Good, Clean, and Fair Food

Good, Clean, and Fair Food

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies


These cookies are a fave amongst the Slow Food URI group. Who doesn't love pumpkin? Better yet, who doesn't love chocolate and pumpkin together in one delicious cookie? We served these bad boys during our meeting last night and I walked away with an empty container. We are providing the recipe so you can make them at home. If you wanna keep it as local as possible, you could substitute the 1 cup of canned pumpkin for 1 cup of (peeled and mashed) butternut squash. Butternut squash is available throughout the fall, winter and early spring at the farmer's markets.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

  1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
  2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
  3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Enjoy!
-Maria

Friday, February 4, 2011


Peanut Butter Hummus

Okay, I know what you're thinking: has she lost her mind?
But honestly, I can't get enough of this stuff. It all started when I was listening to NPR one morning on my way to class. The program was about food cultures, and they were exploring the culinary uses of everyday foods. Naturally, peanuts (or more specifically, peanut butter), a staple food, was one of the things they discussed, and let me tell you; they ripped that poor little pb&j we all know and love to shreds!

Who knew that peanuts are used in stews, as creamy sauces, and even ground to make peanut porridge? That got me thinking (thinking about food is not hard for me). Tahini, a sesame seed paste with a similar consistency to peanut butter, usually lends body to pureed chickpeas in hummus. So, with no one around to convince me it was a bad idea... I had to try it & so should you. It's easy, economical (a lot cheaper than buying tahini), healthy, and quite flavorful.

Peanut Butter Hummus

1 15oz can of Organic (preferably) chickpeas/garbanzo
beans with liquid reserved
2 heaping tbsp of Organic peanut butter (I like Woodstock Farms, unsalted smooth for this)
1/2 head of roasted garlic, about 4-7 cloves (local if possible)
OG Olive Oil
salt to taste
cumin (optional)

Roasted Garlic:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
Wrap a head of garlic in aluminum foil and roast for 20 minuets.

Hummus:
Meanwhile, drain juices from chick peas and reserve 2-3 tbsp for later use.
Put chick peas in the food processor until smooth.
Add peanut butter. Mix until a ball-like form is made.
Add roasted garlic. Process again
Add olive oil and 2 tbsp of reserved liquid and mix until the hummus thins (be careful not to add too much, but just enough to separate the ball).
Once separated, add salt and more liquid to taste.

Ta-dah! Enjoy the hummus with roasted root vegetables and onions, scooped onto a salad, spread on warm pita bread with olives and feta, or plopped on some warm quinoa.

Let us know how you like it!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Slow Food Dreamz

Welcome back for a semester of Slow Food URI fun! To get your mind thinking about the Spring Season, we want to tell you about our dream this semester. By the time URI celebrates Earth Day on April 21st, we want to have a truck farm. What is a truck farm?... It’s a garden, in the back of a truck! Slow Food URI has been asked to join in with a coalition of Farmers, the movement is called Truck Farming. The trucks are used for educating young children, families, and consumers about where their food comes from. We want to have our very own Slow Food URI truck, so if you have any ideas…EMAIL US! We would love to hear from you. Also, visit the truck farming link to get more information.

On another note, we want everyone to know we will be meeting at the coffee shop in the Memorial Union every other Thursday starting February 10, 2011 at 5:00pm. We also bring some free local food for everyone to enjoy and we will try to post the recipes on here.

-Maria


uri@slowfoodusa.org