Oat & Pear Muffins

I love fall and all it's glory. So much goodness, nourishment, and warmth. I believe in eating with the seasons since what's in season (locally, wherever you live) is naturally what our bodies need. So although you may love your smoothies and raw foods (I sure do), if you're in cold weather, you might benefit more from cooked local and seasonal foods. 

The San Francisco cool weather sure has me wanting starchier and more grounding foods. Like pears, winter squashes, and persimmons. Yum! 

I gotta say that I'm not the best baker, but I've been surprising myself lately as I get more comfortable with it. 

These muffins are the perfect amount of sweet for a morning or afternoon treat. 

Ingredients

1 cup oat flour (ground up gluten-free oats) or almond flour

1 cup gluten-free rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of sea salt

2 organic pasture-raised eggs

1/2 cup spring water or almond milk

1/4 cup raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ripe pears, diced

Coconut palm sugar, to garnish muffins

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. Whisk together eggs, spring water or almond milk, raw honey, and vanilla. 
4. Pour egg mixture onto dry ingredients and mix to combine well. Add diced pears and mix again. 
5. Coat muffin molds with coconut oil or organic butter. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into each mold and garnish with a few pinches of coconut palm sugar. 
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of muffin. 

Makes 8 muffins. 

Captures of Late Summer Brunch

It's a beautiful thing to prepare a comforting and nourishing meal for like-minded individuals. I'm grateful for the ongoing support and beautiful community that is building from these events. 

Photography by Regina Felice.

We'd love to see you at an upcoming event. 

Buckwheat Noodle Stir-Fry

I'm all about making healthy food taste amazing while spending little time in the kitchen. I have to say I do a pretty good job at it and love sharing that with you so you too can eat healthy on-the-go. 

As you know, I am a personal chef and prepare weekly meals for my clients. When I cook for private clients, I get to make more elaborate and time-consuming dishes, which challenges me in many ways that I love. 

But when I get home from cooking for 5 hours, all I want to do is eat good food and put my feet up. So I've mastered the art of making quick meals for myself with whatever I have in the fridge without jepordizing my health. 

So much can be done with fresh produce and staple ingredients. It just takes a bit of patience with yourself and some mental relaxation to get the creative juices flowing. 

I encourage you to get creative - really, anything goes! If it tastes good, you've mastered cooking. It's meant to be fun. Play with your food, friends. 

This recipe here is one of those easy and very tasty recipes I threw together last week. Enjoy!

Ingredients

12 ounces gluten-free buckwheat (soba) noodles

1 Tablespoon toasted unrefined sesame oil (or extra virgin coconut oil)

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 white onion, sliced

1 cup brussels sprouts, halved

1 cup wild mushrooms, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

Splash of coconut aminos or tamari, to taste

Handful spinach

Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Juice of 1/2 lime

Pinch of dried chili flakes

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, for garnish

Procedure

1. Cook buckwheat noodles according to package. Drain and toss with a bit of olive oil in pot or large bowl. 
2. In a pan, heat sesame oil on medium heat. Add garlic and onion, season with a pinch of sea salt and cook for a minute or so. Add brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and bell peppers and continue cooking until tender. Add coconut aminos and spinach and sauté until spinach has wilted. Season with sea salt, black pepper, lime juice, and chili flakes. Taste and adjust to your liking. 
3. Add vegetables to cooked noodles and toss to combine well. Taste and adjust with lime juice and sea salt if needed. 
4. Serve and garnish with sesame seeds. 

Serves 4

Colorful Cauliflower Stuffed Bell Peppers

Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable and so delicious! So much can be done with it besides roasting, such as cauliflower mash and cauliflower rice. This stuffed bell pepper magic I'm sharing with you today is made with 'rice' made out of Romanesco (green cauliflower) and purple cauliflower.

The natural colors of vegetables blow me away sometimes. Every color pigment has it's own purpose and function in the body. The colors literally give our body specific codes as to what to do. 

Can you guess what green and purple color pigments do?

Here's a quick download of each: 

• Green foods are liver cleansing and detoxifying. Hence why when we think 'detox' or 'cleanse' we think greens. 
• Purple foods protect the central nervous system, the gut nervous system, and nourish the brain. 

Interesting, right? Nature is smarter than we think at times. Nothing is coincidence. 

This recipe is a variation of my first ever blog post over 3 years ago. What a trip it's been. My meals (and life!) are so much more colorful these days. Transformation is real. 

That's a whole other story. For now, I present to you these very pretty stuffed bell peppers that will color your world.

Ingredients

Cauliflower Stuffing

½ head purple cauliflower, coarsely chopped
½ head green/Romanesque cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 zucchini or summer squash, diced
¼ cup chopped parsley
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Splash of lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Bell Peppers

• 3 bell peppers, halved longwise, seeds and core removed (type of bell pepper doesn’t matter, but we used 3 types to make it more colorful!)

Tahini Dressing

• ½ cup tahini
• ½ cup spring or filtered water
• 1 clove garlic
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Pinch of sea salt & black pepper

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. To make stuffing: Place chopped cauliflower in food processor and process until it resembles rice. Transfer to a bowl and combine with remaining ingredients. Toss, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

3. To stuff bell peppers: Place prepared bell pepper halves in an oven safe baking dish. Stuff each pepper with cauliflower stuffing. Bake in oven for 25-35 minutes, until bell peppers are tender.

4. To make tahini dressing: Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. If too thick, add more water until you reach desired consistency.

5. Serve stuffed bell peppers warm and drizzle with tahini dressing.

I created this recipe for Oh My Drifter. Photos by Micaela. 

Captures of Sweet & Savory Chocolate Brunch

We had such a wonderful time at our Chocolate Brunch Club in June. Thank you to everyone that helped and got chocolate wasted with us. 

I was a bit afraid that chocolate everything would be overwhelming, but it was such a hit!

Excited for the next Brunch Club coming up in August. Stay tuned. 

Photography by Regina Felice.