You are all in for a treat this week… literally!

Fallon is back sharing a recipe for some ridiculously good cookies.

A few weeks ago I opened my front door to find a beautiful box filled with these cookies fresh out of the oven and a note from Fallon. They were instantly devoured and throughly enjoyed! Needless to say, Fallon made our day.

Don’t let the quinoa throw you off… these cookies won’t disappoint!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

Hi Friends,

I’m excited to be back and sharing a new recipe with you today! If you are anything like me a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie always seems to be calling my name. (I may have even convinced my husband it’s one of my love languages.) Unfortunately, It’s not always easy to find a good and healthy cookie with food limitations.

Having recently moved to the suburbs, my husband and I are conveniently living with Whole Foods in our backyard. After perusing the bakery many times at Whole Foods and practically drooling over all their yummy treats, I quickly came to love the Peanut Butter Quinoa cookie by Cravin Raven Bakery in Southeast, Portland.

However, I also quickly came to learn that some of my favorite bakery treats weren’t so friendly to my budget. I decided to get creative in the kitchen and come up with my own version of the Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookie, but adding some chocolate on top. Because who doesn’t like to add chocolate to a cookie? After some trail and error, I think I’ve finally settled on this delicious and full of protein recipe.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Fallon

P.S. If you have a great recipe for cookies, please share with the rest of us! Also, make sure to join in on Instagram and tag you food photos with #hespeaksthekitchen.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER QUINOA COOKIES

gluten free, dairy free, soy free

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of oat flour

1 cup of quinoa flakes (these can be found at Whole Foods or New Seasons and look like this)

1/2 cup of gluten-free oats

3/4 cup of peanut butter

1/2 cup of maple syrup

1/8 tsp of sea salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of baking powder

1 flax seed “egg” (1 tbs flex seed + 3 tbs water)

Optional Topping:

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 tbs of maple syrup

To Make:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350.

2. Mix together flax seed egg and set aside.

3. Mix together dry ingredients: oat flour, quinoa flakes, gluten-free oats, baking soda, and baking powder, sea salt and set aside.

4. Mix together wet ingredients: maple syrup, vanilla, and flax seed egg.

5. Begin to add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix together until the dough is fully mixed.

6. Roll into balls on caking sheet and flatten (I used a mason jar!).

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them though, as you want them to be light brown.

8. Heat the chocolate chips and maple syrup in a pan on low heat. Stirring every 20-30 seconds to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn.

9. After removing the cookies from the oven and letting them cool, you can drizzle or full cover them with chocolate over the top.

10. Now they are ready to be served with a glass of almond milk or you favorite summer drink.

All photos by Bethany Small

All or nothing.

That tends to me my approach to… well… everything.

It’s no surprise that my approach to food can be this way as well.

About two years ago I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives and quickly began to adopt a plant based diet. If you haven’t seen it yet (it is available on Netflix), I can’t recommend it enough. Every American needs to watch it and educated themselves on the food we eat! (That’s the all or nothing side of me talking… can you tell?)

We spent the past year and a half or so eating a mostly plant – based diet and we loved it. I, who am not much of a reader, poured over books and blogs learned everything there was to know about eating a plant-based (vegan) diet. I even told myself “I will do this forever!”

My much more balanced husband encouraged me away from putting a label on how we eat and to still have freedom to enjoy other foods ever so often. Wise man I’ve got!

At first I felt pretty good and was loving a whole new world of plants and grains and tastes I had never experienced before. God is such a creative God and has created so much to be enjoyed!

However for about a year I have just felt “off”. I thought it was the addition of a new baby and the lack of sleep that comes along with that but the older she got the worse I felt so I finally went to the doctor to get the bottom of it.

Several doctors and tests later, I have been diagnosed with something called SIBO which is an overgrowth of bacteria in my small intestines which is giving me all sorts of crazy symptoms and making me sick. It is totally treatable and could potentionally clear up years and years of stomach issues and food sensitivities.

Halleluiah!

However… it requires a crazy restrictive diet for an extended period of time. Let’s just say it makes the Paleo diet look like a cakewalk.

(I’m 10 days in… cake sounds really good right now)

Why am I telling you all of this?

A couple of reasons…

#1: There will be a few changes around The Kitchen when it comes to the new recipes that are posted.  Mostly because they will be based of what I am currently cooking in my home on this crazy SIBO diet!

I will be posting more recipes that contain meat, fish and eggs and lots of veggies. I have some friends who will continue to contribute to The Kitchen with plant-based recipes as well so there will be a wider range of recipes coming your way!

#2: I am learning the importance of educating ourselves about the food we eat AND avoiding too many all or nothing extremes when it comes to food.

Once my treatment is over I’m not sure where I will land with the whole world of food but I do know this; God created all foods for our nourishment and for our pleasure. He is a creative God and I want to enjoy His creations this side of Heaven. If we stick to the foods He created (not the man made stuff we have altered quite a bit), we really can’t go wrong.

I am on this journey of learning with you all and I have so much more to learn. My heart and my goal is to inspire you to love real, whole foods and to learn a bit about what you eat in the process.

Today’s recipe was inspired by my sister-in-law, Tammy, who created the tilapia rub and I added the salsa for an extra kick of flavor.

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

PS: I always love to hear what you are enjoying making and what you are learning! I’m inspired by your comments and love it when we start conversations about food!

What have you been cooking lately? Anything you’d like to see posted here on the The Kitchen?

CUMIN TILAPIA + PINEAPPLE + JALAPENO SALSA

Serves 4

Gluten, dairy, grain free

INGREDIENTS:

Cumin Tilapia:

4 tilapia fillets  (5-6 oz each)

4 T cumin

1 t smoked paprika (or regular)

¼ t cayenne pepper

¾ t sea salt

Juice from two limes

2 T coconut oil for cooking

Pineapple Salsa:

1 ½ C fresh pineapple

1 jalapeño

¼ C chopped cilantro

Juice from two limes

Sea salt

*If you can, make the salsa a few hours before you plan to eat so the juices can combine and create more flavor.

TO MAKE:

Salsa:

Chop the pineapple into small, bit-sized chunks. Here is a quick tutorial on how to cut a pineapple.

Cut jalapeño long ways and remove the seeds and insides. Finely chop.

Finley chop cilantro.

Combine pineapple, jalapeño and cilantro in a bowl and squeeze the juice from the two limes into the bowl.

Add a pinch of salt and refrigerate for a few hours. You can serve it immediately as well if you don’t have time to prep it early.

Fish:

Combine cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt in a bowl and stir well.

Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice on both sides of each fillet. ½ a lime for each fillet of tilapia.

Use your hands to rub the cumin mixture on each side of the fillets. Make sure each side is completely coated.

In a cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat the coconut oil.

Add fillets to the hot oil and cook on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes on each side.

When it is finished, it should have a nice brown, crispy layer on each side.

TO SERVE:

Spread a few spoonfuls of the pineapple salsa over the top and enjoy!

You could also add the fish and salsa to a good corn tortilla, top with avocado and turn it into fish tacos!

ENJOY!

Summer is almost here!

Colorful fruits and veggies are filling the fruit stands.

Pasty white skin and unbrellas are on their way out.

I’m ready for both.

This weeks recipe is about as simple as they come but oh – so – good!

Not to mention quite versitle.

Here are three ways to make it a meal:

Lunch:

Toss with steamed brown lentils for some added protien. Trader Joe’s sells pre-made steamed lentils with sea salt in their refridgerated produce section. We eat them with just about everything.

Dinner:

Serve with salmon made with this smoked paprika rub and some good, hearty bread.

Side:

Serve on the side with veggie burgers, salmon burgers or your favorite BBQ fair.

Happy almost summer!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

PS: What are some of your favorite summer meals? I’d love to hear what you are looking forward to creating this summer!

SIMPLE SUMMER SALAD WITH BALSAMIC POPPY SEED DRESSING

serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

HONEY BALSAMIC DRESSING

1/4 C olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 T honey

1 T poppy seeds

pinch of salt

SALAD:

1 bag of organic baby spinach (roughly 10 cups)

2 C organic strawberries (roughly 12 medium strawberries) – cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 of a red onion – thinly sliced

1/4 C pistachios or nuts of choice

1/4 C feta or crumbled goat cheese

TO MAKE:

Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. I use a jar with a tight fitting lid and give it a good shake too.

Prep salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Drizzle with dressing and toss well.

Depending on how much dressing you like, you may have leftover dressing. If you do, store in an air tight container at room temperature and make it again tomorrow!

When I was pregnant I knew it all.

I vowed I would have children who would eat eat everything, love every fruit and vegetable and snack on raw broccoli and tomatoes.

Then I had children.

And suddenly I didn’t know everything anymore.

If you’ve been following The Kitchen for any length of time you know I am passionate about feeding my kids with real, whole foods… but that does not mean that my kids always love to eat everything.

For Duke’s first year of life, I made most of his food from scratch and he would eat just about anything. However, that slowly began to change as he got older and discovered food outside of pureed veggies. He has always been a big eater and it is hard to keep his little belly full. Yet his ferocious appetite combined with a very selective pallet (aka: pickiness) has presented itself with all sorts of challenges in the kitchen and quickly threw some of my “ideals” out the window.

All mama’s know that when you have a hungry, cranky child… you will do whatever it takes to feed them. Now!

And you also know that if you try to force a child to eat something they don’t like, you will lose. Every time.

Duke’s response to something he doesn’t like? “Mom, this is NOT delicious.”

Enough said.

These past few years have been a challenge for me to find creative ways to feed my children with nutritious meals and snacks they will actually eat and that fuel their growing, active bodies with good stuff.

Often times the “kid friendly” meals and snacks at the grocery store are not so friendly for their little bodies. (This is were reading labels is super important! Get to know the ingredient list of the food you buy!)

With an active 3 1/2 year old and a wanting to walk so badly 1 year old, we are a big fan of snacks at our house.

Call it low blood sugar or just being a boy but Duke eats every two-three hours or so. The “Mom! I’m STARVING!” is usually my cue it’s time for another snack. 

With my own kids as the inspiration, I’m going to start a little mini series and pop in from time to time with some snack ideas and recipes for both kids and grown ups alike. Some super quick and simple and some you can make in large batches and keep in the freezer.

Today’s recipe is one of our favorites and a staple in our freezer. They are similar to LaraBars in their ingredients but we think they taste a whole lot better. Duke thinks they are cookies and I eat them for dessert. Win. Win.

A few words of wisdom to you mama’s trying to feed picky eaters:

1. Start small. If you find a smoothie recipe you can hide some spinach in, celebrate! Most children won’t love kale salad and raw veggies overnight.

2. Make it fun. Kid’s love to learn and the kitchen is a great place to teach. If they are involved in the process of making something, often times they are more likely to want to try what they have created. Don’t be afraid to get a little silly and excited about explaining why different foods are good for them. We call them “go” foods and “slow” foods at our house. Go foods fuel your body and give you energy to play and learn. Slow foods slow you down a bit and hard for your body to digest.

3. Don’t give up. Don’t be discouraged if you make something and your kids don’t like it. Have a good laugh (or cry) and try something new tomorrow. Eventually you will find a handful of things they like and you can stick to those and keep it simple for a while. We have the privilege and responsibility to steward our children’s bodies emotionally, spiritually and physically until they grow up. I want to give them a good foundation and I know you do too!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

PS: I’d love to hear about your favorite snacks… kid friendly or not! Are there any favorites you would like a healthier version of? I’d love to hear what works and what doesn’t in your house.

Join me on Instagram (@emosser) and tag your food photos with #hespeaksthekitchen or leave a comment if you want to share your favorites!

BETTER THEN LARABAR BALLS

makes 20 balls

INGREDIENTS:

1 C raw almonds

1 C raw cashews

14 pitted medjool dates*

2 T natural peanut butter (optional)

1 T vanilla

1 t sea salt

1/4 C dark chocolate chips or carob chips

*Trader Joe’s has a large package of dates for under $5 and Costco has them as well

TO MAKE:

*I suggest using a food processor to make these. A blender does work but can be a bit tricky to blend the dates.

Coarsely chop the dark chocolate chips with a knife or food processor and set aside.

Combine almonds, cashews and sea salt in a food processor and grind until it turns into a course powder. Pour it into a bowl and set aside.

Combine dates, peanut butter and vanilla in a food processor until it becomes a thick paste.

Add the nut mixture to the date mixture and blend until combined. It should be pretty crumbly at this point and that’s ok. You will mix it more in a bit.

In a large bowl, combine the date and nut mixture with the chocolate chips and stir well. I suggest using your hands to get it mixed well. (while I was up to my elbows mixing up the dough for this recipe I had one child on the toilet calling for a wiper and one child destroying the indoor plants. Might be a good idea to do this during nap time!)

Once dough is combined, take about a tablespoon at a time and roll into a ball. Depending on how big you make them, you should be able to make 18-20. Store them in the fridge or freezer. I make a big batch like this and we keep them in the freezer. You can always half the recipe if you are making them for the first time or don’t know how many will get eaten.

ENJOY!

I will just come right out and say it…

You have to make today’s recipe!

This past summer, we went on a little mini vacation to Eastern Oregon with a few families to soak up some sunshine. One of the mornings, my dear friend Fallon and her husband Alex made one of the most delicious breakfasts I’ve ever had.

I’ve been bugging her to share some recipes with you here in The Kitchen for a while and my goodness did she deliver today!

Fallon is a fantastic cook and always learning about new ingredients, trying new things and serving her friends and family her delicious creations.

I know you will enjoy today’s recipe as much as I did!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

Hi Friends,

I was so excited when Elizabeth asked me to share this recipe with you all. My journey to the kitchen is a rather new and ever-so-growing one. It wasn’t until about a little over a year ago that I really started to learn about and appreciate nutritious, whole foods. I was newly married to my husband, Alex, who has this amazing pallet for nutritious, whole foods having grown up experimenting with various kinds of foods having his own food limitations.

I quickly learned my husband’s love for a big, hearty breakfast. Not ever having been a breakfast person myself, I was excited to create something we’d enjoy together.

For the first year and a half of our marriage, we lived in Downtown Portland, which has an abundance of amazing breakfast spots. After trying many of those breakfast spots, I decided to create this recipe by mixing and matching some of our favorite foods together into one flavorful dish.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Fallon

P.S. I love trying new recipes and filling my little wood recipe box up with all kinds of different food ideas. Would you share some of your favorite recipes from over the years below or take a photo on instagram and tag it #hespeaksthekitchen so I can see what you are up to in the kitchen? Can’t wait to see everyone’s creations, my mouth is watering already!

SWEET POTATO HASH AND BLACK BEAN BREAKFAST

serves 4

Ingredients:

6 medium size sweet potatoes

2 cans of black beans

4 eggs

1 cup of grape tomatoes

¼ cup of green onions

2 tbs. brown sugar

1 tbs. coconut oil

¼ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Black pepper to taste

Avocado (optional)

Cilantro (optional)

1. Rinse and cut sweet potatoes. In a large skillet over medium-low heat add coconut oil and sweet potatoes. Sautee with lid for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add in brown sugar, sea salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper to taste, and stir well. Sautee without lid for another 5 minutes.

2. Cook black beans.

3. Heat a medium skillet over low heat with coconut oil. After coconut oil melts, crack eggs into pan. Cook with lid until your desired yolk consistency. Remove from heat, cover with lid, and let it continue to cook until the yolk has a white consistency.

4. Added chopped green onions and cherry tomatoes to sweet potatoes. Sautee for about 3-5 minutes until sweet potatoes are very tender. Remove from heat.

5. When the sweet potatoes, black beans, and eggs are ready, place on a large plate or in a bowl. Add your desired toppings − we love cilantro and avocado. Leftovers can be reheated for breakfast the following morning.

(all photos by Bethany Small)

It’s funny how food is connected to memories.

I remember sitting on my grandpa Comer’s lap, leaning against is big grandpa belly and eating a pralines and cream ice cream cone as a little girl.

I remember summer’s spent at my grandparent’s cabin and starting every morning with my grandma’s banana bread.

I remember family movie nights and my mom’s warm tapioca pudding.

Nostalgia is kind of how today’s recipe came about.

For a number of my growing up years my dad traveled quite a bit and the routine changed a little when he was gone.

Without the whole family home to eat dinner every night, my mom would often rent us girls a good chick flick and make a big oven pancake for dinner.

Somehow good food and cheesy chick flicks create lasting memories… deep I know.

Now, I know that most of our comfort foods we know and love are foods we limit our intake of because we know they aren’t good everyday menu items.

But what if we began creating and building memories around meals and foods that nourish our bodies and fuel our active children? What if those comfort foods could actually be good for us?

I’m not talking about eating raw carrots and celery and telling yourself they taste like candy. They don’t and never will.

Healthy, whole foods can be just as (I argue way more) delicious as the comfort foods we try to avoid!

Today’s recipe is a new take on one of my favorite meals and fun memory growing up.

ENJOY!

APPLE + CINNAMON + OVEN PANCAKE

serves 4-5

(vanilla not pictured)

INGREDIENTS:

1 C almond milk or organic whole milk

4 eggs

1 T maple syrup

¾ C oat flour or whole-wheat flour*

¾ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 T earth balance butter or coconut oil (or organic butter)

3 apples

1/8 C brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

*If you use oat flour, it won’t puff up as much as a traditional oven pancake. But I promise it still tastes great!

TO MAKE:

Preheat oven to 500F.

Melt the butter or coconut oil in a cast iron skillet or or 8×8 baking pan.

While the butter it melting in the oven, peal and slice the apples.

Add the sliced apples, cinnamon and sugar to the pan and stir until they are well coated.

Bake for 10 – 15 min or until the apples soften and begin to brown.

While the apples are baking, stir together the flour and salt. Set aside.

Wisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla and maple syrup.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well or blend.

Once the apples are done, pour the batter over the apples and then reduce the oven temperature to 425F.

Bake for about 10 min. You just want to check and make sure it has cooked through in the middle but remove it before the edges get too crispy. 10-12 minutes should do the trick.

TO SERVE:

Let it cool for a few minutes and then lightly dust with powdered sugar for some extra pizzazz.

You can eat it as is or drizzle with a little maple syrup.

My mom and I don’t have the best history with brussels sprouts.

I remember all too well those nights at the dinner table with Mom insisting that I eat at least two bites and Dad emphatically trying to convince me they taste like French fries when you dip them in ketchup.

Not even close Dad. Not even close.

Right after Christmas, my mom and I did the first week of the Whole Living 21 Day Cleanse and basically ate just fruits, vegetables and nuts for 7 days.

(Aside from the devastation of cutting out coffee, it was surprisingly easy and I highly recommend it!)

I’m a huge fan of fruits and veggies but somewhere around day 4 or 5… it was time to find some new ways to eat them.

We happened to be at my parent’s house for dinner and my mom had a moment of creative genius (probably from all the carrots she had been eating) and whipped up today’s recipe.

Brussels sprouts redeemed. 

I know Brussels sprout season has just come and gone but most stores still have them and you can always file this recipe away for next season… if you can wait that long.

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

I’d love to hear your favorite ways to eat Brussels sprouts!

BRUSSELS SPROUTS + SUN-DRIED TOMATOES +CASHEWS

serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 LB Brussels Sprouts

¼ Cup cashews (I used raw)

¼ C sundried tomatoes

1 T olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

TO MAKE:

Finely shred the Brussels sprouts with a sharp knife.

Chop sundried tomatoes and cashews and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add shredded brussels sprouts and minced garlic.

Toss them in the pan as they cook and let them soften. About 4-5 min.

Add sundried tomatoes, cashews, salt and pepper and toss. Cook for a few more minutes and taste to be sure it is salted enough. Add more if needed.

Serve immediately.

*You can prep all the ingredients early in the day but I recommend you don’t cook them until you are ready to eat. If reheated, the cashews get soft and it is not quite as good.

TO SERVE: 

Serve warm as a side dish.

Or sometimes I layer a bowl of quinoa or brown rice, the Brussels sprouts and grilled salmon.