Potato Broccoli Wonder

I wasn't expecting to make anything tonight worth blogging about but this throw together lunch turned casserole dinner just turned out amazing.  Three of the four kids gobbled it up in no time and daddy loved it.  And personally, I don't really like broccoli but I'm sitting here eating a second serving of this!

This is the second time I've bought the bagged broccoli florets from Aldi's and this is the second time I have loved eating the broccoli.  The bagged veggies don't last long in the refrigerator but the flavor of the produce is unlike anything I've eaten from the frozen section.  The only broccoli I've ever eaten that I liked pretty ok was the stuff I grew myself.  This is very much like that.  It's been very tender and the flavor has not been over powering.

Aldi's also carries a cheese that is relatively new to me; asiago.  I love cheese and it doesn't matter if it is mild or pungent.  Asiago cheese is like a more pungent parmigiana cheese in my opinion.  And for the main reason we shop at Aldi's, the price is so good compared to the other store I have found it at.  So, it has become a staple for our home.

The kids were hungry, daddy and mommy have been crazy busy working on building our new chicken coop and cooking has just not been a priority lately with so much other work on my plate.  But, we had a few things that I could throw together: the broccoli, a few boiled potatoes and some turkey hotdogs.  I planned on making some potato salad and just calling it simple but I got an idea from another recipe and took these three simple things and SCORE!!!  So, here's how it goes:

1 package of broccoli florets steamed
5-7 boiled potatoes (skin on or off depending on your preference) diced small.
1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp of smoked paprika
3 cloves of garlic (I use a microplane with my garlic so that it is more of a paste)
1/2 tbsp of dried onion (or a small onion sauteed)
3/4 of a wedge of asiago cheese grated, divided (I also had a small bit of blue cheese left over that I tossed in.)
Splash of milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together except for the broccoli, potatoes and second half of cheese.  Add broccoli, potatoes and a splash of milk to a casserole dish.  Add the mixture to the dish and coat everything well.  Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake at 375* until hot and the top is golden.  Serve with whatever else you choose to have with it (we had diced up hotdogs because that's what I had pulled out and it was fast).

This was a wonderful way to use up some leftovers and jazz up some simple ingredients and make for a very satisfying and low cost dinner.  Next time I make this, I'll be sure to take a picture to share with everyone.  This didn't stick around long enough to photograph!  I think I'm about to go eat a few more bites of what's left.  Have a good night!

Fermenting My Way To A New Life

This past summer I began drinking a fermented drink called Kombucha and it has truly changed my life.  A bit of back story and then how a drink can totally alter the course of your life:

I have suffered with severe depression for many, many, MANY years.  With that has come some very close brushes with suicide.  Despite how close I'd push the limit, the desire to live would outweigh the nearly overwhelming "need" to escape from all of the pain.  The latter part of 2012 was the breaking point for me.  The desire to live was not able to outweigh the agony I lived with and I ended up in the ICU in pretty bad shape.  Afterward, I finally began medication but those came with severe side effects that were not livable either.  After months of struggling with medications and continuing my search on what the heck was wrong with me, three different women suggested Candida overgrowth.  The first two women I brushed off.  As natural minded as I am, I don't believe everything I'm told and am actually quite a skeptic until proven otherwise.  But the third lady presented me with a book and from just reading the back it hit me like a ton of bricks.  This FITS!!!  I also found a website all about Candida and began reading through it.  At this same time, I began drinking kombucha.  I began to notice that I was getting headaches after drinking it.  Going back to this website, I realized that this must be die-off symptoms so I got some Epson salts and took a bath, went to bed and felt better the next morning.  Around the same time that I started drinking the kombucha, I felt the depression start to come on again.  The best way I can describe it has been like a pot of water about to bust into a full boil.  I went to bed fully expecting to be in a full blown depression the next day.  This isn't a depression that you can think away, will away or even pray away.  It is a gripping and almost life stopping event that there had been no escape from.  All we could do was prepare for the onslaught and weather the hurricaine.  This time was different though.  I got up the next morning and that "simmering" was still there.  I drank more kombucha.  All day it simmered but never could quite break through.  The next day, it was gone.  Nearly 9 months after making this one change to my diet and I have not had a single episode of depression.  I feel alive finally.  I look forward to the next day.  I am planning and productive and so crazy busy but excited about it and managing the stress in a healthy way.  The saying, "you are what you eat" really has been true for me.

Buying kombucha gets really pricey so I learned how to make it.  This other website I found has free e-books when you sign up for their newsletter and more than just the kombucha one has been so valuable to me as I have began taking new steps in how our family eats/drinks.  I bought a starter from a local home brewer and began experimenting with it and sharing it with as many people as I have been able to.  It has been so fun too.  I've had a few bumps in the learning process (like cocoa nibs for instance, makes an awful taste and Mango Honey just came out almost like apple cider vinegar) but for the most part, most all of it has been pretty good.  However, I feel like I need to give a disclaimer before someone new comes into my house.  The large stash of beer bottles in the crates and the capped bottles in the corner are not actually signs of a major alcohol addiction.  The fermenting going on this home brings health to us all.

Kombucha has opened the door to a whole new level of healthy eating.  Fermenting and sprouting.  It's been amazing!!!  I FEEL WONDERFUL!!!!!