For Once, A Recipe I Don't Like

It's not very often that I make a meal that my husband and I don't like.  Usually I can detect problems with recipes before I begin and make changes along the way.  Sometimes I make things and we think, "this would be better if...", but rarely do I throw food away.  What follows is a recipe that I threw away.

This recipe keeps circulating around Pinterest and the photo makes it look absolutely delicious.  In fact many of the reviewers liked it too (although I did find a few who agreed with me).

The recipe comes from Witty in the City and I don't like to give anything a bad review that a person made and liked themselves, but for us, this was no good. Here's the recipe:


Man-Pleasing Chicken


1.5 lb package of chicken thighs (some reviewers used breasts)
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar.

Preheat the oven to 450. Mix the sauce, pour it over the chicken, bake for 40 min. Easy as that!

You can see why I was drawn to this. Easy, fast, and (I hoped) delicious.  When I mixed up the sauce I was worried that it was too mustardy, but I went with it anyway and sure enough, it was too mustardy. It just tasted like chicken coated in mustard. If you absolutely LOVE mustard, this is the recipe for you, but my husband and I do not.  One reviewer suggested it would be good in the crockpot, another suggested using the sauce on pork. Both are intriguing ideas, but I think the sauce would need some work first. I felt like bacon was needed, in some capacity. I always think garlic is needed and definitely something is needed to cut the sharp mustard flavor.  The other option would be dip the chicken in the sauce then roll it in breadcrumbs or crushed corn flakes or crushed up dried onions. I might play around with this and get back to you, but in my opinion, this is one recipe you should not pin.

Happy eating!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

Just yesterday my mom and I were discussing the unfortunate realization (from experience) of empty calories.  When you're watching your calories you begin to gamble with yourself. "Okay, I can eat 56 goldfish crackers, but that will cost me 140 calories and I'll still be hungry. Or I can have two eggs...and be full."  Pancakes are a perfect example of a food that costs you a fair amount of calories, but doesn't fill you up, thus causing you to eat more calories later on.

A couple weeks ago my cousin sent me this recipe for Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes. What I love about recipes is how they circulate and change. The recipe on the aforementioned site was adapted from Williams Sonoma and I'm about to offer you my adapted version!  My goal here was to make a pancake that the husband and toddler would eat, but would be a bit more filling and nutritious than the average. It might cost me a few extra calories than I normally eat for breakfast, but hey, it's a Sunday and if it keeps me full for longer, than it's worth it.  I also made up a blueberry syrup to save the massive amount of calories from syrup. My cousin melted natural peanut butter over her pancakes. I imagine that would be divine as well! My version is nearly exact to the recipe posted above, but I added 2 tablespoons of flaxseed and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

 

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp.
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 ¾ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well (hole) in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the honey, eggs, milk, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Whisk together thoroughly, but do not overmix. Batter will be lumpy.
3. Gently fold the mashed bananas into the batter with a spatula.
4. Heat a griddle or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Use PAM cooking spray between each pancake. Add pancake batter using a 1/4 cup measuring cup.
5. When the pancakes have begun brown on the bottom, flip them over to cook the other side.

Extra pancakes? Freeze them! Then you can reheat them in the microwave or toaster!

I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to make 14 pancakes. Serving size is 2 pancakes:

Per serving:282 calories / 41 carbs / 8 g fat / 10 g protein

Blueberry Syrup

• 1.5 cups frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp flour (white or wheat would work)
• 1/4 cup water

1. Place frozen blueberries in a bowl and sprinkle with flour. Toss to coat then discard excess flour.

2. Combine flour-coated blueberries, strawberries, sugar and water in a small saucepan. 

3. Bring to a boil, stirring often.

4. Reduce to a simmer for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Use a potato masher or a fork to mash the fruit. 

6. Serve over pancakes!

One serving is 1/4 cup. 

Per serving: 41 calories / 11 carbs / 0 g fat / 1 g protein

The review?

I thought these were delicious.  They don't have a strong banana flavor. The banana really adds a sweetness more than anything.  They didn't feel as dense as some whole wheat pancakes can be (be sure not to over work the batter).  I dusted the top of my pancakes with a little powdered sugar too! My husband and son (who are not counting calories) ate these with butter and regular syrup and my husband, who does not love healthy versions of classics, said he would eat them again! The toddler said, "these yummy momma!"

I figure, you're saving about 300 calories by omitting butter and classic syrup alone. You might be adding a few more calories to the pancake than the classic white flour variety, but it's worth it (in my opinion) because you're adding fiber, which will keep you full longer.

Salmon Chowder and Garlic Cheddar Biscuits (+ 2 salad ideas)

 It has been in the 70's and 80's for the past two weeks and that is not normal March weather for Michigan. So today, when it did go back to normal (60's and rainy) it felt like a violent cold snap.  I was cold all day and wanted to immediately put on socks and sweaters.  My parents came for dinner and brought my grandma who recently moved to town. I decided it was soup weather. Ironically, just two days ago it was salad weather!  So I made smoked salmon chowder, cheddar biscuits, and a mixed greens salad.  

A couple weeks ago the Meijer store near me (who recently put in a fish counter) had (among other things) large smoked salmon fillets for $2.99! Not $2.99/lb, but $2.99 per pound!  I bought two fillets as well as two tortilla crusted tilapia fillets.  My husband will eat fish, but doesn't love it.  He prefers his fish fried and basically just tolerates it when we have it for dinner. So after the tilapia, I knew he wouldn't be thrilled to eat salmon again within the same week. (I, however, could eat seafood nearly everyday and be perfectly content).  Well hubby would not be joining us for dinner because he had band practice so I was thrilled when I stumbled upon salmon chowder at the blog Eating Well...Living Thin.  The recipe and nutritional info follow:


Smoked Salmon Chowder


4 slices bacon, diced (turkey bacon if you prefer)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon sugar or Splenda - *I completely omitted this
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 teaspoons Spice Blend (see below)
Dash nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
One 14.5 oz can chicken broth
1 cup fat free Half & Half  
1 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 pounds fresh salmon, cooked. - *I used smoked salmon and the two fillets were only 2/3 of a pound and it was plenty of fish.

.

Bake or grill salmon. Flake or tear into one-inch chunks and set aside.

In stockpot over low heat, add olive oil and diced bacon. Cook until bacon is crispy. 

Add onion, and garlic. Cook until onion is soft, 8 to 10 minutes. 

Add flour and seasoning and stir for 1 minute.

Increase heat to medium and add broth, cream, and milk.  Simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently.

 Reduce heat to low and add salmon. Heat through.  

Spice Blend

2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon marjoram - *omitted
1 teaspoon dill - *omitted
2 teaspoons thyme
1/2 teaspoon sage
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon tarragon - *omitted

Mix well and store in a glass jar or Ziploc bag.

Makes 8 servings approx 3/4 cup each.  Calories: 270; Total Fat: 11 g; ;  Sodium: 317 mg;  Carbohydrates: 12 g;  Fiber: 1 g;  Sugar: 5 g;  Protein: 23 g

The review?
This soup was absolutely delicious. As you see, I didn't have all of the spices so I used what I had and even still the broth was SO, SO rich in flavor.  It didn't need additional salt or anything.  My folks and grandma agreed! Everyone licked the last drop out of their bowls. I would definitely keep this recipe around.  It makes for a very fancy meal, but was easy to prepare.


I also made Garlic Cheddar Biscuits from Skinnytaste.com.  I made quite a few substitutions.  You can find the original recipe here, my version is below:

 

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
 

• 2 cups Heart Smart Bisquick
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3-4 green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 3.5 oz shredded reduced fat sharp Cheddar cheese *I didn't weigh the cheese, just threw in a handful.
• 2/3 cup fat free milk
• 2 tbsp butter, melted 
• salt

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine biscuit mix, cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, parsley and garlic powder. Stir in milk and mix (do not over mix). Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. I made 12 biscuits.

Bake for 10 minutes. Brush biscuits with melted butter then sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. 


The review?
These were absolutely amazing! They tasted very similar to Red Lobster's version! These were also a HUGE hit!  I'm not sure that my changes would alter the calories too dramatically.  The original recipe made 14 biscuits so if you are counting calories, either follow the original or make smaller biscuits to yield 14.  I will absolutely be making these again and again!


Mixed Greens Salad
Earlier this week (when we were experiencing salad weather) I made the following salad. It was so good I had to make it again for the familia just to show off.  It contained:


- A 50/50 mix of mixed greens and chopped romaine
- chopped strawberries
- pecan halves
- chopped red onion
- feta cheese


I like it with a Traverse City Cherry vinaigrette, but I've enjoyed this salad with ranch, honey mustard, and balsamic vinaigrettes.  This is my second favorite salad.  My first favorite is below:


- A 50/50 mix of mixed greens and chopped romaine 
- caramelized onions
- thinly sliced green apple
- goat cheese
- pine nuts
- dried cherries or cranberries


Happy eating everyone!!  Feel free to leave links or recipes in the comments section of anything you've tried and love!

Snacks and Sweets

Hello blog-o-sphere. Last week was crazy busy so the meals were quick and easy and nothing terribly exciting to report. I did try these oat bars, however, and I love them!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/03/22/peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-squares/ 

 

No flour! No butter! No oil! And barely any sugar! I entered this recipe into My Fitness Pal and was happy to discover that one square is only 134 calories! A great breakfast snack! I used all natural peanut butter that I buy at a local store. It is, literally, ground peanuts and maybe a hint of oil, but it's not terribly flavorful. These bars are not bursting with flavor, but I think that's perfect for a breakfast food. They taste mostly like oatmeal. The banana flavor did come out a bit stronger the longer they sat.  I love these and would definitely add them to the list of things to make again. 

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large mashed banana
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and ground cinnamon.

Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together.

Then add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all of the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cut into 9 squares and enjoy!

Per serving (1 square): 134 calories / 19 carbs / 5g fat / 5g protein

Skinny Comfort Food

My meal planning routine is the same every week.  I sit on the couch, watch the CBS Morning Show, drink coffee and plan out meals for the week.  Then, I make my grocery list accordingly.  Now that the little one requires Mickey's Clubhouse with his morning toast, I've been relegated to sitting at the bar, watching the itty-bitty kitchen TV, but the same concept still applies.  Since I'm trying to be less fat these days, my plan is usually to first figure out what sounds good (if I was that pretend person who could eat anything and still be tiny) and then I begin the search for a low cal option.

This week the hubby announced that he wanted pan-fried pork chops and potatoes. This would be a yes to the "pan-fried" referring to both the pork chops and the potatoes. I'm okay with the pork chop part, you don't need more than a spray of PAM and a cast iron skillet to get a nice crisp, but I wanted a lighter potato option.

Well if you've ever even thought about losing weight, eating healthy or you've ever searched for low-fat recipes online, you've probably stumbled upon Skinnytaste.com. The author includes nutritional info for each recipe and Weight Watchers points. Sure enough, Gina had a solution!

Skinny Scalloped Potato Gratin

 I am always looking for low fat comfort foods because, while I am completely okay with losing some of my body mass, I am not okay with giving up gooey, creamy, cheesy...anything. These were SO good and it certainly didn't feel like I was making any sacrifices!  The best part is that the serving size is a whole cup!  I didn't indulge in that much cheesy starch because I was scarfing down my food before zumba and didn't want a massive side ache, but that's low enough in calories that I will even take some for lunch tomorrow!
Here's the recipe (I didn't even make any changes!)

Skinny Potato Gratin
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 7 • Size: about a cup (1/7th) • Old Points: 2 pt • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 160.2 • Fat: 4.4 g • Carbs: 24.6 • Fiber: 1.8 • Protein: 7.2 g • Sugar: 2.6
Sodium: 42.6 mg (without salt)

Ingredients:

• olive oil spray (I used my misto)
• 6 medium peeled yukon gold potatoes, sliced 1/8-inch-thick (2 lb 4 oz peeled)
• 2 tbsp light butter, melted
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3 oz (3/4 cup) shredded reduced fat Cheddar (I used Cabot)
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tsp thyme

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray an 11 x 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, butter, salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper.

3. Arrange half of the potato slices in the baking dish; top with 1/4 cup cheese. Add the remaining potatoes. 

4. In a small saucepan, bring milk, thyme, bay leaf and nutmeg to a boil; pour over potatoes.

5. Top with remaining cheese and bake uncovered, for 45 - 50 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Copy Cat: Applebee's Oriental Chicken Wrap

I'm not terribly in love with restaurants like Applebee's.  The concept is okay, but the food is generally mediocre. You can tell the dish could have been good, you know, if it had been prepared from scratch not from a series of re-heated food items that were assembled by a hurried "cook."  Anyway, a while ago I found a dressing recipe that was supposed to taste exactly like the dressing used in the Oriental Chicken Salad... and it does!  This site has a recipe for the whole thing: salad, fried chicken, and dressing. I made ours into wraps tonight and made a few changes (of course!).  They were so good! Tasted even better than the ones in the restaurant!

Dressing:
3 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar (*tonight I used plain rice vinegar and it was fine)
1/4 cup mayo (*you can use low fat, but don't use Miracle Whip)
1 tsp. dijon dressing (*I've also used honey mustard in a bind)
1/8 tsp. sesame oil (*a teeny amount, but very necessary!)

Wisk ingredients until smooth and set aside.

The Salad:
3 cups romaine lettuce
2 cups coleslaw mix
1/2 carrot julienned or shredded (*skip this if it's in your coleslaw mix)
1 green onion, chopped (*I used 3 because they were starting to get wilty)
1 Tbsp cilantro (optional)

1 Tbsp. sliced almonds
1/3 cup chow mien noodles (*I found really thin ones [called "Asian noodles] in the ethnic aisle)

The Chicken?
You could grill/cook a chicken breast and chop it up. You could whip up some chicken tenders from scratch or frozen, or you can do what I did: use a rotisserie chicken from the store!

Assembly
I made wraps and used La Tortilla Factory Whole Wheat (100 calories) tortillas (love these, by the way). So you lay the tortilla on a plate, pile a cup or so of lettuce mixture, add a handful or chicken (about 1/3 cup), sprinkle the almonds and chow mien noodles over the top.  Then drizzle over a fair amount of dressing. Wrap it up ever so carefully (you're on your own with this!) and ENJOY!

Obviously you can enjoy this as a salad too!


A Side Dish
As a side, we had Terra brand Sweet Potato chips and a I made a dipping sauce (for the chips) by combining:
1/2 cup mayo (the real stuff)
1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce
1 garlic clove, pressed (or finely minced)

*By the way, this sauce is also amazing with sweet potato fries!

Happy eating!

Chai Oatmeal

So originally, this recipe for Overnight Chai Steel-Oats interested me

But I forgot to get some steel-cut oats at the store so I decided to invent a form of Chai-Instant Oats.  I used this recipe as well and basically combined the two ideas.  Here's my recipe:

This made two 3/4-cup servings:

1/2 cup quick-coooking oats
1 cup milk
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbs ground flax seed
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

I threw it all in a pot and brought it to a boil, then removed it from heat.  I stirred consistently to keep it from sticking.  It looked something like this:

and it was REALLY good.  It did have the Chai Tea flavor profile and it took me about 10 minutes to make! It was a nice change from my usual plain or maple and brown sugar flavors.  A brilliant idea would be to mix up the seasonings and then they'd be readily available to  add to oatmeal, coffee, tea... anything!

Those Fancy NYT Cookies from Pinterest

I continuously see this pin floating around pinterest for these New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Well yesterday I had to leave work suddenly with a migraine and, since finding a sub last minute is a hassle, three of my co-workers covered my classes for me.  There is nothing more horrible than when a fellow co-worker comes to you with watery eyes and says "Can you do me a favor?" And there goes your planning period.  So I thought I'd make it up to them by bringing everyone cookies. You can't hate a person who brings cookies!  So this was the perfect time to attempt this recipe.

 NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here's the original recipes from the blog The Other Side of 50
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour **see my note below!
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Stir all chocolate into dough using a wooden spoon. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (**see note below)

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Drop  the dough by tablespoonfuls on to the prepared cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, but still soft, 10-12 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for cooling. 


Minor Alterations
First, I put off making this recipe for a while because I did not want to purchase a bag of cake flour and  a bag of bread flour.  THEN, I discovered this tasty little tidbit: you can make your own cake flour! Check it out here.  I did buy a bag of bread flour, but this just means an excuse to bake some bread... and I'm okay with that.


Also, I happened to have a dark chocolate candy bar (85% cocao) from Trader Joe's in my pantry.  It's a small miracle that a bar such as this survived in my house for more than five minutes, but nonetheless, there it was!  So I chopped that up for the "chunks" that the recipe calls for.  I had a little over half a bag of mini-chocolate chips (I can't image who ate the missing half) so I used that in place of the regular chocolate chips.  Finally, because that Trader Joe's bar was SO bittersweet (emphasis on the bitter) I only used 2 ounces of the non-sweetened chocolate (one block).  Also, grating this kind of sucked and I was tired of doing it after one bar, so that's the other reason I used half as much.


Part of why I am not the greatest baker known to man is because I don't always read through the recipes carefully. So it didn't occur to me that the dough was supposed to be refrigerated for 24 hours until I was well into the process.  Instead, I refrigerated the dough for the length of time it takes to give a 2.5 year old a bath, put on jammies, and read about 100 bedtime stories (roughly an hour and a half).  Then I stored the dough in the fridge between batches.


The result?
They turned out pretty delicious.  Did you really think a cookie with over 2 cups of sugar and 3 kinds of chocolate could be bad?  They were flatter than I expected they would be, but I like the mix of sweet and bitter chocolate. I don't like things that are terribly sweet. You know that pin that keeps circulating for the Oreo wrapped in cookie dough, wrapped in brownie? That's not really my thing, and so these cookies were perfect.  My husband, on the other hand, would take that Oreo creation, add frosting, and enjoy it with a glass of Coke... he loved the cookies too. The shredded chocolate made them much prettier than the average chocolate chip cookie so that's a bonus if you are using them as gifts (which I was). The chocolate is also even distributed, which is nice, no chocolate-less bit with these cookies! In the end, I'd say this recipe is worth the time!

The Impetus for this Blog

For the past five or six weeks a group of coworkers and myself have been attempting to shed some pounds. We weigh-in weekly for some accountability and some of the more motivated members workout together.  Once a week I have been sending healthy recipes and snack ideas to the group.  I have taken a strange satisfaction in this even though I've received little feedback from my peers.

I have an absolute passion for food (partly why I feel the need to participate in a weight loss group).  My love for food is more than just eating it though. I love to read ANYTHING about food. Whether it be recipes (yes, I read recipes for fun), or travel blogs that feature the food of other cultures, or nutritional and healing powers of natural foods, to the food industry, I can't seem to "consume" enough info about food.

I also don't have a lot of close friends who share this love of food and cooking. I know plenty of people who love to eat food, but I love to talk about and share recipes. So my plan with this blog was to record only food items that I've made (including my inevitable substitutions) to (1) show that from-scratch cooking can be easy and (2) to hopefully build a community of cooks who love to swap and review recipes too!