May Resolution: Build A Baking Blog

The surprising outcome of graduate school, other the astounding amount of financial and sleep debt one accumulates, is the discovery of what is really important. I don't mean this in any kind of profound who-will-be-at-your-side-when-you're-on-your-deathbed kind of way, but in the sense that, when your free time is limited to nonexistent, you learn very quickly what sorts of activities are fulfilling enough to find - or, really, make - time for. For me, that's baking. I really, really enjoy decorating the house, and I sometimes enjoy cooking, but daydream about baking. I relax by looking at baking blogs. I sometimes wake up in the morning with recipe ideas in my head. It's a sickness.

When I thought about how much baking relaxes me, and how much I enjoy sharing my baked goods with people, I realized that that's what I'm good at. This blog has become this Frankenstein of all the things I do around the house. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I will never come close to being an interior decorator, or a Top Chef. And that can get discouraging at times, and I don't want to share things here that I'm not proud of. I'm really proud of my baking, so I decided to start from scratch - no pun intended.

Late last month, I tried an experiment. Whereas very few friends know about this blog (to those who do: thanks for your readership, support, and lack of ridicule) I launched a new, baking-only blog at www.buttercreamfanatic.com. It's been harder work than I anticipated, but I'm so pleased with how it has been going so far. Friends have been incredibly supportive, strangers have been reading and commenting, and one of my photos was accepted to Foodgawker, which is a major hub of fellow cooks, bakers and bloggers, and somewhere I never thought I'd see my own food.

Which brings me to my May resolution. When I planned the resolutions at the beginning of the year, I didn't know what was in store for May. But very quickly, I'm seeing the potential in the new blog, and I want to see if I can actually build a small following. So, my resolution for May will be just that: to devote my free time and energy to baking Buttercream Fanatic a fun place for me to showcase my baking, and interact with people who enjoy it too. So, I'll be largely neglecting this blog for awhile (sorry!), and/or reposting content from the other one. Fair warning :)

Buttercream Fanatic is a concept that I've always wanted to do, but never had the time, or the courage, or the ____enter excuse here___. Now that I'm doing it, and it's going well, it feels great. With baking, I know I have something to share. With this blog, sometimes I feel silly sharing my living room's new paint job. I do want to keep documenting the progress on this house, so I will continue to post here sporadically, but the bulk of my energy is going to be directed toward Buttercream Fanatic.  If you're reading this, and don't already, I'd love for you to join me over there.

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April Resolution Recap

In April, I resolved to try something new. It actually turned out to be a fantastic resolution, if I do say so myself. I tried three new things:

(1) As I mentioned in this post, I went to flying trapeze school earlier this year, but it was so novel that I am counting it toward this resolution. It was pretty incredible - the adrenaline rush alone was pretty addictive. I had fun, but was also terrified. So I'm on the fence about returning, but it felt great to do something that was not only new, but also frightening, and follow through with it.

(2) I visited a very good friend in Denver, and we spent a day on the slopes. Snowboarding is not entirely new, I admit. My family used to go skiing every spring break in junior high and high school, and I had gotten pretty good on the ol' board. So I figured, I would just pick up where I left off. As I was boarding the plane, though, I realized that the last time I had snowboarded was a day in 2003. That's right: 10 years ago. A lot changes in 10 years, most notably the fact that my body is more decrepit and my fear of getting hurt is higher. Luckily my body is actually in better shape than I gave it credit for, and I was largely fine. I did fall and hit my head pretty hard when I was about 10 feet from the end of my last run (figures) but I was wearing a helmet and everything was fine. So, check that one off the list.

(3) We signed up for a CSA. If you're not familiar with the term, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and basically it means we pay for a "share" of a local farm's seasonal crop, and we get a large box of whatever is harvested each week. It's pretty cool, and my fridge has never had so many leafy greens in it, which forces me to brainstorm new uses for these interesting species (there are a lot of Asian greens).

You know, now that I am thinking about it, I tried two more new things this month (venturing to Flushing, Queens for hand-pulled noodles and starting the baking blog that I've had in the back of my mind for years). I guess novelty begets novelty? Well, in any case, looking back, it was a really great month.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Energy Bites

The post was originally seen over at Buttercream Fanatic

**

Finally, finally, the weather is warming up. Did I mention finally? This winter seemed especially long and dark and punishing, so the increasingly mild weather and longer days make Chicago morph into a completely different city. You know what I mean, right? All of a sudden, people who have been holed up in their houses since last year come pouring out their front doors wearing running shoes and grasping dog leashes. All of a sudden, the whole population becomes athletic. Going from the sedentary winter lifestyle to the active summer one, taking advantage of every minute of extra sunlight, takes a lot of energy.

These little bites are packed with calories, but healthy ones. I ate two before my last run and ended up going almost twice as far as I expected to. They contain no refined sugar (aside from a negligible amount in the chocolate chips) to avoid an energy spike and then crash, and the fat in the peanut butter and the fiber in the oatmeal and flax seed means they digest slowly for sustained energy. They are also quick and easy to make from ingredients you probably have on hand. You may not have ground flax seed on hand, but you can get it at nearly any health food store, or online, these days. Or feel free to just leave it out. They can also be made gluten-free if you want. Just make sure you use GF oats.

This is another recipe that is fast and easy, perfect for beginners. It requires a big mixing bowl and a microwave. After blending everything together, you roll the bites with your hands. And then you're done - no baking required. This is the easiest "baking" you'll ever do!


  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bites

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats*
1/2 cup ground flaxseed (optional)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup natural (unsweetened) crunchy peanut butter**
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*If you are concerned about gluten, ensure you are using a brand of oats that explicitly says they are made gluten-free.
**I recommend crunchy for added texture, but creamy is ok too

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (oats, flaxseed, cocoa, cinnamon) plus the chocolate chips and raisins.

In another, microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter and honey. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, until honey is melted and peanut butter is softened. Add the olive oil and vanilla and stir everything together.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix using a fork, or better yet, your hands. When everything is very thoroughly combined (this will take a few minutes), use a teaspoon or a small ice cream scoop to form 1.5" round balls of dough. In the palm of your hand, pack them together very tightly so that they don't fall apart when you put them down.

Store in an airtight container for a week to 10 days. Makes 18-20 1.25" round energy bites.

Cherry Almond Granola

This post was originally seen over at Buttercream Fanatic.

**

As I write this, I am 36,000 feet above a cornfield in Iowa, on my way home from a long weekend in Denver. It was awesome: skiing, hiking, dog-walking, and a lot of good food and sleep. Now that's what I call a vacation.

I was visiting my friend and former college housemate Kate (Hi, Kate!) and her awesome little dog, Henley. It always feels like a lot to ask to show up and be a house guest for nearly five whole days; I worry about being an imposition. Kate is an exceptional host, and hopefully I wasn't too much of a pain-in-the-butt guest, but nonetheless, I wanted to make sure she had something yummy just to reinforce how grateful I was for her generosity all weekend. 

Denver is a very outdoorsy, healthy, athletic town, and one of the best things about the weekend was that not a day went by without some sort of physical activity - which, after a winter in Chicago, was a huge change of pace. And it takes quite a bit of energy to keep up with this athletic lifestyle, especially given the altitude.

I wanted to make Kate something healthy and invigorating, and in the search for a great source of energy - from both a taste and a wholesomeness perspective - I always come back to granola. This Cherry Almond variety, for example, which I've made before and loved. The truth is that the recipe is really for granola bars, but mine fell apart when I was trying to get them out of the pan, so I just went with it. And, while we're on the subject, the add-ins are supposed to be almonds, dates and orange zest, but I had neither dates nor oranges on hand. Whoops. In a fit of improvisation, I used dried cherries (Trader Joe's version is amazing) and orange blossom water, which made the end product taste slightly more exotic. I totally get that most people don't have orange blossom water on hand, because if we're being honest, that's just weird and sort of food-snobby. Luckily, this recipe would would really well with regular orange zest.

Cherry Almond Granola
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

1 cup dried cherries (or dried fruit of your choice)
1 and 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup whole unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped (the original recipe calls for thinly sliced, if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon teaspoon freshly grated orange zest OR 1/4 teaspoon orange blossom water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350. Cover a cookie sheet with nonstick spray, parchment paper or a silpat.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cherries, oats, flour, wheat germ, almonds, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, peanut butter, honey, orange zest or blossom water, and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir until thoroughly combined. Optional: use your fingers to pinch the mixture together to form some clumps.

Pour the contents of the bowl onto the prepared cookie sheet and spread out into a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, and then check to see if the granola is toasted enough for your preference. If not, bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Cool completely before transferring to an airtight container for storage.

Outdoor Rugs

If it broke 40 degrees today, I'll be impressed. Seriously, what happened to spring?! It looks like it is going to be another typical Chicago spring, which means winter until about May 29th and then, overnight, it becomes summer. Just in time to start the annual June melt (as in, people are melting from heat and humidity, not snow). I actually like that part.

But I digress. Despite the terrible, cold, dark and damp weather we are having, or perhaps because of it, I am itching to start decorating the back deck. Last year, we made good progress considering the year before that, all we had was a stained white plastic mini table and some old directors chairs from my parents' crawl space. Now we are the proud owner of a real table (with matching chairs!), plus a handcrafted solid wood storage bench that Bryan spent about three weekends making. It's stained a gorgeous deep red-brown and weighs about 97,000 pounds.

Near the end of the season, I stumbled onto a sale at Target and bought a cushion for the bench and a bunch of throw pillows, all in jewel tones, with an emphasis on merlot-y red. This year, all I need to worry about is the rug. What do you think of these contenders?

Greek Key (duh)

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Diamond Neutral

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Espresso and Tan Stripe

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Lattice

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Chevron

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