Pots & Plots

Okay, since we’ve established muffins are a good sort of portable breakfast for DH, I’ve been experimenting.  I wanted to add oatmeal and adapt my original Banana Bread recipe because it seems to hold him a bit longer.  Whole grains and all that.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup milled flax
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 6 medium)
• 1 1/2 cup Splenda (or sugar)
• 1/2 cup applesauce (or oil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray the muffin tins with cooking spray
3. In a large bowl combine flour, flax, oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, Splenda (or sugar), and applesauce (or oil).
5. Add wet mixture all at once to the dry.
6. Stir until just moistened (batter will be lumpy)
7. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans, about 2/3rds full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool on rack.

Hubby declared these definite keepers.
Makes 24 muffins.

Nutrition info:  I calculated this using the full fat/calorie version of stuff.  Each muffin breaks down to 166 calories and 6 grams of fat.  If you replace the oil with applesauce and the sugar with splenda, it works out to 117 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per muffin.  If you additionally replace the eggs with 1/2 a cup of egg substitute, it’s 114 calories and 1 gram of fat.  I don’t think that’s a big enough difference to merit the removal of virtually all fat.

Okay, I’m on another experimental kick.  I’m trying to make some muffins for DH to take to work for breakfast without having to hit the grocery for the 800 things I’m out of.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Quaker weight control oatmeal: maple brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oatmeal (I used Scottish oatmeal, which is stone ground)
• 1 c. applesauce
• 1 lg. egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. double acting baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. cranberries, dried cranberries or raisins

Directions

1. Spray 12 (3 inch) muffin cups with Pam or use metal muffin liners.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F degrees.
3. Stir together the oatmeal, applesauce, milk, egg, and oil. Set aside.
4. Stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center, and add the applesauce mixture. Stir until well combined, but do not over beat.
5. Add raisins or cranberries if desired. Pour into the muffin tin. Each cup should be 2/3 full.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

The verdict:  Hubby said that these were pretty tasty.  I’m not an apple-cinnamon person myself, so we’ll take his word for it.  Each muffin (this makes 12 regular sized muffins) comes out to 125 calories and 4 grams of fat.  This could be further cut down by using egg substitute for the egg and replacing some (or all) of the oil with more applesauce. Given how my fat cutting attempts have been going lately, I’d try replacing perhaps half of the oil with applesauce instead of all.  In any event, these have a nice whole grain content with the oatmeal, so they should be pretty hearty as muffins go.

Well I’m having cravings for yummy baked goods tonight, and as I’ve been trying really hard to avoid making the cookies I REALLY want, so I decided to try making granola bars.  It was an experiment in healthy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar Splenda
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/8 cup milled flax
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup craisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup peanuts (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 egg beaters
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar splenda, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, craisins, peanuts and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg beaters, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Don’t allow the bars to cool totally before cutting, or they’ll be too hard to cut.

The verdict: So yeah…these were revolting.  The lesson here is that you can’t take out all the fat.  And using all whole wheat flour probably wasn’t the best idea either.  I’d like to try some with peanut butter.  Maybe if I used half oil and half applesauce and replaced half the honey with peanut butter? Or all the honey with honey roasted peanut butter perhaps.  I’ll keep trying.

The holidays have been horrible on my sweet tooth this year.  I’ve had a barely controllable urge to devour anything and everything with sugar and butter this season.  Tomorrow is my official Holiday Baking for Gifts day, but I was still craving cookies tonight, so I threw these together.  I have a package of holiday M & M ’s that I separated into red and green (as I need the red for tomorrow’s project).  Since all I was left with was green and I’m trying to healthy it up a LITTLE so I don’t keel over in envy of other people’s full fat, full calorie everythings, I decided that Envy Cookies would be a good name.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsps of brown sugar Splenda
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 1 cup green M&Ms
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, wheat flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
3. Beat together Splenda, packed brown sugar Splenda, vanilla and butter flavored Crisco until well blended.
4. Add egg substitute and beat until well combined.
5. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended.
6. Stir in 1 cup of M&Ms.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.
8. Cool slightly, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

I think this recipe is supposed to make about 3 dozen cookies but we all know that I never manage to make cookies without eating a lot of dough, so that’s a guess.  One thing I have noticed when baking cookies using whole wheat flour–they don’t flatten out all melty like regular cookies.  Personally, this isn’t an issue for me, but if it bothers you, just take a fork and flatten it down like you would peanut butter cookies.  The dough has a bit of an odd aftertaste, which is a good thing for me in this case, as I’m less likely to eat all of it.  The finished product tastes just fine.

Since we had some different beer in the fridge, I thought I’d try my hand at another variation. This one uses honey instead of sugar.  Sorry, the loaf didn’t survive for a picture.
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 cup wheat germ
• 1/8 cup milled flax
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup honey (hint: if you spray your measuring cup with cooking spray, the honey will slide right out)
• 1 12 oz. bottle of beer (I used Budweiser American Ale)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Slowly add the beer and stir until just combined.
5. Press into loaf pan.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack and cool for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

This was pretty good, though I think I prefer the last batch I made better.  This would be improved, I think, by the addition of more honey.

Dear Hubby recently played a show for Halloween for his folks. As a thank you, he and his band were paid in beer. Hence, we’ve got loads around the house, so I get to indulge in one of my favorite quick breads. It uses the yeast in a single can of beer to make it rise and it combines with the whole grains to make a wonderful, yeasty bread that rarely makes it to cool before disappearing in our house.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8th cup milled flax
• 1/8th cup wheat germ
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 12 oz. beer (different beers will give you different flavors–I tend toward light beers like Budwieser Select or Pabst Blue Ribbon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Slowly add the beer and stir until just combined.
5. Press into loaf pan.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack and cool for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

We always have good intentions in our house of actually eating the bananas as…well bananas. But more often than not, we wind up letting them get brown and mushy–absolutely perfect for banana bread. This is an adaptation of the classic Better Homes and Gardens recipe for Banana Bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup milled flax
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 6 medium)
• 1 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/2 cup applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray the bottom and sides of a large loaf pan (I think mine is like 9×6x3 or so)
3. In a large bowl combine flour, flax, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the egg, ananas, Splenda, and applesauce.
5. Add wet mixture all at once to the dry.
6. Stir until just moistened (batter will be lumpy)
7. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and col on rack. The cookbook says to wrap and store overnight before slicing but that absolutely never happens in this house.

Still on the “what to do with leftover pizza dough” kick. As Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes a la Rachael Ray are a huge favorite in our house, but we were out of rolls, I decided to try the filling as calzones. This was a supurb inspiration–all the tasty of the philly cheese steak sloppy joes, with none (or less) of the mess (the original recipe has a habit of falling off the bun). There’s no pic because, hey, calzones all pretty much look like calzones regardless of what’s in them.

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 pound extra-lean ground sirloin or ground all-white-meat chicken
• 1 softball-size onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• 1 cup beef stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup provolone cheese, shredded

Directions:

In large skillet over medium-high heat with one turn of the pan of EVOO, brown the ground meat, about 5-6 minutes. Add the onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the onion starts to get tender. Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook for about 2 minutes.

Split open the rolls and toast them under the broiler, keeping an eye on them so that they don’t burn!

While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a medium size skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, then bring up to a bubble and let thicken, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion until it is all incorporated.

Roll your dough out as large as desired (for these I made them about 8 inches square-ish). Scoop meat mixture onto one side, top with cheese sauce. Fold the dough over and pinch closed. Bake at 425 for 18 minutes. Enjoy!

We made calzones the other night and I’ve got an enormous amount of pizza dough left over. I wasn’t planning on making more pizza, and I haven’t really been in the mood to make homemade hot pockets, so today I decided to try making homemade cinna-stix. Or nuggets rather.

Ingredients

• pizza dough
• splenda
• cinnamon
• buttery spray (I like Parkay)

Directions

1. Take your pizza dough (however much you’ve got left) and roll out into a log shape.
2. Cut your nuggets (should be about 1″ around)
3. Spray each nugget with buttery spray, flip, repeat.
4. Mix Splenda and cinnamon (however strong you like) in a ziplock baggie.
5. Toss nuggets in the baggie about two at a time and shake until coated.
6. Lay them out on a baking sheet or pizza stone and bake at 400 degrees for 13 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

In the name of trying to cut back on our fat intake, yet still keep some of our favorite foods on the menu, I decided to try a mini version of pizza. It’s not the real deal (you can’t beat real, homemade crust), but it’s darn good considering. I did use my pizza sauce and some of the fresh basil growing outside. Served it up with a spinach salad, topped with slow roasted tomatoes and avocado–delish–and the appropriate serving size. If you load up your pizza with veggies as toppings you can go a long way toward getting your 5-9 servings of veggies and really keep down your fat content or even go meatless.

Ingredients:

• whole wheat pita bread rounds (not precut)
• pizza sauce
• shredded part-skim mozzarella
• fresh basil
• other toppings of your choice (turkey pepperoni; fresh, slow roasted, or sun-dried tomatoes; olives; mushrooms; grilled chicken; roasted red peppers; zucchini; whatever…)

Directions: Layer ingredients in order of your preference. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

I revisit these with another cooking method here.