Remember how I said that there are some vegan foods that miraculously taste like there’s meat in them? This is one of those foods. Now technically, since I like to put cheese on these, they are not vegan, but that’s the only thing you’d need to change to be vegan certified. You know what they say: you can take the girl out of Wisconsin … but you couldn’t pry cheese from my cold dead hands! Or something like that. Continue reading
Three Bean Tacos
14 FebRed Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
13 Feb
We’ve already discussed my love/hate relationship with cream cheese. We’ve also discussed my feelings on the use of boxed mixes. So, let’s skip the formalities and just declare that Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies are delicious. And they are red, which makes them perfect for Valentine’s Day. And they’re super quick and easy, which makes them perfect for completion by tomorrow.
Now, Betty Crocker calls these “Red Velvet Espresso and Cream Swirled Brownies,” but I choose to leave “espresso” out of the title, because I couldn’t taste it at all in these brownies. According to redhead math, the subtraction of “espresso” from the title allows me to insert the word “cheesecake.” Continue reading
Espresso Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookies
12 Feb
Valentines Day and Easter are my favorite food holidays. Why? Chocolate.
True, Thanksgiving is all about feasting (or being thankful, whatever), but there’s more savory than sweet there. Yes, Christmas has its endless supply of cookies, but there’s never enough with chocolate. And of course, there’s Halloween, for eating candy while half naked, but everyone takes the chocolate first and soon you’re left with lame Laffy Taffy and Nerds.
But not Valentine’s Day and Easter, oh no. These are the holidays that insist you give me chocolate and you give it to me now, in mass quantities. A stray conversation heart may sneak its way into your stash this week, but those are easily crushed. Continue reading
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies
11 Feb
I did a bad, bad thing. I didn’t write a single blog post last week. It is an egregious error in the blog word. I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me? What if I made you Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies for Valentine’s Day?
I am totally disappointed in myself. I had a week’s worth of Valentine’s Day recipes for you guys and then… I arrived at the race track. Sebring International Raceway to be specific; site of the 12 Hours of Sebring. If you don’t know it, look it up. I’ll be back there again in March for the race, so it appears I should plan ahead blog-wise so I don’t go dark again.
Here’s the part where I make it up to you: I share a Domestic Rebel recipe perfect for Valentine’s Day. It’s a peanut butter cookie, with chocolate chips and Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts. Continue reading
Fired Up Friday Feb 1
1 Feb
from Tumblr
I may have done a silly thing. After slacking on CrossFit for three weeks, I went back and have gone every single day this week. I sort of can’t move. Have you ever tried something on that was too small in dressing room and then panic because you can’t get it back over your head? That’s been my dilemma all week when it comes time to change clothes. I may need to invest in more button downs and zip ups. My current state of muscle paralysis should make running a 10K tomorrow interesting.
Though my weights are embarrassingly puny compared to my fellow CrossFitters, I’m still pretty proud that I’ve been able to lift it, push it, press it, swing it and snatch it this week. All that soreness means muscle is building and when muscle is building my metabolism is shredding up the beer, peanut butter, chocolate and donuts. Wow. Note to self: a peanut butter donut with chocolate glaze and a beer sounds like a pretty breakfast.
In honor of a week’s worth of CrossFit, today’s Fired Up Friday is T.I.’s “Ball,” because obviously you’re a baller if you can’t lift your arms above your chest.
CrossFit remix: This box so packed, these quads so drunk, this WOD so stacked, these delts so junk 😉
Coconut Curry Chili
30 Jan
Chili is not chilly at all. It’s hot. Maybe, from now on, we should call it hottie? That would be a totally appropriate name for this really, because it is sooooo good. It’s delicious, it’s easy to make, it’s colorful, it’s good for you. This is the kind of chili (hottie) you’ll want to take home to meet your parents. You can see a future with this chili; one with a house, kids and a dog. It’s perfect. How did you breathe before there was Coconut Curry Chili?
This recipe was on the cover of last year’s Clean Eating “Comfort Foods” magazine and I’ve probably made it three or four times since then. I have a hard time finding barley at my grocery store, so I generally use a “Harvest Grain Mix” from Trader Joe’s that is a combination of Israeli cous cous, quinoa, baby garbanzo beans and orzo. I also have a hard time finding “tomato puree” in my store, so I use a combination of one can crushed tomatoes (15 oz) and one can tomato puree (6 oz).
If it just so happens that you don’t like the flavor of curry, then you need to suck it up, admit you’re wrong, and eat it anyway. Just kidding. If you aren’t a fan of curry, don’t worry, it’s not a strong curry flavor (in my opinion and I LOVE curry). I can actually taste more of the coconut in this. Plus, it’s chili (I mean hottie) so you can adjust those flavors to your preference. That is the beauty of cooking versus baking; adjust on the fly as you go. Cooking is jazz; improvise.
Have I mentioned yet that you can eat two and a half cups of this hottie (you know, the chili) for only 340 calories? It also has 17 grams of protein, even though it has no meat! That has to be music to the ears of you New Years Resolutioners. And you better be sticking with it, it’s still January for Pete’s sake. (Question, who is Pete and why do we invoke his name when we don’t want to use the Lord’s in vein? My first guess is he’s Jesus’ half brother, but I never went to Sunday school, so I could be wrong.)
Make this hottie now. It makes a large batch so you can share it and maybe even pull in a hottie who admires your cooking skills (in this case by hottie, I mean a handsome gentleman or lady).
Oh crap. Can I still call this a hottie if it’s not spicy? I forgot to mention that it’s not spicy, which I dig, cause I don’t do spicy. Throw some tabasco in it if you want a spicy hottie. Ok, I give up on my “hottie” idea. I just got an image of Sofía Vergara in a giant pot after that last line. Go make chili.
PS – Vegan. Ha! Gotchya!
Coconut Curry Chili
by Clean Eating
Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, divided
1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
1/2 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed (2 cups)
1 large green bell pepper, chopped (2 cups)
3 cups cooked kidney beans or BPA-free canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed well
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 cups jarred or boxed tomato purée (aka passata)
2 scallions, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
In a four quart pot, add curry paste, cumin and a bit of broth. Mash mixture and stir until paste is no longer in lumps. Add remaining broth, bulgur, potato and bell pepper. Set over high heat and bring mixture to a boil. Cover tightly, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.
Add beans, coconut milk and tomato purée to pot and stir. Cook, uncovered, for seven minutes, until bulgur is tender and chili is thick. Stir in scallions and black pepper and serve.
Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies
29 Jan
OK runners, let’s be honest; we enter half marathons, marathons, 15Ks, 5Ks, for the swag. The t-shirts, the medals, the water bottles… the free samples at the expo. I rely on those expos to stock me up on my Luna Bar, Lara Bar and Cascadian Farms granola bar samples. They’re the perfect size for traveling. Not to mention the coupons and discount apparel. Ok fine, we all want to set a new PR too.
At the Hot Chocolate 15K in Atlanta, I encountered a new vendor of samples: Biscoff. And this wasn’t just a sample, it was a full size jar of Biscoff spread! Of course, as a Delta frequent flyer, I’ve had more than my fair share of Biscoff cookies and as a food blogger, I’ve been well aware that Biscoff makes a “cookie spread” similar to peanut butter. So it’s odd that I never bought a jar of Biscoff spread at the store before. Maybe this was destiny? Continue reading
Layered Peanut Butter Bars
28 Jan
Peanut butter and chocolate; do food combinations get much better than that? It does if you can make it into layered bar cookies in a couple minutes! I said it before with the cake mix cookies and I’ll say it again with these Layered Peanut Butter Bars: sometimes pre-made mix is a good thing. In this case, if you don’t have the time to make peanut butter cookie dough, you just buy the Betty Crocker PB cookie mix.
Don’t feel too guilty about this; you’ll be making the peanut butter cream layer and chocolate ganache all by yourself. Continue reading
Fired Up Friday Jan 25
25 Jan
I found it on Pinterest.
Confession: I’ve been slacking. As previously noted, the last two weeks have been a bit hectic. There have been a lot of late nights, forcing me to skip evening workouts, but also causing me to lose sleep, sleep through my alarm and miss my morning classes. It’s a vicious cycle of hating myself. That and I stuck my finger in a blender which means kickboxing and weight training is extra painful. Yeah, I was making a smoothie and thought I could flick that errant wad of spinach into submission… I was wrong. Thankfully, I have a crap blender (hence the errant wads of spinach) and not a kickass VitaMix or Blendtec, otherwise I’m pretty sure I would have lost a finger instead of a nail.
To kick my own ass, on Saturday, no matter what the weather, I’m going to run eight miles.
And in honor of all the decisions that have been keeping me up at night (some are even about cake), today’s song is Decisions by Borgore. And I do want the whole cake.
Cauliflower Soup
24 Jan
I’m back! Things have been a wee bit crazy the last couple of days, but we’ll talk about that another time. Instead, let’s talk about what everyone else is talking about: it’s cold! Sort of. In Atlanta, people are freaking out because highs are only in the 40’s. Back in Wisconsin, people annoyed that the temperature has been in the teens all week.
I love freaking people out with stores of winter weather in Wisconsin. What surprises people the most is that it’s the cold, not the snow, that generally caused problems. Snow can be removed. Snow can be prepared for. Snow melts. Snow is pretty. No amount of outerwear can prepare you for negative 12 degrees. It can not be shoveled aside. It is not pretty.
I clearly remember having more school cancellations because of freezing temperatures than snow. There was even a glorious day in fourth grade where we had two straight days of no school because it was so cold. Why, might you ask, do they cancel school when it’s cold? Do schools in Wisconsin not have heat? Well yes they do, but they also have a lot of kids that get to school via bus and if you can’t wait outside for the bus without getting frostbite within 40 seconds, then it’s difficult to get to school (even if your parents did build you a little shack at the end of your 1/2 mile long driveway).That and I’m pretty sure the teachers would have revolted at the thought of a full day of school without any recess.
Basically, growing up in those types of conditions (and ice fishing) is what prepares one to go to Green Bay Packer games at Lambeau Field shirtless. Continue reading
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 