Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

I tried to angle the bread so you couldn't tell I took a bite first. This is a great healthy summer-ish recipe that's still rich enough to be satisfying. It's hard to NOT create something satisfying when guacamole is involved, but the salmon is really good too. And a chunk of yummy bread on the side helps. I've been on an avocado kick, so it was only a matter of time before I combined it with salmon. I usually like to pan-fry my salmon, but I tried broiling it because that was more conducive to taking care of a baby at the same time, and it was delicious! I still like the crispiness that you get in a pan, but I'll take this for how easy it was. I used Tony Chachere's blend (it's the only spice blend I bother keeping in the pantry), and it was perfect. No need to figure out how to balance cajun spices from scratch here. The Recipe (serves 2): 1/2 lb salmon (I like skinless to go over salad) 1 tb Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning (or ...

You'd never know the magical powers of this unsuspectingly delicious muffin. I'm still not sure whether there's any statistically significant benefit of lactation cookies/muffins, or whether they're just an excuse for women to eat baked goods in their first weeks of motherhood. But I'm willing to keep eating these muffins either way. I've tried a number of different varieties in the past few weeks: really delicious cookies (too much calorie consumption while being stuck at home all day), really delicious muffins (same deal, and they didn't have as much of the beneficial ingredients as I wished they did), really disgusting healthy cookies (chock full of the healthy stuff but it's a stretch to call them "cookies"), really REALLY disgusting oatmeal (it went into the garbage uneaten), and finally, these muffins. These are the winners... lots of galactagogues, not too many calories, and just the right level of decadence such that I look f...

Yes, the raisins are giant. This latest installment of healthy bran-based muffins will likely be the last thing I cook for a while, as I'm 4 1/2 days away from Baby. There are now several batches of these in the chest freezer, ready to sustain a couple of frazzled new parents for a while. These muffins are a tiny bit more involved than most of the other things I bake, since they involve shredding carrots and apples. But I just toss both into the food processor with the regular blade and let 'em go, so the only extra work really is cutting the apple and then washing the food processor.  They're worth the work. They are tasty and also really good for, um, digestion. An excellent choice for an easy daily breakfast. I follow  this recipe . My only changes are switching to whole wheat flour and baking them a bit longer. Also, I leave out the nuts because I don't like the texture of nuts in muffins, but objectively I think nuts would be delicious in these, ...

Ok, I may have forgotten to take a picture of this meal until after we'd finished eating it. To be updated next time I make it... and there WILL be a next time. If only clams were cheaper, we would eat this all the time. So good, so easy, pretty healthy. I followed  this recipe  and didn't make any changes, and I don't think I'll be making any changes in the future. The only better way I've ever made clams is steamed in sake, but this is the way to go when you have leftover white wine in the house. Especially if you're pregnant and can't just drink the wine. The Recipe (serves 2): 3 lbs steamer clams 1 c white wine 1/2 c parsley, chopped 2 tb butter 6 cloves garlic, chopped drizzle olive oil crusty bread for serving Saute garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add clams, cover, and steam until clams start to open, about 5 minutes. Add butter and cover again until clams are c...

I love red onions, but they look kinda slimy in a stir-fry, don't they? I should really do a Julie/Julia thing with the  Pinch of Yum blog , because I've probably cooked my way through 10% of her recipes already. At the very least, I need to go back through my blog entries and categorize together everything I've made from the blog. In the meantime, I'll just say a big thanks to Lindsay for providing us with so many fantastic meals. She has yet to lead us astray. For this one, I followed the exact sauce recipe from her  Honey Ginger Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry recipe . I bought baked tofu from Trader Joe's instead of frying up tofu of my own (my pregnant achey hips are eager for short-cuts in the kitchen right now), and I grabbed whatever vegetables looked fresh and easy to prepare. Those ended up being asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, red onions, and celery.  The sauce has a real ginger punch but it's perfectly balanced with the honey. I also really l...

Woah yum. In case you haven't noticed, I've become a fan of oat bran muffins. Today, I wanted to use up some leftover chopped pears, and I came across  this Farmgirl Fare recipe  that would not only use the pears and oat bran, but also the candied ginger leftover from my (thankfully over) days of morning sickness. I made a couple of changes in the recipe, just for convenience: -I had no wheat bran, so I used 2 c oat bran and 1 c Fiber One cereal, ground in the food processor. -I was short on honey, so I used 1/3 c honey and 1/3 c brown sugar. -I was a little short on pears, so I filled it out with some applesauce. It was delicious, but I'll go 100% pear next time. These will be made again. They're delicious, hearty without being too heavy, and the pear and ginger flavors make them stand out from your ordinary muffin. I'd serve these for house guests or bring them to a brunch potluck... they're a winner. The Recipe: 2 c oat bran 1 c...

Like big pumpkin cookies. These are maybe a little bit too good. I want to snack on them all afternoon. They're fluffy and just the right amount of sweet, and they remind me of oversized pumpkin cookies. Next time I make them I'll have to add more healthy stuff - lots of ground flax seed and maybe some whole oats in addition to the oat bran? - just so I'm not as tempted to devour them all as unnecessary afternoon carbs. They're super easy and certainly healthy-ish in their current form, which I got from  this recipe . My only change was that I doubled it and then increased the amount of pumpkin by about 1/2 cup, so it would use up a 15oz can. Because although pumpkin lattes sound like a great idea, any leftover pumpkin in my fridge would likely go forgotten. I also used 2 whole eggs instead of 4 egg whites, again to avoid having any waste leftover. The Recipe: 3 c oat bran 1 c whole wheat flour 1 c brown sugar 4 tsp baking powder 2 tsp pumpkin...