Clean Cooking

As many of you know, I like to live a healthy life. Exercise. Sleep. Wine in moderation (my least favorite part of being healthy). And of course, eating healthy. I won't get into the ins and outs of Paleo cooking, because although it's generally the way I like to cook, I disagree with some of the philosophies. But I do like to cut out gluten, refined sugars, and go light on the dairy. Nerdy internet cooks like me call this eating "clean". Anyways, here is one of my absolute favorite clean recipes. I've been meaning to post it for awhile... and meaning to send it to my mom... so we're killing two birds with one stone here. 

Clean Crock Pot Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

Loosley adapted from a recipe by He and She Eat Clean

Ingredients

1 small yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 (14.5 oz) can roasted tomatoes with juice (Try to pick a can with no added sugar!)

1 (15 oz) can black beans

2 cups sweet potatoes, cubed

1lb. chicken (I use 2 breasts or 4 thighs. The original recipe calls for 1lb. ground turkey, which they don't have here in NZ. I've done this, and it's yummy too, but I actually prefer the chicken)

1 bayleaf (if you have it, which I don't...!)

3/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1.5 cups water

Directions

Put veggies and beans in the bottom of the crock pot. Layer with meat, spices, and water.

Switch crock pot on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours... and that's it! Easy as!

I like to serve with a little grated cheese and sour cream. Below... Scott served up our chili with Scott-sized cheese portions on top! But lets be serious... I didn't complain!

Yum!

Another clean recipe I just tried for fun last weekend was Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now a disclaimer... they dont look quite like your normal chocolate chip cookie. And maybe they don't taste quite like your normal chocolate chip cookie. But in the baking world, from a scale of Twinkie to Healthy, these probably score a solid 9. And maybe I'm open minded, but I actually think they're pretty darn yummy!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe curtesy of The Bite Sized Baker, slightly modified

Ingredients
3 1/4 cup almond meal (those of you in the U.S. can get this at Trader Joe's for cheap)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup good quality dark chocolate chips

Directions
Combine almond meal, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
Melt coconut oil over the stove (or not, if you're in a place that's warm!) and combine with honey.
Add vanilla and eggs into coconut oil mixture.
Use an electric mixer to combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
Add chocolate chips.

Scoop out whatever your normal cookie sized cookies are. Mine were about 2 inches across (pictured below) yielded 30 cookies. I found flattening the cookies out before baking ensured that they cooked all the way through. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 8-10 minutes.

So they look a little funny (seriously check out the link above for what professional ones look like... it got me to try the recipe!)... but they've got no gluten and no refined sugar! Guilt free chocolate chip cookies!? Well... almost!

Ridiculously Easy Tortillas

I admit, I realize that 98% of my readers are in the United States, and probably 80% are in California. And in California, there is no shortage of decent tortillas. So basically, this post is for 2-20% of you. But in any case...

Tortillas! Living in New Zealand has already proven to be a culinary adventure, and this is the next chapter. I have read on several kiwi blogs that while tortillas aren't that hard to find in New Zealand, decent ones are pretty rare. Complaints range from 'brittle' to 'weirdly elastic' to 'tastes like cardboard'. Instead of subjecting myself to disappointing tacos, I decided to just go for it and make my own. I mean that's what all the other over achieving show-off foodie Kiwis are doing. And while I was prepared for a major cooking disaster, they turned out pretty darn good.

The recipe is from a fellow blogger who was also on the hunt for decent tortillas. It's got very few ingredients and steps, which both increase my chances of success. Especially with the poor excuse for kitchen utensils I have at the moment (come on, big boat in the ocean!), like Bachelor Ben's Bowl.

(And a side note: I had a quick lesson on preparing Mexican food with a good family friend before the holidays. I feel the need to say I'm sure these tortillas are nowhere near her standards. Also, I have yet to find lard in the stores here, which I think may be a key ingredient to the perfect tortilla. But if you're reading, Cynthia, I'd be keen to see your recipe!)

Anyways, our key ingredients:

Ridiculously Easy Tortillas:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup hot water

Combine flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk together. (Here is where I forgot to take a picture with Ben's Bowl.) Add canola oil and mix together with your hands to create a uniform "crumby-ness". Lastly, add hot water, knead together with hands.

Let dough rise minimum of a half hour, or place in refrigerator overnight.

Divide dough into 12 equal balls. Mine were just a tad larger than a golf ball.

Roll them out with flour, until they are about 8 inches wide and uniformly round. Unless you're into oblong tortillas... that's cool too.

I don't actually have a rolling pin at the moment (re: boat somewhere on the Pacific...) so I used my trusty Enloe stainless steel thermos. Scott pointed out after all dinner was consumed that a wine bottle would have been a great rolling pin. Why didn't I think of that?

Fry tortillas on a dry frying pan on med-high heat. It only takes about 30-45 seconds per side for the perfect brown bubbles to form, and then it is time to flip.

My taco fillings: black beans, sautéed onion, bell pepper, and salmon, with tomato,
avocado, cheese, and sour cream. Mmmmm!

I discovered the hard way, if the heat is too low, the tortilla turns into more of a cracker. Or a frisbee.

I stored the final product in the oven, on low, while I finished my cooking. This worked perfectly.

Don't they look like real tortillas!?

Serve warm, with lots and lots of yummy ingredients!

This picture makes me truly sad that there are no left overs right now!

Lastly, look at what we got!

Nope, not good beer. Carlsberg is awful.

The astute reader will remember that I have been holding out for a kitchen table. We've got a bed, 2 chairs and a sofa, but haven't had a table for the last 5+ weeks. I found this lovely piece on TradeMe.com for $120! It's in beautiful condition. Hiring a trailer to haul it (behind our Subaru Justy, no less!) was quite the adventure, but alls well that ends well, and we ended up with a great table! Now we can finally have guests over!

Chocolaty Goodness Cookies

The other night I had a serious craving for cookies. It probably had something to do with the torrential downpour (synonymous with "summer night", I think), or something to do with the decent chocolate chips I found. More on that in a moment.

This recipe is originally from Bakerella (www.bakerella.com), creator of fabulously naughty treats. I have changed the recipe slightly, but you can find the original here.

First I had to empty out my fruit bowl. It is clearly a $1 disposable party bowl with a taped together crack at the bottom that was left behind by Bachelor Ben. Bachelor Ben was the tenant in our flat before us. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but it did take about 2 days of scrubbing and cleaning and at least a gallon of paint to truly get Bachelor Ben out. Anyways, I'm thankful for his discarded party bowl, because it is my fruit bowl and my mixing bowl until the container arrives (7 days, God willing...)

Wine is imperative if you truly care about making good cookies.

As I gathered my ingredients together, I got the iPad out. It's not that I don't remember my recipe... it's that I have to convert almost everything! First of all, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, or in my case, 176 C.

I start with creaming together the butter and sugar. I've decreased the sugar amount in the cookies to suit my tastes. The butter, I would never decrease. The recipe calls for half a cup. But my butter...

My butter is in grams. Oh my.

116g of butter = 1/2 cup. Hopefully things go more smoothly from here... Add 2 eggs and a half a cup of peanut butter. I prefer smooth peanut butter, but all I had on hand was chunky:

My pictures don't look like the ones in fancy baking blogs, do they? I blame it on Bachelor Ben's bowl.

Beat these ingredients until creamy, and then add vanilla (stir), salt (stir), baking soda, (stir), cocoa flour and flour (and stir). The last ingredient is the most important, and in my case, the lowest quality. I will of course be continuing the hunt for decent chocolate chips.

For now, Cadbury are the best I've found. 

The batter will be pretty greasy feeling, but that's okay! It creates the soft and chewy texture after baking! Personally, I like to refrigerate my dough for about a half hour before baking, so my cookies don't come out flat. This works for any kind of cookie, but if you're a crunchy cookie kind of person, don't chill that dough!

Absolutely good for eating right out of the fruit bowl. No baking pan required!

Spoon 1 inch balls onto greased pan (or parchment paper, which I would prefer if I had any on hand). They don't spread too much, so I can get 15 on a pan.

Bake for 9-10 minutes. I do 9. They don't look done, but they are. Part of the goodness is the slightly under baked texture becomes delightfully chewy. Any more than 10 minutes, and they're chips.

I promise to work on my food photography skills if you promise not to over bake these cookies!

So here's the recipe for my favorite chocolate cookies:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 oz. dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 or 176 degrees, depending on your hemisphere, and bake for 9-10 minutes tops.

Makes approximately 30 cookies, depending on how much dough doesn't make it onto the pan.

Enjoy!