It’s here! Yes today is Woman Crush Wednesday and it is coming to you from Los Angeles! It is not even the middle of February and while most places in the world are dealing with winter cold, it is 80 degrees and sunny here in L.A. And who is the epitome of L.A. sunshine and smiles? None other than Gaby Dalkin of What’s Gaby Cooking!

When it is this hot, who feels like cooking? Yet, hello, we still need sustenance! Gaby is the perfect one to provide fab recipes that are light and healthy, full of flavor and super easy to make. So when I popped over to one of my oldest and dearest friends, we teamed up to make Gaby’s super delish Asian Chicken Slaw. My friend Traci is a vegetarian. So her husband and I had the slaw with the chicken. But it is simple enough to toss together and then add the chicken for the meat eaters!

The great thing about this dish is that it holds well even for the next day. If you remember from my Salad Scentral Week, I am a salad nut. And yet most salads, once dressed, need to be eaten straight away. This salad is just as good the next day as the cabbage and peppers are hearty enough and hold up well.  Not to mention the dressing is to die for, literally! It is so moreish I could eat it on its own! Though Gaby doesn’t specify how to cook the chicken, I had an idea. Using skinless boneless chicken breast, we just put some freshly squeezed lemon juice and a generous splash of soy sauce and baked them in a 350f/180c oven for about 20 minutes. It kept the meat nice and moist. But leftover roasted chicken would be great too.

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 head Red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, shredded
6 green onions, thinly cut on the bias
1 avocado, thinly sliced
fresh basil, thinly sliced
fresh cilantro
1-2 cups shredded chicken breast (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk together the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, peanut butter and garlic until smooth.
Combine the Napa cabbage, red cabbage, sliced bell peppers. carrot and green onion and toss together. Add in a handful of avocado, sliced basil and fresh cilantro along with the shredded chicken.
Pour the liquid mixture over the vegetables and chicken and toss to combine. Season with extra soy sauce if needed and serve immediately.

This was the perfect dinner and really hit the spot. Totally guilt free! And considering I had picked up some Sprinkles Cupcakes for dessert, this meal was a balance of nice with the naughty. But just because this Asian Chicken Slaw is healthy doesn’t mean it lacks anything in the way of taste. It was really satisfying and we all had seconds!

Though I have never met Gaby, I feel like I have.  She was actually at my son and daughter in law’s wedding back in 2013.  She and my daughter in law Koko were working for the same person and became friends.  I remember seeing her from a distance at the wedding reception with her gorgeous smile and bright red lipstick. She was dancing with her husband and having a great time. So when deciding who to choose for this week’s edition of the popular #WCW I had to shine a well deserved spotlight on the effervescent Gaby.  She embodies love of food, clean eating, and yet enjoys her treats too.

She is probably most known for her love affair with avocados.  So much so that she even wrote a cookbook about it. Originally from Arizona, she likely grew up eating Mexican food on a regular basis and perfected her guacamole game!  Today Gaby is one of the most well known food bloggers sought after by many culinary companies such as Williams-Sonoma to promote their products. She has partnered with another of our #womancrushwednesday’s the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, and has guest posted on her website as well.

And Gaby is one of my fav snapchatters! That’s right, she is a Snap Sista! I look forward to her cooking tutorials each Friday (she calls them “Snapisodes”) as her natural easy going style is so refreshing.  She engages with her followers even asking them to help choose which dish they would like her to demonstrate!  She is very active on Instagram as well and shares selflies with loads of her famous and talented friends.  I just love her and if you aren’t already following her I really encourage you to do so.  She makes cooking seem effortless and is great at both savory and sweet recipes.   In fact, Koko was the one who told me about Gaby’s infamous “slutty brownies” which she would make for the staff at their job. It is a triple layer decadent treat that you too will want to make ASAP.

Thanks Gaby for being a gorgeous gourmet gal inspiring so many of us in the kitchen! Thanks for bringing sunshine into my life.   Not just when I’m here roasting in L.A. and making your refreshing salad.  But when I am back home across the pond in the rainy cold weather too. Because your recipes are a bright light like you!

Shining love,

YDP

ps. If you are interested, I have more of the Gaby lovefest on my snapchat story (username: blissbakery) as my friend and I recreated her colorful salad. But fair warning, though it is a great recipe, there is some bad singing by me on there!  LOL!

Welcome back to the fantabulous Woman Crush Wednesday, the most fun and delicious day on the calendar.  Each week we shine a well deserved light on a female foodie in the culinary world and recreate one of her recipes for a snapchat tutorial (username: blissbakery). And today is especially wonderful as my granddaughter was able to assist me in the kitchen!  Normally I am apologizing for my bad singing and dancing, but Harper is not only a great singer she can also bust some moves.  A fun cooking adventure indeed! This week’s honoree is the gorgeous and oh so talented chef Rachel Khoo. Though Rachel is English,  she studied pastry at Le Cordon Blue in Paris, so we figured why not make one of her tasty desserts!

But this isn’t just any dessert, this is a decadent hot chocolate and banana caramelized taste explosion wrapped in a buttery and flaky puff pastry. While Rachel certainly has the skill to make homemade puff pastry, she actually chooses to use ready made pastry for this recipe. I love that someone so accomplished in her field, is still down to earth.  She helps the rest of us with a little short cut in the kitchen. That way we can spend more time with our guests having the old chat or two. Certainly something she would have done during her years living in Paris. But just because this recipe is simple doesn’t take away from the complexity and perfection of flavor combinations. Quite honestly, it is heaven on a plate!  Especially with a side of vanilla ice cream!  Now we are talkin!

Hot chocolate and banana rolls

Serves 4-6

Preparation time 10 minutes
Baking time 30 minutes

Ingredients

Good quality ready rolled puff pastry, roughly 215g
2 bananas
50g Dark chocolate
Handful chopped hazelnuts or other nut of your choice (we used pecans)
2 tbsps golden or light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten

Serve with ice cream, frozen yoghurt, or freshly whipped cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Place the sheet of puff pastry in front of you and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with nuts and a tablespoon of sugar.

Add the bananas in a row followed by the chocolate broken in pieces.

Roll up and brush with egg on the top. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and sugar.

Cut into 2 pieces and squash down the ends. (the pastry sheets I used were already in two pieces)

Place on baking tray and bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until golden and puffy.

Best eaten warm and extremely delicious with ice cream or freshly whipped cream!

As if Rachel isn’t busy enough with cooking, writing, and filming, she is launching a life style magazine. But it isn’t a surprise really. She studied art at university in the U.K. and worked in fashion PR.  She is a world traveler and shares her adventures on her Instagram account. So in essence it is the likely next step. The sky is the limit for Rachel.  Her uber popular The Little Paris Kitchen Book let the novice into her tiny culinary corner in the mecca of French food to tackle traditional recipes with a twist.  The fact that when she moved to France she didn’t even speak French says volumes about her tenacity and courage.

Wow, Rachel you are a shooting star and we are so happy to have you as our #WomanCrushWednesday! We wish you the best in your new endeavors and thank you for being an inspiration and role model. You are beautiful inside and out and we are so eager for more of your culinary creations!

Avec amour chocolat banane,

YDP + granddaughter Harper too!

 

 

It’s that time again!  Another Wednesday and another amazing female foodie to shower with our love!  And today’s gorgeous gourmet is Ellie Krieger.  Not only is she a best selling cookbook author and television chef, but she is one of the most well known nutritionists in America.  In fact she was tapped by the White House to help guide the healthy eating campaign for our nation’s school children.  A mom herself, she is a great example of how to feed a family nutritious and balanced food, yet making her recipes super tasty.  Since we are still in January and trying to maintain our New Year’s Resolutions, she is indeed the perfect choice for our foodie infatuation this week!

Ellie is so warm and engaging and though very esteemed in her field (she has a degree in Nutrition from Columbia University and then taught at N.Y.U) she is still open and approachable.  She doesn’t come across preachy, but she really does want to make the world a better place.  Not only is she involved with the White House campaign, but she also volunteers her time to various hunger organizations (such as Feeding America) to help all people have access to healthy food.  I love her ethos, a snippet of which she shares on her twitter bio:  “I believe the words delicious & healthy can and should be used in the same sentence.” Yet what is so amazing is that she doesn’t think it is a privilege for only a few.  It should be for young and old, rich and poor. Wow!

While searching to find the perfect recipe of Ellie’s to recreate for the weekly Woman Crush Wednesday snapchat tutorial (my user name is: blissbakery) I thought it would be great to make an easy and healthy pasta dinner.  Since I am still with my family in America, and it is such a busy household, a dish that anyone could reheat themselves when their tummy was calling out for dinner would be a winner.  While I couldn’t find orecchiette pasta at the supermarket, I opted for Quinoa (gluten free and high in protein) corkscrew pasta noodles. And I also swapped the escarole for dino kale.  Lastly, since my son in law loves his meat, I decided to cook up a bit of nitrate free chicken sausage to add in at the end as well. But judging from Ellie’s recipes, she is very flexible with ingredients, even offering suggesting for substitutions, which makes cooking her recipes a dream!

Orecchiette With White Beans, Escarole and Toasted Garlic

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the cooking water
12 ounces dried whole-grain orecchiette pasta (I couldn’t find this so I used Quinoa pasta)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 medium head escarole, chopped (about 6 cups lightly packed; may substitute kale, spinach or arugula)
6  sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (to equal 1/4 cup), if dried, then plumped in hot water (I used the ones in the jar and dried off the oil)
One 15-ounce can no-salt-added cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for optional garnish

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add a generous pinch of salt, then the dried pasta; cook for 1 minute less than for al dente, according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta into a colander.

Meanwhile, combine the oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, reduce the heat to low; cook for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the garlic is a light golden brown. Be careful not to let it burn.

Add the escarole; increase the heat to medium and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring once or twice, until it has wilted. Stir in the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, beans, sage, crushed red pepper flakes, the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the black pepper; cook, stirring, just until warmed through.

If the pasta is not yet done, remove the skillet from the heat and cover it to keep it warm. If the pasta is done, add 1/2 cup of its reserved cooking water and the 1/4 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano to the skillet, stirring to create a sauce; increase the heat to medium-high, then add the cooked pasta, stirring for 1 to 2 minutes or until the pasta is al dente and has absorbed some of the sauce.

If the mixture seems dry, add some or all of the remaining pasta cooking water, as needed.

Serve right away, sprinkled with more cheese, if desired.

This dish is so tasty and yet you don’t feel guilty eating it. Totally satisfying and light at the same time.  I love the combo of smoky sun-dried tomatoes with the earthy kale, and the salty nuttiness of the parmesan cheese is just perfect!  The addition of the beans  fills out the myriad of textures and also provides great fiber.  It really is a superfood pasta dish that the whole family can enjoy.  And though my granddaughter is dairy free, it’s no bother as I just didn’t put cheese on her portion. But I am thrilled with the way it turned out and bet that it will taste even better as a leftover reheated for lunch tomorrow.  Sometimes people can toe the line with eating healthy for home cooked dinners.  Then blow it all when they are starved for lunch the next day and run out of the office on their lunch break to the local burger joint.  Being prepared is the key and having some of Ellie’s gorgeous pasta packed in your lunchbox makes it a double delight.  For dinner tonight and lunch the next day. Yummy!

One look at Ellie and you know she has done something right. Absolutely stunning!  But clearly her beauty is more than skin deep. She is smart, hard working, creative, and altruistic. She is a total inspiration and a perfect choice for Woman Crush Wednesday!

Thanks Ellie for all you do!  Helping the world eat healthier and sharing your love along the way! God bless you and your family!

Love,

YDP

This week’s version of Woman Crush Wednesday is coming from the U.S of A. So let’s crush on an American female foodie then shall we?  And who is the embodiment of the American ‘can do’ spirit but none other than the famous Rachael Ray.  She stole our hearts with her 30 minute meals cooking demos, and has now leapt to the heights of daytime television queen. With her own show, magazine and numerous awards to line her shelves, she is the perfect gourmet gal to give us ambition inspo for 2016 and beyond.

Born in New York to an Italian family, Rachael grew up cooking and eating well. Though she never had formal training she had vision to see a gap in the market.  What she landed on was the fact that many people claimed they didn’t have time to make a meal in their own homes. So she came up with the concept of thirty minute meals to prove that in the time it would take to pop a processed frozen meal in the oven, or go to the drive thru for some fast food, it was possible to make a home cooked ‘from scratch’ meal that was YUM-O!  This revolutionized many households, and literally made her a household name. Her popularity on the Food Network led to the support from Oprah Winfrey to launch the Emmy winning Rachael Ray show.

While most known for her dinners, Rachael also has some great brunch and breakfast recipes. This one for Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes is so amazing. The smell alone makes you feel like you have a dozen cookies in the oven. But they are totally wholesome (and can be altered to make them gluten free or low fat if you desire). I made up the whole batch of batter so that we could freeze some pancakes to take out and heat up as needed.

Ingredients
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 ounces, 1/4 cup, chopped walnuts
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 really ripe bananas, mashed up
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 stick butter, 1/4 cup, melted, plus additional for buttering skillet
Maple syrup or honey, for drizzling

Directions
Here’s a great tip: if you cannot find really ripe bananas, just nuke them in the microwave for about 15 seconds and they will become super soft for mashing.

Mix dry ingredients, the first 7, in a bowl. In a another bowl, mix the wet ingredients, the next 4. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, then fold in the mashed up bananas and the raisins. Stir in the melted butter.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and brush with additional melted butter. Cook pancakes, each about 1/3 cup, until bubbles form on the top, then turn. Cakes will cook in about 2 minutes on each side. Keep pancakes tented with foil as they come off the griddle to keep them hot. Serve with drizzled honey or maple syrup over the top.

These pancakes are light and fluffy but also have a nice surprising texture. This recipe also comes at a great time.  Many are already thinking about Pancake Tuesday which is in a couple of weeks. This is the time to start testing out some new flapjack fun with variations on the traditional. And the fact this this is also a cookie flavored affair with the cinnamon, nuts and raisins couldn’t make breakfast any sweeter. Then again, Rachael is awesomely sweet herself. She has given back to others helping young kids, families and dog charities.  Hence she is such a special Woman Crush Wednesday, and Everyday!

We love you Rach! Thanks for being our WCW! The only thing missing is our sweet Pitt Stella as she would have loved to be part of the snapchat tutorial today (username: blissbakery). Especially since you are a dog lover too!  But since I am over here in the States at the moment with the family, Stella had to stay back across the Pond. Here’s hoping you have a fun Shrove Tuesday Pancake Pandemonium with these or any of your other pancake recipes!

Pancake cookie Love,

YDP