a beso $300 giveaway

beso $300 giveaway

I just love kitchen stuff. And I know you do too because I get a slew of comments & questions every time I post a recipe that requires a special gadget. I admit, I can be a hoarder of things like ice cream makers, mandolines & tortilla presses…

So here’s your chance to get some of those things you might be missing (or really, whatever you want). Put your own collection together at Beso and one lucky winner will win $300 toward their items. Choose from tons of products from all your favorite brands… you can even browse my collection if you want some of the items pictured above.

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Create an account at Beso.com and put together your collection of at least 6 items.
(It doesn’t have to be kitchen items, they also have clothes, housewares, you name it…)

2. Come back here and leave a link to your collection in the comments.

(Open to US residents, 18 and older, one entry per person. A winner will be chosen at random on Friday, May 24th, 2013).

Thanks to Beso for hosting this giveaway. Follow them on: Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

pea & chickpea pasta salad

pea & chickpea pasta salad / loveandlemons.com

This has been a favorite lately. I’ve made it countless times before I even thought of posting it here. It’s too easy… the ingredient list is short, and you likely already have these these things on hand. It’s super delicious and it takes no time to toss together. If I weren’t always trying to come up with new ideas, I would stop here and we would eat this most nights of the week. (Maybe switch out the veggies every so often to change it up).

pea & chickpea pasta salad / loveandlemons.com

I whisked a little dijon with olive oil and lemon juice before tossing it with brown rice pasta, chickpeas, peas, feta, and fresh herbs. This would be a perfect way to use up assorted herbs you might have leftover from something else.

pea & chickpea pasta salad / loveandlemons.com

A quick note about dijon mustard. We recently discovered the Edmond Fallot brand and it’s been sort of life changing. I don’t know why or how but it just has a better flavor and tang than any other kind. Here’s a link to it on Amazon, however it was much cheaper at our Central Market (it wasn’t at Whole Foods). And this is not sponsored, btw, I just had to share. Life changing, I tell you…

Go to the recipe “pea & chickpea pasta salad”…

fried egg & mango salsa waffle

fried egg & mango salsa waffle / loveandlemons.com

Happy Friday! This one makes me so happy that the weekend is just about here…

This is part 1 of a fun project I’ve been working on with the Mango Board as part of their “Mangover” campaign. (makeover + mangoes, get it?) It’s about simply adding mango to ordinary food for an unexpected pop of color & tangy sweetness. Once a week they’re asking their facebook fans for meal ideas they would like to see made over with mango. This week (breakfast week), the choice was waffles and eggs.

So I made a quick mango salsa with avocado, smoked paprika and a pinch of chili flakes. Topped it on a savory waffle and added a fried egg. A sweet & spicy breakfast.

If making waffles AND eggs sounds like too much work for you on a Sunday morning… you could do this same concept with toast. Think–smashed avocado toast, just add mango. (plus a squeeze of lime & salt). And maybe a fried egg.

Go to the recipe “fried egg & mango salsa waffle”…

gluten-free almond coconut bars

gluten-free almond coconut bars gluten-free almond coconut bars

This recipe is from the hilarious new book Gluten is my Bitch: Rants, Recipes and Ridiculousness for the Gluten Free, by April Peveteaux.

If you’ve been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease and are feeling sorry for yourself, this is a must-read. If you’re like me and you deal with other food sensitivity issues, you’ll have a good laugh reading April’s stories because you totally “get it.” And because she is just so freaking funny.

My favorite part has to be the chapter about traveling as a gluten-free person. It’s called “Paris doesn’t have to suck, but it might.”

I had the pleasure of meeting April in person a few months ago. I hadn’t read the book yet, but we immediately joked about how the two of us should never go to Paris together. (As a vegetarian lactose intolerant person, I survived Paris almost solely on baguette).

It’s hard to talk about why a book is funny (especially since I am much less funny), so I thought I’d just share some of my favorite lines:

April, on air-travel:
“The fact is every time you get on an airplane you’d better pack snacks – whether you’re gluten-free or just like to eat food to live.”

on paris:
“Although the Italians are all over gluten-free pasta and bread, the whole UK area practically invented sprue, France is filled with a delicious gluten-plus attitude. Which means I absolutely had to get there, and fast”.

on getting “glutened” in paris:
“I came to Paris and wanted to act like I was just a normal, if not exceptionally cool, gal traveling around Europe by herself. I was NOT stoked to cultivate the image of the American lady with food issues.”

on traveling with her non-gluten-free husband:
“If you love that brioche so much why don’t you marry it?”

quote on the back cover of the book:
“Can someone please send me some freaking gluten?”
- Aaron, author’s husband

Go to the recipe “gluten-free almond coconut bars”…

creamy leek & almond pasta

creamy leek & almond pasta / loveandlemons.com creamy leek & almond pasta

Meals like this are the reason I love cooking at home. These are the kinds of dishes that my lactose intolerant self can’t order at restaurants. The amount of butter and cream that go into pastas and risottos… I don’t even want to know.

creamy leek & almond pasta

I worked on this a few different ways. I was going to make an almond version of cashew cream (similar to this one), but I decided I didn’t want to ask you to break out the blender. At least not this time.

The winner was this version where I simmered leeks & mushrooms in almond milk. Such a rich & creamy flavor develops, sans the butter. I did a little bit of pecorino cheese at the end, but it’s so very little that you could easily sub vegan cheese or nutritional yeast (or possibly omit it), without compromise.

creamy leek & almond pasta / loveandlemons.com  

Go to the recipe “creamy leek & almond pasta”…