Kayleigh's Dinner

Honey Wheat Bread Nothings cheers me up like a clean apartment...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:41:47 -0700

Honey Wheat Bread

Nothings cheers me up like a clean apartment and the smell of fresh bread wafting from the oven. This bread smells and tastes heavenly and is super easy to make! It tastes good as toast with jam or as sandwich bread. Basically, this bread rocks and you should make it asap.

1/2 Tbs active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/6 cup honey (2T+2t)
1/6 cup oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm water, then add honey. Add the salt, oil, and the whole wheat flour and stir until combined. Slowly work in the all purpose flour and then knead on a floured surface for 10-15 min or until the dough is stretchy and smooth. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until it has doubled in size (about 45 min). Punch the dough down and put into a greased loaf pan. Let the dough rise until it is about an inch above the top of the pan. Bake for 25-30 min. Let rest for 5 min, tak the bread out of the pan and continue to cool. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Ricotta Pancakes with Brown Butter Cinnamon Glaze This...

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:38:10 -0700

Pumpkin Ricotta Pancakes with Brown Butter Cinnamon Glaze

This past weekend I made these pancakes for a Sunday breakfast and they turned out amazingly good! They were so moist and flavorful, topped with the sweet buttery glaze made these pancakes over the top good. Andrew said these were the best pancakes he had ever had (and I consider him a connoisseur of pancakes). I got the recipe from Taste of Home, I would definitely recommend it to anyone yearning for some pancakes.

Pumpkin Curry Its pumpkin season! AKA my favorite season. I have...

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:31:58 -0700

Pumpkin Curry

Its pumpkin season! AKA my favorite season. I have been making pumpkin baked goods and oatmeal for a few weeks now but tonight was the first time I made a pumpkin meal. It turned out quite delicious if I do say! Filling, balanced, and nutritious! Peeling and dicing the pumpkin was a lot of work but it was definitely worth it in the end. I decided to reward myself after a week of midterms and break proposals with a full day of grocery shopping and cooking! I paired this curry with some tandoori spiced salmon and a mango lassi! It was so delicious!

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 can of chickpeas
1 cup brown basmati rice
1 can coconut milk
3 T curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
2 T coconut oil (or canola or whatever)
1 small onion, diced

Cook the rice according to directions, either in a rice cooker or stovetop. Heat oil and spices until fragrant. Add diced onion and saute until translucent. Add pumpkin and chickpeas and stir until it is coated with curry mixture. Add coconut milk and cook until pumpkin is tender. Stir in the rice and serve warm.

Spinach Artichoke Dino Pasta So I finally used the organic...

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:33:14 -0700

Spinach Artichoke Dino Pasta

So I finally used the organic dinosaur pasta that my boyfriend got me in Germany! But instead of putting and equally childish sauce on top of it, I made this classy spinach artichoke pesto sauce! I feel that this pasta embodies the classic Britney Spears hit, “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Women”. I propose that all fancy sauces be served on dinosaur or spongebob pasta because they just always put a smile on your face! Also this sauce was super easy! Although I usually like to use fresh ingredients, its always good to have some frozen veggies and canned tomatoes on hand when you don’t have time to go grocery shopping.

Ingredients

1 jar of Pesto Sauce
1 bag of frozen artichoke hearts
1 bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
1 box of pasta, cooked al dente

Combine the pesto, fire roasted tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and spinach in a large pan. Cook until warmed through and delicious looking. Serve over pasta and top with parmesan cheese!

Mexican Beer Bread I am on a beer bread kick this month! Last...

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:01:44 -0700

Mexican Beer Bread

I am on a beer bread kick this month! Last week I made guinness cheddar chive bread, and this week I moved onto a Mexican-Southwestern theme. This bread is the result of a Mexican Fiesta that my apartment had last weekend that left us with lots of leftovers in our fridge. This bread has a great mix of flavors: spicy, sweet, and sour and it is so easy to throw together! Quickest quick bread ever! This recipe was adapted from the Kitchn.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups flour
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 Jalapeño, seeded and diced
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
1 12 oz. bottle Corona
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Whisk together the dry ingredients then pour in beer and lime juice. Mix until combined. Fold in jalapeño, zest, corn, and 3/4 cup of the cheese. Spread in the loaf pan and top with melted butter. Bake in the oven for 30 min, sprinkle with rest of cheese, then bake for another 15 min or until done. Voila! A mexican fiesta in a pan!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies I am a stress baker. When...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:28:55 -0700

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

I am a stress baker. When I get stressed, I stop doing productive stuff and instead create delicious cakes, cookies and breads. So naturally my first response to my quantum midterm next monday was to make cookies. Naturally.

I used a recipe from How Sweet It Is and it turned out wonderful! Nice big, fat cookies! The recipe is for only chocolate cookies but I used half chocolate chips, half raisins. Next time I make them i am going to do cranberries and white chocolate chips! Yum!

Kimchi Stew with Rice and a Fried Egg Today’s soup is...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:00:33 -0700

Kimchi Stew with Rice and a Fried Egg

Today’s soup is brought to you by leftover vegetables. This hearty, spicy stew is fantastic served over rice and topped with a fried egg! You can really use whatever vegetable you have on hand. The only thing you really need is some low sodium vegetable broth and a jar of kimchi! This soup is perfect for bringing in the fall weather!

Ingredients

2 boxes of low sodium vegetable broth
1 jar of kimchi
2 zucchini, sliced
1 eggplant, cut into one inch pieces
2 carrots diced
1 block of tofu diced into 1/2 inch pieces
rice
fried egg
scallions

Combine kimchi and broth in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add carrots and let cook until almost tender. Add eggplant, tofu, and zucchini and cook until eggplant is done. Serve over rice and top with a fried egg and scallions, or omit the egg for a vegan option.

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte So I know in the picture it just looks...

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:24:00 -0700

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte

So I know in the picture it just looks like an ordinary cup of coffee, but I assure you this warm mug of fall flavors is extraordinary. I recently had a soy pumpkin spice latte from Peet’s and I was overwhelmed by how sweet it was! I realized part of the problem was that they use sweetened soy milk on top of the already over sweet sugar syrup. So this morning I set out to create my own, without an espresso machine, without all the sugar, and without the dairy. I must say, the results were quite tasty!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp espresso powder
1 Tbs agave nectar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 heaping tsp pumpkin puree

Combine agave nectar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice in a small microwaveable bowl, microwave for 15 seconds and stir until pumpkin is evenly combined. Add in espresso powder and stir. Warm the almond milk and stir in the pumpkin agave syrup. Add coffee. Stir. Enjoy.

Easier, cheaper, tastier, and healthier than the Starbucks version! Its a win-win.

Cheddar and Chive Guinness Bread This bread is so good. It is...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:56:31 -0700

Cheddar and Chive Guinness Bread

This bread is so good. It is most definitely a guilty pleasure, there is quite a lot of cheese, butter, and beer involved. But that makes it amazingly good! And it gets even better the next day…I didn’t even think that was possible! I made this bread with my boyfriend, and as he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he loved it! I used mild cheddar cheese in this recipe because that was all that I had on hand but I would recommend using a sharp cheese. The intense flavor of the guinness sometimes overshadowed its cheesy-ness. I am really hoping to try variations of this recipe with corona, monterey jack, and jalapeños or other combinations of cheeses and spices! I used a recipe from the Kitchn and it was fabulous!

Why are you so cool? Love, Hannah and Donna

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:45:05 -0700

why are you guys so cool??? you guys, omri, and i need to all go get noms soon! :D

love, kayleigh

Broccoli Potato Soup with Rosemary and Goat Cheese

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:10:38 -0700

I am quite sorry there are no pictures of this, it wasn’t the most visually appealing soup I have made. However, despite its baby food green color it is pretty delicious! I was a bit unsure about the broccoli and rosemary combination, as I haven’t seen a recipe with it before, but I think the flavors played well off of each other. The motive behind this soup creation was: my new immersion blender came in the mail and I REALLY wanted to test it out so I threw random ingredients together!

Ingredients

1 bag organic broccoli florets
3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
4-6 cups broth depending on how thick you want the soup
Rosemary and other seasonings to taste
1 small log goat cheese

Method

In a large pot, saute onions and carrots in a little bit of oil until the onions are translucent. Add broth and potatoes, bring to a boil. Let cook until the potatoes are tender. Add broccoli florets and seasoning, let cook another 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat, add cheese and blend with an immersion blender (or a regular one!) until smooth and creamy. Add more seasoning to taste.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread This week I was responsible for bringing...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:38:13 -0700

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

This week I was responsible for bringing snacks to my break leader training! So Omri and I decided to make it pumpkin themed to celebrate fall and all that is tasty. She is bringing some homemade pumpkin hummus and I made this delicious vegan pumpkin bread from Eat Drink Better! I ate a little tiny piece of it and man was it good! I think vegan baking might be something I do on the regular now. The recipe uses flax seed meal as an egg substitute, its pretty cool to watch it soak up all the water and get all goopy! Also, you can eat all the batter/dough you want because there are no raw eggs involved! Guilt free batter eating?!?!? OMG best thing ever!

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread This was my first time baking on my...

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 23:20:00 -0700

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

This was my first time baking on my own with yeast. I was nervous, I was scared, I was convinced I would end up with a cinnamon swirl rock instead of bread. Luckily, all my fears were unfounded as this bread turned out AMAZING. So good. The recipe comes from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen. I decided to bake it on the first cold gloomy day of the semester up here in Berkeley; perfect weather for making cinnamon deliciousness! Making this bread is sort of an all day thing, you have to let rise, then punch it and roll it, then let it rise again, then bake it! But I must say that it is worth it. I recommend eating this bread warm or toasted with a little bit of cream cheese! It is exquisite. Now that I have wetted my palate for baking with yeast, I think I will be on a bread kick for the next few weeks!

ZUCCHINI BREAD We don’t have internet in my apartment this...

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:31:00 -0700

ZUCCHINI BREAD

We don’t have internet in my apartment this week so that means I have lots of time for baking! Last night I made this delicious zucchini bread from Guilty Kitchen. It turned out fantastic and was so easy to throw together! The only issue with the recipe is that it actually took about 15 extra minutes to cook but that could just be my oven. The best part was smelling it baking, it made my whole apartment smell like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. My roomates and I couldn’t even wait for it to cool and dove straight in, eating almost half of the loaf. In fact I think I may make another one tomorrow because I have more zucchini!

The first week of classes are over! And to celebrate I made this...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:24:58 -0700

The first week of classes are over! And to celebrate I made this veggie-tastic sandwich :D Note the almost inch thick slice of delicious late summer tomato. This sandwich contains: whole wheat sourdough bread, avocado, spinach, tomato, cucumber, and organic light cream cheese! Twas delicious and nutritious.

Chairman Bao Bun Truck Damn, this stuff was good. Off the Grid...

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 00:03:00 -0700

Chairman Bao Bun Truck

Damn, this stuff was good. Off the Grid in North Berkeley is quickly becoming my absolute favorite way to spend a wednesday evening. This week, Andrew and I sampled food from Chairman Bao, Senor Sisig, and Skylite Snowballs. We started off at the Chairman and both got the pork belly bao, it was definitely one of the best things I have ate in a long time. The bun was soft and chewy, the pork belly was tender and slightly crispy and the pickled daikon was the perfect garnish to lighten it up and leave a refreshing taste in your mouth. Then we went to Senor Sisig, which is a Filipino fusion truck. I got the Sisig fries, which is a version of irish nachos and they did not disappoint! I could barely finish the them! The toppings were plentiful and rich. Homemade cheese sauce, guacamole, sour cream, pork and sriracha. Nom. For dessert Andrew and I split a strawberry snow cone with marshmallow topping! They make all of their syrups from scratch and it actually tasted like a real strawberry. It was so refreshing and the perfect thing to finish off our Off the Grid dinner!

Cafe Unico Senso So I have just realized I never blogged about...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:25:26 -0700

Cafe Unico Senso

So I have just realized I never blogged about my Seattle trip! First off, it was lovely! The weather was fantastic, the people were nice, and everything was beautiful! Secondly, the food in that wonderful city is fantastic! We happened upon this little gem on our last day there after doing some window shopping and it was a perfect light lunch!

It is run (and owned?) by this amazingly sexy italian man with a thick accent and everything. When you first walk in there is a display of delicious looking sandwiches and biscotti. The coffee was fantastic too! I had a san pellegrino with my lunch but I tasted some of my mom’s latte and it was to die for. The best part of it however were the sandwiches! I had a caprese style sandwich. Tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella are arguably the best combination in the history of food, in my humble opinion. The put the sandwich on the panini press just long enough to melt the cheese a bit and crisp up the bread but still leave the tomato and basil feeling fresh and light. My sister’s sandwich was also heavenly, it had prosciutto, brie, arugula, a and pesto. Anything with brie is delicious in my book. Overall, it was a splendid little lunch and a great way to end our trip to Seattle. I highly recommend!

Its Barbecue Time! For my mom’s birthday I went all out...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:52:25 -0700

Its Barbecue Time!

For my mom’s birthday I went all out classic bbq! Barbecue chicken with homemade root beer barbecue sauce, delicious eggy potato salad, strawberry spinach salad and fresh strawberry lemonade. It’s strawberry season here in California and my grandpa had brought a big flat of them over from the local strawberry stand! They were sweet, juicy, and delicious!

For the chicken I used roughly these recipes from Bon Appetit. I didn’t make the mop for the chicken but I did use the spice rub. I baked the chicken in a covered baking dish until it was almost done then basted it with barbecue sauce and finished it off on the grill. This kept the chicken moist and tender but still had the smoky flavor from the grill. It was a big hit among my family!

The potato salad also came from Bon Appetit. I followed the recipe almost perfectly except for that instead of using 5 hard boiled egg yolks, I used 4 whole hardboiled eggs. My mom said it was the best potato salad she has had in a long time!

The strawberry spinach salad was really simple and gave a nice sweet and fresh contrast to the potato salad. I used one bag of spinach, a couple handfuls of fresh sliced strawberries, some candied pecans, and Trader Joe’s raspberry vinaigrette.

Now for the lemonade! I am lucky that my grandpa has about 7 citrus trees in his back yard and 2 of them are lemon trees. The lemons that come off of them are so sweet and juicy that it is hard to believe they are the same thing you buy at the supermarket. They make the best lemonade I have ever made! I start by making a simple syrup out of 1 and 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups water on the stove. While that is dissolving, I cut and juice the lemons. You need about two cups of juice. After that you want to mash about 3/4 cup of strawberries and mix the strawberry mush in with the lemon juice. Add the simple syrup and add water to your desired level of lemony-ness (I usually do between 6 and 8 cups). Add some lemon slices for garnish and voila! You have some delicious lemonade!

Chocolate Almond Banana Vegan Ice Cream This stuff is good. Like...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:37:15 -0700

Chocolate Almond Banana Vegan Ice Cream

This stuff is good. Like really good. Now don’t get me wrong, I love ice cream but I lack an ice cream maker in my life (hopefully I can fix that soon) and this is the perfect way to get your ice cream fix with a few simple ingredients! Did I mention its healthy too? I realize there are some ethical problems with bananas and the treatment of banana farm workers in South America, so it isn’t completely guilt free but its still nice to bypass dairy sometimes! (I can do without milk and butter but I don’t think I can ever cut cheese and ice cream from my diet, its too good.) Anyways, enough of all this food justice talk, let me tell you how you can make this deliciousness in your own kitchen.

Ingredients

3 bananas (cut into chunks and frozen)
1 heaping tablespoon almond butter
2 heaping teaspoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a drizzle of agave nectar (to taste)

Cut up your bananas into chunks and freeze them. Once frozen, add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until its the consistency of soft serve. You can add a little almond or soy milk to make the process go faster if you would like. If you want a firmer ice cream pop it in the freezer for a few hours (I did this) and voila! You have just made ice cream! This recipe makes about 3 servings at 170 calories each. I can’t wait to play around with this recipe more! try adding fruits, jams, coconut, chocolate chips, caramel! Endless possibilities!

This is a scrumptious tiramisu cupcake from Cupkate’s...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:23:38 -0700

This is a scrumptious tiramisu cupcake from Cupkate’s Cupcake Truck. I got it at off the grid in Berkeley after trekking up Shattuck in the rain and it was SO WORTH IT! Seriously, such a cool food truck atmosphere! Next time I will be bringing more than five dollars so i can nom on some artisan hipster food.