Whole Grain Rice Salad

I missed last year's cherry season.  I don't know how it happened, but it came and went before I even realized it had happened.  This year I overcompensated with a mixed flat of sweet and sour cherries.  What I did with them is another post for another day, but I set aside a few to make the Whole Grain Rice Salad from Super Natural Every Day.

I had to make a few adjustments based on what I had on hand.  There was no baby spinach, but there was... either Swiss chard or beet greens, I can't even be sure.  Pecans had to take the place of walnuts, which I didn't have.  I opted for feta over goat cheese, and for the all-important grain base, I chose wild rice.  The salad was fine, but honestly, not exciting to me.  I can't exactly place why.  I'm sure, though, that it wasn't the dressing.  I had some of the leftover dressing on a green salad, and it made that green salad worth eating.  I'm not typically a fan, but the cherry dressing was such a unique flavor, it seemed to make it worthwhile.

So the bottom line here is that I can't judge too harshly having made so many substitutions, but it's unlikely that I'll try this salad again.  The dressing, however, is one I'll come back to.

Vanilla Spice Oatmeal

We're going on vacation in a few weeks, to a warm place where people wear bikinis, and after trying some on at the mall, I realized it was time for a little calorie-cutting.  I went through Ellie Krieger's books and picked out a bunch of recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even a few for dessert.  I'm also planning to try to work out every day from the day after my last final to the day before I leave for vacation.

For breakfast yesterday, we tried the Vanilla Spice Oatmeal from So Easy.  It was easy, but it wasn't very vanilla-y or spiced.  I probably should have trusted my instincts and added more of the vanilla and cinnamon, especially since those wouldn't contribute much in terms of excess calories.  I used currants instead of raisins, and those plus the chopped toasted pecans are what gave the oatmeal its flavor.  I like how oatmeal is inherently creamy anyway, but it did need a bit more flavor.

I'm not sure whether I'll make this exact recipe again, but I like the formula it presents.  Oats and water, plus a dried fruit, a nut, and a spice.  This could go in many directions!  I'm already thinking of flavor combinations.  Apricots and pistachios come to mind.  Dried cherries and five-spice, too.  So I look forward to playing around with my oatmeal flavor profiles.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

The first time I made this... well, it was gross.  There was way too much liquid, including 1.5 cups of apple juice, which was just not appetizing at all.  I should have listened to my instincts!  I tried it again with less liquid and used a small amount of apple cider.  It's still a little sweet for my liking, but would be the perfect sweetness for most people. 

Apple Pie Oatmeal adapted from Bob's Red Mill CookbookServes 4-6.

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 apple (peeled, cored, sliced)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup apple cider
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

1. Combine butter and sugar over medium heat, stirring frequently until melted and blended together, about 2 minutes.
2. Add apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and stir until the apples release juice, about 4 minutes.
3. Add the oats, stirring to prevent sticking and help them absorb the juice, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the apple cider and water and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Let it rest with the top on for 2 minutes, then serve topped with the pecans.

Nigella's Granola

I like to make granola bars to take as snacks when I'm out, but I don't have a perfect recipe yet.  In the meantime I got distracted by a recipe for loose granola.

You can substitute some things here to suit your tastes.  I personally LOVE the pecans, while Ken prefers the almonds - you could use different nuts instead.  Use more or less sunflower seeds or sesame seeds.  You can use another liquid sweetener other than maple syrup - the original recipe uses brown rice syrup, which I didn't have.  I thought about trying agave nectar, but I thought maple syrup would contribute more to the flavor.  And next time I might substitute some rolled grains for a bit of the oats.

Granola
Adapted from Orangette's adaptation of a recipe from Nigella Lawson.

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds
2 cups raw pecan halves
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup honey

Rack in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 300 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl, and the wet ingredients together in another.  Then, mix the two together very thoroughly and spread it evenly on two rimmed baking sheets.  Bake it for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown (I went for about 45 minutes).  When you take it out, if you DON'T want clumps, go ahead and mix it right away.  If you DO want clumps, just let it sit.  It should crisp up as it cools, but a lot of mine remained soft.

If you want to add dried fruit, you can mix some in after it cools.  This can be stored at room temperature if you're going to eat it soon.  Otherwise, to preserve the nuts, you can keep it in the refrigerator.

It was very, very delicious!  In the future, I might like it to be crunchier or clumpier.  I might try to spread it out more on three baking sheets instead of two next time.  I ate it with yogurt, as a cereal with milk, combined with Total with almonds cereal, and plain.  I thought it would make a great apple crisp topping, too.

Hummingbird Cupcakes (at home!)

Since Andrea and I enjoyed the Hummingbird Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery when we were in NYC, I decided to make them for her birthday!  I managed to find the recipe through the Amazon "look inside this book" feature and copied it down to make the cupcakes and the cream cheese frosting.

They came out delicious!  (Sorry I don't have any photos!  They were gobbled up too quickly!)  I used less sugar (4 cups instead of 5) in the frosting because we felt it was sweet enough already.  I also didn't have quite enough vegetable oil for the batter, so I topped it off with applesauce.  Next time I'll try to substitute even more to cut down on the calories.  The bits of pineapple and banana, plus the crushed pecans, were delicious.  The recipe made 24 cupcakes, and we had a tiny bit left over so we made 4 mini ones as well - we wanted to try them before telling everyone how awesome they are.

I'm glad I found the recipe and that I was able to make it.  I want to play with it a little and turn it into a muffin recipe - cut down on the sugar, mainly, and use whole-grain flours.  It's definitely do-able with a little trial and error.  The bananas provided plenty of sweetness, and since I successfully substituted some applesauce in for some of the oil, I think I could take that substitution a little further to cut down on the oil.  I can't wait to give this a shot!

Magnolia Bakery: Hummingbird Cupcake

Here's a little inspiration that I wanted to save for a future occasion.  I went to New York City for Restaurant Week, and before checking out a few galleries we stopped at Magnolia Bakery for a breakfast cupcake.  ("Breakfast" and "cupcake" are allowed to be used in the same phrase on rare and special occasions!)

There were a lot of classic choices - vanilla with chocolate frosting, chocolate with buttercream frosting, etc etc etc.  Those don't excite me too much.  If I have a cupcake, I want it to be a special one.  I chose the Hummingbird Cupcake based on the description: banana and pineapple with a cream cheese frosting and pecans on top and crushed up inside.  YUM!  It was absolutely delicious.  I thought this would be great to recreate at home next time I need to make a sweet treat like this - and I can make it healthier too.  It's also a neat flavor combination for a potential future muffin.

Peach and Fig Crisp

For my birthday, my mom got me a book called Clean Food. I love reading cookbooks, which is kind of weird. It makes sense to me because I like TV shows but not movies, and I like magazines more than books. I like cookbooks because I can read one recipe at a time if I want. I don't have to remember a plot next time I pick up the book, and I'm not obligated to go back to it later. I also use my cookbooks as a reference when I have something that I have to use (or just really want to use) without any idea what I'm going to do with it.

I had fresh figs from my Nonna and I wanted to make something with them. My mom and sister are perfectly satisfied just eating them right out of the tupperware, but I wanted to MAKE something with them. We were going over Ken's for his birthday and I thought I should bring a dessert. Looking through all my books, I found nothing for fresh figs and I was getting frustrated. I don't like to use the internet for recipes too often, because I can't connect with and develop a trusting relationship with the internet the way I can with a cookbook (and sort of the author). So I finally came across ONE fresh fig recipe in Clean Food. Finally. I was relieved. And lucky for me, it sounded REALLY good - Peach, Fig and Bourbon Crisp.

It turned out not to be too "crisp," but it was tasty. I had a fun time explaining agave nectar to the victims of this experiment (I wouldn't allow it to be counted as a dessert option until I tasted it to make sure it wasn't horrendous) and it turned out to be a pretty big hit. Next time I will try harder to find better peaches (although it is the middle of October, so I shouldn't be looking for peaches at all) but I can't wait to make this again - next year, maybe.

Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead and I cannot find the charger for the life of me, so there is no picture of this little masterpiece. Maybe next year :)