pecan and sunflower seed biscotti

i'm not sure exactly what to call these. they're kind of like biscotti, but not as sweet, and not quite the same texture. they'd be a great dessert crumbled over vanilla ice cream, but they're also good in milk with your cereal, or plain as an afternoon snack. mine came out more like granola bars, but we'll go with biscotti, since they were adapted from 101 cookbook's nut and seed biscotti recipe.
pecan and sunflower seed biscotti makes about 20 cookies, although mine were crumbly, so it was more like 15 nicely shaped cookies plus lots of misshapen bits and crumbs. still delicious!
*1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
*1 1/3 cup pecan pieces
*2/3 cup sunflower seeds
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 eggs
*2/3 cup honey
*1/4 cup olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a bread pan with butter or oil (the original recipe said to line with parchment paper as well, but i didn't have any and it worked fine, although it was a little hard to get the dough out of the pan after baking).
2. Combine flour, nuts, seeds, and salt in a bowl. stir.
3. Whisk together eggs and honey in another bowl. add to dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Put dough in pan and press down with your fingers until its nice and compact. bake for about 45 minutes.
5. remove loaf from pan (you'll need to run your knife around the edges of the loaf) and cut into thin slices. place slices on a baking sheet and brush with about half of the oil.
6. bake at 425 degrees F for 3-4 minutes. remove from oven, flip each slice, brush with the rest of the oil, and bake for 5 more minutes, or until crisp.
-Lola

baked french toast

have i ever told you how much i LOVE french toast? despite this, i almost never make it, and the few times I have, its never been as good as what you get at most diners (although i also love diners, and the atmosphere can make sub-par french toast delicious. my favorite french toast was when rita and i went to the java house for lunch one day, and made friends with the old man who worked there, who came over and chided us for not putting enough syrup on our toast, then proceeded to douse the toast in about 5 pounds of syrup).

so for our belated mother's day brunch, after much debate, we decided on french toast, but knew we had to step it up.
not only is this recipe super simple and delicious, its baked so you can all enjoy brunch together instead of making each slice of toast to order.

baked french toast serves 6 adapted from smitten kitchen
*1 loaf challah
*3 cups milk (we used fat free)
*3 eggs
*3 Tablespoons sugar, plus about 1 teaspoon extra for sprinkling on top
*1/2 teaspoon salt
* about 2 teaspoons cinnamon
*pecans (about 1 large handful)
*raisins (about 1 large handful)
*1 banana, sliced (optional)
1. grease a baking dish.
2. slice challah into 1 inch pieces. arrange in baking dish, packing tightly. you can also layer if necessary.
3. sprinkle pecans and raisins on top. you can also put the pecans and raisins between layers if you want. i recommend squishing them between the slices of bread.
3. whisk together milk, eggs, sugar and salt in a large bowl. pour over bread.
4. sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over everything.
5. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
6. bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. add slices of banana on top and bake for 10 more minutes.
7. cut, serve, and enjoy! we served ours with more sliced banana, strawberries, pecans, powdered sugar, and syrup.
-Lola

home

somehow we made it through finals, sad goodbyes, and a cross-country flight, and we are home for summer break! we'll just be hanging out in sf for the summer, except for a short trip to portland and seattle. hopefully the hanging out in sf will include jobs for both of us, although that is currently looking unlikely. if anyone knows of a good summer job for someone studying psych, nutrition, and irish, please let me know =)

"we have no food in the house", my dad warned me as we hauled massive suitcases up the stairs. which, in fact, meant that our fridge and pantry were full of food. "Feta! Avocado! Sun-dried tomatoes!", Rita and i cried excitedly while preparing lunch today. You have to understand, the contents of our fridge at school is usually frozen peas, 1 jar of peanut butter, and milk.
mache with sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, sliced strawberries, chopped avocado, and feta.
the cats liked it too.
-Lola

Naan Pizza

We have just a few days til we go back home now, and we're desperately trying to get rid of the the food in the fridge before we leave. This has resulted in some pretty random meals (one night recently my dinner was some plain couscous, several slices of cheese, and spinach with salad dressing), but this particular meal turned out great.

we spread some tomato sauce on a frozen piece of naan, topped it with some peas and grated cheddar, and baked it until the cheese melted, about 10 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.
-rita

grilled cheese with soyrizo

sorry for our long absence. attendance around here may be sparse for the next few weeks, but after that we'll be home, with plenty of free time, a plethora of ingredients, and a real kitchen, so expect some good posts!
so what have the twins been eating? lots of cheesy sandwiches, apparently. today, i bring you the grilled cheese with soyrizo, and next post rita will show you a delicious tuna melt. (soyrizo= soy chorizo. available at trader joe's. tastes just like the real thing, i promise. but of course you could use real mexican chorizo too).i ate off the floor. i'm classy like that.
cook about 1/4 cup soyrizo in a frying pan for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is thoroughly heated. remove from pan and add a small pat of butter/margarine to the pan. top 1 piece bread (always whole wheat at chez twin) with soyrizo and cheddar cheese. top with other piece of bread. grill in pan until bread is nicely browned and cheese is melty, about 3 minutes on each side (you'll need a spatula to flip the sandwich).
i served mine with pineapple salsa (from whole foods, but you could find it at most grocery stores or make your own), and spinach with more pineapple salsa and walnuts on the side.
_lola

Grits with portabello mushrooms, cheese and corn

While I was in Atlanta over spring break (which was awesome, by the way) we were staying in a hotel with free breakfast and I took full advantage. Not only did I have a waffle smothered with syrup every morning, I also stuffed plenty of tea bags, tiny packets of peanut butter, and most importantly, 2 packs of Quaker Instant Grits into my purse while the hotel employees weren't looking.
Lola and I finally got around to using the grits a few nights ago. We mixed them with sauteed portabello mushrooms, grated Cheddar and jack (2 kinds of cheese! getting fancy!), and some frozen white corn.

Delicious! instant grits aren't as good as the real thing, but still yummy and great comfort food.
-Rita

portobello and cheese sandwiches with roasted summer squash

i apologize for the lack of photos of this meal. we were distracted. you'll see why in a second.
this is a very easy meal. so simple that even though our own cooking process turned into a comedy of errors, we still wound up with a delicious dinner.
the plan was this:
Portobello and cheese sandwiches with roasted summer squash for 2
1. slice 1/2 a summer squash. toss in glass baking dish with olive oil, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, and curry powder. roast in oven for 30 minutes at 500 degrees (but you should do it at 450 for 45 minutes. i was hungry and impatient).
2. saute 1 giant portobello mushroom in earth balance (fake butter. obviously you could use real butter too). slice in half and put 1/2 on bread spread with brown mustard. top with slices of cheddar jack cheese and another piece of bread. grill sandwich in more earth balance. repeat for other sandwich.

before i tell you how it actually went down, i need to give you a little bit of explanation about our kitchen. we have approximately 1 1/2 square feet of counter space, most of which is usually taken up with the teapot, dish towels, various condiments, etc. due to the general lack of space in our room. so when we remove a pan from the oven, we usually put it on top of the stove, which is also crowded with drying dishes, other pots, etc. due to lack of space on the counter.
so here's what happened: I am sauteing the mushroom and suddenly the pan gets really smoky, causing the smoke alarm to go off. after waving my arms around like a madwoman for a few seconds, i take the mushroom out of the pan, and put the pan upside down over the burner. the smoke alarm stops beeping. crisis averted.
we realize all our bread is starting to mold. rita tears off the moldy bits and we are good to go. perhaps by now we should have heeded the signs and given up on this particular cooking venture.
next, i open the oven and see that the squash is done. i take it out and put the pan on top of the stove. note that i placed it gently, and did not drop it. and that's when this happened:

the pan exploded. like legit exploded. glass flew everywhere. i mean, thank goodness neither of us were injured.
point is, you should make this meal. just don't do it at all like we did.
-Lola
p.s. thank you to all readers/commenters/followers. just for being you =)