recipes2 Ingredient Pina Colada Sorbet. Perfect Summer dessert and great Daniel Fast Dessert
I wanted needed to make a dessert that could help me keep my sanity while Doing the Daniel Fast. Something slightly sweet, all fruit with no sugar added. I think I’ve come up with a good one. Here’s a 2 ingredient Pina Colada Sorbet recipe that I made in my Nutri Bullet. Just freeze some diced pineapple and blend it in the Nutri Bullet with 1/2 a cup of sugar free, pure coconut water with pulp. (adjust the amounts to fill at or below the fill line on your Nutri Bullet or blender) Pour into a container and freeze for about an hour or two, remove from the freezer before its frozen solid. Scoop and serve…..that’s It!
2 ingredient sorbet in my NutriBullet. Only frozen pineapples and coconut juice
This is as easy as it looks. used;
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks (cut up some fresh pineapple)
1/2 cup coconut juice, no sugar or additives
Blend, Freeze (not solid) until scoopable….that’s it!
Put Frozen pineapple chunks into the Nutribullet cup up to the fill line. Pour in Chilled coconut juice. Blend, pour into a separate container and freeze (NOT solid) until it’s scoopable3 Comments
recipesSweet potato steaks topped with roasted vegetables
I’m a meat lover, that’s no secret, but once in a while the time comes to lighten up. Well, for me that time has come, so I’m starting the Daniel fast to help get me on track. This recipe for Sweet Potato Steaks with roasted vegetables really filled the bill. The fennel turns candy sweet when roasting; it’s absolutely incredible.
These are the finished veggies after roasting for an hour and fifteen minutes.
Sweet Potato Steaks with Roasted Vegetables
Roasted Vegetables
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
4 Roma tomatoes
1 fennel bulb
2 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop all vegetables and place in a roasting pan that is about 2 inches deep.
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and roast at 400° for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Directions for Sweet Potato Steaks
Cut the sweet potato into “steaks” about a half inch thick. Saute in olive oil until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add 1/4 cup of water and steam for 5 minutes.Top with roasted vegetables and serve6 Comments
recipes, videoYou can make homemade pasta WITHOUT a machine. It’s easy, fun to make and delicious to eat. This pasta dish is served with a braised chicken sauce, but you can serve it with a variety of tasty sauces
This quick video shows you how to mix and shape your fresh, homemade pasta
Pasta dough recipe
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Handmade Pasta Drirections
Put your flour into a large bowl. Add beaten eggs, olive oil and salt. Mix all the ingredients together and put onto a lightly floured counter top. Knead your pasta dough until it becomes smooth, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to knead in too much flour, it’s better to have a softer dough than a stiff one.
Wrap the pasta dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Cut off a piece of pasta dough (keep the rest of the pasta dough wrapped in plastic until you are ready to use it) and roll it into a rope. Cut off 1/2 inch piece of dough and flatten it out with the heel of you hand. Roll the pasta around the lightly floured handle of a wooden spoon. Slide the pasta off the spoon handle and continue with the rest of your dough.
Let the pasta dry on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper for about 10 minutes.
Boil the pasta in salted water for 3-4 minutes or until its tender. Drain your pasta, add it to your sauce and simmer for 1 minute. Serve and enjoy
I served my pasta with the a braised chicken sauce and it was absolutely delicious. My kids went nuts for it
Braised Chicken Pasta Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch chunks
5 chicken Italian sausage links, casing removed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped carrots
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups chicken stock
1-14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt to taste
½-1 cup of water
Heat olive oil in a wide, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Brown chicken thighs and remove from pan. Break the sausage into chunks with a spoon in the pan and brown sausage. Remove from pan.
Lower the heat. Sauté onions and carrots until they begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
Add tomato paste into the pan with the carrots, onion and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add chicken thighs and sausage to the pan. Next add the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, oregano and salt to the pan and stir to combine.
Let this simmer over medium-low heat for about an hour adding a ½ -1 cup of water if the sauce gets too thick.
Brown the chicken thighs in olive oilBrown the sausage in the same panAdd tomato paste to the sauteed vegetablesAdd diced tomatoes and chicken stock. simmer for about an hour, until the chicken is tender and the sauce is thick.
Making fresh pasta is a lot of messy fun. The flour may be flying but the end result is so worth it. You really don’t need any special equipment to make fresh pasta, just a bowl and a rolling pin, but a food processor and a pasta machine make things so much easier.
Pasta dough recipe
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Food processor directions
Add all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade.
Process until the dough forms a ball.
Remove the dough from the processor and knead on your floured counter top and by hand until smooth
The dough should be slightly sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
Rolling the Pasta by Pasta Machine
Divide the dough into 4 sections, work with one section at a time keeping the other sections wrapped in plastic.
Sprinkle the pasta maker with a little flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.
Set your pasta machine to the widest setting, on my machine the widest setting is number 1. Flatten your dough into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick and roll through the pasta machine.
Fold the pasta into thirds and roll through the pasta machine on the widest setting. Repeat the process once more. This conditions the dough and makes it less likely to tear.
Reduce the setting on your pasta machine by one and roll the dough through. Repeat the process reducing the setting on your pasta machine by one size each time until you reach your desired thickness.
You can use these pasta sheets for lasagna or cut them into fettuccine if you like.
After folding the dough, Roll the dough at the widest setting. Repeat this process three times to condition the dough. Then reduce the width setting on your machine one size each time you pass the dough through. I rolled the dough for the agnolotti to setting 7 which is very thin. If you try it you may want to roll your dough out to setting 6, that will be easier to work with and still thin enough.Pipe out the filling on the pasta sheet and fold the dough over the filling twice. Press the dough down in one inch intervals to seal the agnolotti. Cut between each section. Cover any unused dough with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out
Sweet potato Agnolotti filling makes about 100 agnolotti3 medium sweet potatoes about 8 ounces each
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon granulated garlic
Roast the sweet potatoes at 350° until tender, about 1 ½ hours. Let the potatoes cool.
Dice the sweet potatoes and place into a food processor with the blade attachment
Process until smooth. Season with salt and granulated garlic. Add cream and process to combine.
The sweet potato filling can be made 2 days in advance and stored in your refrigerator.
This is the finished dish,Sweet potato agnolotti with sauteed bay scallops and cream. Finally an excuse to use these scallop shells I bought years ago
After boiling the pasta in salted water for 2 minutes you can toss it in some browned butter and serve. I made a cream sauce with sauteed Bay scallops and wilted spinach.
Scallops with spinach in cream sauce
1 pound fresh agnolotti
1 pound bay scallops
4 ounces spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
½ cup heavy cream
Salt and cayenne pepper (optional) to taste
Boil water . Add 2 tablespoons salt to the water. Add Agnolotti and bring the water back to a boil. Cook Agnolotti for 2 minutes. Drain
Pat the scallops dry. Chiffonade spinach (cut into 1/3 inch ribbons) Heat skillet over medium/high and add oil or butter. Sauté scallops for 2 minutes tossing to cook both sides. Stir in spinach and cook until it wilts. Add cream and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and cayenne pepper
recipesThis Natural food swag and gift card from Kroger were a great blogger treat. They had one of my daughter’s favorite snacks, chocolate covered raisins, and a cool T-shirt that she claimed. My son devoured the sweet potato chips and asked me to buy more the next day.
I love that my local grocery store is making it easy to purchase natural foods and products at reasonable prices. Kroger is a store I shop at frequently so I was happy to participate in Kroger’s Healthy Living blogger event. I was provided with two $25 Kroger gift cards and a swag bag to thank me for my participation and post.
Buy natural foods in bulk to keep costs down. They have a great selection
Kroger’s Simple Truth Organic™ , brands of natural and organic foods are “Free From 101” artificial ingredients and preservatives. Kroger also helps to keep healthy living affordable with digital coupons that get loaded to your Kroger plus card.
Beef stew made with some ingredients from the Kroger Simple Truth line as well as some conventional products. Mix and match them to meet your needs.
I was happy to see so many locally produced items at Kroger as well. From local honey and bee pollen (great for helping to treat allergies) to gluten free products produced in dedicated kitchens for food safety.
Kroger features local products like this raw honey from Blue Ridge Honey Company
Delicious Gluten free caramel snack mix from local Roswell GA company American Gra-Frutti at Kroger
Get a healthy, delicious dinner on the table in 10 minutes! REALLY I’m not kidding. Here’s a quick video of my super fast salmon recipe with brown rice and asparagus. The whole recipe in done in this video in real time so you’ll see how fast it gets done.
recipesTalk about a healthy and delicious dish. This recipe for sauteed cabbage with charred carrots and apples is great as a side to roasted sweet potatoes for a vegan meal. Also fantastic with roasted pork or sausage.
Sautéed cabbage doesn’t need to be boring. Caramelized onions add a deep sweetness and cooking the carrots until slightly charred concentrates the flavor. The apples add a tart fruity-ness that make this a fun family dish.
I circled the core of the cabbage. It’s tough and hard to eat so remove it before you slice the cabbage.Cut the cabbage into quarters through the stem. Then remove the tough coreAfter you remove the core, slice the cabbage about 1/2 inch thick. Careful, watch those fingers!!
Sautéed cabbage with carrots and apples serves 4-6 people
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion
3 carrots
1 small cabbage
1 apple ( I used a Fuji apple)
½ cup water, chicken broth or apple juice.
Salt
Ground ginger (optional)
Slice the onions, carrot and cabbage.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook the onion over medium heat until it’s caramelized. Add carrots and cook until they are tender and a little bit brown. Add sliced cabbage and water (or broth, or apple juice) to the pan and stir. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until everything is tender and liquid has cooked out. Slice the apple. Push the contents of the pan to one side; add the apple to the empty side and sauté until golden. Add salt and ginger (if using) and serve.
recipesOver 4,400 sandwiches were prepared by a small army of volunteers through Hop, Skip and Serve for Martin Luther King Day
Today was a beautiful day, not because of the weather (though the weather was phenomenal; sunny and fairly warm for Atlanta in January). Today was beautiful because I had the opportunity to volunteer with my daughter, wonderful friends and the good folks over at Hop, Skip and Serve for Martin Luther King Day. The order of the day was sandwiches and LOTS of them (over 4,400 ) for those in need. School supplies and clothing were collected as well. Hop, Skip and Serve made volunteering a party with a DJ and impromptu dance breaks. Kids as young as 4 are able to serve their community in a meaningful way, making this a perfect family service opportunity. It did my heart good to see so many young people there; Girl Scout troops, high school students and students from Spelman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta University.
Thanks to Drew Charter School for giving a home to the many groups that came together to serve.
Young Volunteers from Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College and Morehouse College
Volunteers brought in wheat bread and sandwich fixins and we got to work at about 9am. The college kids counted and organized the sandwiches and got them ready for transport. Hop, Skip and Serve volunteers got the food where it needed to go and many hungry folks in Atlanta will be fed. All in all, a great way to spend the day and bond with my daughter.
Also, shout out to Yumbii and Nana G’s food trucks for coming out to support and for bringing tasty treats for the volunteers,
Hop, Skip and (VERY Happy to) Serve Staff. The DJ turned this volunteer opportunity into a family party. I’m looking forward to their next volunteer opportunity, I’ll b sure to bring the whole family next time.30 Comments
You already know how much I love a crab boil (you do know that, right?). I prefer to have a crab boil with blue crabs but they can be hard to come by, so I’ll pick up a few pounds of frozen snow crab legs in a pinch. We boiled some up this weekend but this time I saved the crabby, corny, sausagey broth to make crab bisque later in the week.
Reserve the broth from cooking the crab, corn and sausage. Chill the broth in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 1 months. If there is some fat from the sausage you can just pull it off after the broth has been chilledBring the broth to a boil and add 1/3 cups of rice and 1 1/2 cups of diced sweet potato. Simmer for 45 minutes. You’ll see many recipes for bisque the require a lot of cream, but traditionally bisque is thickened with rice.Use an immersion blender (or a regular blender) to puree the soup until smooth. Strain the soup.Top the soup with some crab meat, swirl in some half and half and drizzle in a bit of sherry for the grown folks
1/4 cup dry sherry (for grown folks…it’s optional)
Bring the broth to a boil. Add the rice and sweet potato, simmer for 45 minutes. Puree the soup and strain. (Be very careful if you use a blender to puree hot soup, it can explode. Puree in small batches for safety)
Pour into serving bowls or cups. Swirl half and half onto the top of the soup drizzle with sherry if you’re using that. Add 2 tablespoons of crab meat to each bowl and serve.
