Banana Oat Granola Bars

As a diabetic, I have to always have some kind of food to carry around with me.  For the last couple of years, my food of choice has been granola bars, mostly because they're delicious and can also substitute for a meal.  Since I've been eating them, they've become some of my favorite things.  To demonstrate, I would  like to show you part of a picture that my roommate Stacey drew before I ran a half-marathon in October.  I stored granola bars in my leggings as I ran, as you can tell...

Anyways, now that you've seen that embarrassing proof of my obsession with granola bars, on to the story.  Last year I bought 8 boxes of granola bars on a really good sale (but you had to buy 10 items on the sale...), and I got more over the summer from home.  However, even that abundance has to come to an end at some point.  I have a few left, but when I came across this recipe, I decided to try it.  And I'm glad I did!  I have tried and will continue to try other granola bar recipes, because variety is the spice of life.  But this is a good starter recipe, calling for ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and no complicated cooking instructions.  Plus they're vegan, sugar-free, and delicious!  Enjoy!

Banana Oat Granola Bars

From the Zupas Cafe Blog

Makes one 9x9 pan

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup desiccated coconut (or substitute sweetened shredded coconut)

1/2 cup mixed dried fruit, chopped fairly small (so it all sticks together better; maybe use some mini chocolate chips?)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 large ripe bananas, or 3 small ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Combine all ingredients.  Press into a 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Cool in pan and cut.  I cut it in half one way and in five the other way.  

Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 275 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until crispy.  

Wrap in plastic wrap or put in an airtight container to store.  To keep longer, wrap them in plastic wrap, put them in a plastic bag, and freeze them; take out and carry one with you in the morning when you go out.  The freezing will actually stabilize the bars, making them less crumbly.

Cut long...

Or square.  Your choice!

Cold Soba Salad and Tempura

This is my second Daring Cooks Challenge.  We were assigned to make cold soba salad (Soba is a Japanese buckwheat noodle) with tempura (veggies or seafood dipped in a very cold water-flour-cornstarch mixture and deep-fried).

Soba noodles, halfway through eating.  The timing was a little off, so I didn't actually get a picture of both food items together...

I had a hard time finding soba noodles, and I was about to give up on ever finding them, and use some other kind of Asian thin noodle (Ramen, in my case) when I found organic soba noodles at Sunflower Farmer's Market, for $3, of course.

For my soba noodles, I made a yummy sauce that you're supposed to dip them in but which I just poured over the top.  It was really delicious, even if I had to  borrow half the ingredients from Megan :)  I topped it with some sliced avocado, tomato, and authentic omelet strips.  I would definitely eat this meal again - it's delicious, easy, and versatile.

For the tempura vegetables (I was too cheap to buy seafood, duh), I chose sweet potatoes, onions, red bell pepper, and asparagus.  I'm pretty sure none of those are really traditional, but they were all good.

To make sure that the tempura batter-veggie mix was cold enough to get a good crunch when put in the hot oil, I stuck the vegetables in the freezer for a few minutes before cooking.  I'm not sure whether it made a difference, but it made me eat a lot more of them raw, as I am somewhat addicted to frozen veggies.

To cook them, I used a small pot and my new kitchen thermometer!  Thanks Santa.  Here's the setup, after everything was done:

Although the tempura was an adventure, and pretty good, I probably won't make it again.  It's really a hassle if you don't already have a deep-fryer, it's hard to keep the oil at the right temperature, it's super-unhealthy, and the finished product isn't really spectacular. The fact that my recipe didn't have any salt in it might have had something to do with that - I ended up sprinkling it with salt like a crazy-woman, but it just wasn't enough.

Oil.  Yum.

Overall, this foray into Japanese cooking left me open to some new methods but not extremely enthusiastic about the field as a whole.  I don't have enough Asian ingredients, in the first place!  I would recommend you try the soba salad, or at least the sauce with a packet of Ramen, but leave the tempura to restauranteurs.  I think I will leave the recipe off, because it just wasn't great enough that I want to post it!


Cold Soba Salad
Adapted from The Daring Kitchen

Approx. 6 oz. buckwheat soba or other thin Asian noodles, cooked according to package directions and rinsed in cold water

Any of the following toppings, sliced to bite-size:
Tomato
Avocado
Thin omelet strips
Ham
Chicken
Cucumber
Bean Sprouts
Toasted nori
Green onions
Wasabi powder
Finely grated daikon
Pickled ginger (Note: do NOT use fresh ginger)

Sauce:
3/8 cup sliced green onion
1 1/2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 Tbs. vegetable/canola oil
1/2 Tbs. sesame oil
~1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper
1 Tbs. water

Put all ingredients but water in a small container and shake to combine.  (Alternatively, whisk in a small bowl.)  Add the water and shake again.  Pour over your cold soba noodles and top with whatever your heart desires.  Mix it all together and devour it with chopsticks.

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

Muesli, aka the most addictive stuff on the face of the earth

Earlier this year, Megan and I were joking about how we're such granola people.  We cook from scratch, we like strange foods, we drive old cars (yep, I even drive a Volvo), and we like organic/health food stores.  We make our own granola bars, too.  Well, after discovering the joys of muesli, we can't call ourselves granola people anymore.  We no longer eat that honey-laden death trap that calls itself granola when there's something so delicious, so addictive, so easy, and so healthy as muesli around.

Okay, now that we're done with that.  This stuff is seriously good.  I eat it so frequently that there is a trail of oats around the apartment that I have to vacuum periodically.  But if you look at the ingredients and the preparation, you'll probably be a bit puzzled by how simple it all is.  It's something that people in Old Israel might have eaten (thank you, Isaiah class!), but it's something you won't be able to stop eating either.  Megan prefers hers with milk, as a cereal.  I like mine dry, as I usually eat cereal anyways.  Either way is delicious.  It is also infinitely adaptable - you can change the kind or amounts of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds.  Enjoy!

You might want to not use as much milk as I did, lest you need an excuse to use up the milk and pour some more cereal in, and then more milk to balance that out and, before you know it, the entire bowl is gone...  Good luck.

Muesli
Adapted from Honest Fare

5 cups regular oats
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. whole flax seeds
1/2 cup raw almond slivers (you could also substitute any chopped nut, but I like the texture of the slivers)
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
5-6 figs, chopped*
4 large dried dates, chopped*
1/2 cup golden raisins*

*You can substitute any kind of dried fruit for this; just make sure you have about 1 cup total.  And if you get the chance, I would encourage you to try this combination, as it is quite good.

In a large bowl mix the oats, salt, and cinnamon together.  Add any chopped fruits (the oat dust will cling to their chopped edges and keep them from sticking to everything else), followed by everything else.  Mix well.  Store in a container that has room to dip your hand in, and shake every time before serving.

This picture is blurry because my other hand was reaching down to grab some of that goodness.  Yum.

My favorite carrot cake

This carrot cake is not the traditional sugar bomb.  It is really carrot-y.  It is sweetened with dates (yum!), bananas, and a little bit of honey.  I love it because it's not overly sweet, and it could serve as a breakfast food as well as a dessert.  I could imagine making it as perfectly cute, healthy little muffins.

Hey, don't make fun of the plate.  College students don't have a lot of plates that fit 9x9 cakes... :)

Also, I have news.  Big news.  I have a food processor!!!!  Our family friend Julie recently moved (back) to England :(  Fortunately, there are silver linings to every cloud, right?  As she didn't want to ship everything halfway around the world, she left a lot of her kitchen stuff behind - to me!  Among the things she left was a food processor, which is something I've been dying to have since this summer.  I love it.  My parents sent it, via some friends who came to see a basketball game, and I got it on Saturday.  My roommates can tell you that I haven't stopped talking about it for weeks.  It will make a lot of recipes easier (or even possible in the first place!), like Brussels sprouts salad, ratatouille (which I will make and post about at a later date), and, of course, carrot cake.

My baby.  Isn't it beautiful??

With a food processor, this recipe is really easy.  Even without a food processor, it's worth making.  I've had it twice in the last month alone.  So, go out and try it!  If delicious and healthy aren't good enough incentives, how about beautiful?  Raisin- and walnut-studded, bits of orange carrot peeking through at every turn, a delectable cream cheese frosting dripping off the top...

Fresh out of the oven.

Favorite Carrot Cake
Adapted from 101 cookbooks

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour or half a.p. and half whole wheat
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt (reduce to 1/4-1/2 tsp. if using salted butter)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup mashed dried dates (use the food processor or chop them very finely and mush them together)
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)
1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrot (about 3 medium carrots)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or use regular yogurt, but try to get the least liquidy part possible; you can also use lowfat or nonfat)
2 eggs

For frosting:
4-6 oz. cream cheese
2-4 Tbs. plain yogurt (optional, makes it softer)
3+ Tbs. maple syrup (adjust according to taste)

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and then walnuts.  Separately, stir together butter and dates, breaking the dates up.  In yet another bowl, combine carrots and bananas.  Add the butter-date mixture.  Whisk in yogurt and eggs.

Add flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Spoon into a prepared pan - either a loaf pan or a 9x9 pan works.  Bake 30-45 minutes for the 9x9, or 50-60 minutes for the loaf pan, until a toothpick comes out clean.    Remove from oven and let cool.  After it has cooled, remove from pan if desired.

Meanwhile, whisk together the cream cheese, yogurt, and maple syrup until smooth.  When the cake is completely cooled, frost the top.  Try to keep it around for longer than 24 hours.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...........

Practically Perfect Salad

This is now my signature salad. That's how much I love it.  I figured that a descriptive title - aka Romaine, Brussels Sprout, Bacon, and Parmesan salad - was a bit unwieldy, and as I adapted the ingredients from Prosciutto, Pecorino, and Brussels Sprout salad, I should probably change the name as well.  And, because this salad is practically perfect, it is exactly to my tastes (obscure vegetable, check.  Bacon, check.  Cheese, check.) and my parents (sarcastically, usually) call me their practically perfect child (Mary Poppins flashback, anyone?), I would recreate this salad and its name.

No parmesan on top yet, and it still looks amazing!  I want to reach through my screen and eat this.

Moving on.  Unlike the earlier Brussels sprouts salad, this one is actually a salad, with lettuce and stuff, but with brussels sprouts on top.  Also, it's delicious.  The flavors are extremely complementary, and the roasted sprouts combined with bacon, parmesan cheese, and a yummy vinaigrette are just about perfect.  If I owned a restaurant, this would be the star dish; it's that good.  Plus, it's got a beautiful presentation.  Serve this with some crusty bread and you will impress the heck out of yourself, let alone anyone else who's eating with you.  (Side note: if you are eating this alone, don't combine the second serving's ingredients until you're ready to eat it.  Otherwise it will get mushy, which would be just too sad).

Yummy.

Practically Perfect Salad
Adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen
2 servings

1/2 pound brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. paprika
salt
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar*
2 Tbs. red wine vinegar, any variety (I used red wine with pomegranate)
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
Black pepper
5 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 oz.+/- grated or shaved parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.  Toss the sprouts with 1 Tbs. of the oil, paprika, and a generous pinch of salt.  Arrange on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning once - they should be crispy on the outside and soft inside.  Remove from oven and set aside

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegars and mustard.  Add a few dashes of pepper and then whisk in the olive oil.  Add some salt, and then taste for flavor, adjusting any of the ingredients as you like.

Arrange the lettuce in two bowls and toss with half of the dressing in each.  Place half of the brussels sprouts, bacon, and parmesan on each.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired.  Serve.

I saved some of the salad dressing to go on top, which made it even prettier.

*The original recipe calls for raspberry vinegar, which I don't have and don't intend to buy anytime soon...

Avocado Pound Cake

Wow, judging by the last month or so of posts, you'd think that I don't bake anymore!  Or eat anything sweet!  I guess that's justified, since I didn't really use a lot of sugar during sugar-free January, but now I'm off the bandwagon!  (Not that I was ever really on it for more than a few days at a time...)  To be honest, the first day of February started with a breakfast of York Peppermint Patties and ended with half a bag of mint m&m's.  Not pretty.  But anyway, this recipe really is amazing, not to mention gorgeous.

You see what I mean?  Perfect for St. Patrick's day.  Or any other day, for that matter...

You know how pound cake is kind of boring?  If you won't admit it, you're lying to yourself.  To be really good, it needs some fruit compote, or glaze, or really good ice cream.  And that just makes it even less healthy than it already is!  Well.  This pound cake is different.  Don't let the title throw you - it doesn't taste like avocado.  However, it is a beautiful light green.  It has an amazing texture from the cornmeal in the batter, and it hass just the right amount of sweetness.  (I know, I'm hilarious).

This picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful green color that the batter really is, but still.

Delicious?  Oh, I think so.

It's perfect plain - eat it out of the oven or, if you're like me, straight out of the freezer.  It freezes wonderfully, by the way.  You can serve it like you would any other pound cake, but it has a lighter and sweeter flavor, almost fruity.  The avocado replaces more than half of the "pound" of butter in pound cake, making it even healthier.  In short, it's perfect!

Green bread!!  (From a mini loaf pan) 

Avocado Pound Cake
From Joy the Baker
Makes 2 loaves

3 cups flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature* (or sub. salted butter and cut the salt down to 1/4 tsp.)
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature*
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1-1 1/2 cup mashed ripe avocado (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 avocados)

Preheat oven to 325.

Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, soda, and powder in a medium bowl.  Beat butter with a mixer until it is softened, ~1 minute.  Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-4 minutes more.  Add avocado and beat another minute.

Add the eggs one at a time while beating, then pour in the vanilla extract.  Add half the flour mixture, all the buttermilk, and the other half of the flour.  Beat just until combined.

Pour batter into two greased and floured loaf pans.  Bake 40-45 minutes**, or until they pass the toothpick test.  Let cool before taking out of the pans and cutting.  Eat!

This picture does not need a caption.

*Tip: to get cold eggs to room temperature more quickly, dunk them in a bowl of warm water.  For butter, defrost in the microwave at intervals of 10 seconds until the butter just yields to a finger poke, but doesn't have any liquid pooling at the bottom.
**My mini-loaves took about 30-35 minutes.  I would probably check every 5 minutes after 25, though.

Avocado Mustard Toast

You know how there were a ton of avocado sales for super bowl week guacamole?  Well, here's another way to use those avocados.... an amazing way!

This is one of my favorite snacks/meals ever.  It has carbs, protein, healthy fats, and deliciousness.  It's fast, easy, and filling.  What's not to like?  I love to make it after I play water polo, or for dinner when I'm short on time, or when I happen to have some avocado on hand, or when I am craving dijon mustard, or when I feel like eating food... It's the reason that I'm on my second bottle of dijon mustard this school year. You'll need to make sure you don't have too many avocados on hand when you first try this, or you may eat them all.  You get the idea.  It's awesome!  It also provides proof for my hypothesis that ugly food just tastes better.  You'll see.  So, without further ado, here is the recipe!

Before the avocado...

And after the avocado.  It's tastier than it looks, I promise!

Avocado Mustard Toast
Simplified from the Wednesday chef

Mayo (not Miracle whip!)
Dijon mustard
1 piece of toast
1/2 an avocado
Garlic salt

Toast your bread until it's nice and crispy.  Meanwhile, combine equal parts mayo and dijon mustard in one side of a small bowl (I've gotten so practiced I just spread it on the toast).  In the other half of your bowl, mash the avocado with a fork, but leave some chunks.  When the toast pops out, spread the mayo-mustard mixture on, followed by the avocado.  Sprinkle with garlic salt.  Try to eat just one.

Buckwheat Black Bean Soup

Does the idea of buckwheat black bean soup make you cringe?  Well, stop being a wimp and try this out.  It's SOO good.  Also, it's super-adaptable.  If you don't have buckwheat (Kasha), then you can use wheat berries.  You can adjust the amount of each vegetable, and use frozen, canned, or fresh corn.  Basically, you can do whatever you want!  Yum.

Also, it's BEAUTIFUL!

Buckwheat Black Bean Soup
From playing house

1 Tbs. olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cloves (1 Tbs.) minced garlic
1/4 cup kasha/buckwheat groats/wheat kernels
1 tsp. chili powder
2+ cups broth (I used chicken, but vegetable also works)
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans or 1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup corn
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. lime juice

Heat the olive oil in your soup pot on medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper; sautee for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, buckwheat, and chili powder, and cook 3 more minutes.  Stir in broth through salt and pepper.

Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes, or until the buckwheat is tender.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and lime juice.  Enjoy!

Popcorn adventures

Okay, this is a completely random post.  I just wanted to share with you some of my favorite ways to prepare popcorn.  Both of the actual "recipes" are savory, which is rather unusual with popcorn.  They both make really good snacks, and are a great alternative to eating chips or a second (or third, if you’re me) dinner. 

To prepare your popcorn, you can use an air popper (like me!), a whirley-popper, plain microwave popcorn (no butter added), or follow the directions for homemade microwave popcorn below.

Homemade microwave popcorn

¼ cup popcorn kernels

1 tsp. oil

1 brown paper bag

1 staple

Pour your popcorn into the bag and gather it all in one corner.  Pour the oil on top of the popcorn kernels and squish them around to distribute the oil.  If desired, sprinkle some salt on top before you squish.

Fold the top of the bag over itself by about ½ an inch, and then do it again.  It doesn’t have to be exact, but you want to give the popcorn plenty of space to expand.  Staple it in place (don’t worry, that’s not enough metal to cause sparking) and put it in the microwave. 

I would recommend setting the microwave for 3 minutes, but DON’T LEAVE THE MICROWAVE.  Somewhere between 2 and 3 minutes, there will be 2-3 seconds between one pop and the next.  When this happens, the popcorn should be done.  Take it out, and then press cancel on the microwave so it's not blinking "30 seconds" for the next five hours...   If you don’t get your popcorn right the first time, and end up either with burned popcorn or unpopped kernels, just keep practicing.  It may take a few tries, but you will figure out your microwave eventually!

It takes two recipes of this to make the popcorn necessary for Indian-spiced popcorn or rosemary-thyme popcorn.  Do not try to cook the two recipes at the same time.  They need separate bags and separate time in the microwave.  Good luck!

To make plain popcorn with this, melt about 1-1.5 Tbs. margarine or butter and stir it in to the popcorn (preferably in a bowl, not the bag!).  Adjust salt to taste, and add cinnamon sugar if desired.  

Indian-spiced popcorn

½ cup popcorn kernels, popped

3 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. garam masala (make sure you get one that’s pretty sweet, or else reduce or eliminate the cayenne)

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. turmeric

Combine your butter and spices in a small microwave-proof container.  Cook until the butter is melted.  Drizzle over popcorn while sprinkling with salt and stirring.  Adjust salt to taste.  Enjoy!

Rosemary-thyme popcorn

½ cup popcorn kernels, popped

3 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves

½ tsp. ground thyme, or 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

Combine your butter and herbs in a small microwave-proof container.  Cook until the butter is melted.  Drizzle over popcorn while sprinkling with salt and stirring.  Adjust salt to taste.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

Have you ever been to Panera Bread?  I haven’t, but if this copycat recipe for their black bean soup is a good example of what they make, I definitely want to go there sometime soon.  It’s delicious, simple, and it uses my immersion blender! 

Not the greatest picture, I know.  Still delicious, especially with pepper jack cheese on top!

The really nice thing about food.com is that you can change up the number of servings you want.  The recipe I post will be for 4 servings.  However, if you follow the link I put below the recipe title, you can change up the recipe to allow for as many servings as you want.

Enjoy this yummy, simple, and wonderful soup!

Black Bean Soup

From food.com

4 servings

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1/4 large bell pepper

2 small chicken bullion cubes (2 tsp. chicken bullion)

1-1 ½  cups boiling water

2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, undrained

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1 ½ Tbs. cornstarch

1 ½ Tbs. water

Combine the first six ingredients (onion through water) in a pot; simmer for 10 minutes.  Add half a can of black beans (1/4 of the total black beans), salt, and cumin.  Puree soup, using an immersion blender or a regular blender, in batches.  Return to pot if you used a regular blender.

Add the remaining black beans.  Combine the cornstarch with 1 ½ Tbs. water.  Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup and cook until thickened.

Eggs Sardou - Daring Cooks Challenge

About a month ago, I signed up to join a little group called The Daring Kitchen.  There are two groups, and I signed up for both of them.  Every month, we are given a challenge - one for the Daring Cooks and one for the Daring Bakers.  On the 14th we post our Daring Cooks challenge, and on the 1st we post the Daring Bakers challenge.

Obviously, this is not the first or the fourteenth.  I've been waiting to post these eggs sardou, the January Daring Cooks challenge, which I made on the 29th of December, but I didn't have the pictures as I'd taken them on my mom's camera while I was at home over Christmas break.  Well, we finally got things together, and so now I can post it!  Yay!  (And thanks, mom!)  Also, I know I have a LOT of things to catch up on, so I am going to try to post every day this week, possibly every day this month, and see how far that gets us!

So the challenge for January's Daring Cooks was pretty simple and had a lot of possible variations.  Basically, we just had to poach eggs and make some sort of Hollandaise sauce.  Since I was at home, with a large variety of exciting cookbooks, I decided to mix things up a bit.  This was a highly anticipated breakfast for the adults in the house, and it was exciting to put it all together.  I had chopping and assembly help from several willing hands.

Yummy...  I know that's the caption on, like, all of my pictures.  But it really was.

The recipe I finally decided to follow was eggs sardou, from Shirley Corriher's interesting and informative book Cookwise.  If you want to know some of the chemistry behind your cooking, and learn how to manipulate that to your advantage, I would look at this book.  I really enjoyed curling up on the couch and reading through it.

Moving on.  Eggs sardou is a recipe originally from New Orleans.  It features artichoke bottoms, spinach, and onion cooked together and then topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.  As I love all weird vegetables, I was really excited to try this.  And it was awesome!  The acidic flavors of the artichoke, spinach, and lemon juice (in the hollandaise) contrasted amazingly with the creaminess of the poached egg and the sauce.  Serve it with fresh homemade toast, and you'll be in heaven.  Also, it has a ton of vegetables.  It's totally good for you.

Since the recipe does leave you with some extra egg whites, here's a tip: you can freeze egg whites!  I'm not sure whether they'll whip up into a nice meringue after thawing, but you can always save them for a healthy omelette or quiche later.

Here's the recipe!


Poached Eggs
My "recipe," compiled from several sources and several tries.


For the eggs sardou recipe below, you will need 8 eggs, as fresh as possible.  I used eggs that had been laid in the past three days by our chickens. 

Aren't they beautiful?  Ignore the egg carton - they were all fresh.  Yum.

Put a small pot with 2-3 inches of water on the stove over medium heat.  Add a pinch of salt and a bit of vinegar.  Prepare a bowl with ice water on the side.  Heat the water to boiling, and then turn the heat down to low.  You want it just below boiling, so it's not bubbling up and disrupting your cooking egg.  Get out a slotted spoon to use.


Break your egg into a small bowl.  When your water is the right temperature (a bit below boiling), slip the egg into the water.  Cook until the white is set, a little bit longer if you want your yolk to be cooked through.  This process can take about 1-3 minutes, depending on the temperature of your water and your desired doneness.  When it's ready, scoop the egg out using a slotted spoon and place it in your bowl of ice water.  If you're ready to use it right away, just dip it in the ice water and then pull it out; otherwise, leave it in the water until you're ready, and then place it back in the hot water for several seconds to warm it up.  This might take some practice - see the picture of my attempts below.

In order, clockwise from the top, eggs 1-8.  They got progressively better and less rubbery.

Eggs Sardou

From Cookwise

1 T butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 can arthichoke bottoms, drained, rinsed twice, halved, and each sliced 1/4" thick

1/8 to 1/4 t cayenne, fresh (red, not brown!)

1/8 t freshly ground white or black pepper

1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 t salt

1 c heavy or whipping cream

2 pkg (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/3 c freshly grated Parmesan

8 poached eggs

1-2 c Quick Blender Hollandaise

Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat and saute the onion until soft.  Add the artichokes, cayenne, pepper, nutmet, and salt.  Stir well.  Add the cream and boil for 2-3 minutes to reduce slightly.  

Place the spinach in a clean dish towel and squeeze to removed moisture.  Stir the spinach in to the cream mixture.  Add the Parmesan.  Taste and add salt if needed.

Spoon a generous portion of spinach into 8 individual serving dishes (ramekins!) or spread all of it in the bottom of a large serving dish.  Place the hot egg or eggs on top.  Cover with hollandaise and serve immediately.

Ramekins with vegetables.  Lovely.

Quick Blender Hollandaise

Also from Cookwise

4 large egg yolks

3 1/2 T lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1 T water

1/8 t salt

Pinch of cayenne

1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted but not extremely hot.

Place the egg yolks, lemon juise, and water in a small (7-9") heavy skillet.  Heat over very low heat, stirring constantly (You can use a flat wooden spatula to scrape the bottom or a fork and stir with the tines lying flat on the bottom of the pan) until the mixture just begins to thicken.  Continue stirring but immediately remove from the heat.  Continue stirring for 1 minute.  Scrape the mixture into a blender or a food processor with the steel knife and add salt and cayenne.  Blend for a few seconds, then let cool 1-2 minutes.  With the machine running, add the melted butter in a fine drizzle.  Sauce will thicken before all the butter has been added.  Blend in all the butter, taste for seasoning, and add more salt or cayenne as needed.  

Sadly, the hollandaise sauce didn't survive long.  I'm sorry to say it was a casualty.  (Actually, I'm not sorry at all.  It was delicious.)

Oh, I want one right now!  I need to figure out a way to make just one serving of this...

Update: A huge thanks to my darling mother who typed out the recipes from the cookbook to email to me.  Love you mom!!
  


Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

Before we begin, a warning to you: don’t tell me that there is sugar in molasses.  I refuse to listen to you.  I will not read the molasses label, or check my common sense.  This bread is necessary for sugar-free January. 

Moving on.  I made this bread on Saturday, and it was gone in 24 hours, with only Megan and I eating it.  The second time I made it, it was gone in about 20 hours.  It’s slightly sweet and, surprisingly, best plain.  I tried it with butter and cream cheese, and I just preferred it solo (update: the second time I made it, I liked it with butter).  It has a dense crumb and hearty but soft texture.  Serve it warm, and your soul will be happy.  And 6 ingredients – only six, people!

Mixing the molasses with yogurt - isn't it pretty?

Before baking - it will seem very dry, but don't worry.  It will all work out!

Mmmmmm.....

This bread doesn’t use yeast or rising time, and it acts more like a sweet bread than a “regular” bread.  The dough was very dry, probably because I used plain yogurt instead of buttermilk (it was approved in the recipe, I promise!), and so I added a few tablespoons of plain milk.  But enough dry details.  You need to go make this bread, right now.  I’m serious.  See you on the other side.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

Recipe from Joy the Baker

1 2/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used the yogurt + 2 Tbs. milk)

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

½ cup cornmeal

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

½ cup molasses

Preheat oven to 325 and grease a loaf pan.  Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then mix together.  The batter will be very thick.

Scoop batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.  The loaf will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Serve bread warm or at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Excuse me, I think I'm going to go make some right now.  Too delicious!

Garlic broth and poached eggs

This soup was originally called garlic soup with poached eggs.  But that sounds much more substantial than it actually is, so I decided to change the name.  It's very good for those days when you want to fill up on veggies  or bread but get something warm and protein-rich in your dinner (am I the only one who has those days?  Oh well).  In spite of the name, it is not super-garlicky, and won't leave you with really bad breath.  It's essentially just a broth in which you poach an egg.  A very nice broth, to be sure, but what I've gained from the recipe is more along the lines of a method, rather than a very distinct and irreplaceable broth.  For instance, if short on time I would consider making regular broth from a cube and then poaching an egg in it.  It wouldn't be as delicious, but it would still be good (as well as very cheap).

The egg just beginning to cook...

What's really nice about this recipe is that you can use however much you want at a time to make your soup fresh.  Just pour one serving's worth of broth into a pan and poach an egg in it (or however many servings you're making at the time), then store the rest in the refrigerator or even freezer for later use.

Yummy.

Garlic Broth with Poached Eggs
Adapted from The Wednesday Chef
3 servings

1 quart (4 cups) water
1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled (not minced!)
1+ tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
1 small bay leaf
2 parsley sprigs (or a couple of teaspoons of dried parsley)
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
3 eggs
Grated parmesan cheese and parsley for garnish (optional)

In a saucepan combine garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, and olive oil. Add water.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain (I used my sifter; make sure it's fine, even cheesecloth), pressing on the garlic to release as much flavor as possible.

For immediate use: to make one serving, put 1 1/3 cups broth into a very small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer (small bubbles starting to show on the bottom) and carefully break an egg directly into the broth.  Poach until the egg white is just set, about 1 1/2 minutes (the egg will continue to cook).  With a slotted spoon, transfer the egg to the serving dish and pour the broth over it.  Garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese.

The rest of the broth can be used immediately, refrigerated, or frozen.  You could change up the ratios, adding more eggs per serving of soup; it's just a matter of personal preference.  You can also prepare multiple eggs in multiple servings of soup at the same time; just use a larger saucepan as you poach.  Enjoy!

In spite of my lack of obvious enthusiasm above, I really enjoyed the broth, and would encourage you to try it :)  Recipe for the carrots coming up soon!

Healthy chocolate pudding

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but Megan and I are going sugar-free this lovely January.  As such, I have had the occasional chocolate craving, which is troublesome as most chocolate has sugar (surprise!)

On Saturday, I needed some chocolate.  I had this recipe, some bananas, a frozen avocado, and honey.  Perfect.   By the way, you can freeze avocado.  If you don’t add lemon or lime juice, it will go brown, but that’s kind of what you want in this recipe anyways, so stock up next time you see a sale on avocadoes!

If you don’t want to make this recipe just for fun, or just because it’s delicious, consider the amount of potassium.  If I’d known about this stuff in high school, I would have taken it to every water polo tournament and swim meet.  And it would’ve been an object of jealousy for everyone else on my team.

Healthy Chocolate Pudding

From neetashealthyplate

Makes 2 servings

1 medium avocado

1 medium banana

2 Tbs. honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

Combine all in a blender (or use your handheld blender) and blend it together.  Chill and serve.  Feel healthy and full of potassium.

Sidenote: you could also freeze this as little fudge bars, or put them in a tart crust and top them with something.  It's all up to your imagination!

Cabbage and Potato Gratin

So, assuming that you were cool enough to make the cabbage soup I posted yesterday, you may have half a head of leftover cabbage.  Hey, me too!!  We have so much in common. 

 I don’t really have that many cabbage recipes – borscht and cabbage soup are about the extent, although I really have to try making wontons one of these days.  Instead of letting another head of cabbage rot in my fridge (ew), I looked up recipes on my favorite cooking blogs and found something pretty wonderful.  You can tell it’s wonderful because I ate all four servings for dinner in one night.

Mmmm, yummy.  And no, the pan isn't dirty, just old. :)

The original recipe calls for ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese.  I used sharp cheddar, and it just didn’t taste cheesy enough, so I’ll leave the recipe as is with the parmesan.  If you make it with any other kind of cheese and it is especially delicious, let me know. 

Cabbage and potato Gratin

Adapted from biggirlssmallkitchen

2-4 servings

2 cups potatoes, sliced (1 large Russet, or 2 medium/small Yukon Gold)

1 cup milk (low-fat works fine)

2 Tbs. chicken stock

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 tsp. butter

1 small onion, diced thinly

2 cups green cabbage, sliced into bite-sized pieces (a bit less than ½ of a cabbage)

¾ tsp. salt, divided

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pepper to taste

Dash of hot sauce

Paprika for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 400.  Grease a loaf pan or 4 individual ramekins.  Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat.  Add the cabbage, onions, and ¼ tsp. of the salt.

Meanwhile, combine potatoes, milk, stock, and another ¼ tsp. of salt in a small pot.  Over medium heat, bring it to a simmer.  Let simmer for five minutes (while cabbage is cooking).  Remove from heat, pour in a few dashes of hot sauce, and pour into the pan (or a large bowl, if you’re using ramekins). 

When cabbage and onion are slightly browned and softened, add them to the potato mixture in the pan.  Sprinkle in ¼ cup of the cheese and the last ¼ tsp. of salt; stir.  Scatter the remaining ¼ cup of cheese on top, then dust with paprika and pepper. 

Bake for about 45 minutes (for the pan; less for the ramekins), until the top potatoes are dark brown and edges are crispy.  Enjoy!