These Shoes are Made for Running...

Guess what I splurged on yesterday????

New running shoes! Yup, a nice pair of Brooks Ghost :)



I'm ready to take up running again--slow and steady most likely--but it turns out I was running on one of the worst types of shoes for my stride type. Funny right? No wonder I got injured. If I'm going to take running seriously again (which I obviously will) I need the right shoes, so I hauled my butt over to Marathon Sports to get fitted.

Next topic? Food.

I bought a bag of cranberries this weekend on a whim; I didn't realize that I really didn't have much use for it. Then I read about cranberry salsa. So I grabbed the jalapeño in my fridge, chopped half an onion and threw everything into my Ninja blender. A few minutes later I had a delicious relish-like salsa.

A ton of it is still in a mason jar my fridge, but it seems this salsa goes well with everything: chicken, brussels sprouts, kale, wasa crackers, etc. I'm excited to try it in a sandwich, but that'll have to wait until later this week. For now, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Spicy Cranberry Salsa
Active/total time: 5 minutes!
Makes about 16 oz.

• One 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
• 1 jalapeño, roughly chopped
• 1/2 small sweet onion, roughly chopped
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar (to taste)

1. Put first 4 ingredients into a powerful blender or food processor; pulse 10 times to mix the ingredients. Starting on low, process in intervals, moving up in speed, until ingredients are finely chopped. 
2. Add sugar and process until just blended. Season with salt and pepper. 

Keep That Smile on your Face

I'm still in a good great mood; I still have a big smile on my face; and I'm still amazed at how a five-hour event flipped my mood completely. Although to be fair, those five hours were the culmination of more than three months of rigorous studying--lack of social life and heartburn-creating stress included. So yes, even though I'm entertained by my awesome mood, I'll take it regardless of how it came to be.

Let me warn you though, come October 30th (when scores are supposed to be released), I'll either be in an even better mood (higher-than-expected score) or I'll be in a terrible one (lower-than-expected score). For now, I'll wait, cook--or in this case bake--and blog.

Here's a simple recipe involving homemade quinoa flour. How it came to be? I just decided to experiment with a regular muffin recipe and replace all-purpose flour with blended quinoa. You can buy quinoa flour in specialty stores (maybe even regular supermarkets nowadays), but otherwise just blend quinoa until it turns into flour! Enjoy!

Quinoa Applesauce Muffins (inspired from As Simple as That)
Active time: 10 minutes. Total time: 30 minutes + cooling
Makes 6 muffins.

• 1/4 cup butter at room temperature (or coconut oil, but it definitely gives it a very distinct flavor)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Egg whites from two large eggs
• 4 oz. applesauce
• 3/4 cup quinoa flour
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries (I'm sure it would be great with blueberries as well)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. In a small bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Whisk in egg whites, one at a time and mix until well incorporated.
3. Add applesauce, quinoa flour, baking powder and salt to wet ingredients and mix well, making sure to get rid of any clumps. Gently fold in raspberries until combined with the batter. 
4. Divide batter among a 6-muffin pan sprayed with baking oil. Cook muffins for 15-20 minutes or until golden on the sides and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let muffins cool before serving.

Rainy Day Pound Cake

As I was uploading my photos from this weekend's post, I realized I had a batch of lost pound-cake photos on my memory card. So I decided tonight's post could use them--since instead of cooking I will be attending trivia!

Hopefully my team won't be the worst this time. I can't say for sure, but I'm almost certain that we came in last two weeks ago; so here's to getting more than half the questions right tonight!

I made this pound cake for my family about a month ago. Turns out despite its not-so-pretty appearance, it is quite delicious. To all of you who have never checked out Epicurious' Blue Ribbon recipes, do so ASAP. But seriously though, the ones I have chosen from their list have all been tasty.
Anyways, the cake was moist and flavorful. I had no blueberries, so I didn't serve it with fruit, but I'm sure any berry would complement it nicely. It's the perfect cake to savor while sipping on a cup of earl grey tea--bonus points if it's raining/snowing outside. Enjoy!

Blue Ribbon Pound Cake (adapted from Epicurious)
Active time: 20 minutes. Total time:
Makes 8 servings.

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temperature (at least 30 minutes)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature

For the glaze

• 2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 4-6 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1. Place oven rack in the middle and preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour 9 by 5 by 3 inch metal loaf pan, tapping out excess flour.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in zest and vanilla. 
3. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternating in five batches, beginning and ending with flour; mix until just incorporated.
4. Spoon batter into loaf pan and bake until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out with crumbs, about 60 minutes. Transfer cake in pan to rack and cool for 30 minutes. Invert onto rack and cool completely.
5. In the meantime, whisk confectioner's sugar and 4 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl. Mix until thick but pourable. If too stiff, add up to another 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and continue whisking; keep adding small amounts of confectioner's sugar and/or lemon juice until you get the right consistency. 
6. Once cake is completely cooled, pour lemon glaze over the top and let drip down the sides. Sprinkle with more confectioner's sugar (optional)

Summery Kale Salad

Today may be one of the most exciting days of the summer. I am embarking on a month long trip with my family (including three days sans parents). Yes, that time of the year when I get to drop everything and simply relax is here. For the next three weeks, the only thing I am obliged to do is admire Mediterranean scenery while I cruise aboard a three-thousand person ship. Tough life right?

I've decided that on this trip I will indeed relax. I will enjoy every last bit of it. I will use the time off to gain insight on my future--which as of new summer will be that of a real person--, the excursions to expand my cultural knowledge, and the meals to find new culinary inspiration. I will make this trip, a me trip. Sure this sounds selfish--and a little bit like a New Year's resolution--but maybe that is what I need, so why not give it a go?

Anyways, I won't be posting any recipes in the next month, so here is one. I created this recipe myself. I came home one day to find a bunch of kale in my fridge (one I had bought in efforts to start a green smoothie habit) and decided to turn it into a healthy lunch salad. The dressing is delicious and the add-ins are versatile. But I recommend soaking the kale in the dressing for about 20 minutes to ensure full flavor and avoid dry kale. Enjoy!

Beet Feta Kale Salad
Active time: 10 minutes. Total time: 30 minutes
Makes 2 servings

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar or Stevia
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch kale, washed and dried
• 4 small beets, diced
• 1/4 cup roasted bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 crumbled feta cheese

1. In a small bowl, combine vinegar and mustard. Add sweetener and stir until dissolved. Season with salt and pepper; add olive oil. Set aside.
2. Remove ribs from kale and tear leaves into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Place kale in a large bowl; add dressing and toss to coat. Let sit for about 20 minutes.
3. Add beets and pepper to kale and toss to combine. Then add feta cheese and toss once or twice. 

Snicker Doodle Butter Cookies

One of my mom's favorite cookies is the snicker doodle. Every time we go to Aspen, she'll go straight to Paradise Bakery and buy herself a freshly baked chewy snicker doodle.

We have tried time and time again to find a recipe for anything resembling those cookies. We have failed time and time again. But right before srping, I found a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything for Butter Cookies.

The recipe seemed easy and quick (something necessary when I decide to bake between classes) and it  boasted an array of add-in possibilities that appealed to me immediately. I could basically add anything I wanted and create any kind of butter-based cookie I wanted.
I took the easy way out, just adding cinnamon and sugar to the cookies before baking, but I am proud to say that I have found a way to recreate the delicious snicker doodles!

The cookies look a bit unappealing, but wait until you get a bite of one of them and prepare to become addicted (seriously, I ate like 5 in one sitting). I will be trying to perfect these when I come back from Spring Break so that I can surprise my mom with a delicious Paradise-like batch.

ANd in the hopes of making it into Technorati ... 2NCPBEJXEUDC

 

Snicker Doodle Butter Cookies (adapted from Mark Bittman's Butter Cookies)

• 1 stick unsalted softened butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup milk (more if needed)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar (use an electric mixer if you have one). Add the vanilla and egg, and beat until well blended.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mix and beat for a moment. Add the milk and beat for about 10 seconds. Add remaining dry ingredients, and more milk if necessary, in order to make a dough that is soft enough to be dropped from a spoon.
3. Combine cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Drop tablespoons of dough about 3 inches apart on a ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with the cinnamon mixture. Bake cookies until edges are browned, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies and then transfer to rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in air tight container for about a week.

Healthy Cookie

I hate being sick. I know everybody does, but I really do despise it. I am not the kind of person who can just sit and wait in her apartment all day long. Let alone for 3 days in a row!
I am sick of being sick. 
That being said, as my cough begins to die out, I can finally take baking into consideration again. Don't get me wrong, its not like I haven't been browsing through food blogs dying to make almost everything I see these past few days; but I couldn't muster up the energy to cook and I didn't want to spread my germs.
Anyways, today I decided to bake some "healthy cookies." I took the recipe from the Boston University Sargent Choice website. The recipe boasts a few "nutrition notes" that make the cookies even more appealing to my nutrition-obsessed self.

• Flour reduced by 1/2 and replaced with oats.
• Salt reduced by 1/2
• Butter replaced with peanut butter and olive oil
• Sugar reduced by 1/2
• Chocolate reduced by 2/3

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Sargent Choice)

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 ¼ cups quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup olive or canola oil
• 3/8 cup granulated sugar
• 3/8 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate (or mini chocolate chips)
• 1 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat oil, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy.
2.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets.