Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Basically, this is a super easy recipe and it's delicious. Based off of this cookie cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients:
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup gluten and dairy free chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and great a 9 inch cake pan.
2. Combine eggs, sugar, oil/butter, and vanilla and beat until quite smooth.
3. Add almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, and salt, and mis well until a sticky dough forms.
4. Then fold in the chocolate chips, and transfer the mixture to the prepared cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until set.

So simple. So good!

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice

I'm slowly making my way through the list of to-try recipes I accumulated in my first trimester. We made this dish this week, and everyone loved it! 100% recipe credit goes to A Healthy Slice of Life. The only modification I would make next time (as reflected in the recipe here) is less lemon zest. The original recipe calls for the zest of two lemons, but that was super lemony to us, so next time we will just do the zest from one lemon, and save the second one for garnish as needed.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken tenders
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small onion, finely diced (roughly 1 cup)
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 2¼ cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 2 Tbsp dried oregano
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
• ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• ½ cup kalamata olives, sliced
• parsley (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Chop all ingredients.
2. In a large pot like a Dutch oven, heat the 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes until onions start to become translucent.
3. Into the same pot, add rice, broth, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest of one lemon, oregano, feta (if using), sun-dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Stir and bring to a boil.
4. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and add chicken to pot. Cover and place in oven.
5. Bake for 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and rice is fluffy.
6. Plate and garnish with chopped parsley and additional lemon zest, as desired.

Winter Squash and Caramelized Onion Tart

This blog is essentially our family cookbook and scrapbook. Nothing fancy. I've been posting a lot of recipes lately because we are in a food rut. I'm putting new recipes we like on the blog, so that I can find them easily next time I'm in a rut. 

Post-nap, pre-dinner is really not my favorite time of day. So when a new friend shared the idea of PrepDish, I was sold in about 2 seconds flat. I've always been skeptical of plans that require you to spend all day Sunday in the kitchen, preparing food for a week. This only took 1 hour and 45 minutes of my Sunday, and it was seamless. (It would've taken even less time if I hadn't been interrupted by broken glass and a toddler meltdown).

The premise, of course, is that you prep a lot of stuff beforehand, and basically assemble and bake or re-heat the day of. We've only eaten one meal so far, and it tasted incredible. Especially given how simple it was! 

The recipe was for a butternut squash, caramelized onion, and blue cheese tart. I altered it just a little, but I don't think it affected the essence of the dish at all. This was so good.

Ingredients

1-2 tsp dried basil

2 slices of bacon, cut into cubes (alternately, I used 1 large handful of EPIC Hickory Smoked Bacon Bits)

2 large delicata squash (or 2 small butternut squash, or 2 bags of frozen butternut squash cubes)

1 large red onion

4 oz blue cheese or goat cheese (alternately, I used Treeline Cracked Pepper Aged Cashew Cheese)

3 cups almond flour

4 Tbs butter, melted

1 egg

pinch of salt

olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming up, wash and dry the squash. Cut in half length-wise and remove the seeds. For delicata squash, you don't need to peel. Just slice into thin rounds. For butternut, peel and then cut into cubes. Toss the squash with 1 Tbs olive oil, salt, pepper, and bacon if it's uncooked. Spread into a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 30-45 minutes, removing to toss occasionally.

2. Thinly slice the red onion. Heat 1 tbs oil over medium heat, add onions and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally for 20-25 minutes until caramelized. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal, butter, egg, and salt. Press dough into a greased or lined 9x13 inch baking dish (I lined with parchment paper to make cleanup easier). Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until set.

4. Top crust with caramelized onions, roasted squash and bacon, and cheese crumbles. Place in oven for another 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese. Then top with basil, and drizzle with balsamic reduction, if desired.

Did I mention it was so stinking good?