Winter Green Salad with Simple Vinaigrette

Winter Green Salad 

This really is the best winter salad. I especially like it because it forced me to use a lot of seasonal winter vegetables that I've been ignoring as of late. Seriously though, I forgot how tasty raw escarole is (I normally put this in soups and stews).  Learning how to eat seasonal foods, namely fruits and veggies is one of the best ways to eat the best while saving some $$$. I added some baby radishes for a hit of color but you could substitute cherry tomatoes or omit them all together if you like.  

Adapted from the Food Network
Winter Green Salad with Simple Vinaigrette

• 1 small head escarole, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 Belgian endive, leaves separated
• 2 celery stalks, cut on the bias into thin slices
• 1 Granny Smith apple, halved cored and thinly sliced
• 5 baby radishes, sliced thin 
• 1/2 english cucumber, sliced thin 
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced thin 
• Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, for garnish

• For the Salad Dressing: 

• 2 tablespoons Apple cider vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 
• 1/2 shallot, finely diced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine greens, celery, apples, and cheese in a large bowl. Whisk together both vinegars and the shallot. Slowly whisk in the oil, (you want your dressing to emulsify) and season with salt and pepper. Toss the salad ingredients with some of the vinaigrette.

Flour's Famous Banana Bread

Flour's Famous Banana Bread 

In my ongoing quest for the perfect banana bread, I stumbled across this recipe Flour's Famous Banana Bread via the Food Network. If you're at all familiar with Boston you've probably heard of Flour Bakery -- if you haven't I really recommend you go . It's a pretty famous bakery and they make really delicious banana bread. So I gave this recipe a go ahead. 

  

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract  
• 2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped 

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Adapted from the Food Network 

Berry Swirl Cheesecakies

Berry Swirl Cheesecakies

Mini Cheesecakes? Yes, please! A moist cheesecake bite without having to make a water bath, even better. That's pretty much what these "Berry Swirl Cheesecakies" are all about. I sort of 'freestyled' this recipe a bit, and the name too. What I love about this recipe is its simplicity and versatility. Think of the cream cheese filling as your base -- make the swirl and the crust out of whatever you like. Let's start with the crust, I used honey graham crackers but you could use any sort of sweet cracker or cookie, honey grams perhaps? And for the swirl, I love fruit but you could certainly make a chocolate spin on these and use chocolate graham crackers with a chocolate swirl. 

Swirl Cheesecakies 


Makes 32 Cupcakes


Ingredients
For the Crust:

• 1½ cups honey graham crackers
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons sugar

For the Berry Swirl:

• 6 oz fresh raspberries or blueberries (I used a mix) 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons raspberry jam (optional)

For the Filling:

• 2 lbs cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1½ cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line standard cupcake pans with paper liners.  Using a food processor, pulse graham crackers into a course crumb. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar.  Stir together with a fork until well blended and all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner - press to the bottom using the bottom of a small drinking glass.  Bake until just set, 5 minutes.  Allow to cool. 

While the crust cools, prepare the berry puree. Using am immersion blender process the berries, the jam and sugar until smooth. Press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Set aside. 

Berries and jam to be processed 

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until fluffy.  Blend in the sugar until smooth.  Mix in the salt and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

To assemble the cheesecakes, spoon 3 tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner.  Dot a ½ teaspoon of the berry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling.  Use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect.

Berry puree dots 

Bake until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking (They will look quite puffed initially but will sink).  Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.  Store in a refrigerator. 

Low Fat Cranberry Oatmeal Protein Bars

Low Fat Cranberry Oatmeal Protein Bars

I really didn't know what to expect when I made these. Generally speaking, most protein bars taste gross to me (not to mention they're loaded with sugar and fat). But, I've heard several recommendations from personal trainers and chefs alike, that you should really make your own protein bars - they're far healthier and much more delicious. 

So, I gave it a shot - and they were really, really good! I'm excited to play with this recipe a bit and make some variations. But these make the perfect post workout or midday snack.  

Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup Agave Nectar
• 6 ounce fat free Greek yogurt 
• 2 egg whites 
• 2 tablespoons skim milk 
• 1 teaspoons vanilla 
• 2 tablespoons canola oil 
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (I used Whey Protein)
• 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 2 1/2 cups quick oats 
• 1 cup fresh cranberries 
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions 

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the sugar, agave, yogurt, milk, vanilla, oil, and egg whites in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, protein powder and salt. In a food processor, pulse the cranberries until coarsely chopped, about 10 pulses.

Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture and mix well. 

Once incorporated, add oats, chocolate chips and cranberries. 

Pour into a greased 13x9 baking pan.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature before slicing. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.  

Lavender Cookies for Valentine's Day

Lavender Cookies

I absolutely love Lavender Cookies. This is a very delicate cookie, much like a shortbread with just a subtle hint of lavender. This was my first time making this recipe but I am a huge fan of Joy the Baker -- she has never steered me wrong on my baking adventures. These are rolled cookies - so pick out your favorite cookie cutter (I chose hearts for Valentine's Day but circles would work well, too) and dust off the rolling pin. This dough is very manageable as long as you make sure to chill your dough before rolling it out. And work in small batches, keeping the dough your not working with refrigerated while your cutting your shapes. 

Lavender Cookies
adapted from Joy the Baker
Yields approximately 50 cookies (depending on the size of your cookie cutter!)

• 1 tablespoon dried lavender blossoms
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon raw turbinado sugar 
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 eggs, lightly beaten 
• extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt.  Set aside. 

Using a mortar and pestle (or a spice grinder) grind up lavender and 1 tablespoon sugar. You really want to break up the sugar and the lavender - otherwise these cookies will taste like flowers....in your mouth (I learned this the hard way). 

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment add butter, ground lavender mixture, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  Cream on medium speed until slightly more pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.   Stop the mixer, add the flour.  Mix on low speed until dough comes together.  The dough will be crumbly, then begin to form when it continues to mix.  Dump dough mixture out onto a clean surface and form into a ball with your hands.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside. Divide refrigerated dough into quarters.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness.

Use a cookie cutter to cut cookies into your desired shapes - I chose hearts, for valentines day! 

Use a fork to prick cookies.  Brush very lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake cookies for 8 to 11 minutes, until just browned around the edges.  Remove from oven.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies last, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 4 days.

Mrs. Lucille Browne's Banana Bread

Banana Bread

This is one of my favorite Banana Bread recipes, ever. It's usually my go to when it comes to making a banana loaf. It's a really simple and delicious way to use up those bananas that just turned a little bit too brown for your liking. 

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 3 mashed bananas 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Procedure: 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, butter, bananas, and vanilla. Sift baking soda and flour together and add to banana mixture. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes. 

Banana Bread 

Speedy No-Knead Bread

In my opinion this makes a perfect weekend loaf. Make this bread on Saturday morning, leave yourself some time because the only hard part about this is waiting for it the dough to rise, and enjoy it all weekend. This bread tastes so good, warm, right out of the oven -- And even better Sunday morning, toasted with butter and  cinnamon-sugar.  While there are notable differences in AP versus Bread Flour, namely gluten development. I have certainly substituted the AP for the Bread flour and while artisan bread makers will probably cringe at this admission, it still tasted good to me. So I say go for it. 

Yield: 1 big loaf.
Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 packet ( 1/4 ounce) instant yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• Oil as needed

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.

3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-to-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under dough and put it into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Dough ball on lightly oiled work surface

Bread baking in the oven

Helpful hint: Professional kitchens store their yeast in the walk in, so to keep your yeast alive and vibrant longer, store in the refrigerator. 

Published in the The New York Times, 2008.                                                                               Click here to view the New York Times article. 

Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes. Need I say more? But, I'm giving you fair warning, these are really delicious. They are also super easy to make -- if you're craving cheesecake but want a shortcut, try these. 

Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

It's simple, mix together your cream cheese and sugar. Add some vanilla, sour cream, eggs, touch of salt and then stir in your Oreo crumbles.

Coarsely chop Oreo cookies into crumbles 

Place your whole Oreo in the bottom of the lined muffin tin (you really need to use cupcake liners here, otherwise everything will stick). 

Place one Oreo Cookie in the bottom of a paper lined muffin tin to act as the base of your cheesecake cupcake

Pour the mixture onto 1 whole Oreo - bake for about 22 minutes and ta-da! Personally, I LOVED the warm taste of the Oreo and cream cheese but once these cool to room temperature you definitely want to pop them in the fridge until you're ready to serve. 

I chose to use the Mint Oreo's here but if you're not diggin' the mint go ahead and use regular Oreos for a Cookie's N' Cream Cheesecake, or any other type of round sandwich cookie (peanut butter, perhaps?)

I quartered this recipe and it made 8 cupcakes and it was very easy (only 1 block of cheesecake versus 4, guys), I'm gonna go ahead and say that it was for the best. 

Enjoy! 

Mint Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 30 Cupcakes
Ingredients:

• 1 package of Mint Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature ( you may substitute neufatel for a lighter version)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 Oreo in the bottom of each cup.

2. With stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed  until smooth. Be sure to scape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add sugar in a slow and steady stream, until just combined. Add vanilla until combined. 3. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat the eggs and slowly add to the cream cheese mixture. Beat in sour cream and salt. Using a rubber spatula stir in chopped cookies. 4. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin tins. Be sure to fill each to the top (they will not rise much).  Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Crunchy Granola

Crunchy Granola 

I am officially done buying store-bought granola. It so expensive and often tastes blah. And seeing how I've got some time on my hands lately, an excess of rolled oats (apparently I'm a closet oatmeal hoarder) and not a lot of $$$, I decided to make some crunchy stuff of my own. 

One of the things I LOVE about homemade granola is that there are literally thousands of ways to make it to your liking. You can substitute any type of nut or seed you like. Make it spicy or sweet.  Vanilla or chocolate. You name it.  And trust me, there is nothing like the smell of granola baking in the oven and the taste of warm granola right out of the oven. 

Another thing I love about making my own granola is that I completely control what fats and sugar go into it. In this recipe, I used very little fat and sugar. I combined honey and agave but you could just substitute the agave for the honey entirely, and make this a healthier vegan option. 

Here's how I made my own Crunchy Granola this morning.

Crunchy Granola 

Mise En Place for Crunchy Granola 

Ingredients

• 3 cups organic rolled oats
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup whole almonds
• 1 tbsp flax seeds
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup good honey
• 1/4 cup agave nectar 
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp butter

Directions

Heat oven to 250. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (this will make clean-up super easy). In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. 

Heat the butter, agave and honey together in a small saucepan. Once the butter melts, stir in the vanilla. Pour the warm liquid over the granola mixture in the bowl. Stir together with a rubber spatula until granola is evenly  coated. Spread the granola onto the baking sheet in an even layer. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until desired doneness. 

Once cooled, the granola will break into pieces. Store cooled granola in an airtight container for up to two weeks. 

Easy and Healthy: Cilantro and Lime Quinoa

Quinoa 

I've sort of been on this health kick since the New Year and one of my newly discovered and favorite things to make is Quinoa. Pronounced "Keen-wah", I know, it's sort of a funny name (but seriously jump on this superfood bandwagon). It's packed with protein and fiber, and a number of other healthy things (don't believe me, google it!) This delicious and nutritious food is easy to make no matter how small your kitchen. There are literally thousands of ways to prepare this but this is what I did for dinner tonight.

First, I cooked my quinoa. This was literally the only thing I cooked since I added all my veggies in raw. The ratio for cooking quinoa is 2:1 (two cups of water to one cup of quinoa). But really, the best way to know how to cook yours is to just read the label on the bag. Depending on the type you buy, you may need to soak or rinse your quinoa but make life easy for yourself and buy a big bag of the stuff that's ready to go.

Once you get your quinoa and water in the pot, bring it up to a boil and reduce heat to low and cover. It should take anywhere from 15-20 mins for the water to absorb and the quinoa to fully cook. It should taste tender but still chewy, and you'll be able to see these spiral-like threads appear in the pot.

While my quinoa was cooking away, I raided my fridge for whatever spare veggies I could find: some red onion, a lime, cilantro, a tomato, cucumber and a jalapeño!

Quinoa Mise En Place 

Once the quinoa was cooked I transferred it to a large bowl. Threw in my chopped veggies. Topped everything off with some extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar and seasoned with salt and pepper.

It was so good and so easy. And I made enough for leftovers for at least a couple of days. This is definitely one of those foods that gets much tastier with time.