Gruber Farm CSA Week 8 / Spicy Corn & Potato Chowder

Hello Summer vegetables! The Summer produce started so early this year. It seemed like so long ago that I was picking strawberries.

In the box:

• sweet corn – a ton of it!
• tomatoes
• eggplant
• onions
• banana peppers
• potatoes
• green beans

This week, I made a new favorite recipe using 3 different vegetables from the box. I love that. Eight weeks into having the CSA, I’m still reminded that it’s easy to make healthy, wholesome, vegetarian dishes. In fact, this one’s vegan. So, Court, this one’s for YOU!

Spicy Corn & Potato Chowder

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds white potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 4 cups of fresh corn (from 6 ears)
• 16 oz. non dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can of fat-free vegetable broth
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until softened.
2. Add the garlic, potatoes, and corn. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring a couple times.
3. Add the milk, broth, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

I’m sure I say this about most recipes I post, but I loved this. Boding can vouch for this as well; he came over and ate 2 huge bowls. It’s spicy, creamy, and hearty. It’s low in fat but very filling.

My original plan was to use coconut milk, but Publix was out of lite coconut milk. I took a chance with the almond milk in my fridge and am glad I did. It worked!

What’s your favorite soup/stew/chowder? Mine is avgolemono, a Greek egg-lemon soup with chicken and rice. Check out this post when I made it a couple years ago. PS: That post has a really hot Greek guy in it.

The Friday Five

1. What I’m Reading:

I’m still reading this darn book. It is taking me for.ev.er. Why? I don’t like it. I hate how the main character constantly repeats himself. At a little over 200 pages, I should have finished this in, oh, 3 days? Not so much. Ugh. Why do people like this book again?

Tonight I’ve been reading the October issue of Cooking Light. It’s jam-packed full of recipes that I can’t wait to make and share with you.

2. What I’m Listening To:

3. What I’m Watching:

I’m living vicariously through these people since I haven’t gone on in a date in like a whole week. Haha.

4. What I’m Eating:

I’m back to my old cereal habit! I missed this combo so much.

+

5. What I’m Pinning:

Skinny Chicken Tikka Masala

Pretzel Cookies w/ Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chips

and for after that cookie binge…

have a great weekend!

xo!

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Squares. Impulsive or Spontaneous?

First, I need to clarify something from my obnoxious gym photographs post. I didn’t mean that I work out solely so that I could eat more. I absolutely love working out for fun and because of the health benefits. Being able to eat more is just an added bonus.  And I also do not go straight home and stuff my face with chocolate. I eat a protein-rich, balanced meal to refuel and indulge in my much-deserved goodies later.

Moving on. Wednesday night Lucy and I were up to the usual: internetting with the TV on some random channel. Gah, are we losers? Neither of us wanted to work out, so we started drinking white wine with dinner and perused Whole Foods’ latest issue.Do yall read these? You should. Each issue contains several recipes, weekly meal planners, nutritional information and tips. I was catching up on my google reader when this conversation occurred:

Lucy: Oooh, listen to this recipe: Apple Cinnamon Oat Squares…

Me: Let’s make it. What’s in it?

Lucy, giggling: almond milk, oats…

Me: Ok, let’s make it right now. I’m impulsive. Er, spontaneous. Idk, whatever, let’s do it.

We scanned the ingredient list, and lucky for us, we had everything…but almond milk. We needed 2 cups, and I only had 1/2 cup left in the fridge. We debated quartering the recipe, but instead of taking the chance of baking fugly bars, we drove over to Whole Foods.

Less than 30 minutes later, we were back with almond milk. Oh, and four bottles of wine. You know, for a snowy day.

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Squares

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 (about 1 lb.) apples, cored and grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Dry ingredients:Apple, shredded in my food processor!

2. Transfer mixture to a foil- or parchment paper-lined 9” square baking pan, press down and smooth out the top. Bake until firm and golden brown, about 1 hour.3. Let cool in pan; cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.I ate mine topped with coconut flakes and drizzled with honey.

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but Lucy is vegan. Slowly but surely, I have been training her how to be a baker and she has been introducing me to vegan recipes. Tonight we joined forces and made a really easy and delicious treat. These squares can be eaten warm or even cooled for breakfast or a snack. Store them in an airtight container to be enjoyed throughout the week.

So the question of the night is…am I impulsive or spontaneous? Immediately after calling myself impulsive, I corrected myself saying I was spontaneous. I feel like the word “impulsive” has a negative connotation but I’m not sure why, so I looked up the definitions.

I don’t see much of a difference. What do you think?

Question: About what kind of things are you impulsive/spontaneous? I am with anything related to baking/cooking/eating. Once I have an idea in my head, I have to do it. Life if short…just go with it.

Before I say goodbye, check out these pics from when Auburn stole the National Championship. We were soooooooo happy! (And I’m Asian again!)

I love my bestie and am so glad she got me hooked on college football!

Baking with a Dirty Blondie...Ginger

After I carbo-loaded on angel hair for absolutely no reason other than loving pasta, I had the urge to bake! I looked down in my own shame, remembered that I'm not currently rocking a tummy roll, and considered the state of my abs. NO COOKIES ALLOWED. 

SAVE THE ABLETS.

Cookinglight.com was a big fat failure for me tonight, so I resorted to other bloggers' goodies. Tina is a blogger from my home state of Massachusetts. Her healthy-eating and fitness blog is right up my alley -- she exercises her butt off, eats really healthy, but knows it's important to indulge...bc we can. Hence the name of her blog "Carrots and Cake." I perused her recipes and found Baked Banana Oatmeal. I made some modifications and created a very similar recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup Blue Diamond almond milk, original flavor
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 banana, sliced

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F.

2. Combine the first six ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

3. Add milk and vanilla and stir.

4. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

5. Add mixture to the pan.

6. Top the mixture with the sliced bananas. 

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly browned.

8. Resist the temptation to immediately devour, and let cool. 

Makes 2-4 breakfast bars -- depends how hungry you are! 

I cut mine into 4 servings. Here is the estimated nutritional information that I calculated using livestrong.com.

Please note that this is a calculation using the above site and the specific products that I used.

Per 1/4 of total recipe: 
212 Calories

10g Fat

0mg Cholesterol

40mg Sodium

29.5 Carbohydrates

17.5g Sugar

2.75g Fiber

3.75g Protein

Enough science, onto the baking process. I'm such a blonde. Well, sort of. Let's not get into a 30 minute discussion about how I'm never quite sure what my hair color is. We'll just go with dirty blonde almost ginger. Oh, and my eyes? I-swear-they're-green-but-everyone-else-thinks-they're-blue. For this particular recipe, I was a ditzy, a.d.d. blonde. 

Step 1: Completed without difficulty. Pressing the up arrow to preheat an oven isn't hard.

Step 2: Beautiful success!

Step 3: Also a success!

Step 4: Where the !@#$%^&* is my loaf pan? I started to panic and rummage through the cabinets. Luna Bar stash, sweet!! Can you guess what my favorite flavor is?

Step 5-6: I settled for a little pyrex instead.

Step 7: The baking/sitting with anticipation by the oven process:

immediately after placing in the oven. 
i'm easily excited over baked goods.

ten minutes later. good grief, time is slow. 
i guess i'll clean up.

realizing that i make quite the disaster mess while baking:

oh, look, the spilled milk made a C!

10 minutes left, let's play on facebook/BBM/chug diet lemonade. 

clearly these three things are crucial in my life.

five minutes left. i can't sit still. 

except on the floor in front of the oven i guess.

Step 8: I MADE IT!

There you have it--brekkie bar sucess!

The Most Inapprop Post Ever...NSFW!!

Friday's 5:30 therapy session: Whole Foods. Mission: Cheese. I frolicked over to my 2nd favorite section to buy a cheese that Jenna and I tried last week. We literally had a cheese party with two of the workers who let us try 9 different kinds. My intention was to go back for the Cave Aged Gruyere. It is a hard cow cheese from Switzerland that has been aged for a year in underground caves. It has an intense, smooth flavor with little salt crystals throughout. I picked up a slab and then asked the cheeseman about another one we tried: Robiola. Unfortunately they were out of Robiola. Cheeseman came around the corner saying, "We might have some next week, but for now, see what you think of this. It's another soft Italian cheese." He whipped out his permanent marker, scribbled on the wheel of cheese and said, "Here ya go, enjoy!" 

In case you didn't know, "N/C" means no charge. No charge for a 1/2 pound of cheese? HAPPY FRIDAY TO ME! I didn't even have to flirt. Now, here's the stuff I paid for:

• Bananas
• Pear, for an upcoming amazing sandwich
• Apples
• Honey Wheat bread...bc I could smell it through the bag and just had to have it
• Sweet potato
• Parsnip, gosh those things are freaky looking
• Luna Bars

I sliced the sweet potato and parsnip, tossed with olive oil and cinnamon and baked it for...a long time.

I panicked when I realized I didn't have any ketchup and nervously grabbed my favorite Classico four cheese pasta sauce. I ended up grating Pecorino Romano cheese on it...It became 5 cheese!

A hot mess that tasted delish.

Saturday's breakfast was simple but oh so tasty: Sweet & Salty oat bran:

• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 1/3 cup original almond milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 sliced banana
• spoonful of cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter
• spoonful of fluff

I mustered up the energy to go to the gym 2 hours later. I was deeply concerned about the state of my abs and/or I wanted to work up an appetite for lunch...which was out of this world. I headed over to Village Bakery for a daily special. Village Bakery is a cute little breakfast/lunch place on Pitt St. in Mt. Pleasant. It's in the same restaurant family as Mustard Seed, Sette, Boulevard Diner, Longpoint Grill, and Uno Mas. They've got great fresh sandwiches, delicious sides, and a pretty decent breakfast menu, too! They also have a selection of teas and desserts! All of their sandwiches are served on freshly baked bread that you can buy by the loaf. One of my favorite sandwiches from Village Bakery is their Turkey and Provolone sandwich: smoked turkey, provolone, and a cranberry relish. And what they mean by cranberry relish is fresh cranberries that have been simmered in orange juice and sugar. Yum. 

Saturday's special was "Balsamic roasted chicken, baby spinach, mozzarella, with a sun-dried tomato basil aioli served hot on a ciabatta roll."

Look at that ooey gooey cheese madness.

As my side I chose the Irish salad: wheat berries with bits of cabbage, potatoes, and corned beef. This was interesting and great!

I washed it all down with a Zevia Black Cherry. This flavor has some kick! Great stuff. 

And now it's time for the Not Safe For Work part of this post. Drum roll, please...

Yes, people, this is real life in the Ethnic section of Publix. I shamelessly snapped a picture of this with my Blackbaby and immediately proceeded to message this to as many BBM contacts as possible.

Reactions:
Aaron: Oh my..
Ally: LOL!!!!! Buy me some while you're at it.

Alyssa: Lol - always the most random stuff with you.

Anna: Wtf!? Bahaha. Isn't it like some sort of english pudding crap?

Brandon: What the f is that? It sounds like a disease.

Callie: hahahahah wtf!

David: Hahaha! Wtf is that sgit! Yeah, he spelled it like that.

Erin: Aaron said its an english dessert?

Frankie: That's English bread pudding and I like the name. I'm telling his wife!

Gerry: Get me 2
Heather: No way!!! Lol lol lol. (Me: Should I buy it?) Eww no thanks spotted dicks can't be a good thing.
Nancy: What the f is that!? Better be good!

Heather 2: What the hell is that??

Heera: Wtf!

Laura: Wtf bahahhahaah

Megan: Bahahaah you crack me up!

Nick: I'll take my dick withoout spots, please.

Nikki: wahaahah gross u ate it? 

Santo: That shit looks disgusting! What is that? Are you eating dick tonight? Promise me you'll blog about it. 

Sean: Stay away from that. You could end up with a spotted baby. 

Scott: They make medications for that.

Anonymous: Just call me.

Conclusions:

• Everybody says wtf. 
• A lot of people toss in a "b" when laughing
• I shouldn't buy it.

Whose reaction was your fave? Mine was Santo's.