Baking experiments

One of the great things about working in a smaller company is that you can make small batches of things, leave them in the lunch room, and get feedback! I did this back before Christmas in 2015, and now that the sugar rush from the holidays has worn off, I figured I'd give it another go.

Naturally, I modified things as I tried them, because I'm not going to pour soupy "dough" into a cookie sheet and hope it turns out well - of course I'm going to fix it! Interestingly, recent experiments with protein powders, healthy recipes, and adding vegan recipes for one of our executives (let's face it, how many holiday treats do vegans get to share in?) means that my methods of "fixing" have changed. In the past, if a recipe was too dry, I'd add milk, but let's be honest, that really only fixes the dough, not the finished product. Adding a tablespoon of applesauce, on the other hand, works wonderfully for both sides of the cooking process.

Anyway, on to the recipes (with my modifications)!

Peanut butter protein bars (vegan)
    1 cup oats
    1 cup rice crispies
    1/4 cup protein powder (I use rice powder)
    1/2 tsp cinnamon
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/2 cup blue agave syrup (probably any sweetener would do)
    1/2 cup peanut butter
    2 tsp vanilla
    2/3 cup chocolate chips
    Mix dry, set aside. Heat peanut butter and agave syrup in microwave for 45 seconds. Stir, then add vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Grease an 8x8 pan, then press the mix into it. Melt chocolate and spread on top. Chill in fridge/freezer. Once hardened, cut into 8-16 pieces. Keep in fridge. 328-164 calories each.

Banana pecan oat cake (vegan)
    2 cups regular oats, processed into a flour
    1/2 cup regular oats (not processed)
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
    1/8th tsp ground nutmeg
    1/16th tsp ground cloves
    2 tbsp sugar
    1 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp kosher salt
    2 tbsp vegetable oil
    2 medium very ripe bananas
    1/3 cup applesauce
    1/4 cup almond milk
    1 tsp pure vanilla extract
    1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
    1 ripe banana, cut into chunks
I just used my blender to get the 2 cups of oats into a flour. It was a little rough, but gave the cakes a nice texture. Mix the dry, set aside. Mix everything else except the final banana. Add the dry. Grease muffin tins (or use cups), fill about 2/3 full. Slice the last banana, press the pieces into the tops. Bake at 350 for 14 minutes. Makes 17. These are not overly sweet, which really brings out the banana and spices. 124 calories each.

Coconut lime macadamia cookies

    3/4 cups granulated sugar
    3/4 cup brown sugar
    1/2 cup salted butter, softened
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1 large egg
    3/4 cup shredded coconut
    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    1 tablespoon grated lime rind
    2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon salt

    1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg until fluffy. Add lime juice and rind. Add dry ingredients and macadamia nuts. Bake at 350 for 13 minutes. Makes 39. These smell and taste like you ought to be on the beach, and have a surprising 72 calories each.

Now for the less health-conscious recipes.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
    1 cup butter, softened
    2/3 cup peanut butter
    1 cup sugar
    1 cup packed brown sugar
    2 eggs
    1/3 cup natural applesauce (unsweetened is best)
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    4 cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
    2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (about 22 mini-cups, or 2/3 of a  bag)
Mix butters, sugars, egg, applesauce, and vanilla. Add dry. Add chocolate chips and peanut butter cups. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Makes 78. These are a lot sweeter than I prefer in my cookies, and a touch drier, although the applesauce helps. 94 calories each.

Marshmallow Caramel Oreo Cookie S'mores Bars
    6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
    32 Oreo Cookies, ground
    2 cups mini marshmallows
    15 caramels, unwrapped and quartered
    4 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix ground Oreo cookies and melted butter. (This is important:) Line an 8x8 pan with foil, leaving the ends hanging over the sides. Spray with cooking spray. Press cookie mix into foil, bake at 350 for 10 minutes. While hot, sprinkle marshmallows on top of crust, then caramels on top of marshmallows. Put back in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until everything is melty but the marshmallows aren't browning yet. Remove, sprinkler chocolate chips on top. Let cool. Cut into 16 bars. I haven't gotten taste results yet (because holy cow way too sugary for me), but when I was slicing it, it became apparent that the melty toppings hadn't bonded with the crumbly Oreo crust at all. Maybe okay over ice cream, but it didn't seem worth the whopping 205 calories each.

And there we go! I will definitely be making the oat cakes and coconut lime macadamia cookies again. I'll wait to try to protein bars when I bring them in to work tomorrow, but they did smell good. Let me know if there's a recipe you'd like me to try out. This was quite fun!

Accident and recovery

On September 10 of this year, I missed a step at work, fell, and messed up my foot. It hurt a lot, but I didn't think it was broken since I could still move my toes, so I made an appointment for the next afternoon and stayed home, following the RICE technique. Believe it or not, it took a week to get the results back, and only because I was calling literally every day- and then every hour- to ask why it was taking so long. Results: multiple chip fractures on the outer side of the ankle bones. Another 4 days went by before I could get to a podiatrist, who promptly put me in a walking boot and told me not to put any weight on it for at least 3 more weeks. After two weeks in ace bandages and not touching anything, I looked like a zombie sausage.

The doc wanted me in a knee-high boot, but apparently they only had low boots, which suited me fine cause the dang thing was still ridiculously heavy. I didn't get a picture, but in the last few days of not being able to put any weight on the foot, my "bad" calf was quite literally a half an inch larger than my good one, just from lugging that weight around. Thankfully, 4 weeks after the injury, I was able to start physical therapy.

Too old.

Sometimes, I get sad when I realize that I'm "too old" for all the fantastical things in life. All the magic and fairy tales happen to people when they're children, teens, or young adults. I don't have a letter from Hogwarts to look forward to, Peter Pan would never visit me. I'm too old to start Jedi training, too suspicious to be taken in by fairy lies or crafty promises. Mysterious beings don't cross my path, and magic seems to have trickled away. Heroes prefer pretty, impressionable young things, and there is a dearth of thrones to take over or countries to save. I'm too poor to be eccentric, too creaky to be a ninja, and goodness knows I'm tried to find a million hidden talents, to no avail.

It seems kind of bleak now and then.

And then I realize that I've made my own magic.

I learn languages for fun so I can travel and talk to people way outside my comfort zone.
I study so I can improve myself and help others, and hopefully find a place I can do the most good.
I grow things in my garden just for fun, to feel life unfurling.
When I hit a block, where things don't work, I sidestep and try more things (don't quit!).
I started weightlifting to keep my strength and agility as I get older.
I try to smile at everyone, because there have been days when a stranger's smile saved me.

I may not be able to wave a wand, or use the force, or summon minions, or conquer nations. I may never ride a broom, fly with the birds, or swim in the ocean deeps. I will probably live an expected human lifespan, never jump through time, pet dragons, or play with the fairies.

But I guess, in the end, I'll do what I can. As long as I never stop trying, it will be enough.

Preparing for winter

     Today was one of those rare days in fall/winter where it's sunny and cool, but nice enough that you can go work in the garden. Since I still had all that bare ground (and knowing nature abhors a vacuum), I decided to stop off at the first house I passed on the way to the garden that had bags of leaves on the curb, and see if I could snag some. The highly confused man who opened the door accepted my bizarre explanation of needing mulch for a garden with good grace, and I shoved three bags into my trunk before heading off again. Apparently, I have no self-consciousness when dealing with people I will likely never see again.

     Armed with my leaf bags, cardboard from work, and the prospect of having to weed everything in the spring if I didn't get cracking, I managed to get most of the upper bed filled in with either leaves or mulch. Good thing, too, because something was sending little sproutlings up all over the area. We'll see if I caught them in time. Here's what it looks like now:



     Unfortunately, the bottom board fell off of the middle bed there, so I wasn't able to get it completely dug in and leafed/mulched, but that should help immensely! The carrots that you see in the foreground are doing wonderfully, I harvested one row of them today and planted garlic for the spring. Sadly, there was a frost last night, and the tomatoes and peppers are finally dead. I weeded a little bit, and got the boards on the bottom bed kind of in place. "All" that's left now is fixing the top bed, finishing it off, making, mulching and leafing the bottom bed(s), and putting a new layer of mulch/leaves on the rest of the garden. Oh, and transplanting the raspberries. And weeding everything. Before the snow flies. We'll see how that works. Cheers!

Fall garden update

     Back in August, I got word that I and a few other gardeners along the edge would be losing some of our plots. Apparently, the head of the garden asked the county why they haven't been mowing around the perimeter, and the county responded that they couldn't get their mower along it, because we've built gardens to within 5 feet of the treeline. From what I've overheard, they originally wanted a 30' space along the edge, but since that would mean many of the gardens would be cut back to only 10' wide, the head gardener negotiated for a 20' easement.

     What does that mean? The plot that I spent so much time on this year is losing 1/3 of its area. I'm gaining that and a little more back, however, as I was allowed to take over the much smaller plot next to me that had been abandoned since May. That's not quite as fun as it sounds, because the entire plot was knee-high in weeds, strewn with rusty broken garden implements, thoroughly rocky, and had gaps in the fence that a human could easily get through, but I still accepted. Partly because I want the space, and partly because it means I don't share any fences now. There are walkways on two sides of my plot, and forest/grass strips on the other two. Suits me just fine. 

    At the beginning of October, I decided that enough of my crops had been harvested that it was safe to take the deer fence down and start merging the plots. In an attempt to hide the horrible weed-infested horribleness, I'd planted morning glories along the fence. They were doing quite well, but unfortunately, they had to go. So on the first weekend of the month, I did a bit of weeding, took down the bamboo, and took out the morning glories. Next step: the other plot.