I am positive that my life can be great! Oh and Some Wheatless Pancakes For Ya!

Hi there! I am dusting off the old blog. I have really missed this space. So much has happened that I won't bother giving a full update right now.

I woke up this morning with an insanely sunny disposition. Weird? YES! Why? Because I am not normally someone who wakes up with sunshine in their soul. Or even someone who manages to find it by the end of the day. I am one who has battled depression for a long while. And after giving a little talk about it at my church the other day, I got to thinking. Right now I am in a good place, so why not take advantage of it?

I woke up thinking this morning "I think my life can be great!" I have my ups and downs (we ALL DO!!!) especially when faced with sadness and tragedy. It can be so easy to fall into a dark place. But right now, I am happy. It is so foreign for me to say that, especially because my toddler is throwing a tantrum at me in the background as a write this upper segment. I have realized that even though I may not be actively going through a bout of depression, that I remain cynical and pessimistic in between. Not cute. So as of today, I am going to be positive when I am fully capable of it. Because I am positive that my life can be great. Even with the hard things.

I am not a bubbly person, and I am not about to try to be. I have always tried to cut the drama from my life, but I am totally serious here. I will not talk negatively about others, I will not speculate about things that are not my business. I will not gossip (unless of course it is about how awesome someone is or their cute shoes). I will not talk down about my body. I will not bash my spouse. I will smile more. I will read scripture. I am not here to try to be perfect by any means. But I have great things in my life, I always have. And for me personally, if I am doing the opposite of the things I listed above then I am not happy.

Here is my recipe for wheatless pancakes!

If you're gluten free make sure you use gluten free old fashioned oats. I just take my oats and blend them into flour in my magic bullet. You may have to play around with it a bit but this is what worked for me! Sooo yummy!

Kaitlin's Low allergen meringue pancakes

3/4-1 cup of oat flour

2 egg whites

1 egg yolk

1 stevia packet

1/2 cup almond milk.

1/2 tsp of salt

Separate your eggs. Beat your whites and stevia until they form stiff peaks (a meringue). In separate bowl mix oat flour, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp of salt and milk until very smooth. Fold meringue into flour mix until well incorporated.

Cook on electric skillet set to 300°. Make sure your skillet is fully preheated before pouring in batter, slow cooking is the key to good fluff. Serve and enjoy!

Pizza Bread!

So I got a challenge to do pizza here on the blog a while back, and pizza is a hard one to make healthier or faster. But, with the exception of it not really fitting into any of those categories, it is an easy recipe, that will make you feel far more gourmet than what you'd expect! Pizza Bread is a family favorite that I grew up with, but I have found a couple cheats that help me make this little fave a bit faster! Another great thing about it is that it freezes! Which can make for a faster meal another day of the week! The credit for this recipe definitely goes to my mom!

The ingredients are simple

French Bread dough (my favorite quick recipe is HERE, you don't even need to let it rise!)

Pizza Sauce (We make our own)

Cheese

Pepperoni.

So pizza bread has a few steps, so I have provided pictures!

Instead of following the french bread recipe to completion, you are JUST making the dough. This recipe makes enough for 3 pizza bread loaves. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

 A very important step before rolling out dough is to make sure you have a floured surface.

Divide your dough into thirds(if you followed the recipe provided) 

 Roll out your dough to about 1/3 inch thickness.

 I figure I used about 1/2 a cup of sauce here

 Spread it out in a thin(ish) layer.

 This is just to show the thickness of the sauce and dough.

 Add a fair amount of shredded cheese and pepperoni. You will use quite a bit less than if you were making a normal pizza. This is because if you use the same amount your bread will never cook all the way, and you'll end up with a lot of burnt cheese on the pan. Burnt cheese is a sin to me...

Now you're just going to fold up the edges on the pizza and pinch the seams!

 Scoop up your folded pizza and kind of fold it in half on a greased pan. 

 You are then going to what will appear as destroying your creation. You are going to cut it up. and then mash it together a bit and chop some more. 

 With your pan on the center rack, bake your pizza bread at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. Check the progress around 15 minutes or so to make sure it isn't burning. My oven is super tiny so things cook funny.

In the end, your pizza bread should look like this(and your house will smell amazing). Lift a couple of the pieces near the center and check to make sure it is not doughy. So it isn't the most beautiful thing, but, I promise you will love it! You can substitute a lot of things, so experiment with your favorite toppings. For a healthier version, you could easily use a wheat flour french bread recipe, and the toppings are limitless, from veggie pizza, to reduced fat pepperoni! Serve it up with a tossed salad and if you're a Ranch Dressing lover like me, I always have a little(okay big) pool of ranch to dip the Pizza Bread in. 

Enjoy friends and have fun!

Welcome to A Safari In My Kitchen

Welcome to my Blog! There are a few reasons why I have named the blog the way I have, one reason being I am obsessed with Africa and all things leopard print. Another reason being, every day is an adventure in my kitchen. Here I am going to show you how a poor young married couple manages to get through college paying two tuitions and manages to still eat well. I am going to show you how to make some of your favorite recipes cheaper, easier, faster or a combination of the three. I am open to trying out recipes that you submit to me. Challenge me to make it cheaper, easier, or faster! I will let you know if I can or not and post it here. For now I have posted 2 Fast, and Healthy recipes! Enjoy!

Tasty Burritos

So this recipe is going in the Faster/Cheaper category, because the way I am listing it is my Husband's original recipe. :-) It is not neccessarily healthier, but I can tell you some quick and easy substitutions for it. I was super obsessed with this simple yet delicious little monsters and I think I had my husband make them like 3 times in a month.

Total meal prep time: 30 minutes serves 2-4

Tasty Burritos

8 inch flour tortillas
1 lb ground beef
1 can refried beans
1-2 cups shredded cheese (depending on how cheesy you like them and how many you make)
1/2 taco seasoning packet
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Cook your ground beef all the way in a pan. Then add 1/2 the packet of taco seasoning to the ground beef. Stir it in and let it simmer (that is cooking it on very low heat) for about 3 minutes. Open your can of refried beans, and heat the 1/4 vegetable oil in a shallow pan. If you would like, you can pop your tortillas in the microwave for about 20 seconds for the whole package, to increase the flexibility of the tortilla.  Now with your beans open, meat cooked and tortillas warmed lay out your tortillas and put a fair amount of the meat, beans and cheese on each one. You will want to be able to fold up the burrito, so don't skimp, but keep the limited space in mind. If you do not know how to fold a burrito, this BURRITO FOLDING diagram can help you out. Now take your folded burritos and fry each side until a golden brown, drain on a paper towel and serve with sour cream and salsa (optional).

I would also recommend using my quick mexican rice recipe as a side dish.

Quick and Easy Mexi-Rice

This is my recipe for Quick and Easy Mexi-Rice. This recipe goes in the Faster and Healthier categories. By following this recipe, you omit all the preservatives particularly sodium that are in the boxed rices.

Total side dish time: 25 minutes
Quick and Easy Mexi-Rice

1 Cup white rice (you may use brown but it takes 2 times the amount of time to cook and a little more water)
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup fresh salsa (you may use bottled salsa if you are on a tighter budget)
1 tbsp taco seasoning(I actually make my own, to avoid having so much sodium but I will have to post that another day)

Put all the ingredients together in a medium sized pot and stir them together. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down to low. Let it sit on low with a lid on for about 15-20 minutes. (DO NOT OPEN THE LID) even if your pot is popping and hissing on your burner. You will let the steam out from your rice and it will take extra time to get tender. When it appears the water is all absorbed, stir it and serve.