BBQ Chicken, Snoodles, and Slaw Salad

I really wish I could come up with some catchy way to say BBQ Chicken with more S's. Slathered S'poultry? Nope.

On to the recipe! Or, rather, helpful instructions!

I've been craving some sweet potatoes lately, and I also recently found the spiralizer kitchen gadget that I bought months ago! When you spiralize a sweet potato, what do you get? Snoodles, apparently! (per my friend that's what they're called, so if that's not the case, I blame her)

If you're unfamiliar with a spiralizer, it essentially is this gadget that cuts vegetables into long strands of noodles. It's pretty sweet. Google that, stat.

My darling decided he was going to make broccoli & cauliflower salad, which is delicious, and obviously needed to be consumed with gusto and an appropriate main dish.

So. Between my craving for sweet potatoes, and the nummy slaw salad, and there being some leftover plain, cooked chicken in the fridge, adding BBQ chicken to the meal was a no-brainer.

Step 1: Make Slaw Salad. Chop broccoli, cauliflower, and crispy bacon pieces, and toss it all together with your preferred coleslaw dressing (and maybe add a little honey for some extra sweetness). Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Step 2: Spiralize your sweet potatoes, toss with some oil (or leftover bacon grease if you're awesome like me), and bake in a 400 F oven until tender.

Step 3: Chop your already cooked chicken, toss with your preferred BBQ sauce, put it in an oven-safe bowl, and pop it in the oven next to your snoodles to get all nice and toasty warm.

Serve the chicken over the snoodles, and the slaw salad on the side. Or all touching and happily coexisting in the same bowl like I did.

DIY Green Smoothie "Powder"

Right - so this whole idea started because I have SO MUCH CHARD in the garden right now. Like,

trimming and laying out the chard for dehydrating

I'm *almost* sick of eating it. Almost. So I decided to start preserving it now - and rather than go with the traditional freezing of the chard, I decided to dehydrate it! Super easy.

Step 1: Clean the chard.

Step 2: Dry the chard.

Step 3: Trim off the stems, and save those for making bean salad (use to replace the celery).

Step 4: Lay in a single layer in your dehydrator, or place right on the oven racks like I did.

Step 5: Put your oven on the lowest setting (mine goes down to 150 degrees F) and let it cook for... hours. Like, three hours, or until it's dry and crumbly.

Step 6: Put it all in a food processor and whip it, whip it good, until it's all finely ground.

Step 7: Store in an airtight container.

I'll call that done!

You can add it to green smoothies, soup, dip... and other cooking things. Sorry, not super creative with the how to use it right now. BUT I'm sure that you'll think of something!

BEWARE - allllll of that chard in the first photo dehydrated down to less than a cup of chopped, dried greens. Don't add a ridiculous amount to your smoothie, a whole salad's worth comes to just a couple of teaspoons. If you add more than that you take the risk of... well, probably a lot of time on the potty.

Egg Drop Soup

Have you guys made egg drop soup yet? No? It's SO EASY.

Step 1: Bring chicken broth to a boil
Step 2: Whisk some eggs in a measuring cup or something else that's easy to pour from
Step 3: Slowly stir the boiling broth (not with the whisk, trust me), and at the same time pour a thin stream of eggs into the broth. It cooks on contact, and the swirling of the broth trails out the cooked eggs into ribbons. Really freakin cool, right???
Step 4: Add chopped chives or scallions, salt and pepper to taste. I put in a bit of fresh thyme since it was growing next to the chives, and threw in some chive heads for funsies.

You can mix it up with this soup so many ways with just herbs - or add some veggies and really go crazy!

For reference: I used 8 cups broth, 7 large eggs, 1/4 cup fresh chopped chives, 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Canning...

So - what do you do when you hit the jackpot of cucumbers? Make a lot of pickles and relish. :) All of that in the photo is pickles, the relish had already been packed up.

I was visiting a veggie farm down the street to pick up a couple of cucumbers and peppers for salad, and noticed that she had a milk crate of little cucumbers. I asked about them, and she said those were the ones not good enough to sell at the farmer's market so she was going to sell them for $1/pound to another farmer as pig fodder. I got 24.25 pounds for $20, because when you slice them for pickles no one cares if the original cucumber was curved or had a little spot on it (though, frankly, I only had to cut out maybe five spots out of the whole batch).

Talk about a windfall!

Creamy Butternut Squashed Rice

Not sure what to call this recipe, but this works.

It's really versatile depending on the spices you add. The base recipe is 2 parts cooked rice (I like brown), 1 part butternut squash purée, 1 part cottage cheese. Heat it all up and serve. 

The cottage cheese acts as a soft cheese, somewhere between cream cheese and mozzarella, making the dish oh so creamy and filling. Max and the other daycare kids love it plain, I prefer it spiced up a little with some cumin and/or curry. 

Summer Relish

Isn't it beautiful? I think Summer Relish is my favorite to make - mostly because of the gorgeous yellow. Why is it called Summer Relish? Because I use yellow summer squash as my base, seeds, rind and all. Here's a secret: you can substitute summer squash in any recipe that calls for cucumber. I recommend using a food processor or grinder (I love the grinder attachment on my stand mixer) to process the squash, especially if it's more than a few inches long. Like the ones I used, which were so ripe they had even started to harden a little.

Relish has to be one of my favorite things to preserve, because really you can throw anything in it as long as you chop it up really well, and you have a great seasoning. Yes, I have a great seasoning. Sorry, I'm not sharing it. :)

(my) Diet Friendly Cupcakes

These are so. Freakin. Good. Make them. Eat them.

With beverage of choice. 

Sour Pickles

Aren't they pretty? They mellowed in color as they soured, but they were so nice to look at for the first day or so.

A friend mentioned that he doesn't like pickles - or, rather he doesn't like "sweet" pickles like we eat in the states. A pickle I hadn't tried to make? Well, that couldn't happen. So I did a quick search, figured he meant fermented pickles, and set to it.

They're in the fridge now, all done fermenting, and man are they good. I might add another grape leaf next time to see if that helps keep them crispier, but the flavor is great. Though I have a feeling he may deem them not sour enough, they make me pucker!

Popsicles

Beating the heat is easier with popsicles. I love making them at home with molds, then I can control how much sugar is in there! This particular batch is raspberries, bananas, banilla yogurt, and a bit of juice. Max highly approves. :)

Frozen in ice cube trays, they're also a nice addition to iced tea. :)

Construction Cake

We celebrated Max's third birthday a few weeks ago - complete with a construction cake. :)

Easiest cake ever. Seriously. If you have a kid (or grown up) that likes dirt and/or construction, you must do this.

Make a chocolate cake. Flip it out onto a pan, then break it, crumble it, smoosh it, pile it up. Top with some chocolate frosting in creative ways, add a few piles of rocks (chocolate chips), accessorize with a bulldozer and candles, and you're done! It was a huge hit. :)

I can see this working really well as a groundbreaking cake, as a gardening cake, as a worms cake... so many possibilities. And no pressure to have a perfect cake!

Tasty Iced Bevs

While perusing Pinterest, I found one of the best tips: the secret to a great brewed iced tea is a pinch of baking soda. Yup, baking soda. Add a pinch to the pitcher and it takes away that acidic bite. It also works for iced coffee. Also - freeze extra iced tea and iced coffee for ice cubes that won't dilute your beverage. You're welcome. :)

Eggy Pancakes

Along the lines of pancakes, Max's favorite way to have pancakes is Eggy Pancakes with fruit on top. Yay for tasty, balanced meals!

Lightly scramble an egg in the pan until just set, pour pancake batter on top, and cook until pancake is done. Top with fruit of choice, and a bit of maple syrup. I pre-cut his pancakes for him (less mess...), otherwise it looks much more like a normal pancake. :)

Pancakes Made Easy

We love our pancakes in this house. And by we, I mean Max and I. Really, that's probably the one food that I miss the most with my low-carb-ness diet. I haven't had pancakes in... well, a long time. Months at least.

Now that I'm home in the mornings, we get to do breakfast right! And pancakes = bread = one of the major food groups. What makes making pancakes, especially pancakes for one person, even easier? An easy pour container. Put the ingredients in the bottle, shake like crazy, pour into the pan, and done. The batter will last in the fridge for 3-4 days, plenty of time for a little man to eat his fill of pancakes.

The recipe I like the most is a hybrid of a couple of recipes:

Pancakes

1 1/2 c flour (I use 1 c white, 1/2 c whole wheat)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups milk (for a pourable consistency)
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter

Healthy-ish Cupcakes

Max is turning three.

Three. My baby is turning three. 

<sniffle>

To kick off the festivities I made a batch of cupcakes to bring to daycare. And because I was low on baking supplies, it was late, and I didn't feel like going to the store, they're improvised and healthier to boot. No butter? Use fat free yogurt. Not enough white flour? Sub whole wheat. Don't feel like making frosting (and still no butter)? Use jam, which happens to be low sugar and homemade. 

Healthy-ish Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 cup plain low fat yogurt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup white flour 

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

Strawberry jam for topping. 

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Mix sugar and yogurt until creamy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour mixture. Bake in cupcake papers 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool and top with strawberry jam. 

If your flour is particularly dry, add up to 1/4 cup additional milk to achieve consistency. 

Bacon Egg Cups

Oh my yumminess. And so easy.

They taste better than they look. Unless you think they look holy-amazeballs, then yes, you're spot on.

Ingredients:
12 slices bacon
10ish eggs

Splash of milk (optional)
Salt, pepper, spices to taste
Suggested (some or all): minced onion, garlic, basil, oregano

• Preheat your oven to 350 deg F.
• Line an ungreased muffin tin with bacon (see below).
• Zing up the eggs, milk, and spices in a blender, or whisk it really well. You're going for a scrambled eggs/omelet mixture here.
• Pour the egg mixture into the bacon lined cups, up to 1/4-1/2" from the top.
• Bake at 350 deg F for 30-35 minutes.

Done! Pop them out while they're hot/warm, the bacon self-greases so clean-up is a breeze. No frying pans or getting zapped by grease spray.

No, these are not low fat, but they're Atkins friendly (if you use cream instead of milk).

Hard "Boiling" Eggs

Did you know you can hard cook eggs in the oven? Yuppers - 325*F for 30-35 minutes. Put them directly on the oven rack in a cold oven, and let them sit through the pre-heat. I put a pan of water below them to catch any breaks and to increase the humidity. When they're done, put them in a bowl of cold water until they're completely cooled. That's it!

Max and I prefer them this way, they're less rubbery, and I can do 12-18 just as easily as 5. Very handy when a certain little mister will eat 5-6 egg whites in a sitting (he doesn't like the "ball"). I use the yolks in my breakfast smoothies for an extra dose of protein.

"Green" Smoothies

You know, green smoothies don't have to be green. They can be all sorts of colors - just getting that dose of kale or spinach (or green of choice) is the point.

I've been having the same thing for breakfast for the last few weeks, and I feel great. It goes a little something like:

• Handful of kale
• Scoop of protein powder/meal replacement (chocolate or vanilla)
• A banana
• A heaping Tbsp of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup of frozen berries
• A crushed up multi-vitamin
• Milk/green tea to cover

I blend it all together, and there we go! Easy, and usually brown. :) I vary the berries and whether I use chocolate or vanilla powder, that keeps it interesting enough that I haven't gotten bored. And it's actually holding me until lunch - go figure!

Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

For an ah-maze-ing twist on a classic whoopie pie, try filling it with peanut butter frosting. Nom.

Bake the cookie/cake as normal (I suggest using Redbook's recipe and make them all chocolate). To make the frosting, mix 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) softened butter, and approx 1 Tbsp milk to a thick frosting consistency. Spread between two cookies/cakes to make your whoopie pie, and enjoy!

BTW - I cooked them two different ways - on parchment paper as well as in a muffin top pan. Cooking them on parchment paper resulted in a firmer cookie that didn't fall apart, though slightly less perfectly round than the pan yielded.

While eating one, my friend might have proposed to me, but it was hard to tell with that much cookie in his mouth and all the happy noises and such. They're that good.

Pizza Tips

notice the no-topping zone for Max...

Tip 1: Find a good crust recipe, like this one for Naan bread. It makes one large crust. Don't bother with the rise, just add flour until it forms a slightly sticky ball.

Tip 2: Lightly coat the ball of dough in flour, then use a rolling pin to roll it out on parchment paper like a pie crust.

Tip 3: Use a pizza stone, and preheat your oven to 425 F with the stone inside. Starting pizza on a cold stone can lead to a soggy crust and an uneven doneness.

Tip 4: Carefully take the hot stone out of the oven, put it on top of the stove, transfer the assembled pizza with the parchment paper to the stone. Fold up the edges as needed so the crust doesn't hang off the edges. Then put it all back in the oven.

Tip 5: Cook for ten minutes to set the crust. Open the oven and carefully slide out the parchment paper from under the pizza. A spatula helps! Cook for another 5-7 minutes until the crust is lightly browned.

Initial Cookies

My cousin's son, T, turned 3 recently. I asked what he wanted for his birthday, but she requested no more toys, and he has plenty of clothes, and mostly he plays with the vacuum... So cash it was! But, cash is so boring when you're 3, so I made some T cookies to go with his card. :) The cookies are regular sugar cookies with some blue sugar crystals on top. Then I made simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled to liquid, and cooled), added blue food coloring, then painted the letters on with a paintbrush. Easy and tasty!