Sweet Corn Salad w/ Black Beans

I love Texas Caviar:
love, lurve, luh-uv! it

But it has some ingredients in it that make me sick,
so when I found this recipe somewhere attached
to Oprah's name,
I was really excited to give it a try.
I can't say I like it AS much as the
full on fatty recipe that I love so much,
but I like it tons when I consider that
I don't get sick AND
I can eat as much as I want!!

Sweet Corn Salad with Black Beans 

8 ears corn on the cob                                                           4 TBSP. extra virgin olive oil

2 C. black beans, drained                                                      4 scallions, chopped

3ripe plum tomatoes, seeded & chopped                        1 red bell pepper, diced

3 TBSP. red wine vinegar, or to taste                                 coarse sea salt & freshly black pepper

2 TBSP. chopped cilantro

Shuck & trim corn from cob. Sauté kernels in olive oil, 5-6 minutes. Return corn to bowl and add beans, scallions, tomatoes, and red pepper. In small bowl, combine wine vinegar, 1 tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper and remaining 2 TBSP oil. Pour into corn mixture, add cilantro and mix well.

Mango Lime Smoothie

I will be perfectly honest. I am a pretty good pity party guest

and also pretty good at throwing my own pity parties,

especially when the rest of the room is eating a super yummy

ice cream treat :(

Insert instrumental sob music here 

So when I tasted this healthy Mango Smoothie,

I felt like I had defied gravity and 

been sent straight to smoothie heaven!

Mango Lime Smoothie- Healthy version

3 mangoes- cut in chunks                                           1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 limes, juiced                                                                  Ice cubes

 ** Blend well

Apple Drop Biscuits

Apple Drop Biscuits

1 c. spelt flour                                                                                3/4 c. oat or millet flour

4 tsp. Baking powder                                                                    1 tsp. Cinnamon, ground

½ tsp baking soda                                                                         1/8 tsp sea salt

2 Tbsp organic honey                                                                   1/4 c. olive oil

1 c. low fat plain or greek style yogurt                                       1 c. apples, unpeeled, shredded with grater

olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. In medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk honey, oil, yogurt and apples.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Do not over mix

Mist baking sheet with cooking spray. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with Sweetened Oat Topping; ¼ c. rolled oats, 1 tsp. olive oil & 1 tsp. sucanat- mixed until well combined.

Bake 10-15 minutes.

Stop for What Makes You Happy!!!

It is really easy to be totally consumed with what I have going on in life.
Really easy to be so focused on what is directly in front of me
that I miss what is just barely off in another direction.
Makes for a really one dimensional approach to life!
But unfortunately it is an easy dimension to get trapped in.

I find when my focus is so limited,
I see with a false sense of perfect clarity
the immediate issues that I face daily.
But they are so big,
when they are right in front of my face!
It is really not a perfect clarity at all.

Try to step back a bit!
take a look around,
enjoy the scenery,
look for little signs that
life is good,
life is right,
and life is full of hope
and natural beauty.

Sometimes it is the step back,
that puts things in perfect perspective.

A random man, at a random Starbucks, in a random beach town but his joy brought joy to my daughter!

Citrus Scones

When my doctor first suggested that I eliminate all
processed foods as well as all flour & sugar products
I honestly thought
"What the heck is left??????"

After a little research and a lot of searching,
I discovered that "FLOUR" does not just
come from WHEAT!!
At first I seriously had an adverse reaction to
SPELT, RICE, QUINOA, POTATO
and all the other "FLOUR's" available.
I didn't have a lot of interest in them-
and than one day,
I was really missing muffins-
yes of all the things I had to eliminate
I missed MUFFINS!!

So I began a search and I found several different
muffin, scone, biscuit type recipes
all using these amazing flours-
so I tried one recipe,
and than another
and than another!
I will tell you-
NOT all wheat free recipes are created equal,
but this one is a winner.
We all liked it,
all ate them and in the end,
this is one recipe that has been added the
MY SISTER'S COOKBOOK-
which is the mother of all cookbooks!
(at least at this house)
Share this with someone you love
who can't eat flour-
(or someone you know who can)
they will love you forever :)

 Citrus Scones

                  

2/3 skim milk                                                         1/3 c. sucanat                                                                                

juice of ½ each lime, lemon, orange                  zest from 3 citrus’

1 ½ c. spelt flour                                                    2 egg whites

1 c. brown rice flour                                              ¼ c. olive oil

1 tsp. baking powder                                           1 tsp. Vanilla extract

½ tsp. Baking soda                                              Olive oil cooking spray

Combine milk & citrus juices. Set aside for 5 minutes. In separate bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, sucanat and zests.  Add egg whites, oil and vanilla to milk mixture. Blend well.   Combine dry and wet ingredients until moist. Do not over mix.

Mist baking sheets with cooking spray. Shape into scones on baking sheets and mark with wedge cuttings or drop onto pans like drop biscuits.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Sometimes life just gets in the way,
and dinner does not go as planned.
We had too much on the calendar
Thursday night-
absolutely too much!
So the plan to make yummy Tri-Tip sandwiches
fell off the agenda.
I had some leftover pumpkin from this
after school snack  that we had earlier in the week,
and I am on my "let's try to minimize our
expenses this month" kick,
so I decided we could have pumpkin pancakes.
I wanted something the kids could quick whip
together, leave in the fridge and as people came
in and out for the night,
could really fast just cook for themselves-
I hate these kind of nights,
but let's face it-
with a busy family,
they exist!!
And I didn't want everyone just rummaging
and eating junk.
Anyhoo!
I found this recipe for delicious
PUMPKIN PANCAKES
served them with organic maple syrup-
the good stuff-
With the exception of Kelci,
we all thought they were delicious!
Maybe if I keep making fall food,
the recipe here will start to feel like FALL!

Overnight Honey-Almond Multi-Grain Cereal

I was drawn to this recipe for several reasons:
1. The steel cut oats, which I LOVE
2. Pearl barley, which I have TONS of and don't use
3. Honey & Almonds- who can go wrong there &
4. It's a new take on Hot Cereal,
which I kind of needed

Fall fast approacheth,
put this on your menu

Overnight Honey-Almond Multigrain Cereal

1/3 c. steel cut oats                                         1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 TBSP uncooked pearl barley                      1 TBSP sliced toasted almonds

1 ¼ c. water                                                     1 TBSP honey

1/8 tsp salt

¼ t. cinnamon

 Combine oats, barley and 1 ¼ c. water in a microwave safe bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight or 4 hours. Uncover bowl and stir in salt. Microwave, uncovered at HIGH for 6 minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed, stirring well after 3 minutes. Stir in ¼ tsp cinnamon and nutmeg. Top with almonds and honey.