Bahama Mama Key Lime Pie

I'll warn you in advance, this isn't one of those healthy posts. It's really one of those recipes thats darn right sinful. Its the kind of recipe to keep in your bag of tricks. I pulled this one out for my boyfriends grandmother's birthday, she loved it. Thats a win win in my book.

I can't remember the last time I made this, for a bake sale when I was ten perhaps? The only distinct memory I have is of my mother making this pie for every single dinner party ever thrown. It was her signature, and let me tell you no one ever complained about the pie's repeat performance. The pie is actually pretty easy to make, honestly its hard to mess it up. It gets even easier if your super lazy and buy a pre-made graham cracker crust. Unfortunately for me, not only do they not sell pre-made graham cracker crust down here, they don't even sell graham crackers period! Oh well, I found Digestives and a pinch of cinnamon make a pretty good substitute. I definitely recommend some fresh whipped cream or ice cream with this one!

* note: this recipe requires overnight refrigeration to set, so plan to make it in advance

Ingredients:

For the filling
1 Can sweetened condensed milk
5 Limes
2 Egg yolks

For the Crust
1 stick or 125 grams Butter
1 1/2 C. Crushed Graham crackers or digestives plus a tsp of cinnamon
1/4 C. Sugar

zester or cheese grater
spring form pan

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 Degrees celsius.
2. Using a fork, and maybe even your hands, crush the digestives into a crumble. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of crumble into a large bowl.

3. Add the butter and sugar to the crumble and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour the crumble into a spring form pan and press the mixture down. Try and spread the crumble evenly and build the crumble up on the sides to form a crust.

5. Bake the pie for 5 - 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
6. Using a zester or the fine edge of a cheese grater, zest the 5 limes. These should yield about 2 teaspoons of zest, but more is okay, set aside.

7. Using the palm of your hands roll the limes on a hard, flat surface, this little trick will help you get more juice out of the limes.
8. Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice from the limes. The limes should yield about 1/2 a cup of juice.

9.Separate the egg whites from the yolks, this recipe will not use the whites. Place the yolks in a large bowl.

10. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the bowl with the yolks.

11. Add the lime zest to the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk mixture.

12. Slowly mix in the lime juice.

13. Pour the mixture into the pre-baked crust.

14. Bake for 15 minutes.
15. Wait for the pie to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge overnight to set.

Anja's Banana Date Muffins

Today was a big day for me, and an even bigger day for my sister for more reasons than one. We were both waiting to hear on some really big news and nervous energy seemed to be getting the better of both of us. Luckily, my day went well and I hope my sister got the same great news I received. She is currently studying German, and working on applying to an Austrian University to complete a masters. I can't say how proud I am of her so i'm just going to brag a little about her instead. Her language placement exam was two days ago, so naturally on a day like today we were both cooking. Last night, while on skype, my sister turned me on to an incredible blog. Anja's recipe's are interesting, healthy and innovative. I've always know that someone out there knew how to make banana bread without butter and sugar. But who knew it would be a German woman living in Dubai? I honestly don't care who she is, I mean that in a nice way, I'm just so happy i've found her amazing blog and look forward to cooking and adapting more of her recipes.

The recipe I'm providing is for a full batch of muffins, which yields 12.  Seeing as I was only cooking for two I decided to half the recipe and ended up with 6 delicious muffins.

These are the most incredible banana muffins which are naturally sweet, almost oil free and oh so simple! I hope you enjoy these muffins and check out Anja's blog.

Ingredients:

1 1/4  C. Whole wheat flour or Spelt Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 C.  Dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 C. Boiling Water
2 Ripe bananas
3 tbs. Olive oil
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Measure out your dates, then chopped them. Place dates in a mixing bowl and pour the boiling water and baking powder over the dates.

3. In a separate bowl, measure out the dry ingredients ( flour, cinnamon, and baking powder).

4. In a third bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Add the egg white to the banana and mix thoroughly.

5. Add the olive oil and vanilla to the banana and egg mixture.

6.  Add the banana mixture to the dates soaking in water and stir.

7. Slowly add the flour to the banana date mixture. Add half, then stir, repeat.

8. Chop the hazelnuts.

9. Spoon the batter into muffins liners ( I used silicone liners).
10. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top.

11. Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted.
12. Cool before removing the liners and enjoy!

Cumin Scented Black Bean Burritos

Believe it or not its actually extremely difficult to find black beans in Australia, so don't take how easily you can find them in any supermarket in the states for granted. I went to about six stores before I finally found some. This dish is great for an easy weeknight meal and its nice to mix it up a little with some mexican flair. These burritos are actually vegan and have a large raw component. The sweet crunch from the raw corn is light and refreshing, while the tangy cumin scent of the black beans is bold and filling. The contrast tastes absolutely amazing, and the arugula complements the beans in a peppery way. I hope you enjoy this healthy mexican inspired dish and become as obsessed with it as I am.

Ingredients:
2 Cans black beans
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tbs. Lime juice
1 Banana pepper, jalapeno or green chili (depends on how hot you like it, pick one)
1 Bunch of  cilantro
1 C. Chicken stock
1 Yellow onion
1 Bag of arugula
2  Ears of sweet corn
5-6 cherry tomatoes
1 Avocado
1 Red onions
1 Package of whole wheat burritos

Directions:
1.  Dice one yellow onion. Remove the seeds from the pepper and dice.
2. In the bottom of a medium size saucepan add on teaspoon of oil, the diced onion and pepper. Saute on medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
3. In the last 30 seconds add the cumin and fry till aromatic.

4. Remove beans from the can and wash in a strainer. Pour the beans into the saucepan with the onions  and peppers. Add the chicken stock.

5. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until most of the stock has evaporated.
6. Meanwhile, cut the corn off the cob.

7. Dice the red onion, avocado and cherry tomatoes and mix together.

8. Pick the cilantro off the bunch, reserve half of it for the beans, add the other half to the corn mixture.

9. When the beans are almost done, 1-2 minutes before, add the lime juice and the other half of the cilantro.
10.  Warm up your tortilla either in the microwave for 10 seconds or in the oven on low heat.
11. Place a tortilla on the plate, spoon a scoopful of beans into the center of the tortilla, followed by a scoop of the corn slaw. Then place a handful of arugula on top.

12. Fold the tortilla over on one end, then roll it up. Practice makes perfect!

Moroccan Preserved Lemons

Aren't they pretty! Well yes, the lemons are pretty, but I'm talking about the pictures. I finally have an awesome camera to help me capture all the beautiful colors of the delicious food cooked on Nom Nom. After quite a few rejections from Foodgawker I came to realize that maybe my camera, or my photography skills were sub-par. Some here I am with my twenty-first birthday present, presenting you with gorgeous photos of Moroccan preserved lemons. Aren't I generous, a present from a present. What's even better is that in about four weeks Stu will be making an awesome Chickpea tagine using these bad boys. Well here's a shout out to the papas for an awesome gift!

Enjoy the lemons, theres a ton of recipe you can use them in and I'll be blogging about a few in the weeks to come- so stay posted.

Ingredients:

4-6 lemons ( depending on the size of your jar, however many lemons you want to preserve, plus 2 extra for the juice)
1 C. Sea Salt, Rock Salt
A few bays leaves
2-3 Star Anise
4-5 Black Peppercorns
Boiling Water
Large jar with lid

Directions:
1.  Make two incisions in you lemon to create an 'x', cut almost to the base of the lemon but do not go all the way through

2. Stuff the 'x' with sea salt

3. Place the lemon into the jar and add 1 tbs of salt to the jar ( you do this for each lemon you out in ie. 3 lemons 3 tbs of salt)

4. Continue cutting stuffing and layering the lemons, add a star anise,black peppercorn and bay leaf between layers.

5. Slice your remaining two lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the jar.  Note: save half of the skin of one of these lemons to place on top to prevent mold contamination, see step 7.

6. Boil enough water to fill the remainder of the jar. Pour the boiling water into the jar until it reaches the brim, almost overflowing.

7. Using one of the lemon halves, cut it to roughly fit the opening of the jar and place it on top. This will help to prevent mold, if mold does grow on that lemon, simply discard it.

8. Store in a dark place for 4 weeks, turning upside down occasionally, about every 2 days or so.

9. Cook something delicious and exotic with them!

Alicia's Berry Crumble

Remember that movie movie clueless? While its hard to imagine taking advice from Cher, it is surprisingly easy to aspire to be like the actress, Alicia Silverstone, who played the role. I know its a little stretch of the imagination, but with the help of a well written book with fabulous recipes you can absolutely do it. When my mom first told me, I'll admit i laughed, "do you remember that movie clueless? The actress who played the main character, I love her she's so inspiring..." You can picture how the rest of that conversation went. But after a visit home and a taste of her delicious vegan crumble I am a convert. This crumble is so delicious its hard to believe its vegan and while its not exactly healthy, it sure beats Ms. Smith's apple pie form the freezer section and is made with zero white sugar. The ingredient list is a little daunting if your new to organic or vegan cooking, but most of the items are staples and once you buy them, you'll find they are actually quite useful in cooking and many can substitute traditional sweeteners to make healthier meals. I should also mention that there is a fair ammount of the crumble topping in this recipe, but I agree with Alicia and think its tastes best this way, however feel free to halve the topping recipe if you prefer a thinner crumble layer.

Ingredients
 2.5-3 C. Sliced fresh or frozen mixed berries (Alicia's recipe calls for peaches)
1 C. Blueberries
1 3/4 C. Apple juice
2 Tbs. Kuzu
1 tsp Lemon juice
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
Pinch of fine sea salt

Topping
3 C. Rolled oats
2 C. Barley Flour, spelt flour, brown rice flour or sweet rice flour ( any of those will work great)
1/4 Tsp. Fine sea salt
1/4 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
3/4 C. Safflower oil
3/4 C. Brown rice syrup
1 C. Chopped pecans or walnuts ( this post uses walnuts)

Directions
1. Take your berries out of the freezer to defrost them.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
3. Reserve 1/4 cup of apple juice and heat the remaining 1 1/2 cups in a small saucepan and turn to a low heat.
4. Add the kudzu to the reserved apple juice and stir until completely dissolved.

5. Add the kudzu apple juice mixture to the hot apple juice in the saucepan, as well as the lemon juice- stir constantly!

6.Turn off the heat and add the salt and vanilla.
7. Place the berries into a 9 inch pan and pour the mixture over the berries.
8. Time to make the Topping!
9. Dry roast the oats, flour salt and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

10. Heat the oil and syrup together, in a different pan
11. Transfer the dry roasted oats into a bowl and pour the oil mixture over it

12. Stir in the nuts
13. Spoon the topping over the fruit.

14. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until Golden

15. Enjoy what is in my opinion the yummiest dessert in the world!

Recipe Courtesy of The Kind Life 

Superhero Vegan Stuffed Cannoli

I swear this dish can give you Superhero powers- there's enough spinach and tofu packed into each serving to save the world, and best of all, you won't even know it until you start sporting guns like Popeye.

Can you tell the difference? Nope neither could I, or my boyfriend for that matter. Which may have contributed to the reason I have such bad photos of this dish, I think the photographer was really hungry and wasn't quite as concerned as I was about snapping a blog worthy photo of the delicious meal he was about to devour. So i'm left with a few awkward photos of some really yummy food, bottom line is that your gonna have to trust me on this one. These were good!  I was skeptical at first, I mean tofu and spinach- could something that healthy really be yummy? Oh yess. And I don't even particularly like tofu. Sorry ill try to contain my excitement for this dish and get to the good stuff.

Now the key to this whole dish is the nutritional yeast, well I think so anyways. It gives the tofu a cheesy flavor that actually makes you believe its ricotta. I had a bit of a struggle finding this stuff, but after a visit to the local health food store and a seven dollars I now have a bag of nutritional yeast large enough to last me a year. Oh the possibilities....  Hopefully you won't have too hard of a time finding the stuff!

recipe adapted from the Eat Live Run Blog

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
16 ounces extra firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted
1 box Cannoli 
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

Directions:
Drain the tofu and pat dry with paper towels. Crumble into the bowl of a food processor or mix with a fork along with the olive oil, salt, oregano, garlic and nutritional yeast. 
Process on high until smooth and “ricotta-like”.

Add the defrosted spinach to the blended tofu mixture.

Cook the Cannoli in boiling salted water until el dente. Drain


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour about ½ cup pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Stuff Cannoli tubes with 2 T of filling and place in pan, seam side down. Repeat until all the tubes have been stuffed.

Pour remaining pasta sauce over tubes, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve!

Enjoy!