The bean burritos are something I've never done before. I soaked my black beans overnight, and then at 5 this morning when Baby A woke up to eat, I went downstairs after she was snug in bed again and rinsed the beans, putting them into the crock pot with enough water to cover them 1 inch plus some salt, and stuck it on low. At 9am I stirred them, adding more salt, and then left them until noon... time to turn them into refried beans. To do that, I drained and rinsed them. Then I sautéed a bit of onion in a pan with some lard (bacon fat would have been wonderful had I had some), put the beans in with enough water to mash them into a paste, and added chili powder, cumin, oregano, and a dash or two of garlic powder, plus salt to taste. The recipe called for one can refried beans plus 1 tsp chili, and 1/2 each cumin and oregano and a dash of garlic. I didn't measure. I also made my own tortilla shells.
Tortilla Shells
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
salt
1 Tbsp lard
3/4 cup water
Mix dry ingredients, add lard and blend with fingers until the mix feels like cornmeal. Add water and knead until elastic and smooth. Divide into 12 balls. On a floured surface, roll out one tortilla shell very thin. Fry it in a pan over medium heat until it bubbles on one side. Flip and fry a little longer. You might be able to roll out your next tortilla shell in the time it takes to fry it. When done, place on a plate with a towel over top to keep it warm (and prevent it from drying out). Makes 12 medium tortillas.
To make the burritos, we assemble them at the table. We like to mix in sour cream, green onions, peppers, salsa, cheese, or whatever else we have on hand. The kids enjoyed these as they didn't fall apart as easily as our usual burritos.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
How to Save in the Kitchen
A friend of mine asked me recently to post some tips for stretching a dollar in the kitchen. I'm still learning how to do many things myself, but my mom taught me a lot about stretching expensive foods like meat, and using every bit of what we cook in one way or another. Also, baking. Yes, baking. Even though I don't care to bake (unless it's new stuff, as I get tired of making the same old things all the time), it really saves a lot of money and gives you healthier fare that tastes SO much better than store bought. It just... takes more time.
Anyway, here are a few things I've learned from my mom, my grandma, and some awesome tips I've been using from Pinterest. Yes... I love Pinterest (I think I'm an addict! Oh boy!)
Meal Planning - I find that having a list of staples to keep on hand at all times greatly helps in this department as I plan the majority of my meals around those staple items. However, if I have some new recipes I'd like to try, or find something on a great sale in the flyer that I'd like to take advantage of, I will find and plan meals that may have ingredients I don't usually have around. I then only need to shop once for the week. Oh, and another great advantage to meal planning is that I love using the leftovers in soup, or cooking more than I need for that one meal and purposely saving some for another (I do this before serving often so that it doesn't all get eaten... the more you put on the table, the more you will eat... no joke). I do this often with steamed rice or root veggies.
Eggs - I like to have eggs for breakfast, but they can be pricey. To stretch them, I generally have steamed potatoes/carrots/celery/yams the night before, saving the leftovers to fry up with some sautéed onions/mushrooms, and then scrambling the eggs right in the mix. I also like to throw in some greens (spinach is my fave). I've heard of using chia seeds mixed with water for baking... never tried it myself, though, and don't know the price comparison.
Ground Beef - My mom did her best to stretch this staple by using oatmeal or bread crumbs (from dried bread crusts... see that tip here), and I still do that myself (to me, a burger doesn't taste right unless it has oatmeal in it). Another thing I learned rather early on was the wonderful power of kidney beans! I always mix one can of kidney or black beans (or even bean blends, there are so many out there) with one pound of ground beef when making sloppy joes, chili (it isn't right without beans anyway), or casseroles. To make one pound of beef last for more than one meal, make chili, and then use the leftovers to make a casserole with mashed potatoes, or noodles. Or, turn the leftovers into two meals of soup by dividing it in half. I make soup 3 times a week. Use a little beef stock, lots of water, your leftover chili, and add veggies, rice, pearled barley, or any other leftovers in your fridge. And celery. I always love to add a little celery. You can even add the greens of the celery to the soup, they work great!
Chicken - I stopped buying boneless and skinless chicken. Instead, I use the bones! Sound weird? Yeah, I thought so too. We get the cheapest chicken, legs back on, and we use it in the slow cooker and save the bones (debone them before putting them on our plate to eat) and boil them later on for bone broth. Alternatively, you can take your chicken and boil it to make chicken stock, removing the chicken meat to be used in another meal (mmm, casseroles), and saving the bones yet again for bone stock later. To make bone or chicken stock, put your meat in a LARGE pot of water and add one chopped onion, one peeled and chopped carrot, chopped celery, star anise seed, and one or two bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 4 hours or so. When done, strain everything out, and voila! Broth! I generally add noodles, leftover deboned chicken, freshly chopped carrots/celery, etc. Makes a great meal with homemade buns!
Cheese - Don't bother with the processed stuff. Just... save your money. It isn't worth it. I get the real stuff from the local plant! It is cheapest to buy it local rather than from the chain grocery store. We save at least 30cents per hundred grams for exactly the same cheese. And if you can find the stuff you want in the 'ends' bin (the cut-offs don't look or pack as nicely, but they taste just as great) you can get it for yet less! Oh, and a good rule of thumb... if you like to cook with cheese, old cheddar will give you much more flavor for less volume of cheese than mild cheddar. You can shred it and freeze it! And I never use as much as the recipes call for. I just add a little extra salt.
Salad - Buying salads at restaurants is super pricey. Make them at home, and have them with just about every meal that you can. They fill you up so you don't need as much of the more pricey meats or sides, and they are great for nutrition and digestion! And in summer you can grow your own greens!
Dry Beans vs. Canned - To save even more, buy dry beans instead of canned, and cook them yourself in a slow cooker overnight. One pinner says to soak the beans in water overnight, and then put into a slow cooker with fresh water that covers the beans by one or two inches plus some salt (they say 1 tsp) Set to cook low for 8 hours (although it probably won't need that long) and after 4 put in another tsp of salt and stir. Here is a link. You can freeze what is left in baggies for later use.
Drink Water - One way our household has saved loads on our grocery bill is by getting rid of all beverages except for water. Before kids, we used to buy orange juice and iced tea... a lot. I noticed after awhile how much money we were spending on the stuff, and my husband was drinking it so fast that I would hardly get one glass per pitcher, so I said no more. We drink water. It saves us at least $30/month... if not more. And this is just the unhealthy beverages... and we never bought pop! (yes... I consider orange juice unhealthy... it is pretty much just sugar at that point). We still buy tea. And now more than ever (I never really drank tea, but now it is a daily thing. One cup of camomile tea before bed helps me and the baby sleep).
Make your own Breads - I don't do this as much as I should, but baking your own bread and buns saves you money. I generally get a 10kg bag of flour for $7 when on sale and I can make 10 batches of buns per bag (the estimation is 4.5 cups per pound of flour, so approximately 100 cups to a 10kg bag, and each batch uses 10 cups and makes 5 dozen buns)... I estimate one dozen buns for about 35 cents (my recipe calls for oil, eggs, and molasses... which ups the cost a bit). You cannot buy buns or bread for that cheap. Like tortillas? Making your own tortilla shells will save you LOTS since they are little more than flour, baking powder, salt, and water. Mix them yourself and you can make one batch for 20 cents... which will give you the same amount you buy in a store for $3. Quite the markup!
Bake your own Cookies - Buying bakery cookies isn't cheap. Again, you can make them yourself for a fraction of the cost and using healthier ingredients as well. Buying processed cookies may be cheaper than the bakery ones, but they are NOT good for you and I would not recommend them (I like them once in a while myself... but I still try hard to stay away as I can eat 1/2 a bag in no time). Oh, and the fact that they are eaten rather quickly is the other problem. They have addictive properties that will lead you to eat them quicker than the bakery cookies would, plus there is little to no fiber in them, so they won't help you feel full and again, lead to eating more. The bag will not last as long as a homemade batch of cookies would! And who doesn't like homemade chocolate chip cookies over store bought?
Take stock of your perishables - This seems like a no brainer, but I have to remember to do this so often. I hate when I look in the fridge to find an item I forgot I had that expired. So, every week I go through my fridge to take inventory of what I have in there that may go bad soon (this includes leftovers... I try to make use of them within three days of putting them in there). Make sure to include meals in your meal planning that can make good use of any leftovers or of produce/dairy that will go bad soon. Baking is great for using up things like bananas, bruised apples (just cut off the bruises), sour cream, and yogurt. Those are the things that tend to go bad quick in my house. And avocados. Why? Because I don't buy the singles, I get the packs of 5 and forget they are there. Oops. That's when I like to make chocolate avocado pudding! Mmmm, good stuff! ( I really should put that recipe on here! I can't believe I haven't done so yet!).
Wait for Sales - You can save so much by doing this. Most sales cycle every 2 months or so, and buying imperishable items to last you that length of time will save you lots! For example, I do not buy flour at full price. I wait for our local Superstore to get the $7 sale on the 10 kg bags (they always limit to one bag per customer). I'll get one, then if my husband goes to town at some point and is in the area, I get him to nab another. I will buy produce in the 50% off section as often as I can (but only if I think I'll actually use it up). I'll nab canned goods on sale as well. I have a list of staples in my house that I base most of my meal planning off of. I do not clip coupons... but I save on the sales. Oh, and this goes double for things like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. And don't forget to get rain checks on something that the store is out of! It may seem like a waste of time, but if you were there for a sale item and they ran out, you aren't out of luck completely this way.
Well, that's all I can really think of right now! I've been trying more things like sprouting lentils instead of buying sprouts themselves for stir fry (never done this before, and the sprouts are looking oh-so-good right now! The kids loved watching them grow!), and using seeds from produce to grow my own (instead of paying $2-5 per seed packet in stores).
Anyway, here are a few things I've learned from my mom, my grandma, and some awesome tips I've been using from Pinterest. Yes... I love Pinterest (I think I'm an addict! Oh boy!)
Meal Planning - I find that having a list of staples to keep on hand at all times greatly helps in this department as I plan the majority of my meals around those staple items. However, if I have some new recipes I'd like to try, or find something on a great sale in the flyer that I'd like to take advantage of, I will find and plan meals that may have ingredients I don't usually have around. I then only need to shop once for the week. Oh, and another great advantage to meal planning is that I love using the leftovers in soup, or cooking more than I need for that one meal and purposely saving some for another (I do this before serving often so that it doesn't all get eaten... the more you put on the table, the more you will eat... no joke). I do this often with steamed rice or root veggies.
Eggs - I like to have eggs for breakfast, but they can be pricey. To stretch them, I generally have steamed potatoes/carrots/celery/yams the night before, saving the leftovers to fry up with some sautéed onions/mushrooms, and then scrambling the eggs right in the mix. I also like to throw in some greens (spinach is my fave). I've heard of using chia seeds mixed with water for baking... never tried it myself, though, and don't know the price comparison.
Ground Beef - My mom did her best to stretch this staple by using oatmeal or bread crumbs (from dried bread crusts... see that tip here), and I still do that myself (to me, a burger doesn't taste right unless it has oatmeal in it). Another thing I learned rather early on was the wonderful power of kidney beans! I always mix one can of kidney or black beans (or even bean blends, there are so many out there) with one pound of ground beef when making sloppy joes, chili (it isn't right without beans anyway), or casseroles. To make one pound of beef last for more than one meal, make chili, and then use the leftovers to make a casserole with mashed potatoes, or noodles. Or, turn the leftovers into two meals of soup by dividing it in half. I make soup 3 times a week. Use a little beef stock, lots of water, your leftover chili, and add veggies, rice, pearled barley, or any other leftovers in your fridge. And celery. I always love to add a little celery. You can even add the greens of the celery to the soup, they work great!
Chicken - I stopped buying boneless and skinless chicken. Instead, I use the bones! Sound weird? Yeah, I thought so too. We get the cheapest chicken, legs back on, and we use it in the slow cooker and save the bones (debone them before putting them on our plate to eat) and boil them later on for bone broth. Alternatively, you can take your chicken and boil it to make chicken stock, removing the chicken meat to be used in another meal (mmm, casseroles), and saving the bones yet again for bone stock later. To make bone or chicken stock, put your meat in a LARGE pot of water and add one chopped onion, one peeled and chopped carrot, chopped celery, star anise seed, and one or two bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 4 hours or so. When done, strain everything out, and voila! Broth! I generally add noodles, leftover deboned chicken, freshly chopped carrots/celery, etc. Makes a great meal with homemade buns!
Cheese - Don't bother with the processed stuff. Just... save your money. It isn't worth it. I get the real stuff from the local plant! It is cheapest to buy it local rather than from the chain grocery store. We save at least 30cents per hundred grams for exactly the same cheese. And if you can find the stuff you want in the 'ends' bin (the cut-offs don't look or pack as nicely, but they taste just as great) you can get it for yet less! Oh, and a good rule of thumb... if you like to cook with cheese, old cheddar will give you much more flavor for less volume of cheese than mild cheddar. You can shred it and freeze it! And I never use as much as the recipes call for. I just add a little extra salt.
Salad - Buying salads at restaurants is super pricey. Make them at home, and have them with just about every meal that you can. They fill you up so you don't need as much of the more pricey meats or sides, and they are great for nutrition and digestion! And in summer you can grow your own greens!
Dry Beans vs. Canned - To save even more, buy dry beans instead of canned, and cook them yourself in a slow cooker overnight. One pinner says to soak the beans in water overnight, and then put into a slow cooker with fresh water that covers the beans by one or two inches plus some salt (they say 1 tsp) Set to cook low for 8 hours (although it probably won't need that long) and after 4 put in another tsp of salt and stir. Here is a link. You can freeze what is left in baggies for later use.
Drink Water - One way our household has saved loads on our grocery bill is by getting rid of all beverages except for water. Before kids, we used to buy orange juice and iced tea... a lot. I noticed after awhile how much money we were spending on the stuff, and my husband was drinking it so fast that I would hardly get one glass per pitcher, so I said no more. We drink water. It saves us at least $30/month... if not more. And this is just the unhealthy beverages... and we never bought pop! (yes... I consider orange juice unhealthy... it is pretty much just sugar at that point). We still buy tea. And now more than ever (I never really drank tea, but now it is a daily thing. One cup of camomile tea before bed helps me and the baby sleep).
Make your own Breads - I don't do this as much as I should, but baking your own bread and buns saves you money. I generally get a 10kg bag of flour for $7 when on sale and I can make 10 batches of buns per bag (the estimation is 4.5 cups per pound of flour, so approximately 100 cups to a 10kg bag, and each batch uses 10 cups and makes 5 dozen buns)... I estimate one dozen buns for about 35 cents (my recipe calls for oil, eggs, and molasses... which ups the cost a bit). You cannot buy buns or bread for that cheap. Like tortillas? Making your own tortilla shells will save you LOTS since they are little more than flour, baking powder, salt, and water. Mix them yourself and you can make one batch for 20 cents... which will give you the same amount you buy in a store for $3. Quite the markup!
Bake your own Cookies - Buying bakery cookies isn't cheap. Again, you can make them yourself for a fraction of the cost and using healthier ingredients as well. Buying processed cookies may be cheaper than the bakery ones, but they are NOT good for you and I would not recommend them (I like them once in a while myself... but I still try hard to stay away as I can eat 1/2 a bag in no time). Oh, and the fact that they are eaten rather quickly is the other problem. They have addictive properties that will lead you to eat them quicker than the bakery cookies would, plus there is little to no fiber in them, so they won't help you feel full and again, lead to eating more. The bag will not last as long as a homemade batch of cookies would! And who doesn't like homemade chocolate chip cookies over store bought?
Take stock of your perishables - This seems like a no brainer, but I have to remember to do this so often. I hate when I look in the fridge to find an item I forgot I had that expired. So, every week I go through my fridge to take inventory of what I have in there that may go bad soon (this includes leftovers... I try to make use of them within three days of putting them in there). Make sure to include meals in your meal planning that can make good use of any leftovers or of produce/dairy that will go bad soon. Baking is great for using up things like bananas, bruised apples (just cut off the bruises), sour cream, and yogurt. Those are the things that tend to go bad quick in my house. And avocados. Why? Because I don't buy the singles, I get the packs of 5 and forget they are there. Oops. That's when I like to make chocolate avocado pudding! Mmmm, good stuff! ( I really should put that recipe on here! I can't believe I haven't done so yet!).
Wait for Sales - You can save so much by doing this. Most sales cycle every 2 months or so, and buying imperishable items to last you that length of time will save you lots! For example, I do not buy flour at full price. I wait for our local Superstore to get the $7 sale on the 10 kg bags (they always limit to one bag per customer). I'll get one, then if my husband goes to town at some point and is in the area, I get him to nab another. I will buy produce in the 50% off section as often as I can (but only if I think I'll actually use it up). I'll nab canned goods on sale as well. I have a list of staples in my house that I base most of my meal planning off of. I do not clip coupons... but I save on the sales. Oh, and this goes double for things like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. And don't forget to get rain checks on something that the store is out of! It may seem like a waste of time, but if you were there for a sale item and they ran out, you aren't out of luck completely this way.
Well, that's all I can really think of right now! I've been trying more things like sprouting lentils instead of buying sprouts themselves for stir fry (never done this before, and the sprouts are looking oh-so-good right now! The kids loved watching them grow!), and using seeds from produce to grow my own (instead of paying $2-5 per seed packet in stores).
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Bright Beet Pancakes
Since Thursday was Valentine's day, and we can't all have breakfast together on Thursdays due to preschool, I decided that we'd have our 'Valentine's Breakfast' on Friday instead... and we made these bright pancakes together. They turned out rather well, and although more work than my usual pancake recipe, the kids loved them and I would probably make them again... as long as I already had beet puree prepared before hand. This recipe was once again adapted from Parenting magazine... see page 54 on the Feb 2013 issue for more fun things to do with beets.
Bright Beet Pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar (I omitted this and used a bit less than 1/4 cup date paste*)
1 Tbsp baking powder
dash salt
3/4 cup beet puree** (enough from one beet)
1 1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1 large egg
3 Tbsp melted butter (if salted, omit the salt from the recipe)
1 tsp vanilla.
Sift together flours, sugar (if using this. If using date paste, put that in with the wet ingredients), baking powder and salt into a medium bowl
Whisk together the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Once blended, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop about 2 Tbsp of batter onto a greased pan (or pancake griddle) over medium heat. Cook 3 minutes per side. Serve with raspberry sauce, honey, or syrup.
We just buttered ours and added fruit to the top. We also added thawed strawberries and raspberries to the batter to stretch it a bit, and that fruit tasted great in there!
* To make date paste, take as many dates as you can manage and pack them tightly into a large measuring cup. Add water just to fill in the spaces to let them soak and soften (if they are soft enough already, I believe you can skip this step). Soak for 1-4 hours, depending (some say 1hr, some say overnight... I just do whatever until they feel soft enough to process alright). Drain and reserve liquid, and put the dates into the food processor. Process until smooth. If very thick, add some of the reserved liquid. Put in the fridge for up to 3 months. It probably won't last that long though, if you are like me. :) Use as a substitute for sugar in recipes!
**Basic roasted beets: Preheat oven to 375F. Wrap the beets in tinfoil and bake 45-60 minutes, until fork tender. Remove from the foil and set aside until cool to touch. Wear disposable plastic food gloves (or use Ziploc baggies over your hands) to avoid staining your skin, and rub the skins off the beets. Puree in food processor until smooth.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Chocolate Velvet Beet Cupcakes
Adapted this recipe from Parenting Magazine. Made it a sugar free recipe!
This is a nice alternative to red velvet chocolate cupcakes. The flavor is chocolaty, the color is a deep red/brown, and the frosting a lovely deep pink color. My kids loved these, and while I wasn't sure how well these would turn out, they were surprisingly good! I am not a fan of beets, and while you can taste them in this recipe slightly, the cream cheese and the cocoa balance things out nicely so that the beets do not take center stage. At all. In fact, if I didn't still smell them in the air from baking them, I don't think I would have noticed them at all!
Chocolate Velvet Beet Cupcakes
Ingredients
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat, half unbleached white)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar (I omitted this and added 3/4 cup date paste* to the wet ingredients)
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted this completely)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I melted coconut oil in its place)
1 large beet, roasted and pureed** (about 3/4 cup puree)
2 tsp vanilla
NOTE: I found this very thick as there was no milk listed originally, so I added about 1/2 cup milk to the batter. I found out on the website that apparently they forgot to add the 1 cup milk to the recipe in the magazine. They turned out OK though, either way.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the rest of the ingredients. Slowly stir in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients mixture. Pour into 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting:
Place into a mixer and beat on medium high until blended:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter (I used coconut oil)
1/4 cup powdered sugar (I used honey instead)
1/2 cup beat puree
1 tsp vanilla
* To make date paste, take as many dates as you can manage and pack them tightly into a large measuring cup. Add water just to fill in the spaces to let them soak and soften (if they are soft enough already, I believe you can skip this step). Soak for 1-4 hours, depending (some say 1hr, some say overnight... I just do whatever until they feel soft enough to process alright). Drain and reserve liquid, and put the dates into the food processor. Process until smooth. If very thick, add some of the reserved liquid. Put in the fridge for up to 3 months. It probably won't last that long though, if you are like me. :) Use as a substitute for sugar in recipes!
**Basic roasted beets: Preheat oven to 375F. Wrap the beets in tinfoil and bake 45-60 minutes, until fork tender. Remove from the foil and set aside until cool to touch. Wear disposable plastic food gloves (or use Ziploc baggies over your hands) to avoid staining your skin, and rub the skins off the beets. Puree in food processor until smooth.
Friday, January 25, 2013
No Sugar Cardamum-Pear Muffins
So, I've started on 'no sugar' since the beginning of the year (got on board a little late and so the 3rd was my first official day), and I found this recipe today in a magazine for muffins. I love muffins. I usually like to grab a bran muffin when we go out vs a doughnut because, to me, they taste better and give me more energy. Well, muffins have sugar. The ones from bakeries have lots of sugar. So... no muffins for 90 days? Really?
As I was reading the recipe (in my 'Fresh Juice' magazine), I noticed that it did have sugar, but I've modified a few of my tried tested and true recipes to remove sugar completely, and figured I wanted to give this one a shot as well.
So, I did!
I actually changed the recipe quite a bit... and I doubled it so I could use up ingredients that I had that were needing to be used up NOW. I don't want to trash good Greek yogurt, after all! Oh the horror! So, this is the recipe, and the changes I made to it.
Cardamom-Pear Muffins
Ingredients
1 398mL can pear halves in juice from concentrate, drained
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used about 1 Tbsp honey instead... yes, it is sweet enough)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup natural bran
1 cup each whole wheat flour and all purpose flour
1/3 cup ground flax seed (I don't have this, so I used some hemp seed hearts for salads)
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cardamom or cinnamon (mm... cinnamon)
dash salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional... I actually used almonds instead)
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, grease, set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the pears, add milk, yogurt, oil, egg, molasses, sugar/honey, and vanilla. Beat until blended. Stir in bran and let sit 5 minutes.
In a separate large bowl, mix flours, flax seed, baking soda, cardamom/cinnamon, and salt. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until the flours are incorporated (mixture is actually really thick!).
Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling to top. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake in center of 375F oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cool.
As I was reading the recipe (in my 'Fresh Juice' magazine), I noticed that it did have sugar, but I've modified a few of my tried tested and true recipes to remove sugar completely, and figured I wanted to give this one a shot as well.
So, I did!
I actually changed the recipe quite a bit... and I doubled it so I could use up ingredients that I had that were needing to be used up NOW. I don't want to trash good Greek yogurt, after all! Oh the horror! So, this is the recipe, and the changes I made to it.
Cardamom-Pear Muffins
Ingredients
1 398mL can pear halves in juice from concentrate, drained
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used about 1 Tbsp honey instead... yes, it is sweet enough)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup natural bran
1 cup each whole wheat flour and all purpose flour
1/3 cup ground flax seed (I don't have this, so I used some hemp seed hearts for salads)
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cardamom or cinnamon (mm... cinnamon)
dash salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional... I actually used almonds instead)
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, grease, set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the pears, add milk, yogurt, oil, egg, molasses, sugar/honey, and vanilla. Beat until blended. Stir in bran and let sit 5 minutes.
In a separate large bowl, mix flours, flax seed, baking soda, cardamom/cinnamon, and salt. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until the flours are incorporated (mixture is actually really thick!).
Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling to top. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake in center of 375F oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cool.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Woah! Nesting, much?
I'm pregnant, and not quite 13 weeks along... but my morning sickness has gone down and so I believe I'm in nesting mode. Why? Let me count the ways...
Ways counted? A little much, perhaps... but I started by power cleaning my oven with baking soda paste last week Wednesday, and so the kitchen mayhem continues. Unfortunately, due to pie spillage, I need to clean my oven again. Ah well. Now that I know how, it won't take long. :)
Plus... lately, it feels like autumn to me. Fall means cooking, baking, pies, etc. I'm not sure why. And it's only mid August. This is insane.
And here's a pic of today's pies...
Should have put the tinfoil on the three apple, but that tinfoil did NOT want to cooperate on the blueberry, so I left it off. Hate working with something that won't stay!
- Friday last week I baked 1 dozen fruit bran muffins... strawberry and blueberry (they were tasty)
- Monday I baked blueberry crisp... with fresh berries I got at 50% off which were already on sale for $4 for almost 1kg. (that was tasty too... baked goods don't seem to last long here)
- Tuesday I baked 5 dozen buns, freezing over 3 dozen of them.
- Today I made a batch of lasagna, freezing 1/2 and having half for supper.
- Today I cooked an extra lb of beef for perishky I'm planning on making on Friday
- Today I used the last of the blueberries and made a blueberry pie (I've never made one before), then proceeded to peel, core, and chop 9 crab apples and 2 regular ones, and made 3 apple pies. I think I've made an apple pie once before, but it's been forever (cause I hate making pie crust... and here I made for 4 two crust pies... at once... I'm insane).
- Tomorrow's plan is to make mashed potatoes for supper with enough extras for the perishky on Friday. I also plan to bake cookies.
- Friday I'll be making the perishky.
Ways counted? A little much, perhaps... but I started by power cleaning my oven with baking soda paste last week Wednesday, and so the kitchen mayhem continues. Unfortunately, due to pie spillage, I need to clean my oven again. Ah well. Now that I know how, it won't take long. :)
Plus... lately, it feels like autumn to me. Fall means cooking, baking, pies, etc. I'm not sure why. And it's only mid August. This is insane.
And here's a pic of today's pies...
Monday, January 23, 2012
Dumplings
I cannot find the specific site I used to make the dumplings, but I didn't use any one recipe anyway as I sort of made my own. They don't look great, but if you look up dumplings on google, and search out tips on how to fold them and make your own, you'll get there! It will take me a while to get better I'm sure.
Dough
1 cup flour plus 1/4 cup water (plus extra if you need, and extra flour for work surface).
Mix the flour and the water. Add a little water if needed. The dough should stick together and pull away from the bowl slightly. I read it is better if the dough is too wet rather than too dry, but it should be workable. Knead 20 times, then roll into a ball and place under a damp cloth for 15 minutes.
Roll into a log, and cut into 'rounds' (this amount should make 20, but I only cut enough for 12, so my dough was thicker, but that's ok). Roll into a circle shape using your rolling pin, place filling in center (about 1 Tbsp) and press filling until not loose. Grab the dough, fold over the filling, and pinch in the center. Then you can make folds all along one side of the pinch until you have a teardrop shape at the end, pinch that together, and do the same for the other side of the center. You should only see folds on one side of your dumpling, the other side would be 'flat'. Really, look this up. I don't thing it really matters how you close them for eatibility sake, but it looks kinda cool. I think this site may have some tips (it isn't the one I used, but I can't find that one now.) Boil until they float, and you are done! Serve with soya sauce for dipping.
Filling - What I used (not an actual recipe... haha)
1/3-1/2 cup (approximate) sausage (I used already cooked leftovers)
1 cooked chicken breast
1/2 Tbsp soya sauce
1/2 cup chopped cabbage (was already steamed and in the freezer...)
1 minced garlic clove
2 minced green onions
1 tsp rice vineger
minced fresh ginger... I'm guessing about 1 tsp? I just added a few dashes of the powdered/dry stuff.
Mix all the ingredients... make sure everything is minced really fine, and store in the fridge until ready to use. I had lots leftover after making only 12 dumplings, so I assume this would fill 30 or more. I am thinking I could use the rest in soup!
Dough
1 cup flour plus 1/4 cup water (plus extra if you need, and extra flour for work surface).
Mix the flour and the water. Add a little water if needed. The dough should stick together and pull away from the bowl slightly. I read it is better if the dough is too wet rather than too dry, but it should be workable. Knead 20 times, then roll into a ball and place under a damp cloth for 15 minutes.
Roll into a log, and cut into 'rounds' (this amount should make 20, but I only cut enough for 12, so my dough was thicker, but that's ok). Roll into a circle shape using your rolling pin, place filling in center (about 1 Tbsp) and press filling until not loose. Grab the dough, fold over the filling, and pinch in the center. Then you can make folds all along one side of the pinch until you have a teardrop shape at the end, pinch that together, and do the same for the other side of the center. You should only see folds on one side of your dumpling, the other side would be 'flat'. Really, look this up. I don't thing it really matters how you close them for eatibility sake, but it looks kinda cool. I think this site may have some tips (it isn't the one I used, but I can't find that one now.) Boil until they float, and you are done! Serve with soya sauce for dipping.
Filling - What I used (not an actual recipe... haha)
1/3-1/2 cup (approximate) sausage (I used already cooked leftovers)
1 cooked chicken breast
1/2 Tbsp soya sauce
1/2 cup chopped cabbage (was already steamed and in the freezer...)
1 minced garlic clove
2 minced green onions
1 tsp rice vineger
minced fresh ginger... I'm guessing about 1 tsp? I just added a few dashes of the powdered/dry stuff.
Mix all the ingredients... make sure everything is minced really fine, and store in the fridge until ready to use. I had lots leftover after making only 12 dumplings, so I assume this would fill 30 or more. I am thinking I could use the rest in soup!
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