Our Latest Bounty

Sorry for the short post today...been a busy week and we have an even busier weekend ahead. Just a quick shot of our latest harvest from the garden. Stay tuned for some recipes made with our bountiful harvest!

Happy Labor Day!

Dang you Rachael Ray!

Excuse my language (earmuffs children) but damn you Rachel Ray and your EVOO (that's Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those of you living under a rock). Your perky cooking banter and cleverly named dishes made with, cooked in and saturated with EVOO had us fooled. Yes, EVOO is a super food and really good for you, but only depending on how you use it.

An recent article on Fox News debunked several myths about olive oil, including that you should use EVOO for all types of cooking. Not true...EVOO is great for dressings, marinades and in baking, but using it for sauteing, frying, grilling or roasting can be dangerous. Between a temperature of 375 and 405 degrees, EVOO starts emitting dangerous toxins and loses its antioxidant properties. Who knew, right?? Instead of EVOO, consider using regular olive oil for any high heat cooking and save the EVOO for dressings and marinades. (You can read the rest of myths at the Fox News article here)

Instead of olive oil, you could also try coconut oil. Coconut oil raises good cholesterol, boosts the immune system and stimulates metabolism. It's great in stir-frys  and other high heat cooking because it has a high smoke point. Use it in baked goods and frosting as a substitute for veggie or canola oil. Unless you really like the taste of coconut, be sure to buy the refined coconut oil. I made the mistake of buying regular and boy could I taste the coconut in everything I cooked it in! It does make a nice oil to cook with though. Be aware that it's not actually an oil, but a semisolid that will melt when heated.

Want some more options? Check out this Fitness Magazine article on Healthy Cooking Oils.

Dinner Plan to Eat Clean for a Week

 

Haven't jumped into clean eating yet because you're not sure where to start or you feel like you don't have enough time to prepare clean meals? Check out Eating Well's dinner plan for a week of clean eating meals. Along with meal plans and recipes, Eating Well offers clean eating tips, included convenience foods to help make meal prep easier. 

You can find the whole meal plan here.

Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken

Now that I've blogged about a not-so-good recipe, I feel like I've had a string of them! Last night we tried Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken in the crockpot and it was just okay. The flavor was a little bland and I didn't like how the chicken turned out in the crockpot...dry and bland. This might be another one to try, but in the oven. 

Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken
From Key Ingredient
 
8 bacon slices
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 (10 oz) cans roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
½ cup flour (all purpose or gluten free blend)
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-low heat until some of the fat is rendered. Be sure that the bacon is still pliable and not crisp. Drain on paper towels. If you use this method, reduce the flour to 1/4 cup. Or don’t cook the bacon and proceed with the recipe. Then wrap one slice of bacon around each boneless chicken breast and place in a 4-5 quart crockpot. In medium bowl, combine condensed soups, sour cream, and flour and mix with wire whisk to blend. Pour over chicken. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours until chicken and bacon are thoroughly cooked. You may want to remove the chicken and beat the sauce with a wire whisk so it is very well blended. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve over rice, couscous, or wide egg noodles.

Chocolate croissants aka my husband knows the way to my heart

Several weekends ago, I not only got a weekend away with my girlfriends, but I came home to two happy (and alive) kids, a pretty clean house and chocolate croissants, my all-time favorite pastry. These were not only super delicious, they were clean and all-natural too!

Quick story about my love for croissants...when I was in my first trimester pregnant with Liesl, we went on a company trip to St. Thomas. Unfortunately, I was sicker than a dog and sustained myself on chocolate croissants alone. No lie.

Anyway, I LOVE them! I recently bought Matt his dream kitchen tool, a KitchenAid mixer and he used it to make these delectable treats. He said they weren't too difficult to make, but did take a long time to prepare. Just don't get overwhelmed by the length of the recipe; the author gives VERY detailed instructions!

If you ever want me to love you forever (or want to try them for yourselves ;) here's the recipe:

Chocolate Croissants
from Baking Illustrated

Dough
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups cold whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Butter Square
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 
1 large egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)  
To make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk 2 3/4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Add the milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the dry ingredients and turn to the mixer to low, beating until the dough comes together in a rough ball, about 4 minutes.
 
Add the pieces of butter and continue kneading until the butter is completely incorporated, about 5-6 minutes. The dough will still be sticky, but should form a rough ball and mostly clear the sides of the bowl (if you make bread regularly, this dough will be more sticky than you're used to and won't clear the sides of the bowl as fully as a typical yeast bread). If it's too sticky, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap.
 
Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
 
To make the butter square: Place the pieces of butter on your work surface and sprinkle the flour over the top of them.
 
Use a bench scraper to smear the butter/flour mixture back and forth against the work surface.
 
Continue until the mixture is uniform and smooth. Gather in a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 7-inch square.
 
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
 
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into an 11-inch square, lifting and turning as you go to make sure the dough isn't sticking. Place the chilled butter square diagonally in the center of the dough.

Lift each of the four corners of the dough up and over the butter square.
 
It's fine if they don't meet exactly, just pinch them together to seal completely.

Use your rolling pin to gently tap the dough, starting in the center and going outward, until square gets larger and the butter begins to soften slightly. Roll the dough into a 14-inch square, flouring your work surface and rolling pin as necessary to ensure the dough isn't sticking. (no idea why I chose to roll it diagonally over my parchment...)
 
Fold one side of the dough to the center and then bring the other side up and over it - basically, you're folding the dough like you would a business letter. This is also called a "turn" of the dough.
 
Complete a second turn by folding the top half of the dough down to the center and then bringing the bottom up and over it.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Repeat the process above (roll into a 14-inch square and fold like a business letter twice) to complete 2 more turns of the dough. Again, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
 
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and roll into a 20-inch square (flour as necessary to make sure it's not sticking). Cut the dough into 4 equal 10-inch squares.
 
Cut each of those squares into 3 rectangles (about 10 x 3 1/4-inches each) - you should have a total of 12 rectangles.
 
Add about 1 tablespoon (about 1/2-oz) of chopped chocolate to the center of each rectangle.
 
Fold the top of the rectangle over the chocolate and down to the center, then lift the bottom up and over it (again, we're folding it like it's a business letter).
 
Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, seam-side down. Try to keep the croissants horizontal as you move them so the chocolate doesn't spill out the sides. Also, you can see on mine I have a little flap sticking out the side - that flap will get bigger as the croissants rise and puff so you can try to hide it under the croissant a little better than I did to avoid that.

Loosely cover the croissant with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature for 45-60 minutes, or until they're puffy (they won't necessarily double in size). While they're rising, preheat oven to 400 F with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.
 
Brush the croissants with the egg wash then bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they are golden brown, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the halfway point. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the croissants cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. They're best warm, but will keep for a few days at room temperature if tightly wrapped. I zapped mine for 15-ish seconds in the microwave on the 2nd day to enjoy it warm.

I Saw, I Pinned, I Conquered

While this doesn't really have anything to do with clean eating, I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts that show stuff I pinned on Pinterest that I actually do and that saves some money (saving green!). When pinning, we have so many good intentions, but unfortunately, most of the time they don't pan out.

So, I want to show you some of the Pinterest projects I've done that have saved me time, money or a little bit of both. 

The first is a wall of clocks for a home office. I loved this idea for Matt's home office and so I bought three very inexpensive clocks (check out Lowes, Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart or scour local garage sales) and scattered them on the wall with maps of the three states were we've lived since we've been married. The maps came from an old atlas my parents had laying around and the frames are from old barn wood we had extra of from a different project. I added some old suitcases and old set of drawers as side tables. 



I love this look of the old license plates to add a splash of color and whimsy to a room. We had a bunch of old license plates from all the states were we've lived as a married couple and growing up and so I took them and attached them to a piece of lightweight MDF with wood glue. My hubby added on brackets on the back to hang it up and voila, a fun look at all the states my husband and I have lived in. 

What Pinterest projects have you followed up on??

World's Best Chicken

Another day, another Pinterest recipe. It was really good but I don't know if it was the World's Best Chicken as the name suggests. (I just kept picturing Buddy the Elf bursting into my kitchen to congratulate me on making the world's best chicken :) It is really easy to make and would make a great meal to take to someone, as well as good freezer meal. It will stay in our recipe repertoire as Really Good Chicken ;)


The World’s Best Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
Rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar. Place chicken breasts into 9×13 greased baking dish. Season with salt & lots of pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Make sure each breast is coated. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. There will be extra sauce in the pan, which you can elect to toss out or use for extra flavoring. Season with chopped rosemary. To make this in the slow cooker, combine all ingredients and cook on low for 3-4 hours.