50 shades of purple

I really have no idea what I'm doing when I title posts sometimes...
I almost hate starting a sentence with "I saw this recipe on Pinterest", just because it's used so much it almost makes my head spin.  I love Pinterest and it's such an amazing source for inspiration.  But errrrrrrrrrrrbody is on Pinterest and it's becoming so big that I rarely go a week without hearing or saying the phrase "Oh, I got it from Pinterest!".  But I did get this idea for a recipe from Pinterest.  I am part of the phenomenon.  I'm cool with it.

I had some beets that had been forgotten (poor beets) in the back of my crisper and was so excited to try the beet hummus I'd seen.  But I only had 2 or 3 small beets. So I tweaked the original recipe I'd seen and roasted the beets I had and then combined them with the usual chick peas.  It's a hybrid!

Roasted Beet Hummus

- 2 or 3 small to medium sized beets, rinsed
- 1 tblsp olive oil for roasting
- 1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tblsp tahini
- 2 tblsp olive oil
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (optional.  I like to add it just to make the hummus extra creamy.  Yum.)
- salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400.  In a baking dish, place rinsed beets and drizzle with olive oil.  Cover dish with a lid and bake for 35-40 minutes.  After beets have cooled, remove skin.

In a food processor, pulse roasted beets, chick peas, garlic, tahini, olive oil, cumin, turmeric, lemon juice, yogurt, and salt until well combined and smooth.

Serve with homemade pita bread (recipe here), veggies, or chips.


Not only is this hummus SO pretty to look at, but it's sweet and roasty and divine.

Stop asking me for chips!

Have I mentioned to you that my kids don't like sugar?  It's weird.  And they didn't get it from me.  In their 2 and a half years they have winced and spit out ice cream, chocolate, cupcakes, whipped cream, peanut butter, jam, candy, and rice crispy treats.  What the crap is up with these little people?!  I'm sure, at some point in their lives that will change.  But as it stands, they have no interest in sweets. 

They do, however, love fruit.  Nature's candy.  Why can't I just be satisfied with that?  They also LOVE chips.  Can't get enough of'm.  I get asked for chips on a daily basis.  And I say no plenty of times, but it is the one bit of junk food they eat.  They've still never had fast food (fast food isn't fast in the country, y'all), they don't eat anything fried at home, what a couple of chips now and then?

And then, out of nowhere, I remembered one of my favorite things to eat when I was a kid:  Apple chips.  Oh yeah.  Sweet and tart and crunchy.  So good and not a thing wrong with them.  They satisfy your chip craving while also keeping away medical professionals!  I love it!

It's like little apple pie chips, is what it's like.  My kids LOVE apples. And they LOVE chips.  Apple Chips?  This is going to be like Christmas in July! 

They wanted nothing to do with them.

They looked at me like, "Mom, this doesn't look like an apple OR a tortilla chip?  Stop yankin' my chain."  But had they at least tried them, man would they have been in heaven.  Whatever.  Sometimes kids are weird.  Or, rather, sometimes my kids are weird.  They don't like rice crispy treats!  Obviously they're weirdos.

Adorable weirdos.

What's this post about?  Oh yeah - Apple chips.

Cinnamon Apple Chips

- 3 firm apples (I used Fuji.  Try Gala, Granny Smith, or Pink Lady apples if you'd rather)

- 1 lemon, juiced

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 2 tsp raw sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Slice apples with a mandolin or a paring knife, about 1/8" thick. 

In a bowl, mix apple slices, lemon juice, and cinnamon, until apples are well coated.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place apple slices on the baking sheet, making sure they aren't touching.  Bake for about an hour and then flip the apple slices so that they cook evenly, and cook for an additional hour or more, until they are crispy.

Note:  Apple chips will be a little flimsy when they come out of the oven, but after cooling they'll crisp up completely.

These are one of my favorite snacks still.  I mean who doesn't love chips you can eat all day and not feel bad about?  No one.  That's who.

Cold as ice

I don't wanna harp on summer heat too much.  Everyone does it.  I do it.  It's hard not to.  IT'S FREAKING HOT.  Ever since I was a teenager, summer was the ideal time for me to lose some weight because it was so hot I couldn't even eat.  It was just carrot sticks and apples and spinach salad.  I grew up in Florida and the humidity was like being hugged by a sumo wrestler.  Buh.

So that's what brought me to making salad for lunch all this week.  After a rainy couple of weeks, where things seemed to cool off, it's back to raging heat.  I may as well take advantage of this appetite suppressing weather and eat like a bird.  I got some ROCKIN' green dream pants for my birthday and while they technically will go on me, they are far too tight.  Mayhaps the heat will have me in my dream pants by fall!

(Don't worry...I eat like a bird for breakfast and lunch...but by dinner, the temp has dropped and I is ready to chow.  Come'ere kit kats!)

Do you know about jicama?  I think I heard about it on Chopped, maybe.  It's kind of like a cross between a carrot and a pear.  Slightly sweet, nice a crunchy, packed with water.  I've seen it in fruit salad just as much as I've seen it paired with veggies.  It's at The Pig in Batesville, but if you don't have it around, you could use parsnips or turnips even.  It's a salad.  You can use whatever you want!

But I recommend, no matter what your salad consists of, that you try this kiwi vinaigrette.

Kiwi Vinaigrette

- 3 ripe kiwi (the kiwi should have a little bit of give to it when you squeeze it)

- 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar (or cider vinegar, or white balsamic)

- pinch of salt

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor until well combined and serve.  Store in an air tight container.

You could also try this with mangoes, strawberries, or blackberries.  Just a thought.  A delicious thought.

Getting rid of the Monday's

Pancakes are a tradition in our house, on the weekends.  Pancakes pretty much guarantee that all four of us will be around the table at the same time, sharing a meal.  Joe works in the evenings and I'm running around like a crazy person, trying to keep all the plates spinning, so Saturdays and Sundays are pretty important when it comes to family time, particularly meal time.  We did our traditional pancakes together on Saturday and I guess they really stuck with the kids this time, because Charlie asked me for pancakes first thing this morning.  They're easy to throw together and I thought "why not?".  I'm out of eggs and as I started thinking about it, I kind of wanted to avoid another heavy breakfast for them.  It's really a once a week kind of thing.  Yeah, I'm annoying.  And then I was starting to get things together and I thought I'd go crazy and take out all of the dairy products.  Replace the butter with coconut oil and the milk with soy milk.  Now it's healthier AND it's something I can share with niece, who has to eat completely diary free.

I have to say, after making all these changes...these pancakes tasted EXACTLY THE SAME as any other pancake.  Looked the same.  They're the same.  Crazy.

Here's a big tip I've discovered along the way of vegan baking.  Letting your batter for cakes or breads or pancakes, rest for 5 to 10 minutes, after you've mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, will help everything bind together...which is the point of eggs in most baking recipes.  When I first mixed this batter together it was incredibly runny.  After sitting for 5 minutes, it was thick like batter should be. 

Ok, I didn't eat or serve this many pancakes at one time.  That would be ridiculous.  Well, it would be ridiculous for me to SAY I would eat this many pancakes at once.  What I say and what I do, on rare occasion, don't match.  All of that is to say, I would eat 5 pancakes in no time flat.  But here's what's nice about these pancakes - you're cutting out eggs, butter, and milk.  That's a lot of fat you're cutting out.  I did the math and these pancakes are 107 calories a piece.  Add a teaspoon of honey (I hate maple syrup, by the way.  The smell, the taste, all of it.  But you can use it if you're brave), some strawberries and blueberries and it's about the same as a bowl of granola and yogurt.  You could make a big batch, freeze what you don't eat, pop them in the toaster on the morning you wanted one, and boom - you gots pancakes.  It's a nice shake up in your breakfast routine.  

I'm making such a big deal out of the easiest thing in the world to cook.  But it's nice to have a healthy, tasty spin option.

Egg Free, Dairy Free, So Good Pancakes

- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1 cup soy milk

- 1 tsp honey

- 1 tblsp vegetable oil

- 1 tblsp water

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 2 tblsp coconut oil

Combine all dry ingredients together and mix slightly.  Add milk, oil, water, and vanilla.  Stir together until just combined, being careful not to over mix (over mixing makes your pancakes flat-so).  It's ok if it's lumpy - it should be!  Set the bowl aside to rest for a few minutes.

Melt the coconut oil on a skillet over medium heat.  Once melted, pour the oil into the batter and stir into batter.  Return the pan to the heat.  Once pan is good and hot, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto pan and let it cook until bubbles start to form on the surface.  Carefully flip onto other side and let cook until both sides are golden brown and cooked through. 

Add fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips to the batter if you like.  Or split your flours in half, using 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup wheat flour, and have whole wheat pancakes!

Get rid of them Monday's!



Cloudy with more than a chance of meatballs

It actually IS cloudy!  And there is more than just a chance that I'm going to give you a meatball recipe!  I'm pretty excited that post title worked out so well.  It's the little things.

So yesterday, while I was making my pesto, I also decided to put the large mound of tomatoes to good use and whip up some homemade spaghetti sauce.  I basically wanted to spend Monday putting together these bases for other dishes.  Between pesto and spaghetti sauce, I can do pasta, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, grilled chicken and veggies in pesto, eggplant Parmesan, the list goes on.  Dedicating one morning to making those two things, basically did all the menu planning for me.  Sweet! 

Homemade spaghetti sauce is something I recommend everyone try.  Especially right now while tomatoes are so delicious and ripe and perfect.  It's something you can freeze for those pink tomato months, also known as winter.  It takes a little while to cook, but doesn't require a lot of hands on time.  The smell is amazing and stays in your house for a good day in a half.  Which is pretty nice for me.  I'd much rather have my house smell like Little Italy than diapers, is all I'm sayin. 

Tomato Basil Spaghetti Sauce

- 8-10 medium ripe tomatoes

- 3 tblsp olive oil

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 bell pepper, chopped

- 4 cloves of minced garlic

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

- 1/4 tsp oregano

- 1/4 cup red wine

- 1 bay leaf

- 2 stalks of celery

- 2 tblsp tomato paste

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Have a large bowl of ice water ready.  Place whole tomatoes in the boiling water and let sit for 1-2 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and place immediately in ice water.  Let rest until cool enough to handle.  Remove the peel and squeeze out the seeds.  Chop  6-8 tomatoes and puree in a blender.  Chop the remaining tomatoes and set aside. 

In a large pot, over medium heat, cook garlic, onion, bell pepper, and carrots in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes.  Pour in pureed tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, basil, oregano, and wine.  Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in the pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 2 hours.  Stir in tomato paste and simmer for another hour.  Discard celery and bay leaf and serve.

Zucchini noodles are incredibly easy and delicious.  They get rid of those carbs you'd feel guilty about with regular pasta, they have a nice crunch to them, and they add such great color and flavor to the otherwise traditional spaghetti.  There are several ways to make these noodles.  You can use a vegetable peeler and get long ribbons of pasta, you could use a mandolin, a julienne peeler (which would be the best tool here...I don't have one, but if you do, go crazy with it!), or just cut the noodles with a knife, which is what I did. 

Zucchini Noodles

- 3-4 medium zucchini

- large pot of salted, boiling water

Bring salted water to a boil.  Cut zucchini lengthwise, into four parts, getting rid of the middle of the zucchini, where the seeds are.  Use a peeler, a mandolin, or a knife, to cut long noodles.  After noodles are prepared, drop in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes and drain and serve.

For the chicken meatballs, I used the Martha method I talked about here to turn my chicken breast into ground chicken.  But you can use ground turkey or chicken already packaged from the store.  I just didn't have it, so I had to get creative.

Lean Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

- 1lb ground turkey or chicken

- 1 large egg

- 1/2 cup bread crumbs or panko (I used panko...cuz I love me some panko, dawg)

- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 2 tblsp chopped parsley

- 2 tblsp olive oil

Combine chicken, egg, bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic, and parsley in a bowl.  Heat olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick skillet.  Once the oil is good and hot (when the oil gets fragrant), roll chicken mixture into golf ball sized balls and fry in the oil on all sides until cooked through.  Drain on a paper towel and serve.

Note:  This recipe will make 15 or so meatballs.  You can freeze the leftover meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet and pull out a few anytime you want to make this dish.  Look at that.  I just gave you awesome leftovers.  You're welcome.

Pesto is the best-o

Yeah.  I just wrote "pesto is the best-o".  And I don't care how lame that makes me.  I've made my peace with it.

On Sunday's, our little group of four usually travels to Joe's parents or my parents house for the day.  Just some family time, usually spent running around outside, with food and stories about our week, always interrupted by the kids and their adorable antics.  This past Sunday we spent with my mom and dad in Batesville.  As I've mentioned, dad has gone vegan, so eating over there these days means we'll be getting our required vegetable and fruit intake for the day and then some.  It was a pour down rainy day all day so it was perfect for comfort food.  Dad whipped up this vegan spinach, basil, and walnut pesto with some summer veggies over pasta.  Dad always makes the best food.  And with one bite I let him know I'd be stealing that recipe for pesto and posting it on the blog.  I also told him I'd give him credit. This is dad's recipe.  There. 

This recipe calls for nutritional yeast.  I don't want to post recipes with ingredients I can't get in rural Mississippi.  And nutritional yeast is something you can't get anywhere around here.  For those who aren't so rural and have access to Whole Foods or Trader Joes, you can easily find it.  And for my fellow country folk, you can purchase nutritional yeast from Nuts dot com for $7/8oz bag.  I've purchased through Nuts.com and they are speedy and reliable, with super awesome packaging (which always gets my attention).  A little goes a long way, so I recommend starting with 8 ounces.  It's a powder that is used as thickener for soups, or can be added to sauces or other recipes for a cheesy flavor.  It sounds really weird, I know.  But just try it.  I'll give you the $7 if you want.

And, look, you can use Parmesan cheese instead. 

Let me just show you the picture of the pesto before you get too weirded out by nutritional yeast...

Fun Fact:  You might know this, you might not.  Dad was telling me he went with spinach in his pesto because he's trying to incorporate low calorie, high nutrient and vitamin enriched vegetables into his diet, more.  Spinach has 7 calories per cup.  Know how many carbs it has?  One.  A carb.  A cup of spinach has a carb in it.  Cray cray.

Anyway. So there's that.



Spinach Basil Walnut Pesto

- 4 cups spinach
- 1 cup basil
- 1/2 cup of walnuts
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (or 1/4 cup grated Parmesan)
- salt to taste

In a food processor or blender, pulse all of the ingredients until smooth.  Add more garlic and salt to your taste.

Store in a jar or air tight container.  Mix in with warm noodles and sauteed vegetables, coat chicken breasts in pesto and bake, or spread on flat bread for pizza. 

This pesto is creamy and garlicky and bright. It's a comfort food you'll never feel bad about.  Get your vitamin A, K, C, and B on!

Snack attack

I made some super tasty veggie burgers yesterday (recipe to come...I gotta tweak it a little) and I needed a side.  Fries are the obvious choice.  But darn it all if I didn't have a single potato in my house.  Not one!  There's a never ending list of fries made with every vegetable imaginable.  Green beans, eggplant, carrots, asparagus...seriously it goes on forever.  And when I found this recipe on A Cozy Kitchen, I almost started chewing on my laptop.  Which I think goes against everything the manual would tell you to do.  Don't chew on your puter.

So I will rarely do this, but I'm just going to share this recipe exactly as it is.  I try to come up with my own stuff or put my own spin on recipes, but this is so perfect that it would just be silly to change a thing.  Polenta Fries.  Insane.  Have you had polenta?  My mom used to make it all the time.  It's so incredibly simple.  It's just milk and cornmeal, heated and stirred in a pot until it's thick.  Mom used to use it in chili pie recipes.  You can cool the mixture though and it makes a little cake.  This is what you'll do for the polenta fries, along with baking them until golden and crispy. 

Get ready to chew on your computer.

Baked Polenta Fries

- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cup cornmeal
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and more for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoons olive oil

Spray non-stick cooking spray on a baking sheet (or casserole dish). Bring milk, 1 cup water and butter to boil in heavy large saucepan. Gradually whisk in cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and cook until polenta is very thick and starts to pull away from sides of pan, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in cheese and salt. Add more salt if you like. Immediately transfer polenta to prepared baking sheet, spreading mixture to a 1-inch thickness. Mine filled up half of the baking sheet. No biggie. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and firm, about 1 hour. (You can totally do this a day ahead. Just be sure to cover and keep refrigerated.)

Cut polenta lengthwise in pan into three-inch-wide rectangles. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 3/4-inch-wide strips. Set polenta strips aside.

Preheat oven to 450F. Transfer polenta fries to lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with about a teaspoon of kosher salt and some olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the fries at the 10 minute mark. Fries, when done, will be slightly golden brown at the edges

Recipe via A Cozy Kitchen


Visit A Cozy Kitchen for a recipe for Chili Lime Mayo to dip these suckers in.  Or just do what I did and hit that classic ketchup.  Yeah, man.