Matcha Smoothie

Matcha powder (basically ground up green tea leaves) has intrigued me for a bit.  It goes into the same category as chia seeds...interesting to try...but no urgency on my end.  Supposedly it's a super food...super energy.  Of special enjoyment to me is the one that claims matcha will get you through your everyday marathon in life.  Really, who wouldn't like that idea?  I can always use a bit more energy! Extra energy is especially needed by me about 3pm for the sprint through the rest of the day and evening.

Since I have been on this chia seed, recovery bar tangent of blogging...why not matcha? It's superfood week for me, I guess.

1/2t matcha powder (yikes...this stuff is expensive)
1 c soy milk
ice

Shake until cold in a martini shaker.  Pour. Drink.

Some recipes recommended a sweetener...but we liked it unsweetened.

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Pasta with Smoky Avocado Sauce

Pasta with Avocado Sauce
Have I mentioned that I love foodbuzz?

This was a foodbuzz find...perfect for the on sale avocados I came across at the grocery store a few days ago.  The cooking slump was just starting to hit me...but this one perked me up and gave me some renewed enthusiasm!  I have not seen another recipe for grilled avocado...nor had I thought of grilling it...although this time I omitted this step completely.  Sure glad to see this recipe posted though...just the thing to get me from winter recipes to spring recipes:)

The olive oil at 2 T or so....that was fine.  Corn added to the black beans...yum...along with a dash of cumin and a dash of coriander (dried).  I used angel hair pasta, so it didn't toss too well with the sauce; next time linguine is in order.

Eleanor and I both think we could eat this once a week.  It came together very quickly and was delicious. 
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Recovery Bars from Sarah and Liz

RECOVERY BARS

From the kitchen of Sarah M, adapted from “Fuel For Life: Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook”

The original recipe is the proud creation of my friend, Liz F, who lives in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania.

Ingredients

1 cup Quaker Oats

1 ½ cups organic rice puffs (I used brown rice puffs)

¼ cup soy flour (I used white flour—ran out of soy)

½ cup raw wheat germ

2/3 cup oat bran

4 scoops whey protein powder, vanilla (I used Hammer Nutrition; the original recipe was tested w/ chocolate EAS)
  I used chocolate Genisoy

(1/8 cup chia seeds—this is my addition to this recipe)

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

(1 Tbsp cocoa powder—another addition of mine, since the original recipe called for chocolate protein powder) I omitted since I used chocolate protein powder.

¼ tsp. sea salt—coarse crystals

6 Tbsp. Jif reduced fat creamy peanut butter (I used natural peanut butter from Outpost) I used natural peanut butter...Smuckers, I think

½ cup brown rice syrup I used agave syrup

6 Tbsp. prune plum filling I used peach/applesauce

½ cup raisins (oops—I think I forgot these in this batch) I used crasins

3 Tbsp semisweet or 60% dark chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  Combine peanut butter, syrup, and prune filling and mix until well combined.  Mix dry ingredients and peanut butter mixture until coated; add raisins.  Press mixture firmly into a 13x9 pan coated with cooking spray.*  Melt chocolate and drizzle over top of bars.  Cover and let sit until chocolate hardens.  Cut into 16 bars and wrap individually for storage.  Can be stored in pantry for 2 weeks or in refrigerator/freezer for several months.  16 servings.

Nutritional Information:  225 calories; 4.8g fat; 36g carbohydrates; 10.25g protein; 123mg sodium, 3g fiber

*Note:  Mixture should stick together.  If not, the bars will be too crumbly, like mine turned out to be!  If so, add more of any of the goopy ingredients, like the peanut butter.

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I guess I know who to pick as a neighbor and a cycle buddy:)

I have mentioned the Idle Ironman workout thing I'm doing...and my next door neighbor, the Sarah of this recipe fame, is doing it also.  I invited myself on her ride on a recent warm spring day.  It was too bad this was the same day that I first got in the pool, so it was two new kinds of working out in the same day for me.  Yikes...the wind on the way back was a struggle for me.  Oh...the wind...Sarah's good fitness...and her relative youth.   Have I used all my excuses yet for how she kicked my butt?  

Ah, all was well with me when she handed me a bag of these bars to try.  These rock!  

This recipe required a trip to the coop to get scoops of the ingredients I don't have.  It's well worth the trip to get these items! I went to The Outpost, a local coop that I love but don't use as much as I once did since so many of the products are nut contaminated.   It makes it a bit more fun when I go there since it isn't in my usual rotation of errands.  This recipe is the reason Kelly gave me some chia seeds....looks like I owe her a recovery bar!

Sarah's changes are in the parentheses above.  Changes on my end (yellow above)..the Solo brand prune plum filling has the tree nut warning on it, so peach applesauce was my substitution.  Possibly in the future I'll just make some prune mash or make a filling following the linked recipe.   The flours required a trip to the coop since Bob's Red Mill products, made in the other Milwaukie (the one spelled wrong  in a different way),  have the nut warning on just about every product.....so we boycott!  Due to the nut allergy, I have been looking for a home made version of recovery bars for a bit...and then Sarah handed some to me...serendipity!

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Iskiate

chia seeds

Ch....ch....ch....ch...chia.  Remember those commercials every December for the Chia Pet?  That's what I think about every time I say "chia".  If you know what iskiate is, chances are you have read,  Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  I read the book but didn't immediately go out and buy chia seeds.  In fact, I really forgot about them until I received a recipe that called for some (more on that in the next couple weeks).  My friend, Kelly, said that she had a huge bag of chia seeds so she would bring some for me...and she did (see above).  I started thinking about the iskiate in the book, so I made some on a day I could have used a bit more energy.

Sad to report, I wasn't feeling a zap of energy after downing this...nor was Eleanor.  The texture is a bit slimy and odd...but not unpalatable.  There are a number of recipes on the internet...all mix chia seeds with water, add citrus juice (lemon or lime usually), and a sweetener.  The proportions I used are:
1 T chia seeds
10 oz water
Mix and let sit for about 10 minutes.
Add:
2 t honey
1 T lemon juice
Serve over ice

I may have to try it again...just to see if I can get some super powers.  In the meantime, I'll keep my running shoes:)



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Greek Turkey Meatballs

Gina's Turkey Meatballs
Here's the thing,  a bit of a food slump is starting to descend on me.  I know it's not the end of my cooking or blogging life, but I am feeling it happen.  I suspect that it is seasonal...not ready for fresh produce and getting tired of heartier things like soups and stews.  Also, the short course swim season has come to an end and there is a short break before it resumes; I find I'm most productive and efficient when there is a lot going on.  Having loads of free time makes me less focused, for sure. Hopefully, foodbuzz will help to get me out of this since I think I have picked off many recipes from blogs and cookbooks and am not feeling so hopeful about finding a bonanza of exciting recipes.   Soon, I hope, a fire will be under me again so I can be back to my usual self.

It got me thinking about these cycles in life and how it's unfortunate that I'm not better at just riding it out.  You know, crazy busy at work versus slow times.  I'm going to work on embracing these changes knowing that it will change.You know, those weeks when there's barely enough time to sleep in your own bed versus a weekend of being at home.

This recipe looked like one to try...another one from this blog full of some good ideas.I made them into patties rather than meatballs since the 1/4 c for each in the recipe seemed large.  These were mediocre at best....even served with sliced red bell pepper, cucumber and homemade yogurt sauce, and feta.  For sure I would make the Greek Chicken Pita Sandwiches (8/9/10 post) instead of this. 
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Jim Lahey's Pizza Dough

Jim's Dough

We're fans of the long rise bread dough.  Yep, we have had starters.  We have had starters get sour and need to be tossed (along with the glass bowl...that was a bad one).  I am now a yogurt maker:)  There's just something about the gathering of natural yeasts that intrigues me, I guess.  I grew up on sourdough pancakes nearly every weekend. 

I haven't used Jim Lahey's dough recipe preferring my partners in the midwestern world, Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day.  It's nothing personal, I just feel a bit loyal to them.  Hmmm...in thinking about it,and seeing it in Bon Appetit,  I guess I can try "the other" pizza dough as well.    He sounds like an interesting guy, so I'm now thinking there is room in my life for more than one bread resource!

Kneading the dough seemed to help to incorporate the flour.  However, I do like when the work is on the front end.  I don't mind a bit of effort but prefer not to have the major effort in the couple hours before dinner (since I'm not home then).  This recipe just requires planning ahead a bit since it comes together quickly right before dinner.  An added bonus for us is that the dough makes more than a meal's worth of dough...so I'm a bit ahead on another day.  I made 3 balls of dough and left those on the counter while the remaining were refrigerated for another day.  The dough felt very nice and was easy to work with...and it was delicious.  Three pizzas the first night; the dough was refrigerated....and three pizzas the next night.  I was thinking it would be good to wait a couple nights between, but the vote was to make it the next night too.  

In previous posts I have mentioned how everyone in this house likes things their own way (I guess we all do), so individual pizzas work really well.  It's also a good way to re-use food and get leftovers into everyone without being too obvious about it. So, it's pizza night and clean out the fridge night and make everyone happy night!

Toppings:
bleu cheese
Parmesan cheese
bacon
carmelized onions
canned pizza sauce
baked potatoes, cut into chunks

Eleanor's pizza

Paul's pizza

My pizza

 

 

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Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

 Beef Stew with Butternut Squash
Another one of those library finds, The Way We Cook: Recipes from the New American Kitchen

This seemed like just the thing to make for Paul on his return from Asia....I figured he has had his fill of fish and other ocean delights and will be ready for a beef/squash/pepper meal.  It does have rice in it, so he doesn't have to stop his Asian diet cold turkey! Stew is always better the next day, right?  So, if he isn't hungry when he gets home this should work for the next day/week as well. And our Wisconsin stew season is coming to an end as we're possibly getting to spring and lighter meals take over the menu.

I turned this into a slowcooker recipe by adding only 1 quart water to the slow cooker to the browned onion and meat mixture.  I had roasted the peppers and cut the squash a couple days prior to making this to assist in it coming together quickly.  I added the squash and rice when stopping home about 3pm...eating this around 7:30pm.  So, it probably isn't good for a day when no one is home to throw those ingredients in part way through the day.   Since the squash was cut, I measured the rice and oregano  before leaving in the morning so it took just a few seconds to throw it in....'cause that's all the time I have (time to let the dog out and change into Y clothes).

Let's see.  I adapted this recipe by putting the stew in the crockpot...and decreasing the water.  I decreased the beef a small bit too.  Also, I roasted a red bell pepper with the poblanos and added that.  They were on sale, so I bought a couple red peppers and thought the red would be a pretty addition to this stew.   I used an entire butternut squash which I suspect is more than a pound and cut the chunks a bit larger since I didn't want it to be too squishy after being in the crockpot. Oh, and I used brown rice. It needed a bit of salt and pepper at serving time...but it was tasty.

Sadly enough, as spring in the midwest can be, the day I made this was better suited to grilling than to serving stew; however, it still was cool enough outside that it was tasty.  It is a bit hard to eat stew when smelling neighbor's grills!  Ah, next week will probably bring different weather. I am starting to feel a cooking/planning slump coming on, so I'm hoping I can get out of it quickly!

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