A Visit & a Recipe

My wonderful friend Jenny made us dinner tonight. I was feeling pretty exhausted when we came home so I enjoyed a nap for several hours & what better to eat for dinner than delicious quiche! Jenny also brought my little buddy Gabriel. He is such a sweet baby. He was extremely focused on getting my hospital bracelets off.

He's such a handsome little guy! He's rock solid therefore I call him "Tank." ;-) Except for those delightful cheeks! 

 I asked Jenny for the quiche recipe to feature on my blog. I have not eaten any "regular" food since January 8 and I was in heaven. (Between the new way of eating and the esophagitis, I've lost 14 pounds in 3 weeks). I cannot eat much and have to eat really small portions and really small bites, chewed well, and each bite followed by water so it doesn't get impacted in my esophagus. One of the only solid foods I've been able to eat is eggs. So, the quiche was PERFECT and I have also been craving green vegetables. The quiche hit all the right spots and was amazing!!!

1 pastry for single-crust pie (you can use pre-made, such as Mrs. Smith's, or make your own)
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
8 beaten eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half-and-half, light cream, or milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped & lightly packed
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (3 oz)
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese (2 oz)

Prepare and roll out Pastry for single-crust pie. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry. Trim and crimp edges as desired. Line the unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 4 to 5 minutes more, or until pastry is set and dry. Remove from even, then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, half-and-half, salt, & pepper. Stir in onion mixture, spinach, & cheese.

Pour egg mixture into the hot, baked pastry shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. If necessary, cover the edge of the pastry with foil to prevent burning. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Soooo good!!!!!

Shoe Funeral

Well, it's official. The surgery center called this morning to confirm my foot surgery date for January 30th. I dragged myself into my bedroom to remove all my stilettos and high heels from my closet. I think this is in the top 10 saddest days of my life. I had to box them all up and put them in the spare room so they won't tempt me. No heels for 1 year following surgery. The surgeon did tell me I should be able to wear wedge platforms after 16 weeks. I already bought 3 pairs of new "approved" shoes to decrease my sadness. :)

I took pictures of some of my favorites. May they live in history even if I never get to wear them again. :(

Wholesome Chow!

So as many of you most likely already know, we've gone on a refined-food-free way of eating this year. No refined sugars, no refined carbs, gluten free, non-GMO. Little to no processed foods. Most foods are on the no list. But there has to be something yummy to eat every once in a while. I found a package of Wholesome Chow gluten free chocolate baking mix while I was at HomeGoods recently. I was so impressed! I was pretty happy to find ingredients that are friendly for my diet, although two of the ingredients aren't something we normally eat. (Evaporated cane juice and white rice flour.) Wholesome Chow is non-GMO, gluten free, and free of refined sugars. Yay! I made the chocolate cake mix into 12 cupcakes. I used Lactose-free milk and coconut oil. Since I didn't plan to frost them I added 1/2 cup of Sunspire 42% cacao chips. They are very yummy!

To see Wholesome Chow products click HERE.

Find the Silver Lining

I don't know what's been going on the last couple of weeks. I feel like it's been a permanent full moon or something. I have gotten so much bad news lately, and it just doesn't seem to stop. If the only bad news I had gotten were about myself or something bad happening to me, I'd be ok. But I really don't take kindly to things happening to people that I love when so much distance separates most of us. I think one of the worst pieces of news I got was that my cousin Becky has thyroid cancer. (You can read her blog on that HERE if you like.) I was really nervous about going in for some important testing but once I found out about Becky I didn't really care anymore. I really, really don't like to see my family & friends hurting and feeling powerless to DO anything because I'm so far away.

I suppose I do have a really sarcastic, jaded, side that is "firmly grounded in realism." :-) However, I do try to look for the silver lining in every bad situation. I am definitely not going to share people's private business on my blog (I know, you're so disappointed!) But out of the things I CAN tell you, in the last two weeks, I have gotten 2 phone calls from loved ones telling me that they have cancer, a few other tidbits of bad news (details might be too identifying!) :) and I have also been juggling a multitude of Dr.'s appts (which is not typical for me!). These things may sound simple, but they can be really overwhelming. Especially since most of the things that have happened aren't "bloggable." :)

I was determined to find the silver linings and I have! I was talking to my brother last night and I told him not to worry, I always land on my feet. He said, "Yes, you do, and you're hissing and scratching when you land." I cracked up laughing!

The thing that I am the happiest about is this:

Becky came through her cancer surgery well! She has her voice, which is amazing, and at this point it looks like she does NOT have lymphoma (in addition to the thyroid cancer). This is a huge praise! 

I have some more testing tomorrow and I also will be finding out the results of some tests that I had done last week. I am also headed over to my GP's office in the morning to get cleared for my foot surgery, which will be on the 30th. The good news is, I get to take a week off work!! :)

When bad things happen, I think it's important to take some time to "feel it." Pent up emotions don't do anyone any good and neither does denial. But then, just get up and get back to it. Life is not going to live itself! There is always a silver lining. If you want a funny read on Positivity, check out THIS POST. By the way I am the cousin that thought she misunderstood the diagnosis. (You'll have to read it to get it!)

Cheers to a wonderful 2013. I've just about gotten all the bad stuff over with, so the rest of the year can be FABULOUS!

Flourless Black Bean Brownies

Finally, "brownies" that I can have! I found this recipe on the Our Family Eats blog but I modified it to make it a little more "Daniel Plan" friendly. It's not the amazing brownies that we all know and love, but let me put it like this--it will do in a pinch. Use an 8x8 pan or the closest thing you have and cut it into 18 squares, and each will have 108 calories, 3 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber. It's a chocolate fix I can live with.

I have made it twice. The first time was without chocolate chips, coconut oil instead of butter, and all Truvia for sweetener. The original recipe had called for coconut sugar. The second time I used 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 Truvia. I didn't  notice a real difference so I will be going back to the Truvia next time. The second time I also used chocolate chips and earth balance "butter" instead of coconut oil. If I had it to do over again I would use the following recipe. If you are interested in trying the coconut sugar, substitute 1/2 cup of coconut sugar for the Truvia.

1, 15-oz can black beans, rinsed well and drained

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp Truvia 

2-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used THESE) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process all ingredients EXCEPT THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS in a food processor (at least 4-cup capacity) until well blended. The batter will be fairly "liquidy." Once the batter is mixed, move it to a small bowl and incorporate the chocolate chips. Spray an 8x8 (or closest size you have!) baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour in batter. Bake for 30 minutes. I have found that these taste better when they are cool. They don't seem to taste as chocolatey when they are warm. Strange, I know, but true. ;-) 

Finished brownies. 

Homemade Peanut Butter

I finally made my first nut butter! It's long overdue but I have finally done it. I made a small batch just in case I did not like it. I am going to make almond butter next. It just so happened that I had a container of roasted, salted peanuts left from the holidays, and I wanted to use them somehow because we don't eat peanuts. They made delicious peanut butter!

1 cup roasted, salted peanuts
1 tsp coconut oil
2/3 packet Truvia

Pulse the peanuts in a food processor until they become "crumbly." Then, add the oil, a few drops at a time. Next add the Truvia and continue to pulse until the PB is fairly smooth and creamy. When it is done it will be very shiny! You will need to stir/scrape the sides of the food processor every minute or so. It will take about 10 minutes to get the right consistency.

I have a feeling if I had used raw peanuts, there would have been enough natural oil in them that I wouldn't have needed the coconut oil. Just my thoughts, anyway. I'll be posting about almond butter soon, too!

After a couple minutes your butter will look like this and you will think it's done. Not so! It will be waaaay too gritty. Keep going! 

See how pretty and shiny it is when it's all done? 

Go green and store your peanut butter in a recycled glass jar. :) 

When it feels like I've had all the bad news I can take, I especially love to incorporate lots of Kari Jobe songs into my worship time. I love her music. There's lots of heavy stuff in this world. Things that are so far beyond our control, it's not even funny. The more we expand our circle of who we love and care about, and the older we get, the heavier the burdens that we are handed. God is good all the time! Spend some quiet moments in broken worship, and then resolve to be thankful for something. It helps, I promise.

You lift me up, You never leave me thirsty! 

Eating Clean & a Brunch Recipe

This is one of those recipes that I categorize as "brunch" because I truly mean it. Although it is an extremely low carb dish (11 grams), it still has 400 calories. So, it's the dish you make on your "day off," when you get up early to take the hubby to work, run errands, race to your Dr.'s appt, run more errands, and finally get home at 12:30. Too late for breakfast, but loathe to call this meal lunch, I opted for a brunch tag here.

This year we are eating 100% clean. I have made huge strides towards this in 2012 but with Rich on board, I very recently started buying 100% clean foods only. This means local, organic produce, pastured eggs, organic, hormone & antibiotic free meats, no processed/packaged foods (Yes, I've got a pot of black beans cooking right now that came from a bag. Dry beans!), no refined sugar, etc. Just to make it extra fun we are also eating primarily gluten free. ;-) After losing 50 pounds in the last 18 months I have to do it again and get the next 50 off. I've been in that holiday plateau phase for a couple months so it's time to get serious again. This year, aside from continuing to lose weight and get healthier, my goal is to learn as much as I can about how to best use food as fuel & medicine for our bodies. I'm using the resources from the Daniel Plan. If you don't know about that, you can read about it HERE.

Ok. Enough about me.

Eggs, Chicken Sausage & Veggie Brunch Bowl

2 organic, pastured eggs
1 link Aidell's organic chicken sausage, halved and chopped
1/4 each red and orange bell peppers
1/4 cup chopped zucchini
1 large leaf fresh kale
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp butter substitute (I use earth balance)

Prep: whisk 2 eggs in a medium bowl. Add a dash of salt & pepper. Chop the veggies into small pieces.  Preheat wok on medium heat.

In a frying pan or wok (wok is best!) swirl the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, peppers, & zucchini and stir fry just until the sausage begins to turn light golden brown.

Move to the edges and melt the tsp of butter or butter substitute in the middle. 

Next, pour the eggs into the middle and then begin to "scramble" them after they have cooked about 45 seconds. (Don't burn them!) 

Once the eggs begin to solidify, you can toss in the kale. 

Once the kale is cooked for about 3 minutes, you'll be ready to eat.

And there you have it. Brunch bowl & green tea.