In. That. Order. 

This is our go to on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and I figured I’d share. 

Hope you enjoy. 

Crab Cake + Eggs Benedict

2017-05-07 20:01:09

Serves 6

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Ingredients

1. CRAB CAKE
2. 1 pound lump crab cake
3. 1/4 cup cassava farina or bread crumbs
4. 1/4 cup mayonnaise
5. 1 egg
6. 1 tsp old bay seasoning
7. 1 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley
8. fresh squeezed juice from one lemon
9. WAFFLE
10. 2 cups seasoned leftover mashed potatoes
11. 3 eggs
12. green onions chopped
13. HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
14. 4 egg yolks
15. 1/2 cup butter
16. 1 tsp old bay seasoning
17. juice from 1 lemon
18. POACHED EGGS
19. fresh eggs
20. sprinkle of salt

Instructions

1. In a small bowl mix your crab cake ingredients together.
2. With crab mix, form cakes about an inch thick.
3. In a pan turn Canola Oil to medium high heat.
4. When oil reaches the appropriate temperature place crab cakes into hot oil and cook for about 5 minutes on both sides.
5. Adjust heat as necessary being careful not to scorch the crab cakes bottom.
6. WAFFLES
7. Mix together leftover and seasoned mashed potatoes with eggs.
8. Pour mix into oiled and preheated waffle iron.
9. HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
10. In a blender add egg yolks, Old Bay, and lemon juice.
11. Blend for about 10 seconds.
12. Add melted butter that has been cooled and blend into the egg mixture until thicken. It will happen quick.
13. POACHED EGG
14. Bring salt water to a rolling boil.
15. In a fine sieve crack a fresh egg.
16. Allow the excess liquid to strain off the egg.
17. Add egg to boiling water.
18. Let the egg cook for 5 minutes without any interference. ( this is the hardest part for me)
19. Remove from water and transfer into ice bath until you're ready to plate.
20. PLATE
21. stack waffle, crab cake, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce on plate, and sprinkle with fresh parsley and cracked black pepper.

By Christina Heggins

A Soulful Twist http://asoulfultwist.com/

You know how you get to eat a banging cookie but there’s no more? Or that last piece of fried chicken that they left you? You want more but that’s it.  Well that’s how that trip was, I feel like I want so much more of what New Orleans has to offer. The locals were some of the most genuinely friendly people that I’ve encountered and that’s saying a lot considering I live in the Carolinas. My Uber driver was a good friend of Cash Moneys’ Hot Boys and described who he was in the video. Now me being the Hot Girl that I am majorly fan-girled  when I knew exactly who he was and recognized him from the videos. We went through the list and proceeded to tell me how everyone was doing including who was out and still locked up. I was felling like a little groupie after a while and changed the subject to best food spots. There were tons, but my main goal was to reach the spot with the best gumbo. Mothers was the place to get some of the best Gumbo, according to my N.O. native Uber driver. Because I knew the multiple drinks and probably allergy ridden food I had already ingested I opted against the Gumbo and instead bought the hubs back some Jambalaya from Mothers’ which he reported to be amazing. And while he enjoyed his Jambalaya I decided to make the best and allergy free Gumbo I could enjoy right at home.

Growing up my mother would make the best Gumbo, but as a base she would use flour as a thickener. Because I don’t do flour I used pounded yam instead. I also omitted the imitation crab meat she used not because I’m bougie { even when the Migos make it sound cool I’m just not} but because most of what I found had tons of additives that were non-pronounceable and therefore scary. I did attempt to use REAL crab meat in my development of this recipe but I found it to add little benefit to the overall flavor. This recipe is easy and fuss free once all your chopping is done. You simply put all ingredients in the crockpot and let it do it’s thing. The shrimp should be added at the end to prevent over cooking. Rice is optional, but I chose to eat it with the protein rich Quinoa instead.

I’m participating in a Black History Month Potluck with food bloggers who are in every way that is important to me my peers. I love and have enjoyed many of these same bloggers and strongly advise you to go check them out! I remember when I started blogging and would Google search for “black food bloggers”. The list was short shall I say. It seems that list gets longer every month and I’m loving it. I love seeing us with unique and traditional foods. Cultural and personal. Watching how our diverse and similar experiences shape and influence the foods we share. Black food across the diaspora is it’s own beating heart. So unique, so personal, so soulful, so American.

Crockpot Gumbo

2017-01-29 19:03:05

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Cook Time

3 hr 5 min

Cook Time

3 hr 5 min

Ingredients

1. 2 red bell peppers chopped
2. 2 green bell peppers chopped
3. 1 medium onion chopped
4. 2 cloves garlic pressed
5. 10 oz okra
6. 3 tbsp pounded yam flour
7. 10-14 oz andouille sausage chopped
8. 48 oz chicken broth
9. 7oz tomato paste
10. 12-14 oz coconut milk (extra thick and creamy)
11. 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
12. 1 lb raw shrimp
13. salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Put all chopped ingredients except for shrimp into slow cooker.
2. Mix just until incorporated.
3. Place on high heat for 3-3.5 hours.
4. Add shrimp and turn to low heat for 5 minutes or until shrimp just turn pink.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve with rice or quinoa.

By Christina Heggins

A Soulful Twist http://asoulfultwist.com/

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I see everyone seems to look down on New Years resolutions these days. Commentary surrounding the failure and uselessness of resolutions even had me rejecting the traditional list of goals at the top of the year. The truth is I am here and will always be here for a good New Years resolution list. If I don’t complete everything on the list for that year than guess what? I simply didn’t complete everything on the list for that year. It’s not the end of the world, doesn’t mean I’m a failure or that I failed. I look as it as recognizing an area for improvement and working on it. Either way my consciousness shifts to improvement maybe not a complete 360  but simply being conscious of the area needing improvement can assist in making a maybe 180 shift.

The problem is or should I say was, that I developed the recipe before my food allergies began to show the physical effects of their attack. I say “show” the physical effects of attack because I know my mental, energy levels, and organs were being attacked before the visual/ physical signs became apparent.

And so I was no longer able to enjoy this recipe.  Although I’ve added things here and there back into my diet since going cold turkey on all my allergies, the main ingredients of this recipe ( all-purpose wheat flour and cornmeal) are ones I won’t add back.

Through a little trial and error and trying a multitude of different flours, I’ve found that I don’t need wheat and corn for a delicious replica. For this recipe hack I replaced the traditional flour for grain free cassava flour. Because I really enjoyed the texture the cornmeal lended the OG version of the cake I traded in the cornmeal for a grounded seeded grass known as millet flour. Which turned out to be a lot like cornmeal. I added some arrowroot flour for tenderness, and boom! A simple and delicious gluten-free pound cake.

Today you can find out if you love it, cause I’m in a sharing kind of mood on this first day of December. These cookies have no grains or gluten and if you get this brand of chocolate chips they’ll be dairy free as well. If you’re trying to get right with nutrition and body this is a treat that should bring little to no guilt.

The only hiccup about the recipe is the mix needs to refrigerate for at least an hour. I like to mix them up at night and pop a few in the oven in the morning. Most times the cookies won’t last through my morning commute.

I’ll be baking and gifting these bad boys all throughout the holiday. So can you, and the receivers won’t even know they’re grain and gluten free unless you tell them, promise.

I’m not just one of those people who needs a bit of something sweet to tickle their palette after a nice meal. I’m one of those girls who come straight home, throw off my heels, set down by briefcase and whip up a batch of homemade cookies all in a silk and ruffled blouse. Dinner comes second to my batch of homemade cookies. Grain free and dairy free chocolate chip cookies are my staple. And although they are void of any processed or fake ingredients, too much of anything can be a bad thing. Plus it’s not really healthy to depend on cookies to get through the days. It’s a coping skill a developed in my youth that my skin, physique, nor psyche will embrace.

When I initially started on this Dairy-free/ grain free journey although for a totally unrelated reason my weight just fell off. So much so I had to add temporarily add Dairy back in order to   pick up some weight I didn’t want to lose. I did again eventually cut dairy out, but I believe my body has reached its homeostasis point in regards to my drastic dietary changes. Meaning my body is used to the changes and therefore it no longer has any significant influence. Because I initially lost so much weight so fast I figured I could eat whatever, and however much I wanted without gaining weight. Now I’ve realized after my body got used to the drastic changes that it will not be so easy to maintain my overall health goals without continuing to be conscious of portions and content. This is why for the past year I’ve been completing sugar “cleanses”. Whenever I feel like I’m obsessing about having fruit snacks available, or spending time at work planning my trip to the store to get my preferred vanilla for the chocolate chip cookies I “need” to bake, I just have to pull it back and cut the sugar. Since moving to another state, I’ve been obsessing about locating the stores that carry MY favorite brand/flavor of dairy free ice cream, allergy free gummy worms, and quality baking ingredients. It was only my second week here and I was taking a few hours everyday after work driving around to find the specialty stores around the city with my favorite ingredients, and sweet products. Now that I’m a bit more settled, I decided to detox for a few weeks. Adding only natural non-processed sugar back to my palette after 2 weeks. For the first 4 days I cut all sugar including fruit. The first two days are the hardest but after that I’m usually no longer craving sugar. I’m on week two at the moment and I’m already feeling much better. My skin is looking recovered and well, and my workouts are getting much easier. I’m back to eating fruit and even came up with a clever way to make carrot cake with dates for sweetness. I cut the small sugar-free carrot cake into about 12 pieces placed each in a zip lock bag and allowing myself 1 every other day for lunch. SO I’m maintain pretty well, and allowing some wiggle room.

Some of my internet friends had mentioned interest in avoiding sugar as well. I would like to have a support area on my Facebook page which would be encouraging to each other. If you are at all interested in such a thing please click here to like my Facebook page and the No Sugar post. Depending on the amount of interest I will make space and time to engage and share support with eliminating sugar.

Any bad habits you’d want to reduce or eliminate from your lifestyle?

With seafood being taken granted during the first take of my life I wasn’t aware that some seafood could actually not taste like, well the sea. My other half who was raised in the far west of the Carolinas with the nearest ocean being more than 2 hours away did not understand the frustration I had with us now living in the middle of Virginia and not being able to find fish that actually tasted like….fish.

 At this stage I’ve become accustomed to having seafood at those rare moments in travel. As of lately I’ve been having strong cravings for that fresh seafood I grew up enjoying.

And although the shrimp, fish, and scallops aren’t the same in central VA as they are on the coast the salmon is one fish that travels well. They somehow manage to keep their “ocean” taste during the long voyage to our local grocery store, and because I know that Salmon is an essential component of any whole foods and nutritionally packed diet I’m making it a priority to consume the sea critter at a minimum of twice a week.

This past week I decided to try Salmon in our tacos vs. the usual ground beef. For the topping I  put together a spring inspired pico de gallo with peaches vs tomatoes, and topped it in a simple but complimentary avocado sauce. Simply delicious.

Is there a culinary delight you miss from your hometown?

Which is why I would then need to take an Autoimmune Paleo Approach (strict Paleo diet in addition to eliminating nightshade veggies, eggs, nuts, seeds, and limiting fruit intake) to get my body back to normal, whenever I made the mistake of trying even a little wheat. The last time I had wheat I was forced to go to the doctor and get a prescription for the dreaded Prednisone. Prednisone is a steroid that is used to treat many autoimmune diseases, my atopic dermatitis (eczema) being one. I try to avoid the meds at all cost because just like most conventional medicines with all it intends to cure there are an even bigger number of ailments that it will cause. One that affects me relatively quickly is the Moon face, which looks exactly like it sounds a rounded blowned up face.  Then there’s the weight gain, which is due to an insatiable appetite. I’ve never been able to maintain my weight on the Prednisone steroid. Even though I eat the healthiest of foods, the . I can eat a big breakfast and 30 minutes later I’m hungry again. The upset with those side effects can be chalked up to vanity and worth the trade-off as long as I’m not suffering with an itchy and often painful rash. The side effects that are of most concern are my moods which are usually funky on the steroid. The most difficult side effect are the headaches and sleepless nights. Eventually when I come off my moods are swayed, my appetite comes down, and my skin issues start to creep back. This last time I’ve been micro managing all the foods I eat including those Chic Fil-A fries I love so much. The best way to make certain I will stick to my plan is to always have healthy and allergy-free food available at my fingertips. Not just little snacks and fruit but food -food. Something I can get full- and satisfied off while still nourishing my body.

This recipe is just that, something you can pre-make and only gets better with time.

Breakfast is pretty difficult if you’re following an Autoimmune diet if you want an actual breakfast and not dinner leftovers. When following the autoimmune protocol eggs are off-limits, which are nearly essential when you cut grains.  This forces me to get a little more creative when it comes to breakfast. I want a filling and satisfying meal that packs a nutritional punch at the same time. I’ve come up with quite a few go-too egg free breakfasts’ and this right here is one of them. This recipe is pretty simple minus the cutting, and if you make enough you can eat it for breakfast for the entire week. For the hubby and I this exact recipe lasts us two mornings, but again I eat quite a bit and so does he. For one person this could certainly stretch for five mornings. My husband eats his sauté with eggs which I know is fantastic. This week, I’ve been enjoying my mix with either a side of bacon or sausage. I leave the house with a great portion of my nutrition consumed for the day, and I’m full and satisfied, well at least until I get to work.

Do you have any make ahead breakfasts that you live by?

And with that being said until it’s time to move I will begin loving and enjoying the space we are in now, and make every effort to create the most comfortable and beautiful space for us to enjoy today!

I’m challenging myself to complete one project each and every weekend. This past weekend I decided to work on our entry way. Just a little sprucing and organizing is all I had in mind. I went thrifting found a nice sturdy frame. Spray painted that frame silver, along with the light switch cover. Picked up these cool wood finishing wipes. You can get different finishes here, but I used the Dark Mahogany to match the shoe storage. Using the wipes I stained this wooden H, and an unfinished chalk board I purchased from the craft store months ago. I also had this thrifted rack that I knew would work well as a mail and key holder. Other than that I added a plant, wiped down the walls (which was much needed), and painted and covered the hole where I removed an old alarm panel.

I found these cute little throw pillows for 12 bucks at Burlington Coat Factory. $12 for both was a steal, that doesn’t happen for me often. So of course I snagged them quick.

We had this shoe storage from Wayfair for over a year. Started throwing our shoes on it and didn’t think much about it. It’s turned out to be a great way to get those shoes off as soon as we walk-in trading them for the house slippers and keeping those floors clean at the same time. It’s a convenient and attractive way to keep things organized at our small entryway. The bench didn’t do much for the space but with the few touches added it looked like a new piece of furniture! Storage bench here.

Check out the before and after’s.

This only took me a few hours.

The majority of the time was waiting for the spay paint and wood stain to dry.

I feel like I can have my entire space done in a few months doing a weekly makeover. Not sure what we’re doing this weekend. I want to changed out all the interior doors but I’ve been on Pinterest and I’ve seen a lot of cool ways to refurbish old boring doors, with wood pieces, and paint, and some new hardware. That may be the way we go for a more economical updates.

 Do you have any plans for spring cleaning?

Get the storage bench here.

Get those cool finishing wipes here.

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As a homeless services professional I’m probably more conscious than the masses of the dangers present when this kind of weather hits. Thursday as we were expecting the bad weather, the outreach team in my city canceled our monthly meeting and instead went to the “camp sites”, and the streets to pass out some cold weather gear and inform about the impeding storm. Trying to convince a person who’s had negative experiences with shelters (or not) to go into a shelter is not an easy task, add to that, many of our chronically homeless have some form of or are suffering with a mental illness. Many of our chronically homeless have become accustomed to living in their makeshift “homes” outdoors. These “homes” are personalized with art work, collected treasures, make shift household items, family pets and even love. They  more than often share these spaces and it becomes a community. They look out for each other, and even in freezing temperatures to take them away from the “home” they’ve created is a tough task. As we passed out cold weather items at one “community” we were reminded by a resident of a gentlemen who died right out in front of our cities cold-weather overflow shelter when according to him “he was denied entry”. Word travels fast amongst those who live on the streets. Still while he recollects the story of the gentlemen who lost his life weathering the freezing temps, he also sounds as if he plans on weathering the winter storm himself, right there in his outdoor home. My fellow outreach colleague encourages the gentlemen to take advantage of the overflow shelter which will be open the entire weekend and through the cold weather conditions. I give him a look of concern while reiterating my colleagues previous offer. Encouraging him to take advantage of the overflow shelter, which  will be open during the days in addition to its normal overnight schedule. What I really wanted to say was “you better take your a$$ over to that shelter or this storm will kill you!” When life and death is of concern, many times I will get direct with clients and say it how I see it. Usually not in the presence of colleagues mainly due to the bureaucracy surrounding my actual title and agency.

 I know that regardless of how many street homeless we warn there will always be some who choose not take advantage of the shelter. I use the word “choose” very loosely as I know that for many it is not a choice, as some are not equipped to make any decisions, in addition to the more personal and convoluted reasons they may avoid shelters. Either way as I “suffer”through this storm my professional experience allows me to reflect in a way that makes it clear that I’m not suffering at all. There are real victims, and I am not one. Grace is all that keeps me safe and warm, and if not for a few altered seconds in any moment of my existence I could be faced with the decision to either abandon my “home” or live.

Can I share with you this awesomely delicious warm and chocolaty drink? If you are not a fan of “The Choc”, then this recipe is more than likely not for you. If you are a fan of “The Choc”and you also enjoy glowy and healthy skin then this is the recipe for you. I used maca, cacao, coconut milk and cream. This drink is packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and yumminess. Don’t forget the marshmallows! I made homemade brown sugar marshmallows and when they meted on top I was transported into another world of deliciousness. Just imagine drinking a warm and melted together s’mores!

And it’s vegan.

Are you feelin’ me yet?

Now check out the pics.