Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Yum^2

Since I'm taking a few days off from working out, I decided I would spend the time I'd normally spend working out, experimenting with food!

Sounds like a good deal to me.

There is one thing I've been wanting to make for so long, and today was finally the day. Plus, I'm really in need of afternoon snacks these days. Check this out--I'm sure you guys will love this!


5 Ingredient No-Bake Chocolate Chip "Cookie Dough"

Inspired by Averie and Angela

[Makes 12]

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 1/2 cup uncooked oats
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons brown rice syrup (or maple syrup)
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stuff you need (minus the vanilla...that was a last minute addition!):


Combine the oats and cashews in a food processor.


Blend to a powder-like consistency.


Add the brown rice syrup and vanilla.


Blend to incorporate. Then add the chocolate chips. 


Blend but not too much! You still want the chocolate chips to be whole.

Form the dough into balls. 

Enjoy!!


SO GOOD.


Great afternoon snack. Protein + complex carbs + healthy sweetener. FYI: brown rice syrup is a great alternative to regular sugar or other sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup. Why?

Sugar (and simple carbohydrate) consumption tends to cause a sharp increase in blood sugar levels. This then causes rapid release of insulin which basically moves the sugars into fat storage. Not good!! (This is why complex carbs are recommended). Anyway, brown rice syrup actually consists of 50% complex carbohydrates and only 3% glucose. Hence, brown rice syrup doesn't cause the rapid increase in blood glucose levels that other sweeteners do.

And it tastes good!

Moving on...

I still had another huge leek to cook with this week! So let's get to it.

Leek & Greens Barley Risotto

Inspired by this recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup barley (or wheat pasta or other whole grain)
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 leek (bottom portion only)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • handful of greens of choice (I used swiss chard/collards)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tomato
  • black pepper/oregano to taste

Cook the barley. (1/2 cup barley + 1 1/2 cups boiling water in a covered pot for about 20 minutes).

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and add chopped garlic, chopped leeks, and greens.


Saute till soft. Add the tomato.


After the mixture has become juicy, add the cooked barley. 


Add the vegetable broth, black pepper, and oregano. Stir and let simmer.


Most of the liquid should be absorbed within 10 minutes.


Serve with cheese and crushed red pepper. (You don't actually have to).


I love barley, but now I love it more because it almost tastes like pasta in this dish. Success!!

8 comments:

Joyti said...

The no-bake cookies look delicious - and sound healthy too. Yum.
And risotto...with leek - wow, delicious.

Tulika said...

Thank you for the sweet comment!! It was definitely a day of delicious food all around. :)

Anonymous said...

both of the recipes look delicious especially those chocolate chips yum! I love that you added leeks to your risotto I have just recently started cooking with them and love their light oniony flavor. What a great dish for spring.

Tulika said...

The leeks give a tremendous amount of flavor to the dish! I never cooked with leeks until this week, and I've found that I can get away with adding less spices when leeks are used! Thank you for stopping by :).

Sheila said...

yum the cookie dough balls look so good! do you think agave nectar would work in place of brown rice syrup??

Tulika said...

Yup definitely!! Any sticky syrup will work as a binding agent and sweetener.

Sheila said...

yay i finally made these!! SO GOOD. good call on using brown rice syrup.. i think i'll try that next time. it took me a ton of agave nectar to get the dough to stick together (i guess it's not as syrupy?) yum these are so addicting though!

Tulika said...

YAY I'm so happy you liked them! I agree...they are super addicting (which is why I usually portion them out 2-3 per bag heh).

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