Banana Nut Waffles
I make a lot of vegan recipes, yet I'm not vegan. Why? I think it's because I liked to be surprised by food. I love when a few ingredients can come together and taste almost identical to what it's like in its original form- kinda like this coleslaw that used cashews in place of mayo. It's pretty cool when things taste like other things like this Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Salad that tasted like pizza! I also get pretty excited when I find a recipe that pleases the guys in my life like this Kale Coconut Salad with Sesame Oil. I've made that recipe at least 5 times since then.
What I hoped to get out of this recipe was a batch of healthier waffles using what I had in my pantry; I almost always jump at a recipe if I've got all the ingredients. What I didn't realize is that I'd get a batch of waffles that tasted like banana bread. Being a lover of banana bread, I was thrilled.
While I could only eat one for breakfast, Cooper ate two. Future professional food eating champ? We'll see...
White Bean Soup w/ Crispy Prosciutto
Think of soup like your favorite old sweater. It's warm & comforting and with different accessories and separates, you can create several different outfits out of your old standby. For the past two years I've been obsessed with white beans. I've made different variations of this soup with similar flavor profiles. There's the Tuscan Ribollita that uses white beans, bread, kale & pancetta. There's my favorite soup ever, Sausage White Bean Soup and most recently my mom's Pasta Fagioli Soup that also uses sage, pancetta and white beans. Never have I made a soup that purees white beans so they make the base of a soup. This is also the first time I've baked prosciutto in the oven and created shards out of them! I liken these little adjustments to putting your sweater over a hot new dress and sealing the deal with a fabulously fancy red scarf.
When you puree white beans in soup, magic happens. It's as if you added a cup of silky heavy cream...And those crispy Proscuitto shards? Scrumptious! I think most of them bypassed the soup and went directly into our mouths.
Hello White Bean Soup, you're like an awesome new outfit in my repertoire.
Potato Feta Gyros
I lived as a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years during my college career; it was the dorm food that sealed the deal. For the first year of my vegetarianism, I was more of a cheese-atarian. I lived in Oregon and it was Tillamook EVERYTHING. My roommate and I ate cheese, pizza, french fries, hummus and stir fry like there was no tomorrow. For a college student, it was all about convenience. Having our own fridge with our OWN food (not managed by parents) was really an exciting thing. That's why I gained a Sophomore 15 (I managed to avoid it Freshman year due to the crappy food). I clearly needed help!
A few months ago during the busy holiday season, I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author/cool mom Pam Anderson & catch up with her daughter Maggy at a fabulous dinner for her latest cookbook, Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals: Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians. Let me tell you, these two are as good as it gets! I know that if they lived closer, Maggy & I would be tied at the hip. Both these fine ladies have a tremendous amount of love to give and their passion for food and helping others is downright contagious!
What I love Pam's new cookbook is that it's vegetarian home cooking in an easily digestible format. Pam covers many cooking basics and gives a tremendous amount of tricks & tips for the aspiring vegetarian cook. She's basically teaching you how to cook without a book! Each recipe has Pam's suggestions to change things up a bit. For example, there's a bran muffin section where she shows you the muffin base and then lists add-ins & extras so you can build your own flavor profile. Her suggestions will keep your brain turning with ideas! I love it. Reading through this book is like having a cool mom teach you how to cook and fend for yourself in a vegetarian world. It would have made my college years as a vegetarian a BREEZE!
As a part time Vegetarian, I fell in love with this Potato Feta Gyro recipe. I made it earlier this week and boy was it incredibly satisfying and simple to execute. The mashed potatoes are flavor packed due to the feta & roasted garlic and the cucumber yogurt sauce is straight up ADDICTIVE. If only I had this recipe in college!
Here's the deal!
I have an extra copy of this book that I want to give one to a lucky reader!
Please leave a comment below and you'll be entered to win!
Giveaway ends on Friday January 13th (ooh creepy!).
****CONTEST ENDED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!!******
Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Everyday between 2-3pm, my body craves chocolate cake. The cake I crave is not a cake that's saturated in chocolate frosting. I'm talking about a dense/moist/slightly chewy chocolate cake with a few drizzles of chocolate frosting. When I'm not able to fulfill this craving (which is like all the time), my mind goes into daydreaming mode and I start to fantasize about a chocolate cake delivery service at my work and how wonderful it would be if there were ice cream sundae vendors at every street corner. Imagine that. That would be the life!
I also had this thought the other day: Has anyone ever put EAT MORE CHOCOLATE on their New Year's Resolution list? Doubtful.
With a chocolaty dense bundt cake like this, I can't see why that wouldn't be a good idea.
Maybe I should give in to my chocolate cravings more often. Maybe then I could consider myself a chocolate lover.
Kale Slaw with Red Cabbage & Carrots
I've spent the past 48 hours feeling like I've been rocking back and forth (spending 7 days on a cruise ship can do that to you!). Everything right now is a bit off kilter because in the past week, time zones were crossed, climates changed, calendar days were disregarded, and I did something I never thought was possible- I spent a whole week without using my cellphone (OMG!). Instead of tackling the laundry, emptying suitcases and sorting through the mail when we got home Monday, I immediately went grocery shopping to get provisions for the week. I figured the only way to feel like normal again at home was to get back to work in my kitchen and binge on kale.
When I was eating lifeless romaine salad with extremely unripe yet mushy tomatoes on the boat (not all the food was dreadful!), I daydreamed of crispy kale salads with toasted coconut. Spending a week without kale was absolute torture and when I was standing in my kitchen swaying from side to side chopping kale, I vowed never to let that many days go by without my leafy green security blanket.
The crispy crunchy kale & cabbage shreds tasted amazing with the roasted cashew pieces and hemp seeds. The apple added a nice sweetness too! What you have here is a gigantic plate of HEALTH! I think the slaw could have potentially erased all of those chocolate dipped mickey mouse ice cream bars I ate. Who am I kidding? What I actually need is some serious Mousercise. For reals.
Apricots w/ Basil Goat Cheese & Almonds
A long time ago I told my mom that I'd like to be a caterer and she immediately talked me out of it. I thought that my love for making food in assembly lines, piping things with pastry bags and my passion for all things filo dough & puff pastry would be enough. Then she reminded me of how I'd have to stand on my feet for 8+hours and then someone else told me how much packing up and moving was involved in the life of a caterer. Dang. Maybe I just want to be a catering company's quality assurance tester? Yeah! I'd be really good at it.
This recipe has been on my radar forever. I had a Christmas party to attend and whipped up these beauties in absolutely NO time. They're fun, colorful, bite sized and uber fancy. Don't you just love the sight of little appetizers lined up on a tray? I sure do...
French 75
Champagne! Never been a fan (blasphemy, right?!). I'm not sure why. I guess I always end up inhaling bubbles and then they spew out my nose. Truth!
Did you know that I married into a champagne loving family? A good portion of my in-laws take their champagne drinking to a whole new level. It's as if they're athletes and champagne is their Gatorade. You think I'm kidding?
Today is the last Monday of 2011 and chances are you're looking for a signature cocktail for New Years Eve. Champagne lovers, listen up! The French 75 is slightly herbal with the gin, it's tart with the lemon juice and slightly sweet with that cute little sugar cube floating on the bottom. A word of caution-These cocktails are a bit STRONG. Two of these French 75s may or may not have caused my husband to fall asleep on the couch at 8pm the other night...
There are many variations of this classic cocktail. Some recipes call for cognac instead of gin. Others may add Cointreau or brown sugar and it's often served in a collins glass. I think the champagne flute makes it a little more festive. Enjoy!
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Spiced Orange Popovers
Ready for my David Letterman impression? I'll do it if you stop staring at my gap teeth!
TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE SPICED ORANGE POPOVERS:
- They taste like donuts, yet they're not fried!
- They're ridiculously easy.
- Your house will smell like a high-end Christmas candle.
- It's the holidays & you're looking for something festive for breakfast.
- Clove, cinnamon & orange are your best friends this time of year.
- You need an excuse to dust off your popover pan.
- They're light and fluffy. Means no calories, right?
- They're a perfect breakfast, snack or dessert. You could make dinner out of them. (I totally did)
- Your coffee is lonely. It needs company.
- Because I said so!
I should also note that I ate 5 popovers within an hour after I made them....I blame the delicious clove cinnamon orange sugar. Well...that and they were WARM.
It's not like I have to wear a bathing suit anytime soon...
OH WAIT. I do. CRAP!
