Eat Like a Rabbit

Paul and I are sorry the photograph leaves a lot to be desired, and I promise it does not do the recipe justice.

During my last trimester, I think I did some pretty good shopping. One thing I crazily purchased (but Paul agreed to buy it!) was Organic Quinoa at Costco. Naturally, I can't find the receipt to tell you how much the giant bag cost, but aside from it taking up a good deal of space in the pantry, I've decided it's well worth it.

The quinoa itself is a bit time-consuming to cook. Boil water, watch for 15 minutes, fluff and cook for 5. it has a very earthy flavor and may be an acquired taste, but as I told my mother last night: When you find out something is good for you, you just have to make a commitment to make it work.

Possibly my favorite non-chocolate dessert recipes is Sauteed Bananas from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I highly recommend the recipe. Once when I served it to a guest, he looked at Paul and said "Do you eat like this all the time?" Paul said "Yep, pretty much."

I can't even tell you how long or how many times I've made sauteed bananas. And yet, somehow, we always seem to be in such a hurry to dive in that we fail to take a picture of it. Tonight, I had planned on making the dessert when my folks were over, but I had one too ripe banana and a slew of too green bananas. Paul recommended I do the Asian Pears instead. Yum! It's safe to say the base syrup for the dish must be good with any fruit. Our dessert wasn't quite as successful because the pears were warmed, but not softened. A softened fruit the texture of pie-sliced apples would have required more time and likely a different cooking method (like slow cooking). Anyway, we thought it was a nice light dessert and were happy for it, but I think I'll always prefer it with bananas, the original way.

I love to take photographing opportunities to highlight special gifts we have received. I found this olive wood tray that Paul's folks brought us from Greece to be a perfect way to display the cookies. . .although as good as the cookies are, the tray would constantly need to be replenished.

My mom has been making these cookies for years. She's practically famous for them. I remember my folks coming home from a party once saying a gentleman said he reached down and took one cookie, but two more jumped on his plate. My experience with this recipe is equally successful. They truly are habit forming. When I took them to work, one of my EMTs frowned and said "How could you? I'm on a diet." I pointed out that the cookies had no flour in them, which makes them gluten-free and makes them less fattening. Stunned and curious how the cookies manage to stick together without floor, they became more exciting. Also being naturally dairy-free, one of our house guests ate three straight out of the oven because he didn't have to worry about the butter in them. In my opinion, these cookies fall under the "not-quite-20-percent-bad" category.

There are two recipes--one is the original version and the second is the lower cholesterol version. This is also the same recipe my mom uses for her homemade granola.

OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #1

• 2 C quick oats
• ¾ C brown sugar
• ½ t. salt
• ¾ C coconut
• ½ C chocolate chips
• ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
• ½ C oil
• ½ t. vanilla
• 1 or 2 eggs, beaten

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl and place onto oiled cookie sheet and pack tightly to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. The number of eggs depends upon amount of added ingredients, such as raisins, nuts, chips, etc. I usually make a triple batch as these cookies are habit forming.

OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #2

• 6 C quick oats
• 1 ½ C brown sugar
• 1 ½ t. salt
• 2 ¼ C coconut
• 1 ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
• 1 ½ C chocolate chips (opt)
• 1 ½ C Smart Balance oil
• 1 T vanilla
• 2 t. almond flavor
• 5 egg whites

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl, place onto un-oiled cookie sheet, flatten and pack around edges to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies in pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack. Push cookies back together if they break apart when taking them from the cookie sheet. They usually set okay. Variations: Try using other foods you might find in granola. Raisins tend to burn. Yield: about 50 medium cookies.

Before Jeremy came a

I never even considered the concept of a dark chocolate ice cream syrup or sauce until we were in Sarasota for our anniversary and picked up some from Sur la Table for my dad. He's out by now, of course, and I decided to use some dark chocolate bars we have lying around the house to experiment. All the recipes I researched called for many ingredients. I just wanted the simple dark chocolate to stand out. By itself, the sauce is ever so slightly strong (which dark chocolate is), but to us it was perfect on something as sweet as ice cream. The next night, I had the leftover chocolate sauce while Paul had caramelized walnuts and fresh blackberries on his ice cream.

The following is a copy of an email I sent to our most devoted house guest, Garrett Nudd, for which our "Gachett Suite" is named. (Those not in the know may not know how much fun I get out of calling Garrett this name. It originally came from Paul and Garrett's barber who has a hard time saying Garrett because of the language barrier. However, she's great at cutting hair, and that's most important.) Paul was reading over my shoulder and said I wrote a complete blog post to Garrett and was leaving out important information other readers may glean, too.

I made this appetizer twice last weekend. I have decided that spaghetti squash is best in October, because by November I was struggling to find good fall squash to purchase. The dish was a big hit at both events and the goods were all gone. There's no complement like the complement of disappearing food (as long as it isn't fed to the dog).

One of my EMTs said this was his favorite squash. So, I purhased some on Friday. By Saturday, we were eating lunch at some friend's house and were served Spaghetti Squash. He answered all of my questions about preparation. And I excitedly created this fabulous dish on Sunday. With a salad, French bread, and pan-fried scallops, I was in heaven.

The following post is in reference to that little bowl filled with green at the top left hand corner.

A few situations happening in just a week's time started me thinking about this post. It started when I read one of the many magazines in our office (unfortunately I do not remember which one) that said basil was hard to acquire for a pesto sauce and recommended some alternatives.