Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

So today, I made Portobello Mushroom Pizzas from Comfy Belly for dinner.
I've made this several times over the past year. This has been one of my favorite recipes because it is super duper easy!

Ta-da! Finished product. Very easy and delicious too!

I love finding new and unique recipes but one thing that will deter me is if it takes too long! I love cooking and baking but if it takes more than 2 hours, I'll seek something else (unless it's for a special occasion or something then I'll put the extra time in.)

Alright, let's get to it!

First thing I did was open and wipe down my portobello mushrooms with a damp cloth. This helps remove the dirt. I then put on the oven to 400 degrees and put parchment paper in a baking sheet pan.

Wipe on, wipe off! (get it? hint Karate Kid movie)

Then, I drizzled some balsamic vinegar and olive oil on them. They can absorb water and oil, so that's why you want to make sure they're wiped pretty well. 

Then I chopped up some fresh basil to toss on top of the mushrooms. 

I had taken a knife skills course downtown in the fall and the Chef instructed us to roll the herbs like a joint then slice into thin ribbons. He did smoke cigarettes, so maybe that's why he referenced joints. lols 

Then I tossed on a bit of garlic powder, oregano and red peppers flakes.

Pretty huh? :)

Then I baked them for another 20-25 minutes. Here they are all done and warm. Before you put you're toppings on you want to drain all the liquid off of them. 

Then, after you take them out, you want to put on some pasta sauce. Here I used an organic pasta sauce from Whole Foods. 

To change it up a bit, I chopped up two roma tomatoes into slices and put them into a pot. Then put about 1/2 of a jar of pasta sauce in the pot. I brought it to a boil to cook down the tomatoes. Then simmered it for a couple of minutes. I couldn't remember why I bought the tomatoes, so I used it for the sauce so they didn't go bad. :)

Then I topped it off with parmesan cheese. Yum.

Portobello Pizza by Comfy Belly here

Erica has a nice collection of healthy recipes. She offers gluten-free and paleo recipes but keeps them pretty simplistic yet yummy. I'm looking to explore her site some more for some good recipes to try. 

Emma

Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice

Tonight I made a Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice for dinner. I modified the recipe from Pinch of Yum's Skinny Garlic Fried Rice recipe. It was really tasty but I wish I had some grass-fed ground beef on hand to add in the mix.

It's funny, I notice whenever I am on my own for dinner, my cooking kind of goes out the window. I eat fairly healthy like 85-90% of the time. But once I have to cook for myself, I tend to opt for that 10%. I eat non-healthy foods or it turns into a hodgepodge of random foods. For example, last night I had some carrots, dried nuts and dried fruit, couple of marshmallows and ramen noodles. Then vegged out and watched several Pokemon episodes on Netflix.

Man, good times. I remember in like 6th grade I would rush to get home so I could watch Pokemon the animated series. I would spend a couple of hours parked in front of the TV. Though I remember getting yelled at for watching too much TV. Now as an adult, it's kind of funny that I barely watch TV. I will watch a show now or then or hang out with my family socially by watching TV. But it kind of lost it's charm on me. If you miss an episode with a TV show it's hard to catch up unless you record it and when I was in college, it always felt like a waste of time (unless I was sick). I could do other things more productive than spend 2 hours parked in front of the television.

Guess I am a post TV addict now gone cold turkey. Lols. I always got a soft spot though for the TV shows I watched when I was little and also Disney movies. (P.s. The Lion King is the best Disney movie out there. Aladdin was good and Frozen is absolutely fantastic but I mean come on, Mufasta died! Pretty epic children's movie!)

Anyways, I digress. I think my lack of creating a gourmet foodie dish for myself is out of laziness and lack of motivation. I enjoy planning out and preparing what I am going to make for the weeks most often I chose/find unique recipes or recipes that have something I have never done before. Which makes it a lot of fun. I'm creating yet learning at the same time. But when I have nothing planned out and need to figure out what to cook for myself, it's way easier to reach for the instant and unhealthy food (pizza, ramen noodles, pasta).

It's also really hard to cook for one person. Not impossible, just difficult. Sometimes I found vegetables would go bad faster because I couldn't keep up and eat all of it in time. But when I'm cooking for 2 or more people, I feel more motivated. Like my boyfriend had high cholesterol when he was a kid and some of his family members have diabetes. It provides me an extra boost of motivation to not only make sure I am making healthier choices in my lifestyle, but also helping him do the same for his. It feels good that we are both bettering our health together.

Alright, let's get to it!

Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice

4 Cups Shredded Cabbage

3 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
1 Cup of chopped up Carrots

1/2 Yellow Onion, diced

4 Garlic gloves

1/2 Cup. Baby Bella Mushrooms

1 Tbsp. Red Boat Fish Sauce

Optional: 1 one inch piece of ginger, grated or minced

1-2 Limes (to squeeze on top at the end)

First, I took 1 Tbsp. of Coconut oil and heated in a large skillet. 

Then I chopped up the onion and garlic and sauteed until it was soft. (If you add ginger, you'll want to put it in the skillet as well.)

Next, we shredded 1 large cabbage. Then added the shredded cabbage to the skillet.  

Chopped up some carrots.

Added some nice Broccoli Slaw to the mix too.

Measure it out!

Washed and cut up the mushrooms.

Progression. You pretty much throw it all in the skillet until the vegetables soften just a bit. I like them just a tiny bit crunchy.

Then add some Paleo fish sauce. Or regular fish sauce. Or heck, you can do soy sauce. Whatever your fancy!

My one and only sous chef helping me out. :) <3

Ta-da! Finished Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice! Squeeze some lime juice on top and it's good to go!

Skinny Garlic Fried Rice Recipe here

I actually stumbled upon Lindsay's blog (Pinch of Yum).  She has a bunch of recipes that look great and can be modified to become paleo. Another thing I found interesting was that Lindsay and her husband went and lived in thePhilippines for a whole year. They went out to help the Children Center of Cebu. I still need to explore her blog a bit more, but I find it awesome that she is a full-time blogger and has a passion for food and helping others. 

Emma

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna Boats

Growing up I loved vegetables. Other kids in class would say they hate broccoli or green beans. I'd always be confused why my classmates hated vegetables! Vegetables were awesome and I always devoured them and had seconds too! Maybe it's because my mom grew fresh veggies in our backyard garden. So we always had organic vegetables and I'd load up on the veggies for dinner. When I was a kid, fresh broccoli and American cheese was the best in my book. I still love my mom's home-made Ratatouille with fresh zucchinis from the garden. 

The only vegetables I wasn't a fan of were raw tomatoes and Lima beans. Now as an adult, I'll eat tomatoes sometimes. But the only raw tomatoes I'll really go for are the ones from my mom's garden. I cut them into slices, put some Parmesan cheese on top and then broil just a little till they are soft yet juicy. Yum. But Lima beans are just not my thing to this day...

Tonight I made Roasted Eggplant Lasagna Boats with Amy Luu's gourmet chicken sausages. If you haven't tried chicken sausage it's pretty darn good. What's best is that there is no nitrates or added preservatives. (NITRATES BAD! lols) Also, they come pre-cooked so they are perfect to throw in almost anything.  Here are the photos of the dinner making process...

Let's get to it!

3 eggplants and a lonely garlic all in a row...

Slice 'em up!

Zucchini!

Chop up 1/2 an onion...don't cry on me now...

Stirring up the sausage and onions. On Half Baked Harvest's blog she has you separate the ground up Italian sausage with the vegetables. I didn't because A) the sausage is pre-cooked B) I'm lazy and didn't want to wash more dishes. lols~!

Making sure everything is nice and warm.

Roasted Garlic! YUM. If there's one thing you need to know about my cooking, it's that I love garlic. 

NAKED EGGPLANTS!

Choppy chop the basil into strips. I could have made them smaller but hence the laziness and the potential a Hangry Emma could come out. Hangry is being angry and hungry at the same time. I think my boyfriend is scared of me when I get to that point...

Okay, they're a bit prettier now...threw on the chopped up basil and roasted garlic.

Don't mozzarella balls look like baseballs? 

Sliced up mozzarella, more basil and a fresh peach sitting pretty.

One more roast to melt the cheese....

Tada! The finished product with fresh peaches on the side! :) Beautiful!

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna Boats Recipe here.
Tieghan has some AMAZING recipes! What I love most about her blog is her fabulous photography and her creativity. Please check out her blog when you can. :)

Emma

Paleo Stir Fried Kelp Noodles

Today I made NomNomPaleo's Stir Fried Kelp Noodles with fresh sliced peaches.

First, I've never used Kelp noodles and the thought was pretty exciting. I've had Korean Japchae ( 잡채) before and thought it may be similar. Note: If you have not tried Korean food shame on you! I'm only kidding,but seriously though you need to try some good Bulgogi and Kimchi. You're missing out big time.

Tada! Finished Product.

Let's get to it!

Kelp noodles. You can get them at Whole Foods in the Asian Food Section.

Is it just me or do they look like plastic noodles? 

Stir it up!

Yummy! I was surprised. The noodles didn't really have a taste to them and reminded me of Korean japchae a lot!

Stir Fried Kelp Noodle Recipe here.

Michelle Tam looks like a fun gal with a loving and active family. I love how her recipes have an Asian style flare to them yet remain paleo!

Emma

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mango Salsa

Well, I've officially decided it's time to actually start a blog. I've done it a bit in the past but I always manage to stop blogging. Maybe it's out of sheer laziness to write my thoughts down or maybe it's because I am not sure even what to put down. But I've decided my goal is to actually stick with this. So I made a Chilled Cucumber Soup with a Mango Salsa and a Chocolate Avocado Smoothie.

Today was a really hot day (mid 80s) and I went for a nice run. I really dislike the smell of sunscreen though. I think I don't like how the smell lingers...but I found a few smile wrinkles under my eyes and have been trying to be more conscious about putting on SPF daily.

But I digress...on my run I realized that I really wanted a place to put down my words. I sometimes write notes in my iPhone about how I'm feeling or some new recipes I found and want to try out.  

Let's get to it!

Big cucumbers!

Choppy chop the Avocado

Yummy chopped up fresh mango!

I love my Ninja but I hate cleaning the blades. Always come super close to cutting my finger when I try and clean off the smoothie gunk.

This stuff is soooooo good! Used this for the smoothie.

Finished Product! Chilled Cucumber Soup with a Mango Salsa, side of fresh Michigan Blueberries and a Creamy Chocolate Avocado smoothie! I added a few leftover bacon pieces to the salsa. Mmmmm Bacon!

Chilled Cucumber & Avocado Soup recipe here.

Take a look at FOOD52. That's my favorite site to get awesome ideas and recipes!

Creamy Chocolate Avocado Smoothie recipe is here.

Danielle Walker (Against All Grain) is an amazing woman with so much strength and love for her family. Her Paleo recipes are pretty darn good too!

So I welcome you to join me on my exploration of new and cool recipes. I'll make sure to give credit where it's needed and hopefully take a stab at creating my own recipes. 

Stay tuned!

Emma