This week I have had a lot of food trial and error, some successes and some epic fails. Its been 10 days now and I am learning more and more everyday. Food labels have become an obsession.
And lots of googling such as…
I am so thankful that I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes but the perfectionist in me takes failure hard. There have been a couple pity parties after grocery shopping and some tears shed over failed bread making. But I pick myself back up, throw the bread away, buy the $11 vegan mayo and keep looking forward.
Fails:
Early on I attempted a cassava flour soda bread but it ended up just a hard ball of dough. I still plan to try this again, maybe with a different flour I will have better success. I made some chili last Sunday with some leftover brisket and ground burger. I kept the bell pepper and garlic out and crossed my fingers 🤞that it still worked out. Slow cooked it for 8 hours. It was not a total fail but those 2 ingredients are pretty pivotal for chili so it definitely was lacking. Next time I am going to sub in shallots for the garlic and poblano for the bell. Trial and error. I wanted to make some corn bread to accompany the chili too. I found a gluten-free recipe but it did call for an egg. So I subbed chia seeds and water using the table pictured above. It worked but I would not call it a success 😄. It was not sweet enough and just crumbled when touched. Next time I will try applesauce or banana instead. If it works, I will share.
Let’s focus now on the successes. I had way more of these and they gave me hope that I can do this and still enjoy food.
Ham, turkey, cheddar cheese, and romaine roll ups. These had no condiments but I would add a little vegan mayo next time.
Ground bison burger topped with cheddar cheese grilled on the Traeger and sauted baby Bella mushrooms and onions with canola oil. The French fries I fried in canola oil as well but if you want a little healthier you could bake them instead. I double fried these and they got a little away from me as you can see, a bit darker than I would want. I cut up one potato into sticks and patted dry. Seasoned with salt. Once oil hot, add the fries and cook until lightly browned. I then scoop them out and lay them on on paper towels to soak up excess oil. I did these in 2 batches so while I fried the 2nd batch the first is drying. Once both were fired once and dried, I put them back in the oil for about 2 min until the perfect browness. Take out and put back on papertowels against, salt to taste and serve immediately while crispy.
A very busy day of errands and grocery shopping. Normally, we would have just picked up some fast food but instead my husband got a frozen pizza at the store, I stayed strong and made leftovers for myself. I had a leftover bison burger patty with cheddar cheese and accompanied it with a salad. My salad consisted of romaine lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, baby Bella mushrooms, and peperoncinis, dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Slow Cooker Beef and Potato Au Gratin from The Magical Slow Cooker blog. I removed the garlic powder and added sliced shallots with the onion layer. Instead of chicken broth I used Vegetable broth. Beef broth would have worked good too but I had the vegetable already opened 😆. I paired this with a salad; romaine, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes, dressed with balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.
Pumpkin Cupcakes made with Cassava Flour from Bake it Paleo. These don’t look pretty but they taste good! I subbed 1 banana mashed for the 2 eggs and nutmeg instead of cinnamon. Google claims you can substitute nutmeg for cinnamon on a 1:1 ratio but next time I will actually use less. It gave it a little bitter taste. I also left off the frosting and kept these muffins instead.
Elk backstrap grilled on the Traeger. Green beans I canned myself last year. Baked potato with plant based butter and Coconut sour cream. Wayfare Dairy free butter was the only one at the grocery store that did not have Soy, almonds, or cashews but it is actually damn close to real butter. To make the sour cream I took a can of coconut milk and scooped out the solids, the liquid I put in another container to save for later. Just add in lemon juice, I really like Sicilia Organic Lemon Juice, it has the closest taste to real lemons. This actually tastes very close to real sour cream. As the sour cream sits in the fridge it will become dryer and harden, you just stir in a little of the saved liquid to make it creamy again.
Ground beef tacos with corn tortillas. To make the taco meat I brown ground beef and add a few Tbsp of Chili Powder, a few tsp of Cumin, and salt to taste. These are completely customizable if you like more or less of each item. Sometimes I even add a little Ancho Chili Powder to spice it up a bit. I take corn tortillas and heat in a pan with a little canola oil, a couple minutes on each side. This will make them hydrated and pliable. Add shredded cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and top with coconut sour cream, lime juice, and a few dashes of Cholula. These are sooo good! 😋 Going to do fish ones next.
Thanks for hanging with me through this. I hope I gave you some good ideas to try. More to come!!
