Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Also makes for a good wrap. Ever since Jess confessed that he really doesn't like tempeh, I've been searching for a good alternative to  buffalo tempeh . I've been eager to make chickpeas in the instant pot, so I was excited when I saw this  Kitchen Treaty recipe  for buffalo chickpea salad. First of all, chickpeas that have been cooked from dry beans are SO much better than canned chickpeas. It's night and day. I actually snacked on some chickpeas plain, straight from the instant pot. I will be making many more chickpea recipes now that I can make good ones so easily. In the original recipe, she outlines instructions for just sauteeing the chickpeas but she mentions that she used to go to the trouble of roasting the chickpeas to get them crispier. I sauteed them and thought they were good, but the idea of crispy roasted buffalo chickpeas, especially in the context of a salad, sounds worthwhile. I will roast them next time and update this post accordingly

Makes this many, minus the ones I ate while rolling them. This recipe (which is not healthy-ish by any stretch of the imagination) comes from my friend's friend's mom. We all did Christmas Eve together throughout my childhood, and as soon as I was old enough to try the rum balls, I was hooked. It's easy with the help of a food processor. The hardest part is not snacking on too many nilla wafers before it's time to make them, and then not having enough to complete the recipe. They keep well in the fridge or freezer. The Recipe: 2 1/2 c vanilla wafers, crumbled (this takes just less than one box's worth) 1 c chopped pecans, food-processed into a crumble 2 tb cocoa powder 1 c powdered sugar 1 stick butter, softened or melted 1/4 c rum 3 tb honey About 1 c granulated sugar, for dusting Mix crumbs, cocoa, sugar, nuts, and butter Add rum and honey Refrigerate one hour Roll into 1-inch balls Roll in granulated sugar The Verdict: Overall

My technique has room for improvement, but they held together. I have never succeeded with make-ahead burritos before, because the rice always dried out and got weird. But then I saw  this recipe from Kitchen Treaty  and realized the secret - mixing the rice together with wet ingredients. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, and it was perfect. The original recipe gives options for adding chicken or omitting cheese, neither of which I did. The only change I needed to make was discovered after I used up my last tortilla and I still had half of the filling left. Maybe I could have stretched more filling into each burrito, but I like them the way I filled them, so I just modified my recipe below to use more tortillas. I also used a bit of extra cheese. I used this recipe for the refried beans: http://healthyishpseudofoodie.blogspot.com/2017/12/refried-black-beans-instant-pot.html The Recipe: 2c refried beans 2c cooked brown rice 1c salsa (I used restau

I'm not sure how to make refried beans look photogenic. These are delicious and easy. I made them to go in burritos, but I will likely make them again as a side dish. I will try to remember to take a picture next time, before I do something like hide them in burritos. It came from a variety of online recipes, modified to suit the ingredients we had. I would still like to experiment with this as a one-pot dish, maybe sauteeing the onion and garlic first in the instant pot, then adding the beans, and cooking it all together. But this was easy enough. The Recipe: 1c dried black beans, rinsed 1/2 onion, peeled 1 bay leaf 3 c water 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste 1 tb vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 pickled jalapeno slices, minced Put the beans, 1/2 onion, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp salt, and water in the instant pot. Pressure cook for 35 minutes, then wait for it to naturally release. Discard the bay leaf and onion. Saute the onion

I'll replace the ugly steamy picture if I remember one day. I have spent a lot of time searching Pinterest for more Instant Pot recipes, and this one came up with good reviews. The flavors are super vibrant and it's so, so healthy. And much to my surprise, it's toddler-approved! I served it alongside latkes, and he ate absolutely none of his latkes but finished his soup. Go figure. I minced all of the vegetables in the food processor to get them very very fine, because I'm opposed to having pieces of mushy vegetables in my soup. My only change to the original recipe is that I lowered the amount of salt because I used regular (not low-sodium) vegetable broth.  The Recipe (taken from  Kitchen Treaty ): 2 tb olive oil 1/2 yellow onion, minced 2 carrots, minced 1 stalk celery, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp cumin 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste 1/4 tsp pepper 1c dry brown lentils, rinsed 4c vegetable

Tastes better than it looks. I realize that this is the kind of thing I should probably be able to do without a recipe, but the seasoning was so good this time that I'm going to write it out as a guide, to be modified by what vegetables I have on hand. The Recipe: 2 tb olive oil 2 onions, quartered 3 stalks celery, including leaves, cut into chunks 3 carrots, cut into chunks 8 cloves garlic, smashed parsley or carrot tops 4 sprigs thyme 3 bay leaves 2 sprigs rosemary 6 quarts water 3 tsp salt Put everything in dutch oven. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 2-3 hours. Cool, and drain out the solids.

Beauuutiful. My mother-in-law makes a really good raw cranberry relish (with apple and orange), so I haven't had cooked cranberry sauce in a few years. But I started seeing some recipes for making it in the INSTANT POT and since I had some leftover gravy to use up, I decided it was a good excuse to try another instant pot recipe. I went with this  Zen and Spice recipe  because it looked easy and because I was excited about the cinnamon. The cinnamon was a good call. It makes it feel really warm and rich, instead of just sweet and acidic like sometimes cranberry sauce is. I'll be making this again. The Recipe: (Taken from  Zen and Spice ): 12 oz fresh cranberries, rinsed 1 granny smith apple, diced 1 orange, zested and juiced 1/2 c sugar 2 tb maple syrup 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp sea salt Place cranberries, apple, orange zest, and orange juice in instant pot.  Pressure cook for 1 minute. Natural release for 7 minutes. Change to Saute setting, and mix in t

Now I want to eat more of them. This recipe is not even remotely healthy. But it's really delicious, and there is a time and place for brownies, and I want to make sure I never lose this recipe. I've actually been making this recipe since college. I think my junior year roommate found it, and we were on board because it's easy and it was labeled  Best Brownies , which seemed like it couldn't be bad. They are super rich and chocolatey and decadent. They keep well, and taste best on the 2nd or 3rd day, if you can possibly wait that long to finish them.  On a whim for a holiday party, I added some peppermint extract to the fudge topping, and it was a success. I bet other flavors (orange? almond? HAZELNUT?) would work too. The Recipe: (taken from  AllRecipes.com ) 1/2c butter 1c sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2c flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking powder For the frosting: 3 tb butter 3 tb unsweetened coco

Carrots optional. I put together this salad for Thanksgiving from a mixture of different recipes. It seemed like it would be a good basic salad to complement the Thanksgiving flavors. I underestimated just how good it would be! The dressing is simple but so, so good. The toppings worked perfectly together, and they were indeed complementary to a Thanksgiving plate. But the salad itself ended up being one of my favorite things on my plate. This one is a keeper. The Recipe: 1 small shallot, minced 3 tb balsamic vinegar 1 tsp brown mustard 1/2c extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper, to taste 10oz baby greens  1 c pomegranate seeds 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled 1 pear, chopped 1/2c toasted pecan halves Combine shallot, balsamic vinegar, mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. (I used a magic bullet.) Layer other ingredients and toss with dressing. The Verdict: Overall grade: A+ Overall reason: Simple, delicious, and versatile Time to

It's worth it just for the boozy cinnamon stick. Here's to new Thanksgiving traditions. This didn't take too much effort, it uses two of the only liquors we actually tend to have in the house, and it's absolutely delicious. I need to invest in a long thin spoon so I can get fruit out of the pitcher in a more predictable fashion. This time I just poured the sangria into cups and hoped for the best, and each person got a varying amount of apple/cranberry/pomegranate, and no one got oranges.  The recipe was a combination of a few different sources, and it's a keeper. Before sitting overnight. The Recipe: 2 oranges, 1 juiced and 1 sliced into pieces 1 bottle pinot noir 1.5c pomegranate juice 1/3c triple sec 1/4c brandy 2 tb lemon juice (for me, this was half of a large lemon) 3 tb sugar 1 apple, sliced into pieces 1/2c pomegranate seeds 15 cranberries, halved (optional; this was festive but I don't think it added much

Big globs of cheese are underneath the smooth-looking surface. The good: -It's super easy to make. I prepped the ingredients in the food processor the day before and it took minimal time and effort to make this come together in the instant pot. -It tastes good. It's rich and creamy and flavorful. -I like that it has carrots in addition to the broccoli. It's healthy, underneath all of the cheese. The less good: -Health-wise, it's a lot of cheese. -I couldn't get the cheese to incorporate. I shredded a fresh block of Tillamook cheddar, which I know melts and incorporates well in things like mac and cheese, but I ended up with clumps of cheese sinking to the bottom. Maybe I added too much at once? -Some combination of the cheese and the roux stuck to the sides and bottom of the instant pot. It wasn't cooked on or anything, but it was sticky and hard to clean. I would make it again when I'm in the mood for broccoli cheddar soup, but I&

Rustic charm. I took a brief break from Instant Potting to bake some bread. Ok, so the bread is to go with some Instant Pot soup, but the point is, I turned on the oven for the first time in a while. I wanted something crusty to dip into soup, and I found this recipe . I followed the instructions exactly, except that I didn't bother with the intermediate "cutting board" steps; I just moved it from bowl to bowl to dutch oven. I also floured the dutch oven, which the original recipe doesn't say to do, but I didn't want to risk it sticking. I may continue to refer back to the  original recipe  when making this bread the next couple of times, but I'll summarize the process below in less detail for when I get it learned. The Recipe: 1 packet active dry yeast 1 tsp sugar 1.25c warm water 1.5 tsp salt 2.5c flour, plus extra for dusting Combine yeast, sugar, and water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add salt and flour and mix just until the

Served over some Spanish rice that isn't worth blogging about. One of the main reasons I was excited about the Instant Pot is that it's really easy to make dried beans. This was my first venture into dried beans in the instant pot, and there will be many more. It's delicious. The texture is so much better than dried beans, and the flavor is fresher, and they're healthier and cheaper. There's no going back.  I worked from  this recipe  and I followed it exactly, except that I accidentally doubled the amount of vinegar. I corrected that mistake below, so let it be noted that if I follow the below recipe next time and it lacks some punch, I should go back to doubling the vinegar. I also used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I soaked the beans for about an hour, but the original recipe says this isn't necessary.  The Recipe: 1c vegetable broth 1.5c water 1c dried black beans, soaked for 1 hour 1/2 onion, chopped 2 cloves g

Success. A short time ago, I was one of those people who didn't understand the Instant Pot fuss. I already had a crock pot, I didn't care much about pressure cooking, and it seemed like all of the other functions could just as easily be done in a pot. Then I needed a new rice cooker, and the Instant Pot Duo Mini was on sale for barely more than a cheap rice cooker, and the extra little cost was worth it to me to have a stainless steel pot (as opposed to the nonstick coating on most cheap rice cookers). So I got it as a rice cooker, and I figured maybe I'd try out some of the other functions sometime if I felt like it. Fast forward 3 days, and I've used it 4 times already. It makes amazing rice. It makes easy, quick, steel cut oats. I can now say I've made my own yogurt. But this risotto is the most exciting thing I've done with it so far.  I second the things that every instant pot risotto recipe blogger has already said: It's easy, it

Fluffy. This started as do most green tomato recipes... with a gigantic pile of unripe tomatoes in the Fall. I gave them a couple of weeks to ripen inside, and at the end, I had about 1/3 of a gigantic pile of unripe tomatoes that were still showing no signs of a color change.  Uninspired by the ideas of green tomatoes, green tomato chili, or green tomato chili/soup, I found some green tomato bread recipes. I found a few with good ratings that were extraordinarily unhealthy, and as I was calculating how to make them a little bit better, I found  this one , which seemed like what I was plotting to do. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I substituted the white flour for all whole wheat flour, and I substituted some of the flour for oat bran. I also skimped on the sugar a teeny bit. It was plenty rich, so I think if I might it again, I might replace even more of the sugar and oil with applesauce. Another change that I made inadvertently was swapping the amounts of b

Smells like pesto. Having discovered farro through  this salad , I was interested in trying it in other recipes. I found  this recipe on Smitten Kitchen  and it seemed like a good idea, given the explosion of tomatoes and basil in the garden right now. Given the basil, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan, it tastes like pesto. Like a warm, hearty, bowl of grains with pesto, plus sweetness from the slow-cooked onion and tomato. This might be a summer-only recipe, since I think it really needs fresh tomato and basil. But I will be making this regularly until tomato season is over, and I'll look forward to bringing it out again next summer. My only changes are using black pepper instead of red pepper flakes (because I like it better) and slightly reducing the amount of water, since I had a lot of cooking liquid left at the end when I made it with the original proportions. One of the comments that I read in the Smitten Kitchen review section for this recipe put forth

Next time maybe I'll put the seeds under the bacon so they meld more with the farro? I came to this recipe in a circular pattern of events, and it is one of my new favorites. It started with lunch at the fantastic  Camas Country Mill , which is a magical place with magical bread and, on that visit, this magical salad. I loved it so much and I thought about trying to make it at home, but I wasn't sure where to start with the dressing and also I've never cooked farro, so I was willing to leave it as a magical memory and hope to see it again on a future return. Except the pepitas. Miles ate many of them off of my salad and he loved them so much that he asked me to buy some. So I bought a big tub of pepitas the next day. And in true toddler fashion, by the next day he didn't like them anymore.  This led to a Pinterest search for recipes involving pepitas. And what did I find before my very eyes?  This salad from food52 . Now, maybe they stole it from Camas

The potatoes are hiding. The chard in my garden has grown like crazy this summer. Previously my only chard recipe was  this pizza , which is delicious, but it was time to branch out. After some Pinterest searching, I came across  this recipe from Food.com  for saag using chard. This kills two birds with one stone - it uses up some chard, and it also continues my quest for a good saag recipe.  And it succeeded! This will be my go-to saag recipe for now, and I hope it works just as well with spinach when I don't have chard sitting around. In addition to the fresh chard, I used potatoes that I grew, garlic that I grew, and onion that I got at a farm stand. With all of this freshness abounding, I felt a little weird using curry paste from a jar. But the flavor turned out to be really delicious. Some of my Indian recipes fail from either my unwillingness to measure spices or from not having fresh enough spices, so I might start using  this curry paste  more often. Actuall

There would be more nori if the 2-year-old nori monster hadn't eaten most of it. Pre-parenthood, I used to make sushi a lot. Now I just throw a bunch of sushi ingredients in a bowl and call it good. It tastes almost the same. I vary the ingredients a lot based on what I have available. But with the  Oregon Lox Company  down the street, I almost always use their ridiculously delicious garlic-pepper smoked salmon as the protein. The Recipe: cooked rice (sushi rice and/or black rice), mixed with a splash of rice vinegar protein (smoked salmon or other) vegetables (I like avocado, cucumber, and green onions) sesame seeds or rice seasoning toasted nori soy sauce or sesame ginger dressing (below) Dump everything into a bowl and eat. Sesame Ginger Dressing: (adapted from  Spend With Pennies ): 2 tb soy sauce 1.5 tb avocado oil 3 tb rice vinegar 1.5 tb sesame oil 1 tb lime juice 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tb honey 1 tb ginger, grated 1 tb water

If you put the feta under the veggies, it hits your tongue when you bite into the sandwich This is one of those meals I turn to after a stretch of eating poorly. It's light and healthy and has lots of veggies, but if also has bread and cheese, so I don't feel deprived. It's perfect on a hot day, too. I have varied ingredients depending on what I have and what's in season. This time, I had good lettuce in the garden, so I went with pretty typical salad ingredients. Other times, I've roasted vegetables and used that as the base of the salad. I would have added banana peppers if I'd had any, and I imagine that other people would enjoy olives in this. It's worth home-making the  hummus , especially if you have fresh parsley in the garden that can be blended into it. (See the green specks? So good.) And I recommend buying whole feta and cutting it into slices. It's less messy than crumbled feta, it tastes stronger, and it's usually ch

Toddler's First Crunchy Taco For a long time, I've put  beans in my taco meat  to make it less meaty. But I'm in a phase of just really not liking meat at all right now, and I was missing the flavor and texture of a good old crunchy taco with ground meat. Beans alone wouldn't cut it. So it was time to figure out how to make tempeh taste good in taco form. I found  this recipe , which I didn't follow too closely, but it gave me the idea that ended up being the answer to flavorful tempeh taco filling. You toss the crumbled tempeh with taco seasoning and a few tablespoons of water, and let it marinate. That did the trick - all of the taco flavor I was craving. When I set out, I wasn't planning to deglaze the pan with pickled jalapeno juice, but it was really dry and the tempeh was starting to stick to the pan. It was the perfect solution, balanced out by the sweetness in ketchup and some extra tomato for flavor and moisture. It tastes better th

Spring! This recipe comes from  Joyful Healthy Eats , found via Pinterest. It's simple, delicious, healthy, and easy to make. It's good warm, cold, or at room temperature, so it's perfect for potlucks. This is a keeper! My only changes from the original recipe are that I used walnuts instead of pecans (because I had leftover walnuts from making charoses), I grated a clove of garlic into the mix instead of using garlic powder (I highly recommend this), and I used more goat cheese (because goat cheese).  This is such a versatile recipe; it could be made with many combinations of vegetables and other ingredients. I should eat more quinoa salads. With goat cheese. The Recipe: 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1" pieces olive oil and salt for roasting asparagus 1/2 c quinoa 1 c water 1/3 c walnuts, chopped 4 oz goat cheese 1 garlic clove 1 tsp red wine vinegar 1 tsp olive oil salt, to taste Coat asparagus in olive oil a

It was actively bubbling... I should have taken video instead. Several months ago, someone posted on the "Eugene Foodies" Facebook group that they made pizza with a base of Toby's Feta Dip and sriracha sauce. And there was bacon on the pizza, along with some other stuff that didn't interest me as much. This sounded amazing, and I love Toby's Feta Dip, so I made a mental note to try it the next time I had the dip on hand. On this first effort, I used too much dip - I applied as much dip as I would tomato sauce. I knew this wouldn't be health food, but I didn't anticipate just how creamy and oily the pizza would be. It was delicious, but next time I'll cut the amount of dip in half. I did the dip to sriracha ratio by slowly adding more sriracha and tasting along the way. I stopped when there was just a subtle kick. I think next time I'll try it spicier, but this was good. For people who like roasted red peppers, I feel like that wo