Monday, May 3, 2010

Healthier eating

I woke up this morning feeling terrible.  I proceeded to eat an unhealthy (but delicious) breakfast of biscuits and gravy.  At lunch I was still feeling awful, and I ate leftovers from dinner a few nights back.  They were restaurant leftovers of steak with sukiyaki sauce, rice, and veggies.  Not terrible food, but not exactly healthy either.  I have decided I need to eat better.  I've been slacking off lately because of stress.  I'll just throw something quick together that tastes good.  Tonight was the turning point.  After feeling miserable all day I made myself a portabella mushroom sandwich.  I had cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh strawberries on the side.  I am feeling a little better.  I hope this continues.  Following is not really a recipe, but just instructions for the sandwich.  Use any type of bread you like.  I had some oat bread, which is too gummy, but I'm trying to use up the loaf.

Clean mushroom.  Sometimes I cut out the gills, but tonight I just rubbed the entire mushroom with a damp paper towel.  Detach stem and slice into small pieces.  Place a few teaspoons of olive oil in a frying pan and heat until warm.  Add mushroom gills up.  Drizzle a small amount of oil over gills.  At this point I cover the pan so everything doesn't splatter.  After a minute or two flip mushroom and add mushroom pieces.  I sprinkle in a little Bragg's Amino or soy sauce at this point.  Go sparingly here because too much will make the mushroom salty.  Cook for another minute then remove from heat and let sit.  One of the most important things about cooking a mushroom is to let it rest for a minute.  If you immediately place it on the sandwich you will lose all the juice in the first bite.  It's too hot to eat now anyway, so let it rest!  Place on sandwich and enjoy.

I had mustard, tomato, avocado, and lots of pickles on my sandwich.  I also cut it in half, so it's easier to eat.  The picture didn't turn out very well, but it gives an idea.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Pizza night



My fiancĂ©e and I made pizza Friday night, which is something we used to do, but haven't lately because we've been out of town so much.  It's a fun activity we can do together, and the final product is always amazing.  Right now I'm using Jiffy pizza crust that just needs hot water.  I'm going to experiment with a yeast crust from scratch once I have more time.  We are also using canned sauce for convenience, but I plan on canning a homemade pizza sauce this summer when my tomatoes are growing.  I will post recipes for both the crust and the sauce once I have them perfected.  Our pizza toppings were: fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, green and black olives, red pepper, red onion, and tomato.  I also made a Stromboli-type pizza roll with the same fillings.  The roll tasted great, but looked awful, so no pictures of that.

I finally feel like i'm getting things together enough to cook exciting dishes, so I plan on posting more frequently.