Goodbye sugar, caffeine and white flour. Hello tears.

No more white sugar.
No more brown sugar.
No more simple carbs.
No more white flour.
No more caffeine.
No more bad fats.
No more honey.
No more maple syrup.
No more fruit.
No more juice.
No more sugar substitutes.
No more wine.

Preparing to say hello to the worst 28 days of my life:

Priceless.

Did you know you can actually have withdrawal symptoms from above said items? I am so looking forward to this. Not.

If you haven't been able to tell from my blog, I practically live off of this stuff... No, I take that back I need this stuff to breathe, let alone function. I am going to die. I am going to cry for my momma, like I never did before. I am going to rip peoples heads clean off. I am going... I am going to cry.

I am addicted to this eating lifestyle.

I am.

There I said it.

I am an addict. And it's slowly killing me.

I am 27 and I have a high end bmi, I have high blood pressure, I have high cholesterol and I am in the early stages of becoming a type two diabetic. I already had a heart attack when I was twenty one. Yes, you have read that correctly. Although it wasn't eating related, it now puts me at a higher risk for dying younger.

I was told, I would be lucky to reach sixty if I keep it up like this. Lucky.

This is scared me, I thought I was being relativity healthy. It made me think that I wouldn't see my youngest graduate from college, I wouldn't be able to chase my grand kids and these are all things I very much look forward too. In my family you either die old or you die young. I want to die old. I want to die after my 100th birthday. I want to be that damn old. I am stubborn and hopefully I get to prove that.

I want to be that role model for my girls. I want... no, I need to show them how to be healthy. How to eat right, how to properly take care of their bodies and that way when they become adults, they do not become like me. I do no want them to be 20 pounds over their ideal healthy weight, with high blood pressure and cholesterol. I do not want them to feel sluggish, to have sleep problems, to be moody, to be sick all the time and to feel like they need to depend on junk to live. To feel like they need to eat their problems away, to dull their stresses. I do not want them to eat like me.

I need more mental clarity, I need more energy, I need more zest. I want a better immune system, a healthier weight, better skin and a better digestive track. I need the depression gone, the mood swings gone. I want a better period. I want to be healthier.

So in one week and one day, I am detoxing. This isn't a New Year's resolution, this is a must do. Do or die slowly. The idea of not having one of my fail safes, scares the hell out of me. That alone is scary.

I will not become a stat.

I will no longer be addicted.

For all my food lovers, trust me. I am not abandoning ship, I just will update with older recipes and post new, healthier recipes until the 28 days are over. I LOVE food way too much. I just have to re-adjust and enjoy food in a different way.

<3 Stay with me, I will need you!

Easy Peasy Curry!

Indian food seems so daunting but when you really get into cooking it, it's so simple and so flavorful that you begin to wonder "Why wasn't I cooking this before?" Everyone assumes that the go to food in the winter months are soups, chilies, and roasts. There are plenty of well known food dishes that are neglected this time of year.

I would like to take the time to give proper homage to Curry.

I took some liberty with this recipe. I think it added a little "oomph" to the curry. I used chicken but I used an organic, free range and vegetable feed chicken and it was the same price as the leading brand. I have to say that it cuts and tastes WAY better then the normal kind. I used two large chicken breasts for two people. When I made this I had enough left over for one more person.

You can sub the chicken for tofu or turkey and I am sure it would taste just as good!

Ingredients:

1 pound of skinless chicken breast cut into one inch cubes
3 and 1/2 tbl spoons of curry powder
1/4 tsp of ginger powder
1/4 tsp of paprika
1 inch peeled knob of fresh ginger
1 medium or 1/4 of a large red onion cut into one inch cubes
1 large clove of garlic
2 pieces of green onion
1 medium serrano pepper (beware, smaller they are, the spicier they are)
1/2 of a ripe lime
1 can of chicken stock
1 package of cream cheese brought to room temp.
2-3 tablespoons of oil (I used coconut oil, you can use EVOO or veg)
Three medium pieces of roasted red bell peppers. (I used the jarred version)
Cilantro to garnish
Rice and naan bread.

Directions:

For the marinade:

1- Diagonally slice the green onions and pepper

2- Grate with the fine side of the grater the garlic and ginger.

3- Cut the chicken into one inch cubes and put into a large bowl, mix in the garlic, ginger, green onions and pepper.

4- Take the lime and roll it back and forth a few times to release the juices. Cut in half and squeeze over the chicken mixture.

5- Add two of the three and a half tablespoons of the curry powder and mix well. Refrigerate for up to 45 minutes to an hour.

6- After the chicken has been marinating, in a skillet, add in your oil and onions and cook the onions until translucent on low to medium heat. Once they are translucent, add in your chicken into the pan and turn the heat to medium heat until the chicken is slightly brown on each side. Add in two to three teaspoons of the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low until the when the chicken is cut it is no longer pink.

7- In a large bowl place your cream cheese and half of the remaining chicken broth, mix until creamy. You may have to keep adding into the mixture until the lumps are gone, you can mix by hand but I had better results with my mixer and beater attachment. Look for a thick but runny consistency. Add in the remaining curry powder, ginger and paprika.

8- Mix in the cheese mixture into the pan with the chicken and add in the roasted red peppers cook on low for twenty minutes. Stirring every so often so that the curry sauce wont stick and burn to the pan.


9- Cook rice as directed. Serve with rice on the side and naan bread. Garnish with Cilantro.


10- Enjoy!

Korma Inspired Turkey Meatballs with Farmer's Cheese.

What do you get when you get when you mix Indian with Italian and add in a little ooey gooey twist?

You get stuffed meatballs!

So simple and yet so good! I love Kormas, any kind, be it traditional or UK versions. I love them but I wanted a healthier version and simpler version. I had all the staples for this in my kitchen, and the prep time was really easy.

This is where you are going to hate me, I NEVER measure my spices. Ever. So I am going to give you an estimate, close to. It should still be ok, I wouldn't go over the recommend amount though, then the spices might over power the turkey.

By frying these before you finish them in the oven you get a really moist and tender turkey meatball.

Ingredients:
1 pound of ground turkey
1 small yellow onion
1 clove of garlic
1 small package of a good firm Farmer's Cheese
Parmesan cheese
Italian bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon of curry powder
1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon or less of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of dried basil (I finely crush with my finger before adding.)
1 teaspoon of dried parsley (I finely crush with my finger before adding.)
Dash of black pepper
3 tablespoons of ketchup
1 tablespoon of mustard
1/8 cup of milk (I used heavy whipping cream)
Vegetable oil for frying.

Directions:

1- Using the smallest grate on a grater, grate up little less then half of the onion and clove of garlic.

2- In a bowl place in the turkey, curry, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, grated onion and garlic. Add in the ketchup and mustard.

3- Using your hands, mix until everything is well incorporated and cover bowl and place in fridge for up to an hour to let the turkey absorb the flavors.

4- After an hour, crack one egg and mix in with your hands.

5- Add in 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and start with 1/4 cup of bread crumbs until your turkey mixture feels like it did before you added the egg. Then see if you can roll a ball, if it is sticking to you hands too much, add in more bread crumbs. Let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6- Take your farmers cheese and cut into cubes about 1/2 or smaller. Set aside.

7- In a small bowl mix your last egg and milk until combined.

8- In another medium bowl mix in equal parts parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.

9- In a medium sauce pan, add in about an inch of vegetable oil, place on medium heat. Meanwhile, turn your oven to 450 degrees.

10- Pull your turkey mixture out of the fridge and start shaping a small amount of turkey into a bowl (indent) where you will place the cheese into, I try to keep it smaller then my palm but no smaller or you will have problems with the cheese escaping when you are cooking. Repeat until all the balls are made.

*VERY IMPORTANT TIP*
You MUST roll the meatballs until all visible creases are gone. If you don't your cheese is going to melt and escape while cooking.

11- Then take the meat balls roll in egg mixture and then coat into the bread mixture. Set aside.

12- To make sure your oil is hot enough take a little bread crumbs and drop it into your oil. If it rises to the top right away then it's hot enough to cook your meat balls. Slowly drop one meat ball in at a time. After about twenty seconds add in another. I would do no more then four at a time. Make sure your oil doesn't cover your meat balls!


Cook until one side is golden brown and then flip and continue cooking until the other side is brown which will take two to three minutes. Remove and set aside to allow the oil to drain. Place in the pan that you are going to use to finish cooking them in the oven.


Once all your meat balls are fried and drained, place them into the oven and cook JUST until the cheese starts to bubble out of the meat balls.

This would pair well with noodles and a pepper pasta sauce. It now has become a hit with my picky eaters! Not to mention it's in high demand with my friends and family!

Enjoy!

Where have I been?

I would like to first say sorry.

"Sorry."

I started classes this fall and moved at the same time. Little did I know how much of an undertaking that was! I was so under-prepared for the amount of stress it brought me. But now that I can handle it, next semester should be a breeze!

My new kitchen has seen little action these days but that shall change here soon! It's Christmas here in our house! It has even trickled a little bit into the kitchen. It's rather simple this year. We just moved and money is tight. Simple is fine for now, my kitchen will become a war zone as soon as Christmas gets nearer.

I have decided to organize my blog. Not for only your sake but mine. It will make things easier, I hope.

I also plan on posting new stuff every three to four days, that way it keeps me busy doing what I love to do. Cook and eat. Especially the eating part.

I had plan on posting an recipe tonight but my pain meds are making it nearly impossible to stay awake. I am sorry, tomorrow mates.

Cheers!

A little bit of heaven in your mouth cupcakes.

My week long frenzy to make a perfect cupcake has come to an end. I got on google and racked my brain as to what I was doing wrong. I tried the two leading well known cupcake recipes. Nadda. I had muffins and not cupcakes. Very disappointed. Then I went old school. Talked to a few older ladies on how the heck they make fluffy, yet moist cupcakes.

What they had said, I knew already.

With my newly reconfirmed knowledge, I forged ahead and made another batch. This time I prayed that they weren't destined for the trash can.

I will forewarn that you will not get the same results if you sub anything other then flavor add ins like coconut, etc.

I got 36 cupcakes from this recipe. The frosting makes enough to frost all the cupcakes. I had a container left because I couldn't stop eating the cupcakes when they came out of the oven.




Ingredients:

1 cup of softened to room temp butter
1 and 3/4 cups of Bakers Sugar.
8 egg yolks
3/4 and 1/4 cup of milk
2 Teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups of cake flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For frosting:
1 cup butter softened to room temp
3 cups confectioners sugar
6 oz of good white chocolate such as Ghiradelli baking chips. Which is a little less then half a bag if it's 11 0z.
3-5 Tablespoon of heavy cream or half and half
2 Tablespoons of Vanilla extract.

Directions:
1- Pre-heat oven to 350 ° F. Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.

2- Shift together all the dry ingredients.

3- Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, at least five minutes on slow speed. If you are not doing this it's not fluffy.

4- Add in the egg yolks one at a time and then add in the vanilla.

5- Add in the flour and milk alternatively until well incorporated. I had to use a little more then 3/4 cup of milk, so keep at least 1/4 on hand. You want thick and loose but not runny.

6- Bake in your oven middle rack in the center until they are lightly brown and the largest cupcake when poked with a knife of toothpick comes clean.

*Tip*

I always remove my cupcakes out of the pan as soon as they get out of the oven because I find they tend to dry out a little bit from over cooking from the hot pan. It takes awhile to get this method down without burning yourself.

For frosting:

1- Cream butter with sugar on low speed for at least five minutes until fluffy.

2- While creaming butter and sugar, melt the white chocolate in the microwave until melted, 40 seconds at a time, stir after each time until melted. Let cool until warm, not hot.

3- Add in vanilla, melted chocolate and two tablespoons of half and beat on high speed for at least six minutes until light and fluffy. If it's too thick add in some half and half. If it's too thin add in some powder sugar.

4- Since I lost my frosting bag I used a ziplock bag and snipped off the end of corner and gently squeezed.

Final thoughts:
Although I grew up on cake mixes from a box, this was a change. It tastes better then a boxed mix and by far isn't as hard as I though and took about the same amount of time to make. I will continue to use this recipie and with that...

This recipe gets four stars out of five. ★★★★☆

Enjoy!

The OH EM GE experience.

So what dose one do when they've been pretty much sick for the past two months? You dive into something warm, moist... and chocolate.

I know what some of you were thinking. Dirty minds.

This is the next best thing! The best part is that it is 100% homemade and took less then an hour to prepare and forever to savor.

It is decadent, moist and isn't overwhelmed by the chocolate gooey-ness that little bit of heaven on earth offers.

This will make 6-8 3.5 oz ramekins. I buy my ramekins from World Market for 2.99 for a set of four.

Ingredients:

Batter-
1 cup and three tablespoons of flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For chocolate sauce-
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 and 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 ° F and spray your ramekins with non-cooking spray, don't forget the sides of the ramekins.

1- In your mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients until well combined.

2- Add in the 1/4 cup of veg oil until crumbs appear.

3- Add in the milk, egg and vanilla. Mix until just combined. This is not a boxed cake mix, you will produce a tougher cake if you mix it too much. Set aside.

For chocolate sauce-

1- In a pan add your sugar, milk, cinnamon and coco powder. Take a wisk or a fork and mix until well combined.

2- Bring to a boil and TIME it for ONE minute. When it has boiled for a minute, remove it from heat and add in the vanilla. It is ready to use.

Back to the cake-

1- Take the chocolate sauce and use about three tablespoons on the bottom of each ramekin.

2- Use an even amount of cake batter and slowly pour it over the chocolate sauce. I would say start with 1/4 cup at a time, I fly by the handle and don't care if there is more in one then the other.

3- Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until a knife comes out clean, you might get some chocolate sauce but that is ok.

4- It is best while warm and with some of the chocolate sauce on top.

Final thoughts:
This is was an experiment. I knew what I wanted and I was going to try to achieve what I was looking for.

I first wanted to make an upside down chocolate cake with this, it did not turn out as I thought it would. That in it's self knocked down a star because I wanted to play with the plating of this, I thought a sliced strawberry over the sauce and a fine dusting of powdered sugar would make an excellent plating. But as you can tell the rustic plating seems just as delicious as a more upscale plating would. Being able to dig into this was heavenly, you close your mouth and utter an "Oh my God..." is exactly what you need when you need it.

That being said, this was exactly what I wanted when it came to taste, texture and form. Now I have extras to store in the fridge and reheat when the craving comes.

This recipe gets four stars out of five. ★★★★☆

Enjoy!

Back on the saddle with Pumkin Cake!

When the Cook is sick... the Cook don't cook!

I was put down with a pretty bad abscess in my jaw and jaw joint and then midway of treatment, I was hit with Strep. Go figure! So there went my whole plan of wanting to make a cookie every week.

Well I am cooking again, so that must mean I am on the mend or going through cooking withdrawals. I am on a soft food diet again, so instead of making a cookie this week, I thought cake would be better. I had left over pumpkin that needed to be used up so, I made a pumpkin cake.

It is made with a cake mix, I cheated but I used what I had on hand!

Ingredients:

Pumpkin mixture-
3/4 can of pumpkin
1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese at room temp
3/4 cups of packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp of pumpkin pie seasonings
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of ginger
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
2 tsp of vanilla

Cake-
1 yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 package instant pumpkin flavored pudding (if you can't find this, you can use vanilla or cheesecake and add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the mix)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 ° F

1- In bowl combine all the items for pumpkin mixture and mix until well combined.

2- Spray 9x13 cake pan with non cooking spray. Pour pumpkin mixture evenly on on bottom of pan and set aside.

3- In bowl combine all the items for cake and mix until well combined. ( I didn't use a whole cup of water, you may have to judge based on texture, etc)

4- Pour cake mix over pumpkin mixture and place into oven.

5- Cook at 350 ° F until edges are slightly brown and then cook on 200-250 ° F until center is set and firm. It will take 45 minutes to an hour for this cake to be fully cooked.

6- When a butter knife comes out clean, remove from oven and lightly dust with powdered sugar.

Final thoughts:

Considering I winged this recipe, I am not sure if I am going to rate it. But I do think it's good enough to pass on and I hope you will try it and review it for me and let me know how many stars you think it deserves.

It's made with a cake mix so you have plenty of wiggle room to experiment!

Enjoy!

Not quiet like I remembered, but good.

I would never turn down something sweet and full of mouth watering carbs. I do not always like overly sweet and sugary goodies. I love molasses cookies. They remind me of my childhood. The kind from my past were the kind out of the store bought package with the glaze on them. I would take those over a chocolate chip cookie in a heart beat. Someone passed on a recipe and being brave, I decide I was going to make some.

Although they are sweet but savory and chewy, they aren't the best in my book. I like a stronger molasses taste and a nice bite of ginger in the back when I swallow. The directions threw me for a loop. For a moment, I thought lost the mojo in the kitchen. I had hit a snag. The directions were not correct.

I ended up with molasses scrambled eggs. I should of known better but being the diligent cook I am I followed the directions. I poured it out and started all over again. Then I tweaked it a bit. Which I am pretty sure it was an improvement.

Ingredients:
2/3 cups Unsalted butter
3/4 cups of Dark brown sugar
1/3 cup of Molasses
1 Egg
1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Baking soda
2 1/4 cups of All purpose flour

1/2 cup Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 ° F

On low medium heat place a 3 quart sauce pan and melt your butter.

When butter is melted, add in brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Mix until brown sugar is melted. Remove completely from heat and add in vanilla.

Break your egg into a small bowl and whisk.

*Do not skip this step or you will have scrambled eggs*

While whisking your eggs, ladle in a small amount of the hot molasses and butter into the bowl with the egg. Do not stop whisking while doing this. Continue whisking and add in another small amount of molasses and butter while your still whisking. Do this one more time and when you are done, whisk the eggs and molasses back into the pan.

Stir in the baking soda and flour until well mixed.

Place the white sugar into a bowl.

Take a rounded table spoon of the dough and dip the tops into the sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for seven to nine minutes until edges are lightly brown. Remove immediately from the hot pan and allow to cool. Store in a air tight container.

Final thoughts:
If you want a more molasses taste, use dark molasses. You can add more ginger too if you like more ginger. If you want a chewy tasty cookie, with a medium to light molasses flavor, then this is your cookie. For me it wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it puts me on the right path to find the right molasses cookie.


That being said I give this recipe three stars out of five. ✯ ✯ ✯

If you have a cookie recipe you would like me to try and review please email me at Samantha1983Dec@Gmail.com