happy mother's day

"Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

If there's one thing I learned from my mother growing up, I learned how to express love for my children in abundance. I always knew as a child that I was loved... my mother made certain of that. And now as a mom, I realize that's not as easy as it seems. Days grow long, patience fades and sometimes, life is rocking your boat when all you want are calm seas.

Some days being a mom means following behind, picking up what's spilling out of the basket and pressing ahead on what seems like a long road. But the journey shared with those you love and treasure the most makes it completely worth it. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

~Regan 

muffins for mom : blueberry-oatmeal muffins

Clock's ticking.

Are you thinking yet about what you'll do for those special women in your life who deserve to be celebrated on Mother's Day?

Maybe it's a trip to the spa (hello, hint to the father of my children if you're reading).

Or maybe diamonds are your style (seriously... is fine jewelry ever a bad idea? I think not.)  

Or maybe just a day "off" and breakfast in bed (classic, if you ask me, and also always a welcome idea.) 

Then let's get that menu started.

How about Blueberry-Oat Muffins?

Adapted from a similar recipe in Cooking Light - Way to Bake, these are a great option for easing into a whole grain muffin. They're made with oat flour (easily made with a quick whirl of oats in the food processor), and equal parts all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour (my secret weapon in whole grain baking.) I can't imagine a mom who wouldn't appreciate waking up to fresh baked muffins on Mother's Day.

What are you planning for Mother's Day? Or what are you hoping is planned for you on Mother's Day?  

Blueberry-Oat Muffins

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

Keywords: bake breakfast bread whole wheat

6023894

Ingredients (15 muffins)

• 1 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
• 3 ounces all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 ounce whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups blueberries
• Turbinado sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place oats in food processor and pulse until resembles a coarse meal.

Combine oats, flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Make well in center of mixture.

Combine buttermilk, oil and eggs; add to oat mixture and stir just until blended. Fold in blueberries.

Divide batter evenly among muffin tins lined with baking cups. Sprinkle tops with Turbinado sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until done.

Powered by Recipage

braised chickpeas

Sometimes, there's a lot to say in a blog post. If you've been around this blog a while, you know that to be the case. Sometimes, you just say Dinner Is Served:

Seriously, nothing's easier than a hearty bowl of braised chickpeas served over rice. It's an easy weeknight meal and makes an amazing leftover lunch. Please, enjoy!

(And if you're a chickpea fan, today's post offers a "bonus"... one of my all-time variations on braised chickpeas in a coconut-curry sauce. It's delish. No picture, though. That one always seems to get eaten before I can snap the shutter ;-) 

So, speaking of long blog posts - 'read 'em? Cruise right down to the recipe? Just look at the pretty pictures?

And what's your favorite go-to easy weeknight meal?

Braised Chickpeas

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

6019953

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white wine

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add red onion and saute 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in chickpeas and water; bring to boil. Cover and place in preheated oven.

Bake 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Stir in extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wine.

Powered by Recipage

curried chickpeas in coconut-peanut sauce

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

6022930

Ingredients (3 servings)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 - 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
• Juice of half a lime
• Hot cooked rice

Instructions

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; add onion and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in chickpeas, tomatoes and next 4 ingredients (through peanut butter). Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lime juice. Serve over rice.

Powered by Recipage

{the recipe redux - sweet onion-balsamic jam grilled cheese}

Spring is a great time in my neck of the woods. The days are longer, the weather warmer and local produce choices like these

 

are popping up at our farmers' markets. These are locally grown Carolina Sweets... they're a sweet spring onion, and they are amazing. Smaller than their neighbor crop made so famous in the state I live - Georgia Vidalias, they're a smaller variety, who apparently have an earlier yield. Good news for me for this month's theme - spring produce!  

Choosing this month's Recipe ReDux topic offered a lot of great options. But for those of you who make the food blog reading circuit a daily pursuit, you no doubt know that this month is also Grilled Cheese Month. I decided to marry the two timely food topics - seasonal spring produce & GCM - in this one sandwich:

 

And I was almost too busy patting myself on the back to write this post ;-) So much yum in one place. Seasonal deliciousness meets all-time favorite comfort food. I hope you enjoy!

Tell me... what good seasonal produce finds have you found at your local markets recently?  

sweet onion-balsamic jam grilled cheese

by Regan Jones

Ingredients (2 cups jam for 8 sandwiches)

• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 pounds sweet spring onions, trimmed and sliced
• 2 cups strawberries, trimmed and halved
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Pinch of salt
• 8 ounces 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar (I used Cabot), sliced
• 4 ounces one year dry, aged Gouda (I used Reypenaer), thinly sliced or shaved
• 16 slices favorite sandwich bread
• Softened butter

Instructions

Heat butter and canola oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and saute 10 minutes or until lightly browned and tender. Add strawberries, water and vinegar; bring to a boil. Reduced heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Uncover and simmer an additional 10 minutes or until thickened. Let cool slightly.

To assemble sandwiches, smooth a scant teaspoon of butter over one side of each bread slice; top other side of 8 bread slices evenly with about 1/4 cup of jam. Layer evenly with cheeses and remaining bread slices, buttered side up.

Heat nonstick griddle over medium-high heat. When hot, turn down heat to medium and grill sandwiches 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Powered by Recipage

...And last, but not least... It's way overdue, but it's also time to announce the winner from my Cabot Creamery "It's New to You" Recipe Contest Giveaway. As generated by Random.org:

That means Marika won. Trouble is... Marika didn't leave her email. Yikes! My hope is Marika, you're out there & will see this post. If you do, send me an email and let's get you your goodies!! 

And if you're curious about who won the actual contest, visit The Recipe ReDux site. Here's a little preview: 

{the recipe redux - cabot creamery 'it's new to you' recipe contest} jicama cheddar bulgur salad

Welcome to the first Recipe ReDux Recipe Contest!

As an addition to the monthly Recipe ReDux posts, our new sponsored recipe contests will give ReDux members the opportunity to experiment even more in their kitchens with healthy, tasty new recipe creations and compete for prizes. Nothing like a little 'healthy competition' to get those creative recipe development juices flowing! 

For this month's contest, ReDux members were challenged by my friends at Cabot Creamery Cooperative to get family and friends excited about a healthy new food they’ve never tried before by serving it with the "World’s Best Reduced Fat, Naturally Lactose- and Gluten-Free Cheddar."

I'll admit that when I first started thinking about a "new" food to serve with Cheddar, I struggled. It should come as no suprise to those of you who know me or have been around this blog for a while that I am, well, let's say quite familar with farm families who own Cabot Creamery and their award-winning Cheddar (hop on over to my full Disclosure statement if you need the official version.) Having developed recipes for Cabot over the years and now consulting with their Health and Marketing teams (did you know I'm the main tweeter behind @CabotRD?), I'm pretty "entrenched" in the love of all dishes a la Cabot. So it took me a while to i.d. a food that I'd never coupled with their Cheddar. 

Hello jicama.

 

I'm not sure how it's happened, but in all the years that I've eaten jicama in restaurants, I've never managed to create a dish at home using the Central American, white-fleshed tuber. 

It's so yummy... crisp, fleshy & earthy tasting, while also refreshing. I immediately thought salad, but wanted to take a different route than my mainstays of arugula and spring greens. I've had a hankering to do a tabbouleh on the blog for a while now... and that's where Jicama-Cheddar Bulgur Salad was born. I love how the crisp flavors and textures of the jicama, parsley & lime contrast with the creamy, sharpness of the cheese. 

 

Jicama-Cheddar Bulgur Salad

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

6021314

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked bulgur
• 1 cup grated jicama
• 2 cups chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces Cabot 75% or 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar, cubed
• Juice of 1/2 lime

Instructions

Toss all ingredients and serve.

Powered by Recipage

***

Giveaway!

As a part of this Recipe Contest, Cabot was kind enough to provide a giveaway for (1) lucky reader. 

What you can win

- A gift pack of goodies that includes

(2) VIP Coupons for 1 block each of Cabot's Award-Winning Reduced-Fat Cheddar

plus (2) each of Cabot-branded wooden cutting boards, cheese knives & hot beverage tumblers

How to enter

• Leave a comment on this post and tell me if you've ever tried Cabot's Reduced-Fat Cheddar and/or whether or not you realized it was Lactose-Free?

For additional entries (please leave seperate, additional comments each time you do one of the following to be entered additional times. If you are already a subscriber, follower, etc., leave seperate comments to that effect, as well. In other words each comment = individual entry.)

• Subscribe through RSS or feedburner sign up box over on the sidebar labeled "subscribe by email"
• Follow me on Twitter (@profpalate)
• Tweet about the giveaway with a link back to this post
• “Like” The Professional Palate on Facebook and/or share the giveaway news with your Facebook fans and friends with a link back to the post
• Follow me on Pinterest

The giveaway ends at midnight EDT, Thursday, April 5th. I will use random.org to choose one lucky winner. Good luck! 

[Disclosure: Cabot Creamery compensated The Recipe ReDux (co-owned by ReganMillerJones, Inc. and Teaspoon Communications), to sponsor this recipe contest. I am therefore not eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. Opinions expressed are my own.]

To see what other ReDux members cooked up for this month's Recipe Contest, please check out the links below.