Mantu that turned into chips

I was frustrated yesterday and today by not being able to find ground lamb at any of my local markets.

I could find lamb shanks and other lamb bits but zero ground lamb.

I did buy most of the other ingredients. 

So, until I get the rest of the stuff and I am able to try making mantu - here is a look at the breakfast I made when I was craving potato chips.

I am perpetually confused with the whole sweet potato vs yam business. I will show you what the sweet potato/yam that I used looked like:

I used the whipped egg white technique that worked out well from the recipe I used for my eggplant parmesan and added in some other spices (recipe to follow).

So, here is the downside to disliking sweets and craving the savory: If you are a sweets person you could easily go to the store and buy a big bag of potato chips and eat a handful and be done with it. But I, for one, cannot do that. I would go to the store and buy a large bag of chips and proceed to eat them all in one sitting. 


And for all of you that wondered - I totally get the whole 'I could eat a whole bag of gummy bears' thing - only for me it would be potato chips. 


So, to make sure the 'eat an entire bag of chips, be covered in potato chip bits and have the dogs stare at me like they want to jump me and scavenge off the crumbs' scenario didn't happen, I made my own chips.


And I made a great dip of greek yogurt mixed with dried parsley and Frank's Red Hot sauce for dunking.

 Yes, this turned out incredibly delicious!

Yam or sweet potato oven chips

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 of a yam or sweet potato, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

2 Tbsp of nutritional yeast

1 tsp of paprika

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp of onion powder

a pinch of salt

cracked black pepper to taste

2 egg whites whisked till they are frothy

2 tsp. of olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and brush with olive oil.

Peel and slice the yam or sweet potato. Whisk 2 egg whites until they are frothy (not too much - you don't want it so whipped it creates peaks).

Combine the bread crumbs with the nutritional yeast, paprika,  garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and place on a plate.

Dip the slices in the egg whites and coat well with the bread crumb mixture.

Cook the slices in the oven for 8 minutes and then turn them over and cook another 4 minutes. Cooking times will vary according to the thickness of the slices but what you are aiming for is for the slices to be golden brown on each side.

When the chips are done, pull them out of the oven and let them cool a bit. Serve in a small bowl lined with paper towels and a second bowl filled with your dip of choice.

Optional: Combine 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp of dried parsley and a sprinkle of Frank's Hot Sauce for your dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Some like it hot

A mostly egg-white omelet with basil, tomato, mozzarella and a sprinkle of Frank's Red Hot sauce.

 

 

I woke up just as the sun was rising and headed out for a nice and slow 2 miles before the day started to heat up.

When I got back I was craving omelets and apples. 

Oh, yeah, and hot sauce.

So, I grabbed what I had in the fridge:

Eggs, basil, diced tomatoes, Frank's Hot Sauce, olive oil, black pepper, parsley and mozzarella.

I did take pictures of the cooking process but for some reason all of the photos I take in my kitchen end up turning out really yellow.

Maybe it is the lack of natural light??

Someday I will figure out the rest of the nifty features in  Lightroom so that I can tone down or remove color saturation.

I only used one whole egg the rest was egg whites. So, it was a fairly trim omelet even though I added in some cheese.

And since you are probably wondering - Yes, Frank's Hot Sauce does taste pretty yummy on granny smith apples:-)

I am going to try my hand at making eggplant Parmesan later today.

Happy Tuesday all!

Breakfast of champions - if champions ate quinoa

I did pick up some new bedding during my shopping trip to Ikea.

And it is doggie approved :-)

Abby testing out the new sheets. Connor is there too but you can only see his butt.

As I was perusing the pantry this morning I spotted my jar of nutritional yeast.

So this morning's breakfast was comprised of the following ingredients:

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/4 cup of quinoa cooked in vegetable broth
4 florets of broccoli, chopped fine
a handful of spinach leaves torn into small pieces
1 button mushroom, chopped
1/4 of an onion
1 clove of garlic
2 egg whites

This turned out really delicious. And since I threw in the broccoli and spinach into the pot with the quinoa and let it all cook together it was super simple.

I did cook the garlic and onions in a skillet over low heat while the quinoa simmered. When the onions just started to caramelize, I tossed in the mushrooms, covered the pan and let it cook another 5 minutes.


I pulled the onions, garlic and mushrooms out of the pan and then added in the 2 egg whites. I let them cook on low until just set.

Oh, yes, and I stirred in 1 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast into the quinoa when it was done cooking. The nutritional yeast added a nice cheesy flavor that paired really well with the slightly sweet taste of the onions.

I thought this was a great breakfast that was packed with protein from both the quinoa and the egg whites. And I got a nice dose of greens as well. It was definitely a breakfast of champions :-)

I enjoyed my bowl of quinoa with a plump peach and a big mug of tea with soymilk.

I can't believe it is Monday already. Where did the weekend go?

Too good to be true?

I am easily swayed by rave reviews. I have been seeing ads for this product everywhere:

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus

And then when I looked around the internet for reviews - it has a surprising amount of really positive reviews. Will I buy it? I am still on the fence.

Has anyone else tried this? And how did you like it?

After pulling myself away from the computer I made this for breakfast - 

Mixed berry kefir with muesli, scrambled egg whites with nutritional yeast, 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass in water, coffee and an apple.

 

 

This looks like a lot for breakfast but each of the bowls are small. In fact, the bowl that has the egg whites is a children's size rice bowl.

I am going to have to get more nutritional yeast because I am going through it like nobody's business - I love how it makes egg whites look like regular eggs (yes, I am easily fooled) and the extra cheesy taste doesn't hurt either.

Egg whites with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast, black pepper and a sprinkle of paprika and parsley.

I may torture myself later by going to the store to stare longingly at the Clinique cosmetic counter...

Protein oatcakes

Since I am getting back into the gym habit, I thought I would experiment with the standard oatmeal and egg whites breakfast.

Enter these:

Protein oatcakes.

You can make them sweet by adding in things like apples or banana but of course I chose the savory route.

I combined 1 cup of cooked oatmeal with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of egg whites, a pinch of sage, a pinch of salt and lots of cracked black pepper.


They went into a saute pan with a little coconut oil. Next time I think I will cook them in the oven.

I topped them with some Tofutti cream cheese.

Protein cakes with chopped apple.

 This morning was definitely a coffee morning.

And I am definitely sore after my workout yesterday. But I will be heading back to the gym today - gotta keep the momentum going.

And I will have a protein oatcake recipe in the future - I just need to figure out the cooking temp and time for cooking them in the oven.

Oh, and I bought new running shoes which I desperately needed.

Check out the difference in the soles - 

I had worn down one side of the heel almost to the white part.

Cabin fever

As I am embracing this writing endeavor I am quickly realizing one thing - the need to stave off cabin fever.

Too many days in a row (I walk the dogs so I am not a complete shut in, lol) spent bent over the keyboard trying to get pages out? My productivity goes down the tubes.

And my cooking gets bizarre - check out this mornings breakfast:

The ugly breakfast: Quinoa with spinach and garlic stuffed olives topped with herbed egg whites.

Yeah, the garlic olives were not a great addition in this dish. I love the garlic stuffed olives - just not for breakfast.

Garlic stuffed olives.

But I am sure the people at the Y (when I stop in later today to re-activate my membership) will appreciate the garlic breath:-)

So I think I need to have a daily routine (not that I am much of a routine person) that includes 1-2 activities that get me out of the house (aka. cabin fever prevention).

You probably guessed the first one I picked (see above) - yup, exercising at the Y.


Other activities? I haven't decided yet but it has to be something that increases my productivity but isn't a complete waste of time...


My breakfast, although being not the cutest thing on the block, was very filling.

The bit players:

A mug of tea and an apple.

There really is tea in that mug - 

And my apple had these cool green swirls on the top but I think it is kind of hard to see them in this photo.

Time to start the day!