Laura's Sweet Spot

Focaccia with Caramelized Onions and Spinach

lmachell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:00:24 +0000

I admit it. I have a weakness for fresh bread. And an even more serious weakness for fresh bread with cheese on it. I know that I am not alone in this. I mean, isn’t the love of bread and cheese the one thing that practically every culture in the world has in common? This can actually probably be extended to include not just bread but all white, starchy, non-healthy foods… and cheese haha.

Anyways, point is- I love bread and cheese. And I love this recipe. Which includes both.

This bread isn’t just any kind of bread- it’s focaccia. One of my favorite breads. And it is topped with delicious caramelized onions and sautéed spinach. AND mozzarella. It’s basically a foccacia veggie-pizza. Totally cool with me.

What’s not cool with me? Taking pictures of any kind of pizza-like food. I hate it. Pizza, my camera, and I just don’t get along.

On a very side note, I have a mildly sad story that goes along with this recipe. I made it the day before I was going to Venice while my parents were visiting. We ate as much as we possibly could and then we cut up the rest, bagged it in ziplock bags, and took with us on the car ride the next day. Venice is only 7 hours from where I live in Germany so this was meant to be a means of a snack rather than anything else. It ended up being our only form of sustenance when we got stranded on the side of the autostrada when my car kicked the bucket. It’s a long story that you can read about here, but basically we depended on the remnants of this bread to get us through a very long, tiring day…

AND then when I got home, a leftover red pepper flake from the kitchen counter ended up finding its way into my 4 month-olds eye. I didn’t know that was what it was at the time. All I knew was that he was screaming bloody murder and could not be consoled. I had to flush his eye out repetitively with saline while my Mother held him down until he finally calmed and the thing flushed itself out. Crazy. Try to keep the red pepper flakes away from your kids eyes folks…

Focaccia with Caramelized Onions and Spinach

Author: Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito

Serves: 12

Ingredients

For the Focaccia Dough:
2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2¼ cups bread flour
2¾ tsp instant dry yeast
2¾ tsp salt
2 cups lukewarm water (100 to 110 degrees F)
⅓ cup good-quality olive oil, plus more for oiling
cornmeal for dusting
For the Topping:
¼ cup good-quality olive oil, divided, plus more for brushing
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3½ cups loosely packed baby spinach
2 Tb chopped, fresh rosemary
2 Tb chopped, fresh thyme
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
dried oregano, to taste
2 cups shredded whole-milk mozzarella or other cheese of your choosing
½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or other hard cheese or your choosing, plus more for sprinkling
red pepper flakes, to taste

Instructions

Make the Focaccia Dough: Place the flours, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed until combined. Add the water and ⅓ cup olive oil and mix on low speed until the dough just begins to come together. Turn off the mixer, switch to the dough hook attachment, and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and tarts to release from the sides of the bowl (it is okay if the dough still sticks to the bottom of the mixing bowl). If the dough feels too wet and is not releasing, add additional all-purpose four, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough releases.
Dust a work surface with flour and stretch the dough into a rectangle (about 9 by 20 inches). Fold each side onto itself, creating a letterfold. Tuck the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm-ish place (at least 72 degrees F) for 20 to 30 minutes. Repeat this process (stretching the dough into a rectangle, letterfolding, tucking into a ball shape, and placing in covered bowl). Wait another 30 minutes and repeat a third time.
Lightly spray a 13-by-18-inch light-colored metal half-sheet pan or two 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pans with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Use your fingers to smear a little olive oil (no more than a tablespoon) evenly across the parchment and sprinkle it with an even dusting of cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan(s) and stretch it into a rectangle (don’t try to stretch the dough into corners of the pan just yet). Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest (still at room temperature) for about 20 minutes. Uncover the dough and stretch it into the corners. (If the doughs feels resistant to stretching into the pan corners at this time, cover with plastic wrap and wait 10 more minutes.)
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and position the rack in the center. Place a baking pan filled with water on the rack below where you will be baking the focaccia. The steam from the pan will give the crust a nice crunchy exterior while keeping the interior moist and chewy.
Make the Topping: In a medium skillet or sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sauté for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it is soft and translucent. Set the onion aside. Add the spinach to the skillet, cover, and cook until the spinach is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside until cool. Squeeze the spinach dry and set it aside.
Poke the dough in the pan. If your fingers leave a dent, it is ready; if not, wait 5 minutes and test again. Toss the rosemary with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Brush the oil onto the top of the dough. Sprinkle with thyme, salt, pepper, and oregano.
Place the focaccia in the oven, on rack above the pan filled with (now boiling) water, and bake for 1- minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the dough starts to brown on top. Then remove the pan from the oven and, leaving a small border of crust, top the dough with the onion, spinach, cheeses, and red pepper flakes. Continue baking the focaccia until the cheese is bubbly and browned.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with more Pecorino Romano and salt to taste, and brush the edges with a little bit more olive oil. Serve immediately.
Focaccia tastes best directly from the oven, though leftover focaccia can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 2 days. Reheat at 275 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until warm to the touch before serving.

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Adapted from “Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Coconut Oil Rice Krispies

lmachell — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:00:12 +0000

So 5 days after my fever finally broke, it has resurfaced in my daughter. Poor thing : / I was really hoping that since I had gotten better without any other casualties that we were all in the clear. Guess not. Still crossing my fingers that my little 5 month old doesn’t catch this thing.

And since I was pretty darn sick last week, I didn’t have much umph to do anything at all (even in the kitchen, believe it or not). So I decided to pump out something quick and easy- Rice Krispy Treats.

But at the same time I wanted to do something different with the recipe… something different AND quick AND easy. I made one simple change:

I said NO to butter.

And YES to coconut oil.

In case you have’t jumped on that bandwagon yet, you should know that coconut oil is all the rage right now. It’s currently the star superfood of the people.

But more important than its’ popularity are its’ numerous health benefits. If you haven’t read about the incredible list of benefits from consuming coconut oil, check them out here. If these are even three-quarters true then we should all have a jar of coconut oil in our cabinet at all times. Side note: It’s important that the jar is glass too. I guess oil’s can leach bad things into them when stored in a plastic container. Who knew?

SO what does coconut oil do to the taste and texture of your beloved Rice Krispy Treats? Well, the texture- nothing. And the taste- not much there either. I guess you get a very mild coconut flavor to them. I didn’t notice it myself, but if you are particularly sensitive to the flavor of coconut then you might. Personally, I think the swap is simply a way to achieve a healthier, quick treat rather than creating any kind of flavor change.

If coconut flavor is what you seek though, then that is an entirely different story! Go ahead and add in a cup of shredded coconut, sweetened or un-sweetened. Maybe even a 1/2 tsp or so of coconut extract.

And I am a firm believer in adding a pinch of salt to your Rice Krispy Treats. It adds the perfect sweet/salty touch. Ever since my experience with Brown Butter Salted Rice Krispy Treats I never go without that extra pinch of sodium.

Coconut Oil Rice Krispies

Serves: 24

Ingredients

1 (10 ounce) bag miniature marshmallows
½ cup coconut oil
6 cups Rice Krispies

Instructions

Prepare a 9-by-13-inch pan by greasing with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Line with parchment if desired.
Melt the marshmallows and coconut oil together in medium saucepan.
In a large bowl, mix together rice krispies and melted marshmallow mixture, stirring until evenly combined.
Press into pan. Let cool to set before cutting.

Notes

To increase the coconut flavor add 1 cup shredded coconut to the mixture, a pinch of kosher salt, and maybe even ½ teaspoon coconut extract.

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This Weeks Delish!

lmachell — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:18:42 +0000

Here it is Saturday, halfway through the afternoon, and I already feel like I’ve been up the entire day. It’s just been one of those mornings. I wish I could settle everyone down in the house for just one hour and everybody take a nice nap. Yeah right. The suns out and there is so much chaos in the air, it would take another 12+ hours for my daughter to willingly sleep. Oh well, I’ll just have to squash these emerging feelings of exhaustion with some more coffee and keep trucking.

We woke up at the crack of dawn to get the kids and ourselves ready for a little, mini photoshoot session that I signed my daughter up for. The independent photographer was holding 20 minute, $75 mini-shoots and I finally got a slot before they filled up! Of course, it was one of the early bird ones at 8:20am… but I got one none-the-less! However, we were late, couldn’t find the place, and then my daughter wouldn’t let go of my thigh to pose for these darn photos. I spent a ridiculous amount of time coaxing her out from under my skirt using every bribe in the book- ice cream, gummies, etc. She wasn’t budging. So darn stubborn. I had to let early people go before us so she would get more comfortable with the whole thing. Three mini-shoots later and she finally stepped into the staged area to pose. The next task was to get her to look at the darn camera. And just forget about smiling.

It was a long morning between the stress of being late, my daughter crying, and then the energy I had to expend, trying and failing to get her to smile. Oy. Long.

I used to LOVE Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies when I was a kid! I bet they are amazing homemade too…

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Sheet cakes are so easy to make. I’m a fan. This is a recipe for Peanut Butter Sheet Cake- delicious!

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Now that it’s hot out, it’s the perfect time for no-bake desserts. Hello, Oreo Cheesecake Icebox Cake!!

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This is going to sound silly, but I had no idea that fried ice cream was actually fried… haha go figure.

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I am all about the slow cooker lately- Slow Cooker Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken.

by Makin’ it Mo’ Betta

This Weeks Pick: Here comes the hardest part of the week- picking my favorite recipe. Hmmm, I think this week I will go with the Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wraps. They were really fun with the whole sweet-savory combo thing going on. Plus so easy! And healthy ; ) It’s a win-win all around.

Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wrap

lmachell — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:00:46 +0000

Ohhhh, cranberry cherry chicken wrap… where have you been all my life?

I’ve always been a fan of those savory-sweet, fruit-nut, type salads. Case and point- Broccoli Salad. Love it. But this chicken wrap is a whole different beast.

Thinly sliced seasoned chicken breast. Chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Dried cranberries and cherries. Chopped, toasted pecans. A spoonful of greek yogurt. Wrap it in a whole-grain flatbread with some lettuce and you’ve got yourself one killer lunch (or light dinner!).

Wraps are like salads or soups. There really is not right or wrong about it. You can add more ingredients, substitute out a couple, or even completely omit some if you prefer. You have lots of options to make this the perfect wrap for you.

This is where I went with my wrap- I light seasoned my chicken breast with some Beau Monde seasoning salt and cooked it in a skillet. Once it was cooled, I sliced it really thin into strips. I tossed all my “chicken salad” ingredients together in one bowl with a tablespoon of fresh rosemary that I finely chopped and a pinch of kosher salt. I kept it really simple and straight-forward. I couldn’t help from keeping the little hamster wheel in my head from spinning though- I came up with a couple more options:

Add a pinch of cayenne pepper for a spicy element!
Cheese!! I think brie cheese or goat cheese would be perfect paired with this wrap.
And if you’re not restricting your calories- lose the yogurt, and add some mayonnaise and chopped bacon instead. Yum!
Maybe substitute balsamic vinegar…
Chopped apple or grapes?
Add a teaspoon of sugar so it really resembles the broccoli salad dressing.

You’ve got to make this one for yourself! It was AWESOME. And as I mentioned above, just change it up to suit your own tastes. I think next time I will add some cheese and maybe use mayo instead of yogurt hehe : )

(I used a homemade whole-wheat flatbread, click here for recipe.)

Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wrap

Serves: 1

Ingredients

wrap or flat bread
½ cup seasoned chicken breast strips
1 Tbsp sundried tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbsp dried cherries
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 Tb chopped, toasted pecans
1-2 Tb plain Greek yogurt (OR sour cream or mayonnaise)
splash apple cider vinegar
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
lettuce

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix together chicken, sundried tomatoes, dried cherries, dried cranberries, pecans, 1 tablespoon yogurt, and vinegar. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Add more yogurt if necessary.
Lay lettuce in wrap or flat bread and then top with chicken salad mixture. Roll up, slice in half, and serve.

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inspired by Menu Musings

Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookies

lmachell — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:00:29 +0000

I hate when I do this. I made these cookies forever ago, took a picture, put them in my blogging folder, and forgot about them. So frustrating! Like I think I’ve been sitting on this recipe for 6 months now. Isn’t that terrible? I liked them though so I didn’t want to just throw out the photos- instead I wanted to share them as soon as I realized what a dunce I’ve been. So just excuse my lack of organizational skills and enjoy this recipe : )

I love anything turtle related. It’s probably one of my favorite flavor combos. I don’t make it near enough. It’s still on my “to-do” list to make a turtle chocolate cake- how good does that sound? But Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookies are such an easy task that I was able to pump those out a while ago, especially since I had some extra chewy caramel lying around in my freezer leftover from Chocolate Turtle Thumbprint Cookies I made in December.

These cookies are really quick to throw together and can be easily made with those square, chewy caramels made by Kraft or with Rolo’s even. Truth be told, I’ve never even had a Rolo… but I am sure they will work here. The cookie dough recipe uses melted butter so you don’t even need a mixer.

And the result? Ooey-gooey-turtley-goodness!! I love it.

Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookies

Author: Laura Machell

Serves: 12 large cookies

Ingredients

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) of salted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
about 12 chewy caramels (such as Kraft) or you can use Rolo’s

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with silicone or parchment paper.
Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.
Divide the dough into 2 tablespoon portions. Take one 2 tablespoon portion of cookie dough and place it on the bottom of an unwrapped caramel; place a second 2 tablespoon portion of cookie dough on the top of the caramel; shape cookie dough around the caramel, sealing the edges. Repeat with remaining cookie dough
Leave about 2 inches in between each.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers will remain pretty gooey from the caramel. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes and the transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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recipe adapted from M&M Cookies

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

lmachell — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:00:21 +0000

My daughter has this runny nose. It somehow creates this constant smear of dirt on the side of her cheek. I call it “booger face”. Gross, right? Well, if you have kids you know exactly what I am talking about- you don’t get to them with a tissue every time they need it and so they wipe their runny nose across their cheek with their hand. It ends up collecting dirt as it dries and leaves them looking like they just rolled their face around in the backyard. I’ve spent the last two days wiping her face clean on 30 minute intervals. And now I have a 102+ temperature. GREAT.

I am keeping a good 3 foot distance between me and my 5 month old for the moment. There is nothing worse than a sick baby. But because I know I can’t, all I want to do is pick him up, squeeze him, and plaster him with kisses… I just want to devour that baby! I’ll have to settle with just appreciating his cuteness from afar until I am better though.

On a totally different note- I made this crockpot pork for Dave last week. I am always looking for new things to make for him, to keep things interesting. I don’t know why I bother though. I am sure he wouldn’t feel any different about the meals I made for him if I simply rotated the same 3 meals for the rest of his life. I swear, if food wasn’t necessary for survival he wouldn’t eat. He’s crazy.

So since I don’t eat pork, I didn’t personally try this meal and can’t tell you what I thought of the recipe. I can tell you that my Husband ate it until there were no more leftovers and he was very pleased with it. It is also highly rated at the site where I found the recipe. Not to mention that it was super easy to make as well. It is a crockpot recipe after all!

And even though I don’t really eat meat, I do have a great appreciation for a good caramelized crust. The original recipe has you start to glaze the pork during the last hour of cooking and then serve it as is when it is done in the crockpot. I didn’t both glazing it in the crockpot and instead glazed in on a sheet pan and put it under the broil. I repeated this 3 or 4 times to get a good caramelized crust going. I just think its a better method, even if it is a bit more work. There is no way it will caramelize in the crockpot, will it? I don’t know, I don’t make enough crockpot recipes to have any idea. Anybody out there know whether of not it would?

4.5 from 2 reviews

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 pounds Pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon Ground sage
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Pepper
1 clove Garlic; crushed
½ cup Water
½ cup Brown sugar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar
½ cup Water
2 tablespoons Soy sauce

Instructions

Mix together the seasonings: sage, salt, pepper and garlic.
Rub over tenderloin. Place ½ cup water in slow cooker; place tenderloin in slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
hour before the roast is finished, mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small sauce pan: brown sugar, cornstarch, balsamic vinegar, water, soy sauce.
Heat over medium and stir until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.
Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. (For a more caramelized crust: remove from crockpot and place on aluminum lined sheet pan, glaze, and set under broiler for 1-2 minutes until bubbly and caramelized. Repeat 2 to 3 more times until desired crust is achieved.)
Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

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adapted from Big Oven

Carrot Spice Muffins

lmachell — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:00:07 +0000

We’re supposed to be going to England tomorrow. Supposed to. Dave got an invite to a work friends’ wedding in England. They rented out a big house to invite a bunch of guests and have them stay for a week- and we made the cut! But we can’t go. My 5 month-olds passport that I filed for 4 months ago still isn’t here yet and I can’t very well leave him behind : / SAD. I bought a fairly expensive, fancy dress for this shindig too! I guess I’ll just have to wear it around the house instead. Now if I can just think of a way to stop Daves’ pouting… haha poor guy.

So what do I do to truly console myself? I bake.

Well, in this case I made these more out of necessity than anything else. I needed a distraction and my daughter was out of muffins. I regularly make her some sort of healthy muffin with either a good dose of grains or some hidden vegetables. After all, a child can’t live on yogurt and graham crackers alone. In this cake I went with carrots. And of course, raisins. My daughter isn’t interested in the muffin if there aren’t raisins. Personally I think it’s kind of weird. I hated raisins when I was a kid. Unless they were covered with chocolate, in which case they were one of my favorite things. I also used half whole-wheat flour and half regular AP flour.

I bought a silicone muffin tray to freeze muffin batter in a few months back. Once they are frozen, I pop them into a gallon-sized ziplock bag and keep them at a ready for when my daughter needs something to eat. I bake them straight from the freezer- covering them with foil half the time since they bake 10 minutes or more longer than usual. I’ve become dependent on this method as a food source for her.

The more I look at this photo the more frustrated I get. Why is the fork the only thing in focus? Yes, what a nice looking fork. And never mind that blurry orange blob. It’s of no importance to this post or anything… Jeez, Laura. Get it together.

Carrot Spice Muffins

Author: Dorie Greenspan

Serves: 12

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tb baking powder
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
⅔ cup canola oil
2 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely shredded carrots (about 3 medium, peeled and trimmed)
⅓ cup moist raisins (soak 5 minutes in very hot tap water)
⅓ cup pecans or walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped
⅓ cup shredded, sweetened coconut

Instructions

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the brown sugar; making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend- a few lumps are okay. Stir in the raisins, nuts, and coconut. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Notes

Raisins, nuts, and/or coconut are all optional.

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adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours“

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Veggie Burgers

lmachell — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 06:00:18 +0000

I’m an any-time of the year sweet potato gal. They may not be in season but I still flock to them every time I walk down the produce aisle. Probably ranking them as my #1 choice vegetable. No, not probably. Definitely.

Usually I just wedge them up and throw them in the oven to roast. Eat ‘em with some ketchup. Call it a day. Although I have to admit, ever since I have been in Germany I have been unable to come up with crisp-roasted sweet potatoes. My European oven only makes soggy, mushy roasted sweet potatoes. Bummer.

I saw this recipe here and almost licked my computer screen. They looked so good. The colors are so vibrant and fresh- how could you not want that in your belly? Well, unless your like my David who doesn’t even recognize the term “veggie burger”…

I love me a good veggie burger though. You probably don’t remember back to last year, but I shared a recipe for veggie burgers then too. That recipe was much more complicated, ingredient list wise. Not nearly as accessible as this golden patty : )

These have a sweet-spicy kind of thing going on too. The chipotle powder and cayenne gives your mouth a good few kicks. More than mine could really handle to be honest haha.

And don’t forget the super charge of nutrients they offer! Sweet potatoes. Quinoa. Oats. Red onion. Black beans. Holy fiber!

Just to cover my bases I want to mention that these would NOT grill well. They are far too moist to withstand the grates of a grill. They would plumet to their death for sure.

4.0 from 1 reviews

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Serves: 10

Ingredients

1½ pounds sweet potatoes
½ cup quinoa
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder or smoked hot paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 small red onion, cut into large chunks
½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 garlic clove
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
flavor-less oil
8 hamburger buns
burger toppings

Instructions

Prepare Sweet Potatoes: Place the sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Roast 40-60 minutes, depending on the size of the sweet potatoes, testing doneness with fork. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and let them cool until you are able to handle them- remove the skins. Set aside to cool completely.
Cook the Quinoa: Rinse quinoa. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to boil. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until tender and all the water has absorbed, about 20 minutes. Set aside.
Grind the oats in a food processor until fine, about 1 minute. Place in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Add seasonings- cumin, chili powder, chipotle powder/smoked hot paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix to combine.
In the bowl of a food processor, place the red onion, cilantro, and garlic clove; pulse 10-12 times or until everything is finely minced. Add to oat-spice mixture.
Make the Burgers: Combine the cooled sweet potatoes and quinoa with oat-spice mixture. With the paddle attachment of your mixer, stir on low to combine (you can also use a wooden spoon and do this by hand if you prefer). Add the black beans and stir to evenly distribute.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
Shape mixture into 4″ patties, about ½ cup each, yielding 10. (To freeze extra: line a sheet pan with parchment; place shaped patties on parchment; cover pan with aluminum foil; freeze; place frozen patties in gallon-sized ziplock bag; defrost overnight in refrigerator as needed.)
In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Cook burgers 3-4 minutes on each side, until well-browned.

Notes

These burgers freeze fantastic!

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adapted from Cookie & Kate

This Weeks Delish!

lmachell — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:00:36 +0000

What a DULL week I had. As productive as I tried to be, the big rain cloud looming over all of Bavaria was like sucking the progress out of my life. I tried to do important things, but all I really managed to do was break through a full season of Alias on Netflix. Well, I guess some would consider that important in its’ own right, but seriously! Enough is enough. The sun is teasing me through the clouds today and I think that might just piss me off enough to get me off my butt. Maybe. Do you know that I haven’t even thought once about what we are going to eat this week!? I think about how I have to go to the grocery store and my mind just sort of goes fuzzy. Who is this person inhabiting my body??? I think I am suffering from a vitamin D deficiency and it is effecting my brains ability to do anything but watch Alias. Oh boy. Better luck next week maybe…

Samoas are my FAVORITE girl scout cookie. Forget Thin Mint. Samoas were its’ at. I made Samoa Bars last year, I should try cute little Samoa Cookies like this sometime. Keep more true to the real thing.

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Dinner? Yes I think so. I’ll let you know what I think of these Healthy Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wraps after I demolish them this weekend.

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This Weeks Pick: Not the easiest week for me to pick a top post for you. I didn’t share any recipes except for the Blueberry Layer Cake (along with my first video recipe!)- the week was full of informational posts about blogging. Sorry about jam packing all the posts into one week, but I wanted to get them published so I could advertise them in sidebar buttons (check them out to your right! ->) and I though- why not do a themed week?? BLOGGING WEEK! Haha not too exciting for those of you that don’t give two figs about blogging, but maybe a few of you found it helpful. I remember when I first started blogging I hated that none of the blogs I read mentioned anything about how they got their blog together. I talk about that experience in My Blogging Journey post. But for right now I am just going to share How to Create a Blog as my post pick for the week. It took A LOT of time to put this together. I wanted to cover all my bases and provide you with enough information to actually understand what it takes to create a blog and give you the ability to create one for yourself. Pretty proud of it, if I don’t say so myself : ) So check it out if you haven’t already!

Blueberry Cake

lmachell — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:00:59 +0000

Whew- I can’t believe this week is finally over! I’ve spent the last two weeks, using every free minute I could find, researching and writing for this past weeks set of informational posts (My Blogging Journey, How to Create a Blog, Blogging Resources and Tips, and All-time Income Report). It probably wouldn’t have taken as long if I could have devoted a regular 8 hour work day to it… but I am a stay-at-home Mom and 8 hours of anything for myself is a long gone dream. You won’t hear me complain about that ever though! I get to stare into my beautiful childrens’ faces all day- even when they are screaming back into mine, it’s still a blessing.

I wanted to end this week with something a little less textbook like and a little more fun! An ordinary recipe post wasn’t going to cut it in my mind. It had to go out in a BANG. There is nothing more exciting and celebratory than a beautiful layer cake! Beautiful being the debated word in this case- I’m quite a second rate cake decorator haha.

But who can resist a layer cake? Unless, of course, you simply don’t like cake or desserts for that matter. I’ve noticed them to be one of the most re-pinned things on Pinterest. And there are all sorts of blogs devoted to just cakes and cake decorating.

Actually ya know what- I think the reign of the cupcake can give the layer cake a run for its money. Cupcakes are the “in” thing right now. Create fancy, custom cupcakes is the cool thing to do now a days. Haven’t you ever seen those reality tv shows solely devoted to cupcakes?? DC Cupcakes, Cupcake Wars…. it just blows my mind.

Seriously? It’s insane. A TV show about cupcakes?

Confession: I just happen to be one of their biggest fans.

Wow, talk about a tangent. Back to this cake! So yes, I decided to do a layer cake because they are exciting. Even more fun than that though? A video! Yup : ) I did my very first video tutorial for today’s post. I can see why people don’t make those more often- they are a lot of work! Between the prep, taping, clean-up, and editing- it was probably a whole two day project. The result was awesome though. Or at least I was happy with it for my first video.

A while back I made some Strawberry Cupcakes and I LOVED the technique used to make them so much that I decided to take the same recipe but turn it into a Blueberry Layer Cake. Fun, right?

You don’t see much in the line of blueberry cake anywhere. It’s always about strawberry. I think that is because most of those recipes are created with a strawberry cake mix and strawberry jell-o. There is no blueberry cake mix or bluebbery jell-o (or is there?). Blueberry cake is pretty much only an option if you want to make a cake from scratch. I’ve actually seen a number of cake recipes that have you fold whole blueberries into the batter like a muffin. Yeah, that works. But I wanted to create a recipe where blueberry was the actual cake flavor.

And then there is the question as to how to frost the cake. Blueberry cream cheese. Oh yeaaaaaaaaaa.

I apologize about the ridiculous number of photos in this post too. Layer cakes are just too pretty to photograph. I had to narrow down my photo choices from like 20 photos that I couldn’t decide between. It was torture. Once I got to 8 photos I just couldn’t go any further. Aside from the grey-ish ting to the cake layers themselves, it is so pretty!

UGH- and sorry about the frost job. Cream cheese frosting is always so soft and hard to work with. Maybe you should try to cut back the cream cheese quantity to 12 ounces (1 1/2 blocks) and keep the confectioners’ sugar the same. That will thicken it up a bit more, not great, but more so than mine was. Plus, the frosting recipe makes for a TON of extra. What to do with it? Make more cake! Haha.

So check out my first video! And while you’re at it, learn how to make a Blueberry Layer Cake hehe

Blueberry Cake

Ingredients

1 (12 ounce) bag frozen blueberries
For the Cupcakes:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups sugar
4 egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
¼ cup blueberry reduction (from frozen blueberries)
1 Tb white vinegar
For the Frosting:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
5 to 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
remaining blueberry reduction
pinch salt

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans or line a regular 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.
Transfer blueberries to bowl, cover, and microwave until blueberries are soft and have released their juice, about 5 minutes.
Place in fine-mesh strainer set over small saucepan. Firmly press fruit dry; discard blueberry solids.
Bring juice to boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until syrupy and reduced to ⅓ cup, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk milk and vinegar into juice until combined; set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to evenly combine. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk mixture (beginning and ending with the flour), beating well after each addition.
For layer cake, bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. For cupcakes, fill cups ⅔ full and bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting: Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix butter and cream cheese on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add 5 cups confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated.
Increase speed to medium-high and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add reserved blueberry reduction and salt and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Add additional 1 cup confectioners’ sugar to thicken frosting as desired. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 2 days.

Notes

This makes A LOT of frosting. You can dial down the cream cheese amount to 12 ounces (1½ sticks) and keep everything else the same, if desired. This will make less frosting and will also make it a little thicker for decorating purposes.

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