Better than Expected

Earlier this week, I had an afternoon off of practice. In addition to catching up on some grocery shopping and work (planning practices, making line-ups, etc.), I decided to make a somewhat elaborate dinner.

The first two components of this dinner are super simple--open some cans, make a few chops, toss, heat, serve. The third, a recipe whispered by my aunt during the festivities leading up to our wedding, is perhaps the most spectacular potato recipe I've ever eaten.

Each of these dishes could be served solo. Together, they merry incredibly well for a savory, filling, and flavorful meal.

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Chickpea Salad
serves 2


This salad could be served warm, but was extra delicious heated just above room temperature in the microwave. The lemony brightness contrasts well with the garlicky richness, and the soft bite of the beans provides the perfect texture.

2c cooked chickpeas
1t paprika
0.5t salt
freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced or microplaned
1T garlic oil or extra virgin olive oil
0.5 lemon, juiced
1t sugar

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until just warm.
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Roasted Broccoli
serves 2


The rest of the meal was super complicated, so this had to be utterly simple. The roasting softens the stems and crisps the florets, making a wonderful play on textures. A little bit of salt cuts any bitterness, leaving pure, sweet broccoli joy. Dan, of course, added pepper.

1 large head of broccoli
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F
2. Rinse the broccoli and cut it into big chunks (maybe 5 or 6 pieces per head). Sprinkle lightly with salt.
3. Place the broccoli on a baking pan and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the florets are as close to burned as you're comfortable with.
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Crispy Herb Potatoes
serves 3 (or 2...)


Crispy on the outside, soft of the inside, herby, garlicky, carby, fatty--everything you could want from a potato.

7-8 waxy skinned potatoes
3T olive oil
0.25c minced herbs (we used basil, oregano, tarragon, parsley and marjoram)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
salt, pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, wash your potatoes and cut them into equal size chunks.
3. Lightly salt the boiling water, and return to a boil. Add the potatoes and boil for 10 minutes (and not a minute more).
4. Drain the potatoes and toss with the oil, herbs, garlic and salt/pepper.
5. Spread the mixture on a baking tray. Bake for an hour, tossing every 20 minutes.
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A lot of this can be prepped ahead of time. You can pre-boil the potatoes and let them sit in the oil/herb mixture all day. The chickpea salad can be made a day in advance. The broccoli can be pre-cut and salted, ready to go on the baking tray. In addition, most of the clean-up can be completed while dinner is cooking.

This would make great party food. Lots of oohs and ahs, without tons of effort. It's also not overly heavy or fattening, and very food-restriction friendly--vegan, gluten-free, nut/soy/dairy free--and without any weird substitutions.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Chocolate Banana Muffcakes

In an effort to not gain weight, Dan and I have been purchasing limited quantities of dessert. This way, instead of immediately eating cookies from a box, we spend an hour discussing whether to get ice cream or make cupcakes.

This weekend, cupcakes won out.

After foodgawking for 15 minutes, I clicked on a chocolate banana cake/muffin recipe, and immediately decided to make it. We had all of the ingredients, including exactly 0.5c of sour cream that was languishing in our fridge and leftover frozen bananas.

The recipe came together very quickly, especially with some help from Dan.

The end result is tender, moist and equal parts chocolate and banana. The crumb was tight, but had a lot of give. They would make spectacular cupcakes without the chunky fillings, and topped with peanut butter frosting.

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Chocolate Banana Muffincakes

makes 6 jumbo muffins

1.25c AP flour

0.25c cocoa powder

1t baking soda

0.5t salt

1 stick butter, room temperature

130g sugar

2 eggs

1t vanilla

0.5c sour cream

1.25c mashed bananas (4-5 medium)

0.5c chocolate chips

0.5c slivered almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Sift together the first four ingredients.

3. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until slightly fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. (It looks kind of like pancake batter at this point.)

4. Add the vanilla, beating to combine.

5. Add the sour cream and dry ingredients alternately, beating until just combined.

6. Fold in the mashed bananas, chocolate chips and almonds.

7. Divide into jumbo muffin tin and bake for 35 minutes, or until center is set. (Test w/ a toothpick). 

For regular muffins, divide into 12 muffin cups, and bake for 18-20 minutes at 350°F.

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These were good even the next day, and didn't need any warming for consumption. Keep them in an airtight container, preferably out of sight (or you'll eat them faster than you should).

Note: These are in no way good for you, unless you're trying to gain weight. They've got about 500 calories apiece! I think they're delicious for breakfast--I can't handle less than about 600 calories in the mornings.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Blueberry Bran Muffins

Last week, Dan put in a request for muffins. Specifically, he had a hankering for bran muffins. With blueberries in the fridge, we went off in search of wheat bran and a blueberry bran muffin recipe.

The recipe we found called for applesauce. We have applesauce from a granola/granola bar experiment (post coming soon! they were incredible!) but decided that banana and blueberry were a match made in heaven.

Although I'm not a fan of blueberry muffins or bran muffins, these were moist and tender--generally positive descriptors for muffins. They be divine with some shredded coconut to mask the bran flavor, and perhaps cranberries in place of blueberries..

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Blueberry Bran Muffins
makes 6 jumbo muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com

1.5c wheat bran
1c milk
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
0.67c brown sugar
0.5t vanilla extract
0.5c AP flour
0.5c whole wheat flour
1t baking soda
1.5t baking powder
0.5t salt
1c blueberries, rinsed and lightly dried (or cranberries!!)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a muffin pan or use non-stick.
2. Mix the wheat bran and milk together; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Mix together the banana, egg, brown sugar, vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the wheat bran and milk mixture.
4. Sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. (Sift! We didn't and our muffins had some flour lumps! These muffins are dark, so it's obviously if you've got a white clump of flour.)
5. Add the blueberries to the flour mixture, coating them with flour.
6. Add the blueberries and flour to the wet ingredients and fold to combine.
7. Divide evenly into muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes. The tops will spring back when lightly pressed, and a toothpick inserted into the middle will come out cleanly.

Serve warm with a big glass of water.
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Slow Cooker: Lentil Soup

When we moved into our own apartment, we quickly realized how great slow cookers are. We have a 2.5 quart super basic model--it has four settings: high, low, keep warm and off. It's a little bit small for two people, but a soup recipe will usually give us two generous dinner servings and one lunch serving.

When we moved out, my parents gave us a collection of beans as a moving out present. Slow cookers and beans are best friends. We use our slow cooker to make batches of garbanzos and black beans for use in salads, salsas and dips. Lentil soup is also one of the first things we made in our slow cooker.

This recipe can be as simple or complicated as you desire. We like to brown all of the aromatics in a big frying pan and then add them to the slow cooker. That takes time, but makes the house smell delicious. For the quick and easy route, chop everything in a big food processor, dump it in the slow cooker and go.

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Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
makes 2.5 servings

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
0.5 onion
3 cloves garlic
2t cumin seed {optional}
3c water or broth
1c green/brown lentils
1 28oz can tomatoes
2-3t cumin

1. {Optional} Chop/mince the carrots, celery, onion and garlic and saute in a pan over low heat until the onions are translucent. (You are trying to mingle flavors first.) Add the cumin seed. Turn the heat up to high and briefly brown the ingredients until things are just about to burn.
2. Dump all of the ingredients into the slow cooker. Turn on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
3. Garnish with cilantro or parsley, and more cumin seeds.
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Cooking Extravaganza

With less than a week until our wedding, Dan and I expect to be severely busy for the next week or two. When my sister offered to come home and help this weekend, we knew exactly how she could help.

We've spent the past two days making sure we would have easy, healthy, dish minimizing dinners and desserts for the next two weeks.

After several days of menu planning, the weekend started with a massive grocery shopping trip on Saturday afternoon. Normally, we bike to the grocery store (we don't own a car). It was glorious not to worry about how many pounds of carrots we bought, or whether it would fit into our backpacks.

By late afternoon on Saturday, we got started. I started by roasted veggies--potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Although delicious plain, we also had thoughts of these going into a pesto pasta.

Meanwhile, Kat started on frying up frozen potstickers--her awesome idea for good, hot, savory snack foods. While they aren't the healthiest of options, I would rather grab a few potstickers for lunch than a piece of chocolate. If we'd had time, I would have loved to make them from scratch, but sometimes, life demands compromises.

Sunday, our to-do list was much longer, but with three of us in the kitchen, we accomplished a lot. Dan and I started the day by making muffins.

These are my all-time favorite muffins--slightly decadent, but full of fruit and whole grains. They take a bit of effort but the recipe could easily be doubled to make a huge batch of breakfast muffins. They freeze really well.

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Cranberry-Walnut Whole Wheat Muffins
makes 12 large muffins or 18 small muffins


1 stick unsalted butter
1c packed brown sugar (do not substitute white sugar!)
2 large eggs
0.5c milk
1.5c white whole wheat flour
2t baking powder
0.25t baking soda
0.5t salt
1c chopped walnuts
2c whole fresh cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, letting it brown as much as you're comfortable with. (Butter burns quickly, so if it's your first time, turn the heat down as soon as you see brown bits.)
3. Once the butter has browned, turn the heat to medium and add the sugar, stirring vigorously for 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove the butter/sugar mixture from the heat.
5. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. (Omit the salt if your nuts are heavily salted. Mine were unsalted.)
6. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, stirring thoroughly and immediately to incorporate. The mixture should become more homogenous with the addition of the eggs.
7. Add the milk to the butter  mixture, again stirring to incorporate.
8. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.
9. Fold the walnuts and cranberries into the muffin batter.
10. Divide among muffin tins, filling to a maximum of 2/3rds full (for large muffins) or to half full for small muffins.
11. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed. For browned edges, turn the oven up to 375°F for the last 5 minutes of baking.
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Meanwhile, Kat got started on a miso-ginger lentil soup. The miso adds umami, instead of adding meat, and the ginger adds some sharpness.

Once the muffins were done, Dan and I split up. He worked on hard-boiling eggs, while I made no-bake granola bars.

We then started on making a big batch of chili con chorizo, while Kat marinated chicken for stirfries. To end Sunday, Kat made two huge batches of cookie dough to stash in the freezer--one chocolate chip and one chocolate cherry. We of course sampled, and both are delicious.

We still have a few fresh veggies in the fridge to use as we see fit, but we definitely have enough food to last us for most of two weeks.

How do you plan ahead for busy weeks? What's your go-to freezer meal?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Vietnamese Spring Rolls

We've made these for dinner a few times. They're relatively quick, and very light on the palette--great for hot summer days, and directly after the holidays.

I don't think they even merit a recipe, they're so easy, but I'll give you one anyways.

This is not how you should fold them.. unless you put in too much filling.

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Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Ingredients
rice wrappers (two per roll)
leftover meat or fried tofu in small pieces
julienned veggies (carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, snow peas, cabbage, lettuce, etc.)
julienned basil
dipping sauce (recipe below)

Directions
1. Prepare all of your ingredients in an assembly line.
2. Fill a bowl with warm water (110-120°F).
3. Soak two rice wrappers together in the water (for structural stability) until they soften. Working quickly, remove the wrappers from the water (they should stick together) and fill the center with about .25 cup of filling (more if you're using a big wrapper, ours were about 6" across)
4. Fold the wrapper on itself like a mini burrito.
5. Dip in the sauce and enjoy.


Dipping sauce

Ingredients (approximately)
3.5t fish sauce
2T lime juice
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
0.5t white sugar
0.5T cock sauce
1t grated ginger

Directions
1. Mix ingredients together in a small bowl.
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Easy Peasy Whole Wheat Bread

If you search for "things that have to be made with a KitchenAid", bread comes to the top of the list. This is, of course, not true (unless you're making brioche), but it sure is much easier. And this recipe couldn't get much easier.

Like all bread, this takes time. Try it some weekend. If you start it at breakfast, you'll have fresh from the oven, fluffy 100% whole wheat bread by lunch time.

The key to making the bread fluffy, instead of dense, is adding vital wheat gluten. Adding this protein helps make up for what whole wheat flour lacks--the ability to hold onto air bubbles. You can usually find it in the bulk section at your super market. Bob's Red Mill also sells a packaged version.

Note: stand mixer not required, but these directions call for one.

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100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:
1.5c warm water
1.5t active dry yeast (1 packet)
pinch of sugar
3T oil
2T honey
3.25c whole wheat flour
3T vital wheat gluten
1.5t salt
milk or cream for brushing

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, or in your liquid measuring cup, mix the warm water, yeast and sugar.
2. Put the remaining ingredients except milk/cream into the bowl of your stand mixer.
3. When the yeast is bubbly, add it to the stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough just comes together. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
4. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, rest for 2 minutes, knead for 5-7 minutes, or until the dough passes the windowpane test.
5. Let the dough rise someplace warm for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
6. Gently fold the dough down (don't punch!! unless you like dense bread...), then shape it into a loaf in a greased, lined 9x5 loaf pan
7. Rise an additional 30 minutes to an hour, or until the bread has crested over the top of the pan. (It won't rise much more in the oven.)
8. Brush the top of the loaf with milk or cream, and bake for 45 minutes at 350°F. I also brushed the tops 10 minutes and 20 minutes into baking, so the top was nice and shiny.
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We ate this with a salad and homemade split pea soup. There's something so satisfying about an entirely homemade meal.. I can't wait until our balcony garden produces enough veggies for a homegrown, homemade meal!!

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Split Pea Soup: Peas Optional

In an effort to declutter, I sold a number of old books to our local used bookstore, Moe's. In addition to making space for the books I'll actually read, they gave me Moe's money to spend in the store.

I spent a long time browsing (as I do in all stores), and eventually ended up in the cookbook section. (Somehow, I always end up there--like father, like daughter.) As I flipped through the various books, mostly from long disproven fad diets, I saw the yellowed spine of a small, unassuming, paperback book.

<Image Source>

I'd heard the name before, but never bothered to delve deeper. When I opened the pages, I was immediately enchanted--the recipes were all about the vegetables. They were simple, varied, fresh, savory, delicious.. I bought it.

Of course, it has taken me months to actually read its contents, and select a trial recipe: split pea soup. Dan and I made this last night and it was marvelous. The soup is thick, hearty, filling, and flavorful. 

Due to Dan's dislike of mustard and vinegar, I had to alter the recipe somewhat. If you do not have such an aversion to mustard, a squirt of Dijon upon servings does wonders to brighten the flavors and tickle your tongue.

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Split Pea Soup

serves 4 when served with bread

based on Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

Equipment

2 qt. slow cooker (or a big pot and lots of time)

sharp knife

frying pan

stirring utensil

Ingredients

1.5c dry green split peas

3.5c water

1 bay leaf

1t salt

2T oil

0.5 onion, minced

3 stalks celery, minced

1 potato, thinly sliced (2-3mm thick)

2c sliced carrots

2 cloves garlic, minced

0.5c chopped tomatoes

0.25t thyme

0.25c freshly chopped parsley

Dijon mustard, pepper for serving

Directions

1. In the slow cooker, combine the split peas, water, bay leaf and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. (If you don't have a slow cooker, simply simmer this, covered, for 3-4 hours.)

2. Saute the onion, celery, potato and carrots in the oil until the potato and carrot begin to brown slightly. Add the garlic and chopped tomatoes; saute for an additional 5 minutes. (This looked good enough to eat plain!!! I may make this for lunch some day.)

3. Add the vegetable mixture to the slow cooker, along with the thyme. Let cook for an additional 15 minute.

4. Just before serving, add the mustard and parsley. Serve with toasted hunks of bread, in warm bowls.

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The ingredient list is long, but you probably have most of the things on the list already. The process couldn't be simpler.

Each serving has just under 400 calories, with around 20g of protein, and less than 10g of fat. (You could cut the fat by using just 1T of oil.)

If you're a carnivore, chorizo would be good in this, as would the more traditional ham. (Great way to use leftover Christmas ham!!!)

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Post-Workout Bars

To help muscles recover after a hard workout, experts recommend consuming calories within 30 minutes of exercise. In particular, they recommend a ratio of 4g of carbs to 1g of protein.

These bars are a little bit high on the fat, thanks to the coconut, but otherwise provide a good ratio of protein to carbs with no funky ingredients. They're a handy, tasty snack to eat with a glass of water post-sweat session.

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Chocolate-Coconut Energy Bars
makes 16 100-calorie bars
adapted from No Meat Athlete


Ingredients:
1.5c black beans (I made these from scratch, feel free to use canned)
0.75c mashed squishy bananas
.25c honey
0.5 lime (zest and juice)
0.25t salt
1.5 oats or other rolled grains
0.75c cocoa powder
0.25c almond meal (or whole wheat flour)
1c shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Combine beans, bananas, honey, lime zest and juice and salt in a food processor until thoroughly combined.
2. Add the oats, cocoa powder and almond meal. Pulse until combined.
3. Add the coconut and pulse a few more times to combine.
4. Spread the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Optionally, sprinkle the top with extra coconut and press it in lightly.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes at 350°F. Cool, slice and pack in snack baggies.

Approximate nutrition:
1 bar
103 calories, 20 calories from fat

Total fat: 2.5g
    Saturated: 1g
Total Carbohydrates: 18g
    Dietary fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 3.5g
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Chickpea Salad

I mentioned before that I've had some trouble adjusting to eating at home. One of the things I've been struggling with is the abundance of fat in the foods we normally eat.

Most of the fats are good fats, but they are still calorie rich and not particularly filling. At only 135 pounds, I need to consume a lot fewer calories than my parents, and have to work out a lot more to burn the same number.

I've been trying to create that gap by eating lower calorie, lower fat lunches. I came up with this low fat, vegetarian alternative to chicken/egg salad.

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Chickenpea Salad
makes 6-8 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can chickpeas
2-3 cups of mixed vegetables/fruit (I used cucumber, bean sprouts, grapes and corn)
2T mayo (to make vegan, sub with hummus or another 0.5 avocado)
0.25 ripe avocado

Directions:
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a big bowl. Mash them using your hands or a potato masher until they're a bit chunky.
2. Add the avocado and mayo/hummus, mashing everything together.
3. Chop the vegetables and fruit into 1cm pieces, and stir into the salad.
4. Serve on toasted 100% whole grain bread.
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Home to an Empty House

Yesterday was full of travelling! We left Henley-on-Thames at 7 AM British time in order to get to the airport for our 11 AM flight. All went well with the flight and goodbyes were said to teammates in the Newark airport.

After a three hour layover, I caught a flight to Boston and then a connecting flight out to California. When we touched down at 11 PM California time, I had been travelling for 24 hours... and still had an hour to go.

Fortunately, there was a surprise waiting for me at the airport!!! Dan told me he was going to catch a flight down from Oregon on Wednesday, but he ended up booking a flight for yesterday and surprised me as I walked out of the plane. It was so nice to have him there after a really long, uncomfortable day of travelling.

It's always nice to have a man who still think you're beautiful even with bloodshot eyes and feet so swollen they look like stuffed sausages.

We arrived home to an essentially empty fridge as my parents have been off travelling Europe as well, so we had to make do with what we had. We were both too tired to do much more than munch on the two leftover apples last night, but breakfast this morning was a different story.

The only usable ingredients in the fridge were eggs, cheese and carrots (nearing their departure date). I considered omelets but the eggs were old enough that they were really better suited to baking, so I made carrot muffins.

I based the recipe off of my favorite muffin recipe, but with a lot of substitutions due to lack of ingredients. The fact that these turned out pretty well just speaks to the awesomeness of that recipe.

These are incredibly moist and very subtly sweet, with a tender crumb. The carrot flavor is very pronounced but not overwhelming. If you like raisins, a handful would definitely make these a lot sweeter. (I would recommend golden raisins.) Personally, I prefer savory breakfasts, so this was perfect.

After I'd already eaten two of them, I found almond butter in the fridge. A slather of almond butter would have rounded these out perfectly, making an incredibly nutritious breakfast.

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Not-Too-Sweet Carrot Muffins
makes 12 muffins

Everyday Veggies: 20 Minute Dinner

Our meal contracts ended at the end of the semester (almost three weeks ago). Because we're on campus training, we are given per diem to pay for our food.

Our budget for this week is $12/day. I know this seems like a lot, but with no cooking equipment, and very few resources (like olive oil, or spices) this is a pretty limited budget. It feels even smaller when you need to eat between 3000 and 4000 calories a day just to maintain weight.

So I've been all about cheap, easy, fast meals. (When it's 95 and you finished practice at 7PM, easy and fast are key ingredients.)

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20-Minute Dinner: Rice and Veggies
serves 2 (generously)

Equipment
stove
big pot
frying pan
knife

Ingredients
1c white rice ($0.50)
a large bunch of kale ($2)
0.5 small head of purple cabbage ($0.50)
pre-chopped mushrooms (or you can chop your own)  ($2)
0.25 medium onion (optional) ($0.08)
olive oil (as much as you can pilfer from the public kitchen)
chili flakes, or whatever other spices you find in the kitchen

Directions
1. Put the rice and 2c of water into a big pot. (Use more rice to stretch this meal even further.) Turn it to high.
2. Remove the stems from the kale. Keeping them separate, chop the cabbage and the onion.
3. When the rice boils, turn it to low and add the kale to the pot. Put the lid on.
4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. When it's hot, add the spices and onions. Cook 2-3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cabbage. Continue cooking until the mushrooms and cabbage are softening, about 5 minutes. (If you like well-cooked mushrooms, add these before the cabbage.)
5. Add the mushrooms/cabbage to the big pot. (The rice should be finished cooking at this point.) Mix everything together and enjoy.
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This would also be good with some romano grated over the top, or with frozen spinach instead of kale. The spinach would be a lot cheaper.

Still, $5 for two very generous servings was a great deal. (More rice would have made it an even cheaper meal, albeit less nutritious, by stretching it to three servings. Unfortunately, it was the last of my rice.)

The meal was capped off with raspberry sorbet from the The Bent Spoon and chocolate-hazelnut fudge sauce, courtesy of the public refrigerator. (Everybody has left for the summer--these were clearly abandoned by their previous owners.) Free dessert! YAY!


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Happy Easter: A Lent Recap

Today marks the end of Lent, which is the most important part of Easter for me. Although I'm not religious, I chose to observe Lent this year by giving up meat.

I made the decision somewhat on a whim, but also under the impression that I didn't eat much meat anyways, so it wouldn't be much trouble. Boy, was I wrong!

The hardest part about giving up meat was finding food to eat. Our dining halls are very veg friendly and almost always have a main entree for vegetarians or vegans beyond just the salad bar. Unfortunately, if you don't like that one option, you're out of luck! What I didn't realize before was that those were the days I would end up eating meat. Since I could no longer eat meat when I didn't like the veg entree, I had to get creative.

Fortunately, I quickly learned some good alternatives that kept me going. One of my favorites was a cheese panini. The grilled cheeses here are usually white bread with American cheese, drenched in oil and grilled. Instead, I order a cheddar cheese sandwich on whole grain bread and put it in the panini machine. That plus a salad is perfect for lunch.

I also found my dessert consumption increased significantly. That may have been partly due to an increase in calorie consumption now that we're in season, but I also think it was often the easiest thing to eat. As a result, though, I have often craved savory foods instead of sweet foods over the past few weeks.

Of course, I wasn't perfect. There were one or two nights where I just didn't have the energy to find something without meat. I also didn't go vegetarian, so I could still eat things like marshmallows, or just pick the meat out of a dish that was otherwise made with chicken or beef stock, for example.

To celebrate Easter and the end of Lent, D and I made pork chops for dinner tonight. Even though he didn't give up meat, he's been eating less. Both of us found our 4oz portions of pork to be overwhelmingly large. I also didn't find it particularly satisfying. Sure, it was moist and flavorful, but it wasn't special or that delicious. I would rather have had twice as much roasted broccoli.

Going forward, I expect that I will only eat meat when it is inconvenient to do otherwise. Although I'm sure many vegetarians probably scoff at this lack of commitment, for me it is about cost, convenience and taste, rather than morality or environmental impact. I also hope to find a way to decrease the amount of sweets I eat, too.

I'm sure this will change as Dan and I begin to cook for ourselves this summer and next year. Fortunately, Dan is super patient and understanding, and willing to experiment with not eating meat while I try to figure out what works for me. I'm sure his needs and wants will influence me, but he's been very open to change so far.

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45-Minute Dinner: Roasted Veggies with Pork Loin and Rice Pilaf
serves 2

Everyday Vegetables

Since both D and I have finished our senior theses, we have a lot more time on our hands and have been cooking dinner more often. This was our simple creation for dinner last night.

This would be a great dish to serve on a Meatless Monday. Add a can of chickpeas to the roasted veggies along with the bell peppers if you're concerned about getting enough protein.

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45-Minute Dinner: Cauliflower, Green Beans and Rice
serves 3-4

Equipment:
Baking sheet
Pot
Stove
Knife
Cutting board
Tongs

Ingredients:
1.5c brown rice, uncooked
1 head cauliflower
0.5 lb green beans
0.5 red bell pepper
1 can garbanzo beans (optional)
2 cloves garlic
2t garam masala (optional)
olive oil
salt, pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. In your pot, put the 1.5c of brown rice along with 4c of cold tap water. Turn the heat to high. When it boils, turn the heat back down to as low as possible, and set a timer for 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, clean and chop your veggies. Toss the cauliflower with olive oil and the garam masala on the baking tray. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. At 20 minutes left in the rice cooking, put the cauliflower in the oven. Toss every 5 minutes to prevent burning and to let any steam escape from the oven.
5. At 10 minutes left in the rice timer, add the green beans and garlic to the cauliflower, tossing to mix. Turn the broiler on and place the veggies back under the broiler.
6. At 5 minutes left on the timer, toss the bell pepper and garbanzo beans with the veggies and return to the broiler.
7. When the timer is done, remove the rice from the stovetop. Check your veggies. If they are golden brown in places, they're done. Otherwise, toss them again and throw them back in for 5 minutes. (The rice will stay hot, I promise.)
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Note: If you have a separate broiler compartment or your broiler takes a while to heat up, you may want to preheat it. Mine heats in about 30 seconds and can't be used at the same time as the oven, so I just changed it over when the veggies went back in the oven at step 5.

Do you participate in Meatless Mondays? Leave a comment or email me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 


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Low Fat Banana Bread

The other morning, I woke up at 10AM (ah, the life of a college student) with a pile of mushy bananas in my room. I looked at the clock and started some calculating in my head. I need to be at work at 1PM, which left me 3 hours to make banana bread, get dressed, go to brunch and get to work. Definitely enough time.

These bananas were perfect for banana bread.

Well, it turns out I'm not super efficient in the mornings, and 3 hours is really 2 hours when the banana bread takes an hour to bake (and you have to watch it the whole time). Fortunately, everything worked out.

This banana bread is moist, tender and full of banana flavor. Great for when you have a lot of mushy bananas (and who ever has just one brown banana?). Use whole wheat flour for extra nutrition, white flour for extra convenience; spread with Nutella for extra delicious.

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Low Fat High Banana Bread
makes 1 loaf

C-C-C-Cookies!

I was gifted the remaining 10 eggs from a dozen, and have been trying to clean out my pantry. What better way to use up dried fruit, chocolate chips and coconut than oatmeal cookies? 

They're definitely not the most incredible cookies I've ever had (I think peanut butter surprises might take that title) but they're really quick and easy, not too terrible for you, and use up all sorts of pantry items.

I'd also like to try these with peanut butter in addition to/instead of butter and filled with banana chunks, peanuts, and almonds. Yum!

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"Disposal" Cookies

makes 4 dozen small cookies

adapted from Quaker Oats

Equipment

fork

bowl

butter melting device

Ingredients

0.5c butter (1 stick, 110g)

0.75c brown sugar (165g)

0.5c white sugar (100g)

2 eggs

1t vanilla

1.5c AP flour (185g)

1t baking soda (6g)

0.5t salt

2c quick oats (196g)

1c Bob's Red Mill 5-grain hot cereal [or rolled oats] (120g)

0.75c mini chocolate chips (110g)

0.5c unsweetened shredded coconut (40g)

0.75c dried cranberries, chopped (120g)

Directions

1. Melt the butter. Mix thoroughly with the sugars.

2. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix together with the fork until it's a light golden brown.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt, fluffing it with a whisk or a clean fork.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until it just comes together.

5. Add the oats, hot cereal, chips, coconut and cranberries mixing until combined. The dough will just barely hold all the add-ins.

6. Divide into tablespoonfuls on parchment lined or greased baking trays. Bake for 12 minutes at 350°F, or until golden brown.

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What's your favorite kind of oatmeal cookie? Do you prefer oatmeal raisin cookies or oatmeal chocolate chip? Let me know what you think and leave a comment or email me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 


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Earth-Shattering Toblerone Cookies

I saw this recipe in CGCCMiyM Cookies and knew I had to make it, as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we ran out of chocolate chips.. so I delayed, hoping for a care package from parents well-stocked with chocolate chips. But then we ran out of chocolate.. and cocoa powder... and things got desperate.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so D and I went to the student store in search of something acceptable to tide us over. (The care package did arrive eventually, with chocolate chips, mint chips, butterscotch chips, cappuccino chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and cocoa powder. Phew!) What we found was more than acceptable--Toblerone!

We got home, and after gobbling up a whole bar of Toblerone all by myself (D gave up non-homemade desserts for lent, poor guy), I set about making these cookies with the remaining two bars.

I didn't have any corn syrup, as the recipe called for, but Toblerone bars have honey in them, so I replaced the corn syrup with honey.

Freeze half of the dough!!! After you split it into chunks of dough, freeze the chunks on an extra baking tray and then throw the frozen chunks into a ziptop bag in the freezer for later. Just label them with the baking time/temperature, the date, and the recipe name. I promise, any cookies you make will get eaten within 24 hours. Your waistline will thank you for using the freezer method of self-control.

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Earth Shattering Toblerone Cookies
makes 16 big, delicious, crunchy, crispy cookies, plus 1 cookie dough ball for sampling
adapted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich


Equipment
baking tray(s)
aluminum foil
kitchen scale (sorry, didn't take volume measurements on this one!)
two bowls
butter melting equipment
oven

Ingredients
6oz all-purpose flour
0.5t baking soda
1.25 sticks unsalted butter
1.5oz quick oats
3.5oz white sugar
1.75oz brown sugar
2oz. honey
2T milk
0.5t salt
2 regular size Toblerone bars

Directions
1. Mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl, fluffing it lightly with a fork or whisk.
2. Melt the butter completely in a medium bowl, and then add the oats, sugars, honey, milk and salt.
3. Add the dry to the wet and mix until everything is just incorporated.
4. While the dough is cooling, chop your Toblerone bars into small chunks. Mix these into the dough.
5. Break off a chunk of cookie dough to tide you over while the dough rests overnight in the refrigerator. (No raw eggs! Whoohoo!)
6. The following day, line baking trays with aluminum foil and preheat your oven to 325°F. Break the cookie dough into 1.75oz pieces (about the size of a golf ball), placing four cookies on each tray. Flatten the dough slightly before you bake.
7. Bake these for 20-25 minutes at 325°F, until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool completely before eating.
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When I have access to an ice cream maker, I intend to make these into chocolate chunk cookie dough ice cream.

Do you own a kitchen scale? What's your favorite use for it? Let me know in a comment or by emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com!

Chocolate Coffee Banana Bread

Winter fruit selection is often depressing at best, so imagine my dismay when our dining hall ran out of oranges and decided to make do with mushy bananas. I'm okay with yellow bananas, but mushy is just beyond me.

Except, of course, in banana bread. So I did all of the other eaters a favor, and grabbed as many mushy bananas as I could without seeming too ridiculous. (Honestly, I think the staff are used to me doing ridiculous things at this point, like asking for a veggie omelet without the eggs.)

I made both regular and chocolate coffee banana bread in one morning.

Then, I began the quest for a suitable banana bread recipe. I had my mom's recipe tucked away in my email, but with the amount of butter it called for, it was much closer to cake. I needed something that wouldn't use up D's single dessert quota for the day.

After opening about 30 tabs worth of lowfat banana bread recipes in Safari, almost all of which called for margarine or applesauce, I finally found one. Ok, the original calls for applesauce, but I just used milk. 

Now, this is an incredible banana bread recipe, perfect just on its own. But when you run out of chocolate chips, and chocolate, the only solution is to take perfectly good banana bread, and add cocoa powder... and then eat said chocolate banana bread for breakfast the next day. And what is better than chocolate? Chocolate and coffee.. so I did it.

Once reinforcements arrived in the form of a care package, I realized I had to make this again, but with chocolate chips and cappuccino chips. Yes, I still ate it for breakfast.

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Chocolate Coffee Banana Bread

makes 1 large loaf

Equipment

loaf pan

2 mixing bowls + mixing instrument(s)

kitchen scale (optional)

measuring cups

butter melting device

oven

Pumpkin Muffins Take 5: Almost Perfect

I say almost, because I'm sure they could be better, but these are spectacular. They're moist, fluffy and tender, with a great balance between pumpkin and spice. Everything you could ever want in a pumpkin muffin! And they've come a long way since the first round of pumpkin muffins!

I made these by adapting a banana bread recipe, and substituting pumpkin for banana. They ended up a bit too wet the first time I made them, so I increased the rest of the ingredients and used a second egg in place of more milk. I liked the banana bread recipe because it used so much banana, but still used a bit of butter to give it just enough fat and richness.

Post about banana bread is coming soon (it's the best I've ever tasted!) but for now, you'll have to live with pumpkin muffins. How awful.

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Pumpkin Muffins Take 5
makes 18 large muffins

Racing in California + Chocolate Mint Energy Bars

This weekend we travelled to California to race Stanford and Wisconsin's lightweight women and the St. Mary's openweight women in a series of dual races at the PAC-10 Invitational at Redwood Shores. We flew out Thursday afternoon and arrived in California late that evening.

Our hotel was right on the race course. You could almost see the finish line from our hotel room.

The finish line buoys were just out of view.

The next morning, we headed to the grocery store first thing. We still had to weigh-in for the day, but we all stocked up on a lot of fruit and other snacks for later in the day, and for the next few days.

In the afternoon, we practiced twice to get used to the course and our new boat (we borrowed it from Stanford so we didn't have to drive ours all the way out!) and weighed-in.