Just a Funny Picture to Get Through the Day

I've been sick and dealing with leftovers lately so no new recipes this week so far. However, I am posting this for readers enjoyment. Happy nomming....

Where I get my recipes from.... Ok, "Current Obessions"

So where do all my recipes come from?  ...my head?  Ha!  Well, maybe one day.

Like any good artist, or cook or chef or baker, inspiration comes from everywhere.  It may be vegetables that are in season make you want to try a new dish.  Or a certain spice can inspire a whole dessert.  Since I'm so new to cooking and still learning what flavors mesh together well, my main inspiration comes from other bloggers, magazine recipes, and a healthy dose of trial and error.  I always try to give credit where credit is due, but I decided to dedicate one post to tell you how I've found some of my favorite blogs.*

This experiment all started with one little innocent site called "Pinterest."  For those of you unfamiliar with the way it works - straight from their website:

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.  Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

Here's a straight out plug, but you can follow all my blog updates and/or future experiments on my Pinterest boards... Abby's Pinterest Boards.  I have found enough recipes to last me a lifetime, so lucky for you readers (and lucky for my tummy too).

The second site I just found that I have quickly fallen in love with is Gojee.  This site lets you put in a specific ingredient and finds recipes that use it (and links to those sites).  It also lets you customize your tastes, so say I put in Basil and it comes up with a Basil/Bacon recipe... I hate bacon so I just click that I don't like it and BAM, recipe gone and it should remember my tastes for the future. I seriously suggest signing up and checking it out at the very least if you're lacking creativity but craving a certain food.

Those are just two of my current obsessions, and lucky for me there are some great inspirations out there! A blanket thank you to those who know how to cook for putting your recipes out there for others to experiment and learn all about the wonders of healthy cooking.

*Check out the side panel to find the Sparknote version of my favorite bloggers w/their latest and greatest recipes.

** Bonus site: As everyone knows, healthy eating can get expensive.  For savings on good eats, and savings in general to make up for said good eats... Check out this site for COUPONS! (--yes, that is the magic word)  http://www.couponsherpa.com/

"I Can't Believe It's Cauliflower Crust" Individual Pizzas

Ok, so here's the trickster in me coming out a little - last night I may or may not tricked Chris into trying cauliflower pizza with veggie cheese, and it was certainly a hit.  It's actually been my favorite main dish so far!


This is another one of those recipes I've heard whispers about..  Being a little skeptical is perfectly natural when your talking about a pizza crust made with cauliflower.  Like, really, this seems like just one of those "healthy" alternatives that doesn't live up to the original.  WRONG!  I can assure you I will not be making pizza with normal crusts thanks to the blog DashingDish.com (love her and her tasty noms).

So last minute I decided to change up dinner (after Chris had gotten his hopes up for meatballs), so he was not a happy camper.  What was I going to do though... there was cauliflower that was about to go bad in the fridge?  The tricky part (besides being cauliflower of course), however, is using Veggie Cheese.  That's right, you read correctly - Veggie Cheese: grated parmesan and mozzarella.  You seriously can not tell the difference.  I promise.  ...and no, this is not one of those fake promises where it's only half true.


As we were cooking the crusts, I realized, "Oh wait... pizza has toppings doesn't it?  Well, what do I have around the house?"  I pulled together a quick red sauce using tomato paste and sauteed onions, peppers, garlic, spinach, and kale (there would have been mushrooms in there too if I had some in the fridge).  Wow, just wow.  Check out the recipe below to recreate the goodness:

Cauliflower Pizza Crust [w/veggie toppings]

Ingredients

• Crust
• 2 cups Cauliflower (about half a head)
• 1/8 cup Egg White
• 1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella*
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese*
• 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
• 1/2 tsp Dried Basil
• 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/8 tsp Salt

• Toppings
• Red sauce (homemade or premade)
• Additional Mozzarella
• 1 bell pepper of choice, cut into 1 inch pieces (I prefer red bell peppers for this recipe)
• 1 onion, chopped in bite size pieces (as if you were putting it on the skewer)
• 1+ cup spinach
• 1+ cup kale
• 1/2 tsp olive oil (just enough to coat bottom of pan)

*As I mentioned before, I used veggie cheese that I found by the tofu.  I love it because I cannot tell a difference taste wise, and you get more bang for your [nutritional] buck - your wallet [or price conscious significant other... cough*Chris*cough) may not be as happy.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or oiled foil.
2. After cauliflower has been washed and cut in half, break it into segments and place it in the food processor until it reaches a rice-like consistency.  Place that in the microwave for 8 minutes (no need to cover or add water or anything).
3. Add the cheese and seasoning and let the cauliflower cool (I put it in the fridge to speed up this process).  Once cooled, add your egg whites as a binding agent.
4. Scoop into 3 separate crusts on cookie sheet (it should be about 1/4th inch think) and bake for 30 minutes.
5. While it was baking, I made the sauce and toppings.  For toppings, I put the peppers in a covered pan and let them go for 4-5 minutes without touching it (harder than it looks).  Then add onions, garlic, kale, and spinach to pan and let cook down.
6. When you're ready remove crusts to add sauce, cheese, and toppings of coice.  Place back in the oven for a few more minutes to melt the cheese and voila.  Tastiness.

Classic Nom Face.

Color Me Rad and a [Not So] Colorful Smoothie

Yesterday was quite the eventful day here in Hartford.  One of my best friends came in to visit from NJ and we ran in my first ever 5K called Color Me Rad.  Now if you readers have ever heard of Day Glo - this race is basically the Day Glo of runs.  For those who haven't heard of either, let me enlighten you...

This is us when we started.

This is me at the end of the race.

Basically, as you're running your 3.1 miles, colored cornstarch is being thrown at you from all directions.  There are kids, babies, teens, adults, men in tutus who all run the race so it's a super high energy, fun race.  On a side note, I ran it in 27 mins and 15 seconds... let me do the math for you - that's a 8 min, 47 second pace for almost 30 mins consistently).  As a non-runner before this event, and 50+ lbs heavier, I am so proud of myself and have to brag just a little.

This brings me to the recipe.  How did we start our day off here?  With a healthy breakfast smoothie of course!!  Here's the recipe I threw together for Steph...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 tsp nutmeg*
• 1-2 pkts truvia*
• 1/2-1 cup spinach 

*Optional (and highly recommended) - Use 1 tbl of Cookie Butter from Trader Joe's instead as both a sweetener and a dose of healthy protein and good fats.

Directions:

Add all ingredients to the blender (starting with the liquid ingredients first).  Blend until smooth.  Keep in mind, this won't come out a bright pretty color, but it sure does taste good!

Notes:

Frozen Bananas - I don't eat bananas nearly quick enough before they go brown and die on me.  What I've learned to do... when they brown past eating ability, chop them up into bite size pieces and then stick them in the freezer.  By chopping them up first, it will be way easier to use in future recipes from smoothies to banana bread.

What exactly is a nom?

According to Urban Dictionary the definition of "nom" is as follows:

         The sound made when eating something (or someone).  Can be referred to as "nomming" as verb, and is often pronounced in the sentence "om nom nom".

         Origin: Sesame Street, when Cookie Monster would devour cookies

         If one sees a person eating a giant sandwich, this can be described as an epic nom.

Just nomming on some breakfast for dinner.

So what does that have to do with this blog?  ..Well, a lot!  If you asked me in December, 2011 what a nom was I would have described it as Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice-cream and a Burger King Whopper Value Meal.  Add some ramen noodles in there too and you understand what my diet was like.  As my mother said, "Abby, a vegetable to you was french fries."  Today, I would answer that same question with Balsamic Quinoa Salad or Curry Tofu.  Ask anyone who knows me and they can tell you I've come a long way to discover that healthy, natural foods are simply DELICIOUS.

I graduated college in May 2011 after living in the dorm as an RA for 4 years.  This meant I never learned how to cook and relied only on the food I could get either through my meal plan or at the local restaurants around campus.  Needless to say, this wrecked both my waistline and my wallet.  I never had to learn how to cook for myself, and I couldn't even imagine beginning to try!  Fast forward 6 months after graduation and I decided it was time to change things up.

I found out I was going to be an Aunt for the first time to a little boy and I had a revelation.  Little boys like to run around like crazy monsters... Now, my nephew lives across the country so I'll barely get to see him as is.  Topping the scale at 223 (I'm only 5'7" mind you), I realized that the few times a year I do get to see him I want to be the Aunt that can keep up with the energy levels.  This was really just the spark (it being January and the whole New Years Resolutions probably didn't hurt either).  I got really into the gym and while I was eating healthier, I still wasn't cooking myself.   That didn't stop me from discovering Pinterest though and finding recipe after recipe that was both delicious looking and *shock* healthy.  What really deterred me from making those dishes?  Well, it's the mess associated with cooking.   Lucky for me, I have the best boyfriend who has agreed to clean as long as I cook.  Yes, that means I can make the biggest mess I want and as long as he gets to be my guinea pig I get to have fun in the kitchen.

Recently, I've decided that for both my bank account and health I'd start making those recipes I had been ogling for months.  It turns out that after years of me refusing to be domestic, I actually love it.  I can totally see myself making family dinners every night and you know what - I'm ok with that.

That brings me to the point of this blog... As I experiment with the healthy recipes I find across the blogosphere I will post them here with my notes.  That may include adjustments, additions, or just plain silly stories (remember, I am a novice so I'm still learning).  It's my goal to try a new recipe every week, so let the cooking begin!