Hungry went Soylent-ONLY for the entire week (post on that to come)
Feb222016
Our Weekend (and Part of the Week) in Pics
Archives
Feb192016
How to Make Porridge
To many Americans, porridge seems like it must go along with the words, “Please, sir, can I have some more?” As if it’s an orphan’s food or something similar to that. Not exactly in a bad way, but it’s kind of funny. In Commonwealth areas, like New Zealand, porridge is a wonderful, comforting breakfast that warms the soul. It may seem like an easy thing to make, and it is once you’ve got the hang of it, but there is an art to making porridge. It’s easy to overcook it, undercook it, or get it so clumpy it doesn’t resemble porridge anymore. I’m here to bring you the tips and tricks of the porridge trade!
Feb152016
Our Last Week(ends) in Pics
Things haven’t been too eventful the past few weeks except for the Superbowl (too long, but good food) and a super relaxed Valentine’s Day.
A pic of me with my cousin + cousin-in-law?
Feb132016
Whole-Wheat Medieval Honey Biscuits
I have continued my journey with the Ice and Fire cookbook (aka Game of Thrones for you tv-lubbers). Last time we dined at the Wall. Now we move to the South to Lord Caswell’s table. This recipe comes from A Clash of Kings. It’s been a lot of fun to try out different recipes, especially from this cookbook! This recipe is pretty easy to do. I’ve healthified it a little bit by using whole-wheat flour which increases the fiber and keeps your blood sugar from spiking like it would with white flour. I paired these as a dessert to the Healthy “Accidentally” Paleo Meatballs and they were a hit! This is an authentic medieval recipe, just altered to fit Hungry and Fit’s needs!
Feb122016
Healthy “Accidentally Paleo” Meatballs
Hungry had a long day at work on a Saturday (yuck!) and I had a hankering for cooking, so I wanted to make him a nice dinner. I am a vegetarian while he is not, so I don’t cook a lot of meat dishes. However, tonight I would! We had some nice lean beef in the house, so I wanted to make scrumptious meatballs! However, we didn’t have any breadcrumbs…hmm… Luckily, I was able to find a recipe to base mine off of that lacked breadcrumbs. This actually turned it accidentally into a “paleo” recipe. Hungry and I are far from being paleo, but I know it’s popular right now, so maybe this will help you out!
Jan302016
Healthy Apple Muffins
Yay, a recipe post! We haven’t had enough of these lately, but we are coming back at ya! I recently started a project where I want to start doing at least one cookbook recipe a week and tailor it to fit my needs. Lucky enough and exciting enough, I started with A Feast of Ice and Fire (for the non-book lovers, this is a Game of Thrones cookbook!!). Hungry got this cookbook for me for Christmas and I seriously love it. The recipes are so amazing with a slice of text from the book that the recipe’d food came from! Most recipes also provide the medieval version (how they would’ve made it in the Song of Ice and Fire series) and also a modern version.
I chose to start with Applecakes. As you can see in the pictures below, Applecakes were something that the men on the Wall ate (like Jon Snow). The way they tie it back to the books absolutely makes it for me! Applecakes were basically like a medieval donut back in the day. I chose to do the Modern Applecakes recipe which resembles more closely to a muffin. I also healthified it! Less butter and less sugar. But let me tell you, these are absolutely delicious. The moistness that comes from the chunks of apple is wonderful. And you can just picture the characters eating them too, which makes it all the merrier.
Viserion paid a visit
Jan202016
Cooking Shows Can Actually Make Your Life Easier
Food Network was and still is the most-viewed network in our household. Over the course of 20 years, that hasn’t changed but the personalities and themes certainly have. While it’s not fair to say whether it’s for better or for worse because that would be so subjective, we can definitely say what we enjoy more or less. Everyone has strong feelings for Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri, and all the baking contests, but there are just some shows that give you a little bit of everything. Cutthroat Kitchen is one of them.
For the longest time, we watched a lot of Chopped and we still do. It has its practical application. While the focus of most competition cooking shows isn’t being healthy, there are two major components that will make the life easier of the everyday chef, or the home chef. Those two factors are time and convenience. In most of these competitions, the chefs are only given 20-30 minutes to prepare a meal. That’s right, on Chopped they’re not making a single dish. They have to prepare four portions, which could be exactly how many you need to make for your family! Most of us don’t have hours every day to make fresh meals, so we often resort to opting for some not-so-fresh meals but that often sacrifices the health factor. Frozen food and fast food are time-friendly and have large portions, but typically are filled with unnatural ingredients, excess calories, tons of sodium, and a lack of nutrients. On these shows, top chefs show you how to save time.
Jan132016
Food is Flavor
We’ve done posts in the past about salt… lots of them. We also had a post where we talked about our unconventional uses of pickle juice. Everyone has their flavor of choice and sometimes, that is all you need to put a smile on someone’s face. In this household, vegemite, capers, olives, and pickles are more valuable than silver and gold… almost. A cracker with cheese, apple, vegemite, and pickle is a higher traded commodity than a filet mignon. That might be because Fit doesn’t eat filet mignon but nevertheless, flavor rules.
Dec262015
Big Slice for a Healthy Change [GIVEAWAY]
And no, we aren’t talking about a big slice of pizza. Have you ever been on the go, either running to or from a workout, work, an event, or ANYTHING and just wanted a healthy snack? Chances are you don’t have anything on you, and the closest thing around as a snack is either unhealthy or overpriced. I find myself in this predicament far too often. It gets especially worse with me because I get hangry (and it ain’t pretty). Sometimes, I just need a simple, healthy small snack to keep me going while I go from A to B. I am very grateful to finally have found something that fits this need.
Dec242015
Mac n Cheese Will Never Be the Same
It’s like an episode of Chopped. Why would you transform a perfectly delicious and prepared food into an ingredient of another dish? More importantly, how would you do it? Obviously, because you can and it makes the other dish THAT much more enjoyable. Halfpops are a delicious snack that are far more provocative to eat than popcorn with that additional textural crunch. What’s even better is that these little bites (which remind me of a Peruvian choclo corn) have more flavor than your standard popcorn, but don’t achieve that by sacrificing your health or your waistline.
So now, we look at macaroni and cheese, arguably the greatest food ever. While most enjoy it out of the box with a flavor packet (and there is nothing wrong with that), it is becoming elevated more often and served in fine restaurants for the same price as a steak. A prime example would be a lobster mac. We all know that the key component has always been a rich and creamy cheese sauce, but more attention is slowly being given to the baked breadcrumb or panko crust.
Well, let’s just blow this whole textural concept out of the water and take it to another level. Enter the already mentioned Halfpops. While making your famous mac n’ cheese recipe, toast some half pops on low heat and make sure they don’t burn. You can use the aged cheddar, chipotle, or sea salt. I’d recommend saving the caramel ones for dessert. As soon as you’ve finished your mac, serve with a bowl of toasted Halfpops and allow each diner to choose how much crunch they want. I’ve gotten to the point where I want at least two bits of crunchy delight in each mouthful, but I’ll leave that part up to you because making decisions on how to eat your mac n’ cheese might make the different in you staying hungry and fit!
