Deleeeeeshus Overnight Oats

I've seen variations of this ALL over Pinterest. I have no idea whose recipe it was originally, and I didn't even pin one myself to reference. I saw a few different ones and got the basic idea, then made my own, in a quantity that fills me up on a morning when I wake up hungry!

This recipe is totally unspecific since it's so adaptable. But the basics are:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not the quick oats- the ones that take like 5-10 mins to cook)
1/3 cup Chobani (or your preferred brand) Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1/4 - 1/3 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk (or other milk of your choosing)
1-2 Tbsp honey (raw, creamed, flavored... up to you, and how sweet you like it!)
Handful of chopped fruit, fresh berries, etc. (Strawberries work well, so do raspberries, apples, blueberries...)
Optional: Various spices, jams, dried fruits

Directions:

1. Add the oats, yogurt, coconut milk, and honey to a jar or container with a lid- or you can wrap with plastic wrap, but that seems so wasteful. Mix well and adjust yogurt and coconut milk to your desired consistency. Since this is eaten cold, I think it's better when it's thicker!
2. Add some of the chopped fruit and mix again. Then add the rest of the chopped fruit. You can mix it again, or leave the rest of the chopped fruit on top. (I like to mix it twice, keeping some of it separated, so some of it gets more incorporated and starts to fall apart a little, while the fruit on top so it stays more whole.)
3. You can also experiment and add things like: Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, vanilla extract, raisins, craisins & various other dried fruits, jams/preserves/jelly etc. for MORE flavor!
4. Cover and place in the fridge over night. When you wake up the next morning, you have a yummy breakfast waiting for you!

This is my favorite honey to use for this recipe! It's from a local company here in Virginia (I love supporting my locals), but they ship, too! Some of it might seem pricey, but trust me, it is worth. every. penny. The spiced version shown here contains cinnamon/clove flavors and I like it with strawberries or apples (it tastes like pie). Another wonderful variety is their almond honey. It's fantastic in the overnight oats with raspberries!
Here's where you can order some, too:
http://stores.homestead.com/hstrial-SMitchell/Categories.bok?category=Creamed%20Honey

Oh. And yes. You DO see a bee on the end of the spoon :)

Asparagus Quiche

When we picked up our CSA last week, it included 2 lbs of asparagus and a dozen eggs (among other things). In the CSA newsletter, they usually include a recipe for some of the ingredients. They included this one for asparagus quiche, but I made some changes... so here is my version.

Ingredients:

1 uncooked pie crust (home made, or I used refrigerated Pillsbury crust, but will make my own next time to make it healthier.)
4-6 green onions 
1 small package chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 pound of asparagus
1 cup shredded Baby Swiss (or other mild cheese)
1 handful of shredded Parmesan cheese
4 large or 5 small eggs
3/4 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk (while I'm not a vegan, I think the dairy industry is pretty messed up and I try not to support it when possible)

Directions:

1. Finely chop the green onions and place them into a skillet with the broth on medium-high heat. While they are heating up, wash and chop (if necessary) your mushrooms into small-ish pieces, then add them to the green onions. Stir them occasionally and let them sautée until soft.
2. While the veges are cooking, prepare your asparagus. I steamed mine in the microwave (put it into a covered microwave-safe container with a little water) for 3 minutes. I like it cooked but not mushy- it still had a tiny bit of crunch to it.
3. Chop the asparagus into 1/2" pieces.
4. Place the asparagus pieces and the mushrooms and green onions into a large bowl. Add the Parmesan and Baby Swiss cheeses and mix it all together.
5. Dump the vegetables and cheese into your pie crust.
6. Whisk together your eggs and the coconut milk, then pour this on top of the vegetable mix in the pie crust.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes.

A couple of notes-
1. The original recipe calls for bacon. The first time I made this, I followed the original recipe and used Smart Bacon- which if you're watching your calories and fat, or are a vegetarian, Smart Bacon is pretty damn good, honestly. I mainly used it because I was afraid the quiche would be bland without it. But my husband (and I, too,) thought the quiche was a little too salty and rich. He asked me to try making it without the bacon. So I exchanged it for mushrooms :)

2. I used the So Delicious Coconut Milk because I've been a fan of it for a long time and found that it's great in coffee, for cereal, for smoothies, and for cooking and baking. It also stays good for a long time so I like to keep it around. I haven't tried almond or soy or hemp milk (or moo-cow-f**k milk, as Lewis Black would say...), so I'm not sure how well those would work.

3. When our quiche was done, it was kind of watery on the inside. Sometimes this happens when I make quiches with a lot of vegetables, especially mushrooms- I think- because they tend to release a lot of water. It tasted super awesome though. But if you have suggestions as to how to keep the quiche from being watery, I'm open to hearing (or reading) :)

Green Smoothie 1

I've been trying to drink more smoothies lately as a lunch replacement. It's a great way to get more fresh fruits and vegetables into your system, especially when you add greens and make a Green Smoothie.

Here's the 2nd green smoothie I made, and it was fantastic. The first one sucked. I used mustard greens. DON'T USE MUSTARD GREENS IN A SMOOTHIE EVER, EVER, EVER.

Ingredients:

• 3 handfuls of green grapes
• 2 big handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 pear
• 1/2 green pepper
• About 1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt
• Some water & some ice cubes

You even get a picture of this one in all it's neon-green-glory. Check out the Mr. Hankey glass.... classy!

Usually when I make a smoothie, I start by putting in whatever liquid I'm using (water, fruit juice, coconut water is also great) and a handful or so of fruit. I blend that all up until it's smooth and then I add other stuff, one or two things at a time, blend some more, and keep stopping and adding more until either the blender is full or until I've used up all my ingredients. If it gets too thick you can add more liquid. Then I set it on "Food Processor" and let it go for a minute or two.

The cool thing about smoothies is you can sort of just start throwing in whatever crap you've got sitting around in your fridge that you need to use up. Like the 1/2 green pepper in this one? It was in the fridge for a couple of days and I was afraid we'd forget about it, so I tossed it in. The grapes were also not in great condition for eating- they were getting a little soft- so in they went. The baby spinach was also sort of starting to go...
See where this is going?

This smoothie was just a product of trying to empty out all of the produce in the fridge and not let it go to waste.

Greens and Tomato Soup: It has a flavor.

I've eaten made my fair share of bland, boring soups, and this is definitely not one of those!
I started with this recipe as the base:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Kale-and-Chick-Pea-Stew-11641
and doctored it cause that's what I do (and... the store was out of kale) and holycrapamazing and I'm SURE the original recipe is great, too.

Ingredients:
2 nice, big leeks, chopped up
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 package of chopped mushrooms (if you like them)
1.5 - 2 lbs leafy green vegetables such as kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, spinach (or you can do a mix, which is what I did), stems removed and chopped coarsely
2 cans of chickpeas or other white beans (you can use 15 or 19 oz cans, depending on how bean-y you want it!)
8 cups of your favorite vegetable (or other) broth
2 x 28-ounce cans plum tomatoes including the juice, chopped
6-ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon chili powder (more if you want it spicy)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. In a bigass pot, sauté the leeks and garlic with a splash of the vegetable broth over medium-high until the leeks are tender.
2. Add the green pepper and optional mushrooms and sauté another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the beans, rest of the broth, leafy greens, tomatoes AND the tomato juice, the tomato paste, and all of the spices. Mix well and stir everything together.
4. Bring to a boil and continue simmering the soup, uncovered, for an hour. Give it a good stir every 10 minutes or so.

Enjoy.
The.
YUM.
Look, you EVEN GET A PICTURE.

And I didn't even add Insta-Crap defects!

Side note, is it weird that handling those canned whole tomatoes reminds me of what it might be like to handle a human heart? Eeewww.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Here's a great way to add some yummy flavor to a meal...
If you buy sun-dried tomatoes in a jar, they're usually packed in some kind of liquid (most times oil, I think). Save the oil and use it to sauté vegetables or fish. My husband especially enjoyed some salmon that was sautéed in sun-dried tomato olive oil!