Man v. Food

Brent and I are both big fans of Adam Richman, and his show Man v. Food. In fact, we get a lot of ideas of places we want to travel and recipes we want to adapt based on the show.

Lunch today came from the Niagara Falls episode: steak sandwich.

I do not remember the name of the restaurant, because we saw it a few months ago. In fact, we have made this sandwich three times since then, but today was the first time I did not inhale the sandwich before taking a picture. Yeah, it's that good.

It is a spin on a traditional philly cheesesteak sandwich, but just as delicious!

We buy a small beef tip cut steak (or top sirloin steak) and cut it into bite size pieces. We then fry these in butter. I leave mine plain, but Brent spices his up with black pepper, sea salt, and paprika.

While the beef is cooking, we fry up some hash browns. Plain and simple - buy some frozen hash browns, heat oil, add the tators... cook until brown.

We dress up the bun with a slice of provolone cheese (we have also added lettuce, but we did not have any today) and wait.

Once the meat is cooked we set another piece of provolone on top of it and let it sit in the hot skillet until it is melted, then we transfer the meat to the bun. After the hash browns are golden, we transfer then to a paper towel-covered plate so the excess grease can be soaked up. Top the sandwich with the hash browns and some mustard, and serve!

Nom nom nom!

Note: you can also add onions and/or green peppers, but onions are never found in our house and we didn't have a pepper.

Pumpkin!

Yesterday I decided to bust out another can of pumpkin and try some new recipes!

After making my pumpkin bread, a few people asked if I had ever made a pumpkin loaf [or pumpkin roll]... and since I had no idea what they were talking about I started investigating. Soon after Caitlin posted about making one on her blog. She said she followed a recipe online, so I clicked the link and made the same one.

The recipe is HERE.

It is delicious! Extremely moist, perfect sweetness, and perfect pumpkin-y taste! :)

Next up was pumpkin pancakes!!

1 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin [not pumpkin pie mix]
1 egg
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 TBS vinegar

1. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In a separate bowl mix: milk, pumpkin, egg, oil, and vinegar. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture.
2. Heat a lightly oiled skillet [you can use a griddle, I just don't have one] over medium heat.
3. Use approximately 1/4 cup batter per pancake.

The recipe made about 9 pancakes about the size of the one in the picture, which was plenty for Brent and me! :) Brent commented that they were better than any box mix recipe I had ever used. He may be biased, but the recipe is still definitely worth trying!

I love the fall <3

Heated Debate.

The social media is in a firestorm right now because of an article written about food and healthy living bloggers in Marie Claire magazine. Here is the article so you can read it, or at least have reference.

After reading this article I was outraged. Over the past several months I have been following three of the six bloggers viciously attacked in the article. Meghann, Caitlin, and Kath. I do not know any of these women in real life, but I feel like I have really gotten to know them through following their lives in their blogs. They have never met me, and I have only left a couple of comments on their blogs however I know that if I were planning a trip to Charlotte and I e-mailed Caitlin, she would love to meet up for dinner. Or, if I am ever in Orlando I am sure Meghann would love to chat over some fro-yo. And Kath publicly invited everyone to come celebrate her birthday with her later this month. That is because these are REAL women. They have real lives, they are not just internet robots trying to control their readers or tell society how to live. Unfortunately, the article makes them look much worse.

The first issue that really got to me was the fact that HEALTHY LIVING is being considered an eating disorder. I have a degree in Health Fitness with a minor in Nutrition, so I am well aware of the difference between healthy living and an eating disorder and the women who write these blogs most definitely do not have an eating disorder. And I refuse to believe that the way I live my life could be construed as an eating disorder. Just because we eat whole grains, REAL fruit and vegetables, and don't always indulge in "more than one beer the night before a race" does not mean we are disordered. Just because we like to run and exercise EVERYDAY does not make us disordered. That is called living a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is good. REAL FOOD is good. Our bodies need it, exercise increases energy and stimulates hormones that make you feel GOOD. Endurance athletes, like Meghann and Caitlin, LOVE what they do, so YES they will probably gush about their races on their blogs because it is who they are and it is what makes them happy. They will also probably post about the long, grueling training plan they have to follow... it is all part of being an athlete. They choose to put it out on the internet for the public to PROVE that you can eat healthy and be an athlete. Not once in the months that I have been reading their blogs have any of the girls mentioned trying to lose weight. In fact, none of them have ever even posted their weight. THE ONLY mention I have seen of anyone's weight is Meghann commenting on how she has gained weight over the summer. She CLEARLY has an eating disorder. (yeah, right).

So, this is coming off as a giant rant on my part, but I am not sorry. When I stared this blog I intended it to be a healthy living blog, but it was too hard to maintain especially since I am pregnant and my aversions were running the show. Still, it chronicles my baking adventures and my life, not to a large extent but I hope to one day change that. I may not have many followers right now, but I don't care. I want to blog for me. I want to share my recipes and pictures of the things I make. One day, the followers will come. One day my name will be known in the blogging community. And until then, I will just blog for the few who do read and continue to chronicle my adventures.

Before I got pregnant I was living a very healthy lifestyle. I ate fruits and vegetables all the time, I exercised every day.. I was even training for my first sprint triathlon! Yes, I indulged in cookies (probably more than necessary), but that is part of being balanced. Unfortunately, when I got pregnant I lost all taste for any vegetables and cannot even stomach the smell of most of them. This has made "healthy" eating difficult, but I still manage lots of fruit and a few veggies when I can. After I have my baby I plan to start cooking all of our meals again, using only fresh ingredients and I plan to start running again as soon as I can. It's not because I have to lose the baby weight, it is because I love doing it. I love how I feel after a good run. I love how I have more energy for the rest of the day after a good work out in the morning.

The healthy living blog community has helped me so much. It is so comforting to know that there are other people out there who view health and fitness through the same eyes that I do. People who understand that "health" foods are more delicious than processed foods. Girls who understand that an intense run is more than just a way to burn calories. I love these girls and their blogs. The pictures of their meals make me drool and they have inspired me to one day do a marathon myself. No, it is not because I need to compare myself to them or try to do what they do... it is because I now have faith in myself as an athlete. I have faith in myself as a person. I know that I don't have to be fast and that walk breaks are okay.

I see their blogs as a POSITIVE influence on my life. I cannot speak for their thousands of other readers (although comments and tweets have shown that I am not the only one who feels this way), but I would be devastated if any of them decided to quit blogging. I would honestly feel like I was losing a friend.

So, Caitlin, Meghann, and Kath (and the other three bloggers)... you have my support and you always will. It was obvious you were misrepresented and I hope that one day an apology comes your way. If not, don't let it get to you. You are such an inspiration and positive motivation for me, and thousands of others.

Farmer's Market

Today Brent and I ventured to the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market.

Actually, Mount Pleasant has two Farmer's Markets... a big one on Thursday mornings and a smaller one on Saturday mornings, but since he works almost every Thursday morning we never get a chance to go to that one. Well, we woke up today and decided to go to the Saturday one.

I'm really glad we did! :)

Our goodies included:
-fresh honey crisp apples
-peaches
-4 ears of corn
-3 sweet potatoes
-a zucchini
-a cucumber
-lots of green beans
-an oatmeal cherry cookie :)

As soon as we got home, Brent got ready for work and left. I started thinking of fun ways to use our produce.

First idea: homemade peach tea.
I cut up three of the peaches while brewing regular black tea. Put the peach slices in the jug and filled it with the tea. Extremely simple. Extremely delicious! The peaches gave the tea the perfect sweetness and flavor. Even Brent, who hates sweet tea, loved it! :)

Second idea: green bean mac&cheese.
I have been craving some Velveeta shells and cheese all day, and we just happened to have a box in the pantry. So, I put the noodles in bowling water and chopped up several of our fresh green beans (my attempt at making it healthy) and added them in. The end result was WAY better than I actually expected. The beans stayed crunchy and added the perfect touch to the rich cheese and soft shells. I will definitely be trying this again. :)

Business Venture
I was quite inspired a few weeks ago when it was suggested to me that I try and sell my baked goods at the farmers market. Everytime I go there are at least two or three booths set up with people selling their bread, cookies, cupcakes, etc. AND since I have been so obsessed with baking lately I thought it would be a great idea. Unfortunately, my pessimistic side got the better of me and I decided I would probably never be able to do it. It would probably be super expensive to reserve a spot, I would probably need some sort of business license, or something that would be unattainable for me.

Well, when I saw the baked goods stand today I wondered over and checked out their goods and asked about what they had to do to set up there. She said I just had to go speak with the Parks & Rec department, and that for a Thursday spot it was $20 and a Saturday spot was only $10, obviously this is per week that I set up there. OR I could pay for the whole season in advance and get a discounted price. WHAT? That is seriously ALL I have to do? I am definitely considering doing this next summer... what a great way to make money!

Bake at home. Take Beannette to the park twice a week to sell my baked goods. Make money.

Yes, please.

Brent is all about me getting on this band wagon, and it is definitely under consideration at the moment. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Second try at making homemade bread.

Second success! :)

I follow a TON of food/healthy living blogs and recently they have all been posting about PUMPKIN. And it is obviously very fitting with the fall weather we have been experiencing and even the leaves are beginning to change. This inspired me to try some new recipes... involving pumpkin!

I'm not familiar with pumpkin, I have never baked with it before and to be completely honest I didn't used to be a giant fan of pumpkin pie, I think that might be changing this year... so I was a bit skeptical.

I went out and bought some canned pumpkin - finally! There was apparently a huge shortage which caused a bit of delay and found a fun magazine with lots of fall themed recipes.

I picked this recipe because I thought it was an interesting way to integrate pumpkin and chocolate! It was instantly a success. Extremely moist (I hate that word...), with the perfect sweetness. Brent seriously LOVES it, and so do all of his co-workers. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Bread
1/2 C butter, softened
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 C miniature chocolate chips
1/4 C chopped walnuts (optional - I did not use these)

Glaze
1/2 C powdered sugar
3 tsp milk

1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease bottom only of 9x5 inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, mix: butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and pumpkin with wire whisk. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 55-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. In small bowl, stir powdered sugar and milk until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over loaf. Let glaze set up before slicing, about 30 minutes.

Baking notes: My loaf pan was only 8.5x4.75, so it was a bit thicker and took around 80 minutes to fully cook.

I am loved!

Brent does a wonderful job of cheering me up, even if it something small he knows exactly how to make me smile!

Let me first go back a few weeks, when I was in the heat of my baking streak. I constantly complained that finding what I needed was impossible because I had acquired too many spices and baking materials. Seriously. This was my cabinet:


Whether he was tired of hearing me complain constantly, or because he loves me that much he went out and got me this:


I was ecstatic! :)

Fast forward to yesterday.
Wednesday was a terrible, terrible day. Lots of drama and stress, on top of the 3 hours I spent in the ER early that morning... and it only got worse from there. Let's not even talk about the pregnancy hormones and emotions thrown into it.. it was just a bad day.

Thursday, he had to work and knew I was still pretty upset about Wednesday. As I was sitting at my computer checking my daily sites (mostly blogs) he was being awfully secretive in the bedroom. I assumed he was just playing his video games and didn't think much of it. After awhile he came out and got on his computer and I went to take a shower.

I got in the bathroom and found a post-it stuck to the bathroom mirror. It said "you will ALWAYS be beautiful to me <3". I lost it, I started crying my eyes out and I went and gave him a huge hug! It meant so much to me to find that note, and he knew it would make me smile... I don't think he was expecting the tears though. :)

It also really made my heart melt that he does pay attention to what I do. I sit on my computer everyday and browse multiple healthy living blogs, following the lives and healthy stories of people who I have never even met. It is a great inspiration to me, not only because I love seeing that other people live happy, healthy lives but because they also make healthy living and healthy eating fun. Health food does not equate to bad food, and exercise does not equate to torture. It's nice to see others who feel the same way.

I've been reading these blogs for a few months now and I must admit that while I love reading all of them, there are a few that have really stuck out to me for various reasons and I love them. I love the girls that write them, their stories, and I love reading their daily posts. Two of these, in particular, really stood out to me.

One was Caitlin. She is always upbeat and positive, and she shares stories about her personal goals and life outside of what she eats and how she exercises. Plus, it's always fun to see pictures and read stories of other furbabies :). But really, it was her side project that drew me to read HTP everyday.. Operation Beautiful. I first noticed the link on the side of her blog, and then I started following the OB blog as well. It really hit home to me because I have never had a good body image of myself and I used to partake in lots of negative and fat talk. I had never left any notes on my own, but I talked about them all the time. I thought most of my talk was just random babbling to Brent, until yesterday.

He actually listened and knew that if he wanted to make me smile he knew just what he had to do. Throughout the day I found 9 post-it's, all with different happy positive thoughts scattered throughout the house, and apparently there are still a few hidden somewhere. With each new-found note came new tears of happiness. Brent means so much to me, and for him to do that.. just to make me smile.. shows me how much he really cares about me. It may have been small, he didn't go out and spend a lot of money on lavish gifts, but his heart poured out to me on those little green pieces of paper and that means more to me than any material possession ever could. <3

New Discoveries

I was quite disheartened last night when I was craving a good ol' fashioned PB&J and then it tasted absolutely disgusting to me. The jelly was just too sweet and I couldn't stomach it.

Well, today I was making lunch and decided to try and get creative. Yesterday, Brent and I ventured to the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market and picked up some fresh apples, it was seriously the only thing that looked appetizing to me (the one part of pregnancy I am quite sick of is my aversion to veggies...). I stared at them for a few minutes and knew exactly what I wanted to make.

I pulled out the bread and smeared one slice with peanut butter. I sliced the apple and put it in the peanut butter and covered it with cinnamon and nutmeg. To finish it off I grilled it on the skillet.

The finished product:



I cannot say enough how delicious this combo was! Brent, who was extremely skeptical when he saw me assembling it thought it was one of my greatest creations yet! I do believe this will definitely be making a reappearance. :)