(Pan)Cakes On Cakes On Cakes

Pecan Chocolate Granola - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Picture made complete with greek yogurt, berries, apples,
granola and grandma's homemade caramel sauce of course

     One of the many benefits of coaching high school kids, is at the end of the season you get gifts! Now, I truthfully hadn't even thought about this until our banquet approached last year. From one of the moms, I got a jar of THE BEST granola I have ever eaten. I am not kidding. I sat in the grass outside the school and nearly ate the entire jar. I had to get the recipe. I have made granola 2 times before and it is NOT easy, but I will perfect this... someday. In my third attempt, I still think I cooked it a little too long. I did it ask long as the recipe called for, but next time I think I'll do a little less. My granola also wasn't as good as hers because I modified the recipe to use 1/2 of the required oil and replaced the other 1/2 with applesauce. Anyway, it still turned out really delicious. The toasted pecans are just the best. 




Pecan Chocolate Granola

5 cups rolled oats (I used my multigrain oat mix including oats, barley, wheat and rye)
2 cups nuts and seeds of choice

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tbs cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil
1 or 2 tbs vanilla
1 cup dried fruits
1/2 cup Ghirardelli chocolate chips

1) Take 5 cups rolled oats, 2 cups nuts and seeds of choice (I used pecans), 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes and tablespoon cinnamon (more or less) and mix altogether .


2) In separate bowl mix 1/3 cup of both brown sugar and pure maple syrup, 1/2 cup canola oil high quality, 1 or 2 tablespoons of vanilla and then pour over oat mixture until completely coated.

3)  Pour out on a baking sheet with wax paper on it and flatten down firmly with a spatula. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes then rotatable in oven and bake 20 more minutes (I would suggest a total of 30/35 minutes, rotating after 15 minutes).

4) Take out and let cool on rack for one hour. Then add dried fruits and chocolate chips (I recommend dried cranberries and ghirardelli chocolate chips).


Banana Oat Pancakes - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Pancakes seem to be popping up a lot in my life recently. I'm not upset. It's been fun because I'm trying to experiment with healthy varieties because it's easy for pancakes to be easy empty calories. Joan and I decided to have a pancake night and try this recipe for Banana Oat Pancakes I found on a blog called Cookie and Kate. I was too excited to try these babies that I forgot to take a picture, so look at her picture because it's beautiful. One thing that was interesting about these pancakes was that there was no flour in it...well your standard flour I mean. Instead I used oat flour, which is basically just oats that I beat to oblivion in a food processor. Genius! You get the nutritional benefit of oats but get to eat it in pancake form! One tweak I made to this recipe was using my multigrain oat mix instead of strictly oats. As mentioned before, this blend includes oats, barley, wheat and rye. And even though I forgot the lemon juice and honey, these pancakes were so good! They were a little more dense than normal pancakes and broke apart a little bit. Joan and I both agreed they could use a little bit more banana for some extra flavor. Or I think you could just use bananas that are really ripe (mine weren't quite there yet). Also note that these seem to burn a little bit quicker than standard pancakes, so be careful. I'm sure these would be good if you added some peanut butter or chocolate chips to the batter... ooo idea!

Banana Oat Pancakes

3 small bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice (about 1 small lemon, juiced)
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 cup oat flour (To make oat flour out of old-fashioned oats, simply pour one cup of oats into a food processor and process until it is ground well)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1) Stir together the mashed bananas, coconut oil (or butter), lemon juice and honey (or maple syrup).

2) Beat in the eggs. 

3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt and spices and add in all wet ingredients. Let the batter sit 10 minutes. Cook as if you would normal pancakes!


I Dream Of Falafel - Chicago, IL
http://www.idreamoffalafel.com/index.php

Such a pretty loaded pocket

     Well... long story short, I've never been so happy to miss a bus in my life. My trip home for my grandma's funeral included flying to Chicago from Boston, and bussing it Chicago to Detroit. However, when your flight gets delayed, catching that bus is hard to do. In which case, you're one lucky gal who gets to find something delicious for dinner! Upon realizing catching this bus wasn't going to happen, I began researching places to eat a cheap meal. I happened on I Dream Of Falafel and it just clicked. It was destiny. I swear I looked like a giddy school girl when I walked in and kind of weird-ed out the workers behind the counter. I ordered their freshly baked laffa bread (which was incredible) stuffed to the gills with the lamb kebab, roasted red pepper hummus, red cabbage slaw, a shredded carrot slaw, cucumbers, and tomatoes topped with their raita sauce, which is apparently a yogurt, cucumber and jalepeno sauce. After packaging it all together, they pressed it in a panini press. I've never ran so quickly to catch a bus so I could sit down and eat. Pinch me. I absolutely could not believe how delicious this little sack of heaven was. The lamb kabab was freshly grilled lamb and beef cooked just for me. It was so hot and was incredible in combination with the raita sauce and the cool veggies
     While I was waiting for them to grill the lamb, the man behind the counter offered me one of their sweet potato falafel balls. It was awesome. Basically tasted like mashed sweet potatoes fried in the shape of a ball. So I had to order two normal falafel balls because... well... you can't go to I Dream Of Falafel and not get falafel. That's like going to The Cheesecake Factory and not ordering a piece of cheesecake for dessert. No... I don't care how full you are. Unacceptable. The falafel balls were just spot on too. They also offered me a half a bowl of their lentil soup with a little squeeze of lemon. I felt like a queen. What service. What customer appreciation! My standard of Mediterranean food has thus been raised.

 World Peace Cookies - Grandma's Kitchen, Clarkston, MI

I prefer to call them hidden chocolate lava cookies

     Grandma asks me to make cookies, I make cookies. There is no arguing. Plus, why would I ever argue that request? I wanted to make these chocolate chocolate chip cookies my roommate makes all the time, and I figured they were another Smitten Kitchen recipe, but as I found out later, it is not. However, at the time, I thought it was and ended up making one of her chocolate cookie recipes called World Peace/Korova Cookies. One thing I found peculiar about this recipe was that it didn't include any eggs. At first I was concerned about how they'd turn out, but let me just say that the crowd went wild. I didn't measure out any of the chocolate but used a mix of semi-sweet morsels and chopped bittersweet chocolate. I was also nervous about the bittersweet chocolate being too bitter but I was so amazed at what it did for the cookie. It brought this rich, elemental chocolate flavor without making the cookie overly sweet.
      These were all gone within 24 hours. HIGHLY recommend it for chocolate lovers out there :]

World Peace Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup + 3 tbs unsalted butter, at room temp
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped 

1) Mix together the flour, cocoa and baking soda.

2) In the bowl of a stand mixer (if you have one) beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. 

3) Pour in the flour mixture and beat until mixed. For best results, avoid working the dough too much. Don't worry if the dough looks crumbly. 

4) Add in the chocolate pieces and mix. 

5) Turn the dough onto a work surface, split in 2, roll into 2 logs that are 1 1/2 inches diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours (or freeze for a shorter period of time). 

6) Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Slice the dough logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. It's best to cut up the cookies in one quick motion with a really sharp knife. If you try to cut each cookie slowly, it may start to crumble. If it does, just push the pieces back together. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and bake the cookies for 12 minutes (add one or two minutes if you've just pulled the cookies out of the freezer). They won't look done, nor will they be firm. Just transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool until just barely warm. 

Quinoa Stuffed Cubano Peppers - Mom's Kitchen, White Lake, MI

Heavenly stuffed peppers

     I like making Mom tasty healthy things when I go home. This time I chose quinoa stuffed cubano peppers. Stuffed with what? Just a little quinoa, black beans, sweet corn, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and feta cheese. These were just deadly! However, the recipe I pulled from a blog called Once Upon A Cutting Board called for goat cheese. Since I seemed to forget that at the store, I opted for feta. I think the goat cheese would've given a more prominent flavor than the feta did. I was kind of bummed about that, but still the whole dish was delishious and super filling! I wanted to experiment with multiple peppers, so I first roasted 3 cubano peppers (even though the recipe called for pablano peppers), a green pepper and a yellow pepper. Then in order to make a sauce to cook them in I roasted a red pepper and a jalapeno and threw it in a blender with a little water, garlic, salt and pepper. It created this really delicious thin sauce that provided a quick burst of heat that quickly vanished. It was odd and unlike anything I can say I've ever tasted before. Try it out!

Quinoa Stuffed Cubano Peppers

5 medium sized peppers (I used cubano peppers and bell peppers)

2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup dry quinoa, rinsed

1/3 cup vegetable stock (optional)

1 jalapeno

3 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish

1 small yellow onion

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 roma tomatoes, diced

4 ounces goat cheese or 1/2 cup feta cheese

1) Preheat oven to 475°F.  Rub peppers with two teaspoons of olive oil and place directly on the oven rack.  Roast in the preheated oven until soft and slightly blackened in spots, about 15-20 minutes, flipping once.  Let cool.

2) Meanwhile, bring 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup vegetable stock to a boil in a medium saucepan (If you don’t have any open vegetable stock, you can use 2/3 cup water instead).  Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low to simmer.  Cook until tender, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes, then remove lid and fluff with a fork.

3) In a blender, combine the roasted red pepper, roasted jalapeno, garlic, 3/4 cup water, and a dash each of salt and pepper in the blender and blend until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup cilantro and pulse a few times to combine.  Set aside.

4) In a large saucepan or deep skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add corn, black beans, tomato, and cooked quinoa and stir until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Add 2 ounces goat cheese and stir until it's melted and completely mixed in.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5) Make a small slit down the length of one side of each pepper, being careful not to cut through to the other side.  Carefully remove seeds, leaving stem end intact.  Spoon quinoa mixture into each pepper to fill them.

6) Pour chipotle sauce into a 9x13-inch baking dish.  Transfer stuffed peppers to the dish, and dot with remaining 2 ounces goat cheese.  Bake until cheese is golden, 15 to 20 minutes.  Cool in pan 10 minutes and serve warm, sprinkled with additional chopped cilantro if desired.

Red Fox - Royal Oak, MI

http://www.redfoxenglishpub.com/

Seriously... look how big that burg is. 

     While I was home for Grandma Dini's funeral, I was very fortunate to get dinner with some of the coolest cats around. After the viewing I met Meagan, Megan and Marc and we headed to Red Fox for dinner. Red Fox is this really chill English Pub above where Memphis Smoke used to be in downtown Royal Oak. It was kind of weird to be there again. Their menu was really unique and full of delicious English sounding things. I was torn between taking advantage of Meatloaf Monday or getting the burger I was craving. I went with the Lord Fox Burger since Marc was getting the open faced meatloaf sandwich that I could try. HO-LE-COW. This burger was the definition of plump. Lord have mercy. A hungry hungry hippo would have difficulty wrapping his jaw around this hunk of hamburger. The burg came topped with lettuce, tomatoes, caramelized onions, gruyere cheese and garlic aioli. Those onion, the cheese, and the garlic aioli were so good. I just learned what garlic aioli is (mayo jazzed up with some garlic and lemon juice) and it's no wonder I liked it so much. I <3 mayo. Either way it had an incredibly unique flavor that took the burger to a whole other level. I wonder if it's an English thing. The lettuce mixed in with the aioli, and boy did I like that. I'm weird. The burger came with this awesome shoe string fries. Win. So perfect.

Can't get much better than soft pretzels and cheese. 

     Oh and I almost forgot! We also got these BOMB soft pretzels with warmed fondue cheese to dip in. I love pretzels. These couldn't have been any better. They had that crisp outside shell and were super fluffy inside. And you can never go wrong with pretzel salt. My favorite.
     Marc's meatloaf sandwich was loaded with potatoes covered in this delicious gravy. The best part though was their balsamic roasted brussel sprouts. Those things were roasted nearly to a crisp and all the little layers toasted up so nicely. They were delicious.





BenjYehuda - Chicago, IL
http://www.benjyehuda.com/

My falafel ball is green inside?

Everything but the kitchen sink

     Once again, I had some spare time on my way back through Chicago, and I got to meet up with the lovely Mary Keegin for lunch! We hopped on over to BenjYehuda for more Mediterranean food. This place was awesome. It's considered an "urban street food" restaurant and gave off a super rugged feel the moment you walked in. A lot of metal, and a lot of worn wood. Well... there was Ball Sac on the menu, so naturally we had to get that. Ball Sac = 6 falafel balls that were far different than any falafel I've ever had. The outside of the ball looked like something rolled in bird seed. And the flavor inside was totally different and I can't pinpoint why. However it was green inside. I'm guessing maybe they used a decent amount of some herb to give it the different flavor and color. Basil perhaps. The outside was deliciously crisp and the inside was cooked to perfection. Really interesting.
     I ordered the chicken shawarma in a pita pocket stuffed with hummus, corn salad, tomato, carrot salad and cabbage salad. Woah buddy those spices that they used on the chicken were something else. They were decent sized hunks of chicken meat with a little sauce/spices. I'm guessing maybe a little curry. No, that wouldn't make sense. I have no idea. It had a little kick to it though. The coolness of all the other veggies balanced it out beautifully.

Roasted Sweet Potato Blood Orange Tacos - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     This was just one of those things I thought about while staring into space at work. I do that a lot. I thought, what could I do with blood oranges? I bet it'd be good with quinoa. I need to use up my sweet potato as pre-pieces fuel for tomorrow. Oh wait... it's perfect. So I took some sweet potato and sliced it up into really skinny strips, coated it in a little oil and roasted it with my homemade taco seasoning on it. Meanwhile I prepared some garbonzo beans and quinoa, sliced up a blood orange and threw it on a flax seed wrap with feta cheese, spinach and my roasted sweet potato. Man oh man. What a combo! I felt like a culinary genius. The sweetness and spice of the taco seasoned sweet potato was such a great compliment to the sweet citrusy and cool blood orange. I must say, however, I think the whole package needs some sort of sauce. Maybe blend some of the orange with honey and lemon juice? I'm not sure. I'll have to experiment. Also maybe a different kind of cheese. I don't think I added enough feta. At least not enough to get a good sense of its presence.

Cornbread Pancakes - Hayley's Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     Another pancake adventure. Don't hate. Iowa Girl Eats is a great blog. I like her style. She had this genius idea to make cornbread pancakes so I had to test it out at a post Saturday practice breakfast with the HPdivas. Well, first of all I used water instead of milk (so that dairy sensitive people could eat them) and I think maybe that took away a little flavor. I also didn't really measure anything. Kind of just threw it all together but holy cow were they good. Especially with a little melted butter and honey. Surprise surprise. They were, however, bricks. REAL dense. Maybe I should've measured things out. If you're a fan of cornbread, try it out. But let's get real... who isn't a fan of cornbread?








Man Pleasing Chicken - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     I won't lie. I'm impressed with how many Pinterest recipes I'm actually making. I found this one from a blog called Witty in the City. I had quite the successful dinner. Wait... who am I kidding. This chicken was mind blowing. Real simple. Mix together dijon mustard, maple syrup and rice vinegar. Slice up an onion (I added this step to the recipe) and mix it in with the sauce in a shallow baking dish. Plop in the chicken and bake. WOAH. I liked every scrape out of that bowl that I could. The mustard lost some of its bite and the maple syrup wasn't overly sweet at all. It all got thicker the longer the chicken baked and the onions caramelized beautifully within the sauce.  I threw it in some lettuce leaves and had some wraps. Now if only I had a man here to please with it.

Man Pleasing Chicken 

(serving for 1) 
1 large chicken breast
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tbs maple syrup
1 medium onion
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
rosemary
salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

2) Mix the maple syrup, mustard, sliced onion and rice vinegar together in a shallow baking dish. 

3) Toss in your chicken breast and coat with the sauce completely. Salt and pepper the entire mix. Top with fresh or dried rosemary. 

4) Bake for 40 minutes, basting the chicken halfway through. 

5) Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Slice chicken and place in lettuce leaves. Top with onions and sauce. Presto!

I'm Gonna Buttuh Yo Bread

Clear Flour Bakery - Brookline, MA
http://clearflourbread.com/

Going without something so simple for a long time, really makes the experience of returning to it overwhelmingly enjoyable. Buttered toast. Buttered sourdough toast to be exact. After CRASH Bs, I walked out of the arena and straight to Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline. I had heard rave reviews about this place and had walked in once just to smell it. This time, however, I was on a mission for a big hearty loaf of bread that I was to slather with butter. The place was tiny. You could get from one end to the other in 3 steps. Not kidding. It smelled absolutely heavenly, and, might I say, it looked quite picturesque. I ended up going a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread that had that crispy sound to it when you squeezed it (yes, just like in the movie Ratatouille). Once I got home, I toasted that puppy and loaded it with butter with reckless abandon. I could NOT believe what was in my mouth. The bread was just outstanding. Probably the most amazing sourdough bread I've ever had. It was so simple, but so flavorful, especially with warm butter. The loaf was nearly gone in 24 hours. The next day Jimmy and I had made sandwiches with the sourdough bread, pastrami, fontina cheese, roasted red pepper, spinach and a homemade sundried tomato and hummus spread. Lord have mercy.


The Hill Tavern - Boston, MA
http://www.thehilltavern.com/

Nachos with meat chili

"Nacho Average Run"

 









   


     As many know, I was on a quest for nachos post CRASH Bs. After extensive research, I went on what I called "Nacho Average Run" to investigate them all. However, I did not end of going to any of the places the internet world recommended as "Boston's Best Nachos." Instead, I went to The Hill Tavern in Beacon Hill for the post CRASH B party. The Hill Tavern seemed like a pretty classy place, the lights were dim and it had a good feel. The service was bonkers, but I just came for the food. Give me the food and we might just get along.
 
      It's pretty hard to screw up nachos. Mary,
Antonia, Hayley and I ordered 3 plates, 2 vegetarian and one with meat. Both came with their housemade tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, jalepenos, and cheese. I was particularly a fan of the nachos with meat chili. Man, the salt from the chips, the cheese, and the meat all together just fit my fancy. The removal of salty things from my diet pre-race made this eating experience just off the charts. While at the Hill Tavern, I also got to sample their buffalo wings and the honey barbecue wings. Both were pretty standard but still tasted phenomenal to my deprived palette. Woah man.

Pure joy

     Naturally, Mary and I were thinking about dessert, but they didn't have anything listed on the menu. Major turn off. James asked our waitress if they had any dessert and she said "Only a brownie with ice cream or apple pie." Umm... what? Only? That sounds amazing! However, girl needs to learn her desserts. We went with the "brownie" and ice cream, but it wasn't a brownie. It was a mini chocolate bunt cake with chocolate syrup inside. It was one of those chocolate lava cakes with a massive scoop of vanilla ice cream. I wasn't even mad. It was absolutely perfect and hit the spot. I just love when you cut into those cakes and the chocolate comes gooing out. Mmmm!



Quinoa Squash Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     I like when I read simple soup recipes like this one that I found on Katrina Runs for Food. I feel like it's hard to follow a recipe for soup. People like different things, and it's easy to modify soup recipes to your liking and not really screw it up. This was the full recipe that Katrina posted on her blog. It's perfect. It's simple and gives you the freedom to modify as well as forces you to learn how to proportion things.

Quinoa Soup
1. Saute some small chopped vegetables, about 2 cups cooked. 
2. Add vegetables to a big pot of simmering broth. 
3. Add 1 cup of quinoa (make sure you rinse the quinoa through a sieve first to get the outer layer of gunk off). 
4. Simmer until quinoa is done, about 20 minutes. 

I really liked this recipe. It's really delicious, and balanced with a ton of veggies, grains and protein (from the quinoa). My recipe included:

1 sliced zucchini
1 sliced yellow squash
1 can garbonzo beans
3 large carrots, chopped
2 small onions, chopped 
1 cup quinoa
Some savory herbs like basil, thyme, marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 tbs olive oil
1 quart vegetable stock
2-4 cups water

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA



     I stumbled upon this one at work the other day. Guilty. I found it on Fit and Healthy with Debbie. I don't know who Debbie is, but she has good ideas. I wanted to try these muffins because they seem great for you and because I wanted to use my new food processor my mom got me for Christmas :) Basically like a bowl of oatmeal, just in muffin form. I only made half of her recipe (plus I added cocoa powder) and it made 6 muffins. I figured they'd last me a couple days, but I ate four for breakfast. Shoot.

     Changes I made to her recipe included adding 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and using 1 tbs of honey instead of 1/2 cup. That just seemed like a lot and I thought a decent amount of sweetness would come from the banana... but I was wrong. They definitely could've been a little sweeter. I'd recommend maybe using 1/4 or so instead. Or maybe add chocolate chips for some sweetness. I wanted to do that, but didn't have any. Oh... ha... and I put blueberries in one.

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins

1 1/4 cup old fashioned oats (I used an oats, barley, wheat & rye mix)
1 ripe banana
1 egg
1 tbs ground flax seed
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup plain lowfat greek yogurt
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
a few pinches of sugar to sprinkle on top

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tin or line with muffin cups.
2) Put oats into a food processor and pulse for around 20 seconds. 
3) Add the rest of the ingredients and process until everything is mixed.
4) Fill cups 3/4 of the way full and sprinkle a little sugar on top. 
5) Bake 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with butter!

In (Hibernating) Lightweight Mode

Cauliflower Pizza Crusts - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Our toppings of choice

     Ok, I'll admit right away, that both of these posts may seem really unappetizing to most, BUT... totally worth a try if you're looking for some healthy, low sodium alternatives to some standard fare.

     It was a Saturday evening, and since my nightlife (as well as Antonia's) is virtually non-existant, we decided to go make dinner and fall in love with Mel Gibson in We Were Soldiers. In an effort to be smart about our Saturday meal, we decided to try out these Cauliflower Pizza Crusts that I found on Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body. They're basically a pizza crust made out of cauliflower, basil and mozzarella cheese. Oddly enough, I kind of thought they tasted just like a pizza with thin crust. You really couldn't tell the difference. Yea... I was surprised too. Then again, the crust was maybe even a little more delicious because it was half cheese that had been browned. It's important that you crisp the crusts up in the oven before adding your toppings. That's what's going to prevent them from getting soggy. Top these bad boys with any toppings of your choice, and it's sure to be delicious! You may be surprised. 

Crusts fresh from le oven.

Cauliflower Pizza Crusts 

2 eggs
2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 cups riced cauliflower (grate the cauliflower on a cheese grater or in a food processor)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh julienned basil

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, spray with non-stick spray.

2) In a medium bowl, combine riced cauliflower, basil, eggs and mozzarella. Divide into 4 amounts and press evenly on the parchment paper. You can omit the basil or sub it for others herbs of your choice.

3) Bake the crusts at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (we went for about 20 minutes actually to get them a little more stiff).

4) Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, add your toppings, and bake for another 5-10 minutes. 

Lentil Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Lentil soup. Terrible picture. Don't care. 

     Lentils always remind me of Diane in our college lightweight days. Kind of a weird and twisted memory. Last weekend, lentils just sounded good (definintely not something you hear often). Regardless, I made some and it was super easy, delicious and really filling! Not to mention, full of protein. I feel like lentils get a bad rap. I kind of made this recipe up. Enjoy. 

Lentil Soup

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 or 3 carrots, sliced

2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (I added an additional 2 cups of water and it was necessary for the lentils)

1 16oz bag of lentils

A few sprigs of fresh parley, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup plum tomatoes, halved

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbs ground cumin

Pepper

1 bay leaf

1) Heat the olive oil in a large pot and saute onions and garlic until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and cook another 7 minutes or so.  

2) Add in the broth, lentils, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer at least 40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. The lentils will soak up a lot of fluid, so you may have to add some more water/broth/canned tomatoes to achieve the consistency you're looking for.

SANDWICH DAY is the Best Day :]

Deli-licious - Somerville, MA

http://deliicioussomerville.com/

The Godfather... amazing

     I have been working at Bluetrain for over a year now, and have only gone out with everyone to ACTUALLY purchase lunch once. They always go get the most amazing looking sandwiches that smell up the office for hours. The first reason I don't normally buy anything is because of lightweight reasons. The second reason is that I find it so difficult to spend $8 on a lunch. I just can't afford that. I seem to keep setting these goals where I tell myself, "Oh I'll go after Speed Order" or "Once I get to 135 again, I'll go." But then my reasoning changes, and I never end up going. This time, I told Griffin to make me get a sandwich in week. I put it on our calendars… and that meant it was happening.

     So the day came, and I decided to try out Deli-licious in Davis Square. After browsing their menu before leaving, I narrowed it down to the Godfather and My Cousin Vinny. Don't be fooled… this was no easy task. This place didn't just have a "Sandwiches" section. No… they had a panini section, a burgers section, a wraps section, a melts section, "Roast Beef in Paradise" section, "Delicious Clubhouse" section, and "Classics" amongst other non-sandwich sections. Based on the names of some of these sandwiches, I'm guessing an Italian Family owned this restaurant.

     The Godfather it was! Five bucks got me this deli-licious warm panini with thinly sliced prosciutto, a huge slice of mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, field greens, oregano and balsamic vinaigrette. I seriously haven't had prosciutto in eons, and I don't know how I've made it this long. My love for salt made this the best choice I could've made. The salty prosciutto with the warm mozzarella was just incredible. The freshness of greens, peppers and vinaigrette perfectly balanced out the bold flavors of the prosciutto and mozzarella. And I was really in awe at how critical the addition of oregano was! Call me crazy, but it added such a great little bit of flavor to each bite. All my sandwiches (which are few and far between) will include oregon. Seriously… it was magical. All of these delicious fixings were on focaccia bread that had some melted cheese on it. OH my goodness… It was like they took the partially overdone cheez-its (that no one likes for some reason) and topped the bread with them. Those cheez-its are my absolute favorite. Like the prize you used to eagerly dig out of cereal boxes as a kid. So topping bread with this cheese just sparked my fancy.


Power Pasta - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Whole wheat angel hair, tomatoes, red pepper, sweet potatoes
and goat cheese. Who knew they'd be so good together?

    I'm constantly reading about how sweet potatoes are apparently the perfect pre-race food. So before our 6k, I purchased one and perused the interwebz looking for something fun to do with it. I stumbled upon this recipe for, what I decided to call, Power Pasta. It was on Eating Well's website and is actually called Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Pasta. It was basically a mix of shredded sweet potato, pasta, plum tomatoes, goat cheese, red pepper, and I added spinach, chicken and cinnamon Four of these ingredients are supposedly optimal for a pre-race meal, so I was in. While doubting my physical strength shredding the sweet potato, I had the chicken and garlic cooking in my cast iron skillet and whole wheat noodles cooking on the side. Once you got past the shredding and cutting of the veggies, all you've got left to do is throw it all together, cover, let it cook for 15 minutes or so and add in a few medallions of goat cheese. Boom. Energy. Delicious.

Power Pasta

8 ounces whole-wheat angel hair pasta
1 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups shredded, peeled sweet potato, (about 1 medium)
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup diced plum tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup spinach
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese or 2/3 medallions

1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes or according to package directions.

2) Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon oil and garlic in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is sizzling and fragrant, 2 to 5 minutes. Add diced chicken and cook completely. Add sweet potato, bell pepper, tomatoes (canned and chopped) and water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell pepper is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and keep warm.

3) Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water (I forgot to do this... woops). Return the pasta to the pot. Add the vegetable mixture, chicken, parsley, spinach, salt, cinnamon and cheese; toss to combine. Add the reserved pasta water, 2 tablespoons at a time, to achieve the desired consistency.

Noodles From Heaven... Shoo Doo Bee!

Basta Pasta - Cambridge, MA
http://www.bastapastacambridge.com/index.php

Look at them babies. Chicken Cacciatore with radiatore noodles. 

     FINALLY! Joan and Lauren used to talk about Basta Pasta all the time, and I had never been. Finally, after one 2x6k Saturday death workout, Joan and I headed over. Jake said to get their homemade noodles, so that was #1 on my to do list. I went with the Chicken Cacciatore with whole wheat radiatore noodles. Now this was seriously a treat for me... let me tell you. A HUGE plate of pasta popped up on the counter for my taking. Billowing steam, the beautiful creation was made up of peppers, onions, mushrooms, their homemade tomato sauce, romano cheese and these absolutely enormous radiatore noodles. I mean, these guys were. Each noodle was a full bite in itself, but man were they delicious! You could taste how fresh they were. I have decided that this is my favorite kind of noodle. Why? Radiatore are full of ridges. What do these ridges do? They provide pockets for sauce, cheese and other decorations to get caught in. So each noodle you bite into isn't only a noodle, but there are hidden treasures buried within each one. The sauce these guys make is fabulous too. It's slightly sweeter than standard pasta sauce, and it's full of a basil flavor. Big fan over here. I was so impressed for this being a tiny little place tucked in residential Cambridge. A return visit is definitely in order.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Picture sucks, but the soup didn't. 

     In an effort to try something new, Jake suggested a lemon chicken soup. Truthfully I can't say I'd ever had such a thing, let alone tried to cook something like it on my own. After a short bout of interwebz research, I found an easy recipe on the Whole Foods website. I modified the recipe, yet again, by adding a can of garbanzo beans (highly recommended), swapping out the rice for orzo, not straining the soup, doubling the amount of parsley, and using 4 cups vegetable broth + 2 cups of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes instead of 6 cups of chicken broth (simply because that's what I had).

     The most fun part about making this soup was the step involving adding the eggs, which I had never done before. You have to whisk the eggs really fast until they're foamy, add the lemon juice, continue mad whisking, then slowly add a cup of the boiling broth. Aside from getting a forearm cramp while doing so (#athleteproblems), it's really fun to watch how adding the hot broth to the egg/lemon mix cooks the egg. It doesn't clump up like it would if you dropped an egg into boiling water. The egg just disperses and more or less cooks as little egg particles.

     Long story short, I literally CAN NOT believe how amazing this soup is. I'm not even kidding. It's a week later, I'm still eating it and every time I do, I'm still in amazement. The way the egg, lemon and the chicken flavors all blend just make this such a rockin' soup. It's light and refreshing but full of protein. By far one of my best so far.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 can garbonzo beans
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup long grain rice or orzo
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

1) Bring broth, onion, carrot, bay leaf and salt to a simmer. Add chicken breasts, cover and gently simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Remove chicken breasts, let cool slightly and pull or cut chicken into thin strips. Set aside. Return to boil. Add rice/orzo and gently simmer for 20 minutes, then add chicken back to soup for another 5 minutes. 

2) Whisk eggs until they are frothy, and whisk in lemon juice. Add a cup of the hot soup to egg-lemon mixture, very slowly, whisking while you pour it in. Add another cup in the same manner. Take soup off the heat and add egg mixture to it. Sprinkle with parsley, season with pepper and serve.

The Waitress Was Impressed. Story of My Life.

Allston Diner - Allston, MA
http://www.allstondiner.com/

     From the outside, you'd never guess what a gem this place is. After the internet lied to be about their hours, and splitting a donut appetizer across the street, Mary and I were the first people in the door Tuesday morning after pieces. It was a tiny little place, but it had a cozy, retro diner feel. The tables looked like they were all covered in something different. Ours had old comic book clippings. So neat.

The awesome table top

Chicken & Cornbread Waffle

"I can't believe we just ate all that."

 













      I had a $30 Groupon, so we came prepared for a smorgasbord. Large OJ to start. My must-haves were the cornbread waffle and the biscuits and gravy. We also couldn't pass up the Nutella Garden. When everything arrived, it was as if they let out the bulls. I like eating with Mary because she's focused just like me. Food goes straight from plate to mouth. Minimal talking, and if there is talking it's about how delicious the food is.
      Let's start with the cornbread waffle. We had decided to forgo the fried chicken on top, but the dish we were served had the chicken anyway. Needless to say it was a glorious mistake. Those fried chicken strips were just insane. Maybe it's because I haven't had something meaty and fried like that in a while, but it blew my mind. The chicken was juicy, tasted clean, and the coating was super crisp. It was perfect. The cornbread waffle basically tasted like standard cornbread. I wouldn't say it's anything to write home about but definitely worth the try. Way after we were done eating, Mary and I both realized we never actually tried the cornbread and chicken together. We were just so in awe at how good the chicken was, especially with some of the sausage gravy from the biscuits and gravy. Guess we'll have to go back.
     Speaking of which... what in the world did they do to that gravy?!?? It was out of control. It was so delicious and fluffy and full of sausage. I have no idea what made it so fluffy. You've probably never heard anyone describe gravy as fluffy, but I'm telling you... it was. Biscuits were standard, gravy won gold.
     Lastly, the Nutella Garden. In the picture it looks like a regular stack of pancakes.... oh no. It was two hefty pancakes with nutella, peanut butter, bananas and strawberries in between with a mountain of whipped cream on top. Oh man, it was like they attempted to put all the best flavor combinations into one dish. The warmed nutella and peanut butter melted and the fruit was warm. It was absolutely heavenly.
     The three dishes went so well together but were so different. The biscuits and gravy were incredibly savory. The chicken and waffle was hearty, and the nutella garden was a sweet treat. We scraped every crumb off those plates. The waitress was seriously impressed. Story of my life.












Tasty Burger - Cambridge, MA
http://www.tastyburger.com/

The Big Tasty, Onion Rings and Fries

    It was the Saturday after our first 2x6k. After practice finished around 12:30, we all went home and died for a bit. Joan and I had planned to make a trip that evening to the new Tasty Burger in Harvard Square. I had actually been there once before (and got a chicken sandwich... uh... why?) but let's not discuss that. So Joan, Tiffany, Sarah and I headed down to Harvard Square to experience this new hot spot. I ordered the Big Tasty which had cheese, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato, and Tasty sauce. They weren't kidding about the cheese. So much of it and it was ooey-gooey yummy. It was exactly what I was expecting. Nothing fancy. The 1/3 pound burger was cooked just to my liking (a little pink inside), it had a hefty chunk of tomato on it, and diced onions. I really like when burger joints use diced onions because I get a little bit of onion in every bite without risking pulling out the entire onion ring by my inability to cut it with my chompers. Their "tasty sauce" is also mighty tasty. Apparently they make it in house. 
     The burger as a whole was so incredibly satisfying. To top it all off, I got a half order of french fries and a half order of onion rings. The fries are fresh cut, perfectly salty, soft on the inside and crisp on the outside. Can't really get much better. The onion rings were really thinly cut with a light batter on them. I can't stay I've ever had onion rings like that before, and I'm normally into the thicker onion rings, but I'll say ... these thin babies hold a new special place in my hard. So fabulous. 

***Out of Towners***

Cherry Blossom Japanese Restaurant - Novi, MI

Skewers (left to right): Shiitake mushroom, garlic, chicken
stomach, chicken liver, pork, chicken skin

      Most people can't believe that my dad has never had real sushi. But I feel like going out to get really good sushi has become more popular in the last 10 years. Either way, while I was home, we decided to go. Little did I know what kind of an experience it would turn out to be. We chose this restaurant in Novi called Cherry Blossom. We were a little nervous at first, because we arrived around 5:30 and were the only ones there. But, my dad was so excited about trying all these new things, and I was excited to share the experience. First they served us some hot tea. We smelled it and it smelled like fish, so my dad made it a point to get the waitress back to ask her what kind it was. She said it was green tea. We laughed. I'm assuming it just smelled like fish because everything in that place smelled like fish. 

Seaweed Salad

     To start we order 6 little skewers with salt on each item, as opposed to a sauce. We got garlic, shiitake mushroom, chicken liver, chicken stomach, chicken skin and pork. The pork was probably my favorite. It was so succulent. The shittake mushrooms were cool too. I had never had them before, but these were just lightly roasted and soft. The liver tasted just like liver, and the skin tasted just like what I could imagine. Chewy, crispy fatty skin. Delish.
     Then we got started talking about salad and my dad wanted to try the seaweed salad, so we got a little mini salad. Man, this stuff was SO good! It makes me want to start eating seaweed as I'm swimming now. There were probably about 3 different types of seaweed leaves in the salad itself. The texture was just as you'd expect, mildly chewy, and the dressing seemed to be some sort of light sweet vinegar. Kind of felt like I was eating tentacles. I was delighted. 

Alligator Roll

Spider Roll

     Next to the table were our first rolls. This may be tough to recall, but we got the Spider roll (softshell crab tempura, avocado, cucumbers and a spicy sauce), Alligator roll (shrimp inside and tuna draped over the top with a heafty dose of green onions), Sunkissed roll (avocado, cucumbers and maybe something else inside, roe on top. I love popping the little baby eggs in between my teeth). The alligator roll was my favorite out of this bunch. The combination of the shrimp, tuna, the green onions and the delicious sauce it was all bathing in was just delicious. It was a good first round. 

Softshell Crab

     After a brief experience with softshell crab in the Spider roll, my dad wanted to try softshell crab on its own, so we got a plate of that too. Truthfully, I didn't know you ate the entire crab, shell and all. It was delicious though! They were pretty small, so there wasn't much meat involved. It was more just tasty fried skeleton. Don't judge. It's like eating shrimp tails. Why does no one else other than the members of my family eat shrimp tails?! 

(top to bottom)  Raw scallops, Firecracker roll, Dragon
roll, raw shrimp

     Our second round included what we think were our two favorite rolls. One of these two was the Dragon roll, which had eel on the outside and cucumbers, crab and avocado on the inside. The eel was so tasty and the cream cheese and crab mix went so well with it. It's really hard to describe sushi partly because it's hard to recall all the ingredients, and also because it's next to impossible. It's impossible to describe the sensations you feel based on the flavor combinations and locations within each roll. I'm convinced it truely is an art. The second roll we got in this round was the Firecracker roll which had spicy tuna on top, potentially a scallop inside (I can't remember) and a jalapeno on top. Both the Dragon roll and the Firecracker roll stole the show. Each bite was so heavenly. 
     Also on the plate with our two last rolls, came 4 raw shrimp and 2 raw scallops all placed on top of a block of sticky rice. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother cooking seafood. Those dang raw scallops were incredible! They were not chewy and they had a ton of pure scallop flavor. It truely was a thing of beauty. The shrimp were pretty good too, but the texture was a little bit more gummy, if you know what I mean. Definitely worth the try though. 

Red Bean Ice Cream and Mochi Green Tea
Ice Cream

     We were so stuffed by this point (ok well I was) but dessert was definitely not out of the question. I recommended that my dad got the red bean ice cream and I got the mochi ice cream with green tea ice cream inside. The red bean ice cream was delicious and different and he really liked it. If you're not familiar with mochi ice cream, it's basically a ball of ice cream inside this gooey, chewy rice coating. Completely weird. I loved the green tea ice cream, but wasn't sure how to eat/handle the rice shell. 
     Overall, it was a phenomenal experience. My dad absolutely loved it. Being a health conscious man and a raw foods advocate, he really enjoyed how clean everything felt. It was all simple ingredients thrown together in a complex way. Every few seconds I'd look up from my plate to see him shaking his head in disbelief at how awesome his meal was. I felt really fortunate and was really glad I could introduce him to the sushi world. At the same time, I was super appreciative of the time he took to do this with me, as well as his enthusiasm to try new things. Definitely one for the memory book. 

Early Bird Cafe - Keego Harbor, MI

Country Skillet

     Four and a half hours of dancing makes for one hungry lady the morning after. Only a few days after arriving in Michigan, I met up with Meagan, Marc and Todd for some brunch at a little place called The Early Bird Cafe. I had never heard of the place, but wanted to find a place with a hometown diner feel. The line was out the door when we arrived, but we had some time to kill, so we waited it out. This place had to be good. 

The best orange juice ever and the sweetest
hot plate

     The inside was just adorable. It was covered in roosters, floor to ceiling. Totally home-y. Marc and I spotted a juicer with oranges and knew we had to get some of their fresh squeezed OJ. It was phenomenal! So unlike any OJ you buy in the store. It tasted so pure and fresh. The waitresses were bringing out skillet after skillet and I knew that was what I had to get. I went with the Country Skillet which had potatoes, green peppers, onions, sausage and 3 fried eggs on top. Before bringing out the piping hot skillet, the waitress brought me the cutest cast iron hot plate (with a rooster on it of course). When the skillet finally arrived it was still slightly bubbling. I asked for the eggs sunny side up so I could make them ooze all over the rest of the dish, and they cooked them just perfectly. Absolutely delicious. If I had to describe it in one word, I'd say "homestyle." It was actually very similar to the skillet hash dish I got at Deep Ellum back in Beantown, but I can't compare the two. Each dish was perfect and fitting for the environment and ambiance in which it was served. 

Pretzel Nuggets and Jalapeno Cheese Dip - White Lake, MI

Pretzel Nugget with Jalapeno Cheese Dip

     While home for Christmas break, a bunch of my old college buddies and I had a Christmas gathering and I needed to bring a dish. After browsing my pinterest, I settled on Pretzel nuggets and a jalapeno cheese sauce. I was super pumped because I'm ridiculously in love with pretzels.  I was also really excited because I had someone special to help me out. After not realizing the dough had to rise so long, Jake and I finally got to the point where we could start rolling out the dough. As opposed to making the standard pretzel twist, we rolled them into big logs, played with the logs a little bit, and cut them up into nugget shapes. After boiling them in the baking soda solution (which I think is key), they browned up perfectly and got a little crisp on the bottom. As expected they were the bomb straight out of the oven. Warm and fluffy. The cheese sauce was super easy to make too. Aside from the time it takes to let the dough rise, this is a really quick and easy dish to bring to parties.... or to just eat all yourself. 

Pretzel Nuggets and Jalapeno Cheese Dip

Dough:
1 package rapid-rise yeast (must be rapid-rise)
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour (16 1/2 ounces)
1 cup water, at approximately 110 degrees
Approximately 1 T olive oil

Baking Soda Solution:
Approximately 6 cups water
3 T baking soda
Salt for sprinkling on pretzels
  

1) Combine all ingredients for the dough.  Mix until combined and then knead about 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Prepare a separate bowl by coating with olive oil, transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat evenly.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for about one hour or until doubled in size.  Punch dough down, recover and let rise approximately 30 minutes more.

2) In a large pan bring water and baking soda to a boil over medium high heat.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or just grease it up a little).

3) Separate dough into as many pieces as you think necessary and roll each piece into a long string. At this point, either fold pretzels into shape, twisting the ends over each other and pressing lightly to seal dough into shape or cut into nuggets. 

4) Transfer pretzels, a few at a time to boiling water, cook 30 seconds on each side, turning with a slotted spoon, drain and transfer to prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and repeat until all the pretzels have been boiled.  

5) Bake approximately 12-14 minutes until dark golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool and serve.

Jalapeno Cheese Sauce

1 T unsalted butter
1 T flour
3/4 cup milk
1 clove garlic, finely grated or minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced
1 cup Colby Jack cheese
1/2 -1 tsp cayenne pepper

In a small sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add flour and whisk to combine, cooking about one minute until smooth.  Add milk, whisking to incorporate.  Add garlic and jalapeno.  Switch to a wooden spoon and stir frequently until thickened, about 15 minutes.  The sauce should begin to coat the back of the spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese.  Add cayenne pepper to taste.