DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert


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Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad is perfect in its simplicity. I’ve been eating it for about 5 days straight now (we got a lot of greens from the CSA!) and I still have a little more to eat up. Not that I mind. I could eat this day after day for a very long time.

I used up some strawberries that my mom had picked in this salad (the rest went into the strawberry rhubarb crisp). It doesn’t get much better than fresh picked mixed greens and strawberries!!

Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 bag of mixed greens
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup sliced almonds
4 ounces goat cheese

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  1. In a small skillet over medium heat, toast almonds until a light golden brown.
  2. Place greens, strawberries, toasted almonds and goat cheese in a large bowl. Toss to combine.
  3. To make the vinaigrette, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously until well combined.
  4. Serve immediately.

 


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Strawberry Rhubarb Cast Iron Skillet Crisp

Summers as an adult aren’t quite as fun as summers as a kid. You don’t get 3 months off, you have responsibilities, and days during the summer feel just like days during any other season. Except hotter and less enjoyable to run in. I think this summer might be a less exciting than usual. Instead of just working, I have studying on top of it.

There is one thing that I will always love about summer though – rhubarb. Lots and lots of rhubarb. When Mike and I bought the house last year we transplanted a rhubarb plant. It looked so sad last year. It still looks sad this year. I hope next year it magically comes to life. Until then, I’ll be stealing rhubarb from my in-laws.

When I peeked in our first CSA bag and saw rhubarb, I did a little happy dance. I knew it would be perfect paired with the strawberries my mom had picked and I couldn’t wait to bake something up. The recipe below was a first take on the crisp. I was a little unsure of how  it would turn out, but it was pretty darn tasty!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cast Iron Skillet Crisp

For the filling
2 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups strawberries, sliced
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons whole wheat flour

For the topping
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup sugar

  1. Preheat oven 450°F.
  2. In the bottom of a 9 inch cast iron skillet, combine all filling ingredients.
  3. In a medium bowl, stir together all topping ingredients until well combined and  sprinkle on top of fruit.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown.
  5. Serve warm.


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Large Chinese Scallion Pancake

Today’s recipe is for the Blogger’s Choice Recipe Swap I participated in with a handful of wonderful and talented food bloggers. I received Eva Bakes for my blog and after looking through all her recipes, I finally settled on the da bing, or large Chinese scallion pancake.

I’ve had many scallion pancakes over the years, but I’ve never had one this… big. I decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did! I served this with low sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and a black bean chili sauce.

Large Chinese Scallion Pancake
recipe slightly adapted from Eva Bakes 

2 cups milk
5 cups all purpose flour
1 packet of yeast (not the instant kind)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
oil

  1. Warm the milk in the microwave so that it’s no longer cold. Do not scald or boil the milk.
  2. Add sugar to the milk and stir. Then add the yeast and let it proof for about 5 minutes.  You should see the top get foamy.
  3. Add the milk mixture to the flour and mix until just incorporated. Set it aside and let it rise for about 10 minutes.
  4. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Then, using a brush, coat the top of the dough with some oil. Sprinkle the surface with salt and chopped scallions.
  5. Roll, jelly-roll style into a long rope. Coil the rope into a circle and flatten/roll out with a rolling pin. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise for another 2 hours. Your da bing should end up being about 10 inches in diameter and at least 1 inch thick.
  6. Lightly oil a large nonstick skillet or pan. On LOW heat (do not turn this to medium or high heat!), slowly pan fry the dough. Once the bottom starts to get crispy and the dough looks done on one side (about 10 minutes later), flip the pancake over and brown the other side. This pan-frying step should take about 20 minutes total – 10 minutes on each side. Remember to go low and slow!
  7. Once done, the top and bottom of the pancake should be crispy and the inside should be fully cooked. Cut into pie-sliced wedges and serve.


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CSA Week One

We got our first CSA box yesterday! Mike and I decided to split a full share with my parents. We went through Olden Produce in Ripon, WI.

I love being a part of the CSA and receiving a bag of mysterious goodies every week, but this whole thing throws my menu planning routine a little off. I’m going from picking out meals over the weekend to planning mid-week now. A strange change, but totally worth it! Between the CSA and our garden, I think Mike and I will be all set for produce this summer!

So, on to the more exciting news – what we got today and what I plan on doing with it!

Week One

  • Rhubarb
  • Green onions
  • Snap peas
  • Lettuce
And since my parents were away on vacation, we got their half of the share plus their eggs and mushrooms for the week, too!
Now as for a menu plan, here’s what I had in mind:



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Sriracha Hummus

I fell in love for the first time when I had hummus. I fell in love a second time when I had jalapeno hummus. I fell in love for a third time last night.

Two of my favorite foods came together and created something beautiful: Sriracha + Hummus = Sriracha Hummus. Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t think I can ever eat plain hummus again. I might still have jalapeno hummus once in a while, but Sriracha hummus will be a permanent refrigerator item from now on. I got the idea from TasteSpotting, one of my favorite ways to waste time.

You might think I’m exaggerating my love for Sriracha (aka Rooster Sauce), but I assure that I am not. I dump that stuff on almost everything I eat. I had a friend post this lovely cartoon on my Facebook wall and I think it sums my life up pretty well:

Do you share my love for Sriracha? Do you love to feel the burn? Are you adventurous? Do you want to live a fulfilling and/or exciting life? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then this hummus is for you.

Spicy Sriracha Hummus

2-15 ounce cans chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup tahini*
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup Sriracha
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 – 1/2 cup water

  1. Combine all ingredients except for water in a food processor. Process until smooth, adding water until desired consistency is reached.
  2. Serve with fresh cut vegetables, pita bread, pita chips, on a sandwich, or eat with a spoon.

*Tahini, or sesame paste, is made from raw or toasted sesame seeds. Personally, I find the toasted sesame seed flavor to be a lot better than the raw and prefer to use that.

And P.S. – Happy National Running Day!!


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Treats: Part Two! Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats

TGIF! Unfortunately, it’s not really the start of the weekend for me. I’m probably sitting in an RD Prep Class as you’re reading this, bored out of my mind. Bad news is Friday is the first day of the class and I’ll be stuck inside from 8 – 5 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Exciting weekend, huh?!
As promised, I have the dog treat recipe for today! I decided to make this when I had overripe bananas begging to be used up and I was sick of making banana muffins and banana bread. I’ll definitely be making these again soon; I have 5 more bananas getting riper and riper sitting in the kitchen.
Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats
 
2 eggs
2/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter
3 medium bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat bran
1 egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing
  1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
  2. Stir together the egg, peanut butter, banana, and honey in a medium bowl; blend thoroughly. Stir in the flour and wheat bran; mix well. Turn dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter, place on prepared baking sheet, and brush tops with egg white.
  3. Bake biscuits in preheated oven until dried and golden brown, about 40 minutes, depending on size. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

Yup, these treats are definitely puppy approved 🙂


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Treats: Part One! Homemade Protein Bars

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. Mike and I managed to get quite a bit done and the house is starting to look good! The highlight of my weekend was watching our garden grow.

Seriously, the garden seemed to just come to life overnight. This year, we planted so much stuff (compared to last year’s million tomatoes and pumpkins). We have: sugar snap peas, snow peas, onions, two types of beans from my parents’ garden last year, carrots, radishes, daikon radishes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, Anaheim chiles, jalapeno peppers, Serrano chiles, lettuce, mustard greens, bok choi, cucumbers, and zucchini. Amazingly enough. everything is coming in! Now I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that we can keep them alive!

Now, on to my latest favorite baking projects! I have one delicious recipe for Mike and me and one delicious recipe for our dogs! Our house can’t get enough of these treats and we are going through so much peanut butter!

First, the human treats: homemade protein bars! It’s perfect for me to munch on post-run and Mike likes to eat them after… well, he just likes to eat them, no special occasion required 🙂

Want to know what I cooked up for the pups? Check back Friday for the post!

Homemade Protein Bars
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole sesame seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup
1 cup all natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup chocolate chips of your choice (I used semisweet this time)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped or nuts of choice
1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Combine oats, sesame seeds, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, maple syrup, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and coconut oil until well mixed. 
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine. 
  5. Mix in chocolate, nuts, and dried fruit and mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed. 
  6. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. 
  7. Let bars cool for 10 minutes in pan before removing and cutting into squares. Arrange onto cookie sheet and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before wrapping and storing in the fridge. 


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Weekend Recap

Ok, so this will also include a brief month recap. Since my last update, I have graduated from my dietetic internship, finished my kitchen cabinets, planted a garden that will soon be full of delicious veggies, and just genuinely enjoyed life.

Oh yeah, I also ran my first half marathon on Sunday at the Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon.

If you had told me two years ago I would some day be able to run 13.1 miles, I would have laughed at you. But, I can now proudly say that I have trained my butt off and endured the most difficult race I’ve been in yet. I saw Mike and our friend, Jon, at mile 11 or so and they asked me  how I was doing. My answer was a thumbs down and a mumbled “this sucks” before I continued to trudge on.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the distance that did me in. It was the unexpected heat and humidity. It was 69°F at the start and HUMID. It was 85°F when I finished about 2 hours and 18 minutes later. I was bummed – I had trained for running it in 2:05 and I had successfully ran 12.5 miles at that pace during my training. I guess it was better that I run smart (and slow). The race itself was a bit scary – there were runners literally falling over around me. I ran past runners passed out in front yards with medical staff attending to them. I constantly heard ambulances. They ended up closing the course (marathon and half marathon) about 20 minutes after I had finished.

I am so thankful for the wonderful volunteers that did their best to keep everyone hydrated and I’m so grateful for the homeowners that graciously put out sprinklers for us to run through. I’m glad that I have already signed up for the Fox Cities Marathon at the end of September. Had I not already shelled out the money to do that, I probably would have never signed up for it after this one. That said, I tried to muster up enough energy to go out for my first marathon training run yesterday (a short 3 miles) but I just couldn’t do it. Every single inch of my body ached. Every inch still aches.

I guess for now I will just lay here on the couch and ice myself and look at pictures from the race on Sunday 🙂 Look below for some not-so-attractive shots of yours truly.

Me, Ashley, and Nick before the race. Please note our bib numbers 🙂

Let’s play Where’s Waldo… (hint: pink tank and purple shorts)

I don’t think I will ever look good while running. I think this was around mile 11.5 or 12?

Race to the finish!

Mike, Jon (great spectators)
Me, Ashley, Nick (tired runners)

Note: I am the only one not cool enough for sunglasses.

I think I’ll give this race another attempt next year. It is close to home, it was well-organized, there was great crowd support, and I l-o-v-e the football-shaped medals. Too bad they couldn’t control the weather!


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Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce

Mike has been an absolute lifesaver on Mondays and Wednesdays. Why? Because he cooks, folks. He cooks and it’s dang tasty. These two days are go go go for me. I’m in rotation from 8 – 4:30, go for a run, and then go to Pilates Reformer. I don’t get home until close to 8 on Mondays and Wednesdays and it’s so nice to come home to a delicious meal.

I don’t always know when I’ll need him to make a meal, so I try to menu plan easier dishes. This particular stew came from Food & Wine’s 2008 annual cookbook. I’m trying to get a good mix of internet and cookbook recipes into our meals just to mix it up a bit. After all, I do have a lot of cookbooks and I should probably use them instead of letting them collect dust on my bookshelf.

This particular dish was phenomenal. I loved the tanginess of the red wine in it. I honestly could have eaten the entire pot.. don’t judge me – running makes me hungry! I’ll probably try making it in the slow cooker next to make it even easier.

Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce
slightly adapted from Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2008

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds lean beef chuck roast, visible fat trimmed, roast cut into 8 pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon flour
1 bottle dry red wine
2 bay leaves
1 thyme sprig
1 5-ounce piece of pancetta
2 1/4 cups water
20 pearl onions, peeled
15 cremini mushrooms, wiped clean
15 baby carrots
Dash of sugar
Chopped fresh leaf parsley, for garnish

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large cast-iron pot over moderate heat, belt butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the pieces of beef in a single layer in the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook beef over high heat for about 8 minutes, turning to brown pieces on all sides.
  2. Stir in onions and garlic. Reduce heat to moderate and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the flour, stirring well so it doesn’t form lumps, then stir in the red wine. Add bay leaves, thyme sprig, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well and cover the pot.
  3. Transfer the pot to the oven and braise for about 1 1/2 hours until the meat is soft and tender and liquid is reduced to a thick sauce.
  4. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, cover the pancetta with 2 cups of the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer over moderate heat for about 30 minutes and then drain. Cut pancetta into 1/2 inch slices, then cut the slices into 1-inch wide strips.
  5. Combine the pearl onions, mushrooms, baby carrots and pancetta strips in a skillet with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 cup of water and a good dash of sugar, salt, and ground pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, over moderate heat for 15 minutes, until most of the water has cooked off. Uncover and cook over high heat, sauteing the vegetables until well browned all over, about 4 minutes.
  6. Stir some of the vegetables and pancetta into the stew and sprinkle the rest on top. Discard bay leaves and thyme sprig before serving. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

 


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Mike’s Spicy Bloody Maria (Meal in a Glass)

Mike and I woke up at 5 on Saturday to volunteer for Bubolz Nature Preserve’s annual Maple Syrup Saturday fundraising event. This was our second year volunteering for it and it was a blast. We made pancakes to feed 250+ people. Needless to say, I don’t want to see another pancake for a very long time!

Afterwards, we were not only tired, but kind of hungry. We were also too lazy to cook. So, we grabbed our favorite quick and easy meal – a Bloody Maria. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Bloody Maria, it’s a Bloody Mary made with a far superior alcohol – tequila. This recipe is courtesy of my wonderful husband. He apologizes for the not-so-precise measurement. Bloody Maria mixing is more of an art than a science!

On Sunday, I went for a nice, easy 10 mile run. Mike not only drove me 10 miles away and dropped me off so I wouldn’t have to run in circles around our house, but he also fixed me up the best post-run recovery drink, too. You guessed it, a Bloody Maria. Yum! If you’re someone who doesn’t like tequila, make this with vodka for a good ol’ Bloody Mary. If you go this route, I’d like to suggest my personal vodka of choice – Referent Horseradish Vodka. Absolutely delish!

Mike’s Spicy Bloody Maria
serves 1

2 shots tequila (we used Jose Cuervo)
dash of celery salt
2 – 3 shakes A1 Steak Sauce (~ 1 teaspoon)
2 – 3 shakes Worcestershire sauce (~1 teaspoon)
splash of pickle juice (~1 fluid ounce)
Tabasco, to taste (4 – 5 shakes for me!)
6 fluid ounces tomato juice
6 fluid ounces spicy Bloody Mary mix

For the garnish:
Stick of celery
Pickle spear
String cheese
Pickled mushrooms
Summer sausage slice

  1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until combined.
  2. Pour into a pint glass and garnish with celery, pickle, cheese, mushrooms, and sausage.
  3. Drink, eat, and repeat.