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- Pecan Sandies
- Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cake Pops
- Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake
- Chocolate Chip Pie
Secret Recipe Club: Morning Glory Muffins
September 12th, 2011
Another month for Secret Recipe Club has arrived and I am afraid it caught up to me really quickly. I am going to have to stop committing to projects because my daily life is catching up to me. Well, no actually my additional activities to get prepared for the baby’s arrival has been a tad taxing.
I have to even ask you for forgiveness. My pictures had to be done at night. Even though I knew what recipe I wanted to choose from the blog I was assigned to this month I just did not have time to bake them in the morning.
Ryan has started his last year at school and rehearsals for the Holland Chorale have started up again so it means in addition to welcoming a baby into our lives, the school year also proves to be busy. It is ALL good it just means that life needs to be adjusted a little differently.
This past weekend we had a 3-day rehearsal looking at all the NEW music for the chorale’s new season. It was beautiful to be able to sing alongside the group again after a summer off. The baby seemed to love the music too since this would be her first exposure to choral music especially since it is the third trimester. She would be more attune to the music and sounds.
Well now that we are back home ready to start a new week, I decided to start with a lovely and healthy recipe from Simply Cooked who was the blog assigned to me this week. The author is a veggie lover currently living in Hong Kong and is married to a carnivore. She has lovely recipes focusing on ways to use vegetables and fruits along with whole grains.She sure does do well for having a small kitchen and minimum resources.
My go-to recipe was her recipe for Morning Glory Muffins. I have tried these muffins in coffee shops and bakeries but I believe I have never made them before. What I do know is that some recipes ask for crushed pineapple while this recipe did not. Instead it called for orange juice. I was very intrigued!
I made the recipe vegan substituting the eggs for flax seed meal and using Earth Balance’s new coconut spread instead of vegetable oil. These muffins came out really moist and created a delicious aroma in the house. Ryan came in from rehearsal last night asking whether these Morning Glory muffins were only to be consumed in the morning. HA ha ha. Ryan taste-tested them and enjoyed eating 2 for his supper along with watermelon. Sunday suppers are nice when they are simple! 😀
I look forward eating this during the week and sending some off with Ryan when he goes off the school. The taste of the muffins were scrumptious and full of flavor. Adding some peanut butter was even more delicious! I think I will have some with some coffee this morning. Thanks Simply Cooked for posting this yummy recipe!
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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Veggie Chilaquilés with Molé Sauce
September 8th, 2011
Since I knew I was going to be out of town I knew I needed to get some things done before I left. Besides cleaning and arranging I finally got the nursery completed. Now, when I talk about the whole nursery I mean only half. We are using Ryan’s office and splitting it in half and making it half a nursery. It was at first hard to envision placing a crib and trying to make it baby-friendly.
Let’s talk about inspiration. It feels like I have lost all inspiration or creativity since getting pregnant. I have been so indecisive and changed themes, colors, and many other things but after several trips to different stores I FINALLY was inspired. Ryan was able to give his 2 cents an really helped.
I have always liked greens and yellows and I thought that would be a unique color for my little girl but the more I kept on looking at magazines,outfits and such I really was drawn more to pink. I have never really been a pink person, but a soft pink with brown sounded nice. Then I realized I like the Parisian theme but I did not want to make the baby’s room too serious or more like an adult’s room.
I am finally happy with the final product and I cannot wait to have our little girl enjoy her room, even though she will be in a bassinet toward the begining.
The other task at hand was completing a recipe for a contest. Remember I promised an enchilada recipe back in July? I am so bad with keeping up and following through with recipes but I get caught up. I decided to use this contest to make a NEW recipe.
Marx foods sent me an invitation to be part of a recipe contest called the Blogger Chile Recipe Challenge. I happily accepted even though I knew I would have to pop in some TUMS after eating my own dish. Ha ha ha. They sent me 6 different types of chiles and I decided to use 3 of them in a recipe that would combine well.
In Mexico there is a traditional dish called molé that is made with chicken and served with tortillas and white rice. Sometimes you can serve it as a sauce and place it on enchiladas. I decided to make a different recipe taking the traditional chilaquiles, which are fried corn tortilla chips usually served with tomato sauce, shredded chicken or eggs, with cheese and cream, and make a healthier version and richer in flavor by subsituting it with a molé sauce.
Molé sauce is typically different in every region of Mexico. My sauce is all vegan and is tomato and chile based with very simple ingredients but robust flavors.
Instead of frying the corn tortillas, I pan-fried them with little oil to crisp them up. The tortillas are left out to dry for a day so they do not soak up too much oil.
Instead of the shredded chicken I used fresh veggies and sauteed them in olive oil, garlic and oregano. In a dish placed the crisp tortillas, topped it with molé sauce and added the fresh veggies and then drizzled it with sour cream and cotija cheese. The dish is completely vegan using vegan sour cream but vegetarian if using cotija cheese. All in all this dish was so filling and delicious.
Thanks Marx Foods!
For Molé Sauce:
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, whole, onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Fry the veggies until the chilies finish soaking and the veggies are roasted. Drain the chilies with a slotted spoon but KEEP the chile water. Add the chilies to the pan and continue frying the chilies with the veggies for another 5 minutes.
Assembly:
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Fresh Blackberry Cake with Blackberry Frosting
September 7th, 2011
I can feel fall trying to make itself comfortable. It is cloudy and and cool and perfect weather for a big bowl of oatmeal and some coffee. Has anyone had a pumpkin latte yet? I must make it soon!
I have been looking at my potted herbs and realized I have to plan more accordingly so I will not waste these precious herbs. I have some basil, mint and rosemary. As I was looking at my basil and mint I realized that something has been getting their teeth or jaws on the leaves. They looked chewed on!
Guess what I saw the other day?
Is this praying mantis not beautiful?? I promise you it was posing for me because as I was taking photos it stopped chewing and climbing over leaves to stop and look at me. It was pretty amazing!
Stay tuned to see what I make with these leftover herbies. I usually make a basil lemonade but I am not quite sure that I can ingest too much basil with being preggers.
This past Sunday we had the new grad students come over for a little dessert and wine get-together. Everyone was to bring their favorite dessert or wine. We had a total of 11 people and lots of desserts! We had:
I made sure to add some pretzels to the mix just to add some palate cleansing.
I decided to make a cake. It has been a while since I had made a cake but guess what I scored at the grocery store? 3-4 pounds of FRESH blackberries for 2 bucks! Yes. So apparently the store bought too many and they were almost going bad so they were selling each pint for 0.18.Crazy people because they looked great.
I decided to freeze half of the berries and then use some for breakfast and some for a special dessert. A blackberry cake sounded sensational! I know that a new recipe should not be tried on company but I decided to risk it. I like taking risks.
I stumbled on a recipe from Living Locurto that described a one-of-a kind blackberry cake and I was sold. I veganized the recipe and cut the sugar back and decided to add a blackberry frosting instead of using a plain buttercream frosting. I was so excited to make a colorful dessert!
It is a 3 layer cake, requiring 3 cups of berries divided between 3 cake pans. Once they are baked there is a crispy layer on each cake that is delicious. The smell of the baked cakes is also pretty dang good.
Everyone knows that blackberries are the worst when it comes to the seeds. How was I going to ge rid of the seeds for the frosting? I whipped the berries in my Vitamix and it blended the seeds into the puree very well!
I got lots of compliments about this cake. If anything, it is a great party dessert, but I also think it would be a great birthday cake too. It also really does NOT take tha much time. Between whipping the cake batter and making the frosting as the cakes bake, I believe this was an easy recipe and this is saying something coming from a pregnant woman! Go and make it!
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Baby Shower and Labor Day Eats
September 6th, 2011
This weekend I had to catch up on grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks in addition to shopping for the little one AND getting the nursery completed. Did I get it done? YES! I probably tired myself out more that I should have but once I get going I cannot stop. Ryan reminded me not to overdo but better said than done.
I am cherishing my nap time, obviously not as much as I should but I am getting more tired and my feet are killing me, especially when I run errands from 1 pm to 7:30pm. Yes, I know, I know.
This past Saturday I had my 1st Michigan baby shower. I say this because my mother had thrown me one back in May when I headed to Houston for my sister’s wedding. The ladies at church got a wonderful shower and games together and we had a lovely time.
How about some yummy punch with crustless mini quiches, lemon cheesecakes, fruit cheesecakes, fruit-filled chocolate bowls? Yes, I was all very delicious! We played 2 games where the ladies had to guess who the baby would look like or be most like either Ryan or me. The game was very amusing.
It was nice to receive more of my items from the baby registry and it inspired all my arranging I did on Labor Day. I finally updated my registry on Babies ‘r Us and Amazon, so I know all that I have left. It is pretty amazing the things that one needs to bring a new life into this world. There are so many CUTE things too. Either way, I was blessed and grateful with th baby shower my church family put together. It was nice visiting too!
Monday I worked on the half nursery I have. The wall decorations are all up and finished but the bedding for the crib is not so I will wait till tomorrow to show you an update. It has been a huge relief to get another huge part of getting ready for the little one. It is exciting!
I took a break from decorating on Monday to make a delicious lunch. I made burgers along with some crispy potato wedges and a carrot and kohlrabi slaw that was delicious. Ryan claimed that the fries were the best I had ever made. That is really saying something. Really.
Here are the quick recipes for the Potato wedges:
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Pimento-Basil Hummus
September 1st, 2011
Well the humidity has finally hit but luckily I am in A/C! I woke up after only getting up once during the night which means I got a good night’s sleep! Thank the Lord. I quickly got up and put on my tennis shoes and went for a 45 minutes walk and then stretched on my yoga ball. How about that for a great start to the morning?
Well, it was not complete until I finished my morning devotional reading from Joel 2 today and enjoying a strawberry, golden raspberry, banana smoothie made with soy milk.
