French Onion Soup With Jalapeño Cheese Bread

Homemade French Onion soup with crusty jalapeño cheese bread
Makes 2 huge bowls:

1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 onions (thinly sliced)
6 cups beef broth
2 tbsp dry sherry
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper
Jalapeño Cheese Bread (we got ours from @growersranch)
Lots of Swiss Cheeeeeeese

-Heat butter and olive oil in a large stock pot.
-Add onions and cook until tender (be careful not to brown them).
-Add broth, sherry, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer for 30 min.
-Ladle into bowls, top with toasted jalapeño cheese bread and cover with slices of Swiss cheese.
-Place in the oven and broil until cheese is bubbly and starting to crisp.

Indian Butter Chicken

Last week marks 1 year since our wild trip to India! I’m hankering for another adventure! We’re currently hashing out the details of our next trip (new destination). I can’t wait to share it with you when everything is finalized! For now, I’ll spend today reminiscing about this magical place. I give you Indian Butter Chicken at it’s best! It’s just like the one we had in Delhi! So many lovely spices.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter (cubed)
2 lbs chicken breasts (cut into bite size chunks)
1 sweet onion (diced)
3 garlic cloves (pressed)
3 tsp garam masala
2 pieces Cassia Bark (regular cinnamon sticks will do just fine too)
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
14 oz tomato sauce
2 cups cream
salt & pepper
cilantro

Instructions

Use 2 tbsp of your butter to brown cubed chicken in a skillet. Cook until the outside is golden and the inside is still pink. Scoop out the chicken into a bowl. Set aside.
Using the same skillet as before, add another 2 tbsp of butter to the rendered chicken fat. Add diced onion, and cook until caramelized. Add all the dry spices, garlic and ginger. Stir to combine and cook for 1 minute until the spices become aromatic. Add tomato sauce. Stir. Stir. Stir.
Let simmer for five minutes before adding the cream. Stir again. Add the partially cooked chicken and let simmer for 20 minutes on low heat. Cover with lid (that sauce will stain)!
Stir in the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and add salt and pepper to taste
Serve over jasmine rice, top with fresh cilantro

A few of my other posts from India if you care to read more…
How was India
How to Book a Rice Boat
Kolkata and a Beautiful Indian Wedding

This Bar Saves Lives Apple Cashew Cream Cups

Homemade, cinnamon vanilla bean cashew cream layered with tart green apples, crumbled This Bar Saves Lives and a “salted caramel” date drizzle on top! I made this little baby to-go and tucked it safely in the passenger seat on my way to work. Precious cargo 😉

Any flavor of @thisbar will do! Wild blueberry pistachio, dark chocolate cherry & sea salt, Madagascar vanilla honey & almond or peanut butter strawberry & sea salt. I used wild blueberry pistachio + Madagascar vanilla honey & almond. All of them are fantastic!

Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Cashew Cream
1 cup raw unsalted cashews (soaked in water over night)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch of salt

Directions
Drain the cashews. Pour 1/4 cup of fresh water and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more water depending on the consistency you desire.

“Salted Caramel Sauce”
3 soft medjool dates
2 tbsp water
pinch of salt

Directions
Blend in a food possessor or mash with the back of a fork (whatever is easiest for you) until smooth. Strain sauce through a mesh sieve to remove any hard bits of date.

Crumble up your This Bars and layer it up! If you want to learn more about This Bar Saves Lives check out my post or head over to their website! Their Non-GMO, gluten free, fair trade, bee friendly snacks will make your tummy happy and also provide food for children in need all over the world. We eat together!

Healthy Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash

Twice baked spaghetti squash with lean turkey, roasted gaaahlic sauce and low fat mozzarella. Hub says it’s better than pasta! I agree!

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash (cut in half)

4 oz lean ground turkey meat
preferred seasonings to taste (I used Cavender’s All Purpose Greek seasoning)

1 cup Emeril’s All Natural Roasted Gaaahlic Sauce (you can find it in the store or make it from scratch)
1 cup low fat mozzarella cheese

fresh basil

Directions:

-Cut a spaghetti squash in half. Scoop out seeds and place face down in a deep dish pan with 2 inches of water. Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350F.

-Remove squash from oven, drain water and use a fork to scrape out the spaghetti strands. Place the strands in a bowl and set aside. Keep the squash shells.

-Cook turkey with preferred seasonings and then mix with spaghetti squash “noodles”
-Repack the spaghetti squash shells with the “noodle” and turkey mixture making sure that each shell is evenly packed

-Top each squash half with 1/2 cup of roasted gaaaahlic tomato sauce, and 1/2 cup low fat mozzarella cheese and fresh basil

-Place back in the cooking pan and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Healthy Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash | A Bit of Bees Knees

Harvest Salad

Harvest salad! Bringing on all those gorgeous colors… Tuscan and curly kale with purple cabbage, quinoa, pomegranate seeds, Israeli couscous and steamed pumpkin. I topped mine with a bit of Bragg’s live foods liquid aminos and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Ingredients:
2 stalks of Tuscan kale (washed and ripped into bite size pieces)
2 stalks of curly kale (washed and ripped into bite size pieces)
2 cups purple cabbage (shredded)
1/3 cup tri colored quinoa (cooked)
1/3 cup Israeli couscous (cooked)
2 cups pumpkin (cubes and steamed)
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds