I've been terrible about posting on my blog lately, it just seems really hard to find a time to sit down and focus on it. So here is a bunch of pictures of what I've been doing the last few weeks.
I made a chai-spiced pear oatmeal recipe that didn't use cloves. That's the reason I picked it, I don't like cloves because they're very intense. But it wasn't very 'chai', it was just nicely spiced, so it ended up not being worth the time it took to put it together.
We made a great waffle recipe that used yogurt. I used Greek vanilla yogurt. I can't even say what made the waffles so good, there was a little bit of crispness, the right amount of breadiness, etc.
We have a Korean children's book that refers to samgak kimbop, seasoned rice formed into shapes. The Korean version is seasoned with sesame oil, sesame seeds, and salt. We really liked them, Sonny D exclaimed how pretty they were on the multicolored plate. We found that they don't freeze well, they fall apart after they thaw. Lesson learned.
I'm still going to the gym to lift weights three times a week. Here I am on my way to the gym.
Made an awesome fennel salad which I would totally make again, I really love fennel. I had a single large fennel bulb so I only made half the recipe. The dressing made more than enough, next time I would add shredded cabbage.
My friend went to the winter farmers' market and pick up organic local rolled oats for me. So awesome! I finally made them last night, they are more like a steel cut oats or a whole oat groat rather than standard rolled oats, very thick.
I made mini pizzas for dinner one night, here's mine made on slices of eggplant. I loved them, I think eggplant is excellent.
I shredded zucchini to make noodles, "zoodles". I sautéed them with a little garlic powder and onion powder in olive oil for just 30 seconds, and then tossed them with marinara sauce. They were a pretty good substitute, way better than spaghetti squash.
I had leftover mixed nuts from Christmas, and I figured I had to do something with them soon, so I made sugared cinnamon roasted nuts for my friend Heather and I. Half the batch I tossed with cocoa powder afterward baking to see how a cocoa-dusted version would be. The cocoa dusted version was okay, but I preferred the regular sugared cinnamon more.
I finally made my Rodrigo fish. I panfried tilapia fillets and then you could add the sauce on top if you wanted. Sonny D passed on the sauce but loved the fish. The sauce was onion, jalapeno, olive oil, cilantro, and lime juice. Apparently I'm the only one of the family that will eat cilantro and I shouldn't have bought it. I will turn the remaining huge bunch cilantro into pesto and freeze for later.
This week I cleaned out my pantry, which always makes a bigger mess while you're in progress. The pantry ended up looking about the same when I was done, but I knew it was better organized and cleaned.
For Sonny D's preschool they request the parents provide food for a meal for the occasional teacher meetings. I signed up to make a dessert. Usually dessert is really simple to throw something together but since it had to be gluten-free, it was a lot harder than just opening up a box of brownie mix. So I made toasted almond and apricot balls, similar to Larabars. I liked them, but I really think they could've used more lemon zest.