tomato gravy

Last week, when we were visiting Karla, my Amish friend, she mentioned that they often have tomato gravy over eggs for breakfast. This was the second time she had talked about "tomato gravy" and it sounded so interesting, I had to try it.

From what I gather, it's an Amish thing. It makes a regular appearance at meals at all times of the day, and it's quite versatile. You can serve it over eggs (which I did last Wednesday and let me just say - YUM. It's no wonder her family eats eggs every morning if she's serving tomato gravy over them!), you can serve it over rice (did that tonight), you can put it over toast, over noodles, over biscuits, over roasted chicken....and many more, I'm sure.

I'm going to give you my ingredient list, which is different from hers. Hers calls for a can of diced tomatoes (roughly 14 oz.). For mine, I used tomato juice.

Ingredients

3 Tbls. butter
3 Tbls. white flour
tomato juice (about a cup)
whole milk or cream (about a half cup)
3 Tbls. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Melt the butter over medium heat.

Whisk in the flour until it begins to brown.

Pour in the tomato juice and milk all at once.

Whisk until smooth and thickened. If it is too thick for your liking, add more tomato juice.

Stir in the sugar and salt and pepper.

Serve with a variety of side dishes or meats, but especially with eggs.

no grain granola

My pregnant protein needs combined with my youngest daughter's recent gluten sensitivity diagnosis led me to creating this recipe tonight. It makes a nice alternative to puffed cereals and sugary granolas, which seem to be about the only things that consistently sound good all throughout every pregnancy. It has a very high protein content for a "cereal" and it's 100% gluten free.

Ingredients
1 lb. almonds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 Tbls. vanilla extract

Directions
Add everything to a large capacity food processor (we use and love this one).

Pulse several times until the nuts and seeds are minced into tiny pieces and the mixture starts to cling together. If it never clings together, add more maple syrup or honey until it becomes a little sticky. It should not cling together like a dough. You should be able to form a little test ball with your fingers and have it hold together.

Press the mixture into a 9" x 13" baking pan and bake for 2 hours at 225 degrees.

Gently break apart the mixture until it resembles granola and divide it equally onto two baking sheets. Bake another 1-2 hours at 225 degrees until it just starts to turn brown. Let sit uncovered for at least 6 hours. It will be soft when it first comes out of the oven, but will be crispy by the end of the 6 hours sitting time.

Add craisins, raisins, or any other favorite dried fruit to the mix.

We did not have any dried fruit to add tonight, but it was still good. Dried fruit would have made it excellent. It stayed crispy for over 10 minutes in a bowl of milk. I didn't test past that because I was hungry!

cheesy squoodles (starring the spaghetti squash)

Since my husband has been home full-time, I've been more conscious of the names I give certain dishes. My husband is quite a bit more....selective...discerning...okay, picky than I am, a trait which can easily influence my daughter's perceptions of our meals. While she used to extol the flavor of the spaghetti squash, for example, a few dozen times of Daddy telling why he doesn't like it (doesn't like the taste of squash, doesn't like the texture of it, prefers real pasta, etc...), she has now decided she doesn't like it either.

Sigh.

This is what happens when you live in a household where everyone can be their own authentic selves and give their real opinions out loud instead of smiling and nodding until the kids go to bed, I guess. Or maybe this is what happens when you live in a household where the kids are always awake at the same times you are. When else can you give your real opinions?!

So to my six year old's newly discovered sense of supper independence, my response has been to try to make the foods sound amazingly fun and kid-friendly. Hence, on the menu tonight were cheesy "squoodles": the spaghetti squash noodle.

Ingredients

Spaghetti squash
1 Tbls. Butter
1 Tbls. Flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cheese (colby or cheddar works well)
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup Ground beef crumbles (optional)
Chives (optional garnish)

Directions

1. Bake spaghetti squash. (Cut in half, scoop out seeds, place face down in a baking pan with 1 inch water on the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until soft.)

2. In a skillet, melt the butter on medium heat. Stir in the flour with a fork until it browns a bit. Quickly stir in the milk and cook 2-3 minutes until thick. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Scrape out the spaghetti squash, placing the squoodles in a serving dish. Top with the cheesy sauce. Layer ground beef crumbles on top of the cheese sauce (if desired) and top with a garnish of chopped chives.

power balls

I've played around with this recipe for quite some time and the more I make these, the more I love them. They are high in protein, as low in sugar as you'd like, easy, and very versatile. There are so many options in the ingredients that you can use whatever you have on hand and they will still turn out great. You don't have to cook them, you can mix them all in one bowl, most sick pregnant mamas can handle them, and you can hide things in there that you want your kids to have. What's not to like?

Ingredients

1 cup of any or all of the following:

nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, whatever you have on hand)
seeds (sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds)
shredded unsweetened coconut
dried fruit

1/2 cup grain (wheat germ, dry oats, puffed rice cereal, granola, not plain flour...only use what you would take a bite of straight)

1 cup nut butter

honey, 3 Tbls. to start

optional: health food additions (bee pollen, 2 tsp. raw butter, probiotic powder, 2 tsp. wheat germ oil, 2 tsp. flax seed oil, blackstrap molasses)

optional: cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips

Directions

In your food processor, finely process any large nuts, seeds, & dried fruit. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop them, it will just extend the preparation time. Grind the flax seeds, if using, in a separate grinder. (Grinding the flax seeds before using them allows your body to digest them more fully.)

In a large mixing bowl (your counter-top mixer if you have one), use a wooden spoon (or mixer paddle on a counter-top mixer) to mix together the chopped nuts, seeds & fruit, grain, nut butter, honey & any of the optional ingredients.

Test for sweetness. Add more honey if desired.

You should have a "dough" that will cling together on its own. If not, add a little more honey and/or nut butter to achieve this consistency.

Roll into balls, about 1-inch in diameter, and store in the refrigerator.

High-Protein Pancakes

This recipe is great for those of us who know we should be eating something higher in protein first thing in the morning, but can't get past the carb cravings when we wake up.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup flour, any kind, gluten-free also works well
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup cottage cheese
2-4 eggs (I use 2 because I don't like too strong an egg taste, but you can use up to 4)
1/2 cup milk or water
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 ripe banana (optional)
1/2 cup ground nuts (optional)

oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients except frying oil in a food processor, blender or mixing bowl. Blend at high speed. (6 minutes hands-on)

Heat frying oil on a griddle until medium-hot, fry pancakes until brown on each side. (4 minutes hands-on for about 4 pancakes)

Top with honey, fruit or maple syrup if you want a sweeter pancake as these won't be sweet by themselves.