Irish Colcannon balls

Colcannon is a popular Irish dish typically made with potatoes and cabbage. I'm not certain why but some say it is eaten around Halloween and can be used to predict marriage- this tradition is really beyond me. But I do know that it more resembles mashed potatoes with bits of cabbage, as well as some other herbs and spices folded in. I used a version of a traditional Colcannon recipe to make my own healthy appi-teaser balls.

Before I go any further, I did a bit of research and found some answers to this interesting tradition. People would hide charms or rings or thimbles in the green speckled Colcannon dishes on Halloween. When an unmarried lady found the prize in her dish she would then put the mashed Colcannon with the prize into a sock and hang it on her door handle. The first man to enter her house was the future husband. What a way to live..."kids it all started with the mashed Colcannon on Halloween....and that's how I met your mother ;) 

Oh and there's a Colcannon song I found that musicians have actually posted videos of on youtube...

Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream? 
 With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream. 
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake? 
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?

The chorus:
Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry. Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not, And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.


How fun! Next Halloween I'm totally going to do this. But, in the meantime I'll continue to make this  traditional Irish dish into balls...perhaps I'll call them the nontraditional Irish balls. 

The basic differences between the traditional and the nontraditional (my recipe) are the substitution of white potatoes for sweet potatoes, the addition of extra spinach/kale, and baking the mash into balls for a pop-able snack time treat. I'm sure there are many many recipes using different spices and herbs and varying amounts of butter, cream, and what have yous, but I won't get into all that. I modified a recipe from fatfreevegan.com and have added a link to the original recipe. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/03/colcannon-puffs.html

If you decide to open the link and look at this recipe, the only difference is I used sweet potatoes instead of potatoes, used spinach instead of kale, and used way more spinach than recommended to make greener in terms of color and in health. Enjoy! 
(Exit stage right to a sweet melody of the Colcannon song playing in the background)

whole wheat cinnamon graham crackers

Obviously I want to conquer the world like Pinky and The Brain, obviously. But in the meantime while I get all the blueprints of master conquery together I can conquer (or try to) the kitchen. I'll be a spinning in my mouse wheel creating and modifying recipes. 

I aim to eat a lot of whole foods that are unprocessed, natural and fresh. Or at least if they are processed they are done so without adding preservatives or other additives. Adding high fructose corn syrup to jam and applesauce or adding oil and sugar to peanut butter is totally necessary  It makes me so mad because I don't want to put those things in my body and there are sometimes little options to avoid these products. But aside from me, the sad thing is is that a lot of people are unaware or simply don't care about the extras in their foods. Because it can be hard to find pure or natural products in the stores, I have started to make a lot of these products myself. I've made applesauce, pearsauce, yamsauce, jam, canned fruit without sugar, cookies, muffins and breads without butter or oil, yogurt, soft serve frozen yogurt,  biscotti, granola, and so much more like homemade healthier graham crackers.

Graham crackers are a recent obsession of mine. They are delicious with applesauce and/or peanut butter and a banana, which are all staples in my daily diet. I found a recipe a while ago that had homemade graham crackers in order to make your own graham cracker crust. I went ahead and made the crust recipe because I wanted to make a dessert, I didn't have store bought graham crackers and was too penny pinchery to go out and buy a box. I did a search on the internet (and in my cupboard) and had all the ingredients for this graham recipe. I was delighted, as I'm sure you can imagine. 

I have now made the crackers a few times and each batch is pretty different, only because I play around with the ingredients a lot depending on what I have or what I want to try. But I posted a link to the original recipe below. I have had success replacing the oil with a mashed rip banana to make a little healthier. Other things I have tried was adding banana extract instead of vanilla, I've used whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour rather than regular whole wheat because it's less dense. I almost always triple the amount of cinnamon and sometimes add nutmeg or cloves to create a little Fall cracker explosion. You could even add canned pumpkin instead of the oil (or my banana) for Fallish flavors! It's all your choice. Have fun, have a ball, bake 'em all! 

You can roll out the dough on parchment paper and cook as one large sheet of dough. Then, after they are baked you just crack the sheet into pieces of any size. Or if you have a cookie cutter you can also do it that way like sugar cookies. 

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/11/04/smores-graham-crackers/ 

Seitan

Some call it say-tan, others say satan (yeah like the devil). But regardless of your thoughts on the pronunciation, this creation is a little bit or bite of heaven. Make no mistake about it; they taste like chewy pockets of Thanksgiving stuffing. The recipe I modified included mushrooms, sage and thyme, so you see how they'd resemble stuffing. 

Seitan is often called "wheat meat" or more descriptively as non-soy, meat substitute. It is made from vital wheat gluten flour, which actually is not a flour at all. It is the protein component of wheat flour,  or in other words the main protein in wheat flour. Vital wheat gluten is 75-80% protein because of the processing method where most of the bran and starch is removed. These proteins are responsible for the rise, texture and crumbs of breads and therefore often used for baked goods, and can be used as a lower carb option "flour" too. However, vital wheat gluten is also the main ingredient in fake meat products like seitan, or in Asian cuisine for mock duck, and even in Tofurky products. The description below from Happy Herbivore explains it again. 

"Although vital wheat gluten looks like a flour, it's not a "flour" like whole-wheat is a flour, rather it's powdered gluten. Gluten is the protein found in wheat. Its what gives bread its shape and pizza dough its elasticity. Vital wheat gluten is just the protein in a powdered form. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starches dissolve, leaving just the gluten behind." http://happyherbivore.com/2012/01/what-vital-wheat-gluten/

So, the main ingredient in my mushroom and garlic seitan balls is this vital wheat gluten. Like I starting describing before my seitan balls included ingredients like mushrooms, thyme, sage, garlic, onion and veggie broth, which in combination closely resembles a stuffing recipe. Yummm delicious!

I've been obsessed with the seitan I made all week, so now it's all gone and time to think about making more. I don't think I'll even bother changing the recipe I used because they were so tasty.  

To make the seitan I first put the garlic and mushrooms in the food processors and pulsed until it was chopped in smaller bits. Then added those to a bowl with the rest of the wet ingredients and mixed. I then combined the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and added the wet ones in. I mixed again until it resembled dough and rolled out small ping pong balls. I baked them on  a cookie sheet with aluminum foil at 350 until they started to brown. I overbaked them probably because they were a little harder than I wanted. I really cannot say how long to bake them but I  would guess more than 15 minutes , you'll just have to keep an eye on them. 

wet ingredients
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
dry ingredients
• 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat pastryflour
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Yogurt making from chef Ryann

In the 5025 Corbett test kitchen this week a second try at making homemade yogurt was attempted. (I have dreams that someday, maybe in my retirement years, I will work in the Bon Appetit kitchen as a recipe tester.) My first attempt involved almond milk and a sub par incubator for the fermentation process. There were a lot of steps with this technique that were questionable. Like using a crockpot for the incubation phase or using almond milk in place of cow's milk, what was I thinking? The crockpot method didn't work for me because my crockpot cools pretty fast so the milk sat basically at room temperature overnight, rather than at a balmy 115 degrees like it should have. This explains why the result was just as the starting product, regular almond milk. Nope, it never set or got thick and creamy like yogurt should be because of the lack of heat. The fact that it was almond milk rather than cow's milk may have also contributed to this failure. But I read reviews where others had success with almond milk...they must be lying...

Anyway, the second attempt was magic. I woke up like it was Christmas morning ready to open my incubator to see what gifts I'd been given. Let me back up a few hours first though (ohhh the suspense). I did more research after my first failure to find other methods for yogurt making (it was an obvious place to start since my first flop failure). I found some very interesting facts about milk. Did you know that if milk is heated to 185 degrees, or just below boiling, it reduces the risk of bacterial growth? This is so important because of the long incubation phase needed to set the yogurt. I also learned that when milk is kept at a constant warm temperature (about 115 degrees) for 8-24 hours the live cultures you add will break down the lactose (the milk sugars). The milk sugar breakdown is what lactose intolerant people are unable to do, thus it causes all kinds of unpleasant GI symptoms. However if the live cultures break down the sugars for you during incubation then all people including the lactose intolerant can enjoy homemade cow milk yogurt. I know, it's wild. It's science! It's mmmmmmagic. 

I better explain all the tools and ingredients needed for this as I have already mentioned some. Obviously you need cow milk (whole, reduced fat or non fat). You'll need about a half cup of organic yogurt that has live cultures in it. It can be plain or flavored as long as it has live cultures. A double broiler, or make shift one, and a cooking thermometer are also needed. Last, a camping or mini picnicking cooler is needed for incubation.

The Process: 

Prepare the incubator: find your cooler and dust it off. Put a towel on the bottom of it. Set the cooler aside to use later.  

Prepare your tools: You can sterilize the thermometer and measuring cup in the boiling water you'll need for the next step. Sterilizing also helps to reduce bacterial growth. 

Heat the milk: heat a 1/2 gallon of milk in a double broiler to at least 185 degrees, make sure to keep under 200 degrees. Stir the milk while it's heating so it heats evenly and doesn't burn on the bottom. 

Cool the milk: Remove milk from the heat and let it cool in the pot to about 115 degrees. It takes about 20 minutes to cool on the counter. You can speed this up by placing the pot into a cold water bath, but be careful not to let any water get into the milk pot. Use your thermometer to check the temps.

Add the cultures: Once cooled to 115 degrees, add the 1/2 cup of store bought yogurt and mix well. 

Get ready for the incubator: Pour the milk from the pot into two large mason jars and close with lids. Find two other mason jars, fill them with boiling water, and close with lids. Put all four jars in the mini cooler on top of the towel and pull the sides of the towel up over the jars to cover so the jars are wrapped up to trap the heat. Close the lid of the cooler and let it sit for at least 8 hours, or longer. I've heard the longer you let it incubate the thicker it will become.

Below are two websites that also have a recipe and tips for reference. Check them out. It seems there are a lot of ways to do this, but find what works for you.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/09/diy-homemade-greek-yogurt-recipe.html?ref=search

http://lifewithlampnsofa.com/2012/05/12/homemade-vanilla-yogurt/

almond joy cookies

Should I be a butcher? A baker? Or a candlestick maker? Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub.

I often don't recognize that I am the exception and not the rule with my kitchen creation crazes. I am delighted to spend all my free time standing above the black and white tiles, hovering over the counter tops and floating back and forth in my 10 x 2 foot kitchen space to access ingredients, bowls, utensils, or the oven/stove/microwave appliances. It never seems lonely, although I am almost always alone. Nor is it boring or quiet as thoughts and ideas are racing like a endorphin high athlete in my head. I had for a while starting putting on a Radiolab episodes while I cook, but realized that I would completely zone out and not listen to the witty banter between Jad and Robert. So instead of feeling bad about the lack of company or missed opportunities to learn about sciencey things in my free time, I started to appreciate my thoughts and creativity. I realized that I am expanding my mind in others ways. But when I start expanding my belly too this kitchen craze may need to be halted.
So, I woke up Sunday morning and wanted to make a treat before I went to work. I wanted to use the shredded coconut I bought weeks ago.  I thought about the other ingredients I had and decided to try a 'almond joy graham cracker cookie.' I made a basic cookie dough, except used flax meal in the place of an egg, and added chocolate chips and the shredded coconut to the batter. I also had some graham crackers left over from my sister's visit and crumbled a few sheets in the dough in attempt to add a honey graham flavor. The dough was wonderful! Plus, I could eat as much as I wanted because it didn't have raw egg in it! Not that the raw egg factor has ever gotten between me and the dough, I always eat the dough, but there are some that worry about this. Just think, if Gaston from beauty and the Beast can pop all those raw eggs why can't I? And if my parents let me do it as a kid, why not continue the habit with a healthier and stronger body. Seriously, I ask. Ponder it. Will you be a great parent and let your kids eat the dough? Keep in mind it's something kids remember FOR EV ER!

Coconut and chocolate chips, 
oh my!

To continue on, I didn't bake the cookies after stirring up the dough because I honestly have been enjoying the dough balls more than the baked cookies. I always end up telling Scott that once they are baked I don't like it anymore. I have baker bias. The flavors are just different after they come out of the oven, probably a combination of being drier and not as sweet. But this time I did a tester bake batch and only put a few dough balls in the oven. Just as expected, I was disappointed with the baked cookie. The graham cracker crumbs made the baked cookie turn out a little more stiff than normal, whereas the graham crumbs in the dough created little crunchy pockets of goodness. I'm pretty happy that I had the foresight to not put all my eggs in one basket, or all my cookies on one sheet. Real life lessons learned about real insignificant problems. Who needs Radiolab? (I still do.)

They're baked

    

DIY: Roasting coffee beans

A few weeks ago I played in a trampoline dodge ball tournament. It was awesome as you can imagine with soft rubber balls flying, nailing people in the head, back, stomach, legs..all body parts counted. On top of the traditional dodge ball shenanigans, imagine a huge netted bouncy trampoline that could easily hold over 2 dozen people. It's every kid's (and adult's-let's be real) dream come true.

 Jump, throw, duck, laugh, cry... play ball!

After we took second place in the tourney and scored a case of beer, a small group of us went to a local pub and sat around a cozy outdoor fire pit. Two of my teammates had recently started roasting their own coffee beans and were talking about how easy it was. They were telling us that the unroasted beans ('the 'green beans'), are easy to buy and can be roasted in the oven on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. The lack of bitterness was the major difference between home roasting and store bought roasted beans, oh duh and the freshness of roasting and grinding your own beans only as you need them. They roast once a week and freshly grind each morning for a delicious cup o joe. 

Below is a picture of the 'green beans,' simply meaning they are unroasted. As you see we roasted ours in a cast iron skillet, rather than in the oven on a cookie sheet. Unless you have a convection oven, your beans are at high risk for burning on the bottom and thus not roasting evenly. With the cast iron or "frying pan" method, you just need a skillet on medium to low heat. No oil or anything else needed but beans. In order to prevent burning and to ensure an evenly roasted bean, we stirred constantly stirred the beans around the pan. It only took about 10 minutes until they were dark in color (almost black), much like you would find whole beans at the store. They crack and pop and smell  when they are roasting; it's a fun process and again sooo easy. It is definitely well worth every extra step step in comparison to buying already roasted whole beans or buying ground coffee. Plus, as if you need another reason, plus the green beans that we bought were only $6.50 a pound! 

When life presents green beans, make em black and drink up! 

Wanted: Cream of tartar

Today I tried to make cookies to take to work to share with my coworkers. I had a recipe for a "skinny lemon poppy seed cookie" that I was excited to try. I only recently started to like the flavor of lemony sweets, but still cannot even think of eating lemon meringue pie, yuck. My grandma is said to make a delicious pie and family members even request she make it for family parties. But still, I want nothing to do with that lemon treat. But the cookies I decided to try. 
I have had this bag of poppy seeds for well over a few months, dare I say years even. It was time to use them, and with my new found like for lemon it seemed like a winning idea to make lemon poppy seed cookies. I found a lightened up recipe and set up my stuff in the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee. The one ingredient that I didn't have was cream of tartar, but after researching I thought I could  just substitute it by adding more baking powder. Spoiler alert: it turns out that there is no good substitute for the tartar. If you don't have it, don't fake it. My cookies turned out flat, yes actually flatter than a pancake and so sad looking. However, the batter was so delicious that I will probably try to make them again and actually harness the magical powers of the tartar. 
I also added crushed rosemary to the batter and will absolutely do it again the second time around. So instead of bringing my fun coworkers fresh baked cookies I just left them on the pan, flattening in the center even more like a cooling cake. Before I left for work though I peeled a cookie off the aluminum foil and tasted it and would have loved if it was fluffy. Better luck to myself next time. 
My ingredients from most to least amounts added include:
corn flour (b/c this was what I had on hand), sugar, butter, flax seed meal, water, poppy seeds  baking powder, salt, lemon juice and zest, and rosemary. 

This is my Grandma, she's the
queen of baking!

This is what they were supposed to look
like from the original blog :) 

But this is what they turned out like
without having the tartar...

Look how flat and depressing  

Spaghetti squash pasta with walnut pesto

I've been having a lot of scrumptious girls nights recently; it is a standing Thursday date night for us all. And I say scrumptious because most of these nights are centered around cooking together, eating good, drinking wine and having great conversations. Plus there has been some really amazing cheeses too, and I'm not usually too big into cheese since I'm lactose intolerant. But we're talking about a soft triple cream with a hint of lemon, how could I resist?!
Anyway a few weeks ago I made a walnut pesto in my adorable yellow food processor. The pesto mostly included the walnuts, fresh basil, fresh parsley, artichokes, garlic and lemon. The plan was to put it on roasted spaghetti squash. When cooked the squash can be scooped out of the rind and is stringy like pasta. I added sauteed peas and onions and rewarmed the squash with the pesto mixed in. The flavor was pretty dull and needed a lot of fixing, so we added other herbs and spices that we found in our friend's kitchen. Unfortunately there was not a lot of extras to choose from, but overall all the girls seemed to be happy with the dish. We also had sauteed garlic and shallot chicken breasts, a red quinoa broccoli rabe dish, and a huge green salad to go with the pesto-ed spaghetti squash (and the mentioned OMG cheeses as an appetizer).
I had roasted such a big squash and had made so much pesto that I took home half of what we made. At home I have a fully stocked kitchen with all kinds of herbs, spices, hot sauces, and extra veggies to saute and add, so that is exactly what I did. I added red bell pepper and more onion and a little braggs amino acids to put the BAM in it....BAM! Fortunately for me the revised version of the squash was so much better and more flavorful than when eaten with the other girls. It is unfortunate for them however, but I also know that my palate requires an intense abundance of flavor to be satisfied so maybe they were just as happy with version 1 as I was with version 2. After all they still allow me to cook for them and say I'm a good cook so that says something.

Here is my dinner plate
Bon Appetit!

The recipe for the lemon artichoke walnut pesto and squash was adapted from a recipe on a blog called "paleomg." You may have already guessed, but the woman writing this blog is following the recently trendy Paleo lifestyle.  The link is below.

http://paleomg.com/artichoke-lemon-pesto-chicken-pasta/

Friends fish tacos with crema and slaw

Another great weekend has come and gone, and it was another fabulous time to try try out new recipes with friends. The original plan was to get fresh fish from Pikes Place Fish Market in Seattle, since we were already downtown at the music museum. However, traffic, parking, and crowd really got the best of us and we just winged it with a frozen cod filet. So we never made it to the market, but we did find the energy to put together a  menu including smoked paprika cod, cilantro-lime crema,  and a cilantro- jalapeno cabbage slaw. Each dish had flavors that complimented each other. The smokiness of the fish was evened out by the sweet and vinegary slaw and the tangy plain yogurt crema. We juggled between several different recipes and just used what we liked, as any good chef will do right? Below are the basic ingredients we used for each dish.
Fish spice rub ingredients: cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and garlic powder.
Cabbage slaw ingredients: green cabbage, green onion, red onion, shredded carrot, rice vinegar, white sugar, dried garlic, salt, pepper, jalapeno, cilantro.
Cilantro lime cream sauce ingredients: plain greek yogurt, cilantro, lime juice and zest, salt, garlic clove, green onions, jalapeno.

Hanging guitars at the music museum

This is Pikes Place Market, but we did not make time to go

I tricked ya "rice"

It was Friday night, a perfect night for a low key dinner party with friends. I mean what else is there to do in Portland than to eat delicious food, drink wine and watch multiple episodes of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia?" Did I mention it was just Friday, a day when nothing in this city is going on.....noooo, I don't feel guilty about staying in and snuggling up on the couch with my homies. Okay, what I feel most guilty about is letting netflix do all the work by auto-playing the next episode of a great TV series. Boom! one right after the other they play without ever lifting a finger to make it happen. Modern technology is the reason why we watched so many episodes, immobilized on the couch. But we had fun and laughed together, that's what matters.

Samantha and I set the dinner menu for the night, which included pan-seared rosemary dijon garlic chicken, a sauteed onion cauliflower "rice," and a big spring salad. The dessert menu (of course us ladies need dessert) was an apple, raspberry, blackberry fruit crisp with a chai glaze drizzle. You should be drooling because yeah it was pretty deeeelish. Us ladies (with powered noses and pantyhose...) even had a second helping. 

Had we not scarfed it all down, I could have taken and uploaded pictures. But we did, and so I can't share. There's always next time since I will be making the "rice" again for sure. See the trick to the rice (the 'I tricked ya rice') is that it is all made from cauliflower! You heard right, cauliflower. When you chop up raw cauliflower and pulse it in a food processor it has a similar appearance as rice. Trick or treat....I'd say a definite treat! And now think about adding the raw cauliflower chunks to seasoned and sauteed onions and garlic, cook for a few more minutes and you have a heavenly dish right in your own kitchen. Basically that's all there is to it. You start by sauteing onions with any spices you want and while that's cooking you can gently pulse the raw cauliflower. Add the cauliflower to the cooked onions, cook a few more minutes, add more spices if you want or a little broth to moisten and it's done. I bet peas and carrots would be a great addition to for a little more texture. Even toasted nuts for a crunch, I'm such a texture seeker. 

Our ingredients: cauliflower, onions, olive oil, garlic, vegetable broth, chicken seasoning, red pepper flakes, black pepper.

My inspiration and base recipe came for the 'rice' dish came from this link: 

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/01/recipe-for-cauliflower-rice-with-fried.html

Navratan Kurma

Indian food has made it's way into my mind again recently. I have been missing the flavor of a good Indian dish. I used to go to an Indian restaurant in Folsom, CA called The India House and fell in love with the chicken tikka masala, much to my lactose intolerant stomach's dislike. They had other delicious food as well, including, well everything there was actually delicious. Anyway, I found this recipe and decided to try it because 1) the pictures captured my interest. 2) it is loaded with veggies. 3) it did not use cream like my favorite tikka masala. 4) it looked do-able and easy enough. 5) I like the woman's blog who supplied this recipe.

Here is the link to the actual recipe, I made some very slight modifications.
http://www.holycowvegan.net/2008/09/navratan-kurma.html

The ingredient's list at first was overwhelming; I panicked when seeing it for the first time. But after reading through it I calmed and found that it was mostly the spices that made the list so long.

 I started my Indian journey by letting 1/2 cup of cashew soak in water for at least 30 minutes. Then I started boiling the carrots, broccoli and sweet potatoes in water (they have different 'done' times so I could not boil all at the same exact time). I just boiled each until soft.

Next, I sauteed ginger and garlic in a skillet until soft and browned and started adding the list of spices to coat the onion mixture. After 1 minute I added the tomatoes and tumeric to the mix and watched until the tomatoes started breaking down. Next I added cottage cheese and stirred to incorporate for 2-3 minutes. I added the salt and then the cooked veggies. This is another recipe where you can just use what you have on hand in terms of veggies. I used about 4 cups of mixed veggies including all the favorites: sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, green beans, onions, zucchini, and tomatoes.

After several minutes or so on lower heat the mixture will thicken and get to be like a gravy that coats the veggies. In the meantime you can strain the cashews and add the soaked nuts to a food processor and blend until it becomes a paste. You then add this cashew nut paste to the veggie gravy deliciousness and stir in. Serve it up and ENJOY! I added a few squirts of braggs and siracha to mine after serving as always because I love the nutty heat this combo provides.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cashews (soaked and ground into a paste)

4 cup chopped veggies (cooked til tender)

2 Tbsp minced/chopped garlic
2 Tbsp minced/chopped ginger
1 medium onion chopped
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp poppyseeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp red pepper flakes


1/2 tsp tumeric
2 tomatoes

3/4 cup cottage cheese
salt to taste

Rosemary walnut raisin crisps

There is one night during the week that I have a love-hate relationship with. It may seem odd but here's why.. I love this day because I'm off of work, can plan events with friends and finally start my weekend. Whoo hoo! But, I also hate this day because I am wide awake all by myself well into the wee hours of the night when most 'normal' people are asleep. This leaves me trying to keep busy and find ways to entertain myself, something that I could never do as a kid. I was notorious for saying "Mom I'm bored. What should I do?" Luckily as an adult I've learned a few more skills and know that I can easily entertain myself for hours and hours in the kitchen, without ever realizing how much time has actually passed. Imagine if I had that Easy Bake Oven as a kid, I could have learned this about myself long long ago and not had to ask others if they'd want to "play a puzzle with me." But now, after ditching the puzzles, I can easily get lost in the kitchen creating my own recipes and trying out other's recipes that I find on healthy blog sites. I geek out by searching the internet for new recipes because I love playing around with the ingredients, wondering how they will come together and I love being the only taste tester in the kitchen. Add a little more honey, have a taste. Mix in the rosemary, have a taste. Stir a few more times, have another taste. Preheat the oven, better have another taste before it goes in. You get the point here. In the past I typically turned to 'ohsheglows.com' and 'chocolatecoveredkatie,' two different blogs that feature vegan/vegetarian recipes, but for this creation I found a random blogger and modified the recipe (because I never have all the right ingredients). 

       

So on Wednesday, alone in my kitchen at 12 pm midnight I set out to make these rosemary walnut raisin crisps. They were better than I could have imagined; they were delicious. And now shamefully I will admit that 4 days later they are almost all gone. Think melba toasts, but thinner, more flavorful, possibly healthier, resembling nothing like a cardboard product, and whalllah you have a tasty treat.

 

My ingredients: whole wheat pastry flour, walnuts, plain greek yogurt, water, raisins, honey, baking soda, salt, lemon juice, rosemary, lemon zest.

Banana soft serve y'all

The banana soft serve with chocolate chips and pretzels!

Why this recipe is automatic. It's systematic, it's hydromatic... it's grease lightening! Okay obviously it's not really grease lightening, but it is so exciting and wonderful that I would say the two are in the same category in terms of hype. What is it you ask? Why don't I just tell you the recipe I am speaking of. It's banana soft serve y'all!

I've been wanting to make a mock frozen yogurt/ ice cream recipe for a while now. My first introduction to it was a couple years back when I was having a slumber party with 5 adorable kids. One of them was lactose intolerant (like me) so his mother made him "banana ice cream" so he wouldn't be left out at dessert time with all the other kids. The mother told me it was just pureed bananas, I couldn't believe it. This was when I became obsessed with frozen banana chunks, which now I always have in stock in the freezer. Back to soft serve though. 

Last weekend I was finally motivated enough to make the soft serve when I scored  about 5 dozen overripe bananas from the fruit stand for 2 bucks. If you are considering using under ripe or just regular ripe bananas I assure you it's not the same and the end result may be very different. Overripe bananas are less starchy, more sugary and sweet, and the texture is softer, easier to puree. All of these make the banana a great candidate for the mock ice cream treat.

To get started, once you have the overripe bananas, you first cut the bananas into large chucks and stick them in the freezer. Then when they are hard you can mash them up or use a food processor to puree them into a consistency like soft serve. Once you are happy with the consistency, either pure smooth or still a bit chunky, you can eat it. Although depending on how long you are mashing/ processing you may need to stick it back into the freezer for a bit to harden. And that's it! Easy as that, you have your healthy banana dessert. 

But wait, there's more! I am Miss Piggy, thus I believe more is better. So I added additional ingredients to my soft serve as you can see below. But the bananas are all you really need to make the base, the soft serve itself. (Dare I say that the pretzels and the chocolate chips are just optional ingredients?) If you want you may like to add fun ingredients, i.e. crunchy bits and hidden goodies. I first added chocolate chips, but then realized that frozen chocolate chips really don't have a strong chocolaty flavor. Then I added lightly crunched up pretzels, and fell in love. The salty sweet crunch was more delicious than I could describe. I may experiment with adding peanut butter next  :)

My ingredients 

Final product 

Kombucha brewing

My Kombucha rules!
I tasted my plain flavored kombucha last night for the first time and was so delighted. It was acidic and refreshing, which is exactly what I love about kombucha. Can't you see the excitement on my face in this picture? I tried to capture it, but maybe it didn't come through as much as I hoped.
 I am have also brewed ginger, ginger pear, and peach raspberry kombuchas. I'm addicted!
 I would have never thought it was so easy to make, and so inexpensive. Typically each bottle at the store is at least $3, a scam considering the limited ingredient list and limited chef/ingredient interactions. It becomes a "set it and forget it" process once you have the scoby and kind of know what you are doing.
I found a great website that lists step by step instructions on how to start brewing.
http://www.paprikahead.com/2009/07/how-to-brew-your-own-kombucha-from.html
That's all I have to say now about my Kombucha. Wait, I repeat... It rules!

Update on a better chocolate "silk" pie

I had posted before about a chocolate pie made with tofu and melted chocolate. I just went back to look at that recipe and realized I made an easier and possibly tastier pie last week. This new recipe has the same base with tofu and melted chocolate but after comparing recipes I think this one is better.

Needed ingredients: 
12 oz tofu, soft is better than firm tofu
1 tsp cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract (optional)
2 Tbsp almond (or other) milk
scant 1/8 tsp salt
10 oz melted chocolate chips
1 Tbsp agave
peanut butter (optional)

*banana (optional)

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, using 20-30 second intervals so you don't accidentally burn it. Now blend all ingredients into a food processor until smooth. Feel free to add additional chocolate or agave or add peanut butter to the mixture (I haven't tried PB yet but think it needs to happen soon!). Spoon smooth mixture into a graham cracker crust and let it chill it so it gets firm.
**Neat addition idea: I sliced a banana and put the slices on top of the graham cracker crust and then poured the chocolate mixture on. 

cauliflower crust/ or just crackers for the lazy

It took me a while to make this pizza crust after first learning about it. I spent a bit of time researching some different cauliflower crust recipes and ended up with this one because it did not use regular cheese and it was the healthier option. Part of the reason it took me so long to make was because cauliflower is not something I typically have in my fridge and it is often more expensive than my #1 beloved broccoli, and because I knew I would need a good amount of time to make the rest of the meal (the pizza toppings for this crust). After a month or so I was ready to make it. My curiosity was killing me.
In order to make the crust I first needed to shop for my cauliflower. I had been so eager to go to this one specific produce market in Portland, which continually gets rave reviews online for local and inexpensive goods. So on the first day of my weekend I wrote my directions to the market on paper and set off to explore. When I drove up to the market I was a little skeptical because the shop was so small and not in the best neighborhood. But my doubts quickly diminished after seeing the sign for plump, red, large cherries priced at $1.50 a pound! I couldn't believe it; I picked up a cherry and ate it from the bin. I had to test the cherry before overloading and buying bad cherries. (I remember I was allowed to do this often as a kid with grapes, I think on every trip to the store.) The cherry I sampled was so sweet and soft; I got a bag full even before looking around. I found the cauliflower (at the same price as the broccoli) and so many other producey goods like Walla Walla sweet onions, a plum-agranet, which is a cross between a plum and a pomegranet, and huge apricots. I loaded up my basket with $20 worth of fruit and produce and was on my way home to make my crust. 
I had planned to make the pizza that night, but after my late start shopping trip and the gym and my 9:30 "Roman Holiday" movie date (which was playing on a projector at the park that night), I just ran out of time. I got as far as making the crust and was going to top it later, but I ended up eating it like a big cracker. Now at least I know the recipe turned out and could count on it again. The flavor of my crust was so good and  tasty, I was both surprised and delighted. The consistency of the "crust/ big lazy person cracker" was like a very thin rectangular flatbread. It could be rolled, ripped, torn or cut I suppose. I'll be making the pizza soon I hope, but for now I have plans to make this recipe again and will eat as crackers.

The recipe:
2 C grated cauliflower
1 egg white
1 C cottage cheese
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp dried minced garlic
1 Tbsp dried chopped onion
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp hot sauce (I used Cholula)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Grate cauliflower with a cheese grater (you may be able to use a food chopper, I'll try next time) until you have a fine rice like consistency. Place the cauliflower in a bowl and microwave for 8 minutes, do NOT add water or cover. Meanwhile while the cauliflower is cooking, place rest of ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. When cauliflower is done add the blended ingredients to it and mix with a spoon. This is your dough. Now you can glob it onto the parchment paper baking sheet and spread it out with a rubber spatula. It needs to be spread really thin. After you have spread it evenly, bake for about 30 minutes give or take until you like the consistency. I would suggest putting it under the broiler after baking to crisp it up for a thin, crisp crust. But I imagine if you like a softer crust then you could reduce the time and not broil.
When the crust is done you can add warmed spaghetti sauce and sauteed veggies, meats, cheese, etc. and put back in the oven under the broiler to melt any cheese or crisp any toppings.
And again I don't believe I took a picture and I literally just finished eating my last cracker piece while posting this.   :(

top of da morning peach pie smoothie

Until very recently I was not too enthused about making smoothies. For me food is about texture, the crunchiness, and having something to bite into when eating. Yes, I really like to eat my food/meals and not drink them through a straw. But...
I started looking at smoothie recipes on ohsheglows, a vegan blog. The featured pictures looked so good and the descriptions that accompanied them sounded even better. I thought I had better try some of these after finding healthy smoothie flavors like "carrot cake smoothie," or "pumpkin pie smoothie," or "gingerbread smoothie," to name just a few that I have recently been drooling over. After experimenting with one or two, I quickly got over my need for a crunchy texture (partly because the smoothies were so delicious and partly because I added cereal or chopped nuts on top and ate with a spoon).
This morning I made up my own smoothie recipe with my prized discount peaches from Sauveie's Island farm stand. Last weekend I bought 4 "dollar each bags" of apricots, nectarines and peaches so I have a freezer full of perfectly ripened summer fruits waiting to be eaten. You can make the recipe with almond milk, etc. instead of cottage cheese too. I like using cottage cheese because it's thicker than milk, it's delicious, and it adds protein.

The recipe (these are good estimates d/t not measuring):

1/2 or 2/3 C cottage cheese
1/2 of a banana, I used frozen chunks
1 large peach, I used frozen chunks
1 Tbsp pure vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional-- but this will make consistency really thick and milkshaky)

The process:

Add all ingredients to your blender or cute little food processor and blend away. Notice how the chia seed makes it so thick and creamy. Mine really was like a cool, satisfying milkshake smoothie. I also add a few additional chunks of peach once it was all blended.

"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard..."

delicious pumpkin pie smoothie

This morning when I got home from work I made the most amazing smoothie, but not until after I realized that I locked my keys in my car and had to call Scott to pick me up from work. I created a real busy morning for myself, but as you'll see things all worked out.
I was dreaming all night at work of making this pumpkin pie smoothie, which is a little confusing because I don't really care for pumpkin pie itself. But I do like the idea of the pie and the typical spice combinations in it so I had to make. It took all of 2 minutes and I had my smoothie ready to go. Unfortunately I did not think to snap a picture of it. And to be honest it never made it into a cup or jar. I ate the whole thing right out of the Cuisinart. I really intended to just sample the smoothie and give Scott a sample, and then save the rest as a pre-workout snack when I woke up later. My intentions were good, but the sample left me wanting more so I devoured it all right then and there. Since I know you are all dying for a picture, and I'm dying to eat it again, I'll just have to make it again. ;)
This smoothie recipe was inspired from an ohsheglows recipe, but I made some changes based on what I had and what all I wanted in it (of course). 


The Recipe:


1 frozen banana 
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1-2 tbsp agave syrup (depending on desired sweetness)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp pure vanilla (Mexican vanilla if you've got it..thanks mom!)
handful of small ice cubes


Want toppings? Try any type of nut, dried fruits, craisins/raisins, or heck go big and add whipped cream. 
ENJOY!   :)  


**The orginal recipe called for almond milk instead of cottage cheese, molasses instead of agave, and lesser amounts of the spices and the vanilla. I personally haven't enjoyed the taste of molasses when tried in other recipes so I opted for another sweetener. As for the cottage cheese, I like the thickness of it rather than milk. Plus, it adds some extra protein to the smoothie. And since I like a lot of flavor in my foods, a burst rather than subdued hints you could say, I always seem to add extra amounts of spices and extracts.

smores cake in mason jars

Want s'more cake? How about you try a smore's cake! I know, sounds delicious right. I was pretty excited when I found this recipe for a smore's cake that had a nice graham crust, a chocolate cake middle and broiled/burnt tasting mallows on top of it all. And how cute that it was in a mason jar so you can see all the layers. Needless to say my anticipation was way more satisfying than the cake when I first tried it. :(

I did make modifications to the original recipe because I wanted a healthier version of the cake. I opted out of the heavy cream, loads of butter and heaps of sugar from the smore's recipe. Instead I made a vegan chocolate mocha cake, but in all honesty I may have flubbed this recipe (adding fractions is a real pain). When I tried the creation for the first time it was not right out the oven, it had been sitting/cooling for hours and only moderately warm when I served it. There in lies the mistake. In case you missed it...the smore's cake needs to be served hot so the cake and the marshmallows are gooey, rather than hard and sticky. The heat really brings out the flavors of chocolate cake. I figured this out when I tried it the next day, refusing to give up on this creation, plus I still had 5 jars full of it in  the fridge. I just microwaved the little cups with sliced bananas on top and enjoyed it so much better this way. I won't be making these again though. I am on to other cakes in jars...like apple struessel cakes. Sometimes you win with a tasty treat, sometimes you win by just having fun making a new creation.

Beetballs!

My precious earthy beetballs

I was inspired to make these beetballs after finding a recipe for them on a website called 'Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.' I don't recall how I stumbled on this website initially, it was probably linked from one of my favorite food/recipe websites, but I was happy I found it because I would have never thought to make beetballs on my own. Needless to say I fell in love with the idea and had to make them. Of course I did modify the recipe a bit due to personal taste and ingredients on hand/in cupboard. The beetballs from the original recipe were recommended to use in place of the typical sausage meatball, like on pizza or in spaghetti. However, I find them delicious as bite sized snacks or with my stir fry or my eggs on the side (I'm not picky...anymore that is).

The Recipe:

1 large beet, chopped

1 medium or large onion (depending on your taste), chopped

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup cooked or canned chickpeas

2 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp flaxseed meal

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast 

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp red pepper flakes

ground pepper to taste

dried chopped onion and garlic to taste 

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 egg

The Process:

Preheat oven to 350 dgrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put beets, onion, walnuts, chickpeas, and spices/herbs in food processor. Chop/pulse until the ingredients are still chunky and recognizable (NOT smooth). Remove mixture and put in large bowl to mix in cottage cheese and egg. These last two ingredients will help bind the mixture together and make it easier to form the balls. 

At this point you can add any kind of cheese if you have it or want a cheesier beetball. I had a little Gorgonzola left in the fridge and added it, but it wasn't enough to really taste. 

Form small round balls with the mixture, a little smaller than the size of a pingpong ball. I suppose you could form patties as well to make a 'beetburger.' Place the rolled balls on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until firm and golden brown on the bottom, approximately 30 minutes.
Next time I will try to broil the balls after baking, to make the whole ball crispier. I didn't do this, but think I will in the future (because I will be making them again).