Just because I can’t make cookies don’t eat many sweets around the holidays doesn’t mean I don’t indulge.   Oh no.

This is one of my favorite indulgences.  Not just because it taste so good but it couldn’t be any easier to make.  Me procrastinate?

Brent has been making this dip as an appetizer for special occasions since we met.  I have no idea where the recipe originated.   A friend gave him the recipe and I’ve since passed it on to friends.  I’ve yet to hear a complaint.  In fact, more than once it’s been the hit of the party.  Yeah it’s really really good.  Just look at the ingredients list and your jeans will get tighter you’ll see why.  I love it and every once in a while it’s so worth it.  However, if you just can’t bear the thought of that much creamy goodness check out my sun dried tomato artichoke dip with a fraction of the calories.  It’s a good everyday dip but for special occasions go with this one.

Trust me.

Creamy Artichoke Dip

2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Mozzarella is good too but stringy.)
1 Cup Sour Cream
4 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 Can (about 1/2 cup) of Artichokes (coarsely chopped)
2 Cloves of Garlic (pressed)

1. Preheat overn to 350°

2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

3. Put mixture into a baking dish (if you are classy like me a bread pan)and bake for 25 minutes until everything is melted through.  (If it’s a larger group,I double the ingredients and use a 9×9 baking dish.)

Serve with bread or mini-toast

Or veggies.  Red bell peppers are really good.

Or mini toast.

Or bell peppers.

Or mini toast.

What is your favorite holiday indulgence?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Did you know there are two types of persimmons?  I didn’t until a few weeks ago when my husband saw that one of our friends on Facebook had gotten more persimmons than she could use from her CSA.  Brent quickly commented telling her how much I looooove persimmons and a few hours later we had a big bag of persimmons on our counter.  Excited, I pulled one out and noticed it was of a different shape.  Interesting.

CHOMP.

AAAACK PUUUHEY!!!!  I was being poisoned.  My mouth felt like it was turning inside out.

Google to the rescue.

Fuyu Persimmon

As it turns out there are two kinds of persimmons, Fuyu and Hachiya.  Fuyu is squatty and looks sort of like a tomato. They can be eaten firm or soft.  I like them firm and sliced across their “equator”  so I can look at the pretty star before devouring them.

(source)
Hachiya Persimmon

Hachiya persimmons look like acorns and, despite their taste when unripe, cannot be used to poison people.  Hachiya persimmons take some patience as you have to wait until they are really soft to lose the astringent quality therefore becoming edible.  Once they are squishy scoop the insides out and purée it to use in cakes, cookies, or, as in our case, pancakes and ice cream.

Persimmon Pudding* Pancakes
2 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
2 Cups of Filtered Water
2 Tbs Whey
1 Cup of Hachiya Persimmon Purée
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
2 Eggs
1 Tbs Melted Butter
1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda

1. Soak the flour in the water and whey overnight.
(This neutralizes phytic acid allowing for better mineral absorption and easier digestion.)

2. Add rest of the ingredient. Slowly add water until batter is thinned out a bit.

3.  Pour batter onto a hot greased skillet making sure to spread batter out thin to help reduce cooking time.

4. Top with maple syrup and chopped Fuyu persimmons.

*I called these Persimmon Pudding Pancakes for a reason.  Now matter how long I cooked them they were still squishy on the inside.  I’m not sure if this was result of soaking the flour or adding the persimmon purée.  I don’t bake or cook with flour that often because of the soaking factor so maybe one of you will have some advice for me.  Regardless of the texture, they were really good.

We still had a lot of persimmon purée left but not a lot of patience so Brent used the rest of the purée for ice cream.  We adapted this recipe from Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.  This is my favorite cook/reference book.

Persimmon Ice Cream

3-4 Cups of HachiyaPersimmon Purée
2 tbs of Lemon Juice
3/4 Cup of Maple Syrup
3 Egg Yolks
2 Cups of Heavy Cream

1. Mix everything together using a hand mixer and put it in the ice cream maker following manufacturer’s directions.

I topped mine with fresh Fuyu persimmon and bee pollen.

Brent is a master at making homemade ice cream.  He makes a maple ice cream that gives Haagen Dazs’s Dulce de Leche a run for it’s money.  This persimmon ice cream was no different and came out near perfect.  Rich and creamy.  Sweet but not too sweet.

___

This week is the last week to enter to win a $100 Visa Card.  Check out my V8 V-Fusion Review and leave a comment to enter!  Sweepstakes ends December 10th.

___

Do you like persimmons?   (I find it tragic that every fall the pumpkin steals the show from the persimmon.)   What is your favorite fall produce?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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I’ve mentioned it before but I’m not crazy about vegetables.  I like vegetables and will choose to choke down a plate of plain swiss chard because I know it’s good for me.  However, if I didn’t know the things I know about food, I’d probably eat things like fish & chips or pizza (and I’m not talking healthified versions either) every night.  So when I come up with a recipe that makes me crave veggies, I pull out a ladder, climb to the top of my roof, and shout, “I can’t believe they are collards!!!”.

Can’t Believe They Are Collards Veggie Patties!!!!!

Coconut Oil
Large Bunch of Collard Greens – Chopped
1/2 Onion – Chopped
2 Garlic Cloves – Diced
4 Pieces of Ezekiel Bread – or other (preferably sprouted) bread
1/2 Tbs Dried Parsley
1/4 Cup Fresh Basil
2 Tbs Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sea Salt
Pepper
1/2 Cup of Feta
4 eggs

1. In a pan sauté the collard greens, onion, and garlic in a bit of coconut oil until just soft.

2. Toast the Ezekiel bread and put it in a food processor with the parsley, basil, and sun dried tomatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste as well.  Process until you have a well blended bread crumb mixture.

3. In a bowl, combine the vegetables, bread crumb mixture, feta, and eggs.  Knead until it is well mixed.

4. Shape into little patties and pan fry over medium heat in the coconut oil until golden brown.

5. Place cooked patties on a paper towel lined plate absorb some of the excess oil

Makes 8-10 patties.

My favorite way to eat them is to top with fresh tomato and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

This past weekend, I tripled the recipe and froze them for quick easy lunches.

Theses are SO GOOD.  No joke.  At least, I love them, Brent loves them, and even my 10 year old who scorns my cooking said they were “pretty good”.  Then he ate an entire one.  If that doesn’t say something nothing does.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Like motivation, inspiration comes and goes. Sometimes, I go weeks eating the same thing day after day. Then suddenly, I’m inspired and spend the next 3 weeks experimenting and creating new recipes all crazy like Willie Wonka…but without the sugar…and the top hat.

Here is one of my newest recipes.  It’s easy and healthy.  I’m all about ease and, most of the time, about nourishment.  Oh yeah and it’s good.  So good, I almost forget it’s healthy.

Sweet and Spicy Squash Soup

Yellow Squash, about 6 peeled and sliced squash
1/4 Onion, sliced
1 Garlic Clove, sliced
1 Jalapeño, I use a whole one b/c I like the kick but you can use less.
1/2 Cup Yogurt Cheese (Left over from making whey.)
1 Tbs Raw Honey
Sea Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste,
Avocado, optional but recommended

1. Boil the squash until it is  soft.

2. While the squash are boiling, sauté the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil to bring out the flavor.
(I’ve skipped this step entirely when I’m in a time crunch or don’t want to wash an extra dish. The soup still turned out.)

3. Put the jalapeño, yogurt cheese, honey, in a food processor.  Give it a full pulses.  Add the onions, garlic, and squash*.  Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Add some of the water you cooked the squash in if it’s too thick for your liking.

4. Top with avocado

*I use a slotted spoon to transfer the squash from the boiling water directly to the food processor.  By doing this the soup is hot and ready to eat right away.  Plus there is one less pan to wash.

That’s it.

Simple dimple.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

This post was shared The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter!

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I like versatility.  Reversible jackets.  Kettlebells as doorstops or for workouts.  Minivans for  children or 4×8 sheets of plywood.  It’s one of the reasons I love my Perfect Pesto.  I can use it to spread on bread, make the most killer egg sandwiches ever, toss with pasta, in place of pizza sauce, toss with veggies, and or by the spoonful.

The other day, I came up with another versatile spread.  We’ve been getting quite a few Japanese eggplants in our CSA as of late.  They are long and skinny so they don’t work as well for my Eggplant Mozzarella recipe.  Like the pesto, it’s so simple to make and I think I love simplicity just as much as versatility.

Roasted Eggplant Spread

4 Japense Eggplant (or about 3 cups of  regular eggplant)
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tbs Capers
1 tbs of Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 Cup of Olive Oil (A tad less if you are using sun dried tomatoes in oil.)
Sea Salt to Taste

Slice the eggplant in half and brush (or spray) with a bit of olive oil and sprikle with sea salt.  Bake at 350° for 20 – 3o minutes until eggplant is soft and starts to brown slighly on the edges.

Put the eggplant, garlic, capers, sun dried tomatoes, and olive oil into your food processor (or blender) and blend until smooth.  Add more oil if necessary.  I find 1/4 cup to be plenty.

This spread is good on french bread, as a veggie dip, or in a wrap.

Sprouted tortilla, roasted eggplant spread, grilled chicken, romain, tomatoes, and feta.

And since I’m decided to take Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint 30 Challenge, on chicken!

Roasted Eggplant Spread on Grilled Chicken, Grilled Asparagus and Caprese Salad.

I’ve been reading Mark’s Daily Apple off and on for about two years.  Although, I’ve decided he is total GUY HERO, I don’t think I’ll ever go 100% primal (I’m keeping an open mind) for life.  I’m simply feeling like I’m up for a new challenge.  They keep things interesting. So the next 30 days I’m want to do a little experiment and pretend I’m a cavewoman with luxuries.  Mrs. Flintstone with a stove, a dishwasher, a refrigerator, and a Trader Joe’s. Regarding workouts, from what I understand his workout philosophy is similar to my own.  He recommends sprinting once a week.  I’ve let my sprinting slack the last few months so I’m looking forward to getting back to that so I’ll go to the beach for some sprint workouts.  I plan to keep up with my kettlebell training and my walking as well.  The biggest change is going to be not eating grains.  It’s going to a fun 30 days and I’m hoping this will get my creative juices flowing in the kitchen.  Last year, I attempted a grain free month and felt pretty fantastic.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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How to Make Whey, Cream Cheese, and Lacto-Fermented Beets.

It’s not everyday you wake up and decide it would be a good day to start increasing your gut flora.

A few days ago it was such a day
and on that day
I made whey.

Move over Miss Muffet we got a new poet in town.  Like it?  You’re welcome.

How to Make the Whey (and cream cheese)

I followed the directions in Nourishing Traditions.

In my short life this is the best book I’ve read on nutrition even if it looks like it was printed in 1972.

Way or Whey #1

Organic Plain Whole Milk Yogurt

1. Put a metal strainer over a glass or metal bowl.  (I actually ended up using a mesh strainer and it worked well.)

2. Line the strainer with thin dishtowel.
3. Pour a container of  Organic Plain Whole Milk yogurt into the strainer.

4. Let it drip (this is the whey) into the bowl for hours or overnight.
5. Tie your towel to a wooden spoon and place the spoon over a pitcher.  When the towel is not longer dripping the cream cheese is ready and you have whey.

Way or Whey #2

Raw Milk

For you crazies who want to use raw milk.  

1. FIRST you need to put the milk in a clean glass container until it separates. This will take a day or 4.
2. Then follow the above directions.

The whey will keep in a glass container for up to 6 months and the cream cheese up to 1 month.  (A few days if it’s in my house.)

Simple dimple.

Why whey you ask? Well whey is high in minerals and has a variety of uses.  It can be used to soak grains (soaking neutralizes phytic acid improving their nutritional benefit),as a supplement to aid in digestion, and because of the lactic acid whey contains it can be used to lacto ferment vegetables. Remember I wanted to increase the flora in my gut (I’m sure you are still marveling at my poetic genius)? Eating lacto fermented vegetables is a great way to do just that.  Besides my house is being overrun by beets from my CSA.  I can only eat so many grilled beet and goat cheese salads.

How to Make the Pickeled (Lacto-Fermented) Beets

Beets
Sea Salt
4 tbs Whey
1 cup of Filtered Water

Again I followed the directions laid out by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.  (Love that title!)

1. Wash and peel beets.

2. Roast the beets until soft.  (I forgot to “prick” them.) My beets seemed to be drying out so I added some water to the pan and covered it with aluminum foil which I’m sure rendered my beets toxic.  Good thing I’ll have more gut flora.

3. Slice the beets but not too thin about 1/4″ of an inch.  Mine are all different thickness b/c I wanted to see what texture I prefer.  Whatever you do DO NOT grate or process beets in a processor as this will make them ferment too quickly.  You want lactic acid not alcohol.

4. Put the beets in a quart sized mason jar.  Press the beets down lighting with a wooden pounder or meat hammer.  My meat hammer wouldn’t fit so I used a wooden spoon.

4. Combine the sea salt, whey, and filtered water and pour into the mason jar.  Make sure to cover the beets.   There should be at least one inch between the top of you jar and the beets.

5. Screw the lid on tightly and wait patiently.  I know it will be hard while you think about all the wonderful little bacteria proliferating on you counter.   In about 3 days you can transfer to cold storage.  They can also be eaten at this time or you may wait if you prefer a stronger flavor.

Mine are still waiting one the counter.  I’ll let you know how they turn out.

For more information of lacto-fermation here is an article by the queen of nourishment, Sally Fallon.

Do you use whey or lacto-ferment vegetables?   Are you like me and the thought of healthy gut bacteria just make you giddy with joy?  Do I need need to get a life?  Wait…don’t answer that!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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I love Trader Joe’s.  LOVE it.  I love it so much that I have been seen waiting outside 15 minutes before they open their doors with the other crazies.  I’ve also said many times that I couldn’t live in a town where there wasn’t a Trader Joe’s.  That’s not spoiled, that’s being realistic.  However, believe it or not,  there is one thing about Trader Joe’s that I don’t like and it’s not even the small aisles. Occasionally, they discontinue an item I love without personally consulting me.  Oh the horror.  A few years ago they discontinued their fresh chimichurri sauce.   I have been lamenting ever since.  Thankfully, I scribbled the ingredient list down on a post it and tried to recreate the sauce.  (I mentioned it a few months ago after Brent and I went out on a date to a little Argentinian restaurant.)   The sauce goes really well with grilled chicken or fish.  (Or bread but anything goes well with bread.)  It also goes well with lentils. I’ve put the lentil salad on top of a green salad as a salad dressing.  Make sense?  Probably not.  Oh well.  I like it better by itself anyway.

Chimichurri Lentils
1 Cup of Fresh Parsley (finely chopped)
1/4 Cup of Fresh Cilantro (finely chopped)
6 Garlic Cloves (minced)
1/2 Small Red Onion (finely chopped)
1/2 Cup of Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup of Olive Oil
1/2 Tbs Lemon Juice
4 LargishTomatoes (Chopped into bigger chunks)
4 Cups of Cooked Lentils*
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Stir the parsley, cilantro, garlic, onion, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice together in a small bowl.  After the sauce is thoroughly mixed add the tomatoes and lentils.  I’v noticed the parsley turns brown after a day.  Anyone have any advice to keep it green?

* I typically soak my lentils in water with a bit of lemon juice overnight before cooking.  To over simplify, this makes them more digestible.  

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Let me tell you a secret.  I don’t loooveeee veggies. At least not in the same way I looooveee pizza.

(I know it’s almost heretical.)

But when my friend sent me this recipe from the Food Network
I actually thought “here is a veggie recipe I can get excited about” or something sort of cheesy like that.

Sunny Anderson’s Crunchy Sweet Brussel Sprout Salad

1 pound brussel sprouts
2 tbs coconut oil*
1/2 tsp nutmeg
handful of dried cranberries
handful of chopped walnuts
sea salt
pepper

(* Original recipe calls for olive oil instead of coconut.  I prefer to use coconut oil for most of my cooking.)

The original recipe said to core and shred the brussel sprouts.
However, I had no idea how to do that and it sounded like it would take forever and a day so I simply cut off the bottoms and sliced them into thin slices.
Then I sautéed them in the coconut oil for a few minutes until they were “bright and slightly” wilted.
Next, I added the nutmeg, sea salt and pepper.
Lastly, I added the walnuts and cranberries.

Aren’t they pretty?

They were also delicious.  Something I rarely say about veggies.

I served them with Trader Joe’s wild salmon and some other sort of dark leafy green from my CSA box.

Thanks Lisa for sending me the link to Sunny Anderson’s recipe.

Tell me the truth do you “looooveee” veggies?

and

How do you “core” brussel sprouts?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad Recipe

1 cup of quinoa
1 can of artichoke hearts (quartered)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup of Kalamata olives (chopped)
1/4  cup of sundried tomatoes  (chopped)
1 tbs of dried oregano
sea salt to taste
fresh basil

Cook the quinoa in water.  (I use twice the amount of water as quinoa.  Bring to a boil.  Throw in the quinoa.  Reduce heat and cook until all the water is absorbed.) In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients.  When the quinoa is done toss with the artichoke mixture.  Use kitchen scissors to cut pretty little slivers of basil.  Be obsessive compulsive and meticulously sprinkle them over the top of the quinoa fussing over each sliver.

I made this salad last minute for a friend’s birthday celebration Sunday.  It turned out good but how could it not with Kalmata olives, artichokes, and sundried tomatoes!  I feel like I should insert “nom nom nom” right here but I just can’t bring myself to do it.  Somehow imagining that sound makes me a little nauseous and besides I just don’t get it.  I’m like person 2 from this urban dictionary definition.

People are awkwardly sittin around in a room with nothing to say…
Person 1: nom nom nom
Person 2: wtf
Person 3 and 4: hahahaha

What are your turn-to-make-anything-good staples?  The ones that make you go “nom nom nom”.  What the…  

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Growing up in Indianapolis, there was this one particular pizza place I loved to visit and gorge myself on for their pesto.  It is so good.  Fifteen years later, I still visit every time I go back but it has sort of lost it’s luster for me.  The reason, a waitress with a big mouth.  A few years ago, I was telling this waitress how much I adore their pesto and she started rambling on about the ingredients which are not exotic but  the consistency is perfect.   As soon as she walked away, I wrote what she had said down on a napkin and went to work trying to recreate it. After a few tries,  I got the ratios right and now can I have my favorite pesto whenever I want instead of waiting until I visit Indiana.  While this is my favorite pesto in the whole gigantic (yet quickly shrinking) world, I actually named it Perfect Pesto because it’s a great “annoying people” repellant. So if you make it for a date night make sure you both eat it.

Perfect Pesto
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup of pine nuts
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1.5 cups of finely grated parmesan cheese (I use a pre-grated parmesan romano blend from Trader Joes’s)

Directions:  Put the basil, pine nuts, garlic and half of the oil in a food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth and scrap mixture into a bowl.  Still in the parmesan cheese and add more oil until desired consistency is reached.  I like mine thick and chunky.

I use this pesto for pastas, pizzas, stuffed tomatoes, on chicken, and, on french bread (of course). Oddly enough, my favorite time to eat it is at breakfast either plain on eggs or on an egg sandwich.  Yum!

Ezekiel bread, pesto, scrambled eggs, tomato, and sea salt.

or…

l

...with a fried egg and melted mozzarella. Mmmmmm....

Check out these Giveaways!
Raw Honey at The Suburban Jungle (Ends tomorrow!!)
Mirra Beauty Products (also) at The Suburban Jungle
Funky Monkey at Eat Drink and Be Hopeful
This one is TOTALLY RANDOM but since I saw this movie not long ago and loved it, I thought I’d share it.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox DVD at Tiara’s & Tantrums (If I win it we’ll make a perfect pesto pizza and watch it!)

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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