Cooking Marathon and Recipe Roundup

I miraculously slept in until 8 am today, then promptly did 25 minutes of yoga. Most of the soreness from yesterday's 22 miler was gone, but then we embarked on a marathon cooking and cleaning session (bathroom including scrubbing the tub + laundry) that completely destroyed my legs and hips. We wanted to cook all perishables before we go on vacation, and I felt like baking ... a LOT. Below is a list of everything Jason and I cooked/baked/prepared today, with recipe links if you want to try them yourself :)

1. Granola - we make 1-2 batches per week
2. Whole Wheat Bread (bread machine recipe) - Jason also make this weekly
3. Spinach/Pesto Humus - I don't follow a recipe, just combined the following to taste: chickpeas, olive oil, dash of sesame oil (instead of tahini), garlic, basil, spinach, walnuts, salt and pepper
4. Quiche with Homemade Whole Wheat Crust - toppings: spinach, basil, garlic, green peas, spices.
5. Mint Ice Cream - half & half, honey, maple syrup and mint extract
6. Whole Wheat Crackers - needed something to dip in the humus ;)
7. Whole Wheat Biscuits - for the vegetarian chili I made yesterday, but tried using the food processor to mix it and they came out horrible and had to toss them :( 
8. Spinach, Feta and Orzo Salad - trying to use up the spinach
9. Whole Wheat Cut Out Cookies (Ginger/Cinnamon) - couldn't find my gingerbread man mold, so I just make little round cookies, like ginger snaps.
10. Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies - needed something with chocolate :)
11. Eggplant Balls - dinner to use up the eggplant, served with marinara sauce.

In addition to this, we have a ton of leftovers from the past few days, so we shouldn't need to cook much for the rest of the week. That will make it a lot less stressful so we can just relax when we get home from work. 

1. Vegetarian Chili - no recipe, I just wing it. This one had black beans, yellow and orange bell peppers, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, frozen corn, and the usual spices served over quinoa for extra protein and texture. 
2. Chickpea Vegetable Bake - Another great way to use up lots of veggies before they go bad. The chickpeas provide the protein and are just so yummy. We used butternut squash, red onions, asparagus, red and sweet potatoes, chickpeas, almonds and seasoned it with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.
3. Baked Falafel - in case you haven't noticed, we love chickpeas ;) Served this with mashed potatoes and sauté green beens in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with garlic, red onions and almonds.
4. Tomato Curry Lentil Stew

Friday Five: Recipes - Homemade Treats

Since starting to focus on eating "real food" and making at home from scratch the processed stuff I used to buy, treats have been the hardest. But I even found substitutions for most of those. Here are my favorites.

1. ice cream - I tried making it by hand, which worked but took forever. Then I got an ice cream machine for my birthday and have not bought ice cream since. We make ice cream at least twice a week, usually  honey/cinnamon or peppermint, and it's so much tastier. It goes great with homemade chocolate sauce (cocoa and maple syrup). We still occasionally go out for frozen yogurt  by the ounce, but we do it a lot less now. I usually use organic half and half, mixed with honey or maple syrup and flavored extracts. Yum!
2. granola - this has replaced cereal for Jason every morning, and it also makes a great snack at work or when we get home starving before diner is ready. It's also a great topping for the honey/cinnamon ice cream.
3. apple sauce - In trying to make baked goods healthier, I started using apple sauce to replace butter or eggs or oil. It works really well, but I didn't want to replace it with processed apple sauce so I started making my own. It is ridiculously easy, specially if you have a slow cooker; it just requires a lot of chopping. If you don't have a slow cooker, check out this stovetop apple sauce recipe.
4. whole wheat chocolate chip cookies - the hardest thing was finding a cookie that truly used 100% whole wheat flour. This one works well, but I've made tons of adjustments to make them healthier, like using honey or maple syrup instead of the white and brown sugars. Apple sauce instead of butter  works well too. 
5. whole wheat cut out cookies - This is a great base recipe to make gingerbread cookies or any other flavor hard cookie. Definitely play with the spices to add more flavor as they tend to be a tad bland at first, but the recipe makes a LOT of cookies so I always make less. 

Friday Five: Whole Wheat Recipes

I've been trying to follow the real food rules in everything I eat, which means eating 100% whole wheat and grains, no refined grains or sweeteners, and limiting processed food to things that contain 5 ingredients or less that I can actually pronounce. This means that most store-bought breads, crackers and doughs are out of the question, so I've started making my own. This is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and actually quite fun.

Below are my top 5 favorite recipes to replace often bought items. They are all 100% whole wheat.  The great thing about making your own "real food" is that they require very few ingredients so they are super easy to prepare. 

1. whole wheat biscuits - I've never made biscuits of any kind, and these are both healthier (they still have a lot of butter) and delicious. I make mini ones and freeze them so they reheat really nicely.
2. pizza dough - I use my bread machine to knead the dough for me, and after letting it rest I roll it out onto a baking stone. I recently bought a pizza roller to make it even easier, but it's not required.
3. pie crust - I made this to make my own quiche and it's so quick and tasty.
4. pasta - this recipe is for ravioli, but the same dough can be used to make any pasta shape you want, just roll it out thinner. I don't have a pasta machine, so I use a rolling pin. These also freeze well and cook super quick.
5. crackers - I love crackers and thought I would have to do without or only eat triscuits for the rest of my life because finding 100% whole wheat crackers at Publix is no easy feat. I gave these a try and was shocked at the results. I used all 100% flour, spices to taste (e.g. rosemary and salt), and rolled it out as thin as possible. They are amazing!

Also see - Friday Five: Vegetarian Recipes