Today I made eggs and bacon for breakfast. Tom is not always so big on eggs, so I made him a coconut-strawberry smoothie.
(you know, one of these days I'll take photos of all the food we eat, just for the heck of it)
Amy stayed home from school since she was running a 106.0 fever yesterday. She is my one child who spikes really high fevers. Thankfully, we got it down quickly, had the dr check her out, and found out it's just a virus. As usual. Anyway... she stayed home with me today, so we tried to make mayonnaise for the third time.
Someone (or maybe a few people) suggested making mayo in a jar. Here's the method we tried. We tried this method since it sounded fast and easy. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the first batch, and it was awful. Did not emulsify or taste good. At all. So I went to Google and the consensus seems to be that EVOO is not a great oil to use. Darn. I'm out of avocado oil, and I don't have any other oils (other than coconut which is too solid). Many people suggested using Light Olive Oil. Now, for some reason I thought Light Olive Oil is bad for you and you shouldn't use it-- (Though, I happen to have a bottle of it since I bought it six months ago without realizing it's [possibly] bad for you)--I looked on MDA boards and it seemed to be mixed reviews, so I decided just to try it.
The mayo worked immediately and tasted really good. I was really exited it worked, but there was a slight cloud since I wasn't sure if I was killing myself by eating the Light OO. Anybody know the deal with the light oil?
So after making the mayonnaise, we made ham and lettuce wraps. It was pretty awesome.
So for dinner we had fried chicken. Last night I put drumsticks into a Ziplock bag, and covered the chicken in a pint of buttermilk. I don't know why. That's just what the recipe said to do, so I did it. About 40 minutes before I wanted to cook it, I took it out of the fridge and let it come closer to room temperature before cooking (to help it warm up enough to cook evenly.) Then I coated the chicken in coconut flour, salt and pepper--knocked off the excess flour, and placed the drumstick in a skillet of hot coconut oil. Cook for about four minutes per side, then place in a pyrex dish, and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.
So the coconut flour gives it a very light hint of sweetness. The color browned up nicely. The skin was not crispy like I thought it would be, so that was a bummer. The inside was fairly juicy though. A little bland, but I think that can be fixed if we just play around with the spices a few times.
Tom and the kids (except Amy) loved the chicken, which was surprising because Tom does not generally care for dark meat, and I didn't particularly like this batch, so I didn't expect everyone to enjoy it so much. Tom says to put it in the "Family cookbook" which means I can safely make this once a week and everyone would be happy.
I sauteed the asparagus in a little olive oil and added some salt. Butter is better to use for this, but I was lazy and didn't use butter this time. Cook for about 3-5 minutes (do not cook it to death, people!) and serve almost immediately. It tends to get cold quickly.
Then I made a hollandaise sauce. Add three egg yolks, 1/4 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and a dash of Tabasco to a blender, blend on high until you see it all incorporate. Melt one stick of butter and then add to the (running) blender. It should emulsify immediately. Poor into a dish and serve warm. This goes extremely well with green vegetables. The kids loooove it. All good fats too!
Veronica thought the dinner deserved a "terrific" sticker.
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!
