On the Verge...

Alright. I'm finally sitting down at the computer (whaaaaaat?!) and posting the recipe to this plantain dough I've developed. This might be similar to another recipe out there, but I haven't ever seen it, so I've been working on this for awhile and now, I think, it's ready to share! Since starting the Auto Immune Protocol diet last year, I've been searching for a good pizza dough recipe. That's where this recipe started.  With more or less coconut flour, this dough can be used for pizzas or sandwich bread (more) or muffins (less). So, here it is! Plantain Dough Preheat oven to 365. Ingredients: -1 just ripe plantain (yellow with just a little black). -2.5 tbsp coconut oil -1/4 cup coconut milk -1 tsp baking soda -1 tsp apple cider vinegar -1/4 cup coconut flour (for muffins), add 3 more tbsp coconut flour (for pizza or "bread" dough) Peel and cut plantains into large chunks. Blend with an immersion blender unti...

I went to a brunch yesterday and made something AIP that I could eat (of course). A friend of mine has just told me about this yummy combination, but after searching for recipes I couldn't find anything similar. So I just winged it. Wung it. Whatever. I I don't normally do this with great results, but since a few people asked me for the "recipe", I thought maybe it had turned out alright and I should write it down somewhere.  Unfortunately I took this picture of the leftovers that I'm eating for breakfast this morning, so it's not quite as beautiful as hour number 1. The leftovers are ok, but finishing it in one sitting would be better. And sharing it at a potluck was the best :) This is Auto Immune Protocol friendly (which is why I am not scared of the bacon grease!) Brussel Sprout Bacon Avocado Salad Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 15 min Serves: 6-8 (as a side dish) Ingredients: 8oz bacon 1.5 lbs brussel sprouts 2 large avocados 1/2 lime 1/2 tsp pink sea s alt...

I am sitting here waiting for a very tired, teething, stuffy, grumpy 11 month old boy to fall asleep. Instead of torturing myself with thoughts of any other ways I could help him sleep comfortably, I will concentrate on a few minutes of blogging! We have been incredibly busy since arriving in Austin. Mostly because last weekend, I officially started the Auto-Immune Protocol diet. I've been reading the very thorough book The Paleo Approach  by Sarah Ballantyne and I've seen and heard many encouraging stories from people who have done it. So before starting on a serious medication regime, I wanted to try going the natural route first. This is a pretty brief and good explanation of the thought behind the approach from Sarah Ballantyne's website,  www.thepaleomom.com : "Autoimmune disease is caused by the immune system losing the ability to differentiate proteins belonging to your own body with proteins belonging to a foreign invader (like a bacteria, virus or parasi...

Well, It's 2pm on the 17th and I don't think there will be a baby arriving today. My plans were foiled. God obviously wanted them foiled though, so I have to trust that it's all for the best. Some of you may have seen it on Facebook, but I was convinced that my 38 week appointment was this morning. I was super excited to find out if there had been any progress and to talk to my doctor about the weird "labor day" this weekend and see if they would check her growth and my fluid levels (since she was small and there was a lot of fluid last time). But I got almost to the hospital this morning at 7:30 when my calendar alarm went off on my phone reminding me of my appointment TOMORROW. It was one of those moments that I felt so dumb that I couldn't even be upset about it. I just shook my head, reprimanded myself using my middle name, and turned around. I double checked the text message my doctor's office sent me yesterday as a reminder and confirmed that...

I love homemade pizza. I love it because as long as I have a packet of pizza dough mix and some protein, I can make dinner. Usually it's a (sort of) typical Italian style pizza - with marinara and chicken or ground turkey or beef. Abram sometimes likes it and sometimes won't touch it. So tonight, when I hadn't planned dinner and Quinn came home hungry, I started to figure out what I could do that everyone would eat. I had a pizza dough packet, but hadn't thawed any meat (and I hate microwave defrosting meat). We all needed some kind of protein. Abram likes black beans. I had some in the pantry. But do black beans go with marinara - I didn't think so. So I decided to make the black beans the "marinara". Maybe this is not a new idea and many others before me have done it, but for me, it was a moment of unexpected food ingenuity. Then I just went from there, grabbing out vegetables we had in the refrigerator and making what I am now calling the ...

Actually, everything here is "homemade", but maybe I feel like it's not really homemade because it's all so easy . As I've previously alluded to: I am not a cook. For real. Like, I can cook, I can follow a recipe, and I can change up a recipe to made it easier/tastier, but I don't enjoy cooking. But, I've been convicted about my use of frozen foods and our family's spending on eating out. Quinn and I are both kind of lazy about dinner... and I'm pregnant... so we end up having this conversation quite often at 6:15 when he gets home from work: Quinn: Hi. Me: Hi. I haven't thought about dinner. Quinn: Do you want me to make something (meaning a skillet meal or noodles)? Me (thinking): I could have done that . Me (saying): No, that's ok. Quinn/Me: Do you want to go somewhere? Me/Quinn: Yes. And we go to Schlotzsky's or Whataburger or Pok-e-Joes (What are we Texans or something?) All of this to say that I've been trying to cook m...

I had never really thought of how to pronounce "Quinoa", but Quinn had. And he thought it was pronounced Quinn-oh-ah, of course! When I finally thought about making us some (because of Abram) and found out how to pronounce it correctly, Quinn was a little sad that it didn't even sound like his name. But saying "keen-wah" makes me feel much more sophisticated, so I'm ok with it. I had found this recipe for "Cheesy Quinoa Cakes" on pinterest and thought I would try it for Abram. Nice and full of protein and cheesy to boot?! Sounded like the perfect Abram recipe. I finally tried it today. I made a few changes. Namely, I used the less hoity toity mozzarella and I didn't make the aioli. I'm not sure Abram would have liked it. But it definitely needs some sauciness (as they are a bit dry by themselves), so I made a carrot vanilla yogurt puree. I think he may have eaten that by itself if I had let him. But the whole thing was a big hit...

I didn't really know what to call this one. I almost called it "...of something about soup", but then I remembered the Austin company called The Soup Peddler . I've never gotten soup from them, but I always thought it sounded like a cool idea. Everyone loves soup. These people make it and then deliver it on bikes to neighborhoods around Austin on certain days. Pretty awesome, right? I used to live down by their "headquarters". I wish I had tried it when I lived in one of their neighborhoods. Those of us east of I-35 suffer sometimes and not being able to have soup delivered on a bike to my house is just one of those ways. Another is the sad lack of a near by coffee shop, but I won't go there because we do have a lot of great breakfast taco restaurants and trailers, so it sort of balances out. Anyway... My spontaneity got the best of my today at the grocery store. As I saw a mom ask her son to pick her out a butternut squash I thought, "I...

Abram has been saying Mama and Dada for awhile now. Sometimes he messes with us and when we say "Say Dada" or "Say Mama" he will look right at us, smile, and say the opposite. I know that he knows what he's doing. At least he seems to have an inherent sense of humor. I just wanted to document the fact that his first word, besides our names, was "banana". Now, it doesn't sound exactly like "banana" all of the time. The first time was actually the best. Now it's degraded into "nana" or "manan". But he definitely knows what it is and he loves them. Apparently he saw a banana peel in the nursery at church with the girls last night and he pointed and said "banana". He's usually the only kid at the 7:00 service with at least 3 female nursery workers. The girls were so excited when I came in to pick him up. He loves it... and they love him. It makes me happy. Anyway, they didn't know if h...