you can't really call it "cooking" but it's been delicious...

so, i've been doing very little baking lately.  and even less cooking.  cooking isn't my favorite thing, and even less so when it's over 90 degrees every damn day!  however, i've been using my csa veggies and some herbs from my garden, and trying to empty my pantry.  this is motivated equally by trying to save money and my determination to not waste food!  these recipes are easy, and i found them/the ideas for them from a few online sources (which i'm linking to here).

kale salad


remove stems and chop a big bunch of kale (really get into it so you end up with little square-ish pieces), chop an avocado and add to kale.  add enough extra virgin olive oil and a little salt to coat the salad, you want it glistening a bit (i use my hands to do this).  add 1/2-1 apple (sliced thinly and chopped into bite-sized pieces) and some crumbled feta cheese and a little lemon juice and mix it all up.

corn, chickpea, and black bean salad with basil vinaigrette


boil or grill 3-4 ears sweet corn, cut the kernels off the cob.  combine corn, 1 can black beans, and 1 can chickpeas.  for basil vinaigrette: combine the juice of 3 limes, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, a big handful of chopped fresh basil, 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (i didn't really measure, just tasted), salt and pepper.  whisk until thoroughly combined, and dress salad.  this recipe was adapted from this one.

i'm evidently too lazy to get a photo of each of these, so you'll have to use your skills to tell which is which.

oatmeal pancakes


this recipe is wonderfully delicious, and i changed it not a bit from smitten kitchen (one of my favorite food blogs, and an absolute haven for great pictures of delicious food).  i'm not going to reprint it, go here to find it.  i made these this morning and it's the best breakfast i've made in a long time!  i can imagine eating these as snacks and dinner and with a lot of different toppings.  today i had them with just a little maple syrup (they're a bit sweet on their own, so don't need much).

garlic scape pesto


so, i've been looking at garlic scapes from my csa, in a pile on my counter, multiplying for weeks after each csa pickup.  i knew i wanted to make pesto, but kept putting it off.  the good news is that you can let your scapes sit for weeks out on the counter, and still make something amazing and delicious with them!  you'd think i was advocating laziness or procrastination or something... anyway, this is also super easy, and freezes well.  in a food processor, combine 1 c chopped scapes, 1 c shredded parmesan,  a couple handfuls of walnuts, juice of one lemon, and puree until smooth.  salt to taste.

odin and i are headed to wisconsin for three weeks.  by the time i get back, my garden should be producing tomatoes and peppers and maybe even a couple baby eggplants.  and perhaps i'll even be so ambitious as to make meals with them!

cinnamon chocolate cupcakes with nutella buttercream frosting

my dear friend megan is moving to colorado this week.  i'm going to miss her so much!  last week we had a little going-away party for her with some great mama friends.  and i volunteered to bake something sweet for the celebration.  megan knows how to pick her sweets!  she chose these delicious cupcakes from a fantastic looking blog, so i can't take credit for the idea or base recipe.  i did make a few little changes, mainly cutting out a bit of sugar in both the cake and frosting.  i highly recommend these little heavenly cakes, and they were very well received by all mamas!  here's the original recipe: 52 Kitchen Adventures

cinnamon chocolate cupcakes 

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c cocoa powder

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/3 c sugar

2/3 c coffee, cooled (i used some cold brew i'd already made)

2/3 c whole milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

beat egg and sugar together until well combined.  mix in coffee, milk, and oil.  whisk dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  lower mixer speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mix just until combined.  use cupcake papers, and fill about 2/3 full.  batter is very thin (don't worry!).  bake at 325 for about 20 minutes.  cool on wire racks.  makes 16-18 cupcakes.

nutella buttercream frosting

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c nutella (!! what what!?  that's how you know it's good!)

2/3 c powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

beat butter and nutella together until smooth and creamy.  add about half the powdered sugar and mix.  add milk and mix.  add the rest of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  you may need a little more or less sugar or milk to get a good consistency.  i baked on a 95 degree day (because i LOVE megan) and the frosting was a hot mess at the end of this.  however, after an hour in the fridge, it was beautiful and easy to work with.  frost cupcakes when they have completely cooled.  this made more than enough frosting.  enough so that both odin and i could thoroughly taste test.

now that i'm looking at the pictures again, i wish i were eating one right now! 

at least one person claimed this to be the best cupcake they'd ever eaten.  it makes me really happy that so many people blog about all sorts of deliciousness they're baking up at home!

strawberry buttermilk cake

it was a strawberry buttermilk cake weekend.  made first for dinner with friends on friday night.  second for our first cook-out invite of the season.  it gave me a chance to try out both a 9x9 and 9x13 cake.  i'll give instructions for both sizes; the 9x9 is a bit thicker cake (which is my preference if i'm going to make a smaller cake).  buttermilk cake is super moist and not too sweet, and also an easy and sturdy snack cake.  paired with super sweet strawberries is a great combo.  and leftover for breakfast is practically perfect.

9x9 cake:

6 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c flour (i used half all-pourpose, half white whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c buttermilk
fresh strawberries, halved

9x13 cake:

8 tbsp butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 1/3 c flour (same half and half)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
fresh strawberries, halved

in a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.  in a large bowl cream butter and sugar on medium until fluffy.  add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  turn mixer down to low, alternate flour mixture and buttermilk in thirds, and mix just until combined.

pour into buttered pan and arrange strawberries on top.  you can really fill up the space with strawberries!

you can sprinkle some coarse sugar on top of the strawberries now (or sprinkle powdered sugar on the cake before serving).  bake at 350 for 20-25 min for the 9x9, or 30-35 min for the 9x13, until a toothpick comes out clean.  cool on a wire rack.

voila!  other berries, rhubarb, or plums would also be really great with this cake.  the recipe is also really forgiving, so feel free to play around with it to suit your taste.

just peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

sometimes the act of baking is the most important part of the experience.  today is day 3 of dreary rainy grossness in nyc.  and the kids are getting restless.  and the moms are losing it (well, this mom, anyway).  so, odin and his friend arden made some cookies this morning.  the recipe is simple enough you don't really need to look at it once you've made these a few times, which is nice when you're baking with the likes of odin and arden.  and the recipe is a great base to build from for a huge variety of drop cookies.

recipe:


1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
8 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/4 c peanut butter
2 c white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
chocolate chips

cream butter and sugar on medium.  add eggs, then peanut butter and mix until well combined.  whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  on low, add slowly and mix until combined.  stir in chocolate chips.  bake at 350 for 8-10 min (for med cookies) until just starting to brown.  cool on wire racks.  makes about 24 cookies.

perfect easy cookies.  not too sweet, just full of the deliciousness of peanut butter and chocolate.  and i should have thought of taking a picture of my cookie helpers, but amber (arden's mama) and i were too busy refereeing fights and intercepting plots to capture the poor dumb cats.

strawberry white chocolate chip cream scones

strawberries strawberries everywhere!  i love it.  mostly they don't make it more than a day from purchase to bellies in our house.  odin especially is a little berry monster.  i specifically bought extra strawberries today to bake some deliciousness, though.  and, holy moly, am i glad i did!  and, sometimes i like to say things like holy moly to feel connected to my midwestern roots.

recipe:


10-12 oz strawberries, cut into small pieces (about 2 c)  *fight the urge to add more than this.  i went overboard and used too many, and it was very hard to form the scones; that's what i get for being greedy.
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp sugar
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 c flour (i used 1c all-purpose and 1c white whole wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small squares
3/4 c heavy cream
1 c white chocolate chips

combine strawberries, 1 tbsp sugar, and lime juice and set aside.  in a large bowl, whisk remaining sugar and lime zest until combined.  whisk in flour, baking powder, and salt.  add butter and combine with pastry cutter or forks, it will look like coarse crumbles.  add cream and stir just until combined.  add strawberries and chips.  the strawberries are difficult to mix in, and i ended up just doing it by hand as i formed the individual scones.  sprinkle a bit of coarse sugar on top of the scones.   i prefer scones that are more cookie-sized, and i ended up with about 18.  bake at 375 for 12-15 min, until the tops are just beginning to brown.  cool for 10 min on the cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack.

these little scones are practically perfect.  sweet, light, and fluffy, a hint of salt, moist with just a little crunch at the edges.  the strawberries not only taste perfect, but they're gorgeous, which is such a nice bonus.  next up, strawberry buttermilk cake...

chewy pumpkin granola bars

granola bars and their recipes keep popping up everywhere i look.  and so, last night, i made my first ever batch, and they're pretty good.  odin, after much convincing, is happily having one currently.  it took some strenuous conversation about how they might even be tastier than a store-bought cereal bar.  the texture could use some fine-tuning, as they're a little delicate, but that seems entirely workable to me.  pumpkin is such a fall flavor, but i really love it, so it seems a shame to ignore it the rest of the year.

recipe:


3 c rolled oats
2/3 c ground flax seeds (i used my coffee grinder)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
handfuls of: chopped raw almonds, chopped dried apricots, and semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c honey
1/3 c brown sugar

in a large bowl, mix oats, flax seeds, spices, almonds, apricots, and chocolate chips.  in another bowl, mis pumpkin, honey, and brown sugar, then pour over dry ingredients.  mix well and then pour into a greased 9x9 baking pan (or a 9x13 for thinner bars).  press the mixture down firmly into the pan.  bake at 325/350 for 30-40 min.  let cool on a wire rack for a few minutes, then score into bars.  when completely cool, finish cutting and remove from pan.

they're quite thick and dense bars, so can be cut even smaller than what i did.  here's where i need to refine the recipe, so they hold together better when cut into small bars.  i think they could also have more stuff in them, more nuts and seeds and dry fruit.  but, good first effort, i think!

a bit of everything trail mix cookies

i've been craving oatmeal cookies lately.  but i'm awfully picky about them; i want a crunch on the outside, soft inside, and i want them to be full of other goodies.  so, i was a bit bold with this recipe, and am quite pleased with the results.  using a combination of white whole wheat flour and oats give them the right balance of crisp outside and soft inside.  and then tons of mix-ins for more crunch and flavor: sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and milk chocolate chips.  traditional oatmeal cookie spices expand the flavor as well: cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  odin assisted, as per usual, using his expert tastebuds to make sure the spices were perfect and also as quality control on the chocolate chips.

cookies:

8 Tbsp butter, softened
2/3 c granulated sugar
2/3 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1-1 1/2 c rolled oats
the mix-ins: i don't really measure these ingredients, i used a couple large handfuls of each: pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, milk chocolate chips, and sliced almonds

cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  add eggs and mix until well-combined.  whisk flour, soda, and spices together, slowly mix into batter.  stir in oats and all the mix-ins.

using a teaspoon, roll dough into generous balls for baking: 

bake at 350 for 10-14 min, until just starting to brown on the edges.  makes 2 1/2-3 dozen cookies.

chicken and veggie wraps with peanut sauce

this will probably one of only a few entries featuring cooking rather than baking.  because, i don't really like to cook.  but...this is barely cooking! and it's super delicious!  i use it when i want to host dinner for friends but don't want to work hard (which, for me, is pretty much all of the time).

peanut sauce:

1/2 cup natural peanut butter (with salt)
1/2 cup hot water
3-4 garlic cloves
1-2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
optional ingredients: pinch of cayenne, chopped cilantro, grated ginger  (i don't usually use these for this wrap recipe, but this sauce is so versatile, and i vary it slightly depending on what i'm using it for)

whisk peanut butter and hot water gently until combined.  saute the un-peeled garlic cloves dry in a pan for a few min on each side, which is a cheat way to "roast" them.  i love this because they're soft and creamy and lose some of the bite of raw.  peel and press them into the peanut butter.  add all other ingredients and whisk until combined.  let this sit and come to room temperature.


chicken and veggies:

1 1/2-2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into large bite sized pieces
1-2 bags broccoli slaw (i can't always find this at nyc groceries, but trader joe's almost always has it)
salt and pepper

saute chicken in vegetable oil over medium heat until slightly browned and cooked through.  this is where i usually season, with just salt and pepper.  add broccoli slaw and cook just a few minutes, so the veggies retain some of their crisp.

now wrap these guys up!  i like using tortillas (warmed on the stove first.  another shout out to trader joe's, for the handmade flour tortillas.  i just can't have any others now that i've known their splendor).  you can also use lettuce leaves.  i also love to add a little lime juice and some rooster sauce.

my wonderful friends tom and rachael first introduced me to this deliciousness.  and i am eternally grateful for their genius!  as a thank you to them, i took this artful photo of my cat and his love, little stuffed penguin.  i think we can all agree that it is art:

peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies

odin loves baking, and he's been asking to make cookies for a few days now.  so, we invited his best buddy josie over to help today.  i was looking for a good recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, when i stumbled upon some recipes that took my breath away with delicious ideas.  here now, three of my favorite flavors! banana! penut butter! chocolate!  i took ideas from several recipes, and came up with something well-suited to the way i like to bake cookies.

peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies:

1 c sugar (i used mostly brown and a little granulated)

9 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c natural creamy peanut butter (with salt)

1/2 c mashed super-ripe banana

1 egg

2 Tbsp vanilla (we like to pour right from the bottle in this house)

2 c white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 bag semisweet chocolate chips (again, pouring right from the bag here as measuring chocolate chips has always seemed silly to me)

cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  add peanut butter, banana, egg, and vanilla and mix on medium until well combined.  turn mixer to low and add flour and soda, then chocolate chips.  i used a scoop for medium-large cookies.  bake at 350 on middle rack for about 14 minutes.

 odin and josie helped quite a bit to make that delicious batter.  however, two three-year-olds in the kitchen meant i spent all my energy making sure no one got hurt and that no one (ODIN) hurt anyone else or spit into the dough.  but, the kids were brilliant and enthusiastic and we got some beautiful cookies out of the deal!

 and, damn, if they aren't just the cutest tasters i've ever seen:

these two gave no detailed notes, but another valued taster noted a good balance among the flavors, and declared them delicious enough to eat two before lunch.

chocolate oat bars

these delicious and messy little bars come from one of my favorite places for baking recipes, "America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book."  i recommend this book (as well as the original "America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook") to people all of the time.  i wonder if i can convince someone to give me a commission?   the recipes are clear and well-developed.  and even when the recipes have a lot of steps, they're easy to follow and have a sound rational.  this recipe is very easy, my only problem is remembering to leave enough time for the crust to cool before adding the filling...which means i invited myself to complete the baking at jj's apt last night.  like a good guest always does.  i had odin assist with the measuring and whisking portion of the baking:

and then he got really into it, thompson-style concentration with mouth open:

let's face it, those were just opportunities for me to take pictures of odin and put them somewhere.

the bars: crust of oats, brown sugar, butter.  filling is lots of dark dark chocolate and sugar and a little salt (salty chocolate is so good!).  and more oats and such on top.   

i've apparently made these before, because in my cookbook i've written "very good!" and they were.  good thing i've already got the note there, because i'll most certainly forget i've made them again.

robot spaceship birthday cupcakes

odin had a very belated friend birthday party this year. but, it was a lovely little affair, and felt more like a family party than anything, with just 2 little families joining us on a sunday evening. i made these delightful cupcakes:

the recipe is for a cake that factors in often for thompson birthdays. it's a chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate sour cream frosting. the recipe came from my great aunt, and it's super moist delicious cake, with frosting that tastes almost like fudge, especially if it's just come out of the fridge.

my mom, generous and clever, gave odin these adorable robot and spaceship toppers and papers as one of his birthday gifts. he was so excited to help decorate them. he went for a more-is-more look, and i had to limit the toppers to 2 so we had enough to go around.

and, because he can't help himself, he directed the singing of happy birthday, and joined in:

sour cream chocolate cake:

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 heaping c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

5 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sour cream

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 c boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

combine all ingredients and beat 2 min with electric mixer until well combined.

those are all the instructions i have from the recipe. this is a very un-fussy cake.

bake at 350 until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached. for a 9x9 or 9x13, about 40-55 min. for cupcakes, i did 12-15 min (made 24 cupcakes).

frosting:

1 c bittersweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 c sour cream

3 c powdered sugar

melt chips and butter. mix in remaining ingredients until smooth.

this makes a lot of frosting! i made a half batch, and it was enough to frost about 20 cupcakes. if you're really fond of frosting, go for the whole thing! it's amazing.