Tag Archives: cranberries

One Hour Whole Wheat Bread

Making homemade bread is something that I have always wanted to accomplish, but never felt the desire to spend six hours on the process. I figured that one day I would take the time to do some research, experiment, and then find a bread recipe that works for my life. However, in general I do not eat bread very often, so I didn’t feel like I was really missing out on much by occasionally buying a manufactured loaf instead of making my own.

For no apparent reason, on Tuesday I randomly became obsessed with the idea of making bread. None of the blogs I read regularly posted about bread or bread recipes, and I honestly cannot remember what lit a fire underneath me. But whatever the cause, I spent the better part of my lunch hour scouring the internet for bread recipes that looked feasible for my time constraints (under  hours from start to finish) and knowledge (so…you have to add yeast to flour, right?).

This one hour bread recipe from Single Housewife scored high on both those criteria, so I rushed to buy some yeast and a bread pan after work.

 

While the bread took me closer to an hour and a half to make, I was still pleased with how it turned out. I used all whole wheat flour, so it was quite a dense loaf. The camera I am using right now is not good enough to show detail, but if I could take close up shots, you would see the dried cranberries and almonds that I threw into the batter. I liked the extra sweetness the cranberries added, without making it a dessert loaf.

 

I have demolished the loaf without much help from my roommate! It has been perfect for a grab and go breakfast, after toasting and slathering with PB Crave.

I will probably try the recipe again with a couple of alternations to make the bread less dense and more fruity, but for the next week or so I think my body needs to recover from the shock of gluten overload!

Anyone have other simple bread recipes or mix in ideas?

Japanese Snack Mix…and falling down the stairs

Ahh I cannot believe that it is already Thursday!

This week has been crazy for a lot of reasons, but mainly due to dance performances on Friday and Saturday. As co-president of the dance company, I do a lot of logistics and event planning in addition to tons of dancing in rehearsals! My body has been sore since last Saturday, and to top it all off I fell down stairs yesterday. -_-

It happened right after my morning class let out and I was just walking down the stairs like normal (confession: I was texting- but that is actually a very normal occurrence). Then I slipped and fell HARD on my butt.

Before I could even think about it, I flew down four or five steps and finally stopped the momentum enough to stand up. I got on my feet immediately in an effort to regain my composure, and walked nonchalantly down the last two steps. In my attempt to persuade the 40 other people in the stairwell that my recent flight was due to a sudden inspiration to experiment with alternative movement, I failed to notice that my head band still remained on the stair at which I started my rapid descent.

Fighting my audience back up the stairs to retrieve my accessory did not seem worth sacrificing my last remaining teaspoon of pride.

________

Sorry for that digression. If you are wondering, no permanent damage was done although I do have a huge bruise in a perfect rectangle on my butt. Sitting has lost a lot of appeal.

With a busy weekend ahead of me, I am packing a lot of snacks so that I don’t have to think about what to prepare for meals. One of my favorite snacks is this Japanese snack mix. I grew up on rice crackers and seaweed snacks from the Asian store, but I was pleasantly surprised to find these rice crackers at Walgreen’s for only a dollar.

I also found Wasabi peas at Walgreens, but I had already bought some from Trader Joe’s so I can’t vouch for their tastiness.

This mix has a great mix of flavors: salty, sweet, and hot.  The rice crackers lighten it up and add a great crunch!

Japanese Snack Mix

makes 4 cups

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted almonds

1 cup rice cracker mix

3/4 cup salted peanuts

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup wasabi peas

Mix everything together. Store in an air tight container.

Foodie Pen Pal Reveal

Happy Friday!

I am so excited to share with you all about the awesome Foodie PenPal package I recieved from Lora at Crazy Running Girl! Foodie Pen Pals is a program run by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean in which foodies (both bloggers and readers) get matched up to share $15 worth of treats with their pen pal for the month. March was my first month participating, and I have really enjoyed it! If you are interested in participating for April, check out this link.

I was excited to receive a package-it doesn't happen very often

Lora's note to me

The goods :)

Lora treated me to:

Laurie’s Buffalo Gourmet corn chips-super crunchy and delicious especially when dipped in salsa by The Brooklyn Salsa Company

Starburst jellybeans- I am not a huge fan of Jelly Belly beans, but these were amazing.

Craisins- which inspired me to make this granola. Also cranberries are my favorite fruit, which is kind of sad because they are one of the few fruits that are extremely seasonal and not all tasty raw, but I love them all the same

Luna bars-all in chocolate free flavors, so I would not be tempted to break my Lenten fast from chocolate. Toasted nuts and cranberries was my favorite-obviously ;)

Thanks Lora!

______

Also, random side note: I am thinking about getting new camera (DSLR). Right now I have a Canon Powershot SD 750 which I love, but I would like to take higher quality photos especially in low lighting.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Quinoa Granola

This is one of my new all time favorite granola recipes! I love it on greek yogurt, in almond milk, or straight out of the bag. The quinoa and puffed wheat combine for a crunchy but light texture, and it clumps easily. The maple syrup adds a warm flavor and perfect sweetness for me. I also love that the quinoa adds a bit of protein to the granola.

Quinoa Granola

Inspired by Hungry Hungry Hippie’s Quinoa Granola

Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups rolled oats

2 cups puffed wheat

½ cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup slivered almonds

½ cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup coconut oil (canola would work too)

½ cup maple syrup

½  Tbsp vanilla

1  cup cranberries

Directions: Preheat oven to 225. Mix together the first six ingredients (oats to cinnamon). Microwave the coconut oil until the oil is liquid and mix with maple syrup and vanilla. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and gently combine. Spread mixture over two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 60 minutes and enjoy the amazing aromas that will pervade your kitchen. Take it out and let the granola cool. Break apart the sheets of granola goodness by lifting up the sides of the parchment paper. Mix in the cranberries. Store in an airtight container for up to three weeks (but really, who doesn’t eat 6 cups of granola in a week?…hopefully I’m not alone in this ;) )

Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Happy Friday!

It is hard to believe that only a week ago, I was in the Bahamas. This week has been packed with school work, meetings, job decisions, and my thesis. But mainly my thesis.

I have been writing bits and portions of my thesis for over a year now, but it never seemed like I would ever reach a  final product. Well, I still haven’t. But my first full draft was due yesterday, so my brain has been in overdrive trying to get it all together. And here it is (drum roll, please):

It makes for a nice beach read, if anyone is interested ;)

With all this HUGE deadline hanging over me, my plans for the week literally ended on Thursday morning after I turned in my paper.

notice how Friday didn't even make it on the weekly schedule?

So instead of doing any of the suggested agenda items (that I had advised myself should be completed on Thursday instead of waking up super early on Friday to do them before class), I went home and made chicken salad. And it was delicious.

Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Adapted from Sally Spins

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded chicken

1/2 med. apple, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

2 Tbsp dried cranberries

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, and mustard. Mix all of the remaining ingredients together. Pour yogurt mixture over the chicken salad mixture and combine. Enjoy in the other half of the pepper, or bread if you want to be normal boring.