Fallen Souffle

So I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 15 pounds since January! Ahh little victories. I needed this pick me up as I have not worked out in almost a week due to this stupid back pain. Though I am feeling much better today and may try to jog a bit tonight. I’m still planning to participate in the 10k this weekend even if I have to walk it!

I am finding that by cleaning up my diet I am craving less “bad” foods. I am also finding new ways to satisfy my cravings and my sweet tooth and these granola bars are definitely one of my new tricks!

I was craving granola bars earlier this week and since I am on a mission to use up food in my pantry I figured this was a great way to use some dried fruit, almond remnants and rolled oats. These babies are so yummy! They are sorta chewy which is a nice change from other granola/energy bars I have made, and come on…they look store bought! They are a tad on the sweet side as it does call for a cup of brown sugar (yikes!) but I am going to try and play around with that to reduce the sweetness. You could certainly add whatever nuts and dried fruits you wanted, even some mini chocolate chips!

Some tips I learned:
1. Line your pan with foil or parchment, because of the sugar they were not easy to get out of the pan! I actually had a bit of a meltdown at 11:15pm because they wouldn’t come out…..ok, I was kinda cranky to begin with

2. I baked these originally in a 9×9 inch pan but I think next time I will use loaf pans, place half of the mixture into one loaf pan. That way they aren’t too thick but you have the nice “store bought” shape.

3. After cooling, refrigerate the bars to firm up, otherwise they will be a pain to get out of the pan and cut. The bars stay nice and firm after they come to room temperature so you don’t have to worry about them getting too soft.

4. I would suggest individually wrapping them after cutting to make them easy and portable.

Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars

1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup toasted oats
2/3 cup raisins (I used golden raisins- yum!)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread oats on a baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 18 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Line an 9×9 inch pan with foil. Lightly oil or coat with nonstick spray.

3. In a large bowl, whisk egg, egg white, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract. Stir in toasted oats, raisins, almonds and flour.

4. Spread in prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool; cut into bars with a lightly oiled knife.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
(based on 16 individual servings)
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 2 g
Cholesterol: 14 mg
Sodium: 50 mg
Carbohydrates: 24 g
Protein: 2 g

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If you made a New Year’s resolution to eat better and lose weight well you just need to stop reading now. Ok, just kidding, but this recipe is by no means healthy or “figure friendly” but it sure is good!

Evan and I had friends over last night to watch what ended up being a Gator whooping on the Buckeyes and we had planned on making chicken wings. Well the wings were still in their bag at the end of the night so I decided we would have them for dinner tonight. I was browsing Allrecipes and found quite a few recipes for wings but decided to try something different from the traditional hot wings.

I found a recipe with a really good rating so I decided to use that as my base. I baked these to make myself feel a little better about having wings and fries on a weeknight and I promise you won’t miss the frying. The meat literally falls off the bone. These wings are super sticky but truly finger licking good. They are a sweet wing, but add a little cayenne sauce to balance out the sweetness if you like.

After these babies we decided we would have a wing bar at our Super Bowl party just so we can have more! I paired these with the Garlic Fries from Trader Joe’s, a recommendation from my Mom. Wow these were awesome very garlicky but addicting! It has inspired me to try spicing up our regular fries!

Sticky Chicken Wings

3 pounds of chicken wings
salt and pepper
1 cup flour

3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Rinse wings and pat dry. Salt and pepper to taste. Dredge wings in flour, shake off excess and place in a greased glass baking dish. (Use glass it is much easier to clean up!) Bake for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, add the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and mix, don’t worry about dissolving the sugar. After the first 20 minute bake, pour sauce over wings and increase temperature to 425 degrees. Cook an additional 25 minutes, turning wings halfway through.

4. After this baking, turn once more and broil at 500 degrees for about 5 minutes until they get a bit crispy.

5. Serve immediately with lots of napkins!

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I made these over a month ago when my sister was visiting and the only reason I haven’t posted it yet is because I could never get a good picture of it. So you are just going to have to live without a picture because they have all been gobbled up and frankly Evan said they looked like bird seed. But they are very tasty, easy to make in a food processor and oh so good for you!

Ellie’s Energy Bars
Cooking spray
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pitted dried dates
1/2 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.

Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes. Cut into 20 squares.

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One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh, sweet fruit. I went a little nuts today and bought a load of it including pineapple, canteloupe, clementines, limes, apricots (which I have never eaten fresh-only dried) and these beauties. I still have blueberries and peaches to eat from last weekend!

I think I could eat fruit all day and be quite happy.

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This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge calls us all to find our inner Mexican…hmm…that sounds very wrong…anyways…it’s time to find creative and fun dishes to help us all celebrate this fun holiday.

So I decided to go with the obvious choice of salsa only because I bought a bunch of cilantro and tomatoes at the farmer’s market this week and I have just the recipe for them. I participated in a recipe swap a few month’s back and this is one of the recipes I received from my partner. I decided it was high time to put this recipe to use, I mean come on isn’t that the purpose of this challenge!

This takes no time to whip up in the food processor. I made another salsa recipe on Friday and I hand chopped everything which was way too labor intensive and resulted in a way too chunky salsa. This recipe looks like it came from a mexican restaurant and tastes wonderful. I used a can of the original Rotel which created a nice and spicy salsa, though I noticed they have a milder version as well if you want to play it safe. Now I just need a good margarita…

You’ll Never Go Back Salsa
from my swap partner Kendall

1 can Rotel, drained
1 onion (I used half of a large white onion)
1 large tomato, seeds and juice squeezed out
1 bunch of cilantro (just add to taste really)
1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves chopped
juice of half a lime

1. In the food processor add garlic, onion, cilantro and fresh tomato. Pulse until there are no longer large chunks of tomato. Add Rotel, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Pulse until desired consistency.

2. Chill for about 30 minutes and then enjoy.

**Jen’s note: I found the salsa to be a bit on the watery side (probably due to the fresh tomato), so I chose to drain a bit of the juice off after I made it.

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I am so excited to be taking part in my first Blog Party hosted by the lovely Stephanie over at Dispensing Happiness.

So the theme is Red and Hot. Hmm…a drink and appetizer that is both red and hot. For the drink, I immediately thought Bloody Mary, but I decided to think out of the box. Therefore I came up with a mulled wine. See..it’s hot (literally) and it uses red wine. So it looks kind purple but it’s pretty close. This recipe is pretty sweet so if you aren’t keen on sweet wines omit the brown sugar or use something like cranberry juice instead of pineapple.

This is great for parties or make a whole batch and keep it in the fridge and reheat as you wish.

Mulled Wine

1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups pineapple juice
1 cup orange juice
6 whole cloves
3 whole allspice berries
2 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups red wine
2 oranges
8 cinnamon sticks, garnish

1. In a large non-aluminum saucepan, combine water, brown sugar, pineapple juice, and orange juice. Season with cloves, allspice, 2 cinnamon sticks and salt. Cut the rind of 2 oranges into strips and stir into the mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Pour in the wine. Heat to just boiling and remove from heat. Serve hot with a cinnamon stick for garnish.

For the appetizer, I looked to an old favorite…roasted red pepper hummus. It’s quick and easy to put together and most of the ingredients are probably in your pantry already. Hummus is great because you can put any extra flavors in it, my sister likes plain garlic while my Mom and I love the red peppers. I also add hot sauce to give it a little kick! This is so cheap to make, it’s a pity that people pay for it in the deli. Hummus is also very healthy, just add some toasted pita chips and you are set for a party of a quick snack. It also can be used as a sandwich spread.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 can chick peas
3 tablespoons tahini
juice of a lemon
1 tablespoon minced garlic (or more)
2 whole roasted red peppers
1 teaspoon of salt
hot sauce, however much you like!

1. Drain chick peas but reserve juice. In a food processor, dump in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until smooth. Add liquid as necessary to smooth out the consistency.

2. Chill or serve at room temperature.

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It’s December 31, you have just been invited to an impromptu New Year’s Eve party. Your fridge is stocked full of holiday leftovers that are on their last leg, you haven’t been to the grocery store since Christmas and you have no desire to go today. You flip through cookbook after cookbook and surf the internet for an easy but crowd pleasing appetizer but have come up with nothing. Velvetta and Rotel? Too predictable. Crockpot meatballs? Not enough time. Chips and leftover bean dip? Shame on you for even considering! Finally there is a glimmer of hope! INA! The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook ofcourse how could I neglect! The New Years Eve party is saved…and so is your dignity!

Ok so that’s kinda dramatic but I just realized yesterday that I needed to bring something to a get together tonight. I brought a dessert bread home but wanted to bring an appetizer that everyone could munch on. I am down to slim pickins in the pantry and I really don’t want to go to the store until next week. While Evan was out watching the Pack play I perused my cookbooks and found this yummy recipe from Ina’s cookbook. With a quick check of the fridge I discovered I had all of the ingredients! What luck!

I posted my adapted version because let me just tell you..this woman loves some fat. I mean not that it was a huge secret or anything but this recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of butter as well as 1/4 cup of oil. Happy New Year, here is your heart attack! I was literally ladling oil out of the pan so the onions wouldn’t be suffocated in this artery clogging pool. I kept the butter for flavor but cut down the oil to couple of tablespoons, yeah it was that much oil. Another tip, use a mandolin for the onions! My husband thought one of the dogs died on the kitchen floor with as much as I was weeping and dripping…it was not pretty.

I used all lowfat ingredients except the butter, I know so un-Ina but I would like to live to have children. The flavor comes from the onions anyways so I didn’t notice the difference. I will serve this with some toasted Farmhouse White Bread from the bakery. So good!

Pan Fried Onion Dip
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

3 cups thinly sliced white or yellow onions (about 3 medium sized)
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (add more if your onions are burning)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 ounces of room temperature cream cheese (I used the 1/3 fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat free)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used light)

1. Heat butter and oil in large saute pan on medium heat. Add onions and spices and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow onions to cool.

2. Cream together cream cheese, mayo and sour cream with a hand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add onions and mix well. Season to your taste.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year! It is so hard to believe that tomorrow is 2006!

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I confess, I have started on the “eat good for the New Year” bandwagon. There is something about starting fresh and clean after gorging for days over the holidays. OK I didn’t gorge that much but I ate a lot of desserts. So I have been trying to eat a balanced diet and getting plenty of calcium and a serving or two of soy. While grocery shopping I got a hankering for yogurt and granola. I was about to buy a box of low fat granola when I realized it would be cheaper and healthier to just make it myself. Though I have issues with most granola recipes as they call for crazy amount of oil or butter totally defeating the purpose in my book. So after some research I came up with this recipe inspired by my Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Throw it on top of some vanilla yogurt and you got yourself breakfast.

The good thing about granola is that you don’t have to measure too much and you can throw just about anything into it. I would stick with the measurements for the wet ingredients and the oats but after that, have at it. I threw in some sesame seeds which were really yummy. I would have liked to have had more nuts in this, but I didn’t have any so like I said just use this as a reference and adjust to your liking.

Healthy Granola

3 cups old fashion oats
3/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon of melted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 package of dried fruit (I used the package of chopped mixed fruits)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread oats to a single layer. Toast for about 15 minutes until slightly browned, stirring once you will be able to smell them. Let cool.

2. Mix wet ingredients and in a large bowl add oats and nuts and seeds of your choice. Spread mixture onto baking sheet and toast in oven for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Keep an eye on this after about 12 minutes because it doesn’t take too much for it to burn. After nicely toasted let cool completely.

3. Break up pieces and stir in dried fruit. Store in air tight container.

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