Back to the Food

So since I won't be running any time soon, I've been thinking about what this blog will focus on. The past few months have been HALF HALF HALF obsessed, and now that I'm not training, or even running, I'm kind of back to square one with "what will my blog focus on?"

Well luckily, I've had plenty of time lately to make delicious eats.

Yesterday was particularly good.

I started out the day with a trip to whole foods for raspberries so I could make babycakes raspberry scones. Despite intending to only buy raspberries and coconut oil, I instead walked out spending $55. WHOOPS. In my defense, I did buy natural sunscreen because it was on sale and that is an expensive item.  And kombucha was on sale, so I had to stock up (may be going back again later this week for more, haha. obsession).

The raspberry scone recipe was so simple and easy. Just a few basic ingredients, baked for 14 minutes and tada deliciousness.

ingredients! so few! i love it!

batter

ready to bake

YUM!

These were more muffin-like than scone-like, but I still loved them.

Lucky for you all, the recipe is online here.

My day of delicious food further continued with this lunch:

This was a grilled cheese, made with WF australian cheddar (so good!), fuji apple, and tj's honey apple butter.

Step by step now:

one

two

three

and grill on the g. foreman. and tada! 

could not be more delicious

I run for cookies

So in all honesty, part of my running motivation comes from the fact that when I run 4 miles, I justify things like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as an appropriate addition to my daily plates.

This is probably not a good plan overall, but hey, who said I was a good role model?

Last night I baked up a storm with the aforementioned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. This recipe made a TON, which is possibly problematic since they'll sit on my counter tempting me for days (although I did manage to get rid of 2 of the 4 batches, so that's a good start).

I've made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies before and they were pretty disastrous. seriously. epic failure.

these on the other hand are phenomenal. Woo hoo for delicious cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Mel's Kitchen: here


1 cup brown sugar (I mixed half light brown sugar and half dark brown sugar. not sure if this had any impact on the cookies, but like i mentioned before - phenomenal)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour (note: you can sub all-purpose or white whole wheat, or do a mix. I've done it all ways -- these cookies are quite forgiving)
2 3/4 cup oats
~1.5 cups chocolate chips

cream the sugar and the butter (in your fancy kitchenaid, or by hand). add in eggs and vanilla. mix until soft and fluffy. add power, soda, and salt. add flour oats and chocochips. scoop in 2 tbsp. servings onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.

bake for 10-12 minutes (they'll be VERY soft at first, but once they cool they turn perfectly chewy. mine took 12 minutes)

TADA! (I also had to recreate this for you all because I was rushing to get the broomball and didnt have time to snap the final product)

The motivation for cookie making was my fabulous broomball team.

Broomball is a crazy sport played in tennis shoes on half of an ice rink with mini-soccer balls, and sticks with paddles on the end.  sounds ridiculous, i know, but so much fun.

Obligatory youtube video explaining it. (skip to around 3:00 to see the actual game)



also, i actually know people in this video. pretty cool.

Broomball can be pretty vicious though. check out this battle wound:

stick to the thumb right there people.

also check out the green nail polish - hell yeah martian 5k!

More Muffins

So I tried the other muffins again this morning and I REALLY liked them.  They're definitely more healthy/less sweet than the banana muffins, but I really liked them. I must have just been muffin'd out last night.

So I present:

White House Honey Oat Muffins
adapted from the recipe by Spike Mendelsohn

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

2 tsp baking power

1.5 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp corriander 

1/2 cup honey + 2 tbsp 

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup "homemade buttermilk" = 1/2 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk + 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

2 large eggs

mix together all dry ingredients

wisk honey, canola oil, buttermilk, and eggs together in a separate bowl

combine 

pour into muffin cups, 2/3 full

bake at 375* for 18 minutes, or until golden and test stick comes out clean

makes about 12 muffins

Not very sweet at all, but perfect with just a little bit of earth balance buttery spread and some tea in the morning.

just crumbs leftover

Alos, muffins always make me think of muffin films.  Especially The Muffinless.  Love Amy Winfrey!  Don't be muffinless!  

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

So I haven't quite given up on blogging yet, but I have much more admiration everyone who can keep up the consistent daily blogging so much more now!

granted, the new semester just started up, and I'm still trying to fall back into the swing of things, but no excuses (play like a champion)!

Tonight I took a much needed break from studying to bake muffins!

My all time favorite favorite muffin recipe comes from Martha (of course), and has been my standby for a few years now.  Cory LOVES banana muffins, and I sent him these for our first anniversary, and they've been around ever since.

They're decently healthy (hello whole wheat flour!) but of course there's sugar, although next time I make them I should try a little less since bananas are so flavorful to begin (they can mask the spinach taste in green smoothies!)  The sour cream gives these muffins the best texture though -- super moist.  love love love!

So without further ado:

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
adapted from Martha Stewart

4 bananas (mine always start out frozen with no adverse effect.  luckily the kitchenaid can handle anything)
1 cup light brown sugar packed
1/2 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 tsp vanilla (or imitation vanilla if your pure vanilla is currently MIA like mine)

mash 4 bananas
add brown sugar, oil, and egg, mix until smooth
add flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined
add sour cream and vanilla, mix until incorporated
fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for ~25 minutes at 350*F

(and yes, i just wrote that recipe from memory)

I actually made another muffin along with these, but the one I taste tested wasn't my favorite.  I'm all muffin'ed out for now, but I'll try the other kind again in the morning, and then report back.  See this is what I need, accountability to blog.

See you tomorrow!