Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Parfait

I’m back. Did you miss me? Did you even know I was gone? Okay, so technically I didn’t go anywhere…but it has been quite a while since my last post. I’m making up for it in a big way though. With two recipes in one! A tasty almond coconut granola that you will want to eat by the handful, and a fresh and springy strawberry lemon yogurt parfait.
But before we get lost in a big ole’ serving of granola, yogurt and berries I need to tell you what I’ve been up to that’s caused me to neglect my poor little blog for over two weeks. Since the beginning I have tried to keep this space about food. Sure, sometimes I inject little bits about my life here and there, but in general I figure you don’t want to read about my trip to the eye doctor, or my day at work, or how excited I was when my husband replaced a part of the vacuum cleaner causing it to work like 100 times better. Or maybe you do, I don’t know…but I do know I don’t want to write about those things. I’m here to share with you my love of food, my passion for ingredients and my adventures as I try new recipes and taste new flavors. The funny thing about food and everyday life though is that you can’t have one without the other. Who I am, what I do everyday and where I live are all connected to the foods I cook and eat. Which is why this announcement is about my life, but also about my food journey and where it will take me next.
So here it is -we’re selling our house…and will be living and traveling in our Airstream for the next two to three years. The above photo is where I live now- where I’ve lived, and gardened, and cooked for the past 9 years. Below is our 25’ Airstream where I’m sooo excited to spend the next several years.
I told you this was big! Well, small actually. From a 2,300 sq. ft. home to a roughly 200 sq. ft. metal silver bullet. From a kitchen with big windows, ample counter space and enough cupboards to fit all my cooking utensils and gadgets, to a kitchen where the stove doubles as a cutting board and the only place to store my pots and pans is inside the oven. None of that matters though because what we loose in indoor living space we gain in outside living space. A whole wide world of it- wherever we want to go!

And yes, I will be continuing the blog. In fact, I have a whole new vision for the blog that incorporates my travels, new foods, new inspirations, and new adventures. I will continue updating you here on our travel plans as they progress. We’re also in the middle of renovating the airstream kitchen (as much as you can renovate such a tiny space) and I will share pictures very soon. So as you can see I’ve been busy. Painting, cleaning, mulching- all the things that will make someone want to buy our house. I have managed to find some time for cooking though. And my latest creation is a parfait healthy enough to eat for breakfast and tasty enough to eat for dessert.
This recipe was inspired by a strawberry lemon trifle I made for Easter. No I didn’t take any pictures, in fact I didn’t even write down the recipe. What can I say, I’ve been busy. It was amazing though- fluffy lemon mousse, tender angel food cake and fresh strawberries. Shoot…now I feel bad and I’m gonna have to recreate this recipe just so I can share it with you. How about we wait until it’s actually strawberry season somewhere besides Florida though?  Which doesn’t happen until June up here in the chilly northeast, but I can never wait that long and as soon as these bright red berries appear in the store I have to buy some. I’m always kind of dissapointed though. Have you ever noticed that the bigger the berry the less the flavor? Which is why these early, and well-traveled, berries need to be combined with lots of other flavors… like lemon, and honey, and almonds, and coconut.

I used to make granola once a week. I would make a big batch, store it in a tupperware container and eat it everyday for breakfast. Since January though I’ve been on a smoothie kick and the granola has been forgotten. Until now that is. Feel free to play around with this recipe. Change the nuts, substitute dried fruit for the coconut, add chocolate, whatever you like as long as you stick with the same basic proportions.

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Roast Asparagus + Egg Sandwich {and a Liebster award}

Asparagus is practically a requirement of my spring eating and cooking repertoire. Never mind that the only thing around here right now that says spring is the calendar. Remember last week when I bragged about the unusually warm weather and even showed off my stellar grilling skills with this sweet potato and kale grilled pizza? Well…things have changed. The temperature dropped over the weekend and on Sunday night a bit of snow came down, leaving a fine layer of cold white stuff on my freshly raked lawn and budded daffodils. So much for summer-like weather in March. I’m a practical person though so I did what any hardened northerner would do. I turned up the heat and spent the week eating the most spring-ish food I could find- strawberries and asparagus.
My strawberry recipe needs a little refining before I can share it with you (translation: I had a recipe flop), but the roasted asparagus atop scrambled eggs with chives is was just divine! Simple fresh flavors and a super easy preparation have just made this my go to spring meal. There are two components to this sandwich. First the asparagus is roasted with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a  dusting of freshly grated parmesan.
Next the eggs are mixed with chives and a tiny bit of milk and scrambled until fluffy. At the end a bit more parmesan is added because…well because it’s cheese and more cheese is always better.
A scoop of egg goes on top of a whole wheat English muffin.
Pile on the asparagus.
There you have it. The perfect spring breakfast, lunch or dinner sandwich.

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An award and a confession:
I was given an award..twice. And I feel kind of bad about it. See the thing is you’re not supposed to get this award twice. A Liebster (it means favorite or beloved in German) Award is given to bloggers from other bloggers. I was first given the award from Gerlinde at Cooking Weekends. The idea is that you give the award to 5 bloggers and they in turn give the award to 5 more bloggers. It’s a great way to acknowledge the blogs you love and share them with others. Of course, this chain of blog love only works when everyone follows the rules. It’s been over a month since Gerlinde gave me the award and I’m just now doing my part by announcing it here and in turn giving out my five awards. I know, I know, it’s ridiculous and I have no good excuse for waiting this long. What finally spurred me into action was when last week Julie over at Tastefully Julie also awarded me the Liebster!

So here’s a big Thank You to both Gerlinde and Julie for nominating me ♥

There are a few conditions of accepting this award:
Thank the person (or persons) who gave you the award and link back to them
Copy and paste the Liebster Blog award onto your blog
Give the award to 5 blogs with 200 followers or less and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog

Here are my choices in no particular order:
Texanerin Baking
My Little Table
Seaweed & Sassafras
Sweet and Salty
Cupcake Design

Hope you all enjoy these blogs as much as I do!

Whole Wheat Peanut Noodles

Spring Fever! The sun is shinning, the birds are singing, the grass is greening and I’m feeling the urge to get out and enjoy it. So I did. Yesterday I gleefully went outside and raked my lawn wearing shorts and a tank top! Now I have a beautiful leaf-free lawn and a blister on each hand. Oh the things we put ourselves through for a pretty patch of green in the backyard.

I also made my way down to The Farm Store and picked up a gorgeous bag of fresh organic produce. Thanks Jen for bringing this wonderful resource to our community. Can’t wait to see what goodies you have next week.
Feeling inspired by my purchases and the warm weather I decided a cold pasta salad was just what the day called for. A pasta salad that only takes 15 minutes to make and is packed with a little sweet, a little spice and a little salt. What more could you want in life. Peanut noodles can be made using practically any combo of vegetables. Because lets be honest…anything smothered in peanut butter is good…right? The only rule I follow is to use at least one crunchy vegetable to offset the chewy noodles and creamy peanut sauce. Snap peas, sweet red pepper or even broccoli will do the tick. This time I went with thinly sliced carrots and combined them with a European cucumber and some lovely scallions. Perfect.
Veggies get sliced…matchstick style for the carrots and cukes, little round slices for the scallions. Don’t worry if your matchsticks aren’t perfectly shaped. No one cares.
Peanut sauce with lots of lime and sweet chili paste!
Peanut sauce + veggies + noodles = Peanut veggie noodles! Simple, simple, simple. Now I can go back outside and give myself some more blisters. Enjoy.

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