Ultimate Carrot Cake

Today is my husband's birthday.

{Happy Birthday love!}

It's been a week long celebration with family, friends, and cake.

Good cake.

No, I mean really good cake.

What I like to call the Ultimate (at least Semi-Healthy) Carrot Cake.

Apple Crisp: Quintessential Autumn

What could possibly be better than a warm apple crisp, fragrant and steaming, fresh out of the oven?

I would vote a raw apple crisp pulled straight out of the fridge!

Ok, so maybe we are comparing apples and oranges here (or at least hot apples to cold ones...). You really can't compare much to a warm apple crisp right out of the oven, but there is plenty to love about this twist on a classic.

Sunny Side Up Brunch Salad

As much as I love muffins (and boy do I love muffins), I find that a breakfast without some greens just isn't complete.

Green veggies (whether it's spinach blended into my smoothie or my Sunny Side Up Salad below) give me a boost of energy for the day, alkalize my body, boost my nutrient intake, and help protect my skin.

I brought this dish to a brunch with our 'dinner and a doc' friends, Thomas & Jeanette. This time it was brunch and a doc (not quite the same effect when lacking the alliteration, but you get the idea). I brought Sunny Side Up Salad and Thomas made Venison & Shitake meatballs served with a trio of mashes (carrot ginger, sweet potato garlic, and radish turnip). He is insanely creative in the kitchen. I love it.

We ate while we bemoaned the current state of our national debt by watching I.O.U.S.A.

The Sunny Side Up Salad is a warm spinach and potato salad with a red wine & mustard vinaigrette, topped with a fried egg. Sunny side up of course.

Carrot Raisin Muffins on a Rainy Afternoon

Usually muffins are a weekend breakfast treat. Like cake for breakfast.

But the other afternoon I had a craving for a baked good.

I needed something warm and moist and comforting.

Earlier the day was sunny and the sky was blue (lending itself nicely to a picnic lunch). But the afternoon turned gray and rainy. And cold.

Cakes & breads take too long to cook. I wasn't in the mood for cookies.

But Carrot Raisin Muffins did the trick nicely!

Street Food: Moroccan Harira

Welcome to another installment of ethnic recipes from my Street Food cookbook.

This is a Moroccan Harira. A bean soup. It's also considered Morocco's national soup.

(Does the US have a national soup? Who knew that sort of thing even existed...)

But I do know that hearty soups are perfect for fall weather!

Easy Stromboli

I grew up eating strombolis (strombolii?) and calzones from this New York style pizza place in Memphis--Milano's.

And I do still love a good, greasy pizza these days too. I can pack it away with the best of them.

So when I found Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough for a dollar (scratch that--99 CENTS!), I went to town making homemade pizzas piled high with veggies and goat cheese.

The pizza dough isn't the healthiest thing on the face of the planet. It still has gluten and canola oil (which is a rancid oil after it's been processed). And even 'whole wheat' is super processed and turns to sugar quickly in your body. But keeping a big picture perspective, it's not the worst thing you could possibly eat either.

And so inspiration hit me recently and produced this lovely dish:

Pomegranate Pear & Gouda Quesadillas

I feel like I've referenced this recipe about 14 times without actually sharing it.

(Ok, so 14 is an overstatement. But it was at least twice.)

This recipe is so enigmatic. It's simple (6 ingredients), but complicated at the same time (as you'll see below). It's fried food, yet it's healthy.

Grilled Cheese for Grown-ups

You know those days when you open the refrigerator and just stand there staring into it?

You're hungry. But you don't feel like taking the time to cook anything fancy.

You're not in the mood to throw together a salad. Or to snack on veggies & hummus. But that's all you see in the fridge.

This has (obviously) happened to me more than once. And I can almost guarantee you know what I'm talking about.

But inspiration hit me recently. I saw Ezekiel bread. I saw goat cheese.

And what more could a girl want, really? It's no secret that I love goat cheese. It tops the list of my all-time favorite foods (right up there alongside pineapple and lima beans).

And so I ended up with a Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwich!

Street Food: Ethiopian Lentil Wat

Let it be known this was the first time I've ever cooked with lentils.

I know, I know.....what kind of health nut are you?

Just goes to show that I'm not as crazy as people might think. (Or, maybe I am. It's definitely debatable.)

At any rate, when my sweet husband bought me this Street Food cookbook for my birthday, this was one of the first recipes I tried.

Flavor of the Week: Orange Pomegranate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have a weakness for muffins.

You might have noticed, what with my posts on Banana Chocolate Chip muffins & Carrot Blueberry Muffins.

These Orange Pomegranate Chocolate Chip muffins were definitely a blog-worthy success!

The Simplest Dessert Ever

I love simplicity.

And simple, easy recipes that taste amazing at the same time? Watch out.

I also love variety. And this recipe brings together so many of the things I love.

In the Raw: Not-Tuna Pate with Pesto

There are some incredibly creative raw recipes out there.

You can make pasta from zucchini, cheesecake from nuts and dates, & taco meat from walnuts (for real!)

And it's not just for show. This stuff actually tastes amazing.

Take, for instance, my dinner last night: Not-Tuna Pate with homegrown tomato slices topped with fresh pesto.

Fish Tacos

After eating at one of the best Mexican joints in Memphis, I was inspired to create my own summertime fish tacos.

Fish is a great light entree in the sweltering summer heat.

I mean, who really wants steak and potatoes when they're sitting by the pool?

I bought frozen, wild-caught mahi-mahi from Costco. I don't buy fish that's not wild-caught because of the mercury toxicity, antibiotics, hormones and chemicals from pollution found in farmed fish.

Zucchini in Abundance

Summer squash grows like a weed (read: very well) in most people's gardens.

And while I don't have a garden of my own yet, everyone else I know who does grow veggies in their yard shares their excess with me!

So with bags of zucchini (and yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, etc.....), what do I do with it all??

For starters, we have been eating lots of straight up sauteed squash and zucchini.

A Perfect Omelet

I just had to share a picture of this omelet.

Never before (and possibly never again) have I made an omelet this pretty.

No oozing, no lost vegetables, no misshapen egg blobs.....

Hopefully you're not expecting me to tell you how you can make a perfect omelet as well, because, like I said, it may not be possible to replicate this more than once every hundred years or so.

But I can tell you how I usually make my omelets, which are not only tasty, but economical.

Flavor of the Week: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hot dang! These muffins are tasty, if I do say so myself!

Breakfast on the weekends is when I break out the baked goods. These are gluten free and oh-so-moist!

A Colorful Faux-Dinner

Just wanted to share a recent, rather colorful, dinner. This was a super quick and easy meal that ended up looking very nice once it was plated. So my dinner guests weren't allowed to eat until I photographed their plates!

I made turkey burger patties by mixing all kinds of yummy spices with the meat--sea salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, curry powder.....Then I sauteed some veggies--peppers, red onions, zucchini--in grapeseed oil and served it over a bed of organic greens.

My New Favorite Cookies

I have a little love affair going on with these cookies (just don't tell the lima beans I'm cheating on them....)

They are wheat-free and gluten-free but certainly not taste free.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Time Keeps on Ticking

Forgive my absence from the blogging world.....Busy-ness overtook me (and made me tired too). 

So, in an effort to let you know that I am, indeed, still alive, I figured a new recipe was in order. I'm working on a jam-packed post on sunshine (and cancer, toxic chemical sunscreens and the like....) so stay tuned for that. 

In the meantime, a busy, non-posting past few weeks calls for a recipe that caters to busy times (so punny.....I get that from my Dad).

This is more like a recipe template, which means you can use whatever you happen to have on hand, as well as be incredibly creative if you'd like.

Noodle-less Lasagna

Or a gloried meatloaf. It was more or less a cross between the two. 

It was our dinner last night. And it was tasty!

Share-worthy, in fact. So share I will....

Zucchini Casserole

2 small zucchini

1 1/2 lbs. ground meat

1/2 small onion

3 cloves garlic

3 eggs

2 Tbsp. Bragg’s liquid aminos

2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce

2 7 oz. cans tomato paste

1 pint ricotta cheese

pinch of Stevia

sea salt and black pepper to taste