Lunchtime fun - Freekeh Salad and Hazelnut Butter Cups

Having friends over for lunch is really just an excuse for me to get creative in the kitchen without my wife rolling her eyeballs at me. I can justify: "But we're having guests!" So even though we have a baby, I am still making meal plans that involve 3 days of prep or wait, maybe that's happening because we have a baby!

Anyhow to continue my trend of unusual and interesting grains, one of my friends who knew that a) I love free food and b) I'm a bit of a foodie, bestowed upon me four packages of freekeh. Freekeh instantly reminded me of bulgur, but is actually roasted green wheat. I love both the texture and the nutty flavor. Can't wait to try out some more recipes with it!

Freekeh, roasted squash, and kale salad  - serves 8-10 (who doesn't love leftovers)

1 1/4 c. uncooked Freekeh
1 whole carrot, chopped or diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 bay leaf
1/2- 1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp tarragon
3 c. water


1 delicata or butternut squash, or 2 kabocha squashes, 1/2- 1" chunks, roasted (use 1 1/2 -2 c.)
1 -2 bunches of kale, destemmed and chopped into small pieces, sauteed (1 -2 c. cooked)
1/4- 1/3 c. dried cranberries
1/8 - 1/4 c. chopped parsley
goat cheese
toasted pumpkin seeds

Dressing
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 Tbs lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 Tbs honey
2 garlic cloves minced
salt/pepper

Instructions
1. I prepped the squash and kale the night before - you'll probably need about 35 min - 1 hr to roast the squash (350 degrees F) til tender.
2. Lightly toast the freekeh in a bit of oil, then add the carrot, onion and herbs, sauteeing for 2- 3 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 20 minutes until freekeh is tender. Remove from heat.
3. Toss freekeh with squash, kale, cranberries, and parsley. (I give variations in the vegetable amount because I just eyeballed it until I was happy with the amount and colors of the veggies compared to the freekeh).
4. Make dressing, adjust to taste, and then use about half on the salad. Let sit in fridge, preferably overnight, but at least a couple of hours. Then taste again and use more dressing, salt and pepper as needed. Serve sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and goat cheese.


This recipe also looks gorgeous to try: pomegranate, kale, and squash freekeh salad

Hazelnut butter cups - makes 23-24
Adapted from Scaling Back
One of my friends who tried these started tapping her feet immediately after her first bite - she said you know something tastes amazing when that happens. I love how simple this recipe is and how impressed people are by the effort to make these from scratch. Plus they're just a bit more elegant than Reese's by substituting hazelnuts for peanuts. I'll happily confess that I intend to try these again with almond butter!

Ingredients:
1 cup toasted hazelnuts 
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt (this is important that you use kosher! If you substitute table salt, use much less)
3 Tbs honey
9 oz dark chocolate
1-2 tsp coconut oil

1. Process the hazelnuts, cinnamon and salt in a food processor until nut butter is formed. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in honey. Taste - it should taste a bit salty, a bit sweet, and full of hazelnut flavor.
2. Line mini-muffin tins with muffin cups (I used parchment cups)
3. Melt chocolate and coconut oil together until smooth. Spoon ~ 1 tsp into the bottom of each muffin cup. Use 1 tsp to scoop a ball of hazelnut butter, flatten into a disk, and place into each muffin cup. Spoon another ~ 1tsp of chocolate on top of the hazelnut butter and put in the fridge to chill.
4. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Two delicious meals - quinoa pad thai and vegetarian split pea soup

Last week's cooking experiments were both huge successes in terms of deliciousness, large quantities of leftovers, and healthy eating!

Here's what I have to recommend to you:
Crock pot vegetarian split pea soup - extremely economical, healthy, and fast! I think I spent maybe 20 minutes total prepping the ingredients and then simply setting it to cook in the crockpot was a life saver with a little one demanding so much attention.
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetariancrockpotrecipe/r/crockpotpeasoup.htm

I did make a few substitutions: yellow split peas instead of green, an extra carrot and celery rib, and parsnip instead of potato. The essential ingredient that made this soup a knockout was adding 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke. Incomparable!

I also tried out a quinoa pad thai which was much more effort but totally worth it! I did make quite a few changes so have shown the adapted recipe below. And as always, I just use the vegetable amounts as a guideline and visually compare the vegetable amount to my pile of quinoa and adapt to my personal preference.

Quinoa Pad Thai

Author: Nicole ~ Cooking for Keeps

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 4-5 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 small head of napa cabbage shredded or sliced thinly
• 2 large bell peppers, sliced thinly
• 3-4 large garlic cloves minced
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced thinly and divided
• 4 tablespoons tamarind paste
• 8 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons sirracha
• 2-3 large eggs
• ½ cup chopped peanuts
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• lime wedges
• Salt

Instructions

1. Make sure to have all of your ingredients ready to go.
2. In a small saucepan over a medium low heat, whisk together tamarind, brown sugar, water, sirracha and fish sauce. Heat just until brown sugar is dissolved, set aside. If you have tamarind pulp instead of paste, make sure to remove the seeds and once you heat the ingredients together, blend until smooth in a food processor or blender.
3. In a large skillet or wok heat 1 teaspoon of canola oil over a high heat.
4. Quickly stir-fry garlic, half of green onions, carrots, bell pepper and cabbage, about 1-2 minutes, remove from pan.
5. Heat another teaspoon of oil in pan, add quinoa, stir fry about 1-2 minutes.
6. Add half of sauce.
7. Make a well in the center of the pan and scramble eggs til cooked, then combine with everything and the rest of the sauce.
8. Serve with chopped peanuts, remaining green onion, cilantro and lots of fresh lime.

Things that happen in a year

Oh blog - you have been sorely neglected for 10 months. 10 months where everything changed in my life! Let's see, I began doing course work for an instructor diploma, I took leave from my job to teach two classes (my first time ever doing courses from start to finish) and I had a baby! All very legitimate reasons for not having any time or energy to post on the blog. But now that our little one is almost 5 months old, I am in need of some creative outlets to remind me of the "me" part of myself that is not "mommy me".  mommy me is the baby tracker - for the first 3 months it was how often and how long baby fed. once eating was under control, it switched to how often and how long baby slept. Having a baby has been the most rewarding and challenging experience of my life. Nothing prepares you for a) the pain of labor b) the revelation that all that pain resulted in a beautiful baby c) this beautiful baby is helpless and depends on you for everything d) that you could love and worry so much about one tiny being and oscillate from being overwhelmed with joy and in the depths of despair (mostly due to the sleep deprivation) all in a one hour cycle.

Our little one at almost 5 months!

Also since I am very rationally/analytically minded, how much I need to turn that behaviour off with a baby because so much happens that is inexplicable! I have never been so superstitious as if I can just leave my shirt in the crib, have her on her left side, tip toe out of the room at 15 minutes, make sure the temperature is between 21-22 degrees F, ocean sounds playing at the appropriate level, etc then she will nap for longer than 40 minutes and be a delightfully happy baby when she wakes.

But back to food. Since I am now a full-time stay at home mom, it is incumbent upon me to provide sustenance for my family and even more so for myself to be eating as healthily as possibly (ignoring all the days of stress-eating of donuts, chocolate bars, and coffee......) and be able to make meals that are QUICK. or at least can be prepared and cooked in 40 minute increments as that may be all I have.

One of my current favorites is sushi bowls  (also known as sushi in a jar)! minimal cooking, minimal effort and very easy to prepare in steps. Plus it also seems like arts and crafts when you cut up the nori into strips.
Here is a link to the recipe I use:http://kristaandjess.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/jar-lunch-deconstructed-sushi/

I basically use whatever vegetables I feel like in whatever ratios I desire, but generally carrot, cucumber, radish, bell pepper and avocado are a lovely mix. I fry up some tofu or scrambled egg (in large batches) to add as protein on top, though you could also swap out the rice for quinoa and get a protein in that way.  Top with nori strips and some finely cut up pickled ginger along with some extra rice vinegar or low sodium soy sauce.  Usually I prep enough that we can get 3 days worth of sushi bowls out of it.

The other perk of making these bowls is you could easily just have a fresh veggie and rice bowl without nori and top with some miso gravy (or use the miso gravy with a roast veggie/rice bowl). This is a delicious recipe I have made 3 times in the past month:
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-naam-miso-gravy-is-perfect-for-your-thanksgiving-feast-and-it-s-gluten-free