Recent Eats

Florida has inspired me to eat a little cleaner, try new recipes, and share old recipes with new friends. After all, eating is so much more enjoyable when you have other people around the table with you to share life with. To start, I took a little trip to Aldi and found a great sale on squash! I usually cook squash on the skillet with the usual italian seasonings such as olive oil, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, maybe some cheese, tomatoes, or breadcrumbs. However, I had more squash than I knew what to do with! I enjoy making squash casseroles but that defeated the purpose of trying to eat a healthy side dish real quick.  So, I remembered a recipe I saw in a magazine for a Summer Squash and Ricotta Galette (recipe here). It's similar to a quiche but with less egg. My sweet mother-in-law was in town too and I knew she would help me eat this! It was so tasty and good for you! You should try it the next time you find your refrigerator with an overload of squash! 

before & after...yummm

Another healthy food that I've experimented with lately are these gluten free, dark chocolate, Truvia cookies! My brother-in-law made a similar recipe while I was back in Tennessee and I decided to take the recipe to a new level. I've made a few muffin recipes with oat flour and quinoa flakes so I figured, why no try those ingredients with cookies? I have a friend and a family member who no longer eat gluten so I've been inspired to create good food that's gluten free. Why not? If it tastes as good as a "regular" chocolate chip cookie, than why not make it extra healthy? They are so yummy, and I'm a picky sweet eater! Even my friend who doesn't eat gluten tried them and she's in love! SUCCESS! They're not crunchy or weird tasting at all! I brought some to church and everyone loved them too. I was so excited...I still am! Here's a quick shot I got before they disappeared at church. 

• Dark Chocolate, Gluten Free, Truvia Cookies! 
• 3/4 cup uncooked regular oats
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Truvia baking blend
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup OAT flour  
• 3/4 cup quinoa flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
•  2 1/4 cups chopped dark chocolate
• Chopped dark and white chocolate for top of cookies 
• Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and sugars with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir together dry ingredients and gradually add to butter mixture. Fold in chopped chocolate. Cover dough, and chill 8 to 12 hours. ( I didn't chill mine and it was fine.) Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown; press remaining chocolate into cookies to make them look pretty!
• Now, this cake is not good for your body but it's good for your soul my friend! Your soul! I couldn't wait to share this old recipe with new friends! This would be a Chocolate Bar Cake from my mom's bakery cookbook that I made for my lovely friend Shannon! She recently had a birthday and requested a chocolate dessert so I had to make this scrumptious cake! I've made this before so here's my post with the recipe.  You can click on the picture of the recipe there to make it larger so you can read it. Here's Shannon and silly Blake in the background...
• I usually just drizzle chocolate on top of the cake but this time, I wanted to try something new and I can't wait to show you! Chocolate curls! MMM. This was SO easy! Just grab your vegetable peeler and unwrap your chocolate. The main rule is to make sure that your chocolate is semi-warm. I popped mine into the garage for about five minutes and it was perfect. I live in Florida so that worked for me but you can get creative. Also, the easiest way to transport the curls to your creation is to put them in the freezer so they set properly so you can handle them. You know! I had so much fun and I loved making something beautiful for such a sweet friend!
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Some new recipes that I've learned about lately are Arepas and Cuban Black Beans! Aaaaarrrrepas! Can you hear the Spanish coming out in that word? At our church last week, my friend Silvia and Millie and little Mark were making these authentic creations! Between watching wiggly Jude and watching them make the Arepas, I didn't think to take a picture but Google always has pictures! 

The best way to describe them would be a mixture between cornbread and crepes. They're delicious and very easy to make! Here's a quick recipe:

Arepas

3 cups lukewarm water, or as needed

1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups Venezuelan cornmeal, or as needed 
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil, plus more for the griddle

Turn a skillet or griddle on medium heat. Warm some oil up in the pan. Mix the cornmeal, salt, and water together until the mixture is similar to Play-Doh. Flatten out the mixture to the size desired and let it cook on the grill until it poofs up in the middle. (really high tech directions here but hey, I've never made them myself). Serve with meat, eggs, cheese, or whatever you like the middle! Enjoy and say "Arepas" like Greek people say "umpaaaaah." Haha!

Here are two of the famous cooks! (stole this picture from Facebook)

Here's the third cook, Mark! Love him!

One more recipe that you will LOVE. Have you ever had Cuban Black Beans? They taste so savory  and spanish! Jude loves them. I looked up a recipe but I'm not big on measuring when it comes to seasoning veggies so I just opened a can of beans and used what I had in the pantry and they were YUMMY. Here's an estimate on the seasonings though...

thanks Google!

Cuban Black Beans
One can black beans

1/8 tsp garlic powder or two cloves fresh garlic

1/2 tsp onion flakes/ onion powder/ 1/4 real onion

1/4 cup diced green peppers if desired

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Dash of salt

Dash of pepper

1 Tbs olive oil

1/8 tsp oregano

1/4 to 1/2 tsp cumin (ground cumin)

Add a bay leaf or a few shakes of dried bay leafs

Again, life is sweeter when you have friends to share it with! I'm so thankful for new friends and old friends to share the good and the bad with. To share new and old recipes with! I love how food brings us together, I think that's why I'm so passionate about it!