Two Kitchens, One Passion

I am so glad that it will finally be summer soon so that I can get back to posting recipes more regularly!  With the hustle and bustle of the school year and teaching I always get severely behind in my blog posts.  Over the rest of this month I plan to make up for my recent absence my blogger by posting many new and delicious recipes for you to try. Many of my posts this month will be related to a nutrition challenge that I am currently taking part in with my Crossfit gym.  We just started a 30 day Primal diet challenge based on Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint ( www.marksdailyapple.com ).  This diet is not much different than how I eat on a regular basis, but I am excited to use this month as a great time to focus on clean eating 100% and testing out new recipes again. I am going to start a string of new recipe posts with one that I made a while ago - Grilled Primal Bison Burgers on Cauliflower Buns.  The cauliflower buns worked even than I e...

If you have not watched the movie Chef , it is a comedy that follows the life of prominent chef from Los Angeles (played by Jon Favreau) after he quits his job and launches a food truck with his young son.  It is a light-hearted film that truly highlights the passion people can have for the food they cook.  Although I am not a culinary expert, I can relate to this film because it is my own passion for cooking that got me to start this blog in the first place.  I love being able to share my recipes and tips on following a healthy lifestyle with others. I get inspiration for my cooking from lots of different places, ranging from other food blogs to my personal cravings on any given day.  My inspiration for this meal came directly from the food truck "El Jefe" in this movie ,  which served up the signature Cubano sandwich.  I have never actually had a true Cuban sandwich, but my [almost] Paleo version was the best damn sandwich I have had in a long  tim...

After watching the movie Chef  last week, I was inspired to create a Paleo version of the traditional Cuban sandwich.  I am going to keep you waiting another day to see the final result, but for now I am revisiting my plantain sandwich bread recipe because it is just so good!  I revised my recipe slightly in an effort to help the bread rise more, which turned out to be a success. Plantain Sandwich Bread 2.0 Yield: 2 servings Ingredients 2 green plantains 1 cup lite coconut milk 1/4 cup flaxseed meal 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp sea salt 1 tsp apple cider vinegar Directions  Preheat your oven to 425° F. Peel your plantains.  You should only be using green plantains for this recipe (they are more starchy), so they will most likely be difficult to peel.  Just be patient! Add your plantains,  coconut milk,  flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and apple cider vinegar to a food processor and p...

In a recent post, I created a recipe for Plantain Recovery Muffins .  The past couple weeks I have been diligently working to perfect this recipe in order to provide you with a perfectly textured AND delicious protein recovery muffin. The recipe below is the final outcome of several trial batches of these muffins.  The end result is a gluten-free muffin that has a texture like its real wheat counterpart, and a flavor that is perfect for eating after a hard workout.  You can see in the picture just how airy and fluffy these muffins turned out! I have been enjoying one of these scrumptious muffins after my long hot vinyasa yoga sessions or intense Crossfit workouts.  It's the perfect way to start replenishing your body with the protein and carbohydrates it needs after exercise! A note to my sweet-toothed friends: Feel free to increase the amount of maple syrup to a 1/4 cup for a sweeter treat. Plantain Protein Muffins Yield: 9 muffins Vegan, gluten-free,...

What are some of your favorite things to do when it's snowing outside and you're stuck at home?  A few of my favorites include cuddling with my husband (or our dog), reading a book in a cozy chair, watching a movie, and drinking some creamy hot chocolate.  With the snowstorm we got in Maryland this past weekend, hot chocolate was a definite necessity to keep warm!  Rather than making a traditional hot chocolate, I decided to make a Superfood (& Super Delicious) version of this favorite hot drink.  The result was a super creamy, super healthy, and super chocolately drink! One cup of this will allow you to reap the benefits of the superfoods explained below (for additional information, click on the links for each food): Coconut Oil: Nutritious source of saturated fats with antioxidant properties Maca powder : Rich in vitamins B, C, and E.  May also improve sexual function in men AND women, relieve menstrual issues, and increase energy! Cinnamon : Ant...

For the most part, if I am craving some takeout for dinner, the Indian restaurant around the corner is my go-to spot.  I love the intense flavors and fresh spices involved in Indian cooking.  One of my favorite dishes to order is Rogan Josh, an aromatic lamb delicacy cooked with spices in a tomato (or chile) based sauce. Since I had eggplant on hand last night, I chose to take a stab at creating my own version of Aloo Baingan.  This dish is traditionally made with eggplant and potatoes, which are cooked with spices, onion and tomato to create a side dish with a nice thick consistency.  For my version, I cooked eggplant with fire roasted tomatoes and sweet potato puree, to give it a thicker consistency.  I also chose to serve it over a bed of rice to enjoy it as more of an entree.  The spice level for this recipe is mild, but could easily be made spicier by increasing the amount of red pepper flakes used. The Aloo Baingan was so delicious that I a...

After our amazing Valentine's Day dinner, I had a lot of leftover ricotta cheese.  Naturally, I began searching for new recipes to test out utilizing this ingredient - And some of the first recipes I found were for cannoli.  To be honest, I have only had a true cannoli a few times in my whole life.  Regardless, I know how delicious these Italian desserts are so I decided to use my snow day from work to bake an easier version of the traditional cannoli.  Instead of trying to fry my own cannoli shells, I turned this dessert into bite size cups filled with delectable ricotta cream. When I made these this morning, I ended up making 2 batches of the crusts because I had SO much extra ricotta cream filling.  To make things easier for you I doubled the original recipe so you should have a much more even proportion of filling to crusts, with an extra couple spoonfuls to enjoy yourself. Gluten Free Cannoli Cups Adapted from  The Low Carb Diet Yield: 36 bit...