Strange But Good Re-Imaginations

January 11, 2013 By Laura

Strange doesn’t have to mean all-new.

Things I’ve been doing for years are strange. ~~Just ask my mother.~~

Many of my recent Strange But Good recipe creations were born out of old favorites. Re-imaginations, if you will.

Oatmeal has always been a sweet treat for me. When we had oatmeal as a kid (usually on a Brinner night), it was doused with brown sugar and raisins. And butter. When mom wasn’t looking, I added more. ~~I cannot believe I’m on obese.~~

I’ve seen versions of savory oats on Instagram and finally had to try it for myself. Boy, am I glad I did!

I took my davory oats in the direction of Mexico. I did cook my oats with cinnamon, but the toppings made that cinnamon a savory compliment.

Savory Mexican Oatmeal

1/2 C oatmeal (cooked)
Cinnamon, to taste
Runny egg
Black bean salsa
Cumin
Nutritional Yeast

Prepare oatmeal as usual, adding cinnamon. Place cooked oatmeal in a bowl and add toppings. Devour.

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Cauliflower pizzas have been an obsession for a while now. I took my (cheese-less) crust and topped it with seafood Strange But Goodness:

Salmon Cauliflower Pizza

Cauliflower pizza crust
Wasabi paste
Salmon
Spinach
Yellow Pepper
Red Onion

The following day I repeated the crust recipe, except I turned it into pizza minis! These were awesome to keep in the fridge during the week for little pizzas, or re-heated under the broiler to make crackers for my salad.

One Cauliflower Crust recipe gives you 4 minis.

Mini Cauliflower Pizzas

Cauliflower Crust Crackers with a trout-broccoli slaw salad

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You guys saw this Simply Snackin’ jerky on WIAW. That one was a Strange But Good Flavor – Beef with Cranberry and Blueberry.

Yesterday I tried another version. This one is Teriyaki Chicken with Mango and Papayas. I can’t get over how good these are! Fruit in jerky… who would have thought?!

The company is offering a discount of you’d like to try them for yourself. Enter SSjan2013 for 10% off at check out.

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Now for the link up! The rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above.

In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂

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Junk-Free January is still going strong! I've been experimenting with a high-fat diet... and I'll post about that on Monday. It's been an adventure.

Have you ever made savory oats?

What have you eaten lately that's earned you stares from co-workers/family/friends?

Setting the Tone for a New Year + Amazing Kitchen Mistakes

January 10, 2013 By Laura

Life is full of failures.

I am going to discuss one on Monday, in fact.

Sometimes they are happy accidents! One of my favorite stir-frys happened because I couldn’t figure out how to use my spiralizer. This Indian Ginger Tempeh Stir-Fry happened when I wanted zucchini pasta but failed to spiralize:

Or how about last week when I accidentally sprouted a spaghetti squash I’d planned for my meal? That forced me to come up with this Sweet Potato Chicken Salad Strange But Good (don’t forget tomorrow’s link up!) creation:

Breaking my jaw playing roller derby was a fail… but without that experience I would have never come up with one of my favorite oatmeal discoveries: Blueberry Pie. Made smooth enough to slurp thanks to an immersion blender.

Jaw-breaking in action.

Or how about when you leave for vacation thinking you’re going to Argentina, but end up in Chile? That was one FUN fail!

All that said, don’t be too discouraged by fails. Trust in what will be and happy accidents you shall see.

And now I’ll shut up and let Kat tell you about hers!

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Because I blog bi-weekly, this is my first opportunity to say, “Happy New Year!”

I had an A-typical New Year’s Eve, which I used to help me set the tone for the year. I went to a hot yoga class that lasted from 10:30pm-12:15am. Yep, meditating, thinking about goals, who I am, who I have been, and who I want to be this year. It was amazing! I felt centered, and was happy to bring in the New Year thinking about health, community, and grounded-ness. (Editor’s note: Remind me to do this next year.)

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

I want to share a couple of my goals, so you all can partially hold me accountable. First, I want to say, “No,” more often – in work, in family, and in social aspects of my life. This seems easy for a lot of people, but it give me knots in my stomach just to think about possibly disappointing someone.

This goal is in support of my second goal, to stop stretching myself so thin. I tend to take on way too much, and some things I do become a little bit less “quality.” So, in order to enjoy what I do more, and to have more quality, I have to reduce quantity. These are lofty goals. I also started a journal for the first time since I was 12, to help keep me working towards my goals and thinking about them often.

I later got to celebrate with a holiday party, a West Side Story theme. I got to get all dolled-up, and I was SO excited to get dressed up and dance the night away. My feet and legs were definitely sore afterwards!

I’m also back on track with all of my runs and work outs. I didn’t mention it, but December was rough for me and threw me through a loop.

I’ve also been cooking at home like a madwoman! I had a New Years Day party with mocktails and healthy food to start the New Year catching up with a few friends.

Many didn’t make it due to hangovers and being out way too late, but it was still fun! The mocktails were delicious, but too sweet, and kept me up all night from sugar! I made Indian food, pop-corn (Kat-classic), and a number of other fun dishes with lots of fresh fruit and veggies.

Eating and cooking more at home, for me, means many unplanned meals, sometimes just throwing whatever I have in my fridge together, and last week, amazing kitchen mistakes!

I was making dinner for a friend this week, and I had left over quinoa and brown rice, extra fresh broccolini, kale, and sweet potatoes, and some random tofu. So I just got started, and this is what ended up happening:

Amazing Kitchen Mistake

I sautéed the veggies with fresh ginger and garlic, re-heated the quinoa/brown rice combo (about 75% quinoa, 25% brown rice), and felt like the dish needed something else. Tofu. The tofu preparation was the amazing mistake. I wanted to sort of “fry” it, so I coated it with some brown rice flour mixed with cayenne, salt, and white pepper. I carefully coated each cube and placed it on a plate for frying. But I totally forgot cornstarch! This would have gotten the flour mixture to stick to the tofu and fry properly. Instead, when I put it in the hot coconut oil, the flour started to stick to the bottom, and it wasn’t going very well.

So, to save the tofu, I took part of a box of Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger Soup and poured some in the pan with the tofu, stirred and scrambled the tofu with the soup and flour mixture, let it simmer, and made THE most delicious scrambled tofu I have ever had. (Editor’s note: will you plase make me a mistake too?)

Amazing Tofu Carrot-Ginger Scramble (Mistake)

1 block firm Tofu, 1 in cubes (which are later scrambled)
½ C brown rice flour
Salt, Cayenne and White Pepper to taste
2 T Coconut Oil (for frying)
~ ½ cup of Carrot-Ginger Soup (Trader Joe’s or Imagine Brand)

Follow the directions above and serve with the brown rice/quinoa mixture and sautéed veggies! This was definitely a healthy meal too!

It feels good to give. I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t also say that I’m donating blood today. It’s SO important. I also tend to be low-iron so I’ve had an iron-packed diet this week.

Note some things you should eat to pump up your iron (Editor’s note: I read this in an Arnola accent):

Sunflower seeds
Sun-dried tomatoes
Lentils
Raisins
Black beans
Pumpkin seeds

All of these give you almost as much iron as a big steak, and is less harmful to your body if you ingest too much iron because they contain nonheme iron. They also give you more per serving than the dark, leafy greens that are often recommended. If you eat whatever, nothing can compare to the iron-filled foods like liver, clams and mussels. And don’t forget dark chocolate and cocoa powder! Check out their nutrition facts for confirmation!

Additionally, I have a theory about blood donation for my own health. I think it promotes cell-regeneration throughout my own body! Do something good for others, while doing something good for yourself!

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I echo Kat’s thoughts on the importance of blood donation. My dad suffered from cancer for 4.5 years and made it as long as he did largely in part to blood, platlet, and bone marrow doners. Click here for more info on becoming a marrow donor. It only takes a cotton swab!

What amazing kitchen mistakes have you had that you want to share?

How do you get re-centered when you have an “off” month?

2012’s Popularity Contest + WIAW

January 2, 2013 By Laura

2012 was a great year for discoveries.

I can’t believe I survived without some of these things before.

I feel like I’ve gotten to know so many inspiring people (like YOU). Becoming a member of the FitFluential community has been a huge game changer. The members of that community are constant sources of motivation and positive energy. I’ve discovered new blog, learned a lot, and been able to learn about new products (shameless plug: perfect example is my Polar HRM from h.h. gregg – check out the review/giveaway here).

Another amazing discovery was Instagram. It’s unbelievable how much it’s changed the way we interact. I love that when I can’t decide what to eat, I can just scroll through my feed. It has been a fun way to have conversations with people throughout the day! It’s basically Twitter with pictures and open comment threads! I also love seeing recipes people are interesting in. I forget that just because I make a certain snack every week doesn’t mean everyone else does!

I also have to give a holla to my morning cocktail. Apple Cider vinegar became an addiction in 2012. I drink it every morning with my Fitmixer Aminos (fruit punch flavor). It is delicious and has totally replaced my need for coffee in the morning. Love. It.

One last love. Peanut flour. I cannot imagine my life without it. I use it in savory sauces, smoothies, PB & Jegg-like creations, Elvis French Toast… to quote the Texas Pete lady: “I put that shit on everything.” You can order it online through iHerb.com. Use code USO924 to get $5 off your order!

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This popularity contest is my first WIAW post of 2013… What I Ate in 2012! Below are the Top 10 Sprint 2 the Table posts of 2012 (based on page views). Click on titles to link to the recipe.

Check out the Top 10 below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how other started out their 2013.

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Most Poplar Recipes of 2012

1. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

These take the prize for my favorite veggie sneak. If you tasted these, you would have NO idea they have zucchini. OR that they are basically sugar-free.

2. Banana Creme Brownie Parfait

What’s better than brownies? Brownies with (healthy) icing.

3. Raspberry Baked Oatmeal To-Go

Seeing this recipe pop up in the top 10 made me realize I’ve been making new versions and not sharing. I’ve share a new twist on this soon! I always have a few in the freezer for quick breakfast or snack.

4. Peanut Butter & Jeggs

I would like to vote this my favorite invention – and worst pic – of 2012!

5. 150 Calorie Chocolate Protein Cake

I’m actually eating one as I draft this post. This cake is my most repeated dish of 2012!

6. Vegan Goat Cheese Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

I made these for a French-themed book club while I was eating vegan. The meat-eating crowd ate them with no problems!

7. Chewy Granola Cookies

Otherwise known as “the ones that mom likes.” She requests them. 🙂

8. Sprouting Chickpeas

It shocked me to learn how easy sprouting is!

9. PB & Aggs (Peanut Butter and Apple-Eggs) and Carrot Cake Protein Batter

I don’t know which of these made this post popular… but I eat both ~~almost~~ weekly.

10. Basic Protein Shake Recipe and Protein Powder Review

This is one of my favorites because it’s the post where I announced I was training for my first figure competition!

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I’m so excited to start Junk-Free January! My sister came over for dinner last night, and we enjoyed a tasty kombucha cocktail over out collards and black-eyed peas.

What was your favorite recipe last year?

Did you have any group/social platform discoveries on 2012?

Brandied Baked French Toast

December 26, 2012 By Laura

What didn’t I eat Wednesday may be a more appropriate title.

I may have over-done it on the sweets…

Do you look forward to the holidays being over? After I left my mom’s last night, I was sad to be going home alone, but at the same time a little relieved to get back into a normal routine.

I do hate leaving this beautiful scene though!

Today I was going to take another “break” from blogging. Then I realized a) I don’t really have anything else to do and b) this would be a fun way to shock myself into going cold turkey on the sugar. I didn’t get pictures of it all, and we slept in so it is kind of a random slew of snack rather than meals. You’ve been warned.

We didn’t totally fail at Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday theme this month… but it could have been ~~better~~ less sugar-filled:

Check out my Christmas eats, and then be sure to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons and see what everyone else ate on this most wonderful day of the year!

Meal 1:

I didn’t have Fitmixer Aminos at my mom’s, but I did have my ACV and water first thing

Christmas Eve I prepared an overnight baked french toast to be ready to pop in the oven Christmas morning (almost afternoon… we didn’t eat until 11a). We open presents while it baked. Before the toast, we started out with a Christmas tradition: mimosas!

The french toast was served with an easy cranberry sauce. I soaked fresh cranberries in Gran Mariner (orange liqueur), and placed it all in a small sauce pan with some vanilla liquid stevia and cinnamon. I let that simmer on low heat while we opened presents, adding a little water as needed.

The Brandied Baked French Toast recipe is below. It will look like it has a lot of booze in it, but it really isn’t strong once you bake it. Most of the booze cooks out. I tried to keep it a little lighter using unsweetened almond milk rather than a traditional cream or whole milk. Making that simple change save a lot on calories and fat, but you don’t loose any flavor. This resulted in a flavorful, surprisingly light, fluffy French toast… it may have to happen once more on New Years Day.

Also on our breakfast table was French-pressed coffee, ambrosia (my mom and sister’s favorite… I passed), and fresh figs wrapped in prosciutto.

Meal 2:

Popcorn. We devoured a bag of Smart Food’s Parmesan & Herb Popcorn while watching Elf.

I grazed some more on almonds, random sweets, an extra bite (or 5) of breakfast… but we really enjoyed sea salt-breadcrumb dark chocolate by Chuao that Santa brought me:

Meal 3:

I don’t know if this counts as a meal… but we snacked on more prosciutto with Trader Joes’ Raisin Rosemary Crisps (like the Raincoat crisps sold at WF, but much cheaper), cream cheese with strawberry-champagne jam, hummus, carrots, and celery while dinner cooked. With a pear cider cocktail (pear cider + brandy, ginger liqueur, and lime juice).

Meal 4:

This meal was probably unnecessary after all of that. In my family, Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas brunch are a bigger deal than Christmas night, so we didn’t do anything too fancy.

I kept my plate small, but everything was delicious. We made a quick salad, wild rice with pomegranate and kale, roasted sweet potatoes, and grilled lamb chops. All drizzled with a thick balsamic. There was also an unpictured glass of Alamos Malbec… ~~did I mention the return of Sober January?~~

Also unnecessary was dessert… which I happily enjoyed. German Chocolate Cookies, coming to you Friday!

Brandied Baked French Toast

1 loaf Ciabatta bread in 1-inch slices
3 C unsweetned vanilla almond milk
3 eggs
1 T brown sugar
1 packet Stevia (can replace with more sugar)
1 T cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 T Cointreau
3 T Frangelico
1 T brandy
Optional: 1/2 grated apple

Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish (I used Pam).

Place bread in two tightly-packed layers in the pan. If you use the apple or other fillings (any fruit or nut would work), sprinkle them between the layers.

Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, spices, and booze together in a large bowl. Pour mixture over the bread. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The bread will absorb the milk mixture overnight.

Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes, until fluffed and golden brown.

Cut into squares and serve with fruit, syrup, or any other favorite breakfast topping.

Serves 6-8.

Notes: If you don’t like the alcohols, you may use a couple of teaspoons of vanilla or other extract. You could also experiment with other liqueurs like Irish cream, Gran Mariner, Kahlua, rum, etc.

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The gluttony will stop after this week… I swear. I have one more cookie recipe to share, and it’s slightly lightened up!

How were your holiday meals? What was the winner?

Are you a little relieved when the festivities end?

Attacking a Cold + WIAW

December 19, 2012 By Laura

I will not get sick. I will not get sick. I will not get sick.

Clicking my heels together 3 times…

I woke up Tuesday with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. I spent all day feeling like I was about to cough… you know, that tickle in the back of your throat?

Time to attack. My solution (I hope):

Juice Plus – These are my ‘vitamins.” It’s awesome because the pills are made from fresh fruits and veggies. They juice them and then dry it into a powder, so you’re really getting a whole food-based pill vs. a vitamin (no, they don’t give me kickbacks… but they should!)
Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) – You guys know I love this stuff. In addition energy and digestive benefits, it is alkalizing. this is important because when you’re sick your PH balance is off
Water – LOTS of water helps flush out the germs
Luden’s Wild Cherry Throat Drops – I’m pretty sure these don’t do anything… but they taste good and have a comforting factor since my mom used to keep them on hand when we were kids #sorryimnotsorry
Zinc – Some studies have found that Zinc reduce the length and severity of a cold… some found that it does nothing. I’m covering all my bases
Vitamin C – Also questionable, but it potentially can shorten the length of a cold. Again, covering my bases
Bourbon – KIDDING. I’m not drinking away my symptoms… but I have a friend whose grandmother says to take a tablespoon of bourbon and a tablespoon of honey every hour until you feel better or pass out. In reality, I’m infusing this bourbon for a special Christmas cocktail… TBA

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Today I don’t necessarily have holiday recipes to share… but I have ~~recipes~~ creations! I’m exercising my Kitchen Workout (have you joined?), especially now that I’m feeling the ick. Lots of clean eats to heal and ward off sick germs. During cold and flu season, I think this still fits with Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday theme this month:

Below is my day of healing eats. Check it out, and then be sure to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons and see what everyone else is cooking up the week before the fat man come creeping down your chimney!

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