Hamburger Cupcakes?!

Who would have thought that you can turn cupcakes into hamburgers, right?! Well my sister, Caitlin did! Check out these cute birthday cupcakes she baked up for the boys:

Vanilla cake as the buns, brownie as the meat, red fruit roll up for tomato, green fruit roll up for lettuce, and yellow frosting as mustard--so clever.

Left Over for Lunch!

Okay, yeah I know some people get totally weirded out with left over food, but I'm not! Last night's fancy cabbage salad became today's Fancy Cabbage Sandwich! Holler! Check it out:

Salad on toasted multi grain bread w/ a bit of hummus, cucumber slivers and little sprigs of cilantro! Now who said you can't be creative when you're brown baggin' your lunch?!

Fancy Smancy Cabbage Salad

I've never been a huge fan of coleslaw because the stuff I've experienced in the cafeteria lunch room during grade school freaked me out. I remember the lunch ladies would force me to eat that crap before I was allowed to go to the playground to play with my friends--disgusting!

Anyway, I was at a barbeque birthday bash the other weekend and a friend of mine made this very light summer coleslaw using the fresh produce she got from the local farmer's market. I was a little apprehensive about trying it at first, but decided it would be rude of me not to. I was really surprised by the lightness of the dressing or vinaigrette--it was both sweet and tangy and very light because there was less mayo and more vinegar in the dressing.

This got me thinking about this version of Chinese cabbage salad my mom use to make in the summer time with carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, lemon juice, a little sugar, and some salt. I loved having it the next day after the flavors marinated together overnight.

I went grocery shopping with these two recipes in mind and saw this lovely head of red savoy cabbage at the market. I put on my thinking cap and decided that I had to use use this red cabbage to make my own version of cabbage salad~!

By the way, if you want the exact recipe--I don't remember it because I eyeball everything and hardly measure when I cook. I know this is a terrible habit of mine, but I can't help it. This also happens when I bake so if I ever provide a baking recipe and it turns out to be an utter disaster for you, I'm going to have to apologize in advance! I hardly ever follow recipes to a T...

These are the overall ingredients and you can add or subtract whatever you do and don't like:

Red Cabbage & Pear Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing

-Half a hed Red Savoy Cabbage

-1 1/2 Cups of Honey Toasted Walnuts (you can do this in the oven or stove top using raw walnuts)

-1 or 2 Carrots

-2 Celery Stalks

-1/4 White Onion (you can use red or yellow, whatever is in your kitchen)

-1 or 2 Pears (more like 1 1/2 because I think I ate the other half as I was chopping)

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

-about 1/2 cup pomegranate juice (reduced down on a low flame with a spoonful or two of sugar)

-about 2 tbl extra virgin olive oil

-about 2 tbl red wine vinegar

-1 or 2 tsp dijon mustard

-salt & pepper to taste

The results--YUMMY!

Kombucha/Synergy Recall...?!

So its been about a month or so since Whole Foods took Kombucha off their shelves...Booo to that! People are so stupid sometimes...Seriously, the stuff goes through a fermentation process so of course there is some alcohol in it!

Anyway, so what is this Kombucha stuff and why are people drinking this stinky drink that tastes like vinegar? Kombucha is a fermented tea that originated from China and was thought to have medicinal healing purposes. Kombucha contains antioxidants, amino acids, probiotics, and other active enzymes that helps restore and revitalize the body's balance.

You can actually make the stuff at home by fermenting tea using yeast and bacteria, but the fermentation process can take a couple weeks and that stuff would totally stink up your apartment. Needless to say, I think my flatmates would probably kill me if I tried growing a Kombucha culture in our tiny little kitchen!

I drink the stuff every now and then, but since the summer humidity took on full force, I've kind of been on a raw food kick so started my hunt to find some Kombucha. I thought it would be difficult to find since the recall, but alas there are a couple Brooklyn neighborhood bodegas that are still carrying this Raw Fermented Tea! Saranac and Associated both still carry the drink, but the price you pay for is a bit steep.

If you haven't tried it before, I say give it a try--it's very different from any drink you've had before and doesn't smell all that appetizing, but it definitely gives you a little pick-me-up after consumption. My favorites are Guava and Strawberry.

It's hot out there so stay hydrated! Till next time--Drink up and Buckle up!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hello Readers!

I am so sorry I haven't posted any new entries...I went on vacation for a bit and have tons to share from my trip back home to California. I just got back to NY and my internet is down for the moment. I promise there will be new posts and photos coming very soon! Thanks for reading and keep on eating!

xoxo,
SandigurL

Healthy, but "Chocolatey" (A spin on Oatmeal Cookies)

So there are several June Birthdays going on this month and I was asked to bake something healthy, but with chocolate for our favorite French Head-Honcho at work. His chocolate addiction is as sinister as a smoker's desire to quit smoking...Relentless.


Anyway, I raked through my recipe books and did some research online and decided to go with a Strawberry Chocolate Vegan Cupcake Recipe. I changed up a few of the ingredients and substituted the vegetable shortening with apple sauce, etc. but I think this was probably the biggest disaster I've ever encountered in the baking kitchen! Lets just say, whole wheat flour and strawberries don't go very well together--ugh, thank goodness no one saw or tasted the mess! So back to the drawing board for more ideas...


I didn't have much time so I just decided to do something simple--cookies! Oatmeal Cookies are probably the healthiest by far, but I wanted to make them as "chocolatey" as possible and found this Irish Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe online (what a mouthful, right?!) It was perfect because we were planning on having a little Bagel Breafast Special for our boss who happens to love Irish Smoked Salmon Lox Spread! I made about 3 dozen cookies and my housemate commented that they looked like pieces of turd...
Again, I guess I have to work on my presentation skills a little bit more...I also packed some for another birthday event I had to attend the following evening and they were a huge success despite looking like poop!

Farmer's Market: Apples and Swiss Chard

Apple Season is sadly at an end as I shopped the local farmer's market here in Fort Greene recently. I was hoping to find a couple good golden delicious or gala apples to go with the fresh bright red swiss chard, but alas, I was unsucessful. I ended up having to go to a regular grocery store to pick up a couple because I had my heart set on making my Applie Swiss Chard Salad.

I cut up the apples in bite size chunks, toasted the pine nuts in a little olive oil, threw in some golden raisins soaked in water to help plump them up, and slow sauteed this over a low flame for about 5-7 minutes. I cleaned and de-stemmed the swiss chard and toss that in to sautee in the olive oil for about 8 minutes before mixing in the rest of the ingredients. This is a a naturally sweet salad with a nutty bite that does not require any salad dressing because all the natural flavors cook into the leaves and the water in the fruit releases to create a very light and sweet sauce. Take a look: