Apple Chips

I can't think of a more quintessentially "fall" snack than apple chips.  I love fresh, in-season apples eaten out of hand (or sliced with peanut butter -- best snack EVER) just as much as the next person, but sometimes, you want a crispy-crunchy snack, instead of a crispy-juicy snack, right?  And sometimes you pick WAY too many apples at the orchard, and need ideas for how to preserve your bounty, right?  Also sometimes, you forget about an apple or two in your crisper drawer, and they grow a little mealy and soft, right?  Apple chips for the win!

I have seen bags of apple chips available at the store for what appears to be a ridiculous amount of money.  How much does an apple or two cost, in comparison?  Another one of those situations where it just seems smarter to make this snack yourself -- vastly less expensive, and you get to control the ingredients!  This would definitely fall into the "Sunday afternoon projects" category -- these beauties take a couple hours in the oven, but it's absolutely worth the time, in my opinion.  (Plus, almost all of that time is inactive time -- just slice, spice, and pop 'em in the oven!)  P.S. Your house will smell incredible while these are baking.

I made my first batch of apple chips a few weekends ago, and they kept beautifully in a zip-top plastic bag for quite a while ... not that they lasted that long, though!

Pick up a couple extra apples at the store or farmer's market this week, and make your own apple chips!

Apple Chips

2 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 large apples

ground spices -- cinnamon would be classic, or you could choose a pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, Penzey's Baking Spice or Cake Spice, or chai spice blend (recipe to follow)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Wash and slice the apples 1/8-inch thick.  (Use a mandoline if you have one!)  Pick out any seeds, and arrange the apples on the baking sheets.  Lightly sprinkle the apples with your spice/blend of choice.

3. Bake the apples for one hour and 15 minutes.  Flip the apples, rotate the pans, and continue baking until the apples are dry and crisp, about another hour and 15 minutes.

4. Store your apple chips in a zip-top plastic bag or airtight container.

Chai Spice Blend

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine all of the spices in a small bowl.  Transfer to a clean spice jar with a shaker-top.  Sprinkle on apple chips, oatmeal, yogurt, hot cocoa, a latte ... or add to fall muffin or quick bread recipes in place of or in addition to cinnamon or other warm spices (this would pair beautifully with pumpkin breads, zucchini breads, banana breads, apple muffins or cakes, etc!)

Two-Bean Chili with Buttermilk Cornbread

We have had an absolutely lovely, stunningly beautiful autumn in Minnesota this year.  Weeks and weeks of sunshine, rich fall colors, plenty of crunchy leaves, and highs in the 50s and 60s/lows in the 40s.  We never seem to get weather like this ... our seasons tend to change so dramatically, that we locals say we really have two seasons here -- winter, and road construction.  Most weeks in the springtime, I wear snow boots and flip flops in the same month ... some years in the same week!  Sometimes we get a longer fall season, but often colder temps much earlier.  This year has been a welcome change from regularly-scheduled programming!

This past week, we did have a few colder days, and this weekend has been especially chilly; cold weather just demands chili, don't you think?  Vegetarian chili can almost seem a bit trite at times, because it seems as though most people can scrabble together at least a passable vegetarian chili.  Does vegetarian chili fall into the same category as chocolate and sex?  Even bad vegetarian chili isn't all that bad?  :)


I have tried so, so many recipes for vegetarian chili over the years, loading up the pot with all manner of nutritious add-ins, including kale, cinnamon, sweet potato, bulgur, cocoa powder, TVP, and faux meat crumbles.  After overwhelming my palate one too many times, I scaled back, showed some restraint, and settled on what has proven to be my favorite combo -- a simple chili containing nothing more than a few veggies, minced mushrooms for umami and heartiness, two types of beans, plenty of tomatoes, and straightforward seasonings.  "Keep it simple, stupid."  Yes, yes ... I'm listening this time.

There are so many carby sides one could pair with chili, including rice, tortilla chips, bread, biscuits, pasta, crackers, and even Fritos!  However, cornbread (or corn muffins) are, hands-down, my favorite side for chili.  I'm not much of a dunker when it comes to soups and stews, so I love the soft, slightly sweet, buttery richness a bite of cornbread offers in-between spoonfuls of spicy, hearty chili.  I tend to make a less traditional cornbread, using both all-purpose flour and cornmeal, melted butter, honey, and buttermilk, and I rarely use a cast-iron skillet.  (Honestly, I find the skillet tends to over-bake the edges of the cornbread, resulting in almost chokingly-dry leftovers.  Wah.)  I often make cornbread muffins, as I find they are the best keepers (and freezers!)  However non-traditional my cornbread may be, it's my favorite.

Two-Bean Chili

serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 c chopped red onion

1 c chopped bell pepper (red or green)

2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)

8 oz mushrooms, minced (using a food processor or blender is super fast!)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 cups cooked black beans
2 cups cooked kidney beans
28 oz diced tomatoes (undrained)
splash of water (if needed)
1 tbsp hot sauce (such as Crystal or Cholula), optional

Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart soup pot.  Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño (if using,) and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft.
2. Add the minced mushrooms, chili powder, cumin, and salt, and continue cooking until the mushrooms release their liquid and most of the liquid cooks off.
3. Add the beans, tomatoes, water (if needed -- depending on how thick you like your chili,) and hot sauce, and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Serve with any number of toppings, including (but not limited to) green onions, cilantro, shredded cheese, or sour cream, with cornbread on the side.  Leftover chili freezes well.

Buttermilk Cornbread
makes one 8- or 9-inch pan or 12 to 14 muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 c butter, melted and cooled
1/3 c honey
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk
1 c cornmeal
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease your pan or line your muffin tins.
2. Whisk together the melted butter, honey, eggs, and buttermilk until well blended.  Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt in a second bowl, then add to the wet ingredients.  Whisk together until the batter is well-blended and few lumps remain.
3. Pour the batter into your prepared pan or divide between your muffin cups.  Bake 8- or 9-inch pans for 40 minutes, or muffins for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
4. Cool pans of cornbread well before serving.  Muffins are fine served warm or at room temperature.  Muffins freeze well.

What's your favorite thing to serve with chili?

Kettle Corn

I love popcorn just as much as the next person, (hey, it's a whole grain, after all!) but I also have a SERIOUS sweet tooth.  Sometimes I want a little popcorn for couch time in the evening, but I also want something sweet.  Yes, I could have popcorn AND dessert, but unfortunately, MyFitnessPal wouldn't approve.  :)  Kettle corn is one of those perfect snacks, if you ask me -- salty, sweet, crunchy, caramel-y, and definitely a satisfier of multiple cravings.  Mmmmm....

However, I refuse to pay an arm and a leg for pre-popped kettle corn, either from the Farmer's Market or the grocery store.  Popcorn has to be the cheapest snack on the planet, and is relatively healthy when homemade, so I figured, there HAD to be an easy way to make it at home, right?  Besides, who wants to run to the store every time a kettle corn craving rears its ugly head?  Not I.  (Mostly because kettle corn cravings usually strike me when I'm clad in either sweats or pajamas.  Who wants to get dressed AND run to the store?  Definitely not I!)

All that was required was a quick google search, and homemade kettle corn was MINE!  Thank you, internet.  (More specifically, thank you, Two Peas and Their Pod.)

Kettle Corn

1 serving

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil (I love using coconut oil for popcorn!  It tolerates high heat well, and lends the popcorn a rich, almost buttery flavor.  But use whatever high-temp oil you like!)

2 tbsp popcorn kernels

1 tbsp granulated sugar

fine-grained sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Add the oil and popcorn kernels to your favorite, heavy-bottomed, at least 2-quart pot.  (If you are doubling or tripling this recipe, you'll want to adjust the size of your pan accordingly!)  Heat over medium-high heat until the kernels begin to sizzle in the oil.  (You could also choose to use a popcorn popper, such as a Whirley-Pop or Stir Crazy ... I just don't have one, so I can vouch that the pan on the stove works great!)

2. Sprinkle the sugar over the popcorn and oil, then cover.  Continue cooking, shaking the pan occasionally, until the popcorn pops slow considerably.  Remove the pan from the heat and wait just a few moments, in case you have any stragglers that are about to pop and leap across your kitchen.

3. Dump the popcorn into your favorite serving bowl, salt to taste, and enjoy!  (May I recommend soaking your popcorn pot at this point, to make cleanup LOADS easier later on down the road?)

What is your favorite popcorn topping?  I lovelovelovelove the "Cheddar & Spice" popcorn seasoning from Frontier, which my co-op conveniently carries in bulk.  But now that I know how to make kettle corn, we might have a tie at my house.  :)

Crunchy Tofu Nuggets

Ah, "kid food."  Who doesn't love kid food?  Personally, if I made the rules there would be no such thing in this world as "kid food" -- kids would be exposed to a wide variety of different cuisines (and receive lots of praise from their grown-ups for trying new things,) while adults would be "allowed" to love things like macaroni and cheese, french fries, and crunchy nuggety-type things!

Enter Crunchy Tofu Nuggets.  I based my recipe on this recipe from Fine Cooking, but after careful thought and a couple of trials, I learned my version was MUCH better than the original.  What changes did I make?  For starters, I really wanted to bake these nuggets.  Yes, baking is healthier than frying, but really ... I was motivated by laziness.  I didn't want to stand over a splattering pan of hot oil, likely watching the crispy coating I had so artfully applied to my tofu nuggets disintegrate in the oil (because, you know, I suck at frying things); I also didn't want to clean up said splattering oil from my stovetop.  Baking sheet, parchment paper, cooking spray ... love you guys.

After following the original recipe the first time, I realized Fine Cooking erred on the side of using WAY too much cornstarch, liquid, and breadcrumb for the coating.  Who loves dumping ingredients down the drain?  Not I.  The original recipe also made WAY too much dipping sauce, in my opinion, and could easily be replaced just by a tablespoon or so of extra hoisin sauce.  Love it when things are simpler AND tastier!

I also prefer to use "super firm" tofu these days, because, well ... like I said before, I can be just a wee bit lazy sometimes.  Who wants to spend all that time pressing tofu when you can buy it pre-pressed? Not me, I tell you!  (Plus, the super firm tofu has a little more protein per serving than regular tofu -- a bonus for this slave to MyFitnessPal.)

So, after several tweaks to the original recipe, I'm happy with my version of Crunchy Tofu Nuggets -- and hope you are, too!

Crunchy Tofu Nuggets

serves 2 or 3

Ingredients:

olive oil or cooking spray

one 10-ounce package "super firm" tofu (or regular firm or extra-firm tofu, pressed well)

1/3 c cornstarch

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp prepared hoisin sauce

1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt (divided)

1/4 tsp chili-garlic sauce

3/4 c panko (I like to use a combination of white and whole-wheat crumbs)

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spray or lightly brush the parchment with olive oil.

2. Cut your tofu into sticks, triangles, or cubes.

3. Grab three shallow bowls.  Add the cornstarch to the first bowl.  Whisk together the egg, hoisin, vinegar, oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and chili-garlic sauce, and add to the second bowl.  Combine the panko, remaining 1/4 tsp salt, and pepper in the third bowl.  Visual aid:

4. Bread the tofu: coat each piece of tofu first in the cornstarch, then in the egg mixture, then in the crumbs.  (Helpful tip: assign yourself a "wet hand" and a "dry hand" for this process, because things get frustrating if your hands get all mucky.  I like to remember to keep my dominant hand my "dry hand," because there are more dry steps than wet.)  Arrange the tofu on the baking sheet with plenty of room between each nugget.  Brush or spray the tops of the nuggets with oil.

5. Bake the tofu for about 15 minutes.  Use tongs to flip the tofu pieces, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until your nuggets are golden brown and very crunchy.  Serve immediately, with extra hoisin for dipping and some steamed broccoli (and if you're really feeling the comfort kid-food vibe, sweet potato tater tots, too!)

(Note: leftover nuggets are just okay.  They reheat well enough in the oven, but the coating tends to fall off.  They are not great microwaved.)

I have been loving these for quick dinners for myself, and served them to an omni friend who was also really pleased.  I have been toying with the idea of coming up with a honey-mustard version sometime soon.  :)  What traditionally "kid-food" meals do you enjoy?

Vinegar of the Four Thieves

I am more than a little obsessed with DIY these days.  I started in the kitchen, making as many foodstuffs as humanly possible, and once I was starting to feel confident that I could tackle just about any (vegetarian) recipe I felt like making, (English muffins!  Bagels!  Yogurt!  Ricotta!  Sauerkraut!  Pickles!) I decided it was time to branch out into the cleaning, laundry, and health/beauty territories.  I picked up a copy of Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, and since then, have been dabbling with a variety of homemade things around the house, using both recipes from this book and randomly from google searches.

I make cold process soap.  (I highly recommend this book if you are interested in getting started.)  I make my own deodorant.  I make my own sea salt hair spray.  I make my own hand creams and lip balms.  When I had a dishwasher, I made my own dishwasher detergent.  I make my own powdered laundry soap.  I "make" my own fabric softener (i.e. white vinegar added to the rinse cycle!)  I made my own wool dryer balls.  And recently, I make my own cleaning products!

Now, I keep a tidy house.  I like things to generally be well-organized, put away, otherwise "taken care of."  But a clean house?  Notsomuch.  Don't get me wrong ... I'd love it if I could eat off my floors, but realistically, between the cat and the fact that I HATE to clean, my house is never going to be as spic-and-span as it could be.

However, I've realized that, since I've started using homemade cleaning products, I don't mind cleaning nearly as much as I used to.  There's something satisfying about being able to clean your stove to a sparkling finish with nothing more than borax and a drop of liquid soap, and not choking on toxic fumes while doing so is a definite bonus.

I've been using a diluted vinegar spray to clean the kitchen countertops for a while now, and really like it.  (I especially like that I can just use the dish rag to wipe up the vinegar, since there are no funky smells or chemical residues that would otherwise "contaminate" the dishwater.)  I decided to take a stab at making a batch of "Vinegar of the Four Thieves" for extra disinfecting power (and a delightful, herbal smell, too!)

If you google "vinegar of the four thieves," you'll find any number of websites full of lore related to the concoction, from the super-crunchy granola people (am I one of them?) to websites on witchcraft and spell casting.  Overwhelmed by too much information, (thank you, internet,) I flipped through Making It, stumbling on a simple recipe for general use.  The recipe is easy enough -- steep dried herbs in white vinegar for six weeks, strain, and use (diluted) as a general disinfectant.  Done!

Vinegar of the Four Thieves

yield: about one quart

Ingredients:
2 tbsp each dried lavender, sage, peppermint, rosemary, and thyme
1 quart white or apple cider vinegar (white vinegar is fine for cleaning, or use apple cider vinegar if you want to use the vinegar for salad dressings or health tonic type uses)

Directions:

1. Add dried herbs to a one-quart mason jar.  Fill the jar almost to the top with vinegar.  Cover the top of the jar with a layer of plastic wrap, then the jar lid.
2. Store the vinegar in a cool, dark place (under my kitchen sink worked well,) for six weeks, shaking the jar daily (or as often as you think to!)

3. Strain out the herbs, dilute the vinegar with water (1:1 ratio,) and use as a general disinfectant spray.  Enjoy the lovely pinky-orange color and herbal fragrance!

I admit, I never would have thought that I would be the kind of person who would be making her own soap and cleaning supplies.  What skills and hobbies have you acquired that have pleasantly surprised you?






(P.S. These are not affiliate links in this post.  I don't make any money by blogging; I just like to share good ideas and resources with others.)

Kale Chips

Yes, kale chips.  I admit, I am LATE to the kale chips party.  Like, so late, they've already turned on the lights and someone has started cleaning up.   But, whatever!  Kale chips are nutritious, salty-savory, crunchy, and low in calories, and I'm so glad I finally figured out how to make them, because I've been going through at least a batch per week.  If I had more storage space, I'd probably make a double-batch every week, but well ... those big containers do occupy some prime kitchen counter retail!

When I say "finally figured out how to make them," I'm clueing you in that it was an extensive learning process for something so simple.  The original recipe I followed for kale chips called for baking the chips at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes; sometimes this worked out okay, sometimes this turned into an epic fail.  Some kale bits would still be wilted and soft, while others were beginning to burn around the edges.  (Imagine me making a sad face here.)

Taking a lesson from Lorna Sass's recipe for "Granola, Revisited," I decided the "low and slow" approach might, indeed, be the best way to make kale chips.  I was right!  A 200 degree oven and lots of patience yielded a consistently crispy chip with nary a hint of burned edges.  A perfect Sunday afternoon project for days when you are otherwise hanging out around the house, cooking, cleaning, couching, whatever.

Enjoy.  As far as I'm concerned, better late than never, right?

Kale Chips

3 servings 

Ingredients:

1 bunch curly green kale (I do prefer dino kale for most recipes, but not this one.  I make kale chips only with green kale, because I love how the curly leaves grab hold of the seasonings so well!)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Wash and dry the kale well.  Stem the kale and tear into bite-sized pieces.  (Another reason I love green kale for this recipe is because it tends to grow in lobes that are perfect kale-chip sized pieces.  Easy to tear up!)  Toss the kale with the oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt, until the oil and seasonings are evenly distributed.  (I find it's easiest for me to do this with my hands.)

3. Divide the kale evenly between two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake for about an hour and 20 minutes, turning and rotating the sheets about every twenty minutes or so, shaking the pans.  Check and make sure the chips are completely dry and crisp before removing them from the oven.

4. Cool the chips completely, then store in an airtight container.  Try very hard not to eat the entire batch in one sitting. 

What recipes have you recently discovered that "everyone" has been making for ages?

Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Veggies with Barley-Mushroom Pilaf

As a skilled home cook and someone who gets excited about food on a fairly regular basis, I find myself the recipient of gifts of unusual ingredients at times.  Once, a friend brought me a celeriac for the sole purpose of seeing what I would do with it.  :)  (I made soup.)  I am the frequent recipient of "I bought this and now I don't know what to do with it -- you will!" ingredients, and occasionally, these special ingredients are selected just for me.

Such is the case with the mason jar full of "Purple Prairie Barley" that has been languishing in my cupboards for a year and a half.  While I appreciate the thoughtfulness of this gift ... I don't love barley, (I typically find it too chewy for my tastes,) and rarely cook with it.  I do enjoy using pearled barley in risotto-style meals from time to time, but as a rule, I don't keep barley on hand.  I don't recall ever cooking hulled barley previously, so this extra-special barley was a bit of a stumper.

Googling "recipe purple barley" brought me up short, too -- most of the recipes were for salads, which I'm just not in the mood for right now, and besides, the veggies required for these summery meals are no longer in season.  I also infrequently make "protein-veg-grain" meals, so I rarely am looking for a carb-heavy side dish.

Thinking a little more about barley, I remember that mushrooms are frequently paired with barley, and since I also had a packet of dried porcini mushrooms in my cupboard (which I believe were also a gift!) I decided the two were destined for pilaf territory.

But, what to pair with the rich, earthy, umami-rich pilaf I was dreaming up?  I needed something lighter and brighter, something that would wake up my palate and bring some color and interest to the plate.  Something that would provide contrast in both flavor and texture, without "fighting" the barley.  Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Vegetables to the rescue!

Barley-Mushroom Pilaf

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup hulled barley, soaked for at least 8 hours and drained

1/2 oz dried mushrooms (porcini, shiitake, or a mixture of whatever you like or have on hand)

2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

1 cup finely-chopped onion or leek (white and light green parts)

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt/to taste

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Directions:
1. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil.  Add the dried mushrooms, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft and the broth is infused with mushroomy-goodness.  Strain, reserving both the mushrooms and broth.  Stem the mushrooms (if needed) and finely mince.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent.
3. Add the soaked/drained barley, vegetable broth, and minced rehydrated mushrooms, and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.  (I use a heat diffuser to prevent scorching the bottom layer when I cook most grains, but this is entirely optional, especially if you trust in your stove.)  Check the barley at this point -- if there is excess liquid, remove the lid and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has cooked off.
4. Enjoy!  Leftovers freeze well, if you are so inclined.

Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Veggies
4 servings

Ingredients:
zest and juice of one lemon
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
8 oz tempeh
seasonal vegetables, cubed (I used eggplant, butternut squash, broccoli, and red bell pepper)

Directions:
1. Make the marinade: combine the zest, juice, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, vinegar, and olive oil in a small food processor or blender (or in a mason jar, if you plan on using a stick blender.)  Puree until smooth and emulsified.
2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the tempeh, cover, lower the heat, and steam for 10 minutes.  Remove the tempeh and cool slightly.  Cut the tempeh into cubes, and gently toss with 2 tbsp of the marinade.
3. Toss the prepared vegetables with the remaining marinade.  (You can add the tempeh to the bowl, too, but it can be delicate and crumbly at this stage, so your choice.)  Allow the veggies and tempeh to marinade for at least 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheight.  Dump out the veggies and tempeh onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Remove any delicate veggies (broccoli, asparagus, green onions, etc.) and set aside.  Roast the tempeh and sturdier veggies for 20 minutes.  Stir/flip the tempeh and veggies, add the delicate veggies, and return everything to the oven for 20 more minutes.
5. Enjoy!

I was pleased with how both of these recipes turned out, although I was definitely more pleased with the tempeh and veggies.  Blame the barley.  I just don't LOVE it.  Do you love barley?  I do have a couple cups of Purple Prairie Barley left ... what to do?  Any fabulous recipes to share?

Homemade Pumpkin-Spice Latte

There is a lot going on in the world to do with "pumpkin-spice" these days ... a lot of passion, both for and against the "issue."  Personally, I do enjoy pumpkin/squash foods in the fall, (pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry,) and warm spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves just pair beautifully with the vegetable.  Pumpkin muffins have always been a favorite of mine, (fresh from the oven and spread with softened cream cheese in my perfect world,) and I've been known to make a pumpkin pie in July at least twice.  What's not to like?  Pumpkin-spice just makes sense.  Cooks for centuries have been pairing spice with pumpkin, long before "PSL" became a "thing."  I'm definitely pro-pumpkin-spice!

I also love coffee.  Like, LOVE coffee.  The smell, the taste, the feel of the warm mug in my hands, everything about it.  Even though I quit caffeine earlier this year, I still look forward to that cup of decaf each morning.  As my friend Dora wisely proclaimed, "coffee isn't a beverage - it's an experience."  It's so much more than a jolt of caffeine.  A cup of coffee, (and yes, even decaf,) is a ritual I would be hard-pressed to start my day without!  So, yes, I'm pro-coffee, obviously.

I suppose being pro-pumpkin-spice and pro-coffee makes me pro-pumpkin-spice latte?  I certainly wouldn't call myself Starbucks' #1 fan, (mostly because I really just don't care for their coffee,) but a couple of my coworkers share a passion for the "PSL."  Since I'm too broke right now to pay five bucks for a cup of coffee but not one to be left out of a culinary trend creating this much excitement, I decided to try my hand at making my own "PSL" at home.  Needed to see what all the fuss was about, y'all.

Since I own neither an espresso machine nor a milk frother, I needed to think outside the box a bit and use the tools I had at my disposal.  I have been using a Toddy to brew coffee for years, and figured, Toddy concentrate is a bit like espresso, at least in its level of coffee-intensity.  (Yes, I know . . . Toddy concentrate and espresso really are nothing alike, but since you lose the subtlety of an expertly-brewed espresso shot the second you dump it into a mug full of milk, I don't think anybody will notice, right?)  I also happen to have a Ninja blender, and figured with a few seconds of blending, I'd get a decent froth from heated, whole milk.

Once I figured out how I was going to make a latte at home, I had to resolve the whole pumpkin-spice situation.  Enter, homemade pumpkin-spice syrup:

Pumpkin-Spice Latte Syrup

Ingredients:
3/4 c water
1/2 c granulated sugar
6 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients except for the vanilla in a small saucepan.  Bring to a high simmer, cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Strain the syrup through a cheesecloth-lined strainer.  Stir in the vanilla.  Cool, then store in the fridge.

I then combined 1 tbsp of my homemade Pumpkin-Spice Latte Syrup with 3/4 cup whole milk and 1/4 cup Toddy coffee concentrate, heated the mixture to just below boiling, poured the whole thing in the blender, and blended the heck out of it for a few seconds.  Voila!  A wholesome, homemade, all-natural, organic PSL, brimming with foam.  Delicious, slightly-sweet, creamy, subtly spiced, and a nutritional bargain at 148 calories; if you use unsweetened almond milk instead of the whole milk, you'll enjoy a mere 58 calories!  (Yes, I'm counting . . . forgive me?)  (By the way, almond milk will give you considerably less foam using this method, but it's still delicious.)

I'm glad I hopped on the (homemade) PSL bandwagon.  Won't you join me?

What "trendy" foods have you been enjoying lately?

divorce pickles

(Please note … this is a highly personal post, very little to do with food.  I have debated how much of my news of the past months to share, and in what format, and I decided to share this.  I chose to share quite a bit.  I feel our culture doesn’t talk openly and honestly about marriage, real marital problems, or grief, and here’s what I can do to change that.  Consider yourself warned.  Or skip this post altogether if you don't want to know that much about my life!  Please leave a comment if you feel motivated to do so, but please remember that I am a real person with real feelings; keep comments respectful.  Thanks.)

If I have any readers left at all out there, you may be wondering where I’ve been since my last post in June.  Well … a lot has happened in my life since June.

The short version?  I filed for divorce.  After just over 20 months of marriage.

“What happened?” you wonder?

Well, what do you do when, only a few short months into your marriage, you realize your husband is overwhelmed by your everyday feelings of frustration, fear, anxiety, or stress?  Feelings that every normal person has, most days?

You stop talking about those feelings.  Full stop.  You censor every word that comes out of your mouth for months.  (Let me tell you, bottling things up never works.  Just saying.)

What do you do when, only six months into your marriage, your husband stops having sex with you?

You let him.  You wonder.  You worry.  You start to feel really crappy about yourself.  You try to figure out why.  You start to talk about it.  Carefully.  Tentatively.

What do you do, when, a year into your marriage, you’re feeling ready to be a mom, but your husband still won’t have sex with you?

You try to talk to him about it.  It doesn’t go well.  You keep trying to talk to him about it.  It continues to not go well.

What do you do when your husband tells you you need to be “more independent?”

You burst out laughing in his face, because you are one of the most independent people you know.  This is confirmed by nearly every person you know.

What do you do when your husband takes a night job, 7-days a week, in an effort to “make more money,” but you come to realize, is really in an effort to avoid you?

You push.  You chase.  You text.  You call.  You demand date nights.  You demand dinners together.  You start to panic.  You start to feel afraid.  You no longer trust in the relationship.  You feel alone.

What do you do when, every time you ask your husband how the two of you are going to fix your marriage, his reply is, “just stop talking about it, and things will get better on their own?”

You try to stop talking about it.  But really, you know that’s impossible.  Feelings bubble up.  Things slip out.  You argue.  You scream.  You both act despicably.  You both upset each other.  You both say things you don’t mean.

What do you do when you realize you are in over your head?  That the problems in your marriage are beyond what you are capable of handling on your own?

You find a couples counselor. 

What do you do when your husband physically shows up to counseling but doesn’t say a thing?  When your big, scary feelings go “splat” against the brick wall he has created in your relationship?

You keep going.  You hope for change.  You read four books about marriage, relationships, patriarchy, and male depression.  You begin journaling like a fiend.  You figure some stuff out about yourself.  You think you figure some stuff out about your husband.

What do you do when your husband insists that the only solution to the problems in your marriage is “space?”  That he wants to move out for a month of no contact at all, “just to see if we miss each other?”

You are crushed.  Shattered.

What do you do when you learn that your husband has been having an emotional affair with his ex-girlfriend over email for months?

You grow eerily calm.  You wonder how this happened, because you thought he wasn’t the kind of person that would do something like that.  You wonder whether you knew him at all.  You wonder whether he knows himself at all.

What do you do when your husband refuses to return to counseling after three sessions because “it’s not working?”

You go one last time by yourself, say goodbye and thank-you to your couples counselor, and bike back to work, sobbing.  You feel hopeless.

What do you do when your husband empties your joint checking and savings accounts, leaving you with a cashier’s check for $400?

Your shock and fear cause you to grow angrier than you ever thought possible.  Then, you stop and realize it’s only money, and money really just doesn’t effing matter.  You get new bank accounts, in your name only.  Your parents send you a check, which helps dissipate some of that anxiety about, you know, paying rent and stuff.

What do you do when your husband tells you that marrying you was a mistake?  That your relationship never should have progressed past your “supremely lame” first date?

You are confused.  He was the one who asked you out the first time, (and the second time, and the third time,) he was the one who said “I love you” first, he was the one who proposed, he was the one who was in such a hurry to get married your engagement only lasted for seven weeks.  You are confused, and more hurt than you ever thought you could possibly be.  You are rattled to your core.  Ripped open.  Raw.  Emotionally destroyed.

What do you do when your husband moves out?

You move out, too.  In two weeks.  You find an apartment, sign a lease, borrow money from a friend for the security deposit and first month’s rent, hire movers, get boxes, pack, and get the hell out of that place you shared with your husband.  You find a place that feels safe — a place that’s close to work, close to friends, close to church, close to the places you like to go, like the co-op, the farmer’s market, the library, the coffee shop, and the yoga studio.  A place that feels so familiar, so much like your last apartment as a single person, that you feel like you’ve erased the last three years of your life.  And then you realize that’s the scariest feeling you’ve ever had.  You just erased your marriage.  What “marriage,” though?

What do you do when you realize you had a wedding, but you’ve never really had a marriage?

You seek one out, from the partner you still have, at least on paper.  You call, you text, you email, you make one last effort at rescuing that relationship that was full of promises.  Promises for safety, security, stability, trust, family, future.

What do you do when your husband refuses to take your calls, refuses to answer your text messages, refuses to see you, and answers your emails with one or two words?

You begin grieving.

You go through the stages of grief in your own way, at your own pace, in your own order.  You hop back and forth between the stages, sometimes feeling multiple things in the same day, sometimes feeling multiple things at the same time.  

You deny that it’s happening, assuming he will come to his senses and come home, because coming to terms with the reality that the man who, just 18 months earlier, promised to love you and take care of you forever, now wants nothing to do with you, is too much to take in all at once.  You save your wedding photos, you save his toothbrush.  You know that he doesn’t want a divorce.  You know he still loves you.  You hope, but it fades.

You deal with the anxiety by walking, walking, walking.  (You are bummed that your knees can’t handle running any more, because you miss the feeling of really being able to POUND the pavement.)  Spend as much time with friends as you can possibly stomach as a strong introvert.  Wake up at 5 am, (or 4:45, or 4:40, or 4:30, or sometimes, 3:45,) shrug your shoulders, and start your day.  Return to church choir.  Ride your bike.  Get busy.  Stay busy.  Clean your apartment.  Clean it again.  Sign up for an 8-week professional development class.  Read, watch lectures, chat online with your classmates, write papers.  Learn a TON.  Fill up your brain.  Go, go, go.  Because, what else are you supposed to do with all of that energy?

You deal with the depression by binge-watching all nine seasons of “How I Met Your Mother” in a matter of months.  And then when that show’s over, you start in on “That 70s Show.”  Anything to distract your crazy brain and allow you to escape, for 22 minutes at a time.  You realize that you have to do something to make yourself start eating proper meals again, because the only way you are going to get through this is if you start taking better care of yourself, so you start counting calories.  You eat protein, you eat vegetables.  Smoothies are your new BFF, because you can pack in a bunch of nutrition without actually “eating.”  Smoothies, and for some reason, pita pizzas with green olives.  So many olives.  And egg salad sandwiches, huge bowls of watermelon, tomato and cucumber salads with feta, salt and vinegar roasted chickpeas, and mountains of plain, sliced cucumbers.  Thanks to careful tracking on MyFitnessPal, you lose weight.  (Which is a good thing, since this relationship and marriage helped you gain 25 pounds.)  You read an article about dealing with break-ups, and you become enthralled with the idea of “radical self-care.”  You get a haircut.  You get a pedicure for the first time in 10 years.  You start sleeping again; a few times, you sleep through your alarm and roll into work later than you’d like.  (Thankfully, you have an amazing boss.  As long as you get your work done, it really doesn’t matter what time you get in.)  You take a week-long vacation.  You buy some new clothes.  You start reading books again.  You keep walking, no longer out of freneticism, but because it feeds you.  You try to practice yoga.  You pick up little “treats” for yourself every once in a while.  Like those straw tops for wide-mouth mason jars?  Those somehow hop into your shopping basket at Target, and you just buy them.  This happens a few times with a few different things, and you just don’t have the energy to feel guilty about it.

You deal with the anger by sending scathing emails to your husband about how horribly he treated you.  You shout into his voicemail.  You send demanding, hurtful text messages.  You want him to be in as much pain as you are.  You blame him.  You want him to FEEL how much he’s hurt you.  You want him to suffer.  You put that problem as far outside yourself as you possibly can.  You cry.  A lot.  Because you’re one of those people who cries when she’s angry.  You cry at work.  You cry on the phone to your friends.  You cry in the shower.  You cry while you are eating your breakfast.  You use up all of your handkerchiefs in three days.  (You thank God for toilet paper, because you stopped buying boxes of kleenex years ago.)  You give yourself headaches and stomachaches from crying too much.  You punch pillows, stomp your feet, throw (nonbreakable) things.  (You are, after all, still an adult.)  You surprise yourself by feeling so much rage at the happiness of others — at the others around you who are getting married, buying houses, getting pregnant, having babies.  Doing all of the things you had planned on doing.  You even feel rage towards friends who come to you complaining about their live-in boyfriends or grieving their miscarriages — because, what you wouldn’t give to be in their shoes.  To be living with someone who cared for you, to have children of your own, to be trying for more.  You are appalled by this anger and rage at these people you love, these people who have nothing to do with this relationship you are grieving.  You confess and apologize to these people for this anger, and they forgive you.  They forgive you instantly, and without judgement.  You act just a little bit crazy.  You feel a lot bit crazy.  You cry to your friends that you are just so damn sick and tired of feeling this way.  Deep down, you know that you won’t feel like this forever, so you go ahead and keep crying.  You own that anger, for just a little while.

Yet, you never feel guilty.  This is both puzzling and disturbing.  You know, deep down, that although your behavior has never been perfect, you did everything you possibly could to take as good of care of your husband and your marriage as humanly possible.  You did everything you knew to do to work on yourself.  You know that there’s nothing you can do to fix or change your husband, and you know that you can’t fix your marriage by yourself.  One of your coworkers wisely suggests the only thing you need to feel responsible for is your effort.  Not his behavior, not the results … only your effort.  You know that you did give this marriage everything you had.  This is a relief, and a frustration at the same time.  Not being able to feel guilty kills you, because guilt gives you a sense of control.  And what you crave when you are under extreme stress, more than anything, is control.  You realize you have no control.  You realize that this is happening, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.  Not.  A.  Damn.  Thing.

What do you do when you wake up one morning and realize you’ve had enough?  That you deserve better?  That, indeed, you won’t feel like this forever?  That somewhere, out there, there is a man who can be in emotional partnership with you?  That, with some work, you can be ready for that partnership?

First, you hire a lawyer.  You argue with your soon-to-be-ex-husband about a financial settlement.  At the end of that argument, you get nothing, and end up paying for the whole divorce yourself.  A divorce that, still, deep down, you do not want.  Yet, you still file for divorce.  You plan to return to your maiden name, because you can’t stand the look of your name in print right now.  You start introducing yourself to people as just “Catherine,” because you don’t want to have that whole awkward conversation 15 more times. You cut ties with all of your in-laws, even though you will miss them and they want to keep in contact with you, because you know you have to.  You “unfriend” all of your soon-to-be-ex-husband’s friends on Facebook.  You wish your friends would all un-friend him, but you are too chicken to ask, because it seems petty.  You email your soon-to-be-ex-husband one last time, asking him to never contact you again.  For now, he abides by your request.  You make as clean a break as you can.

Then, you hire a therapist.  You work on yourself.  You work on figuring out why you keep choosing emotionally unavailable men, you work on figuring out why you keep finding yourself in relationship with men who can’t handle your “bad feelings.”  You work on figuring out why you keep choosing men who you can’t need.  You learn.  You grow.  You are driven by your deep desire to be a mom, and feel like you are running out of time.  You prepare to, hopefully someday soon, try again.  Someday soon, you can “do it right this time.”  Because, without hope, what do you have?

So, there’s that.  That’s what happened.

Looking back, you ask yourself, how did you cope?  How are you still coping?

You relied on all of the amazing people you have in your life.  You are grateful for that temporary financial support your family provided you.  You thank the universe for the amazing friends you have.  You grew closer with a couple of acquaintances, and reconnected with a couple of old friends.  You see these new and renewed relationships as an unexpected, amazing, albeit twisted silver lining in all of this mess.  You realize how lucky you are to have such an amazing employer, boss, and coworkers.  You thank the universe that going to work every day was a solace at this time of crisis.  You are so grateful that your coworkers asked you how you were, listened, let you cry in their cars in-between home visits, and told you that it’s okay to not be okay.

You started to take better care of yourself.  You ate beautifully, you exercised, you meditated, you journaled, you read, you sang, you did things that fed your spirit.  People that haven’t seen you in a while keep exclaiming that you look “amazing!”  You laugh to yourself, because it’s nice to fool someone; you sure don’t feel amazing.  (Yet, anyway.)

And, you made pickles.  “Divorce pickles,” as you’ve come to think of them.

Why?

Because every good foodie finds time in the kitchen therapeutic.  In the ritual, healing effects of shopping for, preparing, and enjoying a beautiful meal, you find solace.  Measuring, pouring, mixing, combining, heating, cooling … that delicate balance of chemistry and creativity that, with some labor and attention to detail, allows ingredients to combine to make something all-together spectacular.

You find peace in chopping vegetables.  LOTS of vegetables.  You decide to go through your copy of “The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” and flag every single pickling and canning recipe you’ve ever wanted to try.

And you make them ALL.  You make trips and trips to the farmer’s market.  You haul 50 pounds of tomatoes home on your bike.  You run back and forth to ACE Hardware for more jars.  More lids.  More jars.  More lids.  More jars.  You special-order a jar of magical white granules called “pickle crisp,” and you add them to your pickles.  Because you love nothing more than a crisp, well-chilled pickle.  You buy a 12-quart stockpot for tomato sauce and applesauce.  You nickname that stockpot “big red.”  You jump for joy when you remember your mom brought you her food mill when she came to visit last summer, and you never gave it back.

You fill your built-in dining room cabinets with your home-canned produce.  You keep telling yourself it’s okay, because you’ll just take pickles to every work potluck for the next two years.  You keep telling yourself it’s okay because you LOVE pickles.  Because you won’t have to buy canned tomatoes for two years, at least.  Because you’ll start baking a ton to use up all that applesauce.  Canned food keeps, right?

You make …

7 quarts of extra-garlic dill cucumber chips

7 quarts of tomato sauce

more than a gallon of sauerkraut

14 pints of diced tomatoes 

11 pints of applesauce

7 pints of dilly beans

7 pints of pickled beets

7 pints of dilly carrots

5 pints of pickled roasted red peppers

5 pints of pickled banana peppers

7 pints of jardiniere

9 8-ounce jars of Vietnamese carrot and daikon pickle

and 7 8-ounce jars of pickled red onions

You laugh a little, because your soon-to-be-ex-husband never cared for pickles.  Touché.

You survey your stash, feeling a huge sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, yet regret not making pickled asparagus or pickled okra.

Oh well.  There’s always next year.  :)

Next year, things will be different.  Next year, you will have time for pickled asparagus and pickled okra.  And new relationships.  To quote your church choir director, “we try it again.”  

Indeed.  You will try it again.  

Until then, you’ll eat pickles.

Salad of Randomness

Yes ... we've all made a Salad of Randomness before.  And I'm sure we can all agree they are always good, right?  :)  Nobody really needs a recipe for Salad of Randomness ... why blog about it, you ask?  Well, I think we foodies need to remember that sometimes it's okay to just throw a bunch of food in a bowl and call it supper.  (I know I need that reminder from time to time!)

Salad of Randomness

Ingredients:
Greens (mesclun, mixed leaf lettuces, romaine, spinach, arugula, finely shredded kale, etc.)
Vegetables (anything raw or lightly steamed that you have on hand -- clean out the crisper!)
Fruits (fresh or dried, if you like a little sweet with your salty)
Protein (beans, tofu, tempeh, seitan, hard-boiled egg, cheese, mock meats -- again, clean out your fridge!)
Dressing (oil and vinegar, something deliciously homemade, or whatever bottled dressing you like)
Crunchy toppings (nuts, seeds, coconut bacon, croutons, etc.)
Other good stuff (olives, capers, etc.)

Directions:
Throw all of your salad ingredients in a bowl.  (Or artfully arrange them.  You choose.)  Eat!

For supper tonight, I enjoyed a Salad of Randomness containing mixed red and green lettuces (from the farmer's market,) radishes (also from the farmer's market,) cucumber, carrot, leftover steamed asparagus (FM again,) Craisins, toasted sliced almonds, half a breaded mock-chicken patty, a drizzle of poppyseed dressing, a little coconut bacon, and a few croutons.  Colorful, healthy, filling, and delicious!

If you were to make a Salad of Randomness right now, what would be in it?

Crepes with Asparagus and Cheese

I began learning the French language in 6th grade, and continued all the way up through college, declaring a minor in French.  I learned how to make crepes in high school, and often brought them to French class parties, separated between layers of waxed paper, layered in one of my mom's large Tupperware containers.  We would smother our crepes in strawberry jam and Nutella, or fill them with chocolate mousse, and finish them off with whipped cream and powdered sugar.  French club would sell crepes at the school's winter carnival, cooking them "to order" with our teachers' electric crepe pans.  (I still kind of want one of those ... I loved flipping the domed griddle over, dipping it in the cake pan full of batter, and turning it back over just in time to flip the paper-thin, expertly browned crepe, ready to be cooked on its second side.)

I have long since lost my ability to read, write, or really even speak the French language, (tragedy, I realize ... a skill I could one day regain, if I so chose -- right up there with my ability to read bass clef,) but my love for crepes remains.  Strange that I have a tendency to forget about crepes, isn't it?  However, last night I remembered these beauties work just as well in savory pairings as in sweet.  I had picked up a bunch of asparagus at the farmer's market, we always seem to have some cheese, butter, and eggs hanging around, and there was some milk lingering in the back of the fridge for too long, about to expire.  Sounds like the makings of an excellent dinner!

Crepes with Asparagus and Cheese
yield: 12 to 16 crepes, depending on size

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick,) melted, plus more for the pan
2 cups + 2 tbsp milk
pinch salt
steamed asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, and/or sautéed spinach
shredded cheese (Gruyere would have been amazing, but cheddar was what we had on hand)

Directions:
1. Make the crepe batter.  You can whisk all of the ingredients together vigorously in a large mixing bowl, or alternately, blend the ingredients using an electric mixer or blender.  (I used my blender -- this works really well.  You will get a beautifully light, bubbly, perfectly blended batter.  I had to pause a couple times in the blending and scrape down the sides -- sometimes lumps of flour get stuck.)

2. Preheat a nonstick frying pan or crepe pan over medium to medium-high heat.  You want the pan hot enough to brown butter on contact, but not so hot that it burns.

3. Make yourself a butter "crayon" with an extra half-stick of butter --

(Yes, that's a technical term.  Ha.)

4. Use your butter crayon to lightly butter your preheated pan.

(If it's especially hot in your kitchen, which it was in mine last night, you may need to stick your butter crayon on a plate in the fridge in-between uses, or you'll end up with a puddle.)

5. Pour in 1/4 to 1/3 cup of crepe batter, depending on the size of your pan.  Pick up the pan, tilt and swirl, until you get a thin, even layer of batter covering the pan.

6. When the first side of the crepe begins to brown and look "lacey," flip and cook the second side.  (I find a long silicone spatula works well for me; use whatever works best for you!)

7. After the second side browns in spots, flip it back over and sprinkle cheese down the middle.  Allow the crepe to cook for just a few more seconds, to help melt the cheese.

8. Transfer the crepe to a plate, fill with asparagus, and fold!

You can choose to garnish with more cheese, sautéed mushrooms in their juices, a sprinkling of chopped fresh chives, or if you are feeling really indulgent, hollandaise.  :)  (Wouldn't that be tasty!?!)

9. Continue cooking until you have used up all of your crepe batter, re-buttering the pan before adding more batter each time.  (Or, if you are feeding only one or two people for dinner, cook all of the crepes and fill only the last four.)  Pile up the crepes on a plate in-between layers of parchment or waxed paper (otherwise the butter you cooked them in will solidify in storage, glueing your crepes together forever,) cool, then cover and refrigerate.  Crepes reheat beautifully in a warmed skillet or even the microwave!  (I have also had good success freezing them -- just get them wrapped really well in plastic wrap and sealed tightly in a Ziploc bag, otherwise you'll end up with dry, crispy edges upon thawing and reheating.)

What are your favorite crepe fillings?  Although I love them savory, as we enjoyed them for dinner last night, I love them more leftover the next day, cold from the fridge, smeared with homemade strawberry jam, folded into quarters, and dusted with powdered sugar.  (Ahem ... second breakfast, anyone?)