Roasted Butternut Tahini Dip

Sweet and creamy.  This dip can easily be mixed with a pasta, rice, or used as a dip for a plate of veggies.  

1/2  butternut squash
1 small onion, halved
Oil for roasting
1/4 c.  tahini
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. coriander powder
Drizzle sesame oil
salt, pepper, cayenne, to taste


Coat onion and squash in oil and roast until the squash is soft and the onions are browning.  Cool.

Scoop out squash and place it and remaining ingredients into blender/food processor.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Adjust ingredients to your desire. I sometimes want lemony or spicy. 

Garnish with a drizzle of sesame/olive oil and some sesame seeds.  This is good warm or as a sauce.    

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

1 lb. cream cheese, softened

1 c. yogurt/sour cream/mayo (any combination will do)

1 c. chopped artichoke hearts or any tapenade

1 c. chopped spinach

1/4 c. chopped basil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

salt/pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. Place into a casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees until the top is bubbly and starting to brown. Serve warm with bread, veggies and crackers.

This is quite versatile. I have used olives, bell pepper, eggplant or green chilies instead of artichokes. I've also mixed in other cheeses. It is always a hit at a party and you can easily scale the recipe to accommodate any size crowd.

Energy Balls

We make these as a good snack for those sweet tooth kind of days. They seem to go on lots of camping trips and travel well (you do need to keep them cool). Adaptable!

1/2 cup of a nut butter (we use almond mostly)
1/4 cup of molasses (I skimp here)
1/4 cup of honey (I skimp here too)
1 cup of almond meal or other dry item like milk powder, protein powders, ground flax
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of dried fruit, nuts, coconut, seeds of your choice
more almond meal, sesame seeds, coconut, finely chopped nuts to coat

Stir together nut butter, molasses, honey, almond meal and vanilla. After it is well mixed stir in dried fruit/nuts. Roll into balls of whatever snack size you want. Coat with the meal/seeds to keep from sticking together. Keep in refrigerator and enjoy!

Craving Experiments

Rice krispy treats sounded really good today. Unfortunately I don't keep around rice krispies...I did have puffed millet! So in a "why not" mood we created these:


I have given up calling them "millet krispy treats" and we just call anything of this variety Krispies. A couple tablespoons of butter, bag of small marsh mellows melted together. I then added some peanut butter (~ 3/4 cup) and stirred in ~ 6 cups of puffed millet and a handful of cranberries. I was going to add sunflower seeds and saw them sitting on the counter all lonely after I had finished. Place in a greased 13 x 9 pan and press using wax paper. Cool and cut.

These turned out wonderfully and are so easily adjustable.

Morning Independence

Faces and shapes = taste better!

Elias loves to wake up early and he wakes up hungry. Eva loves to sleep in and nurse. This creates a problem...especially on those days Craig is up early and out the door cycling. The solution has come about with age. Elias is now old enough and big enough to open the refrigerator, pour pre-measured milk, and in general grab a snack for breakfast.

We have been trying to place some kind of morning snack in the refrigerator or on the table where he can immediately access it in the morning. He loves this! It is a surprise to see what we made and I think the feeling of independence is heady. So here are some of the morning ideas:

Sunshine fruit.

Hard boiled eggs (pre-peeled)
Cheese (cubed or cut into fun shapes)
Muffins/rolls
Fruits
Cereal with milk in a cup
Nuts/seeds
Yogurt with chopped fruit/seeds

The trick is to make them simple to eat; no heating or mixing. Just add milk or sprinkle fruit/seeds. Shapes and faces, colors and dips are always favorites. Sometimes these are his breakfast and at other times they are a start until I can get up and make something hot!