Tag: recipes

“Drool-Worthy” Recipes- II

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Good morning- TGIF 🙂 I can’t believe I’m posting FIVE TIMES this week- can you?! I guess I have a lot to share with all of you! Anything fun planned for the weekend? RM and I are supposed to go down to the Cape for a little getaway either tonight or early tomorrow morning- I’m so looking forward to it!

In the meantime, I wanted to share some recipes that I’ve been drooling over for the past few weeks. In case you missed my first batch of “drool-worthy recipes”, you can find them here. I hope you enjoy these, too. I’ve recently been reading lots of new-to-me food blogs and really enjoying all of the recipes I’m coming across, but I’ll be honest- If there’s a lot of prep work or a ton of ingredients I’m much less likely to actually MAKE the recipe. I’m all about simplicity in the kitchen these days!

  • Vegan Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints– I don’t think I really need to say much more to get you to go check out these cookies- they look ahhh-mazing!
  • Avocado Bean Burgers– It’s funny because I had received an email from RM asking me to find some good veggie burger recipes literally seconds before I was scrolling through Facebook and stumbling across this recipe. These look SO good and I definitely plan on making them soon.
  • Spicy Shrimp Sweet Potato Boats With Avocado Crema– I’ve been on a big shrimp kick this summer and these look really tasty. I met Lexi recently and am so happy to be hooked on her site now!
  • Coconut No Bake Cookies– Coconut AND no bake? Yes, please- these would be the perfect little treat during the dreaded 3pm hour.

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Grain Free Granola

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It seems like grain free/gluten free is all the rage these days. I’m stumbling across recipes using almond meal or coconut flour in place of white or whole wheat flour almost daily, so last weekend I decided to stock up on some Bob’s Red Mill items while at Ocean State Job Lot (they have the best selection!!) so I could have the necessary ingredients to make some of the recipes I’ve been drooling over.

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I had 2 grain free recipes on the dock for last weekend:

Grain Free Granola

Grain Free Upside Down Apple Bread

While I followed Gina’s recipe for the Grain Free Upside Down Apple Bread to a T, I did change up the Grain Free Granola recipe a bit so that’s what I’m posting for you today!

Grain Free Granola

Ingredients

1 cup raw pecans (or walnuts)– I used raw cashews
1 cup raw pistachios (or almonds)– I used raw almonds
1 pinch sea salt
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter, ghee, or coconut oil– I used coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut– I ran out of this so I skipped it. Next time I’m adding it because I think it would make a great addition
2 tablespoons chia seeds (optional)– I used these- chia seeds make everything better!
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots– I added these because I love dried fruit in my granola!

Directions

1. Soak the nuts in water with a pinch of sea salt for 8 hours. Apparently this helps release enzyme inhibitors that make digestion difficult. I don’t have an issue with digestion, but wanted to follow the recipe so I did this. I think you could leave this step out since it does add a lot of time to the recipe.

2. Place the nuts on a cookie sheet and let them dry in a warm, dry space for another 8-12 hours.

3. Heat oven to 225*. Place the nuts in a food processor or blender and process until nuts are roughly chopped.

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4. Combine the coconut oil, honey and vanilla and heat until the oil is melted. Add to the chopped nuts. Add in the chia seeds and coconut. The directions said to pulse these in the food processor again, but I didn’t think that was necessary as I like my granola crunchier.

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5. Bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring halfway through. Add in your dried apricots (or other dried fruit) once the granola has finished cooking. Serve with almond milk/milk/on it’s own.

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I think I could’ve added a little less coconut oil, as the end result was a bit oily, but otherwise, I thought it was delicious! The beauty of this recipe is the fact that you can change it up based on what you have on hand- nuts, dried fruit, other additions, using maple syrup or agave instead of honey… I love that part of the recipe! Next time I would try using maple syrup instead!

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I’m looking forward to putting this in my yogurts all week!

If you’re looking for other granola recipes, check these out:

I have a granola obession…

Quinoa Granola

Granola is one of my favorite snacks and I’m happy to add this recipe to the rotation!

Also, here’s a pic of the apple bread- it is delicious! I was very surprised… it’s got just the right amount of sweetness and doesn’t taste “healthy” at all. I love it!

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Questions for you: Have you made any grain free changes in your life? Any grain free “must try” recipes you want to share? What’s your favorite dried fruit?

Baked Brown Trout, Caprese Orzo Salad & Corn on the Cob

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Hey hey! Happy Thursday; we are almost through the week- woohoo! I got a few requests for the recipe for the meal that I made on Monday night when I posted an Instagram photo on Facebook, so I thought it was only fair to share it with you today! My mom’s friend Jean (not to be confused with Jeanne, although we use “the Jeans” interchangeably because they are all one in the same to us!) gave me a filet of fish that her husband caught while fishing on Lake Ontario after I told her how jealous I was that she gave some to my dad a few months ago. Dennis, Jean’s husband, caught so much Brown Trout that they have been sharing with us fellow fish lovers! As this was only my second time cooking fish (remember the Lemon Chive Broiled Tilapia with a Greek Yogurt, Lemon & Chive Sauce I made recently? That was the first time I cooked fish on my own!), I was a little nervous! Luckily, dad was just a phone call away and he was able to walk me through the cooking process.

When I was thinking about what I should pair the fish with, I decided it was time to actually make some of the side dish recipes that I always drool over when I read different food magazines and cook books. Hannaford has an amazing little magazine that you can get for free if you spend $25 or more. Clearly, I never spend less than that, so it’s always a nice little treat when I grocery shop at home with my mom! The magazine is filled with lots of interesting recipes and nutrition facts and when I went through it over the weekend, I saw a recipe for Caprese Orzo salad and decided that was a perfect side dish for hot weather!

Baked Brown Trout

The filet that the Brennan’s gave me was MUCH bigger than anything I would buy on my own, but I certainly was not complaining! All I did was rub a little EVOO on it, squeezed the juice of 1/2 a lemon, sprinkled sea salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash and garlic powder and then cut up some scallions that I grabbed from my garden. I baked it at 350* for about 30 minutes and it was perfect!

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Voila! Easy as that!

Caprese Orzo Salad

This recipe is exactly as it is in the Hannaford “Fresh” magazine. I cut the recipe down by A LOT, since I didn’t want to cook a whole box of Orzo, but it’s listed as the full recipe below.

  • 1 lb. Orzo
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. finely ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • 2 pickling cucumbers
  • 8 oz. fresh mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

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1. Cook orzo according to the directions on the back of the box. While orzo is cooking, combine the ingredients from the lemon juice to the olive oil and mix well.

2. Cut up the tomatoes, cucumbers and mozzarella and add to the “sauce”.

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3. Once the orzo is cooked and cooled, combine it with the “sauce” mixture. I put mine in the fridge for the afternoon so it would be nice and chilled when I served it!

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Finally, steam up some corn on the cob and serve everything together!

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This was such a light and healthy meal- perfect for a hot summer night! The fish was absolutely delicious… there is nothing like eating fish and knowing where it came from and who caught it! Thanks again, Jean and Dennis! And, Danielle agreed that the Caprese Orzo Salad is going to be a staple summer salad this year. For lunch yesterday, I took the orzo salad, added grilled chicken to it and served it atop a salad- such a great way to change up the traditional salad!

Questions for you: What is your favorite cooking or food magazine? Favorite “salad” that you always make? Favorite light, summer meal?