Complete Exhaustion, and Blueberry Oat Bars

Weeeell I am travelling for work again - this is probably the last time I'll have any work-related travel for a while, but man was I not looking forward to this trip.  Despite our day of doing nothing on Saturday, I managed to remain completely sleep deprived through the weekend and the last thing I wanted to do early on Monday morning was get on a plane.

Monday was basically the worst.  I wanted to fall asleep all day...like, literally all day.  On the plane, in the car on the way to the client site, during back-to-back meetings with said client...you get the idea. Luckily I made it through the day, and had a delicious dinner and some wine with co-workers.

And then...I got 9 hours of sleep.  We didn't have to be anywhere until 10am, so I popped downstairs for a 2.5 mile run on the treadmill, did a 30 minute YogaGlo with Elena Brower (yoga for travelers!), and had a leisurely breakfast of coffee and oatmeal from the FREE breakfast buffet.  I felt like a new woman.

Plus, our client has an amaaaazing cafeteria.  Like, ridiculous amounts of awesome.  I think our cafeteria is pretty slick, but they have FALAFEL WRAPS.  I almost died.  My eyes may or may not have been a bit larger than my stomach and I ended up ordering the falafel wrap (falafel, chili sauce, lettuce, tomato, tatziki and onion in a spinach wrap) and two side salads.  It wasn't 1am Falafel King, but it was delicious... it was also a LOT of food and I only ended up eating about half of it.

Get in my belly.

I also had reinforcements in my purse ;)

Duh

Now I'm chilling in bed in my pajamas, writing this blog and watching the How I Met Your Mother season finale.  Excellent use of Cloud Cult, HIMYM...you almost made me cry.  Almost.

So that's my thrilling life.  To make up for the lack of action on my end, I give you Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bars!  I saw Sweet Tater's recipe for raw breakfast bars and couldn't resist giving it a shot.  Here is my version!

BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAKFAST BARS
- 2 bananas
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- 2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal/ ground flaxseeds
- 1/2 teaspon vanilla
- 4 tablespoons dried blueberries
- a couple of handfulls of roasted unsalted almonds, chopped into smallish pieces

In the microwave, heat the bananas and almond butter until they are "melted" and easy to smash and mix together.  Then...smash them and mix them together.  Add the oats, flaxseed meal, vanilla and blueberries and stir to combine.

Pour into a loaf pan, sprinkle almonds over the top and smash with all of your might!  Really - smash that sucker down until it is very dense and solid. Cool in the fridge for several hours or overnight, then remove and slice into six bars.  At this point I wrap them individually in saran wrap and put them back into the fridge, so I can easily throw one in my bag as I rush out the door 10 minutes later than planned.  Such is life.

Hope you're having a great week!

I made a cake

It's pink.  I'm quite proud of it.

It would be easy to think I only decided to make this cake after seeing other certain bloggers post similar blood-orange glazed cakes in recent days (differently shaped, but still), but in reality I've been planning on baking this for over a week and hadn't gotten around to it yet.  Just ask Ben, who has somehow been restraining himself from eating the blood oranges sitting on our kitchen counter, because he knew I was saving them for a cake.  What a guy.

I have a lot of valentine-y dessert ideas floating around in my head, but this one sort of snuck up on me as I was perusing the Smitten Kitchen archives.  I'd been wondering for a while if I could use blood oranges to make a pink valentines cake, and when I came across Deb's recipe for a grapefruit yogurt cake I was inspired to try it.

I have a mild obsession with blood oranges.  I know they're everywhere now, but somehow they still feel like a novelty to me.  My first attempt at making curd from scratch was during a kitchen adventure with my friend Amanda involving a blood orange tart.  It was delicious but for some reason the curd never set properly - someday I'll re-make that tart and show blood orange curd who's boss, but until then...there will be cake.



I made some small tweaks to the Smitten Kitchen recipe (other than the obvious swap of blood orange for grapefruit) but I'll give her credit for this cake's amazing texture.  It is incredibly moist with a fantastic crumb.  And when you add to that the jammy, almost berry-like flavor of the glaze....  OK now I need another piece of cake.



By the by, I'm pretty sure Sweetheart candies are sounding the death knell of romance in our modern age.  "Time 2 Dance"?  "Text Me"?? "High Five"???  This was the most romantic one I could find.  Whatever happened to "Be Mine?  It's just sad.  Plus they got rid of the white ones which were my favorite, and replaced them with some nasty blue fake raspberry thing.  I am officially done with you, Sweetheart candies.

Also, I'm in the middle of an epic Downton Abbey Season 2 marathon, so I'll leave you to your cake baking while I go and see what's up with Matthew and Lady Mary.  Happy weekend!

"There better be cake at this dinner."

RECIPE: BLOOD ORANGE CAKE


For the cake:
- 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

For the glaze:
- Juice of one small blood orange
- Enough powdered sugar to make a glaze consistency

Preheat your oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  In a larger bowl, whisk the yogurt, sugar, eggs, orange zest, vanilla extract and coconut oil together to combine.  Add the dry ingredients in three batches, stirring to combine each time with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.  When all ingredients are incorporated, pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (but just barely!  don't overbake).

When the cake is cooled, remove it from the pan and onto a plate or serving platter.  Combine the juice and powdered sugar to make a glaze, and pour over the cake, until the whole thing is covered with a thin layer (you'll probably want to use something easy to pour from, like a liquid measuring cup).

This is seriously delicious.  Enjoy! :)

Chana Masala

This weekend was just what I needed - unfortunately it still was still way too short for my liking.  The whole thing went by in a blur of music, wine, food, and Jane Austen movies and before I knew it my alarm was going off and it was Monday.  Boooo...



The product of a fun-filled weekend



On Friday, we sat in front of the TV with some wine and Pizza and it was amazing.  I have to post a photo of the pizza because it came out of the oven with the most ginormous cheese bubble I have ever seen.  Like, literally half the pizza was inflated.  It had already deflated a little bit by the time I whipped my camera out, but you can at least get some idea of the insanity:



There's probably an alien in there



Hello again, Meiomi.  Still delicious.


Our pizza and wine combo paired perfectly with a viewing of Dexter, followed by Pride and Prejudice because I needed something to clear the palatte before bed.  We're on Season 4 which is definitely the creepiest so far... I mean the whole series is about serial killers, but John Lithgow in this role just gives me the serious heebie-jeebies.  Luckily a hot Mr. Darcy traipsing about the countryside was just the thing to make me forget about repeated images of blood-filled bathtubs.  Hooray!

On Saturday, we lounged around for most of the day, I zipped up to my parents for some cat-related duties (they are both out of town for a few days), and in the afternoon I skyped Julianna in Australia!  In the evening, we went to dinner and the opera with our friends Mark and Tessie.  The show was Massenet's Werther, based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther - the music was incredible but we all agreed the set was not quite right.  It just seemed like a lot of disjointed pieces that didn't work together.  In a related story, Werther was definitely the original emo kid.  Everything old becomes new again (in 2002). 

Yesterday I had a little more time to be liesurely, which was really nice.  Ben and I took an early-morning walk down to Patisserie 46 for coffee and pastries. 



I managed to convince myself that chocolate-raspberry brioche is totally a breakfast food

 Before going to yoga and then heading up to my parents for more cat duties, I decided to search the internet for the perfect chana masala recipe.  As Smitten Kitchen has thoroughly documented, chana masala is really damn hard to make.  Not hard as in complicated culinary techniques, it's just really difficult to get the flavor right.  Like Strauss's art song Morgen - easy to do, hard to do well. Smitten Kitchen's recipe is pretty good, but for some reason mine always turns out a little too watery, and other versions just end up tasting like tomatoes.  I was really intrigued by Orangette's recipe, but I do love some elements of the Smitten Kitchen version and the Orangette recipe looked a little underspiced to me.  So, what I ended up with is sort of a combination of the two.  I think I found a winner.  It still isn't perfectly authentic but it's definitely the best version I've made at home. 

Chana Masala, much like pizza, also pairs well with pinot noir and Jane Austen.  Last night we watched Sense and Sensibility with bellies full of chickpeas, while drinking wine and breaking off pieces of dark sea-salt studded chocolate.  Just about perfect.


Speaking of perfect...Alan Rickman can read poetry to me any day

 Hem.  Sorry.  Apparently I'm married or something? 

(Totally joking....I love my husband and he is way more handsome than Colonel Brandon or Severus Snape or any other Alan Rickman character...the end!)


RECIPE: CHANA MASALA

Much of the genius of this recipe comes from Orangette (or rather, Molly's husband Brandon).  Cooking the onions until they are almost charred really adds to the flavor, as does repeatedly adding water and cooking it off towards the end.  Both of these techniques help get to that really rich, concentrated flavor you want in chana masala.  Or at least I assume you want it.  I do. 

OK without further ado, the recipe:

- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced or smashed in a garlic press
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 1.5 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon amchoor powder*
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (CHECK THE INGREDIENTS to make sure they don't have basil... it might not say it directly on the label)
- salt to taste
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas
- 4 tablespoons water
- 5 tablespoons plain yogurt

In a medium/large soup pot or dutch oven (I used my 4 qt le cruset and it worked perfectly), heat the ghee until melted, then add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until deeply caramelized.  Mine were brown and starting to charr in some places, and definitely leaving residue on the bottom of the pan - it takes a while so have patience :)

Reduce heat to low, adding a little extra ghee if the pot seems too dry, and add the garlic, ginger and all spices (except the chili powder).  Stirr for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the spices are fragrant.  Add 1/3 cup water and stir, using a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan. 

When the water has either absorbed or evaporated, add the can of tomatoes.  You'll want to crush the tomatoes into smallish chunks with your hands before you add them, so that they incorporate into the sauce.  Add salt to taste.

Bring the sauce to a boil and add the chili powder.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken.  Add the chickpeas, stir in and cook for about five minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook for another five minutes; repeat with the last two tablespoons of water.  Taste and adjust the seasoning as you like.

Stir in the yogurt, and serve with basmati rice or naan.

We're Almost Really Old

Hi friends - I know my blogging has been super inconsistent the last week or so, but I've just been really busy.  I decided to fly out to Montana at the last minute to see my grandmother over the weekend... like, ticket cost an arm and a leg, in and out of the state in less than 24 hours.  She's recovering really well, but last week was just a reminder that anything can happen, and I'm glad I went out to see her since I have no actual plans to travel to MT until August.

My trip was so short that I actually didn't bring any luggage - just the clothes I wore (jeans, t-shirt, comfy sweater) plus a giant purse with an extra t-shirt and underwear, pajama pants, toiletries, wallet, phone, and 3 books (priorities..).  Oh and I packed my lunch for the plane.  Because I'm a weirdo like that.


This is better than pretzels.




Who says girls can't travel light?

 

Ready to Rock & Roll


I'm always excited to pack my own lunches for plane travel, but for some reason when the time comes to actually eat my delicious concoction, I become overwhelmed by the irrational fear that my plane neighbors are silently judging me.  Like, who is this crazy girl that busts out a tupperware of salad on a 2 hour flight??? Um yeah.  That would be me.

This salad is called "what is sitting in my pantry" salad.  I'm actually quite proud of how this turned out considering I threw it together on the fly.  The dressing is the best part really... so good I think I want to share it.

But first... yesterday was  Ben's birthday!  He turned 29...and in about 2 weeks, I also turn 29 which means we are almost 30.  We're adults for real now.

for some reason, this doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would when I was younger.  In fact, it doesn't bother me at all.  When I was still struggling to figure my life out, I really resisted growing up because it made me feel inadequate.  How could I still be so lost when I was 23, 24, 25 years old?   And then, once I became more confident in who I was and where I was headed, that fear just went away.  I love the age that I am, and I'm pretty sure I always will, whether that age is 30, 50, or 85.

Ben's not huge on birthdays, but I thought it would be fun to have a mini celebration with some of his favorite things - pie, scotch and the Daily Show.  I picked up a frozen pie from the co-op on my way home from yoga, and as soon as I was out of the shower we sat down to pie and scotch, and watched John Stewart mercilessly mocking our political system.  It was grand.


Not homemade

 

Also not homemade



B-Day fist pound



Too much scotch for Sidney!
(...totally kidding, we are responsible pet owners...)

 Tonight is my sis's last night in town before she heads to Australia for a four-month internship, so I'll probably be hanging with her this evening.  Which reminds me I need to buy her some Reese's PB cups for the road.  Apparently these are not common down under, and who would want to go 4 months without a Reeses.  Not I.

And in other news:

RECIPE: BETTER THAN AIRPLANE FOOD SALAD

Tahini-Lime Dressing- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 teaspoon almond butter
- 1/4-1/3 cup water (enough to make a dressing-like consistency without dampening the
   flavor too much.  Amount depends on the thickness of your tahini)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro (or leave out if you hate cilantro)
- salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, stir together.  You'll have some leftover dressing so make sure to have a small jar or tupperware handy where you can store the extra.

The salad itself is open to infinite variations.  I used chickpeas, wheatberries, kale and part of an onion.  I like having a mix of beans/protien, grains and greens/veggies but you can honestly use whatever you want.  Mix all salad ingredients together to make however much you feel is reasonable for 1 serving.  Add salad dressing and toss to coat, until you feel like you have enough dressing.  Again, totally your choice.  Some people love a ton of dressing, some like just a little.  I'm probably somewhere in the middle.

Have a lovely Thursday!

Vegetable and Bean Soup

So apparently, I am a total moron.  I realized just today that the mint-flavored tea I drink constantly at work and which I totally thought was an herbal tea, is actually a black tea.  Oops.  That might explain why I sometimes have trouble getting to sleep.  No more mint tea for me.


Soup is probably OK though

 In other news, winter has finally arrived in the Twin Cities - we had our first below-zero temps, and the first snow that has actually stayed on the ground. Considering that by this time last year we'd had so much snowfall that both St. Paul and Minneapolis had already blown through their Snow Emergency budgets (and that was just the beginning...), I'll take it.

Also, I realize the title of this recipe is ridiculously boring, but the soup isn't.  It is definitely familiar and comforting, but certainly not boring.  My mom always used to make a huge batch of vegetable soup in the winter, put it on the porch to freeze (which is what you do when you live in Minnesota and your soup pot os too big to fit in the freezer) and we'd eat vegetable soup for weeks.  Now that it is ridiculously cold, I want soup constantly - an IV of soup would be lovely.  But instead I'll just use a spoon...so inefficient. 



Mama says, eat your vegetables!

 The largest pot I have is a seven-quart Staub so my batch is probably smaller than hers, and the recipe is definitely not quite the same, but the basic idea is there: warm, comforting, scads of vegetables.

RECIPE: VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP
- 1.5 cups dried cannellini beans (about 3/4 pound)
- 2 large (or 3 small) cloves garlic
- olive oil
- salt
- 1 yellow onion, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
- 4 carrots, sliced crosswise into small circles (about 1/8-1/4 inch thick)
- 2 celery stalks, sliced into crescents (same thickness as carrots)
- 1 zucchini, sliced into half circles (same thickness as carrots & celery)
- 2.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 4-5 fresh sage leaves
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1/2 bunch kale, torn into smallish pieces
- 2 cups chopped cabbage
- 1 14 oz can roasted crushed tomatoes
Soak the beans overnight.  Drain the beans and put them in a large pot with enough water to cover by about 2 inches.  Add 1 tsp of salt and the garlic cloves, and cook for 1 hour on medium/low heat.  Stir occasionally.

In a large soup pot or cast-iron pot, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the carrots, onion and celery and sautee for about 10 minutes.  Add the zucchini, broth and herbs and bring to a simmer; then add the tomatoes (whole can, including juices), cabbage and kale.  Cover and simmer over low heat for about 25 minutes.  Add beans and their water, and cook for another 30 minutes or so (until beans are done).  Add salt to taste. 

I also topped mine with shredded parmasean and I highly recommend it.  Stay warm!

Thai Green Curry

I can hardly believe Ben and I have already been married for six months!... cause it feels like 50 YEARS!!!!

Totally kidding. 

Anyway, we're spending our six-month anniversary...working.  It's almost like our one-month anniversary when we were lying on a beach reading books and drinking beer all day.  Oh wait...that's not the same at all.

So honeymoon.  I never finished doing recaps, because as it turns out, life just keeps happening when you return from vacation and I kept coming up with other things I wanted to write about.  But I DO want to finish writing about the trip...but I also don't want to waste your time.

SO.

Instead of just boring photos and "on this day we blah blah blah," I will wrap up my last two honeymoon recap posts with two recipes!  This first one is an earnest attempt to replicate one of the most amazing meals I've ever had, and the second will be one of the three dishes Ben and I learned to cook at our Thai cooking class.

We begin pur adventure five months ago today....

Ben and I decided that as tempting as it was to spend every single day lying around reading, we should spend at least one day exploring Koh Pha Ngan.  One of our favorite spots to eat on the island also offered a taxi service, so on August 9 we asked our buddy Pu to take us to some of his favorite spots.

The first place we visited was a buddhist meditation center, with an amazing view of the island.

Our next stop was Thongsala, the main village on the island.  It's definitely more touristy than where we stayed - a lot of backpackers and travelers, tons of stores all selling the same kitsch memorabilia, and way more traffic.  One of my favorite parts about international travel is exploring the markets - the variety and freshness is just amazing.

Are those baby sharks??!

We also hiked around the Phong Noi waterfall...which was highly disappointing in that there was no actual water.  I'm assuming this is not normal.

Fail.

When we returned to the hotel, we washed up and got ready for our one fancy/splurge dinner at the hotel in celebration of our anniversary.  Santhiya really went all-out in making us feel special and welcome - they had a table set up in a private corner of the outdoor seating area, decorated with candles and flowers.

The food was great, and the drinks were AMAZING.  I may have had one too many, and was suddenly in the mood to partay so we walked down the beach in hopes of hitting up one of the many bars we'd seen along the road, some of which seemed like they had fun dancing at night.

I don't look sunburned or sweaty at alll.....

PARTAY TIIIIMMME

Sadly there was no party to be found.  Apparently we were the only people who wanted to get our dance on that night, so instead we walked to Rasta Baby, a bar with a chill reggae vibe and hilarious drink names.

But the best food of the day by FAR was lunch!

We'd had some great meals already on Koh Pha Ngan.  The sandwiches at Handsome Sandwich really were as amazing as they claimed to be:

Skepticism

...and the ambiance and drinks at Luna could not be beat...

...but the meal that just blew my mind was an unassuming green curry eaten in a little restaurant at the top of a hill during our tour.

Yes.

It. Was. AMAZING.  The most fragrant, flavorful and perfectly spiced curry I have ever had.  I don't think any thai curry I ever have will top this one in awesomeness.  I've tried in vain several times to re-create the flavors by making my own fresh curry paste at home, playing around with various ratios of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves... but honestly the closest I've come was using a pre-made paste from our local Thai grocer.  Still not quite the same, because you could just tell the ingredients in the original were fresh as could be, but I think it's the closest I'll get outside of Thailand.

I made this recipe last week, and it took me right back to that hilltop, the peaceful feeling of having nothing to do but lie around in the sun all day, and the freedom of being without my laptop and work e-mail for two weeks.  I hope it can give you the same feeling...but if not, I at least hope it's delicious:

RECIPE: THAI GREEN CURRY
- 1-2 tablespoons canola or coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons green curry paste (I used Aroy-D brand)**
- 1 can light coconut milk*
- 1/3 -1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- a similar volume of cherry eggplants OR other vegetable of your choice, chopped fairly small**
- 6 - 8 thai eggplants, quartered**
- 1/2 block extra-firm tofu***
- 1/3 cup shredded thai basil**
- 5-6 kaffir lime leaves**
- cilantro for garnish (optional)

In a medium soup pot or cast iron pot, heat the oil.  Add the curry paste and sautee for about 2 minutes until quite fragrant.  Add the coconut milk and water and fish sauce, and stir to combine.  Add tofu, eggplants and cherry eggplants, basil and kaffir lime leaves and cook for approximately 12-15 minutes or until thai eggplants are cooked.

Serve over rice, garnish with cilantro

* I used light coconut milk for texture - the green curries I had in Thailand always had a more thin, brothy texture.  It's DEFINITELY not a fat/calories thing...for making Massaman or red curry I'd definitely use regular.

** You'll probably need to go to a thai or asian market for these ingredients.  There's a great one near me on Nicollet...but even they sometimes don't have cherry eggplant so you might have to sub another vegetable.  I used oyster mushrooms chopped into 1/2 inch pieces.  You can get Thai Kitchen brand green curry paste from a regular grocery store but it's WAY more expensive for a much smaller amount.  I picked up a fairly good-sized tub for $1.99.

*** The version I fell in love with had tofu, but if you want meat you could easily sub a similar volume of chicken or a light fish.  The flavors in this curry definitely call for a white meat rather than beef, I think.  You definitely could use beef but...meh, just my opinion :)


For more honeymoon fun:
Part I - Travel and Day 1 in Bangkok
Part II - "Wat's Up" aka more Bangkok
Part III - More Bangkok, more Travel
Part IV - Island Adventures (and illness...)
Part V - More Island Fun

Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

Why am I still sick??? 

On Monday I thought I was getting better, but then I sort of plateaued and have been in a steady-state of coughing up green gunk in the shower every morning, feeling tired all day, coming down with an incessant cough around 8:30, going to bed at 9:30, waking up and doing it all over again. 

On Wednesday I went to the convenience store at work to buy cough drops and a box of kleenex.  My conversation with the cashier went something like this:
Him: And how are you doing today?
Me: (in raspy smoker voice) Not too bad, yourself?
Him: (glancing at my purchases) ....better than you, apparently.

Uh, thanks dude.

The good news is, my appetite is back!  And, my appetite wants soup.  All soup, all the time.  Usually my soup preference is for something that is packed full of veggies and different textures, and that is more of a full meal in a bowl (see, Roasted Pumpkin Soup w/ Chickpeas and Curry) ...but this week all I've wanted is something warm and soothing.  And maybe a little spicy to clear my sinuses.



I made some pretty major modifications to my favorite Red Lentil Soup recipe, but ended up with a similar flavor palatte.  Think of this as the puree version of that recipe, with a bit of a tropical kick.  I fell in love with red lentil soup in Turkey, and also picked up the habit of adding citrus there... so I kind of fall back on it a lot.  Plus I always have red lentils in my pantry and they cook quickly, so it's easy to whip a soup together at the last minute with whatever else I have on hand.

p.s. if you make this, DO NOT skip the lime juice!  It kicks the whole thing up about a billion notches.  All the way to 11.
I need to stop watching movies and have a life.

RECIPE: SWEET POTATO AND RED LENTIL SOUP

- 1.5 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed
- 1-2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
- Fresh squeezed lime juice (for garnish)
- plain yogurt (for garnish)

Melt the ghee or butter in a soup pot on the stove over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes and sautee until just beginning to soften.  Add the sweet potato and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is fully soft and translucent.

Add the chicken broth and red lentils to the pot.  Cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until lentils are falling apart and sweet potato is cooked through.  Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (or if you don't have one, transfer the whole mess to a blender or food processer, blend and return to the pot.  You can also puree in batches).  Stir in the curry powder, coconut milk, and salt.

Serve garnished with a few squeezes of fresh lime juice and a dollop of plain yogurt.  DO NOT SKIP THE GARNISHES THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT.  Hem.

Hopefully this damn illness is on the upswing. I did manage to get to the yoga studio last night for the first time in a week, though.  I'm always nervous about getting back to class after a long break from practicing, but every time I'm surprised by how easily I fall back into my practice.  It almost feels like a few days off helps me wipe the slate clean and see poses with fresh eyes.  Handstand and cobra in particular felt brand new poses last night, in a good way.

Anyways, have a wonderful weekend!  I don't have a lot planned but I think that is probably for the best... can't wait to have a couple of days to sleep in.

Happy Friday!

Elvis Bars (or: the reason I was 30 minutes late to choir)

In the last week, I have baked two kinds of pumpkin muffins, a pear-cranberry crumble (gluten free, for Ben's grandma), an apple pie, blondies, bittersweet chocolate cookies (recipe still in tweaking stages), and a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Most of them were for Thanksgiving but still...there has been a whole lotta flour dusting up my kitchen.

Bittersweet Chocolate cookie dough, or swamp mud? You be the judge.

Other than my sudden (or maybe not so sudden...) transformation into a baking fiend, the last couple of weeks have been pretty dismal on the cooking front - I've just been too busy with work, yoga, family and social stuff to be very inventive in the kitchen, but hopefully that can change soon...

Anyways, on Wednesday I left work early to pick Mini up from the vet. Along with her pain medication and a list of things to watch out for, I was given strict instructions not to let her engage in any strenuous activitiy such as running, playing or jumping. This is basically all Mini does, so I knew I was in for an intriguing afternoon.

I thought it would be best to keep the patient confined to the bedroom, because I still had some work to finish up and needed the ethernet cord. After letting her out of her carrier, I turned my back for about 10 seconds to set up my work computer, assuming she was too tired to get into any shenanigans. Wrong.

Apparently, even in her semi-lucid, drugged out state Mini still thought it would be a great idea to attempt a flying leap onto the bed. She failed spectacularly. This of course scared the living crap out of me because the vet said NO JUMPING so I immediately went into neurotic worry mode.

After spending about 20 minutes torn between leaving the room to get my phone, not wanting to leave her, trying to stuff her back into her kennel so I could just carry her with me wherever I went (unrealistic) and then giving up because I didn't think I could get her in there "gently" enough, pacing, examining her tummy to make sure she wasn't slowly dying in front of my eyes, and pacing some more... I finally decided to move her into the bathroom and then call the vet.

The conversation with the vet went something like this:
Me: Mini just tried to jump on the bed I think she might die!! (Not what I actually said... but definitely what I was thinking)
Vet: Ok...is there any bleeding?
Me: No
Vet: Any discharge (ew)
Me: No
Vet: Ok...
Me: She just seems really uncomfortable and doesn't want me to pick her up, and she sounds weird...
Vet: Well...we did just cut pretty deeply into her abdomen so, you know, she's probably going to be uncomfortable for a little while.
Me:...good point.

So I gave Mini some pain meds and waited until she fell asleep on her pillow in the bathroom. And that is the story of how I wasted approximately 45 minutes of my day freaking out over nothing.

I had come home with healthful plans to make Emily's Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup for dinner, but after I finally got back to work I took a look at my task list I realized that was just not going to happen. I could have still made something remotely healthful...but instead, by the time Ben got home there were Elvis Bars in the oven and I was all "hey how about some frozen stuff from Trader Joe's??" Yep.

Elvis Bars > Dinner?

And then somehow, we were still 30 minutes late for choir rehearsal. The end.

...But I'm glad I made these! I was inspired by a) Katie's Blondies that I made last week, and b) the Elvis Burger on the menu at Bullfrog in Minneapolis that I've been obsessed with for months and will surely order the next time we go there.

These are really, really good - soft and chewy, chock full of delicious banana, chocolate and peanuts, not too sweet (unless you frost them...which I did...) and very speedy to make. (And sshhh....they're vegan...well except for the cream cheese icing. Don't tell anyone! I can guarantee they won't notice. Ben didn't :) )

"You know you want me more than vegetables..."

RECIPE: ELVIS BARS

I'm not actually vegan - and you could easily de-veganize these by using a real egg instead of a flax egg, and butter instead of coconut oil. I just didn't have eggs or butter in my fridge, and sometimes you want baked goods this instant and you have to work with what you've got.

- 1 large banana
- Approx. 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons of warm water (to make a flax "egg")
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghihardelli Milk Chocolate...for some reason Elvis strikes me as a milk chocolate kinda guy)
- 1/4 cup dry roasted, unsalted peanuts
- Some sort of Peanut Butter-based glaze or icing

First, mix the water and flax seed meal in a cup to make the flax "egg" and let sit while you prepare the rest of the wet ingredients. Place the coconut oil and 2/3 (save the rest! you'll need it later) of the banana in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high until coconut oil is melted and banana is easily smooshable (technical term) - about 30 seconds.

In a larger bowl, combine the oil, banana, sugar, vanilla and flax "egg" and mix well. Add dry ingredients (flour and salt) and stir to combine. Chop the reamaining 1/3 banana into small pieces. Finally, add the chocolate chips, banana pieces, and peanuts and stir to distribute them relatively evenly through the batter.

Line an 8x8 baking pan (or dish) with tinfoil or parchment paper, and use a spatula/wooden spoon to spread the batter into the pan (batter will be thick and not so easy to spread). Bake for 25-30 minutes. Every oven is different so I would suggest checking at 25 and seeing how it goes from there. Mine baked for around 30 and they came out perfectly -they should be just golden around the edges, not brown.

Let the bars cool, peel off the foil or parchment paper (my bars actually held together fairly well when I flipped them over to remove the foil) and frost with your favorite peanut butter glaze or frosting! I used a PB Cream Cheese icing from Smitten Kitchen, but you could easily make up your own, or just drizzle melted PB over the top. They're great on their own, but the peanut butter is what really Elvis-ifies them. (Is that a word? No? Well...now it is.)

Apple Cinnamon Hot Cereal

Our shower is broken.

Well, not broken exactly, but broken for the purposes of me using it. It just started draining reeeeeeeeeally slowly one day, in the mysterious way that shower drains do. I tried cleaning it out with a wire hanger and pulled a TON of crap out of there (you don't even want to know... just what happens when two people with hair use the same shower for an extended period of time), but there seemed to be little improvement so Ben got out the Liquid Plumber. That made it worse. Not Ben's fault, obviously, but now we can't really use our shower.

As a result, I've been going to my local CorePower Yoga a LOT lately - partly because I love me some daily yoga, and partly because...they have showers that drain properly. This morning I went to a 6am class, showered (glorious), dried my hair, dressed, grabbed a coffee and still made it to work in time for my 8am meeting.

On mornings like this (and I anticipate there being more...) I obviously don't have time to make breakfast before I leave, so it's nice to have something pre-made and portable to throw in your purse. May I humbly suggest this Apple-Cinnamon hot cereal? Warm and comforting, topped with honey and coconut milk, it can make even wading through gajillions of e-mails in the morning seem rather pleasant.

Or not. E-mail is ridiculous.

I'm providing two versions of this "recipe" - one that makes two servings, and one that makes a ginormous batch of six servings that you can use throughout the week, along with super-complicated instructions for storing and re-heating (read: not complicated at all). They should theoretically turn out the same, since I use the same ingredient ratio for both, but textures of the large and small batches are quite different. In two serving version, the grains stay much more separate and intact, and the large-batch version is a lot mushier- more like oatmeal. I can only assume it's because the large version takes longer too cook, allowing more time for the grains to break down. Either way it's delicious. Enjoy!

Two Serving Version

Large Batch Version


Lovely Apples

RECIPE: APPLE CINNAMON HOT CEREAL

I really hesitate to even call this a recipe, since much of the credit goes to the brilliance of Bob's Red Mill...but I think it's worth sharing :)

2 Serving Version
- Butter (very small amount)
- 2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain Hot Cereal
- 4/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 small apple, chopped/diced into small pieces (roughly 1/4 inch - no need to peel them)
- Cinnamon - enough to coat the apples as they cook (roughly 1/2 tsp maybe? see photo above
for a rough cinnamon to apple ratio. Sometimes I don't measure things)
- Coconut Milk
- Honey

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add a small amount of butter (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) to the pan with the apples and sautee for a minute or so. Add the cinnamon and continue to sautee, stirring occasionally until the apples begin to soften.

Add the cereal to the pan and stir to mix apples and cereal together. Then add water and milk, stir to combine, and lower heat to medium-low. Cook until finished. Serve drizzled with coconut milk and honey to your taste. I know, it sounds weird but I highly recommend that you don't skip the coconut milk and honey - they really take it to the next level.

Large Batch Version
- 1 tsp butter
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain Hot Cereal
- 2 cups water
- 1/2ish cup milk
- 3 small apples, diced into 1/4-ish inch pieces (again, no need to peel the apples)
- Cinnamon - enough to coat the apples (see photo above)

Follow the same instructions as for the small batch version - just be aware that 1) this version will take longer, and 2) you'll probably have to stir the cereal more often as it cooks, as it will be more prone to sticking to the bottom (unless you have a non-stick pan)

To make it portable, I put one serving into a screw-top jar the night before, added a little extra water as well as the coconut milk and honey. This morning - grab jar, throw jar in purse, warm up in the breakroom microwave at work. Done.

You could also easily make this vegan by using coconut oil instead of butter, and subbing almond or soy milk for regular.

Happy Wednesday, all!