Curried Lentil Flatbread

INGREDIENTS 
1 1/3 cup cooked red lentils
1 cup water
1/4 t salt
3/4-1.5 t curry powder (to taste)
2 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 375f
Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and spray with oil.
Combine ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour mixture into pan.
Bake for 30 minutes.
If you're going to use it for a sandwich, be sure to let it cool completely first.
Otherwise, have at it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup apple sauce
1 cup pumpkin pureed (in a can or roasted then pureed, you could also use winter squash)
1 1/2 cup oat flour (you can just process oats in a the food processor until flour-like)
1 cup cocoa powder (we use dark cocoa)
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup agave syrup (or maple syrup)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate is what we use)

Directions
In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Set aside
In a food processor blend apple sauce and pumpkin.
In a mixer whisk syrup and eggs until foamy.
Add applesauce/pumpkin mixture and vanilla to the foamy mixture.
Beat until combined.
Fold in dry ingredients until just moist.
Fold in chocolate chips.

Spray muffin tins. Spoon into tins. Makes 12 regular and 12 mini muffins.
Bake regular muffins for about 25 minutes, mini muffins are usually ready after 15 minutes.

Almond Pulp Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I've been making a lot of nut milk lately. It's mostly been a half and half combo of organic almonds and cashews.  In an effort to use the leftover nut pulp I scoured the internet for recipes and finally found one that's a keeper.  Below is the slightly modified version of bars created by Brandi over at www.thevegan8.com.

Almond Pulp Chocolate Chip Bars
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal)
1 cup almond pulp or blanched almond flour (it helps if you leave the pulp in the refrigerator overnight to dry out a bit)
1 cup gluten-free whole rolled oats or quick oats
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy almond butter (unsweetened)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS (you'll need two bowls for mixing)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line an 8x8 (or 9x9) square pan with parchment paper for easy removal later.

In the first bowl, mix the maple syrup and ground flaxseed and set aside for 10 minutes to gel up (this is your egg replacement, and it's an important step).

In a second bowl, combine the almond pulp (or almond flour), oats, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.

After the 10 minutes is up, stir in the almond butter and vanilla into the syrup and flaxseed mixture until very smooth. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir for a couple of minutes until very sticky and absorbed, pressing with the back of your spoon to help mix.

Add the dough to the loaf pan and spread out evenly and flat with a rubber spatula.

For dough using almond pulp, bake for 30-32 minutes until very golden brown and firm on top. For dough using almond flour, bake about 27-30 minutes until very golden brown and firm on top.

Important
Cool 1 hour before cutting, or they will fall apart. They firm up a lot as they cool. If desired, melt some chocolate chips and drizzle the tops for added sweetness or for presentation purposes. Honestly, they are plenty delicious without it, I just did it more for looks. Slice very carefully into 8 bars. Wrap each individually in plastic wrap and store in the fridge. They will hold their shape very well this way and it makes for an easy grab-and-go snack!

Many many thanks Brandi for her fabulous and creative recipe!  

Pumpkin Waffles c/o Cookie and Kate

I stumbled on these tasty pumpkin spice waffles a few months ago.  They have since become a weekend staple.  They're perfect in every way. The recipe comes from Cookie and Kate, which is one of my favorite food blogs.  I pretty much always double this, to ensure we have leftovers.  They freeze nicely and make for a great breakfast on the run if you plunk a couple out and let them defrost on your way to work.  I've pasted the recipe below for ease, but all the credit goes to Kate.

   * 2¼ cups (200 grams) oat flour*
   * 1 tablespoon baking powder
   * ¾ teaspoon salt
   * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
   * ½ teaspoon ginger
   * ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
   * ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves
   * 3 large eggs
   * Scant ⅔ cup milk of choice (I used plain, unsweetened almond milk)
   * Scant ½ cup melted coconut oil or 7½ tablespoons butter, melted
   * ½ cup (122 grams) packed pumpkin puree
   * 3 tablespoons maple syrup
   * 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
   * Suggested toppings: more maple syrup, nut butter and/or toasted nuts, coconut whipped cream...

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and all spice or cloves. Whisk to combine.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Then add the milk, coconut oil or butter, pumpkin purée, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
  3. Pour the liquid mixture into the oat flour mixture. Stir with a big spoon until just combined (the batter will still be a little lumpy). Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the oat flour has time to soak up some of the moisture. Plug in your waffle iron to preheat now.
  4. Once 10 minutes is up, give the batter one more, gentle swirl with your spoon. The batter will be pretty thick, but don't worry! Your waffles will turn out great. Pour batter onto the heated waffle iron, enough to cover the center and most of the central surface area, and close the lid. Once the waffle is deeply golden and crisp, transfer it to a cooling rack or baking sheet. Don't stack your waffles on top of each other or they'll lose crispness. If desired, keep your waffles warm by placing them in a 200 degree oven until you're ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter and serve with desired toppings on the side.

*Make your own oat flour: Simply blend old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats in a food processor or blender until they are ground into a fine flour. You'll need to blend about 2¼ cups oats to make 2¼ cups flour.

Plastic tally

A few months back we took a trunk-full of plastic to the recycling center. It was several months worth of plastic--rather than having it whisked away weekly, we let it pile up--which resulted in an accumulated mass that was eye-popping and seemed so pointless. A bunch of plastic cartons to hold two tomatoes? We seriously bought those? To figure out exactly where we can reduce our plastic usage we did a little accounting as we emptied the trunk into the recycling dumpsters (x's for each plastic container):

Milk             xxxxxxxxxxxxx    (mostly half gallon)
Yogurt          xxxxxxxx              (some big and small ones)
Juice             xxxxxxx               (mix of half and full gallon)
Soaps            xxxxxxx               (cleaners, hand, body, dish, etc.)
Lettuce         xxxxxx                 (the prewashed mixes)
Desserts       xxxxxx                 (Mmmm)
Hummus       xxxxx                  (mix of smaller organic and bigger non-organic ones)
Strawberries xxxxx                  (pints)
Tomato         xxxx                    (mostly those awful two-tomato cartons)
Detergent     xxxx
Cheese         xxx
Olives          xx
Cherries       xx
Applesauce  xx
Ketchup       xx
Batteries      xx
Qtips            x
Mustard       x
Butter          x
Eggs            x
Pita              x
Tofu             x

Below is how we're thinking of limiting plastic from the the sources above. Keeping it specific to the biggest offenders on the list will hopefully make the plan more manageable and give us a chance at sticking to it...

Buy big. For a number of products there aren't great alternatives (milk, yogurt, juice, detergent, cheese, ketchup, strawberries), and buying big will maximize the product:plastic ratio. This is probably the easiest solution to minimizing many of these plastics at the moment. We'll buy the biggest dish soaps possible and refill when possible. We need to be careful not to waste though, so we'll freeze half of the strawberries when we buy a big one. For milk, when we lived in Iowa the local co-op offered reusable glass milk bottles--in hindsight we did not make nearly enough use of that, and we haven't found it in central PA. So we'll replace our half plastic gallons of whole and 1% milk with a single full (still plastic) gallon, and alternate which kind. It's not eliminating the plastic, but it's an improvement in getting the same amount of milk with a little less plastic.

Go without. We can go without liquid soap and just use bars. For food, if we can't get it at the farmers market, then it's probably not locally sourced (olives, cherries, strawberries most of the year), and we'll reserve it for an occasional treat. When tomatoes are only available at the grocery store, we'll go without or...

Buy fresh, grow and make at home. Buy foods that haven't been pre-whatevered (washed, cut, bundled, etc.), buy at a farmers market, grow in the garden. These take more work and time, and are more rewarding--we'll use less plastic and get better food. And preparing fresh and homemade food is time well spent for mind, body, and spirit. We'll limit plastic lettuce bins by buying the damn head of lettuce, or greens at a market. Same story for tomatoes, berries, etc. We'll make our own hummus more often--one small (plastic) bag of fresh garbanzos made the equivalent of about four plastic hummus tubs.

These steps will hopefully put a dent in our plastic garbage patch.

A Quick and Easy Stanley Cup Championship

For those days (or years) when you are in a rush, this recipe is a quick and easy fix to a Stanley Cup Championship of your own-

Winning a Stanley Cup doesn’t have to be difficult! By following the steps of this simple recipe, anyone can make an impressive run to a championship.

1. Start with several large spoonfuls of SMART DRAFTING. Continue until your prospect cupboard is full, then allow to bake slowly. Be patient — you can’t rush this part.

(Hint: You may want to try adding one tsp of TANKING to help the process along, assuming you can stand the smell.)

2. While you wait for your PROSPECTS to finish baking, assemble your other key ingredients. You will need:

• One FRANCHISE-PLAYER FORWARD, drafted with a top-five pick

• One NORRIS TROPHY–CALIBER DEFENSEMAN

• One GOOD GOALTENDER (If you don’t have a good goaltender available, an ADEQUATE GOALTENDER WHO PEOPLE THINK IS GOOD can also work.)

Mix together to form a CHAMPIONSHIP CORE, then allow to simmer.

3. When your PROSPECTS are ready, begin slowly adding them to the CHAMPIONSHIP CORE. Go slowly — dumping them all in at once may ruin the dish.

4. Mix in a few dollops of SMART TRADING.

5. Carefully add one or two helpings of FREE-AGENCY VALUE.

6. Sprinkle liberally with CHEAP DEPTH GUYS.

7. Cook together until you reach the SALARY-CAP CEILING.

8. Top with one SMART COACH, a dash of GRIT, and a heaping helping of GOOD LUCK, and serve while hot. Suggested drink pairing: champagne.

TOTAL PREPARATION TIME: three to five years.

33 Reader Comments on “Quick and Easy Stanley Cup Championship”

Chicago Blackhawks: I followed all the directions, and I have to say it really was super easy. In fact, I’ve already made this multiple times. Just wish I’d found this recipe earlier!

Boston Bruins: Same here: This was fantastic! Careful with the salary-cap part, though. If you’re not watching, it can overflow.

Los Angeles Kings: Fantastic recipe. I’m not a huge fan of free agents, so I usually substitute lopsided trade with Columbus, which works just as well.

Washington Capitals: Wait, are you sure there isn’t a step missing or something? I swear I followed all the directions, and it didn’t work at all.

Florida Panthers: Yeah, I’ve been trying this for years, and I never even seem to get past Step 1.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Same here.

Anaheim Ducks: Good recipe, but I’d recommend doubling up on the Norris defenseman. Makes everything so much easier.

Detroit Red Wings: I’ve made this one often, and it always turns out great. Tip: If you’ve run out of top-five-pick franchise players, just swap in a few you have lying around from the sixth or seventh round instead.

Edmonton Oilers: Three to five years? Uh, don’t think so. I’ve had this in the oven for six and it’s not even close to being done.

Philadelphia Flyers: I have a severe allergy to goaltending. Does anyone know of a way to make this dish without it?

Vancouver Canucks: I’ve never been able to get this one to work. Everything always seems fine, but at the very end when I go to serve it, everything crumbles. Then there’s usually a fire.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Not bad, but honestly this makes it sound more complicated than it needs to be. If you just toss in a lucky Ping-Pong ball, you can skip most of these other steps.

St. Louis Blues: This sounds delicious. I might try it someday. Does anyone have a version of this recipe that uses a slow-cooker?

New York Rangers: Wait, where are you getting all of this free-agency value from? It’s never available at any store I’ve ever shopped at.

Edmonton Oilers: Me again. Now it’s been seven years, and still nothing. Something’s wrong with this recipe.

Montreal Canadiens: I’ve made this recipe way more than any of you. I could easily do it again if I wanted to, but I just haven’t felt like it recently. Still, it was really great when I used to make it all the time a few decades ago. Would you like me to tell you about it? Let me tell you about it … [Click to expand comment. 72,000 more words.]

Tampa Bay Lightning: I’m pretty sure I made this once, although nobody seems to remember.

Calgary Flames: I remember.

Ottawa Senators: Hey, does anyone have a version of this recipe that doesn’t call for the salary-cap ceiling? Uh, I mean, I could totally use that if I wanted to. I just like the challenge of cooking without it. Yeah, that’s it.

Buffalo Sabres: Whoops. When it came to the tanking, I misread “tsp” as “gallon.” Hope it still works out!

Colorado Avalanche: I followed this recipe a few times and it worked great. I figured I’d try it again recently, but this time I skipped a few steps, and it still worked out just as well so I’m not sure why you’d bother with … oh wait, my kitchen just flooded.

Dallas Stars: I made this once and it turned out just right. I didn’t follow all the directions exactly, but that’s no big deal. It’s not like anyone’s going to care about one errant step.

Minnesota Wild: You know when you try to sprinkle in just the right amount of an ingredient and it won’t come out of the container so you tap the bottom a few times and then suddenly all of it falls out right into the middle of your dish? That happened to me at the free-agency step.

Winnipeg Jets: I was really excited to try this until I got to the part about trading. Didn’t know it was going to be one of those fancy-pants recipes with complicated steps that are impossible to do. No thanks!

New Jersey Devils: Great recipe. I used to make it all the time and was really happy with the results. One word of advice: Be sure to check the expiration date on your goaltender, because they’ll eventually go bad on you.

New York Islanders: I made this recipe a few times in the 1980s and don’t really see any reason to ever make it again.

Edmonton Oilers: Now up to eight years and counting. Not sure why it’s working for everyone else and not me, but it’s definitely not my fault. I think I know a thing or two about cooking!

Carolina Hurricanes: Wait, did that say grit? I thought it said grits. Never mind, my version turned out way better.

Arizona Coyotes: I’d love to try making this, but all of my cooking supplies are permanently packed away in moving boxes that I never end up using.

Nashville Predators: Ugh, my annoying neighbor from Philadelphia keeps coming over and trying to borrow my Norris defenseman.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Not sure what everyone’s raving about, since I tried this recently and wasn’t impressed. Although I should mention that I didn’t have enough prospects, so I substituted compete level. Also, I couldn’t find the defenseman, so I substituted compete level. And instead of the trading, cheap depth, and free-agency value, I went with compete level. Anyway, the results were terrible. I guess I didn’t use enough compete level.

San Jose Sharks: I‘ve been trying to make this recipe for years, but I always end up choking on it.

Edmonton Oilers: I just realized my oven was unplugged this whole time.

(from Grantland)

Pumpkin Bread - A fall favorite

I love pumpkin. A lot. Almost as much as I love my husband and bike. Every year when fall rolls around I bust out the pumpkin scones and the pumpkin pancakes, and pretty much anything else that can be pumpkin'ized.  And every year I say to myself, "self, if you love your husband and your bike year round, why not love pumpkin year round as well?".  Then winter rolls in and by spring my pumpkin love is long forgotten.  It's a sad, sad state of affairs.  Alas, this year, I swear to the Greatest of Pumpkins that I will not forget you.

My newest discovery is this tasty, tender gluten free pumpkin bread I discovered over here at Tasty Yummies.  For once in my life, I actually followed a recipe to the tee and low and behold it was spectacular.  The only alteration I made was to use chocolate chips and pecans, instead of ginger and walnuts (simply because I didn't have any ginger and dark chocolate chips are delicious), and I sprinkled the top with pumpkin seeds, for good measure.

I'm looking forward to eating this tasty bread year round, from here on out!


Updating to include actual recipe below (and a banana bread version) ...
INGREDIENTS

2 large eggs 
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pureed or canned pumpkin (mashed banana) 
1/4 cup milk 

250 grams of your favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend (1 1/2 – 2 cups depending on brand/type)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Grease and flour a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.

Sift the dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt, baking soda and baking powder) together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In the large bowl of your stand mixer, beat the eggs and coconut sugar together until very well combined and fluffy. Approximately 3-5 minutes. Slowly while the mixer is running, pour the oil into the sugar and egg mixture, then add in the pumpkin, almond milk and vanilla, allow the mixture to mix another a minute or two until everything is well combined.

Then add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients. A little at a time, while the mixer is running on a low-speed. Mix until well blended. Then fold the crystallized ginger and walnuts into the batter. Mix the remaining crystallized ginger and walnuts together and set aside.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the ginger and walnut mixture all over the top. Place on the center rack in the oven and back until the top is golden brown, about an hour. Make sure a cake tester or knife comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, then gently turn the bread out of the pan (being careful not to knock all the nuts and ginger off) and allow it to finish cooling on a wire rack.