Lately I’ve been on a wheat/gluten-free kick and loving it. A few weeks ago I looked around my kitchen and realized that I had sunk into a pile of doughy chunkster-hood, a lifestyle I was not eager to continue. Dinners consisted of cheesy quesadillas that sat in my stomach like liquid lead, lunch was a sandwich that had me diving into multiple-hour food comas, and snacks were sugary cookies with an obnoxiously addictive energy high/low roller coaster.

I’d had enough. Aside from my feelings of grubby grossness, it was incredibly boring to use the same ingredients night after night and I couldn’t seem to break the habit. No more!

I found these oat-banana muffins on Pinterest shortly after I made the decision of the century, but I felt they were a bit lacking. Very tasty with a smear of peanut butter, but not super-star status on it’s own. I decided to hybridize them with my favorite recipe, Cook’s Illustrated Coffee Cake Muffins. Totes amazing.

Cinnamon- banana goodness that was moist and had a nice texture. They got rave reviews, but then again I did badger my family incessantly and they might have just been trying to get rid of me.

Banana Coffee Cake Muffins
A combination of C&E breakfast muffins and Cook’s Illustrated Coffee Cake
2.5 c oats
3/4 c yogurt
2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1.5 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
6 T butter, softened

Streusel:
1/2 c pecans
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400. Blend the streusel ingredients in a food processor until crumbly. Set aside and place 2 cups of the oats in the processor. Blend until fine, then add the sugar and salt. Scatter the butter and pulse the mixture until coarse, about 10 1-second pulses. Remove 3/4 c and add to the streusel mixture. Set aside 3/4 c of this for the batter; the rest will go on top of the muffins when they go into the oven.

Add the baking powder and baking soda to the food processor/flour mixture. Whisk together the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, and bananas, then add to the processor. Blend until smooth and then put in the streusel mixture. Pulse two or three times; there should be a bit of a “ribbon” of streusel throughout, but don’t be disappointed if it blends in. Because the batter is very wet, it won’t remain super intact.

Divide the batter into greased muffin tins and top with the remaining streusel. Bake for 15 minutes,  until golden brown or when a knife comes out clean. They are best warm, but freeze well, too.

Enjoy!

Oh good heavens, how very sad that I haven’t gotten off my rump in the last month to write a post. Do me a solid and pick your favorite reason why:

1. Golly, I’ve just been so busy with my housework. That sweater set won’t knit itself!
2. Too drunk to write/monitor flames for cooking
3. Battling the knights of the round table
4. A pathetic combination of Hulu, Facebook, and re-“reading” books on tape

Notice how “battling world hunger” and “fighting to save the Koala” aren’t even on that fake list. I guess I’m just not that good of a person and will shortly be stripped of my citizenship and sent to Australia with the rest of the criminals and out-casts.

I hope they have Hulu there.

In a sudden surge of productivity and after succumbing to a craving for orange foods (I don’t know how you can crave a color, but I’m not one to argue with my stomach), I crafted the night’s feast: Garlic-y, Ginger-y, Pan-seared Salmon with Maple-Sesame Sweet Potatoes.

Salmon is one of my favorite foods. While I prefer it raw over a bed of sushi rice and sodium, I will take it almost any way possible: poached, baked, grilled, in a pie, on a stick, and the list goes on and on. It also comes with the added bonus of making me feel extremely virtuous, which gives me strength to walk around town with my nose in the air and my head held high, knowing that “Hey, I’m better than you. I just ate a fillet of salmon, brah.”

Lowo and I played around with this same dinner plan a few months ago, and this is my attempt to recreate it. The sauce is very tasty and could be used for veggies, chicken, or reduced and served over grilled flank steak. The below is for one serving of salmon and lots of sauce. I would definitely recommend doubling the sauce ingredients if you’re making this for 2 and are planning to eat it with rice.

Salmon

3 T rice wine vinegar
3 T soy sauce
2-in fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T sesame oil
3 T sake
1 6-oz salmon fillet, bones removed
1 scallion, sliced finely
oil for cooking

Potatoes

1 large yam or sweet potato
2 T maple syrup
2 T sesame oil
S & P

Preheat your oven to 400 and chop your potato into 1/2-inch, quarter-moon chunks. Toss with the oil and syrup, sprinkle with S & P, and spread evenly on a baking sheet. You don’t have to spray it with oil– the oil in the sweet potato mixture will suffice. Put in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until tender and edible.

Meanwhile, put the vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and sake in a measuring cup and whisk together. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add your oil (I used coconut oil, since it lends a great flavor to the dish without being overwhelming and has a very high smoke point).

When the oil is hot, at the fish skin-side down. Give it about 2 minutes, or until you can easily slide a spatula underneath. Flip, cook for about 1 minute, then lower the heat and add the sauce. Because of the sake, the sauce will boil up and get quite frothy. Don’t be alarmed, citizens! This is the tasty-making process.

Simmer the sauce for a few minutes as you poach the fish, or until the salmon is cooked through.

If you’re not used to cooking fish, telling if it’s done can be a bit nerve-wracking. There are a few ways to tell, but if you’re really worried you should just cut into it and test the pinkness. First, you poke at the fish and it feels firm and not very “giving”, then you are good. This takes a bit of practice to get the feel for it. You can also tell if the sections start to flake away from each other, like the way cookies will crinkle on the top when they’re ready to come out of the oven. The food is separating from itself and that’s a sure sign. Salmon fillets and steaks vary widely in thickness, so it’s a good idea to keep the heat moderate and not too high. While most fish cooks quickly, you don’t want to burn the outside and have a raw inner disaster because you were too eager with the flame.

Remove the fish and place over the sweet potatoes on your serving plate. Keep cooking the sauce until it has reduced a bit, to thicken it slightly.  Add the scallions when it is just about done. When ready, poor over the fish and potatoes.

Nomalicious!

Greetings, blogosphere! Between a trip to LA, general laziness, and many piles of clean laundry that just won’t fold themselves, I haven’t been blogging much. I am determined to come up with a holiday schedule to ensure that all of the sensational, mouth-watering, get-you-in-the-spirit foods are tasted, sauteed, spread on crackers, crafted into soups, and yes– of course– blogged about.

My dear mother requested this dish, which is one I’d forgotten all about! It’s very easy, keeps well, and is a great idea if you have vegetarians coming to dinner. Cheesy but not super rich, healthy so you feel virtuous, and just plain delish. If you want to be quick about it, buy jarred tomato sauce and skip the whole make-it-yourself part.

Eggplant Roll-Ups
Altered slightly from Epicurious

Tomato sauce:
2 lbs fresh tomatoes
1 onion, diced fine
2 T olive oil
pinch sugar
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
salt & pepper
1/4 c chopped fresh basil

For the rolls:
2 medium eggplants
oil (spray is best)
salt
1/3 c goat cheese (I used plain, but herbed would be tasty)
1/3 c feta cheese
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c chopped fresh basil

Start with the tomato sauce and blanch the tomatoes. You don’t have to do this part, but it does make a smoother sauce in the end. Dunk the tomatoes in boiling water for 15 seconds and then peel them. It’s a good idea to core and score them first, so that you aren’t handling a slightly mushy product post-blanch. Chop them coarsely or put through the food processor. You will puree the whole thing later, so processing them now is not essential!

Saute the onion in the oil until soft, about 5 minutes or so. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, S&P, and sugar. Cook this down for awhile– mine went for about an hour until I was satisfied with the consistency. Add the basil at the very end and season with S&P to taste.

It’s a good idea to start on the rolls while your sauce is simmering– you will probably find them to be ready at about the same time.

Peel the eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch pieces. Sprinkle with salt and let sit over the sink in a colander for about 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a frying pan, pat dry the sliced eggplant, and brown each piece on both sides. Alternatively, you can layer them out on a baking sheet and broil for a few minutes on each side. I don’t know why I didn’t go this route. Note to self.

While the eggplant cooks, mix the cheeses and basil in a bowl. My mixture was fairly dry and I was tempted to throw in some cream cheese, but decided that it was all going to melt together and be awesome in the end. If you like the draw of a “four cheese” item, then by all means: cream cheese it up!

As the eggplant slices finished, I placed a large tablespoon down the middle of each (lengthwise) and rolled them (short side as the start of the roll..you don’t want a long, skinny roll-up).

Place them, seam-side down and close together, into a 13×9″ baking sheet. Sprinkle any remaining cheese on top and pop them under the broiler for a few minutes to melt and bubble.

If the sauce is done (make sure to taste test!), blend it with an immersion blender to make it extra smooth. Ladle it over the top and KABOOM! You’re a sorcerer, cause that stuff is magical.

This got rave reviews from my family, who would have no qualms telling me otherwise! So nom, people of the world. Nom!