Integrative Cooking

     Hello all! I am going to do a little revamping of the blog to incorporate my new outlook: Integrative cooking! So often vegan and vegetarian diets are very exclusive, and almost make you feel as though people with opposing diets are bad or wrong, but it's just not true. I think there are lots of households out there that have only one maybe two members being vegan or vegetarian and the others not.
    This does not mean we should look down upon our family members or friends who are not vegan or vegetarian, we need to embrace it and remember we were once just like them! So I am hoping to make videos and posts more centralized around this issue. Meals can accommodate both meat eaters as well as vegan and vegetarians. So that is the meaning behind Integrative cooking. So keep an eye out for my next video. I will be filming soon!!

Where have I been?!

      After what seems to be like a million years I finally made a YouTube video! It was just a short video explaining where I have been. So I'll share a bit here as well. My last post expressed my excitement for signing on a new house. We have lived here for several months now and we love it! The town is not my favorite, but coming from Austin not much was going to live up to it. I returned to school to finish my Bachelors degree and will soon be moving on to get my masters in Psychology. I am loving it so far and we are happy. Ben loves his job and I have a boring little part time job as well, but am working on a resume.
      I will be doing more cooking videos soon, Maybe even tomorrow. It will be the 4th of July, my birthday month which is always exciting! I will make corn fritters, guacamole and tomato stuffed mushrooms, and steak fries for our little celebration. I may make a video on the corn fritters... Not sure yet, but check me out tomorrow to find out. Ben and I will walk up to the park to check out the fireworks tomorrow to see if anyone is shooting any.
      Well, I know it has been too long, but this is all the updates I have for now. I will be better about keeping in touch. I do love to blog and I feel like people like my stuff, so I will keep on keeping on. Thanks guys!!!

Here is the link to my new video: GO CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://youtu.be/rPzmg1yDoNo

Slow Sunday..

Here is an update on my status, I know I have been a little distant and i'm sorry :( Ben and I sold the house and are living with one of my sisters here in Elk City, Oklahoma. We are super excited because we signed the contract for our new house this week and will be able to move in the beginning of March!! So when I get into the new house I will have more space and my own things I will be right back on the blogging band wagon! Talk to you soon!

Tonight is Sister's/girls night at Jessi's house!!

So, tonight we are getting together to make candles and eat healthy snacks! I think tonight will be Cesar salad bites, homemade hummus and crudités, black bean and corn relish with maybe pita chips... I think yes! I'll post some pics of the festivities later :) enjoy your day.

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Saving Herbs

Hey hey everybody!

I did a little video on how to preserve herbs. I gave 4 easy tips that everyone can do. They give every dish a little extra boost, so give 'em a try!

Tip #1: Herbed butter

1-3 tablespoons chopped herbs to every 1 stick of butter

Let the butter sit out until it's soft and combine with a spoon or a food processor and save in a tupperware. 

You can use it cooking meats, veggies, spread on bread, use your imagination!

Keeps for months.

Tip #2: Herbed Salt

1/2 cup sea salt

3 tablespoons of herbs

lemon zest (optional)

Crush together in a mortar and pestle. If you don't have one, just put ingredients in a plastic bag and beat it with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.

Use a sieve to strain out any large pieces and let it sit out in a low even layer to dry out and store in dry container.

Keeps for months.

Tip #3: Dehydrated herbs

Use a dehydrator to dry overnight or in an oven on 170 degrees for 1.5 to 2 hours. Store in a dry container and it keeps for months.

Tip #4: Herb cubes

Chopped herbs

olive oil or water

ice tray

Put herbs in ice tray and cover with olive oil or water.

You can toss olive oil pods in with veggies or pan frying meats.

Toss water pods in to pan steam veggies.

I hope you love these and use them! It can definitely save money!

Enjoy responsibly!

Pasta Carbonara bites

Hey everybody!

 Last night we had the seminar and Harmony Health and I wanted to make sure I had all the recipes on here in case people wanted to try to make them on their own. One of the heartier dishes was the pasta carbonara bites and they were a hit! Typically pasta carbonara has a very oozie, silky kind of sauce, but since I baked it after cooking it was much easier to manage. So without further adieu:

Gluten free pasta (I used rice pasta)

2 eggs

1 cup of parmesan or pecorino plus some for sprinkling

handful of parsley

chopped sundried tomatoes

pinch of cayenne

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente.

In a food processor or blender combine eggs, parsley, cheese, cayenne, and salt and pepper.

IMPORTANT:

When the pasta is ready to be drained, save about 1 cup of the pasta water. 

*Since the sauce is a base of raw egg, the hot pasta and hot pasta water will cook it enough to be creamy. If you choose to not bake it, it will still be a delicious pasta dish*

Combine all ingredients back in the pan and use a fork to twist pasta into bundles. Just put these bundles into a greased muffin tin and top with remaining parmesan and sun-dried tomatoes. Bake on 375 for 15 min. Let cool, and you have a tasty and portable pasta dish.

Enjoy!

Kitchen remodel

Hey everybody!
This week Ben and I have been busting our butts trying to get the kitchen completed. We "pennied" our kitchen countertops and have repainted our kitchen cabinets with a Rustoleum kit. It is looking really good so far! We have laid out all the pennies and poured the epoxy resin over the top and all that is left to do is paint the top coat on the cabinets. I am ready for this project to be over, and it's gonna look great! I'll include some pics of our progress. 

So first we sprayed 3M adhesive to lightly stick the pennies to the countertop and laid them out neatly.

Still laying them out... We used probably $70 worth of pennies and our kitchen is not very big. Although the next cheapest alternative would have run us upwards of $500.

Then we got to painting on the cabinets. We had to use deglosser/degreaser on them first, then a white basecoat before the glazing step.

Next we purchased some epoxy resin from Home Depot. We put a wooden cap on the edges of the countertops that were .5 inches higher than the countertop itself so the epoxy would be held in. Then we poured the glassy goop all over the countertop. I was very nervous!

It being a self leveling mixture, we just had to wait. Here it still looks a little lumpy still but it is glossy and shiny. We only got a little on the floor...

Here we have our cabinets almost complete. The glaze has been applied and the doors are almost dry so all we have to do is add the top coat and let them dry :)

 

I will be back to show you the finished product by Sunday. I will be so glad to have my kitchen back! My house has been a wreck and I haven't been able to cook. I'll be glad when I can move on to the next project.

Black bean burger bites

Hey everybody!

Today I made recipe #3 in the Harmony Health series of videos. They are corresponding to the dishes that I will be catering at the seminar next week. I am very excited about it! I catered their seminar last month and got a lot of positive feedback.

So, without further adieu, how to make black bean burgers!

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 russet potato, peeled and diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp herbs

1 tbsp corn meal, plus more for dusting

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp salt

Add potatoes, onion, and garlic to a pan and saute till soft.

Remove from heat and let cool. Mash together all herbs and seasonings and once the potato mixture has cooled use a food processor to combine. Roll the mixture into desired size and coat in corn meal. Fry in a hot pan with some oil.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potatoes Bravas

Today, for my third recipe in the Harmony Health series, I made patatas bravas. Typically they are made with new potatoes but I made them with sweet potatoes and they are delicious! They are a little spicy and a little sweet. Here's how ya do it:

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 purple onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves diced

1/2 cup veggie stock

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp coconut sugar or substitute

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp smoked paprika

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
optional: Parboil potatoes for 7-10 min.

Saute all ingredients except veggie stock and cook for 5-6 min until softening up. 

Add veggie stock and bring to a boil.

Put whole pan into the oven for 20 min.

When that is done, cover with foil and let it cool.

It's Delicious!

Enjoy!

Roasted bell peppers and mushrooms stuffed with herbed goat cheese

So, today I made my second dish in the series of my Harmony Health event. I will be catering it next week and today we made roasted bell peppers and mushrooms and we stuffed them with herbed goat cheese.

Ingredients:

1-2 roasted bell peppers

1 cup mushrooms cleaned and stemmed

4 oz. goat cheese
2 oz. ricotta cheese

cayenne pepper

fresh parsley 
optional: green onion

Put everything in the food processor except the mushroom and bell pepper and combine. Just stuff and have fun!

Enjoy!

How to make easy bruschetta!

So, today I did a video on garlic tomato bruschetta. It is the first recipe in the list of recipes I will be making at the next Harmony Health seminar. I will be catering it again this month and I want to have all the videos up so I can market with the clients! Wish me luck!

Garlic Tomato Bruschetta:

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon herbs (I used thyme)

1 head of garlic

Serve with crusty bread or crackers.

Chop all ingredients and bake for 12 min on 400.

Super fast and easy! A great party dish in 20 min.

Today's goal

Hey everybody!

Today I am working on my menu for the Harmony Health Seminar next weekend. 

I catered the last seminar and it went amazingly well. Most of the attendees had a dietary restriction of either gluten free, lactose intolerant, vegan or vegetarian or a combination of several. So, needless to say, it was a challenge. 

I had only two vegan options so I am working on a more opportunistic menu this time. 

The challenging part is: I will be trying to get a corresponding video up for all of my dishes before this weekend so I can market my youtube channel to the attendees. It should be an excellent opportunity to have many of my clients join my channel subscription list.  

I am super excited! If you have any input on possible meal ideas, drop me a line. 

Talk to you soon :)

Got a new video camera!

Ben, being wonderful like he is, bought me a new HD video camera! I got it in the mail on Saturday! It is a tiny one with a flip out screen and has a suction cup on the back to stick to the windows in the kitchen. I am looking forward to making a few videos with it. I will start tonight! Stay tuned for better videos!

Today's project completed!

So I prepped our handrail on the staircase yesterday and it is now almost dry. I like it! I don't know why but this dark molasses color makes it look kinda trendy in here. It is the same railing that has been here since it was built in the 80's so it needed a little TLC.

Here is our boring white handrail before the paint job

Here it is all dolled up! It looks good right?

I am pleased :)

Slice Of Life show idea

I had a great idea today. 

Austin is known for it's supporting local businesses. We have tons of Farmers markets and lots of small groovy shops. I realized today that I should be in contact with some of the local farmers and farmers market managers so I could sign with one of those organizations and use their produce in my cooking shows in exchange for promoting local farmers. I emailed a few people and I even spoke with a farmer who sends her grass fed beef to other states, including Oklahoma, to sell at farmers markets. I am exploding with excitement. I am hoping to hear back soon from one of the companies I contacted to see if they are up for it. YAY! I'll keep you posted, and let me know if you have any ideas!

Today's DIY projects

Today I am going to do a few things around the house. 

I have two projects in mind but knowing me they are going to snowball into something huge! But I digress, today I will be prepping the hand rail going up the stairs to be painted and I will be taping off the back porch ceiling to be painted as well. I am not looking forward to the porch because it is a lot of work above my head and my arms get so tired! I am in charge of getting the house prepped because I have more time here, and I don't mind one bit because Ben always chooses muddy colors... 

On a different topic, we have been digging up one corner of the yard to pour a concrete slab for our little shed. Now that we are looking at long term plans for this house we have decided to not build the shed but we still have about an 8x8 foot square hole in the ground back there about a foot deep. Now I get to pick what we do with it. :) 

Where we are now:

 I'll show you some possibilities.

We could tarp the bottom and build a cute trellis for beans or some other climbing plant that grows quickly..

We could also make it into a water feature, albeit shallow, it would need more maintenance..

Or we could just build a garden box around it and toss whatever seeds back there.

I just don't want it to look like we dug up a huge hole for nothing, ya know.

What do you think??

Gluten Free Berry Pancake Muffins

I was perusing my pantry when I saw a package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten free pancake mix that was about half used. I bought this when I had people at the house who had a sensitivity to gluten, so I thought it would be better to air on the side of caution. I decided to use it up and some of the organic berries Ben and I picked from Sweet Berry Farm outside of town.

I call them pancake muffins for the simple reason that it is a pancake mix baked as muffins.

The ingredients you will need are:
Bob's Red Mill gluten free pancake mix (or any pancake mix will do)
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk or milk alternative
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Frozen berries

First, just mix up the batter like the mix says and pour batter into the muffin tin.

Just drop 3-5 berries in per muffin and pop in the oven

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.

They turn out beautiful and delicious!

Enjoy responsibly :)

Easy Veggie Cup Recipe

I always make my meals ahead of time based on my Meal Plan for the week. This recipe in particular is an oldie but goodie and I use it very often. They are veggie egg cups and they are simple to make and low maintenance on you. I used spinach only in this batch but I have used onions, bell pepper, broccoli or whatever veggies I have that need to be used. 

For this recipe you will need:

4 eggs

1 cup fresh spinach

If you have a large family and need to make lots of these, just follow that model using 4 eggs and one cup.

Just crack all the eggs in a bowl and whisk. 

You can either put the spinach in the whisked eggs or you can put it in once the eggs have been poured into a greased muffin tin.

Just bake the veggie cups at 350 degrees for about 30 min.

They turn out beautiful every time!

Enjoy!

Easy Crock Pot Roasted Chicken

SOOOO easy and low maintenance! I love this recipe because the meat just falls off the bone so it's perfect for my meal plan that calls for shredded chicken two different times. I am loving this!

Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNiTDZu9oQs