Mini Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins: SHV

I had three bananas aboot to take a turn for the worse and since my wee hooligans are taking snacks to school / preschool these days, I thought I would make something small enough for them to pack. Also, since I'm a buzz kill, I thought I would make them as healthily as possible. Yay!

You will need:

Gottahaveit Ciabatta

This is an overnight bread dough, similar in that way to sourdough, but doesn't take quite as long. It is amazing, so few ingredients and tools, comes out gorgeous every time. Since I am a whole grain girl, I will be doing original recipe and my whole wheat grain version.

Turkey Parmesan Meatballs with Rose Sauce: SHV

It's Wednesday! Which means it's odd food night. I wanted to do another pasta with a cream sauce, mostly so I could use another finishing salt, but was also obsessed with the ground turkey I picked up the other day. Throw in some parmesan cheese and blammo! Supper! Using ground turkey and whole wheat pasta means I get to call this a Somewhat Healthier Version, yay!

 

You will need:

2 tsp olive oil (NOT ever EVOO)
360g ground turkey ( I would suggest 1/2 lb, but that's what I used)
1 lg slice stale whole grain, whole wheat bread
1/3 c 1% milk
1 tsp thyme, divided
Salt, pepper, basil
4 cloves roasted garlic (you know, if you have some kicking around), optional
1/2 oz parmesan cheese - about 14 g if that helps. I know, not really.
1/2 red onion
1/2 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
1/2 c wine
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 c chicken stock
1 c homogenized milk
170 g whole wheat spaghettini (about half a small box)

Not pictured: stock. Dang it

Prep! Breaking with my usual prep-absolutely-everything-in-advance style, I like to get the meatballs started right away, as they take a little while and afford all kind of time to get everything else prepped.

First, soak your stale bread in the 1/3 c of 1% or skim milk. Throw the turkey, the roasted garlic if using, 1/2 of the parmesan cheese (so 1/4 ounce. I know), 1/2 of the thyme, salt, pepper an some basil into the bowl of a stand mixer.

When all of the milk is absorbed into the bread, add it to the mixer bowl and blend with the paddle for 2 minutes. This style of making meatballs with milk-soaked bread is called using a panade, and I usually prefer it to using an egg and crackers as binding agents. Not always! But today.

After two minutes, start rolling the mixture into teaspoon-sized balls, basically bite-sized. Ish. It's your mouth, judge yourself accordingly. When you are about half done, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large saucepan (NOT non-stick. sticky) and drop them into the hot pan in a single layer. No crowding! Crowding means steaming and stewing and we just want luscious browning. On all sides, please!

While the meatballs are doing their thing, go ahead and finish your prep. Chop your onion and red pepper into a large dice, mince your garlic.

Heat the second teaspoon of oil, brown the second batch of meatballs; set all aside somewhere relatively warm. Add in the onions and red peppers. Ignore the mushrooms, I only had two so they don't really count. I bet a couple of cups worth would have been magic, though.

Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until almost softened. Add in the 4 cloves of minced garlic, cook for just one more minute. Just one! I mean it! Deglaze with the 1/2 of wine, stirring to scrape up delicious brown bits on the bottom

When the wine is just about gone, stir in the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, some salt, pepper, the rest of the thyme and some basil.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the paste turns dark and starts to stick. Add in the cup of chicken stock. This is a good time to start boiling water for your pasta! I wanted to use angel-hair, but I couldn't find any whole wheat stuff, so I went with the finest whole wheat noodle I could find: spaghettini.

Scrape! Cook until reduced by half. Start adding in milk, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring all the while.

When all the milk is incorporated, let reduce until you can make a full trail across the middle with your spoon, about 7-10 minutes.

Add your meatballs back in, cover and warm through, about 5 minutes.

Drain your pasta! Plate and cover the pasta with the sauce. Finish with a little of the rest of the parmesan cheese and a wee dram of finishing salt. I am using Wild Porcini Sea Salt tonight, but any kind would work, I am sure.

 

Including the pasta, this works out to 4 servings at 430 calories each, which is on the high side, but still puts us within the recommended 400 - 500 per meal. Add a small salad! Yay us!

 

Enjoy!

J's Custom Carrot Cake

I know I have touched on this a couple of times, but I really do have the best neighbour ever. And she has birthdays and everything. This year I figured I would make her something very specific to her, as she has a couple of food sensitivities. Also, food opinions, which I think is very important, in that she digs whole grains and natural as much as possible. The cake turned out to be completely rich and luscious! Here's what I came up with; I think next time I will switch out some butter for applesauce and do the calorie count. Happy birthday, J!

Saturday: Turkey Soup with Mom's Tea Biscuits

I make turkey soup almost weekly, mostly because it is the best way I know of to get veggies into my 4-year-old. He'll eat ANYthing in soup, and so he does. These are my mom's tea biscuits - it's still Fambly Week! They've been updated by her into a healthy version ( I just added salt - you need it Mom, I'm telling you!), enjoy!

You will need:

For the stock:
1 bunch of bones - I am using half of the bones of a 25-lb turkey and some raw chicken bones
Leftover onion tops, celery tops, carrot peels, whatever you have in the freezer
2 bay leaves
Ground sage, dried rosemary, dried thyme, cracked black pepper

This is what I use for stock: I save up the tops of my onions, celery and carrot cuttings and throw them in the freezer. I buy bone-on chicken and save the raw bones (the gelatin gives body and helps to thicken). When I've got enough, I rinse it and put it into the largest stockpot I own.

This sort of thing

 I have it on very good authority (thanks, C!)  that you can also use the leek tops (the dark green bit that you can't use otherwise) but I haven't tried that yet. But I will!

And more - including raw chicken bones

 Put it into your largest stock pot and cover with as much water as possible, but leave a couple of inches at top for bubbling and foam.

Boil, partially covered, for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, skimming any foam that comes to the top. I've heard that is just how the blood shows up, from the raw bones, but I don't know for sure. It should be reduced by about a third or so.

After three hours, strain your stock and set it aside to cool. There are two easier ways I know how to do this, one is to put it on your garage floor. The other depends on your sink; if it is wide and deep, this will work. Put the stopper in your sink, place a small baking rack, folded down, on top of it. Fill the sink with cold water and ice, if you have it, place the pot of hot stock on top of the baking rack. Add ice as needed to the water.

When it is cool, scrape off any fat off the top. You know, do your best, don't obsess.


Now, the soup!

You will need:

1 tsp vegetable oil
3 onions, fine dice
3 carrots, fine dice
3 celery stalks, fine dice
Broccoli stalk, fine dice
5 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
Sage, dried rosemary, dried thyme, salt, pepper
1 1/2 c brown rice
2 c whole wheat pasta of your choice
6-8 cups turkey (whatever is left from the carcass), chopped into bite-sized chunks
1 c egg noodles
2 c broccoli and cauliflower florets

Soooo, prep! Lots of it, and it's all listed up there. I stick to vegetables I know the kids will eat in soup, but corn, zucchini, pretty much anything out there is going to taste yummy in this. Just add them in at the end.

Heat the oil in your biggest stockpot, add in the onions, carrots and celery. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5-7 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for just one more minute. Just ONE!

Pour in the stock, add in the sage, thyme, rosemary, pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer until it is reduced by a quarter.

Add the rice, boil at low temp for half an hour, then add in the pasta and turkey. You can also add in any gravy you have left over, it adds a punch of flavour, as do any leftover mashed potatoes you may have around. Both of those are good for thickening. After another 15 minutes, add in the broccoli, cauliflower and egg noodles and taste it. Add salt. Then some more, come on, just a little more, it's a big pot! Add thyme, sage and pepper as necessary. Let simmer for another 15 minutes, when all the veggies are softened, it is ready!

And on to the biscuits!

You will need:

1 1/2 c whole grain whole wheat flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter, cold
2/3 c milk

 This is actually a sweeter-tasting biscuit than I remember, and I had to fight myself (spoiler alert: I won!) to not change everything back to my own recipe, but I like the way it turned out. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Same biscuit plan as usual, mix all dry together in a large, wide bowl.

Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives, until it looks like small crumbs.

Add in the milk, mix together quickly just until formed.

Turn out on a floured counter and pat it into a flat disc. Cut out circles with a glass or cookie cutter (I usually do dinosaurs but the boys were just not.deserving.it tonight). Place them on a baking sheet sprayed with oil and bake for 10-13 minutes. Check around 10, then every minute after. You don't want them too dark on the bottom.  I wouldn't recommend using parchment paper, as I've yet to find one that is rated for up to 450 degrees.

 

 

I like to put mine immediately into a bowl and cover with a large tea towel. 

 



But here they are nekkid:

And here is the whole meal!

The soup was too difficult to work out calorie-wise, but I have done so before and ended up just under 100 calories for a cup, which is pretty good. The biscuits end up being 140 calories each, but I didn't use any butter with them, just dipped them into the soup.

Enjoy! Thanks for the biscuit recipe, Mom!

Thursday: Aunt Mabel's Killer Oatmeal Cookies

Apparently I have an Aunt Mabel and she makes a mean oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. The recipe has been modified over the years by my mother and lastly by me, but it is a really nice crisp cookie with lots of chocolate.

You will need:

2 2/3 c rolled oats
3/4 c butter, softened
1 1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp water (?? that's a first for me, but I did it!)
1 c whole grain whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 c chocolate chips
3/4 c pecans, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spread the oats on a baking sheet. When the oven is up to temp, bake the oats for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. I know I always say that roasting nuts and the like makes them taste better, but for reals, you will want to do this. Adds another dimension. Set them aside to cool and get to creaming!

Rolled oats

Multi-dimensional oats!

Cream the butter and sugar together, add in the egg, vanilla and water (?? so strange! kept wanting to switch it out with another egg, but I stuck, sorta, to the recipe), beat until combined.

Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together, add slowly to the butter mixture on low speed. Take a minute and scrape up the flour that landed on the counter. We'll wait.

Add in the oats, mix as well as you can. Add in the pecans if your mixer isn't getting grouchy with you. If it is, just stir them in with a spatula, which is what you want to do with the chocolate chips. Mix it allll together.

Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper, bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from tray immediately, cool on a rack.

This made 4 dozen cookies, at calories 103 per. Relatively healthy, though! Whole grains, whole wheat flour, it's all good!

Enjoy!

Thursday (But Crazy Late): Chicken Casserole

Can you tell I am happy to have use of my ovens again? Because I am so excited! As I have been stockpiling barley over the years, I always jump all over a recipe that includes it in any form. Hence this week, two times. You can use whatever veggies you have handy, I have a lot of peppers, so a red pepper and some mushrooms it is.

You will need:

1 tsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped or grated
1/2 c pearl barley (that's the prettier, more conformist one)
2 1/4 c chicken stock
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, preferably cooked and dicd
1 red pepper
1 c mushrooms, sliced and / or diced
Salt, pepper, thyme

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, prep! Look for your Dutch oven. Not there? Check in the cupboard under the counter? Not there either? Pantry! Score! Chop / grate your onions, mushrooms and red pepper into bite-able pieces. Rinse your barley under cold water until the water runs clear.

Here is a big part of prep that you can skip if you have cooked chicken breast: poaching the chicken. If your chicken is cooked already, just carry on. If not, pour the chicken stock into a large saucepan that has a lid. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Poach for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway, until cooked all the way through.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, heat the oil in your newly found Dutch oven, add in the onion and barley and stir to coat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the onions start to soften.

When your chicken is done poaching, remove from the pan and set aside to cool. Dump all the stock into the onion /barley mixture, let boil for a minute, then cover it and bake for 45 minutes.

Chop your chicken when it is cool, reserving any juices.

Take the dish out of the oven and add in the chicken, mushrooms and peppers, along with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Back in the oven! This time for 30 minutes, until the moisture is mostly absorbed.

I portioned this into 4 servings at 265 calories each; add some steamed veggies and a salad and you are good to goooo.

Enjoy!