It was humid and rainy here, so I thought the weather called for cozy food.

First up – OATMEAL! Plus nice, hot coffee, of course.

Pre-cooking:

• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp chia seeds

Cook stove top till thickened.

Post-cooking:

• handful of blueberries, stirred in at end
• flaxseed on top
• sliced almonds on top
• cacao nibs on top (so glad to have these back in the rotation!)

Remember you can get cacao nibs (or anything else in my OpenSky shop) either 20% off or with free shipping with these codes (july20pct or julyfreeship) in my OpenSky shop. Click here for details.

Lunch was sort of random.

Chips and salsa

Giant salad:

• baby spinach/lettuce mix
• organic celery
• organic red bell pepper
• organic baby carrots
• farmers market cucumber
• sunflower seeds
• TJ’s balsamic

I got stuck in meetings and didn’t get to the rest of my lunch till 4pm. Luckily (or not so luckily), I had a 5-6pm meeting. So, I used my snack tide me over till dinner.

My snack was related to a recent package I got – Barney Butter!!!! Yes! Barney Butter sent me some individual packages of almond butter for me to enjoy! Woohoo!

Yep…Barney Butter + Whole Grain Goodness = fabulous-o snack!

I toasted the bread and spread the BB on top. Love the way the heat makes it nice and gooey.

And for a little something sweet – organic cherries!

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No workouts for me today. I worked out Sunday, twice on Monday and taught zumba on Tuesday. I think it’s time for a rest day.

Like I mentioned before, I’m still working on cooking more recipes from my cook books, starting with the 3 Ina Garten cookbooks my mom got me recently.

Since declaring my desire to try some of Ina’s recipes, I’ve already made one recipe – Ina’s Strawberry Country Cake – a real winner!

One of the recipes I selected was Ina Garten’s chicken noodle soup.

I used parsley from my garden in my soup.

And to save time, I roasted extra chicken breasts when I made dinner last night and used the leftover chicken to make tonight’s soup!

I adapted Ina’s recipe because I like sauteing my veggies and I wanted to add onion.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe from her book Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients:

• 1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• dash garlic powder
• dash dried rosemary
• 2 quarts Chicken Stock
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 1 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks)
• 1 cup medium-diced carrots (7-9 baby carrots)
• 2 cups wide egg noodles
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken breasts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle chicken with EVOO and rub into skin. Top chicken lightly with dashes of salt, pepper, garlic powder and rosemary. Roast 35-40 minutes (you may need to cook longer if the chicken breasts are really big). Set aside to cool. Note: You can also cook the chicken the night before like I did this week – cook extra for dinner one night and more for the soup – use the leftover meat for the soup.
2. When the chicken is cool enough to touch, remove meat from bones and skin and pull into smaller pieces. Set aside.
3. Heat a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook till onions translucent – about 3-5 minutes.
4. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
5. Add egg noodles and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 9-10 minutes or until pasta cooked al dente.
6. Add chicken and parsley and cook to warm through.
7. Serve with crusty bread.

Very easy and tasty!

Hubby and I enjoyed our soup with Great Harvest Whole Grain Goodness toast and a dab of real butter (his had a lil extra butter).

Hubby got his hair did today.

And dessert – hubby picked up 3 mini cinnamon rolls from GH when he was getting bread. They aren’t nearly as good as one large cinnamon roll, which is what he was going to get me until the 2 ladies in front of him ordered the very last 2! Bah! I’m not mad – 3 cinnamon rolls in mini size are way better than none. And they’re pretty darn tasty on their own, too – just not as tender.

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Remember I scored you guys some deals on my OpenSky shop (20% off Galaxy Granola anyone? What about cacao nibs?) – click for details

And check out my latest recipe – marinated kale! Nommm

Do you like to eat anything in particular when it rains? I always seem to think comfort food – oatmeal, soup, casseroles, cobblers…you?

I’ve owed you guys this recipe for ages now, but thanks to a reminder from reader Karen, I’m actually posting it!

Here it is – my recipe for Marinated Kale! It’s so easy (no cooking!), tasty and healthful – give it a go!

What does it taste like? Well, kale to me, in general, is sort of like spinach except with a much heartier texture. Spinach is tender and bruises easily while kale holds up nicely (which is why a lot of recipes ask you to “massage” the kale – it tenderizes without bruising). Once marinated, the kale will soften up a bit, but it will still have a bite to it, texture-wise. The flavor mostly comes from the sauce ingredients, which end up being salty yet sweet with the lovely flavor of sesame oil ever prevalent and bits of fresh garlic and ginger popping up here and there.

Anywho, I LOVE to make a big batch of this to start a week. It’s an easy side veggie to take to work – just pack some into a tupperware – no re-heating necessary. You just need a fork! Makes a great vegetable serving.

On to the recipe…

First up – some visuals:

Be sure to triple wash your kale – it’s usually pretty gritty when you get it home from the store. I usually tear my kale into smaller pieces with my hands while I’m doing the washing part, but you can also chop it with a knife.

Other key ingredients: Tamari, Sesame Oil.

Whisk up sauce.

Add sauce to kale and massage – preferably with your hands. Why? Well, it seems like you can get away with using less sauce if you just rub it in a little. I believe most people massage their kale to tenderize it, but I just like to ensure my kale is well-coated without being in a puddle of sauce.

Add sesame seeds. Done-zo!

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Marinated Kale Recipe

Raw, Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten-Free

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale (curly leaves, not dinosaur), triple-washed, cut or ripped into small 1-2 inch pieces (1 inch pieces will be easier to eat later)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp tamari (use wheat-free if you’re going GF)
• 1 tsp minced garlic (you can omit this but it’s so much more flavorful with it!)
• 1 tsp minced ginger (same note as for garlic)
• 1-3 tbsp sesame seeds depending on how much you like them.

Directions:

1. Place prepped kale into a large bowl.
2. In a separate small to medium bowl, whisk together sesame oil and tamari till emulsified/combined nicely. Whisk in garlic and ginger.
3. Pour sauce over kale and massage sauce into the kale (this will help ensure all pieces of kale are covered.
4. Add sesame seeds to the kale (if you’re not sure if you’d rather go 1 or 3 tbsp, I suggest adding 1 and mixing up and checking coverage. You can always add more sesame seeds but you can’t take them back out…not easily at least).
5. Store in an air-tight container. NOTE: You may wish to make your kale the night before you want to eat it so it has time for the flavors to combine.
6. Enjoy!

It’s heeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Green Monster Muffins batch #1 came out dry, but this time I think I’ve got it!

As a reminder, I loved the idea of using a vegetable in sweet muffins/breads when I made zucchini bread recently. What other veggie is often used in sweet recipes? Spinach – the main ingredient in the very popular Green Monster smoothies! Inspired by the Cooking Light zucchini bread, I worked hard to develop a recipe that would work with spinach.

Here are a couple things to note with the recipe.

#1 – when you measure the cup of packed spinach, make sure you pack the spinach is real good. I mean press down on it really hard in your measuring cup. You want it to be about 1 cup after you process it, not before.

In fact, my spinach was bursting out of the top just a bit.

#2 – when you process your spinach it will start out looking like quite a bit of spinach.

See – after you process it, it reduces in size quite a bit. And pretty much you process it till the food processor stops chopping the spinach. At some point, the blade really doesn’t chop the spinach any more size the volume is so reduced.

And in case you’re curious, here’s about what the texture of the spinach looks like when it’s done processing.

#3 – Don’t skip the lemon zest (unless you just don’t like the flavor of lemon)! I feel like I often skip zest on recipes because I don’t think you’ll be able to taste it, but you totally do and the zest adds great flavor!

In my recipe, I suggest stirring walnuts into the batter, but since I had someone with a walnut allergy taste-testing later I only added some to the top of half my muffins.

Pre-baking

Post-baking

Last time, the muffin was dry, but this time it was quite most! I may tinker with adding a wee bit more flour to see what happens, but I’m happy enough with it to share the recipe this time.

PS Next up I’m going to work on vegan and gluten-free versions so everyone can try them!

Green Monster Muffins

Most spinach muffins are savory but these are sweet!

Makes 12 muffins

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup oat flour (note: you could probably sub flours of do 1 1/2 cups total of a single flour, instead of 2, if you’d like)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 single serving applesauce (or 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup PACKED, triple washed baby spinach, chopped by food processor into small bits (see photos above)
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 – 1 tsp lemon zest (depending on how lemon-y you want it)

Optional ingredient: 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, plus extra for topping

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.
2. Add dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together.
3. Whisk to beat egg and sugar together till light (I did this by hand for just a couple minutes).
4. Whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients.
5. Pour dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, add 1/4 cup walnuts if desired, and stir gently just to combine – do not over-mix.
6. Pour muffin batter into muffin tin cups – about 3/4 full each. If using walnuts, sprinkle walnuts on top of each muffin.
7. Bake for 14-17 minutes until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Cool at least 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Sneaky way to get the kids to eat their greens, no?

I actually think these muffins look really pretty because of the vibrant green color

Plus, these would be super festive for either Halloween or St. Patrick’s Day!!

After all the adventure earlier today, I decided to try out a kitchen experiment

Homemade Vegan Ice Cream

Vegan ice cream!

I was inspired to try Mama Pea’s Cookies & Cream vegan ice cream – click here for recipe.

I have an ice cream machine that requires the bowl to be frozen pre-ice-cream-making, so I got that prepped and placed in the freezer earlier this week.

So, today I simply had to gather my ingredients and mix some stuff together. Gosh, ice cream is easy!

Xantham Gum

I think hubby nearly passed out when I asked him to get the Xantham Gum and he saw it was $12.99! I know that we only need a little bit at a time, but $13 is a lot at one time.

I considered omitting the xanthan gum, but I read online that it was best to use it (unless you had an allergy or something) because it helps ice cream stay creamy instead of getting icy.

I also learned (from my google search) that Xanthan Gum is a thickener commonly used in sauces and dressings and gluten free baking. You may have even noticed on the ingredient list of products you buy, if you read them.

Bottom line, I decided that we needed it, and now we have enough to make batches and batches and batches of ice cream!

My ice cream machine was a cinch to put together and then I just had to turn it on and start adding my ice cream mixture.

The machine ran for roughly 20 minutes before I checked it for consistency. It looked like it was close to being done (it seemed pretty well thickened to me at least) and I considered adding the cup of crushed chocolate cookies at this point…till I realized my 1 quart ice cream maker was TOO FULL! Doh!

So, I just let the machine run an extra 5 minutes, then turned the machine off and poured it into a mixing bowl. I mixed the ice cream and cookie pieces by hand.

Totally got to lick the spatula…to check the flavor of course!

I placed my ice cream in the freezer to thicken up while I worked on some other stuff around the house.

Shopping Spree

Check out my latest shopping spree goodies! My new breakfast bowls! Ok, they’re “cups” but I got them more for eating purposes than drinking.

I bought these glasses from Crate + Barrel today for breakfasts and snacks.

I strategically selected each of these glasses for size, shape and usability.

The smaller mug will be for my mini ice cream and yogurt parfait snacks. At 4 ounces, this means it will be the perfect 1/2 cup snack size.

The larger cups are going to be for full-sized breakfast parfaits or if I’m especially craving a large portion of ice cream, etc. At 9 ounces, this cup is really better for a cup-ish worth of yogurt and granola and fruit, or even a smoothie, but we’ll see.

I also picked up these snazzy mini spoons. They’ll be perfect for eating from my small glassware or as condiment spoons when we’re entertaining. I love the pattern on the silver spoon.

I also got this bowl for morning oatmeal. No size reasoning on this one, I just liked the size and shape.

Lunchtime Eats

While my ice cream thickened up, I whipped up a quick lunch: breaded halibut, steamed broccoli and toasted Whole Grain Goodness with a wee bit of real butter.

I picked up this Honest Ade – Pomegranate Blue from the race earlier. (What? Other spectators were getting it too!) It had a great flavor and I liked how it was “just a tad sweet.”

After lunch I dove straight into my homemade vegan ice cream!

Decorated with 2 cookies.

Loved it! The recipe was super easy and the flavor was great. Thanks Mama Pea!

Reader question – Have you tried coconut milk ice cream before (homemade or store-bought)? What did you think?

Can you guess what this is?

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Spinach…it’s not just for lunch…or dinner.

I broke out the ole food processor for a lil baking experiment this morning.

Figure it out yet?

Clearly they’re muffins of some sort – some with walnuts and some without.

I made GREEN MONSTER MUFFINS!

That’s right – sweet spinach muffins!

And they’re just as beautifully green on the inside as they are on the outside!

I wish I could share the recipe, but the muffins came out a little dry.

Potential reasons for my dry muffins:

• Mixing too much
• Not enough liquid / too much flour

I need to play with the recipe a bit more, but I’m hoping to share it soon. It’s a goodie! If you like zucchini muffins, you’ll love these Green Monster muffins.