Blueberry and Goat Cheese Empanadas

I wanted to make something different for the boys to enjoy tonight. Josiah likes most things with strawberries, but I am about sick of strawberry everything, so I went with a blueberry option. And in honor of Millie and Billy we went with a goat cheese empanada for the win.

This was super easy to make and absolutely delicious to taste.

Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries
• goat cheese
• 1 T flour
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• empanada dough (freezer section in grocer)
• egg
• table sugar

Steps

1. defrost empanada shells
2. preheat oven to 400
3. pour blueberries in a bowl and add flour, brown sugar, and vanilla extract and mix it up
4. lay out empanada shells and use water to keep them sticky
5. place a spoon of goat cheese and a spoon or two of blueberry mixture in shell
6. fold shell over
7. use a wet fork to press edges tight
8. poke holes in top
9. use egg mixed with water to wash the top of the shell
10. sprinkle table sugar over nadas
11. bake for 15-20 mins or until browned shell
12. enjoy!

Right From The Teat of An Almond :: Almond Milk

So, with the sale of my favorite juice company that made amazing almond milk, I was on a quest to find either a company selling something similar or to make it myself. Well, since I am fond of the occasional (hehe) diy... I found a recipe I liked but didn't love, and tweaked it til I loved it and it came as close as possible to my memory of cali's yummmmmmmy almond milk. So here we go...

• 1 cup of almonds
• 2 dates
• 3.75 cups of filtered water
• 1.5 teaspoons of pure vanilla

1. Soak the almonds in water for 12-48 hours. This step was actually confusing to me as silly as it sounds so let me spell it out. I had lots of questions - in the fridge or out covered or not covered... etc...
   
   Take a cup of almonds, pour it in a bowl or mason jar, cover with clean water about an inch or two above almond line, drop in some clean salt here if you like, do not cover, do not put in fridge, cover with a dry cloth if you are worried about bugs or things getting in... Let it sit. The longer it sits the better.
2. Drain the almonds and rinse them. Place in blender.
3. Add remaining ingredients to blender, and blend until it is frothy and homogeneous. Should be a few minutes.
4. Pour mixture through cheesecloth or nutbag or fine mesh filter into mason jar or clean container. Squeeze the last bits of yummy milk out of the almond meat to get as much as possible.
5. Refrigerate for up to 5 days if it lasts that long lol. No almond teat is safe in this house.

BONUS :: Take the leftover drained meat (almond meal) and either bake it in the oven to use as a snack like granola, or store it in the fridge to use as almond flour (I like to mix it as a portion of the flour when I make homemade bread). Or if you don't have a use you can throw it out - you crazy waster!

The Ultimate Chopped Greek Salad

So my sister and I have been obsessing over this chopped greek salad at our local greek eatery (Hungry Greek) and after repeating visits there much this month I decided to try and replicate it. We absolutely loved our version - though next time I would see if I can buy their dressing or try to make my own. Also would add the beets next time that we forgot this time.

• iceburg lettuce
• romaine lettuce
• tomato
• feta 
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 cucumber
• kalamata olives
• black olives
• chopped beets (optional)
• chopped gyro meat (optional)
• potato salad (we got a small container from Publix deli)
• greek dressing ( I just got marie's greek vinaigrette but next time I would pay more attention to this and possibly buy a bottle from the local greek restaurant)
• pita (who eats salad without bread?)

1. Wash, peel and chop the cucumber
2. Wash and Chop the lettuce, tomato, feta, onion, and olives
3. Place the potato salad at the bottom of a large bowl
4. Mix together lettuce, tomato, cuke, onion, and olives in the bowl
5. Sprinkle feta on the top
6. Pour dressing over the top
7. Mix it all up
8. Toast the flatbread or pita for the side
9. Serve and Enjoy!

PS Make sure you put the collossal olives on your fingers and eat some like that 

Foods That Don't Have Folic Acid (Folate)

On rare occasion you may find yourself prescribed a low folate (folic acid) diet perhaps after mtx treatment. While this doesn't seem like a big deal to cope with - you soon find that folic acid is in almost everything - especially on a vegetarian diet. Here is an accounting of some food ideas for when you can not eat folic acid.

• Apples - while very nutritious apples do not have folic acid (one of the few fruits that you can eat on a low folate diet)
• Cheese - not so low-fat but an oked food on the low folic acid diet
• Potato Chips - most regular potato chips have zero or very low folic acid
• Potatoes - guess what the plain old potatoes also should have zero folic acid
• Greek Yogurt - well I guess regular yogurt too - but who likes that drippy stuff :) - yogurts often have no folic acid - though make sure you arent adding in ingredients high in folate like black cherries or other fruits or nuts or grains
• Chocolate - have at it - no folic acid to fear here
• Beverages - including soda, apple juice, water, coffee, and milk
• Tofu - unless fortified with folic acid should have zero folate
• Beef / Chicken / Pork - for you carnivores you should have much less trouble on this diet
• Sweets - most candy and sugar sweets are zero on the folic acid scale

If you find yourself on this diet - good luck - I never thought I would get sick of cheese - but after only two days on this diet I could go a long time without it.

General Tso's Chicken

My sweet sweet husband has one really sweet habit that makes me crazy sometimes. Every single time he goes to any restaurant he has a particular thing that he always gets. For instance - if we go to any Chinese restaurant he will get General Tsos Chicken; if we go to any Thai restaurant he will get Chicken Pad Thai; if we go to Winners he gets the Birdie Sandwich... every every dang time. I want to break his OCD and every time hope he will try something new - "here doesn't this look good?" at which point he always takes it into consideration and when it is time to order goes back to his old standby. Every every dang time. So yes - I see it as a challenge to expand his horizons - but yes I also find it absolutely adorable how faithful he is to his choices. So... it was only fitting that I find a recipe to make my sweet sweet husband General Tso Chicken. I made one version vegetarian with fake chicken and one with real chicken breast.

• 1C veggie broth
• 2T low sodium soy sauce
• 1T chopped fresh ginger
• 2t rice vinegar
• 2t sweetener
• 1t curry paste
• 2T Franks sweet and spicy hot sauce
• 2T evoo
• 1 package of boneless chicken breast (or 1 bag fake chicken strips)
• 1 handful of green onions
• half package of frozen broccoli

1. Mix broth, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, sweetener, and curry in a bowl until it is well blended and put aside for a while
2. Saute the chicken in evoo in a pan until heated through - remove from pan and put in a plate for a while
3. Pour broth mixture in to pan and simmer until it thickens a bit
4. Place chicken, green onions, and broccoli back into pan and coat with sauce until cooked through
5. Serve over rice (though if you skip the rice and franks sauce this works for stage 1 south beach diet)

How to Make Quick Pickles - Quickles

This past week I journeyed with my dashing groom, my snuggly prince, and my mother-in-law on a road trip through the South. We visited family in North Carolina, stayed at a cabin in the Mountains, hiked waterfalls, climbed through caves, braved mile high swinging bridges, visited a winery, visited fort sumter, savannah riverfront, and even stayed a night in Charleston with BT's cousins. While there I got to taste some quickles cousin Michelle made that she found a recipe from TheShiksa. I couldn't quite get them off of my mind and bugged her until she sent me a link to the recipe before I even arrived home. Well - after a whole day home I ran to Publix and bought what I needed - or what I could find that I needed. Here is my slightly tweaked version of the recipe.

• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 fist full of fresh dill
• 1 bay leaf or a shake of dried
• 1/2 tsp of whole peppercorn
• 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp of dill seeds (not dill weeds - i ended up finding it at walmart after a couple stores I checked didnt)
• a couple shakes of red crushed pepper
• a shake of celery salt
• 1/4 tsp of fennel seed
• 8 small cucumbers (without the wax coating)
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp course salt
• 1 mason jar

1. Put slices of garlic into a pan with water and let it boil for one minute to blanch the garlic (this keeps the garlic from turning blue in the soaking. After boiling for one minute drain the garlic.
    
2. Add garlic, all spices (except salt), and cucumbers into the mason jar. The cukes will likely have to be squished to fit but after the soaking they will shrink so should be easier to get out.
   
   
3. Boil the vinegar and water and salt in a saucepan until salt is gone and about one minute after
4. Use a funnel if you have one - and pour the solution over the cucumbers until they are covered.
   
5. Let the jar cool off before closing with the jar top and sticking it into the fridge.
   
6. After about two days of soaking you can take them out to eat, but the longer you wait - the tastier they will turn out to be.
7. Enjoy!

BBQ Tofu Pasta

So I was looking for new ways to enjoy tofu and found a recipe that involved grilling the tofu chunks and then pouring barbecue sauce on top. I decided to take this and mod and created the recipe below. It was awesome and we enjoyed it for dinner and then leftovers for days.

• tofu
• red and green bell peppers
• mushrooms
• garlic
• bbq sauce
• shells pasta

1. saute tofu in evoo in pan until crispy
2. sauce peppers, mushrooms, and garlic in another pan until soft
3. combine both pans and boil water for pasta
4. drain cooked pasta and add to pan with veggies and tofu
5. pour bbq sauce of your choice over the concoction until it is covered and mix
6. Enjoy!