Since discovering this truly delicious Gluten Free Bread recipe, we have been gobbling up boule’s and bagels at an impressive rate.  We have nearly a year of bread-free life to make up for, after-all.  In all of this, it’s become clear that butter* alone, just doesn’t cut it.  I love a good slather of creamy and salty butter on my morning toast, but after a few days, my tastebuds are asking for a bit more.

Enter, breakfast butters.  These are simple compound butters, that call on some of those favorite morning flavor combinations.  I’m talking everything [bagel], cinnamon raisin, and the like – but with a bit of an elevated flavor (think toasted garlic, and chai-like spices).  They have made a staying mark on our toast situation, and have even made their way into the lunch and dinner scene.

* Our favorite non-dairy butter is Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Sticks (or) Spread.

Golden Chai Raisin

A blend of heartwarming and health promoting spices, studded with sweet golden raisins.

2 Tbl golden raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 + 1/8 tsp turmeric
heaping 1/8 tsp cardamon
4 Tbl (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1.  Soak raisins in hot water for a few minutes. *Optional – once soaked, roughly or finely chop
2.  Thoroughly mix all spices and raisins into the butter.

Elevated Everything Blend

There’s everything + some swagger, in this savory blend.

1/4 large onion (any variety), sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp cumin seed
Olive oil
4 Tbl (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1.  Heat a medium sized sauté pan over medium heat.  Once hot, toast the cumin seeds for 2-3 minutes, until you smell their fragrance.  Make sure to shake the pan often, to avoid burning.  Remove seeds from the pan.
2.  Heat a small glug of olive oil in the already heated pan.  Once oil is ready, add chopped garlic.  Shake pan continuously, to avoid burning the garlic.  It should be crisp within 1 minute or less.  Promptly remove garlic from the pan.
3.  Turn the heat to medium-high, and add a small glug of olive oil.  Once pan is heated, add sliced onions.  Cook, moving every 1-2 minutes, until a nice brown shade has developed over much of the onion.  Turn heat down to medium-low, and continue to cook, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are fully caramelized.  Remove onions, and finely chop.
4.  Thoroughly mix onion, garlic and cumin seed into the butter.

Honey Lavender

Sweet, with an earthy aromatic note – simplicity at it’s best.

2 Tbl honey
1 Tbl culinary lavender
OR a store-bought heavily-fragranced lavender honey
4 Tbl (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1.  Place honey and lavender into small saucepan and bring to a bare-simmer.  Turn off the heat, place a lid on the pot, and let it steep for 40 minutes.
2.  Strain lavender buds from the honey, making sure to press the honey to release all of it’s flavor.
3.  Thoroughly mix the lavender honey into the butter. (If you find that your honey is very sticky, give it a quick zap in the microwave, or warm over the stove, to loosen it up.)

Happy Spring!  With sunny (and hopefully warm!) days ahead, my mind turns to those classic outdoor dishes – I’m talking grilled burgers, frozen treats, and fresh berries by the handful.  This past summer, I discovered, and subsequently became a huge fan of this lemon and mint potato salad – with one personal tweak, the addition of dill.  The lemon is bright, while the mixture of herbs and green onions add a punch of flavor that is worthy of at least two helpings.  The one thing this ‘salad’ is missing?  The actual salad.

The remedy?  Toss it over a bed of spinach of course.  While you’re at it, add some red onion and radish for bite, and crumbled bacon for a salty crunch.  The warmness of the creamy and herbed potatoes, marries perfectly with the fresh bite of the vegetables below it.  It is bright with flavor, and warming in that wilted-spinach-salad sort of way.  It is a perfect salad for this transitional season that we’re entering; whether paired with a burger on a warm day, or a pork roast on a cool one.

Ingredients

1 lb. baby potatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
4 sprigs of dill, fronds only
4 sprigs of mint, de-stemmed and slivered
juice from 1/2 of a lemon (1 – 1 1/2 tbl)
4 cups fresh spinach
4 slices of bacon
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
1/3 red onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Steps

Turn on your oven to 400 degrees. Lay bacon strips on a cooling rack, over a baking sheet.  Once the oven is preheated, place the bacon in the oven for 18-22 minutes until cooked through and slightly crunchy (depending on the thickness of your bacon).  Alternately, you can cook the bacon stove-top.

Submerge potatoes in a pot of water, and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, cook for 15-20 minutes, until they are fully cooked through.

While the potatoes and bacon are cooking, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, dill, and mint together. Season it with salt and pepper to your liking.  Thinly slice the radish and red onion, and place them on top of the spinach in a serving bowl.

Once the bacon is cooked through (ideally before the potatoes are done, but it’s okay if not), cut them into thick (roughly 1/4″) slices.  Arrange them on top of your spinach/radish/red onion bed.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, strain them.  Working quickly, smash the potatoes by placing the side of a wide knife over the top of the potato, and carefully push/smack your palm onto the knife.  This should slightly open the potato, while still keeping the skin mostly in tact.  For any larger pieces of potato, you can first cut it in half, and then proceed to smash it.  Once all of the potatoes have been smashed, place them in a bowl and cover them with the dressing.  You will find that they will absorb most of the dressing, while leaving a little behind.

Place potatoes on top of the spinach/veggie bed, scraping all of the dressing from the bowl.  If there is hardly any dressing remaining, add a drizzle of olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon over the top of everything.

*Note:  If the potatoes are still warm, you may find that they will wilt the spinach slightly.  If you prefer that this not happen, wait until the potatoes have cooled off to a warm touch before placing them on the spinach/veggie bed.

While I’d like to say that coming out of the holiday season has me feeling like I need to get my sweet tooth in check, really, it’s coming out of this last year that has me feeling that way. A little prologue for you…

It was fall 2016 when we first suspected that Kian had food allergies, and I began a process of food elimination from my diet (due to nursing). It started with dairy and was followed in succession by eggs, nuts, seeds, and wheat. This change completely pulled the rug out from beneath me. It changed every meal