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Celebrations!

Posted on February 7, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello and happy Monday my peoples! Hope everyone has had a good start to the new week!

Seems like today, there has been much for me to celebrate! I awoke this morning to discover that my cheese-loving football team ended the night last night with an incredible win against the Pittsburgh, Steelers! I’d like to think it had something to do with my Green & Gold lunch from yesterday…just saying! 😉

So in official celebration for my team, I whipped up a breakfast this morning of spinach oatbran using my new voluminous oatbran method (1/2 cup soaked in 2 cups of water overnight) topped with a perfectly fried egg & a drizzle of Packers Cheeze Sauce!

Ahhh, the ~~sweet~~ savory taste of victory!
I love getting my greens in in the morning! Yummy in my tummy! 😉

So tonight’s dinner (whatever I end up eating) will officially conclude my Sugar-Free Week! For any newbies out there, I decided to follow Kayla’s lead and go completely sugar-free for the first week of February. I excluded any and all added sugars from my diets (i.e.: granulated, powdered, and brown sugars, honey, molasses, evaporated can juice, brown rice syrup, agave, and maple syrup) as well as any artificial or natural sugar substitutes like stevia and sugar alcohols (except chewing gum). I thought I’d share with you guys a few thoughts and what I’ve learned living this past seven days without sugar.

Honestly, when I signed up for this challenge, I figured it would be a piece of cake (no pun intended)! I never considered myself to be someone who consumes a lot of sugar anyway. This week wasn’t exactly hard and I think I could do it again. The only thing that was sort of weird was the intense sweet cravings that I got around day four which just goes to show you how much of a role our minds have in our diets. My cravings were easily subsided with fresh berries, bananas, and Katie’s lovely raw chocolate cake!

The biggest shocker of all was discovering just how many sauces, spreads, and dips I have that contain added sugar! Of course I knew ketchup would be at the top of that list, but a few really surprised me:

salsa
mayo
worcestershire sauce
soy sauce
sriaracha
TJ’s Lentil Dip 🙁

I bought this last weekend and almost dug into it the other day…until I checked the label!
DENIED!

Even though I felt like I was a pretty clean cooking home chef, I realized that I do rely heavily on some of these sauces/spreads (well, except for mayo…I only use that once in a blue moon!) when preparing my meals. This past week, I’ve had to shift my focus more to spices and cooking oils that to create flavor, rather than just grab a bottle out of the fridge or pantry.

Needless to say this week has been a huge eye-opening experience and I’m really glad that I committed to something, saw it through to the end (keeping up my willpower at times), and was able to learn so much more about the foods I regularly consume. It’s been fun challenging myself to come up with fresh recipes without turning to ready-made “convenience” food items. I do have a feeling though that tomorrow’s breakfast will be including some maple syrup!! 😉

For my last bit of celebration, I was invited to go to a hockey game tonight in Nashville (hence the early post)! I don’t know much about hockey, but I’ve been to a handful of Predators games and have really liked it. I love the energy! Now, lets just hope we make it there in this:

Ugh…MORE snow!

Did Puxatony Phil lie to us??

Wish me luck! Dang, I really should’ve made those snow shoes…

So, I still need to catch up on my Superbowl commercials. Tell me, which ones were your favorites?

Posted in Breakfast | Tagged cheese, eggs, spinach | 26 Comments

Green & Gold

Posted on February 6, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Happy Sunday my lovelies! Hope everyone is having a great evening and to all my football fans out there, Go Packers!!

Let me just say that I am in no way a football fan, I don’t know a thing about football. I’m not even watching the game this year, but I figured come Superbowl time you have to root for somebody, right?

Here are my girlie-girl reasons for siding with the Green & Gold:

[source]

1. Green is my favorite color!

2. I love cheese!

3. I think the cheese heads are totally awesome and I really, really want one! Janetha, tell Marshall he better watch out! 😉

[source]

To show my “spirit”, I made something a little special for lunch this afternoon in honor of “my” team and Pancake Sunday:

Green Cakes with Packers Cheeze Sauce: (serves 1)
Gluten free and dairy free, vegan option (just sub a flax egg for the real one)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour (can use whole wheat or regular all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1 egg
1 good-sized handful of fresh spinach

1. Stir vinegar into milk to create “buttermilk” and set aside.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to break up any lumps.
3. Place “buttermilk, egg, and spinach in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) and process until smooth.
4. Stir green goo into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined.
5. Pour batter into skillet over low-medium heat (makes 3 medium-sized cakes)
6. Cook cakes until batter starts to bubble (about 5-6 minutes), then flip and cook for about 2-3 minutes on the other side.

Cheezy Packers Sauce:

1/2 cup unsalted cashews
2-3 yellow sweet mini peppers (about 1/4 cup, diced)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Feel free to add additional spices according to taste.

The cakes came out springy and fluffy with a nice earthy taste (due to the buckwheat flour) that paired excellently with the cashew cheese sauce and the smooth buttery avocado. Topped with a little Mrs. Dash Southwestern Chipotle (not pictured) and it was a definite tailgate party at my kitchen table!

Hope everyone that is watching the game tonight has a great time! I don’t have cable so I’ll be chillaxing with the Netflix tonight, but you better believe I’ll be hitting up the net for commercial replays first thing tomorrow. I swear, that’s the BEST thing about the Superbowl…oh, AND the food! 😉

Are you a football fan? Who are you rooting for to win tonight?

Posted in Entree, Pancake Sunday, Vegetarian | Tagged cheese, pancakes, spinach | 28 Comments

Best Bowl of Oatbran & New Snackage

Posted on February 5, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Good evening! Hope everybody is having a great weekend and staying warm! For those of you who live in areas that are enjoying 70+ degree temperatures…go take an icy shower and feel our pain!

I woke up this morning to another gray sky and yet more snow flurries. Is my enthusiasm coming through on this? Oh, please stop…I can’t contain myself! :-/

I picked a good morning to make a nice warm and creamy bowl of oat bran. HEAB’s post from yesterday included a little blurb about soaking grains before consuming and how it can benefit both digestion and absorption of gluten and other hard to digest foods. Great info! I never knew there was a real benefit to soaking grains other than for making overnight cereal! After seeing HEAB’s bowl of plump and delicious oatbran, I decided that was just what I was going to have for breakfast!

I soaked 1/2 cup of oatbran in 2 cups of water on the counter over night. This morning, I transferred the oatbran and soaking water to a pot, added a splash of vanilla and a good dash of cinnamon, and cooked it over medium heat for a couple of minutes until the water had absorbed. I topped my bowl with 1 chopped apple and some raisins that I had heated on the stove with more cinnamon. Also, taking a cue from HEAB herself, I decided to mix 1 tablespoon of butter in! Hello creamy, buttery, goodness! You have to try this!

I could NOT believe how voluminous this bowl of oatbran was! Check it out once it was all stirred up!

It almost overflowed the bowl! This was some seriously good eats!!

Speaking of good eats, I had two very delicious snacks today.

First up, Chocolate Covered Katie’s Raw Chocolate Fudge Cake with a little “twist” ala Heather!

I followed her recipe for a double batch of “Naughty Girl Butter” (recipe here) and added in about 1 teaspoon of freshly grated orange zest. I’m such a sucker for citrus and chocolate together!

I love coming up with new snack combinations. I have been seriously craving some popcorn lately. And…well you guys know about my little microwave dilemma so it’s not like I can rip open a pack of the good stuff and indulge in a little (near) instant gratification…or so I thought!

Heather’s Puffed Wheat “Popcorn”

1 1/2 cups of puffed wheat cereal
1 tablespoon butter (I used Land O Lakes whipped butter)
1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan on the stove.
2. Stir in cereal until the puffs are covered in butter.
3. Sprinkle in nutritional yeast and stir to coat.

I ate my “popcorn” with a spoon so I wouldn’t miss out on any of that cheezy goodness but I wouldn’t judge you if you wanted to stick your face in the bowl!