Simply Love Food

Tazo iced passion tea with lemonade ice cubes

by simplylovefood on June 18, 2013 in Recipes

It’s been SO HOT here in Arizona and one of my favorite ways to cool down is with a ice cold passion lemonade from Starbucks. If you are like me those trips (which are frequent) begin to put a hit on your wallet. I decided I needed to try and recreate my one of my most desired drinks here at home (and hopefully save a few bucks).

Tazo now offers tea bags which are larger than normal sized tea bags and are made for brewing pitchers of ice tea rather than just cups. I have seen these larger bags everywhere from Whole Foods to Target and they are usually around $4 per box. Instead of making a passion tea lemonade I made lemonade ice cubes. I did this because

#1 I HATE watered down drinks! As the ice cubes melt the drink is infused with lemonade which keeps the drink delicious not watery
#2 I can control the sugar. I do like my drink sweetened and I usually sweeten it myself with stevia or truvia <— which i love.

Give these teas a try. You will be pleasantly surprised how easy they are to use and you will appreciate having passion iced tea whenever you want it!

Tazo iced passion tea with lemonade ice cubes

Yield 8 servings

Ingredients:

6 cups brewed tazo passion tea
1/2 cup raw agave nectar, sugar or other sweetener
2 cups of lemonade (store bought or homemade <— I make my own using this recipe)

Directions:

Add the brewed tea to a pitcher and add in the agave stirring well to combine. Place in the refrigerator until chilled.
Meanwhile, add the lemonade to 2 ice cube trays. Freeze the lemonade until frozen solid.
When ready to serve pour the tea into glasses or jars and add several lemonade ice cubes per glass. Garnish with fresh lemon slices and serve.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

A review of Health Warrior chia seed bars

by simplylovefood on June 15, 2013 in Recipes

I was so happy when I was contacted to review the Health Warrior brand of chia seeds and chia seed bars. I was given a full size bag of chia seeds (which I LOVE). If you are not familiar with how WONDERFUL chia seeds are here is an article I wrote for Sheknows.com explaining their many health benefits. 5 Easy ways to use chia seeds

The Health Warrior bars come in 3 flavors coconut, chocolate peanut butter and acai berry. They are a decent size and would make an excellent snack along side a piece of fruit. They all are between 110 calories and are soft and chewy (which I loved) I hate bars that are hard as rocks making it difficult to enjoy because of the chewing involved. These are perfect in texture.

Here are photos of each bar and their wrapper.

The coconut: Hands down my favorite! They are soft, chewy and have the perfect amount of coconut flavor and sweetness. I REALLY loved this one!

The chocolate peanut butter: Pretty tasty! I was my second runner up. The peanut butter flavor is mild and I think it tasted more like a mocha flavored bar with a “hint” of peanut butter flavor.

The acai berry: This one was pretty good. A bit more sweetness than the chocolate peanut butter but not as good as the coconut. But good.

Overall I enjoyed these bars. I would DEFINITELY get the coconut flavor on my own while out shopping. I have seen these at Whole Foods Market and also my local health food store. If you would like more information on where you can locate these bars click here for a link to the Health Warrior website. They have a store locator so you can easily find these chia seed bars.

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Meyer lemon hummus with pine nuts

by simplylovefood on June 14, 2013 in Recipes

If you’re like me and love hummus you will mostly likely love this version. While I love plain ordinary hummus I also enjoy flavored types. I had a bunch of lemons that I needed to use up so I decided to whip this up. This stuff is gooooood! I like it as a spread on sandwiches, wraps, on crackers or as a dip with fresh veggies. It’s great!

Ingredients:

2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
The zest of 1 lemon
2 meyer lemons, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for garnish (optional)
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

In a food processor add the garbanzo beans, lemon juice, olive oil and tahini. Blend on high stirring the mixture every 20 seconds scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in the water, garlic and season with salt. Continue to process the hummus until it’s very smooth and creamy with no lumps. Taste the hummus to adjust the flavor if desired.
Pour the hummus into a serving dish and top with pine nuts, fresh parsley and drizzle with olive oil. Keep any leftover stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

WHAT the heck is nutritional yeast??????

by simplylovefood on June 13, 2013 in Instagram, Recipes

What is nutritional yeast? What is this stuff called “nooch”? For many when they hear “nooch” they are a bit stumped as to what I am talking about. “Nooch” or nutritional yeast is an amazing thing folks and let me fill you in on why! Nutritional yeast is a yellowish powder or in most cases something that resembles flakes. It has a slightly sweet, slightly nutty yet cheesy flavor. It is a good source of fiber, is considered a complete protein, has loads vitamins (especially B vitamins) is gluten, dairy and sugar free. Many vegetarians and vegans use nutritional yeast in recipes for not only it’s many health benefits but also for it’s unique yet “cheesy” flavor making this an ideal ingredient in sauces or even mac & cheese.

I’ll admit, when I first tried it I wasn’t 100% sold on it. I thought it was gross. I didn’t like the texture and in my mind I thought this stuff was just plain weird. I also had no idea what I was doing with it so I became discouraged and threw it on the pantry shelf where I figured it would never see the light of day. EVER again. Every now and then I would stare at it wondering WHY so many people ranted and raved about this bizarre yellowish flaky stuff. Soooooooo at that moment I started experimenting with it and also fell in LOVE with it! What do I do with it you ask? Okay let me tell you!

Ideas for using nutritional yeast:

Salads – I love love love sprinkling this over my salads. It gives it a great flavor without having to drench my greens in dressings and other toppings. Try it!
MAKE a salad dressing with it – Have you ever used tahini ( a sesame seed paste and a common ingredient in hummus?) Okay well I love tahini but it’s pretty high in fat ( 19 grams) and calories as it yields 210 calories per 2 tablespoon serving and this is based on the brand that I use which is Kevala.
I decided to get creative and create a tahini dressing or use it as a dip. Mix 1 teaspoon of tahini, a few tablespoons of nooch, some garlic and onion powder, a splash of apple cider vinegar, a little maple syrup and salt and pepper! That’s it! This can get pretty thick when you start mixing it up and what I typically use to thin it out is plain filtered water or veggie broth. Its so tasty! Sometimes we even use this as a “cheese” sauce and spoon it over a veggie burger. It’s great for dipping raw broccoli or peppers in it. Makes an interesting spread for sandwiches I think the possibles are endless
Use it as a topping for your popcorn – Yes i’m serious!
Make homemade “cheesy” croutons - Make some homemade croutons by cubing some fresh bakery bread. Toss the bread cubes with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary salt pepper and a few spoonfuls of nooch. Bake at 350 until the croutons are a golden brown. SIMPLE as THAT!
Here is a great recipe for a “cheese sauce” that is WONDERFUL over pasta. I make this quite often and even my 2 year old gobbles it up.
Use it as a pizza topping, in place of parmesan cheese, add it to stir frys, tofu scramble or scrambled eggs, over nachos, in rice, mix it into quinoa for “cheesy” quinoa, sprinkle over fresh sliced veggies for a snack, mix it into dips to add some flavor I seriously think the possibilities here are endless!

Nutritional yeast also has health benefits!

Contains protein
High in fiber
Using nutritional yeast you get a good dose of B vitamins, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, chromium, amino acids and i’m sure many other things that I have left out

Salt free, dairy free, gluten free, vegan and is a wonderful flavor enhancer

You can find this great stuff at health food stores in the can or bulk section (where it is MUCH cheaper) and even on amazon. Nutritional Yeast IS REALLY GOOD and all it takes is a little experimenting to find ways to incorporate it into your diet. Give it a try!

Here is the nutritional information off of the container should you want to know it!

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Greek islands style puff pastry

by simplylovefood on May 30, 2013 in Recipes

I’m not going to lie when I made this I though to myself ehhhhhh it will probably be “OKAY” and I doubt i’ll even want any of it. Once I prepared it I caught myself staring down thinking man I really need to just have a teeny weensy bite of this thing. That bite led to me, Shawn and my youngest devouring the entire thing.

This is one DELICIOUS way to use puff pastry! Since I really don’t have much of ”sweet tooth” I had to figure out something to make out of the box of pastry sitting in my freezer. Years ago I had something very similar but it was on a layer of not one but two pie crust with a cheese filling in-between the sheets of pie dough. While it was certainly good it was a bit much for me plus I don’t think my growing waist line would approve since I wanted to eat it continuously

Puff pastry is very light, flaky and delicate which is why we love it in this dish. Once baked it creates an airy texture almost like a big pillow and I thought it would work perfectly for topping. While this recipe is vegetarian I included how easy it is to transform it into a vegan or dairy free dish. Don’t like feta? No problem you can use almost anything in place such as a garlic aioli, the cream cheese without the feta or even your favorite ranch dressing. The creamy tartness of the cream cheese really adds great flavor expecially with the super sweet tomatoes.

Greek islands puff pastry

Lightly adapted from the pampered chef

Yield 4-6 servings

For the pastry

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry, thawed – if you have the time or energy to make homemade puff pastry be my guest! I for one do not have patience for it Also if you are vegan double check the ingredients. There are many store bought puff pastries that are actually vegan!

For the topping

4 ounces of cream cheese, softened at room temperature ( use tofutti vegan cream cheese)
4 ounces of crumbled feta cheese (use a vegan feta which can be found at Whole Foods)
1 large garlic clove, finely minced
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 cup of fresh baby spinach, finely chopped
artichoke hearts drained and finely chopped ( I used about 3 large hearts)
½ cup of diced cucumber
¼ cup of sliced black olives
½ cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced
Dried oregano for seasoning
Fresh parsley, chopped for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Prepare the puff pastry as directed on the package. Once the pastry is baked it’s very delicate so handle with care! I found that very gently spreading the cream cheese mixture over the warm pastry worked the best. It WILL most likely sink in the middle but that’s okay. It leaves a beautiful fluffy pillow like crust.
In a bowl combine the cream cheese, feta, garlic, lemon juice & lemon zest mixing very well.
Spread the mixture evenly over the puff pastry. Top with the remaining ingredients and garnish with fresh herbs. Cut into wedges or squares and serve immediately.