delicious muffins...and cookies

Hi everyone. My life is full of uncertainty right now. I bake when I need to work things out in my head. I have a lot to work out. The result--some delicious muffins and cookies.

The muffins were a combination of recipes, both from Nigella Lawson books. The combination might sound strange, but the results were awesome. Here goes:

Banana Chocolate Muffins- makes 11 at 3 points plus each

1 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp butter

2 overripe bananas mashed

1 egg

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter & honey together till its all liquid. Beat egg, mash in bananas, and add to dry ingredients. Add butter-honey mixture. Stir till combined. Add in chocolate chips. Portion out into a muffin pan and bake for about 20 minutes. These are delish.

Also, I made these cookies today. Also delish.

and she's back

Wow, its taken me a while to post. I've been traveling, Mike's been traveling, catching up is hard...

But anywho, I worked on a fun recipe for pasta with a chickpea sauce. Mike is not a fan of beans, so I wouldn't make this for him, but its inspired by this Rachel Ray Recipe, and both easy and tasty.

Pasta with Spinach Chickpea Sauce- serves 6 at ~ 3 points plus per serving

1 tbsp olive oil

3 large cloves garlic

1 can chick peas, drained & rinsed

4 oz white wine

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 box frozen chopped spinach

1/4 c grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

1/2 tsp dry thyme

salt & pepper to taste

Put garlic and chick peas in a food processor and grind till a paste is formed. Heat olive oil in a large pan, and add chick pea mixture. Cook ~5 minutes or till it starts to smell nice and nutty. Add wine and stir. Add tomatoes, and stir; cook till it starts simmering. Add spinach and stir till it all melts and is incorporated. Add remaining ingredients. Serve over pasta.

OK, so now for a find. At Harris Teeter, Edy's ice cream was on sale. Including the light kind. For 3 points plus--this ice cream with girl scout cookies is the deal of the year! Yum!

rich and chocolate-y

Shouldn't all things be rich & chocolate-y?

I love to bake, and one of my favorite cakes, comes from a Nigella Lawson recipe for "Pantry-Shelf Chocolate-Orange Cake," in her How to be a Domestic Goddess book. I've always replaced the orange marmalade with raspberry jam because I LOVE the chocolate-raspberry combo and HATE chocolate and orange together. In any case, this cake is easy, dense, chocolate-y, and delicious. Whenever I make it, someone asks for the recipe.

I decided to try making it over, and the results were quite good. I kept some of the chocolate, added fresh (well, frozen) raspberries to replace some of the jam, halved the butter, and used white wheat flour. The results were still dense and chocolate-y, so this one is definitely a winner.

Chocolate-Raspberry Cake--serves 8 at 6 points plus each

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup unsweetned apple sauce

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp raspberry jam

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups frozen raspberries, blitzed in the food processor

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup white wheat (or all purpose) flour

pinch salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350, and spray a springform pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan to melt. Once its nearly melted, add in the chocolate. Once its almost completely all liquid, add in the apple sauce, raspberries, jam, cocoa powder, sugar, and (after combined) eggs. Remove from heat and slowly add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda. Pour into springform pan and bake on a center rack for 50 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove edges and turn out onto a plate. Top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

rice & beans...sort of

Hi all,

Again, I was traveling earlier this week (this is a theme that will likely continue till May), but made some yummy lunch today. After reading this post on skinny taste, I got a hankering for rice & beans. Warning: I am a white girl from Long Island. I don't know the first thing about latin cuisine, so this recipe that follows is certainly not authentic at all.

I also was averse to leaving the house this morning/afternoon, so I used what I had in the closet & fridge. I'm normally a huge fan of fresh veggies, but sometimes I have frozen on hand. Today, I used frozen bell peppers I bought a while back to use in a crock pot chili. When things are cooked for a really long time, the freshness doesn't matter quite as much. Also, in the recipe below, I threw in extra veggies to increase the volume.

skinny gringo rice & beans--6 servings at 4 points plus each

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/3 bag frozen bell peppers

1 c brown basmati rice

1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can black beans

1 c water

1 beef bouillon cube (could use any flavor)

2 c loosely chopped fresh spinach (could sub in frozen)

4 green onions, chopped (white parts only)

1/2 tsp dry thyme

1/2 tsp cumin

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper (black & red) to taste

Coat a large dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray, and cook onions and garlic over medium heat. Once softened, add peppers. Once peppers defrost, add rice, and stir for a few minutes to coat. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook on very low for about 40 minutes.

The end result, pictured here was quite yummy. I topped it with 1/2 oz light cheddar cheese & 1 tbsp light sour cream for a very delicious 5 point lunch. Enjoy!

and then she added photos

Hello blog readers!

So this posting is really a way to kill two birds with one stone. I wanted to share my new favorite breakfast, and want to get better at using my new iphone as a camera. I'm still having trouble holding my hands still, but I'm getting there.

I've done weight watchers before on the old plan, and used to make a smoothie with frozen berries, bananas, yogurt, and milk. Now that fruit is zero points plus, I revamped the recipe a bit. When my bananas get over-ripe, I peel them, mush them up, and put them in plastic baggies to use at a later time in smoothies like this one or baking.

Banana-berry smoothie--about 2.5-2.75 points plus (I count as 3 to be conservative)

2/3 frozen banana (or 1 small frozen banana)

1 c frozen blueberries

1/2 c fat free greek yogurt

3/4 c skim milk

1 tsp honey (or agave)

Put all ingredients in a blender and let them sit 15-20 minutes (softens frozen fruit a bit and makes it easier to blend). Puree and enjoy!

making the best out of stale bread

Yesterday, I bought a lovely baguette at Southern Season...which we never ate. And I forgot to pack up to prevent it from getting stale. So I woke up this morning to find a loaf of bread beginning to go stale at the ends. I remembered making a tomato bread soup a few years back, and promptly scoured the internet for recipes and my pantry, fridge, and freezer for ingredients. I mixed and matched and came up with the following, recipe, which was rather tasty. The only negative is that there is very little protein in this soup. I'd recommend eating it with an open-faced sandwich. The ingredients might sound a little odd, but its what I had on hand, and came out delicious. I'll have some nice lunches this week, and I think it will freeze well too.

Tomato-Bread Soup- makes 8 lunch portions at 3 points plus each

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped onions (I used a combination of yellow & red that I had leftover)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 cups chicken stock or broth (I used frozen turkey stock)

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes in their own juices (I used 1 plus a large 28 oz can)

2 tbsp jarred pesto (could substitute chopped fresh basil; will also decrease points value, and might make you want to add more garlic or parmasean)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

4.5 oz stale bread, cubed (could also use fresh)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add onions, and stir till coated. After about a minute, add chopped garlic and cook till softened. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil. Add the tomato paste, and stir till incorporated. Add tomatoes, pesto, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and some fresh black pepper (DON'T ADD SALT YET!). Stir and bring to a boil. Add bread, stir, and bring to a boil. Bring temperature down to a simmer, and cover for 20 minutes. Soup should look mushy and gluey at this point. Add cheese and parsley and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve and enjoy!

lemonade cupcakes!

Hello blog readers!

I'll report back on the moussaka- delicious! And it left me with 3 egg whites & a desire to make those lemon cupcakes I was talking about (I bake when I have to work things out in my head; it's excellent therapy. I had a lot of things to work out in my head the day I made these.). They were awesome, but I made enough modifications to warrant posting my own recipe, as follows:

Lemonade Cupcakes--makes 12 at 4 points plus each
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 egg whites
1 large lemon, zested & juiced
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with paper liners (*hint #1- you may want to spray the liners with nonstick spray as this recipe has very little fat in it and may lead to some difficulty removing your cupcakes). Combine flour, baking powder, & salt (*hint #2- no need to sift! you can just put them in a bowl and whisk to remove lumps). In a separate bowl cream sugar & butter till light and fluffy. Add egg whites, lemon zest, and half the lemon juice; mix to combine. Turn beater off and add half the flour mixture and half the sour cream. Mix till combined and repeat with the remainder of the flour and sour cream. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. They will still be quite light in color when you remove them from the oven. Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan and 30-60 minutes on a wire rack.

Combine the remaining juice and the powdered sugar till smooth (you may want to add the sugar to the juice in batches) to make a thick icing. Spoon about a tablespoon onto each cupcake and smooth. Allow cupcakes to harden and serve and enjoy!