Posts

Pumpkin Smoothies ♥

Pumpkin Smoothies, just five minutes and five pantry ingredients. Love your smoothies? Yeah, of course! This one tastes much like a cold 'n' creamy pumpkin pie. Gluten Free and paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". We interrupt this pumpkin programming – but wait, wait! One more, just one more pumpkin recipe! This is an easy one, one that'll carry you right through Thanksgiving. It's really pumpkin-y, in fact, it tastes much like a pumpkin pie, as if the filling didn't set and has been chilled. It's slightly sweet but really filling.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts & Donut Holes ♥
aka How to Make Small Boys & Handsome Men Happy

A special treat for fall, baked donuts and/or donut holes, warm with pumpkin spices, coated with buttery, spicy sugar. Bite-size goodness! Great for baking with kids, excellent for multi-generational eating! Twas quite the morning, this past Sunday. Males outnumbered females 7:1. Five-year old twin boys. Eight- and nine-year old BFFs. Two dads who've discovered paleo plus one grandpa. Versus ME. It started with a protein fest: platters of eggs and bacon and breakfast sausage cooked crisp. But then I appeared with "breakfast dessert" – pumpkin donuts and donut holes, still warm from the oven and coated with buttery sugar with warm autumn spices. Flash! Donuts here, donuts gone. Donut holes here, donut holes gone. Even the "picky eater" twin who had earlier harumphed out of the room stating that he didn't "yike" pumpkin donuts – even he took a bite, then exclaimed with sugary lips, "I yike pumpkin donuts!" Score one for the lone female

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Orange ♥ Recipe

Today's "vegetable" (yes, those are quotes) recipe: One of those Midwestern classics, a zucchini chocolate, very chocolate-y and very orange-y thanks to both orange liqueur and fresh orange zest and juice. Virtuous only on the goodness scale. Parlor Tricks. That's what 99.99 percent of all dessert recipes with vegetables are. So now you think I'm gonna tell you that this Chocolate Zucchini Cake beats the odds, right? Nope. This is pure cake. The fact that there's zucchini in there matters not one whit in fact I suspect you could leave it out and not a soul would notice. I shake my head when I see you-know-the-type cookbooks talk about "sneaking" vegetables into kids foods. Like C.A.K.E. Still. This cake is so chocolate-y. And so orange-y. And extra-moist, even on Day Three. A keeper? You bet. But with full understanding, the zucchini is a parlor trick.

Armenian Vegetable Stew ♥ Recipe

Today's vegetable recipe: A simple vegetable stew, a m̩lange of late-summer and early-fall vegetables like eggplant, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, okra. Very Weight Watchers Friendly, just WW 1 PointsPlus for a whole cup. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Every couple of weeks during late summer and fall, you'll find a big pot of vegetable stew a-simmerin' on my stove. (In winter? It's usually soup, not the thicker stew.) Then during the next week, it's my "go to" convenience food, just a minute or two in the microwave for a small, healthy and plant-based meal (in 100-calorie servings, the best thing I learned when I switched from Weight Watchers to Medifast ) or a supper side dish, no cooking required. Here's the latest! It's a mild stew Рthose of you who hanker for heat will want to grab the hot sauce! (Or for built-in heat, try the wonderful Chickpea Gumbo or Vegetable Chili with Swee

Seasonal Vegetable Stews ♥ 10 Killer Recipes, 10 Tips & Techniques

Ten favorite vegetable stew recipes for all seasons, summer, fall, winter and year-round. These are "killer stew recipes" – tried & true, healthy, great-tasting, easy to incorporate the vegetables you love and leave out the ones you don't. Some recipes work best with a cornucopia of fresh summer vegetables from your CSA, garden or farmers market; others work beautifully with year-round supermarket vegetables. Clean eaters, take note! All the recipes are for vegetarian stews. Most are vegan stews or easily made vegan. Every one works as a side dish or a vegetarian/vegan main dish perfect for Meatless Monday meals. Some take a little time to prep the vegetables, others are quick-quick. Two use a slow cooker! Healthy eaters, these recipes are for you! A satisfying cup usually adds up to about 100 calories (more if the stew calls for beans). For Weight Watchers, this is usually two or three PointsPlus. Plus ten tips and techniques for perfecting your own killer ve

Twice-Roasted Beets with Fruit and Avocado Feta Cream ♥ A Five-Star First Course!

My latest beet salad recipe: Roasted beets roasted a second time, this time with summer fruits like grapes and cherries and blueberries. Served warm! On the side? A gorgeous-green creamy sauce of no more than avocado, feta and buttermilk mixed in minutes in the blender. Weight Watchers Friendly. Gluten Free. Primal. Vegetarian. Do you have a certain way you like to "entertain"? There are so many styles that work! This summer, we've become enamored with simple but sumptuous suppers at the kitchen table (or on the patio, heat permitting), just two couples, room and reason for real conversation. Food-wise some times I wonder if we hit the repeat button a little often but the rhythm works for us. A small nibbly. A first course salad – all summer it's been a variation of Twice-Roasted Beets. Beef from the freezer, simply cooked. A simple vegetable or two or three, at least one from the garden. A fruity dessert. It's easy to prepare, effortless to serve, quick to cl

Spiral Zucchini Noodle Salad with Homemade Catalina Dressing ♥

The Recipe: A simple zucchini salad, just zucchini noodles and carrots tossed in a lovely Homemade Catalina Dressing, all made with accessible pantry ingredients. Weight Watchers Friendly, WW 2 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". The Conversation: How I finally came to use the spiralizer purchased almost two years ago. Amazon, the chiding conscience: "You purchased this item on August 25, 2012." Me, hanging head in shame about the object of Amazon's reminder, the spiralizer I purchased two whole years ago but never once pulled out of the box let alone used. Me, grateful to Mari Moilanen, the Finnish food blogger who blogs in English at Something Tasty . It was Mari's Zucchini Spiral "Noodle" Salad salad, which she served at the photography workshop I attended in Helsinki in June, which inspired me to dig out the long-neglected spiralizer on our very first day back!