Gifts from the Kitchen: Popcorn!

Remember those big tins of popcorn that you used to be able to get from department stores around the holidays? Usually, they would contain neat sections of flavors like butter, cheese, caramel,  and cinnamon. Almost always, one flavor would disappear faster than the others, which was much to my dismay! I never had a favorite: I do not discriminate when it comes to popcorn! Although probably if pressed, my favorite would have been microwave popped, since it was the freshest. This year, why not make your own? Recently, I learned that I could make my own flavored popcorns on the stove, without a popcorn popper! My two suggestions are to use a pot with a clear lid (unless you have practice... I nearly started a fire using an opaque lid) and make sure to buy good kernels. I like both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and both are cheaper than microwave popcorn with enough to fill a tin costing about a quarter. Once you've perfected your popcorn flavor, package it up in a festive holiday tin ($1 at the Dollar Tree). Remember to make it fresh, so your recipient will be impressed that you made the best popcorn they ever tasted!

Cinnamon-Maple Popcorn

1/2c popcorn kernels

1T olive oil

1/2t cinnamon

1/4c maple syrup

a few cracks or a pinch of salt

Add 1T olive oil to a pan with a clear lid and 8c capacity. Spread the olive oil around to make sure you don't have any hot spots where the popcorn can stick. Add 3 kernels and turn the burner on high. Stay by the stove, and shake/ toss the pan every minute or so, to make sure the kernels have an outer covering of oil and are heating homogeneously. Once the kernels pop, your pan is ready. Add the rest of the popcorn, then the cinnamon, salt, and about 1-2T maple syrup. Re-cover the pan and shake/ toss to make sure that the kernels get covered in your tasty flavoring. Continue to heat, shake/ tossing the pan almost constantly (but not quite, make sure it stays hot enough with contact from the burner.) Your popcorn will start to go! The popcorn is ready when you can no longer feel many kernels rolling around the bottom when you are shaking it. Remove from heat. Keep covered for 1 minute (otherwise, undetected kernels may pop out at you!) and let cool one more. Enjoy!

Other Flavor Suggestions (starting from a pan with 1T of olive oil)

Just Salt

Sirracha

Curry, Turmeric, and Red Pepper

Cinnamon & Salt (pictured above)

Gifts from the Kitchen: Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

'Tis the season for gift giving! And what says happy holidays better than homemade cookies? So Day 1 of my Thrifty Gifts From the Kitchen series will feature just that: a delicious, simple chocolate peppermint cookie recipe and a suggestion for a cute, DIY presentation of the gift. The end product? A thoughtful gift for only $1.

This summer, my fiancé started saving any jar that came with a pre-made food. Salsa jars, pasta sauce jars, olive jars-- you name it, he kept them. When his cupboard started overflowing, I asked him to throw them out, but he did not. So instead, I got to thinking of ways I could get rid of them. Soon enough, I realized that with a little TLC I could use these jars to present the same gifts that would normally come in mason jars and more! The best part is, these jars are free. To further add to my cute, thrifty presentation I use the holiday-themed Trader Joe's paper bags, creatively cut to feature holiday designs or plain brown paper. I've been using these bags to wrap my presents for years now, because nothing looks more classic than a package tastefully decorated and wrapped in brown paper. Some of the jars have plain metal or white lids, so those work as it. Others, such as the Travel Cookie Jar above, had some sort of product label. To cover this, I covered the outside of the lid with a small piece of aluminum foil, tucked under. I could have gone one step further and decorated the lid with glitter or something else like that, but I figured Sam would prefer I keep it simple.

The contents of the jar are worth a blog post in and of themselves. These are a new, super simple, super healthy chocolate peppermint cookie recipe. I've obviously been on a bean kick for desserts: they are super easy to work with, very nutritious, and very cheap! It doesn't get better than that. These days, you can buy chickpea flour for a pretty penny and many gluten free recipes call for it, but you usually end up adding wet ingredients anyways. So I figured I'd give chickpeas a shot in cookies! Ok, it's not totally original... I was inspired by this blog post that I found last week. The result is just phenomenal. You don't even need to add leavening or binding agents to this cookie... it's that easy! Chickpeas are a complete protein, and for 24 cookies from the recipe below, each cookie will have 70 calories, less than 1 gram of fat, and 3 grams of protein. The antioxidants from the unsweetened cocoa powder and the peppermint tea make this recipe a hidden gem. I also tried peppermint green tea for a batch and that was  amazing... and then the cookies also pack the added health benefits of green tea. With all of those compounds that promote cell regeneration and an ideal carbohydrate to protein ratio of 4:1, I bet these cookies would do really well as fuel on a long bike ride! These cookies are definitely a gift that will keep on giving.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2 cans chickpeas ($1.20)
1c cocoa powder ($1)
3/4c brown sugar ($0.20)
3/4c strong peppermint tea (two tea bags) ($0.25)

1. Boil water and brew an extra strong cup of peppermint tea or peppermint green tea by adding 2 tea bags to 3/4c boiling water. Let steep for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Food process for several minutes, until smooth.
4. Use hands to roll dough into 1 inch balls. Flatten onto greased cookie sheet. (Or if your chickpeas were extra moist, drop rounded spoonfuls onto the sheet. They will still come out well!)
5. Bake 15- 20 minutes, until cooked through. Enjoy!

To make the Travel Cookie Jar

1 medium sized wide-mouthed (salsa) jar (free)
4 inch circle of aluminum foil ($0.04)
plain brown scrap and and patterned scrap from Trader Joe's paper bag (free)
Elmer's glue ($0.01)
curling ribbon ($0.02)
candy cane ($0.08)
1/3 of cookies from the recipe above ($0.85)
Total cost of gift: $1!

1. Clean out jar very well. Remove label. If it won't come off, or come off cleanly, don't worry! We can fix that with our repurposed brown paper label.
2. If you want to cover the lid, place lid inside up on a circle of aluminum foil. Fold edges under.
3. Cut a small card out of the TJ's bag that has a festive print on the outside. I used a paper cutter to make sure my edges were straight. Fold in half. Inside, write the recipe on the one side and your message on the other!
4. Cut out a plain brown square to make a label for the jar. If you couldn't get the label off, just measure, and make your new label so it covers the old one! Use Elmer's glue to attach your new label.
4. Load jar with cookies and cap.
5. Punch hole in recipe/ card. Thread curly ribbon through. Add candy cane and tie the curly ribbon off, either in a bowl or just in a knot and curl the ends.

Stay tuned all week for more ideas for thrifty DIY gifts from the kitchen!

Thrifty Gifts from the Kitchen

First, Energy Neutral has a new look! I finally took some down time and used it to figure out how to work with the blogger templates. Things should be prettier and easier to find now, although almost everything that you've come to expect should still be able to be found in the same place. I hope you like it!

This weekend was very busy! I went down to RI on Friday afternoon because my fiancé had to work on Sunday, so I wanted to make sure I was there when he got off work. Saturday morning I did another cross race, which was... ok. My brakes at least worked this time! But I got stuck behind a ton of crashes and people who managed to get in my way on the few favorable to me/ uphill parts of the course. After hanging out some with the MIT team, I went back to Providence and my fiancé and I went out for brunch, did some Christmas window shopping, and hung out for a lazy Saturday afternoon. Sunday, I rode my bike up to the north shore to support my biffle in a half marathon! I also ran into my brother, his girlfriend, and the younger brother of one of my best friends from college. So it was basically a huge party even though it was really freaking cold! I did make the 40 mile trip mostly ok (although there was a bridge fiasco) and got to see the Witch's House in Salem, passed through Manchester by the Sea and got some good base miles in. I got up very early to get there on time so there were some really breathtaking views along the way.

Anyways... this week we'll be doing another series! If you think you'll be getting a gift from me this year... you might not want to read the blog this week! Or your surprise may be ruined. However, if you don't mind a hint and you need thrifty gift ideas, the posts this week will be right up your alley. Each day, I'll be profiling some do it yourself gift ideas that come from the kitchen and the heart. Most days, we'll be using repurposed materials (jars food came in, paper bags) for the packaging so get ready! These will be great gifts for your eco-conscious friends and they'll be great for your wallet too! Monday starts off the week with a travel cookie jar you can make and fill for just under $1.

Gettin' in the Christmas spirit here in Cambridge!

Pumpkin Oat Waffles

Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend, which means it's almost time for brunch! I've shared my favorite recipe for a basic Belgian Waffle, and most times that I make brunch, we just make the basic recipe and branch out with our toppings. Well, this weekend, I was mourning the beginning of the end of pumpkin season so I decided that I had to make a pumpkin themed brunch. I was going to try a vegan pumpkin french toast recipe, but I've never had good luck with french toast that doesn't have eggs (well, actually the very next day I came up with a delicious vegan french toast). But anyways, I decided that I would make pumpkin waffles. Oat flour does a great job with pumpkin (the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are fantastic with oat flour!), so I decided that I would make gluten free pumpkin waffles. The oat flour adds a nice rustic flavor to these and I even managed to slip in some protein powder. I'm currently using a complete rice, pea, and hemp protein from Life's Basics (vanilla, unsweetened) and it's doing pretty well. Hope you enjoy these pumpkin waffles!

Pumpkin Oat Waffles

1 2/3c oat flour (finely food processed quick cook oats)
1/3c vanilla unsweetened protein powder
2T cornstarch
2t baking powder
2T brown sugar
generous amounts cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice
2T vegetable oil
1c pumpkin puree
1c vanilla almond milk (or soy)

Mix the dry ingredients, and then the wet. Add batter (~1/2c for a belgian sized waffle) to your greased waffle iron and cook according to your iron's directions. Top with maple syrup and enjoy!

Butternut Chickpea Soup

As soon as the weather becomes remotely cold, I start eating soup for dinner. I usually get home from lab sometime around or after 9pm and the last thing I want to do before having dinner is fuss with a bunch of ingredients. Soup keeps well in the fridge and warms me up after a cold day in my office or a frosty ride home. Soups like this one, that are high in protein are especially nice because they serve as a "one pot wonder" where your vegetables and protein are conveniently combined into one dish. That way, I only have to worry about heating and eating one thing before I can think about bed! (or doing core, calling my fiance, fixing my bike... all the things that I guess are the reason normal people leave work at 5pm)

This soup has a nice smooth flavor from the butternut squash and chickpeas. I spiced it with cinnamon, chili pepper, garlic, and a touch of maple syrup. I made this soup with butternut squash, because I accidentally picked up an extra bag of the frozen cubed stuff at the super market. This could easily be made with pumpkin too!

Butternut Chickpea Soup

1/2 bag frozen cubed butternut squash
1 can chickpeas
3c water
cinnamon, crushed red pepper, garlic, and maple syrup to taste

Defrost the butternut squash in the microwave. Transer to food processor with chickpeas and spices. Food process until smooth. Transfer to large pot and add water. Bring to a boil. Taste test and add any extra spices you need. Enjoy! This recipe makes about 3 bowls, so if you want more, double it!

White Chili

Chili is delicious, but I've made the red chili already this season at least half of a dozen times. So this weekend, I decided that I would shake it up a bit and try to make a chili that was spiced with black and white pepper, rather than red. I had a few potatoes left from a giant bag I bought a few weeks ago and had been wanting to find a recipe for some yellow split peas, so I decided that I'd try to make a white chili. And it turned out well!

My white chili has yellow split peas, white beans, potatoes, butternut squash, and a base of cauliflower. I was really excited to use the yellow split peas because they are a source of complete protein, as are the white beans! Split peas also are a good source of oxalates and are known to stabilize blood sugar, like other legumes. I use pureed cauliflower as a base because of the antioxidants and other benefits of cruciferous vegetables.

White Chili

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 bag frozen cauliflower
1/2 bag frozen cubed butternut squash
1/2 bag frozen sweet white corn
1c dry (~2c cooked) split yellow peas
1c dry (~2c cooked) white beans
3.5c water
1 cube vegetable bullion
black and white pepper
smoke seasoning
garlic
dash basil and cinnamon
nutritional yeast to top

1. Cook the split peas and white beans by boiling them in a large pot of water or in the crock pot. This can take upwards of an hour, so have something else handy!
2. Microwave the cauliflower until tender. Transfer to food processor and process for a minute or so, it doesn't need to be completely smooth.
3. Peel and cube potatoes.
4. In a large soup pot, add the 3.5c water and dissolve the bullion cube. Add pureed cauliflower, corn, and potatoes.
5. Add spices and peas/ beans when they are ready.
6. Let cook until potatoes are tender, and flavors are infused.
7. Serve warm with a dusting of nutritional yeast. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

I did it! I finally did it! I made vegan french toast on Sunday and it was so good, I can't stop thinking about it. Previous attempts have been disastrous or at best, pretty much regular toast-textured. I've been trying hard though because french toast is one of my all time favorite foods, and it was one of the first breakfast food recipes I perfected back in college. My french toast was made with egg whites, so it was high in protein and low in fat. I found it easy to digest too, so I would often eat it before crew practice in the mornings. The crispy outside and soft inside, paired with the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple are hard to resist... These days, I have a waffle maker, an awesome pancake recipe, and we don't keep eggs around. Fiancé says the cholesterol is bad (though this logic fails since there's no cholesterol in the whites) but until the eggs come from happy chickens that live in my back yard, I've become skeptical. So I've been challenging myself to try to create vegan french toast so that this old favorite can again become a regular part of my life.

Sunday morning, we woke up to a cold, wet, dreary day. The type of day that's best for sitting inside with a warm breakfast and cup of coffee watching the rain fall (you know, before you go out and ride your bike for a few hours in it.) We had made pumpkin waffles on Saturday (coming soon!) and I wasn't in the mood for pancakes. So I did a little research and decided to give vegan french toast one more shot. I decided to make my batter with apple sauce, protein powder, and flax seed, since the blogs I trusted most seemed to be using banana and I personally really like flax as an egg replacer. Banana unfortunately makes me gag, but I had an opened container of apple sauce in the fridge that I thought might be close enough. I added Life Basic's vanilla unsweetened protein powder, since I always need a protein boost in the mornings. This particular protein powder is pretty palatable and it's a complete source of all of the essential amino acids! The vanilla adds to the cozy flavor nicely. The flax seeds were also a good choice for their omega-3 fatty acids and nutritional profile, as well as the hearty, nutty taste they bring to the table. The final, critical tip for cooking these... make sure you use a generous amount of vegetable or canola oil to grease your pan! Otherwise they will stick and become a soggy mess.

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

3/4c vanilla almond milk
1/2c unsweetened apple sauce
1/3c vanilla unsweetened protein powder (I used this one)
1T ground flax seeds
1T cinnamon
3T maple syrup
6 slices bread (whole wheat, multi grain or Udi's gluten free)
canola or vegetable oil to grease the pan

1. Preheat skillet to medium heat. Add a generous amount of vegetable oil and swirl to spread it. Skillet is ready when water droplets sizzle when added.
2. Mix all of the ingredients except the bread together in a large bowl.
3. Dip bread in batter. This is a bit thicker than regular french toast batter, so you may have to spread it a little with a finger or a knife to make sure it's fully coated.
4. Cook french toast on skillet. The first side will take 2-3 minutes and the second will take 1-2 minutes. Don't try to flip it early or it will stick! Cooking times will vary, but it'll be easier to recover from a slightly black piece than a soggy-all-over-your-pan piece (which will require you to cool & clean your skillet to start over)
5. Remove from skillet and let cool. Regrease your pan for every piece you make, it's crucial for it to come out right! Serve with additional maple syrup, nuts, and/ or chocolate chips. Enjoy!