The Other Whey

I'm BACK

After a long hiatus from the bloggin world...after a slow start, I am back.  After spending a year in New York City attending fashion school and interning in the industry, I am back in Indiana.  Now is my time to concentrate on making myself yummy, healthful meals that treat my body right.  With no Whole Foods in the area, this is somewhat of a stuggle.  However, I know a lot of you are in the same boat.  I'd love to share my successes, problems, and everything in between with you all.  As food allergy sufferers, we are all in this together!

I recently swtiched over to the paleo diet.  Though i have had to get passed some emotional hurdles about eating more meat, my stomach really has been nicer to me.  Keep posted for some awesome recipes.

-J 

The wonderful long weekend with the boy in Indiana is over and I am left with a migraine, stuffy head, and swollen eyes on my way to the airport. What's the deal?
More and more I am realizing that you literally are what you eat.
A weekend full of carb-full binges and peanut butter filled with hydrogenated oils has left me feeling quite like the crap I have been eating. Back to get on the fresh eating grind and re-boot my system.

Any suggestions?
Does this happen to anyone else while traveling?

better than calafia

If you have ever been to eat at Calafia (ie: one of my all time favorite restaurants), you will have a hard time believing this but it is true. 

Before heading back to my tiny, shared NYC kitchen, I broke in my new kitchen appliances at home :)

Below is my version of a Vegetable and Turkey Meatloaf recipe:

[serving size: 2 with lots of leftover lunches]

.7 lbs ground turkey 

1/2 yellow onion

1 medium zucchini

2 medium celery stalks

1 very large carrot

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 small package of mushrooms

5 garlic cloves, minced

heaping 1/4 cup of old fashion rolled oats

1/4 cup applesauce (no added sugar)

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1/4 fresh parsley

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of paprike

large pinch of sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil a glass dish.  Mine was approx 8X12 inches - just eyeball it.

Saute onion, and veggies and mix everything in a bowl together according to the original recipe

After pouring into dish, I created a glaze by mixing together tomato paste, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar.

The loaf would not be the same without the glaze. It really brings it all together. 

Bake for about an hour and enjoy!

I chose to pair the loaf with some sauteed sweet potato and kale.

What are some of your favorite winter time/cold weather/comfort dishes?

J

go the other "whey"....because being boring is easy

wish everyone was a part of this

My favorite hike yesterday on a gorgeous, sunny California afternoon!

Just a spoonful of sugar

Before anything, I start my day, the other whey, with just one teaspoon of raw manuka honey. 

This stuff is like miracle honey.  It helps to manage a variety of differents problems and disorders, IBS included.  

After 30 minutes of the teaspoon of honey, I am ready to get on with the rest of my morning routine.

What does your morning routine consist of?

Have a wonderful day :)

-J

The Most Important Meal of the Day

...Yes, it's even important on the last day of the year. If skipping out on breakfast is a routine of yours, its okay to start a New Years Resolution one day early ;)

Getting in a warm hearty breakfast is hard, be it that your busy, a college student with no kitchen, or like me, missing a stove or range top.

I am not a fan of the mushy, cardboard like oatmeal.  This is where Steel Cut oats come into play.  I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Steel Cut Oat.  I find the gluten free oats to be a little more friendly on my stomach AND they cook up a little bit faster than your average steel cuts.  The only problem with steel cut oatmeal is that you cannot make it in the microwave.  Being my regualar self, I didn't think to set them up in the slow cooker last night... I mean seriously, who can really plan for that?

This is where the rice cooker came into play this morning.  I am now actually calling it the steel cut maker, as I never actually use it to make rice in and it makes phenomenal oats!

J's Rice Cooker Steel Cuts

(serving size 2)

Ingredients:

1/2c Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats

1 1/2c Water

1 tiny pinch of salt

1 banana

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Easiest Directions Ever:

Pour oats, water, and pinch of salt into rice cooker.

Turn the rice cooker on.

Wait about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in chopped banana and cinnamon.

Wait another 5 minutes for your perfect bowl of Steel Cut Oats!

Add Ons (You can get creative here) :

1/4c toasted walnuts

a splash of unsweetened hemp milk

1/2 tsp pure maple syrup

 

The picture does this breakfast justice...Trust me, its not easy to pause and shoot a perfect picture when you have this big bowl of amazingness in front of you!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year

-J

 

 

Got Pumpkin?

On a cold damp day, the feeling is coming home to a warm hot meal.  Am I right?

My mom and I thought it would be a great and easy idea to through together a crockpot meal...only trouble with that is when it is already 2pm.  At a 6 to 8 hour cooking time, with raw pumpkin in the mix, meant one late dinner.  

Lemme tell you though, it was worth the wait.  

The crockpot stew only called for 2 lbs of pumpkin.  Being my normal self, I just had to pick the most perfect pumpkin in the patch (or in this case the Whole Foods display).  This pumpkin was well over 5 lbs.  This meant some serious left over pumpkin.

What to do with this left over pumpkin? Make pumpkin pancakes of course!

I roasted the left over pumpkin in our itty bitty toaster oven last night (still missing a real oven in our mess of a remodel), whipped the batter together, and stuck it in the fridge for an easy, lazy breakfast this morning.

My variation of Naturally Ella's Roasted Pumpkin and Pecan Pancakes (minus the pecan)

1/3c gluten free oat flour

2/3 buckwheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder**

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

2/3 roasted pumpkin pie puree

1 jumbo egg

1 tbsp walnut oil

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 cup of almond milk

After sitting overnight in the fridge, it needed a little extra liquid.  I just added some water and stirred until I had a pourable consistancy.  Between the grey color of the ground buckwheat flour and some extra chunks of pumpkin (I mashed the pumpkin by hand) the batter was more than a little bit off putting.  The silver lining was the final product!  They had amazing flavor. We ate our with some extra maple syrup and bananas.  

**on a side note - I found baking powder with no cornstarch!  At a steep price, it is possible to find.  They use potato starch in its place.  

What did you guys do with all your leftover holiday pumpkin this year?

-J

 

There's Corn in That?

Corn has officially made its way into everything!  From the face wash I just picked up to the baking powder I was going to use to bake this fab Zucchini Molasses Bread from Union Street Eats for Christmas morning.  It has become tradition that I bring a little, yummy somethin somethin over to my boyfriend's family's house before presents are opened.  This task, however, is becoming harder and harder as I seem to find myself constantly battling this over-used, over-process food!

After going through our bags of baking materials (life in an underconstruction kitchen) I discovered cornstarch in our powdered sugar.  This made me extra cautious in ingredient checking this morning.  Luckily, I was able to sub extra baking soda for the corn-tainted baking powder, but the discovery totally blew my mind. 

Have you discovered any products with hidden corn?

This is a big issue worth talking about; even for those without a corn intolerence. This baking powder from Trader Joes was GMO free. It is important to note, that not all products are created equal.  Many other products from different companies with secret corn ingredients do contain GMO corn.

On the bright side the bread came out AMAZING!

My variation on the recipe above:

2 eggs

1/2c organic brown sugar

1/4c pure organic cane sugar

1/4c canola oil

1/4c applesauce

a smidge over 2 tbls blackstrap molasses

1 tsp organic honey

1 1/2c shredded zucchini

1c Bob's Red Mill oat flour

1/2c Bob's Red Mill organic buckwheat flour

1/4c old fashion rolled oats

1/4tsp sea salt

1 1/4tsp baking soda

2tsp cinnamon

1tsp nutmeg

1/4c toated walnuts

be warned: The lack of an oven led me to the beyond ancient toaster oven. I was able to squeeze in the two mini loaf pans; however, I increased the temp to 375 and ended up with a total bake time of 40 minutes.  Cook time would be closer to the original recipe in an actual oven, however due to the oat and buckwheat flour, I would allow an extra 5 to 10 baking minutes. 

The bread was so sweet, I do not see the need for a glaze, though I am sure it would be delicious for a dessert-ier loaf.  Next time (tomorrow morning according to my mother), I would actually cut down the sugar, especially with the applesauce sub.  

Happy Holidays! 

J