Sugar Free...Lasagna?

My goal in the last two weeks was to find a great, grain free alternative to lasagna. I have Italian blood in me, and I LOVE ooey, gooey, cheesy lasagna...but now that I'm sugar free/partially grain free, the old school recipe just hasn't been working for my stomach.

Therefore, a battle of the Italian hybrids began: cauliflower noodles vs. sliced eggplant noodles. Both made with my traditional recipe, sans generic noodles.

Cauliflower Lasagna

I adapted a recipe from The Iron You for these noodles. They were time consuming, though for the most part, it was just like making a cauliflower pizza crust. Tons of squeezing! While Mike (The Iron You author) said that the cauliflower rice would only need to be microwaved for 4 minutes, I ended up zapping it for almost 11 before it was ready. While the microwave is a cleaner method than boiling, I'm not sure it saves any time.

Then it was on to assembly; noodles, sauce, meat, cottage cheese, mozzarella, repeat. Bake until brown and bubbly. For me it was a total win! And, like most lasagna, it was even better on day two!

Eggplant Lasagna

If you're looking for an easy and quick assembly, this is probably the way to go. Simply slice the noodles into thin slices, and assemble like normal. I had a hard time getting the noodles as thin as I would have liked, but it was a 10 minute prep time (including beef cooking time!), and then in the oven for an hour. Easy as...well lasagna!

The only issue I saw from this method was how watery the final product was. Since the eggplant wasn't precooked, all the juices seeped into the lasagna while in the oven. Though, the use of a latte spatula solved this conundrum quickly.

And the winner is....

Eggplant! While I preferred the taste of the cauliflower noodles, ease of preparation will always win out. The cauliflower lasagna took almost 2 hours from beginning to bubbling end, while the eggplant was 1 hour and 10 minutes...and 60 of those minutes were in the oven. When coupled with the fact that Adam preferred the eggplant taste and texture, there was no denying the win.

Both will make appearances in our home again, though cauliflower may only be when I'm feeling ambitious.

Do you have other ideas for a grain free lasagna that I can try?

Pasta Sauce Upgrade

I keep experimenting with different ways to enjoy my previously loved foods (read:PASTA with meat sauce) now that I am sugar free. To be very honest, it isn't always easy! A few weeks ago, I posted about my new favorite cauliflower pizza, which included a sauce recipe. Since then, I have continued to play and think I've made a few improvements.

Behold, a refined sugar-free pasta sauce!

Sauce

• 1 medium jalapeno (seeds removed)
•  3 Roma tomatoes, sliced (optional)
• 4 large cloves garlic
• Large sweet onion (chopped)
• 1T Italian seasoning
• 2 T balsamic vinegar 
• 2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 1.5 lbs sausage or ground beef

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place jalapeno, Roma tomatoes, garlic, and onion in a 9x13 roasting pan and cook for 45-50 minutes.  
2. Once caramelized and delicious, place in a food processor along with the Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar, and roasted tomatoes.  Pulse until desired consistency is achieved. How easy is that?
3. Brown beef/sausage and add the processed mixture. Bring to a boil and cook down for 5-10 minutes. The longer it cooks, the sweeter it becomes. 

Boom! Done! Delicious...though I'm sure I'll change it twelve more times ;-) 

Sweet & Savory Stuffed Acorn Squash

I'm sharing this recipe because I LOVED it and may never be able to make it again...

Before I met Adam, squash was a staple in Emily's and my apartment. We would make this sauteed vegetable delight, which we lovingly refereed to as Mess, almost weekly. It went a little something like this; go to Target, pick up every yummy vegetable you saw (onion, zucchini, squash, garlic, peppers), go home and start chopping until you never wanted to chop again, throw it all in the monster pan, cook until it was all tender and delicious, add whatever seasoning you felt like, and enjoy your masterpiece.

We loved Mess.

We ate Mess whenever another dinner idea evaded us.

It. Was. Life.

Enter my "I can eat anything and in ginormous proportions" husband (boyfriend at the time). Turns out the only thing that reacts badly to his steel plated stomach is...ANY SORT OF SQUASH.

Let's take a moment to mourn the loss of our beloved Mess. Rest in peace zucchini, yellow squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash...we will remember you fondly.

Fast forward four and a half years, and someone thought it might be a good idea to give squash another go! So, with the permission of my darning husband, I brought squash back into the kitchen.

I adapted the idea from the kitchn's Sara's Italian Sweet and Savory Squash Bowls. You can find the recipe here. For the most part I followed right along with the ingredient list, but I did make a few tweaks to fit my sugar free diet.

Tweaks for Sweet & Savory Stuffed Acorn Squash

1. I found that the recipe cook time was far less than was needed for the squash. In the end, I microwaved the squash for almost twice the time: between 16-20 minutes. If I tried this again, I would go ahead and roast the squash in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. 
2. While Sara said the bread crumbs were an absolute must, I threw them out completely. Give it a shot if you'd like, but it didn't seem quite on track with sugar free standards. 
3. The recipe calls for two cups of spinach, but I added almost three. I loved how the wilted spinach played off the spice of the sausage and the sweetness of the squash. 
4. Totally unnecessary, but delicious...when the squash was soft and ready to be stuffed, I spread a little butter over the flesh. I remember my mom doing it when I was younger, and habits die hard. 

In the end, we both thought this meal was yummy and a total repeat taste-wise.

However, Adam's stomach had a different opinion. Bummer! Maybe I'll try again in another four years... 

Even though it won't be a repeat in my kitchen, give it a shot in yours! And please, don't forget to invite me over so we can share in the joy of squash together. Sorry, Adam! 

:-)

Cauliflower Pizza: My New Go To

Apparently I have been talking about and eating quite a bit of cauliflower lately. So much so that I have gotten the question, "Is there anything you can't make with cauliflower?!" on more than one occasion!

While I would never go so far as to add cauliflower to my banana ice cream, the Fitz Family Kitchen has been pumping out more than its fair share of this white cruciferous! Just so you can picture it for yourself, Adam and I try to do a weekly shop, and last week we picked up six heads of cauliflower...and some Gas-X.

Those six heads in our fridge are what inspired me to play around with cauliflower crust pizza.

Thanks to the hundreds of articles out there on "The Perfect Cauliflower Crust", I have finally figured the crust part out! This post from Detoxinista is awesome. In fact, it is the only one that finally made me feel like I was eating crust, not mush! It isn't exactly hand tossed Pizza Hut, but it certainly gets the job done. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but my hands were covered in gooey goat cheese and delicious garlic.  Guess we will have to settle for the final product picture.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Crust

• 1 large head of cauliflower
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 5 oz soft goat cheese
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 t oregano
• 1 t Italian Seasoning
• pinch of salt

1. Chop and rice the cauliflower in your food processor. In a large pot, bring about an inch of water to a boil. Add your riced cauliflower and boil for 4-5 minutes. 
2. Drain in a small hole colander. Here is the important part (a step I did not initially include in my cauliflower madness and seared my hands a bit), let the cauliflower cool a bit! It should still have some warmth, but should no longer be HOT. This took mine about 20 minutes, so I made my sauce (below) while I waited. 
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
4. Once the cauliflower has cooled, place the "rice" in a thin cloth (cheesecloth, clean handkerchief, or whatever you have on hand) and squeeze the moisture out. There will be a ton! The more water you release, the better your crust will stick together, so squeeeeze like you've never squeezed before. 
5. Combine cauliflower with the remaining ingredients. The best way to do this is by getting hands on! Insure that all of the goat cheese is evenly dispersed. This crust feels nothing like normal crust. It will be sticky. 
6. Spread the crust on your prepared parchment paper. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. 
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. 
8. Remove, add all the yummy toppings you desire (including the sauce below!) and bake for another 8-10 minutes. Voila!

Sauce

• 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 medium jalapeno (seeds removed)
• 1T Italian seasoning 
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1/3 of a yellow onion

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency is achieved. How easy is that?

What should I try to make with my favorite vegetable next? 

Fed Up: the Movie

I just spent the last few hours watching the documentary Fed Up. And by the last few hours, I mean that I watched some - went to cook dinner - watched some more - moved laundry - watched more - played with Peeps - finally saw the ending.

Fed Up is a Katie Couric film that is basically about the food industry, sugar, and the obesity epidemic. According to the tag line, it will "change the way you eat forever." Honestly, I was hoping to gain some insights on how to live a refined sugar-free lifestyle when I rented it on Amazon. Instead, I encountered a group of very upset experts calling for governmental action on food regulations. They even went so far as to compare the tobacco company's denial 50 years ago to the denial of the food industry today.

I'm all sort of jazzed about being sugar free...but does that really mean everyone should be?

Isn't it sort of our Constitutional right to choose the types of food we put into our bodies, be it good or bad? If I am in the middle of a major craving, and the only thing that will calm me down is a bucket of cheese dip at the local Mexican joint but Uncle Sam has decided they may only sell bowls of it...watch out Uncle Sam!

But I am an adult. I buy or prepare all of my foods. What about the kids in schools (80% of them) which are sponsored by a soft drink or fast food company? That is where I start to think some regulations may be a necessary step toward a more healthful population.

Is there a happy medium? A place where the food industry is still allowed to produce anything their hearts desired, but they are required to put a daily percentage next to sugar on nutritional labels...a place where students are only offered the healthy choices and pizza is no longer considered a vegetable...a place where foods of all varieties are available, yet somehow (I haven't figured this one out) eating real foods are just as popular in the fight against obesity as stocking up on 100 calories snack packs.

While I am in no way telling you to run out (or to your Roku) and rent Fed Up, and I am not completely on board with the concept of letting the government into every inch of the food industry, it sure got the wheels turning in my mind. I wonder if we will look back on this time in history and wonder, "How on Earth did we let them get away with that?" Or will it still be, "Goodness, I sure do love me some cheese dip!"

I honestly don't know. What do you think?

Two Delicious Meals and a Hawkeye Game

There is nothing quite like being in the stands at your favorite college football team's game. It brings you right back to your 19 year old self; filled with school spirit, a smile on your face, and with the sudden ability to high five your neighbor like you've known them your whole life!

Last Saturday, I was able to bring all of those feeling back to life at the Iowa Hawkeyes v. Ball State Cardinals game. And let me tell you, it was awesome. It may not have been a great game until the last five minutes, but I still had a blast!

It all started late last week when my friend Lindsay asked if Adam had to work the weekend. Like most weekends, he shockingly did, so she let me know she had an extra ticket to the game and wanted to know if I'd tag along. Jackpot! What else did I have to do on a sunny and 70 degree day? I was in!

(This is where I convinced myself that the house could be cleaned later, the basement didn't need my attention, and the weeds in the garden added a little pizzazz.)

We left around seven, picked up another friend in Des Moines on the way, and headed to my freshmen and sophomore stomping grounds. By the time we pulled back in the driveway around ten-thirty, I was exhausted. I must confess, I fell off the sugar free wagon and ate chex mix, two bratwurst, and one beautiful brew. But don't worry, I paid for it that night like I always do. When in Rome, right? Traveling is terribly hard sugar-free, and if I stress myself over one day, I'll never make it a LIFESTYLE change. So I'm not to down on myself.

Speaking of my sugar free lifestyle, this week I've made a couple delicious dishes!

The first was Carrot alla Carbonara from Grok Grub. For the most part I followed the recipe, though next time I will double it so we can have some yummy leftovers!

Adam told me not to put up a picture of the Carrot alla Carbonara because it looks way worse than it tastes.
He is probably right. But it was yummy!

The second was my way of being lazy. Throw some veggies and meat in the oven and call it good! I call it Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Sausage (accepting suggestions for names at this time).

Adam loved it! I loved it! Plus,  it was almost better as lunch leftovers the next day. Do you want to know the best part? Other than a little chopping, it was a cinch!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Sausage

Ingredients

• 2 tbs olive oil
• large sweet onion, sliced
• 8oz. carrot chips
• 2 sweet potatoes, sliced
• 1.5 lb chorizo sausage 
• Italian seasoning to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover baking sheet in foil. 
2. In large bowl, combine onion, carrot, sweet potatoes, italian seasoning and olive oil. Spread vegetable mixture evenly on one or two baking sheets.
3. Make 1 inch balls of the sausage and disperse on the baking sheets.  I basically throw them where I see an empty spot! When all of the ingredients are on the sheet, it will be full, but not piled. 
4. Bake 40-45 minutes, turning halfway through. 
5. Serve over cauliflower mash and enjoy! 

Happy eating! Happy living! 

Playing Catch Up

The wonderful and amazing Ashlynn reminded me last night that I have been ignoring my blogging duties, and frankly, she is right! I feel like the last couple months have been on hyper-drive, and I haven't been focusing on some of the things that really make me happy. Maybe that is because I've just plain been happy! Or maybe it is because I'm starting to ignore my own desires again. Who knows!

What I do know is that way back when I first started this blogging adventure, I made a personal promise to keep up with it. Why? Because I love to write, share, cook, laugh, and connect!

So gather 'round ladies and gentlemen! Today is a day for making a WIG (wildly important goal) so all can see: I will focus on what I love to do at least once every day. This may be blogging, trying a new recipe, reading a new book, or practicing yoga. I will accomplish this goal because it will make me a better friend, wife, teacher, and person.

Now I have a favor to ask. Will you keep me accountable? If you are part of my word, or just stumbled upon this website because you want to know about using cauliflower in every recipe...keep me on track! Comment about what makes you happy! What could your WIG be?

Whew! I'm happier already!

PS. I'm in the middle of week three of being sugar free, and I'm LOVING it! I've already lost almost 10 pounds, and my chronic stomach pains have exponentially decreased. One way I've been able to stay (for the most part) successful is through the power of cauliflower! HERE is a link to one cauliflower rice dish we have been eating on a weekly basis. It is a little on the spicy side, but you could always leave out some of the cayenne. Also, I'm a huge proponent of the food processor vs. using a grater.

Happy eating! Happy life!

Cauliflower is the food of sugar free royalty! 

Banana "ice cream" + coffee grounds + raw brownie bites = one happy Fitz

Sugar Free: The Way to Be?

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with my dear friend, Amy, about her sugar free experience. She had been up against the same stomach issues I've been dealing with for the last few years when she went sugar free. During her two month sugar cleanse, all these daunting stomach issues went away with an added bonus of a 20 pound weight loss.

I had a hard time imagining a Molly world without sugar. After all, what would I turn to when I had a bad day? Heck, what would I turn to when I had a good day?!

But on my drive home I couldn't stop thinking about what she had said. If sugar free could really get rid of this bloating, twisting, cramping feeling...might it be worth a shot?

The answer ended up being yes! Now, before you roll your eyes and say, "But Molly, what about chocolate?!?!", I have a few tricks up my sleeve. As with any adventure, you have to make it your own; something that will work for you. Sugar is in everything! Sugar is everywhere! And I knew I needed to make my own set of rules. Otherwise, I would cave in less time than a rider gets bucked off a horse. (That is 8 seconds to those of you who aren't as weird as I am...my brother really loved that movie...)

Those of you out there that have succeeded to go completely sugar free are amazing, and my hat is off to you. However, that simply isn't for me. My plan is to eliminate refined sugar. No more mocha cookie coffee creamer. No more bingeing on Blue Bunny. I will have to fill my cravings another way. But I am still allowing fresh fruits because I have a hard time thinking my peach obsession is bad for me.

Will I slip up along the way? Probably. Am I okay with that? Absolutely! It is an experience!

As I said before, sugar is in everything! If nothing more comes out of this journey, it has opened my eyes to checking the labels on the food I purchase.  I had no idea the oatmeal we used to buy had 15 grams of sugar in it; now I buy the quick oats with zero grams of sugar. Quick fix, but one that would never have happened!

Enough back story becuase today I was completely jazzed at the refined sugar free foods I made for dinner! Does anyone else love their food processor? Because I'm pretty sure we started an intense relationship today!

Today's Dinner Menu:

• Sautéed beef with peppers and onions - I didn't really know what I was going to make, so I threw some spices in the beef, chopped the peppers and onions and called it a day. When it turned out to be pretty delicious, I was as shocked as Adam was!

• Cauliflower mash - Have you ever tried this stuff? I have been scouring the internet to perfect this mash for years, but had never quite figured it out before today. Thanks to Rachel over at Plate Full Paleo for the simple (and totally delicious) recipe! 

• Raw Brownie Bites - This sugar free brownie bite is packed with nutrition AND it satisfies the sweet tooth. If anything, it satisfies a bit too much. Adam and I could hardly pull ourselves away from these little fudge morsels! Kristin Marr at Live Simply shares this amazing recipe filled with walnuts, dates, avocado, coconut oil, vanilla, unsweetened cocoa and honey. Please, make them right this instant. 

• Banana "Ice Cream" - Frozen bananas + vanilla + food processor = could have fooled me ice cream!

As long as Pinterest keeps providing me with amazing sugar free ideas, this sugar free thing might be better than expected! It is keeping me creative in the kitchen, which I love, and Adam hasn't had any complaints yet! 

I think I could live like this...but I'll let you know in a few days!