May 2010

Rachel and I

Neil and I hope you have a great holiday weekend (about time for a 3-day weekend don’t you think?) and we’ll be back Tuesday after our food-filled respite. My best friend Rachel is coming to town with her boyfriend Luke and puppy Jake, so we’ll have a full house and lots of puppy play date time. Our cats are really going to hate us now! Rachel is a fellow foodie, so there will be tons of cooking and food-related posts next week, and per some gentle scolding from some local readers via Twitter, we will try some new and different beer …maybe.

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Blueberry Flax Muffins

Yup. Beer. We’ve had a pretty crazy week complete with work, new freelance projects and trying to prepare our house (and the cats) for another puppy visitor this weekend. Once we dig out I’d like to actually post a few of the things we’ve been working on. But for now, here is our art from the past two days, gorgeous Blueberry Flax Pancakes.

As we head into our busiest month to date, I’ve been looking for ways to sneak more nutrients into our food to give us a much-needed boost. Flax is definitely something we need more of in our diet. There are too many benefits to even list! One of the easiest places to infuse more flax is breakfast food. It’s easy to add to breakfast breads, cereals, and oatmeal. We couldn’t think of a better way to test the waters than breakfast for dinner. Remember last time? We dared ourselves to make poached eggs (and we didn’t fail!) And yes, we washed the pancakes down with beer. What’s life if you can’t indulge?

Neil making Blueberry Flax Pancakes

Neil cooking our pancakies. Please ignore the cluttered stove…

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup coarsely ground flaxseed
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • dash of nutmeg
  • 2 eggs (separated)
  • 1 1/4 cups nonfat milk
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup applesauce

Directions:

In large bowl combine flour, ground flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a medium bowl, lightly beat together egg yolks, milk and oil.
Step 2
Beaten egg whites will form peaks
In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Step 3
Add egg yolk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Shred apples and add them to the batter. Fold in egg whites.
Step
4
Preheat the griddle. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Pour 1/3 cup batter for each pancake and cook until bubbles appear, about 1 minute. Flip and brown. Serve with sauteed apples and maple syrup or just a light dusting of powdered sugar.

1. In large bowl combine flour, flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a medium bowl, lightly beat together egg yolks, milk, oil and applesauce.

2. Add egg yolk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

3. Coat a pan with butter or oil. Pour 1/3 cup batter for each pancake and cook until bubbles appear, about 1 minute. Flip and brown. Lightly re-coat pan between each pancake to prevent sticking. Serve with syrup, honey or topping of your choice!

Using the applesauce gave them a light, soft, bouncy consistency and an added sweet taste. I probably could have been more minimalist and found a way to eliminate eggs, but these are pancakes, you don’t shortchange them. We were however able to come by sugar-free syrup that was amazing. My dad always used Log Cabin when we were little and when I told Neil that he said, “does that mean it’s good or bad?” I said “well of course that means it good!” He then reminded me that my dad still uses dehydrated coffee crystals for his morning coffee. Touché.

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Oregano and Basil Pesto

I remember vividly the first time I had pesto. I was eleven and my friend’s mother prepared it for dinner at a sleepover. They were different than other parents in our neighborhood. They had a wine cellar  and a tangine and regularly attended the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. The pesto was from the cities, and came in a small expensive jar that definitely didn’t say “family value” like most of the packaging in my mom’s pantry. I felt nouveau.

If you don’t have a herb garden, let the above picture be just one of the reasons to start one. That is a sink full of Oregano. Its presence in our sink didn’t even put a dent into the plant growing out of control along the side of the house. It’s a perennial, therefore virtually effortless. It just appears in the spring and grows. I don’t think I’ve ever even watered it. The plant is roughly 4 feet long and a generous foot wide. We have to continually give it away or cut it back before it flowers and is taken over by bees. I’m allergic to bees. Needless to say my fear of being stung has put me on a mission to cook anything I can find with massive amounts of oregano, and oregano pesto seemed the perfect concentrated use. That and fresh pesto is like sex in the mouth. Yup I said it.  I’ve also read that you can preserve it by freezing it in ice cube trays. Is there anything not awesome you can do with ice cube trays? Does someone hold a patent on those? I’m over the moon at the thought of having pesto in the middle of winter that doesn’t come from a packet at the store (yuck!).

Oregano and Basil Pesto

The first step to creating pesto is the mountain of chopping. Really if you have a food processor, I envy you. It’s on my list and if we can spare some savings at some point, we’ll definitely pick one up. For the time being we couple traditional chopping with using our coffee bean grinder. For this batch we used 2 bunches of oregano and 1 bunch of basil.

Oregano and Basil Pesto

Oregano and Basil Pesto

When you’re finished you’ll have a mountainous, fluffy pile of chopped herbs. Glorious! To this you’ll add 1 ounce of fresh peeled garlic, and 1 ounce of walnuts. You can also use pine nuts, depending on the flavor you want in the end. Add the juice of 1 lemon and 4-5 ounces of good olive oil. It’s best to squeeze the lemon over a filter to prevent seeds from getting in your pesto. Also, use quality olive oil or you’re sure to regret it. Add the liquids slowly, stirring as you add so they mix evenly. By adding it slowly you can also add more or less depending on the consistency you prefer in your pesto.

Oregano and Basil Pesto

Eesh, I know this won’t be winning photo contests any time soon. Definitely not photogenic. However the smell is incredible. Our kitchen still smells like oregano! Your pesto is now officially done. You can either use it, store it for a few days in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it.

Oregano and Basil Pesto

To freeze the batch at the size we made, you’ll need one ice cube tray. Remove the ice, we recommend giving some to your dog (we couldn’t help it). Coat each cube section with a dab of olive oil. Empty pesto into a sealable (Ziploc) bag and cut a 1/2″ section from one of the corners.

Oregano and Basil Pesto

Oregano & Basil Pesto

Squeeze the pesto into each cube section. Don’t fill to the top, you’ll have a mess on your hands. Literally. Cover with saran wrap completely, but poke the saran wrap into each cube section, allowing pesto and saran wrap to touch. This will cut your chances of oxidation during freezing. Place trays in the freezer and allow to freeze. Once frozen (a few hours), transfer pesto cubes to freezer bags and eliminate as much air as possible to prevent further oxidation. (Tip: It may seem obvious, but don’t ever microwave to thaw)

This isn’t the only variation we plan on trying. When using herbs, there are dozens of combinations that I’m positive will make great pesto. I can’t wait to share our first dish with you!

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I Love Skirt

May 26, 2010

I love the knee length flowing skirts. Seriously. {via Lauren Moffatt’s 2010 Collection}

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Thai Peanut Stir Fry

May 26, 2010

I don’t have to go in to how much Neil and I love stir fry again do I? I also love Pad Thai, so to attempt a middle ground, we tried a new stir fry sauce last night, something to give it a little more peanut flavor without being over the top. The result was [...]

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Keeping up with the Blogosphere Joneses

May 25, 2010

If Neil and I have learned one thing in our twenties it’s that saving money is a lifestyle. Making sacrifices every day on a greater scale is about making life choices about the things that really matter. In the world of blogs, money swirls everywhere. It’s in the huge amounts of advertising, products, sponsorships and [...]

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DIY Restaurant-Style Biscuits and Gravy

May 24, 2010

Ever have a craving for something that you know is not healthy for you? For me, sometimes that craving comes in the morning and the only fix is Biscuits and Gravy! Over the years, I’ve found that restaurant B&G is always hit or miss. It’s always either really good or really terrible, and there is [...]

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