Homemade Sunbutter

I’ve been trying my hand at a few different types of homemade nut butters lately and so far this has been my favorite.  Yes, I realize sunflower seeds are not nuts, but the term “seed” butter doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. My little 2 year old loves to eat this by the spoonful and I think it’s a great substitute for peanut butter for those who have allergies. This is super easy to make and takes less than 5 minutes in a food processor. Also, I custom make each batch… meaning I just add things to taste. This isn’t an exact science. If you’ve never tried your hand at making your own “nut” butter, I highly recommend it!

Ingredients

• toasted sunflower seeds (I buy salted roasted ones from the bulk bins at the grocery store, but you could roast raw ones yourself)
• light flavored oil (I use olive oil)
• honey or other liquid sweetener, if desired
• salt

Directions

Place sunflower seeds in the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment. I think I used about 2-3 cups of seeds. Don’t use too many or it’ll be hard to get a good consistency. The seeds will go through several stages before they get to the correct consistency and you’ll probably have to stop it every so often to scrape down the sides. First the seeds will get a mealy consistency, then pasty/clumpy. Keep processing until the seeds are smooth and release their oils. The mixture will look relatively smooth and shiny.

Once you get to this point, taste the butter. This is the time to add extra salt and/or honey. I think honey gives it a great sweetness that pairs very well with the seeds. Don’t underestimate the importance of salt, especially if your seeds were not salted, you’ll need to add a bit to bring out the flavor. Once the honey and salt are mixed in well, you can adjust the consistency of the butter to your liking. Just add a bit of your oil at a time until the desired consistency is reached. And that’s it! You really could use this same process for any other nut/seed butter you want to make. Try out different flavors and variations and see which one you like best!

Smoked Salmon Frittata with Green Onion Dressing

This was a delicious, fast meal for a busy work night. You may want to double it up if it’s for the whole family and/or serve with a side salad.

 

Green Onion Dressing

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked, drained & rinsed (I usually pour boiling water over mine and soak for about 45 minutes)
• 1 cup coconut milk
  
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped finely
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt & pepper

Instructions:

Add the raw cashews to a blender and process until they are finely ground. Add the coconut milk, lemon juice, and garlic powder. Blend until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides a few times.

Stir through the green onions and season to taste with salt & pepper. Refrigerate to thicken before serving.

Smoked Salmon Frittata

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon oil or butter
• 4 large eggs, beaten with a splash of water
• 3 – 4 oz smoked salmon, sliced

Preheat broiler.

Heat oil or butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet on stove over medium-low heat. Pour in beaten eggs and swirl pan to evenly distribute in a circle. Cook eggs until they are beginning to pull away slightly from the edges of the pan and only the middle is still liquid.

Place the skillet under the broiler and cook until the eggs are just set – they will be firm to the touch, but still spring back to shape. Remove the hot pan from the broiler with oven mitts and slide frittata onto a cutting board or plate.

To serve:

Top frittata with sliced smoked salmon and green onion dressing and garnish with additional green onions if desired.

Adapted from Meatified

Roasted Buddha Bowl

I wasn’t expecting a lot from a bowl filled with veggies and beans, but this really hit the spot. Both the cauliflower and broccoli were vastly improved by the roasting process as were the chickpeas. Seriously, if you’ve never had roasted, crunchy chickpeas, you’re missing out. But, my favorite part of the dish was the sauce. Holy moly. That was some good stuff. I think it was the nutritional yeast that gave it the unique flavor I loved so much, which was a relief because I was a bit scared of the stuff. I can’t wait to try using it to make “cheese” sauces and such. Anyway, the sauce was so good I made another double batch later on just to have on hand for other assorted veggie bowls. Oh and don’t be like me and forget about making some sort of grain to go with the Buddha bowls. Sadly I didn’t have time to make brown rice so I went with white. Which was delicious, but the nuttiness of brown rice would be so amazing with this.

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Homemade Wheat Mix & Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

This is a recipe that I grew up with. We used it primarily for pancakes and to this day they are still my favorite. The best part of this mix is you can use it for many different things. It originally came from the “Make-a-Mix” cookbook which included recipes for muffins, bread, etc.

Today I’m just going to give you the recipe I use for pancakes. Keep in mind this is very off-the-cuff. Precision isn’t needed here, which is what makes it great. In fact, Seth loves making these for Sylvie who in turn loves to eat them! Today I’ll also include a fabulous recipe for blueberry sauce just as a bonus. Breakfast doesn’t get much better than this!

Wheat Mix

• 6 cups whole-wheat flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups instant nonfat dry milk
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup baking powder
• 2 cups vegetable shortening

Combine wheat flour, white flour, dry milk, salt, sugar, wheat germ, and baking powder. Mix well. Cut shortening in with a pastry blender. Makes about 14 cups.

Whole-Wheat Pancakes

• Wheat Mix
• Bisquick
• Egg
• Water

Mix equal parts wheat mix and Bisquick*, add an egg, and enough water to make the batter a good consistency. Stir just enough to get all the major lumps out. If you’re making a lot or just a pancake worth or so, you’ll want to adjust the egg amount accordingly, but for an average sized recipe, you won’t need to worry about it.

*You can eliminate the Bisquick and make these using only the wheat mix, but the texture of the pancakes isn’t as good and they’ll be more crumbly.

Blueberry Sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups blueberries (or other berries, fresh or frozen)

In a 2-qt. saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in water. Add blueberries; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Serve warm or cold over french toast, pancakes, waffles, or dessert of your choice.

Bacon Gravy and Buttermilk Biscuits

The morning I made these biscuits the only breakfast meat I had was bacon.  I wondered to myself why anyone only ever made sausage gravy and biscuits. So I went against the grain and used bacon! It was super tasty and hit the spot. But how could it not? I mean it’s BACON GRAVY.

I’ve been looking for a killer buttermilk biscuit recipe for a long time. It seemed like mine never rose high enough or had enough flavor. The first time I made these biscuits I went against my gut and used the very wet dough it produced. My biscuits tasted good but they were kind of spread out, not tall and beautiful. The next time I made them I added a bit more flour so the dough wasn’t so insanely sticky and more of the traditional texture. And look how beautiful they turned out! I can’t tell you how elated I was.

Go to Bacon Gravy Recipe

Go to Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

Creamy Pasta Alfredo

I bought a package of fresh tortellini pasta to have on hand for a quick weeknight meal. Last night after looking at my 10 year old packets of alfredo sauce mix, I decided to just make the sauce from scratch. I don’t typically keep heavy cream on hand which is a common staple in alfredo sauce recipes. Luckily I found this one that uses milk thickened with a roux. Add a bit of parmesan cheese and voila! Alfredo sauce! To give you an idea of how much it makes, I used a 20 oz. package of pasta and doubled this sauce recipe.

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Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa

Quinoa is still a fairly foreign ingredient to me, so I was excited to try this recipe. I really liked the spicy chicken and thought it paired well with the lime quinoa. The lime was a little strong for my taste though, so I think I would cut the juice amount in half next time and add more if needed. The original poster made an avocado based sauce to serve with this, but I used this Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing instead and it was delicious!

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Basic Basil Pesto

The basil in my garden is going crazy and I needed a way to use up a lot of it fast. Pesto was the perfect solution! This recipe makes enough to cover about a pound of linguine. Or, you can get creative and use it however you like. I personally think it tastes fabulous on sandwiches and/or tossed with tomatoes & mozzarella!

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Dill Veggie Dip & Creamy Fruit Dip

Dips are one of those things that kind of get thrown together at the last minute without much thought. Which is nice really, because it’s an easy way to add a little extra oomph to your fruits and veggies. Trouble is, there are a lot of bland, boring dips out there that don’t produce any sort of excitement for the nibbler. There’s nothing worse than going to a party, dipping your carrot stick into what looks like a bowl of awesomeness, only to come away with a bad taste in your mouth. This is why I’ve found the perfect veggie and fruit dip for you!

Dill Veggie Dip

 

I have to say, this dill dip is especially good. After finding this recipe, I knew I would never need another one as long as I lived. Now can I just give you a couple pointers for making dips? These are very important. The first tip is to choose your calorie-saving components wisely. Some low-fat substitutes can be used without anybody being the wiser. Some will make your dip taste like cardboard. In my experience, not only is low-fat cream cheese just as delicious as the regular stuff, it also doesn’t need to be softened before using so it saves on time! (This just applies to dips… using reduced fat cream cheese for other items such as baked goods can really screw them up… I know from experience). I used low-fat cream cheese for both of these recipes with great results. The one low-fat item I never ever buy is sour cream. It tastes HORRIBLE. It will make your dip taste horrible. And then you will be left with a giant bowl of dip that nobody wants to eat. Now, I guess if you’re on a really strict diet and want to make some crappy dip for yourself, go right ahead. Just don’t punish everyone else with it. One other option that is often used in place of sour cream is Greek yogurt. I cannot vouch for this. I’ve never really tried it in dips. However, from my experience using it elsewhere, it doesn’t have the same creamy, thick texture that sour cream does (even though everyone claims it does…). Plus it’s way more expensive. I guess my point is, if you’re really watching your waistline, eat less of the delicious dip instead of buckets of the crappy tasting stuff.

The second important rule when making great dip is to make it ahead of time! If you taste the dip right after you make it, then taste it again after several hours (or even better, overnight), you will be amazed at how much different the flavor is. All those herbs and seasonings really do need time to mingle in order to taste right. So plan ahead!

Creamy Fruit Dip

Now, fruit doesn’t necessarily need dip to accompany its already sweet, delicious taste, but if you want to add another fun element to your fruit platter, this dip is an easy way to do it. I liked this recipe because there were only two ingredients and it wasn’t sickeningly sweet. I mixed mine by hand, but if I were to do it again, I’d use an electic mixer. That marshmallow fluff is pretty slippery and a little resistant to mixing. I thought this dip paired especially well with strawberries!

Today’s Theme: Greek!

Seth doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I’m pretty sure he has both a tomato tooth and a Greek tooth. Lately he has discovered Greek pasta salads, though the circumstances usually denote that said pastas are from the grocery store deli. Not terrible mind you, but I knew I could make something better. So, this week I decided to have a Greek dinner night complete with my favorite Greek Turkey Burger and my first attempt at a Greek pasta salad. That’s right! I made a main dish AND a side! Things are getting fancy over here. For the record, I have posted this recipe for the turkey burger before, but it’s so good I think it deserves another day in the spotlight.

 

Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

Serves 4

For the tzatziki:

• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and grated
• 6 oz  greek yogurt (fat free)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• pinch of sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Chill.

For the burgers:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
• ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained of any oil
• ½ cup fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Sandwich Thins (such as Orowheat)
• 1-2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

Directions:

1. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat for several minutes until very hot.
2. Combine the turkey, feta, sun-dried tomato, spinach and seasonings in a mixing bowl until just combined.
3. Spray the grill pan with non-stick spray, form the meat mixture into four patties, and cook for 7-8 minutes on each side until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let rest on a plate covered with foil for 5 minutes before serving.
4. Garnish with tzatziki sauce and additional spinach leaves and serve on sandwich thins.

 Recipe adapted from Just the Tip

 

Greek Pasta Salad

• 1 Recipe Greek Salad Dressing (see recipe below)
• 12 oz. Bow-tie Pasta, cooked & cooled
• 1 pint Grape Tomatoes, halved
• ½ cup Kalamata Olives, roughly chopped
• 1 Cucumber, seeded & diced
• ¼ cup Pepperoncini Peppers, chopped
• 5 oz. Fresh Baby Spinach, chopped

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. Start with approximately 1/2 of the Greek Salad dressing and add more to taste. Refrigerate salad for several hours or overnight for best flavor. Additional dressing can be used to freshen up the salad later on.

 Greek Salad Dressing & Marinade
Recipe by Our Best Bites

• ¼ c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¼ c. white vinegar
• 2 tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ½ tsp. seasoning salt
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (this will not make the dressing spicy, just flavorful)
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 c. canola oil (or other salad oil)
• ½ c. crumbled feta cheese
• ¾ tsp. Italian seasoning
• ¼ tsp. dry oregano

In the jar of a blender, combine all the ingredients through the garlic. Blend until smooth. While the blender is running, add the oil in a steady stream. Turn off the blender and add the feta and pulse the blender a few times (more if you want a creamier consistency). Whisk in the herbs. If possible, refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Use as a marinade for chicken, lamb, or flank steak or drizzle over a Greek salad.