Recipe Archives - Page 6 of 16

Cucumber Watermelon Salad

July 13, 2015 by Jenna

Oh hey.

Hi.

I’m back.

I went on vacation to Peru.

Vacation = no work.

Vacation = no blogging.

Vacation = chilling in Cusco, hiking the Inca Trail, freaking out over Machu Picchu, and walking around Lima.

One day some day soon I will tell you all about it.

BUT FIRST, this cucumber watermelon salad.

If cucumber watermelon salad doesn’t scream summer to you, then I don’t know what does.

Ice cream, maybe?

Probably, but let’s scream about salad too.

I made this salad when a couple of girlfriends and I went to Red Barn Farm for pizza night. It seems like it was forever ago, but I still remember how delicious this salad (and that pizza!) was.

The sweetness of the watermelon is balanced out with peppery arugula and salty feta cheese. Then there is the cucumber for a nice crunch and the herbs for an extra fresh surprise. Go ahead and double it. Maybe even quadruple it.

Plus, it’s beyond easy to throw together, especially if you take the lazy route and buy the pre-cut watermelon. No one will judge you!

I won’t anyways.

I hope you try it out and become as obsessed with it as I am!

Cucumber Watermelon Salad

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

This cucumber watermelon salad is perfect for summer picnics! It's light, refreshing, and super easy to throw together. It can easily be doubled or quadrupled to feed a crowd!

Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 small cucumber, diced
2 large handfuls arugula
2 ounces feta cheese
½ cup fresh mint and/or basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve and enjoy!

Share this:

Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies (gluten free, vegan)

June 19, 2015 by Jenna

Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies.

Wait.

What?

Cannellini blondies.

I get it. It’s weird. Stay with me.

These blondies were never on my radar. I never thought about them nor did I ever dream about them. They just kind of happened.

What I originally wanted to do was make black bean brownies. You have heard of those before, right? The surprisingly delicious and healthy little faux brownies made with black beans and cocoa powder (among a few other things). That was my plan.

But when I went to go grab a can of black beans from my cupboard, I *GASP* didn’t have any. My inventory (which I manually track in my memory) must have been off. Whoops.

(insert nerdy supply chain joke about inventory discrepancies)

I spotted a can of cannellini beans, shrugged my shoulders, and switched directions. If brownies can be made with black beans, then blondies could be made with cannellini beans, right?!

Well…

Sure.

These cannellini blondies aren’t made with butter, flour, egg, or lots of sugar. Instead there is coconut oil, cannellini beans, flax meal, maple syrup, and only two tablespoons of brown sugar. They also have some almond butter, walnuts, and dark chocolate chips, because those things just seem to be involved in everything that I do.

The texture is a lot softer and resembles more of a moist quick bread than a regular blondie (like these brown butter bourbon blondies or these brown butter ginger peach blondies). The taste is, well, different. No, they don’t taste like beans. They taste like a tasty sweet treat that I don’t have to feel guilty about. Not even if I stress eat two in the same sitting.

But who even stress eats? I DO.

I’m running a marathon TOMORROW and kind of have been nonchalantly internally freaking out about it all week. I think I’m in denial that it’s even happening. After doing a bulk of my runs solo and struggling a lot with my performance this training season, it just doesn’t feel like I’ve worked hard enough for the marathon to actually be here. Plus, my recently diagnosed arrhythmia hasn’t helped the situation. I guess my heart beats to it’s own awkward drum?

The Cardiologist gave me a Zio patch (like this) and told me I could run it. I am thankful that none of my other muscles or bones are injured and that my whole family is driving up to Duluth to cheer me on and that everyone else in the Calhoun Beach Run Club is totally going to kill it and that the experience as a whole will be really fun and rewarding.

Annddddd…. Back to the blondies. I am thankful for these too. Did I mention they are gluten-free and vegan (if you use vegan-friendly chocolate chips)? Neat!

I guess I really shouldn’t even call them blondies, but I’m going to anyways. What’s done is done.

Have cherry walnut butterscotch blondies when you ate healthy salads all week and want to delight yourself by eating something sweet and sinful. Have these almond butter cannellini blondies when you want a healthy little treat during the week so that you can save your big indulgence for Friday night pizza.

Different situations, but both are great ideas.

So yeah, cannellini blondies are real and I like them… for regular healthy enjoyment and for stress eating.

Now I’m headed up to Duluth to get ready for a 26.2 mile run tomorrow. Wish me luck??

Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies (gluten free, vegan)

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

26 mins

Total time

36 mins

These almond butter cannellini blondies might seem strange, but they are a healthy little treat. They are gluten free and vegan (if using vegan-friendly chocolate chips) and easy to make. These are perfect for a mid-day snack or for a post-dinner dessert without all the guilt of a classic blondie.

Serves: 9 blondies

Ingredients

2 ½ tablespoon water
1 tablespoon flax meal
15 oz cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ almond butter
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup dark chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips if needed)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the blondies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Lightly grease with butter or oil.
In a small bowl, stir together the water and flax meal. Let sit for about 5 minutes. This is your flax egg.
Add all the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor excluding the walnuts and chocolate chips. Process until smooth, 3-4 minutes.
Add the walnuts and chocolate chips, reserving a little bit of each to sprinkle on top. Process a few times so that they get mixed into the batter and break up a little bit.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the remaining nuts and chocolate.
Bake for 26-32 minutes. It will be will difficult to tell when these are done.
Let these cool completely in the pan before removing and cutting.
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for a few days. I personally like them stored in the refrigerator and I bet they would hold up well in the freezer.

Share this:

Bacon Nut Bourbon Brownies

June 13, 2015 by Jenna

After a few weeks of posting recipes for healthier treats (like almond butter trail mix cookies, triple berry almond oat bars, and coconut cashew butter) I decided to go the opposite direction.

I made brownies.

And I put bacon in them. And then I added a lot of nuts and a little bit of bourbon.

I’m not upset with the situation. These bacon nut bourbon brownies are totally worth it.

The base of the brownie itself is amazing. They bake up nice and thick with just the right texture ranging somewhere between gooey and cakey. With three types of chocolate – bittersweet, unsweetened, and cocoa powder – they aren’t too chocolatey or too tooth-achingly sweet. They are juuuuuust right. Plus, these have that little crust on top that is just perfect. This will be my new go-to brownie base going forward.

Then there are the nuts. Nuts always belong in brownies, so I feel like I don’t need to explain this further.

But the bourbon and bacon? That one I’ll explain.

Explanation: bourbon and bacon belong in everything.

I kid.

(But really I’m not kidding)

To be honest, I added the bacon because I had a half-full (optimist!) package of bacon in my fridge leftover from another recipe. I didn’t know what to use it for, because I already had my lunches and dinners planned for the rest of the week. I needed to use it for something and I happened to be making brownies to bring to dinner at a friend’s house, so I just decided to throw bacon into the batter.

And since I was already trashing these brownies up by adding bacon, I figured what the heck, might as well add bourbon.

Does that make sense?

I’ll tell you this: no one complained about it. I don’t think you would either.

And remember when I put bacon in scotcheroos? Yeah, those were good too.

Bacon Nut Bourbon Brownies

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

40 mins

These brownies are a little bit gooey, but a little bit cakey. They are a little bit sweet, but a little bit salty. They have bourbon, bacon, and lots of nuts. What's not to love?!

Serves: 9 brownies

Ingredients

6-8 slices bacon
½ cup butter
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons bourbon
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon course sea salt, plus extra for topping
¾ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, peanuts, and pecans)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the brownies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease with butter or oil.
Fry the bacon in a pan until crisp, a few minutes on each side. Chop into small pieces then set aside to cool.
Melt the butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler (a saucepan over a larger saucepan of boiling water) or in the microwave.
Stir in the cocoa powder.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and bourbon until thoroughly combined. The sugar should be completely dissolved, about 3 minutes.
Whisk in the chocolate mixture.
Stir in the flour and sea salt.
Fold in ¾ of the bacon and chopped nuts.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top with remaining bacon, nuts, and a little bit of sea salt.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Do not overbake! Brownies can be slightly underdone and gooey.
Let them cool completely before removing from the pan. Cut into 9 large (or 16 small) brownies. Enjoy!

Now I’m off to go do my last long run before Grandma’s Marathon, which is next Saturday! *insert panic attack * But afterwards I’m headed to go explore Stillwater with some friends. I’ll post Instagrams and take notes and tell you about it later. Enjoy your Saturday! I hope you go for a nice, long walk (or run) and then eat some brownies.

Share this:

Almond Butter Trail Mix Cookies

June 6, 2015 by Jenna

Almond butter and trail mix got married. Then they had two dozen children. These are their children:

Almond butter trail mix cookies.

Aren’t they beautiful?

All they had to was combine with an egg and some brown sugar. Then BAM! these cookies were born.

And then this blog post got a little awkward so I’m ditching this analogy right… meow.

So these cookies! They are so easy to make. I made them the hard way and they were still easy.

The “hard” way = make your own almond butter and mix your own trail mix.

The “easy” way = buy almond butter and trail mix at the store.

No matter which path you tread you’ll end up with delicious cookies and that’s the most important part. Gotta love that salty-sweet combo.

And you know what? As far as cookies go, these aren’t so bad for you. They are primarily made up of healthy, whole ingredients (nuts, seeds, egg), but we throw in some brown sugar to make them a little more of an indulgence.

Live a little.

They are naturally gluten-free, so if your body hates gluten it will love these!

These almond butter trail mix cookies would be great companions for when you go camping. They seem like very outdoorsy-type cookies to me. Maybe because they have the word “trail” in them? IDK.

I did bring them along to a picnic and they were good. I ate them inside and they were still good. I recommend trying both out!

Almond Butter Trail Mix Cookies

Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

8 mins

Total time

33 mins

These almond butter trail mix cookies are basically just almond butter and trail mix with a few other ingredients. They are super simple to make! You can make your own almond butter and trail mix or buy your favorite at the store.

Serves: 2 dozen

Ingredients

2 cups almonds
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup raisins
⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
⅓ cup salted sunflower seeds
⅓ cup roasted, salted peanuts

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Toast almonds in the oven for 7-10 minutes (oven doesn’t have to be fully pre-heated at this point) until toasted and fragrant. Let cool for a few minutes.
Place almonds in a food process and process for 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth almond butter. You may have to stop it every so often to scrap down the sides. Once almonds have reached the desired consistency transfer to a bowl. Make sure this is about to room temperature before mixing with the other ingredients. It will make the dough easier to handle.
Add the egg, brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Stir until completely combined.
Stir in the raisins, dark chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and peanuts.
Roll dough into balls.
Optional step: refrigerate dough for 10-15 minutes before baking. This will result in denser cookies. If you don’t refrigerate they will spread a bit and will be thinner and crispier. They will be delicious either way!
and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Notes

You can use store bought almond butter rather than making your own. Use 1 cup.
You can replace the raisins, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and peanuts with 1⅓ cups of your favorite trail mix.

Share this:

Triple Berry Almond Oat Bars

May 30, 2015 by Jenna

These triple berry almond oat bars, I love them.

The tasty little things are like eating fruit crisp in bar form.

And they are healthy!

And vegan!

And so, so delicious!

Earlier this week I was paging through the ole Duesterhoeft Café cookbook and came across the recipe for fudgy oatmeal bars. My mom would make them for potlucks and other such things, because they make such a large pan and are super tasty. I decided that I needed to make them.

But then I decided to try to make them just a leeetle bit healthier. And then I accidentally completely transformed them into something else.

Something amazing.

Something that you can eat two of and not feel guilty about afterwards.

Something that looks like this:

I swapped:

All purpose flour for oat flour and almond meal
Butter for coconut oil
Chocolate fudge for tripe berry chia seed jam
An egg for a flax egg
Brown sugar for less brown sugar
Deliciousness for guilt-free deliciousness

So yeah, not quite the same. But that’s ok, because I’m pretty obsessed with how they turned out.

On the bottom there is a crust made with coconut oil, brown sugar, almond meal, oat flour, oats, a flax egg, and almond extract. This stuff alone is pretty amazing. Try not to eat it all (you gotta taste test a little!) before getting it into the pan.

There are a lot of substitutions you can make here – gluten-free, non-vegan, etc – so make sure to check out the note section in the recipe.

In the middle there is a fruit layer made with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and chia seeds. AKA triple berry chia seed jam. This stuff alone is also pretty amazing. Truth be told I don’t eat a lot of jam. I never buy it and this was my first experience making chia seed jam (or any type of jam) and now I’m in love. It’s super easy to make, tastes delicious, and is healthy! I’m sure you could easily swap out the sugar for some honey or maple syrup. I made some more again yesterday to use for oatmeal, yogurt, spoonfuls into my mouth, etc.

The two layers are topped off with some crumbled oat mixture, then placed it in the oven until baked to perfection (20-25 minutes).

As you can see these triple berry almond oat bars are made with a bunch of wholesome, healthy ingredients. Yes, they have some sugar, but I’d say it’s a forgivable amount. They are healthy enough to eat for breakfast and delicious enough to eat for dessert.

I ate these chilled in the fridge. I ate them heated up. Both were pretty dern good.

Now I’m going to go run 22 miles (pray for me) and when I come home I’ll probably polish off the rest of the pan. But to be honest, there really aren’t many left.

Triple Berry Almond Oat Bars

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

These bars are full of oats, nuts, and berries - almost like eating fruit crisp in bar form! They are vegan, can easily be made gluten-free, and are super healthy and delicious.

Serves: 16 bars

Ingredients

For the chia seed jam filling:

½ cup strawberries, diced
½ cup raspberries
½ cup blueberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon chia seeds
¾ cup chopped almonds

For the crust and crumble:

¾ cup oat flour
½ cup almond meal
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups rolled oats
½ cup coconut oil, solid state
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal + 2.5 tablespoons water)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the bars can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease with butter or oil spray.

For the chia seed jam filling:

Add the berries, lemon juice, and sugar to a saucepan and stir on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until it begins to bubble. The fruit should break apart and release liquid. Use the back of your spoon to press down on the blueberries and raspberries a little bit. Turn to medium-low, add the chia seeds, and continue to stir for an additional 10 minutes. It will thicken as you stir.
Add the chopped almonds then set aside and allow to cool slightly.

For the crust and crumble:

In a medium bowl, combine the oat flour, almond meal, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the coconut oil and brown sugar until they are fully combined. Stir in the almond extract and flax egg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.

To assemble:

Press ¾ of the oat crust into the baking pan. Spread the chia seed jam over the crust then sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving. These taste awesome both warm and cold.

Notes

Use any berries you want for the jam. You can also just buy fruit preserves at the store.
You can sub all-purpose flour for both the oat flour and almond meal (1 ¼ cups total).
Make your own oat flour by processing oats in a food processor or blender until it reaches flour consistency. Almond meal can be made the same way (by using almonds).
Use gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten free.
To make a flax egg mix 1 tablespoon flax meal with 2 ½ tablespoons water and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Use a real egg in place of a flax egg if you aren’t vegan.

PS – Have you made chia seed jam before? What’s your favorite jam flavor?

Share this:

Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread

May 23, 2015 by Jenna

Do you ever go to the grocery store and “accidentally” buy too many bananas so that you can either store the extra in the freezer or wait for them to over-ripen on your counter so that you can make banana bread?

No? Yes! No? Just me?

Well. I advise you to try it out. I also advise you to add dark chocolate chips and fresh raspberries to your grocery list, because this raspberry chocolate chip banana bread is so, so good and you’re going to want to make it.

So let’s do it!

First, we’ll gather the ingredients. The stars here are the bananas, raspberries, and dark chocolate chips. Obviously. But we’ll need some other things too – flour, baking soda, brown sugar, milk, and an egg. Also, we’re going to use Greek yogurt instead of butter. Not because we don’t love butter, but just because.

Next, mash up those beautiful, brown bananas. Mash them really, really good. We basically want them to be like liquid. Then stir in the brown sugar, egg, Greek yogurt, and milk until everything is super combined. Throw in the flour and baking soda and give the mixture a couple of stirs. Lumps and pockets of flour are a-ok. I realize that this will be hard for you perfectionists out there, but you can do it. Leave some imperfections. Fold in the chocolate chips and raspberries, being careful not to over stir. Finally, pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and place it in the oven.

In 50 minutes your kitchen will smell far too delicious and you’ll have an exquisite loaf of bread on your counter. This is happiness.

So much happiness that I had to give most of this loaf away. Which was really hard to do. Probably the hardest thing I had to do all week. Except for that 17 mile run yesterday. #strugglefest.

So yeah. What I’m trying to say is this stuff is really good. Basic banana bread and chocolate cacao nib banana bread are good too, but this chocolate chip raspberry banana bread is like really good.

Soooo… uh… make it. And eat it. And drink some coffee. And have a FANTASTIC Memorial Day weekend!!

Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour

This Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread is a snazzy version of regular banana bread. It's simple, a little bit healthy, and so, so very delicious with bursts of chocolate and raspberries.

Serves: 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 ½ cups + 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 medium very ripe bananas
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup full fat plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk (any sort of milk will work: cow, almond, coconut, soy, etc)
1 pint raspberries
¾ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a small bowl combine the flour (just 1 ½ cups) and baking soda. Set aside.
In another small bowl toss the raspberries with the remaining 1 teaspoon of flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl mash the bananas until they are very, very mashed.
Whisk in the brown sugar, Greek yogurt, egg, and milk until they are thoroughly combined.
Stir in the flour. Lumps are ok.
Fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips, saving some to sprinkle on top.
Pour batter into the loaf pan and top with the remaining raspberries and chocolate chips.
Baked for 50-55 minutes.

PS- what are you doing for Memorial Day? I am headed up north to the cabin to hang out with my family for the weekend! So excited.

Share this:

« Previous Page
1
…
4
5
6
7
8
…
16
Next Page »

PS – Have you made chia seed jam before? What’s your favorite jam flavor?

jenna.faye.ivey