How To: Cauliflower Rice

I'd heard a lot of great things about Cauliflower Rice,

but hadn't given it a try until this summer.

It intrigued me, but something was holding me back.

In an attempt to eat even healthier than I already do,

I decided to whip up a batch one night.

A quick Google search led me to these instructions.

Turns out, Cauliflower Rice is really easy to make!

After making it a few times for myself, 

I decided to show you all how to make some for yourself.

The Goods:

Cauliflower

Food Processor

Remove the leaves and stem from your cauliflower

and then cut into quarters with a sharp knife.

Remove as much of the core as possible, reserving all the florets.

Put the cauliflower florets into the food processor

and simply pulse until you have a rice-like texture.

My food processor isn't huge, so I have to do it in two batches.

Once you have your cauliflower rice made,

simply saute and season it like you would regular rice.

Baked Donut Monday: Whole Wheat Chocolate Donuts!

Happy Monday guys!!!

I'm back again for another Baked Donut Monday post

and today I'm going to tell you about some super tasty

WHOLE WHEAT CHOCOLATE DONUTS!

Yes, I said whole wheat donuts

And no, sadly that doesn't make them healthy.

But they are are pretty amazing either way.

After making and blogging about a few different baked donuts

I knew I needed to find another awesome baked donut recipe.

(Past donut posts can be found here, here, here and here!)

So what'd I do?

As usual - I turned to Google!

Google almost never steers me wrong

and I lucked out when I found this recipe!

The Goods:

Milk

Lemon Juice

Wheat Pastry Flour*

Sugar

Cocoa Powder

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Salt

Ground Flax Seed

Vegetable Oil

Powdered Sugar

Vanilla

Measure out all your ingredients.

I find it helpful to have everything ready before I begin!

In a large mixing bowl, combine the following:

Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground flax seed.

Next add your vegetable oil...

And your homemade buttermilk.

Then mix it all up so the dry and wet ingredients are combined.

This dough isn't as thick as other baked donut dough I've made.

Transfer donut batter into large zipper bag.

Cut off the end of the zipper bag 

and fill your donut pan until 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan a minute or two.

Then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.

While they're cooling...

Combine your glaze ingredients.

Add enough milk so it's smooth enough to drip off your spoon!

Once donuts are cool to the touch,

drizzle glaze over donuts to your liking.

Let glaze set before serving.

And just keeping it real - you waste lots of glaze!

This was under the wire rack after I was done drizzling.

Now that the glaze is set,

the only thing left to do is DIG IN!!!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake Donuts

Adapted from Bran Appetit

For the donuts:

3/4 Cup Milk

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Wheat Pastry Flour*

2 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Tablespoon Ground Flax Seed

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

For the glaze:

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Milk

*I didn't want to buy wheat pastry flour for just this recipe,

so instead I made 2 cups of my own by mixing together the following:

6/8 Cup Whole Wheat All Purpose Flour and 1 1/4 Cup Cake Flour.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a donut pan and set aside.
2. Make homemade buttermilk by mixing 3/4 Cup Milk with 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice, then let it sit for about 5 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground flax seed.
4. Add the vegetable oil and homemade buttermilk to the dry ingredients.
5. Mix until dry and wet ingredients are fully combined.
6. Transfer donut batter into large zipper bag and fill donut pan until 1/2 to 3/4 full. 
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack. 
8. Once donuts are fully cooled, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk together until smooth enough to drizzle off your spoon.
9. Add glaze to donuts to your liking. Note - the recipe I found said to cover them completely, but I went with a light drizzle over the top and I was very satisfied with the outcome!

Organic VS. Not!

A few months back, one of my friends mentioned on Facebook
that she was going to start buying more organic goods.

Before reading her post, I was already buying organic.
Especially when it came to produce, dairy and meat (when possible).
When shopping, I pay close attention to the Dirty Dozen,
but even if it isn't on the list and I can get organic, I tend to.

After reading her post, I got inspired for this post!
I decided it'd be fun to track what I buy on a weekly basis,
and see how much is organic vs. how much is not!

So without further rambling from myself, take a look below
at a few examples of my weekly grocery trips over the last weeks!

10 Organic VS. 5 Not

14 Organic VS. 11 Not

13 Organic VS. 17 Not

13 Organic VS. 12 Not

12 Organic VS. 9 Not

So as you can see from those above examples, 

I almost always buy more organic than not.

I know it costs a little bit more, 

but I feel better about consuming organic foods vs. not.

Why you may ask?

Simple - GMO's, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. 

If you want to know more,

I found this site is very helpful and informative!