Recipe: Orange & Green Goodness

 Eat your colors!

Today's color is Orange (with a touch of green)
Butternut Squash
Mandarin Orange
with Basil and Mint Leaves.

As Fall's bounty comes to and end, we can still eat squashes 'cos these babies usually hold out for a bit; you can store them for a while and still enjoy them long after everything else is gone.
To make:
>Throw the whole squash into the oven on baking tray (or if it's not to hard you can cut it in two first and take out seeds). Once roasted cut out cubes of the meat & throw into a bowl.
>Peel and separate mandarin sections, throw into the bowl.
>Add fresh mint and basil leaves
>Add a like bit of olive oil, salt and black pepper.
>Toss
>Yum!

Oven-Baked Tofu Scramble

I love gas-powered cooking ranges. I love my oven. I love cast iron pans.

I swear with the combination of these two things, I can't go wrong with meals I make. They are a magic team.

On days when I am lazy, or busy, or making a lot of things at once (like brunch or dinner parties), my oven and cast iron pans are my best friends.

Almost like a crock pot. You can just toss everything in, turn over to anywhere between 350-450 degrees, depending on what you're cooking. Check back in 15 min-1hr later and your meal is ready.

I usually make tofu scrambles over a stove top, but sometimes I remember I can just toss it in the oven to create effortless magic. The good thing about this is that it also saves it from becoming to mashed up (unless that's what you want. I sometimes do).

For this
Cube some Extra Firm Tofu
Chop some Bell pepper, onions (and other veggies you like)
Add oil, salt, peppers, and other spices and herbs you like
Throw into oven at 400 degrees

Cook for about 30 mins, check and turn over, cook for longer if you want browner.
Ready!

Recipe: When I FALL in love...it will be forever!

Let me introduce you to my 'Ode to Fall' salad. It's delicious!

Here's the story: I like Jicama and when I run into it, I remember that I like it. I had this large Jicama that I needed to use quickly because it was going to go bad soon. So I knew it would be the perfect thing to make for a brunch party where people could help me put a dent in it.

I knew I wanted it in a salad and looked online for recipes; I found one I liked but by the time I got up to start making it, I forgot what it was, and because I can't follow a recipe to save my life. I was like 'umm, how about this instead'? I had to think/work fast because, I was expecting a lot of people over any minute and was still behind. I was excited about doing something that was 'hella fall' and I liked the colors I could see it making. We had just picked up all these cool fruits and veggies from the farmer's market, so I thought how about it. The result was a winner, and I'm just saying this from all the good feedback I got that day.

Okay, so now pay attention because this is REALLY complicated.

Ingredients

1. Jicama
2. Fuyu Persimmons
3. Pomegranate

Directions:

1. Grab Bowl
2. Peel Jicama
3. Shred into bowl
4. Grab Persimmon
5. Shred into Bowl
6. Open/Tear Pomegranate
7. Drop seeds into bowl
8. Tear off mint leaves
9. Garnish
10. Proceed to Ravish.

Complicated. Right? Okay so it's not. I somehow suspect this will work on kids. Got kids? Try it on and let me know.

Recipe: BuzzwordFood Salad

The concept of this salad makes me laugh. It comes from the 'Superfood Salad' movement. Apparently they have these at Whole Foods (I don't really shop there except for urgent situations or quick natural food finds) so I don't know. But I actually got one on a road trip back from Oregon to Oakland at a Fred Meyers. I thought 'oh what a great idea!'. I liked the salad a lot, and I've decided I will go on to make various versions and themes of superfood salads, except I will be calling them BuzzwordFood because basically it's all the trendy new foods that we are going crazy about these days. Lol!

In this Salad:
Quinoa
Sunflower Seeds
Pomegranate
Avocados
Kale
Cherry Tomatoes
Black Beans
Red Onions
*and in my snootiest voice* all tossed in a home-made acai berry juice dressing (acai berry juice, non-fat yogurt, olive oil, salt, black pepper).

You too can make your own BuzzwordFood salad with these or other 'superfoods'.