Homemade Oreos

This weekend, Amelia and Sam went out on a play-date and, as they say, “while the cat’s away the mouse will play.” My love of cookies and my disdain for high-fructose corn syrup got together and out popped these homemade oreos. In my opinion these are better than the real thing and I’ll definitely be making them again. I had one pan of the cookies turn out really well; very crumbly cookies that puffed the right amount and are crisp-tender while the other pan completely flattened out into crouton-like chocolate cookies. Needless to say I’ll have to play with this recipe a little more to figure out just what when wrong with that second pan. Regardless, here’s the recipe, taken from a blog called “My Baking Addiction“:

Ingredients:

For the chocolate wafers:

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

For the filling:

• 1/4 c. room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. vegetable shortening
• 2 c. sifted confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Method

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press to work the filling evenly to the outside of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk and enjoy.

Jerk Tofu with Coconut Rice and Sautéed Veggies

Dinner on Friday took a tropical twist with this dish. I used recipes from Vegetarian Times, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and my own kitchen know-how to make this meal. Though the dish is somewhat complex, using the right method will enable you to cook this all in about an hour.

The foundation of this meal is the Jerk Seasoning. It is used on the Tofu and the veggies, and you’ll greatly benefit both in flavor and in cost savings by making your own. Blending spices takes all of five minutes and it’s likely you have all these spices on hand. If not, pick a place that will sell spices in bulk so you can buy just as much as you want without having to fork over 1/3 of your grocery budget on bottled spices. The recipe for this blend comes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Also, buy a spice grinder, because spending $30 to get better flavors from your spices since you’ll be starting from whole spices is worth every penny.

Jerk Seasoning

• 1 tbsp. allspice berries
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg pieces
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. cayenne, or to taste
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. salt
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger or 2 tsp. ground

1. Put the allspice, nutmeg, peppercorns, and thyme in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
2. Mix in the remaining ingredients and use immediately or store in a tightly covered container for up to several weeks and add the garlic and ginger as you use the seasoning.

Now that you have the Jerk Seasoning, you can move on to the rest of the dish. First, prepare your tofu for baking, because you’ll make the other two components (the coconut rice and sautéed veggies) while the tofu bakes.

Jerk-Rubbed Baked Tofu

• 1 pkg. Firm Tofu, well drained
• Peanut Oil
• Jerk Seasoning

1. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut the tofu into 4 even cutlets.
3. Place tofu in baking dish
4. Liberally coat tofu with Peanut oil
5. Place about 1tsp. Jerk Seasoning on each tofu cutlet and rub spice mix on surface. Flip tofu and repeat until all sides are evenly coated with peanut oil and spice blend.
6. Bake at 350F for one hour.

With the tofu in the oven, it’s time to prep the veggies and coconut rice ingredients. I used Zucchini, Red Peppers, Red Onion, and Garlic for my vegetable mix but feel free to use whichever veggie mix suits your taste. Because the rice takes a little longer than the veggies (about 30 minutes total) you’ll want to get that started before the vegetables.

Coconut Rice (from Vegetarian Times)

• 1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
• 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1, 3-inch stick cinnamon
• 1 c. jasmine rice (or plain white rice), rinsed and drained
• 3/4 c. light coconut milk
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. grated lime zest
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 c. shredded coconut, toasted (optional)

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add ginger, garlic, and cinnamon stick, and sauté 1 minute, or until fragrant
3. Stir in rice, and sauté 2 minutes, or until grains are opaque.
4. Add coconut milk, sugar, salt, lime zest, white pepper, and 3/4 c. water.
5. Bring contents to a simmer. Stir well, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes or until most liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked.
6. Fluff rice with a fork, cover, and let rest 5 minutes.
7. Garnish with toasted coconut, if using.

Jerk-Seasoned Sautéed Vegetables

• 1 medium red onion, cut in half then thinly sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 medium zucchini, cut into “half-moons”
• 2 medium red peppers, thinly sliced
• Jerk seasoning (to taste)
• 2 tbsp. Peanut Oil

1. Prep vegetables
2. Heat Peanut oil in large skillet
3. Sauté vegetables, adding Jerk Seasoning after the onions begin to turn translucent, until all are crisp-tender.

Now all that’s left is to pull the tofu out of the oven, plate your dinner, and garnish it with chopped cilantro if you like. Hopefully I’ve shown a good method to preparing this dish and, as I said before, this meal should take about an hour from start to finish. If you make this meal and come up with any other shortcuts, or just want to comment about what you thought of the dish, please let me know in the comments. Bon appétit.

Reminders of the past

I took the dogs to the Pet Store tonight to get more food for them and while making our way through the store the song “Stellar” by Incubus started playing. As I’m sure most people experience with one song or another, I felt immediately transported into my past. The album “Make Yourself”, on which “Stellar” can be heard, was one of my favorite albums during my senior year of high school.

High School.

For me, senior year of high school was 10 years ago. One decade. At this time 10 years ago I was in the final weeks of my life as a high-schooler, looking forward to attending the University of Nebraska. And just last week I gave a Spanish listening and speaking test to a senior in high school as part of a project for one of my classes at KU. In my Master’s program. Wow, 10 years has brought a lot of change.

Ten years ago all I could think about was graduation, going to college, trying to figure out what I would major in, and whether or not I would make it into the marching band at UNL. Today my thoughts are all about my wife Amelia, my son Sam, my school work (pursuing a Master of Science in Education, Curriculum and Teaching) and the thought that very soon I’ll be standing in my own classroom teaching Spanish and ESL.

The amazing thing to me is how this one song could bring back so many memories. Because of this song I remember comic books, making a jelly bean mural of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, my Grandfather’s heart attack, seeing Incubus live at Pershing auditorium, college applications, graduation, my high school girlfriend Denise, mission trips with my church youth groups, and so much more.

Where were you 10 years ago? Did you ever imagine the life you live now 10 years ago?

And what will life look like 10 years from now? The year will be 2021. I’ll start hearing about plans for a 20 year high school reunion, and I’m sure I’ll hear a song on a store’s radio that will remind me of the events of this year and all that came with it.

Learned the hard way

Just a quick post slash parenting tip. If you’ve tried to set up a bedtime for your child, stick to it. Case(s) in point: a couple weeks ago, after purchasing the book “660 Curries”, I decided that I had to have a spice grinder for the masalas that I would make. I took Sam with me to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get those last few wiggles out before his bedtime, which at the time had been happening anywhere between 8 and 9. I left around 7:45…and I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

He cried the entire way to the store, which I should have taken as a sign to turn around and mope back home with my tail between my legs. I say “should” because I of course did not follow my instinct which was screaming at my pride for being so arrogant. Oh no, I didn’t turn around and go home. I took Sam out of his car seat, placed him in a baby carrier and went and bought the spice grinder I couldn’t live without. He was entertained in the store by all the neat things along the walls and he didn’t cry at all. That is, until I got back to the car and put him in his car seat. By this time he was beyond tired and overwhelmed from the day’s events. On top of that I accidentally bonked his head on the frame of the door getting him back into the car seat. Needless to say he screamed the entire way home and I mean screamed. This was an all out, no holds barred, blood-curdling wail that could only be cured by breast milk, a swaddle blanket, and a rocking chair.

Which leads me to tonight. As I write this entry, I sit on the couch with a much desired beer next to me. Sam is asleep in his crib after yet another very rough journey to bed. I agreed to go to Amelia’s quintet rehearsal with Sam so that everyone could see him again and marvel at his cuteness. We left at 7:30 and right before we left I had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to be in for a rough time. And I was absolutely right. He screamed on the way to rehearsal, played happily for the 30 minutes we were at rehearsal, and then screamed even louder all the way home. Luckily I was able to calm him down tonight with a swaddle and some expert swaying and shushing. He was down for the count within minutes.

Sam has clearly come to expect a certain series of events that end with him going to bed to start around 7:30 but no later than 8. Tonight I interrupted that when I agreed to take him to the quintet rehearsal and he and I both suffered because of it. This is one of the many challenges of parenting, truly putting your child before yourself. Of course I want people to be able to see him. I’m so proud of this baby and so in love with who he is that I can’t stand to think of depriving anyone the time to be around him. And all the comments that people make about how cute he is or how he looks or acts like me or Amelia, well that’s just validation that I’ve done a good job and that he indeed is just as cute as I think he is. And I need that validation sometimes. Being a parent is a lot of hard work and when you don’t get that encouragement along the way it is easy to get self-conscious and self-critical.

But in the end that desire for validation and the hope that everyone can see just how great of a baby he is came at a cost for him. Sam needed me to stay home with him and do the bedtime routine so that he could calmly fall sound asleep and rest in order to be able to greet tomorrow with a happy mood and an oh-so cute smile. Tonight I learned the hard way that giving up your self is one of the best gifts you can give to your child and I hope that I remember this lesson for years to come.

Hippie Cookies

Amelia came up with this recipe a year or so ago and I made them for my coworkers at KU. I like to call them hippie cookies because they’re super healthy. At their core they are peanut butter, banana, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies. Because of the peanut butter and the bananas they don’t require butter or eggs and I add flax seeds to give them even more of a heart healthy boost. Depending on how long you bake them they’ll have a soft, chewy texture or a crunchy outside and soft middle texture. Either way they taste great and provide a healthier alternative to your average chocolate chip cookie. Here’s the recipe if you want to make them yourself.

Software:

• 2 very ripe (or over-ripe) bananas
• ¼ c. Peanut Butter (I use chunky)
• 2tbsp. Soy Milk (cow’s milk would work as well)
• 2tbsp. Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 ½ c. Rolled Oats (also called “Old-fashion” oats)
• Cinnamon (to taste)
• Chocolate Chips (to taste)
• Flax Seeds (to taste, optional)

Hardware:

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Masher
• Spoon for mixing
• Two spoons for transferring batter to baking sheets
• 2 Baking Sheets
• Parchment Paper or Wax Paper

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas and stir in peanut butter, milk, syrup and vanilla.
3. Add oats, cinnamon, chocolate chips, and flax seeds (if using) and stir well to combine.
4. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or wax paper.
5. Add cookie batter by the spoonful, about 12 per cookie sheet.
6. Bake 13-15 minutes @ 350F. Cookies are done when edges are firm to touch but centers “give” a little.
7. Let cool on the baking sheets.

Notes: These cookies do not flatten as they bake so you will have to shape them while putting the batter on the cookie sheet, much like a no-bake cookie. This is a really flexible recipe which is why there are so many things that are “to taste” and I’m sure you could use any other kind of nut butter as a substitution for the peanut butter. Also, you can make these cookies as small or as large as you like and as long as you flatten them pretty well they’ll still bake in the same amount of time.