Creations

One of my favorite things to do is cook, but not just any old cooking will do.  I love to create and explore beyond the realm of a normal boring recipe.  There are very few recipes that I will follow to a T.  I always like to throw in little extras to really make the meal mine.  One of the problems with this is that if I get a complement (which I ALWAYS do from Nathan, pretty sure he is a liar!) I can never remember exactly what I put in the dish or how long it was cooked for..ect.  I NEVER measure ingredients, I am a rebel like that.  *Which leads to the point that although I may be a good cook, I am a terrible baker*.  Many people with Crohns Disease have a really hard time eating well, especially with the dietary restrictions that I have (no gluten, very little dairy).  I take my love of cooking as a plus to a debilitating disease, I LOVE experimenting with other ingredients that mimic the ones that are forbidden. 

One of my most favorite breakfasts of all time is one that I did not make any changes to...although I might in the future.  I found it on Pinterest of course, it is perfect for dietary restrictions and is very gentle on the belly.  You need exactly 3 ingredients, I kid you not, just 3!  Honestly, I am not sure that I would have even tried this recipe, except my lovely Nathan surprised me with breakfast in bed one day, and had scoured my Pinterest account for the perfect meal to make me. Yes, I am a lucky gal!  These "pancakes" are hearty and filling 2 eggs, 1 banana, and couple shakes of cinnamon and viola!  Here is the link from Pinterest

http://6006px.blogspot.com/2014/02/3-ingredient-pancakes.html

After smooshing all 3 ingredients together simply pour into a skillet and flip after 30 seconds to a minute.

Here are my finished pancakes!  I don't use syrup or butter on them and they are moist and freaking fantastic!

This year Nathan and I have a huge garden. I posted about gardening several months ago, now the garden is overflowing with delicious veggies.  I am ecstatic!  I love. love. love. creating any type of food with fresh veggies, especially if I grew them myself.  My garden is all organic * no pesticides*, and surprisingly doing very well, the only thing we lost was the spinach..too hot, too quick = flowering, bitter spinach.

Yummy, freshly picked!

 Today I made some cucumber salsa...which is pretty much just all of the regular salsa ingredients, plus chopped cukes :)  It is so yummy and refreshing, I cannot wait to dig up some potatoes and have a baked potato with cuke salsa on top....maybe tomorrow!

Nathan has been requesting pizza, for the past several days...I used to make the cauliflower crust pizza, which we both love, but is time consuming * I should reintroduce that, I haven't made it in forever!  Sometimes if I am super lazy I will make crust with gluten free bisquick, or a gluten free Bobs Red Mill bag.  But not today.  Today I tried something totally different, and it turned it fabulously!  I made a "Pizza Quinoa Bake"  I will actually attempt to post ingredients to this, because it was fantastic and could be eaten at pretty much any meal.  Initially I was going to make this dish vegetarian, as we really don't eat much meat, but at the last minute I decided to add some fresh mild Italian sausage.
Please forgive me for guessing the amounts of each ingredient remember I don't measure, yikes..
-Boil one cup of quinoa in 2 cups of water covered, and then simmer for 20 minutes.
-Sauté 1 lb of Italian Sausage, with 1 cup of onion (I used green onion from the garden), and I threw in a handful of mushrooms. (really just throw in any veggie you want!)
-Chop roughly 20 cherry tomatos, and add to a medium bowl along with 2 eggs, 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 tbsp. basil, 2 tbsp. Italian seasoning (I use grinders), roughly 1 tsp paprika, and a couple shakes of salt....I also did add cheese, it would still be fantastic without though.  I grated about 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese into the bowl. 
- Pour the quinoa and sausage mixture into the bowl and mix well.
-grease a pie pan, muffin tins, anything with sides, pour mixture in and toss in the oven for roughly 20-25 minutes.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes before you cut it.

Side note- Nathan requested more cheese the next time I make it.  I may use goat cheese then as I can eat more of that it doesn't bother my dairy sensitivity.  If I do add more cheese I think it would be good to add on top with about 10 minutes left to bake.

I served this pizza quinoa bake with a dollop of pizza sauce, but honestly it was great without the sauce too!  Here is what we have all been waiting for...the finished product!

This recipe is a must, you can thank me later!

XO