Of the several hundred vices I’ve accumulated in my lifetime (I’m a very weak human being), the chipwich is arguably in the top 20 behind bleeding steak and red wine.  At 400-600(!) calories a pop, I really can’t afford to have a weekday ice cream monstrosity without feeling a bit slow and gross.

Enter the healthy chipwich.  I’ve seen a few recipes for healthy 3-ingredient cookies floating around on Pinterest and decided that those cookies with any frozen yogurt (vanilla, coffee, chocolate, etc) would be outstanding.  AND IT WAS.

Makes 6 chipwiches

Ingredients:

1 large banana
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
vanilla frozen yogurt or low fat ice cream

Directions:

1. Preheat 350 degrees. Mash banana until smooth. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

2.  Set up greased cookie sheet or sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. spoon out a flat tablespoon for each cookie and place on sheet. Should be about 12 cookies.

3.  Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes then flatten cookies by pressing down with a spatula (more cookie surface area=more ice cream).  Let cookies cool to room temperature.

4.  Using a regular spoon, scoop out frozen yogurt/ice cream to desired thickness and form with fingers (think: hockey puck). Place on one cookie and press second cookie over ice cream.  Wrap chipwiches in saran wrap and put in freezer for at least 2-3 hours. Enjoy!

I calculated these to be about 100-120 calories each.  So that’s pretty good, right?

I can’t wait to make several variations of this including:

• banana-oat-walnut with chocolate yogurt
  
• banana-oat-peanut butter with vanilla yogurt
• banana-oat-butterscotch chip with coffee yogurt

Welcome to the Summer of the Chipwich, everyone.

This is so so delicious. Quite possibly the best marg I’ve made yet.   Cinco de Mayo is around the corner so feel free to work this into your fiesta-ing for cinco-el-drinko.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 oz. tequila
1 oz. triple sec
6 oz. grapefruit juice, best quality
6 oz. Polar grapefruit club soda
salt and sugar

Directions:

Wet the rim of each glass and press on to a 50/50 salt and sugar combo. Fill glasses with ice. Divide the above ingredients into two glasses. Stir. Serve. Enjoy!!

forever favorite:

Ingredients:

1 tube of crescent roll dough (8 rolls)
2 oz medium brie
4 tbsp your favorite jam, I used triple berry
1 tbsp honey

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Open a tube of crescent roll dough and unroll them onto a baking pan, spacing evenly. (I’ve never bought this before and I guess the tube *pops* when you open it.  I did not see it coming and jumped like this bun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Is8cVgAE-0)

2.  Spread a half tablespoon of jam onto each triangle of dough.

3.  Slice the brie into pieces and place on the widest side of the dough. Roll dough from widest end to point. Bake in the oven for 11-13 minutes, until golden brown. Drizzle honey over each roll.  Serve warm.

Adapted from: The not so desparate chef wife

In the midst of this slowwww (herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter)  slow pace of spring up here, I’ve been craving something both fresh and warm.

I saw a recipe for a warm butternut squash salad a few years ago that looked phenomenal.   But that gourd has dominated the winter soups, salads, and pastas and I’m officially squashed-out.  Instead, I thought sweet potato would be perfect.

Ingredients:

salad:
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1-inch coins
1 15-oz. can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 of a medium red onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper

dressing:
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder

(if you can find tahini paste, just use that, lemon juice, and garlic powder for the dressing)

Directions: 

Preheat oven 375 degrees

1.   For the dressing: place sesame seeds in food processor and grind until smooth. Add sesame oil, salt, and water. Process until fully blended. Transfer to small bowl. Mix in lemon juice and garlic powder and set aside.

2.  Coat baking sheet with olive oil. Place sweet potatoes on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Take out of the oven and carefully flip each piece and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes until both sides are slightly brown. Test with a fork. If it’s marshmallow-y and soft, it’s done. Add salt and pepper.

3. Cut up the sweet potato coins into 1 inch cubes. Combine the squash, chickpeas, and onion in a medium, microwave-safe mixing bowl.  Pop in the microwave for 30 seconds. Toss in the tahini dressing. Sprinkle parsley. Serve immediately.

It’s amazing how persuasive food photography can be.  I stumbled upon this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen and after looking at maybe three pictures, my freewill had diminished.  Thereon, the rest of my day was about making a “those cookies” to “this face” connection.  I sped to the grocery store after work, grabbed all of the cookie ingredients with the same fervor as those overzealous assclowns shopping on Black Friday, ran in my house,  and turned on the oven with eight grocery bags looped around my arms and my coat and shoes still on.   All this over a photo

I guess that intense junkie reaction is part of the reason why I cook, why I do anything at all, half of the time.  It’s  “I want to eat that. Now.  Wtf is tahini? wtf is garam masala? Whatever I’ll find it and figure out how to make it”.  It’s impulsive, yes, but that’s how it gets done.

So yeah, the cookies are exactly as you imagine they might be.  Heaven.   I copied the recipe directly from Ambitious Kitchen because it is absolutely perfect the way she made it.

Here it is:

• 1+1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

Today is my dad’s birthday!   Mark Boylan is smart, thoughtful guy with a dry wit and a sometimes goofy/oddball sense of humor. He loves biking, baseball, history, art, photography, and the comfort of a great meal or a nice beer.

It might be a missed opportunity to include a certain Beatles song about a certain age, but I’m sure he’d rather hear one of his fav songs instead.  Happy Birthday Dad I love you!

A salad that tastes exactly like a BLT. I know, it seems like another one of those “salad traps” (that old chestnut..) where the salad pusher is straight-up lying to you. They say their salad is satisfying and comparable to whatever food it’s imitating, but it’s always a farce.  For the most part, the salad version of a meal you love is disappointing.  Taco salad is the worst offender- taking a glorious fiesta-in-your-mouth portable pocket and making it a cold, slimy chore to eat. Yes it has all the taco ingredients, but now it sucks.

This salad, however, provides the full BLT experience (the BLT experience. new band name. take it someone, it’s a freebie.) in that it really does taste like the sandwich. This will be your first bite reaction (at 0:20):

In this scenario, your brain is slapping your tastebuds in disbelief.

Ingredients:

3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup fresh spinach
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1+1/2 cups seasoned croutons
10 slices thick-cut bacon
1/3 cup low-fat mayo
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp garlic salt
black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook bacon however you prefer. Drain grease,  chop bacon into 1 inch crumbles, set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine mayo, milk, garlic salt, and pepper.  Whisk until blended.

3. Combine lettuce, tomatoes, bacon and croutons in a large salad bowl. Toss with dressing, and serve immediately.

It’s perfect to make for a dinner party or a large crowd. Just be wary- your friends may slap you in the face (revisit the video above) and accuse you of witchcraft.. I mean, you did just make a salad taste like the world’s most perfect sandwich.  Yep. Witch, fo sho.

adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blt-salad/

Roquefort is easily one of my favorite cheeses.  It’s a medium, creamy blue that’s super soft and apparently makes you live longer.  Blue cheese as the holy grail?  Seems legit.

Roquefort and honey on Petits Toasts:

Smear blue cheese on these tiny toast crackers then drizzle honey over it.

Have a nice weekend!

Yesterday was the official first day of spring and I’m so pumped that we’re finally in the homestretch of this seemingly endless winter. 

This is my current attitude towards the snow outside:

I think it’s time to spring forward with some fresh new food and draaank. Any Spring recipe ideas?

Ingredients:

1 cup ice
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup Bolthouse carrot juice
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup skim milk
2 tbsp plain greek yogurt

Directions:

Blend that shit.

—the end—

Oh and enjoy! It’s quite delicious. Lots of vitamins in this fella too. Including several hundred percents of Vitamin A and C.  Feel free to justify the hell out of whatever you eat for the rest of the day. Commence Homer Simpson bacon doughnut fiesta feast!

Leave it to Friday Night Lights to be super dramatic about smoothies:

do you feel like you DESERVE A SMOOTHIE?