FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

My Black & Bleu

by

You know, I bought a 20 class yoga card at Yogani on 7/18/2009, just three days after moving back to Tampa from Dallas.  That class card should have been all sorts of used up by say…  August, maybe September, of 2009.  But it wasn’t.  I renewed the card on 1/20/2010 and, embarrassingly, again on 4/19/2011.  I think the lady at the counter felt badly for me at that point and set my new class card to expire on 12/2/2036.

Tonight, I decided to use up the remaining classes (for real this time) before I head back to Texas.  Even though there’s always a chance I’ll end up back in Tampa sometime between now and 2036, let’s not hope for that.

After yoga, I headed to the market to pick up ingredients for my version of a Black & Bleu.

I may or may not have had this song stuck in my head as I cruised through the aisles.

I scooped up the bluest bleu I could find and headed home to sauté portobellos in coconut oil.  I sprinkled garlic salt and crushed red pepper liberally and let them finish cooking.  I topped mixed greens with the heavily seasoned shrooms and cheese and called it a meal.

I intentionally over-seasoned the mushrooms (beware of pepper sneezes!) so there wasn’t a need for dressing.  And with all the umami-ness going on, this was quite possibly the easiest, meat-free, meatiest salad on earth!

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!!!

by

Whoop, it’s almost that time!  I love, love, love Thanksgiving for a ton of reasons, but mostly for getting to eat dinner as a family, that start of cooler weather, and lots and lots of side dishes.  Little bites of lots of food makes me a happy, happy turkey!

I knew exactly which cookbook I wanted to bake from this year.  I pulled Terry Walters Clean Food off of the cookbook shelf and flipped to the fall table of contents.  It was a toss up between two butternut squash recipes, but ultimately, the Butternut Squash Casserole won.

I’m such a sucker for simple ingredients!

The recipe was a little more labor intensive that I had anticipated – LOTS of chopping.  However, if I hadn’t doubled the recipe, I don’t think it would have been that bad.

The casserole was sizzling its little heart out when I pulled it out of the oven.  I sampled a piece and thought it was tasty.  I had my uncle give it a whirl and he suggested that I add a little salt.  It’s amazing what the tiniest bit of salt can do! The maple syrup and cider bump up the natural sweetness of the squash just a notch, the red onion adds tang, and the toasted almonds add texture.  Overall, I think this dish comes together quite nicely!

I do not think this recipe stands a chance in being the favorite amongst all of the over-sweetened, over-creamed, over-salted dishes that dominate a traditional Thanksgiving Day table; however, if I were completely in charge of a holiday menu, I wouldn’t think twice about including this casserole again.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

Cupcakes And Boots

by

My gluten-free friends at Viitals moved next door to my dentist, which was an awfully convenient stop since I had a dentist appointment on my way home from the airport today.

I moth-to-flamed directly to the cupcakes as soon as I walked in.  They were so pretty (and vegan)!

Banana split and strawberry lemonade cupcakes = welcome home!

Hmmm… two boot boxes?  I must have accidentally and impatiently ordered the same boots, twice.  Oops!

I wrote about these boots a couple weeks ago and my gramma and mom decided that they should be mine.  I think they sensed how stressed I’ve been lately and knew that these fall boots would would put some pep back in my step.  I’m so ready for fall weather to be here so I live in leggings, sweaters, and boots again!

What is your favorite fall fashion item??

Ugly Blueberry Biscuit Muffins

by

Discovering the abundance of frozen fruit in my freezer gave me a hankering for some fruity bread-like breakfast.  And since I’ve already posted about banana pancakes, blueberry pancakes didn’t seem all that interesting. Blueberry biscuits, however, sounded perfect.

I modified the biscuit recipe on the back of the pancake mix A LOT, enough to call it my own I’d say (but that’s a touchy blogger subject).  I also reduced the recipe by a third, because we all know what happens when you have leftover baked goods…

FoodFash Ugly Blueberry Biscuit Muffins

2/3 Cup Gluten-Free Pancake Mix

1/4 Cup Almond Milk

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance

1 Egg

1/3-1/2 Cup Frozen Blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the pancake mix, almond milk, Earth Balance, and egg together with a fork, making sure the Earth Balance is cut in evenly with the other ingredients.  Fold in the FROZEN blueberries.  Spoon batter into three muffin cups and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes or until biscuit tops are golden brown.

Jam-less, the biscuits lacked the fruity sweetness I was looking for.  But when I added a dollop of strawberry jam, they were A-mazing!  I can’t wait to experiment with other berry varieties or maybe even… Chocolate!