New York Styled Mini Cheesecakes

Trying my hand at these ... hopefully bake for 15-20 minutes, sit in the oven for 20, and take it out to cool. We will see!! I love T!

Crockpot Apple Pie

So I bought a bag of organic Fuji apples from Publix literally a month ago. Took one bite and wanted to throw it away, it was so bland. Instead, I just let it sit out. And sit. And they were getting kind of fugly. So I threw them in the fridge, vowing to create some sort of sauce or puree from it so it wouldn't go to waste. Today was that day. Laurel took a 2 hour nap which was enough for me to cook up a storm.

I cored and sliced the apples and set them aside. I used half of them in my previous vegan chili post but wasn't sure what to do with the other half. I let them sit out for hours until I realize how much I wanted apple pie. I thought if I could combine the bland apples with sugar, cinnamon, and flour, I would be able to mask the boring flavor, especially since it'll be cooked. I read somewhere that you could cook bread in a crockpot, so I figured there's got to be way to do a slow cooker pie. Needless to say, there was this recipe. I'm actually eating it a I type! It's not bad, the bready part is what I was really craving as the apples still have no flavor. Not bad!

8 C apples (peeled, cored and sliced)

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 eggs (beaten)

3/4 C milk

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 C sugar

5 Tbsp. butter  (softened)

1 1/2 C biscuit baking mix (divided in half)

1/3 C brown sugar  
1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

Fresh Vegan Apple Crockpot Chili

Today is Save it Saturday. All the fresh fruits and veggies that were on the verge of compost has now turned into: fresh buttered corn, vegan chili (apples, fresh corn, beans, cherry tomatoes, sweet potato and carrot cubes), crock pot apple pie, banana and honeydew smoothie. WIN WIN WIN

INGREDIENTS

• sliced apples
• fresh cut corn
• pinto beans
• cherry tomatoes
• sweet potato puree
• organic carrot puree
• diced onion
• garlic
• vegetable stock (I used leftover chicken stock though)

SPICES

• Turkish bay leaf
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• yellow curry powder
• sea salt
• cayenne pepper
• dash of Worcheshire sauce

Sautee onions in garlic and oil. Add all of the ingredients into crockpot and cook on low for about 6-8 hours. This will yield a delicious, thick vegan chili with a little kick. The apples give it a subtle sweet flavor, the cherry tomatoes the light sour, and the sauteed garlic a nice fresh flavor. Yummers!

Daily Food Plan

I did alright with my month's goals! Not too shabby - this entire month, Thomas and I decided we weren't going out to eat at all because we completely blew our budget last month... and the month before...and so forth. This has been the healthiest month I've ever had I think - we've eaten avocados practically every day, drank more water, had tons of salmon, and eaten at least 50% red/black rice. Even my sweet tooth is satisfied by NOT a cookie but homemade traditional tong-jook: red beans, black sticky rice, cane sugar, and coconut milk.

AAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD ............. update 6/29/13 - I got preggars right around this month! Talk about eating fertile food.. oops!! Bahaha

Chinese Black Bean Noodles

I originally wanted to cook spaghetti since we had so much leftover ground beef that we either 1) needed to freeze or 2) eat right away. I technically had all the ingredients:

• tomato sauce
• mushrooms
• ground beef
• bell peppers
• garlic
• onion

Oh, but I didn't have actual American (or Italian - whatev) noodles. So what does THIS GIRL do instead? Try to recreate this delicious meat sauce that my mom and this little dumpling place called Prosperity Dumpling in New York's Chinatown made. So it didn't do exactly that, but pretty dang close. The result was still fabulous and TON of flavor. Here's my recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• Wheat lo mein noodles
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 4-7 black beans ("doh-si" as they're pronounced) - rinsed after soaking for at least 5 minutes
• 1/2 tsp. salted soy bean sauce (in jar) 
• 1 can tomato sauce
• mushroom
• ground beef
• bell peppers
• 3 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/2 diced onion

Heat up pan, add olive oil, garlic, and cook ground beef. Drain and set aside. Boil and cook the wheat noodles per instructions and set aside as well. To make the delicious sauce, heat oil, add garlic, onion, and black bean - sautee until onions start browning. Add sliced mushrooms and bell peppers and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are about halfway cooked. Toss in ground beef. Gradually add about a tablespoon of the oyster sauce and the salted soy bean to taste. Both can be incredibly salty to be aware. Add water as needed to loosen up the sauce. Toss in wheat noodles, cook for a few minutes more. Bon appetit!