So are you sick of banana recipes yet? I know I know... but I buy a lot of bananas each week, some weeks I get through them all... and other weeks... well I'll let the picture say it...


I just learned a fellow reader is actually allergic to bananas!?? No way! Sorry Sarah this recipe is OFF limits to you! I know these images will be tempting but just say no! I don't want to get blamed for getting you back in the ER. :)

I've tried a slew of banana bread recipes and have been pretty happy with my tinkering to make them healthy versions... yet I still feel the need to try and tinker with new recipes... and this one is my new favorite! It does have a little white flour in it (horrors) but I may give it a go with 100% whole wheat next time (I'll let you know how it goes and update a link to it from here).

I truthfully can't remember where I found my starting point recipe... but I changed a bunch anyway (butter, heavy cream...and so on) here is my version...


bOnana bread (yup I know I put an o there... read below to find out why)
recipe by stephchows

Beat the following together in a bowl
1 Tbs ground flax seeds + 3 Tbs water (do this first then add the rest of the stuff)
2 cups bOnanans
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup white sugar (I used splenda granulated)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk the following in another bowl
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
dash sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, alternating in the following
1/2 cup skim milk + 2 Tbs nonfat milk solids (powdered milk)


Pour into a 9x9" greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

OK Question for you... what did you think of the recipe format above? Weird? Fun? Easy to follow? Annoying and not easy to follow? This is the style I normally write in as I scribble things down and think it's super easier this way... but maybe it's just me... what do you think?


Now onto the "O"... My fellow Rochestarians may know already why I'm calling this bOnana bread... if they have ever been to the public market that is. The public market is a HUGE year round farmers market, but they also sell random household things and other things that aren't local... like bOnanans. There is this one vendor who sells bananas... but he can't seem to say the word right... so all you hear is this guys screaming out "BOOOOONANANAS, come get your bonanans here, only 30 cents a pound... BOOOONANANAS!!" Neva I know you know who I'm talking about right?? So John and I have started calling all bananas (whether we get them from him or the grocery store) bonanans.... so it's not a misspelling... it's on purpose. Hope you like this bonana bread :D

Sometimes I see a recipe, add it to my goggle notebook... and it sits there for months before I make it. Other times I see a recipe, add it, and then make it that same night. This was the case with TWO recipes this week. Monday night was a mad dash home from the gym to make whole wheat oatmeal bread (more on that later) and then Tuesday night was a dash to make these whole wheat biscotti that my mom sent me a link to.

Here's the funny thing. I'm not a huge biscotti fan, and I've never made them before... yet for some reason I was compelled to go and make these ASAP! Maybe it was because my mom sent me the link... maybe it was something in the air...

maybe I'm just a big weirdo...

yup probably the last one :)

I sent this picture to my sister and mom after making them declaring them YUM!


My sister promptly wrote back:

Ahh sisterly love! Thanks Jen :D Biscotti are supposed to be dry right?? I mean you bake them twice... and they are meant for dipping in coffee right???

I called John later that night and told him I made some without raisins for him (remember the muffin incident... yeah didn't want that happening again LOL). He then asked if they were dipped in chocolate...
nope no chocolate...
then why are you asking if I want to try them?
because I made half the batch without raisins for YOU so you sir will be trying them
oh, in that case, yes I'd love to try some

Here's the recipe! You can easily add in whatever you like (I'm going to toss some coconut in next time) and hey if you want to dip these in chocolate once they are done baking... go for it! John will certainly be your friend if you do :)


Whole Wheat Biscotti
recipe from Martha Stewart

* vegetable oil, for baking sheet (I used pam spray)
* 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for work surface
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup walnut halves ( I used sunflower seeds)
* 1/4 cup golden raisins (I used normal raisins)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a baking sheet with oil; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir in walnuts and raisins. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Add to flour mixture; stir just until combined.
3. On a lightly floured surface, with floured hands, pat dough into a loaf about 1 inch thick, 2 1/2 inches wide (and about 7 inches long); transfer to baking sheet. Bake until risen and firm, 20 to 25 minutes; cool completely on sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
4. Place loaf on a cutting board, and using a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/4 inch-thick slices; place slices in a single layer on sheet. Bake, turning once, until dried and slightly golden, 25 to 30 minutes; cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 month.



What recipe have you made recently that you saw and made all in the same day? Or is it just me who does that :D

Granola is one of those "health foods" that can be really high in fat, sugar, and calories depending on the brand. SO you go to buy the organic all natural stuff and realize you have to sell your first born in order to buy some... So why not make some delicious and nutritious granola at home for cheep?! It really is easy. Mix together your favorite ingredients with a little maple syrup and a little juice of your choice, into the oven to brown and DONE!


(as we like to say... those easy recipes sure do get around!)
Low-Fat Granola
Here is my version that was inspired by Mise en Place who was inspired by Everybody Likes Sandwiches who was inspired by Mark Bittman

6 cups oats, not quick cook
1/2 cup regular, uncooked quinoa
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup almond chunks
1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup POM juice
(just realized I didn't type in that I added raisins and dried dates to the granola once it cooled off... SO GOOD!!)

1. Heat oven to 300F.

2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the maple syrup and POM and stir well with a wooden spoon to get everything coated. If you feel that it needs more liquid, add a bit more maple syrup or POM.

3. Spread the mix out into a large baking dish (I needed 2) and bake for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure that nothing burns. When the granola appears “golden”, remove from the oven and let cool. Store in an air-tight container.


Looking back I didn't really taste the POM at all, so save it to drink and use another type of cheaper juice instead... It was the only juice I had on hand so that's why I used it.

As you may have guessed, I try to eat healthy, whole grains, veggies, lean protein... although if you talk to John he says all I eat are carbs, a very normal conversation about dinner is him asking "Where's the protein?" Anyway I'm always trying to get John to eat more veggies so I like to stick them in where you might not expect them... like muffins. YUM! Maybe I should change this blog name to steph chows muffins :) My coworker makes a seriously mean delicious zucchini bread that I love, and I've been wanting to try to make a version without all the olive oil... then I found this recipe on Fat Free Vegan. Perfect! I couldn't wait to try it out so I ran over to the farmers market to get some fresh zucchini to use.

The results:

Delicious! Although eat these ASAP, after maybe 3 days... they get pretty dry. But as long as you don't wait that long they are great!

I did however forget one thing while making these... John HATES... wait is there a stronger word... DESPISES raisins... I love them, and wasn't thinking about his distaste for them while I was mixing these up... so he got a little surprise when I dropped some off with him at work one day.

*phone rings at my desk*
Hello Stephanie speaking
BLEHHHHHHH why do these have raisins in them?? Are you trying to kill me??
HAHAHAHA whoops! Sorry sweets!
I don't make you eat quiche, why you trying to get me to eat raisins... that's not very nice. And why are there green specks in this????
It's true I'm purposfully trying to get you to eat raisins :) That is grated zucchini. It's yum.
Maybe when you blog about these you should call them barf muffins with raisins...
Oh yeah I'm sure the readers will want to click to read about that :)


So I present to you John's barf muffins with raisins... hopefully you enjoy these more than John did :) I sure liked them!

Click over to Fat free Vegan for the recipe. Amazingly I followed it!!! Although I did add a little sprinkle of coconut on top of half my muffins... totally a good idea :)


I was inspired to make this recipe to be part of Tried and Tested over at Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen! So much fun :)

I know, I know, Mother's day was a good two weeks ago... but I'm just getting to post this... and hey I posted the cinnamon muffins I served along with this quiche and fruit salad yesterday :) So I'm not thaaat behind... wait yes, yes I am.


This crustless quiche doesn't have an exact recipe... and that is why you should love it. Beat eggs together with some skim milk and a little powdered milk (to make it creamier). In a pan saute things like spinach, garlic, tomatoes, onions. Let veggies cool a bit, fold into egg mixture along with some cheese of choice. Pour it all into a greased baking pan and toss it in the oven for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Yup that's it. Then chow... or in my case eat lots of muffins and fruit salad because quiche makes me want to *bleh*. Everyone else really enjoyed it though so woohoo!




I'd take muffins and fruit salad over quiche ANY DAY!

Where did this week go?? I have so many more things I made that I need to post about... like the mother's day quiche, fruit salad, and cinnamon roll muffins I made... and then there are the strawberry muffin adaptation... and the zucchini muffins I just made the other night!

Is it just me or am I on a COMPLETE muffin kick... alright... I guess I'll tell you about those strawberry muffins first, since I have the picture off of my camera already... and the rest are still stuck on my camera... and I'm lazy and don't feel like bending over to find the cord and plug it all in :) Aren't I a sweetie? :)


These were made out of necessity... yes muffin necessity. John asked if I'd make some of those blueberry yogurt muffins... (side note: john rarely asks me to make something, I'm constantly bugging and asking him what I should make and he always says "whatever you want" so him asking is AWESOME and highly recommended and preferred!! you hear that john... keep the requests coming! yezzir!) Unfortunately I had no lemon yogurt and a trip to the grocery had already been made... what's a girl to do... that's easy, substitute the 2 containers of lemon yogurt for strawberry and toss some chopped up strawberries in with the blueberries.

Result = YUM! Totally making them again :)

Just in time for mothers day (it's sunday... don't forget!) I'm a sucker when it comes to breakfast for dinner (or lunch, or brunch). I could happily chow down on all types of breakfast carbs every night... but I'd probably be rather large if I did! I had some delicious whole wheat bread left over from a few weekends ago. As you might guess, it was pretty darn stale by this point, so what does one do with stale bread?? No, don't give it to the birds! You make french toast!


French toast is one of those things that I never measure anything out for, toss together some eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, good to go! I did learn something interesting though the other day... it's a heavy cream substitute, that's darn creamy!! Want to know the secret? Dry non-fat milk solids. You can find them in the baking aisle, but here's the deal.


So if you have a great french toast recipe that uses heavy cream (tasty) but want to skinny it up (bikini season is coming) without getting rid of the cream factor, TRY THIS. Did it last night... and am SO happy I did. I mean look at that stack in the picture above, totally creamy!!

As other food bloggers know, us food bloggers think about chow 24/7 (well at least I do...). If I'm not cooking or writing up blogs in my free time, I'm reading others' blogs, looking for new ideas, or just drooling all over my keyboard. I came across a kitchen sink muffin recipe on Bake and Destroy the other day and knew it sounded tasty :) Since you all seem to be fueling my obsession of baking muffins with positive comments I figured I'd reward you all with another new fun muffin! And don't worry it's healthy - VEGAN even if you like it that way :) No butter, no oil!

The basics behind a kitchen sink muffin is all about imrovisation! So use whatever you have on hand and have fun with it! I had some cherrios laying around, so in they went! I bet they would be fun with other random cereal you have around too... ooo cocopuffs could be a fun idea... The recipe uses flax seed meal to replace an egg... so if you don't want them vegan... or don't have flax seeds on hand, use 1 egg in place of the flaxseeds and water. As for the soy milk, skim milk works just as good... but again then they aren't vegan. So do it up and have fun!! Let me know if you make these and what you did to change it up with what you had on hand!


stephchow's version of Kitchen Sink Muffins
original found on Bake and Destroy (this girl rocks check her out, love it!)
makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup splenda granulated (or use 1/2 cup white sugar) if you like things sweet you may want a little more sugar/splenda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup apple sauce (I use all natural unsweetened)
2 1/2 Tbs flax seed meal plus 3 Tbs water (or 1 egg)
1/3 cup light/fat free soy milk (or skim milk)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup cheerios
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl.

In a small bowl, beat together the flax seed meal and water- it will get thick and gooey. Mix this with the milk, vanilla applesauce and mashed bananas. Then add it to the flour mixture. Mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl - do not over mix. If it's looking a little dry, add a splash more of milk. (I needed to do this)

Fold the cherrios and coconut into the batter. Spoon batter into muffin pan. Sprinkle tops with additional cherrios or coconut if desired. Bake 20-25 minuted or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly and remove from pan.

As for the nutrition facts... if you make them with splenda granulated and the flax seeds, here they are for 1 muffin:
Depending of brand/type of milk along with what kind of stuff you toss in will change up the stats. You can figure out your own version here. Just a note, sometimes it thinks it knows what you are talking about... but it's wrong. So once it tells you the stats you can click on each of your ingredients and see if it's linking to the right information. When I first inputed these I just said Splenda and it thought I meant the splenda for baking... which has a TON more calories then the straight up splenda I used... Also if one of your ingredients has a red flag next to it... that means it doesn't know what it is, so those calories aren't calculated into the equation... so make sure you don't have any red flags to make it accurate :)

I know I know I'm on a total muffin kick lately! I just love them though, so portable, and a great snack! This is a recipe for a more traditional blueberry muffin that I made up using lemon fat free or low fat yogurt as the base. Totally love how moist these muffins are! I added a crumble topping from the Recipe Round Robin I participated in, and I now dub these my new favorite traditional blueberry muffin! Hands down baby! It's got it all, moist tender center packed with blueberries, and a delicious crumble for some added sweetness on top!

Don't they just look delicious??


Blueberry Muffins
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup splenda granulated (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/2 cup apple sauce (I use unsweetened)
2, 6 oz containers fat free or low fat lemon yogurt (so 12 oz total) I used stonyfield farms low fat lemon this time SO GOOD
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
1.5 - 2 cups blueberries, rinsed and patted dry

topping
1 tbsp slivered almonds
2 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3/4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup uncooked regular oats

Pulse almonds 2 or 3 times in a blender or food processor until chopped. Add brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour; process 5 seconds. Add butter; pulse 5 or 6 times or until mixture is crumbly. Stir in oats; set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray 12 muffin cups with pam.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl blend apple sauce, yogurt, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. The batter will be very thick.

Add the blueberries and stir gently. Divide the batter between the 12 cups (they will be very full cups) sprinkle with topping, and bake for 6 minutes at 425, reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking for 12-14 minutes, or until tester inserted into center comes out mostly clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutritional Facts: via Caloriecount
Calories 119
Calories from Fat 19
Total Fat 2.1g
Saturated Fat 0.9g
Cholesterol 21mg
Sodium 57mg
Total Carbohydrates 21.2g
Dietary Fiber 1.2g
Sugars 6.2g
Protein 4.0g

I know this week has already been full of muffins and cinnamon rolls... but I have to tell you about some more muffins!!! Because they kick some serious butt. No really! These things are going to hop out of the pan and beat up all the annoying people in your life. :)

I had a growing pile of brown bananas (sorry Clara I know you aren't a banana fan)... and I asked John how he'd like his banana's baked... chocolate banana cake? roasted banana muffins perhaps?? His response, "what about some kind of banana oat muffin, with lots of oats?" Now my roasted banana muffins have some oats in them, but not a ton... so off I went mixing and a mashing until I had these:


How seriously tasty does that look?? Damn tasty if you ask me! And baby they are GOOD! So tender! I'm totally making more this weekend, they are a great portable snack, and as always super healthy :) The milled flax seeds really seemed to help with the puffing/binding factor (I recently learned you can use milled flax mixed with water to replace eggs! You can learn about it here)... not that these don't have an egg in them... but still! Here's the recipe!


Banana Oat Muffins
recipe by stephchows
makes 12 muffins

dry
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbs milled flax seeds
1 tsp cinnamon

wet
3 very ripe bananas (about 1.5 cups)
1/4 cup splenda granulated (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla

to add at the end
1/2 cup skim milk

Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl
Beat together wet ingredients in a large bowl.
Slowly add dry to wet, alternating in the 1/2 cup of skim milk.
Scoop into 12 muffin tins, bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

CHOW!!!!

It's Monday... might as well start it with a monster leaning tower of egg mcmuffin :)


Two eggs, turkey slices, turkey bacon, turkey pepperoni, fat free cheddar cheese, whole wheat muffin... that's how John rolls ;)

Who eats pepperoni in the morning... that isn't on leftover pizza?? I'll eat it if it's on leftover pizza... but with eggs??? no thanks!

I'm not a fast food eater. I think the last time I was at a McDonalds or something to that effect was a good 6 years ago ... and that time was because I had no other option, a friend's mom brought us out to eat and that's where she brought us. So it would have been rude to refuse. Before that one day (oh the belly pains) I hadn't had fast food probably 3 years prior. Not to say I didn't have my love afair with big macs when I was a kid. I was a swimmer, and I ate me weight in food most days haha. What's that you say two big macs and a large fry? Bring it on. Oh but not anymore, I think it would kill me hehe.

Back to the microwaved eggs. Egg mcmuffins were another tasty thing the old fast food eating me liked. Even though fast food and I broke up all those years ago, I still think about those egg mcmuffins sometimes... so what's a girl to do? Make her own! I mean it's not rocket science!


AND if you have a handy dandy egg microwaver from the 60's or 70's that you found in the attick of your parents house... you're in luck! Actually you're all in luck, Amazon seems to sell them here. Mine looks more old school, but same concept.

Whole wheat english muffins toasted up. Some Jennie-O lean turkey bacon. Fat free cheddar slices (or part skim, or full fat) this is an occasioin that the fat free kind doesn't weird me out. Wegmans has a fat free cheddar slice that actually melts and tastes pretty darn good! Plus we all know mcdonalds cheese isn't real... or is it?? It can't be...

Anyway you can just crack an egg into each side, or in my case scramble up one whole egg with an egg white and dump half into each side. Microwave it up, and you have authentic circular eggs just like your favorite fast food place. Much healthier, and in my opinion tastier!

CHOW!!!!

These are another trainspotting... I mean tastespotting find. (Update: I just discovered these are by Joy the Baker! She has a ton of great recipes on her site, check her out!) John and I both loved them and devoured them pretty quickly. yum. Toss these in the freezer after you bake them and you have an on the go breakfast or snack, just toss it in the microwave once you get to work and you are good to go!

MMMMMM muffins... mmmmmm

Low Fat Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins
recipe found on Snagwiremedia by Joy the Baker
makes 12-15 muffins
* 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
* 1 1/4 cups oats
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 2 tbsp canola oil
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) (I used 1.5 cups frozen I like blueberries)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil and egg. Make a well in dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

And no I'm not talking about my bottom... which if I'm not careful is going to get fluffy from all the tasty cookies I've been eating! I'm talking about fluffy pancakes! John was asking why the one recipe I use to make pancakes were kinda... how do I say... FLAT. So I decided to revamp the recipe and start from scratch. I was super happy with how these came out. They puffed up so nice and tasted delicious!


There is just something about hot pancakes covered in warm maple syrup... or in John's case sugar free syrup... or his other favorite yogurt... anyone else put yogurt on pancakes? It's surprisingly good haha. Although I'd take real maple syrup over it any day :)


Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 Tbs honey
1/4 tsp vanilla

WHISK dry ingredients together, in a separate bowl beat eggs and milk, stir in honey and vanilla. STIR dry slowly into wet until smooth.

POUR 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot griddle over medium heat. Once bubbles start forming flip pancakes and continue cooking. CHOW!

All I have to say is YUM...

ok who are we kidding since when am I one for few words! ha! I saw this recipe earlier this week looking through Bread & Honey and I fell in love. You see I've never actually made biscuits... Bisquick ones, sure, but do those really count? These seemed so simple and easy I just HAD to make them!

Another reason I had to make them is due to little Walton's nickname. Before we knew who was growing in my sister's belly we called him biscuit, which I think is just a fantastic name for a little baby in a belly! Ok time for another adorable Walton shot!

Ahh doesn't that just make you feel better? :)

Ok as for the biscuits, I made a half recipe since I knew I would chow them all in one sitting. I came out with 5 biscuits all of which were phonominal with a little of my homemade raspberry jam slatherd on them! Mmmmmmmm maybe I should go make some more.... man these things are good!!

As per usual I changed the recipe up a little by adding in some whole wheat flour. Here is my version of half the recipe!


Buttermilk biscuits
3/4 cup bread flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp flour enhancer
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbs cold butter
4oz skim milk + squirt lemon juice (let stand 5 minutes to turn milk sour) (or just use buttermilk if you have it on hand instead of making it like me)

Directions (taken direct from bread & honey)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until it resembles course meal. If using a food processor, just pulse a few times until this consistency is achieved. Add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Gently, gently PAT (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it's about 1/2" thick. Use a round cutter (or the rim of a small glass) to cut into rounds. You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they will not be anywhere near as good as the first ones.

Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet- if you like soft sides, put them touching each other. If you like"crusty" sides, put them about 1 inch apart- these will not rise as high as the biscuits put close together. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom. Do not overbake.

*Note: The key to real biscuits is not in the ingredients, but in the handling of the dough.

I like making Christmas presents... there I said it, you can make fun of me now... or get very excited since you do it to. There seem to be two groups of thought; those who laugh at you when you say you're "making" your gifts, and those who want to know all about what you are making so they can make it to :) Well I can't give all my secrets away since my extended family does read this blog but here's a spoiler... extended Snow family stop reading if you don't want to spoil a surprise... oh wait I made the title of this blog the spoiler didn't I... hahaha


I'm giving people pumpkin butter as part of their gifts this year!! YUM!!! The recipe was super easy to make, and a quick trip in the canning jars and a quick boil seals them all up and are ready to go! You can also make this in a smaller batch whenever you are craving some and keep it in the freezer or refrigerator. The original recipe called for 2 tsp ginger... I did that and it was WAY to strong for my taste, so added a bunch more cinnamon to balance it out. Next time I'll only do 1 tsp ginger like I wrote up here. I also didn't cook this so it was super thick, I wanted a slightly fluffier consistency which I think tastes great on toast or a nice bagel. YUM

Pumpkin Butter
adapted from Polka dot Moon

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple cider
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups white sugar (i bet using maple syrup instead of white sugar would taste amazing too! not sure how much you'd need though, you'll have to experiment and let me know!)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
swig of Amaretto

DIRECTIONS
Combine pumpkin, apple cider, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.
Place in jars and boil process and cool to seal them. Or just stick it in some plastic containers in your refrigerator or freezer.

Chow!

As you all know I have a pumpkin addiction and it comes out it full force this time of the year! I'm a sucker for "breakfast for dinner" and made up a batch of these after the gym last week. They came out so good and crisp on the outside, drizzle a little Vermont maple syrup on top and be prepared to melt into a pool of happiness... yes they are THAT good.

I'm actually headed to VT in two weeks, I'm going with my friend for a work weekend at an adorable B&B. We help stack firewood, clear trails, paint things, and in return we get to stay for the weekend and enjoy the sauna, miles of hiking trails, and the culinary 4 star chef from England who will be preparing all of our meals.... a YUM!! Don't worry I'll be taking tons of pictures for you all to see!

Ok onto the waffles!

Pumpkin Waffles
(recipe from cooking light)

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Preparation
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 4 ingredients (flour through cloves) in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (milk through egg) in a bowl, and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist.

Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray; preheat. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter per waffle onto hot waffle iron, spreading the batter to the edges. Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until steaming stops; repeat procedure with remaining batter.

These things will be a crowd pleasure for sure!

Chow!

I love waffles. Especially belgian waffles. I have a standard thin waffle maker (which has a split personality... it's rather disconcerting... it also leads a second life as a pizelle maker, AND a panini maker depending on which plate you use). Anyway, belgian waffles are where it's at, deep wonderful crevices for syrup to fill! Who wouldn't love it? Lucky for me my roomie has a belgian waffle maker and she has since brought it home from its living at her boyfriends apartment. Hooray thick waffles are back! So I brought out my crazy healthy tweaked recipe that works great in the thin waffle machine... alas in the thick thick belgian kind... no oil means they tear apart pretty easy. Example below....

I must say after I tore the pieces off they were so crisp and wonderfully tasty... however it was a pain to get it out of the waffle maker...So I gave in an added some oil to the remained of the recipe, and thoroughly greased the hot plates before pouring the batter in.


Much better luck this round at getting the waffle to release itself from its toasty home. It also gave me a little time to whip up some nice fruit topping.

whole wheat waffles
1 egg + egg white
1 3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbs Splenda
4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Beat egg and add to milk mixture along with oil (if using a belgian waffle maker). Gradually add wet to dry and whisk together until smooth.

Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto a hot belgian waffle maker. Remove when light goes out or timer dings. Leave in a little longer for a crisper waffle.

fruit topping (serving for one)
5 frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp corn starch
1 Tbs splenda
splash of skim milk

heat strawberries and blueberries in a thick bottom pan, once they start to release juices add corn starch and splenda, if it gets to thick gradually add a little skim milk to attain desired tastiness... yes that really is a word :)