Creamy Pasta Alfredo

Creamy Pasta Alfredo

The Minnie Chef
Meals

Ok, so we're about to ring in the new year and that means New Year's Resolutions are coming our way quick!  So before we all start fresh in our commitment to eat healthy and exercise more, let's go out with a final shebang! Creamy. Pasta. Alfredo. 🎉

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to go ahead and let you all know right now that I did not intend to make an Alfredo sauce when I was concocting this recipe.  I was out having dinner with a friend recently, at one our favorite vegan spots, and she ordered a side of mac n’ cheese.  It wasn’t very good, and tasted nothing like my idea of mac n’ cheese.  She also told me about some boxed brands that she had tried with high hopes, but was let down by those also.  So the night after our dinner I got to thinking about . . .

Minnie Christmas Fruit Snacks

Minnie Christmas Fruit Snacks

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Last week I posted a recipe for my “Minnie” Zucchini Christmas trees, and since they were so much fun and it’s almost Christmas, I decided to serve up some sweetness to go with that savory treat.  I love baking and decorating cookies this time of year—I feel like it’s just good for the soul… So I thought about breaking out the flour and sugar and baking up some holiday goodies, but after some thinking, I figured . . .

Simply Perfect Pancakes

Simply Perfect Pancakes

The Minnie Chef
Breakfast

The smell of pancakes cooking on the griddle brings me right back to my childhood.  One of my favorite childhood memories is waking up to the smell of my dad’s homemade pancakes on the weekends.  Instead of packing lunches and rushing to get ready for work and school, weekend mornings were ours to spend some quality time together in the kitchen—a favorite place of both of ours.  

Pancakes are actually one of the first things I ever learned how to cook.  From whipping up the batter to pouring it straight onto the griddle from a spouted measuring cup, and flipping them over as soon as the bubbles and that perfect golden-brown color were achieved, my dad let me help out every step of the way.  Always made from scratch (and never one of those store-bought boxed mixes that my dad would never—and still won’t—let you find in his pantry), my dad taught me step-by-step how to make the perfect pancake.   When we’d sit down at the breakfast table to eat, every time—without fail, my dad would relish in his first bite and say . . .

Minnie Christmas Trees

Minnie Christmas Trees

The Minnie Chef
Snacks

Who says cookie cutters can only be used for making cookies?!?  Is anyone else over the dozens of cookie cutters that sit tucked away in a drawer and only come out to play once a year?  Break out your cookie cutters more often and break out of the box when you use them!  

Getting toddlers to try new foods is half the battle, right?  Once they try new things, they often find they like them.  But getting a toddler to step into uncharted territories and taste something new isn’t always a walk in the park.  Making food fun—cutting it into fun shapes, creatively decorating it or turning it into a game—is one way to help break down that barrier.  

Last week I had some friends over for a slightly belated “Friendsgiving” dinner.  I have quite a few friends with . . .

Curried Chickpea and Carrot Stew

Curried Chickpea and Carrot Stew

The Minnie Chef
Meals

Back when I was in second grade I had to do a school project on India.  I promise you this isn’t just a trip down memory lane, I’m taking you back to my second grade schoolwork for a reason… I don’t remember the details of the project so much, but what I do remember is that my parents took me all over Miami, searching high and low for all things Indian to report back to my class about.  We went to the Metro Zoo, what is now called Zoo Miami, to learn about Bengal tigers.  We went to a clothing store where my parents recorded me being wrapped in traditional garb.  And we also went to and Indian restaurant to learn about and sample the cuisine.  I don’t remember the restaurant, or the food, but what I do remember is . . . 

Gingerbread Smoothie Bowls

Gingerbread Smoothie Bowls

The Minnie Chef
Drinks

🌲☃Christmas has arrived early this year 🎉 because now you can make healthy gingerbread men for your little ones during the holidays!  Gingerbread cookies have always been one of my favorite, if not my very favorite, cookie.  They’re one of the things I most look forward to this time of year! 

I have a friend who, every year around this time, for as long as I can remember, makes gingerbread and sugar cookies with her mom.  They bake and decorate dozens and dozens of gorgeous and absolutely delicious cookies to give out to family and friends for the holidays.  Year after year, I have walked into their house . . . 

Banana Walnut Loaf

Banana Walnut Loaf

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

We always have a lot of bananas around at our house, at all stages of ripeness.  I like to eat mine when they're still completely yellow with a little bit of green near the stem.  Zoey likes hers when they just start forming brown spots.  And we always like to have really ripe ones around for smoothies and banana nice cream.  But some always get to a certain point—that dark, mushy stage when they'll fall right off the stem when you pick them up—the point right when they're about to go from being overripe to rotten.  At that point we usually peel and freeze them.  But the other day we had . . . 

Minnie Eggplant Pizzas

Minnie Eggplant Pizzas

The Minnie Chef
Snacks

Hey everyone!  This week we’re very excited to share a new idea with you!  We decided to start switching up our current weekly “Midweek Inspirations” with “Midweek Minnies.”  So from now on every other week, we’ll switch back and forth between the two.  

The “Midweek Minnies” will come in the form of light bites, appetizers and kid-size meals.  Sometimes, there is too sharp a divide between “toddler friendly food” and sophisticated dishes.  I don’t really envision myself, or other parents of toddlers, serving Ants on a Long or PB and Js at a dinner party, but, hey, we also want our little ones to eat, right?  But who feels like adding the extra task of . . .

Roasted Kabocha and Avocado Salad with Pear Vinaigrette

Roasted Kabocha and Avocado Salad with Pear Vinaigrette

The Minnie Chef
Salad

I’m starting to notice a bit of a trend here… Vacations seem to spark ideas that get the creative juices flowing.  Whenever we’re getting ready to pack up and go on a road trip we know there’s a lot of food in our kitchen that we’ll be bringing with us, but there’s also a lot of food that just won’t travel well.  So in those days leading up to a road trip, that’s when you gotta decide to either use it or lose it.  

A couple nights before we were about to head out on our last trip, I wanted to cook some stuff to make sure things wouldn’t go to waste, but I was busy with packing and other things and didn’t want to make something with too much effort.  I had a kabocha squash that had been sitting on my counter for a while so I decided to just go ahead and roast it.  It was as simple as cutting, scooping, and tossing it in the oven, so why not? . . . 

Rustic Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

Rustic Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

The Minnie Chef
Sides

Unfortunately for sweet potatoes, they aren’t the most attractive looking spuds to begin with… and featuring them in this recipe doesn’t make them much more appealing to the eye, or so I’ve been told.  I sent a picture of this dish to one of my friends and he told me he thought he was looking at a hornet’s nest.  I’m not exactly sure what a hornet’s nest looks like, but I am pretty sure that he didn’t mean it as a compliment.  So let’s go ahead and refer to these loaded sweet potatoes as rustic, so as not to be insulting.  And in all fairness . . . 

Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding

Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Just one more Thanksgiving-inspired dessert idea that can be made just in time for Thanksgiving (so get on it right now!)!  The last couple of days, I’ve been wanting to make some variation of pumpkin pie that was simple, cruelty-free and healthy (at least healthier than a traditional pumpkin pie).  I dabbled with some ideas and ultimately decided to stay away from a vegan version of a baked pie.  Instead I made something that was a little bit cleaner, made with simpler ingredients, that wasn’t too sweet and could double as a breakfast option and dessert.  

Okay, so I could have just made some of my Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie Bowls and called it a day, but I wanted something that . . .

Apple Pecan Pie Balls

Apple Pecan Pie Balls

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Who doesn’t dive into a warm slice of apple pie on Thanksgiving?  Sorry, if that sounds like a raunchy reference to American Pie—that was totally not my intention. 😜  But seriously, isn’t apple pie a staple at Thanksgiving?  It is at ours anyway.  This Thanksgiving will actually be my first Thanksgiving since giving up meat and dairy, so this time around I’ll be saying“no thank you” to a slice of apple pie baked into a rich, buttery crust.  So instead of coming up with an alternative baked dessert for me to enjoy on the big day, I decided to try something a little bit healthier.  Since my Carrot Cake Balls . . .

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