All posts by Ruth Wendel

About Ruth Wendel

I'm a musician, Registered Dietitian, cook, and baker. I love food, and want to share my delight for it with the world. I hope you enjoy my recipes and, if you haven't developed a love for baking already, I hope you will!

Power Bowl Building Blocks

Lunch and Dinner

Hi all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted (kids take up a lot of time!) but I’ve come back to share a great recipe with you. I’ve recently been asked to consider allergen-friendly recipes and this came to mind as a super versatile and very healthy recipe: power bowls! They are modifiable to accommodate almost any allergy or diet, and with just a change of spices you can change the flavor profile significantly to keep it interesting. Another huge bonus- they often end up being sheet-pan meals that come together in 30 minutes! Here are the building blocks:

  • 1 cup instant brown rice or quinoa (or 2 cups cooked brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, or any other whole grain you prefer) – you can cook this in water or stock and can add spices as desired
  • Veggies of choice: I like using sweet potatoes, red onion wedges, broccoli, and cauliflower for roasting, and frozen peas, carrots, edamame, broccoli, and green beans for sauteing. You can also include kale or another hearty green for extra texture.
  • Protein: I love using chickpeas, edamame, or black beans, but I have used chicken and salmon as well (much to my husband’s happiness and relief) with great results.
  • Healthy fat: Avocado is my go-to here, but you could also include nuts for added crunch, or a drizzle of olive oil. Using a fatty fish like salmon is also a great way to get healthy fats into the dish.
  • Sauce: Greek yogurt-based, soy-sauce based, chili-based, lime juice-based… this is a great opportunity for rounding out the flavors and bringing the dish together.

Here are a couple of my favorite examples:

  • Sweet chili salmon bowl: Saute frozen veggies (listed above) with salmon fillets until cooked through; mix with brown rice and top with jarred sweet chili sauce, sesame seeds, and peanuts (as desired)
  • Turmeric chickpea bowl: Roast veggies (listed above) tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper at 375 degrees for 30 minutes; toss chickpeas in olive oil, turmeric, cumin, and a dash of salt and roast alongside other veggies. Combine with quinoa, massaged kale, and avocado. Mix plain yogurt with garlic powder, a dash of salt, and a splash of milk to loosen the texture; drizzle sauce over the top.
  • Taco bowl (pictured below): Roast veggies tossed with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and olive oil at 375 degrees for 30 minutes; meanwhile, sprinkle thin-cut chicken breast with taco seasoning and bake or grill until cooked through. Layer quinoa or brown rice with roasted veggies, avocado, and thinly sliced chicken breast. Mix plain Greek yogurt with lime juice, garlic powder, cumin, and salt and drizzle over the top.

Power bowls are a great option for pleasing any palate and are very easy and user-friendly. Try it with your favorite grains, veggies, protein and spices, and see what you can come up with! Happy cooking!

Buffalo Spaghetti Squash Dip

Lunch and Dinner, Vegetables

Hello, all! Happy fall! It has been a very long time since I last wrote- but this recipe makes up for the wait! For anyone who loves buffalo chicken dip, this is a great option. It is a delicious vegetarian dish, but also flexes well to include chicken if you prefer. The added bonus of this recipe is that it uses up some of our local fall produce: spaghetti squash! I ran across a similar recipe a few years ago and have been making my version ever since. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium spaghetti squash, halved and seeds removed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/3 cup buffalo sauce
  • 2 cups shredded chicken (if desired)

Preheat the oven to 400F and cover a small baking sheet in aluminum foil. Rub the cut sides of the spaghetti squash with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the squash cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.

Allow the squash to cool slightly so that you can handle it (or you can use oven mitts, like I do. I’m impatient.) Using a fork, scrape the squash into strands until all the flesh is in strands.

In a medium bowl, combine the squash with all remaining ingredients except the mozzarella.

Place mixture in an 8″x4″ baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes.

And that’s it! This dip goes really well with tortilla chips or veggie sticks. It’s really savory, has great texture, and as a bonus, it’s veggies!

Happy cooking!

Butternut Squash Soup

Lunch and Dinner, Vegetables

Hi, all! Happy February! I have a great recipe to share with you today- butternut squash soup! It’s super easy to make, is packed full of vegetables, and is deliciously sweet, savory, and spiced. It also goes very well with grilled cheese! You can make it in a stockpot or in the crockpot (my preferred option), and I’ll share both methods. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil (for stockpot option)
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 3-4 pound butternut squash, peeled and diced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened light coconut milk

Stockpot Option:

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stockpot. Add the garlic and onion and sautee until onions are translucent. Add all other ingredients except the coconut milk; stir to combine. Cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to simmer. Cover and reduce the temperature to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the vegetables are easily mashed with a fork. Add in the coconut milk and blend using an immersion blender (if you don’t have an immersion blender, carefully pour the mixture into a blender or food processor and blend).

Crockpot Option:

Add all ingredients except coconut milk to a crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Add coconut milk just before serving and blend with an immersion blender or pour into blender and blend.

And that’s it! Either option is easy and equally delicious, and perfect for a chilly February day. Happy cooking!

Carrot Green Chimichurri

Vegetables

Hi all! Hope you’re enjoying your October and are enjoying the last little bits of produce from your gardens! We’ve been harvesting our carrots over the past couple of weeks and got quite the haul- which left me with the question of what to do with all the carrot greens (because I refuse to waste any food if I can help it!). I thought of making a few different sauces and was especially pleased with this chimichurri, so I wanted to share the recipe with you!

But first… what is chimichurri, anyway? It’s an Argentinian herb sauce, usually made with parsley. Conveniently, carrots (and therefore carrot greens) are in the same family as parsley and I find that they taste fairly similar, so I figured I could use them interchangeably. I’m happy to say that I was correct! Carrot greens are also often cheaper than parsley by function of carrots being cheaper than parsley, so that is a win with today’s grocery prices! Anyway, to the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup carrot greens (just the fronds and smaller stems when possible- too many bigger stems can make the sauce feel gritty)
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ~1/2 cup olive oil

This recipe is pretty simple: pile all your ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and blend until very finely chopped.

Scoop the herb paste into a bowl or a jar and pour the olive oil over it until the oil covers the paste.

Let the mixture sit for at least a couple of hours before using it so that the flavors can meld. After that, I recommend using it over grilled meat or veggies- it is especially delicious over steak. You could also make this recipe using the traditional parsley and it would taste very similar. Store it in the fridge, but let it sit at room temperature for a little while before using it. Happy eating!

Cinnamon Applesauce

Miscellaneous

Hi, all! Hope your October is off to a great start. We’ve come to my favorite time of year: harvest time! I love figuring out what to do with all the produce we get from our garden along with the produce from local farms. This post is for a fast and easy recipe for using up all those apples you picked that have gotten bruised or are starting to get really soft- cinnamon applesauce! The recipe is my Mom’s and it is a huge family favorite. Here are the ingredients:

  • 1/2 peck apples, ideally Macintosh or Cortland but you can use any variety you like
  • 1 cinnamon stick (or you can use powdered cinnamon at the end)
  • 2 tbsp white granulated sugar (or to taste)

Core and quarter the apples. No need to peel them unless you want to- the skins will give our applesauce a pretty pink color! Tip: you can just cut around the core for quicker chopping! Put all the apple pieces in a large stockpot with the cinnamon stick and fill the pot with water to almost cover the apples.

Bring the water to a boil, stirring occasionally, and let the apples cook until they are very soft- usually only about 15 minutes. Some will start to break down and become mush, and that is totally normal and fine!

Drain the water from the pot. At this point if you have a food mill, feel free to use it to mash the apples. I don’t have a food mill, so I just use a potato masher and mash the apples up that way.

If you used a food mill, discard the apple skins that didn’t make it through the mill. If you used a potato masher and don’t want apple peel in your applesauce, just pick out the peels by hand or with a fork. Once the peels are out, add the sugar to taste. I prefer to start light on the sugar and work my way up, but I usually end up only needing about 2 tablespoons. Add more cinnamon if needed by grating the cinnamon stick or using powdered cinnamon. You could also add ginger, nutmeg, or other spices if you felt like experimenting.

That’s it! Like I said, super fast and easy. This applesauce keeps well in the fridge for several days, but bets are that you’ll eat it long before then! It’s delicious cold, but I recommend trying it my favorite way: hot over vanilla ice cream. Happy cooking!

Mardi Gras “Donuts”

Miscellaneous,

Hi all! Happy Mardi Gras! This past Sunday my sister suggested to me that we make something I had never heard of before: fasnachts. These are German donuts that are made and enjoyed every Fat Tuesday and are apparently delicious. We didn’t have time to make traditional fasnachts but decided to try a couple of cheat donuts: fried biscuit dough and fried puff pastry. Both options were delightful and both are definitely worth making! Here are the recipes:

Biscuit Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar (optional)

Puff Donut Ingredient:

  • 1 sheet premade puff pastry, thawed

Other Miscellaneous Things:

  • Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
  • Cinnamon and granulated sugar for rolling (if desired)

Fill a large stockpot or saute pan with oil and put it over medium-high heat until it’s approximately 350F. While the oil is heating, get the biscuit dough going.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar (if using) in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. A note about the optional sugar: we tried the dough with and without the sugar and they were both yummy. The dough without the sugar was great when rolled in sugar, and the dough with the sugar already added didn’t really need anything else- it was good plain!

Add the milk and mix until fully incorporated.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2″ thick. Using any round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out your donuts. You can definitely reroll your dough scraps, but we just fried the scraps- they all tasted equally delicious!

Fry the dough balls for about 45 seconds per side, or until the dough is dark golden brown. Drain on a paper towel-lined cooling rack or plate.

If desired, roll your donuts in granulated sugar.

And that’s it for the biscuit dough ones! The puff pastry ones are even easier:

Flatten out your puff pastry sheet. Using your biscuit cutter, cut out donut shapes. Again, feel free to just fry the scraps- they end up coming together like funnel cake.

Fry the pastry for approximately 30-45 seconds per side. These didn’t really color further than a light golden brown, so just fry them until they’re crispy.

Drain on the paper towel-lined rack or plate and, if desired, toss in cinnamon and/or sugar. These ones tasted a lot like churros or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Delicious!

Both of these recipes were super yummy- bonus, they didn’t really take that much time. Highly recommend these- and not just for Mardi Gras! Happy baking!

Two-Ingredient Cookies

Cookies and Brownies

Hi, all! Happy February! I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty ready for Spring and warm weather. Hopefully we only have a few weeks to go of chilly temperatures! In the meantime, I have a super easy, fast, healthy and yummy recipe for you to try: two-ingredient cookies! The only two things you need to make these are bananas and oats. After those base ingredients, you can customize these cookies with mix-ins (so of course I added chocolate chips). Here’s how to make them:

Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1.5 cups old fashioned oats
  • Mix-ins of your choice (chocolate chips, peanuts, cinnamon, raisins or other dried fruit, slivered almonds… the world is your oyster)

First, preheat the oven to 350F. While the oven is heating, mash the bananas in a bowl until they resemble baby food. Then, mix in your oats and stir until everything is combined. Finally, stir in whatever mix-ins you want.

Form the mixture into balls and place on a baking sheet. I used a baking mat for easy cleanup, but you can just put the “dough” right on the baking sheet too.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

And that’s it! The cookies should be crisp on the outside but chewy and soft on the inside. It seriously tastes like banana bread when you bite into them but it’s healthier AND took way less time. Win win!

To keep these fresh for longer, I recommend storing them in the fridge (unless your family eats them all in a day, which is very possible). Happy baking!

Baked Oatmeal Cups

Miscellaneous

Hi all! Happy September (not quite time to say happy fall yet)! Hope you’ve all been doing well! I just finished training for (and competing in) a triathlon, which is basically the origin for this recipe. I was doing lots of early morning swims before work and needed a good, healthy breakfast to eat on the way to work. I did some searching online for a healthy baked oatmeal recipe and found a few options to try. I’ll be honest, the first couple I tried were absolutely disgusting. This recipe from EatingBirdFood.com that I’m sharing with you today, though, pleasantly surprised me by how yummy the oatmeal cups were and how well it worked to freeze them, so I wanted to share it with you. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 mashed bananas (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F and line 12 muffin cups with paper baking cups. Spray the liners with baking spray. In a medium mixing bowl, combine milk, flaxseed, maple syrup, and vanilla. Let sit for about 5 minutes.

While that mixture is sitting, combine the oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

Mix the bananas, peanut butter, and half the chocolate chips in with the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Divide mixture evenly among the muffin cups and top with remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cup comes out clean.

Let cool completely and then store in the fridge or the freezer. I kept mine in the freezer and just put two in the fridge the night before my swimming mornings, and they’d be perfectly thawed about 8-10 hours later.

Happy baking!

Tanner’s Favorite Salsa

Miscellaneous

Hi, all! Hope your August is going well. I’m sure many of you have started the yearly struggle of, “What am I supposed to do with all these tomatoes I grew?” now that peak tomato season is here. Luckily my way forward was clear due to the jalapenos, cilantro, green onions, and garlic that also came from my garden. I spent my afternoon yesterday cooking up all sorts of garden-related things to use up my veggies, and wanted to share this salsa recipe with you. I seriously make a huge batch almost every week because my husband, Tanner, likes it that much. We currently have four bags of tortilla chips in the cabinet that are strictly reserved for salsa dipping. This salsa is that good!

One fun thing about it is that there are no set measurements for most of the ingredients, because every vegetable is different- for example, one jalapeno could be very mild, meanwhile the one that grew next to it is crazy hot. I’ve given my usual starting quantities here, but it’s a taste-as-you-go kind of recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 28oz tomatoes, roughly chopped (you can use fresh or canned unsalted diced tomatoes)
  • 1/4 red onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 jalapenos, roughly chopped
  • 2 scallions, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and ends removed
  • 1 bunch cilantro, washed and stems removed
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients together in a blender and blend until well combined. Taste the salsa using either a spoon or a chip (be careful sticking your hand into the blender, though!) and adjust heat and seasoning as needed. When you’re finished, pour the salsa into containers and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. My favorite containers for the salsa are 2 old pasta sauce jars- a good size for the batch, good pouring vessels, and dishwasher safe!

Pour yourself a bowl of salsa and pull out the tortilla chips, and enjoy! Happy cooking!

Lemon Balm Simple Syrup

Miscellaneous

Hi, all! Hope you’re doing well and enjoying your summer! Now that the summer weather is in full swing, my garden is really starting to grow, including my lemon balm plants. What is lemon balm, you ask? It’s a lemon-flavored and scented herb from the same family as mint- meaning it’s pleasantly fragrant and deliciously flavored, but also that it grows like a weed and takes over! In the interest of keeping my plants to a reasonable size, I had to give my four plants a substantial trim today- and of course I didn’t want those trimmings to go to waste! I was trying to figure out what to do with the leaves I cut, and finally landed on the idea of making a lemon balm simple syrup. I was so happy with the results of both the syrup and the resulting drink I made that I knew I had to share it. Here’s the recipe for the syrup:

  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • At least 2 cups lemon balm leaves, more if you have them

In a medium or large saucepan (depending on how many leaves you use), mix the water and sugar.

Add the lemon leaves into the pot and stir to incorporate.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the lemon flavor is infused to your taste, stirring occasionally.

Strain the mixture into a heatproof container and let cool. The mixture should have a slight yellow-green tint from the lemon balm leaves.

And that’s it! Bottle it up and refrigerate it, or use some right away in this yummy drink recipe:

  • 2 oz lemon balm simple syrup
  • 3 oz lemon juice
  • 4 oz tonic water

Mix all ingredients together in a tall glass. Add ice if desired.

Both the syrup and the drink recipes would also work very well with mint. Feel free to experiment with other herbs as well- who knows what awesome combinations you could come up with!

Happy cooking and drinking!