Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower Fried Rice

The goodness of a low carb, no meat meal!

Rice...Cauliflower...No Carbs...Vegetarian. How is this possible? Well that my friends is where something called Riced Cauliflower comes into play. It's a glorious thing that will leave you guilt free and satisfied. Here's what and how to do it. It also only serves one, but it's easily double or tripled, it's veggies so...

Ingredients

1 Cup Riced Cauliflower

1 Carrot

1 Stalk of Celery

1 Slice of Onion

1 Garlic Clove

1 Mushroom

1 Cup of Shredded Cabbage

1/4 Cup Raw Cashews

Cilantro for Garnish

1 Tbsp Avocado Oil(but whatever oil you like or have is fine)

For your cauliflower you can do one of two things make it yourself, which just requires you to chop the whole thing up into manageable pieces and throw it into a blender or processor and blitz it down until it resembles rice or buy it. (Which is what I did. Trader Joes has a really good deal on it and it's pretty fresh)

Finley chop the onion and mince the garlic.

Dice your carrots and celery, slice the mushroom then halve it

Heat a non-stick pan over med-high heat add your Oil and Garlic, let cook for about thirty seconds, then add the carrots and celery, cook that for about two minutes then add the cauliflower and cashews. Turn down the heat a little and let them cook until the cauliflower and nuts  get a little color, about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and mushroom. Wash your cilantro (however much you like, I love the stuff so it's a salad on top of my rice, Ha!)

Let cabbage and mushroom wilt down a bit, about 2 min. Then you add the Wonderful Orange Soy Sauce (Recipe to follow). Let that cook until reduced down and thick and the rice has absorbed some of it, about 2 min. Serve on a pretty plate and Garnish with Cilantro.

Sauce Ingredients

1 Tbsp Less Sodium Soy Sauce or Tamari

1 tsp Rice Vinegar

2 tsp Honey

A couple dashes hot sauce

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

1/2 Tbsp Corn Starch

Water so the whole thing equals 1/2 a Cup

Put everything but the water into a measuring glass. Stir until corn starch and honey have combined and dissolved a bit. Add the water to a the 1/2 cup measure line and give another good stir. If you want it spicer add more hot sauce or even crushed red hots. Want it sweeter add more honey, if you want to use an alternative sweetener go for it, just be careful of the ratios

Happy Cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade!

Pesto Pizza with Cashew Mozzarella

Pesto Pizza with Cashew Mozzarella

I have found a new fondness for Cashew Cheeze and Nutritional Yeast. It's a guilt free way to get cheesy goodness into my belly! I paired it with my glorious version of Pesto (ehem, it has spinach...I know, Right?!?!) Ok so here we go, recipe time!

First off the Pesto!

Ingredients
1 Bunch Spinach
1 Bunch Parsley
1 Cup Unsalted Walnuts
3/4 Cup Olive Oil, but whatever healthy oil you like can be used, i.e. avocado, walnut.
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
4 Cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Wash and destem the Spinach and Parsley. I cut the stems off of the Spinach while still bundled together and then tossed them into a collandar and washed them. Let them drain in collandar
Peel the garlic and roughly chop. Toss into a blender or food processor with half the oil, pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the walnuts and a bit of salt and pepper. Pulse again until walnuts are pea size. Add in as much spinach as your bowl will hold, add in half of the oil that's left and grind it down until smooth, scraping the bowl if necessary. Add the last of the oil, taste, adjust seasoning if need be  and pulse it until everything is combined. It needs to have a paste like consistency. Store in an airtight container.


Now onto the dough!

This dough is fully gluten, but if you have a gluten free dough you like go for it!

3 Cups AP Flour
3 Tbsp Flax Meal
1 Cup Warm Water
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Combine the warm water, (it needs to be warm to the touch, but not hot, about the temp of hot tap water) yeast and sugar into a large bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes. It'll get creamy looking and somewhat foamy looking.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix with a spoon, when it has a shaggy look to it, it's time to get in there with your hands, first add a bit flour on top and then knead away in the bowl. Fold it over on itself and keep going until it's soft and smooth, if it feels sticky after it all comes together, knead another handful of flour into it.  Form into a ball and pour a bit of oil into the bowl and roll it around. Cover with plastic wrap, put in a warm place and let rise until double in size.

Side note if it's particularly cold that day, turn your oven on to 200 degrees F, once it reaches temp, turn it off and place the bowl in the oven and close the door. Keep an eye on it since it might double quicker than if it was just sat in a warm place. Otherwise I put it in the micro and let it do it's thing.

If you plan on eating this right away you'll need to preheat your oven to the hottest setting it has or 500 degrees F. and place the pan (preferably one with no sides, that way you can just slide the parchment with the pizza directly onto the pan)  in the oven as well. Other wise it can be stored in a Ziploc bag or airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Once it's risen, punch it down and put it on a piece of parchment paper that's been floured, press flat, then sprinkle a bit more flour on the top. I used a square cookie sheet so I just pressed and stretched it out to fit the pan to within an inch of the edges.

Time for topping it with the Pesto and Cashew Mozzarella!

The Cashew Mozzarella is linked here:  http://sareneefood.blogspot.com/2017/01/cashew-mozzarella-cheeze-it-actually.html

Spread a generous portion of the Pesto onto the dough then add the glorious Cashew Mozzarella, just smear it all over, don't worry, it'll mix in and get lost in the Pesto, but that's ok.
I put sliced zucchini and mushrooms, along with diced chicken. Whatever toppings you use, make sure to press them into the Pesto mixture, just to be sure they don't fall off. Take your hot pan out of the oven and slide your pizza onto it. Bake for 15-20 munutes and then spin it around and let bake for another 10-15 min. All sides of the dough should be nice and brown.

I was going to let it rest for a little bit, but I was impatient and cut right in. It did not disappoint. Since there's no cheese and no juicy sauce it cut perfectly with no muss and no fuss. I hope you all enjoy .Have fun cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade.

Cashew Mozzarella Cheeze

Cashew Mozzarella Cheeze

It actually had a stretchiness to it!

This Cheeze was my first attempt at Mozzarella type. I'd done a cream cheese style one and it was delish! This cheese turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. It could've use a bit more breaking down, but overall it was very tasty! The trick to getting the "cheesy" flavor is Nutritional Yeast. And the stretchiness comes from tapioca starch/flour. Now onto the recipe!

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Raw or Roasted Unsalted Cashews

1 to 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast

1 Tbsp Tapioca Starch/Flour

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 Cup Water

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Soak the nuts for at least 2 hours if not overnite.You can also boil them for about ten minutes. They need to crumble when pressed between your fingers. Drain off the water and put the nuts along with everything else into a blender or food processor.

Grind down until smooth, mixture will be liquidy.

Pour into a saucepan and cook over med-high heat, stiring frequently until it thickens and you see "strings" dropping from the spoon to the pan. Taste to adjust seasoning and add more Yeast and cook for a bit longer if need be. Serve with nut thins or chips or veggies or eat by the spoonful, anyway you eat it is good. Have fun cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade.

Salmon Patties

Salmon is one of my all time favorite fishes. I love it simply done on the grill or in the oven, but it's such a versatile fish and can be cooked so many different ways. Soooo I came up with the Salmon Pattie. And it was amazing! 

Grilled and Glorious!

Here's how to make it. Woohoo!

Salmon Patties serves4

1 lb Fresh Salmon Filet

1/4 Loaf French bread

2 Cloves Garlic

1/2 of a Yellow Onion

1 Tbsp fresh Parsley

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp Mixed dried herb seasoning(whatever herbs you have is fine)

1 Tblsp Olive Oil

A squirt of Mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste (S&P)

If the Salmon still has the skin on remove it and then cut into 1 inch chunks. Set aside half of it.

Dice the onion and garlic into large pieces and slice the bread into pieces.

Add bread to a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs develop. Remove and set aside. 

Add onion and garlic to processor pulse until a small dice forms add 1/2 the Salmon and the rest of the herbs, oil and mustard, Season with S&P. Process until it has a paste like consistency. Add the bread and the rest of the salmon and pulse until combined, making sure not to over do it as you want some chunks of Salmon in there. Form 4 large patties or 3 ginormous ones.

If you are grilling, preheat and oil the grates. Then grill for about 4 mintues per side. Chef''s tip: Give it a quarter turn about halfway through and you'll get those diamond grill marks, do the same when you flip it over.

If baking preheat oven to 375 degrees F, place on lightly greased baking sheet and let cook for about 10 min. Flipping halfway through. The patty should be firm, but still flake off a bit when pierced with a fork

If pan frying, heat a non-stick skillet with a swirl of olive oil, on med-high. cook each side for about 4 minutes, you should get a nice golden crust.

As you can see from our pic, we served ours with a homemade rice pilaf and corn on the cob as well as a green salad. But it would be good on a bun with some spicy arugula  and mayo. 

So Happy cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade and in this instance, healthy!

Salami and Egg Sandwich/Salad

I was given a project to do by my mom. High Protein on the go meals. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with ideas and it's harder than one thinks, especially if they need to be held for long periods of time. I finally came up with a sandwich, it's versatile and can be done several different ways and with several ingredients. This was just one thing I came up with.

Crispy Salami and Egg Breakfast Sandwich

I happened to have Salami in my Fridge and yes it can be high in fat, but if used sparingly it's a nice treat that has good protein. The egg is also a good way to get protein and I used Marscapone cheese,which gives a nice tang as well as a good creamy element. The English Muffin can be replaced with a wrap or you can even make hard boiled eggs and stir in the salami and marscapone cheese along with salt and pepper. Well I guess I've talked long enough. On to the recipe!

3 Slices Salami

1 egg

2 Tbsp Marscapone Cheese or Cream Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste(I often use garlic salt)

1 English Muffin

Place Salami in a small cold frying pan, non-stick, then turn heat to Med. Low, one end of the meat may be sliced so you don't get that odd bubble in the middle, let cook until the edges start to brown about 2 min, flip and cook until you see the center turning golden brown another 2 maybe 3 min. While Salami is cooking whip the egg with a fork along with a bit of salt and pepper.

Pull salami off the heat and let drain on a paper towel.

In the same pan pour in the egg, leave the little bit of grease from the salami just to ensure the egg doesn't stick. Tilt pan in a circular motion and with a rubber spatula, pull the sides in towards the middle, let cook until just set, about two min. maybe less, it should be pale yellow and still slightly runny in the center. Flip over with your spatula and let go for another 2 min. or so. Turn off the heat and let sit in the pan while you toast your muffin. I like mine brown and slightly crisp, but however you like yours is fine.

Now for the cheese! Yum! Spread the cheese on both halves of the muffin then take your egg, fold in half then in half again to form a triangle and place on top of the muffin. Don't forget the Salami. Place those on the egg and then top with the other half of the muffin. 

At this point you can scarf it down with some coffee and almond creamer (Nuts have massive amounts of protein!) Or the sandwich can be wrapped in foil and eaten later. 

Now for the hard-boiled version. This is for a larger serving and can be done a day ahead.

3-4 Eggs, depending on how big of a serving you want

6-8 slices salami

6-8 Tbsp Marscapone Cheese or Cream Cheese, at room temp

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place eggs in a medium pan and cover with cold water, making sure the eggs are fully submerged. Once it has come to a boil, turn off heat, cover and let stand for 15 min. Drain and run under cold water. These can now be refrigerated and held until ready to make the salad.

To make the salad dice your eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, add in the cheese and mash with a fork, taste and make sure the seasoning is to your liking, but be careful not to add too much since the salami has it's own salt. Now take your salami and if you have thin sliced salami, stack the slices and cut in half, then in quarters, separate and put into the egg mixture, then stir to combine. If you prefer the log of salami, that's fine for this salad, just slice off about a 1/2 inch and dice into small chunks. Taste and see if it needs more seasoning.This is good on it's own, in a sandwich, a wrap or on a big leaf of lettuce. Enjoy! Happy cooking my friends and remember to keep it healthy and homemade.

Oven Baked Sammie(Sandwich)

Sandwiches are one of the most versatile things out there. I love them, especially when I go all foodie with them. The Sammie i'm highlighting in this blog has homemade pesto and olive tampenade, what?! Yes, homemade! It does only serve one but its really easy to just add more for a bigger crowd.

oh so ooey, gooey and delicious!!

Oven Baked Sammie

French bread, slice about a 2-3 inch hunk off

1 slice of low sodium ham

1/4 inch size slice of Monterey Jack cheese off the block

1 Tbls Basil Pesto

1 Tbls Olive Tampenade

Slice the hunk of bread in half, then from one piece remove some of the bread, make sure to leave a little intact to the crust. Now spread the pesto on that slice. Slice your ham and cheese in small strips. Place the cheese then the ham on top of the pesto layer, top with more cheese then the tampenade. Put the full silce of bread on top of that and squish down a bit. Wrap the whole thing very tightly in foil, place on a baking sheet in case of leakage and bake at 400 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes, you want the cheese nice and melty. There ya have it folks, now go and make this wonderful thing, don't be afraid to experiment, put anything you like, turkey with cranberry sauce, roast beef, horseradish sauce and cheddar, tomatoes and mozzarella for caprese style. Happy cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade!!!

Oh Cobbler

Summer...Fruit...Overripe. What to do with it? Why make cobbler of course!!! I had a Nectarine and Plum that needed to be used up so I put together a two serving cobbler. It was divine, delicious...any other "D" words you can think of? No, Yes? Oh well, enough of my wanting a thesaurus out of this post. On to the recipe and of course the pretty picture of said recipe.

Aren't they just adorable!!

Nectarine and Plum Cobbler Serves 2

Filling

1 Very ripe Nectarine

1 Very ripe Plum

1 disc of Peanut Marzipan(Almond is fine too.)

2 Tbls Sugar

1 Tbls flour

A sprinkle of Pumpkin Pie Spice

Topping:

2 Tbls Cold Butter, cut into small bits

3 Tbls Steel cut Oats

1 Tbls Sugar

1 1/2 Tbls Flour

Peel and chop Nectarine and Plum, just roughly chop. Crumble the Marzipan in a small bowl then add all of the filling ingredients excepting the fruit, stir to combine. Now add the fruit and stir again, split between two greased ramekins, I used glass ones, but whatever you have is fine. 

For the topping, using the same bowl as the fruit was in, place all the ingredients into bowl, then with a fork mash the butter in, until its incorporated, it doesn't need to be like wet sand or look like peas, but you want it fairly even throughout. Split the mixture between the two ramekins and place on a baking sheet, that's just in case it spills over, plus it make it easier to put in and take out. Place in a 400 degree F oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the top is golden brown and crisp. Happy cooking my friends and remember to keep it homemade!