My Chopped Challenge Plan, with One Recipe Done

PLEASE NOTE- SPOILERS WITHIN!

If you have not read my last post yet, you should read it first in case you want to join in at home. If you have read that post and you are playing my Chopped Challenge, you still may may want to wait to read today’s update until you have created your plan or recipe(s) so that you aren’t sidetracked by the direction I took.

Reminder for home participants: Send your recipes/menus/pictures/stories/poems, etc. to me at atherapistandherdog@gmail.com to be shared in a post next week.

If you still want to see my plan, then read on (I will share some of the recipes throughout the week as I carry out the prep and make the meals) …

A reminder of the produce items I have to work with:

1 large head cauliflower
1 bunch watercress
1 eggplant
1 bunch kale
3 small green peppers
2 large white potatoes
2 carrots
1 red onion
1 small avocado
3 apples
3 bananas
1 orange

Here’s my plan:
1. For Easter:
-Glazed baked tofu “ham” roast (uses 1/2 orange)
-Roasted carrots with everything seasoning and herbs (uses carrots)
-Kale and grain salad (uses kale, 1/2 orange, 1 apple, 1/2 onion, 1 pepper)
-Beany Fruity Muffins (uses 1 banana, 1 apple)

2. For Chinese style dinner:
-Gardein sweet and sour porkless balls with green pepper (uses 1 green pepper).
-Eggplant with szechuan(ish) sauce (uses eggplant).
-Low carb rice (uses 1/2 head cauliflower+regular rice).
-Stir fried watercress with garlic (uses watercress).
-Roast kung pao cauliflower (uses 1/2 cauliflower, 1 green                                                           pepper)

3. For lunches/sides, desserts, etc:
-Potato salad…or… Fried hash brown potatoes (uses potatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 green pepper)
-Apple crumble/baked apple (uses the last apple- if I don’t just eat it raw as a snack)
-Eat the last banana as breakfast/snack

Both of these recipe sets will make enough for at least 3 (more likely 4) full dinners as well as some snacks/breakfasts/lunches when I round them out with frozen or pantry extras. For variety when I prep like this, I’m inclined to create the menu and portion the main dishes out into the separate dinners. Then I plan to eat the same dinner for one or two days, and freeze the extra portions immediately. I have never yet had a problem with the quality of the food when I cool and freeze them immediately like this. Then I have pre-made dinners to simply thaw and heat in the next few weeks on busy days.

Beany Fruity Muffins:

These are modified from the usual black bean breakfast bars that I make. Without access to store bought sweets, I still wanted to drop off some Easter treats with my daughter and my sister. Since I don’t keep sugar foods in the house I was limited as to what I could bake. These ended up being quite sweet, especially since I glazed them with the last of my powdered sugar, some vanilla, and some decorations that I had in my baking cupboard. Bonus- they are healthy and filling.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (1 can) pinto beans (or any beans. Drain, but save the aquafaba)
• 1 banana
• 1 medium apple (you could sub in any fresh fruits for the banana and apple)
• 1.50 cups dry rolled oats (for a keto option, use any noatmeal)
• 0.50 cup oat bran (or you could make oat flour by blending some dry oats)
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
• 1 Tbsp psyllium husk (you could sub in 1 tsp baking powder instead)
• 0.5 cup goldenberry power dried fruit mix (you can use any dried fruit)
• 1 cup frozen pitted sweet cherries (you could use any frozen fruit)
• Aquafaba or water as needed

Directions:

-Puree the canned beans with apple and banana.
-Mix in the oat bran, then the rest of the dried ingredients to make a thick batter. If you need more liquid you can add water or aquafaba a spoonful at a time.
-Add the dried fruits and mix again.
-Finally, add the frozen fruit and give a quick mix, just to distribute evenly.
-Put the thick batter into a lightly greased pan or muffin tins.
-Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until a toothpick in centre comes out clean (20-40 minutes depending on size of pan).

Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 111
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 2 g	3 %
Saturated Fat 0 g	1 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 119 mg	5 %
Potassium 167 mg	5 %
Total Carbohydrate 21 g	7 %
Dietary Fiber 5 g	22 %
Sugars 4 g
Protein 5 g	9 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	4 %
Calcium	3 %
Iron	8 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

“Chopped” Style Kitchen Challenge- We’re All in This Together, Let’s Have Some Fun

If you’re all about food, you likely know about TV shows like “Chopped”- contestants are given a mystery box of ingredients. They are challenged to create the best meals, and at each round one chef gets “chopped” from the show until there is an ultimate winner.

I like seeing what the cooks create and thinking about what I would do in the heat of the show. So, this week I ordered my own “mystery box” of produce to avoid the grocery store gauntlet, and to add some spice to my meal planning. I invite you to play along at your home- here are the rules of the game:

1. I will show a picture of what I got in my mystery box.
2. I will make a meal plan for the week, using the ingredients as well as staples that I actually have in my freezer/pantry right now. If you play along at home, this rule applies to you as well- if you have an ingredient at home, you can use it in any way along with mystery box items.
3. I must account for all the mystery box ingredients in some way in my own plan (with a caveat I’ll note at the bottom of this page). As to this rule for home players- obviously you won’t likely have all the same “mystery box” ingredients at home as I got in my box. But there are a couple of ways you can still play:
   a) You can do a full plan, explaining how you would use the same mystery produce items if you had them all. It could be fun to see how different people would do it- I am always amazed at peoples’ creativity.
   b) Or- if you have at least one of the mystery box ingredients in your home, you could follow through and make a recipe using that ingredient.
4. I would LOVE for you to share your plans, recipes, and/or menus, and it would be very cool if you shared pictures too. If you made a recipe in the past with a mystery box ingredient that you can recommend, share that, and add a pic if you have one. Total “fails” can also be picture worthy and the stories behind them can be fun. In fact, any food stories, themes, memories, etc., are all welcome if they also fit the mystery box food in some way.
   Send them to me via email at: atherapistandherdog@gmail.com.
5. I will publish a post next week with the submissions I get throughout the week, for us all to enjoy.
6. If we continue the game in the future perhaps we can decide on how to choose winners.
   Have fun with it. Goodness knows, we need to find some way to share and have fun these days.

Here is today’s mystery box:

It contains:

1 large head cauliflower
1 bunch watercress
1 eggplant
1 bunch kale
3 small green peppers
2 large white potatoes
2 carrots
1 red onion
1 small avocado
3 apples
3 bananas
1 orange

In a few days I will post my menu plan (to give you a chance to figure out a few ideas of your own first without distraction).

My caveat mentioned above: I cannot eat avocados, so I have arranged to make a contact-less trade with a fellow food box buyer. Apparently they hate kale and love avocados and they see it as a win-win (even though I feel like the avocado is pretty small compared to the nice bunch of kale). If I did not have this option, I had a back-up plan: I could have made guacamole and frozen it to give away in the future. (yep- you can freeze gauc if you don’t add watery veggies to it).

Stay safe and eat well, everyone. I’m really looking forward to seeing your submissions.