Pancake Experiment

Last night, I brought in the new year by running a 5k. I got to bed at 2am after a trimet ride back to my car across town and dropping my friend and running cohort back at home. This morning, I was in desperate need of pancakes.

We called our local gluten free food cart GF Chef, but they were closed for the holiday. We had only half a cup of gluten free bisquick, no eggs, and SoDelicious Coconut milk that was well past its expiration date. Despite having the will to get myself to GF Chef, I did not have the will to get myself to the store. Thus, an experiment was born.

We, luckily, had bananas, which are a known baking substitute for eggs typically used if you want to lower the fat and/or cholesterol content of your baked goods. "Fine," I thought. "Banana pancakes it is." 

What I did:

Half a banana well mashed with a fork, half a cup of bisquick, half a cup of expired coconut milk (expired on the 12th of December but smelled fine... I don't know if that's the test for coconut milk or not), and 1 tablespoon of canola oil later and I had a pancake mix.

Two large pancakes went into the hot, butter-filled (probably a tablespoon) pan and cooked until golden on both sides (you need to look for the dough around the edges of your pancakes to look dry in order to time the first flip correctly). I add more butter after the flip because I like both sides to get equally buttery and crispy.

These are outstanding!! Outstanding, I say!

Hopefully they'll work out with non-expired milk in the future, but I plan to make my pancakes like this forever more. They are that good.

Note: if you don't like the taste of banana, you won't like these.

Sweet Teeth

I have a sweet tooth. My father has a sweet tooth. His father had a sweet tooth.

Patrick, too, has a sweet tooth. This is to our detriment.

Last week, on two occasions, two bags of Hershey's milk chocolate Nuggets and one bag of Smarties were purchased. That means that between Patrick and I, in one week's time, we consumed two bags of Smarties and four bags of Hershey's milk chocolate Nuggets.

I don't regret this decision - it was delicious. I am, however, suffering the consequences, as one does. When your body has too much sugar, it becomes accustomed to those higher levels very quickly. I find that I crave sugar in an extreme way for weeks after indulgences (even relatively small ones). This results in acts of desperation at home while trying to avoid going to the store for yet another bag of candy.

My father eats chocolate chips, walnuts, and raisins in varying combinations on a regular basis - I like to believe that this is his way of avoiding late night store runs. While I believe my solution is similar, I'm not sure he would agree.

I make a chocolate peanut butter "cookie dough". Its not actually cookie dough, because it wouldn't bake into cookies if you put it in the oven. There are no raw eggs or baking soda. In fact, there isn't even any flour.

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Kelly's Desperation "Cookie Dough"

Step 1: Go to your cupboard and pull out peanut butter, brown sugar, and cocoa powder. If you have some other nut butter, this will also suffice. If you have no cocoa powder, you can skip this.

Step 2: Scour your cupboard for other cookie additions. I currently have shredded coconut, sliced almonds, and crushed walnuts, but chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows, dried fruit, cereal, or anything else you might like in cookies would be good too.

Step 3: Put all your ingredients in a bowl. This is where my baking experience comes in handy. I don't measure I just dump a little of this and a lot of that into the bowl. Generally speaking, the two main ingredients should be brown sugar and your nut butter of preference. A little cocoa powder goes a long way as its generally unsweetened.

Step 4: Mix all ingredients. If its a little hard to mix, that's okay. If you've added lots of "mix-ins" then your dough will take a bit more effort. For ease, you can always add a bit more nut butter.

Step 5: Sit on the couch with your mixing bowl and spoon and eat your creation. You are not required to eat all of your creation, nor will you be judged for eating it all (especially if you are alone or with another sweet toothed individual). Its likely, though, that the high protein content and general sticky nature of the nut butter will keep you from eating too much and yet be quite satisfying.
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Its probably not as healthy as walnuts and chocolate chips in a 20 year old Tupperware child's cup (I'm thinking portion control here, not nostalgia), but its certainly keeping me from cursing my budget and general health and walking to the store for more Smarties.

Mission accomplished.

Post-Swim Food

This was basically the best recipes I've made in awhile. Please trust me when I say that its incredibly important to have excellent tomatoes in this recipe. Heirlooms tend to have the best quality when bought from a store. Make sure they are firm (but not too hard) and smell like a tomato plant - there should be no soft spots and very few cracks where the stem originally held the tomato on the vine. Do not refrigerate tomatoes as they lose flavor very quickly when cold (same goes with strawberries). I recommend just buying the tomatoes the day you plan to make this recipe.

If you have a tomato plant, these will also be excellent in this recipe. Heirlooms tend to have a slightly more sweet quality that is simply divine, but any ripe and well kept tomatoes will work.

I may have liked this because of the tomatoes, and I may have liked it because I had just gotten home from swimming when I made it. Patrick and I, however, devoured the entire recipe and it probably should have served 4. For reference, I found a description of this here.

Tomato, Feta, and Oregano Salad

Chop 3 ripe heirloom tomatoes and place in a bowl.

Finely mince one clove of strong garlic and add to tomatoes.

Add about 1 to 2 tsp of fresh oregano (just the leaves pulled off the stem bits and added directly)

Drizzle with about 1 Tbsp olive oil.

Add 8 to 10 oz. of crumbled feta.

Mix all ingredients well.

Allow to sit for a little while if time permits.

Serve on a bed of lettuce, kale, or with bread or crackers. Or just eat it plain. 

Enjoy!

The Way My Mind Creates Recipes: A Glimpse.

As we've all discovered by now, I don't do mushrooms. They sit in my fridge in paper bags slowly drying out or even going moldy. I'd actually never seen mushrooms become fuzzy until I started getting a CSA box. Dried mushrooms are not a big deal. You can buy dried mushrooms at the store and they re-hydrate fantastically. I don't concern myself with using my mushrooms in a timely manner.

I recently (last night) had a brain wave while making Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce courtesy of Simply Recipes. If I combined the brilliance that is Simply Recipes with that of Smitten Kitchen (particularly this recipe which I've altered to be made with dry white wine rather than red), I could come up with some bad-ass Tuna Noodle Casserole (or TNC for short).

I consulted one of my other trusty sources for reference. I find that google is not the bast place to search for such tried and true culinary creations. TNC is a classic and few Food Network gurus need apply to the making of it - it simply becomes too complicated. It was time to turn to the bookshelf. Specifically, it was time to consult The Joy of Cooking.

Now, I have several "food bibles"; some websites also make the cut (like the above food blogs). The Joy of Cooking is the original canon of cooking in my mind. Blame my father for this devotion. When I need a recipe for something as basic as TNC there is no better reference. When I need knowledge on the methods of cooking a particular basic food, The Joy of Cooking has all my answers. Eggs are covered thoroughly; pasta is discussed at length; cookie making methods are divulged to one's heart's delight! The Joy of Cooking made it clear how I could accomplish my TNC goals.

Here is the general process I had in mind:

• You start by cooking mushrooms with bell peppers and onions. I'll skip the bell peppers and just address the onions. In fact, I'll make the mushrooms as directed by Smitten Kitchen (just skip the chicken steps and use a Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay rather than Marsala)

• You then turn the mushrooms into a cheese sauce. The mushrooms themselves are fairly rich and thick, I don't think I will need much flour for thickening. Joy of Cooking calls for 1/4 cup.

• Remove from heat and add a substantial quantity of milk (almond milk in our case - just cause its what we buy these days). 2 1/2 cups to be exact. Perhaps the flour will be necessary for thickening after all?

• Add a whole lot of cheese - 3/4 to 1 cup. Joy of Cooking calls for cheddar, but I believe a smaller amount of Parmesan will be superior. Luckily, this is also what I have in my refrigerator.

• Add two cans tuna - simple.

• Add to this entire mixture 2 cups cooked egg noddles - obviously, mine will be corn noodles instead.

• They say to add parsley, but I won't. We are not fans of parsley in this house (or at least I am ambivalent about the herb).

• Top with bread crumbs, crushed crackers, or corn flakes - and melted butter. We'll see if that happens... Actually, this is starting to sound like a lot of work.

Of course, I could also shorten the process to this:

• Cook the mushrooms according to Smitten Kitchen's directions.

• Add tuna to mushrooms.

• Add pasta to mixture.

• Sprinkle with cheese.

• Bake. (aka Broil until the cheese bubbles and browns)

Yes. This sounds simpler. Perhaps I will add some Kale to the mix like I did to the Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce. Hell, maybe I'll add some basil and oregano and kale like I did with the Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce.

Hope you enjoyed the glimpse. When I make the recipe I will post it... if I remember.

Happy End of the Week!

What the F are Pea Tendrils?

First, I'm sorry for the title, mom.

Second, seriously. What are pea tendrils?

I was given the opportunity to discover this with our CSA box bounty this week. Pea Tendrils are basically the little scraggly off shoots of a pea plant/vine. There are leaves and flowers and curly bits on said tendrils. When I first read the description of pea tendrils online before opening the bag they had come in, I thought they would be something very different. I figured they would be small little whirly bits with some flowers as I could see the purple of the flowers through the bag (the bag had condensation on the inside, which is why I couldn't see the rest).

I had no idea that when I dumped them out on the counter, they would look like a mass of clippings from a garden.

I had planned to incorporate them into a fried rice with garlic whirls and asparagus, but I took a a look at these and doubted my idea. There was only one way to determine if I was making an appropriate culinary choice with these strange new vegetation. Eat one. Raw.

Tastes of fresh peas.

In fact, I'm going to be putting the rest in a salad tomorrow with some Microgreens. And if you've never seen Microgreens before either...

My sister will be so pleased to see that there is dill in our Microgreens, and has been for the last few weeks. She abhors dill, while I find it entirely too refreshing and pleasing in a salad.

My fried rice turned out well. I will attempt to recall the full recipe here, but you know me...


Garlic Whirl, Asparagus, and Pea Tendril Fried Rice

3T (ish) Canola Oil
1T butter (I used unsalted)
1 bunch garlic whirls, trimmed and cut into 1 in pieces
1/3 bunch very thin asparagus, white and purple ends trimmed off bottom and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 bunch pea tendrils, cut into 1 inch pieces including flowers and leaves
1 egg
2 to 3 T almond milk
2 cups cooked rice
2 to 3 T soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos in our case)

Heat oil in large skillet over low heat. I have a cast iron, so I like to turn the burner on simmer while I prep vegetables and slowly drop them in as I finish. A cast iron is much better when heated slowly, anyhow. Place garlic whirls and asparagus in pan and add butter. Cook over low to meduim heat until butter melts and whirls and asparagus are coated. I then prepped my pea tendrils while I let the other vegetables slowly cook in the oils on low heat. Stir in pea tendrils to coat and increase heat of pan to medium low. In a cast iron, by the time this is all finished, your pan will have built up a good heat throughout and hold this heat with decent consistency so that you don't need the burner up very high. I had our electric burner (sim, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, high) at 3.

Push vegetables to side. Beat egg and almond milk together and pour in empty side of pan. Allow to cook completely. It will still look a bit wet because of the oils in the pan, but it won't look runny.

Add the rice to the egg side of the pan and incorporate the two ingredients. Mix with the vegetables and allow everything to cook through; maybe 8 minutes, stirring every minute to two minutes. Add soy sauce by drizzling throughout. Stir to incorporate.

Serve.

Our Grand Adventure

Lately, Patrick and I have been working to get ourselves more responsible about house work and our budget (yes, I know you've heard that before). Blogging, while enjoyable, hasn't seemed to fit my schedule lately (that also sounds familiar, I'm sure). Cooking has hardly fit my schedule lately (a theme of familiarity in this blog it seems), which has been to the detriment of our budget... Its been a cyclical mess, to be honest (yes, yes, Kelly, get on with it).

We, however, have a plan. The plan went into action this week. It was not completely successful, however, and for good reason.

The plan you ask?

No television.

Well, I should say no television unless we're cleaning (or unless the house is mostly clean). So if I'm folding clothes, I'm allowed to watch a movie or a tv show on my laptop. If I'm doing dishes, the same applies. We're not supposed to watch television while we eat anymore either - for several reasons, really. I eat faster and therefore more if I eat in front of the television. We also tend to just keep sitting on the couch after dinner rather than getting up and cleaning the kitchen like we do if we're sitting at the table. When I know the chores are looming, I'll actually go back for seconds to extend the couch time rather than because I'm hungry. We also don't talk while we're watching television like we do when we're sitting at the table.

This week we gave in to the television because it was just a long week - like giving in to "cheating" on a diet. In fact, I don't believe in "diets", per-say, for this very reason. This has made me realize that the No Television rule is probably a bit too extreme.

Everything in life should be taken in moderation, and moderation should be defined for each person on an individual basis. This is why "diets" don't work. And when I say "diets" I mean deprivation. Deprivation, doesn't work. If you are forced to live without something, you will make do, but when you choose to live without something, its much more difficult; damn near impossible, in fact. Eating healthfully, and living healthfully, is about moderation not about setting a rule of "no sugar" or "no chocolate" or "only cabbage for a week". Eating healthfully is about indulgence as truly indulgence should be - not eating an entire jumbo bag of -insert terrible food that you love here- but enjoying the very first bite of that food you love, savoring it for everything you love about it, eating a small amount so that you are only slightly satisfied and so that you can experience the same joy again in a week or a day or whatever is a reasonable amount of time.

When I eat a jumbo anything I'm not really enjoying a single bite. When I sit and watch television for 3 hours, I'm not really enjoying a single minute. I do laugh and I do forget about the dishes and my grading but that's not enjoying the television. That's not even enjoying the time I'm not working. Its purposefully avoiding the feelings of guilt I have over not working.

The whole thing sounds asinine, doesn't it? I'm an intelligent and introspective girl, I shouldn't be doing such silly things. I am only human, however.

One of these days, I will master moderation. Moderation, for me, is feeling good and dammit, I deserve to feel good!

I just have to figure out what that means - again.

Life is a pretty grand adventure, isn't it?

Over Greened?

Are you tired of being unable to come up with appetizing dishes with greens in them? Frustrated that vegetation is taking over your refrigerator? Overwhelmed by the many shades of green slowly devouring every inch of your kitchen space until you are left sputtering for breath buried beneath their ominous leafy presence on the cold hard floor?

No?

Well here's another two dishes that we concocted with three more bunches of greens, anyhow.
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Green Marinara

Ingredients:
1 bag spinach chopped into 1/2 inch squares
2 bags rainbow chard chopped into 1/2 inch squares (probably amounts to a bunch and a half?)
1 jar marinara sauce of your choice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat olive oil in saucepan large enough to hold all greens prior to cooking
Add greens and coat in oil as much as possible
Allow greens to cook down to between 1/2 and 1/3 their original volume. Adding the salt will help you accomplish this as salt makes vegetable "weep" (release water).
Add pasta sauce and heat to simmer

Pour over whatever pasta or other accompanying food you want to eat with your marinara (perhaps spaghetti squash, roasted butternut squash, roasted summer squash, etc)
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Use leftover sauce for the following dish:

Chicken Parmesan in Green Marinara

Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Green Marinara (see above)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts rinsed and dried well with paper towels
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (not the powder kind, but I suppose that could work also)
1 Tbsp or more olive oil
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste

Preheat over to 375 F. Place prepared (rinsed and dried) chicken breasts in 9x9 in baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Pour Green Marinara over the chicken to cover and sprinkle entire dish with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes depending on size of chicken breasts. Cheese should be melted and browning slightly and sauce should be bubbling. Eat as an entire meal or serve with garlic bread, pasta, or some other side of your choosing.

NOTE: I would actually change this recipe slightly to say that you should rub olive oil onto the chicken breasts rather than drizzle. Its a weird process but it seems to do wonders especially when roasting the chicken breasts on their own. Garlic olive oil is actually the most superior in doing this. You can make garlic olive oil by pouring your oil into a skillet, heating, and adding several cloves of garlic to cook in it until softened and lightly brown. Do not soak raw garlic cloves in oil as I have heard this can promote the growth of botulism.
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Tonight we are doing easy things since I have yet to be inspired to do the dishes. Hooray for frozen chicken nuggets and sweet potato tater tots!