Spinach Gnudi in Brown Butter Sage Sauce

A few weeks back, my husband and I took an Italian cooking class in downtown Seattle. It was a lot of fun and, oh boy did we eat hearty! But out of all the food we made, there was one dish that stood out miles above the rest: gnudi. Pronounced like nudey (which of course lead to many of inappropriate jokes during class), this dish is a deconstructed ravioli. Prepared like a dumpling, gnudi takes the filling of a ravioli and creates a whole new unique dish I had never had before. Also, for the first time ever, I tried brown butter sage sauce. Seriously...[insert George Takei "oh my!" here]..whoever invented brown butter sage sauce is a freak'n genius! With hot dumplings swimming in crispy sage and golden savory butter, it's easy to see why this dish is one of my new favorites!

Spinach Gnudi in Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Ingredients for Gnudi:
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, stems removed
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
flour

Ingredients for Brown Butter Sage Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sage, stems removed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Take your spinach and steam it for only a couple minutes. After you steam your spinach, immediately transfer spinach into a bowl of ice water. Once the spinach has cooled down (5ish minutes), drain all the water out (squeeze the spinach to thoroughly drain out all the water) and chop it into little pieces. Place spinach into a medium sized bowl.

Get a large pot of salt water boiling. (This will be used to cook the gnudi.)

Next, add ricotta and eggs to the chopped spinach. When everything is well mixed, start adding flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until your mixture is thicker but still soft. You're not looking to make a firm dough. You are aiming for more of a sticky but not runny mixture (it only takes roughly about 1/4 cup of flour). Once you get the preferred texture, start dropping spoonfuls (about a tablespoon) of the mixture into your boiling salt water. Continue to do this until all the mixture is gone. As you work, you will notice the gnudi starting to float to the surface of the water. Once the last drop of gnudi has floated to the surface, continue to boil the gnudi for another 10 minutes. When done boiling, scoop out the gnudi with a slotted spoon (be careful because they are delicate!) and transfer to a plate.

While you are cooking the gnudi, start your brown butter sage sauce. Simply melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium-high heat. When melted, add all the sage leaves. Stir frequently to avoid burning. The sage leaves will be soft for awhile. But once the leaves are crispy, remove the sauce from the heat. When you are making this sauce, you really need to keep an eye on it. There isn't an exact cooking time so you have to watch for the visual cues of the sage being crispy and the butter looking a nice golden brown color.

Once your sauce is done, pour it over the gnudi on the plate. Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the gnudi. Serve hot.

Ginger COWs

Today I wanted sweets. Not just any sweets; I wanted spicy sweets. What better way to meet the need than with ginger? Ginger makes for some of the best spicy sweet treats around! But my sweet tooth was more specific than that. I wanted cookies! The only trouble is, it's really hard to make cookies without butter. My pantry was lacking but my creativity was not! After rummaging around, I found a jar of coconut oil. Perfect! Coconut oil makes a delicious butter substitute in baking, offering a subtle coconut flavor that I adore. I also had a jar of molasses that desperately needed to be used up, a knot of fresh ginger sitting in the crisper, and on the counter I had an orange leftover from snack time with the kids. Coconut, ginger, orange, molasses?...Yup! Sounded like a good cocktail of flavors to me! Since we've also switched over to eating completely GMO free in our household, I have been doing more baking with GMO free wheat flour as well. So into the mix it went!

You guys...seriously. These cookies are AMAZING! I am quite proud of them. So much so that I am actually writing up this blog right after I took them out of the oven. And you all know how often I blog. Not often at all. Now you know how special these cookies are. Make them! Consume them! Love them!

Why do I call them "ginger COWs"? If you haven't figured it out, it's an acronym: Ginger C-coconut O-orange W-wheat cookies. Why didn't I add molasses into the title too? Because ginger COWs sounds funnier, plus "molasses ginger coconut orange wheat cookies" is a mouthful. Instead of a mouth full of words, enjoy a mouth full of cookie instead.

Ginger COWs

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (at room temp)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup finely grated fresh ginger
the zest of 1 large orange
1 large egg
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses

Whisk together all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat coconut oil and sugar on medium-high until fluffy. Beat in fresh ginger, orange zest, egg, and molasses. Beat in flour mixture.

Scoop dough into 1 1/2 inch balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place balls 2 inches apart on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until centers are just set, 15 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Makes two dozen cookies.

Spicy Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts. Bleh! As a kid I grew up thinking brussel sprouts were nasty baby cabbages that were grown for the soul purpose of torturing little children at dinner time. Now, my mother is a fantastic home cook. But that being said, for my entire childhood, the only way she would prepare brussel sprouts was by boiling the life out of them. As I sat there looking at their steaming, pale green, lifeless little bodies, I knew that I would NEVER eat brussel sprouts once I grew up.

I was dead set on it, determined to never purchase and consume the dreaded vegetable for as long as I lived. For years I successfully avoided them. That is, until my husband and I had some friends over for dinner and, as a side dish, they brought brussel sprouts. There I was, faced with a stomach churning obligation to eat the little green balls of death once again.

Waiting and watching to see if they were going to bring out the double broiler of doom, I was surprised to see them preheat the oven and bring out an array of spices. Curious, I watched as the two of them worked together; one sliced the sprouts while the other tossed them in a bath of oil and spices that caused me to salivate. 

Brussel sprouts tasting good?...No stupid taste buds! It's a trick! Don't fall for it!

Onto a pan and into the oven they went. And when the brussel sprouts emerged from the warm glowing oven, they dazzled me with their crispy new coats and mouth watering aroma. My friends served them up warm on a plate and, for once in my life, I actually wanted to eat brussel sprouts. As I took a bite I couldn't believe my tongue. They were good...REALLY good! An explosion of heat, flavor, and crunchy texture erased any remaining thought of bland squishy cabbage babies. For the first time in my life I realized: I like brussel sprouts!

**A special side note**

So often vegetables are steamed to death, removing any color and flavor they once had. There are so many other options to help preserve and honor the vegetables and their beautiful flavors. Please help join me in saving the vegetables. Just say NO to steaming.

Spicy Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:

brussel sprouts (either a bundle, a whole stalk, however you wish to buy them. I usually do roughly 2-3 cups worth)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

a pinch of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the brussel sprouts in half.

Toss brussel sprouts in a bowl with olive oil and spices. Arrange brussel sprouts on a baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping the sprouts half way through. I like mine pretty crispy, but adjust the cooking time to your own desire.

Apple Pie

For someone who loves sweets and has been baking for years, I have sucked at making pies. No seriously! Other than pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie (which took me a long time to master), most of my pies ended up having a lackluster crust and would basically turn into pie soup as soon as I would cut into it. Although the flavor may have been there, the pies I made just didn't hold up to any others....well...they didn't hold up at all. They were just sweet piles of goop.

But this recipe...this beautiful apple pie recipe....it is by far the BEST apple pie recipe I have ever had the pleasure of using! Trust me when I say, I have served my fair share of sad apple pies in the past. But this recipe has redeemed my apple pie baking credibility. This never-fail recipe has time and time again produced gorgeous golden apple pies, complete with a sweet crunchy crust on top, and a warm gooey filling that is to die for. If you serve this apple pie at any future event, I promise you, you will not be going home with any leftovers!

So because I love you guys, I shall pass on this magic apple pie recipe that has even made me look like I know what I am doing in the pie department. Enjoy!

Apple Pie

Ingredients:

1 recipe for a 9 inch double crust pie

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Place the bottom crust in your pie pan. Fill with apples, mounding slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so it does not run off.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue to bake for 35-45 minutes, until apples are soft and crust is golden.

Serve warm.

Chewy Donuts

Chewy Donuts

Ingredients:
1 maple bar doughnut
1 piece of bacon, cooked
white and black frosting

Place cooked piece of bacon diagonally over maple bar.

Using black and white frosting, decorate your Chewbacca doughnut according to the picture above.

Now your breakfast is outta this world!

This recipe has been Chewbacca approved.

Okay, so really this post is just to say, I have not forgotten my blog followers! I have just been extremely lazy about making posts. And by "extremely lazy" I mean ridiculously busy with my two sons and everything else life has thrown at me lately. But this post is my promise that more recipes are on the way in the following week!

Double Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Frosting (And not-so-Paleo vegan chocolate sauce)

Double Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes

Ingredients:

6 eggs at room temp

½ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing pans

¼ cup coconut milk

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place eggs, honey, oil, coconut milk, and vanilla in a food processor and process until fully combined.

Sift the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, then add to the wet ingredients. Process again until smooth. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips.

Grease cupcake tins or use cupcake liners. Spoon in batter. (Makes 12 cupcakes)

Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes.

Italian Meringue Frosting

Ingredients:

2 egg whites at room temp

1/3 cup honey

¼ teaspoon lemon juice

Small pinch of sea salt

Place honey in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on high until soft peaks form. Add the lemon juice and salt and beat to combine.

With the beaters or mixer on medium, pour the boiling honey into the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Continue beating for 6-8minutes, until stiff peaks form and meringue is cool to the touch and has doubled in volume.

When cupcakes have completely cooled, top with Italian meringue frosting. Enjoy!

*Now for my not-so-paleo addition…

When I originally made the paleo cupcakes, I found them to be a bit dry. So to add more moisture and chocolaty goodness to them I made a vegan chocolate sauce and drizzled that on top of the cupcake before topping them off with frosting. Since the chocolate sauce recipe makes a lot of sauce, I had enough sauce to moisturize the cupcakes and make chocolate milk afterwards. ;)

If you choose to add the chocolate sauce to the cupcakes, I recommend poking the cupcakes with a fork a few times so that the chocolate sauce can soak into the holes and really help to add moisture to the cupcakes. 

**Drizzle the chocolate sauce onto the cupcakes while the sauce is still hot. Otherwise, as the sauce cools, it gets more pudding like and it makes it a lot harder to soak into the cupcakes.

Vegan Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 ½ tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup nondairy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa to a saucepan. Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly before adding the milk and vanilla. Stir over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and drizzle over cupcakes (or mix with milk for chocolate milk!).

The cupcake and frosting recipes I got from "Against all Grain. Delectable paleo recipes to eat well & feel great" by Danielle Walker.

The vegan chocolate sauce recipe I got from "The Joy of Vegan Baking. The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. (This has been, by far, my favorite vegan cookbook! Every recipe in here has been a win so far!)