3 Delicious Veggie Sides For Your Back Pocket

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? Even thought I put my Christmas Tree up yesterday, it doesn’t feel like the holidays are as close as they really are. Just in case the holidays sneak up on you like I know they will for me, I decided to share three recipes that you can whip up in no time and bring to your holiday dinners in a pinch.

This first one is one that I bring to every holiday dinner in my family. My nieces always ask my sister if I’m going to bring “my really good potatoes”. While they do take a little bit to bake in the oven, they are super easy. If you are in a pinch, slice your potatoes thinner so they cook quicker!

Tyler Florence’s Scalloped Potato Au Gratin

Next up we have a mushroom side that is great if you’re bringing a dish to make at someone’s house, but don’t want anything that has to go in the oven. We all know how vital that oven space is. These are super quick as well which is nice when you are in a pinch!

Laura Vitale’s Parmesan Sauteed Mushrooms

Lastly, I want to share how I make my yummy sweet potato fries/wedges because what’s thanksgiving without a little sweet potato! I guarantee these will be a hit. You can mix up the seasonings and do whatever herbs you want, but I personally love basil. Rosemary is great too!

Sweet Potato Wedges

• 3 Sweet Potatoes

• 2 TB of minced garlic, to taste

• 3 TB Avocado Oil, or oil of your choice

• 1 TB Dried Basil

• Kosher or Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel your sweet potatoes and cut each potato lengthwise into wedges. Toss wedges in a bowl with Avocado Oil, basil, garlic, salt & pepper. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spread wedges onto parchment, making sure they are not touching. Bake for 25 minutes, making sure they are starting to brown and crisp. Flip over and bake for another 20 minutes or until crispy and brown all over. Exact time varies per oven.

I hope you try these recipes out! If you do, let me know what you think and be sure to comment below any of your favorite holiday recipes!

Remember to take a moment every day and practice gratitude,

Andrea

How I make Almond Milk/Flour:

This post has been so highly requested and I'm happy to finally write it for you. After doing my elimination diet a few months ago and feeling what it felt like to be eating 100% unprocessed, I was hooked. I've always had the belief that life is about balance in many aspects. I would never want to deprive myself of the foods I love but also think there is an alternative to eating heavily processed treats. I have kind of always operated on the idea that if I can make it myself I'm allowed to eat it.

Almond milk isn't necessarily bad for you, but when you buy it in the stores it unfortunately has to have stabilizers and other ingredients that keep it fresh for you to enjoy at home. Making almond milk eliminates all of this processing and tastes SO MUCH BETTER. Plus, since going gluten free I like to have almond meal (aka flour) on hand and it's expensive! Making your own almond milk yields the milk, but also about 1 cup of almond pulp that you can easily turn into meal! This means it's a zero waste process and will save you money, especially if you use almond meal on a regular basis! Today I'm going to take you through how I make my almond milk and turn the pulp into meal!

First let's go over what you will need for this process:
- 1 cup of almonds (I buy mine in a big bag at Costco)
- 7 cups of water
- Vanilla or salt if wanted
- High speed blender or food processor (I use a ninja) --> Here's the one I have and LOVE (Side note: I took FOREVER to decide on a blender and this is the one I went with. I've had it for over a year and use it constantly. I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for a high quality blender but don't want to shell out the money for a Vitamix)
- Glass container to store milk up to 3 or 4 days --> I purchased this one from Amazon
- Nut Milk Bag --> I purchased this Nylon 2-pack from Amazon.

1. You'll need to soak the almonds for at least 4 hours (I usually just do it overnight) in order to soften them and make them easy to blend.

2. Empty the water that the almonds have been soaking in and add the cup of softened almonds, 7 cups of water and a splash of vanilla and sprinkle of salt to the blender. I have made it with no salt and vanilla and it was great too! Choice is up to you. If you're used to unsweetened original almond milk, leave it out!

3. Blend for 2 minutes on a high speed.

4. Pour your blended mixture through the nut bag into a bowl and squeeze all of the liquid out with your hands! I love the nylon ones I purchased from Amazon because they are super easy to hand wash and keep clean (I also use them to strain my kombucha!)

5. Store in your glass container for up to 4 days!

YES It's really that easy! Now for the almond meal:

1. Preheat your oven to 100 or 150 degrees.

2. Spread your almond pulp onto a baking sheet and break up all of the clumps with your fingers. The more liquid you squeeze out the easier this will be.

3. Bake for 1-1.5 hours until the almond meal is dry, checking on it every 15-20 min to make sure it's drying out evenly. 

4. If your blender hasn't ground it fine enough, you can put it back through the food processor, blender or even a coffee grinder to make it finer!

One of the cool things about making your own almond milk is that you can flavor it however you want! I cannot wait to add turmeric, cinnamon, and more to my almond milk in the fall to make yummy drinks (Thanks for the suggestion Detroit Wifestyles!) 

Have you ever made your own nut milk? What kinds of combinations do you do? Leave a comment below and let me know!

As always, have a beautiful day!

-Andrea

Disclosure: Amazon links are Amazon Affiliate links meaning that I make a commission off the purchase of the product through my link. I would never recommend a product that I didn't love and all opinions are my own. I am thankful for you choosing to purchase through my links, as it helps me create more content for Andrea Fontana Beauty.

How to Cook More

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am certainly thankful to each and every one of you who read this blog and I hope you enjoyed some time with loved ones this past weekend.

I have been mulling this topic over in my head for the past few weeks and wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to write about it. If you follow my instagram (@andreafontanabeauty) you probably see that I love to cook. Cooking is a way for me to express creativity and relax after a long day. I love to feed others and try new recipes but I realize this isn't the way that everyone feels. I can't tell you how many times people have commented on posts or told me in person that they wish they cooked more or even knew where to start. So I wanted to share some of my tips on how I really cultivated my love for cooking and where I look for inspiration. 

Let's be honest. I have weeks where pouring a bowl of cereal for dinner seems challenging, so don't think that I cook a 3 hour meal every night. However, I hope by reading this post you find some new inspiration for integrating cooking at home more into your lifestyle. Cooking at home can not only save you money but it can also help you create new memories and challenge yourself in new ways. 

First let's talk about how I find inspiration of what I'm going to cook.

Create a recipe book/binder. If I had to give one tip to someone trying to cook more, this would be it. There's a million ways to do this, but the main point is create a space that houses ONLY recipes that you love and enjoy making. I bought a notebook when I was 18 and created sections with tabs and immediately started writing family recipes into it. As I find recipes online or in cookbooks that I make and love, I always write it in. Now, almost 10 years later and it's filled with so many recipes. While I love my cookbooks (trust me I have quite the collection of at least 40), I love that if I'm ever drawing a blank on what to make, I can open this notebook and find tons of recipes that I know I love. I also cannot wait to pass it down to future generations. Some people like Pinterest for this, but personally I like a hard copy book to read while cooking. 

Read cookbooks. I know that you're thinking this is obvious but are you actually doing it? I personally hate reading recipes from my phone. Most of the time my fingers are messy and I end up having to unlock my phone 35 times, so it gets annoying. Having a hard copy book in front of me just makes things smoother for me when cooking so I find I enjoy it more. I also like to have cookbooks on hand because I will browse them for recipe inspiration at night before bed. If I know I have a lot of chicken in the freezer or I'm craving a soup, I'll search in the index and find new recipes to try. I know this seems old school in a world of Pinterest and Google, but sometimes I feel like those can be overwhelming and add to the stress of cooking. Try to simplify. 

Buy used cookbooks. This one is a must for me and  my secret to keeping my love for cooking within a sane budget. I could get lost in a used book store for hours. Many people don't think of looking for cookbooks at used book stores but there are so many goldmines waiting to be discovered! I love the fact that I never know what I'm going to find and I have found some MAJOR steals. There are often classic $40 cookbooks for $6 or $7 at my used book store, so start searching and I promise you it will be worth it. Plus sometimes you find notes from previous home chefs that add to the fun of trying new recipes!

Next, I want to share what I do in my kitchen to make cooking easier and less time consuming.

Stock your pantry. This one is huge for a few reasons. First, I know a lot of people who complain about cooking because if they don't keep much on hand, they are always having to buy almost all of the ingredients in the recipe every time they want to make something. Stocking a pantry is so important for this reason. If you always have your basic grains, spices, onions, garlic, broths, canned veg, and more on hand, you can cut your grocery list in half. This can make a new recipe seem less daunting because you don't have to buy as much. Usually when trying a new recipe out, I only have to buy 3-7 items, because I keep my pantry well stocked. Buying in bulk goes along with this, because you can save so much money. I like to store a lot of my things like oats, rices, lentils, flours, etc, in mason and decorative glass jars so they are always stocked. This allows me to buy them in bulk when I see a great sale and eliminates me purchasing products with extra packaging. Not only will you save money by doing this, but you'll also help save the planet! Sometimes if I'm too busy to grocery shop or simply don't want to spend money on groceries that week, I will challenge myself to create something delicious just by cleaning out my pantry. I usually do this one week a month.

Freeze leftovers. One of the best things I recently started doing was freezing my leftovers instead of saving them in my fridge. I used to put everything in the fridge and I'd find that I didn't want to eat it again so soon so the leftovers would often go to waste. If it freezes well, now I will pop it in a freezer bag to enjoy another day. I know some people don't enjoy cooking because the recipe makes too much and they don't want to eat it for 4 more meals. You can wait a few weeks until you're craving that meal again, defrost it, and you have a quick weeknight meal. 

Lastly, let's talk about planning my meals. How do I decide what to make and when?

Meal Plan. I know this probably comes as no surprise, but in order to save money and not waste food, you really have to meal plan. I like to start by reading my weekly ads for my local grocery stores to see what is on sale. Based on those sales, I will find recipes that use those ingredients. Because I'm usually reading so many cookbooks, I will have recipes in the back of my head that I want to try and will come to mind when I see something is on sale. If you don't want to read cookbooks, simply pop open that homemade recipe book and find all the chicken recipes when chicken is on sale, for example. If I find that a protein is on sale, I will often buy a lot, freeze half or base all of my recipes for that week on it. I usually meal plan every Sunday for one week and only grocery shop once a week. This allows me to not get too overwhelmed and get in and out of the store quickly. 

I hope this post helps you take the step to spend more time in the kitchen. There is so much that can be learned and treasured in my favorite room of the house. Please share your favorite tips for cooking below and share this post with someone you love.

AND GO COOK A MEAL FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE!

Have a beautiful day,

Andrea