PICKLED TINK

I love anything pickled: asparagus, pickles, red onions, radishes.  You name it, if it’s pickled, I’ll try it and probably love it. 

I always thought pickling was a long and extensive process.  Turns out it’s super easy!  If I find really nice looking pickling cucumbers or radishes at the farmer’s market, I’ll buy them and come home and make a quick batch of refrigerator pickles. 

It’s rare for me to not have a jar of picked red onions in the fridge.  I use THIS recipe from Beth at Budget Bytes because it never fails.  It’s so easy and the onions are ready to eat within an hour of making them.  I personally always let them sit in the fridge for a day or two before enjoying them.  I add them to salads, tacos, enchiladas, even casseroles.  Anything that might need a “pop” of flavor I put them on.  I may have eaten them straight out of the jar with nothing but a fork and a happy heart.

My mouth is watering just thinking about them now.  You should definitely make these for your family!

Sweet As Can Be

Mounds Candy Bar Oatmeal

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

¾ cup water

2-3 tbsp cocoa powder

1-3 tbsp maple syrup

• I like mine sweeter so I use 3 tbsp.  You can adjust based on how well you have your sweet tooth tamed.  Mine runs wild and free

1 tsp ground flaxseed

¼ cup coconut, or more based on your preference

• In a small saucepan, add oats, water, cocoa powder and maple syrup
• Cook until oats are done to your liking, mine are done within 3 minutes
• Put in bowl and add flaxseed and flaked coconut and stir to combine.
• Sit and enjoy your heart healthy candy bar bowl of oatmeal

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

¾ cup water

2-3 tbsp cocoa powder

1-3 tbsp maple syrup

• Add or remove as much to make it as sweet as you want

2-3 tbsp peanut butter, you can use creamy or crunchy, whatever is your favorite

1 tsp ground flaxseed

• In a small saucepan, add oats, water, cocoa powder
• Cook until oats are done to your liking, mine are done within 3 minutes
• In your bowl, stir together maple syrup and peanut butter until combined.
  • I found it mixes better into the cooked oatmeal this way giving it more of that peanut butter cup filling taste
• Add cooked oats and flaxseed to the bowl and stir to combine.
• Welcome to a little bowl of healthy peanut butter cup oatmeal

Did you know that oats are “dose responsive”?  That means, the more you eat the greater the results on your body.  Oats help to reduce cholesterol and inflammation in our bodies.  You can eat Raw, Cooked, Rolled, Steel-Cut, or Whole Oat Groats.   It doesn’t matter how you eat them, just eat them every single day. 

If you’re on the internet at all, I’m sure you’ve seen or heard about the overnight oatmeal rage.  It’s everywhere, which is good, making it easier for everyone to eat oatmeal is a huge win.  That’s how I found about my two favorite ways to eat oatmeal.  I don’t make overnight oats anymore, I used to when I worked away from home.  Now I eat them as a dessert after dinner.

My husband has a bowl of oatmeal every single morning followed by a big bowl of cooked kale.  Since going WFPB I prefer a savory breakfast to a sweet one so it’s rare for me to have oatmeal for breakfast.  It was one night after dinner when I was craving something sweet, that I decided to try a “flavored” oatmeal.  My two favorite candy bars were Mounds and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  I had some coconut so decided to try a mounds candy bar oatmeal.  O.M.GOSH!  I couldn’t believe how good it was and so easy!  Took me all of about 5 minutes to have it made and sitting down savoring a candy bar bowl of oatmeal. 

Don’t forget one of these important oat toppers:  Add a tablespoon or two of ground flax seed (flax meal) or chia seed to your daily oatmeal for a handy source of omega-3’s.  Flax seeds need to be ground for your body to absorb their nutrients.  You won’t taste them in the oatmeal, no matter how you prefer to eat yours, but they work hard for your body so definitely add them every time you eat oatmeal.

You can easily find hundreds upon hundreds of recipes for oatmeal.  These are few that I still want to try; carrot cake oatmeal, cinnamon bun oatmeal, lemon poppy seed oatmeal and snickerdoodle oatmeal. 

What better way to have dessert than a healthy, fast, and easy way? 

3…2…1

I thought you might like to know my top three favorite places to find recipes.  I have a lot more than three but when I don’t know what to make, I usually turn to one of these chef’s first.

One reminder, we NEVER use oil of any kind in our home for cooking, EVER.  If a recipe calls for it, I just omit it completely so keep that in mind when you’re looking at any of the ones I list below.

• Budget Bytes blog – https://www.budgetbytes.com/about/

She is amazing with her recipes and how she sets up her blog/website.  You can search by ingredient or type of meal.  She has a whole section of vegan recipes.  But even her regular recipes, a lot of them are very easy to recreate as WFPB.  For example her recipe for Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs, I substitute Portobello Mushrooms.  I always double the sauce because it’s so good. 

If I ever get the chance to meet Beth I want to give her a big hug and thank you.  I think every single one of her recipes has worked, even when I substitute to make them WFPB.  That’s a sign of a good chef in my opinion.

• Barefoot Contessa

Another amazing chef in my humble opinion.  I own so many of her cookbooks and even went to an event where she was on stage and giving an interview and answering questions from the audience.  It was so much fun to ‘see” her in person even though I didn’t get close enough for a picture.

Same as Budget Bytes, Ina’s recipes are not WFPB but I have been able to convert so many of them with substitutions.  We love her recipe for Parker’s Split Pea Soup. I use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.  You can find a lot of her recipes on her website, but even more of the Food Network website.

• My Betty Crocker Cookbook

I’ve had my Betty Crocker Cookbook since I got married so long ago.  It’s got notes all through it.  I was probably a year into our new lifestyle of Whole-Food Plant-Based when I was having a bad day because I was really craving Chicken Pot Pie.  After probably 30 minutes of pouting, I had the realization that I could just substitute/omit ingredients and just make a Vegetable Pot Pie.  I’m telling you it was like an angel was sitting on my shoulder smiling and whispering this game changing idea.  Since then I’ve been able to go back to so many of my recipes and make them plant strong!

I’m always looking for new chef’s and recipes, who’s your favorite?

Menu 3/19/21 – 3/25/21

I’m BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!  Did y’all miss me?  I apologize up front for not posting for over a year.  I’m not even sure what happened that I completely forgot about this little corner of the world wide web I call my own.  Let’s just say that 2020 was an absolute mess for everyone and leave it at that and move forward.

So to jump back into it with both feet, here’s my menu for last week in no particular order:

• Orange Cauliflower and Fried Rice
  • Orange Cauliflower
  • Stir Fry Sauce – Our version of fried rice is just cooked brown rice, peas and corn with this sauce added in a skillet until flavors have combined.  It’s DELICIOUS and so easy!
• Smoky Mac and Cheese Sweet Potatoes  
  • We really liked the Mac and Cheese but weren’t crazy about it over the sweet potatoes.  Both items were delicious on their own, but together, not a flavor profile we liked.  Next time, I’ll just make the Mac and Cheese and have a side of broccoli or brussels sprouts with it.
• Chickpea Cutlets & Spaghetti Squash with Lemon Caper Sauce
  • Hands down one of our FAVORITES mainly due to that sauce.  I make both the chickpea cutlets and sauce exactly as her recipe states and it works beautifully every time.
• Tacos – FOK Quinoa Black Bean from their magazine
• Buffalo Cauliflower and Cauliflower Tater Tots
  • Buffalo cauliflower is loosely based on THIS recipe, the only difference is I add 1 tablespoon of corn starch
  • Cauliflower Tater Tots
    • These did not work out for me.  They were mushy and pretty tasteless.  Not really sure what I did wrong.  I may try them again in a few weeks.
• Leftovers x 2 – We do leftovers every Monday and Thursday at our house because we were finding that we had so much food leftover and it wasn’t getting eaten.  Also on those days we pack a lunch for the two guys that work for us.  They have enjoyed all the different meals and it’s been a great way to save food from being thrown away.

I hope you find something that looks good enough to try for your family!

Do the Can-Can

Just a quick Tuesday tip for today.  When I batch cook beans, I freeze them in 2 cup portions.  On the label I put on the container I write the type of bean, any seasonings, and “Equivalent to 1 can of beans”.  A can is between 14 and 15.25 ounces. I round up to 16 ounces, 2 cups just to make it easy on myself.

Recipes don’t normally call for beans in measurements other than how many cans to use of a certain bean.  This way it’s easy to know that I have the same amount the recipe is calling for, I don’t have to think twice about it.  Also it’s super easy for my husband to know that if he’s make rice and beans, he’ll know at a quick glance that one container is 1 can.

How do you organize your batch bean cooking?

I’M A GREAT STRIPPER

I learned how to strip from an 80 something year old, named Ann Esselstyn.  I’ve seen her technique several times.  It’s always been when she’s on stage in front of a very large crowd and the whole crowd gasps with delight as we watch her do it.  It’s both surprising and fun!

Stripping KALE really is easy.  It only takes seconds to do it!  You remember my earlier posts about prepping food when I get home from grocery shopping?  Stripping kale is one of those prep tasks I do.

Here’s a video of Ann and her daughter Jane demonstrating how to strip kale.  If you’ve never seen or heard them before, fair warning, you’ll get hooked.  They are HILARIOUS!  Watching Jane’s facial features when Ann is talking or doing something gets me every time.

I personally rinse the leaves, shake the excess water off and get to stripping.  I store the stripped leaves in large 2 ½ gallon baggies in the fridge.  Then we just pull several handfuls out throughout the week and cook it and eat it.  It makes it super easy to have it already washed and in pieces.

Before you mention the fact that I’m using plastic baggies to store it, I’ve tried storing it in a produce keeper I got on Amazon.  It didn’t stay fresh.  I tried storing it in the produce bags I use instead of plastic bags from the grocery store.  It didn’t stay fresh in that either.  So as much as I don’t want to use the baggies, they are the only thing I’ve found that keep the greens fresh.  It will actually keep them fresh for two weeks.  I just make sure I wash out and reuse the baggies several times so I’m not just randomly throwing plastic away.

I also prep collard greens, I just don’t strip those, although you could if you wanted to.  I cut them off the stem, then lay them on top of each other and then cut into strips.  I store them the same way as the kale.

In our home, we eat greens every day, usually several times a day.  My husband tries to eat greens 4-6 times a day.  He has them at breakfast, for lunch and for dinner.  If you’re curious why, just google Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and greens.  It’s an eye opener for sure what greens do for our bodies.

I buy minimum of four bunches of kale and two bunches of collards every week so I’ve gotten very good at stripping.  I always look forward to when someone asks me how I prepare it because I get to tell them I’m a very good stripper!

Are you ready to start stripping?  There’s no better time than now!

Groovy Granola Bars

I don’t know why I think of some 1970’s Hippy Dippy Woodstock persona when I hear “Homemade Granola Bars”.  I picture Birkenstocks, patterned flowing skirts and peace fingers.  The bars are handy to have on hand though, so I overcame my viewpoint and became a granola bar making girl.

Since most store-bought granola bars have added sugars and oils, I had to find one that I could make at home for my husband to have on hand to take with him when he’s out and about.  I came across a recipe several years ago and used that as a starting point for ones he can eat.  The recipe I found had lots of nuts in it and lots of different dried fruits.  We only do nuts rarely and that’s usually as a base for a sauce.  We never just eat them, due to the high fat content so I leave them out of the ones I make.  If you like nuts feel free to add your favorite.

Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember where I got that recipe from so I apologize if it was your recipe.

Here’s the one I came up with for homemade granola bars.

• 2 cups oats, ground partially into flour
• 2 large bananas
• 2 -3 tablespoons maple syrup, depending on how sweet you want your bars to be
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• Dried fruit of your choice.
• I usually put in two different kinds into one recipe. Raisins and apricots or cherries and blueberries.  Just use whatever is your favorite combination, however much you want.
• I probably use ½ cup of two different types of dried fruit for each batch of bars I make.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°
• If you haven’t already, grind the oats into a flour. I usually grind 1 to 1 ½ cups of the oats into the flour and leave the rest as whole oats
• Mash the bananas. You can do this by hand or in a mixer, either works
• Add maple syrup and vanilla to bananas and mix until incorporated
• Add ground flaxseed and oats to banana mixture and mix well.
  • If the mixture is to wet at this point, depending on the size of the bananas I use, I just add more of the whole oats.
• Stir in dried fruit.
• Pour into baking sheet and spread out to desired thickness. I prefer them a little thinner, my husband likes them a little thicker
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
• I use a pizza wheel cutter to cut them into bars after cooled.
• Store in fridge for 2 weeks or in freezer for several months.

Now where did I put my peace beads and purple tinted round glasses?

Menu 1/17 – 1/22

I apologize for being MIA for several weeks.  We had a vacation scheduled leaving on January 2^nd and returning on January 12^th so between that and all the holidays I found my time at a premium and didn’t plan far enough in advance for topics to post for y’all.  Forgive me and know I’m making it a priority to have a list of things to share with you in the future.

On that note, here’s my menu for this week.  It only has 6 days worth because we leave next Thursday for another mini vacation.  I’ll be posting about both vacations soon, especially the one from the beginning of January because it was a food centered vacation!

• Baked Ziti
  • Recipe found HERE on Nora Cooks
• Twice-Baked Southwest Potatoes
  • China Study Cookbook, page 158
• Vegetable Pot Pie
  • Recipe posted on December 14
• Lentil Mushroom Eatballs with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
  • Recipe for Eatballs posted on December 13
• Smoky Lentil Sweet Potatoes
  • DISHING OUT HEALTH blog
• BBQ Portobellos with Rice and Greens
  • How To Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease cookbook

I hope 2020 has started out great for you and your family!

Merry Christmas

Menu 12/20-12/27

Is everyone else gearing up for the next week?  I’m ready for the festivities to kick off and for us it starts tonight.  We’re taking a friend and my mother-in-law to a Christmas concert at church.  Then it’s a full day on Saturday working on a small home we purchased and are rehabbing it.  Sunday will be Christmas presents and dinner with our niece, nephews and brother-in-law.  And then of course Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I fear this week will be one of gluttony for sure.  And I’m ok with that, it is Christmas after all!  I’m so ready for Santa! I’m definitely on the Nice list this year, at least I think I am.  I hope my menu helps keep your week a little more calm and organized.

• Baked Ziti from Nora Cooks
  • I’m using our favorite Marinara
• Slow Cooker White Bean Soup from Budget Bytes
• Enchiladas – Recipe was posted November 16
• Simple Baked Meatballs with Rice and Gravy from The Weary Chef
  • I’m substituting lentils for the ground beef, vegetable broth for the chicken broth and vegan cream of mushroom soup
• Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Mediterranean Quinoa from Simply Quinoa
  • I’ll be omitting the olive oil and the olives
• Christmas Day
  • I’m going to make Vegan French Toast Casserole from Nora Cooks as a surprise for my husband for Christmas morning while we’re opening gifts and enjoying a few quiet minutes together.
• Sticky Sesame Cauliflower, Rice and Broccoli from Chocolate Covered Katie