Winter Recipes! Snow Ice Cream and Snow Smoothies!

I cannot believe I've only discovered these two ideas recently - one from the radio and one of my own making (though someone else has probably discovered it too).

The first idea was one mentioned on the radio: snow ice cream. Living in Michigan this winter, snow is something we have had in abundance for the last three months, so now I am finally making good use of it.

Snow Ice Cream is simple. You take 4 cups of clean, fresh snow, 1/4 c. sugar (or 1/8 c. stevia), 1/2 c. milk, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix together and enjoy. What a quick, tasty winter treat!

Snow Smoothies are simple too. The snow replaces ice cubes and serves to thicken the smoothie and make it cooler. I have used snow in my morning green smoothies a few times so far with great results. One example recipe is below.

1 c. spinach leaves

1 frozen, slightly thawed banana

1/2 c. blueberries

1/2 c. milk (soy, almond, etc.)

1 c. snow

Mix all in a blender and enjoy! Snow is so much better than ice cubes - it's easier on your blender and mixes so well without any little ice chunks leftover that your blender might have missed.

Coconut Secret Review!

Greetings! Do you like coconuts? Have you tried many coconut products? What about coconut flour? I've tried a few coconut products in the past but have never actually baked or cooked with coconut flour. That has now changed!

Coconut Secret "began with a heartfelt desire to create a low glycemic, gluten-free snack line for diabetics." I think they have done so much more! They provide quality coconut products for all to enjoy! Coconuts have so many health benefits for all, such as improving heart health, reducing sweet cravings and providing a quick energy boost.

Coconut Secret was kind enough to send me their coconut flour to review (picture below from their website). I was so happy with this product! It has been great to bake with so far and has helped me create some delicious gluten-free cookies that my gluten-free friends have loved! See below for the recipe. I definitely recommend this product! 

Gluten-free Sugar Cookies (Adapted from this recipe)

1 egg

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. melted butter

1/2 c. sifted coconut flour

Directions

Combine egg, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and butter. Mix well. Stir in coconut flour. Let mixture rest for 5 mins to allow it to thicken. Form dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Flatten. Bake at 375 for 15 mins. Enjoy!

Homemade Applesauce

One activity I look forward to during Autumn is picking apples. I also love eating and cooking/baking with them. I have never made homemade applesauce though, so I finally decided to try my hand at it.

To my surprise, it was not hard at all! You simply peel, cut, and core the apples, pour them into a pot with a bit of water, and then simmer for around an hour or more, stirring occasionally. I also added a fair amount of cinnamon towards the end of the process because I love it. :-)

Have you ever made homemade applesauce? Do you have any tips or tricks?

After making mine, I did freeze about half of it. I love being able to freeze food - so convenient!

Carrot Cake Mix Cookies

Have you ever had a box of cake mix, but not wanted to make cake or muffins? Then you can try cookies! Cookies are more portable and work great if you're traveling and want treats for the trip and to give to whomever you are visiting. I baked these cookies for a recent trip, and they turned out wonderfully. They are tasty, quick, and simple to make and store. 

Some cake mixes have a cookie recipe on the back of the box, but if not, all you need to do is add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil to the mix and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 min.

I've been doing a bit baking lately, so stay tuned for more recipes and ideas to come!

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!

Homemade Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Bread, and Granola

Today I'm going to share a few recipes I've made recently. Also, I want to remind you that I have a giveaway for an Aeropress Coffee Maker going on now. You should check it out!

Easy Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll spoonfuls of dough into balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Easy Pumpkin Bread 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cups sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin 

1/2 cup olive oil 

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar. In a separate bowl combined pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices. Combine with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack. You can also use this recipe to make pumpkin muffins. 

Maple Nut Granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fruit and seed trail mix

Mix all ingredients together except trail mix and place on baking pan, which you can cover with aluminum foil or parchment paper to make the clean-up easier. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes, stir, then bake another 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Mix baked granola with trail mix for an even more robust granola treat.

Thankful on Thanksgiving for Cake in a Mug!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone! Today is Black Friday and Christmas is just around the corner... along with ice, snow, and winter storms. Oh joy!

I am very thankful I was able to spend my Thanksgiving with a co-worker's family since I was unable to head home to my family a couple states away. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and unfortunately I have no photos to show for it. Do not fear though, I have some pictures of cake in a mug!

I first tried cake in a mug last week and loved it! It is super easy, tasty, and creates the perfect single-serving treat. I'd rather not bake an entire cake for myself... that's simply not a good idea.

Below are a few of the different types I made. I experimented with egg, without egg, with oil, with part oil/part applesauce, with stevia, with sugar, with white flour, with wheat flour, etc. You really can't go wrong. Some versions taste better, but all seemed pretty good to me.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake in a Mug

Banana Cake in a Mug

Have any of you tried making cake in a mug? You should! There are lots of great recipes to try, such as this a chocolate cake recipe!

Green Smoothie Time

It has been way too long since I've had a green smoothie, so I decided to remedy that this morning. I bought myself some spinach, yogurt, and an avocado last night in preparation for this glorious morning breakfast. And, yes, it is indeed glorious.

Below is my new green smoothie recipe. There are SO many variations!

Super-Charged Chocolate Green Smoothie

• 1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach leaves
• 1 cup frozen blueberry yogurt
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/3 avocado
• 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
• 1 scoop instant coffee for that extra kick
• 1/3 c. water

Blend well and enjoy!

Then look at some baby goats to add even more cheerfulness to your day. ^_^

Moroccan Chicken

In trying new recipes, I decided to make Moroccan Chicken with Cauliflower and Zucchini. It turned out quite nicely as pictured below.

Moroccan Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. garlic
1 small zucchini cubed
1.5 c. cauliflower pieces

Cook chicken in skillet with oil. Add spices and vegetables and continue cooking until all is seasoned.

This was a fairly simple recipe, but it was fun to try a new combination of spices and veggies with chicken.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I went for a 30 mile bike ride this morning and enjoyed exploring even more of Grand Rapids. Below is a crane I saw.

Meals and More from Grand Rapids

I am now in Grand Rapids, Michigan! In order to stay fit and healthy while juggling a new job, I have a couple goals. First, I want to experiment with new recipes by cooking or baking at least 5 times per week. Second, I am going to do some sort of athletic activity every day, whether that be biking 8 miles round trip to work, running, lifting weights in my apartment, etc.

I think I'm off to a good start and will share a couple meals with you today in addition to some pictures from a bike ride to the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Garden.

I visited a farmers' market this weekend and bought some zucchini and cucumber. I decided to make a salad with the yellow zucchini and tuna boats with my cucumber.

Yes, this is a very simple salad with spinach leaves, yellow zucchini, and turkey slices. I mixed some rice vinegar and raspberry vinaigrette together for the dressing.

This was fun to make! I just mixed a can of tuna with 2 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp honey mustard, and a pinch of pepper and cumin.

And now for some pictures from the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Garden. First we have some carnivorous plants:

Then we have some plant sculptures!

Stay tuned for reviews and giveaways to come soon! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Pumpkin Bread AND Winter Break!!

Fall semester is over!  I turned in my last final project yesterday and can finally breathe again.  Winter break is such a blessing, and I will definitely miss it once I'm working full time.  I have to say I'm still extremely pleased with my new home state of Illinois.  While we did get a dusting of snow a couple days ago, we have yet to truly experience winter, and it's already mid-December!  Back in Iowa that is most definitely not the case. 

The lack of snow and reasonable temps in the 30s have also allowed me to keep biking to class and work!  I'm trying to hold out longer than I did last semester, and so far I am succeeding!  Once the ice and snow arrive though, I'll resign and take public transportation again.

I baked some pumpkin bread recently too.  I decided to try a lower sugar and fat recipe, and it actually turned out to be quite delcious.  Here it is:

Ingredients (Makes 10 servings)

1/2c. sugar
3tbsp. olive oil
1/4c. applesauce, unsweetened
1 egg
3/4tsp. cinnamon
1/4tsp. nutmeg
1tsp. vanilla
1c. pumpkin
1tsp. baking soda
1/4tsp. salt
1 2/3c. flour
1/3c. water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream sugar, oil and applesauce together. Add egg and mix well. Add spices, vanilla and pumpkin. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Alternately add flour mixture and water and mix well. Pour into 3 greased small bread loaf pans or 1 greased large bread pan. Bake at 350F degrees for 30 minutes for smaller loaves or 45-55 minutes for large loaf.

Enjoy!!

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful holiday season so far with good food and minimal stress.  Take care!

Taco Tofu

I purchase tofu every once in awhile but rarely use it to make anything all that interesting.  I decided to try something new and scramble my tofu with taco seasoning.  The result was delicious, and it was super easy to make!  I only needed tofu, a pan, some oil, and a packet of taco seasoning.  Here's the gorgeous result:

Do you know of any easy, delicious tofu recipes?  Tofu is so versatile, and relatively cheap too :-).

And I must say I have been loving the extended fall here in Illinois.  Our temps our still in the 50s and the trees aren't bare yet.  I've definitely taken some gorgeous pictures, and I'll be sure to share them with you soon!

Easy Sugar Cookies

Good morning all!  I had a wonderful weekend enjoying the beautiful autumn weather here in Illinois.  I also took some time to bake some sugar cookies.  I don't bake very often, so this was a fun treat. 

Easy Sugar Cookies (Makes 10 servings)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Combine the flour, baking soda, and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture.

2. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

You can find the recipe with nutritional facts here.  They were tasty :-).

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Chili Cheese Fries

Good morning!  I decided to try a new recipe this weekend: Chili Cheese Fries.  This is not something I normally make, but I thought I'd live a little and be more adventurous.  I used the last of my garden fresh potatoes to make the fries, and then I cheated and used canned turkey chili.  I topped it off with some shredded cheese.  Pictured below is the final result:

Maybe next time I'll try making the chili from scratch.  The homemade fries were delicious!

And don't forget to enter my That's it. Fruit Bars giveaway!  It ends Sept. 30!

Have a great week!

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Simple Potato Hash

Good morning!  I've recently been blessed with a gift of lots of garden fresh potatoes, and I've been trying to think of various ways to use them.  So far I've microwaved them, made mashed potatoes, and baked potato fries.  Last night I decided to switch it up again, so I made my own version of potato hash.  The recipe is below:

Simple Potato Hash

3 small red potatoes
1 large onion
2 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Place oil, onion, and potatoes into a covered skillet and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.  Then add eggs and spices and continue stirring.  Cook until everything is heated thoroughly. 

It's that easy!  I think I'll experiment with adding different spices, but this still turned out well.  Below is the finished product:

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't do much baking since I don't like to have a lot of sweets in my apartment, but I recently attended a cookout and decided to bring some cookies along.  I have a nice, large bottle of olive oil, so I decided to find a cookie recipe that used it instead of butter.  Olive oil is healthier too :-).

I found a few recipes, took bits and pieces from each and concocted my own since I can never seem to find a recipe I want to follow exactly.  My version wasn't too sweet, and the cookies tasted like shortbread with chocolate chips.  I liked them, and so did my friends, though some mentioned that they would have liked them to be sweeter.   Below is a picture and the recipe.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. olive oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. chocolate chips

Directions
Mix together sugar, oil, vanilla, and egg. Then add baking powder. Next stir in salt and flour until well absorbed. Add the chocolate chips last.  Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 min at 350 degrees until edges are slightly brown.

Enjoy!!

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

I tried out a new oatmeal bar recipe today!  I love making oatmeal bars.  They're so versatile and on a hot summer day, no-bake versions are even better :-).

Without further ado:

Ashley's No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups oats
1oz dark chocolate
1/3 c. natural peanut butter
1/3 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. splenda
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. water (plus more as needed)

Directions
Heat chocolate, peanut butter, honey and vanilla in microwave and then mix with other ingredients in a bowl. Place mixture in a greased pan and store in refrigerator.

I hope you are all having a great summer weekend!

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Baked Oatmeal Bars

Today I've got a recipe to share!  Granola bars are a favorite of mine, and I was looking through some bloggers' recipes and found a promising one from Kath Eats Real Food for Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars.  I tweaked the recipe a bit to give it my own spin and came up with Ashley's Baked Oatmeal Bars:

Ingredients
1 3/4 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/8 c. honey
1/2 c. raisins
1 1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg

Directions
Mix dry and wet ingredients separately and then combine. Pour mixture into parchment lined baking pan and cook for 30 min. at 350 degrees.  Cut into bars and store in refrigerator or freezer.

The bars were quite tasty, but not very sweet.  Next time I make them I'll add some applesauce and more honey.  Here's the final product:

Do any of you have a favorite granola bar recipe? 

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Bangkok Curry and Chocolate Pudding

Hello all!  I recently tried out Noodles & Company for the first time and ordered their Bangkok Curry.  I had it topped with shrimp and found it to be quite delicious.  My only complaint was that it had a little too much sauce.  If I order again, I may see if they can use less sauce or have it on the side.  Here's a lovely picture :-).

I also made myself some homemade chocolate pudding a few days ago.  I've never made this before, and I was quite pleased with the results and how extremely easy it was (relatively speaking of course).  I looked at a few recipes online and then created my own version since I never seem to be satisfied with following directions :-).  You often see pudding recipes calling for cornstarch, but I thought the flour was a great substitute.

Ashley's Quick and Easy Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients
2 cups skim milk
2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup wheat flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions
Mix all ingredients in a pot on the stove. Set the heat to medium and stir occassionally until the pudding is thickened. Serve warm or cold. 

Yes, it's that easy!  Unfortunately, my pictures of it didn't turn out.  It looked like chocolate pudding though :-).


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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a gorgeous St. Patrick's Day here at the University of Illinois!  The sun is shining, temps are in the 60s, a light breeze is blowing, AND flowers are blooming.  I am filled with the joy that only spring can bring :-). 

I decided to cook up a special dessert for myself today too: Tapioca Pudding.  I browsed a few recipes online and came up with my own crockpot version.  I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome:

Easy Crockpot Tapioca Pudding

3.5 cups milk

.5 cup small pearl tapioca

1/3 cup honey

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

I mixed all of the above together in my crockpot and then set it to high.  After about 30min. I stirred the mix and then turned it on low (since I don't have a medium setting).  I stirred it every hour or so and after 3hrs. turned it back on high for about 45min. until the pudding had thickened.

That's it!  You can add more or less sugar as you desire, in addition to other flavorings or spices.  You can even top it with slivered almonds or other nuts for an extra special treat. I think I'll be making this more often now that I've discovered I don't have to make it on the stove :-).

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The Veg-Feasting Cookbook from Book Publishing Company

I received another complimentary cookbook to review from the Book Publishing Company!  The Veg-Feasting Cookbook is full of fabulous vegetarian recipes from “Local Restaurants and Leading Chefs in the Pacific Northwest.”  As you can see, I’ve already got some recipes bookmarked, including the one that I’m going to share with you in just a moment.




Front and back covers are shown above.

The recipe I'm sharing is Lentil Pottage.  Here’s the recipe:



I chose this recipe because it looked SUPER easy and my life’s been kind of hectic lately…  The recipe turned out quite well, though it was lacking a bit in flavor.  I’m thinking I might use vegetable broth instead of water next time.  I adorned my bowl with carrots :-).



This cookbook also has some great articles in addition to the recipes, including a brief history of the Vegetarian Scene in the Pacific Northwest and an extensive list of foods that deserve a place in a healthy kitchen.  This cookbook definitely deserves a 10 of 10!

In other news, I went for 2 1-mi. runs in my Vibram FiveFingers this weekend.  The first run went wonderfully, but my calves hurt quite a bit during the second run.  I wonder if that is normal when you’re starting out or if I’m running with them wrong? 

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