Blog Recipe Roundup

June 26, 2015June 23, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but it has been HOT here this week. The heavy, muggy, wet, kind of hot. It seems like summer is either cool or super hot, there is no in between. I guess it could be worse and at least it isn’t snowing sideways anymore.

I don’t have a new recipe for you this week, but I do have some delicious things that I have found on some of the blogs that I follow regularly. I think it’s good to share a little blog love and I hope that you find something here that strikes your fancy. Enjoy!

Eating Bird Food- Chocolate Banana Overnight Oats

Have you ever tried overnight oats? If not, then you need to jump on the bandwagon. Not only are they delicious, it’s the perfect breakfast for a busy morning because you can make it the night before. Plus chocolate and banana are born to be together.

Kath Eats Real Food- Orange Dill Bean Salad

This is the perfect dish to bring to a summer BBQ or party. It’s easy to put together and you don’t have to use the oven which is a must on hot summer days.

Cotter Crunch- Gluten Free Spicy Rice Noodles

I could eat noodles for every meal. Sorry, I’m not sorry. I like the versatility of this dish and it’s a perfect summer dinner!

PaleOMG- Watermelon Mint Granita

Ok, this looks amazing. Whenever it’s super hot out all I want is ice cold watermelon. I feel like this is going to be a regular around here this summer…

Monday I’m going to be introducing a new feature for my blog, so make sure you come back and check that out! It’s gonna be a good one! Have a great weekend!

DIY Wednesday: Grainy Mustard

June 24, 2015June 23, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I love mustard. I put it on everything. Sandwiches, vegetables, pasta, rolls, spoons… Yes, I have eaten mustard right out of the jar. I love the spicy bite that it adds and I especially like the texture of a good, grainy mustard. After peanut butter, I would say that mustard is my favorite spread.

Which is why it’s shocking to me that I have never made my own. I mean, it’s fairly simple. Mustard seeds, some vinegar, salt, and turmeric is all it takes to make standard mustard. Once you get that down, you can get fancy and make honey mustard or horseradish mustard or spicy mustard. You can make it super smooth or keep it nice and grainy. The possibilities are endless.

Here is the basic mustard recipe. Once you get this down, you can play with some variations and have an endless supply of mustard. That sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?

Grainy Mustard

1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cup brown mustard seeds
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
water, as needed

Add mustard seeds and apple cider vinegar into a small bowl and make sure all of the seeds are submerged. Let the seeds soak for a day or two.
Add everything into a blender. Blend until the mustard reaches the consistency you would like. If you want a smoother, thinner mustard blend for a longer time and add a little water to smooth things out. For a grainier texture, blend for a shorter amount of time and don’t use as much water.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

I don’t think that I will buy mustard again after realizing how easy it is to make my own. Plus, I can make my own specialty mustard for much cheaper. I’m all about homemade and less expensive!

A Few Thoughts On Food

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Food is a complex thing.

On the surface, it’s just fuel to keep our bodies functioning. But we know that it is so much more than that. It is social, it is cultural, it is pleasurable, it is creative, it is tradition, and unfortunately it is sometimes the enemy.

I don’t know exactly when food became such a problem. If you think back to our ancestors, they didn’t really give much thought to food in regards to good or bad food. They knew that they needed to eat and that meant hunting, gathering, and cooking. There weren’t really off-limit foods. There weren’t junk food aisles at their local store, candy bars didn’t surround the cash register tempting them as they waited to pay, and while they had parties and gatherings with special dishes, they enjoyed them and then moved on with their life.

Somewhere along the line, food started to get more troublesome. We started mass producing food and creating products out of things that you wouldn’t necessarily find in a home kitchen. We moved away from making our own meals and started relying heavily on other sources like restaurants or meal services to provide. Diets started emerging each promising to fix all our myriad of health problems. All of these things combined has led to huge amounts of confusion when it comes to what food we should eat.

I have been there with the thousands of Americans who have no clue what is healthy and what isn’t. It’s hard when you have advertising for all of these products claiming to be healthy when in fact they aren’t any better than the junk food we know isn’t good for us. I’ve done my fair share of diets and cleanses and fasts and made food out to be the enemy of all my weight problems. Don’t get me wrong, food is a huge part of being healthy even more so than exercise. But it doesn’t need to be a complicated headache.

When things finally started clicking for me it was when I simplified my food. I stopped buying food in packages and that had commercials and marketing campaigns. I started using more fruits and vegetables and making all my meals. I learned how to cook and make things taste good without store bought sauces or dressings. I tried to stop stressing out over food and feed my body what it needs.

It’s an ongoing process. I still have times where I have a rocky relationship with food and I have to remind myself to simplify. Food doesn’t need to be a huge stress in your life. It will take some work to change the way you view and eat food, but it can go back to being pleasurable, social, cultural, and traditional instead of the enemy. Eat simply and if you have to wonder about a certain food then you probably don’t need it.

Simple is where it’s at.

Marinated Mushrooms and Roasted Rutabaga with Smoked Paprika Sauce

June 19, 2015June 18, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Because I mostly eat a plant based diet, I don’t make many marinades. For some reason, I always forget about marinading vegetables and this makes me sad because I love the flavor a good marinade can impart. Plus marinades don’t have to be super complicated and can be made with the things you already have on hand.

Mushrooms were on sale at Jewel the past week so I decided it was time to make a good vegetable marinade. This one would also be really good with eggplant or maybe some jicama. Oooo, jicama would be tasty…. Anyway, this marinade pulls double duty in this recipe because it turns into the sauce at the end of the process. Good for you because it means less work for a super tasty dinner.

Make sure you leave enough time to marinate the mushrooms for at least 12 hours, preferably a full 24. That gives the dish the most intense flavor.

Marinated Mushrooms and Roasted Rutabaga with Smoked Paprika Sauce

For the marinade:

4-5 cups sliced mushrooms, I used cremini but use what you like
1 cup onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a large container or zip lock bag and mix to combine. Put in the fridge to marinade for at least 12 hours, 24 hours if you can.

For the roasted rutabaga:

3 cups rutabaga, cubed (I used a medium-sized rutabaga)
olive oil
Italian seasonings
salt and pepper to taste
1-quart vegetable broth or water
2 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 400. Place cubed rutabaga onto a large baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and spices. Toss to coat and roast for 30 minutes rotating halfway through.
Once the rutabaga has finished roasting, heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms and all the marinade and saute for 5-7 minutes.
Add in the rutabaga and mix to make sure they are covered with the marinade too. Cook for another minute. Pour in the vegetable broth or water and season with extra smoked paprika and salt and pepper.
Stir everything together and bring the broth to a boil. Once it’s boiling lower to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has thickened it’s ready.

At first glance, it looks like there are a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients, but half of them are for the marinaded mushrooms and that is the easiest part. This meal is good enough on its own but if you want an even heartier meal you can serve it over rice or pasta. You can also use this marinade on chicken or pork and use those instead of the mushrooms. Or use all of the meat and vegetables, it’s all fair game!

DIY Wednesday: Croutons and Breadcrumbs

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Today’s DIY is so easy, it barely counts as a “recipe”. I didn’t even think about it until I was trying to brainstorm ideas for this series because it’s something that I don’t even think about I just do it. You will never have to buy croutons or breadcrumbs again with this handy little trick up your sleeve.

The other great thing about this DIY is that you can customize it to your needs. Whether you need gluten-free, low-carb, egg or dairy free, you can make sure that you get what fits your lifestyle. I will say that making these things with homemade bread works a little better than store bought. Sometimes store bought bread has preservatives and conditioners that prevent the bread from drying out, which is what you need for croutons and bread crumbs. Make sure to read the ingredient list and only buy things that you are comfortable with eating.

One more tip, using older bread is better than using fresh bread. You can use fresh bread you just might have to adjust times on drying out in the oven.

Croutons and Breadcrumbs

bread, a few days old (use gluten-free bread if needed)
Italian seasonings, optional
salt and pepper, optional
olive oil, optional

For Croutons: Preheat oven to 200. Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes. If you want seasoned croutons, place the cubes into a bowl and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and then sprinkle with seasonings. Mix until everything is covered. Spread the cubes out onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, rotating every 10 minutes. The croutons are done when the bread is entirely dried out and crunchy.

For Breadcrumbs: Preheat oven to 200 and cut bread into bite size pieces. Place the chunks into a food processor or blender and pulse until bread is broken up into small crumbs. If you want seasoned breadcrumbs, add in those into the food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Spread out the crumbs onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, shaking the pan every so often to prevent burning. Once the breadcrumbs are golden brown, they’re done.

Like I said, this is a really simple DIY and can be used anywhere you would use the store bought versions. The croutons can add a nice crunch to your salad and the breadcrumbs make a great binder for my lentil loaf or a nice crunchy topping for casseroles. Enjoy!

Where do you like to use croutons?