Pennsylvania and Connecticut

I've been traveling the northeast to visit my family in Pennsylvania and my fiancé's in Connecticut. Compared to what I'm used to in Cambridge, the riding here is excellent. I was a bit bummed in PA: snow blew up about half of an hour into my favorite ride, which caused me to turn around, but fortunately allowed me to get some practice in riding in snow. My favorite ride is a ride up to Blue Mountain, where my best friend who passed away in 2010 and I used to go skiing as kids. I like to take the 70 mile ride solo and spend the time thinking about her. Instead, I got to ride home in snow and spend a few more hours on the trainer.

The weather in CT has been slightly more cooperative. And by that I mean today I was able to go for a 40 mile rain in just-above-freezing rain with my future father in law. He was kind enough to show me the roads and hills, I repaid by nearly giving him frostbite. I was doing ok, but I had included a slightly better arsenal of waterproofing in my gear for the day, so I was able to finish the ride on the trainer in the basement after my fiancé came to rescue us from a neighboring town. Yesterday though, we fared much better, which was when I took the picture above. My fiancé and I went for a little hike in nearby Sessions Woods. My favorite view on the hike was a semi-frozen waterfall we found on an off-shooting trail, but our camera died before we reached that destination. The above photo was from a fire tower, overlooking the landscape of the area. Tomorrow, the weather looks colder, but clearer so I will try another ride! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your travels too!

Gingerbread!

Merry Christmas! If you celebrate, I hope you are having a wonderful day, surrounded by those who mean the most to you. If not I hope you're also having a great day and getting to enjoy your family & friends!

For the holiday, I'm sharing a classic Christmas favorite... gingerbread. I made up a big batch before leaving Boston and have been taking a plate with me as a housewarming gift for my Christmas visits to friends. The flavors of ginger and molasses are two of my favorites, and from the looks of my Gingerbread Blondies, you agree that they are worthwhile!  Molasses is rich in iron, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Ginger has potent anti-inflammatory properties, which can translate into reduced recovery time and therefore improved athletic performance. I think I'm going to take some of this quickbread on my next bike ride, I'll let you know how that works out! 

Gingerbread

2 1/2c wheat flour
1/4c brown sugar
1T white sugar
1T ground ginger
1T cinnamon
1T pumpkin pie spice
1t baking soda
1/2c almond milk
1c water
1/2c molasses
1T apple cider vinegar
Few drops vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F. Mix wet in or glass (I use my measuring cup to mix them). Then mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Add to a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
As a bonus, I bet it would be good to use the candied ginger from Trader Joe's like the Gingerbread Blondies. Use 1/4c, chopped up in a good processor or blender, and add it with the dry ingredients. Depending on your preferences, you could omit the white sugar if you add the candied ginger. 

Enjoy! Have a great holiday!

Lentil & Kale Soup

Last week, I was trying to finish the things in my refrigerator in preparation for my holiday travels. I was doing really well with this until... I ran out of fresh and frozen greens. No way was I going to go a whole day and a half without a salad! So I ran down the street to Trader Joe's to grab a bag of kale. I figured we could get through one bag if we really committed to it and if not, hey! There's always kale chips, which we can take on the road. Then I remembered that I've been craving lentil soup for at least a month now. A warm, brothy lentil soup with kale, tomatoes, and scallions. But no! I only had a few scraps of scallions left, so I couldn't possibly pull that off! Well... I caved and bought the scallions in addition to the kale. They were only $1.29 and usually they'll keep for at least 2 weeks in the fridge. I had some basil I needed to use up anyways. I cooked the lentils in a vegemite broth (still convinced that vegemite will make you faster) and the result was this really filling, savory soup. It was so good that I made it again for my non-vegetarian family when I got home! Lentil soup with homemade bread from the local farmer's market is on the menu for this evening.

On top of the taste, I was really pleased with this recipe nutritionally! In a 1.5c (135 calorie) bowl of soup, you get less than a gram of fat, 8g of complete protein, and 9g fiber. Towards your daily value of micronutrients, you get 100% vitamin A, 60% vitamin C, 10% calcium, 20% iron, more than 10% of several B vitamins, as well as potassium and a plethora of others.

Lentil & Kale Soup

1/2c dry green lentils ($0.25)
1/3 bag kale ($0.66)
8 scallions, sliced ($0.30)
4 celery stalks, sliced ($0.20)
3 carrots, peeled and sliced  ($0.20)
garlic & black pepper to taste ($0.10)
2 sprigs fresh basil ($0.50, can use dried to bring the price down)
1 can diced tomatoes ($0.50)
3T vegemite ($0.30) Or 3 cubes vegetable bouillon!
6c water
Total cost: $3.01, or $0.75 per bowl

Cook lentils in plenty of water, seasoned with 1T vegemite. Meanwhile, chop scallions, celery, carrots, and basil. Add vegetables to your large soup pot with ~1/2c water. Sautee and add spices. Once the lentils are almost soft enough to eat, drain and rinse thoroughly. (The rinsing will get rid of the stuff that causes gas.) Add additional 5.5c water, 2T vegemite, and lentils to the pot with the vegetables. Bring to a simmer and add additional spices to taste. Serve warm with a salad and bread. Enjoy!

Lentils... The vegetarian white meat.

Christmas City

Well, my fiancé and I have made it to Pennsylvania! We're visiting my family now though the 26th (when we'll attend my 10 year high school reunion, gasp!) and then we'll head back north to visit with his family for a few days. Today, we visited the neighboring town of Bethlehem, which transforms itself into Christmas City every December.  Bethlehem is home to the world's oldest continuously operation bookshop, the Moravian Bookshop, which opened in 1745. The town also hosts a Christkindlemart, but we didn't have time to explore that market too!

While I'm traveling, I won't be cooking as much but don't worry... I have a backlog of recipes so they will keep coming! In the meantime though, feel free to peruse these recipes that look just great. In fact, I am now inspired to try to make a chestnut loaf... the recipe's not there, but the ingredients gave me the idea!

Apple & Sausage Farro

Today's post shares one of the few recipes that I make over and over. This recipe was inspired by an apple basil gouda chicken sausage that my fiancé and I found while grocery shopping, back in the days before we were vegetarian and he was my fiancé. We've taken it to potlucks and it's always a hit. Recently, we tried this recipe veganized. To get it right, we used a cheese substitute and commercial vegetarian sausage, but it was still good! While our original dish used bow tie pasta, we upgraded to farro when making the other switches and it really enhanced the flavors. I also thought that since it's been a while (ok, a long time), I'd take the opportunity to show off farro as a great grain.  Farro is unfortunately not gluten free, as it is quite literally, whole wheat grains. For a 100 calorie serving, you get 4g protein, 4g fiber, and 1g fat. Like most grains, it's deficient in lysine, but this dish combines it with complete protein sources.

Apple & Sausage Farro

1 package Trader Joe's quick cook farro
1 package sweet Italian vegetarian sausage, cut into 1/2in coins
2 apples, cubed
1/2 block Daiya jack or regular Gouda cheese, cut into 1cm cubes
sage, basil, and garlic to taste

Boil a large pot of water and add farro. Cook as directed, it should be about 15 minutes until the farro reaches the desired texture. Meanwhile, add sausage to a skillet greased with olive oil. Add spices. Cook 5 to 10 minutes. Just before the sausage starts to brown, add you apple cubes. Cook an additional 5 minutes, until apples are soft. Turn off the heat and add cheese cubes. Cover to let the cheese melt a bit. Drain farro in a strainer. Serve apples, sausage, and cheese over farro. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Nachos

On this blog, I feel like I give the impression that I have my life together and the time to cook beautiful gourmet dinners every night. That's at least the impression my fiancé has of what he's missing out on. He is in his 3rd year of med school at Brown so we only see each other on the weekends, when I set him up with leftovers for the week. In reality, I get home from lab sometime between 9 and 10pm and microwave whatever leftovers I have in the fridge from whenever the last time I cooked. It's usually less involved than whatever I cooked over the weekend and left for my fiancé. Last week, I didn't even have time to make anything, so subsisted on Trader Joe's Creamy Corn and Roasted Pepper Soup. I added nutritional yeast for protein and it's actually quite good!

Anyways, most people I know (myself included) went through a phase in college or their early 20s where nachos were their standard supper. Heap some corn chips on a plate, sprinkle some cheese on top, and pop it in the microwave. 30 seconds later, a warm dinner is served! Magic! I think my fiancé would still be in nachos-every-night phase if it wasn't for me... Anyways, Saturday the snow was coming down hard and we were feeling lazy. It was dinner time, but I was in the mood for comfort food. So I decided that I would try my hand at making some vegan nachos! The kitchen in RI is primitive at best (i.e. there is no food processor) so I used a simple pumpkin-cheese comprised of pumpkin puree, nutritional yeast, and spices. Believe me, this is better than it sounds! Also, pumpkin is full of antioxidants, and nutritional yeast serves up a ton of complete protein and vitamin B12. This looks amazing nutritionally, when it's matched up against the cholesterol and saturated fat in regular cheese. I also added salsa and black beans, another source of complete protein, to finish off the dish. The result? The best tasting and most nutritionally sound nachos you've ever experienced! And a perfect complement to a night in watching holiday movies.

Pumpkin Nachos

1c pumpkin puree

1/2c nutritional yeast

chili pepper and garlic to taste, dash of cinnamon

1 plate corn tortilla chips (most are gluten free, check to make sure)

1 1/2c black beans 

1c red salsa

In a small bowl, combine pumpkin, nutritional yeast, and spices. Stir to mix. Add tortilla chips to a plate and drop dollops of your pumpkin cheese on top. Add salsa and black beans. Microwave for 1 minute, until warm. Serve with a kale salad and call it dinner!

Chocolate Peppermint Mini Whoopie Pies

My fiancé and I finally finished our Christmas shopping this weekend. Well, we have a few tiny things to do last minute and we have to cross our fingers that the mailing gods are smiling upon us so that our nephews' toys arrive in a timely manner. But other than that, we are done! Either way, it got me to thinking it might be fun to share some last minute gift ideas for people like me.

Last Minute Gift Ideas for the Cyclist (or Outdoor Enthusiast!) in Your Life

Face mask: It gets cold out there and research shows that windburn can age your skin just as much as sunburn! Well, you get the wrinkles, but not the cancer. Either way, you can avoid this by covering as much skin as possible on the bitter days.

Heavy Duty Lotion: Same idea as the first one, except to help their face recover when they come indoors. Good face cream is expensive though, so it makes a great gift! You could also go with gifting some coconut oil, which is a great skin protector. I haven't gotten windburn once while wearing it!

Neoprene Booties or Socks: Every cyclist north of the Mason-Dickson line, or heck... even the tropic of cancer can use a good pair of neoprene booties! If they already have one pair, chances are they are ripped somewhere or your friend has been hoping for the chance to double-up. Yes, two pairs are really better than one! If you're buying for a runner/ rower/ skiier, I have and highly recommend these neoprene socks. Especially for the booties, choosing at least 3mm thick neoprene will give optimal warmth.

Coffee/ Tea Thermos: Having a hot beverage around is a game changer for long days in sub-freezing temperatures. My personal favorite is this one, which keeps the coffee hot for hours and can be purchased at Walmart for <$10. (Mine broke a month ago. Just as it was getting cold, sad!) Some of my friends swear by this one, that fits in a water bottle cage and features a one-finger trigger to open, which means that warm coffee can be consumed while you're rolling.

Gloves (for cyclists or runners), a sweat-wicking winter hat, and good wool socks will all also be appreciated!

Anyways, back to business... remember these Gluten-Free Oreos? Well, I revisited them with some peppermint. I was going to do my Christmas cookie tins this year as standard chocolate chip, but these turned out so well that I changed my plans and decided to pass this goodness along instead. The number of chocolate peppermint recipes in December is still trailing the number of pumpkin recipes I posted in November, but I am trying hard!

Chocolate Peppermint Mini-Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Cookies

1c quick cook rolled oats

1T cornstarch

1/3c cocoa powder

1/4c brown sugar

1/2t baking powder

1/2c vanilla almond milk

1/4c canola oil

1/8t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Food process rolled oats and cornstarch to make a fine powder. In a large bowl, mix oat flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, brown sugar, and baking powder. Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Drop spoonfuls onto a grease baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are set through (i.e. the middle of the cookie is solid to the touch).

Peppermint Icing

1/4c Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread

1/8t vanilla

1T peppermint schnapps (or 1t peppermint extract)

2 candy canes, finely crushed in a coffee grinder

1 candy cane, coarsely crushed

2c powdered sugar

2T vanilla almond milk

Cream earth balance, vanilla, and schnapps using an electric mixer. Add candy canes, then sugar in half cup increments miming thoroughly after each addition. After last 1/2 cup of sugar is added, add the almond milk to thin it out. 

Put it Together: Don't be impatient... let the cookies cool! Then spread one cookie with a generous amount of icing and top with a second cookie. Enjoy immediately, or wait a few hours to let the icing set.

Final point of business...  the winner of the Chocolate Cinnamon Sunflower Seeds is...

Commenter #4, Becky! Thanks to everyone who participated, I hope to give you something soon!