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| Raw carrot cake balls! |
Sort of last-minute
we found out that we'd have two Easter family get-togethers to attend
on Sunday (my family = surf session/potluck at the beach (standard, and I
love it); and John's family gathering = a more traditional evening dinner! Timing
would work out beautifully. Oh ya, plus we have workouts to do prior
(hence, why I was up at 4am and blogging right now waiting for sunrise
lol). Backing up a bit, I got sick -- hit hard -- last week, so I wanted
whatever I had to do for Sunday in terms of my food contributions to be
relatively easy, cheap-ish and require minimal grocery shopping. Considering I
decided to make four things, I think I kept it pretty close to the
goals! Plus, I had my hot dude to help me in the shopping and food
prep.... yup, our sexy Saturday night was spent in the kitchen making
delicious food and doing dishes... all done and dusted, and in bed before 10
p.m.
I want to share the four things I decided to make for Easter. They're all pretty easy so if you need something to make for your holiday gathering today, or you just want some clean, delicious recipes for any time... here ya go. These are not Tawnee originals, and I've given credit where credit is due!
On the menu*:
Avocado Deviled Eggs
Green Bean, Red Rice and Almond Salad
Simple Kale Salad
Raw Carrot Cake Balls
*keep in mind these are just side dishes/snacks, not main courses. We'll have plenty of animal protein supplied by other family members ;)
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Avocado Deviled Eggs
Dude, this is a no-brainer for the clean-eating, fat-loving, low-carb crowd at Eater right?! There are many recipes out there, but the one I tried last year is the one we're going with today and that is:
Ingredients:
12 hard boiled eggs (or a baker's dozen like we did cuz that's what we had lol)
1 avocado
1/2 sm red onion, minced
2 garlic cloves
1 lg lime (the juice)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
vinegar to taste
salt to taste
pepper to taste
(Optional for garnish: paprika or cayenne)
Directions:
Boil eggs. (Turns out John and I didn't know how to do this, but despite doing it "the wrong way" after actually seeking directions online, somehow we didn't destroy them. If you don't know how to do this either, just google it. I don't need to explain lol.)
Once boiled, slice eggs in half carefully after they've cooled. Remove yolks and combine them in a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well (you could use beater for this is you want that whipped texture). Put filling back into eggs white halves. Top with a little paprika or cayenne if desired.
Some other good "clean eating" deviled eggs + avocado recipes:
http://arismenu.com/guacamole-
http://ohsnapletseat.com/2013/
http://www.skinnytaste.com/
http://cakescottage.com/2014/
http://www.snack-girl.com/
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| This is NOT my photo. I borrowed it from SkinnyTaste.com. We haven't assembled our deviled eggs yet, so I have no photo to share. Once ours are made, I'll replace with my own picture :) PS - I hope mine end up looking this amazing! |
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Green Bean, Red Rice and Almond Salad (Vegan/Vegetarian)
My grandma got me the sweetest gift just cuz -- a cookbook with a bunch of seasonal recipes, The French Market Cookbook. As the title implies, it's French-based cuisine. And also vegetarian (and not gluten-free lol). She knows I'm not vegetarian, but that's ok because the recipes in this cookbook will make great side dishes to any meat, poultry or fish. (Or you can add protein to any of the recipes if your heart so desires.) I'm guessing if you know about GF cooking, you can easily make some of these things GF too. That said, most the recipes are GF by default and being that it's French she does not shy away from the use of butter and fats -- puuurrrrrfect!The best part about this book is that recipes are organized by seasons, oh man I love that so much especially being that so much of my shopping is at farmer's markets these days! There's everything from appetizers to main dishes to desserts for spring/summer/fall/winter, with great commentary on seasonal cooking as well. Anyway, the one I chose for today's Easter dinner is something that is not very low-carb, but still gluten-free and pretty damn tasty:
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Simple Kale Salad
Ok, so this one hasn't been made and it's also not really a recipe, more like John and I just winging it based on what we know we like in a refreshing, light salad with clean ingredients and nothing pre-made or processed. All natural, all fresh, all organic.
Ingredients:
For Salad: 1 bunch dino kale, chopped
spinach
3 radishes, sliced
~1 cup sprouted mung beans
~1 cup red cabbage, shredded
2 green onion, finely sliced
~1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Optional:
Sliced pear or apple
For Dressing:
~5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
~1-2 tbsp dijon mustard
~2 tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
~1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste
Optional:
minced garlic
minced herbs
minced shallot
Directions:
Chop kale and add to large salad bowl. Add a bit of evoo and massage kale so it breaks down and isn't so tough/rigid. Add the rest of the salad ingredients to bowl. In separate bowl, whisk dressing ingredients. Add dressing to salad. Mix well. (If you use garlic and shallots in dressing, let it sit for a while to absorb liquids and soften up.)
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Raw Carrot Cake Balls
Last but not least a little sweet treat/dessert that's very seasonal and Easter-ish without all the bad junk. This one I found on the blog, Plaid & Paleo. They're raw/no-bake carrot cake bites. She calls them bites, but I like the term balls better ;)
These were SO easy to make! Basically just throw a bunch of stuff in a food processor, mix, then roll that into balls, dust with coconut, refrigerate. Bam. Taster? Verdict still out, but the "dough" was delicious when I licked the food processor (after making balls of course).... However, I have yet to try a "finished" ball. Waiting till today, and waiting until after I've worked out and earned the sugar in them ;)
For link to her recipe, click here.Or read below (this is how I use recipes from blogs/internet -- simply take a photo on my phone and use that in kitchen lol).
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| My ingredient round up. |
Have you ever tried using prunes instead of dates in raw recipes? Do you think that would work? Prunes are just less expensive for me than dates so I'm curious how that would go
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