Good Fuel

Tonight after dinner, Jesse will train by riding his bike and I will run. We obviously need some good fuel for our bodies to perform their best. What I'm making for dinner is delicious, easy, inexpensive (it's not expensive to eat healthy, quit with your excuses) super fast and most importantly, nutritious.

Sorry there isn't a picture of the finished product- we will eat and run.

Quinoa pilaf, baked chicken and green salad. I'll explain the pilaf since the rest is self explanatory:

Red onion, finely chopped
Mushrooms, sliced (whatever kind you have)
Carrots, finely chopped
Chopped spinach (I only had to frozen kind)
Quinoa
Chicken bouillon (I always use "Not Chick'N" because it tastes so damn good)

Slowly caramelize the onions in extra virgin olive oil. Now, I don't mean saute, I mean caramelize. Cook on medium and it could take up to 45 minutes- the key is low and slow. Add the mushrooms and carrots about halfway through and cook until everything is super soft and lovely.

As that's cooking, make your quinoa: 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water with a couple bouillon. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook until the water is absorbed. I live at 9,000 feet and it takes me about 20 minutes.

Defrost spinach. Combine the onion mixture, spinach, quinoa and combine and cover. Serve with a small green salad (don't screw it up by dumping Ranch all over it) and the baked chicken and you're set.

My Addiction

Okay, this is one of my biggest addictions: carne asada street tacos. So simple and delicious. I could literally live on these, dark chocolate, wine, running and asparagus for the rest of my life. We have a carniceria near our house and I've been hitting it up a few times a week for meat and seasonings. I love that place. I speak very little spanish and they speak very little english, so I never really know exactly what the butcher is giving me. These tacos are made from the skirt steak cut, as they traditionally are. I chopped them myself from the long pieces the guy gave me.

So, here is the EASIEST recipe ever:

skirt steak, chopped

a few sprinkles of "condimento de la carne de vaca" (this was a little bag of beef seasoning I found for $1.25 in their seasonings section- they all hang in baggies on the wall. I think it's chile powder, cumin, garlic, oregano, onion powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.)

corn tortillas (I got some they made in house without yucky oils or lard)

pico de gallo (I bought theirs since it's off the freaking hook)

Cook the meat over almost high heat so it's done quickly and the juices are sealed inside. I added the seasoning about halfway through. Put the meat on the tortillas, add pico and shove in your face.

Whole Wheat French Toast Casserole

Want comfort food on a cold snowy morning without the guilt? Whamo!

• 1 small loaf of hearty crusty whole wheat bread (the kind from the bakery, not the soft stuff)
  
• 10 eggs
• 3 cups unsweetened soy milk (most recipes call for 3 cups of half & half. Seriously?!)
  
• 1 tablespoon Sugar in the Raw
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I know it seems like a lot, but it was good)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I did way more)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• real maple syrup
  

Cut the bread up into 1 inch cubes and dump into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Mix the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and pour over bread.

Bake at 350 for 45 or so minutes (I'm at 9,000 feet so I did about an hour), until the egg is cooked and the bread is browned. I took it out, lightly drizzled grade B organic maple syrup over it and returned it to the oven and turned the oven off. I did this because I wanted the syrup flavor there, without adding additional syrup to our portions. (I'm terrified of sugars and hate adding them, can't you tell?)

It was delicious. We didn't add butter or syrup to our servings because the flavors were balanced. Perfect for a cold, snowy morning where you end up sitting around in sweats and drinking coffee until 1pm. Next time I'll add orange zest and maybe a few raisins. You really can't mess this up.

Chicken and Whole Wheat Dumplings

This picture sucks, I know.

Jesse was really sick this weekend and requested chicken and dumplings. I got the recipe from his mom (she's the queen of this dish) and made it with the things we had. (ex: whole wheat flour instead of enriched white)

I was actually nervous in my own kitchen making this! Normally I'm the confident boss over all things culinary in my home, but I was keeping my fingers crossed that my chicken and dumplings would pass the test. I'm not kidding, his mom's is awesome.

• 3 chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
• large onion, diced
• 2-3 ribs celery, diced
• Tony Chacheres seasoning
• Chicken stock (I had and used "Not-Chick'n" cubes because I swear, they taste better)
• 3 large carrots, diced
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato
• Frozen peas
• can of corn
• handful of fresh green beans, about an inch long
• 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour, double sifted
• 4-8 eggs
• Salt and pepper
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Bay leaves
• Sage
• Marjoram

Saute onion and celery in extra virgin olive oil and 1.5 tbsp butter until done. Add chicken and 1/2 stock and 1/2 water and boil. I added Tony Chacheres for flavor as well as salt and pepper.

When chicken is done, remove it and set aside. Add more broth if needed. Add the carrots, potatoes and cook until almost done. Add peas, corn and green beans. Add rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, sage and marjoram. I measured each with my palm, so season to your taste.

Dumplings: Add eggs one at a time to the flour and mix with a fork until a consistency you prefer. (I think I ended up using 6 eggs?) Drop the dumpling dough into the boiling soup with a tablespoon- I ended up with about 12-15 large dumplings. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Jesse's mother wrote: "your dumplings should look like heavenly clouds of goodness".

Add cut up chicken and cook for another 20 minutes or more for the soup to thicken.

I was impressed. It turned out great and I'll definitely be making it again.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Prune Decadence Cake

Maximus' 3rd birthday was a couple days ago and you all know I'm incapable of feeding him even a birthday cake that isn't somewhat healthy. Each morning as he waits for his oatmeal to cook, he gets a prune in his mouth and one in each hand. The kid loves his morning prunes and it would be impossible for him to leave the house without eating 3. With that in mind, I set off to make a cake that incorporated prunes.

I asked what he wanted on top of his cake and he (in his adorable little language) said: blueberries, strawberries, bananas, cold pineapple, prunes and raisins. Alrighty then.

I used an old recipe that I worked with when I was a sous chef and made some substitutions and additions. Keep in mind that I live at 9,000 feet, so decrease the flour by 1/4 cup and lessen the boiling water if you live anywhere else.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used half whole wheat and half quinoa flour and sifted together twice)
2/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened (Earth Balance works great)
1 cup Sugar in the Raw
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 vegan sour cream
handful of pureed prunes (they break down better with water or simple syrup)
1/2 cup boiling water

Convection ovens work best, but use what you have- preheat to 375. Grease and flour a 9" cake pan. Sift the flours, baking soda, salt and cocoa together and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add vanilla and beat again.

Gradually stir in the sifted flour mixture in approximate thirds, alternating each time with 1/4 cup of the vegan sour cream. (It doesn't have to be vegan- it's what we had and I prefer)

Stir in the boiling water. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 23 minutes. Don't wreck this by over baking! Allow to cool and frost with whatever you want. I used a traditional chocolate frosting made with soy milk, vanilla, butter and 1/4 of the powdered sugar a typical recipe calls for.

Accidental 8-Minute Masterpiece

Maximus did 8 runs on his snowboard down the bunny hill at Keystone Resort today, so when we got home he was STARVING. So hungry he was asking for "mac en tease en bean en wice en nolk (milk)". We didn't have any boxed Annie's mac and cheese, so I whipped some up myself.

No joke, this took less than 8 minutes. (The power-boil feature on my stove made it speedy)

I'm a weirdo about dairy and I hate using a lot of it. It makes me sick, but not the others that live here, so they get to taste my experiments...I don't know if that's a good or bad thing? I had a half bag of some weird spinach and beet pasta spirals, so I boiled that and then added the following after I drained it:

1 tbsp Light Earth Balance spread
1 crushed up vegan chicken bouillon cube (used as "cheese" powder)

a tiny splash of unsweetened soy milk

a pinch of sharp white cheddar (maybe a tbsp total, or less)
a heavy pinch of Daiya (this stuff is epic)
Mix it all together and it gets all stringy and gooey like mac and cheese. Maximus devoured it saying, "Mama make mac en tease scwatch...me wuv taste!" Maximus approved.

Childhood Obesity

I read a few articles about childhood obesity this morning. Wow. Sick.

I'd rather my son break his arm from doing something outdoors than sitting on the couch and shoving junk into his mouth.

It's called prevention. DO SOMETHING. As a parent, it's your job to give your child all the opportunities you can. And I believe it's abuse if you don't.