Anti-Inflammatory - Roasted Cauliflower with (what was supposed to be Almond) Sauce

 

Over the holidays, I have been trying to work my way through more of these anti-inflammation recipes (trying to get my repertoire increased).  Here is today's adventure: another effort to do something interesting with Cauliflower.  Basically, a recipe in two parts:

    A.  Get the Cauliflower covered in a mix of oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, and shoved in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, til tender and slightly browned (and may I say, my life has been transformed since discovering parchement paper! What a glorious way to avoid all the work of scrubbling a baking sheet clean!)

B.  Throw the other ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth:

• 1 T chopped parsley
• one garlic clove chopped
• I T lemon juice
• 1 scallion chopped
• 1 T maple syrup (I was out, so used honey instead)
• .5 t salt
• .5 t pepper
• 1 cup plain yogurt (the recipe calls for almond yogurt but I used a vegan coconut milk yogurt, and imagine you could use almost any yogurt)
• 1/4 cup almond butter (I substituted 2 T of pumpkin seed butter, and 2T of sesame seed butter.... i was out of almond butter!)

And here are they combined together (with Penny waiting hopefully to see if i was going to accidentally drop anything on the floor....)

You end up with a quite thick and creamy sauce.  And it is not a mere garnish, but a central part of the recipe.  The jury is still out for me on the flavour.   It is interesting, but not really something that if firmly in my 'palate memory'.  I imagine it would have a much different flavour with the almond butter.  On the other hand, we do have some nut allergies in the house, so there are some reasons to branch out into the other nut and seed butters.   I imagine this would also work with peanut butter and give you another quite different flavoured sauce (though this book is trying to lean away from peanut/legume towards other kinds of nuts and seeds).   I can see there is room for experimentation (and i think i am going to try adding hot sauce to it next time to give it more kick). 

Anti-Inflammatory - The Breakfast 'Green Drink"

 So... I have been told by the wonderful (and painfully direct and truthful) Dr. Lam that my arthritis will hurt a bit less if I follow an anti-inflammatory diet.   Thus, I went and took at look at the changes that would be needed.  My first moment of sadness was in realizing how many of my favourite things are 'inflammatory'. (uh... like ALL of them?!)

However, having reached the point where pain may well be overwhelming pleasure, I went out and bought a "anti-inflammatory diet" cookbook to guide me in this new adventure. 
 

I thought I would share some of the recipes I have been enjoying along the way (along with my alterations!  :-)

The recipe that has become my 'go to' is this one... a morning smoothy.  Basically, into the blender (I use a good blender that can deal with ice) goes:

• half an english cucumber
• a pear (cored of course!)
• half a bulb of fennel (anise) 
• a big fistful of fresh spinach
• freshly grated ginger
• coconut water (or just water...)
• Ice

BLEND TIL SMOOTH 

At first tried to follow the instructions on amounts, but have shifted around a bit.   Particularly on the ginger.  I put in TONS (I adore ginger)... may a couple of tablespoons or more.  Add more water if you want it more watery, or more ice if you want it like a slurpy.

This makes a blender full.   I usually have a big glass, and then pour the rest into 1 cup mason jars (I usually get 3 of these), and then i have a few more servings for the next day or two.  It will keep this way the better part of 5-6 days (in the mason jar and fridge).  Massive amounts of vitamin C,  super refreshing, and a real waker-upper!

I never imagined I would be the kind of person to actually LIKE a green drink, but there you go.  The world is full of mystery.

Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese ... Michelle's find ...

Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese

 

 

A baked mac and cheese recipe that is rich and creamy but can be made ahead of time and thrown in the oven when guests arrive.

4.55 from 613 votes

Course: Holiday, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: macaroni and cheese

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

 

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 538kcal

 

Author: Marianne

Ingredients

·       16 ounces macaroni

·       ⅓ cup butter

·       ⅓ cup flour

·       ½ tsp white pepper

·       ½ tsp salt

·       ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

·       3 ½ cups 2% milk

·       8 ounces medium cheddar cheese shredded

·       8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Equipment

·       3 Quart Baking Dish

Instructions

1.            Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2.            Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, cook for 8 - 9 minutes. Strain and set aside.

3.            In a heavy-bottomed large pot over medium heat, melt the butter.

4.            Sprinkle the flour, white pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper over the melted butter, whisking until smooth and the mixture has thickened slightly.

5.            Stir in the milk ½ cup at a time ( feel free to eyeball it ), only adding the next half cup once the previous one has been incorporated entirely.

6.            Add all of the medium cheddar cheese and half of the extra sharp cheddar cheese, stir into the milk/flour sauce until melted. Stir in the macaroni.

7.            Pour into a 3 quart baking dish. Top with the remaining extra sharp cheddar cheese.

8.            Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.

 

 

Insta Pot Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

 Instant Pot Cafe Rio Sweet Pork—make your favorite restaurant’s sweet pork at home with just a handful of ingredients. This pulled pork is perfect over salad, rice, tacos, burritos, quesadillas or on a toasted bun

Instant Pot Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Are you a fan of the sweet pork at Cafe Rio or Costa Vida? If you don’t know what I’m talking about Cafe Rio is a restaurant that is sort of like Chipotle, only better. They are famous for their sweet pork salads which contain a fresh flour tortilla, cilantro lime rice, beans, romaine lettuce, sweet pork, cotija cheese, lime, guacamole, fried corn chips and their famous house dressing, a creamy tomatillo ranch. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Now you can easily make the sweet pork at home and it tastes almost identical to the real thing! You can make all the fixings for the Cafe Rio style salads or you can just serve this meat over a taco. That’s how I enjoyed it and it was the bomb! I loved the sweetness paired with a freshly baked tortilla (I find these in the refrigerated section of the grocery store), garden fresh tomatoes, chopped cilantro and a generous dollop of full fat sour cream.

This recipe is a bit unique because you pressure cook twice. The first time you pressure cook to get the pork shreddable. Then you pressure cook the second time to infuse all the flavors into the shredded pork. The second pressure cook time is only 5 minutes and luckily the pot comes to pressure really quickly. Since the pork is already shredded you can use a quick release the second time around.

Make your favorite restaurant’s sweet pork at home with just a handful of ingredients. This pulled pork is perfect over salad, rice, tacos, burritos, quesadillas or on a toasted bun. 

---

Ingredients

·       2 1/4 cups Coke, divided (not diet)

·       2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into quarters

·       1 1/4 cup brown sugar, divided

·       1 tsp garlic salt

·       1 (4 oz) can green chilies

·       1 (10 oz can) red enchilada sauce

---

Instructions

1.    Pour 1 ½ cups of Coke into Instant Pot. Add in the quartered pork, ¼ cup brown sugar and garlic salt.

2.    Cover and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 60 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit there for 15 minutes and then move the valve to venting. 

3.    Discard the cooking liquid. Shred the meat. Keep the meat in the Instant Pot.

4.    Add ¾ cup Coke, 1 cup brown sugar, green chilies and enchilada sauce to a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. 

5.    Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When the time is up you can use a quick release or a natural release. Remove the lid.

6.    Use tongs to serve the pork on top of salads, rice, burritos, tacos, quesadillas etc.

I made this today at Curtis and Sarah's house.  Found it on the internet ...

365 days of. SLOW  + PRESSURE Cooking (Karen)

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins

 Cherry Chocolate Chip muffins

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins     Bake 350 for approximately 20 minutes

This recipe will make 18 muffins.

2 cups flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup veggie or canola oil

2 tsp almond extract (or vanilla)

1 cup fresh cherries cut in half 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Oprah’s Favorite Brownies from Baked Bakery NYC

Oprah’s Favorite Brownies from

Baked Bakery NYC

 

Recipe from: Baker By Nature

 

11/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons Hershey’s Unsweetened cocoa

11 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 teaspoon espresso powder (I omit this)

11/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

5 eggs. at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9 x 13″ baking pan with butter or cooking spray, then line parchment paper and butter or spray that as well.

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder, set aside.

 

In a heat proof bowl put the chopped chocolate, the butter and the espresso powder, place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate are melted and well combined and smooth.

 

Turn the heat off and leave the bowl over the water, add both sugars and whisk until combined. Then remove the bowl from the water and let cool to room temperature.

 

Once chocolate mixture is room temperature, 3 room temperature eggs and whisk until combined. Add the last 2 eggs, whisk until combined, then whisk in the vanilla extract.

 

DO not over-beat the batter or the brownies will be cake like and not fudgy.

 

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture, with a rubber spatula fold the flour mixture into the chocolate, until just a bit of the flour is visible.

 

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, ROTATE the pan after 15 minutes, then bake for another 15 minutes.

 

Bake only until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let cool on a wire rack.

 

Then remove from pan, cut into squares and enjoy!

My friend, Candice Wendt is trying to cook less meat and more plant based food, though who is to say meat is not plant-based, now that I think of it. 

Still, I, too love the recipes that are based on vegetables.  

Here are 29 Best Vegetarian Recipes to scroll through, from COOKIE+Kate: Celebrating Whole Foods.

Arta