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honeymoon pictures continued

 I realize this has nothing to do with health but humor me...


poisionious caterpillar, Monteverde




Coati or "nose bear," Monteverde



on suspension bridge over cloud forest, monteverde

cloud forest crab, monteverde

humingbird, monteverde

gecko or salamander on ceiling of resturant in La Fortuna

humingbirds, Monteverde

Falls at La Fortuna

Monkeys near Arenal



more monkeys (can you see them?)



obligatory coconut pictures



beach at Rui





Tamarindo



 

Tamarindo



photography query

I had a photo journalism class in college... and a photography project in 4-H that I'm not entirely sure I ever finished. Really, the only things I remember from the later was the "trick photography" section where I learned how to put my friends Jenny and Megan in a jar. (Jar and hand close-up, friend far away in back ground pretending to squirm.) In short, I am no photographer. But I want to take nice pictures of my food for you and I was kind of disappointed with my pictures from Costa Rica. : / Blargh. I probably won't be buying a camera anytime soon, but I want to start drooling. I want my next camera to last me. I want it to take pictures of fast movin' kids and still faces in low light. I'd rather delay the satisfaction of a zoom lens so that I can afford more image quality now in a body that I can build on. It doesn't need to be top of the line, but it needs to produce images that can be cropped and blown-up to an 8x10 for printing. 

Right now, I'm mostly using my iphone. As you can see from my previous post, most of the pictures are kind of blurry. With the phone, I don't have any control over exposure or focal length. I have a little camera that I took to Costa Rica that has some ability to change f-stops, but not very many. It would undoubtedly do a better job on the food shots, and now that I'm getting settled in, I'll start using it. But the controls are so little and the screen so tiny that you can't really gauge the differences between settings until you download the images onto your computer which is no good for vacays.  

My previously mentioned friend Jenny now lives far away and occasionally graces me with b-e-a-utiful pictures of my flower girl and other subjects. (If you're reading this, Jen, more please!) She has really practiced- you can tell. Her pictures have gone from good to wow over the past couple of years. So I asked her, "what kind of camera do you have?"

She responded, "this one, but I suggest a Canon Rebel with 50mm 1.8 lens, because it's cheaper and it takes good pictures." Due to the quick response, I suspect my friend has fielded this question before. It's no wonder she's been asked with pictures like hers. 

Does anyone else have any suggestions? If you upgraded to a fancy shmancy camera, do you feel like it was worth it or are you thinking of selling it on craigslist?

Thai Coconut Curry & Honeymoon

Friends, it's been awhile! Too long. Since our last encounter I've changed my last name and went on a honeymoon to Costa Rica. It was thirteen days and it was lovely. Waterfalls, Howler Monkeys, and Coatis, or "nose bears," were the highlights and a wicked sunburn was the low. 

I couldn't fit the whole waterfall in this shot but there's the hubs  swimming next to it! 

Arenal Volcano... yes, volcano.

Being the longest vacation either of us had ever taken, on day eleven we each confessed that we were ready to go home. Ready to get back to our own bed, anxious to get those thank you cards out, and excited to finally get the house in order . Maybe the last two were just me. I was also ready to get back to cooking. We both were burnt out on too-busy/wedding-prep/vacation food- simple carbs, refined sugars, even pop! gasp!

I've been dreaming of these, my lentil burgers, and maybe another round of cold buckwheat soba noodles. Alas, this past week did not allowed for much cooking. Our tasks to straighten up after the wedding (getting the many something-borrowed items back to the right people, cleaning a very messy home, writing many thank you cards, making a giant goodwill pile out of old muffin pans and the like, taking all the cardboard shipped presents came in to the homeless shelter, etc.) took for-ev-er. All very wonderful problems to have, no?! The hubs had to leave Wednesday morning for work and wasn't back until Monday night, plus I was traveling over the weekend- so it just didn't make sense to go stock the fridge with crisp fruits and veggies that would inevitably wilt before we had a chance to enjoy them.

Thus, we did a lot of take-out. The house is finally starting to look like a home and not a war zone, however, recently there's been much more resturanting than preferred.  The upside is that one of these meals out inspired me to find an at-home-version.

If you haven't been fortunate to become acquainted with much Thai food, please allow me to introduce Panang curry. The true-blue recipe is complex if you don't typically use thai ingredients like dehydrated shrimp, but produces an incredibly delicious result. My version of the recipe will be simplified for us beginner home cooks and give you some whole food benefits.

whole cumin

Turmeric and fresh chillies have immune-boosting power. The brown rice instead of white gives the dish a high fiber count and is rich in selenium, which studies claim reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease and arthritis. Additionally, one cup of brown rice provides 80% of our daily manganese requirements, which helps the body synthesize fats and benefits our nervous and reproductive systems. Coconut milk will give the dish a wonderful cream, without leaving out your lactose intolerant or paleo friends. Further, while coconut oil/milk does have a lot of saturated fats, it is debatable whether that is a bad thing. The saturated fat in coconut oil/milk is plant-based and breaks down in the body somewhat differently than saturated fat from animals. Many researchers claim that this fat may actually lead to an increase of HDL - or good - cholesterol levels. Coconut oil and milk also contain Lauric acid, which may work as an anti-bacterial agent, helping your body fight off unwanted bacteria, such as staph. That being said, some of the research out there causes me to go at coconut oils and milks in moderation. But really, isn't that always the key?

I always order Panang with chicken though it is traditionally made with beef and can be prepared with pork too. It usually comes with a side of white rice and a vegetable. The first time I had it the curry was made with some chicken and tons of green beans. Other times it has been served with steamed broccoli but I much prefer the green beans. Of course the green veggies are going to serve up a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. If you have the beans on the side they stay crisp until making it to table, where, if it's my plate, it will end up mixed into a big bowl of deliciousness. I went ahead and threw mine into the curry sauce to save dirtying up another pot. It's spicy enough that you'll stop eating when you run out of water, but not painful. (Unlike the hub's experience with "authentic thai heat" at noodlehead in Pittsburgh the first night of our honeymoon. A restaurant I highly recommend, btw. I had the Chiang Mai Curry which was some sort of heaven, but a much more complicated dish that I will leave for the professionals at this time... humm when's the next time I'll be in Pittsburgh?)

Not-so-traditional Panang Curry

Adapted from http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/penangcurry.htm
Note: Takes about an hour and a half to prepare and cook. There is a good bit of prep work but then it just simmers on the kitchen stove for a long time. I served mine with brown rice. This makes a pretty big recipe, so use a big pan for the curry!

• 3 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces or small slices. Can substitute other meats, even shirmp.
• Every recipe I researched called for kaffir lime leaves, but they aren't available where I'm from so I substituted bay leaves during the simmer and some lime zest.
• 1 red bell pepper or sweet red pepper, slice.
• 1/2 loose cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped or tore up.

Curry Sauce: 

• 4 Tbsp. tomato paste

• 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped

• 1 thumb-size piece ginger, finely minced

• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 

• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce

• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce (If you don't want to experiment with fish sauce, or if you're allergic, you could try using a few drops of Worcestershire or more soy sauce with an extra squeeze of lime juice.)

• 1 tsp. shrimp paste  I just substituted 2 Tbsps more of fish sauce to save $ and on the ew factor. Additionally some sites recommend avoiding shrimp paste if you are preggo, get heartburn, or are on a reduced salt diet. Shrimp paste is not a health food.

• 1 Tbsp. paprika

• 1 Tbsp. chili powder (I used what I had, smoked paprika and smoked chili powder. If you have regular, use it- the smoked flavor made it taste a little more southwest and less thai.)

• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

• 1/2 tsp. whole cumin

• 1-2 red chili, minced, OR 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper or chili flakes to taste

• 1/2 tsp. turmeric

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg (Fresh nutmeg is stronger, more aromatic than the pre-ground stuff- so use less if you wield a trusty micrograter like moi'.)

• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves

• 1 can good-quality coconut milk

• juice of 1/2 lime

1. Blend all curry sauce ingredients - except the whole cumin seeds - in a vita-mix or food processor. (I forgot to hold my cumin seeds- darn!)
2. Start browning chicken (or your meat of choice) and add in cumin seeds and cook until fragrant  Pour curry sauce into pan before meat is cooked through. 
3. Add in the lime (or lime leaves) mix well 
4. Cover and stir occasionally until chicken is cooked through. In last 3 minutes add peppers to top of curry and cover, do not stir in. Steam green beans (or broccoli or whatever) on the side(or throw into curry 10 minutes before cooking time is finished)
5. Season to taste: add more fish sauce if not salty enough; add more coconut milk or a little yogurt if too spicy; add more lime juice if too salty.
6. Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves and serve with your veggie and brown, whole-grain rice.

Orange Pan-Glazed Tempah

Last week my friend Catie came over to help me with mundane wedding project tasks, God bless her. While cutting burlap and twisting birdseed into tulle wrappers, we started talking about food. She has been trying to avoid overly processed foods too. We started swapping what ingredients we had been experimenting with. I mentioned that the dinner I had prepared I had made a few days earlier, but with tofu and that it was surprisingly better than that night's chicken version.  I also passed on a tip I had learned from a food blog, but had yet to try- freezing tofu before preparing it as that will give it a more meaty texture. My friend stated that she hadn't cooked with tofu much but rather had some success with tempeh."Tempeh!! Oh tell me more!" 

Tempeh was an ingredient I had only heard of and didn't know anything about. My pal explained that Tempeh appealed to her because it was less processed than tofu. Holy crap. Even tofu is 'processed'. I hadn't even thought of that. I figured if it was in the hippie section of the grocery it was not processed. And really, it's not that tofu is all that processed, just more so than tempeh. If my understanding is correct (feel free to correct me in the comments section), tofu is made from soy milk, whereas tempeh skips that step of making soy milk and is pretty much straight up fermented soy beans. Once I got my mitts on some at the local natural foods grocery I discovered that indeed, it is pretty unprocessed. check it. Yes, those grey and black spots are fine and don't indicate any spoilage.  

I found a recipe online and decided I would pair it with some red peppers I had on hand and some quinoa although the inspiration recipe paired it with wheat berries- another ingredient I need to try! (Can I add that to my wedding registry?) The recipe isn't a marinade as I expected, but rather a glaze. The flavors are kind of a mild version of that Chinese dish, orange chicken, which I loooovvveee but haven't had in a long time because it's so processed and sugary. But I wanted to run with that, so I tweaked the recipe to make the flavors a bit stronger. I also sprinkled on some chopped up peanuts for texture and cilantro and red onion for color and to give a stronger flavor. 

    



ginger and mircograter



Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh

Serve with your choice of veggies and/or whole grain. Slightly adapted from 101 cookbooks. 

1 cup OJ. If you squeeze your own takes about 3-4 large oranges.

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine. The original recipe calls for mirin, but I didn't want to buy a jar of something I may never use again.

2 teaspoons molasses (or maple syrup)

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 small garlic cloves

some olive oil

a lime or lemon if you've got it. I cheated and used some of that stuff in the bottle- don't you judge me.

a handful of fresh cilantro (optional)

package of tempeh. The original recipe remarks you can also use extra-firm tofu, though I haven't tried it. 

Juice your oranges into a small bowl and remove any seeds. I won't tell if you use reg. OJ. 

Grate your ginger into bowl and add the soy sauce (or tamari), white wine (or mirin), and your sweetener of choice (maple syrup or molasses). Set aside. You are not marinating anything. 

Cut up your tempeh. I cut mine into small triangles. Fry it in large pan with olive oil for about 5 minutes on each side. 

Pour your OJ mix into the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until sauce reduces to a glaze. (I added red peppers to mine at this point and threw in some red onion slivers in the last minute of cooking. You don't want to really cook red onions or they loose that beautiful color.)You can squeeze some lime on top, sprinkle on some cilantro and peanuts on top for a real ta-da and to make it a little more Thai-like. 

Serves 4, or two with one small leftover side dish for lunch if you have a boy to feed.

Whole Wheat Waffles

When the future hub's roomate recently moved out and I started moving in, there were items left behind. Some of the items were abandoned by roomates of long ago. So when a waffle iron, among other things was found, picture texts were exchanged with a "is this yours?" to the last rommie.  

Joyfully, the waffle iron was one of these items abandoned. Now that I've taken a whack at this dish, I can invite said last inhabitant and let him enjoy the fruits of the newly rediscoved waffle iron too.

I modified this king arthur recipe a good bit as the batter was intially too wet and the waffles too thin. I added wheat germ to the mix which gives it the added benefit of a kick-butt protein. Unfortunately, wheat germ is removed during the refining of whole wheat grains to white flour because otherwise the flour would go rancid quickly. But you can keep wheat germ in your fridge and add it to things like your yogurt, cereal, and waffles. However, I must warn you, perhaps I should have called these "Fart Waffles." Wheat germ definitely gives you gas.

I also substituted molassas for the refined sugar. The fresh orange juice was part of the original recipe and really played off the other ingredients nicely.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour *

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons molasses **

1/3 cup unsalted butter, gently melted

(That's nearly 5 tablespoons if you're like me and just use the little tablespoon ruler on the butter wrapper)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1 large egg

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

notes:

*I used whole wheat pastry flour, but I'm sure you could get away with regular, and certainly white whole wheat flour as that's what the original recipe called for.

** or honey, or maple syrup, but molasses gives the most complex flavor.

1. all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. melt yo butter. Add in milk and continue to cook for another minute.  (here's a little tip: when you microwave butter, put another cup of water in the microwave with it and it will allow you butter to melt more slowly and avoid splattering.)
3. Whisk in egg, orange juice, and vanilla extract until combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't get too over zealous. Some lumps are okay, don't over mix.
5. Heat up yo waffle iron. Preheat da oven to 200 degrees.
6. Let your batter sit for at least 5 minutes to firm up a bit.
7. Add batter to heated waffle iron. (give your iron time to heat up inbetween rounds.) Remove cooked waffle and place on a baking sheet in the oven. I read that stacking causes waffles to become limp due to the steam so I'll do that next time.)
8. Top with berries if you've got it and 100% pure maple syrup. (Or whatever you damn well feel like.)
9. Save leftovers in the fridge and reheat in the toaster.

Leftover Lentil Meatballs

npr

I have a ton of leftover lentils. Last night I made lentils with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and because the future hubs was one of the dinner guests, I made extra. I have learned over the past couple of months that "serves 4-6" really means "serves 2 plus the future hubs," especially if he just got back from playing basketball.  Lentils take some time and I wanted leftovers, so I doubled the recipe. The problem is that I didn't love the outcome. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't one I want to rave over and beg you to try. It’s one of those meals where you realize you’re eating healthy.  I prefer to be a little more sneaky.

So knowing that my lentil burgers were a big hit, I decided to try and morph part of the leftovers into lentil meatballs. I have been itching to try the Cookie and Kate version but given my surplus of Maple Baked Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and hating food waste like a depression era housewife, I decided to take a wack at a recipe re-haul.

They turned out pretty darn good! Even my pup was convinced that they trumped a milk-bone when one dropped to the floor. Last night (and today for lunch) I enjoyed them al la' hoagie. Whole wheat bread with ricotta, spaghetti sauce, lots of meatballs, mozzarella, and parmesan, under the broiler. Pretty darn good. So good I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. Sorry!

I gotta think these would be great in Italian wedding soup, as a pizza topper, with curly pasta and pesto, and of course, on top of good ol' fashioned spaghetti. (All of these suggestions are whole wheat of course!)

And so, if you have some lowly lentils leftover, might I suggest a way to make them more lovely...

Leftover Lentil Meatballs 

adapted from Cookie + Kate, serves 4 as a topping, 2 as the whole meal.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

2 1/2 cups of leftover lentils
You can add in some mushrooms if you have some leftovers (probably no more than 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon dried terragon if you've got it. I made mine without, but they'd probably be better with.
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon soy sauce (you can exclude this if you are on a cleanse

1 medium white onion or a bunch of green onions chopped.
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 or 2 eggs (you can exclude this if you want it to be vegan, but if your lentils are kind of dry (mine were not) they may not bind together very well. I suggest making the meatballs small so they have less chance to break apart)

Instructions

1. In a vita-mix or food processor combine the lentils, (mushrooms), spices, parsley until well combined. If you can prevent them from getting too mashed up, you'll have better texture, but don't stress. It won't affect the taste.

2. If you want to add to the flavor take a few minutes to put your mixture into a skillet on some olive oil. Add in the soy sauce and keep cooking until all your liquid has been absorbed. If you are adding in the eggs for binder, then you'll definitely want to do this and get rid of some excess moisture. 

3. season with salt and pepper and once cool enough to touch, thoroughly mix in whisked eggs. 

4. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400. 

5. I find a cookie scoop works the best to have uniform (even cooking) meatballs, but if you don't have one, use your hands to make little balls, leaving some space around each one. Bake until golden brown. Mine were a little smaller than a golf ball and 30 minutes was perfect for some crunch on the outside and to make sure they weren't mushy on the inside. I knew I was using sauce, so I wasn't worried about them drying out. Bake them for less time, or make bigger meatballs if you want them to retain some moisture. 

natural cookies

I'm getting hitched here in a few weeks and one of the things I'm looking forward to is a homemade cookie bar... that and marrying someone awesome is good too, but you know, cookies.

My future mother-in-law has a gluten intolerance, I have a pal who's paleo, a few vegetarians, and a lactose intolerant. I want everyone to have a little something sweet at the reception but without forcing them to lie crumpled in bed beyond a legitimate hangover. Enter the search for the do-all cookie.

And I've found it. It's refined sugar free, processed oil free, gluten free, and lactose intolerant friendly. It comes by way of the Cookie + Kate blogs and I nearly pee'd my pants when Kate answered my comment. She used my name!  

However, consider yourself warned, it does not stand up well to substitutions.

Do not bother making them if you don't have honest-to-God coconut flour. Do not bother making them if you found coconut flour but ran out of baking soda and seek to substitute the appropriate amount of sub'd leavener by way of baking powder. Maple Syrup seems to do better than honey and if you use coconut oil like me, you'll need to refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before baking.

Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from Cookie + Kate, makes about 40 small cookies.

These naturally sweetened, vegan, gluten-free cookies taste like a cross between the traditional toll-house chocolate chip cookie and girl scout samoas.  While they are not low-cal, they are healthy in that they contain no isolates. Which I think is a better deal. However, they are seriously delicious and you may need to temper yourself! 

I also like that they come together so quickly and that they don't contain any butter or egg to go bad. In Claire-world, that means you can leave the bowl in the fridge for a couple of days and make yourself a fresh cookie or two as you are baking your dinner... and of course there's no need to worry about salmonella, so lick that beater! 

Ingredients

• 1  1/2 cup almond flour (aka almond meal) firmly packed
• 1/2 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut flakes (optional) 
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (Kate suggests fine grain sea)
• dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (you can use the same amount of butter if you don't need these to be vegan)
• 1 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups vegan chocolate chips* 

*This is a huge amount of chocolate for the cookies. You can dial this back if you want and they would still be delicious. I used enjoy life brand and was very satisfied. I don't have any other experience with other brands. The small chips did a great job though. I think if they were more like regular size chocolate chips it would be a good idea to run em through a quick chop- otherwise they are going to be too melty and messy. 

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes in the fridge so the coconut flour can absorb some of the excess moisture and firm up so they won't spread too much in the oven. While resting, preheat oven to 350.
4. Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
5. Bake for about 9 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on the sheet for a bit so they don't fall apart.