I am so excited to tell you about these cookies, you just won’t BeANlieve it!

Gluten Free Chick Pea Chocolate Chip Cookies

OK, so that pun was really bad, but these cookies are really good!  They’re made with chick peas – as in garbanzo beans – STOPMAKINGTHATFACE!  They’re good! It’s true.

I have no problem making and eating “healthy” cookies or treats (like Secret (Spinach and Carrot) BrowniesBanana Oatmeal Cookies or Black Bean Brownies) but if it’s so healthy that it tastes healthy and no one will eat them but me (like White Bean Blondies), then there’s just no point.

Red Hot Cauliflower

March 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (6 Comments)

There was some green on our dinner plates tonight, but more importantly, there was red!

Black Bean Burgers with Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower

Spicy “Buffalo” Cauliflower was tonight’s side dish to homemade black bean burgers.

You’ll need:

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/3 c hot sauce
1/3 c apple cider vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 450. In a separate dish, melt butter, stir in hot sauce and apple cider vinegar. With cauliflower in a large mixing bowl, pour sauce over cauliflower and use a large spoon to stir cauliflower and coat well with buffalo sauce. Bake for 25 minutes.

This is Butternut Squash #3 in my kitchen this fall.  My skin is turning more orange by the minute.  Stinking beta carotene.

That’s actually not what I wanted to tell you.

Halved Butternut Squash

No, what I wanted to tell you is that when butternut squash is peeled, cubed and roasted in coconut oil, it reminds me a heck of a lot of a roasted sweet potato.

But that’s not the good part.

Compared to a sweet potato, butternut squash has nearly 100 fewer calories, half as many carbs and 9 fewer grams of sugar per 1 cup serving.

I bought a spaghetti squash last week simply because it was there on the shelf in the produce department. I had no spaghetti squash plans. I had no spaghetti squash dreams.

Spaghetti Squash

I did know that I wanted to do something different with this planless, dreamless spaghetti squash. I’ve made spaghetti squash pie and spaghetti squash with red pepper sauce, this time I was in the mood for something new.

When I realized I was going to make a curried spaghetti squash? I declared myself a genius.

I’ll begin today by explaining that we’ve been eating a lot of the Same Old, Same Old for dinner around here lately.

From what I can figure, any and all brain power that was formerly used for coming up with something new and creative for dinner (or the blog) seems to have been temporarily diverted to growing a baby. A baby who is getting pretty big I might add, and lately has a fondness for doing what can only be described as extended side angle pose in utero.

Barbie Doing Extended Side Angle Pose

I did Barbie’s hair. You like?

Baby Got Back

February 28th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (4 Comments)

Some of us (who shall go unnamed) have been feeling a lot like this for the past week or so.

Lackluster Cat

(He’s pretending he’s a pregnant woman.)

This means that meals around here have been a bit lackluster lately. I’ve been letting Barbie’s Sharpie outfits steal the show.

Drawing on Barbie

I just realized that I post quite a few pictures of my kids in their pajamas. I do dress them when I finally drag myself up from the prone position, I swear.

I have just returned from Iowa! Did ya miss me? Did ya happen to see a 5 month pregnant woman running through the Atlanta airport last night in an effort to catch her connecting flight back to New York on time?

If you did, let’s just pretend that wasn’t me.

No, instead let’s chat about Iowa! I was invited to speak at a conference called Women Blazing Trails for the non-profit group, Iowa Women in Natural Resources at the Springbrook Conservation Center in Guthrie Center, Iowa.

The Power of Suggestion

January 18th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (7 Comments)

I get these “Your Pregnancy This Week” emails that list a myriad of facts and tidbits about the wee babe growing inside my uterus, along with any other timely pregnancy notes. You know, like “you’re probably busting out of your bra by now” or “your baby is the size of a tarantula”. Stuff like that.

The Week 18 email mentioned that I’m probably feeling an increase in appetite now.

Well, I hadn’t noticed, but now that you’ve planted the hunger seed, I think I AM feeling hungrier than usual. Thanks for the idea!

In fact, now I’m positively starving.

The Magical Fruit

January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (13 Comments)

Let’s say you laid down on the couch this afternoon, kids busy and frolicking to and fro, and you decide to close your eyes for “just a minute”.

Then let’s say you woke up some unknown amount of time later, living room dark, kids off entertaining themselves some place else, and suddenly you realize you’ve got about a half hour before your hungry husband would be home from work and ready for dinner.

In other words, let’s say you needed to throw something together for dinner fast.

This Post Contains Three Useful Items

December 19th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (9 Comments)

I’m on reprieve from my usual cooking, cleaning and other domestic duties for a bit here thanks to an early Christmas gift for the girls.

Surprise Toronto Trip

We’re in Toronto! Me, two girlies, one fetus and one Granny Weeds.

CN Tower

We had to leave Dad at home to go to that pesky thing called work. Don’t feel too bad for him though. He threw a party over the weekend, he gets a three night break from the bedtime routine and I left him with a crock pot full of No Fry Refried Beans.

Crockpot and Pinto Beans