Classic Fettucine Alfredo Recipe

This delicious recipe should be in every food lovers collection.

Roasted Corn and Poblano Pizza

I can't take much credit for this recipe. I got it from Cooking Light years ago and just made a few changes- things like swapping out egg whites and using whole eggs, and using whole wheat pizza crust instead of white, packaged crust. The cilantro and sour cream topping really makes this dish, so don't leave those out. If you're afraid of hot, spicy foods, just make sure to remove all the seeds and skin-- that's where all the heat is. Then all you're left with is a mild chile flavor without it being too spicy.

Roasted Corn and Poblano Pizza

Ingredients

2 poblano chiles

Olive oil or butter for sauteing

2 cups corn kernels

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Pizza dough*

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

*You can buy premade whole wheat pizza dough at stores like Trader Joe's and Fresh and Easy, in the refrigerated section. I make my own so that I know exactly what is in it.

Preparation

Preheat broiler.
Place poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet; broil 10 minutes or until blackened and charred, turning occasionally. Place in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel and discard skins, seeds, and stems. Chop peppers.
Lower oven temperature to 425°.
In a large skillet, melt butter or olive oil over medium high heat.  Add corn, green onions, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in milk; cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Cool slightly. Place eggs, salt, and black pepper in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Stir in poblano peppers, corn mixture, and cheese.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll dough onto parchment paper; pat dough to form a 13 x 8-inch rectangle. Spread corn mixture over dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold 1 inch of dough over corn mixture. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until set. Serve with sour cream; sprinkle with cilantro.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.

Wheat Berry Salad

This is one of my favorite warm weather recipes. I first tried it at a party at my sister in law's house. It does make a great party food when you're doing Mexican or Southwestern, but I love to make a batch and eat it all week for lunch. The flavors go so well together-- it's easy to pack in a lot of nutritous veggies when they taste this good! Another perk is that the only cooking is done in a crockpot, so it doesn't heat up the house.

Wheat Berry Salad

4 cups cooked wheat berries (see below for directions)

1 red or orange bell pepper, diced

1 red onion, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1-2 cups corn, fresh or frozen and thawed

1-2 cups black beans

Dressing

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lime (or lemon)

1 Tbsp. raw honey

1-2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

Whisk together and pour over chopped vegetables and wheat. Mix all together.

Wheat berries:

Combine 4 cups wheat berry kernels, 10 cups water, and 2 tsp. sea salt in crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Drain off any excess water. Chill. Wheat berries can be frozen for up to a month, keeps a week or more in refrigerator.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays and Two For Tuesdays.

Black Bean, Corn and Zucchini Enchiladas

Near the end of the month, when most of my grocery budget (or all of it!) is gone, I try to find inexpensive meals that are still full of healthy, real food. Veggie and Bean stuffed enchiladas are delicious and a great way to stretch your budget. They are really filling and flavorful, and no one misses the meat. They are also gluten free. I served this last night with a side of cooked carrots. I included the cost breakdown. I make my own enchilada sauce, so it's really inexpensive. If you're purchasing it from the store, you may spend a little more.

Cost:
Tortillas: 98 cents
2 Zucchini: 25 cents
1/2 pack corn: 50 cents
Black beans: $1
Enchilada sauce: .50 - $1.50
Cheese: $1
Total: $4.23 for 8 (or more) servings
Cost per serving: 53 cents!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

2 cups diced zucchini

1 (10-ounce) package frozen whole-kernel corn

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups Enchilada Sauce, divided

Cooking spray

20 corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Sour cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups zucchini and corn; sauté for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, and stir in beans and 1 1/2 cups cheese.

Heat 1 cup Enchilada Sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat tortilla in sauce until hot, about 45 seconds on each side. Spoon about 1/4 cup zucchini mixture down center of 1 tortilla and roll up. Place seam-side down in baking dish. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, and zucchini mixture. Heat more enchilada sauce as needed.

Top enchiladas with any remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Top with sour cream and serve.
(This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light.)

Notes: I make my own enchilada sauce ahead of time and can it. I like knowing exactly what's in there, and it's more cost effective too.
I also make the beans ahead of time and can those. If you're really ambitious, you can soak the beans the night before, let them cook slowly all day, and then add them to the enchiladas to retain the most vitamins. That's what I do, only I add the step of pressure canning them and putting them in my pantry so I can use them whenever I need them.

This post is part of Two For Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays.

Spaghetti Squash with mozzarella and chicken

This was one of the first meals I learned to cook when my husband and I got married 10 years ago. That means it's easy, because I was not much of a cook back then. So, beginners, rest assured- this is right at your level.

This dinner's perfect as the weather warms up, because it's light and fresh. If you use the microwave, it won't heat up your house, but I like to use the oven to cook the squash to keep as many vitamins intact as possible. When I first learned this recipe, I used only extra virgin olive oil, but adding some butter makes it melt it your mouth. Oh, and speaking of melting- don't be afraid to add extra chunks of cheese. Those gooey, creamy bites of cheese make this dish.

Spaghetti Squash with Smoked mozzarella and chicken

Prep: 15 minutes

Microwave: 12 to 14 minutes

Oven: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 medium spaghetti squash

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 medium tomatoes

2 ounces smoked mozzarella or gouda cheese

12 ounces chicken breast cut for stir fry

½ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Ground black pepper

¼ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

3 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1.With tip of sharp knife, pierce squash in about 10 places. Microwave on high 6 to 7 minutes. Turn squash over and pierce in another 10 places until squash is soft to the touch. Alternately, cut squash in half and bake for about 45 minutes, cut side down, in a 375 degree oven.

2.Meanwhile, in nonstick 12 inch skillet, heat olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender and golden, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.While onion is cooking, dice tomatoes and cheese.

4. Add chicken, ¼ tsp. Salt, and 1/8 tsp. Pepper to onion and cook until chicken loses its pink color throughout, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This is also a good recipe for leftover cooked chicken if you have some around.)

5.If using the microwave: When squash is done, cut lengthwise in half; discard seeds. Microwave or oven: With fork, gently scrape squash lengthwise and lift pulp out in strands as it becomes free; place in large bowl. Discard squash skin.

6.Mix tomatoes, cheese, ¼ tsp. Salt and 1/8 tsp. Pepper with hot squash. Spoon squash mixture into four individual bowls; top with onion and chicken mixture. Sprinkle with basil.

This post is part of Two for Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, Tempt my tummy Tuesdays, and  Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Delicious Dishes.

Scallion Pancakes and Egg Drop Soup

This is a simple dinner that can be made with ingredients you probably have on hand. It doesn't take long to make, and is a kid favorite around here. The scallion pancakes are dipped in sauce, which makes them fun to eat. The kids also like the swirls of egg in the soup.
Scallion pancakes are a street food in Taiwan. You can find vendors selling these steaming hot pancakes, wrapped in paper, so you can eat on the go. They are usually quite large, but I made mine about the size of my frying pan, for obvious reasons.

Egg Drop Soup 

Boil 2 cups chicken broth in a medium saucepan. (Add salt if your broth is unsalted.) Add chopped scallions to taste. Beat 2 eggs with a fork.  Slowly add the eggs while stirring. Serve.

Scallion pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup boiling water

1/4 cup flour

Sesame oil

4 Tbsp  chopped scallion greens

Fat for frying

Mix flour and salt in the base of a stand mixer. Add olive oil and boiling water. If dough is too soft, add more flour (up to 1/4 cup). Knead about 5 minutes. Let stand for 20 minutes. (I skip this step, or just let it stand for a minute if I'm really in a hurry; it still turns out.) Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll out into a rectangle, brush with sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions.

From the long end, roll the dough into a cylinder, pinching the ends to seal. Coil into a little snail shape. Repeat with remaining dough. You can let the dough rest here for about 1/2 hour. I'm sure a chef could tell you why this step is so important. I'm not a chef, but a mom who is sometimes in a hurry, and I sometimes don't let it rest at all. ( I don't get to rest, why should my dinner?) Roll the coiled pancakes into circles, about 8 inches in diameter.

Heat fat in frying pan. I use beef tallow, but lard would also work well. If you don't have either of those, my next choice would be a combination of olive oil and butter. Whichever you choose, heat the fat, fry the pancake for about  to 3 minutes per side.

Dip in soy sauce, or try the egg roll dipping sauce here.

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade and Vegetarian Foodie Fridays.

Avocado Egg Rolls

Does that not look delicious? It is all real food, minus the store bought egg roll wrappers. If you are really ambitious, I'm sure you could make those yourself too, but I went with store bought myself. The ingredients on the list were okay. The two items I would have changed were to use wheat flour instead of white, and no "sodium benzoate" as a preservative. 

Anyway, even with the store bought wrappers, these were awesome! They tasted just like restaurant egg rolls, only much better for you because they were fried in healthy fats instead of a combination of soybean and other polyunsaturated fats you'd get at a restaurant. Hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Ingredients:

Dipping Sauce

• 
  
• 3-4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 green onions
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Add all ingredients and mix well.

• Egg Rolls
• 
  

• 2 large avocados
• 1 tomato, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons minced red onion
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 egg roll wraps
• 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch 
• Egg Roll wrappers

Beef Tallow, Coconut oil, or Lard for frying

Directions:

Thinly slice avocados. Lay out an egg roll wrapper. Fill the center with 2 avocado slices, tomato, red onion, and cilantro. Mix cornstarch with 4 Tbsp water. With finger or pastry brush, apply cornstarch mixture to top and sides of egg roll wrapper. Fold in bottom edge (about 1 inch), then left side, then top, then right side. Press to seal. Repeat with remaining egg rolls wrappers. Heat cooking fat in a deep pan. (I only use a small amount in the bottom of the pan.) Cook until golden brown, turning once, about 3 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce.

This post is part of Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays,  Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Taste and Tasty Tuesday.

Dessert, Dessert, Dessert

If you are going to have dessert, make it count.

I really try hard not to eat something just because it's there. Most store-bought cookies, cakes and candy are loaded with unhealthy ingredients. And almost as important... most of the time they don't even taste very good! My husband and I always ask each other "Is it worth it?" and if it's not... we pass. The more you do this, the easier it becomes!

An easy way to make dessert healthier is to focus on fruits. Try berries with whipped cream, or frozen bananas. The other night for dessert, we had whole wheat graham crackers (sweetened with honey) spread peanut butter on top, sliced bananas over it and topped it all off with chocolate chips.

Cookies

For cookies, my main changes are to use wheat flour and reduce the sugar. I generally start by reducing the sugar by half. Sometimes that's all you can do, but other times, you can reduce a little bit more. This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, with the sugars already reduced by half. You can use full sized chocolate chips, but using mini chocolate chips helps you use less without feeling deprived-- you still get lots of chips in every cookie. Blend the oats in the blender. I like to make these cookies in a pan for bar cookies, so they are nice and thick.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups wheat flour

2 1/2 cups powdered oats

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Mini chocolate chips

Walnuts or pecans

Directions

Cream butter and sugar. Add brown sugar, then eggs, then vanilla, then baking powder and baking soda. Once all is mixed together add wheat flour and powdered oats (blend oats in blender first). Then add chocolate chips. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or 21 minutes for a 9x 13 pan.

Dairy Desserts

Dairy based desserts, like ice cream and pudding, blend well with maple syrup or agave nectar. These are less refined than sugar, and work well as a substitute. The other ingredients are good for you with lots of nutrition, like whole milk and eggs. These recipes come from The Joy of Cooking, with the only change in the amount and type of sweetener. Be sure to plan ahead, because these need time to chill.

Vanilla Pudding

Mix thoroughly in a heavy saucepan:

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 Tbsp. plus 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

Gradually stir in, making a smooth, runny paste:

1/3 cup whole milk or half and half

Whisk in:

1 2/3 cups whole milk or half and half

Stirring constantly, heat over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Reduce the heat to low; stirring briskly, bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, then stir in:

2 tsp. vanilla

Pour into bowl or individual serving cups. Place plastic wrap directly on the pudding to prevent a film from forming.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Chocolate Pudding

Mix together thoroughly in a heavy saucepan:

1/3 cup agave nectar

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

1/8 tsp. salt

Gradually stir in, making a smooth, runny paste:

1/3 cup warm water

Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat, then remove from heat. For an espeically thick and chocolaty pudding, add and stir briskly until melted:

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped

Stir in:

1 3/4 cup half and half

Place in a bowl:

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Very gradually add, making a smooth paste:

1/4 cup half and half

Throughly stir the cornstarch paste into the chocolate mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Reduce heat to low; stirring briskly, bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, then stir in:

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pour into bowl or individual serving cups. Place plastic wrap directly on the pudding to prevent a film from forming.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 2 days.

No Sugar Dessert

I have been trying to cut out sugar altogether for the last couple of weeks (I'll tell you more about how that's going in a future post). My new favorite treat is a chocolate fudge recipe I found here. SO. GOOD. And no sugar= no guilt! I follow the directions exactly, then pour it into petit fours cups (you could use muffin cups also, but I like the bite size pieces), and add a nut (almond or walnut) on top.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter.

Chanelle's Salad

Salads are really just a combination of ingredients-- just throwing some vegetables or other toppings on a bed of lettuce. But some salads just work better than others. The flavors blend together, the dressing brings out the vegetables... That's what happened with this combination. I don't usually name recipes after myself, but I was so proud of how this turned out, I decided it could be my own salad namesake.

This salad came from a combination of ingredients I had on hand. Since I liked it so much, I will be sure to have these ingredients on hand in the future to have this again! For a one person serving, I used a whole avocado.

Ingredients:

Lettuce (Green or red leaf)

Arugula

Grape tomatoes

Sliced Red Onion

Feta Cheese

Avocado

Optional Ingredients: chickpeas, kalamata olives

Dressing:

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. mustard

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix dressing ingredients with a whisk. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


This post is part of Fight Back Friday, Food Revolution Friday, Food on Fridays and Foodie Fridays.

No- Knead Artisan Bread

When I first heard about no-knead bread, I wasn't too impressed. I mean, kneading is not very hard (especially when you have a KitchenAid). The thing that really stood out to me about this recipe and finally convinced me to try it, was that it comes out like artisan bread from the bakery- crusty on the outside with a soft center. This bread is AMAZING!! Jim Lahey came up with the technique, which involves an overnight (or all day) rise. You will need some kind of ovenproof pot to cook it in. I have tried this bread with half wheat and half white flours, but it is equally as good with all wheat flour.

Whole Wheat No-Knead Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 1/2- 1 3/4 cups cool water

Wheat bran, coarse cornmeal or more flour for dusting

Directions:

1. Stir together flour, salt, yeast in a medium bowl. Add water and mix well using a wooden spoon. The dough should be wet and sticky. Add more water if needed. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours.
2. On a floured surface, shape dough into a loose round.
3. Generously dust a clean cloth with flour. Place dough on cloth. Dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Fold ends of the towel over on the bread.
4. Let rise until almost doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.
5. After dough has risen for at least 30 minutes, preheat oven to 475. Heat a covered 3 1/2 quart ovenproof pot (I use a Dutch oven) for 30 minutes or until dough is ready. REmove pot from oven. Uncover and add bread. (This is the hardest part. Be careful not to get burnt!) Slide your hand under the towel and flip the bread in. Cover with lid.
6. Bake for 30 minutes; uncover pot. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes more.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.

Chicken Broth

Chicken Broth is loaded with nutrition. My favorite part is that it's made from leftovers, so it's practically free. Homemade broth tastes so much better than anything you can buy in the store. It makes your gravies and soups taste great. There is a lot of room for variations on the recipe below. You can add salt (I leave it out and add it when I'm using it in recipes), reduce or increase any of the vegetables.

And don't feel like you don't have time to make this if you aren't going to be home all day. It can simmer without you there watching it as long as the heat is low enough.

I buy whole chickens and save all the bones in plastic baggies in the fridge. I separate the chicken into two baggies, cooked bones and raw bones. I also have a baggie for vegetables in the freezer. When I have a baggie or two filled up, it's time to make some broth. Cooking the bones and vegetables intensifies the flavor of the broth.

Ingredients:

Chicken Bones

Onions

Carrots

Celery

Parsley

Garlic

Preheat oven to 450. Roast raw chicken and vegetables for about a half hour. Place all ingredients in a stockpot or other large pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any impurities that rise to the top. Let it simmer all day or overnight. Just make sure it has a lot of water in there and is at a low temperature to keep too much water from evaporating.

Strain out the solids. Cool. Divide into containers. (I use mason jars.) Chill in the refrigerator.  A layer of fat will form on top. You can use it as cooking fat.

Store in the freezer for longer term storage. I can some of the jars with a pressure canner. You lose some nutrients that way, but you have the convenience of being able to pop open a can and it's still much healthier than what you can find in the store.

Weekday Breakfast Ideas

Busy mornings can make you want to reach for the packaged breakfast cereal. These are two breakfasts that we have on weekdays that take about 5 minutes to prepare and are packed with nutrition. If you chop the fruit for the parfaits or the veggies for the skillet ahead of time, it will be that much easier to get on the table.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits are a simple breakfast that my family gets really excited about. Even though it is really simple to make, it seems like a treat. It's all about the presentation! We serve these parfaits in our tall stemmed glasses, so the kids think they are really lucky and we are having something very fancy.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

Ingredients:

Yogurt
Chopped Fruit (I used blueberries, strawberries and bananas)
Granola

Directions:
Layer yogurt and fruit in a glass. Top with granola.

Breakfast Veggie Skillet

Ingredients:

Olive oil and butter for sauteing
2 Eggs
Chopped Veggies ( I like zucchini, onion, avocado and tomato)
Cheese (Gorgonzola is my favorite)
Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Chop veggies. Heat butter and olive oil in skillet, saute veggies until tender (If using avocadoes and tomatoes, you can add these later) . Add eggs, cook until done. Add cheese and tomatoes. Top with avocado. Season with salt and pepper.

This post is part of Finer Things Friday.

Pig's Head Torchon

I have a special recipe today for Pig's Head Torchon. It uses a real pig's head, shown above. The original recipe is from The Momofuku Cookbook.


I came across this pig's head from my local freecycle group. Freecycle is a group where people give away things they don't need any more- things like old furniture, kids clothes, books or... pig's heads. A woman posted a list of things she had to give away, and way down at the bottom, she listed:
"2 Pig heads -- yes, pig heads. Frozen, organic, happy (mostly), free-range pigs we had raised & butchered. We got the head and thought we'd make something exotic with it but we haven't. I thought maybe someone knew what to do with it and would be happy to get it ?"
Well, though I had no idea what to do with it, I am always up for trying new organic free range animals and was happy to get it!


I didn't tell my husband when I went to pick it up, but later that night, I couldn't keep it a secret any longer.
"Why is the garage freezer plugged in?" he asked.
"Oh, I got some pig parts today."
Something in my voice must have tipped him off, "Chanelle, what kind of pig parts are we talking about?"
"Oh, you know, just parts of a pig..."
"Chanelle!" (If you've ever heard Ricky Ricardo call out "Lucy!" you'll know the tone he was using here.)
"Well, the head part. And she gave me a heart too! And some fat to render into lard!"


Needless to say, he was not as excited as I was. The thought of eating the head of any animal just plain grossed him out. I have been giving a lot of thought to this pig, particularly this pig's head, as it has sat in my freezer for the past week or two. We are so disconnected from our food supply. In Food, Inc., they point out that there are no bones in our meat anymore. Most of the meat we buy is off the bone. It kind of separates us from the fact that this is a real animal we are eating. I think that, in a weird way, it shows respect to the animal to eat all of it. There's a philosophy out there about this, called head-to-toe eating, where you try to use ALL of the animals edible parts. It also shows respect for the earth as we try to waste less and use all that we can.


With all those thoughts in my head, it was time to deal with the head of the pig. First I boiled the head with some vegetables. Then came the hard part: separating the meat from the um, unusable parts. I expected to be grossed out by the eye; it really wasn't so bad. The tongue and the teeth were by far the "ickiest" part (to quote my mom).  Regardless, I got through the meat picking and on with the recipe. This is what it looked like when I got through picking the meat.

I separated the meat from the fat to make the torchon. I then added salt, pepper and roasted garlic to the meat. I layed a layer of fat on plastic wrap and lay the meat on top of that. There is a surprising amount of meat on a pig head, mostly around the jaw. But since this pig was skinned (a good thing since I didn't have to look at the snout), I didn't have a big layer of fat. You can see in the picture below that there is much more meat than fat.

The next step is to roll it all up and refrigerate for 2 hours.

After refrigerating, you are supposed to slice it into 1 inch slices. My little roll didn't stick together, I think because there just wasn't enough fat/ skin. So, I improvised. I got out the food processor and pulsed the fat and the meat together. I was then able to form the meat and fat into little patties.
I dipped each patty into 3 bowls: flour, egg and water mix, and bread crumbs.
Then I fried them for a couple minutes on each side in a mixture of butter and olive oil.

The final verdict? 
Pretty good! My 5 year old ate 3, my daughter liked it and ate one, I ate two, and my husband... well, he knew it was pig's head and he tried it, so I think he gets points for that.


This post is part of Pennywise platter Thursday.

Banana Coconut Walnut Muffins

The original recipe for these muffins comes from Ina Garten on Food Network. I've made a few healthy changes, like swapping out half the white flour for wheat, reducing the sugar by more than half and swapping half the butter for coconut oil. You can use all butter in this recipe, but I like to use some coconut oil for a little added sweetness; I feel like it lets the recipe get away with less sugar. If you don't have coconut oil (or don't want to use half a cup of the pricey ingredient), you can use all butter, but you may want to increase the sugar to almost 1 cup. That sounds like a lot, but it's still half of what the original recipe calls for, and this makes 18 large or 24 regular sized muffins.

Eat with butter for added fat and raw milk for extra protein.

Banana Coconut Walnut Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sprouted wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil 
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 24 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and coconut oil and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.