Auntie Anne Inspired Pretzels

Every time I go to the states, I find the nearest Auntie Anne's Pretzels and I get the almond coated pretzel with sweet mustard dipping sauce. It's one of my weaknesses!

The boyfriend suggested we make our own and so I looked up a copycat recipe online and just added almonds to my pretzels (he kept his mainly with coarse salt). The result was pretty good! I even found a honey mustard recipe. He even found a biscuit recipe which we put together while waiting for the pretzel dough to rise.

Pretzel Recipe from this site:
Serves/Makes: 12

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups regular flour
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
to taste coarse salt
to taste chopped almonds
4 tablespoons butter (melted)

PREPARATION:
Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Be certain to stir often. After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope* (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. Bake in 450 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and enjoy!

Toppings: after you brush with butter try sprinkling with coarse salt. Or for Auntie Anne's famous Cinnamon Sugar, try melting a stick of butter in a shallow bowl (big enough to fit the entire pretzel) and in another shallow bowl make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dip the pretzel into the butter, coating both sides generously. Then dip again into the cinnamon mixture. Enjoy!

* The longer and thinner you can make the dough rope, the more like Auntie Anne's they will be. (Of course I don't have the counter space!)

*Sweet butter, not regular butter, is one of her secrets!

NUTRITION:
196 calories, 4g fat, 34g carbohydrates, 5g protein per serving. This recipe is low in fat.
Show more nutritional data (including Weight Watcher's Points ® and diabetic exchanges)
This recipe from CDKitchen for Aunt Annie's Soft Pretzels serves/makes 12

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Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

This recipe is from this site.

3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Honey
1/8 cup Dijon mustard

Combine all and chill.

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Bonus: Quick Tea Biscuits

Recipe from this site.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F
Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Cut shortening in with pastry knife or 2 butter knives until the mixture is crumbly.
Add milk and stir with a fork to make a soft dough
Knead about 10 times and gently roll out to desired thickness – no less than ½ inch.
Cut out rounds with a cookie or biscuit cutter (I use small juice glass)
Repeat by gently kneading dough into one piece and repeating cutting until you use up all your dough (do not work the dough to hard doing this or your biscuits will be tough)
Place your biscuits on a greased cookie sheet
Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until golden and save warm
You can brush them with melted butter when you take them out of the oven for extra taste.

Pesto Qunioa Couscous with Veggies

So I ended up eating that sun dried tomato quinoa dish for MONTHS. It was time to change it up. I found a pesto quinoa dish from this but I also added couscous, mushrooms, broccoli and peas.

Heather's Quinoa - Angel Style

-extra-virgin olive oil
-1 yellow onion, chopped
-1 cup quinoa
-1 cup couscous
-1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
-1 cup broccoli, chopped
-1 package of extra-firm tofu, chopped
-1/3 cup pesto
-1/3 cup pumpkin seed
-1 package of sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1. Stir fry shallot and tofu in olive oil for around a minute.

2. Add corn, broccoli, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes.

3. Cook quinoa and couscous separately. I just add 4 cups of water to the couscous/quinoa mixture, bring to a boil and then simmer until most of the water is gone and you end up with a fluffy mixture.

4. Mix everything in a big pot. Add pesto.

Result - Nice texture and a great way to have a lot of veggies. I ate this for 2 weeks straight.

Quinoa with Sundried Tomato and Spinach

You guessed it, I Googled the following:

quinoa
sundried tomato

And voila!! Recipe inspiration here. I added my beloved baby spinach of course.

Quinoa with Sundried Tomato and Spinach

1 cup quinoa (wash it if it's not pre-washed!)
8 sun-dried tomatoes (i just got a jar of them in some kind of oil)
1 tbsp olive oil (i used the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes)
2 shallots; minced
1 clove garlic; minced
5 oz. baby spinach
2 cups chicken stock or water
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation (~30 min)

1. Heat oil in saucepan over med. heat. Add tomatoes, shallots and garlic, spinach and saute for 3-5 mins, or until shallots are softened.

2. Add in quinoa and stir for about 1 min.

3. Add stock or water and bring to a boil. Stir in cayenne then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 20 mins, or until liquid is absorbed. Let sit for 5 mins, and fluff grains with a fork to separate. Stir in fresh parsley.

Result: Yum!! Really love this one. Been cooking and eating it for weeks now actually.

Otsu!

Japanese buckwheaty goodness found here. I believe this was a result of Googling the following:

tofu
cilantro

I ended up having to go to an Asian supermarket to get many of the ingredients (noodles, low sodium soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar). Safeway fail! I was surprised to find that 100g of soba noodles has 15g of protein! At least that's what it said on the nutritional label!

Otsu

Grated zest of 1 lemon (I had to Google to figure out what 'zest' is)
Grated 1-inch cube of ginger
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

12 ounces or about 400-500g (1 bundle approx 100g) of dried soba noodles
1 package extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Preparation (25 min):
1. Dressing (5 min)
Combine the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

2. Cook the soba in boiling water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water (4 min).

3. Drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy (10 min).

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds (2 min).

Result? Deelish!! Warm OR room temperature. I made this 2 weeks in a row!

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

Spinach and mushroom couscous came from here. I added a can of chickpeas and some sundried tomato dressing :)

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

1 box couscous
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package fresh baby spinach (about 5 oz)
1 package mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation (~20 min)

1. Cook the couscous according to the directions on the package (including 1 tbsp of olive oil), and set aside, covered, to keep warm (5 min)

2. Saute garlic and diced onions in 3 tbsp olive oil. When fragrant, lower the heat and add spinach, mushrooms, chickpeas and 1/4 cup water. Cook until the water burns off, the spinach wilts and the mushrooms are cooked (10 min)

3. Mix couscous and spinach and mushroom combination. Add sundried tomato dressing as desired.

Result: If you love mushrooms, this is a mushroomy delight!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

I Googled the following

chickpeas
spinach

And found a vegan curry recipe.

To play with the curry taste, I got to use my leftover Greek yogurt! Vegan fail.

First, you have to obtain Garam Masala - either by cooking or putting it together yourself. Here is the recipe:

Garam Masala

4 tsp. Ground coriander
1 tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Ground cumin
1 tsp. Ground cloves
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Next, the final dish!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 can tomatoes
1 package frozen chopped spinach
2 -3 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
yogurt, as needed

Preparation (30 min):

1. Medium heat. Add olive oil to pan. Sauté the onion, stirring constantly, until it is just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook one minute more.

2. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach, garam masala, and salt. Stir and cook for at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve over rice or other grain (I used whole grain couscous). Add yogurt to taste.

Result: Tasty, but watery and lacking in salt. This might be the fault of the frozen spinach, and my non-use of salt and the chilies.

Mint + Couscous = Yum!

I had all this leftover mint from the previous recipe and I really didn't know what to do with it! Also, someone at work frequently eats couscous, which I have always been curious about. So back to Google I went:

mint
couscous

I settled on this Mint Couscous Salad with Chickpeas recipe, because it can be served warm. I've discovered that I am happiest with warm food at lunch.

Again, I added a couple of handfuls of spinach and real cumin seeds in addition to cumin powder. It's really easy to prepare and ends up being a nice, light tasting and refreshing meal with lots of texture. I doubled everything in the recipe because I wanted at least 3 days of lunches and a bit for tonight's dinner. Here goes!

Mint Couscous with Chickpeas

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 handfuls of spinach
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the chickpeas
pinch of red pepper flakes
cumin powder, garlic powder, onion powder to taste
sprinkle of cumin seeds
2 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups couscous (only kind I found was flavoured - "Wild Mushroom")
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the couscous
4 tbsp of Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
chopped walnuts to taste

Preparation (15 min):
1. Toss lemon juice, olive oil, spices, chickpeas and spinach and let marinate while cooking couscous.
2. Combine vegetable broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add couscous and then remove from heat. Let steep, covered, for 5 min.
3. Fluff couscous mixture with fork and add chickpea mixture.
4. Stir in Greek yogurt.
5. Stir in mint and walnuts.

Yum!