All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
This Chunky Guacamole is an easy recipe to whip up to enjoy on your tacos, nachos, in your wraps, and on your salads. Or just enjoy it with some chips!
Guacamole is a great addition to so many meals. The flavors and the chunky texture make it so delicious. Enjoy it every day!
…I am documenting my second Whole 30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come from my first Whole30 (Feb 2015) to this one (April 2015). Plus, I don’t want to fall into any food ruts. Hopefully this will keep me inspired through the whole process. I’m looking forward to the transformation in how I approach food, cook with it, and enjoy it. Check out all my Whole30 related posts HERE from why I did my first Whole30, why I am doing this one, and food diaries.
Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
Here we go again!!
Like last time, the first day didn’t seem like it was such a hardship and I still felt normal. I’m awaiting my slump coming up in a few days. But the first day went perfectly. It felt great to start again.
Breakfast
Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche and Homemade Bacon
I couldn’t resist making bacon to kick off this Whole30. And damn, was it good!! It was filling after I ate it and kept me satisfied for a long time. Of course,
Lunch
Simple salad with a sauteed pork cutlet. A Fruit bar
The greens for the salad were from a bag from Trader Joe’s, but it had butter lettuce in there that was really nice. I threw the salad together quickly so I forgot to put cucumber in, Bummer! But I took the time to make pork cutlets. We shared 1 large chop for our salads.
I then had the apple and strawberry Fruit Bar. yum!
Dinner
Beef with roasted fennel, onion, and tomatoes
I had to go back to work to get some stuff done so I focused on making a quick dinner. I did the roasted veggies as they are pretty easy to prep and taste really good. The beef was just reheated from a bag I got from Costco when I went shopping on Sunday. I love that as it’s a quick complaint option for busy lunches or dinners.
Late Night Snack
Since I was awake and (mentally) active later that normal I had some nuts as a snack. I had about 20. I love pistachios!
Thursday, April 2nd, 2015
Today felt good. It felt good that I was already 1 day into Whole30. I like mentally crossing them off the calendar. Getting through each day is a great accomplishment.
Breakfast
Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche with Roasted Veggies
I ate this at work and it worked out well. I really like to eat breakfast there. Anyway, more quiche with leftover veggies from the dinner before. Really good!
Lunch
Salad with a hard boiled egg, roast beef, & guacamole
It was a big salad. I think all salads should be big salads. It was nice and filling from the volume of it and protein in it. I used up the leftover beef from the prior dinner. I heated it up since cold meat on a salad gives me the willies. I love fresh avocado on a salad but I didn’t have any at home so I used a 100-calorie cup of Wholly Guacamole. So good! I don’t like the yolk in a hard boiled eggs so I only eat the white park.
Dinner
Sauteed fish (seasoned with Adobo) with garlicky asparagus and tomatoes
The fish was from a Trader Joe’s. I don’t remember the kind, but it’s from a blue bag. It’s light in texture, and thin, allowing it to cook quickly, which is great for our busy schedule. I peeled the asparagus and then put it in with the fish so it was a 1 pan dinner! I added the tomatoes just a few minutes before the fish was done to heat up enough to just burst.
Friday, April 3rd, 2015
Today was the toughest so far, and it honestly wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t really craving anything but I was hungry. Very hungry.
Breakfast
Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche with slices of Homemade Bacon, Smothered in Frank’s Red Hot
We finished up our quiche by having a slice each. And I made the rest of the bacon too (divided up between breakfast and lunch). The morning was rushed so I basically ate my bacon while showering- no joke. ha!
I honestly think I couldn’t survive Whole30 (or life!) without Frank’s Red Hot. I buy it in bulk from Costcos!
Lunch
Salad with homemade bacon and hard boiled egg white, a clementine, and mini Cashew Cookie Laura Bar (not pictured)
This was a damn good salad. Good flavors and textures. I loved the crunch from the bacon (leftover from what I made in the morning) and the softness from the egg white. Dressing was quickly thrown together with a complaint herb seasoning packet. It was pretty good! And I had a 100 calorie Cashew Cookie Laura bar. It got me over the hump that I was feeling about 45 minutes after eating lunch.
I focused on staying hydrated at work so I had a black coffee, water, and iced tea. Staying hydrated just helps me feel good, but helps with hunger too!
Dinner
Thick cut pork chops (cutlets?) with roasted veggies, served with whole grain mustard
I don’t know the difference from pork chops and cutlets. I should look into that. Anyway, these were really thick – about an inch! – boneless chops/cutlets. I seasoned the pork with Adobo and used the leftover bacon fat from the bacon I made in the morning to cook these bad boys. They were super thick so they took awhile, but I multi-tasked well and talked to my dad (feel better from your eye surgery!)The flavor from the bacon fat was so good!!
For the veggies I cut up fennel, onion, and kale sprouts. I got the Kale Sprouts from Trader Joe’s. It was the first time I had them so it was fun to try something new. Rounded out a really good dinner.
Late Night Snack
I was busy working on my laptop from having to leave early to get Autumn and I was crashing around 9.30pm (2 hours after eating dinner) so I had a heaping spoonful of crunchy almond butter. I started to feel better about 10 minutes later and go through my work stuff!
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What are your favorite Whole30 recipes? Please share!
Are you considering doing Whole30? Give it a try!
I haven’t been into cooking during the week. I try to do all my ‘big’ cooking done over the weekend and then just make something simple like boxed mac and cheese during the week. It’s too hot. I’m too tired. I don’t care.
But since I can’t live on boxed mac and cheese alone (or can I?), I’ve been trying to make some simple salads or sandwiches, besides PBJ. One that I have been turning to is a summer time favorite… a tomato sandwich.
I just feel that you can’t beat fresh summer produce so you should take every opportunity you can to enjoy it. And don’t mess around with it too much. Some bread, your favorite mayo, fresh greens, and slices of juice ripe tomato. Plus don’t forget the fresh cracked salt and pepper. Really, enjoy the best of every ingredient since there are only 4.
I recently received some Vegan Nayonsise from Nasoya to try. I’ve really been enjoying it on sandwiches, in dips for fries, and on burgers. Yes, I know. Dumb Dumb puts vegan mayo on a meaty burger. I’m pregnant. That’s my free card to do whatever. But really, because it is so good I’ve been putting it on and in all different things. I think that’s really impressive since I ONLY use Hellmann’s. Don’t try to give me Cain’s or Miracle Whip.
So naturally, I was hesitant to try the Original Nayonaise. But I was really pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. No, this is not your typical mayo since it is Dairy and Egg Free, which means it is not going to taste the same or look the same as a ‘normal’ mayo but it really is very good. I think it is a great solution for someone to enjoy if they are vegetarian, vegan, or have a food allergy.
I had done some side by side comparisons while playing around with the Nayonaise by making some foods with it and some with regular mayo and mixing them up. If you were not really looking out for the difference I think you would not really notice it. The taste is subtually tangier than Hellmann’s, but I don’t think that is a bad thing. I never experienced a funny after taste with the Nayonaise either. I think the biggest difference I noticed was that it has a different texture compared to mayo. When mayo is pretty smooth, it is rather gummy, but I didn’t notice any problems mixing it up or spreading it on my sandwich.
Besides it being a great product for vegetarians, vegans, or people with food allergies, I think it would be great for people who are watching their figure. Compared to the average mayo that has 90 calories, 10 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat per serving, the Nayonaise has only 40 calries, 3 grams of fat, and .5 grams of saturdated fat per serving. The Nayonaise has slightly more sodium with 115 grams compared to 90 grams but overall a very healthy mayo alternative.
For real… look at this amazing perfect summertime sandwich.
Nom, Nom, Nom!!!
Makes 4 ‘sandwiches’
Ingredients
Process
*While I did receive this complimentary jar of Nayoniase from Nasoya, these opinions are entirely my own.
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Price and I recently had a party at our place for my birthday. It was centered around a Mexican theme so I’ll be posting a few recipes from that that works well for a fiesta or just a great gathering. Enjoy!
Pico de Gallo is one of my favorite things to have on hand for topping on our dinners because it’s a great addition to chicken, steak, pork, or even a salad. But I really love to share at a party. Chips and dip are classic party foods and there is a great reason for it. They are filling, great finger foods, and can be centrally located on a coffee table while people are gathered around.
I much prefer poco de gallo over a jarred salsa. There is no comparison really. Pico de gallo has such a fresh, vibrant taste from all the fresh vegetables in the mix. The lime juice really helps all the flavors intensify as well. I feel that little home made touches like this really make a meal so much people. Also when you serve this to guests they notice the homemade touch.
With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend this would be great to throw together for the big game, but really making a big batch works well for any sporting event or gathering, especially Cinco De Mayo. I suggest serving it with some tortilla chips, corn chips, pita chips, or celery at your next party.
Serves 20-25 people
Ingredients
Process
I have really been struggling with coming up with any ideas. This always happens to me when we begin to transition from light summery meals to warm, heartier ones. I don’t want to slip awa from my light fresh salads and grilled chicken, and to dive into roasted root vegetables or heavy stews just yet. So at this point I spend more time wandering around the grocery store or Haymarket, where I get the majority of my fresh vegetables. However, during one visit to Haymarket I spotted pearl tomatoes and knew exactly what I wanted to make… Caprese bites!
Grabbing some mozzarella balls and fresh basil this came together easily and quickly. I decided that the simplest approach would be to make the tomato the vessel for the mozzarella and the basil. Basil is really flavorful so I would not need much so just a little piece could be layered with the cheese and tomato, possibly even hidden entirely so it would surprise the person enjoying the caprese bite.
I decided to create 2 different sizes of caprese bites allowing serving to be flexible. Halving the tomatoes makes more smaller bites which could be appealing when needing to serve a large crowd. These are perfectly bite size.
I also decided to make larger bites by only slicing part of the tomato and scooping out the inside guts creating a larger cup. This would allow the entire mozzarella ball to snuggly fit inside the tomato with the basil leaf. This makes for a larger bite for someone but I think that serving these could be a bit easier as someone would just need to snag one with a toothpick.
*Makes 20 or 40 caprese bites, depending on preparation*
Ingredients
Process to prepare 20 bites
Process to prepare 40 bites
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I will be the first to admit that I really hated tomatoes as a kid. I did not like the taste or texture and when my older brother announced he hated them I knew I would hate them too. Logical, no? I do distinctly remember once pulling off a cherry tomato from my uncle’s garden and eating it on a dare. I think the dare part hyped it all up and I made a big deal about it further.
But things started to change as I got older and I realized that tomatoes were not Satan’s trick on a large berry. I began to accept it in salsa and then bruschetta. Little pieces of heavily seasoned tomato… okay! Things really changed when I started to date Price. He made a big to do about not liking fish (umm communist!) and I liked to make fun of him for it. But not being able to be a hypocrite, I had to give a little back and start to eat tomatoes. Guess what… I discovered there amazing, intense, tangy taste and how I loved it.
I can still be picky about tomatoes, but it mostly is a texture thing and I have a lot of issues with textures so that is not surprising. Moving on… I have happily gotten to the point there I can slice tomatoes, sprinkle them with salt and eat them just like that. Taking a bite into a firm, sweet tomato melts everything else away. I can be busy in the kitchen making dinner, struggling to keep up with the timing of things, and if I just take a tiny moment to have a wedge of tomato sprinkled with salt, I start to center again and continue with dinner.
I think that Insalata Caprese, salad in the style from Capri, is a simple dish that makes for a great appetizer, or entree when you are too hot to cook. Because this dish it so simple it requires the best ingredients you can get your hands on. You can’t build a base with a watery tomato, or you can’t top a great tomato slice with a store brand plastic coated mozzarella log. Now is this time to skip and use a run of the mill olive oil. You really need an oil that is so golden that it is almost green. Go ahead, treat yourself… you deserve it!
-serves 4-6-
Ingredients
Steps
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We live during a time when everything is available 24/7/365. Just because I can get a tomato or corn during freezing January, doesn’t mean I should. Over the last few years I have become much more aware of when I purchase food seasonally. I have gotten extremely picky over tomatoes. I think tomatoes really should only be purchased when they are fresh to your region. I admit that I can’t stop myself from buying grape tomatoes all year (I just need them) but I can promise you that I will NOT purchase some watery large tomato just to slap it on top of a burger.
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What do you do when you buy 3 dry pints of grape tomatoes only to realize you don’t want to make what you initially planned? You wait several days until you are annoyed that they are sitting on you counter and finally cave about putting the oven on in the summer. Why would you be crazy to put an oven on for hours in the summer? Because you end up with delightful tomato candy morsels!
I have made oven roasted tomatoes previously to toss into pasta, however they have been larger tomatoes and only roasted enough to get a nice intense flavor, without loosing the moisture. In this case, I used the pop in your mouth grape tomato and let them take a long warm sauna in the oven. After they trip to the spa, the emerge has sweet intense tomatoes that are pop in your mouth good. If you have a tiny bit of control and don’t inhale them, then you can toss them in pasta, put on sandwiches, add to salads, or even add to a cream sauce over chicken breasts. Simply put, this is a easy way of making a great add in for recipes or using up a ton of tomatoes you bought on sale.
The tomatoes are joyously easy to make… Halve, slightly coat in olive oil, and a little bit of salt and pepper, toss in the oven. You don’t even need to move them, flip them, think about them much for 2 hours. The ‘hardest’ part it getting them all face up on the cookie sheets. I missed 2 and those suckers burned and are requiring a lot of elbow grease to get off my non-stick cookie sheets.
Preheat oven to 250.
Use non-stick baking sheets, or line sheets with parchment paper.
Halve the tomatoes longitudinally.
Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Place tomatoes with their cut face up on the baking sheets.
Bake for 2 hours, our until tomatoes are shriveled and leathery. Be sure not to let them burn!
Eat right away or place in a vessel, cover with olive oil, and store in the refrigerator.
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Spring is confused in Boston. For one thing it is just about constantly raining. I’m ready for the rain to stop so I can get out in the yard and fix everything that the rain screwed up and prepare things for planting. But instead we have a sunny day in the 70’s, then it drops to the 50’s and is cloudy, then rains for 3 more day and just when you think you can’t take it anymore is snows, but before you drink yourself stupid it’s back in the 70’s 2 days later. That’s New England for you.
Well hoping to get things going in the right direction I made an edamame salad with dinner recently. Price and I live off salads like this in the summer. We mainly eat Horiatiki Salata throughout the summer but this might need to be added into the rotation. We used a 10oz package from Trader Joes, which was very convenient. I’d imagine that the frozen kind would work too, but I would let it thaw naturally or let cool before adding everything else.
The dressing is done to taste. Adjust the quantities to taste. For example I love lemon and lime juice, which might be too much for someone else. The point is to have a starting point to create something that you will enjoy.
serves 4 as a side
Ingredients
Dressing:
Process
This past weekend has been a blur! Price and I went out on Friday night for Brazilian BBQ with a meetup group. On Saturday morning Emily and I went to see “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs” … in 3D…. on IMAX. Then I spent the afternoon ripping apart the kitchen. I purged some stuff and brought in a shelving unit to put my cookbooks on. So a lot of things shifted around but I think it works a lot better. Then we slept in on sunday, I went to my site for homework, birthday lunch with Pricer, and then lots of baking and cooking. So the next couple of posts will be about food and recipes, then I’ll get back to scrapbooking and random things.
My boss told me that during a recent trip she had green tomato bread. Being that my tomato plants halted their ripening I figured this would be good way to use them up, besides fried green tomatoes. I found a recipe that looked pretty good so I figured it would be worth a try. I’m so glad she told me about Green Tomato Bread and that I actually tried it. I made 2 kinds- lime and chocolate chip- and both came out really well. I never would have thought of using green tomatoes in a bread but it keeps the bread moist and gives it a sweet tomato flavor throughout. I think the lime zest (approx 1 T) brings a sweet tang to the bread. I used 2 cups of chocolate chips, which I think is a bit much but it still tastes pretty good.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 9×5 loaf pans. Puree the green tomatoes, add water if needed. Sift the dry ingredients together, set aside. Beat the eggs, oil, and sugar until well incorporated. Add in the green tomato puree and vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients, beat until well incorporated. Gently fold in the nuts and/or raisins, if desired. Divide batter evenly and pour into pans. Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes.
Other ideas for mixins:
Mini choc. chips (I suggest 1 1/2 cups, max)TIP:
Freezing the puree ahead of time will save you from having the green tomatoes ripen on your counter top while you wait for the spare time to make this treat. If you freeze the puree in 2 cup quantities it will be pre-measured and ready to go for a batch of bread.
Well, hello Jack
Nom, Nom, Nom
Bunny devouring the tomato
My salad from my first meal in Greece
Ever since I visited Greece this past March I have frowned upon Greek Salads that are not the traditional Greek Salad. I just don’t understand why we have to Americanize something that is so simple and perfect.
We ordered Greek Salad for every meal and by the time the trip was over I was a little crazy of it but a week after I got back I wanted it again, desperately. I found Sophia’s Greek Pantry in Belmont so I go there and get Feta, Tzatziki, and these amazing imported filled croissants from 7days.
Horiatiki (Greek Salad)
Tomatoes, cut into wedges
Green Pepper, sliced very thin
Red Onion, sliced very thin
Cucumber, peeled, halved, and slice (remove seeds if it is wet/has a lot of seeds)
Olives
Feta Cheese
Dressing: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Red wine vinegar, lemon, S&P
Cut all veggies and add dressing… enjoy
I did not give proportions because I think it all depends on your own taste. I don’t like olives to I leave them out and I really like a lot of onion so I add in more than typical.
Emily’s mom gave us two HUGE tomatoes and a cucumber. I added in some of our yellow pear tomatoes that have finally begun to ripen.
On a sad side note: There are fires in the suburbs of Athens are are causing a lot of destruction. I hope they get them under control quickly!
