This little wife went to market. I thought I was being ripped off by the pork lady, so I bought just a little and decided to supplement my recipe with a chicken. It turns out I didn't need the chicken after all because the pork was enough, so I decided to stuff it. (they stuff turkeys at Thanksgiving; how hard could it be to stuff a chicken?)

I didn't have many ingredients on hand, so I decided to make something up as I went.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice
10 garlic cloves, chopped
1 centimeter ginger pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
half of one large onion, diced
1/2 cup water
1T chicken powder
2T broth (beef or chicken)
1T oil
2T Italian seasoning, plus more for rubbing on the chicken
1 whole chicken (mine was about 2 pounds)

First, I threw some wild rice into the rice cooker (It looks purple in the pictures because the black rice component bleeds purple when cooked.) Meanwhile, I chopped 10 garlic cloves and a 1 square centimeter piece of ginger. I cooked these in about 2 tablespoons of broth (beef or chicken is fine... I actually used some remaining pork juice from a recipe I'd just finished.) A dash of salt, a tablespoon of oil, a half cup of water, tablespoon of chicken powder, 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, and half a diced onion later, there was a great smelling sauce ready.

I set half the sauce aside to be rubbed on the outside of the chicken later on, and then added the rice to the remaining sauce and cooked them together for just a minute or two to mix the flavors.

Then I set the rice aside and toasted a handful of almonds on the wok to be mixed with the rice mixture.

Now, it was time to stuff the bird. There was a hole near its back end (where I suppose there should be). But really, I stuffed the rice mixture into the hollowed out bird and then poured the remaining liquid onto the outside of the bird, also rubbing a few extra Italian spices on the bird.

It looked like it was just basking in all of its glory there on the baking sheet, and I couldn't help laughing out loud.

The bird, inside and out, was already cooked, so I downed the cooking time and temperature from many stuffed bird recipes I'd seen and just cooked it for 50 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I didn't know how to cut it (and my bird looked so stinking cool I didn't want to disrupt it), so I just served it as is and me and Aus ripped it to pieces and scooped up the rice too. It was a much greater success than I expected on maybe my greatest experiment thus far, and we'll certainly be trying this again. We're not chicken.

An Original Recipe

As you can see, baking has been my heart and soul during my moments in the kitchen the past few days. Now that we're all carbed up, we desperately need some vegetables.

Tonight I cooked up some zesty lemon green beans. Easy. Fast. Delicious.

Ingredients:
3-5 long green bean strands
1/4 tsp. lemon zest
1 t. zesty lemon seasoning
1 1/2 t. lemon juice

I washed and chopped up just three long green bean strands. This ended up not making much. (As you with real kitchen experience are scoffing right now.)

Just boil the green beans, drain, and mix in the goods. Serve warm. It's fresh and de-licious! A great summer snack or side dish.

Serves 1 (when made with 3 bean strands... kind of like a personal snack.)

An Original Recipe

We are totally not coffee drinkers. I've never really enjoyed the taste of it (though I love the smell). No, in our apartment, coffee is one of those things reserved for a few times a year when we're so tired we can't stay awake but have something important to do. Still, the other day when I ran across some biscotti recipes, I thought, I'd like to give that a try.

Here is my first try at making a slightly healthier version of biscotti. And by healthier, I mean that I just used 1/2 whole wheat flour and no butter. But still, there are lots of chocolate chips! Irresistible.

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup chocolate chips

To begin I mixed the wet ingredients together, then added everything else in and mixed until it was a good batter. Next I used my oil mister to spray a baking sheet and shaped a long mound of batter like in the picture above.

I put this in the oven and baked at 350° F for 30 minutes. After that time, I pulled it out of the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes then cut it into the familiar shaped pieces as you can see below.

After that I put it back in the oven to become more crispy. I put mine on a wire rack at that point and baked them for about 15 minutes at 350° F.

These were really great, and far exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended.

(We only drank half of the coffee with breakfast.)

The man loves to eat. And with a shortage of healthy food at the local grocery, I decided to take some action.

These are some pretty healthy brownies with walnuts, healthy for the heart. They turned out pretty dense and cake-like, rather than the fudge-like ones I loved growing up, but for the healthiness of them, I'd say it's well worth it.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk (skim or plain soy)
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl combine the oil, milk, water, eggs, and vanilla. Now mix everything together including the chocolate chips and walnuts, be careful that you don’t over mix.


Pour the brownie batter into an 8×8 nonstick pan. Drop in a few more chopped walnuts on the top and bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. Use a toothpick in the middle of the pan to check if it is done. Enjoy!

These brownies could have been better if I was willing to sacrifice the healthiness a bit more. If you're going for taste, here are some suggestions:
*Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips to the batter.
*Up the oil content to 1/3 cup as the original recipe suggested.
*Use more than 1/2 cup white sugar.
*Add some applesauce to the batter for more moisture and maybe some more density. (I think I'll try this one next time!)

Still, these were a favorite for the man of my dreams, so I'll be making them again.
Healthy heart + happy belly= Success!

Adapted from: madehealthier.com

A few days ago, I got really antsy to do some baking. I wanted to make some steak (or other random cut of beef... I never know what I'm buying) and breadsticks for dinner.

Last summer, I had a job, and Austin was kind of the stay-at-home-husband who did lots of shopping, cooking, cleaning, (and still managed to come to work with me to hang out half of the time). When he was at home, he'd sometimes bake bread, experimenting with some methods and recipes from a great bread book we got for our wedding. Sometimes we'd joke that I was the breadwinner and he was the bread baker.

Now it was my turn.

Ingredients:
10.5 oz whole wheat bread flour (about 2 1/3 cups)
7 oz white bread flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons fine-grain salt
12 1/2 oz water (about 13 fl. oz. in a glass measuring cup)
garlic-cheese powder or other filling of your choice

Mix the two flours together and rub in the yeast, using your fingertips. Add the salt and the water (add the water gradually, and you might not need all of it. Start with 10 fl. oz. and you can add more later if the dough is too dry.

Knead the dough. You want to stretch it and get as much air into it as possible. It works well to slide your fingers underneath with your thumbs on top, swing it upwards, then slap it back down, away from you, onto the counter. It will be really sticky at this point. Stretch the front of the dough towards you, then lift it back over itself in an arc to trap the air, still stretching it forwards and sideways and tucking it around the edges. Repeat this for maybe 10-15 minutes. (I know, it's hard to picture.)

The dough will start to come together and become elastic-y, less sticky.

Flour the counter and make a tight ball with the dough, making it smooth on top by tucking the edges underneath repetitively. Put it into a bowl, cover it, and let it rest for 1 hour in a warm, draft-free place. It should double in size.

After 1 hour, spread the dough into a rectangle on the counter, and sprinkle the powder or topping of your choice on top. Then fold the dough into thirds as if folding a letter. Austin helped me here.

Cut the dough widthwise into 10-12 strips about 1/2 inch -1 inch wide. Twist each strip, stretching it to the length of your baking tray and rolling it in remaining filling mixture or powder if desired. Place the strips on a cookie sheet leaving a gap between each one. Let rise 10-15 minutes.

Place in a preheated (475 degree) oven, mist the inside with a water spray, turn the temperature down to 425 degrees, and bake them for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Adapted from the book Dough by

So Austin made some AMAZING chili, and we needed something to add to it. In a world devoid of tortilla chips or CHEESE (really, how can this be?), we decided to whip up some chips of our own.

Ingredients:
Jiao Zi Pi (Dumpling Skins)
Oil
Salt

They sell dumpling skins super cheap in our local market, so they're great to experiment with. (Every once in a while we use them to actually make dumplings.) This time, I cut them in half, laid them in a single layer on a wire rack, misted them with oil, and lightly salted them.

After that, I baked them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. They begin to bubble, and when they're lightly browned, they're ready. The change happens fast, so I always eye it. It takes 5-10 minutes, but they burn fast!

They're perfect for dipping or just for munching!

Perhaps the unintentional theme of this blog is "my amazing husband." I feel like it just oozes from me, every day, a comment here, a story of his amazing servant heart there. So, dear friends, this post is about the time, way back two days ago, when he said, "Hey, precious Bethany, you just rest; I'll make dinner."

"Really?"

Really Chili.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
6 small tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 cup red beans
1 cup pumpkin, diced
1/4 cup chili powder
salt to taste (1-1.5 teaspoons)
black pepper to taste

Mix together in a slow cooker. Cook for several hours on low. Yum!

An Original Recipe

Two days ago, we issued a dinner invitation to some of our students. Austin and I came back to our apartment and started discussing the menu. We quickly settled on some pumpkin chili (amazing-- take a look at the next post), semi-homemade chips, white rice (of course!), fruit salad, and…

“I remember being at home and when we had chili, my mom would often make muffins to go with it. Mmmm.”

“I LOVE muffins. Muffins are awesome!"

"I'd love to make muffins for breakfast for you anytime."

"Do you want to make some muffins for breakfast tomorrow?”

The Muffin Man had spoken. (Do you know the Muffin Man?)

And so it was that I found myself waking up with muffin-making excitement in my heart at 7:29 am, just in time to stop my alarm. I decided to whip up some whole wheat apple muffins with an oat topping.

This was supposed to make 12 muffins, but actually made 14 or so.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
• 1  cup  whole wheat flour (about 5 1/8 ounces)
• 1/3  cup  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2  cups  low-fat buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, you can combine 1 1/2 cups milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar and wait 5 minutes.)
• 1 cup apple, cut into tiny pieces
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1  large egg
• Cooking spray
• 1/3  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  cup  old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flours into measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.

Place buttermilk, apple pieces, oil, vanilla, and egg in a bowl; mix until well blended. Add apple mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

The timing was perfect. We'd just been given a huge watermelon by some friends who were running out on vacation. The next day, three students showed up for an afternoon together, two of them presenting more large watermelons. Now I, not being the biggest fan of this half-hearted, lightly sweetened, sad excuse for a fruit, thought, "What on earth am I going to do with these melons?"

It seemed like a great time to open up the freezer. Move aside, frozen meat, rock hard-bread, tray of ice-cubes: a watermelon's comin' on in! I showed that ridiculous wanna-be fruit who was boss, chopped it up, and tossed it into the freezer. And that was the beginning of the watermelon-mango citri-slushy experiment.

Ingredients:
1 small watermelon cut into chunks
1 large mango
1-2 lemons or limes
1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup white sugar dissolved in it

Freeze the watermelon for about 2 hours, until it's hard, but not like a rock, more like a bunch of ice crystals. Now for those of us working without a blender, here's how this goes:
Put the now-frozen watermelon chunks in a big bowl.  Peel the mango and slice it into as small of pieces as possible, adding the small pieces and resulting juice into the watermelon bowl. Add a ladle-full of the sugar water, squeeze in the lemon juice, and just start slicing. Slide the knife repetitively through the chunks of watermelon, breaking them down and mixing the contents until a slush-like, evenly mixed slushy is created. Sip and enjoy.

Now, about those other two watermelons...

An Original Recipe