Feels like Monday, but it's Tuesday!

Hello!

I hope everyone had a great long Memorial Day weekend, full of fun, sun, BBQs, beach and beer. 

I also hope everyone took a moment to think about those who have served, are serving and will serve for our country.

~~

the sweet

In true spring/summer spirit, I decided to toy around with rhubarb today. I've never actually cooked or baked with it, but have eaten it plenty of times. All I knew was that it requires tons of sugar and cooking down...or so I thought!

It is the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend and I clearly did not work 100% of the work day (who does, anyway?!). While browsing Pinterest, I came across this recipe and made it my own (kinda).

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars

Make the streusel top first. Whisk sugar into butter. Incorporate flour with a fork until crumbly. Put in fridge.

-6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

-1 cup APF

-.5 cup packed light brown sugar

-.25 tsp salt

Then make the cake!

-.5 lb rhubarb (I bought almost a pound and used most of it. I love the tartness. I will probably use closed to a whole pound next time.)

-5 medium strawberries, quartered (I couldn't resist coupling the strawberries with rhubarb. I cut out .25 cup sugar because of this addition.)

-1 tbsp light-brown sugar

-1 cup APF

-.5 tsp baking powder

.25 tsp salt

-.5 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temp

-.75 cup confectioners' sugar

-2 large eggs at room temperature

-splash or two (my own measurement :). I add as much vanilla as I feel like)

1.) Wash rhubarb, remove ends and cut into .5 inch pieces. Mix with strawberry pieces, tablespoon of light brown sugar and a quarter cup of APF. 

2.) In a separate bowl, mix the butter and .75 cups (or, if you'd rather, 1 full cup) of confectioners' sugar until nice 'n fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Incorporate dry mixture (flour, slt, baking powder) in a few batches. Fold in fruit.

3.) (You should really do this first, but I don't know how to move a picture to a different location, so this will do. You should always read a recipe all the way through, anyway!)

Pour batter into greased and floured parchment paper (parchment paper, along with silicone baking mats, are my savior). 

4.) Generously sprinkle the crumble over the batter.

5.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until golden brown.

6.) Let cool for a few minutes. Move to cooling rack and remove parchment paper.

7.) Let cool completely before cutting...and ENJOY!

the savory

Seasoned grilled skirt steak (the picture doesn't do it justice, but I got a great crust on the beef)

Grilled corn tortillas

Grilled green and red peppers, onion

Sour cream

Cheese

Guacamole

And now I am exhausted.

Are you trying a new recipe this week?

xo,
C

Hey look, it's "So What!" Wednesday!

So, I guess I am fully jumping on the blogging band wagon at this point and am going to write about things other than food (ha, isn't that hard to believe!). How cliche--I am sitting in a Starbucks and blogging. I feel so...1990s? Emo? Something?

Anyhoo...

I am totally copying Brittany and starting to do some themed posts, including So What! Wednesday. So today, I am saying "so what!" to:

--Just eating a terrible meal at a terrible restaurant. Their breakfast is usually okay, but this was awful. My rice was so overcooked that it was a blob of sticky mess. The salmon was almost fried, though the menu claimed otherwise. It cost $30. That is the Kate Spade phone cover I want. I may just buy it anyway...

--Coming home from work and convincing myself that there was a "bad guy" in my house. I even looked in the closets. I am such a chicken.

--I saw a mouse in our house yesterday. Our house isn't dirty, I swear. Mice can be cute, but not loose all up in my stuff.

--I bought European yogurt by mistake. I thought it was similar, if not the same, as Greek yogurt. Boyyy, was I wrong. I also bought two tubs of it. It is so thin and watery. So yuck.

--I had my first weird wedding dream. Please believe me when I say I truly am not stressed out about planing our wedding or getting married. In my dream last night, my wedding day was a super strange. My dress was way too long and I apparently forgot to have it altered. It was also almost yellow. Ew. The wedding was across the street from our fire house home (hah, what?!) and we had to cross the street through a crazy parade to get to the wedding venue. Then I woke up and it was Wednesday and not Friday.

--I really want a pet. I am allergic to pretty much all animals. We aren't allowed to have pets in our house. Meh?!

--Memorial Day weekend is finally coming up! I don't have any concrete plans yet. I am okay with this!

--I have already worked out twice this week. Small feat, I am aware.
             --jumping jacks, six sets of twenty
             --mobility stretches, two sets of five
             --lunges, two sets of five (on each side)
             --mobility stretches/lunge circuit, two sets of ten
             --push-ups, five sets of maximum reps
             --burpees, fifty timed (these are brutal; I started out at about 9:45, then went to 6:something, just                  over 5 minutes and now I am under 5 minutes)
             --hip stretches

What is everyone else saying "So what!" to this week?!

xo,
C

Pizza!

Happppy Thursday, everyone!

I obviously woke up this morning wanting pizza (and crab rangoon...it is a traditional Thursday craving). Instead of succumbing to eating greasy take-out pizza, I decided to make my own...my own grain-free pizza! The crust is mostly made of vegetables.

The savory:
Veggie Crust Pizza
-one smallish eggplant
-half a head of cauliflower
-.5 cups of whatever kind of nut flour you want (I use hazelnut since I am allergic to almonds. You can't taste the hazelnut at all)
-1 whole egg, 1 egg white
-3/4 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese
-a few turns of the pepper mill

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut eggplant (you don't even have to peel) and cauliflower into smaller pieces and put in food processor--pulse a few times until both veggies are in fine pieces. Put in a dish towel (not a white one!) and squeeze the heck out of it until most of the liquid is drained from the eggplant and cauliflower (It will probably yield a cup or two). Separate one egg white and whisk in with the whole egg. Incorporate all ingredients in a large bowl.

Smoosh the "dough" out on a greased (use EVOO) piece of parchment paper until it is about a half a centimeter thick (You do not want it to be too thick). Gently place on your heated pizza stone (or just a regular [cold] cookie sheet) and put in the heated oven for about ten minutes--or until the crust starts to look a bit brown. Take out, gently flip over and repeat, this time for only a few moments. You want to make sure both sides are crisp!

Put on whatever pizza sauce and toppings you desire! I made a pizza sauce with hot italian sausage and sautéed onions. And I put on lots and lots of mozzarella cheese!

The sweet:
Store-bought cookies from Whole Foods. I am so embarrassed...but I am too tired to bake more tonight.

You should all try to make this grain-free pizza--it is great! If you do end up making it, let me know how it goes!

xo,
C

Lime

We're almost there...it is almost Friday! The weather has been abismal at best this week. So, once the sun decided to at least attempt to make an appearance, I immediately wanted to bake something bright and summery. LIME. I found a great recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything via-Pinterest. I usually don't really like chewy cookies, but these are probably the best I've had in a long time. The cookie itself is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside because of the toasted coconut.

I chose to use a little more lime than what the recipe called for. I am embarrassed to say that I forgot to add vanilla (I was way too caught up in the limes), but the cookies turned out okay anyway.

I am interested to see how this cookie would hold up GF. My guess is not too well, but I would love to try!

The sweet:
Chewy Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-2 3/4 cups APF
-1 tsp baking soda
-.5 tsp baking powder
-.5 tsp salt
-1 cup butter, softened
-1.5 cups sugar (I don't think I would use anything but white sugar for this recipe)
-1 egg
-.5 tsp vanilla extract
-zest of two limes (The original recipe calls for zest of one large lime)
-3 tbsp lime juice (I used almost a half cup of lime juice and still want the cookies to be limier!)
-.5 unsweetened toasted coconut
-sugar for rolling cookies

Toast unsweetened coconut in oven for about 5 minutes, until lightly brown (Be careful...they will burn quickly). Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in medium bowl. Beat together softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, lime juice/zest. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut. Roll rounded teaspoons (you probably don't want to get any bigger than that) of dough into balls and roll into sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1.5 inches apart so they don't run into each other (ahhh, cookie collision!). Baking 8-10 minutes and be sure to let stand for a few minutes before transferring to the cooling rack. ENJOY! These cookies are pretty fabulous.

The savory:
You know what today is--Thursday. That means I woke up expecting pizza or Chinese food (I literally woke up thinking this...I like to plan out my meals, what can I say!). We are getting neither, yay! We also aren't cooking...but it is one step in the right direction! Swordfish kabobs from a nearby Greek restaurant. (Update: it wasn't good. Sticking to pizza and Chinese)

Time to eat some of the cookies that are fresh from the oven! Yum.

xo,
C

Humpday

Is it me, or have the last few weeks seemed to have gone by painfully slowly? The work weeks are lasting seemingly forevvvvver. In any case, TGIW! The intention of this blog is still to share baking and cooking recipes, but...

...I just can't resist.

I am going to start looking for wedding dresses this weekend! I cannot believe it. Thank goodness I also started working out again this week :). I am a little nervous since I'm not too into going googoo gahgah over anything/anyone, much less anyone doing that over a ridiculously expensive white dress that I will wear once. In any case, I think it will be a fun experience with my mom. It would be bananas if I got my dress this weekend, almost a year from my wedding. More time to alter it. I am half expecting the alterations people to have to chop off a foot or two since I'm so short!

I think some people are confusing my relaxed attitude about my wedding as not being excited. Trust me--I am beyond excited and am very much looking forward to celebrating the rest of my life with the man I love (ha, that looks so corny written down!). The way I look at it, this is a time to enjoy. To me, planning all of this is fun.

Now, back to food. Mmmmm, food. Love food.

On the savory menu for tonight:
--nachos (oops!)
--salmon with garlic + lime butter
--mashed parsnip and carrott

Lunch portion

On the sweet menu for tonight:
--gluten-free peanut butter cookies
Recipe:
--1 cup smooth peanut butter (no oil--you should be looking for PNB that has two ingredients: peanuts and salt)
--1 cup coconut sugar (you can use any kind of sugar/sugar substitute, but I like coconut sugar because it is very low on the glycemic index, contains vitamins and minerals, doesn't have much of a taste in baked goods)
--1 tsp baking powder
--1 egg
--1 tsp vanilla extract (I always eyeball this...mainly because I love vanilla)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Roll dough into little balls (you can roll them into white sugar or coconut sugar if you would like--would create a great crunch) and smoosh (yes, that is a technical term) onto the parchment paper/silicone baking mat. Put in the oven and set timer for 8-10 minutes (depends on how you like your cookies [crunchy, soft etc]). Try to resist eating them all right away and let them sit for a few minute...thennnn you can enjoy!

Time to eat.

xo,
C

Tuesday, Tuesday...

HELLO!

I kind of have already forgotten about this blog, but alas, here I am. Not a very eventful week in terms of baking (and everything else). As promised, I made lemon sandwich creams and they came out very well--perfectly lemony and not too sweet. I brought most into work but made sure to save a few for us.

Some came out a little crunchier than others...

Finished product

This recipe is one of my favorites. It is pretty easy, but is time-consuming because you have to let the dough solidify in the fridge for a few hours. If you want to eat lemon cookies quickly, I wouldn't recommend making these!

(based on Citizen Cake recipe)

Filling:

-2 tbsp finely grated lemon peel

-pinch or two of salt (I usually use sea salt)

-1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

-1.5-2 cups of packed powdered sugar (I usually don't like anything to be overly sweet, so I adjust to taste)

Mash lemon peel and salt into a paste in a medium bowl. Add in butter and beat until fluffy. Add sugar slowly until mixture is well-blended and to your liking in terms of sweetness.

Cookies:

-.5 cup fresh lemon juice (Must be fresh!)

-1.5 tbsp fresh grated lemon peel

-3.75 cups APF

-1 tsp salt

-.5 tsp baking soda

-2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

-1.5 cups sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 large egg yolks

Boil lemon juice and lemon peel until it is reduced to about 2 tbsp--this will take a few minutes, but don't turn your back on it because it reduces quickly. Let cool. Sift flour, salt and baking soda into medium bowl. Beat butter until fluffy. Add in sugar until blended. Beat in eggs (one at a time!) and then yolks. Blend in lemon juice/peel mixture and then dry mixture in a few batches (otherwise, flour etc will fly everywhere and make a mess). Stick in the fridge (covered) for at least an hour or two. When dough hardens, roll out and cut on a floured surface. I find that a biscuit cutter works best for cutting out the dough. Bake for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Once cookies have cooled, spread on a healthy helping of cream and top with another cookie. Yum!

So, other than the lemon cookies, not much happened in the culinary world for me. I cooked dinner for some friends on Monday--grilled chicken with homemade BBQ sauce--and then again on Wednesday--salmon with lime + garlic butter sauce, but that's about it.

I unfortunately find that by Thursday at 5 pm, I do not want to cook. HOW DO I GET OVER THIS?! So bad. Thursday evenings are when this generally really sets in:

...and this is when I usually break my gluten/grain/sugar-free diet, cave because of laziness and order a) pizza, b) Chinese food or, much worse, c) both (KIDDING, that has never actually happened...). 

BACKSTORY: About 6 months ago, I decided to eat a healthier diet void of refined sugars, all grains and other inflammatory foods (trans-fats, bad cooking oils [canola...it's real name is rapeseed...], legumes blah blah etc). It wasn't hard to maintain or adhere to, despite my incessant baking. In fact, I came up with and found many great Primal-esque recipes that were tasty, kept me full and didn't make me feel like poo. I even found some (most are garbage) good healthy baking recipes.

More to come on this...

xo,

C