Author Archives: ebchr

Mexican Hot Chocolate

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Merry Merry Christmas everyone!

Feeling chilly? Need a drink after playing in the snow? This Mexican Hot Chocolate will warm you right up! A delicious blend of spices including ginger and cayenne make this a wonderful steamy drink for a cold winter day.

Blog mexican hot chocolate (2) Blog mexican hot chocolate (1)

Ingredients (1 serving)

  • 2 tsps cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • cayenne to taste (I use about 1/8 tsp, but I like it spicy!)
  • 1 Tbsp agave syrup or honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup milk (or coconut milk)
  • Half ‘n’ half or cream to taste

Directions

  • Mix dry ingredients in a cup
  • Add agave and water
  • Microwave on high for 20 seconds
  • Stir till well blended, add milk and return to the microwave for another minute or until hot
  • Add some whipped cream (optional)

dit-elle-Esther

Hot Artichoke and Crab Dip

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We just had our annual Iron Chef party – the challenge was to use ONE of the following ingredients in a dish: crab, chocolate or cranberries. I picked crab and made this dip. Guess who won the iron chef challenge!? Yep, that’s right – Hot Artichoke & Crab Dip! 🙂

This dip is everything you would expect from a hot creamy artichoke and crab dip – plus more! The 1/2 tsp cayenne adds a fabulous kick. Spicy but not too spicy. If you’re not into spice and heat – omit! Definitely not recommended for kids, but a wonderful “grown up” dish. I served this with cucumber and red bell pepper slices, but toasted baguette or pita would be great if you prefer!

blog crab artichoke dip

Ingredients

  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked crabmeat
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese + 1/4 cup for topping
  • 1/3 cup chopped green onion + 2 tsps for garnish
  • 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper + 2 tsps for garnish
  • 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Serve with

  • 1 hot house cucumber, sliced (for dipping)
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced (for dipping)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
  • Combine cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth; stir in garlic and cayenne. Gently stir artichoke hearts, crab, Parmesan cheese, 1/3 cup green onion, 1/3 cup red bell pepper. Transfer the dip to a 9-inch pie dish and sprinkle top with rest of cheese.
  • Bake in the preheated oven until topping is golden brown and dip is hot, ~30 minutes. Garnish with 2 teaspoons green onion and 2 teaspoons chopped red bell pepper.

dit-elle-Esther

Lantern Craft

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It’s that time of year.. the days are short, the nights are long, and if it’s raining, the days just feel dark! These lanterns are a wonderful kid activity and winter decoration to bring some warm light into the house! Growing up in Scandiavia and going to a Waldorf, we would make these every November for our Lantern Festival. They are super simple to make and you can get creative with shapes, sizes and color schemes! Have fun! 🙂

Blog DIY Lantern craft (7) Blog DIY Lantern craft (6) Blog DIY Lantern Craft x4 Blog DIY Lantern craft (5)

Supplies

  • Glass jar (any shape/size OK, but needs to be glass not plastic)
  • Colored tissue paper
  • Glue (watered out Elmer’s glue)
  • Brushes or sponge brushes to brush light coat of glue on outside of jar
  • Tea lights / votive candles
  • Shiny star stickers (optional)

Directions

  • ‘Paint’ the outside of the jars with a thin coat of watered out glue and rip up pieces of colored tissue paper and stick to jar
  • Repeat with multiple layers until desired color density / effect is reached
  • Let dry, and add a few star stickers
  • Light candles and drop inside the jars
  • Enjoy super cosiness! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

A Pop of Fuchsia for Gray Fall Days

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Inspired by the bright pink flowers on Camelia trees, and especially in winter or days when all you want to wear is black, gray, blues.. a fabric flower clip adds such a nice pop of color to the palette! Flower clips are easy to find online or in stores or make one with a flower from a craft store and clip. I’ll add that to my DIY & kid fun project and publish whenever we get there! 🙂

Blog Black Outfit with Flower-2

Blog Black Outfit with Flower-1

Lauren’s daughter Maya was entertaining us by digging in the dirt and having a lot of fun! 🙂

Jeans: Silver Jeans Co. On sale now. 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Apple Tartlets

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It’s definitely apple season! Pick a favorite cooking apple (Granny Smith apples are wonderful), make this easy crust, and voila – easy paleo dessert. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for some totally-non-paleo goodness! 🙂

The recipe calls for apple juice – this is the only sweetener. I thought the apples might be too tart – but they are perfect. Even without the ice cream, this is a yummy dessert!

These Upside Down Apple Tartlets are inspired from Elana’s Pantry (with some minor modifications).

Blog apple tartlett (3) Blog apple tartlett (1)

Crust

  • 2 cups blanched almond flour
  • dash sea salt
  • ÂĽ cup coconut oil, at room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Filling

  • 6 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced, and cut into ÂĽ-inch slices (I like Granny Smith Apples for baking)
  • 1 cup apple juice
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (What’s arrowroot? That’s what I said! It’s a natural thickener – a starch extracted from arrowroot. Read more on Wikipedia.)
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° and place eight 1-cup wide mouth Mason jars on a large baking sheet (you could also make one large pie/tart if you prefer – just use an ~8″ round or square baking dish and crumble or lay the crust on top)
  2. To make the crust, pulse together almond flour and salt in a food processor, then add coconut oil and vanilla and pulse until the mixture forms a ball
  3. Transfer dough to a piece of parchment paper and place in freezer for 20 minutes
  4. To make filling, toss apples, apple juice, lemon juice, arrowroot powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl to combine
  5. Transfer apples to Mason jars so that each one is overfull and divide remaining juice from the bottom of the bowl between the jars
  6. Remove dough from freezer, place between 2 pieces of parchment paper generously dusted with almond flour and roll out to about ¼-inch thick and remove top sheet of parchment
  7. Use top of a wide-mouth Mason jar to cut out 8 circles of dough
  8. Place one on top of each apple-filled Mason jar
  9. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown
  10. Serve the tartlets hot out of the oven with coconut whipped cream or ice cream 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles

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Love the Gluten Free Waffles we posted last week? Here’s a pumpkin version! 🙂

Blog gluten free waffles-2 (1) Blog gluten free waffles 2 (6)  Blog gluten free waffles 2 (2)

Ingredients

  • 1  cup rice flour or a gluten free flour mix
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal (omit if you are corn free and add another 1/4 cup of the rice flour back)
  • 1/2 cup potato starch (NOT Potato Flour)
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 2  teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • dash of salt
  • 1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works, too)

Directions

  • Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another
  • Combine and mix
  • Add more liquid if you need to thin the batter (water, milk or more pumpkin)
  • Scoop in portions onto waffle iron and cook
  • Serve with butter & sugar & cinnamon, maple syrup & whipped cream & toasted pecans, or other favorite toppings

dit-elle-Esther

Gluten Free Waffles

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Need a great staple waffle recipe? Having a hard time finding a good gluten free version? Here you go! This is a great gluten free waffle recipe. To quote Adam, “how are these so good?” I think that about sums it up.

I have a little Norwegian waffle iron – makes beautiful hearts that were a huge hit with the kids! Scandinavians like to serve waffles for dessert with strawberry or raspberry jam and sour cream – or with a large scoop of ice cream! Shown below with whipped cream, some powdered sugar and raspberries!

Blog gluten free waffles 2 (7) Blog gluten free waffles 2 (4)

Ingredients

  • 3/4  cup rice flour or a gluten free flour mix
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal (omit if you are corn free and add another 1/4 cup of the rice flour back)
  • 1/2 cup potato starch (NOT Potato Flour)
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 2  teaspoons baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works, too)

Directions

  • Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another
  • Combine and mix
  • Scoop in portions onto waffle iron and cook
  • Serve with butter & sugar, jam & sour cream, maple syrup, fresh fruit, powdered sugar or other favorite toppings

dit-elle-Esther

Polenta Torte

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Like gorgonzola? Then you will love this dish! Don’t like it? Then simply omit and stick with the parmesan cheese. This is a wonderful polenta & greens dish, spiced with some hot chili flakes and pepper and topped with cheese. Not really a kid dish, given the spice, but you could make a dish of plain polenta and top with cheese – a favorite in our house!

Blog polenta torte with greens

Ingredients

  • 4 c lukewarm water
  • 1 c stone-ground coarse cornmeal
  • salt to taste
  • 1-2 lbs mixed tender greens (spinach, kale, arugula)
  • 3 Tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • ground black pepper
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 c grated pecorino cheese (like parmesan)
  • Crumbled gorgonzola

Directions

  • Heat olive oil and add pepper flakes, ground pepper and garlic – sautĂ© until fragrant but don’t let the garlic brown or it will turn bitter
  • Pour half of the oil in a large glass baking dish
  • Add water & cornmeal & salt and bake, uncovered, for ~50 minutes
  • Add greens to skillet with leftover oil and cook for 10 minutes (covered) stirring frequently, removing lid at end and raising heat a bit to just evaporate any liquid left
  • Remove baked polenta from oven and with a spatula, scrape off the top 1/2 layer of polenta, set aside
  • Add cooked greens to the baking dish with polenta, sprinkle gorgonzola and half of the parmesan, and then cover with the rest of the polenta
  • Top with parmesan and return to oven for 10-15 minutes
  • Serve warm!

dit-elle-Esther

Chocolate Pumpkin Chiffon Pudding

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This is an amazing, rich and silky chocolate pudding inspired by Elanaspantry.com. Yes it has pumpkin in it, but no it did not taste like pumpkin! So if you are looking for a pumpkin flavored pudding this is not it. But a great way to add some pumpkin to a dessert.

The original recipe called for raw egg, which I’m not a fan of, so I’ve modified the recipe to allow for cooking the egg.

I bet this would be amazing with some Coconut Cream Pumpkin Spice Frosting (Let me know if you try it :))

Blog chocolate pumpkin pudding-1

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chunks, melted
  • dash of celtic sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a double boiler (I use a stainless steel bowl in a pot of 1-2″ of water) combine pumpkin, coconut milk, and eggs
  2. Whisk while mixture heats, and keep whisking till hot and bubbly
  3. If egg starts to turn solid (clumping) use an immersion blender to fix
  4. Mix in chocolate, sugar, salt and stir till chocolate is melted
  5. Add vanilla and remove from double boiler
  6. Transfer into ½ cup jars, and place in fridge for 2 hours to set

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo Chili

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This is a hearty and delicious paleo chili recipe – legume/bean free, full of veggies and a rich flavorful meat sauce. You can do this in a crock pot or regular stove top pot. This makes a wonderful meal served with Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins!

Blog paleo chili

Ingredients

  • 2Tbsp cooking oil (I chose coconut oil or olive oil)
  • 2lbs. ground beef (or ground meat of choice)
  • 1-2Tbsp chili powder
  • 1-2Tbsp cumin
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 1tsp allspice
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 large white onion diced
  • 4oz. tomato paste
  • 28oz. crushed tomatoes
  • 1cup water or enough liquid to cover the meat/sauce
  • Serve with avocado slices and your favorite chili toppings

Directions

  • In a large pot, add hamburger meat and onions and cook through.
  • Once thoroughly cooked, add the spice mixture and stir until combined.
  • Add remaining ingredients and simmer 1-2 hours. I usually simmer 1 hour and it tastes great. (I can’t wait too long when good food is cooking.)
  • Do not drain the liquid that’s produced when the meal/onions cook. It’s keeps the healthy fat in the dish and adds great flavor. Promise!

Thanks EasyPeas-y for the inspiration!

dit-elle-Esther