Healthy comfort foods for the week(end)

I've got a busy week/weekend planned. In addition to the traditional cleaning and food prep for Thanksgiving, I'm going to paint two walls in the living room tomorrow. So I'm stocking up on some yummy but healthy foods to get my through the first half of the week.

I started with yam slaw the other day. This became one of my new favorite summer sides this year and even though summer is over, I've been craving it.  Grated yams, coconut, sesame seeds, and agave nectar.  It tastes ten times better than it sounds; it just needs to be prepared a day in advance.

This morning I've got carrot muffins in the oven.  This was a recipe Bobby made for Thanksgiving one year at mom's house and I've been making it ever since.  It's relatively healthy, especially since I've adjusted the recipe to include whole wheat flour, and ground flax. I also use walnuts instead of pecans because I much prefer them.  Here's my version:
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. sugar (I used a bit less this time - don't tell Kyle!)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
ground flax (2 Tbsp?)
1/4-1/2 c. walnuts broken down pretty fine
2 medium carrots grated
2 eggs
3/4 c. rice (or soy) milk
1/4 c. oil
2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

Mix dry. Add wet. Bake in muffin tins at 400 F for about 12-15 min. Yum!  Makes about 18.

and...I just took them out of the oven (now there's a way to pass the time while waiting for your food to be ready - blog about it!).

I'm thinking of also making applesauce with cranberries (someone advised me to leave the skin on for nutritional value and time saving), rye bread (some for now, some for the stuffing), and maybe the lemon sesame orzo I've been craving as well. I think I'll have plenty of food to sustain me until the big feast. Cheers!

Garden

In there are the carrots in the middle. Then, around it is the peas and beans growing up the fencing. It's trying to grow up to the sky I think. It ran out of fence but keeps going straight up.
These are just some of the many potato plants. They are starting to die already. So I might have to eat some soon. It stinks Tim isn't home to eat with me. That's why I keep putting it off.
This is the lettuce. It is about double that size now. I haven't picked any yet but I am thinking of having a salad soon!!!
This is what the asparagus looked like when it first started to come up. it looked just like an asparagus. Now it looks completely different. Tall and skinny with a bunch of sprouts coming off the top of it.






These are a few pics from my garden from at least a week ago. I want to get up there with the camera tomorrow to take some recent picks of how great everything is doing. I can't wait to have a bigger area next year though! Everything is pretty cramped right now!!!

lamb and peas

MMMM.....this one was pretty good and different. I made lamb chops, pea risotto and roasted potatoes. The potatoes were my favorite but everything was delicious! I'm just not crazy about peas and the taste of lamb is alot different. I did a pretty good job preparing everything though if I might say so myself.

Salmon

This is a salmon I made one night for dinner. It was delicious! And I'm not that crazy about fish. Tim thought it was great though. This is a frozen salmon I got at whole foods. I sometimes mess with Bobby about it because he came shopping with me that day and was loading up the groceries in my truck and the salmon fell on the ground. It was snowing so it got dirty mush all over it. So I say that he threw my salmon on the ground cause he had something against salmon. I don't make much fish for dinner but I try to every once in a while.

lox

Today's lunch: Lox on multigrain with capers and cream cheese.
The best part: Kyle and I caught this salmon on Sunday and I made the lox myself!

I've been wanting to make my own lox for a few years and finally got my chance.  We caught an exceptionally large salmon from Cayuga Lake (24 inches) and a recipe book from my good friend Kathryn made this very simple (and delicious). It's much milder than you would typically find in a shop - which means I have to share with Kyle. Although, with about 4 pounds of fillets, that's ok.

The boat is paying for itself already. Next week, I'm hoping for perch or walleye. When we start catching trout, I'm going to need a smoker.