Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary Chickpeas and parmesan

I'm constantly baking, but I really do love to cook, too. When we were first married, I'm pretty sure I was the primary chef, but when Jordan discovered Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, followed quickly by a Thomas Keller obsession, and now charcuterie, he pretty much assigned me sous chef status which is fine by me, so long as he doesn't steal my baking princess crown. 

I love how flexible cooking is compared to baking, the way colors blend together in a big pot, and the way your house smells (sometimes I'll even step outside and come back in so I can re-smell my food- is that weird?). I hate all the dishes I'm left with, the ridiculous amount of time a good meal can take to pull off, the flecks of parsley that stick to my counter and don't see for a week and by then it's crusty and impossible to remove, the concept of mise en place because organization and planning make my head hurt, the multiple trips to various grocery stores because Trader Joe's doesn't have everything, and then there's the fact that my kids will rarely touch what I make. My favorite is that Georgia will actually point to food we've made and say "Eeeew, That's disgusting"- charming little button, isn't she?

But that didn't stop me from making a delicious vegetarian dinner the other night. Jordan was working late and I was craving something fantastic but it also had to be super easy. Not a problem here, because I hit the jackpot that day and found a fantastic blog @ afarmerinthedell.com.  Not only is Andrea adorable- and her dog, too- but her recipes all look so good, and the pictures are healthy food porn. You know, the kind of food porn you don't feel guilty about (unlike those Slutty Brownies I'm dying to make from Pinterest- c'mon, you know the ones I'm talking about, with an Oreo cookie layer sandwiched between a layer of chocolate chip cookies and brownies). I want to try all of her recipes, but I commenced with her sweet potatoes with rosemary chickpeas because I had all the ingredients on hand, it was *pretty* much in adherence with my 28togreat "clean eating" I am trying to do this month, and I'm all for Meatless Mondays, or Wednesdays. Another reason to check out her blog is that she and her husband moved to Oregon from the East coast to become farmers which is so romantic and gutsy! Threaded between her recipes are awesome little farming (mis-)adventure stories that make you crave a simpler life. 

I followed her recipe except I added a tablespoon or so of kalamata olives into the bean mix for some punch and a pinch of fresh thyme. I also nuked the potato in the microwave instead of the oven method. Works like a charm and shaved off 40 minutes.  I served it with a side of sautéed green beans and leftover asparagus/mushrooms. Since I only made one potato, I used the leftover chickpeas in my salad for lunch the next day. That's my sign that this dinner will be added to my quick-and-clean, as opposed to quick-and-dirty, dinner rotation. Let me know if you like this recipe. Do you think it's missing anything?

Rosemary Parmesan Chickpea Sweet Potatoes (serves 2)

*adapted from afarmerinthedell.com

2 sweet potatoes

3/4 cup cooked chickpeas

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbs finely grated parmesan cheese

1 tbs minced fresh rosemary

pinch of fresh thyme

2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Kalamata olives, sliced in half, optional 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub your sweet potatoes. With a fork poke a few holes in your taters. Place in the oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (or until potatoes are tender. Depending on the size of your taters this will take longer or shorter than my recommended time)

Meanwhile, saute your garlic over medium heat in a little olive oil in skillet. After about 2 minutes add the chickpeas. Cook until chickpeas are slightly crispy. Then add the rosemary, thyme, and olives (if using). Cook for a minute or two longer. 

Remove your potatoes from the oven. Slice the potatoes lengthwise and squish the ends together to open. Stuff them with the chickpeas and garlic. Drizzle with remaining olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Primal Fudge -healthy homemade candy?

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Pinterest for Primal fudge - which basically means that if you are following a Paleo diet, you can eat this chocolate crack. It has no dairy, no refined sweeteners, and the fat source is coconut oil and nut butter, which are overall healthier for you than the usual butter/whipping cream combo found in traditional fudge.

Can I nerd-out for a minute?

Coconut oil is a saturated fat, just like butter. However, the primary buzz-worthy difference between the two is that coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides (MCT). So, you ask? Well, the MCT found in coconut oil (lauric acid) has been found to raise HDL levels, the good cholesterol, which is the good news. The bad news is that it also raises your LDL levels (just like butter) = so it's slightly better for you than butter but still not great for your arteries. All the other claimed health benefits are just that at this point, so treat coconut oil as you would any saturated fat, and make sure it's less than 10% of your calorie intake. I've heard coconut oil can improve Alzheimer's symptoms, improve metabolism, prevent cancer and heart disease (the list goes on) - but until good research can confirm these findings, I'd use it sparingly and focus on liquid fats, like olive oil and canola oil. That said, I fully endorse keeping some in your cupboard as a butter replacer - it can make some mean cookies and stir-frys.  As for the nuts, I think most people feel pretty confident saying that nuts are super healthy for you- they contain "good" fats but if eaten in large quantities, will make you fat! Thats's because they are not a low-calorie food, but still an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and fiber. I eat a ton of nuts, and feel very little guilt about that. Since I'm already on my soapbox, I will also comment that I do in fact feel that unrefined sugars are a smarter way to go. I know many RD's will disagree and site the fact that sugars are all metabolized virtually the same way, so a teaspoon of sugar is the same as a teaspoon of honey once it hits your mouth (and hips). But what about the antibacterial/antifungal and antioxidant properties that have been found in honey? Or the vitamins and fiber found in dates? Not to mention the legitimate desire of many of us to seek out foods found in their natural state rather than fresh from the factory. In a world that has preserved, pre-packaged, pre-cooked, sterilized, and refined EVERYTHING, there are a growing number of us who crave food in its original, pure form without added junk. Some of us don't care if the shelf-life of our bread is 5 days rather than 3 weeks. In fact, some of us are no-joke, flat-out scared by Wonder bread, because bread was never meant to last that long on the shelf (of course Hostess completely disagrees with me on this, I'm sure). I think the potential health benefits of the unrefined sugars are worth further exploration in research and definitely a smart consideration if you are adding sugar to a recipe. And I'm off my soapbox for now.

OK, back to the recipe. It is super simple to put together. The hardest part is waiting the 10 minutes for them to harden in the freezer. As a side note, these are best eaten right out of the freezer or refrigerator, as they tend to melt fairly quickly. Not great for traveling but who needs to travel with fudge??

PRIMAL FUDGE

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup smooth nut butter of choice (I used a peanut/almond butter combo-salted)
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder (I love Trader Joe's brand)
1/4-1/3 cup honey (agave also works)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Over low heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the nut butter, vanilla, and honey. Whisk vigorously until combined. Finish by adding the cocoa powder and beating well. Pour into paper cupcake liners and freeze for at least 10 minutes before devouring. Store in airtight container in freezer or fridge.

Alternatively, you can melt coconut oil and blend all ingredients in your VitaMix or Cuisinart.

Time flies and Buffalo dip

How funny that today I decided I needed to get back to my blog, and it's been almost one year to the day since my last post. Life got a little crazy - but a lot of good things happened. I finished my dietetic internship, moved to a cute little town, got pregnant with baby #4, and just passed my RD exam! My oldest nugget started Kindergarten and that in itself blows my mind. As for food, since I last blogged I've gone to the vegan dark side and now back. Although some of my favorite recipes (soon to be shared) are from my vegan era - I don't know how I could live without my Date cookie balls or peanut butter protein bars.  There have also been some serious vegan fails: tofu chocolate pudding comes to mind. During the winter months I've busted out my crock pot much more than usual and will eventually share my version of Taco soup. Now that we're over the vegan-thing, we have been trying to eat cleaner (aside from my baking experiments), less packaged crap, and buy local foods- both good things, right?  Jordan has also gotten into charcuterie - making his own bacon and prosciutto using an old refrigerator he converted into his "curing chamber" in the garage (I don't look in there, I'm seriously afraid).  So that's the Kahn foodie update since I last blogged.

Moving along - today I want to share a recipe that was given to me by my aunt, an incredible cook. Never has she passed along a less than superb recipe. Her recipe for buffalo chicken dip will blow your mind. Here's the truth - I've never been a fan of buffalo-anything before. But then I got pregnant and this caused some sick chemical disturbance where I could, as the slogan goes, "put that sh*! on everything". And I do. Anyway, back to the recipe. The original calls for an entire STICK of butter. I gave it a shot with about 2 healthy Tbsp and think it was perfect but feel free to experiment with that one if you are brave enough; I also added jalapeños and blue cheese to the recipe and think its even better than I remember (sorry, Robin). I have only made this once but I can assure you it will turn out delish for you, too.

I made it for Superbowl and despite every horizontal surface being covered with dips and snacks galore, this dip was devoured. I don't really have a good picture (quite honestly this dip isn't going to win any beauty awards), just the one of my cute husband digging in - you can even put this sh*! on pulled pork sliders! Get ready, people. You are in for a bit of buffalo paradise.

Chicken Buffalo Dip adapted from Robin Snider's recipe

INGREDIENTS:
2 chicken breasts cooked, diced (I used almost an entire package of pre-cooked chicken breast pieces from Trader Joe's)
2-3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup (or slightly more) of Frank's buffalo sauce
~2 Tbsp diced jalapeño

1/2 cup diced celery 
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
~1/2 cup blue cheese

Pita chips, celery sticks 

PREP:
Preheat oven to 325. Melt butter in pan and add diced chicken to coat, followed by buffalo sauce and jalapeños. Remove from heat. Spread cream cheese on the bottom of an 8x8 pan or small casserole dish. Top with chicken mixture, then sprinkle with celery.  Finish by topping with shredded cheese and blue cheese. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve warm with pita chips and celery sticks. BAM.

*i've also made this by mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl, and baking as directed. Turns out great! 
* recipe can be assembled the night before

Waffles, i love you

Saturday mornings are a special day at our house. It's always a great morning since we all get to have breakfast together and we have the time to actually cook something worthy of, well, Saturday morning. My sons ask for one of two things on this day - pancakes or waffles. So long as there is syrup involved, I think they would be happy. Yesterday, I got up a little early and decided it had been too long since I made my favorite waffle recipe. It's actually pretty basic but needs about 30 minutes to rest so a little patience and bribery may be required along the way.

I think most wafffle recipes fall into 2 categories: 1) not good 2) too time consuming. I said, most recipes, people! I know, there are a lot of great recipes out there, but there are also a lot of recipes that call for letting the batter rest overnight ( I'm talking to you, yeast waffle) or requiring beaten egg whites to be folded in. I love the idea of beaten egg whites but that extra step just irks me - there has to be a recipe out there that is really good without the hassle of separating eggs, beating egg whites, then folding them in just right. Then there are the easy buttermilk waffle recipes that come out tasting blah and soggy. For me, a waffle must be crisp to withstand the gallon of syrup I'm about to drench it with and must have a hint of vanilla flavor without overwhelming. They can't be too dense, either. That is critical. Several years ago, in my search to replicate my Dad's awesome waffle recipe (he uses Bisquick, egg whites, and soda water), I found this recipe on Food Network. The title made me nervous since it sounded too good to be true- Waffles of Insane Greatness. But they didn't disappoint and this recipe got tucked carefully away in my recipe file with an "A+" at the top. I've made them exactly according to the recipe for years ( although I double it for the 5 of us), but yesterday I decided to use white whole wheat flour to lessen the guilt. I can report to you that they were *almost* just as good as using white flour, which is so awesome when a recipe can handle that alteration since adding the whole wheat increases the protein content which can really affect the texture of the final product. Oh, and they freeze great, too. Can it be Saturday yet?

Waffle of Insane Greatness

Recipe courtesy Aretha Frankensteins

Prep Time:

5 min

Inactive Prep Time:

30 min

Cook Time:

15 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

4 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Butter and syrup, for serving

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Add the milk,vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat a waffle iron. Do not use non-stick spray on the waffle iron; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Goat cheese, spinach and shrimp Quiche

I needed to bake today- after all, I'm 2 days away from being enslaved. But if I baked another cookie this week I was going to die of boredom. Plus, I needed a dinner game plan. What to make, what to bake? It came to me like a hallelujah moment- quiche!! I adore quiche, I was thinking. Does Jordan? Who cares! Its time to get working on what to put in my quiche. I knew I had limited items on deck, so I focused on recipes with goat cheese and spinach. I also referenced my Cooks Illustrated cookbook. What I came up with is my own recipe, that although decent, needs some work. Partly because I think I over-loaded the veggies and partly because there wasn't enough shrimp fanstastique. Here is my recipe. If you ever have time to tweak it, please let me know how I can make it better. Quiche is worth doing right :)

Goat cheese, spinach and shrimp Quiche

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 C milk (whole)
1/4 C cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
dash of nutmeg
1/4 C shaved parmesan

1/2 bag of frozen spinach, thawed, drained
2 large green onions, diced
1/2 yellow onion, small dice
1 Tbsp olive oil

8 shrimp, peppered and lightly salted
1 cooked, roasted gold potato (chilled, preferably), small dice
dashes of chili flakes

3 oz goat cheese, chopped into bits

Pie crust, pre-baked

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute shrimp in olive oil for several minutes until pink- season with cracked pepper and salt. Remove from heat and roughly chop. Set aside.

Saute the onions with olive oil for about 5-10 minutes over medium high hight, until very soft and somewhat browned. Add the spinach and sauté for another 5 minutes. Then add the chill flakes. Add the potatoes and shrimp for a quick stir. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, mix the egg and egg yolk with the milk and cream, salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Add the parmesan. Then add the spinach mixture to the eggs. Lastly, gently stir in the goat cheese. Pour all of mixture into a pre-baked pie shell (I will share my recipe later but a pate brisee is what you want) and bake for about 30-35 minutes until set like gelatin.

This recipe is decent, but needs some work from a quiche expert. Advice welcome. Thanks!

Peanut butter cookies

I've made lots of different types of PB cookies - ones with whole wheat flour, ones with no flour, ones with creamy and chunky PB, ones with chocolate chips, ones with honey, ones with shortening... you get the idea. And I'm sure somewhere along the way I made some really fine cookies, but I am also organizationally challenged to put it kindly. So that perfect recipe is long gone. And since this week has (not) accidentally turned into cookie-baking week, I needed to add some variety and thought, PB cookies would be perfect.

There was a PB cookie recipe I was dying to try from Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, My Father's Daughter, which got high marks on Epicurious.com.  I don't normally have much interest in celebrity cookbooks, but since I know her to be a true foodie and a sorta-friend to Jamie Oliver, plus hearing great things about her cookbook, I decided I needed to give her recipe a try. I was especially excited since it was based on her grandmother's recipe, which is sweet and reminds me of my grandma, etc, etc.

The only variations from the recipe were that I used all dark brown sugar and crunchy peanut butter, since those are my preferences. Everything else I did as suggested. These cookies are really, really good. Thank you, Gywneth!! They are perfect, I think. Thick, chewy and just the perfect PB flavor and I loved the throw-in of PB chips. I haven't done that in ages, and that puts them over-the-top. I can't wait for Jordan to try them tonight! He will definitely be honest - but I don't think he will find much to complain about with these bad boys. I'm adding this to my collection of classic, keeper, make-again recipes. You should, too.

Grandad Danner's PB cookies

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 organic large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugars. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour in thirds and stir until smooth. Fold in the peanut butter chips. Roll the mixture into golf ball–sized balls (about 1 1/2 tablespoons). At this point you can roll them in granulated sugar or you can press each cookie down with the tines of a fork. Either way, bake for 10 minutes, in a nonstick baking pan, rotating the pan halfway through baking time. Cool the cookies on a rack before serving.

Will I ever bake again....I mean between now and Sunday?

I am starting to get nervous that next week when I start my internship, I will never, gasp, be able to bake again. That's so dramatic, and so me. With all my fears I keep trying to pick what I will bake next- my big finale- but I am so consumed by its need for perfection that I can't decide what to make.  So I am just wasting time basically. Grrrreat, Katie.

I saw some goat cheese green onion scones that looked pretty incredible especially pared with a soup which would be so nice on a rainy night like tonight. But oh no. Didn't make em. In fact, I made nothing. I microwaved our dinner, how pathetic and paralyzed is that? Well, tomorrow is a new chance for me to take advantage of my dwindling days of freedom. I'm in the mood to bake something celebratory. Any ideas? I was thinking  Boston Cream Pie like my grandmother used to make or maybe a rich chocolate layer cake. Let me know if you have any amazing dessert recipes.

XO