Banana-Maple Oat Breakfast Bars

We've all been reading for years how important breakfast is to maintaining a healthy weight, but I have to admit I'm not a huge breakfast lover.  I just don't like to eat when I first get up.  Give me my cup of coffee and I'm good to go until about 10:00.  Unfortunately that doesn't always fit into my schedule.  Three days a week, I meet with my trainer at 9:30 which means I need to eat at least a little something so I can make it through the workout.  Oatmeal is usually my choice, so when I read the recipe for these bars I thought they would be a nice substitute.  And easy to grab and eat on the way.  These would also be a perfect little treat for your kids lunch box.  They're just sweet enough for a kid to like and full of healthy whole grains, fruits and nuts.

A word of warning.....the combination of banana and maple syrup baking fill the kitchen with an irresistible aroma.  It's really hard to wait for these to cool to eat one!!  These will keep for a week to 10 days, wrapped, at room temperature, for for several months if frozen.

Here's the recipe:

Banana-Maple Oat Breakfast Bars

adapted from King Arthur Flour "The Baking Sheet" Magazine

Early Spring, 2010

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 small or 2 large) mashed bananas
3/4 cup plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple flavor
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
3/4 cup dried fruit; apples, apricots, dates or dried cranberries (chopped)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients in the order listed.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for an hour; this will allow the oats and whole wheat to absorb liquid from the batter.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Lightly grease a sheet pan or line with parchment.

Spread the batter in a even layer in the pan.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until light golden brown at the edges.  Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.  Cut the bars into 2 1/2 x 3 inch bars and transfer to rack to cool completely.

Happy Birthday Mr. Toaster (and Blake)

Today is the birthday of the two men in my life.  One is the man I love and the other is the man I love to hate.....my husband and my trainer.  I'll let you decide which one is which!  So I made them cake because I wanted to be nice to one of them and I wanted the other one to be nice to me!!  It worked in the first case.....not so much in the second.  Dude's brutal!

I don't make a lot of cakes around here because I'm not a great icer (?).  Oh sure, it's probably going to taste good, but it won't be pretty.  My talents lie somewhere other than in making baked goods pretty.  When I find out where that is, exactly, I'll let you know.

Growing up in my house, chocolate cake was eaten in a bowl with milk poured over it.  I thought that was how everyone ate chocolate cake and I'll never forget the first time hubs discovered this.  He thought it was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen until I talked him into trying it.  HA!  Won't eat it any other way now!  So, as amazing as this cake was on it's own, (the icing is undoubtedly the best I've ever had) it ended up in a bowl with milk poured on it.  Delish.

Here's the recipe:

Cocoa Layer Cake

Bon Appetit, February 2011

10 servings

Cake:
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (spooned into cup to measure, then leveled)
1 cup lukewarm water, divided
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used sour cream because that's what I had)
1 1/2 cups cake flour (spooned into cups to measure, then leveled)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature, beaten to blend

Frosting:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Special Equipment:
3 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2 inch high sides


Cake:  Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350 F.  Butter three 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2 inch high sides.  Line with parchment paper rounds, butter parchment.  Whisk cocoa and 1/2 cup warm water in small bowl.  Whisk buttermilk and 1/2 cup water in another small bowl.  Sift flour, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into medium bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat both sugars and butter in large bowl until pale yellow and fluffy (mixture will appear granular) about 5 minutes.  With mixer running, gradually add beaten eggs, then beat until smooth and fluffy, about 15 seconds.  Add cocoa mixture, beat to blend.  Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 2 additions, beating to blend after each addition.  Divide batter among pans (about 1 3/4 cups each).

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, reversing pans halfway through baking, about 18 minutes.  Cool completely in pans on racks.

Frosting:  Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in sugar, cocoa, espresso powder and 1/2 teaspoon (scant) salt.  Gradually stire in cream.  Stir until mixture is very hot and just begins to simmer at edges.  Reduce heat to low; stir 1 minute to let flavors blend.  Transfer to medium bowl; stir in vanilla (frosting will resemble chocolate sauce).  Chill until just thickened, stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours.  Let stand at room temperature.

Run knife around cake sides.  Carefully invert 1 cake onto plate (cake is very tender); peel off parchment.  Spread with 1/2 cup frosting.  Invert second cake onto palm of hand.  Position cake 2 inches above frosted cake layer.  Carefully slide cake onto first cake layer.  Peel off parchment.  Spread cake with 1/2 cup frosting.  Repeat with third cake layer.  Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.

Do ahead:  Can be made 1 day ahead.  Cover with cake dome; let stand at room temperature.

5 Things

1.

I have really dry hair.  Especially in the winter.  This shampoo has changed my life. Well, that may be a bit dramatic, but it's certainly changed my hair's life.  Shiny, soft and buh bye winter hair.  I picked up mine at my salon, but if your salon doesn't carry it, you can order it here.


2.

Confession #2.....I love the Brits.  I'll watch just about any movie or read just about any book involving the British monarchy.  And yes, I prefer Philippa Gregory over Alison Weir.  Sue me.  If you haven't seen "The King's Speech", GO.  NOW.  If more movies were this well written and this well acted, I'd go more often, but sadly, they're not.  So I don't.  

3.  Gourmet Live app for iPad.  I really miss Gourmet magazine, but this app is an adequate replacement.  It has all of the elements that I loved about the magazine....great stories and interviews, delicious recipes, and fabulous graphics.

4.  Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag on OWN, Oprah's new network.  These two Canadians are a breath of fresh air and a welcome break from the professional chefs of most cooking shows.  These are two average home cooks that take on a new cookbook in each episode and it's not all success and fairy dust!  Love them.

5.  

The second release, "Science and Faith" from the Irish band The Script is on replay on my iPod right now.  Cannot get enough.  If you pass me in my car and I'm singing really loud......it's this.

TWD - Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

When hubs and I were first married and living in Ohio we became great friends with the couple that lived next door to us.  They eventually ended up following us to South Carolina to work with BMW so over the years we spent a lot of time together.  Besides having the cutest kids (one of which has graduated from college and one is a sophmore in college....where does the time go?) that I fell madly in love with, Kay was the first "gourmet cook" that I knew.  We were invited to their house often for dinner and I always remember thinking, "How does she know how to do all of this?"  She would cook things like shrimp and pasta in a cream sauce and roasted spaghetti squash which at the time seemed so exotic to me.  One of things she would often drop off at the house were her lemon poppyseed muffins.  If I remember correctly, she made mini-muffins and they were absolutely my favorite.  So every time I've thought about making them, I've always changed my mind because I knew they would never be as good as hers!

It's probably been at least ten years since I've had one of Kay's so maybe I've over romaticized them in my head but I doubt it.  And since I don't have her recipe, I'm going to have to stick with Dorie's which actually didn't turn out to be a bad substitute.  I opted for adding some lemon/pear marmalade in the middle and hubs loved them.

Thanks to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness for hosting this week.  Check out her site for Dorie's recipe.  In the meantime, maybe Kay will send me her's!

Cold Soba-Noodle Salad with Chicken, Peppers, and Cucumber

So this is the antithesis to the recipe I posted yesterday!  I felt so bad about that one, I feel obligated to give you a week's worth of healthy alternatives!!  Plus it's that time of year....you know, when you can't find a parking place at your gym and everyone is on their three week veggies and grains kick.

If that's you this will fit nicely into your little plan.  I made this for lunch today after perusing the website for a Martha Stewart's venture, Whole Living and we cannot stop eating it.   The soba noodles have a nice subtle nutty flavor and pair fabulously with the crunch veggies and chicken....rotisserie, by the way, which makes this convenient, as well.  I put this together in under 20 minutes.

And let's talk about those noodles for a minute.  According to Livestrong.com,

Soba noodles are a Japanese pasta made from buckwheat.  About the size of spaghetti, soba noodles can be served hot or cold and are traditionally eaten in Japan to celebrate New Year's Eve, according to HealthHokkaido. You can purchase dried soba noodles at gourmet grocery stores and oriental markets. Since the noodles are made from healthy buckwheat, soba noodles have many nutritional benefits.

Cardiovascular Benefits

The World's Healthiest Foods claims that a diet rich in buckwheat, the grain used to make soba noodles, can contribute to your cardiovascular health by lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Buckwheat is high in flavonoids, antioxidants that protect your levels of good cholesterol from free radicals. The buckwheat used to make soba noodles also contains magnesium, a mineral that works to lower your blood pressure and improve your blood flow.

So there you go......nutritional powerhouse!   Plus it's gluten-free if that's a concern.


Here's the recipe:

Cold Soba-Noodle Salad with Chicken, Peppers, and Cucumber

Martha Steward Living Multimedia

Serves 4

Ingredients:
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) (Check the Japanese section at your market.  I found mine at Fresh Market)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges, for serving
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), sliced thin
1 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1 English cucumber, peeled, balved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
1 rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups)  (I had 1/2 a chicken left in fridge from earlier in week and used that.  I think it was enough chicken)


Directions:
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until al dente; drain, and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.


In a large bowl, whisk together oils, lime juice, and vinegar, season dressing with salt and pepper to taste.


Add bell peppers, basil, cucumber, chicken, and noodles to bowl; toss with dressing.  Serve with lime wedges.

FFwD - Gnocchi a la Parisienne

How's everyone doing on their New Year's resolutions?  It's only three weeks in.  Don't tell me you've fallen off the wagon already?  Or do you even make them?  I usually do but I never tell anyone what they are.  I sooooo don't want someone keeping track and making me accountable.  That would suck.  You can assume, however, that eating more things that are rich, creamy and have more calories in one bite that one human should eat in a week.......not on that list.  But it was on Hub's list, so I made it for him!  It's all of those things.  Hard to go wrong with gnocchi made from pate a choux, baked in a bechamel sauce, and topped with cheese with a few pats of butter thrown on top.  Holy heart attack, Batman.  I made the mistake of taking one bite and immediately decided that whatever Hubs didn't eat was immediately going down the drain.  Otherwise I would have finished it off when no one was looking.

I have to imagine that this is the French, sophisticated version of Mac and Cheese with the gnocchi giving it a slightly creamier texture.  My only complaint about this is the mess I made of my kitchen making it.  Luckily it's in my marriage vows that I don't have to clean up after myself, so that worked out but jeesh, I think every pot in the house was dirty. And that pate a choux dough is kind of a bear to work with.  I ended up (once again) stealing someone else's idea and putting the dough into a large zip lock baggie and piping it out and snipping it with scissors directly into the boiling water.  Worked great.

So, if gaining large amounts of weight is one of the many things you want to accomplish in 2011, I say get in the kitchen and make this at least three times a week.  You'll have a highly successful year.

TWD - Fluff Filled Chocolate (Cupcakes) Madeleines

I hate immediately starting a post with a disclaimer, buuutttt......I don't own a madeleine pan.  I own every other damn pan in the world, but no madeleine.  So my plan was to run to Williams-Sonoma over the weekend and pick me up 1 or 4.  I like multiples of everything.  Take Gap jeans for instance.  And shoes.  And purses.  You get the idea.  However, if you paid any attention to the news this weekend, you're aware that the South was hit with the blizzard of 2011.

  

Yup.  That's it.  A whole inch.  Unfortunately it was an inch of solid ice, so I'm going to cut the Southerners a break this time.  Without any salt trucks, this shizzle tends to be a little hazardous.  So the powers that be shut down all the roads and most of the businesses stayed closed.  Which means I didn't get my 12 madeleine pans.

So I did what any other creative person would do.  Stole someone else's idea and used a muffin tin.  That worked out fine, but then I discovered that I also needed a piping bag and a piping tip.  Nope, don't have that either.  I can bake, but I'm no freaking artist.

See?  They may not be exactly what Dorie had in mind, but I followed the "spirit" of the recipe??  Yeah, whatever.  I had to do something, because not participating is not an option.  Remember?  I'm on probation here.  So this is what you get.  Frankly, it doesn't matter what they look like, because they're freaking delicious!  My version is basically a hostess cupcake.  How bad can that be?

If you want to see what these were really supposed to look like, visit Margot's site, Effort to Deliciousness.  Even if I eventually do get the madeleine pans, I can guarantee you mine will never look as good as hers!

TWD and FFwD.....Midnight Crackles and Paris Mushroom Soup

I'm back!  Actually, I've been back home for a week but there's something about that first week of the new year.  It's the New Year's hangover (not in the literal sense....although that may have happened too) week.  Still trying to live in the previous couple of holiday/vacation weeks but knowing it's over and it's going to be a long winter and a long time until the next break.

Anyhoo, that's how I felt last week.  Not quite back into the swing of things yet.  I was still remembering what a really great holiday I had with these two.

    

We spent the week in Sea Island, Georgia.  Their parent's were there, along with their great-grandparents, their aunts and a second cousin (Gary....inside joke), but let's face it, it's all about the two of them!  We all laughed, some of us turned purple (literally), some of us puked, one of us rode a bike without training wheels for the first time, one showed us her new dance moves (I have video) and we all had a great time!  I'm glad we were all fortunate enough to spend the week together at such a beautiful place.

But it's back to business as usual.....whatever that is.  Which means I have to post some recipes.

I better start with this TWD, Midnight Crackles, that were chosen by the group's leaders, Laurie and Julie in honor of TWD's three year anniversary.  I've only been around for about two of those years and thought I was a member in good standing until I got an email from Julie last week saying that it was my turn to host in February, but that I wasn't going to be allowed because I hadn't been posting enough.  Hmmmm.  I knew in November that I had only posted once (the rules state that you have to post at least twice a month to remain a member) so I had absolutely screwed up then, but EVERY other month I had posted at least twice, and most times all four weeks.  What I discovered I wasn't so good at was tagging my posts, so when Julie searched my site it appeared I wasn't participating.  Lesson learned.  New Year's resolution.....TAG MY POSTS!  I sent her an email and she agreed to let me host in March.  WOOT!  Can't wait.

As for these Midnight Crackles......they were ok.  I probably won't be making them again.  They have a fabulous, rich chocolate flavor, but that dough was a bitch.  It has to be refrigerated before baking it, but mine was as hard as a rock when I pulled it from the fridge, so it had to sit on the counter for about 45 minutes before it was manageable.  Then, the baking time on these is critical.  A minute too long and they're hard as rocks.  So......too unforgiving for a knucklehead like me.

This soup on the otherhand, was crazy good.  Sucky picture does not equal sucky soup! It's the Paris Mushroom Soup and you can find the recipe on page 72 of "around my french table".  Just buy the book, already.

I'll admit I made my own chicken stock for this.  I'm not an Ida fanatic about homemade stock vs. store bought, but in soups, I do think it makes a difference.  And it's a really easy thing to do, people.  If you're like me, every week or so you buy a rotisserie chicken from the market, right?  (And if you don't and you have a busy life, you should.  It's worth about three meals in the course of a week)  I just throw the leftover bones into a ziplock baggie, throw it in the freezer and when I have three of them I make some stock.  It takes five minutes to throw the remainder of the ingredients (a couple of carrots, celery, onions and whatever herbs you've got) into a pot, cover it with water and let it simmer on the stove for three or four hours.  Easy peasy.

Back to the soup.  Very easy with basic ingredients.  I didn't go the salad route called for in the book, instead just garnishing mine with a few chopped mushrooms and some chopped parsley.  I did, however, mix a dollop of creme fraiche into the pureed soup before serving.  Delish.  I even fed this to a self-proclaimed mushroom hater and she sucked down the whole bowl!

Happy New Year's everyone and here's to a fabulous twenty eleven!