Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Cookies, Desserts, Gluten Free, No bake/cooking required!, Nuts, Snacks, Vegetarian, Wheat Free 7 Comments

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If you’ve followed my blog long enough, you know I’m all about energy balls/bites!  They are a great pre or post workout snack.  Great breakfast or snack on the go!  They are also great in lunch boxes.  Any time I can get extra protein and fiber into my kids – I’m all over it.  This week I made another pumpkin recipe and had some leftovers in the fridge that I wanted to use up.  I thought energy bites would be awesome.  These take about 5 minutes of prep, 30 minutes of chilling and then rolling them out.  They keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.  Bite-sized goodness!

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— Knead to Cook

Smoked Honey Dijon Mustard Glaze.

by Filed Under: Chicken, Fish, Fruit, Gluten Free, Grilling, Grilling/Rubs/Sauces, Pork, Sauces, Seafood, Vegetarian, Wheat Free 2 Comments

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My little farm stand, tucked away on this windy road, surrounded by Amish farms has this wonderful little gem I found probably two or so years ago and I keep going back for more… it’s smoked honey.  I’ve gotten a slew of questions about how one smokes honey every time I post a picture.  I’m unsure of the exact measures that one takes to yield such an incredible product but I’m sure glad they do!  It’s remarkably flexible… I can top grilled fruit with it or use it in glazes, such as this one.  Tonight I’m grilling up a pork tenderloin for my family and this glaze will finish it off nicely.  You can easily use it over fish or chicken as well.

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— Knead to Cook

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

by Filed Under: Beverages, Breakfast, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Nuts, Vegetarian, Vitamix, Wheat Free 14 Comments

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I’ve never really been a fan of cow’s milk, even when I was a child.  Now cheese – I love and often proclaim that I can eat my body weight in it!  When almond milk hit the scene a few years ago, we switched over to that and my family enjoyed and actually preferred it.  Because I’ve cut out most sugar in my diet, I switched over to the unsweetened milk.  I’m not a cereal eater but I do make overnight oats for breakfast and eat that everyday and use the milk to soften the oats in the recipe.  I started making my own almond milk about a year now, since I got my Vitamix machine and I love it.  First, it is so easy to do and two, it costs less to make it at home – win, win!  It also only contains three ingredients, which I clearly can pronounce.  Now, if you want to sweeten the milk you can easily add some maple syrup or honey versus using a refined sugar (start with a 1 tablespoon) and add to your preference.  Okay now onto the recipe…

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— Knead to Cook

Grilled peach salsa.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Gluten Free, Grilling, Party Foods, Pork, Salsas & Guacamole, Seafood, Snacks, Vegetarian, Wheat Free 1 Comment

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I feel like my house is filled with peaches!  Not a bad problem at all if you ask me.  These fuzzy coated fruit are a fave here and we’ve already made a gratin and smoothies with them.  Next up… a grilled peach salsa to top your favorite protein. My family is having this with grilled pork tenderloin while I’ll be eating it with some tilapia.  Honestly so good, bust out a bag of tortilla chips and have it as a dip too.  Farm fresh and eating clean sans any guilt or preservative-packed salsas from the grocery store.  Takes only minutes to grill and prepare.  Keeps for up to 3-4 days in the fridge and only gets better as the flavors have time to “mingle” in the fridge.  Totally vegan too!

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— Knead to Cook

Banana Peanut Butter Yogurt Smoothie with a twist.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fruit, Gluten Free, No bake/cooking required!, Smoothies, Snacks, Vegetarian, Vitamix, Wheat Free, Yogurt 4 Comments

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Can’t get your kids to eat “good” foods?  How about sneaking them in to what they love?  I posted a recipe for a smoothie a few months ago that had an avocado in it and I had several people email me questioning the taste and my sanity.  Ha!  Then they tried it on their 2, 3 and 4 year olds and guess what… the kids were asking for more!  Now I don’t go telling my kids what I put in their smoothies because then they would complain or not drink them.  Today was the perfect example… my oldest daughter went to the gym yesterday to workout with my 75 year old dad.  He kicked her tush!  I got a text this morning that stated simply “I’m broken.”  Ha ha.  Now, I shouldn’t laugh but every day of my life I have a sore muscle or muscles.  The constant pursuit of fitness will yield these results.  So with a chuckle, I knew I had to make her a nice big protein smoothie to help her sore muscles rebuild.  She, along with the workers that I have in my house today installing our pool table, all gobbled it down and loved it.  None the wiser of the ingredients!

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— Knead to Cook

Smoked paprika grilled shrimp.

by Filed Under: Rubs, Seafood, Vegetarian, Wheat Free Leave a Comment

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Today my girls and I headed out to the mall to buy some clothes for back-to-school.  Bracing myself I survived the crowded, dark, music-blasting, perfume-bombed stores to yield quite a stash of clothing for two teens to be quite happy with (despite not wanting school to start).  Rushing home, I needed a good dinner idea that could be made in a flash.  This came to mind instantly!  This dish is great to top a salad or serve as an appetizer.  Smoky and packed with flavor.  This rub is also great on any light and flaky fish (or chicken/pork).  It whips up in second and grilling only takes a few minutes.  I’m serving atop a fresh bed of baby spinach.  Perfect, easy summer dinner on a busy day (they all seem that way lately).

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs of large to extra large peel and eat shrimp
1 tablespoons of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (I used LoSalt to use a low sodium option)
1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper

Directions:

Mix the spices in a bowl until well-combined.  While preheating your outdoor grill or pan (on an outdoor grill you will need a mesh pan for grilling so the shrimp don’t fall through the grates) – preheat to 375-400 degrees.  Rub the shrimp in the spice mixture.  Coat each side really well.  Grill for  4-5 minutes on each side.  Remove and serve or top your greens and enjoy.

— Knead to Cook

Fast, fresh tomato sauce.

by Filed Under: Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Pasta, Sauces, Vegetarian, Wheat Free 2 Comments

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Just back from an awesome 12 day vacation (my Cabot posting will be up this week as it may take days to download all of the pictures from my fun race weekend in Maine) and inundated with fresh tomatoes from the garden.  Today, as it always seems to be as we return back from vacationing in August – was filled with school shopping on the brain.  I had one child done and just received the other’s list for supplies.  So after many errands today, I had just enough time to whip up my down and dirty tomato sauce.  No roasting tomatoes here… just a quick, fabulously fresh sauce that you can top your veggie or whole wheat pasta with and enjoy with a loaf of crusty bread and a glass of wine.  I love a good sauce you can make and just let simmer on the stove while you do a million other things… and that is just what was needed today.

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— Knead to Cook

Gazpacho.

by Filed Under: Appetizers, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Mexican, No bake/cooking required!, Party Foods, Soups, Vegetarian, Vitamix, Wheat Free 4 Comments

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I love making vegetarian dinners for my family.  It’s important to me to do this a few times a week.  This one, I admit, is super easy when you have a bounty of fresh tomatoes flowing from the garden daily.  I typically make salsa or roast my tomatoes for sauce but I thought it would be a nice night for a cold soup with some crusty bread and tons of flavor!  If you love salsa, you will totally flip over this soup.  Also, great to make the night before or a few hours before dinner and let the flavors mingle while chilling.  Also great for an appetizer idea served in tall, thin glasses as shooters.  You can top this with fresh sliced jalapeños or cold shrimp would be perfection too!  Plus another great thing about this recipe, no heating up your kitchen and preparation is super fast!   Vegan.

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— Knead to Cook

Shrimp Salsa.

by Filed Under: Appetizers, Dips, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fish, Gluten Free, Mexican, No bake/cooking required!, Party Foods, Salsas & Guacamole, Seafood, Side dish, Snacks, Vegetarian, Wheat Free Leave a Comment

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Lately I haven’t been eating any meat, actually it’s been quite a few months since I have.  I haven’t had a taste for it so I adjust my sails and go forward.  I’m sadly not a seafood lover but I do love, and have since I was pregnant with my oldest 15 years ago, cold shrimp.  Not cooked shrimp, it has to be cold.  I actually think I love the spicy cocktail sauce more than anything (the shrimp being a venue to get that to my mouth) but as of late, I started venturing out of my comfort zone and this little dish is now one of my favorites that I cannot stop eating.  Hashtag addictive!  Ha ha.  This is the perfect salsa to serve with tortilla chips, as a side or straight up out of the bowl like I do it.  It is so good and so refreshing.  It also proves my point once again, clean eating can be easy, quite tasty and fun.  Plus the longer this has to sit in the fridge, the tastier it becomes.  Easiest recipe ever!

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— Knead to Cook

Dried Fava Bean Hummus.

by Filed Under: Appetizers, Condiments, Dips, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Indian-inspired., Party Foods, Snacks, Stocks/Broths, Vegetarian, Vitamix, Wheat Free 4 Comments

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I often buy bags of beans (thanks to Bob’s Red Mill) that look interesting or something I haven’t tried before.  Now I’ve eaten fresh fava beans but never dried so I grabbed the bag and vowed to make something this week (and not let it get buried in the back of pantry never to be seen again).  This is a crazy (yes, another) week with three swim meets, one of which we are hosting amongst construction in our house, training and our swim banquet.  My eye is twitching in stress as I type this (ha ha).  So in my free hour that I was blessed with today, I grabbed the beans and cooked them according to the package directions.  It only took about 40 minutes.  The texture is similar to a baked potato when done.  They are packed with protein, fiber and iron!  Perfect as I haven’t been eating meat in the past few months.  And this is what I did with them after draining…

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— Knead to Cook