I bought a rather eclectic cookbook filled with not so ordinary vegetarian recipes recently titled Naturally Vegetarian. Recipes and Stories from my Italian Family Farm by Valentina Solfrini. I have never found an Italian cookbook dedicated entirely to vegetarian dishes until this one. While exploring the book I discovered that author Valentina has a blog called hortuscuisine.com food from the Italian countryside. Her blog is filled with travel stories and nostalgic Italian vegan and vegetarian recipes. On Valentina’s blog is where I found this beautiful post on flavored honeys. Continue reading Flavored Honey
Tag Archives: honey
Lemon Honey Ginger Pound Cake
I bought some gorgeous amber colored honey from a local home beekeeper recently. This lady has a large garden with flowers and lavender bushes and she raises honeybees for honey which she harvests and sells through word of mouth. All proceeds form the honey sales are donated to our local Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose. She doesn’t even want the checks written in her name, she just wants all payments made directly to the food bank. I bought six bottles from her – I mean what a winning combination – proceeds from local honey sales that go directly to a local food bank – win/win! Continue reading Lemon Honey Ginger Pound Cake
Cocoa & Nut Super Seeds & Cardamom Protein-bar Truffles
Usually, I would never have given a second thought to making energy bars or protein bars at home, it’s not something I think of replicating in my kitchen. I got the idea for making protein packed energy bars from our friend Aaron H. One day we were talking healthy snacks when he told me he had been trying unsuccessfully to make an energy bar at home. Energy bar at home? And that to Aaron making it? I did a double take.
Aaron said he had been trying to make an energy bar of sorts with almond meal, raisins, and cocoa powder and he was still figuring out how to get the texture right. You see his “energy bar” was very sticky in the mouth – almost like a peanut butter. He said he added water but that didn’t help. He even tried baking the mixture but it turned out too hard and not edible. We got to talk about how we could make the texture better and bounced around ideas such as adding applesauce and bananas, or coconut oil. But in the end I promised him I would try and make an energy bar at home, and if it turned out good, share the recipe with him.
Guess what folks? I made nut energy bars in my home kitchen and they turned out great 😋. I shaped them into truffles hence the name energy bar truffles. Continue reading Cocoa & Nut Super Seeds & Cardamom Protein-bar Truffles
Honey Mustard Dressing
Honey Mustard Dressing:
Ingredients:
- Honey 2 tbsp
- Dijon Mustard or any grainy mustard 1 tbsp
- White wine vinegar – or apple cider vinegar 4 tbsp
- Olive oil 4 tbsp
- Salt & pepper to taste
Kale, Fennel & Apple Salad with Dubliner Cheese and Honey Mustard Dressing
I had this awesome kale salad when I went over to my friend Devi’s for lunch to celebrate her birthday a while back. Our friend Rose joined us too and we had a delicious and healthy fall-inspired lunch. Rose brought this wonderful kale salad with fennel and apples. Continue reading Kale, Fennel & Apple Salad with Dubliner Cheese and Honey Mustard Dressing
Sunset Ice Cream with Marigold Petals, Golden Raisins, & Saffron Honey
Have you ever had marigold petals in foods? The flowers have a spicy almost intoxicating fragrance that reminds me of the temples of India. Their color – wow! Marigolds are such a rich tapestry of warm colors – reminiscent of warm summer days and vibrant evenings sunsets.
The colors of marigolds are positively decadent – they come in glorious shades of golden yellow to vibrant orange, to even dark burnt burgundy.
To show off the beauty of these lush decadent yellow and ochre colored edible marigold petals, I got the idea to make a marigold ice cream with saffron milk and golden honey. Saffron provides a subtle yellow color that is a perfect color companion to these rich gold marigold petals.
Continue reading Sunset Ice Cream with Marigold Petals, Golden Raisins, & Saffron Honey
Greens Salad with Apples & Pickled Onion Vinaigrette
Greens Salad with Apples & Pickled Onion Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 8-10 cups spring greens salad mix
- 2 medium apples cut into thin slices
- 1 bell pepper cut into thin slices or 4 small peppers cut into thin circles
- 1/2 small red onion cut into slivers
- 1 avocado cut into thin slices
- White cheddar cheese cut into small cubes – as much as you like (optional)
- Ingredients for pickled onion vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup pickled onion vinegar
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp honey
Continue reading Greens Salad with Apples & Pickled Onion Vinaigrette
Pickled Onion Vinaigrette
Hey folks, have you had a chance to make easy pickled onions yet? Wondering what to do with the vinegar after the pickled onions have been consumed? Guess what? That same vinegar can be used to make a vinaigrette salad dressing. An added bonus is that the vinegar is now an onion and coriander flavored vinegar. Pretty cool!
The Dawa Cocktail
Last summer we visited family in Mombasa, Kenya; on one of the evenings we went on a sunset dinner cruise on a traditional Arab boat known as a dhow. To take a look at some pictures of this amazingly romantic sunset dinner cruise check out my earlier post: Sunset Dinner Cruise on the Tamarind Dhow in Mombasa, Kenya
On this dinner cruise the Tamarind Hotel and Restaurant that hosts the cruise serves a refreshing cocktail called the Dawa. It is the perfect drink on a balmy summer evening in tropical Mombasa.
Tossed Green Salad with Mango, Peppers & Onions with Honey Vinaigrette
What makes this salad pop is the honey vinaigrette dressing. Because this salad has sweet ripe mangoes the honey vinaigrette really enhances the sweetness of the fruit.
Tossed Green Salad with Mango, Peppers & Onions with Honey Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe mango cut into cubes
- 1/2 small red onion cut into thin slices
- 4 small peppers cut into little rings
- 6 cups salad greens
- 1 ripe avocado cut into small chunks
- 2 tbsp Feta cheese or parmesan shavings (optional)
- Roasted pistachios or roasted cashews or any nuts of your choice or sunflower seeds
- Honey Vinaigrette. Here is the link to the recipe for Honey Vinaigrette
Continue reading Tossed Green Salad with Mango, Peppers & Onions with Honey Vinaigrette
