Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Most Amazing Wrap Ever

looks all innocent, but its really the best wrap you'll ever have. 

I realize that with this post I may lose all credibility I ever had as a food blogger. Either way, I am totally willing to risk it for this post. It's that good. I'm not sure where I found this recipe for the first time... I think it may have been a British blog devoted to cheap student meals. (side note about being a student and this wrap- it works. I have often made this to take with me to the library. Unfortunately I am STILL taking exams, and so you may spot me a few more times in the library, trying to sneak this wrap past the librarian. Also, as a further aside, my mother is a librarian- please don't tell her I sneak food into the library, thank you.) 



I urge you to try this... be a little adventurous and give this taste mix a try. I'm practically addicted to these wraps (as shown in photo above. Thank you Doniel for the pic.) so without further ado.....

Peanut Butter-Chili Sauce Wraps with Cucumbers and Carrots 
(ten points to anyone who can come up with a better name for this recipe) 


  • quarter of an onion, sliced thin 
  • one cucumber and carrot, julienned (sometimes I peel the carrot, and continue peeling instead of slicing)
  • sweet chili sauce (chili matok in Hebrew) 
  • peanut butter 
  • lemon juice
  • tortilla 

Spread tortilla with a thin layer of peanut butter. Layer cucumbers, carrots and lemon juice in the center of the tortilla. Sprinkle with onions and sweet chili sauce- careful with the sauce- if you put too much the wrap will leak. Fold up tortilla, eat and ENJOY! 

Please let me know what you think of this if you try this out! 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Vegetabley Dinner Rolls


Its the time of year when tons of food blogs around the world are talking about the fresh bounty of the summer season. Corn, berries, all sorts of beans and peas, cherries- these are all examples of fruits and veggies that are not easy to find in my area. Every time I read another blog post telling me the best way to use up all those extra cherries (cherry jam! cherry pie! cherry jam!) I feel more and more dejected. No cherries for me. Only the whithered veggies that I forgot to use up last week, forgotten in the refrigerator drawer. Well, damn it! I'm going to use those vegetables and flaunt them in the face of all those cherry eaters. Take that.
A few notes about these rolls: Depending on how liquidy your vegetables are, you may need to add some extra flour to the dough. You can try squeezing out excess liquid from the vegetables before starting to avoid adding more flour.

These rolls are especially delicious the next day, made into cucumber sandwiches! I'm submitting this recipe to yeastspotting- a gorgeous weekly showcase of yeasted foods.

Vegetabley Dinner Rolls
Heavily adapted from The Bread Bible
Makes 12 rolls

2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/4 cups water
2 c whole wheat flour
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 lb vegetables, grated (such as: eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, carrot, onion, garlic, jalapeƱo peppers, etc)
1 tbsp olive oil
generous pinch each of basil and oregano

1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
Poppy seeds

Mix all the ingredients together (except for the egg and poppy seeds) until you get a shaggy mass. Let rest for ten minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead the dough until smooth but still sticky, about 10 minutes.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let rise until it’s doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Shape the dough into 12 balls and arrange, just touching, into a pan. Proof until the balls double in size, about 30 minutes. Brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg, then sprinkle poppy seeds on top.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

(healthy) Awesome Cookies and an Equally Awesome Salad

The theme of this week is antitrust. My antitrust exam is on Monday, and so far I'm eating and sleeping monopolies, market share, cartels etc etc. I have another four exams to go (four!).


When I get stressed I tend to gravitate towards food. Especially when I am reading notes- I know it sounds weird, but when I'm doing something with my hands, like, say, eating popcorn, I can get through more notes than when I am not. A word on popcorn, while we're on the subject: Don't listen to the internet when it tells you to soak your corn kernels before you pop them because it will make better, fluffier popcorn. It's a lie- You'll just end up with burnt popcorn.




Anyways, the point of my story is that I'm taking exams and I'm eating. So here I have two healthy recipes: a delicious, hearty salad, and awesome sugar free cookies that are great for an afternoon snack. The cookie recipe is straight off of the blog 101 cookbooks, and they are surprisingly filling. They also soften up a ton if you keep them in a container for a few days, so I would suggest either freezing whatever you are not going to use right away or halving the recipe. Next time I make these I'm going to experiment by adding some shredded carrot in them, or maybe adding some nuts or raisins. 


"Nikki's Healthy Cookies

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm, or olive oil
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.
In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 5 minutes seems to be about right in my oven. Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies."


Awesome Salad












one large handful of salad greens
red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, cubed
large scoop of beans (white beans, black beans, fava beans, chickpeas, etc)
large scoop of cooked quinoa (did not include this in this salad. but should have.)
half a sliced apple



Dressing: 
2 teaspoons  olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste) 
11/4 tsp dried thyme 

Mix up dressing in a jar or whisk dressing together in a bowl, and pour over salad. Add in any nuts, veggies or beans that you feel like having that day. Eh voila- salad!