Oh sunshine, I have missed you!! I’ll ignore the fact that it is still really chilly and I had to pull out my winter coat only days after sitting outside in shorts and a tee shirt. I’ve learned to expect this sort of misbehavior from a Minnesota spring. …
I’m ready to shake things up a bit and add a lovely little spice to the table with a vegetable curried rice. Even better, you only need one pot! There is a particular order to go about this if you want to keep it all …
I don’t usually make pasta but I’ve been seriously craving the comfort of a good mac and cheese that I can actually eat by the boatload. Maybe it’s the gloomy weather or the stress of having our house sold and not knowing yet where we’re moving to in just over a month. Eeeek!!! This recipe is not totally dairy free but it is reduced. Let’s be honest. A mac and cheese cannot be a mac and cheese without the cheese. I’ve tried a few of the recipes out there for cheese-less mac and cheese and they’re AWFUL. Anyone who says that vegan mac and cheese is delicious, is completely lying or has no tastebuds. Yes, I’ve tried it with nutritional yeast which mimics the taste of cheese and all the other tricks. I did my research to make it the best possible that it could be. It was still a big fat fail. The night that I made a vegan mac and cheese (from a recipe that had super high ratings and favorable reviews), my family set their forks down and went to get pizza, and I don’t blame them. Mac and cheese just cannot BE without cheese.
However, it IS possible to have a delicious and creamy mac and cheese that is made without liquid dairy and can be gluten free as well if you choose. Why cheese but not liquid dairy like cream or milk? Many of us with dairy sensitivities can often tolerate aged or fermented dairy much better than soft (or liquid) dairy as the lactose is nearly or completely gone. Plus, aged cheeses like a nice sharp cheddar have enzymes and cultures in them so they are not as likely to cause issues.
The creaminess of this squash and cheddar mac and cheese comes from, you guessed it, squash! I’ve used the basic ingredients of squash and cheddar cheese fondue and converted it into a creamy mac and cheese sauce. It starts with a roasted squash like acorn or butternut which also will help give the mac and cheese a bit of color. Add to that a béchamel made with unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk, mix in some shredded sharp cheddar cheese and you’ve got the perfect ooey, gooey, creamy mac and cheese with an extra nutritional punch! I used smoked salt when I made this recipe for a slightly smoky flavor. This cheese sauce is also simply divine poured over lightly sautéed broccoli. Next up, I’ll need to master a baked mac and cheese with a crunchy crust 🙂
My oldest daughter is turning eight tomorrow. I know it’s cliché to say that they grow up so fast but it’s true. Time seems to move exponentially faster once you have kids and some days I wish I could just play freeze tag with time …
Amid all the chaos and being ill, we did indeed get our house listed last week. Oy. Now comes the not so easy task of keeping it clean. If only I could just have the kids live outside until the house sells. I jest, of …
This weekend’s valentine treat assortment begs for a little ice cream love. The kind that’s a little exotic, creamy delicious, and goes with chocolate. This coconut lemongrass ice cream conjures up distant memories of when I used to travel for work visiting sweater and outwear factories. After the day’s work was done, I’d sit poolside overlooking the bay during my free time in Hong Kong while a delightfully cute waiter brought me dessert. Of course, it was usually served with some other super exotic fruit on the side like dragon fruit (which I LOVE) but I’ll settle for the scrumptiousness of just this coconut lemongrass ice cream.
An explosion of lemongrass flavor is accomplished by infusing the coconut milk custard with lemongrass chunks. This custard base is the same one that I use in my dairy-free vanilla ice cream recipe but tweaked to get this awesome lemongrass variety. Once the custard is cooled, pour it into a small one quart electric ice cream maker to churn. Once churned to soft-serve consistency, add a handful of mini dark chocolate chips. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place it in a freezer proof container and give it a good whip with a hand mixer every few hours until the ice cream starts to firm up. The result is an incredible frozen confection that will go perfectly with any chocolate dessert or is certainly stunning in it’s simplicity all on it’s own. Grab a spoon… let’s dig in!
This week is going to be a simple one easy recipe post kind of week. My husband, Jason, and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary on Thursday so we’re skipping out of town to celebrate. We were married in the Van Dusen mansion in …
Happy Friday!! This post will be super quick… and the recipe for baked sweet potato fries is nearly as quick to make. A lot of you are partaking in whole foods or other healthy eating challenges now that the holiday has past so here’s a delicious side …
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.
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 …
