WINNERS! (and Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes)

I think my butt hurts from sitting on it so much today.

Usually if I say that, I’m half kidding, knowing I didn’t just sit all. day. long. But that’s really the extent of what I’ve done, save for the 15 minutes I decided to do random workout moves so I could regain feeling in my limbs.

I had a bunch of work to get done today for one class in particular, a ton of work on a top-secret mission of mine that is proving to be quite a project as well as designing some things for a couple of lovely bloggers, and add to that the fact that we had company coming at 11:00 and a Bruins game on at 12:30, I knew I was going to have to work hard to make the most of my morning.

Yes, the Bruins game does take precedence over everything else on that list. D’uh!

I was fueled by the best, however. Maybe it’s weird, but I hate using this yogurt as a snack/part of a meal/whatever. It just seems too expensive to eat all at once. Is that normal? Instead, I like to make “sauces” with it for pancakes. Or heck, add it to the pancakes.

Usually I get vanilla, but they were out of stock of it last time I went. Major bummer. Either way, I also put off eating these for the said price reason. The best-by date was nearing, though, and I figured that it being blueberry flavored and the fact that I caved and bought frozen blueberries the other day was pretty much destiny.

I am frugal. Slash cheap. Sue me. I have high hopes for this summer’s show season with the boy.

Oh, right; the recipe. Because you’re not sick of my pancake recipes yet. (that’s a joke.)

Blueberry-Spice Yogurt Pancakes

• 1/4 c. flour (I used graham, based on my obsession)
• 1 T. (generous) cornmeal
• 2 t. chia seeds + 2 T. water (mixed in a small cup)
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 T. shredded coconut
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 c. seltzer water
• 2 T. blueberry yogurt
• 1/4 c. blueberries (I used frozen blueberries that were uuuuber tiny – you might need more/less)

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in the chia egg, seltzer and yogurt. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour onto a preheated, greased skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides.

Blueberry-Cashew Butter Yogurt Sauce

• 1 T. cashew butter
• 3-4 T. blueberry yogurt
• almond milk, to thin as desired

Whisk everything together. That is all.

The seltzer water is a baking trick I learned from Sarena. I wouldn’t say it is critical for the recipe – if you don’t have it, just use a milk of your choice (don’t sub plain water!) The carbonation makes them a bit lighter than they would be otherwise, though.

Does life get any better than blueberry pancakes?

No. Well, maybe it would had I used fresh lemon zest and juice – but I’m saving the lemons I have in case I need them to make lemon poppyseed cookies for a winner.

Yes, I’ll get to the winners.

But first: I think I’ve deduced that the Nasoya tofu is better when you are looking for more of an eggy-type dish. For me anyways – everyone else seems to love it so I think I just have high tofu standards.

There could be worse personality traits, don’t you think?

Barbecue scrambled tofu a la Matt.

Of course, after I added spinach, shallot and garlic, I realized I essentially made a deconstructed BBQ Spinach and Tofu Sammie.

Old loves die hard.

Onwards and upwards: The real reason you’re all reading this/”reading” this but really just skipping down to this part:

Did you know that wordpress has a little “hide/show kitchen sink” button in the add new post screen? I never had any idea, and had been missing Windows Live Write solely because I knew how to change font color and size as I saw fit.

Oh, right. Giveaway winners.

First winner issss…

Comment #45, Averie!

And secondly…

Comment #54, Mary!

And seriously, wordpress needs to number their comments or something. There’s nothing like counting down 50 comments on a computer screen.

ANYWAYS! Congratulations, ladies! Your wish is my demand. Shoot me an e-mail with your choice and I’ll hop-to.

Thank you to everyone for entering, though – I was shocked at how many people got involved with this giveaway!! So I will definitely be doing another one sooner rather than later 🙂

Drunk on Brownies

It’s a heat wave!

I think I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that is the deep-freeze of January and February. It reached 30* today, and isn’t supposed to be below 20* (during the day) all week.

I am a happy girl.

Who had a wonderful ride on a happy pony.

Life is good.

And so is BBQ spinach and tofu.

My white balance, however, is not so good. Just pretend otherwise for the time being, m’kay? Please?

So remember how I’ve been saying I was now only going to buy the Vermont Soy tofu that I’ve proclaimed my love for?

Well, I guess I lied. For the sake of convenience (as well as the fact that I’m cheap and had a $1 off coupon thanks to the heads-up from Matt) I picked up some Nasoya Plus on my shopping-trip-gone-wrong yesterday.

I’m not gonna lie. I think I’m a Vermont-Soy-only kinda gal. Nasoya just doesn’t hold a candle. I’m not sure if I’m just spoiled or what. But the Vermont Soy tofu is so much easier to work with. I’m not sure that the taste is a huge difference, but at least I don’t need to press it for about five hours with my body weight in paper towels. And it gets a better “crust” and has a better texture all around. I’ll step off my soapbox now. One last thing, though, since every story has a moral…

Moral of the story: Vermont Rawks.

But I made do with what I had.

I hate to make a big deal out of a sandwich, but this simple combination is stupid good. And with it having a combination of onions and enough garlic to kill a cow, it lets you see who really enjoys your company enough to still hang out with you after eating it.

For one sandwich:

• 1/4 of a small yellow onion, sliced
• olive oil, for sauteeing the onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 “serving” (a.k.a. however much you want) tofu
• salt and pepper, to taste
• hefty handful spinach
• 1-3 t. barbecue sauce, to taste
• 2 slices bread
• earth balance/butter/whatever for grilling the bread

For maximum efficiency, you can do everything pretty much all at once: preheat a small pan over medium heat, adding enough oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and sautee, stirring occasionally, about 7-8 minutes, or until golden brown/beginning to get carameliz-y. Or just a little burnt if you’re like me…anyways. Meanwhile, preheat another large pan or griddle over medium heat. Place the tofu on the pan and spread a little earth balance/butter on one side of each of your slices of bread. Add to the pan with the tofu. Cook the tofu until it gets a little bit of a crust on it, and the bread until golden.

When the onions are done, transfer to a dish and add the spinach and garlic to the same hot pan. Cover and allow to wilt, stirring in the BBQ sauce. Once good and sloppy (trust me, it will be) assemble your sandwich by layering the onions on top of the bread, followed by the spinach and then the tofu.

After eating this, you’ll be a greasy grimy mess, but you’ll still have the satisfaction of knowing it’s really not all too greasy and definitely not grimy.

And because I wanted to be really stinky when I start sweating tomorrow, I decided to polish off the day with onion rings in which I used garlic salt in the breadcrumbs instead of regular salt.

And thanks to L, I even had real breadcrumbs to complete this mission with! I was as happy as a kid in a candy shop.

Who’d-a thought this turned out to be way easier than crushing a bunch of pretzels.

Oh, and by the way – cutting that onion totally reduced me to tears. I have been so sensitive to cutting onions lately. I don’t remember always being this way but I guess I should just be happy that I’m getting pretty skilled at slicing onions with my eyes clenched shut. I even got them nice and evenly sliced!

I’m kidding.

I am now proclaiming myself an onion ring fiend.

It’s just a shame I can’t find them this good anywhere else.

Badoom-chh!

Luckily for you guys, this is a recipe that Isa chose to share on her website.

Second on the plate: no, I will never tire of sweet potatoes.

I’d call it a rut, but I prefer to call it a groove.

That gross looking yellow plop?

Curry hummus. Oh kale yes I went there.

I can’t take the credit for this genius, though – I saw it whilst flipping through Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. I did simplify it, though:

• 1 can chickpeas (I used a 19 oz. can which I think is a little larger than most?)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 t. curry (the curry powder I have is a sweeter curry, I think. I’m not a curry connoisseur, though.)
• pinch salt
• hefty pinch dried chives
• handful raisins

Drain the chickpeas, reserving the liquid in a cup or bowl. Add all ingredients except raisins to processor. Blend until smooth, adding in the reserved liquid as necessary. At the end, add the raisins and pulse a few more times to combine.

The “reserved-chickpea” trick is from Appetite for Reduction. I am a cookbook fiend lately, obviously.

By the way, try to stop eating this by the spoonful after your tenth spoonful straight from the processor. It’s really good on sweet p’s or onion rings and does deserve to show you that.

And since I was on a pieces-parts theme for dinner, tofu also made an appearance. Kind of.

Most of it was eaten before it made it to the plate. Sorry. I was waiting for the onion rings to finish cooking and it was right there! I couldn’t resist.

I followed the concept of this recipe for the ‘fu, but basically just reduced it to a combination of cashew butter, lime juice, salt, pepper and dijon mustard. It needed a hint of honey, but was otherwise just as good.

Rounded out by a spot o’ wine.

Okay, so maybe not quite. This cabernet brownie was in the Foodzie box I received yesterday. As you know, I’m usually saying I’m not a brownie person, but lately I’ve come to appreciate chocolate rather than feel it’s overrated.

See guys, there’s still hope for me!

I was surprised to discover I actually really liked it! Probably because it uses a weird flour. I’m a sucker for any  kind of different flour.

Like most things like this, though, it was so sweet after a couple of bites! Mreh, well.

At least if you have it you can say your drunk on brownies, whether you are or not. It’s got a ring to it, don’t you think?

What’s a simple sandwich combination that you love?

*****

DON’T FORGET! You have until tomorrow to enter my giveaway!!

Scrambling

I am loving reading everyone’s requests for winning the baked goods! Seems like the lemon poppyseed cookies and birdseed bars are in high demand 😉 Keep on piling in those entries!

***

I don’t think whatever that sickness I had yesterday had much of a chance…in fact, I think I effectively slept it off. Between dozing all morning yesterday and sleeping until nearly 8:00 this morning, I was good to go today. I woke up still a little “bleh,” but ate something and took 875% of my d.v. of vitamin C and I was feeling better already.

I actually received this sample along with my iHerb order, and I figured there was no day better than today to use it. Yes, that is 525 mg of vitamin C per serving, and yes, that does equate 875% of my daily value of the stuff.

I was a little worried I was going to turn into a clementine or something, but I’m still alive. Even better than alive, dare I say.

Maybe this was the reason why I felt so good all afternoon? It’s probably just coincidence, but oh well 😉

Good enough to go grocery shopping, even!

…unfortunately, I would have been better off at home. Ugh, $60? Really? I am so upset because I didn’t need to spend that much. In fact, I had just cashed a check for $45 an intended to spend no more than that.

I decided to just go to Price Chopper (from here on out to be called “The store which shall not be named,” AKA TSWSNBN) rather than Hannaford (closest thing I have to a Whole Foods around here, though I’m thinking it’s less expensive from what I hear) because of the whole convenience thing. TSWSNBN = 5 mins away, Hannaford = 1 hour away. It’s convenient if I’m in the area because of work/going to see Teddie, but not on a day like today.

Anyways. I get there and start cringing at the produce prices, but shrug it off thinking “I didn’t spend any gas money to get here at least.” and carry on. Note I pretty much just buy produce that’s on sale. If you can call it that.

Not only that, but they were out of just about everything I needed – most imperatively, dates.

I almost started crying when the stock-boy told me they were sold out. My lip started quivering and I had to breathe deep, but luckily I spared him the waterworks. And moved on to wanting to hit him over the head with the chopped dates he suggested I get.

You know you’re a date addict when you move from feelings of despair to ones of extreme anger.

Not only that but all their produce was on its outs, they didn’t have any old fashioned rolled oats unless I wanted to buy them in the tiniest container possible for $4 and I bought a moldy yucca.

So basically, I have to go to Hannafords and/or the co-op sometime soon anyway. And had I known that from the get-go, I just plain wouldn’t have wasted my time and money there today.

UGH! Okay, rant over. Onto happy things.

Like banana scrambles.

Oh hail yes. I feel better just looking at that. Don’t you?

It’s like food therapy.

See, the other option for breakfast the other morning was a banana scramble, but the French toast had the louder scream.

When I saw Jenny suggest a banana scramble on that very post, I knew it was fate. I had to try one, once and for all. I might start cheating on my pancakes for these babies, too.

But oyu know what I haven’t had in a while?

Anything gingerbread. I’m assuming this has been done already, since it is gingerbread and all…but here’s how I did it:

Gingerbread Banana Scramble

adapted from The Edible Perspective’s Cinnamon Banana Scramble

• 1/3 c. quick oats
• 1 T. oat bran
• 1 t. chia seeds
• 1-2 T. milk
• 1/2 of a large banana
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. ground clove
• 1/8 – 1/4 t. ground ginger
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 – 1 t. molasses
• pinch of maple sugar

Mash the banana with the oats. Mix in all remaining ingredients and then form into a patty with your hands. Place on a pre-heated, greased pan and cook until golden brown on both sides. Top with peanut-ginger sauce.

Peanut-Ginger Sauce

• scant 1/4 c. peanut flour
• 1/2 – 1 t. molasses
• 1/2 t. maple syrup (or to taste)
• pinch ground ginger
• heavy pinch ground cinnamon
• 2-3 T. milk

Whisk together all ingredients, starting with just 1 T. milk and adding more to get to your desired consistency. Check for sweetness, adding more maple syrup as your taste buds call for it 😉

The only thing that would have made this better would have been having it between French toast. Too bad I was out of bread :[

But naturally, when new obsessions are born, they do not die quickly. As a snack post-workout, I decided more were necessary as an almost-lunch-but-not-quite.

On a note unrelated to banana scrambles, I think this was when I realized I might be more of a “late morning” workout kinda gal. I’ve never given myself the chance to workout anytime other than mornings, before starting my day. I felt like my mind was so much more in it today, though.

Maybe I was just high on Vitamin C, though.

In keeping with my almost-tradition of making just about everything either gingerbread or carrot cake, though, these ones were carrot cake.

I die.

Carrot Cake Banana Scrambles

adapted from the Edible Perspective’s Apple Scramble

• 1/4 c. quick oats
• 2-3 T. applesauce
• 5 shredded baby carrots (do you find it funny to imagine me shredding poor little baby carrots?)
• 1 t. chia seeds
• 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• pinch ground ginger
• 1/2 T. shredded coconut
• pinch maple sugar
• 2-3 T. milk

Combine all ingredients, adding in more milk as you see fit. Carefully form a patty (or two) and place it on a preheated, greased pan. Cook until golden on both sides.  Serve and top with peanut-carrot sauce, coconut, carrot, pecans and molasses.

Peanut-Carrot Sauce

• scant 1/4 c. peanut flour
• 1 shredded baby carrot
• 1/2 t. maple syrup (more or less as desired)
• 2-3 T. milk

Whisk all ingredients together, adding milk 1 T. at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

I think this one would have been ever better with a banana instead of applesauce, just to add a little bit more sweetness to the carrots. I didn’t really want to go on three bananas today, though. What can I say?

What else happened today? Well, naturally I made more bread. Do I even need to say I love Sarena’s bread anymore? It’s probably engrained in everyone’s brains already.

I made this loaf with 6-grain flour that I’d almost forgotten about, adding in a little Vital Wheat Gluten to make up for the heavier flour.

You know bread is good when you can eat it plain without even toasting it.

I made Chelsey’s granola and burnt all the raisins.

Luckily, I don’t mind the occassional taste of char. You probably think I’m being witty right now but I’m totally serious.

Ironically, I also had to make it with quick oats. The whole reason I wanted to get rolled oats at the store was so I could make granola. My heart was dead-set on making granola though, so I didn’t give up. It worked better than I thought it would!

Aaand lastly – sausage and peppers and a baked sweet potato.

You know what I realized? I don’t think I like green peppers anymore.

And also: Jenn’s method of baking a couple sweet potatoes at a time (in the oven) for grabbing one on the fly, totally works. I baked this one when I baked one for last night, and after reheating in the toaster oven, it was just as good as if it were fresh out of the oven. It’s a great trick if I’m craving a sweet potato for work the next day since it takes an hour in the oven and I now flat-out refuse to microwave-bake my taters.

What are your time-saving techniques?

It’s Time Forrr…a Giveaway!

I almost titled this “what starts with a “g” and rhymes with “iveaway,” but I figured being normal for once and just saying “giveaway” would capture people’s attention more.

I am not unique enough to have thought of this first, Gabriela is. I am unashamedly stealing her idea. (please don’t hate me?)

But, with Valentine’s Day coming up…don’t you want to win a little somethin’ somethin’? Maybe a little somethin’ somethin’ straight from my kitchen?

I will give two readers the opportunity to choose anything (within reason) of my baked goods. See note at the bottom to see what “within reason” means.

I’m sorry, but I will not be sending you pancakes via mail. And I’m not sending you Teddie, either. Not that he’s baked, anyway.

Here are some of my suggestions…

Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink granola bars, with your choice of “flavor” – ginger? sure can do! Cinnamon Raisin? Okay! Cranberry-almond? That’s chill, too. We can brainstorm. So long as you don’t request chicken-and-biscuit granola bars.

Cashew Butter. Cinnamon raisin or plain.

Energy Cookies. Recipe is from Vive le Vegan. AKA my favorite “super-power cookie.”

Date Bars – Cranberry orange or original.

Orange-Date Cookies

And I’ll even make something that isn’t a recipe of my own, but a loved recipe…such as…

Eat, Drink and Be Vegan’s Lemon-Poppyseed Cookies. A favorite of mine as well as…well…everyone’s.

or Vive le Vegan’s Sparkled Ginger Cookies. I know I just said the lemon cookies were my favorite, but it’s obvious that everything is “my favorite,” so I’ll say these are my favorite, too.

I’m open to other requests, as I said above I will try to accommodate what the winner really wants. However!! Keep in mind these things need to be mailed! I think some things will “keep” better than others, or travel better than others. I will also try to accommodate special dietary restrictions. Most everything is vegan, but do advise of allergies! Unfortunately the only gluten-free options are nut-butters. I don’t think that counts as “unfortunately,” though, and to be safe lets say “everything will be manufactured on equipment shared with peanuts, dairy , gluten and soy.”

Just covering my bases here, people.

Anyways. How to enter?

1. Leave a comment saying what you’d like. This won’t necessarily be considered your “final choice,” if you are the winner, don’t worry. Maybe you’ve been eyeballing something I failed to mention?
2. Tweet about the giveaway using my handle (@HLTHYexposures)
3. I don’t know…humor me. I can’t think of anything else but I like giving three ways of entering.

As usual, please leave each entry as a separate comment.

Winner will be chosen sometime on Sunday. Which means you won’t be getting them for Valentine’s day anyway, but whatever. It’ll be like a consolation Valentine’s day present. Or something.

Would anyone hate me if I entered my own contest? Because I want to win.

(Oh, yes, and lets keep this open to U.S. residents only. Purely because I don’t think any of these things would a. survive the trip, or b. still be good a week and a half later. Sorryyyy!)

Plagued

You can take one look at my breakfast and know something was up:

Strawberry-Banana So Delicious yogurt with protein powder, banana, chia seeds and a bran muffin.

What’s cool and soothing for a scratchy throat?

Yogurt.

Yep. My condition deteriorated rapidly last night, and I had to resort to crawling in bed, hardly able to breath, at hardly 8:00. This was difficult for me because the Bs were playing the Habs last night – always a good game.

My efforts to fall asleep early were a bit of a joke, however, as I intended to watch the game as I dozed. When you hear things like “Score!” every 30 seconds and then announcers excitedly narrating fights, going to bed early just isn’t a priority anymore.

I suppose combining a bran muffin with strawberry-banana yogurt is a bit odd...but luckily I couldn't taste much anyway.

I just knew I was going to wake up with a scratchy throat and a pounding head, and I did.

I kept telling myself I deserved to get sick for once, after dodging all the illnesses that float around my workplace. Missing out on swine flu is my proudest moment, you know.

Luckily (if you can call it that,) I think it’s more of a pesky sinus-y type thing that I’ve got. I slept just about all morning, and finally started to feel somewhat normal after lunch. I’ve got a little bit of a headache still, but I think I’ll make it 😉

Let us not forget the reds 8000 I chugged this morning.

Extra precautions.

So it seems a lot of people, when they are sick, lose their appetite.

I am the exact opposite.

In fact, all that is appealing to me is just eating more in efforts to make swallowing less painful.

Carrots, hummus and applesauce were all of equal importance today.

Not together, obviously. But I think I ate a whole bag of carrots and a good cup of hummus as well as many bowls of applesauce. What can I say?

And when I began to realize I wasn’t going to die from the plague like I initially thought I was, I realized I was a-okay to get some baking done. I took extra precautions to make sure the baking wasn’t infected, I promise.

Remember my Birdseed bars?

I baked some up for a certain someone, but tweaked the recipe again. This might be my favorite version yet! I love how the “bar pans” (mini loaf pans) allow each bar to get crispy edges, too.

I kept it simple for dinner though, as I was beginning to feel a little lethargic again. It’d been a while since I had a baked sweet potato though, and I decided one was imperative to my well-being.

Luckily, I had just read Mandiee’s mention of the magical numbers: 425* for 45 minutes. Remember that. Don’t ever forget it. It is the key to ooey, gooey sweet potatoes. There will be no more haphazardly throwing sweet potatoes in the oven at a temperature anywhere from 400* to 450* from me.

Paired with a hummus-quinoa casserole idea taken from Vive le Vegan. I just layered cooked quinoa, then a mixture of hummus and tomato sauce and then some roasted veg.

I bet you guys didn’t know that I love frozen peas. I don’t eat them frozen, obviously, but I think they’re the one vegetable I’d rather have from frozen than from fresh. Probably because the fresh ones are so much work and I can be kind of lazy…but whatever.

What’s your favorite “sick food”?

Is there any food you prefer packaged/frozen/what-have-you over fresh?