Love the ingredients, not the food.

Chocolate Covered Ginger

Written on February 22, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

This is less of a recipe and more of a “You should eat this now” advisory. I never thought chocolate and ginger paired so well together until I ate a Green & Black’s chocolate bar with ginger bits inside. It was mind-blowing. These are just the right balance of sweetness and spice to make you want another. And as you’ll read, it’s quite a healthy treat, too!

Ginger is something of a superfood. It’s been a ancient Chinese remedy for everything including nausea, diarrhea, the common cold, congestion, upset stomach, high-cholesterol, and heart disease. And of course, like all of my term papers, my facts are from Wikipedia. Basically, we should be eating much more of it, and with antioxidant-rich dark chocolate, for our health.

Chocolate-Covered Ginger

Ingredients:

6oz chocolate chips
1/2lb candied ginger

Melt the chocolate over a double broiler or in a microwave safe bowl. Lay out a piece of parchment paper on the table where the ginger can cool

One by one, dip the ginger into the chocolate, leaving a little uncovered at the top so people can see what it is.

Shake off the excess chocolate and gently place it on the parchment paper to dry.

Either let the chocolate cool at room temperature or move this on a tray to the refrigerator to harden quicker.

I think it says something that I’ve had this candied ginger for almost a year and hardly touched it, and then I covered it in chocolate and half is gone in 2 days. Next time I make these I might add a little chili powder into the chocolate to give it a kick.

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Chili-Rubbed Sole With Sautéed Kale And Avocado

Written on February 21, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

I’m a sucker for a sale. So when I saw sole on sale for 50% off at Whole Foods, my gut reaction was to buy it. Never mind that I hadn’t cooked/ate fish for probably half a year. It was on sale.

When I actually thought about how I wanted to eat it, fried and spicy seemed right. This dish has everything you could want: the fish is a soft; the avocado is creamy; the kale is a little tough and gives it all a bit of a bite. It felt like something you’d order at a restaurant.

Chili-Rubbed Sole With Sautéed Kale And Avocado

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

1/2lb sole(or other white fish)
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch of kale, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 avocado
Lemon for serving

Cover one side of the fish with half of the chili powder and rub it in. Shake off the excess and do the same for the next side.

In the meantime, heat a large pan over medium-high heat with the oil.

Lay the fish in to cook. After about 90 seconds flip the first side over. Use a wide tool and be careful not to break the fillet.

Cook for another 90 seconds or so until the center is cooked through. Gently remove the fish from the pan to rest but not the oil.

When the fish is removed, add in the kale to sauté in the oil. This is a great time to use frozen kale for a cheap but nutritious option.

Sauté the kale until it’s soaked up the oil and reduced to about half the size. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

To plate, first make a bed of kale. Next add a piece of the fish fillet and season that with a sprinkle of the remaining salt. Cut the avocado in half and then into wedges and lay them down among the fish, serving with a wedge of lemon.

I really really hope this sale goes on for a while.

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The Holy Trinity of Food Photography

Written on February 19, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Photography

In cooking, the “holy trinity” is onion, carrots, and celery—start any dish by sautéing those three vegetables and it’s a sure favorite.

But when it comes to the other half of food blogging—the actual photographing—it’s a whole new ball game. To take good photos, you need to account for plating, lighting, and camera angle.

Plating:

Chili-Rubbed Sole With Sauteed Kale and Avocado(post to come)

The best way to start plating is with a clean, white plate. That lets the colors of the food pop naturally. The more mingled the components of a plate are, the more cohesive the overall photo looks. And a variety of textures and angles creates motion and keeps the eyes moving over different areas.

Photo from Raw Vegan Hazelnut Cream Cheese

Plating also can extend to the background, as well. Even when the dish is the main focus of the photo, you’re still showing whatever’s in the camera’s view and this can be disruptive to the overall photo. Choose either a neutral background or one that continues the theme of what you’re photographing. And always make sure the prime subject matter is in focus.

Camera Angle:

Photo from Gluten-Free Chinese Dumplings

In general, there are 3 typical camera angles: Overhead, same-level, and eye-level(slightly angled down). Each one should be used to highlight different features of a plate, but the most general two to use would be same-level or eye-level. Camera angle is also what lets you reveal or hide the backdrop to your photo, so consider that as well when choosing how to photograph it.

Lighting:

Photo from Grasshopper Brownies

When it comes to lighting, natural is almost always best. If you can find a spot with a strong, clean, natural light, then by all means use that. The more angles that the light hits the food the better as that reduces shadows.

Photo from Better-Than-Boxed Brownies

The other option for lighting is a light-box, which I use probably more than anything else. The benefit of a light-box is that it gives you complete control over lighting and shadows. The drawback of a light-box is that they don’t let you continue the backdrop but rather create a focused, narrow space.

Do you have any questions on any of these? Now, I’m not saying I’m an expert at this at all; in fact, most nights I’ll eat dinner out of the frying pan if I don’t have to photograph it so I don’t have to do more dishes. I’ve learned most of these tricks by doing the exact opposite and looking back only to see how bad they actually were. The best tip is to just keep snapping away, because the more photos you take the better your eye gets for taking photos.

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Mama Pea’s Cookie Dough Dip

Written on February 18, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Highlights

What’s better than cookie dough? Cookie dough you can eat as a dip. When Jessica first posted her recipe, I think we all swooned. I didn’t dare ever make it with soy-based dairy substitutes, since I’m sure they wouldn’t have done her original recipe justice. Luckily, Mama Pea was inspired by my peanut butter dessert hummus to make a raw version of Jessica’s recipe(are you following?). I knew I had to bring things full circle and try Mama Pea’s creation; she’s never steered me wrong in the past.

I put all of the ingredients in a food processor(using water instead of almond milk) and let ‘er rip.

Once it was smooth, I stirred in chocolate chips and cinnamon(not in the original recipe but I thought it would add a nice touch).

Ya’ll, go and make this right now. It came out so smooth and richly satisfying. I might like the dough part to be a bit sweeter but even so that didn’t stop me from eating half of it.

And then this happened:

And all was right with the world.

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Honey-Olive Oil Butternut Squash

Written on February 17, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Even though Winter is ending, I still love eating any squash I can my hands on. They aren’t exactly Spring or Summer fare, but neither are the temperatures, so as long as it’s cold I’m going to figure out how to eat them in new, seasonal ways. Honey and olive oil are a natural pair for any dressing, but it turns out they work together well in this cooked recipe, too. The squash came out sweet and slightly fruity; if I closed my eyes I could almost imagine it weren’t 30 degrees outside.

Honey-Olive Oil Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, halved and deseeded
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Roast the squash by itself for an hour until soft and tender.

Remove the squash from the oven and poke holes in the flesh. Pour on 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and honey on each side of the squash. Put it back in the oven and cook for another 30 minutes.

Pour off the excess liquid and serve hot with a pinch of salt on top.

I was impressed with how strong the flavors of honey and olive oil were even after cooking; they make the squash taste more Summery and less earthy, so it was a nice depart from plain butternut squash. And because it was olive oil and not butter, it felt light.

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Reviewing The Marathon Roadmap

Written on February 16, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

Hello, foodies! Today I’m taking a small departure from recipes to talk about my friend Matt’s new e-book, Marathon Roadmap: The Vegetarian Guide To Conquering Your First 26.2.

Unlike most beginning marathoner’s books, this is the first to be written by a vegetarian for vegetarian. Now, I’m not vegetarian(though maybe I should coin No Wheat Athlete…), but I would say I run on plants and am signed up for the National Marathon in March so I was excited to read this when Matt asked me if I’d like to. The more I read, the more I found myself relating to Matt and his first marathon: undertrained, injury-ridden, and stubborn? Check, check, and check. Needless to say, it was helpful to hear the things Matt does differently now training for a marathon to help me run the best I can.

3DCover

In this book, you will find:

How to pick your first marathon. This part I kind of breezed past having already picked mine but it had good advise such as not committing financially until you feel confident you’ll avoid injury along the way(Matt, where were you 6 months ago with this advice?!) and a training plan that I am considering using from here on out.
How to run and train. I thought I knew how to run, but now I’m not sure what I’m doing on the road or if it’s the best I can do. And I’ve never made a distinction between long runs and speed workouts. If you’re a new runner with a time goal, this will be crucial information.
How AND why to be a vegan or vegetarian for your first marathon. Let’s face it: If you’re buying this book this is probably the part that you’re most interested in. Even as a flexitarian, I appreciated how Matt really covered the whole topic from nutrition to recipes to meal planning and performance.
All about the race day. This is one thing I had yet to think about before reading and I have to say as a first time marathoner that I still feel pretty lost. It’s good to have the advice of someone who’s been around the block enough to know what they’re doing on race day and take their tips.

What I took away:

No more goal time. Matt makes a good point that running your first marathon is the goal and that obsessing over a specific pace and potentially burning yourself out is counterproductive. Come race day, I’ll be happy just to finish.

I need a tennis ball. Matt does a great job at showing how to stretch your muscles to prevent and help injuries. I’ve always heard of foam rolling but never have found one, but the amount of stretching you can do with a simple tennis ball is astounding.

There’s so much to do to prepare for race day. I never thought before how much detail and care has to be put in to the actual day of the race. It’s scary, really. At least there’s a checklist here I can print out and cross off when that time comes.

Matt’s e-Book launched yesterday and is available for a discounted price from now until next Monday, the 21st. If you want to read more about it, check out Matt’s post or go ahead and buy it.

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Maple Peanut Butter

Written on February 15, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

I could go broke on peanut butter; I really could. My favorite has to be PB&Co.’s Mighty Maple. If you’ve never had it, it’s love on a spoon. It has just the right amount of peanut and maple flavor, and a smooth-spreading consistency. It also has a heavy price tag at Whole Foods for something that’s mostly peanuts. After making chocolate peanut butter, making my own maple peanut butter seemed like the natural progression. It’s good; it’s not quite as good as Mighty Maple but what is? Not much. Oh, and it’s cheap and easy like a bad Valentine’s Day date. What more could you ask for?

Maple Peanut Butter

Ingredients(Makes about 1 cup):

3/4 cup natural peanut butter OR 6 ounces shelled peanuts
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons maple sugar(or brown sugar)
2 tablespoons coconut oil, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt(omit if your peanut butter is salted)

If you’re starting with whole peanuts, grind them in a food processor for about 10 minutes until they make a smooth, runny peanut butter.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spoon. That’s it. Once it’s all come together, move it to a seal-tight jar for up to 2 weeks without refrigeration.

Like Mighty Maple, it’s smooth, semi-solid at room temperature, and has bits of sugar crystals to chew on in each bite. It didn’t taste quite as much as maple as I’d have hoped, but I bet with maple sugar that wouldn’t be a problem.

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Almond Butter Date Bars

Written on February 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Happy Valentine’s Day! I like a good pun, so making date bars for Valentine’s Day was a no-brainer. Dates are nature’s candy(or is that beets?) and their flavor is as sweet as the sweetest valentine. I’ve also been wanting to make these for a while and being out of cocoa powder seemed like a sign. I love the flavor of almonds in the shortbread crust; if I made these again I’d definitely add nuts on top for a more intense flavor.

Almond Butter Date Bars

Ingredient:

1 cup dates, diced
1/4 brown sugar
3/4 cup water
3/4 almond butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour(I used gluten-free)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
coconut flakes(optional)
chopped nuts(optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To make the filling, combine the dates, brown sugar, and water in a sauce pan. Boil until the water has evaporated and the dates are soft and mushy. Add more water if necessary.

In a separate bowl, combine the almond butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and egg and mix until it makes a coarse and crumbly dough.

Press 2/3rds of the dough into a greased 8×8 baking pan.

Spread on the filling mixture in an even coating.

Sprinkle on the remaining dough in crumbs. Mix in any nuts or coconut if using.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the topping starts to brown.

These were soft and crumbly, and definitely sweet enough with the date filling. The cinnamon added a good earthiness to balance the almond butter. Like I said, if I made these again I’d add coconut and hazelnuts on top. Maybe next Valentine’s Day; nuts are great on Valentine’s Day(I told you I liked puns).

February 13th 138

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Food For Training

Written on February 13, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

Saturday I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning, because I knew I had to at least attempt a long run even after a less-than-stellar week of running. The plan was to shoot for 14 miles and—if I made it—continue marathon training for a week, and if not accept that I should drop down to the half-marathon. Unfortunately(fortunately?), I did make it. It was long; it was hard(TWSS). But somehow I pushed my tired bones along 14 miles in 2:18:17. I can only assume that my stellar diet is to thank.

Every time I workout, whether it’s running or going to the gym—no matter how long—, I need something sweet to get me out the door. It doesn’t matter if it’s 7am or 3pm. And I’m fine without coffee, but without sweets? Keep dreamin’. I recommend double chocolate oh baby bars.

After finishing 14 miles, I stopped and waddled(think John Wayne in a Western only painful and without the chaps) into my home, took a few swigs of water and then went for a sports drink:

Gatorade, soda—it’s all sugar anyway so what’s the difference? Besides, this drink tells me I’m a grown-up whereas the other one only makes me worried I’m going to sweat purple, so this seemed like the better choice.

It didn’t last long.

And then of course there’s the importance of vegetables…

Spinach on one leg and broccoli on the other, because variety is important in your diet. I’ve also learned that small vegetables like peas and corn are good, whereas clunky ones like green beans are not. These are really just a starter until I give in and finally go to take a cold shower, which by the way are as awful as they sound and never get easier no matter how many you do.

And that’s how I would eat differently on a day that I run 14 miles. I would also eat in bed, where I would watch 27 Dresses and do some reading for 8 hours because the thought of walking anywhere is not appealing. Marathoning is the sport of masochists.

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Double Chocolate Oh Baby Bars

Written on February 11, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Now this is a chocolaty recipe for Valentine’s Day.

I’ve been wanting to make Jenna’s Oh Baby Bars(again) for a while now when I remembered the jar of chocolate peanut butter I just made. Oh yes; it was meant to be. These are a layer of firm, sweet chocolate peanut topped with a soft chocolate coating. What more can I say? Give these as a gift on Valentine’s Day along with bigger pants.

Double Chocolate Oh Baby Bars(adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients(makes 16 squares):

3/4 cup chocolate peanut butter
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup melted butter(or Earth Balance)
10oz semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon butter(or Earth Balance)

Mix together the chocolate peanut butter, melted butter, and powdered sugar until it’s a homogenous dough.

Press the mixture into an even layer in an 8×8 baking pan. Don’t worry if there’s some bumps or texture to the top because it won’t be noticeable at the end.

Melt the chocolate and remaining tablespoon of butter and mix until it’s smooth and creamy. Pour the melted chocolate over the dough and spread it into an even layer.

Allow the pan to chill in the refrigerator until it’s firm enough to cut into squares. Serve at room temperature for the best texture.

These are so good that they’re not going to last until Valentine’s Day. I might have eaten those 3 within 3 hours. Don’t judge; you’d do the same. The chocolate flavor is extremely song but there’s no lacking of peanut butter flavor, either. Next time I might add a sprinkling of sea salt to the top to round it off.

Yum.

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