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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Frittata

Justin is home…which means back to cooking 🙂 I made another new egg dish last night. I think this month’s food has been my favorite so far 🙂 I just love eggs! I made a frittata. I’ve never made one before. Wow, they are easy and good. A cross between an omelet and a quiche. I didn’t use a recipe. I just did a little looking online to figure out the method. Then I came up with my own. I’ll try to post approximate quantities. It was very good!!! Justin and I both liked it a lot. I used an 8″ skillet. Justin and I ate half of it. If you want a larger frittata you can use a larger skillet and use more eggs. I served it with salad (fresh spinach and lettuce from our garden:) topped with avocado, walnuts, cucumber (me) and shredded cheddar (Justin). A very satisfying, healthy meal using the first produce from our garden.Spinach, Aspargus and Goat Cheese Frittata

6 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion (I used organic red onion)
1/2 cup chopped spinach (I used a little fresh from our garden, chopped and some thawed frozen organic)
1/4 cup chopped asparagus (from our garden)
1 slice thick cut bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional…meatless dish w/o it)
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
fontina for topping (or any cheese you like)
salt and pepper

Preheat broiler. In 8″ oven proof skillet saute onion, spinach and asparagus in small amount of EVOO over medium heat. Meanwhile whisk eggs and salt and pepper. Stir in goat cheese. When veggies are tender add bacon and poor in egg mixture. Stir to distribute filling evenly. Cook until mostly set (center will still be a little loose. Grate fontina over top. Place under broiler until center is set and slightly browned – 2-4 min. Let set for a minute or two. Transfer to plate and slice into wedges.

So Confused

I am continuously on a mission to live a healthier life…to heal my body and to be able to live a more “normal” life. Over the last few months I have been doing more and more research. And the more I read the more confused I get. Just when I think I find some info that is helpful/something to try, I read something that totally contradicts it. And then I’m back at square 1. It’s like I’m going in circles. One thing says don’t eat meat/eat less protein. One thing says eat lots of protein. One thing says eat only raw protein. One thing says eat all raw food. One thing says eat lots of fruit. One thing says don’t eat any fruit. One says eat whole wheat/grains. One says don’t eat any wheat. One says eat carbs and protein at every meal. One thing says you can never combine carbs and protein or fruit with anything (and much more). It goes on and on. So how do I know what to believe/what to try? I’m really asking this. I don’t know. If anyone has any advice/good info please share.

I know that I am moving in the right direction in terms of eating more organic and GMO free food, eating much less processed food/HFCS/hydrogenated oils, eating homegrown/locally grown/homemade food. But other than that it seems like I’m not sure where to go.

This month I have been eating gluten free. I can’t say that I’ve noticed any major improvements. If things don’t change a lot in the next 2 weeks I don’t think I’ll be staying gluten free. I guess that’s not such a bad thing :p But it does leave me back where I started.

I talked with my friend Julie on Monday. She mentioned candida. I had read about it a long time ago (when I was doing the IBS stuff…and searching for answers), but forgot about it. I have a lot of reasons to suspect that could be one of my problems. But even if that is true, what do I do about it? Yesterday I was reading lots of stuff that says to cut out all sugar (even fruit :(…bacteria lives on sugar). There is more to it than that, but that is a major part of it. Then today I did a little more searching and found stuff that said don’t listent to that…candida is actually good…it’s insulin resistance that is really causing the problem…and that candida is what fights it. And that you don’t have to cut out sugar (like fruit)…that makes no difference on blood glucose levels. You have to cut out fat. So, now what? I have a huge portion of the symptoms of candida. I tried the saliva test this morning (do a search for it if you’ve never heard of it)…and found the evidence within seconds that it is very prevalent in my body (if that test is valid…some say yes, some say no). But I also could have a degree of isulin resistance. Diabetes is strong in my family. And even though I’m a very small person the hardest place to keep fat/weight off is in my belly…a sign that you are prone to diabetes. So do I have both? Neither? And what do I do about it? I do think that cutting back on sugar will have a positive impact either way. But I don’t want to give up fruit (which I’ve been eating more of lately!) if I don’t have to.

I mentioned fluctuating hormones the other day. I know that is true. But are they caused by something else? Are they the cause or the effect? And how do I get them in balance? Will treating another condition balance the hormones? And possibly help with the fertility issues? And acne?

Regardless of what I “have” I do feel like I need to do something to start fresh. I feel like my body is filled with toxins and no matter what I try I won’t make good progress. I am still researching various “cleanses.” I’ve never been big on those, but you never know. It might really help kickstart things to rid my body of whatever junk/buildup is inside.

In addition to a cleanse I want to take probiotics and a better multi-vitamin. So I will be looking for those as well. Any suggestions?

Another thing I have to consider is my mentality about food/eating in general. I was thinking about it this morning and realized I have a harmful view on food. In high school I had bad eating habits (didn’t eat a lot). This in turn caused my mom to worry about me…even more than she already did. She would almost force me to eat a bedtime snack many nights. I do realize I wasn’t eating well. And I know that as a mother you want to take care of your children. But it created a fear in me. A fear of being unhealthy. A fear of starving almost. And to this day I have a hard time with portion control. Especially when it comes to bedtime snacks…go figure 😛 I always eat a snack before bed…even if I’m not hungry. I subconsciously worry I’ll get too hungry in the night/that I didn’t eat enough during the day. And I give myself much larger portions than I need. Anyone who has seen me dish and eat ice cream over the last 10 years will understand. I can’t just give myself a couple scoops…I might still be hungry! It’s a fear that I don’t even realize/don’t process. But it’s there. So I give myself a ton. And end up eating too much. I should be able to give myself a normal portion. Then if I’m still hungry I can always get more or eat something else. Really, I can (telling myself this :). I do it with a good portion of my food. My bowl of cereal in the morning I pack as full as possible (b/c I wake up starving:)…but then part way through I think I could be done now. But I finish it (can’t waste anything). And then my stomach can’t handle it. I even have a hard time sharing my food. It’s like that one bite I give away will make such a big impact. I know it sounds crazy. And this is the first time I’ve really thought about it/admitted it. But it’s true. I need to change. I need to have a better mentality about food. I eat for my health. I am not going to starve 😛 I can always get seconds if I want. I should not binge on food…especially desserts/things that are tough to digest (hello, am I trying to cause problems?). To this day my mom comments on my weight/eating. And it has impacted me more than I realized. She makes me worry…when I know that I am healthy, I eat healthy food and I am very knowledgeable about proper nutrition. Crazy how much influence your mom can have on you :p This will take a lot of work, but I need to learn to eat normally. Sounds stupid/simple. But it’s not.

I could probably ramble on for a while yet. This is just some of the stuff going round and round in my head lately. And I’m not really sure where to start/what to try. Writing it down does help a little. I guess I need to figure out if I want to do some kind of cleanse…get the junk out. Then go from there and figure out what to put back in. If anyone (any med students? 😉 has any experience/knowledge about any of this please let me know. I know things need to change. But I’m just not sure what/how. And every time I eat I wonder if I’m eating the “right” thing or just making myself feel worse. I have a couple weeks to research. Then we’ll see what I end up trying in June. And I need to figure out how to balance it with making healthy meals for my family…separate meals, make everyone change habits,…? Ugh.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

I tried a new recipe last night. I got it from my SIL. It’s a RR recipe. Super simple and super yummy!!! I finally made one meal with seafood for the month. And was able to use up some frozen Tilapia that had been in the freezer for a while. The roasted corn really makes the dish…really sweet, lots of flavor. All 3 of us liked it. It’s definitely on my keeper list, especially since it’s gluten free. I didn’t serve it with limes.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tilapia fillets (1 pound total)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Preheat the broiler. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chili powder and salt. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish with 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise mixture. Place the tilapia fillets in the baking dish and coat with the remaining mayonnaise mixture. Top with the corn. Broil until the corn is lightly browned and the fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve with the lime wedges.

Corn Dogs…Take 3

So, I tried corn dogs again last night in my ongoing quest to make a decent baked corn dog. I think I got it this time. I used the tinfoil “boats” again. I put toothpicks in each end of the hotdog to kind of suspend it in the “boat.” Then I poured the batter over top. So the hot dog was totally covered by cornbread. And I used 1 pkg. corn muffin mix, 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk. That made the cornbread moist enough to stick decently to the hot dogs. A yummy, fun meal 🙂 Next time maybe I’ll use skewers instead of toothpicks. Then they will be “real” corn dogs. And I could use a little less batter per dog. I just divided it for 4 hot dogs. They each had plenty of corn bread 🙂 Not necessary to have that much, but yummy.

Caramel Sauce & Sundaes

I made another Barefoot Contessa recipe this morning…caramel sauce. YUM! I tried it this morning…it was 6 am, but I HAD to try it…just a little lick. It’s another recipe from my BC at Home cookbook. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while.

I’ve never made caramel before. It was actually pretty easy. But it took longer than her recipe says…at least it did for me. I’ll post the original recipe and my timing. Her recipe is actually for caramel pecan sundaes. I want to try them…but with my sugar coated pecans instead of just plain pecans. Mmmm. Sounds good already.

It makes just enough to fill a pint jar. Perfect.
Caramel Sauce and Pecan Sundaes

serves 6
 
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
 
butter pecan ice cream
vanilla ice cream
toasted pecans (I used sugar coated pecans)

 

Mix 1/3 cup water and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook, without stirring, over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), 5 to 7 minutes (it took about 20 min. for me), gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful; the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture constantly at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. The cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify; don’t worry. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes (took at least 5 min. for me and there were still a few solid sugar chunks that I just took out). Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.

To assemble the sundaes, place 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream and 1 scoop of butter pecan ice cream in each dish and sprinkle with toasted pecans. Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve extra sauce on the side.

Rebecca’s Birthday Cake

Rebecca is 1 today!!!! I can’t believe our baby is a year old. At this time last year I was getting prepped for a c-section. Crazy. Anyway, I decorated Rebecca’s cake yesterday and thought I’d post a pic. There is a small chance I’ll still add a little to it, but probably not. I don’t think it turned out quite as well as I would have liked/not quite what I pictured in my head. But it’s still cute. And the cutest part will be Rebecca eating it 🙂 So the decoration doesn’t really matter. Plus I didn’t put as much time into it as I could have because I thought my time was better spent playing outside with Rebecca in this awesome weather 🙂 And we’re excited to do it again today!!

California BLTs

We had yummy sandwiches for dinner last night. This is another recipe from my Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It’s hard to call it much of a recipe…basically a BLT with avocado. But I’ll post her recipe anyway. I didn’t add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. I just didn’t have time and didn’t think it was necessary (maybe I’ll try it some other time). These were soooo good. I’ve always loved BLTs. But with avocado…even better! I used sliced grape tomatoes since that’s what we had on hand. A little harder to eat, but still good. And I even got Justin to try a little tomato…and he admitted that he kind of liked it! He’s slowly changing his mind about tomatoes 🙂 I served our sandwiches with a small salad. This was a perfect meal for a warm, sunny spring day.California BLTs

6 thick-cut slices smoked bacon
4 slices good white bread, cut 1/2-inch thick
4 Tbsp. good mayonnaise (recommended: Hellman’s)
4 to 8 tender green lettuce leaves, washed and spun very dry
1 ripe Hass avocado
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 large ripe tomato, sliced 1/2-inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking wire rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon on the rack in a single layer. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until the bacon is browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Place the bread slices on a sheet pan and toast them for 5 minutes. Turn the slices and toast for 1 more minute, until all the bread is evenly browned.

Place 2 slices on a cutting board. Spread each slice with about 1 Tbsp. of mayonnaise. Cover the slices with a layer of lettuce. Place 3 slices of bacon on top. Peel the avocado and slice it 1/2-inch thick. Toss the avocado slices gently with the lemon juice, and arrange on top of the bacon. Add a layer of tomato slices on top. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Spread each of the remaining 2 slices of toasted bread with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and place, mayonnaise side down, on the sandwiches. Cut in half and serve.

*I cooked my bacon in a pan on the stove…I don’t have an oven proof wire rack.
*I toasted my bread under the broiler.
*I made a full sandwich for Justin and a half for myself. We use Meijer organic whole wheat bread…and the slices are quite large.

Apple Dumpling Muffins

I made a batch of muffins this morning for a church thing in a couple weeks. I got this recipe from my mom. I had never made them before, but had tried some she made. Very good!! And they are really easy. All in one bowl. All by hand.

Apple Dumpling Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup organic cane sugar (or sucanat)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup melted coconut oil or EVOO
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 eggs
3/4 cups milk
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
 
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin cups.
 
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves (I put them in a large bowl and whisk…does the same thing as a sifter…and much easier). Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add in the oil, butter, eggs and milk. Stir with spoon. Fold in sliced apples. Spoon into muffin cups.
 
Bake 30-35 min.
 
Makes 12* (2-4 oz.) muffins or 6 (6-8 oz.) muffins.
 
*I got 15 muffins out of this. And they were good sized muffins.

Guacamole Salad

We are having our Easter dinner tonight. So I decided to make a light meal for lunch. And I had planned this for last night’s dinner anyway. We didn’t have it since we went out for dinner at the last minute with some of my family. This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe from her BC at Home cookbook (great cookbook, by the way). This was very good!!! It tasted like summer to me 🙂 Of course Justin’s first reaction was, “are those tomatoes?” Yes dear, you can pick around them. And after eating it, “I like it, but I’d prefer it as a side dish.” It would make a very good side dish. But I like it as a main dish too. Very healthy. I added frozen corn and peas to ours. And the peppers were from our garden…that I had thawed. This is very simple. And we usually have most of the ingredients on hand. Plus you can prep it ahead (I made it all this morning and just added the avocado right before serving). I’ll keep it in mind for summer meals and gluten free meals. I only made a half recipe. I served it with corn muffins. I’ll use the leftovers tomorrow to make taco salads. It would be good in tortillas as well.

This is linked to the Whole Foods for the Holidays progressive dinner – salads course.

Guacamole Salad
serves 6
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, 1/2″ diced
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained (in place of canned beans, soak organic dry beans over night, rinse and cook)
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
2 Tbsp. minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (I didn’t add this)
1/2 tsp. freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup feshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (I didn’t add this)
2 ripe Haas avocados, 1/2″ diced

Cook beans ahead of time.

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers and lime zest in a large bowl (add corn and peas here if using). Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne. Pour over vegetables. Toss well. (I made the dressing first in the serving bowl and then just put the veggies on top and tossed…no need to get another bowl dirty).

Just before you’re ready to serve the salad fold the avocados in. Check seasoning and serve at room temperature (ours was chilled).

Seder Meal

Last night I made a modified version of a Seder Meal. It is a traditional Jewish Passover meal served on Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday. We had it on Friday since Justin is not home for dinner on Thursdays. It was neat to make a meal that helped remember and celebrate the full Easter story. I think this will become something we do more often to help teach our kids. And I want to do it with other holidays/events, not just Easter.

I don’t have Seder plates, so I just used random dishes 🙂 I’ll list the traditional Seder elements and then what we had. I’ve read several different versions of the Seder Meal. So, I don’t claim to be 100% accurate about what everyone does for the Seder.

Matzoh: Three unleavened matzohs are placed within the folds of a napkin as a reminder of the haste with which the Israelites fled Egypt, leaving no time for dough to rise. Two are consumed during the service, and one (the Aftkomen), is spirited away and hidden during the ceremony to be later found as a prize.

I just bought some matzoh and warmed it in the oven. We each had 1. 3 matzohs per person would be a lot :p

Maror: bitter herbs, usually horseradish or romaine lettuce, used to symbolize the bitterness of slavery.

I used romaine lettuce.

Charoses: a mixture of apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon, as a reminder of the mortar used by the Jews in the construction of buildings as slaves.

I used chunky cinnamon applesauce (homemade of course:) and topped it with sugar coated pecans (see recipe in previous post). Yum!!

Beitzah: a roasted egg, as a symbol of life and the perpetuation of existence.

I made a hard boiled egg for each of us.

Karpas: a vegetable, preferably parsley or celery, representing hope and redemption; served with a bowl of salted water to represent the tears shed.

I cut up some avocado since we had it on hand. We added it to our romaine lettuce for a salad.

Zeroah: traditionally a piece of roasted lamb shankbone, symbolizing the paschal sacrificial offering.

I didn’t add this. We’ll be having lamb for our Easter dinner.

Wine: four glasses of wine are consumed during the service to represent the four-fold promise of redemption, with a special glass left for Elijah the prophet.

We had red wine. But definitely not 4 glasses :p I can handle about a half glass max. Alcohol and my body don’t mix well. We’ll have more of the wine with our Easter dinner. And maybe I’ll use some of it to cook the lamb.