recipes for feeding the toddling masses...creating and posting happy and pleasurable eats for the mamas and the papas, the babies and everyone in between.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

beachgreens bounty and walnut basil pesto without all the fat


our beachgreens veggie/fruit was delivered on thursday and its always such a nice surprise to find out what goodies we got this week. this crate included: japanese eggplants, chard, corn, onions, giant, juicy heirloom tomatoes, oranges, first of the season apples, avocados!, grapes (so good!!), green beans, teeny purple bell peppers, fennel, cucumbers, zucchini, and basil.
we currently have an overabundance of basil right now, thankfully, the cabbage worms that have devoured most of our garden have somehow spared our basil. that reminds me, anyone have any advice on destroying those cabbage worms? argghh....

thursday was a nice breezy and warm day. we spent most of the day at a wonderful place up in l.a. called The Treehouse Social Club (click above for the direct link). we were pooped and needed a quick and healthy meal. i whipped up a batch of basil walnut pesto, a batch that doesn't bust the gut and added it to some whole wheat couscous tossed with grilled zucchini and tomatoes. i suppose you could add more olive oil or more cheese but it tasted divine the way it was plus, all those walnuts still make it pretty deliciously fatty.

enjoy!

3-4 cups fresh cleaned, organic basil
3 peeled garlic cloves
2-3 tbl parmesan cheese
2-3 extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

whip it all up in a blender and enjoy!

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Friday, August 15, 2008

vegan mint cookies n cream cupcakes


we made these little gems for littlefoodies 4th b-day party last week. they were out of sight. on the title you can click over to the original recipe. the recipe only made 12 so i needed to make another batch... really, i had to stretch it to make 12 but they still rose above the muffin tin a bit. i did change the recipe a bit. i don't like using much soy. not fans here and i am not convinced of its health benefits. you can interchange soy milk and earth's balance non dairy vegan "butter" for the coconut milk and coconut oil.... coconut is much better for you though!!!

these were moist, spongy and delicious. thanks to Newman's Own for making oreo-ish dairy free cookies. they added some extra loving to an otherwise plain chocolate cupcake. i know some of the people would have been a little too scared and unwilling had i told them they were vegan so we kept it mum for those who, are less inclined to eat healthy, wink wink. i don

make these... kids will love them and so will you!

enjoy!

1 cup organic coconut milk (or organic soy milk)
1 tsp organic apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup organic pure cane sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pure peppermint extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
pinch of sea salt
half a package of Newman's own dairy free (oreo-ish) cookies, pulverized!

preheat oven to 350F. line muffin pan with unbleached cupcake liners. whisk coconut milk and vinegar together, set aside. add sugar, oil, extracts to the milk mixture.
in a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder and salt. add to wet in 2 additions and stir until no large lumps left. pour into liners and bake 18 min. cool

vegan butter cream frosting
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (spectrum brand is excellent)
1/2 cup coconut oil or earth balance vegan margarine
4 cup organic powdered sugar (may need more or less, i think i needed more)
1 tsp vanilla extract
coconut milk (or organic soy milk) as needed

beat shortening and coconut oil or margarine together until creamed. add sugar and beat until combined. add vanilla. add milk if needed in small doses. may need to put it in the fridge for a bit.

frost cooled cupcakes. add some extra crushed cookies on the top. we colored the frosting with all natural food dyes to add some green for the mint flavoring.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

littlefoodie had a party and everybody came..... vegan cupcakes, choco cupcakes and care wars








littlefoodie will be 4 this friday. 4... oy! we had a nice little (or big) party for him this past saturday and i believe it was a great success. keg of Fat Tire-check, Zpizza, lots of it-check, care wars cake-check, teenage mutant ninja turtle-check, butt loads of fun-super check! we had to keep those happy child-free pals happily supplied in beer so the keg was a must. littlefoodie has had a genius idea for the last year now that involved an epic battle of bellies and light sabers. the cake was easy but the kids were stoked! i made some pretty tasty vegan mint cookiesncream cupcakes as well as some plain ol chocolate cupcakes that were to die for. here are a few highlights with the recipe too follow:


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Friday, August 08, 2008

beachgreens bounty and celery root, garlic mashed potatoes



we received our beachgreens bounty yesterday. beachgreens is a family run company that provides farm fresh, organic and sustainable veggies and fruits right to your door. the bounty is always amazing and delicious and believe me nothing ever goes to waste!

this week came home from a day of swimming and found our crate all ready for us. the crate included: a bag of greens, celery root, apples. grapes, blood red and almost purple juicy tomatoes, potatoes, squash, corn, green beans, cucumbers, onion and avocado and nectarine.

for dinner i made trader joe's hofbrau brats sausages, grilled. roasted veggies and celery root and garlic mashed potatoes. celery root being our featured beach greens item. littlefoodie ate it up and it was a nice little, east meal and definitely made more of plain ol mashed potatoes.

enjoy!

1 celery root- slice off top. with sharp knife, trim off roots and outside. its kind of like a hair, rooty turnip. dice up.
bunch of potatoes, peeled and diced into chunks.
4 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
butter
milk
salt and pepper
olive oil

gently boil celery root , garlic and potatoes until tender. roughly 20 min.
drain.
throw into bowl and mash with potato masher. add a few generous glugs of olive oil. 4-5-6 tbl unsalted butter... really, its to taste.
about 1/4 cup or more, depending on how you like it of warm milk. mash some more to how you like it. we prefer it just a little chunky.
season with salt and pepper. eat up.

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Sunday, August 03, 2008

littlefoodie summer mix 2008


littlefoodie might be the most rock'n'roll ever, at this moment, at 4. most our summer has been about listening to music, swimming in the pool, trying to get our blonde locks the greenest of green, splashing in the ocean and oh, rocking out to music whenever and wherever!

these are the hits i like to call No More Mr. Nice Gus, Summer 2008 Mix.


ALICE COOPER SEEMS TO BE THE ALL TIME FAVORITE.



THE BLACK LIPS-BAD KIDS (DADDIES SUMMER FAV, NOW THE KIDS.. SOMETHING ABOUT THE LYRICS, "PENIS ON THE WALL".)


DEVENDRA BANHART- LONG HAIRED CHILD (this song, he tells me, is he and the dads song!)


BORIS THE SPIDER-THE WHO (MY LITTLE CLASSIC ROCKER)

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