Cake For Dinner!!

Yay

This reminds me of the Bill Cosby joke..Daddy's great giving us chocolate cake!! When he gave his kids cake for breakfast because it had eggs, flour, milk, all in one item figuring it would be prefect. Haha.

Well how about cake for dinner too! Sign me up! Well you may want to know what type of cake before you join me in line. ;]

Savory Quinoa Butternut Squash Kale Cakes

1/2 cup cooked kale
1/2 cup butternut squash puree
1 cup flaked quinoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon corriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons water (if necessary)

salsa and guacamole (to serve)

Preheat the oven (I use my toaster oven) to 375 degrees. Spray mini cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.

this has some nutritional yeast added to it

Mix the squash puree with the spices.

Add in the quinoa flakes.

Mix in kale and if it is too dry add in a few splashes of water.

Place batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes

until they are golden brown. You can top with a frosting of guac or some salsa.

as you can see I didn't top mine with the guac or salsa

I have also been playing with flavors for cakes but just haven't been taking pictures of them. One batch I made was pumpkin and spinach. Another was sweet potato and kale with walnuts and oats (along with quinoa flakes) topped with cinnamon apple cashew butter. Super good!! You know me any time I can eat cinnamon I'm trying it.

So the recipe above was from a few weeks ago and I just haven't been able to post it.

Right now I cannot eat any solid food =[ I just got my wisdom teeth out (yup all 4) and I have been on a liquid/soft foods diet. I had some canned tomato soup last night and today I made some oatmeal.

may not look special

I don't even know the last time I had oatmeal but it was amazing!! I just cooked up some regular oats, added a super ripe mashed banana and peanut butter powder.

not that appealing looking but tasted great

And for dinner I had some left over kale that I didn't want to go to waste and my friends dad grew asparagus and gave me some so I made a quick soup out of them. I also added some canned butternut squash to make it thicker (yes I have had a lot of canned squash around my house lately, I have been obsessed with making those squash quesadilla).

So until I can actually eat again...

Avocados

Who doesn't love them?? Cause you are crazy!

Yes the lovely green fruit is creamy, buttery, and fresh tasting and that some people don't like it... at all. It is just so versatile- dips, smoothies, add it to salads, heck I could just eat it straight out of the skin with a spoon (not that I have before or anything).

But my post today wasn't really to talk about avocados completely I just wanted to share with all of you how I celebrated my Cinco de Mayo- with a bunch of avocados. =] I think the best way to celebrate any thing is with tons of avocados! (Good fats people!)

What I did really want to share with you is yet another pumpkin recipe (one of these days I will stop eating it all the time, I promise).

Pumpkin Black Bean Dip

1/2 can of black beans, rinsed
1/2 can of pumpkin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle spice blend (or just chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro

Mash the black beans with spices.

Add in the pumpkin.

Mix in the parsley and serve!

Quick and easy. Feel free to double or triple the recipe and add more or less spice to your taste.

Dip what ever you like, me on the other hand dipped plantain chips yum!
Happy belated Cinco de Mayo!!

I believe some vegan, raw cheesecake recipes will be to come or cookie dough hummus...

Millet's Not Just For the Birds

Ha I am truly becoming what my brothers have always told me I was- a bird. They would always make fun of the food I ate saying it looked like bird food, well I have now proved them right. But Hey lots of people (vegan and vegetarians everywhere) eat millet all the time. It is a gluten free grain, sweet like corn, and is great when combined with quinoa.

I've been wanting to play around baking with the grain, so finally did it. I've been a little crazy with the lemon berry flavor combo lately so I decided to make a twist on a berry corn bread that I have seen on a few blogs that I follow. Instead of corn I used millet and for the berries I used blackberries. Yum!!

Millet Lemon Blackberry Bread

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 cups millet flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, prepare a 8x8 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Add lemon extract to the mashed bananas and nutmeg.

Fold in all the dry ingredients, when almost combined add the berries.

Pour into the pan and bake for 30 minutes turning the pan halfway during baking.

It has a corn bread-esk taste and the way it crumbles. Love it!

I also tried this new "cheese" made from almonds:

It is actually really good. I made a salad with it. A type of salad I use to make all the time but just haven't in a long time. It had tomatoes, olives, parsley, sauteed onions, garbanzo beans, hearts of palm, and quartered artichokes and the cheese with some lemon juice as a dressing.

Love it all together and marinated over night!

A Few Things

We all know I love pumpkin and can't get enough of it and I like trying new ways to eat it. One day for dinner last week I made a pumpkin and kale quesadilla with my favorite gluten free, brown rice wraps by Food For Life brand. They are super easy to make and yummy. I didn't really take pictures of the whole process in making them because you just spread some canned pumpkin on one side of the wrap, top it with sauteed kale and some cheese (can be any kind you like), fold over the other side and warm them up until the cheese is melted. You can customise it to how ever you like, I added tomatoes one time (wasn't a big fan of the tomatoes in it, they added to much juice and were super hot when trying to eat it) and corn the second time. Also the second time I mixed some cumin and coriander into the pumpkin to add some more flavor.

as you can tell this is with the corn

CHEESE!

YUM!

So I am figuring out my class schedule for next semester and I'm going to be getting up super early pretty much every day. I have been really wanting to get a better blender or magic bullet so I can make fresh smoothies for breakfast this way I can grab and go in the morning. I just need to invest in one soon. But for now I made myself a banana and kale "drink" I guess that's what I can call it or a smoothie for breakfast yesterday. I don't have a juicer so I just blended everything together with some water.  I could have probably used some almond or soy milk instead of water but didn't. It still came out tasting good. Next time I might add some oranges to cut the bitter kale taste but the banana I used was a frozen pretty ripe one so it added some sweetness to the drink. It felt to fresh and healthy and I loved it, so I definitely want to keep at it. Making my own that is instead of buying fresh juice drinks or smoothies cause that is just silliness.

super fresh and green!

Can't wait to plant my garden and start making some great fresh spring and summer dishes =]

<3

Gluten Free Don't Mean Taste Free

Gluten free- some people use it as a fad diet, some people don't fully understand it, some people actually need to be on a gluten free diet because their body can not handle wheat/gluten the protein found in wheat and wheat products. Scary thing is that manufactures put gluten in many things with out people even realizing it. One must read food labels!! And know your facts. I don't really want to go in depth for what to look out for here, but if you do have any questions leave a comment and I will get back to you! Always willing to help =]

So for my gluten free friends...I love inventing/creating gluten free treats because I do tend to eat gluten free time to time (wheat/grain foods are a thing I struggle with so trying to reincorporating it into my diet is tough for me).

Since it's Spring!!! I wanted to make a yummy Spring themed cake. So I took another take at lemon and poppy seeds flavor together.


Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Cake

3 medium bananas
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup oat flour or oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon arrowroot
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup water or almond milk (if needed)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 8 x 8 square pan with nonstick spray.

Mash the bananas, add in the coconut sugar and lemon extract.

Add on all the dry ingredients (everything but the blueberries and water).

Fold in the blueberries and water if the dough is too dry.

Spread into the prepared pan and bake to 30 to 35 minutes.

While it is still warm top with coconut butter or if you want to make an icing with powdered sugar and lemon extract, do. Allow to cool completely.

Serve.

I taste tested on my life group and it was a big hit. Super light and healthy feeling but sweet and satisfying at the same time!

Success!

<3 Spring love it...

Easter Time!

This is one of my favorite holidays. The story behind Easter, our Lord scarficing himself to take away our sins so that we can get into Heaven, simply the most moving touching powerful stories of all time. Love it!

At this time of the year I usually make periogies. I have for the past five or six years, but this year I didn't get the chance. I did find some in the back of my freezer, but since I haven't made them since last year, I think they are from then, I forgot all about them. Oops. So this year I made something a little different.

I've been on a pumpkin kick, again. I go through these a lot. I love pumpkin. So I made these pie like things today for dinner. My inspiration came from a dish my dad makes, we call them pastellos. They are dough stuffed with beef and spices, sofrito, capers, and olives. He then fries them and they are (were) really good. I use to bake some off for myself when I did still eat them, to be healthier. So I decided to make some with pumpkin. Almost like my pumpkin ragoies I made a while ago.

Pumpkin-llos

Dough:
3/4 cup whole wheat white flour
pinch of salt
2-4 tablespoons water

Filling:
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
pinch of salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and allspice and coriander

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a pan with parchment paper.

Mix the dough together and let it stand while to make the filling.

Mix the pumpkin and spices and nutritional yeast together.

Divide the dough into four sections,

roll them out on a floured surface. Place a quarter of the filling into the center of the dough, wet the edges, and

fold over the dough.

Using a fork, seal the edges and fork the center of each little pie.

Place on the sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until they are crispy.

Serve with what you like, I had some apple butter, hazelnuts, and kale.

Yum!

I also wanted to share another take on my cinnamon nut butter adventures. I made some with, what other than...PUMPKIN. Haha. I know. I go over board when I'm in the mood for something. It was really good, like better than I expected.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Almond Butter

2 tablespoon almond butter
3 tablespoon pumpkin
1 tablespoon or so of cinnamon

Dip what ever you wish in it! I had apples and pretzels.

Happy Easter! He has Risen! (He has risen indeed.)

<3

And in the Morning I'm Making Waffles

That is what both of my brothers said to me when they saw I was making waffles! Haha

So lots of thanks to Leeann's dad for getting me my awesome waffle maker (hopefully I don't break this one like I do with all other gadgets I have =/ but so far so good!) that has removable plates so it can also be one of those sandwich makers for grilled cheese and stuff. Can't wait to play with it more but my first waffles came out great.

Me being the way I am didn't have my waffles in the morning, nope, instead waffles for dinner!! Heck yea! But they weren't your normal waffles (come on guys look who's making them here). How about kale and waffles! No I didn't put the kale in the waffle batter, although next time....

Pumpkin Quinoa Waffles

1/2 cup quinoa flakes (see after the recipe)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon each ginger, coriander, salt, allspice, caraway seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin
1 tablespoon flaxmeal
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup water

Heat your waffle maker according to its instructions.

Mix together all the dry ingredients, and make the flax egg (the 1 tablespoon of water with the flaxmeal) and let it set up.

Add in the pumpkin and the flax egg.

Stir in the water.

Once the waffle maker is ready add in a 1/4 of the batter to each side of your waffle maker or if its one of those big waffles add half of the batter.

Let it cook, I let mine go twice through the cooking cycle to get it crispier.

Serve it up! I topped mine with cinnamon applesauce and kale on the side.

Look they even have waffles on the box!!

So, quinoa flakes???

They are like rolled oats but just quinoa. They can be added to recipes like oats can and also can be used to make like oatmeal only quinoa-meal? Ha I guess. I have some ideas for those quinoa flakes, so keep an eye out for them in the future! Oh and more waffles!!

<3