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Molly Wrote (another) Cookbook!
Our plans are on hold until it stops snowing. The ground is frozen one day, then muddy the next. We let the chickens free range now so they can't stretch their wings and scratch in the morning and they have enough sense to hide at the first sign of danger. And yet I still worry. I look out the window when I'm baking. When I'm writing. When I'm on a conference call, I will search them out from the second story window.
And the dogs chase them on the fence-line, but they don't seem to care. They just want to eat, to sleep, to be safe. And maybe that's why I like them so much; I'm not so different from them.
And it's been 25 days since I've eaten meat. I'm not sure if it's a fad or if it's here to stay, but I've been finding alternatives, additions, substitutes. So when I got Molly's new Short Stack yogurt cookbook, I wanted to find a blank canvas. Something that I could adapt to, something easy. Something I'm still learning to do. And just like her last book, it's effortless and easy and conversational and aspirational. It's dog-eared already and I'm excited to try new dishes throughout the warm months (whenever they may come).
Roasted Chickpeas Sandwich with Molly Yeh's Yogurt Pita
For the pita recipe, make sure you pick up her Short Stack!
Ingredients:
- 2 can chickpeas, drained
- 2 TB olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- Juice of half a lemon
Directions:
- On two sheet pans lined with paper towels, lay out chickpeas and allow to dry for 6 hours or overnight
- When time has elapsed, preheat oven to 400*F
- Roll a paper towel over chickpeas
- Coat with olive oil and line sheets with parchment
- Roast for 20 minutes
- Place all chickpeas in a bowl and pour spices to coat
- Squeeze lemon and put into your pita!
Assembly: Cut the pita down the middle, stuff with chickpeas, some lettuce or cabbage, and a dollop of Greek yogurt (mine was mixed with a little dill!)
Cranberry Oatmeal Snack Cake Cake!
My plates are put away, my silverware too. I haven't had time to bake, too many phone calls and delays. Customer service reps and bundle packages. We are trying to figure out how to live on our own again, deer-legged and stumbling a bit. It's different to be back in Pennsylvania; I expected it to be easier because I've called this place home. It's harder than I had thought. Taking longer. It's not like how we rented in California, or Texas, or any other place I ran away to. It's taking the time and energy I don't want to give it and then I get frustrated when things are last minute.
Tomorrow we move. Not officially, but slowly at first. Boxes in my SUV and the dogs meet for the first time in a year on Tuesday. It's not to keep them away, it's to shelter them from any disappointment. We all moved across country a year ago, our family piecemeal as we tried to figure out how to live together again. To forgive again. To move forward again, in a direction that wasn't always backwards.
And even though I am throwing away half-empty bags of flour and plates that got chipped in one of the many moves along the way, I still go to the grocery store and pick up more ingredients. Cranberries were on sale last week, so I made a cranberry cake. Sweetened and tender and warm. The kinds of adjectives I hope to use for this new house of ours.
Cranberry Oatmeal Snack Cake Cake
This recipe is based off of Molly Yeh's Peanut Butter Snack Cake and is so moist (in a good way) with a good crumb and so easy. It really is just a two-bowl-get-er-done kind of cake!
Ingredients:
- 2 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cup AP flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup quick cooking oats + 1/3 cup for topping
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup flavorless oil (canola)
- ¼ cup melted butter + 2 tablespoon for topping
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 6 tablespoons water
- ½ cup cranberries
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar for topping
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350*F and prep a ½ sheet cake pan with parchment paper and butter
- Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl
- In a measuring cup or separate mixing bowl, vigorously whisk together eggs, yogurt, vanilla, oil, peanut butter, butter, and water
- Create a well in your dry ingredients and, with a wooden spoon, slowly stir as you pour your wet ingredients into the center of the well. You will have a rich, thick batter that is easily spreadable and pourable
- Fold in cranberries
- Pour into your cake pan
- In a small bowl, mix together remaining oats, brown sugar, and butter and top your batter with this
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. This is a moist cake, so a toothpick will come out crumby but semi-clean
- Allow to cool slightly before serving
