Whole Wheat Griddle Scones

This is a minor variation on a Scottish griddle scones recipe that I came across via Tastespotting. The result is rather interesting because these are halfway between a pancake and a scone. I liked them and if you're in the mood for scones and don't want to use your oven or if you're in the mood for pancakes but don't have any syrup, these are really quite nice and they can be whipped up very fast.

Whole Wheat Griddle Scones

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp of butter or margarine (I used reduced fat spread)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 packets Splenda (or use 1 tbsp. sugar)
• cinnamon (about 1/4-12 tsp.)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup of milk with 1 tbsp. vinegar added

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and Splenda (or sugar) until fully blended. Cut the margarine or butter into the  four mixture with a fork until it is rather crumbly. Add the vanilla to the milk that has been curdled with vinegar a little at a time until the dough comes together. You may not need to use all of the milk. Pat into a circle about 1/2 inch thick (about 1 cm.) and cut into 4 scones.


Cook the scones in a buttered skillet over medium-high heat until browned on both sides. You should flip them when they appear a bit dry about halfway up the sides.

I wasn't such a great fan of these when fresh (likely because of the whole wheat flour which improves in texture overnight after the moisture balances out), but I froze the remaining ones and then wrapped them in foil and heated them in the toaster oven over the next few days. Having one split open with yogurt and apricot fruit spread was delicious. I don't know why, but the yogurt really did something for them which margarine and jam alone did not.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Lasagna Roll-ups

I think it's impossible to take a really good picture of pasta...at least for me.

Life is just full of unwelcome curve balls when you least expect or want them. When I set up to make lasagna rolls instead of a traditional lasagna, I made one choice which set off a chain of hassles which doubled my time in a kitchen that was over 90 degrees (abour 32 degrees C.) and increased my dish washing load (all washed by hand) by a third. The mistake I made was buying a different type of lasagna noodles than usual.

I'll start over and say that lasagna noodles are not easy to find in just any Tokyo supermarket, and they're very expensive to boot. I usually buy them at one particular place, but this time I didn't feel like tromping around in the heat to a second store so I was happy to find some noodles on offer at the same shop as I purchased all of the other necessary ingredients. This particular place is a cheap green grocer-style place. A package of 12 noodles cost 598 yen ($7.08), and I needed 6 of them so I thought this would be a good size.

I went home and started preparing all of the things I need to do for this particular task  - making cottage cheese by boiling milk and adding vinegar, frying up onions and pepper and ground chicken, and boiling the noodles. When all of the work was done, I made my basic filling for the roll-ups and got out a noodle to spread it on. When I picked up the noodle, I knew something was seriously different. It had ballooned up to about 1.5 times the size of the noodles I usually buy and all of that extra space meant I only had enough filling to spread 2 of the 6 noodles. Since they're so expensive, and I don't think you can save cooked noodles (can you?), I had to scramble to boil another liter of milk with vinegar and prepare more cottage cheese and other ingredients to make a conventional lasagna (which I could use 4 full noodles with) instead of more roll-ups.

On the bright side, if I attempt this recipe again, I'll only need two noodles for 4 servings. On the less bright side, I thought I would die in the heat and the kitchen is still a gigantic mess from all of the dishes. I'm just too damn hot to go out and clean it up right now. So, dear readers, if you make this recipe, I caution you that this may not be the right amount of filling for your noodles depending on whether or not you buy the "giant expanding noodle" brand or something more akin to what I usually use. Two noodles will probably do you, but you may need three.

Here is what the roll-ups ended up being composed of:

filling:

2 cups cottage cheese (dry curd)
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. oregano
pepper (to taste)
3 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 tbsp. parmesan cheese

2 (or possibly 3) lasagna noodles

sauce:
8 oz. ground chicken or turkey
1/4 large yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce (marinara)

Grease or spray a loaf pan or small baking dish. 

To prepare the sauce:
Fry the onion and bell pepper in a scant amount of oil in a non-stick skillet until wilted and lightly browned. Add the ground meat and fry until browned. Drain any remaining oil or juices (I didn't have any because the meat was lean). Pour in the pasta sauce and stir. There is no need to heat the pasta sauce through since it'll be baked in the oven.

Pasta:
 Boil the lasagna noodles to desired tenderness level (according to the package instructions). Drain, rinse with cold water if necessary to cool the noodles to a temperature at which they can be handled (or simply allow to cool naturally).

To prepare the filling:
Break the egg into a medium size bowl and lightly beat with a fork. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley and beat until mixed in. Stir in the cottage cheese until completely mixed. Gently stir in the mozzarella. This should make a paste which is easy to handle.

Assembly:
Lay a cooked noodle on a flat surface. With your hands, spread the filling evenly over the surface of the noodle. Roll up like a cinnamon roll. Cut the noodle in half. Place the halves in the prepared baking dish or loaf pan cut-side up. Spoon the meat and sauce over the ends of roll-ups.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 400 degrees F./200 degrees C. for 35-40 minutes.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Yogurt Cheese "Cheesecake"

That's a teaspoon of  apricot fruit spread on top of it.

Yogurt is one of those things that is rather more versatile than most people imagine. As a breakfast food, it rather leaves me cold, not to mention hungry. However, as an ingredient in various dishes, particularly as a partial substitute for sour cream or mayonnaise. It also works wonders in the lemon yogurt soufflé I make.

Cheesecake is one of those things which I love, but the problems with it are two-fold. The first is that Japanese cheesecake doesn't really do it for me. It's more of a sponge cake and it often tastes like Gouda instead of cream cheese. The second is that it is, undeniably, calorific.

So, when I've got the urge for cheesecake, I have limited options so I decided to attempt a yogurt-based version. I found this recipe online, and figured it was a very good starting point. I figured that it couldn't possibly taste bad because it contains the same basic ingredients as the lemon soufflé, and the batter from that always tastes so good that I'm more than happy to eat a bit of raw egg to sample it. This cheesecake has the virtue of being far less fussy than the soufflé.

This makes a very small "cheesecake" for a 17 cm./6.7 in. pie plate. If you use a regular pie plate, you'll want to double this. I wanted to keep the size down for my first attempt. Also, I don't expect my husband to have any of this and having a lot of it around probably would take so long to eat that it'd go bad before I reached the end of it all.

Yogurt Cheese "Cheesecake"

• 1 egg 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 packets of Splenda (or use about 3 tbsp. of sugar)
• juice of half a lemon (I didn't squeeze it dry)
• 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 cup strained yogurt*/yogurt cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F./160 degrees C. Spray your pie pan with cooking spray or lightly grease it. 

Whisk the egg, vanilla, Splenda, and juice until well mixed and slightly frothy. Add the yogurt cheese and whisk until all the lumps are gone. Whisk in the cornstarch until smooth and thoroughly incorporated. Add the mixture to the prepared pie pan and bake for between 20-25 minutes until set. Cool completely and refrigerate uncovered before eating.

Determining the calories for this is tricky because straining the yogurt changes the volume. The original recipe uses sugar and is 100 calories per serving. For this, I'd say it is 4 servings and my best guess is that it is 65 calories per serving. That's likely on the high side as I'm counting the calories in an entire 400 gram (14 oz.) container of plain low-fat yogurt and I don't think I used the entire thing, but can't know how many calories are drained off in the whey and don't know what proportion produced 1 cup of yogurt cheese. Note that I used a "mild" yogurt which I can get here in Japan. I don't know if such types exist in other countries, but I think this makes for a mellower result.

As for how it was, it was surprisingly good. It wasn't really "cheesecake", but it did have a nice texture and tangy flavor. It is, however, missing all of the richness of cheesecake and has a bit of a "too set" feeling. I also think I also whisked too much air into it (hence the air bubbles in the cut view). Rather than whisking, one might be better off stirring, but I can't say I'm too fussed about it. The only thing I can say is that it might be better at double the volume in the same size pan. I think it's a bit too flat to get a good sense of the texture. It strikes me that this would make an excellent breakfast treat for people who want something high protein, but sweet.

*Strained yogurt or yogurt cheese is plain, unsweetened yogurt which has been suspended in cheese cloth or a coffee filter above a container overnight and the whey has been allowed to drain off. The result is a much thicker, less watery version of yogurt.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins (Sugar-free)

The Orange Yogurt muffins I made were such a hit with my husband that I wanted to modify the recipe to make a cinnamon version. This was slightly tricky because I didn't want to use yogurt and there would be no juice involved. To make up for the loss of these other liquids, I decided to use milk soured with vinegar (essentially, a buttermilk substitute). I was concerned that this might make the batter too moist, but here was the recipe I tried:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins (sugar-free):

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 medium egg
• 3/4 cup plus one tbsp. low-fat milk
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup granular Splenda (or use sugar)
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon (yes, lots!)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder

Add the vinegar to the milk and stir. Set aside and allow to rest for several minutes. Whisk the applesauce, egg, oil vanilla, cinnamon, Splenda, milk and vinegar mixture (or use buttermilk), and salt together. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and gently stir until all of the flour is moistened. Allow the batter to rest for 15-30 minutes. This allows the larger grains of whole wheat flour to absorb the moisture and creates a lighter muffin. 

Grease the bottoms and lower sides of 6 muffin tins while the batter rests. Just before you are ready to spoon the batter into the tins, add the baking powder and stir until well-blended (and no more). If you stir too much, you will overwork the gluten in the flour and have tough muffins. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C. Spoon the batter into the tins and sprinkle the tops with a little more cinnamon if desired. They should be about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the tins for about 15 minutes and then finish cooling them on a rack. If necessary, run a butter knife around the edges to loosen them.

These turned out quite well in terms of texture. Though they were a bit sweet for my tastes, my husband likes things sweeter than I and these were made with him in mind more so than me. I had mine plain, but I think they'd be super with butter as a substitute for a slice or two of whole wheat toast at breakfast.

I'm not sure what, if anything, I'd change on a repeat making. Even though I put a lot of cinnamon in them, I thought it could have been stronger, and I'm thinking perhaps a few pinches of other spices might add more depth to the flavor (nutmeg, allspice, or clove). I left the extras out this time because I wanted to give both the vanilla and cinnamon a chance to shine. They were fine, of course, but I think I'll at least add nutmeg next time. I think that probably the quantity of liquid is fine as is, but they may benefit a little from a bit less.

Each muffin is 167 calories.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Whole Wheat Orange Yogurt Muffins (sugar-free)

I picked up 9 oranges for a bargain price of 498 yen ($5.62)... well, a "bargain" by Tokyo standards and thought some orange muffins might hit the spot as well as use an orange up before some of them start to spoil. Since I'm still interested in "healthifying" or at least "decalorating" my baked goods, I figured I'd create the orange muffins based on the existing banana and blueberry bread recipes that I've been using. The result was surprisingly good. In fact, I'm thinking I may modify the banana bread recipe after my experience with these muffins.

Note that the texture of these muffins is not going to be like those made with white flour, lots of sugar or fat, but it really is quite good. They're a bit denser than a conventional muffin, but not in any way like the dense hockey pucks you sometimes get when using whole wheat flour and skimping on the oil. I did not sample one fresh but rather had one for breakfast the next morning. With whole wheat baked goods, the next day is often better because the moisture tends to settle, though I recommend tightly wrapping them so no air gets in and freezing any that you won't be eating soon immediately.

Whole Wheat Orange Yogurt Muffins:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt (low-fat is fine)
• the juice and finely grated zest of one medium orange (I used a Sunkist navel)
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
• 1 cup Splenda granular (or use white sugar)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 6 walnut halves for garnish (optional)

Whisk the applesauce, egg, yogurt, juice, zest, oil, vanilla, Splenda, and salt until well-blended. Add the flour and mix until just moistened. Allow the flour to rest in the wet ingredients for 15-30 minutes. This allows large grain whole wheat flour to absorb more moisture. If you're worried about the egg, put the bowl in the refrigerator. Grease the bottom and lower sides of 6 muffin cups or a 6-cup tin. After the batter has rested, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. They should be between 2/3 and 3/4 full. Gently push half a walnut into the batter so that it is half-submerged. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 


Each muffin is about 190 calories (not counting the walnuts).

I really liked these and will definitely be making them again. Originally, I planned to put dates in them, but the ones I had on hand were too old. I think they'd be great with some chocolate chips as well, though that would wreck the "sugar-free" angle. If you're a fan of nuts in your quick breads, some chopped walnuts would be a healthy add-in. Frankly though, I enjoyed mine as it was with some butter. (As an addendum: I had one a few days later wrapped in foil and warmed in the toaster oven and it was soft, fluffy and delicious - I recommend having them that way!)

As a point of comparison to my other quick breads, the batter for these was much wetter. I think that helped them to rise better, although that could also have been the fact that they were muffins. This time, I chose muffins over a loaf because of the summer heat. The breads take up to an hour to bake and the muffins take less than half that time. The only problem is that they are fussier and therefore there is more clean-up, but it was worth it.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Burrito Pie

I can't claim that this is some major culinary achievement. It's actually just a different way of presenting all of the main ingredients of a burrito as I tend to prepare one. The main appeal of this is that it makes 4 servings at once without all of the spooning and folding and that it is much higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates. It's also good for making a meal when you're nearly out of tortillas. ;-)

Ingredients:

• 1 large flour tortilla (as big as a pie plate)
• 1 can refried beans (I used Rosarita)
• 4-8 oz. leftover taco meat (seasoned ground meat)
• Pace Picante sauce or salsa (to taste, I used about 8 tbsp.)
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped green onions (I used more)
• 2 medium tomatoes, sliced into 8 slices
• 4 oz. Colby Jack or cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Spray a 9" pie plate with oil or cooking spray. Center the flour tortilla in the pie pan and press it into the corners. Evenly spread the can of refried beans over the tortilla. Evenly sprinkle the cooked ground meat over the beans. Gently press the meat down into the beans. Spoon the Picante sauce or salsa over the meat and sprinkle with the green onions. Top with cheese, then arrange the tomato slices on the cheese. Salt and pepper the tomato slices as desired.

Bake at 350 degrees F. or 180 degrees C. for about 40 minutes or until the cheese has bubbled up and the tomatoes are wrinkled and slightly wilted looking. Allow to rest in the pan for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Depending on how much meat you use, this is between 325 (4 oz.) and 375 calories (8 oz.) per serving.

by Shari (Orchid64)

100% Whole Wheat Bread (smaller loaf)

One thing that really gets my goat is recipes that people advertise as "whole wheat" and then you find out that they include a mix of whole wheat flour and white flour. If it has white flour in it, it's just dirty white bread. It's not "whole wheat"! My poor old goat probably would be gotten a lot less if 90% of the recipes I check didn't contain this lie.

I've been making my regular whole wheat bread for quite some time, but there were always problems handling it because it was so huge. It wasn't just that it was hard to cut (especially thin slices), but it was also difficult to find space in my freezer to store such a large amount of bread. It also took ages to eat it all.

I tried to scale back the other recipe, but just cutting things in half doesn't always work properly. This is the recipe which I experimented and came up with for a small loaf. It works quite well and I make it about once a week for both my husband and I.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread (for ABM):

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. vital wheat gluten
• 2 cups (regular) whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. yeast

Place the liquid ingredients in your bread machine and then the remaining dry ones (add the yeast last, making sure it doesn't touch any wet ingredients). Set the crust color to light and choose the whole wheat setting on your bread machine. Press start.

whole loaf: 1182 calories
14 slices - 85 calories per slice 

by Shari (Orchid64)


There's an excellent general guideline to bread making here for anyone who is interested.

Chickpea salad (revamped)

This is my old picture. It didn't look much different so, I was lazy. Sue me.

This recipe originally appeared on the Kitchn, as "Chickpea of the Sea".I was generally okay with it the first time I tried it, but it was a bit too sour for me. Here is the latest version, which I was happier with:

Chickpea Salad:

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp. drained plain (unsweetened) yogurt*
• 1/2 tsp. whole grain mustard
• 1 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 slices white onion, cut in half
• garlic powder, salt, and hot pepper flakes (to taste)

Pulse the chickpeas, spices, vinegar, onion and mustard in your food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until mixed. Spoon onto a layer of lettuce on your bread of choice. Top with thinly-sliced tomatoes. This made three servings for my appetite.

This was milder than the previous version and I felt that the sour flavors of mustard and vinegar didn't overwhelm the chickpeas as they did last time. I felt that having less vinegar and mustard and more hot pepper flakes (I used a 1/2 tsp.), salt, and garlic worked better - more flavor, less sourness.

I had this as an open-face sandwich and it was quite tasty. One-quarter of the batch was a good serving for me. I did a rough calorie calculation and this is about 175 calories per serving.

*drained yogurt is plain yogurt that has been put in a coffee filter and suspended such that most of the liquid drains off.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Take 2)

Though my husband was satisfied with the previous incarnation of these pumpkin oatmeal bars, I thought they could be better, and they are. In this version, I wanted to increase the moisture by adding applesauce, reduce the oil, and increase the spices both in terms of variety and amount. The change in spices was motivated by a desire to make this more pumpkin pie like in flavor, and I think it worked. That being said, I think that this might be better yet in a third modification. Next time, I'm going to use a full cup of pumpkin puree and omit the milk to see if I can boost the pumpkin flavor without affecting the moisture balance.

This did turn out very well though, and is better than the previous version both in texture and in flavor.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Take 2)

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk (or use whole milk)
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/3 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf pan. 


Mix all ingredients except the baking powder, flour, and oatmeal together. After all of these ingredients are mixed, add the oats and sprinkle the flour and baking powder over the oatmeal. Stir with a spoon until completely mixed.

Lightly beat the egg in a medium-size bowl. Add the Splenda (or sugar), pumpkin puree, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the oatmeal, flour and baking powder until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes until set. I baked mine for 40 minutes and that worked well.


entire loaf: 837 calories
6 servings: 140 calories per bar

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal (sugar-free)

This is the next in my series of baked oatmeal recipes. The previous recipes were:

• pumpkin baked oatmeal
• peanut butter baked oatmeal
• maple baked oatmeal

Of those three, the maple remains the big favorite for both my husband and I, though he's generally pleased with them all. Making this into a blueberry version was slightly tricky for a few reasons. First of all, I wasn't sure about the moisture balance because the blueberries are going to add moisture. Also, since the berries are frozen, I had to consider the baking time. I ended up adding 10 minutes to the usual time (total of 40 minutes) to compensate for the frozen berries. I also wasn't sure whether to go with my standard addition of lemon to blueberries, or to go for vanilla and cinnamon. My husband weighed in on the choice of lemon, so here is what I came up with:

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

• 1 egg
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I made my own)
• 1/4 cup skim milk (or use whatever milk you want)
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C.

Grease and flour a loaf pan. Whisk the egg, applesauce, milk, Splenda, vegetable oil, salt, and lemon juice together until thoroughly mixed. Add the oats, sprinkle the flour and baking powder on top and mix with a spoon until the flour and baking powder are mixed in and the oats are thoroughly moistened. Stir in the frozen blueberries. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until set (check with a toothpick or tester). Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes, remove from the loaf pan and allow to cool completely before cutting. Cut into 6 servings.


whole loaf: 852 calories
1 serving (1/6):142 calories per serving


I think that this should have cooled a lot longer in the pan as it fell apart when I took it out and put it on a rack. As it disintegrated on the rack, I rapidly put it on a plate for cooling. It was, however, very tasty and had a nice, moist texture. It is very reminiscent of my similar whole wheat blueberry bread, though I'm guessing this is healthier since it mainly uses oatmeal rather than flour.

I don't think that I will alter the recipe though it may be advisable to give it 45 minutes in the oven if you're using a glass dish as I did (it's so moist that it's not likely to dry out), but I do think I'll cool this to nearly room temperature in the dish rather than remove it to a rack for cooling. Due to the heavy concentration of blueberries, I think it needs to firm up more before removing it from the pan. The only thing I would advise is to loosen it in the pan before it fully cools (run a knife around the edges and gently lift a bit) to make sure it comes out smoothly when cooled.

The bottom line is that this is really yummy, and will definitely be repeated again and again.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Lemon Yogurt Soufflé (sugar-free)

Sometimes I think it would be useful for someone to start a content aggregate site which only includes trusted recipes from sites that actually test the recipes and have positive feedback from people who successfully duplicate their results (not just rave about the pretty food pictures). A great many recipes out there are mere eye candy for attention and the resulting food is pretty crappy. In other words, the food looks good, but the texture or taste is really disappointing.

There are more recipes for sugar-free, low-carb or low-fat foods that disappoint than any other type of recipe. It's easy to fail when it comes to such things since sugar, fat, and flour are integral parts of many successful dishes. One of the reasons I blog about these types of things (besides the fact that it helps me keep track of what I have tried) is that it allows me to say, "this is a good recipe" or "this is a bad recipe".

I tend to give sites two chances when it comes to "bad recipes". If I try them and the result is poor, I leave a comment and ask if I made an error and that perhaps contributed to the poor result. If the comment is published, then I will give the site's author's recipes another try. If the comment isn't published, I will never try that author's recipes again since they clearly can't be trusted not only to be honest about the results of their cooking experiments, but they also won't allow anyone to say the recipe may not turn out well for those who have actually tried it. They'll publish a hundred comments about how good the food looks in the picture, but not one dissenting opinion about how the results were disappointing for a particular person. For the record, no one who I have left a comment with saying I tried the recipe and it failed has ever published my comment, even when I am polite and ask for advice on where I may have gone wrong. They just delete it in moderation.

One site which I absolutely trust when it comes to healthy variations on recipes is Eating Well, Living Thin. The mistress of this site had bariatric surgery and is maintaining her weight, at least in part, by modifying old favorites so that they are lower calorie and healthier. I've tried several of her recipes, and they have always turned out well. This lemon yogurt soufflé recipe from her site was my latest attempt at one of her recipes, and it turned out very well. I did change it a little based on a desire to cut back the recipe a bit, and because I only had 3 ramekins. Here is the recipe with my (small) modifications. The original recipe is a little better nutritionally than mine, and mine is more lemony and uses regular yogurt instead of Greek.

Lemon Yogurt Soufflé

• 1/2 cup of strained plain, low-fat yogurt*
• 2 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
• 4 tbsp. granular Splenda (or just use white sugar if you want)
• 1.5 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cream of tartar

In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt, egg yolks, 3 tbsp. Splenda (or sugar), flour, vanilla, lemon juice and salt until smooth.

Spray 3 ramekins with cooking spray (or grease them manually). Dust them with Splenda (or sugar) and set them aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and 1 tbsp. Splenda (or sugar) until stiff peaks form. If you aren't familiar with the best way to beat egg whites, you might want to read the instructions in the original recipe but I was taught to first beat the whites at a relatively low speed until foamy, add the cream of tartar and sugar (or sweetener, in this case) and then beat at a higher speed until the peaks stand up straight.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C.

Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the lemon-yogurt-egg-yolk mixture. Be careful not to stir in or you'll lose all of the air from the egg whites. I use the "cutting" method to fold in egg whites. To do this, spoon in about 1/4 of the egg white mixture and cut through the center of the yogurt mixture with a large spoon. Fold over half of the mixture. Cut through and fold over the other half. Slowly add in the egg whites by quarters repeating the folding in this manner until there are no pockets of egg white.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins, place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are a golden brown. Serve warm. These are about 100 calories each, which is incredibly low considering the size and quality of the dish.

The soufflés will start to fall after about 40 minutes, but Linda (the person who originally posted this recipe) warns readers about that. She said it becomes like cheesecake after it falls. As of this posting, I haven't tried it cold after it has fallen.

My husband and I both really liked this a lot, though I made it this first time with only 1 tsp. lemon juice and we both thought it'd suit our tastes better with more lemon (hence the reason that I put "2 tsp." in the recipe above as that is what I'll use next time). The texture was really good, as was the flavor. Also, frankly, this was a little sweet for my tastes, but my husband thought it was quite fine as is so it's probably just me (and I have no plans to alter the sweetness levels the next time). We'll definitely be having this again!

Update: The next day, this was even better. It was like a sponge cake with a bit of a baked cheesecake feel. Also, it seemed less sweet (maybe because the granular Splenda on the outside was absorbed and not hitting my tongue directly). This was truly amazing as a low calorie treat.

*Strained Yogurt Instructions:

To make thick, creamy strained yogurt, buy regular plain, low-fat (unsweetened) yogurt. Take a coffee filter and affix it with rubber bands to the mouth of a glass or bowl which is the right size for your particular filters. The coffee filter should be suspended above the glass and there should be at least an inch (2.5 cm.) below it. Spoon the plain yogurt into the filter until just full. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and allow the whey to drain for at least 24 hours. There should be very thick yogurt the consistency of sour cream in the filter. Most yogurt will be reduced in size by 40-50% using this procedure.

If it seems too watery after 24 hours, drain the whey from the bottom of the glass or bowl, rinse it out, affix a new coffee filter to the top of it, and transfer the strained yogurt into a new filter. When you strain it twice, it gets even thicker, though usually straining it once is enough.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Eel River Triple Exultation

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The Triple Exultation was an experiment, of sorts.  I've been wanting to brew my own old ale for some time yet, but it hasn't quite gotten to the top of the priority listing thus far.  However, since it is a variety that's not exactly en vogue these days, I decided it would be a good idea for me to get a feel for what I would be shooting for in my eventual batch.

Eel River seems to have put together an ale that caught me off-guard, but most definitely in a favorable way.  This beer's smell was significantly fruitier than I anticipated; the malt was extremely prevalent.  However, the fruit was only minimally present in the taste.  Instead the malt came through strongly, which, as one might expect, led to a somewhat high-gravity final product (the beer didn't list its FG on the bottle, but it had a lingering feel to it).  To balance the sweetness, there was a significant amount of some form of grain I couldn't quite put my finger on (my best guess was rye).

You may notice from the image above that there was a significant level of carbonation present; very much higher than most beers I consume.  That said, it was balanced well by the high level of alcohol and the thickness of the beer itself.

Pairing Suggestions
This is an interesting question; I don't typically have beers that are this malty, so I'll have to wing it and see how it goes.  I would imagine this would balance well with an acidic dish, perhaps even a spicy one (pad thai?), as the thickness of the beer would help calm down the fire.  I wouldn't recommend any light flavors, however, as they might get overwhelmed quite easily by the beer itself.

Whole Wheat Peach Cobbler

This is a tiny, tiny cobbler - that's just a tablespoon (slightly heaped) of whipped cream nearly smothering the cobbler.

I've been busy doing English level tests by telephone over the past week. That means that I have more time than usual in which I am shackled to the computer. And during one 2-hour session, half of the students didn't feel they needed to trouble themselves to call. This not only resulted in my time being compensated at 1/5 the maximum possible rate (as I'm paid much less if they don't call and complete the test than if they do), but in a lot more time to surf the internet.

When I ran out of things to read, I turned to the usual suspects in the food porn areas to entertain my wandering mind. I don't recall where I found the picture which sent me to this recipe, but I was intrigued by the recipe and wanted to give it a try. Of course, peaches are not in season at present, but I had a can of peaches in heavy syrup aging under my cabinet so I decided to finally put it to use.

Because I used canned peaches in syrup, I didn't bother with the part of the recipe which involved cooking the peaches with cornstarch, sweetener, juice and cinnamon. Other than that, I stuck pretty closely to the original recipe.

Whole Wheat Peach Cobbler:

• 1 can peach halves (4 halves) in syrup
• 2-3 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• cinnamon (to taste)
• 2 packets Splenda sweetener (or 3-4 tsp. sugar)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp. 50% fat margarine (reduced calorie)
• 1/4 cup low-fat (or skim) milk
• *whipped cream (for serving)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C.

Drain and rinse the peach halves and dice them. Toss the peaches with the juice, cinnamon and sweetener (or sugar). Spray 4 muffin tins (I used aluminum) with cooking spray and divide the peach mixture evenly between the tins, gently pressing down with a spoon to even things out.

In a clean bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the margarine in with a fork until evenly crumbled. Add the milk and mix just until a dough forms. Divide the dough into four parts and gently form rough disks of dough with your hands and pat one on top of each cup with peaches. Bake for about 20-25 until the "cobbler" is lightly browned. Run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the cobbler and overturn onto plates to serve (mine came out very easily). Serve topped with a tablespoon of whipped cream.

This was good, but certainly would have been better with fresh peaches. The "cobbler" part turned out surprisingly well for something that was whole wheat and low-fat. It lent a good texture and hearty flavor and went well with the sweet peaches. I'm going to try this again with blueberries, though I'll have to use the method described in the original recipe to make a thicker sauce with the berries as they won't come with the same syrup as the canned peaches.

This was better fresh from the oven than the next day, but it was still good the next day. I recommend giving it 20 seconds in the microwave to warm it up a bit if you're having it the second day. I stored mine in the refrigerator and a few seconds in the microwave seemed to liven it up a bit. I ate this for breakfast, and I figure it's little different from having whole wheat toast with butter and jam from a nutritional standpoint.

*I make my own whipped cream by buying whipping cream or non-dairy "whip" (which is probably a liquid form of Cool Whip) and whipping it up with Splenda and vanilla using my hand mixer. This results in a sugar-free topping. If I lived in the U.S., I'd just buy a tub of sugar-free Cool Whip.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Spicy Chicken (possibly with cheese)

I discovered this recipe on Lisa Tries to Cook and Get Healthy. Of course, I changed it somewhat because that's what I do. This recipe appealed to me for a variety of reasons. First of all, it uses chicken breasts, and lately I've been finding that my local green grocer sells that particular cut for 19 yen per 100 grams (21 cents for 3.5 oz. or 96 cents per pound) on occasion. That's as cheap as chicken gets in Japan. When I find these sales, I load up on breast meat and freeze it.

The second reason is that this is a fairly simple recipe, though I made it fussier and more complex because, again, that's what I do. Third, it's fast. With an original cooking time of 20 minutes, it takes a lot less time in the oven than I'm used to and this is something I appreciate as we gear up for four and a half months of misery in Tokyo (humid and hot, then hotter until around mid October). And finally, it uses spices I tend to only use for Indian-style dishes. Using cumin for something which isn't Indian gave this dish a different flavor and I'm all for dressing up my breasts (chicken breasts, you dirty-minded people) in an unusual way.

Chili Chicken

For this recipe, you need:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

I decided I wanted to marinate the chicken and add an acidic component in order to enhance the flavor and increase the chances of tender, juicy white meat. First, set up the marinade:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• the juice of half a small lemon (only use fresh juice)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin (I think it could use more, I misread the original recipe and thought it was "teaspoons", but it was "tablespoons")
• 1 tsp.  salt
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1/3 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Whisk all of the above together in a medium bowl that you have a lid for. Dredge the chicken in it (rub them together if necessary to coat evenly as it's a small amount of liquid). Put all of the breasts in the bowl, seal with the lid and leave in your refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Longer is fine. I think mine marinated for about 5.5 hours, but I'm thinking overnight would be just as good.

• 2 small green peppers (piman, in Japan), cut into rings
• 1 small diced yellow onion
• 1 large tomato (coarsely chopped)
• Colby Jack cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 205 degrees C. or 400 degrees F. Place the marinated chicken into a lightly greased baking pan (or sheet). Layer the vegetables on top of the chicken and cook in the preheated oven until the juices in the chicken run clear. Top with cheese if desired and serve with a green salad.

Mine took about 38 minutes, but the breasts I used were large and crowded in my pan. I also layered more vegetables than Lisa did in her original recipe. The one thing I learned this time and will do differently next time is not to slice the thin-skinned Japanese peppers so thinly. Next time, I'm making thicker rings so they don't burn in spots.

My husband liked this a lot, and the chicken came out nice and moist (as you can see by the picture, the interior is juicy). The vegetables compliment the spices well and take on a roasted flavor. I had mine "as is" and my husband had his with cheese. I think it is certainly good either way, but I took a picture of mine because he cut his up pretty fast.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Oatmeal Crepes

I had to harpoon it with a toothpick because it was so small that it wouldn't fold properly.

My continuing mission, and I have chosen to accept it, is to take oatmeal to the limits of its integrity as a foodstuff. To that end, I thought I'd give this recipe for oatmeal crepes a toss with just a smidge of a change.

Oatmeal crepes:

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
  
• 2 tsp. white all-purpose flour
• 2 packets Splenda sweetener (or omit for a plain crepe or use about 4 tsp. sugar)
• pinch salt
  
• 1/2 cup skim milk
  
• 1 medium egg
  
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Put the oatmeal in a food processor and process as finely as possible to get oat flour. Add the flour, salt, and Splenda (or sugar) and give the process a quick hit to mix them in. Add the milk, egg, and vanilla and blitz in the processor until thoroughly mixed. Allow to rest while you warm up a non-stick skillet.


Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat. Oil, butter, or put margarine in the skillet and pour in enough batter for a small, thin crepe. Cook on one side until set (the top should look pretty dry) and flip and cook about a minute or two. Makes about 3-4 small crepes.

Total calories: 184 for the whole batch
3 crepes: 61 calories each
4 crepes: 46 calories each

Flipping these crepes was challenging. Mine stuck like mad despite my using butter one time and margarine the next (and a non-stick skillet). At first, I made a big crepe and it simply tore up too much during flipping. It could be my craptacular pans or spatula (or my ham-fisted handling), but it seemed super delicate.

The thing about this which surprised me is that it tasted great by itself as a fresh crepe. It was nicely sweet, had a good flavor overall, and was similar to a pancake. I'm not sure if the flour I added did anything for these or not. I mainly added it because my food processor isn't very good and I didn't think my oat flour was really fine enough and I wanted a little boost to the cohesion of the crepe.

I had one of these the next day filled with yogurt, unsweetened applesauce and blueberries and it was good, but lost some of it's appeal. I think they'd be fine the next day, but it'd be best to warm it in the microwave first to give it back a bit of its "pep".

I'm going to give these another go. They're essentially my attempt to make the base for a low-GI dessert for my husband, but also to just try something new. I think they're actually pretty good, though not as thin as a conventional crepe by a long shot.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Maple Baked Oatmeal (sugar-free)

Yeah, my cutting board is stained. So?

I feel like I'm running a test kitchen for every possible palatable version of baked oatmeal. That being said, it's a worthwhile endeavor. I know there are those who love their gummy, gooey bowl of porridge in the morning, but I'm not one of them nor is my husband so I'm trying to extract all of the benefits of oat consumption without the texture issues. This latest incarnation was inspired not only by my husband's love of maple, but also the fact that we have run out of peanut butter from Costco and Japanese peanut butter costs a lot more than the vats of Skippy you can get at Costco. The peanut butter version, by the way, is a big favorite of my husband's.

Baked Maple Oatmeal:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I made my own)
• 1/2 cup skim milk (or use whatever milk you want)
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. imitation maple flavoring (I used McCormick because it's what we have)
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C.

Grease and flour a loaf pan. Whisk the egg, applesauce, milk, Splenda, vegetable oil, salt, vanilla, and maple flavoring together until thoroughly mixed. Add the oats, sprinkle the flour and baking powder on top and mix with a spoon until the flour and baking powder are mixed in and the oats are thoroughly moistened. The mixture should be fairly wet compared to the other types of baked oatmeal I've listed. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until set (check with a toothpick or tester). Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, remove from the loaf pan and allow to cool completely before cutting. Cut into 6 servings.

whole loaf: 663 calories
1 serving (1/6): 111 calories

This turned out incredibly moist, far moister than the other versions. It was also softer and more cake-like. It makes me wonder if I ought to modify the pumpkin version so that it is wetter since this seemed to have a nicer texture. The unsweetened applesauce really does take over pretty effectively for the moisture-inducing properties of both sugar and oil. This also has the most impressive calorie profile per serving because of the small amount of oil. This might be an interesting recipe to vary by using maple syrup if you're looking to avoid artificial sweeteners and don't need to worry about blood sugar fluctuations.

Both my husband and I really liked this and felt it came closer than the other versions to being like a "cake". It's very moist, though still a bit crumbly. I don't particularly care for baked oatmeal, but I really did like this. I could even see serving it as a healthy treat as opposed to a quick, healthy breakfast.


By Shari (Orchid64)

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid IIPA

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Although most craft beer drinkers are likely familiar with Lagunitas due to their widely-distributed IPA, they actually produce a rather wide variety of other beers, most of which I would consider highly drinkable.  That said, given my latest penchant for Imperial IPAs and their bretheren, it should be somewhat unsurprising that I gravitated immediately to their "Hop Stoopid" ale, which proudly boasts that it brings 102 IBUs (International Bitterness Units - a scale that is supposed to top out at 100, but the recent surge in robust IPAs has most breweries claiming higher).  Since the brewers seemed to have me pegged (I was drawn not only to "stoopid" for the word itself, but for their choice of spelling), it seemed only appropriate that I give it a shot.

As one might expect from an IIPA, the Stoopid was extremely floral, with notes of flowers that I don't know how to pick out, so don't ask.  This is balanced by a nice level of fruit, notably oranges and apples from what I could tell.  Despite its appearance in the photo, the carbonation was relatively light on the tongue, which goes well with its medium gravity level.  Considering its claims, its bitterness wasn't really as high as I anticipated; certainly it was lower than other IIPAs I've had in the past.  That said, this certainly isn't a complaint; I would definitely recommend this one.  As far as this variety goes, it can't match Stone's Ruination, but it certainly makes a valiant attempt.

Pairing Suggestions
The fruit and mild bitterness level of this beer would lead me to believe it would pair well with roasted (or ideally, grilled) pork.  A good pulled pork sandwich would be fantastic, but it would probably also do well with a thai-style dish, as it would do well to balance a mild spiciness.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Stout

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Sierra Nevada is largely known for their famous Pale Ale, a beer that I've never been hugely impressed by, but as far as a mass-produced beer, it's certainly not bad.  That said, it seems like I've started seeing more variety from them in the past few years; I'm not sure if this is due to my imagination, to my increasing interest in small-batch beers, or an actual effort on their part to diversify.  Regardless, these more interesting brews have been most impressive to me, and none more so than their first (of a series of four) 30th Anniversary Ale.  To celebrate the brewery's significant anniversary, the brewers are teaming up with other brewers from around the country to produce four different types of beer as one-off releases; if this bottle is any evidence of what's to come, I predict that I'll be buying multiples of each release as soon as it appears on the shelf.

The 30th Stout is an excellent demonstration of what a stout can be: malty, toasty, and extremely complex.  The initial flavor is an almost overwhelming maltiness that is counterbalanced by the toasty bitterness from the darker grains present.  As the beer lingers on the palate, mild hints of fruit come out, followed shortly by a strong espresso flavor that holds long after the beer is gone.  The stout's typical light carbonation gives it almost a creamy head that helps lighten what is most certainly a high-gravity beer.  Little in the way of hops are immediately present, but then, the point of this beer is to highlight malt, not flowers.  As you may be able to tell, I cannot recommend this beer highly enough; the unfortunate fact that it is a limited one-time release (which, sadly, was released over a month ago) leads me to suggest that if you find it on the shelf anywhere, buy it immediately.  If nothing else, it's robust enough to age well on the shelf for years to come.

Pairing Suggestions
A beer of this magnitude is probably best paired with rich hearty fare; I picture a greasy leg of roast beast with a very distinct flavor that is not at all mild.  A good grilled tri-tip roast or rack of ribs would do well here, as the weight of the beer would go well with the weight of their flavors.  Additionally, much like the Bison Chocolate Stout, this would do well as a dessert beer, paired with dark chocolate (a mousse, perhaps?) or cheesecake.  If you're feeling heretical, I bet it would reduce into a fantastic steak sauce, but please don't tell me if you end up doing so; this beer deserves better.

Bison Chocolate Stout

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The Bison Chocolate Stout was something I picked up on a whim during a pilgrimage to the local BevMo. It came highly recommended by my cashier, who is starting to recognize me--an unsettling thought. Nonetheless, it was an intriguing prospect as it claims to be completely organic, which for a beer means ... well, actually I have no idea what forms of regulation are in place in the beer industry for such terms, so it could be completely meaningless.

The immediate taste is reminiscent of coffee; not quite to the espresso level, but certainly carrying a bit of bitterness, which I can only assume is due to the charring of the grains used in the brewing process. Not a lot of malt or hops present, leaving the grain flavors to stand on their own. The carbonation is medium-high, resulting in a slight burn on the tongue that is not due to alcohol (the alcohol burn itself is relatively low). For a stout, this is surprisingly refreshing; most stouts tend to be high-gravity thick beers that coat the mouth like cough syrup, but the Bison keeps the gravity low, which I certainly appreciate.

Pairing Suggestions
This would actually be a decent dessert beer, largely due to the coffee notes present. It would go well with vanilla ice cream or, if you're into chocolate-fruit pairings, raspberries and chocolate or something along those lines. It might work for cheesecake, but I'm not sure that it has enough acidity to cut through the richness of cream cheese.

Stone Ruination Ale

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At the risk of coming across as one of those people who sit around with fellow snobs talking about a particular drink's "mouthfeel" and "citrusy notes", this post marks a style that is new to my blog: a brief review of something I recently (or more often than not, not-so-recently) consumed. In most cases, this will involve beer or wine, but this could certainly change at my every whim. This is ostensibly in an attempt to keep track of the many varieties I end up trying, if for nothing else than to make sure I keep track of mistakes and don't end up repeating them. These posts will most likely come across as standard wine-tasting elitist jargon, but hell, it's my blog so shut up.


Stone's Ruination is a fitting first review post as it's one of my favorite beers for the time being. In my book, it is the India Pale Ale against which all other IPAs are judged, and as such, little that I end up drinking meets with its high standard. In my relatively limited home-brewing attempts, I've already tried to match its splendor twice, both times with inadequate (albeit still tasty) results. The only problem I have with this beer is that, much like most craft brews, it comes with a rather high price tag and must be enjoyed infrequently lest one's wallet protest too much.

After the inital pour, Ruination exudes a great deal of fruit in the smell alone, largely citrusy (ha! Told you!), but with some sweetness in the end. Its taste evokes a combination of pear, apple, and lemon flavors tempered with the IPA's signature high level of hops. The carbonation level is medium, balancing well with the crispness of the taste. The hops are not as bitter as one might expect, but this is probably due in part to the fruit helping to moderate the alpha acids present. As would be expected, there is little in the way of malt flavor, resulting in a low-gravity beer that is quite refreshing for a warm day.

Pairing Suggestions
Dishes designed to accentuate the beer's fruitiness (or rather, vice versa I suppose) would be best. It works well with fattier foods as the acid levels help cut through the richness present in the food itself. Fish, particularly catfish, works quite nicely. Tomatoes or cole slaw are also good ideas.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread (Sugar-free)

Update (April 17, 2010) and re-posting: this recipe was altered to use less oil and applesauce and I've added notes about how these changes affected the bread.

I've been trying to finish off the bag of frozen blueberries that we bought at Costco before we make our next trek there (at which point I will buy a new bag and start the process all over again). I also wanted to take my sugar-free whole wheat banana bread recipe and modify it for different fruits. What better place to start than with blueberries?

Since the basic components of the banana bread recipe like yogurt, oil, flour, and egg quantities, were sound, I mainly wanted to swap out the flavor components. That being said, bananas lend moisture and density to quick breads and blueberries do not. I decided to replace the bananas with unsweetened applesauce*. I also didn't include cinnamon or vanilla as flavorings because I didn't want to be able to taste the apple and I felt those seasonings would enhance it. I wanted the blueberries to shine through rather than for this to be an apple-berry mixture.

I don't mind being immodest and saying that this turned out fantastic. I sampled the batter and it was very "wheaty" (as raw batter can be with whole wheat flour), but very tasty. I was very keen to cut the bread and sample it right out of the oven, but waited for it to cool to just slightly warm first. I didn't want the structure to fall apart because I cut it while it was still too warm.

This is by far one of my best improvised recipes ever. One of my students made it with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and hers turned out great as well.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce*
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
  
• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
  
• 1 cup granular Splenda (or just use 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups frozen (unsweetened) blueberries

Mix the egg, yogurt, applesauce, Splenda (or sugar), salt, and oil in a large bowl. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and mix well. Add the whole wheat flour and stir until just moistened. Allow to rest 10-30 minutes. While the flour is resting, grease and flour a loaf pan and preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.). Stir in the baking powder until well incorporated, but do not overmix. You don't want to overwork the gluten in the flour as it will make the bread tough. Gently fold in the frozen blueberries. Pour into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Note that I used a glass pan which takes longer to heat up so my cooking time (1 hour) may be longer than that needed for a metal pan.

*Unsweetened Applesauce:

You can make your own unsweetened applesauce easily in the microwave oven. Peel and core two medium apples (green or red is okay, but green apples are softer and cook faster) or one very large apple. Cut the apple roughly into bite-size pieces. Put the apple pieces into a microwave-safe dish with a lid and add about a quarter cup of water. Microwave on high power (600 W.) for between 3-6 minutes. After three minutes, check with a fork to see if they are tender and add more cooking time as necessary. The timing it takes depends on the type of apples you use. Drain the water from the cooked apple and place in a food processor with a small bowl or use your blender. Puree, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Two medium apples yielded 1.25 cups of applesauce for me.

The calories for the whole loaf are about 1220.

Notes after modifications: I reduced the applesauce and oil because the bread was so moist before. This moistness wasn't bad at all. That being said, it did tend to keep the bread from rising as well as it might and cause it to sink down further after cooling. Cutting the applesauce to 3/4 cup and the oil to 1 tbsp. had no negative impact at all, and in fact made a more "quick-bread-like" result. I think it's pretty much as close to being perfect as possible (not that it was bad at all before!).

by Shari (Orchid64)

Chickpea Salad (aka faux tuna salad)

This picture looks dark, but it is actually one of the most authentic pictures in terms of representing the true colors of the food that I've ever taken. You may applaud my honesty.

I found this recipe on the Kitchn, and I must say that the part of this which is trying to ape a tuna salad (and calling it "Chickpea of the Sea") seemed a little silly to me. I guess vegetarians may want to emulate the flavor of tuna salad, but I'm content to just eat real tuna. That being said, I do love chickpeas and this presentation of them was intriguing. Also, the case of 24 cans of chickpeas that I bought a year or so ago is still lingering. I had two or three cans left and this seemed like a good way to work on them before they rusted into disuse.

Chickpea Salad (modified from the recipe linked above):

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp. plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar (I used 1.5 as the original recipe said, but it was too much)
• 3-4 tablespoons chopped green onion
• black pepper, garlic powder, salt, and hot pepper flakes (to taste)

Pulse the chickpeas in your food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until mixed. Spoon onto a layer of lettuce on your bread of choice. Top with thinly-sliced tomatoes. This made three servings for my appetite.

I liked this, but really wished I hadn't followed the original recipe's vinegar recommendations. The vinegar was so strong that it overpowered many of the other flavors. The original used umeboshi vinegar, but I can't be bothered to track down and buy a bottle of special vinegar just for a sandwich recipe. The umeboshi vinegar is supposed to add the saltiness of tuna to this, but I just added, well, salt. I also put quite a lot of pepper and hot pepper in mine, but felt more would have been better.

Next time (and there will be a next time), I'll go with 1 tbsp. of vinegar. I also may reduce the mayonnaise to 1 tbsp. and use 3 tbsp. yogurt because even diluted 50%, I thought the mayonnaise flavor was quite present.


by Shari (Orchid64)

Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

As I mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to try baked oatmeal with peanut butter instead of pumpkin. I figured this would improve the protein profile as well as possibly make this similar to an oatmeal peanut butter cookie in taste. Since peanut butter contains oil, I decided to forgo adding any oil to the batter this time around.

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granular Splenda (or use white or brown sugar)
• 5 tbsp. peanut butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk (or use whole milk)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Put the egg, Splenda (or sugar), flour, salt, vanilla and peanut butter in a medium-size bowl. Whisk until the peanut butter is well mixed in. Add the milk and whisk until thoroughly mixed into a smooth, wet paste. Stir in the oatmeal and baking powder until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set.

total for entire loaf: about 1100 calories
6 servings: 183 calories each

Since I'm concerned about sugar because of my husband's blood test results, and Skippy has added sugar, I looked into the nutritional information and determined that each serving of this oatmeal has only 1 gram of sugar (about 1/4 of a tsp.) of sugar from the Skippy. I can't imagine that is a dangerous amount of sugar or that it isn't offset by the amount of protein and fiber in the peanut butter. I also checked on oatmeal, and a 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal has 1 gram of sugar. That means each serving of this has around 1.5 grams of sugar and about 6 grams of protein (from the egg, oatmeal, and peanut butter).

When I tasted the batter for this, I thought it was very sweet compared to the pumpkin version. I used Skippy peanut butter, which has sugar added to it (because that was all I had), so I thought I could scale back the Splenda, but the truth is that the end product was not as sweet as the batter by a long shot.

This was okay, but I thought it came out too dry (note: my husband, who this is made for, was satisfied with the texture and didn't find it too dry). Part of the problem with sugar-free food is that the moisture-enhancing properties of sugar are lost. I think I might need to add some pureed bananas or apples to this next time to moisten it up a bit. It'd probably take about a half cup of either. When I give that a try, I'll post a modified recipe.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

My husband got some discouraging numbers back from a blood test which compelled him to make some changes to his diet. To that end, I'm trying to prepare food that he will enjoy that is lower in calories and doesn't spike blood sugar. Oatmeal is usually considered the breakfast of choice for its relatively low glucose index and decent protein numbers for a grain, but my husband doesn't like oatmeal as it is conventionally prepared.

In order to make oatmeal more palatable (and easier to eat than cooking it up on the spot), I modified an Amish baked oatmeal bar recipe. There are tons of these recipes out there, and I lost track of the one that I changed. Mainly, I replaced the sugar, cut the amount of milk and replaced it with pumpkin, removed the raisins, reduced the oil, and added in pumpkin pie spices. Here's an example of one of the Amish baked oatmeal recipes, though this isn't the one I modified.


Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal:

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk (or use whole milk)
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Lightly beat the egg in a medium-size bowl. Add the Splenda (or sugar), pumpkin puree, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the oatmeal, flour and baking powder until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes until set.

I could tell by the color of the top that it was evenly cooked. When it was dark orange, it wasn't quite finished. I cooked mine for 35 minutes in a glass loaf pan, which may have been about 5 minutes too long. I'd recommend using a toothpick inserted into the center to check for doneness and using a shorter time if you have a metal pan.

This was much better than I expected. It's a little crumbly, and not exceptionally moist, but still like an oat cookie or bar. For a moister result, I think adding 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce should do the trick. Since my husband was happy with this as is, and apple would increase the carb profile of this, I am not likely to add it to mine, but I think it'd work well in general. I'm going to try some variations on this recipe soon including a peanut butter version and a blueberry version.

The total calories for the whole loaf was 840. I cut mine into 6 servings of 140 calories each.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Pasta with Japanese Pumpkin, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan

I don't know how something that starts out orange (note the color of the pumpkin on top) can turn so green. Both the garnish and sauce are cooked so it's not the cooking or exposure to air.

I'm not a big fan of pasta, or any kind of noodle for that matter. I could never have been one of those college students who subsisted on things like "Top Ramen." Of course, I'm convinced that ramen is evil. Shawn's one and only MacBook was destroyed when a bowl of ramen lept from his hand and splattered itself on the keyboard. Well, either that or he carelessly held the bowl over the keyboard and dropped it. Either way, you just can't trust noodles!

Despite the fact that I would never leave a noodle alone with my wallet, I did decide to try a pasta dish. My motivation was less a love of noodles than a desire to use some of the kaboucha, or Japanese pumpkin, that I'd cooked up for something other than stuffing it into my greedy maw as delicious chunks of squash heaven. I've eaten plenty of kaboucha, but never used it for much of anything else as I tend to use American pumpkin puree when I cook with pumpkin. It's not as sweet and is more flexible (not to mention cheaper). If you don't have access to kaboucha and want to try this, you can use butternut or acorn squash.

I chose to make a sauce for pasta because I thought that Parmesan cheese and pine nuts would pair well with the pumpkin flavor and I frankly can't think of anything other than pasta that goes well with both of those ingredients. Here is what I came up with:

Japanese Pumpkin Sauce:

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 small cloves of garlic (or 1 big one)
• 1/2 large onion (or 1 whole small one) diced
• 320 grams of Japanese pumpkin (kaboucha) cooked and cubed
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1/2 tsp. sage
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and when it has completely melted, saute the onions and garlic cloves. Cook until the onions are softened and slightly browned. Remove 6 (smallish) cubes of the pumpkin for garnish and add the rest of the pumpkin to the onions, garlic, and butter. Stir and mash the pumpkin roughly to mix with the onion mixture. Add the sage, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes. Add milk, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes. If it seems too thick, add more milk as needed. When the mixture is cooked, puree it in a small bowl food processor or an immersion blender.

Serve over warm pasta, top with toasted pine nuts, Parmesan, and garnish with reserved pumpkin pieces.

My feeling about this was that it was good and I really liked the flavor, but I wasn't really pleased with the mix of textures. I think the sauce was too thick and could have used some more milk. I also wasn't wild about the mixture of pasta with pumpkin in terms of texture. I was quite pleased, however, with the mixture of Parmesan, pine nuts, sage, and the pumpkin sauce.

I wasn't over the moon about this, but I'm likely to try it again some day with some variations. I think more milk would be a good idea, and it might possibly go well over rice for that matter. If you care about calories, this recipe makes 3 servings and the sauce is about 415 calories for the whole batch.

by Shari (Orchid64)