Easy Recipe: Gouda and Avocado Salad

i saw this recipe today and i had to have it 

i had all the ingredients already in my fridge

it was a match made in heaven

kinda

in truth, i had all the ingredients to make the lazy easy version

i didn't want to make the dressing 

and the dressing looked kinda like caeser to me

but what do i know? i have no clue what's in caesar dressing

either way, i decided to use some lite caesar dressing i already had

i also added some tomatoes, because who doesn't like tomatoes?

ingredients

• romaine lettuce
• smoked gouda 
• 1/2 of the worlds smallest avocado 
• 1 roma tomato
• caesar dressing

lets get real for a second. 
lets talk about this avocado. 

really?!?!? 

maybe i'm spoiled, being from california

but come on! 

you should also know that i have freakishly small baby hands

so while it fills my palm, that doesn't mean nothing

anyways

instructions

combine into salad form: wash and cut lettuce, cube gouda, slice the worlds smallest avocado, slice the tomato, drizzle with dressing. eat.

easy peasy lemon squeezy! 

size of the avocado aside, this salad was bomb.com

loved the flavor combo 

perfect for a night of packing and harry potter watching 

what do you do with your gouda? 

if its something with fruit, i don't wanna hear about it 

ok fine, i want to hear about it, but i won't make it 

i think i missed the fruit+savory gene when god was handing it out
but i'd love to hear any gouda suggestions!

Stuffed Artichokes

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to posting this.
I had never cooked artichokes before, and this was a wild shot in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty, pretty, pretty good.

.........

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Ingredients

• 2 artichokes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground fennel
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onions til soft. Stir in the thyme, fennel, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stir often and cook until the breadcrumbs start to brown. 

3. While the breadcrumbs are cooking (or after if you aren't the best at multitasking), prep the artichokes. Rinse them and pull off the outer layer of the leaves. Chop off the top and bottom of the artichoke... the bottom so that it will sit flat and the top inch or so to get rid of the sharp pointy thingies. Take some scissors and snip off any remaining pointys.

4. The original recipe has some crazy instructions here on removing the choke from the center of the artichoke... I didn't do this. I couldn't spread the leaves enough to get to the center... so I cooked it as a whole and just didn't eat the center... taadaaa! Lazy person instructions. 

5. Take the stuffing and start stuffin'! Starting from the outside in, gently pull back a leaf and put some stuffing inbetween the layers. Continue doing this to each leaf as far in as you can. My artichokes didn't want to let me into the middle too much... but such is life. 

6. Line a baking dish with foil (for easy clean up... read: lazy), place artichokes upright in said dish. Pour broth into the dish, about an inch or so high. Cook for 60 minutes.

7. Enjoy! 

Sushi Bowl!

I'm a huge fan of fushi (aka vegetarian sushi = faux sushi = fushi),

yet I can't justify "going to sushi" every night.

And while I have a sushi making kit at home, 

I'm lazy and would like the flavor with out the mess/commitment.  

Enter Robin's Sushi Bowl

You may read this and think "well... duh." 

But, it only dawned on me a few months ago, so I'm sharing :)

It's not so much of a recipe, as an idea
to take the sushi ingredients that you love, and put them in bowl form. 

Portion control does not photograph well. Next time, I will choose a smaller bowl. 

  Ingredients (this time around)

• Rice - I used Seeds of Change Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice. I LOVE these rice packets. Throw them in the microwave for 90 seconds and you have perfect rice. I am oddly awful at cooking rice, I even have a rice cooker and always mess it up some how. 
• Seaweed snack
• Edamame 
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce 

Other nights I've thrown in some avocado and/or cucumber... but you could also throw in some tofu, teriyaki chicken, shrimp, crab, fish, carrots, cabbage...basically anything sushi-esque. I think the main trick to making this dish reminiscent of sushi is the seaweed. It takes it from being a rice bowl to a sushi bowl.  

Taa daaa! Magic!

Speaking of sushi... I am super excited to be meeting up with the ladies from the AZ Bloggers Network this Sunday for a sushi date. Can't wait to hang out with the ladies I met a few weeks ago as well as meet some new people.

Have you ever made a sushi bowl before? 

Do you have any other at-home-sushi tips for people like me (aka lazy)?

Healthy Curly Fries

before you read the title/ingredients below and decide it sounds "gross", 

take a sneak peek at the end product 

Mmmmm... so delish!

ok, so now for the secret ingredient

this was another experiment with yet another random vegetable 

that arrived in my weekly box o' organic goodies...

....

turnips!! 

they don't look yummy yet, but they will, just wait

to be honest, i don't think i have ever had turnips before this

and i had no idea what they would taste like 

or how to cook them 

and they sounded gross to me at first 

i mean, just say the word aloud.... turnips... tuuurnippss (see?)

but i feel bad wasting food, and i already had them in my fridge 

so i started trying to brainstorm how i would cook em

then my handy dandy veggie spiralizer arrived on my doorstep

and i just had to use it on something

oh the possibilities! 

soooo spiral somethings?

curly somethings? turnip somethings?

curly fries? turnip fries? 

sure, lets go with all of the above

OVEN BAKED TURNIP FRIES

Ingredients

• 3 turnips
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp onion salt 
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• parsley (to make it look pretty at the end)

 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray (makes for easy clean up - i use organic olive oil spray).

2. Wash and peel the turnips. Cut into fry-size sticks (the thinner you cut them, the crispier they will be - so you choose between steak fries or shoestring fries). If you are lucky enough to own a spiralizer... spiralize those bad boys.

seriously, i love this thing
wheeeeee!

 3. In a large ziploc bag, combine cheese and seasoning. Add turnips and shake to coat (you may dance while shaking if you want, i've found it adds to the flavor as well as the experience).

4. Place turnips on baking sheet and back for 15-20 minutes (or until turnips are tender and golden).

 

before the cookin'

 after!

 5. Enjoy!

taa daaa!

if any of you are curious about what turnips taste like, because i know i was

i found them to taste similar to radishes (when raw) 

and kinda like a potato-onion hybrid (when cooked) 

they have a slight sweet flavor (like cooked onion)

but the overall dish was tasty

and apparently turnips are one of "The 150 Most Healthiest Foods on Earth"

win-win, eh?

have you ever tried turnips? how do you like to cook turnips?

Paul McCartney's Ob-La-Di Enchiladas

looking for a delicious and satisfying recipe for meatless mondays?

well look no further!

i've made this recipe a few times now

and it's always met with rave reviews!

(not to mention it's perfectly named)

rather than making individual enchiladas

i layered the ingredients like a casserole:

one layer tortillas

one layer tofu, spinach, and mushrooms

repeat

worth noting: i used two bunches of spinach

and two packs of mushrooms...

...and NO cornstarch (i've never had any complaints)

this recipe is also dairy-free making it a perfect choice for the vegan and plant-based crowd

enjoy!

(originally posted at House of Glass)

Banana Ice Cream

Ok... so it's not really banana ice cream.
My sister calls it banana nice cream.
I call it fanana fice fream.
You see, I have a habit of putting an 'f' in front of a word if its fake/faux...  
I've been known to eat fushi, wear fackets and play fribbage

Anywho, regardless of what you call it. 

This faux fanana fice fream is felicious! 

BANANA NICE  CREAM

Ingredients:

• Frozen bananas 
• A splash of almond milk (or liquid of your choosing, I use unsweetened original flavor almond milk)
• Vanilla extract (optional)
• Toppings (optional)
• Thats it! Simple, eh?

This dish does take a little bit of forethought... mainly you have to freeze the bananas ahead of time. I find this not to be a problem as I always have bananas on my counter, insisting on turning brown. When the bananas start to go to the "dark side", cut them up into slices, throw them into a ziploc bag and throw that bag into the freezer. 

Disclaimer: Since this "recipe" is super simple, I will elaborate un poco for your reading entertainment. 

Step 1: Gather ingredients: Open your freezer, grab and remove banana bag. Open your fridge, grab and remove liquid. Open your pantry/cupboard, grab and remove vanilla extract and/or toppings. Place on counter. 

Look, ma! I did it!

Step 2: Place ingredients in blender or food processor (all except the toppings, of course). The almond milk (or other liquid) is just to help in the blending process. I usually add a splash (descriptive, right?) and then after blending some have to add a splash more. Start off with a few tbsp and then add more if needed. 

I forgot to take a pic at this stage. Essentially, it would look like this. 

Please use your imagination to transport this blender into my kitchen. 

Then make the blender red. 

K, thanks!

Step 3:  Press the button that makes it work. Since I don't know what device you are using, I can't give you exact directions here. I personally use the "crush ice" button a few times, then maybe a little time on "blend", maybe some time on "puree" ... basically, do work on that banana until it resembles soft serve ice cream.

Step 4: Spoon fanana fice fream into a bowl. Top with toppings if desired (please note: it tastes wonderful with out toppings, we just decided we wanted to be fatties and splurge this time around). Add spoon.

The final product

His: a spoon full of brown sugar

Hers: Sixlets and gummy bears 

I love how gummy bears get hard in ice cream... yuummmmm

Step 5: Enjoy!

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Let me start off by saying that colored cauliflower might be my new favorite vegetable. 

Its just. so. fun.

Yes, it really looks like this. 

In my box of magic this past week, I was lucky enough to get a purple cauliflower. 

Can we say stoked!?? 

I kept trying to find an awesome cauliflower recipe that would be fun to prep and that my veggie-phobic friends would actually eat. 

Then I was shopping and found a mini muffin pan on sale. 

So it was decided my cauliflower would be in mini muffin form. 

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tbsp milled flax seed 
• 1/8 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 1 tsp pizza seasoning of choice)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• whatever additional pizza toppings you'd like

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. Prep muffin pan for pizzafication (grease the cups, line with lines, whatever. The inspiring recipe says to use silicone or foil liners... I just greased my mini muffin tin with some EVOO and it ended up turning out fine. No sticky mess for me. )

2. Wash cauliflower and break into smallish segments. Steam the cauliflower. 

...before...         and        ...after...

i LOVE the color change! So much purpleyness! (thats a word, right?)

3. Drain out all of the excess water. You may want to try pressing it with a paper towel (I let mine sit in the fridge over night so it kinda drip-dried). 

4. Place cauliflower and flax seed in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse until it reaches a rice like consistency. (Mine was a little more gooey than ricey... perhaps a little too much moisture? After baking it ended up being fine.)

5. Mix cauliflower and other ingredients in a bowl. 

6. Spoon into muffin pan. Press the tops so that its compact and flat on top. 

Aerial view provided by the boyfriend... 

I asked him to take some pics for the blog and he turned into the dang paparazzi

7. Place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes. 

8. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and add your toppings. We used mozzarella, lean ground turkey (seasoned with Italian seasoning, garlic and lotsa lotsa pepper) and some parsley flakes for color. 

9. Place back in the over and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown/bubble. (If you are opting for a topping free version, I'd say about 10 more minutes as well, just keep an eye on them) 

10. Remove from oven. Let them cool a little bit and enjoy! 

The finished product :)  

 I'm still in love with the purpleyness!

Things to note:

• Recipe adapted from here.
• I substituted flax seed + the water from steaming the cauliflower for the egg white, for a slightly healthier kick. Hello, Omega-3!
• I doubled the cauliflower, but not the cheese from the original recipe. Another attempt and making it slightly healthier.
• I personally would not consider this meal as a whole "healthy"... But it's a lot of veggies... and three veggie-phobes said they liked it... and it's yummy.So I'll allow it.
• Very easy to make this meal vegetarian.... I'm not sure about vegan though.  Even though there isn't that much cheese, it does help bind the "dough"... I'm sure someone more creative than me has some thoughts/comments on this.

Dinner

Crust - cauliflower, mozzarella, eggs, parsley, garlic, oregano

Sauce - olive oil, garlic, salt, parsley, Mrs. Dash galic and herb,

Toppings - spinach, mozarella, chicken breast, shallots, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, romano, asiago, parsley

... and maybe some other things I forgot.