boatierra

📍 Sonoran desert, United States

Member since July 2004

My name is a combination of two words from two languages.

'Boa' meaning 'good' in Portuguese and 'tierra' meaning 'land' in Spanish. All together, 'good land' :)

Truly my name has nothing to do with boats.

NBT = no blank tile stats
NBS = no blank word stats

Babble Expert: http://r46.me/BabbleExpert20110410.zip

My go-to for word help - a2zWordFinder: http://www.a2zwordfinder.com/

Current profile pic - Handle for a throwing hammer.

CHOCOLATE VALENTINE CAKE

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups (19 oz can) cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
4 eggs, or 1 cup egg substitute
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tb. powdered sugar

In small bowl, melt chocolate in microwave oven, 2 minutes on medium power. In blender or food processor, combine beans and eggs. Add sugar, baking powder and chocolate; process until smooth. Pour batter into non-stick 9 inch heart-shaped or round cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut in 10 wedges. Serve with raspberry sauce.

QUICK MICROWAVE RASPBERRY SAUCE

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 pint fresh raspberries

In a bowl, microwave jam until melted, 1 minutes. Stir in juice and berries.

Per wedge with sauce: 318 calories, 10g fat, 4.8g saturated, 56g carbohydrates, 2.8g fiber, 5.8g protein, 116mg sodium.

Chickpeas? Relax. It's delicious. Using legumes instead of flour adds fiber and protein and reduces unhealthful spikes in blood sugar.

VEGGIE LENTIL SOUP

Ingredients:
16 oz (1 lb.) of red lentils
10 cups of water
8+ cubes of veggie bouillon
(Veggie broth can be used instead of the water/bouillon combo)
4 cloves (or any amount you desire) of garlic
1 slice (or any amount you desire) of chopped onion
3 tbsp of lemon juice
¼ - ½ tsp. of ground cumin

Process:

Bring water to boil with bouillon, garlic, and onion in water. Make sure that the 3 ingredients have cooked a while in the water for the best flavor. After water is boiling, add lentils. Bring to a slow simmer. Lentils should split in less than 30 minutes. After lentils have split add lemon juice and cumin. May need to add extra water after lentils have split. If you add water, be sure to add appropriate amount of bouillon as well. Serve and Enjoy.

Non-veggie style:

Use chicken bouillon instead of veggie. Mix 1 package of ground turkey meat with soy sauce and lemon pepper. While lentils are boiling, drop the turkey in bite size pieces. Yummy.


CUCUMBER SALAD

1 to 4 cucumbers, any variety
1 white onion
White vinegar
Dill (dried or fresh)
Salt & pepper

Peel and slice cucumbers short ways. Be sure slices are no more than 1/4, 1/8 inch thick. Thinly slice onion rings whole and then cut rings in half. Combine cucumbers and onions into bowl and cover with vinegar. Add salt, pepper and dill to taste. If using fresh dill, start out adding a teaspoon and then you can add more later to taste. Chill for at least an hour. Serve.

Ingredient options:

Water (to dilute vinegar)
1/2 tsp. Sugar (to dilute vinegar and/or enhance overall flavor)
Olive oil (maybe to enhance flavor)
Other varieties of onion

Chocolate Almond Braid

Ingredients:
Puff pastry
Your favorite chocolate bar
Egg wash
Your favorite crushed nuts (we used almonds!)

Directions:
Lay out your puff pastry. Place your chocolate bar in the center, cut diagonal lines along the left and right side of the chocolate bar about an inch apart. Remove the corner pieces. Starting from the top, fold down the flap then alternate right and left until you are close to the bottom. Fold the bottom flap up and finish alternating between right and left. Tuck any extra puff pastry underneath.

Place the braided puff pastry on parchment paper lined baking tray. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle crushed nuts over.

Bake at 415°F / 213°C for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!