Shredded Kale & Carrots

Shredded Kale and Carrots with Almond Butter Dressing pg. 219

I am still in Florida, but heading home today.  I am actually looking forward to getting back to my own bed.  Although it was nice to get out of town, things didn't necessarily go as planned.  I envisioned the weather being hot and tropical, but it seems we came a week too early to Florida.  Next week has the good weather. When I left California it was 90 degrees.  When we arrived in Florida it was 72 burrrr!  Now I know I shouldn't complain because many of you live in really cold climates.  So I can deal with the weather, no biggie.  What I couldn't deal with was getting the flu or food poisening!  Seriously!  I woke up Friday with horrible stomach pain.  Well, you know all the fun that came next.  So I have spent 99% of my time in bed sleeping.  I did manage to snap a few shots of  Key Largo when I was feeling better.

The town is really a retirement community for lots of really wealthy folks.  People get around the area in golf carts, which was pretty fun!

The mansions all have yachts parked behind them.  There are canals that are the backyards to all these homes.  It was all very cool to see.

See the Yacht!

The lush tropical landscape was awesome.  It reminded me of one of my favorite places, Maui.  I am glad I got to see Key Largo, but I can't say it was one of my favorite places I have visited.  I had hoped the water would have been more crystal blue.  Oh well, like I said things just don't always go like you plan.  I love to travel, and now I can mark it off my list of places to see.

I cheated and  made this dish before I left for my trip.  It was the Shredded Kale and Carrots with Almond Butter Dressing.

Almond Butter Dressing

Before doing all this cooking I had never used the various attachments that came with my food processor.  I had only used the big blade all these years. (Pretty lame I will admit.) After spending so much time in the kitchen I now have a sense of fearlessness.  I pulled out the interchangeable blades and made this dish.  I used one blade for the kale and another for the carrots.  Not sure what the heck scared me about them before?  It was pretty cool how easily it all came together.

The dish surprised me because it is served raw.  I always assumed as I flipped through the cookbook that this was a cooked dish.  It really is more of a salad.  The Almond Butter Dressing was delicious.  The dish also holds up well on the second day.  I loved the hemp seeds in it.

Next up will be my final dish from CSK.  Any guesses to what it is?  I can't believe it is almost over...      

True Crunchy & Sauteed Chard

The True Crunchy pg. 170
Sauteed Chard pg. 209

The True Crunchy

Today I went to my daughter's middle school.  I walked into a class full of teens.  I have to admit I was a little terrified.  You see I have this reoccurring nightmare from time to time.  It is me having to redo my whole middle school experience.  Except, when I was in middle school it was called Junior High.  Not sure at what point they changed the name? Do you know why they did?  The kids were totally sweet, and I have so much respect for my daughter's teachers.  They are working with a very tough crowd.  Granted they can be so loving, but you also know they could give you a roll of the eyes in the blink of a second. I didn't want to embarrass my daughter.  (The pressure!)  OK, I know this has nothing to do with food, but I just had to share. I consider it therapeutic for me;) So thanks! I was truly shocked how nervous it made me.  I just didn't expect it. 

Later, when I got home I made a couple different dishes from CSK. Not sure why I chose them both for today except that I simply just felt like it! First up was was The True Crunchy.  It is a really light salad.  It doesn't even have any oil in it.  Talk about low calorie.  The kalamata olives give you the illusion of oil being in there.  I couldn't find all the various sprouts the recipe called for, but went ahead and just purchased what Whole Foods had to offer.  I already had Mung Bean Sprouts and added Broccoli Sprouts.  It was really quite good, and I am not a huge lover of sprouts.  I would totally make it again.

Next up is Sauteed Chard.  Chard isn't a veggie that I ever bought until my CSK adventures began.  It is easy to cook almost like spinach.  It is kind of bitter in my opinion.  The Nutritional Yeast is what made the recipe stand out.  It gave it that yummy cheesy taste that makes most things better. A big  bunch of chard cooks way down into a pretty small bowl, so keep that in mind.  I think one bunch works for 4 people if taking small servings.

Sauteed Chard

I really love being exposed to so many new veggies.  It is cool to look in the veggie section of the grocery store, and feel confident that I could make something tasty with most any veggie.  It is a good feeling, and has made me a much more confident cook!  I highly recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and trying a new veggie.  It just might be your fav!

Red Thai Coconut Soup & Semi-Dried Tomatoes

Red Thai Coconut Soup pg. 129
Semi-Dried Tomatoes pg. 213

Today I made one of the recipes that had me scared from the time I saw it.  It has a weird ingredient in it, as well as it is served cold.  One of my biggest pet peeves in a recipe is when you have to search high and low for some strange ingredient.  Have you ever heard of kaffir lime leaves?  Me either!

I went to Whole Foods and asked the produce guy if they ever get them in? He practically laughed at me.  He even said maybe just go to a nursery and pick some leaves off a tree. Turns out my husband found them at a little Indian grocery store about 15 minutes from our house.  The soup calls for the tiniest bit of this leaf, and really I am not sure it makes that much difference?  The soup itself was flavorful, but I don't think I would make it again.  I am not really into cold soups.  I think if I was served a little cup  at a restaurant I would have liked it.  Maybe if you are serving it as a small starter, but I wouldn't want a big bowl.  That is just me though, so here are the ingredients in case you are feeling adventurous.

I have a little game for you.  Can you find the ingredient that should not be in this picture?  I made a boo boo when I pulled out what I needed.  Answer at the end of the post!  I know exciting stuff here! Do you get a prize you ask?  Hmmmm, no but I will tell you how smart and amazing you are:)

Next up is Semi-Dried Tomatoes.  These were a cinch to make, and the finished product was really pretty.

 Just a few spices and these tomatoes come alive.  I loved the fennel. Here are the ingredients.

The prep is interesting because you have to make slits in the bottom of the tomatoes as you prepare to get the skin off them.

When I first tried these I kinda thought, just good, but then I put them in my arugula salad and thought they were great!

The tomatoes just break open and really become the dressing on the salad.  All the herbs are so delish on the arugula.  I added some lemon juice and olive oil to the salad.  I would probably just take the stems off if I wasn't worried about presentation.

So did you find the ingredient that shouldn't be in the picture? Answer: Shallots (The recipe called for an option of scallions.)

You are so smart and amazing!!

Beetroot Ravioli & Zucchini Carpaccio

Beetroot Ravioli with Cashew Cream pg. 193
Zucchini Carpaccio pg. 215

As Valentine's Day fast approaches I spent part of today helping my 4 yr. old get his Star Wars Valentine's ready for his class party tomorrow. (He only has school every other day.)  Love is in the air!  Can you feel it? I totally did today when both Kris Carr and Chef Chad Sarno Tweeted me! So cool!

In honor of the day of "love" I have a couple more options for your Valentine's dinner.  I personally don't really like to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. The service usually sucks as places are overcrowded.  So to stay in and make a yummy dinner for those you love is where it's at in my house.  Great food and good wine make me a happy girl.

The Beetroot Ravioli would be an amazing main dish to serve.  They are absolutely delish.  My family thought they were awesome.  My teen son could not stop eating them.  That is always so rewarding to see the kids eating new and healthy foods that they love. It wasn't hard to make these either.  Yeah! The hardest part for me was trying to slice the beets paper thin. 

I don't have any kitchen tools to get the beets thin enough, so I had to do my best with a knife.  I actually tried various knives as I tried to perfect the thinness.  The ravioli filling was a Cashew Cream Cheese which is scrumptious.  I have made this before, and here is a link if you want to check it out. http://crazysexykitchenproject.blogspot.com/2012/12/mediterranean-wrap-with-cashew-cream.html  I had no idea you can eat beets without cooking them.  The greens on the plate are asparagus that are peeled really thin as well. Again, all I can say is yum. This meal is totally raw!  The ravioli were so addicting, and the color just screams Valentine's Day.  Here is what you will need when you decide to make them.

I also made Zucchini Carpaccio to serve with the ravioli.

 It was a light yet flavorful dish.  The toasted pine nuts were a great compliment to the zucchini. 

Besides everything tasting so darn good, you walk away from this meal feeling totally stuffed, and not the least bit guilty.  You just gave yourself a Valentine's gift.  A healthy, flavorful and beautiful meal. Happy Valentine's Day!

Roasted Root Veggies 5 Ways

Roasted Root Vegetables Five Ways pg. 210

Roasted Root Vegetables Five Ways

Remember the commercials when Coke and Pepsi would do "The Taste Test Challenge?"  Well tonight we did a taste test challenge of our own.  I made Roasted Root Vegetables 5 different ways. 

Let me just say this is a terrific way for your kids to get excited about veggies.  I think my kids ate more vegetables in one sitting than I ever saw them eat.  It was awesome!  They thought it was so fun. Which flavor do you think you would like the best?

Spicy Indian

Apricot Mustard

Fresh Herb

BBQ

Peanut Sauce

There is nothing hard about this recipe, each flavor takes only seconds to whip up.  Chopping the root veggies is where you will spend the majority of your time but really no biggie. 

So have you picked your possible favorite?  I can tell you that my husband and daughter loved the Fresh Herb. I really liked that one as well, but my favorite was the Apricot Mustard.  My oldest son surprised me the most because his fav was the Peanut Sauce.  He couldn't get enough of it, and finished them all. 

What are your predictions?  Let me know...

Slow-Roasted Beets with Fresh Horseradish

Slow-Roasted Beets with Fresh Horseradish pg. 217

Today I made beets!  I have never made them before.  My husband has made them plenty of times when he makes Borscht.   His family is Russian, and that soup is a family tradition.  Beets are good, but I didn't honestly expect to like this dish all that much.  Partly because this recipe has nothing to fall back on other than beets. Guess what?  I loved this dish!  It was absolutely awesome.  Not too many ingredients, so they were simple to make.

I did find I needed to bake my beets much longer than the recipe called for.  I probably had mine bake twice as long.  Once they cooled, my very adorable and patient husband was kind enough to peel and cut them into these very pretty squares.  Truthfully, if I wasn't photographing them I would have simply sliced them.  Although, if you were entertaining they looked awesome on the plate.  You could look very "chefy" with the presentation. 

This was one of my favorite veggie dishes I have made from CSK.  Trust me, I shocked myself with this recipe.  I loved taking pictures of it too.  My husband said it looked like food porn!  I told him that there is a #-hashtag with that label on Instagram.  The color is so rich, almost scary! It's like the beets were in some sort of slasher movie.  I think this would be fabulous to include on a Valentines menu.  Just a thought.

Have a great weekend!

Super Sprout Salad & Cauliflower Risotto

Super Sprout Salad pg. 171
Cauliflower Risotto pg. 218

Do you know anything about Instagram?  It is an App you can download, I am pretty sure for free. (I can't remember for sure if I bought it. I don't think I did.)  It is pretty awesome. It is just a place to share pictures.  My daughter got me hooked.  She is a very tech savvy pre-teen.  It is huge with her friends.  They post all kinds of things, like cute quotes or pictures with their friends.  I have been using it to post pictures of my food.  Click on the button above if you aren't familiar.  I promise you will be hooked.  The App works a lot like Twitter because you can use hashtags (# or @) to link subjects and people to your pictures.

Anyway, you can follow just about anyone on Instagram.  My daughter follows Justin Bieber.  I started following Kris Carr and Chef Chad Sarno during my cooking project.  I love seeing what they post.  Chef Sarno always posts these amazing food creations.  They are always very beautiful and make me hungry.  I sort of have a love hate relationship with these pictures.  On one hand they are inspiring, but on the other it reminds my how strictly amature I am!

Here are two dishes I will be sticking on Instagram today.  You can see how I was striving to be food "arty" like Chef Sarno.  First up is the Super Sprout Salad.

It looks so pretty don't you think?  This salad calls for sunflower sprouts.  Whole Foods finally had these bad boys!  It has only taken months for the stars to align, and I would get to buy them.  Usually I have to settle on a different sprout.  Of course, they didn't have the pea shoot sprout, so I went with broccoli sprouts.  I know, not the same but I was working with what I had!  I liked this salad.  The oranges were amazing in it.  You did have to get a bit of everything on your fork for it to come together.  Otherwise, it could be a bit bland.  Even so, together it was delicious. I have come to realize how awesome citrus can be in salads.  I love it!

The other dish was the Cauliflower Risotto.  This was excellent and not hard to make.  It was essentially cauliflower prepared three different ways, and then combined.  Part puree, part whole cauliflower, and part minced cauliflower.

I really enjoyed it.  The puree on its own was like an amazing soup.  My kids were thrown off by the truffle oil in the final product.  I think the oil is an acquired taste.  They did eat it, but sort of kept questioning the flavor, and I know it was the oil.  I personally loved it as did my husband, and would definitely make this again. Maybe I just won't put the truffle oil in it so the kids like it more.

Enjoy!