red cabbage and quinoa salad

 I saw this video with purple cabbage and quinoa salad which looks good and I want to try it.  She was pretty short on details but I will try to figure it out. NOte: this was pretty bland the first day, but the next day it was really good, ate two bowls of it for lunch and it was satisfying.  Worth making again. 

Ingredients:

• red cabbage (1 whole head, sliced)
• red onion, sliced
• salt
• olive oil
• dates 
• sumac - heaping tsp 
• garlic (2 cloves minced)
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• juice from one lemon 
• pepper, salt  
• (1 tsp honey, date syrup, etc.) 
• nuts (she seemed to have a mix; pistachios or cashews or almonds or anything seems fine)
• fresh herbs: chives, mint, parsley 
• quinoa (or farro, or other grain)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Slice cabbage and slice red onion and put onto baking sheet.  Add olive oil, salt, and massage.  Roast, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes.

Chop herbs, put into a bowl.  Add some dates (she just pulled them apart).  

Cook quinoa (she said a cup - raw or cooked, unclear), add to bowl.  Add roasted cabbage and onion, then season with lemon juice, sumac, salt, pepper, garlic, mustard, date syrup/honey, roasted nuts, mix well. 

energy balls

 I'm on a no refined sugar, no refined grains, no industrial seed oil kick, and it's making eating tough.  A stop at Whole Foods led me to something like these, and I'll make my own from these ideas.

Chocolate energy balls from here.

• ¼ cup raw almonds, or other unroasted nut of choice
• ¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 2–3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 10 ounces medjool dates
• 1–2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Place almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add oats, ground flax seed, and cocoa powder. Pulse until well combined.

Add dates and pulse for 30 seconds, or until mixture is combined and crumbly. Drizzle 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil over mixture and pulse for a few seconds, or until the mixture is sticky and holds together. If still crumbly, add more oil and pulse again.

Roll into 24 1-inch balls and place in a baking dish or on a tray.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until firm. Enjoy immediately, or keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

 

Strawberry energy balls from here

• 1 cup dates without pits
• 1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 T chia seeds

coconut flakes, as desired

Slice dates and strawberries, chop almonds.  Put everything (except coconut flakes) in food processor and blend until almonds are finer but not paste.  Put in the fridge for an hour, then shape into balls and roll in coconut.

 

Peanut butter energy balls with extra protein and fiber

• 1 cup (100g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (125g) smooth natural peanut butter
• 1 cup (180g) white beans, rinsed and drained
•  7-8 medjool dates, soaked (or more if deglet noor)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• Soak dates 5-10 minutes in warm water.  Pulse oats in food processor until like flour and remove.  Process PB, beans, and dates.  Then add in vanilla and oats, and form into balls. 
•  

Chocolate date energy balls

• 1 1/2 cups (162 g) pecans or walnuts  
• 1 c (188 g) dates, pitted (if not soft, soak in warm water 5-10 minutes)
  
• 1/4 c (24 g) cocoa powder (or 1/3 c)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt

Grind nuts until a fine meal, then add the rest of the ingredients to food processor until sticky and uniform.

 

hazelnut cookies

Have too many hazelnuts you need to use up?  Make these simple shortbread-type cookies with a food processor!  So easy, so tasty!

Yield
    Makes about 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup hazelnuts (2 oz)
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan until fragrant and skins begin to loosen, about 6 minutes. Rub nuts in a kitchen towel to remove any loose skins (some skins may not come off) and cool to room temperature.

Pulse nuts and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely ground, then add flour and a pinch of salt, pulsing until combined. Add butter and pulse until dough just forms a ball. Divide dough in half, then roll dough on a work surface lightly dusted with sugar and flour into 2 (11-inch-long) logs (each about 1 inch wide). Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 1 hour.

Cut logs crosswise into 1/2-inch slices and arrange rounds 2 inches apart on 2 baking sheets.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until bottom edges just begin to turn pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheet 2 minutes. Place remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in a small dish and dip tops of cookies in it, then cool sugared cookies on a rack.

granola

I do love me some homemade granola.  The storebought stuff is too sweet, too many chemicals, etc.

This is good and not too sweet, with lots of room for creativity and pantry emptying.  From here.  I especially like it with pecans and maple syrup.

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw, whole rolled oats (AKA old fashion oats), preferably organic
• 1 cup raw nuts or seeds, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup or raw honey (or a combo of both)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
• 1 large pinch fine sea salt
• ½ cup unsweetened dried fruit, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300º F.
2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Use your clean hands to mix well and toss to coat; it will be sticky and messy but that's the fun part.
3. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes, until lightly toasted.
4. Cool before serving or storing.
5. This granola can be kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 2 weeks.

apple phyllo pastry

My fennel-kale phyllo pastries are wonderful, but the phyllo was larger than the space I planned for it to sit so it got pretty beat up and I want to use it up.

So, what to do with phyllo? Well, I do have apples and dried cranberries I've been wanting to use up ...

****

• apples, chopped (2 large ones was all I had but more would be good)
• dried cranberries, soaked in rum or bourbon for a couple of hours or overnight (1/4 c)
  
• pecans or almonds, chopped or sliced (1/2 c)
  
• sugar (to taste - I used 2 T brown sugar)
  
• cinnamon (I like a LOT of cinnamon, so about 1-2 T; nutmeg is also good but I'm not a real fan)
  
• lemon juice (Meyer's lemon juice, about 1 T)
• dash salt
  

Mix together and simmer on the stovetop until apples soften a bit - about 10-15 minutes. (Adding cornstarch w/water to thicken it would be a good step but I just was so not in the mood for Argo.)

Melt 2-3 T butter w/2 T honey. Lay out a sheet of phyllo and lightly brush it with butter/honey; add another sheet and repeat. I had 10 sheets of phyllo to use up, but about 5 would be good or anything in between.

Put filling on phyllo and roll up like a jelly roll - or put on parchment and tuck up (like picture above) and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until phyllo is browned.

***
The melted butter makes it not really low fat, but it's so much better than a pie crust. This would be great with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

Rosemary Maple Spiced Almonds

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Nuts even. But I'll give it a try on Friday. From here.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole raw almonds
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (I think 1/4 c would be sufficient)
  
• 2 teaspoons rosemary
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• Sea salt, to taste

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Combine almonds, syrup, rosemary, cayenne, and sea salt in bowl. Stir to coat well.
3. Spread on a sheet pan (parchment paper lined is great for clean up).
4. Bake in the oven for 10-14 minutes. Watch carefully as they burn quickly.
5. Remove from oven and cool.
6. Once cool break up the nuts. They can be stored in an airtight container for about a week.

****
Quilt group is on Friday and I volunteered to take a cake for our birthdays, but somebody ELSE called dibs on cake (which he will buy - ugh - little worse than grocery store bakery cakes) and I was told I could bring "snacks like cheese and crackers." But two other people volunteered for that, so what to do?

Look through my cupboard and figure it out. This recipe sounds nasty - such a weird combination. But I have everything on hand (thank you, Trader Joe's) and it's simple, so hopefully it's good!