Triple Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

These are the kind of cookies that you eat and then you can’t stop talking about how good they are. They’re SO good. Really. It’s hard to explain how a cookie can be so good. Like, seriously. The only reason you’d regret trying them is because you can’t stop eating them. Because they’re SO good.

Originally seen on foodporndaily.com and then adapted from hotpolkadot.com.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup demerara sugar
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups 60% chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate

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Bison Burgers

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground bison
lemon pepper
salt
oregano

 

Instructions:

Knead together the ground bison and spices (to taste) in a bowl
Form into four patties
Grill 5 – 7 minutes on each side
Pile high with toppings and enjoy!
For a slow-carb version, wrap your burger in lettuce or collard greens 

Banana Muffins

These muffins can be made as healthy as you want… use all sprouted whole wheat flour instead of a mixture of wheat and white, don’t add the topping to cut out more sugar (in the form of honey), use whole milk or lowfat milk… there are lots of ways to customize this recipe!

Muffin Ingredients:

1 egg
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups cubed fresh bananas

Topping Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons oats
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon coconut oil

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Moroccan Chicken Minestrone

This is Tami’s version of Minestrone Soup, with Moroccan influenced spices and  chunks of chicken. You can use any ratio of veggies you happen to have on hand. This is just what we used when we took the pictures.

Ingredients:

Onion
Carrots
Celery
Zucchini
Fresh Tomatoes
Canned Skinned Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Chicken

Equal Parts:
Cumin
Coriander
Turmeric
Cinnamon

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Lamb Burgers

A yummy variation on your standard hamburger. Taken straight from the allrecipes.com site, but we used sprouted buns instead of pita bread.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground lamb
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon sherry
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

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Andes Mint Cookies

The most time consuming part of these cookies is unwrapping all the Andes Mints.  SO worth the effort though!

Ingredients:

1 cups butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cups granulated sugar
1 cups brown sugar
2.5 cups blended oatmeal
.5 tsp. salt
8 oz. Andes Mints, unwrapped and chopped into chuncks
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla

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Homemade Peanut Butter

Not only did we make homemade peanut butter, but we did a comparison of the texture of the peanut butters in the Quisinart  and in this crazy industrial juicer we have have. The good news for those that don’t have an industrial juicer… we didn’t notice that much difference!

Ingredients & Instructions:

Peanuts
Some sort of oil… peanut oil, sunflower oil
Salt

Mix the peanuts in your Quisinart first, until they get to a really thick peanut paste-like consistency
Add salt to taste and oil until you get the texture you want!
Enjoy!


Esalen Meatloaf

An Esalen favorite, in our book! The word “basic” doesn’t give this meatloaf enough credit, but that’s what it is, a nice basic meatloaf. Honestly, when we want meatloaf we don’t want something that’s trying to be more than it is. Meatloaf is comfort food. This is the ultimate recipe.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 stalk diced celery
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork (the original recipe called for 2 pounds ground beef, we like the depth the mixture gives)
2 eggs
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 can tomato sauce

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Cottage Pie with Mashed Yams

We found this yummy recipe on the Nourished Kitchen blog and just had to try it (with our own additions and modifications, of course)!

Ingredients:

1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1 cup beef stock
1/3 cup cream
1 stick butter
1 large onion, chopped
1+ cup frozen peas
1+ cup diced carrots
3 medium sized yams or sweet potatoes
2 cups shredded cheese
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
sea salt and crushed black pepper to taste

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Mac & Cheese

This recipe came from the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook, which is pretty hilarious because the only requirements are literally that the recipe contain macaroni AND cheese. So recipes like Truffled Timbales with Zucchini Pesto, Lemon-Scented Pasta Pudding and Tuna Noodle Casserole are in this book because they have… you guessed it… both cheese and macaroni! We’ll be trying out a couple more recipes, especially a couple of the baked versions.

This recipe is SUPER easy and SUPER quick. You can literally prep everything in the time it take for your pot was water to come to a boil.

Ingredients:

12 ounces smallish macaroni (elbows or pennette)
2 cloves chopped garlic (we minced 4 cloves)
1 shallot, chopped (we clearly used a red onion)
10-12 ounces shredded Gruyere, Emmenthal or Appenzeller (we used about 16 ounces total of all three!)
4 ounces of creme fraiche (we used heavy whipping cream)
A grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 – 3 tablespoons butter


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Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Our first recipe from food.com. It went really well with meatloaf, though not very many of the rolls actually made it to the table! They were pretty easy for homemade bread too… we might just make them again to go with tomorrow’s turkey!

Ingredients:

1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar OR 2 tablespoons brown sugar OR sucanat
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 -4 cups flour (we used half whole wheat, half bread flour)
butter, melted

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Butternut (or any other Squash) Soup

We found this recipe at Wise Food Ways, but found it too bland initially so we added in our own little concoction of garlic and rosemary to give it a little more oomph! Other variations could include pumpkin, or any other squash you have on hand.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 leeks, sliced into rounds
1 butternut squash (seeded, baked four about an hour, peeled and cut into chunks)
1 bouquet garni (an herb bundle tied with string) including any or all of the following:
a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of sage, a sprig of parsley, a rosemary stem
Chicken stock
1 cup yogurt, buttermilk, half-and-half, or whole milk (or 3/4 cup cream or crème fraiche)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: minced garlic and chopped fresh rosemary


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Esalen Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Starter recipe taken directly from the Esalen cookbook!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour

 

Instructions:

Mix the ingredients in a glass, plastic or ceramic bowl using a wooden spoon
(Don’t use metal, it will react with the fermentation)
Cover the bowl with a plate and leave at 65 to 70 F for 4 days or until small bubble appear
The starter will smell like sourdough

Keep your started in a glass or plastic jar
If you use it every couple days you can keep it at room temperature
If you use it less often than that, keep it in the fridge to slow its growth
As you use the started for baking replenish the starter with equal parts flour and water
This way you’ll always have a bit of old starter that’s already cultured

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies (Ice Cream Topping)

Sometimes the best discoveries come out of the silliest mistakes! It turns out that if you leave the white flour out entirely and then bake as directed you get a really AMAZING ice cream topping. Like really good. Just scrape it off the tray and right on to your ice cream!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cube margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
rasins, if desired

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Esalen Smoked Salmon Spanakopita

Another Esalen success! This recipe turned out so well we literally sat around the table talking about how good it was, while we were eating it. Yeah. It’s that good! (Thanks for taking pictures Laurie!)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds fresh spinach (or 2 frozen packages) stemmed and chopped
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 eggs
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
1/4 cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 pound filo dough
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 pound smoked salmon

 

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Curried Chicken Salad

We got this recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook (no surprise) and made a couple modifications (also no surprise). The original ingredients are listed below, with our modifications or substitutions in italics and parenthesis.

Ingredients

shredded chicken meat from one whole chicken
1 red pepper, diced (we left this out)
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped (we used a whole red onion instead)
3-4 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup crispy almond slivers, toasted (we totally leave this out when we don’t have any on hand)
2 cups mayonaise (1 cup mayo plus 2 tablespoons curry powder)
2 tomatoes, sliced for garnish
1 avocado sliced for garnish
bread or pita to eat it on!

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Peter’s Minestrone Soup

Monday is Peter’s night to cook, so he used up all the vegetables in the fridge to make his “world-famous” (his words) Minestrone Soup! You can use whatever ratio of veggies you happen to have on hand, or use our list of ingredients below as a general guideline. The main key is to cook all the vegetables individually. That and add lots of tomatoes. Oh, and don’t forget to season and taste as you go along!

Ingredients:

4 sticks of celery
4 carrots
Bunch of broccoli
A handful of green beans
1 can of white beans
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken stock (to start)
1 can of tomato paste
3 blanched tomatoes
4 chopped and crushed tomatoes
2 cups of pasta
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano & 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

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Poblano White Chili & Rajas

We found this recipe on www.vegetariantimes.com, but for the life of us we can’t get back to it or find it again.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked white beans OR 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 recipe rajas
2 cups stock (vegetarian or chicken)
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup fresh (or frozen) corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup whole milk
3 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

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Esalen Provençal Veggie Turnover

Another amazing recipe from the Esalen Cookbook! Savor this with minestrone soup or a greek salad! If you can’t find fresh herbs, you can use dried but make sure to reduce the quantities by half!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (either the type in olive oil pat dry, or the totally dry type)
1 medium onion
2 bell peppers
1 medium zucchini
olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2.5 cups grated parmesan cheese
1-2 boxes of puff pastry (we had enough filling for 12 turnovers)

 

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Esalen Artichoke, Yam & Blue Cheese Scones

Here’s our declaration of the week: we’re going to cook our way through the Esalen Cookbook!

It’s not quite as ambitious as the Julia Child cookbook, but it should be a yummy challenge! So far we love everything we’ve tried from the cookbook and are excited to sample everything! Just a note: while these are healthy, mouth-watering recipes they are not generally quick; so we’ll make sure to mix it up with some less time-intense ideas!

We hope you enjoy our culinary journey, we sure will!!!


Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium yams
8 ounces artichoke hearts in water
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup unsalted butter
2.5 cups Asiago, grated
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons chopped sage


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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are a couple options when making these cookies… you can make them the healthy way or the good way! We’re all for healthy desserts, but this time the healthy option just doesn’t measure up to the white flour and sugar version! We made them with sucanat & whole wheat flour and then sugar & white flour. There was no contest. The sugar & white flour version has a much smoother consistency, though if you were only presented with the sucanat and whole wheat flour version you probably wouldn’t complain… they just can’t hold their own in a comparison.

Two warnings:

#1 These cookies are super addicting!
#2 We’ve made these cookies without the chocolate chips and had friends ask why we wasted our time not putting chocolate chips in!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar OR sucanat
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour OR whole wheat pastry flour OR a mixture of the two
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup+ Ghiradelli chocolate chips (optional)


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Butternut Squash Muffins


We found this recipe here, but made just a couple substitutions and upped the amount of spices.

Muffins Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup sugar OR sucanat
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup buttermilk (or make your own with 1 cup whole milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar)
1/2 cup mashed, roasted butternut squash (or pumpkin puree, if you prefer)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup yogurt


Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar OR sucanat
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1/4 cup melted butter

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Herb Onion Stuffing

Another yummy Epicurious find!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 cups chopped onions (about 1 pound)
2 cups chopped celery (4 to 5 stalks)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
12 cups (generous) 1-inch cubes day-old pain rustique or ciabatta bread with crust (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth

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