Mayo-free Tuna Salad (with avocado)

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Everyone in my house loves tuna. Tuna is cheap and easy. But, mayo is gross. Actually, I love the taste of "real" mayonnaise, but there is nothing real about the (yummy) gloopy white stuff that comes in the convenient little jars at the grocery store. I think doing away with store-bought mayo may have been one of the hardest real food conversions for me. Homemade mayo is delicious, but the eggs make me worry about sending it in Little Bear's lunch. My solution has been to make tuna salad with olive oil and a bit of vinegar (plus the typical tuna salad accoutrements). It's ok. But, not great. 

How to make it great... Let's try avocado! {spoiler alert, it was amazing!}

Scoop one avocado into a bowl.

Add a few tablespoons of unrefined olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon or lime, and whatever spices and mix-ins you like in your tuna (today I just did salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill).

Smoosh it all together, making the mixture as smooth as possible.

Add tuna and mix with the avocado mixture while flaking the tuna.

Eat.

Yum!

I measured, but tuna is so dependent on the brand, draining, and type that you'll probably have to play with the proportions to make it just perfect. As a starting point, 1 avocado + 2 tablespoons oil should be good for 2-ish cans of tuna or 4 of the single-serve packets.

Homemade Deodorant in Under 20 Minutes!

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Husband is a stinky man. Seriously. Stink-y.

He, therefore, is a deodorant addict. An aluminum-preservative-and-fragrance-laden deodorant addict.

Correction: he was a stinky, deodorant addict. Cue the homemade deodorant!

I can make a batch (about 1 cup) in way under 20 minutes, including cleaning time. The beeswax and shea make cleaning a bit of a pain, so I've culled one of my old pans to use just for recipes with the messy ingredients in them. The greatest part is that it actually works! Day one of testing went something like this (ok, it went exactly like this)...

It looks like a lot of expensive ingredients, but you can make enough deodorant for the rest of your life from these. Also, I use everything here in other concoctions. Arrowroot powder is a great corn starch sub for thickening sauces (and is non-GMO!), beeswax & shea go in my balm, I put orange oil in with my vinegar/water cleaner, and tea tree oil is great for minor scrapes and cuts.

The "bare bones" recipe is just coconut oil, baking soda, and arrowroot powder. Here's what the rest of the ingredients do (so you can decide if you want to use them, too):

Orange oil - smells yummy
Tea tree oil - natural antimicrobial (so it helps to kill the stinky bacteria)
Beeswax - thicker texture and helps emulsify
Shea - moisturizes & promotes smoother pits

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup GMO-free baking soda
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
• 2 tablespoons beeswax
• 2 tablespoons shea butter
• 1/4 teaspoon orange oil
• 1 teaspoon tea tree oil

Directions

1.  Combine all of the ingredients except the orange and tea tree oil in a small pan.

2.  Cook while stirring over medium heat until everything is dissolved.

3.  Stir in the orange and tea tree oil.

4.  Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.

5.  When the mixture just starts to thicken, stir and pour into a glass container (Hobby Lobby!)

Usage

A little goes a loooong way! Scoop a tiny bit on to your finger and rub in under your pits. If you get too much, you could leave greasiness on your clothes (ick). I have a big jar of it in the bathroom and a little travel container in my desk drawer. This stuff is powerful, so I can often skip days and not have any smelliness!

{Guest Blogger: Cassie Corbett} Whole Wheat Vegetarian Runzas

A runza is a softball-sized dough pocket stuffed traditionally with beef, cabbage, onions and seasoning. However, I’ve grown fond of a certain vegetarian version of them. These hearty pouches of goodness can make anyone happy, and I’m here to tell you how to create them.

The Runza movement started in Russia, transitioned through Germany and ended up here in the United States for all of us to enjoy. The exact filling is up to you, but I have one below that you should definitely try occasion!

You'll make the dough and then let it rise while you prepare the rest of the meal. The recipe below produces 4-6 servings of average-size runzas. Based on number of people and specific dietary requirements, you may need to alter the ingredients somewhat.



Ingredients for Dough

• 1 teaspoon of unrefined sugar
• 1 ½ cups of warm water
• 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

Directions for Dough

1. In a large cookware bowl, stir the sugar into the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast on the top and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
2. Stir the olive oil into the mixture, followed by the salt.
3. Mix in the whole wheat flour and stir, while simultaneously pouring in the all-purpose flour to even it out.
4. Let sit for 20 minutes.
5. Pour entire contents onto a cutting board that is coated with flour before kneading it until all of the flour is absorbed into the mixture.
6. Place dough in an olive oil-coated bowl.
7. Let it stand, covered, for roughly an hour to rise

Once the dough is made, you'll decide what ingredients you’d like to use, then prepare them to be baked inside of the dough. Below are some recommended ingredients that have proven to taste amazing inside of the runzas.

Ingredients for Filling

• 1 large organic onion, diced
• 4 cloves of fresh garlic, diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
• 1 pound organic button/chanterelle mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium organic cabbage, chopped
• 1 brick of gourmet sharp cheddar cheese, shaved

Directions for Filling

1. In a large pan, toss in all ingredients aside from cheese with olive oil.
2. Sauté on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Turn heat off and let mixture sit.

After the dough and filling are prepped, you'll build the runzas by hand. Then they're baked. 

Assembly Directions

1. Separate the dough into 4-5 baseball-sized balls.
2. Flatten them out on a baking sheet lightly coated with olive oil.
3. When they are flat, add a pile of the filling ingredients to the middle of each one with a large spoon.
4. After there are mounds of the filling on each pancake-looking dough circle, add cheddar cheese to the top.
5. When everything is on the dough, pull the sides up and push them together at the top, forming a knapsack-looking dough pocket.
6. Make sure the top is completely enclosed, even if you have to twist it together.
7. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees, until golden brown on the outside.

Enjoy! Runzas are an awesome comfort food, and are a healthier option if made this way. They’re a great choice for dinner, particularly during the winter months. The exact ingredients are up to you, but this is a platform for you to begin your journey down Runza Lane.

Cassie Corbett would sleep in the kitchen if it wasn’t weird. When she’s not preparing her next meal, she writes for World Kitchen about bakeware and other houseware items.

The Best {Whole Wheat} Waffles Ever!

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I've been tinkering with this recipe for months and months now, and I think I've finally got it down just darn near perfect (at least for our palates)! The greek yogurt and the eggs add a nice amount of protein (10 grams per waffle!), and the flax/chia add fiber (7 grams per waffle!) and omegas.

Our Sunday morning tradition has been to make a batch of these and then freeze the extras for toaster waffles through the week. Because we usually end up eating these in the car after hustling out the door (have I mentioned that neither Little Bear nor I are morning people??), I put the syrup in the batter and the coconut oil keeps them so moist that you don't need butter.

I finally broke down and traded my ancient waffle maker in for a fancy Waring Pro from Costco, so my recipe has been perfected on an Belgian waffler maker. You may need to adjust the consistency (more milk, probably) if your waffles are not quite right on your machine.

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups greek yogurt
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (the real thing, not flavored HFCS!)
• 2 1/2 cups milk (doesn't have to be dairy, I use coconut or rice milk)
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups whole wheat flour (I like WW pastry flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (aluminum & GMO free!)
• 5 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum & GMO free!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup chia seeds or roughly milled flax seed

Directions

1.  In a large bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, oil, syrup, milk, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

2.  Add the remaining ingredients. Mix until just blended, but do not overmix.

3.  Scoop the mixture into a preheated, oiled waffle maker. I spray my waffle maker with unrefined olive oil with my Misto. The extra oil gives it a nice crisp outside while keeping the inside soft and moist. I put between 3/4 cup and 1 cup batter per waffle, but this will vary between waffle makers.

4.  Serve hot! Butter and dipping syrup are optional :)  I always let my extras cool and then cut them into toaster-sized pieces (quarters) and freeze. They are actually tastier out of the toaster than fresh!

For some added fun, try mixing in a handful of De Ruijter sprinkles - they melt better than the American waxed-fake-chocolate-flavored things, and they don't make the same huge mess that chocolate chips do. YUM-OLA! {If you haven't tried De Ruijter sprinkles, they are a MUST! You will never eat the fake mass-produced crap again.}