I suck...

at blogging. No really, I do. I forget that I even have a blog floating around in the vast space of the interweb. I hope everyone is having a great winter so far and had a happy holiday, whichever one it is that you celebrated.

Santa brought me some great cookbooks that will inspire me to cook up something great and create my own yummies. Christmas morning was celebrated with a delicious Irish fruit cake, which is sooooooooo much better than American fruitcake. Soon I'll share the recipe, but it is still be perfected. It's much cake-ier than the American one and then it is covered with a type of almond paste and topped with some fondant. Sugar coma indeed, but worth it.

So now that Christmas is over, it's time to "clean" the system of some of the bad things it was filled with (ie, sugar, fat, alcohol, simple carbs). Yesterday I ate vegan, focusing mostly on cleansing produce and whole grains. I made an amazing lentil mushroom pot pie (recipe to follow) for dinner that was fantastic and filling and I served it with tons of garlic roasted broccoli. Broccoli helps detox the liver for those that don't know and I try to eat it after I may have had one too many drinks.

And the past two mornings, I have been running some major sprint intervals. I'm not racking up the mileage like I would wish, but intervals really fire up the ol' metabolism and help burn those Christmas calories quickly. Simply, I warm up for about five minutes and then I run as fast as I can for as long as I can, then slow down to a fast walk until I catch my breath and repeat for as long as I have my energy. Each time, I try to go a little faster or a little longer. Sometimes I increase the pace every few seconds until I'm really burnt out. Of course, I cool down for a few minutes too! Seriously guys, this is the way to go to burn the calories. I know I've read a ton of studies about the lasting burn of intervals. As in, you may not burn as many calories during your workout, but you continue burning calories all day long afterwards. Plus I'm trying to do more yoga to relax my mind and build up some muscle stamina. I'm going to fight the winter spread before it even has a chance to think about happening.

Lentil Mushroom Pot Pies

• 1/2 cup lentils
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 ounce dried mushrooms (the recipe called for porcinis, but I had dried oysters)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 20 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (any would work, I had baby bellas, because they were on sale)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrot, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Biscuit topping, use your favourite (I used my Trader Joe's Multigrain Baking Mix substituting unsweetend almond milk, for the dairy, and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. The original recipe called for cheese in it, but since I made this vegan... no cheese. If I didn't do this vegan, I would probably mix in some Italian cheese: parm, asiago, etc)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Combine 3 cups cold water, lentils, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain; set lentils aside.
2. Pour 3 cups boiling water over porcini in medium bowl; soak 25 minutes. Remove porcini from soaking liquid, squeeze dry, and chop coarsely. (Reserve soaking liquid.)
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fresh mushrooms. Sauté 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon oil, onion, carrot, sage, and thyme. Sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low. Mix flour into vegetables; cook 1 minute. Add porcini soaking liquid. Mix in porcini, soy sauce, and tomato paste. Cover; simmer for 5 minutes until liquids thicken and reduce a bit. Add lentils; season with salt and pepper.
4. Divide filling among four 2-cup ovenproof bowls.I actually filled five of my ramekins, but you could probably split this into six too. 
5. Turn biscuit dough out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into equal pieces for as many bowls as you filled; shape each into 2/3-inch-thick disk. Set rounds atop filling.
6. Bake pot pies on baking sheet until tester inserted into biscuit topping comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
7. Eat and feel good. Yum!

I have a problem.

I have a very serious problem. An addiction of sorts. I have an addiction to buying fresh produce. It started at the farmer's market. Back when I lived in Michigan, I lived blocks away from the best market you will ever find. And the deals. Oh lordy, the deals. I could get a giant bag of different squashes for one dollar. Or a bushel of honey crisp apples for five dollars. The best part was that all the produce was freshly picked and locally grown. I started by walking to the market or riding my bike, but I had way too much stuff. I brought wagons and even drove occasionally (but I usually forced myself to run errands afterwards so that I didn't feel bad about driving a couple blocks). This may sound great to most people, but I would have more food than I could eat. How does one woman eat a bushel of apples before it goes bad? With lots of strength. I shared and I baked, but things still went bad before I could finish them. I have gotten better and prices have gone up (which really reduces my spending), but I still buy too much.

So to fix this problem I have created meals that I call "everything that's going bad is being cooked." Tonight's meal is full of squash and mushrooms because these kids are looking like they might not make it much longer. It isn't the most streamlined meal and doesn't make the most sense. If I were to have a dinner party, this might not be what I would serve. Maybe parts of them, but not the whole deal. Delicious, healthy, local, and cheap. What more would you want out of a meal.


Squash and Pasta Bake (Thank you Martha Stewret's iPhone app for the inspiration)


1 medium winter squash, I used acorn, roasted
2 medium onions, chopped
1 small shallot, chopped
1 pound pasta (shells were in the original recipe, I used cavatappi)
1 pound Italian sausage
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tbls fresh rosemary, minced
1 cup paramesen cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper

1) Saute onion in pan over low heat in oil, salt, and pepper, covered for about 15 minutes. Stir in shallot and turn heat up to medium and saute uncovered for 10 more minutes.
2) Meanwhile, cook pasta stopping two minutes before time on package. Reserve one cup of cooking water.
3) Add Italian sausage to onion and shallot mixture and turn heat up to high. When sausage is cooked through, add in white wine and rosemary. Continue stirring until wine is reduced. Then add in squash, 1/2 cup cheese, and cooking water. Once combined stir in pasta and salt and pepper to taste.
4) Pour mixture into a pan. Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until browned on top.




Sauteed Mushrooms

(This is a thrown together recipe, so there are minimal accurate measurements. Please use your own discretion and tastes for this one.)


Mushrooms of any variety -- I had button, shitake, and oyster, roughly chopped
Olive Oil
Lots of Garlic, minced
dry white wine
Salt and Pepper

1) Heat oil so it gets hot, but before smoking. Brown up garlic quickly.
2) Toss mushrooms in pan and continuously stir until softened, slightly browned, and starting to release their liquids.
3) Pour in some wine and cook until reduced. Season with salt and pepper.