Tag Archives: salad

Homemade Mayo

Posted in Eggs, food, Holiday, Paleo, recipe by

I know, a lot of people probably just thought “ew mayo”. Yes Mayo. Mayonnaise. That super scary yet delicious food that you see in the supermarkets but are really afraid to buy it because who knows what kind of preservatives and additives are loaded in that jar. You also know mayo tastes amazing in potato salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, and on hamburgers regardless of how disgusted you are by that sentence. It’s okay, you don’t ‘have to admit it. I did for you.

I love loved mayo – back in the day I would eat tuna fish slathered with the stuff. This was in the early days of life (okay I lied, it wasn’t that long ago that I loved mayo). Then I grew up, learned what mayo actually was, became terrified of it, swore it off at the ripe age of 15, and never looked back.

This is the ingredient list on the back of Hellman’s Olive Oil (Reduced-fat) Mayonnaise

Source

There’s a few things on there I would prefer not to fill my body with. I decided to start making my own mayo. Making my own mayonnaise sounded terrifying at first – How is that even possible? It is possible and it’s actually easy – really easy and if there’s an ingredient in this you can’t pronounce let me know ;)

Homemade Mayo

Serves: 17

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 cup of a light olive oil – not extra virgin olive oil – it takes away from the flavor.  My favorite oils are regular olive oil, macadamia nut oil, and the best tasting has been hazelnut oil.
  • a little pinch of dill never hurt either ;)

Directions:

  1. Place the egg and lemon juice in a blender until room temperature – this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to up to 2 hours.
  2. After it has reached room temperature, add in dry mustard, salt, and 1/4 cup of oil and blend until mixture is smooth
  3. Turn the blender onto low
  4. Take the remaining 1 cup of oil and SLOWLY pour the oil in from the top of the blender – this pouring should take anywhere from 2-3 minutes. Set a timer so you don’t rush yourself and start a little song in your head.
  5. During the time you are pouring in the oil, you may hear your blender start to change in sound – this means it is getting thicker. Do not let it scare you. That sound is normal and is from the change in consistency.
  6. After you have finished pouring in the oil, check out your blender and see what you came out with.

About this recipe:

  • The expiration date of this mayonnaise is the date found on your egg carton. Meaning when your eggs go bad so does the mayonnaise. My eggs were dated for april 10th so I have until april 10th to use it up.
  • If yours does not turn into a thick mayo consistency you can still use it as a Caesar dressing for salads or mix it in with a potato salad.
  • Experiment with different types of oils: Macadamia nut oil is high in omega-3 which offers better anti-inflammatory effects over the other types of nut oils. This oil I found to be very strong in flavor, it definitely stood out in a dish. It had a nice taste but it wasn’t your typical “mayonnaise” taste. However this oil is expensive (but I promise it is definitely worth it)
  • Hazelnut oil has a mild taste. I preferred this over the macadamia nut oil if you’re looking for a duller flavor.

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Are you a mayonnaise fan?

Tastebuds and Trader Joe’s

Posted in change, food, Grain Free, health, Paleo by

I am now Pumpedpumpkin.com! no more for or wordpress! My twitter has also changed to pumpedpumpkin. I hate to switch things up but at least it wasn’t too drastic.

Other than my blog name slightly changing, my taste buds have been changing a lot. The other day I was craving some red meat. I have not had red meat in approximately 12 years or longer and all I could think about was a really big burger.

With the increase in animal protein intake I am just assuming it’s my body telling me
“Hey! time to switch up the proteins from turkey, tuna, chicken, salmon, pork, and other white meat fishes to something a little different.” I have also been doing a ton of research on the benefit of grass-fed beef and the importance of omega 6 and omega 3 ratio being in balance of 1:1 or 3:1

Both omega 3 and omega 6 are polyunsaturated fats and are important in hormone regulation. Omega 6 fats are converted into pro-inflammatory and omega 3 are converted into anti-inflammatory. Our diets are typically higher in omega 6s due to nuts, grains, vegetable oils, and we are typically deficient in omega 3 fatty acids. It’s almost impossible to be deficient in omega 6 fatty acids since they’re everywhere.

Omega 3s on the other hand can be hard to come by for some. Mostly wild fish and grass-fed beef are the best bet. For a better understanding of this post by Julianna Taylor. She goes into great detail and has a wonderful PDF chart comparing the two.

I realized I have been consuming way too many nuts and nut butters for my own good so in hopes to balance out the ratio, I went to Trader Joe’s in hopes to find some higher quality omega-3 foods.

This is as close to grass-fed beef as I can find. Unfortunately "this close" means 45 minutes away.

I am mostly excited about is eating the top sirloin steak I bought. I don’t remember the last time I actually had steak but I cannot wait to fire up the grill. Cold weather has nothing on the grill and me.

Salmon is always a must. Very high in omega 3 and also very delicious. Mahimahi is another favorite of mine

Trader Joe's Unsalted Sardines in water

The unthinkable. Sardines. Felicia has a great post on the benefits of sardines. I have been hearing a lot about the benefit of them and how good they are for you – so I went with it. Needless to say I was nervous all I have ever heard was “Ew gross sardines” I was wrong. I almost ate everything straight out of the can. I held back so I could enjoy it in a more suitable way

Sardines, avocado, lettuce, tomato, broccoli

 

It’s incredible how taste buds can change over the years! 5 years ago if you asked if I wanted salmon, avocado, sardines, beef, mushrooms, onions, brussel sprouts, asparagus I would have laughed. These foods have become a big part of my life now.

I’m embracing the changes and loving every minute of it!

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What changes have you gone through recently?

How have your tastebuds developed?

Thoughtful Thursday

Posted in Uncategorized by

Good Morning Pumpkins!

First thing is first. Yesterday for dinner I made some sprouted flour pasta. As I was making it I was scared. Have you ever been in a haunted house and you have that feeling of being absolutely terrified and panicked about what is around the next corner. This is exactly how I felt while I was making it. Then I thought, “This is silly, Alexis. If you don’t want to eat it you don’t have to. There is no legitimate reason to be in panic mode right now.” After I had a nice one-on-one with myself I dug into my big bowl of salad along with the serving of pasta. I’ve been missing my veggies lately and it was 100 degrees yesterday so I thought a nice cool salad would make me feel better and it did.

Onto more important things.

Things I’ve been loving lately:

1. Cottage cheese. It’s like the new cereal for me (almost but not quite). I go to bed thinking about how excited I am to have cottage cheese in the morning and I wake up and I’m excited to have it again possibly during the day. That has been the vicious cycle of how excited can I be over cottage cheese. One small problem: I am lactose intolerant. I sort of ‘forgot’ how lactose upsets my stomach. I haven’t had it in so long. I’m hoping it’s my body just getting used to eating it again but chances are it’s not. Sadly I’ll have to cut down on my rendez-vous with cottage cheese to once a day.

One slice with peanut butter the other with jelly. Topped with cottage cheese

2. The air conditioner. Thank you air conditioner for working and saving me from this heat. I don’t know what I would do without you

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3. Yogi Tea. It’s amazing. I have only tried two kinds because they’re so expensive but the green tea antioxidant and green tea muscle recovery are the bomb. I have a cup every morning and they also have little sayings on the tea bags. This morning mine said “Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light” Those quotes are probably my favorite part

4. Camelbak water bottle with filter. It’s amazing especially on 100 degree Fahrenheit days like today. I can fill it up at any sink and have fresh water. It also has a great bite cap so it’s not spilling everywhere in my car.

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5. Puffins. Specifically Barbara’s Peanut butter and cinnamon puffins. I can’t get enough of them. Once I open the box it’s a never ending mindless munch fest. But who says that’s a bad thing?!

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Question: What are you loving this week?