Going bananas

I go through a ton of bananas in a week. I eat one in a green monster every morning, and John brings one to work most days. In reality it's pretty easy math to figure out how many we need in the week... but somehow we end up eating more or less, and when it's less... you end up with brown overripe bananas. And there is only so much banana bread one feels like eating. So instead of bread this past week, I made cookies. Delicious amazingly soft and chewy hot out of the oven cookies.

Here's the bad part, they were only ehhh once they cooled off. SAD. I'd make them again, but plan on less... or having people over to gobble them up. Because out of the oven they tasty buttery and gooey and decadent. The next day, they taste... kinda bland, and ehh texture. But based on how tasty they were hot I had to share this recipe and not just scrap it.

Do you have recipes where things taste great day 1, but not so great day 2?

Banana chocolate chip cookies
recipe by steph chows
dry
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (old fashioned)
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs flax

wet
1 large ripe banana (mashed)
1/3 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips

In a small bowl mix together dry ingredients. In a medium bowl beat together wet ingredients. Add dry and gentle stir, add in chocolate chips and stir until everything is incorporated. Drop heaping tablespoons on a silicon mat lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Eat warm with a tall glass of milk.

Use dark chocolate chips and serve with a non dairy milk to make these vegan.



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Coconut Muffins

You know me and healthy muffins? I just can't help myself!!! These are a new favorite and they came about by mistake. There were suppose to have blueberries in them... but guess what? I forgot. YUP. I'm awesome. They came out so tasty though I wanted to tell you about them!

I've actually just been asked to join a new group of awesome food blogger over at Food Fanatic and you can find the recipe for these Blueberry Coconut Muffins right over there. I'm super excited to join their team as their "healthy cooking fanatic!" how awesome is that??




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Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

I have a tendency to randomly bake people cookies. It's a very odd habit, but I don't hear anyone complaining so I'll just keep right on doing it :) This batch was for a friend who always helps us out around the house, he hasn't had to come to our rescue lately but I figured I'd keep him buttered up in case something decided to go wrong with the house out of nowhere.


I found this recipe over at What would Cathy Eat, she has so many good recipes and if you haven't been over yet go check her out. I made a few alterations to her recipe, nothing major but good to know things like using regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour worked out without any ill effects! Hooray!!










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Fat Free Pumpkin Muffins

It's fall, I love fall. John and I keep taking random hikes and drives into the country. I mean how could you stay inside when it looks like this out?


Secondly how could you stay inside when this furface is along for the ride?

Love it.

Fall always brings the need to involve pumpkin into things, who am I kidding, I bake with it all year long. But there is an even stronger pull when the leaves start to fall. So I went back and revisited my old pumpkin muffin recipe, the old one was always hearty and maybe a bit too heavy. This time I have a lighter airier version for you. And with an entire 15oz can of pumpkin to boot.

Bring. It. On.


Pumpkin Muffin
recipe by steph chows
makes 12 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 15oz can canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup splenda (or white sugar)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup skim milk


In a medium bowl mix together flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin sugars and eggs.
Gradually add flour mixture to wet, alternating with 1/2 cup skim milk.
Pour into greased muffin tins and bake in a preheated oven a 350 for 23 minutes or until tester comes out clean.


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Perfect Pancakes

I finally found it. The holy grail of pancake recipes. I've made a lot of tasty ones, but they tend to end up flat... these however are thick, hearty, stick to your ribs good. Filled with whole grains and a little sweetness, these things have become a Sunday staple in our house. No need to try any more recipes because this one is gold!! My photo however is not so gold.. whoops...

Oat and honey pancakes
recipe from The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook (I know I've been cooking like made from it)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 1 tsp)
2 Tbs honey (I used agave nectar... it's easier to squeeze out and measure, i'm lazy!)
1 Tbs sugar (I used splenda)
2 cups low fat milk (I used fat free)
2 large eggs
2 Tbs veg. oil

Place flours, wheat germ, oats, baking powder, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a food process, go till combined. Whisk together honey, sugar, milk, eggs, oil in a large bowl. Stir in flour until well combined. Let stand 5 minutes. Cook um up and dig in!

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Waffles and a winner

I've told you before I'm a breakfast for dinner kinda girl, but this past Sunday I felt the need to make waffles in the morning! I know I'm just so freakin exciting you don't know what to do with yourself. Ironically when I was a kid it was the opposite, I lived for the weekends because that meant if I let my dad sleep past the crack of dawn he'd make me whatever I wanted (if I woke him up before dawn I only got cereal... smart parental planning)! Crepes, waffles, pancakes, french toast, he was like a short order cook whipping up things for me, my mom, sister, and nana. Even though I'm a cereal in the morning kinda girl now I still look forward to waking up to my dad cooking breakfast when we go to visit them :) SIDE NOTE: this makes it sound like my mom never cooked, not at all the case, so no commenting in defense mom ;) love both of your cooking! :)

As for the Lipton giveaway the winner is.... Sarah B who likes her tea: "I'm a big fan of Chai tea. But right now I'm sipping on a peppermint tea with one sugar!" I'll send you an email in a bit to get your address! Thanks everyone for commenting!

What's your favorite breakfast treat?? What's your favorite if you're not the one cooking? Were you lucky enough to have great cooks for parents?


Whole-Grain Waffles
recipe from The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbs wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs pure maple syrup
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla

In separate bowls whisk together dry, and wet, then mix together until just combined (don't over mix) Coat a hot waffle iron with cooking spray and cook according to the irons directions. Stack high and drizzle on some pure maple syrup!

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Pretzel Problems Solved

My good friend Neva came to me with a very serious problem the other week. She had made homemade pretzels, but couldn't find anything good enough to dip them in! She she wrote me with a "Challenge!" and this video to explain exactly how she was saying it in her head. Hilarious!


So my darling Neva, I bring to you my soft pretzel recipe and a delicious garlic (since I KNOW you love it) mustard sauce. Delicious!



Did you all watch the Cosby show growing up? Had you seen this episode, I had not, but loved watching it.
What's your favorite thing to dip soft pretzels in??

Garlicky Dijon Mayo
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons mayo (or sub greek yogurt, it was delicious!)
1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

Combine vinegar and garlic in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise, mustard, and parsley. Set aside.

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels
INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1/2 cup bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbs white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil

3 tbsp baking soda
1 cup hot water (as hot as your tap can get)
Sea salt or whatever other toppings you want

DIRECTIONS:
Dissolve yeast into water with a pinch of sugar, let stand 10 minutes, until the mixture is creamy colored. Mix the yeast mixture with flour, sugar, salt and canola oil, and knead until combined (a few minutes, not even 5). Let the dough rise in a greased bowl until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (We keep our place kinda cold (65) so I normally turn the oven on for a minute then turn it off and stick the bread in there to rise... otherwise it would take foreeeeeeeever to rise)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. When the dough has risen, pinch off a handful and roll it out into a long strand. Set aside. Repeat with the rest of the dough, about 6 times. Once all the strands are rolled out, pick up the first one and stretch it out again (the gluten will have relaxed and it should stretch further now). Twist it into a pretzel shape and place it on a baking sheet lined with silipat or cooking spray. Repeat with the rest of the strands.

Dissolve baking soda into hot water and stir until dissolved. Quickly dip each rolled pretzel into the mixture and place it back on the baking sheet. Sprinkle all the pretzels with sea salt, to your preference. Bake for about 8 minutes, until pretzels have browned. (Mine took 8 minutes then I dropped the temperature to 350 for an additional 4-5 minutes)

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Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I literally make a batch of these every week as snacks for John, he can't get enough of them. I've shown you the recipe before, but I keep tweeking it by adding/subtracting things, lately I've been adding oats. For some reason when the temps start dropping I love eating oatmeal and basically adding oats into all types of things. Hence this alteration :)

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip cookies
adapted from Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar

1/3 cup splenda (feel free to use white sugar here)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup apple butter
1/2 cup fat free milk (use almond milk to make these vegan)
2 Tbs corn starch
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old fashion oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Mix sugars and oil for a minute, then add in milk and corn starch, beat until all incorporated. Add half the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and mix well. Add in remaining dry and then fold in chocolate chips.

Drop rounded tablespoonfulls of dough onto parchment paper or a silicon baking mat, press down slightly with your fingers. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.



What do you find yourself doing once the temps start to drop? I definitely start craving homemade soups and breads.

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Pumpkin Pancakes

More pumpkin! Well think about it, I only used 1 cup in the muffins, so I still had a cup left from the can... enter in pumpkin pancakes for dinner!! I'm all over breakfast for dinner, you should be too, easy, fast, delicious, what's not to love?!


Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
dash salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 C. skim milk
1 C. canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 T. oil (I used canola)
1 t. vanilla
2 T. agave

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour through cinnamon). In a separate bowl, whisk together milk through agave.

2. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until combined but don't over mix.

3. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into a hot greased pan and let cook until edges start to firm and bubbles start to show up, flip and continue cooking until done.

4. Serve with REAL maple syrup and enjoy!

Do you do breakfast for dinner? What do you love to make? My other favorites are crepes, and taylor ham and eggs! YUM!

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Honey Oat Bread

Dear Bread,

I'm still madly in love with you. Why do we go so long without seeing each other... I want to see you everyday and run through fields of daisies together...
Love steph chows

In all truth, if I let myself, I'd probably bake a loaf of bread 3 times a week... and I'd probably weigh a good 20 lbs more than I do right now. Who we kidding, it would be more like 5 times a week and 50 lbs. It's a good thing I have at least a tiny bit of self restraint... Not once the bread is made though, all bets are off and I'm eating half the loaf... but self restraint in allowing myself to bake said bread. As my dad always said "you've got to pick and choose your battles" I think he said this after discovering I had unstapled and torn up the carpeting in my bedroom... and I was surprised I wasn't getting yelled at for said spur of the moment redecorating session. Oh come on you know you did something similar to your parents.. spill it :)

Back to the love of my life, bread, I mean John... Hi honey! This Honey Oat Bread was hanging out over at the Baking Barrister, and if she said it was tasty, I knew it had to be, that girl knows what she's talking about. Her loaf is much prettier than mine.. and she remembered to do the egg wash with oats on top for added flair... I forgot... cause I'm awesome like that.


The other ironic thing is she warned she used too large of a loaf pan, so I haphazardly grabbed the smaller of my two loaf pans and figured i was good to go... nope, it was still too big. Score another one for me being awesome.

So if you actually follow the directions this will look like sandwich bread. The only change I made was using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour. Otherwise I stuck to the recipe.

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Super Fast Whole Wheat Rolls & enLiven yogurt

I didn't believe this recipe... 100% whole wheat yeast rolls, without any rise time... seriously?? These things are going to taste like hockey pucks...

Luckily for me (and John) these rolls did NOT taste like rocks! They have a very mild flavor that is for sure, not the same yeasty goodness of a slow rise roll. But I must admit... for the time required to make them, this recipe is going to stick around for sure.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when I realized I forgot to pick up rolls for the workweek. I was lazy... and there wasn't enough time for a couple hours of rise time... so a quick search found this recipe for quick yeasted whole wheat rolls. I figured... if nothing else John would just have to buy lunch Monday :D lucky for us both, he got tasty rolls instead.

I wont lie, the next day they aren't as great, but a trip in the toaster fixes that problem right up!

Super Quick whole wheat buns
recipe from Food.com

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour


Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

1 Combine water, yeast, oil and sugar or honey; let rest for 15 minutes.
2 Add salt, egg, and flour to yeast mixture and mix well.
3 Roll out 3/4 inch thick and cut into 10-12 rounds.
4 Place rolls on cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
5 Bake at 400-425 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Be careful not to overbake or they will be too dry. Every oven is different.

(picture from enliven.com)

I also wanted to tell you guys about a new yogurt I got to try. Full disclosure: the company sent me a box of 4 yogurts to try and blog about. It's called enLiven, here's a little about it "Today, a new low-cost, all-natural yogurt branded as enLiven launches exclusively in Walmart stores. The low-fat yogurt from Ganeden, the nation’s leading distributor of over-the-counter probiotic products, is available in four delicious flavors and features GanedenBC30 probiotics."

I love yogurt as a snack and eat it most days. I'm always up for a new flavor or brand to try. The texture was spot on, not too thin, not too thick, and you could tell they used real strawberries (no unnatural red dyes here) actually I was interested to see they use beet juice to help keep the strawberries red! That's pretty fun if you ask me. I don't normally find myself in Walmart, but if I was I'd grab a box of these and know it was going to taste great :)

Vegan Whole Wheat "Fig Newtons"

So I've told you guys this before, but I'm a library ho, it's true. I don't buy any books I just hit up the library. This is especially true with cookbooks since so many of them have 1 or 2 recipes I'll actually make while the rest of the recipes are just taking up valuable real estate on my book shelf. Sometimes though I find a book so chocked full of recipes I'd ACTUALLY have to go buy it. Enter in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I wasn't asked to pimp out this book, I just happened to find it at the library, and fall in love.

I brought these into work and everyone who had some thought they were better than the store bought variety. I made two changes (like you didn't see that coming) I only made half the filling, and truthfully it was plenty enough filling if you ask me. If you want a super thick gewwy filling make the full batch. The second change was I used 1/2 cup apple sauce instead of the 1/2 cup oil. Truthfully I think it worked out fine for these and wasn't missed one little bit. Oh wait... one more thing, she rolls out the dough... I just divided it in half and used my fingers to press it into the pan ... sure it would have been flatter and prettier if I rolled it out between wax paper like she said... but I'm lazy, and not using the oil makes things harder to roll out... true!

Whole Wheat Fig Bars

recipe from Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar
for full on her direction... go get the book :D these are my short hand directions

Filling (this is the full version I only made half)
1 lb dried figs, hard stems removed and diced into small pieces
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
2 tsp finely grated citrus zest

Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce to simmer and cook 8-10 minutes stirring on occasion.

Dough
Mix together:
2 Tbs ground flax seeds
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup canola oil (I used unsweetened apple sauce)
3/4 cup sucanat or other natural dry sweetener
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Then sift in:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I used less)

Divide into two balls and roll out between wax paper, or just smoosh it into a tin foil lined 8x8 pan like I did. Top with fig mixture then second layer of dough. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes.

PS. I just started using a new commenting system, your email will not be displayed and I'm not collecting / storing anything or going to spam you or anything like that, it just makes it easier to actually be able to answer people's questions! I've had so many times when people ask me things but I couldn't email them back since blogger doesn't let you see emails. :)

Pi Day!

Ok any other nerds out there?? It's 3.14 does that mean anything to you? How about 3.1415926... it's pi!!! Come on I told you I was a nerd. In celebration of mathematical pi day, I made a pie. :D

Cherry Pie to be exact, and it's delicious!! I got the crust from a blog I recently found and fell in love with What would Cathy Eat. You can find the recipe here, and check her out! So many good recipes!!

As for the pie, I've made it here before, and still love it!

Cherry Pie Filling (using canned cherries packed in water)
6 Tbs brown sugar (more or less to taste, if you like a sweet pie you'll want to add more)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cans Oregon Red Tart Pie Cherries, drained, reserve juice from one can
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional but oh so tasty!)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Gently stir in cherries and almond extract. Remove from heat. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Bake 45 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.

PS. If you didn't catch it this weekend, check out my Newman's Own Video debut!

Bagels

Uhoh people, she's going to talk about bagels again... seriously woman enough with the bagels already....

Huh, what? Oh hi! Want to know something exciting?? We're talking about bagels today! Remember how I figured out the secret here? I decided to use that secret but with a new recipe, one that involved whole wheat! I've fallen in love.

The recipe comes from Natuarally Ella and you can find it on her blog here. I ended up needing about 1/4-1/2 cup more flour than she said. The other change is I boiled my bagels with a helping of barley malt syrup! These were delicious, seriously go make some!! They aren't scary hard to make I promise!

ChocoBosto Cream Pie

Don't forget to enter the Shabby Apple Giveaway!


We all know John is a bit finicky with what he eats (health-nut), so when the man lets me know he likes something (bad for him) I do my best to remake it into something he will actually eat (not so bad for him). I've had this discussion with you before... but the man loves boston cream pie, personally I can't understand it, that creamy white filling creeps me out something fierce!

Today is actually the little health nuts birthday! Happy Birthday John!! I didn't make this for today but don't you worry he got something even better (you'll have to wait to see it).

Choco-Bosto Cream Pie
recipe by ::steph chows:: with some help marked below

Cake:

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup white sugar (I used splenda)
2 Tbs brown sugar
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

Preheat over to 350 F
Mix apple sauce, sugar (and/or) 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. Spoon batter into greased 8" spring form pan
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Set aside and let cool completely.

Filling:

Direct from CookingLight

Icing (I'm not sure where I wrote this down from... but I'd probably use something different next time, this one was ok though)

1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbs canola oil
1 cup powdered sugar

Place chips and oil in a heavy bottom pan, stir and cook over medium heat until melted, remove from heat and stir in sugar.

Assembly/Toppings

With a sharp long knife cut your cake in half (this is the hard part) place on a nice plate and then slather on all the filling, top with other cake half and then drizzle chocolate frosting over top. Toss on some toasted hazelnuts for some flair... or anything else you have laying around.. sprinkles... bacon.. you know, whatever you've got :)

Pumpkin Loaf

While you are all sitting around drooling over this, I'm off in the woods without phone/internet/tv access. Why you might ask?? To meet up with my mom/dad/sister/BIL(brother-in-law)& nephew! They all live down by DC so we are meeting up half way for a long weekend! There will be baking for sure, so stay tuned to see what we all come up with.

Now, lets bring on the pumpkin!!! I must say I love anything involving pumpkin, and to me, it doesn't matter what time of the year it is, I'm always craving pumpkin. I made this loaf to bring with us to a friends house for the superbowl. Said friend isn't into using splenda so I made sure to leave it out of this recipe. Instead I used organic sucanat compliments of Wholesome Sweeteners.


Pumpkin Bread
recipe by steph chows

In a medium bowl whisk together dry (then set aside):
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream together:
3 tbs butter (softened)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup sucanat

Then beat in:
2 eggs (one at a time)
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt (look at the label, buy a brand with the least amount of sugar in it)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Gently mix dry into wet and pour into a greased 8.5 x 4 loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until a tester comes out clean.




PS. I have another great giveaway set up for this Friday, so check back, you're going to want to enter!