Hollandaise

This winter has lacked that whole "wintery feel" with repeated weeks of 50 and 60 degree temps. So what better time to start a yard reconstruction project than on a Saturday night- by the glow of truck headlights- only to finish during the only snowstorm we've seen this year.  Totally normal right?!  The  true feat of the weekend has been the relaxed vibe that settled in, sometime Friday afternoon-while a stylist set free the split ends of my hair!!  One dinner date at Emilio's later, with sangria obviously accompanying the boiled octopus tapas and the stress of the last few weeks drifted away.
Enter Saturday morning. While cruising cooking light online, I came across and ultimately started craving this.  Not having Canadian Bacon didn't discourage my morning masterpiece. Not really feeling the heaviness of traditional Hollandaise sauce, my goal was to create something lighter while keeping the full flavor intact.  Thankful to the many vegan recipes dedicated to egg/butter free Hollandaise Sauce- this blend of ideas was created and savored, mentally stored for my next fancy feeling feast- and 1 less chicken loses it's life! Win-win for everyone, don't you think

Holy Healthy Hollandaise
1/4 cup drained and rinsed Chickpeas
1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Splash Worcestershire
Salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
3 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/4 cup water

Give it some alone time in the food processor- enough to take the grainy texture from the chickpeas and make it smooth.  Warm in a sauce pan and server over everything... eggs.

Valentine's Day

I dig my blog, obviously or I'd never sit down to write it. I love looking back to see what was happening last year- or even almost 2 years ago. Recently reading last years post of Valentine's Day, made me realize (again) somethings never change. I'm still the same Valentine's Day Scrooge! Not that I don't want to share romantic evenings with my hubby, I just don't want the preset version of when, where, and how. Hallmark standard is buy me things, take me out, do this on February 14th. I'd rather have my version- build me something beautiful, cook with me, do so whenever the mood strikes you. We did spend the 14th in the kitchen. We did create something special, but for no other reason than it's been a hell of a busy past 6 weeks and we wanted to hang out. After spending 6 weeks searching for a replacement vehicle for my "purchased at 21, driven all over God's creation, buttons popping off daily" Jetta, we brought home our newest mountain chasing, beach cruiser. Major life todo for 2012- checked off (stress slowly lowering)! Work life went all cra-zay for a minute there, as it does every mid year- and that too slowly settled. So after a pretty long work meeting on a no different that any other Tuesday night we cooked.

Honey Sriracha Glazed Salmon over Israeli Cous Cous

Over medium high grill, place salmon. In last few minutes of grilling glaze with equal parts honey-sriracha.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with olive oil lemon sauteed calamari.  Serve over Israeli cous cous with sauteed fennel and spinach- and loads of fresh garlic and onions!

Now pour some wine, light some candles, turn on some music- and pass me the Russel Stovers!