Category Archives: Recipes

Fresh Vegetarian Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

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Happy Saturday! So, yesterday when I was driving to work, it dawned on me what day it was. It was May 17th which means it was Moose’s 5th birthday!  Our little guy is now 5 years old which is just pure craziness! We celebrated by giving him a couple of pieces of cheese with his pain meds and antibiotics last night and he got to lick the end of the peanut butter jar. :smile: Lucky guy, huh?

mooser birthday

Another thing I was remembering while driving was that last year at this time we were in the Boundary Waters with my brother Scotty and his girlfriend Nicole. The weather was a whole lot different last year and we were actually bathing in the water! It was cold, but it was tolerable. It was definitely an adventure I will never forget. If you want to reminisce with me you can check out this boundary water post!

I’m slowly pulling myself out of my food rut and I got creative in the kitchen again last night! It was a Vegetarian Spring Roll night in our casa!

I began by prepping my veggies: cutting cucumber, red bell pepper and carrots into strips, chopping up fresh cilantro, and opening up a bag of broccoli slaw.

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

Next, I prepared the peanut sauce. Into the bowl went 1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of hot water, the juice of half a lime, 3/4 tablespoon coconut aminos (you could use soy sauce instead), and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil. After I made all of the rolls up I decided I should have added some heat to the sauce, so I recommend adding either red pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce to the peanut sauce!

 

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

 

Next, we submerged the rice paper into a hot water bath one by one, rotating it until it becomes slightly floppy and pliable. Don’t be intimidated by rice paper, it is really SO easy to use! I placed the paper onto the counter and smeared on the peanut sauce and piled on the veggies (broccoli slaw, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, and cilantro).

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

 

I rolled the long side over first, then tucked each side over, and continued the rest of the roll.

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

 

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

 

And the end result is these gorgeous spring rolls!

 

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

You could also use the peanut sauce as a dipping sauce on the side instead of inside the wrapper, but I was in the mood to tuck it inside.

vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce vegetarian spring rolls with peanut sauce

 

Aren’t they gorgeous?! They tasted so fresh and delicious and they were actually very satisfying as well. The best part about these rolls is you can use up whatever you have on hand as the filling. The last time I used these rice papers to make rolls I made a warm baked Santa Fe version and they were super good too! The kids would love these rolls especially if you served them with a dipping sauce.

Have a fabulous day! I have to go get Insane…

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan

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Well, my creativity level in the kitchen has been at an all-time low this week. I had zero motivation to make anything, especially for dinner, and wound up eating lots of taco chicken leftovers from Mother’s Day as well as quite a few snacks for dinner types of evenings.

taco nacho salad trail mix

 

 

 

 

Note: The peas are frozen in this photo but defrosted by the time I ate my salad. Just in case you were wondering. :wink:

chicken leftovers

 

Not my proudest week of creativity but I guess we all have our moments. I did however make my best attempt to get out of this rut by using up a cauliflower head that was in the fridge and making it into…

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan!

The original plan was to use the cauliflower to make homemade cauli pizza crust, but since the lazy vibes were still lingering I thought I would go a more simplistic route.

After washing and drying one head of cauliflower, I cut into it vertically and made four “steaks” out of it. I made sure each piece had a little bit of the cauliflower stem attached to it to keep the steak intact. The two middle steaks held together a lot better than the outer ones because of the stem.

I sprayed each side of the steaks with olive oil, then sprinkled them with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I threw them on the grill where they cooked for 6-7 minutes on each side.

cauliflower steaks with marinara

Meanwhile, I pulled some leftover marinara out of the freezer from a couple of weeks ago when I made roasted veggies with marinara sauce and heated it up on the stove. The sauce already had cooked Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic and some added herbs, but I went one step further and added chopped green olives and capers. It was so nice having the sauce pretty much ready to go so that all I needed to do was heat it up and use! The beauty of the freezer.

In case you haven’t noticed, I sort of LOVE red sauce. When we were in Italy for our honeymoon, I ordered marinara sauce on everything. It was so darn good but the heartburn that coincided wasn’t so great. It probably didn’t help I was also drinking red wine and eating hearty meals late in the evening. All things I recommend staying away from if my clients are experiencing heartburn. :smile: When in Rome though, right? Literally. Ha! I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to do a food recap from Italy? I didn’t take a TON of food photos (that was before my blog days) but I know I have some I could show you. I also kept a food journal so I could remember what I ate! I just may have to do that.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, back to the cauli. After we pulled them off the grill they looked like this…beautiful.

cauliflower steaks with marinara

I grated fresh parmesan cheese over the top so that it melted into the crevices.  Then I spooned on a large portion of the leftover marinara sauce and dug in.

Icauliflower steaks with marinara cauliflower steaks with marinara

The cauliflower was cooked perfectly and took on a whole new flavor and texture from the grill. The texture was slightly “meaty” especially in the stem, and it was satisfying and fun way to eat cauliflower! Between the cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower fritters, and cauliflower steaks, I’m finding that this is the veggie that keeps on giving. What will I come up with next?

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan
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Ingredients
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • garlic powder
  • parmesan cheese
  • marinara sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat grill.
  2. Keeping the stem attached, cut cauliflower head vertically into 4 steaks (make sure each of the pieces has some of the stem so that the steaks stay intact).
  3. Lightly spray olive oil on each side of the steaks, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place on grill.
  4. Grill on each side for 6-7 minutes.
  5. Remove from grill and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Top with warmed marinara if you wish and enjoy!

 

Happy Friday!

Do you ever get into food ruts? What do you do to pull yourself out of them?!

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cookies (Gluten-Free)

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Thank you for all of your sweet thoughts and kind words yesterday. Moose is doing very well! His swelling has gone down dramatically and after I posted yesterday, the vet actually called me back after having talked to a dental specialist who said a little swelling was absolutely normal especially on bigger dogs, so I didn’t need to bring him back in yesterday after all. They told me to keep an eye on the swelling for the next 2-3 days and if it doesn’t go down, then we would have a problem, but otherwise it’s totally normal. And since it’s gone down I am not worried at all!

He did some doggy modeling for me yesterday…

moose moose

Gah! Love him. While we were outside yesterday I wandered over to our garden and spotted one beautiful little flower peaking on its own. It was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the wind was so intense that by the evening it was completely ruined, but at least I got to enjoy it for a short amount of time.

flower

The temperatures crept to about 98°F yesterday, but since the air was so dry and there was quite a bit of wind, it didn’t feel very hot. So instead of thinking about making ice cream, or popsicles, or chomping on some watermelon, I thought it would be fun to bake up some cookies. Totally not normal I realize. The heat wasn’t going to stop me from my chocolate craving.

I got my inspiration for this cookie recipe from acouplecooks.com. Naturally, I steered towards a healthier cookie, and I knew I wanted to make it gluten-free too.cookie

There is a secret ingredient in these cookies that might surprise you but you will be surprised to find out that you can’t taste it at all and it also packs in some protein and fiber into this decadent dark chocolate cookie and makes for one heck of a soft and fudgy cookie.

chocolate cookie gluten free

chocolate cookie gluten free

Have you guessed the secret ingredient yet? If you guessed black beans you would be absolutely correct. Don’t wrinkle your nose until you try them! I’m telling you–you can’t taste the beans at all and it does wonders for the texture of the cookie and when combined with the cocoa powder, gives these cookies a deep dark chocolate flavor.

IMG_2719

I know you’re intrigued. Here is what I came up with!

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cookies (Gluten-Free)
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Ingredients
  • 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (or about 2 cups cooked from dried)
  • 1½ Tbsp coconut oil, melted
  • ¼ cup applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup honey
  • ¾ tsp vanilla extract
  • 5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips or more (I used Enjoy Life dairy-free, soy-free)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with a non-stick mat, parchment paper, or non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. In food processor puree the beans along with the oil, applesauce, egg, honey, and vanilla. Puree until smooth.
  3. Add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt into wet mixture; blend to combine. The consistency will resemble brownie batter.
  4. Remove blade from food processor and stir in chocolate chips.
  5. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit for five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!

 

What are you waiting for? Get baking!

Question of the day: Have you ever baked any sweet treats with beans or any other wacky ingredients? What did you think?

Pure Happiness

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Happy happy hump day!

Since I decided to post about my new adorable Ellie workout gear yesterday, I failed to update you on my nummy day of eats from Monday. Since I had a major lack of food photos yesterday (zip-zero), I am going to catch you up to speed from Monday.

Breakfast

Breakfast was a piece of toasted almond bread with organic natural peanut butter and raw honey, served with a cup of coffee with my new favorite cream!

This picture makes me so happy. Photographed is one of my favorite foods: peanut butter, my favorite morning drink that comforts my soul: coffee, and gorgeous yellow roses that my mom gave to me: love and friendship. Pure happiness.

pb toast and coffee

Lunch

A bed of mixed spring greens topped with deviled eggs, red bell pepper, celery, olives, peas, avocado, sunflower seeds and Annie’s Green Goddess dressing. Way good!

salad

 

I ate it outside in the sunshine which probably made it taste even better!

Dessert

Driscoll’s beautiful organic raspberries. Nature’s candy.

 

raspberries

 

There was definitely more snacking that happened in the afternoon. There are no pictures of it but I am guessing I had some mixed nuts, some carrots, and maybe an apple. :smile:

Dinner

For dinner I roasted up brussels sprouts and broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. To go on top of the veggies I made a marinara sauce using Ragu No-Sugar-Added spaghetti sauce, with one Italian turkey sausage, and sautéed onions, mushrooms, and garlic. I sprinkled in some dried basil and oregano too!

roasted veggies with marinara roasted veggies with marinara

To plate it up I started with a layer of veggies, next I grated some fresh parmesan cheese, and then finished it with a huge serving of the sauce which in my opinion is the best part!

roasted veggies with marinara roasted veggies with marinara

 

I wasn’t loving the brussels sprouts that night. I had bought them fresh and then froze them, and feel they take on a bit of a different flavor once I use them out of the freezer. Anyone else experience this? Anyway, I still enjoyed the dish and ate all but three bites.

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Alright, it’s time for me to go pack up my lunch and think about what I want for breakfast! I am so food-minded; always prepared for moments when I may need to eat. :smile: The hardest part is not knowing what I will be in the mood for come lunch time. I usually pack myself a couple of options so that I can pick and chose what sounds good.

I am super excited that thunderstorms are possibly going to happen this afternoon. I LOVE a good thunderstorm, as long as no one gets hurt and no damage is done of course. They remind me of being young and hanging out with my family in our safe home. As the thunderstorm approached we would watch the news and make sure we didn’t have to go to the basement. Then, as it whooshed over us I would watch safely out the window as the lightning struck and the thunder rolled (Garth Brooks anyone?) and it would make me so thrilled! I still feel that way when a thunderstorm rolls around! My mom also loves watching storms; she must have passed that gene down to me. :wink:

Watch, we won’t even get one now that I got all hyped up about it.

Do you enjoy thunderstorms?

Have a great day my friends!

 

Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats

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Happy MAY day! 

tulips

 

This is obviously not a MN scene but I think this is such a gorgeous photo and it makes me smile looking at this photo and thinking about the day when flowers will be popping up around here. Hopefully soon. For now, we are in a Winter Storm Warning. Yup…but anyway!

Some exciting news! Today is the last day you will see the old butcher block countertops in my photos because today we are getting NEW KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS! You know you are grown up when you get so incredibly excited about home improvements.

The butcher block countertops have been in the house for goodness knows how long, and they are terrible when it comes to stains and I don’t want to even think about any possible bacteria in the crevices.

banana pb

After much price shopping, stone shopping, and style shopping, we have decided on granite countertops. We went with a gray with specks of gold and red. It will be done by the time I get home this afternoon and I am ecstatic. I can’t wait to show you the refurbished kitchen later this week!

Lunch yesterday was a bunch of small meals throughout the span of 11:00 and 2:00. Here’s one of them…

egg

The afternoon included a lot of food prep time. In the morning I started two large chicken breasts (thawed) in the crock pot, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, and a cup or so of homemade chicken bone broth. I covered the pot, set it on low and the chicken was done in three hours.

On the dinner menu: Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats!

Once the chicken was cooled I pulled it apart and set it aside. I got started on my curry sauce experiment; adding a sprinkle of this, a touch of that, and tasting along the way. This was part of my other small lunch meal. After some time, I came up with what I think is a VERY delicious Chicken Curry Salad recipe!

The chicken and the curry sauce before it was mixed together (not the most appetizing photo). Later I mixed in cilantro, green onions, and raisins too.

curry chicken

The kitchen sure took a beating with all of this food prep!

Note the white backsplash next to the yellow paint–we removed the wooden backsplash to prepare for our new counters and the new backsplash of course. Also, Dana loosened the countertop in preparation of removal so that all we had to do last night was pull it up and out of there. This ended up being a bigger task than we were expecting, but we got it out of there nonetheless.

kitchen mess

After the chicken was mixed with the sauce, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 4-5 hours. This helps the flavors blend together and “get to know each other.”

Once dinner rolled around, I gave the chicken one last stir, added in the celery and almonds at the last minute because I didn’t want to risk them getting soggy, taste tested it one more time, and scooped it on to some beautiful endive leaves. We went super classy with the Dixie paper plates last night because of the kitchen demolition.

curry chicken salad curry chicken salad

You could enjoy this chicken salad on a whole grain wrap, in a lettuce cup, with endive boats, celery, zucchini, or on a lettuce salad. It was a really nice change of pace dinner!

Chicken Curry Salad
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp. green onions, diced
  • ⅓ cup raisins
  • juice from ½ a lime
  • ¾ cup Greek yogurt
  • 3 Tbsp. Light Mayo
  • 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp. mustard
  • 1½ tsp. honey
  • 1½ Tbsp. curry powder
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. ginger powder
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup celery, diced
  • 3 Tbsp. almonds, sliced
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl combine chicken, cilantro, onion, and raisins. Set aside
  2. In a small bowl mix together lime juice, yogurt, mayo, vinegar, mustard, honey, curry, garlic powder, ginger, and salt and pepper.
  3. Pour over chicken and stir until chicken is evenly covered in sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-5 hours.
  4. Remove from fridge, add almonds and celery, stir, and test for seasonings. Adjust if needed.
  5. Serve in endive leaves, in a whole grain or gluten-free wrap, whole grain or gluten-free bread, in lettuce cups, or on top of a lettuce salad.

 

This was super tasty and what’s great about it is all of the prep can be done ahead of time so that once dinner rolls around, all you need to do is throw it on a wrap and eat it up! Also, research is showing that curry (namely the main ingredient turmeric) may have some health benefits such as aiding in alzheimer’s prevention, reducing inflammation, easing digestion, boosting immunity, and more.

Have a happy Wednesday my friends!

Do you ever cook with curry? How do you usually use it?