simple recipe

Green Lentil Bowl with Sautéed Spinach and Avocado

March 17, 2017 by Asharae 1 Comment

If you’re anything like me, you could use some simple, fresh, EASY lunch ideas! Bonus points if said lunch ideas are healthy too.

This recipe was inspired by my new-found love for lentils. Weird? Yes. Good for you? Yes. Delicious with the right toppings? Most definitely. I topped this bowl of lentils with sautéed spinach and garlic, a fried egg, avocado, feta cheese, cilantro, and a super simple lime dressing. It’s fresh and easy and you can make a large batch of lentils at the beginning of the week to make lunch time a breeze.

Happy lunch-ing!

Green Lentil Bowl

Asharae Kroll

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Servings 1 serving

Ingredients

1 c cooked lentils prepared according to the package instructions (I like to cook a large batch and use it throughout the week)
Large handful of spinach
1 clove garlic minced
1 egg

For the Dressing

Juice of 1/2 a lime
1-2 Tbs olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Garnishes

Avocado
Cilantro
Feta or queso fresco
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook lentils according to the package instructions, set aside. This can be done the day before.
In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients, set aside.
Heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium in a large pan. Saute the spinach until almost wilted. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute, or until the spinach is fully wilted.
To save on dishes use the same pan to cook the eggs. Add a little more olive oil, fry the egg to your preference.
Assemble your lentil bowl. Top lentils with fried egg, spinach and garlic, avocado, cilantro, feta or queso fresco, dressing, and add salt and pepper if needed.

Slow Cooker Maple Spiced Steel Cut Oats and Quinoa

November 21, 2016 by Asharae Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving Week! Anyone traveling this week? Or welcoming family into your home? Anyone preparing to feed lots of friends and family? If you’re in need of a super simple homemade breakfast option for feeding lots of people this week, I’ve got the perfect recipe for you. And if you’re making this recipe for just one or two, I’ve got instructions for freezing any leftovers to have later!

This Maple Spiced Oats and Quinoa dish is healthy-ish, hearty, so delicious and can be customized to suit each person you’ll be hosting this Thanksgiving. When you’re worried about getting the turkey in the oven, all the pies made on time, and getting Grandma’s stuffing just right, you really don’t need to be thinking about anything complicated for breakfast! Just get up early and throw all these ingredients in your slow cooker (try doubling it and adding some time if you have more than 8 of guests.) You can set out lots of topping options so everyone can customize their own bowl, and this dish is hearty enough that it’ll give everyone energy to help out with all your Thanksgiving dinner prep!

This recipe is adapted from two I found online – this Pumpkin Overnight Oats recipe from Well Plated and this Slow Cooker Overnight Quinoa and Oats by Chelsea’s Messy Apron. Feel free to adapt and adjust to fit your preferences!

Slow Cooker Maple Spiced Steel Cut Oats and Quinoa

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 3 hrs

Total Time 3 hrs 10 mins

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 c steel cut oats (do not use old fashioned or quick cook oats)
1/2 c quinoa rinsed (or purchase pre-rinsed)
3-4 c water depending on how thick you want your oatmeal to be
2 c milk
2 Tbs chia seeds
2 Tbs ground flaxseed
1/4 c brown sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs cinammon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Garnishes

Sliced almonds
Dried cranberries
Additional brown sugar
Chopped apples
Additional cinnamon nutmeg, or allspice

Instructions

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.
Rinse quinoa well, using a fine mesh sieve. (Skip this step if you bought pre-rinsed quinoa)
Combine all ingredients except garnishes in slow cooker, stir well to combine.
Set on high for 2-3 hours, stirring after an hour and a half so you know how much longer to cook it. This will depend on how hot your slow cooker gets. (See note below.)
Oats are finished when they reach the consistency you desire - I like mine to still be slightly chewy, so I cooked mine for just over 2 hours.
Turn off heat and serve topped with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, extra brown sugar, or whatever you like!

Notes

The recipe I adapted this from said to cook it on low for 7 hours or high for 4, but mine would have been burnt to a crisp if I let it go that long. Use your best judgement depending on how quickly your particular slow cooker operates.

If you want to make this recipe to save for later, use a muffin tin to divide the remaining cooked oats and quinoa. Let cool completely on the counter, then place in the freezer for a few hours. Remove oats from muffin tin once frozen, store in a freezer safe ziplock bag, and keep in freezer until ready to eat. Reheat in microwave, top with garnishes, and enjoy!

Double Chocolate Heath Brownies

May 13, 2016 by Asharae 8 Comments

I learned something new recently. Brownies are just about as easy to make from scratch as they are from a box. I had no idea. I feel like this is a life lesson I’ve somehow been missing out on. So now, I pass along this lesson to you – make brownies from scratch and you’ll be happier for it.

The great thing about starting from scratch is you can customize your brownies to include anything you want. Like peanut butter with your brownies? Add peanut butter chips instead of the Heath and chocolate chips I included below! Want to add a caramel drizzle sauce to the top? Go for it. Dreaming up some other delicious brownie creation? Try it out and see what happens!

Lately I’ve been sort of obsessed with including Heath chips in my baking (remember these salted brown butter Heath and chocolate chip cookies? Mmmm. Yep. Me too.) But if you don’t have any Heath chips on-hand and are dying for some brownies, just replace them with some extra chocolate chips! I’m sure they’ll still be fabulous.

Double Chocolate Heath Brownies

Inspired by Broma Bakery

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Total Time 50 mins

Servings 9 -16 servings

Ingredients

12 Tbs unsalted butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c Heath chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.
In a large microwave safe bowl melt the butter.
Stir sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt in with the melted butter.
Fold in cocoa powder and flour until just combined and large lumps are gone. Try not to over-mix.
Fold in chocolate chips and heath chips, pour into 8x8 pan, bake for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely (if you can manage to wait that long!)

Honey Wheat Bread for the Bread Machine

April 21, 2016 by Asharae 3 Comments

Today I’m sharing a recipe that has become the go-to bread in our kitchen. Several years ago I “borrowed” my mom’s bread machine and somehow just haven’t given it back yet. The bread machine is one of those weird kitchen appliances that takes up entirely too much room, and is really only good for one purpose, but I really do think it’s worth its weight in gold.

Homemade bread is approximately 1273 times more delicious than store-bought bread, and the bread machine makes it so much more attainable. If I was kneading bread by hand or even watching it in my KitchenAid Mixer, I would rarely make it. With the bread machine I make bread almost every week. It’s so easy to throw all the ingredients in, push a few buttons, and forget about it for an hour and a half. I do prefer to use my machine to knead the dough and do the first rising, but then I bake it in the oven in a regular 5×9 loaf pan.

After the dough has completed its cycle, you just remove it from the bread machine pan and pat it out on a floured surface (I like to flour a rimmed baking sheet because it makes for easy clean-up!) You want your dough to be roughly rectangular, and about the length of your well-greased 5×9 loaf pan. Don’t think too much about this though – it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Once you’ve patted the dough out, fold it into thirds. Look! It’s a little bread burrito!

Once your dough is folded, gently lift it and flip it into your greased bread pan so that the seam or fold is on the bottom.

Use a knife to make a shallow (about 1/4 inch deep) cut in the top of your bread. This will allow space for it to expand while it rises a second time.

At this point we wait again. Time to let the dough rise. Set it aside in a warm place till it looks about the size you want it to be once baked. My method for this is to heat my oven up slightly and then shut it off. I put the dough in for about 25 minutes before removing it. This speeds up the rising process quite a bit, especially if your house tends to be cold.

Once the dough is almost the size you want it to be when finished, remove it from the oven so you can preheat it to 375 F. Once the oven is good to go, put your dough in for 25 minutes. It’s finished when browned on top and hollow-sounding when tapped with your finger.

Carefully remove the bread from the pan and let it cool completely before cutting it. If you have a cooling rack, that’s perfect for this. If you place your bread flat on a plate, it can get soggy on the bottom as the steam from the bread will condense on the plate as it cools. And no one likes soggy bread.

Mmmm. Fresh-baked bread perfection. That wasn’t so difficult was it?

If you’ve got a bread machine, use it! If your mom or grandma has a bread machine, borrow it! You can thank me later. This bread is perfect for sandwiches, grilled cheese, french toast, and even just dipping in olive oil and spices.

And one last note – if you don’t have whole wheat flour or prefer not to use it, you can follow my original bread recipe instead.

Honey Wheat Bread for the Bread Machine

Asharae Kroll

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Ingredients

1 c warm water
2 Tbs butter softened
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs honey
2 c bread flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 packet yeast 2 1/4 tsp

Instructions

Place ingredients into bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
Mine recommends to put the water, salt, butter, and honey in first.
Add the flours on top of that.
Make a small well in the flour and add the yeast.
Adjust your bread machine to the Dough setting, 1.5lb loaf and let it run. I like to check on it about 5 minutes in to make sure it's not too wet or too dry. If it looks too wet and sticky, add a tablespoon or two of flour. If too dry and flaky-looking, add a tablespoon or two of water. Let the machine run through its whole cycle and try not to peek at it too much! (Bread machines heat up slightly which helps the rising process, each time you open it you let some of the heat out which can cause it to rise slower.)
Once the dough cycle is finished, turn dough out onto a floured surface. Gently press into a rectangle about 9-10 inches long (you can measure it along the side of your 9x5 pan). Fold one of the long sides in toward the center and fold the other long side on top of that - you're essentially folding it in thirds. Gently place the dough, seam side down, in your well-greased 9x5 pan. Use a knife to cut a small slit (about 1/4 inch deep) down the middle of the dough - this will allow it to expand.
Let the dough rise for 30 minutes or so until it looks good. If your house is colder, this could take up to an hour or more. I like to heat my oven for a few minutes, turn it off, and place the dough in for about 30 min to speed up the process. Whatever it looks like now is approximately the size it'll be when it's done baking. Toward the end of this final rising, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. (Take the bread out at this time if you used the oven to let it rise.)
Once dough is finished rising, bake for 25 minutes at 375.
Bread is finished when you tap it with your finger and it sounds hollow.