Easy roasted vegetables

I think my all time favorite way to eat vegetables is to simply roast them. Without fail, they always taste good and you can mix and match about any veggies together to create a delicious roasted combination!

It's a colorful, filling go-to side dish that really only requires chopping, a little seasoning and placing them in the oven. 

Easy Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

• Chopped vegetables of choice 
• I used:
• Rainbow carrots
• Fingerling potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Broccoli
• Celery
• Zucchini squash
• Mushrooms
• Large red onion
• Extra virgin olive oil (or try coconut oil for a fun different flavor profile)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
2. Chop vegetables.
3. Mix chopped veggies together with salt, pepper, and enough olive oil to lightly coat all veggies.
4. Place flat on baking sheets, place in oven for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Stir/flip veggies at least once halfway through.

Pumpkin coconut pie

Now that Thanksgiving has come and went, I'm having a hard time believing it's December and Christmas is so very close!

Despite the increasingly cold weather and darker evenings, I can't help but love winter in the Midwest around Christmastime. The snow, hot beverages, cuddling up in warm blankets, a cozy fire, yummy food, etc. One such ingredient of the season being pumpkin!

I made this pumpkin coconut pie for Thanksgiving and we both liked it so much I'm definitely going to be making it more throughout the holiday season!

I don't typically enjoy pumpkin pie all that much but the addition of coconut milk really gave it an extra punch that made me love this version.

Pumpkin Coconut Pie

Ingredients:

• pie crust of choice
• 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
• 3/4 cup coconut milk, stirred (the full fat kind in a can)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Place all ingredients into a large mixer or bowl and mix well
3. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust
4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until pie is set up and slightly jiggly in the middle 
5. Let pie completely cool before serving

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

Happy belated turkey day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and good food! 

It was just us for our Thanksgiving meal this year but we still went all out with turkey, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, corn bread muffins, pumpkin coconut pie, homemade vanilla ice cream and cashew ice cream. Needless to say, we'll be eating lots of turkey in the next few days. Logically, the pie was first to disappear.

I haven't had a chance to post "after" pictures of our house yet because we're barely moved in and have little furnishings. However, here's a Thanksgiving sneak peak of our kitchen.

We're not used to have a giant dining room but recently got this large funky table off of Craigslist. So naturally we had to have fun with the fact it was just Erik, Emersyn and I sitting at it.

So grateful for our first Thanksgiving as a threesome! 

A few recipes from our Thanksgiving meal soon to follow! :)

Toasted coconut oatmeal bars

And we're back!

After a crazy year with lots of change and few blog posts, The Purple Carrot is hoping to make a comeback! We're moved into our new house, Emersyn is about 3 months old now and I'm officially a stay at home mommy. #Thankful

I quickly discovered there's not much extra time in the day with a newborn to take care of, ha.  But we've got a bit of a routine these days and I'm figuring out how to get a few other things done slowly but surely like house cleaning, cooking, baking etc. 

Therefore here we are! 

Erik and I tend to spend way too much money on prepackaged bars because let's face it, they're so easy to just grab and go. But it does hurt spending almost $2 on a bar when you could make a whole pan of them for about the same price! 

We also have an over abundance of shredded coconut right now by accident (hello, accidental subscription on Amazon) so I set out to use some of it up while saving some money. Success!

Toasted Coconut Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I used finely shredded)
• 3 cups all purpose gluten free flour (or flour of your choice)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup sunflower butter (or nut butter of your choice)
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• Optional: extra shredded coconut and drizzle of honey for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Spread coconut on a sheet pan and toast in the oven while prepping ingredients, stirring to make sure it browns evenly and watching closely to see it doesn't burn. Remove from oven and set aside.
3. In the bowl or a stand mixer, beat the coconut oil, brown sugar and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.
4.  Add the flour and salt and mix until combined and comes together in clumps. It will be crumbly. 
5. Add oats, nut butter, toasted coconut, and milk and mix until incorporated.
6. Press dough into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Optional: top with a layer of shredded coconut and drizzle of honey for extra flavor and texture.
7. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

These taste like more of a dessert or snack bar rather than breakfast but who doesn't like dessert for breakfast anyways? Any time you eat them, they're delicious!

Emersyn is sensitive to when I eat wheat and dairy so I've been having to avoid both while breastfeeding and these happily fit the bill! Word on the street is, coconut oil is also very good for mom and baby, too. Bonus! 

Enjoy!

And happy almost Thanksgiving! What item are you most looking forward to on the dinner table??

One week until ...

Hello there!

It’s been almost two months now since I’ve checked in to The Purple Carrot so I thought it was high time I do so!  I haven’t really even posted a whole lot on Purple Carrot Kids that much the past few months … time has flown by.  For instance, our little girl is due in SIX (6!) days. 

As I said on Purple Carrot Kids, my last day of work was this past Friday, I figured it would be good for me in the midst of all the chaos to have a week to chill out, do some last minute things and focus on baby.


House Updates

Our house is moving along very well despite the fact that it’s not ready to move into just yet.  Most of our kitchen is installed, we’re just waiting on the appliances and some more cabinets to be put up.  Let me tell you, it’s making me so excited to have my own kitchen once again and to be able to dust the cobwebs off of The Purple Carrot!



Aside from the kitchen likely being completed and appliances being here beginning September, some flooring needs finished along with all the window and floor trim, doors, some more lightening installed, some painting, etc etc … fun “finishing” touches like those.

A few random pictures of the current day status:

    

Now to meet our little girl any day now and finally be able to move in shortly after … we’re getting so close!

Thanks for your patience, blog world, hopefully we will be back very soon …

Checking In

Hello!

Thought I’d stop in for a small update of randomness … first off, hello, summer! Our weather seemed to know just when summer started as it was welcomed in with 90+ degree weather.

So what’s been going on around The Purple Carrot lately? Here’s some highlights via photos …

Father’s Day

When I found a onsie that said “Forget baby food, give my pizza”, I knew I had to customize it with my own photo and add the word “daddy” … and love how it turned out!



This is such a cute book full of little “lessons” on raising a girl.  And how true they are! Ha.  Being an emotional female myself, I especially liked the ones that had to do with crying.  How true it is.

 

6th Year Wedding Anniversary

Today, the 23rd, is our sixth year wedding anniversary!  It’s hard to top last year’s awesome dinner at Jasper’s for our 5th anniversary, but we’re so very excited to be starting our seventh year together with our little girl and a new house … both soon to come to fruition.

We kept our celebration low key this year and went out to dinner at Westside Local.  If you’ve been around The Purple Carrot much at all, you know it’s one of our favorites! I used the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mentality and got a grilled cheese with fries, ha.  But I also got a side of veggies so that has to count for something!



And then Erik gave me this lovely assortment of treats.  Ha, he knows me well.  Now I just need to teach my pregnant self how to ration it out and not eat it all in one day ; )

 

Baby Borger

And in case you haven’t been following along on Purple Carrot Kids, thought I’d post pictures from the last two weeks of Baby Borger.  We’re at 31 weeks … getting ever closer to August 25th!

 

Dante Ristorante Pizzeria

Okay, so it seems the only thing I can blog about when I actually am able to blog is pizza … but I suppose that’s nothing all that new, now, is it??

Amidst all the craziness of everything going on in life right now, we decided to drive up to Omaha for a day just for fun.

But mostly to eat Neapolitan pizza.



It’s been nearly a year now since we took our road trip up the west coast, thus a year since a “Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest” post has been seen. Check the above link in case you’re new here or have forgotten about our delicious Neapolitan pizza adventures!

Since then, we’ve been wanting to try Dante’s in Omaha, one of the very few authentic Neapolitan pizzerias in the Midwest (also VPN certified).

 

True to form, the margherita pizza is always a must …yum! And of course we can’t go to a Neapolitan pizzeria without sitting as close to the oven as possible and timing how long it was in the oven.  These pizzas came out in approximately 100 seconds.

(See my Pinterest album for comparison pics!)



We also tried Dante’s Bianco pizza which included: “papa’s sausage, olive, chili, garlic, basil & mozzarella”. 

It was very good as well, but I ended up wishing we would have just gotten two margherita pizzas because we love them that much that nothing else compares!



The Quick Stats (Erik’s notes)

Oven: Mugnaini

Cook Time: Approximately 100 seconds.

Dough: The dough is made in a spiral mixer, put into a cooler for 24 hours, balled into 9 ounce dough balls and put back in for 48 hours.  To my surprise, the pizzaioli stated that they were using a 00 ConAgra flour blend.  I must say whatever flour they’re using, the crust was top notch in flavor and consistency.

Taste: Immediately, the flavors brought us back to that unforgettable Neapolitan pizza taste that once one has, one never forgets. Sauce was spot on, the crust was spot on and the fior di latte (made using local, hormone and antibiotic free milk) complemented the pizza very well.  My only complaint would be a slight lack of sauce and the fact that our pizzas sat on the counter finished -- about three feet away from us -- for at least 5 minutes and were getting cold when we received them.

 

We will definitely return to Dante’s next time we’re in the Omaha area!

 

Pizza Party

Hey everyone who is still there!

Thanks for being patience with us during our blog hiatus. (See previous post). Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Our house is coming along nicely (though not quiiiiite as fast as I would like) and the more I see done, the more I can’t wait to be able to move in and hopefully get a few things settled before the baby arrives in just 3 more months.

This past week, Erik brought his pizza oven over to the house so we decided to try it out this weekend! He got this Renato wood fired oven at auction months and months ago and hadn’t had a chance to even use it yet.  His plan is to build a nice home for it in our new backyard, but for now it’s just sitting there amongst the mess, as you will see.  Here’s some pictures along the way:



That is our work in progress in the background.  Luckily, the outside of the house looks MUCH better than the inside does right now, ha.

(Note Erik’s last minute chopping of some wood in the background, ha. I love it.)

 

My pregnant self hangin’ out while we wait for the fire to heat up enough for pizza time. Again, don’t mind the messy yard. It’s a work in progress, remember?



When you don’t live in your house yet and there is no kitchen or sheet rock or running water, one has to improvise.  Insert: the pizza station, ha.



Ingredients for Pizza Napoletana:

 

Margherita pizza before:



And after:



Yum! Not too shabby for the first go around. We’re going to love this oven!!

Until next time …