Breakfast: Bob's Red Mill Organic Creamy Buckwheat Cereal with Almond Milk, Apples, and Almonds

Bob's Red Mill Organic Creamy Buckwheat Cereal with Almond Milk, Apples, and Almonds

I grew up eating buckwheat. My family would have it for dinner as a side dish, cooking it very similarly to rice. Often, buckwheat would be mixed with a heaping spoon of sauteed onions and topped with a chopped boiled egg. There was probably a pickle on a side.

This time, I tried a different form of buckwheat - Bob's Red Mill Organic Creamy Buckwheat Cereal. I had it for breakfast, naturally sweetened with chopped apples.  Why buckwheat?  It's a whole grain, gluten free, and a great source of protein and fiber.  How else would you want to start your day?

Chopped Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing: Vegan and Gluten Free Recipe

The days of poached or scrambled eggs for breakfast are temporarily on hold, as I am entering the last five days of the Vegan and Gluten Free Detox.  Instead of eggs, I have been eating quinoa with steamed kale.  It tastes a lot better than it might sound, especially with a splash of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of red pepper flakes.

This morning I wanted something other than quinoa - cold, refreshing, and colorful.  A little bit of chopping, some whisking, and stirring, and I served two plates of Chopped Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing in just minutes.  This couldn't be quicker or easier, yet a perfect combination of crisp Romaine, chopped vegetables, creamy dressing and a final touch of sesame seeds.

French Lentil Salad with Crispy Bacon and Vegetables Recipe

Just in time for the latest cookbook club potluck, I prepared this French Lentil Salad with Crispy Bacon and Vegetables.  I bet you could make this with regular lentils, but using the French variety elevates this dish slightly, making it more decadent and special.

We were reading An Everlasting Feast: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler.  She cooked a lot with lentils and beans.  She used a lot of parsley. Majority of her recipes came straight from her well-stocked pantry.  I tried to do the same, using what I already had on hand, brightening the dish with parsley and briny capers.  I think Tamar would be proud....accept for the part where by mistake I poured out the broth from the lentils, instead of saving this flavorful, deep liquid and making soup out of it the next day.  I'm sorry, Tamar.

Clean Your Body SuperFood Morning Shake Recipe

Oh boy!  For the next eleven days I will be doing a cleansing eating plan - a combination of gluten-free and vegan, no caffeine, no alcohol, no chocolate!  I will have to give in for 2 meals to make exceptions, but for the rest 31 meals plus snacks, I will stick to the plan.

This morning, I started with a Clean Your Body SuperFood Shake: Kale, Almond Milk, Ice.
Hmmm, it's green!

Clean kale, and tear the leaves into small pieces.  I used about a cup and half of this vitamin-packed green.  Place at the bottom of a blender (how I wish I had a Vitamix for this!).  Add a cup of non-sweetened almond milk, and a cup of ice.  Tightly secure on the lid for the blender and blend.

It's a combination of a shake and an icee.  I will try adding herbs and spices tomorrow, but for now, I'm off to slurping.

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Inside-Out Gyro-Style Lamb Roulade with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Pita Chips, and Feta Recipe

I've been cooking and eating a lot of lamb lately.  What can I say, I'm a fan.  In fact, I might just start baaa-ing instead of talking.  When I was approached to participate in Seattle's first American Lamb Pro-Am,  I knew I had to do it!   PLEASE VOTE if you like the recipe. Thanks!

I picked up a mystery lamb cut, which turned out to be a boneless leg of lamb, and it was a big one -- easily 8-10 pounds!  I took it home and let it sit in the fridge for a few days while waiting for inspiration to hit.  And then I had dinner with my brother and his girlfriend.  I had a falafel sandwich, and the two of them had gyros.  I was sharing my excitement for the lamb cook-off, and my brother suggested I make gyros.  Interesting.

Instead of making a traditional lamb gyro, I chose to take the elements of a gyro - pita, tomatoes, hummus (might not be traditional, but I like a smear of hummus inside my gyro), feta, onions and spices - and turn them into a filling for a lamb roulade.  I rolled the filling inside a butterflied and pounded leg of lamb and roasted it in the oven.  And there it was: Inside-Out Gyro-Style Lamb Roulade with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Pita Chips, and Feta.

More info: Sponsored by the American Lamb Board, ten of the Seattle's food bloggers are to come up with the original lamb recipes that will be put up for a vote.  Four will be selected and pair up with four of Seattle's chefs to cook at Cedarbrook Lodge in Seattle for 150 local lamb fans.

PLEASE VOTE if you like the recipe.  Thanks!

Raspberry Picking at Biringer Farm in Washington

Last weekend the Artist and I went to pick raspberries.  We didn't go to a local grocery store, we went straight to the farm.  He picked the Biringer Farm just an hour north of Seattle, a straight up shot on I-5.  We were in luck - it was the last weekend to pick raspberries and there were still plenty of ripe berries.

How to Cook and Peel a Perfect Egg

Do you know how to cook eggs?  Seems like a trick question, but I promise, there's no trickery in mind.  Cooking eggs is a pretty straight forward process if you know how to do it correctly, and once you do, you will never have to see a beautiful egg yolk trapped in a greenish-grey outline, or a hard-as-a-rock egg white. 

Instead, you will enjoy a beautiful, bright, lemony-yellow or slightly orange (depending on the chicken) yolk and a tender white.

What's inside counts, but so does what is on the outside ... I'm talking about perfectly peeled eggs.  It's true that eggs that are fresh are more difficult to peel than those that are older.  But with the kitchen tip I will share here, even the youngest eggs will be a breeze to peel.  Intrigued?  Keep on reading.

Pomegranate Molasses Meets Vanilla Ice Cream

Have you ever cooked or assembled food with just two items that seemed so far from one another that you would have never ever thought they would create harmonious magic for your tasting buds?

I can't remember the last time I played that game in the kitchen.  Perhaps I should schedule play dates with my friend Priya more often for inspiration.  On the night of our play date, she showed up with a pint of a fantastic vanilla bean ice cream.  I don't even remember what I cooked for dinner, but it must have been quiet filling, because we almost forgot about the ice cream.

When it was time to cool down I pulled out the carton of vanilla ice cream from the freezer and scooped it into our bowls.  And then I stopped.  I wanted something more.  Chocolate sauce wouldn't do and I didn't have any berries on hand.  I was craving for something tart and sweet at the same time.  And then I reached into my refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Pomegranate Molasses.  I drizzled it over the ice cream and we ate.  It was fantastic.

There were a few spoons of ice cream left in the container when Priya went home.  I drizzled a bit more right inside the container and finished it.

Joining the Pinterest Craze: Sunny Side Up Eggs Inside Bell Pepper Slices

Art doesn't happen strictly on canvas.  Art can, and does, happen everywhere.  Even in my kitchen!  One morning, the Artist was set on making Sunny Side Up Eggs Inside Bell Pepper Slices.  He must have heard me talk about this fun recipe and seen pictures I shared from Pinterest.  Have you checked out the site yet?  Be sure you have hours of free time to browse, and while you are there, you might as well look me up, under snackingkitchen, of course.

But back to the eggs, the Artist headed to the store, early in the morning, to pick up a pepper, and came back with a huge, organic, green bell pepper.  I would've chosen a different color, but his palate dictated the serenity of green.

While this recipe was prepared by an adult, it will work equally well prepared by children!  So please, be sure to cook this with your kids!  They will love it, and they will love you for letting them in the kitchen.

Sunny Side Up Eggs Inside Bell Pepper Slices

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 bell pepper, cored, cut into 1/3" slices, crosswise
4 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.

2.  Saute pepper slices on one side for 2-3 minutes.  The skillet needs to be large enough to fit 4 slices of pepper without overcrowding them.

3.  Crack eggs into individual small bowls.  Be careful not to break the egg yolks.

4.  Flip pepper slices to the other side and lower the heat to medium.

5.  Pour each egg inside a pepper slice. Magic - the pepper holds the egg within its borders.

6.  Cook the egg to desired doneness and season with salt and pepper right before serving.

This was fun to make and even more fun to eat.  Next time, I'll use an orange bell pepper, or perhaps even a large poblano.  While the eggs are cooking, I would recommend toasting a piece of toast and lightly buttering it to later dip the bread into the rich, soft yolk.

The secrets to the dish:
~ Be sure the peppers are sliced evenly, so they are fully touching the surface of the skillet, otherwise the egg white will escape
~ Control the heat
~ Cook the pepper on both sides

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Choco-Walnut B'Anna Bread ~ Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts Recipe

A banana-celebration party is nothing without a loaf of banana bread.  Think of the banana bread as the chief of the party, the big shot, the one welcoming all of the other newcomers to the table.  I like my banana bread with walnuts and chocolate, and so I altered Dole's recipe for Classic Banana Bread, adding semisweet chocolate chips, substituting walnuts for almonds, and elimination ground cinnamon.  I also increased the amount of sour cream for a more tender bread. I might take this one step further next time and add crushed banana chips to the top of the bread.