So just a quick recipe from me today.  I’ve been all about the chocolate lately, which is not a bad thing in my opinion.  But I’ve also been trying to get more healthy fats in my diet and my hair and skin have been loving avocados.  Which is weird, because I usually don’t crave avocados.  They’re good, but not my favorite.  Made into the smoothest, most amazing chocolate pudding though?  Yeah, I’m craving this!

I do realize chocolate avocado pudding has been done before and I’ve been seeing it literally everywhere lately.  I can’t believe I haven’t tried it until recently.  I’m telling you, don’t wait to try it!  My inspiration for the orange came from this post by With Style and Grace but I ended up not following any particular recipe.  Although there are only so many variations to a simple recipe that I’m sure mine is very similar to a lot.

Of course, not all avocados are the same size.  The ones I used were fairly small, but if you taste your pudding and taste avocado, you just need a little more cocoa powder(and then possibly some more sweetener).  Let me warn you, this stuff is addictive.  It lasts just fine in the fridge for a couple days, although the surface will get darker and a little bit of liquid may separate, but I just stir it all back together with a spoon and it’s just as delicious.

I’m a little afraid to admit that I couldn’t resist it for breakfast one morning.  But then again, I’m not sure what, if anything is wrong with that

The orange flavor isn’t very pronounced so if that’s what you want, you could try adding a little very finely grated orange zest to the food processor, but just a small amount.  This was exactly how I enjoyed it and wouldn’t change it next time.  Although next time I think I’ll move onto other flavors

Just a quick note though, that I’m not quite sure how to explain…  This pudding is rich, but not rich like your typical dairy(and possibly egg) filled pudding, especially since using juice instead of milk for the liquid.  So if you’re not used to that difference and haven’t tried avocado pudding before, I recommend using any kind of milk, even a non-dairy milk as long as it’s unsweetened, for the liquid.  That being said, I’ve gotten used to a little more dairy lately, but I still loved this.

So, I kinda love casseroles.  And not too long ago I realized I love baking quinoa.  Sure, it’s cooked in a pot before hand.  And you could probably make this whole thing in the pot and serve it right away, without baking.  But quinoa does something kind of awesome when you bake it.  The edges get crispy, the top gets golden and crunchy.  And it just turns out plain delicious

So, I guess technically this would be a side dish.  But I’m not going to lie, I just ate one of these for lunch the day I made them.  Maybe next time I’d chop up some veggies that we usually get on pizza, peppers, more onions or maybe even some spinach and mix it in to make it a little more veggie-full.  Other than that, I totally recommend this as a meal.  Even though I’ve been craving cheese like crazy this pregnancy I actually really liked the one with nutritional yeast.  So if you’re dairy free or vegan, you are not missing out!  Especially since that one got crispier on top from baking, which I love

Although the cheesy one did photograph nicer   I had a seriously hard time narrowing down the pictures.

Yum!

To say I’m proud of these little candies is an understatement.  I’ve made coconut butter before but I’m not usually a huge fan unless it’s in or on something, or at least slightly sweetened.  I don’t know what popped into my head to try this combo.  And I’ll be completely honest, the room temperature mixture is kind of gross.  The texture is grainy and blah and the chocolate is too soft.  And in the freezer they’re actually not that great either, grainy again, and the chocolate is too hard.  I was a little discouraged and I certainly wasn’t going to post anything that didn’t have the texture I wanted.  My one last attempt, I put one in the fridge and left it for an hour or so to adjust in temperature.  And finally – that was what I was looking for!

So I guess it goes without saying that these MUST be kept in the fridge.  The filling is the perfect creamy softness that literally melts in your mouth immediately, and the chocolate has that amazing snap when you bite into it.  I suppose if you’re making them well ahead of an event, I would recommend keeping them in the freezer until then because they do contain fresh fruit juice.  They will last quite a while in the fridge as long as they’re sealed to keep any fridge smells and tastes out.  Although I can’t exactly say how long because I haven’t been able to test that   Be sure to pop them in the fridge well ahead of serving to let them come to the proper temperature, and then I recommend serving them within a few minutes of removing them from the fridge as they warm up fairly quickly.  Oh and the coconut oil in the chocolate will make them melt on your fingers pretty fast too, but I think that’s part of what makes them so amazing

I love calling these candies, but in all honestly, they are a super healthy candy.  Even if you don’t think coconut is the healthiest choice these are still a way better option that most any store bought candy options.  No, they aren’t perfect, they don’t have that super smooth sugary inside that most people like from filled chocolates, but they wont give you that crazy, headache inducing sugar high(or the low that causes you to eat the rest of the box), but I would totally choose these over store bought filled chocolates.  Yeah, they’re awesome.

If you’re completely avoiding dairy, be sure to use a chocolate that contains no dairy products.  There are even vegan white chocolates available if you’re avoiding dairy and want to decorate your chocolates all fancy-like.  But really, it’s no big deal if you don’t.  They’re just as good with just a layer of dark chocolate.  I did leave a couple only half dipped, or not dipped at all and don’t recommend it.  Dip these completely in chocolate!  You wont regret it!

I’ll admit, I’m totally not a master at anything to do with chocolate, except eating it.  My white chocolate didn’t exactly stick to my dark chocolate as you can kind of tell in the picture above.  It stayed on until you bit it and then bits fell off.  If you know why, let me know, I’m totally curious.  But it didn’t really matter because it all tastes the same in your mouth, right?

Can you tell how much I loved these from the amount of pictures?  I apologize.  Or maybe not, because there are worse things than suffering through looking at pictures of chocolates, right?

I don’t think chocolate waffles need any kind of introduction.  Although, I do have to say I think I’m developing a thing for chocolate for breakfast.  And I don’t mean cold cereal that turns your milk brown.  I don’t mind my kids following my chocolate for breakfast habit when these are on the menu.  They’re whole grain, packed full of fruit(especially if you pile it on top too) and get most of their sweetness from the cherries in them.  They’re just barely sweet, and since I can’t really see dumping syrup all over these, I prefer just a light dusting of powdered sugar.  And some cherries cooked with a little cornstarch and a small spoon of honey to pile on top.

You know what’s awesome about waffles?  You can keep them in a bag on the counter for a couple days, or you can even freeze them and then throw them in the toaster for a quick breakfast or snack.  What’s not to love?

One thing I have to mention, I’m not sure if it’s my waffle maker – which is pretty old – but I seem to have to cook these for an extra minute longer than the waffle maker says, so just keep that in mind.  Although I’m pretty sure it’s the ancient waffle maker I use

I remember having a soup like this as a kid and not thinking too much of it.  It wasn’t very exciting, maybe even kind of boring.  All of a sudden a couple weeks ago I got the memory of this soup in my head.  It was small, kind of a passing “hey, I remember that, I should make it” as I picked up some shrimp on sale.  But it slowly grew and grew and then this weekend my pregnancy stomach brain needed this soup!  And this is the end result.  Maybe not exactly how I had it as a kid, but even better than my memory of it.  Even my hubby loved this enough to have seconds and to ask me to make it again.

We don’t often have shrimp.  They aren’t exactly in the budget on a regular basis so when I notice them on sale I get some because we all enjoy them.  This will definitely be one of my go-to shrimp recipes from now on!  I actually prefer it with more rice to make it somewhat stew-like, but just add as much or as little to get the consistency you’d like.  As you can tell I enjoyed mine with a piece of crusty whole wheat bread.  And it was amazing

Just a note on the spiciness – obviously it’s spicy.  It is Cajun after all – but if you’re not a huge fan of spiciness or want to be able to share with the kids, still consider making this!  I actually make my own Cajun seasoning and greatly reduce the cayenne.  I also mentioned an alternative to the hot sauce in the recipe and if you do choose to make it that way you can omit any extra cayenne which will reduce the spiciness(just don’t omit the vinegar, it needs the tanginess!).  Or you can always choose to add the hot sauce to your own bowl as desired, so you can share the pot of soup with any little ones that might not like the heat.

If you’ve been reading my blog for long you know I recommend using freshly ground flour.  Just making the switch from refined grains like white flour to whole grain flours is an awesome – but difficult! – transition.  It’s really so worth it,  for the nutrition and flavor, not to mention the world of different flavors and textures that exploring whole grains opens up.

I know it’s hard to justify buying such an expensive piece of equipment to grind your own grains when flour is already readily available, but if you’ve ever had anything made with freshly ground flour you know it’s worth it.  The taste is so much better!  And from a budget standpoint, it’s well worth it as whole grains can usually be found for considerably cheaper than the already ground flour.  Not to mention you can buy large quantities of whole grains(which usually works out to be cheaper than buying small quantities) and store them without them going bad, but already ground flour should be bought in small quantities as it goes rancid fairly quickly.

Not too long ago I was sent a WonderMill grain mill to test and review.  I have to admit I was quite shocked when I received the email as the mill looks almost identical to my mother-in-laws grain mill that I’ve been using(that I couldn’t find a brand or name on).  She used her mill for 15+ years and while pieces are broken and it’s actually in a few more pieces than it was originally, it still works fine.  While I’m not entirely sure, it may actually be a WhisperMill, which is similar, but as they discuss on this page, is quite a bit different and the WonderMill has been greatly improved on since the WhisperMill was around.

To be honest, I wondered why they would brag about it being the worlds quietest grain mill.  Obviously a grain mill is going to be loud, but I was pleasantly surprised that this one was actually no louder than my vacuum cleaner, which is loud, but not bad at all.  Plus, the grain mill doesn’t run long to grind 8 cups of grain, which should fill the storage container. That doesn’t mean that that’s all it can grind at one time though, they even have a video on their site showing the mill grinding grain for almost 10 hours straight.  How awesome is that?  If the motor can do that I’m sure it can survive the amount of grain I’m grinding.

I especially like the different settings, and I can actually notice a difference between finely ground flours and coarser ground flours which is awesome.  I especially like that they list different grains and other things specifically in the manual that can(or can’t) be ground and there’s a much more detailed list here if you’re curious.  Of course, wet or oily grains/nuts/seeds can’t be ground, but any dry grains, even a lot of gluten-free grains and even beans are fine for grinding in the WonderMill.

I only have two very small complaints as the mill does exactly what it’s supposed to and does it really well.  First, the two lids are very stiff.  In the few times that I’ve used it I’ve thought the lid with the tube that the flour goes through was on properly but it wasn’t.  Not a big deal, it actually still didn’t make a mess and I’m sure it will get better once it’s used more, but I thought I’d mention it.  Second, it’s important to keep the lid off the hopper while grinding the grain for proper airflow, but when it gets to the end of grinding it can sometimes throw the last couple grains out, and throw them quite a distance.  They recommend just flipping the lid upside down and resting it on top which is a really easy fix.  Besides that the mill actually doesn’t make much of a mess at all.  And I love that it’s fairly light and doesn’t take up a whole lot of room so it’s convenient to just grind some grain before getting to work in the kitchen.

My most recent column in our local paper was about soft wheat, spelt and khorasan(or Kamut).  I’m a huge fan of spelt and Kamut (which is actually a brand name, khorasan is actually the name of the grain) and I’m always looking for ways to use them.  For my recipe, I went for something everyone usually knows.  It’s familiar, it’s delicious and this is just how we like it – lots of bananas, not much fat and sugar added and full of whole grains.  Oh, and chocolate too

Disclaimer: I was sent a WonderMill grain mill for free to try and review, but I was not under obligation to write a positive review and I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions in this post are my own.

I have a few recipes in my repertoire that fix my cravings for anything crunchy.  One actually uses millet, which I’ll post another time, another is oven baked potato fries.  And then there’s this one.  Polenta bakes up wonderfully crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, if you haven’t tried it, you really should.  It’s surprisingly simple, can be flavored so many different ways and chilling the polenta is what takes the longest, but if you plan in advance these are super quick to make, especially if you broil them instead of just baking them.

You’ll notice in the recipe I said the cheese is optional.  I actually don’t think the cheese added a whole lot to the fries, so next time I would leave it out and then in the last couple minutes of baking or broiling, sprinkle cheese over top and bake them just until it’s melted.  How awesome does that sound?  I also think a fresh jalapeno, finely diced and added with the garlic would be so yummy.   Too bad I always think of the best ideas after the fact, hah.  Either way though, if you want to omit the cheese(and even use oil instead of butter for a dairy-free version) and just serve them on their own with sour cream or greek yogurt and salsa, they’re still awesome

Before I go any further, I have to say… This is not mac and cheese!

Is it flavorful?  Yes.

Is it cheesy?  Ooh yes!

Will it satisfy your cravings for pasta?  Not a chance.

I’m that person that was never fooled by spaghetti squash.  Yeah, it has little strands like spaghetti, but pasta it is not.  And if you look at it like the diet version of pasta, you’ll never like it.  Trust me.  I like it for what it is now that I acknowledge that it’s a veggie and not replacing pasta.  I love squash, and even though spaghetti squash is the weird one of the bunch, I still love it for what it is.  So, I repeat:  This is not a diet version of mac and cheese.  This is a cheesy veggie casserole that just happens to use spaghetti squash.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I have to brag a little…  This spaghetti squash actually came from my garden last year!  Yes, it took me a long time to eat it.  And I’m a little embarrassed to admit there’s another one hiding in my cupboard that I’ve been ignoring for months now.  Although you really can’t blame me – my spaghetti squash plant was the only squash that did well and it did a little too well.  But it still excites me that I grew the squash that’s in this.  And maybe now that I put it out there, I’ll finally use up my last lonely spaghetti squash   Suggestions?  What’s your favorite way to have spaghetti squash?

Sorry.  I was planning on keeping this one until we were at least into February but I couldn’t hold onto it any longer.  I’m practically drooling just remembering this.  I’ve been making it for almost a year, thanks to Shutterbean’s post.  And when I made it last time I realized it would be perfect for, you know, the middle of February   Although my hubby isn’t a chocolate fan – this savory dutch baby is more his thing – which means every time I make this I only have to share with the kids.  And that is a very good thing for me.

I should also mention that leftovers are just as awesome.  Wrap them up, keep them in the fridge and reheat it for a pretty-much instant breakfast.  Awesome, right?  Not that first making this is that difficult.  5 minutes to throw it together, 20 minutes to bake and you have this.  I feel like I’m selling this…  I shouldn’t have to sell chocolate for breakfast, people!  Or even chocolate for breakfast-for-dinner, which in this case, is totally acceptable

Fresh strawberries would be amazing over this, and I see them at the grocery store all the time, but I honestly doubt how good they would taste.  Since trying our best to eat seasonally, we’ve found that produce out of season just doesn’t taste good.  You might get lucky and get a good strawberry in January, but I’ll stick with the amazing strawberries I froze when they were in season locally.  Since they didn’t look so pretty once thawed, I heated them up and pureed them with my immersion blender and then added a small spoon of honey, and some cornstarch mixed with cold water.  Then heated it through until it thickened into a delicious sauce.  Sorry, no exact measurements this time.  Maybe I’ll do a post on fruit sauces in the future because they are a delicious way to use up frozen fruit and so easy   If you’d like to serve this with fresh fruit, there are so many different fruits that would taste great with this.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far!  It’s been a stressful week around our house – but mostly self induced so I have no one to blame but myself.  I’ve been working hard in the kitchen, which has only resulted in a couple recipes and a literal ton of dishes for me this week.  Again, my own fault.  So this morning I took a break from my regular experiments and made a treat for myself and the kids.  I was debating calling these multigrain – can I consider quinoa a grain?  How many grains do you have to use before it’s considered multi?  Yeah, those are the thoughts going through my head.  I was also going to go with “Ancient Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins” but then “ancient” looked weird to me so I changed it.  Welcome to my brain.

If the quinoa and kamut(also known as khorasan) freak you out a little – no worries!  You can just use whole wheat pastry flour which I’ve used in the past.  This recipe actually originally used all purpose flour so you could also use that if you really want – I promise they’re delicious either way.  If you do use these grains in particular, you’ll notice that the muffins seem rather greasy on the bottom when they first come out.  I have considered bumping the pumpkin up a 1/4 cup and reducing the butter by a 1/4 cup but I haven’t tried this, and the whole grains absorb the oils by the time they’re completely cool anyways.  Speaking of the whole grains, these muffins don’t get very big but they are incredibly soft and almost fluffy.  Definitely not your average dense whole grain muffin.

I realize pumpkin is more of a fall thing and here we are in January, but a sudden craving hit and I just happened to have pumpkin in the freezer.  These also have more butter and sugar than I usually like to put in muffins but they’re so good for a treat.  I’m hoping you don’t mind