Gastronomic goodness

Things are going well here in healthy land!  Bill and I are still sticking to our pledge to eating and living a more healthy lifestyle. I know I had said in my last blog post that I would share a few recipes and I keep my promises, so here are a few.  I might just stick one at the end on every update since putting a bunch together seems like a lot of reading.  And then I feel guilty about saying anything since the recipes and picture make this blog post look a mile long. 

The big thing I learned this week is people think cottage cheese is a healthy food- and it is in moderation, as you can see it is one of the ingredients in the pancakes. Did you ever read the label of cottage cheese? It had tons of sodium please be aware if you decide to have a dish of it ! tip*when I went to the grocery store different brands had more or less sodium content as much as 100mg. per serving, so check to see.....

These pancakes by the way are awesome...

No Flour No Sugar Pancakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry oatmeal [not instant]
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. vanilla
1 packet of stevia  or 2 packets of sweetener of your choice.
Have a small amount of low fat or skim milk handy for thinning the batter if necessary.


You will also need
A blender to blend this mixture.
Pam spray for cooking.
Jam or Jelly that is sugar free to spread atop.


Directions
Blend all the dry ingredients together in one bowl, then blend all the wet ingredients in another. When this is done add them to your blender and blend. I've found that many factors like the oats you use, cottage cheese and the size of your eggs might determine the thickness of your pancake batter. I've always had to add a bit of milk to make it the consistency of real pancake mix.


Spray a twelve in pan with Pam and cook your pancakes three at a time. This recipe yields nine pancakes.  We like to top our pancakes with a tsp of sugar-free jam.

Here's a nice little carrot salad that's good to have with dinner. We just had this the other night with a grilled turkey burger and some fresh steamed green beans....yum!

CARROT SALAD

Ingredients
8 fresh carrots washed unpeeled {organic if you can}
1 tbsp of stevia
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 fresh lemons or the equivalent of 1/2 c. lemon juice

Directions
Grate carrots either with a box grater of with the Cuisinart grater, then add all the other ingredients toss and chill. This is a great little salad to add raisins, sun-flour or pumpkin seeds, chives, cranberry raisins. { I like to take my micro-plane grater and put the lemon peel in this salad for extra flavor }I like to serve this in a lettuce cup.

This is a fabulous quick little soup, its filled with healthy vegetables and easy to make. If you don't want to use chicken stock, use veggie stock. If you want a bit of meat add some chicken then again if you don't do meat, add some tofu! Then enjoy!

White Bean Soup with Greens

Ingredients
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 c. tomatoes in bite sized pieces
1/2 c. celery
1/2 c. carrot
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tsp. of Italian seasoning or 1 tbsp of fresh basil and oregano 
pepper to taste
28 oz. of chicken stock or veggie stock [low sodium]
2 cans of cannellini beans, rinsed
2 cups of greens of your choice, escarole, spinach,  beet greens arugula

Directions 
Heat oil in a large dutch oven or pot on medium heat. Add onion celery, carrot and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until softened then add tomatoes. Then add herbs and continue to stir until the onions look translucent. When that occurs, add stock and brink to a simmer  and cook for 20 minutes or until veggies are tender. At this point add the beans and greens  and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Add pepper to taste. 


This soup tastes yummy especially if you sprinkle it with  Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese... if that's your taste or you want to add this to an Italian meal.

I hope you try these recipes, if you do, let me know..

the scoop - my weekend plans, well glad you asked!

I'm up before the birds this morning. Frankly I usually like to sleep in, but it just wasn't happening this morning. The ole brain was running a mile a minute. Of all the days too! I'm having the girls over for dinner tonight. Small group, just two this time. Many of our group have prior obligations, sick grand-kids, a few are on vacations or spending time with their own visiting adult children, but we're a committed bunch and we  love our little get together's so we do it no matter what.

On the menu tonight for us, Mom and Bill  is arugula salad with olive oil and lemon, a  selection of different home made pizza- meatless since it's Lent { caramelized onion and gorgonzola, cheese } {tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil }{eggplant, artichoke and feta and Greek olives with oregano} with a nice bottle of Narley Head Vin which is a nice red about $10 or so a bottle, very reasonable. For desert I'm making a flan, which is a custard that  I love because it's very light and moderately sweet and goes so well with coffee.

Two days ago was my little brother's birthday, he was 49. Happy birthday baby brother....about that card..... Gerard if you didn't already know is the brother i mention frequently who comes down from NY with his family for holidays and vacations. He is also my son Matthew's godfather, I couldn't have made a better choice! I love you Gerard, can't wait until next year so I can pick on you properly for being old. Uh! who could believe it Matthew that little baby, my son is going to be 30 this summer, hard to believe!

Gerard & Matthew Aug 1982...cuteness right?

I going to a baby shower on Saturday afternoon. My friend Bertha is going to be a grandmother, her daughter-in-law is expecting a little girl in about nine weeks. This is her first shower thrown by several of the mothers that were an important part of Bertha's son's life growing up. And Lauren the new mom, well it's her first baby....it's a very exciting time! I know I had a good time shopping for all those cute necessities, crib sheets, baby blankets and soothers; good times for me too.

Having the girls over pushed me to get the house back in order, it's been quite a mess! The painting of our great room has been done for days but I was being very lazy at putting everything back together and put away. Pictures of the before and after will follow in another post some time soon.....

Other than that things are all good here! How about you, any plans this weekend?

from my kitchen- shepard's pie

My brother Gerard and I have an on going feud about an extremely important issue...for us Irish people, how we like our potatoes! He likes them whipped, I like them mashed. Whipped are WAY to creamy for my taste, kinda pasty if you ask me. You just can't properly make one of those neat little gravy pools in whipped potatoes, so what's the point I ask?

Mashed potatoes on the other hand are firm, they taste like they are one of the vegetables on the plate not soup! They are in my opinion mountains of white goodness with gravy or even plain of course plain's good I like them plain.

Are you a mashed or a whipped person?  We disagree all the time about lots of things like meatballs, you can read about it HERE so don't worry it's all in good fun, let us know!

I have another reason for going on and on about potatoes . Actually today I have this super fantastic recipe for Shepard's Pie. If you're familiar with Shepard's Pie you know one of the primary ingredients is "mashed" potatoes. And if you're ever wondered what to do with your left over spuds this is a it!

We had this very meal last night for dinner and it is yummy!

SHEPARD'S PIE  

Ingredients

o    1 tablespoon olive oil

o    1 teaspoon black pepper

o    1 1/4 lb ground beef

o    1 large onions, finely diced

o    3 -4 large carrots, finely diced

o    1/2 cup frozen peas

o    3 -4 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped

o    2 tablespoons flour

o    2 tablespoon butter

o    3/4 cup red wine

o    2 tablespoons tomato paste

o    2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

o    1 cup beef stock

o    1 large quantity mashed potatoes ( 4 cups or more, fresh or leftover)

o    1 eggs, beaten

 

Directions

1.    Pre-heat oven to 200C/400°F.

2.    Sauté carrots in the olive oil until starting to get tender.

3.    Add in the onions and sauté for a minute or two then add the meat.

4.    Season with black pepper and thyme.

5.    Cook until browned then drain fat. I poured the mixture in a colander. 

6.    Add the butter to pan, melt then put meat back and peas to the meat mixture.

7.    Sprinkle with flour and stir through.

8.    Add tomato paste, wine and Worcestershire sauce.

9.    Let this reduce slightly then add the beef stock. Allow to reduce down until you have thick meaty gravy. Season to your taste.

10.  Remove from heat. Grease an oven proof dish (9x13 or an oval baker) pour in meat mixture.

11.  Spoon or pipe the mashed potatoes over top  then brush with egg.

12. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the potato is nice and browned on top.

comfort on a gloomy day

The past few days we have had some unseasonably warm weather. I've gone out over the property with my camera and Bill has been able to catch up on a lot of long needed leaf burning. We have huge old trees lining our drive and it takes forever to clean up our property. For us being able to throw open windows in January here in Virginia is really unheard of but we get what we get so we might as well make the best of it, right?

Alas today the colder weather is back. Although the thermometer isn't way down there with the humidity up the chill goes right through you. After lunch Bill gathered up some fire wood from the shed and put on our wood-stove. We have one of those lovely cast iron cook stoves from Ireland that's capable of heating the entire house and makes the most awesome pizza's amongst other things.

Then came the most important decision! What to make for dinner. I don't know about you but when it is cold and gloomy I need to eat some comfort food. While Bill napped I went through the usual suspects whether it be soup or stew- pot roast or pasta or mac & cheese generally something home made that will fill the house with wonderful aromas and be satisfying too.

From the comfort of the couch are we getting the theme here? I made my decision, and decided on Chili and rice. The house already smells wonderful as the pot simmers on the regular stove, can you smell it? Sorry there's no such thing as smell- a - blog!

You do crave comfort food on a rainy gloomy day, don't you?
For me its like a hug on a plate or a bowl.
Do you have a favorite?

decorating, shopping and packing oh my!

I'm going to NY for Thanksgiving and after that a weeks vacation so there's a ton of stuff to be done before or there won't be time when I get back.


Needless to say.....

My house is currently littered with boxes of Christmas decorations, crazy right? I have never in my life put up Christmas decorations before the tenth of December. Doing it before Thanksgiving is something department stores do! There getting out of hand by the way have you noticed? Christmas was up before Halloween this year in some stores, really they need to get a grip.

We did last minute thing today like refilling our prescriptions; you know your getting old when that's on your to do list before a trip. Gift card for the cat sitter, cat food so our roommates get fed while we're gone, extension cords for decorating- they seem to disappear like socks in the dryer in this house, and buying sun tan lotion for our Barbados trip. I will not even go into how much I need this vacation after the long summer I had with my leg wound. 

But we do what we have to do and I'm running out of days before I leave to be with my New York family on Tuesday. Of course there are sacrifices, I can't spend Thanksgiving with my children, but work schedules don't allow that anyway.

And my Godson and nieces are expecting my for some good ole fashioned baking! Isn't it great when kids enjoy the simple pleasures?

There will be pies, pumpkin, and most likely apple and pumpkin roll and on Thanksgiving Day home made rolls. These rolls from scratch only take and hour and are yummy. Believe me when I tell you, roll making is  an art form here in the south.   I got the recipe below from my friend Susan whose family has been here in the south forever. They've simplified another family recipe so that it's easier for those days when you're in a rush or you just would rather be with your loved ones and not in the kitchen.

Why not try it out this Thanksgiving? They have never failed for me!

SIXTY MINUTE ROLLS

2 pkg of yeast

1 tbsp sugar to 4 tbsp (depending on the level of sweetness you like, I like the least amount)

1 1/2 c. milk (warm)

1/4 c. butter, melted

4 c. flour 

1tsp. salt 

In a large mixing bowl, add yeast and sugar to warm milk, to dissolve yeast. Let stand for 15 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients together to the milk mixture along with the melted butter. Mix well. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes in a warm place. Form 24 rolls, each the size of an egg ( you can make them bigger if you want).Place them on a greased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

I'll be checking in after Tuesday and thru Friday and might squeeze in one more post by Thanksgiving  but I'll  be taking a break from blogging while I'm in Barbados, ya think!

So, just in case I don't get another chance to say it, I hope everyone of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving;  may it be filled with Gods blessings, bounties of food and wine and plenty of togetherness with those you love.

Gotta go pack!

family,food, cake and a hike

After DC the family got together at my house for some food and relaxation.We did do a lot of walking after all. I have to say mother nature really cooperated and the weather was wonderful so we gathered outside.

My daughter, her husband and their kids Adam, Emmanuel and Xavier drove down to visit with my brother Paul and his daughter Amanda who were visiting from Hawaii. I'm afraid we didn't get pictures of everyone but here goes...

Here's Heather, my daughter and her Uncle Paul hanging out saying their hello's.

And here's Mom, my son Matthew and my son in law Bo enjoying the beautiful day and an adult beverage before we ate.

My husband isn't much for cooking in the house, however he is great at the grill! And of course that's Heather again, even as a child she was a ham bone!

My grandson Emmanuel's birthday was last week so we had to have a cake right? What kind of grandparents would we be! With his parents looking on he's blowing out his candles and making his wish.

Then they all took a hike back onto our property which is about 26 or so acres, this is what they saw.The next three pictures were taken by my nine year old grandson Xavier. I think he's got a bit of talent don't you?

This is our pond, a timber company just cleared about one square mile of timber on the other side of it for a family who inherited the land. It looks terrible and leaves much of my area looking more like a prairie.

This is our old three level tobacco barn. It hasn't been used in many many years as you can see by it's condition. The tobacco would be hung on poles up on top across beams and then a fire would be built on the ground and the tobacco is smoked before going to market.

These are a several trees that are sure to become fire wood for our wood stove at some point. They are most certainly storm damage from our last hurricane. 

And now a few pictures that my niece Amanda took when she was out and about on the hike.

This is a deer track that they found out in the woods, we have a family of deer who come up to the house regularly and eat the apples and pears off the trees.

Our apples are just about done as you can see, this one is pretty rotten on the vine, and the leaves are almost all on the ground now.

And that was our family day, with food, cake and a hike. My brother and his daughter left to go back to Hawaii early this morning. We are SO happy that they could come and so sad to see them go. Maybe next time we can all get together; all of us.

from my kitchen - salad recipe- bean, corn and avocado

Today is a beautiful day here in Virginia, it's still grilling weather....for now. The other day not so much then it was a soup day. When the weather gets crazy I spend more time than I should thinking about food. Today's obsession was this avocado I had in the basket on my cutting board in the kitchen. I had to plan an entire meal around the darn thing; really I did. I know I'm crazy! But I didn't want to make Mexican, so I had to get creative.

As promised,  I'm sharing the recipe and a picture for my blog readers.I'm going to try to do more blogging about food and cooking, it really is something that's a part of me, something I enjoy. Whether I'm organized enough is another story! As far as this recipe is concerned, I think it goes well with burgers, chicken, whatever your grilling really! And it's simple as anything, just some simple chopping, opening of a can or two. I hope you'll try it. We're having it tonight with these neat little barbecue meatball's that I make and some rice. Yum!

Bean-Corn and Avocado Salad

Bean Corn and Avocado Salad


1 (15 oz.) can cannellini, rinsed and drained ( any beans can be used)

3 ears corn, cut from the cob or 1 c. frozen corn

½ c. red onion chopped

1 /2 red  or orange  pepper, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced (optional)

2 cups chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned

zest from 1 lime or lemon

1 1/2 limes or lemon, juiced

1 tablespoon cilantro or parsley, chopped

½ c. olive oil

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

the fall means more than changes in the weather

live sunflowers that i picked up
at the market

I was struggling with what to write about today while sitting here freezing my ass off and it suddenly dawned  on me that the state of the weather begged for a post.

The other day it was beautiful and sunny it was warm humid and the AC was pumping like you wouldn't believe in my house. It seemed as if summer was in full swing and I was bitching saying to my husband that it hardly seemed like September weather at all. I had just about reached my last nerve with the warm weather.

Then two days ago like a switch was flipped, the weather changed and now it's fall ; the AC is off the air outside is cool and mostly dry. The windows can be open  now during the days and the nights are clear and crisp. It is sooo great for sleeping and cuddling under the covers. I slept until 10:30 this morning and when I woke there next to me on his back mouth open cutting logs looking absolutely adorable was Matthew McConaughey (ha I wish!) no it was my husband (not him either) it was one of my cats (what's with that?) darn!

It won't be long before the leaves will fall and we'll fire up the wood-stove then the house gets warm and cozy. Just thinking about it my thoughts turn to cooking, not something that is as enjoyable in the warmer months; baking bread, making pots of soup, pot roasts and making pizza on my pizza stone. I'll share some of my recipes on the blog with y'all when I get to cooking them. I especially like my own pizza, potato soup and bread, and I just snagged a raisin bread recipe from another blog frugal in WV that I'm dying to try.

When I do I'll let you know how it turns out!

Does the change in the weather bring changes for you as well? What are you looking forward to doing this fall?