Ok, again, I'm really bad about this, but I ate all the hummus before getting a picture. And it was literally 3 BIG meals worth of hummus! I ate it for dinner the night I made it, lunch and then dinner the next day! I mean, I used pretzels and cucumbers for dipping, but considering the hummus was my main meal, I guess it's not too bad, right? ;)
Anyway, at the request of many people, I decided that this one had to be added to my blog! I love, love, LOVE easy and delicious recipes with few ingredients. This is just about as simple as it gets. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Lemon Cilantro Hummus
2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
(I use organic, because hey, it's still really cheap. ;) )
1/2 a large bunch of cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 salt (or to taste)
1/2 small fresh jalapeno, chopped
all the juice from 1 large lemon
1/4 cup water
Optional: 1/4 cup tahini. I say optional because I didn't have it this past time, and it was absolutely delicious without it. Not to mention lower in calories by far. The only drawback is that you don't get the good fats from the tahini. So just choose whichever suits you!
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until desired consistency. I like mine super smooth, so it takes a while. But chunky might also be nice. Taste after pulsing it a while and see how you like it! Add salt if necessary. You will need to play around a bit with the seasonings to see what you like more of. These are kind of base ingredients. I adore the lemon cilantro combination, and to me, it needs no adornment. :)
Enjoy!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Vegan Pesto
This recipe came to me one day as I was contemplating an extreme desire for pesto. Alas, I didn't have any parmesan cheese, and I wanted to see what I could do with a new thing I've been using: Nutritional yeast. It's widely available these days, and it is truly a healthy and wonderful alternative to a lot of great cheeses- especialy the salty ones! So this may not be exactly like the pesto you've had that is non-vegan, but this is healthy, and it serves as a great reminder to always keep your culinary imagination open!
Vegan pesto:
1 tbsp (or more) of Nutritional yeast
1-2 cups of fresh basil, packed a bit
1/4 cup olive oil, or whatever you need to make the consistency right!
3 tbsp nuts of your choice (pecan, walnut, pine nut..)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Put it all in a food processor and pulse until the consistency is just right! Add more olive oil as necessary. Or, if you're old fashioned, use the Italian knife known as a mezzaluna (half moon) to cut the basil, nuts, yeast, and other ingredients until the consistency is right. Add it to olive oil. I've done both methods, and while the texture is great from the mezzaluna method, the amount of time it takes is just generally not worth the effort! :)
Enjoy!
Vegan pesto:
1 tbsp (or more) of Nutritional yeast
1-2 cups of fresh basil, packed a bit
1/4 cup olive oil, or whatever you need to make the consistency right!
3 tbsp nuts of your choice (pecan, walnut, pine nut..)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Put it all in a food processor and pulse until the consistency is just right! Add more olive oil as necessary. Or, if you're old fashioned, use the Italian knife known as a mezzaluna (half moon) to cut the basil, nuts, yeast, and other ingredients until the consistency is right. Add it to olive oil. I've done both methods, and while the texture is great from the mezzaluna method, the amount of time it takes is just generally not worth the effort! :)
Enjoy!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Piña Colada squash muffins
So I kind of have a summer squash issue around here.. we have entirely too much of it for us to possibly use! So I decided to get creative, and here's what I came up with. After reading tons of zucchini bread recipes, I made this recipe out of what I had around the house, and it worked beautifully! Don't be afraid of cooking and baking, because if you read enough recipes, you're likely going to do just fine. Mod this recipe as you see fit. For my purposes, and for what I had around the house, it was perfect. :)
Piña Colada squash muffins with a coconut lime yogurt glaze:
2 cups self rising flour
1.5 cups shredded summer squash, any color
1 heaping cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
2 tbsp lime juice
2 oz vanilla greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk (or make your own with an acid and milk)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar until combined, then add in buttermilk, yogurt,lime juice, squash, eggs, and salt, and mix with a spoon until well combined. Then add the flour slowly until incorporated without lumps. Batter should be pretty soft. Don't bother straining the squash. Grease your muffin tin (makes 18, so I used two) and ladle the mixture 3/4 of the way up. Mine filled all the spots perfectly. I think I just got lucky with this one..
This part isn't so much tricky, as it is probably just a new concept to most folks. We are energy saving folks around here; Well, money, energy, everything saving folks, that is.. and I recently read that you can get your oven up to heat, and if you have to cook the thing you are cooking for 20 minutes or less, you can turn it off right when you put it in the oven! I was amazed, intrigued, and of course, I had to try it. It works like a charm. So I used it here. Basically, you put your muffins in, set your timer for 15 minutes. Once the timer goes off and you make your way over to the oven, you'll just turn your oven off. I then set the timer for another 10 minutes, left the oven light on to check them, and walked away. When that timer went off, I finally opened my oven to check them with a toothpick, and they were PERFECTLY done! Talk about energy savings! Plus it didn't heat up my house as much. :) Awesome tip for summer baking.
While they were in the oven, though, I made this simple glaze:
Coconut rum yogurt glaze:
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup warmed honey
6 oz greek yogurt (I used plain, but I like a tart glaze)
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp any rum (spiced is nice)
Toast the coconut on medium heat until it starts to turn golden, then take it off immediately! Mix it together with all the other ingredients until it's nice and smooth! I put about a tablespoon on top of each of my muffins, and then I licked the bowl. Hey, don't judge me.. You can do whatever you want with your leftovers.. But I suggest enjoying it. :)
Piña Colada squash muffins with a coconut lime yogurt glaze:
2 cups self rising flour
1.5 cups shredded summer squash, any color
1 heaping cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
2 tbsp lime juice
2 oz vanilla greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk (or make your own with an acid and milk)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar until combined, then add in buttermilk, yogurt,lime juice, squash, eggs, and salt, and mix with a spoon until well combined. Then add the flour slowly until incorporated without lumps. Batter should be pretty soft. Don't bother straining the squash. Grease your muffin tin (makes 18, so I used two) and ladle the mixture 3/4 of the way up. Mine filled all the spots perfectly. I think I just got lucky with this one..
This part isn't so much tricky, as it is probably just a new concept to most folks. We are energy saving folks around here; Well, money, energy, everything saving folks, that is.. and I recently read that you can get your oven up to heat, and if you have to cook the thing you are cooking for 20 minutes or less, you can turn it off right when you put it in the oven! I was amazed, intrigued, and of course, I had to try it. It works like a charm. So I used it here. Basically, you put your muffins in, set your timer for 15 minutes. Once the timer goes off and you make your way over to the oven, you'll just turn your oven off. I then set the timer for another 10 minutes, left the oven light on to check them, and walked away. When that timer went off, I finally opened my oven to check them with a toothpick, and they were PERFECTLY done! Talk about energy savings! Plus it didn't heat up my house as much. :) Awesome tip for summer baking.
While they were in the oven, though, I made this simple glaze:
Coconut rum yogurt glaze:
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup warmed honey
6 oz greek yogurt (I used plain, but I like a tart glaze)
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp any rum (spiced is nice)
Toast the coconut on medium heat until it starts to turn golden, then take it off immediately! Mix it together with all the other ingredients until it's nice and smooth! I put about a tablespoon on top of each of my muffins, and then I licked the bowl. Hey, don't judge me.. You can do whatever you want with your leftovers.. But I suggest enjoying it. :)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Icelandic Pauses
Figured I'd bring back the poetry a bit with this one. It's also a throwback to the trip we took to Iceland last March. Everywhere I go makes an impression onto who I am becoming. Iceland is no exception.
Icelandic Pauses
I remember that night
when we landed
It was snowing like hell
You tried to pull those heavy bags,
all of them
for me
But you couldn't do it
The sidewalks were wet and icy
I remember staring out the window
into sheer nothingness
coated in a sheet of ice and snow
I remember that corrugated yellow tin building
It was so Scandinavian, so foreign
that I felt released,
tangibly intrepid
I remember the smell of sulphur
in hot showers and instant coffee
and a little box of sugar cubes in the
clear Ikea cabinets
I remember eating hamburgers and quick oats
with cinnamon and sugar
but I don't remember minding
I remember Emiliana Torrini,
the soundtrack to our trip across the moon
and other places
The black beaches near the white mountains
and I remember feeling overwhelmed
With the starkness
wanting to sink into those empty stretches of beach
and emerge when you can surf at midnight
Who would ever find me there?
I remember feeling the
Reykjavik winter winds on my face
when I looked to the sky to see stars
and instead saw the Northern Lights
I remember politics with Icelanders
and skyr and cheap cookies,
hot cocoa when it was most needed
in my life
I remember dancing in our apartment, drinking
Icelandic vodka, classy stuff,
making love on the sofa
All these things I remember
as clear as glacial ice
as clear as the nearly frozen water
that we snorkeled in
in that continental divide
We are one
you and I
and you knew from the start
we'd be nomads
Icelandic Pauses
I remember that night
when we landed
It was snowing like hell
You tried to pull those heavy bags,
all of them
for me
But you couldn't do it
The sidewalks were wet and icy
I remember staring out the window
into sheer nothingness
coated in a sheet of ice and snow
I remember that corrugated yellow tin building
It was so Scandinavian, so foreign
that I felt released,
tangibly intrepid
I remember the smell of sulphur
in hot showers and instant coffee
and a little box of sugar cubes in the
clear Ikea cabinets
I remember eating hamburgers and quick oats
with cinnamon and sugar
but I don't remember minding
I remember Emiliana Torrini,
the soundtrack to our trip across the moon
and other places
The black beaches near the white mountains
and I remember feeling overwhelmed
With the starkness
wanting to sink into those empty stretches of beach
and emerge when you can surf at midnight
Who would ever find me there?
I remember feeling the
Reykjavik winter winds on my face
when I looked to the sky to see stars
and instead saw the Northern Lights
I remember politics with Icelanders
and skyr and cheap cookies,
hot cocoa when it was most needed
in my life
I remember dancing in our apartment, drinking
Icelandic vodka, classy stuff,
making love on the sofa
All these things I remember
as clear as glacial ice
as clear as the nearly frozen water
that we snorkeled in
in that continental divide
We are one
you and I
and you knew from the start
we'd be nomads
Friday, July 6, 2012
The buns to end all buns
Grandiose, isn't it? These wonderful little jewels are worthy of the title and the effort it takes to make them as well. I'm a thrifty person. Ok, ok, I'm cheap. I'm okay with that. These are cheaper and tastier than what you can buy at the grocery store, plus who wouldn't be impressed when you tell them you MADE the buns?! Nobody, that's who. Anyway, you will always find that there are never enough of these in your life, so go ahead and double the recipe, freeze the dough or already baked buns, because you'll want them again.
There are only a couple tricks to these that I can think of adding here; one of which is to microwave the milk/butter (or whatever vegan alternatives you choose) in the microwave in order to get them up to temp. Start with 45 seconds or so, and then work your way up until it feels like bath water to the touch. Somewhere around 10
0 degrees. Sure, you could heat it on the stove, but it would take longer that way. Save yourself the time, and use the microwave. Another trick I use, because I'm kind of a perfectionist, is to weigh out the dough, divide it by 8 or 10 or however many buns you want to make (8-10 works for one batch) That way you get evenly sized buns and you don't have to guess about it. If you don't have a kitchen scale, no worries- Just eyeball it. And then on top I like to dust it with a little flour and a sprinkle of thyme for a beautiful rustic look. The buns in the photo are before I started doing that, so they have the more typical glazed egg-wash look. I prefer the other method, having tried both.
Here's recipe! Feel free to vegan-ize it and let me know how that goes! Should be pretty easy to just swap out the standard ingredients with vegan ones, but hey, I'm no expert!
Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 cup skim milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (sub some wheat flour here, it works beautifully. If you do use wheat though, try using honey instead of sugar, as they work well together.)
Optional:
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
sesame seeds (optional topping)
or
a little white flour and a sprinkle of thyme
Set a side a *large* bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
In a bowl, combine the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a smaller bowl, microwave the milk for 30 seconds at a time until it is about 100°F or feels like bath water.
Slowly whisk in the milk to the sugar, salt and yeast and stir until the yeast and sugar are basically dissolved (a couple of seconds).
Add the egg, butter and 1 cup of the flour and stir until there are no clumps.
Slowly add in the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour until the dough is covered enough to start kneading with your flour covered hands or feel free to use a stand mixer!
Knead for about 3 minutes.
Transfer the dough into the bowl that you set aside earlier. Please don't try using a small bowl. It will overflow insanely if you let it.. =/
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours until it has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down, reshape into a ball, recover, and let it rise again for another 1 hour, until it has doubled in size again.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Weigh the dough and then divide and shape into balls, letting them rise while the oven is preheating.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how browned you like them. Enjoy with the sweet potato burgers that I'll be posting next time around! :)
There are only a couple tricks to these that I can think of adding here; one of which is to microwave the milk/butter (or whatever vegan alternatives you choose) in the microwave in order to get them up to temp. Start with 45 seconds or so, and then work your way up until it feels like bath water to the touch. Somewhere around 10
0 degrees. Sure, you could heat it on the stove, but it would take longer that way. Save yourself the time, and use the microwave. Another trick I use, because I'm kind of a perfectionist, is to weigh out the dough, divide it by 8 or 10 or however many buns you want to make (8-10 works for one batch) That way you get evenly sized buns and you don't have to guess about it. If you don't have a kitchen scale, no worries- Just eyeball it. And then on top I like to dust it with a little flour and a sprinkle of thyme for a beautiful rustic look. The buns in the photo are before I started doing that, so they have the more typical glazed egg-wash look. I prefer the other method, having tried both.
Here's recipe! Feel free to vegan-ize it and let me know how that goes! Should be pretty easy to just swap out the standard ingredients with vegan ones, but hey, I'm no expert!
Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 cup skim milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (sub some wheat flour here, it works beautifully. If you do use wheat though, try using honey instead of sugar, as they work well together.)
Optional:
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
sesame seeds (optional topping)
or
a little white flour and a sprinkle of thyme
Set a side a *large* bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
In a bowl, combine the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a smaller bowl, microwave the milk for 30 seconds at a time until it is about 100°F or feels like bath water.
Slowly whisk in the milk to the sugar, salt and yeast and stir until the yeast and sugar are basically dissolved (a couple of seconds).
Add the egg, butter and 1 cup of the flour and stir until there are no clumps.
Slowly add in the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour until the dough is covered enough to start kneading with your flour covered hands or feel free to use a stand mixer!
Knead for about 3 minutes.
Transfer the dough into the bowl that you set aside earlier. Please don't try using a small bowl. It will overflow insanely if you let it.. =/
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours until it has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down, reshape into a ball, recover, and let it rise again for another 1 hour, until it has doubled in size again.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Weigh the dough and then divide and shape into balls, letting them rise while the oven is preheating.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how browned you like them. Enjoy with the sweet potato burgers that I'll be posting next time around! :)
Thursday, June 28, 2012
"Milkshake" obsession
I knocked over 6 other glasses, two containers of soap, a teapot, and a clock to get to this tall, clear glass in the picture. Then I stepped on some sort of unknown berries that are always appearing on our deck outside to get the mint garnish. I suffered for this picture. Enjoy it.
In all seriousness, you really have to try this recipe. There are alterations GALORE, so feel free to explore, and make it your own. This is MY own favorite ever. Yes, maybe even favorite food. You know, for the time being anyway.
It's healthy, decently low calorie, a good combination of carbs, protein, and fats, and it is cheap and easy. Did I mention the taste is TO DIE FOR?? Because it is. It can also be vegan if you sub the milk for almond milk or some other substitute and you change the whey protein to soy protein. I'm pretty sure the results will still be ridiculously wonderful, any way you slice it. I am currently continually on the search for those bags of cheap, overly ripe bananas for slicing and freezing, because I'm pretty sure we go through about 10-15 bananas a week these days, between Steve and me.
I call this my "workout shake," but who am I kidding?? It's 9:00 at night, I worked out 3 hours ago, and I'm craving a snack that won't make me mad at myself later on. Enter this shake. I'm pretty sure there isn't an appliance in my house more used than my lovely Martha Stewart blue Kitchenaid blender. (Thanks, mom! :D) Anyway, here's the recipe.
Choco-peanut butter banana bliss:
118 grams (one medium) banana- chopped and frozen
2 tbsp PB 2 Chocolate (this is a wonderful product available on amazon, with 85% fewer calories and fat than peanut butter, but if you don't have it/don't want to use it then use regular peanut butter. No sweat.)
1/4 cup whey protein. I use half Bob's Red Mill whey concentrate unflavored and half my husband's cheap protein that's cookies and cream flavored. I don't like using much of his because it makes me bloated (thanks, creatine!) but a little adds something to the shake. Plain or vanilla or chocolate protein or leave it out completely if you like will also work nicely.
1 cup milk of your choice
1 tbsp flax seeds, because I'm a health nut vegetarian, and I'm sure I'm not getting enough Omega 3's. ;)
Blend the dry ingredients with the milk until smooth and then add the banana and blend until smooth and creamy. It will be just like a milkshake, thick and slurpy! Garnish however you like.. or slurp it down like a kid. ;)
In all seriousness, you really have to try this recipe. There are alterations GALORE, so feel free to explore, and make it your own. This is MY own favorite ever. Yes, maybe even favorite food. You know, for the time being anyway.
It's healthy, decently low calorie, a good combination of carbs, protein, and fats, and it is cheap and easy. Did I mention the taste is TO DIE FOR?? Because it is. It can also be vegan if you sub the milk for almond milk or some other substitute and you change the whey protein to soy protein. I'm pretty sure the results will still be ridiculously wonderful, any way you slice it. I am currently continually on the search for those bags of cheap, overly ripe bananas for slicing and freezing, because I'm pretty sure we go through about 10-15 bananas a week these days, between Steve and me.
I call this my "workout shake," but who am I kidding?? It's 9:00 at night, I worked out 3 hours ago, and I'm craving a snack that won't make me mad at myself later on. Enter this shake. I'm pretty sure there isn't an appliance in my house more used than my lovely Martha Stewart blue Kitchenaid blender. (Thanks, mom! :D) Anyway, here's the recipe.
Choco-peanut butter banana bliss:
118 grams (one medium) banana- chopped and frozen
2 tbsp PB 2 Chocolate (this is a wonderful product available on amazon, with 85% fewer calories and fat than peanut butter, but if you don't have it/don't want to use it then use regular peanut butter. No sweat.)
1/4 cup whey protein. I use half Bob's Red Mill whey concentrate unflavored and half my husband's cheap protein that's cookies and cream flavored. I don't like using much of his because it makes me bloated (thanks, creatine!) but a little adds something to the shake. Plain or vanilla or chocolate protein or leave it out completely if you like will also work nicely.
1 cup milk of your choice
1 tbsp flax seeds, because I'm a health nut vegetarian, and I'm sure I'm not getting enough Omega 3's. ;)
Blend the dry ingredients with the milk until smooth and then add the banana and blend until smooth and creamy. It will be just like a milkshake, thick and slurpy! Garnish however you like.. or slurp it down like a kid. ;)
Monday, June 25, 2012
Impromptu lunch
There is no picture of this yet.. I am ashamed to admit to eating it all before I could snag one, and this is, as it says an impromptu situation. There doesn't need to be a picture just yet, because trust me, there will be many repeats of this meal. This is my quintessential impromptu meal: Pad Thai. There's always SOMETHING in the house that I can throw into a sweet, saucy mix topped with fresh peanuts. Why do we always seem to have everything needed for this dish?! Oh yeah, and for chocolate chip cookies. But the reason for that one is obvious. Perhaps they are just both so very crave-able? That's my take on it anyway. It's delicious, quick, healthy, and SUPER versatile. What I had today fit perfectly. I had a shredded up head of cabbage, half an onion, a clove of garlic, some shirataki noodles (Hooray! I finally found the perfect way to use those noodles!) an egg, and about half a fresh zucchini. Whatever you have will be fine, I assure you. So you don't have cabbage? Do you have spinach or another green? Pssh, then don't worry about it! You have carrots? Throw a couple of those in there. I'm serious, it's hard to go wrong. If I had my very pick of veggies, I'd go with bok choy, onion, garlic, and an egg. But honestly, you put in it whatever good, fresh veggies you want. Let's just say you don't have the right kind of noodles- you don't have rice noodles or shirataki noodles. But maybe you have fettuccine or linguine noodles. Go ahead and use those. They make it a bit heavier, but it's really okay. I've made it with all different types of noodles, and while my favorite is actually this shirataki I just used, everything works fine. Here's the "recipe." hehe, it just feels wrong to call it that!
Impromptu Pad Thai:
Serves 2 a decent lunch:
1 8 oz package of shirataki noodles, rinsed and in warm water. Drain and dry before using
2 eggs
1/2 a zucchini- julienne cut. Or whatever.
1/2 white onion, sliced very thin
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 clove garlic, finely chopped. But I'm lazy, so I use the fine cheese shredder..
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light flavored oil
1 dash sriracha sauce
1 dash onion powder
1 dash ginger powder, or grate a little fresh. Whatever you want.
small handful of peanuts, chopped
First off, get your ingredients out and prepped. The cooking will be really quick and you don't want to be scrambling to get something chopped up while your eggs are burning. So once everything is prepped, you'll start by scrambling your eggs. No salt, no nothing. Just scramble and remove from the pan. Set aside. Then you'll need to start your veggies to cooking. Put the onion, garlic, and zucchini in a hot pan with the oil and the rest of the seasonings. Cook it for about 4-5 minutes, and then add your noodles, making sure they are decently dried before adding them. I put in a handful of peanuts then, and stirred it all around until the noodles have soaked up a good bit of the sauce, maybe 3 more minutes. I then toss in the eggs, stir around a bit, plate it up, sprinkle with peanuts and thai basil (because it's in my garden) and voila! Delicious! And so quick and easy.. This will likely be a common impromptu meal of yours as well! Pictures coming, I swear!
Impromptu Pad Thai:
Serves 2 a decent lunch:
1 8 oz package of shirataki noodles, rinsed and in warm water. Drain and dry before using
2 eggs
1/2 a zucchini- julienne cut. Or whatever.
1/2 white onion, sliced very thin
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 clove garlic, finely chopped. But I'm lazy, so I use the fine cheese shredder..
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light flavored oil
1 dash sriracha sauce
1 dash onion powder
1 dash ginger powder, or grate a little fresh. Whatever you want.
small handful of peanuts, chopped
First off, get your ingredients out and prepped. The cooking will be really quick and you don't want to be scrambling to get something chopped up while your eggs are burning. So once everything is prepped, you'll start by scrambling your eggs. No salt, no nothing. Just scramble and remove from the pan. Set aside. Then you'll need to start your veggies to cooking. Put the onion, garlic, and zucchini in a hot pan with the oil and the rest of the seasonings. Cook it for about 4-5 minutes, and then add your noodles, making sure they are decently dried before adding them. I put in a handful of peanuts then, and stirred it all around until the noodles have soaked up a good bit of the sauce, maybe 3 more minutes. I then toss in the eggs, stir around a bit, plate it up, sprinkle with peanuts and thai basil (because it's in my garden) and voila! Delicious! And so quick and easy.. This will likely be a common impromptu meal of yours as well! Pictures coming, I swear!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Easiest Bread Ever: Foccacia
I know you're thinking it's too hard. It's easy to just buy it. Granted, you will have an easier time if you have a stand mixer, but even if you choose to hand knead the dough, it's still an easy task. Not to mention you can get out any stress or tension from all that kneading! And trust me, once you start making your own bread, there's no going back! It's so easy, you'll be mad you haven't been making it all along! It's simple, easy to customize, and beyond delicious. Ask anyone who has ever had mine. They are all spoiled now. Even my husband says he is going to start making this bread! I like to throw in fresh herbs from the garden, but I'm telling you, dried herbs are perfectly wonderful in this bread. No need to splurge on buying fresh herbs if you don't grow them. Now here's my super simple, fool-proof recipe!
Herbed Foccacia bread:
1 tbsp honey or sugar
2 cups warm water
1 tbsp (or one packet)dry active yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt + extra for sprinkling on top!
2 tbsp olive oil + extra for basting bread
1 tsp dried oregano or a pinch from the garden
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
5-6 cups unbleached, all purpose flour (I like to do half whole wheat flour also. Makes it wonderfully nutty and adds nutrition!)
1/4 minced onion (optional)
6 or so cherry or grape tomatoes (optional)
Start by "proofing" the yeast, making sure it's still alive and active. You have no idea how disappointing it is to make a bread with dead yeast. Trust me, proof the yeast. To proof it, you put the sugar, warm water, and yeast into your mixing bowl and let it sit until it's poofy looking. You'll know what I mean when you see it. The yeast feeds on the sugars in the honey or the table sugar and get bigger. Once it's going, I like to add the salt, half the olive oil, and the herbs at this point. If you have a stand mixer, you will need to start the whole adding flour part with your regular flat mixing attachment, and then you'll need to move to your dough hook once it's nice and mixed. If you're using a wooden spoon, don't worry about that part. ;)
So now at this point, you'll start adding the flour, cup at a time. If you're using the onion and garlic option, you'll need to have them already cut up and sauteed a bit before this part. You'll need them to be going into the mixture at the same time as the flour so that they can be well incorporated. There is a good bit of variation in the amount of flour needed because it can depend on the exact amount of water you use, the weather, the way you hold your tooth, and whether or not the bread gods are smiling on you that day.. Anyway, just keep adding flour until it starts to form a ball in the center of the bowl. Then you'll need to keep kneading the dough for a while to develop the glutens, making a crispy outside and soft fluffy inside to the bread. I let mine go on the second setting in the mixer for around 5-7 minutes. Once it's nice and mixed comes the easy part- Cover the bowl and the dough with a warm, wet towel, and let it be.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450. Given about 15-20 minutes, the dough will have become huge and puffy, and you're ready to bake! I bake mine in an oiled, enamel coated dutch oven if I'm serving it immediately, because it makes the crust so perfectly crisp that it's irresistible! If you're baking it for later, you can bake it in two big loaves at the same time on a cookie sheet or whatever you want. Flatten and use your finger to create indentations all around the dough, so it doesn't puff up too much. I then baste it with olive oil, more kosher salt, and rosemary. Bake it for around 20 minutes, or until golden and lovely! It will make two large loaves or 8-10 individual sandwich sized rolls.
Enjoy your bread making! Mix it up! Love it and feel accomplished! :)
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Southwest roasted salad
I have done so many wonderful variations on the roasted romaine salad since I learned how to do it, that I figured I'd share a few delicious and easy (I don't have to mention healthy, you know that if you're reading about it on my blog, it's healthy.)
Mexican inspired roasted romaine salad: This is a single serving. But it should easily double or quadruple to suit your needs.
Cut, rinse, dry, and roast the romaine just like the previous salad. I sprinkled a bit of chipotle powder and garlic powder along with the salt, pepper, and olive oil. Just to keep the mexican theme flowing.
Now for the thing that makes this different: the corn.
In a saucepan, get about a teaspoon of olive oil heating up with a shake or two of chipotle powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Once it's nice and hot, and you are smelling the spices really well, add about 2/3 of frozen corn. If you have an onion, go ahead and chop it up and add it at this point as well. Saute everything until it is hot and smelling fabulous. This is when I add about a quarter of a cup of hot salsa to the mix. I let it cook for a couple more minutes to get some of the water out.
In the meantime, take two tablespoons of light sour cream and mix in about 1/4 of a teaspoon of chipotle powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper, a bit of skim milk to make it somewhat salad dressing consistency, and then let it sit in the bottom of your serving bowl, in the fridge, until the other ingredients are all prepared. You could also add a little salsa to it to thin it out and add a little extra zest.
Now it's time to plate it all up. I put the romaine in first, and mix it up with the dressing in the bottom until it's nice and mixed. Then I put the corn on the top. You can garnish with cilantro for a bit of flair! Delicious!
Mexican Inspired Roasted salad
1 heart of romaine, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed, and dried
2/3 cup of frozen corn
1 small onion
1/4 cup hot salsa
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon light sour cream
cilantro for garnish
Mexican inspired roasted romaine salad: This is a single serving. But it should easily double or quadruple to suit your needs.
Cut, rinse, dry, and roast the romaine just like the previous salad. I sprinkled a bit of chipotle powder and garlic powder along with the salt, pepper, and olive oil. Just to keep the mexican theme flowing.
Now for the thing that makes this different: the corn.
In a saucepan, get about a teaspoon of olive oil heating up with a shake or two of chipotle powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Once it's nice and hot, and you are smelling the spices really well, add about 2/3 of frozen corn. If you have an onion, go ahead and chop it up and add it at this point as well. Saute everything until it is hot and smelling fabulous. This is when I add about a quarter of a cup of hot salsa to the mix. I let it cook for a couple more minutes to get some of the water out.
In the meantime, take two tablespoons of light sour cream and mix in about 1/4 of a teaspoon of chipotle powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper, a bit of skim milk to make it somewhat salad dressing consistency, and then let it sit in the bottom of your serving bowl, in the fridge, until the other ingredients are all prepared. You could also add a little salsa to it to thin it out and add a little extra zest.
Now it's time to plate it all up. I put the romaine in first, and mix it up with the dressing in the bottom until it's nice and mixed. Then I put the corn on the top. You can garnish with cilantro for a bit of flair! Delicious!
Mexican Inspired Roasted salad
1 heart of romaine, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed, and dried
2/3 cup of frozen corn
1 small onion
1/4 cup hot salsa
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon light sour cream
cilantro for garnish
Monday, February 27, 2012
Roasted romaine salad
My new obsession is roasting greens for a new and interesting approach to the salad. This is a little creation that made a wonderful lunch for me, but you could certainly add a little more flair and make it into a wonderful dinner salad! Light and healthy, but hearty and warm, this salad has it all!
Roasted Romaine Salad:
1 boiled egg white. (I actually hate egg yolks, but if you like them, you can keep it!)
1 small head of romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed and dried
6 seedless grapes, cut in half
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 corn tortilla, cut into strips, salted, and baked at 450 until crunchy
1 oz feta cheese (sub goat cheese if you like)
salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle the two halves of romaine with salt, pepper, and olive oil and put it cut side down onto a greased (with olive oil, of course!) baking sheet. Cut the grapes and tomatoes and arrange them around the lettuce. Salt and pepper everything and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and roasted looking. Once done, chop the romaine, and layer it in a bowl and top with cheese and the crunchy tortilla! You can sub toasted nuts for the tortilla if you like. It would be equally delicious and delightful! You will be amazed at the flavors that develop in the roasted romaine! I'm a serious foodie, and I know that this certainly wouldn't make it to my blog unless it were flavorful, healthy, and hearty!
Roasted Romaine Salad:
1 boiled egg white. (I actually hate egg yolks, but if you like them, you can keep it!)
1 small head of romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed and dried
6 seedless grapes, cut in half
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 corn tortilla, cut into strips, salted, and baked at 450 until crunchy
1 oz feta cheese (sub goat cheese if you like)
salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle the two halves of romaine with salt, pepper, and olive oil and put it cut side down onto a greased (with olive oil, of course!) baking sheet. Cut the grapes and tomatoes and arrange them around the lettuce. Salt and pepper everything and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and roasted looking. Once done, chop the romaine, and layer it in a bowl and top with cheese and the crunchy tortilla! You can sub toasted nuts for the tortilla if you like. It would be equally delicious and delightful! You will be amazed at the flavors that develop in the roasted romaine! I'm a serious foodie, and I know that this certainly wouldn't make it to my blog unless it were flavorful, healthy, and hearty!
Banana-berry cocoa ice cream
Ok, so it's not reallyice cream.. but it's a delicious, fruity, low calorie treat that will happily replace your occasional (or daily) bowl of ice cream! Feel free to get fun and funky with it. May I suggest a tsp of peanut butter in place of the strawberries for a fat burning alternative? How about blueberries? Sprinkle chopped almonds on top for a deliciously crunchy addition! The possibilities are endless! The only thing you can't skip is the banana, as it is what gives this ice cream its creamy and decadent texture! Otherwise you'll end up with a sorbet type dish, and if that's your thing, go for it. Personally I like it creamy!
Banana-berry cocoa ice cream:
1 ripe banana (go organic.. the taste difference is worth it!)
1-3 tbsp cocoa powder ( I say the darker the better!)
3-4 medium strawberries
In a smoothie maker/small blender, add the strawberries and the banana and pulse until smooth. You might want to chop up the banana first to make it easier to blend. Once it's smooth, add the cocoa powder and blend again until it's combined. Pour it into a small ziplock bag and put it in the freezer. If you want to eat the ice cream that day, you can make the process easier by squishing the bag every few hours to make sure it doesn't freeze up all the way. If you're eating it sometime in the future, just make sure you take the bag out of the freezer a bit before you plan on eating it, let it thaw just a bit, and then pulse it in the blender again until the texture is smooth and creamy! It will get there, trust me!
Banana-berry cocoa ice cream:
1 ripe banana (go organic.. the taste difference is worth it!)
1-3 tbsp cocoa powder ( I say the darker the better!)
3-4 medium strawberries
In a smoothie maker/small blender, add the strawberries and the banana and pulse until smooth. You might want to chop up the banana first to make it easier to blend. Once it's smooth, add the cocoa powder and blend again until it's combined. Pour it into a small ziplock bag and put it in the freezer. If you want to eat the ice cream that day, you can make the process easier by squishing the bag every few hours to make sure it doesn't freeze up all the way. If you're eating it sometime in the future, just make sure you take the bag out of the freezer a bit before you plan on eating it, let it thaw just a bit, and then pulse it in the blender again until the texture is smooth and creamy! It will get there, trust me!
Smoky roasted chickpeas
Stand-by. This is your new go-to snack. Forget the potato chips because these crunchy little wonders will steal your heart and taste buds. You can soak and cook your own chickpeas for a more economical treat, or you can go easy and quick with canned ones! Just make sure you rinse all that extra salt off before you bake them! Enjoy!
Smoky roasted chickpeas:
15 oz can of garbanzo beans/ chickpeas
1/2 tsp smoked chipotle seasoning
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp olive oil or olive oil cooking spray
sprinkle of salt
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In the meantime, drain and rinse the chickpeas very well. Allow to dry or pat dry with a paper towel. Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray or olive oil, and lay out the chickpeas in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasonings and a bit more olive oil to coat well and toss with hands until well distributed. Bake at 450 for 40 minutes, making sure to check and shake the pan after 30 minutes to make sure they don't burn. Remove from oven and enjoy! They are crunchy and delicious! Not to mention healthy! Ditch the chip habit!
Smoky roasted chickpeas:
15 oz can of garbanzo beans/ chickpeas
1/2 tsp smoked chipotle seasoning
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp olive oil or olive oil cooking spray
sprinkle of salt
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In the meantime, drain and rinse the chickpeas very well. Allow to dry or pat dry with a paper towel. Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray or olive oil, and lay out the chickpeas in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasonings and a bit more olive oil to coat well and toss with hands until well distributed. Bake at 450 for 40 minutes, making sure to check and shake the pan after 30 minutes to make sure they don't burn. Remove from oven and enjoy! They are crunchy and delicious! Not to mention healthy! Ditch the chip habit!
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