Cauliflower Leek Soup

This is a great soup to make for St. Patrick's Day dinner -- and it is so much more tasty than corned beef and cabbage. Trust me... I know (my husband 100% agrees). This is the first time I've cooked with leeks, and they are so delicious! This soup is light, but filling. It tastes like there is potato in the soup, and my husband thinks it tastes like there is cheese! It's healthy and easy, so give it a try!

CAULIFLOWER LEEK SOUP

2 bunches of leeks

1 head of cauliflower

2 T. butter

3 c. chicken broth

1 c. or 8 oz. Greek plain yogurt

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the white and light green parts of the leeks (I chopped just a bit of the dark green too to make the soup a beautiful light green color). Turn soup pan on medium-high heat and add the butter. Sautee the chopped leeks in the butter for several minutes until they soften. Chop the cauliflower and add to the leeks and immediately add the chicken broth. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to soften the cauliflower.

Take the soup off the heat and let cool for a few minutes. At this point you can use an immersion blender or a regular blender to puree the soup. I used my immersion blender to puree the soup. If you do it in a regular blender, just do the soup in batches. (You may have to let the soup cool a bit longer before adding to the blender.) Once the soup is fully pureed, add the Greek yogurt (or you could try just plain yogurt). If the soup is too cool at this point reheat for a few minutes and then salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Honey Balsamic Chicken

My husband loves balsamic vinegar, so I thought I'd try it on chicken. Last time we went out to eat he ordered a dish called "Honey Balsamic Chicken." I thought I'd give it a try cooking it myself. It can't be that hard, right? Thank goodness I was right - this is so easy and oh, so yummy!



Honey Balsamic Chicken

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 thawed chicken breasts (I buy mine in the 6-pack at Costco, 2 breasts sealed in each pack)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey

Pound the chicken once thawed (I put mine in a sturdy Ziploc bag and pound it with an ice-cream scoop since I don't actually have a mallet. Resourceful, right!) Pour oil into frying pan and heat to medium. Cut chicken into serving sizes and add to pan. Drizzle balsamic vinegar evenly over the top of each piece of chicken then pour the honey over the top. Let it simmer for a couple minutes. Turn over each piece of chicken and add additional vinegar and honey to taste. Cook until completely cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.

St. Patrick's Day Garland

I liked my Valentine's Day garland so much, I decided to make one for St. Patrick's Day, as well. I purchased these foam shamrocks from Hobby Lobby. They came in a set of 12 for only $2.99!


I simply punched two little holes in the top of each shamrock with a tiny hole punch (it punches smaller holes than a normal hole punch) and strung narrow white ribbon through each shamrock. I put a little dot of glue behind the ribbon on the front of each shamrock to hold them in place. I also added a little bow and a white button to the plain green shamrocks to embellish them a little.


I used the extra shamrocks to hang from the hutch doors to add a little bit more green to the kitchen. Let's be honest, garland is so simple to make and looks so cute hanging from the fireplace. I'll probably make one for every holiday!

Whole Wheat Carrot Pineaple Cake

This is a sugar-free recipe that uses Agave as a sweetener and tastes delicious!


CAKE:
1 ½ cups canola oil (or olive oil)
1 ½ cups Agave
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 cups grated carrots
2 cups crushed pineapple, with juice (1-20 oz. can)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans
3 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Let cool and frost with Cream Cheese frosting.

FROSTING:
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
⅔ cup Agave

Put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and blend until smooth with an electric mixer.


I like to make this cake in a bundt pan. Once the cake is baked and cooled, cut off any extra cake across the top of the bundt pan with a long bread knife so that the cake is flat and ready to be turned over onto a serving plate. Because the frosting is not very thick, I like to spoon the frosting into a frosting bag (or Ziploc bag with a clipped corner) to drizzle each individual piece of cake with frosting before serving rather than covering an entire cake. I think this cake tastes better on day two, which makes this a great dessert to make a day ahead!

For this recipe and other delicious Agave Recipes check out the cookbook Where Delicious Meets Nutritious.