Brussel Sprouts with Craisins and Walnuts

Delicious, fresh, and simple! This is a great side dish for color, taste, and health! I've generally only had roasted brussel sprouts,  and I feel like this quick sautee is a great middle between that and raw.

The original recipe used dates and slivered almonds. I happened to have these on hand, but I feel almost anything would work! Prunes and pine nuts, sesame seeds and minced raisins. Will definitely make something like this again with variations like that, to get people to like brussel sprouts!

Brussel Sprouts with Craisins and Walnuts
adapted from the tolerant vegan

Ingredients:
 1 lb brussel sprouts, ends trimmed and halved
 1/4 cup craisins
 1/3 cup walnut halves, toasted
 2 Tbs olive oil
 2 cloves garlic, minced
 salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
 1. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet on medium heat.
2. Toss in brussel sprouts and saute for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently, until sprouts are browning on multiple sides.
 3. Toss in garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, stirring, until garlicbis fragrant.
 4. Dump sprouts, nuts, and craisins into a bowl and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Wee! Squash season is my favorite season : ) So many delicious, healthy, low-cost things to cook with the amazing squashes one can find at the farmers market. I really will need to stock up before that goes away. I hosted the lovely Eldina this weekend, and, having a guest, I was inspired to cook. And what did I have? Squash. Pumpkin, butternut, acorn, spaghetti... In addition to the apples and sweet potatoes we got at the Overland Park farmer's market (best one in the KC area for sure!). I was basically able to use the oven as a heater for most of the weekend since I was roasting so much squash. What I'm trying to say is, there are many more squash recipes to come....

Pumpkin Pie Bites
modified from My Whole Food Life

Ingredients:
1 cup pecans OR walnuts
1 cup raw almonds
3 T pepitas
10 dates
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (instructions here)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Seed mix:
3 Tbs each: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds

Instructions:
1. In a food processor, process almonds, pecans, pepitas, and spices until finely ground.
2. Add dates, and process well. Add pumpkin, and pulse until well combined.
3. Roll dough into 1.5" diameter balls, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Combine seed mix in a small bowl. Take out pumpkin balls and roll each in seeds until completely coated, place back on plate, and refridgerate for another 30 minutes.
5. Serve chilled.

Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Cheesecake

Goodbyes are always difficult. It seems the more I do, the worse I get at doing them. You think there'd be an elegance or grace that one would acquire over the years, a finesse to doing this sort of thing but I've found the opposite to be true.

My manager announced that he's going to be leaving to go live down in AR before the end of the year. Not that he's leaving the company, mind you, just will be working remotely. So, there was a happy hour held to see his wife off (who's moving down before him) at a local brewery. She's dairy-free, which gave me the perfect opportunity to go crazy with my dairy-free recipes I've been stocking up, particularly this "cheese"cake one.

It came out great, and I think it was actually better on subsequent days. I would recommend soaking the cashews overnight if possible. Definitely looking forward to making all the suggested variations when I have need of a faux cheesecake again!

Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Cheesecake w Coconut Whipped Cream
from Chickpea Magazine, Summer 2013

Cheesecake:
2 cups cashews, soaked 2 hours - overnight, well rinsed
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
14 oz. can full-fat coconut milk
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 tsp agar powder

Instructions:
1. Blend cashews with maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
2. In a small saucepan, heat coconut milk and oil until just bubbling.
3. Whisk agar powder into coconut mixture for 1 minute.
4. Add coconut mixture to blender, and blend until velvety smooth, scraping down sides of blender as needed.

Crust:
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
10 dates
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch salt

Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse together until finely chopped and starts to clump.
2. Firmly press mixture into bottom and slighly up side walls of 9" a spring-form pan. Set aside.

Blueberry Swirl:
1 cup blueberries
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 Tbs chia seeds

Instructions:
1. Add all ingredients to small saucepan, heat over medium heat until blueberries burst.
2. Use immersion blender to blend until smooth.  Set aside.

Lemon Coconut Whipped Coconut Cream:
1 can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
 2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs maple syrup

Instructions:
1. Turn can of coconut milk upside down, open, and pour off coconut water into separate container to safe for another applications.
2. Scoop out coconut cream into a medium bowl. Combine with lemon juice and maple syrup, and whisk together with hand mixer until creamy.

To compile:
1. Pour cashew cheesecake base into prepared crust. Dot blueberry mixture onto th etop of the cheesecake, and use a knife to swirl the blueberries into the cake.
2. Refridgerate for 4 hours until chilled and firm.
3. Serve with dallop of coconut whipped cream and garnish with fresh blueberries.

Possible alterations:
Toasted Hazlenut Chocolate Chip
- Replace walnuts with toasted hazelnuts in the crust. Omit lemon juice and bluebrry swirl from cheesecake base and add 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips. Cool and top cheesecake with chocolate ganache (1 cup chocolate chips, 2 Tbs coconut milk, 1 Tbs coconut oil, melted together in double boiler). Garnish with chopped hazlenuts.

Peanut Butter with Chocolate Drizzle
- Omit lemon juice and blackbery swirl, add 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter to cashew cheesecake base. Drizzle top with chocolate ganache (recipe above). Garnish with chopped peanuts

Raspberry Lemon
- Add zest of 1 lemon to cheesecake base, omit blueberry swirl. Sprinkle 1/2 cup fresh raspberries over bottom of crust before pouring cheesecake base in. Serve with dollop of whipped cream, fresh raspberries, and sprinkle of finely grated lemon zest.

Cranberry Gingerbread Cookies

These delicious gingerbread cookies are soft will still having the gingerbread dry-texture. Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Cranberry Gingerbread Cookies
from Hy-Vee Seasons Magazine

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In another medium (or large) bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with a mixter until smooth. Beat in molassas, egg, and orange peel.
3. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to wet ingredients, and beat until just combined. Fold in walnuts and cranberries.
4. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 7" log, wrap in plastic wrap, and refridgerate for 1.5 hours (or freeze for 45 minutes).
5. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Unwrap logs, cut into 3/8" slides, and place 2" apart on an un-greased cookie sheet (use a silicon pad if you have one). Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until light brown on the bottom. Lightly sift powdered sugar over cookies.

Apple Almond Granola

This makes SO much granola, but it's delicious. I prefer it without the salt, and I would like to play around with it temperature and cooking time wise. I think lower temperature for longer, or perhaps taking it out and stirring ever 10 minutes would help it so the inside and outside of the pan is more evenly distributed with crispiness.


Apple Almond Granola
from Anecdotes & Applecores

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts (or peacans), choped
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, flakes or shredded
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt (optional)
1 cup dried apples, chopped

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 300F.
2. In a large bowl mix together almonds, walnuts, oats, coconut, and flax seed.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over oat mixture and stir together with a large wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Divide between 2 cookie sheets, and spread into a thin, even layer. Bake for 30 - 50 minutes, until desired crispyness is achieved. (I only cooked mine for 30 minutes, and the edges started to burn by then)
5. Once removed from the oven, stir in the apples and allow to cool completely before storing in a container.

Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Salad

Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Salad
adapted from Food Network - Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients:
6 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 large eggplant
1/2 cup. toasted walnuts
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup basil, thinly sliced
2 Tbs. chopped mint
3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper

Instructions:
1. Prepare coals and grill.
2. Slice egg plant into 1/2" thick rounds, and brush with half of the olive oil.
3. Grill egg plants slices until tender.
4. Place eggplant flat in a pan, and sprinkle walnuts, feta, basil, and mint over. Then drizzle balsamic vinegar and other half of the olive oil over, along with the salt and pepper to taste.