the happyest life: 2013

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Easiest Butternut Squash Soup

When you mix this chilly weather with the hustle and bustle of the holiday activities, there is nothing more that I want than soup. Soup for lunch, soup for dinner. And the colder it gets, the less I want to do exhausting things like chop lots of vegetables and chew too much. And that is how this recipe came about. It's super simple, yet oh so satisfying...and best of all, it's a breeze to make!

Gather these things:
- 1 large butternut squash
- 2 large white onions
- 5-7 cloves of garlic (I like garlic, so I went with 7)
- enough coconut oil to sauté garlic and onions
- 8 cups of vegetable/chicken broth
- spices: salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, chipotle powder - to taste, I love spicy foods so I did about 1T of chipotle powder, 1T cumin, 1-2t of cinnamon, 1T salt, about 10 grinds of black pepper...but again, make sure you taste it!

Directions:
- Get a 2-3 gallon pot, add coconut oil and turn heat on medium low.
- Wash butternut squash and put in microwave for 15 min to soften.
- Mince garlic, add it to the pot to start cooking - but don't let them go so far as to brown, that's when the garlic starts to get bitter
- In the mean time, peel skin off of butternut squash. Cut in half, scoop seeds out, rough chop.
- Chop onions, add onions to the pot with the garlic. Let them cook until transparent. Add spices in with garlic and onions and mix. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add butternut squash in with the garlic and onions. Pour in stock. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Pour into Vitamix (you might have to do this 2 times to fit it all), and blend until smooth.
- Eat!

I used Mike's camera this time because I had left mine at my parent's house. I can't say I love it as much as my sony. His is smaller and easier to hold with one had, but I definitely love the quality of pictures from my camera better. Sorry in advance!

There is my butternut squash, 2 large onions

Get that garlic jumping! But just barely, garlic is super sensitive and will brown and burn with too high of heat.

Get everything simmering in the pot, and leave on for 20-30 minutes. Make sure to taste and add more spices as you go! I was fairly aggressive with my first round of spice-adding, I didn't need anything else - especially chipotle powder - this soup is a spicy one if you follow my directions!

Then poor into the blender and blend! I had to do this twice, so if your blender is small, be warned that you will be pouring and blending a few times.

Mmmm and there she is! I will be making this again very soon, probably as soon as we run out.

I guessed with it serving 15 people - those would be some big bowls. I would guess it was more around 20 people. It lasted me about 2 weeks!

Recipe name

Butternut Squash Soup

Number of servings

Serves 15 people

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Squash - Butternut, cooked, baked, without salt, 10 cup, cubes	820	215	2	18	82	40
Giant Foods - White Onion (Raw), 4 c chopped (80 g)	256	60	1	7	24	27
Swanson - Chicken Broth - 99% Fat Free, 8 cup	38	1	2	5	3,926	1
Garlic - Raw, 5 clove	22	5	0	1	3	0
Nutiva - Coconut Oil, Organic Extra Virgin, 1 tbsp	130	0	14	0	0	0
Add Ingredient
Total:	1,266	281	19	31	4,035	68
Per Serving:	84	19	1	2	269	5

Friday, December 20, 2013

Coffee in Mentor!

Something wonderful has happened, and yes, it involves coffee.

Up until this past weekend, it has been very hard to find good coffee within 20 miles of where I live. When I say good coffee, I don't include Starbucks. Yes I still have to tolerate Starbucks when there are absolutely no other options and my caffeine headache is kicking in, but I still have criteria that must be met.

Number one, I will only get the blonde roast. This is mainly because I drink my coffee black and can't stand the burnt taste of any other blend that they offer. That being said, don't get your hopes up about the flavors this blend offers. If you have ever had a good pour over, it will be about 1/10 the flavor. But I will take that over burnt and undrinkable any day.

Number two, my blonde roast must be brewed in the Clover. The Clover is a machine that combines a vacuum pot and a french press. Basically, it offers a set temperature for the water, a better chance of consistency when the barista stirs the beans, and overall a better extraction of flavor.

My favorite, as you know by now, is Rising Star Coffee. Other great options that I have tried (but not since I fell in love with Rising Star) are Troubadour Coffee and Erie Island Coffee. All local to Cleveland, but again, the main problem with these are that they are all located about at least 40 miles from me. Until now.

Mike and I have been going to The Brew Mentor together for some time. He buys things to brew beers while I walk around looking lost and smelling the hops and exclaiming over the deliciousness. Recently I got to talking with one of the guys that works there and that's when I found out he was interested in coffee.

Immediately I knew we were going to be best friends and I would most likely be working there within 5 years, so I started talking to him about my favorite coffee in Cleveland - Rising Star Coffee. I told him about how helpful the owner, Kim Jenkins, was when I was first learning my pour over technique. He wrote it down and I was off on my merry way.

A few weeks ago we went back in and what do you know, Rising Star Coffee was coming to the Brew Mentor!! Best. Day. Ever. Not saying that I did that, but I may or may not have done that. You're welcome people of the Eastside :).

On that note, I have to introduce you to the new members of my family. I recently bought the book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, and I couldn't be happier. It's a great read and it's full of details surrounding every part of a cup of coffee - whether it be how the farmers treat their beans to how to execute the perfect pour over, french press, or espresso.

And it has plenty of pictures! As my 27 year old brother always says, "it's not worth reading if it's not full of pictures". They are good ones too. The kind that make you want to get up and take some of your own, or sigh loudly and wish you could pull a Mary Poppins and jump right in. I think that would be my second super power if I could have two. Number one is definitely the ability to morph into any animal. I could breathe underwater as a dolphin, run super fast like a cheetah, AND fly like and eagle. Why choose one when you can have it all? I know, best idea ever.

Anyways, if you are looking to seriously buff up your knowledge levels on coffee, I definitely recommend this book. Plus it has a bunch of fancy recipes at the end, all that either include coffee or would taste good with coffee (although what doesn't?)

Macaroons! The man who wrote this book has a wife that is the head pastry chef of his coffee shop. What a dreamy pair. I'm not sure if Mike and I's potential titles will be as whimsical...I would be the coffee shop owner and the resident baker, and Mike would be the head computer engineer? It will have to do.

And THIS is another new member of my family, my American Weigh Scale. It goes to a tenth of a gram, and up to 2000 grams - perfect for my pour overs...and my baking addiction.

Oh, and those are the coffees I got from The Brew Mentor. They had 4 roasts available, so I tried 2 new ones that I hadn't before. Panama and Nicaragua, delicious and yet still not beating my normal favorite - Eithiopian Yirgacheffe.

The scale makes my pour over SO much easier. Instead of having to weigh out each thing separately like I used to with my old non-digital scale, now I can simply tare it. Kinda like in chemistry lab when I was in college - you place something on the scale, pour something in to get the correct weight, and then press the tare button and it goes to 0. It's the little things :).

Need some really great cold brew? Head to Rising Star. They had this 32 fl oz glass bottle available for $25. And if you bring the bottle back to get refilled, it will be only $20 for the cold brew. I couldn't pass up a deal on cold brew :).

That's all for now! Happy brewing :).

Monday, December 9, 2013

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bread

So it's been awhile since my last post. Instead of listing reasons and excuses, I decided to just get right to making it up to you with a delicious recipe! Chocolate included, duh, because no begging of pardons is complete without a little chocolate :).

Coming off of Thanksgiving week, I still had lots of pumpkin sitting around, so that narrowed down my recipe options real quickly. Chocolate + pumpkin = pumpkin swirl bread! And, one thing led to another, and then this happened!

Dark chocolate for breakfast? Yes please.

I saw this recipe awhile ago on someone's blog, but I only took a picture of the actual recipe and I can't seem to find where it came from. If this is your recipe, please claim it!

Gather these things:

Dry

- 1/2 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 cup arrowroot flour (tapioca starch normally works as a cup for cup replacement, but I used arrowroot)

- 1T baking powder

- 2 T cocoa powder (I used hershey's cocoa powder)

- 1/4 t salt

- 4 packets of PureVia stevia (original recipe called for 1/2 cup of palm sugar/other granulated sugar, I don't love super sweet things so I passed on adding too much sugar)

- 1/4 cup chocolate chips of your choice (I chose super dark, 97.5%, dark chocolate)

Wet

- 5 large eggs

- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil, plus 1 teaspoon left separate and unmelted

- 2 T pure maple syrup

- 1 T lemon juice

- 2 T Trader Joe's unsweetened vanilla almond milk (any milk will do here)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Mix all ingredients together EXCEPT chocolate and 1 t of coconut oil. I like to mix all of my dry, and then add the wet ingredients to my dry.

- Put batter into a bread pan that has been sprayed (I used coconut oil spray).

- Put dark chocolate and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and melt them together, 30 seconds at a time to make sure they don't burn. You want the mixture liquid enough to pour onto batter.

- Pour chocolate on top of batter, then use a knife to swirl in whatever design you wish!

- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 - 45 minutes (until knife comes out clean).

- Let cool before cutting, eat!

All my ingredients, minus the chocolate, anxiously waiting to be in one big bowl together.

The dry...

...and the wet.

Here's the batter, chocolate bath is on it's way!

Here is the chocolate that I used - nice and dark - just how I like it.

Then pour your chocolate on top of the batter before putting it in the oven, in any which way.

And get your swirl on! Simply take your knife and drag it back and forth like you are trying to cut the batter.

Used up most of my creative juices making this design - good news is it's my day off and I don't have much else to do :).

The bread comes out fluffy and decadent, with just the slightest hint of sweetness, enough to make me feel like I'm eating dessert for breakfast. Add some peanut or almond butter for a satisfying breakfast, or even a pre-workout meal (probably best if eaten at least around 2 hours before, just so you can digest the nutrients fully).

I chose to cut my bread into 20 pieces...that way when I go back for seconds (ok maybe thirds) I don't feel so bad :).

Recipe name

Pumpkin Swirl Bread