Month: September 2016

Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Einkorn Breakfast Cookies

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Good morning all!

Cookies for breakfast? Why the heck not! These cookies are high in protein and whole grains while being low in sugar. So go ahead make a batch and your kids will love you! You will love how full they stay all morning!

Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Einkorn Breakfast Cookies

5 tbsp butter, softened

1/4 cup organic brown sugar

1/4 cup organic white sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup einkorn flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1.5 cups whole oats

1/2 cup seedless raisins

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar, add in egg and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, mix well. Add in the oats, mix well, then add the raisins and mix a final time. Divide your dough up into 9 cookies. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms are light golden.

Happy Breakfast!

Tip: if you forget to set your butter out, it only takes 10 seconds in a 700 watt microwave to soften it.

Nutrition Facts
Servings 9.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 234
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 8 g 13 %
Saturated Fat 4 g 22 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 41 mg 14 %
Sodium 218 mg 9 %
Potassium 79 mg 2 %
Total Carbohydrate 37 g 12 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g 11 %
Sugars 17 g
Protein 5 g 9 %
Vitamin A 5 %
Vitamin C 0 %
Calcium 1 %
Iron 8 %

Authentic Beef Pho

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We love phó in our house. We used to get it at the local vietnamese restaurant, but we found out that it has MSG in it and so we stopped. Well I didn’t let that stop me from learning how to make it myself. I usually make a large batch and freeze the extra broth for whenever I feel like pho! This recipe I will warn you has a lot of inactive time, which is why I make the larger batches. If you are having guests over this is the perfect broth to make a day ahead. The large bowls of soupy phoey goodness are sure to impress your guests! So go ahead show everyone how multi-cultural you are and make this soup! If you are in the Houston area there is an asian market called Super H Mart at the corner of Blalock and Westview and they sell everything you need to make this soup! You will need a 16 quart stock pot so keep that in mind. I bought a cheapie at walmart for $12.

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Authentic Beef Pho

Broth:

2 large yellow onions sliced in half, leave the skin on

1  4-6 inch piece of fresh ginger sliced in half, leave the skin on

5 lbs beef bones, you can use any you like, I like to use neck bones but have used leg bones. (Super H Mart sells bags of bones already ready to go)

5 whole star anise

6 whole cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 black or 1 green cardamom pod

3 tbsps salt

8 tbsps fish sauce (Three Crabs Brand is Important!)

1/4 c sugar

water (lots of it)

Bowl toppings

Thinly sliced beef (Super H-Mart sells this already sliced and its superb!) you could also use flank steak cut across the grain, about 3-6oz per person

1 white onion thinly sliced with a mandolin on 3

1 thinly sliced jalapeno

mung bean sprouts

sliced green onion

limes

cilantro

sriracha

Asian basil and mint leaves, if you like it, I omit

thin rice sticks size S

Gluten Free Hoisin Sauce (Get it here)

Directions

Step 1: Place onion and ginger under the broiler for a few minutes. You want them to get a little charred around the edges.

Step 2: Place bones in pot and cover with water. Boil the bones, then dump off the scum, and gross water, and wash the pot and rinse the bones.

Step 3: In a cloth spice bag put all the spices, except the sugar and tie the bag off. Drop the bones and bag of spices back into the pot. Add the sugar, fish sauce, onion, ginger and salt to the pot. Fill the pot with water nearly full. Probably 14 quarts.

Step 4: Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the broth to simmer on the stove for 4-6 hours.

Step 5: Remove the bones, vegetables, and spice bag, discard. Send your broth through a strainer to get any bone pieces or spices out.

If you like you can chill the broth after it is done and remove the disk of fat from the top, but I usually don’t.

Pho is usually served with raw beef that kind of cooks in the boiling hot broth once you pour it in your bowl. If you like you meat cooked (like I do) Drop your beef slices in the boiling soup for about two minutes. Also the neck bones leave a fair bit of meat so feel free to eat it.

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Dipping sauce

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I have a quick and easy dressing and dipping sauce for yall!

 

Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Dipping sauce

2 tbsp olive oil of choice

1/2 c Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

1/4 c Kirkland aged balsamic vinegar, it has a sweeter flavor

2 tbsp raw honey

2 tsp minced garlic, I use the jar kind

In a skillet heat the oil, add the rest of the ingredients. Reduce for about 3-5 minutes until the vinegar aroma no longer causes you to choke when you taste it. Lol vinegar….

Allow to cool for use as a salad dressing or serve warm as a dipping sauce when you overcook your chicken 😉

Hey I’m not perfect ^-^

Mexican Salsa Verde-Vegan

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Super simple blender recipe for you. It is the same salsa verde that you can get in most Mexican restaurants here in Texas. My version is not too spicy, though you can make it more spicy depending on how many chiles you put in. The best part? This only takes about 5 minutes and has only a few ingredients!

Mexican Salsa Verde

2 small avocados

1/2 small white onion

1 jalapeno with seeds, you can also use serranos and use more if you want it hotter

10 sprigs of cilantro

2 tomatillos

1/2 cup water

1/2-1 tsp salt

Cut the ingredients into large chunks. Toss all the ingredients into the blender and puree until smooth! That’s it!

This goes very well with all tacos, tostadas, flautas, chips, and whatever else!

 

Healthy Pumpkin Einkorn and Oatmeal Bread

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It’s that time again. Yep! Pumpkin everything! So to honor the upcoming season I have made a pumpkin bread. This bread uses einkorn flour and whole rolled oats to achieve a moist and perfect bread.

Healthy Pumpkin Einkorn and Oatmeal Bread

Wet:

1 can pumpkin (I used aldi this time)

3/4 cup sugar (I found a great brand called Morena that is $2 for 4lbs of non-gmo sugar)

2 eggs

1/3 cup nutiva refined coconut oil, melted and cooled

2 tsp vanilla

Dry:

2 cups einkorn flour

1 cup whole rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp himalayan salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground is preferred)

In the kitchen-aid mixer or a large bowl blend the wet ingredients well, add the dry and blend until smooth. Heat oven to 350. Spray a bread pan with coconut oil spray. Pour batter in the pan and smooth the top out.  I like to top the bread with some rolled oats or shelled pumpkin seeds ( the green parts)

Bake for 1 hr 10 to 1 hr 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 223
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 8 g 12 %
Saturated Fat 6 g 30 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 31 mg 10 %
Sodium 168 mg 7 %
Potassium 42 mg 1 %
Total Carbohydrate 29 g 10 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g 12 %
Sugars 13 g
Protein 5 g 11 %
Vitamin A 83 %
Vitamin C 1 %
Calcium 4 %
Iron 11 %

Mexican Restaurant Style Shrimp Cocktail with Vegan Option

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This is a pretty easy one for you guys. I really like to eat this to help top up on my veggies. This shrimp cocktail is almost exactly like they sell in mexican restaurants here in Texas and it a great way to eat a bunch of raw veggies. This will serve two people, but I’m a Texas so I usually eat it all myself, so plan accordingly if you are feeding a Texas sized crowd.

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Shrimp Cocktail

Serves 1-2

3 roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 white onion, diced

1 jalapeno, finely diced

a small handful of cilantro

juice of 1/2 a lime

tabasco sauce to taste I use probably 1/2 tsp

ketchup a bunch of it

6oz cooked frozen shrimp, thawed (leave out for vegan:) )

1-3 avocadoes

Dice up all of the veggies in a large bowl, minus the avocado. Squeeze the lime juice and shake in your tabasco. I usually give the tabasco a few good shakes because I like it spicy. Then add the shrimp. Next ketchup, use any brand you like, but I always use Heinz from Costco. You want the mixture to have enough ketchup that the cocktail looks nice and saucy but not too much. Top with sliced avocadoes and serve with tortilla chips

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The Birth of Baylee Christopher

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I guess since Baylee is almost 2 I should get on with writing his birth story!

We planned Baylee completely. I used the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I charted and we got pregnant within a few cycles. We used the same Midwife. Shannon Stellhorn. We highly recommend her! I also had a doula which I relied on 100% this birth. With this pregnancy I gained 60 pounds! 60!????? I don’t know how that happened but oh well. Pregnancy went well, I did not have GD or GBS which was good. I did have prodromal labor for like three weeks! That really sucked and on many occasions I called the midwife thinking I was in labor. We knew we wanted to try and have a baby by December 31. I was already measuring a month ahead and we knew he was going to be a big baby. So right after christmas I was 39 weeks and we started trying the homeopathy and membrane strips. I went the following week to Dr Mann and got accupuncture and accupressure. Within two days on New Year’s Eve I started having hard contractions at about 5am. I texted Shannon to tell her and she said it was probably wishful thinking and I should get some rest. I could not rest however because I actually was in labor. I texted the doula and asked her to come. The doula texted Shannon to ask her if I was in labor and then Shannon got with me and I sent her a picture of my face because she can tell if I am in labor by my face. LOL. So she said she was coming over and the doula as well. I called my mother in law to come and pick up Samuel because I knew that I did not want him to be there for the birth. he wasn’t even two and I don’t think he would have handled it well.

So everyone arrived kind of all at once. My contractions were like 3-5 minutes apart and lasting like 60 seconds. They slowed a bit amongst all the chaos. Shannon was finally able to check me once Samuel had left. She found me to be at 6cm dilated! After things calmed down my Doula and I went on a walk to help pick the contractions back up, remember I was on a deadline;) . The walk worked and we went back home I made some cookies and popcorn I think. After a little while we had the birth pool ready and I got it. I was in the pool for a while and my water actually broke in the pool on its own. I was not able to push well in the pool and we moved to the bathroom for a few pushes. Later we moved into the bedroom and as soon as I got on the bed on my knees I told Shannon I could feel a lot of pressure. Within a few minutes the head was out and I was having a lot of trouble pushing the rest of him out. I changed positions onto my hands and knees and and she tugged him and he finally came out. She told me she bet he was 10lbs. He was born kind of grey and was not breathing right away so Shannon quickly gave him oxygen for about 30 seconds. Then he pinked up and was fine. I however was not fine. I was hemorrhaging. Shannon passed the baby to the Doula and gave me a shot of pitocin and a cytotec and some various oils and herbs to stop the bleeding.  It did stop but I lost quite a lot of blood about 1000cc she said from the looks of it. I had a 2nd degree tear and she numbed me and sewed me up. Finally while drinking a placenta smoothie I was able to hold my new baby!

Baylee Christopher Holbert

Born December 31, 2014 at 4:33 P.M.

23 inches long and 9 1/4lbs

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Best Ever Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies V.2

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Best Ever Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies V.2

Cooking time 11-14 minutes

Oven temp 375

Yields 12 cookies

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp organic salted cream butter, softened

3/4 cup organic cane sugar

1 tsp organic vanilla

2 tsp black-strap molasses (mine has 70% DV of Iron per tbsp)

1 large pasture raised egg

1 1/8 cup einkorn all purpose flour

1/4 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

1/2 – 1 cup dark chocolate chips (depending on how much chocolate you like in your cookies, I used 3/4 cup of Costco’s chocolate chips)

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or using a hand blender in a large bowl on low. Add in vanilla and the egg. Blend mixture together lightly

In a separate bowl whisk together einkorn flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients in with the wet.

Blend until you do see any clumps of flour.

In a preheated oven 375 degrees, cover a flat baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop cookies onto pan.

Bake in the oven for 11-14 minutes. Cookies will look like they aren’t completely done in the middle. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes (if you can wait that long) the centers will lower a bit leaving you with perfect beautiful cookies!

Mexican Pozole Rojo con Pollo (Red Chicken Pozole) in the InstantPot

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Hola,

Buenas dias, tengo una receta para ustedes. Es una receta que me encantaba cuando trabajé en el restaurante Romeros Las Brazas. Siempre la comi cuando trabajaba los sábados y domingos! Es una sopa de pollo con hominy y una caldo rojo. Son las chiles que la hace rojo. Buen provecho!

Hello,

How are you all today. I have a recipe for yall. It’s a recipe that I loved  when i worked at Romero’s las Brazas. I would always eat it when I worked on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a soup with chicken and hominy and a red broth. The broth is red from the chili peppers. Enjoy!

Esa receta tiene dos partes. Primeramente la salsa y segundo el caldo. Voy a enseñarte como hacer los dos partes.

This recipe has two parts. Firstly the sauce and second the broth. I will teach you how to make both of the parts.

Forgive me, I am working on my spanish writing and translations. So I am trying to write in spanish for my spanish speakers and english for the english speakers, since this is a traditional mexican recipe.

Sauce-Salsa

8 Guajillo chiles

2 Ancho chiles

6 cloves of garlic (dientes de ajo)

1/2 a white onion (cebolla blanca)

2 cups boiling water (tazas agua caliente)

2 tbsp oil (dos cucharadas de aceite)

Broth-Caldo

2 lbs chicken breast (dos libras de pechuga de pollo)

2 quarts water (dos cuartos de agua)

1 Tbsp salt (una cucharada de sal)

2- 28oz cans hominy drained (dos latas de hominy, agotado. 28 onzas)

1 white onion cut in quarters (una cebolla cortado en cuartos)

Directiones

Quitarles el rabo y las semillas del interior. Romper las chiles y tostarlos en un comal caliente y seco para tres minutos. Sacarlos de comal y se ponen en la agua caliente. Deja los chiles para diez minutos. Después, poner los chiles en una licuador con el ajo y cebolla. Puré para dos minutos. Caliente el aceite y cocina la salsa para cinco minutos.

En su olla de presión (yo uso Instant Pot)  pones el pollo, la agua, la cebolla, el hominy y el sal.Usando una colador, pasar la salsa sobre el pollo en la olla. Me gusta poner una cucharada de la salsa en el caldo también. Cubrir la olla y presione el botón de sopa para 40 minutos. Cuando  se ha terminado de cocinar, desmenuzar el pollo.

Sirves la sopa con repollo rallado, rábanos, tostadas, y limas.

Directions

Take the seeds and stems out of the peppers. Break up the chiles and toast them in a dry pan for about three minutes. Take them out and soak them in the hot water for ten minutes. Then put the soaked chiles and water in the blender with the garlic and onion. Puree for two minutes. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the sauce for five minutes.

Into the pressure cooker, put the chicken breasts, salt, onion, hominy, and water. using a strainer, strain the sauce over the chicken in the pot. You may pour water over the strainer to get more juice out. I like to put a spoonful of the sauce in the soup also. Cover the instant pot and push the soup button for 40 minutes. When it is done release the pressure and shred up the chicken.

Serve with shredded cabbage, sliced radish, tortilla chips, and limes.