cooking ala mel

Chai Waffles

January 16, 2012

I absolutely love a good chai latte. When I worked at Dunkin’ Donuts over the summer, I was so in love with their Vanilla Chai.. that is, until I actually looked at the ingredients and saw that there was hydrogenated coconut oil in it. So then I began making my own at home. I should actually post that at some point.. but anyway. I love the spicy sweetness of a chai. It’s such a good flavor for in desserts (like vanilla chai cupcakes). My sister makes chai spice cut out cookies every year, and they’re heavenly. I just love it all. When I came upon chai waffles on Ezra Poundcake, I knew I had to make a healthified version.

Made with white whole wheat flour, flax and a bit of wheat bran, these waffles have more fiber and good fats than your standard waffle. Steeping the chai tea bags into the milk adds a lovely chai flavor, and adding a bit of cardamom really gives it that extra boost. I got whole green cardamom pods from the Indian section of my grocery store (SO much cheaper), and this was my first time using it. I ground as much as I needed in my coffee grinder to make sure the rest of it stays fresher longer. I never realized how fragrant cardamom is! My kitchen is going to smell like it for days, I’m sure.

Drizzled with a bit of maple syrup or honey, these waffles are so so good. For the chai tea bags that you steep in the milk, I especially like Bigelow Vanilla Chai Tea.

I would recommend serving these with a chai latte or just some milky chai tea, but that’d probably be overkill.. or would it? I love the chai latte mix from Trader Joe’s (I had my first Trader Joe’s experience over Christmas break; there’s one near my sister’s apartment. LOVE!), if you’re feeling like a chai latte. 😉

Chai Waffles

serves 4 (≈8 waffles)

2 cups milk

3 chai tea bags

1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup ground flax

1/4 cup wheat bran

3 1/2 t truvia (or 2 T honey or sugar)

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t cardamom

2 t vanilla

2 eggs

2 T oil (I’m thinking coconut oil would be awesome in this)

Warm the milk 2 minutes in the microwave (or in a medium saucepan on the stove until just warm). Place the chai tea bags into the milk and allow to steep for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200ºF, and place a sturdy plate or baking sheet inside to keep waffles warm while the rest are being made.

In a medium bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, oil and chai milk.

Pour batter (I use a scant 1/2 cup) into preheated waffle iron and cook until golden brown (according to your waffle iron’s instructions). Place in the oven to keep warm, and repeat with the remaining batter. Serve warm with butter (if you like) and drizzled with maple syrup or honey.

Homemade Kindle Book Cover

January 14, 2012

So, I got a Kindle for Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I love the feel and smell of an actual book in my hands when I’m reading, but I also do quite a bit of online reading, namely fanfiction of the Harry Potter variety. When my dad suggested looking into getting me a Kindle, I was all for it; I’d rather not have my eyes get worse than they already are from the backlit screen of my computer (don’t even get me started on how blind I am..). The book page quality of the Kindle Touch’s screen is quite a sight for sore eyes..literally. I don’t get really exhausted anymore from reading my fanfiction! And I’ve already gotten as many classics that interest me as I can get my hands on.

But then, of course, I wanted a cover for it. I don’t trust myself with being able to take care of it when traveling, or even just having it laying around the apartment.. if you saw most of my favorite books, you’d understand why. I really didn’t like Amazon’s choices for Kindle covers, and they’re really a bit pricey, for what they are. I then found a few homemade covers on etsy that were made with hardcover books, which gave me some inspiration. Most of the ones I found on etsy just removed all of the pages and put some elastic in to hold the kindle in place. I wanted my kindle to really fit in perfectly, so I figured I’d hollow out a book and make sure it fit snugly.

Finding the perfect book, though, was a bit of a challenge. I wanted it to be one of my favorites – Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, or Pride and Prejudice – and have a really nice cover. I couldn’t even imagine cutting into Harry Potter, so that was out. The Chronicles of Narnia is just a bit too thick if it’s all of the books, but too thin for what I wanted if it was just one of them. So Pride and Prejudice it was decided to be. Most of those hardcovers aren’t the prettiest, though. The only one I really liked was from Barnes & Noble, but it just seemed too nice to cut into. But then, they were placed on sale for $10.80, and I decided I had to get it. So I ordered one for myself to keep and one to cut up..

Seriously, how gorgeous is this book?! It took everything I had in me to cut into it; it felt like one of the deadliest sins, really..but anyway. After a bit of measuring my kindle and planning it out in my head, I turned on Lost in Austen and got to work.

What you will need:

1 Hardcover book Plastic Wrap

Mod Podge Masking Tape

(or 80% Elmer’s glue, 20% water mixture)

Brush for the glue Utility Knife with NEW blade!

First, I looked through the book and found the page where Darcy confesses his feelings to Elizabeth. I cut it out and placed it aside, just in case I wanted it to glue onto the bottom of the hollowed out section later. The page that was in the back of the book though was so pretty, I didn’t end up using it, but no matter. I’m glad I have it. Perhaps I’ll frame it.

I then chose how many pages I wanted in the front before I began hollowing it out, turned one page PASSED the one I wanted, and then wrapped those pages plus the front cover in plastic wrap and taped it shut. I chose to start hollowing right after the first page of the first chapter. I then took the last page of the book that was just pretty and decorative and plastic wrapped it with the back cover and spine and taped those shut. I then brushed mod podge along the edges of the book (the more glue, the better), closed the book and stacked my box set of HP on top, two chemistry books and a 20-lb kettlebell for good measure, to ensure the pages were tightly glued together.

After about a half hour, it was dry, and I marked down the measurements for where I should hollow, my rectangle measuring about 10 cm by 15 cm. I made the initial hole smaller than my Kindle so that I could store things beneath it. For this part, don’t worry about marking up the page as much as you need to; the one page extra that was wrapped in the plastic wrap will be glued on top at the end, so you’ll no longer see any marks.

With a new blade on my utility knife, I began slicing down using the measurement as a guide. It seemed really easy at first, but once you get further down, it gets more and more challenging to cut, especially in the corners. I’m not the most patient of people, so mine turned out a bit rough looking, but it does it’s purpose, so I’m happy with that. Just take your time, and it’ll all work out. 🙂

Once I got down through all of the pages, making sure not to cut into the back cover, I then measured a 13 cm by 18 cm rectangle around the hole I already made for my Kindle to fit into. I sliced around the hole I already made about 1 cm deep, so that my Kindle would fit in snugly. Keep cutting down and testing by laying your Kindle into it to check that it just fits into the hole. The hole is a bit larger than the Kindle so that once it’s all covered in glue, it’ll still fit.

I then laid my Kindle into the newly cut hole and looked for where the charger plugs in. I then cut out a small section from the bottom of my hole to the outside of the book so that I’d be able to charge it while it is in the cover. I cut this down to the same place that I cut the outer Kindle rectangle. Here’s what it looks like:

Once it was all cut out, I brushed more mod podge along the insides of the holes and along the top so that they’d be sealed tightly. I then carefully took out that extra page from the front plastic wrap and placed it on the top, pressing lightly and smoothing it out. At this point, you can either take a page that you cut out from the book and glue it to the back cover and glue the hollowed out part onto it, or you can do as I did and just glue it to the back of the book, since my back cover had a lovely design on it.

Here’s a closer look of the hollowed out part (notice how rough it is – and that’s okay!):

At this point, you then close the book and stack all of the books and what not you had on top of it at the beginning to weigh it down, and allow it to dry again. This time, it’ll take a bit longer since the glue is all closed up inside of the book. Once dry, open it up and cut through that top page that you glued on top, in the shape of the hollowed rectangle! Remove the plastic wrap from the front, make sure your Kindle still fits nicely, and you are done!

And now for some more pictures!

Here’s my cover with the Kindle inside..

And with the charger plugged in..

And here’s how you can store a few things underneath the Kindle, since it won’t be falling all the way down into your hollow..

Notice that the charger fits nicely, and there’s still some more room.. maybe for a Kindle book light? Or you could hide any other valuables..

And of course, the kitty had to check it all out, especially since there was ribbon put there especially for him, obviously!

So there you have it; a homemade, hollowed out Kindle book cover! I had it finished by the end of Lost in Austen, by the way. Which is a three hour mini series. Well, it was drying by the end of it. I also switched out my utility knife’s blade and flipped it around (it’s a double sided blade), about halfway through, so it was still extra sharp! You will dull down your blade, and it will make it more challenging.. so just get a new one!

Take a few hours and make a one of a kind Kindle cover for yourself. So worth it!

Fudgy Chocolate Yogurt Brownies

January 9, 2012

With all the Christmas cookies, nut rolls and pies that I consumed over the holidays, I was really craving some brownies. Plain and simple, chocolatey brownies. When I went to my inbox yesterday, it was like Stonyfield was reading my mind.. they sent out 4 new recipes for the new year, and one was a brownie recipe using yogurt! So my kind of recipe.

I woke up early for the first time since Christmas (waking up at 7 am on Christmas after sleeping on a springy couch mattress will do that to you..), and I had these brownies baked and cooled by noon. Now THAT was an awesome feeling. I was a little bit nervous because the brownies seemed to really rise while they were in the oven. I really can’t handle a super cakey brownie, but I was pleasantly surprised by how dense and fudgy these are! The yogurt adds a slight tang, which I think goes along really nicely with its richness.

One thing to beware of with these brownies, though – don’t eat any without a nice, tall glass of milk! It’s so necessary with these. And so, so delicious. And with the greek yogurt and whole wheat flour, they’re higher in protein and fiber than your normal brownie. So go ahead and indulge; I won’t tell if you don’t!

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

adapted from Stonyfield

yields 12 large brownies

1 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli’s 60%)

2 T butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 t vanilla

2/3 cup agave nectar

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

In the microwave (or using a double boiler), melt the chocolate chips and butter together at 30 second intervals until completely melted, stirring in between. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and vanilla, and mix in the agave nectar and greek yogurt. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture and stir. Stir in the chocolate, and mix until fully incorporated. Pour into a greased or parchment lined 8×8″ pan, and bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes, until toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs. Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting.