CEREAL MILK chocolate coconut cream pie

Cereal milk.

My all-time favorite ingredient.

Most recently, I have found myself incorporating it into everything.

Personal fav: dumping it into my morning iced coffee.

This week each year I find myself craving Lucky Charms.
On Tuesday, Pi Day had me craving pie as well, so I created a Lucky Charms pie.

Not just any Lucky Charms pie, but a cereal milk chocolate coconut cream pie.

Check your pulse. and your blood sugar.

Recipe (if it even counts as a recipe):

Bake your pie crust (or mini crusts) and let them cool completely.

Make your cereal milk chocolate pudding (recipes below) and incorporate 2 parts pudding to 1 part whipped cream.

Fill the crusts with the magical goop.

Sprinkle with left over Lucky Charms (if you have any left over, why would you have any left over?) and dollop with whipped cream.

Cereal milk chocolate pudding:

2 2/3 cups cereal milk

1/4 cup cocoa 

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

(Sweeten with sugar according to how sweet or unsweet your cereal milk ended up being)

Bring 2 cups of cereal milk to a boil in a saucepan, then remove from heat. Sift cornstarch into a bowl. Whisk in the salt. Drizzle in the remaining 2/3 cups of cereal milk while whisking to incorporate. Whisk in the egg. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of the boiled cereal milk while whisking quickly to incorporate and prevent lumps from forming. Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan of boiled cereal milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Press the pudding through a sieve then stir in the vanilla extract. Divide between 6 dishes. Serve warm, or chill in the refrigerator till completely set, about 2 hours.

ORRRRRR 

Buy a chocolate pudding mix and add cereal milk as the liquid (according to the package directions).

I'm never too good for the quick & easy (and cheap) Sandra Dee semi-homeade way, but sometimes usually homemade is best.

 Also, I prefer coconut milk with my cereal, so I accidentally made my pies dairy free. 

I incorporated Califia toasted coconut almond milk (left over from my bowl of Lucky Charms) into the chocolate pudding mix and used SoDelicious coconut milk whipped cream. 

#thisisnotanadbutikindawishitwasbecausemoneyiscool

Home cookin'

"If we are fortunate enough, some of us grow up in a home where we learn that real, fresh food, cooked by you or me or him or her is best."

This was a quote from the cookbook of one of my favorite food bloggers, Jessica Merchant.

I've learned that you don't fully appreciate home cooked meals until you are the one cooking the food, in your own home.

I was raised by a mom who cooked real meals most nights of the week (and a father who loved to cook breakfast anddd breakfast for dinner, often).

Mom was also raised by a mom who cooked nearly every meal, from scratch.

My mom, aunts, and grandmother have an uncanny skill to make everything taste great.

Like GUHHHHREAT.

Our holidays and family get togethers are basically a never ending feast of greatness.

Because of the incredible examples these women have provided, I've always wanted to be a great wife who cooks fresh, new, great meals often.

Josh cooked a lot in college.

He somewhat slacked off over the last few years saying he would start cooking once we had a "real" kitchen. 

Although, he didn't let our lack of a real kitchen stop him from making a meaaaan steak (and also getting a second degree corneal grease burn in his eyeball)

Josh is a dabbler.

He comes across a new activity or feat and goes all out to learn every single thing he can about it.

He even learned Mandarin once. 

Just for fun.

He has to have ALL the gadgets (which is why we have TWO entire closets of our house dedicated to Josh's hobbies and his latest dabble of the day).

I think it's sweet.

My current favorite dabble of his is his beer brewing obsession.

He's five years strong, so maybe it's more of a long leisurely dip in the pool than a simple dabble?

The last few months (thanks to our brand spankin' new kitchen) he has been hardcore dabbling in the art of fine food.

He's not making easy mac.

He's slaving over recipes that take hours of prep work and recipes that call for many hard to find (not cheap) ingredients.

We have polar opposite cooking styles.

I like great food that doesn't involve much prep work and includes few, cheap ingredients.

I can't complain one bit because he has yet to make something that I didn't like.

Seeing his enthusiasm and his love for the art of food makes me happy, but most of all I absolutely love how proud he is of his work.

After a meal he will ask at least 10 times, "Sooooo on a scale of 1 to 10 . . . "

I get it.

It truly makes you feel good to bake something "from scratch".

His long winded, complicated recipe ways are rubbing off on me.

Although, baking my first buttermilk pie from scratch recently didn't quite rub me the right way.

It was primarily my waistline that was hurting after realizing the insane amount of butter, eggs, and sugar involved.

Ignorance was bliss.

I know it can easy to get in a lull and feel like you are running out of things to cook.

I love sharing new recipes and finding other's recipes online, so if you are in need of some new easy meals then check out these links to some of our favorite meals and snacks:

Smoked gruyere butternut squash soup with spicy chickpeas

Remember my food blogger girl crush Jessica Merchant?

I've made a bazillion of her recipes but I'm 99% certain this one takes the cake

Sweet potato crusted spinach quiche

I tinkered with this recipe for the sake of my carnivore husband and my cheese loving self.

I cut the spinach in half, added two shredded chicken breasts, and added extra goat cheese.

THE greatest salsa of all time.

I'm really not kidding.

It's my mom's recipe and we've gifted it out for Christmas for the last million years.

The only descriptive term I have for this is crack-like.

Sweet and spicy butternut squash pizza

Don't let the name or the intimidating recipe fool you.

This pizza involves roasted butternut squash, apple cider sautéed onions, bleu cheese, bacon, apples, cheddar cheese, thyme, and pumpkin seeds.

In the infamous words of my mother (who gave me this recipe): 

You will eat it and you will like it.

Heavy handed blueberry pancakes with poached apricots

It's no secret that our favorite local brunch is Smoke.

The chef Tim Byers isn't stingy with his recipes either.

His cookbook includes a recipe for every single thing in the restaurant.

I thinkkkkkk these pancakes are my favorite of all time.

Now, this recipe falls in the Josh category of slightly complicated and time consuming but well worth the time and effort (if you have it in you)

EASY pulled pork 

It's paleo/gluten free/sugar free/Whole30 blah blah blah 

Basically, there's hardly any ingredients.

Pork, lemon & lime juice, chopped onion, some spices AND a crockpot!

How healthy of me.

I make this far too often.

It's so great because you can use it on tacos, nachos, or even on a slider with sweet potato "buns"

Pistachio lime baked salmon

I now refuse to ever eat salmon any other way.

P.S. I don't have a photo because frankly, it looks kind of gross and I literally inhaled it before I could take decent photos.

Two of my absolute favorite things Josh has made lately are his shrimp & grits and chicken & waffles.

He's not quite ready to share his recipes soooooooooo until I can blackmail him, I guess you'll just have to stare at these pictures instead.

Clean the drool from your keyboard and try not to yell at me.

Just so we don't end on bad terms . . . 

Did you know you can shred chicken in less than five seconds using your kitchen aid mixer?

Until a few weeks ago I didn't know this fun fact, and I'm kind of angry thinking back on all the hours I have wasted of my life.

Do you have any kitchen tricks or favorite recipes to share? 

I'd absolutely love to know!

A cocktail concoction: The Grapefruit Paloma

Lately, I've been on a grapefruit kick.

I've also been on an alcohol kick, but there's nothing lately about that.

One of my favorite local cocktails is Mexican Sugar's grapefruit paloma.

Isn't it the cutest?

In an effort to not spend $10 on a cocktail, and also in an effort to use up everything in our pantry before we move in a few weeks, I decided to make my own grapefruit paloma.

Mexican Sugar's version is made using grapefruit juice, tequila, lime, agave, and a Mexican squirt.

I'm fresh out of Mexican squirts, but I did have a grapefruit, lime, agave, and tequila on hand.

Just to spice things up a bit, I felt the need to add coconut LaCroix.

Don't ask questions.

The finished product paled in comparison to the original, but I loved it nonetheless.

Here's how you can make your own:

1/2 cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (about 1/2 a grapefruit)

1/2 cup coconut LaCroix (I'm not opposed to going hardcore and trying grapefruit LaCroix next time) 

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 shot of tequila

Agave to taste

Rosemary on top because it looked stupid without it.

Quick breakfast for lazy people who want to attempt being healthy

If you are the type to hop out of bed in the morning, throw on mascara and scrubs, mayyyyyybe brush your hair, and then scramble out the door while possibly considering grabbing a protein bar for breakfast, then I've got the perfect recipe for you.

It really doesn't get lazier easier than this.

Sometimes waking up early enough to be at the hospital by 7:15 is hard work, ok?

Sleeping in that extra five minutes trumps making an omelet, or even a bowl of cereal for that matter.
My new official go-to breakfast is chia seed pudding.

I think I hear at least one health benefit of chia daily.
If you are somewhat confused and are like why the heck would I want to eat a chia pet? Then crawl out from under your rock and read this article.
It's a superfood.
They deliver the maximum amount of nutrients for minimal amount of calories.
They are high in protein, fiber (you get more full faster and stay full longer), and antioxidants (sayonara free radicals, cancer, and aging!)
Their Omega-3 content is unmatched (It has eight times more than salmon!)
They have five times more calcium than milk and seven times more vitamin C than oranges.
They also contain three times more iron than spinach and twice the potassium content of banana.
They have a positive impact balancing blood glucose levels, which is particularly wonderful for a Type 1 Diabetic I know...

I think my most favorite thing about chia seeds are the fact that upon contact with liquid they morph into little gooey gel balls.
Very reminiscent of my favorite 90's drink, Orbitz.

Chia seed pudding is ridiculously easy to make.
Just combine a little less than 1 cup of milk (unsweetened coconut almond milk for me) with two tablespoons of chia seeds, then stir, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
If you sometimes forget to let it sit overnight in the fridge then that's ok, you can probably refrigerate it for 15-30 minutes in the morning and still be ok.
Stir it all up and separate the gloops that formed then add any flavoring or sweetener you would like. Vanilla, honey, agave, and maple syrup all work perfectly.
Lately I've been topping it off with fresh blueberries and toasted coconut and I can't get enough of it.
I legitimately get sad when I take the last bite.
Who cares if I didn't have time to brush my hair orrrrrr run two miles today?
I had chia seeds for breakfast! 

Cheesy Chicken & Onion Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

Last week we got bored with the usual random combination of chicken and whatever else was in the pantry.

We decided the throw some mushrooms into the mix (after finding these cuties at Trader Joe's).

We combined chicken, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and breadcrumbs.

Let's be honest, what else do you really need in a meal?

Our little stuffed mushroom concoction came out so wonderfully that I felt like I had to share it.

Ingredients:

One chicken breast (grilled with seasoning of your choice)

1/2 sweet onion

1/4 cup bread crumbs (gluten free breadcrumbs never hurt anybody)

1/4 cup organic cheese (we used cheddar and parm, really creative, I know)
4-6 portabella mushrooms
1/8 cup olive oil

All healthy things, right?
In my mind, I've pretty much convinced myself that organic cheese is healthy.
I mean it is gluten free and sugar free.

I'm a sucker for good, brown, sweet, sautéed onions.

I cook them until they are as browned as possible (which usually takes about 20 minutes on low heat).

You should start this process first, and prepare everything else while the onions are cooking.

Just don't forget to continuously stir the onions every few minutes.

While the onions are sautéing, start preparing the chicken.

We only used one breast and seasoned it using this Williams Sonoma seasoning.

(If you don't have access to seasoning like that, I wouldn't hesitate to just use Italian seasoning, Tony Chachere's, or just salt and pepper, garlic, and rosemary)

You also need access to a master griller (because I don't know a dang thing about grilling)

Josh grilled the chicken until it was no longer pink in the middle, then chopped it up into itty bitty pieces for me.

That's all I've got. 

He's the best.

. . . and our new infrared grill isn't too bad either.

Next up, prepare the shroomies.

I removed the stems (to allow maximum stuff space) and then chopped the stems so they could be incorporated into the stuffing.

No mushroom part left behind.

Dump everything into a bowl (cheese, bread crumbs, chicken, onions, olive oil) and stir stir stir.

Arrange your mushrooms ever so neatly into a baking dish.

I found that a pie pan worked the best, so that the extra stuffing could fill in the gaps without being spread too thin.

Stuff each mushrooms as best as you can, then just start filling in the spaces of the pan with the rest of the mixture.

We sprinkled some extra parm and breadcrumbs on top (to give us that crunch factor) and then baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The final result did appear rather brown, so maybe next time we should throw some kale into the mix.
I once heard that your meals are healthier if there is a wide variety of color involved, but I think it's a lie, right?
right?
Please let it be a lie.

We survived the 30 day challenge! (Kinda)

30 days.

24 days.

No beer, no wheat, no fried foods, no soda, no sweets.

It happened.

Kinda.

The only thing I truly went 30 full days without was beer.

I may have had a piece of wedding cake at Josh's sister's wedding.

Josh may have had bread with some hummus (he swears he didn't know naan was bread?)
Last weekend we stuffed our faces with donuts and beer.
You can't really go to a soccer game and sit in the beer garden for $7 and not drink a beer.

Who cares.

At work, I passed up on more cookies and cupcakes and brownies than you can imagine, which is pretty mind-blowing for a sweet addict like myself.

We feel better than ever and even managed to lose a few of those lbs.

(I started back running also, which probably contributed to the weight loss)

I have a major sweet tooth and an addiction to crunchy things, and after some heavy googling and many trails in the kitchen I found the secret:

Toasted coconut chips.

Toast them in a skillet over medium to low heat until they start to brown, and then dust them with stevia and cinnamon. 

I made an entire jarful and find myself constantly using the chips on evvvvverything (and even to help cure that midday snack craving) 

Our go-to meal was often tacos.

Corn tortillas were key to curing that carb craving. 

Another staple was fruits (my nightly kiwi kept me sane)

Even though we cut out the beer, we also still divulged in some wine here and there (and even some liquor)

Speaking of liquor, I may have finally perfected the fudgesicle.

. . . more on that coming soon!

One of my favorite recipes of the "challenge" was these little banana coconut breakfast cupcakes.

Even though it included chocolate chips, we used Enjoy Life chocolate chips (dairy free, soy free, blah blah blah)

The original recipe can be found here  and the only changes I made was that I used half the amount of oats and substituted that for toasted coconut.

. . . but enough of all this healthy nonsense, I need Chick-fil-a.
 We are off to Seattle for a little weekend camping at The Gorge, only to survive on granola bars and PBR.

I think we'll manage.

Our attempt at a 30 day healthy eating challenge

Ever since I got a big girl job Josh and I have attempted to eat primarily organic. 

. . . and then I read the book Wheat Belly, which led to a "oh hey, let's be gluten free" lifestyle.

Sometimes.

Until the weekend.

Who can truly pass up the monthly birthday bundt cake at work?

. . . or wedding cake?

. . . or beer? 

(which is the only drink served at our favorite bar that we play bingo at every week)

. . . or the fact that Dallas has a bazillion incredible burger places that are currently topping our "to eat" lists?

. . . or having a $50 gift card to Cheesecake Factory staring us in the face

Did I get my point across?

Regardless of the previous statements, we decided to make some changes.

For 30 days, at least.

No wheat, no sweets, no beer, no sodas, and no fried foods.

I truly never thought we could actually survive a weekend without cheating.

Would you believe that tomorrow is day 15?

No beer for Josh for 15 days?

I'm still in shock.

The only teeny tiny incident (that I don't even consider cheating) was last week.

I ordered a taco at Rusty Taco on a corn tortilla they accidentally made it on flour tortilla, and I didn't realize it until after the first bite.

As good as it tasted, I promptly trashed it and ordered a new one (it was only $2 and they were giving all the profits toward the college education of the daughters of the owner who recently passed away)

No shame.

Some of the ways we have survived this major lifestyle change are . . . 

Limiting eating out to only a few meals a week (which kinda saves money too!)

Sweet potato rounds topped with chicken, kale, sautéed onions, and organic cheese. 

We've stocked up on fruits to cure that sugar craving.

I've never really been a huge fan of apples, but apple chips have a special place in my heart. 

We brushed these with cinnamon and maple syrup and then baked them (for two whole, long, excruciating hours at 200 degrees)

Even though we can't have a garden at our apartment, I have some of the sweetest patients who give me produce from their gardens!

We used these butternut squash to make this recipe for butternut squash crisps.

(Gluten free breadcrumbs are our saving grace!)

. . . but hey, we do have a pretty large rosemary bush in our yard that provides more than enough for our herb needs so I'll take what I can get.

Josh made some pretty incredible garlic rosemary potatoes the other night, too.

These items have pretty much been staples around here, you can do so much with each of them, and it keeps every meal light but still filling.

Thanks to Sarah at the Off Beat and Inspired blog, I found the greatest popsicle recipe of all time!

They are the magical combination of peaches, bananas, greek yogurt, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

Recipe here!

My breakfast staple has been greek yogurt with local raw honey, bananas, and toasted coconut.

Crack.
Having a spare jar of toasted coconut on hand at all times really helps out when the craving for a crunch snack hits.
(Sprinkled with stevia and cinnamon)
Side note:
Raw honey has been our life saver.
It may be expensive, but we've nearly gone through a whole bottle in two weeks. 

Other recipes we've loved:

Chocolate banana breakfast quinoa

Zesty lime, shrimp, avocado salad

Cilantro, siracha, and lime roasted chickpeas

We've both already noticed major changes on the scale and in the way we feel, which is enough motivation to keep it up.
Only 15 more days!

We can do it.

. . . but then again, Josh's sister is getting married this weekend.

So about that whole not eating wedding cake thing . . . 

Healthy, Limey, Spicy, Cheesy, Sautéed Oniony, Shrimp Taco Recipe

Lately our little household of two has had a heavy addiction to tacos.

If we aren't grabbing some from Rusty Taco down the street, then we are cooking attempting to make them ourselves.

I feel like we've mastered the shrimp taco, so I decided to share our taco tips with you sweet folks out there.

We try to eat organic and gluten free as much as possible, so most of the items listed below are organic (except Tony Chachere's, I'm pretty sure they don't make it in an organic form)

Ingredients for 4 tacos:

Shrimp 

(We used 18. Two to taste and then four for each taco, you gotta evenly distribute or I get angry)

Avocado 

(Really you only need 1/4th of an avocado, why don't they sell 1/4th of avocados?)

Sweet onion (Vidalia preferably)

(Again, you only need 1/4th, why don't they sell 1/4th of an onion?)

Cup 'o cheese

(We used Whole Foods organic italian blend) 

Salsa

1 lime

1/2 tsp minced garlic 

1 tsp olive oil

3/4 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning

Cilantro if you wanna get crazy

Jalapeños if you wanna get crazier

Salt and pepper to taste

. . . and don't forget your tortillas!

For a few weeks, we were using Ezekiel bread tortillas, thinking "heck yea these are healthy and gluten free, they have a Bible verse on them"

Wrong.

Even though the package says flourless, they are still made from "sprouted wheat".

Whatever.

Bummer, cause they were incredible.

So last night we had to change it up and use Whole Foods organic GMO free corn tortillas.

Not bad.

Microwaving them for like 10 seconds helped immensely.

Start with sautéing the onions (while your shrimp is thawing, if it isn't fresh straight out of the gulf)
If it is fresh from the gulf then I hate you.

Sautéing onions takes forever, but I'm a sucker for some serious, hardcore sautéed onions.
I also kinda love how spell check adds the accent mark when I type sauté. 

We used half of a medium sized onion, which was way too much, but I may or may not have eaten the leftovers by the spoonful. 

I don't have much advice for sautéing onions.
Just cover the bottom of a skillet with a thin layer of olive oil, turn the heat onto medium and continuously stir the onions until they are brown enough.
I'd estimate 10-15 minutes?
Eh.

For the shrimp, after they are thawed put them in a skillet on medium heat with the juice of half a lime, Tony's, minced garlic, salt & pepper (or a just blend of garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, red pepper, salt, pepper if you don't have Tony's) 

The shrimp will cook for about 6 minutes.

Don't worry about the large amount of liquid in the pan, because once they are completely cooked (not tasting fishy and no longer opaque) take the pan off the heat and let the shrimp marinate in the juice and seasoning while you prepare the rest of the meal. 

Side note:

How precious is this bowl with the cute little serving spoons?

We used Whole Foods organic cheese and munched on some of these organic corn tortilla chips from Kroger while we were preparing everything. 

My avocado slicer is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets! 

After neatly arranging all the toppings for their photo shoot . . . 

We stuffed out faces with the best darn tacos around.

Since we made these the first time on a whim, at least once a week for the last month Josh has asked me to make them again.

I think the onions are what does the trick.

Our next taco experiment:

Grilled chicken with sautéed kale and onions

. . . but that sounds boring, what else can we add?