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.

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.

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!

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.

Yellow Curry Sauce with Chicken

I love spicy food. I love curry. I love Trader Joe's Thai Yellow Curry Bottled sauce. I posted a recipe with it a long time ago, when my blog was new and my photo skills were poor because I was using my trusty canon point&shoot. That post is one of my top 5 most popular posts.

I figured there must be a way to make my own curry sauce so I went about creating one. It was actually pretty easy; it only took a few attempts to perfect. I'm not sure how "authentic" it is but it sure is tasty. It's a great sauce and for vegetarians and vegans, tofu can easily be used instead of chicken, and veggie broth could be used instead of chicken stock.

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.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Cake

I should call this cake death by chocolate it's so rich. The first time I had this recipe was 2 years ago, when I was gluten free (for my elimination diet). It was love at first bite. I like that this flourless cake doesn't have a lot of butter in it. A lot of flourless chocolate cake recipes call for 2 sticks of butter--no thank you, my stomach would be in knots for days.

This recipe is perfect. The cake is so dense,moist, and delicious. It's wonderful served with whipped cream and raspberries. A note about the cake; it rises when it bakes and falls when it cools, resulting in a crackled top. But don't worry, the cake will be gone before anyone notices a cracked top.

Fall Harvest Soup

Poor Mr.Surly, I haven’t made a full dinner in months. I'm not sure how much longer he can get by on my spartan dinners. I’ve been busy with hospital tests and doctor appointments and when I get home the last thing on my mind is food. All I want to do is to crawl onto the couch with my beloved heating pad and relax. Finally, all my medical appointments are winding down; my last 2 appointments are next week. By Wednesday I should know whether it’s a bad kidney or a bad pancreas that is causing my abdominal pain. Not sure at this point which option would be better. At least by knowing I can stop worrying about it and the doctors can start treating it properly. Then I can get back into cooking and baking. Sorry, about my medical rant; I'm just frustrated about it.

On a happier, seasonal note, I love the flavors of fall: pumpkin, apples, and especially acorn squash; warm, spiced comfort food. Lacking inspiration and feeling lazy, I decided to take some of my favorite fall foods and add them all together in a soup. It turned out creamy, dreamy, and delicious. Most importantly, for me, this was easy to make, yummy to eat, and caused minimal abdominal pain and bloating. Yay.

The soup is sweet from the apples and apple juice and gets a nice kick from the cayenne pepper. It is creamy enough that you don’t need to add the cream. I only added it because I need the extra fat and calories, since I'm still trying to gain weight.

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!

Guest Post: Fresh Corn and Chicken Sausage Skillet

I'm delighted to have my first guest contributor, Megan of Wanna Be a Country Cleaver, while I'm away on vacation. Have you seen her blog? It's amazing; you must check it out. I don't remember how I discovered it, but I'm glad I did. She has the sweetest finace, cutest dog, and killer recipes. And she can make amazing cakes. I love her blog and she is the friendliest person. She graciously agreed to do this guest post for me while I'm away on vacation. When I saw this recipe for Fresh Corn and Chicken Sausage Skillet I wanted it, and I'm not even a big fan of sausage. But this, this I could handle. Her pictures of the food prep are as amazing as the picture of the finished dish; I wish I had the gumption to take prep pictures; I'm just too lazy to do it. I have one word for this recipe: Stunning. And now, here's Megan.....


Quite possibly the best thing about the blogging community is the warmth and friendliness that emanates from every direction. These inviting groups of people share their zest and passion for any topic that speaks to them – in our particular realm of the digital world, it’s food. When Amy approached me to write a guest post for her, I jumped at the chance (perhaps a little overenthusiastically) to introduce myself to her loyal fan-base and share my love of simple food, and a somewhat country-esque lifestyle while residing in what I call “the big bad city”.

Amy is a kindred spirit with a heart of gold and I am monumentally excited and honored at her guest post proposal. For this little share session, I wanted to bring my A-game with a quick and incredibly healthy (in my eyes, because there is No butter involved) dish that’s a one-skillet supper ready in under 25 minutes. Prepping to plate in under 25 – this is what week night meals were made of.

So, I hope that you enjoy this little dish and thank you so much for indulging me with your time.

Corn straight off the cob is one of the most luxurious experiences of summer. It screams afternoon barbecue surrounded by your closest friends and cheery children tuckering themselves out at the local swimming hole. Bursting those kernels full of sweet nectar between your teeth is what a picnic is all about. When it's so readily available you have to jump on it and gobble up all you can.



For this latest Fresh Food Challenge hosted by America's Test Kitchen the secret ingredient was - corn. Brilliant!

When I got to making this recipe I wanted to ensure that it maintained as fresh of an appearance and taste as possible. And it needed to be quick. After a long weekend or busy day at work, slaving over a hot stove isn't the first thing on your to-do list.

My one requirement - its prepping to plate in 25 minutes or less. And this one achieved all of those pesky parameters.

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.

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

This week has gone by so fast for me! I'm finally getting around to editing photos and getting some posts up. I feel like I'm so far behind! I have missed reading my favorite blogs, and I plan to catch up on that this weekend.

I've been going through a lot of my recipes to see if I can deem them low oxalate. I have made this chicken many times; we really like it. I’m not sure if this is an ideal dish for a low oxalate diet. The soy sauce is on my list of foods to avoid, but I figured using just low sodium would be fine.Besides, I dilute it with pineapple juice, which is on my “good” list. ;)

I've made this with fresh pineapple and canned. Canned is obviously less work and tastes just as good. I really love sweet and spicy combinations. Don’t substitute cooking sherry for the dry sherry, they are different and cooking sherry is loaded with sodium (which is bad for a low oxalate diet). I have grilled it, cooked it in a skillet, and one time I even just tossed everything in an 8x8" glass dish and baked it at 375F. Just depends on my mood, and how tired/lazy I'm feeling.

You can serve this with rice, couscous, millet, almost any grain. I chose orzo since it's a pasta, which is on my "good" oxalate list.

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.

Espresso Crème Brûlée

I love crème brûlée . My first attempt to make it last year was a disaster. The custard wasn't smooth and we couldn't get a nice, crusty topping. I was so happy when I saw a recipe for it in my Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. Their instructions are clear and easy to follow. I made these for Valentine’s Day and they turned out absolutely perfect. The custard was so creamy and smooth--I was sad that I had only made two. Usually, I’m unable to finish desserts and Mr. Surly eats the last couple bites. But I had no problem polishing off this dessert. I was going to use the other half of my vanilla bean to make vanilla sugar, but now I think I’ll just make two more of these. If I left out the espresso powder, this dessert would be approved to eat on my low oxalate diet. But since I haven't started that yet, I left it in; gotta get in all the "bad" high oxalate foods before I have to go low oxalate.

Cranberry Nut Quinoa Salad

I have a bunch of quinoa I need to eat. I would, for some reason, buy quinoa each trip to the grocery store, forgetting I already had some. This happened for about 3 consecutive trips. I don’t have any excuse for this, other than quinoa sounded good when I saw it on the grocery store shelf, then I’d go home and discover I already had some in the pantry—oops. Desperate to use some of it, I tried to make looking for interesting quinoa recipes. I came across this recipe someone gave me last year during my gluten free/vegan elimination diet phase.

For a recipe with few ingredients this was so good. I served it in roasted acorn squash “bowls.” The quinoa was just as delicious for lunch the next day minus the squash. I love just about anything that includes balsamic vinegar.

This would be a nice, different side dish for Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I can't believe it's this week! I thought I had another week to prepare and plan. This is going to be a busy week in the kitchen. Is anyone else freaking out about Thanksgiving dinner?

Homemade Refried Beans

I finally made dinner this week, nothing special, we just had taco night. I did decide to make my own refried beans. I don't like the kind from a can, to me they have a tinny taste to them, like most canned foods. Thank goodness making my own refried beans is super easy.

Have you ever made your own refried beans? Once you make them you are unable to go back the canned kind. They are easy to make in a pressure cooker. I don't really use an exact recipe. I just throw the stuff in my pressure cooker, cook and season to taste. One cup of dry beans would be good for serving about 4-6 people. I make one cup for both of us because Mr. Surly likes to have a lot of beans in his tacos. And we always have left over beans for the next couple days. These beans are good on their on with a little bit of cheese and a dollop of greek yogurt (or sour cream). I'm sure you could make them in pot if you don't have a pressure cooker; they would just take longer to make and you'd probably need to soak the beans overnight.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I’m still not really feeling much like being in the kitchen. Due to Mr. Surly being out of town on business for a couple days this week, I didn’t have to make any food. But when he returned I had to make something so I chose to make an easy, quick soup. The addition of the apple and apple juice adds a nice sweetness to this soup. It’s yummy as is, but I’m trying to experiment with different spices to try to jazz it up. This time I added cumin (probably my favorite spice), turmeric and a pinch of cayenne to give it a nice kick. Mr. Surly ate so much of this for dinner that I was lucky to get a picture of it before it disappeared.

Creole Chicken with Rice

Don’t let the unappetizing photo scare you off from this dish. It doesn’t look like much, but the taste is out-of-this-world phenomenal.

Back before I got sick, I read the book Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman. I have always tried to eat as healthfully as possible and heard his book was informative. Basically, he maps out a caloric restriction diet/lifestyle. He recommends eating lots of fresh, raw veggies and eating meat sparingly, thinking of it as a condiment. I used the book as mainly a diet guideline and for some of the recipes--caloric restriction is a bit too extreme for me, I'm not really into counting calories. Some of the recipes are really good so I went online to Dr. Furhman's blog to find more. I saw this one and decided to try it. I’m so glad I did because this has become one of our top 5 favorite recipes. A word of warning, if you don’t like hot and spicy food this is not the meal for you. It definitely cleans out the sinuses.

I made this a lot when I had to eliminate gluten from my diet. I use Trader Joe’s brand chili sauce because it is gluten free and I love it. I’m not sure if all chili sauce is gluten free so if you have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance be sure to check the ingredients of the sauce you use.