Weekend snaps

No recipe today, just a quick moment to say hello.
HELLO.
I love the weekends. I love being busy, but not too busy. I love having to carve out time for cleaning and homework and work-outs, but not so much time that I can't sit on the couch, watch a Gilmore Girls, and like tonight, watch a little college football with the man (not my first, or second, or third choice, but still...)
Most of all, I love the freedom of the weekend. I don't have to be up by 6, or worry about make-up, outfits, meetings, emails (do they ever end?!), commuting, screaming babies, parking at school, or the annoying feeling that as soon as you get home, you have a million things to do before getting up and starting the whole, hectic cycle over again.
Instead, I get to do things like this.


And share effortless laughs provided to me by faces like this.


Those cups are filled with things called Razzles, btw. That's basically a Blizzard, but with frozen yogurt. Erin, stop drooling on your computer.

Happy weekend.

Oven roasted potatoes

It's still summer weather in California. Fellow food bloggers began talking about fall weather and fall food a couple weeks ago, but I just can't get on bored with pumpkin spice lattes, butternut squash soup, and months of no garden fresh tomatoes. I may cry come October.
What I can get on board with is an easy cool weather side dish that tastes better than the main dish I serve with it. I made turkey meatloaf the other day- I think Barefoot Contessa has a great recipe- and served it up with some leftover biscuits from one of our favorite restaurants and these potatoes.


They don't look like much, but they stole the show.
You can use whatever potatoes you like, but I bought a mixed bag (red, yellow and purple!) from my local farmer's market. I think these would be really exceptional with some roasted asparagus and roasted chicken. I may not be totally ready for Fall, but I'm getting there.

Easy Roasted Potatoes
Serves 3-4
2 lbs. baby potatoes
2-3 T good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons pepper, divided
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut up potatoes into chunks, leave skin on. The smaller the pieces, the faster they cook- shoot for bite size pieces. Lay them on a cookie sheet and toss with 2-3 T olive oil, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon rosemary. Make sure the potatoes do not overlap and place in oven. Let them cook until golden brown and slightly crispy- this should take 20-30 minutes.
When done, add remaining salt, pepper and rosemary. Serve hot.

Tuesday Treat: Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

After one week, I have officially decided/been deemed the treat bringer to my Wednesday counseling class. What a rough life I lead!
This week, it's my professor's birthday, and as the classic teacher's pet that I am, I decided to bake vegan cupcakes for my prof, as she follows a vegan diet.

I took a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and enhanced it, just a smidge. Please ignore how awesome their pics are compared to mine. I have photo envy. I'm working on it.

I start seeing clients tomorrow- eeek! I am slightly excited...and these will be perfect to enjoy after all the listening I will be doing tomorrow morning.

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cup coconut milk (vanilla or sweetened preferred)- this is not coconut in a can. This is an alternative milk like soy- look for it next to that.
1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, optional
1/2 cup shredded coconut, more if desired

For the ganache:
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
extra coconut for garnish

Bake the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Whisk the milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled. SOunds freaky, but it's AWESOME. Say it with me- milk + vinegar= AWESOME

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.

Beat together the milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain. Add coconut and stir slightly.

Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

In the meantime, prepare the ganache.

In a small sauce pan, bring the milk to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer and add the chocolate and syrup. Mix with a rubber spatula for about 30 seconds. Turn heat off, continue stirring until the chocolate is fully melted and the icing is smooth. You might want to add up to 1/2 choc chips if the ganache seems thin, as mine did.

To assemble:
Let ganache cool for about 10 minutes. Dip the top of the cupcake in the ganache and then set them on a cooling rack. Spoon the remainder of the ganache over cupcakes. Sprinkle with coconut. Let set in a cool room for an hour or so, or place in the fridge to set.



PS- this is a cute little pineapple cutting board that the Meachim family gave me as part of a housewarming present. How perf is that in my blue and yellow kitchen?!

Blogging and Blueberry Muffins

WOW. What have I been doing?!
Not blogging, but you knew that.
I have been...
not cooking (until about 2 weeks ago)
moving
starting school
working
running
having fun
stressing
trying to ignore stress
watching Sex and the City. I'm addicted. Someone help me. Actually don't- I like it too well.

Tomorrow I go to school and begin one of the most humbling adventures I will ever embark on as a student and possibly, as a person. I get to begin counseling people. REAL people.
Run.
To celebrate getting the opportunity to listen to peoples problems, and tell them not to jump off the Empire State Building, I've made these muffins for fellow classmates.



A couple days ago I was in Raley's and found a really fancy chocolate bar on sale. The kind of chocolate bar that makes me think I am chicer than I am, aka, not the person wearing gym shorts, running shoes, a shirt adorned with yogurt, snot and ketchup, and the the painter of that shirt (a 2 yr old) in my shopping cart.
This chocolate bar was dark chocolate, infused with blueberries and lavender. I know, chic. Then, as if the fates knew what I was planning to do, I found a simply chic blueberry muffin recipe on one of my favorite blogs (In Praise of Leftovers). I modified the recipe slightly and added a bit of the chocolate bar to the muffins. Simply chic x2.

Now that I'm in my new kitchen, and cooking for 2 instead of 12, I hope to add some new life into my posts, and share what it's like to set up a kitchen when you have just 6 cabinets. Ah, the life.

Simply Chic Blueberry Chocolate Muffins (adapted from IP of L)

For batter:
4 Tb. unsalted butter
1/2 c. whole or low fat milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 pint blueberries
1/2 bar Dagoba Blueberry Chocolate bar (break into small pieces by cutting with a large knife)

Preheat oven to 375 and butter a 12-cup muffin pan.

Melt butter in a microwavable bowl. In a measuring cup, whisk milk, egg, yolk, and vanilla until well combined. Add to melted butter.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Gently but thoroughly fold in blueberries. Add chocolate. Divide batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.

Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. Cool in pan for at least 5 minutes (10 would be better), then run a knife around edges of muffin tops and carefully remove from cups. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Healthy Lunch

I'm trying to do TWO good things for myself: run and eat some healthy lunches, as to not discount all my good running.

It's actually been pretty easy- I haven't had any ice cream, fudge cake, french fry, pizza cravings. There is nothing worse than having to submit to those when you're working hard.

I try to pick one thing to eat for lunch all week long- it saves money and makes it easy on me to have something prepared at the beginning of the week.

This week I decided I needed more kale in my life. What is wrong with me?! I have a love hate, er, hate hate relationship with kale. Nevertheless, I've seen it all over the place lately and everyone is buzzing about how amazing a food it is. Great. I still don't love it, but when I ate it yesterday, the normally obnoxious chewy yet sharp like knife texture, was good enough that I ate it again today and probably again tomorrow (good idea since the weekends are always a hotbed of horrible food that screw up the weekdays of hard work), What kept the kale from making me want to be violently ill or abnormally dramatic? (too late on that last one)
chickpea salad.

This is technically a mock tuna salad, but I understand the frustration that comes when some long haired hippie vegan tells an omnivore that "the soy steak really does taste just like a ribeye!"
This may not taste just like tuna, but boy does it look like it! And the flavor is relatively similar. The texture is slightly different, but relatively the same (that wasn't ambiguous at all) and you don't wind up with fish smell leaking from your pores all day long. Give it a try. And if chickpea salad is already crazy enough for you by itself, skip the kale and put it on some worthy wheat bread.

Chickpea Sandwich Salad
Adapted from Happy Herbivore http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/mock-tuna-salad/
Ingredients
1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained
2 stalks celery, with the leafy tops, chopped
8-10 bread and butter pickles, chopped (you could use dill, but only if you are crazy)
1 T nutritional yeast (sounds crazy, but don't skip it. I find it on the baking aisle, but ask if you can't find it)
1 t onion powder
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 1/2 T light vegan mayo, or sour cream
1/2 T dijon mustard
a dash or so of hot sauce

In a bowl, mash up the chickpeas with a potato masher. Alternatively, mash them in a blender, but do not let them get pureed- this is not hummus! You want most to all of the beans to no longer be whole. Combine with all other ingredients. Keep in the fridge until it's gone (lasts a few days) Spread on bread, wrap in a tortilla, or serve it on a bed of lettuce.

Back in the Saddle again

Hello there, my long lost cyber space friends. A funny thing happens when you go on vacation.
You never want to return to real life.
This is why the only things I did last week were
1. mourn over being back from UT
2. run 4 miles
3. not cook a darn thing
4. Repeat steps 1-3 as needed

I've woken from that dream land (leaving only step 2 in this week's repetoire) and celebrated coming back to cooking with these

I'm not sure if they are truly a flatbread- I made them on a FLAT. BREAD. But, that is what I called them. I loved them both and the hungry masses were ewually divided between which they preferred.
These are seriously easy and I served with a simple green salad, drizzled with homemade raspberry vinegratte.

Flatbread, two ways

Ingredients:
2 balls/batches pizza dough (I bought mine at Whole Foods- $1.29, baby!)
2 T olive oil
4 medium sweet or yellow onions
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4-/2 cup vegetable broth
1 LARGE or 2 medium heirloom tomatoes
1 package, or 1 cup pesto
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375.
On two baking sheets, roll out both pizza doughs into rectangles. Prick a bunch of times with a fork (this will keep the dough from creating unwanted bubbles)
You want the crusts to be basically done- slightly under golden brown, approx. 10-12 minutes

In the meantime...

Caramelized onion flatbread

Get the oil in a large skillet or pot, turn on medium high heat. Thinly slice the onions and place in hot oil. Add the thyme and a dash of salt and pepper. Let these cook a looong time. They need to get golden, aka caramelize. This takes awhile- probably 15-20 minutes, stir occasionally and be patient!

While the onions cook...
keep an eye on your crusts and prepare the Heirloom tomato and pesto flatbread


Thinly slice the tomatoes, pat dry with a towel and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
When the crust is cooked, spread the pesto all over the bread. Then, lay the tomatoes in one layer, on top of the pesto. Optional: sprinkle with a bit of parmasaen cheese

After the onions have caramelized, add some broth, 2 tablespoons at a time, until it is reduced and thickens the onions. When you've used up at least 1/4 cup of broth, and no more than 1/2 cup, place onions on the other bread. Optional: drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Place both breads back in the oven for 4-5 minutes.

Megan Monday take 3: Easy Peasy Weeknight Dinner

This post and is quick and simple.

Kind of like this meal.

What do you make when...
-It's 12.3 million degrees in your house and the outside feels like the middle of the sun's core?
-You're tired from dealing with screaming babies or snotty teenagers or rude co-workers or idiots who can't drive?
-Your hubby says "what's for dinner?" and you immediately want to answer with "Idk, what are you cooking?"

Chicken Caesar Salad, of course!

1. Grill up some chicken breasts (1-2) If you're organized, cook some of these up at the beginning of the week, and store them in the fridge- you'll have easy weeknight meals in a only a few minutes.
2. Throw some romaine lettuce in a bowl.
3. Make delicious croutons, or buy some bagged ones
4. Add sliced chicken and croutons to the lettuce
5. Throw 1/3 of dressing in thr bowl and mix well (add more if you don't liek to see your lettuce under all the tangy, delicious dressing)
6. If you're feeling Barefoot Contessa-ish, slice a lemon and grill the slices (2 minutes, each side)

7. Serve with hunks of bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic You might as well serve up a glass of white wine...why not?!