Chia Breakfast Pudding (or dessert)

Don't get me wrong. I love our turkey bacon and eggs breakfast...but I could use something else in the rotation. I'm familiar with chia gel (let chia seeds set with water, turns into a tasteless, tapioca-like gel that is easy to drink). But I stumbled across chia pudding this morning.

First off, a little bit about the amazingness of chia seeds.

Four tablespoons of chia seeds supply as much calcium as three cups of milk, as much magnesium as 10 stalks of broccoli, as much iron as one-half cup of red kidney beans, 30% more antioxidants than blueberries, 25% more dietary fiber than flaxseed and approximately the same amount of omega-3 as a 32-ounce fillet of salmon. (from this article)

This reminded me how much I like chia seeds, so I looked around at a few different recipes. I found a lot for breakfast puddings and threw something together.

This. is. amazing. It makes enough for the girls and I for breakfast, but we aren't big breakfast eaters.

KPM's Chia Breakfast Pudding
4 tbsp chia seeds (I get mine in bulk from either of these websites Raw Life or RawFoodWorld)
2 tsp flax seeds
2 cups coconut milk
1 tbs honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Generous dash of nutmeg
Strawberries (optional)

Mix the chia seeds with 1 cup of the coconut milk. Let them gel for about 15 minutes. Add in everything else but the fruit and let it gel for another 5 minutes. Add the fruit on top and serve.

When I make chia gel, it usually needs to set for 15 min. I'm not sure what it is about this mixture that it didn't gel up as much, but I am going to make it the night before and let it set overnight to get that real tapioca texture.

Fermented Foods

So my naturopath has recommended eating more fermented foods. I found this link for a starter:

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/fermented-food-recipes/

Today's experiment is going to be saurkraut!

I'd also like to brew up some kombucha and culture my own kefir eventually!

Brussels Sprouts

I keep reading wonderful reviews of these, but every time I made them they...well...sucked.

Tonight I cut them in half, coated them with A LOT of olive oil, fresh crushed garlic and a little bit of salt. Baked at 400 for 30 min and they were delish!

Crispy on the outside and cooked just right on the inside. Everyone ate a good portion, so this gives us another green vegetable to add to our rotation.

Chicken Cabbage Goulash

I have  no idea if I'm spelling "goulash" right. And I'm not 100% sure what goulash actually is. But here's the yumminess I made today.

1/4 large head of cabbage
1 small sweet onion
1 small red onion
French Walnut oil
Garlic salt
One can chicken (or cooked chicken with some broth)

Cut up the cabbage and onions into strips.
Saute in the walnut oil
Add a liberal amount garlic salt
Once the veggies are well-cooked, add in the chicken.

mmmmmm....

Benessare Olive Oils and Vinegars

Wow - got a Groupon for this place and checked it out. I had gotten some of the aged balsamic vinegars before, but was in a hurry that day. Today I had time to really look around and taste - they offer free tasting of everything.

The Balsamic vinegars. are. amazing.

Seriously, you can drink them straight out of a little cup. They can be used as marinades, salad dressings, or even for an ice cream topping (I know you think I'm crazy, but just try it sometime!).

I got the Red Apple, Violet and Lemon Grass Mint this time.

Then I tried out some of the oils. In addition to olive oils, they also have other varieties such as truffle (too strong for my taste buds!) and French Walnut. I had no idea walnut oil existed, but it is spectacular!

I got the French Walnut and an orange olive oil.

They had some ideas - combine the Red Apple Vinegar with the Walnut Oil on arugula, add some nuts and blue cheese. We subbed some goat cheese and it was delish!

They also suggest the orange olive oil with cinnamon pear - kind of wishing I'd picked some of that up! I would highly recommend you try this place out, I foresee many wonderful salads in our future (and vinegar-covered coconut ice cream).

Chicken Soup

I was really craving chicken soup on this blustery Fall day, so I just threw together everything I was craving...the family downed this and went back for seconds! Made enough for our family of four to eat hearty servings today and enough to freeze for another meal.

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 29oz can of pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp Penzey Spices "Sunny Paris" seasoning
• Carrots cut into small pieces
• 1 sweet onion
• Chicken (I used two cans Kirkland canned chicken)
• Corn (optional)

1. Bring chicken stock, pumpkin puree and seasoning to a boil for about 10 minutes.
2. Add everything else and simmer for 2 hours.

Fox Point Fish

Came up with a biiiiiggg hit today for lunch. Sean doesn't like white fish, so I've been experimenting to find something he likes to expand our meat selections. Finally hit upon this today.

Fox Point Fish

• White fish fillets of your choice (I used the tilapia from Costco)
• Mayo
• Fox Point seasoning (from Penzey spices) 

Mix enough of the seasoning with the mayo to make the mayo look greenish tinged. Slather on the fish. Cook the fish at 400 for 11 min.

Served with broccoli salad to rave reviews, clean plates and complaints that I didn't make enough fish!