Yumminess

Are you into Pinterest? It's a time suck, but I've gotten some really good kids activities, clothes, and (especially) recipes from it. Here are some of my favorites...

Bang Bang Cauliflower

Shopping List (Serves 2-4 as an appetizer)
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup egg whites
1 head cauliflower
Salt & pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Green onion
1/4 cup coconut oil

Sauce
1/4 cup lite mayo
1/4 cup Franks Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce or Siracha (add more or less depends on how hot you can handle it)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

1. Slice your cauliflower florets. Mix salt, pepper and garlic powder into your Panko breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.

2. Set separate bowls aside with egg whites and cornstarch. Dip your florets one by one into the cornstarch, and shake off excess. Then dip into egg whites, and then coat with Panko mixture.

3. After coating all of your florets, warm up your coconut oil in a large frying pan and place all florets in hot oil. Turn with tongs making sure all sides are browned. Set on top of paper towels to remove excess oil. Top with more salt.

4. In a small bowl mix all of your sauce ingredients. Coat your breaded and pan fried florets with sauce, top with sprinkles of green onion and serve right away.

Best Ever Broccoli (or cauliflower)
Preheat oven to 425 and cut broccoli into florets. Make sure broccoli is DRY!

Put the broccoli on a cookie sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. (She says 5 Tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps kosher salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, but I just eyeballed it.) Now add 4 garlic cloves that are peeled and sliced and toss them in too.

Roast in the oven 20 to 25 minutes, until “crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.”

I shook the pan around a bit as it went, but not sure that’s necessary.

When it’s done, take it out of the oven–and here’s where it gets really good–zest a lemon over the broccoli, squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli, add 1.5 Tbs more olive oil, 3 Tbs toasted pine nuts (I left those out), and 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. She also has you add 2 Tbs julienned fresh basil, but I left that out too.

No-Bake Energy Bites Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
1 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Method:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 balls.

Ali’s Tip:

Substitution ideas can abound for just about any of these ingredients! Feel free to substitute in your favorite nut butter (almond butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.) for the peanut butter. And you could also add in some wheat germ in place of some or all of the flaxseed. I would caution, though, against substituting agave nectar for the honey, as the honey’s thickness helps hold things together.

Some other fun substitutions for the chocolate chips (or an addition to them) could include:
chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins, etc.)
dried berries (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
chopped almonds, pecans, or sunflower seeds
other chips (butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc.)

Update: Many of you in the comments have asked about substitutions for other ingredients. The joy of these bites being “no bakes” is that this recipe is super flexible. If you end up needing to omit one of the dry ingredients (such as coconut or flax), just add in some extra of whatever other dry ingredient is remaining (for example, the oats). If you feel like your energy bites are too dry, just add in extra honey or peanut butter. Enjoy!!!

And the last one...
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Brownies (courtesy of my yoga instructor)

1c peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs

Mix and pour into 8x8 pan. Bake at 325 for 25 min. Enjoy!