Winter squash polenta with chipotle pinto beans

I've been thinking about the combination of squash and beans for a few weeks now. Black beans and sweet potato are a natural match in things like enchiladas and black bean-broccoli stuffed sweet potatoes, so why not try a variation with winter squash?

This is just a basic soft polenta with a big whack of delicious, vibrant winter squash puree added in. I still had some previously roasted CSA squash puree in the freezer, so this was the perfect way to finish it up. Of course, there are still two squash on our counter. Those need to get eaten soon too!

Polenta does take a bit of time to make, but it's such a delicious result that I think it's well worth it. The overall result is smooth and comforting, with a subtle sweetness (not to mention a BRIGHT ORANGENESS) from the squash and a hint of contrasting black pepper. And the combination with spicy beans? Yes. The experiment worked.

Wilted dark greens with garlic would be an excellent addition if you want more vegetables. Cilantro would be a great garnish here too.

Winter squash polenta

3 tbsp butter or olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion
3 cups veg broth, water, or a mix
1 cup polenta and 1 cup water, combined
~2 cups winter squash puree
salt and pepper to taste

Melt your butter or oil in a 3-quart or bigger pan on medium heat while you dice your onion finely. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, or until nice and fragrant and translucent.

Add your water or broth and bring the pan to the boil. I used 2 cups of vegetable stock and 1 of plain water, which worked perfectly.

If you haven't mixed up your raw polenta and water, now is the time to do so. Give it a few good stirs to break up any lumps. Then gradually add your polenta and water mix to the pot, stirring each addition in well.

When all your polenta has been added, it's time to settle in for the long haul. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for about 25 minutes. Many polenta recipes will have you stir for the entire cooking time, but I don't think this is necessary, especially if you are also cooking some tasty pinto beans at the same time. Just keep an eye on your polenta and stir it frequently.

Your polenta will be cooked when it's thick and is pulling away from the sides of the pan as you cook. Taste it to make sure. Then add your squash puree, season well with salt and pepper to taste (start with 1/2 tsp of each), stir it all up, and cook for another five minutes, or until hot through and tasty.

Chipotle pinto beans

butter or oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
cumin, oregano, salt to taste
~2 cups cooked pinto beans
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely minced
adobo sauce to taste
green onion to garnish

This is more or less a non-mashed version of basic refried beans. Saute onion and garlic in oil or butter until softened. Season with cumin, oregano, and salt. Add pinto beans and a bit of their broth (if homemade) and cook, stirring, for five or ten minutes, until everything is hot through and the beans are at your preferred degree of dryness. Correct seasonings and take the pan off the heat. Finally, stir in your chipotles, plus a couple spoonfuls of the adobo sauce to taste. (Chop the rest of the can of chipotles in adobo and freeze in an ice cube tray for future applications.)

Serve your beans over a big scoop of polenta and garnish with chopped green onion. Oh man, it's so good.

I spread the leftover polenta evenly into a casserole dish, pressed some parchment paper over the top, and left it to solidify a bit overnight. The next morning, I fried up a couple of squares in a little butter, then topped them with a fried egg. Plain romaine on the side.

This was an excellent plan and I highly recommend that you try it, either with neat squares of polenta or a couple of rough handfuls shaped into patties. Runny egg yolk with crispy polenta is definitely worth a few minutes of effort.

How are you eating the last of your winter storage vegetables?

Oatmeal with flax, yogurt, jam, and chia seed

Okay! Things have clearly been busy at our house. Everything we eat lately seems to be something I've written about before. Pasta fagioli, salads with nice homemade dressing, enchiladas, quesadillas: yes, yes, yes and yes. (Although now I am noticing just how old these posts are and thinking about writing them up again anyway.)

These are our house standards, and we love them. It's really nice to have a variety of autopilot dishes under your belt, so during those weeks when you have to commute an hour and twenty minutes (one way) to a conference that starts at 8 am, you can still eat actual food.

I got home Friday night post-conference at roughly 7:45, and John seared me a piece of fish with lemon and parsley, chopped up some romaine for salad, and poured me a glass of wine. It was an excellent plan. Later I fell asleep with my glasses on and laptop open.

This morning I had oatmeal. Want to see some oatmeal?

Oatmeal with flax, yogurt, jam, and chia seed

rolled oats
flaxseed meal
water
salt
yogurt, jam, and chia seed to top

Put as many oats as you want to eat into a small pot, along with a teaspoon or two of flaxseed meal and a generous several shakes of salt. Cover with water to about one finger's width above the oats. Cook over medium-high to high heat for five minutes, or until the oats are done to your preferred consistency, stirring occasionally. A longer boil will mean thicker oatmeal.

Put your finished oatmeal in a bowl and top with yogurt, jam (mine was apricot), and chia seed, or switch it up and add whatever you like.

What are some of your favorite things to eat over and over, frequently when you're too busy to think of new things to make?

Cornmeal pancakes with fresh cherry plums

PANCAKES!

It has been far too long since I've had a huge plateful of hot, delightful pancakes, so a few days ago I decided to break out the cast iron skillet and go for it. Cornmeal pancakes sounded like an excellent idea. And on top? Some of the summer's best fruit. In my case, that meant our backyard cherry plums.

My initial plan was to embed a few slices of plums into the surface of each pancake, but this turned out to be a challenge. The batter was really too thin to handle big chunks of anything. Fortunately, my backup plan -- simple diced plums on top of each pancake -- worked out exceptionally well.

I went for the silver dollar size, but larger cakes are fine as well. It all depends on your personal preferences, with a glance or two toward the size of your skillet.

These corn cakes work very well with as many sweet plums as you can handle, but they could also go savory, especially if you leave out the maple syrup. That means, among other things, that if you have some of this plum-thyme sauce left over, you should absolutely try it out on these pancakes. A little slice of leftover pork and a leaf of greens would not go amiss either. Pancakes for dinner? Yes.

The best part is folding each pancake into a little plummy taco and eating it with your hands. So good!

Cornmeal pancakes with fresh cherry plums (or plum sauce)

3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
pinch nutmeg
2 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter or oil
1 1/2 cups milk of choice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 chopped plums and/or plum sauce to serve

Start by greasing your skillet or griddle lightly with a little butter or flavorless oil. Put it over medium-high heat to get hot while you make your batter.

In a large bowl, combine your cornmeal, flour salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another bowl, combine your eggs, butter, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined. I find that a large wooden spoon or paddle works well here. The finished batter will be thin, but no worries! The resulting pancakes are just fine.

Test your pan to see if it's hot enough by flicking a little water onto the surface. If the water immediately boils away, the pan is hot enough. You may need to adjust your heat for optimal cooking temperature.

To cook your pancakes, use a ladle to pour portions of batter onto your hot griddle. Let cook until you see bubbles breaking through the batter all over the surface of your pancake. Check to make sure the underside is golden brown, and then flip. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the second side is also golden brown. Remove to a warm plate and cover with a tea towel until ready to serve.

Repeat until all your batter is used up.

Eat your pancakes topped with plums or plum sauce. A little sour cream would be excellent with the fresh plums. Some extra butter wouldn't go amiss, either.

I got about 40 silver dollar pancakes from one batch of batter. Obviously, we couldn't eat that much at once. But guess what we could do? Put them in bags and freeze them for future nearly-instant pancake consumption. Now, when I want pancakes, I can just pull a bag out of the freezer, put the cakes in the toaster oven in one layer, and heat them through. It's super nice for an instant breakfast or snack.

Hooray for pancakes!

What delicious and exciting breakfasts are you eating lately? (Or are your breakfasts usually made of coffee? Most of mine are, too. It's ok!)

Apricot crisp with oat crumble topping

Someone in our neighborhood had an epic apricot harvest, and this is the result, at least at our house. Hello, fruit!

It's a standard thing around here to get overwhelmed by your burgeoning fruit trees. When that happens, you spend an hour or two picking fruit and put the results in a bag in your front yard with a big FREE sign. Then everyone walking past gets to bring home a bounty of fresh fruit. We do this all the time with our annual pineapple guava deluge. It's great: the glut of fruit gets used instead of rotting away on your back lawn.

This time I came across a big tray of apricots, picked out a bagful, and brought them home for delightful baking escapades. Crumble for all!

A huge variety of other fruit would work well here. Strawberry and rhubarb are excellent and seasonal. Cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, or a mixture of any of the above would be delicious. In the fall, apples or pears would work beautifully. And you can always add a handful of blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries to punctuate a panful of stone fruit. Delightful.

Apricot crisp with oat crumble topping

Fruit:
10 apricots, or about 2 cups sliced fruit
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Crumble:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flour of your choice
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp butter/oil

Start by prepping your apricots. Wash them, halve them, remove their pits, trim off any bruises or other issues, and slice them. I ended up cutting each half apricot into five or six pieces, but you can quarter them or even leave the halves as-is if you prefer. It's all good.

Butter an 8x8 inch pan. Tip in your prepared fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon, and stir to mix. Flatten your apricots into an even layer.

For the crumble, mix together your oats, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, cut into chunks, and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.

Spread your crumble mixture evenly over your fruit. Dot with additional butter if you feel like it (and have more butter lying around).

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until lovely and bubbling around the edges and browned on top.

This crisp is best eaten hot, right out of the oven. The apricots melt into an intensely flavored jam, while the crumble provides a perfect nutty contrast. You're going to want to have some good seed-specked vanilla ice cream with it, too.

What are you doing with your new summer fruit?

Couscous salad with chickpeas, golden beets, and zucchini

Who wants a quick and delicious lunch salad? You know you want one.

Raw beet has fast become my favorite way to cram as much crunchy, sweet vegetables as possible into a salad. To keep everything in my kitchen from turning fuchsia, I use golden beets. Red or chioggia beets also work well, but their juice will stain. At the very least, red beets will produce a bright pink salad. Be aware!

Of course, beets alone are not a particularly sufficient lunch. To give this salad some real heft, I opened a can of chickpeas. These little guys are the saviors of lunch salads everywhere. And why not bulk it up with the easiest non-grain ever, instant couscous? Perfect.

Not only is this salad tasty, easy, and cheap, it's very easily packable for work lunches or potlucks. The couscous absorbs the dressing, so there's very little risk of an olive oil spill. If I still worked in an office, I absolutely would have packed up a bunch of servings so I could grab one every day as I ran out the door.

I accidentally made enough salad to feed myself for a full week. Oops. On the other hand, now I have lunch just waiting in the fridge constantly. I call that a win.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Couscous salad with chickpeas, golden beets, and zucchini

Salad:
1 cup instant couscous
salt, pepper, olive oil
1 cup boiling water
1 medium-large golden beet
1 small zucchini
4 mushrooms
fresh parsley & chives
2 cups cooked chickpeas

Dressing:
lemon juice
dijon mustard
salt, pepper
olive oil

Make your couscous by putting it in a heat-safe bowl, seasoning it with a bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil, and pouring the water over it. Cover with a clean tea towel and let it sit while you prep the rest of your ingredients. It will be done in about five minutes.

The vegetables are super easy: just cut them up into the shapes of your choice. I scrubbed and grated a golden beet and finely chopped a zucchini and a handful of mushrooms. You can add all kinds of other vegetables if you like. Chop up a decent whack of flat-leaf parsley and a handful of chives while you're at it.

When your couscous is finished, fluff it with a fork. Add your vegetables, herbs, and chickpeas and stir together.

Make your dressing by combining the juice of half a lemon, a spoonful of dijon mustard, and a generous grinding of salt and pepper. Whip with a fork to emulsify as you drizzle in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Pour your dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly.

Check out that beautiful golden glow. I actually might have to rename this "golden glow salad," don't you think? So pretty. So tasty.

Which salads are keeping you happy as the weather heats up?

Breakfast burritos with quinoa and red pepper scramble

Why are leftover grains the best? Because if you mix them with eggs and veg, you can make a huge healthy meal of breakfast burritos in under ten minutes. As I remain exhausted and in need of nearly instant sustenance, these were more than welcome; they were necessary.

On this particular occasion, I had a mixture of multicolored quinoa and brown rice hanging out in the refrigerator. Clearly they needed to get into a pan with some egg (and from there into my mouth) as soon as possible.

Breakfast burritos with quinoa and red pepper scramble

butter
onion
red pepper
leftover quinoa or cooked grain of your choice
eggs
salt, pepper
fresh cilantro (or green onion)
flour tortillas
hot sauce/etc to serve

Melt a little butter over medium heat in the frying pan of your choice. Add a handful of chopped onion and cook for about three minutes, or until beginning to soften.

Chop up your red pepper and any other vegetable you might want in your scramble. This really depends on what you have hanging around in the crisper and think would be good in a breakfast burrito. Pretty much anything goes.

Add your vegetables and a little salt to your onions. Cook for another two or three minutes before adding a couple handfuls of cooked grain. Stir everything together and continue to cook for another few minutes, or until your vegetables are tender and your grains hot through.

Now it's time for eggs. I like to add mine right to the pan, so I don't have to wash another dish (crucial when cooking tired), but you can always beat them in a separate bowl before adding if you prefer. In any case, turn the heat down to low and add your eggs. Season with salt and pepper and a handful of torn cilantro or green onion. Then quickly mix everything together with a spatula, stirring well to scramble.

Cook, stirring from time to time, until your eggs are just about done to your liking. Toss a couple of flour tortillas over your pan to quickly steam for the last minute or so of cooking. Again, you can warm them separately if you like, but I like the convenience of this method.

Fill your warm tortillas with your scramble and garnish with the herbs and hot sauce of your choice. Roll them up and eat them immediately, while they're nice and hot. Don't you feel better?

What's your favorite filling for a breakfast burrito?

Raspberry oat thumbprint cookies

Valentine's day has never been a thing at our house. Mostly we just try to remember not to go out to dinner, because there's nothing worse than fighting through a massive crowd of people on dates for some mediocre pasta and a fourteen dollar cocktail. This year the holiday falls on a Friday, which will make the situation that much worse. Dinner at home--which is almost 100% likely to be something casual like burritos--is a much better plan.

But that doesn't mean you have to eschew celebrating if you don't want to. For example, you can have some cookies after you have your burritos. Hooray! Cookies!

I decided to give jam-filled cookies a try, both because I had somehow never made them before (I know, right?) and because a jar of raspberry jam was plaintively calling my name from the refrigerator. And what goes better with raspberries than oats? Cream, maybe, but that's a project for actual non-jam summer raspberries. So I broke out some rolled oats, mixed them up with whole wheat flour, and started baking. The results were excellent: tender and delicious, with a crisp cinnamon-sugar coating and a sweet center.

This dough is fairly sticky, so be sure to wet your hands as needed while shaping your cookies. Err on the side of wide rather than deep jam indentations, as the dough will spread in the oven but the jam will not. This will also help you avoid the foul specter of jam leaking out the bottom of your cookie.

Also, I am evidently incapable of ever typing the word "thumbprint" correctly on the first try. Go me!

Raspberry oat thumbprint cookies

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
cinnamon sugar to roll
raspberry jam to fill

Start by preheating your oven to 350F and lining your baking sheets with parchment or silicon mats.

Cream together your butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add your egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together your flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to the wet mixture in batches, beating together with a wooden spoon. Stir in the rolled oats.

With wet hands, roll your dough into small balls. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar (or don't, if you prefer--these are good either way) and put them on your prepared baking sheet. Make an indentation in each cookie with your thumb. Fill with jam.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until set and just brown around the edges. My cookies were perfect at 12 minutes exactly. Give them a minute or two to stabilize before removing them to a rack to cool.

This makes about 2 dozen delightful cookies that you can merrily scarf down while drinking a big mug of tea.

What are you baking this week?

Peanut butter, honey, and banana rice cakes with toasted sesame seeds and crushed almonds

Happy 7th blogiversary to me!

Instead of baking a cake, I had lunch. Seems appropriate.

This is the kind of food I make when I need to eat immediately. A lot of my food fits into that category. It's sort of the theme of the blog, actually. Do you want to eat a plate of something good and interesting, with limited fuss factor? Here you go.

The best thing about these guys is that they're low-effort but high-impact. How basic is a peanut butter and honey sandwich? I ate hundreds of them when I was growing up, both with banana slices and plain. The ingredients are cheap and easily available, and putting them together takes under five minutes. But with a few tweaks to bump up the texture and flavor, you get a far superior end product.

First: rice cakes. They still exist, for one thing, and they're a perfect base for a sandwich filled with peanut butter and honey. You really need a robust crunch to stand up to that soft, sticky, oozing center. Second: just-ripe banana. Fresh fruit with some solid tooth adds a second textural element and a different subtle sweetness. Third: nuts and seeds. These can not only amp up the crunch factor, but add some little pinpoints of heat and aroma, especially if they've just been toasted. The results are crispy, rich, sweet, and savory, and fill you with energy for a surprisingly long time. Yeah!

It's super easy to switch this up to use what you have in the house. Swap out rice cakes for crackers or crisp hot toast, or make a flatbread wrap and crisp the whole thing quickly in the toaster oven. Use sunflower or almond butter in place of the peanut butter. Molasses, agave, or a little swirl of apricot jam (you know, if you're a pb&j person) can work well instead of honey. Apple or pear sliced thinly can sub for the banana, and flaked coconut, chopped dried fruit, or any kind of nut or seed can be a good garnish.

The pantry is your oyster.

Peanut butter, honey, and banana rice cakes with toasted sesame seeds and crushed almonds

rice cakes
peanut butter
honey
banana
sesame seeds
toasted almonds

Start by spreading peanut butter onto a couple of rice cakes. Add a swirl of honey to each.

I like to mix my honey and peanut butter up with the back of a spoon, so I don't get any bites with way too much sugar. It's surprising how much such a simple step improves the taste. Also, it looks pretty.

Slice up a banana and arrange the slices on top of your peanut butter-honey layer.

Now it's time for toppings. I decided to have one rice cake with sesame seeds and one with some finely chopped almonds.

To toast your sesame seeds, place a handful of them in a small dry frying pan. Heat over medium, swirling the pan frequently, for up to five minutes, or until the seeds are just beginning to turn golden brown and smell fragrant and tasty. Be sure to keep an eye on them, since seeds can burn at the drop of a hat. When your sesame seeds are toasted to your liking, remove them from the heat immediately.

Chop a few almonds as finely as you like. Three or four almonds will be plenty for some subtle contrast. My almonds were already roasted, so I didn't need to do anything but chop them up. If you're using raw almonds, you may want to toast them along with your sesame seeds.

Sprinkle your sesame seeds and almond bits over your rice cakes, and you're done.

Eat with the crispy raw fruit or vegetable of your choice. I cut up a fuji apple, sprinkled it with pepper, and had it on the side for even more fruit action.

Happy sandwiching.

What are you making lately for quick yet delicious lunches?

Multigrain scones with chard and parmesan

Cookie season is officially over. It's time for the mainstays of winter food: hearty stews, roasted root vegetables, and big bunches of sturdy greens. But that doesn't mean no baking! Winter is one of the best possible times to mix up a batter and produce a steaming loaf of bread, a platter of rolls, or a fluffy muffin. Who doesn't want to crack open the oven to release a gush of heat and a pan of delicious, crispy baked goods? I ask you.

So I made a pan of scones--but not just any scones. These guys are packed with grains and stuffed with chopped chard leaves and parmesan to produce a slightly sweet, slightly salty, mild, tender, and delicious result. It's the season of greens, after all. Why not push past the typical steamed and sauteed preparations and go for a scone?

I used AP flour, rolled oats, 10-grain cereal mix, and a little ground flaxseed to punch these guys up with as many grains as possible. The cornmeal in my cereal mix gave the end product a nice subtle crunch. If you don't have a similar mix hanging around your kitchen, you can always substitute in the flour of your choice. I would probably go for wheat or rye flour here, since we already have oats in the mix, but more exotic flours like buckwheat could also produce some really interesting results.

Multigrain scones with chard and parmesan
w ref to maple oat multigrain scones

1 1/2 cup flour of your choice
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup 10-grain cereal mix (or wheat, rye, or oat flour)
1 tbsp flaxseed meal (optional)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped chard or other greens of choice
~1 cup grated parmesan, not packed

Start by preheating your oven to 375F and lining a baking sheet with parchment or silicone mats.

Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add your butter, cut into small chunks, and combine with a pasty blender or two forks. I like to use grated frozen butter for maximum ease. You will definitely get butter all over your hands if you try to grate a big chunk of frozen butter, but it's worth it. Mix until your mixture resembles a pile of breadcrumbs.

Add your egg and milk to the dry ingredients and mix just enough to combine, using a wooden spoon or spatula. Fold in your prepared greens and cheese. It's super easy to substitute other greens or cheeses here if you prefer; for instance, spinach and feta is classic. I would reduce the amount of cheese to 1/2 cup if you use something more solid than fluffy freshly grated parmesan, however. Just use your judgement and you should be fine.

Knead everything together a few times and your dough will be ready. Flatten it slightly to form a round disk, and divide it into eight wedges with a pastry cutter.

Arrange your finished scones on your baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until your scones are golden brown underneath and sound hollow when tapped. If you want to, you can add some cheese to each scone in the last few minutes of cooking. I topped mine with cheese at the 18 minute mark, and then baked for another 5 minutes before checking for doneness. I don't think this is really necessary, but hey--cheese!

Let your scones rest for five minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a rack. Eat warm or let them cool; it's up to you.

These guys are good split in half, toasted, and spread with butter. They're good just by themselves, eaten in a few bites as you walk to the bus stop in the morning. I bet they would make some very interesting little savory sandwiches, if that's how you roll. And it goes without saying that they're the perfect accompaniment to a giant bowl of the dal, chowder, or bisque of your choice. Soup and homemade scones: together at last.

Hooray! Scones!

How are you eating your winter greens?

A totally normal dinner

Who wants immediate dinner? I definitely do. Check out the contents of your crisper and let's go.

First, put some brown rice in the rice cooker (or use a pot, whatever). Turn it on and let cook until done.

Chop up some onion, mushroom, orange bell pepper (these have been big in our house this season because they are cheaper than red or yellow but taste nearly the same), and parsley. Wash, destem, and roughly chop a bunch of spinach. Throw the washed stems in the freezer to save for veg stock. Do you have other veg you want to use? If so, go for it.

Add some oil or butter to the wide frying or saute pan of your choice. Throw in the onion and cook to soften. Add the mushroom; season with salt and paprika, stir, and cook. Give it up to ten minutes, stirring occasionally, for the mushrooms to cook down and start turning golden.

Add the bell pepper and any other herbs or spices you think sound delicious. I think I put some marjoram in this one. Marjoram is one of the most underused & delicious herbs out there, in my opinion.

When your bell pepper is cooked, add all the spinach to the pan. Stir everything up and cook until the greens are wilted. This should take maybe a minute total.

Turn off the heat and stir in your parsley and a substantial grinding of black pepper.

Serve a scoop of rice and top with veg. If you have some parmesan around, you can grate a big cloud of it over your serving. Or you can cube some mozzarella or other mild white cheese and bury it in your veg to let it melt. Grind some more black pepper over all.

Eat.

You'll notice that this pan of veg could totally take some cooked chickpeas or white beans. You would be correct. This time I wanted cheese, but beans are absolutely another good way to bulk this up and make it a complete & potentially vegan dinner.

In conclusion, hooray! Hot delicious dinner!

Banana nut & oat bars!

This weekend I took advantage of a new roll of parchment paper and made a batch of soft banana nut bars. Hey, we had bananas dying on top of the fridge and bags of nuts randomly lying around in obscure corners of the freezer--why not combine them into delicious snacky bar form?

These bars are a variation on Clockwork Lemon's soft peanut butter banana oat bars. The main change I made was to switch out the cashews and walnuts--neither of which I could find in the freezer, although they may indeed be hanging out in there somewhere--with almonds and pecans, which I could find. The finished bars were barely sweet, with a subtle nutty crunch hiding under the soft exterior: an ideal breakfast.

I considered adding more fruit, since we had dried cranberries, apricots, and tart cherries hiding in the freezer too, but I decided to try out a batch with no extras to start with. Next time, though, I could totally see myself chopping up a big handful of apricots and chucking them into the batter. The bars could also definitely handle some chocolate chips, especially if you have a taste for the kind of banana bread with huge chunks of chocolate in it.

Banana almond pecan peanut butter oat bars

2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup chopped pecans & almonds, your choice of proportion
1/4 cup sweetened coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup oats

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.

Mash your bananas in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Press the batter evenly into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly browned.

The finished bars will be fairly soft, so give them a few minutes to cool & solidify in the pan. Then remove the whole slab from the pan by lifting the parchment paper.

Let cool before slicing into the bar shape of your choice. I cut my batch in half, then cut each half into five pieces. Store wrapped in plastic wrap, or layer with parchment and put in an air-tight container.

These guys are great for a midmorning snack with a big mug of coffee, or as an instant breakfast to grab on your way out the door to the train. Or just bring half the batch to work and leave them in your desk drawer as a balm for the occasional pang of hunger. It's all good.

What do you guys stash away for an emergency snack?

What to do with almond pulp

Have you ever made a big batch of nut milk, only to be left wondering what to do with the leftover pulp? Well, wonder no more!

A couple months ago, when I made up a batch of almond milk to drink in cold-brewed coffee, I was left with a substantial pile of pulp. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I froze it in convenient 1-tbsp cube form for future application. This turned out to be the best possible idea. Now I get to throw delicious almond pulp into various recipes at my leisure!

Most of the time, these guys make an appearance at breakfast. I think my favorite way to use them is in smoothies. They provide great texture and a bit of protein while eliminating the need to use the ever-present frozen banana: a win on all counts.

This time, I broke out a few of the overabundant nectarines in our crisper, and pulled both almond pulp and flaxseed meal out of the freezer. With a whack of plain yogurt, everything combined to make Captain Planet an excellent and easy breakfast smoothie.

Nectarine smoothie with frozen almond pulp, yogurt, & flaxseed meal

2-3 nectarines or peaches
3 tbsp frozen almond pulp
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
several large spoonfuls plain yogurt/your choice of vegan sub

Pit your nectarines and chop them roughly. Add to a blender with your cubes of frozen almond pulp, flaxseed meal, and yogurt.

If you want to add anything else, such as more fruit or greens, now is the time. I think a big handful of mint would go exceptionally well with this combination. Or maybe some shredded coconut...

Blend everything together thoroughly, pour into a glass of your choice, and drink with gusto. Hooray, smoothie!

Okay. So what if you want a more substantial breakfast? Almond pulp can definitely make an appearance there too. I mean, I wouldn't try mixing them into scrambled eggs--that is, unless I were already doing some sort of fried rice presentation. Actually, that might be interesting. Mental note: try more obviously savory things with almond pulp. Anyway, since almond pulp goes beautifully with grains, why not throw a couple cubes into a pan of oatmeal?

In this case, your pulp doesn't need to be frozen (although it can be--it'll just defrost in the pan in that case), so it's an excellent breakfast to make and eat along with your fresh almond milk latte.

Almond pulp & flaxseed oatmeal with bananas, yogurt, dried apricots, & sesame seeds

3 big handfuls rolled oats
2-3 tbsp almond pulp
2 tsp flaxseed meal
large pinch salt
water to cover
fruit, yogurt, & seeds to taste

I never measure anything when making oatmeal, so this is all estimated.

Put your rolled oats, almond pulp, and flaxseed meal into a small saucepan. Season with a big pinch or two of salt. Add water to cover by about a finger's width.

Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until your oats are done to your taste. You may need to add a bit more water if you prefer a thinner oatmeal. I like mine pretty thick, personally.

Put your finished oatmeal in a bowl and top with your choice of yogurt, fruit, seeds, and nuts. I really like dried apricots and toasted sesame seeds in a bowl of oatmeal, but go ahead and add whatever sounds good to you.

Eat, with almond milk latte optional. Yay, breakfast!

What do you guys do with the pulp left over from making nut milk? I'm thinking I need to branch out into using it in baked goods pretty soon.

We have been eating

Like everyone who writes a foodblog, I make and eat a lot of food I don't write about. Let's look at some of it!

I was excited enough about zucchini that I made and ate not only two separate instances of zucchini tacos, but also a pan of fried rice. Green onion, mushroom, carrot, zucchini, leftover brown long-grain rice, and egg. I mixed the onion greens and some chopped cilantro in at the end, then scattered the plate with little bits of parmesan. Yes please.

I got super excited a couple weeks ago when I saw this recipe for Goan black-eyed pea curry on Girl Cooks World. So I cooked up a batch, and we ate it for dinner, and was it ever good. SO good. It's absolutely going in the rotation.

Next time I think I might shred a couple carrots and add them near the end of cooking, to up the vegetable content and add another textural element. Or maybe I'll serve it over a big plate of barely blanched spinach tossed with a little melted butter instead of rice. Either. Both. I don't know!

And finally, because I don't know about you, but I totally bought an entire two pound bag of tiny avocados a few weeks ago, we have AVOCADO TOAST. I just sliced up half an avocado, put it on a piece of hot toast, and added a sprinkle of salt and pepper. With a little bowl of cottage cheese with chopped green onion and cilantro, it was a perfect breakfast.

Hooray!

What have you been cooking, photographing, eating with great gusto, and then never posting about? You guys must have all kinds of delicious business that never sees the light of day too, right?

GIANT BURRITO

There comes a time in every girl's life when she just wants to eat the most gigantic burrito possible.

Actually, for "a time" substitute "all the time."

Yeah. This weekend we happened on the largest tortillas I've ever seen--12 inches in diameter. What better excuse could we possibly have for making gigantic burritos?

I sauteed some garlic, jalapeno, red and green pepper, and frozen corn in olive oil, seasoned the pan with cumin, oregano, ground New Mexican hot chile, and onion powder (there being no actual onion in the house), and mixed that with a couple cans of refried black beans. You could clearly use your own black or pinto beans instead. I made short-grain brown rice in the rice cooker and warmed up the tortillas in a foil packet in the oven. They were too big to fit in the toaster oven. Yeah.

Assembly: beans, rice, thinly sliced cheddar, hot sauce, avocado, and some mixed lettuce from the farmer's market. I had cilantro in mine too. We forgot to cut up the green onion, but oh well. Note the random piece of purple lettuce peeking out of the end.

The result? One huge burrito for each of us, and three additional similarly huge burritos for the freezer. I left the avocado and lettuce out of the frozen versions, since those obviously would not do so well in the cold. But I can't say I'll mind smashing up a batch of guacamole or pouring a bunch of tomatillo salsa over a hot emergency burrito in the future.

MOST SATISFYING DINNER EVER.

Spicy caramel corn with maple, almond, and sesame

We love popcorn. It's easy, fast, and can take on any spicing combination you throw at it. You can make it any time, on the slightest of provocation, and end up with a gigantic steaming bowl of fresh snacky bitlets. Best of all, it's cheap.

That is, it's cheap if you do it right.

Prepackaged microwave popcorn is not only a ripoff, it is DISGUSTING. Do you want your house to reek as much as the office kitchen does after some misguided person makes a bag of fake-buttery microwave popcorn for a midafternoon snack? No. No, you do not. The solution: plain popcorn.

Plain popcorn is easily available in the grocery store. Most of the time you can find bags right next to the microwave popcorn, but if your store has bulk bins, make sure to check them out too. I tend to buy popcorn in bulk and decant into a jar, so there's no danger of loose popcorn spilling from a ripped bag.

So the other night we had just finished dinner but wanted a little extra something. That something turned out to be this maple-coated caramel corn with lots of crunchy sesame seeds. Hey, popcorn is not only an instant snack--it's an instant dessert too! Perfect.

This caramel corn is easiest to make if you have more than one person in the kitchen, so one person can shake the pan of corn while the other swirls the bubbling caramel. However, it's also totally possible to do it entirely yourself. It just takes a bit of timing.

The proportion of caramel to corn (and to nuts and seeds, for that matter) is up to you. I really like a subtle and minimal coating, and I've written this accordingly, but if you want a super-sugary concoction, you can certainly do that as well. Just make more caramel--or less popcorn.

Spicy caramel corn with maple, almond, and sesame

1/3 cup popcorn
1/4 cup canola oil
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp honey
large dash cayenne pepper
1/8 cup roasted salted almonds
optional pat of butter
optional additional salt

Make the popcorn by the method of your choice, following the directions on the package. We do stovetop popcorn, but an air popper or the microwave bag method are good too. Just make sure to use plain unseasoned corn.

While your popcorn is cooking, start your caramel by toasting your sesame seeds. Put a wide frying pan over medium heat and add a layer of sesame seeds. (If you only have raw almonds, you may wish to chop them up and toast them with the seeds.) Toast, shaking occasionally, for about five minutes, or until your seeds turn just slightly golden brown and start smelling delicious. Watch carefully so they don't burn! When done, tip your seeds into a bowl and set them aside.

Put your pan back over the heat. Add your maple syrup and honey and cook, swirling occasionally to mix, until all your sugar is hot and bubbling. Add in a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, a handful or two of chopped almonds, a pat of butter (if you want butter), and your toasted sesame seeds. Swirl the pan to mix everything together, stirring sparingly with something heatproof as needed. Reduce the heat and let the caramel bubble away gently while you finish up making your popcorn.

When both caramel and popcorn are done, put your popcorn in a large bowl. Pour the caramel over it in two or three batches, stirring between each addition. Spread the resulting caramel corn on a sheet of parchment paper or a silicone mat to cool. (If you want to make popcorn balls, incidentally, now is the time--just make sure to butter your hands first.) For an extra sweet-salty crunch, you may want to sprinkle a bit of salt over the hot corn too.

Give your corn a few minutes to solidify before you attack it. We don't even bother putting ours into a serving bowl, but eat it right off the paper. If you want a little more stability, just put the whole thing on a cookie sheet or cutting board. Voila!

What are your favorite emergency snacks--or emergency desserts--or emergency snack-dessert hybrids?

Apple oat yogurt cake

Lately I have been wanting snacks, and plenty of them. Crackers and cheese, pickles, tiny salami and mustard sandwiches, baby carrots, smoked almonds, clementines: ALL THE SNACKS. So I was not surprised to find myself looking through the internet to find a recipe for some sort of snacky baked business, and even less surprised to find myself whipping up a batch of cakey quickbread filled with apples, oats, and yogurt. What could be better for snacks than an easy slice-and-go loaf?

This cake is moist and nutty, a bit crumbly, and studded with delicious fruit chunks. If you like a streusel topping (with walnuts?), I imagine that it would be an exceptional addition.

It's perfect for breakfast, whether toasted gently (in the toaster oven; this is too soft to put in the actual toaster) and spread with peanut butter or cream cheese, or just eaten cold out of hand as you run to catch the train. And it's a nice not-too-sweet dessert for those of us who always want a little something a couple hours after dinner, but hate the crash of a serious sugar bomb.

Apple oat yogurt cake
Adapted from Stonyfield's apple oatmeal bread.

1 cup plain full-fat yogurt
1 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup diced apples

Before baking, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.

Start by mixing the oatmeal with the yogurt. Set aside for a few minutes to let the yogurt soak into the oats.

In a large bowl, beat together the wet ingredient mix: egg, oil, sugar, and vanilla. If you are a traditional baker, your next step will be to sift together the dry ingredients and fold them into the wet mix in three or four batches. I am not a traditional baker, so I first mixed in the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and then mixed in the flour in a few batches. Either way works just fine.

Fold your yogurt-oat mixture and diced apples into the batter. I used fuji apples, since we had a big bag of them, but you can use whatever apple you like best. Lots of other fruit would work well here. I think pears would be a particularly good idea.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan, trying not to get any batter sandwiched in between the parchment and the side of the pan. As you can tell, I totally slopped some batter over the edge and had to do a bit of emergency spatulating. It worked out fine, though.

Bake your cake for about 45 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before lifting the whole thing out by the parchment edges and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.

Eat your cake! While this is great plain, adding nut butter or whipped cream can take it in either a savory or a sweet direction. A simple pat of butter is always a good idea too.

What are you guys baking this spring?

Chickpea tomato couscous

Well, my camera has suddenly started writing invisible junk data to its memory card. It still takes pictures, but it won't store them. So I'm pretty happy that I've had a backlog of pictures hanging out waiting to be edited, aren't you?

It was a good run, ridiculous little Canon point-and-shoot. Hey, over five years' worth of service in the kitchen is pretty great, considering all the sauce and steam and oil in the mix, right? I'm thinking I will take a small step up instead of leaping into the land of complex equipment I don't really know how to use. If any of you guys have recommendations for mid-range cameras that work well for food photography, let me know!

Anyway. Lunchtime!

Instant couscous is one of my favorite options for a super-fast meal. It costs just about nothing from the bulk bins. It's not perishable, so you can keep a container in your desk at work and whip it out whenever you have a food emergency. It's surprisingly filling, and can be a meal in itself if necessary. It's exceptionally easy to make--all you really need is boiling water and a little salt and pepper. And, of course, it makes a perfect backdrop for nearly any mix of vegetables, beans, and sauce. This time I had chickpeas, tomato sauce, and some carrot and red pepper. Voila! Lunch.

Chickpea tomato couscous

couscous
garlic
olive oil
carrot
red bell pepper
cooked chickpeas
dry vermouth
tomato sauce
salt, pepper, red pepper flake, marjoram, oregano
parsley and green onion to garnish

Start out by making your couscous. Simply put as much couscous as you want to eat into a bowl, keeping in mind that it will expand by about half when cooked. Boil some water in your teapot and pour it over the couscous to cover by a finger's width. Add some salt, pepper, and a little drizzle of olive oil, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel, and set it aside. It will steam while you cook all the vegetables.

Warm a glug of olive oil in a saute pan. Add as much minced garlic as you like. I like plenty, so I used three or four cloves for my lone lunch serving. Let the garlic soften over medium heat while you scrub and grate a carrot and slice up a chunk of bell pepper.

Add the carrot, bell pepper, and a bit of salt, and cook your vegetables together, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes. When the vegetables are tender, add your chickpeas and season with pepper, red pepper flake, marjoram, and oregano. I used half a can of chickpeas, since I was only feeding myself, but you can easily up the amounts if needed. Stir everything together and cook for another three or four minutes. When the pan gets dry, deglaze with dry vermouth or some water.

Add your tomato sauce to the pan, stir, and bring to a simmer. Give everything a few minutes to cook before you taste and adjust the seasonings. Chickpeas can take a lot of flavor, so be prepared to add a bit more of everything. Continue to cook until the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness.

By this time your couscous should be finished steaming. Uncover the bowl and fluff with a fork. Top your couscous with a big spoonful of chickpeas and tomato. Garnish with chopped parsley and green onion.

Now eat it!

Since I used oregano and marjoram as my main herbs, this turned out slightly Italianate. The red pepper, carrot, and tomato made the overall profile a bit sweet, while the red pepper flake punched everything up with spice. It would be really easy to switch out the herbs and turn this into a spicy tomato curry, to mix up the vegetables with some celery or mushrooms, or to exchange the chickpeas for white beans and puree into fagioli-type sauce. It's totally up to you. I think that's my favorite thing about knowing how to cook--the ability to improvise lets you use your available ingredients to cater precisely to your tastes. It's so satisfying.

What's your favorite melange to serve over a bowl of delicious grains?

All holiday all the time

Man, this week is just packed full of festivities. Pancake Day! Pazcki Day! Lincoln's birthday! Mardi Gras! The state of the union address! Ash Wednesday! Chinese New Year! Valentine's Day! I bet I'm missing a few more!

You know I'm the one who wants to celebrate the state of the union instead of any actual holidays. HA.

Okay, maybe Pazcki Day too. The thing is that there aren't really any pazcki in the bay area, at least that I'm aware of, so celebrating with them is a bit difficult, especially a couple days after the fact. Now I miss Michigan. I hear the best pazcki in Ann Arbor are at Amadeus...

Right. Anyway, because it is actually Valentine's Day today, have a delightful treat.

That's right: oatmeal with yogurt and raspberry jam is about as valentiney as it gets at our house. And let me tell you: it is really, really good. Who needs dessert when you can have such an amazing breakfast?

Of course, I'm also making myself a lovely batch of shrimp etouffee for lunch--but that's a little more in line with Mardi Gras.

Oh well. Happy festivity of your choice!

What are you celebrating this week?

Typical weeknight dinners

I seem to have been making and eating the same things over and over. Don't we all do that sometimes? I propose that the answer is yes.

Hey, it's another plate of fried rice! Guess what this one is made with? That's right--leftover Chinese takeout, in this case the chef's special chicken and leeks. No eggs, but I added a handful of supplemental garlic and bell pepper. It was so good.

Hey, it's another bowl of noodles! This one is almost exactly the same as my previous ramen with oyster mushrooms. The only different bit is some lemongrass in the broth. Delightful.

Hey, it's another plate of migas, finished off with half an avocado and a liberal sprinkling of hot sauce! Oh man, migas are good. OM NOM NOM.

What foods do you cook and eat over and over and over?