The Goodness of Garden Salsa

My mother and I both had an overabundance of tomatoes this year. We canned whole tomatoes, salsa, tomato juice, sauce and bruschetta. I also came up with a great recipe for fresh garden salsa. The salsa can be added to any dish. I love it with quinoa in a stuffed tomato or pepper. It can also be added in a lettuce or pasta salad. It can be enjoyed simply with corn or carrot chips. 

Fresh Garden Salsa

2 cups diced tomatoes {or cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 medium diced onion

2 cups bell & mild banana peppers {mix it up by using fun colors, such as purple or orange}

1 or 2 tbsp hot peppers {depending on how spicy you like it!}

1 cup black or garbanzo beans

3 tbsp hummus

1 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp truffle oil {or olive oil if you don't like the truffle taste}

4 tbsp infused vinegar {i like garlic & basil!}

** an additional ingredient that goes great in this salsa is chili spiced mangos from Trader Joe's, or just 1/4 cup chopped regular mango**

Mix all ingredients together and let set in fridge for an hour. 

A Picnic for Two

Earlier this year my husband and I spent three glorious weeks touring Turkey and Europe, and we fell in love with the local cuisine. I was missing the flavors of Europe so much that I decided to concoct a Mediterranean themed picnic for two to surprise my husband on his day off. I decided to use delicious Focaccia bread, {handcrafted with love by Red Mug of Superior, WI} with thinly sliced tomatoes from my garden and smoky, fresh Lox. We spent the afternoon enjoying the meal picnic-style with a glass of wine at a local winery, Point of View. The meal was delicious & reminiscent of Europe.

Dairy Free Mediterranean-inspired Lox on Focaccia with Greek Salad 

Sandwich 

2 pieces focaccia

1 medium Roma tomato 

6 pieces fresh Lox

Butter lettuce

Thinly slice tomato and place on top of focaccia and broil on high for 5 minutes {keep a close watch so the bread does not burn}. Remove from oven, slice in half sandwich style. Layer on vegan Boursin, butter lettuce & 3 slices of lox.

Vegan Boursin Sauce

2 tbsp finely chopped onion

1 tbsp capers

3 tbsp soy cream cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp fresh finely chopped dill

2 tsp almond milk

mix all ingredients and let set

Vegan Greek Salad

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 tsp finely chopped onion

2 medium Roma tomatoes, sliced 1/4” thick

1 medium cucumber, sliced 1/4” thick

1/4 cup Kalamata olives 

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

mix all ingredients together and let set. 

It's a date, a baking date!

With fall just around the corner, I thought I would get festive and make delicious-looking Crunch Pecan-Banana Coffee Cake Muffins I found on the back of a Great Grains cereal box. I asked my husband to join me and make it a baking date {especially because he is more a baker than I am!} He did most of the work, while I ran the camera. All in all, it was a successful baking date because the muffins came out perfectly! We also made a zucchini loaf to top off the evening.

Crunchy Pecan-Banana Coffee Cake Muffins

Ingredients

Streusel:

1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

3/4 cup Post Great Grains Crunchy Pecan cereal

Batter:

1-1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 ripe bananas

1 cup plain lowfat yogurt

1/3 cup canola oil

1 large egg white

1 1/4 cups Post Great Grains Crunchy Pecan cereal

Directions:

Streusel:

Preheat oven to 375 f. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners {my cute cups came from Hobby Lobby} toss flour, sugar, cinnamon & salt in large bowl. Stir in oil & maple syrup, then stir in cereal, set aside. 

Batter:

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg in medium bowl. Using a fork, coarsely mash bananas in large bowl. Stir in yogurt, oil & egg white. Add dry ingredients to yogurt mixture until just blended. Stir in cereal. Spoon the batter into cups and sprinkle streusel over, gently pressing it into the batter. Bake for 25 minutes, cool for 5 minutes in pan on cooling rack and then remove muffins from pan to cool on rack. makes 12 muffins.

Sometimes You Have to Indulge a Little

Health food is always good, but nothing beats the taste of home made, comfort food that feeds the soul, especially on a lazy sunday morning. One of my favorite things to cook is my cinnamon sugar French toast. To make this recipe work, you need to use all of the real ingredients, including butter. Today the recipe turned out extra special because I used fresh, home made bread courtesy of Sweet & Flour Patisserie. Sweet & Flour is a unique, French-inspired restaurant nestled right in the middle of downtown Minot, North Dakota on Central Avenue. The friendly chefs are always concocting new and exciting recipes that tickle the taste buds. Not only do they serve delicious decadent deserts, they also have a great lunch menu of soups, sandwiches and salads. Sweet & Flour also uses many organic ingredients {which gets an A+ in my book!} The house made loaf bread was a perfect addition which made my French toast taste extra yummy!

Lazy Sunday French Toast

1 loaf home made bread, cut into thick slices

2 large or extra large eggs

1/3 cup milk

real butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

brown sugar

cinnamon

Mix eggs, milk and vanilla extract together. Heat large pan with 1 tsp butter. Coat one piece of bread in egg mixture and put in pan. Cook both sides evenly, then add 1 tbsp brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon, flip over, do the same to the other side, flip again so both sides are caramelized evenly to your liking. Add fresh butter for each piece you make. Serve hot and enjoy. Makes 5 slices.

A Little Spice

As I was on my merry way to my parents' home, I stumbled upon a garage sale. I wasn't having much luck, until I ran across some vintage Kerr jelly jars. I thought to myself, "I must have these, but what will I use them for?" I bought them for only two dollars! As I continued my journey home, I continued to think about what to do with the jars, when it hit me- how about spice holders! The reason I went with the spice holder idea is because we plan to remodel our kitchen, and instead of cabinets, we decided on open shelves. The vintage jars will look spectacular on the modern-rustic open shelves! There you have it, a new DIY  **repurposed spice jars** with lots of character. Another hint, add labels to the bottoms of the jars for a clean look.

What do you do with a giant zucchini...?

Today I picked a giant green mystery plant out of my garden, and I honestly had no idea what it was. I thought I had planted tiny gourmet cucumbers, and what grew instead was a large, dark green spaghetti squash-sized fruit. The only thing to do was to cut into it and see just what was inside...

It was, as I suspected, a giant zucchini, and I thought to myself "what the heck am I going to do with this?!" {especially since I had more of them forming on the plant} I got creative and came up with 2 delicious meals today, which both incorporated the zucchini as a main ingredient. 

Garden Brushetta with Grilled Zucchini

1 medium tomato

1/2 ripe diced avocado

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup diced green bell pepper

1 tbsp canned garden salsa pepper {or any other spicy pepper for some heat}

1/3 cup diced mushrooms

4 large basel leaves chopped

1 slice 1/4" thick giant zucchini

2 tbsp garlic hummus

1 tsp truffle oil

2 tbsp garlic infused vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp italian seasoning 

salt & pepper to your liking

Grill zucchini on George Forman Grill with a sprits of olive oil cooking spray, dust with garlic powder. Mix all other ingredients in bowl, add extra garlic to your liking. Serve mixture on top of zucchini, garnish with rosemary. 

I love this recipe because the zucchini replaces bread for a low carb meal. It is also a good source of vitamins & good fats. It is also great to serve on a hot summer day.

Asian-inspired stir fry salad

1 cup romaine lettuce, chopped

1 leaf purple cabbage, chopped

handfull garden snap peas, chopped

1/4 cup broccoli, chopped

3 slices of large red onion 1/4 inch thick

3 large beet leaves, chopped

1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 tbsp canned garden salsa pepper {for heat}

pickled ginger
La Choy noodles

sesame seeds

Combine broccoli, onion, beet leaves, mushrooms & pepper in wok with olive oil spray. Cook until veggies are soft. Serve over a bed of romaine lettuce, cabbage & snap peas. Garnish with pickled ginger, noodles & sesame seeds. 

sauce 

1 tbsp white flour

1/4 cup water

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp powdered ginger

combine ingredients in tiny pan to reduce down to a salad dressing consistency. 

Vegan Italian Tomato Soup

Here it is everyone! My first official posted recipe! Hope you enjoy.

Vegan Italian Tomato Soup

1 clove garlic

3 large basil leaves

1 sprig rosemary

1 sprig oregano

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 cup water

1 cup almond milk

1 can tomato sauce

-I used my mother’s homemade sauce

1 medium Roma tomato, sliced

1/2 medium summer squash, sliced

1/4 ripe avocado

1/2 small onion (save greens for garnish)

4 medium mushrooms, sliced

1 cup boiled cauliflower

Simmer sauce, water, bouillon cube, salt, pepper and mushrooms in a medium sized pot. Grill or lightly fry summer squash and tomato. (I grilled mine with a light layer of olive oil cooking spray on a George Forman grill until tomatoes started to pull apart and summer squash was tender.) Add garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano, almond milk, and cauliflower to food processor and blend until creamy. Add the creamed mix to the sauce and boil for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft. Pour into bowl, add a spoonful of grilled tomatoes to the center of the bowl and be creative with the summer squash. Top with avocado and onion greens, serve. 

Serves 3

Think of your plate as a blank canvas

You choose art that makes you feel good, that speaks & relates to you. You choose it because you want to look at it. Why not create food that does the same thing? Creating good, artful food not only tastes good, but also invokes other senses. Color, texture & smell are just as much a part of food as the taste & if you can use these other senses, they will help you feel more satisfied after every meal. If you see something that tastes good and looks good, it puts you in a good mood! (Even something as simple as the apple pictured above.)

This blog will feature new, creative ways to cook healthy food a person would actually want to eat! Most of the meals are quick & simple because, lets face it, we don't have a lot of time in the day to dedicate to cooking. One misconception about cooking is that it takes a long time to make something healthy (and pretty) but in reality, it doesn't take much time at all. Many of the foods featured here will be raw or vegan, which takes little to no cook time. {Yay vegetables! Don't worry, they will taste good!} So sit back and enjoy the ride, don't be afraid to try new things at least once. 

Kayla