Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Sesame seeds are key to making it pretty. This was my second attempt at enjoying this dressing, and it was a success. A friend had spoken highly of the sauce recipe, and so I tried it, but instead of putting it on roasted vegetables (as in the original  Smitten Kitchen recipe ), I thought it would be good on salmon and spinach. The result was way too rich and salty-tasting. But with the sweet nuttiness of roasted vegetables, this has the potential to become a new favorite meal. It's a good way to use tahini, if you are tired of keeping tahini around just to make the occasional hummus. Of course, it requires the purchase of another seldom-used ingredient: miso. Looks like I will be finding some more miso-based recipes in the near future... stay tuned. If anyone finds a good use for this sauce beyond roasted vegetables, let me know! It's delicious and I think there's good potential there... but the salmon debacle has left me reluctant to branch out at the momen...

Envision the sprinkle of paprika that would make this more photogenic. I've had a hummus breakthrough. Thank you,  Inspired Taste . I've been making hummus on and off for a while. It's always been better than most store-bought hummuses, but not better enough to get really excited about it. It's mainly been a texture issue... it's been kind of clumpy and not very rich-tasting, and I always figured that the rich creamy ones in stores and restaurants were laden with fats and/or chemicals to make them so. Turns out it's just a matter blending the ingredients in the right order. Tahini and lemon go first. Blend them for a good minute until they're kind of whipped together. Then comes the rest, minus water, and then the water. I also squeezed fresh lemons this time instead of using bottled lemon juice, and it makes a big difference. It's worth keeping lemons on hand. I briefly glimpsed something in the original recipe that debates the merits...

Pretty, right? When there's only one salmon filet left, we get to do decadent things like include half of a salmon filet with a stir-fry that already has tempeh in it. Both were good, though I think I prefer seafood with these flavors. I think next time I'll try shrimp. I really like this sauce because there's no oil in it! I don't think I've ever had such a delicious stir-fry sauce that wasn't oil-based. There is some sugar, but you really don't need a lot if your mangos are sweet. I work from  this recipe . Aside from subbing whatever proteins and vegetables look good that day, I haven't made any changes. Yum. The Recipe (makes enough sauce for about 4 servings): 2 fresh mangos, or  2c frozen mango chunks 1-2 tsp chili-garlic sauce (or chopped chilis and garlic) 1 tb rice vinegar 3 tb soy sauce 1 tb fish sauce 1 tsp lime juice 2 tb brown sugar (more or less to taste) 1/2 c cilantro, plus more for garnish protein and veggies for sti...

Check out the cheesy browned mushroom on the lower left. I want it. Alternate title for this recipe: "Use Up Any Mexican-Themed Ingredients In the Fridge." The ingredients are greatly interchangeable, but the method is good - layer a carb, veggies, salsa, and cheese. Bake. I do recommend the mushrooms and spinach, though... the mushrooms made it feel meatier and the spinach dissolves into almost a creamed spinach layer that was really delicious. It feels very similar to eating enchiladas, but without the effort of rolling each one up before baking. It's also easy to make while caring for a baby - the only part that can't be walked away from is sauteeing the veggies, and it can totally be prepared ahead of time and baked later. I had a bit of leftover sour cream so I put that in dollops between the salsa layer and the cheese layer, thinking it would melt down and give the whole thing some richness. It didn't... it just kind of separated out so there ...

Cheese. Since casseroles are often meaty and not often healthy, I don't make many of them. However, tuna noodle casserole is the perfect post-partum meal to have in the freezer. Aside from the obvious benefits of casseroles post-baby (easy to make, freezes well, cheap and quick to make in large quantities), I had been avoiding tuna during pregnancy for its mercury content and I was eager to start eating it again. This isn't the most healthy way to indulge in tuna, but it is delicious and easy, and I lightened it up as much as possible. I used  this recipe  as my guide, but I sauteed the onions, added other veggies, and seasoned the veggies. I also have no idea whether I followed their quantities of each ingredient, because I just did what looked right. The Recipe: 1 box whole wheat noodles (I used rotini) 3 cans tuna, drained 1 onion, chopped 1 bag frozen peas 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 c milk (I used almond milk) 6 tb cheddar cheese, shredde...

I must start remembering to photograph my lasagna on night one, rather than on leftover night, so the sauce won't look so dried up. It still tasted great. What should one do when presented with lasagna noodles in the pantry and a baby whose reflux gets worse if I eat too much dairy? Mix the cheese with tofu, obviously. I had this idea and didn't know whether it would work, so I googled around and it seemed that it would. This was my combination of several different recipes, and it was perfect. This will be my go-to lasagna recipe from here on out. I love being able to get more protein into my non-meaty lasagna! The Recipe (makes two lasagnas): 1 package no-bake lasagna noodles (Trader Joe's are the best I've tried) 2 32-oz jars tomato sauce (I like Classico Roasted Garlic) 2 packages extra firm tofu, mashed or food-processed to an even consistency 15 oz ricotta cheese 12 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced (or more if you're not limiting dairy) ...

I think I understand now why people like to snack on beef jerky. I'm including some options here, since the same method can produce two different varieties of tempeh, and the same tempeh can be served in a few different ways. For the sauce from scratch, I worked from  this recipe . My only ingredient change was to use balsamic vinegar instead of Chinese black vinegar, because I don't have Chinese black vinegar. (The first time I tried rice vinegar, but the balsamic version came out better). In terms of cooking method, I also seared the marinated tempeh before adding the sauce at the end (instead of cooking the sauce the whole time), just to make a bit less mess of the pan. But option: just use store-bought barbecue sauce instead, for a meatier, less Asian variety. For wraps, put the tempeh slices in a flour tortilla with greens, avocado, and red onion. But option: just eat it plain, maybe with coleslaw and corn muffins on the side. The Recipe: 1 package tempeh, slice...