Beta-Carotene Cake

 I’m a vegetarian/wannabe vegan, I always get asked if I take vitamin supplements. I don’t, and I never have in over a decade of eating this way. I suppose I could pop a couple pills every morning, but if you can get all the vitamins you need in CAKE, why would you want to get them from a manufactured capsule?

This cake could otherwise be known as carrot cake with sweet potatoes, but beta-carotene just sounds so much better. Don’t you agree? Beta Carotene is found in many of the red, yellow, and orange fruits and vegetables we eat. It is an important source of vitamin A, and can help improve your eye-sight, keep your skin from sunburn, and help prevent cancer. IN A CAKE!

The Revival of The Secret Ingredient

Myself and Mo Rocca!!

Last week, I went to a fabulous event featuring fully grown men and women telling stories about their grandmother’s cooking and were transformed into children, standing as sous chefs on stools. Despite the various backgrounds of these bubbie’s–from super Ashkenazic Holocaust Survivors to Carla Hall’s Southern Mama–one thing held true throughout each story teller’s nostalgia, the dishes made hearty by love and the statement, “I wish she had written down the recipe for me”.

This prompted me to think of two things:

1) What recipes should I start asking for from my grandmothers, and;
2) What are my future grandkids going to think about MY cooking?

I could just see them standing on the same stage 50 years from now telling stories about me, “my grandmother made the world’s best black bean brownies”, or “my grandmother could put lentils into anything”.

And so, with a sudden burst of the desire to preserve my recipes for my non-existent children, and their even more non-existent children, I decided it was time to revive The Secret Ingredient.

Pizza Pizzaz

College is over, and my roommates and I had been celebrating by eating and drinking everything was left in eyesight. Fun as it was, in my few short weeks at home, I wanted to be far away from beer and cheesy bread. I admit, I didn’t come up with this recipe on my own–but I saw it and made it, and how many people attest to that!?

I made this recipe for my family, which if you remember from my first post, is five members with five different eating habits. One sister won’t eat non-Mozzarella cheese, one loves feta cheese. I like tomatoes, but my mom doesn’t. And of course, there is the ‘dad test’. My dad will eat just about anything, as long as it’s American food. That’s why this pizza-in-disguise is great, it satisfies my entire family’s quirky eating habits, even my dad’s.

The process is super simple, and relatively fast. It tastes great, and just like regular pizza, you can make it the way you love it. With sauce or without, spinach and tomatoes, onions and peppers, mushroom and olives–whatever satisfies your soul. The best part is, you don’t have to feel guilty about having seconds or even thirds because this pizza is super healthy, my family even went out for ice cream after!  Plus, it has none of the carbs or shady ingredients that you might not know about in take-out pizza. Don’t let this recipe be one you read and never try, it’s totally worth it!

IT’S THE little THINGS

Sorry about the delay in posting– finals, graduating, looking for apartments, and moving, has this way of interrupting my blog time!

These are two recipes that I did not create on my own. In fact, they are just every day foods that you’ve probably eaten them in the last 24 hours–especially if you live in our house where 2 dozen eggs don’t last a week. The secret for these recipes in is the presentation, not the ingredients.  Follow these recipes and your friends will be amazed at how easy

it is to make a tasteful and tasty meal.  These recipes remind me like tea partys, and  the end of Giada De Laurentiis show, and ‘pinterest’. Who wouldn’t want to have more of that in their life? Simple, elegant, and easy.

Bananza Bread

First things first. If you are reading this blog, you have correctly chosen the right way to waste some time. Trust me, this Ted Talk  is a MUCH better waste of time that is related, educational and interesting.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Next time I’m in chicago, I have plans to stand behind the restaurant and eat what they are about to throw away. I said it was awesome, not cheap.

But here is a recipe that’s a little more budget friendly. It’s not necessarily something you wouldn’t have thought of yourself, but you didn’t. So here I am, providing you this recipe with nutritional goodness. In fact, you’ll see that it might just save your life.

It’s called Bananza Bread because it’s banana bread and zucchini bread mixed into one! If you come from a diabetic conscious household like I do, you might be thinking “OY! But that has so much sugar!”. You aren’t wrong there is some sugar in this recipe, but to quote my main man (sorry, Avatar),  ”Eat food. not too much. Mostly plants”.

Beans and Greens!

Since high school, I have attended 3 higher level education institutions, and I have taken some really wonderful classes at all of them. But right now, my most favorite of all is Practical Botany. Before I begin to study for the quiz that I have tomorrow (which involves walking outside and identifying trees), I just wanted to show off a little of what I’ve been doing in class. If you remember, I posted a picture a little while back of my garden when it was just tiny seeds buried beneath the dirt, and maybe a few leaves.

And  now look at what it has become! 

A Cookie By Any Other Name…

…would taste just as sweet AND have less protein!!

There have to be more than a million cookie recipes in the world. Recently, it seems that more and more  advertisements and recipes are for “healthy” cookies. Let’s be real: if I want a cookie, I don’t want one that’s healthy! I want one that has all the ingredients that make cookies taste good; sugar and chocolate!

I’m not claiming that these cookies are healthy, just that they have a few more added benefits than your typical homemade cookies. As far as store bought cookies go, these are WAY better because they don’t have the preservatives and unpronounceable ingredients on the back. Remember Mr. Pollan’s rule: eat junkfood, as long as you make it yourself!

Unless you live with me and know that this is the ONLY way I make cookies now, you’re probably thinking “what on earth could she possibly be putting in those cookies, that she hasn’t already told us??”.