RTB: Apple Pie Amaranth

I love carbs! I can feel the pleasure centers of my brain lighting up just typing about them. Contrary to some so-called experts, carbs are not bad for us. Half of what we eat every day should be carbs. Our bodies, and especially our brains - need them. Check out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, specifically the chart on page 15.

The problem comes when we eat too many carbs that are devoid of any nutritional value other than calories. Like white flour or white rice, etc. Not that I don't eat these things - had a great sourdough roll today and rice pudding last night - but they account for less than half of my grain intake for the day. The other half (or more) is whole grains. If you're a carb queen like me, you'll soon fall in love with whole grains - they taste AMAZING! And grains cost ALMOST NOTHING! Especially if you get them bulk. Buy as much or as little as you like and pay for what it weighs.

One of my favs is amaranth. Grain to liquid is a 3 to 1 ratio and it makes a creamy, rich hot cereal. Try it in Apple Pie Amaranth:

1/4 cup dry amaranth
2 tsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 fresh apple, grated
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 T heavy whipping cream

Combine all ingredients except cream in a small saucepan. Simmer until thickened. Spoon into a bowl and drizzle top with cream.

Calories: 296
Total Fat: 8.6g
Sat Fat: 1.8g
Carbs: 53.3g
Fiber: 10g

-DK

Meatless Monday Missteps

No - I'm not vegetarian, or vegan. Just a foodie tryin' to avoid becoming a statistic in the (cue ominous music) obesity epidemic. Seriously, the way this is talked about in the media, you'd think it was the zombie apocalypse.

I've been doing the lacto/ovo vegetarian thing on Mondays for a while now. That means milk and eggs but no animal...um...flesh? And at the risk of offending the pescavegetarians...fish are animals so they are not part of my Meatless Monday routine. Of course, I'm an unrepentant carnivore the rest of the week so I'm pretty much offending someone 6 days a week anyway. Why stop on Mondays!?

At any rate, I've found it pretty easy to do vegetarian once a week so I figured, how hard could it be to do the full on vegan thing?

Apparently, it's pretty freaking hard!!!! No dairy or eggs is takes some planning.

Week 1, I had made my lunch for work, planned dinner and packed snacks - all vegan. Ate vegan breakfast and grabbed my coffee. Annnnnnd realized I couldn't put half and half in it. I take my coffee seriously, folks. The almond milk I tried to lighten it with did NOT cut it.

See what I mean...ewwwwwww!

Week 2, I figured would be easier because I got through week 1. After eating O'soy for a snack did I read the cup to find the active cultures came from milk. Why make a cultured soy yogurt and put a milk based item in it? Why?????!!!!! Then I made my vegan pizza with the home made dough for dinner. Cause I never just follow a recipe like a normal person, I brushed the dough with olive oil and seasoned it up my way. Not a prob until I realized halfway through grating parmigiano reggiano over it, that it was no longer vegan. Dammit! But I built it anyway with the vegan mozz and Italian seitan and it was might tasty.

Now THAT's a crust! (and why do I have man-hands in this pic?)

Never do I back down from a challenge - even when I should - so I am determined to make this happen! (I am so gonna Ahab this Vegan Monday thing until I take the whole boat down with me...)

-DK

RTB: Staycation Day in Princeton, NJ

Me and the fam had a FAB-u-lous foodventure in Princeton, NJ recently. First, we went to House of Cupcakes who you might have seen on Cupcake Wars more than once - they won the first time they were on. My Mexican Hot Cocoa cupcake was richly chocolicious and not shy on the spice at all. My hubby had the one with the pretzels on it and my little miss loved her cuppie with the candy all over the top. 

They were even nice enough to let me come behind the counter for a picture of their great wall of cupcakes:

Then we did some damage up at Carter and Cavero, where you can sample a crazy amount of different balsamic vinegars and olive oils. Trying to decide which of them to buy was harder than choosing a name for my only child.

Oh, and they had an AMAZing selection of other goodies as well, like salts...

We finally made our decisions and came out with our hard won booty:

We rewarded ourselves for not buying one of everything at Carter and Cavero's a few doors down at Thomas Sweet where they have the most heavenly salted caramel candies...

And to reward myself for only eating 3 chocolates at Thomas Sweets, I bought kitcheny gadgets and coffee at Kitchen Kapers. Sorry there's no pic but my hands were full of bags at this point!

If you find yourself with a free afternoon and some decent weather, check out Princeton, NJ. And when you're too full and happy for any more foodie fun, there's a free art museum on the university campus. Not too shabby for a staycation day!

-DK

What's In These Brownies, Dude?

 

Yes, they are that good and no, the secret ingredient is not what you think.

It's black beans!

Oh, that is what you thought it was. Well, alright then.

You can see by the pic below, the batter starts out looking meh but hang in there, it'll look like brownie batter by the end.

But in case you're like me and this is new thing for you, this is the recipe from Meal Makeover Moms:

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies

Makes 16 Servings (I cut them into 8 larger brownies)

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed very well
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat an 8 x 8-inch baking pan or dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place the black beans in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, peppermint extract as desired, baking powder, and salt and process until smooth. Add ¼ cup of the chips and pulse a few times until the chips are incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.

4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before slicing into 2-inch squares.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 120 calories, 5g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.3g omega-3), 95mg sodium)

I doubled the recipe and my food processor couldn't handle the double batch so I just pureed the beans with the eggs, transferred it to my mixer and finished the recipe that way. 

My picky 6 year old, Daughter of Fink, loved them. And she runs screaming at the mention of the word BEAN.  I used my whole family as test subjects at a get together and no one batted an eye.  What a great way to get folks to enjoy the nutritional benefits of a food not everybody is crazy about. I'm not above subterfuge when it comes to my family's health and I'm OK with it.

-DK

Jersey Girl Cafe

The Hamilton Squares at the Jersey Girl Cafe in Hamilton, NJ made the pleasure centers of mah brain light up like Christmas ornaments. Rice Krispie treats with peanut butter cups, a layer of peanut butter and smothered in chocolate. Oh mamma!

For lunch I had an excellent Brie turkey pannini with berry mayo. The berries were just the right amount of sweet and balanced perfectly with the savory turkey and creamy cheese. Bread was grilled just enough for a satisfying crunch. I hate when the bread is so hard it makes the sandwich filling squish out on the first bite. Not the case here - it was pannini nirvana.

Check out this fun and tasty spot. Unless you don't like good food, fair prices and excellent service that is. In that case - stop reading my blog!

- DK

Cooking with Kids: Pizza

My daughter loves to help me in the kitchen. Ordinarily, I'm pretty patient when teaching her new things. Like running behind her bike holding the seat for an entire summer until she was ready to two wheel it on her own. But put me in the kitchen with her and I make Gordon Ramsey look like Mother Theresa.

To encourage her interest in the kitcheny arts without sending her screaming into the therapist's office, I've starting picking projects that go together quick, are something she will eat and don't require precise measuring.

Pizza dough is sold ready to go in just about any supermarket and it's so easy, just follow the directions on the bag. I buy pizza sauce or  doctor up a jar sauce with some garlic and italian seasoning. My daughter and I take turns stretching and patting out the dough into a round pizza sized shape.

While we shape the dough on the pizza peel, the pizza stone preheats in the oven. Then we brush the crust lightly with olive oil, spread the sauce very lightly over the crust and sprinkled on a mix of part skim mozzarella, finely shredded cheddar and parmesan. A heavier brush of oil on the edges of the crust followed by a sprinkling of seasoning and parmesan ensure it will be good to the last bite.


It's so much fun pulling out the bubbling finished pizza cause we made it ourselves! Some carrot sticks and dip on the side and we have a fun weekday meal that also helps me spend some quality time with my baby girl.

RTB: Respect The Budget!

Have you noticed how EVERYTHING in the last 2 years has skyrocketed in price? Bad enough my home finances fall victim to this inflation explosion but I'm a foodservice manager by trade. In a healthcare facility. So every time Congress starts talking about cutting medical funding, I get a headache behind my left eye.

Budgets are my life but so is delivering food people actually want to eat. It'd be easy to balance the work food budget by getting cheap food produced quickly and thrown on the plate, but who wants to eat like that?

Serving substandard food would quickly get me out of a job and I've been doing this for 12 years so I've figured out a few techniques to serve 1000 quality meals a day on a budget. Techniques that can be used at home to balance the budget there as well. We can't do a lot about mortgages, utility bills, etc. but the household food budget is infinitely adjustable.

I paid off every credit card (and keep them paid off), don't stress about money and take decent vacations because I'm able to balance my home finances based on my food budget. And if you've seen my other posts, you know I don't exactly starve. And neither does my hubby, Monsterfink, or my little miss AND extended family makes a beeline to my place on holidays 'cause they know the grub is good.

Since the smoothie jag is FINALLY out of my system, the Saturday blog posts that start with RTB will be a cost savings tip, recipe or time management technique to keep you full and financially stable. Stay tuned...

-DK