K.I.S.S.!

I tried baking a cake last night to bring to my coworkers. It called for 1 cup of oil. I used 1 cup of coconut oil instead of vegetable oil because I wanted it to have coconut flavor.

But I think the recipe is totally flawed! It ended up being such a greasy mess of a cake! Yuck! I realized I need to take a step back and go to the basics: simple, effective, delicious recipes. I have to remember: "K.I.S.S."

Keep

It

Simple

Stupid!!!

So, tonight I decided to make up for it and bake muffins... for the first time ever I actually created a recipe from scratch! My very own! I just threw together stuff I had in my apartment, but it was triggered by the two over-ripe bananas that had been sitting around.

Black-Eye Banana Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1/4 fat free yogurt

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

12 blackberries

3/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan with non-stick spray.

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix remaining ingredients except blackberries and almonds until smooth. Gently incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Spoon batter into each muffin well no more than 1/4 of the way full. Top with a blackberry, followed by remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F until edges are golden, about 18 minutes. NOTE: The toothpick test isn't recommended because the blackberry will mess with the "clean" result! :)

Remove from the oven and keep in the pan for a few minutes before letting them cool on a wire rack.

After making these muffins, I felt really confident. I went for a bike ride and was so motivated and energetic that I decided to attempt making granola yet again! I've tried making granola not once, not twice, but three times in the recent past. Every time... I burned it. :(

But tonight was a success!

I didn't take any photos... maybe I will tomorrow while I enjoy a serving with my breakfast at work. It'll be low-quality (as my camera will be my iPhone!) but we'll see. Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to check it out!

Raw Shopping

I'm very open to new dietary styles, choices, and options. In April 2009 I decided to eat a vegetarian diet for a month, just to challenge myself and learn how to cook in a different way than I'm used to. I found it surprisingly easy to do, so about a year later I decided to eat a vegan diet for the same reason that I did the vegetarian thing the year before.

Although I'm not at the point of wanting to do another culinary challenge just yet, I'm continuing to experiment with things I eat. I definitely consider myself a flexitarian, as I eat meat rarely; for example, I had some tuna for lunch, but before that I think the last time I had meat was... um... sometime last week? I'd say out of the protein I eat, 10% of it is meat/poultry/seafood. About 25% of it is animal by-products (dairy & eggs) and the rest is from grains, cereals, soy, legumes, beans, nuts, etc.

Since starting this blog and getting more well-versed in cooking, baking, and food in general, I started utilizing Google Reader to follow lots of foodie, gardening, fitness, health, and local Cincinnati blogs. One of the foodie/health blogs I recently began following is Raw Reform. Through the blog, I discovered their store: The Raw Food World

When I discover new things involving my passions (technology, gadgets, and of course food!) I want to buy buy buy!

So, I bought bought bought...

• cacao nibs
• coconut oil
• chia seeds
• medjool dates
• shredded coconut
• goji berries

Obviously all of it is raw. The package came with free samples of some vegan protein powder and a couple of supplements, though I'm not sure if/when I'll try either of them. Except for the dates and goji berries, I've never eaten or cooked with any of the other items.

I've since tried the cacao nibs, which kind of remind me of espresso beans (yum)! Once I get the rest of my kitchen tools and gadgets out of boxes, I plan on experimenting with the rest of the stuff. Nom nom nom!

Have you ever looked into raw foodism? What are your opinions about it?

Welcome to My New Kitchen

As I said in a previous blog posts, I moved into a new apartment on the 4th of July weekend. My kitchen is a bit much smaller than my last apartment, but there are benefits: gas range, stainless steel counter top, and more windows (which means better lighting for photos).

So, without further ado...

Welcome!

My workspace!

Yup, it's small. Also, since taking the photo above, I put my microwave to the right of my range... temporarily. I have most of the cabinets full, but I'm waiting on my boyfriend to arrive for me to put most of it away.

See all of my appliances still in boxes? That's because my boyfriend is bringing a 3-tier shelf/cart that I will be using to hold my appliances (including my microwave), as well as other kitchen things.

This will help free up my counter space, which is very little as is! So, until then I will be using hard work (not my Kithchen Aid mxier!) to do my baking, cooking, etc.

I haven't baked anything and haven't even cooked very much at all in the 2 weeks I've lived here. With all of my appliances (except my microwave) and some of my cookware still in boxes, I've been unmotivated to make do with what I have at my disposal thus far. That is... until this afternoon!

First, I had to hunt through my two remaining kitchen boxes to find my mixing bowls, as well as hope when I found them that they were all still in one piece! Luckily they were! Now, it's time to bake!

Mocha Oat Mini-Muffins

Makes approx. 44 mini-muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

• 1.25 cups whole wheat flour
• .75 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 packet Starbucks Via coffee granules
• .5 cup coconut oil
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup light soy milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients ins a small bowl and add to dry mix.

When combined, fill greased mini-muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins and let them cool on a wire rack.

If you want to make large muffins, bake for about 15 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

A [Belated] Patriotic Pie

I made this for my coworkers the day before my vacation began. All of my bakeware was in boxes in preparation of my move. I didn't want to buy tons of stuff to bake with, or to use my cleaned oven, so a no-bake cake or pie was the only option!

Patriotic Creme Pie

Serves 8 to 12.

8 oz cream cheese

12 packets Truvia (or other stevia sweetener)

8 oz Sugar Free Cool Whip

1/2 cup raspberries + some for topping

1/2 cup blueberries (more or less...)

1 graham cracker pie crust

Blend cream cheese and Truvia until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until completely combined. Take half of the mixture and put it in a separate bowl.

Take 1/2 cup raspberries and mash them up until juicy. Pour the smashed raspberries into one of the cool whip mixtures and stir to combine. Pour into the crust and smooth into an even layer. Top with the plain cool whip mixture and spread until it covers the raspberry mixture completely and is flat on top.

Arrange blueberries and remaining raspberries on top in any way you'd like... get creative! :) Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is best).

I'm Back! - My Absence in Photos, Part 1

I've been M.I.A. for over a week - I'm sorry! But, I have an excuse...

I was moving! I only moved 8 miles, but I needed all the help I could get, so my parents also visited. One of the first things I did was take my mom to Jungle Jim's: an incredible, unique, gigantic international food market north of Cincinnati.

Even on the outside, it's an eclectic-looking place! It's... uh... jungle-themed, obviously! Words can't really describe the ginormousness (hell, even "ginormousness" isn't a word and it's the only way I can explain this place!) of Jungle Jim's, so I'll show you [mostly] in photos I took during our visit:

Booze.

A hybrid banana-pineapple (seriously), and a giant turkey leg.

Some kind of weird fruit, and ghost chiles - the hottest pepper in the world!

Delicious sushi we bought and ate for lunch, and an 8-pack of duck heads (for under $2.50... what a deal!).

Um... instant spring rolls (??!!) and a can of "white gourd drink".

The biggest marshmallows EVER!!!

Our cart of goodies. Nom.

This is just a small, miniscule glimpse into Jungle Jim's; every time I'm there, I discover at least 10 new things! If you're in the Cincinnati, Dayton, eastern Indiana, or northern Kentucky area, definitely take a weekend afternoon trip there!

During my parents' trip here, a lot of food-related things happened: dinner, shopping, cooking, etc. I'll blog all about it... but right now I need to get back to unpacking!

Simple Frozen Decadence

Since the beginning of my weight-loss journey over two years ago, I became a huge fan of smoothies. I had my basic recipe:

• 1/4 cup frozen fruit/berries
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup liquid (soy milk, almond milk, or some kind of fruit juice)

Easy peasy, but sometimes I'd add "eyeball" the amounts incorrectly and end up with a smoothie that was way too thick. It would sometimes just get stuck around the edges of my blender and I'd have to add more liquid to it just to make it pour-able!

Little did I know, what I was actually doing was making a frozen yogurt-like dessert! I've read on many blogs and websites of dairy-free "frozen yogurt" that uses frozen bananas, however I never tried it until Saturday. In the past three days I've made two versions of it (each amazing in their own way) and plan on making more!

The base of the recipe is simple:

• 1 frozen banana
• a splash (approx. 2 tablespoons) of liquid, such as soy milk, almond milk, or juice

To make it into your own custom creation, just add some mix-ins!

Here's my Tropical Freeze version:

• 1 frozen banana
• 8 pieces Trader Joe's Frozen Mango Chunks (approx. 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• a splash Trader Joe's Unsweetened Soy Milk

Blend it all together until it's nice and smooth!

For something a bit more decadent, I also made an Almond Cocoa Freeze:

• 1 frozen banana
• a splash of Trader Joe's Unsweetened Soy Milk
• 1 heaping teaspoon almond butter
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• slivered almonds, optional (as a topping)

This one was so rich and chocolatey, I could barely taste the banana flavor.

My boyfriend absolutely despises bananas (and, believe it or not, he doesn't like any fruit *gasp!*) to the point that he can't even see them without thinking the room smells foul. I've read many places that this banana frozen treat doesn't taste much like bananas, but I definitely can taste it. I hope to find a way to camouflage the flavor so my boyfriend can enjoy this healthy alternative to ice cream! I'm also hoping to make ice pops out of this stuff, and maybe even swirl some kind of syrup, jam, jelly, or honey in it to make it more like the confections in shoppes and supermarkets!

What combinations or varieties would you like to see? I will try to make some of them and feature the recipe in future blog posts!

Cleaning the Pantry

I'm moving to a new apartment in less than two weeks. Despite it only being 8 miles away, I still want to consume the foods that I have on hand so I don't have to rush perishables and frozen goods from here to there and worry about it going bad! (Maybe that's just an excuse to eat my kitchen clean, haha.)


So, for the past few weeks I've been food shopping very very little, only getting things like spinach or soy milk - things I go through quickly and eat regularly. Some stuff I still have yet to consume that I really need to are:

• Frozen veggies
• Trader Joe's Chili Lime Chicken Burgers (frozen, though I may try to pack those in a cooler because I doubt I can eat all 6 in the next week!)
• Tofu
• Carrots
• Eggs
• Carton of egg whites
• Soy milk
• Orange juice
• Tofurky sausages
• Greek yogurt

...and probably other stuff that I can't think of right now that's been sitting in my fridge/freezer for a while.


In an attempt to begin the pantry-purging, I made some vegetarian pot-pies earlier this week using some of the things from the aforementioned list (frozen veggies, tofu, soy milk).

Vegetarian Pot Pie

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition info here.

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 2/5 block of extra firm tofu
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk
• 1 package Bird's Eye Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray 4 ramekins with non-stick spray and set aside.

Cook Bird's Eye vegetables according to instructions. Cut tofu into small cubes and toss with paprika until coated. Add remaining veggies and remaining ingredients (except puff pastry) and mix until combined.

Evenly distribute the mixture into the ramekins. Cut puff pastry into quarters (4 squares) and top each ramekin with one square. Cut a few slits (be creative how they look!) into the top of each puff pastry. Brush some egg white on top of each puff pastry (this isn't shown in the nutrition info).

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Now, I think I need to get back to cleaning and packing. Luckily my mom is arriving on Tuesday (my dad arrives on Saturday) to help me finish up my packing and cleaning and to provide much-needed assistance with the move itself! Maybe they'll help me eat my food, too...!

An Exchange of Goods

A coworker of mine has a fun little agreement with me that began in April. I made a butterscotch cake for the Keeneland horse race for a group of people I barely knew (as I was invited by a friend, yet knew nobody else!). One guy in particular was commenting on how great the cake was and told me that his mother makes her own apple sauce and has been doing so for years.

Since then he has brought me a jar of his mom's apple sauce with one catch: I have to make something with it, and as payment I get to keep the rest of the jar of apple sauce for my own enjoyment. I happily agreed!

I've baked muffins for him the first time around but because of our schedules never really working out with one another, it wasn't until last week that he could get another batch for me. The muffins I made last time weren't that great, so I decided to take a different route: bars.

Apple Oat Bars

Makes 20 bite-sized bars.

Based on this recipe.

Filling:

3/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup dried apple rings, chopped roughly

Base/Topping:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda blend

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

2 egg whites

1/4 cup melted margarine

1/4 cup apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 baking dish.

Mix together filling ingredients and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients. Add melted butter, followed by all remaining wet ingredients.

Press half of the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan, as evenly as possible. Spread filling over crust. Top with remaining oat mixture, pressing evenly so it covers all of the filling.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool before cutting.

Fill-You-Up Breakfasts

I've been trying to broaden my breakfast horizons lately. I want to try to stay away from boxed cereals, frozen waffles, and other foods that my lazy self normally enjoys and stick with whole foods. I'm no hippie (or maybe I'm in denial...) but I like cooking from scratch, so why engorge in boxed foods? I need to embrace my creativity... with minimal work, haha! Anyway...

Usually I use my over-ripe bananas to make banana bread; but, honestly, after a while it gets pretty mundane to just make banana bread all the time!

I decided to come up with a random breakfast food a couple of weeks ago using some bananas that were nearing their end.

Banana Pan-Cakes

Makes 6 Cakes

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup ground flax meal

2 ripe bananas

1/2 tsp cinnamon

a spash of soy milk

I mashed up all the ingredients together. It kind of looked like sticky oatmeal cookie batter while tasting like banana bread!

Form them into 6 patties (or however many you want) and brown them in a skillet. For me this was about 5 minutes on each side. Yum!

Next up, I really enjoy the idea of things cooking themselves while I sleep. A while ago I tried to make crock-pot oatmeal and failed miserably. This time I decided to stay away from the heat as to avoid further disappointment.

Maybe this isn't traditional muesli but it tastes good (and is good for you!) and I don't know what else to call it.

Lazy Girl Tropical Muesli

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition information is here.

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

16 pieces frozen mango chunks

3 packets Truvia sweetener

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup unsweetened light soy milk

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. It'll be really thick. Cover with a lid and refrigerate overnight.

I've made this a couple of more times with fresh diced up strawberries and kiwi, coconut, and sunflower seeds. It's very versatile, so use whatever you have on hand!

Memorial Day Weekend (And Bad News)

I lost my camera, which makes me really sad. I have a bad habit of losing things that I like, and this is one of those moments. I took it with me to Texas last weekend while I was visiting my brother, sister-in-law, nieces, and nephew. I have a lot of photos of a great weekend, as well as photos of the amazing food that we ate that I was hoping to share with you, my readers!

Unfortunately all I have are these photos that I took with my iPhone, but if I find my regular camera I will post the better photos as well. (Here's to hoping...)

My sister-in-law is Vietnamese and cooks the greatest Asian food I've ever had. This was my lunch the first day I was there: Vietnamese soup of some kind. It wasn't pho... but I forget the name. Broth, sprouts, cilantro, beef, noodles, and hot sauce on top.

My two nieces preparing some chicken dumplings, and the finished product (that I actually cooked!) which ended up pretty good. I was really flustered because, well, my sister-in-law sets the bar high with her cooking and I didn't want to disappoint!

For our first dinner there, and our next day's lunch, we had a crawfish bake!

Corn, potatoes, crawfish, dumplings... all of it spicyyyy because that's how we roll in our family! My lips were on fire, but it was totally worth it.


I really really hope I find my camera, not just because of the photos on it but also because I really don't want to be spending more money on things! I have a back-up camera but it's very unreliable and the quality isn't as good as my other one.


I have some other recipes, photos, and things to post here that I've been procrastinating doing, so hopefully that'll buy me time to find my camera!

LOST (...in baking)

The series finale of LOST was just over one week ago. It was my favorite show on TV and the finale was awesome (at least in my opinion; others definitely feel differently!). In the past, I've baked some stuff for LOST, but definitely nothing compared to what I brought to my friend's finale party!

The best thing about this cake is a combination of two things: it looks complicated, but it's really a very basic technique!

LOST Finale Cake

1 box white cake mix (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

1 box dark chocolate cake mix (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

1/2 batch Creamy Vanilla Almond Icing + 1/4 cup Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder

1 tub creamy vanilla frosting (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

2 ounces Semisweet Baker's Chocolate

blue food coloring

green food coloring

Follow directions for cake using two 8" round cake pans (for each flavor of cake). I made the following substitutions:

• Margarine for the butter
• Unsweetened apple sauce for the oil

Let cakes cool completely before frosting. In the meantime, make the frosting (link above) by adding the cocoa powder before you add the powdered sugar. Set aside.

Also, make yourself the numbers... not just any numbers... but the numbers! ;) Melt the chocolate, put it in a piping bag (I used a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of it), write the numbers on a piece of parchment or wax paper, and put in the fridge until hardened.

When cakes are cooled, stack them on top of each other.

I made 2 round chocolate pieces, one round white cake piece, and one square white cake piece (which will come into play later). My white layer was a bit wider than the chocolate so I trimmed it to fit.

Next, find something round to trace that's about half the diameter of the cake rounds. Mine was a cookie jar lid.

Using a knife with small serrations, I cut through all the layers of the cake at the same time. I repeated this through the one layer of square white cake. (You can use another round, but I only had 3 round cake pans, haha!) Then you'll have a core.

Rearranged the core to be the opposite of the outer ring. So, the outer ring is black-white-black and the inner ring is white-black-white. I used the black cake to make the dome on top, carving it as best I could.  In between each layer I put the previously-made chocolate frosting to hold it all together.

I dyed 3/4 of the white store-bought tub of frosting blue (for the water) and the other 1/4 I dyed green (for the island's jungle).

 

First thing's first: let me explain why I'm not using home-made frosting. I didn't have the stuff, and I always keep an emergency stash of boxed cake mix and pre-made frosting for emergencies! If you want to make your own frosting, I always say go for it!

Now, it's time for the "crumb layer" of frosting. When frosting most cakes (especially when they've been cut into, like the dome "island") you'll get tons of crumbs in the frosting. So, I used about 1/4 of each frosting and did a thin layer, then let it sit for a little while (about 10 minutes) so the crumbs would stick more to the cake.

See the difference? :) All you need to do now is grab the numbers, and put them on the outside!

Now, what's with all of those cores and layers and stuff on the inside? Well, check it out!

For all of you LOST fans out there, I used three main themes from the series in this cake:

1. Black vs. White (the two kinds of cake)
2. The Island (the colored frosting)
3. The Numbers (the chocolate on the outside)

Dorky? Yes. Yummy? For sure! You can make boxed mixes into fabulous baked goods by just using simple techniques!