We have awesome friends.  Two of them came over to dinner last week, and they brought us beer.

Not just any beer: home brewed deliciousness in three different flavors.

See what I mean?  Awesome.

In exchange for the for the sixer of tasty beverages, I hit them up with a sixer of cookies to take home.  They had already eaten two or three of these little gems whilst enjoying time around the fireplace, so I’m pretty sure they were happy with their bounty.

If you’re having a holiday party, doing a cookie exchange, or bartering handcrafted beer off of your friends,  I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.  The cardamom lends a nice Christmas-like flavor, and the pistachio adds a salty crunch.

Plus they are vegan and pretty low on sugar.  Practically health food if you ask me.  And not nearly as time consuming as brewing your own beer.  I’ll leave that to my talented friends and hope that a steady stream of baked goods feels like a good trade :)

Ingredients

1 cup Earth Balance spread
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/3 cup chopped roasted unsalted pistachio nuts
2 2/3 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
Extra sugar for rolling (optional)

Directions

Combine the butter substitute and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer; beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until lightened. Add the vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.

By hand, stir in the almond milk, lemon zest and pistachios.  Sift the flour and cardamom together, then gradually add to the bowl, stirring to form a soft dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.

Make 40 tablespoon-size balls of dough and place them on the baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. (I rolled my cookies in sugar before putting them on the pan to get a little extra sweetness.  Totally optional.)  Gently flatten the dough with your hand. Bake one sheet at a time for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing. Repeat with the remaining sheet of dough balls.

Source:  Washington Post

What’s that?  You’re not crazy about yesterday’s spinach smoothie?  Drinking spinach every morning isn’t your thing?

How about eating a bunch of spinach mixed up with goat cheese and quinoa, does that do it for you?

It should.  This dish is creamy, flavorful, and healthy.  Its a unique take on risotto that makes a yummy side dish to pair with roasted veggies (and probably red meat.)  You can make it in about 25 minutes, too.

So even if you don’t want to drink that green juice, you can get your greens at dinner.  With goat cheese.

Mmm, goat cheese.

Ingredients

1 10-ounce package pre-washed spinach
1 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 cup quinoa, rinsed under cold water
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups low-sodium, fat free chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 4-ounce package fresh goat cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Microwave the spinach in its bag on high 1-2 minutes or until it wilts. Set aside. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil, garlic, and red chili flakes. Cook 2 to 3 minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant but does not brown. If the garlic begins to brown, reduce the heat to low. Add the quinoa and cook another minute, stirring once or twice until the garlic in mixed in. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Cook another minute until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the broth, and bring to a slow simmer. Cook 10 to 12 minutes until more than half of the liquid is absorbed.

Roughly chop the spinach. Stir it in along with the goat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, the nutmeg, and salt.
Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve immediately.

Source: Skinny Chef

Spinach is good.  2 cups of spinach is better.

Being able to drink 2 cups of spinach through a straw is the best.

Scratch that.  The health benefits of drinking 2 cups of spinach (and flax seed and banana and blueberries…) through a straw might be the best.

I’ve started drinking my spinach through a straw every morning.  It’s a great way to get something in your stomach first thing in the morning when you aren’t quite ready for real food.  Plus it’s pretty tasty – I promise it tastes more like fruit than salad.

The jury is still out as to whether this concoction gives me more energy throughout the day, but I do feel pretty good with all the extra vitamins and iron.  The Green Monster Movement website (where I got the original recipe) boasts lots of benefits to your skin as well.  I’ll let you know if I suddenly look like a supermodel from eating spinach (don’t hold your breath.)

In the meantime, this is a great antidote to holiday cookies.

Not that you would ever eat too many of those.  But, you know, just in case.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups almond milk (or soy or coconut milk)
1 tablespoon flax seeds
2 cups fresh spinach
1 sliced banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Directions

Place ingredients into blender in order listed above.  Blend until smooth.  Enjoy!

Source: Adapted slightly from Green Monster Movement

Year of the Noodle: Week 47

I’m convinced that ceci beans suffer from split personality disorder.

One side is the wholesome, and entirely boring, chickpea.  This is the name of the ceci beans that show up in hummus recipes and vegetarian curries.  Chickpeas represent the sensible, nerdy personality that always does it’s homework.

Then there is the fun and quirky alter ego – the garbanzo bean.  It’s the fun named ceci beans you find rockin out on salad bar displays.  Garbanzo is the wild child who gets caught climbing out of the bedroom window to party on a school night.

Perhaps I have overthought this.  Just a tad.

Sadly, this dish is as boring as the chickpea name insinuates.  If this pasta dish had turned out amazingly (it did not), perhaps I would have upgraded the name to Pasta with Garbanzo Beans.

Instead, it goes down in history as a completely unmemorable and unreccomendable.  It’s as culinarily interesting as doing your math homework.

Even the photo is boring.

Skip this pasta and use your chickpeas for something garbanzo-worthy instead.  Go ahead – live it up.

Ingredients

1 16-ounce can chickpeas
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped or 1 small can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tsp red pepper flakes
½ pound penne pasta
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
feta cheese

Directions

Heat oil in a deep pot, sauté onion, and garlic until soft.  Stir in rosemary, and cook for another minute.  Stir in tomatoes, red pepper flakes and salt and cook until tomatoes are softened.  Stir in 1 cup of chickpeas (reserve the rest for later), 1 cup if water and heat through.  Remove from heat, and blend the mixture until smooth in a food processor.  Return to heat, keep warm.

While you are preparing the sauce on one side, bring a pot of water to boil and cook pasta following package instructions. Pasta should be cooked, but still firm.  Drain pasta and reserve 1 cup of cooking water.  Mix cooked pasta with the chickpea sauce, along with the reserved whole chickpeas.  The pasta should be slightly soupy, as it will absorb more water.  Add some of the reserved pasta water, until desired consistency is reached.  Serve with a garnish of crumbled cheese and fresh herbs.  Omit cheese for a vegan version.

Source: Tasty Palettes

Hormones make me nest.

Ok, mostly they make me cranky and want wine and chocolate cake.  But then they kick the nesting instinct into full swing.

For this reason, I decided to completely rearrange our kitchen last weekend.  I had plates all over counters, pantry items spread throughout the living room.  Messy.  And all for nothing, as in the end my grandiose plans failed and I put it all back where it started.

Arg.  Stupid cabinets that won’t fit my oversized plates.  Stupid lack of a pantry.

Stupid hormones.

Oatmeal cookies help.  They would help more if I had thought in advance to add giant dark chocolate chunks.  Mmm.  You should do that instead of reorganizing your kitchen.  Far more satisfying.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together white sugar, butter, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda,and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. If you are using nuts or raisins, mix into dough, combining well. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source:  Moms Who Think