Study Schmuddy

Y'all...I am so done with school. Stretched deadlines, stressed profs, my brain straight up going "NOPE" every Saturday morning in response to my waking up in a panic and shortly realizing "hey, it's Saturday! I don't need to wear pants or go to into the clinic...but I can study?"

Here is a stunningly metaphorical NOPE in picture form. 

my clinic biddy Emily fetching me lemon tea from Starbucks to soothe my cough.

Matt's mom makes these crispy, savory pancakes with walnuts.  they are sumptous without any toppings, just hot off the pan.

I had a weak moment and bought coke from a vending machine. I showed my classmates. they snapped photos.

breakfasts with this guy (NOTE THE GEM ON THE LEFT)

my classmates communicate in pictures. 

THOSE HERBS I GREW THEM

Matt asked me to buy lime basil but barely uses it. I chopped some and froze in olive oil

Culver's, a midwestern delicacy 

fried cheese balls? with ranch dipping sauce?

gluten free, but made the mistake of not reading what the pasta was made of: LENTIL FLOUR. Poops--I mean--oops. 

homemade cashew milk getting turned into a homemade frappucino!

Surprise dinner of steak and onions

A grocery store opened up about 5 blocks from the clinic and has a pretty decent salad bar 

found at Miami airport: guava and sweet cheese pie. SO FRAGRANT. 

Grandma with my welcome home meal--that lady, I tell you.

Mom and I at the oyster bar at JTM. Pricey to sit and eat, and the oysters were just ok.

But...I may try it just one more time... 

picking vine leaves for stuffing!

At a family-favorite Italian restaurant, Tre Marie 

crème brulée bread pudding, at a restaurant nearby. Just say no to that fusion shit.

broccoli "breadcrumbs" in meatballs. yes, thank you, I'm a genius.

this week in food

No video today, but I thought I would share some highlights and then discuss meal planning and groceries.

This is the cassava pizza, it was SO GOOD. Next time I will prebake the crust, elevate it on a metal wire rack, then dress and bake again; as things went it was a little on the soggy/greasy side, which is nonetheless a nice change from crumbly and sawdusty, which is sadly how GF pizza tends to go.

Cute person with a snack platter.

tending the sauerkraut - fermentation causes the release of gases, lifting the solids and causing the bubbling you see here.

re-packed (you can see that the left jar required an extra cabbage leaf to settle).

zucchini noodles

for zucchini bolognaise

served with salad

popover

mmm... asparagus

today's groceries

this week's menu

Kindly draw your attention to the grocery spread - if you are just starting meal planning, or gluten-free living, or having one weekly shopping day, it is very useful to get in the habit of being aware of what you go through in a week. At the forefront are the essentials, goodies at the back. Every week, normally on Monday, I buy 4 dozen eggs, 1 lb butter, 4 L milk, 2 long packages of cheese, 3-4 meat selections, 1-2 fruit selections, lots of veggies (cooking greens, such as fennel and broccoli, starches and roasters, such as potatoes, onions and carrots, and snackers/noms, such as peppers and daikon), 1 bottle of wine, 1-2 canned tomato/fish products, and a few dried goods, depending on what we need. That feeds two adults and child and any circulating company. We eat eggs most mornings, usually leftovers at lunch, and animal protein of some kind with lots of veggies for supper. Easy. Once every month or two I get other things from the bulk food store such as nuts, whole and ground, flour, oil, spices, etc. I get cassava flour, coconut bars, GF oats and other bits from the asian market or middle-eastern natural foods store as needed, every 1-3 weeks. In the summer I browse farmer's markets for the sheer pleasure of it, as well as to focus on living seasonally and to support the local economy. I spend about $150 per week on food.

What do you build your meal plan on?

Week Meal Plan

This is what this week has in store for us:




Monday - Leftoverssssssss
Tuesday - Bacon and Grilled Veggie Quiche (something new, for J!)
Wednesday - Turkey/Sweet Potato chili in the slowcooker
Thursday - Chicken Fajitas with the fixins
Friday - Salmon fillet for me with steamed or sautéed veggies, rice for jj (rice is something his mom invented, basically white rice with onions/beef gravy/minced meat. No comment)
Saturday - Balsamic Pork Tenderloin with mashed white&sweet potato/carrot and Greek salad
Sunday- Supper at my maman's
















Since I work later, and J's home from school earlier, he is actually going to be venturing in the kitchen much more (which I love) than he was used to, so this is a learning experience for both of us. I have a tendency to expect him to know what I know, and deliver exactly what I would deliver, so I'm really working on trying to rein that control freak side of me in. Good practice for when I become pregnant? hmm..










I'm soooo excited for my lunch this week, this salad. Plus lentil soup which I'm making tonight, based off of Julia Child's recipe, from her books that I received as a gift from J this Christmas (more on those in another post ohhhhhhh bebey). Her recipe is very similar to my grandmothers soupe aux pois, so I'm not venturing out too much.










I've noticed that in the recent weeks I've gradually cut down on the amount of carbs I make for myself in my meals. No one in my family is gluten intolerant, so to go completely gluten free wouldn't be very efor us, and I feel that its the current big fad of the culinary world at the moment.


After reading and assessing how I personally react to gluten, I've decided that the grains that I would consume would be whole and un-processed to the maximum, and that it would be limited. But I still very much enjoy a fresh loaf of bread from my oven, so I wont deny myself that pleasure. Just in moderation.


Has anyone had trouble uploading pictures? I cant seem to add anything without making the site crash -_-

kitchen monday

So after shooting I did indeed get a lot done.

I know it's blurry but look at Ambrose's fingers. Eating plantain pancakes.

My husband spent his Saturday morning preparing this before heading off for work for our date that night. Have I mentioned he's also really good-looking?

Practical Paleo, as mentioned in the video.

I used a head of green cabbage, two roasted jalepenos, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, two carrots, a few baby beets (hence the colour), and about 4 tbsp salt.

Massaged it all with the salt till liquidy, put a plate & weight on it, moved on to other projects to let it sweat.

you can see the brine starting to rise...

completed rice pudding

put into handy jars for the boys.

fat, still half frozen, ready to cut. I used this tutorial to get started.

simmering away

pizza dough - 1 c cassava flour, 1/3 to 1/2 c water (can't quite recall), 2 tsp salt, 2 eggs.

baked to lovely light bubbly perfection. why don't we hear about this more often as a paleo option?

returning to the sauerkraut - one jar packed, one in process

ooo lovely

a simple late lunch - cheddar, avocado, kolhlrabi sticks with salt.

Kitchen Monday Video!

So that was a couple of hours ago, and things are a bit tider now. The new menu is also up:

Featured are paleo naan (it'll be my first time, so I am very excited to try them and report back here  they're even vegan!), chocolate tart (for the crust I use 1/2 c hazelnut flour, 1/2 c shredded coconut, and 1/4 c white rice flour, and replace the water with yogurt), and stuffed onions (mine will have beef).

I also mention breakfast bars in the video - mine are based on Irish Oat Cakes, but with no wheat (obviously), more eggs, and other variations (no sugar, but with dates, or bananas; cinnamon; tomorrow will be squash and spices and a bit of honey). I make them in the afternoon/evening and they keep nicely. With gluten-free baking though it's always better to replace any water called for with yogurt or vegetables or fruit or something.

Now for a gratuitous tart shot:

Have a great week!