cake.eggs.tea.

There is chocolate cake in my fridge.

It’s obviously going in my oats.  Obviously.

Just to put the size into perspective, because it looks like a whole piece of cake…this was about 2 fork-fulls of cake that I broke up and topped on the oats. 

Cake or muffin crumbles on oats are amazing.  And you really don’t need much at all, as a few chunks spread a long way as an oat topping.

The textures mesh really well together. 

I was so excited about the cake, that I forgot to whisk in an egg white!  Oh well, these were still creamy and amazing.  I’m just not sure if I’ll ever buy rolled oats again. 

• 1/3c Scottish oats
• 1 1/4c water
• ~1/4c almond milk
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 1t vanilla
• 2 fork-fulls of cake
• ~1/2T pnut butter
• ~1/2T maple cinnamon almond butter
• ~1/2T whole foods organic mixed berry conserve

One of my good friends, Joe, has been trying to get me to make poached eggs for awhile.  I’ve known Joe since my freshman year of college at Ohio State.  We were both in Architecture together and he actually introduced me to the huz!!!  They were roommates, along with 3 other guys and a girl, Michelle…who is now Joe’s girlfriend.

Anywho.  Joe is an awesome cook…as is Michelle!!  You should see some of the meals they used to make back in college.  Gourmet!  I think Joe wins for BEST omelets ever.  We would all come back to their house after a night of frolicking around campus and Joe would start cooking…omelets, mashed potatoes, fried rice, etc.  It was freaking awesome.  Everything was delicious, but the omelets were my favorite by far!  I promise that the omelets were the.best.ever. and it wasn’t just because it was 3am and ??? beers deep!

Needless to say…when it comes to food, especially eggs, I trust Joe.  I’ve been trying to get him to start a blog, because it would be HILarious and amazing, but so far he hasn’t complied. 

Onto poached eggs.  I have been scared of poached eggs. 

It was time to face my fears.  Joe gave me step-by-step instructions and I followed them perfectly.  [imagine that!]

I also decided that I needed to calm myself with a little tea before getting my egg on.  This is an awesome new tea company that resides in Boulder, CO.  Tea Dojo – I found them at the farmer’s mareket the other week and was extremely impressed with the tea they had on sample.  I am just getting into tea.  I really never liked tea, especially cold tea or sweet tea..blegh!  However, I was just not drinking the right tea. 

I discovered I like loose leaf, full-bodied tea, which is exactly what this is!  The awesome people at Tea Dojo hooked me up with 6 varieties to try out. 

I love these little bags.  The packaging is simple and clean looking and they have a flavor for everyone, I promise you!  It sounds like I must be getting paid to say this but that’s not the case.  I love supporting local companies, especially when I highly approve of them! 

I will talk about the flavors in more detail as I keep sampling them.

So far I can tell you that the coconut creme was delicious.  It was really rich and flavorful.  I tried the cinnamon fig this afternoon and really enjoyed it as well.  The cinnamon wasn’t overpowering and the fig gave the tea a nice light sweetness.

I LOVE that the bags have the specific brewing information for each tea.  It tells you how much to use for an 8oz cup, the temp the water should be at, and how long to steep for.  It also lets you know the caffeine level, which is really helpful, especially when you want a mug later at night!

Each bag has about 12 servings and costs $3.  Not bad at all for great quality tea.  I also like that it’s only 12 servings because I am usually ready for a flavor switch at that point anyway!  Their website is super clean and easy to navigate…check them out!

Ooof. Sorry about the interruption!

The trick is to stir really fast with a spoon to create a vortex in the water.  Drop the egg into the vortex and stir gently around the egg. 

Trial 1 – FAIL –> water was not hot enough…the egg fell apart

Gross.

Trial 2 – Success!  It’s normal to see the white floating pieces..and a lot of this was leftover from Trial 1.

Not sure these look that appetizing…but I had to document! ;)

From the bottom up: Trial 1 – 2 – 3

Trial 2 was the best looking.  Trial one, looked like…splattered brains perhaps?  There was no runny egg inside…most of the yolk escaped in the pot because the water wasn’t hot enough.

Ohhh egg #2…I can’t wait to eat you!  Not only have I never made poached eggs….I’ve never HAD a poached egg.  Craziness, being the egg lover that I am!

I think they look better on toast! 

1 slice of toasted fitness bread + 2 poached eggs = Amazing lunch #1

I cooked the eggs 1 at a time and followed Joe’s instructions to roll them carefully onto a towel to drain off the extra water.  I covered them loosely with a piece of foil to keep them hot.  It worked perfectly.

Perfffffffffect!!! Instructions at the end!

Lunch #2

• baby romaine
• 1/2 leftover baked tater
• lots of cucumber
• salsa
• tomato paste
• nutritional yeast
• greek yogurt
• olive oil
• avocado

YUM.

The weather was a bit chilly outside so I layered a bit.  I had my padded bike shorts on under my running pants. 

LOVE the coconut water + plain water combo. 

I was planning on going out for a longer ride but it was cut short from the rain.  I was being pelted and it got quite cold!  I ended up going about 7+ miles in around 30min.  That wasn’t too short, but I felt like I was just getting started!!

I came home and did a little ab work and a much needed 30min hip opening flow yoga session.  The yoga rocked!!  Even with only doing the 30min session about twice per week, I see improvements.  Today, I could touch my forehead to my shins and hold it there comfortably for the first time!  Awesome.

The huz + I also hit up the rock gym for some monkey climbing fun.  :)

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Colorado blogger meet-up #2

Since meet-up #1 was a fabulous success, I want to keep this rolling.  I also know some other CO bloggers and readers have popped up over the past few months and I want to meet more of you!

I am thinking an upcoming weekend in May?  I’ll make a new page soon so we can discuss what works best.  As of now I’m thinking either Sat the 22nd or Sun the 23rd.  I was thinking of a daytime picnic at the park.  More info soon!  Be on the lookout!

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Poached Eggs…straight from Joe!  [I did not use vinegar because I use farm fresh eggs]

I used to use vinegar and thought that was what I was missing in my first failures, now I never use it and think it is more the temp of the water and the swirl that does it. I pull the eggs out of the fridge while setting up so they aren't super cold when I go to cook them, not sure if that really matters or not.

1. Bring water to boil, only need ~3-4" deep.
1A. Salt and vinegar is optional but makes it easier--fresher the egg the less need for vinegar. If using it, any type is fine but will color the egg white slightly, so white or apple cider is best. A few TB or more is good depending on how much water you have. Step 3 helps when not using vinegar.
2. Reduce heat to a slight simmer, water around 190 degrees; Rolling boil is too hot = egg drop soup, no little bubbles at all is too cold = won't come together.
3. Crack egg into bowl or cup, 1 per vessel. Take spoon and swirl the water around to make a strong whirlpool, drop the egg right into the vortex. You can see the white whisk around the yolk, and make it a tidier little ball.
4. Let cook for 3 min, no stirring needed, but you can just stir the water to keep it moving, not the egg.
5. Pull out with slotted spoon, gently ROLL it off the spoon onto bread/plate--I roll them onto a towel if they seem to wet then from towel to plate.
6. Poached eggs will stay hot longer than most other types so I usually make them 1 or 2 at a time, but you can do as many as the pot/you can handle.

Off to bed…I’m meeting up with Emily in the morning at Wash Perk. 

Niiiight

Ashley

happy family day!!

My mom got me the CUTEst thing everrrr.  See that little lemon?  That would be a tea steeper!!  Completely adorable.  I couldn’t wait to try it out with some new tea I picked up in the bulk tea section at Whole Foods.  It is pomegranate green tea with real tried pom!  It smelled fabulous.

At first the flavor was a little tart/sour.  I didn’t add any sweetener and it really grew on me.  Republic of Tea makes this, if you’re curious.

A lemon steeper top! So cute :)

Farm freshies…sooo good!  I made my mom pour, poke + spread eggs with toast for breakfast.  She loooved them!

I was totally craving steel cut oats.  These were Easterific ;)

Today’s mix:

• 1/4c steel cut oats
• 1 1/4c water

In the last 5min this went in:

• 1 med banana,
• 1t vanilla
• 1/3c coconut milk [SO delicious brand..not from a can]

Topped with:

• unsweet coconut
• peach fruit spread
• Heather’s jam
• pnut butter
• almonds

Yummmm

The Easter bunny found Chris + me.  My mom + dad shipped a HUGE box to us before my mom got here with all of these things in it.  The box had instructions to NOT OPEN.  She organized it when she got here and had it all set up this morning ;)  Totally cute.  So many fun things inside, like the tea steeper, Malley’s chocolate, a few things from Trader Joe’s, etc. mmmm 

I introduced my mom to Caramel Oikos and she loved it!  She said she doesn’t like caramel mixed in things usually, because it has a fake flavor but she really liked the caramel in this.  ME TOO!

Time to hard boil some eggs!  [not with the farm fresh…they don’t hard boil very well..you have to wait at least 5 days]

Time to make my graham crackers to make graham cracker crust!  This was the first time I used my graham’s to make crust and it worked perrrfectly.  I promise these graham crackers are super easy :)

Lemon infused cheesecake!  The easiest most foolproof recipe EVER!

Lemon Infused Cheesecake

• 2, 8oz packages cream cheese [I used Organic Valley, full fat]
• 2 eggs
• 3/4c pure cane sugar
• 2t vanilla
• 1T lemon zest

1. Leave cream cheese out for about 30min to soften. Pre-heat oven to 350*
2. Whip cream cheese with a mixer for a few minutes until creamy + smooth.
3. Add eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Beat with mixer until light and fluffy ~3-5min. 
5. Stir lemon zest in at the end.
6. Fill on top of pie crust in a 9” pan.
7. Bake ~30-35min until pie starts to crack around the edges.
8. Let cool on a cooling rack for ~2-4hrs.  The pie will probably be poofed up and then while it’s cooling it will fall.  This is totally normal.
9. Cover + place in the fridge for at least 2hrs but best if refrigerated overnight.

I noticed:  I have made this many time but for some reason it seemed like the lemon zest curdled the cream cheese a bit.  It left little lumps that would not smooth out with mixing.  So, that is why I said to stir in the lemon zest after mixing all the other ingredients.  The cheesecake texture still came out perfect though, but I would do it that was as a precaution.

Also, do not cover the cheesecake and put it in the fridge if it is at all warm because it will form condensation and then you will have a soggy cheesecake!

I have posted about the graham cracker crust I make but here it is again:

For a 9” pan

• 2c ground graham cracker crumbs
• ~4T butter
• 2-3T honey

1. Mix in a bowl until well combined.  If it seems extremely dry, you might need another T of butter.
2. Pour in pan.  Pat down with your hands and work up the sides.
3. Optional – bake at 350* for 5-10min

I use my fingertips to spread it around and then work around the pan pressing the sides to compact it.  If you want you can bake it for 5-10min to kind of set it.  These grahams were pretty dark already so I didn’t bake it at all.

fluFFed UP!  Note the slight cracking.  It will still have a slight jiggle to it, but will solidify when cooling. 

I also made Mama Pea’s vegan key lime pie with my non vegan graham crust ;)  Well the grahams are vegan but then I added butter for the crust…hehe

Agar Agar – a natural, vegan gelatin!! 

I also decorated Easter eggs, which I haven’t done in YEARSSSS.  Thanks mom + dad for the kit ;)  Next year I’m definitely trying to use natural dies with beats and turmeric. hehehe 

ooops

Tye-died eggs..so cute!

Ahhmazing carmelized onion dip from 101 cookbooks.  Seriously this was FANtastic. 

baguette + baby bellas + cucumber + carrots – diPPers!

Hi!!!

My mom and I were suuper busy in the kitchen today.  It was so much fun.  We also made smokey deviled eggs.  Wow, were these good!!  No mayo or mustard! 

Smoky Deviled Eggs with Greek Yogurt [slightly altered from original]
Made 24 halves

• 12 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
• ~1 - 1 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 4T sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1t paprika [use smoked if you can find it, I couldn’t]
• 1/2t cajun spice blend [added this to make it smokey]
• 1t salt, 1/2t salt
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1-2T olive oil
• pepper cracked on top

1. Mash eggs with 3/4c of the yogurt.  Add more yogurt until it’s smooth and creamy.
2. Add paprika, cajun spices, 1/2t salt, few grinds of pepper, 2T sun dried tomatoes.  Taste and season to your liking.
3. In a small saucepan, heat oil on medium.
4. Add shallot and cook for ~3-5min until caramelized.
5. Pour on a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with 1t salt.
6. Top eggs with pepper, onions and the rest of the sun dried tomato.

If you can find smoked paprika use 1 1/2-2t of that instead of the paprika + cajun spice blend.

There were reallllly tasty!! 

Yaaay mom :)  Wish you were here too dad!

Little mini pita pockets to house pork tenderloin.  Yes, I actually cooked meat today!  I haven’t had it in about 2 months except for a few litttttle bites here and there.  I just haven’t had the taste for it.  We got 2 high quality tenderloins from Whole Foods today so I had to give it a try. 

Kurtz and Ann came over for dinner!!  They brought this amazing green bean casserole with cherry tomatoes and herbed goat cheese.  It was such a fun spring dish and full of flavor.  LOVED it.

Pat + Natalie came too!  Natalie made TWO killer dishes.  Also very springy and just amazing.  This was a warm quinoa salad full of spinach, zucchini, lemon, dill and topped with feta.  Perfection.

She also made a tomato and asparagus dish that was crunchy and fabulous.  YUMmmmm :)

Not very photogenic but this was actually incredible.  The few bites of meat I’ve had in the past 2 months I’ve been very “meh.”  I definitely haven’t been too excited about meat.  I baked this at 350* for about 45min until it got to 160*.  There were 2 pounds total and I marinated it in a garlic herb marinade for about 3hrs in the fridge.  It was THEE most tender meat I think I’ve ever had in my whole life.  You know pork can be really dry.  This was NOT in any way.  It was extremely juicy and didn’t need extra sauce.  The quality was outstanding.  I’ve had great luck with all of the meats I’ve gotten at Whole Foods and alwaaaays find out exactly where my meat is coming from and what the animal was fed during it’s life. 

Chow time.

Pat + Chris

A blurry Pat + Dakota…they’re pretty much BFF’s

Ann + Kurtz also brought some delicious LOCAL pinot noir.  It was fabulous and the story about the winery is pretty cool.  It’s a biodynamic farm.  Basically the whole farm works in 1 huuuge cycle.  Very sustainable :)

So the key lime pie.  I know it looks a bit weird in color but I obviously wasn’t going to die it to look greener…also the kitchen lighting isn’t the best.  The flavor was AWESOME.  I really liked it but it was completely impossible to cut and serve.  It didn’t fully gel to where you could make a clean cut at all and the texture looked a little strange when scooping it out.  It seriously was delicious though and went great with the graham crust.  I also made some coconut cool whip!!

Coconut Cool Whip  [I didn’t know if this would work but wanted to give it a try]

• 1, 15oz can full-fat coconut milk
• 3T cane sugar
• 1t vanilla

1. Refrigerate the can for a few hours before making this.
2. With a cold metal bowl and beaters, whip this until soft peaks form ~3-5min.

This whipped up perfectly and was creamy + coconutty. 

The very outer edge of the crust was slightly burnt but you couldn’t tell at all.  This cheesecake recipe is so simple + delicious.

The ladies!! :)  Ann, me, mom, Natalie

It was an awesome day cooking with my mom and an awesome night with our family.  Kurtz + Ann aren’t family related, but they’re still family ;)  I call this “family day” because that is what I think holidays are all about. 

Wowoww…time for beddddd..I’m beat! 

~Ashley