Ever Evolving Food Blog

Hello Everyone! I have had this blog for years now, and as my personal life has changed, so have my tastes and eating habits...for the better!! I am now a fully plant-based eater, so my newer recipes will reflect this lifestyle and way of eating.

All of my old recipes will remain on my food blog, of course, so there will be a mixture of the old and the new for everyone to look through and choose. You can always play around with any recipe out there and make it your own, whether it's plant-based or not. There are always other options!
Thanks SO much for following! Happy Eating!

What's Cooking With Melissa

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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Oven-Baked Okra Chips

I am from the South, so I grew up eating breaded, fried okra.  Don't get me wrong, I love it, BUT.... I don't eat fried foods anymore.  When I went to the Farmer's Market a few days ago, I came across the most beautiful okra and thought, "Ah, man! I wish I could have some fried okra. Oh well."  And I almost passed it up, BUT... then I stopped myself.  I bake a lot of my veggies, so I figured there must be a way to bake okra, too.  I found a Paleo recipe for baked okra and made it with some tweaking of my own.  It was SO good!!! What a great snack!!

Ingredients: (makes about 1 cup)
10 large okra
1 tsp grape seed oil
cracked pepper
garlic salt
a dash of red pepper

Directions:
Cut the okra into thin slices (~1/4 inch slices).  Lightly toss them in grape seed oil.  Spread them out in one layer on a baking sheet sprayed with coconut oil spray, and then sprinkle on the cracked pepper, red pepper, and garlic salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400.  They'll come out crispy with no slime.  :)

Monday, July 6, 2015

Gluten-Free Banana Bread

I am trying some new gluten-free recipes just to see how they taste.  My family isn't gluten-free, but a lot of my students and friends are, so I thought I would try some things out and see how I like them.  So far, everything I've tasted has been great.  There are some recipes that end up being a little dry, they say, so I tweaked this banana bread recipe to see if it would be more moist, and it was!

Ingredients:
2 large, over-ripe bananas (mashed)
4 large, brown eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
(you can substitute the two sugars with 2/3 cup of agave)

Directions:
Combine everything in a large bowl, mixing until well-blended.  Fill a 4 x 8 inch bread pan (that has been sprayed with non-stick coconut oil spray) halfway and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

*I had some mix left over, but it wasn't enough to make another whole loaf, so I made a few muffins with what was left. :)