Peanut Noodles with Tofu and Broccoli

Any recipe that uses up something that would otherwise be compost has my heart, and these Peanut Noodles make use of the stems of broccoli.  I don't know if its my store or what, but I usually end up with a good 3-4" extra inches of stem, even after leaving an inch or two attached to the dark green tops as a steamed side dish.  The original recipe called for cucumber cut into matchsticks, but I think the broccoli adds better crunch and also more fiber and nutrients.  

So don't throw those out: save your broccoli stems for Peanut Noodles!  (Another option for broccoli stems is to chop, freeze, and save them for a batch of Crockpot Lentil Soup)

Children love this dish, but it's sophisticated and tasty enough to satisfy the whole family.  Pass the green onions and cilantro at the table if your little ones are wary of "green stuff."

On the right in this photo is my baked tofu.  I use baked tofu for this recipe since it holds together better than tofu right out of the package, and is tastier since it's got built in flavor.



Baked Tofu


1 14 oz package organic tofu in water
1/4 c soy sauce or Dr Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids
1/8 t red chile flakes
1 t sugar

Oven to 350.  Drain tofu and cut into 8 slices.  Lay these on several layers of paper towels, cover with several more layers of towels.  Press.  Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, arrange tofu in dish.  Stir together remaining ingredients and spoon half of it over top of tofu slices (it's okay if it runs off).  Bake for 20 min.  Turn slices over, spoon other half of marinade over the tofu, and bake another 20 minutes.

Peanut Noodles with Tofu and Broccoli

8 oz spaghetti or fettucine

3/4 c chicken or vegetable broth

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 c peanut butter (old fashioned is best)

3 T sugar

1/4 t red chile flakes (omit if your little ones are sensitive to spice)

3 T soy sauce (or Dr Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids)

8 oz baked tofu

1 c broccoli stems, cut into matchsticks

1/3 c chopped peanuts

3 green onions, sliced

1/2 c cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions.  With 2 minutes left on the time, add broccoli to pot.  Drain and set aside.  Heat broth, garlic, sugar, chiles, peanut butter, and soy sauce in pasta pot until boiling.  Turn off heat.  Add pasta and broccoli, toss.  Fold in tofu cubes.  Top each serving with chopped peanuts.  Pass cilantro and green onions at the table.

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Coconut Pecan Banana Bread

It seems impossible for me not to tweak a recipe these days.  I set out to make plain, old, delicious Chocolate Chip Banana Bread this afternoon, I swear I did.  Tried-n-true, everyone-loves-it banana bread.  Nothing fancy.

Then I came to 'vegetable oil' in the ingredients list, and I went straight for the coconut oil.  I just can't resist coconut in any form, and they say coconut oil is healthier and makes you more beautiful to boot.  Sign me up.


From there I found a bit of shredded, unsweetened coconut in the pantry, and also unearthed a small bottle of coconut flavoring in the spice cabinet.  There were pecans, too, and it seemed the banana bread's fate was sealed: Chocolate Chip gave way to Coconut Pecan Banana Bread.

I wasn't sure if it was going to taste great, but for coconut, I will risk much.


When I pulled the first two loaves out of the oven an hour or so later, they smelled amazing.  I waited a whole 25 seconds before loosening the loaf and turning it out on to the counter, exercising much restraint.  I snapped some quick pictures and then grabbed the knife - the moment of truth.


It tasted fabulous - banana'y, a little coconutty, and a lot delicious, with a bit of added crunch from the toasted coconut on top.


Let's bake.


Coconut Pecan Banana Bread


1 c coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t coconut extract
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
4 mashed bananas
3/4 c chopped pecans
1/2 c shredded, unsweetened coconut


Oven to 325.  Grease loaf pans (makes 2 9" loaves or 4 5" mini loaves).

Beat oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and coconut extract.  In another bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Add to the oil mixture, and just combine.  Fold in the mashed bananas, coconut (reserving a bit for sprinkling on top of the loaves), and pecans.

Pour into prepared pans, filling 2/3 of the way.  Bake 50 minutes for mini loaves, 1 hour for regular loaves, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Keep in mind, though, that they will continue to cook just a bit in the pans after you take them out of the oven.  Don't overbake - there should be a slight sheen to the very center of the loaf which will disappear as it cools.

This will be so tasty for Easter morning brunch... if they last that long.  I haven't tried it yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a smear of Nutella on this would be absolutely amazing.  Comment below if you try it!


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When Winter Lingers

The rain has just kept coming here, which shouldn't be surprising given that 'here' is Seattle, Washington. But it's been excessive and lengthy this winter even by our soggy, Gore-tex'ed standards.  What else can a girl do but invite over a bunch of girlfriends for comfort food, wine, and reality TV?

My friends are a delightfully diverse bunch.  They are moms, newlyweds, and single gals.  We are tall, short, and medium, Korean and Irish.  Our dietary needs run the gamut from those who will eat anything someone else makes for them to vegetarians and even one dairy-free, gluten-free girl.  What in the world do you make for this crowd?


You make them a baked potato bar, with vegetarian chili and all the traditional baked potato toppings on the side: shredded Tillamook cheddar (the only cheddar in my book), diced green onions, sour cream, dairy-free sour cream, diced bacon, salsa, sliced olives, and steamed broccoli.  Everyone stays on their diet, and most importantly, we all feel warmed, comforted, and well-fed.


Already thinking of my next meal, I baked up all the potatoes I had, with the hope that the girls would leave a few untouched and I'd get to make potato soup.  I got my wish, and then found this recipe in an old, funky cookbook which also magically included many of the toppings I had leftover as well.  Soup kismet.

Baked Potato Soup


6 large organic Yukon Gold potatoes, baked
1/2 c butter
3 T flour
3 c milk (fat free works just fine)
3/4 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 oz real bacon bits
4 oz sour cream (don't use fat free)
shredded cheddar cheese
diced green onions

Melt butter in large, heavy pot.  Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes.  Whisk in milk, and continue to stir until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces (include the skins only if you are using organic potatoes.  If not, discard the skin) and add to pot with salt, pepper, and bacon. Cook 5 or 10 minutes, then use a potato masher to smooth out the potato chunks a bit.  Stir in sour cream and add more milk if needed to get the consistency you want.  Top with lots of cheese and diced green onions.

I left the cheese out of the main soup and instead added it as a topping since I wanted to freeze some of this soup - it'll be the perfect thing to take to one of our many friends who have recently had babies - but feel free to stir some in with the sour cream to incorporate it into the soup.


Don't forget to put more cheese on top, no matter what, and let the comfort roll over you as the rain hits the roof.

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Guinness Cupcakes With Bourbon Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh, Guinness.  How I miss you these days!  Your smooth, chocolaty, coffee-y richness is so complex, and yet, so light.  There is truly no one like you in the entire world of beverages.  Guinness has long been my favorite night cap, and when comfort is needed, Guinness and fish and chips has always been there for me.  It really does "cure what ails ya."


Maybe, just maybe, you have one lonely Guinness left over in your fridge from St Patrick's Day.  If so, you need to do better next time, my friend.  But for now, crack it open and use it to make a batch of these lovely treats!

You might have noticed I'm doing a bit of baking these days, and St Patrick's Day was no exception.  Pin this for next year, because you are going to want to make these moist, not-too-sweet cupcakes for your celebration.  I have it on good authority that they go perfectly with Bailey's and coffee, or there's always the obvious pairing... a nice, frothy pint of stout.




Guinness Cupcakes With Bourbon Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from The Repressed Pastry Chef


cupcakes:
4 oz unsalted butter
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 1/8 c flour
1/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
7 oz Guinness
1/3 c dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)


frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Ellie Bluebell's Kitchen Bourbon Vanilla Bean Sugar


Preheat oven to 350.  Use butter wrapper to grease a standard sized 12-muffin tin as well as a mini muffin tin (optional).  In stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together, then add in eggs.  Sift flour, baking powder and soda into a separate bowl.  Measure Guinness in a liquid measuring cup and stir in cocoa powder.  Add half the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, then half the chocolate mixture, etc, and combine.


Pour batter into muffin tin, filling nearly full.  I made 12 regular cupcakes and six minis.  Bake for 20 minutes for regular sized.  Add the minis after 5 minutes have elapsed (if making minis).

For frosting, stir cream cheese with fork in a medium bowl until smooth.  Add Bourbon Vanilla Bean Sugar, stir to combine.  Spread onto cooled cupcakes.  Try to share.


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The Fisherman and the Pescetarian

Presenting our first guest blogger, and it's none other than my husband, Casey!  He is the reason we have frequently have freshly caught salmon, steelhead, crab, and many other ocean creatures on our table.  I came home from working to find this meal on the table, hot and ready to eat.  I'm thankful for him for many reasons, but his fishing skill is one of the biggies.


A fisherman and a pescetarian: match made in heaven (or the Pacific Northwest)!


I'll let him tell you about the amazing treats he made with his latest catch: steelhead.

A nice 7-12lb steelhead can feed our family of 3 for a few nights, maybe even a week if we go sparingly (though that is never really the case).  We have to get a little creative on presenting new dishes that Natalie will continue to enjoy.  Enter that perennial favorite, crispy, crunchy fish and chips.  But isn't steelhead too oily?  Doesn't the flavor overwhelm?  After tasting these Steelhead Nugget, your answers will be no and no.

I didn't use a recipe, just plain lucked out I suppose.  Plus I've had my share of good and bad fish and chips in my day to give me a general concept and basic understanding of how to get started.  Call it intuition (or hunger), but I think that I tried a few tricks that helped to create the perfect Nugget.  I truly believe the milk/brown sugar/salt and pepper marinade is the key to these not coming out oily.  It helps the fry mixture to adhere, and the panko crumbs add the perfect texture. 

Fresh Steelhead or Salmon Nuggets

1 lb fresh salmon or steelhead

1/2 c milk (I used fat free actually)

salt & pepper

1 T brown sugar

1 egg

Fry Batter (I used a pre-made Old Bay version, save yourself time & energy by using a tried and true)

1/2 c panko bread crumbs

Canola oil for frying

Start by removing the salmon/steelhead fillet from the skin and removing the pin bones.  Cut into 1 1/2-2 inch cubes and place in a Ziploc bag and add milk, brown sugar, a good pinch of high quality sea salt, and pepper.  Squeeze the air out of the bag and place into the refrigerator for 30 mins. and while you prepare the "station".  Place the dry fry batter mixture into a shallow bowl.  In another dish, beat the egg.  Add a splash of milk to the egg and mix, add salt and pepper to taste.  In the last dish place panko bread crumbs. 

Get your oil nice and hot (look for a sheen to appear on the surface) in a deep, heavy pan.  Cover a plate with a paper towels for cooked fish to drain.  Take your pieces of fish and dredge them in the fry mixture.  Once they are coated evenly, shake off excess and transfer to eggwash, and then roll them well in the panko crumbs until completely covered.  

Carefully lower the fish into the hot oil to fry, being careful not to overcrowd.  After about 3-4 minutes (they will be golden brown on the bottom) flip over, and finish until the other side is the same color (about another 3-4 minutes).  Transfer to the paper towel covered plate to drip.  

That's it.  Easy.  Delicious.

Crack open an ice cold brew, Alaskan Amber would be an excellent choice, plate with some fries and set out the condiments.  

Give it a try!  Make them for children, or impress your friends.  And the next time the kids want chicken nuggets, think about all of the beneficial omega 3's you will get from eating freshly caught salmon or steelhead. If you don't have a fisherman, you can get fresh caught in any of the fish markets or farmer's markets.  

Everyone at our house loved Steelhead Nuggets... just look at that clean plate and smile.

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Beautiful Blueberry Muffins

There is just nothing like a muffin.  It's an easy, ready-made breakfast, which can be as healthy or sinful as you want it to be.  

Perfect for grabbing on your way out the door in the morning (they fit nicely in the car's or stroller's cupholders, don't you think?), and if you make them at home instead of swinging by the coffee shop for one, you'll save yourself about $2.50 a day.  Add that one up over a year!


After having some amazing warm blueberry muffins while on a playdate with my daughter at a friend's house, I knew I needed to make some of my own.  And I wasn't planning on worrying about healthying them up this time, either.  Light, sweet, and fluffy is what I was after, and I was even willing to buy buttermilk to achieve it.


I went straight to my new favorite baking authority, Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook.  Have I mentioned how much I love this book?  Well, I love it.  And of course it had just the recipe I needed.


A few friends and I were discussing what exactly is the trick to achieving a light and fluffy muffin.  Here are the scientific findings of a group of semi-amateurs on facebook.  The key, we think, is twofold:


1.  New baking powder.  My pie guru and foodie friend Mari says that it should be tossed after 3-4 months.  My idea is you should just try baking more so that you go through a full can of baking powder before 4 months is up.  I'll help with the surplus baked goods.

2.  Be very, very gentle with the batter.  Fold it together with a large, silicone spatula until just uniformly wet.  There might be a few lumps, and that's okay!  If you mix till it's smooth and perfect, your light and fluffy muffins become dense death cookies in the oven.  Do not use an electric mixer.  By hand.  By gentle hand.



Fresh Fruit Muffins 


2 c whole wheat pastry flour (okay, okay, I couldn't resist.  I healthied them up a little)
1 c flour
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
4 eggs
1 T pure vanilla extract
1 t freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 c whole milk
8 T (1 whole lovely, delightful, full-fat stick!) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 c ripe fruit (I used fresh blueberries, a small container and a bit of a second, and supplemented the rest of the measurement with frozen)
1/2 c coarse raw sugar


Oven to 375.  Brush insides of a regular sized muffin tin with oil (or use the reserved butter wrapper).


Sift flour, sugars, brown sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Mix with wooden spoon.


In another bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and milk with a whisk until combined.  Add to the bowl of dry ingredients, combining gently with your wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are just moistened.  Slowly add melted butter.  Gently fold fruit into batter.


Scoop batter into muffin tin, filling cups to the top.  Sprinkle a bit of coarse, raw sugar on tops of muffins and baked for 30 minutes.  For minis, 25 minutes.  After the regular size have been in the oven 5 minutes, add the pans of minis so you can bake them all at once.  Makes 16 regular size and 12 minis.

Don't you love how the raw sugar makes the tops of the muffins sparkle a bit?  If there's anything that could improve upon delicious, fruity, fluffy muffins it is definitely a little bit of edible bling.  

What are your best tricks for light and fluffy muffins?

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Morning Glory Muffins

I have been wanting nothing but baked goods lately, and I figured that if I'm going to eat baked goods, I should attempt to make them healthy ones and got out the Kitchen Aid.


Enter Morning Glory Muffins.

In December, I polled friends for the best pumpkin bread recipe, and was directed to a recipe for Squash Bread from the Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook.  Squash Bread was a revelation, and I prompty purchased the cookbook.  It's one of the best cookbooks I've owned, the kind where every recipe is amazing.  Not a dud in there that I've tried so far!

This is where I found the recipe for today's muffins.  Chock full of fruit and nuts, and they really do live up to their name (ahem), a connection I didn't even make until someone asked me, "well, do they work?"

I guess my first thought at the name was of the flower, but just look at the healthy cast of characters.  You make the call.

I couldn't help but tweak the original recipe to make it even healthier, since I was planning on eating a lot of these muffins.  I subbed whole wheat pastry flour for half the white flour.  More fiber, are you crazy?  Maybe.  Probably.


Morning Glory Muffins



Makes 18 regular size muffins or 12 regular plus some minis (great for little hands and, let's face it, soo much cuter)



Oven to 350


1/2 cup seedless organic raisins
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes, then cooled and chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (plain ol' whole wheat flour would be great, too)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 t cinnamon (just eyeball it)
1 1/2 t baking soda (don't eyeball this one)
1/4 t salt
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 organic Granny Smith, peeled and grated
3/4 c chopped pineapple (canned is ok, fresh is better)
3 eggs
1/4 c canola oil (next time I'm using coconut oil for sure)
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1 t freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c shredded, unsweetened coconut (look for this in the bulk section!)
1/3 c coarse raw sugar


Don't skip toasting the walnuts - it brings out their flavor and makes your kitchen smell heavenly.

Put raisins in a small bowl and fill with hot tap water.  Drain after 10 minutes or so of soaking.


Sift flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt into a big bowl.  In another, combine raisins, walnuts, carrot, apple, pineapple, eggs, oil, melted butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and coconut.  Mix with a wooden spoon.  Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined.


Don't overmix or you'll have hard little death cookies instead of muffins.

Spoon batter into oiled or papered muffin tins, filling them quite full since they don't rise much.  I could have filled them more full (see picture).  

Sprinkle coarse, raw sugar (like Sugar in the Raw) atop each muffin.  It doesn't take much, but don't skip this step.  It gives a sweet little crunch and a bit of a glaze to the top of your Glories.

Bake until lightly browned: 35 minutes for regular sized muffins, and 20 minutes for minis in silicone mini muffin pans.

Have some right out of the oven.  Why wait?  It's practically a fruit salad it's so healthy (I get great joy from being a baked-goods-enabler).  Don't think about the almost-a-whole-stick-a-buttah.  In fact, a little salted butter on these muffins is really good. 

These little muffins are quite sturdy, and stay fresh for about a day loosely covered on the counter.  The minis are a great addition to your little one's lunchbox, too.

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