Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread

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This glazed orange tahini bread. I’ve been dreaming about this for months. Finally, (finally!) I made it a reality.

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread I don’t know why it took me so long to try. Maybe because December was filled with cookies and in January I tried to ease up on the sugar thing a bit? Maybe. Whatever the reason, it’s here now and I am happy.

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread By the way, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Since this is the holiday of love, or whatever, I’ll tell you about my love affair… with tahini. I don’t know what sparked this obsession turned to love, but I’m thankful for whatever did. I must have read about it on a blog and then decided to buy it at the grocery store. Since then I have been putting it on e.ver.y.thing: salads, roasted vegetables, yogurt, spoons that lead directly to my mouth… (don’t judge).

It’s like peanut butter. I don’t allow myself to have peanut butter or almond butter in my pantry anymore (except for special occasions/moments of weakness because it’s too dangerously delicious), so tahini is my new too-obsessed-must-try-to-quit-but-can’t item. There’s always one.

Tahini, if you are unaware, is sesame paste. You can find it in a lot of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes and is a key component of hummus (like this one!) It’s full of protein and healthy fats. I personally love it paired with citrus. Kale + spinach + chopped grilled chicken breast + clementines + tahini = one amazing salad.

So, in the name of St. Valentine I married oranges and tahini and placed them in this bread of my dreams.

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread Similar to my basic banana bread (the most popular recipe on just j.faye by far!) this orange tahini bread has the standard quick bread formula: 2 parts flour + 2 parts liquid + 1 part egg + 1 part fat. We combine the dry ingredients, then combine the wet ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

It truly is that simple.

However, we spruce it up a little bit with the addition of orange zest sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice, and tahini. Then, of course, we add the glaze for more sprucing. You can leave the glaze off, but it’s a holiday, so just put it on there.

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread Yes, I realize that some sort of intense chocolaty dessert would have been a more appropriate Valentine’s Day post. However, the blogosphere is flooded with amazing chocolate candies, cupcakes, brownies, mousse, and layer cakes right now. Have you noticed? I’ve been drooling over all of them for weeks. So I went with the orange tahini bread. Plus, cara cara oranges are crazy good right now… and are pink(ish) so it’s somewhat festive.

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread

Glazed Orange Tahini Bread
 
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This is a simple, delicious quick bread spruced up with oranges and tahini.
Serves: 12
Ingredients
For the bread:
  • Zest from 2 oranges (I used cara cara oranges)
  • ½ cup (115 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ cups (230 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup orange juice
  • ¼ cup Greek yogurt
  • ½ cup tahini
For the glaze:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
  2. In a large bowl, rub together orange zest and sugar using the back of a spoon or your fingers until fragrant. Add in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Stir until combined and set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients until smooth.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients slowly into the dry. Whisk until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
  5. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with crumbs.
  6. Let bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  7. For the glaze: whisk the powdered sugar, orange juice, and tahini together. Pour over the bread.
  8. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
You can (probably) substitute the Greek yogurt for milk (dairy or nut) or buttermilk; however, I didn’t try this so I don’t know with 100% certainty.

These would work well as muffins too! Just decrease the baking time to 25-30 minutes.

You can add the glaze as soon as it is slightly cooled. I baked the bread at night and then added the glaze the next morning.

I measured the flour and sugar out by weight rather than volume. I recommend you do the same!

Look at these beautiful flowers. To me. From me. Happy Valentine’s Day <3

Valentine's Day

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Thursday Things 2.12.15

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Thursday Things 02.12.15

I have a new favorite morning activity: walking on the treadmill. This is new since Tuesday morning. (Three points make a trend, right?!) I love waking up early and starting the day with some movement, but I feel like I can’t get a good, legit workout completed in the morning unless I am meeting a friend for a run or a yoga class. So: walking. It’s easy. It’s enjoyable. It takes little-to-no effort. But is still very worthwhile. After a quick 30 minutes I find myself energized and ready to take on the day! Then I get in my real workout over lunch or after work.

So I roll out of bed, head on down to the fitness center in my condo building, and jump on the treadmill. I crank up that incline (work those glutes!), put on some Carolyn Smith, and catch up on my Bloglovin’ feed (PS- you can follow me here). Next time I am seriously considering bringing a mug of coffee. Is that weird?

I suggest you try it out. While you do, you can read through these things:

Please don’t judge my blurry picture. I was walking as I took it and was trying to be discreet about taking a picture of the treadmill.

Have a beautiful Thursday!

jd

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The 10-Minute Quick-I-Need-A-Workout Workout!

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This is your 10-minute quick-I-need-a-workout workout. Some days 10-minutes is just all that you have. But hey, that’s ok. 10 minutes is better than no minutes.

Quick, I Need A Workout! On Saturday my parents and younger brother were heading out early in the morning to drive to Sioux Falls for my sister’s birthday. I knew I wasn’t going to get a workout in, so I put this together as something we could all do quick in the morning before sitting in a car for 3.5 hours. My dad opted out, because he had to go “drive around and check things out” around the farm.

This workout consists of 10 exercises that you perform back-to-back for 1 minute each. It works your upper body, lower body, core and even includes a few cardio bursts. You can do this workout anywhere and the only equipment you need is some sort of timer – a stopwatch, a phone, an app, a microwave timer, whatever is convenient!

This is what you’ll do:

Quick, I Need A Workout! You may think, “10 minutes? What is even the point?” And if you do, I can totally see where you’re coming from, but I promise that his workout will still challenge you (Pushups for a minute? Not fun.) as long as you push yourself to work and make those 10 minutes worth it.

Plus, if 10 minutes is all that you have, then 10 minutes is what you should take.

So on Saturday morning at about 7:15am my mom, brother, and I started this workout. The first minute was spent doing jumping jacks while trying to stop laughing over the fact that we were doing jumping jacks… in a our dining room… while Taylor Swift played in the background. We were quite the sight. Another giggle-attack started during the lunges and then another during the pushups. The laughter just helped us burn a few extra calories! Regardless of the all the giggles, we did it and all felt better for it.

Besides being short and effective another bonus of this workout is that you don’t need to get re-ready afterwards. You’ll get your heart pumping, but you won’t be drenched in sweat. So if you need to squeeze in something during your lunch break, between work and happy hour, or even just on a super busy day, you won’t need to spend a lot of time to refresh yourself afterwards as you probably would after this workout or this workout.

This is perfect for all you business travelers out there! You can easily do this in your hotel room before heading out for the day or after work before going to dinner.

And what if you have more than 10 minutes? Do it twice. Or three times. Or add in a minute of burpees. Or a round of intervals on the treadmill. So many great options here!

The next time you don’t think your schedule will allow you to fit in a full on workout, try to at least carve out 10 minutes of time for this one! You won’t regret it.

As always, if you have any questions about the exercises feel free to ask them in the comments.

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Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies

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Brown butter bourbon blondies. This is real life. Do you love it? brown butter bourbon blondies Brown butter, walnuts, and chocolate chips are always a good idea. You just can’t go wrong. Bourbon on the other hand… you can go wrong with bourbon. I’ve learned that lesson once or twice (or more). However, you have no need to fret in this situation. There are two tablespoons of bourbon across 16 bars. I think (and hope) you can handle that.

On the other hand if you pour yourself a glass of bourbon (or two) whilst you bake, that is a different story. You may want to be careful. Just saying.

Now I feel that I need to clarify that I was not drunk (nor was I even drinking) while baking these bars.

brown butter bourbon blondies The mix of the brown butter, brown sugar, and bourbon give these blondies a nice caramel-y, nutty flavor. The walnuts help with the nutty flavor as well (for obvious reasons). The chocolate chips are there, because, well, chocolate. No need to explain further.

If you don’t want chocolate and nuts to get in the way of your butter and sugar you can go ahead and decrease the chocolate chip and walnut quantities from 1 cup to ½ cup. If you want to get crazy you can skip the measuring cup altogether and just throw in a handful or two of each. Do what you’re in the mood for.

brown butter bourbon blondies I know the recipe below is 10 bullet points long, but it is so, so easy. Once the butter is browned the remaining steps take approximately 2 minutes. You just keep adding things into the butter and stirring.

Then you bake. Then you wait. Then you eat.

brown butter bourbon blondies Brown butter bourbon blondies. If you don’t make them for your love of brown butter and bourbon, make them for your love of alliteration.

Also, share them with your friends. They will love you.

brown butter bourbon blondies

 

Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies
 
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Blondies are delicious, but the addition of brown butter, bourbon, walnuts, and chocolate chips make them even better. Plus, they are so simple to make!
Serves: 16 bars
Ingredients
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 ice cube
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons bourbon
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of foil and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the blondies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease foil with butter or oil.
  2. Spread the walnuts on a baking pan and toast in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, stirring once or twice to ensure they don’t burn. Once toasted, set aside.
  3. To brown the butter: melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk the melted butter until brown specks appear at the bottom. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. This should take about 5 minutes. Place brown butter in a large heat-proof bowl and whisk in an ice cube.
  4. Mix in the brown sugar until smooth.
  5. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and whiskey.
  6. Stir in the flour until just combined.
  7. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips (feel free to save about a ¼ cup of each to sprinkle on the top).
  8. Place batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts and chocolate chips on top (if you remembered to save them) and pat down slightly.
  9. Bake for 23-25 minutes.
  10. Cool completely before removing bars from the pan. Then cut and enjoy!

In other exciting news, it is my little sister’s birthday today! Jaci is… so many things: beautiful, intelligent, creative, hilarious (especially when crabby), and amazing in every single way. She is one of my favorite people on the planet. We fight. We laugh. We talk/text/email/snapchat everyday. We take a lot of sister pictures. We have a lot of fun. I love her so very much.

The whole family is gathering in Sioux Falls today to celebrate Jaci’s birthday. We’re going to go to a beer festival. It’ll be funnnnnn.

Happy Birthday Jaci! I hope you have a great weekend!

PS – makes these blondies.

 

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Thursday Things 2.4.15

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thursday things 02.05.2015

Three weeks ago I wrote about how I wanted to make this no sew braided rug. I started it and am almost done, just a few more rounds to go. I knew all those random cotton race and volunteer shirts that I stuffed away in my storage unit would come in handy one day. I still have plenty left to make many-a rug… Rugs for everyone!

Also for everyone, these links:

Also, as a proud member of the Twin Cities in Motion Marketing Committee, I want to tell you that registration for the  Twin Cities Marathon opened on Tuesday!! You should probably go sign up for it. I won’t be running the marathon this year, but I will be running the Hot Dash 10 Miler and volunteering at the Valentine’s Day 5K and the Medtronic TC 1 Mile.

Now put 18 layers on and go for a jog. Or make some chocolate mousse. Or both. Whatever path you choose, enjoy your Thursday!

Jenna

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The Fit 5: Biceps

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In January I kicked off a new series called “The Fit 5” and talked a lot about shoulders. This month it’s all about the biceps.

The Fit 5: Biceps When I say “biceps” I am referring to the biceps brachii muscle on your upper arm, not to be confused with the biceps femoris, which is a part of the hamstring muscle group. Also, did you know that biceps is actually a singular noun? It refers to a muscle that has both a long head and short head; the plural form is “bicepses”. This can lead to awkward sounding sentences.

The biceps on my right arm is sore. My bicepses hurt from all those hammer curls. Awkward, but correct.

Here are some more interesting biceps facts!

The Fit 5: Biceps Facts Now, let’s talk biceps exercises. I am sure you are familiar with biceps curls, but there are other exercises you can do to build those biceps!

The Fit 5: Biceps Exercises As always, adjust the variables to meet your needs. For example, the dumbbell hammer curls can be done standing on one leg, standing on both legs, sitting on a stability ball, or sitting on a bench. Use heavy weights and perform less reps (20 lbs, 8 reps) or lighter weights and more reps (10 lbs, 15 reps). Just do whatever you are in the mood for and then switch it up the next time you do them!

Here are a few ways you can incorporate these exercises into your strength training routine:

  • Between each biceps exercise do a set of squats.
  • Do 10 burpees after each biceps exercise.
  • Alternate these with the shoulder exercises.
  • Perform one exercise every day, Monday-Friday.

These are just a few examples of so many more possibilities!

Side note: I am pretty excited about these plank hammer curls. They are an awesome full body exercise!

I hope you enjoyed the second edition of The Fit 5 and learned a little bit about bicepses (still so awkward!) If you have any questions about these exercises, feel free to ask in a comment.

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