Category Archives: Food

Pinning and Dining: Chloe’s Kitchen

A few weeks ago I shared the new series I plan to start titled “Pinning and Dining“.

Basically, it gives me an excuse to share great recipes I have found through other pinners or have pinned myself onto Pinterest.

To check out all the recipes I’ve pinned follow my Pinterest board Cooking, Eating, Food.

In the first post of this series I shared some of our favorite pins.. Since then I have found a couple more delicious recipes on Pinterest but the recipes that have blown us away recently are from a cookbook I checked out at our local library.

Source: chefchloe.com via Krystle @ Color Transformed Family on Pinterest

This cookbook is amazing! And just in case you are wondering I am not vegan or vegetarian. ML’s parents are vegan and mine are meat lovers but we fall somewhere in the middle. I like to classify us as semi-vegetarians. Meaning I cook vegetarian most of the time but can’t resist the free supply of elk meat I get from my parents and sure won’t pass up some delicious seafood.

I was at the library the other week with a friend and was drawn to this book displayed in the “New Books” section. I mean who can resist a book with a chocolate cake on the front? So Chloe’s Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way just had to come home with me!

I had never even thought about libraries having cookbooks before? Have you ever checked out a cookbook from the library? Were you persuaded later to actually go buy the book?

When I got home I excitedly flipped through all the pages and might have drooled at some of the dessert pictures. They all looked so yummy! Cupcakes, donuts, and cakes! I just couldn’t believe all this was vegan. Finally, I decided to settle on a couple of recipes and give them a try.

The first recipe we tested was Chimichurri Tacos.

Hands down these were the best tacos ML and I have ever had. Mushrooms and black beans take the place of beef. Served in flour tortillas with rice and chimichurri sauce these sweet tasting tacos are irresistible. They were so good that before the meal was even over we had texted out the recipe and vowed that we should have these every week! Seriously, I am craving them right now just writing about them.

After such a wonderful turnout with the Chimichurri Tacos we were anxious to the try the next recipe we had selected, Thai Chickpea Burgers with Sweet Sauce.

It may not satisfy your craving for a beef burger but this is one tasty burger. ML claims it ranks up there with other restaurant chickpea burgers he has tried. Loaded with cilantro and spices the patties have a refreshing taste. Each burger is topped with a homemade sweet tomato sauce and sliced avocados.

Since I was preparing for MIchael Luke’s birthday while reading this cookbook I let ML choose a cupcake recipe for me to try. ~~Secretly~~ I was wishing for these…

Source: chefchloe.com via Chloe on Pinteres t

but instead he picked this…Banana Cupcakes with Lemon Icing. They’re no chocolate cupcakes but they were amazing! Possibly the best cupcakes I have ever had. It was really similar to banana bread. They were incredibly moist even a couple days later. Loaded with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger this recipe was not lacking in flavor. I can’t wait until we have another excuse to make these.

I only have the cookbook for a couple of more days I just might have to order Chloe’s Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way off of Amazon. Right now it is available for under 12 bucks.

In addition to the recipes above I also tried an Avocado and Salsa Stuffed Potato recipe. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any pictures but let’s just say you would never know there wasn’t any ranch dressing involved.

Thanks for listening to me ramble about all the good food we have been trying lately. I just can’t help but share because y’all it’s amazing.! Another great feature of this book is that Chole’s gives options for how to create each dish without gluten or tofu. Which is great because soy is a major migraine trigger for me.

Have you found any cookbooks lately that have revitalized your cooking? What is your “Can’t do Without Cookbook”? Don’t these recipes sound amazing?

For more Color Transformed Family follow me on

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or RSS.

Chloe has no clue I have tried her food or that I am blogging about her book. I just really loved the recipes and wanted to let you know how great her book is.

Linking up at:

Centsational Girl

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Sweet Treats

12 Replies

Last week, a friend told me about a farmer’s market that our local mall, The Summit, is hosting every Thursday afternoon. I was so excited to hear about it because we just can’t get rolling early enough on Saturday mornings to visit the one in downtown Birmingham at Pepper Place. So even though last Thursday was super busy for Noah and me, we took a break and snuck off to the farmer’s market.

There’s just something about buying fresh local produce that gets me all giddy like a little school girl. Does anyone else get this excited at the thought of fresh food? I loved passing by every tent looking at all the bright, beautiful colors of the fruits and vegetables. They were all so pretty! It just makes you want to eat healthier.

I had to refrain myself from not spending all my grocery money. I mean because everyone needs a gallon of blackberries for $15, right? So for the first week of my farmer’s market shopping, I chose…

blueberries and…

blackberries (not the gallon size though).

Oh, they are so delicious and make me feel so healthy! I imagine all the anti-oxidants attacking the free radicals in my body. A little strange I know, but it makes me feel so good about my choice.

I am excited about getting the opportunity to shop for fresh, local produce there this Summer. This week, I hope to have some meals planned out, so I’ll have a better idea of what to look for.

Do you like to hit up your local farmer’s market? If so, have you splurged on a gallon bucket of blackberries? And for fun, what’s your favorite fruit? Mine is a plum! I love how juicy and sweet they are. Definitely nature’s candy.

For more Color Transformed Family follow me on

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or RSS.

P.S.- I would love for you to join me this Summer as we study Kelly Minter’s Nehemiah: A Heart that Can Break. The fun starts June 26. For more information see this post and the Transformed Deeper tab.

Linking up at:

Imparting Grace

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

The Key To My Heart

9 Replies

The Gift

I mentioned in a previous post that I was making a little something to give to ML for Valentine’s Day.

This is the room key from The Peabody… where we stayed on the first night of our honeymoon. I’m not sure which one of us kept it but somehow it ended up in our bathroom cabinet underneath the facial cleaner and moisturizer. Everyday I would see it and think “I should do something with that.” Sherry over at Young House Love has been doing a segment titled “Dude Get On That Already”. I decided to take her advice and finally frame that baby.

Thankfully, the room key itself is pretty with a picture of the hotel and the name on it. For anybody not from the South that hasn’t heard of The Peabody it is a historical hotel in downtown Memphis, TN. A popular place for newlyweds to stay on their honeymoon. It is most famous for the ducks who play in the fountains of the lobby all day . In the late afternoon they roll the red carpet out and let the ducks take the elevator up to the roof where they sleep for the night.

Anyway, back to the craft at hand. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to frame it in a large frame with a wide matt around it or a smaller frame. Since I had several smaller frames in storage I chose this option.

All I needed was:

old picture frame
one sheet of scrapbood/cardstock paper
room key
tape
acrylic paint (I decided on white for the time being… that could easily change down the road)

My frame was already white but was a little too coastal looking for what I was going for. So, I decided to put a few coats of White Gloss Acrylic Paint.

It took three coats to cover all the areas. In between coats I cut the paper to fit into the frame and then centered the room key on it. I just used a few pieces of Scotch tape to secure it to the paper.

For a grand total of $3.58 I was able to turn our room key into a work of art and have a special Valentine’s gift to give ML. He loved it! Now we just have to find somewhere to hang it.

The Dessert

Mll and I stayed home for Valentine’s Day. We really didn’t have anything special planned but he did offer to cook supper. I’ll go ahead and brag on him. It was wonderful: backed tilapia with onions and red peppers on rice. He even arranged the red peppers in the shape of a heart!

Since he tackled supper I offered to fix dessert for us. It took everything in me not to fix some sort of chocolate wonder. I mean who doesn’t think of chocolate when they think of Valentine’s Day? Well ML is a fruit person and since this was a day honoring love I decided to show my love for him and fix a healthy fruit dessert.