Green Eggs & No Ham

This sounds ridiculous, but I've been in search of an egg plate for close to 10 years and finally found one, so I got obsessed with making deviled eggs this weekend.  I ran into a snag that turned into genius (if I do say so myself)....  I don't have mayo.  I also don't like store-bought mayo (because of the crap oils they use).  I ALSO don't have any eggs that I can trust to use raw to make my own right now.  So what to do?!  I experimented and came up with this:


Green Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs (preferably organic & pastured)
• 1 ripe avocado

Also start with:

• ~1/8-1/4 c. Extra Virgin Kalamata Olive Oil
• ~2-3 Tbsp. Yellow Mustard
• ~1.5-2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• ~2-3 Tbsp. White Vinegar (be conservative on this one)
• ~1/4 tsp. Salt
• ~1/4 tsp Garlic Powder (optional)
• ~Tumeric (optional)
• ~Cayenne Pepper (optional & to taste)
• ~ dash of Paprika per egg (optional)

Directions:
Prepare, peel and halve the dozen hard boiled eggs and reserve the cooked yolks in a mixing bowl.  Remove the avocado from the shell and the pit and add it to the eggs in the mixing bowl.  Add in the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and a little bit of white vinegar and salt.  Blend until smooth with a hand mixer or blender.   Now here's the kicker:  every person has a different idea of how deviled eggs should taste.  Luckily, you always have leftovers of the filling.  I'd look at the spices in a recipe you already like, start there and adjust accordingly.  So if you like it more mustardy, add mustard, blend and taste until you get the flavor you want.  The same goes for the rest of the ingredients.  Be very cautious with the vinegar.  They don't seem to taste right without some, but it would be hard to bring it back to flavor if you put in too much.  Once you have the filling right, put it in a piping bag or a plastic baggie with the corner cut out & squirt into the empty egg halves.  Top with Paprika if desired...  Et Voila!

I hope you enjoy these too!  (they'd be sooo great for a Seuss Themed party....  hehe)

Faux Beef Burgundy

So, I've been on a rampage to use up food before I go visit my parents for the weekend.  This is especially difficult since we have about a 2 week back-up on our crop share produce.  In order to use up some mushrooms & onions, I thought of a Beef with mushrooms & onions in a red wine base.  Here goes:


Faux Beef Burgundy

• ~1.5 lb. Stew Beef
• 1 medium to large red onion
• 1 pkg white mushrooms
• 1/2-1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
• 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 Bottle Cocobon Red Wine
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 1-1.5 Tbsp Herb de Province, dried
• 1 tsp. Oregano, dried
• 1.5 tsp. French Thyme, dried
• dash or two Paprika

In a 4 qt. slow cooker, make a nest (don't know if this is entirely necessary) of sliced onion and nestle cubed beef in it.  Place cubed Sweet potato and mushrooms on top.  Add spices and pour vinegar and wine all over.  Pour yourself a glass of wine too?  Cover crockpot & either cook on low for ~7 hours or cook on high for an hour and a half, then switch to low for 2.5 hours.  Mine wasn't "pretty" because I took no care or artistry in how I cut the bits, but the taste was to die for!  Serves 4.

Ice Cream Escapades

So this year I started seeing a mini ice cream maker in stores.  It seemed like a grand idea since it would essentially be single serving (I don't need a whole gallon of ice cream at a time).  I waffled.  Then I went to an Irish restaurant in April and had homemade Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream.  Needless to say, I went and ordered the Ice Cream Maker almost immediately - that awesomeness sealed the deal!  True to typical fashion, I decided to throw out the recipes that came with the machine & just wing it.  The first batch failed.  I tried making it with only Heavy Cream & Pureed blackberries & a little bit of vanilla extract.  Fail.  It wasn't bad, but it was like slurping down solid cream & just barely sweet.  Batch 2 was decent and the most recent batch (last night) was almost perfect!  In case anyon'e interested, here's what I made:

Kiwi Ice Cream
3 ripe kiwi - peeled and pureed (ended  up being 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
vanilla extract (probably 1/2-1 Tbsp)

Blend all together & chill.  Pour half in Ice Cream Maker & follow directions. Slightly sweet & slightly tart.  (should make a full pint)

Strawberries & Cream!!!
1.25 cups pureed ripe strawberries
1/2 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/8-1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Blend all together & chill.  Pour half in Ice Cream Maker & follow directions. (will be softer because the Baileys will partially prevent the freezing/setting.)  Should make a little more than a half pint.

New Swamp-Water Smoothie

Ingredients:

• ~ 2 cups washed & loosely loaded spinach
• ~2/3 c. shredded carrots (or the equivalent whole carrots)
• ~1/2 standard pkg blueberries
• 1 medium red apple
• ~2 Tbsp. Almond Butter

Directions:

Put in blender. Blend until ready, put in glass & enjoy.

Nutrition for the whole thing.

Mango Chicken

Made a yummy dish yesterday and thought I'd write it down & post it before I forgot... : )

Ingredients:

• 1 small super ripe mango
• 1 small onion or 1/4 medium/large onion
• 1 Orange pepper (red or yellow would work too)
• 1-1.5 Tbsp. Coconut oil
• 0.5 - 0.75 lb. Chicken
• 2/3 pkg. frozen artichoke hearts
• ~1/4 c. unsweetened, shredded coconut
• ~1-1.5 tsp. cinnamon
• ~.5 tsp. Tummeric
• ~ 1 pinch ground ginger

Directions:

Using a large skillet... Slice onion and pepper into strips & sautee in Coconut Oil with cinnamon, tummeric, and ginger over medium heat until soft. Add frozen artichoke in about half-way through. Cut Mango into small strips. Cut chicken into bite sized bits, & toss into pan to cook. Make sure to mix it around so as to coat chicken in oil & spices. When chicken looks within 5 minutes of being done, add in mango & shredded coconut.

Serves 2. This dish paired well with steamed Asparagus drizzled in lemon juice & seasame seeds.

Pittsburgh Steak Salad

SO I needed something QUICK and easy and really good last night for dinner. Here you go:


Pittsburgh Steak Salad

• 3 thin cut NY Strip Steaks


• Ore-Ida Crinkle Cut Fries


• Cherry Tomatoes


• 1 small onion (sliced)


• 2 medium/small carrots shredded


• 1 Pkg Baby Spinach


• 1 pkg mixed spring greens or Spinach/Red Lettuce Combo


• shredded Provolone Cheese


• Minced Garlic ~3 or 4 cloves


• Garlic Powder


• Onion Salt


• Northwoods Seasoning


• Chili Power


• Sauteing oil of choice (coconut or olive or butter) (~ 1 Tbs)


• Ranch Dressing

Serves: 4

I threw half the bag of Fries in a baking pan, and sprinkled liberally with Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Chili Powder & set it to bake according to directions. Next, I sliced the steaks into thin strips and tossed the pieces in Northwoods Seasoning, Garlic powder and Onion Salt. Meanwhile, I had the minced garlic sauteeing in the oil. Then I tossed the steak bits into the sauteing garlic & oil and browned all sides, careful not to overcook. The salad was assembled by mixing the spinach and mixed greens on 4 plates, adding onions, shredded carrot, and cherry tomatoes. Lastly, top with steak bits, fries, and shredded cheese. Add Ranch dressing to taste. You can probably just prepare the fries and steak without all the extra spices, but what fun would that be? Total time was probably about 30 mins. Enjoy!

Trails, Trials and a new Recipe

Right, so on September 5, I ran in the Arlington Pentagon 9/11 Memorial 5K. I signed up for it with my friend Adi - I told him I would last year. It sounded fun because you finish the early evening race and get a medal, beer & pizza. For two weeks before the race, I went out 2 or 3 times a week to get "back in shape." Two days before the race, I ran a full 3.1 mi. route in a reasonable time and was very happy. It was easy. I showed up at the race, I had a light lunch/ afternoon snack of almonds and carrots and tomato and red peppers and cucumbers and yellow squash... all the good stuff. Lined up, feeling good.... after the first 1.5 mi, I was feeling lousey.... not physically, but mentally. I hated the fool who was standing 60 feet past the starting line telling me we were "almost there, almost done" - I don't care that he was doing it as a joke. I hated the people around me, I hated the route, it was hot (80 degrees, 54% humidity) and sticky... ugh. Then we turned into the last 1.25 mi. It was through a parking lot. With no moving air. Facing into the setting sun. My brain gave out. I walked for 20 feet. jogged some more, walked for 20 feet, jogged, walked & stripped down to my running bra, jogged and finished it out with a ginormous grimace and the feeling that I wanted to throttle someone. I lumbered off grumbling for some pizza and leftover veggies.

Not a triumphant moment. Then I started thinking about it. whether I keep going or not is all mental. I know at this point that I prefer woods running to urban running. After that race, I decided to set my sights on distance running and working my way up to trails. The following Friday I went and decided to try running the Loop around Lake Accotink. It's 3.8 mi round trip, mostly through trees, with a smooth, clean, gravel/dirt trail. This plan was inherently a bad idea. I had spent the day running around in platform knee boots with a 3.25 inch heel. If you've worn heels, you can do the math... if you haven't... well, by the end of the day your foot muscles have partially atrophied and frozen into the shape of the shoe, it's hard to put your heel down flat because your Achilles is all tight, and probably you've partially bruised the ball of your foot from the abuse of the shoes. So I get home from work, kick my boots off, change, hop into my Fivefingers and drive to the lake. Anyone not familiar with barefooting should be told that to do it properly, you need to have your whole foot relaxed to flex with the terrain and absorb the rocks & bumps properly. Uh... yeah... I take off... the trail's rougher than the normal asphalt, about 1.25 mi in, I'm feeling good, except the balls of my feet are tender. I step wrong on a large stone on my left foot and add a good beating to my already tender left foot. Ow. I keep going, but now I'm favoring that foot. after the turn around at 1.5 (the sun's going down so I nix the idea of doing a full loop), the favoring of the left foot has been throwing off my mechanics, so a stabilizing tendon in my left knee is starting to get angry with me. Also, my stomach is cramping for some odd reason, and I'm getting overheated - argh! In a race this would make me stop. In the woods, I was still smiling and having a helluva lotta fun and kept going, albeit being more careful how I planted my left foot. I finished a full 3 miles back to the car, it felt like I had only been out for 15 minutes, and I was singing with the radio on the way home. That's it. I'm only going to do trail running from now on.

Today I went out to Accotink again and did the whole 3.8... finished it in 39:15. It certainly didn't feel like 40 minutes. I didn't feel done when I stopped. J was doing the south-west half of the lake only, so I passed him on my way around. He hadn't come out of the woods yet, so I ran back to find him, then ran back with him & did a cool down walk. totalled out at 4.25 miles and felt like I probably could have gone farther if I didn't have other things to do. : ) I'm pretty happy. I need to find a bigger loop to work on and soon I need to start making little forays off the groomed trail onto some of the hiking trails that shoot off to the sides... I need to get some of my ankle muscles stronger - the ones that control lateral stability. They're just a little sore at the moment. I recognize this from when I first started running.... they're not used to being used quite that much. They're a lot stronger than they were two years ago, though, that's for sure! So yeah, apparently trails and woods make me happy & I'll just have to stick to that. I always come out of there feeling like I could take on the world. Accotink also looked like it had good opportunities to practice some of my MovNat stuff if I get off the beaten path, so I can't wait to try it. Whee!

Also, yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I hope you all participated... I spent most of the day running around trying to find a good pirate hat.
AAAAaaaarrrrrr! to ye!

As promised, here's a new recipe for a side dish that I made up while trying to finish most of the leftover veggies in the fridge:

Eggplant Side

3 mini-eggplant thinly sliced (~1/4 thick, tops), or equivalent large EP
1 stalk heart of palm sliced like EP
~2 Tbsp. minced garlic
~2 Tbsp coconut oil
Copious amounts of cinnamon reasonable dusting across whole pan twice
~1 Tbsp lemongrass herb paste (may be able to sub lemon juice)
~ sauteing eggplant, heart of palm, garlic, cinnamon & lemon grass paste in coconut oil ( in lieu of CO, maybe just butter and then add a bit of shredded coconut for flavor), after a few minutes, added a bit of water & covered the frying pan to add some steaming... cooked until eggplant melted in your mouth (15-20 mins). Taste. Add more cinnamon if necessary, add in maple syrup, stir, & add a bit of spinach at the very end - cooked just long enough to wilt. This served two.

By mini-eggplant, I used these:

Amazing Pizza

So yesterday I tried to continue with my eating healthy & fully with a salad bar lunch at Whole Foods (hot squash medley in tomato & onion sauce and a salad of spinach & field greens with Broccoli, Quinoa, shredded carrot & grilled chicken breast topped with Balsamic vinegar). Then I made a salad & pizza for dinner. It's one of my famous Trader Joe's Pizza Concoctions... I "hunt & gather my way through the store. It was amazing. Try it sometime. : )

Trader Joe's Pizza #5

• 1 ball of Garlic & Herb Pizza Crust Dough
• 2 hunks of Hearts of Palm=, sliced into circles
• 10 Pitted Kalamata Olives, sliced into quarters
• ~ 5 Marinated Artichoke Hearts, juice squeezed out & separated into different leaves
• ~10-12 large leaves of fresh Basil
• ~ 5 baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• ~1/4 cup of Quattro Formaggio Shredded Cheese Mix
• 2/3 jar of TJ's Vodka Sauce

Preheat oven to 425 according to crust package directions. Put 2/3 of the jar of Vodka Sauce into a sauce pan and boil over Med/Hi heat until turns into a wet paste consistency (~15-20 minutes). Either slice mushrooms or chop coarsely with a chopper. Saute mushroom pieces in Coconut Oil for ~ 5-10 minutes. Roll out crust to size of pizza pan or stone (mine's about 14-16 inch). Top Crust with Vodka Sauce Paste, basil leaves, sauteed mushroom, chopped olives, Heart of Palm & artichoke. Finish topping lightly with cheese. Bake for ~7 minutes or so. This crust never seems to get "golden", so just poke it. Cut, serve & enjoy!

If sliced into 8 pieces, this ends up being about 230 +/- calories per slice. : )

In addition to the pizza, I made a small entree salad of baby spring greens, fresh garden tomatoes, pine nuts, a medley I got at Whole Foods comprising coconut shavings, raisins & Cacao Nibs, and some sweet chicken I made by coating chicken breast pieces in a mixture of honey, agave, & Cassia Cinnamon. This was topped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I made the mistake of putting in the Kalamata Olives. Bad idea. Don't do that with a sweet salad. Lastly, there were Champagne grapes for dessert.

Hope you get a chance to try the Pizza & enjoy!

Cooking with Binkle, Ep.1

Well, I got inspired last night to cook at home. I don't like recipes so much. I like to experiment... I thought: "Vegetables, I need Veggies..." and then thought: "dinner salad!" and wandered into Trader Joe's. First things first - pick a meat. I really wanted to grill up some Salmon, so I headed to the meat section to see what was to be had. Here's what I came up with:

Dijon Cider Pistachio Salmon Salad

1 package Herb Dijon Salmon Fillets
1 Bag Baby Spring Greens Mix
1 Bag Raw Pistachio Nutmeats
Apple Cider Vinegar
Manchego Cheese
White muchrooms
Vine ripened tomatos
Maille Old World Whole Grain Dijon Mustard

I used 1.5 C of salad greens per salad, tossed on a handfull of mushroom slices crumbled up. I split 1.5 fillets of Salmon between the two salads - maybe overkill, but eh.... I tossed the pistachios in my mini processor and chopped them up and put about 1/4 C chopped pistachios on each salad. added 1/4 C shredded manchego per... then 5-6 quartered tomatos. Lastly, I mixed 1/2 C Cider Vinegar with about 1-1.5 Tbsp of Maille in a bowl and mixed them together to make a dressing and poured half over each salad. It was A) filling, B)divine, and C) relatively low-cal, but flavorful. Go try it. Make sure not to over-grill the Salmon. Enjoy!