Coconut Flour Waffles with Peaches & Pecans

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Currently: sitting in the corner of our sectional (best seat in the place), watching Friends, S03 E03. Joey is sitting at Monica’s table, eating currant jam. 

I have been watching the show Friends from the beginning — and while many people would follow that by saying, “for the seventh time,” for me, this is a first. And I’m addicted. Typically when we put on anything after 8pm, be it a show or a movie, I’m guaranteed to be asleep in 15 minutes. While I really enjoyed the first season of West World, for example, the second season put me to sleep every Sunday. But Friends is different. I’m not sure if it’s because the show uses minimal brain power to watch, or because each episode is only 20 minutes long on Netflix, but I can watch until at least 10pm before feeling like I need to go to bed. 

There was a week earlier this summer when both Oliver and our room mate were out of town, and I was left to my own devices when it came to figuring out how to turn the TV on (I’m going to sound old saying this but, Do we really need four remotes?) and choosing what to watch (my preferred decision-making technique is to plop down on the couch and watch what ever is already on). But there I was, with the entire sectional to myself, flipping through Netflix. The rest is history — or it will be, when I finish the series… for now, binge watching friends is a bit like my version of Saturday morning cartoons (remember those?), and that means a plateful of waffles is in order! 

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Coconut Flour Waffles with Peaches & Pecans

Published August 9, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup + 2 tablespoons full-fat canned coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 peaches, sliced thin

A handful of toasted pecans

For serving: butter and maple syrup and/or whipped cream

Directions:

1. Heat a non-stick waffle iron. (If your iron is not non-stick, grease it generously).
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla. Add in coconut flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until a runny batter forms.
3. Give the batter one more quick whisk and then pour 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the waffle iron. Close the iron, and cook until golden — about 5-10 minutes.
4. Repeat step 3 until all batter is used; Serve hot topped with fresh peaches, toasted pecans, butter, and maple syrup.

Layered Summer Ratatouille

Continuing with the theme of recipes that use up all of your summer produce: Ratatouille! 

Admittedly my garden has been very slow to produce this year probably due to the hailstorm in mid-June, but I’m guessing most of you don’t have that problem, so you’ll be able to make use of this recipe soon!

Is there a more beautiful way to display summer produce than a ratatouille? An array of color, layers of vegetables. And it's really quite simple to make, easier than pie! Easier than it looks — that’s for sure. 

So what is ratatouille? There are two different versions: one where all the vegetables are stewed together, and this one, where delicate rounds of tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and eggplant are arranged over an herby tomato sauce. That’s it! From there you can customize: add protein to the sauce, top with fresh cheese or herbs, you name it.

I served this version over Ina Garten's Parmesan polenta and OMG... I don’t think I’ve ever had such delicious polenta. I wouldn’t call it healthy or anything of that nature. But it is soooo good! And goes perfectly well with this ratatouille, rounding out the meal.

Can you believe it’s August already? Where has the time gone?! 

Layered Summer Ratatouille

Published August 2, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 70 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 ounces tomato paste

1 zucchini

1 summer squash

1 skinny eggplant

3 roma tomatoes

1 bell pepper, any color

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried basil, or 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh basil

1 tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

For serving: minced fresh basil, shredded parmesan.

Optional: if you would like to add protein to this recipe, 1 cup of cooked hot Italian sausage crumbles.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In the bottom of a 9x9inch baking dish, spread the tomato paste in an even layer. Sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, and basil. If you are using the sausage, spread crumbles over tomato paste layer at this time.
3. Slice the zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, and bell pepper into thin rounds. Arrange the rounds in overlapping rows over the tomato paste layer. Brush with oil, and then season with salt & pepper.
4. Bake for 50 minutes, until veggies are softened through an golden on the edges. Top with minced fresh bail and shredded parmesan. Serve hot.

Parma Rosa Chicken

Some kids go through a mac 'n' cheese phase (it's something they can cook themselves), and some kids go through a cereal phase (doesn't require cooking at all). Me? Knorr Instant Parma Rosa Sauce was a childhood fave. It’s embarrassing but true.

To this day, I'm not sure what is even in those packs of instant pasta sauce. And frankly? I don't want to know. What I do know is that it's addicting. Back then I called it "pink sauce." 

Even though I ate many (many!) packets of pink sauce as a kid, it's not what I was thinking about when I started working on this recipe. Nope, I just thought I was making a creamy chicken parmesan. It wasn't until my first bite that my memory sprang into action: 

I know this flavor! This tastes like pink sauce! 

What was that called? Parma Rosa, a Google search told me.

And it does taste just like Parma Rosa -- a bigger, bolder, fresher, real parma rosa. A grown up pink sauce. And instead of a soft creamy pink color, it's a rich creamy orange-red, evidence of real tomatoes in there. 

You can eat this dish as-is (that's what I did, with a side salad), or you could serve it over pasta. It goes great with a glass of white wine, and the leftovers are just as good the next day. 

Between this recipe and this lasagna, I've been on quite the Italian kick lately! (Is pink sauce Italian? I don't think so, but it seems Italian). 

Parma Rosa Chicken

Published July 26, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 small chicken breasts (or 2 large cut in half)

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 yellow onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

16 ounce can tomato sauce (Note: this is in the canned tomato aisle; it is puréed tomato -- not a pre-made pizza or pasta sauce, which will already have herbs, garlic, etc)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced, plus more for garnish

3/4 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil glistens, place the chicken in the skillet. Cook on each side for 5 minutes, until browned. Move to a plate and set aside.
2. If pan is dry, add additional tablespoon of coconut oil. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until transparent. Reduce heat to low. Pour in tomato sauce and stir.
3. Add thyme, rosemary, and basil to sauce, and then stir in the cream. Place chicken back in pan, immersing it in the sauce. Allow sauce to simmer lightly for 1-2 minutes, and then top each piece of chicken with parmesan. Place skillet in oven and turn to broil. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes — until cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven, top with additional basil for garnish, and serve hot.