Second Infancy?

I will turn 26 next Monday. Am I pushing 30 yet? Or is that not until 27... ;) Still, even as I'm about to add another candle to the cake of life, I have still managed to tap my inner child. Make that inner infant, actually, as breakfast involved both baby food and a mud pie.

Yeah, that's just a breakfast cookie, but it ended up looking (and tasting, to a smaller degree) more like a mud pie. The dirt culprits are in the background. Hemp protein'll do it to ya!

Secret ingredient:

Organic winter squash baby food. Whole Foods was out of canned pumpkin, as usual (curses!), so I decided to do an experiment and use baby food in a breakfast cookie. It's not quite as cheap as pumpkin, since I used a whole jar for one cookie, but it's convenient and easy, and I don't mind paying a little extra for that. Plus baby food comes in many flavors! I will stay away from the chicken-oatmeal-peas variety in this case, but something like a plum-apple combo could be fun to stir into another cookie, oats or cereal.

Here is what went into what I shall call the Michael Phelps Breakfast Cookie (great body, but kinda fugly):

• 1/4 avocado
• 1 jar winter squash baby food
• 1 tbsp vanilla hemp protein
• 2 tbsp PB2
• cinnamon
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp unsweetened coconut shreds

STROKE!

1. Mush avocado in a small bowl and add baby food until smooth.
2. Add dry ingredients (except) for coconut one at a time, stirring after each addition until well incorporated.
3. Spread onto appetizer-sized plate (or Fit 'n' Fresh Breakfast Chiller top, as seen above), sprinkle with coconut and refrigerate overnight.

This is definitely the most health-food-y tasting breakfast cookie that I've made to date, plus with the baby food (higher water content) instead of straight pumpkin it was a little "wetter" than I'm used to. Must've been because I called it Michael Phelps.

That said, I still thought it tasted very good. I just wouldn't recommend it to breakfast cookie beginners. Shout out to wheat bran for being my new favorite grain ingredient - just 30 calories in 1/4 cup, but packed with six grams of fiber! I will resist further commentary here because I need to go to the bathroom. Diapers are in fact not something I think is part of a healthy second infancy. :)

I should also mention that I tried Jay Robb's Strawberry Brown Rice Protein powder in coconut milk after my workout this morning, and I agree with HEAB - the strawberry taste is funny, but I still like the taste of the powder itself. I could definitely recognize the taste it had in common with its chocolate counterpart, so I'm thinking that either that or vanilla is more likely the better bet. Still, I haven't ever tried other brown rice proteins, so I can only recommend this one based on the fact that it is tasty.

So it's about time that Oikos Greek Yogurt made an appearance here, since Kristina at Stonyfield had to practically do backflips to get the coupons to me (long story). I finally redeemed one for a cup of the Honey flavor and busted it out at snacktime today, topped with some pumpkin seeds and almonds.

I snapped that first picture and then started to stir what seemed like impossibly thick yogurt, and look what bubbled up from the bottom!

They aren't kidding about the honey being on the bottom! It has its own entire layer, as opposed to the yogurt just being honey-flavored. I LOVE IT! Once I'd persistently stirred everything together for a while, the yogurt thinned out enough to eat, and the nuts gave it a nice, rich crunch. I STILL LOVE IT. Note to self: be a good blogger and try at least one of the other Oikos flavors, but do not forget the honey!

HEY! Look what the LARABAR fairy left on my doormat!

Remember that time I was the LARA Blog's fan of the day? Turns out I get goodies for that, to the tune of 16 LARABARS! Swoon!

And check out this sweet tee:

It's almost as sexy as my Jay Robb t-shirt. Almost.

For dinner tonight, I decided I had to try and recreate the salmon tagine dish I had at Big Fresh in MA with my sister. It was that good! Moroccan flavors are intimidating, though, so I just did my best with what I had on hand. Good thing I'm a fantastic cook. Modest, too.

Diana's Salmon Tagine-ious

(2 servings)

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 15g chopped onions (1/4 cup-ish)
• 100g edamame (1/2 cup +)
• 6 oz broccoli slaw (2 cups-ish)
• 1 can wild salmon (I used the no-salt-added variety from TJ's)
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup Turtle Mountain coconut milk (original)
• 2 tbsp golden raisins
• 1/2 tsp each cinnamon, cumin, coriander
• 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, ginger, salt

Mo-rock-it:

1. Spray a medium skillet with olive oil/Pam and heat over medium
2. Add garlic and onions, cook until fragrant
3. Add edamame and broccoli, cook for several minutes, stirring constantly
4. Add salmon, breaking up any large pieces
5. Add marinara, coconut milk, raisins and spices; stir to combine
6. Bring mixture to a boil
7. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender (15 minutes or so), stirring every couple minutes

I spooned half of this over quinoa (which cooked as the tagine simmered) because I don't have couscous right now. I'm sure any grain would do the job as well. It's not the most beautiful dish (certainly not as photogenic as its Big Fresh cousin), but I was shocked at how similar it tasted. Next time, I would probably double the marinara, but there was only 1/2 cup left in the fridge at the time. This concoction, as described here, was lacking a bit on the sauce front, but I think the additional marinara would fix that.

Have you ever tried making Moroccan/north African food yourself? What's your favorite foreign cuisine to cook at home?