Whole30/Paleo Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Yesterday I posted this picture of my lunch on Instagram and Facebook and quickly received requests for the recipe.  So I posted it to Facebook and made sure to note all the changes I made.  When I realized that my minor changes weren't so minor after all, I decided to post the recipe here.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:
16 oz crabmeat
      (I bought the flaked kind in a package and minced it in the food processor.  Original recipe calls for canned crab)
24 oz baby bella mushrooms 
     (We buy 16oz of mushrooms and use the remaining crab mixture in omelets for breakfast the next couple of days)
1/2 C homemade mayo
3 Tbsp chives, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:
Combine crab meat, mayo, chives, and paprika.  Let rest for at least 15 minutes.
Clean mushrooms.  Remove stems and let dry.
Place mushrooms on baking sheets (if you're worried about them sticking, spray with EVOO or line with parchment paper)
Fill mushrooms with crab mixture
Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes (until top is slightly browned)
Let rest for 1-2 minutes.  Top with freshly squeeze lemon juice and serve.

To see the original recipe, more details, and *much better* pictures, click here!


Whole30 Mayonnaise

I have never been a fan of mayonnaise, but when we started Whole30 the first time, I realized that we needed something as a base for foods like chicken salad.  When I tried this recipe, I was shocked at how easy it as and even more shocked at how delicious it was.  I usually make a double or triple batch because it goes so quickly in our house!

Ingredients:
1 egg
     -The egg MUST be at room temperature so I usually leave it on the counter in a bowl of warm water for an hour.
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice (also need to be room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon mustard
3/4 cup LIGHT olive oil
salt and pepper


Method:
Combine egg, garlic, lemon juice and mustard in blender and blend until smooth.
Slowly pour in olive oil.  If you are doubling the recipe, I recommend pouring in 3/4 cup at a time, blending and then adding the second half.
Blend until it thickens.
Add salt and pepper to taste and combine.
Store in fridge.  
Mayonnaise will be good for one week past the expiration date on the egg carton. 

To see the original recipe and better pictures, click here!

Whole30 Meal Plan AND recipe

We're doing another Whole30! Our last attempt was derailed by a nasty stomach bug, but we are currently on Day 4 and going strong!  It helps, I think, that we're doing it with friends this time.  Per yesterday's post, we're doing this because we have found that we feel better when we eat better.   

Since it is the first time our friends have done Whole30, I made a meal plan to share with them.  I planned two weeks worth of meals which we will alternate (i.e. Weeks 1 and 3 of Whole30 we will eat the same meals).  Included are links to most the recipes I list!  You can access the meal plan here.

A few notes:

1. Please do your own research about Whole30 before starting.  My meal list might be a great resource for you, but it doesn't take the place of knowing what the "rules" are of Whole30.  Additionally, if a recipe calls for something like mustard, I'm assuming that you'll check the back of yours to make sure it is Whole30 approved.

2.  I have tried to do a different protein each day of the week so that you aren't eating chicken for every meal.

3.  On the last page of the meal list I've listed several alternate meals in case you didn't like one, couldn't find the right ingredients, or just needed a fresh idea.  I've also listed some ideas for snacks and add-ons to meals.

4.  I have listed things you can eat at a few chain restaurants, but (as always) you should check with your local restaurant before ordering it.

5.  You can access my Pinterest board of Whole30 foods if you need more inspiration!  Also, here is an old blog post where I listed some favorite meals from our first Whole30.   

Speaking of meal inspiration, last night we had one of our favorite Whole30 meals! We like it so much that we eat it often when we're not even doing Whole30!  I love that it is simple to prepare and I can easily run to the store to pick up salmon, a lemon, squash, and zucchini and have a delicious and healthy meal in a short amount of time.  :)

I have said it before and I will say it again: I am not a photographer, not a *food* photographer, and not good at writing recipes, but this meal is easy enough to prepare that you shouldn't need too many instructions.  If you do have questions, however, leave a comment and I'll try to get you a clear answer!

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Place fresh salmon on a large sheet of aluminum foil (skin side down).  Drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add lemon slices on top.  Fold aluminum around salmon.  Bake for 20-35 minutes (depending on how thick your piece is).  Salmon should be light pink and flaky when it comes out.  Open packet and remove lemons.

Wash squash and zucchini and remove the ends.  Cut into 1/2 inch slices, then cut each slice into four pieces.  Toss in bowl with olive oil, a very generous tablespoon of garlic (or more if you're like me!), salt, and pepper.  Place in baking pan and cook for 20 minutes (turning the pieces a few times during the cooking time).

I usually prepare the salmon first and stick it in the oven to start cooking.  Then I quickly prepare the squash and zucchini and put them in the oven as well.  20ish minutes later, both are done cooking at the same time and the meal is ready to eat!

Let me know what you think if you try this!  And if you have any favorite paleo/Whole30 meals, I'd love to hear about them!


P.S. The blog is likely to be a bit quiet this week as we're sick and I'm working on another project! :)

Whole 30 Easy-Peasy Tilapia Recipe

I'm a bit embarrassed to call this a recipe because it's really so easy and simple.  This is a quick meal that we whipped up last night when we started our second Whole30.  It uses ingredients that I keep on hand and is very adaptable, so if I do happen to be out of an ingredient, I can easily leave it out or find a substitute.

Start with two tilapia fillets and cover both sides with lime zest and a sprinkling of sea salt.  Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25-30 minutes.

While the fish is baking, make guacamole!  We use two avocados, lime juice (from the lime that was zested, but reserve 1/4 of it), tomato, red onion and salt.

When the fish is done, plate it and squeeze remaining lime juice over it.  Top with guacamole and dig in!

Oh man, for as many times as I say that I am NOT a photographer, I really need to say I am SO not a food photographer!!!  I don't do this meal justice, so you'll just have to give it a try.  And if you do, maybe take some better pictures of it?  :)

The Whole30 Challenge -- TAKE TWO

Back in September, my husband and I completed Whole30, a 30 day challenge of eating real food and eliminating addictions to sugar, wheat, etc.  It was hard, but GREAT!  I had far fewer migraines, hardly any fibromyalgia pain, lots of energy, cut out my sugar addiction, and ended up losing 20 pounds in the process.

We've decided to do another Whole30 in January!  We totally splurged on Thanksgiving and I've been paying for it the past few days with very achy joints.  So now I'm back to collecting recipes that are FREE of sugar, dairy, gluten, corn and legumes.  Can you say "Hello, Pinterest"?

Although you can start Whole30 at any time, they have three "scheduled" starts throughout the year including January 1st.  But since my husband's birthday is in January, we'll be waiting until after his birthday to start meaning we'll finish mid-late February.

I'm already excited (and scared) to do another Whole30!  But one thing that is giving me extra motivation is that we have friends doing it with us this time!  We might not all start on the same date, but as of right now, we have four friends who are doing Whole30 in January!  My goal is to encourage 10 people to do Whole30.  It really did help me and I think it could do the same for you.  Do you want to join us??

thanksgiving feast

{my mom's famous cinnamon rolls, which are technically sticky buns but we didn't know that until we were older so we call them cinnamon rolls}

My sister and her family are visiting us for Thanksgiving and I cannot wait!  It's going to be great for many reasons, but one thing I'm looking forward to is cooking together.  My entire family likes to cook and try new recipes, but Thanksgiving is about the classics.  When my sister and I talk on the phone, we've planned all of our family favorites.  I don't cook these foods normally (especially not since Whole30!) so I'm looking forward to eating my childhood favorites.

My only concern is how we're going to cook all the food in my kitchen!  Most of it needs to be in the oven at the same time, so I'm getting creative about alternate heating sources like the crockpot.  It's going to be a juggling act to get all of our dishes cooked and serve them warm, but hopefully I'm up for the challenge.  :)

I've made some things ahead of time, like the cinnamon rolls pictured above.  But I'm excited to have a full kitchen on Thanksgiving, even if it's hectic.  I love having my family around and making memories in the kitchen and around the table.  

What's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?  I'm looking forward to Kentucky spoon bread which I haven't had in YEARS!

whole30 meals and more!

Well, we are now on Day 23 of Whole30!  It has been a lot easier than I anticipated.  The first few days were hard, but now we don't have to think about it so much.  Additionally, I've noticed that I have more energy.  Some people talk about having "tiger blood" which means having boundless energy.  For me, I've noticed that I crash less often.  I used to go CRAZY waiting for Caleb to come home...I was so tired and could never have him get home soon enough to help with the baby.  Half of the time I had a migraine so I just needed to lay down.  My migraines have been so, so much better (I've only been having them if I haven't eaten or slept enough.  Totally a change from having them day after day).  I've spent more time outside being active with Hadden and haven't been on edge waiting for Caleb to get home.  Additionally, a pair of shorts that 23 days ago were tight can now (literally) fall off me.  I really need to find my belt!

This week I was preparing a meal for a friend, but since I couldn't taste what I was making (it wasn't Whole30), I asked another friend to come over and taste test some apple muffins for me.  Thankfully, she didn't mind that job. ;)  We got around to talking about Whole30 and what we ate so I thought I'd give a brief description.

Here is our official shopping list.  The first week or two I took this with me the store to make sure I was buying Whole30 approved foods.  Now that I have it in my head, I don't usually carry it because I already know what to buy.

This is what WE have been eating.  Sometimes on the different forums, I see people who have different opinions about what is allowed on Whole30 (e.g. one person says to drink only water, but most people agree that other drinks like tea are fine).  To the best of my knowledge, everything I've eaten has been compliant with Whole30, but if someone who is more advanced with Whole30 recognizes that I did something wrong, please don't rake me over the coals! ;)

Breakfast:

Eggs

  Egg casserole with compliant chicken sausage and spinach

  Omelets with peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes

  Fried or Scrambled Eggs

Cowboy Breakfast Skillet

Fruit

Main Dishes:

Grilled Chicken

Grilled Steak

Tilapia

Salads (including a modified version of this one)

Homemade Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

Turkey or Chicken Burgers

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Tuna Salad (with homemade mayo)

Sides/Snacks:

LARA bars (we've found about 5 flavors that are compliant)

Kale chips

Fruit (sometimes with a side of almond butter)

Vegetables (LOTS!)

Almonds

Guacamole (we like it served over grilled chicken or tilapia)

Baked Apple Chips

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Homemade beef jerky

Eating Out*:

(*It's especially important if you're doing Whole30 that you are a compete pain in the butt for the restaurant staff double check how that location cooks their food...it might be different from place to place.)

Panera Bread: "Power" Mediterranean Turkey Salad (no pepperocini, add avocado)

                       "Power" Steak Wraps Salad (no pesto, add avocado)

5 Guys:           Burger (no cheese, no bun, lots of vegetables!)

Texas Roadhouse: Steak (no seasoning - just grilled), broccoli (no seasoning), house salad (no cheese, no croutons, oil and lemon as dressing)

Chipotle:           Bowl with carnitas, mild salsa, guac and lettuce)

Are you up for it??  Ready to start Whole30? (I'm hoping at least ONE person decides to do it after me...I have a few people considering it)

 

whole 30 (alternate title: why I haven't had milk, sugar or bread in 14 days)

My and my husband's favorite foods include milk, cheese, bread, alcohol, and any form of sugar.

But we're on day 14 of being gluten free, alcohol free, dairy free, legume free and sugar free.

Thankfully, we're only going to 30.  :)

It would take a long, long time to explain everything about Whole30, so I'm just going to do my best to summarize.  Whole30 is a 30 day challenge focused on eating whole foods and rewiring how your body and brain approach food.  For instance, my body spent a couple days detoxing (not fun).  And my brain is learning that I don't really need to eat when I'm stressed and especially don't need to reach for sugar to make me feel better.

I knew I needed to give this a try because I knew I was too dependent on sugar and milk (along with basically every other food on the list).  Also, I was really interested to see if it would help my migraines and fibromyalgia.

For 14 days now we've been eating a lot of lean meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits and nuts.  In some senses, it's easier than I thought it would be.  I was DREADING beginning this, but once we got started, I fell into a routine.  On the other hand, there have been a couple times when I cried over food.  Like this week when Hadden was really ill and I was so busy taking care of him (and falling into bed the moment he went to sleep) that I honestly forgot to eat lunch.  Cue mini-meltdown.

Here's What I Love About Whole30:

No Cheating
For some reason, this make sense to me.  Maybe because I like rules??  If there wasn't a "no cheating" rule, I would probably find myself cheating on the first day.  But I'm on Day 15 and, to the best of my knowledge, have been fully compliant.

You aren't allowed to weigh yourself
I love this.  I love that it's not about weight-lose, it's about a healthy lifestyle.  We can already feel our clothes fitting differently, but I like that the focus isn't on that. 

It's called Whole30 and not Whole365
I can do 30 days.  I like knowing there's an end.  Of course, many people say that at the end of Whole30, they don't WANT to go back to their old eating habits and instead learn to indulge occasionally.  I know myself and there's no way I'm going to be eating this strictly for the rest of my life.  But I am hoping to be more conscientious in the future and especially consider the way my body reacts to certain foods.  If they make me sick, why eat them? 

I don't have to be hungry
I'm not doing any counting of calories.  I don't have to walk around with a growling stomach.  We try to make sure we eat meals with plenty of protein and vegetables.  And if I need a snack during the day, I eat one.


Here's What I Hate About Whole30:

Losing food as a connection point
Yes, yes, yes, I know that it's good to eat healthy.  Yes, I'm sure I could learn to cook Whole30 compliant meals for guests (and I did last week).  It doesn't change the fact that for these 30 days I have felt very anti-social.  I HATE that.  I love to cook.  I love to have people over. for meals  I think food is a way to bring people together.  It is HARD to lose that.  During these 14 days, we have eaten before we've gone to someone's house and, another time, brought our own food.  Of course we explained about Whole30 ahead of time and our hosts were more than gracious, but it was still unpleasant. 

In Bread and Wine, Shauna Niequest talks about her four months of eating limited foods by saying "I felt like I wasn't living in the same world everyone else was living in."  That's exactly it.  Entertaining is one of the major reasons I know I won't eat this way forever.

Giving up sugar, bread, alcohol and dairy - obviously!
I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that I hated it!  I know it's for my good and I know that i chose to do it, but STILL! ;)




Have you ever tried a restricted diet?  Did you stick with it or was it just for a season?

Korean Beef Tacos (a crockpot recipe)

A few months ago my sister called me and told me that she made the Korean beef tacos that I'd pinned and that they were "insane".  I had no idea what recipe she was talking about, which should be a sign that I pin too many recipes!  Anyway, she ended up making them for us when we visited and my husband and I both agreed: insanely good.

In addition to being "insanely good", these tacos use my all-time favorite cooking device, the crockpot!  Last winter we used our crockpot about five days a week and I am always looking for new recipes.  I love the flexibility of putting the ingredients in at 9:00am and not having to think about it again until 5pm when dinner is ready.

You can find the recipe here at Confections of a Foodie Bride, but today I'm just sharing a few pictures from the leftovers of the meal.  Check out the recipe on that blog and their beautiful pictures! 

The recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, which looks a bit daunting at first.  But it's really not.  You'll just need to run to the store and pick up a couple things that you may not have on hand (e.g. sesame oil, rice vinegar).  But those ingredients get mixed together and poured over the beef in the crockpot, so it's very easy.

Since this recipe makes a lot of beef, we save the extras in the fridge and use them the next few days for leftovers.  It's really easy to make a fresh taco for lunch and it tastes just as good!

**please remember that I am not a photographer and definitely not a food photographer so these pictures are far from perfect.  Yesterday as I was heating up leftovers I was simply noticing how beautiful the colors were together so I grabbed my camera and snapped away**

Here are the ingredients I started with for lunch:

- Leftover beef, warmed in the microwave.  

- Fat-free sour cream (plain greek yogurt would be great too)

- Cucumber/red onion slaw (I make this fresh each time...more on that below)

- Sriracha!

- Fresh cilantro

- Tortilla

Start by warming the tortilla in the microwave for about 20 seconds.  Add your sour cream/greek yogurt then drizzle Sriracha and top with cilantro

Add the warmed beef 

Top with the cucumber/red onion slaw (and more Srarchia if you like it spicy!)

Like I said above, I make fresh slaw each day.  The first time I made this recipe, I made a lot of slaw and saved it to use for leftovers, but I really missed the crunch of the cucumbers and onions.  They were limp and it was unsatisfying.  Usually I try to make it about 30 minutes before I plan on eating so it will have time to soak in the vinegar, but sometimes I don't get the chance.  It's good either way, but I prefer giving it a lot little time it sit.

Hope that you give it a try and that you enjoy it as much as we do!

our favorite summer recipes

At the end of April, I shared about our summer produce challenge where we decided to eat primarily vegetables for lunch.  We've done surprisingly well.  Obviously, when we were on our very long trip we didn't follow this plan...it's kinda hard to eat this way when you're either grabbing fast food on the road or eating at other people's houses.

Today I thought I'd share some of our favorite salads.  These are the foods that we haven't been able to get enough of this summer!

1)  Shauna Niequist's Watermelon Feta Salad


2)  Corn, Avocado, Tomato, Feta, Cucumber & Red Onion with a Cilantro Vinaigrette


3)  Spinach Strawberry Salad with Candied Pecans, Feta and Raspberry Poppyseed Dressing



If you can get your hands on Shauna Niequest's book Bread and Wine, I'd also recommend her play on mexican street corn (Elotes) - grilled corn, feta, lime, a touch of mayonnaise (i'm typing this from memory so i'm probably forgetting something).  It's really good!  Sometimes we use it as a main dish, but it's also good as a side to steak or grilled chicken.

One more "recipe" that comes from my sister.  We eat this almost every week.  Sometimes as a main dish.  Sometimes as a side.  Sometimes as a topping for mexican food.  Just mix corn, black beans, red onion, cilantro and lime juice.  Add a little salt and pepper and store in the fridge.  It lasts for a few days so we usually make a big amount and eat it several times.

Hope you find a new recipe and give it a try!

Watermelon Feta Salad (from Bread and Wine)

Last week I reviewed Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist and mentioned that I was going to try her Watermelon Feta Salad.  Well, we did and it was superb!  I made it for lunch one day as part of our summer produce challenge.

To be honest, when I was preparing it, I was nervous that it was going to live up to my expectations.  But it did!  I ate two bowls for lunch (which is really unheard of for me) and a couple hours later, I had a third bowl for a snack!!  Today I made it for lunch again and I'm already looking forward to the leftovers with dinner tonight!  :)

I've been telling people to try this recipe and they have responded with, "Well, send it to me!".  After a few Google searches, I realized that the recipe must not be online so I'm sharing it here.

Watermelon Feta Salad
From Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist

Ingredients:

8 cups watermelon, cubed
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
10 ounces arugula
2 limes
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
   salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cube 8 cups of watermelon, and let the cubes marinate in the juice of one fresh squeezed lime for several hours.

Vinaigrette:

Combine the fresh squeezed lime juice and zest from the remaining lime, white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

At serving time, toss arugula with half the vinaigrette, and combine watermelon, feta, red onion, and fresh mint.  Layer the watermelon mixture over the arugula, and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette.

Serves: 6 to 8

currently reading: Bread & Wine

I loved this book.  And, just to be clear, I've never begun a book review that way!  

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes is Shauna Niequist's third book.  Unlike many other reviewers, I knew little about Niequist before I began the book.  Really, I only knew that she was a blogger, but I'd never even visited her site.  But with this book, she won me over.  It felt like I was hearing from a kinded spirit and, over and over, I found myself nodding, crying, laughing and drawing little pencil hearts in the margin to mark my favorite points.   

The book is arranged into four sections, each consisting of about 10 essays.  Most of the essays are followed by a recipe referenced therein.  I liked the essay format because it was easy to read a little at a time.  Food, of course, is the predominate theme throughout the book, but addition topics include Christianity, infertility, miscarriage, family, friends, body image/self-confidence, parenting, hospitality and running.  Her life was transparent in these pages.  Sometimes that was hilarious, for instance, when she talks about training to run a marathon ("the runners themselves kind of freaked me out").  Other times the honesty was sobering and convicting.  The essay 'Hail Mary' made me cry as she talked about being all alone in the hospital with a very sick baby and I thought of my own baby and how terrifying that would be.

Niequist is a foodie.  She admits to obsessing over dinner parties and getting carried away when planning events.  But it didn't come across as snobby.  In fact, what I loved about the book was that she urged the reader to 'Start Where You Are' (the title of one essay).  She says to "order pizza and serve it with a green salad and a bottle salad dressing."  In other words: don't let not being a perfect chef stop you from entertaining.  This same idea was seen in another essay 'Open the Door' where talked about hosting in less-than-perfect situations (e.g. a tiny apartment).  Over and over again, you see how Niequist sees food as a way to connect with people.  And that's what I loved.  This book was about food, yes, but it was about more than that.  

As I said before, I knew very, very little about Niequist before this book.  Through reading the book, I picked up on the fact that her parents must be well-known.  A quick Google search told me that she is the daughter of Bill and Lynne Hybels (the founders of Willow Creek Church).  Near the end of the book, she mentions hosting a dinner for a family friend named Shane.  As she described a little more about him I realized was Shane Claiborne.  While Niequist could have done a lot of name-dropping throughout the book (it's clear that her family is well-connected), I appreciated that she didn't.  She just wrote.  She was simply honest and, with that, she won me over.

Since I'd never read any of her other writing (blog or books), I do wonder if this could have felt like a repeat to some readers.  I have read other books by bloggers and, sometimes, it seems that they simply recycle their blog material and turn it into a book.  So much of this book is based on Niequist's life, so there may be repeated stories from other places.

When the book first arrived, I was itching to open it, but I had another book/review I needed to finish first.  So I just read the first essay.  I read a little aloud to my husband because I was so struck by it and he said, "I can already tell you're going to like this book.  This book is you."  We love trying new foods and I cook a lot, so I loved reading her descriptions and I'm looking forward to trying the recipes (tomorrow we're making the watermelon feta salad!).  Overall, I loved this book: the stories, the writing and (hopefully) the recipes.  I think it's a beautiful read for anyone who sees food and hospitality as an act of love.  One word of warning:  reading this will make you hungry!  :)

**I received a copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for an honest review.

summer produce challenge

We're trying a fun little experiment in our house.  It started as the idea to eat vegan for lunches.  But it has slowly evolved when I realized that quite a few of my recipes for yummy vegetables included parmesan cheese and I really didn't want to skip that!  So then we were calling them vegetarian lunches.  But it doesn't really do it justice, because it's more than just not eating meat.

Last night I told my husband that it's "lunches where the vegetables shine" and I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes and requested that we please just stick with calling them vegetarian.  :)  We'll be eating primarily vegetables and fruits for week day lunches for the summer.

We're starting tomorrow!

I've been busy pinning interesting vegetable recipes, choosing the ones we'll try this week, compiling the list of ingredients and shopping for them.  The picture above is our shopping cart after we left the produce section! (side note: I'm a little disgusted by how many plastic bags we used.  I need a new system)

Here are some of our reasons for doing this experiment:

• make healthier eating choices and hopefully lose weight
• eat more intentionally (perhaps focus on what is in season and buy more local produce?)
• find new recipes to avoid getting stuck in a cooking rut
• teach our bodies to be satisfied with a meal of vegetables 
• to say we did it!  we both thought it sounded like a fun experiment for the summer!

Here's the recipe I'm making for lunch tomorrow: Cucumber Avocado Caprese Salad

Independence Day (and more)

We celebrated Independence Day starting Tuesday night with fireworks!  Offutt AFB has a beautiful base lake that is open to military families.  It has a campground, a sand volleyball court, picnic areas, boat rentals, fishing, etc.  On Tuesday afternoon/evening the FSS hosted a special event for the base families and ending with fireworks.  We showed up about an hour before the fireworks which is when I snapped the picture above.  While we were waiting, one of the AF bands performed and it was fun to hear the music floating across the lake to us.  The fireworks were directly across from us so we had great seats.  :)

The only thing Caleb requested for the 4th was fruit pizza, so I whipped this up.  It reminded both of us of last year when we celebrated the 4th of July with my sister, brother-in-law and niece and we made fruit pizza with them.  I had one very happy husband.  ;)  We spent the rest of the day running errands and relaxing.  

Twice a week, I go to the hospital for special monitoring which means I am getting to know the maternity ward and the nurses very well.  In addition to those, I still have regular appointments with the OB.  We're thankful that I'm getting good medical care (and especially thankful that the AF covers it all). The downside of all these appointments is that it makes sharing a car a little more complicated.  One day last week I made ELEVEN trips back and forth between base and our house/the hospital/the clinic.  Caleb made a few more trips later on, but I was wiped out by that point, so I stayed home!  :)

dinner last night :)

I first spied this recipe last month and have been waiting for the perfect night to make it.  (Click on the link because those pictures are much better - I really need to stop using my iPhone as my primary camera).

The past few days I've had super high pain levels and it has been wearing on me a lot - truthfully I've felt pretty miserable.  After I tried all the usual methods to distract myself, I decided it was time to cook.  And this recipe came to mind.  Mac and cheese is comfort food, yes?

The Mister likes Kraft mac and cheese (yes.  i mean the orange kind).  Which is weird.  BUT...he also likes my versions of homemade mac and cheese (the last one I made was this buffalo chicken mac and cheese).  And he LOVED this recipe.  And requested that I make it again soon.  I'm slowly converting him.  ;)

This is super rich!  But that was okay because we've been eating mostly fruits and vegetables since summer produce has been available.  For the next couple of days, however, it looks like we'll be eating leftovers of this!

come into my kitchen: oatmeal craisin cookies

 

These are some of my absolute favorite cookies - oh my word!  I found a recipe, but wasn't completely satisfied so I changed a few things.  Since they contain oatmeal, craisins and pecans you can kind of fool yourself into thinking that they are healthy.  It's dangerous.  Trust me on this one.  ;)

 

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups craisins

1 cup chopped pecans (approximately)

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons almond flavoring

Milk (maybe 1 - 2 tablespoons??)

Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.

Sift the flour, oatmeal, powder, soda, and salt together.  

Add to the butter mixture about 1 cup at a time.

Add craisins and pecans.

Roll into balls.  (At this point, the cookies could be frozen and saved for another day)

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes (mine took a little longer)

Remove from cookie sheet and allow them to cool completely.

While cooling, mix the glaze together.  It should be thick, but you can change the consistency by adding more milk or powdered sugar to make it less think/more think respectively.  Put glaze into a small ziplock bag.

When the cookies are completely cooled, drizzle the glaze using the ziplock bag (cut off one corner of the bottom and drizzle the frosting from there).  

Allow the glaze to set before storing cookies.

**Recipe adapted from All Recipes

Update on Pizza (with pictures)

I posted last week about our chevre mushroom pizza and wanted to follow up since we made pizza again today for lunch.  This time I snapped a couple pictures with my phone so I could upload them.  I rarely make a recipe unless I see a picture of it (I know that other people feel similarly).  My goal is to get better about taking pictures of what I bake/cook.  This will probably be easier in a couple weeks when my new phone gets in.  For now, I'm working with a very limiting camera phone and my own very limiting creativity.

More information on the dough:  This week I made the dough on Saturday night and put it into an oiled zip-lock bag which was then put into the refrigerator (this step takes the place of letting it rise the first time).  This morning before we left for Church, I pulled the dough out of the fridge and transferred it from the zip-lock to a mixing bowl.  The bowl was then covered and the dough rose while we were gone.  It worked out well because when we got home from Church, lunch was already halfway prepared.  :)

We're trying to set a pattern of being ready to host guests after Church.  Of course, we just moved here and we're just getting to know people at our Church, but we'd like to have our home/meal prepared so that we could invite people over after Church if the opportunity arises.  It creates an interesting challenge for me to find a meal that could easily be "expanded" if we had guests and need to stretch the food.  But at the same time, we don't want to be wasteful and prepare food that will go uneaten.  This is where the pizza dough came in!

Since it was just Caleb and I only used about 2/3 of the dough that was prepared for our pizza (we really could have used 1/2 of it).  The remaining dough was put back into the zip-lock and I plan on using it to make breadsticks later this week.  That way nothing was wasted and we'll have homemade breadsticks without the hassle of making them right before dinner.  I'll probably pair the breadsticks with homemade soup or salad (depending on the weather).

From the pictures it clear that we did one side white bread and one side with a marinara sauce.  I whipped up the sauce when we got home because we didn't have any pizza sauce on hand. 

 

Before the oven

Ready to eat!