Two-Ingredient Caramel

Car-mel. Care-ah-mel. Tomayto. Tomahto.

Whichever way you say it, I have always loved caramel. I loved Werther’s caramel candies as a kid (they contributed to all the cavities I got growing up). Then as an adult, I discovered that the main ingredients in a Werther’s are high fructose corn syrup, palm oil (not sustainably sourced), and artificial flavors. I’m not surprised but nevertheless disappointed. Could I find a “healthier” alternative for caramel? The fake stuff isn’t great. The real stuff is…made out of melted cream and sugar. Not great either.

I had a revelation the other day. Maple syrup + cashew butter = a caramel fix. Sure, it’ll never taste as delectable as the real thing. When you really want caramel, eat the mouth-watering buttery, overly sugary classic caramel. But because I crave caramel everyday, I go with this more sustainable take.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of smooth cashew butter

• 1 teaspoon of maple syrup

If you want to kick it up a notch, you can add any or all of the following:

• A pinch of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract or ground vanilla

• Powdered freeze-dried strawberries

• Make it taste like Nutella by using hazelnut butter instead and add a teaspoon of cocoa powder

I love this carmelly nut butter with apples, in yogurt, or as “frosting”.

Chickpeas Please

Still on my vegan spree, I made these five-ingredient-chickpea cookie dough balls that were a cinch. The title is longer than the ingredient list, which is:

• 2 cups of chickpeas

• 1 tablespoon of tahini

• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

• 1 cup of chocolate chips

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Blend everything but the chocolate chips with an immersion blender.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Roll into bite-size balls.

Chill and enjoy!

Leggo My Alfredo

One comfort food I crave from time-to-time is the chicken alfredo from the Olive Garden. Because that dish is almost 1,500 calories with basically no nutritional value, I wanted a healthier alternative. This version still satisfies my desire for a silky, creamy sauce, succulent chunks of chicken, and noodles I can twirl my fork in. Except, this recipe is grain-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free. Win. Win. Win.

Ingredients

• 1 large spaghetti squash

• 2 cups of cooked chicken, cut however you’d like (either shredded, cubed, or cut into strips)

• For the sauce:

  • 1 cup of raw cashes, soaked for a few hours in warm water

  • 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil

  • Juice of 3-4 lemons

  • 1 garlic bulb

  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut the garlic bulb in half and rub with oil. Place in a small baking pan. (You don’t have to bake the garlic but since the oven is on to bake the squash, might as well sweeten the garlic too.)

Cut the spaghetti squash in half and place face down on a baking sheet (separate from the baking pan the garlic is in). Add enough water to the baking sheet so that the edges of the squash are covered. Place both the squash and the garlic in the oven to bake.

Once the outside of the garlic is translucent, take it out and blend it with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until really smooth. That’s how easy the sauce is.

After about 30 minutes, check the squash. It’s done if you can easily spear it with a fork. When the squash is cool enough to handle (or use a dry towel to hold it), take a fork and scrape out the seeds to discard. Then, scrape out the strands, starting from the outside and working your way in.

Toss together the spaghetti squash, alfredo sauce, and chicken. Voila!

Cauliflowah in Chowdah

It’s chilly out, and all I want is comfort food. Comfort food to me means carbs and cream. Pasta, pastries, chowder, chocolate. I could go on.

Last week, I inhaled two bowls of clam chowder at work and immediately felt sluggish the rest of the afternoon.

Sigh, my craving for comfort food completely contradicts my desire to eat healthy.

Until this week.

I found a delicious and nutritious substitute for cream in my soups, stews, and chowders: pureed cauliflower.

One serving of cauliflower has 100% of our daily recommended amount of vitamin C and is high in fiber (source). Not to mention, cauliflower is super versatile to cook with and can often be found in grocery stores plastic-free. So many wins.

Here’s how I used pureed cauliflower this week in my chicken pot pie chowder:

Ingredients

• 1 small head of cauliflower

• 1 small yellow onion

• 3 cups of chicken broth

• 2 cups of shredded chicken

• 2 cups of frozen corn

• 2 cups of frozen peas

• 2 cups of diced carrots

• 2 cups of diced potatoes

• 1 cup of almond milk

• 1 tablespoon of ghee

• 2 teaspoons of thyme

• 2 teaspoons of chili powder

• 1 teaspoon of turmeric

• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Side note: I roasted a whole chicken the day before, made broth from the bones, and shredded the breasts for the chowder.

2. Cut the cauliflower into large pieces.

3. Bring the broth and cauliflower to a boil in a large pot; cook until the cauliflower is tender. Let cool.

4. Dice the onions, carrots, and potatoes.

5. Blend the broth and cauliflower until smooth. Keep it in the blender for a moment.

6. In the empty pot, heat up the ghee. Soften the onions, carrots, and potatoes until the onions are translucent.

7. Add the pureed cauliflower and almond milk to the pot.

8. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the seasonings, frozen corn, and frozen peas.

9. Chowder is done once the potatoes are tender.

10. Enjoy!

Takes Two to Mango

Another recipe inspired by Samin Nosrat, this mango pie is a paleo version of the one she recently wrote about in The New York Times. While sitting on the bus home on Friday, I was super pumped for the weekend and excited to cook in the kitchen (weekends are usually the only time I get to do any real cooking). This is V0 of my mango pie. Hopefully I’ll learn to perfect it in years to come :)

Ingredients for the custard

• 2.5 cups of mango puree (about 3-4 mangoes)

• 1 pack of gelatin

• 1 tablespoon of honey

• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour

• Pinch of salt

Ingredients for the crust

• 1/4 cup of honey

• 1/3 cup of coconut oil or ghee

• 1 egg

• 2/3 cup of coconut flour

• 1/4 cup of tapioca flour

• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Mix the crust ingredients together. Roll the dough into a ball and freeze.

2. Blend all the custard ingredients together.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

4. Roll out the crust and press evenly into a pie tin. Poke holes in the bottom with a fork.

5. Bake the crust for 10-15 min.

6. Lower the oven to 325 degrees F.

7. Pour the custard mix into the pie tin.

8. Bake for another 18-20 min.

9. Let the pie cool and then when it’s room temp, put it in the fridge to set some more.

A Piece of Quiche, Please

I'm almost always thinking about food. When I'm hungry, I'm thinking about what I want to eat. When I'm full, I'm thinking about what I want to eat when I'm hungry again. I wake up excited about breakfast, and I got to bed knowing that when I wake up, I get to eat again. Food is just constantly on my mind.

My obsession started when I was really little. Growing up in the restaurant business, I was surrounded by delicious food all the time. On the plus side, I had a huge appetite. When my cousins and I were in elementary school, my mom would sometimes take us to McDonald's. I'd get a Big Mac, eat it in a matter of minutes, and then stare at my cousins while they ate to see if they'd offer me any of their food.

Eating healthy, however, is new to me. I only started watching what I ate a couple years ago. And while my love for food hasn't waned, I have become more thoughtful in listening to what my body needs. Instead of immediately satiating cravings, I'll think through whether I've had enough protein, greens, or carbs for the day.

One thing I like to make that's easy, satisfying, and relatively low-carb is quiche. I line the bottom and sides of a baking dish with thin slices of potatoes and/or sweet potatoes. I sautee onions and spinach and whisk together some eggs. And that, my friends, is all it takes to make quiche. It's also why I try to have potatoes, spinach, and eggs in my fridge, at the very least.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Thinly slice a couple of medium-sized potatoes.
3. Pour a tablespoon or so of coconut oil or avocado oil in the baking dish.
4. Use one of the slices of potato to spread the oil around so that the bottom and sides are lightly coated.
5. Cover the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the potato slices. Think of the potatoes as the pastry part of a pie - it keeps all the filling together.
6. Once the potatoes are laid out in the baking dish, put them in the oven to soften.
7. While the potatoes cook, sautee an onion and a bunch of spinach. I usually throw in whatever vegetables I have in the fridge. The quantities don't have to be exact. Sauteeing reduces it all down anyway.
8. In a separate bowl, whisk together 5-6 eggs. When I have almond milk on hand, I add a couple splashes of it. It helps the quiche puff up more.
9. Pull the potatoes out of the oven. Evenly spread the sauteed vegetables across the bottom.
10. Sometimes I add a layer of cheese on top of the vegetables.
11. Pour the eggs over the vegetables.
12. Bake for half an hour or until the top of the quiche has a nice golden crust.

Grain-free Tahini Brownies

I have one week before I start Whole30 again, which means I have one week to satisfy my cravings for at least another month!

Even though I'm not doing Whole30 right now, I try to keep to a paleo diet. I came across these brownies from one of my favorite bloggers, Ambitious Kitchen, and decided to give them a go.

They turned out better than I thought they would!

Here's the recipe I followed:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup tahini

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking pan with coconut oil. Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, and mix the batter well.

Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 22-30 minutes.

ALTERATIONS

After I added the wet and dry ingredients together, the batter was still a bit too thick. I added splashes of water until I got it to the right consistency.

I added a whole bag of chocolate chips instead of just 1/3 cup. Oops!