Frugal Foodie Mama

Hi Woobie friends!

I wanted to share a friend's blog with you.  Carrie at Frugal Foodie Mama and I are collaborating on some good things month.

I met Carrie when she was still living in Columbus, but we've stayed in touch through that wonderful magic of the interwebs.  She writes about food, motherhood, her attempt to be a more eco-responsible family, and she's a great supporter of small handmade businesses!

I'd love for you to jump on over to her blog and check things out.  We'll be doing a give-away together later in the month and I'll let you know about that here!

Frugal Foodie Mama Giveaway!!!

My friend Carrie over at Frugal Foodie Mama is celebrating her birthday with a Handmade/Homemade Giveaway.  Your's truly is participating by giving away a handmade crocheted cotton market bag!  It's purple and pretty awesome!  The rest of the items are great, and winner takes all!!

You can enter by doing many very simple things, and the rest of the ladies giving away handmade items are pretty talented.  So head on over and check it out!!

You can find the post by clicking here!

Saturday's Spinach Smoothie

For the last few weeks I've been enjoying spinach smoothies as a snack and sometimes as a meal replacement.  With my gastritis I wasn't eating a whole lot in general and it was becoming clear to me that I was not getting enough vegetables in my diet.  I did a bit of googling and found a few tips on making spinach smoothies.

I don't really think there is a particular science to smoothies, more of a personal preference.  So I thought I would give you an idea of what I have been doing to make my spinach smoothies, and maybe you can try too.

We have an immersion blender that I love, it makes smoothie making quick and easy with very little clean up.

To start, Ryan and I keep frozen fruits in the freezer pretty much all the time for the purpose of smoothie making.  We always have frozen bananas, as well as what's on sale in the grocery or we are often given berries when they are in season.  What Ryan does is cut them up (if they are larger fruits) and sets them on a try in the freezer to freeze.  Once they are hard, he pours them into a zipper bag and they are individually frozen pieces of fruit.  You can also buy pre-frozen fruit at the grocery.

What I put into today's smoothie:

• One large handful of spinach
• Between 1/2 and 1 cup of cold water
• I then blended up the spinach and water to make sure it is evenly blended
• 2 tablespoons of unsweetened apple sauce, I find this gives it a little bit of sweetness, a small amount of juice would work as well
• About a half of a frozen banana
• A few chunks of frozen pineapple

Then I blended it until it was a smooth consistency and poured it into my glass.  I've gotten to the point where I can eye ball the ingredients in the mixing cup to know just how much I need for one glass, but if you have leftovers I think they may last ok in the fridge for a little while.  Also I like to use a straw, I always feel like I have a smoothie mustache other wise.

If you are worried about not liking spinach, I can tell you that for the most part this smoothie tastes like the fruit that you put in it.  I suppose that if you have a serious aversion to spinach it may be a turn off, but I don't think spinach has that much flavor when it's uncooked.  Don't knock it until you've tried it.

So I'll hope you'll give it a chance.

For those who are already in the know, what are your favorite smoothie ingredients?

Blog Review: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef

 I don't talk about other blogs much here.  I have a list on the side of the blogs that I read, and will occasionally post a link to something I've read and enjoyed.  However "Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef" deserve their own post.

 Flourless Peanut Butter cookies I made from the blog.

I first learned about Gluten-Free Girl, Shauna James Ahern, and became interested in her writing when I decided I needed to cut gluten out of my diet back in the summer of 2008, it was a daunting task, but she made it easier.  I was able to see someone was living a VERY happy and food filled life without gluten.  I read her blog posts with anticipation, wondering what new idea she was going to cook up next.

That Christmas I got her first book.  This was a combination of her life story and a cook book.  While there were not many recipes it discussed the ins and outs of eating gluten-free.  And she introduced us to her husband Danny, the Chef.

I have been reading her blog longer than most blogs I read on a regular basis, with the exception of people I know personally.  With the introduction of the Chef, there were more stories of family love and watching their Little Bean grow up to love food.  Very very soon there will be a full cookbook in the bookstores and I am SO looking forward to it.

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef make me want to eat, and eat better.  I love their stories of farm stands and vegetables.  I honestly didn't eat many veggies until around 2007 and this blog has given me the courage to try more.  I still won't eat tomatoes though.

I look forward to hearing how one recipe didn't quite work and what they did to correct it.  And while a lot of their food would naturally be gluten-free they do great looking recipes for some yummy baked goods, like these graham crackers.

Besides the amazing food these two cook up I LOVE LOVE LOVE their photographs.  I've been into photography way longer than I've been into gluten-free food, and these just shine.  I honestly strive to take pictures like this someday.  So go ahead and jump over and check them out, you won't be disappointed.  If you don't believe me just check out the honors they have received over the years.

enjoy. enjoy. enjoy.

Culinary Adventures: Fish Tacos

A few weeks ago I received the newest issue of Women's Health in the mail. This month they had a section of easy summer recipes. One that immediately jumped out at me was fish tacos. I've never eaten a whole lot of fish besides tuna sandwiches, but have started broadening my horizons and thought that it sounded like a very tasty recipe.

It was on my mind for several weeks until I finally got to Whole Foods to purchase some fish on Tuesday. Because of my limited knowledge on such things I asked the man behind the counter. He suggested a sole or halibut. Although the sole was slightly more pricey, I went for it because it looked appetizing. All in all, for the two of us it really didn't cost very much.

My foresight was a little short, so I did not have all the ingredients the recipe called for, but that has never really stopped me from trying my best. This is how it went.

I used olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin to saute the fish. I bought a half a pound for the two of us (we could have eaten more.) I kept the heat high and stirred to break the fish up into pieces until it was opaque and looked done. (Because this was my first time cooking fish, I had no real idea what done was.)

We at the fish on corn tortillas with cabbages and sour cream. Ryan added tomatoes and hot sauce, and I will probably add the hot sauce in the future as well.

The recipe called for red onion and a squeeze of lime, which I believe will be a good addition. I also plan on adding more cumin next time as it could do with a little more kick.

The fish was tender and tasty, the cabbage gave the taco a nice crunch. My corn tortillas left a lot to be desired, I need to work on a more effective was to heat them up (the microwave does not cut it.)

All in all it was a good experiment and one that I can improve upon. Fast, easy, and tasty.

Video: Compost

The Thanksgiving Post

I was unsure what to expect this Thanksgiving. This time last year I was still seriously recovering from Pneumonia and wasn't leaving the house or the couch for that matter.
As I said previously I have begun eating gluten free, so all the stuffing and pie and cake that I ate last year was out of the question.
We were invited to my sister in law Melissa's apartment in Cincinnati, and she took my food sensitivities seriously, investigating all she could on gluten free Thanksgiving foods. I've also been cutting back on dairy, but I handled that more by not eating things with dairy in it.
Mel made stuffing from gluten free corn bread, which had been my biggest concern, it was DELICIOUS. The turkey was moist and not only was their green bean casserole (on the no list) but steamed green beans that were very tasty. She left potatoes out of the masher for me to eat without milk, and made sure that everything was safe for me to eat. It was a great meal, I filled my plate, only once, as my stomach has been super sensitive lately.

This year I am Thankful for family who is so supportive of my lifestyle changes to a healthier me (this includes all my family and friends), I am thankful for being as healthy as I am, I am thankful for the nurses and doctors who have taken care of me over the past year both at Grady Hospital in Delaware, OH, and Harding OSU in Columbus. I am thankful for my church family both in PA and OH who have continued to support me in prayer and any other ways possible. I am thankful for God who has answered those prayers time and again.
A thanksgiving post would also not be complete without a thanks to my Hubby who has been there every step of the way. On my good days when I laugh, and on my really really horrible days when I can't do anything. He's always there and I am EXTREMELY grateful for that.

Here is a slide show from this fall, things I am grateful for.

Me and Gluten Free

I figure it's been about 3 or so weeks since I've been eating completely gluten free.  I started "trying" over the summer eating small amounts here and there, sticking to a mainly free diet, hoping that it would make my many digestion problems go away.  

After getting out of the hospital I made the commitment to go completely free and see how it made me feel.  When eating small amounts of gluten, I wasn't very sick, but perhaps I could feel better.  

My verdict so far is that I am feeling better than I was.  I think my skin is happier for it, by this time most years I would be itchy, scaly, and dry.  My face has also far less blemishes, and I'm starting to look like a grown up.

There are many other personal benefits here that I don't necessarily want to put out on to the world wide web for all to hear, but if you are interested drop me a note, and we can have a convo via e-mail.  Lets just say there are parts of my body that are much happier than at the beginning of the summer.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, some things will be a challenge, but my whole family, including the in-laws are committed to making sure there are things for me to eat.  Fortunately I'm a meat eater, I'm very much looking forward to turkey, and sausage that my hubby made just this week.  Mel, the sis-in-law might try some wild rice stuffing or something similar instead of traditional bread stuffing, and I am making some cookies for my dessert.  I'm not much of a pie eater, so that's not such a huge issue.  Perhaps next year I will look into gluten free pumpkin pie.

One other challenge is that I have mostly given up dairy on my way to digestive health.  This is something I can cheat a little more at, weighing my consequences, but most days it's not worth it.  I'd rather just skip the dairy all together.  Which means no milk in my mashed potatoes.   I'll just be stealing some boiled ones and mashing them with my fork.  I refuse to give up butter, but so far this has not presented a problem.

I've been grateful to Gluten Free Girl and A Chronic Dose to help me ease into this new part of my life.  They've been a wealth of information and comfort, reading their words about their original struggles into the life of eating gluten free.

Kombucha

I started on a new adventure last night, aided by my friend Chris. I am now brewing kombucha tea. Kombucha is a beverage that is made out of tea, sugar, and a symbiotic colony of yeast and beneficial bacteria.

It comes from Asia and has many health claims laid upon it. I am not expecting it to be any kind of cure, but am hoping that it perhaps could at least aid in my digestion, and whatever other problems it might enjoy helping with.

I'm not skeptical, but I'm also not expecting a miracle.

You can read more about it here: Kombucha

Fondue is so good it should be called "Fon Don't"

Perhaps this is a Saturday Night Live reference that only Ryan and I find funny. But it makes a good post title.

I've developed irritable bowel syndrome over the last several months, and although this may be too much information for you, it leads me to the topic of the post. I've given up dairy. This is a difficult thing for me to do, I love cheese, milk, and ice cream, but when it makes you sick I suppose it could be worth the sacrifice. Maybe it's not the dairy, and in a few weeks I can go back to eating it. But for now it's soy milk with my morning cereal.

I never take any decision about what I eat lightly, and this was no different. What environmental effects would giving up dairy contribute to? Should I believe all the hype from vegans who believe that any animal product causes suffering. I'm not so sure that I'm convinced on this one. However, I can be convinced that the raising of dairy cows do contribute a significant amount of carbon emissions. And by reducing the amount of dairy I eat, could I be reducing my carbon footprint? I don't know.

I need to do more research about the production of soy products and how the emissions and food miles contribute to my footprint.

That's my thought for the day.

Today is my first real non dairy day so I'll let you know how it goes.

Chinese Fooooooooood

Mom suggested that I write about what I did yesterday. I thought this would be a good idea since it is one of the reasons I am in so much pain today.

Yesterday our friend Kendra and Allen got married. It was a beautiful day with a nice ceremony, wonderful music, and from what I hear a great dessert reception. However we did not make it to the dessert reception. The reason was because Ryan and I catered the wedding dinner!!

After the reception the bride and groom hosted a dinner for their out of town guests. I'm guessing we served about 50 people, and it was all chinese food. This was Ryan's specialty and was a no brainer for Kendra when we offered our services when she got engaged. She gladly accepted our culinary expertise and asked if we could make Chinese food.

The menu included: friend wontons, egg rolls, dumplings, corn soup, white rice, beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork, and dragon and phoenix. The last dish was a tradition wedding dish which normally consists of lobster and duck, for this occasion it was shrimp and chicken and represents the bride and groom.

There were also fortune cookies, candies, and tangerines.

It was a great day, and I think Ryan and I were very successful. It made us think we could really rock out a diner business.

I wish I had pictures, but I was occupied with other tasks. If something surfaces, I will post some for you to see.