Homemade Granola Bars

Have you looked at the ingredient list of those so-called “healthy” granola bars you buy at the store? If you have, then you’ve noticed that one of the main ingredients in these little babies is high fructose corn syrup. Occasionally, there’s also some modified corn starch and partially hydrogenated soybean oil in there. While these ingredients sound OK (corn syrup, corn starch, soy… those sound OK), they are anything but.

As of late, I’ve decided to make some of our snacks myself. This way, I know exactly what’s going into them. And they really don’t take that much time to make, which is a bonus. I make a batch of the following recipe for granola bars on the weekend, and they last throughout the whole week.

Originally found at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Playgroup-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx. I changed the recipe a bit and love the outcome.

Homemade Granola Bars (makes 18-20 bars)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup flax seed
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, flax seed, cinnamon, flour, chocolate chips, and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.
4. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in tupperware container.

Like I said, I tweaked the recipe a bit, adding crunchy PB, lowering the amount of oil, using chocolate chips instead of raisins, and adding flax seed. You can pretty much do whatever you want with the basic recipe (see the comments on the link for variations… I tried the mashed banana last week, but it tasted funny. Next week, I’m going to try apple sauce to make them more chewy). The recipe above is the one I like best so far.

So try it out! They’re a big hit with my husband and my 2 year old. And I dig ‘em too.

 

Spaghetti with Clams

Mark was in Tokyo all last week. Normally that means I can get away with ordering pizza a couple times a week for dinner, but I’ve been in a bit of a cooking mood lately so this time it meant I could make stuff that I normally wouldn’t make if Mark was around because he doesn’t tolerate Italian food as often as I crave it.

One of my favorite things to make is Spaghetti with Clams from Giada de Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian. Her version is not the same as the spaghetti with clam sauce that you might find at your typical Italian restaurant — the one with the heavy, thick, cream sauce with canned clams that you suspect just might give you food poisoning the next day. This one is light and fresh, and best of all, so quick and easy to make. I took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

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Spaghetti with Clams (from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis)
Serves 4

• 1 pound dried spaghetti
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 5 to 7 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 pounds Manila clams, scrubbed clean
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon, zested, for garnish

In a large pot, bring to a boil 6 quarts of salted water. Add pasta, stirring constantly in the beginning to prevent it from sticking together. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. When almost smoking, add shallots and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the clams and wine. Cover and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes or until most clams have opened.

Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Whisk in butter to thicken sauce slightly.

Drain pasta in a colander. Do not rinse pasta with water – this will remove the pasta’s natural starches. Place pasta into the clam saute pan and mix thoroughly. Check seasoning.

Pour pasta into large serving bowl. Zest lemon over the dish, being carefull not to zest the white part of the lemon, which is bitter. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve immediately.

Peach Pie with Candied Pecan Topping

I made this for each Thanksgiving and/or Christmas in Australia, as peaches were in season. I also made this for a friend and head chef of a fancy pants restaurant, and he loved it and asked for the recipe.

I love peaches and I love me my pie, so you can imagine this is one of my favorite types of fruit pie. This is from a cookbook I don’t like that much, save their dessert section (Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Limited Edition).

Use your own favorite crust recipe, enough for a top and bottom crust.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 to 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp quick cooking tapioca (if you can’t find this, you can use flour to thicken the filling)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4  tsp ground nutmeg
• 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled peaches or frozen unsweetened peach slices
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I like dark brown)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 375F.

In a large bowl stir together granulated sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add peaches. Gently toss until coated. Let mixture stand for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you’re using frozen peaches, let stand for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare and roll out your crust pastry. Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry. If you wish, prebake the bottom crust for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Stir the peach mixture and make sure it’s not too runny. If it is, add flour and stir some more, being careful to not break the peaches. Transfer over the filling mixture into the pie dish. Trim the bottom pastry to the edge of the pie plate. Cut slits in the remaining pastry and place on top and seal. Crimp edge as desired.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet. To prevent overbrowning, cover the edge of the pie plate with foil. Bake for 25 minutes (50 minutes for frozen fruit). Remove foil, and bake an additional 25-30 minutes or more until pastry is golden and filling is bubbly.

Meanwhile, for the pecan topping, in a small saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, water, and cornstarch. Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly. Stir in pecans. Once the pie is done, spread warm pecan mixture over the hot crust. Return the pie to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more. Cool pie on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

***NOTE: I always close to double the pecan topping amount. I tried it once with the amount suggested here, but it doesn’t give as much of a decadent, candied taste.

Chicken Capri

With all the recent talk amongst my friends about that lovely cheese that is Ricotta, I saw this recipe in The South Beach Diet Cookbook and just had to try it.  It is scrumptious…

Chicken Capri

1 cup reduced fat ricotta cheese

1/2 tsp dried oregano*

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper*

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp garlic powder*

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 cup crushed tomatoes

4 slices reduced fat mozzarella cheese (or shredded)

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta with the oregano, salt and pepper until blended.  Rub the chicken with the garlic powder.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for 12 minutes per side.  Place the chicken breasts, side by side, in a large baking dish and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350.

Spoon 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture and 1/4 cup tomatoes onto each chicken breast.  Top each with 1 slice mozzarella (or equivalent shredded).  Bake for 20 minutes or until thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 170F and the juices run clear.

Makes 4 servings

**I used more oregano than listed…perhaps a tsp or so, and much more black pepper..probably close to 1 T.  I still found the flavor pretty mild, so season to taste.  Also, the oregano produced a delicious result, but next time I am going to replace the oregano with basil and try that…which I think would be a wonderful compliment in this dish.**

This picture is obviously from the “cooling” step, prior to the cheese and tomatoes.   As you can see, cooking them for 12 minutes on each side produced a nice result, but I think the time could be shortened a little.  I found them to be slightly overcooked if you follow the directions exactly.  I would reduce to 8 or so minutes per side, depending on the size of the chicken breasts.

And the final, cheesy, delicious product…

Martha Stewart’s Perfect Mac and Cheese

I am a big mac & cheese snob. I never ate it much growing up but I’m making up for lost time now. In fact, one of my very first adult cookbook purchases was Macaroni & Cheese: 52 Recipes From Simple to Sublime. 52 recipes! That’s a new mac & cheese recipe every week for a year.  Of course I’m not crazy enough to have actually gone through every recipe in the book and I also like to try new versions out whenever I come across one that sounds good.  Which is how I ended up making this version by Martha Stewart.  I’m not a huge Martha Stewart fan but I’d read so many rave reviews of her mac & cheese recipe on several food blogs that my curiosity was piqued.  In fact, one blog comment called it “crack and cheese” for it’s addictive properties.  After that, there was no doubt in my mind that I had to try this.

I have a few criteria for mac and cheese recipes that satisfy both the snob and the picky eater in me.  Snob criterion #1: The cheese sauce base must be a bechamel sauce — there’s just no better way of producing a rich and creamy sauce, plus “bechamel” is fun to say.

Snob criterion #2: The recipe needs to have at least two different cheeses — no good reason for this rule…I just like cheese and experimenting with different combos.  The more the merrier.  Picky eater criterion #3: No tomatoes in the recipe.  Mac and cheese shouldn’t have tomatoes or else it would be called “mac and cheese and tomatoes”.  Duh.  Picky eater criterion #4: No mustard or mustard powder in the recipe — I just really don’t like mustard.

This recipe fit all four criteria and it was super easy to make.  Normally I prefer to use panko to top my mac and cheese, but I really liked the white bread topping that Martha uses.

I also used the Gruyere instead of the pecorino romano and perhaps it’s my sensitive pregnancy nose but I found it just a tad on the pungent side.  But overall, the result was a creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside, not overly strong mac and cheese with a great macaroni to cheese ratio.  I don’t know if I’m ready to dub this “crack and cheese” but it’s definitely one of the better mac and cheese recipes I’ve come across.

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An Indulgent Weekend Breakfast

Ever since we switched Noah to morning classes at his preschool, mornings can get a little rushed with time for little more than waffles or cereal for breakfast. So on the weekends, I like to take my time with breakfast and occasionally I get a little fancy. Like this past weekend when I broke out the Doña Tomas cookbook again and made Manzanas Fritas con Cajeta — apple fritters with caramel.

Cajeta is a creamy Mexican caramel — very similar to dulce de leche — but usually made from goat’s milk.  Considering that finding regular milk that isn’t tainted with melamine is hard enough in Hong Kong, I doubted I would be able to find goat’s milk anywhere so I settled for whole cow’s milk instead.  I’ve made caramel from scratch before but usually from a sugar/water mixture.  Making it from sweetened milk is an entirely different experience altogether.  For one, it takes a lot longer to boil down the milk to the right color and consistency.  And for another, it requires a lot more babysitting since if you’ve ever cooked down milk before, you know that boiling milk will boil over very easily.  Despite the extra work, it’s definitely my preferred way of making caramel, resulting in an incredibly rich, creamy caramel that you can pretty much snack on by itself.

Because it takes so long to make, I made the cajeta the night before and just warmed it up for a minute in the microwave before drizzling it on the apple fritters.  It still took about an hour to finish the apple fritters in the morning but the time and effort was well worth it.  Baking and then frying the batter-dipped apple slices gave it a consistency not unlike apple pie and the sweetness of cajeta was a perfect counterpoint to the tartness of the granny smith apples.  It’s definitely one of the more decadent brunch dishes that I’ve made.

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Oatmeal Carmelitas

This is probably THE worst recipe to type out when you’re cutting unnecessary, deliciously fatty, and decadent foods from your diet. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.

Oatmeal Carmelita Bars (preheat oven to350*F and grease bottom and sides of a 9”x 9”x 2” pan)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick rolled oats
¾ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients well, then slowly pour and mix melted butter into dry ingredients to form a crumblike consistency. Press half of these crumbs into bottom of pan and bake for 10 minutes.

6 oz. semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (whichever you prefer)
½ cup chopped walnuts

Sprinkle these over baked crust.

¾ cup caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp. flour

Mix these two ingredients well. Drizzle this mixture over chocolate chips and nuts.

Sprinkle the remaining crumbs over the top. Bake for 15-20 more. Chill in fridge for easy cutting.

A Quickie: Fried Rice

I’ve been pretty sick this week so instead of my usual indecision over the question “What’s for dinner?” Mark had to deal with my complete apathy over what he and Noah were going to eat (I had my soup so I was all good). So when Clarita asked him if he wanted her to make some chicken fried rice, he shouted an emphatic, “Yes! Please!” I had some of the rice and while Clarita has many fine qualities, this was possibly the blandest thing I’d ever tasted in my life. Which led me to the realization that not everyone makes fried rice the way my mom does it. Go figure! Naturally I’ve been craving fried rice ever since so I thought I’d post how to make it here. I’m sure everyone has their own way of making it, but this is just the way that I learned it from my mom.

South Beach 101 for Kristin

Kristin is crazy — but in a completely adorable and endearing way. And despite knowing how crazy she is, she still manages to talk quite a few of us into going on weird diet or marathon things with her. Like the time she talked me and a few other girls into doing Oprah’s cleanse last year. This time around it’s the South Beach Diet. Having done this diet in the past with awesome results, I’m actually a big fan of it so I’m giving her my full support this time around. Anyone familiar with South Beach knows that the first two weeks — Phase 1 — is the hardest and most restrictive part of the diet: no bread, rice, pasta, sugar, fruit or alcohol, and there are certain vegetables that are also off-limits (like potatoes, corn and carrots). But once you get past those first two weeks, it’s on to Phase 2 which is a lot less restrictive, allowing for whole grains, fruits, sweet potatoes, carrots and a glass or two of wine a day.

So to help her out — and to show her that it’s not such a bad deal after all — I’m posting a few of my favorite South Beach Phase 1 recipes here to get her started. (All recipes are from The South Beach Diet Cookbook by Arthur Agatston, M.D.)

Superbowl Foods: Easy, Dirty, Delicious

As Jae mentioned, Kristin is on the hunt for Superbowl Foods.  Her hubbie is also a vegetarian, and this quick and easy dip can be made with vegetarian chili as well.  Sure to please everyone, especially the person making it because it’s so darn easy.

Chili con Queso dip

Serve with tortilla chips

1 pkg. Velveeta Mild Mexican Cheese
2 cans chili (I like Hormel mild with beans)

Cut Velveeta into chunks and mix in chili.  Mix in large ovenproof bowl, and nuke for as long as it takes to melt everything together.  Can be reheated for further eating pleasure.  Serve with beer, cokes, and other unhealthy stuff.