Garden Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Hard to believe we are already on the tail end of our summer season, but I will relish in the sweetness that is summer produce while I can!
Wearing myself out of a traditional salad with lettuce, I took a different route for lunches this week making more of a veggie salad. BYE lettuce! haha
If you can get to a farmers market or produce stand for the veggies in the recipe, I highly recommend. Fresh produce vs grocery store produce makes all the difference in flavor.


Ingredients:

• 1 large garden tomato, diced/seeded
• 2 small pickling cucumbers OR 1 large cucumber, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small or 1/2 large red onion, sliced
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 4oz container crumbled feta cheese
• 3 Tbs EVOO
• 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• salt/pepper to taste

In large mixing bowl combine first 6 ingredients and season with salt/pepper. In a separate small bowl combine EVOO, vinegar, and oregano. Pour over veggies. Store in fridge overnight. 

This makes 3 lunch servings. 

If you want lunch for the week, I'd recommend doubling the recipe. 

Shrimp and Veggie Curry

Blew my own skirt up tonight. I've made curry numerous times now, but I knocked it out of the park tonight! 

This curry came together quite quickly yet tasted like it had been simmering for hours. Get ready to take a trip to Thailand in your very own kitchen! 

Ingredients 

• evoo or coconut oil (your call!)

• 2 Tbs red curry paste 

• 1 14 oz can whole coconut milk 

• 1/2 zucchini, sliced 

• 1/2 onion, sliced 

• 8 oz container of pre sliced baby Bella mushrooms 

• 2 garlic cloves, diced 

• 1 cup chopped cauliflower, roasted 

• 12 fresh shrimp, cleaned and peeled 

• salt to taste 

**Cooks note: I used leftover roasted cauliflower, so be sure to roast ahead of time. 

Preheat evoo in large skillet to medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté about 5 minutes. (Do NOT salt them until they're cooked, it will make them rubbery)

To mushrooms, add zucchini and sauté another 4-5 minutes. Salt to taste. Remove veggies from pan and set aside. In same pan heat 2-3 more Tbs of evoo and add onion and garlic. Sauté 2-3 minutes then add curry paste and can of coconut milk. 

Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer for 5 minutes. After 5 min, add shrimp. Cook shrimp in sauce for 3 minutes then add all veggies. Simmer another 2-3 minutes. Serve! 

Serving size:2 

* feel free to serve with jasmine rice! I will say though, it doesn't need it. Serve this in a bowl with a spoon and you'll be in foodie heaven. :)

* roasting veggies is easy: toss them with evoo, place on lined baking sheet and bake @425 for about 15 minutes 

* don't like my veggie choices? Pick your own 3! You could use green beans, broccoli, anything you think would be good! You could also just double up on shrimp and leave the mushrooms, zucchini, and cauliflower out!

Peach Sorbet

Hey friends! Long time! I recently started a little cleanse, some say it sounds like the whole 30. No processed foods, no alcohol, no processed sugars. (Meaning fruit is totally allowed!) Needing a sweet tooth fix, I decided to make my own 'sorbet'. While it may not be authentic, it's freaking delicious and the perfect summer treat. Did I mention it takes less than 5 minutes to make? 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 fresh peaches, peeled and diced

• 2-3 Tbs unsweetened coconut milk(not the canned, but the kind found with other milks)

Ahead of time, toss peaches in freezer. They actually freeze in a couple of hours so the wait isn't long. 

Place peaches and milk in food professor and process until smooth. How easy is that? 

Enjoy! 

• makes one serving 

While I haven't tried it, I highly recommend trying other fresh local produce too. I did try frozen store bought berries and it WASN'T good. Fresh is the way to go. 

Pumpkin Pound Cake

So as many of you know, I am able to participate in a weekly, "family dinner" with my sister and her fam. I am beyond blessed to have not only a kick ass family, but have some of them right around the corner.
Anyways....each week we tag team dinner/dessert and this week I am in charge of dessert. I was feeling less than inspired and quite defeated by prices of baking supplies. Knowing I had all ingredients for my great grandmothers divine sour cream pound cake, I took the easy road. This morning I woke up with the question, "can I make her infamous pound cake into a pumpkin pound cake?". If you google a recipe for such, you get a laundry list of ingredients, some of which you don't tend to keep around. After brainstorming with my momma, we decided this was a doable experiment.
Into the kitchen I went!
Well, hot damn, this pumpkin pound cake is perfection. I intend to top it with cinnamon whipped cream.


Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup canned pumpkin(NOT pumpkin pie)
2 sticks softened butter
4 eggs
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbs cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar with hand or standing mixer. Add eggs one at a time. In 2 separate bowls, combine sour cream and pumpkin in one, and flour/baking soda/cinnamon in another.
Alternating flour/soda and sour cream/pumpkin mixture mix into butter mixture, starting and ending with flour.  Stir in vanilla.
Spray and flour bundt pan. Pour in pound cake batter evenly.
Bake @350 for 1 hr 15 minutes. Check your cake @1hr by testing with tooth pick. Every oven will of course vary.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing for pan.
Recommend serving with fresh whipped cream!
Picture to come tonight....after we chow down. :)

Sugar Free Pumpkin Spice Creamer

It's that time of year! The time we pull out our hoodies and cozy up with a warm cup of coffee. Oh right and also the time of year where you see pumpkin spice EVERYTHING! That being said, I too love a little spice in my life, but I don't enjoy all the added sugars both natural and substitutes. I created my own pumpkin spice creamer, and while it isn't Starbucks, it certainly gives your coffee that spicy hint of fall.


Ingredients:

1 pint coconut creamer
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice


In food processor or blender combine creamer, puree, and spice. Return creamer back to it's original container.
Add to your morning cup of joe and enjoy!


Tips:

- make your own pumpkin pie spice! (as seen in my pic, you probably have all those spices lying around anyways)
- the added beauty of sugar free coconut creamer is that it isn't dairy, therefore it can fit into a dairy free diet and also has a longer shelf life

Kick Ass Stir Fry

Ya'll,  I hate to brag, but I have perfected the stir fry. You're welcome. It's SO easy you can make it on a week night in 30 minutes! Be sure to read all of this as I will share my BEST tip yet!


Ingredients:

1 skirt steak OR 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 bag OR 1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce, plus 3-4 Tbs
3 Tbs corn starch
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 Tbs honey
1/2 Tsp red pepper flake(or more depending on how much heat you want)
1 Tbs freshly grated ginger
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup rice, cooked according to package directions

Along with 3-4 Tbs soy sauce, and 1 Tbs corn starch place meat in ziploc bag and toss to coat.
Then go ahead and get rice on and cooking, rice usually takes 30 minutes. In a bowl combine remaining soy sauce, corn starch, stock, honey, ginger, garlic, red pepper, and honey. Set aside.
Preheat large skillet to medium heat, add 2-3 Tbs olive oil and add meat. As I have said before, get good color on your meat. Allow to cook 4-5 minutes and remove from pan.
In same pan, add enough water to cover bottom of pan. Add broccoli and cover. Allow to cook only 2-3 minutes, enough for broccoli to steam.
Remove cover and add your "sauce" along with cooked meat.
Continue to cook until sauce thickens.
Serve on top of rice. Makes 2 dinner servings with leftovers.



Tip:
- YAY you kept reading! This is the best tip ever. Don't thaw your meat! When you are ready to cook, pull your meat straight out of the freezer and slice it frozen. Never has slicing meat been easier AND you can get super thin slices which is what makes stir fry so DAMN good. YOU ARE WELCOME. I can guarantee your mind is blown. Don't worry, this was life changing for me too. :)

Super Easy Chili

Finally made my way to Atlanta to see Steph's new place! We had a blast and finished up our weekend where we belong together.....in the kitchen. It was a crisp fall day and we decided to make chili. Not having a recipe on hand, we concocted our own and I gotta say it was dammmmn good! I highly recommend you give it a shot.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef(could totally use chicken, turkey, etc)
1 large onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
2 cans chili beans
1 can light kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can rotel tomatoes, your choice of type

Heat dutch oven OR large pot to medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until caramelized/good brown color. Pour off most grease from beef, return to heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is transparent. Add spices. Cook another 2-3 minutes.
Pour in remaining ingredients. (beans and tomatoes) Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and allow to cook for 1 hr. (or more if you wish!)

Serve with cheese, sour cream, and chips!
Sorry no pic. Steph and I were way to excited to eat. But you all know what chili looks like. :)

Tips:

- Feel free to make this in the crock pot. If you do, be sure to still cook your meat ahead of time then add to pot.
-There is FLAVOR in the brown. Be sure to get color on your ground beef. Nobody likes grey meat!
- Bean choice is up to you! You can use regular kidney beans, pinto, black, possibilites are endless. I will say the chili beans add great flavor. (they are simply seasoned pintos)
- I recommend you don't cheat with the garlic. There really is no replacement for the fresh stuff!