Kale Chips…..HA.

Not to be confused with curly mustard…..don’t put two leafy greens that look the same next to each other grocery employees, especially when one is extremely SPICY and NOT Kale. You know, customers might mistake the two, and accidentally use curly mustard in their attempt at a healthy smoothie and accidentally burn their throat. JUST saying. I’ve heard this kind of stuff happens.

Okay, so maaaaaybe I’m the only goof ball with that kind of luck. I swear I looked at the labels…ugh.

Point being, I’m trying to find a non bloaty way to incorporate Kale in our daily diets. First, I tried it raw, n’ every single time, bloat. Then, tried frying it, steaming it, etc…nothing but pain. Pain in the stomach, chest, and butt. Totally turned off after feeling like I was going to have a heart attack and baby all at the same time.

Been months since I’ve had it, and recently I saw bags of the stuff in stores as, “kale chips.” I was interested until I saw that they were priced at $7.00, yowza, too expensive for something that may just make me feel like a bloated dog again. So, decided to make some at home.

All I needed to buy for this recipe was the bunch of kale, had everything else, so already I was ahead of the game. I hate it when people say that, “ahead of the game, or game changer.” Whatever. So, I made the dang kale chips, and they were tasty. Doubt they still have the same nutrients being cooked in this manner, but they’re probably not a bad snack option. It’d be great to serve to friends & family, maybe over a salad or soup. Glad I found a way to eat the leafy greens, I still feel a tad bit queazy when I have ’em but not nearly as bad as every other way. They were really good I tell you, between the fiancé and I, they were gone faster than I thought they would be.

A win. Thumbs up to you kale chips…definitely baking you again.

xo,

Rodene

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We Don’t Like Chocolate, We LOVE it.

Our puppy has mastered the fine art of begging.

We always have bags and bars of chocolate in our home. I say home, because its every where, no, not where the dog can steal a bite, but in drawers, purses, the fridge, cabinets, every dang where, in all forms. Basically, always within arms reach…you just never know when your chocolate blood sugar levels are going to drop. 🙂 Its important to try out all sorts of chocolate, so you know which is right when you have a specific craving. Sometimes that cheap, dirty, kind of like Easter Chocolate barely chocolate chocolate is fun, then you can be daring n’ go for that lavender or bacon chocolate, but you can’t replace a thick, high quality dark chocolate bar. When we were in Montreal, Canada, (click here to see what I’m talking about) they had pretty amazing bars at their every day markets, they even had a hot chocolate cafe. Here in Los Angeles, Whole Foods, Cost Plus and Bristol Farms have a decent selection, but could be better.

So, you know we love chocolate in our house, in all shapes, forms, percentages…sometimes in milkshakes, cakes, brownies, fudge, ravioli, pastas, smoothies, coffee, oh and those chocolate covered gummi bears, do they count as chocolate? My favorite: those spiced hot chocolate pieces imported from somewhere Spanish, that you melt into a big ol’ mug with an extra side of warm chocolate saucey goodness..that’s what I’m after and am always a little upset when I have to share. 🙂 Anyway, we had a bunch of chocolate chips, cocoa, and squares that were dying to fulfill their destiny. Mixed them up with cups of powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, pecans & some salt, baked ’em and magic = easy flourless chocolate chocolate CHOCOLATE cookies.

Happy baking!

xo,

Rodene

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Spotty Dotty Cake.

“Let them eat cake!” AND we did!

I’d really love to have my own from scratch go to cake recipe but I’m still not there yet…its super hard for me to get a good from scratch cake right…ugh..meantime, I can play with color and shapes. First time I’ve used food coloring in a cake was when I made a violet “ombre” cake (layers of shades of violet)  and it came out great. SO, thought it’d be fun to try bolder, brighter colors. And so I did.

Neon pinks, greens, blues, purples, so very unnatural yet so pleasing to the eyes. Even if you aren’t five, slicing into a spotted cake such as this is still a nice little moment of “wow”. Okay, maybe its not that amazing, but its still a fun cake to put together. No, really, its pretty neat slicing into a nice colorful surprise of unnatural-ness. 🙂 Next time, think I’ll make the spots a lot smaller and maybe have some sort of strategic design.

Whatever, I did it, its here, its a great idea if you want to add a little color in a plain white or yellow cake, waaaay better & more impressive than the typical  funfetti cake. There.

That’s that, here it is.

Happy Baking,

Rodene

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P.S. Here’s a photo of the “ombre” cake I made earlier this year…I really liked the way the colors came out.

First attempt.

Lazy Asparagus.

We had a bundle of asparagus just lying around in the fridge, so I figured, eh, let’s BAKE ’em. I love fried foods, but I know I know, its terrible for you…but wait, I just read somewhere that if you use sunflower oil or healthy oils to fry, your body doesn’t react as bad. Was this real or a dream? Oh man, the possibilities once this is confirmed.

Until then, baking it was. Gave ’em a good wash, threw ’em in a slightly beaten egg, tossed ’em around in some panko bread crumbs, and laid ’em out. Because I was trying to be SOMEWHAT healthy, I didn’t add any salt, etc. Instead, served ’em with a little chili sauce.

Supposedly, asparagus is a great source of Vitamins A, C, E, B, potassium and zinc. And I’ve heard it does something to your pee…or was someone lying to me?  -__- Does it matter? No.

Try making them, they’re good and so easy breezy to bake. Happy Friday.

xo,

Rodene

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