GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE || FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE LEE


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Who doesn’t love CHOCOLATE? I’ve got the perfect cookie for you, with a low glycemic index you won’t feel a crash. And still get to ENJOY your CHOCOLATE! Recipe below!

Tell me what YOU THINK, Or tag me in your BAKING ADVENTURES!

CHEERS + LOVE,

Nicole



GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup vegan butter, or mix of avocado + Olive oil
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2/3 cup swerve alternate sugar
  • 2 pasture eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups @bobsredmill GF all purpose baking flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 bag 85 % chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS: In large bowl pour all liquid ingredients, mix. Then add one egg at time. Mix again, Set aside.

In a separate bowl measure out dry ingredients, then add to wet ingredients. Add in chocolate chips. Mix together, if dough seems wet, add 1 tablespoon of flour mix and repeat.

Store in fridge for 1 hour to up to 24 hours. Then Bake. At 350 degrees for 15 min, let cool and enjoy!


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VEGAN BULLETPROOF COFFEE || RECIPE | FOOD+ LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE LEE


Hey friends,

My apologies on my abandonment towards you folks ( and my blog). I’ve been really focusing on getting my house back in order and doing lots and lots of projects over the weekends instead of recipe testing…(But that is changing soon).

Did I mention I’ve been drinking lots and lots of coffee to keep me going? A few years ago I discovered bulletproof coffee. I friend had shown it to me, but I am allergic to dairy… so I had to modify. I discovered if you put the same amount of MCT oil in, and use a dairy free nut milk it will get frothy just as if you use grass-fed butter. I also noticed no two dairy free milks are created equal. I am pretty picky when it comes down to the brands I use. Anyone agree??


Vegan Bullet Proof Coffee Recipe

Vegan Bullet Proof Coffee Recipe



Vegan Bulletproof Coffee Recipe

* Ingredients:

  • 8oz fresh coffee
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons MCT Oil
  • 1 tablespoon vegan nut milk ( almond, coconut are awesome!)
  • 1 oz 85-90% dark chocolate
  • 1 -2 tsp MACA powder
  • Cinnamon for top
  • Blender Notes: if you this is your first time with bulletproof coffee start with 1 tablespoon of MCT and work up to 2 tablespoons . Also High quality coffee beans, ground + brewed in french press or pour over method ( this will get it tasting top notch)

Directions: Brew coffee to directions. I prefer french press method. In your blender place all the ingredients. Measure out 8 oz of fresh hot coffee, blend on high for 30 seconds until frothy. Top with cinnamon And enjoy!!!

Some of my favorite brands:


CHEERS, 

-Nicole 

CLOTH AND FLAME DESERT DINNER || SONORAN DESERT, ARIZONA || FOOD+LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE LEE

















desert dinner





Sonoran desert














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CHECK OUT MORE ON INSTAGRAM :

SCOTTSDALE PORTRAIT SESSION // SMOCA CURATOR CLAIRE CARTER// ARIZONA LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE LEE


portrait claire - curator

SMOCA is by far one of my favorite places in Arizona. What is SMOCA you say? Well it is a little haven in the melting pot of Arizona, also known as the Scottsdale museum of contemporary art. You see, it’s more than just a museum, but a community, learning hub, and from time to time they have some pretty fun events they put on throughout the year. 

In addition to having Amazing Art instillations, SMOCA has some very down to earth Curators running the show. I was honored when Claire asked me to spend the afternoon with her and photographing her for a portrait session.

This woman is strong, intelligent, and did I mention has excellent taste?! To top it off she was the first woman curator at SMOCA and plans to keep on doing her thing for years to come. Most recently, Claire curated : southwestNET Sama ALshaibi: Silsia. A short description : (Sama Alshaibi's (b.1973, Basra, Iraq) epic series of photographs and videos is named for the Arabic word silsia, or "link"-a simple noun describing a point of connection. As a verb, "link" also describes the act of joining two discrete units. Silsia represents the joining of individuals to one another, humans with the natural world, and the self to the dive.) To read more head over to the SMOCA page

Lets just say Claire rocks my socks off! She is a powerhouse. 

Here are my favorite images from the portrait session we collaborated on together. 

Cheers, 

Nicole 












 

 


Fancy Prosecco Cointreau Ice Cubes, Recipe


When I think of Champaign, Prosecco or Rose` I can't help but want to channel my inner Lady GoLightly. Aka Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Call it cliché’ call it typical, I don’t mind. Back in the day I used to watch that movie so many times. If I can be really honest, probably every other day! Fantasizing about how amazing her life would be to just have for a day. Live in New York City, wear fabulous clothes, be an actress.  You know what I mean right?

The thing is when I grew up I finally figured out what she did in the “Powder Room” with those men each evening. I’ll let your imagination run away on that one. Some how the charm of her glamorous lifestyle, of chic clothing, fancy parties and her tiny apartment seemed to take my breath away. (Although, Currently speaking it doesn’t look like it was all that fabulous after all.)

This shoot wasn’t fully inspired by Audrey, but after staring at my screen editing I couldn’t help but think of the movie. Of her, Of the Scenes of fancy parties with great music, and of Course Paul Darling. (Insert British accent from his mistress) How can we forget him?

I am sure she would have been smart enough to make fancy ice cubs for her drinks as well, or maybe she couldn’t afford an extra bottle of Prosecco to make them? Either way, I have a wonderfully easy way to spice up your Prosecco, or to keep your glass chilled. And while your making them, maybe channel your inner Audrey, you know she is in there! 




Prosecco Ice Cubes, with Fresh Blueberries and Cointreau, Recipe

Ingredients and Materials:

-2 rubber ice cube trays, (I find these are the easiest to use, the ice cubes pop out really easy)

-1 bottle of Prosecco (Lamarco is a great one!)

- 1 bottle of Cointreau, orange liquor

-1 bunch of fresh BlackBerries, or any that is in season

- A tea towel to wrap the Bottle of Prosecco with when opening

Directions:

First make sure to chill your Prosecco in the fridge for at least an hour, to speed up the process you can throw it in the freezer. Just don’t forget it, I have totally done that before and ended up with ice of course.

Take the tea towel and wrap it around the chilled Prosecco, pull the top off straight up away from your face. Go slow! Unless you are a pro and use a saber. Grab your ice trays; fill them with the Prosecco leaving room for the Cointreau and berries. Then add in a splash (about ½ tablespoon) of Cointreau in each ice cub spot, and fill to top. If desired add in berries to each cube.  Freeze for a good 6-12 hours. (Depending on your Freezer. This also works if you choose to leave the berries out.

When serving the Prosecco, add in one or two ice cubes to your glass and enjoy!





Cheers Friends! 

-Nicole 




Recipe: Building a Cheese board 101



Lets chat about cheese. Interestingly enough I am allergic to dairy, a devastating discovery I was in denial about for the first 26 years of my life. Until I found an allergist, what he explained to me was astounding. You crave what you are allergic to. What? Really? No way! I love Cheese, Butter and all things dairy. I love the creaminess, I love the way it makes a dish savory, or adding a pat of grass-fed butter to olive oil in the sauté pan and watching it do a magical dance to the vegetables I am cooking.

Now cheese does not equally feel the same about me, as it gives me chronic migraines, ear infections, sinus infections, brain fog and well the list goes on. Since my discovery of my dairy allergy I have given up dairy completely. Much to my surprise life has been smooth sailing without it. These days I find myself entertaining with Cheese instead of eating it, channeling my inner love of it towards others instead. Making cheese plates is a great communal food, conversation food most of all its an easy thing to throw together for any occasion. When it comes to putting together a cheese plate there are basics to follow, but you don’t have to be rigid about putting something amazing together!  



Cheese board Building 101: building your board

So we don’t over complicate things I will simply stick with the basics here. This will be a simple single cheese board with 3 cheeses, for about 2-4 people. If you have more guests and are having a dinner for a party of 6- 8 people I would just simply do the same for one more board of 3 cheeses, or one more with 5 cheeses. It really depends on if you will be serving other food later in the evening. Sticking to 3 to 5 cheeses keeps it simple and doesn’t overwhelm anyone.

Materials and Ingredients:

-Wood, Slate or Marble cheese boards. 

(Note: Sticking to these surfaces makes the food look lively and appealing.)

3 – 5 Different Cheeses, a Goat, a Sheep and a Cow

(note: these could consist of: sheep Brie, grass-fed cow cheddar, and soft goat chevre. Or if you are unable to find a mix of GOAT –SHEEP- COW, stick with a regional theme. You could get All Irish cheeses, French cheeses, or an assortment of local cheeses. Remember their aren’t any “rules” and whatever you choose will be great!

-Layering items: Fig Jams, Raw Honey, or even fresh preserves. Salted nuts, Olives, or Other antipasti like cured meats or wild Alaskan smoked salmon items work well. Fresh berries, or seasonal fruit is a nice touch.

 (Note: The key here is use what you have in the fridge first, then hit the store.)

1 loaf of Bread, or Crackers or both:

(note: Sourdough, French Baggett’s or Country loaf bread. Hearty Crackers such as Mary’s superseed (which are gluten free). Water crackers or artisan crackers are a nice touch.

Mix of Red/ White Wines and Beer:

(Note: handy staples; French Pinot Noir, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and either Prosecco or a bubbly Rose’. These are all easy sipping wines that aren’t too heavy or light. There is no need to fuss over the perfect pairing wine, just grab your favorites. Or even encourage your friends to bring their favorite to share! Beer: Local brew, or Stella Artois is always a hit.)

Extras: Cheese knifes, table cards with cheese labels on them, Pellegrino (sparkling water), basil or mint herbs to garnish.

Directions; Building a cheese board

Take your cheeses and place them on the plate. Assort them a few inches apart from each other. Then add in your honey or jam. Place your berries, nuts, garnish around the cheeses, mostly to one side of the plate, most people place these items to one side, because people are cutting their cheese in the other direction. Then place cards of the names of the cheeses around them, you can add your olives or meats to the same board or in bowls next to it. I usually try to make the board so full that its almost running off the board, or you could do the opposite and do it really simple and minimal. Either way I try to add a garnish to give it some color!


cheese boards how to

Final Notes:

When picking out your cheese, head to places like Trader Joes. If you are on a budget, you can get your whole spread their for under 100; including wine, bread, crackers, cheese and so fourth. If you aren’t on a tight budget head to a local cheese market or even whole foods, they tend to have a larger section to choose from. Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask questions! There are lots of friendly people there to help you along your way. Good Luck Friends, happy entertaining!

-Nicole 


sources : 

(This is not a sponsored post )

Mary's Gone Crackers : http://www.marysgonecrackers.com

trader joes : http://www.traderjoes.com

whole foods : http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com

 

 

 

Cooking with Kids: Banana, Nut butter, Honey on Rice Cake Recipe


honey comb

Food should be simple, should taste good and be easy to make. Especially in our busy day to day lives.  –

Snack time has always been an important factor in my life. To be honest I was the person who had snack time before kids and now I just use them as an excuse to take a break and eat something yummy. Snack time has become precious, it’s a great time to take a break and reconnect with my kids. Usually I pick up my kids about 3pm, come home sit together and talk about our day and of course stuff our faces!  On occasion if I am not swamped with work I make the kids a snack before I leave, but as of lately my oldest is into making his recipe, so we will make it together when we get home.

In this one instance on the way home Jacob my oldest said “ Mom I have a great idea”, “Yes Jacob” I replied. “Jacob continued, lets make rice cakes with peanut butter, bananas and honey!’

Lets do it I answered! Lets do just that.

Jacob’s Rice Cakes-

Ingredients:

1 bag of flat or regular rice cakes.

About 2 tablespoons of honey

1 jar of nut butter of your choice

1 bunch of bananas

Directions:

Peel and slice your bananas set aside. Spread your nut butter over the rice cake, add slices of bananas and drizzle the amount of honey over the top. Serve and enjoy!

As Jacob would say: Easy peezy, Lemon Squeeze! Enjoy Friends!

- Nicole 

 

gluten free snacks







sources :

rice cakes : http://www.lundberg.com/products/snacks/ 

Nut butter :  nutzo , https://www.nuttzo.com

 

Source: www.heydear.co

Stella Bakes, Nicole Rambles, - Personal Post


girl portrait

As I stumble over myself trying to come up with the perfect words for this blog post I cant help but become more frozen. The pressure of curating images, and meaningful words seems to have gotten the best of me.

Heavy thoughts cloud my mind, all of life’s goodness and troubles compounding my heart. Seemingly all at once, I tend to fight the waking moments, finding myself in a battle once again over staying underneath the covers hidden when it gets hard. This time the battle hasn’t one; I have the many tools to not covert back to old habits that once destroyed me. Even if it’s the constant reminders of the three brave souls that came from me, the children are always all right; it’s the parents you have to watch out for.

You probably have no idea what I’m talking about; I guess that’s okay. Maybe you get it. Maybe not. Anxiety and depression is a bitch. They are just symptoms of habits you teach yourself to try to stay afloat in the scary world. The thing is since they are just symptoms I can tell them to go away now, and they aren’t needed anymore. Clearly it’s a battle, but more importantly, a battle I can come out on top of. The problem with a lifetime of experiencing trauma is sometimes it does come up. So I chose to meet it, share it instead of tucking it away in a tiny package and pretend it didn’t happen this week. Its not like I fell off the wagon, I guess what I’m trying to say is its just where I was at, that my friends is the truth. I won’t get into the details because it’s not about the details. It isn’t the time or place and I’m not paying you to listen to those boring stories of my traumatic childhood. My goal was to give you a lovely story, a handful of images and a recipe. That is the purpose of this blog right? See, what I mean is things aren’t always, as they seem. Sometimes we even choose to see what we want, that could make our real lives much easier to handle. Or the social media easier to handle. What do you think?

Now where I am today, not yesterday. Today, I feel clear, I am remembering all the new things I taught myself and realized that my shield can go back into the closet until I need to use it again. The world isn’t a scary place and the 4-year-old girl instead me, well she will be okay to. Ramble over.

No recipes to share, but below are some images of my 3-year-old Stella Baking her little heart out.

X

–Nicole 


ingredients






Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - Recipe


Every year right before Christmas my father in law Arne makes his famous chocolate chip cookies. Yes, this fisherman who is 6ft 4, who spends most of his days sipping coffee and working on his boat BAKES!  He is quite the baker too.

Maybe it’s his Norwegian blood. Which if you didn’t know Norwegians they are known for their baking and all the glorious baked goods. So each year like clockwork he sets up the tree, puts lights on the house, puts Christmas music on and as the snow falls over their Seattle home just like in a movie, the baking begins.

He is so orderly and neat about his process, dancing around the kitchen singing tunes and being Jolly. I would say he is the definition of jolly and all its glory. Its just what you need to keep you out of the bah humbug motif and remembering that well all the cheesy Christmas cheer can be fun after all.

Arne inspired me with his traditions to well start our own, stop being scrooge and find the ability to well, be JOLLY!

I got up some guts and asked him for the recipe, he shockingly said yes! Then I successfully baked those cookies, without burning the house down. Of course they just weren’t exactly the same as his but it’s the effort that counts right?

Fast forward to present day. I no longer eat dairy. I no longer eat gluten. But I do still eat cookies, and chocolate, because I would be crazy not too!

The problem well I still wanted to bake those cookies. Instead of being a scrooge and not make them, I chose to come up with my own cookie recipe for the holidays. Now, Doing gluten modifications in baking are a whole science, it’s not an easy task. Still determined to make a flavorful cookie, I took on the challenge. I baked and baked and tested and failed and finally succeeded with an amazing cookie that well tastes just as good as the real thing.

Which that my friends makes quite a jolly moment!

I would love to hear what some of your favorite things to do at this time of year are, what your family, friends do! Leave a comment below!

 

Happy Baking Friends! 





Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1-cup vegan butter – Earth balance soy free baking sticks

1-cup sugar – Raw Sugar, preferably organic

1-cup light brown organic sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 eggs –

1 ¾ cups Gluten Free Flour – Bob’s red millone/one mix is great!

1-teaspoon baking powder

1-teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups Gluten Free Thick rolled oats (bob’s redmill again is the best!)

1 bag of vegan chocolate chips/ or favorite brand

An electric mixer, measuring cups, ice cream scoop, parchment paper, and cookie trays.

Directions:

In an electric mixer Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla, add in one egg at a time.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients, minus the rolled oats and chocolate chips!  While the electric mixer is still going slowly add in the flour mixture and until dough forms. Then take off the bowl of the mixer grab a spatula, dump in the rolled oats and the chocolate chips. Hand mix until evenly through the dough.

Now this part is key. You need to let the dough chill for at least one hour. If you have patience let it sit overnight. Instead of the dough being soupy it will bake perfectly. The thing is after much baking mishaps I have learned this is truly the best way to get those awesome cookies. That’s why those store bought dough’s actually taste good! Because they are cold!

Once the dough is chilled.  Then preheat the oven to 355 degrees.

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper, then scoop with a small ice cream scoop your dough and place on the tray. You will make rows of three about 1 inch apart from each other on the tray.

Bake for 9-12 min. Until golden brown on the edges. Once done remove the cookies from the cookie tray and place on a cooling rack until cooled.

 

Then serve with milk and enjoy!