Joys In My Life

Before two years ago, I was never a big fan of Greek salad.  I had tried it several times at restaurants, but something always seemed off.  Either there was too much dressing, the feta or dressing was too salty, or something else was off.  Nothing ever impressed me to be like, "Oh my God, I have to have that again!"  But then two years ago, I went to South Africa and let me tell you, they know how to do Greek salad right!  And it was everywhere I went, I swear I had it twice a day! When this time of year rolls around, I actually start to crave the deliciousness of that Greek salad, but am still very nervous to order it at restaurants.  I had to learn to recreate this goodness at home, and I quite believe I have now.  I made it on Monday night to go with the salmon and I was so happy with the results.  I had to take some creative license though, as we were out of feta, but had gorgonzola cheese  It was still pure awesomeness! Salad fixings...

I will post this week's menu plan tomorrow, but here's the latest breakfast love of my kids.  I started making it over the weekend and especially the teenage girl is in love.  Recipe is as follows and it is so easy! 1 cup unsweetened almond milk 1 cup plain greek yogurt 1 cup frozen berry/kale mix bought at BJs Tbsp or two of local honey for sweetness Blend all ingredients in a blender or Vitamix.  If you do not have a Vitamix, I highly recommend one!  It blends things so fabulously and has much more power than anything else I've ever had before. The boys are getting used to it not being as sweet as the recipe they used for samples at BJs over the weekend.  Theirs had sweetened vanilla almond milk and sweetened vanilla greek yogurt and the honey on top of all that.  Here's the pic of the frozen fruit and kale mix.

I really do love yummy crispy chicken wings.  Restaurants of course make them this way by deep frying them.  How's a healthy frugal girl going to reproduce this at home so we can put it on our dinner menu when I get the craving and don't want to spend the money on take out (or feel my hips expanding)?  My ultimate favorite is the Asian Zing sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings! After numerous tries of baking chicken wings that were failures (soggy), I've finally come upon how to make the crispy wings I'm looking for.  You need to bake them on a rack!  I've also found online a recipe for the Asian zing sauce that is made of ingredients we always have in our pantry, so I'm always ready if I get that craving and need satisfaction! Asian Zing Chicken Wings Asian Zing Sauce 2 tsps  corn starch  4 tsps  rice vinegar  1/2 cup  corn syrup  1/3 cup  sugar  1/4 cup  garlic chili sauce (has a rooster on the jar) 1...

This salad is a modified version of what is in one of my favorite cookbooks - "Clean Start" .  They lightly cook some of these veggies in the salad and serve it warm, but I really liked it like this raw and I had daikon radishes available and not regular radishes. Dressing 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar 2 Tablespoons orange juice 1 Tablespoon lime juice 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped dill 1/16 teaspoon Xanthan gum Salad 2 cups pea shoots - chop in a few big pieces to make it easier to eat 1/2 red onion, diced 1/2 cup diced daikon radish 1 carrot, diced 1/2 cup sliced snow peas 2 avocados, diced 1 cup cooked chick peas Mix the dressing first and let it sit while you assemble the rest of the salad.  Mix all the salad ingredients together and put in large salad bowls to serve.  I put the dressing on the salad in the serving bowls and any leftover salad can be stored in the fridge with the dressing on the side. For non-vegetaria...

Day 10 – Share your favorite recipe (or two) (see! You CAN be a food blogger!) I've posted this recipe before, but this time it's with pictures!  And this is my current favorite recipe that I make (not DH). 1 1/2 cup quinoa uncooked 12 dried figs, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 2 carrots, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 1 red bell pepper, diced 1 cup chick peas 4 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley juice from 1 fresh orange 3 Tbs olive oil few dashes of rice wine vinegar salt and pepper to taste Cook the quinoa as directed. While the quinoa is cooking, chop the figs, walnuts, carrots and celery and put in a bowl. Add the chick peas. In a separate bowl, mix the orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper as your dressing. When the quinoa is cooked, mix the quinoa with the fig, walnut, veggie mixture and dressing. Serve warm or cold. This does taste great the next day, so you can make this ahead of time if you wish.

As requested, this is how we eat falafel pita sandwiches in our house. First we make a yogurt-garlic-dill spread the day before or that morning. The recipe is as follows: 1 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream) 2 minced garlic cloves chopped up dill to taste pepper to taste We usually use regular pita bread and cut them in half for the sandwich pocket, but I think next time we'll try the pocketless pita bread and just fold it over for the sandwich. You take the bread, spread the yogurt-garlic-dill dip on it, we like to cut the falafel in half before we put that on the sandwich and then also fill with alfalfa sprouts, mixed greens and/or sliced cucumber. Yum! Updated: I missed some things the first time I typed up this recipe. This is why I never cook without a recipe. I forget ingredients too easily. We usually serve this with hummus with pita and carrots to dip and a quinoa salad or couscous to go with it. The quinoa salad I made was made the following: 1 1/2 cup quinoa uncooke...

I've been cleaning things up around the house, doing a lot of Flylady decluttering. As I've been doing that, I've had the luck to find things I thought I had lost. One of them is this recipe for a hot breakfast cereal that was at one time on The Fertile Soul website. It is no longer there and I've really, really missed it. I was so happy the day I found this and in case I lose the paper copy I have, let's put it on my blog, so I can look it up whenever I need it. Plus it's yummy! You should all try it! Oatmeal or Immune Support Breakfast 4 cups rolled oats 2 cups oat bran 1 cup ground almonds 1 cup ground sunflower seeds 1 cup ground flax seeds I grind the seeds and nuts in a nut and spice grinder I've used for making baby food before. I hear a coffee grinder works well too. Mix all the ingredients and store in a big ziplock bag in the freezer. To make breakfast - take 1/3 cup and you can soak overnight covered in water, or just add plenty of water ...

Tommy was having a hard time falling asleep last night. I felt so bad for him. He was tossing and turning and moaning, not crying, just moaning and I could see he was tired. I gave him some ibuprofen and he fell asleep. Took him to the doctor's this morning. Wanted to get him in before everyone scooted for holidays. Sure enough. Both ears infected. He's now on Zithromax or whatever generic equivalent there is, and the mending will now begin. Poor guy. However, to celebrate the festivities of the season, I've been in the mood for a beverage that is red and not too sweet. I came up with this Cosmo-Style Pomegranate Martini that I think is quite tasty. Enjoy! 2 shots of plain vodka (don't use flavors, it makes it taste wierd) 1 shot of triple-sec or other orange flavored liquor 2 shots of pomegranate juice (see it's healthy! good for you!) dash of lemon juice Mix all ingredients in a martini shaker with ice and serve in a martini glass. Yum!

I brought my award-winning pecan pie to the work holiday potluck today. Wow! It still got rave reviews and was all gone by 2 PM. There were lots of other desserts still lingering, but mine was gone! And I had lots of people come up and ask if I made it so they could say how good it was. I'll share it. I don't mind. I use a really big pie dish for this. I think it's 9 inches in diameter, so I have to increase the filling by 1.5 of what my original recipe called for. I'll give the recipe for both amounts, so you could see what it might be for a regular pie pan size Pecan Pie Recipe - a la Heather 4 eggs, beaten 1 1/2 cups dark Karo syrup (this is corn syrup and can be found next to pancake syrup) 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup dark brown sugar 3 Tablespoons melted butter 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (this makes it not taste so sweet - you cannot leave this out) 3 cups chopped pecans (I buy whole and chop myself not too small) Pillsbury pie c...

I've been hit by another cold. I'm calling the boys "my little germ incubators". This is my second cold of the winter and we're only starting!!! So exercise has taken a back seat while I get sleep and lots of it. It's the only thing that helps me when I don't feel good. Which didn't help when it took me about 3 1/2 hours to get home last night. My 1/2 hour drive home became a parking lot because we got a dusting of snow last night and it was so cold there was ice on the roads. I also haven't been good about having a definitive menu plan, but I have had ideas ahead of time what we were having for dinner every night (except last night as I got home at 8 PM!). On Wednesday night, we had a good dinner for a cold winter night. I was so proud of being able to finally recreate a childhood dish that I've aways liked, orange-glazed pork chops. We had orange-glazed pork chops, baked yams and roasted brussel sprouts. Which was a very good combi...

We bought the movie Julie & Julia and watched is Sunday afternoon. It was a very good movie, but I frequently found myself jealous as I saw both women spending lots of quality cooking time. I realized I haven't been able to cook dinner without babies screaming in the background in seven months. I love the little buggers, but my goodness! From 5 PM until they go to bed at 7 PM, it's usually a mess at our house. The babies are tired, but won't nap. They just want dinner, bath and bedtime as quickly as possible. Sometimes they have been so tired, they've fallen asleep by 6:30. This usually leaves me trying to prepare our dinner in a few stolen minutes during this chaos. Last night, I was trying to make a pot of three bean chili while I was alone with the boys. We were expecting Leo's parents for dinner and Leo had to go take Phoebe to the children's opera rehearsals she started this weekend. I was really ready to cry a few times. I was exhausted after...

I'm still enjoying the vegan chili I made the other day for my lunches. Even Phoebe liked it, but I think it helped that I served hers with grated cheddar cheese and olives on it. Don't ask me about sizes of the cans - I don't know how many ounces they are, but the beans are the normal size cans, not the oversize ones and the crushed tomatoes is the normal large size can. 1 block tempeh, chopped to resemble the size of ground beef 1 large onion, chopped finely 2 Tbs olive oil salt 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely 1 sweet red pepper, chopped medium 1 can kidney beans 1 can black beans 1 can crushed tomatoes 2 bay leaves 1 Tb oregano 1-2 Tbsp cumin 1 Tbsp chili powder few shakes of cayenne pepper 1 tsp sage 1 tsp paprika Heat the olive oil in a medium stockpot. Saute the onion, garlic, tempeh, and red peppers in the oil until the onion is translucent. Add the beans, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves and spices. Simmer for 30-40 minutes to let the flavors meld. You can serve thi...

I am a huge lover of vinagrette dressing and I can now say I'll never need to buy it from the store again. Newman's charities will be losing some funds from me apparently. I found a recipe for homemade vinegrette dressing and it was awesome!!! And so easy to make. Here it is: Shallot Vinegrette Dressing 1 shallot 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar salt and pepper to taste 7 tablespoons olive oil Finely chop the shallot and let it soak in the vinegar for about 15 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and olive oil, shake it up in a container and Voila! It seems to be covering me for about 4 side salads, which is perfect since there are no preservatives in it to make it last forever. I ended up using it over some roasted beets that I made up this week. I'm trying to give those embryos lots of nutrient-rich foods. This dressing over beets was great, as it reminded me of the pickled beets I used to be given as a child (Am I the only one? Is this a Eastern European thing?) but with...

One of my favorite comfort foods is also a recipe that is supposed to be good for cleansing and digestive issues. Mung beans are supposed to be the easiest of beans to digest and soaking your beans makes them even easier to digest. I thought I had posted it on my blog, but when I went to search for it so I'd have easy access to the recipe I couldn't find it. I had to go searching all my whole foods cookbooks to find the computer print out the original version was on. There are many different recipes for kitchari. This is mine which is tweaked from a recipe that Yoga Journal published once on their website. Enjoy! 1 cup mung beans (soaked in water overnight) 1 cup brown rice (can be short grain or basmati) 1 tablespoon chopped ginger 2 tablespoons shredded coconut (can be dried) handful of cilantro 3 tablespoons of butter or ghee 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, cardamom, ground cloves, tumeric 3 bay leaves In a blender, blend the ginger, coconut and ci...

I went to the doctor today for my IVF monitoring. The doctor himself did my scan and not a lab tech. I was out of there in record time it was so quick! Anyway, I have 3-4 follicles on one side and about 4 on the other side. They are all still small and growing at the same rate, so that's a good thing. We don't want any "leaders" as I call them, eating up all my meds for their own growth potential. I just listened to my voice mail from the doctors and I'm to continue with the alternate nights of 2 Bravelle and 1 Menopur and the other night 3 Bravelle only. I go back again on Saturday. Also, can you believe that DH currently has a business trip to NYC during the window that I may have retrieval??? I love him, but I knew this would happen. We'll work it all out though. He said he could just go in the afternoon if they want to retrieve in the morning, but then we'd need to have a friend pick up Phoebe from summer camp, as I won't be cleared to d...

I've finally made Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I found some rough instructions on the web how to make a good grain salad with it and I really changed it a lot. What I really liked about this is I was able to have it on the table for dinner in less than 30 minutes. This is a perfect summer worknight supper. This was our main dish as in the summer we like to eat light. I put this over a bed of lettuce and sprouts as our main dish. 1 cup quinoa 2 medium zuchini, halved and sliced 1 small bunch of brocolli cut into flowerets 1 red bell pepper juice of one lemon olive oil garlic powder sea salt pepper Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water in a saucepot, uncovered until the water is soaked up by the grain. Then turn off, put a lid on it and let it sit until the rest of dinner is ready. While the grain is cooking, slice up the veggies, put them in a roasting pan cover liberally with olive oil or lemon infused olive oil. Sprinkle garlic powder, sea salt an...

On the macrobiotic dinner menu tonight, I had the following: Miso soup with ginger Brown Rice Tempeh Kinpira (carrots and burdock) Braised bok choi The braised bok choi is my own recipe, but it is very easy. You can do this with any upward-growing vegetable, like kale, escarole, or bok choi. Braised Bok Choi I head bok choi, chopped into medium size pieces olive oil chopped garlic In a medium size sauce pot over medium heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil until the oil is flavored with the garlic. Add the bok choi, stir in with the garlic and oil, cover and let steam in it's own juices. Serve hot.

I'll start with the recipe. I will have to tell you, I really have never liked tofu. I would pick it out of dishes and eat around it. Something about the texture I didn't like. I must admit that's been changing, and I've been trying some tofu recipes lately just to see what I think. This is from Jessica Porter's book "The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics." I modified very few things, and it is so yummy! I had it for dinner last night with a fresh romaine lettuce salad and then I had it for lunch again today too. I must admit I was looking forward to the leftovers! The other thing I liked about this recipe is that it's very good for a dinner you need to get on the table in less than 1/2 hour. Most macrobiotic dinners take around an hour to put together, because that's how long it usually takes to cook brown rice and other whole grains. It's nice to have this macrobiotic recipe in my back pocket for nights I have to get my dinner ...

I've been really enjoying "The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics" . It sounds like a fluffy name, and maybe not worth it, but the recipes are great and she really packs a lot of information in here and makes it make sense to a layman. Here's the recipe I mentioned the other day that even DH and DD ate with gusto. They told me this one they will eat as well as me. I made a few changes from her original recipe. This is what I made: 1 8-oz package whole-wheat udon or soba noodles (I bought rice and whole-wheat udon noodles at my health food store) 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 1 onion, diced pinch of sea salt 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks 8 mushrooms, sliced 3 teaspoons shoyu (it's a japanese soy sauce) handful of frozen corn kernels 2 cups of sliced cabbage 1 yellow or red bell pepper sliced to complement sizes of cabbage 1/4 cup filtered water 1 scallion chopped Cook noodles according to instructions on package, drain, rinse with cold water and set asid...