Wait...are those...cookies?!

December 25, 2012December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas, BEDFORD FALLSSSS!!!

I just fed this to the ones I love, who are now comatose. I think I might need a nap.

Merry Christmas! Feed the ones you love.

Pumpkin Sweet Roulade with Hazelnut Filling and Hazelnut Caramel Drizzle

This cake is freaking fantastic. Pumpkin cake rolled around a hazelnut licqueur-spiked whipped cream filling with shaved dark chocolate chunks, topped with a hazelnut spiked caramel. Um, hello, what isn’t there to love?! Pumpkin, cream, hazelnut, and chocolate: go celebrate Christmas and eat this with your loved ones!

The cake is gratefully borrowed from (and caramel inspired by!) Cate’s World Kitchen, here, but the rest is my brainchild! Serves… enough. Probably seven 1″ slices? Ish? Depending on how large of a dessert coma you’d like to go into.

For the cake:

4 eggs, separated
scant 1/4 c brown sugar, loose (not packed)
1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c granulated sugar

For the filling:

1 c (ish) heavy cream
1 tsp of powdered sugar
good glug of vanilla
a healthy glug of hazelnut liqueur (I used Fra Angelico)
several squares of dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used 72% Belgian dark)

*I never measure for the filling, so just taste as you go until you have the right balance of flavors for you and your audience. My particular audience loves hazelnut, so I was veryyyy generous, hehe.

For the caramel:

1/2 c granulated sugar
1/4 + 1/8 c heavy cream
2 tbsp butter
another healthy glug of hazelnut liqueur (I used Fra Angelico)

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350, and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the pan to stick the paper down, then lightly grease the paper as well. I always use unrefined coconut oil for this.

In a medium-sized bowl, whip egg yolks until they’re light and frothy, a few minutes. Add in brown sugar, and beat another minute more. Into a small bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Beat into the egg/sugar mix in three additions, until incorporated. Beat in pumpkin puree on low. In a separate, non reactive bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form (I like to use the bowl of my kitchenaide with my handheld mixer). Slowly drizzle in sugar, and beat until the eggs hold stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mix, until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared jelly roll pan, and smooth it out so that it looks nice… Pop into the oven for 15ish minutes, until the cake springs back when poked.

Let cool on a wire rack in the pan for a few minutes, then remove from pan (by lifting up the parchment) and set back on the wire rack temporarily.

Whip the cream in yet another bowl, until it just barely starts to hold shape. Pour in your several glugs of hazelnut goodness, as well as vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until the cream holds it’s shape (but isn’t butter… believe me, I’ve gone too far a few times). Fold in chopped dark chocolate.

Spread the filling on the top of the pumpkin roll, reserving a bit of cream for topping dollops. Start rolling (carefully!!) from the short end, removing the parchment as you go, until the roll is complete. Carefully transfer it to a plate. Cover and store in the fridge until served.

For the caramel, melt sugar over medium heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan until just barely melted (don’t stir it, just swirl the pan around frequently). Stir in butter until combined. Turn heat to low, and add cream a spoonful at a time until the caramel is the desired consistency. Remove from heat and add Fra Angelico. Pour (drizzling is for sissies) generously over cake slices, and garnish with extra whipped cream (it’s Christmas, after all). Eat the leftover caramel with spoon, obviously… I mean, why WOULDN’T you do that?!

Eat with loved ones. Be merry, be grateful, and spread love!

December 13, 2012December 13, 2012

Being out of cookies is a good thing… said absolutely no one, EVER.

Welcome to the ridiculousness that is my random life:

Thursday things! A compilation of totally irrelevant, irreverent, and random things. Because I know that you totally want to know all this stuff. Really, you do.

1. I am utter crap at turning my brain off in savasana. Like, I’ll be laying there going “oooh this is good I’m not thinking! Look at me, being a boss in savasana, like a not thinking boss..” and then I realize that there’s this subconscious little stream of thought going on the whole time about random crap. WTF brain?! Can’t you see I’m savasing?? Sheesh. You’d think my own train of thought could give me a break for all of five minutes.

2. Stupidly obsessed with Mad Men. Why won’t they tell me when it’s coming back?! For that matter, why isn’t it on NOW?

3. I just made cookies. But only two. And all for me. Because I went to Whole Foods in search of a gf/vegan cookie…and. they. FAILED. So I made my own, which were infinitely better and cheaper, as per usual. I think I just made my own day. Besides, I have to power up before bodysculpting class. Duhh. Cookies are clearly an optimal way to do this.

4. I might look like a fool doing the gangnam style dance, but sorry I’m not sorry don’t care! Ridiculously catchy. I’m sure I look especially precious trying to do it in my car at a stoplight…

5. Saturday morning, I will be consuming an egg and english muffin sandwich for breakfast and I. CAN’T. WAIT. The end of the ridiculousness is in sight! Thank god, I don’t think I could take too much more of this, especially since I’m seeing no noticeable differences. Bread and eggs are happening, ideally together, and as soon as possible. That being said, I have developed a newfound appreciation of buckwheat flour.

6. Based on the last few sets of photos I’ve taken, it would appear that I’ve subsisted the last few weeks on cookies. LIES, I promise I’ve eaten some savory stuff… here and there. Oh. And an enormous pile of spaghetti squash.

7. I am now out of cookies. How did this happen?

8. I may be out of cookies, but there are BALLS in my fridge! (hehehe). The recipe is here!

9. My cats are officially adorable.

That’s all.. for now! Muahahha.

Oaty Ginger Cookies

Ever so slightly adapted from Imma Eat That (I freaking love her ideas!). I got 12 cookies. These are excellent with ice cream and peanut butter, juuuust sayin.

1 c + 1 tbsp gluten free oats
1/3 c raw pecans
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
scant 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c pumpkin puree
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp flaxseed+2 tbsp milk bev
2 tbsp chocolate chippies

Preheat oven to 350. Make flaxegg by combining flaxseed and milk bev, and let sit while you throw everything else together.

In a food processor, whizzzzz oats, pecans, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt, pulsing until combined into a flourlike consistency. Combine pumpkin puree, molasses, and flaxegg in a smallish bowl. Add wet into dry, stirring to combine. Stir in chippies. Form cookie-like shapes and drop onto a cookies sheet (flattening slightly). Bake for 15ish minutes, then cool on a rack!

December 3, 2012December 3, 2012

Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart!

Happy December! I love this month. It’s so… festive! And crowded. Sheeesh. Working retail has given me a lovely perspective on people’s shopping habits. Holiday shopping in this country is truly absurd. Where do all these people come from? And where do they hide during the off season??

Alrighty. So I mentioned in my last post that I’m off eggs, and gluten free (due to a variety of things, mostly circulation related. It’s a long story, you can ask me if you’re curious). This means that I’m basically vegan in addition to gluten free. Except I can have dairy and meat. Weird, I know, but just roll with it.

Um. Yeahhhh. About that. I’m dealing, but it’s requiring a bit of concentration on my part, so that I don’t accidentally consume something I’m not supposed to. At least I was already used to vegan baking, so that switch isn’t too much effort. It’s the gluten free biz that’s killing me—I freaking LOVE BREAD. Arrggg. Ah well, for now it’s only two weeks (and hopefully NOT longer). We’ll see.

Anyway, at least it’s pushing me to discover new alternatives and diversify my bloglet! I’m trying to keep my costs to a minimum, so that means finding affordable gluten-free flour substitutes. Some I’m familiar with, some not… I promise to only share the tasty ones on here. The flatbread I’m sharing today definitely qualifies as tasty (and cost effective, it only has 4 ingredients!), and ridiculously versatile. It’s made with chickpea flour, which I’ve never used before but is high in protein and fiber (obvi, as it’s made from beeeeeeans!). It’s actually one of the most nutrient-dense flours around: it’s high in folate, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, thiamin, iron, copper, and manganese. Whew! Besides all that, this flatbread has good fats from olive oil. Oh. AND it’s tasty. What more could you want? Yum yum yum. Called Torta di Ceci, this recipe is Italian in origin. I just love it, as you can eat it with pretty much anything (especially cheese, mmmm)—gluten free pizza crust? I think yes.

La la la…. beans, beans, they’re good for your heart, the more you eat the more you… Well. I’m sure you can fill in the rest of that cute little ditty.

Torta di Ceci (Italian Chickpea Cake)

Recipe gratefully borrowed from this awesome blog: In Pursuit of More. Makes one sheet, or about 20 playing-card size servings. Plan for a little bit of time, as it needs to sit for 3 hours (at least) before baking. I made mine mid day, so that I could bake it in time for dinner.

2.5 c chickpea flour (also called gram flour, or garbanzo flour)
3.5 c water
scant tsp of salt
pepper to taste (I like a lot)
1/4 c olive oil (extra virgin cold press, ideally the best quality you can)

Measure out the chickpea flour into a largeish bowl. Slowly pour in the water, whisking continuously to prevent lumps. Once you’ve poured all the water in, add salt and pepper, and give it a few minutes of whisking to make sure it’s smooth. Cover and let sit on the counter for at least three hours.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Skim off any foam from the surface of the batter, with a slotted spoon. Pour the olive oil into a large rimmed baking sheet (mine was about 18″ by 13″ ), tilting the pan so that the oil covers the bottom. When the oven is finished preheating, pour the batter into the prepared pan, in a layer about 1/4″ thick. Carefully transfer to the oven (amazingly I did this without causing a massive disaster), and bake for 30 minutes, until golden. When done, let cool in the pan for a few minutes before serving.

This bread is best hot or warm, and reheats fabulously. I’ve been storing mine in a glass tupperware in the fridge, which seems to work fine. I like mine reheated and sprinkled with cheese. Mmmm.

November 26, 2012

Turkalurk and friendy musings

Turkalurk time. Obviously I have to do a Thanksgiving post, with Thanksgiving being… you know… FOOD related. But guess what?! Something waaay more exciting than Thanksgiving happened on Thanksgiving: I got to see one of my best friends, who I haven’t seen in fifteen years! Yep, you read that right: fifteen.

We’re adorable. I know, you’re just jealous.

We were best friends in second grade (for 9 months) and then she moved back to Korea. But we’re awesome, and we stayed friends. And then she nicely said she’d come visit me over here on the west coast when she was studying abroad. Wheeeeee friendy time! That meant I got to be all touristy and show her around the city. AND we got to hang out with our second grade teacher, who is beyond fabulous and one of the most wonderful people I know.

So we had mega fun and I was busy busy working the Black Friday madness of shopping. WHY people shop that day is beyond me, don’t you want to just stay home and digest your turkey? Whatever.

Anyway. So here are your pumpkin biscuits, courtesy of my Thanksgiving linner (lunch-dinner, get it?). They’re vegan, ish. Because I’m currently off eggs due to some egg/gluten allergy testing, which is LAME: you’ll likely be seeing some allergy-friendly posts coming your way.

Side note. Why is it that both my cats reach up to paw my face when I’m blogging?? Tonight it’s Jessie: is she taking lessons from Nosh?! I’m assuming this means they’re miffed I don’t feature them in every post… or that they’ve been learning from Simon’s cat…

Enough of my tangents! Here is the recipe :)

Pumpkin Biscuits

Recipe ever so slightly adapted from Crepes of Wrath! My yield was 14 biscuits, but they were rather flatish… if you want fluffier ones, I suggest not rolling the dough out as thin as I did. I chilled mine for a bit before baking due to lack of oven space (that freaking turkalurk always takes FOREVER), so that may have affected their rise a bit.

These are fabulous with a bit of goat cheese and cranberry sauce. They’re lightly sweet but pair well with either savory or sweet—I ate some with dinner and then made a dessert napoleon for later with ice cream and whipped cream + cinnamon. Food repurposing for the win!

2 c whole wheat pastry flour, plus a bit for rolling
1.5 tbsp sugar
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
scant 1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter, chopped into smallish pieces*
1 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c light coconut milk
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp honey

*vegan with Earth Balance or other vegan butter

Preheat the oven to 400, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking power, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the butter using your implement of choice (I like a pastry cutter, but two forks work just as well) until the mixture resembles coarse sand. In a larger bowl, mix together pumpkin, coconut milk. molasses, and honey. Add liquid to butter/flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Sprinkle a bit of flour over your work surface and roll out the dough to about an inch thickness, using a biscuit cutter (or a cookie cutter, if you’re jank like me) to make biscuity-type shapes. Transfer to baking sheet, and continue with the scraps until you have no leftover dough.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (mine were done at 13), until golden. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then serve warm!

November 13, 2012

One furry dork and ridiculous cookies: I’m obsessed.

Wow. My cat just stuck his paw up and gently touched my face. As in a… “You are NOT paying enough attention to me, I’m sitting here looking cute, HELLO I’m furry and adorable and I employ tactics just like Simon’s cats so pat me NOW” type of paw to the face way.

We’re talking about the butternut squash pancake-eating cat.

This one.

What a goober. Maybe he wants to do some yoga?

is this like upward facing kitty? kittyasana?

Have I told you about how he LOVES freshly dead spiders? He must be a pacifist, or else he doesn’t like the tickly feeling of eating legs (I can’t say I blame him really)… he waits for Vati to kill one for him, and then he starts purring as soon as he hears the slap of the birkenstock. And then he eats it off the bottom of the shoe. Weird much?! That and crunchy things. Oh. And he snores.

Welcome to the life of Nosh. Sleep a lot, get fed some freshly dead spiders and crunchy things, paw your human in the face until she pays attention to you, purr until you drool, sleep more, purr more, discover your human doing yoga and join in, and then round out your day with more sleeping. Life’s rough, isn’t it?

(Side note. If you haven’t seen Simon’s cats on Youtube, click away from this page and look it up immediately. You’ll thank me later!).

No, I’m not just a crazy cat lady. I promise this post isn’t completely about little furry beings…

Anyway. Before I so rudely distracted myself going off about the ridiculous paw-to-the-face tactics employed by my resident furball (one of two), I was going to tell you about these:

And how you should tote your laptop into the kitchen and make them. NOW. Immediately. Because seriously, these cookies are amazing. Chewy, oaty, and coconutty. Not a word but hmm, don’t care because these are so amazing. I’m contemplating another batch in the insanely near future they’re that good. And besides, we know how ludicrously picky I am about chocolate chip cookies… so obviously these must be good. Nosh hasn’t rendered his opinion as of yet, unless the face-paw was any indication… maybe he was telling me to go grab the leftovers. Wait, what leftovers? Apparently I’ve eaten them all. Do yourself a favor. Make cookies: your house will smell like love!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I slightly adapted the recipe from the Cooking Actress, here! I got 9 cookies, rather tragically… when (not if) I make this again, I’ll be doubling the recipe. The cookies are chewy and oaty, with a slight taste of coconut and chocolate.

2/3 c + 1/2c oat flour (equal amounts of rolled oats processed in a food processor)
2 tbsp rolled oats
4 tbsp brown sugar
2.5 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unrefined coconut oil (the kind that smells like coconut when you open the jar—refined doesn’t have a coconut taste)
3-4 tbsp light coconut milk (from the can)
3 tbsp chocolate chippies

Preheat the oven to 380, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine oat flour, rolled oats, both sugars, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. In a smaller bowl, melt coconut oil, vanilla, and 3 tbsp coconut milk together. Add wet into dry, adding slightly more coconut milk if the batter seems too dry. Fold in chocolate chippies, and drop by the spoonful onto your prepared baking sheet. Pop into the fridge for a few minutes, until cold. Bake for 7 minutes (best if they seem slightly undercooked when you take them out), and let cool for a least a few minutes on the cookie sheet. I store mine in a plastic tupperware—as much as I dislike plastic, glass containers will make your formerly chewy cookies go soft.

Eat, preferably with a kitty on your lap and with some loved ones around. Cookies are better when they’re shared! <3

November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

Paleo hockey pucks (no just kidding, they’re actually tasty cookies)

I was too lazy to put two recipes into one post, so here are those paleo cookies I was nerding out about in my last post.

Short and sweet, just some photos and a recipe!

Apple Cinnamon Cookies (Paleo-friendly)

Recipe from What Runs Lori, here! My yield was about 10ish cookies, ish. I’m a little behind, I’m not entirely sure since this batch is long gone. Ehhh, you get delicious cookies anyway, what do you care?! ~~Moist~~ HYDRATED, apple-y, and full of cinnamon. Yum yum yum. AND grain-free, vegan, refined sugar free, and full of healthy fats.

1 buhhnahhhnuhh
1/3 c grated apple, skin on
2 tbsp almond butter
1-2 tbsp milk bev (use almond or coconut to keep things vegan/paleo), if needed
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/3 c coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mash yo’ buhhhnahhnuhhh. Toss in everything else: grated apple, almond butter, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, coconut flour, baking soda, and vinegar. Stir together, and add in 1-2 tbsp milk bev if the batter looks too dry (I used 2 tbsp). Drop cookies by the heaping glob onto the prepared cookie sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes (mine went for 8)—an appropriately short baking time (hellooo, instant gratification). Let cool on a rack… or maybe in your stomach.

November 11, 2012

007 and a blue plate special

A few weekendy things:

Sorry I’m not sorry… I love my Ducks!

And really… shaken, not stirred. I wonder if James Bond ever does normalish things like go out and buy bread? What if he really wanted ice cream or something? Wouldn’t there be some creep trying to pick him off on the way to the ice cream store? Does he ever go anywhere without a gun? The latest movie was freaking fantastic!! Such a lovely way to spend my Sunday—a date with Daniel Craig and some veggie burgers. Okay, sadly not really but I can pretend, right?! At least these veggie burgers were real:

It’s like a blue plate special.

And cookies! They were real too.

AND paleo. I’m rather proud of myself that I baked something with coconut flour that wasn’t totally nasty. I’m all for non-grain flours, but my first encounter with coconut flour ended up in the garbage. Literally. I NEVER throw away food unless it’s gone bad… BUT. These. Ugh. They defied description. Thankfully, I got things under control with a different recipe, and am now a convinced fan of coconut flour. (They can be found in the following post)

So. A wildly successful weekend on all fronts: James Bond, veggie burgers, and cookies. AND the Ducks won. #lovemyducks!

Sweet Potato-Quinoa Black Bean Burgers

I got 7 burgers out of this, and they made awesome leftovers. Recipe slightly modified from here! Especially tasty with a side salad and extra mustard… these have sweet potato, black beans, and quinoa, as well as lots of other delicious things. They’re also soy-free, which is a nice change from a lot of other veggie burgers.

4 small sweet potatoes (no really, mine were TINY)
1/2 c cooked quinoa
15 oz (1 can) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c frozen corn, defrosted
1 leek, lightly sautéed
6 tbsp rolled oats
2 tbsp raw pepitas
pepper to taste
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp olive oil

Wash the sweet potatoes, pierce them a few times with a fork, and pop into the microwave on the baked potato setting (or whatever yours has). When finished, let them cool until you can cube them (skin and all), and then rustically mash them (leave some lumps). Clean the leek thoroughly, and dice up the white bit. Lightly sauté in a bit of olive oil; let cool.

Preheat the oven to 375, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a separate bowl, mash the black beans (almost completely, again—leave some lumps). Stir in mashed sweet potatoes, cooked quinoa, corn, sautéed leek, rolled oats, pepitas, salt/pepper, cumin, oregano and olive oil. Stir to combine. Form into patties/sliders/whatever, and plop onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes total, flipping at the 7 minute mark. Top with mustard or whatever floats your boat! They’re delicious any way you slice it.

November 4, 2012

Squashlets, Kale, and Chèvre

I’m slightly behind in bloggingness. AGAIN.

But that’s okay, because I have some pretty freaking amazing stuff to share! Like…

SUPER SQUASH STRIKES AGAIN! Remember all that silly business with the epic mega tons of squash I ate last winter? Welllll, yeah. It’s back. Complete with kale, it’s trusty sidekick. Oh. And goat cheese. Because… REALLY?! You expect me to give you a savory dish without goat cheese??

Psshhh.

Let’s be real. Cheese is where it’s at.

I could probably eat goat cheese all day until the cows came home, and then I would look at the cows and say: “COWS! Why are you here?! I need GOATS for goat cheese, obviously” and then go back to eating my goat cheese. Forever.

This dish is easy and comes together quickly—the only longish part is all the prep work of wrestling the squash and chopping the kale (both of which can be done ahead of time to save on dinner prep when you’re starving). Squash and chèvre complement each other beautifully, and are perfect with kale. Besides all that, you get antioxidants galore from the squash and kale, as well as a ton of other health benefits. AND goat cheese is good for your soul, obviously.

Butternut Squash and Kale Skillet with Goat Cheese

Serves 3, with enough leftovers for 2 dinners and one small lunch. Recipe adapted from Fitness Magazine.

Do yourself a favor and be liberal with the goat cheese, you’ll thank me later!

one enormous butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1/2″ cubes
a good glug of olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic
4.5 c kale, finely chopped
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
2 tsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice (From the lemon you just zested… you see what I did there?)
1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 c dried apples, chopped and soaked in water for a few minutes to soften
chicken sausage, casing removed (optional: mine was smoked apple chardonnay)
small log of goat cheese, crumbled

In a LARGE (no, really. LARGE) skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add squash, onion, and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until squash is lightly browned and tender: about 7 minutes. Add kale, lemon zest and juice, and salt/pepper to taste. If using sausage, add now. Cook until kale is wilted and squash is fork tender, about 5-7 minutes more. Add in chicken broth and and apples, and simmer for a few minutes before serving, so everything is heated through. Serve immediately, and top with goat cheese! (liberally, of course)

October 25, 2012

I’m hippie-granola…and apples are pretty freaking awesome.

I told you I was hippie-granola.

I wear leg warmers… and birkenstocks. Sometimes together… possibly more often than I care to admit.

My traveling attire when I went to Oregon was truly something spectacular… the usual leg warmers… and my yoga mat! Wow. People in the airport were REAL jealous, let me tell you.

Not my fault I was raised on tofu and bananas and other sorts of natural-type foods like peanut butter that separates (that no stir stuff has always creeped me out). Born in Berkeley, what can I say. Admit it, it’s part of my charm.

And look… I made granolaaaa!!! Like, real granola. Not like my type of hippie crunchy granola. I figured it would be easy and more cost effective to make my own, not to mention healthier, as I know exactly what goes in it. Not that we eat really sketchy granola, as a rule: Nature’s Path is pretty non sketch and delicious. But still. I wanted to try my hand at making some anyway… and I’m pretty sure it was a success.

Besides, this granola is full o’ the good stuff… like healthy fats from the pepitas and the flaxseed (can you say omegaaaasss!), whole grains (oats), and blood sugar stabilization from cinnamon. Apples are pretty freaking awesome too, since they provide soluble fiber (mostly in the form of pectin) for happy digestion and lower cholesterol levels, AND antioxidants…not to mention vitamin C! I love me some anti-free radial activity. Soooo, basically apples are awesome. You know what they say, about apples and doctors? Yeah. Pretty much true. Or maybe you should just eat some granola instead, nudge nudge wink wink…!

Apple-Cinnamon Granola

The recipe is slightly modified from Sally’s Baking Addiction, here! It made three jars worth of granola (as some of you are aware, I ADORE jars and store nearly everything in them)… which probably amounts to about 3 cups, ish? The recipe comes together quickly, bakes in half an hour, and is great snacking/breakfast/yogurt topping option. Gotta love granola and it’s ridiculous versatility!

2.5 c rolled oats (not quick oats)
3/4 c ground flaxseed
2 tsp cinnamon
heaping 1/4 c raw pepitas
1 c dried apples*, diced
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c maple syrup

*preferably use dried apples that are just that: apples that have been dried! None of those icky sulphites or sugars. Ew. None of that.

Preheat the oven to 300, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a largish bowl, mix together oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, pepitas, and diced apples. In a smaller bowl, whisk together salt, applesauce, and maple. Pour the wet over the dry and stir to combine, making sure that the wet ingredients are evenly distributed. Spread the mix onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring slightly at the 15 minute mark. Let cool for at least a half an hour on the stove top (you wouldn’t want soggy granola, would you?!). Store in jars!!

October 22, 2012

Lightning-fast mooching abilities and other skills

Mmm. Kebabs.

Why is it way more fun to eat things on sticks? Is it some kind of childish relapse I’m having? I doubt it, considering I hated (no wait, loathed is waaay more accurate) corndogs as a child. Which is like the quintessential kid-food-on-a-stick. Gross. I STILL think they’re gross. Probably even more now than I did. Anywayyy. There’s something about eating chicken on a skewer which makes it waaay more fun than just eating chicken. Boooring.

Besides, then when you’re finished, you can poke your dinner partners with your skewers. Muahahhaa.

Not that I would ever do such a thing…

You know what that makes me think of?! The Mooch Fork!!! I WANT one of these: they’re basically a telescoping fork that can be used for swiping choice bits of food off of your unsuspecting dinner companion’s plates!! What a genius idea. They take poaching to an entire new level. No longer will I have to do one of these: “WAIT! Ohmygosh there’s a METEOR outside, look look look!!” *semi-spastically points out the window while simultaneously gesticulating wildly and sneakily swiping bread or whatever while no one is looking*. Oh no. With a mooch fork, I could just telescope away. No one would able to stop my lightning speed mooching. It might also be useful in the grocery store around the holidays—perhaps to fend off those crazies who try to steal the last can of pumpkin (long range poking might come in handy, you never know…). Does anyone know where to get one of these?! Because I want one, pleaseandthankyou.

Anyway. Food on a stick.

These kebabs are deceptively simple. All they really require is a bit of advance planning and some time. But they make a fab change from everyday chicken…AND you get to play with your food! Winning all around.

Caribbean Chicken Skewers

My family usually makes 6 skewers, so 2 per person. We use wooden skewers that we soak for at least an hour beforehand (to prevent them from burning), with 4 sticks per person (if you use two sticks per kebab, the meat can be flipped evenly on the grill without sliding around…does that make sense?!). I’ll include the amount of food we use for 3 people, so adjust according to your needs.

The marinade recipe is from The Cooks Illustrated Guide to Grilling and BBQ, and is delicious. It makes more than we need, so we’ll usually save some.

Whatcha need:

enough skewers to feed your peeps
2 large or 3 smallish chicken breasts, defrosted and cut into chunks
2 large bell peppers (I used one red and one purple), cut into chunks
1 onion, sliced into skewer-able pieces
2 apples, cut into chunks
mushrooms, halved
zucchini is good too, if you have it!

Marinade:

1/2 c good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.

About an hour before, soak the skewers in water.

Heat the grill to about 500 (ish), enough to get a sear on the meat.

Defrost the chicken, and cut into smallish cubes. Let it sit in the marinade for at least a half an hour, preferably an hour for the best flavor (although that never happens around here). While meat is marinating, cut up veggies so you’re all ready for blastoff…

Once meat has sat for a bit, thread the meat and veggies onto the skewers, alternating so they look pretty! Use two skewers, as I said before, so that you can rotate the meat on the grill without it just spinning on the skewer. Grill for 2 minutes per side, uncovered, rotating the kebabs a quarter turn every 2 minutes, until meat is fully cooked and meat/veggies/fruit are lightly browned (about 8 minutes total for white meat). Remove when there is no pink at the center and the meat is opaque. Serve immediately! I like mine with a sweet potato and mo’ veggies on the side :)

Wait…are those…cookies?!

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