eat! craft! live!

gelato!

We made delicious maple gelato in a faulty ice cream maker! Read about it and get the recipe over here.

It's been a busy summer, I hope you've all been having a blast!

coconut cream pie "laraballs"

Back when I was doing my Whole 30, I stumbled into a delicious "dessert" - whole dates with unsweetened coconut. I'd just put a bit of coconut in a bowl, add some dates and...that's it! It was simple, delicious, and while not exactly healthy, it wasn't that bad for you. (That's still a lot of sugar, yo, and the powers-that-be would probably frown on me having any sort of "dessert" at all. But anyway...)

A few days after that, I discovered Larabars. I know, where have I been? Well, to be quite truthful, Larabars are a little out of my normal price range. But, I had a coupon and they are almost all made with Whole 30 compliant ingredients, so I bought a few to take with us on a road trip to Connecticut in case we needed a quick snack in the car. One of the flavors I grabbed was the coconut cream pie flavor and oh my heavens, it was delicious. Very reminiscent of my dates-with-coconut dessert and I knew I needed to figure out how to make it.

Turns out if you Google "homemade larabars" there are a LOT of options out there... Mine isn't groundbreaking in any way, I'm just sharing because I can! The ingredients are simple - dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews and coconut oil. I formed mine into balls, just because that seemed the easiest. This recipe consistently makes 17 slightly-bigger-than-a-tablespoon balls for me.

coconut cream pie laraballs

• 1/2 c. raw almonds
• 1/2 c. raw cashews
• 1 c. pitted dates (I used 11-12)
• 1 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
• about 2 teaspoons extra virgin coconut oil, slightly melted (Normally I used refined coconut oil for cooking but in this case you do actually want the extra coconut flavor.)

Grind up the almonds and cashews in a food processor until they are crumbly, but not super fine. Set aside in a small bowl. Pulse the dates a few times, then add the coconut and nuts and pulse to combine. Drizzle in the coconut oil and combine. (Feel free to add more coconut oil, if desired.) The mixture will be crumbly but should stick together when formed into balls. I use my tablespoon measure to scoop out lumps of the mixture and form it into a ball. I keep them stored in a glass container with a lid, in the fridge. They will firm up upon cooling.

deviled eggs au gratin

Yum yum! If you have leftover deviled eggs, make them into a meal! (Or perhaps make a whole new batch, because really who ever has leftover deviled eggs?) I blogged a 75 year old recipe for deviled eggs au gratin over at the work blog...check it out!

mom's spinach lasagna

Oh, this lasagna.

This lasagna is easy, tasty, inexpensive. It is easily doubled and I often make two at once - one to eat immediately and one to stash in the freezer for some future lazy day. It's my go-to dish to bring to cold-weather potlucks, new parents, anyone who needs a little food-pick-me-up. It freezes well and reheats beautifully. I've been meaning to blog this recipe for ages but somehow hadn't gotten around to it...I was reminded to when I made it for a friend (and also our freezer) and also gave the recipe to another friend to make ahead for her freezer to prep for a new baby. I got the recipe from my mother, which is why I consider it my mother's spinach lasagna. But, she got from someone else, who likely clipped it from a magazine some 20-odd years ago or more. (Basically, I have no idea where this recipe originated.) And...apologies, but I have no photo of the finished product. Use your imagination, it looks much like any other lasagna.

mom's spinach lasagna

• 1 15 oz. container of ricotta
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg
• 1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 32 oz. pasta sauce
• 9 lasagna noodles
• just under 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, spinach, salt, oregano, and half the mozzarella.

In a 13x9 baking dish, layer 1/4 of the sauce, followed by 3 lasagna noodles and half of the ricotta mixture. Repeat. Top with 1/4 of the sauce, 3 more lasagna noodles, the remaining sauce and finally the remaining shredded mozzarella. (Got that? From the bottom - sauce, noodles, ricotta, sauce, noodles, ricotta, sauce, noodles, sauce, mozzarella.)

Finally, pour the water carefully around the edge of the pan. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours or until bubbly.

Mixing the ricotta mixture.

I used cheap sauce. Feel free to get fancy!

Sauce, with noodles on top.

Now with ricotta!

The final layer of mozzarella.

Now pour water around the edges...

...and you end up with weird, watery tomato-ness at the edges. It's OK. It'll all soak in and be delicious. I promise.

Whole30 recap

One of the questions people invariably ask when I start to tell them about the Whole30 is - "So...what do you eat?" (Usually accompanied by a somewhat horrified expression, as if the thought of life without cheese is just not worth living.)

So I decided to take a photo of our groceries for the week. (This is from a couple weeks ago.) We already meal planned anyway, so it was only a little extra effort to meal plan for a Whole30 diet. I plan our meals on Friday for the following week, make a list, go grocery shopping Friday night and to the farmer's market on Saturday morning. (I know, grocery shopping on a Friday night, how exciting. But the alternative, which I did for a while, was grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons and that was torture.)

For those of you that don't know, when you're eating what they call "Whole30 compliant" you basically just eat vegetables, some fruit, meat, eggs and nuts. Y'know...real food. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking here. No grains, which I surprisingly didn't miss. No dairy, which, again, I didn't miss as much as I thought I would...not after the first week or so anyway. No legumes, including soy. No added sugar, which was perhaps the toughest part for me.

But I did it! My last official Whole30 day was Monday and I'm feeling pretty great. I have had some dairy since then, but it's no big deal. I have yet to reintroduce most grains - I've had a serving of rice, but no wheat or oats or anything. I did make a beef & broccoli recipe for dinner on Tuesday night that had both soy and added sugar and it tasted so sweet to me. Eating like this for a month definitely changed my tastes - for the better!

I lost 8 pounds, numerous inches and I'm sleeping better than usual, even with a sick baby and a sinus infection. I have more energy and was motivated to take up running! (If you know me at all, you'll know that this is CRAZYTALK.) All in all, though I don't plan to eat this way all the time from here on out, it was a very good experience. It really helped me stop and reevaluate my relationship with food, particularly sugar.

I did not start out with any major problems, unless you count my sweet tooth, so I can't say that it helped any chronic pain issues or anything like that, which is what some people hope for. I do not (yet?) think that I have any real sensitivities to any particular food group, like dairy or gluten, but I suppose I'll find out as a reintroduce more types of food back into my regular diet!

If you're interested, here's what's pictured above:

• 3 dozen eggs
• half a dozen zucchinis
• box of baby spinach
• can of pineapple (fresh ones weren't on sale that week and E desperately wanted pineapple!)
• 6 baby oatmeals for H for breakfasts (the kids were not following this diet, for the most part)
• yellow cherry tomatoes
• cumin (we ran out! *gasp*)
• half a dozen or so kiwis
• half a dozen or so apples
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 3 plantains
• 1 bag frozen broccoli
• 1 bag baby carrots
• 1 bag regular carrots
• 2 bags "sweet butter" salad mix (I'm not a fan of bitter greens, but I love butter lettuce!)
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 cucumber
• vegetable oil
• 1 head golden cauliflower
• 2 boxes strawberries
• 1 box blueberries (a splurge!)
• 2 shallots
• half a dozen or so sweet potatoes
• 4 avocados
• 1 bunch bananas
• raw cashews
• 4 pears
• bacon
• yogurt (for E)
• garlic cubes (these things are the best)
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 cans tuna
• 1 bunch leeks
• not shown: whatever meat we ate that week (I didn't want it to sit out)
• (also there's something back there in a produce bag that I can't identify...eh)

I hope to share a few of the delicious recipes we ate over the month!

So...we started doing the Whole30 yesterday...

Hold me. No, wait, go get me a bagel and some cream cheese.

NO. WAIT.

I don't need that! In all honesty, it's been both harder and easier so far than I'd thought it would be. I really don't miss a lot of the stuff I thought I'd miss. So far. At least, not as long as it's not sitting right in front of me, taunting me. I started phasing out grains and dairy last week but yesterday was the first "real" day for us doing the Whole30. (Yes, M is doing it too!)

We've been having some delicious meals - sweet potato kale chicken patties up there - and generally feeling better. I almost fell into a carton of cottage cheese yesterday while making cauliflower pizza bites for E. Oh goodness, it looked so yummy... And this morning when I got into work, someone had just used the toaster oven to make, well, I don't know what but something toasty and bready and yummy-smelling.

We'll see how it goes!

maple gingerbread with maple whipped cream

Oh how delicious! A delicately maple-y, quite gingery, moist cake. With one of my favorite things - whipped cream - on top. If you want the recipe (which is not an eat! craft! live! original by any means) you'll have to head over to my blog post for work! Enjoy!

healthy morning muffins

In stark contrast to the last muffin recipe I posted, these muffins are actually packed with healthy stuff, along with being plain ol' delicious. This is another of my favorite recipes to have on hand in the freezer. I find that if I bake a batch of muffins, eat one, then put the rest in the freezer for a later date, there's a lot less of a chance that I'll impulse-snack them all into my belly before the day is over...

Packed with carrot-y goodness, these muffins look a bit sketchy when being mixed up. I'm just warning you...it looks a little like a carrot salad. But! I promise they'll bake up into delicious, moist muffins that have more than just carrot going on.

healthy morning muffins
adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 medium carrots, grated
• 2/3 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or use liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until there are no lumps. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, egg, milk, carrots, applesauce and vanilla and stir until blended.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

banana chocolate chip muffins

These muffins are perfect - soft and fluffy and full of chocolate chips. They are really more like little cakes than muffins, but there's fruit in there (bananas!) so they've got to be healthy, right?

Right?

Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but these aren't exactly the healthiest of muffins. Which means that they taste amazing. I wouldn't eat a bunch every day, but they are a delicious treat to have around. I keep mine in the freezer, which keeps the impulse snacking to a minimum.

I always thought I didn't like the classic banana-chocolate combo, but I think it's because I'd always had banana bread with lots of spices and chocolate chips, all crammed in together. Then one day someone made me a mini loaf of banana bread that had chocolate chips but no spices. It was heavenly.

Now I know that what I really don't like is the combination of bananas, chocolate chips, and stuff like cinnamon. (Don't get me wrong - I love cinnamon! Just not here...)

So I took this recipe from the King Arthur cookbook, tweaked it to my liking, and voila! A simple, delicious banana chocolate chip muffin. So go ahead and gather up those black bananas just waiting to be used...

banana chocolate chip muffins
adapted from the King Arther Baker's Companion

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Scrape down and add egg, banana and milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine dry ingredients with wet, being careful not to overmix. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine. (I add the chocolate chips before the dry ingredients are fully incorporated to make sure I don't overmix the batter.)

Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or use paper liners. Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups - the batter is fairly stiff.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes and take them out of the pan to finish cooling.

These are delicious fresh, straight from the oven, but they also keep quite well! My frozen ones last a good while and still taste as delicious as the moment they went in. Enjoy!

:: photo friday :: still cookin'