Veggie Converter

Mom's Zucchini Bread Recipe {Vegan, Whole Food} and USA PAN WINNER

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:00:09 PDT

**Congratulations to the USA Pan Winners!** When we lived in Colorado (age 3 to 5 for me), we had an amazing garden and an equally amazing next-door neighbor named Darla. She had several delicious zucchini recipes with my mom that we still make today. When I first decided to make my own zucchini bread, I went to my trusty Betty Crocker Zucchini Bread Recipe, which I later made into muffins. The muffins, and the bread, are delicious. But it's not quite like the zucchini bread I remember from my youth. So I finally broke out the "Mom's Zucchini Bread" recipe (which she's quick to remind me is actually Darla's). I've made a couple of minor updates to fit our new whole food lifestyle, but the heart of the recipe is the same. And my kids went absolutely crazy for it, much like I remember my sister and I going crazy for our zucchini bread at that age. Great memories and a great recipe.

When I got the ingredients out for the recipe, I realized I was out of eggs, so I went vegan sort of inadvertently this time. I couldn't be happier with the results.

Today is also the day to announce the winners of the USA Pan Giveaway. Congratulations to the winners!

I have contacted both winners with requests for shipping information. Please contact me within 48 hours to redeem your prize or new winner(s) may be selected.. Didn't win? Don't fret, check out USA Pans on Amazon.

Mom's Zucchini Bread
Ingredients

3 cups flour (I used whole wheat white)
1 1/4 cups sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (with flax eggs, the total will be 1 1/4 teaspoon)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cups chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoons water
3 flax eggs or other egg substitute (3 tablespoons ground flax seed plus 9 tablespoons hot water and 3/4 teaspoons baking powder)
1 cup applesauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together and put in loaf pans (2 small or 1 large). Hopefully in the beautiful USA Pan loaf pans you won!

Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

The Results
The kids went insane for this bread...Bug asked for FIVE slices. With the protein and Omega 3s in the flax seed, it's a pretty complete meal, too. So I was very excited that they loved it. I really liked this bread too. It does taste a bit different with the flax seed "eggs," and it's not quite as sweet since I cut the sugar down from 2 cups. But I really love it. Strangely, I like it better when it cools down! The meat-eating hubby liked this tasty zucchini bread treat, too. That's a big win, since he's not as big a fan of zucchini as I am.


Yes, that's an imprint of the USA Pan logo on the bottom of my bread! That's how well the loaves come out of the pans! Awesome, right?

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy, Hearth and Soul Hop.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Note: While USA Pan provided me with pans for the giveaway, my opinions are 100% my own. See my full disclosure policy here. This promotion, open to U.S. residents only, is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. I hereby release Facebook of any liability. Winner(s) will be contacted by email 48 hours after the giveaway ends. If you have any additional questions - feel free to send an email to veggieconverter@gmail.com.

Fajita Burgers Recipe {Vegan, Whole Food}: This Week's Cravings {CINCO DE MAYO}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:56:52 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is MEXICAN FOOD / CINCO DE MAYO and I'm sharing these delicious Fajita Burgers over at OnceAMonthMom.com. These burgers are a great option for an American/Mexican fusion meal for Cinco De Mayo. I served ours in yellow bell pepper rings and offered dried red pepper flakes for the adults.

***And don't miss my USA Pan Giveaway, so you can have a chance to win and make your own
Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups that don't stick to the pan!***

The Results
The meat-eating husband LOVED these! I was so happy about that, since sometimes the meat burgers can be not so burgery for meat-eaters. And then, huge bonus, the kids gobbled them up, too. I, of course, thought they were absolutely fantastic. The bell peppers were crunchy enough to be delicious, yet cooked enough to be slightly caramelized. Yum. A definite repeat.

Please Grab Our Button

My This Week's Cravings co-hostesses are: Tina at Moms Crazy Cooking and Nicole at The Daily Dish. As hostesses, we will try our hardest to visit as many of the links we can. We all enjoy your links and look forward to gathering recipes each week.
The party has a few SIMPLE RULES and all of the themes for the entire year are list here on the THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS tab at Moms Crazy Cooking. Plan ahead, check out the weeks you want to make sure to link up or just browse them to see what's going on.

This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

May 7: Mother's Day (Brunch Ideas or MOMS FAVORITE Foods)
May 14: EGG recipes... Casseroles, Egg Dishes, Hard Boiled or Appetizers too!
May 21: Memorial Day BBQ "ALL RECIPES WITH BBQ SAUCE or ON THE GRILL"
May 28: Share your Favorite CHEESEBURGER recipes!

If you are a regular link-up we're excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don't feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: CINCO DE MAYO / MEXICAN FOOD

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: CINCO DE MAYO / MEXICAN FOOD

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post is shared at·Mouthwatering Mondays, My Meatless Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Cravings, Just Another Meatless Monday,·Homemaker Monday.·Meatless Mondays,·Mingle Monday, Mangia Monday, Made By You Mondays and Monday Mania.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:00:33 PDT

Our kids LOVE waffles, which they call pan-waffles...unfortunately, that's also what they call pancakes. So, yeah...confusing, much? But I digress. They also love pumpkin flavoring. I'm pretty sure I injected this love of pumpkin into them in utero. So, for some unbeknownst up until now, we haven't made pumpkin waffles. Then Bug, our 3-year-old, and I were flipping through her favorite cookbook, Royal Recipe Collection Disney Princess Cookbook, and found a recipe for Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage Waffles. We made them immediately

Pumpkin Waffles
Adapted from Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage Waffles, Royal Recipe Collection Disney Princess Cookbook.
Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat white flour
2 tablespoons sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
2 tablespoons applesauce (or oil)

Directions
Mix dry ingredients together (through ginger). Mix wet ingredients together (remaining ingredients). Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.

Pour about 3/4 cup waffle batter into your waffle iron. Cook to desired brownness. Repeat.

Yield: 10 servings.

The Results
Incredible! We (the kids and I) absolutely love these waffles. And the pumpkin-indifferent husband actually liked them, too. Bonus! We'll definitely be making these again. That princess cookbook has certainly more than repaid its 99-cent thrift store price. :)

This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

Broccoli Parmesan Recipe {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:34:39 PDT

I love eggplant parmesan. But sometimes the eggplant gets a tad on the squishy side for me. So, I absolutely loved this Eggplant Tian recipe I made last year. But I found a new date to the Parmesan Prom: Broccoli Parmesan! I've never even heard of this beautiful combination before, but it's incredible.

As you may know, I LOVE to find old cookbooks in thrift stores and antique malls. The old books are much more likely to use all whole foods than your average modern book. Plus it always feels like a discovery expedition thumbing through recipes from decades ago. My mom and I were in a thrift store this Easter and I happened upon this fantastic five-volume set from 1968: Favorite Recipes of America. I got the entire set for $4.95. We should've actually gotten the set free, because, as we found out later, one of the Easter eggs the kids picked up in the in-store Easter egg hunt had a $5 coupon chip inside! But alas, mom will get to spend that $5 on some other awesome thrift store find.

My favorite book in the series, which includes Desserts, Meats, Salads, Casseroles and Vegetables, is definitely the vegetables book. And not just for the obvious reasons. I am absolutely delighted by the fact that this 400 page book is organized by vegetable! So if I have a veggie in my crisper that I'm needing to use up, I can just reference the vegetable's section in the book. How awesome is that? And that's exactly how I found this incredible recipe for Broccoli Parmesan.

Mrs. Robert J. Hill, Hon. Pres. Officers' Wives' Club, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., who submitted the original recipe to the publisher, used frozen broccoli and shortening in her version. Since I had fresh broccoli on-hand, I blanched that for a minute with some lemon juice instead. I also used butter instead of shortening, but you could use coconut oil along with parmesan substitute to make this incredible dish vegan.

***And don't miss my USA Pan Giveaway, so you can have a chance to win and make your own
Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups that don't stick to the pan!***

Broccoli Parmesan
Adapted from Favorite Recipes of America.
Ingredients

1 head (about 5 cups) broccoli, blanched for 1 minute with a bit of lemon juice, and sliced
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
2 cloves garlic (I used Roasted Garlic)
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (I used 2 portabella caps)
6 ounces tomato paste
2 tomato paste cans of broccoli liquid
1/4 cup flour (I used quinoa flour for extra protein)
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Cook broccoli, reserve liquid. Slice thin. Arrange in buttered 8 x 8 baking dish. Melt butter or coconut oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for several minutes.

Add sliced mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes. Combine tomato paste, broccoli liquid and flour. Add to pan. Season with salt and pepper. Add cheese. Cook in a covered saucepan for 15 minutes. Pour sauce over broccoli in baking dish and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Yield: 8 servings

The Results
Eggplant Parmesan is my go-to dish to order out when we go out for Italian. So I shocked my husband with this statement: "I love this MORE than eggplant Parmesan." It's true. This dish is incredible. It's just like unbreaded eggplant Parm without the squish of the eggplant you sometimes encounter. I still love eggplant Parm, but I might find myself at my local Italian restaurant asking if they can swap in some delicious, slightly crisp fresh broccoli for my eggplant. This dish is absolutely incredible! You really should give it a try. Yum...amazing.

My husband loved it, too. It's hard to say about the kids, they ate some of it, but had gorged themselves on waffles just a few hours before at breakfast, so they didn't go crazy for it.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy, Hearth and Soul Hop.

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups {Vegetarian, Whole Food}: This Week's Cravings {PICNIC DAY}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:18:34 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is NATIONAL PICNIC DAY: share your favorite picnic recipes! I'm sharing Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups over at Onceamonthmom.com.
***And don't miss my USA Pan Giveaway, so you can have a chance to win and make your own bread pudding cups that don't stick to the pan!***

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups are not exactly the most traditional picnic recipe, but I'm absolutely in love with it, it's portable, simple (though a bit of a time commitment) to make and would make the perfect treat for a romantic picnic. Your sweetie will think you slaved all day over these fancy little Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups.

The Results
I told my husband after I tasted these pudding cups that these are like quiche, but good. If you read my post on Kale and Quinoa Mini Quiches, you know I hate quiche. This bread pudding has just enough egg to be quichelike, while having just enough sweet fluffy, challah bread cubes to make it delicious and not too eggy. My husband and I both loved these "muffins" and the kids thought they were tasty, too.

Please Grab Our Button

My This Week's Cravings co-hostesses are: Tina at Moms Crazy Cooking and Nicole at The Daily Dish. As hostesses, we will try our hardest to visit as many of the links we can. We all enjoy your links and look forward to gathering recipes each week.

The party has a few SIMPLE RULES and all of the themes for the entire year are list here on the THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS tab at Moms Crazy Cooking. Plan ahead, check out the weeks you want to make sure to link up or just browse them to see what's going on.

This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

April 30: Mexican Food "Cinco de Mayo"
May 7: Mother's Day (Brunch Ideas or MOMS FAVORITE Foods)
May 14: EGG recipes... Casseroles, Egg Dishes, Hard Boiled or Appetizers too!
May 21: Memorial Day BBQ "ALL RECIPES WITH BBQ SAUCE or ON THE GRILL"

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: PICNIC DAY

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: PICNIC DAY

Please only link recipes with our theme!

GIVEAWAY: USA Pan Muffin Tin and Loaf Pans

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:30:32 PDT

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups in my fancy USA Pan muffin tin

I'm already a huge fan of USA Pans, so I'm very excited to share these pans with my readers. I found them while shopping at Bread Beckers, when one of the other customers was looking for them because, as she said, her daughter swears by the fact that it's impossible for anything to stick to the pans. I'd been through half a dozen muffin pans or so in the past five years, because I kept scorching them, rusting them out and also just being disappointed in their quality. So, when I was finally fed up with my muffin tins, I asked readers over at Once A Month Mom's Facebook page to tell me about their muffin tins to help in my search for a better one.

USA Pan muffin tin*

At that point, I'd just been buying whatever was cheapest and running it into the ground. But I was ready to invest a bit more in a better pan. I received a lot of great suggestions, but since I'd just heard that great in-store testimonial at Bread Beckers about USA Pans, my interest was further piqued when I saw the name come up among the suggestions. And I couldn't be happier with my decision. I was a little bit worried when I got them home, because I realized that the company's recommendation was to not wash the pans in the dishwasher (over time, it can wear off the silicone coating). I'm not a big fan of hand-washing, but who is, really? But the truth is, I've only ever had to truly "wash" them a couple of times. After most muffins, I can just wipe the crumbs out with a soft towel and put the pan back into the cabinet.

USA Pan loaf pan*

But I think my favorite moment using a USA Pan was while I was making one of my first batches of muffins in the muffin pan. I stuck a toothpick in to check if the muffins were done and the whole muffin came out on the toothpick like a little muffin popsicle. I'm not ashamed to admit I squealed in delight. :)

I really think you'll all love these pans; I think they're the best of both worlds combination between metal pans and silicone pans. They don't flop about like the purely silicone variety, but they're nonstick coating is like having a silicone pan. And, bonus, you don't have to use spray, grease or papers. I even made a recipe this week (Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding Cups) that called for parchment paper circles to line the bottom of the pans, and didn't need the parchment at all. How awesome is that?

I'm pleased to be giving away three USA Pans corrugated steel, silicone coated baking pans, including two (2) 10 x 5 x 3 loaf pans and one (1) 12-well muffin tin.

Giveaway begins at 12:01 a.m. EST Monday, April 23 and ends at 12:01 a.m. EST Wednesday, May 2. Giveaway entries can be earned in the following ways via Rafflecopter:

comment on this blog (mandatory);
"like" VeggieConverter on Facebook (optional);
follow @VeggieConverter on twitter (optional);
"like" this blog post (optional);
tweet about this giveaway with @VeggieConverter mentioned (optional);
subscribe to VeggieConverter's RSS feed (optional); and
follow VeggieConverter on Pinterest (optional).

a Rafflecopter giveawayNote: While USA Pan provided me with pans for the giveaway, my opinions are 100% my own. See my full disclosure policy here. This promotion, open to U.S. residents only, is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. I hereby release Facebook of any liability. Winner(s) will be contacted by email 48 hours after the giveaway ends. If you have any additional questions - feel free to send an email to veggieconverter@gmail.com.

*pan photos courtesy USA Pan

Menu Plan Monday April 23: Breakfast Quinoa Extravagaanza

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:49:00 PDT

Basic Soaked Quinoa

***Don't miss my USA Pan Giveaway, so you can have a chance to win and make your own bread pudding cups that don't stick to the pan!***

I'm doing Menu Plan Monday a little differently this week because it's my week over at OAMM to do MPM. Lunches and dinners are over there and I'll be doing my breakfast meal plan here on VeggieConverter. Now, I don't normally do a breakfast meal plan. We just wing it; primarily because the meat-eating husband is in charge of breakfast. He usually makes pancakes, waffles, oatmeal or some other treat for us and the kids. I also often make muffins or bagels ahead of time for him to serve for breakfast. But he's had a bit of a rough week since we've been back.

A bit because my foot is still broken, so I'm hobbling around and depending on him more and a bit because I wore myself out catching us back up on our Whole Food Staples last week and haven't felt like cooking as much this week.

So this week, I'm basing our breakfasts off of a big batch of Basic Soaked Quinoa. I overnight-soaked quinoa for the first time last week and fell in love with the taste and texture. I also fell in love with Honey Walnut Quinoa {Vegetarian, Whole Food}, while we'll be having again this week.

We're also going to be enjoying a few other quinoa-based breakfast treats, including:

Quinoa Pancakes
Almond-Cranberry Quinoa Breakfast Cookies
Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins
Raisin Quinoa Muffins
Quinoa with Grilled Avocado, Feta Cheese and Olives

This post is shared with Menu Plan Monday.

Honey Walnut Quinoa {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:00:11 PDT

I tried soaking quinoa (well, for longer than 5 minutes) for the first time this week and I absolute love it. I already loved quinoa, but the soaked version is fluffier and even more delicious. Plus, I can soak and cook a big batch (I used this method from The Nourishing Gourmet) at the beginning of the week and have snacks, side dishes and breakfasts to munch on throughout the week. One of the dishes I threw together that turned out really well was Honey Walnut Quinoa for breakfast. The kids and I all love it, either cold or warm. If you're a quinoa fan, it's a must-try simple to throw together dish for breakfast or snack. For vegans, I think it would be great with maple syrup or agave nectar subbed in for the honey (I used yogurt whey to for the acid to soak the quinoa, but you could use raw apple cider vinegar to veganize that, too).

Honey Walnut Quinoa
Ingredients for 1 serving

1 cup Soaked and Cooked Quinoa
honey, to taste
2 tablespoons walnuts, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
Stir all ingredients together. Heat if desired.

The Results
This dish is incredibly simple and incredibly delicious. I think I've eaten it seven or eight times since I first tried it. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of quinoa or as a good way to try quinoa if you haven't yet.

This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

Easy Roasted Garlic {Vegan, Whole Food, Slow Cooker}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:00:00 PDT

I adore roasted garlic. But for whatever reason one of my last hold-outs on fresh produce was garlic. Those big buckets of pre-minced garlic from wholesale clubs were just so convenient for me! But, after reading about how much of garlic's flavor is lost after it's cut (and continues to be lost after sitting in its own oils after being cut), I decided to kick the habit. I was a little scared of having to smoosh or mince all my garlic before dropping it into my recipes, but I decided it would be worth it.

So, when the giant bucket breathed its last breath (on a batch of Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce if you're curious), I kicked pre-minced garlic to the curb. And I did it with style, first adding a 1/2 pound of garlic to my CSA box order and then picking up a big multi-pound sleeve of garlic at the market. What can I say? When I commit, I really commit. And I have to admit it's been a ton easier than I expected. I'd forgotten how simple it is to smash a clove of garlic under a cleaver and then either just toss it in or roughly chop it. So I was pretty happy with my decision already.

And then came this cool cookbook I picked up at a used book store near my mom's house...

And my life will never be the same. I may just live on roasted garlic and Honey Whole Wheat Bread toast this week. I'm pretty sure I can survive. And if not, I'll probably be pretty happy regardless. So incredible and incredibly easy.

Roasted garlic was one of the first appetizers I made for my now husband, the meat-eater, when we were dating. I also made him my mom's lasagna for dinner, with real meat and everything! Oh, the wooing days. He was impressed with the garlic then and he likes it just as well now that I can actually conveniently make it again.

Easy Roasted Garlic
Adapted from The Everything Slow Cooker Cookbook.
Ingredients

2-3 whole bulbs garlic
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Cut the tops off of your bulbs of garlic to expose the cloves (I could only fit 2 bulbs in my Little Dipper, but they were those gigantic organic white garlic bulbs from my CSA box...I'm pretty sure 3 standard-sized bulbs would fit fine). Squirt a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a Little Dipper CrockPot (or a 1 quart slow cooker). Place bulbs of garlic, top up, in the Little Dipper.

Squirt the remaining olive oil over the bulbs. Cover and cook for 2-3 hours (on LOW if your crock has settings, the Little Dipper does not).

When complete, garlic with be golden brown and delicious. Just like roasting in the oven, but simpler and more energy efficient. Bonus! Just pop out the cloves and smoosh them directly onto your bread. No need for butter!

I also poured remaining oil remaining in the crock onto some pasta noodles for a delicious garlic oil noodle treat.

The Results
I absolutely LOVE this recipe. I used to roast garlic in the oven regularly and have gotten out of the habit because it's a bit more difficult to run the oven with crazy toddlers. Roasting garlic in the little dipper (or any small slow cooker really) is incredibly convenient. This is a definite, frequent repeat.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy.

Avocado and Egg Grilled Cheese {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:17:35 PDT

For this month's The Secret Recipe Club assignment, I received Amy's Cooking Adventures. It's hard to believe that Amy grew up not cooking at all, because her recipes now sound so delicious and the results look beautiful. I had a tough time choosing among Amy's tasty recipes. Some of my favorites included Spinach & Artichoke Pizza, Yamburgers, Avocado, Cucumber, & Turkey Sandwich (maybe mashed chickpeas as a turkey substitute) and Heart Healthy Vegetable Alfredo. But I simply could not resist this recipe for Avocado & Egg Grilled Cheese ... it looks and sounds fantastic. I'm not a big fan of runny egg yolks, so I couldn't bring myself to do the over easy eggs, but I challenged myself a little bit and strayed away from my usual scrambled. Topped with fresh guacamole, cheese and spinach on homemade honey whole wheat bread, these delectable sandwiches are not your Mama's grilled cheese. So incredible.

Avocado and Egg Grilled Cheese
Adapted from Avocado & Egg Grilled Cheese.
Ingredients for 4 sandwiches

4 eggs (the adults had fried over hard and the kids scrambled)
8 slices Honey Whole Wheat Bread
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese, divided
1 cup Loaded Guacamole (we left out the serranos for the kids)
small handfuls spinach leaves, roughly shredded
butter

Directions
To do the scrambled eggs, my husband makes the eggs sort of like an omelet. Whisk the eggs, pour them into the pan over medium-high heat. Once egg is set, fold the sides up to make the egg into a sandwich-sized patty and flip. Cook for another couple of minutes on the other side.

Fry the remaining eggs over hard (or really however you'd like your eggs) over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, butter one side of each slice of bread. On the unbuttered side of one slice, sprinkle half the cheese. Add the guacamole in large spoonsful, then spread it to the edges of the bread. Add the spinach leaves and the fried (or scrambled) egg. Top with the remaining cheese and slice of bread, buttered side up.

Place the sandwiches 1 or 2 at a time into the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the bread is toasted, flip and cook and additional 1-2 minutes or until the bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

The Results
Oh my gosh, this is delicious! I already new I loved our guacamole, but I'd never thought to have it on an egg sandwich. Egg sandwiches are our favorite late night meals. I usually have the scrambled egg patty like the kids got here, but I decided to branch out and do the fried egg since we'd just gotten some farm fresh eggs. I absolutely love the white part of fried eggs...so crispy and delicious. And this time the yolk was pretty good, too. I'm not sure I could go all the way like Amy and fry it over easy...but maybe some day. The kids and adults all devoured these sandwiches. A definite repeat.

This post is shared at·Mouthwatering Mondays, My Meatless Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Cravings, Just Another Meatless Monday,·Homemaker Monday.·Meatless Mondays,·Mingle Monday, Mangia Monday, Made By You Mondays and Monday Mania.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers {Vegan}: This Week's Cravings {RESTAURANT COPYCATS}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:54:00 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is COPYCAT RECIPES FROM YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS and I'm sharing these delicious Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers over at Onceamonthmom.com. They are absolutely incredible burgers and chock full of nutrients and proteins. Great for vegans and vegetarians as well as those who like to have something a little different in their burgers.

Back in my youth, there wasn't a ton of selection when it came to vegetarian or vegan options at chain restaurants. But for whatever reason, some restaurants (Chili's being one that I recall off-hand) started offering a black bean burger option (presumably for health reasons) to substitute for their hamburgers. I was so excited to not have to eat a salad or questionable soup I completely fell in love with black bean burgers. Now, of course, vegetarian and vegan options are much more prevalent. Even fast food burger places have veggie burgers. I've made several homemade black bean patties and burgers throughout the years, but this one is among the most flavorful and healthy. Plus, it's baked instead of pan-fried! Bonus!

The Results
Absolutely incredible. The kids and I loved these and gobbled them up. The meat-eating husband liked them, too, which is a bit of a surprise since he's not a huge sweet potato fan.The patties are nice and soft, but not so soft that they fall apart. And I LOVE that they're baked instead of pan-fried. I'm such a bad frier, it's always good to have an option that lets me put it in the oven, flip it once and go on about my day.

Please Grab Our Button

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

April 23: National PICNIC DAY: Picnic Recipes
April 30: Mexican Food "Cinco de Mayo"
May 7: Mother's Day (Brunch Ideas or MOMS FAVORITE Foods)
May 14: EGG recipes...Casseroles, Egg Dishes, Hard Boiled or Appetizers

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: RESTAURANT COPYCATS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: RESTAURANT COPYCATS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

Menu Plan Monday April 16

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:45:37 PDT

We're finally settled back into meal planning since our return. And after a crazy amount of catch-up cooking this week so we could continue with our whole foods Get Real venture, we're taking it simple with our meals this week. Since I came home last week, I've made Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Pizza Dough (I made them half whole wheat and half whole wheat white this time), Slow Cooker Applesauce, Marinara Sauce, Homemade Slow Cooker Yogurt, Basic Soaked Quinoa, Easy Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth, Fermented Ketchup and Sourdough Starter.

I'm plum tuckered out, and Healthy Breakfast Cookies, Granola and Homemade Flour Tortillas (trying them with whole wheat white flour this time) are still on the list.

Monday

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers @ OAMM

Tuesday

Mexican (Taco) Tuesday
Vegan Taco Bar

Wednesday

Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic on Honey Whole Wheat toast and Simple "Meaty" Vegan Spaghetti Sauce

Thursday

Leftovers

Friday

Mexican Quinoa Salad

Saturday

Soaked Quinoa with Honey, Cinnamon and Walnuts

Sunday

Spinach Salad with Walnuts and Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing

This post is linked at·Menu Plan Monday.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread {Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 06:05:01 PDT

After trying multiple whole wheat bread recipes, I tried this one...the one lurking in my Betty Crocker cookbook all this time. And, with the adaptations recommended by Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife, it is the perfect everyday sandwich bread for our family.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Adapted from Musings of a Housewife's Adaptation of Old-Fashioned Honey Whole Wheat Bread.
Ingredients for 2 loaves

3 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour or graham flour
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup for vegan)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/4 cups very warm water (120°F to 130°F)
3 to 4 cups whole wheat white flour

Directions
Add all ingredients through warm water to your stand mixer, with a paddle attachment. Add 1 cup of the whole wheat white flour and mix on setting 2 until thoroughly combined. Switch to your dough hook and mix on setting 2, adding remaining flour one cup at a time.

Once dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl, allow mixer to knead dough for about 6 more minutes. Grease bowl, turning dough through grease. Cover and let rise 40-60 minutes.

Grease two loaf pans. Punch down dough, divide in half. Roll out each half in about a 18x9 rectangle, rolling into a loaf shape starting from the short side. Pinch together seam. Pinch and fold over ends. Set in greased loaf pans and cover and let rise for 35-50 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake 40-45 minutes, until bread is golden-brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped.

The Results
I'll admit it made me a little sad when I realized I tried about 10 different whole wheat bread recipes and, with a simple adaptation, the one that was sitting in my most-often used cookbook (Betty Crocker Bridal Edition) was the ultimate winner. But, at least we finally found the recipe that we love. And it's so simple (especially in the stand mixer). We absolutely love this bread. The first time we made it, the kids asked for FOURTHS! Crazy, right? I highly recommend this recipe to anyone trying to switch to whole foods (or for an occasional homemade bread treat for those who aren't).

What are you having for Sunday Brunch, Breakfast or Lunch?

This post is shared at Penny Worthy Project, Cookbook Sundays and· Savory Sunday.

Zucchini Crescent Pie {Vegetarian}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:49:59 PDT

I was so excited about this recipe because it gave me a chance to hit the farmer's market up in Kansas City while I was there. If you've never been to the City Market and you live in that area, you should definitely check it out. It's full of excellent produce and strolling around the area is a fun way to spend the day. This Zucchini Crescent Pie, which I'm sharing over at Onceamonthmom.com is filled with seasonal fresh zucchini, onion, and delicious Roma tomato slices.

Also, don't forget to check out the OAMM April Vegetarian Menu.

The Results
The kids and the adults all loved these cheesy, delicious pie. Even my uncle, the meataholic liked it in spite of it's lack of ham and the presence of chickpeas. We really enjoyed this pie. We actually used up some canned crescent rolls that we'd purchased before our Get Real transformation, but I'm sure the whole food version made with Kelly's delicious homemade refrigerator rolls would be even tastier (and better for you).

This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:15 PDT

When my sister and I were kids, we lived close enough to take family trips to our cousins' house in New Orleans and did so on a regular basis. One of the treats our aunt made while we were there were these delicious Banana Oatmeal Muffins. We loved them so much, Mom got the recipe and we made them pretty often after that. I'm adapting it slightly to suit our new Get Real lifestyle, but it was pretty close to "real" already.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients for 18 muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat white flour
1 cup quick oats
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten (or egg substitute)
1/2 cup banana, mashed (2 bananas)
3/4 cup yogurt whey or milk
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

Stir dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix egg, banana, milk (whey) and applesauce.

Add liquid to dry. Fill lined or greased muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake at 400 for 15 to 18 minutes.

The Results
I've always loved these muffins, but I think they whole food version is even better than the original. I also sometimes add a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy.

This Week's Cravings {Ultimate Sandwich}:

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:01:01 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is SHOW US YOUR ULTIMATE SANDWICH and I'm sharing one of our all-time favorites: Bacon Avocado Melt. It's so incredible with mock bacon (and real bacon, too, for those of you who eat it). I'm hoping to create a whole foods meatless bacon salt substitute soon so I can make the "bacon" extra tasty again. I'm thinking about trying to smoke some quinoa. For now I'm just using regular smoked salt, but it isn't quite the same.

Please Grab Our Button

My This Week's Cravings co-hostesses are: Tina at Moms Crazy Cooking and Nicole at The Daily Dish. As hostesses, we will try our hardest to visit as many of the links we can. We all enjoy your links and look forward to gathering recipes each week.

The party has a few SIMPLE RULES and all of the themes for the entire year are list here on the THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS tab at Moms Crazy Cooking. Plan ahead, check out the weeks you want to make sure to link up or just browse them to see what's going on.

This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

April 16: COPYCAT RECIPES from Your Favorite Restaurants
April 23: National PICNIC DAY: Picnic Recipes
April 30: Mexican Food "Cinco de Mayo"
May 7: Mother's Day (Brunch Ideas or MOM'S FAVORITE Foods)

If you are a regular link-up we're excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don't feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: ULTIMATE SANDWICH

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: ULTIMATE SANDWICH

Please only link recipes with our theme!

Carrot Cake Pancakes and Uses for Leftover Easter Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:00:03 PDT

It's almost Easter and the Easter Bunny is hopping over to our house today with these delicious Carrot Cake Pancakes I'm sharing over at Onceamonthmom.com. This recipe was pretty simple (and healthy). And I'm completely in love with the Maple-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread on top. I've been eating the leftover spread on toast. Yum.

And, of course, we're dying Easter Eggs again so I'm planning on making a few of my favorite recipes to use up hard-boiled eggs next week. My husband is super excited about that, because he is absolutely in LOVE with deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches.

Mexican Deviled Eggs

Curried Egg Salad with Caramelized Onions

The Results
I really like these pancakes (especially the spread) I think next time I make these I'm going to try adding carrots and walnuts to our new favorite pancake recipe, IHOP-Style Pancakes, because the Carrot Cake pancake base is a little dense for my pancake tastes.
This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:00:06 PDT

My wonderfully helpful neighbor saw my post on Bleu Cheese Dressing a couple months back (you may recall, the one I really liked but my husband didn't...necessitating that I finish off both pints all by myself...sigh). Seeing that the whole family wasn't completely enamored with it, she shared her favorite bleu cheese dressing recipe. I tried it not long after and have fallen completely in love with it. Our bleu cheese-loving family enjoys it and we've made it multiple times since that first try.

I've tinkered with it yet again this week (while away at my mom's house) and snuck in homemade yogurt in place of the sour cream. I'm hoping Mr. Meaty likes the new version when I make it again at home. I think it tastes remarkably similar. Now I just need someone to talk me through my fear of homemade mayonnaise. I'm just a little skittish about the raw eggs.

Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing
Adapted from Rich and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing.
Ingredients

2 1/2 ounces bleu cheese
3 tablespoons yogurt whey (or mock buttermilk, whole milk plus a teaspoon of lemon juice)
3 tablespoons yogurt or sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/4 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon House seasoning

Directions
Mash bleu cheese and whey (or buttermilk) with a fork until it's about the consistency of ricotta cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients until well blended.

The Results
Drool. This is perfect for salads and for dipping. I'm completely in love with it and even the kids are crazy for it. Once we get home we'll have to test it out the yogurty version on Mr. Meaty.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday and These Chicks Cooked.

This Week's Cravings {Easter Cookies & Treats}: Carrot Spice Muffins {Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:01:01 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is Easter Cookies and Treats. I'm sharing one of my all-time favorite muffin recipes: Carrot Spice Muffins. This time, I'm adapting them to use more whole food-appropriate ingredients. So hopefully they'll be just as delicious, and better for us. I opted to go without the cream cheese frosting, but the recipe for that can be found here.

Carrot Spice Muffins

Ingredients for 18 muffins

1/2 cup honey
1 cup applesauce
3 eggs
2 cups whole wheat white flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded carrots (about 5 medium)
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together eggs, applesauce and honey with electric mixer on low speed. Add all other ingredients except carrots and nuts. Blend together on low speed (batter may still be a bit lumpy). Stir in carrots and nuts. Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin tin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

The Results
Oh man these are delicious. I loved them the first time and, as far as my memory serves, these are just as delicious.

Please Grab Our Button

My This Week's Cravings co-hostesses are: Tina at Moms Crazy Cooking, Angie at Big Bear's Wife and Nicole at The Daily Dish. As hostesses, we will try our hardest to visit as many of the links we can. We all enjoy your links and look forward to gathering recipes each week.
The party has a few SIMPLE RULES and all of the themes for the entire year are list here on the THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS tab at Moms Crazy Cooking. Plan ahead, check out the weeks you want to make sure to link up or just browse them to see what's going on.

This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

April 9: Show us your ULTIMATE SANDWICH
April 16: COPYCAT RECIPES from Your Favorite Restaurants
April 23: National PICNIC DAY: Picnic Recipes
April 30: Mexican Food "Cinco de Mayo"

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: EASTER COOKIES & TREATS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: EASTER COOKIES & TREATS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

Thai Chickpea Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:45:22 PDT

I stumbled onto a really yummy and incredibly simple Thai Chicken Pasta dish a few months ago and just new it would make the perfect chickpea dish. So today I'm sharing Thai Chickpea Pasta
over at Onceamonthmom.com. It's going to be part of a fantastic April menu that includes Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins {Vegetarian}, Quinoa and Kale Mini Quiches {Vegetarian}, and Chickpea Brown Rice Burgers {Vegan}.

The Results
The kids and I, and my mom, loved this dish. The kids ate theirs separately (noodles with sauce on the side) because they're on this kick about eating the ingredients separately. I was pleasantly surprised about the taste of the multi-grain noodles. I haven't tried whole wheat or multi-grain noodles in a long time (I held a long grudge against their flavor). They were really tasty! And the peanut butter and salsa sauce was rich and flavorful. It tasted nearly as good as the more complicated Thai Peanut Sauces (see Thai Chickpea Pizza) and took about a tenth of the time and effort.

This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

IHOP-Style Pancakes {Vegetarian, Whole Food}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:00:20 PDT

IHOP is highly sentimental for my family as my dad is a HUGE fan of their pancakes. He's also an avid runner and eats one, usually incredibly large, meal per day. I have many fond memories of the looks on waitresses faces when my svelt, small-framed 5'8" father ordered a full stack of pancakes, a cheese omelet and usually some other large random breakfast item for himself. The look of bewilderment was often followed by somewhat bedraggled explanations of the large size of the breakfast and, after my father's assurances that he was aware, looks of extreme doubts about his sanity. And, of course, he finished the three plates every time. So, as part of our whole food/Get Real journey, we were excited to find a recipe for IHOP-style pancakes that we could play around with to convert to healthier ingredients.

IHOP-Style Pancakes
Adapted from IHOP Pancakes.
Ingredients for 8-10 pancakes

1 1/4 cups whole wheat white flour
1 egg (or egg substitute)
1 1/4 cup whey from homemade yogurt (or whole milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
1/4 cup applesauce
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Directions
Preheat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Oil or spray skillet or griddle.

In a blender or with a mixer, combine all of the remaining ingredients until smooth.

Ladle approximately 1/3 cup of the batter into the hot skillet, forming 5-inch circles.When the edges appear to harden, after a minute or two, flip the pancakes. They should be golden brown.Cook pancakes on the other side for same amount of time, until golden brown.

Makes 8 to 10 pancakes.

The Results
These pancakes are incredible. We started out making them without the cinnamon and vanilla, and with faux buttermilk (milk and lemon juice) and tinkered with them a bit more until we found what was perfect for our family. The kids go through the homemade yogurt like crazy, so we always seem to have whey in the house. But the faux buttermilk works just as well if you don't have whey around. The kids and the adults (including my parents) all love these pancakes. A definite keeper.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy.

Zucchini Quinoa Burgers {Vegan}: This Week's Cravings {Freezer Meals}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:01:01 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is FREEZER MEALS, which you all probably know is a theme near and dear to my heart, since I'm the Vegetarian Contributing Writer at Onceamonthmom.com. I'm sharing the vegan adaptation of one of our all-time favorite recipes from the 2011 challenge year: Zucchini Burgers. We absolutely LOVED the original recipe and I wanted to be able to share the deliciousness with vegan friends and readers. I also wanted to add in one of my new favorite burger mix-ins: Quinoa (see Beefy Quinoa Burgers). I love having an easy to mix in complete protein. Beautiful.

Zucchini Quinoa Burgers

Ingredients for 10 burgers or 20 sliders

2 cups chickpeas, cooked
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup onion (I used the white part of one Vidalia green onion), chopped
1/4 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (about 1/4 cup dry)
1 cup whole wheat bread cubes
1/4 cup oats
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon House seasoning (or salt and pepper)
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
whole wheat bread crumbs dusting
Homemade salsa and cilantro, if desired

Directions

Send chickpeas and zucchini through shredder of food processor. Mix with onion, pumpkin, quinoa, bread cubes, oats, lemon juice, taco seasoning and House seasoning. Form into patties.

Turn patties onto a breadcrumb-filled plate, dusting all sides. Grill in a bit of olive oil, about 3 minutes per side. Serve topped with salsa and cilantro, if desired.

Freezing Directions
BEFORE grilling, flash freeze, divide among freezer bags and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Grill in olive oil, 3 minutes per side. Top with salsa and cilantro.

The Results
Oh my goodness. My husband and I LOVED this version of the burgers. And the kid who wasn't being a picky eater that day ate hers with gusto. Bug ate a few bites and proceeded to eat her salsa as the rest of her meal. Some days are like that. We made a double batch and the second set froze beautifully.

Please Grab Our Button

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

April 2: Easter Cookies & Treats
April 9: Show us your ULTIMATE SANDWICH
April 16: COPYCAT RECIPES from Your Favorite Restaurants
April 23: National PICNIC DAY: Picnic Recipes

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: FREEZER MEALS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: FREEZER MEALS

Please only link recipes with our theme!

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins {Vegetarian}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:00:10 PDT

I'm sharing Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins over at Onceamonthmom.com today, adapted from Martha Stewart's Quinoa Muffins. We went with chocolate chips instead of raisins in this version mainly because I was planning on sharing the recipe on Cravings chocolate day, but a schedule change for Lent meant these were slated from Friday instead of Monday. I think I'd also really like the raisin version, or maybe cranberry, but I'm so glad I tried the chocolate chips because I ended up loving them. I'm not usually a big chocolate person, so I was surprised how much I liked these muffins. But the BEST part of these muffins is they're chock full of protein because of that quinoa, so the make a really healthy (and fast) pre-made breakfast.

The Results
We all loved these muffins. They aren't too sweet for me (which is rare for anything chocolatey) and they taste great later in the week warmed up with a bit of honey and butter.

This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Frugal Fridays and I'm Lovin' It.

Easy Cheese Sauce {Vegetarian}

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:00:18 PDT

We recently rid ourselves of the last box of pre-packaged macaroni and cheese, and while I love homemade macaroni and cheese (the baked variety)...it's not always quick enough to get on the table for a toddler lunch. So when I saw a recipe in the April 2012 issue of Cooking Light for a quick cheese sauce, I knew I'd have to give it a try (with a few minor modifications) on our macaroni noodles for the kids. It was incredibly simple and so fast...it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.

Easy Cheese Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light Cheddar Cheese Sauce Recipe.
Ingredients for 1 1/2 cups cheese sauce

2 cups milk, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2/3 cup, packed)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional...I leave it out for the kids and add a bit to my own)

Directions
Combine 1/2 cup of the milk and the flour in a saucepan and whisk to combine. Stir in remaining milk, sea salt and cumin. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 2 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and, if desired, black pepper. Stir until cheese melts. Serve over noodles, vegetables or as a dipping sauce.

The Results
Yum. This sauce is nice and mild for the kids, and delicious for the adults. We had ours over noodles and broccoli and everyone enjoyed it. This is a definite repeat for its simplicity and it's yumminess.

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday and These Chicks Cooked.

This Week's Cravings {Chocolate}: Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:01:00 PDT

Today's This Week's Cravings theme is CHOCOLATE and I'm sharing my Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies, which we made non-vegan this time around (with real cream cheese and butter). But, I also substituted 1/4 cup of sucanat in for half the sugar (with the other 1/4 cup organic sugar). I also used unbleached flour and organic chocolate chips. I love them! And it's in line with our Get Real challenge this year.

The Results
The Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies are just as delicious as the last batch and better for us. Yum!

Please Grab Our Button

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

March 26: Freezer Meals (fix them and freeze for later)
April 2: Easter Cookies & Treats
April 9: Show us your ULTIMATE SANDWICH
April 16: COPYCAT RECIPES from Your Favorite Restaurants

The LINKY PARTY is open ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.

This week's theme is: CHOCOLATE

Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: CHOCOLATE

Please only link recipes with our theme!