We found this Low Fat Protein Bar Recipe over the weekend, in hopes of eating a little better this week. This recipe is super simple, and it’s pretty awesome to have two dozen freshly made bars in the house, instead of a box from the grocery store, which can get really pricey. The nice thing about these bars is that they taste much more like granola bars and a lot less like crap. They don’t have that weird gritty texture that some protein bars have. It’s also just nice to know exactly what ingredients went into them. You can customize them too. For this round, we split the recipe in half and made a batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars and a batch of Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bars. For next time, we’re thinking cranberries would add a little zing.

The recipe is our version of a recipe adapted from another one over at Stella’s Kitchen. We added more protein powder, flax seeds, and also added sesame seeds because we friggin love sesame seeds. But you can leave out some of these dry ingredients if you would rather not have them. Whatever you decide to do, the consistency of the batter should wind up being something like cookie dough.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups quick oats
1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk
7 scoops protein powder (we used vanilla)
3/4 cup flax seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sugar free maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
2 egg whites
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup natural applesauce (unsweetened)

Directions:

Beat the egg whites in a bowl. Mix the egg whites with the orange juice, applesauce, syrup, and vanilla. In another bowl mix the oats, dry milk, protein powder, sesame seeds and flax seeds. Add the liquid mix to the dry mix and stir until everything is completely worked together. If you would like to try splitting the batter now and making two different flavors, take 1/2 the batter and place in a second bowl. For the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of peanut butter. For the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bars, add 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of raisins.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cover 2 9×13 baking dishes with parchment paper. Spread the batters into their two separate dishes. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to completely cool and then cut into bars. Store some of the bars in an airtight container and some in the freezer

Nutrition:
I cut my bars into about 24 (12 per pan) which gave the following nutrition information per bar:

100 calories
15g of carbohydrates
10g of protein
2g of fat
5g of fiber

Ingredients:

4 pcs Osso Bucco, Veal
1 lb Honeycomb tripe, Rinsed
1 Cup Red Peppers, medium dice
1 Cup Yellow Peppers, medium dice
2 Cups Onions, medium dice
2 T Garlic, minced
2 Cups Celery, medium dice
2 Cups Carrots, medium dice
1 Cup Potatoes, medium dice
1 bunch Basil, chiffonade
1 bunch Parsley, chopped fine
To taste Salt
To taste Pepper
1/2 bottle Red Wine
2 T Tomato Paste
4 T Olive Oil

Method:

1. In a large braising pot, season and sear osso bucco on both sides until well caramelized
2. Add 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of onions, 1 cup of celery, 1 T garlic and stir
3. Add red wine and tomato paste and reduce by 1Ž2
4. Add water until osso bucco is covered
5. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to a simmer, cook for 90 minutes
6. Remove osso bucco and let cool
7. Strain osso bucco broth and season
8. In a separate pot, blanch tripe until tender, remove and let cool
9. Medium dice tripe and osso bucco
10. In a large sauté pan add oil and heat high
11. Add onions, carrots, potatoes, celery and garlic
12. Sauté vegetables, stirring often until onions become transparent
13. Add red & yellow peppers, tripe and osso bucco
14. Add reserved broth, season and add herbs
15. Serve and enjoy

We had these sweet potatoes hanging around, and we were getting tired of roasting them! Even though roasted sweet potatoes are one of our favorite side dishes, we decided this time to make bread. This is an altered recipe of traditional banana bread from La Petite Brioche. You can get crazy with this if you want and put pecans or cranberries in it, but we wanted to keep it simple and let the beauty our favorite superfood shine through. This recipe is so simple!

The only thing we suggest is to roast your potatoes instead of boiling and mashing them. Roasting condenses the sugars and ensures you get ultimate natural sweetness. Give your potatoes a couple pricks with a fork, place them on a baking sheet and roast them for 45 minutes to an hour in a 400 degree oven. Once they cool off a bit the flesh of the potatoes should sink away from the skin and you should be able to peel the skin right off with your fingers. They’ll also be super moist which will lead to a very moist and delicious bread. You can place the roasted potato innards in a bowl and mash them with a fork, or throw them right into your mixer when the recipe calls.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup pecan pieces (optional)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl or mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir eggs, vanilla, milk and mashed sweet potatoes into the butter and sugar mixture blend well. Stir sweet potato mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. If desired, top with pecan pieces and dried cranberries. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

]]> http://www.phoodie.info/2012/01/23/snowy-weekend-recipe-sweet-potato-bread/feed/ 0 http://www.phoodie.info/2012/01/17/straight-from-lake-wobegon-minnesota-wild-rice-soup/ http://www.phoodie.info/2012/01/17/straight-from-lake-wobegon-minnesota-wild-rice-soup/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:09:35 +0000 kwinks http://www.phoodie.info/?p=11496

We stumbled across this great recipe from the very wonderful Pastry Affair this weekend, and finding ourselves once again in hibernation-mode, we dedicated our afternoon to adventures in soup-making. We’d invite you all over to try our Minnesota Wild Rice Soup, because it’s even better the second day, but we’re feeling greedy. This is the most comforting comfort food we have ever made. I guess people who live with 6 months of winter know how to make soup! I ate 3 bowls in one night.

Cooking with mushrooms is our new winter vice. Cremini Button mushrooms give this soup incredible flavor, but you can use mixed mushrooms if you’d like. If you’re unsure, this great little guide from Whole Foods tells you the different properties and flavors of different mushrooms. This soup is creamy and delicious and packed with veggies, wild rice, chicken. A little cream and sherry does the trick at the end, giving it that extra depth.

If you’re not the kind to keep wine around for cooking… don’t skimp out this time. We’ve been trying to be less shy about cooking with wine, and we encourage you to do the same. Go buy yourself some good dry sherry for this recipe. If you know you’re not going to use the sherry for anything else (which is probably a good thing, because sherry does not age well), go ahead and find a sherry that you’re actually going to drink! Here’s a great little article on debunking the mysteries of sherry and cooking with it. The soup takes about an hour to make but, oh my god, so worth it. And yes, we were listening to Prairie Home Companion while making it.

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup

Yields 8-10 servings

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked wild rice
2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, diced (about 2-1/2 cups)
3 carrots, diced (1 cup)
4 celery stalks, diced (1 cup)
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (2 cups)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup cream
1/4 cup dry sherry
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the wild rice according to the directions on the package. Wild rice generally takes 55-60 minutes to cook, so plan ahead!

In a large soup pot, melt the butter and sauté the leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and garlic on medium high heat. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally.

Add the flour and stir until blended into the vegetables. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the wild rice and chicken. Stir in the cream and sherry. Cook until thoroughly heated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot!

The past few days’ frigid temperatures got us hankerin’ for wonton soup! Making asian cuisine always makes us a little nervous, but since we were feeling like hibernating anyway, we figured why not try our hand at making good ol’ wonton soup ourselves. This recipe is adapted from Fourty Chestnuts. The first time we made the dough it came out too tough, so we tried again with a different recipe… still a little tough. Dough is a tricky thing, and sometimes “bakers window” doesn’t reveal all ultimate truths. Thus, we recommend adding a 1/2 of water more than this recipe calls for in the dough.

For the broth, you can be creative. Use Miso instead of chicken broth if you like. Instead of watercress, we threw some parsley and mung beans in with the sprouts. This was a perfect meal for an evening below freezing. We felt healthier after eating it too! Don’t be deterred. Making the wontons themselves doesn’t take that long! And it really doesn’t matter what they look like in the end. The uglier the cuter. They’ll still be delicious. Impress your housemates and enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1 egg
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup water, as needed
Extra flour as needed

For the Filling:

1 pound ground turkey or pork
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or spring onion
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
cracked black pepper

For the Soup:

10 cups chicken broth
watercress
bean sprouts

Preparation:

Lightly beat the egg with the salt. Add 1/4 cup water.

Sift the flour into a large bowl or stand mixer with dough hook attached. Make a well in the middle and add the egg and water mixture. Mix in with the flour. Add as much of the remaining water as necessary to form a dough. (Add more water than the recipe calls for if the dough is too dry).

Form the dough into a ball and knead for about 5 minutes, or until it forms a smooth, workable dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out until very thin, and cut into 3 1/2-inch squares. We rolled out a third at a time. At this point you can store the dough if you like until later use by rolling it over some parchment paper into a coil, placing in a plastic bag and into the freezer.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the wontons in batches so the pot is not overcrowded. After the wontons are dropped into the boiling water, bring the water back up to a boil. After the wontons rise to the surface, add a couple of minutes and they will be cooked. Remove cooked wontons from the pot and start serving them into individual bowls. Repeat so that all the wontons get cooked. In a large pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add in your desired amount of bean sprouts and watercress. Cook until watercress turns bright green and tender. Pour the broth and vegetables over the served wontons or plop the wontons into your whole pot of broth. Done and done!

Fans of HBO‘s Boardwalk Empire have been waiting for an all out freakout from Chalky White (aka Michael Kenneth Williams, aka Omar from The Wire) since he first appeared on the show. But on the list of things people thought he would lose his shit over, Hoppin’ John was somewhere down at the bottom, between “My bow-tie is too tight” and “Nucky Thompson is just too good-looking.” But last night, all Chalky wanted was some damn Hoppin’ John and all he got was some damn duck. We don’t want to be on his bad side, so here are some Hoppin’ John recipes we found, so you can stay off of his bad side too.

Southernfood.about.com

Emeril Lagasse’s Hoppin John

Traditional recipe and history of the dish

I’m not sure there is anything that tastes better than a freshly made pizzelle still warm of the iron. Of course you’ll need a pizzelle iron for these bad boys, but you can probably get one in the Italian Market. Make your pizzelles even more irresistible by sandwiching two together with cannoli cream (ricotta blended with sugar) or hazelnut spread in between. Pizzelles, while still warm, can also be rolled using a wooden dowel to create cannoli shells.
Pizzelle were originally made in south-central Italy, and the name stems from the word for “round” and “flat” (pizze). Other cultures have developed similar waffle-like cookies (for example, the Norwegian Krumkake). It is known to be one of the oldest cookies, and is believed to have developed from the ancient Roman crustulum.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. melted butter
1 tbsp. anise extract
1 tbsp. anise seed, ground
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 c. AP flour
4 tsp. baking powder

Directions:
To begin, beat the eggs with the sugar in a large mixing bowl on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the melted butter, extracts, and anise seed and mix thoroughly. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add, stirring gently just until a thick batter/sticky dough forms. Preheat your pizzelle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When it is ready, drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls into the iron. Cook until steam subsides (but does not stop completely). Remove the pizzelles from the iron and cool. Notes on this recipe: Some people like softer, chewier pizzelles; others prefer a very crisp cookie. The key to getting your pizzelles the way you like them is not, in fact, in the cooking but in the cooling. For soft pizzelles, cool on a dishtowel or a wooden cutting board and stack them when they are cool enough to be rigid. For crisp pizzelles, cool on a wire rack, not touching – and do not stack them until they are completely and totally cooled to room temperature.

Image from Sur La Table. Recipe from Tea and Limpets.

Mmm Mint Chocolate Crinkles… They remind me of a frozen puppy poo that’d you’d find after a fresh snowfall. I may or may not be writing this after a few glasses of wine. Recipe and photo from Fake Ginger.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cup (1 – 10 oz. package) Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside. With a hand held or standing mixer, beat together the shortening and butter until creamy. Add the sugars and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Add the flour mixture and blend until smooth. Fold in Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips. Roll the dough, by hand, into a 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll the balls in the powdered sugar to fully cover ball. Flatten the balls gently into 1/2” thick disks and place about 2” apart, spacing them evenly on un-greased baking sheets. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies set 1 minute on baking sheet. Remove from sheet and move to wire rack to cool completely.

Here’s an amazing twist on the other-wise drab oatmeal cookie. The ingredients may seem a bit much for such a conservative cookie, but all these flavors together will make you sing. This recipe is also from Chow.com.
Tip: Ever wonder why your oatmeal cookies tend to spread out into an oily mess? Oats are mean to absorb moisture from their fellow ingredients, so the longer you let them all mingle together as a dough before you begin baking, the less this will happen.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup toasted finely chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 325°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside.
2. Combine butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl; add egg, milk, and vanilla; and mix on medium until smooth, about 1 minute.
3. Reduce to low speed, add flour mixture, and mix until dough just comes together, scraping the bowl sides and bottom if necessary. Add oats, coconut, and pecans and mix for a few seconds on low speed until they are incorporated.
4. Scoop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake the cookies until they are light golden brown around the edges and still slightly soft in the center, about 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.