I walked into a 7-11 the other day for coffee and realized I hadn’t been in one in years. The funny thing is in my 20s I think I lived there. I knew all the workers by name. I knew the exact change on a 16 oz. coffee.
Somewhere in the recent past I stopped eating crap. There was no day or plan set out. I guess it must have started when I got pregnant with Lincoln. I started realizing that everything I ate, he ate and it really kept me on track. Mid way though I also found out I was gestational diabetic and then went on a strict diet. There was a whole formula of this much protein to this much carbs that I had to stick to in order to keep my sugar under control and avoid the diabetes meds. It was rough and don’t think I didn’t beg Brian to get me a donut once in awhile. It was a real diet boot camp with real consequences.
After he was born, I was nursing for awhile so the good diet kept going. After more than a year of eating better it really became habit. And my body is so much happier. I have had a terrible stomach my whole life (think constant nauseous with no diagnosis) and that seemed to subside while I was pregnant and continued with eating better. And now when I say screw it and pick up some crap from 7-11 because I am starving in a pinch? I feel like there is someone punching me in the stomach for hours after.
The hard part about starting a new way of eating is knowing what to make and having the ingredients on hand. Since we have been at this for awhile, we have some favorites that are delicious and always in the rotation. I wanted to start sharing them here to give you some ideas of Reynolds tested recipes. I have also had a bunch of people ask for these recipes after trying things I have made so I thought this would be an easy place to have everything altogether.
First up is a recipe for Summer Corn Cakes with Tomato and Avocado Salsa. I found this recipe at the Ezra Pound Cake website and it’s a big favorite around here. It just tastes like summer in New Jersey with the fresh corn, tomatoes and basil. I end up using a bunch of things from the garden so it is just a fresh, clean taste.
The hardest part of this recipe is the chopping. You can get it done pretty fast if you leave big chunks but I like the stuff for the salsa chopped a bit finer. Your choice.
This salsa looks very avocado heavy because I only had one small tomato on hand.
My variations:
– I rarely have red onion or green onion on hand so I usually use shallots since we grow those. They add a nice sweetness. Use what you have.
– I have yet to have them with the jalapeno. I am a baby when it comes to spice.
– You can make your own buttermilk substitute since it expensive to buy a whole container for 2 tablespoons. There are a bunch of different ways but I go with milk with a little lemon since it’s what I usually have.
– The recipe tells you to put one heaping tablespoon at a time into the pan but I go with 1/4 cup for bigger cakes. They stay a bit creamier inside.
You can throw these in the fridge for an easy delicious lunch the next day. You can microwave them but we usually reheat them in the cast iron skillet so they don’t get soggy. I have no idea how long they last in the fridge since they are always gone by lunch the next day. In fact all of the pictures were taken by Brian. I didn’t get a chance to take pics when we had these for dinner the other night. I was out all the next day and knew they would be gone before I got home so I begged him to take pictures before he ate them all!
