Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
(with cranberries)

I was reflecting on my posts from this time last year and unsurprisingly my thoughts are moving in a similar direction; panic about what the winter months have done to my waistline. How on earth will I fit in my summer clothes without too closely resembling the muffins I make?

So, when it came time for my monthly girls get together, and therefore another excuse for me to bake, I chose to take the high road. I pulled out my Food and Wine Magazine, March 2011 issue and there was the perfect healthier recipe. It hit all my requirements; wholesome and yet totally quick and easy.

The cookies do have some butter for flavor but also a little canola oil, plus they are made entirely with whole wheat pastry flour. If you can't get that, I would suggest white whole wheat flour or half and half regular flour with regular whole wheat flour. You can choose to bake them as bars (as I did) or cookies (a little more time than I had available). The original recipe calls for toasted chopped pecans in addition to the chocolate chips but I didn't have any so added some cranberries.

My guinea pig buddies were enthusiastic and the recipe was requested; a good sign of success I think. They are really quite like a blondie with an extra bite.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used 60%)

1/2 cup cranberries 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Butter a 9 x 13" baking pan then line with parchment paper
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside
4. Using your mixer, beat the butter, oil and sugar until creamy
5. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until smooth
6. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just incorporated
7. Finally add the chocolate chips and beat on low again until just mixed
8. Turn the dough out into the baking pan and smooth out the top evenly using a spatula 
9. Place the baking try in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until golden and just set in the center
10. Cool the bars in the pan and then lift them out onto a cutting board
11. Peel away the parchment from the sides and cut into squares

Alternative substitutions that I think would be tasty: 

• white chocolate chips and chopped dried apricots
• Dark chocolate chips and cherries

You could successfully freeze the cookies in the pan prior to baking (if well wrapped) or after baking. After baking I would not cut them, leave them as a slab and triple wrap in cling film.

Enjoy!

Eggs Poached in My Best Ever Homemade Tomato Sauce

My Best Ever Homemade Tomato Sauce

This is the tale of  4 yummy things:

Homemade Tomato Sauce
Cheesy Sodabread
Poached eggs
Basil olive oil

I've been thinking about eggs for dinner all week, but my husband is not such a fan. So I held off until he left for a business trip today, when I unfolded my plan. Eggs poached on homemade tomato sauce have long appealed to me, but only today did I actually get off my behind and make them. This dinner is ridiculously easy but rams home how good ingredients can result in the tastiest food.

Having bought a sizable quantity of San Marzano tomatoes last weekend I decided the moment was right to make a batch of tomato sauce. My 3 year old was (sort of) resting on the couch after lunch, so I set to work. I don't have a standard method of making tomato sauce, in fact we don't often eat it in this house. When I was pregnant with my second child the mere smell of store bought tomato sauce gave me instant nausea. To this day I still dislike most store bought tomato sauces but homemade is a different matter. Nevertheless, I knew it needed to be good, so I opened my "Jamie's Dinners" for advice.

Simply using garlic, tomatoes and a little of my new favorite ingredient; O&Co basil olive oil (Thanks Kirsty!) I made a simply delicious tomato sauce. If you can get your hands on some of this olive oil, buy it! It's subtle and yet amazing in it's ability to enhance the flavor of all sorts of dishes. I've used it in dressings, with my pea puree, and tonight, in the absence of fresh basil, it infused my sauce with an extra richness and extra something yummy. That said, fresh basil and good extra virgin olive oil would make a perfect substitute in this or any other recipe.

My Best Ever Homemade Tomato Sauce

Eggs poached in Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced

3 large (28oz) cans of whole tomatoes (the best you can get; I used San Marzano) Do not break up the tomatoes until after the sauce is cooked. The tomato seeds may make the sauce bitter; yuck, I learned from experience in the past.

2 teaspoons olive oil (I used basil olive oil)

salt and pepper to taste (Go easy on the salt; your tomatoes may already be quite salty)

To finish:

1 tablespoon basil olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium and add the garlic.
2. Cook gently for approx 3 minutes then add the tomatoes
3. Cover and simmer the sauce for approx 30 minutes
4. Turn the heat off and glug in the basil olive oil (or chopped basil leaves and olive oil) and balsamic vinegar. 
5. Gently break up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon or a potato masher

To make the poached eggs, simply crack the eggs in a small bowl then gently place in the sauce. Cover and cook on a medium heat for approx 5 minutes.

I served mine on top of Cheesy Sodabread Rolls. I thought it was simply delicious and it went down pretty well with the 5 and under crowd. The only objection was a yolk, but we worked around that!

Enjoy the sauce endlessly with pasta, fish, poached eggs, or cook your sausages in it.

Cheesy Sodabread recipe is next in line for the posting.

Thanksgiving Prep...and Cranberry, Pear and Ginger Chutney

After much deliberation (understatement of the century) I have finally decided on our Thanksgiving menu. I have pored through cooking Light, Eating Well magazines, Nigella Feast, Baked (both books) to name but a few. As you'll remember,  I'm Irish so I don't feel so tied to the usual traditions. Therein lies the problem; apart from turkey, I feel we can go in any direction with the food. My only fixed point is for the vegetables to be seasonal. So this morning, off we went to the Farmers Market to scoop up whatever looked best. I'm home with a purple cauliflower, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, parsnips, sweet potatoes, pears and apples. That helped me finalize the menu.

Here goes:

Thanksgiving menu

Breakfast: 

Pumpkin cheddar muffins

Appetizers

Green goddess dip
Crudites
Artichoke dip
Trader Joe's Store bought appetizers (my one concession)

The Main Deal


Maple Cider Brined Turkey
Cranberry Pear and Ginger Chutney
Cornbread stuffing
Purple Cauliflower sauteed in olive oil and garlic
Parsnip Gratin
Pureed Sweet Potato with smoked paprika


Dessert

Chocolate Brownie Pie
Pumpkin Ice Cream
Rustic Apple Pie


Random snack (who doesn't need one of those tucked in the cupboard?)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf


What did I miss? The cocktail of course, but that can wait for a couple of days to be finalized.


Last year I noisily proclaimed I was going to take shortcuts via Trader Joe's ready made choices. People who know me might find that ironic; even on a busy week night, it pains me to put a store bought meal in front of my family; so why Thanksgiving of all times?!

The truth is the greatest holiday excitement of my year is Christmas. I have incredibly happy memories of Christmas as a child. Unsurprisingly, most of the fun for me was food, not gift related. I love to recreate some of that for my children but a couple of years ago, after going all out for both holidays, I really did not enjoy my Christmas dinner.

Time to rethink the plan;  I decided to take a very simple approach to Thanksgiving going forward. It worked out for us last year; I used Trader Joe's Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing, Pumpkin pie and appetizers. It made for a very relaxing Thanksgiving Day. However this year I just can't bring myself to go the store bought route. So, make ahead is my strategy this year, plus I have assigned an appetizer to my husbands cousin who will be coming with her friend.

Today I made the Cornbread for the stuffing and the Cranberry Chutney. Tomorrow the Pumpkin Ice Cream is on my radar. The Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf is already made and in the Freezer. The plan is coming together! I'll share as much as I can.

Cranberry Pear and Ginger Chutney

based on a Epicurious recipe

Ingredients

2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup grated fresh ginger (peeled first, I freeze mine in a ziplock bag and find it so much easier to grate when frozen)
2 1/2 lemon zest (finely grated)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries, washed and picked through
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large firm pears, peeled cored and chopped into small pieces

Directions

1. Combine the vinegar, onions, ginger, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, pepper flakes and cloves in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil
2. Simmer for about 10 minutes to reduce by about half
3. Add the cranberries, sugar and pears and stir until the sugar dissolves
4. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until the pear is tender and the flavors have combined.
5. Store in the fridge for 3 days, or freeze until needed and thaw at room temperature.

This would be a great idea to can but that's not in my skill set...yet, so I always freeze. It works out just fine. I always make extra so we can have it at both holidays (when I'm not get TJ's help) and we like it with crackers and cheese also...

Enjoy!

Halloween Brownies anyone?

The m and m's may suggest "kid" food, but the brownie is all about the adults

Full disclosure; the following recipe is not my usual healthy take on a classic recipe. This is pure unadulterated sugar, butter and CHOCOLATE...but oh so good on an occasional basis; particularly over Halloween.

That said, the brownies described are a new recipe to me. I typically make either a healthier version or if I'm going all out, I use a recipe that calls for many more eggs than I had left in my refrigerator.  So I set out on a google search for a rich, no holds barred, brownie recipe that only required 4 eggs.

Enter David Lebovitz. He calls these his absolute best brownies and the man does not lie. I didn't change the recipe much, except I recommend using  parchment instead of foil and I doubled the recipe to bake enough for a party. Also, to Halloween-ify them, I dotted the top with orange m and m's, 10 mins before they finished baking.

Something I learned from the Baked gods, you can freeze a brownie very successfully. Who knew? You just triple wrap them in cling wrap and let them defrost at room temperature when you feel the craving. Having learned that useful snippet, I see no point in ever baking a small pan.

Anyway, these are super-decadent, fudgy rich brownies. Bake them at your waistline's peril. I had hoped to take some to a Halloween party, but there's no way they'll last that long.

Halloween Brownies

Ingredients

12 tablespoons butter
16 oz dark chocolate (chips or chopped)
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup all purpose flour
Orange m and m's

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Butter a 9x 13" baking pan, line it with parchment, leaving 2" extra on 2 sides. Then butter the parchment paper.
3. Using a low heat, melt the butter in a medium sized pot 
4. When melted, turn the heat off 
5. Add the chocolate and stir until melted 
6. Stir in the sugar and vanilla 
7. Stir in the eggs beating or whisking vigorously until combined 
8. Finally add the flour and stir "energetically" for 1 full minute until the mix looks glossy and the graininess of the sugar has gone (apparently this is the key to success with this recipe)
9. Pour the mix into the prepared pan and into the center of the oven 
10. Cook for 20 minutes then remove the brownies and push in the m and m's to the almost set batter
11. Return the pan to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes or until the center of the brownies is just set.
12. Cool the brownies in the pan
13. When completely cool, lift the brownies out of the pan by the parchment paper and cut them into squares

These will keep in an airtight container for 4 days (good luck with keeping them that long!) and will freeze beautifully (see above).

Enjoy!

The Everything Muffin

The Everything muffin

Those who know me well, know they will often be offered a muffin at some point during a visit. I do love me a muffin. My current favorite and (Jayne, this ones for you) is this little fella' pictured.

Often I find that muffins are no use for an on the go snack; great in the house, where we can sweep up the crumbs easily, but in the car or anywhere else, a little too messy. This one is different. It maintains it's integrity, but is still soft and moist enough to be very delicious. And, it's healthy to boot; it has no oil or butter in it. Yet it doesn't have that tell tale, rubbery or hard texture, of many healthy muffins. These points make it a great kid snack and particularly when you're on the go. My 4 year old (for only 6 more days...) now takes a packed lunch to school, so these have been a snack feature frequently in the last month. I should add, they freeze exceptionally well.

Are you in yet? If I still haven't convinced you, then here's my last attempt; it's got ooey gooey chocolate chips in it. It doesn't take many chocolate chips to take a healthy muffin from blah to crave-worthy.

The Everything Muffin

based loosely on a Cooking Light recipe

makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat pasty flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon wheat bran

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain or fat free or low fat yogurt (I prefer to use 0% Greek yogurt)

1 cup mashed ripe bananas ( about 2 bananas)

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups chopped dried cherries or prunes or apricots (or combination of all or your favorites)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Place muffin liners in the muffin pans
3. Place flours, oats, what bran flaxseed, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Add the brown sugar and whisk also.
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, yogurt and bananas
6. Add the Dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.
7. Finally stir in the dried fruit and chocolate chips.
8. Using an ice cream scoop fill the muffin cup to about 2/3 full 
9. Place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the spring back when touched lightly on top.
10. Remove the muffins from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.

If you wish to freeze them, make sure they are completely cool, then place muffins in a zip-lock bag and into the freezer.

Enjoy!

The triple whammy dinner...





 



By that I mean, it's super tasty, healthy and kid friendly!

It's been 5 weeks of visiting our families in Scotland and Ireland and then adjusting back to home life again. Since returning home, the distraction of a 2 year old struggling with jet lag (and simply being 2!!), a Mummy fighting a throat infection and an unfinished construction project in our bathroom made me wonder if my blogging mojo was gone forever. Now all three obstacles are removed my mind cleared and I was inspired. Don't get me wrong, I've made some tasty dinners since we got back but nothing I felt moved enough to share...until tonight that is.

I've visited 2 farmers markets since I got home. To be honest, I couldn't wait to get there. We had a great trip with our families but it was certainly nice to know we were returning to warmer weather, flowers in our garden, bountiful farmers markets and al fresco eating.

Our local farmers Market is on a Saturday but as that was when I was fighting the throat lurgy, I was forced further afield. No hardship, I headed to Nyack on Thursday and Warwick on Sunday. I had never been to the Warwick one before and what a treat! I could have dropped a serious amount of money as there were so many enticing stalls of produce and artisan products. My favorites were the rustic parmesan pepper bread and and keilbasa sausage. http://www.warwickinfo.net/farmersmarket/index.html
My girls vote was resoundingly won by a brownie they shared from Jean Claudes Artisan Bakery.

But I found myself thrown by the choice of produce; for the past 4 years we have been members of a farm co-op. I haven't had to decide which seasonal produce to select, it has been done for me. All I needed to do was decide what to do with the veg. I thought it would be nice to make my own choices so I opted out this year in favor of farmers markets, but the reality threw me. Probably not helped by having my small munchkins in tow, distracting me somewhat.

Anyway, that said, I looked at my meat choice in the freezer today and the ground turkey spoke to me. That, and the mini pita bread, reminded me of my "go to" turkey burger recipe. The recipe originates from Martha Stewart Everyday Food but is endlessly tweakable. It results in a burger that is tasty and moist; a tricky twosome with a turkey burger.
I call this a hit, as my 4 year old ate 2 mini burgers and asked for more and my 2 year old ate almost every bite of hers also.

Healthy Mini Turkey Burgers in Mini Pita Breads

adapted from http://www.marthastewart.com//337340/favorite-turkey-burger

laced with ketchup and mustard as requested by my 4 year old



Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 cup finely grated cheddar cheese

1 small bunch of chives finely chopped

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1 garlic clove minced

salt and pepper

Directions

1. preheat grill on high
2. In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients with your clean hands.
3. form into mini pita sized patties
4. oil the grill
5. place the patties on the grill and turn down to medium
6. cook for approx 4-5  minutes each side or until cooked thoroughly.
7. Warm the pita breads briefly on the grill
8. Slit open the pitas and serve "like clams" with some grilled vegetables or a salad

Freezable note:
I often make a double batch, form the patties, freeze on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper then place in a freezer bag when frozen.

Enjoy!

My husband's tasty pancakes

My first post.  I’m Kat’s husband.

After being on 10 different planes in the past four weeks I am home for a while and my cousin “Auntie Ticktoria” is visiting.

I’ve been addicted to the statistics of the blog while I’ve been away; I knew that if a new recipe was posted I was receiving a sign that all was well, back at the ranch. 1,065 page views to date… I could bore you with all sorts of other stuff like the fact that people from Spain and Scandinavia have viewed the blog…..but I’ll stop.

This morning the girls were very excited about the prospect of breakfast with "Auntie Ticktoria". We agreed to make pancakes, rather than my usual trip to get bagels with the girls while Kat has a lie in,   I found this recipe on the net a while ago and it was much better than any previous pancake recipe or mix I have ever used. 

Consistent with the other recipes on this blog, I've made it a  bit healthier than the original recipe.  I make the batter with whole-wheat flour rather than regular flour.  I think this started because the first time I made the recipe I couldn’t find any white flour in the house, (doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, just that I couldn’t find it….). Although butter is not the healthiest part if the recipe, it’s a worthwhile addition of flavor that can’t be replaced by oil or nonstick sprays. The caramelized banana is one of the best things about these pancakes and the butter really helps that flavor.

So here goes.

First of all make sure you have made your cup of coffee or whatever else gets you going in the morning.

Saturday morning pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup/ 4oz/ 110g wholewheat flour

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup/ 240 ml buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 banana, sliced thinly

Directions

1. Turn the oven on low to keep the pancakes warm
2. Measure out the dry ingredients and whisk them together in a mixing bowl.  
3. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter.  This morning my batter was a bit too thick, probably because the air is very dry at the moment, so I added some more buttermilk. 
4. Put the skillet on the stove on medium put a knob of butter on to melt. 
5. Don’t forget to put the exhaust fan on, so the kitchen is filled with the smell of pancakes and not the fumes of cooking. 
6. Chop up the banana while the skillet warms up and then add some butter to the pan.  
7. Pour some pancake batter onto the skillet, then place the sliced banana on top.
8. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side.  This will vary depending on how hot your pan is, but if it’s too hot there will be smoke and the middle of the pancakes will be raw.  If the pan it too cold the pancakes will just take forever and the banana will not caramelize.  
9. Each of the pancakes will absorb some butter so keep an eye on how much is in the pan and add a small amount before starting a new pancake if necessary.

I made double the recipe (pancakes freeze apparently) and we ate about 2/3 of the pancakes between three adults and the two kids.

Where can you go wrong?  Just don’t forget to wash the dishes after you are finished cooking.

A couple of tips:

• This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in stirring
• To freeze the pancakes, place a piece of parchment paper between each pancake and place the pancakes in a ziplock bag. To defrost, lightly toast.
• The banana can obviously be substituted for another fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, apples or pears

Super Bowl Food: Chili and Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

If there is one main theme of my blog, it would be that tasty food can pretty much always be pulled together without a special trip to the store.

On that note; I promised game day food this week and I shall deliver. However, Trader Joes were all out of sundried tomatoes (very rarely will I write anything negative about that store) so slight change of plan. I am serving spinach artichoke dip instead of the artichoke sundried tomato spread.

I love the concept of the flavors in spinach artichoke dip, but the traditional recipes are just too heavy and fat laden for me to enjoy. I've been making this version for a few years; Ellie Kreiger from the Food Network provided the base recipe; I usually like her approach to healthier eating.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/warm-spinach-and-artichoke-dip-recipe/index.html

However, it did need a little more cheese, greek yogurt and a touch of nutmeg to make it feel a bit less "healthy". It's a fine balance, after all it's still gotta taste good!

My other offering for today's Game Day planning is Chili. It's largely based on one of Jamie Oliver's versions that pulled of the Food network site years ago; the recipe is no longer listed. Anyway, I added a few more veggies, less chili pepper and I used ground turkey this time. The original uses ground chuck.

I always get asked about the chili when someone else tastes it and I think it's due to unusual ingredients and method; it's got a cinnamon stick and sundried tomatoes in it and he recommends you cut up your veggies etc in the food processor. Altogether this gives a smoother texture, which I like and an interesting depth of flavor. I also added more veggies and wine; notice the theme? I believe one cancels the other out, but it's a step in the right direction!

The Chili is freezable for about 3 months; I usually make a double batch (see photo) and feeze in family sized portions.

Spinach and Artichoke dip



My 2 year old digging in

This yields a lot; enough for 10-12

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or minced
1 (9 oz/ 255g) package of frozen artichokes, defrosted
1 (10 oz/ 283g) package of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of excess liquid
1 cup/ 250ml reduced fat or non fat sour cream or greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup/ 4 oz/ 115g reduced fat cream cheese
4 oz/ 115g shredded/ grated part skim mozzarella (or whatever good melting cheese you have)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/ 190°C
2. Saute the onions, over a medium heat, for approx 4-5 mins. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3-4 mins.
3. While the onions are cooling, put the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the onions and pulse a further 4-5 times to mix.
4. Transfer to a lightly greased baking dish (I used 4 large ramekins, or you could use one large 8" square baking dish)
5. Bake for 15/20 mins until heated through but not browning on top.

This is delicious served with pita chips, or carrot sticks.

Enjoy!



Kat's Chili

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 medium onions

2 garlic cloves

olive oil

1/2 lb/ 225g carrots (washed not peeled)

2 teasponns chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

sea salt and pepper

1 lb/ 455 g ground chuck (I used ground turkey this time)

7 oz/ 200g sundried tomatoes in olive oil

1 fresh red chile, deseeded (optional, swap in milder chile or omit)

2 (14oz/ 400g ) cans chopped tomatoes

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 glass red wine

2 (14oz/ 400g) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well

Directions

1. Place the onions and garlic and carrots in the food processor and chop.
2. Using a deep heavy pan or dutch oven, fry up the onions, garlic and carrots in some olive oil until softened.
3. Stir in the chili powder and cumin and cook for a further 2 mins.
4. Add the meat and break up well. Cook until lightly browned
5. Food process the sundried tomatoes (without the oil) and chile and add to the pan
6. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon stick and wine.
7. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour before adding the beans.
8. Simmer for a further 1/2 hour then allow to sit and develop more flavor.
9. Test and season as necessary at the end; depending on your tomatoes and beans, there may already be enough salt without adding more.

Enjoy with the usual toppings, rice, cornbread, tacos etc etc etc!

Sausage and Bean Casserole



Perhaps I should explain for the Brits reading this; we're on to our umpteenth snow storm this month, it's completely baltic outside and it's just plain January for goodness sake! That's why there's so much comfort food on my blog so far, but I promise you, I do have more than comfort food in my bag of tasty treats.

Having said that, I just have to share one of my all time favorites; Sausage and Bean Casserole. I've been making this in various ways for years now but this is the tastiest. My family love it, my friends love it (it's my go to for a new and weary Mum) and most importantly I love it

The original recipe comes from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/sausage-and-bean-casserole

However, as usual I decided to pack in more vegetables and fiber, and reduce the fat. The result is 2 meals for us; one for tonight and one goes in the freezer for a lazy or crazy day, depending on your definitions of the two.

If you're going to freeze it, leave off the breadcrumb topping until you bake it. It will take approx 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook from frozen.

Sausage and Bean Casserole

Serves 8

Ingredients

4 cups of fresh wholewheat breadcrumbs (from about 10 slices)

2 lb / 900g lean sausage (I used chicken sausage from Trader Joe's)

2 large onions, chopped

8-10 garlic cloves, chopped

1 lb / 450g carrots peeled and chopped quite small

2 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 cup / approx 6 oz /170g tomato paste

15 oz /400ml reduced sodium chicken broth

2 cups / 400 ml water

1 cup / 250 ml red wine

1 10 oz /284g  package of frozen winter squash, defrosted

1 teaspoon dried thyme

4 cans (each 14.5 oz / 400g) white beans, rinsed and drained



Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C
2. Take the sausage out of the casings and break up into small pieces.
3. Place a large, deep, heavy bottom pan, on a medium heat and cook the sausage, onions and garlic for approx 15 minutes or until sausage is starting to brown.
4. Add the carrots and celery and cook for a further 5 minutes
5. Add the tomato paste, winter squash, broth, water, wine and thyme and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce to a simmer, add the beans and cook for a further 10 minutes
7. Stir in 2 cups of breadcrumbs
8. Pour the mixture into 2 medium sized (approx 3 quart) dishes and top with the remaining breadcumbs.
9. Bake for 30 minutes until bubbling and golden on the top

This is great served alone but a fresh crusty bread, and green salad are delicious alongside.

Enjoy!



Iris's Wheaten Bread



I seem to be on an Irish theme. Musing on my mum's fridge yesterday and reading "kiss my spatula's" latest post on dippy eggs and toast prompted a nostalgic train of thought for the food of my homeland.

I have strong childhood memories of every Saturday lunchtime; BBC radio 2, "Stupot" was the soundtrack to wheaten bread, soda farls, butter, cheese, jam and soup. Our local bakery in Portstewart, Northern Ireland was The Griddle and usually the breads were from there, but still warm....ahhh. I'm sure my family will call me out on a romantic version of our Saturday mornings; there was probably a fair amount of family discord too.

So what is wheaten bread? Basically very rustic wholewheat bread leavened with baking soda rather than endless yeast risings. It can be in the oven in 15 minutes. That's my type of bread!

When I was 12, my Mum made a new friend, Iris McMaster, who made great wheaten bread. She was nice enough to share the recipe and that simple recipe became a firm family favorite. By this time we had moved to Belfast and our beloved griddle breads were 70 miles away.

Even in my early twenties, I continued the tradition on a Saturday morning, making bread for my cousin and anyone else who popped in. It's a go to bread for taking to a friends house for lunch; wrap it up in a dishtowel while still warm, and deliver with pride and maybe some raspberry jam.

The recipe is quick, simple and very therapeutic to make; i.e. you get your hands in. The smell of wheaten bread baking, is like bottled up Saturday feeling for me.

Some notes about the recipe:

Wholewheat flour; get the coarsest flour you can buy for reasonable money. Our supermarket does sell Irish wheatmeal flour but it's $10 a bag!!! So I buy regular wholewheat flour and when I can get to the natural food store I stock up on the coarser version.

The original recipe called for more sugar but, as a rule, in any baked recipe, I cut it down.

I have included the British measurements but also converted to US measurements. Please note a British pint has more volume than a US one.

Wheaten bread freezes very nicely. I always triple wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.

Wheaten Bread

Ingredients

5 1/2 cups (1 1/2 lb) course wholegrain flour

2 1/2 cups (12 oz) unbleached all purpose flour

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) (2oz) cold unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar (2oz) sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons baking soda

3 1/3 cups (1 1/2 British pints) buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F or 185°C.
2. Butter and lightly flour two 9x5" loaf tins.
3. Measure the flours into a very large bowl , whisk together to incorporate.
4. Then cut the cold butter into small pieces and add to the flour.
5. Get your hands in a rub the butter into the flour, until there are no big lumps left. This is the therapeutic part!
6. Add the sugar, salt, baking soda and stir in to incorporate.
7. Finally stir in the buttermilk until just incorporated. Don't worry if there are still some lumps in the dough (see picture) that's normal and overmixing needs to be avoided as it will create a tough bread.
8. Divide the dough in 2 and press lightly into the corners of the loaf tins.
9. Put both tins in the middle of the oven for 50-60 minutes. It will be ready when a tester comes out clean and it has a golden top.





Wheaten bread is totally delicious, cut into slices while still warm, spread with butter and your favorite jam. Raspberry jam is a traditional and especially good combination but whatever you fancy! It'll toast up nicely for the next few days if you dont eat it all on the first day.

Enjoy!







A leisurely Saturday morning...

Blueberry Banana Muffins

It's not often a Saturday morning in our house with 2 and 4 year old, active girls can be described as leisurely. Somehow, this morning seemed to hit the mark. So, I was inspired to bake. 

I should explain, my world begins and ends with muffins. I define life's big events by them and I just plain love them!!! I have toyed with the idea of opening a muffin shop, doing a purist muffin blog and everything in between.

Nothing pleases me better than getting a batch of muffins in the oven in 15 minutes flat. I love their versatility. They can be utterly butter filled and decadent or a healthy alternative to a bowl of cereal in the morning. Whatever I have in the house can always be made into a muffin at short notice and usually the butter doesn't need softened ahead of time. What could be better?

That smell that fills the house and the pleasure (sometimes through gritted teeth admittedly; new discovery of 2010; I'm a control freak) of making them with my small daughters just caps it off.

Anyway, I have many muffin recipes and options to share but today we needed a mid morning, somewhat healthy kid and adult friendly snack. I had some winter blueberries, being rejected by all as tasteless and I had a half banana leftover by my 2 year old. What better inspiration for a muffin?

I used Deb at smitten kitchen's perfect blueberry muffin as a jumping off point. Always a good start!! http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/08/perfect-blueberry-muffins/ . However, I really needed to take my muffin down a healthier route; it's January 15th and we still haven't yet toned down the excess of Christmas in this house. So I substituted canola oil for butter, 0% greek yogurt and a little milk for the sour cream, substituted whole wheat pastry flour for half of the all purpose and I added my little banana chunks too.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Makes 12 standard muffins

5 tablespoons  canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup plain yogurt or greek yogurt with a dash of milk
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup  blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 banana chopped into small chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Spray a muffin tin with a nonstick spray.
3. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in  a bowl
4. In another bowl whisk together oil and sugar, Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until the flour disappears.
6. Gently fold in your blueberries.
7. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffin tops are a golden color and a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a rack for the bare minimum time until you dig in.

Enjoy!