Shrimp and Sautéed Vegetables

3 baby red potatoes

2T EVOO

a good sprinkle of my rosemary seasoning.

Sauté until the potatoes starting turning translucent.
Add the peas and whole or halved shrimps.

1c frozen peas

1/2 lg. purple shallot

7 big Argentinian red shrimp

Stir and continue to cook; covered,
just a few minutes, over low heat; until the shrimp is done.

I had my family over for lunch after church and thought that might be it for me regarding food for the day. Later I got hungry again and this came together fast.

I had leftover vegetables so this morning that + an egg became a really great breakfast. . .Lin

Spiced Apple Cake

Yesterday I saw a recipe for a pear cake! I love pears, but only have apples at the moment, that I'd like to use up. I made some additions to the original and it turned out well. Perfect for morning coffee, afternoon tea, or dessert.

The original recipe used a 10" cast iron skillet, but this made way more than that could contain. I used two buttered, 2 quart casseroles.

Combine in a medium bowl, then divide between the baking dishes:

2T melted butter

⅓c brown sugar

1c craisins

1c chopped pecans

3 lg. Envy apples - Cored, scrubbed and sliced 

In the empty apple bowl, whisk together:

2 lg. eggs

½c sour cream

1c brown sugar

1T Mexican vanilla

1-2t fresh lemon juice

1t white Balsamic vinegar

6T melted -slightly cooled- butter

In a large bowl, combine:

1⅓c all purpose flour

1½t pumpkin pie spice

½t ground nutmeg

½t ground ginger

1t baking powder

a sprinkle of salt

½t baking soda

Mix the wet and dry ingredients in the big bowl, using a heavy wooden spoon. Pour this over the apples in the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool at least a half hour before flipping this onto a large round plate.

This would be excellent topped with lightly sweetened, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or just as it is. . .Lin

Pepperjack Chakes

What are Chakes you ask?

They're a simple pancake made with 1 egg and ½c shredded mozzarella cheese! Really! That's it!  Chaffles, cheese waffles, are the new big thing right now, but since I no longer have a waffle iron, for me, they quickly evolved into cheese panakes! For one person, you can beat an egg, add the cheese, pour it into a hot non-stick pan and voila. . .a simple, quick, high protein, gluten-free, low-carb breakfast. I always need to add my own touches, so here's one idea. . .

• 2 beaten eggs
• 1c shredded pepperjack cheese
• 2t coconut flour
• 2T half and half
• a sprinkle of black pepper

Combine in a small-medium bowl, pour onto a preheated non-stick pan and give it a couple minutes. When the edges dry a little and bubbles start to form check to see if they're browned nicely. Flip them and cook the other side.  These turned out so well. After I plated them I remembered I had a little bowl of homemade applesauce.  I spread them with that, then spooned on the fruit. Frozen dark cherries and blueberries, cut up and warmed. This was really good!

Are you wondering about the pepper? Pepper goes well with many fruits. One of my favorite things is canned or fresh ripe Bartlett pear slices over cottage cheese that I mix with shredded cheddar and black pepper, with a little spicy cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.

Experiment with different flour and cheese.  Next time I make applesauce, I'll make these again using corn flour and sharp cheddar. Oat flour, craisins and walnuts could be good.  You could also put some sautéed vegetables in the batter to make mini vegetable omelettes. Remember, to keep cooking a fun experience. . .Be Bold...Be Creative!  Happy Cooking Everyone! . .Lin

Florentine Mushroom Eggs

I was SO hungry this morning!  I usually try to wait until closer to noon, but this morning my growly stomach was having none of that!  I knew the only thing that would work was eggs and vegetables. This turned out big and beautiful!  Lots for just one person.  As always though just add more eggs and vegetables to make this for you and a friend, husband, wife or child.

• 4oz. mushrooms
• 3 green onions - white parts
• 1-2T dark EVOO
• Italian seasoning, salt and pepper

• a big handful of spinach 
• 1 mini red pepper
• some shredded pepper jack cheese
• green onion tops - green parts

Sauté what's in the frying pan, covered, long enough to notice the mushrooms shrink and begin to brown.  Add the sliced spinach, red pepper and green parts of the onion.  Cover and cook another few minutes.  Pour the beaten eggs over everything and let cook a couple minutes.  Flip to dry out the other side.  Top with cheese and serve with a couple sides that sound good to you. . .Lin

Poached Cod, Potato, Broccoli

I'm not big on traditional waffles, pancakes, cereal, orange juice type breakfasts. Not that I don't like them, I was raised on that sort of breakfast, but once I start eating like that, it's all I crave, and in no time I'd be gaining horrible amounts of weight!

I need less bad carbs and more protein in my diet. The closest I come to that is when I chop frozen berries and cherries then warm them a little and add plain Greek Yogurt and some really good, grainy-nutty granola. Some mornings I'll have dinner leftovers or scrambled eggs with steamed green beans and crumbled bacon. Today I woke up knowing just what I wanted. . .

• 4oz. frozen cod
• 1 sm.-med. red potato
• 1-2c fresh broccoli florets
• Old Bay Seasoning
• 1T butter

In a medium non-stick pan, steam-poach the cod with peeled potato cubes, in about a half-inch of seasoned water, for 4 minutes. Add the broccoli, turn the fish over, cover, and simmer-poach another 4 minutes. Plate the fish, add butter to the vegetables, stir to coat them with the remaining seasoned water and butter and add them to the plate. This came together in about 15 minutes, and contains 310 calories. It's great for a healthy, quick breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Think outside your parameters!  Make your menus healthier! . .Lin

A Really Good Egg Thing. . .

This was breakfast for just me today, but go ahead, extrapolate everything and make it for you and a friend, or your whole family. You see the ingredients, so I won't reiterate those. Let's talk technique...

Slice or chop the vegetables however you'd like.  Drizzle with a healthy oil and sprinkle lightly with some good seasonings.  Turn the heat to high, cover and wait until you hear the sizzle.  Turn the heat off for 15 minutes to give them a mini-marinate.  Get the eggs ready.  Whip them up with a big dab of sour cream, mayonnaise or a few tablespoons of heavy cream.

When your timer 'dings' uncover, turn the heat back on.  When it sizzles again, give it a minute or two, then pour the egg mixture over the vegetables. If you're adept with a flipper, turn the whole thing over when the top is barely set, in one piece.  If not - just wing it — spit our a nasty word or two - and flip it piece by piece like I do more often than not... 

Tear a piece of American cheese over the top and cover again off the heat, until the cheese melts.  (I know, I know...but it's a staple in my dairy drawer since there are certain things you just have to use it for, like a perfect grilled cheese sandwich with onion and tomato, and really yummy 'egg things.') Serve with sliced cucumber, tomato or avocado, because a really good vegetable 'egg thing' can always use more vegetables!!

Be Creative—Happy Cooking!! ... 😊 ... Lin

Another (bigger) Rhubarb Cake

2c finely chopped rhubarb

1 cutie or navel orange - chopped

1c chopped pecans or walnuts

⅔c coconut almond milk

⅔c melted coconut oil

½c light brown sugar

1t lemon extract

2t white vinegar

2 lg. egg

1⅓c stirred, unbleached, all-purpose flour

⅓c Linwoods ground seed-berry mix

⅓c corn flour or VERY fine corn meal

1T pumpkin pie spice

2t cardamom

2-3t baking powder

1t baking soda

½t salt

½-⅔c club soda*

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a big container, combine the first group of ingredients stirring occasionally so they sort of marinate. Meanwhile, in a larger bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Grease an 8"x11" or 9"x13" glass pan. Once the oven is ready, pour the first group into the dry ingredients, mixing well with a big wooden spoon. *(Mine batter was a little heavy. I almost added more  coconut almond milk, but instead used orange flavored club soda to thin it out a bit! Stir in just a little at a time. Water would work also.)

Pour the batter into the greased pan. Sprinkle the top generously with turbinado sugar for a nice sweet crunch. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted toward the middle comes out clean.  Cool an hour. Loosen the edges and cut into squares. Serve as is, with coffee, or add a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream for dessert. I forgot I had caramel sauce in the 'fridge. Mmmm. . .It's Rhubarb Season! 🥰. . .Lin

Surprise!! And One Of My Favorite Breakfasts!

Even during this COVID-19 Isolation

What could be better than:

A VERY Careful Visit From A Friend?

Well, if your a foodie like me. . .It just might be. . .

A VERY Careful Visit From A Friend. . .

BEARING VENISON STEAKS!!

We had planned to have a quick, well-distanced visit here this morning, but I developed a cold yesterday. Sneezing, coughing, lots of nose blowing. Today I'm pretty sure it's just allergies, but at our age, with immune issues and all these precautions in place, we decided to cancel. Then I got a call from this Sweet Friend asking if my doorbell worked (?) Nope, it doesn't. I was instructed to check my porch, where the afore mentioned, Sweet Friend, had left me 4 Venison Steaks. Ohhh, my.

Then my growly stomach reminded me, a couple hours later, with all my tea consumption, I hadn't eaten yet.

Ahhh, what to fix, Greek yogurt, berries and granola? Leftover Beef Bolognese?

Nooo!!  STEAK AND EGGS!! 😃

I quickly chopped half of a big purple shallot, seasoned a 3 oz. steak, quick-seared-fried those in black truffle oil then cracked in a couple fresh eggs. I like the yolks broken, flipped and done over-medium, so although they look like a big mess, they're perfect for me. If you're hungry in the morning, there's always time for breakfast, even Restaurant Worthy Steak and Eggs.

Thank you Sweet Friend! 🤗 . .Lin

Warm Spice Pecan-Raisin Rice Pudding

¾ c long grain white rice

1½ c water

3T butter

⅔ c raisins

¾ c chopped pecans

1t pumpkin pie spice

2 lg. eggs

1t pure vanilla

⅓ c coconut sugar

½ c coconut-almond creamer

Rinse the rice, then simmer with the water in a 2 qt. pot.  When 5 minutes remain in cooking time, add the next group of ingredients, stir, turn off heat, cover and let stand while whisking the next ingredients together in a medium glass bowl.  Add these ingredients to the rice pot.

Gently combine everything, then bake, at 350° for 20 minutes, in a buttered 8" x 8" glass pan, or one of a similar size.   At this point, if it seems too liquid, bake another 10 minutes.  When the liquid has absorbed and it's the consistency of heavy pudding, turn heat off and let it stay in the oven, with the door cracked open, another 10 minutes.  Serve warm with a sprinkle of coarse sugar, for breakfast or dessert. . .Lin

Avocado Egg Spread

1-2 ripe avocados

2 hard boiled eggs

3-4T finely chopped onion

½-1 jumbo garlic clove - minced

enough mayonnaise to hold it together

½t your favorite seasoning blend

fresh ground black pepper

Chop and mash all the ingredients together.  Spread it on grainy, toasted bread, a sun-dried tomato rice cake or, as in my case, my favorite new discovery, a crispy, thin corn cake.  Oh these are so good!  I found them at our local Co-Op.  I'm not a big conventional breakfast-food person, so this was breakfast today. . .Lin

Avocado Toast

1T mayonnaise

1t finely snipped chives

fresh ground garlic salt

cayenne-black pepper

½ barely ripe avocado

1 lg. rectangular piece of sunflower seed bread*

The avocado I used today is prefect for me, but not as ripe as usual for spreading, so I couldn't mash it and combine those first 5 ingredients.  Instead I mixed the first 4 together in a small bowl.  Cut the bread into 2 smaller squares and toasted them.  Spread the mayo mixture on the toast then add thinly sliced avocado.  The tomatoes and Cherry Kool-Aid Pickles finished this off just great!  The total calorie count for this breakfast was around 475. . .Lin  *Pumpernickel and Whole Rye are also available at Aldi grocery stores.  

Rhubarb Sour Cream Bars

1½c unbleached organic flour

1T pumpkin pie spice

½c organic oat flour

2t baking powder

½c sugar

1t salt

2 beaten eggs

1c sour cream

½c melted butter

3c rhubarb sauce made with ¾c sugar

a coconut sugar - cane sugar blend

As most of you know. . .I don't bake much.  However, every so often an idea just won't let go.  Such was the case with my rhubarb.  I have a tiny (1' x 1½') patch and froze some from last year.  Sooo, I had 5½ cups of it staring at me every time I opened the freezer!  I Googled a couple recipes for ideas, but they weren't what I wanted, so I had to get creative and figure out my own ingredients.

Mix the first group to make the batter.  In a 12x8x3" buttered glass pan, spread half the batter, then spread the rhubarb sauce over that and top with the rest of the batter.  Sprinkle with coarse sugar or coconut and cane sugar.  Bake 40 minutes at 350°.  Cool then cut into 6-9 squares.  This is good for dessert or breakfast. . .Lin

Seeds, Nuts and Rice 'Cereal'

½c quinoa

¼c white rice

¼c chopped walnuts

2c water

2T ground flax-chia seeds

½c dried fruit - chopped

1t pumpkin pie spice

⅛c± coconut sugar

1t pure-real vanilla

Combine the first group of ingredients in a heavy-bottom dry pot - no butter, water or oil.  Stir over medium heat until the seeds and nuts brown.  You'll hear the quinoa snapping as it gets close to being toasted just right.  Stay with it.  It goes from 'just right' to burnt in no time!

Remove from the heat and allow to cool before adding the next group.  Stir, cover and simmer on low, about 20 minutes, or until the water evaporates.  Stir in the vanilla and serve. . .Lin

"Pretty Please". . . Rice Pudding

½c long grain white rice

½c golden raisins

3T raw Turbinado sugar

¾c water

½t nutmeg

1+t pumpkin pie spice

Simmer this group of ingredients together, slowly until the liquid is absorbed.

6-8oz heavy cream

1 egg

1t pure vanilla

2T raw Turbinado sugar

Beat the cream, egg and vanilla together until thick.  Stir into the slightly cooled rice mixture.  Pour into a 1½ quart casserole.  Bake at 375° for 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle. . .

. . ."With Sugar On Top!" 😃 The sugar will melt and caramelize.  Makes 4 servings . . . Lin

Bacon and Vegetable Egg Bake

8 lg. beaten eggs
4oz. chopped spinach
4oz. sliced tiny mushrooms

¼lg. chopped purple onion

5 sliced mini peppers

¾c crumbled bacon
3 chopped tomatoes

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl.  I started with 6 then realized 8 would work better.  Butter a 12"x9"x3" glass baking pan.  Layer the vegetables in the pan, in the order they're listed.  Pour the well beaten eggs over the vegetables in the pan.  Sprinkle the top with a little strong-flavored grated cheese.  Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes then cut into squares.  This keeps well, covered, in the 'fridge for several days. . .Lin

Another Great Big Salad - And Sautéed For Breakfast

2 romaine hearts quartered lengthwise - chopped

1 med. Vidalia onion - halved and sliced

⅓ sm. head green cabbage - sliced

⅓ sm. head purple cabbage - sliced

1 med. mini English cucumber

½ med. tomato - chopped

½ avocado - chopped

½ can drained-rinsed black beans

your favorite dressing and croutons

This make one very big salad or 2-3 side salads.  Start with your ingredients for a good, hearty, lettuce mix.  Lately Romaine is my go-to lettuce base to mix with the heartier cabbages.  Onion also adds such a nice flavor when combined with the greens.  I store this in the spinner bowl, in the refrigerator after it's all put together.  This has worked so well for me.  It keeps the mix fresh for at least 5 days, sometimes 7.

This morning I decided to steam, then sauté some of the lettuce mix in a little butter, to go with a couple eggs for breakfast.  I hope it's clear to each of you that I feel 'thinking outside the box' is ALWAYS a good thing when it comes to food choices.  Most people would pair eggs with toast, potatoes, bacon or sausage.  While those can be good options, eating a bit lighter, with different ingredients, can really be a nice change.   

Another Vegetable & Protein Breakfast (Lunch or Dinner) Plate

frozen skinny green beans

1 med. Vidalia onion - chopped

a little water

1T butter

2 hard-boiled eggs - chopped

2t champagne-dill mustard

seasoned salt

Put a big handful of the beans with the next 3 ingredients, together in a medium non-stick pan.  Cover and steam-simmer 5 minutes.  Uncover, add the eggs, mustard and salt.

Stir gently and it's ready in no time!!  Add another couple vegetables, Kimchi, carrot chutney, etc., and you're good to go for several hours.  Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE VEGETABLES!!  Combine with any good quality protein:  a small chicken breast, some slices of marinated beef, turkey jerky, eggs, a fish filet. . .for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it's always an energy-producing winning combination! . . . Lin

Stirred Eggs with Beans, Sprouts and More Beans

These are a combination of 'fancy' French Lentils I bought at our local Whole Foods Co-Op, here in Duluth, MN and plain brown ones from the grocery store.  I liked that the French Lentils were small and such an interesting teal color.  Are they better than the brown ones you buy in the dried bean section of your grocery store?  I don't think so, but it was fun mixing them together to sprout.

I can't say enough good things about Sprouted Lentils!!  They're very high in protein, fiber, they add so much freshness and crunch to everything you serve them in or with!  Their mild, Peppery Flavor is my favorite of all the sprouts.  I put them in tossed salads, vegetable casseroles, mix them into scrambled eggs, a little ground meat-egg-seasoned bread crumbs-cream and spices to make an interesting burger.  SO many ways to use them!

This is another quick, easy high-protein, breakfast-lunch-or-dinner with lots of vegetables.  The red beans, tomatoes and sprouts were first on the plate and warmed in the microwave.  I simmered the frozen, skinny green beans. (then drained the cooking liquid into a bowl to combine with dry food for my dogs later today)  A little butter, salt, pepper and they're ready.  



The eggs were cracked into some hot butter in a pan, stirred, seasoned with Trader Joe's Chili Lime Seasoning, flipped and plated.  All ready within 10 minutes.  Be Creative!  Do a little kitchen prep, and you'll always have ingredients for Quick Healthy Meals anytime you want them 😉. . .Lin

Parmesan-Florentine Eggs

This doesn't need a recipe.  A BIG handful of fresh baby spinach, and two jumbo brown eggs are the main players.  I steamed the spinach in a little water over med.-high heat for a few minutes in a covered pan.  Uncovered it, added two lightly beaten eggs, salt, pepper, then plate it.  Grate on some parmesan cheese, add a few grape tomatoes, salt, pepper, and some cut up cilantro leaves. . .  Mmmmm. . . 😋

And, this is another quick one.  Only 10 minutes, start to finish, so there's just no excuse for not having a good, quick, fresh, healthy Protein-Packed Breakfast. . .Lin

Efficient Foods - A High Protein Breakfast Bowl

black beans

sprouted French lentils

1 hard boiled egg

butternut squash w/ pesto

a few pickled garlic cloves

This morning I woke up really hungry and shaky.  As I pondered my options, standing in front of the open refrigerator, it was either this or a Greek yogurt, chia and flax seed, frozen fruit smoothy.  It seems lately, anytime something sweet is up against a vegetable-based choice, the vegetables always win out.

Be creative in your thinking regarding meal planning.  Get outside the comfortable pull of 'the box' 😊 . . . Lin