Antique Fair, La Torta and Spiced Pecans

Today Ned and I hit up the La Mesa antique fair. It was so gorgeous, a little warm, but a perfect day for an outdoor fair in cute little La Mesa Village. Nothing too exciting for sale, but I did pick up a vintage party cookbook from Betty Crocker, I just love those old hand drawings and old-fashioned recipes (hot cross buns!). We also visited with our aunt Tina and had a quick lunch at the newly-reopened La Torta. So good, Ned and I hadn't had tortas before - I know, how retarded are we?

I've been cooking a lot on Sundays, and today I'm trying some spiced nuts! My neighbor Cyndy gave me the recipe over the holidays but I hadn't got around to making them until now. It's one of those fabulous low effort, highly yummy recipes that's also semi-impressive. I thought they'd be a great dessert to have on hand, as I realize I have to cut back on my Godiva habit. Recipe follows, I adapted it a bit. I only had pecans and peanuts, but I think you could use just about any nut. (Peanuts didn't taste good until the next day, needed time to get crunchy again.)

Spiced Nuts
1 large egg white
2 Tbsp water
3 to 4 cups nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
sprinkling of salt

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Beat egg white with water. Add nuts and stir until moist.
3. Combine dry ingredients, mixing well. Add nuts and stir until coated. Spread nuts on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (your time may vary, so check on them). Cool completely before storing.

Check out the original recipe here.

They can also be frozen, and they thaw in only a few minutes! Enjoy and happy Sunday!

Asparagus-Heirloom Tomato-Goat Cheese Pizza. Bam!

Had to share, Ned and I just finished dinner. Had an idea to try pizza from scratch. It was a flippin good idea! Neddie and I made the dough (first time I used yeast, much easier than I anticipated) and he made the pesto we used. I threw on some fresh goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes from the La Mesa Farmer's Market and some sauteed asparagus. Topped with mozzarella and Parmesan, then good to go. I don't know if I've ever made something that just looked so pretty - I heart making pizzas!

Basic Pizza Dough recipe from Cooking Light

Basic Pesto recipe from Sunset

Definitely going to try a BBQ chicken variation soon!

Low Sugar Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from a Cooking Light recipe, we made these this week and were happy to discover a "healthier" cookie recipe that satisfied our need for some good nummie after dinner. My only changes from the original recipe were to eliminate the white sugar (the banana is such a good natural sweetener on its own), add a bit of cinnamon and use whole-wheat instead of white flour. Also, like some of the reviews said, mine only needed 12 minutes or so, not 18.

I froze some and kept a few in fridge, even good a little cold :) I think we'll make these again soon!

Strawberries

Our first berry of the season is growing day by day! I made some strawberry-banana-pecan muffins today, hopefully I'll be able to use some of our own in the next batch.

I'm looking for another tiered plant stand, I love growing nine different things in one small area. So far this spring we have two different strawberries, basil, Italian parsley, peppermint, apple mint, chives, green onion and a yellow bell pepper!

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal

Perfect for our Lent challenge of eliminating processed foods, I found a super-simple oatmeal recipe in my new favorite cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, and was intrigued not only by the prep time (about 25 seconds) AND the idea of having a hot breakfast ready to go in the morning.

Supposedly, steel cut oatmeal is is best - if you go by the theory that the less a food is processed, the better. They're just cut up and thrown into a package, versus more traditional rolled oats, which are rolled and dried. I really like the steel cut oats, and with this recipe you really can't go wrong - but I'm sure any oatmeal is fine.

Put this on low right before you go to bed to have it ready for your morning - or for lunch or a snack, put it on high for 3-4 hours.

Slow Cooker Oatmeal - Serves 3-4
1 c steel-cut oats
4 c water
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Grease the slow cooker with a bit of nonstick spray or butter.

2. Combine all three ingredients in slow cooker, turn on low for 8 hours (if you don't have a timer, don't worry, just leave it on low and it will be fine).

3. In the morning, stir oatmeal and spoon into bowls. We top ours with fresh fruit (blueberries and bananas are awesome), a half-teaspoon of brown sugar and a couple tablespoons of lowfat milk.

Very easy to double and make extra to pop in the microwave the next morning!