This new style of eating has been an adjustment. It’s hard to wrap my head around new rules for meal-planning and eating. So much of my day is spent thinking about food, and planning out when and what we’re going to eat and making grocery lists. I know it’s not permanent (I mean, I hope! Ack!) and I know it’s going to help to heal my stomach, but it is mentally draining.

This meal is one of my first attempts at branching out from the plain-meat-and-veg dinner. I am semi-obsessed with meatballs lately, so when I saw ground lamb at Publix I had to grab it. It was exxxxpensive, but it made delicious meatballs.

When I was combining the meatball mixture, I wasn’t sure they would come together without some kind of binder. I swore by panko or soaked bread in my old meatball recipes and that obviously wasn’t happening, so I grabbed some coconut flour- my new BFF. It’s basically magic, that stuff. It soaked up the extra moisture right away.

 To go along with the lamb, I made a quick yogurt dip in the food processor with mint and feta cheese. I hadn’t ever had the mint/feta combo, but it is surprisingly delicious. A little goes a long way for me (as usual when it comes to dips and sauces), but I’m a fan.

I also roasted up some cauliflower and carrots in spices that compliment the lamb- oregano, garlic, parsley.. as well as some cinnamon, cloves, allspice and a touch of cumin. You don’t have to add the “sweeter” spices, but I like the way they taste when paired with the lamb.

I had my meatballs and veggies over a salad; hubs made pita sandwiches. The kids gobbled up the veggies in no time. I feel like I finally had a win in the kitchen after weeks of scraping by.. not really knowing what to eat or serve my family. Huge sigh of relief!

Happy Wednesday!

I’m here to introduce you to the most popular treat in my freezer- Mint Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. I’ve mentioned my abundance of garden mint before, but things have gotten even wilder! This mint is taking over the garden like a boss! I’ve been thinking about making mint ice cream with it for a few weeks, but a little twist came to me when I discovered Newman-O’s Hint-O-Mint cookies. They’re just like Oreos, but with a creamy mint filling. The perfect add-in for mint ice cream.

Now, this is not your run-of-the-mill mint ice cream. The fresh flavor that comes from steeping the mint is crisp and lingers on the tongue- you won’t find anything like it in the store. The mint ice cream alone would be a great palate cleanser at the end of a meal or between courses, but I prefer it doctored up with the cookies. If you’re a fan of regular Cookies and Cream, you’ll be in love with this brisk, minty edition.

If you don’t have the fresh mint, you can still make the ice cream with some mint extract (not peppermint!) and I’m sure it will be tasty, too. Whatever you do, stock your freezer with cool desserts like this for easy summer entertaining. Or just come share a scoop with me- that giant mint patch guarantees that there will be gallons and gallons in my deep freezer at all times.

Disclaimer: This tea is sweetened, but is not sweet tea!

I’ve spent the past two years in the South, but I do not claim to be a Southerner. I grew up in the North, where we added sugar packets to our glasses of unsweetened tea. I realize now what these Southerners have known all along- that sugar doesn’t dissolve well in cold tea.

I typically drink water (I’d rather eat my calories) instead of tea, but there is a giant patch of spearmint taking over our garden that must be stopped. The first thing I thought to make with the mint was tea (mint chocolate chip ice cream was a close second). I consulted a few tea recipes, but I knew they would be too sweet for my tastes. I concocted a simple recipe of my own and managed to get a few dear Southern friends (Kentucky natives) to drink some yesterday while they were passing through.

While this tea is still pretty sweet for me (I usually dilute my glass with water), the spearmint flavor keeps me coming back. I think I could reduce the sugar by half and it would still be enjoyable to me. The mint just has a way of fooling your taste buds into thinking the tea is sweeter than it really is. A glass of this tea is light, refreshing, and best enjoyed with friends.

I wasn’t sure where to go from the first recipe, but I wanted to make something green for St. Pat’s.  Since I already hit you with my Shamrock Shake obsession last week, I held back on the ShamShake macs (in my mental filing cabinet for next year) and decided on mint chocolate.  Would you believe a recipe already existed?  I love when that happens.

I used Not So Humble Pie‘s recipe again, but this time I used the French method, which I think was easier- no cooking sugar/egg on the stove this time.  I am much happier with the results visually this time!  They actually look like macarons.  They’re more uniform and they rose up nicely with nice feet.  Don’t go thinking I perfected it, though.  Take a look inside:

 See the big air pocket and thin outer crust?  I think I over-mixed or under-baked.  Still not completely sure.  Another shot of the easily broken shells:

Though I still don’t feel entirely confident with macarons, I think I’ll be retiring from them for a little while.  It was more of a challenge than anything to me.  They are too sweet and too tempting to have around all the time while experimenting.  If someone requests them of me in the future, I’ll gladly give them another try, but for now, I’m satisfied with how this batch came out (visually, at least) and I can move on to other (healthier!) things.

The recipes have a lot of detail, and Ms. Humble deserves ALL the credit for them, so if you’d like the recipes, please visit her posts about French Macarons, Macaron Troubleshooting and the Mint Chocolate Ganache.

Did any of you try making macs this month?  How did it go for you?

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