Anthropology and Food

Jamie Oliver giving his TED talk.

Jamie Oliver is a big inspiration to me. He is such an incredible advocate for heathy living! I don't even know if he's doing it, but he is researching the Anthropology of Food. He critically analyzes 'Food Culture' particularly in America, and how the Food Culture of America is ultimately creating an obese nation. Remember, he is not an academic, he's a chef, and in my opinion one of the most incredible chefs in the world. Not only is he advocating healthy, natural food, he's constructed means of CHANGE!

I hope someday to follow in his footsteps, after culinary school, and utilize my degree in Anthropology and my culinary knowledge, to help change the Food Culture of America.

Here's Jamie Oliver's TED talk:

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." -J.O.

Vi Ses,

Holly

Cupcake Picture

I think I just died of cuteness! I absolutely LOVE walruses!! I need to make these!

Vi Ses,
  Holly

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies and the Final Debate

Tonight the final 2012 presidential debate was held, topics surrounding foreign policy. As a young American and first time voter, I think it has been important to stay aware of each candidate's views and positions. I tend to get very uncomfortable while watching these debates and speeches, because it is just so awkward how everyone is so upset at each other. Nonetheless, watching and assessing how I feel is important.

Anyway, while watching the feisty debate tonight, I decided to utilize the last remnants of my canned pumpkin from last week for some delicious pumpkin oatmeal cookies!! YAY!





Ingredients: 

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 6 tbsp canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 12-15 minutes! 

Man oh Man! These are good! They are a bit "cakey" but I kind of like that! The pumpkin is not super overwhelming, but still apparent enough to be officially 'pumpkin' cookies! I love using oatmeal as well (as I'm sure you've been able to tell) so this recipe was a double whopper!

Roommate Review!

My roommates just walked in and LOVE the cookies! We've decided they are similar to muffin tops, in that they have a sweet and delicate crunch (Thanks, Gina!)... 

Well I'm proud of myself! These are FAB-U-LOUS!

And don't forget to VOTE!!

Vi Ses!
Holly

Recipe Source:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/pumpkin-spiced-oatmeal-pecan-cookies.html#more

Dairy-Free Quiche

So Since I had a second pie crust left over from my delicious Vegan Pumpkin Pie last week, I knew I wanted to make some QUICHE! I really love quiche, but it always seems to have meat in it at restaurants, which makes me sad. So I bought some veggie bacon yesterday and decided to get my fix of quiche right here, right now!

Here's the recipe I used!

Click to Enlarge!

 Ok so I did make one tiny mistake, I was overzealous and put the 1 T. olive oil in the quiche itself, so hopefully that doesn't screw it all up! As for veggies, or add-ins, I put in broccoli, kale, potatoes, and veggie bacon. For the broccoli and kale, I microwaved them in a little water to steam them. And for the potatoes, I microwaved them a tad as well. The veggie bacon I just roughly chopped and threw it on in! I'm really excited!


Today's baking soundtrack was Newton Faulkner's Write It On Your Skin, which is his most recent album. Newton is probably one of my favorite musicians, his incredible guitar playing and swoon-worthy voice are hard to beat. I'd really really love to see him play live someday!! He is totally awesome!

Clouds by Newton Faulkner

Back to my Quiche! 

So this came out super delicious! I did have to bake it about 15 minutes longer, but that may just be my oven... And even though I added that 1 T. olive oil, and used sweetened almond milk, it tastes delicious!! I added a bit of tapatío to it and Voilà! C'était parfait! 

I hope you enjoy making any quiche as much as I did, it's the perfect way to start the day! 

Vi Ses!
Holly

Update: My roommates seemed to like this a lot as well, and they aren't even vegetarians!

The Best Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ever!

As I was talking to my sister this week, she told me she was going to give up dairy. Now being the 10 year old sister of a vegetarian, on and off vegan, I was pretty proud of this mature decision! I can see another vegetarian in the making!! Once she older, she'll see the light! Anyway, this inspired me to join her, and lay off the dairy... BUT WAIT! It's fall and that means my favorite dessert is in season, Pumpkin Pie! And let's be honest, Pumpkin Pie cannot be made dairy-free, right? WORNG!! There is a plethora of vegan Pumpkin Pie recipes (heck if you're already omitting dairy, might as well go full force and kick those eggs out too!) out there on the web just waiting to be tested, so I collected my ingredients at the Winco yesterday and here we go!

iPad optional.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie:

3/4 lb. silken (soft) tofu

16 oz. canned pumpkin puree

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. molasses

1 pre made pie crust (Marie Calendars is usually vegan)

Pre-heat oven to 450.

Blending magic!

Before anything, put the tofu on a stack of paper towels and soak as much moisture up as possible, I seriously used like half a roll of paper towels. You really don't need the extra moisture, it will throw your pie's feng-shui.

Ok so here's the super secret key to a silky pumpkin pie, because if you're like me and you tried to mix it with a whisk, the tofu was all chunky and unappetizing. 

So mix all the ingredients (besides the crust, DUH.) and then....

Use a blender!!

CRAZY! I know. I was like, no way Jose! That's a bit too obscure, even for my liking... But then again this is already a vegan pumpkin pie, which I thought was all myth before I tried, so do it! BLEND AWAY MY LOVLIES!

Before baking, isn't she pretty??

So now pour that silky goodness into the pie crust, and marvel at it's beauty. I'm not kidding, it looks gorgeous!

Put your pie in the 450 degree oven for 10 minutes, and then drop the temperature down to 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

After baking!

So I was a bit concerned when I checked it at 1 hour and it was still jiggly, so I kept it in for seriously like 30 more minutes, until finally taking it out for fear of total burning. So now that its chilling, it should solidify, right??? Fingers crossed!!

While we're waiting for the verdict of taste... Rather than watching a TV show or a movie whilst baking today, I jammed out to some Julia Nunes' Settle Down, which I am currently addicted to! Seriously go look her up on Youtube, some of the best 'female singing' music ever (I really don't listen to many female artists, so she must be incredible!) I saw her over the summer in Santa Ana at the Constellation Room, and she was awesome live! So go jam out to her intense ukulele playing. She's a pretty cool chick.

Julia Nunes on Conan.

VERDICT:

Ok, so after letting it cool all day in the refrigerator, I came home to finally taste my creation! And let me tell you, the taste is really incredible! All the spices really come out and it is so pumpkin-y delicious that I could eat the whole thing right here, right now! The only issue I have is that it didn't completely set, boo! But I think that's because I didn't get enough moisture out of the tofu, so it added too much liquidity to the filling... So guess who get to make another delicious pie in the future? This girl!! 

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I am going to, it's amazing because it's easy, delicious and somewhat healthy!!

Vi Ses!

Holly

Recipe Source:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/desertrecipes/r/tofupumpkinpie.htm

Julia Nunes:

http://www.junumusic.com/

Les Photos: Par Moi!!

Banana Bread

As I looked over at my fruit bowl this weekend, I saw the most beautiful sight: browning bananas! You know what that means, BANANA BREAD TIME!

Banana bread is one of those nostalgic foods for me, my grandma seemed to always have some, or some ready to bake, when I would go to her house after school so long ago... Her banana bread is truly the best, but I found a recipe on Food Network's website that seemed pretty straight forward and delicious!

I screenshot the recipe on my iPad, so here's the picture of it, so I don't have to write it all out :)

The changes I made were that I did them in muffins instead of a loaf so I baked them for 25 minutes instead of the suggested 1 hour...

I also added walnuts to half the batch, since my roommate doesn't like nuts I did it half and half! AND I toped them with cinnamon sugar, because who doesn't like a bot more sweetness... Everyone's happy! And for my second round in the oven, I mixed in some oats and mini chocolate chips, just for fun!

 I must say these muffins came out DELICIOUS! Like, no joke. They rock! So don't fret when you see some sad looking 'naners, turn that frown upside down and make some delicious treats!

The TV show of the hour was this weekend's Saturday Night Live with daniel Craig hosting... My verdict? Not too funny, I think Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation) would be perfect! Please, NBC, please!

My classes are all getting really intense, so we'll see how active I am on this, hopefully this weekend I can make something really cool! And soon, I'll have to start my practice runs for my roommate's wedding cake I've been commissioned to make!! We're going to try out Lemon Lavender! YUM! Get Excited!

Vi Ses!
Holly

Biscuit Doughnuts!

So in my Women and Development class today we were told to read an article called, Doughnuts and Western Women, and I honestly have no idea what it's going to be about... BUT it did make me really want some doughnuts, which I really don't eat often and I had just conveniently bought ingredients to make another fun Pinterest recipe, Canned Biscuit Doughnuts! Random? Yes!

So let's experiment in the adventures of the art of doughnuts! (from a can...)

Here's the recipe:

1 can biscuits (I used a generic brand 'buttermilk' flavor)
2 inches of oil in a pan
1 bowl of cinnamon sugar
1 oil resistant stomach

So I used a bottle cap to punch holes in my doughnuts, you could use a cookie cutter, but a cap works just fine! Then heat the oil for a few minutes, and once a drop of water "dances" on the surface (after flicking it of course) put a few dough rings, or holes in and fry your little heart out!!

I flipped them over probably after 1 minute of cooking (mine are very small), so just whenever they are golden brown, flip 'em!

If you're crafty like me, and don't have tongs (ridiculous, I know) get creative and use chopsticks (wood, NOT plastic)!

After they are cooked to perfection, put them on you already prepared paper towel oil absorber (I used a sheet pan covered in 3 layers of paper towel), and let cool for another minute or so. Then roll in the bowl of cinnamon sugar, and VOLIÀ! You can devour your deliciously easy doughnuts!

So onto a more important note, how do they taste?

Overall, these are really delicious, like so good that I probably just cancelled out my hour at the gym earlier! Oh well, take one for the team I guess. But seriously do not make these if you are like me and binge bake, where you pretty much eat the entirety of your product... Oh screw it, bake and eat away my lovlies!


Well now that I've successfully saturated my stomach, you're on your own for now, I need to go run or something (well no, I would risk barfing... No fun.).

Vi Ses!

         

Holly

 Don't let the look of anticipation deceive you, this is like my 4th doughnut... 

All photos taken by me!