Vegetarian

The Ultimate Boobie Booster: Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Lactation Cookies with Bonus Vegan and Gluten-Free Versions

/ Tracy Gromek / 6 Comments
ultimate lactation cookie

Dealing with your low milk supply couldn’t be any sweeter.

Dare I say it, these are the best lactation cookies ever. Not only will they noticeably boost your supply in less than 24 hours, but you will devour them because they taste divine.

They fit so many needs seamlessly: Plagued by low milk? Eat a cookie. Looking for a quick breakfast? Eat a cookie. Baby going through a growth spurt? Eat a cookie. Just want something to satisfy your sweettooth? Eat a cookie. Need a gluten-free and/or vegan version? No problem. These cookies still turn out head and shoulders above the rest with two simple ingredient swaps.

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Buffalo Wings – Vegan and Oh, So Good

/ Tracy Gromek / 1 Comment
Vegan Buffalo Wings

That’s not chicken. That’s not fake meat. That’s cauliflower, Baby!

A while back we were vegan. And gluten-free. And sugar-free. And 80% raw.

Sounds crazy, I know, but I had a bunch of health problems at the time and I figured trying a specialized diet couldn’t hurt. My husband was kind enough to do the same so that I could have support in my journey. It was a great experiment. I not only learned how to listen to my body and decipher what my cravings meant, but I was turned onto new foods from which I had previously shied away.

In my pursuit for tasty goodies, I discovered that there is a lot of crap vegan food out and about. Most vegan food, in my opinion, is very, very underseasoned. I have no idea why so many vegan chefs shy away from using a spice or two. There is nothing worse than heading out to a vegan establishment, dropping $40 or so for lunch and being met with a boring bowl of undersalted quinoa and plain steamed veggies or worse–far worse–fake meat. God, I HATE fake meat. In a previous post I mentioned I hate breakfast, but breakfast is incredible compared to fake meat. (There is one, and only one recipe that I have ever found worked with fake meat. It’s a taco dish and I’ll post it the next time I make it.) My feeling is that if you want something with the texture of meat, just eat meat. Otherwise, use the incredible amount of non-animal source food out there to create an insanely tasty truly vegan dish.

These wings are AMAZING. We are no longer vegan and I still make them–that’s how good they are. I normally serve them as is, but I’ll post a raw vegan ranch dip in the near future in case people want a side sauce.

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Nutella French Toast Sandwiches

/ Tracy Gromek / 2 Comments

Nutella French Toast Sandwiches

For some reason I woke up thinking today was Saturday. My mind immediately went to brunch and French toast as I had been pondering French toast for the past few days. See, we never, ever have loaves of bread in our house. I’ve never been a big fan of bread, especially the ones that have any sort of decent shelf life, so I rarely pick up a loaf. But, when Marcus went to the store to grab some food before the blizzard he purchased not one, not two, but THREE various “loaves” of plastic wrapped pre-sliced “bread.” (He was all about an exceptionally large jar of Nutella that he found at the end of an aisle and wanted to play it safe.)

With this much fake bread lying around, you could most likely understand why I’ve been thinking about French toast. And, when you live in New York, you must do brunch on the weekends or I think they kick you out. So, it being (at least in my mind) Saturday, close to noon, and with three loaves of pre-sliced bread at my fingertips, I had at it.

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Sautéed Swiss Chard with Garlic and Lemon

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Swiss Chard with Garlic and Lemon

Swiss chard. What a great green vegetable. It can hold its own when tossed amongst pastas or chickpeas and bring out the flavor in a well prepared chicken or steak dish. Perhaps its best quality, in my humble opinion, is that it is an easy green vegetable to wash. Let’s face it–the reason I don’t make a green veggie every single time I cook is that I absolutely hate washing bits of dirt out of the myriad of places it has hidden itself amongst greens. Lettuces, leeks, and spinach are bad, but cilantro… Man, don’t even get me started on cilantro.

I made this lovely swiss chard dish last night as I felt our nutrient-less dinner of mac & cheese needed some serious boost of vitamins. It was well worth the washing time.

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Cornbread with Salted & Browned Honey Butter

/ Tracy Gromek / 1 Comment

Cornbread with Salted & Browned Honey Butter

Dear pregnancy jeans,
Thank you for continuing to be a major comfort four months and three weeks after my daughter was born. Even though I can now squeeze my ‘new’ body and it’s +7 lbs into a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans, I choose to wear you. You provide extra warmth across my belly in the winter, don’t give me a muffin top, and never scoff at me for eating things as delicious as cornbread with salted & browned honey butter.

With sincerest gratitude,
T

This cornbread is good, but the salted and browned honey butter is outstanding. I could forego the cornbread and eat the butter solo. When diving into the jar I have to continually remind myself that it is butter so as to not eat it in its entirety. Basically, what I’m saying is make this. Make this now. If you don’t have the ingredients for corn bread, screw it and just make the butter. (Unless you are vegan, I know you have butter in your fridge.) Put it on anything and everything: a slice of toast, a piece of chicken, a morning muffin, pancakes, a cinnamon raisin bagel, a ham panini with gruyere and thyme. The list is never ending.

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Creamless Cream of Zucchini Soup

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CreamlessZucchiniSoup

I’ve been on a soup kick lately because it is super easy to make and gives me a giant dose of veggies. Plus, soup has been known to keep one satiated longer which is great because I’m finding that I have to choose between eating, sleeping, or catching up on some mundane house chore. Usually, catching up on the house chores wins out (quickly followed by a small creative project) and when I finally head to bed (around 2ish) I find I’m starving.

Giant bonus, Faye completely digs this soup. I let her try a bit from her own spoon and she went nuts for it.

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Booby Boosting Dark Chocolate and Cherry Oatmeal

/ Tracy Gromek / 3 Comments
Oatmeal with Dark Chocolate Chips, Cherries, Flax Seeds, and Pumpkin Seeds.

Dessert for Breakfast: Oatmeal with Dark Chocolate Chips, Cherries, Flax Seeds, and Pumpkin Seeds.

Let me put this out there early on in this blog: I hate breakfast. I dislike most “breakfasty” type foods. If I can wait until lunchtime to eat, I do. If it’s anywhere close to noon, I will hem and haw until a feasible lunch time rolls around.

There are those times when it’s 8 or 9 am, I’m starving, and there is nothing in the house for me to eat, so I must look to a breakfast food. A breakfast food that is quick and easy to assemble as well as easy for me to get down without gagging.

Last week, after one such day, I stumbled upon this beauty. Not only is this oatmeal quick and easy, but it is absolutely delicious!!!! I find myself looking forward to breakfast when I awake.

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Pineapple, Mango & Jicama Salsa

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PineappleMangoJicamaSalsa

Originally purchased in a minuscule container at Whole Foods for a whopping $7, I decided to make this myself the next time I served Jamaican Jerk Chicken Tacos. It literally took me 5 minutes to put together, and for the same amount of money, I made six times the amount of salsa which was happily scarfed down by my in-laws.

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