Banana-oat-white and dark chocolate- pumpkin seed-pecan-cookies

The last few weeks have been tough at our house. Things have been a little out of whack, and then yesterday Jacky had to have his snaggle tooth pulled. In short, we need cookies.

Since I haven't posted a recipe in a long time, I thought if I was gonna do it, why not make it a crazy, out of control, every-ingrediant-ever type recipe?

Here is how I came up with this one. I had some rapidly browning bananas laying around that needed to be used up. I also had dark and white chocolate from easter in my pantry, as well as pecans, pumpkin seeds and the usual baking paraphenalia. I always like to use what I already have laying around the house when baking. However, after tasting the results, I must recommend that you go out and buy whatever part of this recipe you might not have- these cookies are worth a trip to the store to pick up white chocolate!

I also want to mention that I tried baking with brown rice syrup for the first time ever in this recipe. Rice syrup is an alternative to sugar that is less sweet and makes you feel a little less bonkers after eating it. I only swapped it with the white sugar- I still used brown sugar too- and the cookies were wonderfully balanced. I think the oat flour helps knock down the sweetness a bit too. The dough is chewy but tastes like banana bread, and then you bite into a big, bitter chocolate chunk and a toasted pecan... wow. The white chocolate chunks are the real sweet spots. Anyway, I think its worth trying the syrup or cutting back the white sugar just to make the contrast within the cookie extra special.

I found a recipe from Auntie Martha (it feels like we are related, anyway) for banana chocolate chip cookies, and then changed it all around. Here's what I came up with:


Banana, Oat, White and Dark Chocolate, Pumpkin Seed, Pecan Cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour (just grind up some oats in the food processor)
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt (plus more for sprinkling on top of these bad boys)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup* (or 1/2 cup white granulated sugar)
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate and 4 ounces good quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks (I used disks and didn't chop them up- delightful)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (about 2 ounces), toasted
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

Mix butter and sugars together in standing mixer until fluffy. At a lower speed, add vanilla and the egg. In a separate bowl, combine AP flour, oat flour, baking soda and salt. Gently combine flour mix with butter mix. Then, also gently add oats, nuts and seeds. I wanted giant, extravagant cookies, so I made my dough balls about the size of clementines. I kept the dough high and tight so that the cookies wouldn't spread out too flat in the baking process. Bake for 12 minutes, turning the pan in the oven half way through in order to evenly bake the cookies. Sprinkle with coarse, flakey salt when they are hot out of the oven.

I just ate two. God help me.

Easter: Not for Sissys

 This year, since I had to work on Easter Sunday, I asked my family if they would be willing to come over to our house and celebrate on Saturday instead. In the end this was a fantastic turn of events because Saturday was sunny, warm (hot at times!) and beautiful from morning until  night. Sunday was a cold and rainy day! We win! Everyone who came brought the most amazing dishes: spring salads (even a rabbit cobb salad prepared with one of Nic's own rabbits), scalloped potatoes with anchovies, asparagus bread pudding, brown bread and tomato gratin (Brown Tom), yogurt cornmeal cake with rhubarb, nutella cups, lemon bars and banana whoopie pies!
Kevin and I prepared all day on Friday (which was also our 4 year anniversary! Yowzas!). I braised a 3 pound lamb shoulder in my tagine for 6 hours with onions, prunes, garlic and meat stock. It was the most tender, succulent meat I have ever tasted. 6 hours in a tagine will do that I guess. We roasted an 18 pound ham with a maple syrup, bourbon, mustard glaze that I don't think we will ever be able to finish. I sauteed tiny new carrots with a similar glaze, adding curry for flair.  For a healthy option I made a bulgar salad with spring peas, plum tomatoes, shallots, and a shiitake mushroom vinaigrette. On Saturday I took the lamb I had braised off and layered it between to two layers of scalloped potato slices, creating a lamb pie called Champvallon. I also tried Smitten Kitchen's recipe for her "Lighter than Air Chocolate Cake" which is a flourless bittersweet take that requires a dozen eggs all separated and whipped forever. Instead of making a plain whipped cream frosting, I followed her directions for a white chocolate mint whipped cream instead. Deeeelightful. It really had a light texture with a deeply dark and barely sweet flavor. The mint was an excellent addition.
Lynne made Smitten's lemon bars- we love Deb so. They are sooo good. I highly recommend trying that recipe if you are in the mood for a lemon bar that is dynamic and lemony, not so sweet it burns the back of your throat.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Thanks for all the sweet messages about Hiro. Ouch we miss him so much!

He Was a Good Boy

       

He was terrified of docks and bridges!

 

Here are Owen, Mr. Man and Hiro all doing a lawn project together last spring. We miss you all!

Exactly one year ago.

The old dog club (Lynne and I not included in said club)

  

                                      
                                                                       His Favorite.

                                      

  

How those chickens taunted him!

This last week, we had to put Hiro down. He was very old. His hips could no longer support him. Getting out of bed was impossible with out assistance, and he was incontinent. When he could no longer stand on his own with out slipping, we realized that we couldn't let him suffer any more.
His last day was beautiful. We spread out a blanket in the back yard and soaked up some sunshine together. He ate unlimited snacks and got hours of ear and back scratching from his favorite person in the world- Kevin. We were so glad to be able to spend a whole day hanging out with him in the sunshine. Our wonderful vet came over in the early evening and sat down with us in the grass. Hiro passed gently without any pain. He was more relaxed in his last hours than he had been in months.
After we buried him, it started to rain right away! We couldn't believe how lucky we were. It was a beautiful thing.
It has been a tough change for us. Hiro was always with us. He was such a big dog! The house feels empty, even with Jacky still bopping around. Jacky has had a hard go of it too. He has moments of normal Jacky behavior, but is spending a lot of extra time laying low.
We have been talking a lot about our favorite memories we had with Hiro. Hiking Dog Mountain, going camping, when Hiro first kissed me in the car when I was leaving for France... Hiro pulling Kevin on his skateboard to the coffee shop every morning when they lived in SE Portland.... What a dog.

This year a lot of our friends and family have lost dogs too. Mister Man, Owen, Harry- so many special friends! They were all given really amazing lives- and gave us as much in return. They will be missed. Thank you for all the love.

You think you're fancy?

These boo's are the fanciest our acre has to offer.

Jam at last

You may remember last summer when Grace, Ryan, Lauren and I went extreme blueberry picking and ended up with 60 pounds of fruit with which to contend. We bought a deep freeze specifically for these beauties. I have eaten a lot of blueberry smoothies since then but still haven't made a dent in our inventory. Today I decided to do something about it: jam. I used up half of the remaining stash and got about 20 jars of jam. That's a lot of preserves. There was even a big spoonful left over that wouldn't fit in the jars, so I ate it warm with heavy cream. I can't believe there are still 3 giant bags in the freezer! Pie anyone?

Ducklings!

Well, thanks for your imput Kylie! We decided, with out doing any research, to adopt two chocolate indian runners named Chaka Kahn and Stevie Nicks!!!!! Welcome to fancy acre girls!!!!!!
So far they have played in their water bowl and made more noise than I ever thought possible. Like, so much noise. I am trying to tell myself that nature sounds are peaceful. Crank the volume on this video and you can hear them eating lettuce leaves and being generally noisy in the bath tub. They practically sound quiet here compared to their real life volume levels! They will live in our kitchen in a wash tub until they are old enough to join the chickens in the yard. Since we already have enough poop in our lives, we have decided to build a small fenced in area around the coop for all the feathered monsters to play in.  Hopefully this will help to keep them off the porch and out of the vegetable patch.

I can't get enough of watching them play in their little home right now. They squirt water with their beaks! They also love kale, just like me. It's love already. Now if we can just get them to imprint on Jacky....

Ducks or no ducks?

Let's put this question to the public- should we get ducklings??? We both feel like the answer is YES. Jacky feels like the answer is NO. Anyone have any experience raising ducks? Is it worth it? Pros and cons?

She shall live to see another day

Patsy cline has been the only chicken not laying. She has instead been acting like a giant bitch and pooping all over the porch. But, today she left us a gift in the quail (rip) condo. She's so LIKE that, you know??

Seriously Back in the Saddle

Here are some photos from our trip to SF. Dreamy...

The Dawning of Aquarius!

I just got home from an eating marathon in San Francisco. While I was there I visited the Edible School yard with Kevin, my mom and my brother. My auntie Esther works there. It was an inspiring visit to say the least. The kids were making quinoa salad with oranges. The gardens were blossoming and sprouting, the chickens laying and the ducks swimming. The sun was shining and we were together as a family. Really- we all wanted to move to Berkley immediately. I'm guessing this is not uncommon. After our visit to the school we went and had lunch at Chez Panisse. We ate fava beans, sole, beets, even a steelhead roe pizza. We ate dates and honey mousse! We drank wine from alsace! It was a dream.
What surprised me about my visit was that each friend I visited asked me why I stopped writing my blog. I didn't know so many friends cared about it, and I didn't know I missed it until I opened it up on my computer and looked through the archives. The pies! The breads! The animals! I'm back! Get ready for photos!

Holladays, Approaching

Right now in Portland, Oregon, it is snowing. The ground is not frozen yet, instead it is wet and muddy. The chickens are confused, the dogs are restless, and I am coming down with a cold. In short, the holidays are here! Despite my list of seemingly complain-y things, I couldn't be much more excited this year. I am thrilled that it is snowing! I heard Christmas music on the radio today and I turned it up! 

Part of the reason I am so excited is that my brother and his girl are coming to visit for thanksgiving. The other part is all the cooking and being together that I know is about to take place. I love the idea of christmasy cheer and decorations but really it's thanksgiving that holds my heart. No pressure, just eating. No wrapping paper, just pie crust. I need to dig out my eatin' pants.

This year I am making: 

-Roasted cauliflower salad with beets, pomegranates and a broken olive vinaigrette

-Mashed celery root with lemon

-Sparkling sherry punch 

-Ants on a log

and Kevin is making:

-Turkey stuffed with chanterelle and sweet potato biscuit dressing (I'm hoping he will include chestnuts) 

-Boozy pumpkin pies 

I know these dishes are in the works from other family members: 

-Cranberry bread

-Creamed oninos

-Grilled turkey

-Apple pie

-Butter beans done up southern

I'm on tenterhooks wondering what else we will have.

What are you having?

Definitely Not Still In Spain

I'm sorry gentle readers. I have just not felt like blerging since I got home. It has been great getting back into the swing of things- hanging out with Kevin and our doggies, visiting with my friends, cooking, working, working and working. I came home to business cards, so my list of responsibilities has grown quite a bit. It is great, but lots of changes have my head spinning. 

A quick news update (but mostly just a list of things I need advice on):

-The quail were brutally murdered by a rat. We are looking for rat killing options that do not put the chickens or dogs at risk of poisoning or injury. Ideas? Also, how sad is that???

-I just bought that beautiful savoy cabbage! Now what?

-I will write about Spain someday, but not yet. 

I am not sure how this blogging thing will go. I think I will try to write more, but I'm not sure. I thought a lot about it while I was away and couldn't quite decide if it makes sense to me anymore or not. A small voice says, "write!" Then another small voice says "why?". But for now, I'm going to try to at least put up some photos of the glory that is November in Portland (rainy, cold, grey).

Still Spain!!!

Hello! Is anyone out there? I'm on Mallorca- an island covered with olive trees, full of secret beaches and spreadable salami. Today we drove to the west coast and explored some tiny coves and cities. We also drove down one of the most frightening and beautiful cliff roads I have ever seen!
I am returning to the states this week and will share some photos of the food I have been cooking, eating and admiring. I can't believe my trip is almost over, but I am ready to go home. I miss Oregon!

Can you believe this beach? We swam here all day long, even into that cave you can see in the middle of the frame!

spain!

As you can tell I am not blogging much these days. I have made it to spain and am in the midst of my journey. I will be back in October with a full report. Please, eat some fall fruit for me. I am stuffed with blackberries from the trail and chroizo from the markets!

The Garden is Giving

I did not expect to see one of Patsy Cline's eggs before I left for spain, so you can imagine my delight when I went out this morning and she was still in the roost. I thought, perhaps she is laying a blue egg! I opened the door to the roost and she hopped up from a spot in the corner. She laid her egg right on top of Wynonna's egg, except that hers was GREEN! I am so excited that I am going to bring the green egg down to Pine State and see if Kevin can't fix me up a little green eggs and ham. 

All those potatoes and shallots and beans and carrots and tomatoes and eggs are from yesterdays harvest. I made hashbrowns with everything you see there. The carrots are earthy and bitter raw, but cooking them brought out the sweetness I was hoping for.

Also pictured is a fried quail egg. I find it hard to eat the quail eggs because they are so cute and precious, but I accidentally cracked this one with excitement so I had to eat it! It was absurdly tasty. 

Thunder Eggs

Not only were there two chicken eggs in the coop today (Loretta's first, Wynonna's third!) but there was also a TINY QUAIL EGG!!!!!!!!! It was there, on the railing where the quail are always hanging out. I don't know why she didn't go into her tiny quail condo to lay, but I guess that's how teen moms do it these days. I am going to eat it because I accidentally cracked it- such a fragile egg it was! 

My heart explodes.