All Posts Tagged with "coconut"

10 Aug Summer Lovin’…

This summer has been busy busy. In between a ton of work, some good family and friends time, and the search for sun (Dear Fog, I can’t miss you if you never leave San Francisco), here are a few of the things I’ve been loving….

1. Spiralizer

You may remember this little gadget from an earlier post this summer. My spiralizer is truly one of the most frivolous purchases (kitchen or otherwise) I’ve ever made… and I love it! Especially with a stack of zucchini waiting to be eaten. In fact, this may be my favorite way to eat zucchini, and I swear it’s less than 10 minutes from popping the zuke on the spiralizer to taking it out of the pan. Finish with a sprinkle of  salt, red pepper flakes, lemon zest and parmesan cheese… maybe toss in a handful of prawns… so fresh and yummy.

2. Eatwell Farm Dried Lemon Salt

I’ve been sprinkling this on everything – zucchini spirals, tuna steaks, braised greens, heirloom tomato slices… endless opportunities to make food a little brighter and zestier. And, a little goes a loooong way, so no breaking the bank with this obsession.

3. Coconut popsicles

Refreshing and richly satisfying. I’m determined to start making my own using coconut milk, just as soon as I can find someone’s popsicle molds to borrow.

4. Stove roasted corn

I can’t believe it took me this long to stop boiling my corn! I’m already a light boiler – barely three minutes for me. But roasting corn on my stove has opened up a whole new world.

5. Arizmendi‘s Cowgirl Cookies

Arizmendi opened up on Valencia Street this year – if you don’t know Arizmendi, do yourself a favor and change that now. Look them up, get to the nearest location and feast on their deeelicious fresh baked goods: breads, scones, cookies, and pizza. So, how did it take me until this summer to find the Cowgirl Cookies, my fantasy cookie realized? Check it: oatmeal raisin with walnuts and chunks of chocolate, and some other secret ingredient that has me addicted. And, it’s Arizmendi, so you know the ingredients and the people working the mixers and ovens are quality. The perfect treat for a long walk through SF’s sun-belt neighborhoods.

You know, that cookie is so good, it deserves two pictures:

How could you possible resist?

Hope you’ve been enjoying fresh treats this summer. Burr… I feel fall coming on. Maybe I have time for just one more cookie.

10 Jul Oat Date Bars…

Another bbq, another quick inventory of my pantry, a glimmer of an idea and fingers crossed for luck. These were actually inspired by some date bars a friend brought camping a couple of weeks ago. I’ve tried to remember to email her for the recipe since then, but no luck. So, this was the perfect opportunity to give it a shot on my own.

When I originally made these, I thought they were pretty sweet, maybe because the flours are on the sweet side, so I’ve reduced the brown sugar a bit below to correct that. Don’t get me wrong, when I cut them too soon and mangled an entire row, I didn’t exactly have to choke down the botched bits. Speaking of sugar… I am sure these would be great with honey, maple syrup, agave or stevia (or a combination of these) as the sweetener, just be aware that the first three will be slightly sweeter to taste than brown sugar, and you should adjust the amount according to your taste buds. Also, the texture of the base and top is slightly crumbly (I increased the coconut oil a bit to help with that). Be sure you can actually press that base layer together and if it’s too crumbly to do that, add a little more melted coconut oil – maybe a tablespoon at a time as you don’t want it too wet either (using a liquid sweetener, instead of the brown sugar, maybe help with the crumble as well).

Gluten-Free Oat Date Bars

• 1 C dates, pitted
• 1/4 C warm water
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1 1/2 C oats (certified gluten-free, if you need to be safer than sorrier)
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed tightly
• 1/2 C sorghum flour*
• 1/4 C brown rice flour*
• 1/4 C almond meal/flour*
• 1/4 C coconut flakes
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 C coconut oil, melted (melted butter will work, too)
• 1 flax “egg” (1 T ground flax + 3 T water, mixed and set aside for 5 mins to gel)*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 8×8 baking dish with a quick spray of canola oil (or your baking spray of choice).

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flours, coconut, baking soda and salt, mix thoroughly with a spoon. Add coconut oil and flax, stirring well to avoid huge clumps. If it feels too dry, maybe add a wee bit more coconut oil – I will likely try 1/2 C next time. Next time, I’ll also try the food processor to pulse it all together and to mix in the wet ingredients more consistently.

3. Place dates in bowl of a food processor (if you use one for the dry ingredients, empty them into a bowl first). Add nutmeg and water. Process until well broken down, but not completely smooth. Scrap down sides at one point so it all gets processed. Take ~1 min total. Set aside.

4. Press half of the oat mixture into bottom of baking dish. Scoop date mixture on top – best to scatter it evenly over top of oats versus one huge clump in the middle (learn from my mistakes) and carefully spread dates (with hands or spatula) to cover oats (wetting your hands may help with stickiness factor). Add top layer of remaining oat mixture, pressing firmly enough to create a solid top, but lightly enough not to completely smash and dislodge other layers.

5. Bake for 20-25 mins – until top starts to golden up a little.

6. Cool completely before slicing into bars (again, my mistake is your fair warning).

Eat ‘em up!

*Two notes: (1) if you don’t care about the gluten-free bit, just use 1 C wheat-based flour instead of the sorghum, brown rice and almond. This may make the mixture less sweet and you may want to up the brown sugar to 1/3 C to compensate. (2) if you don’t have flax, try one egg-worth of Ener-G egg replacer (will keep this vegan) or 1 egg white, instead.

15 Mar Simple Sunday Supper…

I love a lazy Sunday: morning yoga, straightening up the house, running a few errands and plenty of time to play in the kitchen. Sometimes it’s an entirely new recipe to try, sometimes it’s cleaning out the refrigerator and sometimes it’s finally getting around to cooking that thing I’ve been craving all week but haven’t had time to make.

This Sunday wasn’t fancy, just fresh and flavorful. Instead of breaking this up into a separate posts, I’m snuggling all four recipes into this one post, just like they fit into the bowl above (meals in a bowl = my favorite).

Serves two for a hearty dinner, plus leftovers for a lunch the next day. Goes well with curling up on the couch and being cozy.

Kicky Southern Greens

• 4 C mixed dark leafy greens (Trader Joe’s has a Southern Blend with collards, spinach, turnip greens, etc., which is what I used here)
• red chili pepper flakes, to taste
• sea salt, to taste
• 1/2 lemon
• olive oil

1. Prep greens by slicing into bite-size pieces or ribbons (wash first if you’re not using pre-washed greens).

2. Heat a large pan over medium high, adding a turn of olive oil when pan is hot. When oil is warm and can easily be swirled around to coat bottom of pan, add greens.

3. Saute until greens start to wilt and brighten in color, turn heat down a little if they start to burn. After ~5 mins, add a splash or two of water from your tea kettle, season with a few (or 5…) shakes of red chili pepper flakes and cover to braise the greens. (You could go straight to braising, but I like the extra flavor the the olive oil gives it.) Check every minute or so to make sure the water hasn’t evaporated, leaving the greens to burn.

4. When greens are a deep green color and tender, season with salt and juice half of a lemon over the top. Turn off heat and toss to coat with the lemon juice. (A splash of lemon juice or vinegar – e.g. apple cider vinegar – can take the edge off of the more bitter dark leafy greens.)

The lemon juice brightens the dish up and the red chili flakes give it little kick. Thus, Kicky Southern Greens. Onward….

Simple Veggie Saute

• 1 small sweet potato, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 medium zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 C sliced mushrooms
• 1 orange or red bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
• sea salt, to taste
• olive oil

1.  Second verse, same as the first: Heat that same large pan over medium high again, adding a turn of olive oil when pan is hot. When oil is warm and can easily be swirled around to coat bottom of pan, add veggies, except bell pepper. If using sweet potatoes, add those first, give them a couple minutes head start before adding the zucchini and mushrooms. Season with sea salt.  If the veggies are taking longer than you want to cook, add a splash of water and cover for a few minutes (just a couple). Any excess water should evaporate once you remove the lid and finish the saute.

2. When veggies are tender to your liking, taste test for seasoning – adjust with more salt as necessary – add bell pepper, turn off heat and cover for just a minute. I left the peppers raw to give the mix a contrasting texture and a brighter sweetness than the cooked sweet potatoes. Adding them to the hot mess and covering for a minute takes the cold edge off the peppers’ rawness. I liked it.

You can use any veggies, really. This is what I had on hand. But I really liked the addition of the mostly raw orange bell pepper. Also, I kept the greens and vegetables separate for this meal, since it wasn’t just for me and I wanted to offer bowl-loading options, but you could easily toss the greens back into the veggies just before they’re done, then add the bell pepper. Pretty.

Savory Black Beans and Coconut Rice

• 1 can organic, whole black beans
• 1/2 can organic diced tomatoes
• garlic powder
• cumin
• 2 C cooked brown rice
• 1 T coconut oil, to taste
• sea salt, to taste

For the black beans…

1. Drain and rinse black beans.

2. Combine beans and tomatoes (with whatever juices fall out of the can) in a small pot over medium heat.

3. Season with garlic powder, cumin  (I added several hearty shakes of each) and a little sea salt to taste. Let beans simmer for a few minutes to heat through and thicken with the tomatoes. If not enough juice comes out with the tomatoes, add a small splash of water (boy, this kettle’s getting a workout) to keep beans from burning, or turn down the heat a little.

For the coconut rice…

This is a great way to use up left-over brown rice. However, if you don’t make big batches of brown rice to eat throughout a week, then, clearly, cooking the rice should be the first step in this meal.

1. Heat a shallow sauce pan over medium (the lower side of medium) – I prefer a wider sauce pan so that more of the rice can hit the bottom of the pan and heat through more evening, vs. a smaller but deeper pot that will keep the rice in a taller heap.

2. When pan is hot, add 1T coconut oil.

3. When oil is about half-way melted, add rice to pot and stir well to coat with coconut oil.

4. Cook until rice is heated through. Season with sea salt and add more coconut oil to taste.

If you’re cooking the rice fresh, either in a rice cooker or in a pot on the stove, add the coconut oil at the end once the rice has rested a few minutes – just add and stir to melt the oil and thoroughly incorporate.

Voila! Simple Sunday supper ready to be served up.

older posts