Photo Phriday: Maine Again

Last winter: New Years Day. The A-man decides that a negative ten degree wind chill is the perfect temperature to fly a kite in.

Mini-Crustless Vegetable Quiche

There are three questions I often ask myself before making a recipe: Will it be portable? Will it be healthy? And, will it be tasty? The answer for this recipe is yes, yes and yes.

Mostly spinach, with just enough egg to hold them together, I feel like I'm starting my day off on a good note when I eat these for breakfast.

This recipe is adapted from one in the South Beach Diet cookbook. I snagged it from my parents (sorry Mom and Dad -- I'll get it back to you!) when I first began eating gluten free -- thinking it would have lots of recipes for me. It does, in a sense, but it's very dairy-heavy so I end up adapting many of them. Including this one:

Mini-Crustless Vegetable Quiche (gluten-free, dairy-free)

makes 12 quiche


2 whole eggs plus 3 egg whites 1 ten ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed with liquid squeezed out
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
a handful of mushrooms, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder & red pepper


Mix the egg together until combined. Add all of the other ingredients and pour into muffin tins (I have re-usable silicone ones that I love) and bake at 350 for twenty minutes.


The recipe for this is very basic, so feel free to substitute ham for mushrooms, add some cheese or some bell pepper.


Henry looks MEAN in this photo, but he's not. I caught him mid-yawn.

Photo Phriday: Beavers!

Taken last winter up in Maine. I wonder if it's still standing.

Coconut Flour Waffles

It's rare that on a weekday I have time to cook a hearty breakfast, but fortunately, with half-marathon training in full swing, I have to take a few days off a week to recover. So, I forwent my usual quick breakfast and had a little time to cook up something nice before my first class of the day.

Low-carb, refined cane sugar free, and light and tasty. I had half of a grilled Al Fresco Sweet Apple chicken sausage with mine.

Coconut Flour Waffles

gluten-free, dairy-free

4 tablespoons melted butter (I use Earth Balance to keep it dairy-free)

6 eggs

1/3 cup agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup coconut flour

(When working with coconut flour I tend to use my blender to mix my batter because it can easily clump up)

In a blender, mix the butter and eggs until combined thoroughly. Then add the agave, salt and baking powder and mix to combine. Lastly, add the coconut flour and mix until completely combined without any lumps. Let the batter sit for at least five minutes (it will thicken) before adding to your waffle maker.

This recipe makes 4, large round waffles.

Photo Phriday (and a recipe!)

So the clean eating kick isn't quite at full force anymore. I still try to eat healthy, whole foods as much as possible (and really always have) but dessert and wine have won out in quite a few instances.

Fortunately, there's a nut butter (though, is cashew technically not a nut?) that I've whipped up that tastes almost like dessert to me: maple cashew butter. My sister first introduced me to cashew butter back when she was in grad school -- five or so years ago and I was immediately smitten. And as of late, I've been really loving Justin's Maple Almond Butter, but it's a bit too expensive to buy on a regular basis. So, I was recently at Harry & David and purchased a few bags of roasted cashews that were on sale, popped them into my trusty Vita-mix, added a little oil and maple syrup and viola! Maple Cashew Butter.

Maple Cashew Butter

1 1/2 cups of roasted cashews

2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Put all ingredients in your blender or food-processor, and start on low, the increase speed to medium and blend until smooth. You might have to turn your blender off and scrape down the sides to make sure it's all getting blended smoothly, but it's not terribly labor intensive.

So far, it's been good on toast, in oatmeal and on bananas. Or, even by the spoonful when you need to feel like you're eating dessert.