Almost Paleo Peach Pie for One or Two

Excuse the Instagrammed photos in this post. This blog has obviously been neglected since I started grad school. Last week my husband brought home a box containing sixteen pounds of Colorado peaches. SIXTEEN POUNDS! 

Initially, I felt overwhelmed. I'm actually not a big peach person. I never buy them at the grocery store. As soon as I bit into one of these, I changed my tune. How have I been living this long without them? I started searching my favorite blogs to find recipes to use them up. I found a great recipe for single-serving peach cobbler on Joy the Baker and changed it up a bit to make it paleo-friendly and also less topping-heavy. I didn't cut out all the sugar though, because brown sugar & peaches are a match made in heaven. I also left in some of the oats because...well, I felt like it. It ended up making the perfect amount of pie topping and I served it with a small spoonful of peach ice cream (I said almooost paleo!) and whipped cream, slightly sweetened with honey. If you find yourself with sixteen pounds of peaches, or even just one, give this a try and you'll have two perfectly sized portions of peach pie in about 30 minutes. 

(Almost) Paleo Peach Pie for One or Two
Adapted from Joy the Baker

1 peach
2 tbsp almond flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1.5 tbsp gluten free oats (you can skip these, but add 1.5 tbsp more almond flour or coconut if you do)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven heats up, cut the peach in half and scoop out just a little bit of the inside to make room for the topping. Feel free to deposit these spoonfuls directly into your mouth. Put one half, cut-side up into a small ramekin (or you can put both halves in a small baking dish). Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix using your fingers. Divide the mixture in two and top each half of the peach. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve (almost) immediately. Don't burn your tongue.

If you don't have a friend to share with and can resist eating both halves at once, you can put one in the refrigerator and reheat it the next day. It will be just as good. It might keep longer, but I haven't been able to resist eating them long enough to find out.

The Easiest Chocolate Cake

It has been almost one year since I posted in this blog. What have I been up to? Mostly running back and forth between two jobs, while somehow finding the time to successfully complete two semesters of graduate school. Things are less busy now. I just have two jobs, an internship, and two online summer classes.

Okay, so maybe not really less busy. But I'm here anyway.

Recently it was a friend of mine's birthday. That friend likes his chocolate, so I brought this cake to his party. People I'd never met asked if I was some sort of gourmet baker. It got tons and tons of compliments. So many that I was almost embarrassed. Why? Because this is the easiest chocolate cake to make. Ever.


The Easiest Chocolate Cake Adapted from Orangette

7oz dark chocolate or chocolate chips (at least 60% cocoa)
7oz butter
1 cup plus 2 T sugar
5 eggs
1 T flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Chop the chocolate (if using bars) and butter and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring, until completely melted. Stir in the sugar. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then stir in the eggs one at a time. Finally, add the flour and pour into a greased 8-inch round pan. Bake for 25 minutes. The middle of the cake should barely jiggle.

You can serve it with a dusting of powdered sugar or some whipped cream. It's super chocolatey on it's own, but if you want to get crazy....


Ganache Glaze
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
8oz dark chocolate (at least 60%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Chop the chocolate and set aside. Combine the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for two minutes, then stir until smooth.

Things I've Made Lately: July 17

On Sunday, I really wanted a cheeseburger. This happened instead:



-(never home)maker's Vegetarian Juicy Lucy topped with Mama Pea's Mmmm Sauce
-Mama Pea's Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Fries
-Salad from my garden with dressing made from Mama Pea's Mmmm Sauce and vinegar

This was better.

Simple Vegan Cheesecake

Hey there, long time, no see. My hiatus was partly laziness, partly technical difficulties, but I'm back with a new computer and new photo editing software and hopefully it will be better than ever?

This week was my friend Derek's birthday. He recently went vegan and wanted some cheesecake. I took the challenge and scoured the internet for recipes, eventually settling on the first one that comes up when you google "vegan cheesecake." It seemed to have good reviews and didn't require any fancy, expensive ingredients so I was all for it.

I started this morning by making vegan graham crackers because all the ones at the store contained honey. I was afraid they wouldn't crisp up properly and some of the thicker ones didn't, but that was mostly my fault for not rolling the dough thin enough. Most of them crisped up perfectly though.



I was a little nervous about the cheesecake base setting, but it turned out perfectly. Turns out, vegan cheesecake isn't so scary after all! Give it a try for the lovely vegans in your life.



Vegan Cheesecake

Part One: Crust
From About.com

About 10 graham crackers (store bought or from recipe posted above)
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/3 cup Earth Balance, melted

Put the the graham crackers in a zip lock bag and pound them with a meat hammer (ironic, no?) or a rolling pin until broken up into fine crumbs. In a bowl, combine the crumbs with the sugar, then add the Earth Balance and mix well. Press into a pie plate and chill until ready to use.


Part Two: Filling
Adapted from All Recipes

12 oz. silken firm tofu
1/2 cup almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Scrapings from one vanilla bean (optional, I used one from an old jar of homemade vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until well combined. That's it. I almost forgot the maple syrup and tried the filling before hand it and it was definitely sweet enough on it's own. I added half the amount the original recipe called for and end result did have a subtle maple flavor. If you aren't a maple fan or want a plainer flavored cake, try adding even less or skipping it completely.



Pour into the graham cracker crust and bake for 40 minutes or until the middle is just barely jiggly.

Put in the fridge and allow to chill completely. Garnish with fresh berries, chocolate, or whatever else you can come up with!

Perfect Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

Remember when I told you about my plan to bake a loaf of bread from scratch every week?

Well, I thought you should know that I have definitely kept that promise. Every single week my kitchen fills with aroma of bread dough rising and then baking. I've made dozens of different kinds and now consider myself a master bread baker.

JUST KIDDING!

I made that one loaf, and another the next week...and this one in February. I haven't bought any bread at the store though, so it's not like I'm cheating. We just don't eat a lot of bread around here. Maybe I should give it another go and aim for once a month. That seems much more reasonable.

Anyway, the title really says it all here folks. The people at Cook's Illustrated know what they are talking about. There are a lot of steps (I broke it into two days), but the work is worth it. This bread is light but sturdy, with a crispy crust and soft interior. The recipe makes two loaves. I froze one and used it a week or two later. The crust wasn't as crisp, it was softer, more like the crust of the bread you would buy at the grocery store. If you prefer that texture, freeze the loaves for a few days and let thaw out before using. Otherwise, eat them as fast as you can!



Perfect Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Day One- Make Biga and Soaker:

Biga
2 cups bread flour
1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1/2 tsp instant yeast

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until mixed well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave out on the counter for 8-24 hours.

Soaker
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 cups whole milk

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon for about one minute. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Put it back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in refrigerator for 8-24 hours.

Day 2- Rise and Bake:

1/4 cup honey
4 tsp table salt
2 tbsp instant yeast
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Take the soaker out of the fridge and tear into small, gumball sized pieces and put in the bowl a stand mixer. Clean the bowl it was in. Add the biga, honey, salt, eyast, butter and oil and mix using the dough hook for about 2 minutes. Then up the speed to medium and mix until dough is elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball with your hands and put it into the clean (and lightly greased) bowl the soaker was in earlier. Let rise for 45 minutes.

Press the air out of the dough lightly and then hold the edge the dough and fold it over. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat 7 more times. Cover and let rise for 45 more minutes.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease two loaf pans.

Divide the dough into two equally sized pieces and, using your hands, form each one into about an 8 by 17 inch rectangle. Then roll it from the short side, making a cylinder, pinch the ends close and place it seam side down in the loaf pan. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and rise let them sit and rise for another 60-90 minutes, until they are about 1 inch taller than the bread pan.

After the loaves have risen, make a shallow slash down the loaf lengthwise and put them in the oven. Put an empty loaf pan on the lowest oven rack and add two cups of boiling water (I just microwaved some), then close the door and put the temperature down to 350 degrees. Bake about 40-50 minutes and rotate halfway through.

Allow the loaves to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before cutting, if you can resist the smell of freshly baked bread (I couldn't).

Creamy Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese

I'm not going to lie to you. This dish is not very attractive (It looks just like this one specific thing that I won't mention here or else you will be totally turned off from ever giving it a shot). It is all brown. And blah. Normally I try to avoid such monochrome things, but there are veggies hidden in here (well, one veggie), so I give it a pass. You might want to serve it with something colorful though. Just sayin'.

This is a healthy macaroni and cheese recipe by Mark Bittman (I saw it linked to recently on Carrots 'N Cake). It may not be ooey, gooey, or overly cheese like the mac and cheese that you may love, but it is pretty darn good and the fact that it is good for you? That is also good. Good, good, good. Believe me. I am kind of a mac & cheese snob. My mother used to make the kind that came in a blue box with the thick liquid cheese sauce in a shiny silver packet. At some point, this grossed me out (Adult Laura is proud of you, former tiny self). The first time I ever had mac & cheese I liked was at Michael Jordan's restaurant in Chicago. It was made with real cheese. Nothing from a silver packet. It was good.

Since then, I only eat that fancy old-fashioned mac and cheese. None of that powdered microwave garbage.

Anyway, that had very little to do with this recipe, because it won't make you forget about the gooey cheesey goodness that is gourmet macaroni and cheese. There is no cream, no butter, and a modest amount of cheese. The bulk of the sauce is made up of pureed cauliflower. It tastes fantastic and won't make you feel like you are going to have a heart attack as its creamy, cheesy cousins might. In fact, it makes you feel great, like you are going to live a very long time and you can go off and run a 5K in a few hours. (which is actually what I'm going to go do).

If you're craving mac and cheese, this might not satisfy you. If you are craving a healthy, filling, vegetarian, protein-packed dish, then this is a winner (20 grams of protein if you're curious).

Creamy Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from Mark Bittman

2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
8 oz. whole wheat elbow macaroni
1/2 cup cheese (I used gruyere & emmantal, Bittman also suggests sharp cheddar)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup whole grain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Preheat the oven and get a pot of salted water boiling. In a small saucepan, heat the vegetable stock with the bay leaves for 5 minutes, then remove the bay leaves and set aside.



Cook the cauliflower in the water for 25 minutes. Remove the cauliflower from the water. If you haven't read through this recipe well beforehand, you might just get out a colander and dump the cauliflower into it and the water down the drain. Don't do that. Use a spoon or tongs and put it into a food processor. It may be slightly annoying, but then you already have boiling water to cook the pasta in. How nifty. If there is a little bit of cauliflower still floating in the water, don't worry. It's cool.

Cook the pasta for 5 minutes. You can totally dump that in a colander when you're done and rinse it in cold water. Then put it into a greased pan. I used a 7x11 pyrex dish. Bittman suggests a 9 inch square pan. I don't have one of those.

Add the vegetable broth to the cauliflower and process until combined. Then add oil, cheese, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the food processor and pulse a few more times.



Pour the sauce over the macaroni and stir a little. Be careful, the dish will be very full. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and parmesan on top and bake for 20 mintues. If you only have 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, then look into your pantry and the perfect substitue might be staring you in the face.



Makes four very large and very filling servings.

Damn Good Peanut Butter

Earlier this year, Adam and I decided to stop by Hell's Kitchen for their famous brunch. I had the lemon ricotta pancakes, which were delicious, but that is not what we are going to talk about today.

Today we're here to discuss....peanut butter.

I had read something on the menu about their peanut butter, but didn't give it much thought. They brought some out with Adam's toast, but I didn't give it a second look until I was done with my pancakes and waiting for him to finish, a frequent occurrence, as I am married to the world's slowest eater. I was bored and I put a tiny scoop on my plate, wiped it up with my finger, and put it in my mouth.

My life changed.

I'm not sure if it was for better or worse. Better maybe, because I had just tasted the best peanut butter in the entire world. Worse maybe, because I cannot eat any other peanut butter again. I bough a small jar for $6 and it disappeared way to fast for it to become my new go-to peanut butter. I decided I would have to recreate it myself. Then I remembered that the Internet exists and just looked it up. I made myself a batch and it tastes just like the real thing. It is a little bit thicker and it doesn't spread as easily, so you just have to use a little more. Once you taste it though, you won't be complaining about that one bit.

Damn Good Peanut Butter
Adapted from Village Voice

3 cups raw salted spanish peanuts, skins on (I bought mine at NutsOnline)*
6 tbsp honey
5 tbsp light brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
7 tbsp peanut oil
5 tbsp unsalted butter

*You can also skip the first step and buy pre-roasted nuts if you are lazy. I won't judge you.

Preheat the oven to 375. Spread the peanuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 50 minutes, rotating the sheet 180 degrees at the half-way point.


When they are done, they should look like this:


According the Mitch Omer, the chef, "If they look like espresso coffee beans, well, you fucked up. Start over." Hopefully you don't have to start over. Let them cool before proceeding.

Put the cooled peanuts into a food processor and process for just about 30 seconds. The consistency should be like really chunky sand. Transfer them to the bowl of a stand mixer (but keep the food processor handy) and mix in the honey, brown sugar, and salt with the paddle attachement for about one minute.

In the food processor, mix the butter and peanut oil for about 10 seconds, until emulsified. Then add this to the stand mixer bowl and stir on low until well-mixed.

The recipe says it will keep in a jar for 4 weeks, but I doubt it will be around that long.

Tuna and Grain Stuffed Bell Peppers

I have been trying to eat more fish lately, because it's good for you and has that protein stuff in it, which is slight challenge to get enough of for people who do not eat meat on a daily basis...or ever. I'm supposed to eat at least 60g a day. I'm really good at eating more than 45 and pretty good at more than 50. But I rarely meet that 60g mark. I'm working on it though.

Enter tuna.

When I was a kid, I refused to touch the stuff. In fact, this recipe might be the only thing I've ever eaten with tuna in it (at least that I can remember). It was my quest for more protein that led me to make this recipe several times my senior year of college, and again, a few weeks ago. Like the persimmon pudding I recently posted, I have no idea where this recipe came from. In fact, I didn't even have the ingredients list for this one, I recreated it from memory. I think I did a good job because it tasted exactly how I remembered it. So thank you, mysterious source of this recipe, for helping me get my protein on.

Tuna and Grain Stuffed Bell Peppers

2/3 cup five grain mix, cooked (rice, quinoa, or millet would work great too)
4 medium bell peppers
2 5oz. cans of tuna, drained
1 can yellow sweet corn
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Cut the tops off of each bell pepper, remove the insides, and cut in half. Broil each side about 5 minutes, until the peppers begin to brown.

While they are broiling, mix the cooked rice, tuna, corn, and cheese in a bowl. If the rice was made earlier and is cold or room temperature, heat it up in the microwave or on the stove first. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill each bell pepper with the mixture.

In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle this on top of the mixture in the bell peppers. Broil again until the breadcrumbs & cheese turn slightly brown.

Serves 4.

Vegan Persimmon Pudding

I realize it has been awhile. I know. I'm sorry. I have a biochemistry test tomorrow. Lots of studying to do. TONS. So right now seems like a great time for a post, right? Of course!

This recipe was actually going to be the second recipe I posted on this blog back in the Winter of 2009. Unfortunately, I was dealing with some stubborn persimmons. The persimmons I purchased became ripe, one by one, and I pureed them and stored them in my freezer. Eventually they became Chocolate Persimmon Muffins.

This fall, I bought some more persimmons, made this lovely pudding for you, uploaded the pictures, and promptly forgot about them as I was busy doing things like organic chemistry, applying to grad school, and starting two new jobs.

So, here we are. Are persimmons still around? I don't know, but if not, hopefully you'll think of this or the muffins when they pop up in the produce aisle. This isn't pudding like the pudding that comes in those cute little cups. It is closer to English Christmas Pudding. Sort of a very moist quick bread. (Sorry if you are one of those people who hates the word moist. I don't really like it either, but the thesaurus didn't give me any better options. Damp? Soggy? No thanks!)



Vegan Persimmon Pudding
Adapted from...well, actually I have no idea where. All I remember is that someone tweeted the link to it. If you know where it's from, let me know and I'll update this post. When I made it the second time, I changed it a bit and made it vegan since I was out of eggs and probably didn't have any milk (I pretty much never have any milk, except unsweetened almond milk, which I have multiple cartons of at all times. And I'm not even vegan. I'm weird like that.)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups persimmon pulp (about 3 pureed in a food processor)
1 3/4 cup almond milk (or any milk)
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax meal + 6 tbsp water, allow to sit a few minutes until goopy) (or 2 eggs)
1/4 cup earth balance, melted (or butter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk until mixed together.

In a separate bowl, combine the pulp, milk, eggs, and earth balance. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.

Pour the batter into a pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. It should spring back when gently poked in the center.

Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 16 squares.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

(This is an awful photo. Oops.)

This past July I met up with some friends for some intimate shows put on by one of our favorite bands, two in New Jersey and two in Vienna, VA. In between the two New Jersey shows, my friend Laura and I headed into NYC. Laura is gluten-free and vegan, so naturally one of our stops was at Babycakes, a vegan, mostly gluten-free bakery.

I'll have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I eat a lot of vegan food, but I'd never really had any vegan baked goods before, let alone gluten-free ones. After one bite of a carrot cupcake, I was in love. I'd gladly live the rest of my life eating only donuts, cupcakes, cookies, brownies and muffins from that bakery. If you aren't vegan, I promise you won't miss the butter or eggs at all. You'll forget they ever existed.

Yesterday I picked up the Babycakes cookbook and made these delicious cookies. They are light, crispy and have a faint coconut flavor from the coconut oil. If you aren't gluten-free, you should be able to use regular all-purpose flour and skip the xanthan gum.



Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from the Babycakes Cookbook

1 cup coconut oil (measure when melted)
1¼ cups evaporated cane juice (or sugar)
¹⁄³ cup homemade applesauce or store-bought unsweetened applesauce
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1½ cups bob’s red mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour (or regular all-purpose flour if you don't have a problem with gluten)
¼ cup flax meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons xanthan gum (skip if you use regular all-purpose flour)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips (or regular)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the coconut oil, evaporated cane juice, applesauce, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, flax meal, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

Form the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter and press down slightly onto parchment covered cookie sheets. Bake for 14 minutes, turning the pans 180 degrees after 9 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on the sheet and then transfer to a wire rack. If you don't want to bake all the cookies, you can freeze the cookie dough balls and bake later.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Pumpkin Pie with Oatmeal Walnut Crust

Above is a photo of the most delicious pumpkin pie that has ever been created. It didn't get photographed after it was baked because it didn't stick around very long.

It started with a motorcycle ride to St. Paul. Adam bought one this summer and they freak me out, but I agreed to hop on the back to get some tacos. On the way home, I convinced him to take me to Birchwood Cafe for dessert and I had their Sweet Potato pie with Oatmeal Walnut crust.

Oh. My. God.

The crust was out of this world amazing. When Thanksgiving rolled around (yes, I am super late with this post), I knew I had to recreate it. For the insides, I decided to try out a recipe from 101 Cookbooks that used coconut milk and hazelnut paste (if the coconut milk freaks you out, don't worry, you can't taste it in the end result). I even skipped the can stuff and made puree from a pumpkin Alex and I got from our CSA. I had enough to make one pie and 4 tiny ramekin sized pies. I brought the big pie to Adam's family, where we ate Thanksgiving dinner, and the tiny ones to my family who I saw the next day. It got rave reviews all around, especially this crust. Really. Try this crust. I think it would be great with fruit pies too.

It's also worth mentioning that while this pie was in the oven, a giant squirrel fell into our chimney and proceeded to make the most terrible noises I have ever heard for over 2 hours until someone from Wildlife Rescue came and got him out. Just another reason to hate squirrels.



Oatmeal Walnut Crust
Adapted from here

3/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
3/4 cup rolled or quick oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup walnut pieces

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and brown sugar (I used a food processor). Add the butter and pulse until combined. Stir the the walnuts pieces and press into the pie pan.

Makes enough for one pie.



Pumpkin Pie with Coconut Milk
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1.5 cups toasted hazelnuts (Put hazelnuts into 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups of roasted pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pulse the hazelnuts in a food processor until they become a paste. Spread over the bottom of the pie crust.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and cornstarch. Follow with the pumpkin and vanilla. Finally, add the eggs and coconut milk.

Pour into the pie crust and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the filling sets and only barely jiggles in the middle. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Whole Wheat Broccoli Calzones

A few weeks ago I saw a recipe for Easy Veggie Artichoke and Olive Calzones on Kohler Created and made them for dinner that night, using spinach instead of olives, which happen to be one of the three foods I dislike (The full trifecta of ew includes olives, blueberries, and fennel). A few days later I was trying to use up all the produce in the fridge and decided to try it with a whole-wheat crust stuffed with broccoli, cooking it the same way I had been to make Broccoli & Feta stuffed sweet potatoes (a new favorite). The end result was an easy, filling dinner that I've made several times and plan on making frequently in the future.

Whole Wheat Broccoli Calzones
Crust adapted from Kohler Created

Makes 2 calzones.

Crust:
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water
1 1/4 tsp active-dry yeast (or half a packet)
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 beaten egg for egg wash (optional)

Filling:
2 tsp olive oil
2 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 cup water
Tomato sauce (I used some from a jar of Muir Glen Garden Tomato I have been trying to finish off)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water and the yeast and stir. Add the flour, salt, brown sugar, and mix with the dough hook until it comes together into a slightly sticky ball. Pour the olive oil on top, cover, and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.



2. While the dough rises, make the filling. Heat the olive oil in a pan along with the garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat. When the oil starts to bubble, add the broccoli and stir fry for a couple minutes (it should turn a brighter shade of green). Add the water and once it boils, lower the heat and allow to simmer until the water is mostly gone and the broccoli is tender, about 8 minutes.



3. After the dough has risen, knead a few times to incorporate the olive oil, and divide into two balls and roll each into a long, ovalish shape. Add the filling and fold the top over
and seal.





4. Brush tops with egg wash (if desired) and bake for 18-22 minutes and serve.

Grainsapalooza

Quinoa? Millet? Brown rice? Can't decide?

Me either. I tend to be pretty indecisive which is why this idea to have them all at the same time is right up my alley.

A few days ago I was planning on making a temeph dish and serving it over millet. I also remembered I had a bag of amaranth stashed in the cupboard and thought it was about time to find a recipe to use it in. I decided to head over to 101 Cookbooks and was initially disappointed when only one recipe popped up. Then I looked closer and decided it would be perfect for my dinner and all those other times I have stood staring at all the jars in my cupboard filled with random grains. I used what I had and made a mix slightly different than Heidi's but just as pretty, delicious, and wholesome.

Five Grain Mix
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 cup short grain brown rice (or use medium if you want it to be less sticky and more separated)
1 cup millet
1/3-1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup red quinoa
1/4 cup amaranth

Add all the ingredients into a mason jar and shake to mix. Store until you are ready to use.



You can rinse the grains before cooking, but be careful the tiny amaranth grains don't go through your strainer (You can probably skip the rinsing step, I almost never rinse my quinoa before cooking even though every one says you should). Put however much of the grains you'd like to cook into a pot and fill with water until it is about 2 inches over the grains. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, adding more water if necessary and stirring occasionally.



Serve! (Shown with Maple Grilled Tempeh)

Best Grilled Cheese Tip

Sorry for the radio silence once again! I know I always have excuses, but a few days after my last post I got sick with a fever that lasted almost 10 days, mostly spent in bed sleeping or catching up on the schoolwork I missed. I also have tons of photos on my camera waiting to be posted, but the battery is dead and I cannot find the charger anywhere! Ugh. Excuses, excuses, I know.

I do have a new food tip for you though! Alex bought me a subscription to the Canal House Cookbooks for my bridal shower in June. If you aren't familiar with them, they are a series of cookbooks published three times a year with amazing photography, elegant writing, and amazing recipes. One of the essays in the latest edition is written by one of the author's sisters about her Christmas eve tradition of fancy grilled cheese with friends. She mentions a tip I had never heard before: using mayonnaise instead of butter for cooking the sandwiches.

I was intrigued and decided to try it out tonight and it worked perfectly! Whenever I use butter, I end up using a lot more than I would like in order to coat the bread enough for it to cook. A super thin layer of mayo cooked it perfectly. Plus, using less fat makes it a healthier meal. It's definitely what I will be using from now on! (I also highly recommend using Ezekiel Sprouted Grain bread and Pecorino Romano cheese....Mmmm!)

In lieu of a photograph of said delicious sandwich, I hope you will accept this adorable photo of our brand new puppy whose name is Ghost (however, Adam is pushing to change it to Falkor). As you can see, we have already started training him to attack squirrels. Maybe next year I will get some tomatoes after all!

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

I've been meaning to get more into bread baking for...about a year. I've made the occasional baguette here or there, but I have pretty much made the same recipe every time. Last Monday, I decided it was time to get to it. Tuesdays are my long day at school and the only day where I have to bring a lunch. I was out of my usual sprouted wheat bagels so I decided to make some sandwich bread. I've also been meaning to bake more from Kim Boyce's Good the Grain, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone by making her oatmeal sandwich loaf.

I'm going to try to make some type of bread once a week, and so far I've made it two weeks in a row. Hopefully I'll keep this habit up, because so far it has been delicious.

Oatmeal Sandwich Loaf
Adapted from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or one packet)
3 tbsp unsulphured molasses
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp kosher salt

Butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan. My pan was a little smaller (8.5x4.5) and if yours is too, I'd recommend making a few rolls or a small boule with some of the dough. I crammed all of mine into the pan and it baked up ridiculously tall.

Combine the yeast and molasses with 2 cups of warm water and sit for about 5 minutes (until yeast bubbles). Add the flours, butter, and oats and stir with a wooden spoon. Then let sit, covered with a towel, for half an hour.

Add the salt and knead for 8-10 minutes, until dough is soft and only slightly sticky (or mix on medium speed in a stand mixer for 6 minutes). Put the dough into a buttered bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size (about one hour).

Before:


After:


Then shape the dough:


First, flatten it out on a lightly floured surface (if making some rolls, take the dough out for that now). Then fold the top down and bottom up so that they meet in the middle. Press together the seam. Then put the dough into the pan with the seam down. Cover the pan with a towel and allow to rise again for another hour. Start preheating the oven to 400 degrees about 20 minutes before the hour is up.



Bake for 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when you thump the top. Remove the loaf from the pan and let cool for a few hours until cutting, if you can stand to wait that long.

Extra Spicy Green Tomato Salsa

Just a quick update to my last post...

Adam is having a "Hot Off" (aka a competition to see who can handle the spiciest foods) at work today and requested I make that Green Tomato Salsa with habaneros instead of jalapenos. I just made a new batch not only with orange habaneros, but with double the amount (four instead of two). He claims it is so good, people would pay money for it. I'm not trying it, so I'll have to take his word for it.

If you or someone you know is one of those crazy people that likes to eat food so spicy that they sweat until their clothes are drenched, maybe give this version a try:

5 green tomatoes
1 onion
1 garlic clove
4 habanero peppers
small handful of cilantro
salt to taste
(I skipped the 1 tbsp of vegetable oil this time)

Green Tomato Salsa

I don't think my expectations were too high.

I just wanted one. One ripe tomato. With 4 tomato plants in my garden, I didn't think it was too much to ask. It was my first garden ever and I just wanted to pick one juicy ripe heirloom tomato off the vine. I had "Julia Child" tomatoes, crazy banana pepper shaped tomatoes, and yellow tomatoes. At first, there were just a couple little green globes growing. I waited patiently....and then, the squirrels got to them. Then some more green balls appeared, but I went out of town in the middle of tomato season. No one really knows if any of them made it to being ripe before getting eaten by pesky critters, but I didn't get a single one.



There are still a ton of unripe green tomatoes growing though, but it's been really cold the past few weeks since we returned from our honeymoon and I gave up. Yesterday, we made fried green tomatoes. I'd never had them before and Adam hadn't had them for years. We were both underwhelmed. But what else can you do with those firm green buggers? I had no idea.

Google led me to this recipe. I was skeptical, but we decided we might as well give it a try. Plus, I got to use the jalapeno pepper I found hiding under an overgrown tomato plant. And what do you know? It actually turned out really good. So if you too have a bunch of green tomatoes still hanging on and want an option besides frying them, here you go.

Maybe next year I'll get one.



Green Tomato Salsa
Note: If you want to make it extra spicy, try this version.

5 medium unripe green tomatoes
1 small onion
2 jalapeno peppers
1 garlic clove
a small handful of cilantro
salt
pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil


Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor. That's it!

Quinuevos Rancheros

Whenever I go on vacation, I come back completely disoriented. I forget how I used to function. In college, even after a long weekend, I'd come back wondering "How exactly did I mange to watch so many episdoes of Six Feet Under and do all my homework at the same time?" or even "What time do I normally eat dinner?" Coming back from my honeymoon has been no different. After 10 days of eating out for every meal, plus the weeks beforehand where I was traveling and not cooking regularly, have gotten my routines out of whack. I went to the grocery store the day after we got back since we had pretty much nothing in the fridge and was so overwhelmed, I ended up buying some apples and bananas and coming home. Not exactly great ingredients for dinner.

Slowly but surely I'm getting used to cooking again. The blogging part? That's coming back soon. I made myself a fantastic birthday cake last weekend and took pictures the first half, and then completely forgot about it. So I have pictures of making ganache and that ganache spread over the bottom layer of the cake, but anything else? Nope.

Oops.

I promise to be back in full force soon. There are too many new kitchen toys from the wedding for me not to be! I am super excited to start using my KitchenAid Ice Cream maker. I made my first batch of vanilla, just to get the hang of things, the other day and it is marvelous. I can't wait to try some more complex and delicious flavors. But anyway...to make up for my lack of entries lately, I bring you my dinner:



I got this recipe from Rebecca Woolf at Girls Gone Child. I am loving her new Eat Well section.

No recipe is really needed. Plop some quinoa on a plate. Top with 2 eggs, shredded cheese, salsa, cilantro, avocado and anything else you think would be good. I used cayenne pepper to add a little spicy to it. I don't think I've ever seen quinoa used in a dish like this but I think quinoa and runny egg yolks may be new favorite combo.

Honeymoon: Delancey

While we were in Seattle, we were lucky enough to have dinner at Delancey, the restaurant owned by Molly Wizenburg (Orangette), who you may realize from reading my blog, I love. A lot.



We started with Burrata, served with prosciutto and arugula (excuse the not-so-great pictures taken in the dark restaurant with my point and shoot):



Then, pizza! I picked sausage:



Salami and fennel seed (which I loved even though I do. not. like. fennel):


They may just look like normal pizzas, but they were AMAZING. Simple, high quality ingredients. The salami was especially phenomenal.

In the back, you can see Molly's husband, Brandon. In the front, you can see the bottle of rose that we drank...

Then, I met Molly. No big deal...



She and Brandon gave us dessert on the house since it was our honeymoon. This is Adam's. I can't remember what it was, except it involved blackberries and was delicious Oh hey, I took a picture of the menu. It's blackberry pavlova:



But mine was totally better. Peaches with honey whipped cream, and BOURBON carmel. The bourbon. It was good.:


If you ever find yourself in Seattle, I highly recommend checking out Delancey (and getting there when it opens or else you might have to wait 2 hours for a table. If you do have to wait two hours for a table, there is a bar across the street, not that we went there and had enough drinks to be a bit tipsy before dinner). Also, one pizza is not enough for two people, but too much for one person, which means leftovers you can eat for breakfast in your hotel room. Cold pizza. Breakfast. It's classy.