Green Juice and Broth

 In case you're curious...Here's what my green juice and vegetable broth look like...at least the one jar of broth that I didn't freeze and shatter. I'm always surprised at how the juice separates some to the top and some to the bottom.  So I shookem!

That looks nicer, right?

Since I'm juicing regularly, I'm ending up with quite a bit of pulp and therefore quite a lot of broth.  I'm using it for everything from cooking rice and potatoes to throwing in mixed frozen vegetables for soups.

I feel very virtuous. Ha ha.

You have no idea how easy it is though and how lazy I am. the juicing is the time consuming part with all the washing of the veggies. The soup part is easy - thanks to Crock pot liners and a colander.

In case you're wondering - the green of choice is Parsley. I love the flavor of it but that actual chewing...not so much. It is super good in juice though!

Zucchini before and after

I made zucchini noodles again, yum yum yum. I luv zucc noods :)

Ever wonder what to do with the insides? There is something so good about golden sauteed onions and adding zucchini meat, that makes a really nice meal.

Ok, I'll fess up. I'm eating boring. Since I don't cook meat any more and haven't made it to any stores that have acceptable protein, I'm eating plants -lotsa plants. And quinoa pasta.
And that's all I've been doing with food.

In other news, I've survived another quarter at work, got a raise and now I'm going to be taking a couple classes for enrichment this month. Big stuff!

One class is on how to manipulate people in business and one is about career development - as in how to. I think the career development class will be most beneficial to me since I have few career goals. I'm hoping it will help me focus.

Weekly Meal Plan - Thanksgiving version

You know that most of this week is going to be Thanksgiving leftovers...so I'm making them good!

I have had great success and accolades the last couple years making the maple roasted acorn squash from the gluten free goddess blog, so I'm not going to mess with a good thing!  http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2008/11/maple-roasted-acorn-squash-and.html

For the corn bread I like Bob's Red Mill Gluten free Corn Bread Mix. It makes a nice soft bread that isn't too crumbly, so it holds up well during the mixing.

The curry might sound a little crazy non-traditional for a Thanksgiving dinner, but trust me - it's delicious and no one will think anything of it except the aromatic spices bring out a nice contrast with the apples and cranberries. YUM!

Then there will be the usual staples:

Turkey - I plan to try my famous roast procurement method (http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2012/04/look-i-made-roastand-fab-gf-find.html).  Boar's Head has so many yummy sounding options- how will I choose?

http://boarshead.com/products/turkey

Baked potatoes - which can be mashed with milk/butter for the more traditional, then you have leftover baked potatoes for the rest of the week, which adds a little flair to the 3 day turkey sandwich scenario

Green Beans

Pie

Cranberry Sauce - homemade, of course. It's seriously faster and better than opening a can, unless you just crave the jellied kind (I understand!)

Salad

Raw Mushroom Gravy - to supplement whatever sauce I get from the Turkey. I adore Ani Phyo's recipe: http://aniphyo.com/blog/cauliflower-mash-mushroom-gravy/ No, it's not going to taste like meat but it's savory on potatoes and you'll love it, I promise!

Wild Rice

Random Sides as needed

Wine, Gin and Kool-Aid

For the beginning of the week there's Tuna Salad, Steak and Zucchini Parmesean.

What are you having for Thanksgiving?

Weekly Meal Plan

"Chipotle" style barbacoa burrito bowls

Tuna Casserole

Veggie Soup

Veggie Stir-fry

Steak and Baked Potatoes

Weekly Gluten Free Menu - October 3

So...I cooked 3 pounds of Salmon today, jut to use it up - so this week's menu is basically, salmon, salmon, salmon!

Salmon with Spicy Mango Sauce on a bed of fresh spinach



Salmon with Sweet Red Chili Sauce on a bed of spinach



Salmon Salad sandwiches on Udi's GF bread


Amy's Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese


Baked Potato Soup


Beef Stew

Weekly Gluten Free Menu Plan

Spicy Avocado on parm "toast"

Black Bean Chili

Baked Salmon packets

Wild Rice Hot Dish

Tuna Salad with Pickles!!

Weekly Menu - Sept 13

Vegetable Soup (Frozen Italian veggies and canned vegetable broth), possibly with minute rice

Boars Head Cajun Beef Roast and veggies

Crock Pot Potato soup

Eggs and Hash browns

Amy's GF cheese pizza with added Hormel Pepperoni Slices and black olives

Weekly Menu Plan

Zucchini Noodles & Sauce   http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/like-at-restaurant.html 

Roast Beef  http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-fake-it-and-im-proud-roast-ala-chez.html  and Salad 

GF Mac & Cheese  http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2012/03/most-pathetic-lunch-ever.html 

Tuna Salad Sandwich   http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2010/06/magic-tuna-heavenly-mayo.html 

Eggs and Hash Browns

Leftover Roast to fill in

Crock Pot Meat Balls

Once in a while I cook...a lot of food...all at once...and freeze it. This happened with beef soup and meatballs in the Crock Pot.

My store had a BOGO deal on Laura's ground beef so I took full advantage of it and so thankful for my giant crock pot so I could cook all 4 pounds at once, and probably could have fit another 4 in it too! So I chopped up about 2 large onions and a couple cloves of garlic...

 Got out my 4 pounds of meat...

Put on my gloves 

and my fancy cooking shoes (they get me up high enough to make mixing in the c.p. easier)...

 Put it in the crock and mixed it all up with some salt & pepper.  I was going for fairly plain here since I expect to use the leftovers as burgers, meat sauce, meat loaves etc.

Then I divided it in half again and again until I had 8 half pound balls - effectively 2 servings each...

Then I dumped in 3 cans of Contadina tomato sauce so the cooker would be full enough to work...

And after they were all done I put them in baggies in the freezer. I use baggies instead of my containers because of tomato sauce stains, and I'm going to reheat in glass anyway.

Nestled in with the containers of beef soup * I made the day before. That's like a month of dinners, right there! Woo Hoo!

So, do you do a big cooking day to stock the freezer? Any favorite recipes?

By the way, if you're curious, each 8 ounce meat ball is 8 WW points, including the sauce.

 *Beef soup recipe: 2 pound roast, small baggie of baby carrots, 2 onions quartered, 1 tsp each rosemary, thyme, salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, couple dashes of red pepper flakes and water to fill the Crock Pot. It was too simple to blog alone
:)

6/20 Weekly Menu

I'm starting my weekly menu plan with my Door to Door box:

1 ea. Avocado
1 ea Local Rhubarb 0.5LB
1 ea. Cucumber
2 ea. Zucchini Squash
1 ea. Local Spinach bunch
1 ea. Local Leaf Lettuce
1 ea. Local Tomatoes 1LB
1 ea. Local Green Kale bunch
1 ea. Local Radishes bunch
1 ea. Local Oyster Mushrooms 0.25LB
2 ea. Local Bok Choy

I'm thinking lots of salads, maybe some kale chips. Got the eggs, shrimp and steaks to couple up. Also picked up a carton of Almond Milk and a box of chex. Sound good?

But what do you make with Rhubarb besides pie? I'm not so crazy about the sugar factor... suggestions?

6/13 weekly menu

Hey y'all! I'm trying out a new routine - creating a weekly menu!!

This week's menu for one:

Monday:

Lunch: Hormel Beef au jus, mashed potatoes, simple spinach salad

Dinner: Green salad with tuna salad, carrots, tomato, walnuts, craisins etc.

Tuesday:

Lunch -Leftover beef from Monday

Dinner - Peppered Beef sandwich with pickles and carrot sticks

Wednesday:

Lunch- Leftover Tuna Salad on greens

Dinner- Scrambled eggs with spinach, onions, ham and cheese

Thursday:

Lunch- Peppered beef sandwich with pickles and carrot sticks

Dinner - Curried shrimp and veggies

Friday:

Lunch- Chipotle carnitas burrito bowl, guac

Dinner - snacks as needed after huge bowl from chipotle

Weekend:

Grilled steak, sweet corn and baked beans - snacks as needed :)Egg scrambles if I'm up for breakfast

Almost every morning I have a Larabar and a piece of fruit for breakfast. It's my super portable -take to work breakfast- that saves me time and gives me quick energy from the fruit and long lasting hunger control from the nuts.

Shopping list:

eggs

lunch meat

tuna

steak

corn

Getting my organics delivered really helps with the meal planning, part of the reason I don't do it regularly! I usually just wash everything up and it's pretty easy to match them up with some protein.

Cheers!

Potatoes galore!

So weeks ago I was at the store and they had organic potatoes on sale BOGO in bags, of course I got 2! Then, last week I was cleaning things up and found the bag of them that I had shoved aside to put away later and opened it up and holy mole!! They had all sprouted - huge lots of intertwining sprouts!

I don't know what it is about me that makes potatoes so motivated, but this was ahhhmazing!

Anywhoo...I ripped all the sprouts off, scrubbed and foiled them for baking - some in the oven, some in the crockpot and then I wished I'd have thought ahead...

One little me and 10 pounds of baked potatoes. Online, the verdict was that you cannot freeze them if you wish to eat them later...so I ate a potato with every meal.

I had eggs with potatoes, and potatoes alone, with sandwiches and even with salads. It took over a week, but they are done!

Now, do you wonder will I ever eat another potato again?

Spring Rolls

Look at these babies ;)

I got inspired to make spring rolls, finally and it was super easy! You should try it...

Basically I got some rice sticks, green onions, cucumber, carrots and pre-cooked shrimp. Put a little pickled ginger and Thai Kitchen sweet pepper dipping sauce on the side and tah dah!

It's also a good way to use up the leftover veggies too :)

Now, if only spring will finally get here!! It's been a long cold winter at Cocoa's place. I was so desperate for some sun I went and sat in my car so the sun could beat on me but I wouldn't be out in the cold wind! It was nice and I'm sure if anyone saw me they thought I was nuts. Don't care. I got warm ;p

Leftover Ricotta Puffs aka yum from the deep freeze

Remember the spinach ricotta puffs? (if you don't click here: http://cocoasglutenfreeplace.blogspot.com/2010/05/ricotta-spinach-puffs.html)


Well, I had leftovers and froze them, as usual. Yesterday, I got a craving for them and popped a couple in the micro with some marinara on top. when they came out, I decided they needed a little something extra and topped 'em with shredded Parm.  Oh boy! They were so good  :)

You'll notice, I paired them with a New Planet gf beer.  I'm not really a beer drinker, but this has a nice light taste to it with a hint of orange peel.


Then today I was thinking they would taste really good with a bowl of pasta so I made this:

We have a winner!!  With the quinoa pasta shells it was just like being at an upscale Italian restaurant without panic attacks over cross-contamination.  Heaven, I tell you!

Comfort food

I'm bad. Despite a fridge full of fresh veggies, I am sick again this week so I turned to comfort food.  By comfort, I mean food that has proven never to make me sick and even tends to calm the acid stomach.

So, I was able to keep up with my yogurt and fruit breakfasts

and one day I had a latte and cookies for a snack (don't judge! my tummy hurts)

Then, I was super considerate of my neighbors in cubeville (not!) and actually  popped a can of Kippers to eat with rice cakes for lunch

Did I take the can to the kitchen trash after I was done, you ask? No, I didn't feel up to walking that far.  Some of my coworkers think I have questionable personal hygiene and possibly am in need of antibiotics now, as the smell lingered all afternoon!

For dinner I had my happy standby, tater tots and marinara for dipping, plus a random cherry tomato that needed to be rescued from the giant Romas trying to steal its self esteem (don't tell me you don't make up stories about inanimate objects!)

Today I have managed to eat a tub of greek quinoa throughout the day.  yeah, I packed it in the feta container, so what? It's green y'all!

and right now, I'm snacking on a  bowl of frozen cherries because I'm dying for a little something sweet

If I have dinner, it will no doubt be leftover tater tots from yesterday, possibly covered in cheese. Unfortunately, as I write this the woozy mounts...

Fake Totino's

Since King Soopers tricked me by dangling Amy's Pizza ads out and then not putting the gf ones on sale I've been dying for pizza.  I won't pay a lot for it though or do a lot of work, aka stirring, to get one. Enter leftover corn tortillas and pasta sauce. My little brain said, "Why don't you put the sauce and cheese on those corn tortillas, they kinda look like crusts." So, I did. And I broiled them on low.

And I luv them! They are like mini pizzas. Hey, they are mini-pizzas!

Then my little brain said, "What if you put them in a muffin pan and make little fake-Totino's?"
So I did that too. 

Well...they tasted the same but the bottoms got soft and the tops got crunchy.  Luv the crunchy not so much the soft - so I'll have to perfect this technique. Perhaps straight-up baking would do better than the broiling? Or should I try turning them over?
I'm open to suggestions!

Cleaning out the fridge

Still preparing for the Food Stamp Budget project by eating random stuff from the fridge. Today was Quinoa with milk and maple syrup - super yummy for breakfast!

Quick greek salad for lunch: (Almonds not beans)

Dinner - Chocolate ricotta stuff.

It's got a creamy cakey texture. I really like it. I have to give the Southbeach Diet credit for this recipe though. I changed it a little, instead of a packet of fake sweetener I use a packet of Raw sugar, tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp of vanilla with about 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (not their suggested measurements either). It is crucial that you mix the sugar (or Equal) with the cocoa then add the vanilla to make a paste, then mash it all up with the ricotta or it just doesn't work right. Nobody likes a dry ball of cocoa powder on a spoon!

And a bowl of Corn Chex - yeah, boring.

Total today? $3.25