October 02, 2018

Chocolate hummus

October 02, 2018/ Rebecca Davis

I struggled with calling this recipe “hummus.” The only thing it has in common with actual hummus is chickpeas, but I wanted it to be clear that this spread is the same stuff you buy in the grocery store.

Even though it’s not really hummus, this spread is REALLY good. It’s a little sweet and very chocolate-y.

I started making my own chocolate hummus after being introduced to this magical concoction (seriously, how did I not know that chocolate hummus existed until about 2 months ago?) at my book club.

A couple of notes:
- Soak 4 dates, though you may not need them all. This dip tends to get sweeter as it sits in the fridge, so be careful about adding all four dates up front.
- If the dip doesn’t taste sweet enough after two dates, try adding another pinch of salt. The salt really brings out the sweetness and the chocolate, so you may not need additional sweetener.

Chocolate hummus

Time: about 20 minutes, all active
Yield:1.5 cups or about 14.5 ounces

1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained |
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ cup maple syrup
2-4 dates, soaked in boiling water for 5-10 minutes
¼ tsp salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp vanilla extract

Boil some water and pour over 4 dates. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, thoroughly rinse your chickpeas and dry them lightly with a dishtowel or paper towel. Add to a food processor.

Measure the other ingredients and add to the food processor. When the dates are soft, add 3 to the other ingredients and blend until very smooth, about 3-4 minutes.

Serve or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

August 01, 2018

Creamy tomato and white bean pasta

August 01, 2018/ Rebecca Davis

TOMATO SEASON IS HERE!!!!!!! I looooooove tomatoes. Love. And so does M (though he mysteriously won't eat them in his lunchbox anymore).

M does not always love beans though. He eats them, but they aren't on the top of his list.

As anyone who's read this blog knows, I have a relationship with healthy eating. Like all relationships, it takes work and there are lots of struggles. But any article titled, "The Last Conversation You'll Ever Need To Have About Eating Right," I am 100% going to read. I mean, I'm not going to stop having conversations about eating right, but I liked the article and one of my main takeaways was: Beans are good. Full stop. So, we're eating more beans, which is sometimes a struggle with a toddler.

These beans are not the healthiest things I've ever eaten. But a little bit of cream and Parmesan go a long way. A boat load of tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt, and fresh thyme also do some heavy lifting to form a dish that is hearty and tasty and takes advantage of the best summer produce.

But the secret ingredient here is patience. Reducing the sauce to a syrupy, caramely sauce gives you maximum tomato flavor.

And then your toddler will eat beans.

Creamy tomato and white bean pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil
½ large white onion, minced
5 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds cherry or other heirloom tomatoes (or a mixture of both)
1 can white beans
2 Tbsp heavy cream
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup pasta, cooked
¼- ½ tsp salt (more to taste)
pepper
Thyme (2 tsp fresh or 1/2 tsp dried, or to taste)

In a medium pot, bring well- salted water to a boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

While the water is coming to a boil, mince the onions and garlic. Over medium-low heat, saute the onions for 4-5 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute, or until fragrant.

Chop the tomatoes and add them to the onions and garlic. Turn the flame up to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 minutes, or until the tomatoes release their water and begin to boil.

The liquid should be at a consistent and vigorous boil. If it isn’t, turn the heat up slightly until the liquid begins to boil. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the tomato liquid has reduced by more than half and become syrupy, about another 8-10 minutes.

Add the heavy cream and parmesan cheese and stir to combine. Continue simmering for 4-5 more minutes, stirring regularly, until the sauce thickens. (You should be able to scrape the bottom of the pan and the sauce doesn’t ooze back right away.)

Add the beans and pasta to the sauce and stir to combine. Cook for one more minute to heat the beans and the pasta through.

Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme.

Yield: 4 servings (one heaping cup each)

February 06, 2018

Raspberry buckle

February 06, 2018/ Rebecca Davis

This lightly sweet cake features spelt flour and just enough brown sugar to make this one-bowl, low-stress “dessert” a totally appropriate breakfast or snack!

Take me to the recipe!

Let's talk about the idea of healthifying desserts, shall we? Because I'm not totally sold on this strategy even though I keep doing it. Part of me thinks that boosting nutrition and finding balance (you can eat coffee cake, just make it a spelt coffee cake with less sugar, less gluten, and more protein!) is always good. But alternatively, might I actually indulge less if I just ate a small amount of the high fat, high sugar baked thing instead of trying to make spelt happen? Am I just kidding myself that a whole grain, barely sweet version is going to cut it when my real craving is for the doughy, crumbly, buttery, brown sugary coffee cake of my summer-on-the-jersey-shore dreams?

Ugh. If only there was one straightforward strategy that would always work.

I guess a wiser person than me would just accept that what we need from day to day or hour to hour can change. But I like predictability and this isn't cutting it.

But, for now, we have an ever-so-slightly healthified raspberry buckle that is legitimately delicious on its own merits. I started with a recipe from King Arthur Flour and swapped out spelt flour for most of the white flour and reduced the amount of overall sugar.

I mostly left the crumble topping alone. I always want the first bite to pack more of a punch, which masks some of the healthier swaps later.

I've made this cake without fruit which produces a straightforward coffee cake that's light and airy and not too sweet. I've also swapped coconut sugar for the brown sugar in the actual cake and it's good, but not great. The texture and bake time are the same, but I could really taste the coconut sugar and didn't love it.

This recipe also works best in a 9x9 pan. If you only have an 8x8, reduce the amount of batter in the pan by about 1/2 cup and either bake the extra in a ramekin or toss it. Or, if you have a deeper 8x8 pan (one with higher sides), you can bake the whole recipe, but may need a few extra minutes at the end.

Raspberry buckle

Time: About an hour (20 minutes of prep, 40 minutes of baking)
Yield: 8-10 large servings

For the streusel topping:
4 Tbsp butter, melted
3 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp white sugar
½ cup AP flour
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt

For the cake:
2 Tbsp butter, melted slightly
100 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar, packed
4 oz (½ cup) milk (I use whole, but any will do)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g (½ cup) apple sauce
175 g (1½ cups) spelt flour
60 g (½ cup) AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (do not defrost)

Preheat oven to 375.

Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, melt 4 Tbsp of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Cut up the butter and add the rest of the streussel topping ingredients. Mix with a fork until the mixture is fully combined and the texture of wet sand. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, melt the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter for 20 seconds in the microwave. Add the sugar and stir to combine.

Measure the milk, add the egg to the measuring cup, and whisk lightly. Add to the sugar and butter mixture and stir well to combine.

Add the vanilla and apple sauce and stir again.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until no streaks of flour remain.

Gently fold in the raspberries.

Pour the batter into a greased 9x9 pan and top with the streussel mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

January 01, 2018

Mujadara soup

January 01, 2018/ Rebecca Davis

Well, we closed out 2017 with a bang. And by "bang," I mean, trip to the emergency room. Someone had horrible stomach pains that looked like appendicitis or a hernia because someone has been holding it rather than going in the potty. I was like, "Ethan, come on. You're an adult. just poop in the damned potty." So, I was more than glad to welcome 2018 this morning. (Did we think for one second I was making it to midnight last night? That's hilarious.)

In honor of a more auspicious start to this year, I'm posting a lentil soup recipe that combines two of my favorite mujadara recipes from Deborah Madison and Madhur Jaffrey. (I've also seen it spelled moudjendra or muhjadarrah.) My dad and I ate this dish a lot when I was a teen. I went through a vegetarian phase and he went through an only-eating-lentils-because-heart-disease phase.

There is something so warm and comforting to me about this Middle Eastern dish. While it's usually eaten as a side, it's hearty enough to eat as a main course or, as I've done here, to turn into a one-pot soup that makes a great lunch with a piece of crusty bread or toasted pita.

And, of course, eating lentils (or any round bean, really) is supposed to be good luck for the new year and eating anything green (the color of money) ushers in a prosperous new year.

You know what else this soup has? Lots and lots of fiber. So if your New Year's resolution has anything to do with gut health, potty training, weight loss, overall health, or home cooking, here's a soup for you. If you didn't make any resolutions and this is just another day, then make it "just another day" featuring delicious soup. If this straightforward, but somewhat time consuming dish isn't your bag, check out last year's lentil recipe.

Mujadara soup

2-3 large onions (4-5 small ones), sliced into 1/4 inch rounds or half-moons
1 Tbsp salted butter, olive oil, or ghee
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 large cloves garlic
1 1/4 cup green lentils
3/4 cup long grain brown rice (basmati is great)
10 cups chicken or veggie stock (homemade if possible)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 bunch lacinto kale (also called dinosaur or Tuscan kale)

Heat the butter and oil over a medium flame. Slice your onions and chop your garlic. Set garlic aside. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the onions and salt. Saute the onions until they are a rich brown color, about 20-30 minutes.

While your onions are caramelizing, measure and rinse your lentils and rice and set aside. Check the onions every few minutes and adjust the temperature as needed to avoid burning them.

Once the onions are browned, add the garlic and saute for one minute, or until fragrant.

Add the lentils and the stock and bring to a boil. Turn the heat back down to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add the rice, cover, and continue simmering on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

While the soup simmers, wash and chop your kale.

After 30 minutes, check the rice for doneness. I, personally, like a bit of bite left in the rice, but if you like it done more, cook for another 5-10 minutes, or to your liking. (Bear in mind that the rice will cook more upon reheating the soup as well.)

Add the kale and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add the lemon juice and stir. Taste for seasoning and thickness and add more salt or stock as needed.

Yield: 64 oz or about 8 cups of soup

November 03, 2017

Everything egg cups

November 03, 2017/ Rebecca Davis

This morning, M asked for a lollipop and ice cream for breakfast, so we're obviously still recovering from the Halloween sugarpalooza.

As a side note, we decided to do a Whole 15 instead of a Whole 30 this time. We hit the halfway mark and I thought back to our previous Whole 30's: By the end of each one, I was SO SO ready to have bread and beans and dairy and wine again that the eating pendulum swung wildly back in the other direction. At this mid-point, I feel great and in control and ready to incorporate things back into my life while also eating them in moderation rather than going on a candy binge. This feels like a better place to be when entering the holiday season.

Anyway, I made these egg cups twice during our Whole 15 and they are easy and delicious and filling and really satisfying. The salty, garlicky kick is why I sometimes crave everything bagels, but you can get that without eating a bread bomb for breakfast.

I also must confess: I'm not normally a fan of the egg cup. They're so ubiquitous when looking for healthy, make-ahead breakfasts, but they never do it for me. In these cups, the potato is filling, but they're also meant to function like the bread of a sandwich, so you can fill them with whatever constitutes a good breakfast for you. My personal favorite is turkey bacon, tomato, and avocado, but we've also done spinach and sausage, and smoked salmon with fixings like onion, tomato, and capers.

Since the next two months will be treat filled, I'm sure we'll be making these cups many times.

Just one note: I personally like the Everything Spice recipe from TheKitchn. You can also buy premade mixes from Trader Joe's and King Arthur. If you are sensitive to salt, I would recommend making your own mix and decreasing the salt to 1 tsp. You can always add more if it's not enough, but you can't subtract. I also omit all seasoning on the muffins so that the topping shines.

Everything egg cups

6 eggs
1 medium russet potato (about 6-8 oz)
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes
1 Tbsp dried garlic flakes
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tsp coarse salt
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Spray or brush olive oil in an extra-large muffin tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk 6 eggs until the yolks and whites are well mixed. Grate the potato directly into the egg mixture and whisk again. Distribute evenly into your prepared muffin tins.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the muffins feel dense and there is absolutely no give when you gently push on the tops.

While the muffins are cooking, put together your everything spice mix. You’ll have extra, so make the mix in a container or jar and then pour about half of it onto a plate.

Let the muffins cool slightly and turn them out onto your work surface. Lightly spray or brush the tops and bottoms with olive oil and dip into the spice mixture on the top and bottom of the muffins. Place back on your work surface and let cool some more. Cut them in half and fill with whatever you like.

Yield: 6 extra-large muffins

Me & The Moose

Me & The Moose

Elevated family food

Me & The Moose

Chocolate hummus

Chocolate hummus

Creamy tomato and white bean pasta

Creamy tomato and white bean pasta

Raspberry buckle

Raspberry buckle

Mujadara soup

Mujadara soup

Everything egg cups

Everything egg cups

Me & The Moose