Yesterday, I spent the whole day slaving over these raw "meat- balls", which turned out amazing and were well worth all the effort. The meatballs were taken from the meat-loaf recipe in Juliano's Raw cookbook but shaped into balls instead of the traditional loaf he does. We used zucchini for pasta, slicing it thinly with the potato peeler and a raw marina sauce to top it off. Delicious! Not exactly simple though and next time with all of us doing it together it will go much faster. Here's the amazing photograph Bianca caught of our dinner. The best part: all of the housemates were gathered at the table for dinner (except one, Annalisa, we missed you). Its so rare that that happens but when it does it is truly so special. We said grace, thank the Lord for this house we've been given and 'broke bread' as we sat and talked. Thank you Jesus!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Pasta Marinara and "Meatballs"
Yesterday, I spent the whole day slaving over these raw "meat- balls", which turned out amazing and were well worth all the effort. The meatballs were taken from the meat-loaf recipe in Juliano's Raw cookbook but shaped into balls instead of the traditional loaf he does. We used zucchini for pasta, slicing it thinly with the potato peeler and a raw marina sauce to top it off. Delicious! Not exactly simple though and next time with all of us doing it together it will go much faster. Here's the amazing photograph Bianca caught of our dinner. The best part: all of the housemates were gathered at the table for dinner (except one, Annalisa, we missed you). Its so rare that that happens but when it does it is truly so special. We said grace, thank the Lord for this house we've been given and 'broke bread' as we sat and talked. Thank you Jesus!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Pumpkin Soup with Oat Biscuits
Here's the soup and biscuits I was talking about! These were the perfect touch to a briskly cold day. Bianca's mom actually bought a huge pumpkin a while back. After roasting and pureeing it she realized she had WAY too much to use, so knowing we would certainly make good use of it she gave us two huge zip lock bags of it. We used the first one for a sweet pumpkin, apple and pear soup, so this time we went for spicy and made a Roasted Curry Pumpkin soup. The recipes are below, enjoy!
Roasted Curry Pumpkin Soup
1 sweet onion
1 can pumpkin puree
2 large tomatoes chopped
1 T curry
sprinkle of cumin, turmeric, garam masala, salt
Chop onion and saute til golden, add tomatoes and spices.
Cook for 10 minutes, can add vegetable broth at this time if too much evaporation occurs.
Add pumpkin puree.
Low heat, let simmer for about 10 more minutes.
Serve with cilantro garnish.
Oat Biscuits with Caraway Seeds
1/2 C oat flour
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
1 T ground flax seed
1 T coconut oil
1/2 C water
1 T ground flax seed
1 T coconut oil
1/2 C water
1 T caraway seeds
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
In a glass jar shake water, flax seed and coconut oil til mixed well.
Fold wet ingredients into flour mixture and form into a dough.
Divide dough in half, make two balls and flatten slightly.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
In a glass jar shake water, flax seed and coconut oil til mixed well.
Fold wet ingredients into flour mixture and form into a dough.
Divide dough in half, make two balls and flatten slightly.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Violining for God
This post does not exactly have to do with design or delectables, but I just had to share just how sweet God is. I have been praying for the past couple of months to have a place to play my violin where I can bless others with what the Lord has given me. This weekend, Annalisa and I have been jamming on the violin and guitar playing worship songs and last night, Mac asked me if I wanted to play at church with him. Though hesitant at first, I was soon convinced and it wasn't until I was up on the stage that I realized this was such an answer to prayer. I had an amazing time and it felt so sweet to be playing violin for God once again. Love you all!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
DIY: Doile Canvas Tote Bag
I got this DIY idea from Under the Sycamore and thought it would make a great gift. I ended up spending much of my Christmas Break making them for all of my close friends. They were really fun and a lot easier to make than they look (always a plus).
What you will need:
Canvas Tote Bag
12" Paper Doilies
Black Washable Fabric Paint
Paint Brushes
Elmers Spray Glue
Letters printed in your favorite font.
Directions:
1. Put a bunch of newspaper down (the spray glue tends to get all over the place)
2. Spray the back of the doily and position it on the canvas bag
3. Cover the doily with paint using a paintbrush making sure to cover all of the holes
4. Pull the doily off immediately so that that glue does not dry
5. Cut out letter, spray glue on back, trace it onto bag, fill in with paint
6. Voile!
Letters printed in your favorite font.
Directions:
1. Put a bunch of newspaper down (the spray glue tends to get all over the place)
2. Spray the back of the doily and position it on the canvas bag
3. Cover the doily with paint using a paintbrush making sure to cover all of the holes
4. Pull the doily off immediately so that that glue does not dry
5. Cut out letter, spray glue on back, trace it onto bag, fill in with paint
6. Voile!
Our Week
Hey Everyone!
Even in the storm Bianca and I managed to keep smiles on in the kitchen and make some
yummy dishes! Our schedules are completely different in the evenings this quarter and sadly I have to spend Wednesday nights cooking alone, but it's all worth it when Bianca enjoys what I have prepared! So, last Wednesday I went big and made Indian Dosas. The dosa pancakes were made out of rice flour, stuffed with a curried garbanzo paste and topped with a coconut curry sauce. Absolutely delicious! I would say mildly spicy, not too bad at all and Bianca could even handle it. The recipe can be found on Andrea Meyers's blog. Of course, with my style of cooking I always loosely regard measurements and pick and choose ingredients based on my taste and what we have available. Really, its the greatest way to cook!
Here is Bianca, who came home just in time to make the dosa pancakes! She whipped up the batter and fried them just like regular pancakes, they came out great! Very easy and simple, the only bad thing was that as we rolled them up after filling with the curried garbanzo paste they cracked a little bit :( It was okay though, didn't hurt the taste. Our home was being used for a Bible Study so Bianca and I brought our dinner into our bedroom and ate traditional Indian style on the floor. It was very fun and after running around all day not seeing each other we had a lot to catch up on.
As mentioned previously Bianca and I made our own raw vegan puddings like the one from
Juliano's restaurant! They were wonderful. Bianca used the recipe from Juliano's book Raw cookbook and I used the recipe from Ani Phyo's Raw cookbook. Avocado is the base for both of them. Mine, sweet and simple was 1/2 an avocado, one ripe banana and 1/3 C carob powder. Blend together and enjoy! Bianca's was much more intricate and contained avocado, carob, almond butter, dates, agave and vanilla extract. I know it sounds wierd with the avocado but trust us it's delicious and definitely worth a try! We captured a picture of all of the ingredients from Bianca's just before she blended it all, but the final products though delicious were not 'taste-spotting worthy'. For those that don't know, Taste Spotting is a blog that gathers recipes from all sorts of food blogs and posts them, the pictures are of excellent quality and all of the posts look beautiful!
Bianca and I have discovered a new great salad! It's made from kale and the dressing is lime and avocado, can you tell we have an overload of avocados right now? Not usually the case, but Bianca's uncle gave us a ton from his tree. To make the salad, cut up one bunch of kale, removing the stems, chop 2 T cilantro, 1-2 radishes, small tomato, half an avocado and mix together well in a bowl adding 1 T sesame seeds and the juice of 1 lime.
I have had my eye on a breakfast idea that I saw in Ani's cookbook and on Rawmazing; flax pancakes. So I prepared them on Friday and put them in the dehydrater early Saturday so Bianca and I could enjoy them for a late weekend breakfast! I'm just loving having this dehydrater so much it really broadens the whole eating raw thing. And it makes it so much more fun! The flax pancakes were topped with a syrup made from agave and rasberries! Here is a picture, it's hard to see the pancakes but you get the idea.
Well, that was our week at a glance! The sun is out now and we're hoping it'll stay :) Well at least I am! God Bless!
p.s. We also made oat biscuits with carraway seeds that we at with pumpkin soup which I will post soon!
Even in the storm Bianca and I managed to keep smiles on in the kitchen and make some
yummy dishes! Our schedules are completely different in the evenings this quarter and sadly I have to spend Wednesday nights cooking alone, but it's all worth it when Bianca enjoys what I have prepared! So, last Wednesday I went big and made Indian Dosas. The dosa pancakes were made out of rice flour, stuffed with a curried garbanzo paste and topped with a coconut curry sauce. Absolutely delicious! I would say mildly spicy, not too bad at all and Bianca could even handle it. The recipe can be found on Andrea Meyers's blog. Of course, with my style of cooking I always loosely regard measurements and pick and choose ingredients based on my taste and what we have available. Really, its the greatest way to cook!
Here is Bianca, who came home just in time to make the dosa pancakes! She whipped up the batter and fried them just like regular pancakes, they came out great! Very easy and simple, the only bad thing was that as we rolled them up after filling with the curried garbanzo paste they cracked a little bit :( It was okay though, didn't hurt the taste. Our home was being used for a Bible Study so Bianca and I brought our dinner into our bedroom and ate traditional Indian style on the floor. It was very fun and after running around all day not seeing each other we had a lot to catch up on.
As mentioned previously Bianca and I made our own raw vegan puddings like the one from
Juliano's restaurant! They were wonderful. Bianca used the recipe from Juliano's book Raw cookbook and I used the recipe from Ani Phyo's Raw cookbook. Avocado is the base for both of them. Mine, sweet and simple was 1/2 an avocado, one ripe banana and 1/3 C carob powder. Blend together and enjoy! Bianca's was much more intricate and contained avocado, carob, almond butter, dates, agave and vanilla extract. I know it sounds wierd with the avocado but trust us it's delicious and definitely worth a try! We captured a picture of all of the ingredients from Bianca's just before she blended it all, but the final products though delicious were not 'taste-spotting worthy'. For those that don't know, Taste Spotting is a blog that gathers recipes from all sorts of food blogs and posts them, the pictures are of excellent quality and all of the posts look beautiful!
Bianca and I have discovered a new great salad! It's made from kale and the dressing is lime and avocado, can you tell we have an overload of avocados right now? Not usually the case, but Bianca's uncle gave us a ton from his tree. To make the salad, cut up one bunch of kale, removing the stems, chop 2 T cilantro, 1-2 radishes, small tomato, half an avocado and mix together well in a bowl adding 1 T sesame seeds and the juice of 1 lime.
I have had my eye on a breakfast idea that I saw in Ani's cookbook and on Rawmazing; flax pancakes. So I prepared them on Friday and put them in the dehydrater early Saturday so Bianca and I could enjoy them for a late weekend breakfast! I'm just loving having this dehydrater so much it really broadens the whole eating raw thing. And it makes it so much more fun! The flax pancakes were topped with a syrup made from agave and rasberries! Here is a picture, it's hard to see the pancakes but you get the idea.Well, that was our week at a glance! The sun is out now and we're hoping it'll stay :) Well at least I am! God Bless!
p.s. We also made oat biscuits with carraway seeds that we at with pumpkin soup which I will post soon!
It's Finally Sunny Again
After four days of non-stop thunder, lightning, and serious downpours we have a lovely view from our apartment porch. I do love the rain (much to my roommates dismay) but I must admit that I am glad to see the sun again. Happy Sunday, enjoy the weather and rest up. Love you all.
Monday, January 18, 2010
DIY Project
I absolutely love tea. And when you love tea, you start to collect all of the gadgets that go along with it...such as tea pots, diffusers, loose leaf tea, bagged tea, etc. Anyway, last year I broke my all-time favorite Bee House loose leaf tea pot, and could not stand to throw it away. I tried to glue it back together, but tea seeped through the cracks...disastrous. I tried to think of what I might be able to use (or rather re-use) it for.
I have been wanting to do something with it for months, and yesterday I finally planted a cute indoor plant in it. I have determined that broken teapots are the perfect vessel for indoor plants since water can drain through the small cracks after watering.
Here is what you will need to create your own:
broken teapot/tea cup
potting soil
small indoor plant (I particularly like ivy or angel vine)
Garden and God
Bianca and I have been growing herbs and some other plants outside on our porch in attempt to feel as though we have our own garden. Sadly, they did not make it over winter break while we were away :( We came home to some seriously dead herbs. Trying to revive them with a little water and sunshine did little, so we forced to uproot them and go buy new ones. They looked so beautiful all lined up out on our porch so I thought I would share with you all!
We have mint and thyme growing together and then oregano, dill and rosemary in the low terra cotta pots. In the smaller painted ones we are growing bronze arrow lettuce and mesclun salad mix (this is our second attempt) so far we have little sprouts coming up! Bianca's red geranium at the end has been thriving and blooming since we first planted it in Septemeber!
This morning I woke up to find that the beautiful big begonia growing in the yellow pot fell off the ledge and broke from all the wind :( I know, I was so mad at this terrible storm! It is absolutely crazy here, it's been pouring sicne yesterday and we realized we don't have a weather strip under our door as all the water started flooding in the room!! Well, it's not quite flooding yet, but its close! Lindsay wanted to go on a run, we roomies all agreed BAD IDEA and as she went outside to do her laundry she sided with us. She is now lighting all the candles in the house since the lights flickered this morning. With Bianca on the violin and Annalisa on the guitar our home is filled with the sweet sound of worship :) and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. God Bless!
We have mint and thyme growing together and then oregano, dill and rosemary in the low terra cotta pots. In the smaller painted ones we are growing bronze arrow lettuce and mesclun salad mix (this is our second attempt) so far we have little sprouts coming up! Bianca's red geranium at the end has been thriving and blooming since we first planted it in Septemeber!
This morning I woke up to find that the beautiful big begonia growing in the yellow pot fell off the ledge and broke from all the wind :( I know, I was so mad at this terrible storm! It is absolutely crazy here, it's been pouring sicne yesterday and we realized we don't have a weather strip under our door as all the water started flooding in the room!! Well, it's not quite flooding yet, but its close! Lindsay wanted to go on a run, we roomies all agreed BAD IDEA and as she went outside to do her laundry she sided with us. She is now lighting all the candles in the house since the lights flickered this morning. With Bianca on the violin and Annalisa on the guitar our home is filled with the sweet sound of worship :) and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. God Bless!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Portabella Burgers
Last nights wonderful dinner, ready for viewing!
I saw this recipe in Gourmet Magazine while visiting my Nana this weekend and thought it was such a great idea! The "burgers" use portabellas as buns and the stuffing in the middle is quinoa with vegetables in a tomato vinaigrette. Bianca is always my gauge as to how good things are and she was very pleased :) It's one of my top dinners in her opinion. Bre doesn't usually like mushrooms but she liked it as well! I will saw they are very difficult to eat, we first tried to enjoy them like burgers but they just made a huge mess. A knife and fork are a necessity for this one. But well worth it!
Start by cooking the quinoa.
3/4 C Quinoa with 2 1/2 C Water in saucepan, boil for 5 min then turn down to low for about 15 or 20 minutes more.
Tomatoe Vinaigrette
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
3 T Red Wine Vinager
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 T finely chopped rosemary
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
Blend well.
Clean the mushrooms, take out stems and scoop out the gills gently with a spoon. Spread the vinaigrette on the outside of them and then simply lay them in the oven stem side up.
For the vegetables.
1/2 zuchinni, cut in sliced then quartered
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
Toss in pan on med-high heat until tender. I'm sensitive to oils so I didn't use any for this step, but you are welcome to saute the veggies in olive oil.
Remove from the pan and mix in a large bowl with the quinoa and the vinaigrette. Once you're done the portabellas should be ready, stick a fork in to see if they are somewhat tender. Remove the oven, lay one portabella stem side up, stuff with quinoa and top with another portabella stem side down. There you are, delicious portabella burgers!
I saw this recipe in Gourmet Magazine while visiting my Nana this weekend and thought it was such a great idea! The "burgers" use portabellas as buns and the stuffing in the middle is quinoa with vegetables in a tomato vinaigrette. Bianca is always my gauge as to how good things are and she was very pleased :) It's one of my top dinners in her opinion. Bre doesn't usually like mushrooms but she liked it as well! I will saw they are very difficult to eat, we first tried to enjoy them like burgers but they just made a huge mess. A knife and fork are a necessity for this one. But well worth it!
Start by cooking the quinoa.
3/4 C Quinoa with 2 1/2 C Water in saucepan, boil for 5 min then turn down to low for about 15 or 20 minutes more.
Tomatoe Vinaigrette
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
3 T Red Wine Vinager
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 T finely chopped rosemary
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
Blend well.
Clean the mushrooms, take out stems and scoop out the gills gently with a spoon. Spread the vinaigrette on the outside of them and then simply lay them in the oven stem side up.
For the vegetables.
1/2 zuchinni, cut in sliced then quartered
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
Toss in pan on med-high heat until tender. I'm sensitive to oils so I didn't use any for this step, but you are welcome to saute the veggies in olive oil.
Remove from the pan and mix in a large bowl with the quinoa and the vinaigrette. Once you're done the portabellas should be ready, stick a fork in to see if they are somewhat tender. Remove the oven, lay one portabella stem side up, stuff with quinoa and top with another portabella stem side down. There you are, delicious portabella burgers!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Candy Shop at Annalisa's House
Dani and I took a trip to Annalisa's adorable house in San Jose over Winter Break and spent time with her Mom and sister, cozied up next to their wood-burning stove with tea cups in hand. It was a wonderful time and her Mom has the place decorated so cute, especially for the holidays. She set up an adorable variety of glass canisters filled with all kinds of goodies for kids (and adults) to enjoy. I definitely want to start scoping out thrift stores for cool glassware to fill with all sorts of things. I also posted some other pictures of fun ways to use glass canisters.
First Raw Restaurant!
Bianca and I met up with our friend Chantel in Santa Monica to enjoy our first outing at a raw restaurant! Julianno's book RAW got us very interested and we made quite the detour while on our way to my Nan's to visit his restaurant, causing us to sit in 4 hours of LA traffic after wards. Still, overall consensus: well worth it! We've been eating raw for quite some time but this was beyond what we could have expected!! We were drooling at everything we ate especially the dessert! We captured it on camera; a chocolate moose, made with an avocado base on top of a gooey nutty crust. Absolutely Delicious! All three of us were dying, hours later while Bianca and I were talking at my Nan's house, she goes, "I want more of that chocolate moose!" It left quite an impact. We will be imitating a pudding like it from his book soon, look out for it!
If you are ever in LA, or even near you must stop in! The restaurant itself is adorable, we sat outside on the corner of 6th and Broadway in the sunlight catching up on eachother's lives. The three of us have chosen Planet RAW as our meet up location, Chantel's goal is for us to try the whole menu! Quite an excuse to visit LA more often. We even got to see Julianno himself!
The whole experience was very fun, you know how they say that good food without company is nothing, so I would have too say that the fellowship made the food even better :) We love you Chantel!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
It's finally here!
Hey guys!
The blog is finally up, it only took us one whole quarter...and a break. But we got it started! So here we are, Bianca and I in Isla Vista, week 1 at UCSB. Bianca, the crafty one will be bringing you all her designs and creative ideas. I on the other hand can only attempt with the crafts but I love love love cooking and also un-cooking, aka "cooking in the raw" as some call it. With my new dehydrater, thank you Nan, and some raw cookbooks I am branching out from salads to the latest trends in raw food cooking.
We feel so blessed that the Lord has given us a desire to create new things in the kitchen and for the home. Everything that we have been given is from Him and we give him all the credit for anything that we post on this blog. May the Lord be glorified in EVERYTHING that we do!
Please enjoy and comment, try out the recipes, the crafts and worship the Lord all the while! We pray that you will be blessed by our posts and experience new joy in cooking and crafting!
With Love,
Dani and B
The blog is finally up, it only took us one whole quarter...and a break. But we got it started! So here we are, Bianca and I in Isla Vista, week 1 at UCSB. Bianca, the crafty one will be bringing you all her designs and creative ideas. I on the other hand can only attempt with the crafts but I love love love cooking and also un-cooking, aka "cooking in the raw" as some call it. With my new dehydrater, thank you Nan, and some raw cookbooks I am branching out from salads to the latest trends in raw food cooking.
We feel so blessed that the Lord has given us a desire to create new things in the kitchen and for the home. Everything that we have been given is from Him and we give him all the credit for anything that we post on this blog. May the Lord be glorified in EVERYTHING that we do!
Please enjoy and comment, try out the recipes, the crafts and worship the Lord all the while! We pray that you will be blessed by our posts and experience new joy in cooking and crafting!
With Love,
Dani and B
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
