Stew in a Jar

Food bloggers are weird.

We take pictures of food…

Have an unnatural obsession with strange health foods (I mean who else really eats Chia seeds…)

We get super excited about new jars of nut butter…

and even more excited when the jar is empty so we can have oats in a jar.

Now, you can have another reason to get excited about an empty jar of peanut butter: Stew in a Jar

Stew in a Jar

1 tsp coconut oil or olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced (or a small can of diced tomatoes)
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 sweet potato, diced
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 shakes of cinnamon
Cayenne to taste
3 shakes of paprika
1-2 cups water or vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 nearly empty jar of natural peanut butter (or just a spoonful of peanut butter)

Heat the oil, add all ingredients onions, garlic, celery and carrots.  Cook til onions are translucent, add tomatoes, sweet potato and spices and stir.  Add water or broth, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Spoon stew into nearly empty PB jar.  Stir and enjoy!  Serves 2-3.

Pretty delicious!  Definitely making this again!

I feel like I’m so close to the end!  Today I was in the library from 11:00am til 5:00pm with a short break for a 1 hr class (which I ended up cutting short…) and a 20 min nap.  Got a lot done though!

In the next hour, I hope to:
-Wrap up my econ paper: I’m doing an economic analysis of the Proposed NY State Beverage Tax!
-Finish 1/4 of a question and rewrite my econ take home midterm… I can draw a mean indifference curve!
-Do the dishes!

Wish me luck!

Have a good night!!

POM Cornmeal Muffins

Hellooo everyone!  I hope your weekend is going well.  I had a super fun time last night, went to a friend’s show then went dancing with some ladies!  Then daylight savings happened and I turned into a pumpkin…

or maybe I kept on being my fine, fierce self an hour later than usual!

In my last post, I made POM Ricotta Muffins… The fact that my POM muffins weren’t so good was bothering me all day yesterday.  So today I decided to give it another try, this time slightly different and sans ricotta.

POM Cornmeal Muffins

inspired by Joy of Baking’s Berry Cornmeal Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped date pieces
1 egg
1 cup POM Wonderful
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Fill lined muffin pan about half way each.  Bake 15-20 minutes.

I feel redeemed!  These were tasty!  I loved the texture, the slight fruity taste from the POM, and the nice chewy sweetness from the dates!  Definitely recommend these!

I enjoyed one with a little Barney Butter spread on it!  DELICIOUS!

Today is Pi(e) day (3.14… 3/14… get it?) and I’m baking for an event!  I’ll be back later with fun pie creations later!

I think after this weekend I’m going to be officially over sweets for a while!

Off to work on some more econ! Have a great Sunday!

Best Salad Ever

This morning, I did something I haven’t done in a LOOOOONNNGGG time…

Updated my ipod!

Check out the sweet new playlist:

This made my 3 mile treadmill jaunt AMAZING!  I wanted to keep going but had to leave to get ready for class!

New music always gets me excited about a work out.  My current obsession is Jay Sean’s “Do You Remember”
What’s your favorite work out song(s)??

As promised… Here is the Best Salad Ever!

That’s it!!  Just kidding….

Chop up some romaine.  If you’re eating at home, put it in a large bowl.  If you’re taking it to go, cool whip containers work… great conversation starter too!

Add your desired veggie toppings: cucumbers, carrot ribbons and artichoke hearts (ideally this would have tomatoes and bell peppers but I’m out of those)

Add your protein:  1 chopped up string cheese and 1 chopped up veggie patty

And finally… the best part… Barley!!

Remember my obsession with Annie’s Buttermilk Dressing?? I found a homemade replacement!  Prepare to be amazed…

Creamy Lemon Tahini Dressing

adapted from Culinate’s Lemon-Tahini Dressing

2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp water
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove of garlic, minced
3/4 cup greek yogurt (any fat should work, I used nonfat)
dash of cumin
few shakes of paprika
few shakes of cayenne
sea salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients and be prepared for deliciousness!  Play around with the spices til you find what tastes best to you!

I pack mine in an old garlic container.  No need for fancy tupperware here!

I almost wouldn’t call this a salad!  It’s just intense and delicious!

Well I’m off to class!  Have a fantastic day!  Eat a salad! They’re delicious! What’s the best salad you’ve ever had?

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I hate letting food go to waste.  Yesterday’s zucchini was starting to mold and the bok choy was turning yellow but I still used them.

I have a sizable container of ricotta leftover from my Eggplant Parmesan.  I don’t want it to go bad, so I’m trying to figure out ways to incorporate it.  On Friday, I spread some on my sandwich… delicious.  Today, I thought… pancakes… It’s Sunday, why not?  Thus…

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

adapted from Bobby Flay’s Recipe

1/3 cup, heaping of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder, optional
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of ricotta
1/3 cup milk
zest + juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp agave
coconut oil

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Add some coconut oil to a skillet/griddle/pan, melt on low heat.  Add 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, cover with a lid/foil.  Once you see the pancakes get “holey” on one side, flip them over and cook for a few more minutes (maybe 2).  These pancakes are pretty delicate so low heat is essential.  These are the varying degrees of heat I used… low is best 🙂

I got 8 pancakes out of this recipe.  I immediately froze 4 to be reheated in the toaster oven on a rainy day!

I topped my pancakes with some extra lemon zest, shredded coconut and a mixture of greek yogurt and maple syrup (1/4 cup yogurt + 1 tbsp real maple syrup).  DELICIOUS!

O.M.G.

Make these.  Now!

While I say the cardamom is optional on there (Bobby Flay used nutmeg but I thought lemon and cardamom sounded great together), it really makes the recipe that much better.  Cardamom is one of those underused spices in the US that is just amazing in my opinion.  Best ice cream I ever had was Cardamom Ice Cream at Ici in Berkeley. I might venture to say that cardamom is my favorite spice…

Now I’m stuffed and ready to conquer my pile of reading and methods problem set!

Any suggestions on what else to do with my ricotta?

See you next time for Sunday baking!  I’m making a vegan treat tonight!

Have a great Sunday!!