A Night of Cooking and Sore Feet

So, yes, you may not want to think of cooking and feet at the same time (Was I the only child that read The Twits by Roald Dahl??), but I'm sorry. I have been cooking for four hours, I accidentally stepped on my heel once, I broke an egg down my leg, I cut my finger, and I burnt the onions I was sauteing. 




But I'm actually pretty full and happy right now. Want to know why? OK I'LL TELL YOU.


Ok so today. I had class, boring, then lunch: 
I get sick of eating salads, so last time I got rice for lunch. This time my friend got rice and seafood on top, so I decided I'd copy him. It was just meat, and that was the only topping I could have. 
When I got it, first of all, it smelled disgusting. And it wasn't until I sat down at the table to eat it that I discovered not only did some of the seafood have leg things, but also suckers. 

Honestly, I was surprised my lunch didn't swim off right then. That's a picture of one of the disgusting things I found. The rest of it was there too. I'm just glad that nothing was looking BACK at me. I picked everything that wasn't shrimp out, but I still wouldn't get it again.


Because I ran out of edible food to eat at home, I designated tonight to be my cooking night. I looked up a few recipes I planned on cooking, wrote down a shopping list and went to Walmart. I cannot get a lot of weird ingredients at walmart true, but they are still the cheapest by FAR of all the stores, and I wanted to get as much as I could there. 


I came home and unloaded my groceries and then went to Village Foods. This is where I became bad Brittany. Village Foods was kind enough to increase the amount of gluten free food there, almost a whole aisle of it, and a lot of it - desserts. omg, the desserts. It was bad enough that I went shopping before I ate dinner....but then I saw all of the new desserts that were gluten free...It was still difficult to find stuff that was corn / soy / dairy / refined sugar free, so I got a few things, about four or so. But I diiiiddddd break my ingredient list for one item: 
Gluten Free Maple Donuts by Kinnikinick
http://consumer.kinnikinnick.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/consumer.home.html
It has sugar and derivatives of corn, but I thought I'd risk it. Maple glazed donuts were always my favorite as a kid. 
When I went to check out, guess what day it was? Free cupcake day. Basta*ds. I never had a free cupcake day when I wasn't on this diet!!!


On the way home, I drank my first soda and ate my first cookie in 43 days. But don't worry, I didn't even break my diet: 

The Virgil's Real Cola tasted like actual coke. Maybe a little on the diet coke side, I'm not sure, but it was pretty good! The Nana's Lemon GF cookie....could have been better. It tasted good when you first bit into it, but as it dissolved it became grainy and kind of gross. I wouldn't buy it again. I'm kind of interested in the soda though. Unless you can buy it in bulk, it's a specialty item, it was expensive. 


I came home and gathered my stuff, and I had decided to make Spinach and Artichoke Pies from 
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2011/01/spinach-artichoke-pies-gluten-free.html
because I had leftover spinach that my sister bought me and I didn't want it to go bad. 
I should have let it go bad. 
I've never had artichokes before, except when it snuck itself in my meals unawares at events or something, but I was being open-minded. The picture looks so good, after all. 
I spent at least two hours preparing and cooking it, and in the process, it looked promising: 

You can't tell me I didn't shape that perfectly.

And I was getting so excited, I broke my measuring cup. 

That's right. Broke it. Snapped the frickin thing in half. 

Like a boss.

I didn't take an end product picture of these, because once I bit into them, well they just plain sucked. I bagged them up and I'm going to see if I can shove them onto a starving college student tomorrow, but the lesson learned here is: DON'T MAKE THESE. The artichokes were weird and sour, the spinach is pretty gross in general, and that crust - omg. Gag me with a fork I'm done.


I was determined not to have wasted money and an entire night however, so I decided to whip up Broccoli Quiche from the same website: 
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2008/07/broccoli-quiche.html


Ok, her quiches are heavenly. It's pretty easy to put together, except for all the chopping. But don't worry, I just bought me a Slap Chop. 
https://www.slapchop.com/default.aspx?did=&refcode=1002
Please watch the video. And I quote, "You're gonna love my nuts"
lololololololol
I'll let you know how the slap chop works out. ;)
Oh, and don't get ripped off. I bought mine from Amazon.


and here is how the quiche came out: 

and here is the recipe (with my alterations)
Broccoli Quiche

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Saute:

3/4 cup chopped onion

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Add to bowl with:

1 cup cooked brown rice (I used white minute rice. Super fast and convenient to cook but it tasted a little plain in the whole mix. Maybe add a little bit more Herbamare seasoning or something? Not sure)

2 cups lightly steamed broccoli 

Mix together:

3 eggs

3/4 cup coconut milk

1 tsp Herbamare seasoning

Combine all ingredients.

Pour into greased 8 X 8 dish.

Bake for 40 minutes. 

---

Alright, so I'd like to note: Herbamare Seasoning. I bought it on amazon after seeing it in a lot of her recipes, and now I LOVE IT. It's like the magic seasoning. Are you cooking incompetent? Seeking a simple idiot proof seasoning? Can't decide what seasoning to use? Then don't decide! USE THEM ALL = Herbamare is for you! 

I could advertise for them, seriously. 

And if you look at their ingredient list, they really do have like every seasoning lol. 

To finish my night cooking spree off, I made my now old favorite, (with more alterations to my last altered recipe!)

Broccoli Oven Omelet with Sweet Potato Crust

Omelet mixture:

11 whisked eggs

2 tsp Herbamare seasoning

1 finely chopped sauteed onion

1 finely chopped sauteed red pepper

2 cloves minced sauteed garlic (or about 1.5 TBS)

4 cups lightly steamed, thinly sliced broccoli

1/2 to 3/4 cup Daiya or other dairy-free cheese

Optional: breakfast sausage

Preheat oven to 350

Lightly grease two pie dishes. Thinly slice one sweet potato, and arrange it around the bottom of the pie dishes.

Pour omelet mixture over top.

Bake covered with foil for about 30 minutes, without foil for 10 minutes. (Foil isn't necessary, but top can get a little browned/crunchy without it.)

----

I didn't take a picture because I already have. 

Then, for dessert, I ate one of my Maple Glazed Donuts :)

I think it was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. They are in the frozen department, by the way. But seriously. The best donut I ever remember tasting. I haven't honestly had a donut in yearssssss though. But this was AMAZING. I'd buy these even if I wasn't on this diet. 

I'll leave you with a song before I go. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45i8cjHzko

Peace ;)