Here are a few pretties that are on my wish list and items that I’ve invested in because they keep my cooking foodie soul alive.

I love cookbooks, they bring so much inspiration and it makes it so much easier to do my meal planning for the week. I typically make 2 of my all time favorites that are my own recipes then try 1 or 2 new recipes from these cookbooks. It keeps my cooking fun and creative without feeling overwelmed.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

I’ve checked it out at the book store and fell in love with quite a few of the recipes, definitely worth buying. We usually cook at least 2 vegetarian meals a week and I don’t have any vegetarian cook books, what’s wrong with this picture? Perfect excuse, right? It’s pretty high up on the wish list.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

She is the cook that discovered Julia Child, I love her simple style and balance of a mediterranean diet. I figure I can just duplicate the recipes, like her cheese soufflé… yum.

Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

She is also the blogger behind the very popular food recipe blog www.101cookbooks.com, I love that she finds ways to offer substitutes for flour, sweeteners in a more natural way like not using corn syrup for baking, but using natural can sugar and agave syrup, you get the drift. Also love how she evens out the types of foods so you’re eating a good range of all the good foods we should eat from grains to veggies. Definitely not your cook book if you like super rich carb & heavy foods.

Mango Splitter

We love eating mango’s in this house, especially during the summer. We have the pineapple cutter and we use it frequently. Genius, anyone who has cut a mango knows the pain of cutting them, plus I always feel like so much of the fruit is left on the seed, not anymore with this gadget. Totally getting this soon!

Cuisinart Food Processor

I have borrowed my dear friend and neighbor’s food processor to make pesto and veggie burgers in one of these, love at first sight and I must own one in the near future.

Williams Sonoma and their Technique Classes

The best part about these classes is that they are free to the public, yes FREE and I have yet to take advantage. Mostly because they are Sundays, but I must go to at least one next month, their May schedule is looking good, not available online yet, but you can get them early on if you sign-up for their emails. You can look them up by store and they also offer cooking classes, but those do include a fee. They do sound like a lot of fun though since they are theme based, like Cuban cuisine would be one they offer and of course you get a taste of it and a certain percentage off any item at the store that day. Not a bad deal.

Lunchskins

A few months back we invested in these because using and buying plastic sandwich bags gets old and  it’s bad for the environment so these dishwasher safe, certified food safe, hand sewn and quick drying light cotton lunchskins were the perfect solution. We liked these better than the lunch boxes with the containers because these are more roomy, plus we can both use them. Kris uses them for his packed lunches for work, I use them when on the go and running errands to pack nuts and fruit and we both use them when packing snacks for hiking. Yes, I did get those colors. There are other alternatives, I like these at this Evelyn Fields Etsy Shop, definitely cute and serve the same purpose.

Lavender Ice Cream

Source

Ever since watching It’s Complicated and watching Alec Baldwin eating it (wish they had a photo of him eating it, so amusing), I knew I had to have some… since I don’t have an ice cream maker I’m thinking I’ll have to search for a gourmet shop in LA that will carry it or I might need to just order some online and shipped to me in dry ice, um yeah, craving at it’s fullest. You can get the recipe clicking on the source link. And if you haven’t seen the movie and you’re a foodie then netflix it ASAP and watch it, seriously, you’ll be drooling and the chemistry between Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin is amazing.

Breville Juice Extractor

Kris and I had been wanting a juicer for years, we finally invested in one a few months back thanks to a gift card… so worth the investment. We now juice 3-4 times a week. Our favorite combos are the green drink which contains: spinach, zucchini, parsley, celery, sprouts and 2 apples to sweeten it up, delish! Our favorite fruit one so far is the pineapple and orange one, can’t wait to have small juice tastings when more friends come over. I will soon post juicing photos and Kris the juice master working this machine. It by no means takes away the nutritional value of eating raw fruits and veggies, but it’s another great way to get the daily fruit & veggie intake, plus it hits your blood stream right away. What I love most about juicing besides the nutritional value is that it’s something we do together that we both enjoy and makes for some good bonding time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as I did, I’m thinking this needs to be an ongoing series for me.

Cheers to healthy cooking and eating with a side of foodie shopping!

I’ve always wanted to make it myself and not sure why I didn’t earlier because it was so yummy and easy to make. With all the cooking I’ve done in the last year I’ve mentally noted what  the main ingredients call for and made my own version of it. I can not follow a recipe 100%… it’s not in my blood. I learned the principles and pleasure of cooking through my parents and I always had a hard time remaking their recipes because they’ll say “I used a dash of this and just cooked it” and then expect you to understand how to reproduce it. Now I get it because once you start cooking a lot and are experienced in the kitchen, you can reproduce just about anything even without a recipe. There’s nothing better than cooking for your loved ones (I’m glad my parents taught me this) and I think this makes all my meals that much better, it makes me a better cook.

• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 tomatos, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can of kidney beans, soaked & drained
• 8-10 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1 cup rigatoni pasta
• Parsley, chopped
• Thyme, few sprigs if fresh or 1 teaspoon if dry
• Sage, 3-4 leafs if fresh or 1 teaspoon if dry
• 2 bay leafs
• salt & peper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 rind of parmesan cheese (the secret weapon)

Dice all your veggies, make sure they are all the same size so they cook all at the same time. Heat up your pot to a medium heat and add oil, sauté the onion, garlic and celery until soft and cooked. Then add the carrots, tomatos, zucchini, thyme, sage, salt & pepper, cheese grind and stock and bring to a boil at medium to high heat for about 15 minutes. Once it starts boiling after 15 minutes or so add the kidney beans and rigatoni and boil for another 10 minutes. Turn off and add the chopped parsley, fresh works best. Top with parmesan cheese and serve with garlic bread. Makes 4-6 servings.

I hope you enjoy.

Listening to Ingrid Michaelson’s new album Everybody. I love her voice and lyrics.

I’ve been listening to this album for months, ever since it came out and I tend to drive Kris crazy when I play it over and over, but I just can’t help myself.

I’m making acorn squash soup tonight with bread. I’ve made butternut squash soup before, but never with acorn squash. I found a great recipe idea in Sunset magazine this month to cook the whole squash then scoop out the squash and serve it in the squash itself, once you make the soup of course. I’m sure it will make a pretty presentation for a Friday night dinner.

Reading this awesome cookbook. I love Alice Waters and her style and approach to cooking healthy organic foods. She started the Edible Schoolyard Program and of course co-founder of the very famous Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkley CA. What I love most in this book is that she has special notes in each section. Such as leaving a chicken out an hour in room temperature before roasting in the oven otherwise it won’t brown evenly in the oven. I could write a whole post just on Alice Waters, her books have really inspired me to cook differently and explore other methods of cooking.

That sums up my day. I’m also reading the users guide to Quickbooks for Mac and planning for upcoming photo sessions, but that’s all boring stuff that I’m sure you don’t want photos of. What are you up to today?