This was made on a whim from the bananas I thought I would start eating before I run. I didn’t eat them. But what I do like to eat before I run is a tear of banana bread, specificaly with chocolate chips. I sliced, then froze the loaf. I pull out a couple pieces at a time, keep them in the fridge, and just tear off hunks as needed.
2 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup low fat sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup a.p. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 T butter, softened
1 T peanut butter
1/3 cup cocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Mash bananas in a medium bowl. Stir in sour cream, and set aside. Beat eggs in a seperate bowl. Measure flour into a small bowl and whisk in baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix the sugars into butter mixture. Add the eggs to the butter mixture and blend. Scrap the sides and bottom of bowl, then add the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Stir in banana mixture and chocolate chips. Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan and place in oven to bake for 50-55 min. Remove from oven when a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Temperatures are starting to spike but we’re not in the clear yet, it’s only May. Actually this soup is great at room temperature too….that’s how I’ve been eating it to prevent dirtying a pan (lazy).
Feeds 4-6. You will need a blender.
1 # organic carrots
2 medium/small leeks
3-4 celery stocks (1 1/2 cups chopped)
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 T butter
1 qt of low sodium Vegetable Stock
1/2 cup 1/2 and 1/2
kosher salt
pepper
olive oil
Garnish
6 oz low fat sour cream or creme fraiche
chopped fresh dill
chopped fresh mint
beet horseradish
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel carrots, remove ends, and cut into 1-2″ chunks. Place carrot chunks on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Toss around to coat carrots. Place in oven and roast for 15-20 min until fork tender. While carrots cook, clean and chop celery, garlic and leeks, using only the white and lightest green part of the leeks. Place celery, garlic, and leeks in a soup pot with 2 T butter, a sprinkle of kosher salt and cracked pepper, cook on med/low until tender. Add stock and roasted carrots. Simmer on med/low for 20-30 minutes. Get out the blender. In batches, blend warm mixture until smooth, then return to pot. Once all soup is pureed, stir in 1/2 and 1/2, taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly. For garnish, mix 2-3 T of chopped dill, and 1-2 T chopped mint, into creme fraiche or sour cream. Place a dollop on each bowl of soup and top with a dab of beet horseradish (available in the refrigerated case near dairy products). This can be served warm or cold.
This is probably Taylor’s boyfriend’s favorite snack. Super Bowl anyone? I use the word “dip” reluctantly because it is fully loaded and requires more of a “shovel” than a “dip” of the chip. Buy strong chips to serve with. Don’t be put off by the, seemingly, long list of ingredients or instructions. This recipe comes together easily and is worth the effort.
May take 45 min-1 hour. Gluten Free and Vegetarian (substitutions can be made to make vegan). You will need a serving dish with sides a few inches deep.
Perfect Super Bowl snack. I bet Taylor Swift would LOVE.
1 package of tempeh
1 T coconut aminos
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups water
3 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 packet low-sodium taco seasoning
1/2 c chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c tomatillo salsa
2 T canned, chopped green chilies (optional)
2/3 cup grated, sharp cheddar cheese
1 roma tomato diced
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 avacado
2 T light sour cream
salt and pepper
Tortilla chips
Start by boiling the tempeh to temper it’s bitter flavor. In a small sauce pan combine 2 1/2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp brown sugar, 1 T coconut aminos, stir and put over med high heat. While you wait for water to boil, open tempeh package, and slice tempeh into 4 pieces. When water boils, add tempeh to the pan and cover loosely, reducing heat to a simmer. Allow tempeh to simmer for 7 min, then drain and set aside to continue draining and cooling. While tempeh boils and cools, prep the ingredients that will be used as toppers (cilantro, cabbage, tomato). In a small bowl, mash flesh of the avacado, then stir in the 2 T sour cream. Season with a little salt, stir and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat 1 T oil and add the onion and garlic. Warm until fragrant but don’t burn. Crumble the tempeh into the skillet, add taco seasoning and another 1 T oil. Stir to combine, then add 1/2 of the drained beans. Stir with a large spoon mashing most of the beans with the back of the spoons. Add the rest of the beans, chilies, and the salsa, stir to combine. With the heat on low, cover, and let the mixture heat through for a few minutes. Taste mixture adding salt and pepper to taste. Add hot sauce if you’d like, as well.
Transfer bean mixture to your serving dish and top with shredded cheese. Cover the dish, allowing cheese to melt. When cheese has melted, lightly spread avacado and sour cream mixture over cheese. Next, sprinkle with red cabbage, tomato and cilantro. Serve with at room temperature with chips. Touchdown.
This is an easy, festive, dessert that even non vegans will love. The base is tofu but it’s so chocolatey and minty, you’d never guess.
You will need a blender or food processor to make this recipe. The recipe below makes 4 dainty servings. You could easily double it to make more, but I would make it in two batches to prevent over filling a food processor or not blending evenly.
2 candy canes
1 block of silken tofu
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (this takes away some of the tofu flavor)
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/4 cup + 2 T quality cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
roughly 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Start by crushing the candy canes and setting aside. These will be used to garnish the final product. Next, drain the liquid from the block of tofu. Place the tofu, lemon juice, and sugar in a blender or food processor. Blend thoroughly, stoping to scrape down sides occasionally, until tofu is uniformly smooth. Next add cocoa-salt and blend more, scraping down sides to ensure even blending. This can be served right away, or placed in a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerated until ready to use. Do not garnish with crushed candy canes until ready to serve.
This is a light, frosty ice cream base that pairs nicely with the fresh basil of summer. I used what I had on hand, 1/2 and 1/2, and 2% milk, and liked the outcome. By infusing the milk base with basil you achieve a subtle, even surprising basil flavor, without chunks of the herb ending up on your palate or in your teeth.
Fairly easy. Active time: 1 1/2 hours. Wait time: 4-6 hours Requires an ice cream maker.
2 cups loosely packed whole, fresh basil leaves
1 cup 2% milk
2 cups 1/2 and 1/2
3/4 cup + 1 tsp cane sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate
Combine basil through salt in a small sauce pan. Slowly bring to a light simmer. Reduce heat to low and allow to steep for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will infuse the milk with the flavor of basil. While the milk steeps, crack eggs, separating yolks from whites. Save the whites for another use (breakfast). Put the yolks into a medium bowl, add vanilla, and whisk to combine. After 30 minutes has passed, strain the milk mixture, discard the basil leaves and return milk to the saucepan and place pan over low/medium heat. Now you will need to *temper the egg yolks.
Tempering the egg yolks slowly, and carefully brings up their temperature so they do not curdle or scramble when combined with the warm milk mixture.
You have the pan of milk, slightly warm, and a bowl of yolks. Place a kitchen towel under the bowl of yolks to secure it in place on the counter. Carefully pour about 1/3 cup of the milk into the bowl of yolks, while whisking the yolks. That is tempering. Now slowly pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the milk mixture, whisking the pan of milk. Use a rubber spatula to get all the egg mixture into the pan. Heat the pan on low, whisking for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add 1/4 of the chopped chocolate and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Make sure you also freeze the container of your ice cream maker overnight. After the ice cream base is cold, pour into ice cream maker along with the remaining chopped chocolate and follow machines instructions. After it’s thickened into ice cream place in a freezer safe container and freeze.
This experiment was inspired by aromas. I really love the smell of black pepper. I find it so complex and full of twists and turns. Bananas too have an intestong aroma that evolves wih the ripeness of the fruit. The best bananas for breads and muffins are the ones that almost squish out of the dark peel; a banana rarely eaten in the same way that a bright yellow banana is eaten. The result of my current curiosity sounds like something from a spell book. Grab the squishy brown bananas, and black pepper and take these charming muffins to a Halloween party. If you want to creep people out a little, up the amount of black pepper by a smidge.
Yields 12 standard size muffins. You’ll need a muffin tin and muffin cups if desired.
Banana Black Pepper Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 c cane sugar
2 T brown sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
kosher salt and more cane sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If not using muffins cups, spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Measure dry ingredients (flour-black pepper) into a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. In another bowl, combine sugars through vanilla and whisk together. Add banana mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle a little kosher salt and cane sugar ontop of muffins, then bake. Check muffins after 20 minutes. When you can really smell the muffins and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, remove them from the oven and allow to cool.
Easy, quick, and warm. Wonderful warming flavors of fennel, coriander, and crushed red pepper along with a hearty dose of cabbage will activate the internal detoxifying processes. As the weather starts to really cool down, this soup can help keep things moving on the inside, when all you might want to do is crawl under a blanket.
Spicy Sausage Soup
1 lb Spicy pork sausage
1-2 T butter
1-2 T olive oil
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 T chili flakes (less if you’d like)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 T tomato paste
2 T minced garlic
1 medium white onion, small dice
3 c diced fennel bulb
2 c diced carrot
4-6 c chopped green cabbage
1 1/2 -2 quarts veg stock
1/2 c chopped parsley
Feeds 6. Takes about 1 hour cooking time. Gluten Free
Start by chopping and dicing all your veg so they’re ready to go. In a medium/large pot, brown the sausage. Remove cooked sausage from the pot, leaving any rendered fat. To the pork fat, add olive oil and butter. The amount you add will depend on how much fat was released from the sausage and your own desire. To the pot, add the tomato paste, fennel, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook on med/low, allowing the spices to bloom and become arromatic but being careful not to burn the tomato paste. Add the garlic and onion, stirring and allowing onion to soften, again being careful not to burn the garlic or tomato paste. Next, add the fennel, cabbage, and carrot. Stir to coat the veg with the spicy tomato mixture. As the cabbage starts to whilt, add the stock. Allow 10-15 min for the veg to cook down, then add the cooked sausage back to the pot. Taste broth and add salt if needed. Simmer soup until carrots are tender. Stir in chopped parsley just before serving.
Refreshing and sexy. Something about mango and cardamom just tastes sultry. Inspired by the Indian beverage, this ice cream is a mix or fresh mango, milk, and Siggi’s drinkable yogurt. The yogurt is not heated in this process, hoping to preserve it’s healthful bacteria. The fresh mango brings natural sweetness, and is a low calorie but highly nutritious fruit.
You will need an ice cream machine and 2 days to allow for ice cream base to cool for at least 8 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.
1 cup strained, fresh mango puree (1 large mango)
1 cup whole or 2 % milk
1/3 cup + 2 tsp cane sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup Siggi’s Plain Drinkable Yogurt
Put freezer bowl of ice cream maker in your freezer. Remove mango skin, and the flesh from the pit. Puree mango flesh in a blender and then pour through a fine strainer. You will need 1 cup of mango puree. In a sauce pan, combine puree, milk, sugar, salt, and cardamom. Wisk to combine and place over medium heat, whisking often. Heat until warm. Whisk together egg yolks then temper with warm mango and milk. Return tempered yolk mixture to the sauce pan and whisk, until tiny bubbles appear. Continue to whisk with temp on medium-low, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat allow to cool, then stir in yogurt. Place mixture in the refrigerator and chill over night. When thuroughly cooled, place in ice cream machine and churn until fozen. Enjoy right away or freeze in an airtight container.
A combination of a whole grain, light flavorful vinegarette, and lots of spring vegetables makes for a high protein, high fiber, vegetarian salad, side dish, or one bowl meal. Great as a side for Easter Ham or Lamb. Come on in Spring.
Feeds 8-10 as a side dish. Feeds 4-5 as base to a main course. Takes roughly 45 minutes to make.
1 cup of dried Barley, rinsed
2 cups of chopped, celery
1 small bunch of radish, cleaned and cut into matchsticks
5-6 green onions, sliced on the bias
Dill, 1/2 cup chopped
Dill pickles, 1/2 cup chopped
1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed
Dressing
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
2 T dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T agave syrup
1/2 tsp salt
generous cranks of black pepper
Boil water and cook barley according to package directions. Set aside to cool. To make dressing combine vinegar-black pepper and blend or whisk together until combined. Prepare all vegetables. When barley has cooled to room temp, add dressing and veg. Fold together to combine. Taste for salt and pepper, add if needed. If serving later you may add oil if salad seems to dry for you liking.
We NEED it but most of us don’t get enough of it. Why is it that most things we NEED, we don’t get enough of; water, sleep, patience, fun, magnesium? It’s likely most people don’t get enough magnesium because it’s found in minimally processed, whole foods, AND stress, caffeine and alcohol can cause excessive loss of magnesium. Women entering menopause can also experience a drop in magnesium as their levels of estrogen drop.
Why is magnesium so important? If you’re like most people you enjoy a good night sleep and a nice dump regularly. Magnesium is like the comfort zone mineral. Helping with some 300 bio-chemical reactions in the body, it helps regulate blood flow, blood sugar, nerve and muscle function, sleep, mood, and bowel. movements. It helps in balancing the states we associate with being comfortable. Without adequate amounts of magnesium, you could be experiencing cramps, headaches, depression, fatigue, brittle bones, reduced heart health, increased risk of stroke and diabetes.
Popping a magnesium supplement probably won’t stop a heart attack in its tracks but incorporating magnesium rich foods regularly, could prevent the worsening or the beginning of some major health disfunctions. While supplements may be necessary, that is something to discuss with a doctor. Too much magnesium from a supplement could be dangerous. Too much magnesium from food is impossible because excess will be passed through urine. My opinion is to always get as much nutrition from food as you can. By eating foods rich in magnesium, you will also be getting other important nutrients along with fiber, fat, protein, and enzymes that also play a crucial role in over all health. You can’t spot clean your health… wink.
They look like they’re covered in dirt, but they’re not. That’s the unique spice blend.
Here are some easy, popular food sources of magnesium. In a particular order, from highest amount to lowest, per oz.
Pumpkin seeds/pepitas, chia seeds, almonds, spinach, cashews, peanuts, black beans, edamame, brown rice, plain yogurt
Roasted Pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
Pumpkin seeds have 156 mg magnesium per ounce. The recommended daily for adult men and woman is 300-400mg/day. These guys are great for just snacking but also good as a salad crunchie, soup crunchie, mixed in a grain bowl, or on top of hummus. Start eating these and you’ll be sleeping and pooping like a baby in no time.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
10 oz pepitas, unroasted and unsalted
1 1/2 T pink Himalayan fine salt
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1-2 tsp agave syrup
1-2 T olive oil
Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss well to distribute oil, agave, and spices. On a foil lined baking sheet, spread out the prepared seeds. Place in the heated oven for 12-15 minutes, start watching after 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool, laying out on the tray. Once fully cooled, seeds can be stored in a jar or container.
Chocolate ice cream with a little kick. That’s hot. Nothing says LOVE like a little spicy chocolate ice cream on Valentine’s Day.
You will need an ice cream maker and you’ll need to plan a day or two ahead. In advance, freeze ice cream maker container. Ice cream base needs to chill over night or 6-8 hours. For a more solid ice cream, you will want sufficient time to freeze ice cream after it is done in the machine.
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp ground cayenne
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup cane sugar
4 egg yolks
Start by melting the 3/4 cup of semi sweet chocolate, and set aside. In a small sauce pan, combine cream, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and whisk to combine. Put sauce pan over medium low heat. Heat mixture, whisking often. While milk warms, separate eggs, leaving yolks in a medium bowl. When mixture begins to steam and bubbles start to form, pour about 1/2 cup of milk mixture into yolks while whisking. This is “tempering” the egg yolks. Add about 1/3 of the milk, whisking. Return milk and yolk mixture to the pot of remaining milk, and return to stove. Continue heating milk, whisking, over medium low heat until it reaches 170 degrees, or starts to bubble slightly. Add melted to chocolate and whisk to mix. Remove mixture from heat and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on top of milk. Once milk has cooled, place in a container with a lid and place in refrigerator, to cool completely. Once milk has cooled completely, following ice cream machine directions, pour into ice cream maker. Eat as soft serve right away, or return to the freezer to become harder before serving.
Did you buy candy canes for Christmas and not eat them too? I bought candy canes for garnish for the last recipe I posted. The box of candy canes moved around my house for a month before I acknowledged that I wasn’t going to eat candy canes, I was just going to keep moving them if I didn’t find another use for them. This recipe is an ice cream base infused with candy canes, giving a minty finish and smooth home made ice cream texture. No clumsy, sticky chunks of candy cane here. I would even top a scoop with espresso, if I had an espresso machine. Guess I can’t have ALL the machines.
Peppermint Ice Cream. Ice cream machine needed. This amount fits comfortably in one batch in a Cuinsinart ice cream machine.
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup natural cane sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 candy canes
4 egg yolks
Start this process a day or two before you need the ice cream. Freeze the freezer container of the ice cream maker the day before. Also, make the base mixture and refrigerate the day before. In a sauce pot combine heavy cream through candy canes. Crack eggs and separate yolks into a medium bowl. Whisk the yolks and set the bowl aside. Heat milk mixture over medium heat, whisking until candy canes and sugar have dissolved. Pour a small amount of milk mixture into the egg yolks to begin tempering the yolks. Slowly add more milk mixture, whisking, until you’ve added 1/3 of the milk to the yolks. Once whisked together, pour yolk and milk mixture back into the pan of remaining milk. Whisk until temperature reaches 170 degrees or mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain if necessary and pour ice cream base into a bowl or container, and refrigerate covered, over night. Following ice cream maker instructions, pour base mixture into ice cream maker. Serve right when mixing is done for a soft, fluffy consistency, or put ice cream in the freezer to enjoy at your leisure.
KP The Real 