its quite good. Needs some chicken or something with it though.

Also, the dressing is amazing on regular salad.

corn & chickpea fiesta salad with cilantro-lime vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups corn (fresh, frozen, canned....whatever you prefer, but if you're using canned corn make sure to drain and rinse it)

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered (about a 1 pound container)

1 green pepper, diced

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 English cucumber, chopped

Dressing:

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

4 tbsp lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and stir until everything is mixed well.
2. Refrigerate until serving or at least for a half an hour to let the flavors blend.