Overnight Waffles

This post is for Jen O - we all (Jen, Linda, and I) talked about food a lot in out hotel room and I promised to post this recipe. It is the one we always use - the grandchildren love them, they are creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside:

Overnight Waffles
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Start the night before - no more work than other waffles but you have to plan the night before.

1/2 tsp. yeast
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
8 Tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs

Before going to bed, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla. the mixture will be loose. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight at room temperature.

Brush waffle iron with oil (I don't do this - my waffle iron doesn't need it), an preheat it.

Separate egg white from yolks. Add yolks to waffle mix; stir. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold them into the waffle batter, gently.

I use a 1 cup ladle to drop the batter onto hot waffle iron - and cook 4 - 4 1/2 minutes - that depends on your iron. I have the Kitchen Aid double waffle iron - it takes about 4 + minutes on mine.

Enjoy:)

So Far, So Good

So far my (not) resolutions are going great...shelf-by-shelf: check. Write every day: check. Exercise daily: ummm, will do today still, I have 10 more hours!

I have cleared out, in the last few days, my bedside table (Mano too, without a single prompt from me - trust me though, he didn't throw much away, I know this without even looking or asking. He's a pack rat.), a kitchen drawer, the refrigerator, and I cleared off my dresser. It feels good; only 999 more shelves, drawers, cubbies, surfaces, to go.

Writing has been easy - I just sit down to do it, and bam, it's done. I'm on a roll. I think to tweak that goal, I'll add a word count. For now 500 words/day. I'll have to use the computer more to know that, right now I write in a notebook, which I do like, but will have to learn how many 'inches' of my handwriting equal 500 words. I can do that, and will let you know.

What else did I say I would do? I'll have to go back and look. Those are the two that stand out....well the exercising stands out, but I really did wait til the actual 1st to do this one. I will, I will! I couldn't do it last night because  had 17 recordings of Coronation Street to get through:)

Oh, think more...yes, I've thought much today! I really have, I had a quiet day, with nary a sound in the house, for much thinking.

Crafting...I mended something yesterday that was in great need of mending, and saved myself $86 on an article that was expensive, but unwearable with out the mending. So that was good; hardly a craft, but it was good. I also got out a book on painting that I've been reading, not exactly like painting, but still I learned a lot, and I was inspired!

I found a great recipe I am going to try on marthastewart.com for Moroccan Meatball Carrot and Sweet Potato stew. Here's the link - I'm making it today:

http://www.marthastewart.com/959289/moroccan-meatball-soup-sweet-potato#ooid=hpamRyNzqUtjX9WkShNSFDeZv3XASidk

This blog post is (was, before I started writing this sentence!)  344 words. That's going to be too easy - but I'll stick with it for awhile to make sure that's it's doable. Till next time!

Keep Guacamole Fresh & Wheat Belly

OK, so this is a random post on guacamole, which we have been eating liberally this week. What is the bane of guacamole? It's very difficult to store for later...so I looked it up and found this solution at: http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Guacamole-Fresh

But I'll just tell you b/c it's so easy!

1. Put the remaining guacamole in the smallest bowl possible that it will fit while leaving a small lip.
2. Smooth it out flat as possible with a spoon.
3. Carefully smooth out a layer of sour cream on top, sealing up the edges to the bowl. No guacamole should be visible. (I used a thin later).
4. Cover with plastic wrap, starting at the middle and smoothing out to the edges...try to seal out all the air you can.
5. Put in the fridge.

We pulled this out of the fridge later to perfect guacamole!

I could post all the day about what I've been learning about wheat and gluten, if you are interested two of the books I have been reading are Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis and Living Gluten-Free for Dummies by Danna Korn, both of which are easy reading and SUPER interesting.

There is a blog by Dr. Davis here: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com and another amazingly helpful blog on gluten-free recipes/living here: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ca.

There are compelling reasons, according to my reading, for learning about gluten and wheat even if you do not have Celiac disease, or wheat sensitivities - all laid out in the books mentioned here. There can be affects on joints, allergies, fibromyalgia (my interest), chubby bellies (also my interest:), blood sugar (!), cholesterol, and other areas, for example ADD and Autism. Read the books and decide for yourself.

It's been about a week or two so far, and I am finding it pretty easy, though I still need to work on cutting out the wheat free food that is still not healthy, such as the half a pint of Ben & Jerry's that Jared forced me and Mano to eat the other night - at least we shared it :) The reason I find it easy is that there is no hunger, or counting of calories, or weighing of foods, etc. Basically you eat from this list of foods:

Vegetables
Fruits
Meats
Dairy (for me - some with actual Celiac may be intolerant)(Ice Cream is included in this list!)
Nuts
Non-Wheat Grains/Starches (rice, potato, corn, buckwheat, beans, quinoa, etc.)
Fish
Legumes
Poultry
Seafood
Eggs

I haven't been hungry in any way shape or form, and I don't miss the wheat hardly at all. The biggest trick is to find it all, as it 'hides' in some things in the form of wheat starch, wheat malt (malt flavouring, malt vinegar), wheat germ,  wheat bran, etc.

What is off-limits?

Wheat (includes durum, semolina, flour, bulgur, kamut, graham, farina, spelt, einkorn, and others ).
Barley
Rye
Triticale
Oats (b/c of cross contamination - you can by oats that are not contaminated, search on the web.) I don't know at this early stage if this matter that much to me or not.

Breakfast this morning (plain Greek yoghurt, blueberries, almonds, pecans):

Let me know if you decide to learn more...we can commiserate!

Ash e Jo (Persian Barley Soup)

I was checking on line this morning for a recipe for Veal Scallopini, and found that Ash e Jo is the Recipe of the Day at allrecipes.com. Must be their way of showing support for Iran:-)

Check it out; this soup is delicious!

Ok this is the third post today and my head is still buzzing with ideas...

Sarra, look at this scrumptious recipe for home made marshmallows...for the recipe go to http://smittenkitchen.com/

The world is my oyster...there is so much out there that is interesting! I feel the need to share, as do a squillion other bloggers out there. Hey, does that rhyme?

Food

Here's another EASY yummy recipe, cuz I just can't stop myself. This is so good and easy:

Boil fusilli in salted water for 6 min.

While pasta is cooking, saute garlic in olive oil, then here you can either add just halved cherry tomatoes, or as an alternate, you can add cooked shrimp, or cooked chicken, whatever, and then the halved cherry tomatoes. Heat through. While this is cooking, dice fresh mozzarella (the soft kind) into a pasta bowl, and throw in rolled and thin sliced fresh basil leaves. Now take the drained pasta and toss in the pan with the garlic, and tomatoes (and perhaps shrimp or chicken though not needed!). Pour over the mozza and basil in the bowl, and toss. The whole thing takes 6 minutes, and YUM!

You could wilt either arugula or spinach in this pasta dish too, just throw it in with the tomatoes.

As you can tell, I like food FAST & FRESH!

Halibut Yum

YUM. Tonight I made, in about 5 minutes flat, the best halibut steak. This is what you do:

Heat 1 t. butter & 1 t. olive oil in a saute pan, til bubbling, drop in the dredged halibut (in flour with salt and pepper) into the hot pan, and cook on one side 2-3 minutes. While cooking, zest a lemon right over the fish. Salt and pepper, lightly. Now juice 1/2 lemon right over the fish while it is cooking. Turn the fish over, and repeat on the other side. Done in about 5-6 min. Serve with green beans, or spinach salad, or sliced tomato or whatever...something fresh:-)

I nearly took a picture it looked so good!