breakfast quinoa

kris and i have bagels for breakfast every weekend and it's a little routine that i love. but this weekend kris is in boston and since i know he'll be coming back with the good stuff i decided to take a saturday off from bagels to try out something that's been on my list...breakfast quinoa! just like oatmeal you can dress this up to your tastes but here's what i did.

breakfast quinoa
ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water
blueberries
toasted almonds
cinnamon
maple syrup

first toast the quinoa in a dry pan for a few minutes, this gives it a nice toasty, nutty flavor. cook the quinoa in the water and milk covered at a low simmer* for about 15 minutes or until the quinoa is tender and most of the milk is absorbed. remove from heat and add blueberries, syrup, cinnamon and almonds and a splash more milk if desired. eat it!

theoretically this should serve two but since i'm here all by my lonesome i ate it all. this made for a very filling breakfast and i did not really get hungry again until dinner time. that was no fun...i like lunch!

so the verdict? while this is yummy and a nice way to switch things up i went ahead and got bagel fixin's for sunday morning. what can i say? i'm a creature of habit i suppose.

-d

flaxseed falafel

as i have mentioned before i love trying out new falafel recipes. kris found one on sfgate awhile ago and we finally got around to trying it this weekend. the recipe is packed with flax (both ground and whole seeds) which i suppose gives it an extra nutritional boost, since flax is suposedly so good for you and stuff, as well as a slightly different flavor and texture. other than that it was mostly the usual falafel-y suspects: chickpeas, parsley, lemon juice and some yummy spices including cayenne which gave these just a perfect amount of heat.

what really set these apart from my other falafel making experiences was that i did something i don't like to do. i fried them. i'm always torn between the superior crunch that frying gives and the healthiness/easiness of baking. well i went with frying this time for two reasons 1. the recipe only calls for a shallow fry not deep frying so it was really frying for wimps and 2. we finally got our hands on a bottle of rice bran oil that we read an article about and is supposed to be the best for frying and is "healthy" too blahblahblah.

i loved these! while the shallow frying made a nice crunchy top and bottom the middle stayed a little squishy which then made for great, not dried out leftovers after a night in the fridge. and because i can't make a falafel dinner but must make a falafel feast i also made flatbread, tahini, slaw and the tzatziki recipe that was with the falafel recipe. phew! here's the recipe with vegan substitutions.

flaxseed falafel
(from sfgate.com)
for the tzatziki:
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced into 1/2 -inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup low-fat plain soygurt
1 cup vegan sour cream
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or add dried to taste)
for the falafel:
2 cans garbanzos, drained, liquid reserved
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt + more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons whole flaxseed
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil, or rice bran oil if you've got it

to prepare the tzatziki: mix diced cucumber with salt, place in a colander set over a bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Rinse off the salt, drain well and dry cucumber on several thicknesses of paper towels. in a bowl, combine cucumber with yogurt, sour cream, sugar, garlic and dill. cover and chill at least 30 minutes and up to four hours.

to prepare the falafel: place garbanzos, garlic and 2 tablespoons reserved garbanzo liquid in a processor and pulse about 5 times, until coarsely chopped. add ground flax seed, parsley, lemon juice, salt, coriander and pepper and pulse just until mixture is combined. It should retain some texture. divide into 16 portions and shape into patties about 1 inch in diameter. combine bread crumbs and whole flax seed in a shallow dish.

in another shallow dish, combine cornstarch and water. dip each patty in the cornstarch mixture, then lightly dredge in crumb mixture. set on a rack over a baking sheet to dry for half an hour. heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. brown falafel well on both sides, turning once.

-d

Karls' Sausage

On New Year's Eve, just before cooking up quite the feast, Lynne, Han, A. and I headed up to Saugus to visit Karl's Sausage. A Boston-area institution since 1958, Karl's offers a wide array of tradition German meats, house-cured bacon, and imported goods. They have a German mustard (like the stein pictured above), German gummi snacks, German cookies, German breads . . . you get the idea. It is a mecca for German food lovers. In addition to picking up bacon for New Year's brunch, and a cured meat that I can't remember the name of (but it was smoky and delicious) we also snagged a few links of bauernwurst and weisswurst. We cooked both up a few days later - the weisswurst is boiled, and the casing is removed before eating. We split the bauernwurst, the grilled it in a cast iron grill pan. The weisswurst was really mild and soft, while the bauernwurst was a heartier, meatier sausage. Both were perfect, paired with a white beer, and best enjoyed on a cold winter day!

tuscan white bean soup

robin, author of vegan fire and spice, was kind enough to send me a list of some of her favorites from the book. one of the recipes on the list was one that kris and i had bookmarked to make so that's where we began and i must say tuscan white bean soup, you were delicious!!! this is exactly the soup you crave on a chilly winter day - it's fresh and hearty and comes together in a snap. and did i mention really yummy? you've got onion, carrots and celery in a tomato broth with a perfect hint of spice and a generous sprinkle of fresh basil. add to that some white beans and you're looking at a complete meal in a bowl. we took the suggestion to add a bit of pasta to the mix for an even bigger soup! though i must say i think we went a little heavy on the pasta because our leftovers for dinner tonight were more of a pasta dish....but that's ok cause with the overnight transformation it's like we weren't really eating leftovers.

i feel like i've found my groove with this book now and look forward to more recipes for the rest of the month.

-d

chocolate granola

I made this yesterday, and you should make it too! While we try to avoid re-blogging things here on yumcoast, some recipes are just too good not to share. And this is one of them. Not too sweet, pretty healthy, perfect on its own, or with milk, this granola is a revelation.

I have been making my own granola for some time now - and sometimes, even granola bars! - and this one is a little different. I found it a little bit drier than other granola recipes, and it didn't form very large clumps. I used a 60% Cacao Ghirardelli bar, and left the pieces pretty chunky. I also had no problem finding the millet puffs and rice puffs - I picked mine up at Harvest Coop in Cambridge, but they are also sold at Whole Foods. And just like La Tartine Gourmande, I cannot stop snacking on it! So go ahead, get baking!

Oh, and did I mention it's gluten free?

Seasonal Breeze

We made this punch for the holidays, but it is really a perfect winter punch. The natural sweetness of the juices perfectly offset the bitterness of the Campari. And so easy to make! The recipe comes from FEAST by Nigella Lawson. Here is how you make it:

1 750ml bottle of Campari
3 cups of blood orange juice (we used freshly squeezed orange and it was amazing)
3 cups cranberry juice

The juices should be chilled. Combine all three in a large punch bowl (or glass pitcher) and float slices of regular or blood orange, along with a handful of cranberries. And enjoy!

~ e

crispin apple cider

i'm a beer wimp. in general, i don't like hoppy beer, i don't like dark beer, i don't like bitter beer. i don't like that drinking a beer makes me feel really, really full. occasionally i will enjoy a light mexican beer or a wheat beer but i'm not exaggerating when i say it will usually take me at least an hour to finish off a pint or even a normal sized bottle. sometimes i get lucky and a bar will have a sour belgian beer that 1. doesn't taste beer-y and 2. comes in a tiny little glass (win win!) but my go to wimpy beer alternative is cider and by this time i consider myself pretty well versed in the cider options out there. my first cider love was woodchuck but i've since moved on to strongbow which is nice, dry and refreshing. magners takes second place for an available everywhere option but i find it gets too sweet after the first one. sam smith organic cider is really yummy but hard to find and ace, well, if i see you at a bar i have told myself to suck it up and just order a real beer because you just taste weird.

all that said i love trying out new ciders. after a super tough week at work i got home on friday and kris surprised me with a bottle of crispin cider. i've never seen this stuff before but the bottle looked fancy, it's big, it's organic and it's made with maple syrup. i was intrigued and excited and i've gotta say it's absolutely delicious, sweeter than strongbow but not at all syrupy sweet. i have it in a big frosty mug sitting next to me right now and i suspect i will still be drinking it when i'm done making our sushi dinner later tonight. i think it will be a lovely pairing as i'm still working on the whole enjoying sake thing. i don't expect to be lucky enough to find crispin in a bar but i will definitely buy a few more bottles from the store for a weekend afternoon treat.

-d