Left Over Rice Pudding

In search of breakfast this morning, I discovered that we had a lot of leftover rice.  I'd like to tell you that it was yummy, fluffy brown rice from some healthy home cooked meal.  I can't do that, however, because the reality is that it was hard dry white rice left over from Chinese take out.  Instead of just tossing it, I turned it into something good.  I don't know if this can technically be called rice pudding since traditional rice pudding has butter, eggs, lots more sugar, and is baked in the oven.  My version is vegan, and I did it on the stove top.  Maybe a rice porridge is closer to what this really is. Whatever the case, it's really good; it's really easy, and it uses up left overs, so you don't waste any money.

Fruity Oatmeal Muffins

My goodness.  Forget everyone else, I might fall over from shock!  Two recipes in two days.  Amazing.

Anyway, I had a bunch of odds and ends fruit in the house - bananas, blueberries, oranges, apples, blackberries, and I needed to do something with it. I know I could always freeze it for smoothies, but that's not very creative, and truthfully, we are such avid smoothie people that we already have a ton of frozen ingredients on hand.  

I decided on muffins, because they make for a quick, easy, healthy breakfast or snack, and it's been awhile since we've had any.  I didn't want a dessert muffin though.  I wanted a lightly sweet, hearty breakfast muffin that was appropriate for both me and the toddler.  These are a goldmine of awesome, if I don't say so myself.  There is no added sugar or sweetener of any kind; they're sweetened soley by the fruit, and there's no added fat at all.  They're also vegan.  Win win win, right?  Lastly, I was able to mix up the whole thing in ONE bowl.  Minimal dishes!  I just doesn't get much better than that.

Skinny Cherry Almond Milkshake

Surprise! 

No one fall over from shock or anything, but I've got a recipe of sorts.  Also, don't get too excited, because I'll be the first to admit that I'm likely going to post and then disappear for months again.  Life has taken a busy busy, but joyous turn, these days.

Anyway, this takes a little bit of planning and preparation, but it couldn't possibly be easier, and it's certainly worth it.  You're going to need to freeze some cherries and some milk cubes.  I suppose you could use whatever milk you'd like, but I suggest unsweetened almond, since that's part of what makes this milkshake skinny.  It doesn't take long to get the cherries frozen enough.  I pitted a cup while feeding the babies dinner, and popped them into the freezer for about three hours.  You're going to have to plan ahead for the milk cubes though.  I generally always have some on hand, because I've got a huge passion for frozen coffee drinks, but less of a passion for the price and the calories.

Tropical Oatmeal Vegan Pancakes

My OB says that pregnancy cravings aren't real and that I should ignore them.  I don't believe her though, because nothing but a pregnancy craving could account for the intense desire I've had for pancakes since Friday night, especially considering, as I've mentioned before, I don't especially like pancakes.  I tried to listen to her; I ignored it for as long as I could, but today, on my way home from the gym, I just knew I was going to have to finally have some pancakes, and the tropical oatmeal pancakes were conceived on the drive home.

Breast Milk Yogurt

This post is about breast milk, babies, and itchy breasts.  If you don't have some combination of the aforementioned, you're probably going to want to skip this post, because it's not going to do anything but gross you right out.  Back in July, the baby and I had Thrush.  This is a fantastic condition that causes white patches in the baby's mouth and on his tongue, and it infects the breasts as well, making them itch like mad.  It's actually a yeast infection and is usually passed back and forth between mom and baby, so it must be treated.  The baby continues to nurse during the treatment, but any pumped milk cannot be frozen and later given in a bottle or sippy, because Thrush survives the freeze/thaw, and it will re-infect the baby.

I was already on a pump schedule, and had been for months, in order to build my freezer stash.  I continued to pump during our lovely experience with Trush, because changing the schedule would have caused a drop in production.  At first I was just pumping and dumping, but then the pediatrician told me that Thrush doesn't survive heating, so I could go ahead and freeze it and save it for cooking when he started solids.

We had a rough night several weeks ago, and in a sleep deprived state, at two in the morning, I started wondering if I could make yogurt out of breast milk.  I stated on FaceBook that one of the things I wondered about at 2:00 a.m. was whether or not I could make breast milk yogurt, and an awesome friend pointed me at this recipe.  I started researching and looking around to see if other people had done this and what the opinions and different methods were.  What I mostly found where a bunch of lectures on how making breast milk yogurt was stupid because heating breast milk kills all the good things in it.

So excuse me while I go on a tangent here, but no, it does not.  Heating breast milk does indeed kill the white blood cells.  No argument there.  However, heating it does not "kill all the good things in it."  Even pasteurized breast milk is better than formula or cow's milk.  This isn't a breast feeding versus formula feeding versus dairy debate though.  It's simply facts about how cooking with breast milk does not, in fact, negate ALL the good of breast milk.  Here's the nutritional composition of breast milk,  made simple.  Here's an in-depth if you care to read it.  Anyway, my point is that while you do indeed lose SOME of the benefits of breast milk when you heat it, you certainly don't lose them all.  You don't even lose most of them.  The fats, the carbs, the proteins, the vitamins are all still there.  Does cooking your beans make the protein go away?  There's the answer, right there.  Let us not forget the fact that it's human milk, and I wanted to turn it into a treat for a human baby.  Alright, I'm stepping off of my soapbox now.

The recipe my friend linked me was the best of the very few I found out there, so my recipe is a combination of her recipe and my own, coupled with experiences and methodology learned while making soy yogurt in my crock pot (and I should probably post that recipe, because it's so easy and time saving!).  Every now and then I think I've reached the pinnacle of my hippie-ness only to surprise myself and go beyond.  I think this might be it though.  I have produced yogurt from breast milk.  I may have reached the epitome of hippie-dom!

Roasted Tomato Garlic Coconut Soup

Right before Thanksgiving, the baby and I took the train to Kansas to visit my family.  I had six beautiful Roma tomatoes in the house right before we left, and I knew that no one would eat them while I was gone.  I didn't want them to go to waste, so I cut them in half, threw them into a bag, and tossed them in the freezer.

A couple of days ago, I decided to pull out the bag and roast the tomatoes with some garlic cloves.  I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, so I put them in a Tupperware and put them in the fridge.  Yesterday I came home freezing half to death and decided that I wanted soup.  It's a rare occasion that I eat soup from a can.  We've already established how I feel about excess sodium and ingredients I can't pronounce.  Luckily I had some perfectly roasted tomatoes ready to go.

I know the combination of garlic, tomato, and coconut sounds strange, but it's really not.  The coconut milk gives it a silky, creamy texture, and it blends so nicely with the rest of the spices in the soup.  This recipe makes two small servings (or one great big one; I ate it all, all by myself!), so feel free to adjust proportions accordingly.

Garbage Pail Vegetable Broth

Oh my gosh you guys.  I am SO behind.  I've got 14 recipes ready to be posted (and those are for big people.  I've got three baby recipes ready to go, as well), but I just can't find the time.  First I had strep; then the baby had croup; then I had bronchitis, and then it was the holidays.  There are days when I considered myself lucky to have time to get dressed and even luckier if I managed to take a shower.  At this rate you're going to be getting Fall recipes this Summer!

Here's one that's quick and easy though, and it's REALLY economical.  I've always called the Vegetable Butt Broth, but I figured maybe I should revamp the name if I was going to put it out there on the internet.  I'm not sure that this is any better, actually, but it's far more appetizing than it sounds.

When I clean my vegetables, I never throw away the parts that most people consider garbage.  I keep the celery leaves, the tops of red, yellow, and orange peppers (but never green; I loathe green peppers), carrot peels, potato and sweet potato peels (but sure to clean them very well first), zucchini ends, outter cabbage leaves that are a little wilty, pieces of squash not quite big enough to roast, the ends of tomatoes, the thin outter rings of the onion, and anything else I happen to be using at the time.  I also save vegetables that are about to go bad and won't be used before they turn.  I keep a big bag in the freezer, and just throw all of this stuff in it as I have it.  When the bag is full, I make veggie broth.  This is far more economical than buying pre-made broth; it has far less sodium, and it also costs less than going out to buy veggies to make your own.

Baby Friendly Cereal Bars

Baby Charlie really likes to eat, and I really like to feed him things that are good for him, free of sodium and sugars and preservatives that I can't even pronounce.  The ingredients on some manufactured "healthy" baby treats make me shudder.  I turned to the internet to get some ideas for making my own.  That's where I discovered Lou's awesome site.  She's got some amazing healthy, baby-friendly recipes.  First I tried following her recipe for these cereal bars to the letter, but for whatever reason, it just didn't work for me.  I couldn't get the dough to be an actual workable dough for the life of me, and I certainly couldn't get it to roll out.  I have no idea what I did wrong, or why it didn't work out, but I didn't let it discourage me, and I did what I always do.  I used her great recipe as my base, made some adjustments, and tried again.

I finally achieved success, and so far we've had apple, banana, and yellow squash cereal bars.  The baby thinks these are the best thing ever, and I'm pretty happy with them myself.  He gets his yummy snack without all that added stuff that I don't want him to have, and I get peace of mind from knowing that he's starting off his life eating well.

Hmmmm what's this?

Coconut Curried Sweet Potato Lentil Stew with Quinoa and Kale

Whew.  That's a long name for something that was pure improvisation.  This stew was born from a case of the blues.  It's gray and rainy and cold and altogether nasty outside, precisely the weather I really hate.  I have a chest cold, and the cough is driving me crazy.  I'm chronically sleep deprived and completely exhausted.  I went and worked out, but it was a gargantuan effort, and it made me feel worse instead of better.  Everything was just crappy, and I needed comfort.  It was also lunch time, so comfort food sprang from the meager ingredients I have in my kitchen.  It's also got three super foods, but that happened completely by accident.  I was just using things I thought would be good together.  I suppose it says something at least slightly positive about my eating habits that I even had three super foods hanging out in my kitchen!

Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Pizza

Pizza for breakfast.  This sounds like a winning idea to me!  When I saw Chocolate Covered Katie's Breakfast Pizzert, I knew I was going to have to try it out ASAP.  Because I'm me, however, I can't just let a recipe be.  I had to tweak it to suit my needs and tastes.  These days I do my best to use oat flour instead of any other, or at least a combination.  I'm all about the lactogenic foods!  With the exception of the chocolate chips, this is quite healthy, as well.  It's no added fat, refined sugar free, and made with oat flour and fruit.

You could probably make this into a healthy dessert actually, but you'd have to sweeten it up a bit.  It would be really good with maple syrup, I think.

Thai Peanut Salad with Marinated Tempeh

Let me just say, right up front, that there's NOTHING authentically Thai about this salad at all.  I just gave it this name, because I marinated the tempeh in the sauce from my Sesame Peanut Noodles.  However, authentic or not, it was mighty tasty and very filling.  It made for a great post workout lunch, because I was starving!

Rebellion of the Rice Cooker

Last night I thought that I would like to have a healthy rice pudding for breakfast this morning.  However, rice and I are not friends.  I have NEVER been able to cook rice.  I can't even make Minute Rice turn out right.  I spent a year in a Caribbean third world country where all we ever ate was rice, and I STILL can't cook it.

A friend of mine gave me a rice cooker.  It's just a simple one, no programming or options.  You just put in the rice, the water, and hit the cook button.  That's hard to mess up, right?  I've even managed to make decent enough rice in it a couple of times, though mostly I use it to cook millet.

Well, since I can't make rice on the stove, I figured I probably couldn't make rice pudding there either, so I decided to put it all in the rice cooker.  I wasn't making real rice pudding anyway.  I just wanted to cook up some brown rice with a lot of liquid so it got a thick pudding like consistency.  Last night before bed I put one cup of brown rice and two cups of soy milk into the rice cooker.  I thought that soaking the rice would help break it down and make it thick and sticky when it was all cooked.  

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dessert Hummus

I've been (morbidly) intrigued with the whole dessert hummus thing ever since it took the food blog world by storm.  If you Google "dessert hummus" you get dozens of different recipes and variations.  As near as I can tell, it originated with the very talented Evan at The Wannabe Chef.  I used his recipe as a base, and tweaked it a bit to suit my own tastes.

I was incredibly skeptical about this.  While I love hummus, I didn't really believe it could be made into a decent dessert.  It's an appetizer; it's a great snack; it's a fantastic sandwich spread, but beans for dessert just doesn't even sound that appetizing.  I couldn't imagine it being good.  I was SO WRONG.  This stuff rocks my socks.  I actually used my finger to get every last bit out of the food processor.


Usually desserts aren't the healthiest things in the world, but sometimes you can find a dessert that is at least not bad for you.  This is not only not bad for you, it's actually GOOD for you!  Chickpeas are low fat, low cholesterol, high fiber, high protein, and an excellent source of folate and zinc.  They may also assist in lowering cholesterol in the bloodstream.  Natural peanut butter is low in cholesterol and is a good source of niacin and manganese.  It's a good source of protein and is full of mono and poly-unsaturated fats, or the good fats that help lower cholesterol and have heart-protective benefits, and here's an entire article about the health benefits of pure maple syrup.  So yay!  An actual healthy dessert.  I'm so excited.

Horchata

I make it a practice to NOT drink my calories, unless the drink is an actual meal, like a smoothie for breakfast. I generally require my liquid calories to provide me with a pretty big amount of nutrition in order to make drinking calories worth it in the first place.  Note that I said generally.  From time to time I'll have a cocktail or a glass of wine, and every now and then, I get hit by a stray, random, and really rather strange craving.  I swear I have more cravings now than I ever did when I was pregnant!  Anyway, yesterday was one of those times.

I woke up really wanting some horchata.  My ex-mother-in-law used to make a mean horchata, and they sell a decent enough version at a local Mexican hole in the wall restaurant.  Since I don't have access to the ex-MIL, and I'm pretty sure Allende isn't open at 6:30 in the morning, I decided to see if I could make it myself, so I turned to Doctor Google for help.  I found a plethora of recipes, and the grand majority of them included milk as a main ingredient.  In my experience authentic horchata is an agua fresca, and milk totally defeats the purpose of drinking it in the first place, so I did what I always do.  I pieced together several different recipes and made my own.

Apple Nachos

There are recipes for apple nachos all over the internet.  I love apples, and I love them even more now that it's Honeycrisp season, so apple nachos seemed to be just the ticket, but so many of the recipes are soooo unhealthy. I mean come on! Marshmallows? An entire stick of butter? Caramel sauce? Commercial chocolate syrup? Do you have any idea what's even in that sticky, sweet, processed chocolate stuff? I'll give you a hint: high fructose corn syrup is the number one ingredient in the grand majority of them. This is a snack that has such potential to be healthy, so I decided to health it up. I had mine for dinner last night! This recipe is for a single serving, so feel free to up it and make more. Had I done that, I would have eaten the whole thing!

Wheat Berries of Joy!

I've got a deep and abiding love for wheat berries.  It's strange actually since I have a just as deep and abiding loathing for wheat bread and wheat crackers.  However, I love wheat pasta way more than regular white pasta.  As usual I digress, but there's a glimpse into one of my interesting and adorable quirks.  What was I talking about?  Ah yes, wheat berries.

Wheat berries are whole, unprocessed wheat kernels that contain all three parts of the grain:  the germ, bran, and endosperm. Only the hull has been removed. Because of this, wheat berries retain all of the grain's vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Wheat berries, like all whole grains, have tons of health benefits. Whole grains can help lower the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.  Eating whole grains instead of refined/processed grains can help with weight control, as well.  The best part though, is that wheat berries are yummy.

Honey Roasted Cinnamon Peanut Butter

My nut butters are usually very simple, one ingredient kinda things.  Generally I use just nuts, either dry roasted or raw, no added salt or sugar or oil of any kind.  It's absolutely amazing this way.  You get the taste of the actual nut without all of the added sodium and fat and calories that really do nothing to enhance the flavor anyway.

Every now and then, though, I like a treat just as much as the next person.  While surfing the web one dreary morning, I came across an ad for Naturally Nutty Honey Roasted Cinnamon Peanut Butter.  It set off an almost immediate craving.  I've never seen Naturally Nutty brand around here in the stores, and ordering it from their website wouldn't have fulfilled my sudden need for instant gratification.  Then there was the whole issue of the fact that I'm ummmm frugal, and I wasn't about to pay five bucks (plus shipping!) for a mere eight ounces of peanut butter.  Hmmmm, a little light bulb went off in my head.  "I'll bet I can make this." I checked my cabinets and was thrilled to discover that I had all the ingredients needed to make this new yummy concoction that I now absolutely had to have!  It was easy as pie, too.  Though I don't know who made up that expression, because I think pie is all kinds of hard.  I've never made a pie crust in my life that was worth eating.  But as usual, I digress, so back to the goodness that is this peanut butter.

Low Fat Summer Squash Bread

Continuing with my "What the heck do I do with all these summer squash?" theme, I decided to try and bake it into some quick bread.  Zucchini bread is amazing, so why not use summer squash instead, right?  It turned out pretty darned good too, especially for a low fat version.  This is not vegan, as I used Egg Beaters, but with a few tweaks it could easily be veganized.

Really Low Fat Summer Squash Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup summer squash, seeded and shredded
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup egg beaters
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°.

2.  Grease loaf pan.

3.  Mix together dry ingredients.  If you have to, use your hands to break up any lumps.  It needs to be completely incorporated.

It should look like sand.

4.  Add wet ingredients.  It will seem like there's not enough, but just keep mixing and mixing, and it will eventually make a dough.

5.  Pour into loaf pan.

6.  Bake for 55 minutes.

This made a hearty dense loaf, and it was really good.  In retrospect, however, I could have pureed the squash and used squash puree and a flax egg to make it vegan.  It would have also made it a bit lighter.  Next time...

Enjoy!

Grain and Veggie Salad with Tangy Tofu Dressing

I've actually got three posts lined up to make!  I'm just having a hard time finding the time to actually make them. Baby happily takes up a lot of my time.  However, now he's sleeping peacefully in his wrap on my chest, and I have a few minutes to blog.

Last week, Drew brought home something like six dozen yellow squash from work.  Someone's garden had an explosion.  Now, I love squash, but I usually buy them about two at a time, and I had no idea what to do with all that squash.  I chopped it up and put it into omelets.  I diced it and ate it in wraps with hummus.  I steamed it and ate it salted for a snack.  Then, in my sleep deprived, brain-dead state, I completely ran out of ideas. So...

I turned to the lovely world of the internet and Googled "What the hell do I do with all this summer squash?" (yes seriously), and I found about eight gazillion recipes.  However, I'm so damned picky that I only liked about three of them.  I found a recipe for Millet and Veggie salad over at Melomeals that I thought I would like a lot after I tweaked it to my satisfaction.  You guys know me, after all of my "tweaking", it wasn't really even remotely the same.  However, the inspiration definitely was not my own; that came from Melody's amazing blog.

Like many of my posts, this is more of a guideline than it is a recipe.  There are so many possible variations to make it suit your own tastes (for example:  I used enough garlic to bring down all of Salem's Lot!).  The possibilities are endless.  The thing that brings it all together and really makes the whole dish is the dressing. The really amazing thing about this is that even the kiddo liked it.  He ate more of it than I did, I think.  This surprises the heck out of me considering it had lots of vegetables in it.  And grain.  And health.  Go figure!

Yeah, it's not terribly aesthetically pleasing, I know, but it sure does taste good, and it's SO healthy!

Grain and Veggie Salad with Tangy Tofu Dressing

Ingredients:


Salad:

• 1/2 cup dry grain of choice.  Like Melody, I used Millet, because I had it and I LOVE it.  Next time I think I'll use quinoa.  You could use pretty much any grain that tickles your fancy.  You could also probably use whole wheat cous cous or even small legumes, like lentils.
• 1 small to medium summer squash, seeded and diced
• 1/3 cup shelled edamame
• 4 spears asparagus, chopped
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup pureed tofu
• 2 TBS nutritional yeast
• 3 TBS sesame tahini
• 1TBS lemon juice
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 2 cloves pressed garlic
• 1 TBS good brown mustard
• liberal shake nutmeg
• liberal shake (or three, if you're like me!) dried dill

Directions:


Salad:

1.  Cook grain of choice according to package directions.

I toasted mine first.  

Try not to notice that my burner needs cleaning!

2.  Saute desired veggies, or you can use the dry fry method.  That's what I did, saving the calories from the oil to use in the dressing instead!

3.  Let grain and veggies cool to room temperature.

4.  While you're waiting for everything to cool off a bit, you can go ahead and multi-task

Yeah.  In fact I do love to show him off!

Dressing:

1.  Puree tofu to very smooth, almost liquid state.

2.  Add all other ingredients and whisk whisk whisk until very well mixed and frothy.

The Whole Shebang

1.  Mix cooled grain and veggies.

2.  Pour half of dressing over grain and vegetable mixture and mix well.

4.  Let chill for several hours, ideally over night.  The longer it melds the better it tastes.

5.  When ready to serve, drizzle more dressing over the top and salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Now, what the heck do I do with the rest of these?!

Single Ingredient Soft Serve

This recipe is ALL OVER the internet and has been for quite some time.  I've been wanting to try it, but things like a complicated pregnancy and then a newborn kept me from having the opportunity.  The newborn isn't quite so new anymore, and he's getting pretty good at amusing himself for a few minutes, especially if I put him in the kitchen with me, so I decided that I should try this out for breakfast this morning.

All you have to have is a frozen banana or two and a food processor.  I was amazed that a couple of frozen bananas whipped up into such a smooth, sweet, and creamy treat.  I was pretty excited.  Don't get TOO excited though, because while this does have the creamy consistency of soft serve, it doesn't exactly taste like soft serve.  This is good for me actually, because I don't particularly like soft serve, but my love for bananas has been pretty well established by now.

Single Ingredient Soft Serve

Ingredients:

• 3 frozen bananas.  You want them to be pretty ripe, but not so ripe that they're all brown.

Directions:

1.  Place frozen bananas in bowl of food processor fitted with an S blade.

2.  Process until correct consistency, stopping to scrape sides of bowl.

How long this takes will depend on your food processor and on your personal definition of proper consistency.

There you go.  That's it.  Easy peasy, healthy, low calorie, low fat ice cream.  It is fantastic just the way it is, but you can add stuff, as well.  Of course that makes it no longer one ingredient, but still with a base this healthy you can splurge just a tiny bit too.  I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a very liberal shake of cinnamon to mine.  It would be good with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter or with some fresh mint or even mint extract.  If you are the chocolaty type, you could add a bit of cocoa powder or chocolate chips. Then of course are the combinations...chocolate peanut butter, chocolate mint, etc. etc.  I think this would be good with some dried fruit as well.  You could go tropical and add a bit of shredded coconut and some pineapple, or you could go tart and add cherries and apricots.  I'd soak the fruit for a few hours first though. The possibilities are endless, and the base is only about 80 calories per serving and chock full of potassium! Also, you can totally eat ice cream for breakfast!  Doesn't get much better than that!

Enjoy!