Squeaky Gourmet

This is an excerpt right out of our book. This shows you the layout of the pages, the fact we do share the calorie and macro breakdown of the ingredients and the easy to read design.

I love vegetables–there I said it. You cannot go wrong with them in a diet or wellness plan. When I was working for the Department of Defense I would get sailors asking me if they can eat carrots or onions and not gain weight–the whole carb scare of the South beach diet taint was rampant with them. I would always answer honestly–I have never met a person with a weight problem who has said to me ” I would be thin if i could just walk away from those darn vegetables–they get me every time!”  Think about that–who over eats carrots? Who has a bulging waist line because the tomato section of the market has a vice like grip on them every time they walk in? Who do you know who joined Weight Watchers because they just won’t stop snacking on onions at night?

vegetables are good for you–I know we should know this but it is so over looked in todays world.  Most people use them as a steamed or boiled boring side dish or try and choke them down in a salad (OK, disclosure i also love salads–if you are choking on a salad I can NOT relate–but I love you just the same.) Here is a fantastic, delicious  way to prepare some vegetables in such an easy way–and so hardy that is can be the entire meal–if you dare!

Vegetables in a Pot
serves 8
16 ounces low sodium pureed tomatoes
1 large head red cabbage cored and chunked
1 large red onion peeled and chopped
10 baby potatoes left whole
1lb baby carrots
2 slices uncured bacon diced
3 cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh sage
1 handful fresh basil leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Add all ingredients to a crock pot and set on medium heat for the entire day–set this and forget this *snaps fingers*

Serve topped with Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of pine nuts.

Nutrients in 1 Serving

I can always tell when the really cold weather has set in here in Wyoming.  Apart from not really wanting to venture outside very often, I find myself cooking stews and soups every week.  The comfort that I know I have a big pot of healthy, heartwarming stew in the fridge for the week makes lunches and the occasional dinner really easy.  Here’s what I cooked up Saturday.

White Bean and Barley Stew
Serves 4 or more

1 large onion chopped

1 ½  c chopped celery

1 t garlic chopped

1 red sweet pepper chopped

1 T olive oil

1 can no salt diced tomatoes

2 cans great northern beans- rinsed

1 carton 32oz  organic chicken or Veg stock

1/3 c uncooked barley

2 bay leaves

1 t oregano

1 t basil

½ t marjoram

1 t sea salt

1 t pepper

½ t or more red pepper flakes

2 T dry parsley or 1/3 c fresh- chopped

In a large soup pot, add the oil and the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes.  Add the rest of the chopped vegs and cook 10 mins on medium.  Now add the rest of the ingredients, stir well, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer (low) and cook for an hour.  Serve with hot sauce if you are so inclined.  Yummy.  This could also be done in a slow cooker on low heat all day.

Other good ideas…

Fresh spinach would be great added before serving.

Tomato sauce would work well.

A squirt of lemon before serving would be yummy too.

Enjoy!

–Jamie

Did you know right now there are people wearing safety glasses and white lab coats who are staring into beakers adding chemical substances and hoping to create new and exciting foods for us. Yeah–these test tube foodies are hoping that the magic mix of just the right chemicals will give you that melt in your mouth, cooked for hours by your loving grandmother feeling when you have their new food dance on your taste buds.  There is no thought to the lasting effects these chemicals have because they are food chemicals–approved for consumption and digestion. You will not drop dead from the toxic levels of these additives at all according to the Food Police in the higher levels of the test tube foodie office building.  So, drop by drop they are bringing you the newest flavor –the most exciting life like creation they can figure out. You can picture this as the real world creation of Willie Wonka’s 3 course meal gum–we all know  Violet Beauregarde’s reaction to the amazing reality of the flavors of the gravy and mashed potatoes as she chewed the gum. I think these test tube foodies are surpassing Mr Wonka’s hopes and dreams with the new way they can conjure food up out of nothing but some chemical additives, some water and a few solids. So–where does that leave the people who want real food? The people on the outside of the industry who are choosing not to follow in Violet’s footsteps and turn into a giant blue blob because of the unforeseen reaction yet to be discovered by these lab coated food chemists.  Not only is it hard to create foods free from chemicals but also to create the same WOW PEP and ZEST flavor that only the artificial world can bring you. I mean, by evolutionary design we like the things that are MORE MORE MORE!

Well that is where the real foodies come in. Throw backs from the kitchen, if you will. People who remember a real pie crust made with butter /lard not margarine–or–shortening (YUCK!) People who took the time to create flavors from nature–French cooking, Italian cooking–European cooking! It takes no time, it creates an experience. Just a few tricks, a few tools and you too can bring back the moments of food that are safe to enjoy and are great for your body.

Enter for exibit–the Stewpendous Chicken! My family loved this dish, the house smelled divine while it was cooking and I even manged to get those lentils past the mouth of my husband who usually runs the other way when I say I added lentils to anything in the kitchen aside from the garbage bin.

Stewpendous Chicken
serves 8
4lbs  boneless skinless chicken sliced thin (breast or thighs–use what you want)
1 cup raw lentils
6 cups water
4 stalks of fresh celery-chopped
1/2  sweet onion-chopped
4 medium carrots cut into sticks
2 baked and peeled red sweet potatoes mashed
2 cloves garlic-diced
2 springs fresh Thyme
2 springs Rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tbls butter

In a large pot, set on medium heat, add the butter and allow it to brown. (not blacken, stir the butter and let it cook–not die!) Once the butter is nicely brown  add all the vegetables and lentils (leaving out the mashed sweet potato)** and spices and stir to coat in the butter. Keep stirring for about 10 minutes more, your house will now be filled with the scent of goodness.  Now add in 2 cups of water and the chicken slices, making sure all the chicken fits in the pan you chose. Now, here is the thickening trick–add in the mashed white sweet potatoes and mix well with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.  Now cover the soup with the remaining water, turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 3 hours.

Serve hot in large bowls! Allow the family to compliment you on the amazing stew and bask in your greatness. You have fed them well and the meal is feeding their body well!

** Here is a red skinned sweet potato–the flavor is this was drastically different from the orange fleshed relative. I  found it to be sweet and earthy–like a happy married between a red bliss potato and a sweet potato.  You will see how this adds a great thickening property to the stew as well as creates a new dimension of flavor.

Here is what it looks like after you bake it and peel it–this picture was for informational purposes only and I was not trying to humiliate the potato in away way. OK–well maybe a little.

This recipe is happy to be part of Real Food Wednesday! Join the carnival!

Simple Mexican Pasta

Serves  6

1 lb ground venison or lean beef

1 large onion chopped

1 small can diced green chilis

2 t chopped garlic – about 3 cloves

2 cans no salt diced tomatoes

1 6 oz can V8 juice or small can of tomato sauce

1 ½ c pinto or black beans

2 c cooked rigatoni pasta

2 t chopped garlic or 3 cloves

1 t onion powder

2 t cumin

1 t Worcestershire sauce

½ t marjoram

1 t basil

1 t sea salt

1 T chili powder

¾ c shredded cheddar cheese

In a large pot brown the meat and the onions together.  Add all the seasonings and ingredients except for the pasta and cheese.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Before serving, add the cooked pasta and the cheese.  Mix well and serve when the cheese is melted.

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Squeaky Gourmet educates the reader on carbohydrates, fats and proteins–explaining the importance of each of these food groups. Food knowledge along with fantastic recipes, Squeaky Gourmet includes fantastic tips on how to effectively cook to save time and prepare healthy meals all week long for your family.

Buy Your Copy Today! Available in all book stores both online as well as in stores. If you do not see it on the shelf, ask the store to order it for you!

• • Squeaky Gourmet advocates healthy fats that improve your overall health.
  • Each recipe includes natural, wholesome foods that are easy to purchase in your local store.
  • The protein choices are not limited to strictly low fat chicken breast boredom, instead we have included ingredients like wild game and fresh caught fish.
  • Squeaky Gourmet includes menu items that you can share at an office party, offer to dinner guests or even share as a holiday food gift.

Sometimes I just go to the store with absolutely no planning involved. Well, I PLAN to go to the store but I am, on occasion, shopping on a whim. Yesterday was one of those days. I had been reading about protein bars and how to make them, comparing ingredients in power bars, kashi bars and thinking about my gluten free life and seeing how I could put that all together. I guess it would be similar to when I am drawing or doing a creative writing project. The food items are the canvas and tools and it is up to them to come together to be something–I just hope it is something palatable!

In the organic whole food section of the store I purchased dates, almonds, dried coconut, dried cranberries, and more gluten free oats. At home I knew I had this protein powder in the pantry that was really unfriendly in most of the recipes I had tried with it. I guess I am not a banana creme lover after all–don’t tell the monkeys.

So, back at home I go–ingredients in the car and ideas in my head. First I knew I wanted to soak the almonds, oats and dates. The oats to remove some sort of acid a friendly blogger mentioned to me–what acid it was–no idea (details escape my ADHD brain). Perhaps she will be kind enough to chime in to remind me! I had to soak the dates to make them easier to use as a paste and the almonds were to be soaked to make them less flavorful–ok, just kidding, I soaked the nuts because it is the thing to do! ( I forgot why)

I am super glad I did soak all of them because the results were a benefit to the end results. The oats with the dates made a fantastic paste that just blended so well together. The soaked almonds added a different texture to the end result that made it feel more earth like and natural, more wholesome. I liked it! I soaked them all for 30 minutes, however, the dates were soaked in hot water, nuts and oats in cold water.

After the soaking and draining, I removed the pits from the dates and added those along with the soaked oats to the hand blender blender. (Dear Santa if you can see this, please may I have a food processor for the holidays?)The oats were really in no need of draining as they plumped right up and absorbed more water than I thought they even would! Once these were fully blended into a paste I added that paste to the stand mixer. I tossed in some dried cranberries, some dried unsweetened coconut and an egg and let that blend together.

While that was mixing I took out my handy dandy coffee grinder (which has never seen a coffee bean) and ground up those soaked almonds into a chucky meal of sorts. You can see how there are still considerable chunks in the grinder along with tiny little almond fragments. I added this right into the stand mixer as well. Then I threw in the protein powder and some cinnamon then watched as it made the dough. I was apprehensive and curious–like a mad scientist waiting to see if the creature would live. I thought about short circuiting the outlet to give the bowl a charge but thought better of it. I then remembered to add some xanthan gum to the batch to make sure once it was baked it would still all be as one versus a bunch of weird lumps of granola or something.

I lightly greased a pie pan ( do not use a pie pan, use a 9×9 pan) I dumped my new creation into the pan. You can click the image of the blob to see what it looks like. Very, um, blob like with lumps of goodies poking out. I then wet my hands (if you cook gluten free you should know this trick) and began smoothing out the dough with my wet hands. Wet hands do not get the dough stuck to them. Nifty, right?

I then took the pan and placed it in the oven and laughed maniacally while rubbing my hands together. I was alone in the house so this was OK behavior. I baked this for 35 minutes, until the edges were brown and the top golden. When I sliced this up and took some out I thought–hey these look like Biscotti! So, I plated some and took some pictures and then threw them onto a non-stick pan and placed them back in the oven to toast them up.

You could certainly serve these after the first baking, they smelled so wonderful and had great texture–chewy and crunchy. I just wanted to see what they would do if I baked them again. I left them in for 25 minutes with the oven still on 350 degrees and checked them for burning while they cooked.

I was very pleased with the end result, as were the kids and the hubby. This is a keeper for sure and I will be making these in batches to freeze for breakfast bars. These will now be a part of a healthy breakfast in our New Hampshire home!

Biscotti Protein Bars
serves 9
13 whole dates
1 cup oats
1 1/2 cups protein powder
1 cup raw almonds
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 large egg
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 TBL cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Calories Per 2 cookies-360
Fat- 14 grams
Carbohydrates- 30 grams
Fiber- 7 grams
Protein – 32 grams