Product and/or recipe to find

Today I was CRAVING potato and corn chowder.  Caps important there.  Craving so much I had to make it right away.  Pulled out my trusty recipe that I've had for about 15 years, if not more.  Have not made in a long time.  Could be why I was craving it?  Not sure.  Went to my grocery to pick up the ingredients that I didn't have and was very disappointed I couldn't find organic creamed corn.  Reading the ingredients on the store brand...I put it back on the shelf. And walked away.  No chowder for me, I guess.  Go almost to the register...and went back to the aisle and picked up the store brand, rationalizing that they claim all of their store-brand items are non-gmo.  Wasn't born yesterday, so of course I don't believe it.

On a normal day, I'd hit one of the other two groceries in town, in hopes of finding an organic creamed corn.  Or I'd trek 20 minutes to a store that would most likely have it.  But today it's very very cold (under 20 degrees F) and it's snowing, with an icy mix.  Wasn't traveling too far to satisfy my craving.

While my chowder is a-cookin, I thought I'd ask you all about it.  Anyone found an acceptable, clean, creamed corn?  Going to do some recipe searching tonight.  Put it on my list to search for when I shop.

But tonight, I had to do it.  So this week I might be 85% clean instead of 90%.  But still pretty darn good.  Rest of the ingredients in the soup are organic.   Yes, I use dairy milk which to a lot of people is not "clean."  But it's organic...which is clean to me.  The recipe came from a published cook book, and I do not have permission to copy it here.  But pretty easy to make if you know how to cook.  Onions, garlic, sauteed in butter.  Add potatoes, spices (marjoram, pepper, dash nutmeg, bay leaf,) broth, and a diced pepper if you wish,  Boil, simmer about 20 minutes.  Add can of creamed corn, regular corn, and evaporated milk.  Boil, simmer for a few more minutes.  Remove bay leaves, sprinkle with paprika.  Delish!

Next time I'll try to convince my cravings to let me plan in advance. :D



Happy eating!
Kathy

Simply...Macaroni and Cheese

I make home made macaroni and cheese quite often, either as a main dish or a side.  Probably every other week.  At least. To me, it's a very simple process that doesn't require a lot of pots or pans, dishes, or even work.  I found this recipe and have adapted it to meet my needs.  By meeting my needs, I mean changing it up based on which cheese(s) I have in the house at the moment.

One Pot Mac n Cheese

I'm such a bad blogger that I rarely remember to take pictures when I cook.  I'm such a bad blogger I rarely remember to blog.  Or I take pictures then never blog about them.  But I'm trying to do better.  I promise.

So why is this recipe so easy?  Doesn't mac n cheese require a cheese sauce, made separately then added once the pasta is cooked?  NOT THIS ONE.  The pasta cooks in milk, which turns into the sauce once you add a slurry and cheese.  Can you get any easier??

The original poster has a beautiful picture on the recipe page, so I won't try to copy that.  But I DID manage to snap a few while making it last week.

Step 1: Melt butter in dutch oven, add in spices. Add milk, bring to boil.
Step 2: Add pasta, then a few minutes later add in broccoli.

Here is the pasta and the broccoli (added a few minutes into cooking) boiling away in the milk.

Step 3: While step 2 is happening, grate cheese and make slurry.  I use the mason jar the recipe author suggests, but a small bowl works too.  Preheat oven.

Here is the slurry, before mixing and after.

Step 4: When pasta is cooked, stir in grated cheese, then slurry.  Sprinkle with extra cheese, then pop in oven till brown and bubbly.  My final picture does NOT do it justice.

I usually had a huge block of cheddar cheese in the house, but have been known to pretty much use ANY cheese I have in the house.  I also vary the pepper added in Step 1, based again on what I am in the mood for.  I have never owned the chipotle chili pepper called for in the recipe, so I will use a different red pepper.  Make sure you know your pepper though, as you may not need the same amount, depending on the hotness of it.  You can also vary the veggie added, again based on what you have in the house!

Love this simple recipe.  And all I have to wash is the dutch oven, the cheese grater, and the jar from the slurry.  Which usually goes in the dishwasher...

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Sharing the simple

I love Pinterest.   It leads me to so many places I may never have found without it.

Right now I am sitting on my deck, watching the leaves blow in the wind, got my tunes playing, and the laptop on my lap planning my meals for the week.  I came across this yummy, simple, clean dinner and wanted to share it with you.

~Disclaimer~ I have not tried this recipe yet; and even if you don't use the exact ingredients the poster did, it shows you how simple a meal can be.  A tiny bit of prep, a clock nearby, and you can sit outside near your grill, enjoy a cold beverage of choice, and maybe even watch or play with your kids in the backyard while dinner cooks.

Dinner on the Grill tonight!

Taylor, the original poster, made a simple. dinner all on the grill. Meat, potatoes, salad (yes, I said salad.)

If you try her recipe, leave a comment and let me know.  My main purpose for sharing is to show you the simplicity of it.  Her pictures show a fabulous meal, my teen boys would happily eat it (minus the grilled romaine - we'll have to test that out and see, but we love kale chips, so maybe) and I could sit with my glass of wine while it all cooks on the grill.  I could even prep it before leaving for work in the morning, then plop everything on when I get home.

Dinner, so simple!

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Clean Eating Tailgate Menu

Go RU!! Big game tonight against Michigan.  We're heading out to tailgate and I just finished packing up my cooler.

On the menu is:

Cheeseburgers: grass feed beef with toppings of local bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, ketchup, pickles (last two not made by me but ingredients pass the kitchen test)  All toppings are organic.

Kale chips (local organic kale, EVOO, Himalayan Sea Salt)

Home made apple crisp (cooked in the slowcooker!!) using local organic apples, spices, turbinado sugar and oats (my rolled oats are not organic but they are single ingredient)

Fresh squeezed lemon juice (not organic cause I couldn't find any right now) with turbinado sugar.

Oh, and beer.  :)

Happy College Football Day, and Happy Eating!
Kathy

Happy snow day!!

Well I had planned on going to Costco today to do all my pre-Christmas shopping.  The things you can buy now, and put either in the freezer or set aside until you need them.  Around here it is so busy in the stores the week before Christmas, I'd prefer to not have to fight my way to the butcher section.

Mother Nature had other plans for me.

So here we are, stuck home for a snow day.  My 14 year old son & I decided to have some bonding time by searching for cookie recipes on Pinterest.  If you have not joined yet, what are you waiting for?? Be forewarned, it is addicting.

We had an enjoyable time picking out new cookie recipes and decided which old recipes to skip this year.  We only have a gathering of 10 people, so I don't need a LOT of desserts.  I decided this year to do a small cookie assortment, skip the heavy pies or cakes, this way we could pick as the evening goes on,  We're making a mulled wine to serve after lunch, to smell up the house nice and festive.

If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I am KathIsMath - click on my name to find my page.  Some of my recipes are under Christmas 2013; others are in my cookbook and not online.

If you are interested in my Christmas fun last year, search back by clicking the labels below the post; I had a lot of fun celebrating "The Twelves Treats of Christmas."  I'm off to re-write my shopping list with the new ingredients I need.

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Avoiding Toxic Chemicals in your Thanksgiving Feast

This was shared with me today; am curious about what they say about rice.  I use organic brown rice on a regular basis...must research this more!!

http://healthychild.org/10-ways-to-avoid-toxic-chemicals-in-your-thanksgiving-feast/

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Non-GMO Thanksgiving

Okay, so it's been a bit longer than I had planned, but I've been really busy.  Doing great keeping with my increased clean eating, but I do admit I indulge a bit every now and then. Very little now, so much  more so then. :)

This came across my Facebook page today, and I had to run and share it.

 http://farmersmarkets.streamshare.com/posts/8531#/8531

I can't figure out how to post the picture here; but it's a guide to help you when planning your Thanksgiving meal.  Tells you which foods are safe, and which ones to be cautious of.  Now, keep in mind, this is for GMOs only; does not take into account pesticides or anything else used by farmers.  It is not an organic list.  Just to help you figure out which foods would contain GMOs and which ones do not.

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Book Review - Recipes I Can't Make

Okay, I have spent a lot of time in the last few days reading thru the "mix" portion of the book:  Make-A-Mix.   (If you click on "book review" on the right, you'll see related posts.)

Here is the list of the recipes that have an ingredient that is "un-clean" - if I search the grocery I may be able to find an acceptable option, but at this point I am going to focus on the ones I don't need to hunt for a new ingredient for.  So here are the ones I will be skipping for now and why:

Breadmaker Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Cornbread Mix - uses milk or buttermilk powder
Graham Cracker Crust Mix - uses box graham crackers
Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Whole Wheat Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Quick Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix - uses dry buttermilk
Lemon Pudding Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix
Beef Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Chicken Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
White Sauce Mix -  uses non fat dry milk
Home-Style Dressing Mix - uses MSG "if desired" (can you even buy this??)
Hot Chocolate Mix - uses non-dairy creamer
Russian Refresher Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix (popular drink at one time??)

This leaves me with a whole lot to try!  I am hoping no one puts a hold on the book before I can finish getting through it. :)

As I mentioned earlier, there is a "mix" section and a "recipe section" (made from the mixes.)  Nice concept.

Before I can try the one I really want to try, the brownie mix...I gotta go buy more cocoa powder.  These sure use a lot!! But I guess if you are making a "mix" you want extras to have on hand, right?  The chocolate pudding mix is almost gone. And that makes 6 batches. So much for losing weight. :)

Happy eating, Kathy

Book Review - Chocolate Pudding Mix

Checked this book out of the library this week: Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason & Nevada Haward & Madeline Westover.

It is partially "mix" recipes and partially recipes to make with your mixes.  Since I am still looking for acceptable replacements for some of my family's favorite foods, like tacos and pudding, this book seemed to give me some choices worth trying.

Over the next few weeks I am going to try to make some of the "mixes" and see what happens!

Since I am still missing desserts, I decided to start with their chocolate pudding "mix."  The copyright notice in the front of the book say I am allowed to post their recipe; even though I am linking back to their book & I got it for free from the library, I will just post my opinions.  Don't want to do anything I am not supposed to!!

So I measured out the dry ingredients of my cleanest unsweetened cocoa powder, granulated sugar, cornstarch and salt and mixed it all up:

And then proceeded to actually make the chocolate pudding.  You add milk to a cup of the mix & cook in a pot, stirring just like you would a package mix.  You are supposed to stir in butter & vanilla at the end; since I need to eat low fat, and I couldn't see why I would need butter anyway, I left it out.  I let it sit on the stove while I took pictures, and that film that I love formed on top, just like the box mix.  Take a look:

It's cooling as I type...but sure smells like chocolate pudding.  One thing I can say is that it makes more than the 6 cups of mix. I have a 6c storage bowl that it would not fit in.   But once I used 1c of the mix, it fits nicely.  If you do the math on the dry ingredients, it's a bit over 6 cups.  But once you whisk them together and add in the extra air, it will not fit.  Go for a bigger bowl if not using any right away.

So extra mix is stored, the family's portions in bowls, covered & put in fridge for dessert tonite...and mine is just about cool enough to try. :)

Here goes: it's good!! The taste is slightly different...maybe not as sweet?  Would the butter have made a difference? Hmmmmm...I use fat free dairy milk but it is still thick, creamy...it's good. Will definitely make again AND will be looking through the book to see what other pudding recipes these ladies have included.

Yummy!! Happy eating! Kathy

New Recipe Search

As I plan forward the "veggie" portion of my meals, I find myself to be very uninspired.  I am tired of eating the same old steamed veggies over and over.  Since I cannot eat high fat foods, adding butter or nuts to my portion is taboo.  My kids love garlicky butter on their veggies, especially on broccoli, but I usually end up pulling out a portion for me first, then if I want more I am out of luck. 

So yesterday I went to the library to look through some cooking magazines.  I am very excited, I brought home 11 different issues.  Three of them are vegetarian, and the other eight are from "natural" magazines, so I am hoping to find some inspiration.  So today, while the hubby is glued to the NFL playoff games, I will be reading. Can't wait!!

Happy searching, Kathy

Meals Week of December 30th

Dinners for the week:

(before you judge, this was the week when I created our new advance planning "plan" plus we were coming down from the holiday high and massive leftovers. I did not go near a store.)

Sunday: grilled ham steak with side of brown rice

Monday: breaded chicken cutlets with canned corn & canned string beans
          (I use bread crumbs from my local bakery)

Tuesday: corned beef (made in crock pot, OMG the best way) with potatoes & carrots

Wednesday: pasta alfredo (clean recipe here: Elise's alfredo sauce) and salad

Thursday: empty the fridge & freezer soup
         (home made chicken broth, ground turkey, spinach, pasta, string beans)

Friday: pizza (my kids are going thru withdrawals)

Saturday: shredded honey chicken sandwiches with lettuce & tomato (recipe: Slow Cooker Shredded Honey Chicken) 1st time trying this recipe, will let you know how it came out

Happy eating!! Kathy

Planning meals in advance

How many people out there actually plan their meals in advance?  I find that it is so much easier to eat healthy when my meals are planned ahead of time, instead of throwing things together at the last minute.  Notice I said healthy, not clean.  Since I don't keep any prepared foods in the house (with my few exceptions, of course) I can't make a box of Stove Top Stuffing if it's not there. But I do find myself offering up veggie-free meals more often that I would like, since I never got to the farmers market.  I shamefully admit to serving protein only plates every now and then.

I got to thinking about how I could do better, and was reminded of when I first went back to work full-time.  My kids were young, they were in before and after school care, and my hubby was working far away. By the time we got home, I cooked, we dealt with any home work not done, we were all exhausted.  I ended up home sick a couple days and got this wonderful idea to plan out my meals a month ahead of time.  I printed out a free calendar I found online, inventoried my pantry & freezer, chose the sides that went with each meat, and even stuck little round stickers on each item as it got chosen for a meal with the date on it!  Yeah, I went a bit overboard but it guaranteed that something I was planning on using did not get used by the hubby for a snack or something. 

I listed out our favorite meals, scoured my cookbooks for others, and ended up with 30 days of pre-planned meals that I repeated every month.  Some favorites were served twice in a month, but otherwise there were no complaints of eating the same thing again, as there was a month between servings.  I was able to put together a shopping list for each week of the month, which made my life so easy!! It sounds like a LOT of work, and yes it was, but I had an entire day to myself and once I put my mind to it, it was worth all the trouble setting it up.

The biggest plus to this: I hung the meal calendar on the wall in the kitchen and never had to answer the "what's for dinner?" question!!!  I was able to keep this up for a whole year, then my hours changed, I stopped bringing as much work home with me, and I had more time to plan on the weekends as my son stopped playing football, so I stopped planning that far and just took it one week at a time.  We also found that with my extra income we were going out a bit more...maybe the fact my kids were older and better behaved in restaurants a factor too.

So now I need to use that concept and translate it into our current lifestyle.  I found a set of the calendars and could not believe how much processed stuff was on them, YUCK!!  We also have our new set of health issues to deal with too.  This is what I came up with:

5 week rotation (will skip week 5 if not needed but necessary for January)
each meal contains a protein, carb & veggie

Sun: pasta meal with salad & either meatballs or sausage for the pre-diabetic hubby
Mon: poultry meal with side of carb & veggie
Tues: beef meal with side of carb & veggie
Wed: pork meal with side of carb & veggie
Thurs: combo meal (ex: soups, stews, casseroles, ravioli, tacos - meals that put all 3 groups together)
Fri: pizza (had to give into the kids plus I need a day off)
Sat: protein repeat with side of carb & veggie (repeat pattern: chicken, beef, pork, chicken, beef)
   or leftover night. 

I am planning out my meals mid-way thru the week before.  I buy a lot of my meats from Costco, so I will take my calendar with me when I make my monthly trip there as well.  I find that if I just buy meats, then deal with what to do with them later, I am uninspired later on.  Soooooo...if this works out as planned, I can plan at least the protein portion of the month very easily!!!

To start myself out, I am using up what is in the freezer.  I made an inventory, and plotted in what I have.  Which was not a lot, just enough for another 9 meals, so next week I will head to Costco, take my time & my lists, and be creative!  I am reading about more and more "clean" products being found in their aisles.  I am hoping to offer as much variety as I can with what I do with each protein.  I am using chicken the most, since it is lowest in fat, easiest to buy natural, pretty decently priced, AND is the most versatile!!  I'll keep you updated as we go along.

I am guessing, my family will not even notice every Monday they are having chicken. :)

Happy planning!! Kathy