Starving and samples is a dangerous combo when you’re shopping at Costco.  I’ve seen the pickled beets before but didn’t want to commit to such a large amount if I didn’t love them.  Well, lucky for me, last time I was shopping at Costco they were available as a sample. Lets just say they ended up coming home with me.

Being as hindsight is always 20/20 I wouldn’t have bought them because of the amount of added sugar in them.  So what better way to use them up than to add them into a chocolate cake?  Might as well as go into a complete sugar coma.

A friend gave me the idea to use them in a chocolate cake and a quick Google search produced many recipes, who knew it was really a thing? This is the recipe I chose to follow.

Beet Chocolate Cake – www.geniuskitchen.com

One of the first things I noticed was that it said DO NOT use pickled beets, well rules are meant to be broken, right? 🙂 I got right down to business and pureed those suckers up.

It was a very easy cake to make,  yet I was still skeptical as to how it would taste.  Here’s all the pretty colors (aka beets, melted chocolate and the egg/oil/sugar mixture) getting mixed together.

One of the user reviews suggested adding in 1 teaspoon of Whiskey, to bring out the chocolate flavor. So of course I had to follow her advice.  After it was done baking and cooling, I dusted it with powdered sugar. It was unbelievably good, super moist with no hint of beets at all!

I usually prefer cooking to baking, but one of the benefits of baking is getting to share it with others.  Here I am heading out to deliver it to a friend.

It was a hit at her house too.  Leaving unattended chocolate cake on a kitchen counter with two teenage boys in her house left her with half of a piece of the four I brought over.

Good, now that I have your attention 🙂 Sucked in by the title.  These are probably  the healthiest chocolate chip cookies I’ve made.  Vegan.  Almond Flour.  Yumm!

Since becoming a groupie at the free community classes at Natural Grocers, I’m acquiring all sorts of new tricks up my sleeve. One of the most recent classes was baking with almond flour.  And how smart of Natural Grocers, come in for a free class, but must pick up “just a few things” before heading home.  Which is how I ended up with not one, but three bags of almond flour in my refrigerator. Hey, it was a better deal….

Following this recipe won me some extra points with my family 🙂

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies – www.detoxinista.com

They all gave two thumbs up!

Thanksgiving is not complete without deviled eggs. I absolutely love them and could eat an embarrassingly large amount.

This year I decided to branch out and try some fun flavors, thank you #40! Soy-Sirracha and curry are the  two recipes I found online.  My recent purchase of Vegenaise in chipolte and pesto flavors inspired the other two.  And my fun foodie friend suggested smoking my fifth batch since my husband was already smoking the turkey.

These are the recipes I used for the first two flavors.

Soy Siracha Deviled Eggs – www.nutmegnanny.com

Curry Deviled Eggs – www.communitytable.parade.com

I used my basic deviled egg recipe for the Vegenaise ones, just substituting the Vegenaise for mayonnaise and omitting the dry mustard.

I made the smoked ones traditional, but the smoke flavor gave them more depth. Smoking also changed their texture and made them somewhat chewy.  I put them in for 30 minutes at 280 degrees.

The best part was all of us trying the different flavors and deciding which ones we liked best.  The Soy-Siracha ones won! Plus they were the prettiest 🙂

Top left-Smoked. Top right- Soy Siracha.  Middle left- Pesto.  Bottom right- Curry. Bottom left-chipolte.

 

One afternoon I found myself pondering what to do with a Costco sized bag of mangos in the freezer.  I’m sure this happens to you too, right? 🙂 I was looking for something more interesting than just your typical smoothie, which is how I came upon this recipe.

Mango Chia Pudding – www.blissfulbasil.com

I used two cups of frozen mango and let them defrost in the refrigerator.  Based on the choices in the recipe, I used unsweetened almond milk and vanilla extract.

I was super pleased with how this turned out!  It was delicious and just hit the spot when you’re craving something sweet, but don’t want to feel too guilty about it.  And I just adored how it looks, the different layers and color contrast just makes me happy! 🙂