Tahini BBQ Summer Vegetable Bake

August 14, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I have been all about the tahini lately. I have been finding ways to put it on everything and I have not been disappointed. Most of us only know tahini as an ingredient in hummus. It helps give it that nice creamy, earthy flavor. While hummus is delicious, tahini deserves to be more than just an ingredient in a popular dip.

It is awesome in baked goods, drizzled over pancakes or roasted plantains, and it turns any homemade dressing into creamy delicious lick the bottom of the bowl good. The fact that it turns things creamy is one of my favorite things.

I like creamy, creamy is good, but sadly people only associate creamy with cheese or other dairy products. I’m going to change your mind one tahini filled recipe at a time.

This one is really easy to make and is a great way to use up the surplus of zucchini and other summer vegetables I’m sure are crowding your fridge. I also like this one because it can be made the night before and then just popped into the oven and it’s done. That’s actually what I did when I made this last weekend and it worked beautifully.

The sauce I made for this vegetable bake would also be awesome as a dip or slathered on wings or ribs or burgers or a spoon…. You get the idea. Go grab all the summer vegetables you have, whip up this sauce, and throw together this yummy dish!

Tahini BBQ Summer Vegetable Bake

Tahini BBQ Sauce-

1/4 cup tahini
2 tbsp homemade ketchup (or the best you can find/afford at the store)
1 tsp molasses
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp smoked paprika (make sure it’s smoked)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt

Blend all ingredients together until smooth and well combined

Vegetable Bake-

1 batch of tahini BBQ sauce
1 zucchini, sliced and diced
1 summer squash, sliced and diced
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 cup red onion, diced
1 1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans (or whatever bean you have on hand)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper

If you want/have the time, roast the zucchini and summer squash. You don’t have to, but it adds a nice flavor to the dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and roast at 400 for 15 minutes.
Remove the zucchini and squash, turn the oven to 375 and place the roasted vegetables into a large bowl.
Add the corn, onion, garbanzo beans, and stir everything to combine. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and salt and pepper and stir again.
Add in all the tahini BBQ sauce and stir everything making sure the sauce is coating all of the vegetables and beans.
Transfer everything to a large casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take off the aluminum foil and bake for another 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.

DIY Wednesday: Infused Olive Oil

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 / ktbuchs87

We’re about to get fancy people. Today you are going to learn just how easy it is to make flavored and infused olive oils. If you have never tried an infused olive oil, then you and your food are in for quite the treat.

I have had a variety of infused oils before, but I have never bought my own. They were either gifts or I was using someone else’s when cooking at their house. The reason I never bought my own? They are expensive! A good infused oil can be $15 to $20 a bottle and sometimes even more. Don’t get me wrong, they’re delicious and add a ton of flavor to a dish, but I’m not spending $20 on a bottle of fancy oil. Sorry, I’m just not that girl.

Then I learned just how simple it is to make your own fancy oil. For some reason, I thought it was this complicated and mysterious process to infuse olive oil. It really isn’t. It’s as simple as choosing the flavors you want, heating those flavors with some olive oil, cooling/straining, and then using your infused oil in all the foods.

The options are endless when it comes to infused oil. You can do fruit/citrus, garlic, onions, herbs, or even flowers. It’s all up to you. A few pointers before we get started:

Use decent olive oil. It doesn’t have to be super expensive, but better oil will result in better flavor
For herbs, try to use fresh instead of dried. Both will work, but fresh will leave a more powerful and fresher flavor. Also, blending the herbs with the oil will have a more intense flavor
For spices, buy whole and either leave them that way or ground them at home. Store-bought ground spices just don’t have the same freshness as whole and home-ground
For aromatics like garlic or onion, you can leave them in the oil instead of straining them out. This will keep infusing the oil with their flavor and make them stronger
Infused oils HAVE to be stored in the fridge. Because the oil has been heated it will spoil faster if left out on the counter. Just pull the oil out of the fridge a few minutes before you use it.

Once you start infusing your olive oil, you’ll want to try all the different kind of flavors. Infused oils are great for adding another layer of flavor to dishes, work really well in salad dressings, and are great for dipping bread into. They also make really pretty and thoughtful gifts. So let’s get to the infusing!

Infused Olive Oil

Garlic-Cilantro-Lime Oil

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro, washed and stems removed
6 cloves garlic, washed and rinsed (you don’t want dirt in your oil)
4 strips of lime peels, use a vegetable peeler to remove even strips
1 tsp red pepper flakes, optional

If you want you can roast the garlic cloves at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. It isn’t necessary, but gives the oil a nice rich garlic flavor
While garlic is roasting, wash and remove the stems from your cilantro. Blend the one cup of olive oil with the cilantro and pour into a medium saucepan.
Blended oil and cilantro with garlic, lime, and red pepper flakes
Add in the roasted (or not) garlic, red pepper flakes, and lime peels. Heat over medium-low heat until the oil is lightly bubbling, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Once the oil is cool, use a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth to strain your oil into a glass container. You can add back in the garlic if you would like to have a more powerful flavor.
Seal tightly and store in the fridge. The infused oil will keep for up to a month

It might seem like a lot of steps, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really easy. You can keep it simple and just infuse your oil with one thing like garlic or basil or red pepper or you can get more creative and create blends like star anise, lemongrass, and orange or oregano, basil, and thyme. Plain old olive oil just isn’t going to cut it anymore once you start infusing it with awesome flavors.

What blend would you make for your oil?

3 Things I Did In The Past That Did NOT Better My Health

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 / ktbuchs87

We all make mistakes. It’s part of the human experience and I am most definitely human so I make a lot of mistakes. Shocker, I know. People hear the word mistake and immediately associate it with something negative, I do it all the time. But I have started to look back at my mistakes and realize that they were important parts of my journey and helped move me in the direction that I needed to go, even if I resisted at first.

As a blogger, it is so tempting to only show you the good stuff. The happy stuff. The stuff that spreads my message beautifully. But it isn’t the only stuff that goes on in my life. There are messy parts, ugly parts, not so good parts that I am glad the whole world can’t see. It’s the combination of all these stuff and parts that make me who I am.

When it comes to health, I have made my fair share of mistakes. I have done things that did nothing to help me and if I had kept up with them would have ultimately hurt me. I want to share these with you so you can avoid the same problems or maybe realize you aren’t alone. Here are three things I did to try and be healthier but were all wrong.

1. Severely restricting my calories

This is usually some of the first advice you get when you want to lose weight and be healthier. Eat less, move more. It seems so simple and we want weight loss to be simple. On the surface calories in vs. calories out makes sense and it is true that if you eat more food than your body has a need for, you will gain weight. But there is so much more going on. We are learning more and more that calories aren’t all the same and we don’t use them in the way we previously thought. I know when I first started to be serious about losing weight, I demonized calories. Calories were the enemy. They were the things that were making me fat. They were the evil demons that I had to battle every day. The less the better was my mindset. Here’s the thing, calories are not the enemy. You need calories. They are the things that fuel your body. Literally every function of your body requires calories, from blinking, breathing, just being alive. I had to work to flip the switch in my brain that made calories bad and focus on finding the right food to fuel my body and allow me to accomplish my goals. Which leads me to my next mistake…

2. Putting food into a “good” or “bad” category

Ok so I figured out that calories aren’t the devil. But there were definitely good food and “bad” food. I had to avoid the “bad” food at all costs or my body would revolt and instantly fall into a pit of unhealthy shame. Dramatic? Yes. What I whole-heartedly believed? Totally. Food is food. There are better choices but in the end bad food won’t completely end you. A healthy diet is what you consistently eat, not what you treat yourself to once in awhile. Eat the chocolate and move on. Don’t dwell on it, don’t feel guilty about it, and keep eating the real food that makes up the majority of your diet. I still struggle with this every now and then, but it is getting better.

3. Thinking my weight was the end all be all to health

I used to weigh myself every single morning and I sadly let the number on the scale dictate my rule and mood. If it was what I believed was acceptable then the day was a good one and I was happy. Anything higher than what I wanted was grounds for a horrible mood, more food restriction, and feeling guilty. It took me a REALLY long time to get over this one, but I can say that I have not weighed myself for over a year and have no clue my number is. And you know what? The world hasn’t ended. I haven’t gained 50 pounds (I literally worried that would happen when I retired my scale) and my self-worth has not gone down. What you way is in no way the best measure of your health or the entirety of who you are. If you weigh yourself all the time, try taking a break and see how you feel. Go about your day and see if not knowing what you weigh affects you in a negative way. I bet it won’t. Your family will still love you, your co-workers won’t ignore you, and life will not stop because you don’t know your weight.

These are three of the bigger mistakes when it came to my health, but once I started working through them it got better. I realized that good health isn’t static and changes from day to day. There are times when I’m less than perfect and that is ok. I’ll learn and move on.

If you’re just starting out with your health journey, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You will learn more about yourself and be able to adjust your habits to find the best health possible!

Key Lime Popsicles

August 7, 2015August 7, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I am excited about this one you guys. One of my favorite desserts is key lime pie. I love the tanginess of the lime and the fact that it isn’t overly sweet. And key lime cheesecake? Forget about it. Creamy, tangy, limey goodness.

Back in the day, my family would go to this restaurant called Omega. They were a greek place (duh, their name is Omega) and they had all the food. Seriously so much food. You could get a whole 3-course dinner which would include soup/salad, an entree, and then dessert. You could also order a la carte, but who would do that? Crazy people that’s who. Anyways, back to the 3-course feast. They had a huge dessert counter and big glass cases that would display hundreds of cookies, cakes, and pies. After our dinner, my sister and I would run to the dessert counter to choose what we were going to get. I would make the obligatory lap around the cases, but I already knew what I was going to get. A big slice of key lime cheesecake. It always hit the spot and no matter how full I was from my massive dinner, I had a little room for that cheesecake.

I haven’t had key lime pie or cheesecake in many years, but I still crave that tangy goodness especially around summer. I decided it was high time that I made a key lime dessert that would satisfy my craving without being totally decadent.

My one hurdle was the sweetened condensed milk. That is one of the key ingredients in key lime pie and there was no way I was including it in my “healthy” version. I thought about doing just plain coconut milk and leaving it at that, which would certainly work. But I decided to take it a step further and made a coconut condensed milk.

Bingo.

This key lime popsicle is cool, creamy, slightly sweet, and wonderfully tangy. It passed the husband test (although I handed it to him right as he was in the middle of a video game. Gamer wife fail) and he ate it with glee. It also doesn’t require a ton of ingredients and once you make the condensed milk, it takes like 2 minutes to put together. After that, all you have to do is wait for it to freeze…

Key Lime Popsicles

1 can full-fat coconut milk, unsweetened
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1/2 to 2/3 cup lime juice (I used 2/3 but I like it very tangy, use less if you don’t want it as tart)
1 tsp grated lime zest

Shake your can of coconut milk well and pour into a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium heat stirring occasionally.
Once the milk is at a boil, whisk in the maple syrup or honey and keep at a low simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t scald. The milk should get a little thicker and reduce down just a little.
Remove from heat and pour into another bowl and let it cool completely. Once it’s cool add in lime juice and zest. Stir it all together.
Pour the mixture into popsicle molds and let them freeze for at least 2 hours, overnight if you can. If you don’t have popsicle molds you can use an ice cube tray and toothpicks or dixie cups and popsicle sticks.

DIY Wednesday: Ketchup

August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 / ktbuchs87

A few weeks back I did a DIY mustard post, so I thought it was only fair that I did a ketchup one too.

Ketchup is probably one of the most used condiments. Kids put it on everything, fries seem naked without it, and congress keeps trying to tell us that it counts as a vegetable. While that last one might take some extra convincing, there is no doubt that we love our tomato based condiment. And one of the big reasons why?

Sugar

Almost all store bought ketchup has some form of sugar, whether it’s high fructose corn syrup or organic sugar. Sugar is sugar no matter what and store bought usually has a lot of it. But the one good thing I did notice about ketchup is that it doesn’t have a lot of other ingredients which make it an excellent candidate for making it yourself.

I’m betting that you already have all the ingredients you need to make your own ketchup and once you see how easy, and cheap, it is to make it yourself I’m pretty sure that you will be whipping it up all the time.

The other good thing about making your own ketchup is that you can make it to your taste and jazz it up with different spices. Get adventurous and make your own flavor combos for your ketchup!

DIY Ketchup

1, 6 oz can of tomato paste (pick a brand that has nothing but tomatoes in it. I used Contadina)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water (more if you want a thinner consistency)
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tsp molasses
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 to 1 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients into a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth. Bring the sauce to a boil and then lower to a simmer.
Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring often
Remove from heat and allow the ketchup to cool completely before storing in a jar or squeeze bottle in the fridge.

Variations:

Curry Ketchup: Add 1 teaspoon of curry powder

Spicy Ketchup: Add 1-2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper

Fiesta Ketchup: Add in 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and a squeeze of lime juice