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mango + white peach galette with coconut cream + a cookbook announcement!
dessert, gluten-free, vegan Jodi Moreno dessert, gluten-free, vegan Jodi Moreno

mango + white peach galette with coconut cream + a cookbook announcement!

Chase Happiness.

What fantastic words to live by. 

When I was surfing the radio the other morning, I caught the tail end of a discussion on this topic, and I have not been able to get these two words out of my head since. In the same category as following you heart and dreams, this particular phrase really hits home to me. I feel like I can say with a big smile on my face that I have subconsciously always lived my life like this, more so in recently years, and I want to make sure that when I look back on my life, this phrase will have defined much of it.  

Chasing happiness is such a wonderful thing, because it does not only about the big and the grand, it can also be about finding those little moments in your day that put a smile on your face. And sometimes, all those little happy moments are what lead us to the bigger ones. 

Like eating a fresh white peach and mango galette with right out of the oven (small happy moment)

Or, writing on a cookbook that is going to be released in the Summing of 2014 (giant happy moment) 

Yep. That was my way of announcing to you that for the past few months, I have been keeping a big, huge, ginormous, happy secret from you. For the past few months, I have been working on my first cookbook that is going to be loaded with the same kind of goodness that you get here. 

I guess it goes without saying that writing a cookbook has always been a dream of mine. I always thought that writing a cookbook would be the ultimate tangable object to define my life in the kitchen. I've been chasing that happy dream for years, and here we are. Wow. I could not be more excited.

 

My book, title is still in the works, is going to be published in the Spring of 2014 by Skyhorse Publishing. It is going to have a party theme (you know I love a good party). It's going to have the same kinds of healthy indulgent recipes you find here, but with a focus on entertaining. Fun party food, dinner party menus and tips, and ton and tons of inspiring photos. I seriously cannot wait to share it with you. In the meantime, I will be sure to be giving lots of updates on the book here, including sneak peaks of some of the recipes, as well as plenty of instagrams and behind the scene photos. 

So today, in celebration, I made you a galette. A galette is a fancy word for a not-so-fancy pie. It's rustic, it's rough around the edges, it's crazy delicious. It is about 10 times easier to make than a pie, and pretty much fool-proof. If you know me, you are well aware of my love for pie ... but I have to tell you something .... these easy-going galettes may have won my heart over.

Go! Chase happiness. Eat some pie (or a galette). Let's celebrate! 

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rhubarb ice cream with pistachio chunks | dairy-free
dessert, gluten-free, vegan Jodi Moreno dessert, gluten-free, vegan Jodi Moreno

rhubarb ice cream with pistachio chunks | dairy-free

I don't like things that are complicated. 

I especially don't like complicated recipes. I like things that are easy, intuitive, and make sense. I'm not lazy, I just like to keep things simple. 

 

Ice cream is simple. I know, it may seem like a daunting task, but trust me, it is not. It's not complicated, it just takes time and patience. Something that I don't always have a lot of, but I am trying to teach myself to. 

About two years ago, I bought the ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. When I purchased the ice cream attachments, I had visions of myself pulling out the ice cream maker over and over again to make fresh ice cream for friends and neighbors all summer long. Lovely thought, never happened.

This year will be different. This year I have learned to have a little patience in the kitchen, and a lot about planning ahead. Something I did very little of up until the past few years. Menu planning, soaking beans, cooking grains ahead of time all have given me a whole new respect for patience and planning in the kitchen. 

You need to plan ahead to make ice cream, it not something you can decide to make for dessert at 5pm the night of, but it is totally worth the effort. It takes a leisurely two days to make, or one full day (starting in the morning and ending at night) but only about 30-45 minutes of physical work. I like that. 

I am not going to plan ahead for just any type of ice cream, if I am going to break out the ice cream maker it is definitely going to be for something special. This ice cream recipe is something special. Rhubarb lends itself so well to ice cream and the pistachios are the perfect crunchy compliment. 

When I was making this, I couldn't stop licking the bowl. It was almost impossible for me to not eat it all in one sitting ... It's ridiculously good. 

This recipe contains no dairy, no refined sugar, and just a little maple syrup to sweeten it up. I fed this to a few dairy ice cream lovers and they had no idea that it was dairy-free. The coconut milk gives it a creamy consistency that you would get from heavy cream, and it does add a slight coconut flavor which only adds to the overall experience. 

When you make ice cream at home, I find that is it best enjoyed right out of the ice cream maker. It's so good you probably won't have any leftovers anyways. 

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