Satisfying a sweet tooth with whole foods

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Lesley

Anyone who has read much of this blog knows that I have quite a baking addiction. And a sweet tooth.

So the first few weeks of this challenge were rough. I missed baking with nice soft fluffy flours and sweet, sweet sugar and lovely chocolate. But, I stuck to it, and I experimented with a few recipes (with some extreme failures) and then I tried a few new ones.

I made these cookies for a family tailgate event a week ago, and they were a hit. Sweet, chewy and nutty, with a nice maple undertone. You can’t even tell that they’re healthy (at least, as healthy as cookies can be) – whole wheat flour, oats, natural sweetener, etc.

I adapted this recipe from Relish (whole grain flour, less sugar, eliminated extract, subbed honey for corn syrup).

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

2 2/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/4 cups palm or natural sugar

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

2 cups chopped toasted pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk the first six ingredients together in a large bowl.
Heat the butter, maple syrup and honey on low until it melts.
In a heat-proof bowl (or pyrex measuring cup) combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the baking soda is dissolved. Mix into the melted butter mixture.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and then stir the pecans into the mixture.
Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough, form into balls, and place on the cookie sheet — they’ll spread a little while baking, so leave at least an inch in between.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Breakfast on the go, time two

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Lesley

Breakfast has, by far, been the easiest meal for following the challenge rules. I’m one of those people that MUST have breakfast. My day doesn’t feel like it’s started without it, and I’m pathetically inclined to get cranky a few hours into the day if I skip it. That said, time is at a premium before I head out the door to work, so anything I can prep in advance and grab on the way out the door is wonderful.

I found two great recipes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, that with very slight tweaks (subbing in a whole grain in place of wheat germ or whole grain flour in place of all-purpose), are perfectly challenge-friendly, very tasty and ready to grab on the way out the door.

First up – Almond Date Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup pitted chopped dates

3 tbl whole wheat flour

1/3 cup milled flax seed

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup almond butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup honey

freshly grated orange zest

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper, taking care the the paper extends up all the sides.

2. Combine the first seven ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.

2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl (I just used my liquid measuring cup so I didn’t have to scrape it out repeatedly).

3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix until coated.

4. Press the mixture into the pan evenly. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until lightly golden.

5. Let the bars cool until they feel more solid than crumbly (putting them in the fridge once they’ve cooled to room temperature might help). Remove from pan and cut into nine squares.

Next – Maple Oat Granola

I like to throw this on top of Greek yogurt (sweetened with a little honey on the bottom of the bowl)

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup flax seed mill

2 tbl olive oil

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 cup or more maple syrup

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg white

1 1/2 cups dried fruit (cherries or berries seem to work best)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix all the ingredients but the egg white and fruit until well combined.

3. Whisk the egg white until it’s slightly foamy, them add to the mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

4. Spread in an even layer in the pan.

5. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Check 20 minutes in and turn sections of the granola if they appear to be brownings (I’ve never remembered to do this, and they’ve turned out fine.

6. Once light golden brown on top, remove from oven and let cool.

7. Sprinkle with fruit, then remove from pan (breaking it up as much as you want) and transfer to an airtight container for storage.

Even after the challenge is over, I think I’ll be making both of these on a regular basis.

Packing it all in

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Mary

So, I’m getting married.

That’s exciting.

Also, I have to live with a boy. That’s….different. I love my fiance and I can’t wait to start a life together. But I own my place (and love it) so we’ll be starting life here. In a one bedroom condo. With two people.

And 2.5 closets.

And two adults worth of stuff.

The biggest win we were going to get was squeaking out some more storage from the hall closet…which is the only real closet, other than the bedroom.*

Its in the middle of the house, in the teal hallway between the bathroom and dining room doors. It used to hold all my sheets and towels, before this happened. Plus all my coats, and extra craft supplies, and cereal when I buy too much. Winter boots. My sleeping bag. Randomness. But all of it–there’s nowhere else to go. And it was in pretty rough shape:

(That was embarassing). After I found new homes for the linens, I never really figured out a good or efficient use of the shelves. Everything in there was just the leftover random stuff from when my sister and I both moved (I got all of both of our stuff). So it wasn’t being used very efficiently. And now that there are two of us, we have more storage needs:

my crafting supplies
his suitcase (he travels several times a month, this has to be very easily accessible–not the basement or a top shelf)
his tools (he’s got way more than I do)
cleaning supplies (realistically, these are his. I’m a terrible housekeeper)
extra shoes (realistically mine. I think he has like four pairs. I have…more than that.)
all the random stuff listed above, like pantry supplies, extra paper towels when we buy in bulk, sleeping bags

And of course, this is still both the coat closet and the broom closet so we need to keep that space too.

No biggie right?

The junk in there wasn’t going to cut it; we needed real shelves. Sturdy ones. And a spot for the suitcase. Oh, and this closet is only 29.5 inches wide. We didn’t want to waste an inch, so our solution wasn’t going to come off the shelf. So we decided to build it out ourselves (Boyfriend finished his whole basement in his old house, so he was ready to go for this project).

We talked and I made lists, we talked some more and I made sketches. We measured, and measured again, and made more sketches. We pulled everything out, til we were left with this:

Two shelves, a broom organizer, a rod, and a ribbon hanger. (Believe it or not, this closet was even worse when I moved in. There was a single 24 inch deep shelf and a hanging rod in the back.)

The good news is, this closet is DEEP, so there is enough room for some pretty substantial shelves, even with coats hanging in the front part of the closet. After all our sketches, and lots of math on my part, we felt pretty good about our plans. So we finished ripping everything out of the closet, and then I got to work with a tape measure.

We scoped out Home Depot and found 2 x 4 sheets of laminate (we went to the city Home Depot, which has a smaller selection, because they also have a Home Decorators Collection). And then we finalized our plan, and headed for the bigger Home Depot–our design would require SEVEN sheets of laminate, with more than a third as scrap because of our 29.5 width. Luckily, they sold 4×8 sheets, meaning we would need only one, plus a smaller sheet to make all six shelves, plus two half shelves and the center support.

Since we were using irregular measurements (to accommodate all the things listed above) and wanted to permanently install the shelves (no adjusting), I wanted to be sure they matched what we wanted. In addition to remeasuring a whole lot of cereal boxes and various tools, I did this:

The shelf at the top was placed on the only existing supports we were keeping so we wanted to make sure there was enough space at that top shelf. The tall shelf near the bottom is the sturdiest one since it goes above the half shelf at the bottom (making room for the suitcase) and is for tools. The other tall shelf is for cereal and other pantry goods.

Those were my key contributions to the closet. I started unpacking some of the boxes (the movers don’t come until next week but we’d been bringing over boxes of stuff weekly to start moving him in) and organizing the kitchen–its a one person closet, and this was Mike’s deal now.

He got it to here:

And then it was time to paint. It was dingy and ugly, and also kind of cream, which looked even worse with white melamine shelves. So we primed it (with, um, oil based primer because I can’t read and then we didn’t have mineral spirits so we had to go to the store with me covered in paint because I had no way to get it off BUT) and then talked paint. Since we had to go to the hardware store, I really wanted to paint the back of the closet a fun color. I thought it would be cool. And its a small wall, so a test pot would get us there. Except not at the true value, where they sell only itty-bitty testers and in tiny little pots. I was thinking of buying a quart, but really, so not worth it. Its for a closet. And then the salesman was all, can I help you, we have oops paint. So we got a $5 oops GALLON of this:

He was against it, then offered to paint the whole thing that color (yikes!), and now thinks its fun too. Win! We also got iron-on edging for the laminate so it looks more finished, and he wanted electricity (to charge all his tools) so he did this:

Its an adapter for the light that includes outlets, so you leave the fixture always on, and then put the bulb below with a second string so the light isn’t always on. Then he tacked an extension cord into place. It isn’t in the back because we’re too short to reach the back corner (ever. You should have seen us trying to paint).

Then in went the broom holder and the coat rod, and we started to load stuff back in:

The suitcase fits perfectly, the little shelves next to it are for extra shoes, the bottom is for boots, then we have tools, food and cleaning supplies, more food, picnic stuff. All sorts of fun. It doesn’t look this empty anymore; we’ve moved in more boxes, and its filling up (although not packed). And the rod has coats on it, because we have nowhere else to put our coats.

I’m sure those of you with houses (and lots of closets) feel sorry for us right now, but we’re really proud of how well we’ve made the space we do have work for us. This closet now packs a huge storage punch, holds brooms and dustbusters (you can’t see it in pictures, but on the left side where the brooms are, he wall mounted the dustbuster above the door, where it charges too), has his suitcase easily accessible, holds all of our coats and plenty of extra stuff. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually but right now I keep opening the closet and looking.

We made a few small-but-awesome tweaks to our bedroom closet too, which I’ll share once the house calms down enough to accomplish anything.

*I have a front hall closet, but it only looks real:

It’s actually only about 9 inches deep. It has hooks inside. I’ll share it sometime, because I think I’ve packed a lot into it. But it isn’t even deep enough for hangers, let alone lots of stuff.

How many closets do you have? Do you love organizing closets as much as I do?

Red Lentils and Potatoes with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Lesley

I’ve been doing a 100 Days of Real Food Challenge with my cooking group. No processed food, no refined sugars or flours, etc. Basically, it means eating as close to what Mother Nature provided as I can realistically get. Pretty challenging, as it turns out. Some things, like eating whole grain instead of refined grains, are easier, while others, like trying to bake without refined sugars, is pretty hard (totally changes the texture). I’m mostly doing it out of solidarity with the group – some people are trying it as a real lifestyle change, to eat healthier.

One thing I like about it, is that it challenges me to try new ingredients and new recipes, and I’ve discovered some new dishes that I really enjoy – like this red lentil dish.

Red Lentils and Potatoes with Spicy Tomato Sauce

1 small yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
5 small red potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup red lentils
5 ripe tomatoes or 1 15 oz can organic tomatoes
1 bunch collard greens or kale
about 2 cups water (or vegetable stock)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

If using fresh tomatoes, dice them, reserving the seeds and juice along with the pieces.
Scrub and finely dice the potatoes. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a 4-5 qt pan over medium heat, add the seasoning, and sauté the potatoes, onion and garlic until the onions start to soften.
Rinse and sort the lentils, if necessary, and add to the pan. Stir in the tomatoes. Add enough water to cover the ingredients in the pot. Cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.
Rinse and slice the greens into ribbons. Add to the pot when the 30 minutes are up, stir in, and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are fork tender and the lentils are soft and fluffy.
Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Pinterest Challenge: Herringbone Art

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mary

It’s Pinterest Challenge time*! This great opportunity to stop pinning and start doing is hosted by Sherry and Katie and is always a ton of fun.

Apparently DIY art is my favorite thing, and I needed something big to fill the wall in my dining room…here’s what I came up with:

There’s a very popular pin of a painting all over Pinterest….I thought it was ok, but the colors aren’t really my first choice.

The first DIY spin on this I saw was Amanda’s using art by her kids:

I just had to do one of my own. I’ve been looking for something to replace my large/boring/generic/beige hand-me-down art from my dad in the dining room and this seemed like the perfect choice. Plus, she did it with her kids—so cute.

Then I remembered I don’t have kids. First I thought about getting some of my students to make me art, but I didn’t get around to it. Then I realized it could be my activity at my birthday party! (You know how when you’re a kid you have an activity at your party? And then you grow up and you mostly just drink? I missed that memo. I don’t drink, but I have to have an activity.)

As soon as people finish their ice cream, tell them, “Now you have to make my birthday present!”
Give them watercolors that your mom brought and some paper. Show them the picture above. Tell them you are going to cut it up and that you’d like them to use colors that match your curtains (only three people will actually listen, but its still worth a try).
Have them paint.

4. Let paintings dry. Ideally for a month. You want to make sure they are really, really dry. (You may also just be disorganized.)

5. Figure out what size you want your pieces to be. Especially if people drew actual pictures, smaller is probably better.

: 3 sizes I considered. A 1:3 ratio looked best to me.

6. Once you decide on your pieces (I did 1×3), measure out on the backs where to cut. Set aside any that you will not want uniform pieces of—basically anything that was a thing (like a tree) and not abstract.

7. SPECIAL CUTTING TIP: I measured out one inch increments on one side and three inch on the other. If you have extra on one side, which you likely will, make your marks there and DON’T cut all the way through. You’ll end up with strips attached across the top. Then you can line it up and cut once to get several pieces, which saves a ton of time.

Measure the dimensions along two edges. If you use a paper cutter, you won’t need to extend the lines. Cut MOST (but not all) of the way across, so you have a fringe.

When you slice across the mostly-cut strips, you’ll get your pieces. Much faster than cutting strips into individual pieces.

8. Cut, cut, cut.

9. Start playing. Lesley did this while I was still cutting and measuring.

10. Get ready to do this for real. My mat left a space that was 19.25”x27.25”, so I measured out a 20”x28” box on a large piece of white paper. I also sorted the pieces a little bit, mostly by color intensity.

: Ruler, pencil, scissors, strips. And, um, toes.

In retrospect, I wish I had set aside a piece or two of everyone’s to make sure they all made it in. Pretty sure I was successful, but not positive.

11. Decision time: Do I want to orient the herringbone vertically or horizontally? (Horizontally. It’s a big wall)

12. What angle looks right? (I’m using math in real life! First I measured everything and now I need to find an angle!!!) [Spoiler: its 45 degrees. Lame. Although sensible.]

13. Play. Lesley’s playing above helped a lot here. It was also interesting to see how the art changed when I was looking at a photo instead of the real thing.

14. Once I had a layout I liked, I needed to stick it down. It will be behind glass, so I was hoping I could just double sided tape. I used American Crafts tape runners, which I very highly DON’T recommend. Very annoying.

15. Leave it on your floor while you go on vacation.

16. Restick some pieces because you used cheap adhesive (thanks AC), stick it behind glass, and get it on a wall! Everyone loves it and I love that so many people who are important to me are represented in all the pictures.

I’ve seen other cool takes where you use one large piece of art and cut it in that pattern and then restick it, or where you use a pre-existing painting and tape out the herringbones. Just look for herringbone art on pinterest for some other equally-awesome takes.

Check out the other projects linked up by the hosts Emily, Katie, Sherry and Renee:

And my other Pinterest Challenge Projects:

Ring Around the Artwork

Childhood Favorites Art

Map-Lined Drawer

What did you do? Do you share my desire for making tons of homemade art (there is tons more that weren’t Pinterest Challenges…I don’t know what’s wrong with me!)

Trading Spaces

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Mary

Ok, not actually trading spaces…just adding another person.

Mike’s moving in. Furniture drama aside (we have WAY too much stuff), we are in mostly good shape. I’m sad that my mantel won’t look like this much longer:

The mirror will be moving above the console, replaced by a (gulp) 58 inch TV. For a girl who doesn’t actually watch tv at all. But stuff we’re ok with. We can combine, and weed out and all that with technology (mostly his) and office supplies (mostly mine) and kitchen stuff (a mix). But not clothes. I do the whole sweatshirt-stealing thing sometimes, but for the most part we can’t share that stuff. And we have different interests, and other stuff that needs to share space.

And 2.5 closets. Total. (We’re working on that one, and I’ve got some great progress to share.)

Mike’s a consultant, which means he travels fairly frequently, and his suitcase needs to be accessible. He’s a pretty handy guy (lucky me!) and he’s got a good number of tools. Many of them can go in the basement, but not everything. Oh, and he’s in computers (well, networking) and so has a ton of cables and cords and the like. And I could be way more efficient with my craft supplies. Enter:

Sigh. Be still my heart. And if that’s not enough, we paired it with this:

It’s awesome. We got the flat file cabinet the day before we got engaged (and he made me put most of it together by myself, telling me he had “errands”), and the hutch the following weekend. They’re amazing. So amazing I will obviously talk more about them later.

So, for now at least, forgive me for being scattered. I’m hoping to get it together this week, but if not, next week for sure. This Friday my students have their AP Exam (I teach an AP class) and then the following Friday is moving-in day (although we’ve already done a lot, its mostly just the movers dealing with actual furniture). But then? Down to two preps without much to do in AP, and for the next three weeks mostly out of the room while my resident (student teacher) has his final training wheels go at things. Although the camera just went to Hawaii on a 2 week vacation with my photographer, so quality is probably going to suffer here.

Any big changes for you? Do you know anyone who has my awesome cabinet? I’ve been visiting them in the store for a year now, and was so excited to justify it!

homemade•handmade

Monthly Archives: May 2013

Satisfying a sweet tooth with whole foods

Ingredients

Directions

Breakfast on the go, time two

Packing it all in

Red Lentils and Potatoes with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Pinterest Challenge: Herringbone Art

Trading Spaces