Recipe: Classic French Toast with Blueberries

Happy Monday, y'all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Anyone watch the Oscars last night? Could Jennifer Lawrence be any cooler? I've also got a big girl crush on Amy Adams and Jessica Chastain. How about you? 

Saturday morning I woke up craving a real breakfast (not just a cup of coffee, not an apple, not a Luna bar) but didn't feel like waiting out in the cold for an hour for a seat at one of Portland's many great breakfast joints. There is just no way around it. So I decided to make breakfast at home, remembering that up my sleeve I had a very easy peazy recipe that would produce great results.

French Toast.

I used my sister Ashley's recipe - which is worth noting because she is the Queen of Sweet Breakfasts. She's the kid that asked for a waffle maker on her twelfth birthday and can freakishly put away STACKS of pancakes, waffles and french toast in one sitting. It blows my mind.

So, here is her recipe:

For 2 people

6 slices of thick-sliced white bread

3 eggs

3 cups milk

2 tsp cinnamon

3 small slices of butter

powdered sugar

a handful of blueberries

maple syrup

1. Break eggs into a mixing bowl (or a wider, shallower dish if you have one) and beat lightly with a fork. Stir in milk and cinnamon, making sure that all ingredients blend.

2. Put a large skillet on the stove at medium heat, add a slice of butter.

3. Dunk piece of bread in the milk mixture so that it is soaked and then place in the skillet once the butter is melted and spread evenly.

4. Flip the piece of bread after a minute, and continue to flip every minute or two until both sides are a medium brown color (it will be splotchy brown and white, this is the way it's supposed to look).

5. Repeat steps 2-4 until all bread is toasted.

Serve with powered sugar, blueberries, and maple syrup.

And bacon on the side. 

Did you have an amazing breakfast this past weekend?

A Favorite Thing: Open Kitchen Shelving and Cabinets

No matter how hard I try to go for lamps, artwork, chairs, or vases - when I get to the checkout line I always end up with a mixing bowl in one arm, a cast iron skillet in one hand and a fluted cake pan in the other. I just can't get enough of kitchen stuff!

Most kitchen things (especially if you make a point of collecting them) are worthy of display, but so many kitchens don't have enough counter space to have items sitting out and prepare a meal. That's why I love open shelving and cabinets so much; stored items look great and everything remains out of the way. Unfortunately the new apartment I'm moving into (next month!) has standard cabinets with doors, but I wonder if a little do-it-yourself kitchen enhancement would be worth the consequences.

But until I have some open cabinets of my own, I'll just be crushing on the photos below...

via Pinterest

via Design Sponge

via Apartment Therapy

via Courtney Lane

via Design Sponge

via Apartment Therapy

via My Paradissi

via Etsy

And a few of these kitchens have another feature I lust after: apron sinks. But that will have to wait until another post...

Are you kitchen crazy like me? What things do you tend to gravitate toward?

DIY: Herb Wall in the Kitchen

On my birthday back in February, my mom surprised me with a special delivery at work: a potted herb garden! For the past few months, two rectangular terracotta planters full of mint, thyme and oregano sat on my kitchen table, and I absolutely loved them. I was actually growing herbs indoors! But... they took up a lot of tabletop space.

I eventually decided that I wanted to find a way to hang the herbs on the wall so they would be out of the way but still receiving good sunlight, and guess who saved the day? Ikea. (They got no love on Monday so they're getting some today.) They had several different options for hanging pot-like containers on the wall, and I decided to go with this set-up because I wanted a modern look, and I thought I could paint the pots.

Well, due to my lack of experience with DIY projects and a tendency to follow my intuition over a plan, this project turned out to be a lot more involved than I wanted it to be. I finally gave up on my idea to paint the original plastic containers after my first attempt started chipping off and the second attempt smelled so toxic I've now been suffering from severe allergy-like symptoms for the past three days. (Read that last line in a Revenge of the Nerds voice.) Dear spray paint, you and I are done!

After driving all over town for acceptable replacement containers, Fred Meyer turned out to be my saving grace with their stock of 100% biodegradable bamboo pots. They came in an assortment of colors, cost only $1.99 each and were the perfect fit. I decided to keep it simple and just go with purple since it's what will work best with the other colors in my kitchen.

One of the coolest things about these bamboo pots is that they can be planted directly into the ground in a couple of years. Here's to hoping I have a backyard with a garden by then!

 Over the course of this project, the herbs I already had decided to shrivel up and die (when it rains it pours!) so I went out and got some new ones - the ones I'll cook with most often: mint, parsley, basil, oregano and cilantro! Word to the wise - the guy at Home Depot freaked out when I grabbed regular potting soil for this project ... he said I MUST see vegetables on the bag if I'm planting something I plan on consuming. (Mom, why did you never tell me this!?) So I went with Miracle Gro Organic Potting Mix.

After removing the plants from their containers, I broke up the roots a little bit so they weren't as tightly packed. (Gardening 101)

After putting a small handful of dirt at the bottom of the pot, I carefully set the plant inside and gently packed potting mix around it. The base of the plant and soil line were about a 3/4 inch below the top of the pot.

After planting all of the herbs, I removed the outside stickers, watered them, and after the water stopped dripping, hung the pots on the Ikea rack that I had already attached to the wall. (If you decide to get the same rack and set of pots, note that, in my experience, the pot holders do not come with the appropriate screws, so I had to go to the store to get the right size screws, washers and nuts to hold it all together.)

Ta da! First thing I'm making? Guacamole with fresh cilantro. :)

Do you have herbs in your kitchen? If so, which ones do you use the most?

Recipe: Healthy Livin' Lasagna!

When I was a kid, Stouffer's lasagna was one of my all-time favorite meals. That, along with popcorn shrimp, fruit roll-ups, and buttered croissants. But now that I'm an adult who's putting in effort to improve my cooking skills and be more conscious of what I put into my body, I thought I'd try to whip up a tasty but healthier version of lasagna. A meatless, dairy-free version. Yes... a vegan version. We're going there.

If you find the idea of a cheese-less and meatless lasagna to be blasphemy against Italian cooking, this probably isn't the recipe for you. (I have an Italian friend who had a mini-meltdown when I admitted to loving pineapple on pizza, so I understand. Kind of.) Otherwise, I really recommend trying it. A flavorful, filling meal that has 15+ grams of protein and 10+ grams of fiber per serving is hard to beat! And I pinky swear I wouldn't post a recipe if it just turned out "eh" - it's gotta be really good. I'm a picky eater and think you should be too.

I used two recipes (here and here) as guidelines, the first from which I got the tomato sauce recipe below. I recommend making the tomato sauce the night before, but if that whole process seems to be a bit much, the jarred stuff will work just fine. I would get 2 jars to be on the safe side.

Tomato Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 c chopped onion
1 tbsp + 2 tsp minced garlic
2 cans (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
1/3 c tomato paste
2 tbsp dried Italian herbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and let cook for 5 mins, until soft. Add garlic and cook 5 mins more, turning heat down to medium-low.

2. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs to sauce pan. Stir until heated through and cover. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 1 hr.

3. Allow tomato sauce to cool (I put mine in the fridge over night) and then blend in a blender for about 10 seconds or until the sauce has an even consistency (although the sauce should still be thick).


Lasagna

1 12.3 oz package of firm silken tofu (I like Mori-Nu)
juice of half a medium lemon
2 tsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp dried Italian herbs

1 bag fresh baby spinach, boiled and drained
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c chopped mushrooms
1 c chopped onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 small can of black olives, drained and chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
prepared tomato sauce
12 whole grain lasagna noodles, cooked (less than a box)
2 tsp nutritional yeast
fresh basil (optional)

1.  After opening the tofu, wrap in paper towels and press on all sides to absorb liquid. Rewrap in new paper towels and let sit for 10 minutes as water is absorbed by the towel. (I put something with a little weight on top of the wrapped tofu in order to squeeze out some of the water.)

2. Discard paper towel and place tofu in a small mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, nutritional yeast and herbs. Mix together with a fork, breaking apart tofu until it has a ricotta-like consistency. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 20 mins.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

3. Squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach and then roughly chop. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add onion and garlic and let cook until onions become soft. Add artichokes, olives and s&p and cook for another few minutes, turning down heat if ingredients start to stick to the pan. Remove from heat.

5. Remove tofu mixture from the fridge and mix in chopped spinach.

6. Pour a thin layer of tomato sauce into a 1.5 qt. round casserole dish so that the bottom is covered. Lay (4) noodles on top of the sauce, add a layer of tofu mixture and a layer of the artichoke mixture . Repeat twice by adding another layer of tomato sauce, noodles, tofu mixture and artichoke mixture. Top with a layer of tomato sauce and the rest of the tofu mixture. Sprinkle nutritional yeast on top.

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and if the lasagna still has a lot of liquid, cover and place back in the oven for another 15- 25 minutes.

8. Top with fresh basil, add salt, pepper and red chili pepper flakes to taste. Serve with a green salad and olive ciabatta rolls.

(Serves 4-5)

So.... now that it's all typed out - this recipe looks way more intense than it really is! I'm just way too good at giving instructions, that's all ;)

Enjoy and Happy Friday! The weekend is HERE.

Recipe: Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon w/ Mashed Potatoes & Caramelized Leeks

This past weekend I hit up Portland's largest farmers' market with some friends, and I came home with a leek. Never bought one before... wasn't sure what to do with it... but I knew it looked like a giant green onion and I love me some green onions.

After browsing the web for the perfect leek recipe, I came to a conclusion: I was really just craving salmon and mashed potatoes. So the leek (lonely little guy) would have to be their sidekick.

I slightly modified a recipe for Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon that I found here, and the rest I kind of made up as I went along. (Not trying to be impressive, you probably made the majority of this meal last night as a part of your normal weekday dinner.) I thought it turned out tasty enough to share the recipe, despite its simplicity.

I give you.... Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon and Spinach Mashed Potatoes, with Caramelized Leeks.

The recipes below are meant to be served together. It will serve 1-2 people, depending on how starving you are. Props to me for not eating the usual dinner-for-two tonight! That means leftovers for tomorrow. Yum.

The stars of the evening: Red Fingerling Potatoes (lots of 'em), Wild-Caught Alaskan Salmon Filet, Brown Sugar, and The Leek.

Brown Sugar Salmon

1 lb wild-caught salmon filet

3 tbsp brown sugar

4 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sprinkling of salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Make sure that one oven rack is in the center and the other rack is 6 inches from the broiler.

2. Once the oven has preheated, salt and pepper the salmon, place it on the baking sheet and then set it on the middle oven rack to bake for 10 minutes.

3. In the meantime, mix together the brown sugar, mustard, tamari and vinegar in a small saucepan. While stirring constantly, bring to a boil and then remove from heat.

4. After the salmon has baked for 10 minutes, remove it from the oven and brush with the brown sugar glaze.

5. Set the oven to "broil" and place the salmon back into the oven, but on the top rack closer to the broiler. Broil for 2 minutes and then remove from the oven.

Spinach Mashed Potatoes

3/4 lb of red fingerling potatoes

1 large handful of fresh baby spinach

3/4 cup of almond milk (or your preferred milk)

2-3 tbsp of Earth Balance (or butter)

1 clove of minced garlic / garlic salt

2 tsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop potatoes in half and remove any scary eyes (but do not peel) while bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Saute the minced garlic with 2 tsp of olive oil on medium heat until it starts to smell really good, then remove from heat. Add the potatoes to the large pot after the water reaches a full boil.

2. Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, using a fork to see if they are ready after about 10 minutes. (If the fork pierces the potato easily - they are done!) Before removing from heat, throw in the spinach for just a few seconds.

3. Immediately strain the potatoes and spinach and return to the pot. Make sure to not set the pot back onto a hot burner.

4. Add minced garlic, almond milk and Earth Balance to the pot and then mash with a potato masher until they look like mashed potatoes. ;) Add garlic salt (if needed) and salt and pepper to taste.

Caramelized Leeks

1 leek

2 small spoons of Earth Balance (or butter)

1. Wash and very thinly slice the stalk part of the leek into skinny rings. Combine with the Earth Balance in a skillet and set on medium heat. Stir for 5 minutes and then turn the heat to medium-high and stir until the leeks start to turn brown. Remove from heat.

Serve the salmon with a side of mashed potatoes, and top both with the caramelized leeks. Word to the wise: this is one of those meals (my favorite kind) where it's best to get a little bit of everything in each bite. Enjoy! 

Recipe: Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

I adapted my family's prized chicken tortilla soup recipe into a vegetarian version that, believe it or not, has just as much flavor. I love this soup because it's spicy and flavorful, easy to make, healthy if you don't go cray on the cheese (it happens) and can be played around with quite a bit.  It is now my go-to recipe when I want to impress. This recipe makes roughly 4-5 bowls of soup.

Ingredients:

1 large green bell pepper

1 large yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic

10 jalapeno slices (from a jar)

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 can of whole tomatoes, with juice

4 cans of vegetable broth

1-1.5 tbsp. chili powder 

1-1.5 tbsp. cumin

1.5 c. corn (I use frozen, thawed)

avocado

mozzarella cheese 

corn tortilla chips

cilantro (optional)

lime (optional)

Optional but You Won't Be Disappointed Secret Ingredient: Muzzy's Magic Jalapeno Seasoning. I special order the stuff and put it on everything!

Okay, so:

1. Thinly slice the green bell pepper and onion, mince the garlic. Put vegetable oil in the bottom of a soup pot and place on the stovetop at medium heat. Add garlic, pepper, onions and jalapenos (a little jalapeno juice is a good thing) to the pot. Stir until onions begin to caramelize. 

2. Add vegetable broth, tomatoes, chili powder and cumin to the pot. Use a spatula to sort of cut the tomatoes into halves. Add about 10 shakes of Muzzy's Magic. Bring soup to a barely-there boil and then turn down to low and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Add corn. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and see if you want to add more cumin / chili powder / Muzzy's Magic. Simmer for 5 minutes longer if you do. 

3. Place a handful of tortilla chips in a bowl, top with mozzarella cheese. Fill the bowl with soup and top with avocado slices, lime slices, and cilantro.

Could it be any easier? I don't think so. Enjoy with Mexican beer! 

The Comeback Kid: fondue parties

Last week, before my flight home from California, I stocked up on girlie magazines at the airport instead of splurging on an onboard cocktail, and while flipping through a classier of the collection, Elle, I came across an article about an Indian-themed dinner party thrown by designer Rebecca Minkoff to celebrate the launch of her new eyewear collection. And the girl knows how to throw a good dinner party! I want to copy her. I am inspired, so I decided to cut up my magazine, dig through my closet for the computer cord to my scanner, and blog about it.

Elle Magazine, March 2012

Her party left me wanting to have one of my own because a) it looked hella fun, b) the decor was very pretty and unique, and c) there was fondue.

Who has fondue parties? My parents in the 70's.

Such a great idea. 

But before I get to my favorite attraction (cheese! cheese! cheese! chocolate! chocolate! chocolate!), I want to share the details of the party as a whole.

Clockwise: Party guests sporting the new eyewear collection, including one of my fave people, Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller; model Coco Rocha eating a meatball; and white chocolate fondue!!

Amazing.

Obsessed with those blue ikat plates, the napkin placement, and the floral arrangements. Oh and are those yellow cup things candles? Those too.

As much as I love everything about this dinner party, I know trying to accomplish something similar would be totally out of my budget. Taxes are due scarily soon and I've never been one of those lucky people who actually gets money back - quite the opposite. So, what I'm going to take away from this is my favorite part from the very beginning... I'm going to have some friends over for a little fondue party. Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! And a very simple fondue party, with focus on good food, good wine, good friends and good times. Yes, this is a very cheesy conclusion, pun intended.

And, if, like me, you can't handle reading about fondue and then not having some, here are some recipes off the web and a little fondue shopping guide:

The Recipes

                         

Savory:    

                    

Classic cheese fondue                                          

Beer cheese fondue                                              

Hot oil fondue (seafood)                                       

Hot oil fondue (tempura)                                       

Sweet:

Dark chocolate fondue

White chocolate fondue

Caramel fondue

Peanut butter fondue 

The Shopping Guide

Vintage Orange Enamelware Fondue Set on Etsy $48

Swissmar 10-pc. Noirmont Fondue at Target $100

Sur La Table Stainless Steel Fondue $90

Le Creuset Fondue at Sur La Table $180

Williams Sonoma Ruffoni Copper Fondue Pot $370

And I'm sorry to say, but by the time you've read this post it's very possible I have already bought that adorable fondue set from Etsy. But don't worry, there are many others almost as cool as that one. :)

Recipe: Corn Chowdah

So how badly do you want to try The. Best. Corn. Chowder. Recipe. Ever? I am SO serious. I had never made a cream-based soup before (if I discovered this before now, I may have been a 500 pound middle schooler because a) it's sooooo easy to make and b) it is so freakin tasty!) and I gotta be honest - it turned out damn good. Dustin' my shoulders off, yep!

Just kidding. I am pretty sure it is a fool-proof recipe. You wanna know why? Because I'm the fool who went to the grocery store, bought all of the ingredients, did all of the prep, and then realized right before I needed to start making the SOUP, the only cooking-thing I had in my apartment was a skillet!!!! I forgot that I had left all of my pots and pans (all 2 of them!) at my friend's house. (I had made them velveeta Texas queso one night while we were watching the Blazers. God I'm a good friend.) Anywayyyyy, guess what? It still turned out PERFECT. The soup, like 8 cups of it, turned out perfect when I cooked it in a freakin skillet! So yes, the recipe is no doubt fool-proof.

And even though the recipe is perfect (I really need to expand my vocabulary don't I?) I'm not including a photo of it in this post because, um yeah the lighting in my kitchen sucks and let's just say that the photos I did take were very unappetizing. Foods I will never post my own photos of are: pretty much anything that someone might mistake for throw-up. Or the opposite. That photo I posted a while back of my homemade veggie broth was definitely questionable. 

Clouds

Snow

Puppies

Sunshine

Sweaters

Pillow

Water

Twitter

Ryan Gosling

weheartit.com

Okay I just wanted to get your mind on something yummy nice before I give you the recipe :)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 - 1 1/2 cups water
2 cubes vegetable bouillon
2 cups corn
2 cups soy milk
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Yeah I'm totally ignoring what you're thinking right now. Just trust me, it is a good recipe. As is.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions and celery; cook until just slightly golden. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil over high heat, stir in bouillon and reduce to medium heat. When bouillon cubes have dissolved, add corn and the vegetables from the skillet. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add water if necessary.

Reduce heat to low, and pour in 1 cup of soy milk. Quickly whisk in flour, then add parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until soup thickens, about 15-20 minutes. Then you are done!

Nom nom nom. And guess what? Only 153 calories/serving, 6.7 g fat. Booyah!

And for the original recipe, thank allrecipes.com - "Creamy Vegan Corn Chowder"

Recipe: Veggie Broth

Are you sick of playing around on Pinterest and want to actually be productive? Are you feeling really ambitious and in the mood to use a recipe to create an ingredient for another recipe?? Do you want to twirl around the kitchen and pretend you are Julia Child???? Do you want to make your whole home smell like Thanksgiving???!!! Yeah I knew that one would work. It's been what, three weeks?

Let's make some homemade veggie broth. :)

Add 1 tbsp oil to pot, set on medium heat

Chop and add one at a time: 2 whole onions, 5 stalks of celery, and 4 carrots*

Add 1 bay leaf, 10 peppercorns, and 3 cloves of garlic

Add any other veggies in your fridge that you wanna get rid of

Stir and let cook for a few minutes on medium heat, then add 1 gallon of water

Turn up the heat and wait for it to start boiling

Turn down the heat a little bit and let it do it's thing for an hour

Add 2 tsp salt and 1/4 cup of Tamari; let simmer another 20 mins

Strain through a strainer into a pitcher

Now, you are done!

It will last a week in the fridge. Freeze into ice cubes for later use.

*mirepoix (pronounced "meer-pwah")- the combination of three aromatics: celery, carrots and onion, often used in French cuisine

(Don't you feel so cultured now? "Meer-pwah.")

No-Turkey Day (Yes, I went there)

Thanksgiving came and went pretty quickly this year, so I’m going to make the post about it quick as well. I’m honestly so over Thanksgiving leftovers that it’s hard to write a post about how good the food was - even though it really was good! The first four times I ate it. :)

I did things a little differently this year, inspired by the last chapter of Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals, and took on the culinary challenge of a vegan Thanksgiving. I know, I know, SO controversial. What a hot topic! No turkey, and NO tofurkey. The feast consisted of mostly traditional dishes, using ingredients that I haven’t cooked much with before: coconut milk, almond milk, egg replacer, and Earth Balance.

Everything (except the stuffing...sadness) turned out well, but there were two big hits that are especially worth mentioning, both from Oh She Glows. Photos from OSG as well.

Sweet Potato & Pear Holiday Soup. (I am now fearless about using my blender for non-smoothie recipes)

and

Fluffy White Dinner Rolls. (Ummm why have I not tried kneading dough before? It’s my new favorite thing. Too bad bakers have to get up so early or I would consider it my new dream job)

Overall the meal and holiday were really enjoyable. A great reminder of how much I have to be thankful for. :)

Autumn bo Bautumn

If you haven't noticed, I'm on a kitchen kick and as a result, have been trying my best to shop locally and cook within the season as much as possible. Below is a pic of me with my loot from the Portland Farmers' Market in the PSU Park Blocks. Hands down one of my favorite weekend activities, not only do I get to try at least a dozen samples of locally made cheeses, chutneys, pickles, salsas, pestos and savory dips (sometimes I end up making two or three rounds) ... I get to buy amazingly fresh fruits and veggies that have been grown by family farmers just a morning's drive away from Portland. And it's cheaper than what I could get at a grocery store!

don't worry, I've switched to a more moisturizing conditioner since this pic was taken ;)

There are three main reasons why we should shop locally and in season whenever possible:

1) Vegetables at our local grocery stores that are not in season have often traveled thousands of miles to get from a "farm" to your city. Does that sound so fresh (and so clean clean) to you?

2) Vegetables at the grocery store that are not in season are picked when they are immature, so they aren't spoiled by the time they finally make it to your shopping cart. Vitamin degradation and nutrient loss is the trade off! Um, isn't that why we eat vegetables in the first place?? Oh, you heart the taste of broccoli? Maybe it's just me...

If you MUST have that summer corn (por ejemplo) in the dead of winter, go for the frozen kind because it will have more nutrients than anything you can find in the store that is out of season. Truth.

3) Finally... just think about how much better it would be for the environment if we didn't have millions of fruits and veggies shipped cross country all the time. We like to be green, now, don't we????

For your convenience (I'm all about good reader service), I've compiled a list of some of the most popular autumn fruits and veggies. You may see a lot more on the list than you expected:

Apples, Grapes, Pears, Beet roots, Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Pumpkin, Pomegranates, Onions, Carrots, Persimmons, Yams, Potatoes, Lettuce, Winter Squash, Mushrooms, Celery Root, Cauliflower, Garlic, Kale

Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, Beet Greens (I am not so sure if I'll be making those beet greens again... just being honest)

Superfood: Beets

They are rich in folic acid, calcium and iron. They have lots of fiber and nutrient compounds that protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.

Let's go.

Wash fresh beets and remove stems and tail

Place in baking dish with a half cm - half inch of water

Roast in oven for for 30-45 mins at 425 degrees (should easily slice with a knife)

Run under water and slip off skins

Slice or chop with purple onion

drizzle with olive oil, red wine vinegar and fresh black pepper

Honestly though, I've realized my favorite way to eat beets is just raw, on a salad. 

This photo was taken with my phone during my lunch break at work. I admit I was a little self conscious about standing at the counter in the office lunch room, shredding beets with my giant cheese grater, but it was So worth it.

Cheese-less Pizza... it's actually good!

Greatly influenced by the eye-opening film Food Inc., I've been spending a lot of time recently analyzing what it is I'm eating exactly. Where did this come from? What is it doing for my body? I've been experimenting with foods that I wouldn't typically go for (see archived post: You Know I Like My Chicken Fried) and have been happily surprised.

Lately I've been inspired by the Oh She Glows blogger Angela Liddon and her enthusiasm for vegan cooking and baking. She is one creative woman! Tonight I'm making her Butternut Squash Mac n Cheeze and am SO excited to see how it turns out; I'll make sure to write about it later. I'm not on a vegan diet, but am dabbling in it a bit since I've learned more about it and realized it is both a healthy and humane way to eat. And many vegan dishes are delicious! I was particularly intrigued by notorious-vegan Alicia Silverstone's quote, "Since I've gone vegetarian, my body has never felt better and my taste buds have been opened up to a whole new world." Like, I want my taste buds to experience a whole new world too! I'm obsessed with food and eating, so doesn't it make sense to give it a chance??

Well... I love cheese. A Lot. Grilled cheese and tomato soup, stinky hunks of French cheese with a glass of red wine, thick swipes of chive cream cheese on my bagel, cheese-stuffed fried jalapeno poppers, overflowing quesadillas and greasy cheesy pizza! But I read an interesting post at Oh She Glows having to do with Angela's preference for cheese-less pizza. She's even asked a pizza chef to leave the cheese off of her pizza when ordering at a restaurant (it didn't go over well, if I remember correctly, he refused). Anyway, her insistence on cheese-less pizza convinced me to try it.

So I made my own.

The most important thing about a cheese-less pizza is that the other components of the pizza have to be perfection because they are left completely exposed without flavorful, melty cheese. And thus my new passion for roasting my vegetable toppings with olive oil and sea salt before putting them on the pie. It makes a world of difference because they develop this wonderful caramelization that goes ohhhhhh goddddd in your mouth. This is an excellent "how to roast vegetables" article that I stumbled across online, and I followed his guidelines when I roasted the vegetables for my first cheese-less pizza. One thing to be careful of: if you first roast your veggies in a casserole dish and then put them on the pizza to be roasted some more - be careful you don't overdo it when they go in the oven the first time. At the first sight of a darkened edge, take them out and let them finish up on the pizza.

So far I've roasted purple onion, red bell pepper and garlic for my pizza, but I really want to try tomatoes, mushrooms, jalapeno peppers, red potatoes and pineapple!

I'm not going to explain step by step how I made the entire pizza because most people know how to make some kind of pizza, whether it be pita pizzas or a passed-down-from-your-grandmother recipe. However, I will say that in this instance, I believe less is more when it comes to the pizza sauce.

So, try a cheese-less pizza with roasted vegetables. It's healthier, cheaper and will allow you to really savor some amazing flavors. And don't even think about dipping it in ranch dressing!