{Green & Clean Home Perfume}

Home air fresheners and spritzes  are typically full of chemicals! Yuck.... but who doesn't want fresh relaxing aromas throughout their home?  I have a love/hate relationship with smells.  I am very aware of the scents around me.  When I encounter a "rank" smell (as my husband would call it) a normal response typically includes a dramatic gasp, closely followed by nose wrinkles and a frantic run for fresh air. Yes, it may be a slight overreaction...  Give me a good smell and I am in heaven.  I love fresh, light airy aromas.  It might be that clean laundry smell that accompanies clothes fresh out of the dryer or the scent of freshly picked herbs, either way I want them around me all the time.

So the question is how do I get a wonderful scent without breathing in chemicals? Well, I decided to try and create my own freshener. It came to me after I peeled a fresh farmer's market treat, a juicy tangelo.  I wanted to savor the smell of the peel.  Pulling out my saucepan and filing it with enough water to cover the peel pieces, I began to simmer it.  I immediately thought it needed something else...  rosemary!  I had just brought home a little tree of live rosemary for our balcony.  I love rosemary.  Breaking a sprig off the tree and gently separating the leaves from the stem, I tossed the rosemary in with the peel and let its aroma fill the room.  So simple! The smell filled my apartment and truly created my perfect home aroma.

What a wonderful way to use every bit of what you eat and grow! I hope you try your own home perfume soon, combining your favorite foods and herbs. Once you do come back and share what you created! Enjoy!

{October Love with an Every Day Post}

Happy Fall to you all! 

It's here and I can't believe it.  Three days until we marry! The time has flown.  Didn't we just get engaged? It seems like yesterday!

Well here in the sweet town of Carlsbad we are going full speed ahead.  The biggest event of my life is quite a bit of work! I must admit I'm just eager for the party to start.  For a quick update, I baked and frosted my wedding cake today! We chose a simple set up, a rich vanilla cake with blackberry preserve as the filling between the layers and finished it with a creamy, toasted coconut frosting.  It's a tiny, darling little cake with two 6" layers.  My Love is so sweet.  I popped in his room and asked him to come see it.  His reaction was just wonderful.  He loves it and shared how excited he was that we get to have a cake we made oursleves. Isn't that just what every baker bride wants to hear from her fiance? I'd say we're a good match. 

In five days we will be flying off to Kauai for our two week honeymoon! We couldn't be more excited.  I did some research and created a little list of places I want to stop by while there.  Kauai has a few GF and V restaurants, coffee shops and local eateries that sound intriguing and tasty.  My Love has already stated that we will be visiting farmers markets, which of course made me quite excited.  That sounds just perfect! Again, it's as if he knows me.....

I am still going to pack some essentials, just in case the local markets aren't as supplied as the ones here.  The first essential that came to mind was my instant GF oatmeal by Glutenfreeda.  It is perfect for traveling and is my go to for a filling and healthy breakfast.  I also love that it has a little flax in it...just in case traveling is causing a little back up.  Yes, I did just mention that.  Unfortunately it's not sold every where yet.  I have to pick it up at a smaller local GF bakery in Encinitas called Healthy Creations.  I encourage you to try it if it is sold in your local health food store and take it as a morning treat on your travels too!

Wish me luck this wedding week! I will give you a little summary of our Kauai adventures when I return. Enjoy your last week of September!

Bean Spread & Goat Chevre Date Appetizer

I cooked my own beans! My friend Alisa had me over the other day and shared her freshly cooked beans…after my first few bites I was asking for instructions! I just loved it! I can make them the perfect texture and saltiness that I want.  It also saves money buying in bulk and I can have more variety, blend all sorts of beans together to create mixes or dishes.  I also avoid the possible poisoning from the metal can and eat it sooner cause it’s fresh in my refrigerator, some nice side benefits.  I am also in LOVE with the Chocolate Heirloom Tomato.  I just tried it for the first time at my weekly farmers market run and could not leave the stand with out at least three!

I thought it’d be fun to try making a spread with my lovely food processor and use the Beans and Tomatoes.  It turned into an idea for an appetizer and soon I was pulling out my other favorite that I have yet to share with you, the Chevre-stuffed Medjool Dates, yes you may start drooling now. I am.  So enjoy, and now perhaps you will have a pretty little treat to bring to your next party!

{Arugula Bean Spread}

Ingredients:

1 cup Assorted Cooked Beans
 (such as Black, Kidney, Lima, etc)
Handful of washed Organic Arugula

Dash of Minced Fresh Garlic or Garlic Flakes

¼ cup freshly Chopped Red Onion

Pink Himalayan Salt to taste

Organic Chocolate Heirloom Tomato

Organic English Cucumber

Combine first set of ingredients in a food processor and well, process! Then dice the Chocolate Heirloom Tomato and gently fold into the spread.  Slice your English Cucumber and spread with the dip for a delicious appetizer. 

{Goat Chevre-Stuffed Medjool Dates}

Ingredients:

Choice or fancy Medjool Dates

Goat Chevre (I used a Chevre flavored with garlic and herbs)  

Delicately slice Dates long-ways and remove pit.  Use a spoon to carve off a bit of the Chevre.  Use your fingers to slightly roll the Chevre long-ways.  Gently open each Date and place the rolled Chevre inside, closing the Date’s skin around it to finish. Arrange Dates on an oiled sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 10-15minutes or until the Chevre begins to ooze out of the Date.  Pull out and let cool, then serve warm.  

{Linked To}

Gluten-Free Wednesdays

A Farmers' Market Chopped Salad

A farmers' market inspired salad is what I bring you today.  Besides finding and scouring through cookbooks, strolling through farmers markets is my absolute favorite pastime.  I haven’t visited one in a couple months, so I was way past due for a good long meander through my local market.  Today was glorious.  The sun was shining and the air, though chilly, was fresh and post-rain clean.  I got my cash ready and mozied along the street stopping at various booths that grabbed my attention.  Organic and local produce was prevalent and I couldn’t get enough of breathing in the earthy smell and tasting the sun-ripened sweetness.  Now, if you’ve never understood the draw of local or organic, let me explain.  

Basically, the more local your produce is the longer it’s on the vine, branch, in the ground, etc.  This means it’s not harvested until it is perfectly ready to explode with ripe goodness.  The taste, appearance and texture of the produce will be at its prime. If it’s organic this means the produce received nothing of a chemical nature that could alter the fruit or hurt the consumer.  A nice benefit for those of us that tend to forget about washing the produce before inhaling…like me…is that all we have to worry about is dirt. 

Now compare this to the chain grocery stores’ chemically-induced, oversized, pre-picked, poison-covered produce and perhaps you’ll join me and start visiting the local farmers' market! 

Because of my little trip I was able to create one of my tasty and nutritious chopped salads for lunch! This simple salad is made up of the ingredients I found there with a little help from Trader Joe’s brown rice and black beans.  Salads are not meant to be calculated or exact like some people’s approach to baking, so feel free to reduce or increase the amounts of any ingredient I include. 

{Farmers' Market Chopped Salad}

Kale

Chard

English Cucumber

Fuerte Avocado

Heirloom Tomatoes

Cooked Brown Rice (cooled)

Cooked Black Beans (cooled and salted)

{Fresh Dressing}

~for 2 1/2 – 3 cups of salad

1 TBSP Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

1 TBSP Eden’s Organic Red Wine Vinegar

1 TBSP Raw Organic Blue Agave

Sprinkle of Pink Sea Salt

Wash and chop the lettuce creating one-inch strips both horizontally and vertically.  This will help your body better digest the fibrous salad!  Slice the Cucumber, Tomatoes and Avocado.  Combine these with the Brown Rice and Black Beans and toss with the lettuce.  Drizzle with Fresh Dressing and toss again.  For a creamier dressing, pour in the Fresh Dressing and then mash the Avocado in a separate bowl (instead of chopping), mix it with a sprinkle of Pink Sea Salt and toss throughout salad. 

Enjoy!

{Shared and linked up with some favorites of mine}

 Real Sustenance

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Gluten-Free Wednesdays