What could be better than an empty house and whole night of cooking? Not much, especially when my three favorite NPR shows are back-to-back…Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell; Chef’s Table; The Splendid Table! It doesn’t get much better. But let’s back up to Sat. morning…

S and I headed to the Farmer’s Market and found something new…yep, my first Spaghetti Squash. How I have not stumbled upon this before? A vegetable that imitates a pasta? Brilliant. We also bought some beautiful Honeycrisp Apples, Onions, Lettuce and other staples. It was a beautiful fall morning for the Farmer’s Market and a cup of coffee.

S was off to help with a martial arts function this afternoon, so I had the rest of Saturday to myself. I got together a grocery list and headed to Whole Foods. I grabbed the fruit items that I was unable to get at the Farmer’s Market…I know bananas are not local, but neither is pineapple and I can’t live without either. As I turned the corner to the bulk food aisle my cart turned into my friend, A. She looked so distraught! She was reading the ingredients of Grandy Oats, a Maine made granola product. They have a new product out that has Goji Berries and sweetened with Agave Nectar, which was the item she was looking at. We began talking and I found out that she was in the process of changing her diet up a little.  She has decided to take babysteps and begin with her first goal of eating breakfast. She also told me that sugar is her biggest issue, so I began blabbing about all of these things that are so common in my diet and that might be helpful to her. Point of this story being…many readers of this blog are probably fellow foodies, but I know there are a chunk of people reading this where all of these ingredients may be new. And for someone switching up their diet completely, this info. must be overwhelming. So, my new goal (besides being consistent) is to dive into an ingredient thoroughly.

So, A…Agave Nectar. There are a lot of skeptics out there, but it is my sweetener of choice, besides dates/date syrup. Agave Nectar is a sweetener produced in Mexico from the agave plant, which is cactus-type thing. It’s glycemic index/load is lower than other sweeteners meaning you won’t crash like you might with white processed sugar. It is friendly for diabetics due to its’ low glycemic index and to people watching carbs. Since it is from agave, it is a real sugar and does not sketch me out like fake sweeteners do. The con’s are that it is still a processed sugar and not a whole food. But, hey, it’s tough to completely cut sugar, so everything in moderation.

Tonight’s eats: I was asked today, how do you not eat meat and I say, “With recipes like Beatballs, it is easy!” Thank you Marissa! I had the Beatballs over Spaghetti Squash with a Marinara from Rosemont Bakery. Yummy! Click on the above link for the Beatballs recipe…don’t get scared while making the mix, it’s pink! But the results are amazing.

Spaghetti Squash cooking tips:

Preheat oven to 375. I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds and pulp and put the insides face down on a foil lined baking sheet. Baked for 35-45 min. Now, when I was done I panicked a little because it did not resemble spaghetti at all. But I took a fork to it and began raking it with the fork and beautiful pasta-like pieces melted away from the skin. Pure bliss!

Now, on to dessert! I had a gluten-free ready made crust from Whole Foods sitting in the freezer calling my name. So, here is the gluten-free treat I whipped up:

Saturday Night Apple Pie:

1 Pie crust-sorry, no recipe since I cheated, but my fav is Isa and Terry’s Veganomicon, a kitchen essential
6-8 apples (I used a mix of Honeycrisp, Paula Reds and Cortlands)
2 Tbsp. Agave Nectar
1 Tbsp Lemon
2 Tsp Cinnamon

Crumble Topping:

1/3 C Whole Wheat Spelt Flour
1/3 C Oats
2/3 C Walnuts chopped
2/3 C Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp. melted Earth Margarine

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and slice apples. Mix apples, agave nectar, lemon juice and cinnamon together. Place in crust. Mix the crumble topping together and pour melted margarine over mixture. Mix. Place on top of apples. Bake 30-40 minutes (Bake until apples are soft, for some reason I have a hard time with the timing of my pies. The apples are always crispy). Serve immediately with ice cream (vegan or none) and a huge smile!

Now, I’ll leave you with this…today’s vintage finds:

Yes, that is a 70’s green corduroy wrap skirt with a screen printed nature scene on it. I might be wearing that everyday this fall and winter.

Categories: General

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.