Yes Yes, it's been awhile..

First off I'm going to apologize for not posting in what seems like forever. I don't know what it is about this winter, but it's been hard to motivate. And also our house was broken into just after the new year, a bunch of electronics were stolen, including my camera. So that also had a lot to do with not posting, because who wants to read a blog without pictures! So I appreciate the patience- I got a new camera and am now ready to share some new recipes with you. Have a great day Everyone!!

Shepard pie with sweet potato mash

(I couldn't get a good angle on the photo- so sorry if it doesn't look that great :-)

Filling

2 leeks washed and sliced thin
2 cups cooked kidney beans
2 medium carrots diced
2 cloves garlics minced
2 celery ribs diced
2 cups tvp
*(re-hydrated in 2 cups h20, 1 tsp fresh Ginger and 1 tsp mushroom bouillon)

1 package of tempeh
*(sauteed until absorbed in 2/3 cup h2o, 1/3 cup braggs, 1 tsp minced Ginger,
& 1 garlic clove)



Sweet potato mash

2 medium sweet potatoes diced
3 medium potatoes diced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp herbs De Provence
3Tbs (or more) Smart Balance
2 Tbs plain almond milk (for thinning, if mashers are too thick)


* boil potatoes until really tender, drain and cover with a kitchen towel for 2 minutes- mash the potatoes with smart balance, add the garlic powder, herbs De Provence and salt to taste
Layer the filling into a large baking dish and top with the potato's. cover and put in an oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes, remove foil and Bake for another 5-10 minutes. 
 
 
 
 

Shepard Pie "Pockets" with Spicy Dipping sauce

(they may look homemade, but they are really good!!)

1 cup Shepard pie filling

Crust:

1 cup gf flour

1 Tbs ground flax seed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 tsp herbs De Provence

3/4 stick cold earth balance

1-2 Tbs ice water

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients together in food processor until combined and mixture begins to form into a ball. Place dough in a large Ziploc and roll out until 1" thick- Chill in fridge for at least and hour. * (I didn't chill mine, and it was really hard to roll out- it kept sticking!)

Once the dough is chilled, roll out to 1/4" thick and cut out circles or squares ( doesn't really matter, just so that it's big enough to but filling in and fold over.) Place 1-2Tbs inside circle and carefully fold over and pinch edges together.

Bake for 20-30 minutes on an oiled cookie sheet, until the edges are beginning to brown.

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbs veganaise

1 Tbs saracha hot sauce

1 Tbs Spicy mixed peppers in liquid (banana peppers etc.)

Mix together ingredients for dipping sauce.

(I can't wait until our lavender starts growing!)

sorry, sidetracked, Moving on..

I have also been making raspberry bars, which I may have put up a recipe for in the past, but I'll share it with you again in a wheat free version, since they are so darn delicious and easy to make.

(I can't help myself from eating at least half of these bars, I have to give them away just to save myself :-)

Raspberry Bars (wheat free version)

(No picture, they were seriously eaten Way too fast!

1 cup gf flour

1 cup oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 stick earth balance melted

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients (besides raspberries) in a bowl until crumbly. It's easier to mix in the earth balance by hand until you have little pea size bits.

oil a 9x9 baking pan and place about 2/3 of the oat mixture on bottom, pressing down softly. Spread the raspberry preserve, staying away from the very edges of the crust (makes it easier to cut later). Top with the remaining oat mixture.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown on top.

*(25 minutes will make the bars a little softer and gooier after cooling, and 35 minutes will make the bars firmer.) 

Allow bars to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!

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So there you have it. Sorry I don't have more interesting photo's to share with you, I promise to take more this week and do a proper post with lots of pictures!  I hope this finds everyone well, and we all take time to laugh and love! XOXooX

Hapy new year everyone!!!

Hello!!! I hope this reaches everyone well. Hope all your holidays were great and they were filled with much love and laughter!! My life has been incredibly busy lately, filled with skiing, flowers and dentistry! I promise to update soon with pictures and new recipes!!! Since I finally have some time to cook!!!!!

Have a fantastic new years everyone and make sure you always take time to laugh!!!!!

I haven't forgotten about you! I swear!

Well hello everybody! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated you with all the happenings and recipes that have been going on with my life :-) I really don't have any good excuse as to why I haven't posted recently... Yes I've been busy, but I really just can't figure out why it's taken me this long to update this blog! oh well, I'm updating it now- and the benefit to you this time around, is there will we lots of pictures! which I'm not sure about you, but I love pictures- so here we go, I hope the wait and suspense was worth it........

 We'll start off with where we left off in september... yes I know it's been over a month since we've last spoke... but I digress Here is what was left of our garden harvest....

                                                       CARROTS!

These I had obviously just dug up from the Ground.

While these were Cleaned and ready to be Enjoyed!

The only onions we managed to grow this season! Well they were delicious anyway :-)

I started a new hobby.... Not that I need any more hobbies, but what are you going to do. This hobby is pretty cool- it's spinning. I started with raw wool roving (above) this one was alpaca.

Spun it into yarn, tied it, and then soaked it to set the twists.

Now I could have stopped here, but I went a step further.....

I decided to hand dye the yarn too. I chose to dye this batch in tumeric..

Needless to say, the entire house smelled like a llama doused in tumeric.... not the best smell to wake up to :-) sorry Jim!

I then let the yarn hang dry.. once dry I can use it to knit whatever I may choose- But it's pretty itchy, so I probably won't be knitting any socks for jimmy :-)

RECIPE TIME!!!!

ok, so I don't know why my camera always changes the direction of the picture- sorry for the inconvenience. But it doesn't change the fact that these muffins were definetly the best Wheat Free Muffins I have ever made, Seriously-- just ask Jim.

Ultimate gluten free banana nut muffins

1 cup GF flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking pwdr
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 stick earth balance butter (1/2 cup)
3 ripe bananas
1 Tbs ground flax seed + 2 Tbs h20
3/4 cup walnuts chopped
3/4 cup chocolate chips



Turn oven to 350. Cream "butter" and sugar together- add bananas and flax seed. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet- fold in nuts and chocolate. Bake for 20- 25 minuted or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan before placing on cooling rack. Makes 12 muffins. 
 
 
 
Ok... Moving on, the real reason I didn't post anything in october.... I was in Kauai.
Sorry :-) but here are some photo's that I hope will make it up to you....
 
 

The view from the point where we stayed.

Hanalei Bay at sunset. Jim surfed out there pretty much everyday.. He even helped me surf here- I got up 9 times, and rode 7 waves :-)

Another view of Hanalei Bay, It's pretty much always raining up in the mountains.

I guess you don't become one of the wettest places on the planet by staying dry..

Hanalei Bay and the Pier at sunset.

The Prince Course @ Princeville.

By far the longest course any of us has ever played or driven on.

10 miles of cart path!

It was like driving right through the jungle, we even saw wild boar.

One of the smoother holes, but notice there is no pin in sight!

On of the many canopy's we drove under..

Jimmy about to make a beautiful Chip shot :-)

The family trying to round out this hole.

And the worlds smallest Gecko.. no not andy, look at his shoulder.

another side adventure for us in Kauai. We were told there was a beautiful Waterfall somewhere out there- so we went to go find it.

The boys looked Able.

We went along a hot dirt road until we saw a gate. We went around the gate and walked up and down, then up some more.

We went through bamboo forests....

 

Until finally we found the waterfall. Don't ask me the name, I really have no idea :-)

But Someone was saying that Adam Sandler was just filming a movie there recently, So keep an eye out for it it the theatres :-)

Jim and I are in the background, managing to balance on small rocks to stand up.

Andy celebrated his 13th Birthday there.. He was pretty stoked to finally be a man.

A view of the Hanalei Valley, with all the Taro fields.

Walking towards the Queens Bath.

One side of the Queens bath, the swimmable side is over to the right.

We actually swam in there in the spring,

 but the waves were much to big this time to go in.

Canopied road towards Poipu, We went diving down there one morning.

Saw the largest turtle. She was huge.

Jim and I took a day trip to the Wailua river.

We got on a boat cruise ( we were the youngest ones on there) and went up the river towards the fern grottos. 

My parents a week previous, kayaked up the river, hiked 2 miles in and found this beautiful hidden waterfall.

Jim and I's leisurely outing was far less strenuous :-)

So here are the fern grottos.

I really wanted to see them after looking at a postcard where there were people actually standing in the lush green grottos waving back. But to my disapointment, they no longer allow you to climb into the grottos. They say it's less damaging that way, which is ironic because after they decided to close the walking path into the grottos, they decided to build this huge viewing deck so you could see them (which is where I was standing while I took this photo)

But to make the deck they had to cut down all the natural vegetation. So by cutting down the natural canopy (the canopy which made the ferns grow..) They let more sun into the area, causing the ferns to die. Hmmmm. Brilliant idea guys.

So the fern grottos you see now, are not the lush green ones you see in the post card, instead you get a very sparse ferny rock. Whoops.

Anywho, it was still a wonderful outing with my love.

This was the plaque at the fern grottos, telling how sacred the grottos were to the hawaiian people.

The worlds smalled gecko strikes again!!!!

On the way down to secret beach..

The view from secret beach. I can't tell you where it is, because it's a secret.

Sunset from secret beach.

A beautiful meal prepared by Jimmy.

Polenta with fresh tomatoes and onion.

One last view of Hanalei Bay before leaving.

one last note in the sand before we departed...

Back to Aspen!

Which is not a bad place to return home to :-)

I felt like I hadn't cooked in awhile, so I made a falafal Feast for Jimmy.

But just like that, the weather changes in Aspen, and suddenly it becomes winter.

Which was why I was glad to finally have finished my Mittens!

I think I started these in April.....

And since it was already cold and snowy, that meant that halloween was right around the corner. Try and guess which pumpkins were Jim and I's ...

We went to another pumpkin carving party, our team effort pumpkin was the skull in the middle..

if you guessed the dopey pirate and the one with the scar as Jim and I's pumpkin from the first picture, you were right! good job :-)

Well folks I think were all caught up now. I hope everyone had a wonderful fall and that this winter brings us lots of snow (if you want it where you are :-) and lots of great memories.

Cheers!