Fabulous 4-Ingredient Whole30 Fajita Crackers

Now, I know 'Whole30' and 'crackers' do not usually go together in the same sentence. But if you've been reading this blog a while, you know I've made this cracker before.

Since that time, I have experimented greatly with this recipe...and well, it's pretty much perfect....except....

Take Your Accolades...Fabulous Homemade Croutons

Croutons are just multi-purpose little pieces of fabulous. Being soup season, we go through croutons a lot. Who doesn't love a nice, hot, french onion soup with melty cheese and croutons? Or baked potato soup? Or pasta e fagioli? I could go on and on...

They real are not just for crowning your salad. Nope. They have multiple uses like:

Healthy Cooking

I've been a registered user of Mealime for a few months. Let me tell you, I love this site.  You can choose the number of meals/recipes you want to cook in a week, as well as narrowing down the types of meals you want.

Vegetarian? No problem.
Classic meat-based meals? Got it.
Lots of fish? Swim on down.
Paleo? Bring it on!

You can specify your allergies and restrictions, the number of persons eating, and the biggie....you can tell them the foods you DON'T like.

You get a picture of the finished product, an interactive grocery list where you can check off items you already have, and a recipe guide.

And you get this all for free!

You can join for $6 a month ($4 if you pay $50 at once for the year), and you get even more benefits like calorie and nutritional information, build meal plans from your favorite recipes, etc.

Here's a sample, simple meal of chicken and carrots:

You should try it. You've got nothing to lose, and if you DO like it, join!

(and no, I am not being paid to advertise Mealime. I just love it!)

Asiago Bisque- More Than Just Cheese Soup

I needed something for lunch today so when I got up at 0400, I decided that a quick cheese soup was on the agenda.

Except this couldn't be just ANY soup. Nope. Nosirree. I had to make it AB Normal, like me.
Don't get me wrong, regular cheese soup with or without broccoli is fabulous. But I wanted something with a little HA!, and a HIYA! and a kicker! (my kicker is when I ended up walking out the door and forgot to TAKE my newly created soup for lunch! Doh!)

Cabbage Rolls. An Experiment. On the Husband.

I am not a big fan of cabbage. I know, bad Irish girl. But I'm just not into the whole eating stinky feet smelling food thing. Call me crazy.

However, the husband *loves* cabbage. So tonight I tried making my first ever cabbage rolls.
Let me tell you...easy and hard all rolled up in one. (see what I did there??)

Now, all I've ever done with cabbage is slice it like wheels, cover it in garlic, parmesan and some olive oil and bake it. Or slice it for cole slaw. Which I don't eat, either. Chances are if it's cabbage I'm not eating it. But I will make it for the husband.

I went with THIS recipe. And while mostly easy, it takes a bit to know when to take the cabbage leaf OUT of the boiling water before it falls apart. Yeeeah. I can cook a gourmet seven course meal, but cabbage throws me. Go figure.

After a bit of fine tuning, I let the cabbage leaves soak in hot water in the sink for about 10 minutes..because I obviously couldn't be held accountable using boiling water.

It seems to work like a charm. All I really needed was the cabbage to become pliable so when rolled, it wouldn't break apart.

Once again, I wish I took pictures. But, if you really want to see it in action, go to the link and make the cabbage rolls yourself.
The husband pronounced them, 'Fantastic and fabulous!' and said I can make them again.
Of course, what he doesn't know is that since I am not eating them, he has two more servings ready to go in containers for lunches this week. I'm sure his coworkers will hate me when that cabbage comes out the other end, but hey...no one ever said cabbage was glamorous.

Beef Bourguignon...ok, Beef Noir

I attempted Beef Bourguignon tonight.  I say attempted because while I made something, Beef Bourguignon is probably not what it should be called in reality.

I got up early this morning and chopped up celery, carrots, onions, and the beef...then marinated it in Pinot Noir (same grape, less expensive wine since Burgundy wine *must* come from the Burgundy region in France to be called Burgundy)...

I took pictures of the ingredients, the veggies,

The Best Low Carb Pizza You'll Ever Eat

I am not kidding about this title. Oh, I know people have raved about the cauliflower crust pizza. Mine didn't turn out so well...besides not really liking cauliflower, it was too wet, soggy, floppy and it spread like a bad rumor.

A couple days ago I posted about carb-free crackers- which were fantastic, by the way.

Today, I am posting about using that same  cracker

Chicken Shawarma Shawonderful

Today I found a chicken shawarma with avocado lime mayo recipe. It was fabulous, once I made a few modifications. Sound familiar? I just cannot seems to make a recipe as is the first time, even though I know I should. The problem is that there are many things I don't like eating so as often is the case, I have to modify the recipe so I would even consider eating it.

The Best Darn Curry Powder You've Ever Tasted!

I'm not usually a huge fan of curry. I like it. I don't necessarily love it.
At least, not until I started making my own curry. In Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine, each region, and sometimes family, had their own recipe for curry. It's about as diverse and varied as your Uncle Jim's bbq rub he swears is the best.
Same with curry. Every region/family made

Chicken Cordon Blue Soup

I planned to make this soup yesterday, but, well....I was just too tired. I made the mistake of eating out at a fast food place. Yeeeah. I spent the rest of yesterday with a bloated, upset stomach. I should know better than to eat fast food. It usually never agrees with me.

This soup, however, is fabulous. And I threw it together this morning in about 30 minutes. Of course, I had some of the prep work done already like the bacon was already cooked as was the ham. I just chopped them up this morning.

Easy Cinnamon Roasted Nuts at Home

I have been making these for a while....well, since I became extremely frugal and hated paying $5 for a small cone of them at ren fairs or the mall.

And let me tell you, these things are addictive!

The flavor variations are endless. You can do cinnamon....like what I'm showing you here. Or you can do hot...and add cayenne....mmmm... or do a nutmeg/allspice blend for a twist on traditional flavors.

BACON!

While the best bacon is cooked over an open fire, second best is usually done at home. And let's face it, that's where most of us are 90% of the time. Right?
So unless you plan to fire up the grill, start a backyard pit, or go camping, I have simplified the at-home bacon cooking process. And bonus! you get to keep all that bacon-y goodness smell.

Food in a Pinch

Have you ever wondered about eating freeze dried food? I certainly have. So much so that when the husband and I went to our local big chain outdoor store a few months ago, we picked up some to try.

Now, I know some people have heard that freeze dried is absolutely horrible, and yet others say it was fabulous. But this is what I know for sure- it's food, and in a pinch (say lost job, grid down, or just to supplement your food storage), freeze dried is certainly an option to remember.

Homemade Mayo the Easy Way

I know I haven't been posting for a long time. What? Since last December and it's now September? Oh, wow. Sorry. Life...it kind of got in the way. Between school, transferring schools, attending two schools, my parent's failing health, my father-in-law's failing health and my own surgery, things just seemed to get away from me.

But I'm back. For now, anyway. I can't say things won't get hectic again. Hell, they probably will. But I'll do my best to keep posting fabulous shortcuts and tips.

So- I had many friends ask me about how I make my mayonnaise. Well, here's a video to answer that....and a picture or two.

World's Best and Easiest Potato Leek Soup

I am not kidding. I threw this into a pot, sauteed a bit, stirred a bit, threw more ingredients in, let boil, blended smooth, and added the creamy stuff to the end and I was done.

It took me an hour, but only because I kept forgetting I was cooking. So this recipe is very forgiving, too. I like that in a recipe!

No Soy No Gluten Cashew Chicken

Being on the Whole30 bandwagon has really opened our eyes to how much sugar, soy or corn they put in ALL the pre-processed foods out on the market today. And if you have a gluten intolerance? well, good luck to you...that's hard!
And being on Whole 30, soy, sugar and corn are all No-No's....along with no legumes, dairy, alcohol and grain products. It's fairly restrictive. But you know what? We feel better. We actually *feel* better.  There is a noticeable difference in our skin, joints, and general demeanor.

Quiche- a Whole30 experiment

Some time during the second week of your Whole30 experience, you're going to get extremely tired of scrambled or hard-boiled eggs. So what do you do?

Well, we made a quiche.

I know, I know. Quiche has milk or cream. Not to mention a flour crust. But I seemed to have got past those little hurdles...although I am still experimenting. Here's what I have come up with so far:

Chicken Bang Bang

I have no idea why I named this recipe Chicken Bang Bang.  Maybe I need a bit more soup, I mean sleep? Well, for whatever reason, this soup came out fabulous. Of course, I was trying to make this soup, but didn't have all the ingredients so I had to modify it to what I had on hand because I was also being lazy and didn't want to go to the grocery store.

Almond Satay

As I was perusing recipes this morning, I ran across Satay....a wonderful Thai peanut sauce to serve with grilled chicken...very Thai....very good.

Except, on Whole 30 peanuts are a no no. As is the soy sauce and brown sugar. Both prohibited on Whole 30. So I wondered long and hard...could I make a Satay using almond butter instead?
Why not? I thought. It may not be as sweet as the original peanut satay, but I've been doing Whole 30 for a while now and sweetness is not a requirement any longer. I'm happy to say I prefer flavorful over sweet, any day.

Healthy Coconut Chicken Bites

I love chicken. I do. Really. I mean, I love chicken a lot.  Especially chicken breasts. Oh la la! Many people dislike chicken because it is plain. Oh Contraire!
What I've found is that chicken takes on the flavor of what you cook with it.
Some people complain that chicken breasts are dry. Nope! Wrong again. (Well, I guess they *could* be right....if they cook it too long.)
Treat chicken nice, and it will be a thing of beauty that will melt in your mouth.

Being on Whole30, chicken is a blessing because it is low in calories. Unfortunately, you are almost relegated to dry rubs and grilling. Not so any longer!