Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

  Decorated by Miles I might stick with this recipe in the future even on occasions when we don't need it to be gluten-free. It's delicious. Perfectly fluffy, with just the right level of moisture, and not too sweet until you add the frosting. In fact, I may use this as a "carrot muffin" recipe without the frosting. I used  this recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring . I made no changes except that I used store-bought frosting. I'll bet the frosting in the recipe is better, but who's got time (or an electric whisk) for that? The Recipe (from Gluten Free on a Shoestring): 2 1/4 c gluten-free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1) 1 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp cinnamon 3/4 c sugar 1/2 c brown sugar 1/2 c neutral oil 4 eggs, beaten 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 1/2 c milk (I used oat milk) 1/2 c chopped pecans 3 large carrots, grated Combine dry ingredients Mix in wet ingredients Fold in pecans and carrots Place in prepared pans - make ...

  I recommend going heavy on the peanuts I recently finally branched out and tried something new at  Angkor Cambodian Restaurant , and now I'll never branch out ever again because my new favorite dish is too good. They call it Cha Krung, though I've seen a lot of other spellings in my attempt to find recipes. It's a lemongrass stir-fry and they do it with green beans, carrot, onion, and jalapeno, with peanuts on top. The peanuts are amazing in this, but I also really love the way they stir-fry the jalapeno as a vegetable, by removing the seeds and veins and slicing it thin. In my version above I used what I had, which was broccoli, eggplant from the garden, thai chilies instead of the jalapeno (but I'm going to grow jalapenos next year for this purpose), and fresh basil since I found a lot of recipes calling for it. And tofu, though it sounds like chicken is most traditional. I was a bit discouraged when researching recipes because I would need to acquire fresh lemongra...

Showing off my banchan setup I've been trying for a long time to branch out from  doenjang jigae  (not that I'm tired of it), and I keep trying to find soondubu jigae that I like, but until now I hadn't succeeded in either a restaurant or a recipe at home. I prefer it without seafood or meat, and as much as I like kimchi, I don't love it in stews. So in the end I keep having stew that feels like it's missing something. But this one! This one is delicious. I worked from  this recipe from Food52 . It's the first soondubu jigae recipe that I've found that has gochujang and doenjang, so maybe it's less traditional than some, but I like it. It gives it the richness that I enjoy in doenjang jigae, but it's different enough that I feel like I have a second korean stew in my repertoire now. My changes were to omit the kimchi and to substitute dried shiitakes for the enoki mushrooms, though I'd love to use enoki mushrooms in this when I have some. This wa...

  Next time with toasted sesame seeds on top? I had a hot tip that green beans were good with ssamjang, and I've been waiting for this summer's garden green beans so I could try it. I came across  this recipe  and was intrigued by the inclusion of fresh tomatoes, so I used it as my starting point. My changes were baking the tofu (with olive oil and salt) instead of steaming it, skipping the black pepper, and adding a chopped thai chili that I'd found in the garden when I went out for the green beans. I think there's room for more experimentation, and I'm thinking it'll be a drizzle of sesame oil at the end, plus some toasted sesame seeds on top. But I love the richness of the tomato+ssamjang, and it was a great spice level. The Recipe: 2 handfuls green beans, trimmed 1 fresh chili pepper, minced 1 block tofu, cubed and fried or baked 2 whole tomatoes, boiled a few minutes until softened 1/2 onion, sliced 1 tb ssamjang salt, to taste rice, for serving In a pan, s...

  If I'd known how good this would be, I would have taken a better photo. Will update next time. The inspiration for this one came from the same place as the pav bhaji -  Beryl's video  about foods that kids love around the world. And just like the last one, the kids weren't into it (yet?) but the husband loved it. The only time I'd previously had groundnut stew is at  Cafe Yumm . It's my favorite soup to put in their "souper" bowl, which reminds me that I should have set some of this stew aside to make my own Yumm bowl with it. Next time. This version is much better than the one at Cafe Yumm, and the husband says it's his new favorite food. It's going into the rotation. I worked from  this recipe  from SimplyRecipes, and the only changes I made were to make it vegetarian. I replaced the chicken stock with vegetable stock and I replaced the chicken with Quorn's Meatless Chicken Pieces, which I know is a weird unnatural and probably unhealthy fo...

  This looked like too much red onion, but it was actually not enough. I watched  this Beryl video  about meals that kids love around the world, and it said that kids in India love pav bhaji. I had doubts that my kids would be into it, but I thought it looked delicious, so I looked it up.  I used  this recipe  from Ministry of Curry. The only changes I made were 1 red bell pepper instead of half of two different peppers, snap peas instead of frozen peas because I have lots in the garden, no tomato paste because I didn't have any, a few more tomatoes to make up for that, and unbuttered untoasted brioche buns instead of buttered toasted potato buns, because that sounded better to me. When I saw Beryl's plate with all of the red onions, I didn't get it. I get it now. Lots of red onion is the way to go. One kid didn't like it and the other wasn't even willing to taste it, but I have hopes for the future. Also, it seems like it would be good just over rice with ...

  Nobody point out to the kids that this muffin is green. This is the latest installment of my ongoing efforts to get the toddler to eat more vegetables and fiber. Both kids like these, and nobody has questioned the greenish tint. I worked from  this recipe . The changes I made are: adding spinach, replacing the two egg whites with one whole egg, replacing the honey/molasses with extra brown sugar for FODMAP reasons, and adding some (gluten-free) flour because I just didn't trust that oat bran alone would allow these to set in the oven. The Recipe: 1c oat milk 1 egg 1/2c frozen spinach, defrosted 2 tb canola oil 2c oat bran 1/3c brown sugar (or a little more, depending on toddler's pickiness level at the moment) 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/3c gluten-free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1) 1/2c blueberries In a food processor (I used a magic bullet), blend the spinach with the milk, egg, and oil. In a bowl, combine this mixture with the sugar. Add the dry ingredients a...