Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Sorry I've been away for awhile.  We've been having some internet issues, so posting has been difficult.  Things seen better today,  so I'll give this a try.

This is something I tried the other day.  I really love the not eating wheat thing, however sometimes I just don't know what to eat.  I'm so used to noodles and sauce.  So, I bought a spaghetti squash.  I cooked it up with spaghetti sauce and lots of cheese and it was delicious.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

There is a strange urge deep inside me that makes me try to cook everything in my crock pot. So, In case you ever wanted to know,  yes you can cook a spaghetti squash in your crock pot.

I cut it in 8 pieces, removed the seeds and added about an inch of water to my crock pot.  It cooked on low all day, when I wanted to make supper it was ready.

I scraped the squash from the skins and put it in my casserole dish and added butter and salt and a good layer of cheese.

 Then I added my spaghetti sauce and some more cheese and baked it in my oven for 20 minutes at 350 F.

Here's my recipe for spaghetti sauce

1 lb ground beef
1 onion
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp each of oregano, basil and salt
28oz. diced tomatoes

Brown the ground beef,  add onion and pepper,  cook until soft. Add garlic, oregano, basil, salt and tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes.


This post has been shared at Real Food Wednesdays,  Healthy 2day Wednesdays, and Frugal Days Sustainable Ways.

Pictures of our trip

Indiana, Bennett and I checking out the bearded dragon

Indiana

Aleksei playing with bubbles

How I spent my morning,  visiting with an old friend.

Our super-cool friends Teegan and Travis who let us stay at their house.

Road Trip!!!

We are heading out for a weekend of fun.  We are going to meet my family at the science center and visit some muchly loved friends.  We often do short road trips in the summer but it never occurred to us that we could do this in the winter too.  Since we are homeschooling,  it's about high time that we made field trips a priority, I say.
So,  the point of this post.... What are we going to eat?  A day or two of fast food can really send us for a loop. We are now mostly a wheat-free family, so sandwiches are out.  Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables are great, however I need some protein or I'll fall over and we can't eat nuts because of  Indiana's allergy.  So, I tried something new and I'm so glad it worked out, cause I think this is our answer.

Roasted Chick Peas

I cooked some chick peas in my crock pot.  Then I dumped them onto a towel and dried them.

 Then I put them on a baking sheet and drizzled them with olive oil and stirred them around a bit.  Next I baked them at 400 F for 40 mins.  I stirred them every ten minutes.  When they are crunchy, not soft, they are done.  As soon as they were out of the oven I sprinkled salt, curry powder, cumin and paprika on them.

YUMMM... the boys love them too.  I'll have to make more before we even go on our trip.

Shared at Recipe Swap Friday at grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com

Victory Through Grapefruit

Well, I'm not one who should give cleaning advise.  I'm not a cleaner or an organizer.  It's odd that I've been doing a bit of both in the last few days.  The organizing has been a failure,  but the cleaning has given me a small victory.  I'll start with the victory first.

Grapefruit...  We have been eating a ton of it.  This is wonderful in so many ways,  however it's kind of annoying when I have to empty the compost bucket four times a day.  It's the middle of winter and my compost pile is not conveniently located.  I figured out something useful to do with all the grapefruit peelings and it has to do with cleaning my house.  VICTORY.

Take your citrus peels and let them dry on the counter for a few days.  Then grind them up in your food processor.  What you end up with is grapefruit powder.  You can use this powder to clean your bathroom sink or tub or counter-tops.  I mix mine with a bit of baking soda and use a scrubber.  It smells really good and it's anti-bacterial too.

I also want to try this too.  Put all your grapefruit peels in a jar and cover with vinegar. Let it sit for a month, then strain and use as an anti-bacterial spray.

And now to the failure.  I realized yesterday that my cupboards were full of empty jars and small, opened baggies of lentils or beans.  I had the idea of putting the contents of the random little baggies into the jars, therefore eliminating the empty jars and the little baggies.  Brilliant, no?

What I ended up with was a cupboard full of this...

The jar full,  but still the little baggy of stuff.  My hopes and dreams shattered.


This post was shared at adelightfulhome.com your green resource Thursdays.

On the Bandwagon - with a recipe

We jumped on the bandwagon my friends.  The wheat-free bandwagon that is.  Alex has been dealing with a lot of pain with digestion lately so we figured a good over-haul of our eating was in order.  So,  we have cut out all of our breads and pastas.  Any grains we do consume I try to soak them first,  but this is proving difficult to remember.  We have been eating tons and I mean tons of fruit and vegetables.  It really is wonderful.  We also eat lots of meat,  which is a nice bonus for Alex as he was kind of tired of my meat - stretching ways.  It's also nice that we just filled our freezer with half of a grass-fed cow.  We are also trying to keep up in the probiotic department,  eating yogurt and kefir regularly.
The results have been pretty much amazing.  Alex doesn't have his bouts of gut pain anymore,  I feel energetic even though Bennett keeps me up all night. and, I think Indiana's eczema is getting better.  I still find it a little hard not to eat pasta, but I've been replacing it with potatoes.  This is what we ate tonight.  It was pretty good.

Mushrooms, Meat and Potatoes in my Crock Pot 

1 big chunk of round steak
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
3 or 4 potatoes sliced.

Throw all of this in your crock pot.

Jalapeño ketchup.

2 jalapeños, seeded and diced
2 tbsp minced onions
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cumin
3 tbsp ketchup.
in a small saucepan boil jalapeños, onions and water until the jalapeños are very tender and mushy.
chop them up in a food processor and add cumin and ketchup.

Drizzle the ketchup over the meat and potatoes.  Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours.
Just so you know,  this is not spicy,  the jalapeño ketchup just gives it a very nice flavour.
Serve with homemade sour cream or homemade ranch dressing.

Shared at Recipe Swap Friday at grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com

Crack pot for my Crock Pot.

I'm passionate about a few things.  One of them is my crock pot.  It may be a little weird, but it is what it is.
I think I would be able to operate my kitchen with only my crock pot and a hot plate.  Who needs an oven?  I don't.

                                                                 My well loved Crock Pot.

Five things you can cook with your Crock Pot.

1.  Beans! Beans! Beans!
Don't buy canned beans,  dry is way cheaper.  Put a bunch of dry beans in your crock pot.  Cover with water and let them sit over night.  The next day,  strain them and give them a good rinse.  Put the beans back in the crock pot and cover with more water (about an inch over the beans) and cook on low all day.  You can check them after about 6 hours and see how they're doing.  You may need to add more water.  Different beans cook in different ways.  When they are soft,  strain them and rinse them and let them cool a bit then you can put them in a big ziploc bag and put them in the freezer.  Then just use them the same way you would canned beans.

2.  Meat
Throw a big chunk (or chunks) of meat in the crock pot, and cook.  Chop it up and freeze it.  This is so handy.
Did you know you can even cook hamburger in your crock pot?  Just put your ground beef in the crock pot,  don't break it up, you want it to stay in a brick shape.  Cook on high for about an hour or two, then turn down to low for a few more hours.  Check doneness with a meat thermometer. There will be a lot of liquid,  drain this out and then break up your ground beef.  This is really good to have in your freezer for spaghetti sauces and stuff.

3.  Baby Food
We're getting close to that time again,  another month or two and I'll be making baby food all the time.  The crock pot can be helpful for making some of the pureed vegetables.  Sweet potatoes, carrots, applesauce can all be done in the crock pot.  Just peel and chop your whatever and put it in the crock pot with a little bit of water,  cook on low.  When they are soft, just mash them up.

4.  Chicken Stock
After an evening of pigging out on chicken,  put the carcass in your crock pot,  add some celery, carrots or onions if you want,  cover with water and cook on low for like 24 hours.  Strain out the liquid and if you feel like it you can pick the meat off the bones.  Put the broth in jars or old yogurt tubs and freeze.

5.  Yogurt
I've been making my own yogurt for a few years now.  I have never tried it in my crock pot.  I'm a failure.
Here is a good tutorial on Crock Pot Yogurt.


Shared at Domestically Divine Tuesday, Healthy 2day Wednesdays, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways., and Things I Love Thursdays.

Cream of Fridge Soup

We've been eating a lot of soup for lunches these days.  It's winter time,  it seems like the right thing to do.  This is just a basic recipe for vegetable soup,  as in every vegetable in your fridge soup.

Start by cutting up all the vegetables you have lying around.
In this particular soup I used;
broccoli
cauliflower
onions
red peppers
carrots
I meant to use kale,  but seemed to have forgotten.

There are no limits,  you could use celery, sweet potatoes, potatoes,  spinach,  green beans  whatever you have.

Put all your vegetables in a pot and add chicken broth right up to the top of your veggies.

Of course I don't have any chicken broth because we've been eating too much soup these days that I can't keep up with homemade broth.  I just used water,  and it was just fine.  You can add any spices you think will fit.  For my soup I added curry powder and cumin and lots of salt.

                                              
Cook your veggies until they are soft, then blend them up with an immersion blender.

Add cream,  or homemade sour cream would be delicious (and nutritious)  or you could try homemade coconut milk if you have a curry soup.  Then most importantly,  serve with cheese.

This was shared with Recipe Swap Friday at grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com and Real Food Wednesdays at kellythelitchenkop.com