Banana Muffins

What do you do with bananas that are turning black? You make banana bread. What do you do with when you don't have an hour to bake banana bread? You make muffins.

When I got the Babycakes cupcake maker, a sort of Foreman grill to make cupcakes, I also picked up a copy of the 175 Best Babycakes Cupcake Maker Recipes and tried their Banana Nut Muffins recipe. In this case, I left out the nuts to see how everything worked. In this case it worked well. :)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl mix whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine banana and lemon juice until well blended. Stir in butter. Whisk to granulate, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.

Place paper liners in wells of the babycakes maker, place 1 1/2 tbs of batter in each liner and bake for 6-8 minutes. Makes 20 muffin. I haven't quite worked out temps and times in a muffin tin in the oven. When I calculate out the points, they come out to 3 points each.

Crab Cakes

1/3 cup smart balance dressing (or mayonnaise)
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
shot of hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1 large egg, lightly beaten
dash of Worcestershire
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 lb lump style crab meat
1/2 cup saltine crumbs

Yummy, yummy, yummy.

Mix together the dressing, mustard, dijon, hot sauce, horseradish, egg, Worcestershire and Old Bay thoroughly. Gently add the crab meat and saltines and mix thoroughly. Chill the mixture for an hour

Preheat the oven to 400* F and lightly oil a cookie sheet. Then form 4 patties and place them on the sheet. Bake 20-30 minutes until brown.

Serve with a mustard horseradish sauce. (2 tbs smart balance, 2 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp horseradish and a dash of hot sauce thoroughly blended.

Like I said... yum.

Beer Braised Chicken Thighs (Redux)

This time I took photos :)

Bacon
sliced onions
diced peppers
diced celery
14 oz can tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
chicken thighs
bottle of stout


salt
pepper
Dr. Gonzo's Wild Beaver Rub
hot sauce

I have some wonderful homebrew courtesy of my friend Kyle. I also have some slices of a nice, applewood cured bacon from the meat counter. What to do? Make beer braised chicken thighs of course.

Fry up the bacon and sear the chicken thighs in the bacon fat. After removing the thighs to a plate, throw in the veggies and sautée them until soft. Add in the Dr. Gonzo's (to taste), some hot sauce, salt & pepper, beer (in this case, oatmeal stout), tomatoes and chicken stock, put the chicken back in and covered the pan. Once it begins simmering, turn down the heat and let it cook for 20-30 minutes until cooked through and juicy.


Tonight I also made some Israeli (Pearl) cous cous and carrots to go with the chicken.

Crockpot Flank Steak

I originally wanted to do a Cuban style flank steak in the crockpot, but I realized this morning my spice cabinet isn't what it should be right now, so I fell back to my basic Italian roots.

1.5 lb flank steak, cut crosswise into three pieces
1 large onion sliced
diced red, green and orange peppers
28 oz container diced tomatoes
salt, pepper, Italian seasoning


Start by searing off the meat in the frying pan. In the crockpot, pour in the tomatoes (I use the Pomi cartons, less sodium and better taste, it's worth a little extra) add the sliced onion and peppers. Salt, pepper and seasonings to taste and then place the meat on top. Cook on low for 10-12 or high for 4-6 hours until the meat is tender. Using 2 forks, shred the meat.

I served it over pearl cous cous (aka Israeli cous cous) and with roasted butternut squash that I tossed in a little olive oil and balsamic and hit with a bit of Italian seasoning to go with the flank.

Since this ends up being about 8 Pika servings at about 4 points plus a serving (the boys eat about 2 servings) add 3 more points for the cous cous and the squash is free - this ends up being a nice filling dinner.

Baked Ziti

What's an easy crowd pleaser? Baked ziti. Keep in mind that the cheese filling is what I use for lasagna as well - so this is a pretty versatile cheese mix. By using reduced/no fat cheese you don't lose any flavor and you can trim things a fair amount. This version makes 12 servings for 8 points plus a serving:

1 lb ziti: boiled to al dente and drained
2 lb container fat-free ricotta
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat parmesan
1 cup shredded fat-free mozarella
2 eggs
Italian seasoning to taste (I used about 3 Tbsp)
jar of marinara style sauce


Boil pasta until almost cooked through (al dente) and drain.

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan and mozarella. Add eggs and Italian seasoning and mix thoroughly.

In a 13x9 pan, spray some cooking spray and pour just enough sauce to cover the bottom. Pour pasta over the sauce, cover the pasta with the cheese mix and top off with the rest of the marinara.

Cook for about 40 minutes at 375*F.

Yogurt Cheese

Back in the 70's, a cocktail party wasn't a cocktail party unless you had some Boursin style cheese to go with that bottle of wine. Then there was the classic "California Onion Dip" to go with those rippled potato chips for parties. Now with football play offs as the center of social events and many of us worried about our jeans getting tighter as the weather gets colder, I have a tasty solution for you: plain yogurt.

Yep, I said it, plain yogurt my friends.

I discovered how to make cheese from yogurt in the late 80's/early 90's when I went to work and weight began to creep on. I was still young and social but wanted to keep an eye on the amount of fat I was consuming. So I learned that it was simple to use plain yogurt to make a sour cream or cream cheese style base for things. Something I hadn't thought about in years until I stumbled across a note as I've been cleaning the kitchen over the past week.

So give this simple solution a try when you're thinking about your next party.



Start with a container of plain yogurt, a coffee filter, strainer and bowl. Line the strainer with the coffee filter and pour the yogurt into the filter and sit the strainer over a bowl in the fridge. If you want something the consistency of sour cream for a healthier dip, let it sit for a day, drain off the liquid in the bowl. For a cream cheese consistency, let it sit for two days. When it's at the consistency you like, discard the drained liquid and place the yogurt in a large bowl for mixing.

For a dip:

Mix the drained yogurt with either a dry mix (onion soup mix, veggie soup mix, etc.) or finely dice some onion and grab your favorite herb mix and mix them all together. Use with a veggie tray or chips.


For a Boursin cheese:

Thoroughly mix the drained and thickened yogurt with chopped garlic, chopped chives and parmesan cheese. Then add dried thyme, marjoram, sage, parsley and black pepper, mix thoroughly. Adjust the seasoning for your tastes. For example, if you're having lasagna or an Italian themed main course, you may want to use Italian seasoning rather than individual seasonings. Another option is using Herbs de Provence if you're going to a more wine and cheese party.

Make both of these things a day in advance and store them covered in the fridge for the flavors to really blend.

If the fat argument doesn't sway you, check the difference in cost for pre-made dips (and all that yummy sodium) and the cost of a container of plain yogurt (particularly that rich, fat-free Greek yogurt). and using things you probably all ready have in your pantry and kitchen. But be a little bold going into the New Year and give it a try.

Lunch Edition

I wanted something kind of fun for lunch today. Something a little different, so I decided to make myself a roast beef sushi sandwich bento. I rolled a piece of potato bread out as thin as I could, put on some mustard, dark lettuce and roast beef. I then rolled and sliced it like sushi and packed it in my new-ish bento box. I added a small mixed green salad and clementine. Yum!

Who says lunch has to be boring? Who says that it's not worth taking an extra couple of minutes to do something special for yourself?

So if you're resolved to eat better this year, then take it to the next level and eat more fun as well. After all, aren't you worth it?

Vegetarian Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Yes, the happy kitty bowl was happy again tonight. :)

I love broccoli. I think I'm the only one in the house who does. When I was a kid, I used to have fantasies of riding my pet triceratops, Spike, through the world sharing broccoli and having adventures. So when I saw a big honking bag of broccoli for a buck on the "yesterday's produce" rack, I figured it was time to try to make some soup and have another go with the immersion blender. I don't understand why people use chicken stock to broccoli soup. So, I made a vegetarian version so that I could share it with my imaginary dinosaur pal.


Ingredients:

4 cups uncooked Broccoli florets
1 cup sweet onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
½ mushrooms, sliced
2 ½ cups Veggie Broth
1 cup white wine
¼ cup milk/cream
½ cup cheddar (shredded)
2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Herbs de Provence to taste

In a stock pot, sauté the veggies in olive oil until they start to soften. Add the broth and wine, season with salt, pepper and herbs and bring to a boil until the veggies are soft. Stick an immersion blender in there and blend until smooth.

(If you aren't using an immersion blender: Transfer the veggies and half of the liquid into a blender of food processor and puree until smooth. Pour in the rest of liquid, continuing to blend until smooth.)

Pour the mix through a colander and return to pot. Stir in cream and cheese until cheese melts and serve.

I used heavy cream, so this was 7 points for a 1 cup serving. If you want to reduce the points value, then substitute lower fat milk for the heavy cream.

I know my happy kitty bowl was happy tonight and I imagine Spike would have been too.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

There is a drink called an Irish Car Bomb. You drop a shot of Jameson's into a Guinness followed with a Bailey's chaser. (I've also seen it with the Jameson's chaser and dropping the Bailey's and dropping both shots.). No matter how you drink it, you will get bombed pretty quickly.

So yeah, I had to make the cupcakes.

The cake is chocolate cake made with Guinness:

Bring 1 cup of stout and 1 cup I salted butter ti a simmer. Whisk in 3/4 of a cup cocoa powder until smooth and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking SODA and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.

In another large bowl, beat together 2 large eggs and 2/3 cup sour cream. Slowly beat in the egg mixture. (Slowly be the key word so you don't cook the egg and make it curdle.) Slowly beat in the dry mix. When fully mixed, fill cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 full. They don't get that huge.

Since I used my Babycakes thingie, I didn't have to set ovens. Otherwise bake at 350* F for 15-20 min.

While cooking, make the "bomb" filling:

Warm 1/3 heavy cream to simmering (NOT boiling) and pour over 8oz of chocolate. (I used semi-sweet chips). Let sit for a half minute or so before mixing until smooth. (I melted the rest of mix over a double boiler because the chocolate didn't fully melt.). Take off the heat and add 1/3 cup Baileys, 2 tbsp butter and 1 or 2 tsp of Jameson's. Mix until smooth.

When cool hollow the center and inject the filling into the center.

Then make a Bailey's buttercream frosting by beating a stick of unsalted butter together. When it's big and fluffy, and 3-4 Tablespoon of Bailey's. I also threw in a dash of vanilla to lighten the frosting.

These are yummy. Not overly sweet or overly moist it's a nice cupcake. :)

Bento for Dinner!

It's the holiday season and we all find ourselves out and running about. Tonight I was at the Natick Collection after finishing my final and wanted to celebrate. There's a new sushi bar in the mall called Wasabi and for $5 I could get a kid's bento box. It was rice, fruit, and an entree. The choices were things like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich roll, veggie sushi or teriyaki chicken. I thought I'd tried the chicken and was pleasantly surprised it was fresh roasted chicken with a light dressing, not that usual mall fare of sticky, gooey something on the grill how long ago? My dinner was fresh, light and had strawberries. :) :)

I also got a cup of Miso soup and a cup of tea with my dinner.

The adult fare was various sushi plates that would meander past on a conveyer belt so you just pick what you want and the price is the color of the plate. It was a fun concept and good food.

You know I'm going back... probably soon. If I worked in the mall, I had a feeling this would be my usual dinner stop. Either way, if you're in the DC area or Natick, check these guys out.

Veggie Soup

Something funny happened on the way to my soup, I tried using my immersion blender.

I started tonight in the veggie drawer in the fridge: onion, carrots, peppers and mushrooms. Oh wait, there's a tube of crushed garlic and crushed ginger on the door. So after I sautéed the veggies, I poured a carton of veggie broth in with some herbs de Provence, a shake of red pepper, a shake of cumin, salt and pepper. A splash of lemon juice and some white wine and let things simmer.

Then I decided to give the immersion blender a try.

Lessons learned? Immersion blenders have amazing suction and work wicked, wicked fast and sort of puréed everything.

Yummy though.

Chicken Thighs in White Wine Tomato Sauce

OK I was feeling adventurous but not crazy experimental... so what do you do with chicken thighs and tomatoes?

Well, I browned the thighs, then took them out of the pan and put them aside. In the pan I tossed in half a large sliced onion, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, a tablespoon of chopped ginger, a teaspoon of chili flakes and sauteed them together a little bit. After deglazing the pan with a half cup of white wine, I tossed in a couple of bay leaves and a couple of cinnamon sticks before pouring in a 28 oz box of crushed tomatoes. After it simmered for a few minutes to blend the flavors together, I put the chicken back in the pan and placed the lid on top to let it simmer for about a half hour or so.

When it was done, I pulled out the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks and served over some linguini fini.

I also oven roasted some sweet potatoes; however, they didn't make it to the plate because we ate them all of the cookie sheet. I sliced up 3 sweet potatoes into 1" slices and placed them in a single layer on a cookie sheet before I sprayed them with olive oil and salted them. I flipped them over and sprayed the back side and salted them and tossed them in the oven at 375* for 20 minutes before turning them and roasting them for another 20 minutes.

Soooooo yummy!

I should calculate the points plus values, but that requires a level of thought right now that I'm incapable of as I puzzle out my next short story that will post in the morning (you can see those over on the writing tab).

Basalmic Glazed Butternut Squash

So tonight Pi asked for something different with the veggies, so I went on line and found a recipe for Balsamic Glazed Butternut Squash.

I peeled and chopped a butternut squash and tossed it in a bowl with:

- 1/4 cup of Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbs of honey
- 3 tbs of olive oil
- touch of salt and pepper

Simply toss the squash in the bowl with the vinegar, honey, oil and salt and pepper and then bake at 400* for 30-35 minutes. Flip the squash after about 15 minutes. The glaze on the squash is a total of 8 points+ and figure there are 4 servings of squash so your total, per serving is 2 points+ BUT, as always, your mileage may vary

One tip: I used tinfoil on the baking sheet so that I could clean up easily.

Veggie Sauce

I've been trying to incorporate more vegetables into my life every day. I know my Italian grandmother did not get sauce from a jar or a can. She made her own sauces and foods from scratch. Whether it was buying fish and mixing it up to make fish cakes to the ever present pan of sauce on the stove, her kitchen always smelled good and the end result always tasted wonderful.

I've been trying to wean my family from jarred sauce for a year with mixed success. They don't quite get how easy it is and last night I wanted to again remind them it doesn't take that long. Whole Foods had a nice Italian style chicken sausage with garlic on sale the other day so I picked up a pound. I had some sunrise slaw in the fridge along with onion and red pepper. In the pantry was diced tomatoes... all I needed for sauce.

I put the pot on the stove to get the water boiling. I then Sliced up the sausage, cooking it up in a deep frying pan with a few sprays of olive oil - which took all of a couple minutes. Because it's chicken sausage, I wanted to make sure it was cooked through. I tossed in the diced onions and peppers and let them soften a bit and tossed in about half the bag of sunrise slaw, the can of diced tomatoes and some white wine. I seasoned it all up with some Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and let it simmer while I waited for water to boil and then the whole wheat pasta to cook.

When the pasta was done and drained, I poured the sauce over it and gave everything a good mix. In the end, it took as long as to make a healthy veggie sauce that was tasty as it did to open a jar of blah and heat it up. Overall, it was 24 points plus for the sauce - most of it being the sausage. When you figure it's 6-8 servings total, then you end up around 4 points plus a serving over the pasta. This would also work over couscous, rice or some other grain.

I wish I had taken a photo of dinner, but the truth is, I wanted to dig in. Yum.

Apple Honey Maple Chicken Thighs

Just a reminder that today is still the lose-a-palooza through Weight Watchers. I'm hoping to be a part of the $75k being raised for organizations like Share Our Strength.

This is a fall favorite around here. I take a cup of applesauce, a couple of tablespoons honey and maple syrup, a couple of tablespoons of ketchup and mustard and a shake of ginger and cinnamon, some salt and pepper to taste and whatever herbs and spices happen to be lying around. Tonight I used Dr. Gonzo's Beaver Rub. Just mix it all up and toss it all in the crockpot for 4-6 hours at high or 6-12 hours at high. (About 5 points plus a serving)

I also bought a Kabosha squash, similar to a sugar pumpkin, and roasted it at 375* for about 45 minutes or so until it was soft. First I scooped the seeds out and brushed it with a little olive oil. When it was soft, I scooped it out of the shell and pureed it with a shake of cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of brown sugar. Add a little brown rice and you have a nice healthy fall meal with little effort.

Sausage Ragout with Polenta

I held off posting until this morning because today is Lose-a-palooza as part of Weight Watchers "Lose for good" campaign. For every mention of the campaign - where Weight Watchers will donate $225k for every 1 million pounds lost - Weight Watchers will donate another dollar, up to 75k today. Since one of the two charities is one I support, No Kid Hungry campaign that's part of Share our Strength.

I will also post whatever I throw in the crock pot tonight later. Two posts in one day! Woo Hoo!

I don't like buying jarred sauce anymore because it's so easy to make sauce in general. In this case a basic ragout. I picked up a pound of chicken sausage today and removed it from the casing and sauteed it until brown. Then I tossed in diced onion, celery, carrot and pepper until soft. Finally, I added some sliced mushrooms, a 16 oz can of crushed tomatoes and a half glass of white wine and simmered for about 20 minutes or so.

I had a roll of polenta in the fridge and sliced up half a dozen or so 1/2 slices and just fried them up. In the end, a bit of ragout on top of the polenta disks and voila! Dinner.

The ragout ends up being about 4-6 points plus a serving - a lot of it depends on the serving size (like everything, your mileage may vary). It really was quite yummy and it's something that my husband is hoping I make again. :)

Lunch Edition

I started back at school this week and need to remember to pack my lunch again. So today was the time to break in my new Bento box. Bento boxes are Japanese compartmental lunch boxes and it's a point of pride to pack a beautiful lunch for your child or spouse in Japan. Because I overslept, I kept it simple this morning:


Turkey cranberry roulade roll up (3 points+)
salad with raspberry vinaigrette (2 points+)
veggie chips (2 points+)
365 mixed fruit bar
chobani raspberry yogurt
honey crisp apple

The roulade was simple, take a small tortilla and spread half a wedge of laughing cow cheese and then spread a teaspoon of Massachusetts Rubies from Deborah's Kitchen and a 1 oz piece of turkey breast. Roll it up and slice it into little pinwheels. Do the same for a second tortilla and you have a nice little set of roll ups for a total of 3 points plus. Add 1/2 an oz of veggie chips and a salad with couple of teaspoons of raspberry vinaigrette. Now that honey crisp apples are coming into season, I'm super psyched. I picked this one up at the farmer's market the other day. It's a lovely little lunch.

For snack I had my yogurt and fruit bar after a light breakfast. It took all of 5 minutes to throw everything together and get out the door.

I'm a big advocate of things like Bentos because it turns out that the average student generates over 40 pounds of garbage with single use bags, packaging and other materials. A reusable Bento reduces significant amounts of solid waste. Soon I'll have photos of more traditional packages with rice and little shaped vegetables and such.

sneaking in fruit

It's my oldest boy's birthday. Twenty two years ago today, he came into this world, on his due date, changing my world forever. One thing he loves is strawberry cake. It started when he was little and every so often he tells me he wants a strawberry cake for his birthday. This year that worked for me too. I took a basic lemon cake mix and diced up a pint of strawberries to mix into the batter and baked it. For the frosting, I boiled down half a pint of strawberries, half a pint of raspberries and a handful or two of blueberries with the juice of a lemon and strained it through a tight mesh sieve. I then beat the fruit sauce into a can of overly sweet vanilla frosting to thin it out and take the sweetness down a few notches.

The result was nice. But it was a great way to sneak some fruit into something I knew I was going to be eating.

A slice of cake isn't a bad thing. A whole bundt cake... well, that's another story. But it was nice easing some of the guilt that could normally plague me in a situation like that. Also, it was nice to have things balance a bit better. It was a big hit too, my son loved it and I suspect someone may be raiding the fridge tonight for more after I go to bed.

So let that be a lesson, if you're thinking you need to get some fruit or veggies in your diet but don't know how, try sneaking them into other foods to sort of fool yourself. Even if you don't need to fool yourself, it's a nice way to add some extras in your life. :)

Lentil Tacos

My niece made these one night and I knew I needed to make them as well. So I asked for the recipe, then I tweaked it. :)

finely chopped 1/2 a large vidalia onion
finely chopped red, yellow and green pepper
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 package of Trader Joes prepared lentils
1 package chili seasoning mix
2-1/2 cups veggie broth (I used Nature's Promise 17 oz box)
1 small jar of salsa (about a cup or so)
12 hard taco shells




Sautee the veggies until soft. Add lentils and chili seasoning and stir, adding the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, stir in the salsa and you're good. Yep, it's that easy.




For those keeping score, the filling is 28 points plus and you can easily get 10-12 tacos out of that. Your final count will depend on your toppings and the tacos you use. Me, I like cheese and sour cream on my tacos so I need to account for that and, again depending on whether you go for low/no fat or substitutes, the final totals will vary. On average, each taco tends to be around 4 points plus... again, your mileage may vary.

Beer braised chicken thighs

OK... did I think to take pictures? No, I was too busy eating. :)

I wanted something different, so I did a quick search on the food network site and found Rachael Ray's "Beer Braised Chicken Thighs." One look at her list made me realize that her recipe was not in the offing; however, mine was.

Taking some chicken thighs, I browned them on both sides in a deep pan. I then took them out and sauteed chopped onions, celery and garlic before tossing in a cup of chicken broth, a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes and a 12 oz bottle of Guiness I found hiding in the back of the fridge. I also tossed in a few shots of hot sauce and a couple of tbs of Dr. Gonzo's Wild Beaver Rub to the mix. After letting it come to a boil, I threw the chicken thighs back in and turned the heat down to a simmer for 25 minutes or so.

The Dr. Gonzo's balanced the beer nicely and gave the dish a bit of a kick.

I did not work out the points... yeah, I wasn't in the mood. I do know the veggies are 0 points, a chicken thigh is 2 and the whole bottle of beer is 5 points. I'm guessing it was 3-4 points+ for a chicken thigh heaped with the veggies from the pan. Now if I can get the taco recipe from my niece, I think I know what I'm making next week.