Robust Recipes

Healthy, Flavorful Food

Cashew Milk

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  You may know by now that I absolutely despise cow’s milk. I love all other things dairy but I cannot stand cow’s milk. I have tried all forms and it still makes me want to gag. So, I started making my own almond milk, and instantly fell in love with its creamy consistency and its almond flavor. I have recently started to read about making other kinds of nut milks, such as pecan and cashew milk. "Must-try-all-nut-milks," says my greedy stomach. First on the list is cashew … [Read more...]

Vietnamese Pork Chops with Spicy Carrot Salad

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When I was a kid I always found pork chops to be rather boring and bland. I mostly experienced them plain with a little barbecue sauce brushed on top or some cheese melted on top. Not bad in a quick pinch. But it gets old pretty fast. Let’s spice things up-literally-with our pork chops, shall we? Vietnamese Pork Chops with Spicy Carrot Salad is everything I had dreamed it would be.  It is: Full of flavor Spicy Sweet Asian-esque Hearty yet light Tender Simple to make A few months ago … [Read more...]

Roasted Butternut Squash and Fennel Soup

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Hi friends, how has winter been treating you?  Good, I hope. Last week we had temperatures at a high of negative 13 with wind chills of negative 20 degrees! That’s right; I said N-E-G-A-T-V-E 20 degrees! I am pretty sure that my ears got frost bite just from sticking my head out the door to grab the mail. Not fun! So, I hunkered down underneath blankets and sweatshirts for at least 3 days. I drank a cup of hot tea at least once an hour and refused to eat any food that was at room … [Read more...]

Eggplant Pizzas (GF)

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  Paul and I both love pizza, Paul especially. He worked at a local pizza place for 8 years and received free or discounted pizza almost every day that he worked. As you can imagine, Paul requests pizza quite often and most of the time I am happy to join him in enjoying a good quality Take-N-Bake pizza. It is a treat for me to not cook that evening. When I am trying to eat healthy, such as right after the holidays, I have to deny Paul his pizza requests. I know, I am such a mean … [Read more...]

Beet and Raspberry Smoothie

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Hello 2015! How did you sneak up on me like that? Last I knew it was still Christmas. Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s?  I sure hope so. We had a fun time visiting with family and playing with kids, and we overindulged in lots of food and yummy sweets. I come from a long line of exceptionally great cooks; it’s kind of our thing. Naturally people who love to cook delicious food love to eat delicious food, and we sure did eat. A lot. Which is what the holidays are for, am … [Read more...]

Raw Gingerbread Cookie Bites (V + GF)

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One of my favorite Christmas-time activities as a kid was making homemade gingerbread and sugar cookies with my mom. We would spend hours decorating cookies that we had shaped or cut into gingerbread men, Santa, reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees. At the end of the day we would have frosted cookies that were dazzled with sprinkles and sugar. I was a sugar-crazed kid who thoroughly enjoyed scarfing down both the sugar cookies and the gingerbread cookies. Even as a kid my favorite of the … [Read more...]

Carrot Soup

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I originally created this soup out of desperation. It was a cold fall day a couple weeks ago. My stomach began to rumble so I went to the refrigerator to look for food. It was pretty much bare bones in there. I know what you’re thinking: is it even possible for a food blogger to run out of food? The answer is a big fat YES! It happens quite often. I spend so much time planning and cooking recipes for the blog. Although they are all delicious, some are not always a meal. Some are dessert … [Read more...]

Orange Hot Chocolate

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Have you ever had one of those chocolate oranges ? We used to get them in our stocking every year for several year when I was a kid. I remember the excitement of opening the box and whacking the orange-sized ball of chocolate as hard as I could on the floor. WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! Three good whacks usually did it. Then I would peel off the orange tinted wrapper to reveal these luscious, shiny, chocolaty pieces of orange segments. The chocolate was even textured to look like the skin of … [Read more...]

Beet and Yogurt Dip

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It’s Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year! Now that it’s officially Christmas season, it is time to break out the decorations and play Christmas music non-stop. My Christmas tree is up and my Pandora station has switched to Christmas tunes until further notice. All that’s left is some holiday cooking. What better way to spark your Christmas spirit then to make a beautiful, festive, red Beet and Yogurt Dip? As long as you have cooked beets on hand (which I recommend), you can whip … [Read more...]

Spiced Wine

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When the weather begins to drop below 40 degrees all I want to drink are warm beverages. I begin drinking more tea than water. I enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate for dessert now and then, and I begin making batches of Spiced Wine to enjoy in the evenings. Imagine curling up underneath a blanket while sipping at a glass of warm wine laced with honey, cinnamon, anise, and spicy cloves. Every sip warms you from the inside out. Spiced wine is like winter’s version of sangria! So, if you adore a … [Read more...]