Welcome to My Lab-Oooor-Atory!

Posted on January 15, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Or my kitchen…same thing as far as today’s concerned! Hope everybody has had a great Saturday! I’d say about 60% of my daylight hours were logged in the lab kitchen today! Dang, I totally should’ve puffed flour in my face and took a pic! 😉

Let me first say that I am in no way a baker. I love to bake and I change things around sometimes and add ingredients, but as for coming up with a recipe from scratch? Yeah, I don’t speak that language…yet! But mark your calendars folks, because today was the day Heather made her very own cookie recipe for the FIRST time! Eeek!

But, before we get to the GREAT stuff, how about we look at some of the good eats enjoyed on this sunny (finally) Saturday?

Breakfast was a warm creamy bowl of protein packed “yoats” or “yoatgurt for long” as Janetha would say and a mug of lifeforce coffee.

Protein-Packed Pumpkin Yoats: (serves 1)

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup egg substitute
  • splash of vanilla
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin

1. Combine all ingredients except pumpkin in a small sauce pan over medium heat and           cook for about 5-6 minutes.
2. In the last few minutes of cooking, stir in the pumpkin.
3. Pour into bowl, combine with your favorite Greek yogurt (I chose Voskos Honey                 Vanilla) and top your heart out!

Toppings: Coconut cream (chilled coconut milk), fresh raspberries, and unsweetened shredded coconut.

After a trip to the store to get some essentials for my baking experiments, I came home and threw together a veggie wrap and a side of Julie’s rutabaga fries.

That’s a Wrap (sorry, couldn’t resist): Whole wheat tortilla, 2 tablespoons roasted pine nut hummus (yumm-o), spinach, carrots, and roasted red pepper.

Rutabaga Fries: 1/2 a medium-sized rutabaga cut into fries, sprayed with cooking spray and seasoned with a touch of salt, pepper, garlic and chili powders, and of course some smoked paprika and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

Drinky-Drink: 1/2 cup POM Wonderful + 1/2 cup ginger-ale.

Loved these “fries”! Sweet P’s are still my fave, but it was nice to switch things up a bit! If you’ve never tried a rutabaga before, it is a root vegetable (in the same fam with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc…) and it has a nice natural sweetness to it that is only enhanced with roasting in the oven! Delish! Julie has a step-by-step video on her blog showing you how to peel, dice, and spice. Check it out here!

After lunch, I pushed up my sleeves and started my cookie creations with some nut buttering! Peanut buttering to be specific!

Look at that creamy goodness!

It’s a bit of a process (ha! pun totally intended) but the end product is so heavenly you’ll forget all about jarred stuff!

Peanut Butter Oat Cookies Biscuits:

  • 1 1/2 cups dry roasted unsalted peanuts processed until buttah
  • 1 medium banana, mashed
  • 4 chopped, pitted dates (about 1/3 cup)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • (2nd batch added 1/2 cup rolled oats)

1. Throw all ingredients in food processor and process just until combined.
2. Using an ice-cream or cookie scoop, scoop batter out by 1-2 tablespoons and place on         greased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes.

Before

After. Not much of a difference, huh?

Phase 2 included adding 1/2 cup of rolled oats to the batter:

The cookie kept an almost dough-like inside which I liked, but the dates and banana just didn’t do enough for the sweetness. They tasted like little peanut butter biscuits.

Next!

Yeah, I ran out of peanuts! But who cares when you have DARK CHOCOLATE almonds?

Fast forward through the 2 1/2 batches of dry semi-tasty cookies, sticky fingers, and a messy kitchen and behold the beauty of experimental success!

Everything-But-Sugar Oatmeal Cookies: (makes 48 small cookies)

  • 1 cup dark chocolate almond butter
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
  • 1 scoop (30g) chocolate protein powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Combine first seven ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
2. Stir together flour, oats, soda, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
3. Pour contents of food processor into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Stir in cranberries and coconut.
5.  Spoon dough out by the tablespoon (I used my cookie scoop) and place on a greased         baking sheet. Wet your hands and flatten the cookie slightly with your fingers.
6. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8-10 minutes.

Ok, ok so I got a little proud of my babies and took a TON of pics! What’s funny is that that’s not even HALF of them!

These are not your typical sugary oatmeal cookies. The only sweetness in them comes from the cranberries. I like to think of them as a flour flower child of a cookie and some good natural granola! Thank you again Miss Kayla for the inspiration that started this whole process!

Come on over folks, I’ve got PLENTY of cookies to share!

Posted in Breakfast, Desserts, Entree | Tagged , , , , , , | 36 Comments

Pizzerts, Peppers, and Portobellos

Posted on January 14, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

I hope you all had a great Friday! Welcome to the weekend! Hope you don’t mind, but I got started a bit early!

I woke up this morning to Tiger staring me in the face. Who needs kids when you have a hungry cat on a time clock?! After a bit of fiddling around in the kitchen trying to figure out what I was going to eat, I remembered my bookmark for Katie’s famous Breakfast Pizzert and decided today would be the day I jumped on the pizzert bandwagon!

Gingerbread Breakfast Pizzert: (serves 2 1 hungry Heather)
Inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie

  • 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (I totally thought I grabbed the WW flour!)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger

1. Mix all ingredients together (my batter was a bit thick so I added about 1 tablespoon         more of water).
2. Pour into a greased pie plate.
3. Bake in an UN-preheated oven at 42o degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes, or until         toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Slice and add desired toppings.

My Pizzert Toppings: Drizzle of molasses, chopped pecans, coconut cream, and shredded unsweetened coconut

Katie, you are a GENIUS! Absolute Heaven! There was no way I was stopping at two slices so I guess I should just come right out and say it:

“I can’t CAN believe I ate the WHOLLLLLLLLE thing!”

My upper body workout for Team HEAB this afternoon ended up giving me quite the energy boost! One minute I’m finishing up with some plank ups and the next minute I’m mopping the kitchen floor while dancing to That’s Not My Name by The Ting Tings! Love Pandora radio!

After I finished with my dance-athon cleaning, I started to get a little hungry. Surprisingly it had been 5 hours since breakfast! Way to go filling Breakfast Pizzert!

Lunch was left-over Sweet P Pizza topped with some of this creamy deliciousness:

This apple butter that I picked up last week at Trader Joe’s is awesome! Creamy sweet-tart goodness! And check out the stats! That’s for 1 whole TABLEspoon!

So good that it almost escaped the camera!

Lunch was made complete with this little beaut!

The rest of the afternoon was spent experimenting in the kitchen! I saw Kayla make a batch of wonderful sugar-free peanut butter cookies and it got my gears turning. Still needs more research, but how about one little sneak peek?

That’s all you get folks! To be continued…

After  about 5 cookies (for mere research purposes) I thought it would be a good time to shift my experiments over to dinner. Since my awesome quino-WHOA bowl the other day, I have been having some serious quinoa cravings which inspired tonight’s meal.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers (or Portobellos): (serves 2)

  • 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1 medium carrot, shredded
  • 2 celery ribs, diced (I actually used broccoli ends and stems that I grated in the Magic Bullet)
  • 1/2 cup cooked black beans
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoke paprika
  • Pepper to taste
  • 2 medium-sized bell peppers or 2 large portobello mushroom caps
  • Shredded mozzarella Daiya cheese for topping

1. Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a small saucepan and add quinoa. Reduce to a simmer, cover and allow quinoa to cook for 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, saute your veggies in the oil until tender and fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Add in beans, cooked quinoa, and spices and stir to combine.
4. Cut pepper in half from stem to end and scoop out seed and ribs. If using portobellos, use a spoon to scrape the gills from the inside of the mushroom.
5. Fill peppers/mushrooms with quinoa stuffing.
6. Place in a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven.
7. Remove foil, add cheese and continue baking for 10 more minutes.

While dinner was cooking/cooling I made one of these guys:

I just followed Ashley instructions and in less than an hour I had my very own lightbox. Only had one little accident! Whoops!

Tomorrow I will be going to the store to buy utility lamps so this doesn’t happen again!

And of course you all know what happens next…it’s photo shoot time!

What do you think of the pics? Not to shabby, eh?

It was so incredibly easily to make this lightbox! I can’t believe I’ve put it off for so long! I’m excited about trying out different color backgrounds and dishes and seeing how it all comes together!

I’m out! “See” you guys tomorrow!

Posted in Breakfast, Entree | Tagged , , , , , | 27 Comments

Sweet P for a Sweet Me!

Posted on January 13, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello broccoli fans! How are you?

I am fantastic, thanks for asking! 😉

Wanna know why I’m fantastic? I finally made it through this week and now I have 6 days off! Count them: one…two…three…four…five…SIX!!! Whoo-hoo!

Last week, I started realizing that I’ve been getting overwhelmed a lot lately. I almost feel like I never got a break after the holidays. The days just keep coming and going dragging me along the way.

It is not uncommon for my co-workers and I to take advantage of our scheduled 3-day weekends and ask off for Monday. Last week, I asked my boss if it would be okay to schedule myself a little mini vacay and have Friday-Wednesday off. He had no problem approving it, in fact he is going to do the same thing for himself the week after I get back!

So here I am, looking forward to the next six days being filled with all the stuff I want to do WHEN I want to do it! I’m going to try my best not to overfill my schedule (I have a bad habit of doing that with days off), but there are a lot of things I’m looking forward to:

  • Taking after Ashley and Heather and making my own lightbox
  • Playing with said lightbox
  • Trying my hand at bread baking! Eek! (I’ve been drooling over Allie’s creations for over a week!)
  • Finishing up my book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven
  • Trying out some of the recipes from my ever-growing bookmark list
  • Visiting some friends and family
  • Spending more time with my man Tiger-he has been so neglected these past few weeks! 🙁

How could you not love this sweet little face??

As I said, I’ve felt pretty rushed and overwhelmed lately, so breakfast this morning was a fast one!

Cereal mix bowl: 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1/4 cup Quaker Oat Squares, 1/4 cup Barbara’s Cinnamon Puffins, 1 spoonful of almond buttah, raspberries, and unsweetened shredded coconut with 1/2 cup of plain low-fat kefir poured over top.

Plus 2 mandarin oranges and a cup of coffee sprinkled with cinnamon!

I really had a hard time deciding what to eat for dinner. I was totally craving a sweet potato but I had some whole wheat pizza crust that really needed to be used up. Remember when I said I’m bad at decision-making? Well, instead of choosing one or the other, I decided to combine them and make Sweet Potato Pizza!

Sweet Potato Pizza with PB & Cinnamon Sauce: (serves 2)

  • 1/2 whole wheat pizza crust, pre-baked (I used Trader Joe’s)
  • 1/4 cup cottage cheese whipped*
  • Small handful of fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 baked or roasted sweet potato cut into slices
  • Peanut butter flour + water to equal desired consistency**
  • Cinnamon

*If you have never tried whipped cottage cheese before, you are in for a treat! Blend 1/4 cup of cottage cheese in a blender (or Magic Bullet) until smooth. It doubles in size and has the consistency of a great Greek yogurt!

**I used TJ’s peanut butter flour because I was all out of regular PB, but you could just thin out your peanut butter with water instead.

I baked my pizza in a 425 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes and then low broil for a few minutes. I was trying to blacken the baked sweet potato slices a bit, but it didn’t work. Still good as it was but I think next time I will roast the spud first for a different texture!

I topped my Sweet P Pizza with unsweetened shredded coconut and served it alongside some raw cranberry relish mix with pom arils.

One of the best un-decisions I’ve ever made! Once I thought of using the sweet potato for pizza, choosing the ingredients was easy. I just went with my top favorite toppings for my baked sweet potatoes! Now I’m thinking of savory approach with hummus, sunflower butter and nooch! Mmm!

Well, guess I’m off to bed to dream about my mini-vacay! Whoo-hoo for sleeping in tomorrow!

How are all of you guys adjusting to the post holiday season? Are you going with the flow and feeling fine (and enjoying my alliteration) or do you feel like your being drug through the days mentally present or not?

Do you ever take time off from work to just relax and clear your mind?

Posted in Breakfast, Entree | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments