Brownies

I ran across a brownie recipe (I think maybe a FB posted it?), and I thought it looked interesting. 


As a baker I was decent, cupcakes were my expertise, but brownies, ugh! I loved brownies, but they hated me... I never could get them to bake up the right way. It was really annoying. 


So now I'm skeptical of brownie recipes, but given that we are desperate, and the recipe is ridiculously easy, I thought we'd try it. 


Brownie recipe:


1 cup Nut Butter  (I wanted to use cashew butter, but I didn't have enough, so I went with Sunbutter)
1/2 Cup Honey  (you could use less, I think)
1/4 Cup Coconut oil 
1 Egg


Mix all ingredients together.


Pour into an 8x8 dish. 


Bake* at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  


*I sprinkled a few dark chocolate chips on top before baking.


Mine burnt a bit, so I'm not posting a photo (next time!)


Anyway, they looked like brownies... even if they were a little flat, but hey, it was a brownie! And it was soooooo yummy. Nutty, yet sweet, and a hint of chocolate.


Most of us always have the ingredients around anyway, so it's a great pick-me-up if you need it. 


Try it! 


Happy St. Joseph's feast day too :)

Organic Produce

Not all of us can afford to buy all of our groceries from the organic section. So this got me wondering if I could only buy a few things organically, which items (more specifically from the produce section) should I focus on?

In my opinion Organic (I'm still not brave enough for raw) milk is a must
As is grassfed butter. (the article gets interesting about half way down) It is so amazingly delicious, you can eat it straight. And it has amazing, amazing benefits. Definitely splurge on the butter people.


I think meat also tops the list, but it is not readily available to me at this time. However, I am looking into the various links on online ordering, and hopefully we can get that going soon. 


I found at list of important organic foods at
EWG.org. (<--- click the link!) You might be surprised at what ranks highest with pesticides, and which fruits/vegetables are among the lowest. Anyway, it really helped me decide where to spend the extra money. And which produce to just plain avoid until the Farmer's Market opens up again.


The EWG website even has a printable card (and an app for your mobile device) which you can take for easy reference. If you are anything like me, you will not remember in five minutes if the apples are a "must buy organic" or... was it the asparagus?  


So take a look. And if you can only do one item at a time, well, that's better than nothing, and it's a good place to start!

Another Friday

 I don't even remember yesterday, so I can't tell you what happened food-wise. 


Today is Friday (as Catholic we must fast and abstain from meat during Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, (but we can have meat Saturday-Thursday) which means we are cranky!


A friend of mine was able to help clear out the fasting/abstaining issue for kids. I've always gone by the Church's teaching from 1962 stating that all people over the age of seven years old must abstain from meat of Fridays. I didn't know there was a revision in 1983 which moved the age to 14. This makes it so much easier with my kids now. Thanks, Sarah! 


Anyway, I found this out too late (after I packed lunches for today, last night), so we stuck with a meatless lunch. We did better this time around.  The girls packed some fruit, some raw vegetables (carrots and cucumbers, I believe--we're out of nearly everything else), trail mix nuts, larabar, and either cheese (for Amy) and olives.  They ate about all of it, and were not hungry at pick up. Yippee.


Some of you have suggested quiches and cheese foods, which I like the sound of!, but the trick is remembering all the allergies my girls have: Dairy (except butter and yogurt), peanuts, almonds, egg yolk, and something else I can't remember....  If you have a favorite recipe for the things you mentioned, let me know, because I might be able to do it for myself sometime :)


Tom is out of town today, so dinner was for the girls and me. I made tuna wraps. We haven't had tuna in a really long time, maybe a few years. I thought it would be an easy Friday dinner to make up tuna salad. For tuna salad I knew I'd need a mayonnaise, and for mayonnaise, I'd need a recipe... so I googled one.  It was said to be easy... it used 1 1/2 cups of olive oil (yikes!) eggs, lemon juice, salt, and dijon mustard.  So I get everything incorporated, walk tot he sink to wash my hands, come back... and it had broken (the oil had seperated from the rest of the ingredients). UGH


So I start with another recipe, wich called for olive, avocado, and coconut oil (one cup total of oils), and eggs, salt, lemon, and mustard.  This method called for adding one tsp of oil at a time. Do you know how long it takes to add one cup of oil, one teaspoon at a time (with rests between each tsp)?! 

For-freakin'-ever!  

So I did really well... got it all looking great... and then realized the motor from the blender was hot from running continuously for so long... that it had heated the mayo into a soupy mess. So I thought I'd chill it and pray it came back... it didn't. It turned into a messy, grainy goop.  ARGHHHH

By this time, the kids are starving, and I'm about to collapse from being so hungry (from the fasting/abstaining) ... and now I'm just angry that it has failed twice, and the oils are pretty expensive to eat, let alone just pour down the drain--literally!  

So we had to have tuna with chunks of grassfed butter. Weird, I know. I just couldn't think of anything else to act as a binder and give it a creamy texture. It was actually pretty tasty. We missed the mayonnaise though. 

Anybody have tips/recipes/know-how on how to make mayonnaise? You'll be my best friend if you share!

Anyway... It's interesting to see the effect of not having enough protein throughout the day. I thought the grumpiness and low patience level, and the tiredness came from the carbs. And some of it does. But I'm seeing that it also is a result from not having enough protein. I've been tired all day, despite sleeping over eight hours last night. And my patience ran out around 5:30pm. Since going primal, Ive been so much better about yelling and overreacting... so I was bummed I reverted back tonight. 


Now... what to do with the giant turkey and pork loin I have in my fridge? When I baked all meat last Sunday, I forgot to take into account we wouldn't be eating any meat on Wednesday or Friday. D'oh!

Not a Fun Day

Today is Ash Wednesday.  This marks the beginning of the Lenten season.  Today is what is called a "fasting day" which means I can only eat three times: One normal meal, and two mini-meals (when combined cannot equal the size of the normal meal).  And NO meat. 


I'm about to die, I think. I know the whole point of the fasting is to suffer, so it doesn't help to complain, but I'm still about to die. 


For breakfast I had two eggs with butter.  

For lunch I had a banana and two slices of cheese. (Normally, I try to stay away from fruit, but I was severely limited in what I could have today).

 And for dinner I had tilapia with brussel sprouts.


Not. Enough. Food. 


And I majorly dislike seafood. Of any kind. 


I've had a headache all day, and been pretty tired... course, that could have to do with the fact that I walked 2 miles today, and had to do an hour of "core strengthening" at the gym. 

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to walk tomorrow. 

The kids had a really light lunch since I couldn't think of what to give them. They had some grapes, some bell peppers and a ... larabar.  Yup, they were starving by the time school was out. 

I picked up some frozen tilapia (yeah, I know, but we don't have fresh here in Kansas) from the grocery store, thawed it, put it in a casserole dish, topped it with lemon, capers, and a stick of butter, and baked at 375 for 15 minutes. 

I've never made fish. Ever. So I was really scared to see what would happen. Thankfully, it turned out okay. The flavors worked together well. It was still too fishy for my liking, but less offensive than other fishes I've had.  Regina and Tom really liked it. The baby wouldn't touch it. And the other two said they liked it, but then wouldn't eat it.  Meh. 

Earlier today I was so hungry I thought "I think even eating butter straight would be delicious." No lie. 

Lent is not for wimps.  I might want to be a wimp then....