Oops

Stuff happened and I forgot to keep food logs. Anyway, in the past several days we have eaten various foods, including egg salad, tuna salad, lettuce salad, dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts and nut butters, vegetables, and of course lots of sweet potatoes.

Regular updating will hopefully resume tonight.

Food Cooked, day 16

Breakfast

Broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach frittata (made by Mama).

Lunch

Soup (onions, carrots, celery, kale, leftover chicken)

Supper

Roasted Mustard String Beans
Smothered Cabbage
Cauliflower Meatloaf (take 2)
Baked white sweet potatoes

The produce stand that I get a lot of sweet potatoes from had white sweet potatoes this week so I decided to try them out. They're enormous and a bit mealy in texture compared to the orange sweet potatoes we usually eat. Not bad though!

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Cauliflower Meatloaf (take 2)

3 3/4 pounds ground beef
1 pound frozen cauliflower
1 cup mushrooms, minced
1 cup frozen spinach, cooked
2 eggs
2 tablespoons dried onion
1 tablespoon parsley
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat over to 400° F. Squeeze liquid from spinach. Spread cauliflower on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until soft. In a large mixing bowl, mash cauliflower and mix wellwith all other ingredients.

Divide mixture in half and place in two greased loaf pans. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half.

Notes: This ground beef/cauliflower combination wasn't as fall-apart-y as most of the other meatloaves and patties we've made, but it also was a little under-spiced, I think.

Food Cooked, day 15

Breakfast

Broccoli frittata, yum!


Lunch

Tuna salad
Boiled eggs
Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad

I only put mayyyyybe a tablespoon of cilantro into the salad - none of us are terribly fond of the taste when it's strong. I made myself a salad bowl with the avocado salad, chopped boiled egg, lettuce, and olives, and that was pretty tasty.


Supper

Sweet potatoes
Broccoli
Baked skinless boneless chicken breasts

And canned peaches for dessert.

Food Cooked, days 13 and 14

Breakfast(s)

Frittata (Mama cooks these), Fisherman's Eggs

Lunch(es)

Leftovers

Supper(s)

Sunday we just ate leftover, I think. Saturday we had a roast with onions, celery, and carrots, plus a cucumber avocado salad (link in Monday's post) and ... sweet potatoes, maybe? I'm not sure.

Food Cooked, day 12

Breakfast & Lunch

It's all kind of a blur, honestly. I'm pretty sure I didn't cook anything, anyway.

Supper

Baked Flounder with Fresh Lemon Pepper
Ginger Lime Whiting
Green Beans with Garlic and Green Onions 
Mashed butternut squash
Leftovers

Both fish recipes were slightly modified to remove ingredients we can't eat (butter, black pepper) or didn't have (fresh lemons). I liked the flounder better than the whiting but I haven't much experience cooking fish and may have overcooked the whiting. Or under-cooked it? Anyway it was tougher than the flounder.

Food Cooked, day 11

Breakfast

Mama made a yummy frittata and we had warmed-up leftover sweet potatoes and gravy.

Lunch

Leftovers

Supper

Cauliflower Meatloaf
Leftover Soup
Spinach Side Dish

The spinach turned out much better made with fresh spinach - not much difference from the original recipe even using fish sauce instead of soy sauce, and grated onion instead of chopped green onion.

The leftover soup was Baked Beef and Cabbage plus 2 cloves of garlic sauteed in avocado oil with about 1 teaspoon of thyme and another of salt, and 6 to 10 cups of leek broth and water. Probably additional salt and pepper, maybe some parsley? I liked it better than the original dish.

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Cauliflower Meatloaf

3 pounds ground beef (about)
1 1/2 cups mashed cauliflower
2 eggs
2 tablespoons garlic chives, chopped
2 tablespoons dried onions
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt
pepper

Preheat over to 400° F. Grease two loaf pans. Mix all ingredients well, divide mixture in half, and place in loaf pans. Bake for about an hour.

Notes: Tastes about the same as cauliflower and meat patties, but it's less effort 'cause you just pop it in the oven and leave it. Measurements are approximate, as always.

Food Cooked, day 10

Breakfast & Lunch

Tea, egg salad, leftovers maybe?

Supper

Baked Beef and Cabbage

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Baked Beef and Cabbage

2 carrots, sliced
2 onions, chopped
2 cabbages, chopped
6 cup chicken and/or vegetable stock
5 1/2 pounds of beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
apple cider vinegar

Preheat over to 425° F. Combine spices, apple cider vinegar, and beef. Spread beef evenly on the bottom of two large casserole dishes, then layer onions, carrots, and cabbage on top. Sprinkle cabbage with salt and pour stock over the top. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 2 hours.

Notes: I actually put the beef on top when I made it and that was a mistake - it got a bit dried out, although mixing it into the cabbage and putting it back in the oven for a bit fixed that. It also turned out a bit bland for my taste, so I put more salt and pepper plus some cilantro and thyme in my bowl. The cilantro didn't work with it very well but the thyme did.

Food Cooked, day 9

Breakfast & Lunch

It's been more than 24 hours so I have no earthly idea. Well, eggs were probably involved.

Oh, right! I made mayonnaise (Nourishing Traditions recipe) and egg salad, but put it in the refrigerator for later (i.e. today, Wednesday, since that's our Too Busy Running Around to Cook day).

Still don't know what we ate for lunch.

Supper

Turmeric Chicken No-Noodle Soup (crockpot version)
Baked sweet potatoes
Broccoli

We doubled the soup recipe and used 6 pounds of bone-in chicken thighs instead of 4 pounds of boneless. It was quite bland when we tasted it near the end of the cooking time so we also added some crushed and minced garlic a few minutes before serving, and put lime juice, fresh cilantro, and green onions on the side. With those additions it was pretty yummy. It was also good with the broccoli added to it! I think we'll definitely make some variation of this again.

Food Cooked, day 8

Breakfast & Lunch

Mama cooked a frittata with sliced turkey, onions, and leftover broccoli. Yum! Lunch was leftovers/scrounge-your-own-lunch. I did boil a LOT of eggs though, maybe three or four dozen? I use Maangchi's method to boil eggs, but extend the cooking time by several minutes so that the yolks are completely cooked, and sometimes shock the eggs in ice-water instead of soaking them in cold water.

Supper

Ground Beef and Cauliflower Patties (take 2)
Cucumber Salad
Spinach Side Dish (altered recipe)
Salad

We served the salad with sliced almonds, raisins, boiled eggs, shredded carrot, and olives. The spinach side dish we've made many times before and it's always been delicious but this time we made it with frozen instead of fresh spinach, and with fish sauce instead of soy sauce. The result was not great, but palatable with other foods (like the beef patties).

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Ground Beef and Cauliflower Patties (take 2)

3 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cup mashed cauliflower
1 portabella mushroom, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
spinach, cooked
salt pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
olive oil

Fry mushroom and onion in olive oil. Add all ingredients together and mix well, then form into balls, about 1/3 cup of the mixture each. Heat a well-oiled skillet on medium or medium-low heat. Drop patties into oil, flatten, and fry until browned on both sides.

Notes: Littlest sister put these together (and they were delicious, thanks sis!) so I haven't got exact measurements for everything. Just imagine I added "to taste" after every ingredient following the spinach, I guess. We usually fry a little patty up before we start frying in earnest to check the taste, anyway. These were pretty great and held together much better than the ones from a few days ago - maybe the beef-to-cauliflower ratio? The lack of eggs? I dunno.

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Cucumber Salad

2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 onion, minced
dried oregano
pepper
sea salt

Spread cucumber in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Let drain. When cucumber has drained, mix with other ingredients.

Notes: This is adapted from a pasta salad recipe I used to make. We actually used green onions tonight but I think the flavour is better with onions. Ingredient amounts are approximate, as usual.

Food Cooked, day 7

Breakfast

It's Sunday. There is no breakfast, there is only trying to find your socks before it's time to leave for church.

Okay, I had a boiled egg.

Lunch

Salad
Chicken Salad
Fruit salad

Supper

It's Sunday. There is no supper, there is only scrounging for leftovers, etc., etc.

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Chicken Salad

6 12.5-ounce cans of chicken
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients well. Serve on lettuce.

Notes: We used mayonnaise that Mama made, since all the store-bought had soybean oil in it.

Food Cooked, day 6

Breakfast & Lunch 

I didn't write this up the same day so I've forgotten already, haha. Probably leftovers? I think I made some Fisherman's Eggs - that's gone over well with a few people.

Supper

Baked chicken leg quarters
Baked sweet potatoes
Green Beans with Garlic and Green Onion
Baked Asparagus
Fruit salad

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Green Beans with Garlic and Green Onions

4 14-oz bags of frozen green beans
2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
4 green onions, chopped finely
1 teaspoon ghee
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt

Prepare green beans according to package instructions. Drain green beans in colander; in green bean pot add ghee, olive oil, garlic, and green onion. Heat until garlic is very slightly browned, then add green beans and salt to taste. Mix well and serve immediately.

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Baked Asparagus

3 pounds fresh asparagus
extra virgin olive oil
salt
sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 450° F. Wash and trim hard ends of asparagus. Coat with olive oil and salt, and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake until done.

Notes: I don't know how long to bake them, I never time it, just check them occasionally. Maybe I'll time it next time and come back and edit this. Also, my preferred method of coating asparagus is to put the asparagus in a 2-gallon plastic bag, add the olive oil and salt, and shake it around until everything's evenly distributed.

Food Cooked, day 5

Breakfast

Fisherman's Eggs

I used one can of sardines, one onion, and two cloves of garlic, since we're not much used to fish. Also since we don't have fresh eggs I cooked it until the eggs were cooked all the way through. The sardine taste was definitely there but it was pretty good.

Lunch

More leftovers. I made a bunch of baked sweet potatoes, boiled eggs, and a double batch of this chicken salad recipe earlier this week and we've been eating them when it's not convenient to cook a whole meal.

Supper

Cauliflower Patties
Ground Beef and Cauliflower Patties

I also made a recipe out of the Whole30 book, slightly modified, for our main dish.

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Cauliflower Patties

2 cups cooked cauliflower
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1 egg
salt
olive oil, for frying

Mash cauliflower in a mixing bowl. Add egg, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and salt, and mix well. Coat a non-stick pan in olive oil and heat on medium. When oil is hot, drop cauliflower mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls into oil to form small patties. Cook until browned, several minutes for each side.

Notes: This recipe only made about a dozen small patties. The cauliflower was overcooked leftovers from yestreday, so all the seasonings were in the cauliflower already and these measurements are a guess. These don't stick together well and sometimes fall apart when they're being flipped, but they're very tasty.

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Ground Beef and Cauliflower Patties

1 pound ground beef
1 cup mashed cauliflower
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
2 eggs
salt
olive oil, for frying

Mix all ingredients well. Coat non-stick pan with olive oil and heat on medium. When oil is hot, shape meat mixture into balls about the size of golf-balls, drop into pan, and flatten. Cook until browned, about 10 minutes on each side.

Notes: This made under 10 patties. Mashed cauliflower was the same leftovers as above so again seasonings are approximate. Also, I managed to drop the white of one egg in-between cracking it and getting it in the bowl, so it was really more like 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. These also didn't stick together well at all but they were delicious.

Food Cooked, day 4

(Since we started Whole30 officially on Monday, the 9th.)

Breakfast and Lunch

Nothing - ate things that had been cooked earlier in the week. Well, I baked a few sweet potatoes but they were saved for later, and they had to be rescued by Mama after I forgot they existed and nearly left the house with the oven on and the sweet potatoes in it. That would have been exciting to come back to!

Supper

Baked whole chicken
Baked Cauliflower
Chicken and Kale Soup

It's more accurate to say that I used the cauliflower recipe as a jumping-off point than to say that I made the recipe. Used frozen cauliflower instead of fresh, omitted the coconut oil, used parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder instead of curry, also made about 7 or 8 pounds of it so we'd have some leftovers for the next couple of days. Littlest sister took care of the chicken. The soup was sort of thrown together on the spot.

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Chicken and Kale Soup

1 tablespoon ghee
3 leeks (pale part only), chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 sticks of celery, sliced
2 cups of kale, chopped
12 cups of chicken broth or stock
3 small turnips, peeled and chopped
2-3 cups of cooked chicken, chopped
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons dried parlsey
salt

Saute leeks, carrots, celery and kale in ghee until they start to get soft. Add broth or stock, turnips, chicken, ginger, parsley, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and cook until turnips are soft.

Notes: I'm not actually certain how much liquid I put in there, quite possibly it was more than twelve cups. The ginger was littlest sister's idea! It turned out tasty, a little sweet, and there were no leftovers after the six of us were done with it. Also, I dumped most of my cauliflower right into the soup and it was good that way. I might try making it again with cauliflower instead of turnips.

Blog start

This week my mom started the family on The Whole30 Program. What is The Whole30 Program? I dunno, I've barely looked at the book. All I know is we're basically only eating meat, fruit, and vegetables, and I've had to throw out pretty much every recipe I've ever used because all of them involve dairy, grains, or legumes. This wasn't as hard as it could have been since I've got experience throwing out recipes (we went off most nightshade plants years ago - that means potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and most peppers).

So! Since I'm trying out a lot of new recipes, this blog is meant to help me keep track of what I've been making. Remembering things is not my forte, so if I don't write it down, in a couple of years - no, if I'm being honest, in a couple of weeks - I'll have no idea what I was cooking this month. I'm planning on posting a daily roundup of things I've made, plus the occasional recipe. Maybe I'll make lists of things, like snacks. Who knows?