Merida Party for my very own Princess Merida

Ok, I've been taking a break from my foodiva-ness to invest in the Artistic I side of my brain.... i.e. party planning. (You may recall my awesome Artistic I logo for my party planning business which i unveiled last summer?) So, the reason for this party planning break?  Abby's Birthday!!



I cannot believe my sweet girl is actually FIVE! Every year, we do something huge for her birthday because we LOVE parties of all kinds, and especially birthday parties. And this year, Abby is in loooooove with Merida.....she loves the movie (Brave) as a whole, but is particularly enchanted with Merida herself. I think it's the hair. So, we went with that and made the hair one of our design focal points.
















Design
First thing, I called my brilliant and talented friend Jessica of Capture Photography (www.seeoutsideyourbox.com) and we collaborated on this fabulously wild Merida graphic. she drew it all up, put it in photoshop, and designed a stunner of a party invite. Love!

She also built the graphics for the beautiful birthday banner....and the twine/clothes pins that I happened to have were the perfect rustic touch. :)

This design also directly contributed to the deeeeeeeeelicious and beautiful cake from Bethany Perkins of Bethany Cakes (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bethanys-Cakes/128916257191675). Vanilla bean and strawberry -need I say more?

Party Activities
Once the design was nailed down, I focused on party activities .... I wanted to incorporate the Crafty Carver, archery, and the willo the wisps. So, starting with a crafty activity, I let Abby paint a paper mâché book box from Michaels (in party colors of course). She had been begging for a job to do, and this was the perfect way to include her in the party planning. We then picked out beads and suede cording for the kiddos to build their own "crafty" necklaces. Fun!  (One of my daughter's friends had a glorious time modeling her necklace!)

Next came the archery game. Archery was a MUST. I painted a scrap piece of plywood with a target and found a bow and set of eraser-tipped arrows on Etsy (I love Etsy). It was brilliant and the kids were super excited to shoot some arrows.... Buuuuuuuut, the bow was actually hard to use and only the adults could manage it, lol. They had fun! Luckily, the target also doubled as a backdrop for the dessert table, so it still made an impression!



Lastly, and my favorite, was the willo the wisp. Since Merida spends time chasing wisps through the forest, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do a willo the wisp hunt. I bought a few yards of tulle to wrap candy in, tied it each one with a ribbon, and.....oila! The kiddos had a few hundred willo the wisps to gather (they were like fiends, haha). Such glee!







Desserts
This theme lent itself to quite a bit of food creativity (so the foodiva revealed herself after all). I featured cups of blue cotton candy (willo the wisps), cups of haphazard licorice (Merida hair), and bear paw cookies (gluten free chocolate cookies with almond slivers). I also commissioned Monique Paul of Posh Desserts (http://www.facebook.com/sdposhdesserts) to make delightfully cute (and yummy!) bear cub cake pops. they were a total hit!

Oh, and i also found those awesome wooden spoons on Etsy that featured a hair-centric Merida decal. Awesome.



Favors
I found these lovely bubble sets also on Etsy (can you tell how much I really do love Etsy?!). They are bejeweled Celtic knot bubble wands, paired with bubble jars that say "Crafty Carver's Magic Potion." Brilliant, right?! I love moments of inspiration!

And there you have it, a Merida party for my sweet, sweet Abby. She was worth every moment of preparation and planning, and all the craziness on the day of. Love her!

Chicken, potato, and roasted pepper enchiladas: short-cut version

Hello blogging world!  Here is my latest favorite, lightened up (and of course wheat-free) enchilada!

This recipe idea started earlier this week: we were running late for dinner and didn't have any meat defrosted, so decided to swing by the store and get one of those deliciously convenient rotisserie chickens, hot and ready to go. As we discussed what would accompany said chicken, I remembered we had anaheim chile peppers, onions, and red potatoes in the fridge.....and corn tortillas and cotija cheese are ALWAYS waiting in my fridge too. Thus, a new meal of chicken, potato, and roasted pepper enchiladas was born. YUM

The forthcoming recipe is the short-cut version. Later this weekend, I hope to experiment with a slower version (because let's be honest, slow food usually tastes much better....unless you're on Top Chef, which I'm so not there.....yet :))

Ingredients:
1 onion, quartered
4 red potatoes cut into small wedges
Olive oil
3 Anaheim peppers
1 whole rotisserie chicken, meat removed from bone and shredded
Zest of one lemon
Hot sauce (like cholula)
1/4 c chicken broth
1T cumin
One dozen corn tortillas, warmed
Bottled tomatillo sauce, look in the Hispanic or international foods section
Jack cheese
Cotija cheese
Avocado
Cilantro

Prepare filling:
Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare potatoes and onion and place on cookie sheet, toss with scant olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast ~25 minutes or until potatoes are blistered and golden.

Roast whole chile peppers over open flame* (see note below for chile roasting how-to), remove skin and seeds, and chop roughly. Dump into medium-sized bowl and add shredded chicken. Use a micro plane if you have one and zest a lemon directly over chicken. Add a few shakes of Cholula (according to your taste) to the chicken and splash some chicken broth to make sure it doesn't dry out. (Hopefully you have a previously opened quart of broth in your fridge for purposes like this.) Finally, finish off with cumin, salt, and pepper to taste and mix thoroughly. Taste to make sure it's plenty flavorful; adjust seasoning as necessary.

If veggies are done, add just the onions to the chicken mixture. Set potatoes aside.

To assemble:

Reset oven to 400 degrees.

Warm tortillas between two kitchen towels in the microwave for 1 minute. (IMPORTANT, otherwise tortillas break while you roll them up!) While the tortillas are heating, spread a few tablespoons of warmed tomatillo sauce on bottom of 13x9 inch pan.

Keeping tortillas nice and warm between the towels, remove one at a time, place on your work surface, and spoon chicken in a line down center of tortilla. Adjust the amount depending on your tortilla sizes -you def don't want skinny enchiladas! Top with one roasted potato wedge (or two), roll tortilla up, and place seam side down in prepared dish. Continue until dish is packed with enchilada yumminess. Top with remaining tomatillo sauce, ensuring all exposed tortillas are bathed in sauce....otherwise, the non-bathed surfaces get super dried out.

Lastly, cover enchiladas with a healthy amount of jack cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is bubbly and golden like a pizza. Let cool for a few minutes.

To serve:
Carefully remove one or two enchiladas from pan and place on dinner plate. Top with sliced avocado, cilantro leaves, and cotija cheese. If you're feeling in the mood, pair with whole or retried beans that you: 1) already made (good for you), 2) heated from the can (convenient), or 3) purchased from your local taco shop (let's face it, sometimes it's better not to know how.much lard it takes to really make retried beans taste amazing).

And presto! You have a delicious "almost" made-from-scratch enchilada dinner. The chicken stays moist thanks to the broth, yet is packed with flavor thanks to the roasted peppers and veggies. The fresh toppings provide perfect balance..... and of course, the short-cut chicken and sauce make it doable for a weeknight. Yay for yummy dinner mid-week!


*How to properly roast fresh chile peppers:
I find they turn out best when roasted over an open flame. For this recipe, I use my gas range top since the oven is busy cooking the potatoes, but I usually prefer to roast peppers directly under my high heat broiler actually....or have SOMEONE do it out on the BBQ. Cook on one side until skin is black and blistered, then repeat on all sides till pepper is completely soft and fragrant. Remove from heat and place in plastic bag (I use a clean produce bag from grocery store) and tie in knot so heat doesn't escape. Let peppers sit and sweat for at least 15 minutes. Remove peppers from bag and use your fingers or a small paring knife to strip blistered skins off the peppers. Cut peppers lengthwise to remove seeds, then dice or chop as needed. Or leave in half and top burgers with them ...but that's a recipe for another day :)

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to share a key to my wheat-free success: www.elanaspantry.com

Elana's ingenuity and innovation in the world of grain free eating/living has changed my life (and I'm sure I'm not the only one!). I would not be so successful with this new lifestyle of mine without the delicious and nutritious almond flour (or coconut flour) treats and the resources she shares ..... For instance, don't buy almond flour at the grocery store because it isn't nearly fine enough for baking. Instead order it from Honeyville. There's tip #1!

Without further ado, here is my slightly modified version of Elana's Primal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe .... Of course, my change made them no longer primal..... Forgive me. :)

2 c blanched almond flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c butter, softened
2T honey
1T vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chunks

In a large bowl, whisk almond flour, salt, and baking soda. Add butter, honey, and vanilla and mix with electric mixer until dough forms.

Stir in chocolate chunks by hand. Roll approx. 1T of dough into a ball, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and press down slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes until edges are golden.

Important- Let sit for at least 15 minutes once heir out of the oven or they will break apart.

Note #1 it takes awhile to beat the wet and dry ingredients together - keep at it until the dough looks like regular cookie dough. It doesn't come together as quickly as a wheat flour dough does. And the butter HAS to be soft or it will take even longer.

Note #2: without the gluten from the wheat flour, the dough wont be as sticky as you would normally find. To ensure the chocolate combines adequately, really press into it with the spoon as you mix and squeeze the dough as you roll into balls.

Most importantly, ENJOY! Our family did! :)

Italian Herb Chicken Soup....with Parmesan chunks!

This.soup.is.DEEEEEE-LISH!!! Succulent shredded chicken accompanied by a harvest of fresh carrots, onion, zucchini, oregano, basil, and garlic. HELLO.

2+ quarts chicken stock
1lb skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 medium zucchinis, halved and sliced
1/4 c fresh oregano , chopped (basically one entire package of the live herbs)
2T fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan chunks

In a medium pot or saucepan, bring 1 quart of chicken stock to a boil and add all the chicken. Let this cook for a good 30 minutes to make it easy to shred.

In a large soup pot, heat 2T oil and then add onions and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic and zucchini and cook for 5 minutes more. season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and add basil and oregano.

Remove chicken from broth and shred with two forks (or by hand if it's cool enough). Add the chicken and broth to the veggies and turn heat back up until soup is simmering. (Note: By this time, the liquid has most likely reduced significantly, so you will need to add more chicken stock according to your preference. I think I ended up adding another quart to the soup at this point.) Cook soup for ~30 minutes until veggies (particularly carrots) are cooked through.

Serve in individual bowls and top with a generous portion on Parmesan chunks. (To make chunks, simply use a knife to carve out walnut sized pieces of cheese). Top with a few more pieces of chopped basil if desired.

Three points about this soup.

1. Pleeeeeease use fresh herbs for this recipe. The oregano in particular made the soup an aromatic delight.

2. The Parmesan cheese chunks are not optional. The chunks don't melt down completely so provide a delicious texture and salty note, while the part that does melt into the broth makes it almost seem slightly creamy...........YUMMMMMMM.

3. I am not a fan of chicken noodle soup- not at all. Thus, it is not an item I particularly miss in my wheat-freeness. Having said that, my husband adores chicken noodle soup so I make it our of love. THIS soup, however, fits the taste bud bill for both of us (yayyyy for no more chicken noodle!)

Hopefully I got this out before soup season passes! :)

Spicy Cilantro Lime Sauce with Sesame

Happy weekend, everyone! I have to admit I have not been to the grocery store since Monday (at least) and its been slim pickings around here. However, I did find on last sweet potato and a few parsnips for roasting up...... And this of course means I needed a sauce to pair with these yummy root vegetables.

After a deeper search, i also found the following lurking in my kitchen: cilantro, lime, and sesame seeds...... YUM,

So, into the blender went:

2T canola mayo (On a side note, I avoid soy like the plague and soybean oil is in every other type of mayo on the shelf, even the olive oil mayo. It's crazy. I use Spectrum brand canola mayo...Anyone else found soy-free mayo?)
1c sesame seeds
1/2 bunch cilantro
Juice of 1lime
Few shakes of hot sauce (I used cholula)
Salt

I blended everything together, added a small drizzle of olive oil because it tastes good with sesame, and then some water until it was the right consistency for dipping. Of course, adjust the other ingredients as necessary.

And that's it! Easy peasy!

Oh, one final note: parsnips are my new favorite veggie... Seriously. I cut into strips, removing most of the tough core, and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper (my standard MO). I roast at 400 until they are crispy.....and like magic, they become amazingly sweet little morsels of (healthy) goodness. They almost taste like apples, and may in fact inspire me to try a pork recipe or two. Even my picky eater gobbled them up! Ah, success :)

Turkey Meatballs and Caprese Boccatini

Day 10 of being wheat free. Can I hear a woot-woot!?

And with meals like I'm about to share with you, I don't need no stinking wheat. Ha! (.......Until I pass someone eating a cinnamon roll, sigh. Keep on keepin on, right?!) today's meal is an homage to my husbands heritage: Italiano!

I think when most people think of Italian faire, they think of heavy, delicious, carb laden food. Which is true, most of the time. In fact, today's meal was inspired by a visit this weekend to our favorite family-owned Italian restaurant. (Quick shout to Marechiaro's on 2nd Street! http://www.marechiaros.com/ Support your local businesses!) Though Marechiaros has long been a favorite spot, this was my first visit there since being wheat free. (If you are wondering why I would subject myself to the aromas of pizza and garlic bread, my husband the paisan wanted his people's comfort food. :) It was the least I could do after a long week. Also, wheat-free is never gonna work if I don't find something to eat even in the most unlikely of places.) The menu left little options for the wheat-free diet. However, after several questions to the chef (via our very nice and understanding waitress), I settled on a meal of caprese, lentil soup, and antipasto salad. A bit of a disjointed mix of food, but super tasty nonetheless. (I had even inquired about veggie lasagna without the noodles, lol, but that was gonna be rather difficult.)

So today, after surrounding myself with the irresistable aromas of Italian food, I found myself craving it once again. Here is my fresh, grain free take on the classic flavors of Italy!

Turkey Meatballs and Caprese Boccatini

Meatballs
I assembled my standard turkey meatballs (check out this post for the original inspiration http://www.thedancingfoodiva.blogspot.com/2012/07/greek-influence.html), but was rather more heavy-handed with the basil and oregano. Today I used the following:

1lb ground turkey
1/2 handful each fresh oregano and mint, minced (this is rather Greek, but since discovering this flavor combo, I can't depart from mint in my turkey meatballs. Another match made in heaven)
1 handful fresh basil leaves, minced
1/2 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic
1 egg, beaten
s/p

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Note: Food network is always saying to use meat that was been raised to room temp so that it doesn't seize up during cooking and become tough. I'm sure this is valid. However, I find a more practical reason to do this is so my hands don't freeze to death while mixing and forming the balls. Seriously. I despise that feeling. Oh, and I use an ice cream scoop to form the balls and ensure they are uniform in size.

Heat a few T of olive oil in a skillet. I prefer cast iron for cooking these. Add meatballs to HOT pan in order to get a good, golden crust on one side and flip halfway through to get a crust on the other side. Should take 10-15 minutes to cook. Set aside.

Caprese Boccatini
1/2 bunch basil leaves
1/2 c Boccatini mozzarella (you can find in the cheese aisle, it's usually packed in water)
1 tomato, cut in small wedges
Olive oil
s/p

Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and adjust proportions to your liking. I always end up adding more cheese. Assemble a portion on the center of your plate, along with a healthy drizzle of olive oil and fresh ground sea salt and some pepper. Note: I have found that fresh ground sea salt and a little oiive oil is absolutely VITAL to a good Caprese. Vital.

I made my plate with the salad in the center and meatballs surrounding....not only was it pretty, but it made it easy to scoop up all the deliciousness in one bite. The complimentary flavors make one cohesive plate.....and presto! Italiano is served, fresh and light!

Spinach, strawberry, and pineapple smoothie: Kid-approved!

Our grain free breakfast was courtesy my husband today (thanks, babe!) and consisted of scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and avocado, served on a bed of arugula. Pretty yummy! It was definitely enough to stand on its own. Half way through, however, I remembered the chopped pineapple in my fridge that was on its last leg.....and my poor daughter can't eat pineapple on its own without the citric acid irritating her mouth and lips. Soooooo, solution?

Smoothie time!

I know it's been awhile since I've done smoothies, but I must have been inspired by our sudden 80 degree winter weather..... BLISS!

So here's my instant, delicious, and nutritious green smoothie of the day:

1 thick slice fresh pineapple, chopped
10 strawberries
1/2 bunch spinach, including stems
3 apple slices (only cuz my daughter wasn't finishing her apple and I didn't want to waste it!)
2 c ice

Simple and delicious. And hopefully helps stave the flu off till I get my shot!

Note: Thanks to my beloved Vitamix, I was able to leave the pineapple core, strawberry stems, and apple skins and seeds intact, so none of the fruit's fiber or nutrients were lost..... I heard someone say once to eat food the way God made it -whole. I adore my Vitamix for making this feat just a bit easier. Though make no doubt, I still have a long way to go! P.S. This was an unpaid plug for Vitamix.... I truly love it!

My daughter loved the smoothie so much she wanted to share it with her new puppy :) Also, I know the last photo is random, but it was so good, I was looking at the bottom of the glass in no time! Plus, if you hadn't realized it by now, I sort of love photography. :)