Building The Perfect Smoothie

Remember when I shared with you that I was starting to make smoothies? I promised some recipes once I perfected them and those are coming. Before I share some of my favorite concoctions I thought I'd pass along a few tips I've learned.

Above is a visual "formula" for my smoothies. I've detailed each "layer" below. Basically, I mix and match what I have (or what is in season)to come up with the daily smoothie. I love this method because I can customize it by making it low-oxalate (which I've been trying to follow recently due to some recurring GI/pain issues).

Strawberry Salsa

Well, we are still slowly transitioning into the Paleo diet. Mr.Surly is following it stricter than I am. I'm finding it a bit stressful to think of various meals that fit the criteria. Mr.Surly has already lost some of his winter weight (a pant size) from the diet and exercise. I think I'm down about 5 lbs, I'm trying to gain that back; I can't lose any weight. I'm still trying to maintain my weight and even gain 5 lbs to be at a healthy weight for my height. Mr.Surly wants to lose weight and get back in shape. Mr.Surly noticed an immediate positive effect from the diet. He feels fuller, needs less snacks during the day, and no longer needs his usual afternoon coffee.

The diet is also supposed said to be good for autoimmune diseases . I can't vouch for how it affects my GI issues because I'm still using dairy and eating wheat.

Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

Out of all the tasty treats Starbucks offers my favorites are the Pumpkin and mini vanilla scones. Good Lord, they are so freaking good. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this pin on Pinterest for the recipe. The first time I made them they were cakey and soft. They tasted good but weren't the texture a scone should be. So I went about changing and adapting the recipe until I finally got it right. The winning adaption is this recipe. I used coconut milk because I like it, but I'm sure any milk would work. Also, I have quit cooking with butter (due to the fact it's fat content hurts my stomach) and now use coconut oil, which is easier on me. If you are a butter person then feel free to substitute butter for the coconut oil.

I used pumpkin puree that I had frozen from this past fall. When the sugar pumpkins went on sale I bought a few of them, roasted and pureed them, then froze them in 1/2 c bags. I thawed the bag in the fridge overnight and used it in the recipe.

I got impatient waiting for the sugar glaze to firm up which is why my spice glaze is hard to see. I just wanted to get one of these guys in my tummy asap.

These are so good; it's hard not to eat the whole batch in one day. If you have any left, store in airtight container

Vegetarian Moroccan Stuffed Peppers

I have wanted to make stuffed peppers for a long time. I didn't want any greasy sausage or ground beef; my stomach is not tolerating fat at all right now. Instead, I wanted something healthy and filling for my peppers. I just made this up with different grains I needed to get rid of in my pantry and some of my favorite spices.

I started off with 1 cup of broth, kept an eye on the rice to make sure it was getting enough liquid. I ended up adding a little bit more, which eventually added up to 3/4 c more broth.

I made these in advance, around noon when my energy is at it's peak, then stuck them in the fridge til dinner time. It was really easy, which is really important for me. This whole week I have been incredibly sick, my symptoms have worsened, and I have to go back to the hospital for another colonoscopy. ugh.

2 Minute Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake

I have seen many recipes for the single serve 2 or 5 minute mug cake. I admit I was a bit leery of them; I didn’t think they could taste very good. Oh, how wrong I was.

A month or so ago I was craving some kind of chocolate dessert. One problem, I was out of eggs, a key ingredient. I look at numerous websites, looking at recipes, trying to find a non-egg version. No luck. No problem, I thought, I’ll just make up my own, which is what I proceeded to do. The first draft was pretty dry, but edible. So I spent a lot of time tweaking and changing ratios and ingredients, until I finally achieved what I was looking for, a dark, moist, chocolaty cake.

I have made it will all the add-ins I listed. Sometimes alone, others times I’d combine them.

Another thing I did was experiment with oats for flour, just to try to make it a bit more “healthy.”

The best thing about this recipe is that in under 5 minutes of a chocolate craving, you'll be digging into a delicious chocolaty delight.

Guest Post: Moroccan Carrot and Cumin Salad

I'm saved, I'm saved! I have a guest post for you all! I want to eat this like now, iit has two of my favorite things, Morrocan flavor and cumin. If you haven't been to Brigitt's blog you must check it out. She is much more of a foodie than me, plus more gourmet. I love her blog. And I am honored to have her guest posting for me today.

Take it away Brigitt, my angel sent from God to save my blog......

Hi everyone! I'm Brigitt over at Cook With B. When I started blogging about a year ago, Surly Kitchen was one of the first blogs I read so I'm very excited to be guest posting today!

About a month ago, I took a Moroccan cooking class at a great recreational cooking school here in NYC called Haven's Kitchen. Jeff Koehler was in town promoting his new cookbook, Morocco, and highlighted a few cooking techniques (like a 15 minute no-cook couscous) and recipes from the book.

The class was so much fun because it was very laid back (I definitely wasn't sipping wine during my classes in culinary school!), but I still learned a lot from Jeff. Mostly, I was surprised at how simple the recipes he showed us were.

I know in my own kitchen I tend to shy away from exotic cuisines, because I assume the recipes will include a long list of ingredients I don't have on hand, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my two favorite recipes from the evening actually had a rather short list of (mostly) familiar ingredients.

Take this carrot salad for example:

The only thing I had to buy to make this recipe was sweet paprika, and I know that won't go to waste--especially once winter comes and I'm cooking up some soups and stews!

Vegetable Lo Mein

I’m finally back with a post, yay! I have finished all my testing and dr/hospital appts until mid August. Hooray. My lip is healing nicely, and it looks like, as of now, I do not have sjogren’s syndrome (thank God). But since I’m borderline on the test results for sjogren’s, I have to go see the rheumatologist every 6 months for blood work to make sure I don’t develop it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. There’s another autoimmune disease to check off on the list. I wonder what they’ll test for next.

After all of the tests and appointments, I’m slowly easing my way back into the kitchen, starting with simple, all-in-one meals. I have a whole list of delicious-sounding recipes that I want to make; hopefully I can get them knocked out soon.

This recipe originally comes from a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook from a recipe for pork lo mein. Mr. Surly and I love veggie lo mein noodles, but the local Chinese take out lo mein makes us both horribly sick. So for the past year I have been trying in vain to find a decent recipe for lo mein noodles. Some recipes call for oyster sauce or fish sauce. I don’t know why, but just the sound of those sauces grosses me out. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a big fan of sea food that tastes fishy. Yuk. It goes back to my childhood and a mini shark fish named Sharky, that my dad loved and us kids hated, who came back from the dead . *shiver* But that’s another story, perhaps for another day.

Oatmeal Crusted Chicken

I am constantly thinking of new ways to prepare chicken. Since raw meat makes me squeamish, I like coatings on chicken when preparing to hide the sight of the raw meat.

I like the idea of an oatmeal coating. I am trying to eat low gluten to help my stomach bloat and I bought rolled oats from Trader Joe’s that claim to be gluten free. Oats are naturally gluten free, but oats are often processed near wheat, and the tiniest bit of wheat will contaminate the oats and be a disaster for anyone with celiac disease.

These oats from TJs claim to be processed in a wheat-free environment. Even if there was a bit of wheat, it wouldn’t affect me since I do not have celiac disease. But for those of you with celiac or a gluten intolerance, these oats might be for you. I know that Bob’s Red Mill also makes gluten free oats.

Anyway, back to the chicken. Regular readers know how much I like the sweet and spicy combo. The cayenne and honey give this chicken that sweet and spiciness that I love. I wanted to eat my entire chicken breast, but my bloated stomach and gastroparesis prevented me. The topping is so good; I wanted to eat it by the spoonful.

Salsa

This post marks Mr. Surly’s cooking debut. Are you as excited as I am? I'm always happy when he makes food. And this time I was able to photo document it, though I don't think he was too happy to have me hovering around with a camera, even though I tried to stay out of the way.

This salsa is so good and so simple; it's his family's recipe.

Honey-Roasted Almonds

These are some delicious, honey-roasted almonds my sister made for us over Christmas. I didn't eat any, since I'm trying to be better about eating low oxalate, but Mr.Surly gobbled them up. They looked and smelled wonderful.

Spicy Hot Bloody Mary

While on vacation in August, for some reason, someone in Mr.Surly's family got a craving for a Bloody Mary. No one really knew how to make a bloody mary, so Mr.Surly's sister, an aspiring NYC bartender, took charge of the task. The result was delicious; so good, in fact, that once home Mr.Surly requested a bloody mary one Saturday afternoon. I had to text Surly-SIL (sister-in-law) for the recipe. She gave me the ingredient list but I had to play around with the ratio's to get it to Mr.Surly's liking (it took a couple of attempts).

Warning about these; they are hot and spicy. If that isn't your thing, just use regular V8 and maybe omit the creole seasonings.

Wicked Good Salsa

This recipe is courtesy of my good friend, Carolyn. A few years ago she had a housewarming party and this was one of the foods she served. It was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. I had to have the recipe and she kindly obliged. I was skeptical of the Italian dressing in salsa but Carolyn assured me that it was necessary to the recipe.

This salsa is so addicting. I like to use Tostitos Scoops because it makes for an appealing presentation. A perfect snack for a weekend of watching football.

Guest Post: Chicken Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette

Alright, here's week two's guest post. Haley has graciously agreed to share this amazing chicken salad recipe with all of you while I'm away, this time in the city of brotherly love. Haley and I have been blogging friends for a long time. She amazes me. She was in college, and now nursing school, and she still finds the time to post more often than I do. Amidst all this, she is training to run a 10K. I wish I had her energy. A bonus of her part time job allowed her to be an assistant instructor at a kid's culinary camp. I loved seeing the creative desserts the students came up with. They were much prettier than any cupcake I've ever made. I urge you to check out her blog if you haven't had the opportunity. You'll find a lot of delicious recipes. And now for Haley and her best chicken salad ever...

Hello!

I'm Haley from The Girly Girl Cooks and I was so honored when I was asked to write a guest post for the fantastic blog, Surly Kitchen!

Summer is all about picnics, weddings and BBQ's, so I thought this recipe for Chicken Salad would be perfect for any three of these occasions. Besides being absolutely delicious, this chicken salad is great for all of us watching what we eat because it's made with a delicious vinaigrette and not loaded with guilty mayonnaise! I have the fantastic job of assisting chef's teach culinary classes at work, and this chicken salad sandwich was a total crowd favorite.The bright flavors, colors and freshness of this salad are unbelievable and the dressing is so light and delicious! I know for a fact that you are going to love it!

Cilantro-Jalapeno Hummus

This hummus is Mr.Surly’s favorite. I was waiting until my cilantro grew big enough to make this dip for him. He likes things hot and spicy, so I use serrano peppers instead of jalapeno peppers. Whenever I make this, it’s lucky to last 2 days. We prefer our hummus without tahini, so I substitute almond butter or cashew butter. I don’t really notice much taste difference between almond vs cashew butter. I've also used a lime instead of lemon, it makes it equally delicious. This time I used a lemon because I was all out of limes.

This is ridiculously easy to make; you just put everything in the food processor and puree. It only takes about 10 minutes to make, if even that. Gotta love easy, delicious dishes when the temps are in the upper 90’s/low 100’s.

Mediterranean Chicken and Peppers

This is one of my favorite meals for 2 reasons: 1) it's delicious and 2) it's easy. I love bell peppers and this dish is chock full of them. Plus, it has my beloved balsamic vinegar in it. And who doesn't love a dish that you just throw together, pop into the oven, and forget about it. The longest part is chopping all the peppers and that only takes a few minutes.

If you like olives, some Kalamata olives would be a tasty addition to this. I don't like olives, I find them too salty, but Mr. Surly loves them.

I have served this over quinoa, millet, couscous, and rice. Sometimes I add cubed potatoes to the dish. This dish makes a regular appearance in our menu rotation.

Apple Mustard Chicken with Dates

I haven’t been in the kitchen much recently. Instead, I’ve been studying up on low oxalate foods and trying to come up with ideas of low oxalate dishes to make. One night I decided to throw together some “good” oxalate foods I like for dinner. I just made it up as I went along. I can’t find dates on any "good", "bad" or "limit" list, so I figured they’d be fine. Golden raisins are on the good list, but regular dark raisins aren’t on any list, so I don’t know if it’s a safe oxalate substitution. Doesn’t matter for me, since I prefer golden raisins.

Also I didn’t salt and pepper my chicken since I’m not supposed to have salt nor black pepper. I used wild rice because that is a “good” food for me; brown rice is on my “limit” list.

I think sliced almonds would be a great addition to this dish at the end. Unfortunately for me I cannot have nuts. But if I could I totally would have garnish with some sliced, toasted almonds.

Chai Biscotti

Well, my low oxalate diet has begun. It’s going to take some time to fully adjust to it, and I have to reference my "good", "bad", and "limit" lists. Black tea is on my “foods to avoid” list, so my daily cup of chai tea (made from black tea) is out. So I had to find a new way to get my chai fix. I’ve been thinking a lot about biscotti recently, I’m not sure why, so I decided to try to come up with some kind of chai flavor biscotti. I wanted to make them vegan, and that took some adjusting to make sure the texture came out right.

It took a few attempts to get the right flavor ratio and dry to liquid ratio. The almonds are on my list of “bad” foods, but I figured ¼ c of thin slices spread throughout the whole loaf wouldn’t be too harmful for my diet. And flax is on my “limit” list, and I figure 2 Tbl is limiting.

I made a small batch, because I wasn’t sure if Mr. Surly would be into eating them. It’s a nice treat, and for me, it was the right amount. But feel free to double the recipe if you’re really into biscotti.

Homemade Granola Bars

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for awhile. I really like the idea of making my own granola bars. I’ve been on a muesli kick for awhile now, and decided it was time to make some granola. I usually keep granola bars in my purse when I have to go to the hospital for doctor appointments and tests, since I’m usually sitting around forever, waiting. I’m in love with the white chocolate macadamia Luna bars. These homemade bars are a much healthier option. I suppose I could have added some melted chocolate to these, but they are so good on their own. They remind me of the Two Moms in the Raw bars they sell at Starbucks and Nordstrom’s snack bar, I love the gojiberry one. Have you ever had one of these bars? They are delicious, and I'm so glad my granola bars taste very similar to them.

I'm glad to have another product that I can now make myself so I don't have to buy a prepacked version. Can you tell I'm obsessed about controlling what goes in my food? When you have abdominal issues, this becomes a must.

Another plus is how easy these are to make. I haven't had much energy the past couple weeks, but these came together rather quickly. These bars were plenty sweet for me, since I don't eat much sugar, but if you like things sweet I'd stir in more (up to 1/4 c brown sugar). I sprinkled brown sugar on top to give the tops of the bars a bit of a sweet, sugar crunch.

Lemon-Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup

I wasn’t even considering posting this soup because it’s not very visually appealing. I didn’t give it much thought, to me it was just soup. But Mr. Surly raved so much about it, I thought I’d better hurry and post it before I forgot what I did. I had to hurry and get a picture of it, so I apologize for the unappetizing photo.

I love the depth of flavor the roasted garlic adds, while the addition of lemon brightens the flavor. I’ve seen tri colored egg noodles, which would be pretty in this, but I didn’t have any. All I had were boring whole wheat noodles.

I add leeks and cabbage since they are natural diuretics, thereby decreasing any abdominal bloating. No matter what I eat or drink, my abdomen still swells up after just a couple bites or sips of food. It’s painful and frustrating, so I’m trying to consume natural diuretics to help reduce the bloat. If you don’t like cabbage, it’s not a necessary ingredient to the soup, though red cabbage would look nice in it. I try to use leeks instead of onion, because onions just add to my tummy distention. But if you want, onion could be used instead of leeks.

Peppermint (Penguin) Patties

This week I really struggled for some reason. I picked out a chocolate mint candy recipe. But when I tried to make it, this is what I ended up with:



Fail.

This was supposed to be mint candy squares. But it failed to set up for me, even after hours in the fridge. Obviously, I left out something vitally important, I'm just not sure what. Oh well. I still haven’t decided what to do with it, maybe try to salvage it into mint truffles.

My second attempt was a recipe for peppermint patties. Things went well until I decided to add food coloring to make the filling a festive green color. After rummaging around the kitchen, I finally found my food coloring. I proceed to combine the red and blue dyes to achieve a jolly green hue. Did you catch that? Red and blue. As I mixed the colors, I was confused because I was getting purple not green. I thought my mistake was that I had too much blue, I needed to add more red. Nope, still not green. I go to grab the back of the box to see what I was doing wrong. I felt like an idiot when I realized that red+blue=purple and I should have done blue+yellow. And the real kicker is that I had a bottle of green food coloring in the box; I didn’t even need to mix colors. Here I am, the daughter of an artist/art teacher mother, and I couldn’t even remember the basic color wheel. I practically grew up in my mom's art studio. How embarrassing.

I do have an excuse, though. My GI doctor enrolled me in a clinical trial and the new medication I’m on is really affecting my mind. I thought I was crazy before, that was nothing compared to this. It’s a struggle for me to focus my mind on things. Perhaps this is why my first attempt at a minty dessert was a total disaster. Luckily, I’m only on this drug for 8 weeks. Then I can return to my original, slightly confused, state.

Finally, I attempted my third try at a mint treat; a new peppermint patty recipe that was simple; just a few ingredients. Third time’s the charm, right? Not quite for me. I wouldn’t call it a complete success, but at least this time it was my results were a bit more visually appealing. I used mini cookie cutters to make bite-sized mints. I haven’t had a peppermint pattie in years and found these surprisingly refreshing. I just wish they looked better. Oh well, maybe I’ll have better luck next week's treat.