Fish and veggies for breakfast. How Irish of you.

I have no idea how accurate/politically correct that is. I know my mom always said that about me though. And, she was a funny lady. And, pretty smart. So, I'm taking it at face value and calling it Irish.

I believe my love of vegetables, versus fruit, at breakfast stemmed from the Avocado Breakfast Salad. I have never been a huge egg fan, so omelets were not a vegetable vehicle for me. Also, rarely will you catch me snacking on vegetables throughout the day, but you will certainly catch me with a handful of berries. So this was an attempt to get more veggies in my diet. If you need more veggies, want more veggies and gotta gotta have it- this is for you.

INGREDIENTS

To make Grain free English muffin, you can follow the recipe over at Beauty and the Foodie, or follow this. Let me save you from the mistake I made AND DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, use Almond Flour. Blech, just blech...

1/2 tbsp coconut oil 
1 egg beaten

1 tbsp milk (I have used skim milk and homemade Almond Coconut Milk-preferred the skim)

1 tbsp coconut flour 

1/4 tsp Honey

Pinch Sea Salt
1/8 tsp baking soda with 1/4 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar in a small bowl (this will help the rise)

1. Melt the coconut oil in your dish, in the microwave. I used a large cylindrical mug, like this one)
2. Place the baking soda and apple cider vinegar in their little bowl. It'll fizz.
3. Add all your ingredients to the mug, and whisk until well mixed and smooth
4. Add the baking soda and vinegar mixture. Continue to mix until smooth
5. Now the best part!! Cook it for 1 min and 30 seconds in the microwave, yes the microwave!
6. Take your muffin out of your dish and slice it in half, bun style.
7. Lightly brown the muffin top and bottom, on both sides, in an oiled skillet.

Yay your English muffin is done!!!

Now poach an egg, slice a tomato, an avocado, some smoked salmon, top it with some capers and fresh cracked pepper and enjoy the best breakfast you've ever had.

*HEY! You see me down here?? If you click on a link and purchase something I may earn a few dollas'. Thanks, youdabest!"

Grain Free Cookies

Um, YUM. That is the end of the story.



But, seriously, these were so delish, they were consumed in just a few days. So good.

So why grain free you ask? Well, super long story short, I had not been feeling well for a while. Lethargic, upset stomach, everything was making me nauseous and I was literally STARVING all day every single day. Something had to change. I've known for years that I have PCOS, but I have not done anything about it. So I started doing some research and am making what I hope are the necessary changes to my diet. And I can say I feel so much better.

So while I will not let my taste buds suffer at the hand of PCOS, I am dedicated to changing my diet. And of course cookies were the first PCOS friendly food I made.
Here you go!!

This recipe is not my own, I'm merely sharing it. I found it here and I didn't change anything except the amount of vanilla.

Since I don't know much about grain free cooking, a lot of recipes will just be ones I'm sharing.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup super chunky peanut butter (I really like Crazy Richard's)
1 cup brown sugar (I used dark)
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Mix all ingredients together, minus chocolate chips.

use these awesome recycled bowls my sweet aunt got me for Christmas

3. Add in chocolate chips.

3. Form 1 tbsp balls of the dough, with your hands.

4. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

5. Bake cookies until they puff, about 12 minutes


6. Cool and transfer to cooling rack.

made 20 scrumptious cookies

 What's your favorite grain free dessert?

*HEY! You see me down here?? If you click on a link and purchase something I may earn a few dollas'. Thanks, youdabest!"

Granola bars aren't just for the Granola

Woah, 2 years later, here's a post.

So many people have asked me how to make these, I figured this would be the best forum for sharing with multiple people.

These are so delicious, you'll forget they're nutritious!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use crunchy, I already made that mistake for you)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 maple syrup
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup ww flour
1 cup crispy rice cereal (without any sugar or additives)
2 cups trail mix (You can use whatever you want for this! I like dried fruits, butterscotch chips, chopped almonds, and raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)
1/2 cup wheat germ (optional but I prefer it with this)
1/4 chia (also optional)
1 egg beaten (againnnn optional)

Directions:
1. Line your 13x9 glass lasagna pan with parchment paper
2. Preheat oven to 350F
3. Mix all of your wet ingredients, minus egg; pb, honey, syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract.
4. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl; oats, brown sugar, flour, crispy rice cereal, trail mix, coconut flakes, wheat germ, chia)
5. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Add the beaten egg. Egg is optional, so decide if you want it to be shelf stable or not. Also, I feel the egg helps keep it together.
6. Put mix into the lasagna pan. You'll want to start in the middle of the pan, therefore in the middle of the parchment paper, in order to keep all the ingredients within the parchment paper.
Smooth over to make a flat sheet, so you can cut bars after they're done baking.
7. After oven is preheated, put pan in and bake for 20-25 minutes.
8. Let the bars cool and then lift parchment paper out and put on cutting board to cut bars of whatever size you choose.


Super filling and I have to say at just 1/2 cup sugar, HEALTHY!!!

Avocado breakfast salad

Avocados for breakfast??
Talk a walk on the wild side!
This breakfast salad is amazing because you can call it a salad and feel like you're really healthy even if you put a ton of bacon on it like me.

I found this delicious idea on theKitchn. I couldn't find a step by step tutorial, so I'm laying it out for you.

You'll need: 
Egg
Bacon
Tomatoes
Avocadoes

Hard white cheese (parmesan, jarlsberg)
Fresh salt and pepper

First cook your bacon really nice and crispy. I cut mine up and then fry it in a cast iron skillet.
Poach your egg. If you don't know how, learn how here.
Slice up your avocado and dice up your tomatoes. Place the veggies in your bowl.
Put your cooked egg and your bacon on top the veggies and shred some cheese over it.
Crack some fresh salt and pepper over it and yum yum, breakfast time.

Crockpot rotisserie chicken

I love those rotisserie chickens you buy at the grocery store for $9 but since it's No Spend Month, I'm making my own! Yay for doin' it ourselves! I adapted the tutorial from Sarah.

You'll need

Whole Chicken (5 lbs)
Potatoes
Onions
Olive oil
spices

I cooked my chicken from frozen and it was ahhmazing!

1. Cut up your choice of potatoes (I used russet potatoes), and line the bottom of your crockpot with the skin side facing up.

2. Chop up an onion and put it on top of the potatoes. Put your chicken on top of the vegetables.

3. Put your olive oil in a bowl and mix your spices into the oil (I used black pepper, basil, parsley, garlic powder and a little paprika). After they are fully mixed, use a basting brush (or your hands) and coat the chicken in the oil/spices mixture.

4. Turn your crockpot on low for 9 hours (mine is frozen, adjust time to about 6 hours if it's thawed)
5. After your crockpot goes off, preheat your oven to 350F. I put it in the oven for another 30 minutes to get that crunchy rotisserie skin.

It fell right off the bones& the skin was so crispy!



Chicken was $4.31 so about a 50% savings from the store bought ones!

What's your favorite use for leftover chicken?



Sunday's Spicy Black Bean Burgers& Roasted veggies

Sunday, I made a delicious dinner of Spicy Black Bean Burgers& Roasted Veggies. I love Veggie burgers and I love spicy food so I thought that these sounded great. I found the original tutorial at Spoon Fork Bacon, but tweaked it slightly. Let's get cookin!

You'll need:

1/4 yellow onion, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
3 tsp minced garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/2 cup whole grain oats (I used quick oats, because that's what I had)
1/3 canned corn (14.5 oz can)
2 green onions sliced
Cumin, curry powder, cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
4 tbsp Olive oil
Food Processor/Magic Bullet/Blender
WW hamburger buns

I used my Magic Bullet in place of the food processor, so this was done in steps

1. Add onions, jalapenos, and garlic to food processor, pulse until it turns into a paste like substance.

2. Using a rubber spatula, spoon into a bowl. Pulse beans and corn in your food crusher of choice. Scoop out half the mixture into the same bowl as the jalapenos mixture.

3. Add the spices, green onion and oats to the half of the mixture that is still in your food processor.

4. Scoop out the pulsed mixture and combine with the rest of the mixture in the bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This would be a great pre-make meal since it holds up fine to refrigeration for about 48 hours.

5. After you take it out of the refrigerator, mix in the bread crumbs. After you mix in the bread crumbs, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to thicken to where you can form patties.

6. Form your patties. Warm your oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook your patties in the warmed oil, it takes about 5 minutes for the burger to form a crust.





resist your puppy's begging eyes

You can leave out the hideous plate& serve on your much more stylish plate

ROASTED VEGGIES

I was inspired by this Grilled Veggie Salad but we're lame and don't have a grill so I had to come up with something else.

You'll need

Veggies (I used zucchini, corn, onions, sweet baby peppers)

Dressing:

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp EVOO

1/2 tsp minced garlic

juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp dried dill

black pepper

1. Turn your oven on to 500F. Wash all your veggies& dry. Line a pan with aluminum foil and pop it in the oven.

Chop what veggies like look they need a good chopping, or just ask me :)

2. Roast your veggies at 500F for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and don't be a dummy like me and try to touch them in like 2.5 seconds. After they've cooled off, get to choppin!

3. While your veggies are cooking make a quick, light summery dressing. Mix all the dressing ingredients, test taste, refrigerate& let it marinate 

4. Drizzle your dressing over your warm veggies& enjoy!

Crockpot Greek Yogurt

On our journey to saving money, I made crockpot greek yogurt over the weekend. It's not the first time I've done it so I'll share some tweaks I've made to the original tutorial I found at One Good Thing by Jillee. Most of the tweaks have to do with 1)My inability to get things done in a timely manner, 2)Chronic laziness (it's a disorder, I swear).
Here we go!

You'll need
1/2 gallon pastuerized milk (not ultra-pastuerized)- I used 2% because that's what we had
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I have homemade yogurt already, so I used mine)
Crockpot
Cheesecloth/teacloth/unbleached coffee filters
Strainer

1. Pour the 8 cups of milk into your crockpot& turn it on for 2.5 hours. Cover.

2. After the 2.5 hours, take the yogurt out of your crockpot and let it sit for about an hour or so. You're waiting for it to cool down a little, I test it with my finger to make sure it's touchable (but barely), if so, you're good.

3. Scoop about a cup of the yogurt out of the crockpot and mix it with the 1/2 cup premade yogurt. Stir them together and then put the mixture into the crockpot with the rest of the yogurt and mix it together. This is for the live and active cultures.

4. Put the top back on your crock pot, wrap the pot in a towel and put it in the oven. Now time for bed! The yogurt needs to sit for about 8 hours. I left it for about 10.

5. In the morning, check to see if it's 'yogurt'. Smell yogurty?

6. Line a large strainer with cheesecloth/teacloth/unbleached coffee filters (whatever you have that's lint& scent free). I used 4 layers of cheesecloth.

7. Put the strainer over a bowl, and pour the yogurt into your lined strainer.

8. Watch the whey drip out into the bowl! I leave it in the fridge for about 6 hours or until I notice there is no more whey dripping out of the strainer. This step is what makes it "greek".



no whey



yes whey!







9. Now, my yogurt always looks a little "clumpy" for lack of better words. I take about half the mixture, give it a few pulses in the food processor and then mix it with the remaining yogurt. I like that smoother texture. It makes about 3 cups of yogurt.

chunky



smooth



I used to buy a quart (4 cups) of plain greek yogurt for approx $4.59-$4.99.

I pay $2.49 for a gallon of milk at Wegman's, 1/2 is used to make the yogurt = $1.25 for about 3 cups of yogurt.

Only about $0.40 per cup as opposed to about $1.25 per cup! That's about $0.85 savings per cup!