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Meals this week have been simple and we tried a new recipe that we've loved and made TWICE! The Mexican Style Salmon Patties that I mentioned we were going to try were a total hit! Except, ours didn't stay as patties and became just a salmon heap. Either way, they were delicious! One recipe lasted us two-three meals... and then another half batch from last night lasted us for dinner and my lunch today.

Here is Kyle's plate from last night... salmon, broiled squash, and leftover cornbread. All three of these turned into one big heap on his plate and was delicious! (And cheap!)

Something else that has been a hit for me is a recipe for oatmeal porridge that my friend Cassandra gave me. I'm not sure where the recipe originated, but my guess is Nourishing Traditions.

Oatmeal Porridge

1 c. grains (oats) ( I use gluten free oats)
1 c. warm water + 2 tbps. whey, yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk

1/2 tsp. sea salt (I don't use salt)
1 c. water
1 tbps. flax seeds (ground)

Soak oats and one cup water, plus two tablespoons of whey overnight or 24 hours. In morning, boil water and add soaked oats. Bring to simmer and add flax seeds.

Now, here's what I add to the oatmeal that makes it simply AMAZING! While the water is boiling, before adding oats, I add one peeled and diced apple, one handful of raisins, and a few dashes of cinnamon. Allow them to boil for a minute or two, softening the apples, then I add in my oatmeal, flax seeds, and a handful of chopped walnuts. Cook until consistency desired, then serve with added honey (and butter if you like; that's how I make Kyle's... with a little added maple syrup on his).

This is by far one of my favorite breakfasts right now and it's so simple and cheap! Woo hoo!


Also, I haven't been able to use a lot of the yogurt that I made a couple weeks ago due to my dairy allergy, however, I've been saving it to extract the whey from the top to soak my grains in. Well, last night I decided to go ahead and separate the yogurt from the whey (which makes cream cheese) and then I could more easily access my whey.

My yogurt is in the cloth and that is the whey that dripped out overnight. Inside the cloth is now a thickened "cream cheese," which sadly, I cannot eat. :-(

This last week I've been trying some new recipes... some I've made up and some I've followed (or adapted). We've been eating A LOT of squash because one, it's not a starchy food so I can eat it, two, IT'S CHEAP!!! Yay for fall and fall foods! :-)



We've been doing mainly eggs for breakfast because I can't eat much fruit, I'm allergic to dairy (a new find that I've been experimenting with this week... sure enough, whenever I eat milk, yogurt, or cheese, my lips get itching and red, my stomach sometimes hurts, and I get gassy. :-( I'm not very happy about confirming this allergy too! haha... oh well! However, butter doesn't seem to bother me. Interesting!) minimal grains, and no potatoes. That being said, breakfast options are few and far between. So I tried creating a Frittata one morning and it turned out good. I put hot sauce on it to give it some flare.

I've been trying to get creative in my cooking since we've gone primarily grain free. I saw a recipe for zucchini spaghetti and so I decided to try it. I tweaked the way the squash is cooked though because I didn't have a lot of time. Instead of soaking the squash and them cooking them to be like noodles, I just sauteed them for a few minutes until they were hot.
Here's our spaghetti with homemade sauce. It was very yummy!

I tried a fun new recipe for a Butternut Squash Pudding. It turned out good but I want to tweak it a little next time. I think I'll add more cinnamon and I did add pecans to my version.

Here is my attempt at a Shepherd's Pie. The "potatoes" are made from steamed cauliflower whipped with butter and milk (before known allergy), leftover spaghetti sauce, and sauteed squash on top. Kyle really liked this meal and kept saying how much he likes potatoes. :-)

Here is it on the plate!
Homemade chicken and squash soup. We were both surprised at how good this turned out! I was trying to use up some leftover broth, chicken, and squash, so I turned it into a soup and it was delicious!

We'll here's a quick overview of what our week's been looking like. Hope you enjoy!

So I went into work this morning and my boss told me she didn't need me today because one of our doctors was out of the office. I left wondering what I should do with my day. It didn't take long before I decided to turn my day off into a baking day. I've been reading about other wives who devote a morning or evening to baking. I've been wanting to do this, so I can have muffins and breads stored in my freezer, but it's hard to do when I work a lot.

So...here's what's cooking:

Banana Coconut Flour Muffins

Spiced Apple Muffins

Cranberry Pecan Corn Muffins

For several reasons, Kyle and I have decided to add animal products back into our daily eating routine, but in small amounts and only grass fed, free range, non-hormone pumped animals and dairy. Since the cost of this type of meat/dairy is higher, that will also limit how much we eat.

Because we are on the go so much of the time, sometimes it's hard to get enough food into us with just eating fruits and veggies. Because of this, I have been quite concerned that we are getting enough nutrition. I still do not know fully what I think about meat eating vs. vegetarian, but since I've been off of meat (and Kyle mostly) for about 2 1/2 months, we are going to try adding a little back in to see how that effects our systems. We will also be paying attention to energy levels, etc... I know that the two times I have eaten meat I feel heavy and loaded down. Not what I normally feel after eating yummy vegetables!

We are really seeking to find a good balance in nutrition and health. I have been reading A LOT about different styles of "healthy eating" and the one thing I find in common, whether it be vegan, vegetarian, or meat-eating, is to eliminate ALL processed foods from our bodies. That means: no white or brown sugar, no white flour, no caffeine, no boxed meals/cereals, etc... Many people take it down to not even eating any canned food. There are so many toxins and harmful additives (i.e. MSG) that are added to our foods without us even knowing about it. Or worse, we do know about it but continue to still eat it.

So, in trying to sift through what we feel called to eat and cook, Kyle and I have decided to rid our kitchen and baking routines from as many processed items as possible. Over the last three months I have been changing over the products in our kitchen to more healthy, holistic foods. I no longer cook with regular sugar but use Sucanat (evaporated cane juice), honey, and molasses. I've even begun to use coconut flour (which is gluten free and grain free) for some of my baking. We eat simple, whole food meals. We are also still seeking to incorporate a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, beginning the day with a fruit smoothie and having salads for lunches.

Today I bought one cage-free, vegetarian fed, non-hormone pumped chicken to boil down and use in several meals. Much of the reading I've been doing talks about the nutrition found in bone broths so, like any good ol' country gal, I saved my chicken stock in glass canning jars to store in the freezer and pull out for soups this fall. (I have great memories with my Mom of us boiling down a whole chicken together. Mom would teach me how to skin it, take out the insides, and then cook it. Thanks Mom for all the great cooking memories we've shared over the years. I kept thinking about you today as I cooked!)


Since I baked for about 5 hours today, dinner was super easy and quick. I decided to try Health Begins with Mom's recipe for Chicken Burrito Skillet. It turned out really yummy!


Here's our yummy dinner. I substituted yellow corn tortillas for the whole wheat tortillas. We both gave it a 10 on the food rating scale! Yum yum!


*** I wrote this post last night but then I lost power to my computer so I didn't post it until today. I have an update about how I was affected by eating this way last night. Basically, I felt bad all morning! I felt so full (from trying several muffins + eating the new food [i.e. chicken and cheese] and my lips broke out again! We knew that I was allergic to wheat and oats, but we were wondering, before starting our diet, if I was also allergic to dairy. Sure enough, after eating cheese last night my lips broke out. The odd thing is that I usually don't break out with other forms of dairy... so I guess we'll have to start experimenting to see what all I'm really allergic to. For now, I've cut the cheese back out of our diets.) The next time I make this dinner it'll probably be without the chicken and cheese. But it'll still be super yummy! --Saturday night--