slow-cooked for a chilly night :: Paleo Mocha-Rubbed Pot Roast

Posted on 11 November 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

It is snowing here tonight and I wish this delicious hot meal were in my stomach but this was actually a week ago (and I am still thinking about it). (Sorry for a not-great picture; I was too hungry to take the time to get out my camera).

This is the recipe that led me to Stupid Easy Paleo. I went looking for “paleo pot roast” and this one had me at the word “mocha.” It is SO yummy, y’all. When I heated up leftovers a couple days later, I actually moaned as I ate it, and I said to My Old Man, “Wow, this is even better than I remembered,” and he said, “That’s funny, because you were making those same exact sounds the first time you ate it.” I guess it’s not very humble to make such noises over your own cooking, but I can’t help being honest, y’all.

I was out of the figs the recipe calls for (and couldn’t find them at my local grocery), so I substituted 1/3 cup dried cherries (worked out perfectly). Check out the original recipe here.

I served it with sauteed grated sweet potato (seasoned with Chinese 5-spice) and roasted brussel sprouts (O, brussel sprouts, you might be my favorite!!).

This recipe was a winner all the way around, and we will definitely be having it again. There is nothing like coming home on a dark, cold night to a hot pot of delicious roast.

baked :: Paleo Kale-Blueberry Egg Cups

Posted on 7 November 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Just as I’m not actually a vegan but I make a lot of vegan things, I’m not actually Paleo, but I’m interested in Paleo food. I like to cook, I like to eat, I like to experiment with different ways of eating. As part of my self-education in Paleo eating, I’ve been spending some time ready Stupid Easy Paleo. It’s a great blog, with loads of good-looking recipes. One in particular that caught my eye over the weekend was the recipe for Blueberry Kale Omelette. I tried it, and it was DELISH. I love blueberries, I love eggs, I love kale, so what’s not to love?

It’s seriously not as strange as it might sound. It is an extremely yummy combination.

But I don’t usually feel I have the time to whip up omelets on a work day, so I experimented with a different approach. I am very pleased with what I came up with.

Paleo Kale-Blueberry Egg Cups
Adapted from the Stupid Easy Paleo recipe, this recipe makes 12 muffin-sized baked egg cups. Eat a few and put the rest in the fridge for the next few breakfasts. Or share them all with your fam, and have none left over. It’s easy to whip up a new batch again tomorrow!

9 eggs
3 T coconut aminos
1 small bunch kale, washed and shredded
1 1/4 C fresh blueberries (or frozen, thawed)
coconut oil for your skillet

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tray with silicone cups or foil muffin liners.
2. Melt the coconut oil in skillet over medium heat. Add kale and sauté for 3 minutes, until wilted.
3. Add blueberries and sauté another 2-3 minutes.
4. In a bowl, whisk eggs and coconut aminos together.
5. Using tongs, distribute kale-blueberry mixture evenly among muffin cups. Pour egg mixture on top, just to edge of each cup.
6. Put in oven, bake 25-30 minutes, until toothpick or knife inserted into muffin comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven, let stand 3 minutes. Then dig in! YUM.

I’m really happy with this easy and delicious way of starting my day. After years of mostly starting my day with smoothies, I appreciate a good hot breakfast. And I always love starting the day with greens and berries.

If you try them, I hope you like them!

[from the archives] – homemade :: Oreo Cookie Butter Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

Posted on 2 November 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Hey! Happy NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)! Let’s see if I can make it the whole month again, posting every day. Here goes!

It’s Saturday, which means it’s Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffin morning here. I somehow left out the molasses this time, so the flavor wasn’t as deep and the color wasn’t as dark, but they were still pretty darn tasty (as evidenced by the fact that 15 minutes after they came out of the oven there are hardly any left). As I baked this morning, I began pondering my Thanksgiving menu for this year, specifically the desserts. That got me thinking about this simple ice cream pie I came up with last year.

Here is that post, from the archives:

Cookie Butter Oreo Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie, originally uploaded by earthchick.

It’s no secret that I love Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. I’m also a big fan of ice cream pies, regardless of time of year.

As I was waking up earlier this week, an ice cream pie idea slid into my brain from out of nowhere. I don’t think I was dreaming about desserts, but who knows? All I know is that the liminal early morning mind is a wondrous thing. As I lay in bed pondering the pie idea, I realized it was probably a good one. It at least merited a taste-test.

I love pumpkin and chocolate together, and the idea of Cookie Butter and pumpkin ice cream seemed a natural, so why not try them all together?

Despite the fact that the photos aren’t great, the recipe is a winner, at least as far as my taste buds are concerned. Obviously, my taste buds are favorably inclined towards ridiculously sweet things.

This is also a ridiculously easy recipe – and not too late to throw together for Thanksgiving dinner!

Oreo Cookie Butter Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie – serves 8

1 Oreo cookie crust

3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter
3/4 cup Edy’s Pumpkin Ice Cream, softened

1/2 cup Cool Whip

1/4 cup chopped pecans

(all amounts are “ish” – I just eyeball it to make sure I don’t have the pie overflowing with goodness, which, while yummy, can make a mess of your freezer)

1 – Cover the pie crust with Cookie Butter (you can go up the side if you want; I didn’t).

2 – Spread softened ice cream over the cookie butter.

3 – Spread Cool Whip over ice cream.

4 – Sprinkle pecans over top.

5 – Cover and put in freezer, at least 3 hours or until firm.

6 – Let sit out 5-10 minutes to soften before slicing.

It couldn’t be easier. If you don’t love traditional pumpkin pie, or if you’re just looking for something a little different this year, pumpkin ice cream pie could be your answer. If you try it, let me know what you think!

It would be very simple to veganize this recipe by subbing a non-dairy pumpkin ice cream (I’m not aware of any particular brands that offer that, but surely with the current trend of pumpkin-everything, someone out there does) and a vegan whipped cream.

[from the archives] gathered, baked, eaten: raspberries

Posted on 5 October 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Because it’s fall, I’m thinking of raspberries. Because I’m thinking of raspberries, I’m imagining baking all my favorite raspberry treats. I went searching through my archives for an old recipe, and found this post from five years ago….

I pretty much love all fruit, with the random and unfortunate exception of grapefruit, but there is one fruit that I love with a wild and unparalleled passion, and that is the raspberry. I adore it. Everything about it. The color, the shape, the zing, the delicacy, those weird little hair-like things that come out of it. I think when I was growing up I probably never ate fresh raspberries, which is astonishing to me now. Then right after college graduation, I lived out in Washington State for the summer, with a family who lived right on the Columbia River. They had raspberry bushes in their backyard, and in late summer when they became ripe, the woman made fresh crepes and served them plain with fresh raspberries. I will never forget that first bite. Bliss. They’ve been my favorite ever since.

My boys’ first field trip of the school year was yesterday – kids and parents all headed out to pick our own raspberries. We were so ready.

Little Buddha, ready for berry-picking

This time, I was prepared for the fact that the boys were going to want to eat all the berries just standing right there in the field. Oh sure, they played the part of berry harvesters for awhile.

Tiny Dancer, berry farmer

But before long, they ate the few berries in their buckets and began to just shovel them straight into their mouths.

Little Buddha, berry eater

Tiny Dancer, berry eater

Meanwhile, I had to guard my own bucket from their greedy little hands. At the end of the afternoon, I had managed to gather three quarts of berries (at only $3 a quart!). I believe Little Buddha and Tiny Dancer managed to gather about two quarts in their bellies.

who me?

All that ~~harvesting~~ eating knocked Little Buddha out.

on the way home

After we got home, there was still more berry-eating, even as I tried to get dinner ready.

nice block, Little Buddha

raspberry smiles

In the end, I managed to save enough berries for all my Big Plans. First, there were pancakes. The same Vegan Raspberry Chocolate Chip pancakes I made after we went berry-picking last year (recipe at bottom of linked page).

Then this morning, I made Vegan Raspberry Lime Muffins, adapted from this recipe. YUM.

Vegan Raspberry Lime Muffins

Vegan Raspberry Lime Muffins (my adaptation)
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
zest of 1 lime
1/2 C sugar
1 C vanilla soy milk
1/3 C canola oil
juice of 1 lime
1 T red raspberry vinegar
1 C raspberries
Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry and combine (but don’t overmix). Fold in raspberries. Bake for 20 minutes or so at 400. Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

These were so good. SO good.

Here, want one?

Even with all the baking and eating, I have a little more than a quart of raspberries left. I’m considering a version of Raspberry Lime Bread. Or I may try my first-ever jam-making. Or I may just put the berries on the table and let us all simply enjoy. Because honestly, no matter how yummy all these baked goodies are, nothing quite beats the taste of fresh raspberries.

soon :: Vegan Carrot-Raisin Muffins

Posted on 28 September 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

It’s fall and it’s Saturday, so of course there are Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins in the oven. It’s our family ritual now, and they are my boys’ favorite muffins, so I am not going to mess with that. Still. I have a craving for an entirely different muffin, which I hope to be making soon. My kids don’t like these anymore – they complain about the grated carrot and one of them doesn’t like raisins, so it’s a losing proposal. But I love them and hope to be making a batch soon. I thought I would share the recipe, in case you would like to try them, too.

Vegan Carrot-Raisin Muffins

Vegan Carrot-Raisin Muffins
(a Vegan with a Vengeance recipe)
makes 12 muffins
1/2 C raisins
1 1/2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 C unsweetened almond milk
1/4 C canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
2 C grated carrot

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

Put the raisins in a bowl and boil enough hot water to cover them; pour the water over the raisins and let them sit for 10 minutes. While the raisins are soaking, sift together flour, baking power, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and salt, in a large mixing bowl. Create a well in the center and add the almond milk, oil, and vanilla; mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots. Remove the raisins from the water and fold in.

Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center of one come out clean. Let cool. Enjoy with a cup of Good Earth tea!

They are so delicious, y’all, and far less sweet than the pumpkin muffins my kids prefer. Mmm, my mouth is watering for a bite of one right now. But it will have to wait. The pumpkin muffins are ready!

baked :: in celebration of fall (Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins)

Posted on 21 September 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Five years ago, I had a BIG IDEA. It all started with my then-four year-old’s obsession with pears, and my promise that we would have pears once they were in season. When fall officially arrived, he expected his pears, so I created a pear cake. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I had decided to make the Autumnal Equinox a reason for full-on celebration in our household. And because my life philosophy is always GO BIG, I celebrated by making a special breakfast, making a special dinner (a very time-consuming one, as it turned out), and making a special cake.

It was a fun and memorable start to my favorite season, but I vowed after spending so much of the day in the kitchen that, in future celebrations, we would scale back on the cooking/baking and spend part of the day outside. Also, I am older and more tired now. And I’ve learned that sometimes the philosophy of “It’s the little things” trumps the philosophy of “Go big.”

My boys have inherited my zeal for celebrations and for special traditions, and they have come to expect Pumpkin Muffins on the first day of fall. And not only on the first day of fall, but actually every Saturday of the season. They began reminding me of this several days ago. “Mom, you know that the first day of fall is coming, and you know what that means, right?” “Mom, do you have all the ingredients you need for pumpkin muffins?” “Mom, you do know that we are supposed to have pumpkin muffins every Saturday in fall, right?”

Fortunately, in addition to being delicious, they are also very, very easy. And quick! I don’t mind making them regularly. I don’t even mind making them every week.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Our family is not vegan, but I do a fair amount of vegan cooking and baking, and I have a number of really good vegan cookbooks. One of my favorites is Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I’ve adapted her recipe for “The Best Pumpkin Muffins” to include chocolate chips (Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips are vegan, if that matters to you) and to substitute almond milk (which our family prefers to soy milk). (And of course these don’t have to be vegan at all, if you would like to substitute regular dairy milk for the almond milk – though I can’t vouch for those because we’ve never tried them that way.)

I share this recipe here in case you would like to create your own every-Saturday-muffin tradition. Or in case you just want to whip up one delicious batch. Happy fall, y’all!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins – makes 18 muffins
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 1/4 C sugar
1 T baking power
1/4 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 groung ginger
1/4 t ground allspice
1/8 t ground cloves
1 C pureed pumpkin
1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 T molasses
1 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease one 12-muffin tin one half of a second 12-muffin tin.
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool. Serve (I like mine with Good Earth tea) and enjoy!

As my kids were eating their first pumpkin muffins of the season, I heard one of them say to the other, “I love fall, don’t you?” And the other one said, “As soon as I took my first bite, it reminded me so much of last fall.” It makes this mama’s heart so happy to hear such things, and to know that really, the little things do add up. Happy fall, to you and yours.

baked :: Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

Posted on 26 January 2013 by Stacey Simpson Duke

baked :: Strawberry Buttermilk Cake, originally uploaded by earthchick.

Sometimes a person just wants to bake a cake, no reason needed. Today, that person was me. That cake was this .

At the end of a strange week, one that started with a flight delay, a funeral, and a sick child and ended with my husband and I both coming down with a stomach bug (with me having to drive an hour home by myself while ill), I woke up wanting to bake a cake. Specifically, I wanted to make a buttermilk cake. I had seen those words in an email from Zingerman’s Bakehouse and had become obsessed. I’d never made a buttermilk cake before, but it sounded delicious!

I found this recipe on epicurious and it looked perfect! I had everything! Except buttermilk and raspberries. But I did have milk, vinegar, and strawberries, so problem solved. (For the 1/2 C of buttermilk, I mixed 1/2 T vinegar with 1/2 C milk and let sit for a few minutes).

The recipe couldn’t be simpler. It came together very quickly. I love a one-pan cake!

Per a few of the reviews, I baked at 385-degrees instead of 400. 25 minutes later, perfection. The only hard part was letting it cool.

Okay, actually, the other hard part was getting it out of the pan in one piece. I knew I should’ve used parchment paper instead of just butter and flour. I didn’t take a picture of the whole cake because one edge of it crumbled.

It was so delicious. A nice, light afternoon treat to go with tea. I try not to eat much sugar these days (or baked goods in general), but as far as indulgences go, it wasn’t too rich (and only 259 calories per serving – when cut into sixths). My boys loved it, too. I know I would love it more with zingy raspberries (my very favorite fruit), but it was pretty awesome with strawberries, too. I’ll be making it again, for sure!

homemade :: Oreo Cookie Butter Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

Posted on 21 November 2012 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Cookie Butter Oreo Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie, originally uploaded by earthchick.

It’s no secret that I love Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. I’m also a big fan of ice cream pies, regardless of time of year.

I love pumpkin and chocolate together, and the idea of Cookie Butter and pumpkin ice cream seemed a natural, so why not try them all together?

This is also a ridiculously easy recipe – and not too late to throw together for Thanksgiving dinner!

Oreo Cookie Butter Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie – serves 8

1 Oreo cookie crust

3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter
3/4 cup Edy’s Pumpkin Ice Cream, softened

1/2 cup Cool Whip

1/4 cup chopped pecans

(all amounts are “ish” – I just eyeball it to make sure I don’t have the pie overflowing with goodness, which, while yummy, can make a mess of your freezer)

1 – Cover the pie crust with Cookie Butter (you can go up the side if you want; I didn’t).

2 – Spread softened ice cream over the cookie butter.

3 – Spread Cool Whip over ice cream.

4 – Sprinkle pecans over top.

5 – Cover and put in freezer, at least 3 hours or until firm.

6 – Let sit out 5-10 minutes to soften before slicing.

knitted: hat trick (Thorpe)

Posted on 13 December 2008 by Stacey Simpson Duke

A hat trick in sports is associated with succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts — Wikipedia.

Well then, all the more so if those three consecutive attempts are actual hats, yes? This Thorpe was actually the first of the three-in-a-row hats I knitted, but I had to wait to blog it till I had gifted it.

Thorpe

pattern:Thorpe (rav link) by Kristen Kapur
yarn:Lamb’s Pride Bulky, Spice, a little less than one skein (left over from my Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan from a long time ago) and Lamb’s Pride Bulky, Sable, for the crochet trim and braided tassels
needles:size 9
size:medium
for:Chris, My Old Man’s son, who was visiting us from England
cast on:November 20
finished: not quite certain – it took me over a week because I was knitting Luggy Bonnets during that time, as well as fiddling with fixing my Moonshadow Stole for the wedding, as well as having to redo this hat when I ran out of yarn
modifications: None needed, except that since I had less than a skein of the Spice to work with, I ran out of yarn right before finishing the second ear flap. So I had to rip back and take out a row or two of the body of the hat, and then I made the ear flaps a tad smaller than the pattern called for.
verdict: This is an awesome pattern and I will be making it again. A fast, fun knit with beautiful results. Also, doing crochet trims on three hats in a row kind of made me love crochet a little bit.

Love those earflaps!

Chris goes camping a lot and keeping his ears warm is a requirement for any hat I make. I love the shape of these, and the fact that they are in garter stitch.

crown decreases

Love these beautiful crown decreases.

I’ve been wanting to make this hat for awhile, and I’m glad I finally did. I think Chris likes it too.

handsome like his father

I had wanted to get a picture of all three guys in their new hats, but I knew Tiny Dancer would never cooperate with that, given how much he hates his. I did get a couple of good-bye shots at the airport though.

brothers saying good-bye

hugs

Good-bye, Chris. We miss you already!

Celebrated: Halloween

Posted on 4 November 2008 by Stacey Simpson Duke

Spider-Man and the Vampire

Their costume choices this year didn’t really give me much to work with craft-wise. I had less than zero desire to craft a Spider-Man costume from scratch. I’m not big on character costumes anyway – this is the first year that either of them has wanted one, and he was set on it, so I got him one. I was going to make Tiny Dancer’s cape until Joann’s had one marked down so low I couldn’t resist. And seriously, he couldn’t have been cuter:

Vampire! (or, as he says it, Bamfire!)

So I tried to get crafty in the accessory department. I thought Spider-Man really deserved a web. So I took this pattern and just made a smaller (and less accurate) version.

Spider-Man Web

pattern: Spiderman-blanket
yarn: Cascade 220 Wool, in black, red, and blue, maybe 1/4 of a skein of each
needles: size 7
dates: October 28-30
notes: I am giving some thought to making the blanket from this pattern. I pretty much hate making blankets, but I know Little Buddha would love this. If I make it, though, I will double my blanket-making misery because I’ll need to make one for Tiny Dancer as well. If I do make it, I will use stitch markers and pay more attention to my increases and decreases, because I pretty much royally screwed those up in my haste. It’s a little hard to knit when you’ve got a 4 year-old checking on your progress every 30 minutes.
verdict: He adores it and carried it with him all Halloween. Actually, he plays with it every day. Yesterday he wore his Spider-Man mask and brought the web to the dentist.

Spider-Man with basket and web

I wanted to make Tiny Dancer a vampire bat to go with his costume. I knew he would be much less invested in the accessory, so I’m glad I didn’t invest the time in knitting him one – though I found a couple of super-cute patterns on Ravelry. (I pretty much hate making stuffed animals and toys as much as I dislike knitting blankets). So on Halloween morning, I whipped up this little cutie:

Flappy Happy

pattern: Flappy Happy
fabric: the pattern called for wool felt but I went with what I had, which was fleece
notes: It’s far from perfect, but for 20 minutes from first cut to last stitch (half of which was on the phone!), I’m happy enough with it. Tiny Dancer didn’t carry it much with his costume, but he is hoping to do a puppet show with it sometime.

I was also the snack parent for the boys’ preschool on Halloween, so I made this:

Rice Krispy Jack O'Lantern

recipe: a double recipe of Rice Krispy Treats
pan: from Target
notes: Next year I need to at least double the amount of food coloring. It didn’t look particularly orange. But it did taste yummy! (next year I will also plan to do a little more with the face decorations)

It was a happy – but exhausting – day. I’ve been wanting to make my own pirate costume for the last two years, but it never seems to happen. So I just sucked it up and bought one. I failed to get a very good shot of it.

Pirate Wench

We had a great time. Hope you did too!

Vampire Boy with Vampire Daddy

Trick or Treat! (notice that Little Buddha is still carrying the web!)

after the haul

Now, if you haven’t already, go out and vote!

earthchicknits

Category Archives: foodstuff

slow-cooked for a chilly night :: Paleo Mocha-Rubbed Pot Roast

baked :: Paleo Kale-Blueberry Egg Cups

[from the archives] gathered, baked, eaten: raspberries

soon :: Vegan Carrot-Raisin Muffins

baked :: in celebration of fall (Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins)

baked :: Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

homemade :: Oreo Cookie Butter Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

knitted: hat trick (Thorpe)

Celebrated: Halloween

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