52 in 52: Week 16

I am starting to feel the stress of finals building. I have had less time to make fun meals, which is okay, but it means that there are less fun things to report on. I know that all I have to do is get through the next two weeks, and then it is finally summer. Not that summer matters that much in terms of working or spending time with friends, but I am so excited to finally have free time and (maybe) warm weather. I started to bring the idea of summer with a cool dessert this week, something would be perfect going into the summer. 

This weeks new recipe was a chocolate chia pudding from Feel Good Foodie. I was in the mood for a different kind of dessert than I usually have. Typically I have dark chocolate or coffee ice cream but I saw this recipe and decided out of the blue to make it. The first time I made it, I added coffee ice cream, coconut flakes and a chocolate covered banana. The second time, I had the chia pudding with bananas. The chia pudding with ice cream was something I hadn't thought of before, and it made a great texture combination. 

This chia pudding tasted so good. I think that what really made this so good what that I used a high quality cocoa powder. I used Equal Exchange's cocoa powder and it is a game changer. The cocoa powder is rich and full of flavor.  It is nothing like other brands I have used in the past. I will definitely be making this again. I loved the easy of being able to just grab it out of the fridge and still have a fancy dessert. I am already planning all of the different flavors I want to make... almond, chai and coffee... yum. 

What is your favorite kind of chia pudding?

Until next time, 

Maddie

Tuesdays Eats: One Month into Quarantine

I realized suddenly that we are already a month into Wisconsin stay at home order, and time has flown by. I did not think I would be saying this, but I have been busy enough with online school that I have not had time to get bored. The highlights of my days are always my meals. This is when I can take a break from studying in order to cook, primarily breakfast and lunch. I have been able to find a lot of meals that I love and have had only a few busts. This day was a pretty predictable day of eating, so here we go!  

Breakfast: Vanilla Skyr w/ Grain Free Yogurt, (defrosted) Local Cherries and Blueberries + Cookies and Cream Smoothie 

If you have looked on my Instagram recently, you would know that I am obsessed with Kelly Leveque's Cookies and Cream Fab Four smoothie. The smoothie has blueberries, spinach, almond butter, flaxseeds and chocolate protein powder.  I would not just have this smoothie alone for breakfast, I just don't know if it would keep me full until lunch. Instead, I split the smoothie recipe with my mom (she also loves it) and have something on the side that involves chewing. I was in the mood for a parfait even though the weather is still pretty cold, so I just had that as well. 

Lunch: Socca w/ Lemon Rosemary White Beans and Mushrooms

Lunches have continued to be a fun experiments in the kitchen. I have continued with my socca obsession that I mentioned on last Fridays 52 in 52,  and we topped it with leftover white beans and local mushrooms. The recipe for the white beans and mushrooms was from Spoonful of Flavor.  This was a great recipe to use up things that we had lying around the house. We are lucky enough to get produce delivery once a week from a local farmer, so we have a constant stream of mushrooms, spinach, carrots etc available. Most of our lunches involve finding new recipes to try that involves using up these items. 

Snack: Peanuts + Grapes (unpictured) 

Yup, a snack. Nothing special but it didn't need to be. I just needed something to get me through the final paper that I am writing. 

Dinner: 1/2 Leftover Socca + Apple + Sausage + Garlic Soup 

I had a snack plate for dinner this night since the rest of my family was having cheese fondu. Technically I could have it with my family, it would have been annoying for them since they couldn't have our homemade French bread dipped in the cheese due to cross contamination. They weren't complaining but honestly, I don't love cheese fondu so I had a deconstructed version. The socca was leftovers from the day before. I had wanted to see how it would taste warmed up so this was the perfect time to test it. (FYI, its not as food as fresh) Finally, the garlic soup was from a Julia Child cookbook with egg ribbons in it. It was a nice final touch. 

Dessert: Hu Cashew Butter Dark Chocolate 

Since we couldn't get our typical easter candy this year, we picked up some Hu Chocolate from the grocery. I had always seen it on Instagram, but wasn't sure if it was worth the type. Now let me tell you... it is. I absolutely love this dark Chocolate. I really like the cashew butter bar, but the hazelnut dark chocolate bar is even better. This ranks as one of my all time favorite dark chocolate bars. 

What have your meals been looking like? 

xoxo,

Maddie

52 in 52: Week 15

My big thing that I tried this week was chickpea flour. I have been seeing some recipes recently that I have been interested in, so I decided to get it from the grocery store and have fun experimenting. I guess that is one of the perks of being grain free... my flour is easy to find. One of the things that shocked me about the chickpea flour was how cheap it was. Compared to almond and cassava flour, chickpea flour is substantially cheaper. Once I picked up the flour, the cooking began. 

The first thing I tried to make was Socca. I have heard about it before, and after looking through some of my mom's French cookbooks I decided to try it out. I was also making shakshuka that morning, which involved using my cast iron skillet and I think this made a big difference. My Socca turned out soft, and I am 99% sure that it is supposed to be crispy. This was probably because I just made it on the stove top, and it in a standard pan. I did really love the taste though, so I am planning on trying it out again. If I can figure out how to make it crispy, I know that this will be a staple in my diet. 

I then tried to make chocolate chip cookies with chickpea flour. To start, I did not really like these cookies but I also think I might have messed up the recipe. I know other people who have made these and said they were some of the best gluten free cookies they've had so I will be trying these, or something similar again. I also will flatten out the cookies more before I bake them next time. I think that the centers were a little undercooked, which lead to it still having a bean-y taste. I will make sure to report back if I find a cookie recipe that I like, but as of now, maybe chickpea flour isn't meant for cookies. 

If there are any chickpea flour recipes that you like, let me know! 

Until next time, 

Maddie 

Hidden Veggie Immunity Smoothie

At school I work with performance nutrition for our sports teams, and the main point of my job is to make smoothies. Obviously I have not been working since I am back home and all college athletics have been cancelled. My bosses have been letting work on little projects if we want to stay involved. Recently I worked on making social media posts on the topics of hydration and immunity. I loved making the immunity post because it was informing on what foods are great for the immune system, and then I made a recipe to go along with it. 

This Immunity smoothie truly does have most of the recommended vitamins, mineral and protein to help support a healthy immune system. The strawberries are a great source of Vitamin C. Carrots provide beta carotene which will be covered into Vitamin A. The banana provides probiotics that help keeps a healthy gut, which has a surprisingly large impact on the immune system. Protein can come from the milk and protein powder. Finally the almond butter is a good source of  Vitamin E and Zinc. All of these nutrients can help your immune system. 

It is important to make sure you always get your nutrition information from accurate sources, not just any old website (mine included). Eat Right is the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics website, and it has a lot of great nutrition information on almost every topic. At the end of this post I will link two great articles about eating for immunity if you are interested. Here are some key take aways:

Hidden Veggie Immunity Smoothie
Serves: 1 large or 2 medium smoothies

Ingredients 

1 cup milk (dairy free if need be) 
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 chopped carrot
1/2 banana
2 T almond butter
pinch of cinnamon

Instructions

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Here are the links to extra reading on eating for immunity.
https://www.eatright.org/health/wellness/preventing-illness/support-your-health-with-nutrition  
https://www.eatright.org/health/wellness/preventing-illness/how-to-keep-your-immune-system-healthy

Let me know your thoughts on the smoothie,

Maddie

52 in 52: Week 14

This week I tried Fishermans eggs. It is a sardine mix that is topped with an egg. I used this recipe from Sophisticated Caveman, but instead of using tomatoes (which I didn't have) for red peppers. I served this for breakfast on top of spinach (instead of arugula) along side a piece of toast and a blood orange. 

I have several thoughts on this recipe. First, the recipe way over shot how long the egg should be cooked for in the oven. My whites got really rubbery and the yoke was starting to get too cooked once I pulled it out at 7 minutes. Second, tomatoes would be much better than red peppers because the dish could have used the added liquid. It was a little dry without tomatoes or the runny egg yoke. 

One thing I did add after taking the pictures was capers. Any bites without olives seemed to be missing something. Adding the capers gave a much needed acidity to the dish while keeping true to the Mediterranean flavors. 

All of this being said, I still liked this meal. I would not put this recipe as one of my favorites, but I definitely want to try it again with all of the proper ingredients. I am also going to make it as a lunch not a breakfast. Not that it is a big deal, it just felt like I was eating a lunch... probably because I don't think of fish as my typical breakfast food. 

Would you try something like this for breakfast? 

xoxo, 

Maddie

Strawberry Grapefruit Smoothie

In the middle of this last semester I started to experiment more with making smoothies in the morning. I love smoothies as a way to get in your fruits and veggies to start the day, but just a smoothie isn't enough of a breakfast for me. I really need to be able to chew some part of my meal in order to feel satiated. I started to experiment with making small smoothies and I found some that I really liked. My favorite breakfast quickly became a smoothie with scrambled eggs or a muffin on the side. 

This strawberry grapefruit smoothie is one of my all time favorites. It creates a great fluffy smoothie with the prettiest color. The grapefruit provides a refreshing and tangy taste while the strawberry balances it out with sweetness. 

For protein powder, I really like Garden of Life's Sport Whey Protein. Of all of the protein powders I have tried, it blends the smoothest with not off taste. Any other plant or whey based protein powder could work here as well. If you don't want to add any protein powder, another option is adding vanilla extract. Your smoothie will not expand in volume as much, but it will still have a great taste. 

Strawberry Grapefruit Smoothie 

Serves: 1 

Ingredients 

1/2 c Grapefruit* (about 1/2 a large grapefruit) 

3/4 c Strawberries 

1/4 c Riced Cauliflower

2 T Vanilla Protein Powder 

1/3 c Almond Milk (or any milk of choice) 

*try to remove as much of the white strings as possible as it makes the smoothie bitter

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth. 

Let me know what you think!

Until next time, 

Maddie 

52 in 52: Week 13

This week was a dull one. I was stressed with school, tired with nothing to do and unmotivated with everything. My half marathon that I was training for was also officially cancelled this week which is a bummer. It's not like I did not know it was going to happen, but it is still sad that it did. Regardless, I have still kept up with cooking. It is what I look forward to the most!

This week I made cauliflower fried rice. I can't remember where I found the recipe (sorry) but it is pretty similar to any other recipe for fried rice except I used cauliflower rice and coconut amnios. I served it with "bagels" with peanut butter. If you haven't tried adding everything seasoning to peanut butter toast, you are missing out. 

Overall I liked how easy this dish was. It was nothing complex, but that was exactly what I needed this day. I cannot compare this to your typical fried rice, because I have never tried it. This is the kind of recipe I know I will be making again next year when I am back at school. It was a great way to add a lot of veggies into meal and it was a nice warm recipe for a cool day. 

Until next time, 

Maddie