Love the ingredients, not the food.

Homemade Gluten-Free Cookie Mix

Written on December 23, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

If you’re giving out brownies, you might as well give out cookies, too, right? Again, I used one of my favorite recipes for the mix: Almond flour chocolate chip cookies. Since the full recipe didn’t fit in a single jar, I scaled the ingredients down a bit; don’t worry, though, because it’s still the same delicious recipe. These cookies bake more like doughballs and have a really soft, chewy center, which is my idea of a perfect cookie.

For the mix, you need:

1 18oz mason jar
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
Enough chocolate chips to fill the jar
1 index card
Ribbon to attach the card.

Method:

Clean and dry an 18oz mason jar
Add in layers the almond flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and chocolate chips.
Write on an index card the following:

“You’ll need:

1 mix
1 egg
3 Tablespoons butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Soften the butter to room temperature and cream it together with the egg. Add in the mix and continue to blend until it forms a dough. Roll pieces of dough into 1-inch balls and place them on a cookie tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the outside is golden.”

Hopefully between brownies and cookies you’ll find something for somebody special.

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Homemade Gluten-Free Brownie Mix

Written on December 22, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

almond-flour-brownies

Sunday night I realized I needed a secret santa gift in just a few days and that I hadn’t bought anything. Whoops. I raced around the house to see if there was anything I could pass off as a well thought out gift and couldn’t find a thing. Then it hit me: Homemade mixes. They’re easy, thoughtful, and I already had everything I needed. Plus, who wouldn’t want to get what essentially equal gooey brownies only for whenever you want them?

I based the ingredients in my mix off of my almond flour brownie recipe since they’re easily my favorite brownies ever. Theoretically you can use any brownie recipe you love, but if you use this one I promise you the gift recipient won’t be disappointed at all.

For the mix, you need:

1 18oz mason jar
3/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
Enough chocolate chips to fill the jar
1 index card
Ribbon to attach the card.

Method:

Clean and dry an 18oz mason jar
Add in layers the almond flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, sugar, and chocolate chips.
Write on an index card the following:

“You’ll need:

1 mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
4oz your favorite chocolate

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Melt and mix the butter and chocolate together. Work in the eggs and gently fold in the mix until it’s all combined. Pour in an 8×8 pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.”

It’s not quite as fun as baking brownies because you don’t get to lick the bowl. Go ahead and steal a few chocolate chips for yourself to compensate and feel good knowing you’re giving a thoughtful gift.

Tomorrow: Chocolate chip cookie mix!

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Chocolate Mint Almond Butter

Written on December 21, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

Have you tried Justin’s chocolate almond butter? Don’t because you might never want to eat anything else. It’s really terrific. I just love the combination of chocolate and almonds; I figured this could only be made better with mint, and I think I was right.

This is another super easy do-it-yourself gift for foodies(vegan and gluten-free!) or a treat for yourself. I can’t believe how good this is in the morning in a bowl of oatmeal. I used Trader Joe’s creamy unsalted almond butter to get things going a little quicker, but you can also make it from raw or roasted almonds for a fully homemade treat.

Mint Chocolate Almond Butter

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16oz):

12oz(3 cups) almonds OR 12oz(1 1/2 cups) natural almond butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon mint extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method:

Put the almonds into a food processor and blend until smooth and runny. If you’re starting with almond butter, skip this step and just scrape the almond butter into the food processor.
Add in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and mint extract and blend until completely emulsified.
Scrape the almond butter into a seal-tight jar. Store at room temperature for up to a month.

If you want to eat this off of a spoon, I wouldn’t judge; there’s been plenty of that this week.

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Fig And Hazelnut Balls

Written on December 20, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

One of the things I said I was going to do now was eat better, especially when it comes to sugar. Now I’m not delusioned too think I could ever give up the sweet stuff; instead I’m just looking to eat more sweets that also have nutrition to them. And for that I look towards dried fruit.

fig-and-hazelnut-ball

I’ve always loved fruit and nut snack bars like Larabars. They’re one of those all-too-few things that taste good and are good for you. They’re also incredibly easy to make at home, which opens up infinite flavor combinations. The combination of figs, hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg taste like Winter to me.

Fig And Hazelnut Balls

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 14):

8oz pitted dates
8 figs, chopped
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Method:

In a food processor, blend the dates until they form a sticky dough ball. If after a few minutes your dates haven’t come together, they might have been too dry to begin. Simply add a tablespoon of water and continue blending until they do come together.
Move the date dough to a separate bowl. Chop the hazelnuts and figs in the food processor until they’re broken into small pieces.
Dump the fig and hazelnut bits into the bowl with the date dough, adding in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Knead the two together. Break off pieces to roll into a ball or into a bar.
Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to a week.

I used the roasted salted hazelnuts from Oh Nuts! and the little bit of salt really was a nice touch if you like salty-sweet snacks. It’s not going to fool anyone as a dessert but it’s a good snack to keep on hand to fight an afternoon sweet craving.

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Honey Vanilla Peanut Butter

Written on December 19, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

I really like fancy flavored peanut butter and almond butter and all those butters. The problem is they’re usually double or triple the price. Thankfully they’re so easy to make at home. This is a great DIY recipe if you want to make breakfast a little more special, or even a great homemade gift to give a peanut butter lover in your life.

Honey and vanilla go so well together, even better with peanut butter. I got tired of making this in single servings and decided to make a big batch so I could eat it again and again. You can start with peanuts or peanut butter that’s already ground—the recipe’s pretty much the same either way.

Honey Vanilla Peanut Butter

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16oz):

12oz(3 cups) peanuts OR 12oz(1 1/2 cups) peanut butter
1/2 Tablespoon good quality vanilla extract
3 heaping Tablespoons honey

Method:

Put the peanuts into the food processor and blend until it forms a smooth, runny butter(if using peanut butter, omit this step).
Combine the rest of the ingredients with the peanut butter in the food processor and blend until emulsified.
Scrape into a seal-tight jar. Store at room temperature for up to a month.

I somewhat wanted to add more honey to this because it wasn’t quite sweet enough for my taste; then again, I have a huge sweet tooth and would turn everything into dessert if I could, so I’m guessing 3 tablespoons is enough for most people, although judge by taste always.

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6 Weeks

Written on December 18, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

Wednesday marked the start of 6 weeks of vacation. Relieved isn’t a strong enough word for how I felt. But I also know that I’ll get stir-crazy after 6 weeks of sitting around, especially if I don’t have a plan. So I wrote up a list of everything I want to achieve in the time.

Cooking

Obviously I’m looking forward to being home and having a full kitchen at my disposal every day. I have a laundry list of recipes I want to try out including pizzelles, mint chocolate almond butter, fruit cake, raw desserts and many more. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about what to post until at least February.

Photography

Photography’s become a new hobby of mine. Recently I picked up this lens on Amazon, which is supposed to be good for outdoor shots. I also hear I might be getting a lens from under the tree that’s good for food photography. Since I’m taking a class on photography next semester, I plan to play around with these a lot to get used to shooting with them and seeing how different lenses work(right now I just use the one that came with my camera).

Reading List

Let’s be real: I’ll probably spend most of my time watching all of Roswell on Netflix. But hopefully I’ll do some reading, too, so that my brain doesn’t turn completely to mush. These are the books I picked out that I wanted to read at times during the semester but never found the time to.

Fitness

This semester wasn’t great diet-wise. When I get stressed or depressed I eat chocolate and sugary foods to cope and there was way too much of that over the past few months. I’m definitely carrying around some extra weight I don’t feel comfortable with. Being without a gym for 6 weeks doesn’t make the situation much easier, either. My plan is to eat 4 balanced meals a day, minimize snacks, sugar and desserts, and try to be active twice a day. Some people might say, “Isn’t dieting for after the holidays?” I had more than enough candy corn at Halloween and pie at Thanksgiving that I’m ready to give up the sweets and get back to healthy.

That should keep me busy if I don’t get distracted by any Bravo Top Chef marathons. That’s a pretty big “if,” though.

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Maple-Sriracha Lentils

Written on December 16, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Hi, again. I’m back after a short posting hiatus. I figured I needed to post something if only so that my parents don’t think I died. I’ve done plenty of writing over the past few days, but not about food; it’s mostly been commentaries on ancient elegiac and epic poetry, and I figured no one wants to read that(I don’t even really want to read that). And cooking? Oh, cooking. Well, there’s plenty of time for that now.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don’t like sriracha sauce—at least not on its own. It’s far too spicy for me; even just thinking about pouring large amounts of it over food makes jump back. I do, however, love the flavor it adds to sauces with a little sweetness to balance the heat. I’ve made this sauce with maple syrup and soy sauce a few times lately and poured it over everything: Lentils, quinoa, eggs—there’s no bad combination.

If you’re a sriracha fan, I’m sure you’ll love this. Even if you’re not a sriracha fan, give it a shot and you might just be surprised how much you like it.

Maple-Sriracha Lentils

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

1 cup dry lentils
3 cups water
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons sriracha sauce

Method:

Cook the lentils for 30-40 minutes in the boiling water until they’ve become tender and soaked up all the liquid.
Turn off the heat and add in the soy sauce, maple syrup, and sriracha and mix, letting the lentils sit over the burner for a couple minutes to absorb the sauce.
Serve hot or cold as leftovers.

The sriracha adds a great complexity to a sauce that’s only 3 ingredients. For a little more depth of flavor you can add a Tablespoon of toasted sesame oil at the end of cooking.

And now I have 6 weeks with not much to do and a full kitchen at my exposal so expect to hear a lot more from me.

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In Case You’re Craving Peppermint, Too…

Written on December 12, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Recipe Round-Up

December 31st 043

I didn’t cook much this weekend; I haven’t had the time. Most meals have been thrown together in 5 minutes or less and were far from blog-worthy. Who am I kidding? Most meals have been candy and Reese’s peanut butter trees because I’ve been stressed. I’m sure life will be back to normal once these last few finals are finished.

Even if I’m not feeling the holiday spirit right now, my taste buds definitely are; I’ve been craving peppermint in everything. I’ve pretty much been satisfying those cravings with peppermint extract in chocolate oatmeal and cheap mints from the store, but here are some recipes I’d make with peppermint in them if I had more time.

Homemade peppermint patties(vegan + gluten-free)

Raw peppermint pudding

paleo-mug-cakes-serving

Paleo mug cakes(just add 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract)

January 19th 050

Grasshopper brownies

And now I’ll take one of each, please.

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Peanut Butter Buttercream Sandwich Cookies

Written on December 9, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Like I’ve said before, I’m not a big cookie fan. I’m a frosting person. I was the kid who would break apart an Oreo or maple leaf cookie, lick out the inside, and put the cookie halves back in the box. You can’t imagine how much that thrilled my parents.

I was going to fill these with a soft chocolate ganache, but since the cookies are rather unsweet on their own I thought a sweeter filling would contrast nicely and let all the flavors show. Because of that I went with my favorite kind of frosting: Buttercream. The filling is rich, sweet, and creamy adding a whole new level to the cookies.

I give a suggested recipe for the cookies to use but you can really do this with any cookie recipe. Again, this is really easy to make vegan by simply substituting a dairy-free margarine for the butter.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Sandwich Cookies

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 9 sandwich cookies):

1 batch peanut butter cookies
3 Tablespoons no-oil added peanut butter
3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

Cream together the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until it makes a smooth and thick buttercream.
Scoop 1 tablespoon of buttercream onto the flat side of a cookie and sandwich together with an equally sized cookie. Repeat until all of the cookies and frosting are gone.

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10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

Written on December 8, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

After weeks of unseasonably warm weather, Winter is hitting and it’s hitting hard. It’s rained the past few days; and the temperature has dipped into the 30 and 40s. It’s no wonder I was craving chicken noodle soup recently.

I was thinking of just riding out the craving, since it’s not the easiest thing to satisfy for someone who’s vegetarian and gluten-free. Then I realized I had enough food lying around to make a decent meat-free, gluten-free soup that hit all the right notes.

I loved how flavorful this was, especially for something that was so simple. It was exactly like any good soup I’ve ever had, with a deep and savory broth. The quinoa and tempeh make this totally satisfying, as well. If gluten’s not an issue, I bet the texture of seitan would work great in this soup, too, in place of the tempeh.

10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 side servings or 2 entrée servings):

2 cups precooked quinoa
3/4 cup chopped kale, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 block of tempeh, cubed
3 cups water
1 vegetarian bouillon cube
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot
Bring the water to a boil. Make sure to mix well enough that the bouillon cube dissolves completely into the broth.
Once heated through, remove from the stove and serve hot.

And then I ate this with 2 clementines because I’m paranoid about getting sick during finals period. Nobody sneeze on me, please.

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