Banana Walnut Cake - Nostalgic Kitchen

I really like old cookbooks. I don't mean from 2000 or even 1980. My favorites are from around the 1900s and use terms like "teaspoonfulls" instead of just teaspoons. Since a lot of them are now public domain, you can even find them for free online! They are fun because of the recipes, too. I mean, at the time they didn't have the same kinds of refrigeration or access to fresh produce that we do, or pre-processed things like 'boneless skinless chicken breast,' which is certainly a staple in my modern American kitchen.

Another fun kind is from fundraisers and church groups. The other day I was at Goodwill looking for props for a photo booth. I got a great scarf and a foam hand and over-sized martini glasses, and picked up a Cookbook from the San Antonio Orchestra's Women's group, published in 1963. Sometimes even the descriptions are funny, like Crepes Suiza, which they call the French version of enchiladas but then note that the recipe comes from Mexico City. When I googled the name, I got several pages in Spanish, like this recipe.

I decided to put my fascination with these to good use by including them on the blog, with the tag "nostalgic kitchen." This is the first, and if I stay interested, with enough free time, many more will follow! Of course, my soft spot is sweet things. For my first test, I decided to try Banana Walnut Cake, a simple dessert. The directions are very simple, even if not in the order I would expect.

Cream the butter and sugar? Yes, normal. Add baking soda and buttermilk at the same time? Ok.... but then the flour, vanilla, bananas and nuts at once?? And why fold it, instead of just stir in? Doesn't seem like it would mix right, but I did it anyway.

Since this was just a test recipe, and it has more butter than I would usually put in a recipe. I made just a half batch instead of adjusting things like crazy. It says to bake it in 2 pans (what size? I guess that's up to you? Or maybe you should just know??) but I made it as cupcakes and it filled 8 cupcake cups.

They look pretty good! They feel really soft, taking them out of the tin, and are nice and brown on top. Most of them have dimples in the middle, like they are undercooked, but a toothpick came out clean, so I'm calling it good.

Banana Walnut Cake

(Half recipe, with re-interpreted directions.)

1/4 c butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup white sugar

2 Tbs buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)

1/2 cup walnuts, in large pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350º F, grease muffin tin
2. Cream the butter and sugar
3. Add buttermilk, blend, and then mix in egg, then mashed banana
4. Add flour and baking soda, stir to combine
5. Stir in walnuts
6. Pour batter into muffin tin to fill each about 2/3 full
7. Bake at 350º F for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are brown and toothpick in center comes out clean

Nutrition info: Calories - 238;   Fat - 11g;    Carbs - 32g;    Fiber - 1g;    Protein - 3g

(Mr. More Calories loves that I didn't decrease the butter or walnuts, but we're not all triathletes! Hoping for something similar, but a little healthier? Try this banana bread, without the coconut!)

Fried Apples

After looking around the interwebs, it looks like the secret to these is typically bacon grease. And of course that is an ingredient that I will have less than no access to for the next four months. Even if it sounds pretty likely. So I went with what I could get - margarine. Not exciting, but you do what you can. I suppose I could call it vegan then, eh?

With four apples I had sitting in the fridge, I used three of them.

(Vegan) Fried Apples
Serves 3-4

3 medium apples (green apples are said to be best)
3 Tbs margarine
3 Tbs sugar (brown if you have it, I had white)
1 tsp cinnamon (you could add nutmeg if you have it)

- Cut apples into thin slices (mine were 20-24 per apple.) and then in half so they're kind of small squares.
- Melt margarine in a skillet over medium-high.
- Add apples to hot skillet and make sure they are not fully stuck together. Unless you have an insanely large pan they'll be on top of each other, but that's fine.
- Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over apples. And let cook for a several minutes.

- Stir occasionally for 10 or so minutes, until the juices are all bubbly and the apples smell amazing.
- Enjoy while still hot, preferably with some buttermilk biscuits!

Stove-top biscuits

Being in another country means adjusting ingredients and cooking methods. Let me show you around my kitchen.

First, here it is! The fridge is to the left, and there is a small set of shelves that you can see on the right. I think the stove and oven are recognizable, and to the right of those is the sink. That's right, no cabinet. Those who are more observant may notice a large bottle of gas under the counter and next to the stove. Yep, that's what we use for cooking.

And here is a closer look at my oven. You see those knobs at the top? They don't have any really levels. Just a sort of more or less. But it's not at all precise or very helpful. And you see the row of white dots in the back across the top and down the left? Those are the vent holes. I mean, I know that ovens need vents, but.... I don't think I'll be trying this thing out until it's cooler outside.

So my solution was to find a way to 'bake' on the stovetop. I easily found a recipe for "Cowboy biscuits" and decided they looked worth a try!

Of course, I haven't gotten a big enough mixing bowl yet, so I had to halve the recipe. And when I end up at a one of those "homey" chain restaurants, I like fried apples. And happened to have 4 in the fridge that are in danger of going bad. It's hard to buy less than a pound of fruit, or else you end up paying a lot more or getting lesser quality, so I have only been getting one kind at a time.

But back to the baking! Or cooking. Or whatever I should call it. First, the Stove top biscuits. You can have fried apples another day.

Stove Top Biscuits

Made 8 little biscuits (2-inches roughly)

All measurements are rough, due to lack of measuring implements

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup butter (I had to use margarine, but butter is always better and all)

1/2 cup buttermilk (mine was vanilla flavored, lol)

- Preheat your skillet to medium if you are quick enough, or leave this until you have the biscuits almost ready.

- Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in the butter however you can - pastry blender, fork and knife, or your fingers. Blend until the butter chunks are smaller than peas.

- Add the buttermilk and mix until JUST blended. Dryish spots are fine.

- Flour your counter or table and put the dough onto it. Make it stick together, and pat until it's about half an inch thick, if you don't have a lid, or a full inch if you do.

- At this point, you could cut it out with a biscuit cutter, but I just cut it into eight pieces.

- Put the biscuits into your heated skillet. Add lid if you have one.

- Cook until they start to look done at the bottom and soft on the top. The butter in them will look all wet and melted. Flip and cook until they look done through. If you are using a lid, take it off toward the end so they can get a nice crust.

- At this point, mine didn't quite look done. I actually opened up the first one, and it was basically baked, but I decided to cook the others on their sides to help them finish. Yes, I lost track of one and it got burned.

- Serve with fried apples, or whatever else sounds delicious to you.

Whole wheat, low sugar apple pie scones

Last night I really wanted something kind of muffin-y, but not. I had re-found my apple pie scone recipe last week, and thought that sounded perfect. Of course, this time I decided it should be with white whole wheat flour. So, I set about making them and decided they should have half of the sugar, too. They don't start out with much sugar, just 1/4 cup, so I also added a little bit of stevia.

Side note on stevia, my grandma has been using since I was in about 5th grade, I think. She had to get it from a specific store and it was only in liquid form. I think the current popularity is pretty funny, as if it had just been found. That's part of the reason that I'll use it when I don't touch the other 'sugar substitutes.'

Back to the scones. I mixed the dry ingredients, then the wet (used greek yogurt this time) and put it all together. It was too dry, so I added 2 Tbs water. I went to plop it out on the cutting board to shape it and... saw the apple I had chopped. How did I miss that?? So, I mixed in the apple. Then I glanced at the computer screen. And saw a mention of butter in the directions. And hadn't added any. So THAT is where the dryness came from. Oops. I added a tablespoon of oil, since it was still a bit dry, and finally shaped and baked them. Which means that these turned out lower in fat than I had planned!

Between the whole wheat and reduced sugar, these aren't particularly sweet. Mr. More Calories's first response was "needs more honey" and proceeded to eat his with honey. I enjoyed them plain or with almond butter. The greek yogurt ups the protein, too, so these are a pretty darn good snack!

Whole wheat apple pie scones

Makes 16 mini scones, 20 min prep, 10 minute cook

2 1/2 c flour (I used white whole wheat, also reflected in nutrition info)
1/4 c granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 medium green apple, diced (about 1 1/2 cups, depending on the size)
3/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt (I used Fage 2%, or one six oz. container)
1 large egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla

1 - Preheat oven to 425ºF
2 - Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl
3 - In a small bowl, combine yogurt, egg white, oil and vanilla
4 - Stir fruit into the dry ingredients
5 - Add yogurt mixture to dry ingredients stirring just until moist (may be sticky)
6 - Divide into two parts and pat into rounds about 6-8 inches across. Cut into 8 equal parts.
7 - (Optional) Beat egg yolk and brush over tops of scones to smooth them out and make them look pretty.
8 - Bake at 425ºF for 7-10 minutes or until golden (mine took about 10 minutes in my current oven)

Nutrition per 1 scone: Fat - 1.8g; Cal - 96; Protein - 4g; Carbs - 17.2g

Green smoothies!

I started making smoothies using a commercial-quality blender, so I took much too long to pick a blender now that I won't have access to that one. Everybody has critiques on the working of all blenders that cost under $100, and maybe it is smarter to get one of those, but I still can't bring myself to do it. I ended up with a crazy, almost painfully, loud one that arrived yesterday and I waited til today to open and try it out.

On the way home, I stopped for spinach, ginger and a green apple. I already had vanilla soy milk in the fridge. The most time I took for this one was peeling the ginger and chopping the apple - the blender recommends that pieces be less than 1-inch across. *sigh* shouldn't a blender be able to handle more? Maybe next time. If you do this, be sure to use a green apple, or if not add in a bit of lemon or lime juice, because the tartness helps brighten up the whole thing. You don't want to just taste a spinachy drink, right? Right.

My Typical Green Smoothie
Time: 15 minutes

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (plain or any other milk would be fine)
1-inch cube of ginger (think half of your thumb)
3 cups spinach
1 green apple (Or red apple with 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice)

Pour soy milk in blender jug.
Peel ginger and add to blender.
Cut spinach if your blender thinks that will help it. Add to blender.
Cut apple into whatever size your blender can handle. Add to the rest.

Blend it up! I pulsed it until it started going, and did need to push it down. Usually I push it with celery, but forgot to get some at the store. It adds a fresh taste and gives you a safe pushing-stick that you can use while the blender is going!

Almond Cookie Oatmeal (with Dates)

It's kind of funny, I had never actually had a date until I went to Tunisia. I mean, I had eaten the nasty flour-coated mouse turds in cereal that they claim are dates. (Sorry if I just stopped you from ever touching those again. Sort of.) But Tunisia exports a lot of dates, and people eat them often, and I'm willing to try anything. And whoa. My first thought is that they are like natural pastries. Especially when fresher, and not chilled, they have a texture and flavor that reminds me so much of baked sugary or honey-covered wonderfulness.

Apparently I'm not the only one to think so because the cookie flavors of Lara bars all have dates as the first ingredient. I usually get deglet dates since they're cheaper, but be sure they're not all dried by the time you get them. Medjool are the fancier, pricier kind. And usually more moist.

So today I have more oatmeal for you. Sorry if that's boring, but with the stove still sitting in my office, there's not much choice! I did make two more crockpot experiments, one of which may get posted here, but neither was fantastic. Yet. They could be improved. But this oatmeal is completely sugar-free and extra sweetener free! Ahhh, the magic of dates!

Almond Cookie Oatmeal
Serves: 1
Prep time: 3 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (they are less processed than quick oats, but you could really use either.)
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup dates (the 5 pictured above happened to make 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Put oatmeal in a 2-cup microwaveable container. Add water to barely cover oats for thick oatmeal, or to cover by a lot for thinner.

2. Cook in microwave on high for 90 seconds.

3. Chop dates. I did this while the oatmeal was cooking.

4. When the oatmeal is done, add almonds, dates and cinnamon. Stir and enjoy immediately or move to a prettier serving dish :)

How I normally eat my oatmeal - fewer dishes!

Apricot Almond Butter Oatmeal

I have been mostly gone for the last two years because I am a grad student (although I have been since I started this blog) and moved into a house of 100 students. I say house because we are all responsible for making sure the house runs smoothly - cooking, cleaning, discipline, all of it! For the first year, I was just any other student there, but for my second and third year, I was in charge of lunches and dinners. No, I didn't make them all. In fact, I helped actually make very few. I did find the recipes, translate them into 'new cook' and scale them to the proper size to feed hungry college students. After the dinners, I would sometimes need to check in with the cooks and make my version of 'new cook' match the reality.

One of the biggest things I learned was how intimidating cooking can be for some people. Some of my earliest memories are pulling out drawers in the kitchen to make stairs for me to climb up and stir a pot when my mom was on the phone (and I just realized how absolutely crazy that sounds on so many levels!) There's also a great story of helping with banana bread... but maybe another day. The thing is, I didn't realize how foreign a kitchen could be to others, that to some the freezer is a logical place to look for olives, that 'lentils' and 'split peas' are completely unknown, or that some don't see the point in measuring -- ever.

With this new information in hand, I return to my blog. I am moving out of my giant house this summer and hope to find time to continue here in the fall once teaching, learning, and research begin again in a structured way.

On to the oatmeal! I looove oatmeal. I used to it eat twice a day according to my little sister. She's probably not the best authority, and definitely at ramen twice a day for years. It's super quick, it's tasty (when done right!) and is also nutritional and filling with the right extras added in. I found out when a house mate had some extra almond butter, and my peanut butter ran out, that it is absolutely delicious in oatmeal! Like it was meant to be. So here it is for you.

Apricot Almond Butter Oatmeal
1 serving, 3 minute prep time


1/2 cup old-fashioned oats*
water
5 dried apricots
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
* - for me, this is about two handfuls. It's easier than trying to measure it :)

Start out by putting the oats into a microwave-safe bowl that holds at least 2 cups (big to avoid spilling over and making a mess in the microwave. 3 or 4 cup is fine, I make mine in the pyrex measuring cup.)

Add water. I add to just above the oats. This makes thick oatmeal. More water means thinner oatmeal.

Microwave on high for 90 seconds.

While it's microwaving, chop up the apricots. (I just tore them up by hand, but ended up wishing the pieces were smaller.)

When done, add apricots, almond butter and honey to the dish. Stir. Enjoy!

Nutritional information (with honey): 357 calories, 13g fat, 55.5g carbs, 10g protein
Nutritional information (no honey): 335 calories, 13g fat, 50g carbs, 10g protein

Lazy Granola

I'm copying this directly from my friend Safire's blog. 

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Lazy Granola

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c oil
1/2 c honey
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
7 c oats
Mix the honey, oil and vanilla in a small saucepan until they are all melted.  (I always forget this step and it turns out fine.)  In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir until combined.  Spread out on a greased 9×12 pan and cook for 10 min at 375 degrees.  Take it out of the oven and stir it.  Return it to the oven and then turn the oven off and it let sit overnight.  Wake up to a yummy breakfast and a house that smells amazing!

You can add a whole bunch of stuff to this to make it even better.  I always use coconut oil and it gives it a very sweet flavor, but canola oil works fine too.  You can add almonds, cashews, or any kind of nut that you wish.  Shredded coconut, raisins, chopped dates, flax seed, and sunflower seeds.

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I made this a week ago and have been loving it ever since.  I sprang for coconut oil, which my child somehow manged to make fall out of the cupboard, a couple days later, wasting $8.09 but I had everything else in the house. I could have used canola oil, I had that at home. I added wheat germ to mine, it's so yummy, the kids can't tell it's healthy.

Saturday Splurge: Lime Ricotta Muffins

First, a big apology. My only post this whole week. I had a big presentation on Wednesday for my statistics class (ugh) and I have a 20-25 page paper due on Monday at 3:30. Not. fun. But, that's what they pay me to be here for and all, so I'll do it. You just can't make me smile about it. At least not during the last 3 weeks of the semester.

ON TO THE TASTINESS! Well, then. Today I went to an HP quiz (if you have to ask what HP stands for, I'm not telling you) and then came back and had a huge allergy attack, probably from sitting outside for 3 hours at said quiz, and barely advanced on above-mentioned paper. Then I figured out what to make for dinner and realized I hadn't done my Saturday labor: making treats. Having spotted Ricotta in the fridge the other day, I already had one in mind.

I made these before, about six months ago, actually, and the original recipe is from Rosa's Yummy Yums. I've posted it below with my changes. We don't have real lemons (or limes), which means I went with juice. Lime juice, instead of the original lemon. Still SUPER good. And they didn't take too long. Probably stuck to my one hour that I'm supposed to do for once. These should be even faster for a smaller batch. Quadrupling recipes really does make a difference. That much more flour to measure. And sugar. And baking powder. That much more butter to melt. And then mixing it all together has to be more careful. Then, no cooking spray. So have to grease 48 muffin holes by hand. Don't worry, I'm giving you the single batch recipe :)

I'm fairly certain that these could be made more health-fully without sacrificing much (if any!) of the flavor and texture, but the house gets whole milk ricotta so I'd need to go buy the other stuff to find out. A summer project, I suppose. I hope that didn't scare you, they're really not bad as-is (203 calories), which is why I think it'd be no problem to make them even better!

Lime Ricotta Muffins
Serves: 12 Time: about 30-40 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (+2 Tablespoons if you want to make them pretty)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Grease twelve 2 ½” by 1 ¼” muffin-pan cups or line with paper baking liners.
3. In large bowl, stir together flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, mix together ricotta, milk, melted butter, eggs and lime juice.
5. Make well in center of flour mixture and pour in ricotta mixture; stir until just moistened.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin-pan cups.
7. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over muffins.
8. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until muffins are golden brown, tops spring back when lightly touched or a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
9. Immediately remove from pan; serve warm. Or cool on wire rack to serve later.

Tested variations:
- Whole wheat flour, using flaxseed as egg replacement
- White whole wheat flour, using 1 packet stevia, 1 1/2 Tbs agave and 2 Tbs frozen apple juice concentrate instead of sugar
- Half cottage cheese (I had less ricotta than I thought one day!)

Nutrition info for one muffin: Calories - 203;    Fat - 8.4g;    Carbs - 26.5g;    Protein - 5.7g

... and Grapefruit Curd

This is sort of the second half of Tuesday's healthy pancake post. I made them together, but I think that they are each worth their own post. This was amazing. I read recently that you can make curd (like lemon curd) with any citrus, and really wanted to try it. Then I found a butter-free curd recipe. The grapefruit were purchased. A day later, I found a great looking healthy pancake recipe. On top of that, the pancake recipe gave the option to use just whites. Leaving me some yolks for the curd. Too perfect of a coincidence to pass up.

I decided to make just a half batch (ok, I didn't have enough eggs for a whole one) and, to be honest, I'm not sure if this ever sets up the way I know lemon curd does. It didn't make it to the fridge, I stirred it up while the pancakes were cooking and it was all devoured. Well, not all on the pancakes. Some on yogurt. I became a serious fan of grapefruit yogurt in France. It's such a good combination! Why isn't it in the US? (With rhubarb and fig and pineapple yogurt, too!) I realized that this would make great grapefruit yogurt. The sugar gives it enough sweetness, yet the grapefruit and the plain yogurt keep it tart. A winner in my book.

Grapefruit Curd (Can be made with any citrus!)
Serves: 6-8 Time: 15-20 minutes, more if you want to wait for it to cool

1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
2 tsps finely grated zest of grapefruit
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

- Place a mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside. [If you want to strain it, I didn't, but I did have a couple of cooked bits of egg in the end result.]
- In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the grapefruit juice, zest, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks to break them up. Beat some of the grapefruit mixture into the eggs to temper. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and just begins to become jelly-like, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the curd from the heat and press the curd through the strainer. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd (this prevents a "skin" from forming) and let it cool completely before using. [I didn't do this either, obviously :) I just used it directly.]

Nutrition info (1/8th of recipe): Cal - 113 Fat - 2.4g Protein - 2.4g Carbs - 21.4g

Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Easily gluten-free, too!)

I love me my pancakes. I've probably said that before. It's sad, though, that they have so little nutritional value. Makes it harder to just make them and eat them. But then I came across this recipe that I just HAD to try. Oatmeal cottage cheese pancakes? Yes, please! It's really cool. It's oatmeal. Cottage cheese. And eggs (or egg whites). Simple enough? I think so. I was a little skeptical of how they might taste, but I really should not have been. I shared a few bites with my taste-testers, who were shocked at how simple and healthy it was. And I put a delicious butter-free grapefruit curd on it to give it a kick flavor. That definitely helped. But the grapefruit curd has its own post. Let's focus on the pancakes for now.

The recipe tells you to blend it all up in a blender or processor, but if you have quick oats (what was on hand in the kitchen the first time I made them) you can just mix it with a spoon. It gave it a really nice texture that everyone appreciated. If you have old-fashioned oats, you REALLY need to at least blend (or food chopper) those a bit  in a blender or processor so that they make a more cohesive batter. The batter is already thick and I spread it out with the measuring cup I was using for a scoop. I used 2% cottage cheese this time, but I would try it with small curd whole milk cottage cheese, too. The original recipe used all egg whites, but I used a mix (some of the yolks went into the topping).

I had these around lunch time, and they all disappeared or I would have saved some for a snack. They are hearty enough for that. And are good with peanut butter, too. The cottage cheese and egg combination puts them through the roof in protein, and oatmeal is (obviously) a whole grain. You can also make it gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats! To make it any more nutritious, it.... I can't think of anything.

Mmmm... blueberries & lemon curd!

Made in the blender - Brown nicely and no burn marks!

Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Serves: 2-3 Time: Depends on your pan/griddle size - 20-30 minutes

1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned) (Gluten-free is an option, too!)
4 eggs or 8 egg whites
Butter or spray oil for pan

- Turn on pan or griddle to medium or medium high
- With quick oats: Mix all ingredients in a bowl or in a processor/blender
- With old-fashioned oats: Process/blend oats and add to bowl with other ingredients, mix (or blend/process all of it for a smoother batter)
- When pan is hot, butter or spray with oil
- Pour into pan using 1/4 to 1/3 cup per pancake. Flatten with scoop if you did not blend it.
- Cook on first side until edges look done and a few air bubbles stay at the surface
- Flip, cook until the color you like is reached

Nutrition info (1/3 of recipe, with 4 eggs): Cal - 255 Fat - 9.1g Protein - 21.3g Carbs - 21.6g

Nutrition info (1/3 of recipe, with 8 egg whites): Cal - 213 Fat - 3.4g Protein - 23.5g Carbs - 21.8g


The dark spots in the picture are where the cottage cheese was at the surface, it didn't taste burnt at all.

Made without a blonder or processor, bigger oatmeal chunks and don't stick together as well. Still tasty!

Apple Pie Scones

In my building, every body does 4 hours of work a week. This semester, I cook lunch on Thursdays (3 hours) and make a sweet treat on Saturdays (1 hour - in theory.) Today I wasn't sure what to make. At first I thought apple scones, but then REALLY wanted shortbread. Well... no powdered sugar in the place. After looking for a recipe that looked decent using other sugar, I gave up. There's one with browned butter and brown sugar that I fully intend to make, but many reviewers found it somewhat temperamental. Not what you want to try when baking for a large group.

So back to scones it was! I love my yogurt scones recipe and started with that. We have a decent supply of granny smiths, so I took 3 and diced them up to throw in. I made a triple batch, so three made sense. The added moisture from the fresh fruit made the dough even more sticky than usual, so instead of trying to shape them all nicely, I just took an ice cream scoop to plop them all out onto the cookie sheets. Someone came by to help me test them as they were finishing and said "mmm, these taste just like apple pie!" Thus were they named.

Apple Pie Scones
Serves: 8 (makes about 25 little scones) Time: 30 minutes

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 medium green apple, diced (about 1 1/2 cups, depending on the size)
3/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt (or one six oz. container)
1 large egg, separated

1 tsp vanilla

1 - Preheat oven to 425
2 - Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl
3 - Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal
4 - Stir in fruit
5 - In a small bowl, combine yogurt, egg white and vanilla
6 - Add yogurt mixture to dry ingredients stirring just until moist (will be VERY sticky)
7- Use two large spoons to drop pieces of dough onto a greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Dough balls should be a bit larger than a golf ball.
8 - (Optional) Beat egg yolk and brush over tops of scones to smooth them out (I didn't this time.)
9 - Bake at 425 for 7-10 minutes or until golden (mine took about 8 minutes)

Nutrition per drop scone: Fat - 2.3 g (2.1 without egg yolk); Cal - 76; Protein - 1.8 g; Carbs - 12

Cinnamon Rolls

This one is a special request all the way from France, how could I say no?? :) I made this for a girl I stayed with and her flatmate. Cinnamon, though so commonly used here, really isn't popular everywhere. Amazing, isn't it?? They were a bit skeptical, I think, but no one can complain about a Cinnabon-style cinnamon roll. And I mean cinnabon-style because it can be so sticky and delicious, if you put in all the butter and sugar. They bake up very large and pretty, too, and who doesn't like that? Nobody, that's who!

This recipe is actually from one of those random sharing sites, back in the day before recipe blogs were everywhere. I have made a few changes, though. As a nice benefit, it works perfectly well if you use (unsweetened) applesauce and cinnamon. It's a more healthy, less gooey version. No pics this time, I guess that just means I'll have to make them again soon, how sad! I prefer my own icing because it's all cream cheese and no butter. I find butter in icing offensive. Yes, that's the traditional thing to have in icing. So sue me. I'd rather take the long, difficult route of boiled icing (without a candy thermometer even) than eat buttercream.

This dough is very good on its own, too. I once made it as sweet rolls and enjoyed them. Another time, I tried to make them as sweet rolls.... and forgot to add the yeast. HA! That was pretty funny, but they still had a good flavor so they all were eaten before getting anywhere near stale or moldy. If you don't have a bread machine, you can find the directions here. As a note to those I made it for before, who are baking in a small oven: I halved the recipe and only made six rolls.

Cinnabon-style Cinnamon Rolls [1/2 recipe in brackets]
Serves: 12 [6] Time: Hmmm.... with rising and all, long. Maybe 2 hours? That's why we like bread machines

For the dough:
1 cup warm milk [1/2 cup]
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) yeast [1/2 package or 1 1/8 tsp]
2 eggs, room temperature [1 egg]
1/3 cup butter, melted [2 1/2 tablespoons]
4 1/2 cups flour [2 1/4 cups]
1 teaspoon salt [1 tsp]
1/2 cup white sugar [1/4 cup sucre en poudre]

For the filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened [4 tablespoons] *
1 cup brown sugar [1/2 cup cassonade] *
2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon [1 1/2 tablespoons]
*For a lower-fat version, use about 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce instead.

For the icing*:
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese [100g kiri - not really sure how much I used, though!]
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar [3/4 cup sucre glacé]
[for French bakers: Add about one tablespoon of lemon juice, because American cream cheese has a bit of a tang that kiri doesn't have. This means you'll need more powdered sugar, too.]
*Lower-fat version should really skip this.

For the rolls:
- Place ingredients into bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer and press start.
- When dough cycle is finished, the dough will be VERY sticky. Knead dough on a floured surface, adding flour until the dough does not stay stuck to your hands.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out into a 16"x21" [25x40cm] rectangle. Spread softened butter onto dough, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, leaving about 1/2 inch of space on one long side [leave 1 cm space on the shorter side for a half recipe]. (Or spread applesauce and sprinkle with cinnamon.)
- Starting with edge OPPOSITE empty edge (the edge across from the one you didn't put filling on), roll dough evenly, and pinch closed when completely rolled.
- Place in/on baking sheet, cover and let rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size. When almost finished, preheat oven to 400 F [200 C.]
- Bake rolls in oven about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

For icing:
- When rolls are done, mix all icing ingredients in a bowl. If the mixture is too thin for your taste, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add more cream cheese or a TINY bit of water at a time.
- Cover your cinnamon rolls with a thick layer of frosting and enjoy!

Nutrition info for 1/12th full [1/6 half] recipe, using applesauce filling, no frosting: Calories: 281 Fat: 6.7g Carbs: 48.5g Protein: 6.6g

No-Fuss Steel Cut Oats

I grew up with a variety of hot grains for breakfast. They are cheap, keep in the fridge for at least a few days, and are healthy, too. If you don't like oatmeal, that's ok; these don't taste like regular oatmeal, have a different texture and they're nothing like the packaged instant crap. Since they're less processed, they also retain more nutrition than their rolled friends.

If you know anything about this kind of cereal, you're probably wondering how it fits into the "fast" idea, but I shall make a believer out of you here in a second. Steel cut oats do normally take a good bit of cook time, but with a little pre-planning, you'll be fine. I did try them in the crockpot and have one word: EWWWWWWWWW. Mushy, mushy, mush, surrounded by (tasty) hard stuff. Someone suggested putting them in a bowl inside the crockpot, and that worked better, but still too much fuss. I know I could try it again, but I found this way first.

The picture below has a plum and a small handful of almonds added to make it a complete breakfast . Any kind of nuts or dried fruit would be great, too. Oh, and the cheap - don't go buying McCann's real Irish oats or, of course, you'll be paying a ton. I have personally only found non-brand steel cut oats in bulk food sections. It looks a little like cracked wheat to me, or like smaller tan grains of rice chopped a bit. You may be able to find a cheap off-brand near the fancy ones, too. These supposedly keep in the fridge for a week, but I've never tried it. I just eat them.

Easy hands-off steel cut oats
Serves: 4 Cook time: about 10 minutes of your effort (soaks overnight)

1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water
any fruit or nuts you like
syrup or brown sugar

- Place the oats and water in a medium saucepan (one that has a lid!)
- Bring to a rolling boil, then turn off heat and cover (ok to leave it on the burner if you have an electric stove)
- Let the thing wait while you sleep
- In the morning, turn it on to med-high, bring back to a boil. Cook until it looks creamy, but is still chewable. After all, you're not making instant here!
- Top with your favorite combination of fruits, nuts, and/or sugar

Nutrition info for 1/4 cup (dry) oats: Calories - 140   Fat - 2.5g   Carbs - 27g    Protein - 6g

Food bars

You could call these energy bars or protein-ish bars, but I like the term "food bars" best. It's good, easy, healthy food in bar form. How much better than that can you get? The original recipe is from foodnetwork but, as usual, you will find my own changes below. My main complaint with theirs is that they asked for EVERYTHING to be blended up in a processor. I don't really like the bars that are all one consistency, so I kept some of my stuff bigger. If you want to make it quicker, don't process anything, or process everything. I also replaced the wheat germ with garbanzo flour. Seemed like a cool idea. If you make only 10 bars, they are a pretty good size, though the original recipe suggests 20 (size pictured.)

Update: I have since tried them with wheat germ, and it worked really well, too. It changes the flavor, and I'm not sure yet which I prefer. Wheat germ is certainly easier to find, though. :)


Food Bars
Serves: 10 Total time: 30-40 min, depending on whether you chop stuff

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (raw or roasted, but unsalted are better for you)
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup craisins (or raisins would work)
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup pitted dried dates
1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey - I used lower-sugar syrup that doesn't have fake sugar)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a small bowl, mix oats, sunflower seeds, almonds and craisins. Pour half of mixture into food processor
- Add to food processor both flours, spices and milk, spice til there are no big chunks left
- In large bowl, mix eggs and syrup, stir in mixture from processor
- Process dates (alone) until all in small bits, add to large bowl
- Process the conserved oat mix 4-5 times, leaving some large chunks (whole almonds are ok)
- Mix everything except chocolate chips in the large bowl until basically combined
- Press into a greased pan (13x9, 9x9, whatever you have) and bake at 350 for 20 minutes
- Once cooked, remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let set to melt a few minutes, then spread.

Nutrition info (1/10th with chocolate chips): Calories - 277 Fat - 7.1g Carbs - 47.2 g Protein - 9g
Nutrition info (1/10th, NO chocolate chips): Calories - 254 Fat - 5.9g Carbs - 44.7 g Protein - 8.7g

Rich and light french toast

I love Alton Brown's french toast recipe. It has eggs and half and half and vanilla and spices. And probably something else. The half and half makes it more of a special occasion recipe, though, so I wanted something that was thicker than regular egg-and-milk, but not by adding flour because then I just feel like you may as well have a pancake. Enter evaporated milk. I thought of it after using it in my hot chocolate. It soaks into the bread well without being so thin that it makes it fall apart. For extra fun, I used banana bread for part of the recipe (pictured). Of course, that makes it take a rather long time to make, but it was SOOOO good. We got the idea from a cafe near campus that served zucchini bread french toast. Either way, I approve.


French toast
Serves: 4 Cook time: about 20 minutes (depends on your pan and bread size!)

3 eggs
1 cup fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)

- Heat a skillet on medium while you prepare the rest
- In a flat dish (square baking dish, plastic leftover container), beat the eggs
- Stir in evaporated milk and spices
- Put bread, 1 layer at a time, into egg mixture. Let soak on each side for about 10 seconds, then flip. (Shorter for thin bread, or lighter bread or else it will fall apart)
- Spray the skillet with cooking spray, then put in as many piece of bread as will fit, leaving enough room to flip them
- When bread looks brown around the edges, up to one minute, flip it over
- Keep finished french toast on a plate in the microwave (don't turn it on, but it's insulated in there to keep them warm and won't have a draft) until you are ready to serve, or serve as you finish them.

Amazing banana bread

I know, I know, I am totally biased, but this stuff is good. Really, really good. It does take more time than most things I make, but you know you want some. When I have bananas that are too soft to eat, I wait for them to turn all brown and throw them in the freezer. Then, when I have 3 or 4, I make this. I know some of you will leave out the coffee, but if you are willing to try a fake flavoring, I would recommend that because it gives the bread a much richer flavor. You can decrease the butter to 3 tablespoons, or you could up it to 6 tablespoons if you're feeling wild and too skinny. The original had 1/3 cup. This isn't quite as low-fat as most of my stuff, but I think it's worth it. If you want more nutritious, last time I used half wheat flour (with brewed coffee) and it worked really well.

Banana bread!!
Serves: 1 if you can keep it away from others! Ok, should be about 8 real-people servings, and 16 if you go by what most recipes say it should be.

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules*

3/4 cup sugar (reduce to 2/3 cup if using sweetened coconut)

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

* instead of instant granules, you can use 3 ounces of STRONG brewed coffee - add 2 tablespoons of flour if you do this.

- Preheat the oven to 350°F

- Mash bananas in a large bowl, then mix in butter and coffee.

- Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.

- Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

- If you have a food processor, process the coconut until it is completely chopped up.

- Add the flour and coconut to the bowl and mix until fully incorporated.

- Pour mixture into a greased 4x8 inch loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

- Cool on a rack if you are patient, but I always cut into it while hot to enjoy it immediately.

Nutrition info for 1/8 of recipe (using 1/4 cup of butter): Fat - 8.4g Cal - 275 Carbs - 48 Protein - 3.8g

I sort of feel bad after putting this nutrition info, but then again Emeril's recipe, here, has 28.7g of fat and 508 calories for 1/8 of it! I think his is going to be an outlier on the heavy side, though.

Flavored oatmeal

Here's another one from my family. As my sister said, "With quick oats they don't take that long and have real fruit compared to the packaged stuff." I think it's a good point. She tops hers with white or brown sugar or honey with cinnamon if she uses apple.

Nan's flavored oatmeal
Serves: 1 Time: 10 minutes

1/2 cup oatmeal (old-fashioned or quick)
water (according to oatmeal package, or your taste)
1/2 apple or banana (eat the other half with your breakfast!)

Apple version:
- So for the first one you chop up half an apple (if you use a food chopper it's quick) and you add it just after you have the oatmeal stirred into the water.
- Then you add some brown sugar/honey/sugar and cinnamon when it it done cooking.
- And you eat the rest of the apple.

Banana version:
- For the other one once it is done cooking you add a sliced banana (or half depending on how big it is/# of serving) and some maple syrup/honey/sugar/brown sugar and maybe seeds or nuts.

Yogurt Pancakes

This one is from my mom and sister (yay, for other peoples' recipes!) Well, we all know that pancakes from mix don't generally have a lot of nutritional value. But my mom found a way to add some calcium and protein, along with flavor. My sister reports that they are really good and don't need any additional toppings.


Mom's Yogurt Pancakes
Serves: 2-4 Time: Depends on how big your pan/griddle is!

1 cup pancake mix
6 oz flavored yogurt (most containers now)
6 oz (one yogurt container) water (If you use Bisquick, reduce water to 1/3 cup)

- Preheat frying pan or griddle to medium high.

- Combine all ingredients in a bowl until mix is damp, don't overmix!

- When pan is hot enough, (water drops fizzle and evaporate right away) spray pan with cooking spray and ladle 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mix onto pan

- When bubbles form, flip and cook til pancake is the color you like.

*Update* I tried these out on Sunday and liked them a lot! I even used pina colada yogurt and threw in a handful of coconut for fun, and it was really tasty. I used Bisquick. I think that they are harder to flip than regular pancakes, so I made them smaller and it worked great.

After-workout Peach Treat

Dan made this - it's really good. He would like to point out that I came up with the name. I didn't think it was a bad name. Anyway, after working out it is nice to get something in your system so you don't just feel all worn-out, and this is one option for doing that. I'm sure it would be good for breakfast or a fresh snack any time of day. Works well with strawberries, nectarines, berries or most any soft fruit that has a lot of flavor. Probably not grapes, watermelon, or citrus (the acid might curdle the cottage cheese even more.)

After-workout Peach Treat
Serves: 2 Prep time: 10 min

2 small peaches (may need less if peaches are large or in better condition)
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup granola
2 tbs sunflower kernels
Honey

- Chop up the peaches into bite-size pieces. Put in a bowl
- Add cottage cheese
- Top with granola and sunflower kernels, drizzle top with honey
- Mix if you want and eat!