Adventure Re-cap: Westlander Winter of Fun

Ok, I do believe winter has officially packed up and left. I opened the windows for only the second time this spring, and only the first time in the morning, and I realized that the Westlander Winter of Fun (WWF) has officially transitioned. Trees are blossoming. The daffodils are out in force, and the exploding sound of birds everywhere almost drowns out the traffic. Ok, that last one was definitely an exaggeration. But they are loud.

So I think it’s officially time for a brief re-cap of the WWF in all it’s glory.

First off, we spent numerous days making various flavors of ice cream using Jeni’s Splendid recipe book. We even did a trial of 4 batches of the same flavor (The Richest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World) and taste tested those against each other and Jeni’s own with friends. More on everything ice cream in another post.

You’ve already heard about our adventure in x-country skiing and snowshoeing, but two other winter sports also managed their way into our schedule making for great times – downhill skiing and ice skating. We have an ice skating rink a block from where we live! Next winter, lots more ice skating.

We took one particularly cold day and stayed in and made a fort in the living room. Yes, the kind with blankets and pillows held up by chairs and stacks of books and such. Yes, it was just as awesome now as it was in childhood. Yes, there were cookies and milk involved. Yes, we pretended the floor was lava and lept onto pillows and towels to get around. No, we don’t have kids.

The sheet fort in all it's glory. — The sheet fort in all it’s glory.

Accessing the fort while avoiding the lava flow. Fire island FTW!

Since we didn’t know too many people in the city we’ve pushed ourselves to get a bit more involved. This manifested itself in a couple of hikes with a Philly Hiking and Adventure Meetup Group, a night out with the New In Town Meetup Group, a few nights out with a knitting Meetup Group (that was just me though. Brian wasn’t quite as excited about that one), and several Sundays worth of platforms with the Ethical Humanist Society followed by brunch anywhere and everywhere downtown.

And speaking of brunch, there was, of course, a lot of food delirium to be had. And I’m not really talking about the food we made here at home, though that was also awesome and kept us eating relatively healthily through the winter. I’m talking about restaurant meals we’ve ooed and aahed over as we sampled the city’s treats: Amada (a special dinner for the birthday boy), Parc (a special brunch for the birthday girl, though this really falls under spring), Raw (delish sushi!), Pat’s and Geno’s (a full cheesesteak experience, but we like Jim’s more), Farmicia (the burger, oh that burger), and Dandelion (the fish and chips), to name a few. A special thanks goes to our wonderful family for the Christmas gift certificates that have allowed us to enjoy this deliciousness!

We’ve also tried (and for now at least failed) to build a bit of a yoga practice (body bending, stretching, and resistance is always an adventure for us). We’ve tried out meditation and have had a bit more success sticking with that-the Monday night classes that is. Practicing beyond that has still been a struggle. And as the colder weather has subsided a bit, we’ve gotten back into attempting to build up a ~~running~~ jogging practice. Fingers are crossed for an injury free experience! (This does mean far fewer TED videos, though.)

And finally, we spent some time with long-time friends both local and remote (and their babies born and unborn!). And that, of course, kicked a**.

Admittedly, the WWF was a blast. However, if all that sounds like a whirlwind-especially since it falls on top of two full time jobs and one long commute-you’re right. It was. While I realize it might sound like we’re tooting our own horn with the re-cap, we will humbly lay down that horn and admit that we are definitely exhausted by it all. And now, really, we sort of just want a nap. So we’ll be hibernating for the next few weeks while we take a bit of a break from the WWF. And maybe for the rest of spring and summer we’ll take a longer term approach to our adventures.

Adventures in Oreo Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Despite winter’s impressive efforts to stay in the game this year, the vernal equinox is almost upon us marking the first official day of spring. I thought this would be a good week to look back on our Westlander Winter of Fun (WWF) and share a briefing of our winter adventures with you – especially since we didn’t really start this blog until half-way through winter.
…
I clearly wrote that first bit a few days ago. Now that we’re a few days after the official start of spring and facing a high of 42F topping yesterday’s high of 37F, we’re not really feeling that great spring spirit we were feeling just a few hopeful nights ago. Yes, it will get warmer, and we will dance in the sunshine in shorts and flip flops soon… just not quite soon enough.

So I’m skipping the winter wrap-up until winter really does wrap itself up. For now, enjoy this bit of warm, comforting, amazingness.

Oreo-Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Tasted.

9-12 Double Stuffed Oreos
~ 2 Tbsp your favorite peanut butter (We used JIF natural creamy.)
1/2 batch chocolate chip cookie dough, prepared (We made a 1/2 recipe from the back of a bag of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, substituting browned butter for butter.)

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Grab out an Oreo and spread a dollop of peanut butter on top of it. Place it, peanut butter side up, in the cupcake tin and top with another Oreo. Quickly realize you will never fit cookie dough on top of two double stuffed Oreos. Remove Oreo peanut butter sandwich and eat it.
Grab out another Oreo. Twist it open gently. Spread a dollop of peanut butter on the inside. Gently sandwich back together and place in the cupcake tin. Do this with the first 6 Oreos.
Now take a good spoonful/handful of your cookie dough and mold it a bit into a slightly flattened ball. If you’re like me, you probably grabbed too little dough, thinking of cookies, and not of filling the spaces in the cupcake tin cup. Grab some more. You’ll really need a fistful of dough. Honestly, you should be a bit appalled at how much dough you use in each cup. That’s better. Place that on top of the Oreo in the cupcake tin. Repeat for the next 5. Assess how much cookie dough you have left, and prepare 3-6 more Oreos accordingly. Top with the remaining cookie dough.
Bake at 375F for 15-20 min. Cookie tops should be mostly golden when done. Cool in the pan for 5-10 min and then remove and place on a rack to cool.
We especially enjoy these warm with a tall glass of milk.
But a word to the wise – remember that fistful of cookie dough you used in each one?… that left you a bit appalled? These are delicious but large! Pace yourself.

Adventures in Tofu Farro Soup with Veggies

We made a really tasty soup last night. Our schedule has been on-again off-again insanity, so we’ve taken to subsisting on one giant crock pot meal every one to two weeks mixed in with a few other meals (of pasta) so we don’t die of boredom.

I love crock pot cooking. There is nothing like throwing a bunch of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink into a pot and just letting it simmer throughout the day. The aromas start teasing me within the first hour, and by the end I’m dying to taste whatever concoction has been melded before me. Needless to say, I’m kind of loving our current cooking habits.

Last night, though, was one of only a few pots we’ve done that had no tomato whatsoever. Now, I love tomatoes. Brian loves tomatoes. But it always surprises me how much adding a can or two of tomatoes to a soup pot can alter the flavor so that the whole base tastes like tomato. Is this a bad thing? Certainly not. In fact, we find it delicious. But it also makes pots without any tomato that much more exciting to try!

So lasts night’s pot… no tomatoes. And it was also quite delicious.

(Sadly, I don’t have a picture of this soup, so imagine a giant steaming crock pot of spicy veggie deliciousness inserted here.)

Cumin adds a slight smokiness, and chili powder combines with crushed red pepper to give this soup a good kick. The original recipe called for onion, garlic, and spinach as it’s only vegetables; but Brian and I love a veggie packed soup. So our adaptation includes a plethora of veggies on top of the originals. Really, at this point we could probably call it “Veggie Soup with Tofu and Farro”! The tofu and farro add a great texture and protein as well. While all our additions can make the ingredient list seem almost painfully long, I can assure you that this soup is easy to put together since almost all of it gets tossed into the crock pot at once.

There is a lot of flexibility in this recipe, and this was the first time we’ve tried it. So there are a few changes I’ll try next time we make this one to balance out the flavors and textures a bit more. We definitely needed to add soy sauce in the end to increase the saltiness. So next time I’ll exchange one quart of the water for a quart of broth for additional flavor, and then add in more soy sauce as necessary. Also, the pot was big enough and brothy enough that 3/4 cups farro just didn’t quite cut it. I’ll up that to at least 1 or 1 1/2 cups next time (if you like brothier soups, you may not want to do this). Finally, I’ll double the sesame oil added in the end to increase its presence in the soup. The recipe below is my original, before any of these changes.

Make sure you use a large crockpot (ours is 6 quarts and fills to the brim).

This recipe will make about 5-6 quarts of soup. A serving is about 1 1/2 – 2 cups. We eat it for lunches and dinners throughout the week, so we make a lot.

Tofu Farro Soup with Veggies

Recipe adapted from James Byrd’s at Many Veggie Recipes.

1 block of tofu, cut into 1/2″ cubes (we used extra firm)
8 oz fresh mung bean sprouts
8 oz sliced mushrooms (whichever kind you like)
2-4 carrots, sliced in rounds (depending on size)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into half-rings
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup farro
1 quart reduced sodium broth (veggie, chicken, or beef: up to you)
5 cups water
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp crushed red pepper (this gave a solid kick, so reduce it if you like a milder spice)
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin powder
8 oz fresh baby spinach (or regular, adult spinach, roughly chopped)
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil

First, make sure all your ingredients are chopped, sliced, etc. as directed above. Put everything into a 6 quart crock pot except the spinach, peanut oil, and sesame oil. Mix it around a bit to spread out the spices. It will probably be filled almost to the brim but will settle as it cooks. Set the crock pot on low for 8 hours. At the end of the 8 hours, mix in the spinach, peanut oil, and sesame oil. Set the crock pot on high for about 15 min to wilt the spinach. You must be dying to try it by now having been, perhaps, breathing in the aromas all day long. So serve it up, top with a bit more soy sauce (I tend to under do salt in the pot and top off in the end individually as desired), and enjoy!