Green & Gold

This week’s dinner was all about our local football team, the Portland Timbers. They are playing in the Western Conference Final tomorrow so we had a dinner full of green and gold to show them our support. Taylor and I will be there tomorrow, prepared to lose our voices as we cheer them on, and this was the perfect way to kick off a Timbers weekend! Dinner was filled with lots of green and gold (well, yellow but we were pretending it was gold). As always, it was delicious! I feel like I say that every week, so I should probably get a thesaurus to mix it up a little 🙂

Green & Gold

We had all kinds of great conversation from your typical girl talk stuff, to our New Years plans (it’s going to be amazing) and everything in between. There were lots of giggles and fits of laughter — a few tears were shed because we were laughing so hard.

I’ve also been working on developing some of my own dessert recipes which the FNDers that came to dinner got to taste test. I’m going to tweak my recipe a little before I post it for you all, but here’s a little sneak peek 😉

Because our dinner was Timbers-themed, we named our dishes after a couple of the players and coaches. We had Caleb’s citrus salad, Sal’s cheese straws, Darlington’s Dang Good Broccoli Soup and Timbers Tie-Dye Cupcakes. SO GOOD. We also had a lemon tart and some chocolate stars courtesy of Christina and Trader Joes. All of our recipes were super easy and really tasty. You should definitely try them out for yourselves. I just realized we didn’t have a menu picture this week, so this picture of our dessert plate will have to do!

Caleb’s Citrus Salad: 

Ingredients:

• 1 box/bag mixed greens
• 3 mandarins
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Poppyseed dressing

Directions:

1. Toss the first three ingredients together. Pour over desired amount of dressing and toss again.

Caleb’s Citrus Salad

Sal’s Cheese Straws: 

Adapted from

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup margarine, butter or compound butter
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, salt, grated cheese and butter or margarine in a bowl and mix until well combined. Add water a little bit at a time to make a very stiff dough.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll pieces of the dough into just slightly thicker than pencil shaped sticks. Cut sticks into 4 to 5 inch lengths. Arrange the pieces on the baking sheet.
4. Bake for 5-10 minutes, until browned.

Sal’s Cheese Straws

Darlington’s Dang Good Broccoli Soup

Via

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, florets separated, stems peeled & cut into 1/2 inch rounds.
• Coarse salt & ground pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, and cook until softened, 5 minutes. Add nutmeg; cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
2. Stir in broth, 1 1/2 cups water, oats, and broccoli. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Puree soup in batches, filling blender halfway. Return to pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Darlington’s Dang Good Broccoli Soup

Tie-Dye Timbers Cupcakes: 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes: 

• 2 eggs
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Frosting: 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium size bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add butter and sugar, then mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add milk and flour, stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips and cocoa powder and stir through the mixture. Beat until light and creamy.
4. Divide mixture between cupcake liners (depending on how full you fill them, between 12 and fifteen liners). Bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Allow to cool fully before frosting.

Frosting: 

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 stick of butter; mix with a wooden spoon and add the remaining powdered sugar and beat with the spoon until light and fluffy.
2. Divide frosting in half and colour one half yellow and one half green (I used gel food colouring).
3. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Tie-Dye Timbers Cupcakes

Happy eating, everyone!! And go Timbers!!!

Healing Foods

After my knee surgery last week, I was craving some healing foods that would provide a source of comfort, and boy did the FND group deliver this week! Good food and lots of laughter with friends is truly the perfect medicine. We discussed sweater vests (guys, don’t do it; most of you can’t pull it off), the little valentine’s cards we used to get in elementary school and played a hilarious game of Cranium — next time, my team won’t lose 😉

It was a wonderful evening, but without any further ado, here are our recipes!

Mac and Peas: 

Via

Ingredients:

• 1 box macaroni
• 1 cup water or almond milk
• 3/4 cup cashews
• 1 tbsp. tahini
• 1 cup green olives
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• Onion powder, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots, defrosted
• A few handful sunflower seeds
• Shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Cook the macaroni according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, put the water/almond milk, cashews, tahini, olives, nutritional yeast and spices into your blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.
4. Drain the pasta and mix with the peas and carrots and sauce. Top with sunflower seeds and cheese (if using). Bake for 20 minutes.

Macaroni and Peas

Citrus Salad: 

Ingredients:

• Fresh greens
• Mushrooms, sliced
• Nuts
• Grapefruit
• Blood oranges
• Berries
• Olive oil
• Honey

Directions:

1. Prepare and toss the greens, mushrooms, nuts, grapefruit, oranges and berries.
2. Mix a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a drizzle of honey and pour over the salad. Toss.

Citrus Salad

Peanut Butter Sandwich Bread: 

Via

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan well. 
2. Cream together the peanut butter and sugar until well combined. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
3. With the mixer running on low, slowly alternate between adding the milk and the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.
4. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for one hour. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on wire rack and cooling completely.

**We served this bread with some of Taylor’s homemade nutella and it was DELICIOUS. The absolute perfect combination of flavours 🙂

Peanut Butter Bread

Nutella: 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups roasted hazelnuts
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Spread nuts on cookie sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Place roasted nuts in food processor and process for 10 minutes. Add sugar and cocoa powder, mix, then add salt. Let it cook.
3. Transfer to jar. It will keep for one month in a cool, dark place.

PB Bread & Homemeade Nutella

Happy eating, everyone!