My thoughts on food, fitness and life in Houston, TX
Hello all, happy weekend! Here’s a look back of the week. Remember to click on Friday’s post to enter to win these cookies! My blog-versary was this week and I’m giving you a batch of cookies just for reading.
See you back on Monday!
Friday: Momofuku Compost Cookies
Thursday: Happy birthday, blog!
Wednesday: Revisiting morning exercise benefits
Tuesday: Blueberry Orange Muffins
Monday: How does your garden grow?
Here is the story of the Momofuku Compost cookie. Momofuku Milk Bar is a bakery in New York City. Although I was in NYC two weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of them yet. When I came home, I heard about this place on three occassions. I read about these cookies on Plum Pie Cooks. My mom said she has this on her “must visit” list for a trip this summer, and the Cooking Channel featured their pies in a Unique Sweets show.
When you hear about something so wonderful three times, you know it must be good.
Brooke (Plum Pie Cooks), was so kind to try these cookies out and post the recipe. I followed her steps and her baker’s tips and tried them myself earlier this week. They didn’t turn out as pretty as hers, but they are good. These cookies are pretty labor intensive, in my opinion, and take a while too.
I do know what I would do differently if I make these again, but for now, I wanted to share the recipe if you want to try them out too.
The beauty and fun of a “compost” cookie are the ingredients. It’s basically a junk cookie where you can add anything you have on hand, like chocolate chips of different varieties (white, semi-sweet, peanut butter, butterscotch), pretzels, potato chips, peanut butter, nuts, raisins, it goes on!
The problem I ran into was that my chocolate chips were a bit crowded in some cookies and didn’t melt, and the chunks of pretzels were a bit confusing, like “did I just bite into an egg shell or is that supposed to be there?”
The other problem I had was that my cookies were very flat and spread quite a bit. They were soft and crunchy at the same time, which I liked, but they weren’t as strong as I expected. Follow below for those reasons below the recipe.
Ingredients:
I used chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, pretzel sticks and Fritos.
Instructions:
If I make these cookies again, here’s what I would do differently:
What’s the last thing you learned from cooking?
Remember, to win a batch of these cookies, leave a comment on yesterday’s post!
Happy birthday to my blog! If you haven’t been reading that long, which I’m sure is true, let me take you back to the beginning…
The most common question people ask me is why I started this and how I knew about healthy living blogs. I started reading healthy living blogs around January 2010, and by April, I was itching to start my own. Also last April, we got our dog Lily. It became a habit that each morning I would email my parents and grandfather about how Lily did the day before. It was pretty much a blog post via email and just to three people. I stopped the daily emails after about a month and realized I should write a blog.
I remember the first blog I read was on Self Magazine called “Eat like me.” Soon after, I picked up some popular ones and still add blogs to my Google Reader often.
I knew absolutely nothing about how to blog or what software is best, so I started asking questions and reading a lot. Once I picked a basic WordPress template and set it all up for free through wordpress.com, I was live. This was my first post on April 30, 2010. I had this template until January 2011 but the header image changed a few times.
After my very first post, I started writing about recipes, races, and workouts. That is still the general rhythm, but my posts and pictures are hopefully better than the beginning.
I also got a lot of help from my friend Grant, who has like four personal blogs and knows a whole lot more about blogging and the back end than me.
Blogging has been such a great hobby and adventure for me. Because of my blog, I started writing for CultureMap, a Houston-based digital magazine. I started as a healthy living columnist and it grew to a reporter. I covered some chefs who came to town, like Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence, and I wrote a lot about the Houston Marathon in January. I still write my “Happy Healthy Me” column for them.
I also discovered Foodbuzz, a publishing company of food bloggers, and went to San Francisco for their annual conference in November. I met a lot of people whose blogs I read, and had a great time around the city. It was such a great experience to go to a conference by myself not knowing anyone!
I loved it so much, I’m going to another conference called Eat Write Retreat in three weeks in Washington, DC where I don’t know anyone.
I appreciate you coming to read and keep my fun little hobby going, so I want to give something homemade away. Please leave me a comment saying whatever you want, and I’ll pick a random winner and announce on Monday. I’ll mail you a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I haven’t even posted the recipe yet!
For a bonus comment, let me know your favorite part of my blog, like a favorite recipe, feature or something you’d like to see more of.
About a year ago, I wrote one of my favorite posts–how to become a morning exerciser.
After I graduated from college and almost daily for the next four years, I exercised after work. I didn’t really have other commitments, I didn’t have a reason to wake up early, and it was fine. In March 2010, I realized that it’s just too hot in Houston to exercise at 6 p.m., especially for CrossFit classes I was doing in a gym with no air. That was my motivation to change my style immediately!
I also got a dog last April and needed to come as soon as I could after work. With many good reasons to move to mornings, I started setting my alarm for 5:32 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays (for a 6 a.m. class), and about 6:15 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays (to go to the gym and do whatever). I take Fridays off of all exercise. On the weekends, I still exercise in the morning, but more like 9 a.m.
A year later, I’m still going with this plan.
Here are the things I like about exercising early:
What do you like about the time of day you exercise?
This fruity and zesty muffin is perfect for a Spring breakfast. It’s light and airy, not too bad for you, and perfect to grab on the go. There are ways to healthify this more, but I just wanted a classic blueberry muffin with a little twist by adding orange zest.
You could take out the sugar and sub a natural sweetener. You could sub the egg for a flax egg (1 T flax meal + 3T water), and you could sub applesauce for canola oil. That would probably end up fine, but I wanted a good, solid blueberry muffin.And that is what I made.
I really enjoy taking a muffin and two hard boiled egg whites for an on-the-go breakfast. Paired with strawberries or half a banana and you have a well balanced way to start your day. Bonus points if you store these in the fridge and let it defrost on your way to work. That’s really grab and go. You can also microwave for 20 seconds.
Ingredients
Preparation
Now that the Passover posts are behind us, I am excited to talk about something very new to me. We are growing an herb and vegetable garden!
A few years ago, we grew herbs inside our house with an AeroGarden. We really loved having herbs readily available, and we didn’t buy them at the store nearly as often. We stopped that when we got our dog because she took over the area where the herbs were.
Now we are excited to start over with an outdoor garden but still easy for urban living.
First, let me tell you that I know nothing about growing a garden. We don’t even have a yard to plant things. We don’t even own a shovel. A company called Burpee Home Gardens contacted me a few months ago and asked if I would like to try their herb and vegetable plants and blog my experiences on their site. I received the plants a few days ago, but not the rest of the growing supplies. It’s up to me to grow them where I have room and maintain them. I will be writing about our garden for their site and on my site as well. I hope you’ll be interested in simple and affordable ways to grow a home garden. I promise this will be an honest look at beginner gardening. If you have questions or tips, I am open ears.
Burpee sent me 12 herb/vegetable plants, including different kinds of basil, tomatoes and bell peppers. They came in little compostable four inch planting containers. I think the plants are about $5 each, and are sold online or in gardening stores.
We went to Home Depot to buy some gardening supplies and figure out how to make these things grow. Our hope was to hang these from our balcony, but we think we bought the wrong type for our balcony. So they’ll be sitting on the balcony.
We came home with:
Total: ~$60
Our garden should last through the summer and grow to be very tall. We may have to replant in larger containers if the roots get wild and crazy. That’s part of the experiment, so we’ll see how it grows.
Here are the steps of initial planting:
We left the herbs/plants in the compostable containers (we aren’t sure if this was correct or not).
We lined each container with the liner and placed six cups in each container evenly spaced.
We poured potting soil on top of the planter box until the cups were covered.
We watered them with our watering can.
That was it! Now we’re waiting for them to grow. They have been outside for one day, and I watered them again. I think I’ll water them daily especially because it’s already so hot.
Do you have any gardening questions or pointers? Have you ever grown an outdoor garden not in the ground?
Also, here is my latest CultureMap story about green cleaning products. There’s been a lot of green talk for Earth Day and these are some products I researched to keep your house green.
Putting green cleaning products to the test
Hello again, we are having a nice little weekend at home to catch up on house chores, grocery shopping and other odds and ends. We’ve had a busy April, and May will be just as busy. I’ll be going to Chapel Hill, NC for my sister’s graduate school graduation, and then two weeks later I’ll be going to Washington, D.C. for Eat Write Retreat, another blogging conference. This is the quiet time in the middle to get caught up.
Here’s a look back at the week, mostly of Passover posts. Back to normal posting next week, hope you’ve enjoyed a look at Passover!
Monday: More of a recap of our NYC and Long Island trip, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
Tuesday: Thoughts on keeping Passover
Wednesday: Passover Seder and a Jelly Roll
Thursday: Passover Daily Eats
Friday: Three K for P recipes
Are you tired of this stuff yet? Hope not! A few more days of Passover eating to go, then it’s back to muffins and cookies and cereal.
So far, Passover hasn’t been that bad. For me, getting past breakfast is the hard part, and lunch and dinner aren’t a big deal. It’s good to change things up once in a while to get out of food habits. I have eaten all my meals in the house, but the weekends are usually tougher. Not sure of our plans this weekend. It ends Monday night.
Today I have three recipes to share, one is new, two are twists on ones I know and love. All are made in the food processor for easy cleanup.
First up is homemade almond butter. Peanuts are a no-no for Passover because they are from the bean family, but almonds are ok. I actually didn’t know that until this year. I have wanted to make peanut butter for a few months ever since I saw many great looking ones on Ashley’s blog, and Passover was the time to try.
Making peanut butter (I use that term to mean any nut butter) looked pretty simple. It’s few ingredients, and you whirl away in the food processor for a long time, like 15 minutes. That’s a real long time when usually things are ready in seconds.
My final picture is the one above, and the texture never got quite right. It was very crumbly and I kept adding water and oil, but it wouldn’t come together in a smooth texture. Any ideas? I followed her recipe to the T.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
(this was after a few minutes)
(This was after more minutes, it was about as “together” as it came.)
Final product, served with matzo crackers called Tam Tams. It was not easy to spread. What did I do wrong?
I had much more success with this recipe because I make it every week. It really is my favorite hummus of all time. I do realize this looks like tuna salad and I’m not sure why. It’s hummus with parsley.
We had parsley left over from Passover seder so I added it to the hummus for a little greenery. I used this recipe exactly. If you want a runnier hummus, add more water.
I talk about hummus a lot, you know I use it with everything.
Next up are cherry nut balls. These are like homemade Larabars, and I keep variations of flavors in my freezer always. Especially for this week when grabbing a nibble of something is off limits, these are great. When I wake up at 5:32 a.m. for a 6 a.m. exercise class, I usually grab a handful of cereal to chug some water. Now I’ve been grabbing a bite of these. With simple ingredients in a bite size, these are great for little hold you over snacks.
Another one I made recently (not kosher for Passover) are cookie dough flavor. They are awesome if you’re looking for another one. I also like the Cocoa Nut Balls. I really do have a lot of these in my freezer always.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
What are you doing this weekend? Happy Easter if you’re celebrating!
Lots of Passover related posts this week, but since I write about food and this holiday is a lot about food, that’s what’s on my mind! Thanks for your nice comments and interest in the holiday, I hope you’ve found it interesting!
Here’s my latest CultureMap story: Passover for Dummies: Explaining the holiday to the uninformed.
Haroset is a staple during Passover, and one of my favorites. I’d eat this year round. It is very simple to make, no baking or cooking. It also makes enough for a lot of people, or to have for yourself for a long time. Sweet, crunchy and juicy, a great addition to a meal anytime.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
My husband sent me this article in the New York Times about whether quinoa is kosher for Passover or not. I love how it says that quinoa is like the belle of the Passover ball because I am digging using quinoa for breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast, it is really hard during Passover for me because I am such a breakfast person, and I really don’t like matzo. But I do like Tam Tams, a matzo like bite size cracker. I also like breakfast to be packed with protein because I workout before breakfast usually, and I want to start the day right with something nutritious. Protein also helps me stay full until lunch. Matzo with jam and cream cheese doesn’t sit well or keep me full.
Since I realized that quinoa is K for P, I decided to make it for breakfast on the first morning of Passover. I boiled 1/4 C black quinoa in 1/2 C water for about 10 minutes until the water dissolved and mixed it with Greek yogurt, blueberries and strawberry jam.
Quinoa by itself is very nutty and chewy. It doesn’t taste like anything by itself, so I mixed the whole bowl together, seen below. Not pretty, but at least it’s filling and packed with protein.
On the second morning, I had a cup of Chobani with a banana and a matzo bagel! Pardon the poor quality iPhone photo and bite out of the bagel, we were at my mother-in-law’s house and I thought I should take a picture. She makes matzo bagels and they are delicious. Much denser and smaller than a real bagel, but really tasty with jam.
When I first started dating Jeffrey during college, he brought these bagels back from Houston for Passover. I thought it was genius! But the recipe is secret. It is definitely a staple for Passover in this family!
Lots of breakfasts to go, what else do you suggest?
Do you have any questions about the holiday? I have a rabbi student friend who reads the blog who would probably be happy to answer!
Happy Passover! Today starts the second full day of the holiday. On Monday night, we had a family seder and I wanted to share a recipe and some pictures.
First up is a jelly roll. As I’ve mentioned before, on Passover we don’t eat bread that has risen or anything similar, so baking things is tough! This jelly roll is a family tradition, and I hadn’t helped make it before this year. It’s kind of like a pound cake with strawberry jelly.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
I took step by step pictures, but didn’t think they were too exciting. If you plan to make this, I’ll send you the pictures!
We did have some helpers to spread the jelly.
And rolling it up is a skill. That’s my mom, not me!
Here is the finished product, garnished with powdered sugar and berries.
This was my chocolate matzo toffee.
Our seder table. My aunt worked for days to set this and make it pretty!
The seder plate.
Some pretty purple flowers.
My cousin Brett showing the seder plate he made at school.
Our happy hosting family.
My grandfather leads the seder each year. He is a whiz at seders and declared that “we know about the suffering so we can skip that part.”
Taylor opened the door for Elijah and helped read the Four Questions.
That’s me and my father-in-law.
My dad reading his part from the book.
My parents came in for Passover too. We missed you, Shelley!
Another of the seder plate.
That’s it for this year! It’s always great to share holidays with our family, and better when out of towners come to visit us!
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