Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

There are a few staples in our house, simple staples, trusted. Peanut butter is at the top of the list. Fresh fruit and coffee make the cut.

While living in a van for a large chunk of our post college years we became very efficient at living on little as we could, rarely anything perishable. What were our staples while sustaining on primarly dry goods? Peanut butter, bananas, coffee. Dessert? Peanut butter. Peanut butter on a spoon or smeared on Frosted Mini Wheats.

Most of this trip was spent in Mexico where meals were taco trucks, street vendors and avacados smashed over tortilla chips.We ate incredibly well without a fridge and a makeshift stove/grill.

We were climbing everyday and biking in between, it was the life, we did exactly what we wanted to do. We were active and ate anything including several jars of peanut butter a week.

It has been a couple years since climbing was a daily activity, we sold the van, real jobs have replaced endless free time. Times change, we were ready to settle down. We still have peanut butter for dessert, ride bikes, climb.

J and I have are very fortunate in many ways but I know that we are going to grow old, happy and healthy together. We know what we like to do, we both find incredible confidence, satisfaction and general well being in health and general fitness. We both strive to be better and being active is the cornerstone to our well being.

Being active means that healthy food must take precedence in our lives.  I am not about to give up some of my favorite things, I enjoy everything in moderation. When a cookie can be simple, satisfying my hunger for sweet treats without making me feel sluggish, I am eager to warm up the oven and crank out a batch to nibble on all week.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Joy the Baker

makes about two dozen cookies

1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter

1 cup raw sugar

1/3 cup roughly chopped peanuts

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter, chopped peanuts and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. Roll into walnut sized balls (1 tablespoon of dough) and flatten with your palm. If you’d like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the cookies. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

For ages I had this far fetched notion that incredible experiences, complex flavors, breathtaking moments were the products of grand plans, enormous effort and exotic locations.

I am slowly realizing that the most incredible and intimate experiences are effortless and occur when I least expect them and from the simplest of things.

The sweet glance of a lover letting you know everything is okay. Casual conversations with the friendly stranger. The feeling of absolute satisfaction from genuine pursuit of happiness.

A simple meal with good people. A daily walk with our dog. The hour before sunset when the air is filled with golden light. A note signed with a heart. 

As summer approaches life becomes simple. My needs are rather basic when the sun shines, air warms, flowers bloom, birds chirp. I want to be outside, I want to be surrounded by people that make me happy, I want to feel as healthy as possible, I want to eat the freshest food possible prepared in simple ways. I want a summertime that is simple filled with meaningful and easy experiences.

Fancy dinners, big adventures and other such grand pleasures are fun to plan and look forward to but what makes a life rich is the daily routine of making good decisions, being healthy and making yourself as happy as possible. 



As complex as I try to make my life at times, the key to a successful and meaningful life hinges on good decisions.  Simple decisions that shape each day.

The more I shop at the local farmer's market (we have four each week) and find the best sources for local and organic produce, our meals radiate with simple fruits, vegetables and good quality meats. Sadly rhubarb is just passing the peak and strawberries are giving way to other summer berries. This is one last hurrah to the first sweet bounty of the season. I am regretfully used to overly sweetened rhubarb dishes that tend to mask the bite that rhubarb offers. This, thankfully is not one of those sugar laden dishes. The rhubarb is delightfully roasted, holding is shape and is complimented with a simple syrup that is created with juicy strawberries, balsamic vinegar, sweet vermouth, pure maple syrup and a pinch of salt. Simplicity at it its finest.

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

Inspired by Heidi Swanson's, Super Natural Everyday
Makes about 5 cups 

2 cups strawberries, halved
3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sweet vermouth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack positioned in the middle of the oven.

Line a rimmed baking sheet or large cooking dish with parchment paper, this is a juicy dish and you don't want the delicious juices running all over your oven.

In a large bowl mix the strawberries and rhubarb. In a small bowl whisk together the maple syrup, sweet vermouth, balsamic vinegar and salt.  Pour this over the rhubarb and strawberries, gently tossing until coated.

Spread the fruit out on the baking dish in a single layer, drizzling the juices over the fruit and slide into the oven.

Roast the fruit for about 40 minutes, the juices should be thick and the rhubarb tender to touch.

Transfer to a bowl once out of the oven and still warm.

Use immediately or store in the fridge for up to one week

Serve spooned onto ice cream or a slice of this bread, a biscuit or french toast.

Rosemary-Lemon Knot Rolls

Sometimes life feels like layers of complications, choices, questions, big life altering decisions.

Sometimes life does not follow the golden rule of moderation. 

Sometimes life does not play fair.

Adult problems. 

Traffic and cavities and getting laid off and never finding a job and houses and bills and friends and family drama. 

Pile it on. More. More. More.

Complicated.  

It happens.

It happens to the best of us. EVERYONE. 

Adult size decisions are rewarded with adult size rewards. 

Our reward is out there, just waiting for the perfect timing.

Patience.

Uncertain times tests my will power, I give in. Guilt is so 1990's. I give in to fresh warm bread straight from the oven. Just try worrying while eating fresh bread, impossible.

 

This bread is aromatic, twisted, simple. Knotting the bread distracts you from far more complicated things such as gainful employment and other big adult size problems. Worrying is for the birds (employment, not my bread!). Birds don't worry, they fight back.

 

Rosemary-Lemon Knot Rolls

recipe adapted from Donna Hay's and ELRA

makes 8

2 teaspoons dried yeast

1 cup (250ml) warm water

2½ cups (375g) bread flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

a few sprigs of finely chopped rosemary

Zest from half lemon, or more

For sprinkling and brushing

1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1 tsp olive oil

Place dried yeast, flour, rosemary, lemon zest and sea salt in a mixer bowl. Using a spoon mix this ingredients together, then add water, and olive oil. Knead using a dough hook attachment on low speed for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is elastic. Turn off the machine. Gather the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly grease container, cover, let rest for an hour.

Take the dough out from container, fold onto itself once. Divide into 8 equal portions, roll into ball, place it on a baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the dough in the same manner. Cover the rolls with clean kitchen towel, let rest for an hour. If you want to  shape  it into knot rolls instead of round rolls, check out this video on how to.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix finely chopped rosemary, and coarse sea salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Just prior to load the rolls into oven, brush each with olive oil, then sprinkle some rosemary mixture. 

 

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden.

 

For Yeastspotting and Meatless Mondays

The Petal Pusher

The best job I ever had was working in a floral shop.

Everything about that floral job was rather delightful from the wonderful women that I worked with, the vast experience I gained through hands on learning, I exercised my creative side every day, the interaction with customers that often became lasting friendships. I was surrounded by color, fragrance and beauty daily. This was a great job. I met J at that floral shop.

I have long since left that cute little corner where we made countless bouquets, I now proudly wear a ring from the sweet Texan with the red beard that I met there on a January day eons ago.

As I scour the country for job opportunities, I wonder if I will ever find such a perfect fit as the floral shop provided working my way through college. I can only imagine that some day I will find a career that pays the bills and makes me feel good about what I do. I know my time is coming, my work here is blossoming and there has to be something great right around the corner. There has to be something good waiting for me.

There has to be a bakery that needs a blond curly haired woman to run the show.

As I made this cocktail with the rose syrup, I was reminded of this floral shop gig and days I spent standing in rose petals. Literally there were flowers, roses, petals everywhere, my hair, the floor, every counter top. This cocktail is a great light punchy way to welcome the summer months and usher in roses that are just starting to bloom from their tight buds. Rose syrup and grapefruit are partners in crime.

Does your career keep you satisfied? Do you long to do something totally different? Do you have a dream job? Do you think that work can be fun and rewarding? Is your job technical in nature or is it creative?

The Petal Pusher 

Source - Lauren of ChatN’ Chow via  Kitchen Play
Yields two petite cocktails 


1 Egg White from a Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Egg (Safest Choice Eggs)
1 oz. Pink or Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice (fresh squeezed from the market tastes great)
2 oz. Dry Gin (stick with a basic like Bombay)
1/4 oz. rose syrup
Ice
Sugar for rimming the glass (this can be your choice)

Pour liquids in a cocktail shaker and shake without ice for 20-30 seconds or shakes (this helps the egg whites bind).
 
Add a handful of ice then shake hard for another 20-30 seconds - this really gets the foam going!

Strain into a rimmed cocktail glass and spoon remaining froth on top of drink.
 
Enjoy!

Toasted Coconut Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I drove for about 10 hours yesterday. Crazy. I slept in this morning, I woke up to these damn cookies on the counter. Thank.good.ness. I am a little hungover from the road. Cookies helped.

Cookies always help.

I drove a bazillion miles, crossed the Cascades, plowed through thunderstorms all to have lunch.

Gas is four dollars a gallon. It was an expensive trip.

It was a totally worthwhile trip.

I saw one of my best friends, ate molten hot tofu soup, bought a spice organizer, talked about climbing and biking with one of my favorite gal play pals then talked our way out of a parking ticket and filled my car up with smelly Asian food. If I would have gotten pulled over (for the speeding that did not occur)  the trooper would of let me go for fear of the smell emanating from my car - kimchi, fresh herbs, seaweed make a car smell really awful.

That is what you do. You keep good friends. You do what it takes.

The next day you recover with toasted coconut - whole wheat - dark chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.

It is so easy to let friends slip through your fingers with busy schedules, distance, time. Hold on to good friends, they are happiness, they are what makes us better people. Friends make you smile. Hold on to good friends. Be a great friend.

Thank you for being my friends.

I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people.


Toasted Coconut Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce
Yield: about 20 cookies

I like my cookies a bit thick rather than thin. I made half a batch straight from the mixer to the oven and they were nice and crisp, the second go around sat in the fridge for about a day and were baked cold producing a thicker cookie. I enjoyed the latter with a chewy interior and crisp edges.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. molasses
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup toasted coconut
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  On one baking sheet, spread out shredded coconut.  Toast coconut for about 6 minutes, until browned and fragrant.  Remove from the oven, place in a small bowl and let cool.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and molasses. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate and coconut, mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

Memorial Day Flowers

Today, I was going to tell you about kale chips. You are going to want to eat kale chips all week after a long weekend of BBQ, beer, chips and lounging.

Today, I was going to tell you about dark chocolate chip cookies that are made with 100% whole wheat flour. They are amazing. Period.

Today, I wanted to tell you about the easiest pasta sauce I have ever made. It might be the best pasta sauce I have ever made.

This is going to have to wait for the coming week, see today is Memorial Day.

Today, let us remember and honor those who have so bravely served this country and those who have fought for our freedom.

Here are some pictures from a recent gallivant to Dayton, Washington. I went in search of new trails and found snow, hail and wind.

I was rewarded with beautiful flowers at the Patit Creek Restaurant.

Have a wonderful day and we will chat later this week!