Cloud Bread - WIN

During one of my (many) attempts to eat healthier I came across an interesting item - Cloud Bread. Light, airy, low carb, low on points, etc, etc. Seriously?

Yah.

So I figured "what the heck" it'll only sacrifice a couple of eggs and if it bombs no harm done. 

Well...it didn't bomb. 

It's kind of crazy to think that eggs and cream cheese can become lovely little slices of round bread, but it can!

The process is a little labour intensive and you need to make sure your mixture is right. But I tried and succeeded on the first time, so it's not a very hard recipe. 

I added a little rosemary and salt on the top, an inspiration from another similar pin. They were light and slightly crispy and went perfect with my sandwich. I only made half a batch (incase of disaster) so I didn't get far in experimenting, but they can be used as pizza dough, sandwich bread, the options can be endless!

They however didn't hold up on the long term. I was the only one eating them, and even after proper storage after a few days they started getting gummy. I tried toasting them but it burnt - that could be the fault of my toaster though. 
So if you're looking for an awesome low everything way to replace bread, this could be your answer!

Vegan Crispy Coconut Cauliflower Tacos with Vegan Mayo - WIN

Let me just start by saying that my family is not vegan. Or vegetarian. I think we firmly land in the meat-atarian category, especially my husband. My brother on the other hand, announced a year ago that he had become vegan. It was quite the shocker, him being the guy who would have a bacon sandwich that included a pound of cooked bacon and two merger slices of bread. But, being the awesome people we are, we embraced is new found veganism and supported his decision. But when my dear vegan brother came to visit and asked me to host is birthday dinner for him and our parents, I suddenly became aware that I had NO idea what to make him! I've cooked many vegetarian meals, but thinking of a meal that everyone, including my kids, would enjoy became a consuming task. Until I came across this little gem.

Vegan Crispy Coconut Lime Cauliflower Tacos with Home Made Vegan Mayo

(it's not as daunting as it sounds)

The first major appealing feature of this recipe is that it didn't require any 'odd' ingredients that required an special visit to a local health food store. It was all stuff I could get easily. The Vegan mayo I replaced with a Vegan Mayo I made myself - the recipe was another Pinterest find.

The second was it could easily pass as non-vegan for my kids. I just told them they were crunchy tacos and they ate them all up!!

See how tasty that looks? Amazing that it looks almost exactly like the pics in the link! How rare is that!

For my first completely vegan meal, it came together quite easily. There was the usually dip - dredge - repeat with the cauliflower as you find with any breaded recipe. As I mentioned before, all the ingredients were things that I normally kept in my fridge or pantry so no special shopping trips or expenses were required. Making the mayo was obviously an extra step. I decided I didn't want a large container of mayo since I already had traditional mayo in the fridge and I'm the only one who eats it in my house. I found the link (see above) which clearly went through three separate recipes for home made vegan mayo - I chose the second with soy milk and olive oil. It was a perfect base for the sauce in this taco recipe, and my brother took the rest with him to eat during his visit.

The cauliflower was crispy on the outside and perfectly flavoured. The coleslaw and aloi were a perfect addition and added a lot of flavour. We added a little dash of a favourite hot sauce for the adults, this recipe is a total winner. And even my brother the vegan agreed!

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Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Chicken - Win (Updated!)

A miracle has happened in our house. Everyone ate their dinner. Everyone. And they LIKED it. 
Seriously, this never happens anymore unless it's grilled cheese or pizza. My son, who hates anything new even if it's the exact same foods served in a new form, ate this dinner. My daughter, who despises meat and anything green, ate this dinner. My hubby, who as much as I love him, is not the healthiest guy, ATE THIS DINNER. 

They liked it.
AND IT'S HEALTHY!

See? Miracle.

I must apologize ahead of time. I knew I'd like this dinner, the chance on my family eating and liking it was 50/50 for the reasons listed above. So there are no pictures at this time. But because it was so well received it will be put into our regular meal rotation, so pics are to follow.
So far, this is the only one.

See? Miracle.

I made a couple minor modifications to the recipe from Quick & Easy Recipes. First was I bought thin cut chicken breasts. It made the work easier, but the pieces were small and the wraps didn't stay together well when cooking. Next time I'd buy butterflied chicken breasts, or just do it myself. That way I'd have larger pieces of chicken to get more stuff in.
I also used my own all purpose spice rub from Martha Stewart instead of the seasoning listed in the recipe. The stuff is seriously fantastic and I'm never one to promote someone/something, but I put this on everything and I give it to my family every year for Christmas. 
You definitely want to get all your stuff prepped before because once you start rolling chicken it gets messy. And toothpicks are key.
I also skipped the sauce as mentioned in the recipe. I felt it didn't need it at the time, and really the flavour was fantastic without it.

Paired with a side of cauliflower/potato mash (1/2 a cauliflower head and 1 lrg potato, boiled and mashed as regular mashed potatoes) and this dinner was a healthy hit all around.

And a bonus? I'm going to pre-make the stuffed chicken for my hubby to cook on a night that I work, making it a super quick meal for him and the kids until I get home.

Overall? A slightly surprising win, especially since it was such a hit with the kids.

Definitely give this one a try!

UPDATE - I've made this a few times and it's still a hit. However I do find that some times if my chicken is too thick, it's undercooked when I just cook it in the pan. Most recently I cooked it in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 min and they came out perfect without any undercooked parts. I think from now on oven cooking will be our method for this recipe

Nail Polish Watercolour Mug - Win & UPDATE

I saw this one a while ago and never got around to trying it until Superstore had huge mugs on sale for $1.50. I need a lot of coffee in my life, so huge mugs are essential. Bonus points if they fit into my Nespresso, which this lovely item did.

Double win

I decided to experiment on it and try the nail polish watercolour decoration method. I figured that if I botched it, no one would notice and it's not like it was an expensive mug.

So, how'd it go?

I used this tutorial here and this one too. Both methods are pretty much the same.

I got all my stuff ready to go. I don't paint my nails much (not allowed at work, blah blah blah) so my colour options were limited. 

First thing I learned? Use new(er) nail polish. Or warm it up a bit. First round all the drops just sank to the bottom of the tin. Luckily it's easy to clean up, just swirl a tooth pick around and it'll pick up the polish on the top.

Second thing I learned? Use a bright DEEP colour. The paler aqua colour needed a lot to even show up on the white mug. So expect to use more polish if you want to use a paler/lighter colour.

Third? Keep that water warm. As soon as it started to cool, the nail polish would harden up on the surface before I even had a second to pick up my mug. 

What happens if you don't work fast enough

And finally? Keep a LARGE bottle of nail polish remover around, unless you're super confident at this kind of thing. It took me a LOT of dips and trials to get a look I liked. The good thing is if you work fast, you can wipe it off with a paper towel and nail polish remover if you make a mistake.

Overall opinion?

I kind of really like it. I ended up doing two colours and it gives the mug a really neat look. The mug MUST be hand washed, and I try to avoid the outside as much as possible. I've been using it for about 2 months now (which is why I took so long in posting this) and it's holding up beautifully. 

So whether you'd be making these for yourself or for a friend, it's a definite win.  It's a really inexpensive gift or project, especially if you have lots of nail polish sitting around. Just give yourself some time to play with it, and be prepared to make a mess.

**UPDATE**
So I just wanted to update on how this mug has held up. After approximately 10 months of almost daily use it has held up very well. There are only a couple of tiny spots where the polish has come off but the colours have held up. I wash it by hand, focusing on the inside and a light rinse on the outside when needed. This is a definite win of a project!