Strawberry Milkshakes...

With fresh strawberries galore, I thought I would make a Strawberry milkshake for my husband on our stay-at-home-date-night. Now, I must admit I automatically thought I wouldn't like it (hence I didn't make one for myself!) because I had childhood memories of "strawberry FLAVORED milkshakes or ice cream" and thought it would taste fake and overly sweet--- but my oh my, was I pleasantly surprised---- the real thing tastes SO different.... it was delicious, give it a go for yourself!

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh strawberries (you can use frozen if you must)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

3-4 ice cubes

** 1 TBSP honey (if it's not sweet enough, but mine was perfect without!)

Directions:

Dump it all into your blender or Vitamix, give it a whirl, and enjoy! My husband thought it would be fun to top with whip cream... but he'd probably like to top a lot of things with it! And don't overestimate the delish and timeless dessert of a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate and freshly sliced strawberries- that's a real crowd pleaser as well!

Love Bananas?? Cut your strawberries down to 1/2 cup and add 1/2 a banana! Get Creative!!!

Strawberry Short Cake from Scratch...

We have had a ton or ripe, juicy, delicious strawberries around here (thanks to my husband who farms next to the best strawberry grower in town!!!) so we have been making many-a-dish (or dessert!) with our fresh strawberries!!!! Here's a recipe for old fashion shortcake, we served it at a shower, it's prefect for guests and makes about 12-16 cakes which you can leave whole or slice in half.... here's what to do.

Ingredients for Short Bread:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 cup butter

2/3 cup heavy cream

Ingredients for Whipping Cream:

1/2 pint heavy cream

3 TBSP powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

**Don't forget your fresh strawberries!!!

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder- stir well. Then add your heavy cream and your cold butter (not melted) you are going to cut your butter into the batter with a knife. Keep mixing and cutting your batter until you feel like it's well combined (you are still going to see nuggets of butter in there, they will melt together with the rest of the dough when you kneed it). I used a plastic thin cutting board, sprinkled with a little flour and turned my dough out onto it. Kneed your dough for about 2-3 minutes, this is where you will really see if coming together. With a large spoon, scoop dollops of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15- 20 minutes until the edges are golden. Immediately after taking them out, remove them from a baking sheet (so they stop cooking) and place them on a rack or wax paper, sprinkling the tops of them with a pinch of sugar.

Next make your whipping cream in a chilled bowl, beat all ingredients together until your whipping cream begins to peak. Cover and chill until serving.

And last, slice up your strawberries. Mine were super sweet so I didn't add any sugar, but I pre-cut them so they could marinate in their own juice for a while. If yours aren't really sweet, add a spoonful of sugar, stir, cover and refrigerate until serving. Unfortunately I totally spaced and forgot to capture a picture of the finished product, but it looked similar to this to give you an idea!

Homemade Waffles

OK folks, sorry about the serious delay in posting recipes.... I realize I have been M.I.A. for the last few months- but I have good reason. I have been eating things lately that most normal people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole... things like lemon yogurt, pickles, bean burritos, apples, and eggs, tons of eggs... because this is how I eat when I am pregnant. I have the worst morning/all day sickness again with this baby (#2)--- I don't even want to cook, I don't want to eat, I don't even want to think about food--- which doesn't go well with trying to keep up with a blog centered all around food! But I am entering into week 15 and hoping the sickness is coming to an end (with my daughter is tapered off around week 16.... maybe one more week to go!!!!) So here are a few little things I have managed to make in the past 3 months.... just little recipes & ideas until I get my cooking apron back out during the week :)

Homemade Waffles

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup oil or butter

1 TBSP sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

* I use 2/3 cup brown rice flour and 1/3 cup coconut flour and Kerrygold butter to be more specific! You can also double the batch and freeze the other half for a quick breakfast later on in the week.

Directions: Super simple, pour everything into a bowl, whisk until all the clumps are gone, and pour into a HOT (and oiled/sprayed) waffle iron. Serve with a side of fresh fruit, real  Grade B maple syrup, or caramelized apples (recipe coming soon!) ** Made about 10 waffles in my grill (which you can freeze or refrigerate and toast for later!)

Roasted Parmesan Parsnips

Here's a new way to cook parsnips, thanks to the fabulous blog Sprouted Kitchen! She has great ideas and AWESOME pictures, take a gander when you have a free minute- she makes cooking meals into an ART! These Roasted Parsnips are soft and gooey thanks to the parmesan cheese, and yet bursting with flavor with all the different herbs--- they were so yummy I could have eaten them all myself!!!

Ingredients:

4 Parnips, peeled & chopped

1 egg white

1/2 TBSP dried Oregano

1 TBSP Rosemary, finely chopped

2/3 cup Parmesan Cheese, fine

s & p

Directions:

Super simple. Peel & chop your parsnips, put them in a bowl. Separate an egg white and toss the parsnip sticks in it, then add your seasoning and give it another toss, then add your parmesan (I had to chop mine be cause it was shredded and needs to be a fine consistency). Toss it all together, pour it out on a roasting pan or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and cook for 20-25 minutes on 425 until they are golden and done to your liking! You can serve plain or with a marinara sauce.

Toasted Flat Bread...

Get them before they're gone!

Here's a yummy treat, a great compliment to any salad really. Take a piece of flat bread, lightly butter it or use a little olive oil evenly, then add some Garlic Salt and sprinkle some parmesan cheese and put it in the oven on Broil for a few minutes (watch it, it will cook quickly and can burn easily!). Then slice it up and serve it as a fun crunchy side to a salad.

Cooks Quickly and perfect for a last minute meal!

I love Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Flat Bread. It is really soft and chewy, and is great for many things. I use it to roll up sandwiches, even sandwiches for kids- it makes a great peanut butter, banana, & honey sandwich all rolled up and chewy! Give it a whirl!! You're gonna love it!

Carrot Cake with Creamy Frosting

This tasty little treat is just in time for Easter!

So my daughters 2nd birthday is this weekend and I was looking for a yummy recipe that was light on the sugar and BIG on flavor- so I combined 2 -3 different recipes and came up with this little treat. They are flavorful and filling, they are dense like a normal carrot cake and yet unusual with the addition of the lemon zest and nutmeg. You can make this in a loaf pan or cupcakes or perhaps even in a sheet cake. The frosting has no sugar and you can make it as sweet as you like by adding more or less honey.

Directions:

Super simple. Take out your cream cheese brick so it can soften while you prep. Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl, then your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then add your dry ingredients into your wet and mix thoroughly. Now, if you use a pan you may want to spray it first or rub some butter on it to prevent sticking, I used cupcake liners and it was fine, but if you are concerned about them sticking to the cupcake liners you can add 2 TBSP melted butter to the recipe. Bake them at 350 and keep an eye on them- cupcakes took about 15-18 minutes (use a toothpick to test them) and a loaf pan could take up to 50 minutes or more. Sorry I don't have better time estimates- I ALWAYS forget to set my timer and end up watching everything by eye!

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour, I used whole wheat but you can use white

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 cup applesauce (I substituted apple sauce for oil)

1 1/2 TBSP Molasses

1 TBSP vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

2 cups freshly grated carrots

Frosting Ingredients:

1 brick of cream cheese

1 tsp cinnamon

3-4 TBSP honey (or more to taste depending on how sweet you like it)

1 drizzle of vanilla

Pesto Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes, & Artichoke Heart Pasta

Now that's a mouth full! Here's a simple pasta, easy to throw together in a pinch using the recently posted Pesto recipe. It's super simple and very flavorful!

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds pasta, I used brown rice pasta

3 chicken breasts, baked

1/2 jar sundried tomatoes, julienne sliced

1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts, divided

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

pesto sauce

Directions:

First get your chicken baking, I cooked 3 breasts in a pyrex dish (sprayed with Olive Oil) and seasoned with s & p and garlic powder on 400 for about 30- 40 minutes (check center before removing from oven, time will vary due to thickness of breasts). Next get your water boiling and your pasta cooking (per directions on the pasta bag). Then make your pesto sauce and then start combining things as they are done. Drain the pasta, cover it in the pesto sauce, chop your chicken, add your sun dried tomatoes & artichoke hearts and toss in some fresh parmesan and you are ready to serve your hearty and tasty pasta! Ta-duh!!!