Quinoa for Breakfast

A friend recently suggested I try eating Quinoa in place of my steel cut oatmeal for a change in my breakfast choices. Quinoa for breakfast? I'm not so sure about this idea.

Quinoa is related to beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds. Like oats it contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Healthy!

So tonight, I cooked up some Quinoa. I added a touch of maple syrup, fresh pears, and cinnamon for tomorrow's breakfast. I'm hoping it tastes as good as it smelled.

Apples and Yogurt Dip

A party snack favorite and OH so easy to put together.

Yogurt dip after 4 women "attacked" it. Haha!

Ingredients:

1 - 8 oz. Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup Vanilla granola

2 Fuji apples sliced

Small bowl of filtered water

2 Tbsp. salt

Directions for yogurt dip:

1. Pour yogurt into a presentable shallow bowl. You can use any flavor yogurt you want. I chose Greek because it has a thicker consistency so the yogurt will "stick" to the apples better. I chose Honey Vanilla because the flavors go well with the apples. But, really, you can use any of your favorite flavors. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

2. Just before serving layer over the yogurt the almonds.

3. Then layer the granola over the almonds.

4. I gently shook the bowl. The yogurt stayed in place but the almonds and granola mixed slightly to blend the flavors.

Apple Preparation:

One of my favorite kitchen tools is the apple divider. Makes apple cutting SUPER EASY! I'm all about easy.

With parties, prepping your food is key so you don't feel crunched for time when the guests arrive. You can prepare the apples in advance. But apples brown, you say. You can treat the sliced apples with a bit of fresh lemon but to me that's a waste of the lemon. Recently I learned another tip. Soak apple slices in salted water.

1. In a medium size bowl (large enough to fit all your apple slices) pour enough water to fill 1/2 the bowl  (once you immerse the apples the water will rise).

2. Pour salt in and mix with a spoon (I like to use chopsticks. It's not just for eating!) to help the salt dissolve.

3. Slice/divide the apples and place in the salty water.

4. Keep cool in refrigerator until ready to serve.

5. Just before serving, rinse the apples just to get rid of the salt. Salt will also enhance the sweetness of the fruit.

Carefully present the apples on a nice platter. You can place the dip in the center for easy dipping.

Voila! Your guests will be wondering how you put it all together. It's quite yummy!

"Good For You" Banana Bread

Old bananas, new recipe makes for a "good for you" baking adventure.

When I usually bake it involves butter, sugar, and sometimes chocolate. But I had these browning bananas and the only thing I could think of was to make banana bread. I didn't want to throw them out but I knew they were too ripe to eat. I came across this recipe on the Whole Foods website. I was intrigued by the flax meal and yogurt ingredients. This made me think maybe I could make it even healthier.

In the original recipe (see link below) it asks for butter but I actually didn't have any and had already started mixing so I didn't want to stop and run to the store. Instead I remember that sometimes applesauce can be used as a substitute. Ding ding ding... brilliant! Did a bit of research and yes, it can be a substitute, but only sometimes. I wasn't sure if this might be one of those situations but I figured I'd give it a try. AND a friend indicated that she replaced chocolate chips with blueberries and didn't miss the chocolate at all. Hmmm... that could be interesting. Must try! Thus the adventure began.

I used the same recipe as Whole foods except that I substituted the butter for applesauce. I defrosted some mixed berries I had on hand (though next time I think I'll use fresh blueberries). I cut down on the sugar a little. I couldn't find my walnuts so I used almonds. Almonds were fine but I think the walnuts would have added a nice flavor and texture to the bread. Other additions might be nice, too like raisins or currants. Maybe even cranberries. All these additions made me think of smoothies. When making a smoothie, what goes well with bananas? Maybe those same ingredients would be good in this bread. YUM!

Next time, though, I think I might try using more wheat flour than all-purpose flour. Give even more of a health kick.

My friend happened to come over just after it finished baking so she got to taste test. Seems like it might be a success.  I quite like it myself.

So, here is my recipe. If you use the recipe, please leave me a comment. How did you make it your own? Or if you didn't, would you bake this again? Can't wait to hear...

Ingredients

Cooking spray 
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
2 tablespoons ground flax meal 
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
1/3 cup fat free or low fat plain Greek yogurt 
3 very ripe bananas, smashed (about 1 1/2 cups) 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1/2 cup blueberries or berries of your choice
1/4 cup of walnuts (or nuts of your choice)

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch x 4-inch metal loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside. Whisk together both flours, baking soda, flax meal, 2 teaspoons of the ground cinnamon and salt; set aside. Cream together butter with sugar using a mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in yogurt, bananas and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Spoon batter into loaf pan. Stir together turbinado sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the banana bread. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then remove from baking pan. Chef's Tip: If using a glass baking pan, decrease cooking time by 5 to 10 minutes. 

Nutrition (Whole Foods Recipe)

Per serving: 170 calories (40 from fat), 4.5g total fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 40mg cholesterol, 190mg sodium, 29g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 13g sugar), 4g protein 


This recipe was inspired by the Whole Foods "Light-n-Luscious Banana Bread" recipe.

Baked Oatmeal

I recently came across an article in "Whole Living" magazine about a woman who one day stared up at her cookbook shelf to find she had more than a hundred at her fingertips.  With a tendency to cook the same few recipes over and over again she decided to cook out of the box and adventure out into other recipes in these books.  Yup, I can relate. 

Her story also made me think of the movie "Julie & Julia".  She started cooking and blogging about her cooking adventures.  While her story caught my attention, perhaps it was the BAKED OATMEAL recipe in this article that made me stop in my tracks.  Looking through the ingredients I realized I already had all of them in my cupboards.  Plus, her passion for food photography and her interest in healthy cooking was a connecting point.  I was destined to make this recipe. 

Plus, I've been looking for something I can premake for breakfast, then grab and go, to munch at my desk when I got to work.  This seemed perfect.

I made it on Sunday and this morning (Monday) I had my first piece for breakfast.  Truthfully, it's one of the most delicious things I've ever made.  Yummylicious!  Scroll to the bottom for my extra tips.

Heidi Swanson's Baked Oatmeal

(Check out her website 101 Cookbooks)

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for coating baking dish2 c. old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 c. walnuts or almonds, toasted and chopped

1/3 c. fine-grain natural cane sugar

1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. fine grain sea salt

2 c. milk

1 large egg

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2" slices

1 1/2 cups huckleberries, blueberries, or mixed berries
Maple syrup, for drizzling


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square baking dish.
2. Combine the oats, half the nuts, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the milk, egg, half the butter, and vanilla.

3. Arrange bananas in a single layer on the bottom of the coated baking dish. Sprinkle with two-thirds of the berries, then cover with the oat mixture. Slowly drizzle milk mixture over the oats. Gently tap dish on a work surface to distribute liquid. Scatter remaining berries and nuts across the top.

4. Bake for 35-40 min. until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Let cool slightly. Drizle with remaining melted butter and maple syrup.

Notes:
This is what I used that was slightly different from what was called for...

• sliced almonds. I liked the texture and it happened to be what I had on hand.
• regular sugar and baking powder.
• non-fat milk
• extra cinnamon.  I LOVE cinnamon so too much wasn't "too much" for me.
• extra vanilla extract.  A fan of a little extra in baked goods seems to go a long way.

Other thoughts...

• great dish for a brunch potluck.
• used frozen blueberries and blackberries.  I think this is a good idea because it kept the fruit form and didn't get overly mushy. 
• definitely put bananas at the bottom.  Added a bit of natural sweetness and a nice texture to the mix.
• I'd like to try this recipe again using other kinds of fruits.  Apples, pears, peaches, etc. might be pretty tasty in this.  [Update 11/13:  Thus far I've tried the recipe with apples and pears (along with berries).  I think pears is my favorite fruit for this recipe but that's a personal choice.]
• I added the maple syrup at the end.  YUM YUM YUM!  But, I didn't add any extra butter.  Didn't need any in my book.  Save the calories.
• could also be a dessert.  Add a scoop of ice cream, maybe throw in chocolate chips... versatile recipe!
• Reheats well.