Category Archives: In Season

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

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For Father’s Day this year, Xerxes requested the day to begin with coffee cake. When he made this request, the kids started dancing around cracking up. Cake for breakfast Papa!? Followed by… I don’t drink coffee! I don’t want coffee in my cake!! 

The explanation of “It is just a breakfast dish that you eat at the same time you drink coffee” did not seem to satisfy their hilarious inquiry, but once the cake was in front of them, they were gleefully satisfied that it did not contain coffee and was just sweet enough to feel a bit like dessert.

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Since fruit is not exactly easy to find at this point in our local food year, I chopped up a good pile of rhubarb from our yard and let it soak in a little honey bath over night. The next goal was to find a recipe that uses honey rather than sugar as the sweetener. A recipe from the Honey Board did the trick. We also wanted a simple ode to the crumble you see on top of NY Crumb Cakes and that seem to be the final flourish.

Quick tip: As we have baked with honey much more in the last few weeks, one thing I keep trying to remember is to have the oven temperature a bit lower as the color can get dark faster. IMG_5810

Honey Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Inspired by the Honey Board’s Blueberry Coffee Cake

3 cups minced rhubarb
1 cup honey, divided
1 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose gluten-free blend could work, too!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond
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For the crumble:
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter, very soft
1/4 cup minced almonds
1/4 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon

The night before or about an hour prior, toss together the rhubarb and honey. Place in the fridge to soften and sweeten up.

Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Turn on the oven to 350.

Melt the butter. Stir in the honey and milk. Making sure this mixture is not too hot, whisk in the eggs, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. If the honey-butter is hot, place in the fridge until it is closer to room temperature.

Meanwhile, make the crumbs by mixing together the softened butter, honey, nuts, flour and spices. The goal is to be able to clump it together, if it is too moist, add more flour, if it is too dry and not coming together add a drizzle more melted butter. Set aside.

Butter the dish for the coffee cake up on the sides until it is evenly coated. Sprinkle with flour and shake around until it is thinly distributed and dump the remaining flour.

Fold together the dry flour ingredients with the honey-butter-egg ingredients and the honey soaked rhubarb. Pour into the coffee cake pan. Spread it out with a spatula until it is evenly distributed. Sprinkle the crumb mixture on top in clumps.

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So happy his coffee cake contains no coffee!

Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Eat hot, cool or room temperature. It lasts a few days as well.

Traveling Local Food!

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Brie + Jam Sandwiches as we drove up into the mountains!

On the 2nd day of our local food year, we thought, hey- this isn’t challenging enough, let’s drive 5 hours out of town and see how we manage. I suppose that wasn’t really the motivation, but that sarcastic phrase kept popping up in my head as I packed nearly every morsel we would consume on this trip.

Actually, Xerxes volunteered to help build the largest low-income solar installation in the state of Colorado through GRID Alternatives. That was the true motivation, but to get his family on board to join his adventure, he enticed me with promises of tasting local Colorado wines and hitting the Farmers Market in Montrose.

The original plan was to go camping, but when we attempted to get a site with the other GRID volunteers we had an awkward encounter with the owner who refused to let us camp because we had small children. There is a scary river nearby apparently. Our kids were disappointed until we promised a hotel with a pool instead.

As this promise was made, I suddenly had visions of standing in a hotel parking lot cooking up eggs, bacon + coffee on our Coleman and wondering again… what were we thinking!? 

But, after some more planning we actually had some of the best travel food we have ever enjoyed. I started by making way too many sausage size Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Rolls which served not only the local brats + sauerkraut we had one evening, but sliced thin they become perfect little breads to top with the local cheese + salami I stocked up on at St. Killians in Denver. There was also a bag of baby lettuce from our greenhouse that we nursed through various types of sandwiches up until the last meal on our drive home.

For breakfasts in the hotel we had slices of bread with butter, hardboiled eggs and yogurt with apricot honey puree a friend gave me from last year’s harvest. For the coffee, Xerxes brought his personal sized press pot from work that we filled with hot water we simmered in the room’s coffee pot. Alas I forgot milk for the coffee, so we decided a slight slip up with hotel creamer wouldn’t hurt. But, it made our otherwise delightful coffee seriously nasty, so I opted for black and was quite content. I always thought that hotel coffee was bad because of the beans, but apparently the creamer punishes the entire cup as well. (BTW- coffee has fallen on the exception list, that I will be writing up in a post soon!)

We had a few non-local items join us as well since per my last post we decided to eat rather than trash them, but for the most part it was a very local travel food supply.

While in Montrose, we hit up a great little indoor market that had some local cheeses (hey- cheddar!) and other goodies. Then on Saturday while Xerxes was volunteering, we went to the Farmers Market which was small but mighty with a limited selection of beautiful spring produce. I bought a bag of snap peas for each of my kiddos and they followed along after me munching away delighted. The kids also selected a small bag of dehydrated local fruit they enjoyed on the drive back, while I took some dry strawberries that are still on standby in my purse. I also snagged up some gorgeous pine nuts, a bundle of radishes, a freshly ground bag of colorful cornmeal and a couple pounds of itty-bitty popcorn kernels that I can’t wait to see all fluffed up.

Luteinizing hormones are key to empower viagra best buy additional info testosterone creation in pituitary organ. Online pharmacies levitra online no prescription are good option to shop from and the best part is you do not need to get up more often at night to urinate. With its main ingredient slidenafil citrate approved by FDA, it is regarded as a safe and effective treatment for semen leakage, low libido and wet dreams. http://www.devensec.com/sustain/eidis-updates/IndustrialSymbiosisupdateApril_June2011.pdf levitra without prescription The treatment shows improvement by forming levitra pill new neurons and restoring the spinal function. We also chatted with a local hog farmer and he invited us back to his farm later that afternoon to meet the baby piglets. More on that adventure later!IMG_6103We tried some lovely wines as well and were blessed with a sale on some of our favorites so we have a little stock of Colorado wines to enjoy throughout this season and probably next.

Probably the goofiest part was in the final hours of our drive back through the mountains, as the sun set Xerxes decided coffee would help him stay alert through the winding roads. Understandable, right!? As we pondered the possibilities of pulling out the Coleman, I suggested we just grab some hot water from a gas station and fill the press pot. Not long after this whim of a suggestion, I was stealthily walking out of the convenience mart with a steaming mini press pot of coffee and a bag of ice for our rapidly melting cooler. Even though all I was grabbing was essentially no more than 3 pints of water in various states of matter, all in my own containers, it felt a bit like I was in violation… of what I am not sure.

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It wasn’t the longest trip, but in that final meal, at the fabulous rest stop with Solar Panel Flowers and a playground, as we scrounged together the odds and ends of all the weekend’s food, we both found ourselves feeling pretty blessed that this initial trip was so delicious and fairly uncomplicated.

Do you pack nearly all your food for road trips or do you wing it with a cooler and stops at restaurants?

May our local food adventure continue! If you want to see quick and periodic snap shots of our adventure follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook Group.

Cheers,

Lilly

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Let’s Talk About Food Waste + Going Local

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A few of our non-local foods we are working through…

The weeks leading up to our local food year, we were most focused on checking off all the restaurants where we will not get to eat for the year. In the month of May, I did my best to only buy local food with the exception of a few things we just knew we would miss (such as our fave cheeses!) knowing we would gobble up them up within days. Never the less, when the first day of our big year arrived, we still had a LOT of non-local food leftover.
What to do, what to do!?

In the United States, it is estimated up to 40% of safe, good to eat food is never consumed. 40 million tons of that food goes directly into landfills where instead of decomposing as it would if this food was composted or better yet given to those who could eat it, this tossed food converts into methane and becomes a potent greenhouse gas. Double jeopardy.

Even though all of my family’s food waste goes to our happy hens in our backyard, it still seemed crazy to give them food that was otherwise good enough for my family to eat. The list of random leftovers included:

From the fridge:
a bag of carrots
a half bag of shredded mozzarella
a nub of St. Andre’s brie… (my cheese weakness– oh will I miss you!)
mayo

From the pantry:
flours
random grains
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onions + a little garlic
sweet potatoes
some random nuts + dried fruit, these seem worth keeping as fruit season slowly enters and we figure out what our nut + seed situation might be (more on that in another post!)

We discussed tossing all the unwanted food, starting fresh and not looking back. But, since our efforts are to eat food that is produced with less energy it suddenly seemed tricky, even if this food would end up in our chickens’ bellies and subsequently in our eggs. It still seemed worth finishing our own food.

So, here we go. Over a week into our local food year and we are still eating a fair share of non-local items, but this little crutch has helped as I am busy making bread, salads, treats, breakfasts, packing snacks + lunches, dinners and all of it pretty much from scratch. There will continue to be non-local items that I am eager to discuss as we finalize the exceptions (such as olive oil!) but it has been kind of nice to slowly wean ourselves away rather than dumping out perfectly good food.

We do have some opened bottles of ketchup, yellow mustard and a few other condiments that we plan to give to friends. There are also a few items I plan to drop off at a Food Bank. We are pretty comfortable with this decision to eat the ends of our non-local items, but we welcome alternative suggestions!

We also would love to hear how you deal with food waste in your home and how you feel about the vast quantity of food waste in developed countries. For more information on food waste check out this website: End Food Waste Now for some fascinating fun facts. Also, if you don’t already compost food that you can no longer eat, it is one of the easiest things you can do to help reduce methane. If you are hesitant to compost, let’s chat about the possibilities on our newly formed Facebook Group: LocalFood.Love just click to join and we’ll add you in!

Thanks for being a part of our Local Food Year journey… we appreciate your support,

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Utah Onions are not from Colorado ;-)

Lilly

Announcing Our Year of Eating Local!

LocalfoodyearannouncementMission: Eat as local as possible
Duration: June 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017
Participants: Xerxes, Lilly + our kiddos
Location: Colorado

The idea of going 100% (or let’s be real, maybe 95.5%) local, certainly came from reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about 7+ years ago. The seed was quickly planted over glasses of cheap wine watching the sunset over Lookout Mountain while my husband finished his PhD and I ran a Personal Chef business.

Since then, we have journeyed closer to the local food world, but we are hardly fully there. Life has been a whirlwind since I read Kingsolver’s book. We started a family. I started Lilly’s Table. Xerxes graduated triggering a move to Arizona, where we were schooled on the beautiful possibilities for food, both local + native. We moved back, had another babe, bought a house, started gardening (again) and let’s just say the mere thought of doing anything more was overwhelming at best. But recent frustrations, including questions about what the hell we are even doing here on this earth, have tilled up emotions and that idea from years ago has now been germinated.

What exactly does eating local food mean for our family?

It means we will do the best we can to source all of our food from our mountain state or wherever we may be, since travel is totally a possibility this year. We will be focusing on ingredients, not just the “made in Colorado” products, which we completely respect, but even these products will be examined with a magnify glass as we want to better understand where + how they were grown before we consume them.

Going local means we want to have better questions about our food. Instead of asking, how quickly can we get something on the table and into the mouths of our family, we want to ask:

Who grew it?
Who raised it?
Can we grow it or produce it?

Where does it come from?
Why does it matter?
Who produced it?
Will my children like it?
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Is this a lifestyle we can sustain in the long run? 

Overall we want to know what is the true cost of the food that we put on our plates. The costs to the producers, our land, our fellow citizens, our country, our health and of course our own wallets.

As we have slowly leaked the idea of our year long project to friends and family, there have naturally been lots of questions and thankfully a lot of support (thanks buddies- you’re bestest!)

We hope to share the answers to their questions, such as:

‘”Are there any exceptions to the geographic parameters?” (Yes, I am looking at you olive oil!)
“What will your kids eat at birthday parties or at school?”
“Are you just going to eat a lot of meat?” (Colorado does have some great meat!)

But, we also welcome your questions! Please ask them in the comments and if we have a long answer, it may even inspire a future post from my husband or me.

One of my favorite questions or shall I say comments I have received from nearly everyone is “Will you be sharing your journey!?” And yes! We are going to do our best to track the year and share all that we find out during this mission. Here is where you can find us on social media, talking up all that we are striving towards. Please follow us and share the local food LOVE:

Instagram: localfood.love
Facebook group: LocalFood.Love
This bloggy: cheflilly.com, of course.

And… I will be emailing Lilly’s Table newsletter subscribers with our updates. Subscribe at the top to be a part of the fun. My goal is weekly, but between canning, sourcing and curating our entire food system this year, I hope y’all can give me some grace. Regardless, to get news in your inbox and a nifty 5-day meal planning mini-class, sign up HERE… in the above right box!

It’s gonna be quite a year and we hope you join us on this adventure!

Cheers! Love,

Lilly

Dan Moore of Farmshares Interview (part 1)

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Spring has sprung and if you are curious as to how you can eat better and support your local farmer, a CSA might be the perfect solution for your family. Recently, I asked Dan Moore of Farmshares.info a series of questions that will help you dive further into whether a CSA is the right choice for your family.  I also asked a few of you in the community if you had further questions about CSA’s and those questions and answers will be in the next post.

danscsaLilly: What is a CSA and what is the main reason to join one?

Dan: CSA stands for community supported agriculture and is a direct relationship between a farmer or rancher and the end customer with a risk sharing component.  You give the farmer money early in the year, and they give you produce, meat or other food throughout the growing season.

The main reason to join a CSA is to learn more about who grows your food and how it is done.  CSA provides a level of involvement with your food that is deeper than anything other than gardening.

Lilly: What is the most common question or concern you hear from people interested in starting a CSA?

Dan: The most common question is “how do I pick the right farm?”.  Just as with any major purchase (share prices are typically in the hundreds of dollars and can be up to three thousand) you have to both know what you are looking for and do your research.  

To the first point, many people are romantic about “getting food directly from the farmer” and ignore that they don’t like to cook, or travel often during the season, or work a job that will make a weekly pickup hard.  There is enough variety in CSAs available, so think about what you need. If you want to learn the basics of CSA, I have put together a free email course

To the second, while there are similarities, each CSA differs in what they expect of their members, the types of food they provide, and where you can pick up the share.  So while tools like farmshares.info can help, you really need to review each farm’s website, talk to current and past members and mesh what the farm/ranch offers with your needs.

Lilly: What has been the biggest change you have noticed since you first became a CSA member in 2007?

Dan: Two big changes: 1) the widening of the CSA market, both in number of farms and products offered.  It’s amazing to see new farms and new products be available in the CSA risk sharing model. 2) the turnover of CSA farms.  I think the skills needed to be a successful CSA farmer include all the skills of a regular farmer, plus marketing and sales skills (plus management once the farm is a certain size).  I see a lot of CSAs start up and run for 4-5 years and then shut down, either because the farmer is moving off the land or because they are focusing on other markets (farmer’s market, direct sales of a product, wholesale markets).

Lilly: How soon after joining a CSA did you realize the need to create coloradocsa.info which has recently expanded to become farmshares.info? What was the driving motivator?

Dan: I started out with a list of farms on which I had done research, and quickly realized that it would be helpful to others.  A friend also joined a CSA in Denver about the same time and shared her list.  After combining the two, I had a simple web page that received some traffic, indicating there was interest.  After about two years of updating that page and fielding questions about CSAs in Colorado, I decided to build ColoradoCSAs.info in 2010.  In 2015, my wife and I decided that the existing national directories were not as useful as they should be, and spent some time and money re-working and re-launching ColoradoCSAs.info as FarmShares.info, as well as pursuing affiliates and sponsorships.  
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The driving motivation for the redesign is that CSA membership, for me, was a fundamental shift in how I viewed food and the food system.  I wanted to share that with people beyond Colorado.photo-52

Lilly: What is the advantage of using a tool such as farmshares.info versus just jumping on the Google?

Dan: Farmshares.info gathers data from farms, standardizes it, and makes it very easy to compare farms that meet your needs.  I always advocate contacting the farmer directly once you have narrowed your choices to two or three, since CSA information can change from day to day (for example, shares can sell out).  

When you start at Google, you find farms that are best at showing up in Google, as opposed to the farm that might be closest to you, or have the type of share you want.

Lilly: How has the transition from coloradocsa.info to farmshares.info been? Can you give us a sneak peek of what to expect in the coming months or years?

Dan: The transition from coloradocsas.info to farmshares.info has been smooth–the launch affected our traffic slightly, but it has bounced back as we head into the prime signup season for the mountain west (Jan-May).  

In the future, you can expect more features, greater coverage of the mountain west and eventually the entire USA, and more partnerships with companies that support local food.  

Lilly: Most of us now think of CSAs in terms of produce, but ‘community supported’ has evolved in recent years to include other products. What are some of those changes?

Dan: I’ve seen two main changes in the offerings from CSA farms over the years.  The first is a far wider selection of  farm-to-consumer products available.  These range from soap to meat to fish to bread to coffee–at least 40 different types of food are available via CSA.  This is fantastic because it lets consumers support local farmers and ranchers even if they can’t commit to a season of vegetables.

The second is the rise, especially in farms selling produce, of the market share.  Instead of the farmer picking out vegetables and boxing them up for you, you pre-pay for credit at farm stands and farmer’s markets.  It’s a way to support a farm and share the risk of poor crops without losing choice.  (The customer still shares the risk because if the farm has a poor season, or doesn’t produce much of a popular crop like tomatoes, the customer is still committed to purchase from that farm.)

Lilly: Can you forecast any predictions for the future of CSA’s in the US?

Dan: I think that CSAs will rise and fall as interest in home cooking rises and falls.  CSAs just don’t make sense if you aren’t eating at home.  The recent trend of people re-learning how to cook (see Michael Pollan’s books) makes me optimistic about the long term future of CSAs.danpam

Comfort + Joy for Winter


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Comfort.
Joy.

These two words are totally synonymous with the holiday season. Specifically that one Christmas song with all its tidings. But as I write this, I am currently weaning myself off of the Figgy Pudding, my view is of snow melting from our White Christmas and I can still smell the pine of our slowly drying + dying Christmas tree. It takes me awhile to let go of this time of year especially when it means diving into a season that is a tad dreary and which the ‘health’ obsessed seem to require we detox off the holiday with chilly veggie beverages and crunchy salads.

But… why?!

I hardly need the carols, sweets, treats, and holiday hoopla, but as we settle into the winter season with the holidays really marking the start of, why do we abruptly end all of that delightful comfort + joy just a few days after the glorious start of the season?Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 3.32.06 PM

In the last few years, I have been a tad obsessed with the notion of the season of Hygee. It is a time that is revered and celebrated in Denmark with candles, visiting with friends and family, and overall bringing a bit of light into the darkest months. Considering past winters full of my own workaholism that borders on depression, I cringe a bit to start this time of year again. Because apparently in my own life the idea of diving into work and post-holiday food austerity somehow makes me “happy”.

Screw that!

I want some comfort, joy, fluffy blankets and sparkling lights that will last well through the spring of Colorado that is too often coated in snow and mud as I wring my hands overly anticipating the soil warming enough for me to plant anything!

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 3.30.55 PMAlas, I know very little of this Hygee pronounced Hoo-go, but I love the idea of discovering it. Especially with a few buddies. Want to join my adventure this season as I dive into candle lit family meals, comfort foods, bottomless cups of soups, fires indoors or out, walks in bundled up attire, maybe even some chestnuts on an open fire or even easier- some s’mores that are too often reserved for summer… oh the possibilities!

Even if you live in ‘warmer’ climates as I did not too long ago in Arizona, the days are still shorter, and the hygee would still be a welcome change of pace from the harried winter months where hitting the grindstone seems oddly required in our capitalist world.

Does this glimmer of an idea, this season of hygee inspire you? What do you most look forward to doing this winter season?
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Join my hygee adventure!

winterjamsignupbuttonTo start it off with a spark of light, I am doing an Instagram challenge where we will Re-New Our Food to discover the life-giving joy of feeding ourselves. This will not be about stringent cuts to calories and eliminating certain types of food (unless they are joyless– bye bye fake unhappy food), but rather it is a time to embrace the goodness that is abundant during the winter. We will explore new ways to use foods that are currently in our kitchen and turn them into comforting delights that nourish not only our bodies, but hopefully our hearts + souls as well.

Join the fun! As I started my party planning, I asked my 5-year old what she thought of when I said comfort + joy. Without skipping a beat, she said being cozy and playful. 

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 3.34.05 PMSo let’s snuggle up with this idea and play with all of the possibilities that are unfolding this crisp + bright season!

It’s FREE, Sign up for the FUN here!

winterjamsignupbutton
Cook seasonally. Eat consciously. Live well,

Chef Lilly

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2016 is for Courage


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When I look back on 2015, I find myself overwhelmed. I set an intention at the start of the year that it would be for loving. That indeed it was. However, the lessons surrounding the word loving were quite different than I imagined this time a year ago.

What I learned through this intention of loving is that it has a way of breaking your heart wide open, often into a thousand little pieces that need to be picked up and placed back together in an entirely new way. My heart and soul, seemed on a humpty-dumpty mission in 2015. 

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The fragility of letting my heart lead meant today, while I am a bit patchworked together, I feel incredibly humbled by all of what happened and who I am now as a result. Community, near and far, became a critical part of sewing me back to together and I now find myself a layer deeper. Almost as if the past year’s experience exfoliated my soul a bit.

In addition, the innocence of the moment, those sweet in-betweens, brought me closer to mending my heart than any grandiose attempts on my part. The silence was critical and while I often fight the quiet moments, I find myself craving a bit more peace in 2016.

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In the new year I want to be something a bit stronger than I was this past year. I also suspect that the foreshadowing events coming my way are not necessarily a peaceful river– even if I crave some reprieve. What I need this year is heart and strength to get me through any big rapids so that I can gently float into the waves that will allow me to still see the goodness. The love.

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As Brene Brown states: “Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences — good and bad. Speaking from our hearts is what I think of as “ordinary courage.”

28-Brene-Brown

When I look to 2016, I feel courage will be my guiding force.

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After ‘loving’ left me often more vulnerable and fragile, a strong word such as courage sounds as if it will not disappoint on this crazy adventure we call life. Letting the world know I am ready to show up, be seen and let my heart lead me into frontiers yet unknown doesn’t exactly feel like cozying up to a warm cup of goodness. But, then having the courage to sit still and be present can also be an act of defiance. At least for me and my busy way of distracting myself with thoughts that keep me small, unassuming and in the backseat of life, when I know there is something brighter, better that I am capable of sharing.Screen Shot 2015-12-29 at 9.14.20 PM

I am ready to take up a bit more space and shout out a bit louder about the truths that I know. While I’d like to think I have the entire year to expose my heart, I want to start by saying I feel more strongly that love does really conquer all. (What a smashingly gorgeous cliche!?) And that your perspective matters. Rose-colored glasses may feel naive, but a loving outlook will answer the question deeper and more profoundly than allowing ourselves to only see the world at face value through our own distorted lens.

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As I embrace ‘courage’, the first required step indeed feels like a public announcement. So here I am! May I have the strength to share more etchings of my heart with you this year.

And now you. Dear friend…
What intention or word have you set for 2016? What color of glasses do you plan to wear this year? Let me know how I can support your journey through 2016.

In order to be brave this year, I am pretty sure I will need you nearby. Let’s love 2016 together.

Happy New Year sweet one! With love + courage,

Lilly

Food Gifts from Your Own Hands

granoladropsGet your apron on! These recipes from Lilly’s Table are a unique way to gift the loved ones in your life a treat straight from your heart, made with your hands. Some of them are sweet, some are savory, but none of them require refined sugar, processed foods or crazy unnecessary additives. Give the gift of a treat made sincerely with love and pure, real, wholesome goodness. They all pack up and ship well, too for your buddies who need holiday care packages.

Recently, I been making these Cacao Almond Balls with a base of dates, almonds and occasionally a heavy handed dash of my favorite liquors, which means I have to rename them “Boozy Balls” (mostly so I don’t accidentally use them as a post-workout snack 8-). This also reminds me of Schweddy Balls, because ’tis the season!) This recipe requires a food processor, but beyond that you don’t even need an oven and they are pretty simple to roll together into little balls of charming goodness.cocoaalmondballs

Maybe you would prefer your chocolate smooth + spreadable? This Homemade “Nutella” is blended from scratch with hazelnuts, cocoa, and a drizzle of sweetness making it a spread worth giving to anyone with a sweet tooth who might be trying to eat less sugar. This is even a lovely topping for cookies, crackers and even cupcakes.

nutella

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Apple Pecan Granola is this excellent, not-to-sweet base recipe for a simple granola. It is easy to add your own flavors, spices, nuts, seeds + dried fruits to really make this your own. Do it up and add your own personal pizzaz!

Coconut Granola brings together as many layers of coconut as I could muster into one recipe. The white flecks are a perfect snowy reminder of the brisk holiday season we are in.coconutgranola

Either of these granolas could be taken to the next level with these Granola Drops. You can even start this recipe with your favorite store-bought granola if you have a favorite.

Coco-Nutty low-resThe Coco-Nutty Granola is especially perfect for the grain-free, gluten-free, oat-free, I am mostly eating nuts + coconut crowd. This is probably my favorite granola because it is so high in protein it sustains me hours into my busy mornings.

blackpepperparmesangranolaBlack-Pepper + Parmesan Granola. Okay- I admit this one is totally unconventional, but I LOVE savory so I had to share it. It is beautiful sprinkled on salads or sizzling fried up eggs in the morning.
fennelcrackers
Jams from your summer harvest are always a good gift to share. Make that simple jar of goodness a bit more spectacular as a  hostess gift with homemade crackers and your favorite cheese. These whole-grain Fennel Crackers can be rolled out and cut into shapes. Meanwhile, these gluten-free Pecan Crackers are hearty and perfect for the holiday season.

These naturally sweetened Coconut Lime Date Bars, find the recipe here: http://www.simpleacresblog.com/health–food/coconut-lime-date-bars are just as lovely throughout the year as they are wrapped up as a gift for the holidays. A shiny label or a favorite washi tape wrapped around these bars make them extra special this time of year. Mix in a bit of dried cranberry towards the end of mixing for a delightful Christmas feel.

coconutlimedatebars
What treats are you planning to make this Holiday Season!?
Don’t forget! Gift your favorite bunch of ladies with Lilly’s Table seasonal meal planning service, too. Pay for four gift certificates, but receive five. Or buy eight gift certificates and receive three gift certificates for free! This deal is special for the holidays, so take advantage of it today!  

Cook seasonally. Eat consciously. Live well,

Chef Lilly

Gifts for a bunch of your Lovely Ladies

 

uwladiesGirlfriends.

Whether they are your sister, co-worker, besties from childhood, college or maybe the mommies of your kid’s friends, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time, texts, chit-chats or coffee to share with them. For me, I am blessed with ladies nearby and across the country who have shared important moments in my life, have supported me, laughed, cried and just been their precious selves for me.

More recently, I have had the honor of getting to know a group of gals who are building businesses at all different stages and it has been a blessing to get to know them better. Especially as we all hone in on ways to balance our business life with mamahood as well as our own personal joy.

Slowly, I am coming to understand we are all struggling, while doing our best. We are all facing our own dramas, triumphs, challenges, and successes. Sharing our stories over hot drinks, long walks, good food or pedicures makes all of it that much easier to face or celebrate.

The truth is, try as I might, there are so many lovely ladies in my life that I want to connect to, share and celebrate with. When it comes to the holiday season, there are all sorts of reasons to give each of them something extra special, but I always stress about trying to find them something useful, sweet, or just pretty- even if I know it will be discarded eventually. What I really want to bestow on each of them is a bit more time to relax, a bit less drama to endure, something delicious to savor or simply something beautiful to learn.IMG_8295

When it comes to Lilly’s Table, I like to think it is the perfect gift for the Mama who is ready to embrace the goodness each season has to offer with simple recipes, weekly meal plans and easy to create shopping lists that bring a nourishing beautiful meal to their family. It is the gift that goes beyond the holiday season to serve all of us ladies as we try to juggle and balance it all.

Buying one gift certificate for one friend is always a possibility. But, for a limited time during this holiday season, buy in bulk and save some money!
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Buy four gift certificates and receive the fifth gift certificate for FREE!
(you can even use that fifth one for yourself– I won’t tell!) 

Or go even further, buy eight certificates and receive three gift certificates for FREE!

This offer is only valid during the holiday season though, so snatch it up quick! Start buying those gift certificates, then contact me at lilly@lillystable.com and I will hook you up with all of the bonus gift certificates. (If you are buying a ton, let me know as I will sweeten the deal further!) 

Whether you buy your dear friends a gift certificate to Lilly’s Table, a pretty trinket, cup of coffee on your next cafe date, pole dancing lessons, flowers or something as unique as they are to you, I wish each of you a bright + heartfelt holiday season with lots of deliciousness and love flowing your way!
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Cook seasonally. Eat consciously. Live well,

Chef Lilly

Cheddar Squash Bake

squashcheddarbakeYou have cut them in half, chunked them into pieces and roasted winter squash before, but…
Have you tried shredding it?

Now is the time!

Out of all the squash possibilities, butternut is a great place to start shredding as the skin peels easily with a veggie peeler, the seeds scrap out without issue and then a big hunk can be shredded on a box grater.

However, if you are lazy like me, big peeled chunks can be placed in a food processor with the grater attachment and in a few minutes you will have a mass of bright orange shreds and… as a bonus you are less likely to scrape up your fingers as I manage to do on box graters!

Once you have these shreds, you can fold them with leftover quinoa and a few otherbutternutquinoapatties ingredients to make these beautiful Butternut Quinoa Patties as are featured in this week’s meal plan.

But, even easier is to toss the mass with olive oil, salt and bake it in the oven until it starts melting into itself. While the heat takes care of it, shred up a bunch of sharp cheddar.

Toss and press it together. More oven time.

Then dip into this gooey side dish which can become the main dish alongside your favorite fall salad.

Did I mention there are only FOUR ingredients… one of which is just salt! Roll up those sleeves and grab a grater!

Cheddar Squash Bake

One pound of squash with about two ounces of cheddar makes a decent serving, so adjust the recipe according to the number of people and squash you have available. Also, Lilly’s Table offers a handy-dandy way to adjust servings in this recipe as well. Give yourself about an hour to let the squash properly melt with the cheese in the oven. 
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3 pounds butternut squash
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces cheddar

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut the squash into four chunks: first through the middle just above the round, seed-filled part. Next, cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Peel the skin away with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. Shred the chunks with a box grater or cut smaller and shred in a food processor.

Toss the shreds with the olive oil and salt. Pile high in a baking dish. As the squash bakes it shrinks down significantly so a smaller dish works best. A larger dish will give you a very thin finished product. If you are concerned it will overflow in the oven, place a baking sheet underneath. Bake for about 20 minutes. Toss and bake for another 15 minutes until the squash is starting to fall apart.

Meanwhile, shred the cheddar. Toss half of the shredded cheddar with the squash as soon as there is room in the dish. Press down, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake 10-20 more minutes until the top is golden and the center is tender when you spoon into it.