Soup Planned
It’s soup season again! Though I prefer summer weather I love fall foods! Squash, corn, and soup are the foods for us in autumn. I’ve enjoyed two new soups made by friends and family in the last two weeks. For the whole summer, four different soups! All wonderful. I will be making my own renditions of the most recent soups over the next couple of days.
The first soup I’ll be making is a Mediterranean soup with a chicken base, with tomato and clams for a different taste. My mom first made it two weeks ago. It was so good, it may become a favorite.
The second soup, as made by a good friend, was a vegetarian black bean soup. It was spicy and thick. Rick even said that the way it was made he didn’t feel like he was missing meat. At the moment money is tight. Meat is expensive when compared to veggies or bulk dried items. Money saved is good. Nutrition kept is even better.
New Soup Goals
Last year, I spent the fall and winter, and even a few summer days perfecting chicken soup. I discovered roast chicken makes the best stock and froze a ton of it. This years plans are to experiment outside the basic chicken soup. I want to add beans, use only stock, try vegetarian (for fun and financial). I want a soup to discover a soup I’ve never had before – or make a soup, I’ve never made before. It will be an exciting soup searching journey! Gluten-free of course!
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I’m a little behind on updating about my lovely herb garden. It is thriving! I have rosemary, sage, margoram, thyme, oregano, lemon verbena, fennel, chives, basil, borage, and two kinds of mint.
They have now grown enough for me to use them in cooking! I’m so proud of my little herbs – I feel like a mother. Haha.
Herb Garden Early
Here is my “baby” a couple weeks after planting. It’s so cute!
Herb Garden
The big one in the back is the borage. It is the fastest growing herb I have. The funny thing is I use it the least. At some point I will make a post about it – I use the flowers in tea, it’s good. More experimentation will occur over the rest of the summer. From what I’ve read, it will stick around and spread crazily. I must learn how to use it well. One good thing about it is my dad’s bees love it. So honey for us!
Namaste Foods Vanilla Cake with Strawberries
In the last few weeks, while I have been away from my blog I have been doing a lot of cooking. Rick, wanting something tasty asked me to pick up some treats. Some of the gluten free treats were either not good or bothered him anyway. (It appears that chocolate is not a good choice right now. I have heard that it is hard to digest for people whom have issues already, like Rick and my own mother.)
I will admit that I tend to pick things up that esthetically pleasing. So we checked out the cute, simple paper bags labeled
Namaste Foods. They make all sorts of things. So far we have tried the pancake mix and now the vanilla cake mix. The pancake mix, titled
“Waffle & Pancake Mix”, is awesome. It isn’t overly sweet, the texture is decent and they smell great! Though I don’t eat regular pancakes, due to them making me feel ill (too much sugar and additive), I love these! With butter and honey they are perfect! The only difference I noticed was they don’t rise as much as regular pancakes.
The “Vanilla Cake Mix”
was our experiment today. I was a little nervous because the dry mix didn’t smell wonderful. However, once in batter form it smelled good and tasted good. (Yes, I know you aren’t suppose to eat raw eggs, but well I love batter.) Once cooking, it filled the apartment with lovely aromas of flour and vanilla. It was great, lighter in texture than I expected and not too sweet. Rick loves and said that all it needed was whipped cream. I liked it a lot as well. The only thing I would change is maybe add honey and vanilla extract to the batter. I would have added vanilla, but I couldn’t find my gluten free extract today.
So, though we have only tried 2 products, I like Namaste Foods . They seem to have good quality ingredients, and actually taste great!
Everyone loves breakfast. The kid in me loves to have it for dinner. Usually it’s yogurt and bacon, eggs and toast. This time I put a different spin on it. You’ll need eggs, bacon, chicken thigh, lettuce, grated parmesan, avocados,and salad dressing.
• Scramble the eggs, use seasonings coriander, salt, red pepper, basil and oregano. Add a little water, as it evaporates it seems to make the eggs lighter and fluffier. Instead of using Pam use organic butter.
• Frye the bacon slowly to desired crispness.
• I made baked chicken thighs the night before so I just warmed up the two left over. It is of course organic and free range so it has the best flavor and I’m supporting being kind to your food and the environment.
• Cut up an avocado, place in a bowl for when the salad is ready to be adorn.
• Organic romaine lettuce is the most nutritious and best tasting in my opinion. Tear into bite size pieces. Add the avocado. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and your favorite healthy salad dressing. One of mine is Annie’s Naturals Tuscany Italian Dressing. It is gluten and soy free and vegan. They have other great dressing.
• Use sea salt for chicken and eggs.
This dinner is high in protein which is important for me because I am very picky and don’t eat a lot of meat. But this appeals to the kid in me while still being nutritious. The romaine and avocado provide lots of vitamins. Enjoy with a glass of distilled water, or organic sparking cider.
I have an ice cream about which to rave! Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss. As of now I have tried only their Bare Coconut. It’s made out of coconut milk and agave juice. Being that I am lactose intolerant I am very excited. I have tried soy ice cream and rice ice cream. I’m not fond of either. I may go back to try the Rice Dream Ice Cream, because my taste has changed in the last few years. I might like it now. I’m not hopeful. I avoid soy because of some of the literature I have read about it. Avoiding it is just easier than worrying if estrogen-like chemical in it is going to mess with my already sensitive system.
At first I didn’t know what to think about it. I’m not a huge coconut fan. Honestly, I only eat it fresh or in a cookie on occasion. But after the first initial flavor/texture “shock”, I went back for more. It is very creamy. I like the slivers of real coconut in it. The coconut flavor is not overwhelming. And I don’t have that horrible craving for more. I love sweet things, but I hate how the mainstream sweets make me feel crazy. I want more, and more and feel addicted to it. This doesn’t happen with Coconut Bliss. I have a little bit and I’m done. It’s awesome!
They have an awesome little site. They list different flavors, explain about coconut milk and agave juice. They have a where to buy section and the other typical ones every site does, about us, contact us. Check it out and good eating!
Coconut Bliss
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The Dark Chocolate Flavor
