Weekend Update

Another weekend is drawing to a close.  This one for me was pretty low-key on purpose after getting my geek on last weekend playing Settlers of Catan/America on Friday/Saturday and spending Sunday night coming in 3rd in my cute neighbour's Oscar party pool. 

I ran some errands uptown yesterday before spending the evening at my mom's for dinner.  It was a quiet night in just relaxing and as per usual, I didn't get to bed until the wee hours.

Just before I did though, I perused Quinoa 365 which was delivered mid-week and found a bunch of recipes that I immediately wanted to try, including Maple Walnut Cereal.  With that to look forward to, I read a bit from Swan Thieves before finally settling in to sleep...when next I opened my eyes, it was 1:06pm!

This sounds bad, but I can't remember the last time I slept in past noon and wasn't hung over!  I was well-rested after more than 10 hours of sleep but woke up with a bit of a pain in my neck that hasn't gone away.  I thought I might get to my favourite yoga series for neck and shoulders but one thing led to another and I never did. 

What I did get to was some cooking.  I tried a couple recipes from my new cookbook and if the cereal is anything to go by, I've got some really yummy meals to look forward to!

Maple Walnut Cereal
1 serving
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
1/3 cup quinoa
2/3 cup water
1 Tbsp oat bran
2 Tsp maple syrup
Milk, vanilla yogurt or cream (optional)

Place the walnuts in a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir frequently until the walnuts are toasted and fragrant (about 3-4 minutes).  Remove the pan from the heat and let the walnuts cool slightly.  Set aside in a small bowl.
In the same pan, combine the quinoa, water and oat bran.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 12 minutes.  Leave the saucepan on the burner, covered, for another 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the walnuts and maple syrup.  Transfer to a bowl and top with milk, yogurt or cream (if using).

I tried it as-is but if felt like it was missing something so added cream (I had no milk or yogurt) and it was so so good. 

Chocolate and Roses

What is it about chocolate and romance that it makes such a wonderful combination?  In the last couple weeks I've collected several recipes for tempting chocolate treats and decided to give this one I found over at Desserts for Breakfast a try.  I've had a bottle of rosewater in my pantry for ever so these double chocolate espresso pound cakes with rose-scented cream cheese frosting were just the excuse I needed to finally open the bottle!

The recipe as written called for 30-40 minutes baking time - I left them in for 35 but they came out rather dry so I'm thinking of cutting the time down to 25 the next time around.  I also couldn't find black cocoa at my local grocer so they didn't come out as rich and dark as Steph's.

Here's my attempt - amateur frosting technique or lack thereof - and all. I'm bringing them for dessert to S&W's where I've been invited for shabu shabu tonight:

And here's Steph's gorgeous cakes which inspired my efforts this weekend:

Photo via Desserts for Breakfast

Super Easy Turkey Chili

It's Super Bowl Sunday and while I don't care about the football - I never learned the rules of the game so a bunch of guys running around a field in tight pants and protective gear has no appeal - I do like the excuse to make a hearty chili.

I wanted something healthy so I used lean ground turkey and skipped the salt, save for whatever sodium was in my canned beans and it turned out rather yummy if I do say so myself.  If you want a spicier kick, I'd add a diced up jalepeno or two - I personally prefer that my chili give me a friendly nudge.

Ingredients
1 kg of ground turkey
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp oregano
vegetable oil
1 red onion, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large can of unsalted diced tomatoes
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 can of white kidney beans, rinsed
1 can of whole kernel corn, rinsed

  
Directions
1. Brown and drain the ground turkey. Set aside in a bowl and add the cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika and oregano.
2. Coat the bottom of a large pot with vegetable oil and toss in the onions and garlic to brown.
3. Stir in the diced tomatoes and let simmer for 5-10 minutes on medium heat.
4. Add the turkey, beans and corn. Stir and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

This makes enough for 6-8 people, depending on the serving size.  I've got plenty left over so I'll be refrigerating some for a lunch and dinner later through the week, and freezing the rest for a particularly lazy day.  Enjoy!

Home-made Protein Bars

I got this recipe for home-made protein bars from my trainer before the holidays and finally decided to give it a try. I made a number of tweaks to the recipe, including steel-cut oats instead of the rolled oats the recipe called for which made for a harder chew; rather than prepping yogurt cheese, I mashed up a banana and mixed it with a couple eggs; I used 1 tsp of nutmeg (only because I mistook it for the cinnamon) and because I didn't have a 9"x13" pan, I used an 8" round pan.

The bars - or slices in my case - turned out quite well, despite my not following the last directions precisely because of the late hour.

Not only are these healthy for you, but because of chocolate, they smell awesome when they're baking - you can totally trick yourself into thinking there are chocolate cookies in the oven!

Ingredients
1 cup whey protein powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup Agave nectar or honey
1 cup dark chocolate
1 1/2 cup yogurt cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp extra virgin oil
1 tsp vanilla
cooking spray

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and the honey.
3. Stir in the broken pieces of chocolate
4. In another bowl, mix the yogurt cheese, oils and vanilla.
5. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients and use clean bare hands to combine these well.  Coat hands in olive oil to help prevent sticking.
6. Place mixture in pan and press down evenly.
7. Bake on middle rack in oven for 15 minutes.
8. Let cool and cut dough into bars.
9. Place bars on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes.
10. Remove from heat and transfer to wire cooling rack.
Makes 20 to 24.