Animal Style Homefries

Animal Style Homefries

The Minnie Chef
Sides

So my honey went to Vegas a couple weeks ago for a business trip and he came back with a packet of ketchup from In-and-Out Burger.  I guess when the cat’s 🐈 away, the mice 🐁 will play… and eat fast food!  

Well lucky for me, seeing the ketchup reminded me of some once swooned over “Animal Style Fries” 🍟 that I tried a few years back when we were on our ”babymoon” in California while I was pregnant with Zoey.  I had never eaten at In-and-Out Burger before that trip and being a Miami native, I hadn’t yet felt the effect of the In-and-Out craze that has swept the West Coast.   

So naturally, I knew nothing of their secret menu until a California native friend told me that I had to try their “Animal Style Fries.”  🍟 I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I hadn’t seen that on their menu (yes, we went multiple times during that trip), but he insisted that I go up to the counter and order “Animal Style Fries” and they’d oblige.  So I did.  And at that very moment . . .

Cookie Monster Pancakes

Cookie Monster Pancakes

The Minnie Chef
Breakfast

Sometimes we have those “that just happened” moments in our kitchen… Those moments when we take a bite of something so epic that we can’t believe we actually created it! This was one of those moments…

These Cookie Monster Pancakes embody all things cookie… There are cookies 👉👈 inside the pancakes and 👇 on top, 3 ways!  From the ginnybakes’ Dreamy Vegan Delight cookies in the batter itself to the heaping spoonful of cookie butter on top, we have no doubt that the Cookie Monster himself would go insane for these! 🍪 We sure did! 

The best part about these pancakes is that they’re actually pretty 🍌 healthy 🍌, way healthier than traditional pancakes.  And with the exception of the cookie butter we used, they’re gluten-free!  So go ahead and do yourself a favor. . .

Banana Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup

Banana Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup

The Minnie Chef
Breakfast

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know by now that we really REALLY like our oatmeal around here.  But we also enjoy a nice stack of pancakes every now and then too.  And if they were healthier for us, we’d enjoy them a lot more often!  So I took our main go-to breakfast ingredient and tried to incorporate it into our other favorite breakfast meal and tried to achieve a healthier balance by combining the two.  Instead of using processed all-purpose flour like in my traditional pancake recipe, I used oats to make flour as the base in this recipe, so we can guiltlessly enjoy a hot stack of pancakes for breakfast more often.  With just a few other simple ingredients and a few . . . 

Nicecream Sandwiches

Nicecream Sandwiches

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

It seems like nobody has been able to escape the cold lately!  ❄️ Even us Miamians have been bundled up, donning jackets and scarves with our flips flops…  seriously though, it hit 46 degrees here! ❄️ I’ve seen pictures and videos all over Facebook and Instagram of people 🏂 snowboarding down the street, swan-diving into the snow and doing all sorts of crazy things with the snow… including eating it. 🍧  So I figured, even though right now . . .

Scrambled Tofu with Crispy Home Fries

Scrambled Tofu with Crispy Home Fries

The Minnie Chef
Breakfast

Most days I don't have time to cook a complete warm breakfast, so we usually opt for oatmeal, a smoothie, or a chia pudding parfait. But some weekends, especially lazy Sundays, just call for a long morning of cooking up something great in the kitchen.  

I absolutely love home fries!  Who doesn't, right??  I think I actually love potatoes in all forms.  I'm not sure I've ever had a potato that I haven't enjoyed, but home fries are especially delicious!  They're so crispy and crunchy on the outside, with just the right amount of pillowy tenderness on the inside.  And these are so simple, but so full of flavor and spice!  They are also so welcoming to ketchup and hot sauce and I just love hot sauce.. I put it on . . .

Vegan Cake Hack

Vegan Cake Hack

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Ok, so at some point in our childhoods, we’ve probably all been sent to school with a couple dozen made-from-a-box cupcakes to share with our classmates and celebrate our birthdays.  While I’ve always personally preferred to make my desserts from scratch, there have been times where a boxed mix has come in handy…  Like last week when a certain indecisive toddler happened to change her mind every five minutes about what kind of cake she wanted on her birthday.  By the fifth change of heart, I just gave up on making sure I had all of the ingredients for all different flavor cakes on hand.  So I went to the grocery store . . .

Tofu Banh Mi Salad

Tofu Banh Mi Salad

The Minnie Chef
Salad

Given my belief that sandwich perfection may have been achieved in the gloriousness that is a Tofu Banh Mi, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I decided to see what other ways I could spin it.  Turning the sandwich into a healthier, but equally as beautiful and delicious, salad seemed like the obvious thing to do.  Because of the gorgeous rainbow of colors in the original Tofu Banh Mi, I decided to . . .

Minnie Cucumber Sushi

Minnie Cucumber Sushi

The Minnie Chef
Snacks

Who’s excited about homemade sushi that doesn’t take over an hour to make and leave behind a sticky mess with tons to clean? 🙋🏻  These raw, rice free, completely plant-based cucumber alternatives are so much healthier than the real thing and are completely no-fuss!  They take just about 5 minutes to make and there’s no nori involved to scare away those leery toddlers.  This is the perfect lunch or snack to satisfy the whole family!  

There’s also a ton of room for creativity with these.  They make a great veggie appetizer for a party or dinner party—instead of serving chips with your guacamole, try putting it in a cucumber instead.  Want to fancy them up a bit for a party?  Instead of . . .

Fajita Bowls with Cilantro-Lime Rice

Fajita Bowls with Cilantro-Lime Rice

The Minnie Chef
Meals

Sooooo… this recipe has gotten rave reviews in my household.  My other half said that this falls into the category of his top five favorite meals… EVER.  And he eats a lot of pretty decent meals quite often, if I do say so myself.  😉 He said it reminds him of a vegetarian burrito bowl from Chipotle, but better… and I’d bet it’s significantly healthier too. The original recipe was made with white rice as a base, but recently I have tried it with brown rice and quinoa.  While I happen to prefer it with quinoa (it has the same great taste and I feel better about eating it knowing that it’s a little healthier than the rice), the general consensus in my household . . . 

Rocket Pops

Rocket Pops

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Hello fireworks and new beginnings, Bye bye 2015!  It is absolutely surreal to me (I’m sure it is to most of you too) that it’s 2016 already and I’m the mommy to a very-soon-to-be 3 year old… I just had a baby!  Like yesterday…  At least it feels that way.

These all-natural Rocket Pops are totally fitting while ringing in the New Year, but that’s not why we actually got to making them.  Every time Zoey and I go to my parents’ house, she likes to rummage through their Tupperware drawer in search of their ice pop molds.  She always finds them and demands that we make them “right now!”  And it’s not so easy to explain to a not even 3 year old little human that . . . 

Warm Beet Salad with Fig Vinaigrette

Warm Beet Salad with Fig Vinaigrette

The Minnie Chef
Salad

🎉🎊 It’s that time of year where New Year’s Resolutions are plastered everywhere.  You can’t turn a corner without hearing about resolutions to eat healthy and get fit.  It’s a goal that’s on all of our minds.  So let’s stay strong together and start thinking creatively about fun and interesting ways to switch up the salad game.  Let’s leave the lettuce aside for a change and try adding some heartier roasted veggies to the mix. 

Last February I was at a wedding and enjoyed a salad with a butter lettuce base, topped with beets, figs and a vegan blue cheese dressing.  Almost a year later and I still haven’t been able to get that salad off my mind… 😜drooling right now… but vegan blue cheese dressing? . . . 

Jelly Dough-Not Holes

Jelly Dough-Not Holes

The Minnie Chef
Sweet Treats

Ok, so who doesn’t love a good donut hole, or munchkin?? And how about a fresh, hot jelly donut?? Take away the greasy fried dough and the fake sugary syrup and you’re left with these healthy, fruit-filled “dough-not” holes! 

One of the great things about toddlers is that their worlds are really small—what you don’t bring into their worlds doesn’t exist as far as their concerned.  This is one of the main reasons why I emphasize how important it is to start tailoring their eating habits from a very young age—as young as their first foods.  I've never fed my daughter store bought baby food from a jar and the one desperate attempt I made to do so failed miserably.  We were at Disney World for our first time as a family.  We went directly from Tampa, Fl. where I had just taken the Florida Bar Exam.  With so much on my mind (the bar, our first family vacation), I didn’t think to . . .

Load More