Happiness

This is how happy we are when we get to eat food together.
Taken at Woodstock's Pizza in Davis, CA. Summer 2009.

Comida de Espana

Croquettes - Fried Cheese (Best Food in Spain)

Rock Fish with Potatoes in Green Sauce

Iberian Meat Skewer with a sauce that was both tangy and spicy

Appetizer

The stop in Spain was over two months ago, so I don't exactly remember the name of the restaurant or of the dishes (lo siento). Anyways, Spanish food isn't known for being the most amazing. I would have to say I agree with the generalization for the most part; these photos are from the best meal I had during my stay in Cadiz.

Product Review: Synergy Kombucha

I've read about the health benefits of kombucha on other blogs and was interested in trying it. It's a sweetened tea that has been fermented. I bought it at Berkeley Bowl for $2.99



The flavor I tried was Raspberry Rush. I like raspberry flavored things, so I thought it would be a good place to start.

All it contains is the fermented tea and raspberry juice.

As you can (kind of) see, it supposedly supports digestion, metabolism, immune system, appetite control, weight control, liver function, body alkalinity, anti-aging, cell integrity, and healthy skin and hair.

My thoughts? It tastes kind of like beer with raspberry flavor. It's bubbly and lightly sweet. I felt good after drinking it, but I can't say if it was because of the drink. Would I buy it again? Yes, I already have. It's refreshing and I hope to get some health benefits from it.

Healthier Oatmeal Cookies

I made these cookies for one of my classes, Education 190. The class is amazing and I love the people in it, so I decided to make cookies for them. I'm always trying to make healthy and delicious foods, and this recipe has never failed me. I doubled the recipe so there would be enough for the 50 people in my class.

Healthier Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients (makes 24 cookies)

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used more, but I love cinnamon!)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter, egg, vanilla, and sugars until creamy (about 1-2 minutes). Stir in oat mixture and chocolate chips until thoroughly combined.
3. Working with 1 tbsp of dough at a time, roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough balls on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart.
4. Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time, until edges are light golden and centers are just set, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating baking sheet front to back halfway through baking (do not over bake).
5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then serve warm, or transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

There are delicious and everyone loved them. The dough is pretty tasty too. :)

       A few weeks back I saw a commercial for a free sample from EAS and I had to investigate. After completing the registration I had a 8 x 11.5 envelope in my mailbox (https://eas.com/Registration). Somewhat ridiculous that they sent such a large envelope with nothing in it except a coupon for the bar. The coupon is good until 2010, which is nice because the bars were not available at the first two stores I went searching (Trader Joe's and Ralphs).  I had luck at CVS, which was selling them for $2.69. But how good was it? For an energy bar, not bad. I still stand by Snicker's Marathon Bars (the chocolate-peanut is divine) for first choice energy bar, but the Myoplex Deluxe was a treat. The manufacturers recommend taking in within 30 minutes of your workout and claim results will be evident. I don't buy into the bs and think that the 30 grams of protein is not really necessary for anyone on the North American diet. The most impressive feature of the bar: the size. Regrettably I did not take a picture that shows the thickness of the bar. It took me about ten minutes to eat with the chewy caramel in it. At any rate, the registration was worth filling out. Taste wise it wasn't a candy bar, but it wasn't as bad as some other bars I've sampled. 

Banana Walnut Oatmeal

I have recently started to LOVE oatmeal, especially how creative I can be with it. This was the best bowl I've ever had.


It contained:

• 1/3 cup of regular oats
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 whole banana: half mixed in while cooking, half sliced on top
• TONS of cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• A sprinkle of vanilla cinnamon coated walnuts from Berkeley Bowl...which they don't have anymore :(

Warm, filling, creamy, and delicious! Way better than any packet of instant stuff.

Valentine's Day

Like I said in my previous post, Eric and I went out to dinner on Friday to avoid the crowded restaurants on Valentine's Day. Instead, I cooked a delicious dinner for the both of us. I made Grilled Spicy Lime Chicken with Black Bean Salad. I got the recipe from this website, but with a few modifications.

Makes 2 large portions (4 servings if you eat like I do)

• 1/6 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1 chipotle chile, roughly chopped, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoons ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with rib meat
• 1 (16-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 ripe avocado, chopped
• Lime wedges for serving

Directions
1. Light grill, or heat grill pan to medium (I used the George Foreman grill). Whisk lime juice, cilantro, oil, chiles and sauce, honey, garlic, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper together in small bowl.
2. Toss chicken with 1/8 cup lime juice mixture in separate large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Marinate chicken in refrigerator while grill (or grill pan) continues to preheat.
3. Toss beans, scallions, red pepper, and avocado with 1/8 cup lime juice mixture in serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Grill chicken over very hot fire (or in grill pan) until well-browned on both sides and cooked through, 8 to 13 minutes. Transfer chicken to serving platter and drizzle with remaining lime juice mixture. Serve immediately with black bean and avocado salad. Top with sliced avocado and sour cream if you like.

I seved this with Alton Brown's Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes.

Makes 4 servings

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 whole canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can of peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Add butter to potatoes and mash with potato masher. Add peppers, sauce, and salt and continue mashing to combine. Serve immediately.

I don't have a steamer basket, sadly, so I just boiled them for 15 minutes. I also did not read the directions carefully enough, and I used almost a whole CAN of the peppers, instead of just ONE pepper from the can. The result: SPICY SPICY sweet potatoes. Eric loved them, I had to top it with sour cream to cool them off. But they were still too spicy and I couldn't finish my portion. Next time I won't add the whole can.

Eric's plate:

I served the chicken on top of the black bean salad, then topped it with sliced avocado and sour cream. We also had pico de gallo chips from Berkeley Bowl on the side. That orange mound is the sweet potato mash. This is half of a chicken breast -- these things were HUGE!

This dish was everything I want in a meal: flavorful, spicy, healthy, and easy to make. Eric helped with the preparation and he did all the clean up. I couldn't ask for a better Valentine. :)

I also made sugar cookies for us, using the heart-shaped cookie cutters his mom gave me for Christmas. This made quite a few cookies, so I gave some to two of my favorite girls at work on Valentine's Day. :) The rest are for Eric and I to eat, yum!

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (I used Earth Balance 50/50 blend sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs (I used 2 egg whites)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
3. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.)
5. Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.
6. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes (depending on size) or until they are brown around the edges. (This did not work for me. Baking them until the edges are golden resulted in a crisp cookie. Baking for 10 minutes resulted in a doughy cookie. 14 minutes worked best for me)
7. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper.

Makes about 36 - 4 inch (10 cm) cookies.

Icing

• 2 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Directions

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

Delicious!

We spent Valentine's Day watching two movies, Revolutionary Road and The International. In the evening we cuddled on the couch watching SNL and eating frozen yogurt. Overall, it was a wonderful day.