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UPDATE: Experimental Muffin

April 22, 2010

YAY! Good news:

My co-worker tried out the recipe last night and here’s what they looked like:

And here’s her note to me today:

“I made the muffins with a few minor mods.  They turned out just as I had hoped.

“Attaching picture.  I ran out of muffin cups and replaced with parchment paper; then ran out of parchment paper too  and resorted to tinfoil which is why you see the variety of materials in the picture.  I adjusted the recipe we exchanged but added 1 egg (2 total) and added blueberries instead of dried fruit (which is not allowed on the diet).

“If I were to make it again, I might cut back on the blueberries since it was a bit moist.  I’ll bring one in tomorrow so you can try it. 

 ”We have invented a new recipe! ”

And I did try one, and it was delicious!

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You are what you eat: Experimental Muffins

April 22, 2010

Don’t get carried away! I’m not baking ‘shrooms or anything (not as far as you know, anyway!)

I got an email from my co-worker this morning asking me the following question:

“That recipe looks very delicious but has just a few too many things I’m not supposed to eat.  How would you modify this recipe to taste good?”

And then she included the recipe below, which I modified the heck out of as an experiment:

Her Recipe:

90% Protein Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

•1 cup Vanilla 90% Protein powder
•1 cup all purpose flour
•1 cup sugar
•1 tsp baking soda
•1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
•1/2 cup soy milk
•1 egg
•2 bananas, mashed
•1 bag (6 oz.) chocolate chips (*optional: you can replace these with carob chips or leave out altogether)

And here’s what I sent back to her:

“I’m not sure what items you can’t eat, but here’s how I’d modify the recipe below:”

  • 1 cup Vanilla 90% Protein powder
  • 1 cup all purpose flour gluten free flour (garbanzo flour or brown rice flour)
  • ½ 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ 1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup soy milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 bananas, mashed
  • ½ Cup 1 bag (6 oz.) chocolate chips
  • ½ Cup raisins (or other dried fruit if you can eat that)

And then I said:

 Let me quickly explain what I changed and why:
•Flour: you don’t need all that wheat, especially when all purpose flour is basically stripped of all it’s nutrients.  Gluten free flour is usually just milled up whatever, as in, milled/ground up rice or garbanzo beans. It’s not as processed and has more protein.  Additionally, the brown rice flour (I buy the “Bob’s Red Mill” brand you can get at any grocery store) is even better for you because to digest the hull of the rice kernel takes way longer, thereby serving as a complex carb that gives you energy for an extended time, rather than all purpose flour that is digested quickly and is a simple carb that your body stores as sugar.

•Brown Sugar: recipes always overdo the sugar amounts. And using brown sugar will give better taste, so you don’t need as much anyway

•Yogurt: applesauce is good, but there’s a lot of natural sugar in there. The yogurt has protein and calcium, something you’re not getting in the applesauce, and the texture of the yogurt yields a better result in the muffins. Take out the soy milk (SO PROCESSED!!! DON’T DRINK A LOT OF THIS, IT’S DECEIVINGLY NOT THAT GOOD FOR YOU.)

•Chocolate chips: again, lots of sugar and processed ingredients in the chips here….did you know there’s WAX (yes WAX) in most chocolate chips? There IS! Yikes!  Reduce this to a half cup (hey! That’s the name of my blog!) and then add a half cup of a dried fruit you like. You’ll get all the sweetness, more flavor and natural instead of processed sugar.

So this is an experiment…..feel free to oppose me here. The floor is open for discussion. I do not believe by any means that I am the be all, end all knowledge bucket on healthy ingredients….any thoughts?

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Posted in You are what you eat | 2 Comments »

You Are What You Eat: Artichokes

April 9, 2010

YUM!!

Who doesn’t love a good artichoke? If you’ve never tried one, then read the tips below to buying and cooking a great one, then go to the store immediately, buy one (or four and invite your friends over, after all, it’s FRIDAY PEOPLE!) and enjoy them tonight.

Last night we had dinner with our dear friend, Mike, who is a fascinating guy from Montreal.  He’s Itialian by heritage, but speaks a ton of languages having grown up in French-speaking Montreal, and having friends from every walk of life.

Over dinner he said, “remember last time we had dinner and you cooked artichokes?  I’ve been craving them, I’m going to have them tomorrow night.”  So I shared with him some simple tips that will create a fool proof result:

Buying:

  • You want a tightly packed leaf choke (see above).  If the leaves are loose and open, they’re likely to be tough, mealy, and icky!
  • The rounder the better.

Cooking:

  • The best and healthiest way to cook them is by steaming them. 
  • Get a huge pot and steamer basket (if you don’t have a steamer basket, don’t worry, you can use a trivet or cooling rack, or even in a pinch take a couple coffee mugs and place them open end up in the bottom.  This will prevent the chokes from sitting on the bottom of the pot in water).
  • Put about an inch to an inch and a half of water in the bottom of the pot.
  • Cut the stems to about an inch long.
  • Put the artichokes “face down” so the leaves point down into the pot, this way when they steam and relax, any debris comes out, and it cooks faster.
  • Put the heat on 8-9 (basically high), put the lid on and set your timer for about 15-20 minutes.
  • When the timer goes off, you’ll want to check your water leve, make sure you always have water in there!
  • You want to cook them for a total of about 40-45 minutes.
  • You know it’s done by inserting a steak or paring knife into the bottom most leaf, and if it goes through a few leaf layers, you’re good to go.

Eating:

  • Serve each choke in it’s own bowl, and get a big bowl for the center of the table for “used” leaves.
  • As a tasty condiment, you can melt some butter, or (cringe, I seriously still do this) use straight up MAYO. WHAT?!?!?!?! I know, I know, it’s SO BAD! (then why does it taste so good????)
  • You can also strain a little non fat plain yogurt and stir in some roasted garlic, or just garlic powder and salt.
  • Any way you enjoy them, make sure to eat all the leaves down till you see the “Hair” (after the leaves with purple tips).
  • Use a spoon to scrape the hair out, and what you’re left with is the heart:
(curtosey of http://timeinthekitchen.com/2008/12/king-crab-stuffed-artichoke-leaves/)

Dip that mother in some MORE melted butter or dare I say it, MAYO, and die of happiness.

So, what time should I come over?

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Posted in Main event, You are what you eat | 3 Comments »

You Are What You Eat: Uh Oh….Fillet-o-Fish

April 5, 2010

I know it’s not right, and they totally screwed up the bun, and it’s smaller than my hand, and I REALLY shouldn’t have. But. I. Couldn’t. Help. It.

I worked all day Saturday with my sister Kate setting up a wedding she had in Bellingham, and when we were done, we were so ravenous, that we stopped at the Golden Arches and picked up two Fillet-o-Fish sandwiches, which we proceeded to eat in the car, on the way to the grocery store, where we bought ingredients for dinner (plus some doughnuts, let’s be honest).

See how good I am? I do something bad, and I still share it with you.  I have to say it was worth EVERY BITE. The bun (albeit totally cockeyed) was soft and warm, the fish was square and crispy – just the way I remember it from childhood – and the cheese was melty. And of course there was enough tartar sauce to sink your battleship.

Done and done.

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Posted in You are what you eat | 1 Comment »

Food Matters: Get your CSA on!

April 1, 2010

I recently posted on my Twitter account:

This post in particular is about finding a good CSA: Community Supported Agriculture*

logo

So, what does the CSA do?  Good question!

They provide door to door service for everyday people of locally sourced, organically grown produce and sometimes even other kinds of food.

For a flat rate, every week or every other week, I can have a company bring me a huge box of fresh fruits, veggies and if I want they’ll also bring eggs, dairy and even meat like chicken or beef, etc.

All the farms are super local, like within a couple hundred miles. All the crops are sustainably grown and organic, and the workers are paid fare market wages, regardless of where they come from.

It also reduces my food costs, and the number of times I go to the store, thereby reducing my carbon footprint in many ways.  And since the truck is already making deliveries in my area, it doesn’t increase their carbon footprint at all!

So, that’s what I’m looking into. The best part is: the farmers only send us the freshest, most “in season” foods, so you are getting each crop at the height of taste and freshness, which makes everything taste better!

The CSA I’m leaning towards right now is:
New Roots Organics http://www.newrootsorganics.com/about.html
$25 per box Delivery on 1 or 2 wk intervals

I can pick a single box size which means I won’t waste food, and I save money, since it’s just me!

My sister, Kate, already signed up for one in Bellingham, that is designed for two people plus a small child, and hers is $35 or so. I think she does hers every other week as well. But she has to pick hers up at a drop location since everything there is so spread out.

More than you ever wanted to know about CSA? MAYBE! But, it’s healthy, yummy, and why the heck not?!

*(the reason there’s a “#” in front of it is so Twitter can index it as a search term.  Then, anytime someone else is searching Twitter for “Tweets” people have posted about CSA’s my Tweet will come up. Then they might see what else I’ve posted, and decide they like my content and want to follow me. Convoluted, I know….)

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Posted in Food Matters, You are what you eat | 8 Comments »

You Are What You Eat: Controversial Cookie

March 31, 2010

I just got an email from Paul’s little brother, Mark, presenting me with what I believe is either the best baking trick EVER, or the wost recipeFAIL of the century since Grandma Ingredients:

It appears Rocco Dispirito has come up with the ulitmate cookie bait-and-switch. He call’s it: “Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie” (don’t get me started on what I think of the name. Either it’s “Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie” or it’s “Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie,” OKAY?!)

(curtosey of www.DrOz.com)

And who is behind him in this swindle? Dr. Oz. WHAT?!

So, I’m going to put this recipe to the test. If it works and tastes good, then I’m sold. If it’s a pain, comes out wrong, or tastes like it’s ingredients, then I’m going to rip him a new one on the website and this blog.

Okay, “What’s all the fuss?” you’re asking.  Here’s the recipe:

Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
Makes 20 cookies
1 serving: 45 calories
1.4 g fat
2 g protein
9 g carbohydrates
0mg cholesterol
2 g fiber
32 mg sodium
 
½ tsp vanilla extract
¹⁄³ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup canned white cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp light agave syrup
3 large egg whites
1½ cups granulated artificial sweetner
¼ cup dark chocolate-covered cacao nibs
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
 
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
 
In the bowl of a food processor, combine vanilla, cocoa, cannellini beans, and the agave syrup, and blend the mixture until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl halfway through blending.
 
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually beat in the artificial sweetner. Continue to beat the whites until they are creamy and nearly stiff. Add 1/3 of the egg-white mixture to the cocoa bean mixture in the food processor. Blend to combine, for about 30 seconds. In 2 batches, fold the lightened cocoa mixture into the egg whites until they are almost fully combined. Add cacao nibs to the batter. Fold batter until cacao nibs are evenly dispersed and cocoa mixture is completely incorporated.
 
Drop mounded spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared sheets. Spread batter out to form cookies about 2½ inches in diameter. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the cookies.
 
Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pans one turn halfway through baking. Using a metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

———

So, that’s the recipe. I have to say I’m REALLY surprised Dr. Oz is promoting a recipe that uses a cup and a half of artificial sweetner. REALLY? That’s a LOT of aspartame, kids! (I don’t care how much research comes out, I try to stay away from more than a 1/2 teaspoon of the stuff).

Now, I have to stop for a second and say, this recipe goes against about 90% of why I have this blog.  The point of this blog is to get people back into the kitchen, cooking off recipe and without fuss, while keeping it healthy and fun!  While this recipe is decidedly healthy, it still requires you to buy ingredients you don’t keep around the house unless you’re Rocco Dispirito, and it takes way too much prep, too much effort and the skill level with all the egg whites, etc. is a bit much.

But, we’ll give a go, and see what happens!  I’ll for sure take videos of this process, which should prove interesting.  Also, I now have to go shopping for coco nibs, agave syrup and a massive bag of splenda. LAME!

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Posted in You are what you eat | 6 Comments »

What in the chocolate cake!?

February 3, 2010

I don’t even like chocolate cake. Seriously. I. Don’t. Like. It.

It always ends up being some gross, dry, crumby, cotton-mouth-dry disaster that someone always swears is “my grandmother’s grandmother’s famous recipe!” (gag)

I would rather have vanilla anything, any day of the week over chocolate. I know, boo hoo. Boring me, right?  Sorry, that’s just how I feel….

So this morning when I saw an email from those cooking freaks (and I mean that in a good way) at my favorite (you guessed it) BHG (what? you don’t know the acronym yet? It’s Better Homes and Gardens) were touting their top cake recipes, I decided to stumble on over and see what was up.

I was REALLY surprised when the third cake I saw was this incredibly dense and NOT dry looking chocolate cake:

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Fudgy Frosting

{credit: Better Homes and Gardens. www.bhg.com}

And of course when I clicked on the picture I realized we share a love of secret ingredients. Theirs is Sour Cream, for this cake….I don’t know about the rest of the cakes, I’m too busy stabbing my screen with a fork.

So, I thought on a rainy Wednesday I’d share with you the joy of their Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Recipe:

Ingredients
2  eggs
1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/3  cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1  tsp. baking powder
1/2  tsp. baking soda
1/2  tsp. salt
1/2  cup shortening
1-1/4  cups sugar
1  tsp. vanilla
3  oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1  8-oz. carton dairy sour cream
1  cup milk
1  recipe Fudgy Frosting

Directions
1. Let eggs stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.

2. In small bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl beat shortening and sugar on medium speed until combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in melted chocolate and sour cream. Alternately add flour mixture and milk; beat on low after each addition just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pans.

3. Bake 25 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool.

4. Prepare Fudgy Frosting. Place one layer flat side down on plate. Spread top with 1 cup frosting. Stack second layer flat side down. Spread with remaining frosting. Makes 16 servings.

5.Fudgy Frosting: In large pan over low heat melt and stir one 12-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate pieces and 1/2 cup butter. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in 8-oz. carton sour cream. Stir in 4-1/2 cups (1 lb.) sifted powdered sugar; stir until smooth. Makes 4 cups.

I’m not going to lie and tell you it’s healthy, because it’s not. If I were making it, it probably would be healthy. But I’m not making it. I’m just eating it (or not, since no one else is making it for me. sniff sniff)

Go to the Better Homes and Gardens website for the full nutritional facts, reviews and comments by other folks, and while you’re there, check out the rest of the cake pron (that’s right, I said cake pron. You know what I mean.)

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Posted in Secret Trick, You are what you eat | 2 Comments »

You are what you eat: Lauren’s Mama’s Apple Praline Cheesecake

January 28, 2010

A fun one for you today, my cooking kittens. Sometimes we just need something sweet to look at (or taste – go make this immediately! Seriously, do it. I can wait.)

There’s one word that describes the level of awesomeness that is this cheesecake in your mouth: WOW.

Not to be cheesy (pun intended) but this cheesecake is my new favorite, classic, timeless recipe, and I’m going to share it with the world and make it for everyone I know.

My friend (and old co-worker) Lauren sent me this recipe and I made it for the first time for Paul’s birthday in late December, and intend on making it many more times over the years.

Here’s the recipe:

Lauren’s Mama’s Apple Praline Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used only walnuts so it was Gluten-free)
1/4 cup melted butter (I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 nonfat yogurt of course)
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
4 packages (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
4 cups chopped peeled apples (about 3)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. 

Line 13×9 inch pan with foil.  (I used a round spring form pan, buttered it, lined with parchment and sprayed with PAM)

Mix crumbs, butter and 2 tbsp brown sugar. 

Press onto bottom of pan. 

Bake for 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. 

Add sour cream and blend.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. 

Pour over the crust.

Mix the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, apples, pecans and cinnamon;

spoon over batter.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes.  Let it cool.  Refrigerate 4 hours. 

Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

Enjoy!

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Posted in You are what you eat | 3 Comments »

You are what you eat: Review of Siggi’s Skyr

January 7, 2010

Unexpectedly, I ended up at Whole Foods last night. I don’t usually shop there, and I don’t particularly like to because I’m cheap, and by cheap I mean REALLY, REALLY cheap. I eat and cook on a budget. I am in my late 20′s and would like to buy a house some day…so spending twice or three times as much on food isn’t really part of my lifestyle.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the things they have there are wonderful, tasty, fabulous, and some of their staff are very knowledgable. If Whole Foods is your regular store to shop at, more power to you!

At any rate, there I was walking down the diary isle with Adam (my fave guy friend who’s running a half marathon with me this year) when I spotted this:

I remembered having looked for this before, about a year or so ago, after having seen a whole piece about Siggi and his Skyr on Martha Stewart.

I looked to see where they were being carried, but Seattle wasn’t a city it’d reached yet….so I waited.

I wanted to try it because skyr is “the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt.”

This sounded appealing to me, as did the high levels of protein, at 17grams per 6oz. serving size with only 100 calories (their website says 120 per serving, but the one I bought said 100, so that’s what I’m going on.)

I wanted to try the pure stuff, so I bought one little 6oz. cup, at $2.49. YIKES. This is not something I would buy EVER at that price, unless it contained the fountain of youth or was a cure to a disease, or if it created an addiction.

So what’d I think? The texture is out of this world. The flavor? Still plain old “plain yogurt” taste. The taste was not at all different from any generic brand of plain nonfat yogurt I buy at any other store, from any other manufacturer.

What I’d like to do is see how my own strained yogurt tastes and feels (texture wise that is), because even though the process is most certainly different (right????) if I can achieve a similar texture to Siggi’s then I’d be a happy camper!

I’ll give this a try this weekend and let you know how it turns out! (I’m thinking cheesecloth – I have sitting in a drawer – and a collander over a bowl with a weight on top over night….)

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You are what you eat: Cucina Fresca Pasta

January 1, 2010

Hey friends!

A while back I got the chance to try some great products from Cucina Fresca, and I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas with you all.

First let me say I LOVE pasta, duh, I’m a woman. We love to carbo load, it’s in our DNA. Shocking, I know.

Second, I have to tell you, it’s hard to screw up pasta, but it’s easy to make it underwhelming, so I had set the bar pretty high for the products that were sent over to me.

To start, I want to share a short video I took of all the products:

I have already tried many, if not most of the things they sent over, but have kept a few for the next rainy day I find myself at home.

Here’s a peek at what I did with their smoked Guyere Mac and Cheese:

I took it out of the container it came in and put it into a glass pyrex (that way when I had leftovers, i could snap on the rubber top that goes to this and take it for lunch the next day, one dish, no fuss.)

About 5 minutes before it was done baking, (BTW: You can do it in the microwave if you want to) I added stirred it and added breadcrumbs to the top to brown.  I think my oven was a bit off, because it didn’t brown as much as I wanted, and the cheese didn’t get as bubbly as I’d hoped it would.

I checked with my contacts at Cucinca Fresca, and it sounds like my lack of browning and cheesiness was an operator error type situation, so I’ll try again! (I have another box in the freezer!)

I finished it off with some white truffle oil and sea salt, it was heavenly. YUM. What’s not to like, right?

Since then, I have also completely gobbled up the butternut squash ravioli and the pear & blue cheese ravioli, as well as the basil cream sauce, the Fettuccini (sp? I’m horrible!) and the smoked tomato sauce. SO GOOD.

I still have the gluten free penne to try on Paul, with their basic Marinara and I think a pack of angel hair pasta and one other sauce? I’ll have to double check. At any rate, stay tuned for more reviews on what seems to be a great line of tasty pasta products. Locally made, by a green concious company.

(geez, now I’m getting hungry!)

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