I actually copied this recipe for blanched pesto into my blog que over a year ago and by the time I got around to making it, my basil had expired. (That's a nice way of saying that I didn't keep it pruned and I let it go to seed.) I love fresh pesto and I was super excited to try this recipe but it just wasn't cost effective for me to buy the 6 cups of fresh basil leaves that this recipe requires. No one wants to spend 30.00 on a batch of pesto - especially me. Sooo ... I patiently waited 12 months for a new batch of basil to grow and mature and in the meantime, I dreamt about the pesto that I would make with the fresh basil from my garden.  My long awaited blanched pesto did not disappoint. This was a such a simple sauce to put together. 5 scrumptious ingredients and a food processor is all it took to create this fresh and flavorful pesto.  Blanched Pesto 6 cups fresh basil leaves 2 Tablespoon unsalted sunflower seeds 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup parmesan cheese Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a second bowl with ice water. Place basil leaves in a metal strainer.  Place strainer in pan and use tongs to submerge leaves. Cook 5 seconds. Remove strainer with basil and immediately submerge into ice water. Let stand 10 seconds.  Spread basil on towel and gently blot dry.  Place basil, sunflower seeds, oil and salt in food processor and pulse until smooth.  Add cheese and process until smooth.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Toss pesto with warm pasta.
I served my pesto with toasted naan bread and a peach caprese salad.  I knew that I would love this recipe but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much my family enjoyed this pesto as well. I would categorize them as traditionalists when it comes to pasta sauce but now that I know they are fans of pesto, we can switch up our usual marinara routine from time to time. It's always a good sign when they go in for second and even third helping dinner!!
Ciao!
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It's blueberry season in Georgia. Woohoo!!! I have 2 blueberry bushes in my yard and they actually yield quite a few berries but I've after five years, I've finally surrendered my right to the tiny, ripe fruit to the birds. Literally. I got tired of trying to compete with the birds for the berries and I resolved myself to the fact that they needed the nourishment more than I. It took a couple of years, but I now actually enjoy watching the birds come to feast on the sweet superfood.
Since the blueberries in my yard have been turned over the birds, I head to the blueberry farm to pick berries for my family. There's something so peaceful and serene about going into the blueberry fields at the crack of dawn and quietly filling my bucket with tiny blue morsels of antioxidant rich berries.  I treasure my hand picked blueberries because of the time and care that it takes to collect them. I carefully scrutinize each blueberry recipe before I make it to decide whether it's worthy of my cherished hand picked berries or whether I can substitute grocery store berries in their place. This blueberry cobbler recipe is definitely hand picked blueberry worthy. Enough said.  Blueberry Cobbler Biscuit Topping 1 1/2 cups flour 5 teaspoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup buttermilk 6 Tablespoons butter, melted + 1 Tablespoon butter Filling 3/4 cup sugar 1 Tablespoon cornstarch 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 6 cups blueberries
Bake 12-14 minutes.
 When I used my kids with me to pick berries when they were small so I understand that blueberry picking is not always a calming and peaceful experience. I enjoyed blueberry picking with the kids but on a totally different level - in a more hectic and chaotic kind of way. If picking your own blueberries is not an option for you, there is no shame in buying berries from the grocery store to make your cobbler.
I am currently in search of another pick your own blueberry farm close to the Monroe, Georgia area. If you know of one or have heard about a nearby blueberry farm, send me a comment. I would love check it out.
Ciao!  I've been keeping a secret from you. (No, I'm not pregnant. LOL) I've been living sugar free for a couple of weeks now. Even as I type those words, I can hardly believe it. After all, I'm a chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookie, mint chocolate chip ice cream loving kind of girl. I have mad love and appreciation for sugar. If it weren't for sugar, I wouldn't be able to make all of the sugary sweet treats for my baking business. I use so much sugar every week that my son actually nicknamed me the "sugar dealer" of our town. Being surrounded by cookies, cupcakes and brownies every single day was never something that I considered to be a hinderance. I complain about the fact that I smell like buttercream at the end of the day but there are far worse smells. I still believe that I've got the very best job in the world. The only problem is that it's turned me into a serious sugar addict. Being surrounded by sugar is a great place to be until you realize that you can't live without it.
Being unable to finish a meal (including breakfast) without a dessert, having intense cravings for sweets and experiencing a serious sugar crash every afternoon was a wake up call for me to be more mindful of the amount of sugar that I was consuming on a daily basis. When I started to journal my food, I realized that I was eating a whole lot more sugar than I ever realized. A cookie here and a bite of buttercream there seemed pretty harmless until I added up all of those "little" bites that I was consuming throughout the day. Sugar is so pervasive in my life that eliminating it completely seemed almost impossible. Living sugar free means something different for everyone. For me, going sugar free meant eliminated as much refined sugar from my diet as I possibly could. I also swapped out white breads for bread and snacks made exclusively of whole wheat flour. I did allow myself a small amount of natural sweeteners like honey, molasses, maple syrup and stevia. (I'm only human after all.) I also swapped out white potatoes with sweet potatoes and limited myself to one Tablespoon of ketchup with my baked sweet potato fries. (That was a HUGE sacrifice.) I had to educate myself about the hidden sugars in foods like yogurt, salad dressings and milk alternatives. It's worth noting that I also limited my dairy intake at the same time - for entirely different reasons. I started drinking and baking with milk alternatives like almond and coconut milk and eating soy yogurt. I'll be the first to admit that it wasn't always easy to avoid sugar and my family will attest to the fact that I wasn't always pleasant to be around when I was living sugar free. The first couple of days were the worst and then the cravings and afternoon sugar crashes started to magically disappear. As I got more comfortable eating sugar free, I also found more ways to satisfy my sweet tooth with things like with fresh fruit. Did you know that fresh fruit tastes even better when you haven't eaten refined sugar for a few weeks? Still struggling with leaving the dinner table without a little sweet treat, I had to come up with creative ways to make my fruit look more like dessert. Let's just say that a bowl of strawberry whip after dinner, was a lifesaver.  Strawberry Whip
Slice strawberries and freeze on a baking sheet.
Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Scoop into a plastic bag and freeze 10 minutes.  Cut a corner of the bag and squeeze into a bowl to serve.  I don't want to make blanket statements about nutrition because let's face it - I'm not here to start a nutrition war. What's best for me, may not be best for everyone else. I have no idea how long I will be able to embrace this sugar free living but I can tell you that I am feeling better than I did when I was eating refined sugar. I feel great and I'm not experiencing the sugar cravings or crashes that I did last month.
I'm still giving myself some grace for those important events that come up and absolutely MUST be celebrated with a small slice of high quality, real deal, piece of rich, decadent chocolate cake covered in creamy fudge frosting. I'm not going to feel guilty about indulging in an occasional treat because to be honest - it takes a lot less dessert to satisfy me now. My taste buds are more sensitive to sugar since I've become more sugar aware.
I'm on the search for more sugar free treats so if you have a tried and true favorite - send the recipe my way. I'd love to try it. Thanks in advance. Ciao!  Sitting around a campfire with hand carved wooden sticks, roasting marshmallows to golden perfection and sandwiching them between two honey sweetened graham crackers and a layer of chocolate is the quintessence of a perfect summer night. As much as I love the act of creating smores, I'm not really sure how I feel about eating them. I love all of the smore ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate, toasted marshmallows - what's not to like? I actually prefer to deconstruct my smores to eat them though. I guess I like to savor each flavor without being muddled together. 
 This smore ice cream really got me thinking. If you can take a smore and transform it into a heavenly frozen treat, what other things can you transform a smore into? I've made them into cakes and cupcakes but I couldn't help thinking that the chocolate, marshmallow, graham combinations would also make a great muffin.  Smore's Muffins 1 cup chocolate chips 1 cup flour 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs 1/2 cup marshmallow cream
Bake 20-25 minutes at 350.  Top each muffin with a Tablespoon of marshmallow cream. Let sit 10 minutes.
When sitting around a campfire is not an option, you can always improvise and bake up a batch of smore muffins. Admittedly, these smore muffins are a little sweeter than your normal breakfast muffin but they're a delicious morning treat. My plan is to bake a batch another batch of graham cracker muffins without the chocolate and marshmallow. I'll let you know how they turn out.
Ciao!  If there were a speed eating contest, my husband and I would both stand a chance of reigning victorious. We've got an edge up on our competition because we're both ultra competitive AND we have a lot of practice. I'm not talking about a hot dog eating or pie eating competition, I'm talking about scarfing down a regular sized meal in record time. There is really no advantage to our accelerated eating habits - quite the opposite really. No person should ever consume their food in such hasty fashion. Eating quickly leads to poor digestion, overeating and lower satisfaction with the whole experience. Not to mention the fact that if I spend and hour preparing a meal, I want everyone at the table to enjoy every single bite that goes into their mouth. I don't want to see my culinary efforts disappear in ten minutes flat without so much as an inhale to appreciate the way the food smells.  I talk about eating as an experience A LOT. I'm mainly reminding myself to put my fork down between bites and to slow myself down while I'm eating a meal. (Regardless of who prepared it.) My goal is to experience my food instead of simply eating to satisfy my hunger. Appreciating what the food LOOKS like and how it SMELLS even before diving into that first bite. If there was ever a food that really begs to be experienced and appreciated, it's a Caesar Salad. It's simplistic in nature and the recipe is very basic but it really stands out against all other salads. Chances are you've had one of these beloved salads at some point in your life but now I challenge you to experience your Caesar Salad. Try my Grilled Caesar salad with Sourdough Breadcrumbs for a unique twist on the class Caesar.  Grilled Caesar Salad with Sourdough Breadcrumbs 2 cups cubes whole wheat sourdough bread 4 teaspoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 clove minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 romaine hearts, quartered lengthwise 1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated
Brush romaine halves with olive oil.  Place lettuce, cut side down, on a hot grill and grill until charred.  Add 1/4 c. chickpeas and 1/4 c. breadcrumbs.
Top with 2 T. Caesar dressing and parmesan cheese.
 Pair this Cesar salad with a great piece of grilled fish or chicken and you've got yourself a perfect summer meal.
Ciao! |
