I am so happy to announce that I was chosen to be a Liberté Brand Ambassador! What does that mean? It means that I get to represent an awesome company and share all about the delicious yogurts that Liberté makes. My favorite yogurt is their plain Greek yogurt, and as much a I love eating it plain or with a drizzle of honey, I wanted to make something that would take it to the next level.

I really wanted some granola. I can’t justify paying $4+ for a bag of gluten-free granola so I decided to make my own. I wasn’t about to turn on my oven on this hot, muggy morning (summer is around the corner) and I created this microwave granola recipe!

Granola in the microwave? It only took three minutes and it is delicious! With just a few ingredients, you can make this simple, wholesome granola recipe at home.

 3 Minute Microwave Granola

Makes four 1/4c. servings.
Make a couple of servings of crunchy granola in a flash. This recipe is easy to throw together, and you can customize your granola after cooling.

Ingredients

• 1c. Rolled Oats (we used Gluten-Free; Instant Oats may work, but would probably have a flaky texture)
• 1T Coconut Oil (unsalted butter or any neutral flavored oil may work as well)
• 1T Honey (other liquid sweeteners might work: maple syrup, agave, etc.)
• 1/2tsp. Cinnamon (or 1/2tsp. of any other spices, a pinch of ginger
• pinch of Salt
• Mix-Ins (seeds, nuts, dried fruit, shredded coconut, chocolate, etc.)

Instructions

1. Mix Oats, Cinnamon and Salt in a microwavable glass container.
2. Microwave Coconut Oil and Honey for 30 seconds.
3. Swirl Honey and Coconut Oil to combine, pour over Oat mixture.
4. Stir to combine. Microwave for one minute, stir. Return to microwave for another minute, stir. Microwave for thirty seconds, stir.
5. Let granola cool thoroughly before adding any chopped fruits or chocolate. You can add in nuts or seeds while the granola is still hot.

View nutrition information (per 1/4c. serving)

 

Tips

• I used the regular power on my microwave. If your microwave tends to heat things quickly, you may need to stir your mixture more frequently, possibly every 30 seconds. You will want to stir to make sure that your granola doesn’t burn.
• Using a shallow glass bowl works better than a deeper bowl- you can disperse the granola and it crisps better.
• I haven’t tried using any other oils or liquid sweeteners, but I’ll update this post if I do.
• If doubling this recipe, I would use a glass pie plate to use in the microwave. I haven’t tried making a double batch (I ran out of oats, oops!)

Yogurt + granola is mighty tasty, but I wanted something a little more special. I had a jar of blackberry jam that I picked up at the Montgomery Farmer’s Market, and I thought a blackberry and granola parfait sounded mighty delicious.

Make a Parfait!

• Plain Liberté Greek yogurt
• Blackberry Jam (no sugar added) from TS Farms in New Vienna, Ohio
• 3 Minute Microwave Granola

Let me know if you try making your own granola in the microwave! What would be in YOUR parfait?

*Edited to add: My heart goes out to the families in Oklahoma (and families elsewhere) affected by the tornado. Take a minute to lift up a prayer for everyone involved.*

Grilling season is upon us! We busted out our little charcoal grill last week for dinner. Instead of grilling up chicken breasts, we had the chance to score a few delicious pork chops through BzzAgent!  Kroger sells a wide variety of  Moist & Tender^® pork cuts, and we chose some lean (boneless) pork chops for our grilling adventures. We don’t eat meat too often, but we were thrilled to have a chance to incorporate something other than chicken into our meal.

Asian Style Grilled Pork Chops

I marinated 4 pork chops with 2T minced ginger, 2T minced garlic, 2T soy sauce, 1T oil, 1T water, 2tsp rice wine vinegar and 1tsp honey. I let the chops soak up the goodness for a few hours in the fridge and then we grilled them up. Pork chops should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145° F (medium rare) and 160° F (medium). Serve with a bit of chopped cilantro if desired.

We also got this nifty silicone “Pork, Be Inspired” basting brush that we used to oil our onions (grilled onions are so sweet and delicious!)

We served our chops alongside some steamed green beans and quick-pickled veggies. We loved having the opportunity to grill some yummy pork, and we’re excited to add pork to our summer grill. Not only are pork tenderloin and pork loin chops lean, but they are tender and adaptable to almost any recipe!

Here are some great sites for pork recipes:

• PorkBeInspired.com
• Pinterest (Pork Be Inspired)
  
• Kroger

Do you eat pork? What is your favorite thing to grill during the summer?

*Disclaimer: I am a BzzAgent and I was provided with a free sample of this product to review. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. #GotItFree*

Hello folks! This is my very first WIAW- What I ate Wednesday!

WIAW is a link-up of bloggers sharing some of their recent eats. The WIAW “party” is hosted by Jenn over at Peas & Crayons (she has some AWESOME looking recipes!) This week, I’m sharing some great recipes that we’ve made in the Cooper home over the last few weeks!

My new “cooking philosophy” is cook once, eat multiple times. I’ve been making a big batch of dried beans each Sunday for us to use throughout the week and any recipe that can be prepped ahead of time is my BFF. We’ve also been plowing through fruits and veggies (we ate 10 mangoes, a dozen bananas and 4 avocados last week!) Here are some of our eats (note, none of the photos are my own, if you click on the picture, it will take you directly to the recipe YUM!)

Recipes we Have Made

Gluten-Free Paleo Brownie Pie {Our Fifth House}

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I think I’ve made these 4 times now. They are delicious and simple and don’t require you to buy any chocolate. Plus, Carmel is a Kentucky blogger, I love reading blogs from places I’ve lived! They definitely satisfy a chocolate craving. The original recipe calls for honey as the sweetener, but we ran out of honey the second time we made them. I made some “date paste” and subbed it 1:1 for the honey. The fourth time we made them, I made about 1/2 c. of prune puree and 2 bananas (~1/2c. prunes, soaked in hot water, drained & blended with a little bit of the soaking liquid). My favorite version was the one using dates! I haven’t made the coconut oil frosting yet, but it would definitely take these to the next level.

Brown Rice & Quinoa Veggie Burger {The Fitnessista}

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These easy burgers were pretty tasty! Brown rice and quinoa make up the base, and zucchini and carrot add a punch of veggies. Since the ingredients are pretty simple, I’m excited to add in some extra spices and change-up the veggies a bit! I had the same problem as Gina (The Fitnessista), my patties fell apart pretty easily after baking. Next time, I’ll try pulsing the brown rice and quinoa in the food processor for a minute so that it sticks together a little better!

Healthy Chicken and Black Bean Casserole {Six Sisters’ Stuff}

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This was another winner! We didn’t use as much cheese as the original recipe called for. Next time, I think I’ll stir in a bit of reduced-fat cream cheese into the filling before baking (instead of using shredded cheese). We finished this dish fairly quickly, so next time, I’ll make a bigger batch!

Quick & Easy Chickpea Coconut Curry {Legal Nomads}

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This was another winner! I love how Jodi gives you so much room to play with the spices. She gives a list of spices and orders them according to “copiousness of use”. We doubled the amount of chickpeas and served the curry over brown rice + quinoa.

Packs a Punch Kale Salad

We’ve also been enjoying our own kale salad recipe. The kale has been looking a little bit wimpy lately, so I’m excited to use similar ingredients with a different green (spinach!)

Recipes to Try

2 Ingredient Cookies {The Burlap Bag}

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I’ve seen these 2 ingredient cookies floating around the internet, I just need to get my hands on some gluten-free oats to make them!

Lemon Polenta Cake {Top with Cinnamon}

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I’m intrigued by the idea of baking with polenta! I’ll probably never make this recipe, but it looks mighty delicious!

Gluten Free Green Pea Muffins {Angie’s Recipes}

(source)

These look a little bizarre, but they also kind of look delicious. That little puddle on top is mozzarella cheese. This is a savory muffin, I think it might go nicely alongside a simple bowl of tomato soup!

• What are some of your favorite “go-to” recipes?
• Do you tend to make recipes that have lots of leftovers?

I love looking at recipes. We eat pretty much the same thing each week, but browsing recipes is one of my favorite pastimes. Thank goodness for Pinterest. What did a nursing mother do before the invention of the internet or smartphones!? We pretty much eat the same thing every week, but I’ve been trying to get a little bit more creative in the kitchen by using recipes that use the ingredients we purchase at the store on a weekly basis. I’d love to have smoked salmon with lemon-grilled asparagus alongside truffle-garlic mashed potatoes for dinner every night… but we’d rather save up $$ for vacations (and college), so we keep it simple.

Recipes We’ve Made (and liked)

Let’s start with cookies, shall we? I made a double batch of Peas & Thank You Totally Oatmeal Scotchies for our small group last week.

My cookies were not as pretty, but boy were they tasty.

• TIP: refrigerate your dough for at least 30 min before baking. I baked in batches and the last batch (that had been in the fridge the longest) was the least crumbly!
• TIP: don’t use thicker types of rolled oats (i.e. Trader Joe’s GF oats). I made a second batch with TJ’s oats and while they delicious, they are also a crumbly mess. The quick cooking Kroger brand oats (not instant and also not GF) held together better.

Last Sunday, I made a huge batch of Brittany’s Vegetable Lentil Soup.

It is everything I love in a lentil soup- hearty, warm and filling. Great job, Brittany!

We have also made this White Chicken Chili twice! It’s delicious with a squeeze of fresh lime!

This Chopped Winter Salad recipe from Real Simple is stellar. With chunks of sweet roasted butternut squash and salty feta cheese and kalamata olives, this salad is satisfying and packed with flavor.

I’ve been experimenting with 2-ingredient Banana Pancakes ever since I saw them on the Carrots ‘n Cake blog.

My favorite combo is 1 medium to large Banana [mashed], 1 Egg + 1 Egg White [beaten], a pinch of Baking POWDER, and cinnamon to taste. Mix your “batter” well. Heat a pan over medium-high heat, add some fat (cooking spray, butter or my favorite- Coconut Oil) and cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side (the top should have tiny little bubbles and should be pretty much set), and cook on the second side for 2-3 minutes. Serve with peanut butter. YUM

Recipes to Try

• Vegan, Sugar-Free Carrot Ice Cream. I’m looking for excuses to break out the ice cream maker…
• Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing we need more miso in our lives, STAT. And just take a minute to browse through the posts on Sprouted Kitchen- BEAU-TI-FUL.
• Butternut Squash Baked Ziti from my mommy friend Nicole at Making Good Choices.

I’m going to go eat some more cookies (seriously) while I browse Pinterest for dinner ideas! I’m guessing we’re not actually going to be eating anything new for dinner tonight, but at least I’ll have more dinner inspiration, right?

Do you have any recipes that you want to make? What are some of your go-to recipes? 

I’m feeling the effects of breastfeeding. I finally can say that I get absolutely RAVENOUS on some days. Pregnancy hunger is nothing compared to breastfeeding hunger. Mommies-to-be, get ready. That being said, I have been trying to eat lots of nutrient-rich foods so that Adeline gets the benefits through my milk. I would love to just eat ice cream and chocolate all day (and on some days, I do) but I want to continue to try to eat a wide variety of healthy foods to benefit myself and Adeline.

This salad is FANTASTIC. It doesn’t take much time to put together, and there are tons of textures and colors in the salad that keep you coming back for another bite (or twenty). And eat up, the salad packs a nutritional punch too!

Packs a Punch Kale Salad

A delicious raw, vegan and gluten free salad that combines robust kale with a pop of cranberry and carrot for sweetness. The chickpeas and edamame boost the protein in this hearty dish. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 1/2 bag Kale or 1 head of Kale [chopped, washed, about 5c.]
• 2-3 Carrots [cut into matchsticks]
• 1 Granny Smith Apple [diced]
• 1 can Chickpeas [rinsed and drained]
• 1c. frozen, shelled Edamame
• 1/3c. Dried Cranberries
• 2TB Olive Oil
• 4TB Vinegar or Lemon Juice [I like 2TB Balsamic Vinegar and 2TB Red Wine Vinegar]
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

1. Pour hot water onto the cranberries to re-hydrate. Drain before using.
2. Prep veggies and beans [cut Carrot into matchsticks, dice the Granny Smith Apple, drain and rinse Chickpeas]. No need to thaw the edamame.
3. Combine Olive Oil, Vinegar, Italian Seasoning and Salt in a bowl. Whisk until combined.
4. Pour dressing over kale in a large bowl. Massage dressing into kale for 5-10 minutes, or until kale starts to wilt and dressing is thoroughly distributed.
5. Add Carrot, Apple, Chickpeas, Edamame and Cranberries, toss to combine.
6. Refrigerate at least an hour to let flavors develop. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Calories per serving (based on 6 servings): 229 calories, 3g carbs, 7g fat, 10g protein, 8g fiber

Trust me, it’s a delicious salad! And, on days where all I manage to eat is ice cream and chocolate- at least I feel like I snuck in a little bit of good nutrition with a few bites of this side!

We had a sushi date night on Friday! Instead of going out and spending loads of money at a restaurant, we opted to make our own sushi at home!

There are a couple of things we LOVE about Sushi:

• Good sushi rice
• Pickled ginger
• The almost-drinkable dressing on the salads at the Japanese restaurants

Our favorite sushi rice recipe comes from The Rice Bible by Christian Teubner.  Alton Brown also has an awesome looking recipe: Sushi Rice.

We took a shortcut and used quick-cooking brown rice. We let the rice cool, and then added our rice wine, honey and salt in the correct proportions. We actually stuck the rice in the fridge to cool down faster as we prepped the veggies to fill our sushi rolls.

And because pickled ginger is one of our favorite condiments for sushi, we used the Quick Pickled Ginger recipe from My New Roots (and there’s an awesome tutorial for making quinoa sushi in that post as well!)

My New Roots has a great photo on the Quick Pickled Ginger post of how much space to leave when spreading your sushi rice on top of your nori (seaweed).

We added cucumber, carrots, avocado and thawed salad shrimp (drained VERY well) to our rolls.

Because our little Mini-Cooper needs loads of nutrients, we had a simple spinach salad alongside our sushi with an AWESOME Japanese Miso Dressing (which looks invisible according to the picture below. Invisible or not, we guarantee that it is DELICIOUS!)

Japanese Miso Dressing

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 TBSP Mayonnaise (we used Hellman’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise)
1 TBSP Orange Juice
2 tsp. Rice Wine
1 tsp. Miso paste
1/2 tsp. Honey
1/2 tsp. Soy Sauce (or gluten-free Tamari)
1/4 tsp. toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 tsp. Chili Garlic Paste

Mix all ingredients together. Add an additional 1 TBSP of Water if you want a thinner dressing. Chill and serve over your favorite greens.

There you have it! A homemade sushi date night! We hope that if you like sushi, you’ll take the time to whip some up at home (and at the very least, try making the salad dressing!)

Oh Sundays. We have a love-hate relationship. I love that Sundays are an extension of the weekend (which is sometimes non-existent due to work). I love that Sundays are days where we go to church and worship together. I love that Sundays are often “catch up” days. I hate that Sundays are the day before Monday. I hate that I often feel rushed and overwhelmed to do EVERYTHING on a Sunday (especially if it was a working weekend for us). And I hate that I seem to get really stressed or down on Sundays and I turn into a grump. No one (including myself) likes a grumpy Holly.

Next week, we’ll be headed back to school. Thankfully, classes start on Wednesday, so we have Monday and Tuesday to prep for classes to begin on Wednesday. This is Daniel’s last semester of college!!! Yippee! I’ll only be taking two classes again so I can continue working my regular schedule. That being said, today (Sunday) was a day of preparation, specifically- food preparation!

I’ve been keeping up with Budgeting/Meal Planning for a while now, and I make sure to use extra weekend time to make meals that will last in the fridge for those nights when we just need a quick dinner. Since I’m feeling particularly lazy on this Sunday, I’ll give you some GORGEOUS photos from the fabulous bloggers who gave me some great recipes for this week! I poked around online and found some fabulous recipes from Gina at Skinnytaste.com.

Skinnytaste.com Black Bean Soup

Daniel usually eats lunch on campus, and I’ll usually take leftovers if I’m working, or I’ll make an omelet with cheese and veggies (and some type of carb)  if I eat lunch at home. I made some Hash Brown Egg White Nests from Skinnytaste.com for a quick veggie and protein filled snack. I left out the ham from the original recipe, and I subbed in some Cheddar Cheese and Grated Parmesan for the Swiss cheese that the recipe called for.

Skinnytaste.com Hash Brown Egg White Nests

I also made some Chocolate Chip “Zee” Bars from Peas and Thank You to take for a sweeter snack! The “Zee” Bars taste great on their own, but I microwaved mine for about 20 seconds and spread a little bit of Natural Peanut Butter on top and it was a super delicious dessert!

Chocolate Chip Zee Bars

One more thing: Soup in a Jar. I usually pack Soup in a Jar for lunch twice a week on the days that I’m nannying. Served up alongside a gluten-free quesadilla or grilled cheese and a Chobani yogurt? Fabulous lunch! (sorry for the cell phone pictures, but you get the idea)

Put ingredients into a mason jar for ultimate portability: leftover rice, frozen veggies, bits of meat from last night’s dinner, herbs, a bit of broth or bullion, tomato paste, etc. Then, when it’s lunch time, just add some water, heat (in the jar with the LID OFF or pour into a mug/bowl), and eat! You don’t have to worry about liquids sloshing and spilling in your lunchbox or purse, and you can just give the jar a quick rinse when you’re finished!

Now that I feel prepped for the upcoming week, I feel less stressed and definitely less grumpy.

(cell phone pic from when we took my little brother Ice Skating outside in Downtown Lexington!)

Yes, Salted Caramel Apple Pie. The husband baked this pie, and it turned out DELICIOUS (although I could only sneak a tiny bite of the filling, I’m going to force him to make it gluten-free next year!)

Daniel used the “Rich Tart Crust” recipe from the Essentials of Baking cookbook.

The caramel sauce in action:

   

Silas always keeps a watchful eye when we’re in the kitchen…

   

YUM

After drooling over the pie pictures, it’s time for a quick Thanksgiving recap: Thanksgiving was a blast! It was quite busy, but I’m VERY thankful that both of our families still live in Louisville (although my dad and sister live out in Cali, and my other sister is in NC…) Louisville is a good meeting place for everyone!

We ran the annual Northeast YMCA Turkey Trot, I think this was my 5th year participating! I love getting out for a run on Thanksgiving morning, and having family and friends who also participate is always a blast! ALL of Daniel’s siblings and their spouses came out to run!

My right leg has been bothering me for a little while, if you follow me on “DailyMile“, I found out that I tweaked my right hamstring somehow. During the race on Thursday, I was aiming to go sub 7:45/mile, which is what I did. However, I did have to stop twice during the race to stretch out the “weird” feeling in my right hamstring. Anyways- I finished in 45 minutes (my watch time) and ended up placing 4th in my age group! Good way to start off a Thanksgiving celebration!

Anyways- as I posted in Trial Thanksgiving- I did make some changes to the sweet potato casserole and it turned out quite delicious- although I was told that it was a little too “sweet and spiced” for a sweet potato casserole. Oh well, it still tasted good to me!

OK, now go make this Salted Caramel Apple Pie.

Yesterday was a dreary and rainy day. We’ve talked about moving to Washington or Oregon, but I keep hearing that they’re rainy, grey places. I’m not someone who ALWAYS needs bright and sunny days, but I just don’t really care to be wet. Plus, rain+cold makes it impossible for me to get warm. I am thankful that today was a rainy day because I got to do a trial run of a few Thanksgiving recipes!

  

We only have “3 Thanksgivings” this year. The past two years, I think we’ve had at least 4 Thanksgiving celebrations to go to, so we’re happy to have one less! (We’re not having our “big family” Thanksgiving this year with my mom’s side of the family, we do it every other year!)

2009:

 

2010:

  

We decided to bring a veggie side dish to the Cooper Thanksgiving, and for some reason, I’ve had Brussels Sprouts on my mind.I found this recipe for Lemon-Roasted Brussels Sprouts and decided to give it a try. I went to three grocery stores yesterday to find fresh Brussels Sprouts (I found them at Meijer!)They turned out to be quite delicious! I made a half-pound for Daniel and I to share over lunch today. We both agreed that extra parmesan cheese was required! If you decide to use this recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts, be sure to add extra lemon, a healthy amount of parmesan and extra salt and pepper before serving!

 

I also found this recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole that I’m bringing to Thanksgiving at my mom’s house. The only substitutions I made was using buckwheat flour in place of the wheat flour in the streusel to make the casserole gluten-free. For my “trial” version, I ended up using a splash of regular milk, and I used less sugar.

 

When I make this on Thanksgiving, I may actually increase the amount of evaporated milk in the recipe as the trial turned out a little dry. I’m also going to add in some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, a pinch of clove) to the potatoes. And, as you can tell by the burnt pecans, I’ll try to keep a better eye on the casserole when it’s under the broiler  Daniel is also planning on making a dessert. A couple of years ago, he made an upside-down Pecan-Caramel cake thing, and a little while back, he made a Tres-Leches cake that was STELLAR! The boy can bake. I’m excited to see what he decides to make this year!

Growing up, we watched the old Little Rascals movies non-stop. Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat were the funniest kids around. I remember not liking the newer Little Rascals movie when it came out in 1994 (was it really THAT long ago?) Buckwheat was always one of my favorite childhood characters…

… and now buckwheat has been named a staple in the Cooper Family pantry.

While grocery shopping on Saturday, I perused the “Ethnic Foods” aisle for some inspiration. In the Jewish section, I stumbled upon some Kasha. I probably would have overlooked the unassuming brown box until I saw that it had “GLUTEN FREE” on the label. Hold up, gluten free foods outside of the “Natural Food” section? I looked at the price (cheaper than GF oats!) and tossed the box into my cart.

A lesson on Buckwheat (the seed)

• Buckwheat is NOT related to wheat and does NOT contain gluten. Buckwheat isn’t even classified as a cereal grain, it’s a seed!
• Buckwheat comes in a couple of forms: Groats, Kasha and Flour. Buckwheat groats are simply hulled grains of buckwheat- the least processed. Kasha typically refers to cracked buckwheat groats (although the word kasha and groats are used interchangeably). The kasha that I purchased was also toasted, hence the slightly darker color than the groats. And you probably already guessed that buckwheat flour is just ground up buckwheat.

I cooked up a few servings of Kasha on Sunday so that I would have an easy breakfast during the weekdays! This was 1c. Kasha cooked in 2c. water for about 10 minutes, or until the kasha was tender and the liquid was absorbed. (Bring water to boil, stir in kasha, cover and simmer 7-10 minutes).

There was a slight nuttyness to the kasha, and I immediately dolled up my breakfast bowl by adding pumpkin, spices, a bit of milk, a drizzle of molasses, a sprinkle of raw kasha and a spoonful of peanut butter (I realize the following picture may not look too appetizing, but it was DELICIOUS!)

Nutritional stats on Kasha (1/4c. dry, makes about 3/4c. when cooked):

(source)

We plan on using buckwheat to substitute for rice (for those times where we’ve just had enough), and I have big plans for some buckwheat pancakes! You’d better believe they’ll be on the blog if they’re worthy of being photographed!