DIY Sports Drink

I'm dedicating recipes this week to my sweet family. There was a second I almost named this blog "You, Me, and Little P" because I just love my little fam so dang much. But then I figured that was way too cheesy, and a more appropriate name wouldn't stop me from writing about them. In case you live under a rock, or just don't follow me on instagram, little p (pumpkin) is our dog. 

My other half is pretty incredible. The other day while cooking dinner together, he brought up the fact that once upon a time I thought I wanted to marry a tall, dark, and handsome sweater-wearing artist of a man, and what I ended up with was a dorky balding engineer. But turns out that dorky engineer is the man of my dreams in so many ways (and he's really barely balding). And next month just so happens to be our second anniversary, and he just so happens to be taking me to Napa, whose food scene I just so happen to have researched for almost three hours today. To say I'm excited is a huge understatement. But more on that later. 

My dorkalicious love of a man is huge into mountain biking. So huge that he leaves me in bed almost every Saturday morning to wake up at the ass crack of dawn and go for a 2-3 hour ride. Then he comes home covered in a combination of sweat and dirt, which blended together has formed mud, and spandex. Nothing sexier, people. Kidding.

With only minimal resistance he's jumped on the my bandwagon of eating a healthier, plant-based diet, cutting out pretty much all processed foods. That is, with one exception. Gatorade. Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the backside of gatorade? Well it wouldn't really matter if you had because the ingredient list is completely filled with chemicals, additives, and colorings that a normal person could never pronounce nor understand. It's gross, people. "But the electrolytes!" says every person has who ever exercised. 

Enter: my DIY Sports Drink. Complete with all the electrolytes of gatorade and oh so much more! I did my research people, and both citrus and coconut water are natural sources for electrolytes. They contain vitamin C, potassium, and coconut water in particular is cooling to the body, which is perfect after a sweaty hot work-out. The fresh-squeezed citrus and coconut water are naturally sweetened with agave and topped with just a touch of salt which dissolves into the drink (I wasn't kidding about the electrolytes, people). 

The result is a fresh, real, version of gatorade. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. 

DIY Sports Drink 
Makes 1 quart 

1.5 cups freshly squeeze citrus juice (I use 2-3 oranges, 1/2 lemon, 1 lime) 
2-3 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1/2 tsp sea salt 
1 cup coconut water 
1 cup water 

Place water, salt, and agave in a saucepan over low heat until salt completely dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Using a citrus juicer, juice oranges, lemon, and lime (or whichever citrus fruits you'd like). In a quart size mason jar, combine juice, sweetened water, and coconut water. Refrigerate until cold. 

Ultimate Avocado Sandwiches with Sun-dried Tomato Basil Aioli

A couple things happened when I became vegetarian. My meals stopped consisting of the classic protein, veggie, carb template. I developed an almost instantaneous love for beans. And the turkey in my sandwiches got replaced with avocado. Not a bad swap, if I do say so myself! 

These sandwiches are inspired by my favorite avocado garden sandwich from Cafe Vida in Pacific Palisades. I've probably had this sandwich a dozen times and it's just so damn satisfying. I'm learning that just like a salad is only as good as its dressing, a sandwich is only as good as its aioli. It starts with sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. I use Vegenaise because it's vegan and somehow helps me convince myself it's less bad for you (though probably not true), but you could totally use traditional mayo as well. 

This sandwich is hearty, healthy, messy, and packed with flavor and a ton of avocado. 

Ultimate Avocado Sandwiches with Sun-dried Tomato Basil Aioli {Vegan} 
Serves Two 

2-3 carrots, shredded 
1/2 large roma tomato, sliced 
1/5 small red onion, sliced 
large handful baby spinach 
4 slices multi-grain bread (this is my favorite) 
1 large ripe avocado 
sea salt + pepper to taste 

aioli: 
3 large sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 tsp olive oil (only if your tomatoes aren't already soaked in olive oil)  
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup vegenaise (or mayo) 
8-10 fresh basil leaves 
pinch of salt 
fresh ground pepper to taste 

Grate your carrots using a food processor attachment or a box grater. Set aside. Make the aioli. Pulse sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add in vegenaise, basil, salt, and pepper and blend until smooth. Toast your bread. Spread a generous portion of aioli on half the bread (you will have extra). Top with thick slices of tomato, carrots, thinly sliced red onion, spinach, avocado and sea salt + pepper to taste. Enjoy! 

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Challah Bread

I may not be Jewish, but when it comes to celebratory baked goods, I don't discriminate.  I started working at a Jewish preschool a couple hours a week and listening to them talk about the Challah, Shabbat dinner, the upcoming new year and all the traditions that surround it honestly makes me a little jealous. I can't help but want to be part of it all and learn more. That being said, I made my first ever Challah last year for Rosh Hashanah, it was so good, I waited patiently for the holiday to roll around again this year.

Homemade bread is such a treat, and in my option, well worth the effort. I sometimes feel my love for homemade breads and pastas and all-around "messy, hands-on baking endeavors" stem from some kind of childhood repression of having parents that never let me attempt wildly messy projects because they just wanted to keep the house clean. Why is it that the messiest projects also happen to be the most fun? Well guess what parents, I'm an adult now and I can make as much of a mess as I want! And I do. So I suppose I'm just making up for lost time because a kitchen floor covered in flour, and counters smeared with chocolate usually mean a good time has been had and something tasty is on the way. 

But back to Challah. It may be a little labor intensive, maybe even stressful at times if you're that perfectionist type. But it definitely makes for a fun project. Just make sure you have plenty of time to let the pesky dough rise (these loaves have 3 separate rise times, what divas). The kneading, braiding and stuffing with apples are my favorite parts. Rolling and squeezing the dough makes me feel like a child and I love it. 

I only made a handful of small tweaks to the original recipe. I measured out the amount of flour in grams to make it a little more exact than the "5-7 cups" the original recipe calls for. I also added half whole wheat pastry flour to give the dough a bit more heartiness and, who am I kidding, to make myself feel better about devouring an entire loaf. And I added a stick of cinnamon butter smear to each braid. Despite the honey, cinnamon, and sugar, the loaves come out only slightly sweet. It's perfection toasted with butter for breakfast. And I'd imagine it would make divine french toast. 

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Challah Bread
Adapted from Tori Avey 
Makes two loaves 

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water, divided 
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup honey
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract 
2 tsp salt
420 grams (3 cups) whole wheat pastry flour 
480 grams (3 1/4 cups) all purpose flour

For the cinnamon butter:  
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 
2 tbsp cinnamon 
1 tbsp sugar 

For the apples: 
3 medium granny smith apples 
Pinch of salt 
1 tsp lemon juice 
2 tsp sugar 

For the egg wash: 
1 egg
1 tbsp cold water
pinch of salt 
2 tbsp turbinado sugar 

Whisk together 1/4 cup warm water, active dry yeast, and 1 tsp sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit for 10 minutes until mixture becomes thick and bubbly. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cup warm water, egg, egg yolks, honey, olive oil, vanilla, and salt, and whisk to combine. In a medium bowl whisk both flours together. 

Fit a stand mixture with a dough hook, and on low speed slowly add the flour to the wet ingredients about 1/2 cup at a time. If you don't have a stand mixer you can also do this by hand with a large wooden spoon, kneading by hand once the dough begins to come together. Continue until dough forms into a ball, adding more flour if necessary. Transfer dough to a floured work surface and knead by hand a couple of times. Pour about 1 tbsp olive oil into a large bowl. Add the dough and swirl your dough around in the bowl to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Place saucepan with boiling water at the bottom of your oven then cover the dough with a damp cloth and place it in oven on a rack directly above the saucepan. Close the oven and let the dough rise for 1 hour. Do not turn the oven on. 

After 1 hour, remove the dough and knead it once or twice to remove air pockets. Return to bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 more hour. 

Meanwhile, prep your filling. Peel and dice your apples into tiny 1/4 inch bits. As you dice, place the apples in a bowl of cold water with salt and lemon juice to keep them from browning. Using your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat together softened butter, cinnamon, and sugar until completely smooth. 

Once your dough has fully risen, divide the dough in half (I highly recommend a bench scraper for tasks like this, it also comes in handy for scooping up diced vegetables. I use mine almost daily). Keep 1/2 of the dough in bowl and cover. Transfer the other half to a floured counter and divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Using your hands and/or a floured rolling pin, shape the 4 pieces into 12" x 3.5" inch rectangles (I may be a dork, but I actually got out the ruler for this part, and I've seen the same thing done on America's test kitchen). Remember to keep flouring your work space as needed. Working with one piece of dough at a time, spread on 2 tbsp of cinnamon butter leaving about 1/2" border on all sides. Drain the water from your apples and toss with 2 tsp of sugar. Spoon 1/8 of your apples onto the cinnamon butter. Using your hands, pinch together the top and bottom edges of your rectangle until it becomes a solid rope with your apples hidden inside. Pinch the ends together to keep the apples from falling out and then roll your rope on a floured surface until it stretches to 16-18" long. Set aside, and repeat with remain 3 strands. 

Braid your challah. See photos. Also, Tori Avey takes wonderfully clear photos which you should totally reference if you get confused by mine. Once your challah is braided, tuck the end pieces under and using your bench scraper, without thinking too much about it, transfer your loaf to a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Let the braided loaf sit for 30-45 minutes, to rise one final time. Meanwhile, braid your second Challah. 

Preheat your oven to 350. Just before adding your first loaf to the oven, make an egg wash by whisking together egg, water and salt. Using a pastry brush, liberally brush egg wash over your whole Challah and top with turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven, apply another egg wash (being mindful to really get in the cracks) and return to oven for remaining 25 minutes. Bake loaves one at a time.