Pistachio Smoothie [v.]

The weeks are flying by at a terrifying pace. As a senior in college, right now is when I’m supposed to be figuring out my future by applying to graduate school or finding a job. Lately, every conversation I have seems to comes back around to, “so what are you planning to do after graduation?”

Meanwhile, I’m trying to remain calm, and continue on with my schoolwork and extracurriculars. Calmness is vibrant pistachio smoothies and warm bowls of oatmeal with blueberries and granola. It’s listening to my Discover Weekly playlist in the morning as I sip hot coffee. I hope that you try out this recipe, and it brings you the boost it brings me.

The latest non-dairy milk I’ve been enjoying is pistachio milk. Oddly, rather than tasting like pistachios, it’s super almond-y, way more than any almond milk I’ve tried. For this reason, I’m willing to bet any nut milk plus a tiny dash of almond extract would produce the same overall taste.

This smoothie is perfectly sweet and creamy, has an extra nutritional punch thanks to leafy greens, and can be made in literally any blender (I use a 14 dollar blender from amazon). Feel free to add a little extra nut milk if the smoothie seems too thick, and if you’re a granola fiend like me, definitely sprinkle some on top and eat with a spoon.

Pistachio Smoothie

• 1 cup pistachio milk or any nut milk + 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup packed spinach leaves (be generous, you won’t taste spinach I promise)
• 1 sliced and frozen banana
• 1 tbs coconut flour
• optional: 2 tbs soy protein powder or 2 tbs cashew butter

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Enjoy! Oolala.

 

 

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Carrot Crumb Cake Oatmeal [gf. v.]

Hello again! Long time no talk. College has started up again, and that means 3 square meals a day and a whole lotta food “study” breaks. As a result I haven’t been doing much cooking besides a smoothie here and there. Since my school doesn’t serve Sunday breakfast, I made this oatmeal last night and ate it cold out of the fridge this morning.

This oatmeal has plenty of shredded carrots for texture and bulk, and I also added coconut flour and almond butter for flavor and body. Oatmeal normally doesn’t keep me full (I’m a scrambled eggs or breakfast taco gal at heart), but the extra fiber from the coconut flour and fat from the almond butter does the trick.

One last thing, now that I’m looking at these pictures, I’m thinking that a nice dollop of vanilla greek yogurt (“cream cheese frosting”) would have been great on this. Try out that route if you’re adventurous.

Carrot Crumb Cake Oatmeal

• 1/4 cup shredded carrots
• 2/3 cup water or milk
• 1 packet Quaker lower sugar maple & brown sugar oats*
• 1 tbs almond butter
• 1 1/2 tbs coconut flour
• 1 1/2 tbs raisins
• granola, to top oatmeal**

1. In a mug, or in my case, a paper cup, add the shredded carrots and 1/3 cup of water or milk.
2. Microwave for 2 minutes, or until the mixture is hot and the carrots are beginning to soften.
3. Add the remaining 1/3 cup of water or milk and the packet of oats. Microwave for another 2 minutes, or until the oats are beginning to foam up.
4. Stir in the almond butter, coconut flour, and raisins. Add a bit more water or milk if the oats seem too thick.
5. Serve immediately, or refrigerate overnight and serve cold. Top with granola, and a drizzle of maple syrup if desired.

*Or, replace with 1/3 cup quick oats + maple syrup, to taste.

**I used crumbled nature valleys bars (I can get it at my dining hall) and the pieces added a nice crunch and sweetness, but most plain granolas should work. If your granola is chunky, pulse it in a food processor before serving.

 

 

Banana Crumb Cake

One of the first things I ever baked successfully was banana bread.

It was this recipe, and for once I didn’t venture off into impulsive ingredient substitutions and additions like I tended to. I think my parents were more relieved than anything when the end result was a basic loaf of quick bread that they didn’t have to pretend to enjoy like my other kitchen “creations”.

Since then I’ve tried many banana bread recipes, even posting about one here, and another super yummy one here, but the recipe I keep returning to is Flour Cookbook’s recipe by Joanne Chang. It’s the best banana bread I’ve tasted. Fragrant, soft, dense, and flavorful. Depending on how well I mash the bananas, it can be almost custardy (for this reason I recommend leaving some larger chunks, or if you’re like me and love bananas, fold in a diced banana at the end).

I recently brought this cake into my internship’s office for a co-worker’s birthday, and let me tell you, I felt like royalty for the rest of the day from all the compliments I received.

Try out this recipe and let me know what you think! If you love the taste of bananas, I think you’ll be a fan of this variation.

Other than that, college has resumed and all I have is a microwave and no ingredients to cook with. I’ll try to post if I end up baking any food with friends, but I’m anticipating a bit of a dry spell. Hang tight, friends.

My Favorite Banana Bread/Cake*

Recipe from Flour by Joanne Chang.

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour [210 g]
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar [230 g]
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed [340 g]  + 1 banana, diced [~90 g]
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whip the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in the oil, 3 1/2 mashed bananas, creme fraiche or sour cream, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the mashed banana mixture.
5. Fold in the diced banana. Pour half the batter in a loaf pan or a 8 inch springform pan. Sprinkle 1/2 recipe crumb topping (recipe below) on top, and spread remaining batter over. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb topping  on top.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minuters.

Oatmeal Crumb Topping

I’ve tried to proportion this recipe to be only what you need for 1 loaf of banana bread, but any extra crumb topping can easily be frozen and used in another recipe.

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup [4 tbs] butter
• optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix together the flour, quick oats, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Cut in the butter until the mixture forms coarse crumbs and there are no large pieces of butter.

*Traditionally cakes are less dense and have a finer crumb than quick breads, but carrot cake defies this stereotype so I usually define cake vs bread by whether I bake it in a loaf or round pan, or something by whether I top it with frosting. If you’re more picky about this distinction, this is technically banana bread.

Ricotta Maple Oat Muffin Tops

Do you know those maple oat glazed scones at Starbucks? Now imagine them in muffin form. Mmm.

I originally intended to make scones, but I wasn’t heavy handed enough with the butter, and was a bit too generous with the ricotta and ended up with muffin tops instead.

At first I was disappointed, and packed them in a tupperware to share with friends, but I decided to try a bite and…I immediately unpacked them from the tupperware. They weren’t going anywhere.

These are truly little unassuming packages of joy. They’re not the prettiest (maybe some sliced almonds or a glaze could fix that), but they taste like autumn, and autumn tastes so, so good.

Ricotta Maple Oat Muffin Tops

Makes 8 muffin tops (size of regular muffins).

In a medium bowl, stir together:

• ½ cup white whole wheat or spelt flour
• ¼ cup oat flour + ¼ cup instant oats
• ¼ cup + 1 tbs coconut palm sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt

Stir into the dry ingredients:

• 2 tbs melted butter

Finally, stir in:

• ¾ cup fat free ricotta (or regular ricotta)
• ½ tsp maple extract

Spoon the batter into a greased whoopie pie pan (what I used), or regular muffin tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve warm, with butter, almond butter, or just plain.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes (GF)

I think I’m broken.

I’ve lost the ability to bake regular desserts and cook regular foods. My thought process is approximately this:

If I’m craving chocolate chip cookies: “hmm I wonder if I could make chocolate chip cookies from spelt flour and erythritol!”

If I want muffins: “oh yeah let me just throw in some tofu and oatmeal–nevermind that I’m not following any recipe.”

And apparently, now the first thought that comes to mind when I want pancakes is cottage cheese. Long gone are the days of making buttermilk pancakes, although I would never turn one down if offered.

It’s honestly just plain fun to try and healthify traditional foods. Though the muffins weren’t that fun. They were kind of gross actually. Next time.

These pancakes are a rendition of my favorite oatmeal pancakes, but while I consider those pancakes snack food, these have protein and feel like a substantial meal. They’re delicious, cottage cheese and all. (I promise my tastebuds aren’t broken.)

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Makes 1 serving (This is about 2/3 of a serving)

• ½ cup cottage cheese (I used 1%, I think)
• 1 egg + 3 tbs egg whites*
• ½ tsp sweetener (I used ½ tsp sugar-free vanilla syrup. Maple syrup or sugar works too.)
• ¼ tsp extract (I used butter extract–vanilla works as well)
• 1 teaspoon coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons oat flour**
• 1/8 tsp baking power

1. Blend cottage cheese, egg, and egg white, sweetener, and extract until smooth.
2. Add coconut flour, oatmeal flour, and baking powder, and blend until smooth.
3. Cook pancakes at medium heat on a nonstick pan (nonstick is really important).
4. Tada, you have delicious pancakes. Super easy. Top with syrup. I halved this syrup recipe and made it with raspberries.

*I keep a carton of egg whites. If you don’t, just replace with 1 egg white, or even replace with milk, honestly

**To make oat flour, grind oats in a food processor or blender until flour-y. Measure 2 tablespoons afterwards.

Breakfast (Protein) Milkshake

I don’t know what to do with myself right now. I’m still trying to process this milkshake (smoothie? shake?).

It tastes like ice cream. Like real life creamy ice cream. It’s also refined sugar free and has 27 (!) grams of protein.

The secret? Egg white protein powder. Egg whites lend themselves to incredible fluffiness–after all they are the key ingredient to meringue–and take this milkshake to another level. (That said, I’m sure regular vanilla protein powder would taste good too.)

There’s a diner by my house that my friends and I will go to sometimes, and I’ve always admired the people who order milkshakes with their breakfast. I’ll probably never be able to stomach that, but I feel pretty close now.

Breakfast Protein Milkshake 

Makes 1 giant serving, or 2 regular servings. The picture shows maybe 1/3 of the entire milkshake. Maybe.

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk*
• 1 packet Jay Robb Egg White Protein Vanilla
• ½ a banana, frozen
• handful of ice
• mix ins (I added ½ cup frozen cherries, frozen berries or even a tablespoon of cocoa would be delicious too)

1) In a blender combine all the ingredients. Blend. Enjoy.

*I used So Delicious unsweetened almond milk plus! It’s my favorite.

Update

I’ve been at college for over two months now.

My most accurate way to describe it would be busy, busy, busy, but incredibly cool.

I’ve made a few desserts since I’ve arrived, but it’s hard to carve out time to take pictures. (And on a side note – there’s always someone to eat your desserts. It’s great!)

I’ll definitely keep posting, but expect my posts to be less frequent than before (although, not that I was particularly reliable before college).

Until my next post, enjoy a slice of banana bread! The recipe can be found here.

Gluten Free Bialys

When I was younger and my dad still ate gluten, we use to walk to a local bagel store every morning before he dropped me off at preschool.

I would have a sesame or poppyseed bagel with cream cheese (and remember being disgusted by the horribly uneven bagel to cream cheese ratio) while he would order a bialy.

Well, he would order one but I would usually toss aside my bagel and eat it instead. As picky as I was, I knew a good breakfast when I tasted it.

That morning routine seem so far away now, especially considering my dad hasn’t eaten a bagel, let alone a slice of bread, in nearly a decade.

Since I’m interested in gluten free cooking, today I decided to make gluten free bagels. As I was making the dough I remembered the bialys from my childhood, and was inspired to recreate them.

I can’t take credit for the dough because I used Pamela’s bread mix, but the final texture was fantastic. Of course, like all gluten free breads, the bialys were distinguishable from normal gluten ones, but they still tasted great.

Seriously, look at the beautiful texture of the bialys:

However, in the interest of giving you full disclosure, there is one issue with the bialys I made.

In my defense, I tried to cut the onions, I really did. It’s just– I had my glasses on and the sink running and glass of hot water by the cutting board to boot, and I still was chopping wildly with one eye closed and the other one in severe pain. Eventually I just gave up.

For anyone still confused, here’s the problem with these bialys: the onion pieces should be finely diced while mine are the size of small spaceships.

Also, while I’m being honest, I didn’t cook the onions nearly long enough. Don’t be like me and cook them until they are golden brown.

Moral of the story: be stronger than me – chop the onions finely and cook longly.

Still, these bialys were delicious and even though I may have to accept my failure and scoop off the topping, I will be making them again. Just with precut onions (or someone else’s help).

Gluten Free Bialys

Dough:

• 3 ½ cups Pamela’s Bread Mix
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• ¼ cup oil

Filling:

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbs oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp poppy seeds

1. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix the Pamela’s Bread Mix, instant yeast, warm water, and oil. Whisk on medium speed for 3 minutes.
2. Scoop out ½ cup sized portions of the dough and flatten into disks on a greased baking sheet.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for an hour.
4. Bring water to a boil and boil each disk for 25 seconds. Return to a baking sheet. (Technically bialys are not boiled, however I like the texture it gives the final product and chose to include this step.)
5. Create divots in the dough by smoothing the insides of the disks with wet fingers.
6. To make the filling, heat up the 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan.
7. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown.
8. Stir in the salt and poppy seeds and remove from heat.
9. Divide the filling among the bialys and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Chocolate Oatmeal Pancakes (GF)

A while ago I posted a recipe for gluten free pancakes promising a recipe for gluten free chocolate pancakes in the future. Well, today’s that day! These pancakes are super simple to make (provided you have a blender) and they taste amazing! Chocolate lovers (aka me), these are for you!

Chocolate Oatmeal Pancakes (GF)

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tiny pinch salt
• ¼ cup oats

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
2. Fry on a nonstick surface! (very very important that the pan is nonstick. My other pans couldn’t handle this batter)
3. Serve with a healthy drizzle (dousing) of chocolate ganache (1 tbs of chocolate chips melted in 2 tbs heavy whipping cream)!

On a side note, my camera is still broken 😦 Luckily I have this picture from before it broke.

Five Minute Oatmeal Pancakes!

Five minutes from now you could have seven pancakes. Seven soft, fluffy gluten free pancakes that taste just as delicious as their wheat-filled counterparts. Honestly, they’re easier to make than regular pancakes and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to make flour ones again.

I’ve made this recipe six times in the past week – three times plain, once with chocolate chips, and twice with cocoa – and all versions received raving reviews from my parents and peers alike. Make this recipe, fall in love, and never spend more than five minutes making pancakes again.

EDIT: From an attempt to cook these pancakes on a regular frying pan, I’ve realized how important a nonstick surface is. So unless you want to make scrambled pancake, use nonstick!

Five Minute Pancakes 

(1 minute for gathering ingredients, 1 minute for blending, and 3 minutes to cook; it’s really that easy!)

• ¼ cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar (I use 1 pitted date!)
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender.
2. Blend for about a minute, or until the mixture is smooth.
3. Cook at medium-high heat on a non stick pan until golden brown.
4. Serve plain, or with syrup, jam, ice cream, or chocolate sauce.