Thanksgiving Leftovers

Everyone always talks about making turkey sandwiches with their Thanksgiving leftovers but why not a turkey salad? This morning I made myself a salad with the leftover arugula, pecans, and blue cheese we used for our roasted pear and arugula salad, turkey, and quinoa stuffing. I heated both the turkey and stuffing to take the chill off. I also added ground flax and pomegranate seeds. The dressing was a mixture of olive and flax oil and lemon juice. 

I had a lovely thanksgiving this year. It was just my mom and me. For the past two years I haven't been home so it was so nice to cook and spend time with her. Our goal was to create a very healthy meal and we did just that. Everything we made was free of wheat and refined sugars. Here is what we made to go along with our turkey.

Roasted pear and arugula salad with blue cheese and toasted pecans.

Steamed green beans.

Steamed sweet potatoes and yams mashed with yacon syrup and a splash of cream.

Quinoa stuffing with Julian Bakery dinner bread.

Cranberry sauce with orange zest and agave.

Gravy made from roasted veggies and vegetable stock.

Simple Pomegranate Cereal

One of our cupcake flavors this week is a pomegranate cranberry. After topping all those little cupcakes this morning, I got inspired to make a cereal using the seeds. Luckily I had a pomegranate in my fridge at home. I placed about half the seeds of one pomegranate in a bowl and topped them with vanilla rice milk, ground flax, and pecans. I'm thinking of trying it with walnuts the next time I make it.

This is the kind of fun I get to have at work... 

Working for Amber at Enjoy Cupcakes is truly a dream job. I could not ask for a better boss. She is the sweetest woman and I love learning from her. In the early morning hours of Thursday through Sunday we get to have fun in the kitchen together making yummy cupcakes.

enjoycupcakes.com

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

In the most recent issue of Delicious Living, Elana Amsterdam from Elanaspantry.com shares some healthy holiday dessert recipes. Above is a batch of the cinnamon-walnut cookies I made this afternoon. In place of cinnamon I used pumpkin pie spice to keep it festive for Thanksgiving. The recipe is super simple and easy to make. I loved how they turned out. They are firm on the outside but once you bite in they are soft and chewy. 

Cinnamon-Walnut Cookies

1 cup walnuts

5 dates, pitted and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon grapeseed oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)

pinch of sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Place walnuts and dates in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Pulse in oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and sea salt. Continue to pulse until mixture begins to form a ball.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, onto prepared baking sheet, forming into balls with your hands; flatten slightly. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until firm. Cool on baking sheet.

I ♥ Mexican Cocoa

Yes this is another post about Mexican Cocoa. I absolutely love it! I found this mix at Savory Spice Shop while I was in Boulder. Savory is one of my favorite stores to get lost in. They have a huge variety of bulk spices. On their website they offer a bunch of yummy recipes. 

http://www.savoryspiceshop.com

Mexican Cocoa is easy enough to make on your own but I was excited to find a mix that didn't contain any sugar. I mixed it with rice milk, stevia, and a few pinches of cayenne to add some spice. Heating it on the stove made a nice cup of Mexican Hot Cocoa. The directions also suggest using it in baking...yum!

Flickr Photos

Hello everyone. Just wanted to let you know I created a flickr account to showcase more photos of my yummy creations. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karalinaluna

Colorado in the Fall

It was so nice being able to go back to Boulder. During the fall season it is absolutely beautiful. All the colors of the changing leaves are so pretty. My first night there, Shane and I made vegetable curry. 

Onions, garlic, zucchini, red bell pepper, and cashews in a coconut curry sauce over steamed broccoli and sweet potato. 

We mixed the leftover unused coconut milk with some chai and Kahlua before catching the bus to Denver to see some bands play at Hi-Dive. 

 Bhakti Chai is an awesome locally made Chai in Boulder. After looking on their website I learned they make ice cream too.

www.bhaktichai.com

The next morning we took the bus Longmont. Shane had to go to class for a few hours so I went exploring downtown. It was still pretty early so not many of the shops were open. I did come across a  neat little bulk store. They had everything in bulk you would normally see in other health food stores as well as body care products and even dog treats. I got myself a snack and stopped for some tea before asking an elderly couple on the street if they knew of any good parks. Luckily for me it was just two blocks away. I love walking around residential areas when I'm in new places. Each house is so unique. The park was surrounded by all these adorable houses.

I spent the rest of the morning sitting under a tree, reading the paper, sipping tea, and writing... it was lovely.

I came to Boulder in search of good pizza and indeed I found some. We stopped at Pizzera Basta and shared the "cart-driver". Housemade sausage, rapini, housemade mozzarella, fennel pollen, and chilies.  It was delicious! 

www.pizzeriabasta.com

Shane was such a good host he made breakfast every morning. Buckwheat crepes with steamed veggies. He topped them with pumpkin salsa which I'm going to be on the lookout for here, it was so yummy.

Boulder is known for it's many trails so I had to go on at least one hike while I was there. We took Saddle Trail which is to the right of the Flatirons. I was still getting used to the altitude change so it was very tiring but well worth it. The view from the top was amazing. I even found us on the map thanks to my awesome iPhone.  

For my last night in Boulder, we made chicken tacos. We seasoned the chicken with chili powder and lime juice. The salsa was made of onions, tomato, jalapenos, cilantro, lime juice, and a pinch of salt. We ate them with Kettle's new TIAS chips. Basically wannabe Doritos but a healthy version.