Guys, I’m on a roll in the kitchen this week…
Sunday morning I did my weekly lunch prep of slicing bell peppers and strawberries. Then I cleaned out my pantry and cupboards and found some things that had fallen to the back/floor, and some stuff people just didn’t care for. I dropped the stuff we weren’t going to use off at a Little Free Pantry nearby. Then I used the Instant Pot to cook a pound of pinto beans, that was old. The internet advised cooking 5 extra minutes, which I did, but that resulted in very mushy falling apart beans. So I turned them into refried beans, and froze 6 bricks of them for future meals. Probably Bean & Cheese Quesadillas.
Then I used the Instant Pot again, to make 3 hard boiled eggs, and cooked a pint of liquid egg white in a silicone egg bite mold at the same time. I turned them into a vague version of this Healthy Egg White Salad. I did use the egg yolks from the three whole eggs, along with a pinch of mayo for flavor, plain lactose free greek yogurt, and tons of dijon mustard, fresh dill, and capers. (Celery is not allowed in my egg salad!) And finally, I made a fresh batch of Mike G’s pickled red onions.
Yesterday, since the Instant Pot was still out, I cooked a pound of chickpeas. I froze 2 bags (in 1.5 cups) for later, and turned the rest into a beautiful Chickpea Salad for dinner. I didn’t have quite enough cucumber, and no tomatoes, so I subbed in orange bell pepper and avocado. I topped it with the bright pink pickled onions, pepitas, and Za’atar. The fresh dill and lemon juice really sang through. I served it with some naan bread from the freezer, and we could not stop eating it.
Today I made a lovely Lemon Mint Smoothie for breakfast, but forgot to get a picture. The recipe is from In Good Health, by Rachel Riggs. It called for 4 romaine hearts, half an avocado, fresh lemon juice, fresh mint leaves, honey, salt, water and ice. I didn’t have romaine, so I used baby spinach instead, and added a bit of plain greek yogurt to up the protein content, and used plain almond milk instead of water. The fresh mint leaves and fresh lemon juice made it so bright. I tried skipping the honey it called for, but it tasted very strange without it.
After that, I tried to use up some walnuts that I found during the pantry cleanout, to make some Walnut Fudge Brownie Balls (Energy Balls). I was thrilled to see I had all the ingredients, but when I opened the bag of walnuts, I was sad that they had gone rancid. Since I had already pulled everything else out, I decided to just sub in pecans instead. OMG, they are AMAZING. Basically Caramel Pecan Brownie Balls, full off better-for-you stuff than actual brownies. These are better than any dessert I’ve had in ages. I liked them so much, I wrote up my adapted recipe and posted it here on the ste.
. Anyway they’re really soft, and at least I can taste some sweetness, the oat flour, and a tiny bit of the blueberries I put in it (still had some frozen blueberries in the freezer from a few months back).
. I thought, ok, if I have trouble mixing in the milk into the caramelized sugar, I’ll let it cool then add it…I made caramel cottage cheese sauce, HAH!
