Whole Wheat English Muffins

I am always looking for healthy options for a quick breakfast, and through a Pinterest/Google/Youtube search, I found this recipe for English muffins. It is a very simple recipe and absolutely delicious! It is easily customizable to different varieties (whole wheat, maybe even a cinnamon raisin kind!). You can make these one night a week and have homemade English muffins for the rest of the week (if they last that long!).

Below, I am including directions for using a bread machine. If you want to make these by hand, the link above has a short video tutorial on that method.

To make a whole wheat version, you will need:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour (you can play with the ratio to find one you like)
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp yeast

Put all ingredients in a bread machine according to manufacturer's directions and set to Dough cycle.

Once cycle is complete (or the dough has doubled in bulk), punch down and roll out to about 1/2" thick. Cut out 3" circles using a cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of each muffin. Leave to rise for 30 minutes.

During the last few minutes of rise time, heat a griddle on medium low heat.

When the griddle is heated, spray with non-stick or grease using a little butter (you may not even need any). Add 4 of the muffins and cook 15 minutes total, turning every 2 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the muffins.

To serve, split open with a fork and spread on some butter or your favorite jam. You can also turn it into a breakfast sandwich by adding a little cheese and some chopped hard-boiled egg!

Lasagna Soup with Gnocchi

I found this soup on Pinterest while looking for dinner ideas.  It comes from Paula Deen's sons and is a lighter version of one of her recipes.  I made it last night as part of a homework assignment for a Coursera class I'm taking and since it turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you guys!

The original recipe calls for turkey sausage, but I omitted this completely.  It didn't need it, in my opinion, but you could certainly add it in or use something else.  Beans would probably be really good in this soup!

Also, in the original recipe, it calls for broken lasagna noodles, but I had some leftover cauliflower/potato mash so I made gnocchi instead.

To make the gnocchi, you need:

1/2 cup leftover mashed potato/veggies (any combination should work fine)
1 egg
1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour (you need just enough to make a soft dough)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix to form a dough.  Turn out on a floured surface and knead till it comes together in a nice cohesive ball. 

Roll out to about 1/4" thick (can roll it thinner if you prefer) and cut into 1/2" squares.  Set aside while you make the soup.

For the soup, you will need:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable stock (any stock is fine)
28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (original calls for 14.5 oz)
15 oz tomato sauce (use the "no salt added" kind)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 recipe gnocchi (see above; if you want, you can use a small pasta)
mozzarella and parmesan for garnish

In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat and add the onion and pepper.  Cook 8-10 minutes or until the veggies are starting to get tender.  Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes longer.

Add the stock...

... and the tomatoes, sauce, salt, and basil.

Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes.  Add gnocchi or pasta and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Here is the finished soup before the cheese is added...

... and after.

It didn't take long for the cheese to melt into the soup.  It was so incredibly yummy and my house smelled so good while it was cooking!

Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles

Mmmmm summer is coming and there's nothing like sitting out in the sun with an ice cold treat! I sometimes struggle getting enough fruit in my diet, so I came up with a solution.. combine the fruit with my treat! I'm really into blueberries at the moment, so I naturally thought of them first.

This is a SUPER SIMPLE recipe. I have a popsicle mold that makes 4, so that's what my quantities will be for. You could use paper/plastic bathroom cups that they sell in the US, you could make mini bites with ice cube trays, use whatever you have at hand.

You'll need:

Blueberries (I used a little over 1/2 cup)
Vanilla Yogurt (I used fat free from activia, 1 1/4 cup)
Honey (I used 1 tsp)

Put the blueberries and honey in a blender, and blitz to chop them up. Mix in 3/4 cup of the yogurt into the blueberry mixture, then pour evenly into the molds. Top them off with the remaining yogurt, and stick them in the freezer! Now all you have to do is wait (which is NEVER the easy part when you really want to try what you made..)

I let mine freeze for about 12 hours.. they were so YUMMY as you can tell by the nibble I took from the one in the picture! I couldn't wait to take the shot, just had to give it a bite!

Converting Oven Temperatures

Because Stacey lives across the pond and I live here in the US, we often have to convert oven temperatures from C to F and vice versa.  We try to include both temperatures in our recipes here on the blog, but in case we forget or just for your reference, here is a handy chart that has all the temperatures listed plus gas marks.  I found it here.

OVEN TEMPERATURE EQUIVALENTS

225 Fahrenheit = 110 Celsius / Centigrade = 1/4 Gas Mark = Cool

250 Fahrenheit = 130 Celsius / Centigrade = 1/2 Gas Mark = Cool

275 Fahrenheit = 140 Celsius / Centigrade = 1 Gas Mark = Very Slow

300 Fahrenheit = 150 Celsius / Centigrade = 2 Gas Mark = Very Slow

325 Fahrenheit = 170 Celsius / Centigrade = 3 Gas Mark = Slow

350 Fahrenheit = 180 Celsius / Centigrade = 4 Gas Mark = Moderate

375 Fahrenheit = 190 Celsius / Centigrade = 5 Gas Mark = Moderate

400 Fahrenheit = 200 Celsius / Centigrade = 6 Gas Mark = Moderately Hot

425 Fahrenheit = 220 Celsius / Centigrade = 7 Gas Mark = Fairly Hot

450 Fahrenheit = 230 Celsius / Centigrade = 8 Gas Mark = Hot

475 Fahrenheit = 240 Celsius / Centigrade = 9 Gas Mark = Very Hot

500 Fahrenheit = 250 Celsius / Centigrade = 10 Gas Mark = Extremely Hot

I will also find a chart to convert between volume and weight measurements and metric to standard.

Vegetable Pot Pie

I made a Quorn Turk'y version of this recipe for Thanksgiving one year and loved it so much that I decided to try a completely veggie version. 

I'll do a separate post for the pie crust recipe (view it here).  You can use a store bought pie crust dough (not one already in a pan) or your own personal favorite recipe if you so chose.

To make this recipe you will need:

1 pie crust for a 9" single-crust pie
1 tbsp butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 head cauliflower, separated into florets and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
3 carrots, diced
2 cups veggie stock (can use water instead)
1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste
1 tsp dried oregano
3 tbsp dried parsley
3 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
1 cup milk

To start, heat the 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet.  Add the veggies and spices and saute for about 10 minutes.

Add the stock or water.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

While the veggies are simmering, heat the remaining butter in a separate small saucepan.  Add flour and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the milk slowly, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.

Bring to a simmer, and cook till thickened.  This shouldn't take terribly long because of the amount of flour.

You can preheat your oven at this point to 425F/225C.

Once the milk has thickened and the veggies are cooked, add the milk mixture to the veggies and heat through till thickened.

Pour veggies into a 9"x13" baking dish.  Roll out your crust to a little bigger than the side of your dish.  Lay crust over top of the veggies and cut little vents to let out the steam.

Bake 15 minutes at 425F/225C.  Reduce the heat to 350F/180C and bake 25 minutes more.  Let cool about 15 minutes for the gravy to set and cool down a little.

This dish is seriously very good and can be made with just about any combo of veggies you and your family like.  For directions on how to make with turkey (or Quorn), see the original recipe!

Vegan Strawberry Muffins

I have been toying with the idea of eating more vegan recipes to try to be a little healthier.  Vegan muffins and other baked goods are usually just as good as their non-vegan counterparts, so I thought I'd start there.

This recipe for vegan muffins does have a lot of ingredients, but it is well worth the effort!

You will need:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar (I used turbinado)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup soymilk

1/3 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped strawberries

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C and line or grease 12 muffin cups.

In a mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients.

Next measure out your wet ingredients.

Pour the wet in with the dry and mix just till combined.

Add your strawberries and mix.

Pour in the prepared muffin pan and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

When they are done, put them on a cooling rack to cool a bit before serving.  

These are so good and so easy!  Both children loved them!

Pancake Muffins

If a muffin and pancake got together and had a baby, this would be it.  These are fast, easy, and delicious!  The recipe came from Pinterest (yep, I'm addicted now) and here's the original.  I did tweak it a little because I wanted to use blueberries instead of apple, but I thought it worked just fine!

Here's how to make them (sorry, no pictures of the process this time):

2 cups flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 cups milk (I used soy)

2 eggs

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir just till combined. 

Divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and bake in preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes (original recipe says 11-13 minutes, but that was not long enough).

Remove from pan and let cool slightly before serving.  

 

Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Food Revolution Day 2013: Confetti "Chik'n" Pasta

Here in the United States, the typical diet is very processed, very "fast food" and not very healthy overall.  People just don't cook as much as they used to, for whatever reason.  Many say they're just too busy, while others are afraid of the kitchen.  It's a sad fact that in the space of 100 years we've gone from cooking everything from scratch to not even knowing what's in our food.

When I heard about Food Revolution Day on Facebook, I got really excited.  This day (it was May 17, 2013) is all about coming back to our food roots.  It's all about celebrating fresh food that didn't come out of a box and doesn't have 50 unpronouncable ingredients.  It's all about relearning those basic cooking skills that are lacking these days (seriously, I know people that can't even boil water!).  It's all about taking back our kitchens and our health.

To celebrate FRD, I decided to make a Confetti Quorn Chik'n Pasta, based on this recipe.  Obviously, since I'm vegetarian, I used Quorn Chik'n instead of actual chicken.  This pasta was delicious and the whole family loved it!

To make this dish, you will need:

For the pasta:
1 pound pasta (I used whole wheat fettucini)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 package Quorn Chik'n cutlets, defrosted and cubed
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cups broccoli, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered

For the cream sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups half and half (I used milk)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste
1 cup parmesan, shredded


First things, first.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  While you're waiting, prep all your veggies and Quorn.

Cook your pasta.  When done, drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and add your Quorn chik'n.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the veggies and salt, except for the tomatoes.  Cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Add the butter to the veggies and continue to heat until melted.

Once melted, add the flour, salt, and garlic powder.  Stir to evenly distribute the flour in the veggies.

Cook for 3-4 minutes and then add the milk.  Bring to a simmer and cook till thickened, usually about 5 minutes.

Once thickened, add the pasta and stir to combine.

 Add the parmesan and stir till it's melted.

Add the tomatoes and gently fold them in.

Serve hot with a nice green salad and some whole wheat rolls for a delicious meal!

Honey Wheat Bread

Continuing on with my catching up, here's a really yummy recipe for a whole wheat bread.  It is great for making sandwiches and is not too dense, as sometimes whole wheat bread can be.  The original recipe, found here, is for making 3 loaves, but I always scale it back to 1 loaf so I can use my bread machine.  Speaking of bread machines, I use mine a lot for kneading my bread dough, but you can absolutely do this by hand!    

For one loaf, you will need:

1 cup warm water

1/9 cup honey (about 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp melted butter or oil

1 tsp salt

1-2/3 cups bread flour

1-1/6 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp yeast

Place all ingredients in a bread machine and use the Dough cycle.  Here's what it looked like before rising...

... and after rising.

Next, grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.  Punch down the risen dough and form into a loaf.  Place in the prepared pan.

Let rise in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes or until the loaf has risen over the top of the loaf about an inch or so.  

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C.  Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.  When done, turn out onto a cooling rack.  Let cool completely before slicing.

This bread is beyond yummy and I think you all go make some right now!  Your house will smell heavenly and you'll have a delicious loaf of bread to show for it :)

Strawberry Banana Bread

This is the second installment for my banana bread post.  This variation uses fresh strawberries to give an extra fruity element to the bread and some vanilla for a slightly different flavor.  You can view the original basic recipe here.

Let's get straight to the good stuff, shall we?

You will need:

3 over-ripe bananas
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cup flour (1 cup all-purpose + 1/2 cup whole wheat works well)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1/2 cup sugar (I used turbinado)
1/2 -3/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries (could probably use frozen as well)

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.

Peel your bananas and put them in a big mixing bowl with the melted butter.

Mash the bananas with the butter.  Add the egg...

...and mash.  Add the vanilla.

Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar.

Mix and add the strawberries.

Fold in the strawberries and put in a greased 9"x5" loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans.

Bake in the preheated oven 55-60 minutes for 9x5 pan or aobut 50 minutes for the mini loaf pans.  When done transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

This concludes the chapter on banana breads.  Stay tuned for more recipes!

Banana Nut Bread

It's a misty sort of morning in Evington, and as I will not be venturing out today (go away, cicadas!), I think today will be catch-up day, in which I will finish all these posts I've started. 

To get the ball rolling, I have two recipes for banana bread.  This one is for banana nut bread, and the other is for a strawberry banana bread.  They both use the same basic recipe, but I will do a separate post for each one.

I found this recipe a few years ago to make for my husband.  Banana bread is one of the few sweet treats he likes, so naturally I had to try it.

To make the banana nut variation, you will need:

3 over-ripe bananas
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar (I used turbinado)
1-1/2 cup flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans might be good too)

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.

Peel your bananas and place in a large mixing bowl with the melted butter.

Mash your bananas with the butter, using a potato masher.  Add the egg...

... and mash that together.

Add your flours, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

Mix and add the chopped the chopped nuts.

Fold in the nuts and scoop batter into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan or 3 greased mini loaf pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes for the 9x5 pan or about 50 minutes for the mini-loaf pans.  When done, turn out onto a cooling rack to cool.

Stay tuned for the strawberry variation!