Samurai Noodle

 Samurai Noodle is a Japanese noodle restaurant in the University District.  I ordered the tounyu ramen, which is egg noodles in a delicious soy broth.  Everything was good, but my favorite ramen shop of all time is still Aloha Ramen on Greenwood.  

It was fun spending time with family, as always.  

Almond Flour Gluten-Free Muffins

Daniel's cousin, Angie recommended this gluten-free recipe.  Thanks Angie!  It was my first time using almond flour, and I like it.  I am planning to use it as a partial substitute in some of my other baked goods.  I agree with Angie that it adds a pleasing denseness to the muffins.  This recipe has very few ingredients and is a good base for experimental muffin-like foods.

Ingredients:

1 cup blanched almond flour

2 large eggs

1 Tbsp agave nectar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Makes 4 muffins.   Recipe from Elana's Pantry.  

 The sad story about these muffins is that I baked them for too long leaving them dry and unhappy.  I am currently working on a solution to this problem.  First, I ripped up the muffins into bite-sized pieces.  Then I poured a ginger and lemon infused simple syrup over them.  (1 cup of water, 1/3 cup sugar.  Dissolve over medium heat and simmer.  Add juice of half a lemon, some pieces of the peel and a chunk of fresh ginger.  Simmer until reduced by about 1/3.  Remove the peel and ginger.  It's tasty!  You can add sparkling water to make an originally flavored soda!)  Right now the muffins soaked in syrup are resting in the refrigerator.  The plan I'm cooking up is to layer the chunks with some pudding and maybe some lemon curd.  Or, I might just end up eating them as they are.  

The Tulips

It was a lovely day for visiting the Mount Vernon tulips.  The cool, rainy weather kept the crowds away and made the colors more vibrant.    

Yes, those are tulips on those tree branches.

Paint-by-Number

 I didn't get very far on my paint-by-number yet, but I WILL finish it.  

Couscous Lunch

This salad is simple, heathy, and easy to make.  It's pretty cheap too!  The picture above is the salad I made earlier in the week and the pictures below are of the one I made today.  I added roasted sweet potatoes in the first salad.  Make this with any of your favorite vegetables.  

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup brocoli florets

1/2 cup chopped red cabbage

1 cup baby kale

1/4 cup corn

1 1/4 cup water

bouillon cube

1/3 cup (heaping) whole wheat couscous 

Throw all of the vegetables into a pan with a splash of water.  Cover and cook until soft.  

 Add 1 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil.  

Add a bouillon cube or two and stir until dissolved.  

 Add a heaping 1/3 cup of couscous.  Turn off the heat, stir and cover for 5 minutes.  

Done!  It tastes great warm, or chilled in the fridge.  

Weekend

Happy weekend!  I'll be working this weekend, so I'll be back next week.

Doughnut Muffins

 They look like muffins and taste like cake doughnuts.  How wonderful!  

Ingredients:

(Muffin)

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups whole wheat flour

(Topping)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.  Then dip tops in melted butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar.  Makes about 18 muffins.  For more detail see the link to the recipe.  I adapted it slightly and doubled their recipe.  

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are chewy and delicious!  Here's a link to the recipe.  I altered it a tiny bit by using whole wheat flour, old fashioned oats, and baking them for 2 minutes longer than they did.  

Ingredients:

 1 cup softened butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 package chocolate chips

Bake at 325 degrees F for 14 minutes.  

We've been trying to eat fewer sweets.  Step one is to replace Nutty Bars and Oatmeal Cream Pies with homemade sweets.  That way we will at least know what is going into them.  I don't want to think about what step two might be.  I think I'll just stick with step one for now. 

Discovering Discovery Park

 Today, on my way to the grocery store I had a strong urge to turn off towards Discovery Park.  It was my first time going there and it is a beautiful place.  There are forrest trails, open beach areas, a lighthouse, and fields of daisies.  I will have to go again and spend some time on the trails.  Today the water was quite active with all of the blustery wind we are having.   

I was wondering about the history of some of these buildings.  They look like they have been around for a while.  

 The Indian Cultural Center is a beautiful building.  I didn't go inside, but saw this totem pole on the ground outside.  It is a memorial totem pole for John T. Williams as you can see in the writing on the pole below.  I wonder where it will be planted when it is done.  

 I was hoping to see a heron in this pond.

 This is the Fort Lawton Cemetery, a quiet and peaceful place.

Lacinato Kale Salad

This is my version of a lacinato kale salad I saw made on a documentary called, The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue.  The documentary was not great, but the food was.  I'm not a big fan of raw kale, so I had my doubts about this salad, but it was really good.  Great even.  

I washed, dried and ripped up a bunch of lacinato kale and put it in a large bowl.

 Then, I added an avocado and the juice of a whole lemon.

 This next part was fun.  I used my hands and squished all of the ingredients together until the avocado and lemon coated all of the kale.  (Bruising up the kale a little bit makes it easier to eat.)  This is the base of the salad.  To this I added garbanzo beans, dried cranberries, almonds, red bell pepper, and some flat leaf parsley.  I also added a pinch of salt.  Yum!

A Well-Fed Friday

 Amy and Mike came down tonight to hang out.  We all went to Street Bean and sipped on delicious beverages.  I had a very coconutty coconut tea.  

After that we cooked up a miniature vegan feast at home, followed by vegan chocolate cupcakes from Cupcake Royale.  

The salad was so good it deserves a post of it's own.  I'll be doing that sometime soon...