Best Salad Ever...

Fantastic salad! Recipe came in our weekly produce box, back before the fresh produce market opened again. 

Shredded Carrot and Pistachio Salad (adapted)
Full Circle Farms 

1 (to 1.5) c. shredded carrots, pressed dry
1/2 c. yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/3 c. pistachios, toasted and chopped
1/2 t. salt
2 T. Greek yogurt
1.5 T. olive oil
1 T. black or yellow mustard seeds
1 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Mix everything except mustard seeds; add oil to pan and heat over medium until they pop. Add oil and seeds to carrot mixture, stir and serve immediately. 

A Zesty Souvenir

So, there is this fantastic cafe in Kailua Kona on Alii Drive called Island Lava Java. Jen and I ate breakfast there every morning that we were in Kona, except for the two mornings that we ate papaya at our condo. My objective, pretty much every day in Hawai'i was to eat a papaya half, try a local specialty, and enjoy a tropical cocktail oceanside. I excelled at these goals. 

Waipi'o Stack Breakfast with 1/2 papaya and a 20 oz. Kona coffee - heaven...

Island Lava Java's fantastic menu

One of the most delicious things on the Lava Java menu (besides their 20-oz. cups of Kona Coffee) was the Waipi'o Stack Breakfast, which I've been attempting to re-create. It was a stack of goodness, starting with toasted homemade wheat bread, slathered with chipotle aioli, sliced tomatoes, spicy rocket (arugula), smoky bacon, over-easy eggs, and ripe avocado. Pure brilliance. I think I've finally got the chipotle aioli down... There's a chance that I may move on to their ginormous cinnamon roll recipe next (they're so popular, they let you reserve them ahead of time).  

Best Cinnamon Roll on the island... they sell out early. We paid for the one the day before, planning to pick it up on our way to Hilo the next morning. We picked it up and decided to stay for breakfast. Mmm... good choice.

Katrina's Chipotle Aioli for a Waipi'o Stack Breakfast at home... 
(makes enough to share with a friend)

1.5 c. good light mayonnaise 

4 whole chipotle chiles (canned in adobo sauce from the Mexican section of the grocery)

Juice from one medium lime
1-2 Tbs. honey or agave (to taste - I used one)

2 cloves crushed garlic (or two cubes of frozen crushed Dorot from TJ's)

1/4-1/2 tsp. Hawai'ian sea salt (I did slightly less than a 1/2 tsp) 

Whiz this all up in your food processor (or Magic Bullet like I did) and enjoy!! Add more chiles for more kick (or a little more of the adobo sauce from the can), or use full-fat mayo if you want (or regular sea salt, I just have some from Hawai'i). Heck, you could even make your own mayo, but I just don't have the time for that... 

This was pretty good tonight on top of my cooked potato with a dollop of Greek Yogurt and a tablespoon on this zesty goodness. I'm totally giving a little jar to Jen ASAP!! 

Right on Alii Drive... ocean-view with live music everyday - hard to beat!

*Sigh* Kona Coffee Perfection with a side of Aloha!

Dirt Cake

So, the most fun part of this dirt cake was the root-beer flavored gummy worms from Oriental Trading. I've (amazingly) only made dirt cake once before in my life, and that was before I had kiddos.

This time I intended to make it for our Halloween dinner party, but didn't get to it, so made it the following evening.

Vanilla pudding, light Cool Whip, crushed chocolate Oreos and WhoNu? sandwich cookies (which are fantastic, by the way - I like them more than Oreos), all layered and served up with the worms!

Luckily, we did have some last-minute dinner guests to enjoy this with and they had two servings each. It was a hit and very easy to whip up.

Rainbows, Birthdays, and Pumpkin Spice Kisses

This isn't the first (or even the second) time I've made an "epic" rainbow cake for someone's birthday, but I usually do save it for a significant milestone. Madeline's 5th, Sharon's 60th, and now Jamie's 40th. Jame's was the tallest cake yet since we did the full Roy G. Biv of rainbow colors, plus a pink layer on the bottom. Eight layers of goodness, especially since I used the vanilla cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen! It was delicious, sturdy, and worked well with all my colors. I used this recipe for the frosting (always delicious).

And, this weekend I made these Pumpkin Spice Kiss (and Kissless) Cookies that I spied on Pinterest from Sprinkle Some Sunshine right here. They are not too sweet, especially the rolled-in-cinnamon-sugar kissless ones), and tasty!

Wicked Witch Treat Mix

So, instead of adding the cute witch hats to a batch of my Wicked Caramel Corn (which would be tasty), we went even easier (but very tasty) with a batch of air-popped popcorn (4 cups? 6 cups?), several cups (maybe 3-4 cups) Rice Chex cerals, 2 cups (or so) of pretzels rods, and about 1 cup of broken pecans mixed together then tossed with one 14-oz. bag of melted Wilton white candy melts, 1/8 cup of orange sprinkles and 1/8 cup of black & orange Halloween nonpareils. I really mostly eyeballed everything in my large rectangular roasting/sheet cake pan. That's how we do things around here. Thankfully, it worked out for us. 

We think the pretzel rods look like broomsticks, and the Chex a little like bristles. One child may have suggested that some wicked witches crashed their brooms - oh, the imaginations! Hmm... regardless, this is a tasty and cute treat mix with our witch hats tossed in bags for friends to enjoy!

A Touch of Magic!

Last year on Pinterest, there was this sweet holiday snack mix with Chex and M&M's and pretzels and some other items, including adorable Santa hats made from dipping Bugles in melted red candy melts, then white sprinkles on the bottom and a mini marshmallow on top. Totally adorable. It was on the Cookies & Cups blog, and I never ended up making it, but my lovely friend Heather gifted some to me. Maybe I'll make some next year — check it out — her photos are light-years more lovely than mine!

So earlier this week, when Erik requested Bugles at the store, I bought some and then remembered those adorable Santa hats, and thought of making witch hats by dipping Bugles in dark chocolate. When we got home, I found that we had green candy melts and butterscotch chips, so we melted both in the microwave, I filled small Ziploc bags with a little of each and piped circles onto parchment paper for the hat bottoms. Then we dipped the Bugles in the melted candy and popped them onto the (slightly hardened) circles.

The kids loved helping with these, and I think that they will be adorable mixed into a new concoction of my Wicked Caramel Corn with Chex and pretzels and nuts (and maybe some Halloween-colored M&M's). Cute and sweet, just like these two!

Crepes? Oui, Merci!!

You really can't beat a piled-high platter of crepes for brunch. Add a buffet of topping/filling choices like lemon or lime slices to squeeze, powdered sugar to sprinkle, lingonberries, whipped cream to top, butter, syrups, Nutella, bananas, berries, peaches, sauteed apples, yogurt, chocolate chips, dried fruit, or savories like cheeses, sliced ham, and chopped fresh herbs... use your imagination! Add a plate o' bacon, or a platter of sausage, and some tasty beverages and you are set.

So, the best advice for crepes? Mix them up in a blender! Pour directly from your blender into your pan. Use whatever sized pan you want, but a lighter pan is easier to manage when you're tilting and swirling the pan to coat the bottom with your batter. Especially if you are working two pans at once (and feeding a crowd). Brush the bottom of your pan with a tiny bit of melted butter as needed to prevent sticking too.

I've made this recipe for years, and it is a favorite of my best bud, Jamie, whose birthday it is today! Happy Day Jame!!

Jamie's Favorite Crepes

2 c. milk
3 large eggs (or 4 smaller ones)
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. melted butter
1.5 c. flour

Add the ingredients to your blender, wet first, then dry, and blend until smooth (scrape down if needed). You can chill mixture in fridge briefly, or even overnight if making it ahead of time, or just get cooking. Blend the batter briefly right before you start pouring. 

I usually use about 1/4-cup of batter per crepe so the 9-inch pans I use, but adjust as you go to get thin, but sturdy crepes. Cook over medium heat, but adjust temperature as you go if they're browning too fast. 

This makes about a dozen crepes, and I often double the recipe. They freeze wonderfully, just stack them on a plate with a piece of waxed paper between each crepe. Enjoy!! 

Perfect Autumn Dinner

Our sunny skies abruptly changed to drizzly, sprinkly, gray and chilly, misty then downright rainy in the blink of an eye on Friday. Thursday people were in shorts, and Friday? Break out the Gortex folks, the rainy season is upon us!

But, lucky for me, I love the Pacific Northwest, and adore Autumn a fraction more than the other seasons, so I am ready. And, what better way to kick off the season than to cook up a staggeringly delicious pot of green chile bisque? Well, if you have our friend Vincent's recipe, get yourself some chiles, pronto because you need to get roasting!

Vincent's Green Chile Bisque
(adapted slightly by me, because I always tweak things)

1 lb Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot, depending on taste)
2 cloves minced/chopped garlic
1 medium, chopped yellow or sweet onion
2 medium chopped tomatoes (heirloom taste the best)
1/2 cup chopped NM green chile (medium to hot, roasted and peeled)
32 oz. chicken broth (divided)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream (or half-and-half, or whole milk with cornstarch, or *not Vince-approved* pureed Silken tofu) 
Salt & Pepper to taste 

Brown and drain 1 lb Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot, depending on taste), and add 2 cloves minced/chopped garlic near the end; cook about 2 more mins. At this point, I dumped the cooked sausage into a bowl and cooked the rest in the pan separately, knowing that I was going to use my immersion blender to blend all the cooked onions, tomatoes and peppers (all of which Erik would turn his nose up at) into a pretty green-yellow soup of unidentifiable as veggies) 
Add 1 medium, chopped yellow onion to pan (I used a Walla Walla Sweet). Cook for 5 minutes or until onions are transparent, then add 
2 medium chopped tomatoes (heirloom taste the best) 
and 1/2 cup chopped NM green chile (medium to hot, roasted and peeled). To be honest, I couldn't wait to drive over to Whole Foods in Bellevue to get NM Hatch Chiles, so I grabbed three banana peppers and two gorgeous pablanos from the fruit market. I simply roasted until the broiler, then peeled and de-seeded when cool enough to touch. Add 16 oz. chicken broth to pot (slowly) and blend with immersion blender. 

While this is cooking, melt 1/4 cup butter and whisk in 1/4 flour to make a roux. 
Cook 1-2 minutes, then slowly add an additional 16 oz chicken broth while whisking. 
Add roux and broth mixture to meat mixture. Cook to thicken, then add 1 cup heavy cream. So, I also couldn't do the heavy cream. I planned on subbing 1 cup of pureed silken tofu (which doesn't curdle when hot, and would cut fat and boost protein) but couldn't find it, so went with half-and-half instead. I think whole milk and a bit of cornstarch would work well too...  

Simmer 10 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with warm tortillas and good beer and/or wine. 

Hot Pink!

The kids adore pancakes, and I love them to eat as many veggies as possible, so... this past week I made Beet Pancakes and Sweet Potato Pancakes for breakfasts. They loved 'em all... the heart shapes didn't hurt either (they're free-hand, using a muffin scoop). 

I love the bright pink of the beet ones, they were delicious (I didn't even use syrup for mine, but the kids swear by the raspberry syrup with these babies). The recipe is from Weelicious, right here. 

The Sweet Potato Pancakes is a family-favorite recipe, from a spot in Atlanta... Highland Bakery. I'll post it when I get a chance.

I look forward to trying Carrot Cake Pancakes and Zucchini Bread Pancakes, plus, latkes over the holidays (or before) because the kids love them. And... Spinach Muffins from Weelicious too. I'm not a big fan of hiding veggies in other things, because I think kids should learn to love and appreciate whole foods that fuel their bodies, but, hey... if I can healthy-up their favorite breakfast and keep them guessing on how I get them to be such cool colors and so darn delicious?? That works for me. Madeline even said, "Wow! Mama is magical!!"

Mmm... Gingerbread

I don't know what it is with me and gingerbread, but I love it. And, I've been craving gingerbread cookies lately. So, what to do? Incorporate those fantastic flavors into a healthy (and sometimes old-hat) breakfast! 

I give you, Gingerbread Oatmeal! I will tweak to perfect, but this first go was pretty tasty. A little molasses-heavy, but it's full of iron, so that's OK. 

Gingerbread Oatmeal


1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk


Cook according to directions - 3-5 mins. in the microwave, then stir in: 


1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. molasses
1 tsp. dark brown sugar
and a dash of cloves, sea salt, and fresh-grated nutmeg


I cooked for 30 more seconds, and splashed on some milk to eat. Delish!! I might add some hemp seeds or toasted pecans at the end next time, and adjust the molasses (1.5 tsp maybe?) 

South Beach Shepherd's Pie

I've always loved Sherpherd's Pie, and this South Beach version does not disappoint. It's from the Supercharged South Beach book... basically, you use a pureed cauliflower topping (it's good, really), and edamame in the filling, rather than carby (that's a word, right?) starchy, peas.

So, here it is, slightly adapted since it was made in my kitchen. This makes 4 very hefty dinner servings, which SBSC lists as having 18g of carbs per serving, 16 g fat, 37 g protein, 4 g fiber, and 367 calories.

South Beach Shepherd's Pie


1 (16-oz.) pkg. frozen cauliflower
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
2 c. defrosted frozen (shelled) edamame
1/2 c. reduced-sodium beef broth
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. fresh-ground pepper
1/4 tsp. salt


2 Tbs. light sour cream
1 egg yolk
1/2 c. fresh Parmesan (or 2% milk sharp cheddar)




Preheat oven to 350-degrees F, and spray a 2-qt. casserole with cooking spray. Defrost the cauliflower in the microwave until not frozen, but not hot (keeps a better texture when pureed if it's not overcooked).  


Heat oil in skillet and sautee onion and garlic about 5 mins., add beef and brown for about 10 minutes, then add edamame and cook about 2 more minutes. Add broth and Worcestershire, season with S & P and add to casserole dish. 


Whiz the cauli in your food processor until mostly creamy-looking, and add sour cream, egg yolk and a healthy pinch of salt. Top the meat filling with this "potato" topping, then sprinkle cheese over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Gingerbread & a new kind of Veggie Pizza

Our house smells like gingerbread right now. I know, it's May, but we've been reading this book, so have gingerbread and Christmas on the brain. So, I tried Joy the Baker's recipe from her new cookbook, and it is fantastic! Unfortunately, I think that using more than half whole-wheat pastry flour, and replacing all the sugar with Xyla may have messed with the chemistry of the cake since it took more than 10 extra minutes to bake, and burned around the top and edges. The inside tasted good though, and I carved it nicely and slathered it in the vanilla-bean flecked low-fat cream cheese frosting that I just didn't mess with too much. I just ate a small slice and saved up carbs for dinner time!

I've also been experimenting with low-carb, high-fiber/veggie pizza! And, so far, I've loved it. Instead of crust, I use a veggie, so far I've tried Acorn Squash (delicious!), and eggplant (less sweet, but very tasty). This is topped with a low-sugar/carb Arabiatta sauce from Trader Joe's, turkey pepperoni, mozzarella and a little fresh parmesan. So yummy, easy, and way healthier than regular pizza!

 It looks like a lot of cheese, but it really isn't, and these zucchini rounds are pretty small. Turkey pepperoni is the best - all the flavor, and only 70% of the fat and calories!

Wordy Wednesday: Cereal Storm

Our kids are not big breakfast eaters. Their dad isn't either, so they come by it honestly, but it is still a real struggle to get food in their bellies before school. I've even resorted to Carnation Instant Breakfast to mix with milk to cover Madeline many days of the week. They'll do a yogurt or banana and milk, and occasional smoothie too, or hard-boiled egg, And mini pancakes from the freezer work, when I have them on hand, but cereal is hit-or-miss for Erik, and Madeline just won't eat it. 

This morning, we had just a dabble of some Lucky Charms left from St. Patrick's Day, and some Fruity Pebbles (sugar-cereal treat that E likes sometimes), and so I mixed the Trader Joe's High Fiber O's, mini shredded wheat, the charms and the pebbles (less of the sugary ones) in a bowl and served it up as a "cereal storm!" 

He loved it and ate every bit! And, Madeline asked him if she could try a bite too... we could be on to something here... healthy cereal seasoned with sweet kid-cereal.  

Wordless Wednesday: SB Eggs Benny

Saturday Morning Smoothie

I'm nearly through the first week of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, and am feeling great and doing well, but boy, am I tired of breakfasts! And, I love eggs. But I'm not a "I'll have the usual" gal, so I need a little variety. And, I'm really ready for a nice bowl of Scottish Oatmeal! 

But, anyway... on this sunny Saturday morning, I decided to experiment with the smoothie recipes in the South Beach Super Charged book, and came up with this yummy, vanilla/almond/maple smoothie to go with my coffee today. I loved it, the kids gave it a "thumbs down" and Joel was indifferent.  

To sweeten it, I used a new sugar-free maple syrup that I found at QFC this week. It's Nature's Hollow brand, sweetened with Xylitol, and is fantastic!

So, here's the recipe:

Maple Almond Smoothie
2 servings


1 container non-fat Oikos Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla-flavored, unsweetened almond milk (Blue Diamond)
3 Tbs. Nature's Hollow sugar-free maple syrup
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
about 1 cup ice


Blend all in blender and serve!