Avocado & Cheese Pretzel Sandwich

I realize that you don't come here to see pictures of my half-eaten food. Sometimes, though, I don't realize how good something is going to be until I'm eating it! I just had to share this sandwich with you.

This lunch was a thrown together, need to eat at my desk type lunch. We have a local company that does fundraisers through selling subs & pretzel sandwiches. Bonus - they have an "all cheese" variety. Not everyone includes that on their sale sheets, but once in awhile it pops up.

It's really a splurge...$4 for a pretzel roll w/ some cheese on it. Especially since I peel off the American cheese & just eat the provolone. I don't always have time to make my own (although those are scrumptious & totally worth the extra effort, plus I know all the ingredients in them) so sometimes I spend the money. If you've never had a pretzel roll, you need to try one right away. They're sooooo good!

Today I spread the roll with yellow mustard, sliced up half an avocado, & used the provolone cheese. It's creamy (avocado), tangy (mustard), chewy (roll) & cheesy (provolone). Every bite made me think, "mmmmmm!"

On the side I had carrot sticks with homemade roasted red pepper hummus & a pear. Tasty, healthy, & delicious!  Sometimes the spur of the moment meals are the tastiest.

I think if I had pretzel rolls every day I wouldn't appreciate them nearly as much. They're a great treat for a heartier lunch. I hope you like them, too!

Avocado & Cheese Pretzel Sandwich

Serves 1

1 pretzel roll (you can buy these by the bag in most grocery stores)

2 T yellow mustard

1/2 an avocado, sliced

2 or 3 slices provolone cheese

Open the pretzel roll & spread mustard on one of the halves. Top with avocado slices & cheese. Put the roll back together & eat.

Enjoy!

Coconut Cornbread

A few weeks ago we went to the cabin with my parents & friends that are practically family. Laura, Andrew, Walter & I were in charge of lunch one day, so we planned chili & cornbread. I've been searching for a cornbread that's plain & simple, but still healthy, & I think I found it! It's a lot lighter than my Corny Cornbread, & similar in taste to the kind out of the Jiffy box, but with a hint of coconut.

Coconut Cornbread

Adapted from SummerHarms

Serves 16

1 c. white whole wheat flour

1/3 c. unbleached white flour
1 c. corn meal
2 T. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 T. honey
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
1/4 c. coconut milk or almond milk

1/2 c. sour cream
2 organic eggs

Preheat oven to 400*F. Lightly grease a 9"x9" pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Measure wet ingredients & add to dry mixture. Stir until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan & bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Laura made her not-even-a-little-bit spicy vegetarian chili & we got to see her onion goggles in action! It was like watching Inspector Gadget chop onions.

The temps got pretty low, so we were thankful to come back from our hike & enjoy such a warming lunch.

After lunch, we enjoyed a cozy afternoon in the cabin. I put on my slippers & stayed by the fire!

Mom tried to tempt me with a puzzle, but I was reading a good book. :-)

This chili & cornbread would be perfect to enjoy during the Super Bowl on Sunday! We'll be having baked beans & beer, like we did last year. I'm making it a tradition!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

One of my favorite traditions at Christmas is having a special, homemade treat for breakfast on Christmas morning. My mom would always bake on Christmas Eve & the house would smell delicious.

My favorite years were when she'd make sticky buns because I love the inside with all the gooey cinnamony goodness. As a kid, I'd pick out the raisins & walnuts, but now I love them.

It's not quite Christmas, but in anticipation, I baked this yummy bread for the Bup & I to eat this week. I found myself eating the outside & saving the soft inner swirl for last, just like with the sticky buns.

But I didn't pick out the raisins! I added extra instead!

This is a healthier alternative to sticky buns, so it's perfect for the everyday breakfast. We toasted it & spread apple butter & Cookie Butter (from Trader Joe's!) on it. Yum!

There's something so beautiful about a simple loaf of bread.

See the raisin peeking out of the end? I picked that out & ate it immediately. :-)

I have a few slices left to share, but better yet, make your own! It may seem like a lot of time, but you don't have to do much but wait. While it's rising you can sing some Christmas carols & do all the other final Christmas prep, like decorate the tree, put up your nativity scene, watch a fun movie, or finish wrapping presents.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Adapted from EatLiveRun
Yield: 1 loaf

Dough
1/2 cup warm milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 cup warm water
1 (1/4th oz) package yeast
2 tsp. + 1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp softened butter
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 2/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Filling
3 Tbsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. softened butter
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/3+ cup raisins (optional, but highly recommended!)

Pour milk & water into a small bowl (or measuring cup) & heat to about 100*F. If you stick your finger into the liquid, it should feel about the same temperature as your finger. Combine yeast & 2 tsp. sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer* & add the warm milk & water. Let sit for about 10 minutes or until foamy.

Once foamy, slowly add the flours, 1/3 cup sugar, butter, salt & cinnamon to the yeast mixture. Use a dough hook attachment & start to mix on slow. Mix on medium low for 4-6 minutes or until smooth & elastic.

Spray a large non-metal bowl with cooking spray & place dough ball in it. Cover dough with a cloth & let rise for 1.5 hours in a warm spot. If your house is chilly, briefly heat the oven to about 200*F, turn it off, & place the covered bowl in the warm oven to rise. Just make sure not to turn on the oven while it's inside!

For the filling, combine the softened butter with the cinnamon & sugar in a small bowl until smooth. Lightly spray a bread pan with cooking spray.

Once the dough is done rising, roll it out on the counter to form a long rectangle that is about as wide as your bread pan. Spread the filling mixture onto the dough. Sprinkle generously with raisins. Starting at one of the short ends, roll the dough tightly to form a log. Place in prepared bread pan & cover again. Let rise for about 1 hour, or until it doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from pan immediately & cool on a rack. Once cool, slice & enjoy! Store loaf in a plastic bag at room temperature for 4-6 days for freshest results. Bread can also be tightly wrapped & frozen for about 2 months.

*Alternatively, if you do not have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand. Stir the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, butter, salt & cinnamon into the yeast mixture. Turn dough out onto a floured surface & knead for about 8 minutes or until smooth. & elastic.

Apple Pumpkin Beer Bread

Fall is slowly winding down. Daylight savings has come & gone, so now it's dark in both the morning & evening. This makes me want to curl up on the couch with a blanket & a mug of hot tea every.single.night. Not good. Especially when things like meetings & life get in the way.

You're probably ready for me to let go of fall, since I've been talking about it for months now, but I'm trying to hang on a little big longer.

This bread, with its fall flavors of pumpkin, apple, & spices helped just a bit. It's sweet enough to be dessert, but healthy enough for breakfast. Or as a mid-day snack to tide me over until dinner.

Start by mixing up the dry stuff, complete with lots of warming spices! Depending on how spiced the pumpkin beer you use is, you may want to reduce or increase the spices. I used Post Road Pumpkin Ale, which is slightly spiced but not over the top.

Chop up the apples & stir together the wet ingredients. There will be leftover beer, but don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll find a good place for it. ;-)

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix away.

Then add the apple chunks, stirring just until they're combined. Don't over stir.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan. I put a baking sheet under my loaf pan while baking, just in case, and it did catch a few drippings of batter. I wanted a nice big loaf, so I didn't want to cut back on the ingredients, but I also didn't want to have to clean the oven!

 

Once it cools, you can slice it up & enjoy!

The chunks of apple cooked into little pockets of sweetness, complimenting the spiced bread. Each bite has all the fall flavors, kicked up a notch with the slight hint of beer. I hope you enjoy it!

Apple Pumpkin Beer Bread

Yield: 12 slices

2 1/2 c white whole wheat flour

1/4 c ground flax

1/4 c toasted wheat germ

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

pinch nutmeg

2 c chopped apples

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

1/2 c pumpkin puree

3/4 c agave nectar or maple syrup

3/4 c pumpkin beer

1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray a glass loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine white whole wheat flour, flax, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, mix together coconut oil, pumpkin, agave nectar, pumpkin beer and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until no dry ingredients remain. Add apples and stir just until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cook in pan 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.

Halloween & Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

I'm super into fall. I love everything about it, but I just don't get excited over Halloween like some people.

Sure, as a kid I loved getting lots of candy. I was super anal about it, too. I'd come home from trick or treating & dump my plastic pumpkin bucket out on the table. I separated out every candy into it's own pile & then counted them. Mom always wanted my Reese's cups, Dad liked the Snickers, & I liked M&M's. I would dole them out carefully, until I got to the candies I didn't like. Then I was very generous. "Here, Mom! You can have all of the Now&Laters!"

I remember leaving a Sugar Daddy on the dashboard of our truck one time. I've never been super into caramel, so it was taking me forever to eat it. When we stopped at a rest area, I set it there & when we got back into the truck it had melted down through the speaker holes. Oops...

Anyway, aside from the candy (which I don't get anymore anyway) I don't get excited about Halloween. I don't want to dress up or answer the door to strangers or decorate my house or go on scary hay rides or to haunted forests. I'd rather decorate for fall with autumn harvest things & make it last through Thanksgiving.

So instead of cool decorating ideas or spooky baked goods, I'm sharing with you a pumpkin recipe I found that I think you need to make. I'm celebrating fall by eating tons of pumpkin & squash.

OhSheGlows.com - Garlic Pumpkin Knots

Go make them. It'll take about 30 minutes of work & 2.5 hours of waiting, but it's totally worth it. You can always go plan your costume while you're waiting!

These rolls literally melt in your mouth. The dough is so light and airy. I even used white whole wheat flour for half of the flour & they were STILL airy! I did give them a second rise, once they were tied into knots. That was mostly because I was waiting for some super yummy Pumpkin Spice Bars to come out of the oven, but I would do it again. They really puffed up during that final 30 minute rest time.

These were perfect for eating on that bizarre snow day we had over the weekend!

I'll post my pictures from that soon (poor little garden!), but it just didn't seem right to post snow pictures on Halloween. This is fall, & I want to keep it that way!

Dinner for One + Roasted Curried Butternut Squash

When I'm eating alone, I get creative. It's probably a good thing that I rarely eat alone.

If left to my own devices, I'd be eating a lot of popcorn, apples, bananas, & carrots, with some chocolate dipped marshmallows thrown in for balance.

Yeah...

This meal, however, was a healthy mish-mash of foods. I'm really into orange lately. Maybe my beta carotene levels are down? Or maybe it's just fall & pumpkin season.

Don't forget the wine. When you're peeling & cubing 1 mini pumpkin & 2 small butternut squashes, you get thirsty.

See how my meal progressed? Toast with Dijon mustard, carrots, roasted yellow tomatoes + eggplant, & pumpkin seeds....

...turns into toast with Dijon mustard topped with roasted yellow tomatoes + eggplant, carrots, & roasted butternut squash.

It was completely worth the effort of preparing the squash. That stuff is like candy! I just can't stop eating it. It's melt in your mouth creamy & has just the right salty/sweet ratio.

Those pumpkin seeds sure did grow fast!

Roasted Curried Butternut Squash

Serves 2-4

1 large or 2 small butternut squash

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp cumin

Preheat oven to 400*F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Peel & remove pulp from butternut squash, saving seeds for roasting seperately. Cut squash into small cubes, about 1/2"-1" in size. Spread on prepared tray in an even layer with all cubes touching the tray. Sprinkle with sea salt, curry powder, & cumin. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir & bake another 15 minutes. Stir again, checking for burning. Squash can be eaten when it's soft (check by poking with a fork - if it goes in easily, squash is done). If you prefer your squash to be a little crispier on the outside (like I do), leave in oven for another 10-15 minutes. Serve warm. Leftovers can be refrigerated for about 4 days & reheated as needed.

Weekend Waterfalls

We went to the cabin for the weekend. It's becoming a recurring theme.

We stopped on the way up to hike the High Rock Trail at World's End State Park. The trail went straight up the mountain to the High Rock Vista & then straight back down again to this creek.

Because of the raging waters with all of the heavy rains & flooding, this wasn't a simple creek crossing. It was a raging mega-creek. We hiked upstream a little to find a narrower place to cross.

Then, despite all of our efforts to stay dry, it started to pour. We had originally planned to take a second loop that started where this loop ended, but decided to head to the cabin & get some lunch instead.

For Mommom's birthday, I offered to bake a cake. Unfortunately, she and Poppop had to cancel their trip up at the last minute, so she didn't get any. I'll have to make it again! I doubled the recipe for this Chocolate & Coconut Milk Cake since I like to have a layer cake for birthdays, but it would have been plenty of cake with just the single layer. No one was complaining about extra cake, though!

Mom & Dad gave me an early birthday present - a pillow top mattress cover! Our bed up at the cabin is pretty hard & the original mattress cover kept coming off. It was so nice so sleep on this instead!

We went for a few longer hikes on Saturday & Sunday to see more waterfalls & views.

I love being out in nature and seeing all the signs of life.

Butterflies

Leaves changing color

Deer running across the path

Blue skies with drifting clouds

Trees blowing in the wind

Birds flitting around

Chipmunks scurrying through the underbrush

There's something so calming and peaceful about it all.

The Bup has been whittling away at his hiking stick to make the perfect handle. A few more trips up and I think he'll have it done.

Here's the family in their hiking gear. Mom refuses to wear pants if it's over 40*F, but she'll wear gloves! We all had on orange for safety in case any hunters were out.

For breakfast - Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread. This was a kitchen flop from a few weeks ago, but this time it was a kitchen win! Yum!

The power of water! I think these waterfalls in the middle of the woods are far more beautiful than Niagra Falls.

Water is the driver of Nature.        - Leonardo da Vinci

Kitchen Flops

[Laddsburg Wine - pairs well with dessert!]

Something about this week of gorgeous weather followed by chilly rain makes me want to curl up with a big blanket. Anyone else?

Usually I have no trouble deciding what to make for dinner. I think about what we have, look at the many recipes I have marked to try, and choose from the list or decide to create something new. No such luck this week. Hence the lack of posts. Sorry!

 I have failed at a lot of recipes this week. Just so you don't think that everything I make comes out right, I thought I'd share some flops with you. This week was full of them!

Maybe the oven knows that I'm just not quite with it. Or else it needs a drink, too.

[sampler tray from Troegs]

I tried to bake this Easy Little Bread Recipe from 101Cookbooks.com. It rose beautifully and then sunk in the middle when I baked it. Still tasty, but really ugly. And when I packed a slice 3 days later to bring to work, it molded in the baggie even though the rest of the loaf was fine.

I tried to bake Pumpkin Protein Donuts from peasandthankyou.com. They looked done, sprang back when I touched them, and pulled away from the sides of the pan, but when we ate them, they were still gummy in the middle. Ick.

I made myself a Pumpkin Spiced Latte and it was so bad I had to pour it down the drain. I didn't want to bother with the blender, so it was chunky and the spices all sank to the bottom. I hate wasting food!

Last night I decided to be safe and made big salads and roasted broccoli. All was fine until I found a piece of apple core in my salad that should have gone into the compost bucket. Who knows, I probably put the actual apple chunk in the compost. I didn't want to fish it out, so I didn't check.

I'm beginning to question my kitchen skills.

I didn't try to make these Blueberry Lime Margaritas. Maybe I should have.

Let's hope that the Chocolate and Coconut Cake from The Little Red House I'm making tomorrow for my grandma's birthday turns out better!

Happy Birthday!!

October is a big birthday month, so here's to all of you!

McKensie

Grandma K.

Andy

Mommom

Alex

Bryttani

Dad K.

And everyone else out there with October birthdays!

What I Ate Wednesday

I'm joining the party this week!   For breakfast:

 
Zucchini Bread Oatmeal - I made this last night from a recipe on OhSheGlows.com. It didn't taste exactly like zucchini bread but it was similar and I love having veggies in my breakfast but not tasting them! (Kinda like a Green Smoothie!) I added a peach & a spoonful of pb.  
Plus a mug of Pomegranate White Tea from my favorites store, Trader Joe's! For lunch:  Massaged kale salad w/ EVOO, balsalmic vinegar, garlic powder & s&p, plus carrots & chickpeas. On the side, a slice of homemade cinnamon raisin bread topped with peanut butter. For snacks:  

 Pineapple in the morning and a peach in the afternoon! For dinner:

 Guacamole & Bruschetta (by Mckensie & Dan, our fabulous hosts!), Kale chips (we brought these), & Yuengling Lager (from Charis).  Thanks for hosting us! You made my What I Ate Wednesday post so much more interesting!