Soups and sides: Non-dairy creamy Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons of coconut oil
3 carrots
4 celery stalks
4 cloves of garlic
2 small onions
2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock if vegan)
2 cans (about 28 oz each) crushed tomatoes
Salt and Pepper
a few basil leaves

Dice carrots, celery, onions and garlic. In a pot melt coconut oil (you can use any type of oil you prefer), add your diced vegetables and cook until onions are translucent, careful not to burn. Add your chicken stock and tomatoes and a little water (to your preference). Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low simmer until carrots are cooked through. Blend about 75% in blender until smooth. Serve with basil on top.

We paired this soup with the traditional grilled cheese sandwich. My husband with his Colby and white sharp cheddar and me with my daiya cheese, mozzarella flavored. We both thoroughly enjoyed our food.

Girls Night Dinner Party

So, I wanted to have a few friends over, so here are the recipes we used- these are not originally mine, but I have tweaked them. Everything got good reviews from everyone. :) The hamburgers were much better than I expected- a tomatoe slice on the bun w/ a little mustard and ketchup was all it needed!

(Sorry no photos today.)

Meatloaf Hamburgers
24 oz Ground Beef
4 slices of Wholewheat Bread (tossed in the food processor to make fine breadcrumbs)
1 Egg
1/4 Green Pepper (diced into small peices)
1 small Onion (finely chopped, I used a food processor)
3 cloves of Garlic(finely chopped)
Salt and Pepper
A dash of Ground Red Pepper
A few dashes of dried Basil and Oregano

Mix together and form patties of about 5 oz each. (Makes approx 7 patties)
Cook as you would your normal Hamburgers.

Savory Mashed Acorn Squash

1 Acorn Squash
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder to taste

Oil pan and slice squash in half oil squash on both sides.  Bake at 450 for 60 minutes cut side down. Take out and let cool for a few minutes, take out flesh and mash it and add spices to taste. If it is watery, cook it down in a sauce pan.

Chipotle Coleslaw
1 bag of Coleslaw mix
about 1/2 cup mayo
1/2 of juice of lemon
couple dashes of chipolte hot sauce
about 1 tsp brown mustard
pinch of sugar

Mix up all but the coleslaw mix well in the bottom of a bowl, add vegetables. This recipe is especially delicious with roasted pecans chopped up and added.

Mimosas
1 part orange juice
1 part sweet spumante italian sparkling wine
Grenadine

Mix wine and juice and place in wine glass drop a little grenadine in the glass after it has poured. This will make the drink two toned and add a little more flavor. (For our girl's night, we also used wine charms to tell our glasses apart.)


Well, now I guess I should do the dishes...

Product Review: Organic Nectars Cashewtopia non-dairy frozen dessert

So I'm at my local grocery store- and I see this non-dairy dessert on sale for half price. I couldn't resist. As stated before, my very favorite is coconut based non-dairy desserts. Though after discovering I am allergic to coconuts, I was again in search for a good frozen dessert.
This is a decent frozen dessert. I'd give it 4 stars. Not 5, because it's texture leaves a little to be desired. But the flavor! It's so delicious! I would never call this gelato. (On the container it calls itself "vanilla raw agave gelato.") To me gelato is this extremely decadent and creamy frozen delight. While this is very delicious, it does not fit that description. If this continues to be on sale, I will buy it again. However, at the prices they wish to charge for a raw, organic, soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free item... It might just have to stay on the shelf.

http://www.organicnectars.com/products.html#

Product Review: Amande cultured almondmilk

Yogurt! I love yogurt. And this is finally non-dairy yogurt that tastes like yogurt! I am in love with this yogurt. It's simple but delicious. I've tried soy yogurt and coconut yogurts and they tend to be grainy and lack a certain something I just can't pin down. But this almond yogurt made by Amande is great. It has a good texture, a slight tanginess that yogurts are supposed to have, and just enough sweetness.The only caveat is that it can be a little watery- but I've experienced this with regular dairy milk yogurts. I'm giving this yogurt a 5 star rating. Normally I say that the best thing is that I can have it- well, that's just not true- the best thing is it tastes delicious! So far I've only tried the vanilla- but I can't wait to try the other flavors!
http://amandeyogurt.com/

This is dairy free, soy free, gluten free, and sweetened w/ fruit juices.

Have a great day all!

Soups and Sides: Pressure Cooked Split Pea soup with Beer Bread

1 lb dried split peas
about 8 cups water
2 pork chop loins (cubed)*
1 onion (diced)
1 potato (cubed)
2 carrots (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp lapsang souchong tea
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Fill Pressure cooker with all ingredients. Make sure the pot is no more than half full. Place pressure cooker lid on pot and lock in place, also place the weight/rocker on top. Bring to high pressure and cook for 30 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes- it will thicken up.

*For more flavor, cook up in a pan prior to putting into your pressure cooker.

Simple Beer Bread:
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar*
1 12 ounce bottle beer (I used Kirin Ichiban Wheat beer)
a pinch of salt
Heat oven to 375* Mix all ingredients well, place into bread pan, Bake for 45 or so.

*I recommend reducing the sugar content- as this bread is very sweet. I got this recipe in the comments of this http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2005/11/beyond-easy-beer-bread.html blog. I think the blogger's recipe would be delightful.


(I will be tweaking this recipe to see what happens. I really liked how this turned out but I can tell there is room for improvements. I may even try to make a gluten-free bread to eat with the soup, I haven't decided yet.)

Spices: Tahitian Vanilla

If you are like me, you thought there was only one variety of vanilla, you know, the kind they make the extract from and that was basically it. Well, my friend, we were very wrong. There are a million kinds of vanilla! (Well, million is a bit much, but there is a lot! just look at this website: http://www.beanilla.com/vanilla-beans-c-1.html)

The normal everyday vanilla we use is typically Madagascar vanilla. Well, in research for a special recipe(more on this once he perfects it), my husband ran across this ingredient- Tahitian Vanilla. We ordered some to see what the difference was. It is definitely more smokey than Madagscar Vanilla, the vanilla is more delicate and the scent is a bit floral. It's good with sweet things, but because of the smokiness, it is also good with meats and savory dishes. Now a word of caution- a little goes a LONG way so don't use too much of it. We have been grinding the whole pod- which is really great for that smokey flavor, if you don't want that much of it, you could just take the seeds out and use those. This stuff is extremely fragrant, it fills the room for hours after we've ground it. All in all, it's a nice spice to add to your pantry. Something that comes in handy if you are looking for a little variety in your food. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are!

Breads: French Toast with Strawberry Lemon Syrup and Tahitian Vanilla Powdered Sugar

This morning we wanted some french toast- but we couldn't just have normal french toast, we had to jazz it up a little. This is a fun collaboration, I made the french toast, and my husband made the toppings. P.S. We eyeballed most of this.

French Toast Recipe: 

about 7 pieces of whole wheat bread (or however much takes up your batter)

about 3 Egg whites

2 Eggs

a splash of vanilla

a few sprinkles of cinnamon

1/8-1/4 cup Buttermilk

1/8-1/4 cup Almond Milk (Equal to Buttermilk)

Mix all ingredient except bread. Heat up a pan medium heat, oil or butter the pan. Dip bread each side and then cook in pan on both sides. You could easily substitute any kind of milk you would like. Also, if you don't want to use egg whites, you can use another egg in place of it.

Strawberry Lemon Syrup: 

1 cup (approx) Frozen or Fresh Strawberries

2-3 tablespoons water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar

half of lemon zest (to taste)

Place water, sugar, vanilla, and balsamic vinegar in pan and reduce until syrup consistency. Turn the pan off and add lemon zest and strawberries. The heat from the syrup will cook the strawberries. 

Tahitian Vanilla Powdered Sugar:

1/2 a vanilla bean (we used Tahitian but it would be equally good with Madagascar vanilla)

White Sugar

Grind up vanilla bean, pod and all, and add sugar into the spice grinder. If you don't have a spice Grinder, you can use confectioners(powdered) sugar with just the seeds from the bean, give it a good whisk and let it sit for a few minutes.