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Guess what guys ….I got myself a sick vintage waffle/ griddle iron. I couldn’t be more thrilled!!! I found this thing at the local recycled goods store the other day, along with a very beautiful old white pyrex mixing bowl. It was one of my best thrift store scores! (Checking out the inventory and the condition of all the old things that day, I would say an old lady had just died and all her perfectly keep, mint condition kitchen stuff had just been donated.  But it’s cool, cause I get the feeling that she was at least 90, with a big loving family, and was happy until the day she died. And I am sure she would be pleased that I have taken over the waffle maker. Thanks old lady!)

 And now I am pretty sure that  everything I make for the next week will be cooked on said waffle/griddle. I am serious, I already have a list of things to try and cook on it; cookies, biscuits, granola bars, potatoes, fruit, some type of pasta situations…. the list of possibilities is endless and I bet that at least 1/2 of these things will be totally awesome and amazing.

But first thing first. I need to make dinner.

So waffles for dinner!! 

Note. These waffles are completely 100% fantastic for any meal you want to make them for. They consist of nothing more then beans, a shit ton of veggies, and just a bit of cornmeal. But don’t let that fool you because they are super packed full of so much flavor, have a really soft tender inside, with a nice crispy outside and are so super pretty. They are wonderful! The stuff. First, we got a big old pile of shredded up veggies which include; carrot, beet, sweet potato, onion, parsnip, celeriac, and a little bit of kale.  A we got a bowl of rinsed and strained white beans, a little bit of cornmeal and salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 

The makings of something amazing!Before you do anything. get your waffle iron out and preheat it. 

While thats going on, take you beans,  add 3/4 cup water and puree until smooth with whatever blending device want to like to use. (I used my hand blender…less to clean)Now collect all the shredded veggies and dump into a big bowl with the bean puree, the spices and the cornmeal. Mix until combined. The batter should be thick, but not dry. If its seems to wet, add more corn meal, or too dry, add a little more water.

Note how my batter turned a magical pink… I love beets, they make everything pretty! And check out that bowl!When your waffle iron is preheated, oil it if needed (if your not sure, add a little oil just to really make sure your waffles don’t stick) and take appropriate size spoonfuls of the batter and stick on iron. Close it and wait…..My iron has a little light that turns on when the waffles are done cooking, so I waited patiently (ok iI did open it a few time) until light tuned on and removed the perfectly cooked waffles.

Did I mention how awesome my new/old vintage iron is?

SO AWESOME!!

I made a little gaucamole and gave the mister and little bowl of plain Greek yogurt with lemon juice, but feel free to top, drizzle, or dump whatever you want onto these beauties… 

Happy waffle Wednesday!!!

-C

Veggie Bean Wonder Waffles

Makes 8-10 waffles (in my iron) feeds 2-3 peeps

• 1 small carrot shredded
• 1 small parsnip shredded
• 1/2 a small celeriac root
• 1 small beet shredded
• 2 kale leaves chopped into tiny bits
• 1/2 an onion, shredded
• 1/2 a small sweet potato shredded
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups(or 1 can) cooked, rinsed and strained white beans
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• teaspoon each salt and pepper
• oil for iron(if needed)

Note on veggies… I used what I had in the fridge and shredded, it came to about 3 cups. If you don’t have these specific veggies or only want to use a few.. go for it. Just make sure to have 3 cups of whatever veggies you use.

Take you beans and blend them up with whatever device you would like to use. Once creamy, add to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Stir until combined.

Once the waffle iron is preheated, oil it( if needed) and place the recommended amount of batter right on it there. Close and cook until golden brown and waffly.

Serve on a plate with topping of your choice, A few suggestions.. Guacamole, salsa, hummus, mustard, greek yogurt… anything that tastes good to you.

Eat as breakfast, lunch or dinner…

Fork into face

      I figured now is a good time to get this recipe out there before we get to far into spring and summer recipes because there is going to be a lot of banana ice cream filled recipe coming and I figured its a good idea to have the basic banana ice cream recipe ready for people to refer too.  And because I made so much fantastic naner ice cream, I also made a cookies and cream naner ice cream for my sisters and the mister.

Comments that I got from my sisters and the mister when I made them this ice cream

-Sister one.”I give this my sister seal of approval.. It’s so good.  The first dessert you have made that I liked! (not including all the other desserts that you have made that I liked)”

-Sister two- “Wow.. it looks like ice cream and feels like ice cream and tastes like ice cream.. You should make me this ice cream!” (I was confused too because I was pretty sure I just made her some)

-The mister- “I am so excited for my new fly fishing pole!”

Ok, so the naner ice cream isn’t new to the mister and he IS very much excited for his new fly fish pole. So excited that he forgot to tell me how amazing that I am and to thank me for making him a big bowl of yumminess. (It’s ok, I forgive him)

And yes, this is probably one of the easiest, most delicious, healthy and amazing frozen dessert that you will ever eat. You will probably find yourself buying mass amounts of bananas and stocking the freezer until things just start falling out. (which is also ok because it’s only bananas and you can’t have too many frozen bananas)

   The stuff you need for this ice cream…. Nice and ripe bananas, peeled and then frozen* That’s it.

To make it, place frozen bananas into food processor and hit the on button. Process the crap out of the namers until nice and silky smooth. 

*Note, the smaller the frozen chunks are , the faster and maybe a little easier for the blender to blend the naners into ice cream. So if you think of it, chop bananas into pieces before freezing or even after.

After all blended and smooth, either eat right away or scoop ice cream into a freezer safe container and stick in freezer. That’s the banana ice cream…  And it is amazing and so so so so so addictive. I make a batch, think I am only going to eat a scoop, then find myself eating half of what I have made, but it’s ok cause it’s only bananas. 

Now for the cookies and cream banana ice cream..One batch of banana ice cream, either freshly made, still in food processor or made ahead and placed in a food processor and given a good pulse to smooth it up.

Add cookies in, crushing a bit beforehand and pulse till combined. Now you have cookies and cream naner ice cream…. and everybody is happy.

Scoop into a cup, a bowl, a freezer safe container, or directly into your mouth. Be careful…. You can still get brain freeze from eating naner ice cream too fast!

Keep it real hump day drum bum!

-C

Basic Banana Ice Cream

Makes one batch. Good for 3-4 servings

• 4-5  ripe bananas peeled and frozen

Peel  bananas and stick in a freezer bag or container and freeze. When bananas are completely frozen, break into pieces and stick into a food processor or blender and puree until silky smooth. 

Eat right away or scoop into a freezer safe container for later.

Cookies and Cream Banana Ice Cream

• 1 batch banana ice cream
• 5-10 (depending on your cookie need) cream filled cookies like oreos or Trader Joe’s Joe Joe’s (These are gluten free)

In a food processor, blend banana ice cream with cookies.

Eat right away, with a utensil of choice in a container of choice.

Bowl licking is acceptable. 

Before we left for the weekend, I was was trying my hardest to empty the fridge out of all food with the intention of leaning it empty so I could leave it open to defrost while were were gone. Unfortunately I was not able to make it happen. What I did make happen was emptying it almost completely so that when we got home, we had pretty much no food in the house, except for a few things that probably should be eaten.  Plus one of the last things that I want to do after sitting in a car for 6 hours is go to the grocery store, or anywhere for that matter, so I was determined to make with what wet had in the fridge:

• Carrots
• half of a gigantic kohlrabi
• soy milk
• iced tea
• bananas that needed to be frozen
• strawberries

Perfect!  A few carrots and half of a gigantic kohlrabi.. plus at the hotel we were staying at, there were fruit bowls in he lobby full apples. Every time I went past the apples (which was a lot) I grab one or two, so I have a few apples (I actually have a lot of apples now). All the things I need for a super awesome salad slaw. Apples with their  nice sweet crispiness and kohlrabi with its cabbagey, crunchy earthiness, tossed together with some vinegar, some toasted walnuts and some carrots, I mean, so freaking good. And to make it a bit more of a meal, I made some lentils to go with it. But the best part was there was no need to leave the house!!

     The stuff… A huge hunk of a bigger then my head kohlrabi (or 2 normal bulbs). A carrot, an apple, toasted walnuts, red wine vinegar, and some salt.

Pretty simple stuff going on here. Just peel and julienne the kohlrabi, carrot and apple. (no need to peel the carrot or apple unless you want too) and stick it all into a bowl.  I used my mandolin, which is one of my favorite kitchen tools ever, but if you don’t have one, a box grater works too.Sprinkle with salt and a good glug glug of red wine vinegar. Chop up the walnuts (some big chunks and some very small pieces makes for good eating), toss it all together and, well that’s it. But wait…. let it sit for a few minutes before serving to really let the flavors draw out.And there we have it. Super fast, full of flavors and crunchy texture. A salad slaw after my own heart.

Serve it as it or add to a bed of greens, rice, or lentils… and make sure to save at least as little… cause its an awesome little pre-bed snack.

Happy Week!!

-C

Kohlrabi Apple Walnut Slaw

• 2 medium sized Kohlrabis 
• 1 medium apple   
• 1 small carrot
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
• red wine vinegar
• salt

In a large bowl, julienne kohlrabi (after peeled) apple and carrot. Sprinkle with salt, add in vinegar. Rough chop walnuts and toss the whole bit together. Let sit for at least 10 minutes, if not longer before serving. (A great salad to make ahead of time)

Eat as is, or toss onto a bed of greens, plate of rice or a bowl of lentils.

Any left overs only end up tasting better the next day.

Last night I had my sister and her kiddos come over for dinner. Nothing fancy, nothing to complicated,  just something  fast and something that I knew the littles would eat.  Spaghetti and meatballs, except replace meatballs were bean balls So they came, we played, did a little drawing and had a bit of first grad gossip. Then came  dinner time  when I was told by one little that she was not going to eat.. She had pasta for lunch. Well I made her sit anyway and she mainly just ate carrots (I was ok with that) Then the other little was all into his pasta and bean balls, 1 down, 3 more to go, when the mister let slip that the meatballs were not really meat. He ate around the remaining balls, said he didn’t want them anymore. And my sister, well she doesn’t eat anything that is not pizza.

Good thing a neighbor stopped by while we were eating. He had a few of the balls and told me that they were amazing. I needed someone to tell me that.  

So yeah, the littles were not overly enthused with the ball, but the Mister the Neighbor, and I thought that they were awesome and delicious. Maybe next time I will make sure that  pasta was not lunch and tell Nick to keep his mouth shut and stop talking about balls at the dinner table.

I feel like I don’t need to tell you how to boil pasta or heat up the sauce, so I left that portion of the recipe out. I have faith that you are capable in doing that part without my instruction.

The bean ball stuff. Chickpeas (soaked and cooked or canned), sweet potato, carrot, onion, and some chick pea flour. Dried garlic, basil and oregano. Salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil. Small chop all the veggies and toss them and the dry spices into a skillet with a drizzle or two of olive oil. Stick on medium  heat and add about 1/4 cup of water to pan. Top with  slid and let veggies cook down until soft and fragrant.

Add the cooked veggies to a food processor or blender with  the rinsed and drained chickpeas. The mixture gets pulsed until combined,  keeping a little bit of chunkiness.  Now go warhead and taste  the mixture. Add another pinch or two of salt , pepper or any of the spices that you think it need.  Dump the mixture into a bowl and mix in the chickpea flour than stink the mixture into the fridge for a least a 1/2 hour. Cooling to off is really important to forming the balls. If you don’t, it’s much harder to keep mixture from falling apart and sticking to your hands.

After the mixture has had time to cool and set, start rolling the mixture into balls roughly the size of ping pong balls. In a shallow bowl, add a few tablespoons of the chickpea flour with a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Take each ball and roll in flour and place each ball on a well oiled baking sheet. When the balls are all rolled, stick into the oven and bake away for about 30-40 minutes, flipping balls after about 20.  After you flip the balls, get the pasta ready so its finished about the same time the balls are done.You pasta and sauce is cooked and the balls are all crispy and oh so nice.

Serve balls over pasta with sauce and eat with a fork.

Your day is now complete.. balls and all.

Happy Weekend!

-C

Spaghetti and Bean Balls

makes about 20 balls

• 4 Cups (or 2 cans) Cooked, Rinsed and Drained ChickPeas
• 1 Small Sweet Potato
• 1 Small Onion
• 1 Carrot
• 1/4 Cup Chickpea Flour plus extra to roll balls in
• 1 Heaping Teaspoon Basil
• 1 Heaping Teaspoon Oregano
• 1 Heaping Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Olive or Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Your choice of Spaghetti (Use Vegan and or Gluten Free if needed)  Prepared as package recommends
• Marinara or Pasta Sauce of your choice

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees

Small dice the carrot, onion and sweet potato and toss into a skillet on medium high heat with a splash of oil. Add in the dry spices and add in about a quarter cup of water. stir and cover the skillet with a lid and let the veggies cook down until the water has evaporated and the veggies are tender. 

Add rinsed and drained chickpeas to a food processor with the cooked veggie mixture. Pulse together until the mixture is combined and slightly smooth, but still with a little bit of texture left.Place bean mixture in a bowl  and mix in the 1/4 cup of chickpea flour. and stick in the fridge for a least a 1/2 hour to cool. (Mixture can be made a day ahead if you want)

Once the mixture has time to cool and set up , remove from fridge and with a light head, roll mixture into ping-pong sized balls. In a separate shallow dish add a bit of chickpea flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Roll each ball in the flour mixture and place balls on a well oiled baking sheet. Once balls ae made, stick into the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes, flipping after about 20 minutes. The balls are done when the outsides are once and golden brown and crispy. After about 30 minutes, get to cooking your pasta and mariana sauce.

Once the pasta and sauce is done, plate it and toss on some of those awesome bean balls!

Bean balls also make fantastic bean ball sandwiches or bean balls on a toothpick. 

       TGIF!!!! For reals, because Monday-Thurday were monster days. And now that its friday, I can dig a hole and hide in it until it’s at least 30 degrees with some sunshine. (I might never get to come out.)

A few things I will bring in my hole:

• food (lots of food and coffee, lots of coffee)
• a soft blanket and pillow
• a few books, preferably with pictures, on farming and gardening (think spring!)
• the entire series of the Fresh Prince of Bel-air and a device to watch it on
• toothpaste (I can use my finger to brush my teeth)

But before I leave for my hole in the ground, I made these little cake bites to get my people through the weekend. Sweet little lemony bites of rich dense cake dipped into bittersweet chocolate. (I am just so nice)  They have all the pleasure or cake without the need of a fork and are much easier to give away then a big slice of cake. Plus, they are fun to make. My little sister helped and did most of the chocolate dipping. Then she and another little used their mouths to clean up the chocolate mess. It was an afternoon of chocolate all over the kitchen fun day. 

So make some bites to have and to share. Or if you, like me, are digging a hole to hide in, make a batch of bites to bring with you. That’s the beauty of cake covered in a harden chocolate shell, they travel really well.Simple lemon cake stuff. Flour, baking powder and salt whisked together, Sugar and soft butter in a bowl. An egg, some vanilla, milk, and of course, the lemon. 

To make the batter, cream the soften butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Zest lemon(1 big or 2 small) into bowl with the juice of the lemon(s), the vanilla and the egg. Beat until combined. Now beat in the dry and then the milk. Keep beating for another minute until all mixed. Batter should be light and fluffy.

Batter goes into a greased and floured  9×13 baking sheet and stuck into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes (You can use a 9×9 baking pan. Just bake fir another 10 minutes and you will end up with thicker bites). Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes and flip to remove cake from baking sheet. Cut cake into small pieces (I cut 4×6   to get 24 bites) and place bake into sheet and into freezer (I stuck mine outside, it was -2 degrees ) for at least 2 hours. 

Frozen bites ready for the chocolate coating… Bittersweet chocolate chips and a little bit of coconut oil. Melted together all nice and shiny smooth.Now dip and slather those bites in the melted chocolate. 

Oh what a lovely sister I have.. Look at her dunk….. like a boss!Fully coated and placed on a rack for the chocolate to harden. I  ended up sticking the rack in the freezer for 10 minutes…They harder really fast in there.

And now you have some it, bites of cake covered in chocolate. 1 bite, 2 bites…5 bites. Eat however many you want because its Friday and because there small little bites and just because you can.

Now if you need me, I’ll be in my hole. 

-C

Chocolate Lemon Cake Bite

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup  white sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large or 2 small lemons
• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

Add butter  and sugar to a large bowl and beat on medium unit light and fluffy. Ass in vanilla egg, the zest of the lemon and the juice of the lemon. Beat to incorporate. Now beat in the dry and lastly the milk.

Grease and flour either a 9×9 pan or a 9×13 baking sheet. dump batter in and smooth out.  Stick in oven and bake for about 3o minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. Remove and let cool  for a few minutes on a  wire rack. Flip cake to remove from pan. Cut cake into bit sized pieces, 4×6 is a good size, and place back on baking sheet and stick into freezer for at least 2 hours.

When cake bites are as good as frozen, get the chocolate ready. Take the chocolate and the coconut oil and either melt in a double boiler or the microwave. Mix until smooth and make sure to full incorporate the oil. Now remove the cake bites from the freezer and dip each bite into chocolate, trying to full coat all sides. Stick onto a wire rack or a parchment lined pan to harden. They can be stuck back into the freezer to harden faster.

Once chocolate has harden, your good to go!

This weekend I made a stand of paper hearts that live all around the house. An early Valentines for my mister. We don’t do fancy dinners,  store bought cards or gifts….. Handmade and pretty is what we do.

These hearts hang from the ceiling and toss pretty heart shadows on the walls…..and make both of us smile. 

  The making of stringed paper hearts is so very simple. What you need is..

• One or more different colors of card stock paper
• scissors
• A sewing machine with thread..(can be hand sewn for sure)

To start, cut out a bunch of hearts, as many as you want. You can free form cut them (that’s what I did) or you can either make a template and rouse  a cookie cutter or something and trace, if you want perfect uniform hearts. 

Decide on a color pattern (I did red, pink, white, brown, repeat) or random is nice too.

Start sewing the hearts. (I used a scrap to get started..and use the scrap piece for tacking to the ceiling). You can either sew hearts close together or leave an inch or two in between each. One trick I have learned when sewing strands of paper is to give a little tension to the strand as you are sewing…it helps keep the machine from jamming up.

You are done when all the hearts are sewn… And hang them up or, if you want to save them for a surprise for Valentines day, wrap strand around a piece of cardboard.  Leave up for a day, for a week, or like us, all year long.

Hearts everywhere…so simple, so pretty, so much love!

-C

I was informed yesterday that if I was going to make tortilla chips, that I better make some sweet ass dips to go with them.  I kind of agree… tortilla chips need dip… or better yet, two dips. Queso and guacamole. It’s what needed to be done, and so I did it.

Guacamole is amazing… anything avocado is amazing…this guacamole is amazing. White bean guacamole is amazing. And not that we really care, but this guac is half the fat then straight up guacamole.  Plus it’s packed full of protein making it a kind of super duper, must eat all of it, kind of dip.  And sweet potato anything will make me happy.  Making queso dip with sweet potato and cauliflower is probably one of my best food combos so far. (after eating a butt load, I felt like I was a genius and made an amazing discovery) Again, not that we need it to be, but this is also a fat-free, vegan, gluten-free, super healthy, packed full of B12,  fiber and nutrients, dip for all kind of dip.…. just another reason why you cannot feel bad when you finish off half a batch before you get a chance to stick it in a serving bowl. (I might have done that)

 Here is what you need for a good time:

−These tortilla chips ….Check.

−Some  Chopped Veggies (I want the veggies)…..Check

−Cauliflower Sweet Potato Queso.…Check.

−White Bean Guacamole…Check. 

You are now ready for it. It being this party, that party, the Super Bowl, or a Wednesday afternoon.  

To the left we have the makings for the cauliflower sweet potato queso.. Steamed cauliflower, a baked sweet potato, nutritional yeast, garlic, and chopped up red onion, red bell pepper and jalapeño. To make all you need to do it take the chopped peppers, onion, and garlic and sauté for a few minutes just to slightly soften and bring out flavors. While that’s going on, take the steamed cauliflower and sweet potato(skin off..but eat it, or save it for soup or feed it to the dog) and puree together with a blender or food processor. Add in nutritional yeast, about a tablespoon or two of hot water and, salt and pepper to taste. Blend for about 5 minutes until super creamy smooth. Add in sautéed stuff and pulse just enough to incorporated the veggies but not complete blend in.  Stick in a bowl.

To the right we have white bean guacamole stuff.  Two cups (or one can) rinsed white beans, one ripe avocado, a lime, a few cloves of garlic,(I also added a bit of garlic powered…I like my garlic) and some chopped up red onion and tomato.  Place beans, garlic, avocado and lime juice in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste and toss in the chopped tomato and onion. Blend for sec to mix that in…Stick in a bowl 

Perfect…

To think that both of these dips took about 10 minutes total to make. (I had pre baked the cauliflower and sweet potato)  And for real, I would spend much more time if I had too because both of these dips are so freaking good, I definitely will be making these on the regular.

So there , dips for those sweet ass chips or whatever you want to dip or them spread them on. 

And he guys…It’s FRIDAY! Have a fantastic day!

-C

White Bean Guacamole 

• 2 cups white beans (or 1 can) rinsed and drained
• 1 ripe avocado
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lime
• 1/4  small red onion
• 1 small tomato
• 1-2 teaspoons salt

Finley chop onion and tomato. Set aside. Place the beans, avocado, garlic, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt and the juice from one lime into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add a splash of water if needed to help keep things moving. Taste and add more salt if needed. When smooth, add  the onion and tomato and pulse a few times to mix in. Scoop into a serving dish and finish with a squeeze of lime and a bit of chopped onion and tomato. 

Cauliflower Sweet Potato Queso

• 1 1/2 cups pre cooked steamed or roasted cauliflower
• 1 medium pre baked sweet potato
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1-2 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 a small red pepper
• 1/4 small red onion
• 1 jalapeño
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper

Finely dice the red pepper, jalapeño, onion and garlic and sauté in a skillet for a few minutes until slightly soften and fragrant. Take the pre-cooked cauliflower, sweet potato (skin removed), and nutritional yeast and place in a blender or food processor. Blend for about 5 minutes until creamy and smooth. Add in a tablespoon  of water  to keep things moving. When completely smooth, add in sautéed veggies and pulse a few times to combine. Scoop into a serving dish. If your feeling it,  top with scallions and cracked pepper.

Serve dips with chips, veggies or anything you want. Also make great spreads for sandwiches and crackers too!

Yes Please. Thank you very much. Sweet Potato custard (I don’t  know what else to call it) topped with coconut. My taste buds have found themselves in heaven. I have found myself sticking my butt out of the fridge with spoon in hand. Hey there, like what you see?

Now that thanksgiving is over you might be thinking.. oh we can’t or, no we shouldn’t or, that it’s too much work. Well you can, you should, and it’s not. This custardy crustless pie is nothing short of awesome and is super easy to make. All you really have to do is puree and mix a few ingredients together and bake it. The obstacle here is trying not eat it all in one sitting, But you know what. that would be ok..You eat this and it tastes so good and you feel like you have used your days worth of guilt on dessert but guess what, you didn’t. This pie  is actually pretty darn healthy, even maybe good for you.  There is no sugar, no gluten, no dairy, no crap. Hardy sweet potatoes  and sweet little dates with so many vitamins, chai and coconut for protein and health fat and cinnamon, which is good for everything.  I mean, AMAZING  Now you can have dessert and  save your guilt for say,  buying a new sweater when you really don’t need it or for canceling your dentist appointment because, let’s be honest, you really just don’t feel like going( Its ok, I rescheduled for next week). See, you must make this. Pie, sweater and no dentist…It’s a winner.

Custard ingredients. A whole lot of not much. Sweet potatoes are the star here. A few dates, chia seeds, and a bit of cinnamon spice. That’s  it. Oh yes, this desert is 100% way acceptable for breakfast and comes with absolutely 0% quilt. Its magic.

If you have left over sweet potato, this is your chance to use them up, but if not, 3 sweet potatoes, stuck in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until they are fork tender.

      While the potatoes are baking, chia seeds go into water to soak.. I remember the first time I used chia seeds and they turned into gel, I thought something was very wrong.  They are suppose to turn gloppy, so if your concerned, don’t be. Now take your dates..MAKE SURE TO REMOVE PIT!!!..and stick in some warm water, just enough to cover. If you are familiar with dates and use them often, you might already have date paste on hand…just use that. otherwise. we are going to turn these dates into a paste by simply letting them sit in a bit of water to soften and then pureeing.. It’s a really simple process that you can do every time you use date paste in a recipe, but my suggestion is to make a big batch and save the rest. It will turn into a new thing for you. You will want to eat it by the spoon full and then some. It’s that good..

The potatoes are done and cooling… now is a good time to puree dates. The consistency doesn’t have to be silky smooth, but it doesn’t hurt to get close. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove skin( eat the skin) and stick into either a large bowl  if you’re using a handle blender or emulsifier, or into the food processor.  Puree those sweet roots of deliciousness, adding a splash of water or two if they need help whipping up.  Add the chia seeds, the date paste, and spices….mix and POW!!. Go ahead, you must eat a bite….or two. Satisfied for now? Stick it into the fridge. Refrigerating for a bit to even over night makes the custard set up a smidge better, but you really don’t need to refrigerate. To be honest,, you don’t need to bake this either, just eat it like pudding(which is what I have been doing too) But you really want to bake it. Just stick the bowl in the fridge.

Now to make this custard even more awesome, we are going to add a little coconut topping. Here we have coconut flour, unsweetened coconut flakes, a little scoop of the custard filling  and a little coconut oil

Mixed together for a bit of a crumble… and yea.

The custard is make.. The topping is ready. Take a pie plate and light oil with the coconut oil and dust with a bit of coconut flour. Transfer the sweet potato puree into plate and top with coconut topping.  Move to oven and bake at 375 degrees for about half hour to 40 minutes…checking every now and then to make sure that coconut isn’t burning. Remove when top is golden brown

And one more thing, add a scoop of whipped coconut cream which I forget to photograph. All  I did was whip a can of cold coconut cream with a tiny bit of vanilla.  SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!

There you have it, the best, easiest, healthy,  crustless custardy pie that ever was or will be.

  Sweet Potato Coconut Crustless Pie

Ingredients

Custard

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 3-4 dates pureed. Raserve a teapoon for topping
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 6 tablespoons water
• 3 teaspoons Vietnamese cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• sprinkle of salt

Coconut topping

• 1/4 cup of coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
•  1 tablespoon prepared custard filling
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes

• Whipped coconut cream… I bought a can of Trader Joes coconut cream, stuck in fridge for the day, and just opened the can, scooped the hardened cream into a bowl and whipped it up. I did add a tiny splash of vanilla, but that’s it…And oh man it is sooooo sooooo good.

Place sweet potatoes in oven at 400 degrees and bake for 40 minutes or until fork tender.

While the potatoes are baking, place chia seeds in 6 tablespoons of water to soak. Place dates into just enough  warm water to cover. REMOVE THE PIT! Let chia seeds and date soak while potatoes are cooking. When the potatoes are out of the oven cooling, take dates and either place in food processor or emulsify until smooth.

After potatoes are cooked and cool enough to handle, remove  skin and place flesh in bowl or food processor and puree, adding a small amount of water if needed to keep it moving. Mix in date paste, chia seeds and spices. Refrigerate for 1 hour to overnight.

For coconut topping, place all ingredients into a bowl and crumble together.

Grease a 9 inch pie plate with coconut oil and dust with coconut flour. Scoop custard into plate and coat with coconut topping. Place in oven at 375 degrees for half hut to 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

Remove  and let cool. Top with coconut whipped cream and eat all to your face.. Maybe saving a little for breakfast or even sharing with someone you love.

My contribution to last nights dinner at my sisters…. Freshy fresh veggies spring rolls.I had about 30 minutes between work and getting over to my sisters house to throw something together so it needed to be something fast, easy, and something I could make without going to the store. She was making the main course (some teriyaki situation and rice) so I was doing up the veggies.

I had just bought a package of spring roll wrappers…. Bingo! The perfect and logical choice. I grab the wrappers, a variety of veggies and after spending 12 of my 30 minutes trying to scrub the oil based paint off of my face and hands, I still managed to completely prepare, construct, and take pictures of these lovely tasty spring rolls. and get over to my sisters in time for dinner.

Impressed?  

Damn right!

The stuff. Carrot, beet, asparagus, red cabbage, and kohlrabi, which all (except asparagus, which I just cut into thirds) got cut into matchstick sized pieces with my mandoiln. Then there are the rice spring roll wrappers that we need to make the veggies into rolls. Also a bit of red wine vinegar to drizzle onto the veggies for a little extra zing. And lastly, soy, fresh ginger, and a couple cloves of garlic for a spicy salty dipping sauce.Start by having everything set out and ready to assemble. Fill a large shallow dish or baking sheet with really warm water. Working with one at a time,place a rice wrapper into water and let sit for about 10 seconds or until the paper starts to soften. Remove from water and place on a damp surface (just splash a little water on the counter) Take a little bit of everything and and place on the lower middle part of the paper. Fold in the sides first, then tuck and roll the wrapper as tightly as you can without ripping the wrapper.

Repeat until you have used up all you veggies.For the dipping sauce. Finely grate ginger and garlic and add to soy sauce. Stir… and it’s done.Freshy, pretty and fantastically delicious. And for real, took about 8 minutes to make. (I even had enough time to wash the dishes before we left!)

I am so awesome!

Hump Day Pow!!!!!

-C

Fresh Veggies Spring Rolls 

Makes 8-10 but can easily be increased or decreased to desired amount 

• 8-1o rice spring roll papers
• Splash of Red wine or rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy or tamari sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic
• teaspoon  freshly grated ginger
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium beet
• 1/4 head of purple cabbage
• 10 thin fresh asparagus
• 1 small kohlrabi

Note… I used the veggies that I had in the fridge at the moment. If you have a bunch of veggies but not these particular ones, use what you have. Pretty much all veggies taste good inside a spring roll!

Gather your veggies and prep by either using a mandolin, a grater, or some sick knife skills, and julienne, shred, or slice you veggies into thin match sticks. Once all the veggies are prepared, sprinkle a little vinegar over the top.

For the rolls…Grab a large shallow vessel  (a rimmed baking sheet works great) and add in warm water. Working  one at a time, place the wrapper into the water for about 10 seconds or until the wrapper starts to soften. Remove and spread onto a clean, damp work surface. Gather a bit of each veggie that you are adding and place towards the bottom  middle of the wrapper. Now fold the sides in over the pile of veggies. Then with the side closest to you, tuck and roll wrapper away from you, trying to keep it tight, but not to tight that it rips.. (Hopefully that makes since.) Place finished rolls onto a damp surface to keep from sticking and if not serving right away, drape with  a damp towel or paper towel to keep from drying out.

For the soy ginger dipping sauce. Add grated ginger,  minced garlic, and soy into a bowl and mix together.  Serve with spring rolls. 

Eat one, two, or a plateful. It’s nice to share but not a necessity.

I am such a sucker for the reduced price produce at the grocery store. I save at least half of the original price for stuff that might look a little weird or have a brown spot or something. Sometimes I can’t believe what ends up on in the bin, stuff that I wouldn’t consider reduced bin material, but hey, if they want to stick it in there, then I will be more than happy to buy it. A couple days ago I found some good looking roma tomatoes in that said reduced produce bin..the skins the tiniest bit wrinkled (like I could care less), least hen 50 cents a pound. Um, yea, I bought those and put them to good use. 

Tomatoes roasted until they fell apart with a few other chunks of stuff, then piled onto a base of spinach and couscous.  This meal cost me pennies and was stupid easy and fast to make. And pretty to boot. Perfect for a quick healthy meal on a busy day or maybe for those people looking for a tasty, not too completed dinner to make for  a special someone for Valentines day? Or make just for yourself…its pretty much the perfectly dish. Anyone can get into it. And if you don’t happen to have a grocery store with a reduced produce bin full of tomatoes…it’s cool, you’ll just have to pay full price for the perfect ones.

    So simple. A little olive oil in pan. Chunk the tomatoes and throw in pan with the chopped onion, carrot, cauliflower, garlic and chick peas. Drizzle a bit more oil and top with salt and pepper. Give it all a toss and stick into oven. That’s that. Just leave it in there until everything is so nice and soft and falling apart.

One of the best things about couscous is that you don’t even need to dirty a pot or a bowl to make it,  just add dried couscous to the bowl you are going to eat out of with a cup of boiling water and a pinch of salt.  (I added the spinach with the water too) After about 8 minutes, the couscous absorbs all the water and you just fluff it up with a fork. Easy, freaking Peasy!!! Out of the oven and piled on…..

I mean, if this isn’t one classy looking meal, then I don’t know what is.

Sprinkle with a little parmesan or nutritional yeast if you want and step back and admire. And now eat it to you face.

And barely any dishes to wash. No big mess to clean up.  I could get used to that. 

-C 

Chunky Tomato and Stuff Couscous

Ingredients                 

Serves 2

• 3/4 cup Couscous
• 1 cup boiling water
• Handful of chopped spinach
• 4-5 roma tomatoes chopped
• 1 medium carrot diced
• Half of an onion diced
• Cup or so of cauliflower (fresh or frozen)
• Cup of prepared chick peas
• 4 or 5 cloves garlic minced
• Olive oil to drizzle
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400

Place onion, carrot, cauliflower,tomatoes, chick peas and garlic into a large skillet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and give everything a light toss. Stick into oven for 35-40 minutes until tomatoes are falling apart and everything is nice and roasted.

In a medium bowl, (or serving bowl) add cup of boiling water to dry couscous and spinach. Sprinkle with salt and cover. Let sit for at about 8 minutes, or until the couscous had fully absorbed all the water. Fluff with a fork and top with roasted tomato stuff.

Top with parmesan or nutritional yeast if you are into it.

Enjoy!

I was informed yesterday that if I was going to make tortilla chips, that I better make some sweet ass dips to go with them.  I kind of agree… tortilla chips need dip… or better yet, two dips. Queso and guacamole. It’s what needed to be done, and so I did it.

Guacamole is amazing… anything avocado is amazing…this guacamole is amazing. White bean guacamole is amazing. And not that we really care, but this guac is half the fat then straight up guacamole.  Plus it’s packed full of protein making it a kind of super duper, must eat all of it, kind of dip.  And sweet potato anything will make me happy.  Making queso dip with sweet potato and cauliflower is probably one of my best food combos so far. (after eating a butt load, I felt like I was a genius and made an amazing discovery) Again, not that we need it to be, but this is also a fat-free, vegan, gluten-free, super healthy, packed full of B12,  fiber and nutrients, dip for all kind of dip.…. just another reason why you cannot feel bad when you finish off half a batch before you get a chance to stick it in a serving bowl. (I might have done that)

 Here is what you need for a good time:

−These tortilla chips ….Check.

−Some  Chopped Veggies (I want the veggies)…..Check

−Cauliflower Sweet Potato Queso.…Check.

−White Bean Guacamole…Check. 

You are now ready for it. It being this party, that party, the Super Bowl, or a Wednesday afternoon.  

To the left we have the makings for the cauliflower sweet potato queso.. Steamed cauliflower, a baked sweet potato, nutritional yeast, garlic, and chopped up red onion, red bell pepper and jalapeño. To make all you need to do it take the chopped peppers, onion, and garlic and sauté for a few minutes just to slightly soften and bring out flavors. While that’s going on, take the steamed cauliflower and sweet potato(skin off..but eat it, or save it for soup or feed it to the dog) and puree together with a blender or food processor. Add in nutritional yeast, about a tablespoon or two of hot water and, salt and pepper to taste. Blend for about 5 minutes until super creamy smooth. Add in sautéed stuff and pulse just enough to incorporated the veggies but not complete blend in.  Stick in a bowl.

To the right we have white bean guacamole stuff.  Two cups (or one can) rinsed white beans, one ripe avocado, a lime, a few cloves of garlic,(I also added a bit of garlic powered…I like my garlic) and some chopped up red onion and tomato.  Place beans, garlic, avocado and lime juice in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste and toss in the chopped tomato and onion. Blend for sec to mix that in…Stick in a bowl 

Perfect…

To think that both of these dips took about 10 minutes total to make. (I had pre baked the cauliflower and sweet potato)  And for real, I would spend much more time if I had too because both of these dips are so freaking good, I definitely will be making these on the regular.

So there , dips for those sweet ass chips or whatever you want to dip or them spread them on. 

And he guys…It’s FRIDAY! Have a fantastic day!

-C

White Bean Guacamole 

• 2 cups white beans (or 1 can) rinsed and drained
• 1 ripe avocado
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lime
• 1/4  small red onion
• 1 small tomato
• 1-2 teaspoons salt

Finley chop onion and tomato. Set aside. Place the beans, avocado, garlic, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt and the juice from one lime into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add a splash of water if needed to help keep things moving. Taste and add more salt if needed. When smooth, add  the onion and tomato and pulse a few times to mix in. Scoop into a serving dish and finish with a squeeze of lime and a bit of chopped onion and tomato. 

Cauliflower Sweet Potato Queso

• 1 1/2 cups pre cooked steamed or roasted cauliflower
• 1 medium pre baked sweet potato
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1-2 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 a small red pepper
• 1/4 small red onion
• 1 jalapeño
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper

Finely dice the red pepper, jalapeño, onion and garlic and sauté in a skillet for a few minutes until slightly soften and fragrant. Take the pre-cooked cauliflower, sweet potato (skin removed), and nutritional yeast and place in a blender or food processor. Blend for about 5 minutes until creamy and smooth. Add in a tablespoon  of water  to keep things moving. When completely smooth, add in sautéed veggies and pulse a few times to combine. Scoop into a serving dish. If your feeling it,  top with scallions and cracked pepper.

Serve dips with chips, veggies or anything you want. Also make great spreads for sandwiches and crackers too!

This year for Christmas my family decided to do a mid day brunch lunch thing. Everyone has their own little families that they do the morning with and then everyone goes their own ways that nigh(Nick and I do our own Christmas celebrating at night)…That leaves a chunk of mid day to hang, talk, play, exchange stockings and then usually someone gets a little pissed and yup, time to go. Its totally cool, we see each other too much anyway. So food wise, it was pretty basic. Eggs, hash browns, a ham, fruit and bagels… The hash browns were store bought, Me and nick did the eggs frittata style and the ham was just stuck in the oven….Not much to do. But then one of my lovely sisters requested gravy…..and so it was made. And a basic brunch was turned into a gravy laden food feast. And so you know, I am not a huge gravy fan, or I never really have the opportunity to eat gravy, its just not in my food rotation..until now. I was really impressed with myself on this one.

We have white mushrooms, kale, red onion, garlic, soy, nutritional yeast(if you don’t have, no worries, you can get away with not using it), sage and thyme and corn starch…

Dice up onion, mushroom and garlic… Into a pan on medium heat with a bit of olive oil…just to soften up

Toss in the spices, nutritional yeast and the soy sauce and let meld together for a minute or 3

Add 2 1/4  water and whisk in a tablespoon of  corn starch….and let it simmer

 Once the gravy gets to that super nice consistency…add in finely chopped kale and let gravy simmer for another 5 minutes or so

Transfer to a nice bowl or gravy boat, stick a ladle or big spoon and get to graying up all your food!!!!!

Everyone was to busy eating for me to get a good picture of the gravy on food, but trust….it was all over everything!

Mushroom Kale Gravy

Ingredients

• 7-8 white or cremini  mushrooms
• 1/2 small red onion
• 2 kale leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy or tamari
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon nurtitional yeast
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 1/4 cups water
• tablespoon corn starch

Dice onion into small bits, slice mushrooms nice and thin and dice garlic into wee little pieces.. Toss into a skillet with a bit of olive oil on medium heat and let mixture soften and smell nice and fragrant. Toss in the dried herbs, nutritional yeast and soy sauce and let cook for another few minutes until the mixture sucks up all the soy sauce and the veggies start to brown.

Add in the water and whisk in the corn starch. Turn heat to low and let simmer until gravy starts to thicken. Finely chop the kale and toss into gravy when its about done.. Simmer for another 5 or so minutes or until you can’t wait any longer….Serve straight from the pan or transfer to a gravy holding device,. Pour gravy on everything!

YUM YUM YUM ENJOY!!!!

I probabaly have already told you, but August is for sure my favorite month of the year (well,one of my favorites)

There is bounties of bounties of fresh, sweet and colorful, oh so juicy, crispy crisp, just so f ing  amazing, produce exploding all over the place. I have probably gained like 75 thousand pounds in the past month due to all of the fruits and veggies that I have been consuming. I am starting to consider it a full time job just to keep up with the eating.

 Another reason why I love August so much is becauuse the days are still nice and warm, but the nights are starting to cool which means I get to make so much soup!!!!!. 

This soup is the freshest freshy soup yet. Everything is from the farm and or the garden (except the salt pepper, vinegar and oil), some picked within hours of me making this.

. I am a lucky/spolied veggie brat.

Anyways. This soup. The fresh tomato base gives it a sweet, slightly acidic kick. So super creamy due to the lovely earthy stocks of the chard. Slightly spicy and earthy from the arugula* and chard green green. This soup… it just tastes so fresh and clean, yet hearty and satisfying. A perfect soup for a mid August night, eating outside, watching the sun slide behind the mountains and the temperature dropping just enough that you might want a light sweater. Or you can just eat it from the pot in the kitchen while watching TV. It’s good eating anyway you want. 

*Here in America, it’s called arugula.  Else where , it’s  called rocket. I wish we all called it rocket, although I do like the name arugula, but for like my first born child or maybe a pet goldfish. Anyway, rocket is arugula,  or vice versa.

Soup time!.

The stuff. Some big  fresh tomatoes, a few stalks of chard, and a few handfuls of arugaula (aka rocket). A couple carrots, an onion, some garlic, salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil.. Oh, and I added some balsamic vinegar, which for some reason didn’t make it into the picture (sorry vinegar)

Start by removing the chard leaves from the stalks. Set aside leave with the arugula. Chop up the carrot, chard stems, onion and garlic and toss into a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of water, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir around and stick o nthe stove on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the veggies start to soften up.

Now chop up the tomatoes into chunks and toss those right into the pot with the other stuff. Add in a few cups water and a few glugs of balazmic vinegar. Bring everything to a boil and then turn heat to medium low and place a lid on pot and let cook at medium heat for another 20 ish minutes, or until the tomatoes are falling apart.

Now that everything is all cooked up, blend it up.

And now take the chard leaves and the aruglula and chop into little pieces….into the pot they go.

Mix it all up.. and take the blender to the soup again….if you want a smaller sized bite.

Soup Into bowls..Then into mouth.

Happy August!!

And hey hey hey.. Have the best weekend!

-C

• 4-5 large fresh tomatoes
• 4 large stalks of rainbow chard
• 2-3 big handfuls of arugula 
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 2-3glugs (about 2 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar 
• 3 cups water 
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

To start, remove stalks of chard from leaves and chop stalks, onion, carrot and garlic into chunks and place int a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash or water, and spinkle of salt and pepper. Place on stove on medium low heat sand cooke the veggies down until starting to soften and garlic is becoming fragrant. While that cooking, remove core from tomatoes and dice them up. Toss into pot with the cooked down veggies with the vinegar and water. Place a lid on the pot and let cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the tomatoes are falling apart. 

When cooked, using with a hand blender or a normal blender, blend the soup until smooth. (if using blender, pour back into pot)

Now take the arugula and chard leaves and chop them into wee little picese and mix into soup. If you want to, blend the greens into the soup.. but not until smooth, unless thats what you want.  Cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowl and serve with lots of fresh cracked pepper, maybe a little balsamic drizzle or even some mustard (I at left overs with mustard and it rocked my world)

spoons work eel las eating utencils.

The Mr. and I went and took ourselves on a rainy day nature adventure. He did some fly fishing (worst day ever for fishing) and I did some wondering.  It was fantastic. And the Mr, only lost one fly and I managed only about a dozen mosquito bites!   Nature days are the best!

And then as we were leaving, the clouds broke and the sun came out. It was kind of perfect.

I love summer!

All day, everyday, there is something new and delicious to pick and eat. I have my CSA with the Interval Community Farm, which is in full swing, so I am picking up thousands of pounds of fresh produce every week. (maybe not quite that much, but so so much) Plus our lovely  garden is starting to reward up with the prettiest veggies as well. I have so much fresh produce that I find myself mindless eating just to make more room in the fridge.(not to mention that my counters are also covered and I have a laundry basket full of yellow squash and zucchini on the table). I guess its getting about time to do a little canning and pickling… but until then, I will just have to solider on and keep on eating!

So this salad is completely inspired by the ever exploding contents of my fridge (and table, and counters).  Fresh zucchini, corn,and peaches roasted and tossed together with fresh tomato, creamy avocado, and herbs into one big bowl.. It’s like eating summer… And it fantastic. 

The stuff. Zucchini, corn, tomato, peach, and avocado. A lemon (not shown..it rolled under the couch and I couldn’t find it for a little while) and salt and pepper. Also not shown is the bunch of fresh cilantro that I added at the last minute

 I initially wanted to grill this stuff, but I didn’t feel like starting the charcoal and getting that all situated, so I just used the oven. So if you want, use the grill. 

Cut zucchini into long wedges and cut the peaches into a few large slices. Place on a lightly oiled pan or baking sheet, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and stick into the oven at 425 degrees. Toss you corn  into the oven too.. but I just stuck that on the oven rack.

While the stuff is roasting in the oven, chop the tomato into mouth sized chunks, and mash the avocado with the juice of the lemon( I finally found it) and a pitch or more of salt. Add enough water to make it slightly runny.

Afer about 15 minutes, the stuff in the oven should be done. You want the corn slightly charred and the peach and zucchini to be soft, but not mushy. Remove from oven and stick everything on a plate or baking sheet and let cool for a few minutes, or until cool enough to handle it.

And now cut the corn from the cob and dice the zucchini and peaches into chunks.

Toss it all into a bowl, give it a mix and smother with the avocado dressing.

And lastly, dice up and add a big ass handful of some freshly chopped herb.. (Cilantro is great, but basil is also just as nice) and toss that on top too!

So much color, so much tasty. This is all summer!

Happy Friday

BYE!

-C

Makes a meal for 1 or a side for 2

• 1 ripe peaches
• 1 medium zucchini 
• 1 ear of corn 
•  l medium tomato
• 1 avocado
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper
• bunch of fresh cilantro or basil 

Note..If i had the time to light up the charcoal to grill, I would have. So Feel free to cook the corn, zucchini and peach on the grill if you so do please.

Slice peach into 4 equal chunks and zucchini into 4-5 wedges. Place in a lightly oiled skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stick  the pan and the corn, husk removed, into oven at 425 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, or until the corn is charred and the zucchini and peach is  browning and slightly tender. While this is going on, dice up the tomato into chunks and smash the avocadoin a jar until smoothish with the juice of the lemon, salt and pepper, and enough water to thin it out so that its kind of pasty. (make it any consistency you like)

When veggies are done cooking, remove from oven and place  on the counter or a plate and let sit until its cool enough to handle. When cooled off, dice the peach and zucchini into chunks and remove corn from the cob. Toss together with the tomato, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, dump the mixed lemony avocado all over  and top wit a heavy handful of some freshly chopped herb.

Serve warm or cold. Can be eaten with a fork or spoon.

       TGIF!!!! For reals, because Monday-Thurday were monster days. And now that its friday, I can dig a hole and hide in it until it’s at least 30 degrees with some sunshine. (I might never get to come out.)

A few things I will bring in my hole:

• food (lots of food and coffee, lots of coffee)
• a soft blanket and pillow
• a few books, preferably with pictures, on farming and gardening (think spring!)
• the entire series of the Fresh Prince of Bel-air and a device to watch it on
• toothpaste (I can use my finger to brush my teeth)

But before I leave for my hole in the ground, I made these little cake bites to get my people through the weekend. Sweet little lemony bites of rich dense cake dipped into bittersweet chocolate. (I am just so nice)  They have all the pleasure or cake without the need of a fork and are much easier to give away then a big slice of cake. Plus, they are fun to make. My little sister helped and did most of the chocolate dipping. Then she and another little used their mouths to clean up the chocolate mess. It was an afternoon of chocolate all over the kitchen fun day. 

So make some bites to have and to share. Or if you, like me, are digging a hole to hide in, make a batch of bites to bring with you. That’s the beauty of cake covered in a harden chocolate shell, they travel really well.Simple lemon cake stuff. Flour, baking powder and salt whisked together, Sugar and soft butter in a bowl. An egg, some vanilla, milk, and of course, the lemon. 

To make the batter, cream the soften butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Zest lemon(1 big or 2 small) into bowl with the juice of the lemon(s), the vanilla and the egg. Beat until combined. Now beat in the dry and then the milk. Keep beating for another minute until all mixed. Batter should be light and fluffy.

Batter goes into a greased and floured  9×13 baking sheet and stuck into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes (You can use a 9×9 baking pan. Just bake fir another 10 minutes and you will end up with thicker bites). Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes and flip to remove cake from baking sheet. Cut cake into small pieces (I cut 4×6   to get 24 bites) and place bake into sheet and into freezer (I stuck mine outside, it was -2 degrees ) for at least 2 hours. 

Frozen bites ready for the chocolate coating… Bittersweet chocolate chips and a little bit of coconut oil. Melted together all nice and shiny smooth.Now dip and slather those bites in the melted chocolate. 

Oh what a lovely sister I have.. Look at her dunk….. like a boss!Fully coated and placed on a rack for the chocolate to harden. I  ended up sticking the rack in the freezer for 10 minutes…They harder really fast in there.

And now you have some it, bites of cake covered in chocolate. 1 bite, 2 bites…5 bites. Eat however many you want because its Friday and because there small little bites and just because you can.

Now if you need me, I’ll be in my hole. 

-C

Chocolate Lemon Cake Bite

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup  white sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large or 2 small lemons
• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

Add butter  and sugar to a large bowl and beat on medium unit light and fluffy. Ass in vanilla egg, the zest of the lemon and the juice of the lemon. Beat to incorporate. Now beat in the dry and lastly the milk.

Grease and flour either a 9×9 pan or a 9×13 baking sheet. dump batter in and smooth out.  Stick in oven and bake for about 3o minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. Remove and let cool  for a few minutes on a  wire rack. Flip cake to remove from pan. Cut cake into bit sized pieces, 4×6 is a good size, and place back on baking sheet and stick into freezer for at least 2 hours.

When cake bites are as good as frozen, get the chocolate ready. Take the chocolate and the coconut oil and either melt in a double boiler or the microwave. Mix until smooth and make sure to full incorporate the oil. Now remove the cake bites from the freezer and dip each bite into chocolate, trying to full coat all sides. Stick onto a wire rack or a parchment lined pan to harden. They can be stuck back into the freezer to harden faster.

Once chocolate has harden, your good to go!

It’s Mother’s Day weekend which means that you and I and everyone out there should feel the slightest bit obligated to at least do a little something nice for your mom for the mere fact that you were borned. And really what better way to celebrate mom than with food… It really is the least that you can do. (I think mom’s also like flowers and cards and handmade pasta necklaces) My mom is defiantly about the food. (she has had her fair share or pasta necklaces)  A many years back on Mother’s day, this sweet little girl (me) made her mother a special  breakfast treat…blueberry scones. And ever since that day, for every freaking holiday, birthday, whatever day, my mother requests (demands) a batch of those scones. She is always saying that these are her favorite treat and that no one has ever made them as good as I do. (I guess that just reiterates that I am her number 1 child)

And for the last few months my mom has been up my butt, trying to get me to make her some. Not going to lie, I have been saying I’ll get her a batch, but for some reason, I haven’t gotten around to making them. So two birds here.. Make the scones and she gets off my back for a least a little while (a month.. maybe 2) and I give her a fantastic Mothers day gift that I know she will love.

So here they are , oh mother of mine. Blueberry scones!

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. A bit of sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, and butter (use vegan butter and nut milk if you want to make them vegan) And of course we need the blueberries which can be fresh or frozen. I usually use fresh, but the store I stopped at only had really big containers of fresh that were like $1000 dollars a piece and the organic frozen happen to be on super sale. So you know, the cheap in me won that battle. So into the bowl goes all the dry stuff; flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and the sugar. Give it a good whisk.

Now for my special trick for a perfectly distributed cold butter in a pastry. Freeze your butter and grate it!

With a large wholed grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the bowl with the dry, stoping a few times to toss the butter chunks around so you don’t end up with a huge pile of grated butter. When it’s all grated, gently toss around so the butter is evenly distributed. Now dump the blueberries into the flour mixture. Toss them around to give them a coat of flour. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla and give a little mix until liquid is absorbed. We are trying to handle the dough as little as possible.Turn mixture onto counter. It’s very loose, but thats what it should look like. Very gently and with as little handling as possible, gather dough up, knead a few times till everything  just comes together. Press dough into a disk that is roughly an inch thick…. and it doesn’t need to be perfect. Cut the disk into even sized pieces. Do 6 big, 8 normal, maybe even 10 smaller. Whatever size you like. (I did 8) Place the scones onto a baking sheet, using a spatula to transfer, and sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar. Into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.And when the scones look all nice and browned and a tester comes out clean. remove and either serve right away warm, preferably with huge cup of coffee or tea, or stick on a rack to cool before storing in  air tight container.

Perfect to serve as a breakfast pastry, at brunch, or even as a dessert. A nice little treat for a special lady. (dudes can eat them too) 

Happy Mothers Day Mom! Thanks for having me!

And Happy Weekend!!!

-C

Blueberry Scones 

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons  to sprinkle on top
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted  butter frozen or really cold (use non dairy butter like Earth Balance for vegan)
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 teaspoon  vanilla 
•  3/4 cup buttermilk (use non dairy milk for vegan)

Preheat oven t0 400 degrees

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Take the frozen butter and grate directly into flour mixture, tossing around to evenly disrupted. Add in blueberries and toss around till coated with flour, then lastly, add vanilla to buttermilk and mix into mixture until just barely coming together. Turn mixture out onto counter and with your hands, knead mixture a few times until it forms a solid dough. Shape into a disk and smoosh down until about an inch thick. Cut into 6-10 triangles  and place on a non greases baking sheet and sprinkle tops with remaining sugar. Stick into oven and bake for 20 minutes or until tops start turning a golden brown and a tester in the middle of a scone comes out clean. 

Remove from baking sheet and serve warm or let cool on a rack.

Mom gets first dibs, and if she is willing to share, eat one yourself with your face. 

     Spicy, crispy cauliflower… um yes please.  I really like cauliflower. The mister loves it, or at least likes it better than any other vegetable. So when he asked for spicy cauliflower, well yea I am going to make it because I am so nice and really, could I say no to a veggie request? (I might have said no if it involved deep frying) Also, I found fresh cauliflower on sale! ($2.25) I don’t usually cook fresh cauliflower, but  I figured at that price, it wouldn’t be bad to cook a head. (If I am cooking cauliflower, which I do a lot, I just use frozen….casue it be waaaay cheaper) 

Fresh, cheap and requested veggies….those are must makes. And the mister was happy with I handed him the plate of oh so lovely looking crispy crunchy loveliness. (I kind of like to make him happy…sometimes)

The stuff. Cauliflower, chopped and broken into pieces. Corn meal mixed with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, and because I made this for the mister, parmesan cheese. And in the green bowl, srirsachi and a little oil. The cauliflower gets a coat of the hot sauce and then tossed around in the corn meal mixture. Handling as little as possible, place coated pieces on a lightly oiled baking sheet and stick those suckers in the oven for about a half hour, taking them out and flipping half way.And take them out of the oven when pieces tuned golden brown, stik them on a plate, and serve immediately.

A bit of spice, a bit of crispy , a lot a yum.  Serve with some crunchy veggies, maybe a squeeze of lemon and definitely some type of avocado situation.

A beer would be lovely too!

Have a fantastic weekend! 

-C

Spicy Crispy baked Cauliflower

• 1 head cauliflower, chopped or broken into florets
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 3-4 tablespoon sriracha or your favorite hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
• salt and pepper
• Any seasonings you might like (garlic or onion powder, parmesan cheese, national yeast…. whatever floats your boat)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees 

In a bowl, mix together sriracha and oil. In a separate  bowl, mix salt, pepper, any seasonings you might like, and corn meal.  Take cauliflower and toss in sauce to coat. Remove from sauce and toss around in cornmeal mixture till fully coated, but try not to hand too much so the coating doesn’t come off. Place pieces on a lightly oiled baking sheet and stick into oven. Bake for about 15 minutes, remove and flip pieces. Back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes (depending on you crispy preference) Remove when golden brown (or darker if you like) and serve immediately.

Cucumber, celery, and carrots are great accompaniments.. also a little mashed avocado or guacamole is much appreciated.

I have been meaning to make this jam for a while now. I’ll buy a bunch of jalapeños, then slowly, before I get to cooking them down, end up eating them all. But not today, and the rewards are great, Fresh jalapeño jam. So much potential for the greatest of things (I am thinking mango jalapeño sorbet… no, I am making jalapeño mango sorbet) And if you, like me are a jalapeño fan, this is going to make your life amazing. You will find yourself jamming up everything, or maybe just eating it with a spoon.

Whatever you want to do with it, just make it. 

Honey and jalapeños.. All you need, well a little salt and water too, but that’s it.

What you need to do is remove the stems,, most of the ribs and half of the seeds removed. (You could remove all or none of the seeds depending on you heat preference) Chop the peppers into small chunks, toss into a pot, sprinkle with a bit of salt, add in a splash of water. Place the pot on medium heat. Top it with a lid, and give the peppers a good stir every few minutes. While the peppers are cooking, you want to make sure the bottom isn’t sticking and buringin. If that starts to happen, just turn the heat down a bit and add in a little splash more of water.

After about 20 minutes, the peppers are fully cooked and falling apart. The liquid is cooked down and the peppers are starting to caramelize on the bottom of the pan. When that happened, remove the pot from heat.

Now you can either blend the peppers, mash the peppers with a fork, or leave it chunky. Thats a choice Ill leave to you. ( I like to blend, but keep some chunks)

And drizzle in a bit o honey. As little or as much as you like.

And scoop into a jar. Eat the jam on anything you want. (I found myself eating it with a spoon)

Keep it Real!

-C

Makes about 1 1/2 cups of jam

• 10 large jalapeño peppers
• a pinch of salt
• About 1 tablespoon of honey, but add more if you like (And if you want to keep it vegan, use agave or sugar)

Wash, remove ribs and most seeds (the more seeds you leave the hotter it will be) and dice jalapenos into small chunks. Place in a pot with a few splashes of water and a sprinkle of salt. Turn on medium heat and cover, stirring every few minutes. If the peppers seem to be sticking  o the pot and burning, turn heat down and add another splash of water. After about 20 minutes, the peppers should be really tender and falling apart. The liquid should be completely cooked out and the peppers will start to caramelized at the bottom of the pot. When that starts to happen, remove from heat.  Now either mash with a fork, blend with a hand blender, or leave superr chunky. Drizzle in honey (or sweetener) and stir. 

Eat right away or stick in a jar and store in the fridge for up to a week (It won’t last that long)