Breakfast Smoothie

This thick, sweet, and filling smoothie has become a staple in our family's breakfast menu.  I make these about once a week, usually serving them with some scrambled eggs.  

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk

2 bananas (mine are always frozen)

1 1/2 cups blueberries (I've used mixed berries, but we prefer just the blueberries)

1 Tbsp honey, optional

1 tsp vanilla, optional

Blend oats until finely ground.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.  If it seems too thick, add a little more milk.  

Chocolate Beet Cake

Some lovely friends of ours recently shared their harvest of beets with us.  I really enjoy beets, and was thrilled by their generosity!  That week, I made a beet and berry smoothie for lunch.  After tasting the smoothie, I admitted to myself that I had used too many beets, but served it up anyway.  My mistake.  My kids immediately identified there was an overpowering flavor and were not fans.  In a moment of sheer stubbornness and pride, I turned the smoothie into a battle; it wasn't really that bad and they had to finish the smoothie.  There was minor (excessive) complaining.  Eventually all the smoothie was consumed, but my kids walked away vowing never to enjoy a beet again.

I told them they would, and thus became the question before every meal for several days: "Did you put beets in this?"

Then this Chocolate Beet Cake happened.  I read through several recipes and came up with this combination.  It worked.  It's moist and lightly sweet.  I didn't mention the beet part until my kids had taken a bite.  We all agreed that you can definitely taste the beets in the cake, but paired with everything else, they were actually enjoyable.  Success.


1 cup whole wheat white flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup beet puree*
2 eggs
3/4 cup warm water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla

*I put the equivalent of 3 large cooked and peeled beets in the vitamix.  I measure out the 3/4 cup warm water and then added enough to the beets until they were able to blend into a smooth puree.  It ended up being about 1/3 cup water and then the rest went into the bowl with the puree.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together flours, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in beet puree, eggs, water, oil, apple sauce, and vanilla.

Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Turn cake out onto a serving platter and let cool completely.  Serve with a dollop of whipping cream for a little treat!

Zucchini Garden Chowder

I was more excited to make this soup using vegetables we'd grown than I was to eat the soup!  And the soup was very tasty.  I know for many of you, growing and eating your own vegetables is a normal thing.  I, on the other hand, have never been great at keeping anything but children alive, so I am still marveling that we are actually enjoying meals made with produce brought in from our garden!  This chowder, taken from Simply in Season, was simple, full of flavor and had some good texture (as long as you don't let the zucchini get too soft before adding other veggies).

2 Tbsp butter

2 medium zucchini, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped; or 1 heaping tsp dried

1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped; or 1 tsp dried

1/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 pepper

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (a 12 oz. can)

2 cups corn

2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat.  Add zucchini, onion, parsley, and basil.  Saute until tender.  Then stir flour and seasonings into vegetables.  Gradually stir in broth to make a stock.

Add lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.  

Add tomatoes, evaporated milk and corn.  Return to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes or until corn is tender.

Just before serving add cheese and stir until melted.  Add a pinch of sugar to taste and garnish with fresh parsley (optional).

Coconut Cream Baked Oatmeal

Overnight breakfast using steel-cut oats and coconut milk.  Do I really need to say more?!  I doubled this recipe, and my hope of leftovers was shattered when we all took our first bite.  We topped ours with bananas instead of more coconut.  The texture of the oats was a little bit chewy, which I much prefer to the mushy glop I've ended up with in previous attempts to do steel-cut oats in the crock pot overnight.  

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 small can (5 1/2 ounces) coconut milk
• 1/3 cup honey, warmed (I used 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Generously grease a 3-quart casserole or 9-inch square baking dish with coconut oil. 
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, coconut milk, honey and vanilla until smooth. 
3. Add the water, oats, 1/4 cup coconut, and salt. Mix well
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. 
5. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350F. 
6. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the oatmeal for 35-40 minutes or until set in the middle. 
7. Meanwhile, toast the remaining 1/4 cup coconut in the oven on the side, stirring once or twice, for 4-6 minutes or until light golden. 
8. Drizzle the oatmeal with a little extra honey and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Serve hot.

Baked Oatmeal

I've had a couple people ask me recently about this recipe, and as I looked up the post to share the link, I took a look and realized that my measurements have evolved since first posting it here a few years ago.  If anything, I think the recipe has improved, and it's one of my family's most favorite breakfasts.  It's also a breakfast you can be sure I will serve whenever we have overnight guests.  So I thought it was worth sharing the recipe again, but with my current measurements and ingredients of choice!
 

2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2" slices
1 cup berries (strawberries and/or blueberries are our favorites)
maple syrup, for drizzling


Preheat oven to 375.  Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.

Combine the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.  In another bowl, whisk the milk, egg, and vanilla.

Arrange bananas on the bottom of the coated baking dish and cover with the oat mixture.  Slowly drizzle milk mixture over the oats.  Gently press down oats with the back of a spoon to make sure everything is wet and the liquid is evenly distributed.  Drizzle coconut oil on top and then scatter berries.

(*You can do all of the prep the night before, cover tightly, and refrigerate for the next morning.  I almost always make it the night before.  In the morning I turn on the oven, pull the dish out of the fridge, uncover, and stick it straight in without waiting for the oven to preheat.  If you do it this way, it will take 45-50 minutes to fully bake.)

Bake for 40 minutes (unless it's been in the fridge overnight *see note above), until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set.  Drizzle with maple syrup if you want to make it taste extra special.  Serve with milk and enjoy!

Apple Squash Bacon Pizza

Since Jessie introduced me to spaghetti squash pizza, I have ventured off into the world of pizza toppings.  What goes well paired with bread and cheese?  A lot of things!  Of the combinations we've tried recently, this is our current favorite.  It's pretty much taking this soup, and turning it into a pizza (or two!).  The combination of apples, butternut squash, bacon, and cheddar cheese is delicious either way if you ask me!  What are your favorite pizza toppings?

5-7 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (Have you ever used kitchen shears to cut your bacon into 

                                                               pieces before you cook it?!)

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped roughly into 1-inch chunks

1 large apple, cored and thinly sliced (I didn't use my corer-peeler-slicer because I wanted super thin 

                                                   slices, but in retrospect, I think the thicker slices would have worked 

                                                    just fine and the prep would have been much easier!)

10-16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated (depending on how cheesy you like your pizza!)

2 balls of pizza dough

olive oil

black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450.  If using a stone, make sure you preheat the stone a good thirty minutes.

Cook bacon in a large frying pan.  Remove to a paper towel and set aside, leaving the grease in the pan.

Saute squash cubes in bacon grease over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.  You don't want to cook the squash completely.  It will finish cooking on the pizza.  But give it just enough time in the pan to start softening and take in the yummy bacon flavor.  

Roll out one pizza dough.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  Spread half the apple slices on dough.  Sprinkle just a little cheese over apples.  Then top with half the squash, more cheese, and finish with bacon crumbles.  Sprinkle with black pepper (if you want to) and bake for 12-15 minutes.  

I had enough toppings to make two large pizzas.

Enjoy!

Pomegranate Taco Chicken in the Crockpot

If you decide to make the Pomegranate Beef recipe I posted a few days ago,  (and clearly, I think you should!), then you are on the right track to making this as well!  This is another meat in the crockpot that uses pomegranate juice!  The juice is not cheap.  I get it.  But I think these two very different and very delicious recipes are worth that $5 small bottle of POM sitting there on the shelf.

We first tasted this chicken while having dinner with friends.  They served chicken tacos, and the meat was perfectly flavored for tacos, but tasted much better than if they had just dumped some chicken and a packet of taco seasoning into the crockpot.  Turns out they did just dump chicken and a few things in the crockpot!  The idea was so simple, and the chicken so good, I repeated the meal the following week with my family.  You can use the meat for all sorts of dishes: tacos, burritos, a salad, quesadillas, grilled sandwiches, nachos, as a chip dip mixed with some sour cream and salsa . . . you get the idea!


2-4 chicken breasts (I only used two, but they were very big)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
pepper, to taste (optional)


Place everything in a crock pot.  Cover.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5.  Shred with two forks and serve.

Pomegranate Beef in the Crockpot

This extremely easy dish is extremely delicious!  I had a strong feeling it was going to be good just from reading the recipe, so I went ahead and made it for the first time when we had friends joining us for dinner.  And because it was so super easy and required no culinary skill on my part, I joined in with everyone else and raved about how wonderful the meat and sauce tasted!  Tender, juicy, and full of tremendous flavor.  The picture is my leftovers over rice, which works.  But it's much better served over creamy mashed potatoes.
  

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (I used 1 tsp. each of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 pounds beef roast (I used a chuck roast)
4 garlic cloves (whole is fine, or you can chop them)
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
1 cup unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup golden raisins

Use at least a 6-quart slow cooker. Swirl the olive oil into the bottom of the stoneware. Add the onion. Combine spices in a small bowl and then rub the mixture on all sides of meat.  Add to the stoneware with the garlic, the whole can of tomatoes, pomegranate juice, vinegar, and syrup. Sprinkle the raisins on top. 

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 5. The meat is done when it has reached desired tenderness. Serve over mashed potatoes, and don't forget to include the sauce on top.

Oatmeal Fruit Biscuits

I call these "biscuits" because that's what the British call a cookie.  And these are mostly like a cookie.  But in my experience, a biscuit and a cookie are not the same thing.  I would rarely choose to eat a chocolate chip cookie with a cup of tea.  But a biscuit?  Well, I find it hard to eat one without a cuppa in hand.  So in my mind, these lightly sweetened cookies are actually biscuits, primarily because they are perfectly paired with a hot mug of black tea (milk and half a sugar, please!).

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp molasses

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups diced dried fruit (I used cranberries and dates)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

1 tsp baking soda

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter, apple sauce, oil, sugar, and molasses.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, dried fruit, coconut, nuts, and baking soda.  

Add dry mixture to the creamed mixture in 3 or 4 additions, stirring just until thoroughly mixed after the last addition.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 13-17 minutes.  For chewier cookies, immediately remove from pan and place directly onto clean countertop or table surface to cool.  For more crisp cookies, let sit on pan 2-3 minutes after removing from oven and then cool on a wire rack.  Store in airtight container.

Spaghetti Squash Pizza

My friend, Jessie, was here visiting last week.  She is the one who started me on this whole recipe blog idea in the first place, so it was a sure thing that we would enjoy some good food together.  This pizza is something she'd made before and suggested I try.  It was unique and so delicious!  The flavors are simple, but not boring at all.  I was skeptical about the leftovers getting soggy, but a warm-up in the oven with the broiler on low did the trick just fine.   This recipe makes two pizzas. 

1 spaghetti squash (about 4 pounds)—halved lengthwise, seeded and tough fibers removed

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling and brushing 

Salt and freshly ground pepper 

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg 

4 tablespoons coarse cornmeal 

2 pizza dough rounds (about 1 pound each)

2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped, plus leaves to taste

One 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese 

1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425°. Drizzle the flesh of the squash with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Place the squash, cut side down, in a large baking pan and pierce the skin in several places with a fork. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn the squash over and bake until the spaghetti-like strands can be easily removed with a fork, about 10 minutes more. Let cool before scraping the flesh into a bowl.

Arrange 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 475°. Sprinkle 2 large, heavy baking sheets with the cornmeal. Place the pizza dough rounds on top of the cornmeal and shape into 12-by-14-inch rectangles. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and the chopped thyme. Bake until golden and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes.

Spread the ricotta evenly over the pizza crusts and top with the squash. Season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper, then drizzle with olive oil. Bake until just warmed through, about 5 minutes. Cut the pizza into squares and serve with the lemon wedges