Whole Wheat Waffles

When the future hub's roomate recently moved out and I started moving in, there were items left behind. Some of the items were abandoned by roomates of long ago. So when a waffle iron, among other things was found, picture texts were exchanged with a "is this yours?" to the last rommie.  

Joyfully, the waffle iron was one of these items abandoned. Now that I've taken a whack at this dish, I can invite said last inhabitant and let him enjoy the fruits of the newly rediscoved waffle iron too.

I modified this king arthur recipe a good bit as the batter was intially too wet and the waffles too thin. I added wheat germ to the mix which gives it the added benefit of a kick-butt protein. Unfortunately, wheat germ is removed during the refining of whole wheat grains to white flour because otherwise the flour would go rancid quickly. But you can keep wheat germ in your fridge and add it to things like your yogurt, cereal, and waffles. However, I must warn you, perhaps I should have called these "Fart Waffles." Wheat germ definitely gives you gas.

I also substituted molassas for the refined sugar. The fresh orange juice was part of the original recipe and really played off the other ingredients nicely.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour *

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons molasses **

1/3 cup unsalted butter, gently melted

(That's nearly 5 tablespoons if you're like me and just use the little tablespoon ruler on the butter wrapper)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1 large egg

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

notes:

*I used whole wheat pastry flour, but I'm sure you could get away with regular, and certainly white whole wheat flour as that's what the original recipe called for.

** or honey, or maple syrup, but molasses gives the most complex flavor.

1. all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. melt yo butter. Add in milk and continue to cook for another minute.  (here's a little tip: when you microwave butter, put another cup of water in the microwave with it and it will allow you butter to melt more slowly and avoid splattering.)
3. Whisk in egg, orange juice, and vanilla extract until combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't get too over zealous. Some lumps are okay, don't over mix.
5. Heat up yo waffle iron. Preheat da oven to 200 degrees.
6. Let your batter sit for at least 5 minutes to firm up a bit.
7. Add batter to heated waffle iron. (give your iron time to heat up inbetween rounds.) Remove cooked waffle and place on a baking sheet in the oven. I read that stacking causes waffles to become limp due to the steam so I'll do that next time.)
8. Top with berries if you've got it and 100% pure maple syrup. (Or whatever you damn well feel like.)
9. Save leftovers in the fridge and reheat in the toaster.

Leftover Lentil Meatballs

npr

I have a ton of leftover lentils. Last night I made lentils with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and because the future hubs was one of the dinner guests, I made extra. I have learned over the past couple of months that "serves 4-6" really means "serves 2 plus the future hubs," especially if he just got back from playing basketball.  Lentils take some time and I wanted leftovers, so I doubled the recipe. The problem is that I didn't love the outcome. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't one I want to rave over and beg you to try. It’s one of those meals where you realize you’re eating healthy.  I prefer to be a little more sneaky.

So knowing that my lentil burgers were a big hit, I decided to try and morph part of the leftovers into lentil meatballs. I have been itching to try the Cookie and Kate version but given my surplus of Maple Baked Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and hating food waste like a depression era housewife, I decided to take a wack at a recipe re-haul.

They turned out pretty darn good! Even my pup was convinced that they trumped a milk-bone when one dropped to the floor. Last night (and today for lunch) I enjoyed them al la' hoagie. Whole wheat bread with ricotta, spaghetti sauce, lots of meatballs, mozzarella, and parmesan, under the broiler. Pretty darn good. So good I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. Sorry!

I gotta think these would be great in Italian wedding soup, as a pizza topper, with curly pasta and pesto, and of course, on top of good ol' fashioned spaghetti. (All of these suggestions are whole wheat of course!)

And so, if you have some lowly lentils leftover, might I suggest a way to make them more lovely...

Leftover Lentil Meatballs 

adapted from Cookie + Kate, serves 4 as a topping, 2 as the whole meal.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

2 1/2 cups of leftover lentils
You can add in some mushrooms if you have some leftovers (probably no more than 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon dried terragon if you've got it. I made mine without, but they'd probably be better with.
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon soy sauce (you can exclude this if you are on a cleanse

1 medium white onion or a bunch of green onions chopped.
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 or 2 eggs (you can exclude this if you want it to be vegan, but if your lentils are kind of dry (mine were not) they may not bind together very well. I suggest making the meatballs small so they have less chance to break apart)

Instructions

1. In a vita-mix or food processor combine the lentils, (mushrooms), spices, parsley until well combined. If you can prevent them from getting too mashed up, you'll have better texture, but don't stress. It won't affect the taste.

2. If you want to add to the flavor take a few minutes to put your mixture into a skillet on some olive oil. Add in the soy sauce and keep cooking until all your liquid has been absorbed. If you are adding in the eggs for binder, then you'll definitely want to do this and get rid of some excess moisture. 

3. season with salt and pepper and once cool enough to touch, thoroughly mix in whisked eggs. 

4. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400. 

5. I find a cookie scoop works the best to have uniform (even cooking) meatballs, but if you don't have one, use your hands to make little balls, leaving some space around each one. Bake until golden brown. Mine were a little smaller than a golf ball and 30 minutes was perfect for some crunch on the outside and to make sure they weren't mushy on the inside. I knew I was using sauce, so I wasn't worried about them drying out. Bake them for less time, or make bigger meatballs if you want them to retain some moisture. 

natural cookies

I'm getting hitched here in a few weeks and one of the things I'm looking forward to is a homemade cookie bar... that and marrying someone awesome is good too, but you know, cookies.

My future mother-in-law has a gluten intolerance, I have a pal who's paleo, a few vegetarians, and a lactose intolerant. I want everyone to have a little something sweet at the reception but without forcing them to lie crumpled in bed beyond a legitimate hangover. Enter the search for the do-all cookie.

And I've found it. It's refined sugar free, processed oil free, gluten free, and lactose intolerant friendly. It comes by way of the Cookie + Kate blogs and I nearly pee'd my pants when Kate answered my comment. She used my name!  

However, consider yourself warned, it does not stand up well to substitutions.

Do not bother making them if you don't have honest-to-God coconut flour. Do not bother making them if you found coconut flour but ran out of baking soda and seek to substitute the appropriate amount of sub'd leavener by way of baking powder. Maple Syrup seems to do better than honey and if you use coconut oil like me, you'll need to refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before baking.

Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from Cookie + Kate, makes about 40 small cookies.

These naturally sweetened, vegan, gluten-free cookies taste like a cross between the traditional toll-house chocolate chip cookie and girl scout samoas.  While they are not low-cal, they are healthy in that they contain no isolates. Which I think is a better deal. However, they are seriously delicious and you may need to temper yourself! 

I also like that they come together so quickly and that they don't contain any butter or egg to go bad. In Claire-world, that means you can leave the bowl in the fridge for a couple of days and make yourself a fresh cookie or two as you are baking your dinner... and of course there's no need to worry about salmonella, so lick that beater! 

Ingredients

• 1  1/2 cup almond flour (aka almond meal) firmly packed
• 1/2 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut flakes (optional) 
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (Kate suggests fine grain sea)
• dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (you can use the same amount of butter if you don't need these to be vegan)
• 1 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups vegan chocolate chips* 

*This is a huge amount of chocolate for the cookies. You can dial this back if you want and they would still be delicious. I used enjoy life brand and was very satisfied. I don't have any other experience with other brands. The small chips did a great job though. I think if they were more like regular size chocolate chips it would be a good idea to run em through a quick chop- otherwise they are going to be too melty and messy. 

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes in the fridge so the coconut flour can absorb some of the excess moisture and firm up so they won't spread too much in the oven. While resting, preheat oven to 350.
4. Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
5. Bake for about 9 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on the sheet for a bit so they don't fall apart.

Valentine noms

Some Valentine's related recipes (and a reason I need a nut-milk bag!)

For those on a cleanse:
Reboot Blush Juice

For those avoiding processed sugar, but still chocolate lovers:
Double Chocolate Torte

For those in deserve of an after-work cocktail:
Blood-Orange and Bourbon 

P.S. The Lentil Burgers were delicious!
My veggie stock was past its prime so I just used water to cook the lentils. I was tempted to use beef broth. That probably would have been pretty tasty, but yesterday was for meat-abstinence so water worked just fine.

I paired my patty with Ezekiel bread, hummus, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, and roasted red pepper. Perhaps all the toppings were what made it so delicious. I have a good bit of burger leftover so I'm going to experiment with different kinds of burgers. I'm thinking a greek burger with balsamic vinegar, feta, and olives mixed into the burger, paired with hummus, red pepper, red onion, cucumber, and cilantro.

kale chips

I saw a post the other day about annoying things food blogger do. The author begged bloggers to stop posting about kale chips.... What's a kale chip? Well I found out and am now going to do exactly what the aforementioned author plead against. 


Kale Chips are apparently a good way to force some veggies down your throat. Kale boasts an impressive resume of nutrients. Besides being high in fiber, it is a powerhouse of iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, Antioxidants, such as carotenoids and flavonoids that help protect against various cancers, omega-3 fatty acids, which help, fight against arthritis, asthma and autoimmune disorders. If Kale was someone at the bar, you'd buy em' a drink. So I was pretty excited to put this veggie in my shopping cart. (this veggie is on the dirty dozen, so buy organic if you can find it and afford it.)


So I gave kale chips a try, and while they weren't all the rage I was reading on the blog-sphere, they were a pretty tasty way to replace a potato chip. I experimented with Old Bay seasoning and another round with garlic salt, which upped the taste-o-meter. I'd definitely recommend giving kale chips a shot if you're a salt craver like my mom. My down fall is sweets, hers is salt, so maybe to her, this recipe would be all that and a bag of chips. ... pun intended. 

Here's a video on how to prepare kale chips. 

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/crunchy-salty-kale-chips/


or if you prefer, here's a text version of a slightly different recipe (with a bonus recipe on butternut squash):

http://www.doorsixteen.com/2011/01/16/butternut-squash-kale-chips/

I used curley green kale, but I'd like to give it another shot with Purple Russian Kale if I ever come across it! Sounds pretty!

oh my gosh, you guys.

I highly recommend the chocolate chip cookie dough balls although I wasn't wild about the frozen banana "ice cream." I keep the little cookie dough balls in the fridge or freezer and pop one (or two, or five) as my evening treat. Oh and I used the honey sweetened chocolate from "what's been getting me through" instead of chocolate chips. If you're still consuming a bunch of sugar, these won't taste all that great, but if you've retrained your taste buds to pick up on the softer notes of sugar, holy cow these are delicious.  

oh she glows

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/03/18/chocolate-chip-cooke-dough-blizzard/

What's been getting me through

As part of this sorta-detox we've kicked out all refined sugars of our diets. We have still allowed ourselves non-isolate sweeteners like honey, agave nectar, and maple syrup- but none of the white stuff, other refined sugars, and God-forbid, artificial sugars. So with checking every label, and with cooking almost everything we've stuffed our faces with, we've been pretty successful. {To be a better label detective, read this for the hidden names for sugar and this for the hidden names of MSG.}

However, I am a sugar addict and it wasn't very long into the sorta-detox that I was searching for a healthish treat to get me through. Even the super organic hippie dark chocolate bars contained sugar, so those were out. So instead I started playing with the sweetener I knew I was allowed. I'll post a picture later, but here's the recipe. It's simple, it takes a minimum of three ingredients, and it fits within my nutritional guidelines.

Honey Chocolate

• 2 tablespoons organic butter (or other fat) gentled melted
• 2 teaspoons honey whisked in with a fork
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder stirred in

The result is somewhere between ganache and frosting. If you're having a bad day, you can stop right there and have a spoonful. However you can also refrigerate to harden and use as chocolate chips in cookies, or use as a base for making your own candy bar. My favorite was to make it with half organic butter, half coconut oil and then once it becomes chocolate, mix it with a generous amount of almonds and unsweetened flaked coconut, spread it out on parchment paper, sprinkle some more coconut on top and gently press it into the bar. Then you can roll up the parchment paper, place in a ziploc, and refrigerate. When you come home from a long day at work you can break off a piece and savor the dark chocolate crunch. This stuff was so dark and crunchy that just a little bit satisfied my sweet tooth. What would you put in your candy bar?

Healthy Cookie: Walnut, Cherry, Chocolate Chip

I am making good on my promise to update you on the baking experiments. The following is a slightly less guilty baking project dotting my holiday season. I still intend on making puppy chow, peanut butter blossoms, and homemade marshmallows to gift, but these little crisp cookies have a little more substance than sugar and are quite tasty. I think they are the perfect mid-afternoon snack to satisfy your 3:30 sweet tooth. Yours may turn out fluffy like the image from self- but mine were somewhat thin and crisp on the edges, making them the perfect companion for a cup of tea. I've made them for my parents, my office mates, the future hubs, and my one confirmed blog reader. [shout out, Jeff!] I really liked the outcome, but you'll have to decide for yourself. Self estimates that each cookie is about 100 calories, contains 6 g fat (3 g saturated), 11 g carbs, 1 g fiber, and 1 g protein. My momma quipped, "you could really even skip the chocolate," but that's just asinine. Just kidding. That's actually a good idea if you aren't a chocolate craver. It would subtract about 28 calories from your one cookie.

Walnut, Cherry, Chocolate Chip Cookie

Source: Self. Makes 20 cookies

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup dried cherries

Heat oven to 375°. In a bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon. In another bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth. Blend flour mixture into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts and cherries. Drop 20 dough balls (1 tbsp each) onto 2 ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 9 minutes.

sugar rut smoothie

Maybe what sparked my confession earlier this week was just the overall yeuch feeling I've been carrying around. I feel sugared-out, processed-food-out, and dare I say it, carbed-out. I just haven't been eating enough fresh food and my body has been actually craving fruits and veggies. weird.

So yesterday, I shunned the lone pop tart in my cupboard and took the extra time to actually make myself a breakfast. It was simple, fresh, and delicious. Orange Juice, a handful of frozen fruit (strawberries, mangos, pineapples), a handful of spinach (trust me, you don't even taste the spinach), a quick spin in my vitamix, a fun straw, and BOOM, healthy breakfast. My morning commute felt so much better. It perked me up, kept me full longer, and get this- I didn't crave sweets later in the day as per usual. I remember reading once upon a time that foregoing sugar in the morning helps with sugar cravings later in the day, but I don't remember the science behind it. I think it must be something beyond simple carbohydrate crashing... maybe it's psychological or maybe by starting healthy you are reminding yourself how good that feels and tastes.

What kind of things do you do to get out of a sugar rut? I'm considering cutting out artificial sugar because it tricks your mind into thinking you are getting sugar, but since your body doesn't- it actually makes you continue to crave real sugar. "The taste of sweet does cause the release of insulin, which lowers blood sugar , and if carbohydrates are not consumed,  it causes a drop in blood sugar which triggers hunger and cravings for sugar." full interview with internist and physician nutrition specialist, Dr. Melina Jampolis available at http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/27/are-sugar-substitutes-worse-than-the-real-thing/

... but more on that, and my comparison between sin and processed foods, another day.

Black Bean Brownies

Not all brownies are created equal! I was sooooo angry this past weekend when I had tried my hand at making some healthy brownies as my quest to find healthy indulgences. Whilst these brownies may be more nutritious, with more protein and fiber, they actually have more calories (211!) than the sugary box mixes (about 110)!

Now then, below I've posted the same recipe from above, but with some healthy baking modifications. What's the damage? Only about 83 calories and still all the health benefits of that first brownie!

However, be forewarned! Not everyone likes the idea of a black bean brownie. My darling, sweet grandmother literally stuck out her chocolate covered tongue and yelped, "OHHH! Guuuuuuu- Yuck!!" when I revealed the secret ingredient. Hahaha! WORTH IT! Further, I would never compare these brownies to the delicious crack-cocaine brownies made by an old school-mate's wife. I wrote that woman a civil war-esque love letter professing my love for said brownie and the brownie was shortly thereafter named after me. But enough about once-a-year-crack-brownies. Let us give a fair shake to the humble, healthy indulgence, get-you-through-the-week-brownie.

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing pan
• 3/4 cup cooked black beans
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup + 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9-inch square baking pan.

In a blender, puree the beans with the oil. Add the eggs, cocoa, sugar, and vanilla. Melt the chocolate chips and add to the blender. Blend on medium-high until smooth. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the blender and pulse until just incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until the surface looks somewhat matte around the edges and still a bit shiny in the middle, about 17-20 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before cutting and removing from the pan.