Baked Oatmeal Cups

I’m sure you’ve all heard the old adage “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” For most of my life, I ate little or nothing for breakfast, especially when I was in college and couldn’t be bothered to drag my butt out of bed and to the dining hall early in the morning. As I got older, and especially now that I’m a regular working stiff, I can’t possibly make it through the morning without eating something substantial. However, this is tempered by the fact that I am still a lazy bum and want my breakfast to take as little time as possible. Usually I eat cereal with bananas, but in the winter it’s always comforting and satisfying to eat something hot. These baked oatmeal cups can be stored in the fridge and/or freezer, allowing you to make a big batch ahead of time and pull one out each morning. They are best served warm and are a great way to start the day!

Baked Oatmeal Cups (adapted from here)

What You’ll Need

• 3 eggs
• 2 ½ cups skim milk
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup fresh/frozen fruit or chocolate chips

What To Do

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.

After these are well-blended, add the brown sugar and banana. If you are using another fruit as your filling, add it at this step. If you are using chocolate chips, add them last.

Mix until the sugar is uniformly combined with the egg mixture. I will say that it seemed odd to me to leave the bananas in slices, but the original recipe did not call for them to get mashed or otherwise worked into the liquid, so I left them as is. The final product tasted great so I think this is more of a personal preference than anything, but I will probably mash them the next time around.

In a separate large bowl, mix the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

(I forgot to take a picture. It looked suspiciously like oats in a bowl.)

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and stir until blended. Add your chocolate chips if you are using them.

The original recipe tells you to add the milk AFTER you have mixed the wet and dry ingredients together. I completely glossed over the fact that milk was not included in the list of wet ingredients, and had added it when making the egg mixture. I don’t think it made a lick of difference.

Spray 2 12-cup muffin tins with cooking spray, or line with cupcake liners. Note: the original recipe also tells you this makes 18 muffins, which is a dirty lie. I used a 6-cup and a 12-cup muffin tin and had a bunch left over, so go with the 24 cup total. Scoop the mixture evenly into the cups, and bake for 35-40 minutes.

The muffins are done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  After removing from the oven, let them cool for 15-20 minutes. They may be eaten while warm or stored in the freezer in freezer bags until future use.

My hubby thought these were for dessert, and honestly they could easily be a healthy dessert alternative. We had them for breakfast the morning after I made them, and they were absolutely delicious. I heated mine for 1 minute in the microwave, then topped with some vanilla almond milk, and I just about thought I’d died and gone to heaven. The one pictured in the ramekin above is about twice the size of the actual muffins (it was made from the extra mixture), and I was stuffed after eating it. I had a single muffin this morning and remained full straight through to lunchtime. It’s easy to forget that these little guys pack a potent punch of fiber because you’ll feel so decadent eating one with chocolate chips for breakfast. Next time I plan on trying these with blueberries, mango, or cranberries. Breakfast really can be exciting!

Indian Lentil Pilaf

OH HAI! Remember me?! Yeah, it’s been awhile. I left my job of 5+ years, moved, and started a new job. All within 3 weeks! Cue mental breakdown (not really, but oh so close!).

I’m still settling in, still searching through boxes for all those scraps of recipes that I stashed wherever I had space while I was frantically packing. In the midst of the 3 days I had in between leaving my old job and moving day, I decided a really spectacular use of my free time would be to cut out all the recipes I wanted from the STACKS of food magazines I had accumulated over the years. I made this Indian salad from one of those recipes, and it comes from Vegetarian Times.

Indian Lentil Pilaf

What You’ll Need

• 1 cup lentils (I used greenish brown)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14.5 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried ground ginger)

What To Do

The name of my game when making this recipe was to explicitly NOT follow the directions.

The first thing the magazine tells you to do is rinse and sort the lentils. I summarily ignored this, and instead dumped them straight from the bag into 4 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. The recipe doesn’t say whether or not they should be covered while simmering. I left them uncovered and it was fine, so take your pick.

After 15 minutes of simmering, you’re supposed to drain the lentils and reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water, which is brown and looks like…well, use your imagination. I realized this mid-draining, so I only saved about ½ cup. The lentils then get stored in a bowl until you’re ready for them later.

While the lentils cook, dice your veggies and garlic. Add the oil and onion to your newly emptied pan and cook on medium for about 4 minutes.

I’m fairly sure the recipe intends for you to use a white/yellow onion because it mentions cooking until the onion turns translucent. I only had a mangy red onion, so that’s what I used, and it was fine.

After the onions cooked for 4 minutes longer than I intended because the damn carrots took longer to cut than I expected, I added the carrots and rice to the pot. My carrots were roughly hacked, not diced. Also, I didn’t have Basmati rice, so I used jasmine rice. TAKE THAT, RECIPE.

I stirred these around for about 3 or 4 minutes until the rice was nice and golden brown and toasted, and then I added the garam masala, ginger, and garlic. For those of you not familiar with it, garam masala is a spice blend comprised of coriander, clove, peppercorns, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, and other spices, and commonly used in Indian cooking. It isn’t spicy, but its got a strong, distinctive flavor that, if you’ve ever eaten Indian food, you will recognize by taste. You can make your own based on the recipe here, or, like me, you may be able to find it in the international section of your grocery store (I scored mine at ShopRite, so it’s not that uncommon). Can you guess what I fudged at this step? Did you guess ginger? Bingo! I never buy fresh because the rest of the wonky looking tuber gets old and dried out in my fridge, so I guesstimated and subbed the 1 tbsp fresh ginger for 1 tsp ground ginger. That’s the benefit of making new things – you’ll never know how badly you screwed up the original if it tastes good at the end!

Once the spices had coated the contents of the pan, I dumped in the lentils, tomatoes, reserved poo water lentil cooking water, and veggie broth. I didn’t have veggie broth, so I used chicken broth. TAKE THAT, VEGETARIANS! And it wasn’t even the low-sodium version! TAKE THAT PART INFINITY, RECIPE! At this point, cover the pot, turn the heat way down to low, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

After about 20 minutes, the rice will be nice and fluffy and most of the cooking liquid will be absorbed.

While it may appear as if there is a ghostly specter hovering over my lentils, it is only the copious amounts of steam that were pouring off of this bowl. In my opinion, this dish benefits greatly from a healthy dose of pepper and a little bit of salt, especially if you follow the recipe (HAHAHAHA) and use the low-sodium broth. Once seasoned, this is scrumptious. I served this when my mother-in-law came for lunch, and I was a little worried she wouldn’t like it because of the Indian flavors (not everyone shares my love of ethnic foods) but she devoured it. In fact, I think this could even use more spices than it calls for. Garam masala has an intense flavor profile but it’s slightly muted by veggies and other components of this dish, so I might use 2 or 2 ¼ tsp the next time around. Even though I served this as a side dish, you could also easily add some grilled tofu, chicken, shrimp, or fish to make this a main course. The recipe says this serves 6, and that’s being conservative. Like most salads, the more you let the flavors settle and meld the better, so you’ll enjoy any leftovers even more!

The Ugly Duckling

I made this recipe quite some time ago, and it’s been sitting in my to-post folder since then. It’s not because the recipe was bad – on the contrary, I found it to be quite yummy. It was mostly because, as you will soon see, it just LOOKS sort of…poopy. Literally. I figured I needed to lull my reading audience into a false sense of security before springing something visually gross onto you. So, three cheers for having made it long enough that when I am a) sick as a dog and b) running out of things to post, we have reached the point where you now face The Ugly Duckling Salad. 

Balsamic Pea Salad (adapted from here)

What You Need:

• 16 oz. package of frozen green peas
• ¼” thick slice of Virginia ham
• 1 small container fat free feta cheese
• ½ cup fat free mayonnaise
• ½ cup chopped green onions
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp black pepper

First, thaw the peas by running them under slightly warm water while in a colander.  Do this until the peas are soft to the touch.

Next, cut the ham into small cubes.

Roughly chop the green onions.

Combine the dry ingredients with the peas in a large mixing bowl.

Add the mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar. Stir until the liquids are evenly mixed with the rest of the ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to meld and intensify.

Judging from the final picture, you can see why I was hesitant to eat this, nevermind bring it to the church group gathering I had made it for. The color was sort of a dingy brown, due to mixing the balsamic vinegar with the mayo, but the taste was excellent. Once we all got over the appearance, it was pretty much unanimously enjoyed. Depending on how “wet” you like your salad, you can cut down on mayo, but I liked the amount I used because it counterbalances the acidity and tartness of the balsamic vinegar.  The next time I make this, I will try using white balsamic, which should clear up the color issue. I added the ham because I wanted to make it a slightly more substantial side dish, but this could easily be made with chicken, tofu for a vegetarian version, or without any meat/meat substitute at all. It might also be interesting to experiment with using some of the flavored feta cheeses that are available, or by adding other veggies to the mix.  This is an extremely quick, easy, and versatile salad that would be great at a summer cookout, or as a side dish to any winter meal. Enjoy!

Roasted Poblano and Tomatillo Chicken Chili

As I’ve mentioned before, Eric got me a couple cooking classes at Whole Foods as part of my Christmas gift.  One of the classes, Chili for Chilly nights, was oh-so-conveniently scheduled for the day before the Super Bowl.  I think it’s safe to say that he had an ulterior motive in mind when signing me up for classes, doncha think?  Anyhoo, the class was great – we learned how to make 3 chilis that were featured in my Whole Foods’ annual chili cookoff – Clam & Bacon Chili (the winner – I will feature it here at some point in the future), Bob’s Game Day Chili (a traditional meat-based chili) and the Engine 2 Diet Chili (a vegan version featured in the same cookbook as this soup).  The fourth chili was one the chefs had concocted the night before from some leftovers they had in the prep kitchen, and, in my opinion, it was the best.  I’ve been calling it "Green Chicken Chili," but that makes it sound a wee bit unappetizing and as if the chicken is long past rotten.  So, I came up with the rather long and clunky title of this post, when really it would be sufficient to just call this "A Party In My Mouth."

Green Chicken Chili

What You’ll Need

• 4 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken (or, precook 2-3 large breasts and shred/cut into cubes)
• 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 3 poblano peppers, roasted and peeled (or 1 can of Hatch green chilies)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded, deribbed, and finely chopped
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• ¾ jar tomatillo/salsa verde (roughly 10 oz. total)
• 2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 small bag frozen corn
• 1 small bag OR 2 cans black-eyed peas/cannelini beans (roughly 2 cups total)
• ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1-3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

Before you chop your veggies, start out by roasting your poblano peppers.  This is an easy process that helps bring a sweetness and subtlety of flavor to the pepper, while also reducing its spiciness. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and lightly brush their entire surface with olive oil.

Move your oven rack to its highest position, then set your oven to broil. Cook the peppers directly under the broiler until the surface starts to blacken and the skin starts to bubble and pop.  Periodically rotate the peppers until all sides are evenly cooked.

I clearly do not know how to follow my own directions, as I a) used 2, not 3, peppers, and b) thought I was super-chef enough to not require a baking sheet at all. Funnily enough, when peppers start to cook, they create juices.  Which drip. And sizzle.  Use a baking sheet.

This is evidence of my amazing awesomeness at photography.  When I looked at this on the tiny screen of my point-and-shoot, it looked like a cool, arty photograph that would convey a sense of the heat from the oven.  Instead, it looks like my peppers are in the middle of a really bad acid trip.

While your peppers are roasting, prep your veggies by chopping the onions and garlic.  To prepare the jalapeno, cut off the stem portion, then cut the entire pepper in half.  Remove all seeds (they are what contain the heat) and remove the white ribbing.  Cut it into very small (⅛ inch) pieces.

It got to the point where I was impatient with how long the roasting seemed to be taking (in all actuality it was about 10 minutes), so I decided to take my peppers out whether they were fully roasted or not (hunger is a compelling force). A good pointer is to check the stems of the peppers – if they are blackening, then the peppers are close to done.  Immediately after taking the peppers out, place them in an airtight tupperware container or Ziploc bag for 10-15 minutes.  The steam and heat formed inside of the container will help lift the skin of of the peppers, at least in theory.

In keeping with my theme of being a half-assed excuse for a food blogger, I forgot to take pictures of the next part.  After the peppers had cooled for about the right amount of time, take them out of the container.  Pull on the stems so that the entire top, including the inner part with most of the seeds, comes right out.  Simple enough.  Then, you’re SUPPOSED to be able to squeeze the peppers like a tube of toothpaste and have the skin peel right off.  Easy? No.  Fail? Yes.

My pepper’s skin slide off in one piece so much as peel like a pasty white boy after a hot summer day. I pretty much gave up after I realized I was quickly destroying my pepper and figured the little bit of char left would add to the flavor.  In the end, I was right. I cut the peppers down the center, removed whatever seeds were remaining, and chopped the poblanos into small, mushy strips.

Heat a large soup pot or Dutch oven on medium heat until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, then sauté the onions for 2-3 minutes until they are slightly translucent.  Add the peppers and garlic, and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the onions are softened. Add the chicken broth, salsa, black-eyed peas, frozen corn, and chicken. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until everything is heated through.

Minus the roasting of the peppers, this is an extremely quick recipe if you choose to use the precooked rotisserie chickens available in any supermarket.  Ideally, you could make this with the leftovers from the chicken that you ate for a previous meal.  As I mentioned in the ingredients list, you can make chicken specifically for this dish, but it will significantly add to the prep/cooking time.

I served this topped with a little bit of shredded Colby Jack cheese and some crusty bread.  This makes enough for 6 large meals, and like many soups/stews, I think it tastes better after the flavors have time to meld overnight or longer. No matter when you eat it, this is a wonderfully fresh and vibrant take on chili. I absolutely love tomatillo salsa, and poblano peppers are especially delicious when roasted.  Although this may sound like it’s very spicy, it’s only got a little bit of kick to it.  Taking the seeds out of the peppers helps keep it rather mild, and most of the zip comes from the canned salsa.  If you can’t find poblano peppers in your supermarket (I had to buy mine at Whole Foods), using a can of green chilies is an affordable substitution that will give you approximately the same flavor. Also, feel free to use some tofu and vegetable broth to make a delicious vegetarian/vegan version. I have another chicken chili recipe that I had been planning on posting here for some time, but it was quickly forgotten in the aftermath of how awesome this chili is.  I will post the other one at some point, but in the meantime I strongly recommend expanding your culinary minds and tastebuds and giving this a try!

Quinoa with Black Beans and Corn

Recently, my dad and uncle were visiting for the weekend, and I made a variation of this for dinner, which they both loved.  I decided to try something new for a side dish, based simply on ingredients I had laying around in my cabinets and freezer. I had picked up a box of quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) when a local supermarket was going out of business and it was on sale for 50% off. I’d come across several recipes that incorporated quinoa, but I’d never tasted it before and had no idea what to expect.  This recipe called for a lot of flavors that I loved, so I thought it would be a safe bet.

Quinoa with Black Beans and Corn

What You’ll Need:

• ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 ½ cups frozen corn kernels
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 ½ cups vegetable broth (see Note)
• 1 tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp cayenne or chili pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

**Note: It can be difficult to find low-sodium or sodium-free vegetable broth.  If, like my dad, you limit your sodium intake, you can easily halve the vegetable broth and use water instead.  I made this recipe that way and it did not suffer at all in terms of flavor.

What To Do:

As with any recipe, start out by preparing your vegetables – chop the onion and mince the garlic.  These will then get sauteed in the olive oil in a skillet on medium heat until they both begin to soften and turn golden brown.

Next, measure out the quinoa – even though it looks like a small amount it expands like rice as it cooks and makes way more than you think it will!

Add the quinoa and the vegetable broth to the skillet, followed by the cumin, cayenne/chili pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, the quinoa will have absorbed nearly all of the vegetable broth and will be fluffy, round little balls. Add the frozen corn and black beans to the pan and simmer for an additional 5 minutes, or until the corn is heated all the way through.  Transfer immediately to a serving dish, then cover with the cilantro for garnish.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of flavor this dish had on its own.  It was a perfect counterpart to the casserole entree, but it certainly stands up as a main dish on its own.  The quinoa has a mild, nutty flavor that reminds me of brown rice, but with a shape/texture more similar to tapioca.  I’m a sucker for anything with a black beans/cumin/pepper combination (I’m sure you can see the theme in my recipe choices), but this was a crowd pleaser, so I know it’s not just that I was an easy sell.  While this was good hot, I actually liked it even more as a cold salad the next day for lunch.  Besides the minimal amount of oil used to initially cook the onion and garlic, this dish is essentially fat free, has a ton of fiber, and is very cheap and quick to make. Quinoa is an extremely versatile grain, and I’m looking forward to incorporating it into more of my meals in the future!

Wheat-Free Oatmeal Cookies

Welcome to another post by a guest blogger! I'm Molly, and Tia has been asking me to post for weeks. Ever since she name-dropped me in this post, the pressure has been on. I told her that my first post would be the cake that I am making us next week in honor of our birthdays, but my mom and I made cookies tonight so I thought that I'd start off with those instead.

A few years ago, my mother had an allergic reaction to something that she ate and discovered that she was allergic to wheat. This has, obviously, had a big impact on what she can eat, especially since wheat is often added to items you wouldn't expect since it acts as a thickener. While gluten- and wheat-free products don't always resemble their gluten-laden counterparts, my mom has found a few recipes that she loves, and these oatmeal cookies have become a family favorite. You really can't tell that they don't have wheat in them (they call for oat flour instead of the traditional unbleached wheat) and while they can be made with healthy items such as fruit (we have some dried cherries in our cupboard, which would probably be fantastic), our family uses butterscotch and toffee bits.

Wheat-Free Oatmeal Cookies

What You'll Need:

3/4 cup granulated sugar (we substituted 2/3 cup Splenda)

1/3 cup margarine (we used Smart Balance)

1/3 cup honey

2 egg whites, slightly beaten (Note: if you double this recipe, use 3 egg whites.)

1 tsp almond extract

2 1/4 cups uncooked quick oats

1 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sliced almonds (we substituted 1 cup walnuts)

1/2 tsp salt (optional -- we didn't add any to our batter)

1/3 cup raisins, chopped prunes, coconut, etc. (optional -- we substituted a bag of Nestle butterscotch morsels and a bag of Heath english toffee bits)

Also, we added about a tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg to the batter, even though they were not called for -- my mom said that she did this by mistake once and really liked the resulting cookies, so she always adds these spices now.

What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Add the sugar, margarine, and honey to a large bowl and beat until fluffy, like so:

Add the egg whites and almond extract and beat until mixed. Then combine the dry ingredients and nuts in a separate bowl. We chose to use a small one, thereby making the combining process unnecessarily precarious. We like a challenge.

Add the combined dry ingredients and nuts gradually, mixing well. I recommend that you accidentally turn the mixer on really high and get flour and oatmeal everywhere. I seem to do this every time I bake, so it doesn't really feel like I'm getting the full baking experience if I skip this crucial step. Once this mixture is all incorporated into the batter, you mix in anything else that you want to add to your cookies, e.g. fruit, coconut, chocolate, or candy.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter onto ungreased cookie sheets and press each mound into a flattened circle. You will have to form the cookie shape more than usual, since this batter doesn't hold together as well as most. This is normal, so don't be alarmed. Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cookies cool for one minute on the cookie sheets and then remove from the pans. You might find that some of the cookies fall apart as you take them off of the cookie sheets but that just means that you'll have to eat them since they are damaged! The cookies can be difficult to remove, so my mom recommends using a scraper like this if you have one.

This recipe yielded four dozen cookies, although you could probably get more, since I used generous tablespoonfuls. These cookies sound like they'd be really sweet, but they are actually not overwhelmingly so. The combination of oatmeal and butterscotch is one that I've grown up with and have always loved. The addition of the toffee gives the cookies a crispy textural element, since the toffee melts in the oven and hardens as the cookies cool. Also, while I normally don't like nuts in sweets, the flavor of the walnuts really compliments the other flavors in these cookies. You get a different combination of flavors in every bite, which is what makes these cookies so addictive!

And as an added bonus, they are Mom-approved!