Raspberry Oat Muffins June 8, 2011

Raspberry Oat Muffins

Jamie says:  Can’t decide what to bring to a morning staff meeting breakfast?  Try homemade muffins!  My friend Monique, who’s also interning at Shands with me, came over for the late night baking sesh. We made muffins and cheesy potatoes.  It was lots of fun and we didn’t even burn the muffins.

Raspberry Oat Muffins

(adapted from Good Housekeeping’s Blueberry Muffins recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large omega-3 egg
• 1 Tbsp, 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 1 cup, 1 Tbsp, 2 tsp fat free milk
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 oz fresh raspberries
• 2 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray muffin pans (enough for 15) with no-stick cooking spray.
2. Pour oats in a mini blender and pulse until finely ground.
3. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a small bowl, add egg, milk, white vinegar, canola oil, and vanilla.  Beat with a fork.  Stir into flour mixture until moistened.  Fold in raspberries.
5. Spoon batter into muffin-pan cups (about 15).  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake 23 to 26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Serves: 15.  Enjoy!

I liked how the muffin had just enough sweetness and wasn’t overly sweet…more like a breakfast than a dessert.  Everyone said they liked them, too.

• Nutrition note:  Muffins can be loaded with fat and calories from lots of butter and sugar.  Make your own with heart-healthy canola oil, whole grain oats, and less sugar and you’ll be starting your day off right.

Chocolate Snowballs & Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs December 5, 2010

Chocolate Snowballs & Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs

Jamie says:  Kathryn and I hosted a Christmas cookie exchange at our apartment last night.  If you’ve never done a cookie exchange, I would highly recommend doing one.  They are so much fun because you get to taste a wide variety of homemade cookies and take home the ones you like.   It’s quite easy to do, as well.  Here are the directions for our cookie exchange:

Please bring: 1 dozen homemade cookies on a plate to share AND as many cookies as you’d like to trade (for example if you bring 3 dozen cookies, 1 dozen are to sample and 2 dozen are to take home); a few copies of the recipe to share; and an empty container to take your cookies home in.

 I made Chocolate Snowballs & Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs.  I modified from the Food Network “Snowstorms” recipe.

Chocolate Snowballs & Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 sticks Smart Balance Butter Sticks- Omega 3
• 2 eggs- omega 3 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
• 1 ½ tsp sea salt, coarse
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• confectioners’ sugar (for Chocolate Snowballs)
  • or candy canes (for Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Beat brown sugar and butter until well-blended and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. 
2. In a separate bowl, stir all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.  Stir flour mixture into butter mixture.  Chill in for 30 minutes. 
3. Spray baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray.  Roll dough into balls, about 1 Tbsp each.  Then:  For Chocolate Snowballs, bake for about 17 minutes or until soft but firm.  Allow cookies to cool, then roll in confectioners’ sugar.  For Chocolate Candy Cane Snowballs, crush candy canes with a food-processor.  Roll ball into crushed candy canes.  Bake for about 16 minutes or until soft but slightly firm.  Yield: ~4 dozen cookies.  Enjoy!

Tasty!  I liked the hint of saltiness with the sweetness of the chocolate.  The candy canes were a nice addition. 

• Nutrition note:  Next time you buy eggs and margarine/butter, look for the varieties with omega 3s to sneak some more omega 3s into your diet.  Omega 3s are a healthy type of fat and are anti-inflammatory.   

Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies and Cookie Cake October 4, 2010

Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Jamie says:  The kitchen beckoned me one evening.  All the ingredients to make a cookie recipe from Cooking Light magazine were stocked in my pantry.  I knew they would be good.  I made the recipe in the Dietetics Lab one day as part of my Teaching Assistant work.  I gave in.  Here’s my version of the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies 

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour (King Arthur 100% organic)
• 3 cups old fashioned oats (Quaker)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend omega-3
• 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 cups dried tart cherries (Sun-Maid)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs (4 Grain omega 3)
• 6 oz  bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli’s 60% cacao)
• cooking spray (PAM) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all-puporse flour, whole-wheat flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.  Stir with a fork.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, melt butter in the microwave (for about 30 seconds, then stir, and microwave an additional 15 seconds until melted).  Add brown sugar to butter and stir until smooth. Add butter/sugar mixture to flour mixture.  Using an electric mixer, beat at medium speed until well-blended.
4. Add cherries, vanilla, and eggs; beat to mix.  Fold in chocolate using a spatula.
5. Spray 2 baking sheets and 1 medium-sized (11 cup) baking dish with cooking spray.  Spoon 12 generous tablespoons of the cookie dough onto each of the two baking sheets.  Place the remaining dough into the baking dish.
6. Place 2 baking sheets in the oven and cook for about 12 minutes or until done and lightly brown.  Allow to cool on the baking sheets.
7. Place baking dish in the oven for about 35 minutes or until done- when a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the baking pan.
8. Yield: 24 large cookies and 1 medium cookie cake.  Enjoy!

I shared the cookies with some friends who visited and brought the cookie cake to my friend Jeff’s place for the UF v. Alabama game.  I thought they were quite tasty, and everyone seemed to enjoy them.  The sweetness of the chocolate and cherry nicely complemented the salty, buttery flavor.

• Nutrition note:  Keep the cookies fresh and out of sight (and out of mind) by storing them in the freezer.

The Official French Toast Cook-Off April 2, 2010

Orange Sugar & Spice French Toast

Jamie says:  I was challenged to a cook-off, a French toast cook-off, that is. After reading my blog post titled Almond Oatmeal French Toast, Joe challenged that he could make some killer French toast. So, we dueled it out in the kitchen of my apartment. It was a “legit” event. We had seven taste panelists (aka friends from the triathlon team) over for dinner to taste our recipes.  

At first, I was going to make panettone from scratch and then make it into French toast, but I had never tried the recipe before and it took too much time (at least 3 hours) to make. So, brainstormed in the car on my way to a meeting… and I thought of an awesome new recipe that I would like to call Orange Sugar & Spice French Toast. Here it is: 

For my bread, I chose sliced challah from the Publix Bakery. I dipped it in a mixture of eggs, vanilla extract, skim milk, and cinnamon and cooked it on frying pan sprayed with PAM. To make the topping, I modified part of a pancake recipe (Poppyseed Pancakes with Spiced Clementines) from Pancakes and Waffles by Kate Habershon. Here’s my topping recipe: 

Combine the zest of one washed lemon, 2 cups of dark brown sugar (packed), a generous teaspoon of cinnamon, a generous teaspoon of ground cloves. Sprinkle some of mixture over sliced oranges. Reserve extra sugar/spice mixture for another occasion (stay tuned…a blog post is coming soon). Refrigerate oranges to chill.  Top hot French toast with the oranges and drizzle extra “syrup” from the orange/sugar mixture on top. Enjoy! 

So, I have to admit I did not win the French toast cook-off.  (I lost 3-4 to Joe’s Sourdough bread French toast balls with frozen yogurt and syrup.) But it was still tons of fun! I felt like I was on some reality cooking tv show.

Nutrition note:  Orange you glad oranges are a good source of vitamin C?

Mango Melon “Milkshake” January 19, 2010

Mango Melon "Milkshake"

Jamie says:  I had a fun time visiting two good friends in St. Pete this weekend.  After the ride home followed by some shopping and church, I needed something quick to eat while I was making my picnic lunch to eat with K.  I decided on a smoothie using the fruit I had in the fridge.  It was light and refreshing- just what I was looking for.  Just for kicks, I drank it with a straw.

In my little blender (Bella Cucina Rocket Blender), I blended cantaloupe, mango, vanilla extract, ice cubes, and skim milk.

Nutrition note: Orange fruits (and vegetables) have beta-carotene (the precursor of vitamin A).  Vitamin A is important for good eyesight.

Birthday Banana Bread December 31, 2009

Birthday Banana Bread

Jamie says:  Dad absolutely loves homemade banana bread.  I really surprised Dad this morning by singing happy birthday to him while I held a mini loaf of banana bread with a candle in it.  (His birthday isn’t for another 3 weeks.)  The bread was warm and delicious- definitely a repeater. 

I modified a banana bread recipe I found from the Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/banana-bread-with-pecans-recipe/index.html).  I used 1 stick of butter (equivalent to 1/2 cup butter) and 1/4 cup of Mott’s Apple Sauce (instead of the recommended total of 3/4 cup of butter).  I also used 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (instead of pecans).  I omitted the confectioners’ sugar and added 1/4 cup Craisins.  I put some of the mix in a mini loaf pan and the rest in a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.  I baked the mini loaf  for about 35 minutes, and the big loaf for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  (I would try the recommended 1 hour and 15 minutes next time).  We all enjoyed the mini loaf this morning.  I put the big loaf in the freezer so that Dad can think of me and enjoy the banana bread on his real birthday.

Nutrition note:  To reduce the fat and calories in a recipe, you can substitute apple sauce for butter.  It’s still moist and flavorful, too!

Almond Jam Cookies December 24, 2009

Jamie says:  I remember my Mother making a delicious pecan cookie with confectioner’s sugar and jam.  When I asked her about it, she told me those were two different cookies.  I guess I combined two good memories into one.  So, I asked my mom for the pecan cookie recipe and decided I would try adding jam to it.  The recipe, titled Pecan Puffs, actually came from my Mom’s neighbor in Brooklyn, New York.  I slightly modified the recipe.  I preheated the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  I then beat 1 stick of butter until it was creamy and then beat in 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  I measured 1 cup of pecans and then ground them in a blender.  Next, I measured 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt into a sifter.  I added the ground pecans to the butter mixture followed by the ingredients in the sifter.  I stirred the ingredients together until they were well-mixed.  I then spooned balls of the dough onto greased (using PAM Cooking Spray) baking sheets.  I made a thumb print in the middle and Kathryn filled them with strawberry jam (not recommended for future baking).  I baked them in the oven for about 40 minutes.  The recipe made about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.  (I guess I make big cookies because the recipe said it would make double that amount.)  When I took them out of the oven, the jam had exploded (spilled out onto the baking sheet).  I then put the cookies on a plate and sifted confectioners’ sugar on top.  I then added more jam (because there was virtually none left in the cookie) on top.  (Next time, I would bake the cookies with a thumb print in the middle without the jam, then add the confectioners’ sugar followed by the jam.)  Despite the mess, the cookies were so delicious.  They were moist, buttery, and sweet.  They look really festive, too.

Nutrition Note:  Try freezing cookies and sweets.  They last a lot longer (months) than storing them at room temperature.  They are also out of sight, which makes them easier to enjoy in moderation.  And you won’t feel like you have to eat them soon because they will spoil.