Menu Monday, Easy Easter Menu

This simple meal will make you feel full and satisfied without weighing you down, so you will still have plenty of energy to hunt for eggs with the family.

The dessert is an easy way to keep you out of the kitchen and use up the lingering marshmallow chicks flooded in Easter baskets. Get the kids to help make them too, that's half the fun!

Bon appétit!


{tilapia with prosciutto and sage, smashed potatoes with créme fraîche, asparagus and green bean fries, s'meeps}

Menu Monday

It has been a hard transition back into the life of reality after our epic family vacation to Maui two weeks ago. Constant daydreaming of the warm sun, sand on my toes (and everywhere else), and just being outside has made the 20-40 degree days brutal. Bru-tal.

All that to say, I haven't been very motivated in the life/blogging arena and I apologize for the break.

The best way I've found to get back to reality comes with no magic pill, but simply jump back in. With both feet.

I (finally) started a Facebook page for Life:Styled, in hopes of developing a wonderful and inspiring community of friends, old and new. If you haven't yet, go like it here now! Later this week I have my first giveaway lined up, which I'm super excited about, and liking the page will count for one entry. So go, be ahead of the game now!

Ok, onto today's post. Maybe I should give a little background again as to why I started Menu Monday's. Plain and simple: if I create a menu to share, it holds me accountable to actually make a menu for my family. It also excites me to think maybe some of us, somewhere in the world, are making the same dish to feed our loved ones.

For instance, my husband and I have date night every Friday. And we normally spend it at home together, after the kids have gone to sleep, eating great food (and drinks) and watching a movie or playing games. Last year we made nachos. And got burned out by the end of the year. 2012 has started off with cheese plates. Oh the choices.

Some other friends have joined in the Friday fun, so why not give it a try this week? If it seems daunting to you, start with Friday's website below that will give you some pointers for jumping in. Also, I post a picture of what ours looks like via Instagram every week. In addition, I hope to share insight and pairings we discover, both here, and on the Facebook page.

On Saturday, I'm trying my hand for the first time at making fried chicken with our friends local chickens (If you live close, you must order these. They will change how you taste chicken forever.) Will you join me?? Bon Appétit's website gives lots of help in order to be a success in cooking their cover.

Along with the dinner menu, you'll find a set of 7 snacks, side dishes, and desserts we'll be having this week.

Here's what's for dinner:
(as always, click on the links below the picture to take you to the recipe)


{m: chickpea breakfast burritos, t: pear, manchego and red onion pizza, w: shallot-tarragon jam, serve atop a fresh, bbq'd white fish,
th: stacked veggie quesadilla, f: cheese plate, sa: cook the cover, the perfect fried chicken, su: pulled pork with picked onion}

Snacks:


{1: coconut banana bread, 2: apple sandwich, 3: no bake, chewy granola bars, 4: homemade gummy fruit snacks,
5: chocolate dipped, peanut butter pretzel bites, 6: sweet potatoes with mirin and sweet honey, 7: stuffed strawberries}

Favorites Friday, Art, Food & Parties

Here's a random slew of ideas I've found inspiration from the past few weeks on the interweb.


{1: eskimo kiss. so sweet. via, 2: caterpillar and mushrooms, 3: a good day print, 4: apples and salty medjool caramel, 5: love you more download, 6: color ratio chart. pure brilliance, 7: mail a tube of chappy for the cost of a stamp}

Menu Monday, New Years Vegetarian Kick Start

It's officially the beginning of the year and the un-official kick off to "diets" around the world. But I don't diet. My food intolerance list is quite long enough that I refuse to eliminate even more! What I do believe in is healthy eating and that sometimes the body can use a little recharge, a cleanse if you will. To rid the system of too many rich holiday food and drinks. And I have to get into a bathing suit in a week.

These recipes are all vegetarian, because I find I feel much better when I cut out meat. They're also seasonal recipes so you're sure to get the most flavor. Certain ingredients overlap too so you get the most bang for your buck. Join me this week and kick start your 2012 with taste!


{m: herb, chard, and feta soup, t: persimmon and hazelnut salad, w: quinoa, fennel, and pomegranate salad, th: kale-walnut pesto pasta, f: fennel, orange, and avocado salad, sa: citrus and endive salad, su: cauliflower steaks with olive relish and tomato sauce}
And no good cleanse would be any fun without a few treats and snacks. The Food Lover's Cleanse (see number 1) has a lot of fun suggestions in their 2 week menu like celery sticks with meyer lemon relish and chevre. Hello yum! I gathered up a few others that I'll be making for this week.


{1: the food lovers cleanse, 2: gluten-free, egg-free, rosemary crackers, 3: almond-cranberry quinoa cookies, 4: fruit and nut bars,
5: rosemary infused olive oil, dark chocolate, and salt popcorn, 6: garlic parmesan edamame, 7: no bake energy bites}

Chocolate Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

I had the privilege this month of partnering with Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch in their quest for better holiday baking using whole grain and olive oil.

Be sure to visit their websites to find more delicious recipes! Click here and here to check out this recipe on their websites.

Here's the recipe I came up with, using Bob's nutrient-packed millet flour and COR's chocolatey Arbosana EVOO.

Chocolate Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill unbleached white flour
3/4 cups Bob's Red Mill millet flour
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt

3 eggs
1 cup California Olive Ranch's Arbosana Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 cups milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 ounces grated dark chocolate bar (70% cacao)
2 tablespoons sugar (for top crunch)

Preheat oven to 350º. Rub a bundt (or loaf) pan with olive oil.

Whisk the flours, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs together, then add the olive oil and milk to the eggs. Whisk until blended. Then mix in the rosemary.

Fold wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just combined. Next fold in the shaved chocolate until uniformly mixed.

Spoon the 2 tablespoons of sugar into the bottom of your bundt pan. Then pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and skewer inserted comes clean.

Wait until the cake is cooled before inverting the bundt pan to release your beautiful cake!

Menu-ish Monday, Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I've said it before, I'll say it again, I'm not a big fan of making dinners the week of Thanksgiving. I don't need more mess, more thought and more stress (I don't do well with stress)! Dinners this week are short, sweet and minimal dishes.

We've got close to thirty family members coming to our house Thursday and a tailgating party in the forest on Friday, so if you're looking for me this week, you'll find me in the kitchen.

Everyone brings their signature dish to the festivities, but what I'm sharing with you are the dishes I love and am making for everyone this year. If you're looking for that special new dish or needing one more side, hopefully you'll find inspiration here.


{1: cranberry cobbler, 2: wine basted turkey, 3: double craggy garlic bread, 4: layered pumpkin pie in a jar, 5: wild rice stuffing with pine nuts, 6: chocolate chunk and caramel pecan pie, 7: green beans with cherry vinaigrette,
8: mashed sour cream and scallion potatoes, 9: spiced cranberry sauce}

Favorites Friday, Dessert

Wipe the drool off your keyboard, click on the links below, and get in your kitchen this weekend.

 {1: brownie and salted caramel ice cream sandwiches, 2: double chocolate peanut butter ice cream, 3: blueberry oatmeal crumble bars, 4: white sangria popsicles, 5: chocolate coconut cookies, 6: browned butter salted caramel rice crispy treats, 7: DIY popsicle memory game}

Favorites Friday, Lemongrass

I grabbed some lemongrass at the farmers market this week, reminded of how much I love this delicately yummy flavor. My favorite use has been in a chicken and potato soup that I pull out in the cold winter to take the chill off. If you've never tried, or also need a reminder of its wonderfulness, this post is for you.

1. While you're sitting on this couch...

2. And admiring these in your windowsill...

 3. Order these... 

4. Then sit down to a dinner of this...

5. And these...

6. Sip these...

7. Then revel in the goodness of these...

Quadruple Threat Ice Cream

Cinnamon. Cocoa. Chocolate Chips. Coconut milk.
Did you all know it's National Chocolate Ice Cream day? Well now you do and now you have to do something about it! How about the creamiest, chocolatiest, sweetest ice cream ever? Look no further.

Cinnamon Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream
1 can coconut milk (not lite)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar (or to your desired sweetness)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together minus chocolate chips. Pour into ice cream maker and then slowly add in chips. Mix until frozen and creamy, about 15 minutes. Freeze to harden or serve immediately.

Menu Monday, Party Food

Setting a menu for a party is creativity, and insanity, at its best. There are so many things you have to take into consideration. Time of day. Food temperature. Salty versus sweet. Food appeal. Will the kids eat it? Will the adults? Oh and don't forget the drinks!
See? Lots of things to consider. I'm all for recipes with minimal amount of time and maximum amount of flavor.
Here I give you the feast for a 3 year old's afternoon party.
This week I recommend making the Salami and Goat Cheese Sandwiches  with Pesto Potato Bites.

-Goat Cheese, Salami, and Tomato on Mini-Bagels
-Pesto Potato Bites (recipe below)
-Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
-Orange Slices
-Powdered Donuts
-Oreo Truffle Pops
-Birthday Cake
-Brood Brewery on tap
-Wine Tasting
-Lemon, Lime and Cucumber Water
-Blue Punch for the kiddos


Pesto Potato Bites

1 pound baby red potatoes
1 package pesto sauce
Toasted pine nuts
Red wine vinegar
Parmesan cheese

Cut potatoes in halves and place in pot of boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and cool slightly. With ¼ teaspoon measuring spoon, scoop out small amount from cut surface of each potato half to form a shallow cup. Sprinkle with vinegar and toss to coat. Arrange potato halves on a serving dish. Fill each with pesto and sprinkle with pine nuts and Parmesan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Favorites Friday, Food & Drink

1. What a great way to make your favorite bitters!

2. It's the morning, but my mouth is already salivating for this pizza. Lots of favorite food combos.

3. Great idea for labeling your favorite homebrew!

4. Mmmhmm. Garlic. Fermented? Favorite sense: umami. Got.to.have.

5. I've decided if I can't master making macarons, I'll just get these.

6. Favorite new cookbook.

7. Rich doesn't like coconut so I'd be on my own here, but favorite weekly drink.

Macarons, the Next Gluten-Free Frontier

Welcome visitors from Bob's Red Mill Blog! Thank you for stopping by. I want to briefly introduce myself and my connection with being gluten and casein free. First of all, my name is Christen. Husband Rich, and my two kiddos (almost 3 and 1) are my driving force and inspiration in life. You'll find much more here than recipes. Some of what you'll see include hosting parties, creating things for my kiddos and our home, travel, and also share bits from the adventures in our lives.
My journey with being gluten free started four years ago when I discovered I had a thyroid issue called Hashimoto's. There's a huge correlation between gluten & a whacked thyroid that can make or break future health. Honestly, it was a reluctant change, but am astounded and encouraged at the choices available now versus just four short years ago. At that time I also found I had an intolerance for dairy and eggs so you will find most of my recipes omitting or replacing these ingredients. I hope you find some inspiration here to add to your arsenal and come back often. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook so come connect and say hi!


Now. Onto my newest fear/obsession. Macarons. These delightful Parisian pastry's have me captivated at the sight of their colorful little selves. Not to mention that they are a gluten free delight, consisting of only 3 ingredients: almond flour (which Bob's carries), egg whites and powdered sugar. Sound easy enough? Welp, the ingredient list is where the ease of making these ceases. I can't fully vouch for how incredibly hard they are to successfully make, but in reading and researching them, the laundry list of steps is daunting. I got Hisako Ogita's i heart macarons as my guide in this plight. I've allowed myself a three-tries-and-your-out allowance, hoping it won't take that many. Anyone have advice they can give? Anyone else want to come over and we can pull our hair out together? Misery loves company!

A Valentines Dinner

One of our big motivations to moving downtown was date nights out. To walk down to our favorite restaurants and indulge in being grown ups. Don't get me wrong, we adore spending time with our kiddos, but there's certain places you can't bring a squirmy 2 year and grumpy it's-my-bedtime 9 month old to.
We knew Valentines day was approaching and were looking forward to this being our first try at the aforementioned plan. Two failed scheduled babysitters later, we opted for a fun dinner at home, with a menu inspired by that which we'd find out. It was a fantastic evening, every recipe a success. That can be hard to do! Here's a run down of what we tried.

(sorry for the dark candlelit photos)

Currants in the Grass Martini: 2 parts vodka, 1 part Creme de Cassis, 1 part lemongrass infused simple syrup, healthy squeeze of fresh lemon. Shake and pour. Serves two.
Salted Edamame: a satisfying cheap treat.
Roasted Garlic, Brie & Grape Crostini: This was our favorite!
Pear wedges w/ prosciutto & mint: Adapted by tossing pears in dressing and wrapping in prosciutto slices.
Chocolate Fondue & Strawberries: Is it really Valentines day without?

Menu-ish Monday

Ahh Thanksgiving. A notorious week of non-cooking, leading up to the "big day". I'm too busy spending my time making and prepping dishes for Thursday. Instead we eat out and eat light.
So in lieu of a weekly menu, I thought I'd share what our Thanksgiving menu is going to look like this year.

Appetizer
You never want something too heavy or filling for an appetizer on this day. Usually a variety of cheeses to nibble fits the bill. However, this year I'm making an artichoke dip, because it's just too good.
For a pre-dinner drink we'll be having these bad boys.

Turkey
The crowning glory of any meat-eaters Thanksgiving meal. I've been doing the same recipe for 5 years now and it never tires. You know what they say: "If it ain't broke...". On top of that, the boys are doing their fried turkey, supervised.

Potatoes
Favorite dish of all time. It's chock full of sour cream, cream cheese then baked with cheddar cheese on top. Don't have a recipe for it since it's been passed down, but if you add all those into your already mashed potatoes, you won't go wrong.

Yams
Another yearly tradition is the Waller family's sweet yam recipe. However, if you're looking for something more savory with a bit of sweet, try this one out.

Cranberry Sauce
I've always been one of those cranberry-sauce-haters until I made this spicy number. Delish.

Stuffing
I'm not a bird-stuffer. And in fact, I've yet to find a bread stuffing I'm crazy about. I've tried them all. So this year I'm all about the wild rice, and it's gluten free!

Veggie
Oh what to do. Every year nothing really seems to fit in this category that suits well with the carb and cheese overload above. I refuse green bean casserole. But I found myself buying green beans. So instead, I think I'll make this and substitute the dried cherries for pomegranate seeds.

Bread
I usually make cornbread. These have some cornmeal in them. And look so wonderful. And comes from a great cookbook I recommend getting.

Serving all this with a few American varieties of Shiraz and Zinfindel...and some Waller brews too. (Rich just finished making Rogue's Dead Guy Ale.)

Dessert
I'll let the recipes speak for themselves:
Choco-Honey Crunch Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Banana Meringue Pie
A classic family recipe Cheesecake
Bailey's and Coffee

Leftovers
This is Rich's baby. And I look forward to it every year.

Here's a quick look at our Thanksgivings, since my first in 2004. Looking forward to another full table(s) this year!!
(Not quite sure why there's no photos of 2007, too busy eating to take pictures I assume.)

Coining A New Term

The new road to health is now missing the scenic part of the drive: eggs and dairy. Yup, bye, bye my dear friend cheese.

For those of you keeping tabs, here's where I stand: no gluten, dairy, eggs, sugar, preservatives & food dyes. What do I eat? Great question. Even better question I've been asked, what does Rich eat? No sweet "Meals and Memories Are Made Here" signs hanging in our kitchen. It's "If I'm miserable, damnit, so are you".

I could lie and tell you it's been a fulfilling road to discovering new recipes and ways of cooking. But like I said, it'd be a lie. I'm filled with a lot of head-banging and a pissed off stomach begging for a morsel of chocolate. You've learned to cook one way your entire life then suddenly you're faced with the need to change. I feel like I've grabbed a wasps nest and started shaking it vigorously. Typical gluten-free recipes contain sugar & eggs. Vegan recipes tend to have gluten. And lets be honest, the American diet basically consists of dairy and fat.

Hence my need to coin a new term. And develop new recipes. We've had a few failures, I mean, bad. But have had just as many hits that keeps the addict coming back for more, searching for that first high. We've discovered egg replacer, coconut milk and agave nectar and are trying to stay away from the globular cheese substitutes all together.

Now that Tayden is completely weened (barring the occasional public attempt to slip his hand down my shirt) I am able to get more aggressive with treatment. To be frank, I'm looking forward to getting this baby weight off. Apparently I have my adrenals to thank for that one. My moodiness has drastically mellowed out (just ask Rich) and every session Jim & I can see my body strengthening. Exercise has also been a big push to help with the PCOS so I've been diligent with that and do feel great when I can get out daily on 6+ mile walks with the kiddo.

I have been surprised by the amount of friends that have taken up the gluten-free lifestyle or shown interest in learning more. I know the largest obstacle lies in not knowing where to start. And lets be honest, giving up bread so that those around you are a little less miserable is not a huge motivating factor. So here's two pointers that worked well for us.

First, become an avid label reader. I keep a handy sheet on the fridge that lists all the crazy things they put gluten into (like soy sauce) and what good wheat substitutes are, like potato flour. Of course, if the product says "Gluten-free", you're good to go, but still read the ingredients!! At home, start by not buying or consuming any bread-like products for 2 weeks. Then you can start introducing the gluten-free products. By getting back to the basics, you realize your cravings and how to work with them, not mask them with other substitutes. Your tastebuds do change and start to favor the healthier tastes.

In knowing there are others out there like me, I will try to be more diligent in posting recipes I develop to help inspire others. Be sure to post comments on anything you find or learn as it motivates me too, and I need all I can get!

Here's an easy summer dessert we did tonight:
1 pint organic strawberries
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. lime zest
2 tsp. diced, fresh mint
Edible flowers (like borage or nasturtium) to garnish

Hull and thinly slice strawberries. Mix first four ingredients into bowl. Garnish with flowers, enjoy!