Crazy Sexy Cancer

I am writing today not about a recipe from Crazy Sexy Kitchen.  You see I am feeling quite sad about something.  Normally I probably wouldn't share my personal feelings too heavily because this is a food blog.  Even so, in a round about way this subject relates to Kris Carr and all that she has built in the past 10 years.  You see Kris was diagnosed with Cancer on February 14, 2003. (10 years ago)  I found Kris when her documentary Crazy Sexy Cancer was on TV.  I was immediately drawn to her story.  A few years later I would Google Kris because a friend of mine had just been diagnosed with cancer.  I was scared for my friend.  I was scared for me.  I wanted to find information and  power because of the shitty news.

When I found Kris again that night, Crazy Sexy Diet was just about to be released.  I was so happy to see how great and healthy she looked.  I consumed everything she had written in books, all her blog posts and her vlogs as well.  I wanted power with all the uncertainty that was taking place with my friend.  Kris and her message made me feel like I had a small amount of control over the situation.

Flash forward  a few months, and one of my family members had surgery to remove reoccurring cancerous tumors growing in her body.  She too started following Kris.  It gave her hope.  Let's jump another year ahead, and another family member gets the diagnosis.  He is young.  It broke my heart.  During this time another friend/neighbor is being treated for breast cancer, and back in my old neighborhood yet another friend/neighbor is being treated for breast cancer.

Today I sadly found out  another one of my friends has cancer.  I am sad, scared and angry.  It just keeps happening.  I never seem to find the right words to say each time I find out the news.  I just am so shocked. I pray she has a speedy recovery.

All of this is what led me to Kris Carr.   I follow Kris because she has given me kick ass weapons to help keep myself and family healthy.  I know none of us really have the power to avoid cancer.  We can eat clean, get plenty of rest,  and not stress.  It really seems to boil down to luck.  Even so, I still love that Kris has been a warrior in terms of getting info out to the rest of us.  We can use her wealth of knowledge to live an amazingly conscience life. 

Well, if you ever wondered why I am such a strong believer in Kris Carr now you know.  I wish it wasn't because someone got sick.  I wish cancer just disappeared forever.  I am thankful Kris shed a bit of light for me when I was scared.  I am so happy she is doing so awesome 10 years later!  She has given me many tools to live happily and healthy.  Lastly, she is funny! The girl makes me laugh, and as her doctor Kenneth Bock said at a recent Chat & Chew, "Laughter is still the best medicine!."

Thanks for listening to my story. Tomorrow more recipes from Crazy Sexy Kitchen!

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!

Greensicle Smoothie

Greensicle Smoothie pg. 94

Greensicle Smoothie

I made my last smoothie recipe from CSK today.  I am going to be saying that a lot over the next few weeks as I wrap up this project.  It feels good to say those words, "My last..!"  Yeah!  Today was the Greensicle Smoothie.

 

This smoothie reminds me of an Orange Julius I would get as a kid.  The times I would walk around the galleria with my friends, and talk like a "Valleygirl" sipping my Orange Julius.  "Like for sure, oh my God, totally!" This smoothie gets it's creaminess from the almond milk.  The orange and vanilla make it refreshingly delicious.  This is a very easy way to drink your salad.

Now that I have made all the smoothies in CSK I thought I would share with you my 2 favorites.  The first is For the Love of Nog.  Here is a link to revisit the bliss I felt from this drink. http://crazysexykitchenproject.blogspot.com/2012/11/love-nog-and-avo-toast.html  Yum!

The second is the Green Colada. http://crazysexykitchenproject.blogspot.com/2012/11/green-colada.html This one tastes like vacation.

Which one was your favorite smoothie?  I would love to hear, so tell me. Pretty please:)

Caesar Salad & Vodka Pasta

Caesar Pleaser Salad pg. 175
Vegan Vodka Pasta http://kriscarr.com/

Kris Carr did a new "Chat and Chew" video on her website today.  She made a pasta dish.  I was already planning on pasta and a salad for dinner tonight, so I figured why not make her recipe instead.  Technically it isn't in her cookbook, but it is one of her recipes.  So why not! 

Caesar Pleaser Salad from CSK was on the menu already for me.  I was excited to try this recipe.  I don't really like a traditional Caesar. The anchovy taste is just not my cup of tea.  This vegan version was great.  The dressing was awesome.  It was garlicky with a cheesy flavor from the Nutritional Yeast.  The homemade croutons were to die for yummy! Not to mention putting chopped almonds on the salad gave it the texture of Parmesan on the romaine. 

I forgot the canola oil in the picture!

 The salad went perfectly with Kris' Vodka Pasta. 

Her pasta is all about doctoring up a jar of marinara.  I loved the mixture.  The cashew cream added a delicious richness to the sauce.  I couldn't taste the vodka.  My kids thought I was crazy when I said there was vodka in the sauce. You could see the wheels turning in their heads!  I  added some onion to my sauce, which was great.  I really loved the peas in the sauce.  I wouldn't have thought of that one on my own.  My kids liked this dish too!  You know I love that.  It was really easy and quick to put together. Here is the link to Kris' recipe. http://kriscarr.com/vlog/how-to-make-vegan-penne-a-la-vodka/

This was a really simple yummy dinner that was popular with my whole family.  I had all the ingredients, and I would bet money you probably have them too.  I will be putting this in the rotation of dinners in my home.  It is great for those nights when you want a home cooked meal without much effort.  It was excellent! 

Crab Cakes

Hearts-of-Palm-Style Crab Cakes with Remoulade pg. 151

Crab Cakes

I am going to tell you a true story.  About 12 years ago my husband and I were out on a date. Wait it gets better.  We went out for the first time after my daughter was born.  I got all dolled up, and we had a babysitter.  It felt awesome to be away from the kids for a few hours.  We went to a sushi restaurant.  We ordered food and were enjoying our cocktails.  The night was memorable, but not for any of the reasons I have shared thus far.  You see when we ordered our food we made sure to tell the waiter, "Please make sure there is no shellfish in our food."  Yep, my husband is deathly allergic to it.  The waiter assured us all was cool.  We began to eat.  A few minutes later he came back to our table to say, "Is it OK that there is a little shrimp in your food?"  Panic shot across our faces.  The manager made a beeline to our table only to personally drive us to CVS for a large amount of Benedryl.  Needless to say our dinner ended abruptly, and my hubby got pretty sick and puffy.

So we never serve shellfish in our home.  I have never had my kids tested for the allergy.  The pediatrician told me that the test is only so reliable.  They really would just need to try it and see.  I am not about to have to pull out an Epipen on my watch.  So today was the first time my husband got to experience anything like a crab cake. 

These weren't too hard to make, so don't let the chefy "2" freak you out.  Here is what you need to make this recipe.

The recipe calls for you to toast the Nori Sheet, being careful not to burn it.

Then make tablespoon size balls that are formed into crab cakes.

I really liked the Remoulade.  It was very delicious.  The jury is still out on the hearts of palm.  I kind of wonder if you could use artichoke hearts for this one?  Hearts of palm was a new one for me, and I think it is an acquired taste.

I cheated the recipe with the times it said to chill the "crab mixture" or the "crab cakes." I found it didn't really need it.  I was running low on time when I was preparing dinner, so I opted for feeding the family vs chilling crab cakes.  Nothing fell apart, so no harm no foul as they say.  I have to admit my crab cakes weren't crispy enough.  It seems no matter how hot I get the oil I just haven't mastered the technique of frying.  My cakes were a little mushy.  I think it is either my pan sucks, or there is a trick that chefs aren't sharing with us regular housewife cooks.

The recipe makes 12 crab cakes.  Let me know what you think when you make them.

By the way, don't you think Beyonce rocked the half-time show?!  I loved all the girl power on stage.  Pretty awesome!  Oh, one last thing, the carrot cake I made Saturday went quickly so I made a second today.  The cake is that good.  Make it!

24 Karrot Cake

24 Karrot Cake pg. 266

I need you to promise me something.  Can you do it?  I mean really promise me, pinky promise.  This is serious!  I want you to make this 24 Karrot Cake. (By the way CSK spelled carrot with a "K." Not me, I do have spell check.)

I have made a lot of recipes from CSK.  This dessert is AMAZING!!   I am not sure why it was labeled a "2" in CSK.  It was literally a piece of cake to make.  The only prep you need is to soak some cashews for the Cashew Cream.  I have made the Cashew Cream before and here is a link: http://crazysexykitchenproject.blogspot.com/2012/12/chopped-salad-fresh-berries-and-cream.html Basically after you soak the cashews, you just blend all the ingredients for the cream.   I refrigerated mine for awhile before I used it.  This made it nice and thick. 

OK so you made me a promise,  gather up these ingredients for the cake.  I am sure you have most,  if not all of these ingredients in your cabinet.

My son loves to use the sifter, so I let him in on the action.  It makes him feel so good to be a part of the cooking.

I don't know if you are watching the Superbowl?  I will be watching Beyonce.  We all know she will be singing her heart out to redeem herself from the whole singing with a prerecorded track thing.  I could care less who wins the game. Well, maybe I will root for The Ravens.  I think the guy from that movie The Blind Side is on that team. So at least I will have a familiar face to cheer for.  I am a girl and not that sporty!  Sorry:)  I am all about the half-time show.  Well that and the commercials.  If you are having people over, or go to a friends house bring this cake.  You will be a star with everyone for this sweet treat.

The recipe only makes one layer, but you could easily double it and make a layered cake.  The fresh orange zest is so delish in the cake.  YUM!

Have a great weekend!