I have a confession to make… I’m boycotting Valentine’s Day. *cue dramatic gasp*
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may even recall last Valentine’s Day, when I officially dubbed February 14th “Violin-tine’s Day.” (Note to self: Totally making that more of a thing again this year.)
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. Sarah, you’re just a crotchety ol’ Scrooge because you’re single on Valentine’s Day. Well, OK, that last part might -technically- be true. In reality though, I’m actually a huge romantic. I’m a total sucker for the cheesiest things! Eating my food and telling me I’m pretty usually does the trick too, though. I’m not difficult to please. (Edit: I can actually be pretty difficult to please. Maybe that’s why I’m single on Valentine’s Day…)
For me though, true romance is unconditional, and there’s something about having a holiday specifically for it that just feels forced. You know wha’m sayin’? I truly believe that showing someone else how much you care should be an all-the-time thing, and needs no occasion. Regardless of how you show it, every day should be like Valentine’s day.
Not to mention, the holiday does kind of put a lot of undue pressure on single folk. I have friends who really dread Valentine’s Day, and THAT makes me sad more than anything. I also get it, because I used to feel the same way.
So that’s why I say, celebrate self-love this Valentine’s Day! Regardless of who you choose to date, marry, etc., only you get to spend your whole life with you. Just like only you get to eat this cookie pie.
Aaaand so, that was my long winded way of explaining why I made you a recipe for one. And it is a reallllly good one. This is the gooiest cookie pie ever, and you’ll never know it’s egg and dairy free.
So I say, make and eat a whole freakin’ cookie pie by yourself this Valentine’s Day (or, any day). Then top it with some dairy-free ice cream, because why the heck not. This cookie pie will be there waiting just for you, because you deserve it. Also, because it’s vegan (and gluten free), that pretty much means it’s healthy by default. Right? Usually wrong. But today, right.
And if you are planning to spend your Valentine’s Day with someone special, you could just as easily double the recipe. Why split a dessert when you can each have your own? Everybody’s happy, and nobody has to fight over who gets to eat what part or who gets the last bite. See? I’m saving relationships everywhere.
“I received free samples of Cabot Cheese mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe challenge sponsored by Cabot Creamery and am eligible to win prizes. I was not additionally compensated for my time.”
They say it’s football season, but I don’t watch football. I’d rather cook game-day food for you while YOU watch football.
I’ve been going to Superbowl parties for years, and have never been in the room where the game is on for any time period exceeding five minutes. I’d need three hands to count the number of times I’ve had football explained to me, and it’s just never going to happen. Thus, my job is to wander aimlessly between the dining room and the kitchen, sampling the waves of various bite-size things that come out of the oven. You know, for quality control.
Usually, the standard fare for football games or Superbowl parties are bite-sized treats: wings, mini hot dogs, mini meatballs, mini quiches, mini pizzas, etc. Another big thing is dips, and one of my all-time favorites is spinach artichoke. So, I combined all of these concepts into a super creamy mac and cheese, and then baked it in little paper baking cups I found at Michael’s. (*Note: to be more eco-friendly, bake these in a muffin tin.)
Did I mention that it also contains two kinds of cheddar cheese? Cabot Creamery was kind enough to send the Recipe Reduxers (count ’em) SEVEN different kinds of cheese this month. You can imagine my heaven. I am a huge Cabot fan, because not only is the cheese amazing, but they’re owned by family farmers and give all of their profits back to the 1200 farms that provide the dairy for their products. Just when I thought I couldn’t love cheese any more.
I used two cheddars for this recipe: Cabot’s Seriously Sharp and Alpine Cheddars. I’ve always loved the Seriously Sharp just for straight-up snacking. It is SO good that once, I bought the cracker cuts to try and control my portions. The opposite effect occurred, so I (begrudgingly) went back to buying the block. 😛
The Alpine, which I’d never had, was delicious and super nutty, kind of like a parmesan. It totally reminded me of the melty parm blanket that sits atop a big bowl of spinach artichoke dip (*le drool*), so I threw it in. I also included some Cabot greek yogurt in the mix, which upped the creaminess by about 200%. SO good.
I’ll just leave all of this here. Go forth and be cheesy.
4 oz. (1/2 block) Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar, grated
1/2 cup Cabot Greek-style yogurt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
Topping
1/2 cup unseasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. Cabot Alpine cheddar, grated
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Put pasta into a pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil to the water. Bring water to boil. Shortly after coming to a boil, the pasta should be cooked. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
Return the reserved pasta water to the macaroni. Add cheese and mix until melted.
Add yogurt and garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Fill each baking cup with a generous portion of macaroni.
Combine topping ingredients and mix until oil is evenly distributed.
Sprinkle topping evenly over the individual mac and cheeses.
Bake until topping is golden, about 10 minutes.
Notes
Depending on the size of your baking cups, this recipe may yield up to 16 servings.
For an eco-friendly/less-waste approach, use a muffin or mini-muffin tin!
Somebody please stop me from eating all of these immediately.
I made these last night, and as of the exact moment I began writing this post (12:32 AM) I had already eaten two of them.
Okay, I had eaten three. But I didn’t eat enough dinner last night. ALSO, I hadn’t yet photographed them, so I had to get rid of all the ugly ones. See? It’s ok. I was doing you a favor… Yeahhh.
I have been dying to make a healthy version of cinnamon rolls since birth, basically. I LOVE cinnamon rolls. In college, one of my roommates would make those amazingly delicious and crazy easy cinnamon-rolls-in-a-tube for special occasions. You know, the ones with the dough that you have to wear protective eyewear to open because the package is GOING to explode? Yeah, you know. SO good.
Unfortunately, those don’t exactly fit into an unprocessed lifestyle, and my goal is to make everything as delicious as possible while also using “real-food” ingredients. And so, these were born. And they are STILL gooey as all heck.
I threw some apples into the mix, because I’m still a li’l bit stuck in autumn and am not loving this weird transition into winter. It has been raining like crazy in NYC for the past few days, but it has been FREEZING. It might as well be snowing. Except that it’s not, so instead of making snowmen in the park and getting days off from school, I’m getting soaked by tsunamis of cold taxi puddle water on my way to class. Do I look amused to you? (Imagine that you can see me, and that I look unamused.) The change in seasons is always a weird time on the East Coast, but cinnamon rolls are for all the time. So, let’s just call these seasonal and be done with it.
Since I didn’t want to use powdered sugar, these do not have your typical “icing,” but they are soaked with a maple syrup glaze, which I think is probably the next best thing. They’re SO delicious warm, with a piping hot cup of coffee or tea on the side. Also, when I was looking for recipe inspiration, I saw that Chocolate Covered Katie put raspberry jam IN her cinnamon rolls. So, obviously, I put some raspberry jam on a warmed up roll for breakfast, and my life was changed. Like, really forever.
The fact that I have a pan and a half of these in my kitchen is really dangerous. Anybody want to help take some of them off my hands?
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, almost boiled
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 c. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 c. Whole Wheat Graham Flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
Filling
1 Honeycrisp or Gala apple, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup walnuts
1 tbs. cinnamon
2 tbs. coconut sugar
1 tbs. honey
3 tbs. melted coconut oil
Glaze
2 tbs. melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
In a saucepan, heat almond milk on medium heat until almost boiling. Reduce heat and add coconut oil and honey, whisking until melted. Remove from heat and transfer contents to a large bowl – let cool until a bit warmer than room temperature (so that the coconut oil is still a liquid)
Once cooled, whisk in yeast slurry, egg, and salt.
In a separate bowl, combine flours.
Slowly add flour to wet ingredients until completely combined and dough can be handled. Extra flour may be added. Knead dough for a few minutes with floured hands.
Let sit in a warm place to double in size, about 1 hour.
Combine filling ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a coarse paste forms.
Once dough has risen, punch it down and roll out on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick.
Spread filling evenly over dough.
Roll the long end of the dough inward to create a log.
Using a very sharp knife, cut into 16 even slices.
Arrange slices together into two greased cake pans.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Whisk together glaze ingredients and drizzle evenly over warm rolls.
I made you the best homemade bread in the entire world. Before you get all skeptical and tell me to stop using so many superlatives, hear me out. First of all, this is challah, so it’s automatically better than all other bread, just by virtue of BEING challah. Second, there are NO bleached or processed flours WHATSOEVER in this recipe. Still not sold? It’s soft and warm on the inside and golden brown on the outside. AND, it has herbs and cranberries in it.
I knew you’d come around.
This week, I went around telling everyone I possibly could about this challah because it came out perfectly. To my surprise, I got the question, “What is a challah?” several times. So, just in case, here’s the Merriam-Webster definition:
chal·lah
noun
1) egg-rich yeast-leavened bread that is usually braided or twisted before baking and is traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays
2) the most fantastic food in the universe
Ok, so I may have put that last part in there. I know, I know, the superlatives.
This month’s Recipe Redux challenge was to recreate a healthy version of a dish that we associate with happy memories. As a child, having gone to my synagogue’s preschool and having been raised in a Reform Jewish household, challah was one of the first foods I can remember eating regularly. Every Friday morning, my parents would buy a challah from the bagel shop and bring it home for Shabbat in the evening. We would say the “hamotzi” blessing all together (or in some cases, sing, because singing is one of the only ways you can get a 4-year-old to do anything), and then pass around the eggy end piece, each tearing off a bite. This was always my favorite part of the Shabbat blessings, because the end piece of the challah is pretty much the BEST. It also meant that afterward, we would sit down to a beautiful meal as a family. Even if it was just takeout, it was always a given that we’d be eating it together. (Crying yet, mom? :D)
On top of all these fond memories, challah has always been my ultimate sicky-time comfort food. Any time I come down with a cold, bug, or food poisoning, even when I can’t fathom the idea of putting anything into my stomach, the one food I will always agree to eat is challah. And, I’m always fine to eat it again once I recover. Challah may not be physically capable of having any bad memories attached to it. This has been true for 22 years, and I don’t see it changing.
As with all great comfort foods though, challah isn’t always the best for you. Most challahs you will find for sale are made with processed white flours and sugars. If you’re like me and are trying to limit your processed food intake, comfort foods like these are often very hard to give up. Like, what if I want to eat challah more often than once every few months?
Well, I’ve found a solution. At least for me! 😉 This recipe uses roughly 2 parts whole wheat flour and 1 part whole wheat pastry flour. Originally, I was petrified that the dough wouldn’t rise like I wanted due to the heavier consistency of the flours I put in the dough. Instead, the baked end result was just as fluffy in the middle as the challah I grew up eating. Only it was nuttier, sweeter, and filled with herbs and cranberries.
I’m still shocked, but I won’t question it. I’ll just make my own challah from now on, and hope I don’t sick of it. Eh, who am I kidding. I could never be sick of challah.
Also, by the way, this recipe would impress the pants off your Thanksgiving guests, and would be even MORE amazing if made into individual dinner rolls. AHHHH THE POSSIBILITIES! When is the next Thanksgivukkah happening again? 😀
*This recipe makes two loaves. I made one traditional three-strand braided loaf and one with a round braid. You can read up on how to do both here and here.
Last week was full of the most fortunate accidents.
Last Wednesday, while seeing a friend of mine perform at Carnegie Hall (casually), I ran into a different friend who I hadn’t seen in forever backstage – he was seeing a friend of HIS performing on the same concert. Crazy, right? Sometimes the music world is just the right amount of small.
Then on Halloween, I had dinner with two former teachers, one of whom was in town with the Philadelphia Orchestra. They were going to be playing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, also at Carnegie, but they sold out before I was able to get a ticket. *Commence hysterical crying sequence* So, I went to the hall 40 minutes before the performance to test my luck.
While waiting on the cancellation line, I met the nicest concertgoer who had an extra balcony center ticket she was trying to sell. I don’t usually trust total strangers, but in the name of Mahler… Who KNOWS what atrocities I would commit in the name of MAHLER 😉 The concert was incredible, and I’m sure I cried for about 33% of it.. Ok, I cried the whole time. I miss that orchestra and everyone/everything in Philadelphia so much. It was a bittersweet (but mostly sweet) taste of my second home!
But even before all of this, the week of happy accidents kicked off on Sunday with a little brunch I put together for family at my apartment. You know those days when you have something REALLY specific in mind to cook, but then the grocery store doesn’t have every single EXACT ingredient you plan to use? No? First world problems? I’ll stop talking.
…No I won’t, that’ll never happen. The plan was to make crostini with a crusty whole grain bread and then this here relish. My grocery store didn’t have any kind of fresh baguette that was made with whole grain flour. So, I settled for a whole grain bagel. This was, weirdly enough, the best decision I could have made. I cut the bagel into very thin rounds, tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and baked them (until they were ALMOST burnt – this was a less fortunate accident). Homemade crunchy bagel chips? IS THIS REAL LIFE?!
The rest of the recipe went exactly as planned. Sweet and tart pomegranate arils, briny chopped olives, thyme, and citrus all mixed together and left to sit overnight, and then sprinkled over the bagel chips which had been generously schmeared with ricotta. Oh, and then I drizzled honey on top of alllll of it because I have zero self control. You drooling yet? If you’re not, I’m worried.
Not only are these toasts like a holiday in your mouth, they LOOK like something you should be serving for the late fall and early winter holidays! Between all the deep reds, greens, and earth tones, all you need is a crackling fire and some hot cider and you’re good to go. I felt a little guilty for sneaking some summer ingredients into the relish, but they worked! I’m not trying to hold onto summer or anything, but not everything has to be cold all the time in the fall and winter. I’m all for seasonal ingredients, but sometimes in the winter, you just need to “wake up” a little.
Plus, these ARE perfect for entertaining! Super easy to put together, minimal cooking required, and taste fancier than they actually are. Make them for your family, friends, and neighbors at your next holiday. They will definitely be back. Make them for your book club – instead of discussing the latest chapters in The Fault in Our Fifty Shades of Twilight, you may end up spending the whole time convincing your winedrunk friends that no, these are not in fact that hard to make. Impressive, delicious, and low maintenance. Just how entertaining should be!
My one word of advice: whoever you do make these for, make more than you think you’ll need – it’s pretty much impossible to stop at just one.
Combine all relish ingredients into a mixing bowl. Let sit for at least 4 hours (or overnight) in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 325˚F.
Slice bagels into rounds – the slices don’t have to be the same shape, but should maintain even thickness.
Toss bagel slices with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Arrange on a baking sheet. After about 5-7 minutes, check to see if the first side of the bagel slices are browned and crispy. If so, flip them and return to oven. Watch frequently to prevent burning!
Once both sides are crispy, remove from oven and let cool.
Spread ricotta on each toast, then top with about 1 teaspoon of relish.
Once all toasts are assembled, drizzle them with honey and serve.
