What To Do On Family Day

What do you do with one whole day to spend with your fams?

Well, I got up early in the morning and got on the interwebs, hot cup of Caramel Cream coffee (love!) in clutches, to do some reading of the blogs when I stumbled across a recipe for a quick bread that uses olive oil.  This, to me, was really interesting because olive oil was always first and foremost for one thing when I was growing up; browning onions when making pasta sauce.  But cake?  Really?

I mean... Really?

I was so curious that, with that same coffee in hand, I printed out a copy of the recipe and got to baking.  Besides, I thought, I had a lemon that was begging for use.  Only one problem though: at that hour, no grocer near the house is open and my fridge was Greek-Yogurt-less.  I do, however, have an abundance of Activia in several flavors including blueberry... Done!

The fams and I sat down for another cup of coffee (I had tea this time around) in the afternoon and enjoyed this a lot.  If you make it, I hope you enjoy too!

So, without further delay (because its been almost a week!), I'll get on with it!


Lemon Blueberry Olive Oil Loaf

A little crispy around the edges but still soft (and warm!) on the inside.  I should note that, because I used blueberry yogurt, the inside is not perfectly yellow but has a slight tinge to it.  I can't quite describe the color to you, but it still tasted quite good!

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• grated zest of one lemon (I usually juice it too, but the lemon had been sitting in the fridge for a little while...)
• 1/2 cup of yogurt (I used the Activia like I mentioned and this ended up being about 1.5 of the serving cups.  I used one blueberry and enough vanilla to get it roughly to 1/2 cup.)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract (I added extra extract because the fams and I are lemon fans.  You can totally leave this out if you want to do so.)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I use Bertolli but any good extra virgin works.)
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt (At measurements like this, its pretty much like a pinch.)

How It's Done:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Pull out the eggs and let them hang out to get near room temperature.
3. Prepare a loaf pan by lining tightly with tin foil.
4. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set it off to the side.
5. Zest the lemon and rub it into the sugar you're using with a wooden spoon (or spatula).
6. Mix in the yogurt, r.t.* eggs and extracts.
7. Throw in the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
8. Pour in the olive oil and continue to fold the batter over until the olive oil is fully integrated.  (I admit that you're going to have a bilayer system going on in your bowl for the first little while, but it comes together after several folds so don't stress!)
9. Carefully pour the batter into the lined loaf pan and place it in the oven for 50-55 min.  (I set the timer for 45 minutes because it tends to bake oddly sometimes but ended up adding an extra ten minutes.  The toothpick test inserted into the middle will definitely let you know when its done.  All I can really say about this one is that you know your oven so use your best judgement!)
10. Let the loaf hang out on a rack to let it cool.  (One of the best things about lining with tinfoil is how easy it is to pull the loaf out of the pan.  'Nuff said.)

Like I had mentioned earlier, I came across the original recipe on the food blog 'Nuts about food' while I was randomly browsing on the internet.  Actually, I'll be perfectly honest, I was looking at all the beautiful pictures on Tastespotting (and getting camera envy) when I saw the picture and description of this cake.  Because I can't stick to a recipe to save my life (I just can't resist the urge to add or substitute when I don't have stuff), this version's a little different.  However, I hope to get a little bit better at it in the future!

Just Imagine My Bliss

Hey there, guys!

I'd say it’s me again but, with internet posting, you're kind of aware of the fact that it is me.  Then again, I guess someone could be posting as me, but I am doubtful that it would happen.  Besides, you'd know; the tone of it all would be wonky and it wouldn't seem like me.

Just like the over-thought going on right here.  Right, enough of that.  Let's jabber about chocolate!

Remember a short while ago when I was so high on getting to bake flourless brownies?  If not, brief refresh: I was pumped to bake flourless brownies, I gathered the ingredients then realized that there were absolutely no cocoa in my pantry and cried a little.  To soothe my disappointment, I baked cookies and prepared some mini-desserts for my week.  It really soothed my will to create, but left a well because it didn't involve chocolate.  You can chuckle, but I (<3) my chocolate.

So, this past weekend (not to be confused with the one that has technically started), you can bet I made sure to have chocolate - or, rather, I got myself some cocoa.  Good cocoa.  And, frankly speaking, enough to make plenty of haystacks and brownies for a good while.

Oh, cocoa and butter...  A pondering for another time!

I had my doubts about this recipe: could brownies still be good if they didn't have a lot of butter and no flour?  You have to understand, I grew up with traditional baking and, really, the healthier versions always tasted like cardboard.  For the really good cookies (meaning the ones you only got at Christmas when people feel more generous with their time) were made with sugar, butter and flour.  Shortbreads?  Three ingredients in that one.  Banana bread?  Butter, flour and sugar!  Muffins?  BFS!  So, when looking at this, I wasn't sure it was going to work out.  I was 'approaching with caution' as they say.

And...

They turned out pretty darn good!  Moist, chocolaty and approved by office mates.  Healthier options, in this case, scores some bonus points!


Flourless Brownies

Is there anything greater than chocolate?  Personally, I like my chocolate dark.  I don't even get out of bed for anything less than 60%.  I jest (of course) because its black coffee for which I'm getting out of bed!  On a serious note, next time I make these, I'm going to leave them out and make sure that they are totally cool.  As you can see, mine went a little shinny even though they seemed cool.  Then again, my kitchen is a little small and retains heat incredibly well...

What You'll Need:

• 1 (19-oz) can black beans (I used the Unico brand because they were taking some pocket change off of them but I don't think this recipe is too picky about that one.)
• 3 large eggs (I brought them to room temperature before I used them.)
• 1/3 cup melted margarine (Kitchkem in the ... kitch with a microwave and a glass bowl.  Somehow, this "Clue" reference seemed a lot cooler in my head.)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (For the win, I might add.)
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt (At that small a measurement, its pretty much equivalent to a pinch, really.)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

(Note: Walnuts can be used here but I left them out because I find them yucky.  Yes, that is the technical term.  If you want to use them, the original recipe says 1/3 cup.)


How It's Done:

Okay, before we start off with how it’s done, I just want to say that I don't have a food processor so this recipe was a little trickier than I had initially intended it to be.  I mashed the black beans by hand and then proceeded onto the mixing.  I suppose this note in a nutshell is that if you don't have a food processor, its still do-able.  I also made these more like 2-bite brownies so the instructions are going to be a little different than the original recipe.  Sorry!

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Drain the black beans in a sieve and rinse briefly with water.  (Gotta toss these about a bit so that most of the water will actually come out but not so roughly that the beans get squished.)
3. Toss the black beans in a large mixing bowl and mash until beans are as homogeneous as possible.
4. With electric mixer in hand, slowly add in the eggs, one at a time and fully incorporate.
5. Add in the melted margarine and continue to mix.
6. Slowly pour in the sugar to the mixture and mix until the sugar is incorporated throughout.
7. Add cocoa powder, salt and vanilla to finish off the mixing.
8. Line the cups of a miniature muffin tin with liners and half-fill the cups.
9. Drop in 2-3 chocolate chips in each cup.
10. Fill the cups until near the top, covering the chocolate chips previously added.
11. Transfer the tray to the oven and let it bake for 13-15 minutes. (The poke test should come out crumbly but not wet.)
12. When they're done baking, let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  (The 'cooling completely' is pretty key here as the brownie gets this hardness on the surface to disguise the chewy goodness underneath.)

Makes a total of 32 two-bite-sized brownies for your enjoyment!


The recipe is courtesy of Whole Foods Market, whose site has a bunch of different recipes not only for baking but for cooking as well.  Like I mentioned before, their recipe uses a food processor that I don’t have but these still turned out regardless (so no worries all you food-processor-deprived persons like me, you can still pull it off!  And, I might add, no one knew the difference or noticed that there were black beans in there!).  I’ve never had the chance to physically go there because there isn’t a location near my house, however, an acquaintance mentioned what the interior was like in the New York branch so I wanted to at least check out their website.  I’m thinking I want to see if there’s one nearby my zio’s house so maybe I can stop there on the way home after a visit!

For The Love Of Cocoa!

Let's talk some hilarity to put a chuckle in your day.  I, admittedly, have been unfortunately blessed with such foul luck (at times) that it leads to some pretty decent stories to recount.

After driving home in a blizzard to spend time with my Dad, I rushed back home (to avoid any more ridiculous weather and, quite frankly, to be warm because their house is flipping cold).  I scrambled to get a whole bunch of stuff together for baking as well as to make sure I could eat for the next week then went to hole up from the cold.

I was so terribly excited to get baking flourless brownies, thinking that I had cocoa in my pantry; I could even smell the chocolate in the air and nearly tripped on the drool on the floor(okay, that last one was a complete lie, sorry).  So, you can imagine how hard my heart hit the floor (and then some) when I discovered that I actually had not pillaged the cocoa from the pantry.  Yes, that definitely hurt.  I stood like Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide in my kitchen and wallowed for a few moments.

Gotta turn this baking need into some baked goods, I thought.

I had the will, and, since the cliché is totally true, there had to be a way!

My default?  Cookies!  I didn't have a lot of time after all of that wallowing, so I made oatmeal from the Quaker mix (just the plain version).  Personally, I really like this mix.  I like this mix plain, with chocolate chips, with raisins.  Oh, yes, I'm quite a fan.  I definitely like it, Sam I Am.  Seuss jokes aside, they are especially wicked-awesome if you have chocolate orange on hand from your Christmas holidays (I get a bunch from my family; it's a dangerously delicious tradition).

In this particular case, I decided to add in some white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.  Ultimately, I used half of the bag of mix, a quarter cup of white chocolate chips and a third a cup of dried cranberries (which I chopped down into smaller pieces).

I also fashioned myself some lime cheesecake jello.  Have you guys ever tried it out?  I like it because I like that milky taste but, obviously, I can't walk around eating cheesecake a day.  I'm not one of those lucky people with a ridiculous metabolism.  There's nothing wrong with that at all; I'm a little green around the edges, you lucky people!  This recipe is nice because its not too heavy, not too sweet and still has a nice flavour.  I happen to enjoy this but I find that taste is fairly subjective so this may not appeal to everyone (forewarned is forearmed!).

I like the lime version because I'm partial to lime (though I hate the colour green).  This recipe for me makes about twelve small servings in individual cups for which I had lids.  I have, however, also made this like a real pie with a graham cracker crust.  For right now, I'll go over the actual filling part, but there's no reason you can't make a pie with your favourite graham cracker crust (homemade or otherwise).  It will totally have to hangout in the fridge for a long time to get that solidification so that it isn't like soup but actual cheesecake.

All that said, on with the recipe (and the bad photo!).




Lime Light Cheesecake

After I took this picture, I thought about having a tea party in my living room.  Spreading out the picnic blanket and sitting quite like Alice in Wonderland, sipping tea and enjoying tiny sweets.  On the left, I have a little cup of the lime cheesecake and a couple of the oatmeal cookies that I baked (right)!  Now for a miniature tea set... 

What You'll Need:

• 2/3 cup water, boiling
• 1 (85g) box of Lime-flavoured Jell-O (I use the regular one, but there's no reason you can't use the sugar-free one!)
• 1 cup Non-Fat Cottage Cheese
• 1 (250g) container of Fat-Free Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia 95% Fat Free Cream Cheese; the container is this light blue colour which is different from the 'light' one whose package is white.)
• 2 cups Light Cool Whip, thawed (Just let it hang out in the fridge for a bit then you can freeze the bit you don't use.)
• 3 limes, zested and juiced (I say three because I really like that lime taste.  If you're not a citrus fan - happens to some people - you can definitely scale this back)

How It's Done:

1. In a large bowl, add cottage cheese and press large lumps with a spatula as best as you can.  (This is because I don't own a food processor.  If you do, lucky you, and you can just wazz up the cottage cheese until its smooth and then carry on.)
2. Add in softened cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and light.  (Again, food processor makes this a walk in the park.)
3. Mix in the lime zest and juice.  (I mix the lime zest in first then the juice.)
4. Stir boiling water into the Jell-O and stir for 2 minutes.
5. Cool 5 minutes.  (This is important because I've not waited before and it get s a little clumpy.  You can fix that by continuing to mix it with the electric beater.)
6. Slowly incorporate the lime Jell-O into the cheese mixture until incorporated.
7. Add the whipped topping and mix everything together until it is homogeneous; make sure at this point to scrape down the sides.
8. Pour the filling into the individual cups and refrigerate for 4 hours to fully set.  (If you're using a pie crust, you're going to want to pour the filling in slowly.  I used a shallow dish when I made the crust and ended up having a little extra.  That's how I got the idea to make the individual cups - I poured the extra into a few ramekins and covered with saran wrap until I wanted to eat them up.)

Makes 12 servings (or six really generous slices of pie, ftw!).


There are a ton of recipes for this on the internet, including numerous different variations.  The closest one to the mischief I got up to would be from Cooks.com (click here!).  I don’t see why you couldn’t do lemon like that version suggests.  I’m thinking I might try raspberries and stir in some raspberry preserves or something.

The Weather Outside Was Frightful

There was a storm looming in the future sky as I sat at the bench on Tuesday.  The weather forecast was telling me there was going to be a ton of snow, enough to build ample snow people outside of my house.  Perhaps work would be cancelled as well.   Hold the phone, they so hardly close the facilities so why on earth should I even bother to feel some fear here?

Boy, did I really have to eat my words when, on Wednesday morning, I wake up and find a notification to tell me that only essential workers are required to report.  Of course, I wasn't complaining.  Who wants to dig their car out of the snow to go to work anyway?  No, I stayed inside and (gleefully) watched the white fluffy stuff just keep coming.

And you know, things were really fun for the first hour or so.  Then I realized how boring sitting around is!  Okay, yes, this sounds silly but, when you spend your day running around with a million things to do, you don't frequently have a lot of time to sit around to ponder your existence.

Ugh, pondering existence, I thought.  Major pass.

So, I baked cookies.  I have no idea how bizarre it actually looked, but I'm sure my neighbors thought it was odd to see someone baking cookies really early in the morning!  Regardless, the snickerdoodles came out crispy this time.  I'm also happy to report that I have plenty of chai-spiced sugar to put to devious use elsewhere.

I hope that the weather has been treating all of you guys okay!  There was a delay on this post largely because my million-and-one things got pushed back a day.  No worries, though, the train's back on the track.

I'm hoping to have something new soon.  In the meantime, I'll post another picture of those snickerdoodles...

The snow was piling up outside and, given the cold, it was already hard enough to go outside without it.  Conclusion? Stay inside, bake cookies, eat cookies and read.  Good plan?  Yes.  Productive?  Well...