Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Low-FODMAP baby is thrilled to have "pizza" I can't figure out how to get a good photo of this food. It looks better in person. I love Beryl Shereshewsky's "Around the World" YouTube food videos. When she did  this one about rice paper , I was excited to see what was there besides spring rolls. The very first recipe was for this Vietnamese pizza, and she was so excited about it that I had to try it. Now I'm excited about it too! Hers was apparently the traditional version, with Laughing Cow cheese and pork floss. I didn't have pork floss, nor was I especially interested in getting any pork floss. But I do love some Laughing Cow cheese! I also googled for other ideas and found one recipe with tuna and kewpie mayo, another with just egg and cheese, and lots with various meats.  I mixed and matched and I have made a few varieties now. They have all been good. My personal favorite had leftover latkes crumbled up, a bit of cheddar, some fried shallots, an...

  I now realize that I should have take a photo when they were looking beautiful in the pan. We eat a lot of meals of just various banchan with rice, and I'm always looking for more protein options to include. I recently tried these in lieu of my usual rolled-egg omelet thing, and I'm hooked. Both kids devoured them too, so it's a keeper. I followed  this recipe from My Korean Kitchen . I made no changes. The Recipe: 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled 4 tb soy sauce 2 tb brown sugar 1 c water 2 tb mirin 1 stalk green onion (preferably the whites) Place all ingredients except the eggs in a pan, and bring to a boil over high heat. When it comes to a boil, remove the green onion, reduce the heat to medium, and add the eggs. Simmer 15 minutes, occasionally rolling the eggs around. Cool the eggs in the sauce, and eat cold. The Verdict: Overall grade: A Overall reason: Easy and cheap and healthy and so delicious. Time to prepare: 20 minutes, plus time to cool Husband quote: "Oh, the...

Way prettier crust than I could make myself. I had convinced myself that frittatas were just as good as quiche, but then I found myself with some extra frozen pie crusts (I had bought backup before making the Thanksgiving pie), so I decided to make quiche. And, yes, it's better than a frittata. I worked from  this SimplyRecipes recipe . I substituted almond milk for the milk and cream, and I used red onion this time because I didn't have shallot, but I'll use shallot when I have it. I skipped their step of sauteeing the onion/shallot first, and it was fine. The only other change I made is that I had way more egg filling than would fit in one crust, and since I happened to have two frozen crusts, I spread it out into the two. It was almost enough to fill both. So I've adjusted the recipe to have just two more eggs and fill the two crusts. It's easy enough to freeze an extra quiche. (I read that the best reheating instructions are to heat it at 350, from f...

Cast iron pan = Stone pot Bibimbap is one of my favorite foods, and it's also one of my favorite ways to use up whatever vegetables I have on hand.  I used to make it just in a bowl, and then I'd pay $17 at a restaurant for the luxury of having bibimbap in a stone pot. But THEN I watched this video of my current favorite YouTuber  Maangchi  make bibimbap, and I saw how easy the stone-pot part of the process was, and then I confirmed via google that you can make stone pot bibimbap in a cast iron pan! I just happened to have a new-to-me small cast iron pan, so I couldn't wait to make this happen. This is what I used to make, pre-cast-iron. Not anymore. The Maangchi video gives a good overview of the different ways to prepare vegetables. I generally improvise these days, but I've taken lots of cues from her. The one thing I do that I don't think is traditional is that I like to lightly pickle any carrots and cucumbers that I have, and then I add them cold at the...

Celery, not mold. I used to not understand the attraction to deviled eggs, until I started putting crunchy additions into them: celery, raw onion, bacon, etc. Then they became one of my favorite things. The downside of adding crunch is that it makes them more addictive to eat, and I want to stand in front of the platter and down several of them at once and ruin my appetite for dinner. But I guess that's an ok problem to have. I used to improvise something involving crunchy things, mustard, and sometimes pickles or capers. Sometimes it would turn out great and sometimes it wouldn't. So for this Thanksgiving, I looked for a recipe that sounded similar to mine and found  this one on Food.com . And now I'm documenting it so I can replicate it in the future, because they were delicious. My changes from the original recipe: I omitted celery seed and added celery. I used white onion instead of scallions. I used caper juice instead of pickle juice, because it's w...

Rice cake optional. Did you ever wish you could just eat guacamole for your meal, but then you feel like you should eat something with more substance/protein? I experience this wish often. And so, in a stroke of genius, I chopped up a hard-boiled egg and mixed it into my guacamole. It's a great way to bulk up your guacamole, or to remove the mayo from your egg salad, depending on your angle. I like the crunchiness of a rice cake to offset the mushiness, but it would also be good on regular bread or just with a fork. The Recipe: 1 egg, hard-boiled and chopped 2 tb guacamole  (I just mix 1 avocado with 1 tb lime juice and a pinch of salt, and maybe some red onion if I feel like it) Fold egg into guacamole. That's it. The Verdict: Overall grade: A- Overall reason: Nutritious comfort food - always the goal. Time to prepare: 30 seconds, if you have guacamole and hard-boiled eggs on hand Husband quote: (The husband is anti- hard-boiled eggs.)

The photo makes me want to eat it again. Sometimes, Pinterest tells you to put goat cheese, harissa, avocado, egg, and honey on toast. And you obey. At the time, I was searching for inspiration to use up some leftover goat cheese. I happened to also have a surplus of avocado, harissa, and eggs on hand. It was meant to be. We agreed that this was something we'd find at  Off the Waffle . If you replaced a fluffy, buttery liege waffle with sesame Ezekiel bread, that is. The Recipe: 1 slice toast 1 oz goat cheese (I used herbed) 1/8 avocado, sliced 1 egg, cooked to your liking dollop of harissa drizzle of honey Top toast with harissa, goat cheese, and avocado. Place egg on top, and drizzle with honey. The Verdict: Overall grade: A Overall reason: Decadent and not unhealthy Time to prepare: 10 minutes Husband quote: "This is my new favorite breakfast."

Cake? Muffin? Microwave-baked Thing? Call it what you wish, but I like it. Disclaimer: This is probably not a recipe that will wow your brunch guests. It may not wow you either, if you're not always obsessively seeking the Most Nutritious Breakfast like I am. But if you are, then maybe you'll be as excited about this as I am. Since I like to eat the same thing every morning, I want it to address my dietary needs as well as it can. For me, that means lots of protein and fiber, and as many other good nutrients as I can pack in without too much sugar, diary, or starch. And it has to be fast to prepare on groggy school mornings. When I found  this recipe , it seemed to fit the bill. I was skeptical that a microwaved egg with flax meal would taste good, but it's not bad! And when you add some fruit into the mix, I dare say it's quite good. With the addition of fruit, I found that it doesn't need the oil listed in the original recipe. It also doesn'...

Caramelized smoked salmon. Need I say more? It's hard to write out this recipe, because I rarely make it the same way twice. I use whatever vegetables I have, I change the ratio of egg-to-other-stuff to suit my whims, and I adjust the cooking methods accordingly. To summarize: Definitely include: -Smoked salmon (today I used garlic-pepper smoked salmon) -Goat cheese -Dill -Egg Optionally include: -Caramelized onions -Non-caramelized onions -Spinach -Asparagus if it's in season -Shredded potatoes -Some number of egg whites in place of some of the eggs It's hard to go wrong here. The only hard part of making frittatas, for me, is remember that after a frying pan comes out of the oven, the handle is hot. I always use my oven mitt to take it out of the oven, but after that moment, I REPEATEDLY forget that the metal handle can't just be grabbed as if it had been used on the stove top. One day I will learn. All layered up, read...