Chickpea and Butternut Squash Salad

So last night I made some amazing food. Yep, it was delicious. And healthy. And delicious. My sweet friend, Rachel, came over for dinner, and she was willing to be a genia pig for my kitchen experiments. I based this off of a salad that I had while on vacation in Florida. The beverage that is in the pitcher was also a new recipe I tried, and it was super delicious, but I want to mess with it a little more before I post a recipe for it.

Chickpea and Butternut Squash Salad

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 can chickpeas, drained

red onion, to taste, thinly sliced

6-8 grape tomatoes

Olive oil

Sea Salt

Mixed Greens

Toss the butternut squash and the chickpeas with some olive oil and sea salt. Place on a foil covered baking sheet and bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until butternut squash is tender. While that is baking, heat some coconut oil in a small fry pan with a touch of honey and saute until onion is soft. If you prefer the stronger onion taste, you can forgo the sauteing and just put raw onion in. 

When the squash mixture is done, place the tomatoes in the oven while you prepare the salad. Toss the squash mixture with the onion and a little sea salt and cayenne pepper. On the plate put a bed of mixed greens and top with a generous amount of squash mixture. Top with warm tomatoes and drizzle with basil-cilantro dressing.

Basil-Cilantro Dressing

Olive Oil

1 lemon, juiced

1 bunch cilantro

1 handful fresh basil

Fill container about halfway with olive oil. Finely chop basil and add to olive oil. Cut off the top portion of the cilantro bunch and finely chop. Add to the olive oil. Add juice of 1 lemon. Shake and add more lemon juice to taste. Let this sit for at least 6 hours before you use it to let the flavors combine. Shake well before use.

Blueberry Bonanza

The farmer's market had beautiful, fresh blueberries. They went home with me, and they became two very lovely blueberry tarts. I had a request for the recipe for the first one I made, so I thought I would just include both of them here.

Blueberry Tarts

Shortbread Crust (for 2 tarts):

1 cup butter softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

To make the crust:

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the flour and mix until combined. The crust will be crumbly. Press into two fluted tart pans and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool before filling.

Mascarpone Filling:

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (I didn't measure)

1 package (8 oz.) mascarpone cheese, softened

scant 1/2 cup sugar (I think this could actually decrease or be left out entirely)

cinnamon

freshly ground nutmeg

For the Mascarpone filling:

Beat the whipping cream with the sugar and spices until soft peaks form. Add in the mascarpone and beat just until combined. Spoon into crust and top with blueberries. Drizzle the top with honey and allow to chill for a couple of hours in the fridge. 

A friend of mine recently found out that she needs to cut dairy out of her diet, and so I made a tart that she could enjoy because the first one I made the filling was almost entirely dairy. 

Lemon Filling:

1/4 - 1/2 cup honey (I didn't measure)

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp. tapioca flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups water

2 lemons, juiced

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

4 egg yolks, beaten

To make lemon filling: 

In a medium saucepan combine honey, flour, tapioca flour, salt, water and lemon juice. You could also zest the two lemons and add the zest. Whisk together and cook over medium heat until it boils and starts to thicken. Add in the butter and stir until it melts. Pour a small amount into the egg yolks, whisking continually, and then pour the yolk mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat until it thickens. Pour into the crust and place in the fridge to cool. Top with blueberries.

for bread lovers

Remember that new adventure I told you about a couple of posts back? Well here is the fruits of that adventure or rather the bread of that adventure.

Sourdough bread is not like yeast leavened bread which you can make all in one day. With sourdough you have to be planning ahead in order to make it because you have to make the starter if you don't have any sourdough starter. Then you have to make the sponge and then the final step is the actual bread. So like I said you have to be planning ahead in order to make this.

To make the starter you combine 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water in a glass or ceramic bowl and stir it up. Then allow it to sit uncovered in a warm place for 2 to 5 days, stirring it occasionally. When the starter is ready it will have a clean, yeasty smell, small bubbles and will have a slightly thicker texture than it had to begin with.

The night before you want to make the bread you need to make the sponge. To make the sponge add 2 cups flour and 2 cups warm water to the starter then cover it and allow it to sit in a warm place overnight. The next step is very important! Before you start making the bread in the morning make sure you take out 1 cup of starter so that you have it to use the next time. If you forget (like I have) you have to start all over making the starter again (which I need to do. . .oops!).

This is the starter.

Now you are ready to make the bread. To the sponge add 6 cups flour (depending on what type of bread you want you can use different flour. I used a combination of unbleached all purpose flour and whole wheat.), 2 cups warm water, 2 tsp. salt, and 2 Tbsp. honey. Combine into a smooth dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough with floured hands for 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.


Place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and brush the top with oil. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.

Reknead briefly and then split the dough in half and place in greased loaf pans. Brush the tops with a little more oil and allow to rise for 2ish hours. Slice the tops of the loaves and bake for about 40 minutes to an hour (depending on how hot your oven runs) in a 350* oven. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and remove from the loaf pans. Enjoy warm with butter and strawberry jam or however else you enjoy your bread.

honey-dijon glazed grilled chicken

I saw this recipe when I was looking through my family cookbook to make meatloaf and thought it sounded so good. So I decide to try it with my own little spin on it.

Honey-Dijon Grilled Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2-4 Tbsp. butter
2-4 Tbsp. dijon mustard
about 1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. salt
2 ish tsp. curry powder
sprinkle chili powder, cinnamon and turmeric

Before you start on the chicken, you should start by placing a sweet potato or two in a pot of water and setting it to boil. This is a delicious accompaniment to the chicken, but takes much longer to cook than the chicken does. If you don't like sweet potatoes, you can skip this, but you will be missing out let me tell you.

Start by melting the butter.


Then add in the rest of the ingredients except for the chicken and allow to cook for a minute to combine the flavors and make a nice sauce. Now this is important. Stick your finger in the sauce and then lick it. To make sure the seasonings are correct. Repeat as many times as necessary to make sure that the sauce is perfect. Confession: I could take a bath in this sauce it is that delicious. Please, please love this bit of deliciousness.


Then pour the sauce over the chicken breasts. Allow this to marinate for a little while. If you want to make this ahead of time and allow it to marinate overnight or for several hours that would be okay as well.


Grill the chicken breasts basting with the glaze every time you turn the chicken over. Don't overcook the chicken as it can easily dry out if you cook it for too long. Then check on your sweet potato which should be done about now.


So delicious! Also if you are not starving as I was at this point you could make some green beans to go with this meal and it would be perfectly complete.

oatmeal

I love oatmeal. There was about 3 months of my life that I ate oatmeal every single morning for breakfast, and while I don't have that kind of devotion to it any more, I still love a good bowl of oatmeal. This is how I make mine.


In a saucepan combine the appropriate amounts of old fashioned oats and water or milk as well as a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, a handful of chopped pecans and some honey. Allow this to cook over medium heat until it thickens.


Then stir in about 1 chopped banana and allow to cook for just a minute before enjoying a delicious and nutritious breakfast of champions.

This is just one of the many variations of oatmeal that I have made. One of the things I love about oatmeal is that like shortbread it is a very basic thing and so it is easy to make many variations of the same thing and each one has a bit of a different flavor and taste to it.

Oatmeal Cake

As soon as I saw this recipe for Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake I just knew I had to give it a try. I'm not sure what exactly it was that appealed to me about it. Maybe because the word Old-Fashioned is in the name? I do have a love of all things old-fashioned. At any rate, I decided to give it a try. Here is my adjusted recipe. And I apologize about the absence of pictures.

Oatmeal Cake
1 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
1 3/4 c. boiling water
3/4 c. honey
3/4 c. coconut sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
9 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce (give or take a little)
2 Tbsp. tapioca flour
1 1/2 c. flour (I used unbleached all-purpose)
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping
2/3 c. sugar (I used dark brown and raw sugar)
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. coconut
1 c. chopped pecans

Combine the oats and the boiling water and allow to sit while you combine the rest.

In a separate bowl cream together the butter, coconut sugar and honey. Add the vanilla and applesauce and mix well. Then add the remaining ingredients including the oatmeal. Mix until well combined. Spread in a greased 9x13 pan and bake in a 350* oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking combine the ingredients for the topping. When the cake is done baking, spread the topping over it and place under a broiler for 1-2 minutes until the topping is golden brown and bubbly. Enjoy!

rainy morning baking

There are few things I love better than baking on a rainy morning. There is just something about rain outside that makes inside so cozy and warm. And what goes better with cozy and warm than a nice batch of freshly baked scones?

I started with a recipe from Alice's Tea Cup, a cookbook from the business of the same name in New York. My roommate got this book for Christmas, and I have been immensely enjoying it since then. Scones are one of my guilty pleasures, and I am always on the hunt for a good scone recipe. I have made their pumpkin scones a couple of times, but I decided to just use that as a starting place this morning and head off in a new direction. I guess we can call these honey applesauce spice scones.

3 cups flour (I used 2.5 of oat flour and .5 of coconut flour)
1/3 cup sugar (I omitted this because I added honey)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (this is roughly what I put in)
ground ginger
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey

Start by mixing the dry ingredients and then chopping up the butter and tossing it in. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your hands. I guess you can use a pastry blender here, but then you miss the experience of it. I am a tactile person, so I like feel of working the butter in with my hands. . .plus that is what the cookbook says to do. Do what you like.

Then add the honey, applesauce, and buttermilk and mix into a dough, but do not knead or overwork the dough. That will give you a tough and unpleasant scone. I ended up adding a bit of rice flour to my dough at this point because it was a little too moist. I try not to use all oat flour when baking because it is rather dense. Putting in a variety of flours seems to help with the density as well as giving it some more complex flavor. Once it is in dough form, pat it down on a floured surface and using a round cutter, cut out the scones and arrange on a baking sheet.

Fully baked and delicious scones. . .well at least I think they are delicious. . .I haven't actually tried one yet. That will be breakfast after I go for a run.

I hope you all have a lovely rainy (or sunny) morning wherever you are.