Breakfasts: 

Lots of the same colors but very different tastes and textures. 

This is a sampling of some recent morning menus. Better start getting more colorful with this, the most important meal of the day. These were all scoring high in the yum dept. though.

Still getting the hang of the new Espresso machine.
Morning lattes are big, bold and awesome.

Soy chorizo, cheese and eggs wrapped in wheat and flax tortillas. 

Pumpkin Oatmeal - topping was apples and nuts.

Almond, Orange, Blueberry Pancakes.
Another Joy The Baker recipe.
Big thumbs up. Super tasty.

Kale egg scramble and Belgian blueberry spelt waffles.

Irish Soda bread - just had to do it for St. Patrick's Day.
Very cool and easy in the iron skillet.

Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes - needed to use up the pumpkin.
These are so light and fluffy, thanks to whipped egg whites. 

Inspired Indian

Namaste! The Mrs. took a class with DanaTreat, local blogger + cook extraordinaire. Indian Vegetarian - with emphasis on Southern Indian dishes. A dinner for 4 had to be made. Here's what came next:

Found this photo online and it shows a small sampling of some of the 

most often used spices. Turmeric and saffron, cloves and cardamom, 

all very important to this cuisine. All pack a punch, even just the smallest amounts.

It's really all in the prep. Here we have some garlic, the curry leaves (thanks Dana),

potatoes and ginger. There is an onion waiting in the wings. It will be chopped too. 

The frozen peas and cinnamon sticks were such cool additions to the rice dish.

As were the cashews. It was probably the biggest hit of the night.

Bay leaves, the nuts and a spice assortment really added a rustic

flair to this delicious Basmati rice side dish. 

Chutney (prepared by sister-in-law), naan (Trader Joes), 2 potato vindaloo, curry rice and turmeric chicken (also sis-in-law's making).

Plus some plain yogurt to cool down your palette. Oh yes, there was some spice happening.

The minty-cilantro chutney was good for that too. Definitely a very balanced flavor event going on.

Plating the food, trying to get one more picture before we devoured it all. 

We actually had some leftovers (see below) for the next night, but very little. We are looking forward to using up the spices in different recipes in the coming weeks. 
Thanks again to Danatreat for the inspiration & for the curry leaves & just being awesome. 


Here are some links if anyone wants to try these dishes: Two Potato Vindaloo and Turmeric Garlic Chicken (this is close to what was made). I can post or email the other recipes too.


Everything came out amazing! My main advice about cooking Indian food is: prep, prep, prep. Most the recipes have a lot of ingredients and it helps to have everything measured and cut and chopped.  


Here's what the next night's dinner of leftovers plate looked like, not bad! 

Tempting Tempeh

Guest contributor/collaborator/wife/aka the Mrs. is responsible for the following post.
Take it away:

Sometimes, while wandering around the grocery store, random things will end up in the basket, with no pre-planned menu ideas whatsoever. Occasionally, tempeh is one of these items. On it's own, it doesn't look particularly appetizing.  This time we thought it needed some livening up and this Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh recipe from 101cookbooks.com  seemed really appealing so why not give it a try? Plain quinoa and some roasted green beans (from thekindlife.com-one of our faves) are also on this last minute menu.  Let's get to chopping and prepping now.....see how easy my hubby makes it seem? He is an excellent chopper!

Chopping the garlic for the glaze on the tempeh.
Fresh squeezed oranges really added the flavor punch to this dish.

Here's the glaze - fresh with citrus and garlic and ginger.
We didn't have cilantro or cloves, so they were omitted. 

Roasted green beans were a nice side dish.
We used Trader Joe's frozen beans.

Sizzling, naked tempeh.

Presto! And just like that, it is a beautiful  orange-y brown.
The crispy factor makes all the difference and it smells so good.

Plated, on to a bed of quinoa.
Healthy and relatively quick.


Here are links to the Tempeh and Green Beans recipes.
We would definitely make these dishes again.  

Mom's Mac and Cheese

Here is my mom's mac and cheese recipe. I call it my mom's as she is the only one I remember making it. Although I found out that it's my great great grandmother's recipe. They were farm folks and I guess this was a staple. As it was cheap , easy and filling.

This is a little different then most mac and cheese. I refer to it as a dry mac and cheese. you can make as much or as little as you want and there is no real recipe or measurements. You can use any style macaroni and any type of cheese. The recipe I'm posting is what my mom made.

What you need:

Cheddar cheese (a lot)

Elbow macaroni (a pound)

Butter (at least a stick)

Saltine crackers (Sleeve)

13X9 pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook elbow macaroni and drain. Shred or slice cheese.

Butter the bottom of the pan then do a layer of macaroni, some pats of of butter, then a layer of cheese and repeat to you reach the top of the pan.

Now crush the crackers by hand until you have covered the whole pan. Add a little more butter to the top and throw into the oven.

Bake until the bubbly and the butter is melted and you have a nice golden brown top. Roughly about 20 minutes. Although it's not gooey like most, I still love this recipe. It's simple and you can vary it to your liking. I have made smaller batches and mixed cheeses. If you have any version of the 4 ingredients you can make it.

Enjoy

Not Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burger

This recipes comes after seeing Oprah's favorite Turkey Burger. After I looked at the recipe I made my version and WOW, crazy delicious!


Recipe:
1/2 Pound Ground Turkey
1/2 Green Apple Diced
1tblsp Chutney (I use Trader Joes Apple Cranberry)
1tblsp Salsa (I feel this could be optional)
1 to 2 Green onion (depends on size of green onion)
1 tsp Olive olive
6 Saltine Crackers crushed (whatever crackers you have on hand will do)
Pepper


Mix it all together and form patties. This recipes makes 2 good size patties. When the patties are cooking don't worry about how brown they are getting. The sugars in the apple, onion and chutney are carmelizing.


I have made them with all white ground turkey and a mix of white and dark. The white and dark mix comes out so moist. Use can use whatever you want, they still come out amazing.


ENJOY!

Coconey Smoothie

So for the first post, I decided to do something that I have been obsessed with for the last 3 months. A coconut smoothie. A friend of ours (Susan Courtney) introduced us to this. It will fill you up without weighing you down. It's great for lunch. You will be using mostly ingredients that you have never used before. One being a whole Thai coconut. You have seen them in the store and never thought twice about it. Coconut and the water inside is so good for you.
Here is a list of what you will need:
Raw Organic Cacao Powder ( I get this at whole foods. It's $9.98 for an 8oz bag. )
Thai Coconut (or Coconut water) I prefer the whole coconut.
Bananas
Rice Milk (You can use any milk, regular, soy and rice)
Ice

Recipe:
1 1/2 to 2 cups Coconut water (thats how much each Thai Coconut yields)
Flesh of the coconut (Scrap the inside of the coconut)
2 heaping Tbsp of Raw Cacao Powder
2 to 3 Bananas (depends on size of bananas)
1 cup Rice Milk
1 Heaping Tbsp of Psyllium Husk (optional)
1 Handful of ice

Opening the coconut is tricky and gets easier the more you do it. So get a strong knife and give it a whack. Hack a small opening at the top. Pour water into blender
and scrape the inside of the coconut of all it's fleshy goodness.




Then add the cacao powder, bananas and ice.
Blend it up until smooth.

I call that the basic power smoothie. You can build on that anyway you want. I add Psyllium husk, blueberries or what every frozen fruit I get at Trader Joe's. Whole Foods has frozen Acai which is so good and good for you. So enjoy it anyway you want. Leave a comment on what you do to make it your own.