Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie Bowl (Paleo)

Hello all! It’s been a long time since my last post. For that, I apologize.

Clearly I am not good at keeping promises when it comes to posting.

In my defense though, cooking in Thailand ended up being more difficult than I originally thought. Between traveling on the weekends and teaching during the week, it was hard to find the energy to go to the grocery store and find the correct food items when they were all written in a foreign language. Not to mention, lugging everything back home in 100 + degree weather.

Interestingly, cooking in Thailand is more expensive than just going out to eat (a complete opposite from here in the United States). In fact, most Thai people eat out rather than make their own meals. You can read more about my experiences in Thailand here.

But, as of last week, I am back home in the United States! Meaning, back to home-cooked food.

One of the many things I already miss about Thailand is the fresh fruit. I can’t even describe the freshness… I would often go down the street to the fruit stand and have the fruit lady cut me up fresh pineapple/guava/papaya/coconut/cantaloupe. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

Sometimes, I would take the fruit back to my apartment and mash it up with a potato masher to make a fruit smoothie bowl.

And once, when I was visiting Pai in Northern Thailand, I had the most amazing smoothie bowl at a place called Bom Bowls:

Now that I am back home, I have my food processor to do the blending for me (a bit easier than using a potato masher…)

Luckily, I also had the foresight to bring home some hand-made coconut bowls from Thailand. Now I can pretend to be back in Thailand on a regular basis 🙂

Strawberry and Kiwi Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

1 banana, sliced and frozen

7 oz strawberries, sliced and frozen

1 kiwi (I kept the peel on)

1 handful of fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup almond milk (or coconut water or water)

2 tbsp almond butter

1-2 tbsp honey (optional)

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a strong food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Pour into bowls and top with a garnish of foods (sliced fruits, dried fruits, berries, oats, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)

Coconut Veggie Curry (Paleo)

Hello, all! It has been a very long time since my last post. But, to let everyone know, I am alive and well and have been living in Thailand now for the last month and a half. You can see my adventures on my other blog, Teach. Eat. Travel. Repeat.

I’ve been loving my time in Thailand, but the one thing I was really missing was cooking. So, I invested in an electrical skillet/wok to make some home-cooked meals some nights. Meaning… I can start up this food blog again! This time, it’ll be featuring fresh and in-season ingredients that I pick up from my local food stands and market.

To kick this blog back off, here’s a very Thai-ish meal (minus the spice) that I prepared with all of the ingredients literally down the block from me!

Coconut Veggie Curry (Paleo)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into sticks

1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

1/4 head of cabbage, chopped

3/4 cup of water (broth would probably be better, but I can’t find any in Thailand!)

250g full-fat coconut milk

1/2 tbsp curry powder

Pinch of cayenne pepper (by all means, add more! I just needed a break from spicy foods)

125g shimeji mushrooms

2 tomatoes, diced

1 large handful of snow peas, ends removed

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat oil over medium-low heat and add in your garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant. Add in your carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the water, coconut milk, and spices. Higher the temperature to medium heat and place a lid on top. Let cook, stirring occasionally until veggies shrink in size (about 15 minutes). Stir in mushrooms, tomatoes, and snow peas and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper and serve!

Banana Flour Chocolate Banana Muffins and A Farewell

Well, it’s currently 1:13am in the morning and in a few short hours I will be on my flight to Thailand! Words can’t even describe how I felt/feel/will feel. Sorry for the dramatics, but I think this year abroad is bound be a life-changer for me.

However this brings me to a topic that I am not too happy about… the future status of this blog. No worries, this blog will still be up for those who need some recipe ideas. I don’t plan to ever take it down. It’s cringe-worthy, yet kinda cool to go back and read my posts from 5 years ago. (Yes, 5!) In an odd way, this blog has been a record of my college years. For those of you who have followed this blog, a big shout out and thank you to you!

Unfortunately, I’ll be unable to continue this blog for long in Thailand as I will not have a kitchen in my new home 😦 So, for the next few weeks, I’ll post recipes I’ve been meaning to. After that, it’s only if I have the opportunity to cook.

If you would like to know about my adventures in Thailand, feel free to follow my new blog, Teach. Eat. Travel. Repeat. I would love to share my journey with you!

For my last post, I wanted to write about this awesome new flour I’ve discovered- banana flour! It’s grain-free, paleo, and no,  it does not make your food taste banana-y.

Well, for this recipe it does because I used the flour to make banana chocolate muffins. So good. I can’t even…

Eat one for me while I’m away! 😉

Banana Flour Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup banana flour

3 tbsp cacao powder 

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup mashed banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch stevia extract powder

1 egg

Optional- Chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor. Pour batter into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before eating.

White Asparagus Goat Cheese Soup

I’ve been meaning to make this soup for quite awhile now. Since last June, in fact, when I tasted it at a conference in Washington D.C. I’d never had white asparagus before, and it tasted so good and creamy in soup form. Plus, add goat cheese to anything and I’m a goner. Anyway, it’s a rainy and cold day, so I figured today would be the perfect time to post this recipe. Since I only knew that the original recipe contained white asparagus and goat cheese, I kept it pretty basic.

A fair warning though- white asparagus MUST be peeled before eating. As I had never worked with this variation of asparagus before, I was unaware until I started chopping it up and came away with long, woody pieces. So yes, there is a bit of prep required for this recipe. Luckily for me, I was in the middle of my 13 Reasons Why Netflix binge while peeling. Made the process so much easier as I was sympathizing with Clay while having ill thoughts about several of the other characters the whole time. Most addicting show ever.

White Asparagus Goat Cheese Soup

1 lb white asparagus, PEELED and chopped into 1 inch-sized pieces

1 large onion, chopped

3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

2 cups water

2 oz goat cheese

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish: chives

Directions:

Add the asparagus, onion, broth, and water to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 20 minutes. With an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Add in the goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir until the goat cheese has melted. Top individual bowls with chives before serving.

Raw Carrot Cake Balls (Paleo)

Easter recipe- carrot cake bites on the go!

Raw Carrot Cake Balls (Paleo)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup nut butter of choice

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 dried ginger

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup carrot chunks* + extra for garnish (optional)

2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut + extra for garnish (optional)

3 tbsp raisins

Directions:

In a bowl, stir together the nut butter, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix VERY well (the mixture will seem dry at first, but it all comes together once the carrots get mixed in well). Roll your carrot cake dough into balls.

Optional: Place the extra carrot chunks and coconut into 2 separate shallow dishes. Roll your carrot cake balls into one of the toppings