Peanut Butter Pie and Broccoli Soup

Today I made something delicious. Any day I say that must be pretty good, right? My creation today is a delicious peanut butter pie, minus the crust as we had no cookies and I didn't feel like making a crust. I used the recipe here.

Peanut Butter Pie Minus Crust

It turned out lovely and creamy. I only made half the recipe and less of the chocolate topping as I only had a bit of chocolate, which is another reason why it is in ramekins. It is super quick to whip up too! I'll definitely be making this again :).

My husband Bran, on the other hand, made a delicious cheesy broccoli soup! I think this is the first soup he has made, and he did a great job :). The recipe is sort of a mash up of different recipes i've read, so it's sort of original? It makes a lot of soup <3 some for the freezer I think! I'll leave it here for anyone who is interested. 

Broccoli soup

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

4 potatoes (5-6 small)

1 liter Stock

2 heads broccoli

2 cups shredded cheddar

1-2 cups Milk (cream, cream cheese, etc.)

Olive oil/butter 

Salt and pepper

Dice onion,  fry at the bottom of a 5 lt pot and until browned using butter or olive oil. Add garlic and stir until browned. C

hop up cleaned potatoes into 1 inch cubes, a

dd potatoes and stir for 30 seconds. Add stock, bring to a boil then cover and set on low heat.

Preheat oven to 150 C. Wash broccoli well. Chop up, including broccoli stems. Place on cookie sheet and toss with a bit of oil. Cook in oven until browned, about 20 minutes.

Add broccoli to soup once browned. Turn off burner. Add milk. Make sure soup is not too hot and add cheddar, mix until melted.

Blend with immersion blender until at the desired texture (or mash with potato masher and have it chunky). Add salt and pepper to taste.

This time Bran used some cream in place of some of the milk. It would also be good using cream cheese or sour cream, probably yogurt would be alright. You could use veggie stock and soy milk, ignoring the cheese, to make it vegan. Such variations! 

In other news, i'm nervous about the upcoming surgery. I'm not looking forward to the recovery mostly, but i'm so glad Bran was able to get a few days off with such short notice. Plus he has friday and monday off to celebrate good friday and easter (not that we celebrate either...maybe celebrate a late Mabon?), so there is some extra time that he'll be around to help me out. Mostly i'm concerned about stairs, as we live on the first floor. I'm pretty sure they have you on crutches for about the first five days, so I think i'll just have to take it nice and easy. 

My R hip has been a bit painful today, otherwise i'm alright. No mood swings. 

Puppies and Cakes

Milo's paw continues to look bad :( we are doing salt water soaks. If it's not looking at least a bit better tomorrow i'll bring him to the vet (who is luckily just down the road!). Now it's time for Downton Abbey :).

P.S. I made cupcakes :D I used this recipe that I found from Down to Earth. I also halved the sugar and used cream cheese frosting left over from valentines day (kept in the freezer). They came out quite lovely!

My Valentine

Back is feeling a bit better :). Today was valentines day, so I made Bran some yummy cupcakes and meatball subs. Using chicken mince for the meatballs. Yum.

The cupcakes were originally going to be red velvet, using beet juice as dye, but I added a bit too much coco powder so they were basically just chocolate. Still quite yummy and I do so enjoy cream cheese frosting. Here is the original recipe. I did make some changes; I used less sugar, more coco power (and by default less flour), and used half a cup of sour cream (very thick) and half a cup of boiled and squeezed out beet water/juice. I think the color would have probably been fine if I hadn't added the extra coco powder. I used my usual recipe for cream cheese frosting.

I didn't make the flower on top, but i'm getting better at piping :).

My stomach is a bit twisty today...i'm not sure if it's all the sugar or if I caught something...

And Bran got me flowers <3 I do so love my husband!

Flax Bread

I did some low carb gluten free cooking today! I made a flax meal (also known as linseed meal) bread using the recipe from here. I was actually quite skeptical as sometimes flax can have a bitter taste (though, that flax was probably rancid), but it turned out quite well! It still has a seed-y sort of taste, but it's tasty enough that I think it might be a staple food during my low carb adventure.

Did I mention i'm trying out a low carb diet? One of my teachers was talking about how we should experiment with different diets to understand how our clients will feel, and while I don't think naturopaths advocate low carb diets it will be one that our clients will choose to be on for one reason or another. Plus i'm hoping i'll lose some weight >.>.....and it'll make being gluten free more interesting. I've been going down on my carb limit day by day and currently i'm on 50 g per day. I may lower this once i've gotten the hang of cooking some of the bread alternatives and whatnot, as I really can't stand eating mainly protein (and it's expensive), but for the time being 50 g per day is alright :).

Here is the recipe I used, I halved it (giving half an egg to my dog) and used two thin pieces to make a sandwich. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flax seed meal
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder (gluten free)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 Tablespoons sugar equivalent from artificial sweetener
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare pan (a 10X15 pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.

1) Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.

2) Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter.

3) Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.)

4) Pour batter onto pan. Because it's going to tend to mound in the middle, you'll get a more even thickness if you spread it away from the center somewhat, in roughly a rectangle an inch or two from the sides of the pan (you can go all the way to the edge, but it will be thinner).

5) Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browning even more than flax already is.

6) Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want. You don't need a sharp knife; I usually just cut it with a spatula.

Nutritional Information: Each of 12 servings has less than a gram of effective carbohydrate (.7 grams to be exact) plus 5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 185 calories

Counselors and Hollandaise

It's been a long day. Mostly because i've been a bit of a mess. Luckily today I was scheduled to see my counselor so I could talk things over with her. I'm missing my family back in the USA, some of whom I know are going through a tough time. It's a bit difficult to get in contact with them because they are all so busy and tend to be asleep most of my day (the day and night are reversed in Oz vs USA). It's been hard for me to be away from them, both when I feel like I should be there helping and when I wish someone could help me. I know everything will work out alright, and i'll just need to keep trying to keep in contact.

Other than that I made poached eggs with hollandaise sauce for dinner :D. It was a pretty easy little sauce, made much easier with the help of a double boiler (aka a big bowl I have over a little pot XD).

Easy Hollandaise Sauce (rough estimate of ingredients)

1 1/2 TB butter

1/2 TB lemon juice

1 egg yolk

3 TB thickened cream*

1/2 TS dijon mustard

Pepper to taste

Melt butter in double boiler. 

Add lemon juice, yolk, and cream. Whisk continuously until thickened. 

Take off heat and add mustard and pepper to taste. 

* Pouring or whipping cream should work fine :) 

This made enough for four eggs worth of coverage. Very yummy <3. Keep in mind you can add more of pretty much any ingredient to taste, just be careful it doesn't get too hot and split. 

Ranty Rant

I was quite frustrated today. I have been in a bit of a flare, but I don't want to take the prednisone :(. You'd think mtx and plaquenil would be enough? I'm also worried i'll end up on biologics....at the same time it would be awfully nice to not be in pain every day. I'm not sure that my husband is really getting it. *sigh* Usually he is really lovely and helpful but lately he has been complaining a lot more. We've been cleaning up our recently purchased apartment before we move in, and he just does not want to do it. But I cannot physically do everything. It's just frustrating...if I could then I would :(. We've had a talk about it though, so hopefully he is be a bit more considerate about that.

Seeing the rheumatologist again on Wednesday. I need to remember to ask about the itchy scalp since starting plaquenil and the random reactions to elastic in clothing...

Rice-beans-chicken mixture is still going well. It made a lot more than I though! Yeah economical! It was basically; black beans, brown rice, a can of tomatoes, some left over pasta sauce, an onion, spices, mixed frozen veg and leftover chicken thrown in....but somehow it made an awesome burrito/quesadilla  filling.

Brownies and War

I made brownies today :).

Big, chunky, gooey, brownies.

Great with a cup of strong coffee for afternoon tea.

Beyond that I watched a movie called The Flowers of War. It was a very sad movie about the Japanese attack on Nanjing in 1937. A westerner runs into a group of covent student and a group of prostitutes and becomes their protecter in a way. There is violence against children and rape involved, so this is not a good movie for people who are sensitive to those topics. It was difficult to watch but an interesting movie none the less.

Then I made brownies. Here is the recipe. I mostly followed it other than cutting back on the sugar.

Back was painful today, R foot is still weird but otherwise not too bad.

Room Spray...of DOOM!

Hm. My day was not very interesting i'm afraid. I'm a bit concerned about nerve pain i'm getting down my R leg. Other than that I had some blood drawn for a few tests (darn vampires!) and hung out with my MiL Sarah :).

Oh! I did make an experimental room spray using a few tablespoons of vinegar, about a cup of water and some lavender and clove essential oils. It sure smells nice but we'll see if it actually gets rid of dog smell ;).

Goodnight.

R elbow is sore, both wrists and hands, R knee was especially sore, and R foot is being weird.

Not much to report on :) handing in hopefully the last of the paperwork tomorrow to both the bank and the lawyers. We should hear back from the bank maybe monday I should think. I made butter cookies :) slightly spiced. They are addicting.

Butter Cookies

250 g butter (softened)
1 C powdered sugar
2 1/2 C flour
1 ts vanilla
pinch of salt

1 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts cloves
1/4 ts ginger
1/8 ts nutmeg
(spice measurements are estimated, I kind of just use however much I feel like)

Cream butter and sugar until smooth and changed colour. Mix in flour in three increments. Add in vanilla, salt, and spices. Roll into two 25 cm logs, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Bake at 180 for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy with a strong cup of coffee, yum :). You can also use just the first half of the ingredients for a plain butter cookie or add in cocoa for chocolate...the possibilities are endless!

Anyway, Bran had a stressful day at work so I made him cookies <3 aren't I a nice wife?

R hand and R foot are sore today. Feels more like tendon pain. I do think pain levels in joints have gone down a bit. Some tummy upset today. Decreasing prednisone.

Chicken Meatballs and Evil Banks

Ah dear..ok so bilding inspection today. That turned out pretty much as we expected it, some little pluming things, railing on balcony will need replacing and of course the roof (and floors >.>). Other than that the building is structurally good.

On the other hand, heard back from the bank. The want more papers and to have Bran be the only one on the contract. Thats fine, but that means an extra fee for the solicitor. Blah. They also want proof that we've paid off part of Bran's student loan. We have payed off a chunk, but we have another chunk we'll pay off tomorrow. Now i'm worried they'll think we are irresponsible or something T.T. So much anxiety surrounding this. *sigh* It'll just have to be one day at a time...one step at a time..Bed soon.

Not too sore today, R hand a bit. R foot a bit. Still tired, but better than yesterday.

On a lighter note I made some yummy chicken meatballs! They had secret mozzarella in the middle ;) which ended up being not so secret as it squeezed out a bit >.> but still tasty! I used a take on this recipe using chicken mince instead of beef and whole milk mozz instead of low fat. I didn't have any hard cheeses so I added more bread crumbs (which were actually cracker crumbs) as well as fresh garlic and onion as opposed to powdered. Other than that I followed it >.>. Anyway, they came out really well, even Bran really liked them <3 maybe something new to make for dinner :).

Smelly Stew for the Pesky Pup

What a day. I'm a bit sore and tired today, despite a sleep in. Bran and I didn't end up having our date :(. We are quite concerned about Milo's paws and decided to watch after him today. If they don't improve i'll be bringing him to the vet. On a different but related note, we made Milo some doggy stew (that is, for dogs, not made of dogs). It was a fish base using this recipe at Down to Earth. I didn't use pasta, instead adding more brown rice in it's place. It was indeed quite smelly from the fish, but Milo seemed to like it and it seems pretty nutritionally sound. We will be giving him yogurt and sardines as well for calcium as he can't handle raw bones.

On the other hand, Bran thinks the Nundah apartment is a good idea :) so i'll be getting in contact with Sam tomorrow to talk about a contract. It's a great apartment, with some improvements it'll be spectacular! It's not in an ideal position as it's a bit far from the train but it's a nice suburb and we aren't likely to get as nice of a place for that inexpensive. So cross your fingers for us!

GF Pizza and a Date

Today I had a nice date with my Husband :).  We went out to one of our favorite restaurants (I think I may have eaten gluten >.> did get some tummy cramps) and went to a travel expo (and played 'who could get the most pamphlets' which of course my poor Husband ended up carrying home ;) ).  We walked along Southbank and talked and talked. It was nice to be out with him, it seems like we've both been so busy lately. It was good to re-connect. Then I made pizza and we watched anime. A wonderful end to a wonderful day with a wonderful spouse!

I made a gluten free pizza today :). I used an all purpose gf flour mix from the grocery store (i'm not quite confidant enough to mix my own) and it turned out pretty well! I used something based off this recipe from Gluten Free Goddess. I did change some things (a whole egg, and the flour) and baked it like I would my typical pizza, but it still came out really lovely! Not quite the crisp pizza I like, but a nice soft dough-y crust that did the trick just fine (and beat Dominos GF pizza out of the water ;) ). Now I just need a good cheese substitute >.>.

Rheumy visit tomorrow, wish me luck!

Pain: Sternum, jaw, arms, R hand especially, R knee, ankles, big toes.

Chard Chips

Wrists and hands still quite sore today, a little better though. My knee was also really bad today.

On a lighter note, I made silver beet (chard) chips today :). Much like the kale chips that have been running around the blogosphere. Basically you mix ripped up silver beet with a bit of oil and salt (and a pinch of chili and garlic ;) ), and bake at 150 C for around 15 minutes. So yummy!

They May not look like much, but they were actually salty, crunchy deliciousness. Much easier than making potato chips (not to mention healthier).

I'm hoping to try and get some swimming in tomorrow, though I also have a meet up..hm.

Pain: arms, hands and wrists especially, R elbow especially. Shoulders, R hip, back, R knee especially, some toes.

Mmm...cake

So the cake I made is called Crazy Cake. It is crazy because it uses baking soda and vinegar as a leavening agent and does not include dairy or eggs :D. I tend to use butter instead of vegetable oil and cover it in ganache, so mine isn't dairy free, but it is soooo good. I originally got this recipe from my Aunt Jo, and it was used as the base for our wedding cake :) also covered in ganache.

Crazy Cake

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

6 Tbl. cocoa powder

2 tsps. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix all dry ingredients together. Make 3 holes in dry ingredients, then add 

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbl. vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

add one liquid to each hole.

Then pour 2 cups of water over top and mix till combined.

Poor into two floured cake pans. Bake at 350*F for 20 - 25 mins or until done.

Ganache

250 G nice dark chocolate

1/3 C pouring cream

1/2 ts vanilla essence

pinch of salt

Melt and mix chocolate and cream in a double boiler, make sure not to burn!

After smooth and melted, remove from heat. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well.

Leave at room temp until cool, mixing every so often.

Frost cake.

We found the cake to be an even better texture the next day after spending the night in the fridge, super yummy :D.

Other than that, my day was pretty quiet. I went to the store and got some goodies, then hung out with Bran while he watched his football. Less than a week until Sydney!

Another Lazy Sunday and Panfries!

You'd think I don't do anything, seriously! Bran and I had a nice quiet sunday at home :). We took Milo out for a walk around the park, I made breakfast for lunch consisting of eggs, panfries, and mandarin slices. We read, watched some tv together, talked about our upcoming trip and thats about it! I do love panfries. To get them the way I like them, it takes some time though. So how about a how to? Yay, useful!

Emma's Panfries (homefries, skillet potatoes, etc.) 

Makes 2 generous servings

2 large/ 4 small potatoes

1/2 medium onion 

1-2 Tb Oil

1 Tb butter

garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste

1. Cut potatoes into roughly1 inch cubes, slice onion in the way you like.

2. Boil potatoes and onion until you can stick a fork into them. Remember we are not making mashed potatoes, so only about 5 minutes!

3. Heat pan and add 1 Tb of oil and 1/2 Tb of butter

4. Drain potatoes/onion and toss in heated pan.

5. Let sit until potatoes are nicely browned on one side, then turn them to a new side.

6. Repeat step 5, adding in the 1/2 Tb butter and 1 Tb oil as needed. 

7. Once entirely crunchy and browned, add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

8. Set aside while you cook your eggs, then enjoy with some ketchup :D

These are based off of how my father used to make his panfries. He used to cook us a big breakfast every sunday morning :) panfries, toast, eggs, bacon...the works. I miss them! I do tend to cook my panfries a bit longer, but i'm crazy about making sure they are entirely browned and crunchy. Thanks Dad for such a great memory! Mmm...makes me hungry all over again.

On the other side of the world, my cousin Natalie is in labor. Maybe? I've gotten confusing messages. Anyway, Bran and I are both awaiting the arrival of our newest family member, baby Stella :D I hope both she and her mum are safe and sound and that things have smoothed out. 

Sunday, sunday, SUNDAY!

Not very much happened today. Bran went to his football game, and I had a quiet time at home. I have been feeling pretty homesick lately :(. But on a lighter note my leg felt much better today! Not 100%, but much better. Huzzah for anti-inflammatories! I was able to do some laundry and walk much easier. I also had a really huge craving for something peanut butter-y, so I made these quick little peanut butter balls.

Quick Peanut Butter Balls

Quick peanut butter balls

3 Tb peanut butter

1 Tb butter (softened)

3 heaped Tb powdered sugar (or until desired texture)

powdered chocolate

Mix first two ingredients together. Add powdered sugar until desired texture. Roll teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls, then roll in powdered chocolate. Refrigerate/freeze. Eat.

Makes about 6 balls.

Not exactly healthy, but oh so yummy <3. Now for a shower and bed.

One day into another

So today is very similar to yesterday in that I can't do a heck of a lot. I think my foot is a little better today, but i've had pain in my hip and around where I think the nerve connects into the spinal cord. That is understandable because of inflammation and blah de blah, it's just uncomfortable :(. Bran ended up staying home again and has been taking care of all of the heavy lifting type things. I was wrong about how much weight I should lift btw, it's 1 kilo (2.5 pounds) and not a few. So about how much a liter (or quart for people in America) of milk weighs. Huzzah for reading up on what doctors should have told me :/. Ah well. I'm thankful that i'm not in a worse situation.

On a different note, Bran and I made a cake yesterday :). It was from a mix, but we added some additional spices to make it a spice cake as opposed to a vanilla cake, and made a cream cheese frosting. Bran did all the mixing and clean up (huzzah!) and I did the measuring, so pretty fair deal right? XD. The frosting recipe is one I kinda made up using other frosting recipes as a base, though I don't measure so much as taste as I go.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 packet (225 g) cream cheese

1/4 c butter

2 c powdered sugar

1-2 tb milk

1/2 ts vanilla essence 

pinch salt

Beat room temp cream cheese and butter until well incorporated and soft. Add in salt and vanilla and mix. Add in 1/2 c sugar at a time until sweetened to taste. Mix in milk to desired consistency.

It's metric, but you can easily fiddle with it to use American measurements.