Homemade Salad Dressing

Once we started paying even more attention to food labels and added sugar, we noticed that salad dressings almost all have sugar. So we started making our own at home. They are easy, tasty, and much more wholesome than anything on the grocery store shelves.

The basic idea for a vinaigrette is a combination of oil, vinegar, and spices. The trick is finding the ratio of oil to vinegar that you prefer. I usually aim for two parts oil to one part vinegar. I also find that the dressing is easiest to mix if made and stored in a small glass jar. Shaking the jar emulsifies the dressing better than whisking. Here are some of our favorite combinations, but this is another area where it's easy to play around with different flavors. A helpful tip: to taste the dressing, dip a lettuce leaf in. This gives a better idea of how it will taste on a salad, while tasting it on a spoon (or a finger), is misleading.

Italian--olive oil, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper (optional)

Balsamic Vinaigrette--olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper

For a light, fruity option, use a fruited vinegar (like raspberry or pear) with a neutral oil like canola or sunflower (plus salt, pepper, and maybe some herbs).

Another really great dressing/dipping sauce is honey mustard. If I'd known how easy this is to make, I would have started doing it years ago!

Honey Mustard (from the Help Your Diabetes program)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons mustard (we prefer plain yellow, but any type can be used)
Whisk together to combine.

The one dressing we haven't successfully made at home is ranch, but at the moment, we've got a bottle of Dion's ranch in the fridge, so I'll wait a while before experimenting with ranch again. :-)

Quinoa Three Ways

During our visit to ABQ, I ended up mentioning quinoa, which my family hadn't heard of yet. It's an "ancient" grain from South America, and it's become very trendy lately. Mark and I first tried it a couple years ago, but I burned it, and it was awful, and we hadn't tried again until this fall. We were on a very restrictive medical diet (which we're not following anymore, but which did introduce us to some new foods and habits we are still using). Anyway, quinoa was one of only 3 grains we were allowed to eat (the others were buckwheat and amaranth). Needless to say, we found ourselves quite willing to give it another try, and I'm so glad we did. Here are three ways to eat quinoa--not recipes so much as ideas, each with rather unlimited variations!

1. Breakfast

The restrictions on grains meant that I couldn't eat my default breakfast of cold cereal with milk (dairy was also out on this diet...). We did have hot buckwheat cereal (think oatmeal meets cream of wheat) and eggs, but I was really craving my old standby. I'd seen recipes online for breakfast quinoa, and decided to try it myself.

This one's really simple: just cook a batch of quinoa according to the package directions (usually rinse it, then bring 1C quinoa and 2C water to a boil, then simmer till the liquid is all absorbed, about 20-30 minutes). One batch makes 4-5 breakfast servings for me, and I cook it in the evening ahead of time.

Then, in the morning, I just scoop out about a cup of the quinoa and add whatever toppings I have on hand and am in the mood for. Pour on some milk (I happen to prefer almond milk with the flavor of quinoa, but dairy milk works, too), and it's homemade cereal! I love that I can avoid all added sugars and have a wholesome, minimally processed breakfast. Despite the fact that we're not following the strict medical diet, I haven't felt the need to go back to boxed cereals--this is way better!

Here are some of my favorite topping combos, some more healthy than others, but variety keeps things interesting. :-) The basic idea is fruit (dried, fresh, or frozen--no sugar added) + nuts + spices. These flavors also work well in steel-cut oats, which I prepare in batches as well, just adding toppings and heating in the microwave in the morning.

• raisins, dates, walnuts, cinnamon
• bananas, walnuts, cinnamon
• strawberries and/or blueberries, sliced almonds
• apples, walnuts, cinnamon
• kiwi, blackberries
• coconut, almonds, cocoa powder (if you use unsweetened coconut, you might want to add a bit of honey; alternately, you can use chocolate chips instead of the cocoa powder). 

2. Lunch

Instead of sandwiches for lunch, we have been eating more salads. A quinoa-veggie salad is a nice change of pace from lettuce-based salads. For this option, quinoa that's been cooked in chicken (or veggie) broth is the most flavorful, though quinoa cooked in water certainly works as well.

This meal is also a great way to clean out the fridge! Basically, just mix up the quinoa with chopped vegetables, top with a bit of salad dressing (balsamic vinaigrette and Italian work well). For crunch, add some sunflower seeds. For some creaminess, add some avocado. For the veggies, I like tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, cucumbers, radishes, sugar snap peas, etc.

3. Dinner

Quinoa also works well in pilaf-style side dishes, served hot. Here are two combos we've enjoyed:

quinoa (cooked in apple juice or water), diced apple, green onion, and pecans
quinoa (cooked in broth), broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds

Sweet Potato Hash

During the fall, Mark and I discovered how much we like sweet potatoes! In the past, I never would have chosen them; now I can't get enough. This is a really tasty way to enjoy sweet potatoes. Mark reheats them as a side dish with his eggs for breakfast.

Sweet Potato Hash
Yield: approximately 4-5 servings

3-4 medium sweet potatoes
olive oil
seasonings to taste:
salt
pepper
oregano
cumin
garlic
green chile powder (look for it in grocery stores in ABQ)

Dice sweet potatoes (I scrub them well and keep the skin on). To speed up the cooking process, I microwave the diced sweet potatoes for a few minutes (stirring halfway through), then add them to a preheated pan with the olive oil and spices. Stir to coat everything, then finish cooking on the stovetop till potatoes are lightly browned and tender.

Buckwheat Pancakes

It seems like it's been a while since I shared any recipes here, but I've got quite a few new ones in our regular rotation. So I'll try to get some of those (and maybe some of the new ones I try going forward) posted here.

When Mark and I first got married, I agreed to learn how to cook, but I warned Mark that he shouldn't expect me to cook breakfast--it would be cereal or he'd have to do it himself. In reality, he often drove through for fast food, but that's changed over the last couple of years. Occasionally, I would cook something like breakfast burritos for dinner, then he'd have leftovers in the morning. A year or two ago, I started making a breakfast casserole on the weekend for him to reheat during the week. Then he learned how to make scrambled eggs and frozen hashbrowns on his own. Back in September or October, though, the meal plan we were on had a recipe for pancakes, which felt like a really indulgent treat at the time, so I went ahead and made pancakes for breakfast. It may not have been the first time in our married life, but certainly the occasions that I'd cooked breakfast in the morning were extremely few and far between. As it turned out, we weren't crazy about that particular pancake recipe, but we really liked the idea, so I cobbled together my own recipe instead. After some tweaking, we settled on the recipe below, and it's turned into a Saturday morning tradition.


Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour (find online at Amazon or in specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods)
1/2 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons coconut oil (can probably substitute vegetable oil or butter, though I haven't tried)
1 1/4 cup almond milk (or dairy milk)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons honey

1. Combine the dry ingredients.
2. Cut in the coconut oil.
3. Combine the wet ingredients.
4. Combine dry and wet ingredients and stir until well mixed.
5. Meanwhile, preheat two large skillets and spray with oil.
6. Pour approximately 1/4 cups of batter for each pancake (I can fit 3 in each skillet).
7. Cook about 1-2 minutes on each side.

Yield: 15-18 small/medium pancakes, 3 servings

Serve with pancake syrup or maple syrup.

Optional toppings: nuts, fresh fruit

To avoid additional sugar, you can also make fruit-based syrup. Two options we like are:

• A very ripe mashed banana with cinnamon and a bit of water to thin it out.
•  Berries--fresh or frozen--heated on the stove and mashed up a bit to make a syrup

Note the cute heart-shaped pancakes made with pancake molds from my stocking at the Cook family Christmas this year--thanks again, Mom!

Winter Open House

On Thursday, I hosted another of my semi-annual open houses. Despite truly awful weather (wind chills below zero), many of my friends stopped by, and it was a great time to catch up before the semester starts. As I often have, I forgot to take pictures once people arrived, but I did get some nice shots of the food! There are some old favorite recipes here, plus a few new ones I tried: the spinach artichoke dip, blackberry white chocolate scones, and mini-quiche. (All very tasty!). The big hit of the afternoon, though, was the Pistachio Bread. I served Monk's Blend tea from Hadley's Tea Shop in Albuquerque in the new tea pot I got for Christmas, which kept the tea piping hot (under a tea cozy) for hours! All in all, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Welcome 2015!

It seems like at this time of year, I should take some time to reflect on 2014 and look ahead to 2015. In many ways, the past year was full of challenges as well as disappointments, but there are certainly many things to be thankful for as well. Here's a short, certainly incomplete, list:

• Mark and his friendship, support, and love. This summer, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and as mushy as it sounds, I do love him more and more each day. We've been through a lot together, and knowing that he's always there, no matter what, is such a blessing. 
• Health. Though Mark in particular has faced a number of challenges this year, we've finally got a clear diagnosis for him (after months of testing this fall), and things are stable. Also, we're both eating well and in physically better shape than we've ever been. We know that there are a lot of things about our health that are not in our control, but we're both committed to investing our time and energy in the things we can improve. We hope this will have good returns for us in the future. 
• Employment. While we had hoped to be starting a new chapter in a new place last summer/fall, we ended up in BG for another academic year. We have high hopes for what 2015 will bring for Mark's job hunt, but in the meantime, it's amazing that I've been able to hold on to a job here amid yet another round of layoffs. Though it's meant a move to a new department and a few related issues, it really has been a good opportunity for me to dust off my first-year writing materials. Who knows--it may also be laying the foundation for whatever comes next for me professionally.
• Travel. I think Mark and I had our busiest summer ever in terms of travel. We started out with our awesome Walt Disney World trip, then joined Mark's family for their annual visit to Missouri and Arkansas, and wrapped up with an anniversary trip to Niagara Falls. Great memories!
• Family. As always, I'm so grateful for my family, extended family, and in-laws. We're truly blessed to be loved and supported by so many gracious, generous, hospitable, kind, and fun people. 

As for 2015, I don' think I'll make any resolutions, per se, but here are some things I'm thinking about.

• Attitude of thankfulness. Back in November, I did a small gratefulness challenge. The objective was to write down three things each day I was thankful for, in hopes that it would contribute to a better attitude overall. It was a good exercise, but I've definitely got more work to do in this area. 
• Fitness. Beginning in the fall, I got more structured with my strength training routine, but I also lost ground in terms of flexibility. I'd like to keep up with what I've been doing and make sure I add regular stretching back into the routine. 
• Food & Cooking. Thinking about, buying, and preparing what we're going to eat each day seems to take a significant amount of my time and energy! In the last several months, we've made some big and small changes to how we eat, and I'd like to keep the ball rolling there. Specifically, I want to be sure to continue trying new, healthy recipes on a regular basis (say, one per week?). I also want to find all the wonderful ways to use my fancy new food processor to make kitchen prep work easier (and potentially more cost effective). I think we might also be ready to try out a CSA, but that'll be something to explore later in the spring. 
• Leisure. I'm the type who likes to finish things; sometimes I write things down on my to do list just to be able to have the satisfaction of crossing them off. Mostly, this trait is fine, even helpful. But when it comes to leisure activities like reading, TV, and movies, there is a downside. Namely, even if I'm not particularly enjoying the book/show/movie, I generally feel compelled to finish it. After watching a mediocre movie on Netflix and reading yet another chapter of a book I wasn't really into, I decided this habit needs to be changed. I think I'll try a 15-minute rule: if I'm not having fun by then, I should give it up and move on (without any guilt!). There's endless entertainment out there, but my time isn't unlimited, so if I'm not having fun, I need to leave it unfinished. (By the way, I did quit reading the previously mentioned book, and started a new one, which I am thoroughly enjoying--it's working already!).

Well, I'm sure there are things in both categories that I've overlooked, but this seems like a start. It'll be interesting to see what this year will bring!

Christmas 2014

A few days ago, we got back from another wonderful Christmas in Albuquerque. As always, the highlights included quality time with our families and great food! We were also overwhelmed by generous and thoughtful gifts, and we got to see a dusting of snow on the ground the morning after Christmas. Here are a few pics:

Decorations at our apartment in BG.

More decorations.

Frosting sugar cookies at the Cook's our first night in ABQ.

Like father, like son.

Mark with our awesome niece and nephew.

The table for the annual Mother-
Daughter Tea hosted by my mom

The mothers and daughters :-)

The Cook family Christmas Eve tradition is dinner (this year, homemade egg rolls), followed by Christmas carols (always ending with the 12 Days of Christmas), the reading of the Christmas story, and exchanging gifts from the siblings.

Family pic on Christmas Eve (Grandpa joined us via Skype!).

Christmas morning! We start our day with a flurry of gift-opening in the early morning at the Cooks...

 

...then head over to the Gnerich's for the rest of the day. This year, we had a wonderful breakfast, opened presents (always one-by-one, savoring the process), and had another excellent mid-day meal. 

Breakfast egg casserole. 

Homemade cinnamon rolls (the pic doesn't do them justice!).

Surprised by a snowy morning on 12/26!

We saw this giant snow plow truck driving down Paseo...
a bit of overkill, perhaps? :-)

Lunch date at Gardunos!

Although I was trying to be proactive about taking pictures, there are many things we did that didn't make it on film, including a tasty meal at Grandma's, various shopping adventures, and hanging out. Overall, we had a wonderful visit--thanks to each of you who helped to make it special!