#EatLiveBe - Breakfast {recipe: Mushroom &
Spinach Frittata}

post from famfriendsfood on 23 January 2013 09:22:15 PM. © famfriendsfood

I'm a little behind on posting this week. Wish I could say it was because I had some really exciting things going on... no such luck. I'm at the tail-end of yet another head cold (no, I can not catch a break) that started one day after I made it to the gym last week. I'm thinking I may have to just stick to my home treadmill until the germ infestation has been eliminated from the gym.

So, yeah, I did workout a couple of times last week as part of my #EatLiveBe plans... but, that didn't last long when the congestion kicked in and having to take Ny-Quil to sleep started happening. I am still dealing with a bit of it, but am off the nighttime medicine at this point. I'd like to be working up a sweat so that I can feel warm... anyone in the New Jersey or New York area knows that the deep freeze is on and I just want to stay snuggled up in my comfy sweats and fleece blanket reading a book (and I do have a good one to share with you soon as I finish it!) until Spring finally arrives.

The cold makes me want soups and comfort food. The key is keeping the portion sizes in check when it comes to the comfort food. Tonight I made simple spaghetti and meatballs, but only took a one cup portion of pasta and 2 meatballs with a little sauce. Once I was done, I cleared my plate and I was done. Portion control is a major player whether you want to lose pounds or just maintain where you are at. It's not something I'm great at, but I'm working on it.

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Black & White Wednesday #68 Hosting

post from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once on 23 January 2013 07:22:16 PM. © Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once

This week I'm hosting Black and White Wednesday - now managed by Cinzia - this event celebrates[...]

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esday-68-hosting.html

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Pappardelle With A Creamy Butternut Sauce

post from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe on 23 January 2013 05:44:56 PM. © Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe

I made this sauce in my head on the way home from work last night. I was feeling sick as a dog and I knew there was nothing in the refrigerator that I could reasonably disguise as dinner. Takeout could be an option, but salty, greasy food is not exactly a good choice when one is under the weather.

It was the pantry to the rescue. I knew I had some beautiful pappardelle pasta, some canned chickpeas, and a bag of frozen butternut squash cubes that I had picked up at the supermarket some weeks back. The idea of marrying the pasta and the chickpeas with a silken butternut sauce got me so excited, I almost felt better again.

I am a great believer in keeping frozen vegetables on hand: as much as I love fresh veggies and the peeling and scraping and dicing that accompanies them (honest, I do), I am not above grabbing convenience when I can get it. And there are plenty of studies that show that frozen veggies actually preserve nutrients better than fresh ones do because they are usually frozen right after picking. Fresh veggies, on the other hand, sit in trucks and supermarket shelves and then your refrigerator, leaching nutrients until you get around to them. The frozen stuff is also a busy cook's best friend because you don't have to worry it'll spoil on you before you have a chance to cook it.

I knew that I wouldn't have to spend the evening slaving over the stove for this pasta. Frozen butternut squash cooks in a hurry and in no time at all I was blending it with some garlic, onions, and sage. Sage, incidentally, is the perfect herb to pair with butternut. The smoky savoriness of the sage is just perfect with the nutty sweetness of the squash. If you've never paired them before, try it. You'll be a changed person.

So here's the recipe for my Pappardelle with Butternut Squash Sauce. It goes from start to done in under 30 minutes. I mixed in some avocado for more veggie power and buttery flavor, sprinkled on some nutty sunflower seeds, and mixed in a few crunchy capers for a salty, tangy hit. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Pappardelle with Butternut Squash Sauce

(Makes 8-10 servings)

Ingredients:

1 pound pappardelle pasta (can use linguine or even smaller pastas like farfalle). Cook the pasta in salted water according to package instructions until al dente.

1 28-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 20-ounce bag of frozen butternut squash cubes (use fresh, if you prefer. This would roughly equal one medium butternut squash. Your cook time could be a little longer).

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp crumbled dry sage

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground black pepper

Salt to taste

1 tsp olive oil and some extra virgin olive oil for sprinkling

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 avocados, finely diced

2 heaped tablespoons of capers

Heat the oil in a saucepan and when it shimmers, add the onions and saute until they start to soften and brown a little, about five minutes.

Add the garlic, red pepper, black pepper and sage and stir to mix. Saute for another minute or two until the raw garlic smell disappears.

Add the cubes of butternut squash and cook, stirring, until the squash is really soft and breaks down.

Add salt to taste, let the mixture cool a little, then place in a blender with enough water to make a smooth puree (about 1 cup).

Blend the butternut squash into a silken puree.

Transfer the puree back to the saucepan and heat through.

Add the pasta, lemon juice, sunflower seeds and capers and toss together. Serve sprinkled with some diced avocado and a few drops of extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoy!

**
A quick reminder that the giveaway for the Rotito Rolling Set from GitaDini closes by the end of day today. If you haven't already added your name, do so asap so you can be rolling some scrumptious rotis, parathas and pastry dough in no time. Read the post carefully for instructions on how to participate.(C) All recipes and photographs copyright of Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes.

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my-butternut-sauce.html

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Vegan Mung and Rice Pudding With Coconut and
Saffron

post from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe on 23 January 2013 04:53:53 PM. © Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe

Here's a kheer (an Indian pudding) that my Konkani parents make for Makar Sankranti, a celebration in their part of India that falls on the same day as Pongal.

The recipe is very similar to Sakkarai Pongal, except that my parents' version has some coconut milk, a staple of the Konkan region where coconut trees grow abundantly along the coast. Coconut adds a unique flavor all its own which is particularly great when you remove ghee from the equation, as we do for our vegan version. The coconut also keeps the kheer moist and fluid even after you refrigerate it.

Another flavor boost comes from saffron, those spicy stamens so prized in Indian cooking. The saffron also gives the dish a gorgeous golden color.

It has been a week since Pongal and Makar Sankranti, but it' never too late to eat something as delicious as this kheer. On to the recipe. Hope everyone's feeling well and rested after a long weekend. Have a lovely day, all!

Mung and Rice Kheer

Ingredients:

3/4 cup rice

1/4 cup mung dal

1 cup almond milk

1 cup coconut milk

3/4 to 1 cup grated jaggery

1 tsp powdered cardamom seeds

10-15 cashew nuts, broken into pieces

A generous pinch of saffron, soaked in a couple of tablespoons of almond milk

Boil the rice and mung dal together, preferably in a pressure cooker, until really soft. I added about 3 cups of water to the pressure cooker, which gave me the right consistency.

Add the almond milk and half the coconut milk to the rice-mung mixture and set it on a low flame.

Add the grated jaggery and stir well.

Cook on a low flame until the raw jaggery smell has dissipated. This took about half an hour for me. The pongal should not be dry, but creamy and slightly fluid. If it gets too dry, add some more almond milk. Stir in the saffron with the almond milk it was soaked in and the remaining coconut milk.

Heat 1 tbsp canola oil

Add 1 tsp powdered cardamom seeds

10-15 cashew nuts, broken into pieces

Toss until the nuts are lightly browned. Add to the rice.

Stir well. Serve warm or at room temperature.(C) All recipes and photographs copyright of Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes.

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udding-with.html

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Replacing proteins lost in meatless diets with
legumes, fruits and nuts

post from CASA Veneracion on 23 January 2013 01:21:17 PM. © CASA Veneracion

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ith-legumes-fruits-and-nuts/

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Charlie Beinlich's

post from Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King on 23 January 2013 12:22:22 PM. © Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King

-Got beef?
The Burgers of Chicago (land)

Somewhere in my "food folder" as I call it, Charlie Beinlich's got lost in the mess. This popular tavern has been serving the people of the Northern suburbs since 1950 and it still has the old time charm and feel today. Heck some of the folks that drink there look like they might of took their first date to Beinlich's the year it opened up.

Popular locals stop in Northbrook
Because it's been around so long and many families stay put in this area, this place is now a favorite of quite a few different generations of people that grew up around this way. From the outside it looks like a tavern you'd find in the Northwoods. It's dark and cozy inside this old time haunt that sits in Northbrook and is well known for their hamburgers. Those who love the place swear by them. Others like their chili and they have a couple other things on the menu but I couldn't tell you what they are. I doubt most regulars could.

Chili
The burgers at here are pretty good and to go with the old school atmosphere it makes for a fun place to eat if you live nearby. But I wouldn't make the trek out there from the city unless maybe I grew up on this place and going there brings back pleasant memories. The burger is no frills and about what you expect most places that serve burgers to be able to do. However we live in a lazy world and most places don't. So I can respect Beinlich's and it's backers because of that. They didn't change with time. See y'all next time.

Cheeseburger with Bacon from Beinlich's
Charlie Beinlich's
290 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 291-0420
Website

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http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2013/01/charlie-beinlichs.html

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Sam’s take on vegetarianism and the food
chain

post from CASA Veneracion on 23 January 2013 12:22:02 PM. © CASA Veneracion

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ain/

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Recept na pletenky

post from iGURMAN.com - Gabrielov "Food blog". on 23 January 2013 10:22:19 AM. © iGURMAN.com - Gabrielov "Food blog".

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Pumpkin Gogi Granola Cookies

I promise, this is the last pumpkin recipe of the week - but it's a good one! Not only are these cookies gluten free and vegan, but they are SO full of pumpkin flavour! The secret? Concentrating the pumpkin - a fantastic tip that I picked up from the original creator of these unleavened bites, Tessa. While she cooked hers down on the stovetop, I didn't have a small enough pot so baked it down instead. The cookies themselves are extremely dense, obviously, but not dry or "sawdusty" like some storebought GF products can be, and they have a great texture from the chewy gogi berries and crunchy cereal I added. While I wouldn't call these chewy cookies, they're not crisp, sandy or cakey really. Just toothsome, super spicy and delicious!

These also travel well - which helped around the holidays - and the dough freezes beautifully too so you can bake it off as needed. That said, these really are at their best when completely cool, and leave them on the sheet for that otherwise you will have Pumpkin Gogi Granola crumbles!

Shared with Gluten-Free Wednesdays

Pumpkin Gogi Granola CookiesMakes 18 1 cup pure pumpkinpuree ½ cup coconutoil1/3 cup sugar 1/3cup brownsugar 1 tbsp glutenfree vanilla extract ½ cup sorghumflour ¼ cup soy flour¼ cup buckwheatflour½ cup brown riceflour½ cup tapiocaflour ¼ cup cornstarch1 tsp guar gum 1 tsp pumpkinpie spice½ tsp sea salt½ cup gluten free cereal (such as Sunrise®Crunchy Maple from Nature?s Path)¼ cup gogi berries

Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone.
Place the pumpkin in a small baking dish. Bake, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, until it?s reduced to ½ cup.
Set aside to cool. Leave oven on.
Cream the coconut oil and the sugars in a mixer until creamy.
Beat in vanilla and pumpkin.
Add the flours, cornstarch, guar gum, pie spice and salt and beat until well blended.
Stir in the cereal and gogi berries to make a rather stiff and dry feeling dough.
Place golf-ball size balls of dough on the sheet and press the tops down slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes, until turning just golden around the edges.
Cool completely on the sheet.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 147.9
Total Fat: 6.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 110.5 mg
Total Carbs: 22.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
Protein: 1.9 g

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http://yummysmells.blogspot.com/2013/01/pumpkin-gogi-granola-cookies.html

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Twenty-one Day Relationship Challenge

Just in time for Valentine's Day! A twenty-one day relationship challenge from happiness guru Gretchen Rubin! Each morning, you'll receive a loving tip and/or mini goal that {direct quote} won?t take any time, energy, or money to make your relationship more loving. {I can vouch. First tip is about smooching. I aced it.}

And if your beloved isn't reason enough to step up to this petite challenge, just check out this animated .gif of cherry blossoms I made for you. {I mean, bonjour, it moves.} If that's not enough of an argument to get in the game, then I don't know what is.

Join the challenge here, mes amis.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.internetcookingprincess.com/2013/01/twenty-one-day-relationship-challe
nge.html