Mashed Cauliflower

The weather the past couple of days has been warm but dreary.  Now that leave is over and David is back to work I'm trying to re-adjust to being home alone all day.  I'm surprised how much I miss having a job.  I'm a total homebody and I hate starting a new job, but even I see how ridiculous it is for a woman with no kids to not have a job.  There just isn't enough to do.  But I'm trying.  I've been spending my time looking for recipes with foods I can actually eat.  Cauliflower seems to be pretty popular right now.  I've seen it as a pizza crust, blended, mashed, baked, you name it.  I'm not really a fan of cauliflower, but these recipes got me curious.  So with all this time I have, I decided to give cauliflower a chance.  The rain and the gloom inspired me to make a comforting bowl of mashed cauliflower.  I was pleasantly surprised with how good this turned out.  I can imagine how much better it would be with butter, sour cream or cream cheese, but with this diet, it was good enough for me.

Mashed Cauliflower

 I found this recipe at Comfy Belly but added a few changes

Ingredients:

• 1 med. head of cauliflower
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced (I added more because I loooove garlic)
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. thyme (opt.)
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (opt.)
• 1/4 C. almond milk (or any milk, unsweetened)
• 3/4 C. water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut off the stock and chop the cauliflower into smallish pieces (it'll blend up easier with out big chunks) and put them in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the garlic, salt, olive oil, thyme, and red pepper to the bowl.  Mix until cauliflower is evenly coated.
4. Spread the cauliflower out on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 min. or until the edges start turning brown.
5. Remove cauliflower from oven and place in a blender.
6. Warm the milk and water (I put them in my Pyrex measuring glass and microwave for 30 seconds-1 min.).
7. Add liquid to the blender and blend until smooth.

Serves: 4 or so

Comfort food and new directions

One of David's favorite meals I make just so happens to be one of my childhood favorites.  So simple and easy, pizza bread is a breeze to put together.  Just pick up frozen bread dough, pepperoni, shredded mozzarella, a bit of parmesan, and your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.  The only thing about using frozen bread dough is  its pretty hard to roll it out, it just keeps bouncing back.  Most of the time I have David do that part for me.  Muscles! 

It looks so delicious to me right now!  Too stinkin bad I can't eat one part of that delectable cheesy bread on my new diet.  Since moving to Texas I've gotten these dry itchy red patches on my skin and around my eyes.  I've gone to the Dr a few times and they just keep giving me some sort of steroids which only makes me better while I'm taking it.  While visiting family in Michigan my eyelids turned bright red and puffed up like mad.  I wanted to know why and I wanted to know how to fix it.  My in-laws told me about this holistic practitioner in Lansing that could run some tests and maybe figure some things out.  He uses urine, saliva, and blood to figure out whats going on inside your body.  It was super interesting.  I found out that while I am dealing with outdoor allergies (which I've known since I was 5) there was also some stuff going on inside my body so its like a double whammy.  I am now on a sugar free, gluten free, yeast free, dairy free, tomato free diet.  Yikes.    I know you're supposed to focus on all the things you can eat on a diet like this but since almost everything I usually eat has sugar or gluten in it, its quite the change. But if this fixes me it'll be more than worth it.  And maybe it'll get me in prime shape for swim suit weather....silver lining.


Oh and David and I decided he should try for Special Forces.  That's what he enlisted for, but he dropped his SF contract when he found out we wouldn't be able to get married on the date we had set.  If he gets selected after completing the initial 3 week training he would need to re-enlist and we would be moving to NC. 

 In all the unknown that is military life, it is so comforting to know I serve a never changing and omniscient God.
*Cherise

Quinoa

 This stuff straight up scares me.  Maybe its the name.  Maybe its the fact I didn't even know it existed until a couple years ago.  My curiosity got the best of me though and I found this fried rice recipe sans the rice.  It was surprisingly easy.

  I LOVE peas and carrots.  They are tasty and colorful and add a great texture.  And you can't have fried rice with out the egg of course! 

For my first fling with quinoa I was pretty impressed.  Its something different and the extra protein is always welcome in my often meatless diet.  Next time I make this I'll be sure to have some Thai sweet chili sauce around to spice it up a little. 
For the recipe: http://www.peasandcrayons.com/2012/01/keen-wahhhh-adventures-in-cooking.html

*Cherise

A year...and some months later

"Nothing you do in faith is a failure."

John Avery Whittaker (Adventures in Odyssey)

I am so HAPPY.  So BLESSED.  So Content. 

And, in case I ever forget, God really does know what He's doing. 

Love JJ