Oven Roasted Buddha Bowl

Until a few months ago, I had never heard of a buddha bowl. I wasn't even really sure why it was called that until I looked it up. Basically, what I found was a compilation of opinions on what a buddha bowl is. What it boils down to is that a buddha bowl is meant to cleanse your mind and body. It is generally whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, etc.) and fresh vegetables (cooked or raw). A yummy pile of good-for-you deliciousness.

Since there are so many variations, there are no wrong vegetables to use. This is a very basic recipe so go ahead and add any veggies or fresh herbs you get the hankering to toss in there. If you aren't sure about the garbanzo beans, please just try it! My husband and I both agree that they add so much to this dish. If you decide you don't like them, they are very easy to pick out. :)

We've made buddha bowls so many times since we found the first recipe. They also never taste the same for us! We have a tendency to mix it up and never really quite follow a recipe for cooking. Baking is another story, but when we cook, a recipe always tastes similar, but never the exact same. The recipe below is the base of what we generally make. The best part is that no matter how we make it, we both always enjoy it. It's a great go-to meal that is easy and you feel good about eating. Which is good, cuz I think that's the whole point. :)

*If you don't like the dressing, or don't have nutritional yeast, feel free to use your dressing of choice. However, I strongly suggest giving this dressing a shot. Just remember, a little goes a long way. :)

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower

1 small head broccoli

1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas or garbanzo beans

olive oil

salt & pepper

brown rice or quinoa, cooked

Dressing

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. lime or lemon juice

1/2 tsp. garlic paste

1/4 c. nutritional yeast flakes

1/3-1/2 c. water

salt & pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Clean and chop the broccoli and cauliflower into florets. 

Dab dry with paper towels, if needed.

Rinse and drain chickpeas.

Place on paper towels and pat dry.

Combine broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas in a large bowl.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top. 

Gently stir, adding a little more oil if needed to coat it all evenly.

Add salt and pepper and gently stir again.

Spread on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

(If you have more veggies than me, it will be pretty full. You may need to use 2 sheet pans.)

Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes without touching them.

Gently shake pan to move the chickpeas around and return to the oven.

Bake another 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender and edges are crispy.

While the veggies are roasting, go ahead and make your dressing.

Add all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Set the dressing aside. (It will be pretty runny.)

When veggies and chickpeas are done, remove from the oven.

Scoop onto a bed of quinoa or brown rice and toss.

Serve immediately with dressing drizzled over the top.

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(Directions with Photos)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Clean and chop the broccoli and cauliflower into florets. 

Dab dry with paper towels, if needed.

Rinse and drain chickpeas.

Place on paper towels.

Gently pat dry.

Combine broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas in a large bowl.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top. 

Gently stir, adding a little more oil if needed to coat it all evenly.

Add salt and pepper and gently stir again.

Spread on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

(If you have more veggies than me, it will be pretty full. You may need to use 2 sheet pans.)

Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes without touching them.

Gently shake pan to move the chickpeas around and return to the oven.

Bake another 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender and edges are crispy.

While the veggies are roasting, go ahead and make your dressing.

Add all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Set the dressing aside. (It will be pretty runny.)

When veggies and chickpeas are done, remove from the oven.

Scoop onto a bed of quinoa or brown rice and toss.

Serve immediately with dressing drizzled over the top.

(Click here for a great way to make brown rice in the oven!)

Quick Chicken Alfredo

I don't know about you but I am in a cooking rut!  Let's be truthful.  It's actually what you would call lazy.  Now working full time, the last thing I want to do is get in the kitchen at 5:00 and start dinner.  However, as much as we love hummus (which we pretty much live on hummus lately), I think I need to start getting in the kitchen and making some real dinner. 

With that in mind, I got home last night a little after 5 and decided to make something. The stipulation being that it was quick.  Mike and I had a Kroger coupon for a free Prego (gotta love Kroger coupons.  If you don't have a Kroger in your area, you're missing out), so we decided to try the alfredo that was available.  

Looking in the pantry, the alfredo was sitting there, along with the rotini noodles.  Figuring I better use up the broccoli before we let it go bad, broccoli chicken alfredo was the obvious choice.  Would throw some green beans as a side dish and ...done. 

It was a quick meal...not hummus...and I got in the kitchen.  All in all, it was a successful evening. 

(By the way...anyone with easy meal ideas, Mike and I would surely appreciate them. ;)

QUICK CHICKEN ALFREDO

Rotini noodles

Chicken tenders

(worshteshire, liquid smoke, minced garlic, salt, and pepper)

1 large onion

broccoli

Alfredo

1. Prepare noodles according to package.  I made 3 servings. 

2. Saute brocolli until just tender. 

3. Set aside the alfedo sauce you will be using. 

4.  While the noodles are being prepared, cook your chicken with seasonings of your preference. I just used Worcestershire (hence the beautiful color), a little liquid smoke, garlic, salt, and pepper. 

5. In a separate pan, saute onions to your liking. 

6.  Add a good tablespoon of minced garlic. 

7. Throw all the ingredients together. 

8.Stir in the alfredo, season more if you would like, and heat through.  All done!

Buried Treasure Muffins

Ingredients:

 

      3/4 c.  flour

3/4 c.  cornmeal

1/4 c.  sugar

2 tsp.  baking powder

a pinch of salt

1 egg

1/4 c.  oil

3/4 c.  milk

3/4 c. fresh fruit (Optional coconut or

cheddar cheese instead)

  

Tools:

muffin tin

12 paper muffin cups

2 bowls
mixing spoon
measuring cups and spoons

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Get out your muffin tin and fill with paper muffin liners.

 (If you don't have paper muffin cups, you'll have to get your fingers greasy with butter or solid shortening and then smear them around the inside of the 12 cups of the muffin tin.

2. In a big enough mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, break the egg and then mix with the milk and oil.

4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until it's a little lumpy.

5. Now add the fruit and take a medium scoop to scoop it in the muffin tin (or muffin

cups.)

 6. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

7. Enjoy the muffins!!!

Banana Bread

As the weather is getting colder I have gotten into the mood of making our home warm with turning on the oven and making some baked goods! My husband loves it!! 

So...if you have some old bananas lying on the counter that are getting old here is a recipe for you!

Ingredients:

3-4 ripened bananas

2/3 c. melted butter

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs beaten

3 c. flour

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Next, peel your ripe bananas and put them in a medium-sized bowl.

Next, melt the butter.

After you have melted the butter pour it over the ripened bananas (as you can see, my bananas were not as ripe as I was hoping) and mash the bananas into the butter until they are mashed well. 

(With banana bread the more bruises on the bananas the better.) 

Set the mashed bananas to the side. In a separate bowl mix together the sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla and egg. Next, mix these ingredients with the mashed bananas. 

Then add flour and mix completely. Poor the batter into 2 greased (I used butter) pans evenly. Bake for 1 hour or until you are able to stick a toothpick into the bread and it comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 mins. Take a slice, butter, and enjoy. :)

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Old Fashioned

Oatmeal Raisin

Cookies

 

 

I absolutely love a good cookie (or more)

 with a cup of hot coffee!

The cool weather is here, and I am getting 

the 'bug' to bake again!   So, my little girl and I decided

to bake some good old fashioned cookies!  : ) 

 

This is a recipe that I developed after making

several different oatmeal raisin cookies, and changing

 it up a bit by adding and subtracting ingredients. 

I actually used to sell these cookies

on Ebay, and the reviews were great!

 I hope you enjoy them. 

 

This makes a large batch, so go ahead and make

them and put them in the freezer for later...they freeze well!

 

Ingredients: 

 

2 cups softened butter

3 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. cinnamon (I like cinnamon!)

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

5 cups oats

(I use 3 cups whole rolled and 2 cups quick)

2 cups raisins

Chocolate chips (optional)

(This recipe I added 1/2 cup milk chocolate and 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chips)

 

Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes,

depending on the size of your cookie.

********************************************

1. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Cream together using a mixer.

2. In a different bowl mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder,
salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg  

 I use a whisk to mix them together.You can do it 'correctly' and use a sifter at this point.  : )

3. Add the oats.  Mix with a blender or with a large spoon.

4. Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and blend together.

5. Then, add the raisins, and chocolate chips (if you choose to add them). Mix with blender to blend.

 

 

 

 6. Mix together using a mixer or blend by hand.

 

 

 

I wanted to show Clara how the different size dough balls will make different size cookies. We used three sizes of scoops. 
 

 

After baking the first pans I let her decide

which size cookie we would continue with.  She chose

the smallest scoop since it did make a decent size cookie. 

(Besides we are having little kids coming this weekend, so it is

a better size cookie for little ones.)  : ) Good choice, Clara!

 

 

6. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 
 10-15 minutes depending on which size cookie
you decide to bake.

Here are some of the baked cookies.

 Ahhh....now to sit down with a yummy cookie and a
hot cup of coffee to enjoy an

 after-school snack with my kiddos.

 

You know what makes it especially nice?
This is the first day of snow for the fall of 2014! 
November 5th, 2014 
Just ignore the date on the picture.  My camera setting is incorrect.
We recently painted our kitchen, so I love to sit in here when I have the time to do so.  : )

 

What a good day to bake cookies! 

I hope you are able to spend a day baking
cookies and enjoy eating them!

God bless your day!

 

 



DIY Detective Kit

My little brother's birthday was about a week ago. He turned nine and I wanted to do something creative that would be fun and encourage him to use his imagination. I've seen "detective kits" on Pinterest and decided to create my own. 

My niece and nephews were also there when he opened his gift. They all thought it was pretty cool and within minutes my nephew that is about Isaiah's age came out with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a random hat that they found so they could be "detectives" together! I think I'm going to need to make a few more kits. :)

This project was pretty inexpensive for me because I had fabric and supplies on hand. Whatever I didn't have I was able to purchase from Walmart or Goodwill.

For your kit, you'll need:

bag or briefcase

cape (store bought or homemade)

hat

magnifying glass

flashlight

2 small containers {Crime Scene Specimen}

small plastic bags {Evidence Bags}

blank journal {Crime Journal}

small notebook {Clues}

small drawing pad {Fingerprinting Paper}

ink pad {Fingerprinting Ink}

small container for fingerprinting dust (I used a mixture of baking powder & cocoa for the dust)

clean make-up brush (for the dust)

clear tape {Fingerprint Lifting Tape}

pen

self-adhesive address labels

I labeled the items so that he would know what to use them for.

(I also put clear packaging tape over the labels to keep them cleaner and more durable.)

It was so much fun walking through the store and imagining what you could use different items for. Don't worry about everything looking the same as the kits you see online. The best part is being creative and making your own kit!

I used some fabric I already had to make a cape with a wide collar that ties in front like Sherlock Holmes. It's also reversible so he can be in plaid or a blotchy brown. That will help when he needs a disguise. :)

I was able to get an old audio cassette carrying case from Goodwill for $0.99 that was perfect to use for the briefcase.

I wrote on it with a paint pen from the craft section at Walmart and let it dry overnight.

When everything was ready to go, I loaded it all in the briefcase....

...and snapped it shut. :)

Perfect for storing neatly and keeping everything in one place!

He even used it as his Halloween costume this year when he went trick-or-treating.

Doesn't he look like he likes it?! Or maybe that's the thought of all the candy awaiting him...hehe!