At Home Barista: Pumpkin Latte

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Andrea

Since it’s Pumpkin Month it’s about time we get some pumpkin goods up in here, am I right? As soon as the end of August starts getting near and the thought of September hits our consciousness, what does everyone start thinking about?

Pumpkin Lattes!

Don’t play, you know it’s true.

The concept I’m about to discuss is not one that I came up with, I have to acknowledge Mama Pea for this inspiration. Last fall she discovered that a pumpkin latte from Starbucks made with soymilk and no whip is in fact not vegan.

Apparently there is some dry milk or something similar in the pumpkin spice syrup used to flavor the coffee. I’m not really down with that. I’m not vegan by any stretch but my preference for dairy comes in the form of cheese. If I don’t want dairy and I’m actively trying to avoid it in food products, I really don’t appreciate having it snuck in behind my back.

Pasta and Lentil Salad

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Andrea

This past summer was a hot one here in Columbus. Extreme humidity and high temperatures. The kind of heat where even sitting indoors with the luxury of air conditioning, you still don’t want to eat anything hot. Or heat up the kitchen. This left me seeking out meals that we could eat cold. A lovely cold meal that I could make ahead and pull out of the fridge when supper time rolled around was exactly what I wanted.

I am a huge fan of pasta salad despite the fact that I’m not a huge pasta eater. However, I’m extremely picky when it comes to pasta salad as well. So much can be done with pasta salad that using a store bought mix or bottled dressing is unnecessary. Pasta salad is not only easy to make using ingredients you have on hand but it’s quick and the longer it sits the better it gets.

That is my kind of meal!

Farmstand Green Bean salad with wheat berries

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Andrea

This summer has been notable for two reasons: heat and farmer’s markets. Because of the heat, I have only wanted to eat a lot of cool things. The HQ has been seeing various kinds of salads for meals this summer. We have also been frequenting Farmer’s Markets because local towns have picked up hosting mid-week markets which fits our schedule a little better.

I noticed a lovely batch of green beans on a recent trip to the Farmer’s market and I had to have some. I’m not the only one in this house who loves green beans, Rocky loves them too. I picked up enough for all of us to enjoy!

Green beans are a bean that I have always been in love with. I don’t care how you serve them up, I will eat them. That includes fried green beans although I won’t eat as much of those as I will other variations.

I knew I wanted to do something different with these green beans and then it occurred to me that I could probably make a nice ode to summer salad out of them. I walked through my kitchen looking around to see what else I could add to the salad and I stumbled upon some wheat berries. I had yet to use them in anything and figured now would be a great time to try them out. Fresh veggies and whole grains? Perfect combo!

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Andrea

The last installment of Salsa Week and this one just happens to be in a close running to winning the title of my favorite salsa!

Whenever I look at jarred salsa, the one kind I always search out is a black bean and corn salsa. I love those! The beans and corn add such a nice texture to the salsa. It even allows me to handle a more spicier salsa because somehow the beans and corn seem to tame down the assertive peppers.

Eventually I wondered to myself if one could make salsa with black beans and corn as the main ingredient instead of them being added into a tomato based salsa.

You’re never going to know the answer to your question until you try it, right? So that’s exactly what I set out to do and now I cannot get enough of this salsa. I could pretty much consume the entire batch myself without giving it a second thought! This salsa is super easy to make and takes maybe 10 minutes at most to prepare.

Read more on Black Bean and Corn Salsa…

Roasted Green Salsa

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Andrea

Day 2 of Salsa Week and this time we are kicking it with a Roasted Green Salsa!

Recently a reader contacted me with a question about my Roasted Tomato Salsa. Then she asked me about a green salsa. She said that her favorite Mexican restaurant serves this green salsa but that it’s not made with tomatillo.

Curious!

Because when we think of green salsa, we automatically think of tomatillos, right? Those little green things that look like tomatoes but are located with all the peppers. She mentioned that the server didn’t really know what the salsa was because it was a secret but that they thought it was made from jalapenos.

While this could very well be the case, imagine how many jalapenos you would have to use to get the amount of salsa needed to serve an entire restaurant. Exactly! A crazy huge number! I thought about it for a little bit then said well maybe they used poblano peppers. They are green and might be able to produce a nice salsa.

Pineapple Mango Salsa

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Andrea

Remember how I said that I needed to get caught up on recipe posting? Well it’s time to start! I’m calling this week, Salsa Week and I’ll be posting a few of my newest salsa recipes. They are super easy and you’ll notice that they all follow a similar concept. You’ll be whipping up salsa in no time flat!

The first salsa to be showcased this week is a fruit salsa. I have heard many mentions of people eating salsa made from pineapple and mango but yet I’ve never come across any! I haven’t seen a recipe, nor a jar of it in the store, not even seeing it listed on a menu someplace.

The pineapple and mango salsa has been out of my grasp! I decided that it couldn’t be that hard to make and tried my hand at making a test batch. The first step was getting some fresh mango and fresh pineapple which can be tricky depending on the season and what your grocery store has available. Fresh ingredients are necessary though so make sure you have these for salsa time!

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Andrea

It’s Cinco de Mayo! Do you have any plans for embracing the holiday? I’m going to hit up the store and hopefully make a nice feast for us for dinner. In honor of the day, I’m sharing a new salsa recipe! I’m very particular about salsa. It has to be just right for me to enjoy it. The best salsas that I’ve had have been at little Mexican restaurants. I’ve tried to recreate them myself with zero luck. I had no idea what the problem was because I tried every which way.

Recently I had some baby heirloom tomatoes that needed used up before they turned on me. I was flip-flopping about what to make with them when I decided that I would try making salsa again. This time I had a different plan of attack; roasting.

There is fresh salsa that can be made with all raw ingredients and then there is salsa where the tomatoes are cooked. I prefer cooked tomatoes but will gladly take some raw salsa off your hands if need be.

Chocolate Quinoa Bread

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Andrea

It’s the end of the month which means we are wrapping up Quinoa Month! What better way to end the month than with some chocolate!

I originally set out to make brownies but this experiment turned out a lot more quick bread-like and not so brownie-like. However it’s still super tasty and full of chocolate goodness!

Andrea’s Chocolate Quinoa Bread

1C Whole wheat pastry flour
1/2C Unbleached All-Purpose flour
1 1/2C Cooked quinoa
1/4C Cane sugar
1/4C Unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2tsp Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Ground cinnamon
1TBSP Ground flax
Pinch salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/2C Crushed walnuts
1/2C Dark chocolate chips
1 1/4C Soymilk
1/2C Coffee
2tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a brownie pan or 8inch square casserole dish with nonstick spray, set aside. In a medium size mixing bowl combine the soymilk, vanilla, and coffee. In a large mixing bowl combine all other ingredients except the walnuts and chocolate chips. Whisk to get all ingredients combined and fluffed. Add in the nuts and chocolate chips, then add in the soymilk mixture. Gently stir until everything is combined and then add the mixture to the baking dish. The batter is a bit thick so make sure that you even it out with a spoon once it’s in the baking dish. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Quinoa Cornbread

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Andrea

I love cornbread and I mean LOVE it. Like real love and not just like-like, you know? I’m also really picky about my cornbread. I like it sweet, not too sweet, but it definitely needs to have some sweet background to it. I also do not like things in my cornbread.

Things include:

Corn
Jalapenos
Bacon
Green onion

And any other variety of “things” that have the potential of throwing off the texture of the sweet divine bread. Also? Do you know when I like to eat cornbread?

For breakfast or for dessert. Although if you ask me to pick a favorite time, it’s going to be with breakfast because sweet cornbread goes amazingly well with morning coffee.

At least in my world it does.

When I discovered that I could make cornbread on my own, goodness I was ecstatic! We rarely had cornbread at my parent’s house growing up. In fact the best memories I have of eating cornbread were the little mini loaves that you got with your Boston Market meal. I know, isn’t that totally sad? What a bummer of a memory! The upside is that the majority of the time that I ate Boston Market were with Scott because we didn’t have a Boston Market in my little rinky-dinky town I grew up in. We didn’t even have a Boston Market where I went to college. Boston Market didn’t become a common establishment known to me until Scott and I moved in together after college. Our first apartment in the very first town we lived in together had a Boston Market.

Quinoa Spice Cookies

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Andrea

Naturally when I started playing around with quinoa, I immediately went the dessert route. ”Hey I bet I could make cookies. How awesome would that be? Protein powered cookies!”

This was actually my first baking experiment with quinoa. I wanted something that sort of reminded me of fall, cozy times, and early sunsets.

These cookies totally deliver and are actually one of the few cookies that get better with time!

Andrea’s Quinoa Spice Cookies

1.5C Cooked Quinoa

1C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour + 4 TBSP

2tsp Cinnamon

1/2tsp Allspice

1/2tsp Ground Clove

1/2tsp Baking Powder

1/4tsp Baking Soda

2TBSP Sugar

2TBSP Ground Flax

1/2C Dried Cranberries

1/2C Crushed/chopped Walnuts

1C Soymilk

2TBSP Molasses

2tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. In medium sized mixing bowl, combine soymilk, vanilla, and molasses. Whisk until combined, set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine all remaining ingredients. Mix until everything is combined. The flour will start to coat the quinoa. Add in the liquid mixture to the quinoa mixture slowly. Stir until everything is combined. If the mixture seems thick and like you might need more liquid, add a splash more of soymilk.