Eating Cake on the Rooftop

On at least three separate occasions I have been asked if I’m still doing Meals with Morri. The short answer is yes. The longer answer obviously has more to it than that. 

When I first started, I was cooking and posting and writing on the regular, and in doing so I learned how to cook and post and write. I met a lot of talented and amazing people along the way. Companies and publishers reached out to me to write reviews for their products and cookbook authors. I learned to be picky, and when to say no.

But with the evolution of Meals with Morri, particularly the person behind it (i.e., yours truly), I started to become very critical of my art. If it wasn’t something I thought people wouldn’t like, it wasn’t posted. If the photos I took were not good enough, the recipe itself would have to wait. This doesn’t particularly bother me, because I have really blossomed with the food I’ve made, and the stories I’ve written about them have refined. The problem I am facing now is the realization as to why I love to cook, and why Meals with Morri has been lacking in recipes per month recently.

My motivation in making food is just that: making food. Not for me, but to share with others. Eating the same food with other people is such an important ritual for me. It’s a sacred act of connecting with others at the table. I had experienced a similar revelation while I was in Malta. When I lived alone, I just made food. There was nothing more to it than insuring I was eating enough. But when CK and I visited each other or I made food for the office, suddenly the creative juices were flowing in overdrive. And perhaps the underlying reason is to validate my art, to see that Meals with Morri was doing something positive in person. But really, I’ve come to realize that, like my previous aspirations to be a chef, I really love it when people eat and enjoy the food I make for them. 

Living with my parents after over a year of not doing so has meant that what they eat and what I eat doesn’t mesh as often as it used to when it was my responsibility to make dinner for the family. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but not sharing food I make with other people has affected my motivation to create and share recipes online. I like there being a reason for my art, and I want to experience that shared moment in person, in real time. CK and our two dear friends H and J have risen to the challenge in helping me see that it's equally important for me to enjoy my art, and are more than willing to help give me ideas in what to make (thanks, guys).

Last night, I was invited to a friend’s birthday party, and although I wasn’t asked, I made a cake that I knew I’d be able to eat. It was a rooftop party, one that overlooked other Washington, D.C. apartments and offices, the Washington Monument blinking lazily far away. The already present cupcakes had been eaten, and to my surprise, my cake was used to sing to him “Happy Birthday” (which I unashamedly conspired with his girlfriend in making happen). The cake was said to be quite good, and only a few people knew that it was gluten free. 

Rooftop Carrot Cake with Honey Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake
120 g White rice flour*
1/2 tsp. Baking soda**
1 tsp. Cream of tartar**
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
150 ml olive oil
200 g coconut sugar
5 Carrots, grated

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grease (I used butter) and flour (I used the white rice flour) one 9-inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the rice flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, sea salt and cinnamon.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a larger bowl with a hand mixer), combine the eggs, olive oil, coconut sugar, and vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is slightly frothy.
Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture in small increments, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula each time.
Stir in the grated carrots, mixing until combined, and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (for me, this was 50 minutes).
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a parchment lined wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, decorate the cake with frosting and other toppings you may enjoy (such as unsweetened coconut shavings).

Makes 1 cake, or 12 slices.

For the frosting (courtesy of this recipe)
8 oz package or 240 g Cream cheese, softened
56 g Unsalted butter, softened
85 g Honey
Unsweetened coconut shavings, as topping (optional)

Whip the cream cheese in a standing mixer until soft, then add the butter and honey to blend.
Mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Makes 12 – 18 servings.

* NOT to be confused with sweet rice flour. If you do, you’ll get a mochi-like consistency.

** The baking powder equivalent is 1 1/2 tsp.

When [He's] in Rome

Long distance relationships are hard. It takes a lot of effort to keep one going while separated, but it is doable. And with the right person, it’s worth it.

In our second stretch of time that we’ve been apart, we’ve really made the effort to show that the relationship is important to us. We Skype almost every day: talking about how our day went, complete with its triumphs and grievances. The important thing in any relationship is keeping the line of communication open, but it’s absolutely fascinating how many couples tend to forget that.

The other thing we do during our talks is watch Babylon 5 episodes at the same time together. He got me hooked on the series when he was visiting over the summer, and it is an activity that helps us feel connected despite his being 4500 miles away. We’ll watch one, at most three, and I’ll hear him giggle at my expressions.

(My Can't-Look-Away Expression)

(My Season Finale Expression)

Lately, he’s been having a lack of motivation where meals are concerned. He’s a lot like me in that regard; unless it’s a moment shared with people we care about, food is typically considered food and nothing more. Sure, we are creative with leftovers and think of new things of make, but the spark of cooking just isn’t there. So we came up with a plan to use Skype for more than witty banter and Babylon 5 marathons.

Now, we use it in the kitchen.

I don’t know who decided what the dish would be, but the point of this act of connecting was the following:

1. It would be the same dish.
2. It would be from the same recipe.
3. It would be prepared, cooked, and eaten simultaneously. (My lunchtime is his dinnertime, so it works out beautifully.)

Even 4500 miles away, we can still cook together.

The dish was a Roman classic: Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. Any Roman will emphasize that it has three ingredients and only three ingredients. Always. No exceptions.

Cheese + Black pepper + Pasta = Delizioso. 

He got the recipe off of the Tales of Ambrosia site, and although I used gluten free pasta and the wrong cheese (It was a Pecorino Romano / Parmesan blend), it was absolutely divine.

I loved her trick of putting the serving bowl on top of the pot to heat it up with steam. The only differences were I made a fourth of the recipe (enough for one really hungry person or two just hungry enough persons) and I simply mixed the ingredients in the drained pot before putting it on the hot plate. Oh, and using a blend of cheeses. (I can already feel the Romans cringing from here…)

(image source)

I still stand by my statement in saying that Tinkyáda’s® Rice Pasta is the best I’ve encountered in my gluten-free journey thus far. We use many of their products in our noodle dishes, and their spaghetti pasta was perfect to use in this recipe. Did I mention it slurps like semolina-based pasta?

Now that's what I call quality.

My Boyfriend, The Vegetarian

His being vegetarian isn’t his only redeeming quality. He’s smart, funny, compassionate, handsome, and he believes in our relationship. He believes in making us work as much as I do. 

Air & Space Museum (see us?)

For the better part of 2013, he was my best-kept secret. Only a handful of people in my family and friendship circles even knew we were dating.  In fact, let me narrate the following conversation between my cousin and I:

Her: So Morri, I saw from Facebook that your relationship started in December of last year (we had made it Facebook official in August).

Me: (sheepish grin forming) Yeah, about that…

Her: So my question is… Why didn’t you tell me?

Or, better yet, I would mention him in passing and people would say, “Woah, woah! Hold the phone! Your boyfriend?!”

In truth, with my last relationship ending last year and being absolutely devastated by it, I was hesitant to bring this one under the Meals with Morri radar. In my logic, it was kind of like tattooing your sweetheart’s name onto your body, daring the Universe to do its worst. But the more and more we talked and spent time together (he was abroad for the majority of our relationship, teaching in Italy) over the summer, the more confident I felt that this was the person I wanted to be with as my partner. 

Our First Mead.

The ultimate lesson I am getting from this relationship is taking things in stride. Nothing is rushed. For the first time I didn’t feel like I had to be going one million miles a minute, and it was a glorious feeling to sleep in, watch Babylon 5, and make delicious food. 

Gluten Free Chicago-style Pizza

... Or at least delicious messes.

Pumpkin Uh-oh Waffles

That’s the other lesson I learned: cooking is extremely important to me when it comes to love. When he came to visit in December, he taught me to make cheese from scratch. It was the sort of moment, watching us cook together in perfect synchronization in an out-of-body sort way, that I realized I wanted this relationship to work with all my heart. I realized I was in love with him.

Koester Potatoes with fresh dill from my garden

I’ve also come to understand that there is no limitation to how much you love someone. I know this because I find ways to fall in love with him more and more each day. I find that even with hard conversations, I feel better for having them. We work to come up with solutions and not argue about who is right. We turn little things into traditions, like Waffle and Koester potatoes on Saturdays or reading to each other during long drives. We teach each other our passions, such as his love for chemistry, philosophy, and all things geektastic and my love for cooking, health, and conflict resolution.

Finally, besides "Communication! Communication! Communication!", cooking together has become my favorite pastime with him. It’s the thing I hope we never grow out of and continues bringing us together. 

Veggie Sushi with Adzuki Bean Miso and Onion Soup

So the secret is out: I have a partner. One who loves peanut butter as much as I do. One who loves being in the kitchen and wearing silly aprons. One whose family is as supportive of our being together as much as mine. One who showed me the fascinating world of DnD and vegetarian cuisine. One who wants to take me places. One who makes me nourishing food when I'm feeling less than awesome. One who is all for this adventure we call a relationship.

Us.

Now, I'm not sure if I will go full throttle vegetarian at this point, but at the moment my body is enjoying limiting meat from my diet in exchange for eggs, cheese, beans, and high protein gluten free grains. We'll see how it goes. 

The Magic of Making Food with Others

In the kitchen, it’s a sacred ritual for me to make food happen. For many years I have either made the meals or created the weekly menu for dinner. It became an individual almost meditative practice, feeling the heat from the burners or oven for the main meal, or the cool touch of washed vegetables as they are transformed into a salad. Water is poured and silverware is laid out. Dinner is served.

And I was okay with cooking alone and being in charge of the kitchen, until I realized how wonderful it is to share the process with another person. Since then I have craved cooking and eating with people. It is a way of connecting with others toward the same goal, that is, the making of a delicious meal. You prep the ingredients you are individually using, dancing around each other in the kitchen like it was rehearsed. The aromas of your share entwine with theirs, and when you bring it all together…

You feel so proud of what you put on the plate and feel even more connected with them than before.

I used to be Diva Chef incarnate once upon a time. People would sit on the couch watching me jump from counter to counter, keeping me company and even assisting in cutting up ingredients or stirring (when I'd let them). Perhaps it was a trust thing, more likely a control thing; but when you let the need of control go, you look outside the box to discover how wonderful a dish can be with collaborative effort.

I wholeheartedly and happily blame CK for wanting to cook with people more often. When he and JS came down to visit HL and I, he taught me how to make paneer from scratch, causing me to fall more in love with Indian food and recipes with multiple components in general. He reminded me of how food brings people together and how fun it is to make something with another person. HL is always fermenting something, and in a frilly apron taught me how she makes her sour beets. And then there was Mama Dazz, who helped make this recipe possible.

Whenever we’ve had a long week or Sunday turns out being a particularly lazy “chill out” day, we tend to look to put something on the dinner table that is neither on our typical menu roster (chili, huevos rancheros, baked chicken) nor prepared in the usual way (pressure cooker, on the stovetop, oven-baked). I had in mind to create a barbeque sauce from scratch, and Mama Dazz was craving ribs. Like clockwork she prepped the ribs with spices and placed them in the oven and I focused on the sauce and made the side dishes. When we sat down together for a Hallmark mother-daughter moment, we savored our efforts and bonded over dinner while I took the photos.

Barbeque sauce is hard to find that fits my dietary lifestyle, but is super easy to make from scratch. Perfect on meat and vegetable alike, it will suit any outdoor potluck you plan on going to.

Mesquite Barbeque Sauce

160 g Tomato paste
60 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar
30 g Honey (or maple syrup for the herbivore crowd)
30 ml Olive oil
90 ml Filtered water
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Mesquite powder
1/2 tsp. Cacao powder (regular cocoa powder is fine)
1/8 tsp. Chipotle powder
1/8 tsp. Spanish style smoked paprika
1/8 tsp. Garlic powder

In a small mixing bowl (able to contain at least 2 cups or 500 ml of liquid), start with the tomato paste and slowly integrate the ingredients one at a time in rapid stirring motions.
When it is thoroughly combined, use it for whatever recipe calling for barbeque sauce or put it in a closed container (preferably a glass jar) in the refrigerator until needed.
Use within 3 – 5 days of making.

Makes roughly 1 1/2 U.S. cups of sauce.

The "Whey" I'm Heading

While Mama Dazz is off on one of her super duper important job adventures, I have taken the liberty to implement my plan to change the way we eat food... and using the majority (if not all) the kitchen's counter space. 

Those with healthy eating blogs and websites eat healthily, and I thought I was healthily eating healthy foods in a healthful sort of way. But then something clicks for you, in my case a hike in the woods with HL who told me how she discovered her love of fermenting food, and then I started doing research about what and how I was eating. 

You could say I saw a new “whey” of thinking.

Fermenting food, with salt, whey, and sugars of all sorts, is changing my life for the better. It rippled into other aspects of health and I began questioning: why I was drinking whole milk products that were homogenized and pasteurized and not raw; for that matter, why I was eating anything pasteurized to start; why I was drinking caffeine every morning (more on this later); why there was "edible" wax on certain fruits and veggies I ate*; why I wasn’t soaking or sprouting grains/legumes/seeds every time I prepared to eat them (more on this later also); and why not everything I ate was either organic, from an eco-friendly sustainable source, something I grew or helped raise, or local? I need to be the change I wish to see for the world. A lot of things weren’t adding up, and I didn’t like it.  

So today, as an experiment, I went shopping for this week’s provisions, all organic from Trader Joe's and from the farmers market**. It turned out it essentially cost the same, in some cases less to buy our food this way! I plan on getting raw milk from the Amish farm to make my own yogurt/kefir, soft cheese, and whey, and ordering our legumes and grains online. Until then, I’m using up the food we have, enjoying goat milk in my hot drinks, dreaming about lacto-fermentation (both the whey way and the sea salt way), kombucha, and getting ready to soak some sprouts. 

This post marks the journey of how Meals with Morri is looking at and treating food differently, and the usage of many, many mason jars.

* "Edible" by these standards means "non-toxic".
** I went to the Cascades Farmers Market this time, was thoroughly impressed, but be sure to bring cash with you since few accept credit cards.

My Peace in a Pan

In February, my Dad took me to see Arlo Guthrie after a scrumptious meal at Walker’s Grille. I mention this a month later because I couldn’t think of a post (nor the recipe) to share this story. It’s a very special story, and I wanted to share it in the right context.

Which part of the story was special, you ask: the dinner or the concert? They both were special, in the sense that I felt a connection. I felt a connection with my Dad, with the staff at Walker’s Grille, with Arlo and the band, and with the audience (the majority of which have been loyal fans of the Guthrie family even before Woodstock). Feeling connected is the most awe-inspiring experience you could ever give to yourself; it is the best gift on Earth. 

Mama Dazz and I met up with an old friend of hers a few weeks later at Walker’s Grille for lunch. I had the same dish as before: trout en papillote. This is the only fish dish I’ve ever had that I can remember eating the entire thing, skin and all. Both times the fish was light and moist, flaky and melt-in-your-mouth delectable, and it is light enough to match whatever time of day you are craving it. I hope to recreate this dish in the summer, but to continue on with my story…

There was something about being in that audience and watching Arlo Guthrie play alongside his son, his grandson (named Krishna, which I adore), and his go-to drummer that had me stupefied and bewildered. Like Tori Amos, the Indigo Girls, and Neil Gaiman, this man told stories with his music. I went from one dreaming sequence to another at each song, my desire to tear up immediately replaced by my desire to laugh and kiss the stranger next to me like an old friend. I felt safe and loved while I listened on, my eyes growing heavy at the warmth of positive energy coming from the stage. Other artists inspired Arlo Guthrie, and it was his magical ability turning his father’s poetry and Steve Goodman’s song “City of New Orleans” into infamous works of art any generation could relate to.  

He sang of social injustice and protest. He talked about love, and the story of how he and his wife met. (They have been married since 1969, and I was inspired and humbled by their love story, which is still going strong.) He joked about Woodstock, about where his music has taken him, and he spoke like he’d known us all our lives.

The thing I loved about Arlo is that he legitimately loves people, no matter if he agrees with them or not. This man, who in my mind resembled both physical attributes of Mozart and Einstein, is that grandfather whose tales you hear at his knee, the man who has taken the little steps to making the world a better place, and the person who understands what it means to be a positive force in the world. He’s at peace with himself, because when you come right down to it, that’s all anyone has.

I’ve been at peace before, so I know what it feels like. But he embodies it, and then shares it with others.

The last song of the night was “My Peace”, a short poem his father Woody had written that Arlo turned into the most moving song I’ve had the pleasure to sing. It was the “Kumbaya” on a grander scale, and one that shook me to my core. The entire audience was swaying and singing along, smiles on everyone’s faces and tears of joy threatening to fall. It is the song I go to on an otherwise cloudy day, and I hope it brings a smile to your face like it has mine.

My Peace

Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Arlo Guthrie

My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you
My peace is all I ever had that’s all I ever knew
I give my peace to green and black and red and white and blue
My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you

My peace, my peace is all I’ve got and all I've ever known
My peace is worth a thousand times more than anything I own
I pass my peace around and about ‘cross hands of every hue;
I guess my peace is justa ‘bout all I’ve got to give to you

This is the poem/song I go to when I'm feeling less than peaceful, and the recipe I'm about to give also provided a slice of peace in a pan.

Before that night, I’d never heard of Arlo or his father Woody. Before that night, I’d never heard of (let alone eaten at) Walker’s Grille, a place that is all about sustainable development and meeting the needs of the community and the individual diner.

So thanks, Daddy-O, for giving me that connection and a little bit of peace in an otherwise hectic post-graduate world.

Speaking of peace, I’ve noticed that I am at peace when I eat certain foods. My household was infamous for its one-pan-wonders. Layers of many flavors, textures, and colors were on each and every spoonful. It ranged from fish (tuna casserole) to beef (enchiladas) to chicken (lemon pepper chicken with mushrooms) to eggs (frittatas and quiches). One of my most favorite one-pan-wonders, however, was lacto-vegetarian, a deep-dish polenta casserole with a hearty helping of spaghetti sauce on top and (of course) smothered with cheese. It was one of those stick-to-your-ribs, only pretty in the pan type of concoctions, but it was delicious all the same. This dish doesn’t exactly resemble the polenta casserole of my childhood, but it’s easy to make, quick to bake, and the layering is optional. And if you have a lactose intolerant or a vegetarian who does not consume dairy or eggs in the household, add another vegetable, an extra helping of beans, or a non-dairy “cheese” substitute. 

Deep Dish Polenta Pie

510 g Precooked polenta, cut into small cubes
258 g (or 1 can) Black beans, drained
1 White onion, finely sliced into crescents
1 Green Bell pepper, quartered and coarsely chopped
822 g (or 2 cans) Diced tomatoes
1 Zucchini, sliced into thin circles*
112 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
5 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. Powdered rosemary
1 tsp. Italian herb blend
Salt, to taste
Coconut oil, to grease the pan

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the cheese, garlic, and spices and set aside.
Put the cast iron pan over medium heat and grease the pan.
Put the ingredients, excluding the grated cheese, garlic, and spice combination, in descending order as listed into the pan (i.e., first the polenta cubes, then the beans, and so on) and cook for twenty-five to thirty minutes until the vegetables have softened.**
Evenly garnish the top with the cheese mixture and put it in the oven for fifteen minutes (or until the cheese is browned in some places and the garlic has caramelized).
Pull from the oven and garnish with additional cheese or guacamole.

Serves 3 – 4.

*I used the zucchini as a "crust" along the edges, but you can just put in top of the tomatoes if you'd like.
**As I mentioned before, you don’t have to layer this perfectly in order to get the dish to taste amazing. If you’d like, just add the ingredients in the way they are listed and mix to your desired preference.

Missing my Kitchen Groove

After the various “Oh, crepe!” moments mentioned in my last post, you could say I’ve lost my groove in the kitchen. Z from Z’s Cup of Tea called it her “kitchen confidence”, and I could relate to what she was going through. My various pancake recipes smoked up the house. My experiments lacked something crucial in every recipe I tried. Multiple meals stuck to the bottom of the pan. Even my fitness regimen seemed to be lacking something.

"You threw off my groove!" (source)

I don’t think I’ve lost my kitchen groove (mojo, confidence, or whatever floats your boat), but it has been misplaced and I miss it terribly.

Despite being thrown off my game, I do what I can to remain positive. For instance, my runs seem less exhausting, and although my face is often the color of a sunburned tourist who couldn’t tan to save their life, my breathing is less haggard and I’m running faster for longer periods. As for rock climbing, I seem to have hit a wall (ha.), but I can go up and down E4s – E6s in seconds and I’m falling significantly more gracefully than before. There’s a V0 that requires transferring from one wall to another with a protruding corner, and then using that wall to get to the incline with the remaining holds to reach the top (this is the same one that I fell off of and my chin and chest collided with each other) that I want to conquer next week. That, and the E5 right next to it that is similar in difficulty, only without an incline.

Anyway, it’s Sunday. It’s daylight savings. We’re one hour closer to next week, and one hour closer to getting my groove back. In the meantime, I want to share a lunch I had earlier in the week that’s high in protein, keeps you full, and isn’t wasteful of leftover batter.

I was intrigued by Ashley’s use of leftover French toast batter and turning the “cinnamon eggs” into scrambled deliciousness or a fruit-filled omelet with yogurt on top. Still in a crepe-y mood, I wanted to embody that waste-not mentality. Thus, after lightly breading egg washed chicken tenders in almond meal, I combined the remaining amounts of both and turned it into a wrap for my chicken, green beans, and leeks.

Garnish with tomatoes, and you’re good until dinner.

Almond Meal Omelet with Chicken Tenders, Green Beans, & Leeks

3 (187 g) Chicken breast tenderloins
1 (52 g) Egg
52 ml Water
25 g Almond meal
Pinch of salt
85 g French cut green beans
50 g Leeks, thickly sliced

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Cook the green beans and leeks together until tender over medium heat and set aside.
Mix together the water and egg thoroughly to make the egg wash, and set aside in a bowl.
Pour the almond meal in another bowl of the same size and also set aside.
Generously dip the chicken tender meat into the egg wash and transfer them to the almond meal to cover with “breading”.
Lay them on a baking pan lined with greased tin foil and bake for twenty minutes*, flipping them over midway (you can also pan-fry them, in which case the oven is not needed).
Combine the remaining egg wash and almond meal together, and place a skillet pan (or in my case, a cast iron griddle pan) over medium heat.
When ready, grease with your cooking oil of choice and cook as you would a crepe (the crepe is very delicate, so I found it handy putting it under the boiler instead of flipping it).
When cooked all the way through, plop the crepe onto a plate, line the center with the greens and the cut up chicken tender pieces, and cover the edges.
Garnish with tomato wedges and your favorite savory condiments like sour cream or mustard.

Serves 1.

*Note: the meat came out a tad dry, and I'm not sure if it had to do with me leaving them in the oven after it was turned off or if it needed something else to keep it moist. Thoughts?

Little Bitty Popover Bites

I don’t think people realize how invigorating writing this blog has been for me. It has been a humbling, maddening, and amazing experience. There have been flops as many as there had been successes. I’ve cooked and baked outside the box, and the same goes for my fitness and health. As January comes to a close, I stand before the month of February empowered and amazed what four weeks into the New Year has done for me. Amongst the mistakes and the experiments and the lessons, I am proud to say I participated in the first Gluten Free Ratio Rally of 2012.

For all of January the participants of the GFRR worked hard to come up with popover recipes, and all of us had our trials. I personally had three flops before a winner emerged. During this time I made different breakfast bakes, perfected cornbread, and dressed up quinoa. I also started rock climbing no less than three times a week (bouldering to be more precise), running twice a week, working two part-time jobs, and loving everything about my life.

Now, even though my cornbread boosted my confidence, it was the success of January’s GFRR that proved just how limitless I was, and just how limitless and delicious being gluten free can be with a little patience and perseverance.

So you may be wondering, “just what was this month’s GFRR, Morri?” Well, with an ingredient ratio of 1 flour : 2 liquid : 1 egg, can you guess what it is?

If you said “popovers,” you are absolutely correct.

I wish I had taken photos of the flops, because when I say flops, I mean flops. The first batch was cooked in duck fat, with a much too thick batter that essentially turned into savory donut holes in muffin tins. The second batch was made as a dairy free Dutch baby, but it was like a thick pancake without the rise. The third batch was made in my new mini muffin tin, with pureed banana, buttermilk, and coconut flour that ended up being your average muffins more than anything. But the fourth batch was just right, so right in fact gluten loving Burt-man ate practically the entire batch without a second thought of them being gluten free. And this was a man that feared most of my gluten free experimentations!

Needless to say I was quite pleased.

Popovers are light, hollow rolls made from an eggy batter similar to Yorkshire pudding, though instead it is cooked in a special kind of baking tin (or a muffin tin if you don’t have one) and cooked in butter as opposed to drippings. The oldest known reference to popovers is from a letter in 1850, and the first cookbook to mention this delectable treat was M. N. Henderson’s Practical Cooking (1876).

U.S. American poet Ogden Nash even wrote a light-hearted albeit inverted chronology of the popovers:

Let's call Yorkshire pudding
A fortunate blunder:
It's a sort of popover
That turned and popped under.

Mrs. R of honey from flinty rocks is our amazing host for this month’s GFRR. As a woman who is all about overcoming the shortcomings that happen in life, I say she chose the perfect challenge for the rest of us. At one point I was ready to throw my hands up and say “Nope. I’m done.” But on the last day of January, I figured I’d try at it again with three new tricks:

1. Using starch in the recipe (45 g out of 120 g)
2. Putting the leftover butter into the batter after greasing the pan (Thanks for the tip, Jonathan!)
3. Steam

The third, I believe, made all the difference in the world. On the shelf below the popovers I put a third of a teakettle of tap water (not hot) in a broiler pan but otherwise cooked as Ruhlman’s book Ratio instructed.

The rest, my dear readers, is history. I hope that you realize from each month’s GFRR is, whether you are gluten free, vegetarian (with or without the animal by-products), dairy free, nut free, or following a specific diet (SCD, ACD, Keto, Paleo, etc.), you should never deny yourself good food. Look at me; I made popovers. Grain-free mini muffin tin ones that followed the Meals With Morri motto “Delicious. Nutritious. Gluten free.” without compromise.

So then, what on Earth are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Little Bitty Popover Bites

240 ml Whole milk, room temperature
2 Large eggs, room temperature
19 g Quinoa flour
56 g Garbanzo bean flour
45 g Tapioca starch
1/2 – 3/4 tsp. Sea salt
30 g Butter, melted

Place a mini muffin tin (or small popover tin, if you have it) in the center shelf of the oven and preheat to 450ºF. 
In the shelf below, place a covered broiler pan filled with a third of a stovetop teakettle of water for steaming.
Except the butter, place the ingredients in a blender and pulse until just combined and let it sit on the counter to let the batter set.
Once the oven is preheated, take the muffin pan out of the oven and grease the tins with a silicone brush generously (do it at least twice).
Pour the leftover butter, between one and two teaspoons, in with the batter and pulse through the blender one more time until combined.
Fill each cup to the top with the batter and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375ºF, and continue baking until done, about 20 to 30 minutes (mine were done at 20).
Serve straight from the oven (pierce the tops to allow steam to escape) with preserves or honey, in soups or stews, or as is with a cup of tea.

 Makes 16 Little Bitties. :) Just saying "little bitty" makes me smile.

Here are the other participants for your viewing pleasure. And thanks again, Mrs. R, for hosting!

*Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks    Popovers - Gluten & Dairy Free
Brooke | B & the boy!    Chocolate & Sweet Potato Popovers
Charissa | Zest Bakery    Lemon Vanilla Popovers with Minnesota Raspberries
Claire | My Gluten free home    Chai Popovers
Erin Swing | The Sensitive Epicure    Popovers
Ginger Bardenhagen | Fresh Ginger    chive and black pepper; toasted onion and aleppo pepper
gretchen  |  kumquat    strawberry cream cheese popovers
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Basic Popovers
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine    Chocolate Popovers
Jonathan  |  The Canary Files    Cinnamon & Star Anise Popovers
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes    Gluten-Free Honey Coconut Popovers
Morri  |  Meals With Morri    Little Bitty Popover Bites
Rachel  |  The Crispy Cook    Corny Popovers
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Sweet Cherry Popovers

The Breakfast Bake Jamboree!

Last week must have been my most bangin’ week that I’ve had in a while. I was busy when there was something to do, and was relaxed when there was nothing to do. The house is cleaner, my demeanor is happy-go-lucky and open, and better still, I’m sleeping. Last night was my longest sleep yet: nine-something hours.

It’s weird, though. I figured that this awesome way of looking at the world would give me more time to blog, but the somethings in my life (i.e. working two jobs part-time equaling thirty-two hours, cleaning, exercising, hanging out with people) have kept me plenty occupied. In retrospect, I think this blog was my outlet from stressing out and losing it last semester, an escape through recipe writing and reaching out to those who visit Meals With Morri with stories of my day-to-day life. But after this week, I know when I am free to cook just for the sake of cooking, and following up with a post.

This particular post on my take of breakfast bakes has been two plus weeks in the making, if only because I wasn’t sure if I wanted each recipe to have its own post or do like I did with my various socca versions in “The Socca Chronicles”. After my stagnation of not blogging much of anything, the photos on my camera were adding up and I was getting overwhelmed with the idea of having to do so many over a short amount of time. In my something-nothing philosophy, that kind of thinking just wasn’t kosher. 

One post it was then.

My first ever “breakfast bake” (if I could call it that) on this blog was significantly different than what they look like today. They’ve transformed based on how they are cooked and in what, and I am truly digging my oven-safe soup bowls to do the job I wanted. They’ve varied in flours, liquids, fruits, leavening agents, and fats. Some of them have been amazing while others, well, not so much. I wasn’t partial to baking powder, only because of wanting to avoid cornstarch (or starches in general to keep the bakes whole-grain), and used equal measurements baking soda and cream of tartar instead. At the moment I’m only using baking soda, not as highly rising a product but delicious all the same.

By the way, the following recipes were baked in a preheated soup bowl at 350ºF for 30 or so minutes. Butter and coconut oil were used for greasing the pan just before adding the batter, though I’m using coconut oil currently. Oh, and all of the batters were made the night before and placed in the fridge to “set”.

The first is similar to the breakfast bake I had almost every day during the boyfriend's and my ski trip. It was made with 60 g of garbanzo bean flour, 90 g water, one egg, salt, baking soda and half a Granny Smith apple, so I just rolled with calling it a “socca bake”. But I started to realize that my tummy could only handle so many beans in a day, so I tried it with buckwheat flour and groats. 

Spiced Apple Buckwheat Bake

30 g Raw buckwheat groats, whole

30 g Buckwheat flour

90 ml Filtered water

5 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar

1 Large egg

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into small chunks

1 – 2 tsp. Butter, for greasing

Combine everything into a mixing bowl (except for the leavening agents, the apple, and the butter) and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF with a small oven-safe soup bowl (or ramekin) in the center.

Add the leavening agent and apple chunks into the batter and let it sit on the counter until the oven is heated.

Melt the butter in the hot bowl and swish around the bottom as well as the edges and then pour in the batter.

Bake for 30 minutes (or until you press the top in the very middle as does not give way).

I cut mine so it resembled a puffy sandwich and put a little peanut butter love in the middle.

Over the next few recipes I fell in love with cream cheese and wanted to use it in a few of my breakfast bakes as well as topping them with it.

Strawberry Dream Breakfast Bake

60 g Buckwheat flour

6 g Buckwheat groats

90 ml Filtered water

1 Large egg

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1/8 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

Stevia, to taste

30 g Cream cheese

140 g Strawberries, cut into small chunks (if frozen, put in the fridge to thaw overnight)

1/4 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 – 2 tsp. Butter, for greasing

Like the “Spiced Apple BB” recipe above, mix together all but the cream cheese, strawberries, leavening agents, and butter to sit in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF with a small oven-safe soup bowl (or ramekin) in the center.

Add the leavening agent, the cream cheese in small patches, and strawberry chunks into the batter and let it sit on the counter until the oven is heated.

Melt the butter in the hot bowl and swish around the bottom as well as the edges and then pour in the batter.

Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

I think I would have liked it more if there was a little more stevia in the mix, but it was very satisfying nonetheless.

While I’m on the cream cheese track, I made one with cream cheese, coconut flour, and pureed berries for a cheesecake breakfast bake sort of thing. It looked darling until it sank. And there needs to be a different flour; the coconut gave it a weird texture.

Moving on.

I started craving the lemon poppy combination, and thought about making a breakfast oatmeal cookie with the two flavors. But I found that quinoa flour and garbanzo bean flour were simply made to be together, and deliciousness ensued.

Lemon Poppy Bake with Sweet Poppy Cream Cheese Spread

30 g Garbanzo bean flour

28 g Quinoa flour

120 ml Filtered water

12 ml Orange juice

1 Large egg

1/4 tsp. Grated lemon zest

4 g Poppy seeds

1/8 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

Stevia, to taste

1/4 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 – 2 tsp. Coconut oil

Sweet Poppy Cream Cheese Spread

15 g Cream cheese

1/8 – 1/4 tsp. Poppy seeds

Stevia, to taste

With this recipe, you can combine all of the ingredients with the exception to the leavening agents and coconut oil and bake as instructed above. I particularly enjoyed this one because it was something different, and quinoa flour has been neglected for much too long in this house.

Along with using the typical dry ingredients for the “flour" component, I also tried out pumpkin and sweet potato for a change of pace. Both bakes were significantly softer and creamier than the others, and resembled very much like a baked pudding or spoon bread.

Pumpkin Pudding Bake

60 g Garbanzo bean flour

183 g Pumpkin puree

90 ml Filtered water

1 Egg

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1/4 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Allspice

Dash of Powdered sage

Stevia, to taste

1/4 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar

Finally, in an attempt to keep the Winter Wonderland Spirit alive (since it only became cold enough to snow as of Friday), I thought of some of the recipes I didn’t get to make in December, like gingerbread cutout cookies and other recipes associated with the holidays. But I did have fresh ginger root on hand. And I did have some odds and ends that reminded me of ornaments, trees, and lights…

Gingerbread Bake with a Touch of Currant

30 g Buckwheat flour

28 g Buckwheat groats, coarsely ground in a spice blender

120 ml Filtered water

1 Large egg

1 tsp. Orange juice

1/4 tsp. Grated lemon rind

6 g Finely grated fresh ginger

5 g Fresh ginger, cut into very small cubes (you can also use candied ginger in its place)

15 g Dried currants

5 g Unsweetened baking chocolate, finely ground in a spice blender

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1/8 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. Nutmeg

7 g Honey (or 1 pureed prune, as I had done)

1/4 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 – 2 tsp. Coconut oil

Just like with the "Lemon Poppy Bake" and the "Pumpkin Pudding Bake" you combine all of the ingredients except the last three to sit in the fridge overnight. And just when you are preheated the oven you add the leavening agents, and then put the coconut oil into the hot pan ahead of the batter.

So there you have it: five breakfast bake recipes with an additional two mentioned in passing (one of those passing fancies being a flop). I learned a lot about how leavening agents differ, and the glories of cream cheese were only just realized. There were many I didn’t photograph simply because I was up at such a ridiculous hour and my brain was fuzzy with fatigue and hunger, but I have one of the recipes written down and one still in the thought process, both of which need to be tinkered with.

It’s official: January is definitely Breakfast Bake Month for the year 2012. Don't get me wrong; that’s just dandy. I do, however, intend on the last week of this month having other recipes besides breakfast bakes. Cookies maybe. Or something with whole grain quinoa in it. 

We'll just have to wait and see.

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving. A holiday focused on food, family, food, getting together, food, telling stories, food, and more food. I mentioned the food, right? 

My Leftovers Day Plate

Good.

I only had class on Monday this week, so much of my time was spent cleaning, cooking, and nervously awaiting the arrival of our other guests. We were eight around the table: Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, Uncle Rich, myself, and the boyfriend’s father and brother. He came later in the evening, back from his five-day excursion in Mexico.  The energy at the table was enormous, and food was plentiful and beyond delicious. It wasn’t completely Morri friendly, and being grain-free and sweetener free made it slightly more difficult (I indulged with a sliver of pie), but the food that I could and did eat did not leave me wanting. Plus, it was my first Thanksgiving back from Sweden, so I was just tickled pink to be there.

First and foremost, the Turkey, a bird named after the country the English believed it originated (The Turks called it the Hindu, I think, though the bird comes from Northern America). We typically buy the all-natural Trader Joe’s turkey each year, which came with its own brine. Only, upon further inspection, I realized that the brine wasn’t Morri friendly because of the sugar, so we ended up getting the smaller and yes, more expensive Kosher bird. 

Regardless, it was totally worth the extra few bucks, because not only did it taste amazing but it occurred to us that maybe the bird was raised and fed differently due to its, uh, Kosher-ness. It wasn’t some hulking, too-big-for-its-own-legs, obese thing. It was smaller, with some of the feathers in the skin, and juicier than I remember turkey ever being. Next year, I’m going to look in buying a Morri friendly bird online and see where that goes.

As I was going grain-free, I decided not to make a gluten free stuffing which, until I got sick earlier this month, I was making it with a spoon bread base. Instead of putting it in the bird it was baked like a huge bread pudding and a whole onion was put in its place. The onion was my “stuffing”.

There were two kinds of greens, my Uncle Rich’s infamous collard greens, cooked with salted fatback, water, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, and I made green beans with a delish twist, and whose recipe will be posted shortly.

Like many Thanksgiving dinners around the United States, our menu was rather heavy on the carbohydrates, but I think we did rather well in bringing color and balance to the table. Instead of mashed potatoes, we went with “small” sweet potatoes, baked at 400 ºF for 1.5 to 2 hours. The result is a caramelized and sticky exterior with a gooey middle that melts in your mouth. 

We had two sauces, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade, grain-free, and definitely not out of a can. I'm doing my best not to brag too inanely, but our cranberry sauce was beyond amazing, and I wish I had written down the recipe (we used this one for inspiration). Mama Dazz started off with two bags of fresh cranberries, used two cups of orange juice instead of water to cook them, and finished it off with fresh orange pieces and walnuts. Before adding sugar to the whole thing she poured a bit into two ramekins, one for me and one for Grandma D, who has diabetes. I personally liked it unsweetened, but she used a sweetener for hers.

Except for the turkey and Uncle Rich’s collards, I was surprised that most of the things I put on my plate (and made) were vegan. Then again, since everything was mixed into a tasty jamboree of flavors, I guess it wasn’t so vegan after all. Oh well…

As for drinks, I made two kinds of ice tea, Irish Breakfast (caffeinated) and Green Rooibos (non-caffeinated), and poured them into wine bottles for a change of pace. We also had chilled white wines, a 2010 Da Vinci Chianti Big Sergey brought (along with pink roses), and sparkling apple cider. 

Mama Dazz's Apple-Quince Pie (Not GF)

Mama Dazz's Sorghum Pecan Pie (Not GF)

Dessert was a Thanksgiving feast in its own right, with four (count 'em, four) different pies, vanilla ice cream, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and lots of coffee. Mama Dazz made Grandma D her own special single-serving berry pie as one, but she also made pecan pie and an apple-quince pie for the gluten eating crowd. I made a gluten-free pumpkin pie with a dairy free filling, using the second half of the pie crust recipe I made for last month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Grandma D's Three Berry Pie

My GF Pumpkin Pie!

It was weird having pie, with its not-so-much grain-free crust and honey sweetened filling, not to mention eating more than one fruit serving a day (the cranberry sauce was my second serving). After we picked him up from the airport, I ate a tiny sliver of my pie while he ate a reheated plate of amazing deliciousness. I felt loopy and slightly intoxicated after that, and my stomach didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though I did feel off. I think having a grain-free/sweetener free/limited fruit servings diet for a while may help, but it may end up becoming a long-term thing. FiveLac has been helpful; I just don’t want to take 3 – 6 packets every day for the rest of my life. And as long as I have garbanzo bean flour, I'm golden.

All in all, this Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for; you know, besides being thankful for the family I have. For my birthday I have this idea that, for every year after my birthday that’s the number of hours I give to doing community service (i.e., I’m twenty-two, so this year I do at minimum twenty-two hours). I am thankful that my lifestyle enables me to do that. I am thankful for the world I live in, for the people in it, and for the life I lead. I am thankful for every experience, every lesson, every mistake, and every success. I am thankful for my education, for my job, and for my bright today and the tomorrows that follow.

I am thankful for this year’s harvest, whatever that may be.

I end this post with a Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you all. May you have food in your cupboards and pantries all year long, a roof over your heads and a fireplace to keep you warm and dry, and finally, an open heart that grows with each passing day.

Dijon Green Beans with Almonds and Mushrooms (adapted from this recipe)

1 lb 8 oz French-cut green beans, preferably frozen
10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 oz Almond slivers
1 oz Coconut oil
5 Garlic cloves, left whole
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper
Dash nutmeg
2 oz Dijon mustard

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil.
Sautee the mushrooms, almond slivers, and the garlic cloves until thoroughly cooked and browned (careful, though, the almonds can burn if you are not watching).
Add in the green beans and stir until the ingredients are completely integrated.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to medium or medium-low for up to three minutes.
Pour in the spices and Dijon mustard in the final minutes of cooking (i.e. the green beans are still a vibrant green and lukewarm).
After it has cooked, let it sit for five minutes before serving.

Serves 8 – 10 people as a side dish, with a very likely chance of leftovers.