Super Tasty and Yummy Acai Bowl

This recipe has moved to the Happy Eats Healthy website:

Yummy Acai Bowl 

Avocado and Spinach Breakfast Parfait

St. Patrick's Day calls for green. Green shirts, green rivers, green beer and green eggs and ham. Last year I made this luscious homemade creme de minth. But this year I'm sticking to the healthy-side of the green holiday with a super nutritious avocado breakfast parfait.

Sweetened spinach and avocado yogurt layered with fresh fruit and topped with almond and date granola. Delicious and filling! It's a great way to get your leafy greens and healthy fats in at one time. Avocado and almonds, while both calorie heavy,  are super important for energy, keeping our skin healthy and for proper functioning nerves and brain.

Do green the right way, with this Fat and Happy Breakfast Parfait.

Final moving days, napkin hoarding has begin and simple Overnight Refrigerator Superfood Oatmeal recipes

Think back to college days when money was nonexistent and healthy food was something only found in textbooks.
We raided every cafeteria and fast food joint in town for napkins, plastic silverware and assorted condiment packages, know which ones had the best of each. Funny how we always had plenty of plastic red cups though.

We are now a day away from our actual move, everything is in boxes including all silverware and my cloth napkins. I'm tempted to relive those college days of hoarding silverware packs and napkins from restaurants; my strive to be green is tested but wins out as I rip the tape off the box marked kitchen #15 to retrieve a couple of forks and knives. And aside from Chinese mustard there isn't a food in a condiment package I eat.

But that leaves me to question what can I make that doesn't involve me unpacking a lot of pans and utensils? I want to have something that is pre-made that I can just grab and go. Something fresh and healthy but hearty to keep us strong for the move but isn't nasty take-out food.

Overnight refrigerator oatmeal isn't an original Fat and Happy creation, but I really do like the variations and flavors I've come up with. It lasts in the fridge for a few days and doesn't require perishable food. Just some oatmeal, a few nuts and some fixings like frozen berries and chia seeds. Drop it all in a jar, screw on the lid and let it do its thing. Grab one out of the fridge for an easy ready made meal or snack.

Both the Blue and Goji Berry Vanilla Oatmeal and Cranberry Pumpkin Oatmeal turned out stunning for me. You could make hundreds of versions by varying the ingredients of fruit, nuts, seeds, milk or coconut flakes; they all offer endless possibilities. This is an easy recipe to add super foods like goji berries, chia seeds, maca powder, cocao and more. Use frozen fruit because it offers extra juice as it defrosts.

These are great recipes whether you are moving or not. Imaging throwing one in your bag for after a work out or as breakfast on the go; you can eat them chilled or warm them slightly. They are pretty cheap on the pocketbook and if you're a clean eater you may not even need a napkin. You will, however, need a spoon; but you know where to get that.

Turkey Blueberry Grain Burgers with Fig Jam and Brie

Tips and articles about healthy eating are everywhere- email, Facebook posts, magazines, newspapers and even posted on the elevator screen that riders stare at to avoid the uncomfortable 15 seconds of standing next to a stranger. A photographic memory is required to keep it all in, but every now and then one sticks. Today I share one such memorable tip.

We all know how quickly turkey meat becomes dry, especially ground turkey meat used in a burger. Mixing blueberries into the meat not only gives the burger a healthy antioxidant boost but it helps with a juicier result. Seriously. Tested and confirmed.

For this particular recipe I added quinoa and lentils, taking the health benefits one step further. The result is a blue-tinted fun and tasty burger. Fig jam and brie cheese step into the condiment spotlight to really takes this burger over the edge.

Even if you have no intention of making this exact turkey burger version, make note of this healthy tip. It's a great way to sneak nutrients into any Fat and Happy burger.

Bluberry Oatmeal Smoothie: To Hemp or not to Hemp

To hemp or not to hemp? Before you answer that question, ask this one: "Are you having a drug test any time soon?"

Allow me to explain. I've been using hemp seeds as a source of protein for a few months now. Hemp seeds are nutty in flavor and slightly crunchy. They can be eaten raw, made into milk, prepared as tea or ground into meal. Besides topping my salad, I've be making a homemade hemp milk for use in my morning smoothies. Smoothies that are enjoyed not only by me, but by my guy.

Enter a new job opportunity for said guy; an opportunity which requires a drug test. I do the first thing any normal, non-drug using individual would do at this point - I Google it. What I find is hundreds of articles, each one contradicting the last. In a skeptical and wavering voice I notify my SO that he is in the clear; no doubt he felt there was a bit of a white lie hidden in my delivery. But one of us worrying about it was enough. I offhandedly suggested we stop mixing hemp smoothies until the result of the drug test were in as a precautionary measure.

In the meantime, my research over hemp seeds deepened. My understanding is that Hemp seeds (and oil)  have a range of 5-10 ppm THC. So failing a workplace drug test is extremely unlikely. Unlikely is not a definate, but it's fairly firm.

If you need to play the straight and narrow for a few weeks, go sans hemp with my Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie. It's made with almond milk. Then, when your results are in, fire up the hemp smoothie for a celebration.

Boozy Blueberry Tea Slurpee

Recently 7-Eleven celebrated its 45th birthday with free Slurpees. Those Slurpees were always so refreshing on a hot day, albeit just a little sweet for my taste.

I decided to make my own Slurpee in honor of this classic drink. An adult Slurpee using frozen blueberries and tea. And spiked with just enough booze.


This isn't quite the slushy texture of the real Slurpees, but it doesn't need to be. It's cold, refreshing and blueberry-riffic! A perfect fat and happy summer cocktail.

Oatmeal Ice Cream

What the hell, right? Oatmeal Ice Cream? It's almost hard to even imagine what this would taste like, but let me assure ... it ... is ... phenomenal!

With an entire half gallon of fresh Oberweis cream on my hands, I went into ice cream making mode. German Chocolate with Caramel Pecan Swirl, Mexican Fried Ice Cream Pie, and Lemon Jalapeno all churned out of my kitchen (look for the postings of each soon!). There was enough cream left for one more batch but my creative mind blanked stagnant.

A search reminiscent of a Saint Bernard (complete with a small whiskey barrel collar) looking for a lost avalanche victim started in my kitchen - not a cupboard was overlooked for a clue to a new ice cream flavor. Saltine cracker ice cream? No. Green chili ice cream...maybe, but not today. Oatmeal? Oatmeal ice cream. Could it work?  Should it work? Why not?

So oatmeal ice cream it was and I can't be more excited about it. I couldn't decided whether to leave the oats in the ice cream or to strain it out so tried it both ways. The strained oatmeal was smooth and creamy, refined and upscale; while the unstrained oatmeal was creamy and thick yet chewy, outrageous and fun. Both ways are so fat and happy amazing that you can't delay making this ice cream today!

Tips and Techniques: This ice cream is great straight up; but for fun, try a little drizzle of maple syrup and a few fresh blue berries. Or if you are adventurous, reduce a little balsamic vinegar and drizzle just a smattering on the plate. It's an odd, almost stuffy combination that I liked, Dave preferred the maple syrup.


Oatmeal Ice Cream

1 cup cream
1 cup half n half
1 whole egg
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp  salt
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 tbls dark Rum
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat cream, remove from heat and whisk in brown sugar, salt and oats. Steep for 10 minutes. Whisk the egg with 1/4 cup white sugar until fluffy, pale and doubled in size.

Place the steeping cream back on the heat and temper in the egg. Cook to a custard, remove from heat and add the rum and cinnamon.

Place the custard in an ice bath to chill it, then refrigerate overnight. Decide if you want to strain it, or strain half and try it both ways.

Process according to the ice cream manufacturers directions. Fresh ice cream should be eaten within a week.

Recipe Swap: Blueberry Applesauce Wacky Cake with Crumb Topping

 

When this months Recipe Swap recipe came through for a wacky cake, I thought how fun, and what easy cleanup. A wacky cake is one of a group of cakes that were popular in the depression era; popular thanks to their ease and accessibility to cheap ingredients. Containing no eggs or butter, they are stirred together in the same pan as cooked in.

The recipe swap rules state you must change at least 3 ingredients and/or the cooking method; essentially make it your own. Initially I set out to keep true to the depression ease and simplistic-ness of the original recipe and ingredients, but somehow Grand Marnier fell into my cake and it just went from there.

Instead of using cocoa as the base, this was my first opportunity to use one of my new Strange Ingredients a friend sent in, vanilla powder. To keep the calories down, I opted for applesauce in place of the oil, for that reason, the texture of this cake is reminiscent of a quick bread. When you get a good forkful of the cake, a blueberry and the crumb topping, it makes for one good fat and happy bite.




Tips and Techniques: Switch up the flavor of this cake with ease by changing the fruit filling. Try Strawberries, peaches or apples! If you don't have vanilla powder, either add an extra tablespoon of the Grand Marnier or add a teaspoon of liquid vanilla extract.


Burwell General Store Recipe Swap: Blueberry Applesauce Wacky Cake with Crumb Topping


Blueberry Filling for Wacky Cake
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 Tbls sugar
squeeze of lemon
1 tsp corn starch

Make the blueberry filling first.  Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan, cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use. This step can be done a day or two ahead of time.

Butter Crumb Topping
2 Tbls butter, room temperature
2 Tbls flour
2 Tbls powder sugar


Place all the ingredients on a plate, use a fork to mash the dry ingredients into the butter. Once it is all combined, set aside until ready to use.

Vanilla Powder Wacky Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbls vanilla powder
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
1 tsp champagne vinegar
1 Tbls Grand Marnier
5 Tbls applesauce

Have the blueberry filling and the crumb topping ready. Once you add the vinegar to this cake, you need to work quickly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have the one cup of water ready. In a greased 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 baking dish, sift in all the dry ingredients and stir with a fork. Make 3 holes in the flour and place the Grand Marnier in one hole and the applesauce in the second. Quickly add the vinegar to the third and then pour in the water while stirring everything together with a fork.

Spoon the blueberry filling over the top of the cake, and then crumble the butter crumb topping on top of the filling.  Place in the oven until a toothpick comes out just about clean, the crumb topping will not brown so don't look to that as an identifier. My cake took around 40 minutes or so but keep an eye on it - it's better to under cook this than over cook.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly. If serving this warm, a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipping cream would be a fantastic addition.

Please take a moment to visit my fellow Recipe Swappers

Lindsay was the first blogger I asked to do the swap.  I found her blog after a day of surfing around looking for new recipes, and became hooked by the honesty and simplicity written into her recipes. She loves Oregon, its ingredients and Portland's lifestyle, and it shows.

Chef Dennis joined us on the Lemon Cake swap.  A veteran chef in his own right, we are lucky to have his Italian Lemon Pear Cake contribution to the swap.  The rest of his fantastic food blog can be seen at morethanamountfull.

Mari lives in Oregon wine country and is a budding wine connoisseur.  I fell in love with her use of Pinot Gris in the glaze for her (gluten-free!) Lemon Cake swap, which was her inaugural recipe with us. Visit her at The Unexpected Harvest.

Boulder Locavore’s  starting point for the recipe swap is always a local-seasonal-organic combination, though her love of international cuisine and cocktails often work their way into the mix!

Joy, holding down a dairy-intolerant household, doesn't let that restrict her love of flavors and food, in fact, I think it inspires her to do what she does. When you visit her blog, be sure to check out her "ubiquitous about page" and the balcony gardening category.

Monique has been food blogging since 2007, and was very gracious as I talked to her about my personal project of the recipe swap while on a professional work call with her. It must have gone okay, because she joined in, and her first recipe was a BLT-inspired chicken pot pie.  I'm so glad to have her on board.  

Shari is our first International participant!  Writing from down under, we cherish her voice in the swap because she brings the results of additional recipe challenges; the seasons are flipped from where most of us are blogging.  Her first swap was Grandma's Chicken Pie and Drop Biscuits, which she made in the dead of summer.

Jennifer's tag line says it all: Life is too short to eat bad food.  At her blog, Adventuresome Kitchen, you will find a passionate food-type, feeding her family amazing meals and living to blog about it. Jennifer joined in at Grandma's Chicken Pie and Drop Biscuits. 

The Cake Duchess.  The name says it all, and Lora's recipes are rock solid, creative, decadent, inspiring. What other adjectives can I throw at her?  Her innaugural recipe was Grandma's Chicken Pie and Drop Biscuits, a rare savory recipe for her to develop. 

Pola is a new blogger from Italy, transplanted to the cold Midwestern plains. After years of calling mom to check on cooking times and temperatures of family Italian recipes, she started writing them down. In the process, she is hoping to help new friends discover how to cook simple and authentic Italian food. 

Mary is a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Peninsula and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2007. Her search fora  gluten-free chocolate chip cooke that didn't taste, look or feel gluten-free inspired her blog and she's been happily baking ever since.

Jamie blogs at Random Acts of Food and has a love for food that only an Italian could! She enjoys cooking and baking in all cuisines for her family and friends.  Originally from Long Island, Jamie now resides in Boston with her amazing boyfriend.

Crissy and Lauren are two recent college graduates who are embracing their passion for all things culinary in the smallest yellow kitchen that ever was.  Their balanced diet of equal parts savory and sweet helps them add a little zest to what they do best!

Claire blogs with Texas pride from Dallas. She loves chicken fingers, Law and Order SVU and is left handed. We are excited to have her!

Nay blogs about food at Spicy Living from Portland, Oregon, and joined in on the Lemon Cake swap.  She incorporated lavender and lemon into cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Cindy, co-worker, food lover, all-around awesome person.  I may have guilted her into the swap, and then I found out her knowledge about US restaurants is almost encyclopedic so I know she's game. Check out her quirky and fun blog.

Sabrina Modelle blogs at The Tomato Tart from the San Francisco bay area, and for her first swap (the Lemon Cake) she made a Brown Sugar Lemon Rosemary Cake with Rosemary Caramel.  How's that for inspiration?

Blueberry PopTart

"They're really good, but not the hard, sugary substance that I remember."  This was Dave's quote after tasting my homemade Lemon Blueberry Pop Tarts.
"Fantastic", was my reply.

While it's fun to recreate childhood classics (like the homemade choco tacos and corn dogs), often the goal is to clean the taste up a bit; after all, who wants their food to be known as bomb-shelter proof?

These blueberry pop tarts are closer to a pie than a boxed pop tart and there's nothing wrong with that.  I made the dough slightly stiffer than my regular pie dough as pop tarts need to stand up to hand holding.

Making a homemade pop tart is just plain fun; seeing people light up when you say you made a pop tart... now that's fat and happy.

 Tip and Techniques:  Make little, bite sized, mini pop tarts for quick snakin'. Serve these warm with a scoop of ice cream for a fun birthday dessert!





Pop Tart Dough

2 cups flour
1/2 tbls sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, chilled  and cut into pieces
1 tbls Crisco
1 egg mixed with 1 tsp water
1 tbls milk
1/2 - 1 cup ice water

 Blueberry Filling (recipe below)
Lemon Filling (recipe below)
Icing (recipe below)
1 egg for brushing the tops
Turbinado sugar (optional)

This is a take on classic pie dough, so keep everything cold (bowls, utensils and ingredients.)  Toss the flour, sugar and salt together.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or use your fingers to create pea-sized pieces.  Using the edge of a rubber spatula, cut in the Crisco.

Mix the egg and milk together, cut into the dough with the rubber spatula.  Drizzle tablespoons of ice water in until the dough comes together. Depending on the day, you may need more or less water so only add in small amounts at a time.  The dough should still be somewhat crumbly, don't over moisten.

Divide the dough in two halves and tightly wrap in saran wrap.  Chill at least one hour before rolling out.

Putting the pop tart together: 
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Roll out the dough as evenly and thinly as you can get it - about 1/4" thick".  Cut the dough into desired pieces, I used a playing card as my reference for size.  Scoop a few tablespoons of the blueberry filling and then the lemon filling on the bottom piece. How much filling you use will depend on the size of your dough- use just enough filling to be able to close the dough.

Dip your finger in water and run it along the edges of that bottom piece, place the top on and press the edges together with a fork.  Poke the top with holes to release steam.   Place the pop tart on to the cookie sheet.  Keep in the freezer until ready to bake.

If the dough get too warm to work with, place in the fridge or freezer for few minutes to stiffen the dough. I made these and then froze them until I was ready to bake them.  Before baking them, brush them with egg wash to help achieve the nice browned look. Sprinkle with raw or turbinado sugar (optional).  Bake at  400 degrees until the dough has browned, about 30 minutes.

Drizzle with icing after the pop tarts have cooled.

Blueberry Filling
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup water mixed with 1 tsp of cornstarch

Combine all the ingredients into a saucepan, cook about 10 minutes until the berries are softened and the the filling has thickened.  Cool.

Lemon Filling

1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbls flour
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 egg
2 Tbls lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbl butter

Whisk together the sugar, flour and salt in a medium sauce pan.  Turn the heat on to medium low, slowly drizzle in the milk while stirring vigorously.

Simmer until the custard begins to thicken.  Whisk the egg in a separate bowl and temper the egg with the custard. (slowly add a few scoops of the custard to the egg bowl to warm the egg and prevent the egg from cooking to a scramble.)  Now add the egg to the saucepan. 

Continue to cook and stir until the custard is thick, a few minutes.  Remove from heat, whisk in the lemon juice, vanilla and the butter until smooth.  Pour the custard into a bowl, place plastic wrap on the surface of the custard to avoid a skim from forming; place in the refrigerator until cooled.

Icing
1/4 cup milk or soy milk
1 1/2 cups powder sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together the milk, vanilla and 1 cup of powder sugar until smooth. Add in more powder sugar to obtain desired consistency.

Blueberry Sorbet

I have a bad habit of buying more fruit than I eat; it can be a real waste of money.  Luckily I'm also pretty frugal and I use my freezer to no end.  Just before any fruit goes bad, I clean it and throw it in the freezer.  This becomes the base to many sauces, gravies, pies and sorbets!

It's 90-something outside, the humidity is dripping off me and I need something frozen but feeling like the dairy in ice cream is too thick and will weigh me down today.


So I'm making a quick and easy blueberry sorbet. It's as simple as freezing fruit and blending it together with a bit of sugar. No ice cream maker needed, a Cuisinart or even a blender, will work great!  The addition of lemon and almond flavoring gives a reminiscent flavor of a blueberry pie... frozen.

Next time you're in a pool of heat and need a refreshing treat - pull that fruit out of the freezer and cool yourself off with this fat and happy sorbet! Do I even need to mention the great nutrients you will be getting from the fruit...?

Tips and Techniques:  When you freeze fruit, wash it and cut off any bad spots first.  Place the fruit in a heavy freezer zip lock bag and lay the bag flat in the freezer so the fruit doesn't freeze in one solid clump.  This will allow for ease in using and measuring.   

Blueberry Sorbet

2 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup simple syrup
1 tbls lemon zest
1 tbls lemon juice
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)

Make the simple syrup by heating 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cool.  Add all ingredients into the Cuisinart (or blender) and blend on high until the blueberries are all chopped up and have formed the sorbet.  Taste, if you like things sweet, you may want slightly more simple syrup.  Use immediately or store in the freezer until ready to use.