Get in My Belly

I'm happy to report that I have no "shit-muffins" to post about this time, folks! I only screwed up one thing recently, and I still blame it on the electric oven. Temperature = NOT ACCURATE. More on that later.

The last couple of weeks have been super busy - filled with friends from out of town, family, and just some good ol' fashioned single-gal socializing :)...And let's be honest, those things trumped writing. But I did manage to get some good (and not so good, oops) eats in that I saved the recipes to share! Some of them I'd like to re-make and try some things differently, but all-in-all, not too shabby! Patting myself on the back, here.

~ WARNING ~

Graphically delicious items ahead. Proceed at your own discretion.

Breakfast
First up is my new fave - ahhmigaahhd they were delish, and so easy! We'll call them...

Pancakes

I tried to capture the sunlight just right to
distract your eyes from my
non-photogenic dishes.

Ingredients:
Mix 1 container (6 oz) of Greek Yogurt - I used strawberry banana - with:
1 TBS almond or coconut flour (I used almond),
3 TBS ground oats (I just threw them in my mini blender),
1 egg,
1/2 tsp baking soda and
Cinnamon, to taste

The batter tasted like apple cinnamon. YUM. SOLD. I will warn you, though, that these little F'ers are harder to flip than normal pancakes. It could be because my cooking utensils are jank college kid stuff, but whatever. Don't say I didn't warn you. But we've all learned it's not how it looks on the outside, but how freaking delicious it is on the inside that counts and BOY OH BOY. These were to die for. I added some walnuts to a few of them, and then spread some, you guessed it, Cookie Butter on them and added blueberries and some Agave nectar. I think I sat there after eating it and just smiled for a solid 5 minutes. I'm not even kidding. Try them and tell me you didn't do the same.

Zoats
I had heard of these before, but never really knew what they were. I’d seen photos on Instagram of people eating them and raving about them for breakfast, so I thought what the hell, let’s give it a shot. I searched the ol’ world wide web for a recipe and stumbled across this one:

Zoats - zon't be fooled by its look.

Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil. Add cinnamon, stevia, and/or other desired spices, flavors, and sweeteners. Add 4-6 egg whites to boiling water*, reduce heat to medium and stir constantly to avoid poached egg whites. Once mixture is primarily opaque, mix in 1/4 cup oatmeal and stir well. Next, add 100 grams shredded zucchini **(or more if you want! I think I ended up putting about a ½ to 1 cup) and stir well. Allow to cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Allow zoats to cook until your desired consistency is met. The longer you cook them, the mushier and less "piecey" the zucchini becomes.

I feel like these could have been better for 2 reasons:

*I missed the part of the directions that said to REDUCE the heat after adding in the egg whites, sooo I basically had poached egg whites before realizing this.
**I didn’t have a grater at the time (have since purchased one from CVS – classy, I know), so my zucchini bits were a pretty piecey…
So the overall mixture was ehhh, but it really didn’t turn out too badly. I added some sweetener, vanilla extract, cinnamon and honey, and then cut up a banana and added some Greek yogurt. It made a pretty big portion and you best believe I ate the whole thing!

LUNCH

As I’m typing this out and listing the ingredients out, I’m realizing that these 2 salad recipes are just different versions of one another, but both are differently wonderful in their own ways. I’ve eaten both like 6 times in the last 2 weeks, no joke (and am actually eating the first one as I type). 

Seriously. Honey and olive oil on a salad?
SO GOOD.

Sweet & Fruity Salad
Ingredients (amounts of each are up to you – however big you’d like the salad, keep adding!):

Baby Spinach
1 Peach (I’ve used both regular and white, and prefer white. Just my own personal preference!)
Blueberries
Red grapes
Pecans
Goat cheese (OF COURSE)
Drizzle with honey and olive oil and prepare to be amazed!
Other goodies I’ve added in:
Raisins
Avocado
Bananas
The possibilities are endless!

Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Ingredients (again, each up to you):
Cooked chicken breast (I did shredded from the crockpot as well as just cooking over a skillet, and both were just as delicious)
Grapes
Avacado
Celery
Pecans or almonds
Plain Greek yogurt
Baby spinach or spring mix

I mixed the grapes, avocado, celery and pecans first, then added the yogurt, put it over the spinach and put the chicken on top (unless the chicken was shredded, then I just mixed it all in). No dressing needed, as the chicken salad is creamy enough with the Greek Yogurt! You can make a larger portion of this and eat some leftovers as well. It’ll last the 2^nd day pretty easily, just watch the avocados, as they can get a little brown.

DINNER

I realized I may have mentioned this a time or six, but I'm rather good at throwing together a meal working with what I've got. This little gem was concocted on a night that I needed to grocery shop, but was not about to do it hungry - it really does make a difference in what/how much I buy. So I'm emptying my cabinets and cursing and whining that I have no food and I'm just wanting to go grocery shop so I can buy more Cookie Butter and blah blah blah. That's when I made:

Tuna Burger over Edamame

The downside of sharing this with you is that i didn't measure anything. I just literally threw it together. Soo, deal with it. 

Ingredients:
1 package tuna (I like the sealed packages for 1)
Ranch seasoning
Salt and pepper
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
Bread crumbs
Edamame (steam microwavable bags are the bomb.com)
Goat cheese (DUH)


Cook the edamame, and whilst it's cooking, mix all the ingredients except the goat cheese into a bowl. The tuna patty is not that solid, just FYI, but I managed to keep it together. You really just need to cook it on a sprayed skillet til it's heated. I wanted mine a bit crispy on the outside, so I cooked it a little longer. Throw it on top of a bowl of edamame and then add some goat cheese and OH MY. It may not look that great, but holy cow, it was legit good.

Sweet & Sour Hot Shit

I have to thank my Aunt Eileen for introducing this recipe to my mother (though I'm not sure that's the actual name...), because it's a staple in my meals. I don't cook it all that often, but I look forward to it every time. And it makes a LOT, so I usually end up feeding some friends and co-workers, and still have leftovers. It's the one meal that I seriously don't mind eating 3 days later (I'm on my 2nd lunch of it). So feel free to cut in half if you need a smaller portion.

Ingredients:
1-2 jars of sweet & sour sauce
Tabasco sauce
2-3 red potatoes1 red bell pepper
1 green pepper
1 can pineapple chunks
Smoked sausage (I used turkey sausage, but it's up to you)
Jalapenos (optional)
Rice (I usually use white rice for this meal but it doesn't matter)

Get a sauce pan and fill with water and get that going to a boil on the stove. Then, empty a jar and a half of sweet & sour into a LARGE skillet. Add Tabasco sauce to your liking (remember, you can always add more as you go). Turn the heat on low to start. 
Chop up the red potatoes in to bite size pieces and put them in the boiling water. These take the longest to cook, so let them boil while I do everything else.
Depending on what rice you get, if it takes awhile to cook, start it next, or if you are microwaving or have instant rice, you can cook it while everything's heating up.
Chop up the rest of the ingredients and add to the skillet (you can now turn the heat up). If you like it spicy, add jalepenos. I also usually add some of the juice from the can of pineapples. This is where you can decide how you want the consistency to be. Like it saucy/soupy? Add more sweet & sour or pineapple juice or water. If you don't, then don't! 
Drain the potatoes and add to the skillet and just stir every once in awhile until everything is heated up. Serve over the rice and prepare to be amazed!  

Those are just some of my faves as of late. Don't even get me started on dessert. Maybe in the next post. :)