Recipe ReDux | Eating The Week

Archive for Recipe ReDux

Recipe ReDux: Brunch recipes for May showers

May 21, 2013 Brunch, Recipe ReDux No comments

For this month’s Recipe ReDux – courtesy of Jenna Braddock at Fresh Food Perspectives – the group is sharing favorite healthy brunch dishes to celebrate May showers: bridal showers, baby showers, graduations parties.

My fellow ReDuxers are gracious hosts, offering up French toast bread pudding, pretty pink beet hummus, broccoli & egg muffins, and strawberry-rhubarb mimosas or coconut mock-jitos to wash it all down. And while I love me some brunch – so much so that my inaugural post focused on this great all-morning meal – I just couldn’t extend the invitations this time around. I’m in the middle of an all-out effort to get our little Cape house ready to sell, and I’m pretty sure the paint fumes would be off-putting to guests.

But don’t let my poor hosting skills keep you from enjoying May shower season! You’ll find links below to more than 50 great brunch ideas from this talented, health-and-tasty group:

Recipe ReDux: The Cupcake Conundrum

April 20, 2013 Chocolate, Dessert, Recipe ReDux 20 comments

That’s right – a cupcake conundrum. Yes or no? Hot or not? On trend or on the way out?

This photo probably gives away the answer….

For this month’s Recipe ReDux – courtesy of The Meal Makeover Moms @JaniceBissex and @LizWeiss – we were challenged to either proudly fly the mini-cake flag, or put a new hand-held dessert on the pedestal. And while I appreciate a good cupcake now and then, I don’t really get why there are practically as many cupcakeries as Dunkin Donuts around Boston. Is there a rampant frosting deficiency in America?

But I still kept things trendy when I came up with my hand-held alternative: orange chocolate chia squares. The hydrophilic little weirdos known as chia seeds are well on their way to displacing kale as the icon of healthy foodie-ism. They’re full of healthy fats, can be used as an egg replacement in baking, and reportedly fueled some extraordinary runners.

Chia seeds will glom onto water and form a viscous gel, but that doesn’t exactly lend itself to palm-of-hand portability. So to transform the goo to ready-to-go, I started with a strawberry energy gel recipe from Tim Woodbury’s Running Recipes: Chia-Powered Sole Food (which I reviewed previously). I futzed around with the sugar, water and fruit contents, and then transformed the gels into decadent chocolate-covered treats.

These little beauties probably aren’t going to make great running companions (body heat + sweat + chocolate = ew), but I’ll certainly have one as a reward after a weekly long run. You can get your hands on them, too, with the following recipe:

Orange chocolate chia squares

(20 pieces, approx. 185 calories each)

2 large oranges, peeled
2 Tbs grated orange rind, divided
½ cup water
1 Tbs orange juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown rice syrup
7 tsp powdered gelatin (approx. 1 oz)
6 Tbs chia seeds
¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips

Puree the oranges, water and juice in a food processor. Add the puree to a saucepan with the sugar, rice syrup, gelatin, chia seeds and baking soda, and put them over medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Be sure to use a long-handled spoon because the mixture likes to bubble & spurt.

Remove the orange mixture from heat and mix in 1 Tbs of the orange rind. Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 9×9 baking pan. Allow to cool for up to 4 hours, or until well set (I left mine on the counter for ~20 minutes, then cooled it in the fridge for another 1 ½ hours, and they were ready).

In a shallow bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for 1 minute at 50% power. Stir, then microwave at 50% in 15-30 second intervals, stirring again afterward, until fully melted (it took 1 ½ minutes for me).

Slice the orange gels into 20 pieces (cut in 4 one direction, and 5 the other). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil. Use a wood skewer or similarly sturdy pointy implement to pierce a gel longways, then dip it in the chocolate until coated. Gently push the square onto the lined baking sheet, then top with a pinch of the remaining orange rind.

Repeat the dipping with all the orange gels, then cool in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Once you eat these, you’ll still have another hand free, which I suggest you fill with one of the treats on offer from my fellow ReDuxers:

Recipe ReDux: Down to the wire for herb parmesan scones

March 21, 2013 Recipe ReDux 12 comments

I had a good 20 days to create, make and test a recipe for this month’s Recipe ReDux, whose theme is “green with herb envy.” That’s roughly 3 weeks to make use of fresh, green herbs in a nonconventional way; plenty of time… dare I say, a luxurious amount of time.

So what did I do? Well, I waited until 7 am this morning to get started. Procrastinate much?

In my defense, I’m not the only one taking my sweet time. The calendar says spring, but the weather clearly isn’t ready to get the ball rolling – the bright white background in this photo is the foot of snow we just got two days ago.

Parsley, oregano, and Mother Nature’s annoying sense of humor

And I did sketch out my recipe idea several weeks ago, going with a savory scone that would depart from the usual sweets-and-dried-stuff motif. I just didn’t bother to open up the flour sack until today. Sadly, the first attempt was a big last-minute fail: the cheese topping burned, the scone was dry, and the whole thing tasted strongly like baking powder.

These are not the scones you’re looking for

Being optimistic – ok, pressed for time and out of butter – I staged that herb-y photo of the first batch and thought I’d just write about how I probably would make these XYZ changes next time. But piling lazy on top of procrastinate-y (sure, that’s a word) seemed like the wrong way to go, so I picked up another pound of butter and got to work. This time, I cut back the baking powder & baking soda, left out the capers, added a teeny bit more milk, and mixed the parmesan into the dough.

The result? An herb parmesan scone that was well worth the wait (and the frantic trip to the grocery store).

My favorite part about these scones is how green the herbs stay, even after baking. And the flavors get even better when you dip these bad boys into some olive oil. So don’t delay – try this recipe out:

Fresh herb scones

(8 scones, approx. 250 calories each)

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
2/3 cup buttermilk, generously measured (nearly ¾ cup, basically)
2 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped
1 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use your fingers to squish the butter into small pieces & drop them into the dry mix. Using your fingertips, blend the butter into the dry mix until it resembles wet sand and the butter is evenly distributed.

Add herbs, tomatoes and cheese. Pour in the buttermilk and blend with your hands until they just come together. Divide the dough into eight balls, and press gently on the tops to flatten them a little.

Transfer the scones to the baking sheet, then pop them in the oven for 18-19 minutes. When done, let them cool for a few minutes on a rack before serving with olive oil for dipping.

You’ve got plenty of time to check out the herb-ful recipes created by my fellow ReDuxers, but don’t wait until the last minute. Do as I say, not as I do, and check these links out:

Lights, Camera, Pancakes! Recipe ReDux honors the Oscars

February 21, 2013 Breakfast, Recipe ReDux 13 comments

In just a few days, it will be time to honor Hollywood’s best at the annual Oscars awards. So our script for February’s Recipe ReDux was this: “In honor of the Oscars, create a healthy recipe inspired by your favorite food scene or featured dish from any movie.”

I used the way-back machine to find my inspiration – Pretty Woman, the Cinderella tale of a hooker (Julia Roberts) turned love interest for a wealthy guy (Richard Gere). There’s a morning-after scene in that movie where Julia Roberts’ character is lounging around, eating pancakes with her fingers, that inspired me to make Pretty Woman Pancakes.

For whatever reason, my middle-school-aged friends and I glommed onto recreating that scene, and spent the better part of a month making pancakes-eaten-with-your-hands our go-to after-school snack (is there an Oscar category for best use of hyphens in a sentence? I’m a shoo-in). There was something both cavalier and kid-like in that scene that seemed to resonate with a bunch of 13-year-olds.

But this being the Recipe ReDux, I couldn’t just put plain old pancakes on the red carpet (what would Joan Rivers say?!). So I added a few ingredients – dried apricots and dark chocolate – that boast complexion-friendly nutrients like polyphenols and vitamin A.

Mix up a batch of these Pretty Woman Pancakes and you can tell Mr. DeMille that you’re ready for your close-up.

Pretty Woman pancakes

(12-14 pancakes, approx. 85 calories each)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 Tbs vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes)
1 egg
1 Tbs butter, melted
1 Tbs honey
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup dark chocolate, broken into small bits

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg, then add the honey and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and mix together.

Finally, add the apricots and chocolate to the pancake batter. The pieces will tend to sink to the bottom after you’ve stirred them, so be prepared to re-stir things again just before you ladle it out onto the griddle.

Heat a pan over medium-high heat (think 7 out of 10); coat thinly with nonstick spray. Scoop the batter onto the hot surface, 1/8 cup at a time (math geniuses will figure out here that you can use a ¼-cup measurer and dole out half its contents to for each mini pancake). Heat until bubbles form on top through the batter and the edges are firm. Flip and heat on the other side for another few minutes, until cooked through.

Serve with maple syrup, honey, a little cocoa powder, or some crushed almonds. Or, just eat them unadorned, with your hands, with a gaggle of your middle school friends.

My fellow ReDuxers have even more ways for your menu to take a star turn – check out all their recipes:

Recipe ReDux: A Trend in Every Pot – BBQ tempeh slowcooker chili

January 21, 2013 Recipe ReDux, Recipes, Slowcooker, Vegetable, vegetarian 10 comments

Slow-aged meat, raw winter vegetables, barrel-aged hot sauce and artisanal soft serve – the recipe for the weirdest sundae ever? Thankfully, no. These are some of the food trends the New York Times predicted will change up our plates in 2013 (but ideally not all combined together).

For January’s Recipe ReDux, the group was asked to jump on a new-year food trend with an original dish prepared in a single pot, slowcooker, etc. So I skimmed the (meat heavy, foodie-focused) list and found one a nutrition nerd could get behind: fermented foods.

We’ve tackled these in a previous ReDux, where I made pickled-jalapeno-topped sweet potatoes with egg. The trend seems to be gaining steam, fueled by the gut-health benefits of consuming “friendly” microbes.

This time, I’m promoting some probiotics in the new year with tempeh, or fermented soy bean. According to Wikipedia, this firm-textured, whole-bean food originates from Indonesia. The fermentation process binds the beans together and gives it an earthy, nutty flavor that is much heartier than that better-known soybean product, tofu. To play off tempeh’s “meatier” texture, I combined it with butternut squash and some BBQ flavor to make a quick and simple slowcooker chili.

The sweetness of molasses, brown sugar and bell peppers rounds out the tang of the fire-roasted tomatoes and tempeh, while the squash lends a nice hearty chunkiness. Sweeten things up for your GI flora with this easy-to-assemble recipe:

BBQ tempeh and butternut squash chili

4 servings, approx. 315 calories each

1 package tempeh, cubed

1 red onion, chopped

2 red, orange or yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped

1 1/12 cups butternut squash (about1 lb), peeled, seeded and diced

2 14.5-ounce cans fire-roasted tomatoes

3 Tbs brown sugar

2 Tbs molasses

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 ½ tsp paprika

½ tsp chili powder

2 ½ Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

3 Tbs ketchup

1 cup water

Combine everything in a slowcooker and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours. Add small increments of water as necessary to achieve your desired consistency.

Ready to take on some new trends in the new year? Check out the links to more recipes from my fellow ReDuxers:

Recipe ReDux: Hit the post-holiday sales with a kitchen gift guide

December 26, 2012 Recipe ReDux No comments

Are you flush with a little holiday cash? Or maybe that purple chenille “wall art” from Uncle Bert doesn’t quite match the décor & you’re hoping to exchange it for something less… all of that. Have no fear, because you can easily find something to gift yourself from this month’s Recipe ReDux kitchen gadget gift guide.

Since our reveal day was just a few days shy of Christmas, the group decided to each share a favorite kitchen tool and a favorite recipe prepared using that gadget. Even though I’m a day (actually 5) late and a dollar (recipe) short, I didn’t want you to miss the guide (especially now that post-holiday sales are on).

The kitchen tool I’d recommend? Easily my Silpat non-stick baking mat.

They’re made of fiberglass and food-grade silicone, are super non-stick, clean up easily and can handle temperatures anywhere from -40°F to 482°F (-40°C to 250°C). I use mine for all kinds of scones – including banana chocolate chip or double chocolate ginger – but also for cookies, roasting vegetables, and pretty much anything else that goes on a baking sheet. It turns out that they make a version specifically for bread (the Silpain) that I don’t yet have, but I’d love to get my hands on one for pizza-making.

So while I’m shopping around for that Silpain, check out the whole gadget-reviews-and-recipes package put together by my fellow ReDuxers:

Recipe ReDux: Vintage Side Dishes Made New

November 21, 2012 Recipe ReDux No comments

Let’s be real: Thanksgiving is all about the side dishes.

Everyone gets their tailfeathers in a twist, fussing over how to prepare the perfect centerpiece turkey. But you and I and our closest internet friends all know it’s the green bean casserole, the sweet potatoes, and some version of cranberries (tube-form, chutneyed, etc) that bring people to the table.

This month’s Recipe ReDux theme cuts to the chase, bypassing the bird and going straight for the sides. The group was asked to reinvent a classic family side dish, keeping the flavor but maybe adding in some more healthy attributes.

Even though I’m on the side of side dishes, I wasn’t able to pull something off in time to post my own recipe. Maybe I’m just too invested in our low-fuss tradition of doing Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant to think about cooking myself.

Our first non-traditional traditional Thanksgiving, 4 years ago

But there are nearly 50 bloggers who brought a side dish to the Recipe ReDux table this November, many of which span beyond the boundaries of typical American Thanksgiving. You should go check out their creations via the links below!

Recipe ReDux: Orange you glad it’s fall?

October 21, 2012 Recipe ReDux, Vegetable, vegetarian, Week 84 16 comments

Do you know any nutrition nerds, in particular the card-carrying expert kinds called RDs? When I was doing some informational interviews, trying to decide if I was interested in the profession, I asked one RD how she would characterize the people working in dietetics. Her answer (“We’re all very… organized.”) was an understatement – what she meant is that dietetics is full of whip-smart, ambitious, detail-oriented over achievers.

Since I’m not yet an RD but play one on TV, I followed in those type A footprints for this month’s Recipe ReDux. We were tasked with creating recipes that feature fall’s plentiful, orange-hued, carotenoid-rich foods like pumpkin, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes and golden beets.

Butternut squash came right to mind – I love these tasty, versatile gourds, which have something like a billion percent (slightly less) of your vitamin A needs, and a nice chunk of vitamin C, potassium, manganese and more. But why stop a just one orange ingredient, or even two? So I backed those squash and stuffed them full of dried apricots, carrots and lot of other goodies.

The result is a baked stuffed squash with cinnamon-infused barley, tart apricots and cranberries, healthy little legumes and a sweet-tart dressing.

I angled for some extra credit with this triple-orange dish, and if you want to boost your kitchen grades too, have a go at the recipe:

Roasted butternut squash stuffed with cinnamon-infused barley, apricots & carrots

2 servings, approx. 500 calories each

1 cup pearled barley

3 cups water

1 cinnamon stick

1 butternut squash

1 carrot, peeled and diced into very small pieces

1/3 cup dried apricots

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup sliced almonds

½ cup chickpeas

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

½ Tbs olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp maple syrup

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Grated cinnamon to taste

Bring barley, cinnamon stick and water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 45-50 minutes (until tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the top off the squash near the stem, then cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and membranes, and use a paring knife, melon baller, or whatever other kitchen wizardry you’ve got going on to make a good-sized “bowl” from each half.

Put the squash cut side down in a large baking dish with ½-1 inch of water, and bake for 30-40 minutes (more for larger, thicker squash).

While the squash is baking, mix ½ cup of the cooked barley, apricots, cranberries, almonds and chickpeas in a mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup and nutmeg. Pour the dressing over the barley mixture and toss to coat.

When the squash has finished baking, remove the pan from the oven and turn the heat down to 375 F. Carefully remove the squash from the pan. Empty the water from the pan, line the bottom with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Put the squash back in, cut sides up, and spoon half the barley mixture into each half. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon, return the squash to the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove, let cool for 5 minutes or so, and serve.

I’m not the only one orange-minded over-achiever, so check out the links to recipes from my fellow ReDuxers:

Recipe ReDux: Fermented foods – pickled jalapenos on egg-stuffed sweet potatoes

September 21, 2012 Breakfast, eggs, Recipe ReDux, Recipes, vegetarian 6 comments

Everyone knows a meal is more enjoyable with some company, but would you invite microbes over for breakfast?

That’s exactly what I did in this month’s Recipe ReDux, where our theme is getting your gut back in gear with natural fermentation. The basic idea is to harness “the transformative action of microorganisms” – as quoted in this Saveur article on fermented foods – to turn simple ingredients into tasty foods teeming with little critters.

Those bacterial and fungal colonists create rich flavors in the fermented food, and also join the existing flora in our guts to help keep things chugging along. The poster-child foods in this group include kimchi and sauerkraut (both are fermented cabbage), yogurt, soy sauce, cheeses and sourdough. Head past the jump to read about the one I tried.

Recipe ReDux: Vacationing with cheesy baked fries a la poutine

August 21, 2012 Recipe ReDux, Snack, Week 77 9 comments

Have you ever tried to pack a funnel cake in your luggage? That may seem like the best way to bring home a tasty vacation food experience, but you’re going to set yourself up for a laundry disaster. So in this month’s Recipe ReDux, we took on the challenge of recreating the best eats from vacation with a healthier twist and without the use of a bucket of Oxyclean.

I decided to take on a beast of a food: the curious Quebecoise treat called poutine. It’s basically French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy, clocking in at easily 700+ calories a pop and nearly a full day’s allotment of fat, with barely enough fiber to keep a bug regular. Tim and I first encountered this French Canadian artery enemy on a Valentine’s trip over a decade ago, and again on our honeymoon, both in lovely Montreal. As the newly minted Mrs. Lynch, I ate some poutine in the Olympic stadium watching the second-to-last Expos game ever.

As the current-day Mrs Lynch, I’m more interested in sat fat than batting stats, so I made a few changes to the conventional poutine recipe. First: oven-baked fries, a no-brainer for this kind of recipe redo.

Then I cooked up a cheddar cheese sauce cut with a generous portion of butternut squash, which gives it a slightly chunky texture without the cheese-curd globs. No gravy in this, but since you’re getting saucy cheese, I figure that makes up the difference.

Ready for l’expérience grand fromage? Here you go:

ReDuxed Poutine

6 servings, 185 calories each

4 medium red potatoes (approx. 1 ¼ lb of potatoes)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 egg white

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into small (1”) cubes

¾ cup skim milk

½ broth (chicken or vegetable)

Ground black pepper

¼ cup grated Parmesan

1 cup grated reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

A pinch each of nutmeg and cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash and slice potatoes into fry-size sticks or small wedges, and put them in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix egg white with olive oil until frothy. Pour into the bowl with potatoes, and toss until potatoes are coated.

Mix together onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin and salt. Add to the bowl and mix well until evenly coated.

Place potatoes in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 35-50 minutes (depending on how thick you cut your fries and how reliable your oven’s heat is).

Add the squash, milk and broth to a sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for approximately 20 minutes. When the squash is thoroughly cooked, remove from heat, add the pepper, nutmeg and cayenne, and mash until well mixed.

Return the saucepan to medium heat and mix in the cheeses. You should only need a minute or two to get the cheese melted and well distributed. Remove from heat.

Divide the oven fries into six portions, and top with approximately ½ cup of the squash cheese mix. Bon appétit!