Dave Matthews Band Firedancer artwork from my daughter Andyy!!

My daughter, Andyy, has always been very artistic.

I look at the beautiful Firedancer artwork she made for me everyday!

I’m getting super excited about going to see Dave Matthews Band again soon! Since seeing them for the first time in 2008, I am a total groupie. My niece too!

Last year was epic!

This is a clip from 2010 when Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule; Allman Brothers Band) was there. Enjoy. I love how the crowd all sings.

Counting the days!!!

Amazing Addictive Everything White Cheese Sauce

I visited Salt Lake City last May and had a fabulous time! The food was amazing everywhere we went. I especially enjoyed lunch at Ivy & Varley! We ordered brussels sprouts appetizer listed on the menu as:

EVERYTHING BRUSSELS

Fried brussels sprouts, fromage blanc, maple-mustard, everything bagle seasoning, dill.

Even the folks who said they didn’t like brussels sprouts were practically licking the plate!!

I knew I had to come up with my own version of this. My youngest son is lactose intolerant, so I used vegan cream cheese in place of fromage blanc. It was an instant hit and we have had it on vegetables, proteins, and even as a sauce with pasta!

This is a picture from Ivy & Varley’s Facebook page.

8 oz. vegan cream cheese (any meltable white cheese will work!)

2 Tbsp. Terrapin Ridge Farms Honey Pecan Mustard (again, this is my go to, but any honey mustard will be yummy)

1 Tbsp. everything bagel seasoning

1 tsp. dill

Melt cheese in saucepan over low heat. Add in remaining ingredients and heat through.

This sauce is seriously addictive. So simple to make!!

Breakfast Bake

1 pkg. tater tots, cooked until crisp

1 lb. sausage, cooked and crumbled or chopped

1 c. shredded cheese

8 eggs

salt and pepper

1 1/2 C. almond milk

Spray 13×9 baking dish with cooking spray. Layer tater tots.

Top with players of cooked sausage and half the cheese.

Mix eggs milk and salt and pepper and pour over evenly.

Top with remaining cheese. Cover the dish with foil. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Remove foil and place under low heat broiler until cheese is golden and bubbly.

You can easily make this your own. Substitute bacon or ham for the sausage, add in vegetables, try different types of cheese, I’ve even added leftover cooked rice or quinoa as a substitute for the tater tots. This can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight. It may take a little longer baking time if you put it straight in the oven cold.

Jalapeño Popper Panko Crusted Trout

I recently discovered a cashew based vegan jalapeno popper dip. I have used it cooking chicken and now this trout. It is amazing. Yummy with chips too!

This recipe works well with pork chops too. I cooked some 1-in thick chops tonight for non fish eaters. The pork takes about 45 minutes.

Prepare baking sheet with rack by spraying with nonstick spray. Place trout on rack and spread a nice even layer of the jalapeno popper dip across the top. Top with seasoned panko crumbs. Bake at 375 until golden. It took about 15 minutes. I tented it and kept it warm until the rest of the meal was done. It stayed nice and crispy.

I roasted some mixed vegetables in the oven alongside the meat. Shaved Brussel sprouts, chopped kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, whatever veggies you have on hand will work.

Rigatoni With Meat Sauce

Tonight was a total comfort food meal. I used ground turkey and chicken. I also used jarred sauce. Everything was ready in a flash.

1 lb. ground chicken

1 lb. ground turkey

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsp. pesto

1 onion, diced

Optional add ins: bell peppers, carrot, celery, zucchini, peas, spinach, etc. etc.

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

Red wine, also optional

2 C. cottage cheese (or ricotta)

1 lb. rigatoni

I go with the rehydrating method when it comes to dry pasta now. I first saw it on a show with Alton Brown.

But first the sauce. Heat oil in a cast iron stock pot. Cook veggies until a little softened. Add in pesto, Italian seasoning, and stir for about 30 seconds till fragrant. Add in ground meat. I pinch small pieces and put it into the pan that way so I don’t have big chunks to break up later on. Cover and cook on medium about 15 minutes. Break up any pieces that are stuck together and toss the meat and veggies around in the pan. This is when I add salt. I taste the meat till I get it well seasoned. Let it cook for about 10 more minutes with the lid on.

Put 1 lb of pasta in a big pot to boil put cold water in on top of the pasta by about 2 inches. As one teaspoon salt and one tablespoon minced garlic. Sit on medium Heat and check and stir it every 7 minutes or so.

Once I had the pasta going, I added wine to the meat and vegetables and cooked it down . I added a jar of tomato sauce and the cottage cheese to the cooked meat and vegetables. I tasted it and adjusted the seasonings. Then I just let it simmer until the noodles were done.

I put the sauce in my crock pot on warm and then add it in the drained cook noodles. Stir It Up really well so you don’t have noodles laying across the top that may dry out. As each person serves themselves they should toss it again with the sauce cuz it tends to fall to the bottom.

This holds up really well in the crock pot for up to an hour or an hour and a half. Throw some garlic toast in the oven if you want. Top with a little cheese and fresh basil, if you have it. (I didn’t 😐)

Pineapple Agave Chicken with Pearl Couscous and Veggies

10 chicken tenderloins

1 bottle Wuju pineapple agave sauce

1 small butternut squash, cubed

1 C. chopped kale

1 C. chopped red cabbage

1/2 C. carrot matchsticks

3 C. cooked pearl couscous

1 Tbsp. seasoned salt

2 Tbsp. oil

Preheat oven to 350°

Toss vegetables with oil and seasoning. Spread on a sheet pan or baking dish.

Place tenderloins in a single layer on a second sheet pan or baking dish.

For sauce over chicken and let marinade for about 15 minutes.

The chicken and veggies can cook side by side in the oven. It takes about 30 to 35 minutes.

When the chicken is done cut with kitchen shears into bite size pieces and toss with the sauce to make sure it’s evenly coated

You can cook the couscous while they’re in the oven or make it ahead.

To serve, combine the couscous with two tablespoons butter optional and then add in the veggies and chicken.

This would work really well with any Asian type sauce I think. I could also work with pesto and butter and parmesan cheese if you wanted to go italian. Maybe even a Latin twist with chimichurri. I’m going to try this with different vegetables and different flavor profiles. This combo was really really good.

Chocolate Chip Chocolate Baked Oatmeal

We topped it with silk chocolate yogurt.

This baked oatmeal kick began when my son bought healthy oatmeal that tasted terrible! It contained vegetables, which like had something to do with it.

5 pouches chocolate oatmeal

2 eggs

1 C. brown sugar

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp baking powder

1 C. milk

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. chocolate chips

1/2 C. chopped nuts

Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 8×8 baking dish.

Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

It’s best if you eat it warm. We loved the yogurt on it because the tartness really set off the sweetness.

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

5 packets instant apple cinnamon oatmeal

1 C. sweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 C. applesauce

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1 apple, chopped

2 eggs

1/2 C. maple syrup, honey or agave

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C chopped nuts

1/2 C. raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray 8×8 baking dish with coconut oil

Combine what ingredients in One Bowl and dry ingredients in the other. Blend.

Pour into prepared baking dish and bake 30 to 40 minutes until set and golden.

We topped ours with salted caramel yogurt. Yummy.

Sweet Apple Turkey Puff Pastry Empanadas

I bought some ready-made fresh puff pastry that comes in a roll called Jus Rol. My daughter Molly the Baker is probably rolling her eyes at that. I decided to try making some empanadas with it. My first attempt was anything but picture worthy, but still tasted good.

The trick was to keep the dough cool between assembling each empanada.

For the filling:

1/2 lb. ground turkey

1/2 C. finely diced onion

2 Tbsp. oil

2 tsp. salt blend

1/4 C. sweet apple grill sauce (Stonewall Kitchens – I keep this yummy stuff in the fridge to sweeten up various sauces)

1/4 C. egg white or beaten egg

Saute onions and turkey in the oil until no longer pink. You can season as you like, I’ve been using an adobo or maple bourbon grill seasoning lately.

Add sauce and cook off any remaining moisture. you can always toss in a little bread crumbs to thicken it if it is too runny.

Refrigerate until completely cool.

I cut the “log” of puff pastry in half and immediately put one half back in the fridge. I then unrolled the other half and cut it into 3 squares, refrigerating them until I was assembling, later doing the same with the other half. The parchment the puff pastry came rolled in really helped with the assembly process so the dough wouldn’t stick to my fingers and get warmed up.

The first time I made empanadas with this dough, I handled it too much and didn’t refrigerate the pieces I wasn’t working with so it was all sticky and a mess.

I was able to make six empanadas from one pack of the puff pastry and the filling was the perfect amount.

Preheat oven to 400°

Working one at a time, put 1/6 of the filling mixture into each square of puff pastry folding over into a triangle and sealing with a fork. I baked them in my trusty 13×9 baking dishes. Make sure to grease them because they do stick.

Brush with egg and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden.

If you choose to refrigerate the empanadas prior to baking them, they may need to bake longer if you forget to bring them to room temperature before baking them like I did.

They were so good everyone was upset there were only six of them. I’ll have to double it next time.

Pear Cake

This is another variation of my Mom’s Apple cake. Our local produce market had organic pears buy one get one and I couldn’t resist.

For the filling:

4 C. chopped fresh pears

1/3 C. sugar

1 tsp. pumpkin or apple pie spice

Toss and set aside.

For the batter:

3 C. flour

2 C. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pie spice

4 unbeaten eggs

1 C. oil

1/4 C. lemon juice (any citrus will do)

Preheat oven to 350°

Whisk together dry ingredients to break up any lumps.

Add remaining ingredients to make the batter.

Spray 13×9 baking dish with baking spray.

Put half the batter in the bottom of the dish. Then layer the pears evenly. Top with remaining batter.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. If you check it and it looks really dark don’t get worried. It really does take an hour. It doesn’t burn it just gets nice and dark.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it look pretty.