Ginger Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup

Today felt like having some soup and the only things in the fridge were sweet potatoes, onions and cauliflower so I turned it into a soup.

Ingredients for the soup.  Soup can be vegan by using water or vegetable stock

Add chopped onions to the melted coconut oil in stock pot

Add sweet potatoes and cauliflower once the onions are softened.

Add the cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and seasonings.

Add 1/2 carton of the stock and bring to a boil

Once a boil is reached, reduce the heat and add the can of coconut milk.

Once the veggies are tender, puree the soup.  taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Serve the soup in a bowl and enjoy !

Ginger Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup

1 T coconut oil

1 large Spanish onion, chopped

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

Knob of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

 1 Cauliflower, chopped into florets

1/ 2 carton of unsalted stock

1 can lite coconut milk

4 cinnamon sticks

1 /2 teaspoon nutmeg.

Salt

Pepper

           

 In stockpot melt coconut oil and add the chopped onions.  Cooked until softened but not brown.

Add the sweet potatoes and cauliflower and stir.

     

Add the stock, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, ginger, and pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and add a can of coconut milk.  Cook until the sweet potatoes and cauliflower are tender.

Once the veggies are tender, remove the cinnamon sticks and use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  Or allow to cool and puree the soup in a blender.

      Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.  Also if it is too thick, you can add more stock to get the consistency that you like. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just wanted to take a quick minute today to wish those who are celebrating a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Today for brunch it was Christmas tea and eggnog french toast.

I have many new recipes to read lots of new cookbooks which means in the new year will be trying out many new recipes.  I am going to settle in the next couple of days and read the cookbooks and use my new mug (photo at top of blog, absolutely LOVE it :) )

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

CHRISTMAS GOODIES

Well its that time of year again.  I did not as much Christmas baking as I would have liked due to work schedule.  But I did manage to make some things and package them up as goodies.

I made 3 types of fudge, christmas fudge, toblerone fudge and two tone mocha fudge(which is a huge favourite), peanut crisps, coconut mounds, mini eggnog bundt cakes, peppermint bark (which I forgot to take photos of), maple pepper pecans, 

coconut mixture for the mounds

ready for fridge

ready for chocolate coating

Coconut mounds almost ready.  waiting for chocolate to set

chocolate and golden egg nog mini bundts

Mini eggnog bundts with eggnog glazes and sprinkles

3 fudges and peanut crisps and packaged up

Maple Pepper Pecans

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Its Christmas time, Nigella's Maple Pepper Pecans

It is nearly Christmas and the baking has begun.  This week made 3 types of fudge and a chocolate peanut candy, and Maple Pepper Pecans.  The kitchen smells so good when making these pecans.  These have become a tradition ever since I received Nigella Lawsonès Nigella Express Cookbook.  Every year I make these and they are in the goodies package for people.  They are spicy and very additive as well :)

The recipe is only 4 ingredients.  Melt butter with cayenne pepper and sea salt. Then add the pecans and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Then spread the pecans on a parchement lined baking sheet and allow to cool.  You can eat these warm or I package them in take out containers and give as gifts.

I highly recommend Nigella Express cookbook there are some great recipes in there.  Especially the pistachio fudge.  

Below are links to the cookbook by Nigella

http://www.amazon.com/Nigella-Express-Recipes-Good-Food/dp/1401322433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419108532&sr=8-1&keywords=nigella+lawson

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/nigella-express-good-food-fast/9780676979763-item.html?ikwid=nigella+lawson&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=4

CROCK POT Weiners and Beans

Its been a very busy time of year with work and other issues.  Sometimes one needs comfort food from the past so I decided to make weiners and beans in the crock pot.  Its my mom recipe if you can call it that as nothing was ever measured we just knew how much to put in.  Had to make a substitution for the chile sauce as it contained tomatoes and can no longer eat tomatoes due to allergies.  Growing up I remember making this all the time,  I would get it started before mom was home from work, not that there was much to do to prepare it.  But I always felt glad to help out plus it was cooked in the microwave.

To make it I added to the crock pot  3 cans of Heinz maple syrup canned beans, 1 package of weiners(you can choose whatever variety you like), 1 can of crushed pineapple in its own juice (although only had pineapple tidbits, so I  used that instead), 1/2 of a really large spanish onion chopped, 2 splashes of lea & perrins,  large squirt of yellow mustard,  ground pepper, and a tiny squirt of sirrachi sauce, In case anyone would like to know I don't recommend trying the sirrachi straight from the bottle I did and man is it HOT. Thats why I only used a tiny squirt I was a little afraid of it, next time will use a little more.  Stirred everything in the crock pot, put the lid on it and set it on low for 6 hours.

stirred and ready for crock pot to be turned on

after 6 hrs in the crockpot.  Piping hot

serve in a bowl and enjoy

Crock Pot Mexican Style Lasagna

CROCK POT MEXICAN STYLE LASAGNA

Tonight I decided to make a Mexican style lasagna in my crock pot.  No exact recipe as I will be making adjustments to it to make it just right.

What I did was in a pan I browned up some ground turkey meat, red onions, cumin, ancho chili powder, chiptole chili powder, roasted red peppers, chopped spinach, corn, and red kidney beans.

In the crock pot I started with a Gluten Free tortilla, I then layered the bean mixture on top of it, added some shredded cheese.  I repeated the layers a couple more times and ended with a layer of cheese and green onions.  Then set the crock pot on low for 3 hours.

It looked good when it was done.  However, I never considered how to get it out of the crock pot once it was done.  Kinda of a mess.  But it tasted good.  I will adjust the seasonings, use black beans and add more veggies the next time I make it.

quesadillas made from what is the cupboard and fridge

Well,  under the weather today and was also a snowy cold day, so what to make for dinner?  Soup would have been a great idea but didn't have the ingredients since i have not gone grocery shopping for the week yet.  So I went through the fridge and pantry and came up with this for dinner.

In the mini chopper,  I put half a leftover orange pepper, half a leftover red pepper, and half a red onion.  I only meant to roughly chop them but the button got stuck and it puree them.

I emptied this into a bowl.  

Then I added 1 canned of black beans, drained and rinsed, to the mini chopper.  Also added the juice of 1 large lime. I puree this until it was a little chunky.

I added this mixture into the bowl and mixed it together.  It was a little watery so I added 1 can of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed, as well as 2 teaspoons of ground cumin and a pinch of ancho chili powder.  Also, added 1/2 cup of grated cheese, you can use regular cheese or vegan cheese.

In a frying pan I heated a gluten free tortilla, spooned the mixture on it and added a tortilla on top.  I cooked it until it was lightly brown and toasted.

The leftover mixture can be eaten as a dip with tortilla chips, preferably tostitos baked scoops.  Delish :)