Coconut Chicken Curry

This was one of those- Ok! this is what I have in my pantry, what can I do with it?- recipes. The past two weeks have been hectic with work! (but that's a good thing!) so this week I'm on set for 12+ hours a day every day. Going out gets pricey and when I get off set at 8pm and have to be up at 5:30 a.m. the last thing I want to do is cook! So... I googled a little bit the other night, picked up the few ingredients that I didn't already have on my way home from set, and then prepared it all the night before then stuck it in the fridge (in the crock pot dish) and the next morning at 5:30 am I pulled it out and started my crock pot timer for 6 hours (mine keeps it warm after the timer goes off). After work it was an awesome surprise and the thought of delicious curry waiting at home for me made the tough parts of work better :)

Check out the recipe here!

Tips:

1. I blended all the ingredients because I don't have a food processor, I just had to chop up the onion a little smaller. (I also chopped the pepper up instead of processing it into the sauce)
2. I didn't thicken mine with cornstarch and it was still delicious
3. I used refrigerated coconut milk instead of the cans and again still good :)
4. It was good but if I did it again I would eat it right after the 6 hours (I feel like the additional 6+ warming hours in the crockpot didn't do great things for it, it was still good but I have a feeling it could've been better)
5. I served it over brown rice (I cooked the rice the night before while chopping up all the veggies then stored it in the fridge)
6. My chicken was only partially thawed (I think chicken breast is easier to cut when it's still partially frozen)
7. I used 2tbsp of curry instead of the 1tbsp in the recipe.
8. I did not have garam masala (who has that just sitting in their pantry?). Instead I used this mixture:1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp bay, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a dash of ground cloves if you have them.

butternut squash soup (vegan and gluten-free)

So...
a couple weeks ago I decided I was in the mood for some butternut squash soup. I ended up buying way too much squash haha so I ended up making two batches of soup, one in the crock pot and one on the stove. Both were good, but the one on the stove was my favorite.

Source

Here is the recipe for the soup on the stove: click (main ingredients: pears, onions, broth and squash)
Here is the crock pot recipe: click (main ingredients: apple, onion, squash, broth)

Tips:

1. Buy your butternut squash from a local farmer's market, or I've heard you can find pre-chopped and frozen butternut squash at trader joe's or Walmart.
2. You need a good amount of vegetable broth (especially if you're making two batches). Look at my previous post on how to make your own in a crock pot for cheap!
3. The most time in these recipes comes from chopping up the various vegetables but especially the squash-it is HARD to cut
1. If you have a food processor you can use this to chop up the onions etc
2. If you have a boyfriend/husband you can use this to chop up the butternut squash
3. Here is a quick how to for peeling and chopping the butternut squash: click. I thought their idea of putting it in the microwave beforehand to soften sounded great. 
4. Butternut squash soup freezes great so if you have extra squash I suggest doing what I did and making two batches. It may seem ridiculous but you'll thank yourself later when your fridge is empty and you remember you have delicious soup in the freezer!

Paleo Lasagna (gluten/grain, egg, and dairy free)

      So I am really excited to share this recipe with you because although I drew inspiration from a couple cookbooks and recipes online, this recipe is my first 100% original recipe :)

 
     When I first gave up milk I was so sad to think about all the cheese ravioli and lasagna I would never eat again. Pasta dishes and pizza tempted me in my dreams. Two nights ago I decided to make the cauliflower pizza (the recipe is on my blog) with dairy-free Daiya cheese. This cheese is sworn to be a miracle by vegans and dairy-free people everywhere because it actually "tastes and melts like real cheese". Liars. It was disgusting in its melted form. It had the worst slimy, gooey, stick consistency I've ever experienced. It ruined the whole pizza :( Even my very non-picky boyfriend said it was gross. I'm not swearing off Daiya forever, I will probably try it again in a smaller amount, but the whole experience made me so sad; the one sliver of hope in my cheeseless world had vanished in a gooey sticky mass that I could barely swallow.
   However! Last night redeemed my faith! I am a dairy-free cheese believer again thanks to Kris Carr. If you've never heard of her or her "Crazy Sexy" books, documentary, tv appearances etc I highly suggest you get on it. Her books are hilarious and full of sexual innuendos but also full of awesome healthy tips, recipes and lifestyle advice. While flipping through her book Crazy Sexy Kitchen last night I found a recipe for Cashew Pine-Nut Ricotta Cheese that she uses in her raw lasagna. The recipe I have posted is very similar to hers and I highly suggest you buy her book Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Thinking I had nothing to lose I decided to make some of my own and make a lasagna with it (not her raw one because, no offense, but if I'm making lasagna it's going to be full of a delicious red meat sauce). We had some zucchini in the fridge so I used those for the noodles for a healthy grain-free version! Enjoy!

Cashew Pine-Nut Ricotta Cheese

• 1 cup raw cashews (buy in bulk at Whole Foods)
• 1/2 cup raw pine nuts
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp of parsley (minced or powder)
• 2 tbsp minced basil ( I used fresh but you could substitute)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/3 cup of water

1. Soak cashews for 1-2 hrs in hot water to soften
2. Add all ingredients to a food processor (if using a blender add cashews in small amounts and blend as you go). Blend until smooth.

Lasagna

• 2-3 zucchinis
• 3 Roma tomatoes (sliced)
• 1/2 onion (diced)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 24 oz jar pasta sauce (I used Prego Traditional)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.  Preheat oven to 350
2. In a large sauce pan over medium high heat saute onions, garlic, and beef until beef is cooked through. Drain the grease from the pan. 
3. Add oregano, salt, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce and balsamic vinegar to sauce pan. Stir and let simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes while you do the next few steps
4. Chop each zucchini in half then slice zucchini lengthwise about 1/4" thick (I have an awesome slicer thing that helps me do this, if you don't and lengthwise is too much of a pain, you can slice it in 1/4" thick circles instead)
5. In large lasagna or casserole dish start layering: zucchini slices on bottom, then tomatoes, then meat/tomato sauce mixture, another layer of zucchini then meat/tomato sauce mixture. If you have any tomato slices left put them on the very top.
6. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 30 minutes
7. (optional: Mine turned out a little soupy on top so I turned the broiler on high and let it cook for 3 minutes just to make the top look more "finished")
8. Once out of the oven spread the Vegan Ricotta cheese over the top (it's not going to look perfect so don't try haha)
9. Enjoy! (keep in mind this lasagna is going to look messy but taste delicious!)

*Another option for this recipe that I want to eventually try is a layer of the Vegan ricotta cheese in the middle, but I wasn't sure how this would work out with the heat because Kris Carr uses hers with her Raw Lasagna recipe*

Cinnamon Apple Chips

This is another recipe that I used my dehydrator for and I'm sorry because I know not every normal 20 something year old has a dehydrator and I originally made this blog for people my age who were not huge cooks, so I apologize. But! you can do this in the oven. here's a good recipe: apple chips in oven. Apple chips are a great snack and they curb that potato chip craving. I also dehydrated strawberries (just slice, no pre-treating necessary) but an entire lb of fresh berries made 1/4 jar of dehydrated slices and the taste and texture was not appetizing plus they took FOREVER to slice up. I suggest just eating your berries fresh.

 

Apple Chips

• 4-5 apples (or more if you have a bigger dehydrator, I used gala apples)
• Cinnamon



apples in my steamer

• (optional: lemon juice)

1. Core and slice apples in fairly uniform thickness (Mine were about 1/4" thick). I didn't peel my apples because I like the crunchy peel but you can if you want.
2. Pre-treat apples (this can be done a couple ways and helps preserve flavor and color)
1. Steam- this is what I did. I just threw them in my steamer basket for 5 minutes.
2. Lemon juice- Put them in a mixture of 4 cups of water + 2tbsp lemon juice for a couple minutes
3. Use a paper towel to blot them dry then load them onto dehydrator trays
4. Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top of the slices
5. Dehydrate until done. I would give a time but it all depends on your dehydrator. Mine does it in about 7 hours. To check if they're done they should break when you bend them sharply. Also if you tear the fruit you shouldn't see any moisture in the part of the fruit that's torn. Another way to check is to put a few warm slices in a ziploc bag squeeze out most of the air and wait a couple minutes to see if condensation forms. If it does they need more time in the dehydrator.
6. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place (I use Mason Jars or recycled pasta sauce jars)

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

    So this whole week I've been on set so I haven't had much time to blog or cook (the week before I made some chicken chili in the crock pot and it was good but literally  I was just cleaning out my pantry because I was too broke to go buy more groceries haha so I didn't think that was blog worthy. 
      However! I do want to pass on an awesome go-to recipe that I use a lot and it's so easy but it tastes delicious! Brussell Sprouts! Again some people love them some people hate them, I used to only like them in those frozen microwaveable packages smothered in cheese sauce (but then again I would eat dirt if it was smothered in cheese sauce) but I had some in the fridge a while back (this is a plus of my boyfriend working on the Paula Deen show- he always brings back TONS of food) and decided to roast them in the oven. After a quick seach on the food network website I found this recipe. So simple, so easy, virtually no ingredients but delicious! The only thing I don't like is waiting 40 minutes for them to cook haha :) Enjoy!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
(there's even a how-to video posted which is kind of funny since this is so easy)

Photo from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook

Kale chips (oven or dehydrator)

     I know most people are thinking- Kale chips sound absolutely disgusting; and I would've agreed with you two months ago, but after going through my cleanse I realized that most of the things I snack on either have a lot of sugar, a lot of dairy or a lot of gluten. Three things that I'm supposed to be minimizing.

"Cheesy" Kale Chips

     A few months ago while still on the cleanse my boyfriend and I were going to the movies. I'm sorry but I am one of those people who can't sit through a movie without popcorn or smuggling in candy so the idea of sitting through a movie while he munched on popcorn sounded miserable. There was a Trader Joe's close to the theater so we stopped in and I grabbed a pack of freeze-dried raspberries and a bag of walnuts and a bag of "cheesy" kale chips. I say "cheesy" because they're vegan and actually have no cheese whatsoever but they are SO good. Every time I go to the movies now I either sneak that in or else a trail mix of freeze dried fruit and walnuts. May sound weird, but don't knock it til you try it. I will warn you though Kale chips are something that take a while to get used to. The first one you'll be like "ew no" but then you'll find yourself grabbing another and soon you'll have finished the entire bag and are trying to stuff it in between your couch cushions before anyone notices (maybe that's just me). They have some flavors I haven't tried yet like chocolate (ehhh..), BBQ and Ranch but I've tried the Chipotle and the Cheesy and those are my favorites (although don't except them to taste like a Cheetoh, they taste cheesy but they don't taste like cheese but if you're dairy free like me you take what you can get and honestly dairy isn't really good for anyone). There's also original which is good but its kind of bland. My favorite brand of kale chips is in whole foods and is called Kale Krunch although as you can see this stuff will cost you 6$ a bag and will only last you about one sitting (again that could just be me).
     I quickly realized that my love for Kale chips was going to be an expensive one however I decided I needed to find some way to make them at home because of all the health benefits of kale (and honestly what better way to eat healthy- it's like a vitamin disguised as a potato chip, kinda). So after searching around I purchased a 30$ dehydrator on Amazon and got to work making homemade kale chips. This has been one of the best purchases I've ever made. However if you're afraid to commit, you can try a batch of these in the oven (I'll explain how below), but if it doesn't work out don't blame me. Also these ingredients and the amount is flexible. Try what you want and taste it along the way but keep in mind the dehydrator enhances certain flavors (the lemon juice) so it may take a little experimenting to get them the way you want.

Ingredients for Crispy Kale Chips

• 1 bunch of Kale
• 2 teaspoon Chili Powder (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• Optional: a little bit of cayenne pepper if you want them spicy

Ingredients for "Cheesy" Kale Chips

• 1 bunch of Kale
• 1 medium red pepper (chopped up without seeds)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons of chili powder
• 1 cup of cashews (soaked for a few hours)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of agave nectar (Agave is a great sugar substitute if you haven't heard of it) 
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
  

Steps

kale leaves drying on paper towels

1. Pull small chunks (about 2 inches) of the kale leaves from the stalks and put in a bowl of water; do not use the stalks as they can taste bitter
2. Swirl Kale leaves around in water until they have been rinsed off then if you have a salad spinner use this to dry them (I don't so I put them in a strainer for a few minutes then laid them out on paper towels and patted them dry with more paper towels) 
3. Put Kale leaves back into a bowl and add seasonings (if you are making Cheesy Kale chips put all ingredients in a food processor (starting with the cashews then adding the rest) before pouring over the Kale leaves in the bowl. ***if you do not have a food processor, you CAN use a blender but it will be a little tedious- I put in 1/3 of my cashews added a little water then turned on the blender, added more cashews more water, etc etc, then I added even more water and added the red pepper, this turned out alright because the dehydrator took the water out of it anyways but I wouldn't suggest it if you're doing your kale chips in the oven. ***
4. Using your hands gently "massage" the seasonings into the kale leaves for a couple minutes making sure they're distributed pretty evenly and all the kale leaves are saturated



Crispy Kale chips in dehydrator

5. Taste test and add more or less of seasonings accordingly
6. For the dehydrator- lay kale leaves out on dehydrator trays being careful not to overcrowd or overlap (they won't completely dehydrate). My dehydrator doesn't have a temperature setting so I just turned it on and they were done in about 4 hours but you can use the texture as a guide.  The chips should be crunchy and crispy and if you used the cheesy recipe the coating should be completely dry.  If your dehydrator does have a temperature setting I have read that 118 degrees for 6 hours is best.
7. For the oven- Place parchment paper over a baking sheet and set oven to the lowest setting (somewhere around 180 degrees). Place kale chips on baking sheet. This will make more than one batch so cover and store remaining mixture in fridge. Cook kale chips for 2-4 hours, flipping them halfway through cooking time. Check to make sure they are crispy and crunchy and coating is completely dry. 
8. Storage- store extra kale chips in a tupperware container for up to one week in a cool, dry place (cabinet/pantry). To help keep out moisture place uncooked rice in a paper towel and close off the top with a rubber band (making a kind of rice bundle) and place in the tupperware with the chips to absorb excess moisture

Finished Cheesy Kale chips!

Crock pot Vegetable Stock

This is one of the best ideas I've ever heard of. Thanks to Frantically Simple. Vegetable stock in the store can be expensive so this is an easy way to save money and waste less. Plus it's really easy! I made about a gallon of vegetable stock with this recipe.

Basically put a gallon bag in your freezer and every time you chop veggies, add the unused parts to the bag (make sure it's nothing rotten or bad, but a little "over ripe" is fine). For example: onion skins, carrot peels, celery leaves, garlic skins, green bean ends.
Things to avoid: strong veggies like broccoli and brussel sprouts, an excess of onion and garlic skins

If you want to make your own chicken stock in a Crock Pot, this is a recipe (Chicken Stock)  I found that looks delicious and easy as well.

When your gallon bag is filled follow the steps below:

1. Pour the contents of your bag into your crockpot
2. Add any herbs you would like (I used parsley and thyme as well as fresh basil)
3. Some people say the best broth has an equal ratio of carrots, celery and onions so if you need more of something just chop it up and add it as well.
4. Add water to the crockpot until it is covering the frozen vegetables
5. Cook on low for 12 hours. (veggies should be pale, limp, lifeless, and pathetic; you get the point)
   
6. Pour the contents of the crock pot into a strainer placed over a bowl
7. Take the veggies that are left in the strainer and put them in a clean dish towel, then squeeze the juice out of the veggies using the dishtowel as a strainer (this part was really fun but make sure your broth has cooled or else it's impossible and really hot)
8. Vegetable stock can be stored in the fridge (for a week) or in the freezer until you need it. 

After I made my vegetable stock I made lentil soup using the crockpot. Here's a good easy recipe that turned out REALLY good. Vegetarian Lentil Soup. I cooked it on high for 4-5 hours instead and I also used fresh tomatoes instead (that's all I had) and just peeled them and got rid of the middle part with the seeds and it turned out good.