Tag Archives: recipe

Spring Forward

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I really love spring.

If you ask, I would tell you I’m more of a summer girl – but there is just something about seeing the first green buds on the trees and hearing birds chirping at ungodly hours of the morning that gets me every time.

It helps that I currently live in South Carolina, where spring means 70 degree weather with sunshine in abundance, instead of, um….

This. I’m a Mass[achusetts] girl born and raised, but I sure as hell don’t miss the never-ending winter.

I celebrate pretty much everything with food. Doesn’t everyone? An A on a paper might mean splurging for sushi, an unexpected award leads to ordering dessert.

Of all things, spring is something to be celebrated. The world is waking up, warming up, and a new energy buzzes in the air like the bees pollinating the budding flowers. Not gonna lie though – the buzzing gets a little obnoxious. Seriously, Darwin – why exactly did bugs have to evolve to buzz.

Ahem.

I highly recommend celebrating the coming of spring with these muffins. They’re super healthy – you could probably bake them into bars too if you doubled the recipe – but first and foremost, they are delicious. Between these and the sun, getting up for class in the morning gets a lot easier.

Flax & Oat Muffins (adapted from this recipe at OhSheGlows)

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients

1/c. oats

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. flax meal

1/2 – 1 tsp. cinnamon

nutmeg, cardamom as desired

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 ripened banana

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 – 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I’ll bet almond extract would be fantastic as well)

This recipe is so simple and quick, I probably don’t even need to give you directions. But I will anyway. Because I took pictures. And who doesn’t like pictures?

Preheat your oven to 350. Grease up 6 muffin cups/tins.

Throw your dry ingredients (oats, flour, ground flax, baking soda, salt & spices) into a bowl and mix ‘em around. I also like to add dried cranberries to these – only a couple of tablespoons or so. Play around with it – and of course, let me know if you discover a particularly wonderful combination. ;) [Chocolate chips are never a bad idea.]

In a separate bowl, mash that banana – the riper, the better. Then mix in the brown sugar, egg, and extracts (if using).

You know the drill – wet –> dry.

Don’t over mix!

Divide the batter as evenly as possible into the cups. I say “as possible” because most recipes leave that out and I feel slightly inferior to these people who are able to flawlessly divide batter into perfectly even portions. If you know what I’m talking about – don’t stress.

And if you are one of those people with such a gift…don’t tell me.

Pop ‘em in for about 15-20 minutes. Use the toothpick trick – mine always have to stay in a little longer. But there’s nothing wrong with a slightly gooey muffin, either.

 

 

I let them cool and then freeze them in a ziploc bag; you can throw one in the microwave for 15 seconds and it’s good to go. This is one of my favorite things about these – I can sleep an extra 15 minutes knowing that breakfast will only take a few seconds.

 

Oh yeah – they’re delicious, too.

Make these now. Thank me later. And don’t forget to lick the bowl.

Happy Spring!

 

 

All in the Family

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***Author’s Note: This post is about 3 days overdue because the internet and blizzards don’t get along. At all.*** 

I mentioned that I made my brother Sticky Toffee Pudding for his birthday.

Well, my dad’s birthday is actually in the month of December, and so I made him a cheesecake. Boys are darn hard to shop for, so I go with the “the way to his heart his through his stomach” adage for gift inspiration. It has never been received with disappointment.
He’s not big on sweets but he loooves cheesecake, and so I dug up my grandmother (his mother)’s recipe and got to work, almost the minute I walked off the plane!
Not perfectly pretty, but damn was it good – and I am not a big fan of cheesecake! It was “iced” with a little nutella, microwaved to make it a little liquidy and scooped into a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off for perfect makeshift frosting purposes. This was the French style – about half as high as New York cheesecake, less cakey, and topped with a sour cream + sugar topping. I made a gingersnap crust instead of graham cracker, just for something different, and I highly recommend it! Dad had it for breakfast. Twice.
Yes, it is my grandmother’s recipe, but I don’t believe in withholding recipes because of family tradition or anything. The holidays are a time for sharing, after all!
For the crust:
8 oz gingersnaps
2 T sugar
1/2 stick (4 T) butter
sprinkle of cinnamon
Put the cookies between two sheets of wax paper (or use a fancy schmancy pulverizer) and a rolling pin to crush the snaps into crumbs. It’s fine if there is some irregularity in the size of the crumbs and a couple bigger pieces here and there – just makes it rustic ;)
Melt the butter and mix it in with the crumbs, sugar, and a bit of cinnamon if you like.
Press the mixture into the bottom of a springform pie pan and set aside. (The crust is only on the bottom – not the sides.)
For the cake:
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla
3/4 lb (12 oz) cream cheese
Beat the eggs and sugar. Add in the vanilla and cream cheese and beat ’til smooth.
Pour over the crust and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 F. Let cool.
For the topping:
3/4 pint (12 oz, about a cup and a half) sour cream
2 T sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla
Beat all ingredients til smooth. Pour over the cooled pie. Bake at 450 F for 5 minutes. Chill very well before serving (several hours and overnight would be best).
In any recipe I use ever, when I see vanilla, I usually double it. I swear it makes it 10 times better.
Alas, with great recipes comes great responsibility. So for the love of all things sweet and creamy, do not use lower fat cream cheese or sour cream. Just don’t. Promise me.
~Namaste~

Mango-Pesto-Choco-WHOA!

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You know you’re a blog-addict when: you don’t update for one day and it feels like forever!

Ok, so that exciting something I mentioned last post?
Drum roll please….
I HAVE A CAR! With four wheels and an engine and everything. SO EXCITING!!!! Pictures to come, of course (it rained cats and dogs pumas and St. Bernards today). Still thinking of names – need to drive her around a little more. YAY!
Saturday was blissfully uneventful, starting with this:
Fage yogurt + applesauce + some random apple cinnamon granola I found, with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Ok, actually, this wasn’t too good. The applesauce totally killed the wonderful thickness of the greek yogurt and only left the tang, and…well, one of my less enjoyable creations. Live and learn! And it was rather pretty :)
 Unfortunately, my brother’s Saturday didn’t begin quite as happily. The lucky devil had to be awake and alive at 7:30 AM for his SAT. EW with a capital E. He was very much in need of sustenance when he returned from the ultimate brain drain, so we went off to…
First of all, love the slogan. So true.
When I was in high school, my biffle (BFFL, in word-form) and I discovered this place when we took the T into Boston to go shopping for sweet prom dresses and were hooked. They have some A-MAzing fries, and for a looong time they were the only place I knew in Mass. that had sweet potato fries!!! One of my faves :)  They also have great burgers (you can get beef, turkey, homemade veggie, or chicken breast!) and yummmmy smoothies. I wasn’t too hungry, but I did steal several fries of both varieties and sip a yummy mango smoothie.
I have to tell you about my improvised dinner!
I just mixed some tuna with dijon mustard and tabbouleh, threw it on some greens/slaw, and drizzled with some olive oil and herbs – SO good! Tuna and tabbouleh make a truly wonderful combo – I highly suggest trying this ASAP. (Works with salmon, too!)
Today was pretty fun, minus the random thunderstorms that lasted for 2 minutes at a time. I like thunderstorms – just not the kind where rain pours down onto your new car whose windows you may or may not have forgotten to roll up. Keeps a girl on her toes!
My dad makes either pancakes or waffles every Sunday morning (my brother’s request), but I usually sleep too late to partake. This AM, I was feeling a pancake, so I whipped one up myself. We usually have Bisquick, but today he had used Fiber One’s pancake mix. Just add water and go:
I halved the amount for 3 pancakes to make just one big one and try out the F1 mix – and I’m glad I did. It was, well, not good. It was really dry and unpleasantly crumbly, and even cinnamon and maple syrup couldn’t fix it. Sad. I need to make Jenna’s or Kath’s p-cakes, pronto. Real food is always better anyway :)
Breakfast also included a bunch of melon (I could seriously eat a whole melon a day in this humidity) and this guy, in honor of the end of yogurt week:
Meh. If I liked cherries more, I would have liked it more. The flavors are dead on though – the cherry and vanilla and very present and well-balanced. And – no fruit-on-the-bottom! Although the few I have had recently, like other Stonyfield and Chobani flavors, don’t bother me as much as I remember. Probably because it’s fake-ingredient-free – it just tastes like jam that I often just add myself!
Took my new baby for a test-drive to the gym for some ellipticalling – btw, Glee + NSYNC make some of the best gym music ever. In fact, I’m waiting for Glee to do a 90s episode – boy bands, Britney, Spice Girls, oh my! Tell me that would not be epic.
Unfortunately, I did not eat enough before the workout; I was definitely lacking in energy today. I usually go later in the afternoon, and I think it makes a biiiig difference. I don’t like eating too close to the workout, but it’s really hard to get the timing right sometimes. We made a pit stop and Whole Foods and my madre and I got lunch, including this:
What is that odd yellow thing in my sushi? MANGO!!!! This was mango+salmon+cucumber+cilantro. Ohmygod, genius in a box. The flavors were just perfect together – and some of my favorites! Sweet citrusy mango, fresh cool cilantro and cuke, and the tasty sweet salmon = to.die.for. Would be pretty easy to make on your own, too!
My parents hired me as personal chef tonight (no complaints here, I’ve been itching to cook!), and I made one of my favorite pastas from my cooking class: trofie al pesto e pescatrice!
-400 g fresh pasta (trofie is that particular twisted shape, holds the flavors better in this dish)
-300 g cherry/grape tomatoes, de-seeded & cubed
-500 g monkfish – I used swordfish both times I’ve made this and it is de-LISH.
-1 spring onion (or leek)
For the pesto:
-20 g fresh basil
-20 g ricotta cheese
-10 g pine nuts
-1 garlic clove
-1 Tbs parmesan
-4 Tbs cold water
Start your water aboilin’ for the pasta. It takes a while.
I made the pesto first – you can use either a blender or food processor. Throw it all in with a little salt and blend ’til it’s a sauce. (Add more water if it’s too thick – although in my experience, 4 T is plenty!)
Deseed & cube your tomatoes now. If you want, you can add the seeds to the pesto to make it even creamier and get all that healthy lycopene :)
It’s probably a good idea to cook your swordfish before the rest begins. It’s not important how you cook it – pan, grill, broil. When it’s done, cute it into cubes and keep it near your stove.
Chop up the onion. I used a leek, and if you do – only chop up the bottom white part! The green outer layers you can puree and make vegetable stock/soup with.
Saute the onion (or leek, or whatever you’re using!) in some oil, then add the swordfish. The recipe says to cook for 3 minutes, but I didn’t wait that long (didn’t want the fish to overcook). Go with your gut – that’s what cooking is all about anyway!
Is your pasta water boiling yet? Good – throw in that trofie!
Now add your tomatoes with a little S&P to the onion-fish saute pan.
After a couple minutes, check your pasta. If you used fresh, it’s probably very close to done. Throw it in the pan and “quickly saute” – just toss it around and show it a good time ;)
Add the pesto sauce, mix, and plate into a perty bowl. Serve and watch as everyone bows to your sick-nasty-ill Italian culinary skills!
My mom made a nice green salad to go with it – can’t get enough green!!
I also made dessert – feeling ambitious today! I have been wanting to try Dreena’s Triple Layer Chocolate Cream Cake for a while – tofu frosting? This sounds too interesting to not try!
Because it was my first time and I wasn’t sure how much it would make, I decided to halve the recipe. I made two layers instead of three, also – rather thin layers at that. I also added some chocolate chips to the cake batter (had a tablespoon or two left in the old bag). Well, it wasn’t a total success aesthetically-speaking…
Oy. But, my mom helped me patch it back together:
Nothing a little strategically-placed frosting can’t fix!
Can we just talk about how amazing this cake is? Oh yes. And the frosting – WHOA! I love tofu, but I love it even more now that I know it can turn into deep, fudgy ganache goodness. When I was making the frosting (for which I used vegan chocolate chips and damn those are good!!), I kept tasting it and here is what I added:
-a good couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder
-a hefty tsp of instant espresso (coffee will make chocolate flavor much more intense – I do it in my oats all the time!)
-cinnamon —but this I regretted. Didn’t like it as much as I expected.
-fresh mint leaves – YUM!
It was a hit. Even my brother enjoyed it – and he would run the other direction of anything with vegan or tofu in the title. If you never make another cake again in your life, make this!!!
I’m not gonna lie – I had quite the breakdown today. I felt gross, my cake was falling apart, and that evil ED voice in my head was screaming about how fat I was. And I just snapped. All I want is for it to not matter so damn much. I know I’m healthy, and I’m just so tired of fighting against that stupid voice in my head. It’s so stupid that it can put me in such an awful mood so fast. I think this is another big part of why I am so focused on learning to east intuitively: I feel like if I can do that, I’ll be more connected with my body inside and out. I just don’t understand why I tolerate the negative self-talk – it REALLY pisses me off. Somedays it just feels like such an uphill battle. 
That said, I think this week will be Project: Positive Self-Talk. And I would love others to join me! At some point during the day, look in the mirror and be grateful for your awesome self – whoever you are right now. We all have flaws – they’re a pretty important part of being human! But, I know I’m pretty disrespectful of my flaws, and that’s just silly. They’re just as much a part of who we are as our talents, and they deserve a little more respect. Yes, sometimes they trip us up and get in the way. I’m such an obnoxious perfectionist, I’ve had many a sleepless night spent worrying about a test the next day or that paper due next week. But, it’s part of what makes me me, and I’ve accepted it. So, I look into the face of negativity and say: try me. It’s on.
Thanks for letting me rant, y’all. It helps to just get it out, ya know? I’m very interested to see how this project ends up…I’ll letcha know;)
In other news, I’m thinking of taking my blog in a new direction – still food and lots of it of course, but maybe a little more travel-centric? Well, I have lots of brainstorming to do.
~Namaste~

SuperSize THIS

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I know I’ve said it before, but I really love my cooking class. Like, really really.

Today we watched the movie SuperSize Me, the documentary about (and made by) Morgan Spurlock who ate McDonald’s food three times a day for 30 days in order to prove just how toxic fast food really is. This was my third time watching it, but I realized that each time I’ve seen it, I’ve been at a different place in my life in terms of my own eating habits and preferences. I first saw it when it first came out on video in my high school health class.  got it, it grossed me out, but I was never a Mickey D regular anyway, so I didn’t put too much thought into it. The 2nd time I saw was the spring of my freshman year in college, a time when I was overly conscious of calories and fat – and really had no real concept of what those things actually are. Now, I am a bit more enlightened on the nutrition-front and less concerned with caloric value as I am with the quality and freshness of the ingredients. It was really interesting to see it from my newer perspective. There is a downside – that movie makes me incredibly angry with the U.S. food industry. Especially in the discussion of school food programs. It would be so simple to get more natural, healthily-prepared and nutrition-conscious foods in any and all schools, and yet nothing is done about it because of MONEY. WHAT are kids supposed to do when the french fries are a dollar and the turkey sandwich on whole grain bread is 4??? It really just infuriates me. Opinions/comments/thoughts?
Back to my class – to bring home the point that food can be delicious AND good for you, my teacher made (because we were watching the movie, he did the majority of the cooking) fresh burger, fresh fries, and homemade ice cream. And it was…well, a foodgasm, quite frankly. He made and baked the bread for the buns, the beef was bought and ground right in front of my teacher this very morning, and the fries were simply baked potato slices with rosemary, garlic and olive oil (which my mom makes a lot and I ADORE them!). We topped the burgers with fresh mozzarella and had sauteed spinach and mushrooms as a side.
1. Next time you make a cheeseburger, use fresh mozzarella (don’t melt it on top, just throw it on). I don’t even LIKE cheeseburgers, and this was amazing.
2. This bun was some of the best bread I’ve ever had. Yes, I will be emailing my teacher for the recipe. Holy. Yum. 
3. Never in my LIFE have I tasted ground beef like this. After giving up red meat for a year in 2008, I realized how much don’t care for it…but clearly it’s because I had never tasted this. I didn’t eat all of it, because I still really can’t eat it in large portions…but whoa. This burger blew my mind tastebuds.
(In case you are curious, he grilled the patties on a dry skillet and towards the end of cooking time poured white wine over them to dry up any excess fat in the burgers.)
4. Make these “fries.” You will never feel the need to darken the doorway of the Golden Arches again.
Have I convinced you of the ridiculous deliciousness of my meal yet? No? Well, wait for the grand finale…
What my pictures lacks in aesthetic appeal, the contents made up for and then some with taste.
That would be homemade berry gelato, eaten within minutes of being ready. It was a mix of strawberries and some raspberries, and then a little orange thrown in, with just 2 eggs, a liiiiitle bit of sugar and skim milk.
In my ice cream rankings, it is currently tied with my grandfather’s homemade peach ice cream (which is a SERIOUSLY difficult thing to even come close to, much less beat out). Yes, it was that good. *Tip*: The pink color means the berries are perfectly fresh; when the color is redder, it means artificial something-or-other has been added.
As you may imagine, I floated out of that class on quite the food high and took a walk. Really, I was in search of the Culinary Institute of Florence building, just because I know what street it’s on and I just really want to see it. Ended up getting semi-lost, one of my favorite things to do in this city, and unfortunately didn’t find it (I think I walked the wrong way down the street. It’s a long street.) I made a trip to the grocery store and headed on home. I was makin dinner tonight!
One of my roommates wanted to make bruschetta, and did a lovely job:
Nothin like fresh bruschetta in Italy. So. Good.
I have heard several times from various sources about lasagna made with thinly sliced eggplant and zucchini instead of the noodles, and I figured there’s no better place to try it out than in Italy! It turned into more of an “Italian pie”, but hey, it was good. Needs some improvement, but here is what I did:
-Rub the bottom of a pan lightly with olive oil (or use PAM – they don’t have it here).
-Place thin slices of eggplant on the bottom (I should have cooked it a teeny bit before I did this)
-Layer that with cannellini beans and pasta if desired (I threw probably under a half a cup of whole wheat penne in there, to add a little bean + grain perfect protein combo)
-Place fresh mozzarella slices and then layer with zucchini
-Cover with sauce (I would recommend layering the sauce more throughout, because I like more sauce. I just didn’t have enough).
*For the sauce, I heated up a pan slightly drizzled with olive oil and garlic and added a can of crushed tomatoes, basil, salt and oregano.*
I topped it with the remainder of my pecorino sardo cheese (grated), which made a really yummy thin crust on top.
It was pretty good, but there is room for improvement. Difficult to cut – maybe I will cube the veggies next time and go for more of a pie effect.
No complaints = Good sign!

 I recommend serving it with some good Tuscan bread. But then, I recommend serving everything with good Tuscan bread…

Off to Rome very early tomorrow, and I have been procrastinating packing. I’m not over-the-moon excited about it, but I am bound and determined to see the Sistine Chapel, and that I am excited about. And restaurants. And gelato. Ok, I’m a little excited about it.

I will be back Sunday evening – with lots of pictures!

~Namaste~

Baker-to-be

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Getting up for Italian is not getting easier. Even if I go to bed at a reasonable hour, the sound of my alarm always comes too early. The snooze button and I are good friends.
Today was busier than usual; came home from Italian to make my daily oats:
Chocolate-orange yogurt oats (oats with cocoa powder with orange yogurt). I’m actually not even a fan of chocolate-orange things, but variety is the spice of life. And it’s hard to make oats that I won’t eat :)
I had barely enough time to scarf this before I had to run back out to meet an Italian student who wants to learn English. My school here runs a program that hooks an English speaking student with an Italian and they exchange conversation to improve our respective language skills. My partner was a really cool chick…but she has been learning English since she as 8. Left me and my 3 semesters of Italian in the dust. But I’m so grateful for the practice. Sono determinata parlare l’italiano correntemente!
We talked for a while, and by the time we finished it was too late to bother walking home before my cooking class, so I just read a bit outside our classroom/kitchen. Class was, as per usual, completely wonderful. The menu today was fresh bruschetta – for which we (sepcifically, I) made the bread, pasta alla norma, chicken marsala, and an apple cake.
I was on Team Bruschetta, and I have definitively decided that baking is my favorite activity next to yoga. Making bread is the BEST therapy. And eating fresh bread ain’t so bad either!
For the bruschetta, we first blanched the tomatoes to make them easy to peel. We peeled, seeded, and cubed them, and then made a kind of “cream” simply by blending the seeds and skin together with a tiny bit of olive oil using an immersion blender:
 
All the wonderful lycopene, a a kick-butt antioxidant, is found in the seeds and skins, so you want to find a way to incoporate them into your recipe. You mix this with the chopped tomatoes and a little basil, salt, pepper, and oregano:
As for the bread, it was SO easy. Melt yeast into some lukewarm water and mix it with the flour, essentially. We added fennel, cumin, and sesame seeds to boost the flavor and nutritional profile of the bread:
Ta-da! I apologize for the semi-icky picture, the bread needed to be toasted with the tomatoes and it ended up coming out last – it made a great dessert!
Pasta Alla Norma is a Sicilian dish named for a character in a Bellini opera. It. was. a-ma-zing.
It’s your basic pasta with marinara sauce, then fried eggplant (I have taken to calling them eggplant chips), then pecorino and basil on top. Now, when I say fried, we are not talking your typical battered in refined flour and drenched in nasty hydrogenated oil. For these babies, you cut the eggplant into chip-like slices and dust (very important – dust, not drench!) them with flour. The flour protects the eggplant from being saturated with oil and instead creates a crispy texture on the outside that is to LIVE for! You pan fry your dusted eggplant in sunflower (or vegetable) oil. E voila:
So. good.
There was also chicken marsala, which was tasty enough but I wouldn’t have missed it either. I’m honestly not a fan of the dish, regardless of how well it is prepared.
Here it is in the prep phase:
That’s the chicken in the pan on the left; the mushroom sauce is on the stove. I will say this – it was very pretty and colorful, which always makes it taste better!
The dessert was torta delle mele, or apple cake. 80% apples, with a spongy batter in the middle. It was very good. The cake part actually reminded me of this wonderful pancake-like baked dish that a neighbor used to make that was so good, I can still remember the taste. It’s hard to explain – almost like a custard, I suppose.
I’m not much for fruit pies, but this cake was excellent. Very light, lovely flavor. A good early fall dish, I think. And super healthy!
I have yet to show you my APRON:
 
It may be a little embarassing how excited I was to get this. But I don’t care. Chef Gillian is on the job!
Ooh, Chef Gillian. That has a nice little ring to it, doesn’t it?
I wanted to get out more and walk around, but that meal was so satiating that I came home, bummed around a bit on the computer and eventually fell asleep. I was running around and busy from about 7 to 2:30, and it was nap time. My problem is if I nap in the late afternoon, 9 out of 10 times I wake up with an awful stomach ache. Something about naps totally unsettles my stomach. Dinner was still pretty great though!
I was craving a big bowl of GREEN, and that’s exactly what I had! Spinach and arugula with tomato and pecorino dressed in a little bit of olive oil, good balsamic, and pesto. The pesto made this salad – if you haven’t tried it before, DO IT. This is one of the best salads I think I have ever created. I think a good rule is the simpler the ingredients, the better the taste. Works for me!
I have decreed tomorrow David Day, as I have been in Florence mere miles away from The David and still have yet to pay him a visit – time to fix that! I also have a wicked recipe up my sleeve and my roommates are going to be my guinea pigs…get excited. The Chef is in.
~Namaste~