Carrot cookies

These soft cookies are so easy to make, and I suppose a little less guilt-inducing than most cookie recipes.

Carrot Cookies
adapted from Simply in Season

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups raw carrot, shredded
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional frosting: Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon vanilla and about a tablespoon of milk, or enough to make it spreadable. You can also use orange juice, but I find that a little overpowering.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Stir the butter and sugar together in a big mixing bowl. Add the carrot, egg and vanilla.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Slowly add them to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.



Drop the cookies (about a tablespoon of the dough at a time) onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to get brown.

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before you dab on the frosting.

Nia training in Des Moines

This is taking place at my yoga studio later this spring, so I just wanted to get the information out there. It was huge for me, and I can highly recommend it to others who are looking to learn more about Nia and perhaps teach it in the future.


photos courtesy of Nianow.com

LOVE YOUR BODY LOVE YOUR LIFE
A Movement Training for you mind body and soul
Des Moines, Iowa
May 15-21 2010

Each day of this 7-day training contains a combination of fluid dance arts, precision martial arts and self- healing practices. Immerse yourself in the 13 Principles of Nia and take home tools for a lifetime.

The Spring Nia White Belt Intensive will include:

* the new Nia white belt Learn Manual
* a week devoted to movement and music
* a return to awareness, self healing and the body in motion
* freedance and creative self-expression

$500 deposit to secure your space. This training is open to all levels of experience and completes the requirement to become a licensed Nia teacher if so desired.

Location Details:
Family Tree Yoga Studio
3817 Ingersoll Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa
www.thefamilytreedm.com

Contact: Sandi Hoover
telephone: 515-202-2584
email: info@thefamilytreedm.com

Mama needs a new bike

As much as I love my hybrid bike that I've had for years and years but only recently started putting miles on, it's just not quite right for me anymore. All the people I ride with have road bikes, and quite frankly, I'm tired of getting smoked.

So, does anyone have any suggestions on how/where to find the bike of my dreams? I live pretty close to a great bike shop, and I plan to go and look at both new and used options. However, I know how easy it is to get sucked into buying a $1,000 bike when you don't really need one...

Loving: cute business cards

I needed some personal business cards in a hurry, and on the cheap, so I whipped up some at VistaPrint.com. I think they came out pretty cute.



For a few extra bucks you can use their templates and just find a photo that you like to upload. I found the little typewriter on a free clip art site, just by googling something like "free typewriter clip art."

Black bean burgers

The snow is mostly gone, so I can go back to pretending it's full-on springtime and make some recipes that remind me of barbecues and farmers markets. Right?

This one is a favorite. I wasn't over the moon for it at first, but I tweaked it over time until I got it right.

I've been trying to get away from buying meat-like products at the grocery store. While they are vegetarian, they are just as processed as all the other crap I try not to buy. And I'm really trying to stick to Michael Pollan's simple instruction: eat food.

But veggie burgers are tricky. They rarely hold together the way ground beef does. They can be crumbly and dry. They can be full of mushrooms, which I don't love. These black bean burgers, if prepared correctly, are pretty great. The keys, I think, are to chop up your veggies extra small, squish the beans into an almost paste, and make sure that you have enough binder - either an egg, or some applesauce, if you want them vegan.

Here's the version I stuck with (makes about 5 burgers):

Black bean burgers
adapted from a recipe on vegweb.com

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup oats
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg or a couple spoonfuls of applesauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
Enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of your pan
1 tablespoon butter (optional)

Mash up the beans with a potato masher or fork. Add the onion, jalapeno, garlic, oats, egg or applesauce, salt, pepper and Worcestershire and mix until combined.



On a separate plate, combine the flour and cornmeal.



Preheat a large skillet to just a little over medium heat, and cover the bottom of the pan with vegetable oil. I like to add a little bit of butter, as well.

Take a handful of the bean mixture, a little smaller than a baseball, and flatten it into a patty. Roll the patty in the flour/cornmeal mixture and then drop it into the hot pan.



Cook for about four minutes on each side, or until a light brown crust forms. If you like, melt cheese on top before serving.





We got some more of those bright orange organic sweet potatoes at the store today, so I made some sweet potato fries to go with our burgers.



These were so great. Even if you love a regular meat burger, you can still change it up from time to time.

You've got to be kidding me

The only thing I can say is that it probably won't last long.

Signs of spring

I got a nice surprise when I went outside today and saw these adorable flowers in the yard.





They sort of sprung up out of a pile of leaves and broken twigs that has been buried under a lot of snow all winter. I know we have bulbs planted throughout the yard but I haven't seen any other blooms yet.

The dogs are happy. Every day they come up with a different toy that has been frozen all winter. And unfortunately for me and any neighbors who are home during the day, the squirrels are back to taunt Sadie.



And she is so ready.

Green cupcakes!

I loved Bakerella's post the other day about the idea of making a red velvet cake recipe into green cupcakes so much that I had to try it myself. Except I realized I couldn't make red velvet because I didn't have any buttermilk. So I went looking for a simple vanilla cake recipe with buttercream frosting, and landed on one from Martha Stewart.

I'm also shopping for a recipe that I can use for vanilla wedding cake (since Mike's making chocolate), so I counted this as an experiment.



It actually worked really well. The cake by itself doesn't have a ton of flavor, but when you add the buttercream frosting, which is incredibly flavorful (hello, butter!), it's the perfect combination. Next I want to try Smitten Kitchen's wedding cake recipe. I'm still wavering over whether or not I should use regular buttercream or one with cream cheese for the wedding. I think the cream cheese, in addition to tasting good, will help with stability at room temperature. But I would welcome your thoughts.

Anyway, back to the green cupcakes. I worried that my cheapo food coloring would produce something really pastel, but it came out a pretty bright green color. The photos don't do it justice...





The only thing I changed was the baking time. Martha was way off on this one. Maybe her fancy test kitchen ovens bake faster, but I had to add 5-7 minutes to the baking time to get them all done in the center. I came out with about 20 cupcakes. I also halved the frosting recipe, and had just enough.



Here's what I used:

Vanilla cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl, beat in vanilla.

2. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl to assure the batter is thoroughly mixed. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling papers about 2/3 full. Bake on the center rack of the oven until tops spring back to touch, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Simple buttercream
Makes 2 3/4 cups

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

(Or for half, 2 sticks of butter, about a cup of powdered sugar - or weigh a half pound, a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt)

Directions
1. In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on high speed 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Halfway out

Every time I walk into the dining room I see Sadie halfway out the dog door. It's like she's noncommittal about going outside, and she can see just fine from there, thankyouverymuch.

Introducing: a vintage blog

I may have lost my mind completely, but I decided to start another blog devoted to my growing passion for vintage items. Over time I hope it becomes a resource both for people who are interested in collecting and selling vintage items, and for people who just want to incorporate them into their decor.

It's called Vintage Lives On, and you can find it here: http://vintageliveson.blogspot.com

I would also like it to be a showcase for what's possible as far as taking old items and making them new again. Other sites like Design Sponge and Young House Love do a good job of that, but I'm sure they get overloaded with submissions.

So, please stop by if you get a chance. I have a few posts there already, and I plan to update it often.

A rockin' reunion

My sister, Megan, dad and me.

So last weekend I went home to Kansas to see my dad play bass guitar with his band from the '70s, Plain Jane. They were being inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, and since I'd never actually seen my dad play with them before, I didn't want to miss it.


Dad and my stepmom, Bonnie.

He left the band in 1978, and I was born in '80. The rest of the band continued to play up until 1992.

I can remember having a Plain Jane poster in our basement, and my dad getting out his acoustic guitar to play random songs on occasion, but really I know him as a computer programmer more than a musician. So it was cool to see that other side of him. Isn't it funny to imagine the life your parents had before you came along?

It was really fun to see them play, but I think it might have actually been more fun to hear all the stories from back in the day. They traveled all over the Midwest to play shows and had quite a few adventures. They apparently played a regular gig at a strip club in Salina, where they had to introduce all the dancers. They ate a lot of Denny's because it was the only thing open late at night. I'm sure there are a lot more stories they'd rather keep to themselves...

Here are some photos of the band in the '70s. Gotta love the hair! My dad is at the bottom right.



There were lots of changes to the lineup, and apparently at one point two guys who went on to be in the band Kansas were in Plain Jane. One of them, Rich Williams, is in the next photo at top left.



Mike took this video of Plain Jane singing one of their original songs at the induction ceremony.



I am dying for one of their T-shirts now. I just love the logo - classic!

It's meeeeelllllllting

I was getting to the point where I never thought I would see my driveway, the street, or grass ever again. And then winter decided it was finally done torturing us.

The only problem is that now it's supposed to start raining. Which means we get to go straight into flood season.

On quieting your mind

Chaturanga.

Virabhadrasana.

Adho Mukha Svanasana.

No, I have not lost my mind and starting speaking in tongues. Those are the sanskrit names of some yoga poses I have had to learn the last couple of weeks. (Low pushup, warrior, and downward facing dog, if you're curious). I've been taking some training sessions so that I can teach yoga classes, and really so I can learn all the things I never bothered to learn about the poses. Teaching yoga one of those things I always thought was for people who were a lot fitter than me, or that it was somehow just not something I could do. But here I am doing it. Teaching Nia definitely gave me the confidence to take yoga to the next level.

So a couple nights a week I gather with an amazing group of people and we practice our sanskrit names and we adjust each other in poses and we stumble through teaching vinyasas. But the first thing we do at every class is meditate. Just a few minutes of trying to quiet our minds so we can focus on this one task. It's amazing how hard it is to do that. I find myself trying not to multitask when I'm at home because I realize that I don't remember how to do just one thing at a time anymore. No wonder I always leave my coffee in the microwave or forget random little things that cause me to slap my forehead later.

I've found that when we do our meditation it always goes the same way for me. The first couple of minutes my mind is running a constant stream of lists and conversations, and then all of the sudden it's like I snap out of it and realize I've been talking in my head all this time. And then slowly I start to catch the thoughts and dismiss them, and at some point, my head tilts back and my mind really does start to turn off. Then it's just me and my breath, in and out, in and out. It's the most wonderful feeling. Last class we started this round of chanting Oms that was really lovely. Some people probably think we're crazy and weird, but I think it's crazy and weird how we don't know how to shut everything off.

Anyway, it's also been great learning a little more about what yoga is, beyond just the poses. There's a great quote by B.K.S. Iyengar, where he says, "Yoga is the method by which the restless mind is calmed and the energy directed into constructive channels." I like to think of it that way.

Here's what we've been reading, and I can highly recommend these books for interested yogis:

"Light on Yoga" by B.K.S. Iyengar. It's sometimes called the yoga bible because it has a really extensive list of poses and photos.

"Journey Into Power" by Baron Baptiste. This one also has great color photos, but I loved the text just as much.

I would love to hear any other recommendations of books or even trainings you've attended. Or give me the name of your favorite pose. In sanskrit. :)

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

This is one of those recipes that makes me feel really okay with giving up meat, because it proves you can have a hearty classic dish without a lick of meat, and it still tastes good. The key here is using shredded tofu and a yummy gravy to create the effect of ground beef. It's probably no surprise that this recipe originated in a Moosewood cookbook, because they really know their way around a meatless dish.

The main thing I changed was I left out the mushrooms and added some of my own veggies because that's how I like it! But feel free to saute up some mushrooms to add to your gravy, if you like them.

Here are the ingredients:

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
adapted from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant

1 cake firm tofu, frozen, thawed and shredded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
Pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup frozen peas
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
Salt to taste

2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
3 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
Pinch of black pepper
1 1/2 cups hot potato water
1 cup veggie broth (or veggie bouillon dissolved in water)
2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

You start by slicing up a block of tofu and freezing it for at least a couple of hours. Then take it out to thaw for at least two more hours. When it thaws, a lot of the water comes out, making it easier to shred. You might want to press it a little more just to get out as much water as you can.



You'll probably want to work on all three of the elements of this dish (tofu and veggies, potatoes, and gravy) at once to save time. Put the potatoes in a big pot with salted water and heat them to boiling. When they get there, turn down the heat a little and boil them until soft, maybe 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes, saving the starchy water for your gravy.



Meanwhile heat up the vegetable oil in a big saute pan and cook the onions, carrots and peas with the thyme, coriander and pepper until the onions are translucent and the carrots are soft. Add in the walnuts and shredded tofu. When those are heated through, add the lemon juice and soy sauce and take the pan off the heat.



Mash your potatoes with the butter, milk and salt. Taste them to make sure they are just how you want them.



To make the gravy heat the butter in a skillet and saute the shallots until translucent. Stir in the soy sauce and black pepper. Add the potato water and veggie broth and bring to a boil. Then stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook until the gravy is thickened and bubbly.



Now you can layer everything in a casserole dish. I used an adorable 8-inch square Glasbake dish, which promptly overflowed when I put everything in. You might want to choose something a little bigger.



Oil, butter or spray the dish, then layer the tofu and veggies, the gravy and the mashed potatoes inside. Put a few dabs of butter on top of the potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top of the potatoes start to get brown.



It's not the most beautiful of dishes, but it sure is tasty.

No-knead bread, take 2

So the first time I tried making bread, I was pretty happy with it. But it came out a little flat and a little too crunchy on the bottom. So when my friend Jen recommended a different recipe (her husband baked a phenomenal loaf for my last birthday), I had to try it.

It turns out the recipe had also run in Mother Earth News. The story, recipe, and lots of good tips can all be found here.

Even though you can make this in one day, and you don't have to knead/punch down the dough, it's still a pretty big operation to make one tiny loaf. The good news is that you're actually making enough dough for four loaves, and you can refrigerate or freeze the extra loaves to bake another time.

Basically you mix the yeast with warm water and then slowly add in the flour. I used the Kitchen Aid mixer instead of elbow grease and it worked great.



Then you let it rise for two hours, at which point it becomes gigantic!



Then you move the dough to the fridge, which makes it less sticky and easier to handle in a few hours.

At that point you divide it into four loaves, and shape one of them into a ball. As long as you flour your board and your hands you shouldn't have any trouble handling it, which is nice.





You let it rise again for 40 minutes while you preheat your oven to 450. When you actually put the loaf in (use a pizza peel to slide it onto a baking stone - much easier than I thought it would be), you also put in a broiler pan or just a regular baking pan with some water in it, so that your oven becomes a steamy environment.

When your cute little loaf comes out, you can hear it crackling inside. The article calls this 'singing.' Love it.



Anyway, I was much happier with this recipe. The top was crunchy and blistered just like the loaves you see at bakeries and the bottom was solid but not too hard to cut through. Mike ate a warm slice with just a little butter smeared on top, and I turned my into dessert bread with a little Nutella.



I think if you're ready to try baking artisan bread from scratch, this is the method to go with.

Birch bark tags

I have been using these on my products, and now I am selling them over at Mary Marie. They are real pieces of birch bark that you can write on!

Aunt Lark's tabbouleh

If a recipe comes from my aunt Lark, you know it's gonna be good. She is the most fabulous cook. I think she was the first in our family to really get into gourmet cooking. I've had a lot of things for the first time at her house. And since she has two vegetarian kids, she always makes something meat-free for holiday meals.

At one of those dinners she served this tabbouleh salad, and it was so superior to anything similar I'd ever made I just swooned, and asked for the recipe. Then she packed me up a to-go package to take home, which I treasured. I think what made it so great, in addition to all those fresh veggies, was a bit of cumin. It's one of my favorite spices, and it gave it just enough of a kick to stand out.

So here's the recipe. It's super healthy, and a great accompaniment to something else Greek or Middle Eastern like falafel. Just remember to allow yourself enough time to soak the bulghur and marinate the salad before you plan to eat it.

Doesn't a recipe that starts out with this colorful array of veggies have to be good?



Aunt Lark's Tabbouleh

2 cups bulghur (she likes Bob's Red Mill brand)
2 cups hot water
3 or 4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 to 1 1/2 cups freshly chopped parsley
1/3 cup freshly chopped mint
3 green onions, finely sliced
1/2 small yellow or red onion, finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cucumber or half an English cucumber, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 package feta cheese (optional)

Start by soaking the bulghur. You can use any method you like best, but 2 cups bulghur soaked in 2 cups hot water for an hour should do the trick. You can also use boiling water for half an hour.



Once it's done (chewy but not too hard), drain any extra water. You may need to put it in a strainer and press out the excess water with the back of a spatula.

Chop up the rest of the veggies and herbs. The key here is to chop everything really finely so you get a little bit of everything in each bite. And no one wants to bite into a big chunk of raw onion.





Normally I don't love parsley, but the fresh herbs in this recipe are part of what makes it tabbouleh, so be generous with them. Once all the flavors blend together it just seems right.



In another bowl, whisk the lemon juice (I like to use my vintage juicer, which makes it easy to separate the seeds),



with the olive oil, salt, cumin and pepper.

Just a side note: We buy olive oil in HUGE amounts and just refill a container that sits on the stove because we use so much of it. Next to milk/bread/eggs, we probably use it more than anything.



Mix the dressing with the veggies and then add the strained bulghur. Refrigerate for at least two hours before eating. You might also want to taste it to see if you need to add more seasonings. And, I think it's extra good with a little feta cheese mixed in at the end.

Yum, yum, YUM.