Relocated

It’s for real this time, I’ve moved to MollyCookie.com. I hope you guys enjoy the new design Brian made for me! See you there!

 

Healthy Attempt: Nutty Granola

Sometimes I get urges to improve myself. They happen interspersed between long periods of time that include lots of staying up late and letting laundry pile up. Often, when I get these urges, I make lists. Sometimes I list all of the ways I want to improve. The list often includes things like eating healthier, working out, waking up earlier, and making the bed every morning. More often than not those things don’t happen, but I do put them on the list and then I’ll sit for about an hour looking at the list and thinking about all the ways I could make those changes happen in my life if I wanted to. Writing and thinking… they almost seem productive.

But, there are times when something good comes out of my longing to improve, and this weekend that came in the form of granola. When I made my list this weekend of ways to improve, eating breakfast was on that list, which I thought is something I could actually enjoy doing something about. “What’s a healthy breakfast?” I thought to myself. I opened my computer, went to the Food Network website, clicked on the Healthy Eating tab, and right there on the page was a link to 4 of Ellie’s Power Breakfasts. I watched the recipes (I say watched, because now they have this weird thing on their website where you can’t read some of the recipes, you have to watch them) and decided on Ellie’s Nutty Granola. Now, I don’t know who Ellie is, but she seemed very nice and the granola looked easy and delicious, so I thought I would give it a try. Now… just in case some of you think I’m crazy for not knowing who Ellie is (which I very well may be, she could be extremely famous), I don’t have the Food Network, so I don’t watch it. Believe me, if I had it I’m sure it would be on all the time at my house, but since I don’t have it I just don’t watch it so I don’t know who the chefs are anymore really. When I lived with my parents I watched it all the time, so I know who Emril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Tyler Florence (my favorite… I think I have a little crush on him), Gale Gand, and all those few-years-ago big shots are. It’s just the new guys I have a hard time with.

Back to the granola. This really is NUTTY granola, but I love nuts so it worked out great. It also has a very distinct cinnamon flavor, which I also loved. As I browsed granola recipes after I made this one, I was surprised how many didn’t include cinnamon since I loved it so much in this recipe. Every morning now when I open my jar to pour some in a bowl the scent of cinnamon pours out, and I love it. I like my granola with a little bit of soy milk. It’s delicious. When we were on our honeymoon in Jamaica I had the best granola I’ve ever had in my life, and putting this granola over soy milk is the closest I’ve come to recreating that experience. It’s still not the same, but it’s close.

Ellie’s Nutty Granola
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup raisins (I made this once putting the raisins in before baking and they got overcooked and really chewy. The second time I made it I put the raisins in after baking, and it was much better)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread them out over a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until everything starts to get golden brown. Store in a jar or Tupperware container and serve 1/2 cup at a time over soy milk, regular milk, or yogurt. It will be more than enough for breakfast all week.

At least I took a step in the attempt to cross something off of my list to improve myself. I might be overdoing it, but I also took another step in crossing “working out” off of my list. I bought some new running shoes. Now the next step is to use them. I think the mere fact that they are green gives me a better chance of using them very soon. I like pretty things.

 

Roast Beef Sandwich with Cranberries

This… sandwich… is… amazing.

I found the recipe for this sandwich in the August Issue of Bon Appetit. It sounded good, but I put off making it for some crazy reason that I can’t remember now. I don’t know what to say about it except that it is absolutely delicious. If you like roast beef sandwiches you will love it. Ever since I had it earlier today I’ve been dreaming about tomorrow at lunch when I get to have another one.

The flavor combination is amazing. Dijon mustard, cranberry sauce, and red onions all top roast beef, and the toppings sort of melt together and I could have sworn I heard them singing from inside my mouth. The recipe in Bon Appetit calls for whole grain Dijon mustard, but I didn’t want to buy any since I already had regular Dijon mustard, and the sandwich was still amazing. I also added a slice of muenster cheese, which really added to the flavor and made it just a tad sweeter. I also used spring mix instead of watercress. I’ll go ahead and give you the version from Bon Appetit though, because I really don’t think you could go wrong with what they say to do.

Roast Beef Sandwiches with Whole Grain Mustard and Cranberries

Ingredients
1/4 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
6 ciabatta rolls or mini baguettes, split horizontally
6 1/4-inch-thick slices rare roast beef (from deli counter)
Fine sea salt
6 tablespoons canned whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 large bunch watercress, thick stems trimmed

Preparation

Mix mustard and mayonnaise in small bowl to blend. Spread mustard mixture over both cut sides of ciabatta rolls. Place 1 slice roast beef atop mustard mixture on bottom side of each roll; sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper. Top each with 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce, red onion slices, and watercress sprigs. Cover with roll tops and serve.

If you think this looks good, try it immediately. You will wonder why you didn’t try it sooner if you wait.

 

Weekend Contest: Coffee Story Exchange

I know I’m not the only person in the world who loves coffee. It’s pretty easy to see that coffee is cheating on me with millions of people who can’t get over how wonderful it is. Coffee can be many things, and to each person it is something different. For some it’s a quick pick-me-up in the morning. To others it is the perfect accompaniment to a good conversation with a friend. Some college students use it to help them study late into the night when they have finals the next day. It can also help save your life when you on a 16-hour drive home from spring break and your friend who is supposed to keep you awake falls asleep in the passenger seat. See… coffee is a good friend.

Before college I liked coffee a lot, but I think my love and appreciation for coffee developed during my first year at OU. My freshman year of college was great, but for some strange reason I signed up for a Chemistry lab that started at 7:30 in the morning. My very first college class that I attended was this Chemistry lab, dark and early at 7:30 am. I hated waking up so early for a class, but especially for a chemistry lab, one of the most boring labs I ever took. The worst part about Chemistry lab, aside from the stinky chemicals and long waiting periods for reactions to occur, is that there are no beverages allowed in the Chemistry lab. No beverages, meaning no coffee.

This was torture. For what seemed like 6 hours (but was probably only 1) I would sit through that class tired and grumpy, counting down the minutes until it was over and I could go to the library and get a cup of coffee. This was one of those classes that I distinctly remember my eyes closing without my permission a few times while I prayed that my lab partner was paying attention to how long our solution had been mixing. The class drug on, and when it was finally over, I would pick up my things and drag myself out of the Chemistry Building and walk about 75 yards into the library. I loved the library. I didn’t love it because of the quiet or the books, and I didn’t love it because of all the people sitting around listening to iPods and looking at laptops, although I really liked those things. What I loved most about the Library was what was underneath the library. From the main floor I would walk down some stairs until I was at the bottom of the building, and sitting comfortably in the library basement was a coffee shop. This wonderful little nook sold Starbucks coffee and banana nut muffins, and every day after Chemistry I would order a tall House Blend, add a little cream, heat up a banana nut muffin for 23 seconds, sit down, and enjoy what was the best ritual of my college career. There was something about the coffee made in the library basement that was better that year than any coffee I had ever had in my life. That coffee helped me survive my first year at OU. I don’t know if coffee will ever be as good as it was that year.

So, now that I’ve shared how I fell in love with coffee, I want to hear from you. Why do you like coffee (for those of you that do)? The best explanation will win 100,000 points and will be the first to go up on the score board. I like to have games and quizzes periodically and you can win points. Points don’t count for anything or have any real value, but it’s fun to win something every now and then anyway, right? Maybe someday I’ll cook a fancy meal for the person who has the most points or something. We’ll see! I can’t wait to hear some coffee stories form you!

 

A Magical Dessert: Disappearing Marshmallow Treats

There are two magical desserts that my mom used to make when we were growing up. One was magic muffins. Magic muffins are made from malt-o-meal, sweet and simply delightful. There’s nothing like a magic muffin and a cup of hot tea after dinner. Nothing, except for maybe the second magical dessert she would make. This second dessert was much more obviously magic because during the course of the baking the marshmallow that we had plainly wrapped inside would disappear! My mom would take them out of the oven and as they would cool I would think “There’s no way, it’s gotta be in there…”, but time and time again I would rip apart the flaky layers, getting frosting all over my tiny fingers, and reveal the inside of these tasty rolls to hold nothing but a sugary goo that made my tastebuds sing. The marshmallow, had in fact, disappeared.

 

Savory Yogurt Cheesecake with Caramelized Onions

About a year ago I bought the Cooking Light Complete Cookbook. It’s funny that they call it the “Complete Cookbook”, because I know the magazine still exists. I’m sure after a while they will come out with another edition (if they haven’t already), and this will be out of date. It does have some great recipes in it. The problem is, they want me to use ingredients that are fat-free or reduced fat, and that is the only thing that really makes them “light”. Most of the time what will happen is I’ll start to make a recipe and realize that I already have a lot of the ingredients in their more fattening form, so I use those ingredients instead of what they want me to use…so they probably aren’t that light anymore. It’s alright though, because they are good, and if I ever want to make a low-fat pasta or cookie I have the recipe to do it. I just more often than not don’t.

 

Two years together and the Melting Pot

Last night Brian and I went out to celebrate two years of being together. I really wanted us to do something romantic, and I realized after thinking about it for a while that I didn’t really know what Brian’s idea of a romantic evening was. We have had, in my opinion, plenty of fun and romantic evenings, but I realized when I thought about this date that I didn’t really know if our ideas of romance were the same. When I think of a romantic evening, things like dancing, wine, and video games come to mind. I think that’s because when we started dating we played lots of guitar hero. I thought those nights were really fun, and for me that was romance… in it’s own way. We fell in love while playing guitar hero and drinking wine during the first few months of dating. It’s amazing to me that we’ve only been together for two years, because so much has happened. We feel in love really quickly, got engaged after dating for 7 months, and have already been married for 9 months. Fast right? It’s been really amazing. As you can see, I was very happy to be going on our date:

 

Successful Party Dessert- Lemon and white chocolate mousse parfaits with strawberries

As Molly thought about what dessert she was going to serve at her party Friday night, she thought about all the different ingredients she had that might spark some creativity. She found whipping cream, a white chocolate bar, and a lemon. Flipping through her April issue of Bon Appetit she found a recipe for Lemon and White Chocolate Mousse Parfaits. “What a great idea!” She thought. “If only I some nice cups I could put this fancy dessert in.”

As she spun around in her kitchen she gasped when she saw the solution to her dilema, “Look at all these empty glasses!” She exclaimed. “Now I can make this wonderful dessert!”

 

Bon Appetit Day! September Issue

Today I got my Bon Appetit Magazine in the mail! This is one of the best moments of every month, when I look through the magazine to see what wonderful concoctions the writers at Bon Appetit have come up with for me to try. I can honestly say that there has never been a recipe that I’ve made from this magazine that I haven’t liked. It’s wonderful, and I love how it pushes me to try new cooking methods and techniques. I’ve learned a ton about cooking simply by making some of the recipes that they publish. It’s a great magazine.

Every month I will look through the magazine and share what I think the best looking recipes are. I try to make at least one thing from the latest Bon Appetit every month, so I’ll give you a preview of what might be to come over the next few weeks. The issue I received today was the September Issue, and after first glace, it looks like a good one. For those of you that read it… go ahead and follow along.

 

Family Movie Night: Five Popcorn Seasoning Recipes

One of my favorite things to do is watch movies. I think many of us can agree, movie nights at home are one of the best things in life. Growing up I think I watched Princess Bride about 700 times. Every Friday night my family would watch a movie, and I think my sister and I picked Princess Bride almost every single time, until she got really into Grease and we traded off between the two. But, the Princess Bride always has been and always will be my favorite movie of all time. What other movie has it all? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge… you get the point.

Along with movie night came great movie treats. I remember when my mom got an air popper, and suddenly we could control the amount of butter and salt that we put on our popcorn! I remember my mom always wanting to limit the amount of butter, so once we started wanting to pour it she would melt less and less in the cup so we wouldn’t drench the popcorn in buttery goodness.