fisheye

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." -Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright

[ltafisheye]

gluten free banana rum bread

you need:

2 overripe bananas 3 eggs 1 cup almond flour (or gf flour) ¼ cup coconut flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbs honey or maple syrup 2 tbs light olive oil 2 tbs dark rum

1 tbs coconut sugar (optional) ½ cup enjoy life mega chuck chocolate bits (optional)

preheat oven to 350°. mash bananas in bowl (or use electric mixer) and then add all other ingredients. mix until homogeneous. pour into baking pan (I use a small 5x10) and bake for 30-35 minutes.

[ltafisheye]

crockpot gumbo for this chilly day. ❤️

[ltafisheye]

@rudse #Rogue51 peek 👀

[ltafisheye]

My first contribution to the Riverfront Times food blog!

[ltafisheye]

step up your soup game with homemade bone broths.

I understand the convenience of store-bought stocks. chicken stock, veggie stock, beef, fish, turkey, etc. but I have to challenge the notion that you can’t incorporate homemade bone broths into your cooking game because of time.

you literally put three things in a crock pot, walk away for 24 hours, strain, and BOOM. done.

the benefits of bone broths are real, and kind of a no brainer. you’ve heard that chicken noodle soup does the body good during a sick day, right? if you think that means a can of Campbell’s you are sorely mistaken.

the benefits of a healing chicken soup comes from the idea that people were making their soups from scratch. the minerals, nutrients, flavors and depth you pull from a homemade stock are incomparable to anything you’ll find on the shelves at Whole Foods.

combine the benefits of a bone broth with a medley of fresh, seasonal veggies, dark leafy greens and proteins such as chicken or pork, and you have a cold-busting combination of warmth, nutrients, and healing in a bowl. or cup. or mug. or whatever you eat soup out of. I don’t judge.

so grab your crockpot and let’s do this. I’ll set you up for the cold weather ahead.

–

you’ll need:

1) a crock pot or large, heavy bottomed soup pan with lid

2) water

3) apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs organic/raw/unfiltered)

4) bones of choice. if you’re making chicken stock, you’ll obviously want chicken bones. for fish stock you’ll want fish bones, etc. my go-to is pork because the bones are generally large, and easy to access (ask for them from your local butcher shop, or the meat section of a good grocery store).

Plug in your crock pot, but don’t turn it on just yet. Put your bones in the crock pot, and add water until they are just covered. Throw in a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar and leave it, cold, for 30 minutes. The vinegar helps start the process of breaking down and pulling out all of the vitamins and nutrients we want from the bones/marrow.

After 30 minutes have gone by, turn your crock pot on low, cover, and walk away for a full 24 hours.

That’s seriously all you do.

No one can tell me they can’t handle that process. No one.

Getting the bones is the hardest part, and hardly so. Once you find a source, it becomes part of your regular grocery buying process. I personally get mine from a wonderful vendor at a local farmers market, but I’ve also had luck in the meat department at Whole Foods, and at local butcher shops by calling ahead and requesting them. Expect to spend anywhere from $3.99/lb up to $6.99/lb. Anything more and you’re probably not getting a great deal. Remember to haggle! Especially with butchers who are setting them aside for you, keep in mind you are essentially offering to buy what was going to be trash to them anyway and use that to your advantage!

At this point, let everything cool. Then you'll want to strain the contents of your crock pot through a colander or something similar. The bones will have separated and any meat/cartilage that was attached to them will have also come loose. All you want to save is the liquid. Once you’ve done this, transfer to freezer safe quart bags, lay flat in your freezer and you have homemade bone broth at your fingertips!

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TIP: A few hours before the 24 hours are up, feel free to throw in some herbs, spices, and veggies to flavor up your broth. It will all infuse and be strained out with the bones in the end.

Personally, I make mine just lightly salted (with Himalayan pink sea salt) and I dress it up when I’m actually using it to make soup, that way I have a clean base to make anything I want with it.

PICTURED: pork bone broth, chicken thighs (marinated in brown mustard, white wine vinegar, evoo, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper chile flakes), bacon pieces, celery, carrots, red onion, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary

[dinnerwasdelicious]

Spiced Almonds

It’s hard to write a post about nuts without making the obvious jokes. SO let’s just get this out of the way…

1) Testicles.

2) We’re mentally unwell.

Cheap laughs aside, nuts are fucking tasty. They make a great, nutrient dense snack all on their own and are the building blocks for some of our favorite recipes. While you could pay ridiculous prices for spiced nuts at the store; in about 20 minutes and 2 dirty dishes, you could make your own.

Try these on salads, roughly chopped in your favorite chicken salad sandwich, in your lunch box, or paired with some funky, ballsy blue cheese at your next dinner party.

 Spiced Almonds

1 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 sprig Rosemary

1 clove of Garlic

1 tsp Lemon Zest

1 tsp Chili Powder

3 cups Raw Almonds

Makes 3 cups of Almonds. Obviously.

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Mix together the Soy Sauce, Olive Oil, and seasonings. Toss with the Almonds until they are well coated.

Spread the Almonds onto a parchment lined baking sheet– the kind with sides– in a single layer. We’ve found that using the parchment paper helps reduce the number of nuts with over toasted spots and it makes clean up really easy. You can skip this if you want, but it does help.

Toast the Almonds on your oven until they are dry to the touch and a deep mahogany brown, about 18 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before storing, but start eating right away, if you’re so inclined. These taste great warm. That’s right. We love hot nuts. Keep them for about a week on the counter or basically indefinitely when tightly sealed in the freezer.

[ltafisheye]

jump into fall flavors with this insanely simple, bright, flavorful salad.

a sturdy kale, shaved brussel sprouts, carrot strips, cabbage, cashews, pomegranate seeds and a simple balsamic vinaigrette (recipe below) are lovely on their own. tip: make your life easier by getting a bag of “cruciferous crunch” from trader joe’s and use that as your base.

for a protein punch, pair this salad with sausage, chicken or pork. perfect for lunch or a light dinner!

🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁

honey-mustard-balsamic vinaigrette:

3 parts evoo 1 part balsamic vinegar big squeeze of spicy brown mustard small squeeze of honey four turns of sea salt 8-10 turns of black pepper dash of cayenne

play with these flavors. add or take away depending on your taste buds.

[ltafisheye]

pretty breakfast

[ltafisheye]

You have probably heard of crab cakes, but let’s be real here and discuss the fact that if those are the only seafood-showcasing cakes you’re making, you are truly missing out on one of the easiest meals around.

You can use any fish to make these cakes, and honestly any other ingredients as the fillers. Fish cakes are a great meal toward the end of the week when you’re running on fumes, have random veggies and condiments to work with and need dinner FAST.

Try experimenting with your own version using tuna, crab, cod, swai, salmon, whatever you have!

The key to great fish cakes is a successful balance between your wet and your dry ingredients, as well as a PATIENT FLIP (see instructions). A good rule of thumb for me is one full egg per piece/can of drained of fish, and always add some sort of acid! Easy options are lemon or lime juice. Throw in whatever diced veggies you have on hand, some spices, and GO!

Keep reading for my recipe and get ready to eat!

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the BEST salmon cakes:

Makes 5-6 cakes depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients:

-2 pieces of salmon, thawed (I use the frozen variety of wild sockeye from Costco) -½ small red bell pepper, finely chopped -½ small yellow onion, finely chopped -1 scallion, chopped -2 cloves fresh garlic, grated -lime juice -“Just Mayo” (Hampton Creek, or similar) -2 eggs -8 Glutino multigrain crackers (or similar) -EVOO -Sea salt/fresh pepper

Directions:

Heat EVOO over medium heat. While the oil is warming up, season your salmon with sea salt, pepper, and a splash of lime juice per piece.

Place the salmon in the hot oil skin side down. Flip after 3-4 minutes and remove skin while the other side cooks for an additional 3 minutes or so. Remove from heat and transfer to cutting board.

Use a fork or knife to break up the salmon in flakes, large or small is up to you but nothing bigger than about the size of a dime.

Mix all remaining ingredients with the flaked salmon, and add cayenne if you want some spice!

Use a measuring cup, about ½ cup, to scoop the salmon cake mixture into he still-warm pan. Watch out for sputtering oil! You can do 2-3 cakes in a pan at a time depending on the size of your pan, but don’t overcrowd or you’ll have a heck of a time trying to flip your cakes.

LEAVE THE CAKES ALONE. Seriously. Do what I do and set a timer. Leave them alone for a solid 2-3 minutes, only flipping when you can easily slide a spatula under the cakes, meaning a nice crust has formed.

Quickly flip each cake following the same order you put them down. Leave them alone again! 2-3 minutes or until cooked throughout. (Timer!)

Set cooked cakes aside on a platter until you’ve cooked the rest of your mix, and serve immediately or save in the fridge for 2-3 days.

TIP: If you’ve followed directions and have well formed salmon cakes, you can heat these babies up in the toaster!

CHALLENGE: I used bottled mayo for convenience, but you can make your own with an egg yolk, EVOO, and sea salt. Google Alice Waters’ recipe for garlic aioli if you’re feeling extra creative.

[ltafisheye]

Boozy Coconut Caramel Sauce: Ingredients: 1 can full fat coconut milk 1/2 cup honey (try wildflower, but any will work) 1 T ghee 1 t vanilla (I used bourbon vanilla extract from Trader Joes, regular will work fine) 1 pinch salt 1 pinch cinnamon 1 splash bourbon Combine all ingredients except cinnamon and bourbon in saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, and stir every minute or so for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes has passed, add the cinnamon and bourbon. Continue to stir over medium heat for an additional 10 minutes or so. Cook times may vary depending on stove type, you want to keep a close eye on this. Look for the caramel color, and taste as you go. Great drizzled over popcorn, with apples, in/on baked goods, on a spoon, be creative!

[patrickbeach]

late night austin food trucks! give me tacos :)

[ltafisheye]

Sample Weekday Menu:

Breakfast: Smoothie with colostrum, filtered water, 3g. L-glutamine, 1tsp. asorbic acid, 1tbs. flax seed, 1tbs. hemp hearts, 1/2tbs. chia seed, frozen strawberry and fresh mango

Snack: Plantain Chips, Roasted Coconut Chips

Lunch: Salad with baby kale, celery leaves, radish, kohlrabi, brown tomatoes, canned albacore tuna, evoo, Himalayan pink sea salt

Snack: Baby Carrots, Red Bell Pepper slices

Dinner: Two eggs (poached or pan fried), lentils with sautéed onion, garlic and jalapeño, and homemade salsa simply made with roma tomato, yellow onion, garlic, cilantro, sea salt (pictured)

[ltafisheye]

Dinner: Pizza and Salad Pizza 

Crust is almond flour, egg, evoo and spices. Sauce is a roasted red pepper, roma tomato, garlic clove, and yellow onion. Toppings are bacon, onion, garlic and broccoli. Salad is french greens, arugula, garlic, onion, sweet baby bell pepper, evoo and himalayan pink sea salt. Drinking raspberry leaf tea. 

 Love your soul indeed.

[ltafisheye]

Today, my friends, is a great day to talk about food.

It’s been quite a while since my last grocery haul post. If you head back into my previous posts, you’ll find a post where I outline my grocery staples, things I would always have around and best practices to make good use of them.

For a lot of people, that post is still a relevant tool to use. If you are just starting out on your journey to healthier eating, that may be the post for you.

However, my eating habits have evolved immensely since that post was written, so I thought it time to write an updated version.

Keep in mind as you read along that this list of grocery items is specifically tailored to me and my body (see upcoming blog about my food sensitivity test) but could be adjusted and applied to anyone trying to take a more extreme approach to healthy eating! 

I will include links to some of my favorite items when possible.

PANTRY STAPLES

I think the biggest change between then and now is that my “pantry staples” list is WAY smaller. It is as follows: 

Lentils buy these packaged dry (store in pantry) or prepared and vacuum sealed (store in fridge) 

Black Beans 

Chickpeas great in salads, alone as a snack, in soups, etc. lots of fiber. use these raw or oven roasted with sea salt. 

Popcorn this sounds like a cheat, but it’s a whole grain and perfectly great in moderation. I buy prepared versions, but you could also buy organic popcorn kernels and pop it yourself (who has the time?) 

Plantain Chips If you haven’t tried them, do it, they’re awesome. 

Canned Tuna I recommend tuna in water, because though more flavorful in oil you never know what quality of oil you’re getting so better to add your own 

Raw Nuts & Dried Fruits Never buy trail mixes! Buy raw, unsalted nuts and high quality dried fruits, dark chocolates, pretzels, etc. and mix them yourself. You will save so much money doing it this way, the mix will be exactly what you want/can have, and since you buy the nut varieties individually you have the option to use almonds/cashews/etc. to make homemade “flours” and “milks” from the same stash 

Almond Meal/Flour If making nut flour homemade isn’t an option, you can buy it already made. 

Nut Butters I keep around natural peanut and almond butters (should only have two ingredient maximum: nuts and salt, skip any version with added sugars, molasses, etc. Try making these at home!

Blue Corn Chips When buying chips, make sure you’re reading ingredient lists. The chips I buy have corn, oil(s), seal salt and sometimes trace amounts of lime. 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Ghee

Coconut Oil

Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

Sea Salt

PRODUCE STAPLES

These are items I have today, and frequently repurchase, but the best way to buy produce is to go to your local market and buy what’s fresh and in season. Try something new this week!

Greens I wil typically keep two or three kinds of leafy greens around for salads and cooking. Kale is always a great choice, it’s a sturdy green, holds up well in the fridge, and is great raw, baked, dehydrated, in soups, in sauces, etc. Spinach is another obvious choice for people, but I unfortunately can’t eat it for the time being. Other great options I like include frisée, kohlrabi (the bulb AND leaves are edible!), arugula, and cabbages. Don’t skip the fresh greens section of your local grocer or market, pick up something new this week and try it out. Rarely do I make a salad with only one green as a base. Mix up your routine, shock your system, get healthy! 

Radishes Red radishes are a staple, but also try daikon. It only looks intimidating, but has a milder flavor than traditional radish with the same crunch. Great as a snack, for dipping, and in salads.

Tomatoes Brown, cherry, heirloom, on the vine, roma, just make sure they’re RIPE. Eat raw, roasted, broiled, crushed, puréed, etc. 

Brussels Sprouts Best preparation involves cutting off the ends, tossing in olive oil and sea salt, and roasting in the oven at 385° for about 20-25 minutes. 

Cauliflower Roast it, steam it, mash it, make faux “rice "out of it, make pizza crust out of it, buy all the colors, go nuts. 

Bell Peppers Great for snacking, dipping, roasting, in salads, in sauces, stuffed and so on. Red are the sweetest, and my favorite. 

Onions Red are my favorite, but I buy yellow and vidalia to switch things up or for certain recipes sometimes 

Celery Great in salads, and my favorite new thing to do is save the leafy inner stalks for a salad with tuna, radish, greens, etc. Those inner leafy stalks are super sweet and add a surprising flavor to my regular salad routine. Celery also, of course, serves as an excellent vessel for nut butters. 

Prepared beets You can buy fresh beets and roast them yourself, or boil them if you’re looking to make a mess, but in my opinion it’s worth the money to buy them prepared and vacuum sealed. Great as a sweet treat, in salads, or juiced (though I’ll admit I’ve only ever juiced fresh beets) 

Some Fruits Fruits are a luxury for me these days, again regarding my food sensitivity results. But in moderation I eat some strawberries, raspberries, banana, plantains, and mango. Especially great in smoothies with my supplements and protein additives. 

Pork Bones I know it sounds weird at first, but you need to start buying bones. I choose pork, but you can go beef, chicken, fish, etc. They keep if you freeze them, and you can make a killer stock with fresh bones that has all the nutrition your body needs, especially during a sickness. I will write a separate post about making your own bone broth, but in the meantime just know that soup is definitely a sickness-staple for a reason, but the canned stuff isn’t going to do the trick, not even 1%. You need to be making broth.

Eggs I know eggs aren’t produce, but they arent a pantry item either so just go with it.

[ltafisheye]

[ltafisheye]

weeknight dinner: rosemary bison meatloaf with a kale and herb chèvre center, whipped garlic cauliflower and roasted rainbow carrots

[ltafisheye]

when the boyfriend is away, yoga and grill i may.