Chocolate Date Cupcakes (2 Star)

If you want a recipe for an extremely decadent, rich, chocolate cake, then click here. I made it once and it was chocolate magnificence, as the title indicates. When I made it I also made the mistake of calculating the calories contained therein, just because I was curious. All I have to say is, you don't want to know. I plan to reserve future makings for very special occasions.

However, I still wanted to be able to enjoy some moist, dense, chocolatey richness on any old regular day, so I decided to try to create something resembling this cake but also containing some healthful substances. I am far from expert in recipe creating, so I am sure that someone could easily improve upon this, but this is what I came up with. It fulfilled my desires in the moist, dense, and chocolatey categories, so I am fairly proud of myself. However, due to the fact that I used dates and fruit juice for a portion of the sweeteners, there is a bit of a different flavor which some of my boys were not fond of. This is why only two of my boys liked these. So, the resultant cake has a little less oil, a lot less sugar, whole grain flours, mousse and ganache replaced with a dusting of powdered sugar, and viola! Containing a fraction of the original caloric content these little chocolate satiated cupcakes are enough to satisfy a craving while imparting some antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber.





Chocolate Date Cupcakes

1 cup chopped, pitted dates
1/2 cup 100% white grape juice concentrate
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small, microwave safe dish, microwave the grape juice concentrate on high for about a minute, or until it is hot. In a blender or food processor, puree the dates, grape juice concentrate, and cottage cheese until smooth.

In the same microwave safe dish used for the grape juice, microwave the chocolate squares on high for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Stir in the oil, sugar, and powdered sugar. Pour into the blender or food processor along with the eggs and whir briefly, until smooth.

In a separate, medium bowl, put the flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into a paper lined muffin tin, dividing the batter equally.

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until cupcake centers spring back to the touch. Remove from oven and dust with powdered sugar.

Chicken Nuggets (2 Star)

These are chicken nuggets that hide a multitude of veggies and are made a super quick and easy way. My way was even easier than the recipe, courtesy of Cheeky Kitchen, but not nearly as cute. I'm not all that great at cute but I sure did want easy.

Half of my boys loved these, half were not so thrilled. But this is one of those recipes that can be changed a million ways to suit your tastes, so I think if I tweak the seasonings a little more next time I may get more likers.



The ratio of veggies and egg to chicken turned out a tad runny for me so I changed things up a bit. And I increased the recipe quite a bit and used what veggies I had on hand.

Chicken Nuggets

1/3 head medium green cabbage
1/2 head medium cauliflower
2 medium carrots
2 eggs
2 1/2 lbs. ground chicken
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 dashes liquid smoke
2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs
Salt & pepper to taste

Put the veggies and eggs in a blender. Blend until pureed. Pour puree into a large bowl. Add the ground chicken, sea salt, onion powder and liquid smoke. Mix together with a fork or hands until well mixed. Butter a large cookie sheet. Spread a layer of half of the bread crumbs onto the buttered pan and salt and pepper lightly. Drop spoonfuls of the chicken mixture on top of the bread crumbs and then carefully spread it with a spatula until the chicken mixture covers the pan in about a half inch layer. Sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs over the chicken layer. Salt and pepper the bread crumbs lightly. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or just until the chicken is cooked through. Cut into squares or diamonds using a pizza cutter and serve with ranch dressing or barbecue sauce.

For the original recipe, click here.

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream (2 Star)

Wow, it has been a really long time since I've posted anything here and I am really sad about it! I've cooked plenty of things that I wish I had posted about and now I don't remember half of them. Some of them were really good, too. Waaaa. Well, I hope to get back to posting my recipes, and to begin with, here is something nice and sweet. I love peach season. Unfortunately it is pretty much over, at least for the Lemon Elbertas which are what I love the most. While I still had several boxes of peaches lying around, I made this crisp, courtesy of Pioneer Woman.



I was a little skeptical of the maple cream because I didn't think it would work out for me, and I thought it might not be as good as ice cream. But I was wrong. It did work out fabulously and it was incredible. In-cre-di-ble. Especially the next day. If you make this, I recommend making the cream a day ahead because it thickens up a lot. Unless you want it runnier. But I liked it thick and I would have loved to have just grabbed a spoon and eaten it all. However, since it is 144 calories for two tablespoons, I tried really hard not to do that, for personal reasons.



The only thing I changed about this recipe was that I used half white flour and half whole wheat in order to appease my conscience. I don't think it was noticeable at all and maybe you could even use all whole wheat in this recipe and still get a great flavor and texture.

Click here for the recipe.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup (2 Star)

I would categorize this soup as a split pea soup (that also has lentils) and I like split pea soup. But this soup goes way beyond split pea soup. It is magnificent. I would never call regular split pea soup magnificent, just really good. This was beyond good. I have never used red lentils or yellow split peas before and the color created by this combination is beautiful. I definitely can't call regular old green split pea soup beautiful. And the other ingredients in this recipe really made it amazing. The recipe for this soup is from 101 Cookbooks, found here.

I followed this recipe exactly, except for the fact that I used a crock pot. I combined the first five ingredients in the crock pot and set it on low for three or four hours. Then I followed the instructions for the other ingredients, added them to the pot, and cooked on low for another hour or two.

Fantastic!

Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Pasta (2 Star)

Lasagna used to be a popular meal around here, meaning a 75% approval rating. Now we are down to 50%. I don't know why because I think it gets better every time. But the two boys who still do like it, like it a lot and yesterday they ate TONS.

Lasagna is one of those meals in which it is possible to hide many things that my boys will not normally eat. This time I added some zucchini and spinach. Ha ha! It's great when they don't even know they are eating veggies.

I love homemade pasta and while it is some extra work, if I have the time it is worth it. This time I tried spinach noodles and don't you love this picture of the dough? It looks Shrek-ish.




I don't have any pasta making equipment (though I wouldn't mind if I did!) so I made these the old fashioned way with a rolling pin and pizza cutter.



While my second-born was averse to the lasagna as a whole he really liked the pasta. Maybe next time I will make a little extra and cut it into thin strips for a bowlful for him.



(By the way, that is not a hair in the lasagna, that is my scratched up dish! Waa.)

I found the pasta recipe here, but I am including it in this post with my alterations to make it whole wheat. The lasagna recipe is altered from the back of a Ronzoni lasagna pasta box.

Whole Wheat Spinach Lasagna Pasta

Yield: 12 noodles (serving size: 1 noodle)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour
3 Tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry, or fresh chopped spinach
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons milk

Preparation

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Place flour, spinach, and salt in a food processor; pulse 3 times or until blended. With processor on, slowly pour oil, milk, and eggs through food chute; process until dough forms a ball. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Or put dough into a bread maker or other machine with a dough hook and knead by machine. Dust dough lightly with flour; let stand 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, pass the dough through smooth rollers of the pasta machine on the widest setting. Continue moving width gauge to narrower settings; pass dough through rollers once at each setting, dusting with flour, if needed. Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Or roll out with a rolling pin. Cut each pasta sheet into 3 (11 x 2-inch) strips. Hang pasta on a wooden drying rack for 10 minutes. Cook pasta in boiling water 4 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients

1-1 1/2 pounds ground beef or sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
26 oz. jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 can tomatoes or 15-20 oz fresh tomatoes, skins removed and seed slime squoze out (I used tomatoes from our garden that I had frozen.)
1-1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen shredded zucchini
2-3 teaspoons beef base
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons sugar
16 oz. ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh parsley (optional--I didn't add this because I'm scared of fresh parsley but it might be good!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
9-12 lasagna pasta sheets, cooked

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown meat and onion, adding garlic in at the end of browning. Drain off excess fat. Puree tomatoes and zucchini until smooth (this is a necessary step for us because texture is unwelcome by certain young ones, but you may only want to chop, grate, crush, whatever, to get your desired texture). Add tomatoes, zucchini, spaghetti sauce, beef base, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, and sugar to the meat and onion. Season to taste and simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce has reached desired thickness.

While sauce is simmering, in a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper. (I skipped the cheese filling this time because I didn't have any ricotta on hand, but it's better with it, of course!)

When sauce is thickened, spread 1 cup on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Arrange 3-4 cooked pasta sheets lengthwise over the sauce; cover with 1 cup of sauce (or more if needed). Sprinkle 1 cup of the chopped spinach on top of sauce. Spread one-half of cheese filling over spinach. Repeat layers of pasta, sauce, spinach, and cheese filling. Top with layer of pasta and remaining sauce: sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and a little more Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 servings.

Brussels Sprouts and Apple Salad (2 Star)

Brussels sprouts constitute one of my childhood horrors. I'm talking about gag reflex, can't think about without shuddering, horrors. (No offense, mom, if you read this.) So I didn't think I would ever willingly invite brussels sprouts into my space as an adult. But then I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and it looked so incredibly delicious. And this year I am all about incorporating more vegetables into my diet and trying new things so after reading this recipe and considering for several weeks I decided to face my foe. I'm glad I did.

I am sad that I was not able to photograph this in the daylight because it was very pretty. I made this in the evening and the recipe said: "This isn't a dish you want sitting around, the flavors change dramatically after ten minutes or so, and I think that is part of the reason brussels sprouts get a bad rap." So we had to eat it right away. I tried using the flash on my camera but it just lit up the middle of the picture. So check out the picture on 101 Cookbooks and imagine that mine looks that good.

Not only did this look pretty but it tasted fantastic! Brandon and I loved it and two of the boys even enjoyed it (shocker!) although they didn't like the apples. I used small cubes of chicken instead of tofu and I also didn't have pine nuts so I used walnuts. This was nutty, lightly sweet and salty (I was generous with the salt on the chicken) and had lots of crunch and texture. It was also fairly quick and easy to put together.

So, even if you have horrible nightmares about brussels sprouts and consider them one of nature's mistakes, give this recipe a try. It might change your mind.

Carne Asada Pizza with the Best Pizza Crust, Ever (2 Star)

I made this pizza yesterday and I must brag because it is incredibly good! I am so excited to have found this crust recipe because it is awesome--soft and chewy inside and crisp on the outside. I did alter it to make it whole wheat so I am including the recipe below with my changes.

The Carne Asada recipe is from Picky Palate and is cheesy and beefy, freshened with cilantro and a slight kick. I highly reccommend it.








Due to the picky nature of certain boys in this household, I also made a plain cheese pizza (just cheese and crust, no sauce for my second born) and pepperoni. (The rating for this post refers to the Carne Asada pizza.)



Basic Pizza Dough
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart. (With some ingredients altered by me to make whole wheat.)

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/8 cups whole wheat flour, chilled
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten flour
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/3 cups water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tablespoon sugar
cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.

During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.