Cheezeburger Pizza

It was one of those nights where healthy food really sounded boring. I threw this together using things I had on hand and while the ingredients themselves were pretty healthy, combined it completely satisfied the junk craving I was having. I started out by making a cheeze wiz-ish sauce from Jo Stepaniak's The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I stirred for about 15-20 minutes to get it to thicken up a bit.



Meanwhile, I nuked some of Helen's Vegetarian Ground Beef in the microwave to thaw it out. For the pizza crust I used a whole wheat wrap. I spread it with the cheese sauce followed by the veg. ground beef, some onion slices and pickles, and then I squirted ketchup, mustard, and dollops of relish on top. I put this on my pizza stone at 375 for about 8 minutes until the crust had hardened up.



This was really fun to eat. We had to rip pieces off to eat it which was kind of inconvenient, but it was also entertaining for some reason. I loved this dinner! It came together so quickly and felt like real junk food :)

Peach Bars

I really love the collection of vegan cookbooks I have going on. The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes has some really great recipes in it and so far I have loved everything that I have made! I took the recipe for Apricot Bars and adapted it to Peach Bars. I think the peach jam I used definitely was sweeter than intended for the recipe, but I liked it a lot. When treats are very sweet it almost makes you more satisfied with one instead of wanting to go back for more. That's not necessarily a bad thing!

Peach Bars

1 earth balance baking stick, softened [1/2 cup]

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons earth balance, cut into small cubes and chilled in the fridge

1 1/2 cups (more or less) peach jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8x8 pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together earth balance and sugar. In a small bowl, mix flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches to make a stiff dough. Spread in the bottom of the pan and poke with a fork several times. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together flour and sugar for topping. Add in the chilled earth balance with a pastry cutter until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Keep topping in fridge until using.

After base has baked, spread jam across the top and sprinkle the topping on. [I found that at least 1 1/2 cups was necessary for the jam layer to cover the top - use more or less as you prefer.]

Bake 20-25 minutes, until topping is browned. Let cool on a rack for 30 mins before cutting.

Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers

I made SusanV's Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers a while back and I froze a bunch of them to keep in my freezer. I love that they are lower calorie on those days where I maybe indulged a little bit too much earlier in the day. I have just been defrosting them in the microwave for about a minute, then nuking until warm, and slapping it between a TJ's sandwich thin. It's so PINK - it looks so unlike any other veggie burger I've had.

I had mine with veganaise, ketchup, mustard, romaine, tomato slice, and tofutti cheese. Pickles too.. (they went first!)

Skillet Lasagna [Veganized]

So far, I've had so much fun trying out vegan recipes. I have started to feel much more comfortable coming up with my own stuff! I have veganized a few recipes that I had bookmarked on here. This is the first of them.

Ashley's post on Skillet Lasagna sounded awesome as soon as I saw it. I always have leftover lasagna noodles for some reason after I make lasagna - I feel like I might be doing it wrong because I would think these boxes would be compatible with most lasagna recipes. No? Maybe in a perfect world right?

I wanted to use fresh basil in this recipe but unfortunately I seem to have executed my --sorry excuse for an-- herb garden. Fresh basil would have been so much better than dried here. Next time for sure!

Skillet Lasagna

Adapted from Ashley, taken from Cooks Illustrated

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 lb vegetarian ground beef

8 ounces curly-edged whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths

1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella shreds

8 ounces tofu ricotta

1/4 cup minced fresh basil [I used a few sprinkles of dried basil]

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, red pepper flakes and garlic, and cook until softened.

Layer the vegetarian ground beef, broken noodle pieces, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in that order. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup Daiya shreds. Dot heaping tablespoons of the tofu ricotta over the noodles. Cover the skillet and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the basil and serve with a huge green salad.

So, so, so good. :)

Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars

I was flipping through my copy of The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes looking for something to make that I had all the ingredients for already. I found "Oatmeal Earth Bars" and figured that I could easily swap out a couple of the add-ins for things I already had, and I came up with this glorious, amazing, delicioussssss breakfasty dessert. I changed it quite a bit, so I'll probably have to make the recipe as written and see how similar they are!



Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars (makes 9)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash cloves
3/4 cup sugar
3 T egg replacer + 9 T water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
(almost) 1 cup cooked old-fashioned oats [I aimed for a cup (cooked) and came up short - didn't seem to affect it though!]
1/2 cup chopped dried apple [I used Trader Joe's dried granny smiths]
1/2 cup chopped walnut halves

Preheat oven to 350 - line 8x8 square pan with nonstick foil.
Combine flour baking powder salt and spices in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl whisk egg replacer and water. Add sugar and mix until combined. Whisk in oil, then add cooked oatmeal and mix. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined and then fold in dried apples and nuts.
Spread batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes (toothpick test was at 40 exactly). Cool in pan on a rack before cutting.

Rustic Kale and White Bean Soup

Rustic Kale and White Bean Soup

I made this soup to go into the bread bowls this past weekend. I loved this recipe, it was so simple, and it has so many fresh ingredients. I found it over at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Sadly I scarfed it down immediately once I finished making it, so this is a shot of my leftovers. I loaded this bowl up with nutritional yeast and parsley!

Ingredients

1 bunch red kale (or use any other green available)
1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 15-ounce cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
4 cups water
pinch red pepper flakes

Prepare the kale by removing the thick parts of the center rib and discarding them. Slice the leaves thinly. Measure out 4 cups of kale for the soup; save the rest for another use.

Mist a large, non-stick pot lightly with olive oil. Sauté the onion and celery until the onion begins to brown. Add the garlic, and sauté for another minute. Add all the remaining ingredients, and allow the soup to simmer, adding extra water as needed, until the kale is tender, about 30-60 minutes, depending on the kale. Taste the soup and add more basil, if necessary.

Serve the soup, stirring a few drops of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of vegan parmesan into each bowl, if desired. Makes about 6 servings.

YUM :)

Bread Bowls

Last night, I decided to try and make some bread bowls for my mom's family dinner (tonight). I had some irrational confidence that I would be able to just pull it off first try. Not so! The recipes instructed me to separate the dough into x number of pieces and form balls from each. I don't know if the dough just didn't rise high enough or if I have a grossly exaggerated idea of what a bread bowl should look like thanks to our country's portion size problem, but I have no idea how a main course soup is going to fit into one of these bad boys.

Either way, I tasted two of the three recipes I attempted and they are GOOD!


#1

Dark Rye Bread adapted from knowell, who submitted at Allrecipes
(pictured above - the darker ones)

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (heaping) teaspoon caraway seed
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

I put it into my breadmaker in this order and set it for the dough cycle.
When it beeped, I took the dough out and separated it into five sections and created the dough balls from there. I covered them and let them rise for an hour, then baked them at 375 for about 20 minutes (just kept an eye on them). This rye bread recipe is perfect. I've been looking for one just like this for a while!



#2

Bread Bowls adapted from King Arthur Flour (I used my new kitchenaid for this one!)

Ingredients:
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup corn meal
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine -- till you've made a soft, smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Divide the dough into five pieces, and form them into round (not flattened) balls. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover lightly, and set them aside to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, or until they've almost doubled in size.
Uncover the balls and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes, to develop a tough skin. Just before placing the bread bowls in the oven, mist them heavily with water. Bake the bread bowls in a pre-heated 425°F oven for 18 to 22 minutes, until they're a deep, golden brown. Turn off the oven, prop the door open a little, and leave the bread bowls inside for 15 minutes; this will keep the crust crisp.
Remove the bread bowls from the oven and cool them completely before cutting the tops off and removing the insides; (reserve the insides to make bread crumbs). Yield: 5 large bread bowls.

That last part is a lie. :(


I'll post the third once I taste it later today!

Isa's Pumpkin Muffins

Found this one on theppk.com, a site I'm having a ton of fun browsing through. I made these muffins early this morning before I left for work to bring in for my friend who is pregnant.. she ate 3 in a row! Not because she eats like a cow right now at all... :) but because they were so good! I changed the recipe from the original and have listed what I did below:



Pumpkin Muffins




Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour (1 1/4 cups whole wheat, 1/2 cup AP)
1 cup agave syrup
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin (fresh)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons molasses



Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin tins with vegetable shortening or spray on oil. Sift together dry ingredients (flour through cloves). In a seperate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (pumpkin through molasses). Pour wet into dry and combine. Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way. Bake for 27-30 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Life change

I am on my 5th day of being vegan.
I had been thinking about it for a while, had stopped eating meat and eggs and drinking milk/cream for a while but couldn't give up on fish and cheese. Then I came across some information that penicillin is often used with animals. I don't know if this makes any sense at all, but it was huge for me. I have had hives all over my body for about 5 years now, and no doctor was ever able to figure out where they came from. I was just diagnosed with "chronic hives" and told to take Zyrtec every day. Then that stopped working, so they made me take it twice a day (double the recommended amount on the package!) which I wasn't really comfortable with, but would rather do that than have hives. Anyways I realized that the pattern of hives I get without medicine is the same pattern as when I react to penicillin. I wanted to do an experiment to see if it was possibly related to what I was eating.
So far, it has worked. I have gone down to just one pill a day (at night because they make me drowsy - yes, I've been drowsy 24/7 for 5 years!!!) and I haven't had a single hive. Not one. This is so huge!
It looks like I may have found the fix? Don't want to jinx it.
So from here on out I will be posting only vegan recipes, some that I have found and others that I have invented myself. Wish me luck!

Valentine's Day

I'm really late on this post as you can probably tell from the title!

Back in January, my mom and I went to a culinary school at a spa in Utah for about a week. We learned how to do so many healthy dishes and it was such a good time! For Valentine's Day I made two of these dishes for my boyfriend and I. We stayed in and ate in front of the TV. It wasn't probably romantic enough for the rest of the world but we had a great time :)

These first two recipes are courtesy of Red Mountain Spa in Ivins, UT. The third photo is my attempt at the chocolate crepes from Gina over at Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes. My boyfriend absolutely loved these.. so much that he tried making a few more himself. The thing is, he has no patience and has extremely big clumsy hands. So Ryan and crepes didn't really hit it off in the kitchen. But he definitely enjoyed eating them!

Anyway I'll get to it.

Caesar Salad with Cheese Crisps

Hearts of romaine

Parmesan cheese (block)

3/4 oz anchovy fillets

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

2 segments garlic

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 oz red wine vinegar

1/2 oz lemon juice

4 oz soft tofu

1/4 tsp tabasco sauce

5 oz olive oil

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (for crisps)

Croutons (optional)

Cut romaine into bite-sized pieces. In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients from anchovy fillets through tabasco sauce. Drizzle in the 5 oz olive oil.

On a silpat, create small piles of freshly shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for a few minutes (maybe 5), keeping an eye on the piles as they melt. When they appear to have melted, take the silpat out and let the crisps set till cool enough to touch.

To assemble the salad, toss the romaine with croutons and as much dressing as desired. Garnish each salad with a cheese crisp.

Salmon with Tofu Dill Sauce

Salmon fillets (4 oz per serving)

Sauce:

1 cup soft tofu

2 oz lemon juice

2 tsp dried dill weed

4 garlic segments

1 oz white wine

pinch salt

Combine sauce ingredients in blender or food processor. Put in refrigerator to keep cool while cooking salmon.

Salmon can be cooked on a grill or a grill pan (if you are in New England!)

And here's a picture of one of our crepes..

Grandma's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My last living grandma passed away this month. :(

It had been coming for a long time, but it doesn't make it too much easier to see her go. She was the sweetest grandma you could have ever asked for. Not even saying this because she was my own grandma, but she really was just one of those special little ladies that warms your heart everytime you see her. Sadly I didn't get to see her that much because Michigan is not very close to New Hampshire.

I dug through her recipe collection and found an old oatmeal carton top, the kind that had the oatmeal raisin cookie recipe right on it. My mom told me a story about how someone asked my grandma for her oatmeal cookie recipe (I don't remember who it was.. could have been her?) and my grandma responded something like.. "Oh sure. Go out to the store and pick up some oats. Follow the recipe that comes on the carton." Totally serious. I love that.

So these are NOT healthy.. which is not usually what I like to make. (You might not be able to tell from what I blog about, but I am kind of a health nut. I'm giving veganism some serious thought as well). But these cookies are so delicious, and they remind me of my grandma, so here you go. :)



"Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies" (Quaker)

2 sticks butter, softened (the updated version on the Quaker website says 1 stick plus 6 T, which shows how old this carton top must be!!)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I actually used about three quarters whole wheat, and it was great)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional.. I opted out)
3 cups Quaker old-fashioned oats
1 cup raisins (I soaked these in warm water to plump them up a bit first)

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.


I also want to show off two of my new toys from my Christmas/birthday season!!



(I used both of these toys for the first time with this recipe!)

Amish Oatmeal Date Bread

I baked this Amish Oatmeal Date Bread I found over on another blog and was so shocked with the results. I had never tried dates before but recently bought a bag on an impulse to make myself try them. I don't know if it was the dates that made this bread, but it was fantastic. I really mean this too - I ate almost the entire thing within 24 hours. I had to give some of it away to my mom so I would stop! I modified it a bit from the recipe I came across originally based on what I had at home.



Try it!!



Ingredients:

1 ½ cups skim milk
1 cup Quaker old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg


Bring milk almost to simmer. Place oats and dates in large mixing bowl and add milk. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. When oat mixture is cool, beat in egg. Stir in dry ingredients, mixing well.
Pour batter into a buttered 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until top is crusty and golden. Cool before slicing.

Shrimp Scampi

Recently, I made Ellie Krieger's Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes and was so impressed with the taste. It also came together very quickly which is something I always really value in a recipe. I don't ever really mind spending all day or all night in the kitchen, but sometimes it's nice to get in and get out. Anyways, this is one of those dinners that is easy, quick, and really, really good.


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
1 1/4 pounds large shrimp (about 20), peeled and deveined
1 (11-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, or 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained, and quartered
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook, stirring until softened but not browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add shrimp, artichoke hearts, wine, and lemon juice and cook until the shrimp are cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the parsley, salt and pepper. Divide among 4 plates, garnish with additional parsley, and serve.

Greatest Coffee Cake Ever!

Do I have your attention??

I have been so busy with classes that I haven't really been able to post anything that I made over the past semester. I have to catch up now that I'm on break!

Hands down the BEST recipe I made was Ashley's Banana Coffee Cake - it turned out to be so good, I actually submitted it to my newspaper's weekly culinary contest and it won! I was so excited! I really recommend you try this one.. it's a winner :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Modified from Bon Appetit

FOR THE STREUSEL:
1 cup semisweet mini morsels
2⁄3 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon cinnamon
FOR THE CAKE:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
4-5 small overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 to 1½ cups)
3 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and coat 8- by 8-inch pan with nonstick spray.
Combine streusel ingredients in small bowl until evenly mixed. Set aside.
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
Using a mixer, beat sugar, butter and egg in large bowl until fluffy. Next, beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Finally, add the dry ingredients until evenly mixed and dry ingredients become wet.
Spread half of batter in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half the streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake about 45 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a cooling rack.

Starfruit Upside Down Cake

My boyfriend's favorite fruit is starfruit. I had never really had one until we started dating. They are actually pretty mild-tasting, like a combination of a pear, a grape, and an apple with the consistency of an orange. Hard to explain.. but good! His birthday was yesterday and I surprised him with this upside cake I found after a long google session.

The ingredients called for passionfruits, and being in New Hampshire it's pretty obvious that this is something I don't see every day. I found them at Hannaford luckily. I had no idea what I was doing when I juiced these bad boys but I did the best I could. What a WEIRD texture!

I scooped out the insides of the passionfruits with a spoon and juiced them by hand. I used the edge of the peeler to get the seeds out of the star shapes (I did miss a few though!)

Star Fruit Upside Down Cake (from http://www.nikibone.com/recipe/fruit/starfruit.html)

3 to 4 star fruit, sliced

1/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
juice of 2 passion fruit

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange sliced star fruit in bottom of a greased 9 inch cake pan as close together as possible. Mix together 1/4 cup butter, brown sugar and passion fruit juice and pour into pan, turning so mixture covers bottom. Set aside.

Cream together 1/2 cup of butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well. Mix together dry ingredients. Add flour mixture, alternately with milk, to butter mixture. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts. Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until cake pulls away form sides of pan. Let cool for five minutes before inverting onto serving plate.

8 servings

It was not what I expected.. it turned out to be a really dense cake, but it was so, so good! We had it with scoops of rainbow sherbet :) Mmmm

Zucchini Bread

I picked up a monster of a zucchini from a farmer's cart the other day outside of my work. It sat in my fridge for days, during which it was constantly coming up in my thoughts. It's been sort of like this.

Zucchini: "Why haven't you eaten me yet??"

Me: "I'm too busy!!"

Zucchini: "I'm going to go bad soon, and you're going to be wasteful!"

Me: "Aaaaaagh!!"

I hate wasting food, and I think I hate eating bad-for-you foods even more. But I had to get this Zucchini out of my fridge so I pulled up an old recipe card of my grandmother's. This is not the same grandmother who loved to cook, this one is still alive and kicking in a nursing home out in MI. I don't have too many of her recipes, and this was a new one for me. It was actually really good. Probably because of the two cups of sugar that went into it :) I didn't do the two loaves, I did three of the mini loaves and a bunch of mini muffins. I'm not sure that the batter really is enough for two loaves, but I'll update next time I try it.

Anyways.. I'll post now!



Grandma Dz's Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
½ tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
½ cup nuts
½ cup raisins (I subbed for chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine sugar, zucchini, flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, oil and vanilla, blending all ingredients together. Stir in nuts and raisins/choc chips. Pour batter into two 9x5x2 loaf pans and bake for about an hour.

Yields: 2 loaves

Almond Joy Cookies

This one's an absolute treasure. I mean it - I cannot believe something so easy can taste so good. I found this recipe on an index card written out by my grandmother (the one who just passed away in May) and I thought I'd try it out. There wasn't much description on it; there was no ingredient list, just a few scribbles of instruction. So here goes..

Almond Joy Cookies

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips)
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla
Handful of almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat milk and chocolate on top of double boiler. Cook and let bubble for several minutes.

In a mixing bowl, measure out the three cups of coconut. Add vanilla. Once chocolate-milk mixture has heated through, pour on top of coconut-vanilla mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Use a small cookie scoop to drop on a well-greased cookie sheet. Press an almond into each cookie. Bake for about 8 minutes.

Allow these cookies to cool before removing. They are extremelyyyy sticky so I actually had to peel them off of the parchment paper. If the cookie got misshapen, it was easily fixed by just re-molding it back into shape. Keep these in the refrigerator -- if they are not cold, they will fall apart when they are picked up!

YUM!

First Crack at Shortbread

My grandmother passed away exactly two months ago to the day. She left behind an enormous collection of cookbooks, kitchen stuff, and really interesting food. I take after her culinary ways so I stepped up to the challenge of using up all of the food she left behind. This includes about 10 jars of jam. Using jam on toast can only get one person so far, so I have been digging through my cookbook collection (and hers!) to find new ways to use some of this stuff up.

When I went to school at Plymouth State, I would sometimes go in and look through the clearance books. I found a few interesting cookbooks for next to nothing. One of them is Shortbread by Jann Johnson. I had never even tried shortbread before but it looked interesting, so I paid the two bucks and put it on my shelf for about 6 months while I finished school. It's actually a really cute book - I wish I had looked through it sooner!




I was scanning through it last night before bed (my pre-bedtime relaxation ritual is to browse through cookbooks) and I discovered a few interesting shortbread recipes. ONE of which used jam. YES!




This recipe called for black raspberry jam, interestingly enough, one of the few jams my grandma did not have. Or maybe she had already used it. Anyways, I made a substitution of strawberry, and I also didn't measure it out. Just smeared it on. Here's how I modified the recipe:


White-Chocolate & Strawberry Shortbread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) + 2 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
About 1/3 cup jam
A handful of white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with plastic wrap, leaving some to hang over the edges. With a mixer, beat the butter on low speed about one minute. Mix in the sugar, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the flour gradually until just combined.

Press half the dough into the lined cake pan creating a round of dough. Press into the dough with the back of a spoon to spread and smooth. Lift the dough out using the plastic wrap, and flip onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Lay more plastic wrap down and repeat the process of spreading the dough out in the cake pan.

Spread the jam on the first dough round until covered, leaving about a half inch on the edge of the circle. Sprinkle with white chocolate chips, as many as desired. Lift the second dough round out of the cake pan and carefully layer it on top of the first dough round, jam, and white chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes, then combine the edges of the rounds. A fork can be used at this stage to put designs around the edge.

Bake for about 45 minutes until shortbread has set but has not browned. Let sit out of oven for a few minutes, then carefully lift the parchment paper onto a cooling rack. Cool shortbread completely before slicing. Cut into 16 wedges with a sharp, thin knife.










Voila! My first attempt at shortbread! It turned out really tasty. I will have to try a new shortbread recipe from this book again soon!

Morning Glory Muffins

My mom is a grab-and-go type breakfast eater and I am the complete opposite. I like to sit down and create satisfying meals immediately upon awakening. I do it before anything else. I decided that no way would I be waking up before 7 am to make her breakfast, so instead I would experiment with healthy muffin recipes allowing her to take them on the run. I have this amazing King Arthur Flour book called Whole Grain Baking and I dug this recipe out of it. It is one of the best muffin recipes I have ever tried. No lie.




Morning Glory Muffins


1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) raisins
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (7 ounces) carrots, peeled and grated
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (4 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup (2 ounces) orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.

To make the muffins: In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ, if using. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan (they'll be full almost to the top; that's OK).

To bake the muffins: Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, 106g): 20g whole grains, 342 cal, 18g fat, 6g protein, 26g complex carbohydrates, 19g sugar, 4g dietary fiber, 53mg Cholesterol, 347mg sodium, 322mg potassium, 541RE vitamin A, 3mg vitamin C, 2mg iron, 47mg calcium, 131mg phosphorous.