Chicago Brauhaus

had live polka on tonight. Which made for a rowdy atmosphere. And
conversation at level Yell.

Put Some Floss in Your Handbag

'cause after you eat kale chips, you need it!

This was my second time making kale chips.  Last time I massaged the kale with olive oil, sprinkled dumped on salt and then let it dry in a 150 degree oven over night.  So, yeah, I ate it all but it was SALTY

This time, I used this recipe.  I followed it pretty exactly, so based on how it turned out, this is how I'd like to do it next time:

2 large bunches kale, just the leafy parts.  (Chop up the stems and add them to your soup)

2 tsp. lime juice2 T melted coconut oil 
2 T creamy almond butter
1 T honey
1/4 tsp. crushed red chili flakes1/2 teaspoon random Mrs. Dash blendy stuff that was around


Mix the above all together, then massage into kale that has been washed, dried and pulled into chippy size pieces (remember it'll shrink a lot!) 


Spread onto cookie sheets covered with parchment or silpats, then leave in the oven overnight.  At least 8 hours is good.  


I thought this snack was so healthy that it was too embarrassing to share, but when I offered it to a few friends today at Izumi's school, it was a hit.  And that is why I'm posting this recipe, right, Satoi?  Let me know if/when you try it!

Primaleolicious Mug Cake

But I took it out of the mug so you'll have to take my word for it.

Edited to Add: I found the original recipe here and I changed it a bit to make this little cake as follows: 

Melt 2 T of coconut oil.  Stir in 2 T cocoa powder, 1 1/2 T honey, 1 T almond flour (I used hazelnut meal), 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.  Grease the inside of a microwaveable coffee mug with coconut oil and pour in the batter.  Microwave on high for two minutes. 

I didn't find the cake to be rubbery!  In fact, it was pretty tasty as is, but I had some cream cheese frosting I wanted to use up so that's what you see here.  As for how to make that, well, I put some cream cheese in a dish (some of it was homemade) with some cocoa powder and honey and mixed it up. 

Let me know what you think!

"Noodles"

Brussels

held by Sprout

Primaleolicious Dinner for the Kids

Lunch at Jolane's Cafe

With the "Banana Girls" (committee of moms) in celebration of St. Matthew's 7th Annual Sports Day.
This is the seafood cocktail and it was DELICIOUS

Best Fried Zucchini Sticks EVAH!!

Pumpkin Pie Pouphs (pronounced Poof)

This is the inspiration recipe  for the pumpkin muffins I made today.  I'm not sure that "muffins" is actually the right term for them; see the title of this post.
After sampling the mini treats, a few friends decided that this would be a more worthy name.
Whatever they are called, I'll be making them again soon.
As soon as I can restock on coconut flour, that is.  If only I had understand how utterly competitive, reasonable, and even below "market price" (don't actually know what that is, I would have to engage with details to know and I don't do that) the coconut flour in the bin at LifeSource was, I would have really stocked up.  Instead of nonchalantly buying a random amount.  Which is what I did.
Anyway.
This is how to make what I made today.  If you make some, and like them, and can think of a better name, please let me know.

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder (I might increase this a little next time?)
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt

Whisk together, if you are the ambitious type who doesn't mind washing dishes.  Or if you are like me, dump all this in at the end with no whisking, mix it up and hope for the best.

1 cup pumpkin puree (I got mine from a can.  I know I should be afraid of BPA, but there are too many things to be afraid, and I already had it in a can, so I went with it)
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
3/8 cup maple syrup (how on earth would one measure that?!  the original recipe said "or 3 1/2 oz." so I measured that on my scale--if you are reading this and thinking of baking, but don't have a kitchen scale, then please go buy one right now, even if it busts your budget a little)

Mix the above together with a mixer or by hand if you are powerful and have stamina.
As previously mentioned, dump in the dry ingredients, mix, and then if you must have chocolate in every muffin...which I must, for some reason, add

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I bought some at Whole Foods,  then figured out later that cane sugar is the first ingredient! might have to stick with Ghiradelli after all?  but they don't sell mini--that I know of--and I am too lazy for chopping...)

Bake at 400 in a mini muffin pan for about 15 minutes.  If they seem a teeny bit underdone, that is OK. That's what makes the pumpkin pie texture happen in the middle.

Sorry no picture.  They're not super photogenic anyway.

Koji's Lunch Version 9.28

White Peach chunks
Carrot Sticks
Rice w/ umeboshi
Fish Sausage from HMart -- which I'm disappointed to say, I'll probably never feel OK buying again, it's too processed...

Koji's Lunch

Rice w/ furikake
Costco brand turkey slice
Mini banana, cut in half and wrapped to avoid browning (thought I was so clever, putting this in but he was frustrated 'cause it was so hard to peel)
Roasted butternut squash (from dinner the night before)
Green beans (left over from lunch @ Izumi's school)

Deca

restaurant on the 12th floor of the Ritz Carlton in downtown Chicago has an amazing dessert with the unamazing name of Baba. Which in Japanese means "old lady".  The "Deca"dent chocolate cake was also fabulous.  Unfortunately, because Gyukaku (above) was our first stop, we didn't have room in our stomachs to finish it completely.  Next time.  Because there will be one.

Green Soup

Yesterday I made spinach soup, mostly exactly like this one except that after I simmered the potatoes and onion and spinach and four cloves of garlic (instead of three, and not regular garlic, but soy sauce pickled garlic) for 15 minutes and immersion blended the lot, then I added 1/2 cup heavy cream and some sprinkles of salt, pepper and nutmeg.  And then I ate it with some Costco pepperoni pizza.  

Why not?

This is how the rest of the soup looks now.  I guess not really so good, in the fridge in a glass jar between the milk and the juice, as pictured by Hipstamatic.  But I'm thinking of eating it again for breakfast.  

Fastest Cinnamon Buns

via The Quick Recipe by America's Test Kitchen

An hour and six minutes start to finish for baking

Another sixteen minutes and six of eight are devoured

Day Two of The Big Snow

Dinner at Costco

When the cream puffs from Beard Papa's were gone

This is what we were left with.

1-1-11

Happy 2011!!
We are celebrating with bread pudding. Because Rich likes it. I was inspired by the recipe that Julie got from allrecipes.
I made it like this:

Tear three pieces of raisin bread and three (four?) French rolls from Costco into little pieces and put them into a 9x13 pan. Mix four eggs, two cups of milk, 1/2 cup sugar, tsp. of vanilla and two chopped up bananas, then pour over the bread. Massage the bread until it soaks up all the liquid.
Even if you feel silly, don't skip the previous step.
Sprinkle half with butterscotch chips and the other half with chocolate chips; massage a bit more to incorporate.
Set the pan in a cookie sheet. Pour water into the cookie sheet and bake the whole set up at 375 for one hour.
Serve with mango sauce and/or whipped cream. Run to the pan before Rich or you might not get any.
May the coming year be SWEET!