…I bake.
Oh, that’s not how the saying goes? Well, that’s definitely how it went this weekend.
If you’ve not heard, the skies that hover above NYC—the same ones that just a day before had begun to resemble the likes of springtime—decided to open up wide and bestow a violent deluge upon its city.
Blackouts (not the recreational sort), floods and fallen trees, oh my.
Fear not, mis foodies. I’m safe. Such would be the prone outcome of spending the entire weekend en mi casa.
As soon as I realized that the outside mundo meant monsoons and the possibility of death by fallen willow trees (bet you didn’t know we had those in Brooklyn…), I made the executive decision to have a homebody fin de semana.
I did not make the executive decision to go on a baking spree. That just, uh, happened. (Likely, this was my subconscious attempt to lure social interaction into the comforts of mi casa. It worked, in case you were wondering. Slash I wanted to confirm that I did not eat all of the following comida on my own ;).)
It started off innocently enough with some non-baking.
As soon as I saw this recipe on Jessica’s site, I knew I needed to make it.
Chocolate banana bites? Bueno. It was the peanut butter topping that wooed me.
And rather quickly so.
I read her post at 6 p.m. on Friday. By 6:28 p.m., I’d decided to embrace my inner PB floozy and concoct those little bites of perfection. (I don’t have a freaky photographic memory [though I was infinitely envious of Cam Jansen during my childhood]. I know the exact time because I tweeted Jessica for some PB advice.)
Dark chocolate, peanut butter, banana bliss.
I’d highly recommend my peanut butter topping of choice: White Chocolate Wonderful. If you’ve ever tasted White Chocolate Wonderful, you know it tastes exactly like the inside of a Reese’s. Therein, you understand exactly why it took this little frozen bite to magically delicious heights.
For the full recipe—not to mention far more photogenic documentation of the chocolate banana bites—check out Jessica’s post. (Warning: If you don’t want to go on a baking spree like me, don’t peruse her recipe page.)
Post-banana biteage, I decided to take on baking (or, uh, sweets) project numero dos.
This came in the form of blondies. Because my propensity for chocolate is a very recent development in mi vida, I’ve always turned to blondies as my brownies substitute.
These days, I’m an equal opportunity employer. But I still have to play a little favoritism with mis blondies. After all, they saved me from being that kid who didn’t like dessert.
Dried Cherry Blondies
Adapted from How to Cook Everything
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. fine ground sea salt
- 1 cup dried bing cherries
Directions:
- Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray, and pre-heat oven to 325°F.
- Melt butter and mix with brown sugar until smooth.
- Whisk in eggs and vanilla.
- Mix in flour and salt. Fold in dried cherries (or any other nut, dried fruit or chocolate additions).
- Pour into pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Or, if you like a gooey center, doesn’t come out clean :)).
- Let cool before cutting.
The nuttiness of the whole wheat flour and the sweet caramel flavor of the brown sugar combined with the tart chewiness of the bing cherries made it imposible to stop at one.
And because bing cherries are so plump and sticky, there were a few fortunate blondie squares that played host to cherry clumps. And a few fortunate foodies who got to bite into those wondrous clumps ;).
White Chocolate Wonderful may have made an encore appearance as frosting for a few of these—which, needless to say, worked brilliantly.
You’d think banana biteage and bing-filled blondies would’ve effectively sent me into a sugar coma. But you’d be wrong.
El baking continued.
Proyecto numero tres hailed, again, from the mind/sweet tooth of Jessica.
Seriously, I strongly advise against browsing her recipes unless you have a desire to (a) drool on your keyboard and then practice a masochistic amount of self-restraint in your decision to not commence baking or (b) drool on your keyboard and surrender to a baking bender.
Either way, mind your keyboard.
After mucho recipe perusal/droolage, I adapted her recipe for cream cheese chocolate chip cookies.
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 2.5 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried bing cherries, chopped
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Mix butter, sugar, eggs and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and mix. Stir in flour and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges are golden brown.
I basically kept the recipe the same, but tweaked the flour, cream cheese and sugar amounts to see if I could get a sweeter, more cream-cheesy cookie. (Many reviews I’d read of this recipe—including Jessica’s—said the cookie wasn’t quite sweet enough. And I, personally, adore all things cream queso so I knew I wanted to amp up its prominence.)
First things first—the batter was heavenly. It tasted like icing—which made it difficult to not eat spoonful after spoonful.
The cookies—despite the long list of naughty ingredients that went into them—were actually very light tasting. And their consistency was cake-like. (This, I think, was a result of my flour/sugar/cream cheese tweaking.)
They benefited greatly from a little icing action. I may have enlisted the leftover batter for icing purposes.
Oh, you’re not supposed to eat raw eggs? Oops.
And, again, White Chocolate Wonderful icing worked brilliantly.
You’d think my productivity in the kitchen—which, by the way, is the phrasing I’m using to describe this baking binge—would have extended into the realm of creating, um, more diabetic-friendly eats (read: real food). But, again, you’d be wrong.
While I had an uncanny motivation to wear my Pillsbury dough boy hat en la cocina all weekend long, I had no desire or energy to concoct any real food.
I blame the monsoon. You see, I knew that many New Yorkers were experiencing power outages—thus being forced to order in all of their meals. So, being the empathic chica that I am, despite having full power, I wanted to share the powerless sorrows of my fellow New Yorkers.
Yes, that must have been it.
I commiserated with a Mediterranean feast from First Oasis, where you’ve seen me eat before.
The feast commenced with the vegetarian combination platter.
Hummus
Babaganouj
With a pile of fluffy pita for dippage
Stuffed grape leaves and falafel
Ensalada
Also on the appetizer front…
Spinach Pie: Fresh spinach, onion, garlic, feta cheese, herbs, walnuts, spices, and olive oil baked in filo dough
Entrees included:
Chicken and lamb kebabs (none of this guy for me, though)
With rice and steamed veggies
And my personal favorite…
Mussakka: Fried eggplant, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, potatoes baked in tomato sauce w/ mozzarella cheese served w/ house rice.
AMAZING.
Sometimes you just need a night off from kitchen duties.
Sometimes you need two.
Ethnic feast numero dos, brought to you by Chopstix, included chicken dumplings, chicken and Chinese eggplant in garlic sauce and chow fun.
Takeout overload.
Come Sunday morning, I was ready to part ways with all things baked and taken-out. Yep, that sugar (slash general food abundance) coma finally hit me, and all I wanted was a big, comforting bowl of oats.
Enter Chai Latte Oats. This is a recipe I’ve been dreaming up ever since I first became enthralled by the art of concOATions (you know, oat concoctions).
Chai lattes have a special place in my heart because they were my cafe drink of choice before I became a coffee person.
Yes, the coffee monster that stands before you today once detested anything that hailed from or mimicked the flavor of coffee beans. College quickly changed that. But prior to acquiring coffee-friendly taste buds—courtesy of many all-nighters of coffee chugging—I always ordered a vanilla chai latte when I found myself in a “I’m the only one not drinking coffee” social situation.
But enough of my coffee and chai saga, I present to you…
Chai Latte Oats
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup oat bran (I used Hodgson Mill, my current favorite)
- 1/2 cup egg whites, whisked
- 1 and 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt, divided
- 1 bag Tazo Organic Chai tea
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. ground flaxseeds
- container cinnamon
Directions:
- Bring almond milk and 1/4 tsp. sea salt to a slow boil in a saucepan and add teabag. Let simmer for 5-8 minutes, stirring to make sure a milk “skin” doesn’t form.
- Add the oats, oat bran, vanilla and honey and cook on medium low heat for about 8 minutes—or until your desired consistency is almost reached.
- Turn heat very low and slowly add whisked egg whites. Whisk in and cook on low for at least 5 minutes. When your desired consistency is reached, stir in flaxseeds.
- Transfer to bowl. Douse in cinnamon. Sprinkle with remaining sea salt. And add a drizzle more of honey, agave or another sweetener, if you want a super sweet chai bowl.
I know that seems like a ton of work for a bowl of oatmeal, but I promise you, it’s worth it.
The result? The creamiest, most flavor-packed bowl of oats ever.
The creaminess that surrounded the oats had the perfect balance of sweet honey and vanilla and spicy chai—and the cinnamon, honey and sea salt topping was the proverbial cherry on top.
(A side note: you know you’ve spent too much time photographing your comida when it begins gathering feathers…)
All mixed together—it became even more apparent that the texture of this oat bowl rivaled that of a thick rice pudding.
Verdict: chai latte oatmeal > chai latte.
I’m not sure exactly what made this bowl of oats so fantastic—I’m thinking the texture was a result of slow-cooking and the whisked egg whites—but I know that I am going to experiment with jazzed up (hello, perfect backdrop for dried cherries and golden raisins galore) editions whenever a lazy Sunday permits.
I urge you to do the same.
On that aggressive note, I’m off to spend el día with everyone’s favorite explorer. Happy martes, amigas!
Amor,
Sarah
Recipe, Uncategorized
babaganoush, baking binge, baking spree, blackout, blondies, chai latte, chai latte oatmeal recipe, chinese takeout, chocolate banana bites, chopstix brooklyn, coffee, cookies, cream cheese, cream cheese chocolate chip cherry cookies, creamy oats, dora the explorer, dried cherry blondies, egg whites oats, falafel, first oasis brooklyn, foodie, foodie diaries, gigi, hummus, martes, mediterranean platter, mediterranean restaurant, monsoon nyc, moussaka, oat bra, oats, pita, power outage, Recipe, rice pudding, spinach pie, tazo chai, vanilla almond milk, whisked egg whites, white chocolate wonderful, whole wheat flour
In Defense Of Carbs
To continue my proclamation of amor for my favorite food group, let’s play a little game of name that tune.
Sound familiar? No? Okay, maybe it’s not a real song. Maybe I just replaced the word carbs for girls in Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls Girls.” But it’s catchy, no? Perhaps it’s time for a food-themed remix, jigga.
So you’re probably wondering: ¿por que are we still talking about carbs?
I don’t doubt that I effectively communicated the fact that I love my carbs on Friday. However, while most of you embraced my carby adoration, I did receive one anonymous carb-condemning comment.
It went as follows:
Lovely, no?
I usually let negative anonymous comments fall by the wayside—and I won’t bother addressing the grammatical mishaps (oh, wait…)—but I do feel obliged to come to the defense of my beloved carbs.
Don’t believe me on the high-carb thing? Let’s take a gander at what I studied en escuela this weekend.
Well, what do you know? I’m not alone on this whole “carbs can do the body good” thing.
Can you imagine how excited I was to open my handout folder and find this at the top of the pile? Yes, the first order of business at escuela was studying the history, progression and validity of high carb diets. (This made me wonder if IIN has ESP/reads my blog?) Needless to say, I was fascinated and jotted down every word mi profesor said regarding the benefits of getting our carb on.
I also used this carbspiration as an excuse to wander down to Whole Foods during my lunch break and pick up some new carb goodies.
(Yea, I shop at Whole Foods with a Trader Joe’s bag. Blasphemy.)
I can’t wait to experiment with these—especially the millet!
Among other topics like protein, calorie requirements and the macrobiotic diet, we also learned about the principles behind The South Beach Diet. (This further fed my suspicion that my school has ESP/reads my blog, as I just mentioned The South Beach Diet on Friday.) Our guest lecturer was Dr. Arthur Agatston, the author of The South Beach Diet. Despite having a not-so-fun personal foray into South Beach dieting, it was fascinating to learn about how and why he developed the diet. For the record, even Dr. Agatston addressed the benefits of carbs. Just saying… 😉
Since all this carb talk is only further perpetuating my carbzilla reputation, I will now switch gears to another (newly) beloved c-food: cottage cheese.
Since we last spoke, I’ve been through three containers of cottage cheese. In defense of cottage cheese/me, I really wanted to try out so many of your cottage cheese recommendations. All in the name of experimentation, mis amigas.
Let’s get to the cottage cheese creations.
I’m not sure what inspired this crazy concoction—I was mostly just craving a ridiculously creamy bowl of oats—but I’m glad I went with it. I usually just cook my oats in water, but the almond milk, plus the cottage cheese addition at the end, created the perfect creamy consistency.
One more point for cottage cheese being the greatest thing ever.
More pumpkiny cottage cheese oats were had.
This time, eggs were added. And, OHMYGOD, make this now.
Okay, the abundantly eggy (almost custard-like) oats mixed with creamy cottage cheese and pumpkin gloriousness? I’m pretty sure my taste buds discovered new heights of ecstasy.
Onto some cottage cheese snack recommendations.
Almost all of you mentioned the cottage cheese + preserves combo, so I knew I needed to go there.
Increible. In this concoction, I used put the raspberry preserves atop 2% whipped cottage cheese, per another recommendation.
I liked the whipped version—but I have to say, I really missed the little chunks/curds/whatever other gross term can be used to describe the consistency of cottage cheese.
Worry not, I got my curd fix in my next snack experiment.
1/2 cup applesauce + 1/2 cup cottage cheese.
Definitely one of the most brilliant cottage cheese suggestions thrown my way. I’ve eaten this combo at least once a day since trying it—mostly because it sort of reminds me of cheesecake.
I also did a bit of savory cottage cheese investigation.
Another suCCess.
Lastly, we have the least photogenic—but possibly the most delicious—of my experiments in cottage cheesedom.
Cottage Cheese and Hummus Stuffed Portobello
Broiled brilliance. I was pretty skeptical of how cottage cheese would taste post-broilage, but the crispy cottage cheese layer that formed was amazing.
The only fail was the fact that—due to aforementioned skepticism—I only made one. Muy triste.
Preguntas: I didn’t go into too much detail about escuela because I wasn’t sure how much you want to know. Do you want to hear more on what I’m learning? Or more about the experience as a whole? Oh, and, since you gave my such amazing cottage cheese recommendations last time, do you have any more that I must try? I’d be happy to oblige ;).
Hope you’re having a bueno you-kn0w-what día, mis foodies!
Amor,
Sarah
Uncategorized
anonymous negative comment, arthur agatston, author south beach diet, broiled cottage cheese, carbzilla, cottage cheese, cottage cheese and applesauce, cottage cheese and hummus stuffed portobello, cottage cheese and preserves, cottage cheese experimentation, cottage cheese omelet, cottage cheese whipped cream pumpkin oatmeal, custard oatmeal, eggy cottage cheese pumpkin oats, escuela, high carb diet, i love carbs, in defense of carbs, integrative nutrition, low carb diet, millet, nutrition school, quinoa, Recipe, the south beach diet, trader joes, trader joes high fiber cereal, whole foods
March 10, 2010
41 Comments