Tag Archives: vegetarian

October 25, 2015 · 12:24 PM

Goat Cheese, Pesto & Red Pepper Dip (The Best 3 Ingredient Appetizer)

This is an appetizer I bring to many a potluck. It is so easy to throw together, having only 3 ingredients. Today’s potluck is a block party on my street, the Vester Festifall. We will be carving pumpkins, jumping on a bounce house, drinking hot toddies, and listening to a collaborative playlist of Halloween music.

Eliza Bounce House

Eliza is not enthused.

Yesterday, my neighbor Eliza and I made posters for the event. She is an absolute doll. Now, onto the recipe.

Goat Cheese, Pesto & Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients:

  • goat cheese log
  • jar of pesto (home made or store bought)
  • red pepper(s)

Goat Cheese, Pesto & Red Pepper Dip (The Best 3 Ingredient Appetizer) | real food. home made.

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 325º
  2. Spread the pesto over the bottom of a baking dish.
  3. Chop up the goat cheese and arrange it down the middle.
  4. Dice your red pepper(s) and place them along the sides.
  5. Bake for 15-30 minutes.
  6. Serve with your favourite crackers, pita chips, or baguette slices.

Note: You can either make this in a smaller baking dish, with a small goat cheese log, a small jar of pesto, and one red pepper. Today, however, I am using a monster cheese log, a lot of pesto and 2 red peppers.

In the oven, the pesto will sautée the pepper, and the cheese will melt. Yum yum yum! What a gorgeous Fall day for a block party. Gotta go!

Recipe source: The Polohouse

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February 22, 2015 · 5:15 PM

Smoky Thyme Sweet Potato Hash

Sweet potatoes are such a staple in my life; they can be prepared so many ways, and are appropriate for every occasion.  I always like to have 1 or 2 on hand so I can whip up a meal at a moment’s notice without having to go to the grocery store.  Today I felt like brunch, so I came up with this dish.

Smoky Thyme Sweet Potato Hash | real food. home made.

Smoky Thyme Sweet Potato Hash

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

  • 1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated
  • 2 large shallots, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 t sea salt
  • 1/2 t black pepper
  • 1/2 t smoked paprika
  • 1 T fresh thyme, chopped
  • 1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • grated fontina cheese (optional)
  • 3 pastured eggs, over easy

Method:

  1. Mix the first batch of ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Heat EVOO in a large pan or skillet with lid over medium heat.
  3. Add hash mixture, and alternate between frying and steaming with the lid on, stirring intermittently.  (If  you want to attempt to make them super crispy, more power to you, but I’ve never been able to master the technique.)
  4. Prepare your over-easy eggs.
  5. When your hash is done cooking, put a scoop on your plate, a few pinches of cheese (if desired), and the egg on top.

Smoky Thyme Sweet Potato Hash | real food. home made.

Grant likes his with sri racha.  I have a feeling I am going to be making this a lot for dinner this winter.  I hate going to the grocery store after work in sub zero temperatures!  “Iiiiiiiiit’s SMOKY THYME” is surely going to become my new catch phrase.

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February 16, 2015 · 3:37 PM

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Kale

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Kale | real food. home made.

“Not Your Mama’s Pasta Salad”

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup uncooked Delallo organic whole wheat orzo
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 t dijon mustard
  • juice of 1 small lemon
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • big handful of kale, torn and stems removed
  • 1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
  • sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Cook your pasta according to package directions.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all other ingredients except kale and 1 T olive oil.
  3. When the pasta is done cooking, strain it and add it to the bowl.
  4. Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet with lid.  Fry/steam your kale until it both wilts and becomes slightly charred.
  5. Add the kale to the bowl and season to taste!

This is a great combination of textures and flavours.  You can subsitute rice, quinoa, farro or israeli couscous for the pasta if you’d like.  I like Delallo organic whole wheat pastas because they have only one ingredient.

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September 27, 2014 · 6:52 PM

Tempeh Portobello Potstickers

Tempeh Portobello Potstickers | real food. home made.

Ingredients:

  • 48 wonton wrappers
  • 1 T sesame oil
  • 8 oz tempeh, crumbled
  • 6 oz portobello mushrooms, chopped small
  • 2 T ginger, minced
  • 1 cup cabbage, grated
  • 1 cup carrot, grated
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 T liquid aminos
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 T rice vinegar
  • coconut oil for frying

Method:

  1. Prep all of your ingredients.
  2. In a large frying pan or wok, heat the sesame oil over medium heat.  Add crumbled tempeh, mushrooms and ginger.
  3. Once the tempeh starts to brown and the mushrooms are wilted, add in the cabbage, carrot, and garlic, and cook for a few minutes.
  4. Add in the liquid aminos and rice vinegar.  Then the green onions.
  5. Remove from heat and let cool.
  6. Prepare your workstation!  Fill a custard cup with water, and prepare a clean dry surface.
  7. Lay out one wonton wrapper at a time, fill with about a tablespoon of filling, dip your finger in the water to wet the edges of the wrapper, and then pinch the edges together so they stick.  Repeat 48 times.  (Or if you’re like me, do 8-10 at a time).
  8. Use this time for meditation.  Meticulous potsticker stuffing will be only as annoying or as rewarding as you make it.
  9. Heat a bit of coconut oil in a large frying pan or electric skillet over medium-high heat (let’s just go ahead and say 7, can we say 7?)  Add 8-10 potstickers to the pan.  When they reach your desired level of golden brown, add a splash of water and cover with a lid to give them a little steam.  I turn off the heat at this point.
  10. Cook the rest of your batches and then you will finally finally be done!

Hope the party guests tonight like my new concoction!

Optional Dipping Sauce:

  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup liquid aminos
  • 1/2 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 t ginger, minced
  • 1/2 t sesame oil
  • 1/4 t red pepper flakes
  • 1 t chopped green onion

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August 24, 2014 · 2:47 PM

Kayla’s Famous Sunbutter Wrap

Kayla's Famous Sunbutter Wrap | real food. home made.

This weekend my friend Michelle was in town, en route from England to Portland, OR.  This afternoon I gave her a tour of my city, Ferndale (which I consider the Portland of Michigan), and we gathered ingredients to make one of my favourite lunches.  Everyone I serve it to loves it, and I hope you do too!

Kayla’s Famous Sunbutter Wrap

Ingredients:

  • lavash / wraps  (best quality you can find, I found these gorgeous pink tomato wraps at a local Organic market)
  • sunflower seed butter (you can find Sunbutter brand at most grocery stores)
  • hummus
  • avocado, sliced
  • tomato, sliced (preferably home-grown or from a friend or farmer)
  • red onion, thinly sliced
  • broccoli florets, chopped small
  • romaine lettuce leaves

Kayla's Famous Sunbutter Wrap | real food. home made.

Method:

  1. Chop all of your vegetables.
  2. Lay out your wraps and spread sunbutter over one half, and hummus over the other half.
  3. Down the center, place 3 avocado slices, 3 tomato slices, a handful of red onion, a handful of broccoli, and a romaine lettuce leaf.
  4. Roll up your wrap, and use the sunbutter as “glue” to hold it together (I usually add a toothpick also to be safe).
  5. Enjoy!

(Feel free to switch up the veggies, or sometimes we add turkey.  The most important things are the hummus, sunbutter, avocado and red onion.)

MichelleinTree

Michelle perched in my tree.

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