Tuesday, September 8, 2009
There’s a lot of food blog talk back and forth about whether or not it’s too early for pumpkin. I know, I know, technically it’s still summer, but did you know Starbucks brought their much-loved “Pumpkin Spice Latte” back on Sept 1st? While I’m dying to add some new pumpkin treats to my pumpkin tag (OMG have you seen my posts for pumpkin fudge, pumpkin cream cheese truffles, or pumpkin white chocolate bars?), I might hold off just a bit longer.
Luckily, I haven’t heard any petitioning for patience in using maple syrup! While on my recent trip to NYC (I keep meaning to work on that blog post), I picked up a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.‘s Mighty Maple flavored peanut butter. I’m a peanut butter addict. I was so excited to pick up this flavor, as well as their Cinnamon Raisin flavor. (I can already profess the deliciousness of their Dark Chocolate Dreams, and White Chocolate Wonderful flavors) I knew I wanted to ration these and use them for a baked good or two. Unfortunately, Cinnamon Raisin just tasted too delicious on mini-bagels, and is almost gone. But I managed to hide the Mighty Maple from myself long enough to research a recipe.
After my first test-taste of the Mighty Maple I loved the subtle maple flavor. I think this would taste great on waffles or toast, or even in oatmeal. When tasting this, I was also hit with how much sweeter it is than my usual choice in peanut butters. I often get the peanut butter that is fresh ground right there in the store, or at least the all-natural kind that lists just one ingredient, “whole roasted peanuts”. And at most two ingredients, “peanuts, salt”. I chose this Taste of Home recipe for Peanut Butter Maple Cookies, and decided to halve the recipe. My first change while adjusting the measurements, was to reduce the sugar. The original recipe seemed to call for a LOT of it, and as I said before, this peanut butter seemed really sweet to me to begin with. The reduced amount of sugar was perfect. Also the Taste of Home recipe called for 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup, so half of that would be 1.5 teaspoons. I thought with using maple flavored peanut butter, I’d be alright reducing the maple syrup to 1 teaspoon, but I don’t think the maple flavor of the finished cookie was as pronounced as I’d hoped. When making these again, I’ll be sure to use 2 teaspoons of maple syrup, and I’ve reflected that in the recipe below.
These cookies were so fantastic, The Boy & I couldn’t part with them. I love that this is more than your average peanut butter cookie, with the addition of the maple syrup, oats, and peanut butter chips. It’s unlike any other cookie, yet the flavors on their own are so comforting and familiar, you’ll feel like home when you take a bite. The original plan was to send them into work with him, but when I noticed the speed in which they disappeared, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I’m embarrassed to say between the two of us, we ate them in the span of 4 days. My favorite part, was opening the plastic container I was storing them in, and just SMELLING the wonderful peanut butter AND maple aromas! *Sigh* I need to make these again!
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Peanut Butter Maple Cookies
adapted from Taste of Home
yields 18 cookies (using Pampered Chef's medium cookie scoop, approx 2 Tablespoons)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 eggs
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
heaping 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 package (5 ounces) peanut butter chips
Taste of Home's note: Reduced-fat or generic brands of peanut butter are not recommended for this recipe.
Erin's note: Peanut Butter & Co.'s Mighty Maple Peanut Butter is definitely recommended if you can find it, but it's not a requirement if you can't. Don't let that stop you from making these cookies!
Directions:
In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips.
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Taste of Home's note: Reduced-fat or generic brands of peanut butter are not recommended for this recipe.
Erin's note: Peanut Butter & Co.'s Mighty Maple Peanut Butter is definitely recommended if you can find it, but it's not a requirement if you can't. Don't let that stop you from making these cookies!
Friday, September 4, 2009
‘Round these parts, we love us some breakfast sandwiches. They might be made on an english muffin, homemade toasted bread, or a mini-bagel. They always include a fried egg, cheese (whatever I happen to have on hand), and meat. Most often, they are made with turkey bacon. But I recently saw Elly posted homemade chicken sausages. They seemed so incredibly simple and delicious. I’m happy to report, they definitely are what they seemed! These couldn’t of been easier to mix up. I only ran into trouble when trying to pat them out, as they kept sticking to my hands. I had better luck just forming them with a spoon.
These breakfast sausages make a great healthy alternative to pork sausage. Growing up I was always a sausage girl. When faced with both bacon and sausage at the breakfast table, I’d reach for the sausage every time. The past 5 or 6 years as I’ve begun eating healthier, I really thought I had left the world of sausage patties behind. Sure I love turkey bacon as a healthy alternative, but it didn’t replace my longing to smell that wonderful aroma of sausage cooking at breakfast time. These chicken sausages have filled that void! I’m pretty sure I’ll be whipping these up pretty frequently so that I always have them on hand. My only addition to this recipe was fennel seeds, as I really love the aromatic flavor you get from them.
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Chicken Sausage Patties
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chicken*
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
heaping 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp fennel seeds (my addition)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
about 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 garlic clove, finely mincced or pressed
1/2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2-3 tsp. olive oil
Directions:
Lightly mix all ingredients together until the herbs/spices are well incorporated – make sure you don’t over mix!
Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts, and then make 4 (or 2, for 2-oz. patties) patties from each part.
Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp. of oil. Put 1/3 or 1/2 of the patties (depending how big your pan is and how much space your patties take up) into the pan and cook about 2 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through. Repeat with the next 1-2 batches, adding an additional teaspoon of olive oil per batch.
*Ground chicken breast will make a leaner patty, but dark (or a mixture of white and dark) meat will make a tastier patty.
Nutritional information for both is as follows:
Using all white meat (per 1 oz. patty, using 3 tsp. oil): Calories: 40.9 / Fat: 1.2g / Saturated Fat: 0.2g / Carbs: 0.6g / Fiber: 0.1g / Protein: 6.6g
Using dark meat (per 1 oz. patty, using 3 tsp. oil): Calories: 52 / Fat: 3.6g / Saturated Fat: 1.0g / Carbs: 0.6g / Fiber: 0.1g / Protein: 5.2g
McDonald’s ain’t got NOTHING on this breakfast sandwich!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
When faced with another cantaloupe from my CSA share, rather that just cubing it up and eating it, I thought I’d make a drink! This was a simple, refreshing summer drink. I love the cool orange color especially when paired with the bright lime. The lime juice gives it a tart taste, and pairs really well with the cantaloupe’s sweetness. I wish I could convey through this post the wonderful smell of the cantaloupe in this drink. Every time I went in for a sip I was greeted with the sweet fragrance of the cantaloupe. YUM! This was a simple drink I just sort of made up on the spot, and was surprised with how great it came out on my first try.
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Cantaloupe Cocktail
Ingredients:
*Cantaloupe Puree:
cubed cantaloupe
sugar
2 parts cantaloupe puree*
2 parts vodka
1 part Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice
Directions:
*Cantaloupe Puree:
Combine cubed cantaloupe in blender, add in a dash of sugar or simple syrup. Blend until smooth, and strain over mesh strainer into container. Use immediately, or refrigerate and use as needed. I used 1/2 a cantaloupe, and it lasted 2 days in the refrigerator, and was enough for 3-4 drinks.
Combine ingredients over ice in martini shaker. Shake to combine and strain into martini glass.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
There are times when I don’t have a lot of time to prepare a wonderful, fancy, elaborate, multi-ingredient meal. And there are times when I don’t have time to labor over a witty, in-depth blog post. For times like that, there’s this meal!
I was short on time & ingredients, and we were going out of town soon, so I had to make do with what I had on hand. Luckily that included a big bag of frozen shrimp, whole wheat pasta, half of a red pepper, & a lemon. I wouldn’t normally think it would make a delicious meal, but whaddya know, it did! I thought the chili flakes made this a spicy meal. The lemon really helped to balance out the heat, and added some twist. Of course, The Boy didn’t think it was hot at all, but he did think it was very good! This was a healthy, filling, and simple dinner. Those are always nice to have on hand when you haven’t got much time!
To keep this short, here’s the recipe:
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Shrimp Pasta with Chili and Lemon
Ingredients:
2 generous handfuls cooked shrimp (I steamed mine)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
Small pinch of red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/2 red pepper, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
1/2lb whole wheat spaghetti
freshly grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Over medium heat, heat the oil and cook the garlic, red pepper, and chili flakes until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp, cook until just warmed through and tomatoes are softened, about 2 minutes, longer if starting with raw. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of salty water to boil, and cook the past until al dente. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water.
Add the lemon juice to the shrimp off the heat, and toss with the cooked pasta. If it's too dry, add a little of the pasta cooking water, or a little olive oil. Grate parmesan cheese over the top, serve immediately.
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