Tuna Stuffed Garden Tomatoes

Hooray for days off! I forced myself to sleep in past 5am, but I couldn't force my stomach to do the same. When the rumbling of my belly finally succeeded in pulling me out of bed I was immediately drawn to the fresh tomatoes I had been gifted the day before. I had a mad hankering for some sort of lean protein. Much to my relief I still had some tuna in the pantry! Woohoo! I feel like I had seen a similar idea months ago but couldn't remember where and wasn't about to start looking. So, here is my impromptu rendition of "Tuna Stuffed Garden Tomatoes"....for breakfast - because why not? 

Shout out to Marilyn for the tomatoes and dainty serving bowl! :) 

 

Ingredients 

Tomatoes

Canned tuna

Mayonnaise

Finely diced white onion

Capers

Dill (fresh or dried)

Salt (if desired)

I did not include any amounts in this recipe because everything is pretty much "to taste". You can't really screw this one up, and it would make a lovely appetizer for your next party! 

Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes and You

1. Start by gently hollowing out your tomatoes with a spoon. Set cores aside so you can sprinkle salt over them and snack on them as you make this recipe ;) 

2. Mix together tuna, mayonnaise, onion, capers, dill, and a very light amount of salt. With a spoon, stuff the mixture into the hollowed out tomatoes. 

3. This step is not necessary, but it does take the dish to the next level. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour, then garnish with dill and serve. 

"Creamy" Alfredo Sauce over Fettuccine with Broccoli and Mushrooms

     Yeah, yeah, you have seen this recipe on Pinterest...but you haven't actually tried it yet, nor have you found the way to get it to ACTUALLY taste like Alfredo sauce or what to pour it on top of ;) Am I right? Of course I am, I'm always right.....unless I'm trying to bet on racehorses, but that's a completely different story bearing no relevance to the kitchen!!

I present to you:  
     Cauliflower Based Alfredo Sauce!
          (Carnivorous boyfriend approved)

Some neat facts about cauliflower and why it's better for you than heavy cream:

•  One cup of cauliflower contains 77% of your daily requirement for vitamin C, 2 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber
• Vs. 1 cup of Heavy cream with contains no fiber, and only 2% of your daily vitamin C, though it does boast 5 grams of protein
• Cauliflower is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
• Vs. 1 cup of Heavy cream with contains 55 grams of saturated fat and 326 mg of cholesterol....I didn't expect it to be so scary...just wait till you read the calories though
• One cup of cauliflower has only 25 calories
• Vs. BAM! 821 calories per cup, eeek!
• It is also a good source of Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Magnesium and Phosphorus, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese.
• It's delicious. BAM. 

So leeetsss geeetttt cooookin'! 

Ingredients  

(Serves two)

For the sauce:  

• 8 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 7 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup whole milk 
• 5 oz. shredded parmesan 
• salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta:

• 1 head broccoli chopped into small florets
• 8 button mushrooms chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 lb. of fettucine noodles
• some more of that good old salt and pepper

Necessary kitchen stuffs:

• Large pot (for boiling noodles)
• medium sauce pan
• medium sized skillet with a lid (or make one out of foil)
• Slotted spoon (maybe not necessary, but handy)
• Blender

Ready, set, pasta.

1.  In the large pot boil enough water for your pasta noodles. Once boiling, proceed to throw said noodles into pot. Check on these guys every once in a while till they are done.
2. In the medium sized sauce pan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook until easily pierced with a fork. 
3.  In our medium skillet, turn the heat on LOW and melt the 2 tbsp of butter. Cook the minced garlic in the butter until unbearably delicious smelling. DON'T brown the garlic or it will take on a bitter taste. Once garlic is done toss it into the blender.
4. Check on your noodles. See you forgot didn't you...
5. In the same skillet, turn up the heat to medium low, add a healthy dose of olive oil, the mushrooms, and the broccoli. Cover with a lid or foil, stirring occasionally. My main goal with this was to simply heat them throughout to preserve optimum nutrients, so you might turn the heat down after a short while. 
6. Check your noodles AND your cauliflower. 
7. If noodles are done strain and return to large pot (I like to drizzle a little olive oil in the pot beforehand to make sure they don't stick)
8. When cauliflower is done transfer to the blender with a slotted spoon. Keep the remaining veggie stock handy!
9. Add your milk to the blender and 1/2 cup of veggie stock at a time. Feel free to play with the ratio of these ingredients to gain the right consistency. 
10. When the mixture is moving around in your blender easily, dump in that cheese. You may need to adjust the consistency again after this step. 
11. Now have fun seasoning that!  I've found that going heavy on the black pepper really brings out the flavor we're trying to imitate in this recipe. Also, be sure to serve this sauce while it's still warm or it looses it's awesomeness.
12. Combine sauce, noodles, broccoli, and mushrooms! Top with any remaining parmesan and enjoy :)

Egg and Asparagus Pastry Puffs

     I have this terrible habit of going to Half Price Books and buying half the store and never reading 

any of the books I buy....it's tragic I know. However, this habit does not seem to apply to cookbooks, particularly cookbooks with pictures :) Yes, I must admit...I'm a complete four year old when it 

comes to books with pictures. 

     On my last trip to Half Price Books I came across this fantastic treasure of a book called  

Step by Step Vegetarian: The Perfect Guide to Meat-Free Meals. Pictures! Pictures everywhere! So 

far I've made 2 recipes from it, and holy hot dang! Had to share this one with you, it's absolutely 

heavenly and relatively affordable. Hope you guys enjoy!

Ingredients: 

(Serves 4)

• 1 large ready to bake pastry puff sheet (I used Pepperidge Farm, one sheet)
• 1/4 cup milk
• Approx. 24 slim asparagus spears
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese (optional)  
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Parchment paper, or foil and some nonstick spray
• Baking sheet
• Rolling pin (optional, see step 1) 
• A smallish cup, a coffee cup should work fine
• Medium sized sauce pan/pot

Step-by-Step, dudes and dudettes:

1. If your pastry is silly and not an easy to use Pepperidge Farm pastry, you may need to roll it into a flat-ish rectangle approximately 14x8 inches. Then cut this into four smaller rectangles. 
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. 
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or foil and a heaping dose of nonstick spray. Lay out your freshly cut rectangular pastry dough and prick the surface with a fork (to allow the heat from the oven transfer through the future yummy, buttery, flaky layers of the pastry, and more importantly so it looks like a cute little rectangular dalmatian) Brush lightly with milk and set in refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes. 
4. Bring some lightly salted water to a boil in your medium sized pot. Rinse your asparagus, and chop off the woody so that they are just slightly shorter than the length of your pastries. Boil the asparagus spears for 2-3 minutes, remove just before they become tender. Drain and rinse the asparagus in cold water. 
5. Once your pastries have chilled, spread the tomato sauce from the middle of each pastry out to almost the edge. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, you want the pastry to be puffed around the edges and pale golden. 
6. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with mozzarella. Arrange the asparagus on top like a little asparagus corral around the edges. The asparagus will act as a fence for that unruly egg you're about to put on the top.
7. Next, one at a time, crack an egg into the small coffee cup and slide the egg into the asparagus corral. Proceed to sing weird old western songs to yourself to aid in this process. 
8. Return the pastries to the oven and bake for at least 10 minutes or until the eggs no longer wiggle around every time you hungrily open up the oven door to check on them.
9. Season with salt and pepper and make a feeble attempt not to burn your mouth as you scarf them down.

Creamy Tomato Soup [VEGAN]

My friends inspired me to do a 4 day liquid diet cleanse recently. I'm bad about getting around to these things on my own because, well...they suck. I was browsing the soup aisle to see if there was anything vegan I could eat that didn't include any starchy veggies, yada, yada. There was NONE. So I read the ingredients of my favorite tomato bisque and decided to give it a shot. And what do you know? This soup was the 

BEST THING I'D EVER TASTED 

 IN MY LIFE!!!  

It tasted like cheese. Like sweet, sweet parmesan and asiago cheese. I had to be sure it wasn't just hunger hijacking my taste buds so I made it again and yup, still awesome. Hope you guys enjoy. 

Ingredients

1 Avacado

4 Tomatoes (heirloom are best)

1/2 Of an onion

3 Cloves garlic

1 Tbsp or more of fresh oregano (you can use dehydrated but it just isn't the same)

 Salt/pepper to taste

It's so easy

1.  Scoop the seeds out of the tomatoes and chop into chunks a size that won't anger the blender gods

2.  Cut up your onion, avacado, and garlic cloves in a similar fashion

3.  Throw all that, plus the fresh oregano, in the blender until it reaches desired consistancy

4.  Stir in your salt and pepper

5.  Heat on the stove top in a medium saucepan stirring often (the stirring often is because this stuff pops alot if it heats up too quickly....never really figured out why that is) 

   

Fire Cider - a winter must have!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been getting a head start on my Christmas gifts this year to avoid that awful feeling of total brokeness right after a last minute shopping binge. And THIS is the perfect gift!! Seriously!! What better gift than the gift of health, right? But get started on it early because it does take one month to brew.

So, a little info on Fire Cider: 

I learned about it during my studies with Nicole Telkes, of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine. There is much folklore surrounding this ancient recipe, my favorite tale being that looter's of homes during the black plague relied heavily on it to keep them from catching the dreadful illness. Whether this is true or not, you'd have to seek out for yourself. I'm going to believe it though, because personal experience has taught me: fire cider WILL save your ass.

The garlic is anti-inflammatory as well as being a naturally occurring antibiotic.  The serrano and ginger work to increase circulation in the body causing a warming effect. And the apple cider vinegar has an alkalizing effect on the body. 

Feeling a little stagnant, or like you're about to come down with something? A couple tablespoons of this will have you warmed up and back on your feet in no time! Fire cider is also great for: congestion, sore throat, digestion, gas/bloating, and allergies. Try it as a preventative or a rescue remedy! (Please note that I am not a doctor, so please don't come sue me because you made this and it didn't cure your cancer or whatever)

The recipe itself is free to be altered, what I have listed here is just what I put into my own brew this time around for convenience purposes. Alternative recipes include turmeric, oranges, onions, lemons, raw honey, habaneros, the list goes on! 

Making Your Fire Cider:

You'll need:

-Apple Cider Vinegar (unfiltered and/or unpasteurized is best)

-Garlic

-Ginger

-Serrano

-Any other superfoods or roots you find beneficial

- A large, clean, wide mouthed jar with a lid

-Another clean jar with a lid to hold your finished product

 *Organic/farmer's market/home grown is obviously the best choice for your ingredients. Seeing as this is not always possible, you can at least put on some feel good music and saturate your work with good intention ;)

 *Put however much you want of each ingredient in there, and no need to be shy on the peppers because it never really comes out as spicy as you think it will.

1) Chop up your garlic, serrano, and ginger. The finer you cut it, the more medicinal properties will be extracted. 

Make sure to cut your own fingers fourteen times so 

you finish this project looking like Edward Bandaid-hands.  

2) Pack the ingredients down tightly into a wide mouthed jar and cover completely with apple cider vinegar. Make sure nothing is sticking out above the vinegar or it runs the risk of going bad.  

3) Seal your jar, mark the date on it, set it somewhere in your pantry/cabinet and forget about it for a month! (If you want to go the traditional route, you can bury it underground for one full moon cycle)

4) When a month has passed strain the solids out (compost these), and store the remaining liquid in a clean glass jar. Refrigeration is not necessary, but it shouldn't harm your medicine to keep it there if it puts you at ease to do so. 

Let me again note that I am not a doctor. This blog post, along with all others related to "Psychedelicious am I", are meant for entertainment and educational purposes only.

Mexican Pizza

So this one is perfect for entertaining because 1)Who doesn't love pizza?! and 2)Its actually quite filling so you don't have to make a side dish to go with it....unless your friends are "those type" if ya know what I mean..

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 medium sized pizza crusts

1 large jar of your favorite salsa

1 can black beans

1 bell pepper, chopped

1-2 serranos/jalepenos/whatever floats your boat (optional)

1 medium red onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp cumin spice (or to taste - I use a lot of the stuff)

1 16oz bag of shredded Colby Jack

Salt and pepper to taste

P-P-P-Pizza Tiiiiime: 

1.  Check out the label on your pizza crusts for oven temp and baking instructions. 
2. Spread salsa over pizza crusts, then with a spoon disperse your black beans, cumin, minced garlic, and salt&pepper as evenly as possible.
3. Add a layer of cheese, then your other toppings (onion, bell pepper, pepper)
4. Add another layer of cheese, muahaha!
5. Continue to follow baking instructions for your pizza crust
6. Let cool for 5mins, cut up, and stuff your face!

Peach Ice Cream - that doesn't require an ice cream maker ;)

Can you say "HOMEMADE PEACH ICE CREAM" faster than you can drool?? Yeah, neither can I. So when my friend gifted me some homegrown organic peaches it was quite embarrassing to have to excuse myself to find a way to wipe up all that drool....
Enjoy and don't make a fool of yourself.

What you'll need (instead of an expensive and practically useless ice cream maker):
- Egg beaters...I just used a cheap little hand held
- Large bowl
- Enough room in your freezer for said large bowl
- Roughly 3 hours where you'll be somewhere near your freezer

Ingredients:
- 6 eggs (beaten)
- 3 cups sugar
- around 10 peaches (over ripe is best)
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half&half
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt

Ok, so here we go!

Peel and pit your peaches. I learned an awesome trick from my grandmother that works like a charm for this. Boil some water in a medium sized pot. Have a bowl of ice water next to your cutting/peeling/pitting/magic station. Drop a few peaches into the boiling water till they get hot. Then with a pair of tongs, move a peach over to the ice water. Dunk it in for a few seconds and then peel! Or let it peel itself because it pretty much does if you do it this way. Repeat peach by peach. It's kind of like juggling, but if you like cooking you'll have fun with it. 

Ok, so peaches are peeled! Mix all those ingredients together in a large bowl. 

Put mixture in the fridge for two hours. Then move to freezer for 30 minutes. Blend it again with your beaters. Another 30 minutes in the freezer, repeat beating. The more you do that the fluffier your ice cream will be. I only beat mine twice and it came out a nice consistency, slow melting, almost like...dare I say it?...Ben and Jerry's......mmmmm....

Be sure to share some with your friends! Only YOU can fight obesity ;)