Not much new to report in the food field here.  Last week went pretty well.  We've climbed back up on the wagon and are plugging along. 

We celebrated a birthday!  Low key.  The plan was to go flying in a wind tunnel, but the place didn't open so we went with plan 'B'-- princess movie and baby turtles.  Just what every guy wants, right?  It ended up being a fine plan.  'Brave' was good and we had the theater full of very comfortable seats almost to ourselves; which suited my selective-theater-seat-picker hubby just fine, he had lots of choices.  We wandered around town a bit and went to a local turtle rescue for a hatchling release that night.  The weather was perfect to be out on the beach.  Sorry, no pictures, cameras weren't allowed because of the lights.  But baby turtles are so stinkin' cute and completely worth a google image search.  They were only about the size of a quarter.

And of course there was food.  Lise made the awesome watermelon cake!  We saw the idea on pinterest and it was something I could completely turn over to the kids from planning to execution.  It was really a pretty fun and easy thing for them to do.  The fruit stuck to the melon surprisingly well; for the ones that didn't, toothpicks.  They did a great job!

We even made room at the birthday table for ginger-orange strawberry shortcakes.  Totally not experiment friendly but I believe in granting birthday wishes.  I'll post that recipe next week.

*************************

The Keepers

Burgers 4 out 5
Click Here- Veg Burger
This recipe is one in progress.  It comes out great as is I just want to tweak it so it's less grain heavy and more veggies.  We either use lettuce as 'buns' or use those whole grain 'sandwich thins' with guacamole, mustard, lots of lettuce, and a slice of tomato as thick as the burger.  We don't make our patties as thick as she does- more like a regular veggie burger you'd get out of a box.   They freeze really well too!  Just pull them out when you're ready to cook. 


Citrus Salad w/ Honey Lime Dressing 4 out of 5

I had a version of this salad at Chili's a couple of years ago.  I found a recipe for the dressing, or at least something like it, and threw together whatever for the rest.  We usually serve it with grilled chicken in the mix, I swapped that out for cashews and almonds.  You'll have to forgive the recipe, I don't measure much when I do stuff like this so the amounts are guesses.  Just adjust it to how you like it.

2 heads Romaine

1/2 head red cabbage

2 oranges 

1/2 ripe pineapple

large bunch of grapes

2 apples, optional

bunch of cilantro (serve on the side)

dried cherries

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup cashews

sesame seeds

1 avocado, optional (some in our house like it, some don't)

Dressing:

4 Tbs honey

2 Tbs dijon mustard

1 Tbs fresh lime juice

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil, optional

Directions

1. Wash and chop all your veggies and fruits.  Toss into a large bowl.  
2. Chop cashews and almonds, they don't have to be itty bitty, just not whole.  You can also lightly roast them if you prefer.  Same for the sesame seeds.
3. Mix dressing ingredients.  Serve :)

'Bowlrittos'  the kids named it ;)  5 out of 5
Easy, felxible, tasty.  This was another recipe we kind of based on an idea from this recipe and just threw together our own.  The kids voted this makes it onto our menu more often. 

3 cups wild rice, quinoa, or whatever other whole grain you want, cook according to package directions.  We used a sprouted quinoa & wild rice mix we found at Costco.
2 cups beans- whatever type you want
1 lime
1 bunch cilantro
1 avocado or guacamole (we used the guacamole from Costco- sensing a theme here?)
Tomatoes
Romaine
Cumin or Taco Seasoning
Any of the following: cucumbers, pico, corn, cashew 'sour cream' (from the taco salad recipe), sauted zucchini/onions/garlic, bell peppers, green chilies, sprouts, whatever.

Directions

1. Cook your grains.  Wash and chop all your veggies.  Saute any that need to be cooked.
2. Spoon grain into bottom of bowl, sprinkle on some cumin or taco seasoning.  Top with beans, romaine, veggies, etc.  Squeeze lime over it and top with cilantro.  That's it.  Enjoy!

Coconut Ice Cream  5 out of 5
Another recipe we've been eating for awhile.  Definitely a once-in-a-while treat, but it's fun to make.  We just bought one of those ice cream ball contraptions we happened to find on clearance and are looking forward to trying it out and saving our freezing hands.

1 cup coconut milk or coconut/almond milk mixed (it won't freeze as hard if it's just almond milk- it comes out more like ice milk than ice cream)
1 tsp vanilla
ice, lots and lots of ice
ice cream salt (you can also use regular old table salt but it doesn't work as well)
1 quart sized ziploc
1 gallon sized ziploc (splurge on the good bags or you'll end up with salted ice cream)

Directions:

1.  Place the milk and vanilla in the quart sized bag, zip closed.  Put about 2 cups of ice in your gallon bag add a little salt, put the quart sized bag in, dump another 2 cups of ice over it and add some more salt.  Salt wise I think about 1/3 cup total?  I don't know, we never measure it.  And the more you put in the colder the ice, the faster the ice cream.
2. Knead for about 5-10 minutes, until it turns thick.  We do it over the sink or outside.  Enjoy it.  You can flavor it with cocoa powder, fruit, etc.  Add fruit at the end, some of it will keep the milk from turning solid.