Maple Pecan Banana Muffins

Get excited about these muffins.  My mom is, anyway.

These muffins are chock full of amazing things.  Bananas, pecans, and maple syrup, first of all.  They are slightly sweet but not too sweet - they are totally acceptable for breakfast or dessert.  The subtle hint of maple syrup adds some complexity to your everyday banana bread flavor, and the pecans on top give them a great texture.

Second of all, they are actually low fat.    Yes, I mean that.  As in, 142 calories, 4 Weight Watchers Points+, and 5 grams of fat.  How on earth is that humanly possible, you're probably wondering?  Secret ingredients like white whole wheat flour, egg whites, and applesauce.

So, how good are these?  I have made three batches of them so far, most of which my mother has devoured.  She has become obsessed with them and asks me to make them all the time.  I currently have quite a few black bananas, so they might be in her near future.  And they should probably be in yours too.

Recipe:

maple pecan banana muffins
from Skinny Taste
makes 12 servings

Ingredients:
3 medium very ripe bananas
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar)
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup pre maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup crushed pecans

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a cupcake tin with liners.

2) Mash bananas in a bowl, and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt with a wire whisk.  Set aside.

3) In a large bowl, cream butter and 1/4 cup maple sugar with an electric mixer.  Add egg whites, mashed bananas, maple syrup, apple sauce, and vanilla.  Beat at medium speed until mixed well, scraping down sides of the bowl.

4) Add flour mixture, then blend at a low speed until just combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin.  Spread the pecans evenly over the muffins.

5) Bake the muffins on the center rack for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Slow Cooker Barley and Chickpea Risotto

I was about to post another Halloween recipe -one that is most definitely Halloween and couldn't in any way be made to seem Christmas-y - but then Mark and I put up our tree tonight.  And we have the lights off, just sitting in the glow of the tree, and the glow of Elf on TV, of course... so the thought of blogging about spider cookies is just beyond what I can handle. I'm going to skip over it for now.  Hopefully next September I'll remember.  Will you remind me?  Spider cookies.  September.  Thank you.

Forging straight along: you know my new love for my slow cooker, and also my love for risotto.  I've made corn risotto twice since mastering the art of risotto, and each time, the pan has been scraped clean.  It's so delicious, and so much easier than I expected, but it is labor intensive.  You have to stand there stirring nonstop for at least a half hour.  I normally don't mind this, but it's definitely not a weeknight meal.

Another important note: I have probably 3 pounds of pearl barley in my pantry.  I have no idea why.  I am not even sure what recipes I needed it for.  All I know is that I bought it twice, and once it was from Wegman's where you fill your own bag and I got a little overzealous with my bag filling.

So put my love for slow cookers and risotto, and my overabundance of pearl barley, all together, and then imagine my glee upon finding a recipe that combines them all: slow cooker barley and chickpea risotto.  It has some great little surprises in there, too: chickpeas for protein (yes this was a full meal here, and then lunch for many days!), cauliflower, and carrots.  The secret ingredient is lemon juice that gets squeezed over the whole thing when it's done cooking.  It brightens all the flavors (like thyme and garlic) and ties everything together.  I happily ate the leftovers for days - it reheats beautifully.  Make it on a Sunday afternoon, be ready by dinner time (it's ready in 3 hours), and enjoy it for the rest of your hectic week.

Recipe:

slow cooker barley and chickpea risotto
from Foxes Love Lemons

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/4 cups pearl barley, rinsed
1 can (15.5-ounces) garbanzo beans/chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups less-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

1) Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, garlic, cauliflower, and onion.  Cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2) Stir in thyme and barley, cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

3) Transfer mixture to slow cooker bowl.  Stir in beans, broth, water, salt, and pepper.  Cook on high 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until barley is tender and most liquid is absorbed.

4) Remove and discard thyme sprigs; stir in lemon juice.  Serve in warm bowls garnished with cheese and parsley.

Taco Dip

I have not posted in my blog for a week, and my excuse is so pathetic: I could not for the life of me decide whether or not I wanted to share the next two recipes.  I kept going back and forth.  It has nothing to do with how delicious they were, because they were great; this one in particular was so great that I made it twice within a week.  It's because of the untimely-ness of the recipes.  Okay, here's the deal: they are  Halloween recipes.  Halloween. As in, October.  And today it's December and so far from Halloween that it's not funny.  I'm having a Christmas party tonight, for God's sake.

I've learned my lesson; I should have bumped this to the front of my recipe list and shared it at Halloween time, even though my rule is to strictly go in the oder in which I have made things.  Because when my next post is spider cookies, I will crush your Christmas spirit and disgust you with my poor planning.  Sorry.

The good news is, you can actually customize this for any holiday.  In fact I will probably be making it for tonight's Christmas craft party.  Even though the official name of it is graveyard taco dip, it doesn't have to be a graveyard!  You create the graveyard with cookie cutter cut-outs of tortillas; they get baked and crisp up and you can stand them up and make a graveyard (I made ghosts, cats, pumpkins, etcetera).  However for Christmas, you could easily make ornaments, trees, stockings, and so on.  It's really about what cookie cutters you have!  And I luckily got a box of 100 for my shower with cutters for basically every holiday, so let the taco dip reign continue!

Now let's talk about the dip itself, because it is so good.  I made it for a mini Halloween party that I had here, and then again for our work pot luck lunch; I even brought the rest of it in to my grad class and we polished it off that night.  Everyone loves it because there is so much goodness to love.  There's a layer of refried beans,  then a layer with a sour cream and taco seasoning. The third layer is my favorite: it's a super cool, creamy and delicious mixture of mashed avocado, garlic, and Greek yogurt (the original recipe called for mayonnaise and I refuse).  I could eat that layer by itself with a spoon, I swear.  The fourth layer is salsa, and then I added my own fifth layer of shredded cheese.  You can finalize the deal with some chopped scallions to make it look like grass, but if you aren't making a graveyard, it won't matter if you skip them.  This is such an easy dip to put together, but it's just so delicious.  Serve it with tortilla chip and encourage people to eat the homemade tortilla chip decorations too.

Happy Hallowchristmas!


Recipe:

taco dip
from Chickabug

Ingredients:
1 can refried beans
2 cups sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
2 avocados, mashed
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 large tortillas for decoration

Instructions:

1) In a small bowl, mix the taco seasoning and sour cream.  In another small bowl, mix the mashed avocados, minced garlic, and mayonnaise.

2) In a small Pyrex dish or plate, layer the beans, sour cream mixture, avocado mixture, salsa, and cheese.  Sprinkle the scallions on top.

3) Chill at least an hour, or until ready to serve.  The dip can be made a day ahead and kept, covered, in the refrigerator.

4) To make the tombstones or other holiday decorations, cut the shapes you want out of tortillas.  Place the cut-out shapes on a parchment paper-lined cookie tray and bake at 350 degrees until the tortillas are nice and brown.  Add the shapes to the dip just before serving.

Spaghetti Pot Pies with Spinach, Ricotta and Optional Ground Beef

I sort of fell in love with baked spaghetti pies this summer when I made the Mediterranean eggplant pasta cake. That is still definitely my favorite spaghetti pie recipe, but when I saw my new obsession blog had a recipe for miniature spaghetti pot pies, I knew I had to try.

The coolest thing about this recipe is that it's from Kitchen Treaty's One Meal, Two Ways section; she gives instructions on how and when to separate the meal into half that stays vegetarian, and half that you add meat to, so you can please vegetarians and carnivores alike with the same meal.  Is that not genius!?  Here's the funny part: Mark requested that I not add the ground beef.  I think he is secretly a vegetarian and just doesn't want to admit it.  His dad called him out on it at Thanksgiving so he made sure to down extra turkey and short ribs, but the man refuses to eat any ground meat or sausage.  He's well on his way to the veggie life and I'm loving it.

Anyway, back to the pies.  These little guys are baked in individual ramekins (make sure you keep track which colors are meatless, if you're adding meat to half!) and they have layers of goodness.  Sauce on the bottom (with or without beef), then a ricotta-spinach mixture, then a slice of provolone, then the spaghetti.  It turns into a crunchy "crust," hence the pot pie name.  It's basically a little ramekin full of Italian glory.  As you can see, they went over pretty well here at the Ajemian house.

Can we please talk about how Thanksgiving break is almost over?!  And then it's almost December!?  And there are 9 inches of snow out there?!  Craziness.

Recipe:

spaghetti pot pies with spinach, ricotta and optional ground beef
from Kitchen Treaty
makes 4 large pot pies or 6 medium

Ingredients:
1/2 pound spaghetti noodles
2 eggs
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 cups Italian tomato sauce or marinara sauce
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 ounces (4 - 6 ounces) Provolone cheese
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
if adding meat to half the pot pies:
1 pound lean ground beef

Instructions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place 4 large (12 ounces) or 6 medium (10 ounces) ramekins on a baking sheet.  Boil spaghetti noodles in a large pot until al dente, according to package directions.  Drain and return to pot.  Set aside to cool.

2) Beat the eggs and add them to the noodles, along with 1/2 cup Parmesan.  Toss until all the spaghetti is covered with the egg and cheese.

3) Brown ground beef and drain any fat.  Add 1 cup of the tomato sauce and stir. Set aside.

4) In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, spinach, mozzarella, nutmeg, and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.

5) In a small bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup bread crumbs and 1/4 Parmesan cheese with a spoon.

6) Divide the ingredients among the prepared ramekins.  Start with the Italian tomato sauce with or without ground beef.  Drop 3 - 4 tablespoonfuls of the ricotta mixture into each ramekin, adding an extra tablespoonful to the vegetarian versions.  Lay one slice of provolone over the top of each, tun divide the spaghetti noodle mixture evenly between each ramekin.  Using clean hands, gather and press the noodles firmly into the ramekin, taking care not to squeeze out any of the contents.  Spoon the breadcrumbs over the top of each pie.

7) Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until bubbling and the spaghetti topping is golden brown around the edges.  Let cool for 5 - 10 minutes until the ramekins have cooled a bit.  Serve.

Gluten-Free Fudgy Pecan Brownies

Well folks, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  Have you been cooking and baking up a storm today?  I have.  Literally.  There is a snow storm going on like crazy today.  We had about 7 inches last I checked.  This has meant I am basically home-bound by myself (Mark is working); I did make one attempt to buy a few last-minute ingredients and got stuck in the parking lot for a few minutes, so that wasn't the best idea.  What else is there to do but bake?!  I have made 3 new recipes for tomorrow (stay tuned!), which will be my first Thanksgiving as married woman and also my first without my family.  It's a little weird to think of it.  I am excited to go to my in-laws' Thanksgiving, but I will definitely miss my mom and sisters.  Of course, it meant that I had to spend hours researching recipes to make sure that I would impress everyone with what I brought to dinner :)

What are you bringing to your Thanksgiving?  I am always assigned desserts, and this year is the same.  I made so many lists of possibilities, crossing things out and adding in new recipes and swapping others... and finally I think I have settled on my final 3 (maybe 4... we'll see how I feel tomorrow morning!) sweets.

If you happen to still be panicking about what you're going to bring, and, like many families in this day and age, someone at your dinner is gluten-free, then consider this your gentle push to make these brownies.  I made them a few weeks ago for a dinner at Mark's parents'.  His sister and Kaz were going to be there, and so I knew I wanted to make a gluten-free dessert for Kaz to try.  I searched around the internet for a recipe with no super bizarre ingredients; I didn't feel like running to the store for xantham gum or almond meal.  Voila: the weirdest thing in this recipe is cornstarch.  I had everything I needed in the cabinets, so I got started on them right away.  And I was finished right away too.  These guys are quick and easy to throw together.

I don't know why we haven't seen more gluten-free recipes where flour is replaced by cornstarch.  It's genius.  I need to try this strategy out some more.  Obviously, the end results were awesome, fudgy, chocolatey brownies studded with pecans (which you could always leave out for nut allergies!).  I made Mark taste test them before we left and he was surprised they were gluten-free.  Everyone at the  Ajemians agreed that they were pretty delicious and tasted just regular old wonderful brownies!  Score!

Do yourselves (and your gluten-free relatives) a favor, and try these out for tomorrow.  Dani? Maggie? Kaz? Susie and Andrea by default? I'm talking to you :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  I am thankful for you.

Recipe:

gluten-free fudge pecan brownies
from Martha Stewart
makes 16 brownies

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
1/3 cup cornstarch, spooned and leveled
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup toasted pecans

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line wit parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.  Whisk together cornstarch, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.

2)  In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter and chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.  Stir in sugar and vanilla.  Stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined.

3) Add cornstarch mixture and stir vigorously until mixture is smooth and begins to pull away from side of bowl, about 2 minutes.  Stir in pecans.  Pour batter into pan and smooth top.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.  Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.  Using paper overhang, lift cake out of pan and cut into 16 squares.

Crock Pot Applesauce

Yes, again with the Crockpot, and no, I'm not sorry about it.  Plus this is basically one of the few things that I have made in it that I have actually enjoyed!

Let's talk about this applesauce.  First of all, you don't even have to be an applesauce person to love it.  It's tart and sweet with a hint of lemon and cinnamon.  It makes your house smell glorious.  And the best part?  It's ridiculously simple to make.  The hardest part is peeling and coring the apples.  Oh by the way: apple corers!?  How have I never had one until my wedding shower?  What an amazing little tool.

Oh and how did I leave out the coolest part?  The recipe calls for a mix of 8 apples.  I had a few left from the store, and ended up using some from my very own tree in the backyard.  I was super excited about that.  That apple tree was the source of much discussion all summer: what kind was it?  Crab apple?  Something else?  The size of the apples, along with the sweetness, make me realize now that this is a legit apple tree, and the apples just happen to be heavenly when turned into sauce!

There was nothing so exquisite as eating this applesauce warm, straight out of the slow cooker.  But a very close second was when I packed it up and took it with me to school.  It could be any temperature, really, and I would still be in love with it.  I foresee many batches applesauce in my near future with this recipe in hand.  My mouth is literally watering as I sit here typing.

Recipe:

crock pot applesauce
from SkinnyTaste

Servings: 12 • Size: 1/4 cup • Old Points: 1 pts • Points+: 1 pts
Calories: 65.9 • Fat: 0.2 g • Protein: 0.2 g • Carb: 17.5 g • Fiber: 2.8 g • Sugar: 12
Sodium: 0.6 mg

Ingredients:
8 medium apples (use a combination of types)
1 strip of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 inch cinnamon stick
5 tablespoons light brown sugar

Instructions:

1) Peel, core, and slice the apples.  Place them in the slow cooker.

2)  Add the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, lemon juice and brown sugar.  Set crock pot to low and cook for 6 hours.  Stir apples occasionally; they will slowly become a delicious applesauce.

3) Remove cinnamon stick and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.  If you prefer a chunky sauce, leave sauce intact.  I just used a fork to mash it up a bit more.

Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives

Have I mentioned lately that I love my slow cooker?  Because I do.  It was about a month or so ago that I really discovered this, and lately my slow cooker (which lives in a cabinet with other appliances) has appeared on my counter more often than my food processor, blender, and espresso machine... combined.  I just love that you throw stuff in there and forget about it, and soon your house smells like food and it's time to eat.

Unfortunately for me, recently I am all about making meat in there, which makes everyone very happy but leaves me kind of hungry.  And can I be honest?  Sometimes having my house smell like meat cooking makes me want to vomit.  But hey, I do it because I love my carnivores.  And usually, slow cooking meat involves minimal meat-touching but has very successful results.  Therefore: slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives.

One thing I struggled with for this recipe was the timing.  It needs to cook on low for 9 - 11 hours.  When on earth was I supposed to put it in the slow cooker?!  If I put it in before work, that would work, but the last thing I want to do is brown a roast in a skillet at 7 AM.  I could have done it the night before, I suppose, and put the meat in the fridge overnight to start cooking in the morning, but that would be dirtying a container with raw meat for no reason.  After work wouldn't suffice unless we felt like eating pot roast for breakfast (ew).  I finally decided to do all my prep work for it late one Friday night, and I cooked it overnight to have it ready for lunch the next day.  This meant waking up to a house that smelled like pot roast, which was absolutely repulsive.  You want to smell breakfast foods if anything on a Saturday morning, not beef and onions, but maybe that's just me.

Back to the pot roast.  You have to brown it, as I mentioned, which is not enjoyable, and then put it in the slow cooker along with wine, beef broth, and garlic, and dried spices like oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil.  Then you "nestle" (direct quote from the recipe... I love recipes with fun words like that) sun-dried tomatoes, pearl onions and kalamata olives around the roast, and go hang out for 11 hours.  Now, I am not a huge fan of sun-dried tomatoes, but they become more than bearable in this dish.  I know this because my mother absolutely hates them and I'm not sure she noticed they were in there.  They become super soft and lend some of their tomato flavor to the pot roast so that they aren't so overwhelming on their own.

This was basically a very easy and still impressive lunch, and my family loved it.  It was moist, flavorful with hints of saltiness and sweetness, and very tender.  In fact, it went over far better than the tiny brussels sprouts I had bought at the farmer's market the day before.  I made the mistake of admitting that most of them were full of tiny bugs and it took me an hour to clean the ones I was using.  Probably not the best way to get your family excited to eat their veggies.... oh well.  At least they had their meat.

My tablescape... ignore the tiny sprouts :)

Recipe:

slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives
from Elly Says Opa

Ingredients:
1 beef chuck roast (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup red wine (optional)
1 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 10-ounce bag frozen pearl onions

Instructions:

1) Season the roast liberally with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high, and once hot, brown the roast on all sides.  Move to slow cooker.

2) Add the garlic to the skillet and stir until fragrant.  Add in the wine and broth, scraping up the browned bits.  Stir in the sugar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the mixture over the roast.

3) Nestle the sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and pearl onions around the roast.  Cook on low for 9 - 11 hours.  Skim off the fat and heat on high, uncovered, to thicken slightly if desired.