Ypsi Cooks

The first rain of the season drove us inside at 10:30 this morning, but already we had “watered” the cold frame (shoveled snow into it), cleared a lot of leaves and found some green oregano. Parsley and arugula in the cold frame survived the winter, as did the new thyme in the garden. The rosemary plant looks like a gonner, but I'll let it sit for a few more weeks to see if there's anything that might come back. Some spinach and lettuce planted too late for a winder harvests is already an inch high. Looks like local harvests will begin again soon!

One of my friends had an intense day, so the kids and I decided to make her some cookies. We love to make cookies, with all the measuring and dumping and mixing, it’s childhood heaven. I’ve been working on a low fat, low sugar recipe for a while. Cooks Illustrated created light recipe where you use all butter (no applesauce or other funny stuff), but you melt it, and somehow that means you only have to use half as much.

Well, it’s a great recipe, but it has 1 cup of sugar, which is the main ingredient we try to avoid in this house, so I’ve been slowly reducing it. A half cup provides enough sweetness, but since sugar is important for moisture and cohesion, I have been tinkering with the recipe in other ways to compensate. I perused online for a trailmix cookie recipe and found one that included 1/2 tsp of baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water. Wondering if that might do the trick, the kiddos and I set to work on a batch of cookies.

But wait. I forgot. We ran out of cinnamon a few days ago. Grrrrrr. What’s an oatmeal cookie without a little cinnamon? Plus, cinnamon speaks to your tastebuds as if it’s sweetness, thereby allowing you to reduce the sugar content without totally sacrificing flavor. What’s a girl to do without cinnamon? Dorie Greenspan published the recipe for this amazing Spiced Cranberry Bunt cake in the November 2008 issue of Bon Appetit where she introduced me to Chinese 5 Spice*, and aromatic combination of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and other spices. Since then, I’ve used it here and there to add ore interesting flavor than cinnamon alone.

Using 5 spice, I knew I had to be choose my nuts and fruits wisely. Thinking about the fruit, nuts and seeds I had, I thought a Turkish/Middle East inspired cookie with apricots and pistachios might work out well. Of course you could always replace the 5 spice with cinnamon and have a quite traditional (only healthier) oatmeal.

Also, sorry about the lack of pictures. Imagine an oatmeal cookie, not totally flat, not a puffy little cake cookie, but a nice normal one. Now imagine it a few shades darker because of the spice and molasses. There’s your picture.

*I bought my 5 spice in bulk where I could get just a spoonful for a few cents, just in case I didn’t like it. I’ve been back for more. Twice.

Turkish Spice Trail Mix Cookies (makes about 30 and are probably healthier than most granola bars)

2/3 c. white whole wheat (or unbleached all purpose) flour
1 1/3 c. oats (preferably old fashioned)
1/4-1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled (in a big enough bowl or pan to mix the following 7 ingredients)
1/2 c. sugar (or 1/2 c. dark brown sugar and omit the molasses, but I’m “frugal”)
1 egg, room temp
1 T. blackstrap molasses
2 T applesauce (or just do 6 tbsp melted butter)
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder (or cinnamon)
1/4 tsp powdered ginger (my ginger loving friend might have liked 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbsp hot water
1 1/2 cups “stuff”
We did chopped apricots, golden raisins, toasted almonds, pecans, pistachios and sunflower seeds.
The variations are endless: sesame seeds, dried cherries, coconut, chocolate chips, or the classic raisins and walnuts)
2 tbsp chopped candied ginger, optional

Preheat the oven to 325*. If using raw nuts and seeds, place them on a baking sheet in the oven to toast for 15 min or until fragrant. Remove and allow to cool. The oven does not have to be preheated for this.

In the mean time, in a small bowl, pour hot water over the dried fruit & candied ginger, if using (this helps plump them). Mix the flour, oats and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Mix the sugar into the butter. Beat in the egg. Add the molasses, applesauce, 5 spice (or cinnamon), ginger and vanilla. Stir until blended.

Dissolve the baking soda into the fruit and water mixture. Stir the sugar/egg mixture into the oat mixture until combined. Add the fruit, water, baking soda, nuts and other “stuff” and mix until evenly distributed. Drop tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and flatten a little. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 12-14 min, rotating halfway through baking. Allow to cool 5 min, then remove to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

P.S. My wonderful aunt asked about a diabetic friendly oatmeal cookie recipe just as I was preparing to type this. One might try replacing the sugar and applesauce (maybe the molasses too) with 1/3 cup agave nectar. It has a lower glycemic index than sugar.

This time around our assignment was 100% whole wheat olive oil dough, a southwestern foccia, and aloo paratha.

I needed to make bread right away (walnut cherry: my dad's birthday gift) so I replaced 1/2 cup of the water with yogurt and whey to give it a little zing from the get go. Also, I added ~1/3 of a recipe of the regular 100% whole wheat dough because 1 1/3 batches fill my container nicely.

With the dough I made the HB in 5 version of aloo paratha. One of our group members blogs from India and introduced us to more authentic aloo paratha. I look forward to trying those soon, or at least the spices for the filling!

The HBin5 recipe calls for curry, but I ran out a while ago and keep forgetting to buy more. However I did have a jar of spinach punjab sauce, so I used that instead.
Indian Inspired Stuffed Flatbread
1 1/2 pounds dough
1 pound cooked thin skinned potatoes/sweet potato combination
1/4 – 1/2 cup spinach punjab sauce (to taste)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
Melted butter for top, optional
Curry powder for top, optional

Preheat oven to 450*. Mash or grate potatoes with skin on. Thinly slice, then chop the sweet potatoes so the skins (SUPER nutritious) are non-obrteusive. Mix in remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning.

Roll 1/2 the dough into a large circle. Cut it in half. Cover half the semi circle with filling leaving a half inch border.

Wet the edges. Fold the dough to cover the filling and pinch with fingers to seal. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with curry powder, and place on a prepared cookie sheet or directly on pizza stone in oven. Bake for 20-22 min. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

I served these for dinner with a chickpea salad, and it was quite delicious.

~~~
As for the southwestern foccia: I'll make that this summer when I've got peppers and corn in the garden. In the mean time, we made “Party Wheels”

I sauteed chopped onions and a little salt until starting to brown, then I added shredded carrot and kale and sauteed it all together until everything began to soften a little. I rolled out 1 1 /2 pounds of dough, distributed the veggie mix (which could be made with almost any veggie you can imagine… small chopping is the key with the firmer veg) and pressed it into the dough. Then I sprinkled some cheese on top, rolled it up, and cut it into slices.

The buns were placed on silpat on a cookie sheet and covered to rise for about 20 min. I then sprinkled them with a little more cheese and baked them at 375 for about 30 min until the thermometer registered 202. Our friends were over and brought a great spicy veggie soup. The buns came out of the oven and kids went nuts (hence no picture of the finished project!). Party Wheels will be back on the table, just as soon as the kale starts growing again! Sue, you should make some: you know Weight Watchers is all about soup, veggies and whole grains…

I know I’ve done several posts about oats, but really the stuff is amazing: nutty and delicious, easy to cook and super healthy. Molly from the Orangette posted about these pancakes last month and I made them the next day. Tom and I were full after eating just 2. 2!!! We’re the kind of people who eat 5 or 6 1/4 cup pancakes. Not only that, but I thought they were absolutely delicious. Tom, however, was unimpressed. I made them again a few weeks later, because I just couldn’t get enough. But this time Amelia insisted on wah-wah (which is clearly the word for banana, right?), so I decided to add some banana slices*. So we got to it, pouring batter, slicing bananas and flipping in turn. Tom took a bite and said, “These are a lot better than I remember.” A few bites later, “Wow, these are really good.”

*Early in our marriage when Tom first suggested we make banana pancakes, I went to it, smashing up bananas to add to the batter. NOOOOO! The bananas must be sliced and laid on top, similar to blueberries. This is what Tom’s folks have always done. They were introduced to the sliced banana pancake (with coconut syrup) when they were young, childless, and galavanting in Hawaii. To Tom, slices were obvious; to me, it was a pancake revolation. The bananas become gooey and caramelized and add more to a pancake than you would expect from their benign mildness.

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
Adapted from the Orangette, from the Inn at Fordhook Farm

Blueberries or raspberries sprinkled on top just like the bananas would be good too. (And if you’re using frozen, there’s no need to thaw them. The hot pan will do that for you.) Or don’t add any fruit and serve with a spiced or berried apple sauce.

The night before I get all the dry ingredients ready, set out the eggs and put the butter in a bowl in the microwave. The next morning all I have to do is heat the butter, slice the banana, stir and cook. Practically no thinking involved.

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup flour (white whole wheat or all purpose)
1 1/2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. table salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted but not hot
1 banana, sliced
Vegetable oil or spray, for greasing the pan
Warm apple sauce or maple syrup, for serving (chopped pecans would be delicious, if you’re being decadent)

The night before:
Combine the oats and milk and yogurt in a medium bowl. Stir to mix. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

The morning of:
Take the bowl of milk and oats out of the fridge. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Add the eggs and melted butter to the oat mixture, and stir well. Add the flour mixture, and stir to blend. The batter will be very thick.

Warm a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat, and brush (or spray) with vegetable oil. To make sure it’s hot enough, wet your fingers under the tap and sprinkle a few droplets of water onto the pan. If they sizzle, it’s ready. Scoop the batter, about a scant _ cup at a time, onto the pan, taking care not to crowd them. Lay a few banana slices on each cake. When the underside is nicely browned and the top looks set around the edges, flip the pancakes. Cook until the second side has browned.

Re-grease the skillet, and repeat with more batter. If you find that the pancakes are browning too quickly, dial the heat back to medium.

Serve hot, with the toppings of your choice.

Yield: about 16 pancakes, 4 or more servings

I get it: Valentine’s Day comes with a lot of strings attached for a lot of people. Fortunately, not for me. My parents didn’t put much stock in Valentine’s Day. To a fault. One year I, the budding romantic, said, “Dad, what are you getting mom for Valentine’s Day?”
“Nothing.We don’t really do Valentine’s.”
My response? “Well mom’s getting you something…” An hour later I had the same conversation with my mom, names reversed. Such a devious plotter I was, and at such a young age.

For all of my parent’s lack of cheesy Valentine’s doting on each other (made up for throughout the year, I promise), my mother certainly made up for it with us kiddos. Valentine’s always fell close to the annual Presidents’ Day Weekend ski trip, and our sack lunches on the mountain always contained chocolate hearts or chocolate lips, or some other (chocolate) Valentine’s Day goodie. One year my mom bought us cute little Valentine’s Day mugs and we used them (for many years) in the motel for eating oatmeal in the morning and sipping hot chocolate in the afternoon. To this day she still sends Valentine’s cards (especially to the grandkids) and offers little special treats. (It must be noted that my mother-in-law sends along some great treats too.)

All of this is to say that even though I don’t go in for Hallmark, roses, expensive dinners and consumerism induced guilt, I still LOVE Valentine’s Day. I am enamored with creating decorations and cards and and creating red and/or pink and/or heart shaped treats. Especially if I can find a way to make them at least a little healthy. So the pink-ness of “Red Beet Buns from Healthy Bread in 5 was perfect match.
I don’t think I would have thought to make these if it hadn’t been an “assignment” from Michelle over at BigBlackDog. The dough has spelt flour, shredded beets and minced onion in addition to the usual. I made a half batch, mostly because I only had 2 beets left from this summer’s garden. In fact, I added a little shredded carrot to make up the 1 1/2 cups needed. I was excited about the onion, so I included 1 whole small onion (racquet ball size) in the half batch. Also, I didn’t peel the beets, I only scrubbed them: once shredded who would know the difference.
Other’s had mentioned the dough being a little wet, so I wasn’t concerned when I dumped in an extra ounce of flour. I shredded the beet, onion and carrot in the food processor, so I thought I’d mix the dough in there too. It was a lot more hassle than mixing by hand, but I think it’s part of what imparted the slightly more purple than pepto bismol color to the dough.

I’ve been wanting to make these egg baskets since Zoe of HBin5 posted them over a year ago. There’s no time like the present. Eventually.

I rolled out a pound of dough, cut it inot six squares and put it into every other cup of a sprayed muffin tin. Tom put in a little cheese and an egg into each “basket.”

We baked them at 375* for about 20 min. I think a lower temperature with a longer bake time might provide an absolutely unctuous egg, but with a little salt and pepper, these were pretty great. We had them for dinner with some broccoli. The onion flavor paired beautifully with the egg, and the rise, crust and crumb were lovely. It was hard for me to get a good photo, so I’m including one with a cute little model to make up for it.

Eli thought our Valentine’s Day egg baskets were “cool.” He insisted “I really the crust,” until he found out there were beets in it… I’m looking forward to the summer when beets are plentiful again. I suspect these will be a favorite of our daughter who has taken a liking to pink.

Tom is emphatic about one thing: you must do at least 1 I-wouln't-have-done-this-except-it's-a-snow-day thing on each and every snow day. Getting caught up on laundry and cleaning the bathroom are allowed, as long as you do at least one totally fun snow day thing. For me, that means muffins. I started making these last spring and haven't made them much since, because they're really a cool weather muffin in my opinion. They've got that cozy molasses thing going for them, and I like them a lot, even with the lower sugar option.

Bran Muffins adapted from Joy
Makes 12 good sized muffins

Dry ingredients:
2 c flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 1/3 c oat or wheat bran
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
2-4 tbsp sugar
1 1/3 c butter milk*
1/4 c molasses
1/4 c apple sauce
1/4 c butter, melted and cooled
zest of 1 orange (at least 2 tsp).

1/2 c rasins (I once tried apricots, but the flavor was lost entirely)
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. Add the raisins and nuts to the wet ingredients. Mix the wet into the dry. Do not over mix, but be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for 20-22 min until a toothpick come out with just a few crumbs. Let cool 2-3 min before removing from pan. Serve hot or cool on a cooling rack.

*or put 1 tbsp vinegar in measuring cup and top off with milk. let sit for at least 5 min. Or do 1/2 milk, 1/2 yogurt. I just took the extra whey from my messed up batch of yogurt (about 1/3 cup) and topped that off with milk to equal the recipe amount. The key is to have that acid to interact with the baking soda, but the flavor of real buttermilk is irreplaceable.

Assignment: 1 Full recipe Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Hamburger or Hotdog Buns
1 Loaf Apple Strudel

I've been having fun baking with this group: it has certainly served as major motivation to make some of the recipes in the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book that would have taken me years to try. However, not one to take assignments literally, I made a major substitution right away. We did another batch of the Master Recipe instead of the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. Why? We really haven't been thrilled enriched doughs, so with the cost of local eggs and honey, and the recent layoff, it just didn't seem worth it. But I was certainly excited to get on with the apple strudel bread.
WIth all these ingredients, I needed a helper.

Eli is in charge of measuring raisins and walnuts… with supervision.

My first challenge was gala apples. They're nice and rather sweet, but way too one-demensional for baking in my opinion. Checking the the fridge, I found I had cranberries left from Christmas. Knowing cranberries would add the necessary zing, I settled on my filling.

In addition to the apples, coarsely chopped walnuts, and raisins I added
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
3 T turbinado sugar
1 t cinnamon
pinch salt

Some other bakers had problems with it being too moist. In the past I have sauteed or microwave the filling and that has taken care of the problem, but with the gala apples, it was not necessary.

I've made plenty of rolled breads and knew I wanted something fancier for this loaf since I was bringing it to a friends for dessert. Besides, I wanted to play! I decided to try more of a traditional strudel look, knowing that the dough wouldn't be as flakey, but also would be much healthier. I rolled the dough on my silpat and put the filling long-way down the middle in a mound. Then using scissors I slit the dough in ~3/4 inch strips stopping just before the filling.

You can hardly see (or taste) the cranberries, but their tartness made all the difference.

I then brought the strips in, alternating sides to create what I call a “fishbone.” (I'm sure there's an official term for this, but I have no idea what it is.)
I slid the silpat onto a cookie sheet, covered with a greased opened cereal bag and let it rise.

Some little princess had to have a taste!

At the end of the rise, I brushed it with eggwash and sprinkled it with a cinnamon sugar topping. I baked it for about 35 min, pulled it out and checked the temp. It was over 200*, so I covered it with a towel and the family walked over to our neighbor's to enjoy a great dinner and an even better dessert and wonderful friends.

Perfect for sharing with friends.

As for the buns, we were having tempeh, which is rectangular, so to make rectangular buns I created the boule, rolled into a rectangle around an inch thick and cut them into rectangles. I didn't love the way they turned out, but I think I just needed more dough. I'll try again and report back then! In the mean time, I'm off to make another apple strudel!

I try to cook breakfast at least once during the week. We are a family that really enjoys all those boxes of cold cereal, but even on sale they are not particularly economical, healthy or environmentally friendly with all that packaging and shipping (though the bags are great for rolling out pastry or covering that rising dough). Because I don’t feel like getting up before Tom to make pancakes or waffles, I turn to oatmeal. I love the old fashioned stuff, and my sister-in-law Betsy says it doesn’t take that, but I made it the “regular” was the other day, and it felt like it took FOREVER. That’s when I realized I should to share this “recipe,” technique really. You do all the measuring night before, and it couldn’t be simpler. Turn it on rather low (we do 3 on our stove that goes to 10) before hopping in the shower, and it’s ready once you’re out. Make sure to check out your coop or bulk food store for oats. We pay $.95-1.25/lb for organic. Quaker and even the generic brand are usually a lot more in the supermarket.

Overnight Oatmeal
Enough for 2 hungry adults and a couple hungry kids. Adjust quantities as necessary.

2 c old fashioned oats (thick rolled are my favorite)
4 c water
dash salt
dried fruit* (1/4-1/2 cup)
1/2-1 t cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger, optional
1 soup spoon of blackstrap molasses, optional

The night before put all ingredients in a sauce pan, give it a stir with that soup spoon and put a lid on it.
The next morning turn burner on rather low with the lid on. It should be ready to eat in about 10 min, but because of the low temperature and lid, it will sit on the burner for a while longer without harm.

Serve with maple syrup, honey or other sweetener, nuts, yogurt, milk or anything else that suits your fancy.

*We most often use raisins, since I can get organic ones cheap, but cranberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots are all delicious
It’s also good with a pinch of ginger or Chinese five spice and probably a host of other spices. I wouldn’t recommend nutmeg; it was pretty funky.

*note: we’ve recently started  topping with frozen blueberries or jarred peaches

I joined a bread baking group and we're baking thorough Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. As a group, we're starting with the Master Recipe, which I followed to a T. Really. I actually followed the recipe verbatum. It made a great loaf of bread, and lovely pizza, but after all the excess of the Holidays, my gluttonus self needed MORE. We rolled out the remaining dough (1 to 1 1/2 pounds or so) on a silpat and sprinkled it liberally with dried cherries, chopped walnuts (1/2 cup of each perhaps) and a few mini chocolate chips (<1/4 cup), then patted those down. We rolled up the dough and goodies, pinched the seam, cut it in half (it was long) and place both the loaves seam side down on a cookie sheet with another silpat. After some debate, we covered the loaves with a greased cereal bag and let it rise in our cool kitchen overnight.

When the first kid woke me up in the morning, I ran out to the kitchen, turned the oven to 375, popped in the bread, turned on the timer for 40 min (an educated guess as to how long it would take for the oven to warm and then bake the bread), and, after picking up the other little one, ran back to bed. 40 min later when the timer went off, I sent Tom to check the bread. It was perfect, so he pulled it out to cool. Finally our little ones demanded that we all rise and consume the bread, so we quickly fried up some eggs, pulled out the cream cheese and sliced up a loaf. It was GLORIOUS. Really, if you are a person who goes in for things like chocolate-cherry-walnut bread, this is for YOU! And the bread dough could not be any easier. If you're too nervous to work with yeast, this is a fantastic place to start. My generous husband decided we should give the second loaf to his brother whom we rarely see but happened to be in town… I'm still a little bitter about that. But as the saying goes: bake and release!

First read the article, then make the cake. It's delicious. It might inspire other great treats. Did I mention, the cake is delicious? We made it last year as part of a breakfast and shared leftovers with friends then next day. Everyone raved. Try this cake. And if you're having a party, and you don't want to make this cake, invite me; I'll make it.