Breakfast. Growing up, this was my favorite meal of the day. Grandma making thin pancakes with jam, honey or syrup. Savory crepes with sour cream and lox. Cereal with berries. Omelets or over easy eggs.   That first meal in the morning really set the tone for how I felt throughout the rest of the day. At some point between high school and now, all of that went away. Mornings became hurried and hectic; and there was no time to do anything more then make a quick cup of tea and run out of the door to start the work day.

I’ll be first to admit that juicing may not be for everyone. No, I’m not referring to the use of steroids, you fool. I’m talking about taking whole vegetables and fruits and throwing them in a machine that grinds them up, leaving you with the pulp at one end and just the juice at the other. Deb and I started juicing about seven or eight years ago, and we’d sort of just stopped or forgot about it for the past three. We decided to pick the habit back up again for several reasons. For one, that caffeine-free jolt of energy we used to get from juicing was gone, and we wanted that back again. More importantly, though, was that I noticed that when I was juicing years ago, I never got a cold. I mean never. Then, in the past few years, I just kept getting damned colds all fall and winter long, and I was sick of it. “Gee, I used to never get sick years ago. What happened?” I thought. “Oh yeah, I used to juice and now I don’t.” Time to break out the Juiceman again.

For years Deb and I have used what I thought to be one hell of a great juicer, the Juiceman. And it was great, for the many years we used it. Then, as we started once again to use it daily this year, it pretty much died on me. I threw one too many carrots in the thing, and the whole thing kicked like a wild bronco, threw the juice and pulp container everywhere — even to the ceiling — and smelled a bit like something inside was burning. Not good. It was obvious the little champ had outlived its lifespan and it was time to kick things up a notch.

After a little research — mostly based on reviews on Amazon.com product pages — I decided to give the highly-rated and reasonably-priced Breville juicer a go. Initially I was looking into the possibility of getting a masticating juicer rather than a centrifugal juicer like the Juiceman. This was because I really like to throw a lot of dark, leafy greens into the machine, and a masticating juicer reportedly works better with that sort of thing. Rather than using a fast-spinning grater to tear the leaves apart for juice, leaving perhaps too much waste in the end, a masticating machine takes out a whole lot more juice out of even barley grass that you put into it. The biggest drawback, though, is that you have to cut up your material so small that it’s quite a pain to use regularly. If you want to throw full carrots and apples into a machine in one go, you need a centrifugal machine.

The first thing I’ll say about the Breville is it’s a work of art. As soon as I took it out of its box, I could tell this baby was going to last us a lifetime. It feels solidly built and couldn’t be simpler to assemble. In fact, it has one fewer piece than the Juiceman, and there are really no areas at all where unseen juice might seep into or hide from even a vigorous dishwasher. The grating basket even has one additional feature my Juiceman didn’t have, with dual blades at the center to give your veggies a good initial dicing before letting the graters do their job.

After a thorough washing of all the parts, I couldn’t wait to give this thing a try. Turning it on for the first time was sweet music. The 700W motor kicked in and was practically singing a song of “FEED ME,” begging for me to toss in even the heaviest vegetables and fruits. Unlike the Juiceman, the feeding tube on the Breville is huge. Seriously, you can fit a whole apple into the tube without needing to cut it, and, of course, I did. The machine barely made a wimper as it annihilated the entire apple in about a second, and the provided juice container quickly showed the glorious results. The Breville would have laughed at me if it could, as I tossed in carrot after carrot that disappeared into orange fibers and liquid as quickly as if I’d have fed it to a famished horse. Whereas the entire juice would have taken me five minutes to complete with the Juiceman, the Breville completed the task on one.

The dream didn’t end there. Cleanup couldn’t be easier. As I said, there are very few if any crevices in the pieces of the machine, so you can practically rinse the pieces out without much scrubbing if any at all. The metal basket certainly needs cleaning, and there’s even a provided brush to make that task all the easier and safer for you. Everything is kept so separate from the main base unit that it’s kept squeaky clean after every use, nary a drop ever having touched it. Also, of course, all of the pieces — save the motor unit — are dishwasher safe.

Now, some who herald the benefits of a masticating juicer may have a point in that it makes far less waste than a centrifugal unit, though, admittedly, I have no experience with one to know for certain. However, if you’re one to composte your veggie and fruit discards all the time as we do, it’s pretty difficult to feel at all guilty about any sort of waste going on. That stuff is going to make composte that your gardens and plants will love, which gets you better plants that take less to take care of from commercial products. It’s all a win-win.

Alright, so not such a “quick” review, but I think you see now that I’m giving the Breville Juice Fountain high praise here and give it the CliqueClack seal of approval. Let us know if you want us to highlight more of the benefits we’ve seen from juicing here on CliqueClack Food, and we’ll make a point of it!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIuhThWzlkk

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Paula Deen told Today that she doesn’t plan on changing the way she does her show just because she has Type 2 diabetes, and I for one applaud that.

I don’t watch any of Deen’s shows to find out how I can lose weight and look like a Men’s Health cover model. I tune in to see how she cooks rich foods. I could stand to lose a few pounds and I take high blood pressure medication, but eating some of what Paula Deen cooks on her TV shows isn’t going to harm me unless I eat them all of the time.

Did Deen preach “moderation” like she’s been saying in recent interviews? I don’t know. I didn’t watch her show that closely and I’m not going to do a Lexis-Nexus search for the keywords “Paula Deen” and “moderation.” But I am sure she didn’t say “eat this stuff for every single day of your life.” I think that television creates this illusion of steadiness and consistency that really doesn’t exist. Meaning, because Deen is on our televisions every single day that means that she eats this stuff every single day and she’s hoping we do too. But if she had a monthly show or quarterly specials we probably wouldn’t say that she’s “pushing” this lifestyle and this type of diet.

I can’t say that the food that Deen cooks on the show didn’t contribute to her diabetes, but no one can honestly say that she ate the stuff morning, noon, and night and that’s why she’s overweight and that’s why she has diabetes, no doubt whatsoever. Diabetes is a complex thing, and heredity and a sedentary lifestyle contribute to it just as much as being overweight (good thing Wikipedia is back so I can look this stuff up!). I know three people with Type 2 diabetes, and all three of them are skinnier and in better shape than I am. I know about a dozen really, really fat people, and none of them have diabetes and their blood pressure is fine. Anecdotal evidence? Maybe. But like I said, diabetes is a complex thing.

Anthony Bourdain has been on Deen’s case way before her diabetes reveal, calling her “the most dangerous woman in America” because of the way she cooks. I could name 37 females on reality TV that are more dangerous, but that’s beside the point. A lot has been made of the infamous episode where Deen put a burger between two glazed doughnuts. Yes, she was saying that you should eat this every single day. People are so stupid.

I contend that if you hate the way that Paula Deen cooks, in a way you hate America.

Being preached a healthy life style from someone who goes around the world eating warthog rectums and sheep testicles is something I never thought I’d experience. Bourdain is making a cottage industry out of insulting other people who cook stuff he doesn’t approve of. First Rachael Ray, then Sandra Lee, now Deen (he insulted Emeril Lagasse and Guy Fieri somewhere along the way too, so you can’t say he’s a sexist). I’d rather eat at the home of either Lee or Deen than Bourdain’s home (though he’s a better writer than either of them). As the old saying goes, diabetes is better for you than sheep testicles.

I mean, does the guy even cook anymore?

If Paula Deen wants to use the word moderation more and tweak her show a little bit to make things healthier, that’s great. If her sons want to come out with cookbooks that preach a healthy lifestyle, that’s great too. If she wants to take a diabetes medication and exercise more, no one’s going to say that’s a bad thing. But to say that she’s a hypocrite or scheming if she continues to make high-fat meals on her show and at the same time push a diabetes drug just doesn’t make any sense. And the fact that she waited three years to reveal it to her fans doesn’t bother me a bit. A lot of people have secrets in their lives that they hold on to tightly because they’re not ready to reveal it, for personal and yes (gasp!) professional reasons. I don’t know if she didn’t tell anyone because it would somehow interfere with her career, but even if she did, so what? It would be weird if she didn’t keep it secret, wouldn’t it?

Should an alcoholic be barred from being a bartender? Maybe for his personal physical and mental health, but just because an alcoholic is a bartender doesn’t mean he’s preaching alcoholism or even potential alcoholism to the customers who come into the bar. That’s up to them (and this is where people accuse me of comparing alcoholism with diabetes, which both misses and confuses the point all at the same time — congratulations!).

Every single cook on television, from Julia Child to Graham Kerr to Guy Fieri, has cooked food that one could call “unhealthy.” But I contend that they’re aren’t any “unhealthy” foods if you don’t eat them all the time.

Except warthog rectums. That stuff will kill you.

Sole, I’ve decided, is a very forgiving fish to cook with. Though I would likely heed warnings that it might not be the best thing to grill, it’s certainly pliable. Because of its pliability, I decided I wanted to attempt rolling it with some sort of stuffing and baking it.

The first recipe I found was one that called for stuffing the sole with crab meat, from Epicurious. At first this sounded really, really good, but then I ran into a couple of issues. Firstly, we didn’t have any crab meat in the house which, OK, could have been easily remedied by a trip to the grocery store. Secondly, though: the reviews weren’t all that comforting. Many said the crab was just OK or needed some “spiking” to get to be tasty enough with the sole. Then there was the breadcrumbs with the stuffing … I just wasn’t feeling it.

Then I found the recipe noted here: Sole wrapped around asparagus, topped with a beurre blanc sauce. It sounded easy; it sounded delicious; and it looked awesome.

Putting it all together was just as easy as it sounded from the recipe, and though the fish was skinless, it rolled easily around the asparagus without breaking apart. The beurre blanc was also incredibly simple, and was made even easier by the fact that it can be be quickly done during or anytime after the fish is finished cooking.

As you can see from the photo I took above, it really is a beautiful dish. The tangerine juice added to the beurre blanc appears to be more for a colorful accent to the sauce rather than for taste. Sure, it’s flavorful enough, but not as much as I’d have expected. During the steps for making the sauce, it instructs one to add the pan juices from the cooked fish to the beurre blanc; I’m not sure what this added, if anything, so it could likely be skipped.

The rest of the recipe’s instructions were spot on. The fish and asparagus were cooked to perfection. If I had to change anything, I’d look for a way to give the sauce a bit more of a kick in some way, as the most flavorful part of the dish was the asparagus — that just doesn’t seem right.

While not the most flavorful of dishes, I can’t say I won’t ever try this one again. It’s beautiful to look at, but it’s not necessarily what I’d call company food. So why would you bother with it again if only you are enjoying how it looks more than how it tastes? To post photos for everyone to admire, of course.

By now, if you’ve been reading CliqueClack Food for any length of time, you’ve probably figured out that in the McDuffee household, we eat slightly … how shall we say … off center. No refined sugars, no wheat, no cow dairy — that can put a damper on desserts. Somehow we do just fine, as evidenced in the above picture of a gorgeous coconut milk flan that has become one of our favorite go-tos.

We use this recipe for coconut milk flan from a blog with an awesome name: Spilt Wine and Sticky Rice. Actually, it’s mostly awesome, but the part about the wine being spilt is a little bit sad.

Regardless, this recipe is wonderful in its simple perfection. Perfect except for one little thing — the refined sugar. We went out on a limb and tried the recipe using the amazing coconut palm sugar that has completely changed desserts for us. Imagine, a truly unrefined sugar that won’t wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels, that’s full of nutrients and tastes great. Palm sugar is it and leaves Sucanat in the dust. My nutritional kinesthiologist says so, and that’s all you really have to know about it.

The caramel comes out so thick and syrupy, it’s almost as if you used molasses, yet the taste isn’t quite so overpowering. We’ve actually made this recipe with evaporated cane juice in the past (shhh … don’t tell), thinking that it wouldn’t work with palm sugar, and we were wrong: it is infinitely better with palm sugar.

I just ate the last one … no more leftovers. The sun somehow shines not quite as brightly today.

As the numbers on the thermometer rise (high today in my part of the F-L-A is 85 degrees!) and thoughts turn to lighter, healthier (and cooler) eating, I’ve been searching out new culinary pals to liven up my spring and summer meals. Right off the bat, I made a fast food friend: farro.

A whole grain that’s loaded with protein, farro looks like a cousin to brown rice but has more of a chewy, slightly creamy bite. It also packs a nutrition punch, containing fiber, magnesium and vitamins A, B, C and E.

What’s not to love?

Well, my experience trying to actually find this great grain was not terribly easy. I understand it’s available at establishments like Whole Foods, but if you are like me and this culinary Mecca isn’t anywhere close to you, places like Amazon.com can come to the rescue. That’s the route I took and now my pantry is locked and loaded with farro for my dining and experimenting pleasure.

This recipe, adapted from one on epicurious.com, is a terrific place to start getting acquainted with farro. Easy and quick, it’s delicious as is but also lends itself nicely to substitutions to suit personal preferences. It’s one I’m going to enjoy (tonight, actually) and all through the hot season.

Chicken Farro Salad

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup semi-pearled farro
• 12 ounces green beans, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 cups yellow corn kernels (if fresh, cut from 2 to 3 ears of corn)
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Cut chicken into even bite-sized pieces. Toss with lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Mix so that chicken is covered with marinade. Let sit in fridge for at least an hour.

Cook farro in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain; cool.

Meanwhile, heat heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and marinade to skillet; saute until golden brown and cooked through.

Cook green beans in large saucepan of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water to cool; drain. Transfer beans to kitchen towel; pat dry.

Mix farro, chicken, and green beans in large bowl; add corn and green onions.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons oil, marjoram, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt in small bowl. Press with back of spoon to release flavor. Whisk in vinegar, shallot, and mustard. Pour over salad in bowl; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

DO AHEAD: Salad can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Divide chilled or room-temperature salad among plates. Sprinkle with goat cheese. Enjoy!

I love Twitter, because you never know what news you’ll learn, or what celebrity is having a meltdown, or how many people should go to bed instead of being on Twitter. Or, in the case of Nathan Fillion, a sweet vegetarian bean dip recipe.

For you food pleasure, I have gone through his string of tweets and recreated the recipe below:

• Layer 1: Large can of fat-free vegetarian refried beans.

• Layer 2: Mix taco seasoning into low fat sour cream and spread over beans.

• Layer 3: 4 large diced tomatoes (use your judgment for adequate coverage).

• Layer 4: Guacamole. (I use avocados mixed with Herdez mild salsa). Tomatoes will anchor the sour cream layer.

• Layer 5: 1 cute little can of diced green chilies. Suggest wee flinging through fingers for even spreaddage.

I’m not a giant pepper fan, so I just used a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, so this is part of my tomato layer.

• Layer 6: 1 cute little can of black olives. Same technique for spreaddage.

I made this for a family dinner, and my sister hates olives, do I only did half.

• Layer 7: shredded Mexican cheese mix. Or to taste. I use a whole bag.

This is a pretty straightforward 7-layer dip recipe, so just grab a casserole dish and start layering. Fillion does, however, offer a few tips: “[Use] a strong chip like Mission Rounds. Dip is thick- will destroy lesser chips. Maybe stock up on Beano, too.”

He also tweeted that he wants pictures and to hear how it goes, and now I can officially report back that it was a major hit. I usually hate refried beans, but this went really well. Plus, I made my own taco seasoning which gave it an extra kick.

With the Super Bowl coming up, it’s a great vegetarian option for any parties you may be hosting or attending. Plus, Nathan Fillion is hot and charming, and that’s bound to rub off on you, right? I’m pretty sure that’s how that works.

Just like last year, Keith and I celebrated New Year’s Eve at around 7:00, with a fancy dining room table meal with the now 6-year-old. We decided to fancy up last year’s rack of lamb (the pre-seasoned Trader Joe’s version) and make this recipe for roast lamb with lamb sausage crust and grape pan sauce from Epicurious instead.

Words cannot describe how worth it making this recipe was. It was a lot more work than Trader Joe’s, but every bite was heaven. Although I kept thinking that this meal probably would have killed Kona. …

We served the lamb and sauce with rice cooker drunken risotto and haricots verts with fresh sage and pancetta (which admittedly were leftovers that Bob made for our Christmas celebration the night before).

For dessert we tried La Tartine Gourmande’s baked lime custards with raspberries. The flavor combination of lime, ginger, coconut milk and raspberries is so perfect and the texture so light that I didn’t even mourn the fact that my dessert wasn’t chocolate. This will be the next dessert we serve for guests.

You may be out partying, but I’m about to go to the fridge for a second lime custard. I wouldn’t trade places with you for all of the champagne in the world. Although if you offered me lime custard, I might be in a bit of a quandary.

My dad took me out to lunch a few weeks ago, which was awesome because he paid, but also because I had an amazing polenta dish. It was a creamy polenta with mixed wild mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and balsamic vinegar. I could tell that there were only a few ingredients involved, so as soon as I took my first bite, I vowed to recreate it at home.

This also dovetails nicely with my goal of cooking more and finding a larger variety of foods for my toddler to reject (or eat! Which would be awesome!), and I thought polenta may be something he would actually dig. Polenta is also something that I’ve used a few times, but have been wanting to try to incorporate into more dishes. As a vegetarian, it’s really easy to fall into a pasta rut, especially when you’re trying to find something a meat eater will enjoy as well, so polenta seems like a nice alternative.

From what I understand, making polenta is pretty easy, but this was a new recipe as it was, and I was looking for something with very little prep time and dishes. That’s where my tube o’ polenta came in handy. Instead of a creamy polenta dish, I decided that polenta cakes were the way to go.

Polenta Mushroom Cakes

• One tube of original flavor polenta
• 8 0z. package of sliced mushrooms (a mix is good, but I just used baby bellas)
• 4 oz. sliced mozzarella
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• splash of red wine (optional)

Dice the garlic and heat up the olive oil in a saute pan. Add garlic, mushrooms and a splash of red wine if you’re feeling adventurous. Saute ingredients over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft and most of the liquid has cooked down.

While the mushrooms are cooking, slice the polenta tube into rounds. Fry the polenta over medium to medium-high heat, using olive oil or cooking spray. Cook for approximately three minutes on each side.

Place polenta circles on a cookie sheet and cover with the mushroom mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese and put under the broiler for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove, drizzle on some balsamic and enjoy!

When a chill in the air rears its ugly head, I crave soup. I’m not a big fan of winter, but I adore the fall and I’ll tell you that by the end of summer, I’m getting a little sick of grilled meals … I long for the comfort foods that sustain me through the cold months here in New England.

You knew Heidi Swanson was going to show up on this list sooner or later, so we might as well get it out of the way with her dried fava bean soup with mint and guajillo chiles. Wow, does this sound unique and hearty and interesting and complex. I’m anxious to try this one.

The opposite of that gorgeous, complex soup above has got to be this gluten-free black bean soup with chorizo. I’m not one to criticize a soup with only five ingredients (anyone smell a lie?), but I just can’t imagine this time-saver is worth my time … though there is that argument that almost anything with chorizo in it is worth eating. What do you think?

Now that I’ve got chorizo on the brain, this sweet potato chorizo soup recipe may be just thing to make me forget about that bizarre recipe above.

Lately, when I think of soup, I admit that my egomaniacal self thinks of my very own minestrone my way. We all love this soup so much in my house that it’s one I make often, and thanks to the glut of veggies from our farm this summer, we’ve got some frozen for those lazy winter days too.

Molly makes her rustic cabbage and white bean soup in a pressure cooker, a tool I lately reserve for cooking corn on the cob. Really, when I used to make complex stews in it, I’m not sure how it got relegated to corn status … maybe it’s time I give this soup a try because I love just about anything with cabbage in it.

Cate says she makes the best vegetable soup you’ll ever have — could she possibly be right? Her recipe is very similar to me minestrone recipe, but I like the way she leaves it open to trying different vegetables in the recipe, and I love the way she includes cabbage — brilliant.

Before my minestrone my way, there was easy lentil and vegetable soup, my go-to recipe. Now I have to go back and forth between the two and it’s always such a hard decision to choose which one to make. This one’s got corn, a big it with the kid….

Cate makes some serious soups and her pasta e fagioli, though she says it’s very nontraditional, is no exception. Pasta, beans and veggies? Yes, please!

This easy vindaloo squash soup has very few ingredients. It’s basically an acorn squash soup highlighted with some vindaloo spices to make it different. Love it!

Bob has made Tyler Florence’s clam chowder several times, and I’ve been the recipient of a bowl or two. He mixes it up a bit my using sweet potatoes and white potatoes, but this is a really great recipe.

How interesting does apple mulligatawny soup with chicken sound? Apples, winter squash, curry, coconut, fresh ginger … I’m all over this, and the fact that I have every ingredient for this soup in my house right now if both exciting and scary at the same time. You totally want to be here when a natural or man-made disaster strikes. We could eat for years.

Something about this very simple broccoli soup appeals to me. I’d definitely use plain yogurt instead of heavy cream, and I’d probably leave out the flour. But I’ve been craving broccoli (not a vegetable we got a lot of from our CSA farm this summer) and this just sounded so perfectly lovely to me.

I give the credit to Keith for this one, because I would have just done takeout after this busy week. But seeing as he was willing to make this ribeye steak with sauteed grape tomatoes and brie, the least I could do was something beside steamed green beans.

After blanching the green beans, I sauteed them with garlic, sliced scallions, chopped Roma tomatoes and chopped Kalamata olives. When done, I sprinkled with a bit of fresh parley and some freshly grated pecorino romano cheese.

We rounded out the meal with half a butternut squash, simply baked at 400 degrees until tender, with a bit of olive oil.

Simple, but with just a few special touches to make our meal feel more like a weekend feast than a weeknight necessity eat.

I’m definitely not into the vegan thing. Eggs are a gift from the food gods not to be squandered. But I will say those feisty vegan bakers and their recipes saved me when my kid was allergic to eggs in the first three years of his life. in fact, almost any recipe by Isa was a big hit in our house with anyone … not just the eggless. And I have a really mean extended family who’s not afraid to tell me when my cooking sucks.

One of our favorites is Isa’a chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have a cousin who has specifically requested these cookies, so that’s very telling. For years, it was revered and I wouldn’t mess with it even a little bit (I’m such a liar … I never use canola oil, so I’d use butter, rice bran oil, or coconut oil). Lately, though, I’ve started messing for a couple of reasons.

I’m sort of off chocolate, in theory. I’ll eat a chocolate dessert now and then, but I’m proud to say I no longer hoarf down a handful of chocolate chips every time I pass the pantry closet. Yeah, I’m prouder than the mom of a round-headed newborn.

I really don’t like the kid to have too much chocolate either since caffeine and the under-6 crowd of bad sleepers really don’t mix. We’ll try anything, even tricking him.

And now we’re back at the messing. A couple of weeks ago, I made Isa’s recipe with half cocoa powder and half carob powder. No one could tell, so I started getting crazy. I added, substituted and made the recipe mine, all mine. And in my house, anyway, we think it’s better.

It’s healthier, super-delicious but still “normal.” I held myself back from adding pureed spinach, but used the most nutritious unrefined sugar I could find, used coconut milk instead of soy milk and some of the oil and this and that until it fit my specs for healthy. Try it and see what you think.

Carob Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut and Cranberries

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice bran oil + 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups palm sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups whole spelt flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened carob powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup fruit-sweetened dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Grind the flax seeds in a blender until they become a powder, then add the 1/2 cup of coconut milk and blend more, until the mixture thickens a bit and gets gooey.

Meanwhile, mix flour, carob powder, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl.

Using a mixer (yes, Isa, I’m willing to lose the punk points), cream together the oil + coconut milk and the palm sugar, then add the flax mixture and vanilla and keep on mixing until mixture is almost fluffy.

Slowly add the dry ingredients while mixer is set to low speed. Blend well then stir in chocolate chips, cranberries and coconut.

Plop onto greased cookie sheets and make semi-pretty circles almost 2 inches around, slightly flattened in the middle. These do rise and expand, so leave at least an inch between cookies.

Bake for 10 minutes, let cool for 10 minutes on the pan and then cool the rest of the way on wire racks.

Cooper just turned two, so it stands to reason that he’s obsessed with Elmo. Elmo, after all, is the Muppet equivalent of Cheerios, AKA “baby crack.” There’s something primal about babies’ love for both of these things that I simply do not understand (although I do think that Elmo’s World is a perfect example of absurdist humor, but that’s a different post for a different time). So when it was time to figure out Cooper’s birthday cake, Elmo immediately came to mind.

This was going to be for the big party; the one to which we invited all of the kids from his daycare, so naturally I wanted to do something special. I decorated my first cake for his birthday last year, and was quite happy with the way it turned out. However, I’m certainly not an artist, so I needed to find something that was basically “cake decorating for dummies.”

I searched online and came across this design for Elmo cupcakes on amazingmoms.com. Amazing mom? That’s what I want to be! It seemed pretty simple: red frosting, white Necco wafers, black icing, and orange gumdrops. They say to use a licorice strand for the mouth, but I decided to just use the black decorator icing that I was already using for the eyes. Plus, I couldn’t find orange gumdrops that weren’t gigantic, so I used orange jelly beans instead. The recipe does mention using gel food coloring in order to get a true red, so I made sure to get some.

Unfortunately, that’s where the train went off the track. My friend Elizabeth came over to help me out, as she knows that I tend to melt down when faced with artistic baking endeavors. In addition to some wine (a key ingredient when trying anything new), she brought over some decorating bags, tips, and some Wilton food coloring gel. Here’s the thing though: that business did not turn red. Instead, the icing turned a crazy Barbie hot pink. We added more and it just became darker pink. We added blue, and it just turned a lovely shade of mauve. WE CAN’T HAVE MAUVE ELMOS!

After spending close to an hour playing food-coloring alchemists, I made a last minute late-night run to the grocery store. I returned with red decorating icing– the kind that comes in a can and has a few different decorating tips. It looked kind of gross, but it was 11:00 and I was desperate. The plus side: It was red. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 11 cupcakes out of it.

The end result, at nearly 1 AM and after several glasses of wine between the two of us, was 11 red Elmos, 1 sad mauve Elmo, and two dozen lame mauve cupcakes. Some would call this a failure, but the next morning, when Cooper was sitting on my lap as I loaded the photos onto my computer, he saw the pictures and squealed, “Elmo!” And that, my friends, is a big win.

When in graduate school a couple years ago, I spent most of my paid time crushing undergraduate dreams and my free time cooking\baking everything from fried twinkies to fresh eclairs to homemade pizzas. Upon returning to the real world and discovering that outside the hallowed halls of academia — with working almost 9-10 hours a day, sleeping for barely 8, and spending 3 getting ready for work, contemplating exercising, and not finishing the dissertation, allotting my remaining three hours of free time to daily cooking did not seem wise. However, since returning to the East Coast, I finally decided to return to the world of human food consumption. Surprisingly, my local Chinatown helped. Why?

Three reasons:

Reason 1: Fresh, cheap produce. For $4.92 two weeks ago, I purchased cilantro, bok choy, spinach, tomatoes, and scallions.

Reason 2: This relates to reason 1. You can easily use the fresh vegetables to spice up a pre-made dish. I tend to purchase Udon noodle packages for a buck from the grocery store. In the morning, I chop enough vegetables for a small Tupperware container. When I arrive at work, I combine the udon and vegetables together in the same bowl, microwave them with water for about two-three minutes, and then add the broth’s seasoning package. If I have extra time, I’ll add chili sauce, lemon juice, cilantro, minced garlic, and/or scallions to create a flavorful broth. You can use ramen noodles. However, Udon noodles only contain 1-3 grams of fat per serving and typically cost only $1-1.72. If you want to feel uber-healthy, certain companies make buckwheat noodles, but those are typically dried and do not come with seasoning. If I’m in a fancy mood I’ll add a store bought package of Pad Thai to the vegetables and serve inside a porcelain bowl.

Reason 3: Food whimsy, experimentation, and remembrance. During my pre-adolescent summer years, my mother typically purchased a dozen seasoned pre-cooked crabs from the local seafood market. Upon discovering Chinatown distributors actually sold bushels of live crabs, I purchased 6 for $3.50. Admittedly, upon returning home and watching their snappish sauciness, I felt guilty using them for consumptive purposes. But, since I had had two different conversations with acquaintances from different perspectives (one, a vegetarian and another, a carnivore) who both believed carnivores should experience um, ‘preparing’ their own food at least once in their lives, I bucked up and contemplated the most humane possibility. After placing them in the refrigerator for half an hour and then in the freezer for another hour (or two) to instate dormancy, I slowly dropped them in (while trying to avoid analogizing myself with Jack the Ripper). With the deed done, but the guilt remaining, I tried to re-invoke my childhood by serving them with a seafood spice packet (received free from a local grocery store).

So, if you haven’t had time yet, do explore the ethnic food markets in your area. I not only found apple soda for my friend’s wife, but actually tried dried sweet potato as another dried fruit alternative. Even if your store’s pricing does not mimic the Chinatown in my area, they can offer a bit of whimsy, experimentation, and remembrance.

There’s a great article in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Scott Peacock and Kim Severson discuss the return to the kitchen movement, that all across America home chefs are embracing their kitchen time and using fresh, wholesome ingredients that taste good and are good for you. And they’re enjoying it. Because of this, classic American cooking looks a bit different these days.

It was a really inspiring read and I couldn’t wait to try Peacock’s recipe for slow baked tomatoes with garlic and mint. It’s so simple (really only four main ingredients) that I almost didn’t believe it would turn out to be so spectacular, but it’s truly amazing. Tons of roasted garlic and mint infused into the olive oil that the tomatoes baked in for an hour. In the recipe online, they suggest serving on bread with goat cheese, but in the magazine they also mentioned over pasta would work.

I cooked up some penne and prepared Peacock’s recipe as-is — I know, it’s like I was possessed or something, but I swear I didn’t change a thing. Until I served it.

Keith grilled up some eggplant because I thought it would go wonderfully with the tomatoes and mint and we tossed that into the pasta, along with giant globs of goat cheese and Kalamata olives (well, none for Keith). I also made some turkey meatballs, which I’ll write about in another post, because vegetarian dishes aren’t really a meal for the carnivores I cook for.

We all yummed throughout the whole meal and I’d cook this up again in a heartbeat. The next time, I think I would try it on the bread as suggested, simply because there’s a lovely amount of infused olive oil left and some thick, crusty bread would soak it up to perfection. Although now I’m thinking this would be divine served over polenta….

UPDATE: My new favorite way to eat this recipe is as Kona suggested — over quinoa, with some chick peas added for extra protein. Yes, I got my boys to eat a vegetarian meal … alert the press. I save the polenta for the roasted green tomatoes, which is a perfect match.

We were at a family reunion a few weeks ago at a hotel that served free breakfast. Since Cooper has been on an egg strike recently, and the Cheerios were actually generic cardboard toasted O’s, we needed to find something else for him to eat. Luckily, he’s been on a big yogurt kick lately, but as we quickly found out, dude loves muffins.

I tried to give him the healthiest muffins I could, but let’s be real: we were talking food service muffins that come in flavors like chocolate, chocolate chip, and something that resembled blueberry, but may have just been “tic-tac-flavored” or some damn thing. I’m good with him eating muffins, but I wanted to find a recipe that was a little bit healthier once we returned home.

After a quick Google search, I found one that caught my eye on cooks.com. It involves Cheerios, which as we all know, is baby crack, so I knew he’d like them. It gets most of its flavor from spices, rather than sugar, but I threw in some blueberry-infused craisins, just to give it a kick.

Cheerio Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 c. finely crushed Cheerios
• 1 c. flour
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1 c. apple sauce
• 3 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 c. soy milk
• 1/2-2/3 cup of craisins or other fruit

Just mix the dry ingredients together and add the oil, egg white, milk, and apple sauce. mix with fork until it forms a batter (about 30 seconds or so of stirring is really all you need). Put in desired amount of craisins and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes.

I love this recipe because it’s super-simple and quick to make, and the only thing I had to buy was the canola oil and the apple sauce. I used soy milk, because that’s what we had on hand, but you can use whatever you want.

I baked mini muffins and put them in a ziploc bag for breakfast the next morning. Luke apparently let Cooper eat five of them. Yay for him liking the muffins, but five? That’s probably not a good idea.

Summertime is all about grilling around our house. I’ve only found a few veggies that don’t work out so well when cooked directly on an open grill and without a pan or foil. One of those veggies used to be potatoes, because they would blacken before they were cooked through enough. Then I learned all you need to do is microwave the potatoes for six or seven minutes, halve them and apply olive oil, salt and some rosemary before sticking on the grill. The grill gives the potatoes a delicious brown crust that’s almost as good as having them roasted in the oven.

Every time I’m tasked with making the family’s run to the local Whole Foods, I fall victim to needing to grab myself a snack and drink for the road. It never fails. Occasionally I’ll look for something new to try, like with my last visit. In one of the refrigerated drinks aisles (I think there are three or four areas in my store) I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: Prometheus Springs Capsaicin Spiced Elixir. Wait, capsaicin? As in the stuff that gives hot peppers their searing spiciness? This I had to try.

First of all, the name of these drinks reminds me of something a snake oil peddler from the late 1800s would be shopping around the old West, claiming it had healing and anti-aging properties. Just as you’d imagine, these are definitely spicy drinks, so said snake oil salesman would mystify crowds with how “electrifying” these elixirs were to the soul … and he’d sell cases of the stuff.

Basically there is a drop or so of pure capsaicin extract in each bottle, along with the other organic ingredients that give it flavor. For this taste test I had the Lemon Ginger drink, and the spice matched up just about perfectly with the ginger. What was interesting was that, since capsaicin is orderless and flavorless, it gave the sensation that I was drinking some really, really spicy ginger. However, if there had been enough ginger alone to give the drink that much spice, the ginger flavor would be overpowering. The added capsaicin spice gives it the extra kick without being too gingery.

The spice itself is probably a bit much for anyone who doesn’t like spicy things. I happen to love spicy foods, so I was loving this. I didn’t quite break out into a sweat from sipping away at it, but I bet I would have if I’d downed the whole bottle in a few big gulps. Once I was finished drinking the 16 oz. of drink, the spice lasted in my mouth for about 10-15 minutes. For some that might be too much.

The bottle suggests using the drinks in different ways, such as heating it up to help with a cold or mixing with recipes. I could definitely see something like this being a welcome soother to a head cold, so I’ll have to remember that. The other flavors available — Pomegranate Black Pepper and Lychee Wasabi — sound a bit icky to me, but I might check them out sometime. Something about drinking a bottle of black pepper or wasabi sounds self-abusive to me.

Have you tried the Prometheus Springs drinks out? What did you think?

Get an eyeful of the tomato harvest from this week’s CSA farm visit. Every time I walk by our kitchen island, I pause, wondering if I’ll be ruining the stunning centerpiece by stealing a tomato or two for a snack. I don’t pause long, though, because those orange cherry tomatoes are so sweet and juicy that it’s nearly impossible to pass by and not pop one into my mouth.

Incidentally, this bowl is next to the one overflowing with Roma tomatoes from our own garden … we’re swimming in tomatoes, which more than makes up for last year’s blight.

Back in the day when I ate more carbs and less protein for breakfast, one of my favorites was a simple toast with butter and apricot jam (all-fruit, of course). Something about the combination was comforting and made the perfect way to start the day.

Even though I’ve moved on to sprouted 11-grain English muffins and sunflower seed butter with a soft-boiled egg, every once in a while I still crave some apricot jam, even though I no longer keep any in the house. Weirdly enough, an article crossed my path recently that solved this problem. We almost always have dried apricots, and if you’ve got those in the house, and some apple juice and a bit of arrowroot, you can make apricot jam in 20 minutes.

This intrigued me on so may levels. First, if I had a craving and didn’t feel like running to the store, I could have my apricot jam. The fact that there’s no added sugar pretty much rocks my world and I could have my treat in 20 minutes — bonus! You can simmer the few ingredients while making your homemade waffles and over-easy eggs so that your whole breakfast is ready at the same time.

I’m thinking this jam is a pretty good idea … what about you?

Here’s a quickie for you … a potato salad that I threw together with some goodies we got from our CSA farm this afternoon: red potatoes, green and yellow beans, herbs from our garden (basil and parsley) and radishes from the local farm stand. The dressing was simple — just cider vinegar (but I think I’d use red wine vinegar next time), olive oil and stone ground mustard. Oh, and I almost forgot the sprinkling of feta.

You could definitely add some raw garlic to the dressing or some scallions or onions to the salad, but I love that I used what was freshly picked just today.

A friend of mine recently started a raw food diet, and when I got the opportunity to split a case of kelp noodles with her, I jumped at the chance. Trying a new food is a beautiful thing, and when it’s this healthy for you, it makes it all the more exciting. No-carb noodles with all the nutrition of a sea vegetable and can be served like your favorite pasta? Yes, please.

They are so easy to use too — just rinse and plop in your recipe. You can heat them through, as I did here or just use them cold or room temperature. I’m not sure there’s a wrong way to eat kelp noodles. There’s another positive — they’re a forgiving food.

Speaking of forgiving … I ate “pasta” and didn’t leave the table bloated — score!

We bought some salmon to eat with the kelp noodles, so I went with some flavors I love combining with that flaky, oily, heavenly little pink fish — garlic, ginger, miso, lime juice, sesame oil. The recipe just created itself from there (based on what I had in the house) and this nutritious, vegetarian dish was born.

Kelp Noodles with Almond-Miso Sauce

Ingredients:

• 12-ounce package of kelp noodles
• 1 huge broccoli floret, chopped
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• sesame seeds for sprinkling
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 teaspoon miso
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

Saute the broccoli and the onion until tender and golden. Add the kelp noodles and heat through.

Meanwhile, whisk all of the sauce ingredients together.

Add the sauce to the broccoli and kelp noodle mixture and quickly heat through. Remove from heat and sprinkle in sesame seeds, cilantro and red pepper flakes.

The less you heat the noodles, the more you’ll probably like them, at least that’s what we found. They are pretty wonderful no matter what, but the longer you cook them, the more rubbery they become, whereas fresh from the package they have a delightful crunch. (The five-year-old called it a “pop.”)

Owen, by the way, loved these noodles (you’ll notice the dot of sauce on the tip of his nose — consider that proof), and if you’re a savvy parent, you won’t cut them to your desired size as the package suggests. No, your desired size will be the long, slurpy strings that make your kid grin from ear to ear.

One of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs is “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” With just a few lines of chorus, Jimmy never fails to make me crave for summer days and a big ‘ol cheeseburger with a beer chaser (ice-cold, of course). So what better roundup of recipes could there be for upcoming summer grilling days, than a few tasty burgers you may be up for giving a go?

Since I live in New England, I’m not privy to the legendary awesomeness of the White Castle burger. So, for those who want to experience the closest thing to them, whether you’re a newbie like me or are an addict jonesing for a fix, this recipe claims to be really close to the real thing. They wouldn’t dare say they can match the real thing — that would be sacrilege!

Sliders are all the rage these days, and they make great starters if you’d like to serve up some burgers but don’t want to make it your main meal. Bobby Flay’s recipe with chipotle mayo (shhh … don’t tell mayophobic Deb!) sounds crazy good.

So you love pizza and you love burgers, but you’re not going to have both … or can you? I’ve always loved pizza burgers, and after doing a little research for this post on the subject, I think it’ll be time soon enough to give a new one a try. Here’s an interesting recipe you might want to check out: The Barack Obama Pizza Burger. Nothing says tasty like Barack Obama! Er … well, the recipe comes from a restaurant in Washington, D.C., so I imagine they’ve got the Dwight D. Eisenhower grilled cheese and tomato on the menu somewhere too.

Not a carnivore? Not to worry — I’ve got a recipe here that claims to be the best veggie burger ever. Check out the video and see for yourself:

Of course, I can’t not end this list without making mention of the aforementioned Cheeseburger in Paradise recipe! However, I am forced to add one key missing ingredient that Food Network carelessly omitted: 1 draft beer, ice-cold.

The other day I saw a commercial for the KFC Double Down Chicken Sandwich. I had to try one. Two deep fried pieces of chicken breast with two slices of bacon and two slices of cheese in the middle? What more could you ask for? I told my wife about this and that I was going to try one. My wife is not a big fan of chicken breast so she was not interested in trying one. The Double Down comes in original recipe and grilled. I am not a big fan of their grilled chicken but original recipe is one of my favorites. Overall the KFC Double Down is a decent sandwich. I would not want to make a steady diet of them but one is not going to hurt you. After I ate the Double Down I decided I did not particularly like the sauce they also put on the sandwich. I decided to make my own version of the Double Down sandwich.

I have no idea what the spices used in the KFC Original Recipe are. I like the original recipe, but it does have quite a bit of sodium so since I am always trying to eat healthier I wanted to come up with a fairly low sodium coating for my sandwich. So I sat down to consider the options for my breading on my sandwich. I wanted it to complement the taste of the chicken, add a little kick to the flavor, and not add a lot of sodium. This won’t be too hard, I figured. I started looking through my spice rack and everything seemed to have a lot of sodium in it so I ruled out a few right away. I ruled out my favorite seasoning salt. This is going to be more difficult than I thought. My original plan had been to season the chicken good with the seasoning salt, roll it in flour and fry it. I had assembled my spices so now it was time to thaw the chicken breasts and make my sandwiches.

Redneck Chicken Sandwich
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 thick cut slices bacon
• 2 slices cheese (Use whatever is your favorite cheese. I used 1 slice American and 1 slice Pepper Jack.)

Directions

Preheat your deep fryer to 375 to 400 degrees. If you do not have a deep fryer use a large pan on the stove. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature is right.

While the fryer is heating up, mix the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder in a large shallow bowl. Once the fryer is up to temperature thoroughly coat one of the breast halves and carefully put it in the hot oil. Repeat with the other breast half. You want to make sure you go right into the oil so the flour does not have time to get soggy and doughy. Depending on the thickness of the breast halves it will take 8 to 12 minutes to cook. You do want to make sure that they are cooked through. My favorite technique for this is to cook a third breast half. When I think they are done I will take out the third half and cut it open to verify it is done. After the cooking I eat the evidence.

While the chicken is cooking, fry the 2 bacon slices to your desired crispness.

When the chicken and bacon are cooked allow them to drain for a few minutes on a paper towel.

After the chicken and bacon have drained lay the first breast half on the plate. Add the 2 slices of cheese and bacon then top with the second breast half, and you are ready to eat.

I wrote about my initial experience with the SousVide Supreme cooker last month, and I promised I’d follow up with some specific meals we tried in it. Before I continue on, make sure you read that original post if you’re not familiar with the SousVide Supreme (SVS) or cooking Sous Vide in general.

I love lamb, and I especially love lamb when it’s cooked to perfection. Beef has a good range of done-ness that will still make me love it all the same, but lamb … it has to have that perfect, medium-rare temperature for it to really stand out. Being that the SousVide is made for cooking to that perfect temperature, throwing a leg of lamb in that baby was the first thing that came to mind.

Let me again explain the first problem I had with the SVS, besides the initial problem of getting a faulty review unit. The small guide/recipe book that comes with the unit has contradictory and confusing information regarding cooking times. For someone unfamiliar with this cooking method, it can be quite intimidating to see a recipe call for a maximum cook time of 48 hours and a minimum cook time of 24 hours. No, really — apparently you can safely throw a whole leg of lamb in here and cook it for two whole days and not worry about it coming out wrong (not sure I agree, but I’ll come to that later).

In addition to the overwhelming time & temperature chart, the recipes within the book often contradict what the chart specifies — it’s frustrating! Think you can do a simple Google/Bing/Bang/Bong search to find the right cooking times? Not so fast! There’s no definitive guide to be found. Want to call the SVS people to get help? Nope — you’re on your own.

Alright, so getting back to the leg of lamb. We decided that cooking this for two days seemed creepy, so we opted to start cooking it late the night before, around 10 PM or so. We put the kinds of spices we wanted on the meat (salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary), sealed it in the bag and immersed it in the SVS bath, which was already set to the proper temperature for medium-rare (as defined by the guide book, at least).

Let me share a handy tip for you when trying to get a spiced piece of meat into one of these bags, without getting spices all over the bag seal. Take the bag and fold over the ends so the zipper seal is folder underneath, then put the meat in the bag and seal it up. Makes for a much cleaner seal.

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