If you love eggs, and can handle an ice bath [Ed. note: Not literally], then there are a thousand different ways you can enjoy these beauties. They work on toast, on a salad, or on their own as a snack. You can also vary the marinade. One of my favorites is comprised of soy sauce, scallions, ginger, and chilies.
When I recently made this for the BF, he suggested adding some chicken to the dish, and then smartly decided against that. [Ed. note: There goes my quota.] I prepared the eggs on top of a bed of coconut rice, sprinkled with scallions, micro-cilantro and black sesame seeds. To quote the great Ina Garten, "How easy is that?"
Inspired by: Well Seasoned Studio and Momofuku
Ingredients
Directions
PS: [Ed. Note: Hello it's the BF here, and okay so this is weird. A year ago we got super healthy with this Asian-style kale salad, and I sniffed, guffawed and gave thanks to a true kaleaholic, then-San-Francisco-Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, who was on his way to Arlington to play for the Texas Rangers. WELL, he had a great season with them and here we are a year later and HE'S BACK and I repeat for emphasis: Yes. Yes. Yes.] (www.moveablefeast.me/blog/asian-style-kale-salad)
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Give me nothing but eggplants and tomatoes until summer ends! This meal embodies everything I love about summer produce. Minimal prep and cooking, with exploding flavors. The BF loved it with saffron rice as a complimentary side dish.
Today, we honor both our mom's birthdays (his was the 3rd, mine the 4th), and this weekend we celebrate Marlowe's recovery from cancer surgery. Life is good.
Adapted from: Feasting at Home
Number of Servings: 2-3 Ingredients Gremolata (Zesty Italian Herb Sauce)
Directions Gremolata (Zesty Italian Herb Sauce)
Eggplant
NOTES:
She's back.
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know the BF lusts for all things lemon. [Ed. note: LEMONS] Turns out this is genetic, as his Mom was a huge fan of the sour cream lemon pie from Marie Callender's. [Ed. note: Can confirm.] And my Mom loved lemon meringue pie, dare I say almost to the point of being on equal footing with chocolate.
Well this pie isn't just lemony, tart and creamy, it's low carb, as well as sugar, gluten, nut and grain FREE. A perennial favorite, and #GuiltFree. Broke this out for a client's Fourth-of-July BBQ, along with several other desserts like s'mores bars, ice cream sandwiches, blueberry hand pies, a flag cake and raspberry-nectarine plum cobbler. The pie was swiftly, voraciously decimated down to the last crumb, and most guests were unaware of the ingredients. Tasted like the real deal. Try it out! Fool your friends! And hope you are all enjoying a wonderful summer. NOTES:
In other news, a Marlowe update: our beautiful chocolate lab mix is recuperating from a recent surgery to remove a malignant mast cell tumor. So it's a bit like a slumber party in our living room, as we don't want her popping a stitch trying to hop on our rather tall bed. She's doing well and we're counting the days until those stitches are removed, then she can resume chasing squirrels, barking at the UPS guy, jumping on her favorite people, and going on her favorite long walks.
[Ed. note: We thank our family and friends for the kind words and well wishes. Please feel free to click an ad link so we can pay this vet bill! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ]
Adapted from: All Day I Dream About Food
Number of servings: 10 Ingredients Low Carb Almond Flour Crust
Directions Low Carb Almond Flour Crust
Does Mom like spice? From time to time, we like things spicy in our house [Ed. note: HEY NOW], and this healthy, delicious dish is so easy to make it screams "weeknight dinner." The slightly spicy-tart sauce is a perfect foil to the sweet salmon.
And really, if you're concerned about the spice level, don't be. The original recipe below is sumptuous as is, but since the BF and I sometimes like a little more heat [Ed. note: WHAT KIND OF BLOG IS THIS THEY'RE GONNA ADD A DISCLAIMER], we'll add more Sriracha next time. This is so easy, you could make this for a Mother's Day brunch for 20, which in fact I am doing. Happy Mother's Day! PS: A year ago we gave Mom lots of cavities with these offerings:
Adapted from: SELF, April 2013 (Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen); Epicurious (source containing original article) Number of servings: 4 Ingredients
Directions
Sometimes the single picture is worth the thousand words. Just look at this reddish bronzed skin! The BF often tells me that he loves the simplest roasted chicken dishes, and this one couldn't be easier. Adapted from Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat, this recipe encompasses two whole ingredients. Three, if you count salt. Genius.
The buttermilk and salt work like a brine, tenderizing the meat to yield an unbelievably juicy chicken with crispy, gorgeously intense-colored skin. Be sure to leave 24 hours for marinating. I streamlined the recipe a bit, as well as decreased the amount of salt in the marinade. One of the best things about roast chicken is that you can serve it with anything. Try it with these side dishes:
Adapted from Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat blog and Netflix special of same name. Number of servings: 4 Ingredients
Directions
Last October the BF and I were invited to dinner at the house of some dear friends. Husband, wife, and two adorable kids. The hubs is a grill-master, and the wife is a wonderful cook who treated us to Indian-spiced grilled chicken, roasted yams and a kale salad that was so good I asked if we could use it for a future blog, and she was kind enough to say yes. She does not know the specific origins of the recipe as it came to her from a friend. No matter. Our benefit, and yours.
Since that dinner the salad has accompanied many meals for the meat-loving BF, and was a highlight of our last Thanksgiving feast. It's almost too easy to assemble, and could not be healthier. NOTE: Okay, maybe a little healthier. To make this vegetarian dish vegan, simply substitute the mayonnaise with Vegenaise eggless or other vegan substitute.
Adapted from: Our dear friends around the corner!
Number of servings: 2-4 Dressing Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
[Ed. note: Quick addendum to give a heartfelt farewell to a man who REALLY loves his kale, former San Francisco Giant outfielder Hunter Pence. As a bay area kid who grew up experiencing a lot of awful Giants baseball (Boo LeMaster!), it was thrilling to watch you patrol AT&T Park's angular right field, preach the championship blood through two World Series victories (2012, 2014), and get that ridiculous three-stage hit that people here will forever be talking about. All love and best of luck to you as you play for your Arlington-hometown Texas Rangers. Yes. Yes. Yes.]
'Tis the season for good food and great company. My wonderful cousin and younger sister, traveling from Oregon, paid the BF and I a visit, and we showed them a few of our favorite local spots. Even though I had to work for clients while they were here, we managed to squeeze in much fun.
One day, we visited the Cantor Museum and Rodin Exhibit on the Stanford University campus. On another, we walked up and down Palo Alto's University Avenue and had dinner at a delicious Menlo Park Turkish restaurant. The last day, we took our choco-lab Marlowe and walked around Bol Park, aka "Donkey Park" (Perry was the model for "Donkey," voiced by Eddie Murphy, in the film Shrek), and ate lunch at Thai Bistro on California Avenue. In the evening we made gingerbread cake topped with eggnog whipped cream along with spiralized celeriac latkes [Ed. note: I don't think we ate it in that order?], and watched a superb documentary called Shanghai Ghetto. When they left, while cousin and sister went up the long escalator at a local Bart station, Marlowe let out the most woeful cries as they slowly disappeared from view. [Ed. note: We'll forward the therapy bills.]
My cousin is an expert beekeeper and gifted us with the most amazing raw honey, which we can't stop dipping into. She also gave us homemade lemongrass soap and lip balm, as well as some sinfully good Burnside Distillery small-batch bourbon, which kept everybody warm! [Ed. note: Can confirm.]
My sister is very knowledgeable and talented with rocks, stones and gems. She gave us beautiful hand-engraved stones that say "Shalom" and "DZ," which now rest proudly on the kitchen window sill that I work in front of every day. More significantly, she also gave me custody of our mom's engagement ring (we trade off every year), which was was so brilliantly polished and shiny it practically glittered. She is also adept in the landscaping arts, and got to work in the backyard well before unpacking. (She makes up for my black thumb.) Marlowe is always a happier camper when she has a "pack," and as usual the did the nighttime "rounds," visiting the visitors as they slept. Life is good when these girls are with us.
And it wouldn't be a family gathering without dessert, so for December: peppermint! It just says winter to me.
This cheesecake is almost too easy. No baking, no sugar, low carb and comes together in about 15 minutes. With a crust that tastes like Oreo cookies, it was the most popular dessert of the visit, even though we had plenty of other desserts with real sugar. There's only a slight change to the original recipe (upped the whipping cream from 2 tablespoons to 4), as I like a fluffier mousse-like cheesecake. Also added a pinch of salt to the crust. Should also note that I used my favorite brand of sugar substitute called Swerve, but you can use whatever you like.
Adapted from: All Day I Dream About Food
Number of servings: 16 Ingredients Crust
Directions Crust
The BF and I recently had a wonderful dinner at a neighbor's house. Husband and wife (turns out she and the BF went to the same university and graduated a year apart) and their two adorable children. The wife made a special request for something sugar-free and low carb, something I always try to pull out of the proverbial hat over the holidays.
So besides the normal sugar-full monstrosity that sent the kids (and BF) spinning [Ed. note: GERPH SNORG FLEEGLE NOP], I presented a version of this pumpkin cheesecake to the wife. "Honey, you have to try this," she gasped at her husband. Soon, everybody was taking a small forkful. The husband and my BF, bless them, went from sumptuous satisfied grins to quizzical bewilderment. The husband cocked his head, "This is...sugar...free?" No wonder, it really did taste like a decadent cheesecake. The BF likes to say these are "weapons." [Ed. note: As in, people, including or especially kids, will not question whether or not the dish has a particular ingredient until you tell them.] When time allows, I experiment and make us sugar-free-grain-free-low-carb desserts (or similarly constructed main dishes) and the BF will say, "It's okay, but it tastes healthy." Kiss of death. So when something gets the "weapon" seal of approval, it must be shared. The pumpkin cheesecake will definitely make an appearance on this year's Thanksgiving dessert table. Many have even asked me to post more sugar-free, low carb desserts, so rest assured, there will be more to come. A big reason why this cheesecake and other such desserts can now be made: sugar substitutes have come a long way in the last 30 years. Had never found one that I liked for baking, until stumbling on a product called Swerve (swervesweet.com/products), which comes in granulated, powdered-confectioners, or brown form. This is not a sponsored post, simply have made countless desserts with it and the performance screams "real thing." Will bet you can't tell the difference. You can purchase Swerve online, or I have been lucky enough to find in my local grocery store. Am sure you could try a different brand, but I highly recommend this one and can't vouch for other brands in the final outcome of this particular dessert. The original recipe for this mini cheesecake says it serves two, but for the aforementioned dinner it was cut into four small pieces and was a perfect ending to the meal. Made a few tweaks to the original recipe from the blog All Day I Dream About Food: upped the cream cheese filling just a bit and doubled the whipped cream topping. For people who count their Net Carbs, half of this cheesecake is only 3 Net Carbs.
Number of servings: 2 large or 4 small
Adapted from: All Day I Dream About Food for Swerve, The Ultimate Sugar Replacement (swervesweet.com/products) Ingredients Crust
Directions Crust
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AuthorI'm Jacquie, personal chef & recipe developer in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Living life with my wildly funny boyfriend and dog Marlowe. Lover of books, bourbon, chocolate and movies. Archives
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