Cannellini and Kale Soup

Posted on January 20, 2013 by

Sooooooo. I have some exciting news.

After a months-long search, my friend Debbe and I are finally moving to Brooklyn!! Can’t believe it’s really happening, but as of February 1st I’ll be a resident of my favorite borough. YAY.

Only downside to moving is, well, paying rent. I’ve been preparing my wallet for a while now and have found that soups, stews, chilis, etc. are a SOUP-er budget-friendly way to eat great food throughout the week, and still afford to eat out on the weekends.

This is my latest recipe, and I liked it so much as my lunch last week I thought I’d share! Sunday is a perfect day to make one-pot dishes to take to work for the week, so run to your local grocery store and get cookin’.

Cannellini and Kale Soup

Makes four servings

32oz container vegetable stock

16oz jar tomato sauce (trust me on this one!)

2-13oz cans cannellini beans

1 yellow onion, diced

1 shallot, minced

4 celery stalks, diced

2 parsnips, peeled and diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 bunch curly kale, roughly chopped

Sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Add onion and shallot to a pot on high heat. Drop the heat to medium after a minute or so and add some vegetable stock to the pot to deglaze. Add in the celery, carrots and parsnips and let sit for 10 minutes, or until the carrots become soft. Pour in the tomato sauce, cannellini beans and remaining vegetable stock, and stir. After 20 minutes, add in the kale, salt and pepper, and serve once the kale has wilted.

KaleandCanelliniSoup

I doled this out into glass containers for easy grabbing on my way out the door, and popped ‘em in the microwave at work. Enjoy!

-M

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Baklava

Posted on December 30, 2012 by

Melissa in Greek means honey bee. Because of this, I’ve always thought bees were pretty cool. They’re super loyal, pollinate plants, and give us honey.

I take my tea with honey, stir it into oatmeal, and down spoonfuls of local honey during allergy season. The Jewish side of my family believes eating honey brings sweetness, and my Greek side just believes in it.

I was lucky enough to eat baklava in Israel a few years ago, and eat it often at our favorite Greek restaurant. This year I decided to make it myself for Christmas using this recipe. Don’t be intimidated! The trick is to keep a moist paper towel on hand so the phyllo doesn’t tear, and if it does, just mend with some melted butter.

Baklava

Wishing you only sweetness in 2013.

-M

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If the world ends tomorrow…

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

At least I drank this awesome booze.

PrimaNYC

(and lots of other cool booze).

Got a piggy back ride from a cowboy in Austin.

And New York pizza from New York boys in NYC.

Ate the greatest dairy-free-but-tastes-like-dairy ice cream of all time.

photo (19)

Discovered the compost cookie and killer ice cream sandwiches and stupid delicious grilled cheese…not dairy-free.

Saw 12 apartments in 3 weeks. Stand by.

And stuffed my face with meatballs over braised swiss chard and black eyed peas today.

MeatballShop

The world’s not gonna end tomorrow. Too much to do, hands to hold, races to run, cookies to bake.

-M

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Cappuccino Biscotti with Almonds

Posted on December 6, 2012 by

Driving home from work the other day I got an insane craving for an apple. Mind you, I literally work inside of a grocery store, so why I didn’t just get an apple at work is beyond me (honey crisps are my favorite!). Anyway, I’m a believer in signs. The craving didn’t hit until I was far enough from the store not to turn around, leading me to take a quick right into a small parking lot.

I walked into an Italian market called Ceriello and saw this:

photo (16)

I picked up olives and bread and biscotti and alllmost forgot about the whole apple thing ’til I saw a bin near the register. Didn’t matter. The sign was for me to eat cappuccino biscotti and recreate it for this little blog.

Directions, just like with my Orange-Thyme Biscotti, are pulled from this recipe.

Cappuccino Biscotti with Almonds

Yields about 18 biscotti

2 cups flour

1/4 cup instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup agave nectar

2 eggs

1/2 cup Earth Balance

1/4 cup roughly chopped whole almonds

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, espresso powder, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Whisk the agave nectar, Earth Balance, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl, then using an electric mixer, combine the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped almonds.

Halve the dough and turn both portions onto the baking sheet. Using floured hands, quickly shape each portion of the dough into a loaf. Place the loaves about 3 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake until golden and just beginning to crack, about 35 minutes, turning sheet around halfway through baking. Remove from oven, transfer loaves to cutting board using large spatula, and turn oven down to 325.

Cut loaves into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Distribute about 1/2 an inch apart on the baking sheet (you may need an extra sheet this time around) and return to the oven. Bake until golden all over, about 10 minutes, turning cookies over halfway through. Cool on a wire rack.

Cappuccino Biscotti

Share with friends. Take a bite. Even better when dunked into coffee (or, a cappuccino).

Biscotti keeps really well, making this a perfect winter holiday gift.

-M

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Carrot-Walnut Breakfast Muffins

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

I wake up every morning with the best intentions. In a perfect world, I’d start my day with a smoothie. Kale + strawberry + banana is my fav. In the real world, I wake up 15 minutes late, remember I’ve got a quarter tank of gas left in my car and haphazardly put on mascara while pulling on my jeans. A smoothie doesn’t really fit all up in there. I usually drink ‘em for dessert.

Breakfast on the go is my best bet and muffins are super portable. Packed with nuts and other good stuff, these make for a quick breakfast. They’re also vegan and gluten free for my allergen-conscious friends. Oh, and don’t be fooled by the serving size; I eat two at a time with a slather of nut butter.

Measurements are based on this recipe from Eat, Live, Run.

Carrot-Walnut Breakfast Muffins

Yeilds 12 muffins

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup agave nectar

8 tablespoons Earth Balance (or other non-dairy spread)

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 cup grated carrot

1 brown banana, mashed

1/4 cup almond milk, plus 1/4 cup for the chia ‘egg’

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk together the chia seeds and reserved almond milk in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and oats. In a separate bowl with the mixer on medium, combine the Earth Balance, agave nectar, vanilla extract and remaining almond milk. Fold in the chia ‘egg,’ then add the dry ingredients, plus grated carrot, banana, walnuts, raisins and sunflower seeds.

Divide between 12 muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

These are really dense and not sweet! Add more agave or some sugar to sweeten and sub an egg for the chia for fluff. Maybe one-a these days I’ll get my act together and eat breakfast at a table like a person.

Probably won’t happen. Muffins rule.

-M

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An Ode to Shake Shack

Posted on September 26, 2012 by

Alright. Let’s talk about Shake Shack. Are you over it? Are you digging it? If it’s the former, lemme entertain you for a hot sec.

Shake Shack is delicious. The lines are long for a reason. Small menu done really well, featuring quality ingredients and idiosyncrasies at each location. Plus they’ve got frozen custard, which they use to make concretes with mix-ins like fried Belgian waffles. And caramelized cocoa nibs. So when my family decided to go to New Haven and left me up to the eats, Shake Shack’s brand new Have location was my first pick.

We went to Yale this weekend to visit my little bro, Blake. He goes to Yale for school, not for dog-walking or, like, frisbee-ing. You can read about him here, here, and here. (If cell biology gets you goin’, you can read his research here). He has a poster of Einstein in his dorm room; I had doughnuts.

After a day of walking around, I couldn’t wait to check out the new spot (tables are made from recycled Brooklyn bowling lanes!) and grab a bite (‘Shroom burger and fries!).

I was miraculously still hungover dehydrated from the night before, and this was everything I needed. I’ve never been on a Sunday morning, but I bet the line at the flagship wraps around Madison Square Park more than usual.

My mom’s review of Shake Shack: “It’s a burger.”

There you go.

-M

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PB&J Thumbprint Cookies

Posted on September 17, 2012 by

I love thumbprint cookies. There’s a health food store near my house that bakes them with a spelt flour base and the most delicious raspberry jam in the middle. So good. They list the ingredients on the label, but since I’ve been buying these cookies since I was 16 I feel like trying to recreate them would be downright unfair.

But I figured, if I used totally different ingredients me and that little store would still be cool (not that they’d know, right?). I had an excess of oats and soon-to-be expired jar of peanut butter on my hands so I put ‘em together and made some cute cookies. These also happen to be vegan and gluten free…and a totally acceptable breakfast.

I based this recipes on these (which look pretty darn good).

PB&J Thumbprint Cookies

Yields 2 dozen cookies

2 cups oats

1/4 cup brown rice flour

2 tablespoons ground flax

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberry jam (or whatever you’ve got on hand), for finishing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients (oats, brown rice flour, flax and baking powder) in a large bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients– except for the jam– until fully incorporated. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Making a thumbprint in each using your thumb, and fill with a teaspoon or so of jam.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, cool (or if you’re totally impatient like me, eat immediately) and enjoy with a tall glass of almond milk.

Or a milkshake. Whatever.

-M

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