The Year of Living Audaciously

Former food blog, now travel blog - following my year as a Fulbright ETA in Indonesia

Archives for September 2013

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

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I made these cookies a couple of weeks ago and LOVED them! I’ve been on a lemon kick lately, and when I was asked to bring cookies for a meeting – I knew I wanted to try something with lemons. These are super easy to throw together and melt-in-you-mouth delicious!
They definitely don’t qualify as part of my effort for “clean eating” but they are a really good treat when you do want to break away 😉

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Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Recipe from LDSLiving
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a cookie sheet or use a silicone mat.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice and mix well. Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour and mix together until just combined.

3. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, gather a spoonful of dough (just a bit smaller than a golf ball size), roll it into a ball and then roll it in the powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and continue until all the dough is used. Press the cookies down just a bit so that they will flatten nicely and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown and the cookies look matte (not shiny on top). Let cool for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

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Edamame Quinoa Salad

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I love this salad because of the flavors, the textures and the colors! It’s easy to throw together and is a perfect side-dish for just about anything.

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Edamame Quinoa Salad
Recipe Type: Salad, Side Dish, Lunch
Author: Mackenzie
Serves: 5 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cup cooked, cooled quinoa
  • 16 oz frozen, shelled, edamame
  • 1 1/4 cup frozen corn
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • Several tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Dash of cayene
Instructions
  1. Prepare quinoa if you haven’t already. Let cool.
  2. In a medium saucepan, bring about three cups of water to a boil. Add the edamame and corn and boil for about 3-4 minutes – just until tender. Drain and cool completely.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the cooled edamame, corn and quinoa and the green onion, red pepper and cilantro.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lime juice, salt and spices until well combined. Drizzle over the salad and toss to coat.
  5. Best when served chilled.

Recipe adapted from RealHouseMoms

G-team Banana Bread

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Last weekend, we (the WU golf team) traveled to Michigan for our first tournament of the year! We played really well and won the tournament! Yeah Bears! Now, I knew that we needed a little something extra to get us through an 8-hour bus ride so I brought along some banana bread. As a team well-known for our bottom-less stomachs and endless appetite for dessert – I knew the bread wouldn’t last long. And it certainly didn’t – they loved it! Since we won the tournament, maybe this bread needs to become a tournament tradition 😉

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G-team Banana Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Recipe from my Grandma Mary

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, salt and vanilla and mix well. Mix in the baking powder and flour, then add the mashed bananas. Mix until just combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour!

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Southwestern Black Bean and Grilled Chicken Salad

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Okay, this salad is so good that I ate it for dinner one night, and then lunch and dinner the next day. Ha! Fine, I’ll admit that I was going out of town the following day so needed to get rid of it and I had nothing else to eat. But… I still really enjoyed it every single time and look forward to making it again!

I love that this salad has a southwestern flare, but isn’t overloaded like a taco salad is. It’s perfect for late summer with the refreshing cherry tomatoes and vibrant colors from the avocado and tomatoes. I adjusted the original recipe to make it “clean-eating” complaint and I don’t think you’d ever notice the changes! It is a bit more time consuming than your average salad – but it’s easily filling enough for a main dish so it’s worth the extra effort!

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Southwestern Black Bean, Tomato, and Grilled Chicken Salad
Serves 3
Recipe adapted just slightly from CookFresh Magazine 2011

Ingredients:
2 organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt
2 teaspoons maple syrup
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 lime
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons honey
Freshly ground black pepper
1 can black beans
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large scallion, thinly sliced
1 package of pre-washed romaine lettuce, chopped
2 medium firm-ripe avocados

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, coriander, cumin, 3/4 teaspoons salt and maple syrup. Then, cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise, creating four thin, chicken cutlets. Rub both sides of the chicken with the spice mix. You can cook the chicken either by grilling it or in a skillet (I’ve done it both ways, since I don’t have a grill at school). If you’re grilling it, heat grill to medium-high heat and grill chicken for three minutes on top side and about two minutes on bottom side. If you are cooking it in a skillet, head some olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat and cook, flipping occasionally until done, about ten minutes.

2. While the chicken cooks, prepare the dressing. In a glass jar with a lid (if you don’t have one, a small bowl works fine too), combine the olive oil, lime juice, 1 tablespoon of the cilantro, the honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Whisk or shake well to combine. (I’ve found this makes extra dressing so I do it in a glass jar so I can save the extras for another salad!)

3. In a separate bowl, combine the black beans, tomatoes, scallion and remaining 2 teaspoons of cilantro and a pinch of salt. Add about 2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss gently.

4. In a large bowl or on a serving platter, toss the lettuce with a little bit of the dressing to lightly coat. Slice the chicken breast very thinly and pit and slice the avocado. Arrange the chicken, avocado and black bean/tomato mixture over the lettuce. Drizzle more dressing over salad if desired.

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