Slow Cooker Apricot-Currant Oatmeal

Question: What’s better than waking up to a warm, delicious breakfast that’s ready to eat?  I’m not sure there’s an answer to that, especially when said breakfast costs very little and is extremely nutritious.  That’s why I’m sharing these slow cooker oats today.  It’s a versatile recipe and I can think of dozens of delicious variations that you could try at home.  Have some extra apples lying around?  Dice them up and throw them in.  Do you like coconut?  I’ll bet some shredded coconut would be a great addition.  Prefer your oatmeal on the sweeter side?  Include some brown sugar, agave syrup, or honey.  I liked mine drizzled with a little whole milk or half-and-half.  Make sure if you’re making this that you use steel cut oats.  Rolled oats will turn into unappetizing mush if cooked this long but the steel cut oats hold their texture nicely.  Let me know if you come up with any great variations!

Blog business: I may not be able to post any new recipes next week.  I’m headed up to Minneapolis tomorrow to spend the holiday with friends and family.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I’ll check back in here as soon as I get home if not before!

Slow Cooker Apricot-Currant Oatmeal
serves 4-6

Ingredients
- 1 cup steel-cut oats
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup currants
- 6-8 apricots, chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- optional toppings: honey, yogurt, cream, coconut flakes, butter, ground flax seeds…you get the idea

1. Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker before you go to bed the night before.

2. Set temperature to LOW and cook while you sleep!  It will be ready in 7-9 hours.  Stir before serving.  Leftovers can be refrigerated for a few days.

* I entered this post in this week’s Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager, the Hearth and Soul Hop at Premeditated Leftovers, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, and Traditional Tuesdays at Cooking Traditional Foods.

Savory Mung Bean Pancakes with Miso-Tahini Kale

When I go to the grocery store, I am usually very good about keeping to my list.  Impulse purchases tend to languish in my pantry until their expiration date has passed.  Or, if the impulse purchase happens to be a box of Oreos, it will be gobbled up in a matter of days and ruin my appetite for all the healthy meals I had planned.  So, for me, the shopping list is a must.

Yesterday, though, I came across an intriguing item that I decided I had to try.

(Source)

For the record, I have no idea of why I decided I needed some sprouted mung beans.  I didn’t know anything about how to use them except for what I had learned from Creed in “The Office”.  When I got home, I began an internet search to learn about what to do with these little legumes and I found the perfect solution at Choosing Raw.  And so this morning, I had an extremely satisfying (and tasty!) breakfast, which I think will be first of many forays into the world of mung beans.

P.S. I think this would make a great lunch or dinner, too!

Savory Mung Bean Pancakes with Miso Tahini-Kale
adapted from Gena’s recipe
serves 2

For the pancakes:

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup sprouted mung beans (you can use regular mung beans as well, but follow cooking directions on package prior to making pancakes)
- 2/3 cups water
- 1/4 cups chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp agave syrup or brown rice syrup
- 1/2 shallot, minced (about 1 Tbs)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- oil of choice or butter, for the pan (I used olive oil.)

1. In a small saucepan, bing a few cups of water to a boil.  Add the mung beans and boil for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for another 8-10 minutes.  (If you are using regular, unsprouted mung beans, skip this step and just follow the cooking directions on the package.)

2. Place mung beans, flours, water, and baking soda in the blender.  Blend until very smooth.  Consistency should be thick but pourable.

3. In a large bowl, combine mung bean batter and remaining ingredients.  Mix until well combined.  (You can store this in the refrigerator overnight.)

4. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the pan, with each pancake containing about 2 large spoonfuls of batter.  Cook until you see bubbles on the top side of the pancakes and then flip.  Cook on the other side until golden brown.  Serve warm with miso-tahini kale.

For the Miso-Tahini Kale

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups lacinato kale, de-stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
- 1 Tbs tahini
- 2 tsp white (or yellow) miso paste

1. In a large sauce pan, heat a few tablespoons of water.  Add mushrooms and soy sauce and cook until mushrooms are softened.  If all the water evaporates from the pan, just go ahead and add a few extra tablespoons.

2. Add the kale and cook until slightly wilted.  Add tahini and miso paste and stir to combine.  Serve warm with pancakes.

*This post is included in this week’s Real Food 101 and Ruth’s Real food, Melt in Your Mouth Monday at Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist, Ingredient Challenge Monday at And Love it Too!, and the Weekend Gourmet Blog Carnival at Hartke is Online.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Winter break has been good to me.  I’ve been getting to try new classes at the gym, have almost finished my Christmas shopping, and I finally knocked another book off my reading list yesterday (Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner…been working on it for months.  It was worth it.)  And, of course, I’ve been spending more time in my kitchen.  Right now, I’m holding my breath to see if the cake I have in the oven is going to turn out the way I want it to but this post is going to be about salad.

Yup, salad.  It may be winter but there are still ways to make salad an attractive option next to the visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.  I was amazed at how filling at satisfying this Roasted Vegetable Salad from Tartelette was when I had it for lunch yesterday.  I urge you all to make it immediately and to follow David Lebovitz’s instructions for making the French Vinaigrette to the letter.  Because if David Lebovitz doesn’t know how to make a French Vinaigrette, then I don’t know who does.  As for the remainder of the salad, feel free to play with the ingredients.  I used butter lettuce because it felt fancy.  I’m sure that other types of nuts and/or seeds would work well in place of the pumpkin, and you can try subbing other roasted vegetables (I did really like the inclusion of fennel, though).  Enjoy and let me know if you come up with any great, new combinations!

Roasted Vegetable Salad
adapted from Tartelette 
serves 2

- 3 golden beets, washed, peeled and quartered
- 1 small fennel bulb, washed and quartered
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 8 large butter lettuce leaves, washed and patted dry
- a small handful of blue cheese, crumbles
- a handful of pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup edamame
- Shallot vinaigrette (recipe here)

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Place beets and fennel in a large baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and toss to combine.  Sprinkle with salt and roast about 20-30 minutes until tender and beginning to char a little.

2. Place lettuce leaves on 2 large plates and divide warm vegetables between them.  Top with desired amounts of blue cheese, pumpkin seeds, and edamame.

3. Top with vinaigrette.  I found that I liked these with about 1 1/2 Tbs of vinaigrette per salad.

Oh, remember that cake I mentioned earlier?  The one I was holding my breath about?  A bona fide failure.  This girl just got demoted to cupcakes for the time being.

* I added this post to this week’s Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS, Freaky Friday at Real Food Freaks, Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, and Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Chocolate Energy Bars (Vegan, Gluten-free)

I made these energy bars last week and have been enjoying them every day since then.  I’ve been enjoying them so much that when I decided to finally share the recipe today, I realized that I had just one lonely bar left to photograph.

And by the time this post is done, that bar may also be history.  These energy bars are incredibly tasty and are chock full of nutrient-dense, healthy ingredients to keep you going during busy days.  I found them to me much more satisfying than store-bought options (sorry Lunabars!) and the ingredients won’t leave you scratching your head in wonder (soy protein isolate? palm kernel oil?).  They were so satisfying, in fact, that I think I’ll cut them into 16 squares instead of 12 next time I make them.

Because I was curious, I did a quick nutritional analysis and found that if you cut it the recipe into 12 bars, each bar will have about 230 calories.  If you cut it into 16 bars, each will have about 170.  Not that I’m advocating strict calorie counting here, but I thought this information might help you decide how hefty you want your afternoon snacks to be.  Either way, you can feel good knowing that you are getting better nutrition than what you would from a package while saving money at the same time.  Win win.

Oh, and I should mention that the secret ingredient here is black beans.  No, you can’t taste them.  Yes, they are a good idea.

Chocolate Energy Bars
adapted from the Chocolate Black Bean Happy Bars at No Meat Athlete
makes 12-16 

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups black beans (or 1 can, drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup brown rice syrup (or agave)
- 1/2  banana
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1.5 cups of oats
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour (I used sprouted brown rice flour)
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup raisins or currants

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly oil an 8×8 baking dish.  Put the black beans, almond butter, rice syrup, banana, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder into the blender.  Blend until smooth.

2. Pour mixture from blender into a large bowl and add oats, rice flour, coconut and raisins.  Mix well  to form an even dough.

3. Press dough into prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes.  Let cool and cut into squares.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Movies: On an unrelated note, I’m going to mention a good movie that Jeremy and I watched the other day.  It’s called “Our Idiot Brother” and, yes, I know it looks corny but I watch too many movies and this was the first I’ve seen a while that that I’ve really enjoyed.  This is coming from the girl who counts “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” among her favorite movies of all time, so take the recommendation with a grain of salt.  If you want a more artsy recommendation, I’d point you towards “Melancholia” by Lars von Trier which, though intriguing and visually stunning did not leave me smiling the way I sometimes want to after a movie.

Does anyone else have any good movie recommendations?  The holidays are coming up and I made need a “safe”, family-friendly movie to watch with the folks.  Or an unsafe movie to watch at home during winter break!

* This post has been entered in this week’s Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager, Traditional Tuesdays at Cooking Traditional Foods, Hearth and Soul Hop at Premeditated Leftovers, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways at Frugally Sustainable, Gluten-Free Wednesdays at Gluten-Free Homemaker, Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

Pumpkin Breakfast Cakes (Gluten-Free)

A cake?  For breakfast?  Now before you decide I’ve gone off the deep end of decadence, consider: (1) This recipe started out as a pancake recipe but the texture just didn’t lend itself to pancake-ness.  They were super moist and delicious but any attempt at flipping them ended in inevitable disaster.  (2) According to their name, pancakes are really just cakes made in a pan instead of an oven.

So I reworked the recipe a bit and made my very first breakfast cake.  It’s made with whole grain brown rice flour and contains a good dose of vitamins and fiber from the pumpkin.  Now about the pumpkin…I roasted my own small pie pumpkin (more detailed instructions here) and then blended to flesh to make my pumpkin puree.  Until recently, I was adamant that I would never do this.  Opening a can was just too easy and I didn’t see the point in adding extra step to my baking.  Then I heard about a research study in which participants who ate one cup of canned soup per day for a few weeks had a 1,221% (!) increase in BPA in their urine samples (here is a NY Times article summarizing the study).

To remind you, BPA is the substance that has been banned from use in baby bottles because of its ability to disrupt normal endocrine activity and its effects on fetal and infant brain development.  Data about BPA’s effects in adults is still inconclusive, but many health-conscious people are trying to limit their exposure.  And since I subscribe to the “better paranoid than sorry” theory, I’m working to reduce my reliance on canned foods, since BPA is often used in the lining.  If you do use canned pumpkin for this recipe, see if you can find a company the uses BPA-free cans.

So with that, on to the recipe!

Pumpkin Breakfast Cakes
makes 4 individual cakes

Ingredients
-1 cup brown rice flour (I used sprouted brown rice flour)
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup milk of your choice
- 1 egg
- maple syrup to serve

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease 4 oven-safe ramekins.  In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.

2. Whisk melted butter, honey, pumpkin puree, and milk together in a separate bowl.  Add the egg and whisk until incorporated.

3. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and mix well.  Divide the batter between the 4 ramekins, filling each about 2/3 full.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned.

4. Top with syrup and eat with a smile.  You’re havin’ cake for breakfast!  :)

*This recipe was entered in this week’s Melt in Your Mouth Monday at Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, Traditional Tuesdays at Cooking Traditional Foods, Gluten-free Wednesdays at the Gluten-Free Homemaker, and the These Chicks Cooked blog party.

Spinach Ohitashi and Sushi Night

Near the very beginning of our relationship, Jeremy and I discovered a mutual love for sushi.  And then we discovered a mutual love for good sushi, which usually translates into expensive sushi.  Lately, I’ve been looking for ways to trim our dining-out expenses and sushi seemed like the perfect place to start.  A new shop has opened near our apartment that focuses on sustainable seafood, grass-fed meats, and local eggs and dairy (oh, Portland, I love it when you live up to your stereotypes).  The owner is extremely knowledgeable about all of his products and he carries a good selection of sushi-grade fish along with frozen seaweed salad and octopus salad.  I think that sushi night at home is going to become a tradition.

Please excuse the poor-quality photo.  We had our chopsticks poised and ready to go when I remembered that I wanted to take a quick picture.  :)

This is also a meal that allows us to cook together.  Our kitchen is so small that there really is no way to get two people in there at once.  With sushi night, I’ve been taking over all the make-ahead meal components and Jeremy has been artfully composing the nigiri once we are ready to eat.  I think I’m going to use some of my winter break to learn more about Japanese cuisine that I can cook at home.  Stay tuned for more on that!

My first venture outside the realm of  sushi rice was when I made Spinach Ohitashi last week.  The recipe was fast and simple and the ingredients were already in my pantry.  Cooking a new type of cuisine can be intimidating and so it felt nice to start small.  The simplicity of this dish made me feel that I could tackle it without any mishaps and the simple, healthy flavors were a wonderful complement to the tasty sushi we enjoyed.

Dan likes sushi night, too.

Spinach Ohitashi
serves 2

Ingredients
- 4 cups spinach, rinsed
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1.  In a large pot, bring plenty of salted water to a boil.  Add all the spinach at once and cook until tender, 2-3 minutes.

2.  Drain spinach and quickly submerge in ice cold water to shock it.  Remove from water and carefully squeeze out excess water.  It may take several minutes of squeezing to get out most of the water.

3.  With a fork or your fingers, separate the spinach a bit so it is not too compact.  Add soy sauce and sesame oil and mix.

4.  Transfer spinach to serving bowls and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

*This recipe is included in Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Freaky Friday at Real Food Freaks, and Fresh Bites Friday and Real Food, Whole Health.

Persimmon and Coconut Smoothie

Have I mentioned that I love smoothies?  Yes, I love smoothies.  But I sometimes find myself in a rut, especially as the weather gets colder and good seasonal fruit becomes harder to come by.  At this time of year, I’m usually using a lot of bananas, pumpkins, and fruits from the freezer for my daily shot of blended goodness.  During my most recent visit to the farmer’s market, though, and unusual fruit caught my eye.  It was a persimmon and I was immediately drawn to the beautiful toasty orange color.

Now, I had never actually eaten a persimmon and wasn’t really sure about what kind of taste to expect.  Having had one now, I think I would say that the flavor is most closely related to an apricot but less sweet.  The next thing I wanted to know was how I could incorporate it into a smoothie that would highlight its delicate favor.  Maybe some coconut and ginger?  Yes and yes.

Persimmon and Coconut Smoothie
serves 1

Ingredients
- 1/2 large banana or one small banana
- 1 ripe persimmon
- 3 TBS coconut milk (the more concentrated from-a-can kind, not the milk substitute)
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- generous pinch ginger
- extra water, if necessary to achieve desired consistency
- a few handfuls of spinach (optional)

Blend in the blender until smooth and enjoy!  Here’s what you’ll get it you’re shy about using greens in your smoothies.

And here it is if you like to sneak in the leafy greens like I do

* This recipe is included in this week’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, the Hearth and Soul Hop at Premeditated Leftovers, Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Gluten-Free Wednesday at Gluten-Free Homemaker, Healthy 2day Wednesdays at day2day joys, the Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways Wednesday bloghop, and Simple Lives Thursdays at GNOWGGLINS.

Cream Scones for a Potluck

It’s been almost a week since I’ve been able to post here.  The semester is coming to a close and has thrown my lovely school-life equilibrium out of balance.  I’m not complaining though because after this Wednesday, I’m completely free for a whole month!  I have big plans for all the non-school-related books I’m going to read, dishes I’m going to make, and, sadly, apartment maintenance I’m going to do.  Having a huge amount of work to do (do you know how many drugs there are to learn about? do you?) is certainly not as crazy-making when there is a beautiful light at the end of the tunnel.

I decided to take a quick study break to tell you about the lovely scones I made for our end-of-clinicals potluck.  Each student on our unit was assigned to bring some kind of goodie to thank all the nurses who have guided us throughout the semester and put up with our general cluelessness.  Now, I look at potlucks as a great excuse to make something much more decadent than I would normally be able to handle at home.  It makes others happy and saves me from too much gluttony at home.  And since clinicals start at 0645 and breakfast items were in order, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a cream scone recipe I ran across on Smitten Kitchen about a month ago.  She had altered the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen’s to use cranberries but I decided that I’d prefer currants.  Take your pick according to what moves you.  One thing I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t involve a lot of  sugar.  The sugar in the dough is minimal and I decided to top them with a little extra to give them a satisfying sweet and crunchy top.  I used regular granulated sugar but I have a hunch that sugar with bigger crystals (something like Sugar in the Raw) would be even better.  Nonetheless, they got rave reviews and were the first item at the potluck to be completely devoured.

Now, go forth and spoil your co-workers!

Cream Scones with Currants
makes 8 scones

Ingredients:
- 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup currants
- 1 cup heavy cream

1. Heat oven to 425F.

2. Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in your food processor bowl and pulse several times until well mixed.  Add butter pulse about 12 times until the mixture resembles course meal.  Transfer into a bowl.

3. Add currants to the mixture in the bowl and fold in until they are uniformly mixed in.  Stir in the heavy cream and mix until a dough forms.  You may need to use your hands to knead in any loose, dry bits.

4. Press the dough into an 8-inch cake pan and then turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Alternatively, you could eyeball it and form an 8-inch disc of dough on the work surface.  Cut into 8 wedges and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet.  (Try running your knife under a little water before cutting the wedged to keep the dough from sticking to it.)

5. Sprinkle the wedges with extra sugar and bake until light brown, 12-15 minutes.

This recipe was my entry for the Weekend Gourmet Blog Carnival at Hartke is Online and Melt in Your Mouth Monday at Make Ahead Meals, and Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage.