Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Yeah, I sounds weird, but actually, it was yummy! Slightly difficult to figure out if I had the crust cooked all the way. You cook it first then add the toppings. This seems to be a VERY important detail. Mine came out super soggy so I cooked it a little longer on the bottom rack. Still flimsy but better than gooey. I did forget to put sauce on it. It's a flimsy crust so you really want to be careful with the amount of toppings. So being focused on that I completely forgot the sauce. Yes, I'm a dork.

Everyone ate it! Yes, even my picky of pickies! He ate two slices! It makes about a medium sized pizza which is no good for us. We just put veggies in our belly, not dough, so it's a lot lighter. I did fix a salad with it all so that helped. I have a feeling some munches will be coming our way after the kids go down. Good thing I have some protein bars!

So try the pizza and try to almost burn the crust in the oven before you put the toppings on it. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Orzo Vegetable Soup

Pretty simple soup to make. I was able to get a good two hours of quiet today so I did this. Doesn't take two hours, I just took my time. And sat and did nothing for awhile. That was nice.

I got this recipe from a cookbook called 'Homemade' - Clodagh McKenna

Four things I changed, one not on purpose: didn't use oil - used water for cooking the raw veggies, used chicken broth because that's what I had, black beans because I don't like chick peas and used a big can of tomatoes. I won't be putting in the tomatoes again. Don't like them. You know that part in cooking a recipe where you do what they told you and you either say 'awesome!" or go, 'wow, that sucks'? Yeah, the tomatoes was my 'that sucks' moment. Don't use me, I don't like tomatoes that much. You like them, go for it!

2 tbsp oil (or water, you will need at least a cup of it)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped
3 1/4 c vegetable stock
14oz tomatoes
14oz chickpeas
1tsp oregano
1/2 cup orzo
salt and pepper

Cook onion and garlic with oil, then add raw veggies. (I cooked all veggies at the same time with the water)
Cover and cook
Pour in stock, tomatoes and chickpeas, boil and then simmer
stir in remaining ingredients cook for ten minutes or until orzo is done.

Like I said, pretty yummy, I just won't put the tomatoes in it again. The big can of tomatoes was by accident and had to fish out a bunch of them. It was fun.

Egg Sandwhich

In the mornings of hubby and me working out I make breakfast. It's crazy filling and is so yummy. We are both texture freaks so I have to cook the crap out of the veggies but hey, it's something. I actually apply this way of cooking to almost any vegetable I but in an item. It's stupid simple but takes a bit of time. Totally worth it.

onions

bell peppers (red, green, yellow, whatever)
tomato
fresh spinach
bacon
eggs
hot sauce - we use that one Asian one....starts with an 'S'
favorite cheese - we LOVE jalapeno Havarti but cheddar works great too

Turn pan on med/med high and pour about 1/2 cup water in pan. Chop (almost mince) all veggies (not spinach) and cook in water until smaller and soft. Water should be gone. Remove veggies, scrape any residue out of pan and cook bacon as usual. Remove grease and turn burner down to med. Combine everything but bacon in a bowl then cook until done. While cooking toast bread of choice. When egg is just about done top with cheese. Pile everything on bread and pig out!

Chocolate Syrup/Chocolate Milk

Hubby loves protein mixes. Ew, yuck, gross! I've been drinking chocolate milk after a workout with some baking soda mixed in. Yes, sounds weird but it's suppose to help the muscles heal or something. Honestly I don't know. I found a few 'after workout' drink recipes and the first one had baking soda in it.
4 cups water (or 1 liter)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar or agave nectar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed citrus juice

You mix and drink. IT WAS DISGUSTING!

However the chocolate syrup recipe was awesome, super easy and even more awesome. You use about a tablespoon per 8oz. Guess who isn't buying chocolate syrup anymore?

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Add cocoa and salt; mix well with a whisk. Let mixture simmer until thick, whisking continually to keep from scalding. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add vanilla. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate.

Yeah, how stupid easy is that?! Right now the mixture is in my daughters old sippy cup. We have lost all of our containers and it was all I have. Good way to hide it from the kids.

There was a coffee recipe also I tried (sorta) today. I woke up to find we have no milk in the house. Which sucks because if I wanted to get some I have to walk to the store because we are still down to one car. Totally different story. Grrr. Anyway, I tried the coffee one, skipped the sugar because I only had some sweeten condensed milk. Threw in the baking soda for good measure and wasn't too bad. the cocoa doesn't like to blend well with the cold so that was a little weird. But, I'd do it again.

So here is the link to the recipes for the drinks. We both tried the smoothie one with cottage cheese. Yeah, not doing that again. There's been a lot of misses here lately with food. Kinda depressing.

Enjoy

http://espn.go.com/espnw/training/nutrition/6642310/make-recovery-drinks

Protein Bars

Dieting has never been my strong point. I suck at keeping track of my food and frankly, don't care too. However, I'm being forced to because I'm getting into shape with my sexy hubby who is about to be even sexier! Yeah!

Anyway, I'm on the hunt for protein bars because I'm way to cheap to buy them from the store. A buck a piece IF I'm lucky? Hahahaha! No. I went on a small search and found big results! I hate protein powder but I'm being forced to eat some of it. It taste like there is a massive amount of splenda in it and ugh! Hate it. Unfortunately, most recipes call for it to cut the calorie intake. Understandable, but I'll take them for taste. I need them anyway. Sounds weird but it makes sense to me.

I'm going to post the link to the main page I found the three bars I've tried. The Peanut Butter Fudge ones are AWESOME! (The no bake ones, simple ingredients) Taste just like a no bakes. I tasted the Pumpkin ones, (not the cake ones) not too bad. I'll eat them but they have that 'fake sugar' taste to them. I also made the lemon (I love lemon) and they turned out weird. Probably not my fault, the recipe was written weird. They are okay. I'll finish them and might try them again....maybe.

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/great-recipes.asp?food=homemade+protein+bars

I'm looking into juicing so I'll post what I find later.

Found a new website/app for recipes!

A friend of mine suggested ziplist as an app for my phone. I'm always on the hunt for awesome recipes and I am in love with this site. It actually takes you to other people's sites. Which is even better for me because it shortens my ever growing list of websites to choose from. Here are a few recipes I have found, tried and loved!

http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/09/chicken-ranch-pasta.html

I used half milk half sour cream because I'm not a fan of all milk sauces. The total time was about 45min but I had to defrost chicken and bacon. Hubby hasn't tried it yet but I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it. Claire and Korey dived right in!

http://faithfulprovisions.com/2010/04/30/slow-cooker-chicken-tacos/

This one was soooooo simple and I had everything for it. I make my own taco seasoning mix (seriously, there's no need to buy it, you probably have everything on hand for it). For an added side I made my mac and cheese but added salsa to it. Matt put the chicken on his rice and still killed it. Which worked for me, I only had four flour tortillas.

http://www.framedcooks.com/2012/03/beef-stroganoff-casserole.html

Made this one last night and hubby was impressed! He said it was just like hamburger helper. A lot less salt too! I usually have ground turkey on hand so that's what we had. This recipe calls for cheddar cheese on the top. I used two bread pans and made one with cheddar and one with mozzarella. I liked the mozzarella one better, turned out creamier.

These are just some of the recipes I have found and I've been using the site for two weeks now.
Enjoy!

Erin

Deviled Eggs, with a kick!

To start off, I hate deviled eggs. Eww, yuck, gross. Now, it wasn't a fair statement because I knew they had mayonnaise in them and I'm not a fan. So for the first time ever around Fourth of July I tried one. My sister got a book on them and had three or four different kinds. I went nuts over this one. I did find out I don't like regular deviled eggs though.

Couldn't tell you what the official name is of them but they are yummy!

6          Eggs
4 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp salsa
1 tsp    chili powder

Mix them up as usual and put a sliced jalapeno on top. It's not crazy spicy but there is a nice mild kick. Try them because they are delicious!