Sweet Potato-Banana-Coconut Muffins

I have decided that sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods. I really can't get enough of roasted sweet potato slices with olive oil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of maple syrup. Thankfully, sweet potatoes are very nutritious and full of fiber, beta carotene, and potassium. Beta carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the body, is important for vision, healthy immune system, and for skin and cell health. Potassium is needed for proper heart, kidney, muscle, nerve and digestive system function. Sweet potatoes do not need to be saved for Thanksgiving! They can make a great side dish baked, mashed or roasted. I try to get in at least one sweet potato a week. I had not thought of using sweet potatoes in muffins before though, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. I added a banana for sweetness and significantly decreased the sugar in the original recipe. I also added more fiber and decreased the fat by using egg beaters. These are a great start to the day or for a delicious snack! Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Banana Coconut Muffins
Yield: 12 standard size muffins
Adapted from this recipe

2 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup ground flax seed
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 banana, mashed
½ cup mashed sweet potato
½ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup egg beaters
½ cup plain fat-free yogurt or Greek yogurt
½ cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl
3. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining wet ingredients and coconut
4. Add wet ingredient to dry ingredient and stir until combined. Do not over mix
5. Divide into muffin cups

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

Per muffin: 154 calories, 4g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 2.4g dietary fiber, 4.4g protein

Chocolate Irish Soda Bread

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I made this bread to celebrate the day (and mostly as an excuse to make something with chocolate). I really can't remember where I came across this recipe, but I tweaked it to make it higher in fiber and nutrition. What I really liked about the recipe was that it used plain yogurt instead of the usual buttermilk that is in most soda bread recipes. Not that buttermilk is bad, but I happened to have two cartons of yogurt and no buttermilk in the fridge!  I have been experimenting with baking by weight, so this one was part of the experiment. The recipe called for 500g of white flour. I weighed out 475g of whole wheat flour and 15g of ground flax seed. It worked just fine. When you weigh your flour instead of measuring it you can combine all types of flour and just use the same amount by weight. You can purchase a fairly inexpensive scale to do this with and you will end up with less dishes (just weigh everything into one bowl- no measuring cups needed). This bread is not very sweet, despite the chocolate. It is perfect for breakfast or as a snack. Enjoy!

Chocolate Irish Soda Bread

475g wheat flour
15g ground flax seed
100g chocolate chips
2 tsp powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
1 1/3 cups plain yogurt

1. Pre-heat oven to 430 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients. Add egg, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix in a mixer until well combined.
3. Turn out mixture onto a floured work surface and knead for a few seconds to bring dough together. Form into a ball and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough with a serrated knife in a criss cross shape. Place on a greased baking sheet or cast iron skillet and bake for 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 390 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Bread will sound hollow when knocked. Let cool slightly and then slice.

Parsnip Muffins

Parsnips- kind of strange thing to add to muffins I know. I bought a bag of parsnips a couple of weeks ago to make a recipe from Around My French Table. That was really my first exposure to them and the rest have just been sitting in the refrigerator. I was planning on roasting them, but this morning I was flipping through a magazine and in it was a recipe for parsnip muffins. I decided to try it, but my recipe is loosely adapted from the one I found. I manipulated the recipe quite a bit to make the muffins higher in fiber and lower in fat. 

While I was doing this, it reminded me of my days working at Billings Clinic as a research dietitian. I spent hours making wheat, oat, and sugar beat fiber muffins for a cholesterol study. We had to make the muffins low in fat and calories plus flavorful and tasty so the test subjects would really eat them. I was so tired of baking and muffins by the time the study was done. I promise these parsnip muffins are very edible even with all of my tweaking. Actually they turned out very moist and surprisingly good. They are not very sweet, but the currents give a little bite of sweetness and the walnuts add a pleasant crunch. If you happen to have some parsnips, these are a delicious way to use them! Enjoy!

Parsnip Muffins

Inspired and adapted from Fine Cooking

yield: 16 muffins

1 tbsp Canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/4 cup ground  flax seed

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup light sour cream or plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 cups grated parsnips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup currents or raisins

9 oz whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. 

2. Beat together the oil, sugar, yogurt/sour cream, applesauce, vanilla, flaxseed, egg, and water until combined. 

3. Stir in the parsnips, walnuts, and currents. 

4. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the moist ingredients and stir to combine. 

5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean- about 20 minutes. Cool pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto the rack to cool. 

Super Easy Brown Bread

I love my cast iron skillet. We received one for a wedding present (thanks cousin Elizabeth!) and I am amazed at how much I use it. It was one of the gift that Aaron really wanted us to get because he had read about cast iron skillet cooking in GQ I think. I really didn't know much about them except that are good to use for cooking because some of the iron leaches into food, increasing iron content of the food. Now  I use it at least once a week, and today I have already used it twice!
A favorite Saturday breakfast item for us is "skillet pancake." Heat the oven to 450 degrees and place cast iron skillet in oven to heat. Once oven is heated, melt 1 tbsp butter in skillet. While oven is heating mix together- 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 2 eggs and a pinch of salt. Whip well and pour into hot skillet. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Cut into slices and enjoy! We especially love it with Nuttela and fresh strawberries.
Recently I saw a recipe on Dave Lebovitz's blog about  brown bread. It sounded delicious and easy, so I gave it a try with a couple of little twist on Dave's recipe- one being I baked it in my cast iron skillet! Who knew you could bake bread in a pan, but you definitely can. It  turned out great and I think you will enjoy it too! It went great with minestrone soup. Enjoy!

Brown Bread
adapted from David Lebovitz
 *I recommend weighing the ingredients if you have a food scale at home


2 1/4 cups (250g) whole wheat flour
2 3/4 cups (120g) wheat bran or wheat germ, (I used 120g of ground flax seed instead)
4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt)
2 ounces (60g) butter, salted or unsalted
2 1/2 cups (600ml) buttermilk*
2 teaspoons molasses
1. Put the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. (180ºC.) Line a sturdy baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and put it on the oven rack.(or use a cast iron skillet like I did)
2. Mix the whole wheat flour, white flour, ground flax, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

3. Cut the butter into little bits and rub them into small pieces with the flour mixture using your fingers (or a pastry cutter), until as small as possible.
5. Stir in the buttermilk and molasses until the dough is uniformly damp. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead not-too-vigorously, until the dough forms a smooth ball. (If making two, divide the dough into two equal-sized pieces and roll each separately.)
6. Use a sharp serrated knife to slice a cross deeply into the top of the bread, about 1-inch (3cm) deep. Place the brown bread loaf on the hot baking sheet, being mindful that the baking pan is hot.
7. Bake for 45 minutes (mine took closer to 60 minutes), or until the loaf is firm on top and when you tap the bottom, feels hollow.
8. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for one hour.
*If you do not have buttermilk, like me, I added 1 tbsp lemon juice to the milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes or you can mix equal parts plain yogurt and milk according to Dave.

Laura's Gone Crackers!

 

Crackers. They go well with cheese, they are great in dips, and I love them instead of bread for tuna at lunch time. They are great for a quick snack and always seem to satisfy a salt craving. Usually I choose a whole grain cracker if possible. My favorite are probably the multigrain chips by Food Should Taste Good. These are technically a chip and not a cracker, but they are thicker and have such a great nutty flavor I use them how I would use a cracker. Anyway, the thought of making my own crackers had never occurred to me until I read this post in Elena's Pantry. She has these beautiful looking rosemary crackers and they just looked so good that I had to try some! Plus I have lots of fresh rosemary growing in my garden and am always looking for ways I can use it. Elena uses almond flour in her recipes, which I am sure is excellent. Unfortunately, almond flour is not a product I can easily find or afford here, so I decided to try a product with wheat flour. Plus I added ground flax for even more nutrition and fiber. 

 

My crackers (or my picture) did not turn out looking quite as good as Elena's, but they were pretty delicious and got crispier the more they aged. I just ate up the last one today and plan on making more! They were great with my hummus dip and excellent with my favorite Laughing Cow Cheese. Give it a try and experiment with your own spices- cayenne, smoked paprika, herbs de provence, cracked black pepper, parmesean cheese, etc. Enjoy!

Rosemary Crackers
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemarry
1 tsp garlic powder
1 egg white and 2 tbsp water combined for egg wash
sesame seeds

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Spray large baking sheet with non-stick spray

3. Combine flours, flax, baking powder, rosemary, garlic, and salt.
4. Add in water and oil and mix/knead until smooth dough forms
5.  Using a small rolling pin spread dough onto baking sheet (I used a drinking glass coated with flour since I do not have a small rolling pin). Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into squares.
6. Paint dough with egg wash and sprinkle with Kosher or sea salt and sesame seeds.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crisp.



Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large roasted red pepper
2 large cloves of garlic
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Drain and rinse beans. Place beans, pepper, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and cayenne pepper in food processor. Process until chopped into small pieces. Drizzle in olive oil and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh veggies, chips or crackers, or as a spread in wraps or sandwiches.

Makes ~2 cups
Nutrition information per tbsp: 53 calories, 1.2g fat, 8g carbohydrate, 2.4g dietary fiber, 2.6g protein