Strawberry Pie

April 29, 2013 in Cakes & Pies, Featured

Strawberry Pie

12-15 medium strawberries
1 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
Pie dough

Oven to 400F. Roughly chop the strawberries. Add sugar, honey, and cornstarch. Toss to combine and set aside.

Roll out your pie dough and place in a mini pie plate. Trim edges so that about 1 inch hangs over all around. Roll out a smaller circle for the top.

Drain extra liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of your strawberry mixture. Pile the berries high into the pie plate. Place smaller round of dough on top. Roll the edges in together to make a tight seal. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes; lower oven to 350F and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

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This Week | Food & Exercise

November 4, 2012 in Life, What's for Dinner

First Kale from my garden!

Let’s try something new, eh? I’ll try to post a weekly plan that includes my food for the week and the exercise I plan on doing. It’s a bit of motivation for blogging and exercise all in one!

I do make a menu for the week every Friday. It really helps keep my life organized. After making the menu, we go to our local Farmer’s Marked on Saturday morning, then head to the store to grab other non-vegetable items. And that’s it! I might have to stop by the store once to grab something I forgot, but we really only go to the store once a week. And it helps avoid the food ruts that a busy life + “we can do noodles again” can lead to.

So! Here we go. I’ll try to take pictures next time, but 7:30 on a Sunday night isn’t the best time for a photo shoot.

Food!

-Saturday: Roasted Butternut Alfredo, inspired by Post Punk Kitchen. This was really good, but took a bit of getting used to. If you like interesting dishes then I really suggest you try it!

-Sunday: Leftover Butternut Alfredo

-Monday: Breakfast Potatoes (for dinner!) – cut into small chunks, toss with olive oil, rosemary, and a bit of salt and pepper. BBQ on cast iron pan for ~45 minutes until nice and crispy, stirring every 10 minutes or so. This has been our favorite way to make potatoes lately! Serve with steamed broccoli.

- Tuesday: Asparagus and Mushroom Tacos, from Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats by Allyson Kramer. I highly recommend this book. She makes gluten-free fare exceptionally good and easy to make.

-Wednesday: Simple Risotto, with carrots, celery, and baby zucchini.

-Thursday: Leftover Risotto

-Friday: Stuffed Acorn Squash! Recipe to be decided…

Exercise goals!

-Stretch 15 minutes every other day

-Do planks daily

-Strength training twice

-Run once

-Ride 3x

We’ll see how much of this I get done. The most important one for me right now is doing planks daily.. my back could really use it.

What are your food & exercise plans for this week?

Have a great week!

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Pumpkin Bread & A Successful Start

September 22, 2012 in Breads and Muffins, Featured

It’s done! The first week of fall quarter has come and gone, and I’m doing alright. In all fairness, we didn’t start until Tuesday, so the rapid adjustment from working full-time to being a college student again was made a little bit easier.

It was actually really nice being on campus again. The ever-changing scenery as I move from class to class and the scattered topics discussed in lectures and labs throughout the day are a very welcome change that keeps my interest piqued all day. From physics, to biochemistry, to sport and gender, to art 101, I’ve got quite the assortment of things to think about for the next ten nine weeks. [[And so begins the endless counting of days, weeks, and hours that accompanies the life of a college student]]

And to top it off, I got landed with some really great professors, too. Not that they are difficult to find… I do attend one of the most desirable schools in the state, for both students and professors. Our hands-on way of learning is definitely envious, and San Luis isn’t a bad place to live. In fact, it’s quite nice here.

The things that San Luis does lack, though, are definitive seasons. Sure, the leaves change color a bit, and mornings definitely involve less fog and a bit more crispiness to the air, but other than that “Fall” is more of an idea and an attitude rather than a season. So to transition out of summer mode and prepare myself for the chilly days ahead, I brought “Fall” into my kitchen with some pumpkin bread.

If you can believe it, this bread uses absolutely zero oil, butter, or fat. It’s vegan, but you’d never know it. And I’ve used half all-natural (and fair-trade!) turbinado sugar. It has a rich flavor profile that far exceeds regular brown sugar, and is much less processed. It’s a win-win!

This is a big recipe. It’ll fill a 9×5 loaf pan, two 8×4 loaf pans, or a long baker like I have here. [[This was an Emile Henry find at a thrift store. $5 made it mine!]] 

Pumpkin Bread

by Raquel

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50-60 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast bread dessert snack soy-free vegan pumpkin fall Year-Round

Ingredients (9×5″ loaf)

  • 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
  • 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 cup raw turbanido sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1+1/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 2 Tbsp Ener-G egg replacer
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, but super tasty!)
  • 1/2 – 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F! Grease two 8×4″ pans, one 9×5, or a long baker and set aside.

Combine pumpkin, applesauce, milk, and sugars in a large bowl. Mix well.

In another smaller bowl, combine the flour and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, making sure to evenly distribute all the ingredients. Add in any walnuts, raisins, or chocolate chips you like to this mix. This helps to keep them from sinking to the bottom during baking.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until all the flour is evenly moistened. It should be on the thicker side, but not overly so. Add extra milk 1 tbsp at a time if needed.

Transfer the batter to your prepared pans and bake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. the 8×4 pans will cook quicker, so check them after about 50 minutes. If the top begins to brown too much, tent the loaf with foil.

Let cool, and enjoy!

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Weekends and Domesticity

September 9, 2012 in Life

Until this summer, I never quite understood the hype that “weekends off” got. Days off during the school year are rare, and only happen when Cal Poly decides we need a holiday. So these days are filled with homework left over from the week, and the cleaning that needed to be done a month ago. And since the time I turned sixteen, weekends always meant work – work as a hostess to earn some spending money; work at the coffee shop to save for college; and work at the bike shop to pay the bills. [[I'd like to reminisce for a second here on how simple things were in high school, where money was earned to go out with friends, and a $50 balance in my checking account wasn't necessarily a bad thing.]] 

But this summer, AJ and I have discovered weekends. Those magical days that don’t really exist in real life, where the troubles and worries of work and school and life get shoved in a corner and told to stay there until Monday. Come next week, I’ll worry about the duties I forgot to do at the bike shop and the bills I forgot to pay. But until then, I’ll do absolutely nothing of worth to the outside world, but of immeasurable value to me.

Last weekend, while spending time with my family in the San Bernadino Mountains, my aunt gave me one of the best compliments I’ve received in a while. As I was kneading the dough to make AJ’s special cherry pie (like his grandmother used to make), Suzie says to me in her virginia twang, “Raquel, you’re just so domestic, it’s really great.” And while some women would feel that this undermines their sense of empowerment – the empowerment that tells them to go to work every day and climb the ladder of success and make something of themselves – I couldn’t have been more pleased. What makes me successful is not the money I bring home or the jobs I get to do. No, what makes me successful are the things I do to make my house feel like a home, to all who live and pass by here. It’s the things that I do that make me happy, and in turn put a smile on AJ’s face.

And this weekend, in the middle of my domestic chores, I thought and smiled about my aunt’s comment. For all my complaining and crying about people who are rude, difficult school days, and sandwiches made incorrectly, I sure find it easy to forget about when the weekends come around. Because for me, weekends like this one are all about the domesticity.

Scarf in the works!

New strawberry plants to last through the fall.

New broccoli and brussels sprouts plants.

Corn is doing well, with baby corn on the way!

A very poorly made chili ristra to save the abundance of peppers for when the weather gets cold.

Not pictured: bags full of farmer’s market veggies, new native plants for the front yard [[why would you plant tropical plants in a desert?]], two loaves of bread – one cinnamon raisin & the other seeded sourdough, and a clean kitchen.

And to complete my picture-perfect weekend of all things homely, I made this week’s menu. We’ve got tortilla soup planned tonight with a couple friends, BBQ’d potatoes (we have the best method, ever), a big salad inspired by Oh She Glows, and a couple simple nights of rice or leftovers.

This is my last week off before school starts back up again, and I plan to enjoy it. I’m also planning on taking weekends off this fall, and I’m hoping that will ease the stress of school a bit. All I know is that this was a summer to remember, and I look forward to next year already.

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