Creamed Peas on Toast

I've still been sick.  Getting tired of it!  It's hard to think of good, easy meals that I feel like eating.  Today, I thought of a childhood favourite, creamed peas on toast.  I have made it once as an adult, the way I knew how.  A can of mushy peas heated with some flour to make a sauce.  With some things, you can't go back.  Mainly because what may of tasted great as a kid may not be so good when you're grown up.  Once when I was on a liquid diet for a stomach problem, I pureed a can of peas and it was the best thing I ever consumed!  Of course, hunger was a great seasoning when you have gone days on just clear liquids, lol!

I decided to shake it up a bit.  Of course, I used homemade rustic soaked brown bread for the toast instead of the "classic" white toast.  Adds a lot of body.  But the creamed peas, mmmm!  Today, they stole the show :)

This goes together really fast.  It is something that is good even without the toast!  It is too bad I cannot find my camera is it was a lovely meal in taste and sight :)

Creamed Peas on Toast

3 cups of peas (I used frozen but fresh would be good too!)
1 cup of milk (or more if you like a lot of sauce)
1/3-1/2 cup cream cheese (depending on how rich you want it)
1/2 cup chopped onion (red, spanish or sweet)
1 tsp arrowroot powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Put peas and milk in a pot and bring to just below the boiling point.  Turn down the heat and add the cream cheese and onion.  Stir until melted and let simmer for a few minutes.  If there is a lot of liquid, add the arrowroot powder to make a thick creamy sauce.  Season to taste.  Serve ladled on slices of toasted bread.

Note, if you do not like a strong onion flavor, you could either omit the onions or you could sautee them in butter before adding the other ingredients.  I love raw onions and in ours they were just slightly cooked.

Healthy Brownie Waffles

I was going to post this tomorrow but it's too good not to share.  Healthy.  Brownie.  Waffles.  Three words that most people love.  So can brownies be healthy?  Waffles?  Sure, why not!  This is the same recipe I posted earlier with a slightly different method.  Mark thought it was a totally different recipe even though I only added cocoa.

I was asked to share this with the blog Food With Kid Appeal and I am more than happy to!  While I am always interested in things that I like to eat, I am always on the hunt for things that the kids will like.  It is even more challenging now that we are doing our gluten free trial.  Waffles are one of those things that are quick to put together and are always good.  Chocolate adds an extra specialness to them.  Ethan loved them and for him to love something makes me very happy :).  Shaylee said she liked the other ones better but I suggested making marbled ones some day and both the kids cheered.  Yay!

Chocolate Brownie Waffles


1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp maple sugar or honey (mix sugar with dry and honey with wet)
6 eggs
1tbsp vanilla
4 tbsp  melted butter or coconut oil (or a combination of the two)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the eggs, one by one, mixing thoroughly between each egg. Add vanilla and melted butter (and honey, if using) and continue mixing until well combined.  Let sit 5-10 minutes to allow the coconut flour to absorb the wet ingredients.  Let your waffle iron heat during this time.  Cook as per iron instructions or to desired doneness.  Serve with your favorite toppings.  We used real maple syrup but whipped cream and/or berries would be a nice addition.  So would a chocolate sauce or banana slices, or a combination of all of the above!  It would make a nice dessert as well as a main dish.

Enjoy!

Part of It's a Keeper, Simple Lives Thursday, Real Food Wednesday and Pennywise Platter

Coconut Flour Waffles

My kids love waffles.  They are easy and delicious.  Going gluten free, I wondered how I would make them.  I looked at tons of recipes and to be honest, I don't want to be cooking with lots of different starches and flour of this and that.  I want simple.  Many gluten free recipes call for a ton of ingredients and aren't very nutritious due to all the starch and type of flours used.

I saw a coconut flour recipe before but lost it so I googled and found one here.  It certainly looks really good so I gave it a try.  It was spectacular!  It rose to fluffy proportions, it got slightly crispy on the outside and best of all, the kids loved them!  Ding ding, we have a winner!  Best of all, it has lots of eggs, which are sometimes hard to get into the kids.  I want them to have more fat and protein since they are always hungry and those two things help with that.

So here is my take on the recipe:

Coconut Flour Waffles

4 tablespoons melted butter 

6 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2tbsp vanilla (I love vanilla!)

1/3 cup maple sugar or honey

1/3 cup coconut flour plus a tablespoon or two to thicken if too runny

Blend these ingredients well.  I used beaters but a blender would work well too.  Let sit for 5 or so minutes while your waffle iron is heating up to help thicken.  If it is still runny (mine was), add another tablespoon or two of coconut flour.  Cook on the waffle iron until risen and cooked to desired texture.  Serve and enjoy!  Makes 6 square waffles.  Note, I do not have a picture since they got gobbled up so fast, but they looked like normal waffles.  Also, this could be low carb with the subtraction of the sweetener.  Yum!

I am going to try a chocolate version.  I read how some people replace 1/2 cup of flour with cocoa powder in their waffle recipes but since you don't use much coconut flour, I will probably just add a couple of tablespoons, maybe instead of the extra coconut flour.  It is meant to be like a brownie.  Sounds yummy!

Creamy Beef

I didn't know what to call this but this is the best way to describe it.  Beefy.  Creamy.  YUMMY!!!

I made a roast in the crockpot a few days ago that was very yummy, cooked with garlic and onions (no, I'm not really following my meal plan but that's ok).  I made a gravy with arrowroot flour and saved what was left with the shredded leftover beef.  I had an idea of what I wanted to make and that is what I wanted to have for supper tonight but I invited Dad over on the spur of the moment for supper tonight and found myself at 6pm figuring out how to make enough food for everyone since there wasn't much beef left (not quite 2 cups but we were all starving!) but it needed to get used up.  Whew, what a long run on sentence!! I was in bit of a panic.

So, I cut up a few onions and sliced about 3/4lbs of mushrooms.  I sauteed these in butter then added the beef and leftover "gravy" (it was kind of runny at this point so if you just wanted to add a cup of broth, it would work).  I then added half a cup of cream cheese and let it heat until it melted through.  Soooo good!  Even Dad, who never comments or says anything is good said it was good!  And there was enough!  I made everyone else mashed potatoes and corn to go with it and a big bowl of coleslaw, which I had a hearty portion of.  It was so good there was none left to take a picture of (and I always feel weird taking pictures of food when there are people around).

A very quick, simple, easy dish that dresses up leftovers good enough for company!

Salisbury Steak

Jenny at the Nourished Kitchen recently posted a recipe for Salisbury Steak.  I was intrigued because I always loved those frozen dinners and it was the only way I could ever find this dish.  Why it didn't occur to me to make it is beyond me.

Her recipe is far more developed than what I made as I did not do a reduction sauce.  I didn't have any broth and we don't have wine (and de-alcoholized wine wasn't appealing to me).  I also used organic mini-bella mushrooms instead of wild ones as I did not want this lunch costing us $20+.  I was quite surprised that the organic mushrooms were the same price as the regular ones ($3), although both are grown without pesticides, so I wonder what the difference is.  With the beef being $2.50 a pound, for us it is a relatively inexpensive meal and it would go well with rice, potatoes or noodles of choice (we had it plain).  The meat could also be stretched with soaked oatmeal or sourdough bread crumbs or another traditionally prepared starch.

So basically, visit Jenny's site if you want the full flavor experience of a well bodied salisbury steak.  Check my recipe out for a quick and cheap version ;)

Quick and Easy Salisbury Steak

2tbsp. butter
1lbs grass fed beef
1/2 tsp. sea salt

2-4 tbsp. butter
1/2 lbs mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1 cup chopped onions

Salisbury Steak on our fancy second hand Tupperware plates.

Melt butter in frying pan.  Form beef into 4 or more patties and fry until done.  Remove patties and add butter to frying pan.  Use it to loosen any yummy bits of beef left in pan and to well coat the pan.  Add the mushrooms and onions, stir to coat with butter and gently cook until onions are done to desired texture (I like mine a little crispy).  Serve patties with mushroom onion mix on top.  Yum!

Mark and I thought this was very good!  We actually used all the mushroom onion mix on our two patties since we didn't eat it with anything so I have two burger patties for another meal.  Total cost of this meal for me was about $6.50 and we get two meals out of it (not including what I use for the other meal).  We could not eat out for that and this is mostly organic, locally grown/produced goodness.

Delicious!


This post is a part of  Tuesday Twister@ GNOWFGLINS

Party Loaves

I didn't know what else to call these since there are so many variations which one could make.

On Tuesday, my family had their annual Christmas party.  I made fudge to bring but changed my mind after I left it in the fridge too long and it got kind of dried out and a little too eaten (Mark and the kids were taking pieces which were 4-6 piece serving sizes since I hadn't cut it.  It was kind of hard to cut since it had marshmallows in it.  Yes, delicious Christmas junk!).

This left me at the last minute trying to decide what to make.  A woman at church often makes a ham and cheese loaf but I couldn't find anything online that resembled it.  So I made my own version!

I made a loaf sized batch of dough.  This would work well with sourdough and I plan to make it when I get my sourdough on the go.  A loaf sized batch of bread dough will make three.  Divide it into three equal parts.

Roll the dough into either an oval or a rectangle shape.  I did it on parchment paper to make it easy to transfer.  Then on either side, make about eight slits which are about a third of the width on each side leaving the middle third uncut, which is where you put your toppings of choice (I made a ham and cheese one with a base of mayo and I made a pizza one which had pepperoni, mozza and a base of tomato sauce.  Sorry they are sideways, I forgot to rotate them and I'm too lazy to redo it ;) ):

Rolled out dough.

Mayo, ham and cheese.

Pizza toppings, I kept it basic.

 After you have your toppings on the dough, start braiding the sides.  Kind of tuck in the tops and bottoms to seal them in.  Next time, I think I would coat with an egg wash before baking.  

Braided loaf.

 After you braid your loaf (loaves), bake at 350 degrees for about half an hour.  Slice and serve!

Finishes loaves on plate, cut into pieces and my itty bitty netbook in the background ;)

This was a hit at the party!  Everyone loved them and they were soooo goood!  You could put any toppings you like, even making it a sweet loaf.  It would be good to assemble, wrap and freeze to have on hand as something to cook on short notice or for an easy lunch/supper.  It probably took an hour and a half from the time I started the dough until it was cut and we were out the door, but that was only because I left for an hour to shop while the dough was in the bread machine.  If you made a bunch, it wouldn't even take any extra time.  I am planning to make some and along with some other goodies, will be part of our Christmas Day brunch :)

Light I Like

Ours does not look like this but I think it's
too new in Canada to find an online picture :)

Sometimes we will have compromise foods in our life, especially when starting out trying to eat better (especially with very picky kids!!).  For example, a quick easy meal that I can make in minutes is spaghetti and meatballs.  The meatballs are frozen (precooked, I throw them in with the pasta to cook), I use whole wheat pasta and the kids favorite sauce is Ragu, straight from the bottle.  That is my compromise as it has soy oil in it, one of the things I try hard to avoid.  I do like that it is in a bottle instead of the bpa lined cans (although the lids most likely have it).  Plus I find it has a better taste (I have grown to hate the taste of canned foods).

Now, here in Canada we don't get products  like they do in the US.  I have been looking for sugar cookie Celestial Seasonings for years and have finally given up, for example.  When I was low carbing and into the products, they didn't come here for a couple of years after they were in the states.

This week Ragu was on sale for $1 a bottle so I was stocking up (it's usually about $3 a bottle).  There was a new kind, light spaghetti sauce so I got half original and half light.  When I got home, I realized the light had no soy oil in it!  Whoo hoo!  I know what I'll be buying from now on!  I went back and got some more because we use a bottle a week between spaghetti, pizza and other dishes.

Photo credit: http://www.meijermealbox.com/Websites/meijermealbox/Images/124080a.jpg