“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
Welcome to Day #3 of Refrigerator Confidential! This week, you are up close and personal with our refrigerator. You can see what we buy at the Saturday Upcountry Farmers Market, and how we prepare it during the week. It’s kind of a game for us {a very tasty game I might add}, and the goal is to eat all or most of the food by Friday, and end up with lots of empty bags to fill up at the market on Saturday. Sometimes we are successful, and sometimes we don’t do so well. The refrigerator’s Friday appearance has to do with how many times we eat out during the week {restaurants, beach BBQs, etc.}, as well as how motivated we are to take the time to wash the greens, broccoli, etc. and cook them. Sometimes it’s easier to throw a salad together, with the already washed lettuce, than to wash and steam the broccoli; I think you know what I mean.
Monday’s Meals:
Breakfast
Me- The little bit of chili and brown rice that was leftover from yesterday
My husband- Nancy’s Low-fat Plain Yogurt with local honey, dried Maui pineapple, dried Maui apple bananas & coconut flakes, roasted peanuts & walnuts
Freshly Pressed Ginger Kombucha {1 bottle is almost gone already!}
Green tea
Lunch
Gerald’s Eggs with Red Peppers & Parmesan {these eggs are a kind of open-face omelette/frittata that Gerald made up~really good}
Baked potato with butter {we shared a potato}
Caesar Salad
Avocado
Dinner
I worked tonight, so we didn’t eat the same thing. We usually do, but it did’t work out this time because there was only 1 piece of Chicken Cacciatore left…for me!
Me- Chicken Cacciatore, broccoli & 1/2 grapefruit {and a piece of chocolate~ Lindt Dark Chocolate with Black Currants!!!}
My husband- sandwich on Dave’s Killer Bread {sometimes we will break down & buy a loaf of bread, if we run out of homemade bread…we like Dave’s} with Gruyere cheese, lots of arugula and mayonnaise {he said it was really good}, broccoli
“Better late than never.” The origin of “better late than never” is Canterbury Tales {circa 1386}, and was coined by Geoffery Chaucer. It comes from the story The Yeoman’s Tale.
The timing of this post leaves a little to be desired, but better late than never they say, and I agree.
I wanted to tell you about a fantastic event that happens on Maui, on the second Monday of each month. It is an opportunity to attend free theatre called ONO {One Night Only}, and it takes place at the Historic Iao Theatre in Wailuku. Not only is it free theatre, it is excellent theatre! Wow, how fortunate we are to have such a great treasure less than 30 minutes from home. Anyway, I was busy finishing up the final project for my physics of cooking class, and everything required to get new tenants into our home across the ocean in Washington. And then. . .I got sick. . .nothing serious, just a cold. . .a dumb pain-in-the-rear cold, which is doing what colds do, traveling to places I’d rather it didn’t, making sleeping difficult. It could be worse, so let’s just forge ahead and be thankful for everything else that is good in life. Needless to say, we did not make it to ONO, and if you went, it was because of your own accord, with no help from me-hope you enjoyed it! Just for the record, it was a one-man show, the actor playing Einstein {he even looks like Einstein in the picture}. There is another great theatre opportunity though, but you need to hurry and get yourself a ticket to see La Cage aux Folles, at the same wonderful Historic Iao Theatre. If you live on Maui, you may know about this terrific local theatre, and may already have a ticket. If you don’t live here, and are lucky enough to be jetting our way before the show closes this weekend {yes I do realize that this notice is terribly last minute}, you should seriously think about going. We were accustomed to attending fantastic theatre in Seattle, and before that San Francisco, and thought that by moving to Maui, we may be trading great theatre for warm, fragrant trade winds, but that is not the case my friends. We have a gem in the Iao Theatre, so hope you will take in a show one day. The next second Monday ONO, presenting Cactus Flower, is on its way soon; see you at the Iao!
If you like frozen desserts {like ice cream!} and haven’t yet tried my Banana Mocha Peanut Butter Soft Serve, I suggest that you do. Or, you could give some frozen bananas and frozen cherries a whirl and try my newest soft serve. I suppose I shouldn’t necessarily call these delectables desserts, because they make fantastic post walk/run/fill-in-the-blank activity treats, and because there is no sugar beyond what is in the fruit and chocolate chips, I deem them to be pretty healthy. Like I mentioned in my Banana Soft Serve post, this is best made and eaten right away, or within the hour {in the freezer of course}. Left in the freezer for too long, the creamy mixture becomes rather hard and difficult to eat unless you process it again. I made a double batch once, and decided it was easier to just make it fresh and enjoy it right away.
We bought a bag of beautiful frozen pitted sweet cherries at Costco, and I’ve just been snacking on them straight from the freezer. Then it occurred to me that cherries and bananas would make a tasty combination, with some dark chocolate thrown in for good measure, and lo and behold, they play together quite nicely indeed.
Banana Cherry Soft Serve with Chocolate
1 medium to large frozen banana
6 frozen sweet cherries
10 dark chocolate chips {I love Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet chips}
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Walnuts Raw cacao nibs
Slice the frozen banana into the work bowl of a food processor {For this quantity I use a mini food processor. You could use a blender, but you will need some liquid to get it going.}
Add cherries, chocolate chips and vanilla. Process until smooth and creamy.
Top with raw cacao nibs and walnuts. Enjoy!
Variations:
~ You can use all chocolate chips {or chop your favorite chocolate} or all cacao nibs
~ Substitute sour cherries for sweet, but you may need to add something sweet.
“There’s a rule in baking. When you smell it, it’s done. I don’t know about the science here. But it’s a good indicator. If you’re in the other room enjoying the nice smells of your cookies, you better get up and take them out! ” Frank Mentesana {Once Upon a Tart}
My Nut Lovers Bars with Dark Chocolate and Coconut are great because. . .
they all bake at the same time. No rotating of cookie sheets or baking multiple batches.
they are a layered cookie, and go together quickly.
several of the ingredients are heart healthy and/or what some consider superfoods {walnuts, almonds, pecans, dark chocolate and coconut.
they are deliciously crunchy, chewy & tasty at the same time.
they are visually beautiful! The nuts sport a lacquered look when they come out of the oven. Add a little pearl dust and they are even prettier!
people like it when you bring them to potlucks.
Seriously, if you like nuts and chocolate, you should bake these cookies. They are gorgeous, scrumptious & easy to make. What more could one want in a cookie? The ingredients play nicely together so that even those who do not like coconut enjoy them.
Nut Lovers Bars with Dark Chocolate & Coconut
½ cup butter
1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs {about 8 whole sheets}
2 cups chocolate chips {I use Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet}
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut {flaked or shredded}
About 3 cups nuts {I use walnuts, pecans & almonds. I break the walnuts & pecans, and cut the almonds into thirds.}
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the butter in a 13”x9” pan and let it melt while the oven is preheating. Mix graham cracker crumbs with the butter and press evenly in the pan. It looks like you don’t have enough to go around the whole pan, but you do. It isn’t a thick layer.
Sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips, coconut & nuts. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over everything. I drizzle it going one direction and then drizzle it going the other direction until it’s all out of the can and onto the cookies.
Bake cookies for about 30” or until nuts are golden brown. You want the cookies to have some golden color before you take them out; the toasty nuts is part of what makes them so delicious. I like to brush them with edible pearl dust, but if you don’t have any handy, they will be just as good.
Around the Web. . .
This is totally cute! Check out this video of Seattle chef Jesse Smith making naan bread with his adorable little girl Avalon.
Spilled Milk {a podcast about food-recipes, info with some humor thrown in}
“Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the main reason I have trust issues.” Unknown Author
I’ll start by saying that I’m pretty popular when I take these cookies to work, or to a sunset beach BBQ. People seem to like them. . . a lot. I am amazed at how many people screw up their faces when they hear that a sweet treat has salt on it. There is no surprise here. Salty + sweet = something delicious. Case closed. Remember how good a chocolate milkshake and French fries tastes? Indeed, putting the right kind of salt on your cookie can be quite tasty. This recipe is an adaptation of Jules Clancy’s {Stone Soup} adaptation of Molly Wizenburg’s {Orangette} recipe. I have reduced the sugar, changed the flour to whole wheat pastry flour & added walnuts. I have strong feelings about nuts in cookies. In my opinion, no self-respecting chocolate chip cookie goes into the oven without nuts {big pieces please, not finely chopped}. The combination of butter, brown sugar, chocolate and walnuts is one of the tastiest I know. It’s delicious before and after baking, especially with salt; Maldon salt to be exact. The dough itself has no salt; it is all on the outside of the cookies. Big, crunchy flakes of white salt from France. It isn’t inexpensive salt, but a little goes a long way, and it lasts a long time. Whatever you do, please do not use the stuff in the blue box. It will not taste good on your cookies or anything else for that matter. Once you get used to good salt, there is no going back to iodized table salt. This recipe goes together quickly, especially if you use a scale instead of measuring cups, and it’s easy to make all the cookies exactly the same size. Invariably, my balls of dough would vary in size before I started weighing my cookie dough. Bonus: clean-up goes quicker too!
Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
10 oz. unsalted butter, softened
13 oz. light brown sugar {2 packed cups}
2 eggs
16 oz. whole wheat pastry flour {3 ½ cups + 1 tbsp flour}
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
16 oz. dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate {I use Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips}
2 cups broken walnuts
Cream the butter & sugar together until light & creamy. Add eggs & mix until well combined.
Whisk flour, baking powder & baking soda together.
Stir butter mixture into flour just until combined.
Stir in chocolate chips & nuts. Cover & refrigerate at least 15” but no longer than 72 hours. The dough is difficult to work with when it is cold, so I like to make the balls while it’s soft, and then refrigerate it.
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment & preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place 1 ½ oz {about golf ball size} balls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, allowing room for them to spread. Sprinkle liberally with Maldon salt flakes. {I sprinkle the cookie sheet with salt before putting the dough balls on it.}
I start checking for doneness at 10” and usually bake them about 14”. I declare them done when the outside edges are set & the center is still moist; this will give you a cookie that is crispy on the edge & soft in the middle, just the way I like it. When baking on 2 trays, reverse cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking. Cool cookies on the tray.
Makes about 24 cookies
Some people like their cookies with milk, but I’ll have mine with a nice cup of tea.
Take a look at that big flake of French salt!
I hope you’ll bake a batch of these cookies for the chocolate chip cookie lovers you know; they will love you for it. And I’m sure you won’t mind either!
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
Maui Girl Cooks 