New Found Favorites

When I find things I love, it feels like I have a responsibility to share them with you. So this week I'm sharing some of my new found favorites.

First let me introduce you to Hu Chocolate. It's 70% Stone Ground Dark Chocolate that is Organic, made with Fair Trade cocoa and is paleo and vegan. And did I mention it's one of my most favorite chocolates EVER?

I've tried three flavors, the Hazelnut Butter, Almond Butter with Puffed Quinoa and Cashew Butter with Pure Vanilla Bean. I'll warn you, it's expensive, but worth every penny. The best pricing is on Thrive Market. Order some. You won't be sorry.

Next up are some of my new found favorites from Trader Joe's. Let's start with the Trader Joe's rice and Quinoa hot porridge. I sampled this in the store with some bananas and walnuts and was hooked. I've been eating it that way, adding almond milk, and have also had it with berries and nuts as well. It cooks much faster than oatmeal, and I've found needs more water than indicated on the directions, otherwise it's a bit thick for my taste.

These two are my new favorite Trader Joe's "snacks" or sweat treats when I'm trying to avoid eating a REAL sweet treat.

Nothing but Fruit & Nuts. Fig-Walnut

Nothing but Fruit &Nuts. Date-Hazelnut-Cacao

To round out my new TJ's favorites, I bought these unsulfured pear slices, and they are delicious. This is hands down my favorite dried fruit. And, they have no added sugar! 

Lastly, If you live in Portland and haven't been to Virtuous Pie, I highly recommend it. It's not actually all that "new" to me, but I went on Friday and hadn't been in a while, so I was reminded of how much I like it. 

They make plant based, gluten free pizza and ice cream that doesn't make you miss dairy at all (p.s. I still eat dairy and gluten).

C&C in the Kitchen

Tis the season for everything Pumpkin. If you've been to Trader Joe's lately, you know what I'm talking about. It's as if pumpkin products have exploded all over the store....no complaints from me though. 

We've been enjoying pumpkin pancakes and waffles and these Paleo Pumpkin muffins that we have made twice in the last few weeks. They are Mini Fashionista approved, so I thought we should share them with you. The Mini helped bake them. 

She was in charge of greasing the pan with coconut oil.

And the finished product!

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup melted coconut oil
• 1 ripe banana
• 5 organic, free-range eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (or more if you like)
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 1/4 coconut sugar or maple syrup (optional for sweetness)-not Paleo if you add this
• ¼ cup pecans, chopped (optional for topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add pumpkin puree, coconut oil, and ripe banana to a food processor and process until smooth.
3. Add the eggs to a large bowl and whisk until frothy.
4. Add the pumpkin and banana puree mixture to the bowl with the eggs and whisk until smooth.
5. Add the baking soda, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and coconut flour and sweater (if using) and whisk until smooth.
6. Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil (I used Trader Joe's coconut oil spray) and fill each tin with the muffin mixture.
7. Sprinkle pecans (if using) over the top.
8. Bake for 13 -15 minutes, or until lightly browned and set in the middle.
9. Store in tinfoil or plastic wrap. Muffins will last a few days. 

Not that Kind of Pumpkin Butter

I was checking out at Trader Joe's the other day and they tricked me. You know those products at the check out or at the end of the counter they tempt you with...yeah, I caved. And I'm glad I did.

 

 

I always put lotion on my hands and feet before I go to bed (I know, weird), and this pumpkin body butter has me fully embracing fall.

 

***Disclaimer, you might have the urge to chew off a piece of your arm because it smells exactly like a delicious loaf of pumpkin bread. Consider yourself warned.***

 





C&C in the Kitchen

Tuesday marked the first day of fall which means tis the season for pumpkin everything, pumpkin cookies, bread, smoothies, cake...you get the picture.

Canned pumpkin is back on the shelf at Trader Joe's, and last week I decided to try out a new "healthy" pumpkin bread recipe. I took this recipe and adapted it into my own, much healthier version. 

Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Banana Bread

Ingredients

1½ cups gluten free flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1-2 Tbs pumpkin pie seasoning (depending on how flavorful you want it)

½ tsp. sea salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 large, ripe banana

½ cup pumpkin puree

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

1 Tbs maple syrup or coconut sugar (you can use up to 1/4 cup if you don't care how "healthy" it is)

Optional add-ins: chocolate chips, nuts, Trade Joe's seeds blends, cranberries, etc.

Instructions

- Preheat your oven to 350ºF, and lightly grease a 9 x 5 bread pan. Set aside.

- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir until well combined and set aside.

- Lightly beat the eggs in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add mashed bananas, pumpkin, Greek yogurt, maple syrup or sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently. Do not over mix. Fold in your optional items (I added Trader Joe's seed blends)

- Pour the batter into the loaf pan, spreading it out evenly. Then I added more Trader Joe's seed blends (hemp, chia, etc.). Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Here's what my bread looked like! I'll be honest...it's not the most amazing pumpkin bread you've ever tasted (it's better with more sugar), but it is moist, flavorful and it's made from all good things! So, when you need a pumpkin fix and you want something healthier than the pumpkin muffin at Starbucks, try it! 

Loving Lately

Recently I've come across some food items that I just can't get enough of, and when I find something good, I like to share.

Trader Joe's Super Seed Blends- I have been putting these on oatmeal, yogurt and fruit, salads, in smoothies and in banana bread. 

Kit's Organic Fruit and Seed Bar- I recently decided to reduce the amount of nuts I am eating. It's really hard to find a nut-free bar. These are delicious.

Hope Spicy Avocado Hummus- This hummus has become a staple in our refrigerator. You can buy it in bulk at Costco. It has the perfect amour of spice and is tasty on chips, crackers, veggies, sandwiches and just about anything else you want to eat it with.

Trader Joe's Tricks

Happy Monday! Katie here. 

I'm a Trader Joe's shopper (blogged about some of my favorite items last year). It's amazing how much you can get for your money compared to "Whole Paycheck." I thought I'd share one of my latest Trader Joe's tricks with you. I like roasting veggies on Sundays to eat with quinoa, beans, tofu, etc. for lunch during the week. My latest obsession is taking the bag of shaved brussels sprouts, mixing in some olive oil or coconut oil spray, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, and roasting them for about 35-30 minutes (for two bags worth) on 400 degrees. They're perfect to add to bowls or even an egg scramble. 

And while we're on the subject, you must know about Trader Joe's flowers. You can make the best arrangements for crazy cheap. This weekend I put together these berries and added some cranberries to the water for that little extra bit of festivity. Tis the season, right?

And just because you're our trusted readers, you should probably know that the holiday goodies are in stock now! I picked up my two go-tos, Joe Joe's and Candy Cane Green Tea. I bought two boxes of the tea because it's only around this time of year and it's my ABSOLUTE favorite. A perfect after-dinner sweet, and warm, treat. 

Share your favorite TJ's products with us!

C & C in the Kitchen: Labor Day Dining

While I may not love cooking during the week, I LOVE to entertain on the weekends. And on Saturday we had some friends over to celebrate the end of summer. With some of the season's best ingredients still at their prime, I made sure the menu took full advantage. Nectarines might be my favorite fruit. Add some Raincoast Crisps and pepper jack cheese and, voila, it's an appetizer plate.  I also grabbed some kale and spinach bites (I think they're a new product) from Trader Joe's, and they were awesome! Like little bundles of spinach dip popped right in your mouth. 

For the main course we had beef shish kabobs, corn salad (recipe below), and orzo salad (brought by our guests). 

And a dinner party isn't complete without dessert. And I knew molten chocolate cakes would be a crowd-pleaser. I'd never made these before, and they were SO easy, and SO good. The recipe makes 12 little cakes, so I'd definitely half the recipe if you aren't entertaining a large number of people - although they're pretty good the next day too. What I also love about this recipe is that you can make the batter well ahead of time, which is a hostess's dream. 

Bon Appetit!

Corn Salad (serves 6)

4 ears of corn cut off cob

4 green onions (separate the white bottoms and green tops)

3 tomatoes chopped

1 avocado chopped

Cilantro 

1 lime

Cut the corn off the cob (put it on a cookie sheet and it won't go everywhere). 

Saute the corn, white parts of the onion in olive oil for 3-5 minutes). 

When cool, add to the avocado, tomato, cilantro, 1/2 the green onion tops, and juice of the lime. 

Add salt and pepper and you're ready to go! 

C&C in the Kitchen

Okay, so I know that this is the second "in the kitchen" post of the week, but I have people waiting for this recipe, so I didn't want to hold off on sharing it!

On Sunday I woke up with a sore throat, so instead of going for our planned trip to Mt. Hood to XC ski, I spent the day mostly indoors. After a lazy morning in bed, I decided that The Mini Fashionista and I should make blueberry muffins. 

I went to Pinterest and searched "greek yogurt blueberry muffins".  I found a recipe that was pinned as " healthy power muffins", so I opened it. Upon reading the recipe I had to just shake my head. The author's justification of it being "healthy" was the inclusion of whole wheat flour and oats. What about the fact that it contains sugar and 1/2 stick of butter? Pretty sure that's not my definition of healthy. 

So, like with most baking recipes I find, I decided to use it as inspiration to develop my own recipe. I chose to make the recipe gluten free so that I could share the muffins with my gluten intolerant friends. I keep GF oats and flour on hand just for that reason. 

Greek Yogurt Blueberry Muffins (gluten free)

Coconut oil cooking spray

2 cups flour (I used gluten free but you can use regular or whole wheat)

1 cup oats (gluten free or regular)

1/3 cup coconut sugar (maple sugar is also a good substitute to white sugar)

3 TBS Trader Joe's Flax ground seed with blueberries (you can use regular flax or omit this ingredient)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.5 cups Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons honey (you can also use agave)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh blueberries (you can also use frozen)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with the cooking spray. I don't recommend using muffins cups as they will stick to the paper.

There are two ways to do this 1) mix all your dry ingredients and then mix the "wet" ingredients and then add the dry to the wet or 2) throw everything (except the blueberries) in the order as listed above into your mixer and mix it all together. This is the way I did it. Clearly not the "proper" technique, but it works! Finally, fold in the blueberries. 

Scoop into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on the top. You will nearly fill each muffin tin.

Here is the end result! 

These muffins are good, crazy good! I hope you find the time to bake them and enjoy sometime very, very soon!

Products We Love

There's not much to say, except that if you are not using this shaving cream from Trader Joe's, you should be. It is hands down the best shaving cream I have EVER used. 

Here is why…it has an amazing honey mango scent, it is moisturizing, a little goes a long ways, its really inexpensive and most importantly it won't leave a ring of rust on your tile (dang cans)! 

So, get yourself to Trader Joe's and buy this! You can thank me later! 

C&C in the Kitchen

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of my lunch on instagram (sorry for any C&C followers who I have declined...I like to keep my instagram a bit more private). But, make sure to follow Katie on Instagram as Cardicouture!

And since I received so many "recipe requests",  I figured this was the perfect platform to share! Here is what my lunch looked like. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo!

The salad is composed of four parts. Let me break them down for you from the top down. 

1) The cilantro dressing from Trader Joe's that Katie recently blogged about (here). This is also a staple in our house!

2) Lentil cakes using the Trader Joe's pre-cooked Lentils, which Katie also shared in her recent post. Apparently as twins we share the same tastes, go figure! 

2) Lentil Cakes- to prepare the lentil cakes I put the following ingredients into my Vitamix: 

- 1/2 the package of TJ's lentils

- 1/2 sliced red onion

- 1 red pepper

- 1/2 cup cilantro

- 1/2 cup parsley

- 1 tsp of curry powder and cumin

- about 2 tbs olive oil. 

After blending, I transfer to a bowl, add the remaining lentils, 1 beaten egg, and bread crumbs until the consistency is enough for the mixture to be made into "cakes". To cook, I fry in a pan with a little bit of oil (coconut or olive oil). These can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for a few days. I also serve these for dinner with greens and the cilantro dressing in Trader Joe's Middle Eastern flat bread. The leftovers are usually what find their way onto my salads! 

3) Quinoa Salad- This can also be eaten on its own. I usually add chicken and avocado when eating it as a salad. 

- 1 cup uncooked quinoa (cooked and cooled)

- 1 red, yellow and orange pepper diced

- 1 can black beans

- 1-2 ears of corn

- 1/2 cup cilantro

- garlic salt and salt and pepper to taste

- 1 tbs olive oil

4) The "base" Salad- Sweet kale salad straight out of the bag from Costco! 

This salad can be purchased in the produce refrigerator and includes broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, chicory, dried cranberries, roasted pumpkin seeds and poppyseed dressing. I buy this salad regularly and add chicken, avocado, tomatoes and whatever other veggies I have. It's a great base salad and can be used with any type of dressing and toppings. Although, what comes in the bag is pretty tasty!

C&C in the Kitchen

Trader Joe's. What isn't there to like?! If you're a TJ's "Frequent Flyer" you know what I'm talking about - sales associates in Hawaiian shirts, great prices, and frozen appetizers you can pass off as homemade. Everyone has their favorites. So I thought in the spirit of sharing - which we like to do here at C & C - I'd give you a few of mine. 

If you're busy, let's be real, who isn't? Then these two pre-packed items from the refrigerator section (over by the vegetables and the greens) are a great addition to your cart. 

Throw them on top of Trader Joe's Power to the Greens (a bag of kale, chard, and spinach - which is also great for smoothies), add my FAVORITE dressing (also in the refrigerator section)...and a little feta...

And you have yourself a fast, delicious, and nutritious salad for lunch or dinner! I often take this for lunch since it's easy to throw together. 

Head on over to where they sell oil and vinegar, and pick up this balsamic glaze, which is great on meat (pork chops) and fish (salmon) and is also the perfect addition to caprese salad or avocado slices. 

I have a problem keeping plants alive. Any plant - including store-bought basil. Enter this frozen chopped basil. It's not only awesome for cooking, but one cube is a refreshing addition to our morning smoothie (mango, banana (or pineapple), Greek yogurt, almond milk, flax or chia, and one cube of basil). 

And a meal isn't complete without dessert. You can find these in the freezer section, and if you're anything like me, they'll be eaten before they defrost. They're no Laduree, but let's not be too picky. 

And last, but not least. If you love fresh flowers as much as I do, Trader Joe's is your kind of place. Here's a sampling of flowers I've picked up over the last few months. I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than 10 dollars for any of these. 

What are your go-tos at Trader Joe's?