Roasted Zucchini mini "Pizzas" (What I ate Aug 28, 2016)

I know this idea is all over pinterest and the internets. . . I just thought I'd take some pics and offer my own recommendation.

It's a super easy recipe/concept.
Although you may find variations and tips all over for how to do it, I basically sliced up a zucchini, arranged the slices on a baking sheet, basted them with a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and then roasted them at 40 degrees F for about 10 minutes.

Then pulled them out and added some shredded cheddar and sliced grape tomatoes (which by the way were amazing! My friend gave them to me fresh from her garden!) with some more salt and pepper. . . .

Then popped them back into the oven until the cheese was sufficiently melted.

It was a delicious, comforting meal for me. Though honestly, nothing like pizza.
they didn't hold together once I started cutting into them, as the olive oil made the cheese were slip off; but the fact that they didn't look as pretty was really not a concern for me, because I was hungry and they were tasty. :}

Update: October 13, 2016

I made these again today, and used a little less oil. I also cooked them a bit longer and let the cheese get a bit crispy, and I added italian seasoning on top of the tomatoes before I put them back into the oven. All these changes made it even tastier than last time!
Thanks for reading and let me know if you try it!
~Julie :}

*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Super Easy High Protein Snack!

We sometimes shop at NPS for groceries and though they often are not known for healthy meats in their frozen section, we were fortunate enough to find these thin cuts of beef by Simple Truth that had no weird additives that I can't eat. (I.E. MSG, Gluten, Sugar Etc.) They were about $0.50 each or something, so we bought a bunch of them and I depended on them as my source of meat for a couple of weeks. They are as thin as lunch meat though, so finding ways to eat them took a little extra thought since sandwiches are not really an option. (If you wanted gluten free meat, why would you want it in a sandwich anyway? I mean, I guess you could use gluten free bread, but I'm personally not a fan. Hmm, maybe that's why these ended up at NPS.)

Anyway, so most of the time I'd warm these cuts up on the griddle, season them according to my mood and tear them up to eat over a salad. However, on this particular day, I think I was out of salad greens, or maybe just feeling lazy; (Possibly both). So I warmed them up as usual, (though I think I just stuck to some simple salt and pepper this time,) and then topped them with some goat cheese and green onion spears. I thought they were pretty tasty, and were a great easy high protein snack so I thought it might be worth a share.

Hopefully it will at least inspire someone to the possibilities that come with a no bread diet. You wouldn't have to warm them up, I just prefered that method since they still had a little blood on them. I prefer my meat a tad more well done.

Hope this helps someone out somewhere, and if you try it, I'd love to hear what you thought!

Have a fabulous day!

~Julie :}

Peanut Butter & Honey . . . Salad?

One of the most useful things I've learned about food since I cut out grains and cane sugar is that anything that makes a good sandwich can make a better salad!

Yes! It's true! Just think of your favorite sandwich combo, and then replace the bread with a bed of greens. Some of the possibilities here seem obvious . . . BLT, Philly Steak & Cheese, Meatball,  Tuna salad, BBQ chicken, Taco, etc . . . What wasn't so obvious to me was that this truth is not limited to savory sandwiches.

One of my favorites from my childhood was Peanut Butter and Honey. Especially if the peanut butter was crunchy. I liked smooth peanut butter with jam/jelly combos, but for some reason the combo of honey with nut chunks has always been extra yummy to me.

Since I've been married, yet before I discovered my digestive issues with bread, my family would often make peanut butter honey sandwiches for lunch. We discovered adding a layer of regular butter to the bread was key to making it extra good---Not too dry, and it kept the honey from soaking into the bread. (And Elvis: PB and Banana was also a family fave.)

After discovering that I couldn't eat bread anymore I gave up on the idea of enjoying this flavor combo for a few years. it was sad though, and hard. Then last Summer after watching my husband and kids still enjoying their PBHs I suddenly had the inspiration to try it out with my sandwich to salad theory. I had already been eating things like chili, stir-fry, stroganoff, bbq meat, and other such dinner menu items over salad. (It's also true that anything you can eat over pasta or rice is great on salad.)

Anyway, I tried it, and . . .  Surprise!!!!!
It was AMAZING!!! The nostalgic flavor I had missed was there in full force! It was even richer and more satisfying than a sandwich because I didn't have the flavor of bread competing with the PB and honey. Spinach is especially good at disappearing into the background and allowing other flavors to shine.  After enjoying this discovery for a few months I finally managed to take some photos to give some of you some inspiration of all the many possibilities this salad combo offers.

Start with a bed of salad greens . . . in this case organic baby spinach, and organic Spring Mix from Costco.

 Put about a tablespoon each of peanut butter* and butter* into a small dish and place in the oven on warm until the butter is melty.

 Stir until you have a smooth peanut butter dressing.

 Top your salad with the dressing . . .

 Drizzle on some local raw honey* . . .

 Here are some other optional toppings that you might enjoy to bulk things up:

• Nuts (almonds are shown because that is what I had at the time, but I think pecans are best because they are softer.)
• Flaked* or shredded unsweetened coconut*
• Organic dried fruit such as raisins* (or chopped dates*)
• Organic fresh fruit such as bananas* (remember the Elvis Presley?) 
• Or an organic apple*. (Organic is recommend for these fruits because they are on the dirty dozen list.)

If you are adding nuts, especially almonds, be sure to crush them so they are easier to eat over your salad.

 Slice your bananas . . .

 Add sliced apples if desired (I usually don't do the apples, I prefer the bananas by themselves; but you know, you can use what you have.)

 I always put salt and pepper on my salads, even my sweet ones because I like the way it enhances all the different flavors.

 Another possible seasoning that works well with PB and Honey is cinnamon.* (If you can get real, fresh cinnamon, that will of course be a plus.)

 Mix it all together and enjoy!

Mmm, the taste of nostalgia blended with high nutrition and success are so very sweet!



*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Clean Chocolate "Ganache" Icing

Last September, I posted about Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Cake.   If you notice, I said in the recipe to divide the batter between three 9" pans. I actually only used two of those layers for the cake you see in the pictures on that post. That was on a weekday, so I actually saved the third layer for the weekend so I could serve my parents some cake when they had time to drop by.
Part of the reason for this decision was because on my daughters birthday, it was getting late and I figured after frosting two layers that it looked good enough, and we should just go ahead a light the candles so the kids could get to bed. (I think we were also low on frosting after those two layers.)

As I also mentioned in that post, when I talked about how to make the frosting, that I usually grind my coconut sugar in an effort to make the frosting more smooth. However, when it came time to frost the final layer on Saturday morning, I had the idea to melt the coconut sugar instead, when making new frosting.  We've made coconut syrup for pancakes before when we've been all out of honey or maple syrup and it is really good. So I figured, it ought to work. . . . Aaaaand . . . Happily . . . .

It totally worked!

I don't think I'll ever grind my coconut sugar again! This icing was so smooth and delectable!

Plus it was a lot quicker to melt the sugar than to grind it.

So here's the revised recipe with this new technique included.

Chocolate "Ganache" Icing

Ingredients

• 1-2 cups of Coconut Palm Sugar* 
• 1 tsp of water or so
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract*
• 2 1/4 cups of Coconut Oil* and/or Butter*
• 1/4 cup of Cocoa Powder* (Or more for a darker chocolate.)
• A dash of Sea Salt* or Real Salt* to taste (especially if your butter is unsalted)

Instructions

Place the coconut sugar in a small saucepan with the water over low heat and stir until smooth

Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter/oil, stirring again stir till smooth.

Transfer syrup to a stand mixer or mixing bowl and beat in the salt, adding the cocoa a little at a time until well blended and smooth.

If the consistency is too runny, chill for 10-15 minutes then whip. 

Be sure the cake is well cooled before you ice it.

Top with fresh berries if desired and serve.

I think my parents were pretty impressed with how the cake turned out. Which is good, because I know they have had a hard time adjusting to my cleaner eating habits, and I think they have been doubtful in the past that clean desserts can really be as tasty as their processed counterparts. 

This cake really was delicious though! So fudgey, smooth, rich and chocolaty! 

Check out the post linked at the top or click here to see the recipe for the Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

I hope this recipe proves useful to someone out there, and I hope you enjoy eating it as much as I did!

Thanks so much for reading!

~Julie :}

*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Breadless Butter Snacks! Part 1

I have always adored butter. (Yes, as one of my sisters will gladly tell you, my nickname even used to be Butter-Ball, mainly because of an incident that occurred when I was about 18 months old.)

While learning about food and discovering that whole grains are not the miracle of healthfulness that most proclaim they are, I have simultaneous learned that butter is actually extremely beneficial and important to a healthful diet. (Did I used to say things went together like bread and butter? Looks like I need a new adage.)

Of course, when you find the need to reduce, or eliminate grains from your diet, you will find that there are A LOT of bread-type recipes that are grain free, and these are obviously quite helpful, and awesome in their own right, especially as you begin a difficult transition away from the crumby, carb-heavy diet that most Americans consume.

In fact, I will be sharing some of my favorite grain free, bread-type recipes here shortly, but today I want to talk about something new. A complete freedom from your previous dependence on bread. Especially in regards to enjoying butter.

When my nutritionist first told me how important eating butter was, he pointed out to me that one of it's main benefits is that the amino acids in butter help us to absorb vitamin D. He suggested that any time I come inside from being out in the sun, I should not only drink water to stave off dehydration, but I should get myself a piece of bread and really slather it with some butter to help me absorb and use all the vitamin D that my skin had just created. Of course, this was before I started noticing the correlation between my digestive problems and grain based foods like bread.

So, in trying to continue following the doctors orders, but avoid any uncomfortable gastric problems, I decided it was time to get a little bit creative and come up with new ways to enjoy one of my favorite condiments. Butter.

Of course, one could obviously melt it into sauces, soups and over hot veggies, but I have always loved the flavor, texture and consistency of room temperature or slightly chilled butter.

Here is one of my absolute favorite ways to enjoy a snack with some soft creamy butter!

Spiced Butter Dip & Raw Carrots:

I believe the inspiration for this one came from a carrot cake craving that hit me a couple of years ago.
I began to wonder if I could still enjoy the flavors of carrot cake without the effort of baking (and of course without involving grains.) Somehow it came to me that if I made a dip out of the same spices that go into a carrot cake, then ate it with a raw carrot, it would be just as yummy. It is.

Since I've been doing this for a couple of years now, I've had plenty of time to experiment with the recipe, though truth be told, I never measure anymore, so giving you exact measurements would be iffy.
I usually will mix some of this goodness up in a small ramekin using roughly, a couple of tablespoons of soft butter. Sometimes I've also added coconut oil to the base, sometimes I don't. Then I've sweetened and spiced it to fit my current mood.

As you can see by the photos that I've taken over the past couple of years, the consistency can change depending on how much of each ingredient I add. Sometimes I've wanted a lighter flavor so I've added less honey and more coconut oil. It all depends on what I want the end result to be.

But the bottom line is, the measurements are of secondary concern. The results are always scrumptious.

In fact, last year I began eating so many carrots (Organic Carrots are available at our Costco, $5.99 for 10 lbs) because of this recipe, that I really did turn orange. Luckily, I'm so fair it doesn't really show much. You can only really tell if you look at the callouses on the edge of my palms.

I've also called it different names as time has gone on. At first it was 'Carrot-Cake-Batter dip,' but this seemed a bit misleading, and then I started to miss the flavor of ginger snaps and so I stopped adding raisins and went heaver on the ginger and the coconut sugar. (See first Photo) So then I called it 'Gingerbread dip' or  'Ginger Snap Dip.' Yet, again this seemed misleading. Because my dip does not contain batter, bread or cookies, it merely tastes like those things, I finally had to admit that Spiced Butter Dip is the most accurate name.

Spiced Butter Dip

Ingredients:
Room Temperature Butter (Grassfed would of course be ideal)
Organic Coconut Oil (Either melted or thicker, doesn't really matter)
Raw Local Honey (To Taste)
Organic Coconut Sugar (To Taste)
About a 1 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, more or less.
About 1 to 1/2 a teaspoon of ground ginger " "
A sprinkle or two of any of the following as desired:
      * Ground Cloves
      * Cardamom
      * Allspice
      * Nutmeg
About a tablespoon of raisins, (opt.)
A sprinkle of sea salt is desired to enhance flavors (especially if your butter is unsalted.)

Mix together and enjoy with a fresh raw carrot or two!

Bonus Note:

I've tried this dip with apple slices as well, but I prefer it with carrots. The apples with a sweet dip seem a bit too sweet for me still.

However, I have also made the same dip and substituted Cream Cheese for the butter and that is extremely tasty with both carrots and apples. Especially apples because of the flavor contrast.

It's a really good flavor combo for carrots though because it's kind of like the cream cheese frosting one finds on a carrot cake. But I still find myself going back to the butter based dip for carrots because it is truly delicious and the goal is also to be getting my butter in. Thanks to some spices and a raw carrot, this is far easier than pie.

Julie Surprise: Namaste Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Layer and Coconut Sugar Glaze

I doubt I will ever grow tired of pumpkin and thus I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the canned pumpkin puree at my local Costco.

We've only purchased our first pack, but I have already enjoyed making a myriad of delicious favorites from those three 15 oz cans as well as discovering and inventing some delectable new concoctions. (More on those later . . . I hope.)

Today I used the last of the coveted pumpkin puree. I had two cups left, just enough to make a nice double batch of Namaste's Pumpkin Cake recipe, which I have been intending to try since I bought the pumpkin puree earlier this month.

Since having to go gluten free I've been experimenting a lot with coconut flour and other gluten free alternatives but since I really have enjoyed their allergen free cake mix in the past, I was excited to see that my Costco began carrying Namaste's Perfect Flour Blend.

At first I wasn't sure if I liked it better than the coconut flour. Both can be tricky to bake with if you aren't used to how different they are from wheat flour, but finally I took the advice on the back of the bag and looked up some recipes on their website.

I adore their Best Banana Bread! I have even adapted it into zucchini bread by simply replacing the mashed bananas with some pureed zucchini and adding some cinnamon. Both ventures were a great success.

Also, following a recipe designed for the gluten free flour helped to to realize what I had been doing wrong in my previous attempts. The batter for a gluten free cake or bread is a lot thicker than you would expect, and that's okay. I kept adding water before, when I was trying to use it as a substitute for regular baking recipes and the results were always doughy and gooey. I have realized that adding more liquid wasn't the answer. I just had to be okay with the idea that when you bake with this gluten free flour, the consistency is simply going to be a lot thicker.

Of course, being who I am, I usually find it extremely difficult to follow a recipe exactly. While I did follow the basics of this pumpkin cake recipe, I couldn't help being inspired by some other recipes I found on pinterest, and thought it would be fun to spruce this one up a bit.

So while this is the Namaste recipe from their website, the one intended for their gluten free perfect flour blend, I also was inspired by this cream cheese filled pumpkin bread and this pumpkin coffee cake with the brown sugar glaze.

Thus we have a gluten free pumpkin cake with a cream cheese layer and served with a brown sugar glaze.

Actually, because I doubled Namaste's recipe I did two different cakes; one with the cream cheese filling and for the other, I sort of took inspiration from this Snickerdoodle Bread and sifted some cinnamon coconut sugar mixture in between layers of the cake batter. Then, after it was baked, I poked holes in the top and poured the brown sugar glaze over it like in the coffee cake recipe. Of course, I probably should have cut the glaze recipe in half. It was a bit too much for my 8x8 pan, so we ended up scooping a lot of the excess glaze off the top of the second cake and drizzling it over the one with the cream cheese filling.

Voila!

So here is how I made the recipe. Which is basically Namaste's but doubled and with a few slight substitutions. Oh, except there was one little thing that I want to improve on the original recipe. The original calls for one 1/8 tsp of salt, which doubled is still only a measly 1/4 tsp.
(Now I'm not one to be afraid of salt. Salt is actually extremely important to your health. Of course processed salts and sodiums are gross but good old regular sea salt is awesome for keeping your iodine levels up.) Anyways, too me this cake was just a tad bit on the bland side, and if you've made bread and forgotten the salt, you will know what I mean. So I'm going to increase the salt to at least 1 tsp next time because the I actually used 1/2 a tsp and it wasn't enough.


Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake 
with a Cream Cheese Layer and a Coconut Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:
2 Cups Namaste Perfect Flour
2 Cups Coconut Sugar (Or raw Stevia or other sweetener of your choice)
1 Cup + 4 TBS Oil of your choice (I did half coconut oil and half organic pastured butter)
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
4 Eggs
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp (or maybe 1 1/2 tsp) Salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8 X 8 inch baking pan. 
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. 
In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. (Melt the oil in the preheating oven first if you need too) 
With a wire whisk blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. 
Gradually beat in flour mixture. (You might need to switch to stronger beaters if your wire whisk is not strong enough for the super thick batter.)
Spread batter into prepared 8 X 8 inch pan. 

~If you want to try the snickerdoodle version, spread a shallow layer of the batter on the bottom of your pan, then add a few extra glops on top of that. Then mix about 1 TBS of coconut sugar and about 1 tsp of ground cinnamon together , maybe add in a few sprinkles of salt as well, and then sprinkle this mixture over the batter in the pan. Then add some more dollops of batter in between the sugar dusted ones and then cover it all with a final thin layer of batter. This will create a sort of cinnamon swirl effect when baked.

~If you want to do the cream cheese layer mix together 4 oz of softened cream cheese with 1 large egg and 1/4 cup of sweetener of your choice (I used raw Stevia to keep things white, but I almost wish I'd used honey.) 
I also added in a dash of grass fed gelatin because, honestly, I throw it into everything.
Anyway, whip that together until smooth and then carefully spread over a layer of pumpkin batter. Then top with another layer of pumpkin batter. It's pretty thick, so you might need to add little dollops at a time and then smooth them together with a rubber spatuala. Honestly, I almost didn't have enough batter left to cover my cream cheese cake after doing the cinnamon swirl one so I had to skim some of the batter off the top of that one to get the cream cheese covered up. Next time I'll want to make my first layers thinner and perhaps I'll even double the cream cheese filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Allow to cool.

~If you want to try the coconut sugar glaze soaked version:
Mix together 1/4 cup coconut milk or raw heavy cream in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup  coconut sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Once the sugar is melted and the sauce looks smooth, poke holes into your now cooled pumpkin cake and drizzle the glaze on top of it, allowing it to soak in. 
Serve immediately, or keep covered in the fridge until ready to serve.

~Alternately you can simply pour it over slices of cake. 

P.s. This cake is also good with butter melted on top.

Julie Surprise: Out of the Blue Salad

I will be the first to confess that I'm not naturally a very organized person, I'm the one who is usually a bit late, or who will call you last minute for a baby-sitting gig because I totally spaced something I needed a sitter for until the night before or even the morning of. Yes, I know. I am ashamed. I am getting better about it though, through huge effort and help from my list app, reminders and calender on my smart phone, I have improved slightly.

On the other hand, I can do spontaneous, and I can handle random. I will not have a break down if plans fall through or if something changes. I can handle change. In fact, I've discovered I sort of need things to change up a bit everyone once in a while because too much structure makes me crazy (i.e. grumpy, emotional, intense, high strung, etc.) My husband and I are well matched because we both enjoy making random and spontaneous decisions together.

For example, back in July, on one of the rare Sundays in which we did not have a family party or any other after church obligations, we spontaneously decided to drop in at his parents house to borrow their barbecue grill and their pool for a little family summer fun with our kids. His parents were out of town, but even if they hadn't been, they also have no problem with spontaneous drop-ins.

Anyway, once we got there, my hubby started firing up the grill and he asked me to look around the kitchen to figure out what else we could eat, like some kind of salad to have on the side with our grilled chicken.

(I guess I should clarify that this is also totally cool at my in-laws house. They have a standing policy that if the food is there you can have it. [which idea, honestly, was a little hard for me to get used to when I first got married because in my house you always had to ask about anything you wanted to eat in case Mom was saving it for something.] My mother-in-law sort of has this mentality about it; she feels like if she is generous with what she has, that there will always be enough. In fact, I think she sort of has a contract going on with God where if she shares her abundance that He promises her that her cupboards will always be full. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure there was something like that in the story my hubby told me.)

Anyway, there I was, in someone else's kitchen, with the task of figuring out what to eat for our spontaneous Sunday picnic. I looked through the fridge, but as my in-laws were out of town, there wasn't much there in way of produce. So I checked the freezer, "Hmm, frozen fruit." and the pantry, "Nothing." and the storage room, "Hmm, canned pineapple."

What I did find in the fridge was part of what got my wheels turning about the possibilities. My mother-in-law had some good sour cream. The kind that has only two ingredients (cream and enzymes) so I was thinking maybe I could use it to make some sort of fruit salad.
Pineapple is awesome with cottage cheese, so it seemed like I could perhaps make it work with the sour cream so I dumped a can of drained pineapple into a bowl and plopped about a half a cup of sour cream on top. Then I added a bit of sea salt and a packet of Truvia because they don't keep coconut sugar in their house (and I can't eat cane sugar).

Mixed that all up and tasted it. Hmm, not too shabby. At the same time I was doing this, I was making a fruit smoothie for us to drink with some of the frozen fruit in the freezer. I thought about adding a variety of fruit to the salad, but honestly, I was thinking something a little simpler sounded good so I decided to only go with frozen blueberries (about 1/2 cup again). Blueberries and pineapple just sounded delicious.

Once I started stirring those in, the color of the salad turned a lovely bluish-lavender color and I figured I was pretty much done. . .

Except . . . there just didn't seem to be much salad for everyone, and while it was good, it seemed like it needed something. A little more contrast of flavor. so I looked in the fruit bowl and found a couple of ripe bananas. I sliced one up and threw it in.

Tada! Out of the blue, we have a salad!

Needless to say, this salad was not only lovely to look at but it was delicious to eat as well. In fact, I had to go back inside halfway through our picnic and make a second batch so everyone could have as much as they wished. So, that being said, I'm going to double the recipe here at the bottom because for a good sized group you'll probably want it at least doubled.

Julie Surprise: Out of the Blue Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cans chunk pineapple or tidbits would work well too, drained. (I added the juice to our smoothie)
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, (you could use fresh, but it might not look as blue in the end.)
• 2 large bananas sliced.
• 1 cup clean sour cream.
• 1 packet of truvia, or non-cane sweetener of your choice (honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar)
• A dash or two of fine sea salt.

Mix and enjoy!

I'm so glad that I was given the task to spontaneously whip up a salad with random ingredients.
If I hadn't had that opportunity, I never would have tasted this delicious concoction!
So while I may appear to be a very flawed person, I'm so glad I can handle being creative under pressure. Things can be pretty yummy, out of the blue.


~Julie :}

Ukrainian Red Borsh Recipe

My husband served a mission in the Ukraine for two years and one of the members there made a bunch of recipe books for the elders to take home, full of some awesome traditional Ukrainian recipes. The only drawback about this for me is that it's all written in Russian/Cyrillic.
So, every time we've wanted to make our favorite Ukrainian Dish, Ukrainian Red Borsh, I've needed my husband right there to translate for me, every ingredient and step of the way.

It's been about 9 years since he left the Ukraine and so this last time that we made it, the translation seemed to take a bit longer for him than usual and in the end he finally decided to write it all down in the margins in English as he went. The soup itself turned out really well, (seriously, even if you think you don't like beets, this soup will change your mind!) so we of course were sharing pictures and accolades all over facebook for a couple of days. Which, of course, inevitably resulted in people asking for the recipe. I've been intending to post it here ever since, and now, over 3 months later, it looks like today is finally the day!

Ukrainian Red Borsh*

Ingredients:
1-3 fresh beets shredded or grated. (depending on size. If large, one is usually sufficient, but if small you may even want three. You really can't go overboard with this ingredient as it is. After-all, it is beet soup.)

2 lbs of potatoes cubed or about 4 regular potatoes (about the size of an index card) We chose to use smaller red potatoes this time around so we used  more. Once again amounts can vary without ruining anything.

2 large carrots grated.

2 onions grated very fine. (sweet red onions are our favorite)

1 cabbage cut into long, thin strips, (sort of like noodles. We used red cabbage but green will also work)

1/2 cup of cooking oil, your choice.

3.5 oz tomato paste (That amounts to about half of a small 6 oz can, but I'm thinking we used the whole can.)

1 sweet pepper, sliced. We prefer red bells, though yellow or orange would be yummy too.

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste.

4 liters of meat or veggie stock. The original calls for beef stock or bullion, but we used the organic chicken stock from Costco. You can also make your own stock. 


Directions:

1. In your largest pot, bring stock to a boil.
2. Add half of the grated beet(s) into the boiling stock. (We used the food processor to shred the beets this last time and it was a so much faster than grating it by hand, though not necessarily less messy.)
3. Once the beets have turned white add the potatoes.
4. Add half of the carrots and half of the onions after the potatoes have come to a boil.
5. Once carrots and onions come to a boil, add all of the cabbage to the stock. Cook for 15 minutes.
6. In a large skillet or frying pan, place the remaining beets, carrots and onions in the oil and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Then add to the pan, the sliced pepper, the tomato paste and 2 cups of water. Cook for 5 more minutes.
8. Add everything from the pan into the pot of stock with the bay leaves and boil for 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Can be served with sour cream or Greek yogurt as a nice condiment.
   
   
   
   
   This soup in incredibly tasty and healthful. I've begun to refer to it as prenatal soup because it's so chock full of iron and other important nutrients. Also, it is so much better the next day. This batch turned out really good even for the first day (during which I ended up eating 5 bowls of it.) but during the following days the flavors continue to blend and mature and it just gets better and better!
   
   
   Also, this makes a LOT of soup. When I said use your largest pot, I wasn't kidding. We almost couldn't fit everything into the one we have (8 quarts) when it came time to add the skillet veggies to the main soup. Our stove was a huge mess due to the effects of the ruby red soup boiling so happily near the edge of the pot. It was so worth it though! In fact, I believe I will have to enlist the hubs into another Borsh making session soon. If only it weren't so hot outside. Hmm . . . 
   

*P.s. I would like to note that while Borsh is usually spelled as 'Borscht' in English and your spell checkers will not approve of another spelling, my Russian speaking husband feels that this is completely erroneous and only encourages people to mispronounce a rather simple word.
The Cyrillic spelling which looks like this: борщ, contains 4 characters, one of which equates to our letter 'b' another to 'o' another to 'r' and the final one to the 'sh' sound. There is no 'ch' or 't' sound in Borsh.
I am simply noting this to explain my spelling of the word in order to avoid a lot of unnecessary comments about it later. Believe me, it is completely intentional and not done in ignorance. Thanks!

What I ate: 05-06-12

My mother has been buying these cocoa coated almonds at Sams Club and they are really addictive. On this particular day I was wondering if I could make my own so I coated a bunch of almonds with cocoa and put them in the oven to roast.

I didn't add any sweetener and so they really tasted nothing like the store bought ones though. Of course then I looked it up online and found that lots of people have tried making their own version of these and pretty much everyone uses a sweetener of some kind. I was trying to be brave and healthy and go without it, but it just wasn't very easy to eat them that way so after roasting them I caved a coated them lightly with maple syrup. This made them better, but extremely messy. Yet another "Julie Surprise" where I'm the only one who seems willing to eat it. :P

Here's a recipe I found later on pinterest that I should have used. Maybe I'll try again sometime.
The only real difference here (besides the order of ingredients) is that her recipe includes flour. I'm guessing this is to tone down the bitterness of the cocoa so it's not so strong. I wonder if I could find a good flour alternative that doesn't cost much. Hmmm . . .

Julie Surprise: Golden Pumpkin Soup

Here is a recipe I invented tonight.  It's similar to one I invented a couple of years ago but since I couldn't find that recipe I had to come up with a new one.

Golden Pumpkin Soup

Main Ingredients
3 small yellow squash, chopped
1 half green bell pepper, chopped
1 half onion, chopped
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup Real Parmesan Cheese, shredded
Approximately 4 ounces of Medium Cheddar Cheese, shredded
About a tablespoon of Honey

Seasoning Ideas 
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

(season to taste, sorry, I didn't measure, I like to just add dashes of things but I tried to put them in order of what I used more of first)

Curry Powder and/or
Cumin
Cinnamon
Turmeric
Garam Masala
Powdered Mustard
Dried celery leaves, crushed
Cayenne pepper

Optional Garnishes
Sour Cream
Sliced Apples

Directions

1.  Put the chopped squash, onions and green pepper into a pot of water enough to cover them well and set it
      to boil.
2.  Once it's boiling lower the heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
3.  Once soft mostly drain veggies and run through a food processor or blender until smooth, return to pot.
4.  Add pumpkin puree to veggie puree and stir over medium to low heat until smooth-ish.
5. Season according to preference then add cheeses one at a time stirring in between to help melt the cheese.
6.  Add the honey last, stir and then serve in bowls with a generous dollop of sour cream and use fresh apple slices for dipping if you wish.

Note:  I have to give my Lily the credit for the apple idea.  She was the one who asked if we could slice up apples to dip in her soup.  It was pure inspiration!
                                                                                                 

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

When I had limited ingredients in my house recently, I was looking through the pantry and saw a big can of pumpkin that I had purchased in bulk back in November, but I'd only ended up using one or two of the cans and still had two left. I thought to myself, "There's got to be a way I can use this for something other than treats." Then it occurred to me that people often make pumpkin squash soup and similar things. So I started looking up recipes and stumbled across one for a pumpkin curry soup. Some of the people who commented mentioned that they'd added chicken to it which that got me thinking . . . Chicken curry is already good, and pumpkin curry soup sounds good. Who's to say that I couldn't combine all three things and just make a chicken pumpkin curry to serve over rice? So combining the soup recipe with my favorite chicken curry recipe, here is what I came up with.

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients:
About half a 19 ounce can of pumpkin*
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons coconut oil*
1 small onion,* chopped (I actually used dried minced* 'cause that's what I had.)
2-3 cloves garlic*, minced (or a tablespoon of garlic powder.*)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,* or to taste.
1 teaspoon paprika*
1 bay leaf*
1/2 teaspoon ginger*
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or other sweetener of choice)
2 cups chicken stock*
3 tablespoons curry powder*
A splash of lemon juice (if desired)
1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
3/4 cup coconut milk* (opt)
1/4 cup shredded coconut* (opt)
Salt* and pepper* to taste

Cook and shred chicken in a skillet; when cooked through, or nearly cooked, add onion and garlic with the coconut oil, saute until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients to the chicken. Stir and heat until combined and warmed through. Serve over rice or quinoa.
This three year old approves!

She filled her tummy till it was full! Check out this curry filled cutie!

*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Julie's Surprise Chocolate Mint Cake

My Mother's Birthday is on St. Patrick's Day. As a result of this she has been doomed to have green (or sometimes rainbow) Birthday cakes for most of her life.

However, I personally think that it's rather fun. There are many foods and flavors that can be green, and there's always green food coloring which can make non-green associated flavors green. I just think it makes a fun Birth date because the creative possibilities for cakes are actually endless . . . At least, in my opinion.

I have had many fond memories from when I was a little girl, of planning or seeing my older sister's plan cakes for my Mom. One year she had a big heart shaped layer cake with a rainbow of frosting that ended with a crock of those metallic gold ball sprinkles that happen to be edible. And of course she's had many green frosted cakes. I think part of the excitement was due to the fact that this was one time during the year when we got to design a cake, because for other people's birthday's my Mom usually made the cake.

When I was about 12-14 or so, I once made my mom a scenic bundt cake. It was inspired by the song/poem All Things Bright And Beautiful, because I knew my mom liked that song. It had blue sky frosting at the top and down the center, then around the top edge where 'purple headed mountains', and beneath those I painted (with frosting) a river rushing by, and trees and flowers and I believe I also had a sunrise/sunset on one side peeping between the mountains. I really need to find a picture of that since I'm pretty sure we took one. Anyway, I honestly think that was the last time I got to make my Mom's cake until now.

There are many cooks in my family, and as such for many years now they have usually volunteered to make my Mother's cake, but this year I thought of it about a week in advance and immediately called my Dad to ask if anyone had volunteered to make it yet. Lucky for me no one had. I had all kinds of crazy ideas on how to make a delectable and snazzy looking lime flavored green cake, but because it was her Birthday, I asked my mom what she thought about a lime cake and her response was, "You can make me a chocolate cake with mint frosting." This was her way of saying, 'I know I'm doomed to have green, but please, no lime.'

I was a bit disappointed, but creative possibilities still lay before me so I began concocting my plans. The following is what I came up with.

Yes, Andes candies helped to inspire me, as well as a bar cookie recipe of my Mother's: Mint Parfait Bars.

I decided to bake a chocolate devils food cake. When there were about 10 minutes left to the baking time, I washed a non-stick saucepan and began unwrapping Andes thin mints and began putting them in the pan on the stove. I had not yet turned on the heat, but because I'd just washed it the pan was still warm and also the oven makes the stove above it rather warm as well so right away the candies started melting.
I continued to fill the pan with chocolate and the it continued to melt. I'm not sure if electric ovens make that much heat on the stove above but my gas one does anyway.

Finally the cake was done, but I first had to let it cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan, so I probably could have waited to unwrapped the chocolates till the cake came out of the oven. Once it was cool I put a wire rack over the pan and flipped it over. Having used Pam baking spray, the cake came out beautifully onto the rack, which I then set on the table over a large sheet of wax paper.
The chocolate was pretty much all melted by then, so I just stirred it a bit. Jake took some pictures for me so I could show the chocolaty smoothness of it. (And like I said before, I hadn't even turned on the stove yet.)
Then it was time to coat the cake!

I was pretty generous with my first application of chocolate. But I soon realized I might need to be more careful with my second coating.
Here is the wax paper after the first coat. I thought it was kind of cool one of the puddles looks like a heart. I figured we could just let these harden and eat them later. (I've eaten quite a few while blogging this)
This is after my second coat. I had to do this one a lot more slowly, and it was a bit more tedious to try and get the chocolate to cover the sides and bottom edge more. But I did it.
You can tell by my second wax paper sheet the difference in how I applied the chocolate.
Then I managed to make room in my freezer so the chocolate could harden faster and be easier to frost.
After about 20 minutes or so I pulled it out and it looked like this! A giant chocolate doughnut in a minty chocolate shell. I washed my hands and then rinse them in cold water and dried them, then with my cold dry hands I quickly transferred the chocolaty cake form the rack to a nice glass platter.
All ready to frost now.
Personally, I probably would have been happy to eat it like this, but since my mom was expecting mint frosting, I figured this chocolate shell hidden under the icing could be the surprise in my 'Julie Surprise.'
So then I mixed up my "Icing."

I actually used the filling recipe from my Mom's Mint Parfait Bars.
Here's the recipe for it:

Filling (or in this case Icing)

1 envelope or one tablespoon unflavored gelatin.
1/4 cup boiling water
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2-3 drops green food coloring.

Dissolve gelatin in the boiling water; cool. In large mixing bowl combine gelatin and 2 cups powdered sugar. Add butter, peppermint extract and food coloring; beat 1 minute at medium speed or until smooth and creamy. Blend in remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar until smooth.

Jake helped me with some of the ingredients and as such he decided there wasn't much difference between 3/4 of a cup of butter and a whole cup, so we ended up with an extra 1/4 cup of butter in there. As my brother would put it . . .

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 Anyway, it was a lot more moist than I expected it to be, but at least that made it easier to spread over my cake. (Though I'm sure the hard chocolate shell helped too.) Ready to Start Frosting Pictures here are courtesy of my husband, Jacob.
Almost done. Lilly is intrigued.
She is, Finito!
To top it off, (literally) I sprinkled some Andes brand mint chips over the top.
Tada!