Do people ever look at you oddly when you pull out your lunch?
I consider it a personal failure if this doesn’t occur daily.
You know the “look.” They cock their head, raise their eye brows, and slightly wrinkle their nose. You know what’s coming next… “What is that?”
Welcome to the world of Strange But Good.
A lot of things healthy living bloggers/readers eat wouldn’t be considered strange inside this community; however, your co-workers, friends, and families probably give you the “look” when you top your oatmeal as if it were a bowl of fro-yo, for instance. Those things count as Strange But Good! If it’s a combo that this community would think is strange, even better! Not a requirement though.
Here are my creations this week that certainly earned me a couple of stares:
Exhibit 1
It’s a cross between a sweet potato pie, a pancake, and an omelette! This was a creamy, cake-y, breakfast from heaven. I loved the pie flavors and silky texture in this omelette-like pancake.
You know that sweet potatoes are best topped with peanut butter, so I created a maple-peanut butter sauce to use as my syrup.
Sweet Potato Pan-lette
- 1/2 C mashed sweet potato
- 1/2 C egg whites
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 4-5 drops vanilla liquid stevia (optional)
For the sauce:
- 1 T peanut flour
- 1 tsp ground flax
- 1/4 tsp maple extract
- 2-3 drops vanilla liquid stevia
Combine all pancake ingredients into a medium bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into a prepared (I used PAM) skillet and cook as you would a pancakes (~2-3 mins on each side).
Note: I made this as one huge pancake, but I’d advise you to turn it into 2. It required some serious acrobatics and two spatulas to flip.
Meanwhile, stir together sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Plate your pie-cakes, top with peanut butter syrup, and enjoy!
Exhibit 2
The idea of a spicy tuna salad may not be so strange. We all like a spicy tuna roll. But what about spicy tuna with peanut flour? It’s a Pad Thai take on a lunch-lady staple!
You could mix in any veggies here, but I really liked the sweetness of the red pepper with the sriracha heat, and the nutty flavor from the zucchini was particularly good with the peanut sauce.
Pad Thai-na Salad
- 2 T peanut flour
- 2 tsp sriracha
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- Juice of 1/3 fresh lime
- 2 T almond milk (or other liquid)
- 1 can tuna, drained
- Cilantro
- Zucchini
- Red pepper
- Pepper, to taste
In a small bowl, combine the peanut flour, sriracha, cumin, lime, and milk. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, add your canned tuna and break up with a fork. Pour peanut sauce over the tuna and stir until combined. Add remaining ingredients.
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Want to Join?
All you need to do to join this link up is create a concoction that is Strange But Good, post it with the Strange But Good logo, and link up to your recipe. (See below for code.) On the Strange But Good post each week, you’ll see a link to add your own recipe and picture at the bottom of the page. I’d prefer you use a new strange but good dish, but if you realllly have a good previous one you can add it.
Not a blogger? You can play too! Send me an email with a picture of your food and a brief description by noon on Thursday and I’ll include it in Friday’s post (too late this week, obv… but next week it’s on!).
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂
um both of those sound awesome! I am such a fan of tuna so anything with it just sounds delicious to me. can’t wait to see all the link ups
amazing sweetie! It’s funny, though – I have done your sweet potato thing before! Maybe not exact ratios, but I know how amazing it is! YUM
I get that all the time at work – “what is that???” Unfortunately I’ve got nothing strange but good to add. Maybe next week! Trying your pan-lette!
Would love to have you this week. Let me know how you like the pan-lette! 🙂
p.s. I LOVE the fact that “this” community may not consider these recipes weird! I have even more to share in upcoming weeks then!!!! 😀
Of all the link-ups I’ve seen in the blog world, I think this might be my favorite- can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with..the stranger the better 😀
Thank you!!! I want to see some of you eats. 🙂
see, i dont think this is weird at all, which makes me fit right in, right?
You are the perfect specimen. 🙂
Your eats are always so good…strange but good 😉
Wonder if the batter would work in my waffle machine. Then it would be a sweet potato waff-lette. 🙂
GREAT idea!! If you try that, please please let me know.
I’ll definitely be linking up in the future…I’ve come up with some pretty weird combos!
LOL at “Do people ever look at you strangely when you pull out your lunch?” HAHA. I’m loving your strage but good eats.
That sweet potato pancake “thing” looks delicious! I can’t wait to see what everyone else posts!! Have a great weekend, Laura.
Whatever that sweet potato thing may be it sounds amazing! Sweet potatoes and cinnamon are one of my all time favorites!
Mmmm, sounds good to me! I also like my sweet potato with pb. Baked beans are good too if I’m splurging. 🙂
I think mine would have to be my you-inspired baked oatmeal! I’ll link it up later today!
Thanks Laura! Glad to have you join. 🙂
Aaaaand…I’m IN! I <3 you and your strange-but-goodness 🙂
Oh yes, I always get strange looks – sometimes even from my husband 😉 I may need to try out that pancake. My sister and I split a case of sweet potatoes so to say I have a ton is a mild understatement.
How many sweet potatoes are in a case?! That’s awesome.
Oh geez I don’t even know – it’s a huge box that was almost filled to the top that we split. A little obnoxious except for the fact that I have no doubt I’ll eat the majority of them 😉
I must be weird because your treats don’t seem strange at all.. just good!! 🙂
I’ll see if I can add something next week… love the idea of this. Your strange but good food is always amazing. Have a great weekend, Laura!
Tony and I did a buttercup squash cake the other day and it was sooooo good. Kind of like a potato pancake but sweeter. I LOVE peanut butter sauce on just about anything. I am seriously loving some coconut peanut butter on my sweet potatoes lately, but almond butter is my all time favorite topping on them. So creamy dreamy and delicious!
Buttercup squash cake sounds amazing! And coconut PB. I need to make a purchase.
I seriously LOVE both of these ideas . . . and LOVE that you use peanut flour. Nut butters are fantastic, but sometimes there’s a time and place to scale back the fat and calories, and I’m always trying to find ways to use peanut flour instead.
I cannot wait to try the sweet potato pie!! Happy Friday!
I agree with you on the peanut flour/butter. I love both! I think especially for sauces you can use the flour without feeling like you’re missing anything.
I am SO sorry to be failing to join something that you KNOW I am a queen of…but there is still time in the day? If only I weren’t going a little ‘nutty’ this week…good thing my entire LIFE is strange, but good. 🙂
I had half a mind to just go link up your entire blog to this post. 😉
I love your comment about taking it as a challenge that you like “wierd” food. I still don’t think it’s that weird, I think other people are just less creative!! Can I add the logo and link up to an older post? Otherwise, I’ll be weirder next week and join. 🙂
“I still don’t think it’s that weird, I think other people are just less creative!!”
Amen to that!
yep, these all look normal to me 😉
but yes… I have made many things for lunches that coworkers give a side eye to… when working with a bunch of naturopathic docs you have a few that understand and don’t even think anything of it (and arrive to work with their own green smoothies!) but some… yeah.
in fact, with some of the more adventurous coworkers, we look forward to “what did you bring today!?!?!?” 😀
My boss started drinking green smoothies – she now calls me in the morning to tell me what she added. She’s so proud of herself. LOL! 🙂
Yeah I have been there too…it can be fun when people have an open mind..then there are the other times 😀
I absolutely love this. I haven’t actually had something strange but good in a while! Looks like I need to get a cooking this weekend!
Girl you craaazy and I like it!!!! These both sound amazing. I also like how you topped the first one with an entire jar of cinnamon. You know I’m not nearly as creative as you in the kitch, but if I ever come up with something strange but good I’ll definitely be participating!!
You noticed all the cinnamon? Hee hee…
I LOVE THIS!!! People think I eat strange but I don’t care &^ my stuff does not even come close to your strange! 😉 I am so going to try that pancake/sauce one!!!!! YUM!
People just look at my ODDLY in general! Perhaps it’s because of my LOUD mouth or my off facial expressions, or maybe they think I am SUPER SEXY! Yeah, I am going to go with the ladder. LOL!!!!
And you know what, I make your EXACT recipe but instead of sweet potato, I use BUTTERNUT SQUASH! Amazingly DELICIOUS!!! Have a phenomenal weekend! Keep bring your lunch where ever you go, I do it all the time! When I was in high school, I used to bring Ostrich patties to lunch with me (no bun, just the patties) and people would look at me like WTF!?!?!?!?!?! It was hysterical, lol! I remember one day I even brought LOBSTER TAIL!
They totally think you’re super sexy!!!!
I bet butternut is amazing in that recipe! I love adding it to shakes… next time it’s going in my ‘cakes! 🙂
Mmmm I would be staring at you, albeit not quizzically but with my tongue hanging out 😛
Yum!!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
LOL! Thank you, my friend. 🙂
I don’t know that I have eaten anything strange but good this week, but I’m sure I’ll have stuff for your next post.
That does look strange but good! I’m a stay at home mom so not too many people see my strange eats but if they did I’m sure I would get the look!
Have a great weekend! By the way, I nominated you for the Liebster Award today!
Thank you for the nom!!! 🙂
Meghan at Clean Eats Fast Feets suggested I bring my Salmon in Good Orange Company to your strange but good party, so here I am? Anyone hungry?
These recipes look delicious, and I cannot wait to try them all.
Where should I look for peanut flour?
Thanks!
Thank you so much for linking up – that salmon dish is the perfect addition. 🙂
Peanut flour can be ordered online at iherb.com. Use discount code USO924 for $5-10 of your first order. It’s a great place to get protein powders, vitamin, and other natural foods.
So I was under the misguided assumption my food wasn’t strange. You gals eat some weird concoctions, but not me. Then I posted a picture of this morning’s very normal (to me) breakfast on Facebook, and one of my friends responded with a “sounds gross.” WTF! So you can bet your sweet (or savory) biscuits I’ll be linking up come Monday, or Tuesday, depending on when I can get my act together.
I am SO glad you linked up. I just pinned that mimosa to try. 🙂
I feel like my old snacks of plain cold tofu mashed with vegemite, nutritional yeast, and tabasco could have fit right in here. Darn vegemite now being a hemisphere away! 😛
That sounds SO good. Maybe I’ll but pout my Vegemite today…
I’m pretty intrigued by the Pad Thai-na Salad recipe! Sounds awesome =)
Great idea, Laura! I’ll try to play next Friday…if we’re still all here! 😉
LOL! That’s a great point, Fran!
I’m so excited that you’re doing this linkup! 🙂 YAY.
also, you should dye your hair green. 😛
I’m so excited I have a cool logo for this link up. You rock. 🙂
Dude, the pan-lette is going DOWN in Casa de Broccoli THIS week! I just have to cook my sweet potato! I love the look of that pad-thai creation as well…you know how much I’m a sucker for your peanut flour sauces! And I gotta say, since my breakfast sushi last week, I think I’m “warming” up to sriracha a bit…haha, get it…warming? Lol!
I’m going to admit it, as I was posting the recipe for my ELF frittata, I was already starting to think of my next #strangebutgood concoction…funny, now that I feel I have to THINK about it, I can’t come up with anything on the spot…oh the pressure! Hahaha!
I’m so proud of you with the sriracha!!
I thought of you this weekend- I went to my mom’s and she had fig goat cheese spread!!! i put it on my eggs. With spinach. And truffles.
I feel like I live in the world of “strange but good”!!