Well hello!

I keep thinking it’s Sunday night because Kyle and I just got back from an overnight stay in San Juan Capistrano.  We randomly decided to skip town after Kyle’s classes on Wednesday…he only has class one day a week and I didn’t have to be back at the hospital ‘til Friday, so why not?

Kyle’s parents were happy to see us and took us to dinner at a new Thai place that just opened near their house.

If you think the name is cheesy, you should see the menu!  Thai Juan On is very pun-y.

We started with an order of Handroll Salad (Salad Mouan) for the table.  The rolls were stuffed with lettuce, bean sprouts and tofu and topped with peanut sauce, avocado and roasted shallot.

The sauce and avo were great, but I could have used more tofu inside.

It was hard to decide on a main course because the menu was BEYOND overwhelming.  It just went on and on…so I went with the oh-so-standard noodle dish…

Phat Thai with tofu.  I think the portion grew as I ate it because the noodles and peanuts went on forever.  It was delicious, but I definitely had leftovers.

Kyle got the dish I was considering as my second choice, which looked like a winner too.

Golden Thread (Ba Mee Phat) with tofu, egg noodles, onion, green onion, cabbage, celery, broccoli, mushroom, carrots, baby corn, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts.

The next day we met up with Kyle’s brother for a round of golf (9 holes) in Laguna Beach.

Eat your heart out East Coast, this is how we do January in So Cal.  Holler!

I played on the horrible side, except for one fabulous put.  In my defense, I haven’t even touched my clubs more than twice in the past few years.  Rather than get down on myself for sucking, I just celebrated how much I improved over the course of the day.

After golf we headed back to Santa Monica.  Starving.

Enter Veggie Grill.  We chatted with T.K. while we waited for our food and he told us they just opened a new restaurant in Oregon.  Hear that Beaverton?  You guys can now enjoy this beauty.

All Hail Kale salad with blackened tempeh.  This dish is simply perfection.  I also got a side of mac ‘n cheese to go.  [planning ahead for my upcoming 3 shifts in a row]

Kyle got the Bayou Chickin’ sandwich with a side of mac ‘n cheese, too.

And that’s my mid-week vacay (by iPhone).

When was the last time you ditched your normal weekly routine for a getaway?

Any resemblance this sweet & salty snack has to an eight legged arthropod is completely unintentional.

I made them on the late night because I was craving both chocolate and salt at the same time and couldn’t find anything on hand that would satisfy my sophisticated palate. 

I would rather die before heading to bed with an un-sated appetite, so clearly I had to make something to get my dessert fix. 

• cocoa powder
• peanut flour
• water
• raw almonds
• pretzel sticks
• turbinado sugar (or stevia)

Mix the cocoa, peanut flour, sugar, salt and water until you have a thick sauce.  It should be paste-like, but still liquid-y. 

Enclose the pretzels and almonds in a tupperware with the chocolate/peanut sauce and shake them until everything is coated.

Spread out onto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes at 200 degrees.

Wait for them to cool, or don’t, and dig in.

The recipe is simple and easy, but you could jazz it up if you are so inclined.  Even a dash of cinnamon, vanilla and/or salt could really give it some oomph. 

That said, it’s pretty dang perfect like this.

I’ve been eating the small clusters first, because the big ones seem so fun to keep whole.  I don’t want to break them up!

Salty, sweet, savory, scrumptious.  Score!

Are you ready for this?

Slow Cooker Irish Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 4 cups liquids (I used 3 cups water & 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 apple, skinned & chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins
• stevia to taste

Directions:

Add apples, raisins, and cinnamon to crock-pot.  Plus 1 cup steel cut oats.  Then 4 cups liquids.

Stir everything up and set crock-pot to low setting for 7 hours.

Above is what it looked like at 10 pm.

Below is what it looked like at 5 am.

Ok, you can’t really tell what’s going on from this photo.  I took that when I first woke up, so I was as groggy as my camera is focused.

Here’s a better look at what the oats turned into after an entire night of slow cooking.

My alarm went off at 4:15 am and I was immediately greeted with the smell of warm apple pie.  It seriously knocked me off my feet. 

The only thing I could think of during my morning yoga routine was how soon I could dig into the crock-pot.

The cinnamon on top was crusty and crispy, and the apples nearly fell apart in my mouth they were soft as buttah!  The raisins didn’t even resemble dried fruit anymore they were so fluffy.  The whole breakfast was a dream.

Make this.  Now.

One: Business School Chocolates

Two: Pink a$$ running shoes

And you thought my work shoes were pink.  Ha!  My new running shoes take the girly girl color to the next level. 

Just thought I’d share.  Back to my regular programming tomorrow.

I think there’s a misconception about how I eat.  For every new recipe I create and share with you guys, there are five others I don’t show because they look like this…

Oatmeal with melty peanut butter, cinnamon, and raisins.  Not exactly reinventing the wheel with this one.

I don’t have magic spells that bake cakes while I’m at work (Sleeping Beauty reference anyone?), nor do I have ingenuity oozing from my pores.  Especially after 12 hours of nursing.

Simple is fine by me.

So whether it’s oats with the works or white rice with the works, it’s not fancy.

I just want to make sure nobody gets the (wrong) idea that I’ve found a way to clone myself and work full time while making new and exciting things for every meal of the day.

Over the past few days I’ve have toast with avocado & eggs (or some permutation of those three ingredients) for 50% of my meals. 

This one was on crispy sourdough.

This one was on my own home-made (and royally effed up) gluten free oat bread.

I stopped taking pics since things were getting pretty repetative, but why mess with perfection right? 

Trust me, it aint broke.  Unfortunately I can’t say the same about my latest “loaf.”

I wouldn’t call it an epic failure, but it was one of my worst so far. 

Flavor wasn’t the issue, texture was.

The inside was good, but the outside crumbled and fell apart.  It was like there were two layers – the inner bread part and the outer crust part – and they weren’t even aware that they were the same food.

Kinda reminded me of the inner and outer cortex of the brain.  Whoa nerd.

Clearly getting it to rise was the main problem (TWSS), but I’ve read up on gluten free bread baking a LOT since then and I have an idea of what to do next time. 

So there you have it.  The behind the scenes to HHH.  I couldn’t let my laziness and mess-ups go undocumented, right?

What’s your favorite no-muss no-fuss meal?  Mine is oats.

Latest kitchen flops?  I’ve been experimenting with low FODMAP recipes, which has forced me to stretch my cooking limits.  It means big payoffs…or big disasters. 

I came home to this scene the other day. 

Whaaaa?

It was like the twilight zone.  Donuts?  Chocolates?  Just lying out on the counter?  Who’s apartment did I mistakenly walk into? 

Turns out Kyle had a business meeting and someone else brought them over.

I also found out later that he threw the donuts away (but kept the chocolate).  That’s what you call hippie-fluence.

Anyway.

Drumroll…

#39 Ashley @ Cooking for John wrote “I tweeted- @ashveg!”

Congrats!  Send me your mailing address so I can get your CalNaturale wine on the way

Whenever I find a slew of tupperwared ingredients in the fridge, my mind immediately goes into overdrive, brainstorming ways to get rid of them.

Beans, squash, rice, bell peppers…sounds like the base of a beautiful veggie burger to me!

Veggie Sliders

[yield: 10 burgers, vegan, gluten free]

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked white rice
• 1 1/4 cup beans (I used 1 cup black eyes peas & 1/4 cup chickpeas)
• 1/2 cup butternut squash puree
• 1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chia seeds + 1/2 cup water
• TJ’s 21 seasoning salute (this is my favorite spice blend, but you could really just add any spices you want)

*Edited to add: rumor has it that Costco has a version of this spice blend called “organic no-salt seasoning” with the same 21 spices listed, just ordered differently*

Directions:

Pulse beans in a food processor, blender, or magic bullet until they are pureed with a few chunks remaining.

Add to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Mix everything together and let it sit for ~10 minutes to give the chia seeds time to gel.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

One by one, form burgers.

I rolled the mix in my palms to create a round, ball-like shape.  I purposefully made them rotund little fatties so when I flipped them later they wouldn’t end up squished down to flat pancakes.

Here they are, all lined up and ready for the oven.

FYI, there was another baking sheet with two veggie sliders which made the total yield 10.

Bake for 35 minutes on 350 degrees, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

When flipping them, use the spatula to push them down a bit so they make a perfect patty shape.

Like so.

After the 10 minutes is up, they will look nice and burger-like and they will smell yummmmy.

What to do with them?  I froze most of them, but left a few in the fridge for sandos and salad toppers.

I like them, but Kyle looooves them.  It makes sense since they use his favorite carbohydrate, white rice.

He’s not typically a squash person, but I guess the butternut is well enough hidden in this recipe.  Sneaky hippie!

Anyway, here’s a salad with spring greens, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, a crumbled veggie slider and half an avocado on top.

Don’t forget to enter the wine giveaway that ends tomorrow.

Last year Kyle and I hosted a holiday party and it was so much fun we decided to make it an annual event.  But since we were out of town for most of December it wasn’t really possible.

So we just postponed the event until January!

This year’s party eats were some of the same, but a few new things too.

Drink menu:

• Wine
• Champagne
• Beer
• POM-tinis
• Blueberry Vodka Lemonade

CalNaturale provided the Cab Sauv and the Chardonnay for the evening.  Both are made with 100% organic grapes (from Paso Robles and Mendocino respectively) and packaged in eco-friendly Tetra Pak containers.  Don’t let the boxy appearance deceive you…this is award winning wine.  Plus, they have half the carbon footprint of bottled wines.

For last year’s POM-tini recipe, see this post.

This year we used: 2 parts POM juice, 1 part seltzer, 1 part vodka, squeeze lime juice (from 1/4 fresh lime). It was delicious and I hardly drink hard alcohol anymore.

The Blueberry Vodka Lemonade recipe originated at B&G night, and has been a fan favorite ever since.  It’s simple, just mix yellow lemonade with blueberry vodka.  It sounds weird, but I promise, it is SO SO good.

Food Appetizer menu:

• Grandma’s seven layer cookies
• Crackers and hummus
• Brie and grapes
• Lumpia

Kyle’s mom made these cookies for Kyle because they are one of his favorite holiday desserts.  They are basically the opposite of vegan.  Rather than eat his gluttonous heart out, Kyle demonstrated amazing restraint and froze them to help with portion control.  Having a party is the perfect excuse to enlist the help appetites of others.  Stash gone.

Naturally the hummus was vegan.

I used a recipe my G-ma sent me forever ago (it’s been on our fridge since we moved in).

I made some changes (what else is new) and it turned out wonderful.

Simple Hummus

• 1 can (15 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained
• 2 tbsp garlic infused extra virgin olive oil (I used Garlic Gold)
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• dash of paprika (on top)

Voila!

There was cracker variety, including Whole Grain, Sesame, & Lemon Zest flavors, to let guests choose between hummus and cheese as spreads.

I have mixed feelings about 34 degree Crispbread because they are a little flimsy.  They’re good if you want a lighter cracker option, but when you’re scooping brie onto them, they aren’t the sturdiest of vehicles for the thick & creamy cheese.  Sometimes I feel like I’m getting communion when I’m eating them.

We found this brie at Costco.  That place doesn’t know how to do anything in moderation.

Now, as promised, another chance for you to win some goodies!

CalNaturale is giving one HHH reader two bottles Tetra Paks of wine, including a liter of Cab and a 550 mL of Chardonnay.

Get excited people.  This is some tasty vino.  The cabernet is my personal favorite…it is rich and flavorful, but not overpowering.  A great wine to sip on solo, but a complementary drink as well.

To enter this giveaway:

Leave a comment below sharing your favorite wine and appetizer pairing [whether you’ve hosted a party or not, what would you make for guests?].

Tweet about the giveaway mentioning @elisehippie and @CalNaturaleWine (and leave another comment that you tweeted).

I’ll announce the winner this Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 so get your entries in asap!

*Open to US residents and readers over the age of 21 only*

The giveaway winner is at the end so you can skip ahead to that part if you want.  Otherwise read on for a random little flavorful-meal-in-a-jiffy-short-cut.

I made this slow cooker dish a few weeks ago and I wasn’t going to post about it because it’s not really a recipe, but I figured maybe others would like to know how much of a time saver a slow cooker can be.  Combined with the seasoning trick up my sleeve – well, you may never spend over 5 minutes in the kitchen again.

This took me 3 minutes to “make”.  Not joking.  I was getting ready to go on a run and figured I should think about making Kyle dinner before I headed out in case he got hungry while I was getting my exercise on.  No, my runs aren’t that long, but I already knew what I was having for dinner [leftovers] and knew I should get his food in the works too.  So I grabbed some things from the pantry and chucked ‘em in the pot (all while wearing untied sneakers and a sports bra!).  Impressed?

Here’s what I came up with (I’m estimating measurements because I definitely didn’t get cups or spoons out).

• 1/4 cup uncooked barley
• 1/4 cup dried TVP
• 1/2 cup dried lentils
• 2 cup veg broth
• 1 packet Savory Herb mix <— that’s the trick*

*I never buy the boxes of flavored grains but a while ago I received a shipment of Lundberg Farms’ seasoned brown rice couscous.  I’ve been using just the couscous and setting aside the seasoning packets, so I figured it was the perfect thing to add to the slow cooker to give the grains and beans some flavoring.  Best part of all was I didn’t even have to taste test to know the herbs would be balanced and yummy.  I poured in the packet and set it all to high heat for 2 hours.

Now how simple is that!?!

After my run, I showered, went to Whole Foods, put our groceries away, unloaded the dishwasher, and then threw 1/2 cup of peas into the slow cooker so there was something non-brown in the dish.

15 minutes later Kyle was digging into this.  The smell was outstanding (he had two huge servings).

Winner!

In case you were wondering, I’ve been trying to make Kyle some meals with extra protein now that he’s veg.  TVP is rough on my stomach, so I’m using up the last of my pantry stash in his food.  It’s a pretty simple way to bulk up the protein in a soup/stew/sauce.

And now for the randomly generated Svelte protein drink giveaway winner…

Congrats Jen!  Send me your mailing address so I can get your delicious shakes on their way.

I have ANOTHER giveaway coming tomorrow so stay tuned

Look at all these powders!

I’m a mad scientist! [not really]

My head was in the clouds when I was making these oats.  The amount of cocoa powder was nearly double what I ordinarily use, which made it the color of…well…tar.  I tried to balance it out by adding more oats, which made it look like chocolate at least, but resulted in a pretty monstrous breakfast.  Then I went and increased it’s volume even more by adding some protein powder.

I don’t know who makes it, what’s in it, or where it’s from because my sister gave me the tupperwared sample to try out.  That sounds shady, huh.  She’s a trainer, so I don’t think she’s trying to drug me.  Plus she’s got food sensitivities too, so I know it’s dairy free.

*Edited to add* The sample is vegan vanilla protein powder from Arbonne (which I think is a Canadian company?). Despite some internet searching, I have yet to find the powder’s ingredients so if you know it please share.  I want to be sure it isn’t sweetened with fructose before I try a larger amount.

The final product tasted like a chocolate brownie.  Not too bad for a breakfast dessert.

The rest of the lunch crew.

Spinach, forbidden rice, seitan, and Bragg’s liquid aminos on top.

I studied the ingredient list for this Clif MoJo Mountain Mix bar forever.  It’s long, that’s for sure, but it’s partially-redeemed by the fact that it’s organic.  Fructose is my deal breaker.*  So although the bar has processed soy protein isolate (from the soy rice chips), which I didn’t like, the sources of sweetener were brown rice syrup, oat syrup and chocolate chips, which works for me. *For more details on why see this site.

Other goodies included candied ginger, dark chocolate kisses, banana, and carrots.

And why not round out the WIAW nature of this post with dinner…

Quinoa quiche (this version made in a pie pan) with a side of peas.

I had this granola for dessert.

What’s your ingredient list deal breaker?

It’s hard to find the time to make things as opposed to buy them…from bread, to seitan, to nut butters, to health bars…it gets exhausting.  However, budget and GI woes are huge factors in why I spend my days off in the kitchen.  Plus I love cooking.  And eating.  The fact of the matter is, I have been feeling way better since following a low FODMAPs diet and knowing exactly what’s in my food is what makes it possible.

PS Low FODMAPs update here. <– last night’s live #fodmap twitter chat recapped

PPS Giveaway here. <– you have until tomorrow to enter!