Hey there! I seem to always serve a veggie tray with some sort of dip for every family gathering. It was no different this weekend when we hosted a party for my son’s three year birthday. Really, what’s not to love… they’re crunchy and perfectly …
I was never one to devour the bread basket at a restaurant as bread just isn’t really my thing. Except for at breakfast. Then, gimme some bready, moist, warm, fresh from the oven muffins and I’m one happy girl! It used to be a weekend tradition with …
Are you in charge of the cranberry sauce for next week’s feast? You can have this tart and tangy cranberry sauce whipped up in 15 minutes and it can be made ahead of time and frozen to just heat up for later. Make it this weekend and have one less thing to worry about on Thanksgiving day. I used a package of fresh cranberries and boiled them with apple cider, honey and some traditional cranberry sauce spices. To give it a little extra tang, I’ve added a little balsamic vinegar and a bit of Pinot Noir.
Hey hey!! How about a quick Saturday afternoon post with an equally quick breakfast berries and cream smoothie? I mix up a smoothie nearly every morning as I’ve found that it’s a great way to get a lot of healthy nutrients to start the day. …
After my last post on coconut milk kefir, I know some of you were asking “what the heck do I use kefir for besides as a beverage?”. I’m going to answer that with this post on Bircher Muesli a.k.a. Swiss oatmeal. Bircher Muesli is …
Dark Chocolate. Oatmeal. Coooookieeees!!!!! (said in the slightly creepy voice of Cookie Monster from days of old). Nom, nom, nom, nom… I made a purposeful pause in my day to go ahead and make a mess. I needed dessert. Seriously NEEDED some dessert. It’s the perfect opportunity to convert one of my old favorite recipes into something more healthy yet it tastes ever as good as I remember. Maybe even better. Plus, it has sneaky veggies in it which I’ll never leak to the press (a.k.a. my kids). Better to keep that under wraps.
I keep reading numerous articles about how great dark chocolate is for you. The less sweetened the better. Maybe because I really want it to be healthy and therefore unconsciously seek out articles that hail its benefits. Who knows. It’s darn good and so I will eat it. In mass quantities. In these dark chocolate oatmeal cookies.
This recipe was actually an easy swaperoo of ingredients. It’s mostly oatmeal already so as long as you use certified gluten free oats, you can keep it gluten free if that’s how you roll. I switched out the butter for palm shortening (you can still use butter if you want) and the sugar was swapped for maple syrup and then I added some finely grated zucchini. Pureed pumpkin or finely grated apple would also work swell. Sweet chocolately goodness, I must have another! You too? I thought so.
It’s been an insanely busy week. We are in the process of putting our house on the market so it’s been chaotic to say the least. I’m so tired of cleaning and organizing that I could scream. AAAAGGGHH!!! Oh, that’s better. Now if the kids could just stop making …
I was feeling in the mood for something a little tangy, something a little sweet… and bright and sunny! How about raspberry vinaigrette! This recipe was a request by my sister to create a fresh raspberry vinaigrette that was healthier than the store bought varieties and easy to …
Creamy delicious homemade one minute mayonnaise. No lie, this literally takes one minute and that includes the time to grab every ingredient outta the fridge and put in the mixing jar. Are you sold on it yet? If not… this even eliminates the step of separating the egg. Yep, you can use the whole egg. I love that there’s no wasted whites (small aside… if you make it the traditional way with just the yolks, egg whites can be frozen in a freezer proof container and thawed out for future egg white only recipes). And did I mention, no more slow drizzling of oil?!? For real. You are no longer allowed to have any more angst or anxiety about making homemade mayo. The flavorings and uses are endless and with no crazy additives, it’s way healthy.
Here’s how we accomplish this. Keeping it simple, put all of your ingredients in a wide mouth jar starting with the egg. Let sit for 20 seconds to be sure the egg is settled on the bottom.
Then, place a stick blender in the jar so it touches the bottom. Turn it on and keep it there for 10-20 seconds without moving it until the egg begins to emulsify. It’ll start to look like this…
Slowly, slowly, lift the stick blender up to emulsify the rest of the oil and voila! One minute mayonnaise! Pardon the messy jar 🙂
Then feel free to whisk wonderful flavoring such as chipotles in adobo to make a chipotle mayo, or sriracha or roasted garlic with a tish of water to thin it a bit and make an aioli. The possibilities are endless!
When life (or your garden) gives you lots of tomatoes, you make tomato sauce! Homemade tomato sauce is so simple to make and has a depth of flavor you just can’t match in a can. Think of those rich, thick tomatoes, that sweet sensuous taste coupled with …
