Runner's food: energy ballz

The Boston Marathon was this past Monday and I'm so amazed with all the runners (including Kate!) who kicked major butt in 90 degree temps (totally insane!). It's just so inspiring to see all those people do something so extraordinary and I'm more determined than ever to run Boston next year.

But for now, I'm busy training for a half marathon in Hyannis at the end of May. I have a semi-crazy time goal in mind (more on that soon), which means I'm pushing myself extra hard and THAT means I need more food. 

These little energy ballz are my new favorite post-run snack (washed down with chocolate milk, naturally). They're ridiculously easy to make, super portable, and delicious. It's basically trail mix ingredients thrown in a food processor and rolled into balls. (And by basically I mean literally.)

Ingredients*

• 1 cup mixed nuts (or just peanuts!)
• 1 cup dried fruit (I like to use a mixed blend)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (though you could just throw a Hershey's bar in there, probably)

Directions

1. Throw all ingredients in a food processor. Process. 
2. Roll into small ballz. (About the size of those bouncy balls you played with as a kid.)
3. Put in the fridge to harden -- or just eat.

*Feel free to experiment with the ingredients! I think coconut would be extra delish here. If you do add a lot  more things, you may have to increase the dried fruit since that's the glue that holds it all together.

Frugal February: I made that (and that .. and that)

Sweet potato and black bean enchiladas. Recipe here.

My resolution to kick my debt's ass combined with my subscriptions to LearnVest's bootcamps, have turned me into a money-saving monster machine. I'm calculating and recalculating every penny, calling up utility and credit card companies to lower my payments and interest rates, and not buying crap. Surprisingly, I'm having so much fun doing it. It feels like a game -- and I'm WINNING. (Yes, I can be very competitive.)


The biggest money-saver (besides boycotting CVS) has been making -- and sticking -- to a monthly food budget. Common sense, I know, but for some reason Jack and I failed miserably at this -- we both over-budgeted and overspent like crazy each month on food.

But not anymore. Now we plan our meals and bring our lunches, and it totally rules.

Even though I'm a pretty pathetic cook, I've made some delicious meals and side dishes in the past 14 days, including the pictured sweet potato and black bean enchiladas and:

• Crock pot chickpea, butternut squash and red lentil stew
• Vegetable Gumbo
• Garlic Naan
• Mac and cheese
• Spaghetti with kale, bacon and brie cheese
• Popovers

We also started having a weekly taco night, which Jack estimates improves our overall household moral by 300 percent.

I have to say I agree.

Apple muffin recipes and some cold hard facts

Upon walking into the kitchen early Sunday morning and discovering two dozen muffins, boyfriend Jack asked a very wise question:

What's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake?

... well ... umm ...

I had no idea but instead of admitting my lack of baking knowledge -- and ruining his image of me as a cupcake-muffin-making goddess -- I did what any know-it-all girlfriend would do.

I lied guessed.

Cupcakes are sweeter than muffins ... and you can eat muffins for breakfast ... duh!

Sounds legit, right? Especially with the duh.

Boyfriend accepted this definition (he's just finding out I made it up right about now. Hi Jack! Love you!) but I wanted to double check the facts in case I'm faced with a similar question in the future. And after a quick Google search it turns out I was kind of sort of right.

You see, cupcakes are made out of cake batter and muffins are made out of quick bread batter. Cake batter is sweeter than quick bread batter so thus cupcakes are sweeter than muffins.

So like I said -- duh!

These two muffin recipes -- chunky apple muffins with a maple syrup glaze and cinnamon-apple cider muffins -- are delicious, moist, and perfect for breakfast. Plus they look fantastic in my brand new cupcake-muffin tree. Yes I used apples again (previous apple recipes here and here) but they're in season and my favorite fall fruit.

(OK, fine. All my apples were going bad and I had a gallon of barely touched apple cider and a pint of buttermilk from last week that needed to be used up STAT.)


Chunky apple muffins with maple syrup glaze
Inspired by Martha Stewart and Ina Garten

Ingredients

For the muffins:

• 2 (or 3) small tart apples, peeled, cored, and quartered (I like a lot of apple in mine so I did 3)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the glaze:

• 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I used slightly more since I like my glaze to be a little runny. And super sweet.)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 12 standard muffin tins.
2. Cut 6 (or 10) of your 8 (or 12) apple quarters into 1/4-inch dices. 
3. Cut the remaining 2 apple quarter into 12 thin slices for garnish. (That make sense, right? It's how Martha put it so it should.) 
4. Whisk together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apple and toss to coat.
5. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl.
6. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined; do not overmix. If you over-stir muffins, they come out dry and gross. According to the Joy of Cooking. 
7. Divide batter among muffin cups (they'll probably be super full) and top each with an apple slice.
8. Bake until muffins are brown around edges -- 16 to 18 minutes.
9. While muffins are cooling, combine the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla for the glaze. 
10. Drizzle each muffin with about a tablespoon of glaze. Feel free to use more if you like things on the sweeter side, just remember, as Ina Garten said,  "The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be." 

Total muffins: 12
Total time: 30 (ish) minutes


Cinnamon-apple cider muffins
Inspired by Food.com 

Ingredients

For the muffins:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 beaten egg 
• 3/4 cup apple cider 
• 1/4 cup cooking oil 

For the topping:

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 3 tablespoons cold butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 12 standard muffin tins.
2. To make the topping, stir together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl -- then cut the butter in with a pastry blender. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. 
4. In another small bowl, combine the egg, apple cider, and oil.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until JUST moisten.
6. Divide batter among muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping,
7. Bake until golden brown -- about 20 minutes.

Total muffins: 12
Total time: 40 (ish) minutes

Muffin. DESTROYED.

Monday mashup: shoes, cats, and donuts

I had a lot of plans going into the weekend and woke up early Saturday and Sunday to get as much done as possible. While I didn't accomplish everything I wanted (apple picking!), I am pretty content with the things I did do -- like paint and reupholster half of my dining room chairs (with the cat's help) and make apple cider donuts from scratch (more on that tomorrow). I also had some major shopping success and scored a pair of black patent peep toe heels {Enzo Angiolini} for 85 percent off (!). Not too shabby for 48 hours.

Monday mashup: a little rendez-vous and a lot of food

Photos of me by Alex

This past weekend I mingled with some fantastic bloggers at rendez-vouz: new england. We gathered at Grey's Fabric & Notion -- a cute fabric boutique in the heart of SoWa  -- and chatted about blogging while devouring grilled cheese sandwiches from Roxy's food truck. The weather was gorgeous -- high 60s and sunny -- and I wore my new favorite skirt (BCBG), my old favorite jacket (H&M), and carried a picnic basket (an $8 thrift store find) instead of a purse.

Back on the home front, I successfully used all of of my Costco peaches by making Eat Live Run's Earl Grey peach preserves. It turned out surprisingly well -- even though I swapped out the Earl Grey tea for English Breakfast. I ended the weekend by baking an apple-caramel cupcake -- potentially the perfect fall dessert -- which I'll share the recipe for tomorrow. 

{Thank you Jillian of Cornflakes Dreams and Alison of Long Distance Loving for organizing such a great event. And thank you Grey's Fabric & Notion for hosting us Sunday morning -- I can't wait to check out your "how to make a yoga bag" class.}

Peach party

I occasionally quite often lose all sense of reality at Costco and end up filling my cart with random items that just aren't very practical in large quantities (though they are fantastic deals!). In that moment of wholesale insanity, I think it's completely feasible for two people to eat 10 avocados, four loaves of bread, and 24 Greek yogurts before their expiration dates.

My latest impulse (great deal) purchase was a box of a dozen peaches. They were already semi-mushy at the store but that naturally did not stop me. I grabbed the box and started fantasizing about all the recipes I'd make -- one last summer peach hurrah!

Fast forward to today -- one week later -- and those peaches are still sitting on my kitchen counter.

But this time -- unlike the avocados and the breads and the yogurts -- I refuse to let Costco win. This weekend I'm going to throw a peach party* and (for real!) make one of the following (easy?) recipes:

• Peach-basil ice cream topping. (From The Pioneer Woman) The only thing I have more of than peaches is basil. No one told me it grows like a weed -- so I planted two plants on my front porch. And now I'm swimming in the stuff.
• Earl Gray peach preserves. (From Eat Live Run) I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Earl Gray-ness of this recipe but I have all the necessary ingredients in my kitchen so I might as well try it out. (Plus Jenna's never steered me wrong before. She's legit.)
• Vanilla-roasted peaches with raspberries. (From Martha Stewart) The idea of roasting peaches with butter and vanilla just seems right to me. Could be the perfect summer to fall peach recipe.
• Peach hydration mask. (From bien-etre) Yes this is a face mask. No it's not edible (sorry boyfriend). Let's hope this plan doesn't backfire.

Which recipe do you like?


*I don't know where this peach party nonsense is coming from. I've never had, been to, or even heard of a peach party.