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Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispy Treats

February 13, 2013 by Erin

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All I want to do all day is make Valentine’s Day treats!!

I don’t know what has come over me. Half of me is like Grr! Valentine’s Day *insert bitter single person ranting about it being a commercial holiday*

BUT, the other half of me is like, But I just want to stay home all day and bake cute red and pink heart-shaped treats. And put Valentine’s Day Sprinkles on everything. And watch the Notebook while making cute Valentine’s Day cards and crying because Ryan Gosling is probably planning something cute for his real life girlfriend, Eva Mendez, aka, not me. Actually, I’ve move on (sort of)- I’m all about Ed Sheeran right now. I desperately need to get tickets to see him with Taylor Swift this summer or I may die. Not to be dramatic or anything…

Unfortunately, for my Valentine’s day- loving, Martha Stewart-wannabe side, I have that little thing called work that fills up most of my life. So instead of staying home all day and laboring over cute cupcakes with pink hearts inside, or red velvet heart-shaped pancakes, I have to find fast easy dessert that I can do in between work and my life.

Enter heart-shaped Rice Krispie hearts. Cute, easy and able to decorate with valentine’s day sprinkles. yes, please!

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Vegan Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
from A Kind Diet but Alice Silverstone; found on-line here; heart-shapes inspired by My Blessed Life

1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup
1 pinch sea salt
3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter (Alicia Silverstone suggests all-natural, unsweetened, unsalted. I used Teddy’s which is all-natural and unsweetened. Its like Meatloaf said, “Two out of three aint bad”)
1 box brown rice crisps cereal
1 bag of vegan chocolate chips

Heat rice syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat. When rice syrup liquefies, add peanut butter and stir until well combined and heated through.

Pour entire box of cereal into a large bowl. Pour rice syrup mixture on top. Use your hands to incorporate everything together.

If you are cutting out shapes, line a 9 x 13 baking dish with wax paper. Press mixture into baking dish (mine fit into a 9×13 with enough left over to fill a 9×9). Wet your fingers as your press down to keep them from sticking. If you are using a cookie cutter to cut out hearts, make sure you do not make your rice krispie treats thicker then your cookie cutter. It makes it more difficult to cut. Let cool for 1 hour. Once cool, remove the wax paper from the pan and place on a clean surface (if you are just cutting into squares, just cut them in the pan). Cut out your hearts. (If you do hearts, you can roll the scraps into balls and dunk them in chocolate. I kept those for me cause they’re kind of ugly)

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove using a double boiler (I prefer the stove-top method). Once melted, pull off heat and let cool for a minute or so. Dunk the top half of your rice krispies in the chocolate. Top with sprinkles. Let cool for 30 minutes to an hour.

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I apologize that I’m getting this recipe to you so late. I started it last night and then got distracted by the President’s speech (aka, fell asleep about 10 minutes in). BUT on the plus side, there’s only 5 ingredients and it’s super easy to make. You have PLENTY of time to pull this off before Valentine’s Day tomorrow. It would be such a cute surprise in that special someone’s lunch. Or your own!

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Tomorrow morning I will be posting one more Vday recipe (if it comes out), which is so ridiculous since you won’t have time to make it but I don’t care. I’m excited for it and who knows. Maybe you’ll have time to make it after dinner or you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend.

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Dark Chocolate Truffles

February 8, 2013 by Erin

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It’s Snowing!!

So, I’m not sure where you are but we here in New England are hunkered down under a snow storm. We had a snow day today and it was EXCELLENT! Know what I did? I did laundry. And I watched A LOT of Food Network. A LOT. I only get like 4 channels on my TV in my apartment so I have to take advantage when I have cable.

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So, clearly, I have to watch a million episodes of Chef’s Wanted (Ugh! I hate Anne Burrell almost as much as Sandra Lee but the show is so addicting! ) and cheesy Rom Com’s on TV (why is it that I would never pay money to see a Matthew Mcconaughey movie but when Failure to Launch or How to Lose a Guy is on, I will watch it…again…for the millionth time?).

And you know what goes really well with a lazy day inside watching Rom Com’s? Chocolate truffles! How cliche right?? But they work really well for Valentine’s Day too! They are super rich so it’s easy to limit yourself to one and it’s a much better quality then anything you would purchase on a whim at CVS or the grocery store. So, treat yourself to something special! Or treat your loved one to something special.

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Dark Chocolate Truffles
from Whole Living

  • 8 oz dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa), chopped (I used Chocolove, which I found at Whole Foods and knew I loved)
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch sea salt
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder, for rolling
  • Assorted toppings: cocoa powder (for an ombre effect, use a few different brands), finely chopped nuts (pistachios, Marcona almonds, hazelnuts), toasted unsweetened shredded coconut, or confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

  1. Heat chocolate, oil, and 3 Tbsp water in a double boiler, stirring, until just melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and sea salt.
  2. Transfer to an 8-inch baking dish and refrigerate until mixture is set but still pliable, about 2 hours.
  3. Using a 1-inch scoop or melon baller, scoop out chocolate mixture and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Coat hands in cocoa and roll chocolate into balls. Refrigerate on parchment-lined baking sheet 10 minutes. You don’t want to eat these right out of the fridge, though. It will be pretty solid. I keep mine at room temp.

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You are really going to want to use a high-quality chocolate for this recipe. This recipe is all about the chocolate so you don’t want to use hershey’s chocolate chips for this. Splurge for the good stuff. As I mentioned above, I used Chocolove. I thought this was appropriate for a Valentine’s Day truffle. Each bar comes with a love poem. Awwww!  Their almond and sea salt dark chocolate bar is A-MAZ-ING. I could eat those things every day. And their dark chocolate bar was no disappointment. Feel free to use your favorite chocolate, though!
 
 
 
Ok, Law and Order: SVU is having a marathon. Clearly, Stabler is calling me!
 
 

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Cake Batter Cashew Butter

February 7, 2013 by Erin

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Remember when I went off the grid in December because I decided I was going to make all my Christmas gifts? Remember when I then spent HOURS knitting, making christmas cards, cookies, nut butters, my own lip balm, all-natural soy candles, sponge painting doily outlines onto tote bags, spray painting coke bottles, sewing when I don’t really know how to sew, and overall, losing my mind because I bit off more than I could chew?

Probably not. I managed to shield you from most of the insanity but things got crazy. There were just one too many pinterest projects I decided to tackle.

But as I stated above, one of the gifts I made for my friends was nut butters. I made a bunch, threw in a soy candles  and wrapped them all up nicely in a super cute totebag. Turns out, it was a hit. Amelia and Melinda are convinced I could make money off these they are so good. Problem is, my food processor would weep if I asked it to make that many nut butters. And I’m far too lazy

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Cake Batter Cashew Butter
from edible perspective, slightly tweaked

  • 2c raw cashews
  • 1/4-1/3t fine grain sea salt
  • 3/4 T vanilla extract
  • 1/2t almond extract
  • 1T palm sugar
  • 2T sprinkles (you get valentine’s day ones for this post cause that was the first thing I grabbed)
  1. Preheat your oven to 250*.
  2. Roast cashews on a pan for about 30min, turning 1-2x until lightly golden brown. You really want to keep an eye on them in the last 10 minutes. They go from golden to burnt very quickly.
  3. Let cool 5-10min and pour into your food processor.
  4. Turn on and let process until butter is smooth.  You will need to scrape down the bowl numerous times before this occurs.  It takes about 8-12min to smooth out.
  5. Once smooth, add in salt, vanilla extract, almond extract, and palm sugar.
  6. Process again until smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary.  ~2-4min.
  7. Empty into a bowl and place in the fridge for 15-30min until room temp or slightly cool.
  8. Stir in sprinkles.

*If you’re at the 12min mark and nothing is happening, add in 1/2T at a time of tasteless oil.

You can eat this on pretty much anything you would use peanut butter for, which is pretty much everything. And it will be delicious!

And even though this has valentines day sprinkles on it, this is not one of the valentine’s day treats I promised. I don’t know many people who would want cashew butter as a Valentine’s day gift. Actually… that’s a lie but most NORMAL people would not want cashew butter for a valentine’s day gift.

Also, can everyone do a snow dance or ritual tonight please. I would REALLY love to have the whole day off from work. Kthanks.

 

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Roasted Veggies

February 6, 2013 by Erin

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So, things are going to be getting a bit healthy up in this joint, I suspect. Last week, my co-worker, friend and fellow blogger, Rachel, joined our company’s fitness challenge, Team Lean Challenge. Neither of us were too interested in joining but we both made New Years Resolutions to hit the gym harder and we thought this would be a great way to stay on track.

Team Lean Challenge is a 12 week competition where teams of 2 compete to lose the most BMI/weight. They tweaked the rules a little this year so I’m not 100% sure how everything factors in but it’s been fun! You really stop and think about what you eat and how you exercise knowing someone else is going to be effected. Yesterday, instead of just running on the treadmill, I added some weights and attempted to jump rope. Hey, know what’s really difficult? Jump roping when you’re 27! That shit was easier when you were close to the ground.

Anyway, so I will be competing in this challenge so I can’t binge on cookie dough truffles, Avocado Chocolate Cupcakes or Deep Dish Cookie pies (all which would go be great for Valentines, btw). Nope! Things are going to get way healthier up in here!

Um…right after I provide you with the 2-4 Valentine’s desserts I have tentatively planned…THEN, things will get serious.

Today  I do have a relatively easy and healthy recipe for you- Roasted Veggies. I know this is sort of a cop out recipe but I have to tell you, this is one of my favorite cooking tricks lately. You just roast a ton of veggies one night and then you have yummy vegetables to be served with your meals for a week! It cuts down on prep time if prepared ahead and it gives you a healthy cornerstone for several meals.

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Roasted Vegetables, Taralynn-style:
from Undressed Skeleton

  • 5 Mini Purple Potatoes
  • 4 Mini Honey Gold Potatoes
  • 2 Large Yellow Bell Peppers
  • 1/2 Box Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
  • 3 Large Zucchini
  • 3 Large Summer Squash
  • 2 Medium Sweet Potatoes

Cook in oven for 1 hour on 350 degrees. Stir every 15 minutes.

This first recipe is a great blank canvas. You can have the veggies as is or you can prep it different for each meal. For instance, because the veggies were just cooked with veggy broth, if you are having taco night, you could toss a serving or two with a little taco season or fajita seasoning, reheat them at 350 for a few minutes, and serve them along side or even in your taco. But, if the next night, you are having spaghetti, you can toss a couple servings with italian seasoning and serve it along side a different meal. Then, on Saturday morning, you can sautee them in a skillet with an organic, cruelty-free egg or tofu and make a breakfast hash (this was my favorite way to eat them). It’s flexible and keeps you from getting bored.

It’s also super customizable with veggies. I found that the above recipe was good but a bit too starchy with the food I was making. Plus, it was meant to serve two for a week so I had a hard time finishing all of them. So I made this recipe:

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Roasted Veggies, Erin-style:
seasoning from Healthfulpursuit.com

half a butternut squash*, cubed

1 punch of asparagus

1 red pepper

2 summer squash

2 zucchini

2 carrots

2 TBSP of coconut oil

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

2 pinches of cayenne pepper

*Apparently, at Whole Foods, if you only want half a butternut squash, you just have to ask the cute hipster boys and they take it in the back and cut it up for you. Seriously, why did I ever shop at Stop and Shop?

Preheat oven to 350.

Keep the butternut squash separate from the other veggies. They take longer to cook so you want them on their own. Toss the veggies with about 1 TBSP each of coconut butter, 1/4 cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne (1 TBSP of coconut oil, 1/4 cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne for the butternut squash, same for the other veggies). Place the butternut squash in the oven first, let cook for about 15 minutes and then put the other veggies in for 20 minutes. If you are feeling lazy, you can roast everything together but your veggies will be soggy by the time your butternut squash is done.

I ate this plain with just the maple dressing from Healthful pursuit, with quinoa and again, as a breakfast hash. Slightly less versatile with the spices but no less delicious.

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Alright, I’ve worked out some frustrations on the elliptical AND plie-ed my ass off in ballet today so I’m hitting the hay. Let me know if you try this and with what veggies!

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Pomegranate Margaritas

February 1, 2013 by Erin

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So. The Super Bowl is this Sunday. I’m a tad bitter that neither the Pats or the Dolphins made it in this year. Last year, Welker dropped a crucial pass that very well could have cost them the Super Bowl. I wanted so badly for him to get that Super Bowl ring this year! Then wear it as he was flipping off all the haters. *sigh* Maybe next year…

I’m not really a fan of either team who made it but I know there are still Super Bowl parties to be had. I maybe sorta kinda forgot that the Super Bowl was this weekend so the fact I’m giving you a boozy drink to serve with your artichoke spinach dip, black bean dip or  buffalo hummus is pure coincidence. I actually served these last weekend with the sweet potato black bean burgers (also great for the super bowl!) but had them in mind for Valentine’s Day! I was so proud that I was two weeks ahead of the game and was actually giving you a Valentine’s Day recipe early. I mean, these would be so yummy if you wanted to avoid the V-day crowd and have a quiet date-night in. You could have a taco/fajita night in and watch movies. Or, you know, do what I’m planning on doing and smuggling it into a screening of Warm Bodies.

I mean, not really…cause that’s illegal…

BUT it works for a super bowl party, too. Woohoo!

Also, these football cake balls. Sorry, they’re so cute and I couldn’t figure out how to work them into my illegal booze smuggling paragraph.

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Pomegranate Margaritas
from How Sweet Eats

YIELD: MAKES 1 MARGARITA, IS EASILY MULTIPLIED

TOTAL TIME: 5 MINUTES

ingredients:

2 ounces Grand Marnier
1 1/2 ounces Tequila
2 ounces pomegranate juice
2 ounce lime juice
1 1/2 ounces simple syrup
coarse salt for the rim
lime + pomegranate arils for garnish

directions:

For simple syrup: combine equal parts sugar and water, bring to a boil and let sugar dissolve, then turn off heat and let cool completely.

Rim the ridge of your glass with a lime wedge and dip in margarita salt. Fill the glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, grand marnier, pom juice, simple syrup and lime juice with ice, and shake for about 30 seconds. Pour over ice and squeeze in extra lime slices. Add some pomegranate arils for decoration.

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I’m pretty much obsessed with all boozy drinks Jessica at How Sweet Eats makes. Especially if they are margaritas. Or Sangria. I’m already dreaming of drinking a whole pitcher glass of her blood orange sangria this weekend at my Super-Bowl-AKA-Just-An-Excuse-To-Make-Tons-Of-Yummy-Food Party.

What team are you guys rooting for this weekend and what are you going to be making??

Stay tuned next week: I’m hoping to post some yummy nut butters and at least one more Valentine’s Day recipe. Have a great weekend!

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Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger

January 31, 2013 by Erin

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fresh out of the oven!

 

This morning I woke up to find a leak in my bathroom ceiling. Living in a bajillion year old, falling apart apartment is SO fun.

Then I tried to pump gas in a wind storm in a skirt. Why do I never check the weather?!

This day is quickly going down hill but I HAD to make time to post this blog. Mostly, because I promised my Mom Sunday that I would get this to her and low-and-behold, it’s Thursday and it’s still not posted. Crap. I have magic powers when it comes to this blog. If I promise something, I never post it. It’s like a mental block. Kind of like how I told everyone I gave nut butter to for Christmas that I would totally post the recipes on WV for them to check out? Clearly, that hasn’t happened! (I promise next week, Amelia!!)

 

So, last weekend, I invited my mom, dad and grandma to my apartment to cook for them. I’ve been putting a lot of energy into making the apartment more home-y. It’s an uphill battle (see previously referenced  ‘bajillion year old, falling apart apartment’.). Also, all my roommates and I are in our 20s, so we are broke. Simple fact.

When I moved into the apartment, the motto was “Why pay for it when you can get it for free on the street??”. In fact, the first day I moved to Boston, one of my roommates talked my Dad into driving us (in the minivan) to pick up a couch on the side of the road. To this day, I hate that couch more then anything.

But, I’ve been working to organize things, add some color, add some wall art, etc. When I realized things were looking a little more up, I invited the family down to check it out with the promise of lunch. Of course, it turned into more of a team-effort lunch as opposed to me cooking for them (I’m used to cooking with my fellow foodie friends where it’s all a hands-on approach…plus, I had been out ’til 3am the night before soooo there was that too…). Either way, we ended up with these burgers, beer fries and roasted asparagus. And it was delicious!

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Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger

from Edible Perspective

  • 15oz black beans, drained + rinsed
  • 3c cubed sweet tater, cooked + skin on [~1.5lbs]
  • 1/2c frozen or fresh corn
  • 2/3c finely chopped onion [1/2 medium onion]
  • 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1/2c cooked quinoa
  • 6T rolled oats, partially ground
  • 2T sunflower seeds
  • 1/2t salt
  • black pepper
  • 1t cumin
  • 1t oregano
  • 1/4t coriander
  • 1t chili powder
  • 1/4t cayenne [optional]
  • 1T olive oil
  1. Preheat your oven to 375* once you finish cooking the quinoa + potato.
  2. Mash half of the beans in a bowl until paste-like.
  3. Add in the rest of the beans and give a very light stir/mash to combine.
  4. In a large bowl, mash the sweet tater.  Each cube should be mashed, but you don’t want it creamy.
  5. Stir in the salt, pepper, oregano, coriander, chili powder, cayenne [if using] and olive oil, until combined.
  6. Mix in the onion, garlic, corn, black beans, quinoa, sunflower seeds, and ground oats, until just combined.
  7. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your liking.
  8. Form into balls, between your hands and flatten into 1/2”-3/4” thick patties.  This should make 8 medium/large patties.
  9. Place on a pan lined with parchment paper [or lightly greased pan] and bake on each side for 15min, flipping once, half-way through.
  10. Remove from oven + serve!

*If you want to refrigerate or freeze them, let fully cool on a cooling rack.  Place in a sealed container for the fridge, or wrap in saran, then foil, then in a bag for the freezer.  If reheating a frozen burger, let it thaw completely.  Re-heat in a greased pan, over medium heat for ~3-5min per side, until hot throughout.

*To make the ground oats – Pulse your blender on + off, until you have the consistency about half way to flour.

*Instead of ground oats, feel free to sub – millet flour, oat flour, quinoa flour, whole wheat flour, etc.

*To pan cook – Heat a pan to medium and lightly grease.  Cook on each side for 5-8min, flip + cook another 5-8min until golden brown.

*For the grill – Bake burgers for 15min on one side, flip burgers once and bake another 10min.  While baking, preheat your grill slightly above medium [~350-375*]  Grease the grates and cook burgers for ~3min per side

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I served this with 365 brand roasted chipotle salsa (All of us were big fans!) and Avocado Cream, recipe below.

Avocado Cream
inspired by How Sweet Eats

2/3 cup silken tofu

1 avocado, chopped

3- 4 tsp of cilantro (I used 3 but it wasn’t too strong)

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of pepper

Add cilantro and avocado to a food processor, blending to combine. Once somewhat smooth, add insilken tofu and blend again until combined. Add in salt and pepper, taste, and add more seasoning or cilantro if necessary

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No one in my family is a vegetarian or vegan but all were fans of the burgers. I’ve also been taking them to lunch and serving on one slice of toasted bread, topped with salsa and avocado cream or crumbling it up over a salad and using the salsa and avocado cream as a dressing.

I noticed I’ve been getting a ton of hits on my Me Mine fruit smoothy. More Valentines recipes coming soon! (I’m not just saying that. I promise! I hope…)

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Mushroom and Grain soup

January 27, 2013 by Erin

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Wheat berry Waldorf Salad

January 15, 2013 by Erin

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So, this post is going to be short and sweet, my friends. After spending 4 straight days in bed watching Law and Order: SVU (with four straight nights of nightmares. Seriously, what is wrong with me?), I went back to work today and decided it was time to get that New Years Resolution thing in full swing (yes, I know it’s 2 weeks into the New Years. What’s your point?). So, I ran at the gym at lunch. Then, Melinda asked me if I wanted to go do hot yoga with her tonight. I’d never done it before but I was all, sure.Why not?

Oh man…I’m running on fumes right now. Fumes I tell you! I tried to shower after hot yoga (eew! So. Much. Sweat.) and I could barely muster up the energy to scrub the shampoo in my hair. I’m seriously going to have the worst hair day ever tomorrow!

So here is what I am eating for lunch this week. It’s super yummy. I’m a fan of wheat berries. I thought Waldorf salads typically had a creamy dressing but the dressing with this recipe was actually extremely similar to the dressing that I posted with the Strawberry Chickpea Salad, except not quite as good. When I realized that, I just made the dressing from that recipe and called it a day.

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Wheat berry Waldorf Salad with Cinnamond Dijon Dressing
Salad from Midwest Living; Dressing from Peas and Thank you

Salad:

  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup wheat berries, rinsed
  • 1 large Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, cored and chopped (1-1/2 cups)
  • 1 large Braeburn, Jonagold or Rome Beauty apple, unpeeled, cored and chopped (1-1/4 cups)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries, dried tart cherries and/or golden raisins
  • 1/2 cup seedless green and/or red grapes, halved
  • 6 -8 Bibb or Boston lettuce leaves (or lettuce of choice. For a more filling lunch, I did 2 cups of romaine)
  • almonds or peanuts, I preferred salted

Cinnamon Dijon Dressing:

  • 1 t. Dijon mustard
  • 3 T. apple cider vinegar
  • 3 T. lemon juice
  • 1/3 c. agave nectar or pure maple syrup
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • ½ t. ground ginger
  • ½ t. salt
  • 1/4 c. olive oil

Directions:

  1. For wheat berries: In a small bowl, combine the water and wheat berries. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 6 o 24 hours. Do not drain; transfer to a medium saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes or until tender with a firm, chewy texture. Drain; transfer to bowl to cool. (I soaked mine for as little as 4 hours and cooked them for 50 minutes and they came out fine)
  2. For dressing: In a screw-top jar, combine all the dressing ingredients. Cover and shake well to combine. Drizzle dressing over warm wheat berries and toss until covered. You should have about half the jar left. Put aside and drizzle extra over salad when your eating it if needed.
  3. In a large bowl, combine apples, celery, cranberries and grapes. Stir in wheat berry mixture; mix well. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours if not serving immediately.
  4. To serve, arrange lettuce cups on a large platter or divide them among individual salad plates. Spoon salad into the lettuce. Sprinkle with nuts. Makes 6 to 8 side salads. For lunches, I chopped 2 cups of lettuce up and placed it in a separate container. In the morning, I added about 1/2 – 2/3 cup of the wheat berry mixture to the lettuce and just took it to work like that. It made about 4 lunch servings.

You can’t go wrong with this salad- it has the crispy apples, the crunchy celery and almonds, the chewy craisins and wheat berries and the sweet cinnamon dressing. It’s a nice change up from the usual veggie salad

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yeah…your lucky there’s pictures with this. I think I sleep-typed most of that entry…

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Honey Coconut Citrus Salad

January 8, 2013 by Erin

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Happy 2013, everyone! I hope you had a great holiday season. I know I promised you cookies and such during December but I sort of fell off the radar. I spent most of December crafting my brains out. I think I mentioned that I decided to make most of my Christmas gifts this year?

yeah…I bit off a little more then I could chew and I’m still working on Christmas gifts! I’m in the home stretch though and I’m excited to get back to normal.

The month of December was by far the worst month I’ve had since going vegan over a year ago. I fell off the wagon…a lot. I like, fell off the wagon and then clung on by my finger tips as the wagon sped off going full speed and I was dragged along.

You totally get me, right? Right.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure this was 100% due to the fact I rarely cooked. I did a lot of delievery and take-out food. Pair that will the almost endless supply of cookies I had and my nightly drink of Lake Champlain Mountain Mint Hot chocolate (this is delicious!) with mint chocolate baileys aaaand eating healthy was quickly thrown out the window.

But that’s life and no one is perfect and it’s the beginning of a new year! So let’s kick it off with some super yummy food.

Let’s start things off on a good note, eh? Save the chocolate stuff for later in the week? Pretend for 4 whole days that we have made some sort of resolution about eating healthy and that we’re sticking to it? Cool? Cool.

This citrus salad came about for two reasons: 1. I, like every single person in Boston, have been sick on and off with a cold. Nothing serious. Nothing that gets me out of work. Just kinda blah. Stuffy nose, sore throat, sporadic coughing and sneezing fits and just an overall sense of feeling under the weather. (My friend, Melissa,who is one of those weird people that knows grammar rules, probably just fell into an uncontrollable amount of twitching with all those incomplete sentences! ha!) I wanted something that packed some nutritional punch. Hence, the vitamin C mother-load. And 2. I’ve been eating so much sugar lately that I was actually craving something healthy and light for breakfast.

This salad is a win/win

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Honey Coconut Citrus Salad
mash up of Whole Living and Edible Perspective
serves 1-3

  • 1 Red Grapefruit (peeled and sliced, I sliced mine into wedges)
  • 1 Cara Cara Orange (or any orange if you can’t find Cara Cara. Peeled and sliced into wedges)
  • 2 clementines
  • Seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate
  • drizzle of honey or agave nectar (optional. If your grapefruit is super sweet, you may find the sweetener unnecessary.)
  • sprinkling of coconut (sweetened or unsweetened, both work)
  • zest from half a lime and juice from half a lime

Toss the grapefruit, orange, clementines and pom seeds together. Top with honey/agave nectar, lime zest, lime juice and coconut and toss. Eat and feel awesome!

You could also top with toasted coconut or a cinnamon-y granola. I did both and they were delicious. Edible perspective put a scoop of this on yogurt and topped with pistachios which seems super interesting and I may have to try next!

This makes approximately 3 cups of salad. I found most mornings I could eat this over the period of an hour or so. It may be too much to just sit down and eat, though.

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I have to say, this definitely has hit the spot this winter. I have been all about the comfort food so it’s nice to start my morning with something bright and refreshing. So yummy!

PS. I totally bought the Whole Living magazine this recipe is featured in for the vegan chocolate truffles on the cover, not the citrus salad. oh yeah! Hopefully, I’ll be making those soon.

PPS. What is your New Year’s resolution? Leave me a comment below. I still haven’t really figured mine out yet

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Cripsy Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Apple and Pomegranate

December 13, 2012 by Erin

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Oh, December. The month where it’s sort of ok to start your morning off with peppermint hot chocolate, have three desserts during the day, go to a Christmas party for dinner and then come home and have a candy cane as your watching TV at night.

It’s a little insane. I mean, I love it, but it’s a little insane.

So, to help balance out the complete excess of sugar, I tried to prep something health for dinner this week. I mean, I still wanted it to be sorta festive because, hello, it’s December. I would be the uncool blog on the block if I didn’t provide you with something festive each and every post, but seriously. There is more to life then cookies.

I mean, not much else because cookies rock but a bit more.

So here is a kale salad. It has green stuff and it has red stuff so you know, when you combine it, it’s festive. This totally counts as a holiday post now, right? I have holiday colors… How about you  turn on some holiday tunes while your reading the rest to make up for the fact that there is no sugar in this.

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Crispy Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Pomagranite
slightly modified from How Sweet Eats
serves 2

ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale, torn from stems and torn into pieces
2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted, or olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh apple cider
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Field Roast vegan sausage, Smoked Apple Sage
1 shallot, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small sweet potato, diced small
1 honeycrisp apple, diced small
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup toasted pecans
1/4 cup pomegranate arils

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place kale in a large bowl and massage oil, apple cider, nutmeg, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon salt  for 1-2 minutes. Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 10 minutes. Toss well and roast for 5-10 minutes more, until slightly crispy but not golden.

While kale is roasting, heat a skillet over medium heat and add sausage. Cook until heated through and turning golden. Set aside. Add the shallot, garlic, sweet potatoes and apples to the skillet, tossing with remaining salt and cinnamon. You want the sweet potato and apple finely diced, only slightly larger than the pom arils. Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft.

In a small saucepan, add pecans and toast over low heat for 5-6 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Set aside.

Combine kale with apples and sweet potatoes, pecans, sausage and pom arils. Jessica at How Sweet Eats was correct when she said you don’t need dressing for this salad. The sauteed sweet potato and apple, combined with the oil/vinegar mix on the kale makes it plenty flavorful.

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Now that I have given you a healthy recipe, I feel less guilty about planning on giving you a cookie recipe for tomorrow. It will be chocolate-y and peppermint-y and booze-y and you will love it. I promise. I will then most likely follow that up with about 800 other chocolate peppermint recipes because, seriously, I’m obsessed with that flavor combo this season. More on that tomorrow, though.

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