Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash is part of the winter squash family with the tough inedible skins.  I find this annoying to cook.  I like ease.  I like trouble free.   I try not to use the microwave so the best way I've found to cook these is to, clumsily, cut the gourd in half length wise, scoop out the seeds and roast on about 300 for a couple hours; until the meat is soft.

I'm always glad when I go through the trouble because not only are they delicious but they are high in vitamins A and C, iron and riboflavin (B2).

Interestingly we think of them as a vegetable but from a botanical point of view they are a fruit because they contain their own seeds.

Anyway after I cooked the squash and scooped out all the flesh, I added about 5 cups of low sodium chicken broth, some curry seasoning, cracked black pepper and blended it up nice and smooth.  I then added frozen corn.  The heat from the soup thawed the corn which added extra liquid instead of increasing the amount of chicken broth I used.

I love love love this soup.  I ate it with pretzels because it was the only gluten-free crunch I had.  Steve enjoyed it but wouldn't satisfy him as a meal so in the future this will be a side, appetizer or a snack.

If anyone has an easier way to cook these tough beasts let me know!

Power Breakfast

It's not always fun prepping for healthy meals, all the washing and cutting but when you take the time it is truly worth it.

We cooked up some "dippy" eggs along with sauteed peppers, fingerling potatoes, onions and chunks of garlic.  It was so delicious and although the prep time was tedious the clean up was easy.

Unfortunately I just found out that peppers and tomatoes are inflammatory foods.  That is truly going to cramp us up here since that is our primary garden staple and a favorite.

That is the most difficult part of a special diet, the constant discovery of foods that you think should be so great and wonderful for the body but just aren't.

Substitutes please?

Stuffed Peppers- Kerry Style

Ok Ok I posted the other day about the hell I bring on the kitchen when I try to cook but tonight was a success.

I plucked some green peppers and one lonely red pepper off the vines and opened the fridge; what goodies await me?  A bunch of good stuff and okra and a lonely yellow pepper.

Before I go on, my home grown peppers blew away the yellow store bought.  Mine were think and crisp while the store bought had very thin "meat" on it.

While the quinoa cooked I diced up some tomatoes, onion, portabella and okra.  I'm getting better, it only took my about 12 minutes to cut it all up.

After the quinoa was ready I mixed up the ingredients and stuffed those peppers.

On 400 for about 30 minutes, topped with a little mozzarella and tomato sauce and a success was made!

Maybe I can get a hang of this whole cooking thing.

Best Part of my CSA...

Some Interesting Charts

My old friend, George, posted this on his facebook page and I thought it was a great chart to share.

You can also follow imPACT on pinterest here.

My girlfriend, Fufi, sent me this chart which is amazing for this Gluten challenged family.

If you have anything this helpful please share!  Thank you!

Quinoa Stir Fry

I might not be a good cook but I have good ideas and produce some yummy yum yum ingredients.  So this evening Steve made dinner; a healthy version of stir fry.
I don't care for Chinese food, while he loves it but I could eat this dish over and over.
Our CSA bounty has included a helping of okra that was on the verge of going bad so we chopped up:
-okra
-squash (from MB's garden-thanks)
-sugar snap peas
-red peppers
-onion
-green peppers
All fresh from the gardens and local farms.  A little oil and water created a perfect crunch!
Steve cooked up some white and red quinoa and topped it with the sauteed vegetables with a ginger dressing.
YUM!
I really need to take pictures.
I think this dish was even easy enough for me to handle.  Being that it was a completely healthy meal and on Steve's diet he could over-indulge without the nagging wife!
I did a little search for okra recipes and found a pecan encrusted okra and of course gumbo.  There were a few others that were a little too fatty to meet our needs so if you have a great recipe that involves okra give us a shout out!
Thanks and enjoy!

It's Worse Than I Thought

I've never been a cook, chef, kitchen wonderment.  I seem to be able to bake just fine though, which is odd.  I've created my own cheesecake recipes and a bangin' crust that people seem to love.  But trying to actually cook a meal is not my strong suit.

I get bored, sidetracked, annoyed.  I'm not sure if it's because I really don't have a grasp on the basics or because I just truly have no interest in cooking.  My husband is a magnificent cook so I've never really had to worry about it.

Anyway I've been trying to navigate the kitchen in order to clean up this family.  Sure Steve can continue with the cooking but that would mean his style which is not clean, nor good for his diet.

It really dawned on me today when I tried to bake kale chips, that I saw on one of my favorite blogs- little monster, at how much trouble I am in.  How hard can that be??? Well for this moron it was apparently super difficult.

The ones that weren't over-salted were burnt.  HA!  Seriously I need a FREE lesson on the basics of cooking.  I applaud all others who are such amazing cooks even if that means cooking kale chips at a reasonable degree without numbing the tongue from an overdose of salt.

HELP!

What we are Liking and What we are NOT

I'm guessing part of the reason this process is so expensive is because I'm purchasing a lot of the same items in different brands to figure out what we like and don't like.

One thing that I hear is so wonderful for you yet Steve and I can't stand is coconut water.  For some reason it instantly triggers my gag reflex.  That's unusual because I generally like everything.  I purchased 4 different brands but refuse to move past the first one so fruit shake bound are the rest.

We also did not like a rice pizza we tried.  It just crumbled, didn't have a good taste or texture so that is out.  I was given a non-gluten pizza dough recipe that I need to try this week.  Aside of sweets and beer we LOVE pizza.

We all are fond of quinoa and rice spaghetti.  I love love love Glutino products particularly the pretzels so that can now be put on bulk from an on-line source.  In addition to rice bread (only toasted) by energ.

For our sweet tooth we indulge in dark chocolate covered raisins until we can find a better alternative. They have the benefit of dark chocolate and raisins, both good for you, and few other ingredients.

As for dairy we have cut most of it out.  For me it's been a while since I'm working on the blood type diet.  That has been hard because I adore, love, worship, you name it, dairy.  Ice cream, yogurt, milk, cheese- it has all played a big part of my diet.  Pizza is our treat but we use mozzarella only since that is at least lactose free for my little one. 

Also I can't seem to get rid of my goat cheese.  I love it on salads, tossed in a bowl with fruit, or spread on toast with fresh fruit or tomatoes on top.  I need something dairy s it is goat cheese oh and I do treat myself occasionally to ice cream.

We are heading in the right direction but we really need a good bread or wrap that is gluten free that doesn't need to be toasted in order to eat or tolerate.

Any suggestions are always welcomed!

I always put cooked/toasted products on my cookie sheet so the bottom doesn't get soggy.

New Ingredients

We picked up our CSA share which is all yummy stuff but then we had to hit the health food store for a few new ingredients.

Surprisingly I am very fond of a rice/potato/soy spaghetti I found.  It was not sticky or chewy and the girls nor Steve really noticed a difference.



The only, small, complaint I have is that I no longer make just one big fruit shake for the family.  I make Steve's then the girls and I, per usual, drink where ever the left over is.

The girls typically get just fruit and milk or juice.  Steve's is now seeds, nuts, fruits, water and coconut butter to make it creamy.  I have to say it is really delicious. 

I think I've nailed the fruit shakes.  I have found a satisfactory pasta substitute and we are really digging the white quinoa as a substitute for rice.  It took a time or two to cook it just right.  We add chicken stock but it doesn't soak in the flavor it kind of sits on it so the product tasted really salted.  We just need to watch that.  The best part is the girls are not noticing any changes.
Once again the biggest challenge is the cost.  The second is learning not only how to cook but how to cook with unfamiliar ingredients. 

We'll get there, slowly but surely!

Nopal

I've heard wonderful things about taking a shot of Nopal daily.   In fact when I was at the health food store I was asking the lady there about different items I was looking at when I got to Nopal.  She said it is amazing!  In fact the owner, she said, takes it daily and has psoriatic arthritis.  Since she has been taking it she has felt no pain and her medical prescription is almost non-existent.

She had me at psoriatic.

However the first day Steve took a shot of this he felt dizzy all day.  There are other factors that could have come into play with this but I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience?
Any comments would be helpful.

It's Expensive Getting Healthy

We live on the Eastern Shore in world a little behind the rest of the world.  We have one health food store locally and it's expensive!  But what are you supposed to do when you need certain products like chia seeds and hemp seeds.
Until we really figure out what we like and will continue to use I don't want to make any big purchases on-line.
On the flip side, we have so many wonderful farms in every direction you look.  And that is well worth living here.
Our CSA crop is a wonderful addition to our diet.  We just picked up this weeks crop and have spaghetti squash on the mind.
Tomorrow is a beach day but then some serious experimenting is going to happen.  And when I say experimenting I mean it.  I am NOT a cook.  I don't like to cook so this is a double challenge.
Stay tuned!