Homemade Cheez-Its

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This post is dedicated to my dear friend @Harmonyjoyyy. A friend in real life and in the twitterverse, she is one of those people I love following because she gets you through the “each minute feels like an hour” days. One of the things I’ve come to know about @Harmonyjoyyy is the girl. loves. cheez-its. =) Since giving up all snacks involving cheese, I had kinda forgot about them until I watched her pledge her allegiance and undying love. Maybe I was missing something here.

As I do each time I feel my allergy is making me miss out on awesomeness, I started googling homemade recipes until I found one with a decent picture. Success!

These crackers were everything I thought I was missing and more. They were salty and cheesy with just the right amount of crunch. Since this past weekend was @Harmonyjoyyy’s birthday and she was the inspiration, I made her some too! (with real cheese and butter =) H and L got a stash for being my taste testers, and all the crackers were gone within a day. Talk about addicting.
Yields about 7 dozen crackers.

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. bag Dayia Cheddar Style Shreds
  • 3 TB Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, softened
  • 1 TB shortening, softened
  • 1/4 tsp celtic sea salt, plus some for sprinkling ( I cut the salt in half from the original recipe because Earth Balance is salted… I think)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 TB cold water

The first thing I noticed about the recipe was that it called for grated cheese. I’ve yet to find Dayia in block form in my area so I put a whole bag of shreds in a food processor and pulsed until the cheese was very fine.
Next combine the cheese, softened butter and shortening, and salt in a standing mixer until completely integrated. Mix in the flour, and then slowly add the water. The dough will be dry so you want to add enough water for it to come together, but you don’t want it to be too wet. Separate the dough into 2 discs, cover and refrigerate for roughly 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375. Roll out dough on a silicone mat (or parchment paper) to 1/8 inch thick. Using a pastry wheel or whatever you have really, cut the dough into uniform squares. I tried to make mine about an inch like you would get out of the box. Size isn’t as important as much as the uniform part is! Otherwise some crackers will cook faster than others (learned the hard way!) In the center of each square poke a small hole using a toothpick. Sprinkle any additional salt.

Transfer the squares to a greased baking sheet and bake 15 minutes or until the edges are the slightest brown. I poked the center of a few crackers to make sure they weren’t too puffy. Some of the puff will harden as the crackers cool.
Yum!
Here’s a swiss-gruyere version.
And a sharp cheddar!

Watermelon Banana Smoothie

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40 days of yoga.

For years I’ve wanted to participate in this program at Baron Baptiste, but I’ve always had some half marathon or triathlon or other crazy athletic adventure that got in the way. No way could I spend 40 days doing yoga… I have to run, swim, bike, jump, lift, etc., etc., excuse, excuse. Then this fall as I went to sign up for my next race I realized that every half in my area was sold out.

Took another look at the 40 days program. “Well it’s kind of expensive” I told myself. “Yea but so are tri’s and half’s and now you’re not doing that.” Valid point other half of my brain. What sealed the deal for me was that my favorite teacher was leading the 40 days. I often go through the motions when I go to yoga, listening, but not really retaining much. But when this one teacher speaks… I actually hear her. What she’s saying makes sense and I can apply her words of wisdom to my life. Revolutionary for someone who goes to yoga mainly cause it kicks my butt.

Part of 40 days along with the daily yoga and meditation, comes a 3 day fruit fast/cleanse half way though. As a runner I fundamentally opposed this at first. “But I NEED my carbs!” I thought. “True, but you’re not running right now… you’re doing yoga” said the other half. Also, I can do anything for 3 days. It’s just 3 days. Right?
Adapted from Kimberly Snyder.
Serves 3.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups chopped watermelon
  • 3 bananas
  • 2 cups coconut water
  • handful of raspberries

Place the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until completely combined.

I substituted coconut water because milk of any kind isn’t allowed in the cleanse. But I’ve made this before with almond milk and it rocked!

Sonoma Chicken Salad on Focaccia

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Swim team season has started for me once again. After work a few days a week, and one day over the weekend I help coach some of Arlington’s finest swimmers at the Boys & Girls Club. The start of swim team is exciting. It marks the return of old friends you haven’t seen all summer, the return of smelling like chlorine all the time, and the return of outdoor adventures with the head coach Mr. D!

A couple Sunday’s ago Mr. D invited a bunch of us to go on a hike up Tully Mountain. The description of the day was “Meet at 10am. Pack a lunch. Home by dinner.” He’s a man of few words, but that’s what makes his trips exciting. You never know what’s going to happen haha.

Since it had been kinda cool out, I decided to go with a chicken salad sandwich figuring it would be pretty safe. Of course after I bought all the ingredients and made it, the temp skyrocketed to the mid-80s. Cautiously I threw in a few ice packs and that seemed to do the job =). I loved the flavor of the rotisserie chicken and the crunch of the pecans and celery. Sometimes I find chicken salad a little boring, but definitely not this one!
Modified from Whole Foods.
Serves 6.

Ingredients:
Dressing:

Salad:

  • 1 rotisserie chicken
  • 3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
  • 2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
  • 3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
  • Loaf Focaccia
  • 5 oz. bag baby arugula
Pull all of the usable meat of the rotisserie chicken. Every time I do this I hate the process, but flavor of the chicken is totally worth it. Add chicken, pecan pieces, grapes, and celery in a large bowl.
In a separate small bowl, mix together mayo, yogurt, vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. Using yogurt in chicken salad is an idea I borrowed from my Grandmaman to cut down on fat and sodium. She goes all in with the yogurt but I still wanted a little bit of the mayo taste. Pour dressing into chicken and stir until well mixed.
Slice focaccia and put together with chicken salad and arugula.
View from the top of the mountain!

Fall Almond Cookies

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Annnd I’m back after unannounced summer break. Have you ever just wanted to cut out all distractions and soak up the last bits of summer, and then your computer dies, and then your camera dies, and then your computer dies again? That happens to people right =).

These cookies remind me of running cross country in the fall and sitting in the back of the bus going to away meets. See, H and I would always make cookies for the team when we were traveling. We’d meet at her house the afternoon before the big day, after an easy or no practice and bake up a storm. One time while gathering all of the ingredients she took out the almond extract instead of vanilla. I was shocked and a little taken back.
me: “Almond instead of vanilla?”
H: “Yup, my mom and I do this sometimes for a different flavor. It’s nice trust me.”
me: “But that’s not what the directions say.”
H: “Haha, you don’t always have to follow the directions word for word Jo.”
A wise one that H.
Adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1 TB almond milk
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 1 TB almond milk

In a large bowl or standing mixer beat butter, sugar, and baking powder until fluffy. Add in the egg, almond milk, and almond extract and beat until well combined. Beat in as much flour as you can. (At this point I started a raise an eyebrow… as much as I could? What about the rest?) The original recipe said after you couldn’t beat anymore, to just stir the rest in. The dough was looking a little dry so I added a little more milk and continued to use my mixer haha. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Divide the dough in half so you can work in batches. Sprinkle a large cutting board with a little bit of flour. Take the first half of the dough leaving the second in the fridge, roll out the dough until it’s about 1/8 in thick. Using your favorite fall cookie cutters cut the dough in shapes! Carefully place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes. Place the unused dough back in the fridge and repeat with the second half.

When cookies are done transfer to a wire sheet and let cool. Perfect time for the icing. In a bowl whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and the almond milk. Once the cookies have cooled completely, brush with icing and sprinkle festively!

Mini Bacon and Asparagus Quiches

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Processed food is a funny thing. Crescent Rolls. Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts. Duncan Hines Classic Vanilla Frosting. All things you’d think I’d be allergic to but contain 0% dairy. Praise the food Gods.

The crescent rolls come in particularly handy when making mini quiches. Pie crusts are usually safe as well, but why cut something into 12 pieces when it’s already been done for you? I’d been craving quiche lately after seeing L make one. I took some inspiration from the “I LOVE BACON!” book’s Bacon, Asparagus, and Gruyere Quiche. The bacon book’s recipe used a lot of heavy cream and whole milk though. While I can find those soy substitutes, I was looking for something lighter and found a little inspiration from Eatingwell.com too!
Yields 12 mini quiches.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cans crescent rolls
  • 5 eggs
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 cup almond milk + 1 TB lemon juice (substitute buttermilk!)
  • 8 slices turkey bacon
  • 6 asparagus spears cooked (I used frozen and thawed… you know… lazy), chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups daiya cheddar style shreds
  • celtic sea salt and pepper to taste
Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease a muffin pan liberally with cooking spray. Line muffin cups with crescent rolls, cutting dough to fill in holes when necessary.
On medium heat, fry up bacon in a large skillet. Crumble or chop bacon into bite-sized pieces.
Whisk together eggs, egg whites, and milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle bacon, asparagus, and cheese into individual cups. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the cups.
Bake mini quiches until the tops are light brown about 25 minutes.
Hopefully the quiches won’t stick too much, use a knife to loosen if needed.
Savor bacon, cheesy, buttery goodness with a little less guilt =).

Sunday Brunch at Garden at the Cellar

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Last Sunday was unfortunately very much like this one. Rain =(. In an effort to still venture out of the house, the girls and I decided to try out a new brunch place. The spots in our neighborhood are good, but who doesn’t like changing it up a bit?

We started off with a round of mimosas…
L and I each got the The Egg Sandwich - skillet eggs, bacon, avocado, cheddar(someone got cheese, someone didn’t…), rosemary truffle fries. Truffle oil on fries is always a win in my opinion! They were melt in your mouth good with the perfect amount of rosemary. The breakfast sandwich was definitely one of the best I’ve ever had. It was a good size (small egg sandwiches are such a bummer) the eggs were soft but not too runny, and it was really well paired with the avocado and aioli that was on it too!
As if that wasn’t enough food, I asked for a side of Corned Beef Hash because I was curious what type it was, big pieces or minced pieces. It’s not listed as a side on the menu, but the waitress was happy to oblige =). While I prefer a messy minced hash, just looking at this dish again is making my mouth water. Mmmm salty goodness.

Garden at the Cellar was uh-mazing. It far exceeded my expectations and definitely made it’s way into my brunch rotation. The perfect way to start Sunday Funday.