In the kitchen.....a lot

You have to be, in order to be making real food.  I've brought up before how I really liked the book In Defense of Food, and also the documentary Food Inc.  They have both changed how we eat.  I'm trying to slowly get my family off the Western Diet.  We eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  We're not vegetarians, but leaning more toward flexitarians.  We eat lots of whole grains like whole wheat bread, and whole wheat pasta.  I try to use whole wheat pastry flour in my muffins and cornbread, and I'll use half whole wheat in my cookies.  We only eat brown rice.  We are trying to cut out all processed foods, which can be hard.  We try and buy items with 5 ingredients or less, so I make a lot of homemade stuff.

I just recently found out from my sister, Dawn, that MSG is actually hidden in a lot of foods.  She has the book Chemical Cuisine which tells you other names of MSG.  The hardest part about this new information to me was that I can't find any chicken broth without MSG.  I was using Organic Better than Bouillon which has yeast extract which is the same as MSG.  I guess I'm going to have to make a big pot of my own and freeze it.  My sister slaved away making her own broth and when a recipe called for 4 qts of broth she didn't want to use her precious broth in that recipe.  She served a mission in Italy 15 years ago and she remembers the women spending all day cooking in the kitchen.  One time she was in the grocery store and couldn't even find a brownie mix.  A lot can be learned from the Italians and French and many other cultures and their diets.

Whitney's roommate gave me this recipe and I love it!  The pancakes are so fluffy, healthy, and delicious.  You can also just use all whole wheat flour instead of buckwheat, but the buckwheat is good.  Hazel loves them too.  She eats them plain as a snack.  We like to double the recipe and freeze some of them.  The first week when I got this recipe, I made them three times.

Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes

½ C whole wheat flour

½ C buckwheat flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp. sugar or honey

½ tsp salt

1 egg, separated

1 C buttermilk*

¼ C water

2tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolk, buttermilk, water and butter. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just to blend. In a small bowl, beat the egg white with a whisk until it forms soft peaks. Gently fold the egg white into the batter.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or heavy skillet over medium high heat. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles cover the surface of the pancakes, and their undersides are lightly browned. 

*Winder Farms is the only brand that I can find close by that doesn't have added ingredients.  It's just cultured lowfat milk and salt.  Take a look at your ingredients.  A lot of them have additives.

Chicken salad with avocado dressing

This recipe was from my Everyday Food magazine last month.  The dressing is really good to use on a green salad too.

http://www.marthastewart.com/872698/chicken-salad-avocado-dressing

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

Cauliflower is my vegetable of choice these days.  It has been in my Everyday Food, Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart Living Magazine last month.  I found this soup recipe on a blog and love it.  It tastes just like potato soup and is creamy, but with milk not cream.  You can find the recipe here.  I also found a good Mashed Cauliflower recipe instead of mashed potatoes on pinterest.  I made them, and I thought they were good.  Here is the recipe.

Cauliflower Steaks with Red Pepper and Tomato Salad

This recipe came from Everyday Food.   You cut the cauliflower into slices and fry them with a little bit of oil and garlic.  It was surprisingly really good.  I also served it with forbidden rice.

(Picture taken with Brendan's phone)

Whole Wheat Vegetable Lasagna

I got this recipe on the back of Target's Archer Farms Organic Whole Wheat Oven Ready Lasagna package, and I threw the package away so I don't have the recipe, but it is good.  I doubled the recipe and only put half the amount of spinach in.  The vegetables I used were red peppers, carrots, and zucchini.  My brother and sister came over for dinner and it went fast.  There was only one piece left the next day to take a picture.

Roasted Vegetable Pesto Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

My parents and sister gave me a new pizza stone from Williams Sonoma for Christmas, and I used it for the first time last night.  I really liked how the crust baked on it.  I've made this pizza before, but this was my first time using a whole wheat crust.  I found the dough recipe online and used my bread maker to make it.  I thought it turned out really well, and would make it again.  Here is the dough recipe.

I found this smoothie recipe on pinterest, and it tastes great.  It's a good way to get some greens in, but it  doesn't even taste like spinach.  Hazel and Hattie love it, as you can see!

Plantain Burritos

Not a very good picture I know, but they taste great.  My sister had these at a restaurant in San Francisco and made them for me before.  I just saute the cut up plantains with some oil, garlic, and red onion.  This batch was a little too ripe, and so these were a little mushier than normal, but usually they are better.  Just replace these with meat and serve with your usual burrito fixings.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

These have to be one of my favorite desserts.  I got this recipe a long time ago from a lady on my mission and never tried it (I don't make the mint sauce though).  When Brendan and I went on our honeymoon on a cruise, we had chocolate molten cakes for dessert almost every night and loved them.  When we got home I bought some ramekins and used this recipe, and have been making them ever since.  They kind of taste like a brownie with hot fudge.  Everything is cooked except the center which oozes out and taste like fudge.  Delicious!  I added a powdered sugar heart for Valentine's day just to make it cute.

Huge Rice Krispie Treat Heart

Brendan loves rice krispie treats, so I made him a huge one and wrote I love you in cursive with chocolate and tied it all up.  (Totally not all natural I know, but it was Valentine's Day.)