Easy Frittata

8 eggs plus 1 yolk

1/4 cup almond milk

5 cremini mushrooms

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup leeks, chopped

1 yellow potato, chopped

Preheat oven to 350

Saute potato and onion in skillet a few minutes

Add mushrooms 2 mins

In a bowl, whip the eggs with the milk-- add salt and pepper if desired

Add the egg mixture to the sautéed vegetables

Add leeks

Cook on low-medium on stovetop about 3-5 minutes

Add spoonfuls of goat cheese on top

Put in oven for 20 minutes

Serve!

Frittatas can be served warm or cold-- when eating leftovers I prefer it cold!

You can really use any veggies you have around: broccoli, cauliflower, scallions--- it's all good.  

For me, it's not a frittata without the sautéed potato and onion, though.

ENJOY!

I love to serve mine with Amy's Vegan Sausage

This frittata below is 2 yellow onions, 4 yellow potatoes and 2 cups chopped spinach leaves

Watermelon-Spearmint- Strawberry-Lime Smoothie

YES!!!!

Just go make this.  Hopefully your Whole Foods has $3 watermelons on Mondays (Manic Mondays-- specials all $3 throughout the store!) to make it even more cost effective.

This is delicious!!!

Makes 2 smoothies:
2 cups watermelon (I just leave the seeds in, they are good for you!)
3/4 cup organic 365 frozen strawberries
6 spearmint leaves (I use from my herb garden outside)
Juice from 1 wedge lime
Ice

BLEND!

Drink immediately!

Olive Tapenade

Tapenade is usually my go-to when I need to bring a snack to book club, or a potluck.
It's vegan, gluten, and dairy free... it's also inexpensive and tasty.
If you want to go for a really decadent version, get 1 lb of olives from Whole Foods olive bar.  Otherwise...

Olive Tapenade
1 can black olives
1 can/jar manzanilla olives
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic
crushed red pepper flakes

In a food processor -chop all olives into itty bitty pieces (or until they are a paste if you prefer)
Scrape into a bowl and add other ingredients
Mix well
Refrigerate a few hours or more
Keeps for several days in fridge
Serve with pita wedges, bread, rice crackers--whatever!

Hummus and Roasted Chickpeas- It's a Chickpea Love Fest!

My hummus recipe is super simple, and it really can vary -- mainly if I'm missing something and don't want to run to the store.  Some may denounce my hummus because it doesn't contain tahini, but I decided to drop the tahini awhile ago.  It's an extra (expensive) ingredient, plus one of my daughter's good friends has a sesame allergy, so I like to have hummus she can eat, too.

Overnight, soak 1-2 bags 365 Organic dried chickpeas in water and a dash of baking powder.  Make sure the water is several inches over the chickpeas since they will expand.

In the morning, I plug in the crockpot and cook for 2-3 hours.  Drain and rinse. (You can also soak them before you leave for work and then plug them in right when you get home).

I then separate the chickpeas into two bowls equally.  Half will be made into hummus, half will become roasted chickpeas.

Hummus
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup olive oil to taste
1 bag 365 organic dried chickpeas-- soaked and cooked
5-10 garlic cloves
2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
pepper to taste
add water till desired consistency
Start your food processor and add the chickpeas slowly and steadily til all added
Add the rest of the ingredients
Serve room temperature


Roasted chickpeas
1 bag 365 organic dried chickpeas-- soaked and cooked
1 tbsp olive oil
Cayenne pepper
Onion powder
Spread chickpeas over a baking pan
Drizzle with oil
Sprinkle with onion powder and cayenne pepper to taste
Using hands, roll them around a bit to mix
Spread back out
Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes

Applesauce Muffins

My kids love these-- and while they aren't amazingly healthy-- with no oil, no butter, and loads of organic applesauce and oats-- they are pretty good!

Chock full of oats and applesauce-- and NO butter or oil,  they make a great quick or to-go breakfast.

Dry ingredients:
2.5 cup flour
3 cup oats
1/2 cup cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1.5 Tbsp cinnamon


Wet ingredients:
2 eggs (optional, works without)
1 cup almond milk
1 jar (24 oz) 365 brand unsweetened organic applesauce


In medium bowl- mix all wet ingredients

In large bowl-- mix all dry ingredients

Pour wet into dry and mix VERY well.

Bake muffins at 350 for 20 minutes

These freeze well for about 1-2 months

Basic Vinaigrette

This recipe its inspired by this "How to Cook" recipe from Whole Foods Market.

It's my go-to dressing, and my 2016 New Year's Resolution was to only eat homemade salad dressing.  (I didn't quite make it, but have only bought 2 bottles in almost 8 months-- pretty good)!

Ingredients: 

• 1 clove garlic AND small shallot
• 1 teaspoon German mustard 
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs (I use rosemary or parsley) 
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients in food processor for 60 seconds.

Enjoy!

My herb shelf

Honey Lime Vegetarian Tacos

This recipe can be found here, on the Cooking Classy website.  Holy moly-- I found this recipe about a year ago and it is a HUGE hit with everyone in my family.  It's one of maybe 3 dinners all 5 of us all love.  (There always seems to be someone unenthusiastic about most dinners... making 4 people happy is easier, but to get all 5 to agree they love a meal-- it eludes me).

I'll share my version of it below (she gives lots of different options for topping it in the link above, and we have played around and this is our favorite combo):


Ingredients
4 small or medium sweet potatoes, peeled if desired and diced into 1/2-inch cubes

4 Tbsp avocado oil, divided
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8  tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small yellow onion, diced (1 cup)
2 clove garlic, minced
2 (14.5) oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 bag frozen yellow corn 365 brand
1 Tbsp honey
Juice from 1 lime
Corn or flour tortillas
Purple cabbage,  feta cheese  diced avocados, and hot sauce (optional)

DIRECTIONS:


First, dice the sweet potatoes and season and oil with above spices/oil-- toss and spread out on pan
Bake at 425 for 15 mins.



In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic, then add the black beans and sweet potatoes.  Add honey and lime juice.


Turn off heat and add the cooked sweet potatoes

For toppings:  Shredded purple cabbage, feta, and avocado.  One of my kids also adds sour cream and another adds sriracha.

And if you buy crumbled feta-- you are wasting money!  It is SO easy to crumble with a fork and it freezes well, too.


Dig in!


I also do these with Homemade Tortillas-- check out my post about how to make those here.

Homemade Tortillas

Homemade tortillas are so SIMPLE, you've got to try them at least once.

Have you ever looked at the back of a package of tortillas?  Soooooooo many added ingredients:

You know what you need for homemade tortillas?  TWO ingredients.  Two!  (Okay, three if you include the water, but that doesn't count.)

This recipe makes 4-5 tortillas (depending on how large/small and thick/thin you make them).

1 cup flour
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
More flour for rolling out, etc.

So... these ARE simple,  I promise... but they lean towards being labor intensive because each one gets rolled out and flash cooked separately.  I always say one day I'm going to just commit and make 100 tortillas (they freeze nicely)... but I always get tired of making them by #12 and I've never made more than 25 at once.

So, mix together the first 3 ingredients with a fork.

Hand knead dough together and put on a  floured surface:

Shape into balls a little bigger than a golf ball.  Here I multiplied the recipe by 5 to get about 25 tortillas.  When we have taco night as a family of 5,we for sure need a minimum of 12, but usually 16 is a safer bet, and then some for next-day leftovers.

Roll out as thin and round (or square, that works, too) as you can.  Keep flouring to keep them from sticking.  This is a great recipe for kids to help with:

In a hot frying pan with NO oil (dry), place the tortilla in and wait till you see it bubbling up, then flip it.  Same thing on the other side.  The entire process for flash cooking it should be well under a minute.  My trick with this part is-- keep the pan very hot, but when it reaches a peak-- turn the burner off for the next 2 tortillas.  Then  turn it back on again, etc.

Done!  Serve immediately, or keep in a  ziplock in the fridge up to a week or so.  Freeze for 3 months (Careful when defrosting, warm them well!)

Want a great taco recipe to go with these?  Click here for Honey Lime Vegetarian Tacos!

Southwestern eggrolls

For me, the best recipes are ones everyone likes, which in a family of five gets tricky.
This egg roll recipe is a hit, all my kids like them- 9yrs, 6 yrs, and 3 yrs old...my husband loves them and I love them, too.
It's labor-intensive, so I doubled it.

Ideally, I make the filling the day before, and then wrap them the next day for dinner.
I don't think I have very picky eaters, but both my girls are adventurous with food in a different way. My older one will try any fruit or vegetable you give her. My younger one will not eat many fruits or vegetables, but will try any spicy thing you give her-- the little one is still testing his palate.

Anyway, this was adapted from something I found on Pinterest:

Baked Southwestern eggrolls:

Ingredients:

16 ounces frozen organic corn thawed
Two cans black beans rinsed and drained
10 ounce package fresh organic whole leaf spinach, chopped finely in food processor
1-2 cups shredded Mexican cheese (whatever your preference)
Two cans diced green chilies drained
One bunch scallions, chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Two packages eggroll wrappers, about 48 total

In large bowl combine everything but eggroll wrappers. Mix well to blend. Lay eggroll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you. Using a 2 to 3 tablespoons scoop, scoop it into the middle fold the two sides over the bottom up and roll it into an egg roll, wet to seal.

Repeat with remaining rappers.

Preheat oven to 425. Using cooking spray, cover a baking sheet. Place the egg rolls on this baking sheet and spray the top with cooking spray. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned, turn them over and bake another 8 minutes.  Serve with salsa.

Dip in homemade Salsa:-- OR-- just use 365 brand Salsa Verde-- it is SO delicious

4 fine ripened tomatoes

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
One small yellow onion
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
Juice of one lime

1 jalapeño  pepper

Blend in food processor till desired consistency adding tomatoes last