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).

Veggie Pot Pies

My fatigue has been really bad lately. I have been running around to the hospital for appointments and tests, picking up prescriptions, and trying to keep Mr.Surly fed. Recently, I have been brainstorming easy, heathfull, quick dinners.  This was just one of my ideas.

If I didn't feel so exhausted and worn out every minute of the day, I would have made my own pie crust. But I cheated and used a frozen pie crust, along with frozen veggies. These are so good and ridiculously quick to make. Dinner in 20-30 minutes; gotta love that.

 These are pretty filling. I only can only eat 1 10 oz ramekin, Mr.Surly can polish off two.
The possibility of veggies and spices are infinite. Use whatever you like.

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.

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.

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.

No Bake Cookies

I haven't had a no bake cookie in a long time; I almost forgot about them. I remember when they were popular back when I was growing up; we used to make them often. I love chocolate and peanut butter, separately, together. Recently, I came across this recipe from my aunt for them and thought they would be perfect to make during these hot, summer temperatures. As an added bonus, they are quick to make, which is necessary for me, since recently I have been feeling more sick than usual.

I was a bit worried about making them with natural peanut butter and, as feared, they turned out to be runny. No problem, the next time I made them (the first batch didn't last long) I added more oats and it took care of the problem. I ended up with beautiful, delicious no bake cookies.

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.

No Cook Pasta Sauce

This is an accidental recipe I made up the other night simply because I wasn’t feeling well. I had been in pain all day and just couldn’t bring myself to make dinner. As the time drew closer for Mr.Surly to come home, I had to think of something. I decided on pasta because it’s easy to make. We don’t eat jarred marinara sauce, I like to make my own. Usually tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, spices, etc simmered together. But this particular evening I didn’t feel like cooking the sauce. I just wanted to throw it together and let it sit on the counter so I could get back to the couch and my heating pad. The following is the result, and it was really good. Light and easy, I’m definitely making this again. I think I allowed it to sit for about 2 hours.

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.

Heirloom Bruschetta

I love bruschetta. Love it. It’s perfect to make in the summer because it is so light and refreshing As a bonus it’s quick to make and you don’t have to turn on the oven nor the stove. This was my dinner the other night and lunch the next day. Mr. Surly is lucky I can’t eat very much in one sitting, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten any of this.

Of course you can just use any type of tomatoes (homegrown, roma, cherry, etc) you have lying around. But the better the quality of the tomato, the better tasting the bruschetta. I use heirloom because even though they are a bit pricier, the taste is worth it for bruschetta; it’s all about the tomatoes. If you’re feeling lazy you don’t have to seed the tomatoes, but then your bruschetta will be wet and soggy the next day (if it makes it that long).

If my tomato plants would ever grow some cherry tomatoes I’d use those. I’ve never grown vegetables before and I heard tomatoes were easy to grow. Well, my plants are growing, it’s just taking forever for them to flower and produce tomatoes. I certainly don’t have the prolific amount I was expecting. Does that happen to anyone else?

Pasta Caprese

I have been looking forward to making this dish for some time. I was just waiting for my basil plants to grow big enough leaves. I started them from seeds and it took awhile for me to nurture them to produce decent sized leaves. I faithfully trimmed the small leaves until they finally started growing larger. As soon as that happened I was finally able to make this Cook’s Illustrated pasta caprese I’ve been drooling over. As usual of most Cook’s Illustrated recipes I’ve tried, it did not disappoint.

It was so light and healthy, a perfect no fuss dinner during the hot, steamy summer we’ve been experiencing. I had some the next day for lunch and it was even better the next day, all the flavors melding together. And it was so easy and quick to prepare, which is even more important to me, especially now since I’m on new meds that leave me extremely lethargic. Even the smallest things, like chopping vegetables, or preparing a salad are extremely tiring to me. I spent the first 3 days on the new drug just sleeping all day and all night. I’m having trouble concentrating so any new recipe I even attempt to try must be easy and simple, not just to make, but also to type out.

I know this says it is supposed to serve two, but I don’t know what they base their portion size on. Since experiencing GI problems, I know that I personally am not eating a “normal” portion size. But Mr. Surly eats enough food for two people. And I still had leftovers of this. Maybe it serves two if this is the only thing you eat. I served it along with a salad and breadsticks. But who cares if you have leftovers of something as delicious as this.

Curried Carrot Soup

I’ve been making this soup for a long time; it’s one of Mr. Surly’s favorites. A few times he has eaten the entire pot of soup in one evening (he ate nothing else but this soup and bread). When I made this recent batch, he came home from working out and declared he would probably eat the entire pot of soup. Fortunately I made a huge salad for him to eat, so I have leftovers of the soup. I am amazed at the amount of food he eats. Granted, he works out every day, but still. When we first moved in together it seemed like I was always running out of food. But now, 2 years later, I have learned how to gauge his appetite better to make sure I feed him enough for dinner, so he isn’t foraging for food an hour later.

This is a great soup to make if you don’t feel like being in the kitchen; there is little prep work involved and it cooks quickly. It’s also pretty spicy, so I usually have naan, pitas, or some other type of bread to serve along with it. The greek yogurt helps to cool down your palate from the spiciness of the soup. Of course you can use sour cream instead, but greek yogurt tastes similar and is much healthier.

Spicy Peanut Butter Marinated Chicken

I’ve been all about easy meals recently. I saw this recipe and decided to make it since it was easy and sounded flavorful. Yes, it needs to marinate for hours, but I can handle flipping a bag every couple hours for an entrée that will cook up fast and not dirty any dishes. Oh my, does this marinade smell amazing. Every time I opened the fridge I caught a whiff of this and would immediately start salivating. I couldn’t wait to grill this up. The chicken tasted good, it was tender and incredibly moist, but I wish the flavor had been stronger. It wasn’t bad, I just expected more because it smelled so incredible while marinating. Maybe next time I’ll let it marinate overnight instead of all day.

Bourbon Chicken

I love Chinese food. I hate that it is usually loaded with sodium and a lot of the meat is deep fried. About an hour or so after eating Chinese take-out I’m usually regretting my decision due to stomach pains. Even before all my GI issues started last year I began making my own Chinese food. I scoured the internet for healthy make-at-home versions of Chinese take-out. I found this recipe and, over time, slowly tweaked it to this version.

Since we are not juice drinkers, I like to buy apple juice boxes (look for 100% juice; Mott’s and Trader Joe’s brands are my faves) so that I don’t waste a large bottle of juice. Definitely one our our favorite meals, this dish pops up often in our menu rotation. I love it because it’s easy and you can use any veggies you want. Sometimes I buy the ready cook stir fry asian veggies from Trader Joe’s. It doesn’t get any easier than just tossing in the precut veggies; all I have to do is cut up the chicken.

The chicken can be cut into chunks before cooking, but because I detest handling raw meat, I opt to cut it after it’s mostly cooked. I'm less grossed out this way.

I prefer to serve this over noodles, especially wide rice noodles, since they soak up all the yummy sauce and cook quicker than brown rice. The vegetables could also be sauted in a separate pan and added after the chicken has simmered in the sauce, but I'm lazy and I usually don't want to dirty another dish.

Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

A few weeks ago Mr.Surly came home with a big bag of sweet potatoes. I have been feeling pretty ill lately and have had no desire to cook until last week. In an attempt to find a recipe that would help me use up some of those sweet potatoes I came across this dish on Martha Stewart’s website. It sounded good and I had all of the ingredients. I adapted the recipe a bit by added some spices and extra ingredients. It turned out really well. I love a dinner that is easy, quick, and requires minimum clean up. Also, the leftovers I had for lunch the next day were even better than dinner the previous night. Definitely a recipe I will make again.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

Jamie Oliver delivers another great recipe. Easy, simple, flavorful, and healthy. I used to watch his show "The Naked Chef" on the food network when I was in college. I remember upon first hearing the name of his show I pictured some gorgeous guy, wearing only an apron, making food. Hmmm maybe unsanitary, but definitely worth checking out. I admit I may have been a bit disappointed when I discovered the term "naked" referred to his simple, unadorned approach to food, not being physically naked. However, his show did inspired me, I would watch and say to myself, that looks like something I could do. I love him and his recipes. 

Now that I'm attempting to eat "clean", I have been getting into his recipes even more. Every time I make this chicken I wonder why I don’t make it more often. It is relatively easy and the chicken comes out really moist and flavorful.  

I have prepared this both ways, baked and fried, and I prefer baked (this also makes it more "clean"). Both methods yield the same tender chicken, but when I fry them, I find the coating comes off the chicken too easily. Maybe it’s because I don’t pat the crumbs onto the chicken breasts with my hands. I try to do it with tongs, since I cannot and will not touch raw meat, which probably isn’t the most effective method. 

Hopefully, you are a stronger person than I am and will be able to do it with your hands and as a result have a beautiful coating that doesn't slip off the chicken.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

This week my nutritionist put me on a low fiber diet, hoping that it will help me gain some weight (I’m currently about 20 lbs underweight). I’m supposed to be eating pasta, potatoes, bread, lots of “white” foods. These are foods I normally do not eat so I had to buy a few things from the grocery store. Also, my abdominal pain has increased this week and the meds my GI doctor prescribed aren’t helping. 

I really haven’t felt much like cooking nor eating this week. But Mr.Surly still needed food and since he’s been working late I didn’t want him to come home and then have to make dinner.  I’m looking for easy, no fuss meals and dish fit the bill. Just throw everything in your pressure cooker and it’s magically done in under 10 minutes. This could be made in either a skillet or pot, it would just take longer to cook. There was also extra sauce left over, so I have some “pasta sauce” for pasta this week. Sorry about the unappetizing photo, I just took a quick picture to post along with the recipe.

Pressure Cooker Chili

Most chili is made using a combination of ground beef, beans, and tomatoes. Since I am grossed out by the texture of ground beef, my chili usually is just a bunch of beans and tomatoes tossed into a pot and simmered with spices. Mr.Surly's brother told us about this chili recipe from Alton Brown that uses chunks of stew meat instead of ground beef and contains no beans. At first I was skeptical. How could chili have no beans? Could I tolerate chunks of beef in my chili? After one bite all my doubts were gone. This chili is awesome; it’s spicy and the meat is so tender you can cut it with a spoon. Trust me, you won't miss the beans in this, and like us, you'll be making it again and again. We use a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker we bought last year from Williams Sonoma. If you prefer a thinner chili consistency decrease the amount of tortilla chips and tomato paste.