WIAW Crazy Crock of a meal

Happy Wednesday beautiful people!

Wednesday means the week is half over and Chris will be coming home on Friday! Woo but until then I will catch you up on what I have been eating. This week I unwrapped and discovered my new crockpot and my love of it. You will probably feel the love as you read.

Morning: My usual pre-run orange and then berry-explosion oatmeal (post-run)

Afternoonish: Crockpot butternut squash and quinoa concoction with spinach, cheese and eggs. Then a library snack of a larabar and COFFEE!

Evening-ish: Pre-walk snack of italian quinoa salad (with more spinach) and an orange. Dinner consisted of left over barbecue crockpot chicken paired with roasted mushrooms and cauliflower.

 

Speaking of crockpot chicken…Oh my goodness people, this chicken is to die for! I will have the recipe on the blog soon, and until then just imagine the best barbecue chicken you’ve ever had and then increase that by 5. Yup, just keep the drool flowing.

It is so good and it heats up really well. Check out Jenn from peasandcrayons for more meal inspiration.

Question of the day: What is you favorite crockpot recipe? I am on the lookout for some recipe now that I finally own a crockpot. Some of my favorites include pumpkin spice latte, roast, and this chicken!

~Alyssa

 

 

Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns

Hello and Happy Monday to all of you! I hope you all had a refreshing weekend and at some point got out to enjoy this heat wave that is making January feel like spring. I have been out running again, and while I’m sooo out of shape, it feels good to be at it again!

So get ready, because I have a taste treat for you! And I have to tell you all that when I was making these hamburger buns I haven’t been so excited about a particular recipe for quite some time. As many of you know hamburgers are one of my all time favorite foods and I hadn’t realized how much I missed having an ultra deluxe cheeseburger with a gourmet bun until I indulged myself in one! These buns are made from cashews but actually have a really good flavor and did not crumble until the very end stage of my hamburger, which is quite impressive for a gluten-free bread product.

The recipe is from the cookbook Against All Grain, but like everything cooked in my kitchen I had to make a few modifications. I do not have coconut oil or almond milk…so I always substitute with dairy products and I reduced the salt. Also I halved the recipe but feel free to double based on how many mouths you have to feed. Keep in mind I do love to eat these with just peanut butter and jelly if I have some left over! Yumm

 

Golden Cashew Hamburger Buns

Serves 2 – Slightly modified from Against All Grain

• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup melted butter
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1/3 cup coconut and almond flour (half and half)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

For the Golden Brown Egg topping

• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

     

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a cookie pan with parchment paper.
2. Process the raw cashews until they resemble a course flour, with some healthy cashew chunkage.
3. Next add in the eggs, vinegar, milk, and melted butter. Blend until smooth.
4.  Then add the dry ingredients, the flours salt and baking soda and blend again. The dough should be thickening up at this point.
5. Drop the dough onto the parchment paper and form it with your hands into cute buns.
6.  Whip together the egg yolk and milk. Then brush it on top of the shaped buns and sprinkle with sesame seed.
7.  Bake for 25 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

Question of the Day: What is your favorite hamburger topping? Well besides the obvious cheese, mine would have to BBQ sauce, or really any type of sauce. I can not eat a dry cheeseburger.

Have a great week filled with lots of quinoa.

~Alyssa

Cashew Buns, Florida, and Reunions

Hey Guys!

Sorry for all the updates and changes to faithhopeandquinoa.com! I have been needing a change of pace and a bit of makeover, so I have been trying to spruce things up a bit. So I hope you look the new look, because all the rest is still the same, including the wonderful me!

So I am kind of freaking out, because on Tuesday I started my LAST semester of school EVER! Oh man I am so excited and with all this excitement comes a lot of scattered thoughts and craziness rattling around in my seemingly empty brain.

Because of this special occasion I thought I would try something new! This week I am being totally unconventional and I am crashing Runningwithspoons Thursday Thinking Out Loud party. So enjoy reading the randomness that is going on in my life!

1. First of all, The March for Life is today in Washington D.C. I had the pleasure of attending three of these back when I was an undergrad at Franciscan University of Steubenville. It is so powerful to be there fighting for the unborn and for the rights  of all human life.

2. I have been obsessed with the cookbook Against All Grain. I made her hamburger buns last week which are made from cashews (pictured below). And then I made her banana bread last night and let me tell you it is pure deliciousness! I love taking homemade treats for lunch it just brightens my day.

3. I have officially booked my plane tickets to visit my sister over spring break! The husband could not get the week off of work so I will be reverting back to my single days and traveling with the parentals. I’m pretty excited about this trip.

4. We almost have all our wedding presents moved to the apartment. Uffda it is quite the task to find a place to put all these wonderful gifts. Our apartment could be the face of a Target Ad if Target wanted to feature a small one bedroom in the midst of a frozen tundra.

5. My husband comes home from a 2 week trip tonight and I am so excited! It has been a long two weeks and I can’t wait to snuggle up and watch a movie and eat some popcorn. He made me watch the first of the Hobbit trilogy and now I need to finish the set.

Question of the day (to continue the randomness): What is your favorite drink for brunch?

I am more of a water drinker, but for brunch I have to have coffee. Ideally it is a fancy latte or if I am feeling super adventurous a bloody mary (no coffee in that one).

I have some awesome recipes to share with you all soon! Thanks for being patient with me.

~Alyssa

WIAW: Gilmore Girls Finale

This week has been full of adjusting to married life. The apartment seems a bit cramped with all the wedding presents, and yet so quiet because Chris is away on business for the next  2 weeks. Alas, we resume our long distance relationship. At least we are almost experts now, but it does not make it easier.

Anyhow, part of adjusting to married life means cooking for the new husband. Pre-marriage I did not eat a lot of meat, not for a particular reason, just partly due to laziness and partly due to it being hard to cook for one person. But now I have been told there “must be meat at dinner,” so I have been loving exploring some of the crazy ideas I have floating up in my brain.

Some of the dinners we’ve enjoyed:

-Homemade gluten-free pizza with turkey pepperoni, green peppers, mozzarella and ricotta cheese

-meatloaf (ok not so crazy) and homemade biscuits

-garlic turkey burgers with roasted sweet potatoes (again not so crazy)

-pork, curry, vegetable soup (AMAZING) I used the leftover pork from our wedding and it was so tender!

I have also been dying to make some recipes from the cookbook, Against All Grain. I actually got it last Christmas, but now that I have a little time I think I will finally try a few of the recipes I’ve been meaning too. First up: hamburger buns made with cashews….Idk how it works but I have faith in her.

While our menu is great and all, I will share a few of my eats with you from yesterday since it is WIAW after all! Full disclosure, my photographing skillz were not on par this week!

Oatmeal is back in my life and I am so happy about that! I enjoyed a hot steamy bowl after a CSI (cardio strength intervals) that kicked my butt.

Then I had a taco salad for lunch. (unpictured but still delicious)

The star of my day was getting a gingerbread latte and finally watching the finale of Gilmore Girls. Oh my goodness I was bawling my eyes out. And now I have nothing else to look forward to in my life because my daily source of entertainment is now finished. I’m gonna miss those Gilmores.

Then I made a concoction for dinner. It was a 7-layer pasta dish that I then mashed all together into a delicious mess of meal. I layered brown rice pasta, then ricotta cheese, then roasted mushrooms and cauliflower, then spaghetti sauce, then mozzarella cheese, and topped with some diced pepperoni (for some flare). Uff-da that is a lot to jam into one bowl (ok it is a pretty huge bowl).

Sorry about this picture. I had a much better picture of it all layered, before I mixed it together but they some how got lost in cyber space…never to be seen from again. So…sorry! You win some and you lose some.

I finished the day with this Trader Joe’s water and a hefty hunk of fudge that was trying to satisfy my chocolate craving.

I solemnly swear to take better pictures next week! And to eat more quinoa! As always thanks to Jenn from peasandcrayons for hosting this celebration of food.

Question of the day: When you are craving chocolate what satisfies your craving? For me it is a gooey chocolate brownie, or just some dark chocolate chips I always seem to have in the pantry.

~Alyssa

 

Faith Friday/Pre-Wedding Recap

So as the snow steadily falls here in Minneapolis, I am all cozy in my bed drinking my latte and reminiscing about my wedding (sorry I wrote this yesterday but due to internet problems didn’t publish till today). Hmmm sounds dreamy, but even as I write this I am going a little stir crazy with winter break and these frigid temperatures there has been a lot of inside time and I can’t wait to get outside!

Anyway I am going to jump around and skip the bachelorette party and rehearsal and come to it later because I need to capitalize on Faith Friday! I will start at the beginning of the wedding day, but keep this in the back of your  mind: Chris and I had decided that we wanted to see each other for the first time as I was walking down the aisle, but we did want to exchange presents before the wedding. So Faith Friday will come full circle, just trust me on this one.

7:30: My alarm went off and believe it or not I actually was asleep. Many of my newlywed friends warned me that I would not sleep a wink on my pre-wedding night.

8: arrived at the hair salon with my mom. Unfortunately my cousin who was the second hair stylist came down with a stomach virus that night so Desiree was on her own and  stepped up to the plate and worked double time to beautify us all!

9: My friend from elementary school worked on my make-up. If you know me I NEVER wear anything on my face, so I was really excited to get all done up. She is pretty-much a professional and I got so many compliments on my make-up. Thanks Anna! It was also fun to catch up with her as she is a fellow newlywed.

11: We arrived at the church and had a yogurt bar as we started to get dressed. The photographer showed up at this time and it was showtime.

12pm: Chris and I get pulled away from our separate groups to exchange presents. It felt so great to just hold his hand. So I was a little distracted when he handed me a HUGE square for a present and a typed letter. My hand were shaking as I read the beautiful words he had written in the letter. Then it came time to finally quench my curiosity I pulled of the wrapping and my mouth dropped as a squeal escaped my lips.

Chris had gone through a (very demanding) process to get our marriage blessed by the pope. THE POPE! I was just so blown away at the pure awesomeness of the present and my future husband. I am so lucky to find someone that takes care of me physically and spiritually. Chris’s faith has and always will be an inspiration to me.

When I walked back in all my friends and family were equally as astounded. Quote from my grandmother “Chris is a gem.”

When asked by many vendors what hobbies Chris and I like to do, the first thing that always enters my mind is our faith life. Through the years of long distance we have always kept prayer and the Lord at the center of our relationship, and now as we start our own family it is important to keep this as well as deepen these traditions.

I hope you all enjoyed this Faith Friday. Stay warm and eat some quinoa!

~Alyssa

Recap to be continued….The Wedding Ceremony

 

WIAW: MARRIED

Well folks, here it is, my first post as a married woman! I have been out of the internet/blogging world for so long but I had the most amazing wedding and reception and then we were whisked off to our honeymoon in a blur. It has been an adventurous and life-changing turn of events and I could not be happier! Throughout the week I will work on posts to catch you all up on the happiness of our winter wedding wonderland extravaganza. I will tell you know I have never felt so loved. My family and friends and Chris helped out so much and always had kind words of encouragement and love at all times.

But anyway enough of the mushy gushy stuff let us get to what I have been eating. These past couple weeks have been so atypical, I am excited to share it with you! I chose to share what I have been feasting on for a week at an all inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

A typical day in paradise goes like this:

~8 am wake up and greet the sweet sunshine and salty ocean air. Walk down and have the most amazing coffee con leche ever,while seated pretty much on the beach. For breakfast I would usually have the juice of the day (soo good) and a cup of fruit with homemade yogurt and some eggs on the side.

On occasion a bloody mary was had…

The we would indulge in some fancy coffee that is included in our all-inclusiveness for a mid morning snack.

Lunch takes us to the buffet. Oh my goodness the food was soo fresh with loads of seafood. Nothing was really labeled so to play it safe, I stuck mostly to the salad bar, grilled salmon, and LOTS of guacamole.

Then after lunch I would have one (or maybe a few more)  mango margaritas while laying on the beach!

Dinner: Our last night we redeemed our fancy lobster dinner and her it was also very very good. The appetizer was ceviche with mango salsa, and the dessert was chocolate mousse.

Ahh we just had so much fun together! And clearly ate A LOT.

I will be recapping the wedding and honeymoon soon. But thank you all for the love and support in 2014 and I can’t wait to see what happens in 2015.

As always head over to Jenn from peasandcrayons to check out the world of eats from other bloggers.

~Alyssa