{"id":16629,"date":"2014-04-03T09:04:22","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T15:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=16629"},"modified":"2014-04-03T09:04:22","modified_gmt":"2014-04-03T15:04:22","slug":"spring-clean-eats-day-17-experimenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2014\/04\/spring-clean-eats-day-17-experimenting\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Clean Eats: Day 17, Experimenting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Breakfast.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16632\" alt=\"Grain free granola, blueberries, coconut cream\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Breakfast-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Breakfast-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Breakfast.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Same old breakfast which was totally delicious and filling!<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;ll be sharing my recipe for the granola and the coconut cream sauce once the challenge is over!<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday was pretty exciting around here, it turned into an impromptu kitchen day full of new stuff and experimenting.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Made stock<\/li>\n<li>Roasted beets, prepping them for salads<\/li>\n<li>Boiled some eggs<\/li>\n<li>Cooked up some collards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t have a full lunch while I was in the kitchen, I snacked.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Califia_AlmondMilk.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16630\" alt=\"Califia Farms Almond Coconut Milk\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Califia_AlmondMilk-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Califia_AlmondMilk-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Califia_AlmondMilk.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First I tried out a new to me product, it&#8217;s almond and coconut milk by Califia Farms. \u00a0I&#8217;m still debating the dairy in my coffee. \u00a0Do I give it up or go strictly grass-fed? \u00a0Anyway as I was looking at milk alternatives at the store I spotted this line of almond milks.<\/p>\n<p>One of my biggest hesitations going to back to factory made almond\/soy\/coconut milks is that they contain a lot of extra ingredients. \u00a0Preservatives and thickeners and all kinds of stuff I don&#8217;t really want. \u00a0This is why milk is more appealing at the moment because it&#8217;s just milk. \u00a0Period.<\/p>\n<p>I looked the ingredients over on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.califiafarms.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Califia Farms<\/a> almond milks and they are amazing. \u00a0They contain nothing but almonds and water. \u00a0Score! So I bought the almond and coconut milk combo.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Smoothie.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16636\" alt=\"smoothie\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Smoothie-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Smoothie-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Smoothie.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s definitely different tasting but it&#8217;s not bad. \u00a0I decided to test it out in a smoothie.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2C Almond Coconut Milk<\/li>\n<li>1C Frozen Blueberries<\/li>\n<li>1 Frozen Banana<\/li>\n<li>1 Large handful of spinach<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Blend, makes 2 smoothies.<\/p>\n<p>This was really sweet! \u00a0I probably could have used more spinach and either just blueberries or just a banana and it would have tasted just fine. \u00a0I definitely liked the milk alternative though. \u00a0I&#8217;m going to give their other flavors a try as well and experiment with it a little more.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hardboiled_eggs_in_water.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16631\" alt=\"Hardboiled eggs in water\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hardboiled_eggs_in_water-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hardboiled_eggs_in_water-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hardboiled_eggs_in_water.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also snacked on a hardboiled egg (sitting in cold water after cooking) and an apple.<\/p>\n<p>After doing all that it was time to start working on dinner. \u00a0Scott and I both are missing pizza and seeing commercials for it doesn&#8217;t help. \u00a0 I decided to increase my cooking skills and play around with a grain-free pizza dough.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thedomesticman.com\/2012\/12\/13\/cast-iron-skillet-grain-and-gluten-free-pizza\/\" target=\"_blank\">I found this recipe by The Domestic Man<\/a> and used that as a base. \u00a0I made only a couple of changes (and kept my fingers crossed it would still work).<\/p>\n<p>For the dough the changes I made were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1\/2C milk instead of 1\/4C Cream + 1\/4C Water<\/li>\n<li>1\/4tsp Garlic Powder and 1\/4tsp Italian Seasoning instead of 1\/4tsp dried oregano<\/li>\n<li>1\/4C Tapioca Starch and 1\/2C Almond Meal instead of 3\/4C grated Parmesan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The recipe split the dough and made two pizzas. \u00a0I greased up a baking sheet with some butter and made this into one pizza.<\/p>\n<p>The dough was interesting! I&#8217;ve never used tapioca starch before so I had no idea what to expect. \u00a0It&#8217;s smooth but it doesn&#8217;t really stick to your hands and you can manipulate how you like.<\/p>\n<p>This wasn&#8217;t a dough I could roll out. \u00a0Instead I dumped the dough onto the baking sheet and spread it with my fingers until it filled the sheet. This took some time but it worked. \u00a0I made sure to make the dough thin but not have holes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_pizza.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16633\" alt=\"Grain free pizza\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_pizza-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_pizza-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_pizza.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I followed the directions on baking and walked away with a pretty good looking pizza!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Pizza2.jpg\" data-rel=\"attachment-image-5\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16634\" alt=\"Grain Free pizza\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Pizza2-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Pizza2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SCE_Day17_Pizza2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can see that this is a very thin crust. \u00a0It had a light chewy texture to it. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t go crazy with toppings because I had never worked with dough like this before and I didn&#8217;t know how it would turn out. \u00a0I still wouldn&#8217;t load it down with toppings but it could definitely handle more.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to play around with the idea of a grain-free pizza dough, something that has a yeast base and could be rolled out and cooked on a pizza stone. \u00a0Can it be done? \u00a0I don&#8217;t know but I&#8217;d like to experiment and see!<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday was a pretty good day!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Same old breakfast which was totally delicious and filling! Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;ll be sharing my recipe for the granola and the coconut cream sauce once the challenge is over! Yesterday was pretty exciting around here, it turned into an impromptu kitchen day full of new stuff and experimenting. Made stock Roasted beets, prepping them for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,52,51],"tags":[43,37,49,69,105],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-4kd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}