Today, Katelyn is a Flax Muffin.

It is a moment long anticipated...

I know. I know that all followers have waited and groaned for the year of our Lord's favor: the time in which I would join Lara in blessing each of your hungering stomachs with our innate kitchen prowess. Together. United.

Dear pilgrim, wait no longer.



I spent a lot of time in preparation for this day. WHAT WOULD I CONCOCT?? Finally, I was sauteing some swiss chard in cognac the other day when it hit me.

Rainbow cake.




So simple, yet so elegant! How could I resist??

I don't know what life was like before rainbow cake- probably pretty dismal, if I could remember. It's kind of hard to visit that place in my mind.

The recipe is absolutely fool-proof. You would need to leave the dough out too long or mix up the wrong colors to mess it up. But hey! You can always get new dough...




You could eat it. But it's just so darn pretty to look at.




It probably wouldn't be very good for you either.

Especially when you feel like a flax muffin.

The other day, a good friend of mine sent me quite the ominous text: "I have a very important question to ask you." After days and days of tortuous waiting, laboring in prayer, and weeping, she finally relented and asked.

"What kind of muffin are you?"

Wow. I had never even THOUGHT about this!! It opened up a whole new spectrum of ideas. I think it depends on the day, ya know? Some days you're a good ol' banana nut muffin. Other days you're a little spunkier so maybe you've got some blueberry in your stride. Today, I am a flax muffin. Kind of boring, probably healthy, and on the serious side. Mmmmm- FLAX.

The question is worth some serious thought! Give it a try!





So anyways, hello Lara's blog! My name is Katelyn and I like to get excited and make stuff. Most of the time it is actual food, so sorry about this entry. It's finals week for me, so gimme a little grace, ok? And one BIG FAT THANK YOU to the lovely and beautiful Lara Dickerson for allowing me to join her in the quest for food-awesomery via le web!! :) You are numero jedan in my book, lil bona!

Recipe: http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=94268DEE-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4&product_id=22818&src=endeca

-Katelyn

Calling All Stereotypical Policemen!

Attention co-blogger/favorite foodie/fellow ambasador-ess of Christ, Katelyn: the tally is looking a little heavy on my side, woman! ;) Sorry, girl, I just had to try something new today, which was a weird fancy that struck me in the middle of writing a paper.

I was sitting in the library, minding my own business, when a dear friend of mine named Kevin told me he was sorry he didn't answer me, he had to go throw a doughnut off the balcony to his roommate. As awesome as that is, what I got out of that story was: I want some stinking doughnuts. I haven't had one in literally forever; I can't remember my last doughnut. But they are so wonderful and delicious. Unfortunately, I do not have a fryer or other seemingly necessary doughnut supplies.

However, what I did have already were some overripe bananas and a baking sheet. Baked doughnuts! Of course! I know that they are real!

I googled baked banana doughnuts, and sure enough found something promising! I am not sure if I'm surprised to have found a recipe for these or not. Either way, it was on a blog I've already discovered and loved, on Oh She Glows. It's a really super easy recipe to follow!

They aren't the most round, bakery-shop worthy doughnuts that I made, but I like to call them "rustic." And they taste pretty darn good! I think I could have made mine a little bigger just so they'd have more fluff in the middle, but they still taste banana-y and delicious, especially with a little peanut butter smeared on top and a cup of coffee.

That wonderful sugar baked on top! Mmmmm. Yep, this did just fine for a doughnut fix, and a healthy one at that.

Katelynnnnnn, surprise me, girl! I'm on the edge of my seat!

日本

Wanna know what I did today?

Just knocked something off my BUCKET list, that's all! No big deal.

My bucket list might be underwhelming to some people, but hey, it's better to have one with a few easily achievable goals on it to make yourself feel good than none at all.

If you can get past the not-the-highest-quality-photo-ever-ness of this image, you'll happen to notice that it looks awfully similar to sushi! Well, the funny thing is that it totally IS!

I had a hankering for some sushi at school today, and looked down in the little refrigerated bin at the student center food court and lamented the high sticker price. Yikes. I'm sure that a lot of guys I know would wonder at the rare, special treat of sushi -- all that money for some dinky pieces of vegetables wrapped in a few specks of rice and seaweed? When you put it that way, it does seem a bit silly. At least that junk should be cheaper! That delicious, exotic, sort of Japanese junk.

And do you know what Publix does to you when you're jonesing for some sushi? It puts all the ingredients you need on the end of an aisle, just waiting to be tossed in your green basket. They were a bit heavy for my weak little arms but after lugging them to the car (denying the bag boy's offer to carry them for me! I don't understand myself) and driving home, I was sushi master. Call me Lara Sensei.

(Don't do that. It's pretty rude to call yourself sensei, as I recall from randomly taking Japanese my freshman year of college.)

(Sidenote: my name in Japanese is just the same letter repeated twice. ララ! Ra-ra! Hahaha.)

Anyways... thanks to this glamorous website's help, I was well on my way to making my own sushi! I just put my favorite things inside of it, we can call it the Lara roll. I sliced up some imitation crab meat, cucumber, and avocado. I totally would've put carrot but this was the first time in millenia that we were out of carrots! What a weird day.

Making the sushi rice was super easy, thanks to my (roommate's) handy dandy rice cooker! I stink at cooking rice in a pot like a normal person. I failed and bought rice vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar -- how could anyone possibly mistake the two? -- and somehow it tasted okay anyways. I am not a master at rolling sushi yet, or not tearing the nori sheets, or not spilling rice everywhere so they will stick to everything in creation, etc. But I still have a lot of rice left in my jar and plenty of motivation to get better at this.

If anyone would like to buy me a bamboo mat to roll sushi on so I stop using cling wrap like a total trashbag, please don't hesitate. I'm putting on my eventual wedding registry if this doesn't happen. No matter what, though, don't be afraid of sushi! We can make it together and celebrate the wonderful world of Japanese food!

And speaking of Japan, please continue to lift them in prayer. It was a hard sight just for me today to see a classmate who is studying abroad here in America checking his phone constantly during class to see what was going on at home for him. Our tiny world has to stick together!

Until next time... (I hope Google Translate doesn't butcher this too badly)

私はあなたを愛しています！

Bring in the Bread

Hey, abandoned, self-aggrandizing blog! Long time, no see.

Honestly, it's not that I make up great ideas for things and want the world to see, but I think there are 3 objectives:

1. I like trying new things!

2. I like taking pictures of these attempts that showcase the beauty and deliciousness.

3. I like to show the four people out there who see them that a non-culinary school college student can do the unthinkable! Life can be more than microwaveable macaroni and cheese or ramen noodles. (Which I hate anyways, so that's not even an option. I have expensive taste, it seems.)

One thing that I've always wanted to do is make my own, from-scratch bread. After spending extensive time in Bosnia-Hercegovina, I realized that bread straight out of an oven, made by people who do everything by hand and the same day that you eat it, tastes incomparably more satisfying and delicious. HFCS is so gross. While I am still in pursuit of a real somun recipe (I would do crazy things for some of the somun bread I had after rafting down the Neretva at the cabin, made by this awesome lady with her own recipe), I had to find something artisan-like and not too hard, because I like success on the first try, haha.

I found a really easy recipe here to try. The best breads are crusty and flavorful on the outside with a soft but hearty texture inside. Focaccia seems like a good way to do that! I didn't really change anything; I just brushed the top of the dough after it was done rising with olive oil, and sprinkled on some onion salt, rosemary, oregano, and basil. It would have been incredible with a little garlic powder and red onion rings baked into the top as well, but it's so easy and adaptable that you can just go wild with your dreams.

The inside was firm and hearty but still fluffy and good! Yep, I'm feeling it. Ten million points for ericalea for sharing this recipe with the world.

Yep, this is just flour and water and yeast and salt. It takes minimal effort. You can be stuck on pizza rolls every night and manage to make an edible loaf of this. Make some soup and this for dinner soon!

All Over the World Part Deux

What's good! So I just returned from spending six weeks in Sarajevo, Bosnia, only this past Wednesday night. You'll notice that it is approximately seven in the morning. This is one in the afternoon in Bosnian time; I am still adjusting. I feel so accomplished waking up early that I hope I stay this way!

Anyways, I will have an enormous update in the future (if I can muster the energy even to attempt summarizing my stay in Sarajevo) on this blog's better half and you will be able to hear more about what that was like. Spoiler alert: best summer ever.

However, I just remembered my journey in World Heritage site chronicling, and also remembered that I have another one now, thanks to beautiful Hercegovina! So let's add a new location to the list:

Bosnia and Hercegovina

1. Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar

Stari Most! (Also known as "Old Bridge." Very creatively named.) The water really is that blue, it's absolutely beautiful. We got to raft the Neretva closer to the city of Konjic a few weeks later and it was freezing but the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Take note, travelers: Bosnia is really where it's at!

The bridge itself isn't even the only beautiful architecture around; the whole town is just lovely. This mosque is across from the bridge down the river a little bit. Oh my gosh, I miss those mountains. What a beautiful country.

The saddest thing is that this isn't the original bridge -- it was destroyed in the war. But they rebuilt it and so we can look at this gorgeous example of the beautiful Ottoman architecture in Bosnia and Hercegovina and... pretend? Haha, no, it's a great place. I will annoy you to death about visiting Bosnia because it rules, so be prepared.

Anyways, so although the heart of my trip was not sightseeing, I really enjoyed visiting Mostar. But between Mostar and Sarajevo, there is no contest: Sarajevo has my heart. I can't wait to tell you more about it, from how out of control it is to how out of control it is. Have a good one!

Dr. Steve Brule, For Your Health

Sometimes in life, you just have to eat ice cream. Sometimes in life, though, you need to eat something healthy.

And, sometimes in life, you can do both! Those are the best times.

I played with this recipe to make dessert out of my favorite combo in the history of the world: bananas and chocolate. It is so magical and delicious and... drumroll... good for you. Or, at least, not bad. Yeah! It's not bad at all.

Who needs a plate to cut things? Bananas come with their own containers.

So you toss those puppies in a blender.

You don't hear that sentence every day!

And add some cocoa powder.

I also squirted in some reduced sugar chocolate syrup because one kind of chocolate is never enough, and also threw in a blob of peanut butter for protein/tastiness. And while the white girl in me would definitely have used honey or raw sugar to sweeten the rest of it, the slightly less white girl used xylitol because that's what we have. It's weird, I know. But it works!

You have to blend the living daylight out of it but when you do, it will be so smooth and freeze up a lot like real ice cream!

It definitely could have stood to freeze a little longer, but let's be real: I wanted to eat it.

Sooooo good. (And I wish I had a macro lens.) And that, my dear friends, is my take on Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream-less.

And then, for the more savory side of life, I found this snack to attempt and I think it's a good choice. Chickpeas = fiber. And they are good for more than hummus!

First, ya grease the sheet. I hope your arm looks as beautiful as mine does in pictures.

Cumin smells sooooo good. I want that. I got a little carried away with the cayenne pepper, but we'll all float on alright.

I didn't have chickpeas, so I committed a major heresy and used pigeon peas. I know, I'm sorry. I had no choice! :(

They were a little small; chickpeas would be better.

But I wouldn't knock these too hard!

These would be good on a salad, or soup, or straight off the pan. You should have Spicy Roasted Pigeon Peas sometime!

Lesson: snacks can be good for you! Make one next time you want something that makes you feel all vegan and raw and ethical. Wear TOMs and have a good day.

So I Cross-Posted, Kiss My Grits

So I think on a lot deeper of a level than cooking and taking pictures sometimes. Shocking, I know. These two things, and many others to come, tend to swim around on the top of my brain all day long. But underneath that is pure gold, my friends, pure gold.

Or pure narcissism.

Either way, you are free (and encouraged) to peruse: www.induetimemychild.blogspot.com

Live a full life, my friends.