Tag Archives: dairy-free

Good Evening!!

22 Jan

So I normally post in the morning. At 9 o’clock to be exact. I write them the night before. and I schedule them. But today I thought, Why don’t I just publish it now? Then it wouldn’t be all like “yesterday…” instead, it would be “TODAY I did this..”. So we’ll see how it goes.

First off, breakfast.

IMG_0119

I had some banana Chobani (Soo good! Not too banana-y, but just enough. Actually, I could have used a little more nanner. That’s why I added a banana.) With a banana, a scoop of PB2 Chocolate mixed in, and some cornflakes on top. I was all out of my delicious Oats and wanted a crunch factor.

Then, on my way to work, the worst thing happened as I pulled my sunglasses out of my purse.

IMG_0125

THEY’RE BROKEN. And these are my favorite sunglasses of all time. I bought them from a sketchy man on a street corner in Italy. In my opinion, the best things are bought from sketchy men on street corners in Europe. I found the screw in my purse, so hopefully they’re fixable. At least they weren’t expensive.

Blah Blah Blah, work was boring, and then I came home and hung out with my cat and knitted. Because I’m an old lady?

IMG_0120

(P.S.- this Photo is from Monday. I’m just using it today. This just shows you how much I knit. I multi tasked as I watched Obamz get inaugurated.) Also, don’t assume I’m an awesome knitter or anything. I can knit scarves. and that’s it.

If you follow me on twitter, then you know I’ve been whining about chocolate, ice cream, and wanting to watch Leonardo Dicaprio movies. (That’s because it’s that time of the month you guys!! And those are the only things I want at this time of the month.) So I watched Inception as I got my old lady knitting on.

Then, because it’s that time of the month, and all I want to do is stuff my face with unhealthy things, I decided to make nachos for dinner. But I have to admit, they were a pretty healthy version. Ok. They were healthier than the kind you’d buy at the movies or a sports game.

IMG_0121

This was actually my brother’s plate, because I had inhaled half of mine before I thought to take a picture. It’s filled with chips, Chicago Soy Dairy Nacho Cheese Sauce (AMAZING. It tastes just like what I remember nacho cheese tasting like.) Beans, black olives, fake ground  meat, (I skipped that on mine, as it contained wheat), green onions, homemade salsa, guacamole, and lettuce. So good. It definitly hit the spot.

Then, I ended the evening by finishing Inception, and drinking some hot chocolate, and eating some chocolate. SWISS MISS you guys. I can’t remember the last time I had that. I do pretty good staying away from dairy, except in these situations. I just needed it.

IMG_0122

Oh, and sadness, I burnt myself while making dinner. : (

IMG_0123

Thankfully, it doesn’t hurt to bad. Hopefully still won’t in the morning.

What fun things did you do today? Are there things you don’t eat often that sometimes you crave like crazy?? 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nut Butter Weekend

21 Jan

The title says it all. I don’t know why. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love nut butters, but I normally don’t crave them. If I didn’t have a million open in my cupboard, I probably would have gone through almost a whole jar this weekend alone!

This was a common snack at least three times over the past few days:

IMG_0118

Honeycrisp apples FTW!!

I’m way too cool to use only one nut butter, so I change it up a bit, and use THREE.

IMG_0117

PBco White chocolate wonderful, Barney Butter, and I know it’s not a nut butter, but it’s similar, Biscoff Spread. I know it’s not gluten-free, but I saw it in the cupboard while I was rummaging around, and I couldn’t help myself. I have no self control.

IMG_0114

This was my lunch Sunday, another apple with all three butters, some corn tortillas with hummus and tomatoes, and some dates and cocoa roasted almonds.

And I’m not just loving nuts (haha, hold the jokes) in butter and whole form, I’ve been digging them in powdered forms as well.

CIMG6201

These three ingredients make the beeessstttt smoothies/frosties/ice creams. The concept isn’t new, so I won’t pretend you haven’t seen it before.

You just put some bananas (I use two) a few spoonfuls of PB2 (I love the chocolate kind) and a little almond milk which makes a thick yummy ice cream…

CIMG6207

Or a lot of milk to make a smoothie… or frosty as I like to say. It’s not a Wendy’s frosty, but it’s pretty darn close for dairy free and relatively healthy!!

CIMG6204

Do you like nut butters? What’s your favorite kind/brand?? Do you have a cupboard full of half empty jars like me? 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Exciting Finds. And Dwight.

16 Jan

Hey everyone!! Thank you all so much for your comments on my beloved Oats. I’ve already made them twice since I posted, and I’ve eaten them all!! So addicting.

I’ve got lots to share with you today. First off, I did some baking this weekend!! I know. I haven’t baked anything in a long time. Grad school man. Except I can’t really use that as an excuse, because this week is my first week back, I’ve had almost a month off.

I was at Wallyworld the other day, (thats Walmart) and I discovered some new Chobani flavors!!!! I almost squeeled in the yogurt section. No noise escaped my lips, but I did get a funny look from the lady standing a few feet away debating what type of cottage cheese to buy.

IMG_0081

Vanilla chocolate chunk!!! Right when I got home I knew what I had to make with this. I had seen this recipe for Chocolate Chunk Muffins on Chole’s blog, Every Craving, but I brushed it aside thinking, I’ll never find that Chobini here. (Even though I could have just used vanilla chobani and added more chocolate. I’m not a quick thinker.)

I thought about making them gluten-free so I could enjoy them as well, but sometimes just substituting gf flour for the regular stuff doesn’t always turn out well, and I didn’t want to waste my precious Chobani. I followed the recipe as is, except I used coconut oil instead of canola, and I used egg replacer eggs because my mom hard boiled the last of the eggs we had.

My batter turned out kind of stiff, and I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be like that. It might have been the fact that I used coconut oil and fake eggs. Or maybe it was just supposed to be like that. Either way, I was about to scoop some into my muffin liners, when I thought. I bet these would make awesome cookies. So I made cookies.

IMG_0083

They were amazing. Or so I hear. My brother and my dad polished them all off. (A double batch!!) I made them Sunday, and they are all gone as of today. (Well, really Tuesday night.)  I’m definitly going to try them with gluten-free flour once I’m brave enough.

Another recipe from another blogger I’m loving as of late is this gluten-free ravioli from Clean Eating Chelsey:

IMG_0091

Since I’m apparently incapable of following recipes exactly, I didn’t do it quite the same way she did. I nixed the spinach (Is it just me, or does cooked spinach taste like fish to you? I just can’t handle it.) and doubled up on the mushrooms in the filling. Also, instead of boiling the ravioli, I baked them, because I’m all about throwing things in the oven and forgetting about them. I made a triple batch, so we could have them two nights. I love leftovers. I simply sprayed a 9×13 inch pan, spread a little marinara sauce on the bottom, placed my raviolis out in one layer, then topped them with some more sauce. Bake them at 350 for 45 minutes and you’re all set!! They are sooo good. Even my gluten eating brother loved them. Even my gluten and meat eating dad loved them.

IMG_0075

I just had to throw this in here. Dinner of champions much??? Gotta love (veggie/gluten-free) hot dogs and (dairy-free/gluten-free) macaroni and cheese!!! I had like, 2 more helpings of noodles, fuurr shuurr.

Welp, that’s about all I’ve got for now. Ok. That’s a lie. I’ve got a picture of Dwight.

IMG_0071

Lazy day yesterday for Dwight!!! He looks so sleepy. And just one more, I promise, that’s the last one.

IMG_0064

It’s a Dwight taco. He got stuck in the couch. Silly kitty.

Do you follow recipes exactly, or do you change them up a bit?? Have you been eating anything good lately?? 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Simple Snacks are the Best

14 Jan

Sometimes we often overlook the simple things in life for the more flashy, sophisticated things. But sometimes the simple things are the best.

When I was younger, my mom used to make this snack that she simply called “Oats”. Technically, you could call it granola, but we always just called it “oats”. Recently I was thinking about them, and made her dig out her old recipe card. And when I call it old, it’s old.

IMG_0089

See what I mean? All smeary, and even some sort of stain. I think it’s vanilla. Anyway, there weren’t a lot of instructions on this index card. Actually, there were none. I added the 1/4t of salt (Never trust a recipe that doesn’t have salt in it.) and the “350 for 20-25min”.

They were delicious. Most of it comes out in these chewy, granolay chunks, and then theres a little left at the bottom that’s perfect over yogurt, in a smoothie, or with milk as cereal. It’s like two snacks in one! The spice is pretty basic, but there’s lots of room to change things up!! How much fun would it be to add cocoa powder and some cayenne pepper?

CIMG6244

Mmmm. Check out those clumps of granola!!

It’s ridiculously simple as well.

Oats
2 3/4 cups oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Old Fashioned Oats)
1/2 cup sugar
1t vanilla
1 egg, beaten (Or, 1 replacer egg. I used an actual egg, but I plan on trying it with a substitute soon!! Maybe a banana!)
1/2 cup water
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Once the oats are coated, dump them out onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment, or sprayed with oil.

IMG_0072

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes. The oats on the edges will start to get crispy.

CIMG6241

Not going to lie, I ate these all by myself. In like a day. It’s a great grab and go snack!!

Do you have any recipes that are so simple to make, but so good? What types of add ins or flavors do you like in your granola? I’m looking for some ideas to spice this recipe up!! 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salsa Stuffed Avocados

9 Jan

Hey Ya’ll!! Thanks for all of your comments on my last post. I’m glad not everyone thought my New Years plans were lame. (Or if you did, thanks for not mentioning it, haha)

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m not doing New Years resolutions like I have in the past. It just gets too overwhelming, so I’m making a few small goals each month. This way, hopefully I’ll get these things in my system, and they’ll become second nature once the month is up, and I’ll continue to do them, as well as making new goals.

Speaking of goals, one of my goals for January is to try at least one new recipe each week. (To blog about.) This either means a new to me recipe, or a recipe that I’ve created.

I kicked things off by making a variation of this Baked Avocado Salsa the other night for dinner. They were AMAZING. Her photos are better, but I’ll show you one of mine:

IMG_0061

Soooo good. I tried cooking with avocado once before, I think I put it in enchiladas or something, and the texture and taste was way to weird. Definitly not like raw avocado. But these don’t bake for very long, so it didn’t get funky.

I changed the recipe up a little, and here is how I did it.

Salsa Stuffed Avocados 
Serves 4

2 avocados, cut in half with the pits removed
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
10 cloves roasted garlic, chopped
1T olive oil
1T pomegranate infused red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
A few grinds of Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning

For the Breadcrumb topping:
1/3 cup bread crumbs (I used the ends from some Udis GF bread that I had in the freezer)
1T nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together the tomato, onion, olives, garlic, oil, vinegar, and seasonings. Scoop out a little extra avocado from each half. You want to scoop out maybe a tablespoon from each one. Not too much, you still want some avocado to eat!!

Place the avocados on a baking sheet, and divide the salsa filling among them evenly.

Mix the breadcrumb topping ingredients together, and divide evenly among the four avocado halves. Place on top of the salsa filling.

Bake for 7 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Eat immediately! (Although, I bet they would taste good as leftovers too)

Here’s the final shot of them baked and with the topping:

IMG_0062

These make a great side dish, but I bet if you put some black beans in the salsa they would be great as a main dish as well!! I love me some healthy fats.

Have you ever cooked avocado before? How did you feel about it? For those of you who made New Years resolutions, how are they going?? 

Another question for all of you awesome cooks out there. Rice Makers. Any recommendations? We’ve had one for at least ten  years, and a few weeks ago it just quit on us. : ( Ironically, just a few days after our dehydrator started smoking. (Who knew they were even capable of that?) We live in a pretty remote area, and the Bed Bath and Beyond closest to us only sells one model, so I was wondering if any of you had any rice makers out there that you loved? I’m not looking for anything too expensive, but I do want one that has different grain settings, so let me know!!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Back to School

7 Jan

Blaaahhh. Just that tittle makes me sad. Well, kind of. I’ve had three awesome weeks off, where I only got done one or two of the eight million things I had planned to do. It has been nice. But I like the structure of schoolwork. I’m weird. I know.

I’ve got a few photos to dump on you from my new years. I mentioned in my last post that on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve my family has a dinner full of appetizers. This year was tricky, as I’m dairy, meat, and gluten free. But, we managed to do it!!

IMG_0046

Look at that veggie tray!!! It’s always my favorite thing because it looks so pretty. and is delicious.

IMG_0047

Soooooo much food! We had a veggie tray, crackers and pretzels, pigs in a blanket, meatballs (both veggie and meat versions) spinach dip, bbq tofu, pasta salad, taco dip, and an amazing flatbread that I recreated from a restaurant we had it at while on vacation last summer. I didn’t get any good photos of it, but I plan on making it again soon and posting a recipe for it!

Here is a photo of my (first) plate:

IMG_0048

Yum! That taco dip is my soul mate. I’m sure of it. I’m working on a variation of the recipe that uses a cashew based dip instead of the mayo/sour cream layer. Exciting stuff, I know.

My new years eve plans were kind of lame (to some people anyway, I had a lot of fun). I skyped with my best friend who lives in New York and we had a couple drinks via skype, haha. You can call me lame. It’s ok. I’m used to it.

I’ve also had a lot of fun reading everyone’s new years resolutions on their blogs. They’ve definitly inspired me to make a few goals myself. I never tend to stick to new years resolutions though, so I’m trying something different this year. I’m going to make three to five small goals each month. I’m hoping that this will help me stick to them, instead of making a million goals that I’ll have to try and remember all year. I’ve got my goals for January set, and some of them are kind of silly. For example, one of them is to wear a different pair of shoes to work everyday. I have soooo many different shoes, but I always end up wearing my Toms every day. And as much as I love them, they wear out rather quickly.

IMG_0059

See what I mean? They need a break. I know that you all wanted to see a picture of my gross worn out shoes.

Another one of my January goals is to try and post to the blog at least twice a week, and to try a new recipe each week. So hopefully I’ll be blogging more often, and have some interesting recipes to share soon!!

Did you do anything exciting on New Years Eve? What are some of your New Years Resolutions? 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s Virtual Vegan Potluck Time!!

1 Nov

I am so so so excited for this you guys. The first time Annie over at An Unrefined Vegan hosted one, I was like, I gotta get in on that. But I ended up being to lazy and never signed up. This time, I was not about to not participate.

I whipped up an awesome dessert to share with you guys today, but first, some introductions! I love the idea of this potluck, because I am hoping on finding about a bazilion fun new blogs to read. Some of you are probably new to my little corner of the blog world, so let me introduce myself. I’m Liz. You can read more about me here. But that’s not important. I want to introduce you to my plus 1 for this potluck. (Potlucks have plus one’s, right? He’s really cute. I promise.)

This is my new kitty, Balto.

I told you he was cute. Sometimes he likes to pretend he’s a book and hang out on the bookshelf.

Anyway, now onto the food! (Making new friends is fun, but food is the best part of a potluck, amiright?)

I’m pretty proud of this recipe, it’s my first official try at from scratch gluten-free baking since I was told I was gluten intolerant. And it’s delicious and vegan! What more could you ask for? (Answer: harsher punishments for parole violators, Stan. And world peace. That’s what more you could ask for. maybe?)

Donuts! Delicious fluffy pumpkin donuts with fudgey chocolate frosting, and fall sprinkles!

But before we dig right in, can we get off track for a moment? I’m sure a lot of you have Vitamix blenders. I’ve had one for a while now. But I have never used the “dry” blender attachment until this recipe. And criminy you guys, why didn’t anyone tell me it worked that well? I wanted to whip up some quinoa flour for this recipe, and I was almost a little annoyed because I had to get the blender out, and then I was going to have to wash it. I think it took me longer to get the thing out than it did to actually grind the quinoa into flour.

Amazing.

Nooooowwww time for the recipe. I promise! This recipe is adapted from the Vanilla gluten freedom cupcakes from this amazing book. The frosting was as well!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting
Makes 12 delicious donuts

For the donuts:
1 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 T ground flax seed
1/3 cup almond meal
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2t pumpkin pie spice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your donut pan. (Mine is nonstick, but I grease it anyway.)

In a mixing bowl, combined the coconut milk, pumpkin, sugar, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the tapioca flour and flax seed, and stir it up.

Add the almond meal, white rice flour, quinoa flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix the crap out of it. For like 2 minutes. Or thee. It’s your call. (Let’s say 2 1/2?)

Fill your donut pan about 3/4 full. They don’t raise an awful lot, but you don’t want them splooging out of the pan or anything. Then you’d have funky donuts. But I promise you, they’d still taste good.

Bake these for about 15 minutes, until they bounce back when you poke them. (Or, just BAKE THEM UNTIL THEY’RE DONE. That’s what my chefs in culinary school always told me. It drove me crazy.)

When you take them out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then, remove them, and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Now it’s time for the best part, the frosting!

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

2T vegan butter substitute (I use Earth Balance sticks)
1/4 cup agave syrup
1t vanilla extract
3T cocoa powder
1/4 cup soy milk powder
3T coconut milk
Optional- a pinch of ginger

Whip the futter (That’s what we call vegan butter, or “fake butter” over here at A Tablespoon of Liz) with the agave and vanilla until it’s combined and there are no awkward chunks of futter hanging around.

Add the cocoa powder, and once it is mixed in add the soy milk powder and ginger. Then beat it, beat it, and beat it. until it gets lighter in color and fluffy. As you do this you’ll want to add the coconut milk, one tablespoon at a time.

Then bam, all you have to do is frost your donuts! And before you know it, there will only be a few bites left because your family will have eaten them all.

Bother.

Thank you all so so so much for stopping by for a bite! Continue the party by going forward or backward to see who else joined the potluck!!

   

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It Warms the Cockles of Your Heart

29 Oct

Has anyone else heard that phrase before? Does anyone else think the word “cockles” sounds gross? I had a friend in college tell me that about the chili she was eating once, and I was like wwwhhhhaaaatttt? Whatever a cockle is, I don’t want them, and I don’t want to warm them. But then I googled it and don’t worry you guys, it’s legit.

I know I’ve made chili here on the blog before, but I’m totally disowning that chili. I’m not even going to link to it. This stuff is the real deal.

I know what you’re thinking. Liz, that looks like real cheese and sour cream on your chili there. Aren’t you lactose intolerant? Both of those answers is YES. But you guys, when I have real cheese and sour cream in the fridge I can’t just not eat it.

I had these things in the fridge because this chili was for a chili contest I was participating in at work and we wanted to have fancy toppings. We got 4th place, out of 8, but I’m pretty proud. This was vegetarian chili, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to central Indiana, but people don’t take kindly to vegetables here. One man wouldn’t try it because it had “too many vegetables in it” I was like, YOU’RE A 30 YEAR OLD MAN AND YOU’RE AFRAID TO EAT A SPOONFUL OF VEGETABLES?” If I didn’t have to be polite, I would have called him a coward.

Oh well. We did have people come over and say, “I hear you guys have a really good vegetarian chili.” I was like uuummm, no. We have a really good chili. period. Whatevs. There was one vegetarian girl there who kept coming back for more. She was excited.

So much chili you guys!

And thanks to my awesome boss, for not giving me crap about not putting meat in it. She sometimes gives me a hard time, but she’s really respectful of my foodie choices.

bubbling away

I ended up making 2 batches of this stuff. It could feed an army. Everyone also said that it would win the award for most colorful, prettiest, and healthiest. After all, we do eat with our eyes! Also, it had beer in it. What more could you ask for?? I was looking for a darker beer, but my local Krogers had this stuff, and I was like ohmygoshIhavetotrythatit’sglutenfreeyougys! I needed 2 for the chili, and drank the other 4. Out of all the things that are gluten free that I wish would taste like their gluteny counterparts, beer is not the first on the list. But this stuff tasted just like beer.

So since this is 4th place award winning (4th place is an award, after all) chili, I’m assuming you guys want the recipe. I got my inspiration for this from the many “vegetarian chili” recipes my boss printed out while we were supposed to be working. I took things from each one that I liked. I’ll give you the amounts for just one recipe, if you want to feed an army, just double it.

4th Place (but really, way better than that) Chili

3- 15oz cans diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto beans
7oz can diced green chilis
1-2 chilis in adobo sauce (Sooooo spicy!)
3 cloves garlic
2 onions
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 T olive oil
1 bottle beer
2 cups vegetable stock
1 T chili powder
1 t salt
1 T oregano
1 T cumin

Optional: some grinds of Trader Joes everyday seasoning, and South African seasoning (I like the South African one because it’s smokey!!)

1. Chop the onions, and peppers. (You can use all green peppers if the other ones are crazy expensive, but they do make it so pretty and colorful!) pour the tablespoon of oil into a big ole pot and add the onions and peppers once it’s hot. Let them hang out for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to overcook the onions. Everyone is going to get to know each other in the pot. (Virtual high five if you can tell me what TV show that’s from!!!!) 

2. Chop the garlic, and chiles in adobo sauce, and add them to the pot with the green chiles, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.

3. Once the mixture is simmering, ad the spices, beer, and veggie stock. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring every once in a while.

Feel free to add some veggie meat crumbles to the recipe if that’s your thing! You can serve this with sour cream (real or soy) cheese (or cheeze!) green onions, and crushed tortilla chips. It is a little spicy, so if you want it to be less spicy, take out some of the green chilies, chiles in adobo sauce, or chili powder. If you like it super spicy, add more!

Have you ever entered any form of cooking or food contest? 

Also, please tell me someone knows the onion/chili reference I mentioned earlier?!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kitty!

29 Aug

Pronounced: “Kitta-yh” of course.

Isn’t she adorable? Sadly, she isn’t mine. She’s our neighbors cat, and is extremely friendly. With everyone. I call her (Pardon my French!) The kitty whore of the neighborhood. She gets around. Meowing outside everyone’s doors and windows. But I love her anyway.

She loves rolling around, and playing with my mom’s laser pointer. (Where does that red light come from? Regardless, she can never catch it. It drives her crazy!)

Our neighbor told us her name, but I can’t remember it. So I just call her Kitta-yh. It fits. I love it when she meows outside my window!

I asked if I could get some treats for her, and the neighbors said it was ok! I looked at the grocery store, and all of the brands contained some sort of chicken or fish “meal” and while I know that cats need meat in their diet to survive, I just don’t want to take part in it. She can get her meat from her food. I looked at Whole Foods, and they didn’t have any cat treats! I decided I would make her some, but can’t find a good recipe.

Does anyone have a vegetarian cat treat recipe? 

(Crappy photo of a) Whole Foods salad, for the win!!! I only get these about every six weeks, so I pile those veggies on! I was a little upset, they didn’t have the normal tags listing the ingredients up, so there was a few things I didn’t get, as I was afraid they had gluten in them. : / Oh well. I think I got enough!

I also got these at Trader Joes… I had no idea what they were! They’re alright.  And very spicy. I don’t think I would go out of my way to get them again. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I’m craving ethnic, particularly Thai food lately. Maybe it’s because most Thai “ramen” instant noodle bowls use rice noodles and are gluten free. I’m a sucker for simplicity.

I have another thing I need your guy’s help with. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but my chocolate mint plant, (Yes chocolate mint! It’s a little more mellow on the mint with just a teensy tiny hint of chocolate…) is taking over my yard. Case in point:

Does anyone know a good way to ship fresh herbs? Because if I find a way that works, I’d be totally willing to send some to whoever wants some! (Provided the demand’s not too high and I’ve got some left) I thought about just drying it all, but dried herbs only last about a year, and fresh herbs are so much fun. So I wanted to share. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Lastly, THIS is the greatest blog I’ve ever seen. I’ve got a whole new respect for Suri Cruise. (Even though I know she’s not the one who’s really writing it.) Have you ever seen “Suri’s Burn Book” before?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Summer Lovin’

22 Aug

And by lovin’ I mean eating. Duh.

Summer is the time for….

Corn on the cob! And of course, french fries (Garlic fries from Trader joes. Has anyone had these? They are amazing!! And unfortunately for me, contain wheat. Something I did not know until I stocked up on a few more bags. lame. bye bye fries.) and, veggie dogs! Do you like my array of condiments? I can never decide.

Fresh Veggies! Fun story, when I was younger, I hated asparagus. I thought it tasted like cat pee. (Don’t even ask how I knew what that tasted like, I don’t think it was from personal experience) But, my cousin roasted some up on Easter, and I can’t get enough of the stuff now! I dress ‘em up real simple, just 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, and Trader Joes everyday seasoning. I know roasting isn’t’ really a summer cooking method, but I never seem to do what’s normal.

 

(veggie) Burgers! On a bed of lettuce, onion, and slathered in condiments. Sometimes, I think I’m just in it for the condiments.

 

Veggie filled salads! Plates like these are my favorite. I just pile a million veggies on, and I’m all set. This one is a romaine salad with onions, walnuts, strawberries, and golden raisins. On the side is a garlic dill pickle, half an avocado, more strawberries, carrot chips, cucumber, and hummus with some tahini. yummy.

Fresh fruit and berries! Summer is pretty much the best time for fresh everything. here, I’m lovin’ (No spell check, not “login’”) some fresh raspberries, puffins cereal, and coconut milk yogurt.

 

This last picture isn’t really a ‘summer’ thing, but I thought I would show you how I used up some of the leftovers from the Taco Tuesday I told you about yesterday. More taco salad! I love it. I think this one had chips crunched up on the bottom with refried beans on them, then piled in lettuce and veggie goodness, before being doused in sour cream and salsa. When I get on a taco salad kick, it lasts for days.

What are some of your favorite foods? What foods are you looking forward to eat once fall arrives? I know you can eat pumpkin and hot cocoa and apple cider year round, but they’re just better in the fall. One thing that makes me super sad about fall is Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale hits stores. And sadly, this is the first fall I won’t be able to partake in it’s pumpkin pie like goodness because I’m g-free now. : / I’m definitly going to have to explore some gluten free beers soon!

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 193 other followers