Peek-a-boo

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Just stopping by to give a quick update. I’ve been a busy pumpkin lately. I have some great future posts coming up. So stay tune! I’ve once again updated my recipe page again. Links that were broken are now fixed and all my pages that became screwy were re-done as well. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen again. It took way to much time to fix them.

I wish I had some new Halloween treats to share but I’ve been too busy to whip up anything holiday-esqe. The following are some of my favorite Halloween treats to have:

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
M&M Cookies
Chocolate Caramel Cookie Bites
Baking Illustrated Blondies
Dark and Milk Chocolate Brownies
Caramel Corn with Chocolate Drizzle
Frito Bark
Smoked Almond Turtles

Today I’ll be enjoying my day off and soaking in the fall weather with some baking. My costume of choice will be my baking apron ;). Couldn’t be a better day!

Fallon

17 Bean & Barley Soup

All I want is a nice, hot bowl of soup! I like chunky soups, on the verge of being a stew. It has to have texture from vegetables, grains and legumes. Plus good flavor and seasoning is key. I’m not really a fan of smooth soups. I just get no satisfaction from them. I want a soup that keeps me full and satisfied for several hours! Trader Joe’s carries a wonderful mix called 17 Bean & Barley Mix. It is a bag of dried beans and barley with a recipe on the back to make it into a soup. Brilliant! A serving packs in 13g of fiber and 13g of protein. I’m so glad that they still carry this soup mix because it is so helpful for me to bring to work for a lunch break. It the easiest and best meal for the working holiday season for me! I know my store will be super busy and this soup will help me work through those busy times! If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, you must pick up a bag of this bean mix. It will  not disappoint! Thanks to my mom for making the soup for me. She has become quite the cook thanks to me guiding her on what she needs to do. ;)

17 Bean & Barley Soup
Ingredients
2 cups Trader Joe’s Bean & Barley Soup Mix (I just use the whole bag)
2- 32 oz vegetable broth
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped
1 cup bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 bay leaf
1.2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 16oz Canned tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Soak the bean overnight (optional) in a large pot of water, then rinse and drain. Pour 4 cups of vegetable broth into pot with the beans. In a separate pan, cook onion, celery, carrot, pepper, basil and garlic in olive oil until soft. Combine this mixture and remaining ingredients into the bean pot and cover with more broth. Simmer covered for about 1 hour to desired tenderness. Be sure to occasionally check liquid level and add more broth if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 8 hearty servings.
Honestly this made more then 8 servings because my mom kept adding more broth and/or water as it would cook. The beans took longer than usual, but by the next day they were perfectly cooked. The soup is delicious and to top it off I paired it with my vegan cornbread! YUM!
   

Buon Appetito,
Fallon

PS: Check out Fannetasic Food for a Mighty Leaf Tea & Mug giveaway!

Vegan Skillet Cornbread

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been wanting to make cornbread. I just want it to be simple and quick. Lazy me didn’t want to go into the garage to fetch some eggs from the other fridge, so this became a vegan recipe. I subbed in 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed mixed with 6 tablespoons of water. I had inspiration from several cookbooks and ended up adding my own mixture/amounts of ingredients instead. I didn’t want it too greasy and I didn’t want it to be too heavy. Light and fluffy is what I wanted. This is best served warm with jam and/or a buttery spread!

Vegan Skillet Cornbread By Fallon
Serves 14 Approx. 100 calories per serving
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups organic yellow cornmeal
3/4 cups organic spelt flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp stevia (agave or molasses could be substituted)
Dash of sea salt
2 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 cup almond milk
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. If you want a crispier crust, put your pre-seasoned 10 inch skillet into the oven coated with coconut oil. Otherwise just coat with coconut oil and set aside.

Next take your flaxseed and mix with water. Let sit while you put together the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Then add in the flaxseeds, coconut oil and almond milk.


Mix until everything is incorporated but still lumpy. Pour into your prepared 10 inch skillet. Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
You can easily add in other ingredients like frozen corn, jalapeno peppers or sun-dried tomatoes. I would add in some cheese like cheddar or goat cheese but then it wouldn’t be vegan.
After I let it rest for a few minutes I covered my slices with seedless blackberry jam. HOLY YUM! If 1 tbsp of sweetener is not enough, add more. I knew I’d be adding jam to my cornbread, so I didn’t want it so sweet. The bread is moist, airy, light and everything else I’d want my cornbread to be. Next time I would add almost 1 tsp of salt since it was rather bland but still good regardless.

 
What goes good with cornbread? How about bean and barley soup?

Stay tune, recipe coming soon!
Enjoy,
Fallon

ALSO check out this great giveaway going on at Run, Eat, Repeat. It involves Lululemon! 

Dark and Milk Chocolate Brownies

Right away when I saw this recipe on Baking Bites I knew I had to make them. I like dark chocolate, but bringing in a little milk chocolate will add sweetness and cut down on some of the bitterness. Just sounded like a good idea! These also went into my boyfriend’s package along with the blondies.
The brownies rise beautifully and had the perfect fudgy texture. A little goes a long way in this case because of how rich they are. My boyfriend told me he enjoyed these more then the blondies because they weren’t as sweet. Which surprised me because I thought the brownies would be too rich for him in the chocolate department. Anyone who is a brownie lover and enjoys chocolate chunks in their brownies will enjoy these! These also ship well, FYI.

To get the full recipe click HERE for Baking Bites Dark and Milk Chocolate Brownies.

     
A shiny, cracked brownie top equals perfection!

What is your favorite brownie recipe? I’m really loving these brownies at the moment!
With love,
Fallon

Baking Illustrated: Blondies

My goal of October was to send out a little something, something to my boyfriend. We are going a long time before seeing each other. Work is keeping him extra busy these days. Thankfully Thanksgiving is in about 40 days, but that is still 40 days. I miss my man! Work isn’t cake for him and I thought a little package with brownies and pictures would be fun to put together. I couldn’t just send brownies, so I added a batch of blondies to his package as well.

I love blondies. I love them because they taste just like a chocolate chip cookie except they are in bar form, super chewy, moist and huge! For my birthday one of the cookbooks my boyfriend got me was Baking Illustrated. I knew picking blondies from this book would not disappoint because a lot of research and baking went into all the recipes for this book. In the end these were one of my favorite blondies because they are everything a blondie should be. The blondie was moist, salty, buttery and sweet.

I ended up having to make 2 batches of blondies. The first batch came out too thin. I thought my baking powder expired, nope. Then I thought every time I make something in my glass Pyrex 13x9 pan, everything comes out flat! I finally brought a normal 13x9 bar pan meant for cakes and brownies. The second batch came out the way a blondie should. I’ve learned it is very important to always use the right baking materials. Another important factor is when a recipe gives you weights for flour, sugar, butter etc.. USE THEM! I did that for the second batch, and it made such a difference. They were light and cakey, unlike the first batch that was flat and dense.

Blondies batch #1

   

Blondies batch #2

Blondies By Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips (my chip chunks came from Wholefoods)

1 cup of pecans, toasted and chopped coarse (I left these out for nut allergies)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9 inch baking pan with two pieces of foil. Coat the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray. This will allow for easy removal once they have cooled.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk in the melted butter and brown sugar together in a medium bowl until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the semisweet and white chocolate chips and nuts and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil handles and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars and serve.

Click HERE to find the recipe online.

Here are other blondie recipes I can’t wait to try:

Warm Chocolate-Chunk Blondie Bars by King Arthur

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies by Livelaugheat

Blondies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts by Martha Stewart

Enjoy,

Fallon   

Goat Cheese Avocado Walnut Sandwich

Sandwiches to me aren’t always impressive. I rather just have a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich then anything else. About 2 weeks ago I was asked to be in this performance for an Old Navy Conference. I’m not a professional actor by any means, I was more of an extra with 1 line ;). It was in front of 1,400+ people and I spent several days rehearsing for the 2 hour performance. It was a great learning experience, I met some nice people and learned a little bit about acting!

I was surprised to find out that they were buying our lunches. They kept ordering from a place called ‘wichcraft. The menu was full of sandwiches from hot, cold, panini or breakfast style. I’m glad I wasn’t paying because the prices were a bit high and everything was ala carte like for drinks, chips, dessert etc. My first day there I right away picked a goat cheese sandwich with avocado, celery, walnuts and watercress on multigrain bread. WOW was this sandwich great. The goat cheese was creamy, the avocado was buttery, the celery offset the peppery watercress and the big doughy slices of multigrain bread was just what this sandwich needed. BUT.. my walnut pesto was missing. I was not a happy camper. I knew I could make this sandwich at home and it would taste even better.

Goat Cheese Avocado Walnut Sandwich

Serving 1 person

Ingredients

2 slices of your favorite whole grain bread, fresh

1 oz chevre goat cheese

1 oz avocado

1-2 tbsp celery, sliced

1 tbsp walnuts, chopped

Spinach or green of choice

Fresh ground pepper

Take out the goat cheese in advance so it has time to soften up and spread easily onto the bread.

On one slice of bread smear the goat cheese and smear the avocado on the opposite piece of bread. Place the celery on the goat cheese side, and the walnuts on the avocado side. Ground fresh pepper on both sides and place the spinach on one side of the bread and close the sandwich. Enjoy!

The walnuts add crunchy texture and a nutty flavor, making a good companion for avocado!

This is a Great Harvest Dakota roll. It is my favorite bread because it has whole grains, texture from sunflower seeds, millet, and sesame seeds.

This is my new favorite sandwich. So easy and portable. I feel good eating it and I love the amount of flavor this simple sandwich has to offer.

As for ‘wichcraft, this place was awful. Not only did they not put walnut pesto on my sandwich, but the following day I ordered a panini with cheddar cheese, ham and green apple slices. It sounded like a good combination but oh SO GREASY! I’ve had a panini before with cheese everywhere but never once greasy. They also forgot my cream’wich cookie. One of the ladies had to go back and when she brought it to me, it was the size of an Oreo, warm  and basically fell apart as I ate it. Did not enjoy it at all and was very disappointed. I kind of felt bad she had to go back and get it. It wasn’t worth it.  I’m sorry Tom Colicchio I love you and your great expertise on Top Chef, but this casual restaurant just wasn’t up to the standards I expected from your culinary background.     

With love,

Fallon

I love CSN!

CSN Stores has become very popular these past few months in the blogging world. They offer bloggers to test products and have giveaways for their readers. The site offers items from dutch ovens to sofas. As of now all I’m really interested in is the cooking items, but when the day comes that I finally need to decorate my own home, CSN Stores will definitely help me out in that department! There is something for everyone which is nice because I like when stores offer variety.

I hosted a CSN giveaway back in August. Now I’ve been given a unique opportunity to review some products of my choice. This won’t be an easy decision because I have so many options to choose from. In the mean time check out their site, you never know what you may need!

Thank you CSN Stores for this opportunity!!

Fallon

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies + Giveaway WINNER!

Good Morning! How is everyone doing? I’m doing well over here. Very busy doing the work thing and baking up a storm in the kitchen! I have two things for you today. A great vegan oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, plus the winner from the WEBstaurant Store giveaway I hosted on Friday.

I’m really enjoying my new vegan cookbook, Eat Drink & Be Vegan. I’m not vegan at all but I’m enjoying the flavors and simplicity it has to offer. I’ve been baking a fresh batch of vegan cookies weekly to enjoy as a treat. Now that we have cooler temperatures I wanted a cookie that was comfort. When I think of comfort and fall weather I think of spices, grains, and warmth. Don’t get me wrong chocolate will always stay dear to my heart but I was seriously craving an oatmeal raisin cookie! It happens sometimes. ;)

This is one of my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipes. It is very light, chewy, spicy, buttery and full of flavor! They last for a while if you pack it up in a tight container. The recipe uses spelt flour and a hint of molasses. The spelt flour really brought the cookie together with its nutty flavor. I’m a huge fan of molasses aka gingerbread, so adding a 1/2 a tsp to this cookie brought it up a whole other level!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies By Dreena Burton

Makes 9-12 cookies| Wheat-Free

Ingredients

3/4 cup spelt flour + 1tbsp  

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup quick oats

1/4 cup unrefined sugar (stevia)

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch allspice (or 1/4 tsp nutmeg)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/4-1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add oats, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine syrup, molasses, and vanilla, then stir in oil to incorporate. Add wet mixture to dry and stir until just well combined (do not over mix). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon batter onto a baking sheet, evenly space apart, and slightly flatten. Bake for 11 minutes (no longer, or they will dry out), until lightly golden. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet for 1 minute (no longer), then transfer to cooling rack.

Congrats to number 3!!

RK who said, “I use the microwavable deli takeout containers all the time!”

I will get into contact with you on your winning prize. Congratulations and thank you to everyone else for participating! Stay tune for more fun giveaways and future reviews!

Ciao,

Fallon

 

Giveaway Reminder!!

Check out my post HERE on giveaway details! The last day to submit a comment and win a $25 credit towards anything in the WEBstaurant Store ends Sunday at midnight! All you have to do is leave a comment telling me something you’d like to add to your kitchen that is on the WEBstaurant Store. Just remember to leave your comment HERE.

The winner will be announced Monday morning.

Good Luck!
Fallon

Spinach & Caramelized Onion Tart + Giveaway

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you today but before I get to it I wanted to show you some awesome new kitchen items I was able to choose from the WEBstaurant store, the #1 restaurant supply site on the web. Their product knowledge expert Steve came to me asking if I’d like to test some products out. I couldn’t say no to that and went shopping right away! Sadly I have a list of kitchen items I really want/need but I tend to never pick them up! This was a great opportunity for me to get my list smaller. I was able to get three items I needed which were a thermometer, French rolling pin and a bread loaf pan.

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My items were shipped right away and came well packaged. I was very happy with the service and the quality they offer. They have materials meant for a restaurant but they also offer restaurant quality products for normal people like you and I at an affordable price.

I couldn’t wait to use my French rolling pin for a tart recipe I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. Once again the people from Posit Science sent me a wonderful Thinkfood recipe called Spinach & Caramelized Onion Tart. The reason why I wanted to try this tart was for the crust. I love cornmeal and never have used it as a crust before. The crust was surprisingly very easy to put together. I had a lot of fun rolling it out into an 12-inch circle ;). After an hour this beautiful tart was ready for dinner. I paired it with a lovely green salad. It was moist, decadent, and very satisfying. My father said this would be something to make and bring to an hosted party. I think he is right!

Spinach & Caramelized Onion Tart (By Thinkfood)

Serves 6

Ingredients

Crust

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cold water

3/4 cup cornmeal, preferably stone ground

1 tsp fine-grain sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Filling

1 Tbsp olive oil         

1 large yellow onion, halved then thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced (I doubled this)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (I used dried, fresh would best)

12 oz baby spinach leaves

6 oz cream cheese

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk, preferably 2% (I used 1%)

1. Make the crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, and salt. Slowly add the oil in a thin stream while stirring constantly with a fork. Slowly add 1/2 cup cold water in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a fork, mixing until absorbed.

2. With your hand, work the dough until it just comes together into a ball inside the bowl. Turn dough out onto a surface dusted with cornmeal and roll into an 11 to 12-inch circle. Lightly oil a 9 or 10-inch tart pan and line the pan with the dough circle. Gently press into pan and remove excess dough from around the edges. Set the tart shell on a baking sheet and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

3. Make the filling: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 20-25 minutes.

4. Add garlic and thyme and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add 1/3 of the spinach leaves. Toss the spinach around in the pan, mixing it with the onions, until it begins to wilt. Mix in the remaining spinach in two batches, until it is wilted and incorporated with the onions. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

That’s what 12 oz of raw spinach looks like!

5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a blender or food processor, combine the cream cheese, eggs, and milk and pulse until well mixed.

6. Spread the onion-spinach mixture over the bottom of the prepared tart shell, then top with the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the egg is set and the top is a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit 10 minutes before slicing.

If you want to impress a crowd of people or someone you love, I think this is the right recipe for that!

Also don’t just throw away the crust scraps. Re-roll them out and make crackers out of them! Mine are seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme. Baked in a 350 degree oven until lightly brown and crisp. They are DELICIOUS!

Did you make it all the way to the end? If you did then you are in luck because I am hosting a GIVEAWAY! The winner will receive a $25 credit for the WEBstaurant store. The contest will last till Sunday, October 10th at midnight. All you have to do is visit the WEBstaurant store and tell me which item you could use for your kitchen, then post it in the comments below. I will use random.org to pick the winner. The winner will be announced Monday morning.

Good luck,

Fallon

Caramel Corn with Chocolate Drizzle

Fall is in the air. The leaves are changing. The weather is cooling off and our days are starting to get shorter. As the season changes so does our diets. There is an abundance of squashes, apples, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cranberries, eggplant, figs and such. To read on more fall fruit and vegetables click the link here. Where am I going with this? I love having my brussel sprouts roasted and my apples dipped in caramel. How about popcorn covered in caramel and chocolate? Yeah this is where I’m going! Whenever the holidays come around I love having a huge bowl of caramel popcorn to serve to guests or have for my own pleasure. It is buttery, sweet, salty and crisp. Once you start you really can’t stop. I needed a recipe that produced a lot of caramel corn since I planned on sharing it with the people I work with. I picked my recipe from Annie’s Eats. I love how she displays her food in her photos. Very neat and cute! I have the recipe saved in my huge recipe book for next time. It was all I imagined and more!

To get the recipe for Caramel Corn head on over to Annie’s Eats for the recipe.

I added a chocolate drizzle to mine. I like that on Annie’s Eats she added candy corn to the mix which is fun for Halloween. Plus you can’t go wrong with some nuts unless you know someone with an allergy.

 

For the people I work with I put the popcorn into treat bags that way everyone could get a taste! It is much more appealing that way then to have a whole bowl of popcorn and everyone putting their hands into it. ;)

  

Come back on THURSDAY to check out a new recipe and a giveaway I will be hosting!!

Fallon