The Quest for Real Food

I'm Back!

I have been away for too long. Today I am going to try a new recipe but before I blog about it I am going to blog about another recipe I tried last week.

Crockpot Curry Amazingness. It wasn't titled that but that is what I have renamed it. I am attaching the link to Three Many Cooks. I have recently stumbled upon them and have really enjoyed their blog. I hope you LOVE it as much as I did.

http://threemanycooks.com/uncategorized/slow-cooker-chicken-curry/

Pregnancy and Pancakes

I love pancakes, but never more than when I am pregnant. Seems the sweet blandness is always a welcomed meal. This morning I made up a recipe that I found on allrecipes. Since trying it almost a year ago it has become a staple recipe of my home. Healthy AND delicious! Now, I share it with you. PS. If you have a hard time finding whole wheat pastry flour, I found it at Whole Foods. Also, I have made this recipe many times with half the amount of oil and they are still delicious.

Wheat Germ Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Submitted by: KAYKWILTS

Original Recipe Yield 12 pancakes

Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix eggs with oil and buttermilk. Stir in baking soda, wheat germ, salt and flour; mix until blended.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides, turning once.

My love affair with Fall

There are many reasons of why Fall is, quite possibly, my favorite season. And though it is things like cool weather and Halloween that lure me in, it is the overwhelming need to eat food that include apples in the list of ingredients that I have been thinking about the most (maybe it is just the pregnancy...) Last year I had the opportunity to visit Apple Hill. I must say, I have felt the need more than once to drive over 6 hours just to get back there. So here is to fall, apple pie, caramel apples, apple donuts, and any apple goodness.

Zesty Southwestern Turkey Burgers- for Caitlin Snee

Last night I tried a new recipe. It was quite delicious. I made a few modifications but the recipe came from an advertisement from Sunset magazine (another favorite of mine, now that I am a farmer...ha!). This is what the recipe turned out to be:

Zesty Southwestern Turkey Burgers

4 whole wheat buns
4 turkey burger patties (I chose frozen)
4 slices of cheddar
red onion
jalapeno
2 T lime juice
1 t lime zest
1/2 c BBQ sauce

For the sauce: Mix BBQ sauce, lime juice, and lime zest together and set aside.
For the everything else: Coals are nice but I cooked mine on the stove top, grill pan is preferable. Cook turkey patties through, remove when cooked and lay sliced cheddar on top. Slice 4-1/4 inch onion rings and grill until tender and caramelized. Finely dice jalapeno pepper.
To assemble: Toast buns, slather BBQ sauce on top. Sprinkle one side with jalapenos. Lay red onions and burger with cheese on top of jalapenos. Top with other half of bun and savor the flavors!

Welcome Back

It has been too long. So much to catch up on! First, I have new pictures of my garden to share.

My son helped me water one day and completely drowned the bush beans...hence the yellow leaves. They have finally come back to life and are starting to flower now. Yay!

The center planter has 2 zucchini plants, one sugar pumpkin, and one yellow squash growing in it. So far 2 zucchini have popped out and one pumpkin is on it's way! So cool.

Beginning of a pumpkin pie...smell the deliciousness.

The first little zucchini, so precious.

Lastly, the corner planter is going crazy! I planted a ton of stuff that never came but the sunflowers are growing tall and the pumpkin is TAKING OVER! I also have some onions and one little sweet basil that came through. Can't wait to make pesto...that is going to be a while...

Baby Basil

The quest continues. I was reading my Everyday Food magazine the other day and the editor actually commented on making food from real ingredients...I smiled. I am glad that there seems to be a movement back to the "good ole days" where food was made from scratch from ingredients that have name we can pronounce.

Lately I have been experimenting with new grains. They are quite fun! Great textures. A couple of my latest favs are spelt berries and Israeli couscous. The spelt is nice and chewy. I tried a recipe that made a salad out of it including the couscous, goat cheese, asparagus, and meyer lemons. It was ok. What I really loved was the texture of the grains. I will definitely be playing with spelt again soon.

Healthy Appetite

I have found a new source for recipes. Ellie Krieger. I really love her stuff. At first I was drawn to the title of her show "Healthy Appetite" found on the Food Network. I decided to DVR it and have watched it every week since. What I love about her way of cooking is that she uses real ingredients, in their natural form. She is a Registered Dietitian and believes in food's natural qualities. Maybe what I like the most is that she tells me I can eat dark chocolate, you know...healthy antioxidants. All in all, she cooks like I like it, from all of the food groups and from scratch. I recently made her 4 Cheese Macaroni and snuck about 3 cups of squash into my children's meal, happy kids-happy mom. Check her out, she is on on Saturday mornings.

Salsa Goodness

I have recently been taught a new way of making salsa. Kiara, our roommate, has taught us how to make a superb salsa. In fact, along with our Indian neighbor's rice (I will blog about it soon), we make it every Monday so that we can have it all week long. As I was making the salsa yesterday I felt that it should be shared with everyone :) So, here it is! Enjoy.

Kiara's Salsa

2-3 lbs fresh tomatoes
2 yellow chili peppers, stems removed
1 jalapeno, stem removed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 onion, peeled
salt

Fill a dutch oven 1/2 full of water and bring to a boil. Toss all of the ingredients into boiling water. Boil until the skin on the tomatoes is curling off, I do it for 7-9 minutes. Drain vegetables. Peel tomatoes. Put all vegetables into a blender and blend until there are no chunks but not too long that it is not somewhat thick. Let it refrigerate for about 20 minutes then add salt to taste. Enjoy!