slow kitchen

There has been a lot going on lately. That's probably a gross understatement. But suffice it to say that one result has been a drastically reduced amount of time spent in the kitchen. When I get distracted by life and other projects, as I have been lately, I find myself turning to staple, tried and true dishes, vs. adventures in the kitchen. Fear not, the adventures will still come, however likely with less frequency than they have in the past.

This morning, I woke to a lovely extra weekend day and decided to put forth some effort to prepare and consume something besides coffee for breakfast. Leftover baguette, blueberries bought on a whim, and eggs from the fridge were morphed into simple and tasty french toast. I hesitate to even post the recipe here (due to simplicity of both ingredients and method). However since this was the source of the only hot pan that's been in my kitchen for a while, it can be found below.

Adventures will follow when culinary inspiration does. I'm trying to be patient for it. I hope you will be, too.

Simple Blueberry French Toast

Serves 1

1 Tbsp. butter

2 eggs

2-3 slices from baguette or rustic bread

a handful fresh blueberries

maple syrup

Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Whisk eggs together in a bowl. Dip bread into eggs, one slice at a time, allowing the bread to soak up eggs. Transfer eggy slices to hot pan.

Cook until golden brown, then flip. Add blueberries to pan. Continue to cook until toast is golden on the second side. Transfer french toast to plate. Top with hot blueberries and maple syrup.

One year ago: leek and potato soup

another tasty salad

This salad probably doesn't really need a recipe: you can pretty much decipher what it is comprised of from the pic. But just in case, here's what I did:

Fruity Dinner Side Salad with Maple Dressing

Serves 2

1 Tbsp. maple syrup

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 handful spinach

1 handful mesculin mix

1 handful bluberries

1 nectarine, chopped

1 pear, chopped

walnuts

Mix maple syrup and balsamic in a small bowl.

Combine other ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with maple dressing. Enjoy!

blueberry walnut wonderfuls

I arrived back in the Bay Area last night, after a couple of days of work in Seattle followed by a few days vacation in Poulsbo visiting my mom. I have not been spending much time in the kitchen lately. I also haven't been taking as much advantage of the local bounty of summer produce as I would like (either from my own garden or from local farmers' markets). Rather, recent nights out with friends added to the summer BBQs of late and working a bit too much (which seems to often lead to dinners of pizza) have left me feeling like my diet needs a bit of an overhaul. I've come to a decision: it's time for a cleanse!

My dietary cleanse of choice is a 4-week detox program. It is not one of those crazy, cayenne-lemon-juice sorts of "cleanses" aimed at weight loss. Rather, the focus is on healthy eating in order to give the body a break from processing junk so that it can instead focus on eliminating the toxins that build up over time.* I've done the full cleanse once before, and did a modified 2-week version earlier this year. The biggest benefits I felt were higher quality sleep and much more energy during the day. It also proved a good way to reset my diet and get back to eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, which is probably what we should all mostly be eating, anyway.

*Our lungs eliminate the acids produced during the digestive process when we breath. When more is produced than can be eliminated by our body during the day (often the case in Western diets), these acids are stored in serous fluid in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen) to be processed at night while we sleep. Over time, though, these acids can build up in the body's tissue as the toxins accumulate. This detox is meant to give the body a chance to process these toxins that build up over time. Source: The Complete Guide to Nutritional Health

The first week of the cleanse, which I am beginning today, calls for 1) the elimination of dairy, wheat, meat, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol and 2) the addition of mineral water with low mineral content, herbal tea, and cooking with more fresh herbs. I'm pretty excited to get started. I spent my morning run thinking about a vegetable curry that I plan to make for dinner. I came away from today's farmers' market with some beautiful fruit and veggies, and harvested the last of the Swiss chard and first of the tomatoes from my garden.

But before I start posting my cleanse-friendly recipes over the coming weeks, I'll share a slightly sweeter (albeit quite healthy) one: cookies I made at my mother's house. The recipe is heavily adapted from a carrot cookie recipe on 101cookbooks. I love the flavor of oat flour and the not-so-sweet sweetening of maple syrup. The combination of oat flour and coconut oil makes for some pretty dense cookies (almost more energy-bar-like than traditional-cookie-like). The dough seemed a little wet, so I added more flour - a bit too much - so I've reduced the amount in the recipe below accordingly. Enjoy!

Blueberry Walnut Wonderfuls

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1 1/4 c. oat flour

1 1/4 c. rolled oats

1 c. dried blueberries

2/3 c. walnuts, chopped

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. pure maple syrup

1/2 c. coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Position top oven rack to top 1/3 of oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla. Add this to dry mixture and stir to combine.

Drop rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of a fork, if desired. Bake 12-15 minutes, until edges are golden.

blueberry magic muffins

I've been taking a food writing class on Tuesday nights at Stanford for the past month. It's a five-week class and this coming week will be the last in the series. Our homework is to write about a recipe from our childhood.

This is a timely assignment, as I am spending the weekend at my mother's, affording the me the opportunity to talk about childhood foods and recipes with her in person. Between chemotherapy, her first blood transfusion, and everything that goes along with all of that, it's been a tough few days. Talking about food is a nice break from reality.

I had been reflecting on things I remember eating growing up. Doing so brings me back to my childhood kitchen: a long, narrow corridor between the mud porch leading running between the back door and the living room of a victorian house built around 1917 in Washington state. It seemed gigantic when I was little. White cupboards and stainless steel countertops lined one side, while the other was filled with a round wooden table, a hot water heater, a stove, and a refrigerator that would be considered positively retro compared to today's typical stainless steel behemoth, possibly even referred to as an "icebox." Open shelves lined the majority of the cupboarded wall, displaying pretty dishes: amber and turquoise goblets, delicate china depicting birds and flowers, intricate crystal dessert dishes.

I thought I remembered roosters on the wallpaper, but my mom wasn't sure, so we dug out an old photo album with pics from my first year of life. In addition to confirming the roosters on the wallpaper, the photos revealed other treasures that were too buried in my memory to recall. For example, a giant porcelain turkey sitting on the counter, which it turns out was actually a goose - Mother Goose - a cookie jar from my mom's childhood that also appeared in mine, but then broke at some point between then and now. The wallpaper contained bright red, green, and blue shapes against a light background: roosters, cherries, salt and pepper shakers, apples and pears. Red and white checkered towels added additional bursts of color against the pale cupboards.

When I think back to foods I ate in this kitchen, I remember quite a mix of things: pot roast, cabbage and noodles, or mexican straw hats for dinner, bologna and hot dogs that I would sneak, raw, from the fridge for a snack, peaches & cream oatmeal that I would climb up on the counter to retrieve and make myself. For homework purposes, I need something transportable; part of the assignment is to actually make the recipe that we write about and bring it to our last class as a sort of celabratory feast.

A consideration in addition to transportability is time. I don't get back to SF until Sunday night and likely have a long work day in front of me on Monday to make up for my days out of the office, which leaves Monday night to make my homework. I had been thinking of cookies, in particular, Corn Flake oatmeal cookies that always turn out perfect and are almost healthy enough to eat for breakfast (or so we've always told ourselves). But then my mom reminded me of another easy to make transportable option: Malto-O Meal "magic muffins". Bingo.

I'm not sure why they are magic, but that's what the recipe on the side of the box calls them. I remember eating these muffins on weekend mornings while watching cartoons. My mom generally made one of two variations: filled with raspberry jam or mixed with blueberries. She'd let me stir. This morning, I did a test run of the blueberry version (which I plan to make again on Monday night for class on Tuesday). I've switched out some of the original ingredients for healthier alternatives. They turned out as yummy as I remember: a pleasant, sandy texture due to the Malt-O Meal, just a tad sweet, with a juicy burst of blueberry in every other bite. It was also a great excuse to reminisce with my mom this morning - of both my childhood and hers. Here's the recipe for the muffins that accompanied our conversation:

Blueberry Magic Muffins

Adapted from the Malt-O Meal box

Makes 12

1 1/4 c. flour (I used a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour)

3/4 c. dry Malt-O Meal cereal

1/2 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. rice milk

1/4 c. coconut oil, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin pan with muffin papers. If using frozen blueberries, run under cool water in a strainer to thaw.

Mix all ingredients except blueberries in a large bowl until well combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop batter into lined muffin pans until 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes, or until golden. Enjoy warm, topped with butter or cream cheese.

One year ago: beet ketchup