K.I.S.S.!

I tried baking a cake last night to bring to my coworkers. It called for 1 cup of oil. I used 1 cup of coconut oil instead of vegetable oil because I wanted it to have coconut flavor.

But I think the recipe is totally flawed! It ended up being such a greasy mess of a cake! Yuck! I realized I need to take a step back and go to the basics: simple, effective, delicious recipes. I have to remember: "K.I.S.S."

Keep

It

Simple

Stupid!!!

So, tonight I decided to make up for it and bake muffins... for the first time ever I actually created a recipe from scratch! My very own! I just threw together stuff I had in my apartment, but it was triggered by the two over-ripe bananas that had been sitting around.

Black-Eye Banana Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1/4 fat free yogurt

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

12 blackberries

3/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan with non-stick spray.

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix remaining ingredients except blackberries and almonds until smooth. Gently incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Spoon batter into each muffin well no more than 1/4 of the way full. Top with a blackberry, followed by remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F until edges are golden, about 18 minutes. NOTE: The toothpick test isn't recommended because the blackberry will mess with the "clean" result! :)

Remove from the oven and keep in the pan for a few minutes before letting them cool on a wire rack.

After making these muffins, I felt really confident. I went for a bike ride and was so motivated and energetic that I decided to attempt making granola yet again! I've tried making granola not once, not twice, but three times in the recent past. Every time... I burned it. :(

But tonight was a success!

I didn't take any photos... maybe I will tomorrow while I enjoy a serving with my breakfast at work. It'll be low-quality (as my camera will be my iPhone!) but we'll see. Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to check it out!

Raw Shopping

I'm very open to new dietary styles, choices, and options. In April 2009 I decided to eat a vegetarian diet for a month, just to challenge myself and learn how to cook in a different way than I'm used to. I found it surprisingly easy to do, so about a year later I decided to eat a vegan diet for the same reason that I did the vegetarian thing the year before.

Although I'm not at the point of wanting to do another culinary challenge just yet, I'm continuing to experiment with things I eat. I definitely consider myself a flexitarian, as I eat meat rarely; for example, I had some tuna for lunch, but before that I think the last time I had meat was... um... sometime last week? I'd say out of the protein I eat, 10% of it is meat/poultry/seafood. About 25% of it is animal by-products (dairy & eggs) and the rest is from grains, cereals, soy, legumes, beans, nuts, etc.

Since starting this blog and getting more well-versed in cooking, baking, and food in general, I started utilizing Google Reader to follow lots of foodie, gardening, fitness, health, and local Cincinnati blogs. One of the foodie/health blogs I recently began following is Raw Reform. Through the blog, I discovered their store: The Raw Food World

When I discover new things involving my passions (technology, gadgets, and of course food!) I want to buy buy buy!

So, I bought bought bought...

• cacao nibs
• coconut oil
• chia seeds
• medjool dates
• shredded coconut
• goji berries

Obviously all of it is raw. The package came with free samples of some vegan protein powder and a couple of supplements, though I'm not sure if/when I'll try either of them. Except for the dates and goji berries, I've never eaten or cooked with any of the other items.

I've since tried the cacao nibs, which kind of remind me of espresso beans (yum)! Once I get the rest of my kitchen tools and gadgets out of boxes, I plan on experimenting with the rest of the stuff. Nom nom nom!

Have you ever looked into raw foodism? What are your opinions about it?

Welcome to My New Kitchen

As I said in a previous blog posts, I moved into a new apartment on the 4th of July weekend. My kitchen is a bit much smaller than my last apartment, but there are benefits: gas range, stainless steel counter top, and more windows (which means better lighting for photos).

So, without further ado...

Welcome!

My workspace!

Yup, it's small. Also, since taking the photo above, I put my microwave to the right of my range... temporarily. I have most of the cabinets full, but I'm waiting on my boyfriend to arrive for me to put most of it away.

See all of my appliances still in boxes? That's because my boyfriend is bringing a 3-tier shelf/cart that I will be using to hold my appliances (including my microwave), as well as other kitchen things.

This will help free up my counter space, which is very little as is! So, until then I will be using hard work (not my Kithchen Aid mxier!) to do my baking, cooking, etc.

I haven't baked anything and haven't even cooked very much at all in the 2 weeks I've lived here. With all of my appliances (except my microwave) and some of my cookware still in boxes, I've been unmotivated to make do with what I have at my disposal thus far. That is... until this afternoon!

First, I had to hunt through my two remaining kitchen boxes to find my mixing bowls, as well as hope when I found them that they were all still in one piece! Luckily they were! Now, it's time to bake!

Mocha Oat Mini-Muffins

Makes approx. 44 mini-muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

• 1.25 cups whole wheat flour
• .75 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 packet Starbucks Via coffee granules
• .5 cup coconut oil
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup light soy milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients ins a small bowl and add to dry mix.

When combined, fill greased mini-muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins and let them cool on a wire rack.

If you want to make large muffins, bake for about 15 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

A [Belated] Patriotic Pie

I made this for my coworkers the day before my vacation began. All of my bakeware was in boxes in preparation of my move. I didn't want to buy tons of stuff to bake with, or to use my cleaned oven, so a no-bake cake or pie was the only option!

Patriotic Creme Pie

Serves 8 to 12.

8 oz cream cheese

12 packets Truvia (or other stevia sweetener)

8 oz Sugar Free Cool Whip

1/2 cup raspberries + some for topping

1/2 cup blueberries (more or less...)

1 graham cracker pie crust

Blend cream cheese and Truvia until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until completely combined. Take half of the mixture and put it in a separate bowl.

Take 1/2 cup raspberries and mash them up until juicy. Pour the smashed raspberries into one of the cool whip mixtures and stir to combine. Pour into the crust and smooth into an even layer. Top with the plain cool whip mixture and spread until it covers the raspberry mixture completely and is flat on top.

Arrange blueberries and remaining raspberries on top in any way you'd like... get creative! :) Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is best).

I'm Back! - My Absence in Photos, Part 1

I've been M.I.A. for over a week - I'm sorry! But, I have an excuse...

I was moving! I only moved 8 miles, but I needed all the help I could get, so my parents also visited. One of the first things I did was take my mom to Jungle Jim's: an incredible, unique, gigantic international food market north of Cincinnati.

Even on the outside, it's an eclectic-looking place! It's... uh... jungle-themed, obviously! Words can't really describe the ginormousness (hell, even "ginormousness" isn't a word and it's the only way I can explain this place!) of Jungle Jim's, so I'll show you [mostly] in photos I took during our visit:

Booze.

A hybrid banana-pineapple (seriously), and a giant turkey leg.

Some kind of weird fruit, and ghost chiles - the hottest pepper in the world!

Delicious sushi we bought and ate for lunch, and an 8-pack of duck heads (for under $2.50... what a deal!).

Um... instant spring rolls (??!!) and a can of "white gourd drink".

The biggest marshmallows EVER!!!

Our cart of goodies. Nom.

This is just a small, miniscule glimpse into Jungle Jim's; every time I'm there, I discover at least 10 new things! If you're in the Cincinnati, Dayton, eastern Indiana, or northern Kentucky area, definitely take a weekend afternoon trip there!

During my parents' trip here, a lot of food-related things happened: dinner, shopping, cooking, etc. I'll blog all about it... but right now I need to get back to unpacking!