Oven Fries

by penji1

As I think I’ve mentioned before, Bob and I have been trying to count calories and lose some weight and I have been missing french fries something fierce so I thought I’d give oven fries a try and they came out pretty good.  I took 2 russet potatoes and sliced them into thin wedges, brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and then some Pampered Chef Crushed Peppercorn and Garlic Rub and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, turning them over once about halfway through.  They look and taste great, almost as good as real french fries!  🙂

Pecan Lemon Loaf

by penji1

Isn’t that gorgeous bread?  Almost too pretty to eat, almost!  We didn’t get to eat it though as it was a thank you gift for our friend Chris who helped us out when we needed it.  This is a recipe that I’ve had and wanted to make for a while now; it is from the April/May 2008 issue of the “Taste of Home” magazine.  Smelled so delicious while baking, I can only imagine how it tastes!  🙂

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel (I used all the peel from 1 large lemon)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1  Cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt then add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.  Fold in pecans and lemon peel.

2  Transfer to a greased 9 x 5 x 3″ loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

3  Combine lemon juice and remaining sugar in a small saucepan.  Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over warm bread.  Cool completely on wire rack before removing from pan.  (Don’t get freaked out when you pour this syrup over the loaf of bread like I did, there will be a lot of liquid but the bread will eventually soak it all up and then when you take it out of the pan, it will have that nice glossy, sticky look from the syrup.)

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Blondies

by penji1

This recipe comes from the January 21, 2011 issue of “All You” magazine.  I made them for some of the girls at church as traveling treats as they are off to Youth Conference today (and I of course saved some for us too!).

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed salted pretzels (3 oz)

2 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips and doubled this amount)

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter (doubled this too)

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 9 x 13″ pan with parchment paper.  (I am currently out of parchment paper so I used aluminum foil and sprayed it with Pam.)

2  Mix flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.  Beat butter and sugar until light.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla.  Beat in flour mixture.  Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup pretzels.  Spread evenly in pan.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 – 30 minutes.

3  Melt chocolate with peanut butter in microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds, until smooth.  (I doubled the ingredients for the glaze as the original amount just didn’t look like enough.)  Spread mixture evenly over blondies.  Sprinkle with remaining pretzels.

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

by penji1

I got a new pan from Pampered Chef!  It’s a brownie pan but it said you could also make muffins and cupcakes in it so I tried some muffins which came out great.  I also made some brownies in it which also came out great and were so yummy because every one was like a corner piece, my favorite.  These muffins are a little healthier than regular recipes, about 150 calories a muffin and they are really tasty and dense.  The recipe comes from http://www.eatbetteramerica.com.

muffins:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup reduced fat or fat free sour cream

1/3 cup applesauce, sugar free

3 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

1 egg white

glaze:  (I left the glaze off for fewer calories)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1 – 1 /2 teaspoons skim milk

1  Heat oven to 375 or 350 for dark colored pans.  Spray bottoms of 12 regular size muffin cups with cooking spray.

2  In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt.

3  In a medium bowl, beat sour cream, applesauce, oil, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, egg and egg white.  Add to flour mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Spoon or scoop batter evenly into muffin cups.

4  Bake 18 – 24 minutes or until tops are light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from pan and let cool 5 minutes on wire rack.

5  Meanwhile, mix all glaze ingredients together, adding enough milk for drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over muffins.

Ham and Pineapple “Tortizzas”

by penji1

Tonight’s dinner brought to you by . . . Bountiful Baskets!  The tomatoes, onions, garlic and pineapple all came from our last Bountiful Basket.  You’re looking at about a 200 calorie “tortizza” right here.  The tortilla is a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Low Carb High Fiber whole wheat tortilla which is 80 calories, the sauce is homemade and about 50 calories for a 1/2 cup (recipe to follow), the pineapple is fresh and about 20 calories for a 1/4 cup and the ham is Cook’s ham (from the freezer left over from our Easter dinner) and is about 30 calories per ounce.  The sauce recipe is already on the blog under “Grilled Pizzas” but I’ve been playing around with it to take down the calorie count so I’ll repost the sauce recipe here in it’s lower calorie form.  The sauce also tastes great on pasta.  And thanks Bountiful Basket for the help in eating healthier!

10 Roma tomatoes, quartered

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon basil

Preheat oven to 450.  Combine all ingredients in a large casserole dish, tossing lightly to combine.  Roast 35 – 40 minutes, stirring once, until tomatoes are soft.  Remove from oven and mash with potato masher, leaving tomatoes a bit chunky.  (The sauce gets nice and thick when it sits overnight in the fridge so if you make this a day ahead of time, it won’t be as runny.)

Cupcake Vegetable Garden

by penji1

This adorable cupcake vegetable garden is for my friend Anna K who is turning the big 4 0 today!  Her husband Kent called and asked if Courtney and I would make a cake for her birthday and so originally we were going to do this same design on a fondant cake but then some things happened around here that made a cake impossible to do because of the time factor so we did cupcakes instead which actually came out really cute.  The cupcakes are a dark chocolate cake mix and then I just followed the instructions on the box, substituting buttermilk for the water.  I made 2 batches of cupcakes and in 1 of the batches I stirred in a bag of Nestle Toll House Mint and Dark Chocolate Morsels.  I frosted them with our favorite buttercream icing and then rolled the tops in Oreo crumbs.  We made all the veggies out of fondant which I think are so adorable!  Happy Birthday Anna K!

Sparky Marie’s Sweet Potato Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Coating

by penji1

I found this recipe at http://www.noblepig.com which is “The Official Food Blog of Noble Pig Vineyard and Winery”.  It says that this recipe was adapted from “Cuisine at Home”.  We got a lot of sweet potatoes in the last few Bountiful Baskets so I thought I’d experiment and try making some out of the ordinary things with them.  This is experiment #1 which smelled so tasty while baking.

for the muffins:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup sweet potato puree (from 1 baked sweet potato) (I just cooked it in the microwave and then peeled it and mashed it up with a fork)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

for the topping:

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 stick butter, melted

1  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg.

2  In a large pouring vessel, combine milk, buttermilk, sweet potato puree and vanilla.

3  In a mixer bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Alternately mix in dry and wet ingredients, starting and ending with dry; mix only until each addition is incorporated.  Do not overmix.

4  Coat a muffin pan with nonstick spray and fill muffin pans 1/2 full.  (I used liners and then just coated the tops of the muffins with cinnamon sugar rather than the entire muffin.)  Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

5  While muffins are baking, combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a shallow bowl.  Melt butter in another small bowl.

6  When muffins are cool enough to handle, yet still warm, remove from pan and brush completely (or just tops) with butter and then roll in sugar mixture to coat.

I doubled the recipe and it made 3 dozen.

Rocky Ledge Bars

by penji1

These are for the neighborhood game night tonight and the recipe is from http://www.marthastewart.com.  They are chock full of good stuff so I can’t imagine that they won’t be delicious!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

2 1/4 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup toffee chips/bits or butterscotch chips

18 soft caramel candy cubes, coarsely chopped

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly butter (I just used Pam) a 9 x 13″ pan.  Line with parchment paper (I just ran out of parchment paper the other day so I used aluminum foil), allowing a 2″ overhang on the ends.  Brush paper with butter (again I just sprayed with Pam).

2  Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix butter and brown sugar in mixer bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well until combined.  Mix in flour mixture until combined.  Fold in half of each of marshmallows, both kinds of chocolate chips, toffee chips and caramels.

3  Spread batter in pan.  Scatter remaining marshmallows, both kinds of chocolate chips, toffee chips and caramels on top.  Bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack.  Lift out of pan and transfer to baking sheet.  Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

4  Remove parchment and cut into squares.

Atlanta Falcons Fondant Birthday Cake

by penji1

This cake is for Courtney’s friend Sierra’s boyfriend’s birthday!  🙂  The cake is a yummy vanilla from the White Almond Sour Cream cake recipe but with no almond flavoring and the frosting is our favorite buttercream.  The black fondant is Duff’s from Michaels and the white is Pettinice from Funfinity.  The sports themed cakes stretch us a bit but Courtney stepped up and cut out the falcons logo freehand; she is awesome!  So Happy Birthday to Sierra’s boyfriend!

Yogurt Parfait Cupcakes

by penji1

Another sublime cupcake recipe from Wendy Paul’s “101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes” which are for my young women at church tomorrow (if there are any there since it is Spring Break for them this week!).  Vanilla cupcakes with granola inside and out and topped with a dollop of vanilla buttercream icing and then finished with a fondant Easter cutout, yum!  Happy Easter everyone!

1 box white cake mix

1 (6 oz) container vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups granola, divided

2 cups diced berries (blackberries, strawberries, etc) for garnish

1  Mix together cake mix, yogurt, milk and eggs.  Fold in 3/4 cup granola.  Scoop into paper liners about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle unbaked cupcakes with remaining granola.

2  Bake at 350 for 15 – 18 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.  Remove from oven and cool.

3  Top with diced berries just before serving.