A Big 'Ole Pot of Steamed Vegetables

I thought of this a while ago, but haven't been consistent in doing it. Today I'm steam-sauteing a 3-quart pot of PLAIN mixed root and cruciferous vegetables. Just the vegetables listed, NO onion or garlic, and NO seasonings since this a dog+human recipe. For me, those things can be added later.

In the pot are: Arugula, Purple Cabbage, Carrots, Celery and Kohlrabi.

Use any amounts of vegetables you want, just fill a 3-quart pot almost to the top, with everything uniformly chopped to get it all cooked the way you like, at the same time.

Drizzle 2-3T good quality extra virgin olive oil over the chopped vegetables. Add about 1/2c cold water. Cover, simmer, stir occasionally until the densest vegetable, today it was carrot slices, are done the way you like.

Oliver's typical day regarding food is: In the morning he gets about 3 oz. of animal protein. This is either canned dog food, an egg, something I've cooked for him, or Fresh Pet - a prepared, comercial, refrigerated dog food - crumbled into 2/3c of his dry food mixed with warm water or bone broth. In the afternoon, he gets another 2/3c of dry mixed with vegetables, warm water or bone broth. This has worked well to keep him healthy for 15+ years.

Today, his is on the left and mine is on the right. It's important to keep that straight 😉 I had my vegetables topped with chopped onion and seasonings, with a side of 3 oz. of roasted chicken, drizzled with a mix of pineapple-jalapeno jam and mushroom soy sauce. . .Lin

Spicy Smoked Lake Superior Salmon Spread

I only made enough of this for 2 pieces of toast.
It could easily be doubled and probably should be. . .it was SO good! I still have more salmon. . .If I were a Mac+Cheese person, I'd chop some salmon into that. I might just make more of this to have for the next few days. 

2-3 oz. Neufchâtel cream cheese
1-2T jalapeno ranch dressing
dry dill + granulated garlic

3 oz. really good dry smoked salmon

Furry beggars: Oliver & My Great Granddog-Honey

Mash the first ingredients together in a small glass bowl. You could heat this about 15 seconds in the microwave to make this easier.

Chop the salmon being sure to remove any bones then combine it with everything in the bowl. Spread this on some toasted Everything Bagel Sourdough Bread - Aldi's if you have one near you.

Serve with fresh vegetables or fruit. . .Lin

Mini Chicken-Vegetable Wontons + Carrot & Broccoli

Sometimes a spontaneous dinner turns out SO good I just have to post it as a quick, healthy dinner (lunch. . .or breakfast!) I had the idea for this, and was going to make it with a piece of frozen flounder. . .Until I saw the wontons! Mmmm!

In a 2 quart pot, pour in 1" of chicken bone broth. Bring to a simmer. Slice 4 small, scrubbed-not peeled, organic carrots. Cover and bring back to a simmer for a few minutes. Add a big handful of organic broccoli florets and about 10 of the little wontons. Simmer another couple minutes. Stir gently, add some marinara, alfredo, curry or other jarred sauce. I used a butternut squash pasta sauce and a little cooking sherry! I've never used this before. It was really good!

Stir, cover and turn off the heat. To recreate this dinner, pour 3oz. beet juice into a big glass. Add ice and 6oz. lemonade. Ahhh, Beet Lemonade ❤️ and this amazing wonton-vegetable surprise! . . Lin

Healthy Cleansing Red, Green & White Vegetable Smoothie

I saw a REEL online with similar ingredients, then expanded upon them. When I asked Google about the nutritional and health benefits of mine, it gave me this information.

Next time I make this I'll also add the entire half of a small organic seedless lemon (scrubbed, fruit and peel) and increase the honey just a bit. I should have also added some of my beautiful parsley.

Combine all the vegetables, roughly chopped, in your blender jar with the following:

1t each: Ginger and Turmeric

1-2T good quality local honey

a pinch of Himalayan pink salt

8oz. hot water (to melt the honey)

Blend well. This makes 2 10oz. servings. Breathe deeply and feel the 'healthier' starting to happen...😊...Lin

A Big Pot of CSA Parsley-Vegetable Chicken Soup

I ordered 2 big beautiful bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley to be included in my CSA farm box this time and used a whole one in this pot of soup. The broth turned an ominous green. Looked like Pond Scum Soup, so I hit it with my immersion blender. It wasn't until I later added a can of tomatoes and 12 oz. of the Alfredo that it started looking edible!

This was such a fun recipe though. The carrots, potatoes, green pepper, zucchini and onion (everything in the pan except the cabbage) were also in my CSA box.

Start by slicing and sauteeing 8oz. of mushrooms into a big frying pan with EVOO covering the bottom for several minutes. Add 1/2 a big celery heart - chopped,  about 8 or 10 small sliced carrots, a medium chopped green pepper.

Stir and saute that while you dice the potatoes, 1/4 of a big head of cabbage and slice a medium zucchini. Add those to the pan.

Once that's all in the pan, rough chop or scissor cut the parsley into a 5 quart pot containing 2-3 quarts of chicken bone broth. Add 2 big spoonfuls of Chicken Better Than Bouillon and other seasonings. (today I used 1-2 oz. of the really potent EVOO-garlic-sun-dried-tomato paste I made recently and a couple teaspoons of my rosemary seasoning.)

Blend with your immersion blender, getting it as smooth as possible, which won't be very smooth. Simmer this green broth about 15 minutes to soften the parsley. Blend again - it will be much easier to incorporate everything and smooth it out now.

Add all the vegetables, a can of petite diced tomatoes and 8 oz. roasted chicken. Stir, and simmer until the carrots are the way you like. Cool slightly and add about 12 oz. of Alfredo sauce, stir well and heat again. When steamy, ladle into bowls and serve. 

Other than a 'loaded' grilled cheese sandwich, on sourdough bread I made for lunch recently, with a side salad of avocado, tomato and cucumber, this was the best thing I've eaten in ages.

For me, soup is a year-'round thing, but for those of you just getting into the swing of it now. . .Happy Soup Season! 😃 Mmmm!!! . .Lin

Avocado-Tuna-Egg Salad

This started out simple but sort of turned into an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink recipe! I promise. . .one day I will cook simple and also figure out how to cook smaller. However, considering the chicken soup I just made, that will be posted next - since it almost overflowed my 5 quart pot - I can't say just when that will happen.

Also, not shown: I added another can of tuna, a can of drained, diced water chestnuts, some golden raisins and slivered almonds. . .

Put the UNdrained tuna in a big glass bowl. Chop the avocado, boiled eggs, 1/4 lg. purple onion and stir that together with with some sweet or dill pickle relish. I had cilantro microgreens that I also scissored into the mix. Combine all this with the add-ons not shown. Then add your 'binder'.

I used just enough mayo to hold it all together, with the addition of about 3T of the jalapeno ranch dressing to spice it up a bit.

I also cooked, rinsed and chilled, 1/2c of the dry tiny, grainy Italian pasta 'pearls' and added those - but it might have been better without them. This was really good on a rice cake. . .Lin

Fresh Mandarin Orange Cupcakes

Here it is again, the recipe I still haven't stopped experimenting with. . .This one is orange cupcakes in my new silicone pans! No paper liners needed! Preheat your oven to 350° When you bake these, be sure to put the silicone pans on a flat baking sheet -NOT- directly on the oven rack.

In your blender, combine and blend until smooth:

3 tiny Cutie type Mandarins

~ scrub, cut off the ends

~ then cut it into pieces

3 lg. pasture raised eggs

1-1/3c organic cane sugar

3/4c Chobani whole milk plain Greek yogurt

3/4c single source EVOO

~ at my little Super One grocery store,

~ this was the ONLY single source EVOO  😕

2t pure vanilla

In a large glass bowl, whisk together:

2c Caputo (Italian) Chef's Flour. . .
~ or a good American all purpose flour. . .
~ such as King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill
1T Saigon cinnamon
1T baking powder
1t Himalayan pink salt

Pour the blended ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, whisk until well mixed then pour into the  cupcake pan. Bake 22-25 minutes-until they pass the toothpick test. 

Cool, removed from the pan (push each one up from the bottom) then drizzle with glaze made from orange or lemon zest, orange or lemon juice whisked with powdered sugar.

I'm still focused on these lemon / orange cupcakes so I haven't gotten around to experimenting with pumpkin yet. For those I'll substitute some pure canned pumpkin for the orange, adding chopped walnuts -or- pecans, and golden raisins. Mmmm. .😃. .Lin

Quick and Delicious Fresh Beef Stew

FRESH YOU ASK. . ?

Yes! This was SO full of flavor and freshness with perfectly cooked vegetables. It's truly one of the best things I've made in recent months.

Lately I've been eating lots of vegetables and chicken, so beef sounded really good this morning.

I found 3 pieces of tenderized beef bottom round steak in the freezer which seemed perfect for a small pot of this stew.

When the meat was thawed, I cut it into bite size pieces. This was browned in a few tablespoons of good quality EVOO with a little bit of the chopped onion added. When it was nicely browned, I added about 1/2c of Marsala cooking wine and simmered it, covered for about 15 minutes.

Next, I added all the vegetables. Carrots, chopped onion, chopped potatoes and the mini peppers and about 1c of bone broth. This simmered another 15 minutes then the sauce was stirred in.

The sauce was just a 'throw together' of several things, about 1c marinara, 2/3c pesto, 2/3c sour cream and about 1/3c jarred garlic in EVOO.

I think the finished stew certainly supports the statement, 'The secret's in the sauce!'

This turned out great!. .Lin

Pesto-Parmesan Rice Cake

I love it when I put ingredients together - in no time at all - that instantly becomes something I know I'll make on repeat. This is one of those things.

I was thinking 'quick snack.' I had in mine a plain rice cake with crunchy peanut butter and jalapeño jelly. . .but instead I realized what I actually had were Quaker Tomato & Basil Rice Cakes. So. . .this happened. . .Mmmm, as I said, this one will go on 'repeat' for me! 

Spread some really good pesto on a savory rice cake. Cut some green onion, or garlic shoots on top then sprinkle with grated Parmesan-Romano cheese. Microwave 20 seconds to blend the flavors and melt the cheese just a bit. Oh boy.

Another variation of this could be to replace the pesto with half of a mashed avocado. . .Lin

Crunchy Fresh Chicken Avocado Salad

Over a bed of well washed greens: Romaine, green and purple cabbage and some pea shoots or other microgreens, put a big scoop of this on top and call it lunch, dinner. . .or anything you want. It's a great, crispy, protein packed salad.

Mash together in a medium glass bowl:

1 ripe avocado plus

an equal amount of plain Greek yogurt

garlic salt and black + cayenne pepper

1-2T fresh lemon juice

a little drizzle of vinaigrette

Once those are mashed together, chop and stir in:

2c roasted chicken

2 orange mini peppers

2 stalks celery

1/2 sm. purple onion

a handful of walnuts or pecans

This turned out great. I saw this recipe idea online, but lost it. I had read through a couple times though, so I was able to make my own version.

I didn't think of adding nuts until after I took the photo. Some honey roasted peanuts on top would also be a great option. . .Lin

Orange Spice Cupcake-Muffins

EDIT: Just out of curiosity, I did a calorie count for this exact recipe. Based on 24 muffins - each contains 160 calories.

Here it is again, the recipe I can't seem to stop experimenting with. So far, everybody who's had one of the plain lemon or orange version hasn't stopped there. . .This is quickly becoming a staple in my house and requested by my family and friends.

Today it's orange cupcake-muffins, made with dark brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice for a little added twist and depth of flavor. Preheat your oven to 350° and put paper liners in 2 cupcake pans.

1 big Caracara -or navel- orange

~ scrub, cut off the ends

~ then cut it into pieces

3 lg. pasture raised eggs

1-1/3c dark brown sugar

3/4c Chobani whole milk plain Greek yogurt

3/4c single source EVOO

~ at my little Super One grocery store,

~ this was the ONLY single source EVOO  😕

2t pure vanilla

In a large glass bowl, whisk together:

2c Caputo (Italian) Chef's Flour. . .

~ or a good American all purpose flour. . .

~ such as King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill

1T pumpkin pie spice

1T baking powder

1t Himalayan pink salt

Put the first group of ingredients in your blender jar. Pulse, then blend on high until everything's combined. Pour this into the bowl of dry ingredients, whisk until well mixed then pour into the individually lined cupcake pan. Bake 22-25 minutes-until they pass the toothpick test.

My next adventure with this will be substituting some pure canned pumpkin for the orange, adding chopped walnuts or pecan and golden raisins. Mmmm. .😃. .Lin

Quick, Lightly Cooked, Healthy Vegetables

I wonder, does anyone else crave these sort of vegetables?? I sure do! I sometimes think I cook and eat healthy to balance out my cheat days 😉

Today, it's a couple carrots, part of a head of green cabbage, purple cabbage and half of a purple onion. Drizzled with some really good extra virgin olive oil and sauteed, slow on low heat, only until the carrots start to soften. Then cover and remove from the heat.

As this cooked, I sprinkled it with Lawry's Garlic Salt and my blend of cayenne and black pepper. Ohhh, SO good!

With roasted chicken and some bacon crumbles I made last week. Also some crunchy, fresh cucumbers and tomato, ahhh, it was really good. Now for a lemon muffin. . .or maybe some blueberry lemon frozen yogurt ?? Or maybe both? . .😃. .Lin

Rhubarb-Blueberry-Banana Frozen Yogurt

In your blender jar, pulse the following together:

13oz. plain whole milk Greek yogurt

1T Vanilla bean paste

1 sprinkle of salt

2T lemon or lime juice

3-4T raw organic honey

Then add the fruit - fresh or frozen

1 sm. banana

1c blueberries

1c chopped rhubarb

Blend then freeze 3-4 hours. Any longer than that and it will be rock hard. Still good though, just thaw it for a while on your counter before serving. . .Lin

A Loaded Egg Bake

Preheat your oven to 350° Chop all the vegetables:

a few red and orange mini peppers

4-6 assorted unpeeled potatoes

1/2 med. Vidalia onion
1/2 sm. purple onion

4 stalks celery

1 dozen lg. pasture raised eggs

4oz. curry sauce

4oz. sour cream

I cut up and cooked almost 2# of bacon the other day. I love to use real bacon crumbles on vegetables and in other foods like egg bakes. Since I have lots of beautiful eggs right now. . .this happened!

Saute the vegetables in a couple tablespoons of good quality olive oil until about half done. Put the chopped chard, on top - don't stir in. Add a little water if needed, cover and let the greens steam a few minutes until wilted.

Transfer all the vegetables to a 9"x13" glass pan.

Crack the eggs into your blender jar. Pulse together with the curry sauce, sour cream, garlic salt and pepper before pouring over the chopped vegetables.

Bake about 40 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle on the bacon crumbles and top with the cheese. Put back in the oven, turn off the heat and leave for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. Great for breakfast, lunch or breakfast-for-dinner. .😃. .Lin

Arugula-Basil-Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Today's Pesto Day!
Put these ingredients, in their group, into your blender jar and pulse just enough to blend each, starting with the first. Then add the greens and pulse until incorporated. Last add the cheese and pulse until everything's chopped and combined the way you'd like. Most people prefer doing this in a food processor which works great, but somehow I'd rather pulse all this in my blender. However, this took a lot of jar scraping to totally combine. . .Use whichever works best for you.

6oz. single source EVOO

2 big garlic cloves - chopped

zest + juice of a lemon

½T salt, pepper, garlic Kinder's Blend

½c± organic sprouted pumpkin seeds

68g - 2.4oz arugula

32g - 1.15oz. basil 

2½oz. total - of five microgreens:

- pea shoots, radish, kale,

- red cabbage and basil

3oz. grated Parmesan-Romano cheese

I wasn't planning this, but the photo below shows my late breakfast - early lunch when, after blending, I discovered it wouldn't all fit in my 16oz. container. This recipe made about 20oz. In addition to fresh basil, you can use just about any greens. In the past I've used curly as well as flat leaf Italian parsley, celery greens, spinach even some beautiful carrot tops one time! I have some beautiful chard right now, but decided I might steam that to go with salmon soon.

Now a word about pasta. . .
True Italian pasta is far healthier than our typical American variety. I've been ordering it online now since in Europe they don't use GMO wheat, no preservatives and their milling process for the wheat includes more of the healthy parts of the whole grain.

I cook my pasta using the resistant starch method. If you need pasta right away you can still accomplish this by cooking to al denté stage, draining, then rinsing and soaking a few minutes in icy cold water. Then drain, combine with the sauce and reheat. Or reheat the pasta only and add the sauce.

It's SO worth the extra steps to create a much healthier version of pasta! Happy Cooking! . .😃. .Lin

Coconut-Lemon Frozen Yogurt

In your blender jar combine:

1-1/2c whole milk plain Greek yogurt
1/2c canned coconut milk

*zest one lemon, then squeeze the juice
- set the zest aside

1/3c fresh lemon juice
4T raw local honey

a pinch of salt

1t pure vanilla**

Blend well, then add 1-2T lemon zest*
Pulse a couple times, just to distribute the zest, not to pulverize it. Pour into a 22oz. container. Freeze about 3 hours and serve. If frozen longer, you'll probably need to leave it on the counter awhile before it's scoopable. . .Lin

**Optional - Sometimes vanilla and citrus work well, sometimes they conflict. This time its warmth balanced the cool tartness of the lemon. Trust your instincts whether to include it or not. 

Roasted Beet and Orange Salad

Ohhh, no matter what variation of a Beet Salad I make, I always love it!
This might be the first time I've paired orange and beet, and definitely the first for the greens I used.

Cover the bottom of a glass pan with EVOO. Scrub and dry your beets with a paper towel. Don't peel them - root vegetables absorb so many great nutrients through the skin, so don't lose those. Cut them in similar size pieces and put them cut side down in the pan.

Brush the outsides with the oil from the pan and season with garlic salt, black and cayenne pepper. Roast in a preheated 375° oven about a half hour or until a fork inserted comes out easily.

While that's happening, make a bed of baby arugula and microgreens in a big salad bowl. Today I used red cabbage, kale and basil microgreens. Add sliced Vidalia onion, zest and segments of a Caracara orange, a big handful of sprouted pumpkin seeds and some sharp cheese (crumbled feta, blue cheese or shredded parmesan-romano work best). 

When the beets are done, cool just enough to touch and cut into chunks. Toss all this together and drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Don't make this one ahead of time.

It's better made-and-served right away. . .And then it will be
Perfect. . .and. . .DE-licious! . .Lin

Lingonberry - Lime Seltzer

I got back from a long walk with Oliver and we were both really thirsty on this humid day. Nice cool water for him.

This is exactly what I needed to rehydrate!

2oz. lime juice

1-2oz. Lingonberry syrup

a can of flavored seltzer

a pinch of salt

Mixed gently in a glass or jar, with some ice, this was pink perfection. . .Lin

Crunchy Tuna and Egg Salad

before dressings

2 regular cans of EVOO tuna - undrained

2 lg. pasture raised hard boiled eggs

1/2 med. Vidalia onion
3/4c chopped microgreens: radish, red cabbage and kale
3 stalks celery 
2 mini orange peppers
1/3c chopped sweet-spicy dill pickles
black + cayenne pepper
Lawry's Garlic Salt

Slice or chop all the vegetables, mix well in a medium glass bowl, with the eggs, tuna, the healthy oil in the can and seasonings.

Add enough mayonnaise and vinaigrette to hold everything together. Serve on toast or on a bed of greens as a salad. This was delicious! . .Lin

A Hearty Summer or Winter Stew

Never mind that it's been in the 80's with high humidity here in northern Minnesota. . .seems my body doesn't always go along with the concept of seasonal eating! I had some fresh green beans, small purple turnips and lots of mushrooms to turn into something. Here's what transpired:

In a 6 quart pot, sauté 16oz. sliced baby portabella mushrooms in 2 big spoonfuls of ghee or butter. When they're lightly browned stir in the following sliced-chopped ingredients:

10oz. beef-pork hot dog-sausages
13oz. fresh green beans
13oz. purple turnips
*garlic and onion
6 stalks of celery
2 big carrots
1/3c cooking sherry
2-4T beef Better Than Bouillon
1 14-15oz. petite diced tomatoes
~ I used this instead of the bone broth shown in the first photo
2/3c of a mild curry sauce

Stir this together, cover and simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Stir again, continue to simmer, covered, on low heat for 15 minutes.

Stir in the sliced mini peppers and some chopped roasted chicken. Add water or broth if needed and continue to simmer until the carrots, celery and turnips are done the way you like.

*I left out garlic and onion this time, but those would also add great flavor. . .Lin

A Fresh Peppery Salad

This time, when ordering my Farm CSA box, I focused on pasture raised eggs, greens and microgreens. This salad turned out so well! Fresh, crunchy and full of a variety of green flavors. . .

I started with a big handful of spicy baby arugula then added these microgreens shown at the back of the bowl: radish, red cabbage, kale. I then chopped and added the other vegetables, drizzled it all with my latest lemon-EVOO-honey-mustard flavor vinaigrette. It was so good! I gobbled the whole thing before realizing I didn't take a pre-serving photo! But you get the idea. . 😉 . .Lin

Rhubarb-Raisin-Oat-Pecan Muffins

Preheat your oven to 350°

You'll need 8oz. of rhubarb for these muffins. Blending half and slicing the rest to add later for more color and texture. My rhubarb was partly green, and red closer to the root. I put the green pieces in the blender and the smaller cut red pieces into the dry bowl.

Put this first group into your blender jar and blend until smooth:

4oz. rhubarb cut in chunks
3 lg. pasture raised eggs
1-1/2c organic cane sugar
3/4c Chobani whole milk plain Greek yogurt
3/4c single source EVOO
1T± apple cider vinegar
2t pure vanilla

In a large glass bowl, stir together:

2c Caputo (Italian) Chef's Flour. . .
~ or a good American all purpose flour. . .
~ such as King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill
1T baking powder
1t Himalayan pink salt
3/4t black + cayenne pepper
3/4c quick cooking oats
2T ground flax seed
4oz. chopped rhubarb
1c chopped pecans

Pour the blender mixture into the dry ingredient bowl. Stir-scrape-mix together with a silicone spatula until all the flour is incorporated.

Using a big serving spoon, fill 24 paper-lined muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar which adds just the right amount of sweetness and crunch.

This made a lot of batter. I put the extra into a buttered-sugared oven-safe bowl, turning it into a little muffin cake. Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes. The little cake will need an extra 10 minutes or so, until it passes the "toothpick test". . .Lin

Another Bone Broth your animals will love!

I was curious about which seasonings were beneficial - and not - for our animals. I've found A.I. to be a helpful resource for such things. This is what I learned. . .With these cautions and suggestions in mind, I made this bone broth:

I should note that I've found that, by far, my healthiest bone broth begins with really good quality, pasture raised chickens. If I don't buy a whole chicken, the leg quarters seem to have the most collagen and I prefer dark meat, so this works well for me. Regarding collagen, bone broth made without chicken feet is far more watery than one made with them (more solid = more collagen) so they are a wonderful ingredient to add to the process. If you've found some, do a search for the recipes here and refer to those instructions.

Having said all that, I have to admit, I really love Costco's rotisserie chickens. Sadly though, I'm pretty sure they don't fall into the healthiest category. I used one of those this time, but didn't have chicken feet, so on a scale of 1-10, even with the healthy seasonings, this one gets a 6.

I simmered the skin and bones with the A.I. suggestions: black + cayenne pepper, fresh ginger, turmeric, dried parsley, dry oregano and yes, a little ground cinnamon! This all simmered on low heat for a couple hours last night. Then I scooped out and discarded the solids, strained it well and chilled it overnight. . .This morning I scraped and blotted the fat off the top, heated the (not-very-well-jelled) bone broth to a steamy point, just below a bubbling simmer, then poured and sealed it in the glass containers shown.

This is not 'shelf stable' at room temperature, processed in this way, but will keep nicely a couple weeks in your 'fridge.

Despite the lower collagen content, this one will be a great option to use as a soup base, for sauteing meat or vegetables - or as I intended it - a great addition to my sweet dog and cat's daily food. . .Lin

Avocado Vegetable Salad or Toast Spread

I was going to make this as a vegetable-heavy spread for avocado toast, then remembered halfway through the prep that I was out of bread. . .Hence the salad! This would be good either way.

1 sm. ripe avocado

1 Campari tomato 

1/4 Vidalia onion

1 lg. clove of garlic
1 lg. orange mini pepper
2-3T sour cream
3/4c shredded Parmesan 
a drizzle of lemon vinaigrette 
black + cayenne pepper
garlic salt

Mash the avocado and finely chop all the vegetables. Mix together, season, add the sour cream and a little vinaigrette and the cheese. Stir until well combined.

Spread on toasted sourdough bread or serve as a salad over your favorite chopped lettuce. Today my green base was torn up pea microgreens and baby arugula. This makes enough for 2 servings of salad or toast. . .Lin

Toasted Sesame - Turmeric Sauteed Vegetables (dogs and humans)

Put the following in a 2-3 quart pot:

2T toasted sesame oil

1/4c± water

20 quartered Brussels sprouts

2 big carrots - sliced

2c cauliflower florets

1-2c fresh green beans - chopped

Sauté - steam the vegetables until the beans and Brussels sprouts stem areas are crisp-tender. Stir in a little more toasted oil for flavor, a sprinkle of black and cayenne pepper and a couple teaspoons of ground turmeric.

I had this tonight with some roasted chicken, just as it finished cooking and it was great! Oliver had it with a little bone broth and some of his dry food. He gobbled up every piece! . .Lin

Lemon -or- Orange Blender Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes

I've been on a quest for the perfect whole lemon or orange blender cake recipe for cupcakes or a pound cake. I found one I like the sound of but had to make several changes.

I gave 6 of these to my girls, and then for company one night, I cut 7 cupcakes into 8 pieces each, into a round glass pan wanting to make a Lemon-Berry Shortcake. I left them out on the countertop for 24 hours, to dry a bit.

I combined a couple cups of fresh, sliced strawberries and a cup or two of frozen blueberries, with about 1/3c of blueberry-lavender jam and a tablespoon or two of white Balsamic vinegar. This was sired together and heated slowly. When that juiced up I simmer it with 2t of cornstarch until it came to a low bubble and thickened. After cooling, I stirred in about 6oz. of sour cream and chilled it. To serve, this was spooned over the cupcake chunks, in little bowls, with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar on top of each, for crunch.

Now back to the recipe. . .First, preheat your oven to 350°

Put this first group into your blender jar and blend until smooth:
1 whole thin-skinned seedless lemon. . .
-OR- 1 lg. whole CaraCara Orange
~ scrub, cut off the ends
~ then cut it in about 16 pieces
3 lg. pasture raised eggs
1-1/2c organic cane sugar
3/4c Chobani whole milk plain Greek yogurt
3/4c single source EVOO
2t pure vanilla

In a large glass bowl, stir together:
2c Caputo (Italian) Chef's Flour. . .
~ or a good American all purpose flour. . .
~ such as King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill
1T baking powder
1t Himalayan pink salt

CaraCara Orange Cupcakes

Pour the lemon, egg, oil, sugar mixture into the dry ingredient bowl. Stir-scrape-mix together with a silicone spatula until all the flour is incorporated.

Pour into 24 paper-lined muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. I used turbinado sugar for this and it added just the right amount of sweetness and crunch. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Mmmm, these are good, but still may need extra zest stirred in just before baking. . .Lin