NTTC: Leafy Greens

OK I'm getting this posted right under the wire!! Gel's Kitchen has a wicked fun event each month and here is my contribution to June's Leafy Green No Time To Cook!!

I love going out for sushi and I love the seaweed salad that comes with it sometimes. They have seaweed salad in the "take it" section of Wegmans and it's delicious... but $$$. I knew I had to give this a try at home to save both time and money! It's really simple, crazy healthy and super flavorful.

Here are some of the health benefits of wakame (seaweed)

• Low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• Very high in calcium
• Very high in iron
• Very high in manganese
• Very high in magnesium
• High in niacin
• High in pantothenic acid
• High in phosphorus
• Very high in riboflavin
• High in vitamin A
• High in vitamin C

Don't be scared off by the prospects of eating something that floats around the ocean, it doesn't taste like the ocean... if it does... the place who made it isn't very good :)

Seaweed Salad (serves 2- or 1 stephchows)
recipe from http://www.diy-sushi-recipes.com

Checklist :
3/8 oz dried dried wakame
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (without seasoning)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoons sesame oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
1/4 of a small cucumber sliced very thin
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Task:
Soak dried wakame in warm water for about 5-8 minutes
Drain and place in a bowl of water. Quickly remove and plunge into cold water
Mix vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and ginger in a bowl until sugar is dissolved.
Mix wakame, cucumber and dressing.
Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and scallions
Chill in fridge prior to serving

I found the wakame in an Asian Grocery Store in town (it's crazy cheep there), if you don't have a specialty store near by try the ethnic aisle of your local grocery store!

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Strawberry Jam... I mean sauce

I LOVE making jam for gifts plus I love getting jam for gifts! Which is why I have a question for all you lovely ladies and gents out there... would any of you like to participate in a jam exchange?? The rules are simple, make some homemade jam and send 2 pints (plus anything else you feel like tossing in the box) of it to a person you are given. People won't be paired so the person you are sending to will not be the person sending to you... that way you don't know who you are receiving your jam from! Sounds like fun right?? If I get enough people saying they would be interested I'll do another post with the official rules and info!! Lets hope you're all as excited as I am to do this!


So I wanted to make some strawberry jam... without a ton of sugar... and without pectin... I know I know... it doesn't work... (it does work with raspberries though!! I did it last year... you see raspberries have a natural pectin in them!) So I ended up with a really freakin good strawberry sauce instead! I'm going to try again (since I still have plenty of strawberries!!) using the low sugar pectin... so I'll let you know how that comes out. But in the mean time here is how you make a delicious strawberry jam/sauce.


First step, wash your strawberries and hull them, then toss them into a pot. I have 12 cups here.


Second: Mash the berries, sure you can use a fancy mashing devise or something... me I like to use my hands (make sure you wash them first though please!!)


Third:Add 3 cups of sugar plus the juice of a large lemon, bring to a rolling boil and boil for 20-30 minutes. Foam will form on the top, every so often skim it off with a spoon and put it into a jar to keep. Use said foam to top your morning oatmeal TASTY! I've been using the syrup in my oatmeal as well... and in PB and Jelly sandwiches... a little runny, but freakin good.


At this point it should set up... Mine didn't... So either the place I found this recipe was lying... or I did something wrong lol. I canned it all anyway since it tasted delicious.

Canning is not at all scary... seems like it might be, but it's really not. People seem to think you need a ton of special equipment... the only "special equipment" I'd recommend is a pair of jar tongs. They cost me $3 and were worth every cent... no burning yourself taking the jars of our boiling water!


As for the actual canning part, all you really need is some new mason jars and lids and a big pot (and those tongs I mentioned above!). First you sterilize your jars by boiling them for 10 minutes, remove from the hot water with your tongs and set aside while you make your jam. Sterilize your lids by pouring hot water over them and letting them sit until you need them (this also softens up that wax like ring that seals the jars). Once your jam is ready, pour it into the jars leaving 1/8 inch from the top free. Use a wet towel to clean off any jam you got along the rim (since I know you are all messy), place your lid on and screw the ring down. Using your tongs lower your jars back into that big pot of boiling water (make sure the water is 1-2 inches above the lids of the jars so they are totally submerged). After 10 minutes remove your jars (using your tongs- see why these are worth the $3) and place on a wire rack to cool over night. You will hear them pop as they start to cool and a vacuum forms (so fun!- it's the lid that you hear popping).

It really is that easy. I learned it on a whim last summer and used this resource. It's amazingly detailed and will answer any questions you have!



So back to that exchange... who's in???

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Foodbuzz 24 24 24: We be jammin'

Eating local has become all the rage, so why not make it truly local and go pick your own food from the farm!? This is what I proposed to Foodbuzz and they happily agreed to play along! Rochester NY has the best of both worlds, a decent sized city with tons of great places to eat, and farms just outside of town. With so many small farms near by it was hard to choose! We ended up at Green Acre farms where they had two varieties of strawberries to pick.

Big juicy ones (Cabot), and smaller sweeter ones (Early Dawn). We had to give both a little try!


Once loaded up with lbs upon lbs of strawberries (I on my own came home with 10 lbs!) we hit the road back to our kitchens to see what we could come up with for a mellow brunch celebrating strawberries.

perfect weather, sunny, no too hot or humid... much better then the hail storms that happened on friday!

We started things off with some strawberry pancakes. Strawberries inside and out! We got the recipe from Baking Bites here. A few changes were made, like the use of 1 Tbs apple sauce instead of the butter and a little vanilla extract added in for good measure. They were wicked good, although a bit on the flat side, but oh so tasty!


Next we moved onto some strawberry muffins! (because come on, we all know I love carbs!) My blueberry muffin recipe was used and then whole strawberries were pushed into the center of each muffin once it was in the pan. The strawberries cooked and turned into a fun jam center!


From here we traveled onto dessert with a strawberry pie made by John! I'd tell you what's in it but John wants to do a guest blog about it! So stay tuned :)


If you didn't have enough sweets by this point feel free to have a sip of my deliciously refreshing strawberry amaretto twister. It's made with a combo of strawberries, breyers slow churn vanilla ice cream, amaretto, and some ice. Toss it all in the blender and it's GO TIME!! What's that you say... it's brunch... I shouldn't be drinking yet... whooops.


Oh and how did I almost forget about the jam!!! Seriously now! It's making home made strawberry jam that was the initial inspiration for this!! A "how to" is going to come later this week so stay tuned! Jam is the perfect parting gift for a party like this. Everyone goes home with a little bit of the party with them :)


While you wait for the jam recipe check out the deliciously luscious jam foam in action... a topper for a little oatmeal perhaps?? YUM! Because why waste all that lovely foam you skim off the top of your boiling jam?


Thank you again Foodbuzz for making this all possible! As you can see, we all had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

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Strawberry cookies

Man this week has been big of the cookies hasn't it... Aside from that, there is going to be some serious strawberry action going on here this weekend... You'll get the full story on Sunday :D But let me tell you... it's going to be full on strawberry!!!

To start you thinking in the strawberry mind set I have some strawberry cookies brought to you by Martha... This is part of the Cookie Carnival hosted by Kate of the Clean Plate Club! I've had a lot of fun participating in this monthy event... but I have to say this is probably my least favorite cookie of the ones we have tested so far. Straight out of the oven the bottom had a nice crisp to it, but once they cooled they were just kind of soft/mushy... and by the next day... yeahhhhh not so good. They do look pretty though!

(I used whole wheat flour... big surprise right?)

You can find the recipe over here, but I'd say skip this recipe and maybe make some other strawberry goodies instead (check back sunday to see what I'm talking about!)

inside shot!

PS Anyone using blogger know what's up with scheduled posts not posting??? I've been having the issue every day this week! I have it scheduled to go first thing in the am... then I wake up and check and it still says it's scheduled but it hasn't posted! BOOO! Any ideas??

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Pasta Ponzo

When I was down in DC my dad and I were planning on cooking this one night but we ended up visiting all the crazy good restaurants in the area instead :) Once back in Rochester I figured I'd give it a try. I tossed the ingredients together one morning and stuck it in the fridge for the day. Once home from work I topped it with the breadcrumbs and into the oven it went. 30 minutes later it was out and bubbling ready to be tossed with some nice al dente pasta!


Well it sure looked pretty! I really thought I'd like this more then I did... there was something a bit too acidic about it. Anyone have any suggestions on how to cut the acid?? The recipe is from Giada and you can find it here.

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Peanut Butter

PEANUT!!! PEANUT BUTTER... and Jelly! Anyone? Anyone?? Come on you know you know the song right??? Fine I'll just sing it at the top of my lungs over here...

OK so false advertising... there is no jelly in these cookies... but you know what, I love the song so, whatever, you get to deal with my singing... aren't you glad I don't have audio on this blog... otherwise you'd actually have to HEAR me... *all readers get up and run away screaming*

It sure seems like I've been making a lot of "thank you" cookies lately... and depending on how it goes with my car (YES IT'S FREAKIN BACK AT THE SHOP) I may have to make those guys some... we shall see! It's a rather amusing issue... the turn signal stick relay thingy (so technical I know) basically burned out... aka my blinker wouldn't turn off and then when I clicked it back and forth to stop it, it sparked and started to smoke! FUN!! My mechanic asked if it smelled like cookies AHAHAH I said "nope! I WISH!!" guess that means they want cookies next time huh?? I'm going to ask if we can start a cookie payment plan, I'll pay for the parts, and then I'll pay for their labor in cookies... sounds like a good idea to me right??

Onto the cookies! I love peanut butter and this recipe is a full on not healthy one! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies
I have no idea where this came from, it was scratched down on a random sheet of scrap paper in my "binder" of random recipes

Take the following and beat it in a bowl until creamy
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used all natural chunky YUM)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar

Then take the following and gently stir in (if you are feeling feisty toss in some chocolate chips at this point)
2/3 cup whole wheat flour

Back at 350 for 15 minutes or until nicely browned.

CHOW!!!

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I like to think a cookie must be pretty darn good if you get requests for more of them less than a week later from the first time you baked them. I baked a batch of these Oatmeal Raisin cookies for John's neighbor who loaned me a hand ax. You see... I have one... for camping, you know for chopping fire wood. But I couldn't find it anywhere. So I walked across the street to visit Augie and to see if he had one. The man drives a Subaru... that in my mind means he must be a camper... and therefore has a hand ax on hand! I know I know stereotypes... anyway (I was right!) and when I baked the batch for him I put a few aside to bring over to John's parents (they love random baked goodies from me). Well this past weekend when I asked John's dad what he wanted for his birthday (which was yesterday) he said "some of those cookies you made last weekend!" So that's what he got. :)

Oh what's that? You want to know why I needed an ax? Well you see there was this massive bush that was overtaking part of John's house, we tag teamed it and he cut all the branches off and then I got to attack the base... I think I had a little too much fun with the ax since multiple people who where walking by stopped to say hello and see what I was up to :) I got a great arm workout too!


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
makes 24 large cookies Recipe from gahhh can't remember the name of the cookbook and it's at John's I'll update to let you know!

Beat sugars and softened butter in a bowl.
1/2 cup white sugar (or use 1/2 cup splenda)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs butter (softened)

Then add these and beat until incorporated:
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce

In a separate bowl mix these:
1 cup whole wheat flour (she used AP flour)
1 tsp cinnamon (my addition)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs oats (old fashion kind)

Mix dry into wet until just barley incorporated. Then gently mix in:
1/2 cup raisins

Scoop onto a silicon lined baking sheet (2 inches apart these bad boys spread like crazy) and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes

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Epheriell winners!

Alright ladies and gents, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and a fun fathers day! What did you all do? My dad is down in DC so I only got to talk to him on the phone. We did however head over to John's mom and dad's house for brunch. Blueberry pancakes, bOnana bread ;) , fresh fruit, and scones. All in all a tasty morning :) I know I'm babbling and you want to know who the winners are right??? Now if you didn't win, don't be sad, just head on over to Jess's store and buy something up! All of her stuff is really economical especially for what you are getting. PLUS she's a really sweet girl, so go give her a little love and support!! (click the image below to go to her store)



Chosen by random.com the winners are:

Hannah of Hannah Faeire and
Reeni of Cinnamon and Spice

Congratulations girls!! Send me an email at stephchows (at) gmail (dot) com with your addresses and I'll pass them along to Jess! Once you get your earrings if you'd like to, you could write a little blog about them and help get Jess's name out there more!

Thanks again everyone, you all rock!

~Steph

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Wedding Planning... lets just chow instead

So I'm getting married a year from today!! I think that's pretty exciting at least... I told John the other day that if he's gonna run he better do it now and not wait :D I found this very amusing... his mom freaked out when I told her about it "Don't tell him that!!!" LOL whooops!

Anyway, the other day I was sitting on the porch eating breakfast and reading this amazing book "One Perfect Day: The selling of the American Wedding"


Even if I wasn't in the middle of wedding planning (wait who am I kidding I'm not planning anything.. haha, go with the flow I don't need all those little favors and other assorted crap... efff it!), I'd read this book, it's a really great read and totally eye opening... And if you are planning a wedding, go check this book out of the library and read up! Seriously good. And if you hate hearing about wedding talk then ignore me and skip to the part about breakfast here:


Simple quick delicious and nutritious: Greek yogurt with strawberries, a little honey, and some Fiber One "twigs" as I like to call them. I love how protein packed and thick Greek yogurt is, it's fat free, but you'd never know it :)

I'm in the process of some blog redesign.. so if you see any weird things happening... that's just me trying to figure out some html coding :D Have a great weekend!!

PS Today is the last day to enter the Epheriell giveaway!! Go do it! :) Winner announced Monday!

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Not Healthy Gingersnaps

So I'm going to add a new tag to my huge list of tags I use, "not healthy" lol... since most everything on this site is healthy... it's easier to call out the not healthy stuff :D Questions? Complaints? Arguments? (a high school math teacher always said this and I LOVED IT!)

These left puddles of oil on the silicon baking mat... which pretty much skeeved me out. I think they could be made with less oil and you'd still be good to go. I wasn't making these for me though (hence the use of a bunch of oil), I was making them for John's friends dad who is skinny anyway so he needs a little added weight! Mr. and Mrs. Moo (awesome nickname) are totally fun to go hang out with. We stopped by this past weekend to drop off the cookies and ended up sitting around chatting for 2 hours. They both, along with their daughter, LOVED the cookies. I think a whole dozen were polished off in a blink of the eye!

The secret to the classic gingersnap cracks is rolling the dough balls in sugar before baking... I learned this since the last few cookies didn't get to take a roll in sugar since my bowl of sugar was empty and I didn't feel like getting out more LOL. So lesson learned! A roll in the sugar = pretty cookies... the ones not rolled in sugar.... were pretty darn FUGLY!

Oh this recipe is writen in the normal format (ingredients then directions) since it's from another site... I'll do the new format when it's me writing the recipes :D And thanks for the feedback everyone!! OH and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Perfect Gingersnaps
Recipe from 17 and baking
Makes 5 dozen 2″ cookies

2 cups all purpose flour ( I used 1/2 AP 1/2 whole wheat)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
Pinch of salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup canola oil (I truthfully think you could cut down on this and still have tasty cookies)
1 large egg
Sugar for rolling

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, combine together the brown sugar, molasses, canola oil, and egg until smooth. Mix the flour mixture into the brown mixture, stirring until dough comes together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up bits of dough by the heaping teaspoonful and roll into balls between your palms, about the size of a quarter. Roll the balls in sugar and place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 8 minutes – if you like crispy gingersnaps, try 9-10 minutes.

Cookies will be very soft but will firm up. Leave on the baking sheet several minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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No really it's like a potato chip...

...a potato chip made out of brussel sprout leaves...

I love roasted Brussels sprouts. They really don't taste like those nasty things most parents try to feed kids when they are young, they are really rather good and not bitter. The roasting brings out the sweetness. But the best part is when you have the outer leaves that fall off and they crisp up like little potato chips, crunch and all! They are glorious I tell you.


You can find my recipe for roasting them here. The trick with the chips is you have to pull out the pan after 10 minutes and rescue all the little leaves that got jostled off. If you let them go the whole time they will burn and it will be oh so sad. So after 10 minutes take the pan out, don't burn your fingers, and grab all the abandoned leaves off the pan. Toss the rest of the intact sprouts around and stick it back in the oven.

I really just need to pluck all the leaves off and make a full batch of chips one of these days... because I eat these things in seconds!

MMMMMM Brussels sprout chips... mmmmmmm

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Recipe format question...

So are you sick of banana recipes yet? I know I know... but I buy a lot of bananas each week, some weeks I get through them all... and other weeks... well I'll let the picture say it...


I just learned a fellow reader is actually allergic to bananas!?? No way! Sorry Sarah this recipe is OFF limits to you! I know these images will be tempting but just say no! I don't want to get blamed for getting you back in the ER. :)

I've tried a slew of banana bread recipes and have been pretty happy with my tinkering to make them healthy versions... yet I still feel the need to try and tinker with new recipes... and this one is my new favorite! It does have a little white flour in it (horrors) but I may give it a go with 100% whole wheat next time (I'll let you know how it goes and update a link to it from here).

I truthfully can't remember where I found my starting point recipe... but I changed a bunch anyway (butter, heavy cream...and so on) here is my version...


bOnana bread (yup I know I put an o there... read below to find out why)
recipe by stephchows

Beat the following together in a bowl
1 Tbs ground flax seeds + 3 Tbs water (do this first then add the rest of the stuff)
2 cups bOnanans
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup white sugar (I used splenda granulated)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk the following in another bowl
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
dash sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, alternating in the following
1/2 cup skim milk + 2 Tbs nonfat milk solids (powdered milk)


Pour into a 9x9" greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

OK Question for you... what did you think of the recipe format above? Weird? Fun? Easy to follow? Annoying and not easy to follow? This is the style I normally write in as I scribble things down and think it's super easier this way... but maybe it's just me... what do you think?


Now onto the "O"... My fellow Rochestarians may know already why I'm calling this bOnana bread... if they have ever been to the public market that is. The public market is a HUGE year round farmers market, but they also sell random household things and other things that aren't local... like bOnanans. There is this one vendor who sells bananas... but he can't seem to say the word right... so all you hear is this guys screaming out "BOOOOONANANAS, come get your bonanans here, only 30 cents a pound... BOOOONANANAS!!" Neva I know you know who I'm talking about right?? So John and I have started calling all bananas (whether we get them from him or the grocery store) bonanans.... so it's not a misspelling... it's on purpose. Hope you like this bonana bread :D

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I'm a carboholic

Hello my name is Stephanie... and yes, I am a carboholic. Really now, how do you say no to a nice hot, right of the oven, slice of bread??? I'd like to see you try!!

This is the recipe I mentioned last week that I saw and made all in the same day. Full day of work, hour long spinning class with Brian the beast (seriously he's insane, I LOVE the class, and if he catches you talking to your neighbor he starts yelling about how if you have enough energy to talk... you aint working hard enough... ahh Brian love it), then it was home to make this bread... it just sounded so good! I couldn't resist.


I have one of the big kitchen aids, the 5 quart "heavy duty" kind... and this recipe made it jump around a bit... it's a BEAST of a ball of dough.


I mean look at it once it was done, it's about to jump ship!!

The recipe comes from Sugarlaws and there were a few questions I had while following her recipe... my comments in red italics.

mmmmm Perfect hot out of the oven, or toasted with a little butter the next day. This bread has a dense but not too heavy crumb. Even my boss who normally shys away from my healthy cooking I bring in liked it :)

Oatmeal Wheat Bread
recipe from Sugarlaws

3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour
2 cups warm water (i'm assuming you use 1/4 cup for the proof and then the remaining 1 3/4 for the actual dough part....)
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you are using a jar of yeast, or 1 cake fresh yeast)
1/2 cup instant oats, plus additional oatmeal for sprinkling on the loaf (I used whole oats instead of instant)
1/2 cup water (use this to make the oatmeal... I used a little more eyeballing it)
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt (I used 1.5 tsp)

Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup of water (I warmed the water to 110 degrees first) with 1 tsp of sugar. At the same time, microwave the oatmeal grains and water until oatmeal has absorbed the water, about 30 seconds to 1 minute (since I used whole rolled oats, I microwaved mine with a little more water for 3 minutes). When the yeast and water turns milky/creamy, mix it with the flour, the oatmeal, the rest of the water and salt and knead for about 10 minutes (took less time with the kitchen aid). If dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour to make it easier to knead. Place the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough, knead it again briefly, and place it in a greased pan for baking (she didn't mention what size pan, I used a normal size loaf pan and then a smaller loaf pan since there was too much for one loaf).

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, and allow the dough to rise for an additional 45 minutes, or until it rises to the size you want. Sprinkle some additional oats on the top of the loaf. Bake for 25 minutes, allow to cool, and slice.

Can't you just smell the yeast proofing? Question for you. Do you LIKE or DISLIKE the smell of proofing yeast? I love it!! Which is ironic in a way since it reminds me of beer and I'm not a huge beer fan...

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Epheriell Giveaway!

Now that I've been back from DC for the week I wanted to tell you about another wonderful etsy shop I stumbled upon! Jessica lives in Australia and is the owner of Epheriell which is an amazing shop selling beautiful contemporary jewelry! Go and check her out! You can read her blog too, just click here!


I fell in love with these square earrings and had to order them straight away! They reminded me of the shape of my engagement ring, which is totally fun and non-traditional, LOVE IT! Jessica has agreed to give two readers a chance to win a pair of these same earrings (hand forged by her!)

Aren't these beautiful?? I like wearing them on an angle like the picture on the right :)

Here's how to enter (and everyone is welcome to enter!! Hooray for the international readers!):

1. Go to Epheriell etsy shop and then come back here and comment on what piece you like best (I seriously keep finding more and more of her pieces that I love!! Seriously this one.... and this one... AMAZING!)
   
2. Become a follower of this blog (it's in the left hand column) and then comment to let me know you did (if you already follow me just comment saying you already do)
3. Become a follower on Jessica's blog (it's in the right hand column) then comment back here to let me know you did (if you already follow just comment saying you already follow her)

You have until midnight EST next Friday (June 19th) to comment to win! Good luck everyone!! And thank you all so much for your continued enthusiasm for all my random chow adventures!!

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Whole wheat biscotti

Sometimes I see a recipe, add it to my goggle notebook... and it sits there for months before I make it. Other times I see a recipe, add it, and then make it that same night. This was the case with TWO recipes this week. Monday night was a mad dash home from the gym to make whole wheat oatmeal bread (more on that later) and then Tuesday night was a dash to make these whole wheat biscotti that my mom sent me a link to.

Here's the funny thing. I'm not a huge biscotti fan, and I've never made them before... yet for some reason I was compelled to go and make these ASAP! Maybe it was because my mom sent me the link... maybe it was something in the air...

maybe I'm just a big weirdo...

yup probably the last one :)

I sent this picture to my sister and mom after making them declaring them YUM!


My sister promptly wrote back:

"Don't take this the wrong way, but that biscotti looks as dry as a brick! My teeth hurt just looking at it ;)"

Ahh sisterly love! Thanks Jen :D Biscotti are supposed to be dry right?? I mean you bake them twice... and they are meant for dipping in coffee right???

I called John later that night and told him I made some without raisins for him (remember the muffin incident... yeah didn't want that happening again LOL). He then asked if they were dipped in chocolate...
nope no chocolate...
then why are you asking if I want to try them?
because I made half the batch without raisins for YOU so you sir will be trying them
oh, in that case, yes I'd love to try some

Here's the recipe! You can easily add in whatever you like (I'm going to toss some coconut in next time) and hey if you want to dip these in chocolate once they are done baking... go for it! John will certainly be your friend if you do :)


Whole Wheat Biscotti
recipe from Martha Stewart

* vegetable oil, for baking sheet (I used pam spray)
* 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for work surface
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup walnut halves ( I used sunflower seeds)
* 1/4 cup golden raisins (I used normal raisins)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a baking sheet with oil; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir in walnuts and raisins. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Add to flour mixture; stir just until combined.
3. On a lightly floured surface, with floured hands, pat dough into a loaf about 1 inch thick, 2 1/2 inches wide (and about 7 inches long); transfer to baking sheet. Bake until risen and firm, 20 to 25 minutes; cool completely on sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
4. Place loaf on a cutting board, and using a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/4 inch-thick slices; place slices in a single layer on sheet. Bake, turning once, until dried and slightly golden, 25 to 30 minutes; cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 month.



What recipe have you made recently that you saw and made all in the same day? Or is it just me who does that :D

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MORE pizza and a teaser

I'm waiting on the images I took with my dad's kick-butt camera... so the remainder of the DC trip write up will have to wait until then. In the mean time I give you some amazingly delicious pizza.


Tons of mushrooms, fresh parsley, mozzarella. You can find the quick and easy dough recipe here. And the no cook sauce here. This dough was from a batch I made a month or so ago and froze half of. I just took it out to thaw in the fridge the night before. Even after freezing and thawing the dough rolls out well... it does get a little more crisp though... so if you don't like thin crispy crust... don't freeze it... just make it fresh! Oh come on, it's not like it takes a long time :)

Oh right did I mention a teaser?


It's going down right here on FRIDAY of this week! So come on back and comment for your chance to win! Aren't prizes fun?? I sure think they are :)

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The Dairy Godmother

DC was awesome!! Thanks everyone for the well wishes and all the welcome backs! You guys rock! Seriously reading through all the comments was so much fun, love it!! I totally missed reading all your blogs last week, I'm working on catching up on all the great chow and new events I want to participate in!

We went all over the place around VA and in DC. John and I walked all over the place. (which is good since John and I didn't work out at ALL while there... no joke the 6 day a week work out fiends didn't work out... CRAZY!)

My Dad dropped us off one day by the Jefferson monument and we proceeded to walk to FRD, WWI, WWII, white house (even though Obama wasn't home that day... I think he was avoiding me), Vietnam, Lincoln, Washington... I think a few others I'm forgetting... we also saw Arlington cemetery another day... the capitol, library of congress, union station... we got around! And of course we saw the declaration of independence at the archives... along with a bunch of Smithsonian's (julia child's kitchen to come in another entry!) Did you know there is a postal museum... yup went there too! We also went to a few art museums... two are connected by an underground walkway that has moving crazy trippy lights...


That's me and my mom... a bit blurry, but you can see all the crazy lights, they move in all different patterns... and make you dizzy, they have a little airport like moving walkway so you can just ride along and watch the lights... I think if I tried to walk and watch the lights I would have tipped over.



John and I are in an underground tunnel in the above picture... there was this cool waterfall that made you feel like you weren't underground, totally fun. sorry for the total blown out background... whooops! man I'm not coming up with too many great pictures am I... that's because all the good pics are on my dad's awesome new camera!! I'm so jealous of it, he got the brand spankin new canon SLR... it's seriously AMAZING!!!!

OK, I need to tell you about an adorable custard shop. First off this picture is horrible of me but it's the only one I have of said custard so please ignore me! LOL It's called the Dairy Godmother (how cute is that name??) And they have a web cam so you can see how long the line is... seriously! Fabulous idea if you ask me :) Every day is a different flavor and you can plan out your month depending on what flavors you want to try. I mean who doesn't plan their month around custard flavors??? :D It's in Alexandria VA and if you are in the area, totally check it out! But beware, there is almost ALWAYS a line :) (hence the web cam to check before you go!)

UPDATE: they also have a selections of sorbets that are nut and dairy free! So hooray for all the vegans, you aren't left out!

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