Recipes

#GirlsNightIn // Mocktails

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Pregnancy has really had me thinking about mocktails. I don’t know what it is about being pregnant that has me craving interesting drinks, maybe it’s all the water I have to drink? Anyways I have been in the mood for mocktails and have been making them regularly at home and ordering one often when we go out.

I prefer my mocktails fresh, fruity or citrusy and not too sweet. They can be super complex and interesting or simple like seltzer, lime and cranberry juice. One of the best mocktails I have had lately was when we were in Vermont and it was a combination of seltzer, fresh grapefruit juice, fresh orange juice and just a splash of cranberry juice for color. Bonus mocktails mean I can have a few without feeling guilty (or tipsy) and can share with Edith if I want.

All this mocktail talk though had me crafting ideas for a fun Girl’s Night In with mocktails or mocktails that could be turned into cocktails. Pair these mocktails with fresh and tasty appetizers such as fresh rolls, veggies and hummus, stuffed mushrooms or light salads. Add in a game or a movie and it sounds like the making of a perfect Girls’ Night In.

Here are a few mocktail recipes that I have been lusting after and ones that I think would be perfect for a Girls’ Night in.

Let’s talk about a few of these mocktails:

  • Cucumber Mojitos: cool and super refreshing! This is the perfect summer recipe using fresh and easy ingredients. It is also a beautiful drink so it would be perfect to enjoy with friends. Pair it with some spicy appetizers for a perfect combo.
  • Acai Grapefruit Raspberry Mocktails: This is exactly the type of mocktail that I crave. Made with at Trop50 Raspberry Açaí juice blend it is lightly sweet with a tart component to balance it all out. It would be wonderful paired with some fresh veggies, dip and pita or light salads.
  • Cantaloupe-Ginger Spritzer:  This mocktail caught my eye immediately because it’s not often that you find a drink made with cantaloupe. It is also so beautiful that it will impress your guests! This would pair well with some Asian dishes such as fresh rolls, dumplings or seasoned edamame pods.

I hope that these mocktails help to inspire your next Girls’ Night In and for additional inspiration check out the Trop50 collection on Foodie.

What is your favorite type of mocktail?

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Trop50 via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Trop50.

 

Cinco de Mayo- National Enchilada Day

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I know Cinco de Mayo isn’t until tomorrow but I wanted to share this recipe in case you were in need of a last minute Enchilada recipe to celebrate National Enchilada Day and Cinco de Mayo.

enchiladas
I could eat Mexican food everyday if my husband let me but alas I am the cook and he only likes it once in awhile so when I do make it I like to go all out. Although not completely traditional this recipe is wildly delicious and a  little spicy so I recommend serving with non-dairy or dairy sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (if you do the whole dairy thing).

Serves 4-6
Red Sauce Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3oz chili pods
  • 1-28oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 10 unsulfered Turkish apricots
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup vegetable broth or water

Ingredients for Enchiladas:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 8oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 8oz baby spinach
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • Red sauce (recipe above)
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 2 cups shredded vegan pepper jack cheese

Directions:

For the sauce: Remove the stems and seeds from chili pods. Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water; let sit for 10 minutes. Place apricots in a bowl and cover with boiling water; let sit for 10 minutes. Heat the olive oil in the saute pan over medium heat and add the onions; cook for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Stir in the garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and cook uncovered for 3 minutes. Drain the chili pods and apricots and place in a blender. Add the tomato mixture, lemon juice and vegetable broth to the blender and puree. Use as is or strain through a mesh  sieve for a smoother sauce.

Preheat oven to 425F.

For the Filling: Heat the olive oil in the saute pan over medium heat and add the onions; cook for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add the mushrooms, cover, spin and reduce heat to low; cook for 3 minutes. Add the spinach, return the cover, spin and cook for 3 minutes.

Assemble:

Place a layer of sauce on the bottom of the roasting pan.
Dip both sides of the tortilla into the red sauce (you may want to wear gloves for this) and then fill with about 2 tablespoons of the mushroom and spinach mixture; roll and place in the roasting pan. Repeat until all of the tortillas are filled.
Top with the remaining sauce and then sprinkle with a layer of pepper jack cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

Foodie: 12 Spring Salad Recipes

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Foodie. All opinions are my own.

After being away for 10 days and eating out more and just not our usual meals we have been ready for greens, greens and salads. I actually stocked up with a big container of organic mixed greens, baby spinach, baby arugula, dino kale and curly kale.  We have been making salads daily and of course I’m always looking for more inspiration on how I can jazz up a salad recipe. Here are 12 Spring Salad Recipes that I am currently getting inspired by:

Let’s talk about a few of these Spring Salad recipes:

What are your favorite spring salad recipes or ingredients? I love radishes especially Easter radishes because of the variety of colors.  I also am just loving all the spring greens and asparagus!

{Recipe} Avocado Curry Noodles

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Can I tell you how pumped I am for the all the farmers markets to start back up here in Portland? Seriously my favorite places to go grocery shopping. Right now there are only a few open but that’s okay because one of them is the PSU Farmers Market which has a great selection of produce and other items. This past Saturday we made our weekly trip to the market and despite the torrential down pour that occurred while we were shopping we had a great time and picked up lots of fresh produce.

This week I picked up mustard greens, spinach, baby leeks, carrots, parsnips, onions, shallots, baby kale and baby bok choy. I have been trying to incorporate the greens into our meals this week and last night it was baby bok choys’ turn. I found a jar of green curry in the pantry and since I have coconut milk I figured curry was the only way to go.

Avocado Curry

Avocado Curry Noodles

Serves 4
This recipe was inspired by a recent trip to the food carts where I saw avocado curry on the menu at one of the Thai stands. To be honest I don’t really know what traditional avocado curry is like but this is my version.

1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1″ knob of garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
4 cups baby bok choy, sliced
1 can lite coconut milk
2 tablespoons green curry paste
1 tablespoon tamari
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
1 avocado, diced – you want a semi-firm avocado so it holds up
4 servings of linguine, soba or buckwheat noodles
cilantro and avocado for garnish

Directions:

  1. Heat the coconut oil in a wok over medium-high heat.
  2. Just when the coconut oil has melted add the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds.
  3. Add the onion and bell pepper and toss to coat with the coconut oil; cook for 5 minutes stirring often.
  4. Stir in the bok choy and then add the coconut milk, curry paste, tamari and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Stir in the avocado.
  6. Divide the noodles into four bowls and ladle the curry over the noodles. Top with cilantro and avocado.

Avocado Curry Noodles

 

12 Vegan Pasta Dishes for Your Sunday Night Dinner

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by foodie.com. All opinions are my own.

Sunday dinners were never a big deal when I was growing up and even today we don’t do anything special but since working on this post I am thinking Sunday night pasta dinners sounds like a good idea. I remember growing up and watching TV shows and movies where Sunday pasta dinner was a thing and always wished that we did that in our house. So here are 12 recipes I plan on making (or making again) for our new Sunday Night Pasta tradition.

A little bit about these recipes:

  • The Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta has been a favorite for years. This recipe was featured back in 2008 on the blog VeganYumYum and I have been making it ever since. I often make this for omnivores and it is a huge hit!
  • The first time I had the Dairy-Free Spinach Stuffed Shells was actually right after Edith’s birth. A friend of ours brought them over as a baby meal and we have been making them ever since. I make these about every other month and often for potlucks and dinner parties. I also plan on making a batch (or two) for baby #2 freezer meals.
  • I am obsessed with pesto so the Tofurky Aritisan Sausage Pesto Pasta is one of my favorites to make.

Do you have a Sunday Night Meal tradition? What’s your favorite pasta recipe (share link below)?

Weekly Meals & Workouts | 2

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Photo from this past weekends hike.

Photo from this past weekends hike.

Weekly Workouts:

Saturday: Family Walks

Sunday: 2 Mile Hike to Wahclella Falls Hike See more photos here.

Monday: Family Walk

Tuesday: Family Walk

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Weekly Eats:

This week I didn’t do as good of a job at photographing all my meals (seriously I don’t know how some bloggers do it) but I did get a few shots. I haven’t discussed our budget or meal plan yet but that is coming up next week. We did things a little different this time around so I’ll be sharing the pros and cons of that and what we have learned this month. Until then here are some of my eats this week!

Weekly Eats- Eggplant Pasta Bowl
Eggplant Pasta Bowl (recipe to come)
Weekly Eats- Falafel Bowl
Falafel Bowl –> Falafel Recipe Here.
Weekly Eats- Burrito Bowl
Black Bean Burrito Bowl –> Inspired by this recipe.
foodieapp-homefries

Smoked Paprika Home Fries (find out where you can get the recipe here)Morning Star- Meatless Monday- Buffalo FriesBuffalo Chik’n Fires (recipe here)

Other things I ate this week included Ethiopian from an awesome food cart for lunch, homemade pizza, mega veggie sandwich, tofu salad sandwich, gluten free mac and cheese, banana bread and Neil’s Thai leftovers from our foodcart lunch.

Gluten Free Meals Foodie App

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Disclaimer: This is a sponsored opportunity with Foodie.com. All opinions are my own.

Over the past month we have really cut back on the amount of gluten we have been eating. At first it was really just by coincidence but now we are really making an effort to cut back, not out, but back on the amount of gluten we eat. A few weeks ago we had five days of meals without gluten and I was feeling good. My digestion improved, I was more energetic and well I really didn’t miss the gluten!

foodieapp-glutenfree-contents

Anyways since then we have been making an effort to eat less gluten because it makes us feel better so I was thrilled when this months gluten free recipe collection was released on the Foodie app (unfortunately for iphone and ipad only). While many of the recipes are omnivore and vegetarian there are a few vegan recipes and so far they have been really good.

Foodieapp-sunrisesaturday

I am also loving the set up of this collection as it gives you ideas for every day of the week! If you are full time gluten free or maybe you’re just looking for some inspiration this is the perfect app for your entire week.

Foodie App Gluten Free Collection Smoked Paprika Home FriesThis morning I made up a batch of the Smoked Paprika Home Fries. It’s not often that I make big breakfast during the week but I was in the mood and these sounded so good. I’m generally not the best at making home fries, they tend to be under cooked or don’t get crispy on the outside but this recipe changed all that. I think my biggest problem has always been that I have been using the wrong potatoes and after making this I won’t ever go back, russets are the perfect potatoes for home fries.

foodieapp-homefriesYou can get the recipe for these delicious vegan and gluten-free home fries by downloading the Foodie app to your ipad or iphone.

Seriously these were so good and I plan on making them often! I also am looking forward to trying the Pineapple-Mango Green-A-Colada Smoothie <– seriously sounds so good and is also included in these new Foodie App Gluten-Free Collection.