Tag Archives: Repeater Recipes

Repeater Recipes – Chocolate Avocado Pudding

23 Feb

This is a recipe in my Repeater Recipe series, a series of posts where I feature previously posted recipes that show up often in our meal rotation. It’s also a good chance to introduce some ‘classic’ recipes to my new readers.

First Appearance on the Blog: August 23, 2010

I had forgotten about this recipe until a few weeks ago when, stocking up on avocados (one perk of Super Bowl Week grocery specials), I got home and then wondered just what I was going to do with 6 ripe avocados. One can only eat so much guacamole. If one is me, than that one can eat a LOT of guacamole, but still, some variety is nice. I also had several ripe bananas and somehow, out of the dusty corners of my mind, I remembered this pudding.

I ate it twice last week and am planning on it again this week. It’s always a good time for pudding. This pudding has an incredibly creamy texture. It’s not ultra rich or decadent, so if you are going for a sinful tasting dessert, this isn’t your recipe. But, if you are looking for an everyday treat that is slightly sweet and has just enough chocolate flavor to satisfy a craving, this is a good one. My kids love it as a dip for fruit and graham crackers.

Chocolate Avocado Banana Pudding

Creamy and fresh – a great mid-afternoon snack. It doesn’t taste like a decadent dessert, but is great for a everyday snack. It’s also a great dip for graham crackers and bananas.

  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 3T rounded cocoa powder
  • 2-3 Tbs coconut or any other non-dairy milk (as needed)
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1-2T honey or 1 packet stevia or sweetener of choice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  1. Combine all in blender or food processor
  2. Process and scrape bowl a few times until thoroughly combined and fluffy.

Repeater Recipes – Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Vegetables

5 Jan

This is a recipe in my Repeater Recipe series, a series of posts where I feature previously posted recipes that show up often in our meal rotation.  It’s also a good chance to introduce some ‘classic’ recipes to my new readers.

First Appearance on the Blog: May 5, 2011

This recipe was a love at first bite experience for me.  Not so much for my kids.  It was more of a ‘eat the required one bite and then make a dinner out of fruit and plain noodles’ experience.  Lesson learned.  I now reserve half of the noodles for the kids to eat plain, along with some carrot shavings and diced red pepper and the husband and I eat the actual recipe.  Works well and isn’t much extra work for me at all.

I’ve made it with buckwheat noodles (gluten free) and plain pasta.  Both are good and I usually just use whatever I have on hand.  I also add in different vegetables if I have them in the fridge, as you can see with the broccoli in the picture.

Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 carrots, peeled
1 Tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup water
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
Cooking spray
2 cups bell pepper strips (I use red or yellow)
1 c onion, thinly sliced
8 cups hot cooked noodles (about 1 pound uncooked pasta) – I use either regular pasta or buckwheat noodles
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Shave the carrots lengthwise into thin strips using a vegetable peeler, and set aside.

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and minced garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add water and the next 4 ingredients (water through chili garlic sauce); stir until well-blended. Reduce heat, and simmer 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and keep warm.

Heat 1 Tbsp grapeseed oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers and onions; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat. Combine carrot, peanut butter mixture, bell pepper mixture, and pasta in a large bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Repeater Recipes – Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas and Apples

5 Dec

This is a recipe in my Repeater Recipe series, a series of posts where I feature previously posted recipes that show up often in our meal rotation.  It’s also a good chance to introduce some ‘classic’ recipes to my new readers.

Original Air Date: December 28, 2010

This is a recipe that has a strange ingredient list (well, strange to the non-food bloggers out there): quinoa, apples, curry, cilantro, etc.  Oh, and lime.  Of course.  And don’t forget the chickpeas.  Totally normal, right? Somehow the flavors just work, as does the contrasting textures. The crisp, sweet apples juxtaposed against the salty, curried quinoa?  Mmmmm.

The salad keeps will in the fridge for 2-3 days and tastes good cold and at room temperature.

Curried Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Apples

Curried Quinoa

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained.  (I’ve used regular and sprouted)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
Bring all ingredients to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer until all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.
Salad Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked Curried Quinoa (see above)
  • 1 medium apple, diced.  I like granny smith best in this recipe.
  • 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained -or- 2 cups cooked chickpeas
  • 3/4 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/4 cup diced cilantro
  • 1/4 cup diced green onion
Lime Vinaigrette Dressing
  • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tsp lime zest
  • salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the fridge for a couple of hours for the flavors to meld.  Tastes great cold and at room temperature.

Repeater Recipes – Rawaldorf Salad

25 Oct

It’s apple season and we are going through at least a 3lb bag a week.  I love apples for snacks and, thankfully, so do my kids.  Which means I find a few dried cores in odd places like the lego box and amidst the dress up clothes, you know, because they were so.very.anxious to dress up that they couldn’t possibly walk the 20 feet to the trashcan.  Happens to all of us, right?

I parceled a few of the snack apples from the refrigerator drawer, combined them with grapes, celery, walnuts and a cashew ‘mayo’ to make a raw Waldorf-style salad.

Rawaldorf Salad

Original Air Date: November 3, 2010

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 apples, sliced bite size – I used two small gala and two small granny smith
  • 1/2 – 1 cup sliced celery
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1 cup grapes
  • 1/2 – 3/4 c cashew ‘sweet mayo’
  • cinnamon for topping
Directions:
Combine all ingredients.
Sweet Cashew ‘Mayo’
Blend until smooth: 3/4 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hours and drained, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sweetener (I use honey or agave), water as needed to get a thick sauce
It’s crunchy, tart and sweet.  Healthy too.  It keeps well in the fridge for a few days.  Just don’t leave it in the dress up clothes box….

Repeater Recipes – Raw Tomato and Cheese ‘Pizza’

18 Jul

Hello Monday.

My sister has been in town this weekend and we’ve had a great time.  My kids have pretty much ignored me, except when they ask me to bring them and Aunt Jenn some food.  That’s all I’m good for when their beloved Aunt is around.  She does take a pass on helping them in the bathroom, so I also get called up for wiping duty.  The rest of the time I’m relegated to another room, which really hasn’t been all that bad.  Yesterday morning the husband and I got to read the entire Sunday paper AND drink our morning beverages while they were still hot as Aunt Jenn played every single board game and dressed each barbie.  Thanks sister!

Insert transition from personal anecdote to raw food recipe now….

I made this recipe again last week, inspired by a big bag of farmer’s market tomatoes that were this.close to being over ripe.  As I said in the original blog post, this does not taste like traditional pizza.  You won’t think you are biting into a big slice of cheesy Pizza Hut pizza (or, my personal favorite, the Baked Potato Pizza from Pizza Luce in Minneapolis), but it is a tasty dish with a crispy cracker-like crust, a really rich tasting tomato sauce and a cheesy sprinkle topping

Raw Tomato Pizza

Original Air Date: October 20, 2010

Flatbread Crust

  • 1/4 c buckwheat, soaked and dehydrated and ground
  • 1.5 c chopped celery
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 c water
  • 1/2 c flax seeds, ground

1. Blend celery, oil, salt and water until smooth.  Add flax meal and mix well.  Add buckwheat powder and blend well.

2. Spread batter onto lined dehydrator tray – it will fill it about halfway

3. Dehydrate for 8 hrs at 104.  Flip and dehydrate another 4 hours at 104.

Raw Tomato Sauce

quite good on its own as a dip or sauce for cooked or raw noodles.

  • 1.5 cups sweet tomatoes – mostly seeded
  • 1 pitted date
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 c olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Blend all ingredients until smooth

Savory Sprinkle Topping

  • 1/4 c pine nuts, ground
  • 1/4 c nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Mix together in a food processor until a parm cheese-like powder forms

To Make Pizza: Make all three components and combine.  

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Repeater Recipes – Broccoli Citrus Salad

8 Jul

My very first foray into broccoli slaw* was to make a simple dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and brown sugar and toss with a bag of broccoli slaw and some dried cranberries.  I still make that salad, although I now use agave nectar or honey in place of the brown sugar.  One day, however, I flipped over my bag of broccoli slaw and spotted a recipe that rocked my broccoli slaw world.**

I modified based on what I had on hand, took a bite and sighed happily.  Broccoli?  Good.  Oranges?  Good.  Cilantro?  Good.  All together?  Perfect!

*Quick fact about my husband: he hates the word ‘slaw’.
**If he read my blog, he’d be so disgusted by this paragraph, as I use the word ‘slaw’ three times.

This recipe is best after sitting for a few hours and keeps well for a couple of days.  It’s also great for bringing to cookouts or potlucks, as it is a refreshing dish among a sea of heavy foods.

Broccoli Orange Salad

first air date: July 19, 2010

Ingredients:
1 bag (16 ounces) broccoli slaw
2 Fresh oranges, peeled and cut into bite size pieces - use one orange for zesting before peeling
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DRESSING
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice (this time I used 2 T lemon juice and 1 T lime juice)
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In tightly covered container, shake all dressing ingredients until well mixed.

2. Pour dressing over broccoli, oranges and cilantro and mix well to combine.

Repeater Recipes – Sprouted Quinoa Salad with Grapes and Celery

13 Jun

This is second in my Repeater Recipe series, which is highlighting recipes already on this blog that tend to show up on my table often.

I know that one of my New Years Food Resolutions was to learn to sprout.  Here is my confession : I haven’t branched out beyond quinoa after a disastrous (i.e. moldy) attempt with sprouting buckwheat.

Quinoa, however, practically sprouts itself.  Simply soak it overnight, drain and place in a strainer covered with a dish towel for 4-8 hours, and watch for the tails to form:

hi little tails….

Sprouting is a good thing because it renders these little suckers even more nutritious.  Sprouting activates the enzymes in these seeds, which makes them more digestible and also increases the available vitamin content in the quinoa.  According to the Livestrong.com site, quinoa sprouts are abundant sources of vitamins C and E, as well as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/366246-how-to-use-sprouted-quinoa/#ixzz1OXSfHyjb

Once you’ve sprouted the quinoa, you can make this unusual but oh-so-tasty salad.  The combination of flavors sounds odd (grapes, celery, onions, cilantro) but just works.  Wonderfully.

Sprouted Quinoa Salad with Grapes and Celery

First Air Date: October 12, 2010

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa, soaked and sprouted
2 Tb lime juice
1 Tb macadamia nut oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
salt to taste
3/4 c chopped grapes
3/4 c chopped celery
1/3 c chopped cilantro
1 green onion, diced

Directions

  1. Mix quinoa – salt together and let sit at least an hour.
  2.  Add in remaining ingredients and let sit another hour for optimum flavor.

Have you had any success sprouting?

Summer Reruns – Veggie Udon Noodles

3 Jun

Just like all the non-reality shows, I’m heading into rerun mode these days.  I’m starting a Repeater Recipe series that will both introduce some of my ‘older’ (my 1 year blog anniversary is coming up soon) recipes to my new readers and show which recipes tend to make the monthly rotation in my kitchen.

Repeater Recipe #1 – Veggie Udon Noodles

First Air Date: 12/23/2010 Veggie Udon Noodles

This recipe isn’t mine, but we have it around once a month.  It’s easy, quick and calls for ingredients I always have on hand.  For the kids, I serve the noodles and veggies with no sauce.

This week’s dish had celery, carrots, orange bell peppers, spinach and mushrooms and was topped with gomasio (which my little guy eats by the handful).

Happy Friday.  Any exciting plans?  We are headed to a wedding on Saturday and I’m very excited to get dressed up, spend an evening with friends, dance with my husband and celebrate a new marriage.

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