Strange But Good: Thai Peanut Kabocha & Cauliflower

September 13, 2013 By Laura

I am a kabocha nut.

Not a bad thing – it’s good – but time to branch out.

Admittedly, I got in a rut with it. I have been preparing it the same way for weeks. Tossed in this Mexican chocolate spice blend and roasted before being doused with a sweet peanut sauce, it has been my favorite “dessert.”

Possibly strange to “normal” people. Definitely good. But no longer unique. When Heather chose it was the “K” ingredient for the MMAZ link up, I knew I needed to step up my game.

Today I bring you a strange non-dessert kabocha creation. Not to worry – it’s still good.

Peanut flour again makes an appearance (I guess I didn’t branch that far out…) but this time it’s as a savory Asian-inspired dish. If you don’t have peanut flour, you can certainly use peanut butter!

Sriracha is my favorite way to add heat, and you could use it here. I avoid the sodium this close to a competition, so I added my own sriracha-esque ingredients to the peanut flour. Red pepper flakes and rice vinegar, plus garlic and a dash of cinnamon. Trust me on the cinnamon.

After a quick toss, I roasted my pea-nutty kabocha until it was ~~nearly burnt~~ nicely crisped. If you want to make it more strange, add in some cauliflower. It’s another dessert of the vegetable world – it tastes good in pancakes or spiced up.

Don’t forget to head over to Heather’s blog on Monday for everyone else’s kabocha creations!

Thai Peanut Kabocha & Cauliflower

2 T peanut flour* (or peanut butter)
2 T unsweetened almond milk (or other liquid)
1 T rice vinegar
2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Pinch of cinnamon
1 C kabocha squash, cubed
1 C cauliflower florets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.

In a small bowl, mix together first 5 ingredients.

Place cubed kabocha and cauliflower on baking sheet. Pour peanut mixture over the veggies and toss to coat.

Place in oven and bake for 20-30 min, stirring once half way through.

Makes 2 servings.

*I order my peanut flour from iHerb. Use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order!

How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

This week has been insanely busy with work and travel. I’m so sorry I’m behind on replying to comments and emails. I promise to catch up this weekend!

What’s your favorite squash? Have you tried kabocha yet?

Do you ever eat your veggies sweet?

What I Ate in San Francisco (from home)

September 11, 2013 By Laura

Leave it to me to go to a food city and bring my own.

Not my first choice.

A HUGE part of the commitment to compete is a commitment to your diet. It’s not easy. It’s not always fun. HOWEVER… abs are made in the kitchen.

This trip to has been especially hard for me because it’s my first with my new job… and I have a really fun team to hang out with. So far I’ve been good, even working out twice in 12 hours due to scheduling.

Preparation is key. This trip I packed up some old staples. These are items that “save” me:

Homemade fro-yo: I take single serving containers of plain Greek yogurt, add my on mix-ins, and re-cover them to freeze. Freezing the yogurt makes it easier to get through security (it’s a solid) and it acts as an ice pack for your other foods. And it’s tasty. This week I had peanut flour-strawberry and vanilla-mango.
Packaged foods: these are a great to have on had. I pack up single-serving protein powders, bars, stevia, tuna, and rice cakes.
Oatmeal: Usually I plan to get this from room service, but I wanted to try something new. I pre-measured out my oats and adding in ginger and cinnamon. All I need to do is add water/protein powder/hotel fruit to make oatmeal in my room!
Jerky: I don’t often eat jerky, but Perky Jerky offered to send me sample of their (preservative-free) product. I really like the turkey version only has 110 mg of sodium! Score.

Of course I brought more… see below… 😉

________________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve done detailed travel posts before, so this is WIAW travel food-edition going to be more of an overview. I did manage some new (strange?) travel eats this time around.

Read on for my San Francisco treats, and then check out Jenn’s blog. for some more “normal” days of food.

________________________________________________________________________________________

On the Plane:

Overnight oats in a jar make getting up early just a little easier. These were packed with fig, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla protein powder.

Yes, they made it through security.

Round 2 on the plane was the baked chicken from my food prep (recipe coming tomorrow), carrots, and airplane pretzels.

The fro-yo kept it nice and cold!

Hotel Breakfast:

This has become an art. The Westin St. Francis has been fabulous with my crazy food requests. They brought up apple cider vinegar so I could have my morning cocktail!!! I downed that along with half a muffin (brought from home) to fuel a morning workout. Check out the view I woke up to!

Then the full meal was delivered: plain oats with a side of berries, cinnamon, and coffee. I mixed in my own protein powder, and added coffee to thin it out. Perfection!

Other Mini-Meals:

You can actually find acceptable food to eat in cities like SF. I got to enjoy a kale-barley salad with chickpeas and shrimp for lunch on our first day here:

This was the peanut flour and strawberry fro-yo creation I brought from home. Can you tell how fantastically frozen it was?!

I ended up having to do my workout at midnight east coast time… this was just the treat I needed after. I spent half the workout thinking about it.

This next snack happened at the conference. People seemed a little surprised when they discovered I brought the egg from home. I can’t imagine why…

It turns out hard-boiled egg travels really well! Tomato Brownies travel well too. I took it straight from my freezer from home, and by day two it had thawed and tasted delicious! I didn’t reveal the secret ingredient to my co-workers. ~~They’d have been too jealous.~~ 😉

Of course, there have been other eats. When we go to restaurants I order veggies with a plain grilled protein or I bust out my “emergency” tuna. It’s really no too hard too eat out (temptation side).

***

If anyone wants to send random tweets of support and keep me honest… that wouldn’t suck. 😉

Do you struggle with diet? It’s the hardest part about competing for me!

Do you like hard-boiled eggs? This was my first time making them for myself!

Braving the Marvelous

September 9, 2013 By Laura

Flattered.

Does anyone else think of flatulence when they say that word?

I am absolutely flattered when people try out the #strangebutgood recipes I subject you all to. It’s high time I share some of the evidence and creative edits!

Jicama Tofu Nachos

This may be one of my favorite recent creations. I was really excited to see it popping up on Instagram! This version is by Hannah:

Meghan @ The Lyon’s Share braved these nachos and made it her own with mushrooms and a vegan cheese sauce.

Fluffy Cauliflower Pancakes

Meghan truly is a brave soul because she made my Fluffy Cauliflower Pancake recipe last week too! And she made it ~~even more strange~~ green by adding spinach and doubling the cauliflower!

(Cheese-less) Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Continuing with the cauliflower theme, Tiffany @ Love, Sweat, & Beers (minus the beers for now, baby mamma) made my Cauliflower Crust Pizza!

Since she’s eating for two, she even had room left for dessert. Clever thinking. 😉

Chick-Less Nuggets

Arman @ The Big Man’s World is a #strangebutgood enthusiast, so I was thrilled when he made my Chick-less Nuggets. He compared these TVP-based vegan nuggets to falafel, which makes total sense since I also used chickpea flour to make them.

Even better is the fast that he ate them with roasted cauliflower and brussels, two of my favorite things (rain drops on roses aside).

150 Calorie Chocolate Mug Cake

My girl Heather @ Better With Veggies is training for her first bikini competition on a pescatarian/dairy-free diet. She’s rocking it out and I was super flattered when she tried my 150 Calorie Chocolate Mug Cake.

She had the brilliant idea to mix the ingredients in advance so all she could take it to work and “cook” it in the microwave there.

Peanut-Coconut Flour Pancakes

Inspiration goes both ways! Arman made my nuggets, but my Saturday pancakes were inspired by the peanut butter-coconut recipe he entered in the #strangebutgood linkup on Friday’s blog.

The I made it more strange but adding roasted jicama and strawberries with a Mexican chocolate twist – I tossed them in cocoa, cinnamon, and cayenne pre-roast. So good!

Flattery, not to be confused with flatulence, is marvelous.

Check out Katie’s link up for more blog-land marvels!

***

I mentioned Friday that I have a new job. In order to give myself time to ramp up in my new role, I’m going to be posting a little less frequently. I don’t know what that schedule will look like yet. Just know if I miss a day (probably tomorrow) I’m not dead. If you notice. 😉

What blogger recipe have you tried lately and loved?

Is there anything making your Monday particularly marvelous? I’m in San Fran, which doesn’t suck.

Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies [Recipe]

September 6, 2013 By Laura

Let me apologize in advance.

#sorryimnotsorry

If you make these cookies, you won’t be able to stop at one. They don’t hide any veggies. They aren’t healthy… unless you count the partial sugar substitute. They are addictingly good. You will brave salmonella to eat the batter.

So what makes these cookies strange? Booze. It doesn’t have to just be for drinking; it also makes a tasty cookie! Who knew?!

The bourbon isn’t strong here; it merely adds a hint of caramel and enhances the vanilla in the cookie. I used Four Roses, which is a lighter, almost fruity bourbon.

No bourbon? You could use Frangelico or another liqueur. Or you could leave it out… ~~if you’re crazy.~~

Bourbon aside, this is a classic chocolate chip cookie. They are a teensy bit under-baked, resulting in a decadent, doughy center. Get your cold glass of (almond) milk ready.

There are some specific instructions. Don’t skip them.

Browned butter will elevate any dessert recipe you make to a whole new level. Be patient and let the dough chill in the fridge. It helps with spreading and allows the flavors to come together making an even more irresistible cookie.

Tall cookie dough scoops

If you want a healthy dessert, check out these Granola Cookies or these Chocolate Avocado cookies. If you have one of those weeks where you need to get down and dirty to treat yourself, do it with boozy cookies.

Why the treats this week? I quit my job and started a new one. It’s a good thing. I will miss my old team, but this job is more in-line with what I want to be when I grow up (in the world of marketing/product management). Changing jobs is scary and exciting all at once…. but it’s already clear to me that I made the right choice!

I deserve a cookie.

[Tweet “These doughy, boozy Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies will change your life. Really.”]

Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

2.25 C (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp cornstarch
3/4 C (1.5 sticks or 170 grams) salted butter, browned
3/4 C (150 grams) dark brown sugar, loosely packed
1/2 C (100 grams) xylitol (or sugar)
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 T bourbon (I used Four Roses)
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chunks)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cornstarch. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat browned butter and sugars together. Beat in the egg, followed by the egg yolk. Add the vanilla and bourbon.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together. The dough will be very soft. Don’t worry.

Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the dough and chill for at least an hour, or overnight. *Do not skip this step*

When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper .

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll the dough into balls (~1 heaping tablespoon each). Shape them into tall balls to help them bake up to be thick. Place them on the lined cookies sheets with ~1 inch of space between (they will spread).

Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. Don’t bake them any longer!!! They should look soft and under-baked. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet.

*Note: Room temperature egg/egg yolks are best for even disbursement.

Inspired by Sally’s Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

“The difference between a success and a failure is that a failure runs away from his fears while successful people run towards their fears.”

Have you ever quit a job? It’s the most nerve-wracking thing to do!

What is your favorite decadent cookie?

Strange But Good: Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa and PB Eggs

August 30, 2013 By Laura

Start your day out toasted.

I crack myself up.

When I prep food I usually end up double-cooking it. You get the groundwork done during your Sunday meal prep, but to keep it tasting fresh and crispy I pop it back in the oven before you eat. Oven, not microwave.

Double-roasted is my favorite way to eat kabocha, and yesterday morning I did that with my quinoa. Strange to do with stuff you already cooked, but oh-so-good.

Can you believe how cheap that giant thing of cinnamon was?! Love my farmer’s market.

This is really a non-recipe. There are no measurements, only flavors you should adjust to your liking. 3 simple ingredients: my new English toffee liquid stevia from iHerb (you can use any sweetener), cinnamon, and ginger.

Basically, it tasted like cinnamon toast. Much healthier than the butter-slathered stuff mom made us. Add to that some bananas brushed with coconut oil and thrown under the broiler with the quinoa and you’ll wonder who put the dessert on your breakfast plate!

The quinoa was prepped on Sunday (after I burned the beans), making it quick and easy to grab from the fridge to make this. When you toast already-cooked quinoa, it becomes crunchy and granola-like. The added texture was amazing on top of my PB eggs!

How do you make PB eggs? I’ve posted them a lot in all my “Jegg” creations (there’s even a
vegan tofu version), but here’s the run down.

Peanut Butter Eggs

Mix peanut flour, cinnamon, butter extract, and a teeny bit of liquid stevia with enough water to make it a runny PB consistency
Prepare egg whites in a small pot until almost cooked
Stir in peanut flour and allow to cook the rest of the way (~30 secs)

PSA: It’s also awesome on top of a protein-rich bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread Batter (this recipe, but with chocolate protein powder).

Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa

Quinoa, cooked
Liquid stevia (I used toffee)
Cinnamon
Ginger

Toss together all ingredients and spread evenly on a piece of non-stick foil

Place in over under the broiler until crisp. Watch closely – it’s easy to burn on broil!

Remove from oven, top your eggs (or yogurt, salad, etc).

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

There aren’t many (any?) things I say this about, but caramelized bananas could honestly replace dessert.

Quinoa for breakfast: yay or nay? Yay!

Have you ever tried peanut butter eggs? How about just sweet eggs?

Strange But Good: Jicama & Tofu Nachos

August 23, 2013 By Laura

Mexican-inspired breakfasts are some of my favorites. Jicama & Tofu Nachos are my morning take on the giant plates of nachos I love for dinner!

This Mexican-ish deliciousness happened for breakfast, but I think it makes a good brinner dish too. When is breakfast not appropriate?!

I don’t make guarantees often, but I promise that if you try this, you will be in love. It seems like a lot of steps, but they happen simultaneously so it’s not too time consuming.

If you haven’t had jicama before, here’s what you need to know:

Pronounced HIK-ka-ma
Root vegetable, sometimes called a Mexican turnip
Tough brown skin should be peeled before eating or cooking
Inside is white, wet and crunchy… like if a potato and an apple had a baby
Flavor is slightly sweet, a little nutty
Low in calories
High in Vitamin C and fiber… but not just any fiber! It’s fiber infused with oligofructose inulin, which has zero calories and doesn’t metabolize in the body
Inulin enhances absorption of calcium from other foods and is a prebiotic (read: promotes “good” bacteria growth)

Jicama is good raw in salads like my Edamame and Jicama Salad, but it’s also great roasted. I cut it into “chips” and roasted it in the oven for use as the nachos in this recipe.

It was awesome topped with tomatoes and creamy avocado… and tofu! If you haven’t baked tofu before, now is the time to try it. It poofs up like marshmallows! In a good way.

Even more fabulous was the runny egg on top. That #yolkporn dripped down into the crevices of my nacho creation, making each bite worthy of a giddy grin.

My only complaint was the not-so-happy ending – I was really sad when the last bite had been taken.

[Tweet “Jicama & Tofu Nachos are a healthy, breakfast spin on nacho plates!”]

Jicama & Tofu Nachos

1 small jicama, peeled and sliced thinly
6 oz tofu, cubed
1 tsp Mexican spice blend (use your favorite)
1/2 medium tomato
1/4 avocado
Egg (optional)
Garnish ideas: lime, red pepper flakes, pepper

Place the thinly sliced jicama on half of a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Season cubed tofu with your favorite Mexican spices and place on the other half of the baking sheet.

Cook both under broil for 10 mins, flipping half way through. Make sure you watch the jicama closely so as not to burn it.

While that is roasting, cut your tomato and avocado into cubes. Set aside.

When the chips and tofu are done, remove from the oven. Arrange chips in nacho-form on the baking sheet. Top with tofu, tomato, and avocado. Place the pan back in the oven under the broiler for ~5 mins, until warmed through.

Meanwhile, cook egg to desired level of doneness on the stove top.

Remove chips from over and verrrry carefully slide off onto a plate. Top with the egg (if using) and garnish as desired.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

Today my dad would have been 58 years old. I still feel the hole in my heart… but the Mitch Albom quote holds true: “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” I feel his presence, love, and support every day. His lessons live on through the lives he touched. Happy Birthday, Old Man.

How do you like your eggs? Green with ham? 😉

Have you ever had jicama? Do you prefer it raw of cooked?

Fluffy Cauliflower Protein Pancakes

August 16, 2013 By Laura

Cauliflower is surprisingly versatile.

Or maybe I’m surprisingly strange?

Either way, these are good. Cauliflower may seem like a strange thing to make pancakes with, but it’s one of those veggies (like spinach) that doesn’t have a strong taste.

I had to do a few trials, but persistence paid off. My first trials were without the oats, but it does need that addition to thicken properly.

What results in a super-fluffy pancake hiding a little extra veggie punch that NO ONE will ever guess is in there. I added a quick blackberry syrup and decorated with some toasted sunflower seeds, which added a nice crunch to every bite.

A couple of tips:

Cut the cauliflower into small pieces to so that they will blend smoothly
Make sure to grease the pan well to make flipping easier
Don’t touch the pancakes until they are ready to flip. If you mess with them, it will take away from the fluff factor.

Fluffy Cauliflower Protein Pancakes

For the Pancakes:

2 T oatmeal
100g (~2/3 C) cauliflower
1/4 C egg whites
1 T (1/2 scoop) vanilla protein powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp no sodium baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp butter extract (optional)
5-6 drops liquid stevia

For the Blackberry Syrup:

1/4 C blackberries, mashed
1 tsp sugar-free syrup

In a blender (I used a Magic Bullet), pulse the oats into a flour. Place in mixing bowl.

Place cauliflower in the blender cup with egg whites and mix until smooth.

Add oats back in, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend until combined.

Cook in a well-greased skillet (I used PAM).

Meanwhile, mix together syrup ingredients in a small bowl. Place in the microwave for ~10 seconds to warm and “melt” the berries.

Plate the ‘cakes and drizzle with syrup. I also added sunflower seeds as a crunchy garnish.

Serves 1.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

This week has certainly been strange… it’s so cool in Atlanta it feels like October! Normally this would be awesome, but I’m crossing my finger for a little warmth because I’m supposed to try paddle boarding for the first time this weekend!

What is your favorite way to sneak in extra veggies?

Do you like to make pancake breakfasts? Or are you an oat/egg/yogurt/other person?

Strange But Good: Peach Sweet Potato Scramble

August 9, 2013 By Laura

The Peach State isn’t actually the largest peach producer in the US.*

Not that it stops me from eating copious amounts while they’re in season.

You may remember my love of PB & Jeggs. Or Aggs. Or (vegan) Ceggs. Or Zeggs. I could go on forever, but all this is to say that I was actually thinking of my PB & Peggs when I came up with the combo.

Now that I type this, I realize I should have added peanut flour too! Tomorrow is another day…

One of the slightly strange adds was sweet potato. I cubed it and sautéed it quickly before making the scramble. It was so easy! Adding the peaches at the end was just enough to warm and caramelize the natural sugars a bit. Then there was the basil, which was a nice, herb-y accent to give the dish a bit more “pop.”

And bacon… because everything is better with bacon. Really, the savory-salty bacon sprinkles made every bite fun. Sounds strange, but trust me. It was good.

*In case you were wondering, California is the largest peach producer in the U.S. South Carolina is the largest in the East.

Peach Sweet Potato Scramble

Coconut (or other) oil to grease pan
1/2 C diced sweet potato
1/2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
Shake of cayenne (optional)
1 Peach, chopped
Basil
Bacon, crumbled (optional)

In a lightly oiled skillet, sautee sweet potato until tender. Set aside.

Scramble together egg whites, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne with a spoash of water (the water helps them “fluff”).

Transfer to a lightly oiled skillet and cook over medium heat until half way done (~1-2 mins). Add sweet potato, peaches, and basil. Mix and cook through.

Plate your scramble and top with additional basil and bacon sprinkles, if desired.

Note: Feta or goat cheese would also be good here to add a pop of saltiness.

How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week?

The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends!

Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

And now I have to brag. I get to have dinner at Sarena‘s house tonight. Her food makes me drool.

Is there anything bacon (or vegan bacon bits) isn’t good with? It’s like peanut butter!

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Strange But Good: Thai Peanut Kabocha & Cauliflower

Thai Peanut Kabocha & Cauliflower

What I Ate in San Francisco (from home)

On the Plane:

Hotel Breakfast:

Other Mini-Meals:

Braving the Marvelous

Jicama Tofu Nachos

Fluffy Cauliflower Pancakes

(Cheese-less) Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Chick-Less Nuggets

150 Calorie Chocolate Mug Cake

Peanut-Coconut Flour Pancakes

Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies [Recipe]

Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Strange But Good: Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa and PB Eggs

Peanut Butter Eggs

Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa

Strange But Good: Jicama & Tofu Nachos

Jicama & Tofu Nachos

Fluffy Cauliflower Protein Pancakes

Fluffy Cauliflower Protein Pancakes

Strange But Good: Peach Sweet Potato Scramble

Peach Sweet Potato Scramble

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