Plath’s Adventures

Trying a new format for our menu this week. We picked up this nice chalkboard at Ikea that will be perfect for our weekly menus.

and yes, we had taco bell for dinner on Sunday… don’t judge!

Sunday: Chicken Udon Soup (super secret recipe I’m testing), grilled cheese sandwiches
Monday: grass fed burgers, curtido I made last week (it’s delicious!), home-canned baked beans
Tuesday: sweet potato hash
Wednesday: spaghetti, spinach gratin (recipe from Everyday Food magazine)
Thursday: mexican stuffed shells, curtido
Friday: sloppy joes, broccoli, pan fried carrots
Saturday: take out

Breakfasts/Snacks/Lunches/Other:
Chicken Quinoa soup (another super secret recipe)
homemade almond milk
yogurt
granola
raspberry oatmeal bars
double coconut muffins
hummus

I’ve been wanting to make almond and other nut milks with my vitamix (especially since Adelaide still seems to be dairy-intolerant), but I keep forgetting to pick up cheese cloth at the grocery, and in all honesty, I hate using it. It’s a pain to wash clean, I always rip it, and I feel like I never fold it correctly and end up losing half of what I’m trying to strain. I prefer using coffee filters to make my homemade ricotta and yogurt cheese, but it’s too fine to work well with nut milks. Well, enter Lowe’s hardware store for solving that problem! You don’t need to buy a fancy nut milk bag ($15!). You can use a paint strainer, sold in the painting aisle of your local home improvement store for $1. Yep, you can get a two-pack for just $2.

It even has a great elastic top that fits right over the blender to make pouring super easy.

To make my almond milk, I soaked 1 cup of almonds overnight in water. I strained them the next morning, dumped them in the vitamix and added 5 cups of water, then blended them for about 1 minute on high speed. Strained them, squeezed the pulp and voila, easy almond milk.

Now what to do with the leftover pulp? I dumped the remaining pulp out on my silpat-lined cookie sheet and baked it at 300 for 30 minutes to dry it out a bit, then dumped on oats, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, sesame seeds, raisins, honey and coconut oil to make granola. I baked it for 45-ish minutes, stirring every 15 or so minutes (a few minutes too long… oops) and then let it cool completely (do not stir the last time you take it out if you like your granola “clumpy”). Perfect for topping my homemade yogurt for an afternoon snack.

Sunday: take out grinders
Monday: crockpot beef ragu over quinoa, lima beans
Tuesday: honey-glazed ham in the crockpot, honey balsamic carrots and parsnips, cranberry sauce, mini king cakes
Wednesday: chicken pot pie
Thursday: roast chicken, roasted beets
Friday: homemade pizza
Saturday: scrambled eggs with peppers, onion and ham, dutch babies

Other: homemade yogurt, cortido, sweet and salty roasted chickpeas

Sunday: nachos, pretzel bites, kale chips
Monday: salmon cakes, baked potatoes
Tuesday: bun-less cheeseburgers, pan fried carrots
Wednesday: wholewheat pasta (from last week ~ I froze half the batch) with cheese sauce, lima beans
Thursday: dutch babies, bacon and eggs
Friday: homemade pizza on wholewheat crust
Saturday: simple baked salmon with basil, garlic and olive oil, corn (frozen from last summer)

Other: wholewheat bagels– I add two TB vital wheat gluten and sub honey for the sugar
Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bake
yogurt with my yogurt starter from cultures for health! I have finally figured out a routine for my yogurt that seems to be working (knock on wood!). The starter I got says you can make it at room temp, but I find I get a better texture if I heat the milk to 180, then cool to about 110, mix in the yogurt from the last batch (or the starter), pour into jars, then put them into a soft side cooler with a jar of hot tap water and let them culture for 6 hours. My last batch was perfection!

Wish me luck! I joined the Sugar Cleanse Challenge over at The Nourishing Gourmet. It’s all about cutting out sugar and refined flour for two weeks. There are three levels of “strict-ness,”and I’m officially joining under the Category 1 level ~ no refined sugar or white flour, however I’m going to *try* to do it at a category 2 level ~ only 2 tsp of all natural sugar per day. If that doesn’t work out for me, then I won’t feel bad, but I really hope I can at least stay with category 1! Since before Christmas, I’ve already cut sweetener out of my coffee, which was a big step for me!

Sunday: burritos with homemade refried beans
Monday: smoky tomato soup with candied bacon (using maple syrup to “candy” bacon), grilled cheese on homemade whole wheat bread
Tuesday: palak paneer over brown rice
Wednesday: sweet potato hash
Thursday: Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic and pepper flakes (using homemade whole wheat spaghetti)
Friday: homemade pizza on wholewheat crust
Saturday: salmon patties, quinoa (this got moved from last week as we had leftovers one night)

Breakfasts/Other:
Rich Whole Grain crackers (using homemade yogurt and maybe almond, flax and whole wheat flour)
cheesy quinoa bites
Elder Rosehip syrup~ just opened the last jar of elderberry syrup last week

With our effort to try and get most processed food out of our diet, I make oatmeal at least once a week. However, I never know how much to make and almost always have leftovers. Since Eleanore refuses to eat oatmeal more than once a week (even with wonderful mix-ins like homemade jam), these two recipes are perfect to use up all the leftovers we invariably have! I found this bread “recipe” and knew I could tweak it for our own use.

Leftover Oatmeal Bread
makes one loaf

1 1/2 c. cooked oatmeal (I used steel cut oats soaked overnight and then cooked in water kefir)
1 c. water
2 1/2-3 c. freshly ground flour
1/4 c. raw honey or maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended and let it do the work for you. Check as it’s mixing for the right texture. If it looks too “batter-like” add more flour until the dough is pulling pretty cleanly from the side of the pan as it mixes. You can also mix this in a stand mixer, or by hand. If you’re working by hand or in the mixer, let it rise in a covered, greased bowl for 30 minutes. When the dough cycle is finished, gently form it into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan to let rise again for 30 minutes, or until doubled. Bake at 375* for 40-45 minutes.
It makes amazing toast and is great for sandwiches, too!

Eleanore may not enjoy oatmeal as a “porridge” too often, but she definitely loves pancakes. This was my little recipe to “market” oatmeal in a different way for her. Adelaide really enjoyed them, too.

Leftover Oatmeal Cakes

2 c. leftover cooked oatmeal
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c. melted coconut oil or butter
maple syrup

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add oatmeal, coconut oil or butter and eggs and mix well.
Heat up a cast iron skillet over medium heat, adding a bit of coconut oil or butter to grease pan. Pour batter into pan (I do about 1/4c size). Cook cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. Regrease your skillet and repeat with rest of batter. Serve with maple syrup.

Check out the other recipes and ideas in the blog carnival by clicking the picture below!

Sunday: clam chowder (can’t share the recipe, as I’m testing recipes for someone’s cookbook!)
Monday: sesame noodles, baked egg rolls in honor of Chinese New Year (soak grits for polenta tomorrow)
Tuesday: Jason’s pulled pork recipe in crockpot, soft polenta, peas (make ricotta for tomorrow’s dinner)
Wednesday: stuffed shells with homemade ricotta and spinach ~ make easy spaghetti sauce, salad with tomatoes
Thursday: fried cabbage, quinoa, salmon cakes
Friday: deep dish pizza with homemade sauce, chopped salad
Saturday: pan fried pheasant, lima beans, orzo

Snacks/Breakfasts:
Steel cut oats with homemade jam to flavor
Cheesy Quinoa bites
Leftover oatmeal bread