Changing up the breakfast routine

As the weather has gotten colder, I was in search of warm (and quick) breakfast ideas.  I really enjoy Dunkin' Donuts' veggie egg white flatbread.  I just didn't want to keep spending the money on it and figured I could make my own with some experimentation.  I baked the egg whites so they were nice little patties and froze them once they cooled.  So I just take them out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and let it cook while I finish getting ready for work.

Dunkin' Donuts Copy Cat Egg White Flatbread Sandwiches (slight variation)

Ingredients:
- 12 egg whites (if you use the carton like I do, just follow the equivalency chart on the container.)
- Garlic salt (3 good shakes of the container)
- Pepper (I like a lot so I put enough to cover the egg white mixture in the bowl)
- Veggies of your choice (I just used green and red peppers, but next time I'll add mushrooms.

Stir the ingredients around really well.
Pour even amounts into a jumbo muffin tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  (I flipped mine half-way through just so they weren't so wet.  I like my eggs on the drier side.

I toasted a light mulit-grain English Muffin (fewer points plus values than regular versions) and put a slice of cheese on the egg white patty.  YUM!







Now the overnight oats came about when I was sick of all the cereal.  So, even though this is a cold breakfast, it's nice to add a bit of variety into the normal morning mix.  I've seen them assembled in mason jars and the cuteness/presentation factor just adds the desirability of these morning parfait-like treats.  PARFAITS!  Everybody loves parfaits. 

Here are the links for these and they vary slightly.  I have had them all and they all are good.

Non-vegan:

http://www.theyummylife.com/Refrigerator_Oatmeal

http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/meal-ideas/7-must-try-mason-jar-meals?page=4

Vegan: (I've mentioned hers before)

http://ohsheglows.com/2010/04/08/easy-vegan-overnight-oats/

Vegetarian Gyros

Why didn't I think of this sooner?  In a bout of laziness for meal preparation, I decided to take things I enjoyed when I ate meat and make them veggie friendly.  I really wanted a gyro and thought I would just make a gyro without any meat.  But, I was missing protein.  Then it dawned on me.  Why not cut up a veggie burger and use that for the meat substitute?  DOY!

It was really yummy!

Vegetarian Gyro

•  pita bread
• cucumbers (cubed)
• tomatoes (sliced)
• lettuce (I used romaine)
• Morningstar's Mushroom Lover's Burger (or any burger you like, but this one worked really well)
• Tzatziki (I found a cucumber dressing at Edward's Apple Orchard.  I may have to make my own when this runs out though.  If I have to make it, I'll post that recipe later.)

There's really not much prep other than heating the veggie burger and cutting it up.  Then throw all the stuff in a pita and voila!  Masterpiece made. 

The Gallagher of Pumpkins

Some people call me the space cowboy...some call me the Gallagher of pumpkins.  Waaaaaa....wuuuuuuuuuurrrrrr.

That's right.  I saw.  I bought.  I conquered.  Well, the pumpkin did put up a good fight, but I prevailed!  I know it's been said that one of the keys to cutting a pumpkin is a sharp knife.  I thought my knives were sharp enough until I went to cut into that bad boy.  And at first, it was not going well.  So, like any normal person, I proceeded to put my cutting board with pumpkin in tow on the floor of my kitchen and used my body weight against the knife to cut said pumpkin.  Nothing.  At this point, my knife is stuck in the pumpkin and I cannot cut further and cannot retrieve it from the pumpkin's grasp.  Naturally, this progressed into the next logical step.  Smash the S.O.B. into smithereens.  With the pumpkin stuck on my knife, I lifted the knife (and attached pumpkin) into the air and smashed it down on my cutting board.  SUCCESS!  Hey, it works for lumberjacks cutting wood.  Why wouldn't it work on pumpkins?

Since this worked so well, I continued to use this very sophisticated and highly evolved method to cut the rest of the pumpkin and to also cut the skin from the pumpkin flesh.  Sure, parts of pumpkin were literally flying across my kitchen but it was all part of the experience.  Next time, I'm charging admission because I'm sure it would be quite entertaining to watch.

And let me say I felt very awesome after this adventure.  I used the entire pumpkin (minus the skin/vine) and found that there is something very satisfying in using something in its entirety and having little to no part of it go to waste.

I roasted the pumpkin seeds and added some garlic salt to them.  YUM!  Click here for how to roast them.  (I followed her directions, but found mine needed a bit more time to cook thoroughly.  Checking them often is helpful in preventing the burning of the inner seed.)

Well hello little fella!  Just keep roasting.  Just keep roasting.











Next on the docket, pumpkin corn chow-dah! 

















It actually thickened up quite nicely, but I'm sure you could add a bit of flour if you wanted it thicker.  I found this recipe on Pinterest, but here it is for your convenience.  I didn't have any peppers, which made me very sad.  They're one of my staples.  How could I not have peppers?  But, I just threw in some green beans.  I figured, "Eh, they'll go with the rest of the ingredients."  Apparently, that's how I'm cooking nowadays.  Haphazardly following recipes.

And lastly, I made some pumpkin bread.  I used canned pure pumpkin for this recipe so although I did not smash any pumpkins for this recipe, I figured it still went with the general pumpkin theme for the evening.  I really enjoyed this!  Next time, I'll experiment with alternative flours, but I figured it was best to stick to the recipe as close to the original as possible the first time I baked it.  (Cooking's different.  I have a bit more leeway.  Baking I feel needs to be more precise.)  The only thing I changed was I subbed unsweetened applesauce for the oil.  Oh, and I replaced some of the sugar with honey.  Okay.  Apparently I didn't stick to the original recipe all that closely.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the recipes if you try them out yourself!  And if nothing else, I hope you at least enjoyed my story or the visual of me going Gallagher on the sugar pumpkin.

I Picked a Peck of Non-Pickled Peppers

Really, I just went to the store and walked my happy self over to the veggie section and went to town. 

Here are a few recipes I made recently.  The first one I got from a friend of mine so it is by no means my own creation.  No surprise there.  Most of what I blog about have come from another source to which I always give credit.

Veggie Fold-Over Quesadilla
WW Pts. + Value: 10 (very filling by the way)

Ingredients:
- 1 Flat Out Brand tortilla
- 1/2 c. sliced Vidalia (sweet) onion
- 1/2 c. chopped peppers (I used green and yellow)
- 1/2 c. of sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 c. shredded cheese
- 1 tsp. olive oil



Steps:
1. Cut all the vegetables and put them in a frying pan with the olive oil.
2. Once they've finished cooking (onions are soft or clear), put them in a bowl off to the side.  Leave the heat on b/c you're jumping right into step 3.
3. Place the Flat Out halfway in the frying pan (like in the first picture).
4. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese (1/8 c.) on the Flat Out.
5. Put the veggies on top of the Flat Out in the pan.
6. Top the veggies with the remaining cheese (another 1/8 c.).
7. Fold over the top of the Flat Out that was on the outside of the pan.
8. Let it cook for a few minutes until the Flat Out begins to brown and becomes a bit crispy.
9. Flip the quesadilla.  (Tricky, but doable with some practice.)
10. Let the other side brown a bit then slide it off onto a plate to serve.



And here's the other recipe I made recently that was a nice change up from my normal menu.  This one was quite random and occurred when I was rummaging through my pantry and fridge to figure out what to eat.  It really happened with this mindset: "Hmm...I have some veggies.  Throw all this stuff together in some barley or rice and edamame that needs to get used up?  Sounds good!" 

Barley with Vegetables and Edamame

Makes 3 servings
WW Pts + Value: 8

Ingredients:
- 1 c. uncooked barley (serving size - 1/3 c.)
- 1 c. sliced Vidalia (sweet) onion
- 1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
- 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1/4 c. shredded carrot
- 6 oz. (1/2 bag) of shelled edamame
- 6 tsp. of sesame seeds (or 2 tsp. per serving)
- 1 tbsp. garlic salt
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. butter (I use Brummel & Brown with Yogurt)
- 3 tbsp. of Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing (1 tbsp. per serving)


Steps:
1. Begin by cooking barley according to the directions on the box.  Make sure to watch the time as you cook the rest of the meal.
2. Then cook the edamame according to the package directions.   (I microwaved them.)
3. Put oil and butter to frying pan and when it's heated (butter melted), add vegetables.
4. Sprinkle with garlic salt as the vegetables are cooking.  Stir occasionally.
5. Once the onions are clear, you'll know the vegetables are cooked thoroughly.  Turn off the heat.
6. Put 1/3 c. of barley on a plate and top with the veggies, edamame, sesame seeds, and dressing.


I also put a salad together as a starter, but found out the barley and veggies were quite filling and couldn't even finish the whole dish!  For the homemade vinaigrette for the salad, I used the recipe from my Vitamix cookbook.  You can view the recipe on their website here.

I'm on a roll with rolled oats!

Boom baby!  I made some tasty coconut oatmeal cookies.  The granola bar extravaganza from my last post inspired me to try dabbling adventurously in the kitchen to come up with my own recipes.  I took the basis for the granola bars and added a few more cookie-like ingredients.  Let me say, the coconut makes the cookie.  At least in my opinion it does and since it's my blog, I can put my opinion where I want!  And it's going here...and can be found again below.

And let me go on record as saying, it is a GORGEOUS day outside and the breeze is blowing through the windows.  It is weather like this that I bask in (or in which I bask for you crazy English grammar people).  It reminds me of what summer leading into fall feels like, which gets me excited because fall is my favorite time of year.  

Random note for the day: I was thinking I would try to find a way to give you an option to print the recipe, but figured you could just select and print selection.  Plus, Blogger doesn't have an easy little gadget for me to add to make that happen.  So, please let me know if the selection/print isn't working for you and I'll see what I can do.

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies 

Yields: 16 large cookies

 

Ingredients:

• 2 c. oats (I used quick dry oats)
• 1/2 bag (or 3.5 oz) of dried fruit
• 1/2 c. of unsweetened shredded coconut/coconut flakes (or coconut flakes).  If you can't find unsweetened, try eliminating the brown sugar.
• 1/4 c. brown sugar (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 very ripe bananas

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together.
3. Put heaping spoonfuls onto your baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden.  (You can also use the toothpick test.)

Note: These do not rise/spread out like traditional flour cookies.
Note: You can always put smaller spoonfuls on the baking sheet if you want to get more out of the mixture without doubling the ingredients.

My apartment's a disaster. But, I made yummy food!

In my last post, I mentioned how I was a maniac cooking up all sorts of dishes.  Well, experimenting with 2-3 new dishes makes me a maniac in my book.

I saw on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest) about adding fruits to regular water to break up the monotony of drinking plain water upon plain water upon plain water.  Well, this was freakin' delighful! I made raspberry and lime water (left) and strawberry water (right).  I let the fruit sit in overnight and then strained out the water so the fruit didn't fall apart and get gross in the water.  I also put strawberries in my ice cubes for a little somethin' somethin'.

 

Another Pinterest adventure was this cauliflower pizza crust, which you can find here for the recipe.  My friend Nikki suggested it and I really enjoyed it.  I made my own sauce courtesy of my Vitamix blender (which I am obsessed with now) earlier in the week and just froze it.  So, all I did was nuke it so I could spread it on the crust.  Then I topped it with mushrooms and peppers with half having turkey pepperoni.  Because the crust is cauliflower, I definitely think a meatier texture from the pepperoni or mushrooms was needed.  I might try making a taco pizza with this crust and see what it's like.

And lastly, I made my own granola bars.   I kept looking for recipes and wasn't finding one that struck my fancy.  So, I got gutsy and made my own.  I figured I would keep adding ingredients until it was the right texture and hope for the best.  And since I didn't use eggs, I could taste as I was making it so see if it needed more spices.

 

Note: These aren't very sweet, which was my goal.

Here's my granola bar recipe if you want.  My next attempts will include ones with nuts and I think for a nice fall bar I'll experiment with adding pumpkin, different seeds like sunflower seeds, and more cinnamon.

Nut-Free Granola Bars:

Ingredients:

• 3 c. rolled oats (I only had quick oats so that's what I used)
• 1/2 c. flax seed
• 1 1/2 c. dried fruit (I used 1/2 c. dried cherries, 1/2 c. dried cranberries, 1/2 c. Sun-Maid "Fruit Bits")
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 - 1/2 c. brown sugar (optional, but I added 1/4 c. b/c I didn't want it too sweet)
• 2-3 tbsp. pure maple syrup
• Several sprinkles of cinnamon (I just added enough sprinkles to cover the top of the mixture in my bowl)

Steps:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix ingredients together starting with the dry and adding wet ingredients.
3. Spread out mixture onto parchment-lined baking sheet. (I wanted thin bars so I used a bigger baking sheet, but if you want fewer, thicker bars, use a smaller sheet or pan.)
4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until top is fairly dry. (You can always do the toothpick test too.)
5. Flip the granola over.  (You'll noticed what was the bottom is a bit wet)
6. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until top dried out some.
7. Let cool and cut into bars.  I cut mine into 12 bars.

I'm a maaaaaniac..maaaaaniac on the floor.

I just put the image of Chris Farley's gas pump dance scene from Tommy Boy in your head, didn't I?  Oh I didn't?  Well, now I did. You're welcome.

I have been quite the little cooking machine.  Stella...move out of the way because Kristen got her grove back!  <insert sassy finger snap>  I was in a rut with cooking because I was sick of the food I kept making and didn't want to try new recipes because if they were bad (or I didn't do something right), then I just wasted time and money.  Plus, now what the heck am I going to eat for dinner?  And since I'm only one person, that means I'm out lunch and dinner the next day too!

Well, I decided that if I stick with recipes that mostly use ingredients I know/like, then chances are things will go well.  I came across this recipe called "Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers."  I didn't want the meat called for in the recipe so I changed it.  Chicken or black beans sound like good alternatives depending on what you like.  I must say, this was quite the delicious dinner!  I have been on the lookout for food that is lower in carbs and I found this gem.

 

 

I'm not completely cutting out carbs (obviously there are carbs in vegetables), but my goal is to be more conscious about the types of carbs I'm eating.  I want to eat fewer bread type carbs and instead incorporate more carbs from veggies while still occasionally using oats, rice, quinoa, etc.

If you're interested in making the recipe yourself, here is the link.  If you notice, I sliced the provolone in half for the inside of the peppers because I only found medium sized peppers and let's face it.  Fitting a whole slice of provolone in those peppers was like fitting 5 pounds of crap in a 3 pound bag.  Not going to be pretty.  But, I still think my half a slice of provolone worked out really well.

Next on the menu, mini pies.  This is what actually got me back into the baking/cooking mood when I made a version of these for my best friend's birthday earlier this month.  Then I made them again for another bestie's birthday.

I made a cranberry/strawberry filling.  I learned the hard way, but luckily you get to benefit from my mistakes.  Since strawberries are pretty watery already, mixing them with sugar only pulls out the liquid.  (I should have known this because I've made a sauce where you sprinkle some sugar over strawberries.  Place it in the fridge and the sugar pulls out the liquid for a great sauce on Angel Food Cake.)  Anyway, I decided to add cranberries to help thicken things up.  Then there was liquid draining, sugar adding, rinse, repeat, you get the idea.  So, this is what I would do next time:

Sauce/Filling for Mini Pies:

1.) Put cut strawberries and 1/3 c. sugar in sauce pan.  Turn up to a medium heat and stir regularly.

2.) After about 5 minutes, the strawberries will have a liquidy sauce.  Adding the cranberries will help thicken it up.

3.) Then add about 1/2 a bag of cranberries to the mix along with 1/4 c. of water and 1/4 c. of sugar.

4.) If the sauce looks too runny/pink, add more sugar.  If it's too thick, add a bit more water.  

*Note, the sauce won't completely jell until cooled so if it's bright red and a little thick, then you're good.  I notice it's done when I lift the spoon out of the sauce and can see little bubbles on the spoon.

*Alternative method: follow the instructions on the cranberry bag (1 c. water, 1 c. sugar, bag of cranberries).  Then add blueberries once the cranberry mix is heated.  The blueberries weren't as temperamental as the strawberries, but both tasted yummy in my opinion.

Original Crust:
This lady clearly knows what she's doing and mine look like crap compared to hers (mine look more like tarts) but hey.  I'm not a full time chef here so cut me some slack.  You can use her recipe for the crust.  The only issue I had was it didn't make as many pies as I thought it would have.  Probably an error on my part.  After all, we already established I'm the novice.

For this version, I played around with an alternative crust.  Instead of using all-purpose flour like I did last time, I made my own oat flour to use instead.  Thanks, Vitamix!  (I also made some brown rice flour too, but the oat flour takes much less time and I was reading online how the oat flour works better in pie crusts.)

*I used her recipe except I substituted the all-purpose flour for 2 c. of oat flour and 1/2 c. of potato starch.  (I read that potato starch helps makes recipes a bit smoother and not so grainy.)  I also tried cutting down on the butter and only used one stick.  Um, yeah.  It was a bit crumbly so I'm going to wager a guess that I need to add the other stick or see if adding applesauce for the other half helps.

Next on my list was trying this Hungry Girl recipe for this Greek slaw salad.  It calls for raspberry vinaigrette, which gives it a little bit of sweetness.  It was different, but good different.  I made the vinaigrette from scratch and again, gotta thank my Vitamix.  I'm seriously adoring that thing!

Yum all around!!!  And for the record, I think I would enjoy cooking/baking so much more if I had a dishwasher...not named Kristen.  One named GE, Maytag, or Whirpool.