Menu Monday: Carrot Muffins

Since I had two big cooking/baking weekends in a row,  I decided to play it down a little last weekend.


* = new recipe
:) = recommended
:( = not recommended


Friday 

• Leftovers = :)
• *Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting = :) :) :) 

Saturday 

• Pad Thai = :)
• Spring Rolls (from Costco) = :)
• Zucchini Spears = :)

Sunday

• Roast Dinner at mother-in-laws = :) :) :)
• *Dessert - Fresh Strawberry Tarts (I made these, but I probably won't make them again. They were so-so.

Tonight (It's our boy's half birthday, so he got to choose.)

• Hot dogs (Mmmm. Can't wait! ;)
• French Fries (aka homemade roasted potato spears... sssshhhh... don't tell him!)
• Raw carrots and ranch dip

The carrot muffins were a big hit with the neighborhood kids. I passed out mini muffins with a big dollop of frosting atop.


Carrot Muffins

• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oat flour (can substitute with half white/whole wheat flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed (optional)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

• 1/2 cup agave nectar/honey
• 2/3 cup coconut oil/canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup pecans/walnuts (optional)

Mix wet ingredients. Slowly add to flour mixture, mix just until blended. Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake at 350° for about 15-20 minutes

Frost with any cream cheese frosting recipe. Anything is good with cream cheese frosting!

Whole Wheat Oat Pancakes on Menu Monday

I had another fun weekend trying some fun new recipes and using some good ole standbys.
* = new recipe
:) = recommended
:( = not recommended

Dinner tonight...
Left-overs! Yipee. :) :) :)

Dinner Sunday night...

• *Insalata Caprese Salad with homemade mozzarella = :) (I'll explain the homemade mozzarella in another post. So easy, so yummy!)
• No Knead Bread
• *Asiago Frisco = :) :) :) 
• Parmesan-crusted Chicken Breasts = :) I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but you'll get the point.
• Tomato Basil Ziti
• *Dessert/Lemon Curd in Phyllo Tarts and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries = :) (If you don't have the Joy of Cooking, trust me you would love it!)

Breakfast Saturday...
*Whole Wheat Oat pancakes = :) :) :)
Strawberries

Dinner Saturday...
Sushi with friends
Tuna casserole for kids. me = :) kids = :(


As promised, here is a favorite recipe. I adjusted this from a family fav that my kids call "Papa cakes." Every time we stay at my parent's house or cabin, my dad makes pancakes for my kids. They love them. I just tweaked the recipe to make them a bit more hearty.


Whole Wheat Oat Pancakes 

• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup coconut oil or canola oil
• 1/4 cup agave nectar, honey, or sugar

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Mix to together. Adjust consistency with more buttermilk or flour. Top with fresh fruit. Enjoy!


Makes about 24 pancakes. So we eat left-overs on Sunday morning! = :)


*Note: You can just omit the eggs. The baking powder, soda, and buttermilk make them raise just fine. I usually cook a batch without eggs for my little one, then add a couple of eggs for extra protein for the big kids.

Black Bean Soup

A few weeks ago, I was thinking it might be fun to post what we eat for dinner. Food is a big deal around here (at least for me!) So, last week I started posting dinner du jour on facebook and decided maybe to add worthwhile recipes here and there.

Tonight's Menu...
Black Bean Soup
Fruit
No Knead Bread (Scroll to the bottom of this link to get the recipe.)



Black Bean Soup

Adapted from Heidi Bleggi

1 tablespoon oil

½ cup yellow onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon taco seasoning (I use unsalted)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with chili peppers

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup celery, diced

3 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained

1-2 cups beef broth

½ cup cooked pork, shredded

1-2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish with cheese and avocados.

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and sauté about 3 minutes until tender. Stir in cumin. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. (I cook a pork roast or loin in the crockpot for 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low.)

2. Add carrots, celery, broth, and tomatoes. Bring to boil then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

3. Add beans. Simmer for 5-10 additional minutes.

4.  Stir in pork and cilantro. Heat through. Stir in cilantro

Note: If you use 1 bag of beans, rinse and soak for 8 hours, or do the quick soak (read the bag.) Double all ingredients. Rinse beans again simmer for 1 1/2  hours with onions, spices, garlic, broth (increase to 6 cups), and tomatoes. Add carrots and celery. Simmer until carrots are tender. Add pork and cilantro. 

Note again: When the veggies are cooked, I give it a couple stirs with my immersion blender to thicken the broth. Or you could throw a couple cups into your food blender.

M is for Muffin...

I have a sister who has recently began to change her family's diet. More whole grains, more fruits and vegetables. Less meats, dairy products, and processed foods. She's been really excited about their "new, improved health." But, she missing cookies. She and her husband are the world's best cookie makers. So, she asked me.

"What do you do to make cookies healthy?"

A few years ago, I would have said you increase whole grains and healthy fat (olive oil, nuts, etc.) and decrease sugar and other fats (butter and shortening.) And you get a mediocre cookie. Now that I have a kid with food allergies, substituting the eggs has become a whole new game. So my answer to her.... "Make muffins!" So if, on a rare occasion, we make cookies around here we stick with LOTS of good ole' basic cookie ingredients, butter, sugar, flour!

Muffins are easy to make, bake all at once, freeze well, and easy to clean up (if you use muffin cups.) You can eat them for a meal or a snack. And, they are very forgiving. It's easy change the type of flour, decrease sugar and fat, and substitute the eggs. Our muffin are usually pretty dense, but make a great breakfast food. Here's a favorite.

I borrowed this photo from here. Our muffins look just like this without the crumb topping.

Banana Muffins

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup Flaxseed Meal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• ½ cup applesauce
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 egg (or a large dallop of plain or greek yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk)
• 3 tbls butter, melted or olive oil

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, flax, cinnamon, and salt.

Combine bananas, applesauce, sugar, egg and butter in blender. Combine mixtures, and stir until moistened.

Scoop into muffin pans. Top with half pecan/brown sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Flaxseed Meal can be eliminated or substituted with wheat bran or wheat germ.

*Add pecans or walnuts if you like (we have nut allergies around here too although some of us love nuts.)
**Other types of muffins that we love are pumpkin chocolate chip, zucchini, and bran. Also, scones are becoming a favorite around here because they don't really need eggs.
***Egg substitutes that I like for baking muffins, scones, cupcakes, and pancakes are flaxseed meal, applesauce, buttermilk/sour milk, plain or greek yogurt, and/or sour cream. I usually use a combo of whatever I have on hand. Buttermilk is one of my favorites.

Mmmm... More Uses for Pumpkin

This white chocolate pumpkin scone recipe has the great flavor of pumpkin with pockets of white chocolate to accent the taste.

Yield: 16 small scones

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flower

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup chopped white chocolate
1/3 cup buttermilk (or sour milk)
1/2 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoon milk or cream

Sugar crystals or Turbinado sugar for sprinkling the tops of the scones 

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
Step 3: Stir in the chopped white chocolate.
Step 4: In a medium bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.
Step 5:Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and divide dough in half. Pat the dough into a two circles about 6 inches round and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut circles into 8 pie-shaped wedges (triangles).
Step 6:Place the scones on prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the milk and sprinkle a little sugar.
Step 7:Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Spinach Garlic Toast

For all of you who are looking for new ideas using spinach. Try this. My kids love it. 

Spinach Garlic Toast

P.S. Only use 1/2 of the garlic...and don't be afraid to cut back on the butter.

True story of the day: My second-grade daughter was a lunch helper at school today. With that she earned a treat. I think it is great that she earned a reward for helping in the lunchroom. It was 2 cookies and a chocolate milk. So guess what she chose to eat for lunch? The "treat" or the home-packed turkey sandwich, cucumbers (which she typically loves), and grapes? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bugged. How would you feel about that situation?


Another P.S. She loves working in the lunchroom. The very act seems to be reward enough.
What do you put in your kid's lunchbox that they love (and is healthy?)

I love to cook.

More importantly, I love to eat.

I have loved it my entire life.

Hamburger casserole was my special dish at age 12.

I moved to college.

I was on a very limited budget.

Semi-homemade meals from cheap, prepackaged, frozen, processed foods were at one time inspiring to me ☹

I had a baby.

Much to my family’s dismay, I became a label reader.

My husband was a medical resident; I was still on a very limited budget.

I moved to Michigan and started shopping at Trader Joe’s. (click here to send them an email and strongly encourage that they come to Utah.)

Labels in our home typically DO NOT include…

MSG (monosodium glutamate)
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Autolyzed yeast Extract
Artificial flavor or color
Preservatives (this is hard to get away from)
Hydrogenated Oils
Dairy products with hormones
High Fructose Corn syrup

I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Neighborhood Walmart and Costco.

The other 10%; Albertson’s, Good Earth, and Trader Joe’s imports.

I had a couple more kids.

The baby seems to be allergic to eggs and peanut butter.

Now, I’m so glad I learned to be a label reader.

I live to eat; the doctor eats to live.

I skim recipes; I change, substitute, alter, and disgard ingredients constantly.

That being said, I don’t bake often. (Only if I really have to.)

We’ve never eaten the exact same dish twice in 11 ½ years. ☺ My claim to fame!

I want to share my exciting new and old recipe with YOU. Sorry if it was once your recipe and I altered it.

If you try my recipe, tell me about it. Did you like it, hate it, change it; how and why?

Since the doctor could live off of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and chips and salsa, I want someone to be excited with me about food and about cooking.I saw half of the movie Julie and Julia (before I fell asleep) and thought it was inspiring. Not inspiring enough to cook fattening French cuisine for a year, but enough to get excited about sharing my thoughts on food.

I love photography, but I don’t usually click photos of our food. I love hot food. But I’ll try to post a few images here and there.

A friend recently shared a recipe for No Knead Bread. One of my hobbies for the last several years has been perfecting my sourdough bread recipe from my homemade start. Well, I thought it was perfect (and perfectly easy) until this came along. I’ve made it once or twice a week for the past several weeks. There are about a gazillion of these recipes online so find one that works for you. So with out further adieu…

No Knead Bread

3 cups flour
or 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups white flour

1/4 tsp. instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups water

Mix together the dry ingredients.
Mix in water until the water is incorporated.
Cover with plastic and let sit 8-18 hours. (the longer the better)
Transfer to well floured surface, coat with flour, cover with floured towel and let rise about 1 ½-2 hours.
After 90 minutes of rising, preheated a cast iron pot or soup pot to 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
Bake covered for 30 minutes.
Remove cover; bake an additional 10-15 minutes.
Let cool completely on rack.
Consume bread, be happy.
Further notes: This method of baking is quite forgiving if you alter the ingredients and proportions. One of the great things about a bread recipe that is so easy and involves just one loaf at a time is you don’t feel like you’re risking a lot if your experimenting goes awry.

P.S. The photo of the bread is my sourdough bread NOT No Knead Bread...