BOLO BELLA

LASDI ©

The transition from summer to autumn is more than just a seasonal solstice change in my house.  Those of you who love Autumn best of all the seasons know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a feeling.   And it runs DEEP.  It's in the air, it's in the colors, and it's in the food!

It's the season I love the most when it comes to cooking.  The switch from August to September is my hard line in the sand (pun intended), and I start to make the change without waiting for the official date.  This meal is one of my go-to's for that change, and it follows all the things I just spoke about: the smell in the air while you're cooking this meal will transition you into the time of year; the layers of burgundy, auburn, orange, and purple colors on the plate bring about the the genuine acknowledgment that this meal goes along with the transformation; and once you taste it, YOU KNOW FALL HAS ARRIVED!

This meal is perfect for Sunday Supper, Meatless Monday, the vegetarian or plant-based eater(s) in your life, or for any time while the season is in place!  Though I put it over low-carb pasta, it is hearty enough to eat without it.  

This does require just a smidge more work than the usual recipes I like to post, but it is worth every bit of it.  TRUST ME!

Eat every bite slowly, knowing the season will pass quickly, and enjoy the blessings of the seaon you're in!

EGGPLANT LENTIL BOLOGNESE

1 large purple eggplant

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

1 large onion, diced small

4 stalks celery, diced small

4 carrots, diced small

8 oz pkg mushrooms, diced small

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can tomato paste

2 tsp garlic powder

3 tbs fresh oregano, minced

3 tbs fresh basil, minced

3 cups cabernet (2 for the recipe, 1 for you to drink whilest cooking!)

1- 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes

1 pkg lentils, cooked

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

Rub the eggplant lightly with evoo just enough to coat it in a thin layer. Wrap it in foil tightly and place in a preheated 375-degree oven. Bake until very tender, about an hour. Cook lentils according to instructions, draining any excess liquid left over.  Place eggplant and lentils aside to cool.  On a medium-high flame, heat a large, heavy saucepan (I use my cast iron Dutch oven!) for about a minute.  Pour enough evoo to cover the bottom and let it warm about fifteen seconds.  Add your veggies, a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper, and stir.  Brown the vegetables until caramelized and soft, about ten minutes, stirring about every two minutes or so. Add in the garlic powder and the fresh herbs, stir, and cook another minute or so.
Add the tomato paste, stir, and let cook another minute or so (see notes). Stir in 2 cups wine, diced tomatoes and stir.  Change your heat to low, and cook about five minutes.  While this is cooking, remove your cooled eggplant from the foil and scrape the insides from the skin onto a cutting board.  Mash with a fork.  Carefully add your eggplant and lentils to the pot, sea salt and pepper to taste, and continue to cook another ten minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken and marry.  Serve over pasta, if desired, and especially serve with a side of cabernet baby bella mushrooms and onions.

NOTES: when you add the tomato paste and stir, it may seem as though it is sticking to the bottom of the pan.  This is great!  Once you pour in the wine, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and get all that flavor into the sauce! 

CABERBET BABY BELLAS & ONIONS

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

2 large onion (purple, if you want that depth of Autumn color!), cut in half and sliced

3- 8 oz pkgs baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp garlic powder

2 cups cabernet

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

Heat a large, heavy pan (I use my cast iron!), on medium-high heat until it smokes slightly.  Pour in about 2 tbs of evoo, and add your sliced onion.  Stir the onion, evening it out and let sit for about two minutes, or until you see the bottom starting to brown, then stir again.  Add your garlic powder and stir again. Let sit another two minutes or so, add another 3 tbs evoo to the pan, then add your mushrooms and stir again, evening out the mushrooms and onions.  Stir about every two minutes, until the onions and mushrooms have a beautiful caramel color.  Add a half cup of wine and let cook until all the wine is reduced and absorbed by the mushrooms and onions.  Do this over again, a half cup at a time until all the wine has been used and is completely absorbed by the mushrooms and onions, and the mixture seems a bit creamy.  Add your salt and pepper, stir, (see notes). Serve with eggplant lentil bolognese!

NOTES: do not salt until you are almost ready to serve, as the salt will draw out liquid from the mushrooms and you will end up with a pan full of brown water instead of purple creamy goodness!

Yellow Velvet

LASDI ©

You know that old country song “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” by one Ms. Barbara Mandrell? Well that is kind of how I feel about this recent plant-based boom. I am not vegan, nor do I lay claim to the Meatless Monday origin, but I DO know I’ve been doing vegetarian meals one-or-more times a week for AGES! I suffered persecution from many (well, at least an eye roll or two) when I even mentioned it!

But as The People are coming to a much healthier realization as a whole, they are seeking out better ways to be younger and live longer, and also to ease up on that heavy carbon footprint. So plant-based and vegetarian options are no longer chastised! They are now a welcomed, relevant way to help with all of the above.

Enter in my eccentric obsession with themes, seasons, colors, and the like, and August means all things reflecting sunshine, sunflowers, daffodils, and daisies! And it also means this beautiful, light, creamy, yellow bell pepper soup! I paired it with a GORGEOUS melon salad, a crisp glass of sauvignon blanc, and The Hubster for a perfect August meal!

These are also very quick and easy recipes that will keep your oven off on a super-hot late summer day!

YELLOW VELVET SOUP

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

1 tbs butter (see notes)

6 yellow bell peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic

2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp coriander

sea salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

4 oz cream cheese, softened (see notes)

Heat your oil and butter in a large pot (I use my cast-iron Dutch oven!) over medium-high heat until the butter is melted, but not browned. Add all of your veggies, and sauté for three-to-five minutes, stirring often (see notes). Pour in veggie broth, add seasonings, and stir. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, and turn heat down to low. Let simmer about twenty minutes, until all the veggies are nice and soft. Take your handy-dandy immersion blender, or in a blender, purée until smooth (see notes). Add cream cheese and blend again until the cheese is completely melted and the consistency of the soup is smooth and velvety. Serve with melon salad!

NOTES: For vegan version, replace butter and cream cheese with vegan butter and vegan cream cheese! The key here when sautéing the veggies is to cook them but not allow them to brown so that the bright yellow integrity of the soup stays intact. if using a blender instead of an immersion blender to purée, remember to allow it to cool just a bit prior to blending to avoid burns or soup explosion! Also, if you’d like a bit of spice, feel free to throw a little chopped fresh jalapeno into your sauté! Yum!

MELON SALAD

watermelon, chopped, chunked, or melon-balled

cantaloupe, chopped, chunked, or melon-balled

honeydew melon, chopped, chunked, or melon-balled

cucumber, chopped, chunked, or melon-balled

mint, minced, shredded, or finely cut

lime juice

teeny sprinkle of sea salt

In a large bowl, combine your melon, cucumber, and mint. Sprinkle with lime juice and sea salt. Toss. EAT!

BURNT OUT

LASDI©

Oh boy. That’s a scary title for a recipe! It is a phrase we don’t like to hear when it comes to life, and it is DEFINITELY a phrase we don’t want to associate with what we COOK!

I have to tell you it is so fitting for me at this particular time in my own life! This last week has been spent getting our home sale-ready, which means all furniture out and into storage, painting, cleaning, and repairing, waiting for our newest Grittle (GRAND Little) to be born, speaking engagements, catering jobs, and singing gigs coming my way (yay!), and all the while having to do the normal life things, too, of course!

I’m not burnt out as it were, but I sure am TIRED! So dinner last night had to be quick, easy, and nutritious, and still be DELICIOUS! Well this really hit the mark!

Red meat is a rare treat in our house (no pun intended!) but as a reward for all the hard work we’ve put in, I made a gorgeous flank steak with some of my famous chimichurri sauce and was looking for a way to incorporate the veggies I had in the fridge to go along with it.

I found leeks, delicata squash, broccolini, green beans, carrots, purple cabbage, garlic cloves, and red chard, and I garnished it with the carrot tops.

I realized this would be fantastic as an appetizer tray, or alongside a charcuterie, too! The best part about the recipe I am about to share with you is how completely flexible and inter-changeable it is! Isn’t that exactly what we need in our life so we don’t get burnt out?

CHARRED V EGGIE TRAY

WHATEVER VEGGIES YOU WANT! (fresh, not frozen) (prepared by cutting, slicing, dicing, or leaving whole)

evoo (extra virgin olive oil)

sea salt

pepper

garlic powder

chili powder

(OR WHATEVER SEASONING YOU LIKE!)

On a stainless steel or non-stick baking sheet (see notes), strategically place all your veggies together however you like. VERY LIGHTLY sprinkle evoo over the top of the veggies (see notes). Sprinkle the seasonings from a high point over the veggies (see notes). Place your oven broiler on high and place the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven. Set a timer for five minutes and check on the veggies to make certain they are not burning. Charred is completely different from burnt! Set the timer for every three minutes afterwards, rotating your baking sheet each time, and char to desired color and consistency. Take note during the process that charred veggies will ultimately be al dente so try not to overcook and send them into the burnt abyss!

NOTES: If you do not own a stainless steel or non-stick baking sheet, my suggestion is to prepare whatever baking sheet you have with parchment paper so that the veggies do not stick to the pan. The key to charring in a broiler is to not use too much oil so that the veggies maintain their integrity and don’t get mushy, so as you are sprinkling, either place a finger in the spout of the oil, or pour in your hand and gently and tenderly sprinkle over the top of the veggies. It is important to sprinkle the seasonings from a highter point to ensure the veggies are evenly seasoned. You and / or your guests will be wowed by this edible painting!

CHIM-CHIM-CHURRI

LASDI© (photo cred: Adrian Garcia)

Sunday evenings are usually reserved at Garcia Manor. Not always, but we really try to make them our ‘sanctuary’ nights. That can mean hunkering down and resting from the previous week, being productive to get ready for the upcoming week, movie night, catch-up-on-our-shows night, Sunday Supper with pomp-and-circumstance, leftovers on paper plates – any and all of that is acceptable! Most times it means reward night for me! Being the low-carb girl and as-healthy-as-I-can girl when it comes to food, I like to reward myself with something I wouldn’t normally eat. I don’t believe in “cheat days”. Think about it. If you went to your partner and told them you cheated, how do you think they would react? But if you went to them and said, “You’ve been so good to me. I’d like to reward you today!”, don’t you think you would get a completely different reaction? That’s how I feel about my relationship with food and my body. I do the best I can by it, and so sometimes I reward myself with something special!

This reward was on a Sunday evening, so it was the best of two worlds! I don’t eat red meat a lot, but I luh-huh-huuuuv it. I went with a Latin Fusion and made flank steak (grilled, so it was perfect for this hot Texas June summer!), squashed red potatoes, and baked plantains. But let me tell you about the best piece to this reward puzzle: home-made CHIMICHURRI SAUCE! It. Was. MAGICAL!!!!

It made perfect sense to me that the name of it sounded very similar to the song Mary Poppins sings in the magical movie!

Chim chiminey

Chim chiminey

Chim chim cher-ee!

A sweep is as lucky

As lucky can be

Well, it was a full sweep for me, and I was definitely the lucky one!

The magnificence of this condiment is that it not only tastes great on steak or potatoes or with baked plantains, it goes with EVERYTHING. Eggs, shrimp, chicken……the list goes on and on!

So, She-Peeps – REWARD YOURSELVES. May it be ever magical.

CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

1 cup parsley

1 cup cilantro

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded

1 full bulb of garlic (Yep. The whole thing)

½ onion

½ cup fresh oregano

½ tsp sea salt

½ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

Put all ingredients into a blender and jush! That’s it! Add more red wine vinegar or evoo as needed, or if it seems a tad too dry as you’re blending. But only a little at a time! Remember: you can always add, but you can’t take away!

I don’t think there will be any, but you can keep any leftovers in a tight-seal container in the fridge for up to a week or freeze it in some ice cube trays to just pop them out when needed!!

MOLÉ AMORÉ

photo cred: HERE

Oh, February! I love how you make it totally acceptable to cook with chocolate and other gratifying extravagances! In Life As She Does It’s affinity partnership with Oil Wife Life (Covenant Testing Technologies, #CovenantCares), I was given the challenge to create a recipe using Nutella. CHALLENGE. ACCEPTED.

Some people luh-huh-huuuv the chocolate-y hazelnutty delight, but I also know that some people seem to shame the blameless jar of wonder. Personally, I think that’s because they envision themselves tucked in a blanket on the couch on a dreary day, watching their favorite Hallmark Channel movie with nothing but a jar of Nutella and a spoon to keep them company. Well, you will receive no judgment from me!

Even though I am a low-carb girl that tries to eat as healthy as possible, I also believe in rewards and indulgences from time-to-time. I found this recipe to be a fantastic mix of both and let me just tell you - The Hubster and I were thrilled to have it! It is a rich and luscious, and just perfect for a chilly night!

So my challenge to YOU is to make it for your Valentine, and then get TWO spoons to share the rest of the jar for dessert!

CHOCO-NUT CHICKEN MOLÉ

i 1 small pkg boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (of any extra fat or skin)

1 small pkg boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

sea salt

pepper

paprika

cumin

2 chipotle in adobe, chopped finely

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped finely

1/2 cup marcona almonds, chopped coarsely

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp fresh oregano, or 2 tsp dried

1 can rotel

2 tbs tomato paste

1/4 cup Nutella

1/2 bar unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarsely

3/4 cup chicken broth

Heat a large, dry skillet on high heat for two minutes (I use my cast-iron, of course!). Pour enough evoo to coat the bottom of the skillet and allow to heat another minute. While heating oil, season both sides of chicken with sea salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin by lightly sprinkling to coat. Lower heat to medium-high. Cook about three-to-four chicken pieces at a time in the skillet, careful not to crowd the pan, for about five minutes on each side, placing each batch on paper towel covered platter.

Pour about two tablespoons more evoo into the skillet, and add the chipotle in adobe peppers, garlic, and onion. Cook on medium-high heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. While the pepper mixture cooks, slice your chicken and set aside. Add marcona almonds and stir to combine. In a small bowl, stir together sea salt, pepper, allspice, paprika, cumin, and garlic powder, then add to the onion mixture and stir. Sprinkle with oregano and stir again.

Add rotel and tomato paste. Stir and let simmer one minute. Add Nutella, chocolate bar, and chicken broth and stir slowly. Cook and stir until thickened and smooth, about six minutes. Add the sliceed chicken to the pan, cover and simmer on low heat for ten minutes.

Sprinkle with a drizzle of sour cream, some cotija cheese, and serve over brown or cauli rice!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sweet Widdle Punkin'

LASDI©

This perfect crown jewel of the Autumn Season turned out BEYOND!! Look, even if you’re not a super-huge cheesecake fan OR if you hate all things pumpkin, I cannot tell you how much you need to try this recipe!! TRUST ME - no matter what - you will love this. You. Will. LOVE THIS……It looks daunting at first, but I promise it’s a cake walk! (No pun intended!!)

1 and 1/3 cups graham crackers crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

2- 8 oz okgs cream cheese , softened

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 cup (or one can) pumpkin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp clove

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

The very important part here is to preheat your oven; HOWEVER COMMA, you must preheat it lower than standard ovens start, which is typically at 350. YOU MUST PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 300 FOR THIS RECIPE SO AS TO SLOW COOK HIS BABY TO ITS RIGHTFUL BEAUTY.

Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, including up the sides as much as possible. Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter in the 9x 13-inch pan prepared pan, and press to the bottom evenly. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar on low speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, but do not over-blend. Spoon half of the mixture over the crust and carefully spread evenly. Add the pumpkin puree and all spices to the remaining cream cheese mixture and blend until smooth. Carefully spoon over mixture in pan.

Bake 45 minutes minutes or until just set. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Turn off the oven and leave the door barely open to allow the cheesecake to cool slowly, for about 45 minutes or until oven has cooled. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before cutting into desired shapes. They can be cut into bars, but in my case, I use a circular cutter. I whip some heavy whipping cream and freshly-grated nutmeg together and top the pumpkin cheesecake with a dollup. These SCREAM autumn!!!! (The DAUGHTS just informed me that it is actually National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day at the time of this blog post! How ya like them punkins??)

SQUASH IT!

LASDI©

Cooking is my love language to others. Food itself is one of my own love languages. I think this is so for most of us. This is the reason I wrote the book A Life of Flavor. It is a book about finding the joy in the dark times life brings us, with matching recipes for comfort. Everything we DO revolves around food, and for my family, we are usually talking about the next meal to come during the one we are sitting together for!

One of the things I really like to do for The Hubster is cook a Saturday morning breakfast. There are very rare times we have a free Saturday morning, so when we do, I like to express my love for him by making something awesome to commemorate the opportunity!

Also, because I want to keep him around for as long as possible, I try to make it as healthy as possible. I’m not ALWAYS able to do so - #RealLife - but do the very best I can. I am the low-carb girl of the family, so I also do my best to keep it that way for him, too. All of those things do not make for an easy-but-awesome breakfast.

Challenge. ACCEPTED.

Here we have a bacon (uncured with no nitrates or preservatives, of course!), egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. The clencher? The “bread” is butternut squash panny-cakes!! And boy-oh-BOY were they delicious and perfectly bread-like!

I know it is really easy to take a couple of slices of bread out of the package or whatever bread of your choice for a morning sandwich; hear my cry!! This is SO EASY, and SO WORTH YOUR HEALTH.

PS It is PERFECT for September as we transition out of Summer and into the Autumn season!

So try it! Let me know how you like it!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH PANNY-CAKES

2 cups butternut squash

extra virgin olive oil

1 cup almond flour

4 eggs

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp baking soda

coconut oil

For my butternut squash, I bought pre-peeled and cubed at the grocery store. It’s just easier and faster. I tossed them with a little bit of evoo and placed them on a baking sheet. I broiled them for about ten minutes until they were cooked through, and then put them into a standing mixer bowl. If you don’t have a standing mixer, a hand mixer will do just fine! Place all other ingredients up to coconut oil into mixing bowl and mix unil blended into a loose batter consistency.

Heat heavy pan (I use my cast-iron griddle, flat side!) without oil for about two minutes. Add about a tablespoon of coconut oil before each panny-cake prior to cooking, and adjust heat with each one accordingly. Ladle or pour desired amount onto pan and cook over medium heat until browned. Just like a regular panny-cake, when you see the bubbles on the upside, flip it carefully and cook the other side until brown.

NOTES: This was to be bread for the breakfast sandwich; however, if you would like a sweeter panny-cake, add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the batter and add your favorite syrup after cooking and prior to eating! I just squashed the bacon, egg, and cheese right between two huge pieces and watched it disappear with a smile on The Hubster’s face!

THE IMPASTA

Photos by: Adrian Garcia (LASDI©)

I was cooking for seven families.  Not seven people.  Seven families.  Well, Framilies.  You know what framily is, right?  When you have really good friends you consider to be more like family.  So let me correct myself - I was cooking a meal for seven Framilies!  

We were celebrating being together because our Framily from Hungary (they're missionaries there) were home in The States for a visit and we just wanted to be together and laugh and play games like we do every time they come.

So what does one cook that is inexpensive but delicious, and will stretch among all those people?  PASTA!  Oh, Y'all.  There were so many different kinds of pasta!  For the white "sawse" lovers, I made chicken alredo with the most beautiful rainbow pasta I've ever seen (I bought it at Trader Joe's).  For the meat-lovers, I made lasagna with pasta sheets from scratch and TONS of Italian sausage, ground turkey, and ground sirloin.  But then there's me.  The low-carb girl.  Who happens to LOVE pasta.  But I'm not the girl who can eat even a small plate of it and not gain ten pounds, which is why I'm low-carb in the first place!  So guess what?  I made IMPASTA.  Yep!  I made the most incredible fettucine out of almond flour!  And the best part is: It is only THREE INGREDIENTS!!

With this recipe (made very simlarly to Fathead Dough), I made a primavera with so many gorgeous veggies that it looked almost too pretty to eat!  I also made a simple garlic-butter-Parmesan fettuccine which may have actually been the star of the show! So I have provided the Impasta recipe below for those of you interested in low-carb deliciousness that will knock your noodle-lovin' socks off!

PS - I also made a salad.  You know, for balance.

IMPASTA

2 tsp almond flour

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 egg yolk

(No, seriously.  That's it.)

Melt almond flour and cheese in the microwave for one minute (or a minute-and-a-half if cheese is not fully melted).  Wait about 30 seconds for the cheese to cool just a little bit and then add an egg yolk.  With a spoonula, press and fold the yolk into the melted cheese until it's completely mixed into the cheese, and gives a yellow appearance.  Reheat the cheese for 10-15 seconds.  Spray two pieces of parchment paper with cooking spray for rolling the dough out.  Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick, using one piece of parchment on the bottom, and the other piece of parchment paper on top to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or your work space. Don't roll it out too thin.  

Slice fettuccine strips and let dry in the fridge for about four hours.  Bring a pot of water to a boil, cook for one minute, and then strain with a colandar, making sure you immediately pour cold water over the pasta, so the noodles don't stick to each other too much.

Reheat with any "sawse" you prefer together in a pan, or reheat in your microwave with a little butter for about 20 seconds.

NOTES:  What do you call a fake noodle?  (Oh, come on.  You get it!)