Giveaway rules below!
Pretty simple is mantra around here, what with our Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook. Alex and I like to say that cooking healthy is not easy, but it can be pretty simple once you change your lifestyle. A great thing about pretty simple cooking it also can be 1. pretty delicious and 2. just pretty.
Believing this mantra wasn’t always the case for us, which is hard for people to believe sometimes. I say it often, but when Alex and I got married, I was completely inept in the kitchen. I didn’t know a thing about what it took to put together a meal. I would choose recipes that seemed simple, only to find they took me ages to put together and left me in a bad mood. Over the years, learning through trial and error has helped me to understand what makes a recipe simple to put together–and that simple doesn’t always mean quick! Experience in the kitchen has helped me surround myself with simple recipes that maximize flavor and minimize headaches.
That’s the case with this farro salad with tart cherries. It takes about 25 minutes to put together, what with the farro-making and veggie-chopping. However, it’s a pretty simple concept. Simply boil a whole grain (like farro, quinoa for gluten-free), then add apple, arugula, tart cherries, and a bit of feta cheese for a savory saltiness. Cover it all in a tart cherry vinaigrette, and you’re in business. With the red and the green, it’s a beautiful salad for the holidays. Another great thing is that though it features lots of fresh ingredients: apples, arugula and cherries, it can be eaten year round since many of these ingredients are available throughout the year.
Typically Alex and I don’t think of using fruit in cans. However, we’ve been introduced to Oregon Fruit canned fruit, which we used for this recipe. Canned fruit is an easy way to incorporate the flavor and nutrients of fresh fruit; it’s available nationwide and year round. Oregon Fruit is packed in the USA during the summer for maximum ripeness and flavor. Some other great features: it’s non-GMO and there’s no High Fructose Corn Syrup or BPA in the cans. Here we’ve used canned tart cherries, which bring a sweet-tart flair to the salad. I’m a huge fan of tart flavor (my favorite drinks: margaritas or sour beer), so this one hits it out of the park for me.
Versatility is another thing we love about this recipe. You can use it as a side dish at a holiday meal; it would look lovely piled onto a large a platter. Or, turn it into a main dish as a grain bowl! Simply mound a larger quantity into a bowl and serve it with avocado toast or crackers as a filling lunch or weeknight meal. It can be served warm, room temperature, or cold, which makes it endlessly versatile. And finding recipes that work for many occasions is part of that pretty simple approach to the kitchen! We hope you’ll find this farro salad hits all those elements for you–an uncomplicated concept for many occasions that looks pretty and tastes pretty delicious.
Giveaway: Oregon Fruit is giving away two (count ’em!) TWO INSTANT POTS! To help you make your whole grains, and whatever else you’d like. Head to our Instagram feed to enter! Giveaway ends Wednesday, December 6 at 11:00 pm EST, so hurry!
Looking for recipes with whole grains?Eating whole grains is more than just whole grain bread! In addition to this farro salad, here are a few of our favorite recipes with whole grains:
Roasted Fall Vegetable Grain BowlGreek Sofrito Quinoa BowlMediterranean Quinoa Stuffed PeppersStress Reducing Avocado & Quinoa Nourish BowlSpinach Artichoke Red Rice CasseroleDid you make this recipe?If you make our farro salad with tart cherries, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks and @oregonfruitproducts.
This recipe is…Vegetarian and naturally sweet. For gluten-free, substitute quinoa.
A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
As the seasons change, a new one has begun for us. As of this week, both Alex and I are full-time A Couple Cooks. For years, we’ve both been working full-time at a technical writing business here in Indianapolis. I was at the company for 13 years and Alex for 10 years. (If you’re wondering, I was his boss!) We’re incredibly grateful for our time in the business world working with corporate clients, which gave us a huge amount of experience and knowledge. Our work in food started as a hobby seven years ago. As of this week, Alex and I are officially both creative entrepreneurs working in the food industry…and officially co-parenting little Mr. Larson. It’s a new chapter!
The focus of this new season is creating margin, space for exploration, and focusing on family. Our 20’s and early 30’s were full of work, work, and more work. Once Larson entered our life, we knew it was time to press the Reset button. Our passion for cooking, food writing, and photography has also grown to a place where we wanted more time and space to explore it further. This transition also coincides with the launch of our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking, and we’re thrilled to have more time to devote to A Couple Cooks endeavors. A few changes and updates to what we do here:
Are you a blogger or creative who needs maintenance or WordPress backend help? We’ll now offer this as a service. Are you a brand or cookbook author who needs product photography or food photography? We’ll be increasing our freelance photography capacity. We’ll continue to offer recipe development and food photography services. We’ll have more capacity for events related to home cooking, healthy lifestyle, food photography, food writing, social media, and creative entrepreneurship. More to come!Now for the recipe. To celebrate Pretty Simple Cooking, we wanted to share with you one of our simplest recipes: popovers! When we’re looking for a side item to go with a soup or salad, popovers are an easy way to get homemade bread on the table.
What’s a popover? It’s kind of like a dinner roll, but on the inside it’s custardy and filled with air! The name comes from literally “popping over” the sides of the pan. It’s perfect as a side roll for the holidays, and it couldn’t be simpler. (Honestly, it should be called Really Truly Simple Popovers, but we couldn’t resist the pun.) The recipe is easy to memorize: whisk 2 eggs, when whisk in 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt. The popovers are baked in a hot oven until they “pop” up, then the temperature is lowered so the insides can finish baking. They go well alongside anything, especially a cozy soup or a main dish salad. For example, try them with this Tomato Artichoke Lentil Stew, which we eat each Christmas Eve!
Did you make this recipe?If you make these pretty simple popovers, we’d love to hear how they turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks.
This recipe is…Vegetarian
A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
We’ve got a giveaway! See entry rules below.
Have you ever wished that you could visit your past self? What would you tell that person as “Future Me”? Recently I stumbled across a blog post I wrote almost 2 years ago. It was for a recipe with maple syrup, but the words were about what was on my mind at that moment. Reading these lines today makes me feel a tingle, like looking into a window in the past (a quote from this post):
“Alex and I are in a long season of squirm-inducing uncertainty, waiting to be matched with a baby who will be our forever child. There’s no roadmap; we could get the call at literally any time. And it’s the weirdest thing, to be waiting for a baby to fall out of the sky… We wait with a boxed crib in an empty room, and try to distract ourselves from wondering, who this little one will be? Is it true, that a little human will someday inhabit that room, whose piercing cries will remind us of his or her existence in the wee hours of the night? That he or she will have a name, a spirit, a humanity that will be etched indelibly on our hearts?”
Double shiver! How I wish I could have called out as Future Me to assure Past Me that everything would be okay. Yes, Alex and I would go through the incredible heartache of three failed adoptions. But over here as Future Me, I know that it was all worth it. All the pain and waiting and uncertainty was worth it the day we got to meet our baby boy. So YES—there is a human living in that nursery, sometimes with piercing cries in the wee hours of the night. And YES—he has a name and is overflowing with spirit. He’s Larson Ames, and he’s the spunkiest, happiest, busiest, sweetest 9-month-old boy. And now we no longer live our lives holding our breath, at least for the moment. We’re constantly chasing after our little tornado—and wondering how there ever was a world where Larson Ames didn’t exist.
And we’re still making recipes: lots of them! Having a babe around hasn’t slowed us down in the least, and we love creating recipes that work for Larson, too. This blondies recipe is a vegan holiday treat that works for various diets. And it’s our very first truly crowd-sourced recipe! After offering 4 recipe choices in a poll over on Instagram, maple blondies was the winner. In our recipe testing, we found brown sugar is essential to the blondie flavor and texture, so we’ve kept that instead of replacing with maple syrup or another natural sweetener. The traditional egg is replaced with apple sauce, and the butter with coconut oil. Chopped macadamia nuts give the interior some texture, and to bring in the maple flair, the blondies are topped with a drizzle of maple cream.
The maple cream we used is from Roxbury Mountain Maple, a New York-based family business. It’s pure maple syrup that’s boiled until it reduces into a cream. Roxbury is starting to become known for the stuff, and we find the organic creamy spread is very, very good. In this recipe, we’ve used the Dark and Strong maple cream. It’s worth purchasing a jar, for this recipe or just for spreading on toast or dipping fruit. And, it’s perfect for holiday gifts and stocking stuffers! In honor of the holidays, Roxbury is offering a fun giveaway: see below for details. (PS Hear Ben from Roxbury on our podcast a few months ago.)
Giveaway Rules: We’re giving away 1 pint of pure, Grade A dark maple syrup, 1 12-ounce container of maple cream, and 1 large shaker of maple sugar. Up to 2 entries per person, U.S and Canada residents only! Leave a comment on this post relating to any of the themes in the post. For a second entry, follow us on Instagram and leave a comment on the giveaway post. Commenting will close on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 at 6:00 pm, EST. Make sure you provide your email address in the comment form (we promise to keep it confidential!).
About the company: Roxbury Mountain Maple is a family business based in the Catskills of New York that produces all-natural, organic maple syrup and maple cream. Supporting Roxbury Mountain Maple promotes family farms, local community, sustainable farming, forest preservation, and your health. For more about the company, see the Roxbury Mountain Maple website.
Looking for vegan desserts?More and more readers are asking for vegan desserts! Here are a few of our favorite vegan desserts:
Bliss Bites (Most popular) Blackberry Balsamic Vegan CheesecakesChocolate Peanut Butter MousseDid you make this recipe?If you make these maple macadamia vegan blondies, we’d love to hear how they turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks and @roxburymountainmaple.
This recipe is…Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, plant-based, and dairy-free.
A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
How to make a Dark And Stormy Mocktail without alcohol or added sugar and turn that into delicious no sugar added ginger cookies! Two yummy recipes in one! This post is sponsored by Zevia.
Happy National Cookie Day, friends!
Yep, a national holiday to celebrate delicious, sweet cookies. Pretty awesome, right?
So, when Zevia asked me to make ginger cookies to celebrate, I was like, “Heck yea!”
Ginger cookies are a big hit in our house during the holidays so I knew this would go over very well with the whole family.
BUT there was one more fun twist to these ginger cookies…Zevia asked me to first make a Dark And Stormy Mocktail and THEN use it to make the ginger cookies.
What Does a Dark And Stormy Taste Like?So, first things first: what does a Dark And Stormy taste like? I had NO idea.
So, I went out and tried a real Dark And Stormy (I had actually never even heard of it before!), and I really liked it. It tastes like cola, mixed with ginger, a little rum, and a squeeze of lime, all over ice. All in all, it was yummy and right up my alley.
So, I went home and started my testing.
Luckily, I was able to use Zevia’s Ginger Beer Mixer which is sugar free and tastes just like ginger ale and is alcohol-free. This would go perfectly in this Dark And Stormy, as well as many other tasty mocktails.
In order to replace the color and flavor of the rum, I chose to use pureed dates to make this a virgin Dark And Stormy. Not only is the color of pureed dates on point as a replacement for rum, it also naturally sweetens the mocktail so we didn’t have to use any added sweetness. Woot!
Guys, if you like rum, ginger ale, lime, and mocktails, you’re gonna LOVE this Dark And Stormy without alcohol. It’s a fun, tasty, and pretty drink that’s free of added sugar so you’re all set on all accounts.
Then, we used the Dark And Stormy mocktail to make the ginger cookies. OMG let’s talk about THESE ginger cookies, guys. They are…
free of added sugars free of artificial colors free of artificial flavors free of refined flours FULL of soft, gingery goodnessThese cookies seriously only take 7 minutes to bake and have bits of dates and fresh ginger. So good and simple.
How to make a Dark And Stormy Mocktail without alcohol or added sugar and turn that into delicious no sugar added ginger cookies!
Soften the dates by covering them with boiling water and let them set for about 5 minutes. Then, drain and place them in a food processor. (We want to completely puree these dates so we can use them to sweeten our drink and add that dark coloring that normally comes from the rum.)
Transfer a heaping tablespoon of the date puree to the bottom of a glass, and then pour in the Zevia Ginger Beer Mixer.
Add some ice and a squeeze of fresh lime to finish off the mocktail.
For the Ginger Cookies:Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and lining a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Mix together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, sea salt, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger in a medium bowl. Then, set aside.
Soak the dates in the hot water for 5 minutes until softened.
Puree the soaked dates in the food processor until smooth, then add 1/2 cup of the dark and stormy mocktail (see recipe above), the egg, the softened coconut oil, and fresh ginger. Process this until smooth.
Add this date mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until just combine.
Fold in the chopped dates until they’re fully incorporated.
Grab a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough and roll into a ball.Place the dough ball on the cookie sheet and gently press down to form a circle. You can wet your fingers with water to help them not stick.
Repeat with the remaining dough — this will require two baking sheets or to bake in batches.
Place in the oven and bake for about 7 minutes, and then allow to cool on a cooling rack. You can gently press down the center of the cookies to flatten as they cool.
* Nutrition information is for the ginger cookies, not the mocktail.
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend. This post is sponsored by Zevia.
The post Dark And Stormy Ginger Cookies appeared first on A Sweet Pea Chef.
Quickly and (super) easily make delicious Instant Pot Barbacoa Tacos any night of the week! This post is sponsored by La Tortilla Factory.
GUYS! I finally got myself an Instant Pot!
I am so very far behind the rest of the world on this one, I know.
But I did. And I tried it. And I’m SO IN LOVE!
It makes things soooo much faster than a slow cooker or cooking in the oven, yet makes the same tender meat…all in less than half the time! So awesome!
Now, I am so amped on all the possibilities — you can even make yogurt!
Truth be told, though, I also had another super easy thing to try at the same time to help with my first Instant Pot recipe: a packet of La Tortilla Factory’s Cocina Fresca Barbacoa Sauce Starter.
Normally, I avoid packaged sauces because they’re super high in sodium and have a ton of highly processed ingredients. Not this sauce starter, my friends. This is unicorn goodness. And it’s super tasty.
And. So. Easy.
Dustin and I already LOVE La Tortilla Factory tortillas because they’re as close to homemade as you can get from the store so we were excited to try this new sauce starter. Plus: barbacoa. I’m in!
What is Barbacoa?For a little history on barbacoa, it’s actually a way to cook meat (usually a cow or sheep head) that originated in the Caribbean and actually happens to be where the term “barbecue” comes from. In many areas, barbacoa actually refers to the meat being slow-cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with leaves. Barbacoa meat is known for its strong flavor, including chipotle, cumin, oregano, cloves, and lime, and is usually served with onions and cilantro.
No, I didn’t go dig a hole in my backyard. I used my Instant Pot.
And it was glorious.
While you could make barbacoa more traditionally, it is super easy to make Instant Pot Barbacoa. If you don’t have a handy La Tortilla Factory sauce starter, you can use the following ingredients and flavors:
chipotle in adobo sauce cumin oregano apple cider vinegar cloves lime sea salt onion chile pepperInstead of using cheek or whole head, I used chuck roast and it was perfect. The higher fat content of the chuck roast worked perfectly and the meat was tender and very flavorful. In the Instant Pot, all you have to do is sear the season the meat on Saute mode, sear it, add some onion and garlic, and seal it close. The entire process takes less than an hour and you wind up with tender, flavorful Instant Pot barbacoa meat.
I shredded the barbacoa beef and added it to tacos. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds.
I used La Tortilla Factory Non-GMO Hand Made Style tortillas obvi since they’re soft, pliable, flavorful, and the perfect holder for the Instant Pot barbacoa beef. Plus they’ve refreshed the line so that it’s now non-GMO.
In other words, follow the steps below for blissful barbacoa dinner happiness:
Get yourself an Instant Pot (Don’t have one? Keep reading!). Add your La Tortilla Factory Cocina Fresca Barbacoa Sauce Starter and sear the beef. Add everything else to the Instant Pot. Shred the Instant Pot barbacoa beef. Wrap it all up in a La Tortilla Factory Non-GMO Hand Made Style tortilla.Top with cilantro, red onion, salsa verde, cotija cheese, and a lime.This is all you need. Ever. And it’s easy. Prepare yourself.
So…don’t have an Instant Pot yet? It’s okay, La Tortilla Factory has got you covered. They’re letting me give away an amazing InstaPrizePack (which includes hand made style tortillas, sauce starters, and one Instant Pot.) Holy jeez – that’s awesome!
All you have to do to enter is tell me what will be the first dinner you make in your Instant Pot? I’ll be picking a winner December 8th so enter your comment now! Good luck!
Quickly and easily make delicious Instant Pot Barbacoa Tacos any night of the week!
Coat the beef with the La Tortilla Factory Cocina Fresca Barbacoa Slow Cooker Sauce Starter.
Add the beef to the Instant Pot and sear the meat on all sides until well-browned, about 3 minutes each side. Take out the meat out of the Instant Pot, and add the onions and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant and the onions are beginning to sweat. Add the beef broth and stir to combine, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pot. Return the meat to the pot. Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and seal closed. Push the vent knob to the back. Cancel the “Sauté” mode and then push the “Manual” button, and set to 50 minutes. When the timer goes off, quick release the vent or let it come down from pressure naturally. Shred the beef into bite size pieces.Top the La Tortilla Factory Hand Made Style tortillas with the barbacoa beef, avocado, red onion, cottage cheese (AKA queso fresco), fresh cilantro and the salsa verde.
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend. This post is sponsored by La Tortilla Factory.
The post Instant Pot Barbacoa Tacos with Salsa Verde + GIVEAWAY! appeared first on A Sweet Pea Chef.
December already, can you believe it? This year has flown by faster than any year before it. Last year at this time, I was trying to get settled into a new space while juggling cookbook edits, regular work and the holidays.
This year is a lot less hectic. I’m so thankful for friends and family to celebrate the holidays with, the sweetest four-legged companion, and readers who let me do what I love for a living.
Love Real Food Updates:
Alanna made my Mexican Roasted Veggie Bowls with Beer BeansThe book made Maria’s Cookbook Gift GuideThe book made Jessica’s Cookbook Gift GuideThe book made Ali’s Gift Guide for CooksKristie wrote That Time I Made Nothing but Cookie + Kate RecipesI just spoke with Suzy on the Cookery by the Book PodcastLooking for gifts to pair with Love Real Food? Here’s my Gift Guide.Approaching 350 reviews on Amazon! Thank you so much.The post What to Cook This December appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
For years, I’ve been searching for my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I want outrageously delicious bakery-style chocolate chip cookies that completely capture my attention upon first bite. I want a chewy middle, barely crisp edges, complex flavor, and rich chocolate chips.
I want all of that in a cookie recipe that’s easy to make. No mixer required. No creaming of softened-but-not-too-soft butter. No chilling the dough for 24 hours. I don’t have the patience for any of that. Sometimes a girl just needs a cookie!
I’m saying all of this because I’ve found the cookie recipe of my dreams. These chocolate chip cookies are the best homemade chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. They are so delicious and supremely easy to make. The dough needs a very reasonable 30-minute chill in the refrigerator, and let me tell you, they’re worth the brief wait.
Also amazing? These cookies are (shockingly) vegan. That’s right, there’s no butter or eggs in this recipe, but you’d never guess it. Instead of butter, these cookies use melted coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, or a neutral-flavored oil like avocado oil. The eggs are simply omitted with no downsides.
The post Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
No bake Peanut Butter Cup Protein Bars that taste just like a Reese’s. This protein bar recipe will be your new favorites snack to keep in your fridge and enjoy all week long. Hi friends!! Welcome back to Monday and the start of #AKCookieWeek17 — I can’t tell you how excited I am to share [...]
The post Peanut Butter Cup Protein Bars + video! appeared first on Ambitious Kitchen.
Today is an exciting day because we’re launching Food VIDEO School (!!) – an entirely video-based course with 100+ jam-packed lessons to show you step-by-step how to create stunning, DELICIOUS food videos!
Sign up to today and start learning this invaluable skill that will set your blog and your brand apart!
We’ve been hard at work on this course with our friends and professional food videographers at October Creative to bring you all of the information you need to make recipe videos that not only look good, but are vibrant, high-quality, and reflect your brand’s style.
Announcing: Food Video School! from Minimalist Baker →
Friends, I’ve been SO excited to share this recipe with you ever since I perfected it a while back.
It’s inspired by a soup we had at a vegan cafe in Iceland called Kaffi Vinyl. It reminded me so much of romesco sauce, which finds its roots in Spanish cooking. Romesco is traditionally made with almonds (or other nuts) peppers, garlic, and red wine vinegar.
As you can imagine, my mind was spinning with ideas on how to recreate this soup once we got home, and the final result totally blew me away.
Romesco Soup with Smashed Chickpeas from Minimalist Baker →
from Merah Hati Cintaku http://ift.tt/2kl2H32
via MerahHatiCintaku.blogspot.com