Roasted Figs stuffed with Creamy Goat Cheese

Roasted Figs Stuffed with Creamy Goat Cheese

Roasted figs. Doesn’t your mouth just salivate at those words? Even before I knew what a fig was (those yellow packages known as fig newtons absolutely bewildered me as a youngster) I knew there was something magical about them. It’s not surprising that these decadent little fruits were associated with Dionysus, the God of wine and drunkenness in Greek mythology. The rich texture of a ripe fig unfolds softly upon the tongue releasing a myriad of sweetness that pairs so well with wine and cheese.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy figs is to briefly roast them and then stuff them with high quality goat cheese and a few varying accoutrements for added flare and flavor.

These beautiful little bits take minutes to prepare and yet give a gourmet flare to any party as either an appetizer or a dessert. 

Ingredients:

8 figs

liquid coconut oil (Or sub almond oil, safflower oil)

4oz of soft goat cheese

Pomegranate seeds

Slivered Almonds

Optional:

Black sesame seeds

Edible flowers

Spinach

Preheat oven to 400ºF (mini oven works great) Remove goat cheese from refrigerator and place aside

   Prepare Figs: Cut 1/8^th inch off tops and bottoms of figs just to create a smooth surface so they stand upright upon a plate. Cut x shape 3/4ths of the way down into the top of each fig. Drizzle with coconut oil and place in oven for 8 to 15 minutes

  

   Remove figs from oven and let them cool to room temperature. Take a small spoonful of goat cheese and using fingers, stuff cheese into roasted figs op with slivered almonds and pomegranate seeds.

    

  

  Optional Serve figs over bed of spinach leaves, edible flowers and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

Sunhini Seed Butter

Sunhini Seed Butter

Oh seed butter how wonderful you are. Those of you who know me, know that I adore this savory goodness in more ways than I ever thought possible. 

What is it? 

So what is a seed butter anyhow? A seed butter is basically the same thing (But way more awesome) as peanut butter. I do eat peanuts occasionally but considering there have been some questionable issues raised with fungal growth and peanuts, I tend to stick to homemade organic tahini (sesame seeds) or sunflower seed butter. 



Ways of Indulgence include:  

1) In a morning green smoothie

2) Apple nut "sandwiches"

3) a little on top of a piece of dark chocolate

4) Mixed with white beans to make a low fat dip. 

5) Sugar free Tahini Truffles anyone? 

6) Sunflower Seed "Thai sauce."  

6)A big spoonful straight from the jar.

 Sunhini Butter Recipe 

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup sesame seeds 

1-2 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp stevia or 1 tbs agave
1 tbs cocoa powder  

**(Agave has a higher GI so may raise blood sugars a bit more) 

1 tbs sesame seed oil (optional) 

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once the skillet is warm roast the seeds (I usually do one cup at a time) Stir occationally for the first 3-5 minutes, but after that stir constantly to avoid burning. 

2. Transfer seeds to a glass bowl and let them cool down to room temperature.

3. Transfer seeds to a food processor and begin to 'blend, baby blend!' Occasionally stop and use a spoon or knife to scrape the mixture from the side of the container. At this point you will have a fine powder. 

4. After around 5-7 minutes (depending on the power of your food processor) a smooth paste will begin to form.

5. Add in salt, Stevia powder or Agave and Cocoa powder, if desired.

6. If your seed butter still looks to be in need of some help becoming a bit creamier, it is now time to add 1 tbs of sesame seed oil if desired. (I think the addition of sesame seed oil will rock you socks off!)  

Yield:  approximately 3/4 cup sunhini butter

Yummmm...

Gourmet Goat Cheese

Gourmet Goat Cheese

Easy entertaining 

Now I don't know about you all, but I have a bit of an infatuation with goat cheese. Besides my conviction that it's absolutely delicious, I also love the fact that I have actually seen my fair share of goat's milked before. It's great having the opportunity to connect more closely to the source of ones favorite foods! 

Goat Milking Expo! 

Now I am a fan of goat cheese on it's own, but my absolute preference is when you can doll it up a bit and compliment that almost sour nature of goat cheese with something rich and almost sweet. 

So here is my favorite goat cheese recipe, not only for taste but also, in particular, for aesthetics. It's one of my  favorite "go-to" entertaining / date night dish. 

Gourmet Goat Cheese Recipe

1/2 cup of raw cashews 

1 tsp sunflower oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 roll of goat cheese (preferably without the wax)

Serve with:
Dehydrated Swiss Chard chips or Broccoli (Winter)
Cucumbers and Zucchini slices (Summer)  

1. Heat oven to 350F

2. Next chop the cashews until they resemble the size of chickpeas. 

3. place in a bowl and mix with sunflower oil and salt. 

4. place on a baking pan and roast for around 10 minutes, shaking the pan after 5 minutes and keeping an eye on them. Once they have lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool

5. While the cashews are cooling, take your goat cheese and using your hands, roll into a large ball. 

6. Place Roasted cashews on a plate or in a large bowl and begin gently rolling the cashews 

7. Once the goat cheese ball is completely covered in cashews, plate up and serve with vegetables of choice. I mentioned Romaine lettuce, Celery, cucumber and Zucchini, but Asparagus, Broccoli (especially roasted) would be great as well! 

Enjoy my dears! 

Sending love, happiness and Low G indulging your way!

<3 Kate 

Chili Spiced Cauliflower Poppers

Cauliflower usually isn’t most peoples favorite food out there and it is especially a hard sell when “Raw” due to its bitterness.  But with a little seasoning and slow roasting Cauliflower gets that pizzazz that makes these cauliflower poppers one of my favorite guilt free go-to’s when suffering an afternoon snack attack.

Chili Spiced Cauliflower Poppers

INGREDIENTS

1 Cauliflower head

¼ cup nutritional yeast

½ tsp each:

Chili seasoning

Garlic powder

Salt

Optional but recommended:

1-2 TBS Olive Oil  

Directions:

1.     Pre-heat Oven to 400 F if using

2.     Cut up Cauliflower separating florets (Not too small, they will shrink when roasted).

3.     Rinse Florets thoroughly

4.     Transfer Florets to mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients

5.     Transfer seasoned ingredients onto dehydrator try or pan covered in wax paper.

DEHYDRATOR

  Dehydrate at 145 for two hours, and 115 for four to eight hours (I Like mine super crispy so usually dehyrate them overnight).

OVEN

     Roast 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally 

No Cook Fresh Applesauce

There was most certainly a time in my life when I had no appreciation or rather understanding of applesauce. I remember watching my uncle eating applesauce for dessert one evening and being completely at a loss as to why one would want applesauce for dessert when one could opt for, let's say..chocolate chip cookies and ice cream? But as I began to discover vegan and low fat baking (in which apple sauce tends to be a staple ingredient) I found myself finally appreciating the delicate sweetness of homemade applesauce. 

Now what are the advantages of making homemade applesauce, rather than just, running to the market and picking up a nicely pre-packaged bottle of the stuff? Well here are three awesome ones: 

1) Homemade applesauce doesn't have any preservatives...and well, I think we can all agree that is a good thing. 

2) Homemade applesauce is not loaded with sugar, like many supermarket brands.

3) Homemade applesauce just tastes better, especially if you are using freshly picked apples (YUmalicious ladies and gents!) 

On this note:  Any of you who have gone apple picking will likely have noticed something special about freshly picked apples. Okay, so there is a lot of specialness going on, but the main thing that struck me the first time that I went apple picking was that the stems of the apples were in fact green. And... get this... they stayed that way for 3 weeks! So what does this tell us about the brown stemmed apples we usually find in the supermarkets?  They're probably not exactly fresh.... though perhaps not as scandalous as the "fresh raspberries" for sale here in the market across the street... it's not summer anymore my dears!   

Well anyhow, enough gushing on homemade...RaWw Applesauce! 

Raw Applesauce

Ingredients: 

1 Granny Smith Apple (Lowest sugar) 

10 drops Nustevia (more to taste)

2 TBS Water 

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp Nutmeg (optional) 

1) Throw all of the above into the food processor (skin and all) and puree until smooth! 

Voila! So simple and easy! Now you can use this with various recipes later to come on Sweetly Free! It's amazing for baking and a wonderful guilt free dessert, topped with a little cashew whipped cream! 

Free Spirit Rice

Free Spirit Rice:

 A carb free base

So Obviously I can't get enough of Cauliflower! It's just so awesomely delish once you start using it!  Vegan Sushi sounded so yummm but I wanted to get really crazy and not only switch out the fish, but also switch out the rice! Wild... I know. Not only is this recipe useful for Vegan sushi (which I will post about later) But it is also fantastic for a base to many Asian, Mexican and Indian dishes. 

Free Spirit Rice Recipe:

1 large head of cauliflower

1-2 tbs sunflower oil

2 tsp of salt

pepper to taste 

Indian or chili seasoning (optional) 

1. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower (save for later use in a soup or stir fry!) 

2. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and transfer into a food processor

3. Process those babies until they begin to look like (you guessed it) Rice! You may have to do this in several batches

4. Transfer your "rice," into a large bowl and coat with remaining ingredients. 

5. Transfer coated rice into a fry pan heated over medium heat and cook until just sprinkled with golden bits. 5-10 minutes. 

6. Serve with a smile! 

Oh and btw. It has been argued in my house to be even tastier than real rice! 

Enjoy ladies and gents! :) 

Cucumber Cups stuffed with Sun Dried Tomato Paté and topped with a Basil Avocado Cream

Cucumber cups are fun, easy and incredibly beautiful when prepared! They are great for a light dinner on a hot summer day or for appetizers at your next dinner party! Not to mention they are totally kid friendly! I love the taste sun dried tomatoes impart onto pretty much any food, especially when mixed with the vibrant taste of a basil cream. “Hip Hip Hooray” to awesome finger-food!  J

Ingredients

1 Cup Sunflower Seeds

6 Sun Dried Tomatoes

2 Cucumbers

1 Lemon, juiced

1 handful of fresh basil

1 Avocado  

salt

pepper

sesame and chia seeds (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak sunflower seeds overnight
2. Soak sun dried tomatoes for 20 minutes
3. While tomatoes are soaking, wash your cucumbers and if your cucumbers are not organic, peel the skin
4. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
5. With knife or teaspoon, carve out the middle of the cucumber, creating a ‘cup-like’ shape.
6. Set aside

Sun Dried Tomato Paté

1. Drain the sundried tomatoes, saving the liquid in a separate bowl
2. Drain the sunflower seeds 

Basil Avocado Cream

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