Lentil Burgers in the Poconos

John and I had a fantastic time in the Poconos this Memorial Day weekend. Lots of hiking, reading, relaxing, cooking, crocheting, coffee drinking, did I mention relaxing?? While we were there I found my old bike from when I was a kid buried in the garage. This is the best bike ever, I mean come on it's a pink Schwinn with butterflies and a banana seat. While we were excavating it from the garage my mom and dad called to say hi so I went inside to talk with them. When I got back outside I came upon the best site ever...

Oh yes, at 6 feet tall he still managed to ride it with much grace!! FANTASTIC!!!

I on the other hand fit on the bike perfectly... umm if by perfect you mean it hurt my knees after a mile that is... The original plan was to bring it back to Rochester and I was going to ride it to work. I only live a mile and a half away and come on it saves gas! However even though it's a small bike it's REALLY HEAVY, living on the 3rd floor of an old house with no where to safely store it other than in my apartment I decided it was too heavy to have to lug up and down all those stairs every day. Although I am sure my coworkers would have LOVED to see me ride up to work on it :) Yeah I rode my little Razor scooter (circa 1999) to work a week ago... I don't think I'll ever hear the end of that one haha.

Anyway back to the chow part! Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella made some amazing looking lentil sweet potato burgers awhile back, that I just had to try. Her original recipe is here. I meant to follow it I really did, but a trip to the grocery store without the recipe in hand made me do things by memory... and I forgot a bunch of the ingredients she had listed.... So.. here is a version minus a few ingredients. Still very tasty!


Lentil Sweet Potato Burgers

• Two 15 oz can lentils, rinsed, drained
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• About 1 lb sweet potato, cooked and coarsely chopped
• About 1 cup stuffing mix or dried breadcrumbs (I used garlic bread crumbs and used less actual garlic then she said to use)
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 shallot chopped
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Sunflower and sesame seeds
• Hummus
• Franks Red Hot Sauce
  

1. Combine lentils, garlic, cooked chopped sweet potato, breadcrumbs, water, parsley, and eggs in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Use your wet hands to shape each portion into an patty-you should get 8 patties in total depending on the size you make. Roll one side in sunflower and sesame seed mix. Cover and refrigerate until ready to be cooked.

2. Spray a pan with olive oil and cook patties about 3-4 minutes per side. Top with a dollop of hummus and a shake of red hot.

chow!

waiting for their turn in the frying pan

Oh and one other thing... Mom, I stole a set of mixing bowls from PA... There is another (not nearly as fun) set so I didn't leave the house there without anything to bake with... but I think they will get much more love in my kitchen then sitting there unused. Poor mixing bowls. How cute are these!!! It's a set of 4, 2 are this color 2 are white with a yellow pattern. I love them!!!

yes yes I know I was born in the wrong decade :)

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The BEST chocolate cupcakes EVER

I've found cupcake heaven... it's true. Please ignore any other cupcake recipe I've blogged about because these literally TAKE THE CAKE!! They are so amazingly moist ewey gooey delicious... I can't stop eating them... and... no joke... they are under 80 calories a piece... I think I've gone insane, this recipe is heaven. I am so happy this months cupcake hero is cocoa because it made me go back to try to figure out what was wrong with my chocolate cupcakes. And let me tell you, I don't think I'll ever be making another chocolate cupcake recipe ever again because seriously these are THAT AMAZING!!!

Ok back to the cupcakes. I found a recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes in Health magazine and used that as a base with a few added tweaks (yeah they aren't vegan anymore... wooops!) Due to budgetary restraints I decided to go with the Hershey's 100% Cocoa Special Dark I already had instead of buying the very expensive recommended cocoa... sorry Laurie :( which I'm sure if you substituted would be great... but seriously the Hershey's dark cocoa is delicious. Ok here it goes and enjoy!! Oh and everyone have a fantastic memorial day! Make some of these to celebrate! :)

seriously the best chocolate cupcakes I've EVER eaten

Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12)
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup splenda blend for baking
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Hershey's 100% Cocoa Special Dark
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (i used semi-sweet chips)
1 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp powdered sugar to dust cupcake tops

Preheat over to 350 F
Mix apple sauce, splenda, vanilla, beat in egg
In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon.
Add flour mixture to wet mixture a little at a time, stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 12 silicon muffin cups (or lightly greased cupcake tins)
Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are firm to touch.
Dust with cocoa/powdered sugar mixture.

Chow! Then have someone hide them so you don't eat them all :)

look how moist!!! and yes that is my 1950's style housewife apron (thanks mom!)... love it!

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Super easy BBQ chicken sandwich

Sorry for the lack of pictures... but I felt like writing about this anyway since I made it last night. So for all of my friends who say they don't like to cook and complain about what they eat... this is so easy yes even YOU can do it! :D First go to the store and buy a club pack of skinless chicken breasts. Individually pack them in freezer zip lock bags and chuck them in the freezer for later use. Keep 1 or 2 breasts out for cooking now.

Super easy BBQ chicken sandwich
1-2 skinless chicken breasts
whole wheat bread
lettuce
tomato
2-4 Tbs masterpiece original BBQ sauce (or BBQ sauce of your choice)

Plug in a George Forman grill and let it heat up. Once it's hot lightly spry both sides of the chicken breasts (or the grill) with olive oil and toss on the grill, close the lid and let cook 7 minutes. Remove and tear chicken apart into bite size pieces. Cover with 2-4 Tbs BBQ sauce and toss to coat. Spoon onto bread and top with lettuce and tomato. Quick and easy and you are eating dinner within 20 minutes of turning the grill on!

No turning the oven on to heat up the house, perfect if you don't have access to a real outdoor grill (darn apartment living) and the chicken comes out moist and not at all dried out.

yum

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Tuna fish sandwich

Tuna fish is a wonderful thing, packed full of protein and low in calories. AND it's super quick to make up. I make this for John at least once every weekend. He calls it a BLT (I know, no mention of tuna yet I know exactly what he means when he asks for one). Actually getting him to ask for one is the hard part. He's a sweetie and hates asking me to cook for him so I'm always asking what I can make him and he says I don't have to... I then start listing... how about I make you an egg scramble... pasta? a BLT? At this point his eyes perk up so I know that is the one he feels like. hehehe. He still can't seem to believe that I love cooking for him and it's no trouble.

BLT (tuna melt)
1 can tuna
2-3 pepperoncini rings cut up
2 Tbs hummus (garlic flavor is what we use)
couple splashes red hot (chili sauce)
black pepper to taste

1 flat out low carb wrap (or a whole wheat wrap)
1/4 cup grated cheese (we use kraft fat free varieties)
2-3 slices Jennie-o lean turkey bacon
lettuce
tomato

Mix tuna through black pepper. Cook turkey bacon and set aside, after removing bacon, place a wrap in the pan over medium heat. Sprinkle cheese on top. Once melted remove from pan and pile on bacon, tuna mixture, lettuce and tomato.

Chow!

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Blueberry drop cookies

It's cookie carnival time! Kate over at The Clean Plate Club has started a fun cookie making "get together" This month we are making blueberry drop cookies! As you know I can never leave a recipe well enough alone and need to mess with it to make it healthier... :D I must say these came out DELICIOUS!!!!!

For those of you who want the full fat version (which other bloggers are saying are delicious) Here is the original recipe. My version will be right below it for you health conscious people... and seriously the healthy version is sooo good so scroll down!

Original recipe
Ingredients:
* One-half cup shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* One-fourth cup milk
* One-half teaspoon almond extract
* One and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* One-half teaspoon salt
* 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over

Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.

2. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen.

OK now for my version :) There is no added fat, I used whole wheat flour, and made the cookies larger so they are almost like a cross between a muffin top and a cookie, super soft and delicious (the lemon zest is fantastic)! And let me just say John (Mr. if it doesn't have chocolate it's not worth eating) LOVED these! :D


stephchows version of blueberry drop cookies
Ingredients:
* 2 4oz jars blueberry apple baby food (I used beechnut brand baby food)
* 1/2 cup splenda blend for baking
* 2 eggs
* One-fourth cup skim milk
* One-half teaspoon almond extract
* One and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 cups whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* dash salt
* 1 1/2 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over (frozen works too if out of season)

Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix baby food and splenda, beat in eggs one at a time, then add in milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to wet mixture, stirring until incorporated. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by tablespoonfulls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 2 dozen.
Enjoy!!!

exploding from the oven

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Creamy Oatmeal

My coworkers make fun of me for many things, but one thing they love to make fun of me for is how I'm constantly eating. I'm a six "small" (ok they aren't' all really small...) meals a day kinda gal. I've been known to stop mid workout for a little snack to get my blood sugar back up. Don't get me wrong I eat plenty I'm not anorexic or anything like that (just ask anyone who has seen me eat hehe). But as the title of this page says... I like to chow! This is another John recipe that I thought he was a weirdo for but is now a staple in my diet :) I eat this everyday around 4 or 4:30 about an hour before I head to the gym. It keeps me fueled through my workout so I can last until dinner time around 7 or 730. It's super simple and healthy.

Creamy Oatmeal
1/2 cup dry oats
1 cup water
8 oz container fat free yogurt (i like wegmans fruit on the bottom fat free cherry vanilla YUM)

Place oats and water in a bowl, microwave for 2 minutes.
Remove and stir yogurt into cooked oats.
Enjoy!

A quick and easy 200 calorie snack filled with 4 grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein.

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Amano Chocolate

So my good friend Neva made the comment about how I keep getting chocolate to write about... well Neva I've got some more!!! This time coming from Amano through the wonderful Blake Makes food blog!

Amano was kind enough to ship a whole bunch of Blake Makes fans 3 yes I said THREE bars of their artisan dark chocolate. The three types are all 70% cocoa, here are their descriptions according to them:

Cuyagua Premium Dark Chocolate - Rich chocolate flavor with flavor notes of spice and melon.

Ocumare Grand Cru Dark Chocolate - Rich chocolate flavor with flavor notes of red fruit.

Madagascar Premium Dark Chocolate - Light chocolate flavor with intense flavor notes of citrus and raspberry.

My roomie and I sat down last night for a tasting. We didn't read any of the descriptions before hand and went totally on what we tasted/experienced.

First up Cuyagua:
stephchows: smoky with a buttery texture
steph the roomie: not bitter, smooth, strong aftertaste

Secondly Ocumare:
stephchows: very bold, a little bitter, very intense
steph the roomie: tastes like those little liquor filled chocolate bottles

Last but not least (it was out favorite!!) Madagascar
stephchows: mild, sweet, fruity
steph the roomie: definitely fruity, tastes like cherry

Madagascar was the winner for the two of us... and no it has nothing to do with that movie with talking animals, although it made me think of my sister and her love of talking cartoon animal movies :)

I had promised Blake I would write a short poem for each type of chocolate... I have yet to do so... perhaps another tasting tonight to inspire some poetry... more on that later!

And for those of you in the Rochester area, it's lilac festival time! Here is a pic from my visit there yesterday :)

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Locks for love

Ok so two exciting things today! First is my Amano chocolate came in the mail!!! YUM!!! I will write more about it tomorrow, but let me say this, they sent me 3 different bars to try and they are most definitely artisans of what they do. Can't wait to write about it tomorrow!! But here is a picture to get you drooling...


Now onto the second big news. After much pondering I decided to donate my hair to locks for love...

"Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis."

My hair was getting pretty long as you can see... and the minimum to donate is 10 inches.


My hair has been long for basically my whole life so this was a pretty big step to take... In the end though some kid is going to have some cute hair and I think I like my new short cut. Although I can't really put it up in a ponytail anymore.. ahhhh! So what do you think??

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Cake-Sicle Pan

Random for the day... Ok how seriously cute is this?? You can make popsicles out of cake... now THAT is fantastic.

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Happy Mothers Day (how to make hard boiled eggs)

I was lucky to grow up in a house where one/both/all of Mom / Dad / Nana cooked everyday. Being a vacuum cleaner when it comes to eating (even from a young age) I was probably always underfoot in the kitchen and I'm assuming it was easier to teach me to cook, so I could help them, instead of them constantly falling over me :) It made learning very easy.
After my first year of college followed by two years of being an RA (resident adviser) I finally moved out of the dorms and into an apartment with a real kitchen! Mom/Dad/Nana packed me away with lots of recipes yet even with all of this instruction built into me my whole life there was always one recipe I could never remember or find when I needed. That recipe was hard boiled eggs... I know you're thinking easy easy... yet I could NEVER remember. For years my mom would get the call... Hi mom, umm how do I hard boil eggs again?? I must have done this enough times that Mom declared she was going to tattoo it onto me so I'd always have it :D Thankfully this threat never materialized! So for mothers day... Mom I'm making hard boiled eggs and not asking you for the recipe :) .... I must say I'm still a bit scared you will carry out the tattoo threat! hehehehe

How to hard boil eggs so you can make egg salad sandwiches. yum.


Egg Salad Sandwich (makes 2)
6 large eggs (you will use 2 full egg and 4 of the whites)
4 slices whole wheat bread or 2 whole wheat rolls
1 tomato
2-4 large romaine or red lettuce leaves
2 Tbs miracle whip
1/4 tsp paprika or more to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper

Place eggs in a medium pot and fill with cool water until eggs are covered with an inch of water. Place the uncovered pot on the stove set to high heat, when water starts boiling set timer for 10 minutes. When timer goes off, remove from heat and place eggs in cold water, when cool enough to touch, break small end of the egg against the side of the pot and place back in water. Keep replacing water with more cold water until eggs are totally cool. Once cooled they should be easy to peel.

Chop up 2 whole eggs plus 4 egg whites, add miracle whip, paprika, pepper and stir. Scoop onto bread and top with tomato slices, lettuce, and whatever else you feel like.

Enjoy!!

Mom how proud are you of me right now!! I know how to make hard boiled eggs!! WOOHOOO!!

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Tofu lo mein

I love Chinese food, but man some places use soo much oil it's literally pooling in the container.. bleh! Also my go to pick up on the way home from the gym place Mings II is closed!! So sad :( Anyway, this is a great lo mein swap and to make it even healthier last night I made it with soba noodles instead of lo mein noodles. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and are super healthy/tasty and pick up the flavor of the sauce nicely. Soba noodles also cook in 4 minutes so this is a super quick and easy meal! Also I'm always saying to use olive oil spray. I bought on of these things and it rocks. You add your favorite olive oil, pump it and spray away! super easy and you know what you are getting, no scary additives! :) Ok onto the recipe!


Tofu lo mein (makes 2 servings... maybe 3 for normal people but I eat a lot)
1 bundle lo mein noodles or soba noodles (not all come in pre-serving bundles... so 2 servings from a package)
1 Tbs fish sauce
2 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes
olive oil spray
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and squeezed
1/2 package fresh sliced baby bella mushrooms (or a can of oyster mushrooms)
1/2 onion
1 to 2 cups brocolli/carrot frozen mixture

In a bowl mix together fish sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, and red pepper flakes, set aside.
Drain tofu and wrap in paper towels, place on a plate with another weighted plate on top to squeeze out excess water. Cut into bit size cubes.
Heat wok on high and spray with olive oil, add garlic and sauté 30 seconds, add tofu and let brown, then flip to brown other sides.
In the mean time, bring water to boil and cook soba noodles, drain and set aside.
Add chopped onions and sliced mushrooms to tofu mixture, continue to stir.
Microwave broccoli carrot mixture 1-2 minutes then add to tofu mixture, continue to stir.
Once veggies are cooked through, add drained soba noodles and sauce. Stir and let simmer another minute, then serve it up!

PS the sauce for this came from the lovely lady over at Ella says opa!

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Master Bakers April - Vanilla

So I've been having fun visiting other food bloggers and going along with different events. It's just an excuse to bake more!! love it :) Anyway I've found a fun one called Master Bakers. Go over and check it out! Aprils challenge was Vanilla!! Since coming home from the cute wedding I mentioned a few posts ago... I wanted to make some of the amazing walnuts from that salad I had. Lucky for me the hotel actually gave out the recipe for them!!!! NO WAY!!! Way to go Aurora Inn! So as my entry for the Master Baker April Challenge Vanilla spiced walnuts recipe unchanged from the Aurora Inn!


Vanilla spiced walnuts
1 lb. walnut halves
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs veg oil
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1. Mix sugar, oil and vanilla in a large bowl.
2. Blanch walnuts for 1 minute in bioling water and drain in a colander.
3. While still hot, toss with vanilla and sugar mixture, let set 10 minutes.
4. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes, on a parchment lined or oil sprayed pan.
5. Remove from oven and toss with spice mix immediately, cool.


My original plan was to use these in another baked good recipe but they taste so good on their own I didn't want to cover up the taste by adding it into something.. mmmmm I could eat these all day.

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spicy lentils over brown rice

So John is known around the house as the concoction king... he'll put the most obscure things together and they come out tasting fantastic! I may not always want to admit it as I stand next to him at the stove sniffing and looking at him like he's crazy... but in the end what he makes is normally pretty darn tasty. Exhibit A below.


Spicy Lentils over brown rice
olive oil spray
1/2 Tbs chopped garlic
1 can lentils packed in water
1 bag 10 minute brown rice in a bag
1/4 cup medium to spicy chunky salsa
splash of fat free Italian dressing
couple glugs of red hot
parmesan cheese

Cook brown rice according to package. (10 min trip in a hot water bath)
Heat a wok on high then add olive oil spray and garlic, sauté until lightly brown, add can of drained lentils and stir around. Add salsa, Italian dressing, and red hot. Stir until heated through.
Serve over brown rice and sprinkle with some parmesan cheese.

Enjoy! Although I was skeptical at first of the concoction it was wicked tasty!

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Happy good for you onion rings

I haven't had onion rings in a long time, the last time was probably at Rutt's-Hut which if you are even in northern NJ and don't have a pre-existing heart or cholesterol problem, you should totally go! They were even featured on a PBS show about the best hot dogs in America... anyway they have delicious totally BAD FOR YOU onion rings and hotdogs.

yeah that is a total heart attack on a plate.... but it's a tasty heart attack....

I was craving some onion rings but wasn't craving the bad after effects of eating all that grease... So I went to the kitchen to whip up some tasty good for you onion rings. AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!! I was so happy with how they came out, I will totally be making these again!

mmm doesn't require a double bi-pass

Happy good for you onion rings
1 large vidallia onion
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/8 to 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
oregano, black pepper, cyan pepper to taste (about 1/4 tsp each for me)

You may need to make more bread mix depending on how big of an onion it is and how much coating you like.

Preheat oven to 350.
Slice onion into rings and let soak in skim milk while mixing dry ingredients.
In a large bowl mix together bread crumbs, flour, and spices.
Using a fork take rings out of milk and toss in crumb mixture (a few at a time not all at once), shake off excess and lay on an olive oil sprayed cookie sheet. Do not place rings too close together or they will come out soggy.
Before placing in the oven lightly spray with olive oil.
Bake for 10 minutes, remove and flip rings, spray again with olive oil then place back in the oven for 10 more minutes or until nice and brown.

Note: for a spicier version add some franks red hot to the skim milk for some added kick! Also the thinner you slice the rings the crispier they will be (you may need to reduce cook time depending on your oven)

PS. I'd just like to point out to Neva that these are Neva friendly no nuts or seafood!!!!! Hooray!!!

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