Tweaked Shepherd's Pie, Low Amylose Style

I make this recipe a lot, and I made it during the snowstorm yesterday for E before his grad school final. It was his last one of the semester! Hurray! I get my husband back!  "Just" doing his 40 hour work week until the end of January will feel like nothing compared to that plus taking 12 credits.

I also happen to call my dad for help with this recipe every. single. time. He's sort of my go-to cooking expert. The man loves the Food Network. Seriously, every time we visit my parents either the Food Network or ESPN/NESN is on 24/7. He must legit think I'm an idiot, because I've called to ask him about how he makes Shepherd's Pie at least 3x in the past 2 months.

I like this recipe, which I'd tweaked to make Low Amylose friendly, because it's easy and packs a lot of punch. It's filling, it's got protein and two types of vegetables. I know, right? I use frozen veggies but if you're less inept than I am, you can spend the time and use fresh ones.

Ingredients:
1 pack frozen Bird's Eye Winter Squash
Enough frozen peas to cover the meat in your pan
Ground Beef
Onions (Ideally.)
Garlic salt
Onion powder (If you're onion-less)
Pepper

If you have onions on hand, go you. I always, always, always forget about the onions until I call my dad and ask "Should I use oil in the frying pan for the meat?" And he's like "Only if you're sauteing the onions first... then use a little bit" and I'm like "D'OH!!!! ONIONS!" The truth is, we have a bunch of caramelized onions in the freezer that I made after last Passover. We had so many onions leftover that I spend a whole day cutting them up and caramelizing them in our crock pot. But They're frozen in a solid block because I didn't think far enough in advance to split them up into meal-sized portions, so only E knows/is able to break chunks off. #winning

So, yeah, if you have onions, go ahead and saute them in your skillet. 

When they're delicious looking/smelling, add in your ground beef, or "Hamburger meat" as my dad calls it. Also add some garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

While you're stirring that around, throw your unwrapped, frozen winter squash into a small pot and follow the directions on the box (this method involves 1/2 c of water). We don't have a microwave but if you do, I think there are also directions for how to cook it in there. I throw in some of the same spices I added to the meat while I'm at it. 

When the meat is cooked, spread it out on the bottom of your pan (I used a round one w/ parchment paper on the bottom for easier cleanup).

Cover it with frozen peas.

Cover that with the cooked Winter Squash.

Stick it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. You just want the top to get browned a little (and the peas to not be frozen anymore. Duh.

And serve!

E was super excited about this when he woke up for class (yep you read that right. Welcome to life with a night-shifter) and had two helpings. If you make it, let me know how it turns out and what further tweaks you thought up!

Happy National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Yep. It's a real thing. Thank the heavens. And here's my contribution:

Chocolate Covered Clementines w/ Sea Salt

I've actually been wanting to do this for some time now, after seeing it floating around Pinterest a while back. I bought the "ingredients" last week but just wasn't finding the motivation. And, honestly, I would've never even gotten around to it today except that as I was about to get into pj's (who am I kidding? I've been in pj's all day!) I caught a Hello Giggles Facebook post that announced that today is National Dip Anything in Chocolate Day (Sorry for the late notice- I was clearly very busy). Aaaaand the fire was officially lit!

These are crazy simple, and E has been making trip after trip back to the kitchen for more ever since he discovered them. 

All you need is: 

• 1 bar of Chocolate (I used sugar free dark chocolate but anything'll work. Also... We were 1 row short of a full bar because chocolate doesn't last long around here)
• 3 clementines 
• A couple of pinches of sea salt
• Wax paper

No, not this kind of Clementine! :)

 Now, you're supposed to use a double broiler or whatever they're called, for this, but we don't have one and I'm too lazy to improvise, so I just broke up the chocolate into it's predetermined squares and threw them into a saucepan. Like so: 

I put the flame on low and got to peeling my clementines, stirring the chocolate in the pan between peeling each one. 

Then I spread the individual slices of clementines out along the wax paper.

To "dip" them I scooped a bit of chocolate up from the pan with a spoon and rolled about half of each slice in the chocolate. I could cover 2-3 slices each time, and found that if I tried to take more chocolate/"dip" more than 3 at a time, the chocolate became too solidified.

Each time I'd finished dipping about 1/3 of the slices, I paused and sprinkled a little bit of sea salt on the dipped chocolate part before it could fully harden on the clementine. 

And that's it!

I'm actually feeling suuuuper lousy right now because I, like an idiot, declared today a Low Amylose cheat day. I had a piece of my favorite Alfredo pizza from my favorite pizza shop. And part of a milkshake (coffee cookies and cream). I know. I should've seen this coming. It happens every time. But I didn't, so now I'm going to peace out and try and sleep it off! Hey, at least these guys were Low Amylose friendly...

Pumpkin Quinoa Oatmeal

If you're like me, this Low Amylose (or gluten-free, etc) diet probably has you craving a good breakfast option. A girl can only eat so many eggs- omelettes, sunny side up, scrambled, hard boiled... Even with all of these variations, it gets old. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love me some good eggs. But even the best things can get overplayed.

Sorry.

Anyway... as your resident Pinterest addict I'd seen this Breakfast Quinoa idea over and over again, so the idea had been floating around in my head for a while. I finally broke down when I found  this recipe one morning, because... hello, it involves pumpkin. So here's my version (with a couple of LA-friendly tweaks).

 

• 1/2 cup rinsed, uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 TBS honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Toppings of your choice (I obviously used a couple of chocolate chips... because I'm me.)

- Pour the milk, cinnamon and quinoa into a medium pot, bring to a boil.

- Lower the flame and cover 12-15mins, stirring occasionally, until milk is almost entirely absorbed

- Add in the pumpkin, salt and honey and stir until combined

- Throw on any toppings, and you're good to go!

Except that, again, if you're like me, you'll probably have burnt quinoa to scrub off the bottom of your pan. But that can wait unto after breakfast. It "needs" to soak! ;) (While we're on that topic, let's just ignore all of the food splatters on my stovetop, mmmkay? Thanks)

Like Buttah, Baby

Almond butter, that is. As in, Almond Butter Cookies.

I'm obsessed with these cookies. Like, they actually might be my favorite cookies ever. I say that because I haven't had real cookies in a very, very, very long time. But either way, these gluten-free babies (one-track mind, much?) make me not miss real ones even, like, half as much.

Here's the recipe:
- First, preheat your oven to 350.
- Then, thoroughly combine:

• 1 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup honey (you could use maple syrup if you want to go vegan, here)
• 1 egg (again, if you're pulling the V-card- and by that I mean vegan card, you can use an egg alternative. I tend to use this when I start baking something and realize we're out of eggs: 1 egg = 2 TBS water + 1 TBS oil + 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt (unless your almond butter is already salted)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

- Fold in:
2/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chocolate chips 
If you can find sugar free chocolate chips, use them to keep this vaguely Low Amylose (the honey is also questionable). Or you could use raisins. But oatmeal raisin cookies are a big contributor to my ongoing trust issues. Seriously, those little buggers fool me into thinking they're chocolate chip EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Whatever. I don't "count" chocolate chips, okay? Which might be why I stopped losing weight. Orrrr it could be because of the fact that I'm now on week 3(?) without Metformin because my insurance company FORGOT TO SEND IT. It's cool. I'm not bitter. (UPDATE: It came today!!!)

Anyway....
- Roll the dough into normal cookie-sized balls, throw them on a baking sheet or two 
- Bake 'em for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned. I find that the bottoms burn a bit if I have them on the lower rack of my oven.

Lemme know how they turn out!

As American as Gluten-Free, Low-Amylose Apple... "Pie"

Ok guys, its a LONG list of ingredients, but it's mostly all the same stuff repeated for the 3 parts. We had a bunch of college students and Rabbis visiting us all weekend for the Chabad on Campus Shabbaton  here in Crown Heights, so (selfishly) I decided to make a treat that I could also enjoy. Lemme know if you have trouble with it or suggestions. I tweaked and the combined three different recipes to make this one, so I'm sure there's more than ample room for improvement... but our guests gobbled this thing up in less than a day. Here ya go....

INGREDIENTS
Crust:
-1/4 cup almond flour
-1/2 cup + 2 TBS coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash of ground nutmeg
- dash of ground ginger
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla

Filling:
- 1 cup water
- 1 TBS lemon juice
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash of salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 3 large apples; cored, peeled and chopped (I used Cortland, because that's what we had in the house)
- 1/4 cup almond flour

Crumble topping:
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup almond OR coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- dash of ground cinnamon
- dash of ground ginger
- 1/3 cup Earth Balance, chilled & cut into little pieces

DIRECTIONS
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix crust's dry ingredients
- In a separate bowl, mix crust's wet ingredients
- Combine the two bowls' mixtures
- Wait a couple of minutes to make sure moisture is really absorbed
- Press evenly into the bottom & along the sides of a pie pan
- Gently stab with a fork all over the bottom (don't go TOO crazy)
- Bake for 5-7 mins; make the filling during this time

There's no olive oil in this recipe. That guy's just photo bombing.

Filling:
- Combine the ingredients. Yep, it's that simple.
- Throw it into the partially-baked crust (I added the crumble later in the baking process)
- Bake for about 20 minutes. (I checked it a couple of times to make sure the crust wasn't burning, but you could also put tin foil on the crust.)

With unbaked Crumble Topping

Crumble Topping:
- Mix everything but the Earth Balance together
- Cut in the Earth Balance until combined
- Using your fingers, crumble/break off small chunks and sprinkle on top of the pie.
- Bake an additional 10-20 minutes.

It'll look pretty liquid-y, but it solidifies as it cools.
Hope you enjoy!

Leo and Kate Approved Chickpea Flatbread

I was going to reuse the blogpost title "Chick-chick-chick It Out" for this, but decided it was too soon. We're only 14 posts in. No, this isn't about chicken. It's about chickpeas. Well, Chickpea flour. Err... garbanzo bean flour. 

You know I've tried almond flour, coconut flour, and now it was time for garbanzo bean flour. There might've been more experimentation too... but that's what comes to mind so far. Chickpea flour is pretty awesome in that it can be used to make... wait for it... Chickpea Flatbread or Pitas. Seriously. Check it out on Pinterest, there's a million (exaggerate much?) pins about "Authentic Italian/Persian/Indian etc Flatbread/Pita/Taco/etc" and there's about 100 different names for them. Trust me, I checked it out. I used this recipe (look there for more detailed instructions! and more gorgeous photos!), but I'll be buying more flour and trying out a few more. 

These are awesome. And there are only 4 ingredients:

- 2.5c Chickpea flour or Garbanzo Bean flour or Gram (all the same thing, AFAIK)

- 3.5c cold water

- 1/4c extra virgin olive oil 

- salt/pepper to taste 

Alright so maybe that's 5 ingredients, but who's counting?

The only bummer is that once you mix the ingredients together (I mixed them all together, but just realized while I was re-reading that original blog post that the oil is supposed to be used later, whoops), you have to let it sit for 3 freaking hours (yep, the length of Titanic) on the counter. I was wary so I covered it with plastic wrap but maybe you don't have to. [Update: Good news, folks! I added in the oil when I did it because I actually followed this recipe with much more concise instructions, not the one I previously linked to! We're trying the same recipe over again right now with that first link's oil trick. I'll let you know if it's any different.]

You should know that since 1997, I've used "How many times you can watch Titanic" as an estimate of how long anything 3 hours or longer will take. I'm totally serious. I don't always say it out loud, but I definitely think it. Especially at work: "Only 3 more Titanic viewings till I can go home!"

pre-salt & pepper

Pre-Titanic

So after you watch Titanic (I guess you could watch 3-4 episodes of Breaking Bad instead... or, like, actually do something productive...), you turn on the oven to 350*, skim off any foam that formed on the surface (yeah, I know), pour the oil into a large, rimmed cookie sheet (which I clearly did not do), and then pour the batter in so it's about 1/4" thick. Then you bake it for about 30 minutes or until golden brown (mine took quite a bit longer but that might be because of my oil mishap). And BAM. Just cut it and serve it up.  

I ate mine with hummus, because pita made of chickpeas just wasn't enough chickpeas. Duh.

I put the rest in Tupperware and it got kind of hard, but maybe if you heat it up it'd get softer? Who knows.... clearly not I. Winning major credibility points here.

(UPDATE #2: The second batch came out crispier along the edges, which were especially yummy. I've already eaten about half of the batch. I'm not sure if adding the olive oil vs. putting it in the pan first made any noticeable difference, but if you happen to experiment with the two methods, lemme know if you liked it better one way or the other...)

Diary of a Chocoholic

I had intended on posting on Friday but got sidetracked by everything going on Boston-- I was glued to the computer watching my hometown news from 1am until Shabbos. At the risk of sounding like a religious freak, I'm going to leave it at this: Hodu lashem ki tov (Give thank to the L-rd for He is good).

So now, let's get to it. The truth is, I am more than slightly obsessed with chocolate. It's not really my fault- my mom's also a certifiable chocoholic (sorry mom!). Forget gummy candy- I can totally live without it. And forget oatmeal raisin cookies; as some wise internet dweller once wrote, they're the reason I have trust issues. It's CHOCOLATE that's my comfort and most-craved food (admittedly, I'm a girl of many cravings. Any time of the day/week/month I've got at least one craving going on). So the lack of sugar (my other big-time love- sorry EE!) in this whole PCOS diet journey is rough.
Side-note: I'm not going to lie- this weekend I definitely cheated on this new diet that I've been romancing. Shabbos is going to be rough. I've got to figure out what to do about Challah... do I just eat the bare minimum required, or is even that amount going to throw this whole thing off? Clearly we've got some kinks to work out. But despite that, I was super "good" during BOTH meals this week. And when we went out to dinner with some of our best friends Saturday night, I ordered a salad! ....and mozzarella sticks and a milkshake, but shhhh. We're back on track as of Sunday afternoon! Hopefully for good. Buckle down, kiddos.
Clearly, the no-sugar rule mostly freaks me out because of all the chocolate it rules out. There was a faint spark of hope while we were out food shopping the other day. We found and bought a sugar-free coconut chocolate bar made with stevia... but not surprisingly, and yet much to my dismay, it was pretty gross. Like so gross that the fact it's chocolate I can eat gets completely cancelled out by it's grossness. So, what's a girl to do? I NEED my chocolate, people!

Worry not- as of today, there is hope! I found this recipe for "Chocolate Brownie Bites" on Pinterest Sunday afternoon, and by Sunday evening I had eaten about half of the batch. Yeah, I know. But can't we just work on WHAT we're eating first and then we'll focus on portion control, k? ....ugh, okay fine. We'll work on it all!

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients-

-1 cup raw almonds
-1 1/2 cups pitted Medjool Dates (approx. 10-11 dates)
-3 1/2 TBSP cocoa powder (the higher quality the better, obviously)
-4 TBSP shredded unsweetened coconut
-1/8 tsp salt
-1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract (more or less depending on your preference)
-Water

Instructions-

1. Add all ingredients except water into a blender, in the order listed (to keep the dates from getting     stuck to the blades)

2. Pulse until your almonds are well-chopped (there will be pieces).

3. If the mixture is dry/not sticking together, add a small drizzle of water.

4. Once combined, scoop the mixture into a bowl and mix/knead to fully incorporate it all.

5. Roll the mixture into TBSP-sized balls and ENJOY!


They're super good. Check out these pics!

YUM. I highly recommend them. They totally quenched this chocoholic's chocolate craving. :)

Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick It Out.

That's a little Beastie Boys inspired humor for you. See?
(Heads up: There might be some swearing involved.)


Beastie Boys - ch-check it out by powernine

ANYWAY... For the past month I've been trying to get onto a more normal sleep schedule. I've been pretty nocturnal my whole life... and then I married a night-shift nurse. At first it was great and super convenient. I stuck on his schedule (nocturnal on the nights he worked so we could sleep at the same time and then switching to nighttime sleeping the rest of the week). But honey, I ain't getting any younger. And in my old age (har har) I'm finding it harder and harder to function without... regular sunlight? Vitamin D? Social interaction with other people in my own time zone? A SCHEDULE? All of the above? Yep. Aside from that, everything I've read about dealing with PCOS-induced fertility issues stresses normal sleep schedules as being über important (and yes I did in fact just Google "uber" so I could copy and paste the correct spelling here. I'm just that dedicated. You're welcome). So, here we are.

For the most part, this whole diurnal thing is going great- I'm way more productive, socializing more, and, here's the kicker- actually seeing the husband MORE than before. I've been waking up right as he gets home in the morning so we can both have a little space- he can unwind and have breakfast and I can, well, wake up in peace. Then we can chill for a few before he goes to sleep and I have the day to myself. If he didn't sleep like a....

(Oh yes, that's a real screen capture. "Sleep like a tiger"?? Really?!)

Well, if he didn't sleep as insanely soundly as he does, this little arrangement wouldn't work out, but thank the heavens, he does. 

To get to the point, I have a lot of newfound free time during far more productive hours than before. Stores are open during the DAY! So if I, let's say, want to make dinner for this person I'm married to, I can! Which has in fact been happening more in this past month than possibly our entire marriage. That's sort of an exaggeration. 

Without further ado (adieu?), here's what I made tonight: 

Coconut Almond Chicken with Spinach and Pineapple Salsa

I found it via Pinterest, one of my biggest time-wasting obsessions. 

Here's the original post: Paleo-Primal Coconut Almond Chicken but that doesn't include the salsa.

And here's my version: 

In an ideal world the salsa would have come out a different color, since it blends in with the pieces of chicken so much. I kind of winged the salsa though, so I could easily tweak that in the future. Orrrr just not be so picky. I would, perhaps, add more spices to the almond-coconut mixture next time, but it was still fun and delicious and totally satisfied my breaded-anything craving (I'll talk more about our my PCOS diet restrictions in a later post). Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1/2 c. finely chopped almonds

- 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

- cinnamon (and/or any other spice- I used black pepper and ginger)

- coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Mix coconut, almonds, and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour coconut milk into a separate bowl.

3. Dip chicken in coconut milk and roll in mixture, place on pan.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Voilà! So easy!

Emeril's got my back.

Was that long-winded enough for you?? Catch ya on the flip side. :)