A Tornado in My Kitchen

Yesterday’s fun run with Courtney was indeed fun. We ran around Salem Lake, which is about 7 miles. I haven’t run more than 4 miles in a loooong time so I was pleasantly surprised that I could still do the distance (and I think we kept a decent pace…I forgot my Garmin but it felt fairly quick.) The weather was beautiful – 50 degrees and sunny.

My running partner is also beautiful.No, I didn’t run with my aviators on…but that would have been awesome. I forgot my running sunglasses (geez, forgetful much?) but luckily all the trees, even sans leaves, kept me from squinting too much.We also may or may not have climbed a fence during our run. They closed and locked a gate that is  always open and we didn’t feel like going back 0.5 mile to get around it…so we went up and over.  Honestly, I never would have done it without Courtney’s prodding…she is brave. I’m not. I felt like such a rebel. [And no, it wasn’t that yellow gate behind me.]

I also ate gelato again for breakfast today. Just kidding – that is actually banana + strawberry “ice cream.” Frozen banana + frozen strawberries + food processor = tastes a lot like my dessert the day before. Nothing else, folks. Nothing else. Incredible, right? I finally got the storm I was hoping for: our area is under a tornado watch tonight…but that hasn’t stopped me from making a mess in the kitchen. Or from filming the crazy rain while driving.

Dinner was from Clean Food: Swiss Chard with Roasted Golden Beets & Sweet Peas (pg. 66). Yellow beets + red chard = pretty pretty. I served it with some couscous. yum yum yum.

Then, I made Whole Wheat Flax Bread.

Then I made Marathon Cookies.Marathon Cookies (from 101 Cookbooks)

2 cups rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon aniseed, crushed in mortar and pestle (or spice grinder)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
zest of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

one 15-ounce can white kidney, great northern, or navy beans, rinsed & drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped dates [I like mine chopped pretty finely]
1/3 cup sesame seeds

1. Preheat your oven to 350F degrees and place a rack in the top third. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Pulse the oats in a food processor until they resemble a raggy flour. [Be sure to process it enough that you don’t have whole oat pieces left.] Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the flour, aniseed, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and salt.
3. Pulse the beans and olive oil in the food processor until they are creamy. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and pulse until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl once or twice along the way.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until the ingredients start to come together. Sprinkle the dates across the top of the batter and stir until everything just comes together.
5. Place the sesames seeds in a bowl. Make each cookie with a scant 1/4 cup scoop of dough. [I just used an ice cream scoop.] Roll each scoop of dough into a ball then coat it with sesame seeds. Set each ball on the prepared baking sheet and with the palm of your hand flatten the dough just a bit. Repeat with the remaining dough, leaving at least an inch or so between each cookie – they’ll spread a bit, but not much. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the sesame seeds around the bottom start to get golden.

This time, I tried rolling some in chia seeds and tried some just plain, without rolling them in anything. The ones rolled in sesame seeds are definitely the best. Heidi knows what she’s doing!

Now I need to clean up my kitchen!

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? I love Alton Brown’s The Chewy, The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie and obviously, these Marathon Cookies!

Tagged as: bread, Clean Food, cookies, dessert, running