Rasnana Smoothie

For most of the winter my blender hangs out in a cupboard. I make more smoothies and shakes during the summer, and that's the majority of what I use my blender for. Last night was an exception. My family was wanting dessert (something I don't normally do during the week) and my husband and I wanted to make it healthy. My husband thought "yogurt". I took it a step further and thought "smoothie"! Everybody loves them, they're quick and easy, and they can be as healthy or as sinful as you're in the mood for. These were fairly healthy and they went so fast I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the finished product.






I love the way it looks in the blender before mixing.











Rasnana Smoothie
Copyright 2012 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved.

1 1/2 cups Vanilla Yogurt
2 Bananas, sliced
1/2 cups Agave nectar
1 1/2 cups Vanilla Rice Milk
1 1/2 cups Frozen fresh Raspberries

Blend until smooth and well combined. Taste and add more rice milk if it's too thick or more agave if not sweet enough. If you want it thicker, add more yogurt. These were the amounts to our liking. If you're bothered by raspberry seeds, pour the smoothie into your glass through a sieve. Push through with a spoon, then discard the seeds. Enjoy!

White Out Oatmeal Choco Chip Cookies

I am so excited about this recipe.
1: It was a shot in the dark that worked!
2: It's a healthier version of something we all love!
3: It received my husband's seal of approval! He said, "They're really good, Babe!" It doesn't get much better than that for me. :-)
I started out to make some cookies for some friends and decided to get creative and come up with a chocolate chip cookie devoid of white sugar. I'm sure it's been done before, but not by me. I always thought chocolate chip cookies were the one place where you just shouldn't mess with the original basic components. I was wrong! WooHoo!!!

MY SWEET SECRET








Maple Syrup

PURE maple syrup. I love the stuff! You can use it in so many different places to sweeten so many different things, and it's better for you than granulated sugar. Granted, it should still be used in moderation just like any other sweet thing, but it's good stuff. I used it in this cookie recipe in place of the white sugar. I had to increase the amount of dry ingredients to compensate for the extra liquid. The results were a crisp cookie on the outside and soft light cookie on the inside. In this particular batch I added white chocolate chips because that's what my husband likes, but to make a pure "white out" cookie, just leave them out. I hope you enjoy them!














White Out Oatmeal Choco Chip Cookies
Copyright 2012 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup
2 Eggs
1 t. Almond Extract
2 1/2 cups Quick-Cooking Oats
1 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I use King Arthur's - milled from hard white spring wheat rather than red wheat)
1 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Kosher Salt
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 bag White Chocolate Chips
1/2 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (or a whole bag of semi-sweet if you're going for a pure "white out" recipe)
1 cup Dried Cranberries

Preheat oven to 375
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, creme the butter and brown sugar until well combined and creamy.
Add the maple syrup, eggs, and almond extract. Mix on medium speed until well combined.
Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Continue adding the dry ingredients in thirds, mixing after each addition until well combined.
Add chips and cranberries, mix quickly at medium speed of mixer, or mix by hand until chips and cranberries are well incorporated.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake 10-11 mins.

NOTE: Health food stores also carry carob chips and other types of chocolate chips made with natural sweeteners. I don't know how they would work in this recipe, but it might be worth a try. Maybe that will be the next thing on my list to play with.......

Sweet Potato Pancakes

My little one wanted pancakes again this morning and I had some leftover mashed sweet potatoes from last night's dinner, so I obliged her with Sweet Potato Pancakes, and they turned out quite yummy if I must say so myself. She also loves her pancakes heart-shaped, thus the picture.


Sweet Potato Pancakes

Copyright 2012 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved

2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
4 t. Baking Powder
2 T. Brown Sugar
1 heaping t. Cinnamon
1/2t. freshly grated Nutmeg
3 T. Flaxseed Meal
1 cup Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Canola Oil
2 Eggs
1 C. Mashed Sweet Potatoes (Recipe follows)

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well with a wire whisk. In a large glass measuring bowl/cup (such as a Pyrex), measure the milk, cream, oil, and eggs; combine well. Add sweet potatoes to milk mixture and whisk until smooth and incorporated. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.

Drop by half-ladelfuls (approx. 1/3 cup) onto heated non-stick skillet or a 300 degree griddle. Cook until bubbles form, flip, and continue cooking until done. Serve with real butter (better for you than margarine) and pure maple syrup. Enjoy!


MASHED SWEET POTATOES
To peel or not to peel, that is the question.........and my answer is NOT. First off, peeling potatoes is a lot of work and that just doesn't appeal to a lazy person like me. Second, most of the nutrients in potatoes are in the peel. Third, I LIKE the peel. So, why would I put myself through a labor intensive chore in order to rob myself of something I like that's good for me? I wouldn't. You, however, must decide for yourself whether perfectly smooth and creamy potatoes with less nutritional value is worth the work. It's still a free country. Take advantage of it. :-) So, now that the politics are out of the way, here for you, is my recipe for non-peeled mashed sweet potatoes.

3 med. sized sweet potatoes
Water
Salt
Pepper
Heavy Cream
Maple Syrup

Wash and cut sweet potatoes into a large pot and cover with water. Set to boil. Once boiling, lower heat, cover and simmer until fork tender. Drain potatoes and pour into a bowl. Add butter, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and maple syrup to taste. Mash slightly with beaters before turning on the hand-mixer, then beat on medium speed until smooth.

I really feel the need to apologize here. I am notorious for not measuring when I cook. The only place I measure is in baking (it's a much more exact science). I cook by instinct and senses, and that just comes from experience. I've been cooking since I was 9 and I am now 51 - you do the math, because I'm terrible at it. Start with small amounts; look, smell, taste. Does it need a little more? Add a LITTLE more, then; look, smell, taste......until it's just the way you want it. It is so much easier to add more than to take out if you add too much. After a while, you just come to know how much is too much and how little is too little. The biggest thing is, don't be afraid. There are fixes for some things we mess up, and there is the trash can and takeout for things we can't fix. Cooking is about expression (yes, it's a bit of an art) and having fun. So, HAVE FUN!

Buon appetito! :-)

Company Cornbread

This is the cornbread recipe I use when company's coming. I also use it when I just want some really good cornbread. :-) My youngest son doesn't like cornbread, but he likes this recipe because, he says, "It's like cake." Sometimes I get really fancy and add blueberries. Here's the basic recipe:

Company Cornbread
Copyright 2011 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved

INGREDIENTS:
2 C. Corn Meal
1 C. White Whole Wheat Flour
1 C. Whole Grain Corn Flour
3/4 C. Sugar (Sometimes I substitute the same amount of Agave in with the liquid ingredients)
2 T. Baking Powder
1 t. Kosher Salt
1 1/3 C. Canola Oil
2 Eggs
2 C. Buttermilk
1/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
Brown Sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well (I use a wire whisk).
2. Combine egg, oil, milk and yogurt in another bowl and mix well.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well (after this step is where I would add the blueberries, tossed in a tablespoon of the dry ingredients).
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place butter in a large cast iron skillet or 9x13" casserole dish. Allow batter to rest while butter melts in preheating oven.
5. Pour batter into skillet or casserole dish, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for 25 minutes or until done (a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).








This recipe comes out sweet and fluffy, reminding me a little of Marie Callender's cornbread. My family loves it and I hope you will too. Enjoy!

Grilled Avocado and Cheese Sandwich

This is what we had for lunch today and it was so yummy I just had to share. Right now is a good time for avocados and no one loves a good avocado as much as I do....well, maybe someone does. My point is I REALLY like them. I also love grilled cheese, especially on a cold, drizzly day like today. So, a combination of the two was inevitable and it was as simple as......well, as a grilled cheese sandwich. :-)

2 Slices of your favorite bread
As many avocado slices as you want and can keep from sliding off the bread.
Tomato slices (again as many as you want).
4 thin slices of Colby Jack Cheese (or whatever kind of good-melting cheese you like).
Margarine or butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat (or 300 if you're using an electric griddle). Butter the bread and lay one slice butter side down on a griddle or in a skillet. Layer 2 slices of cheese, avocado, and tomato on that first slice of bread. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, and top with remaining two slices of cheese. Top all of that with your second slice of buttered bread, butter side up. When the first side is golden brown, take two spatulas (because the avocado and tomato like to slide around) and turn the sandwich. When the second side is golden brown and your cheese is all nice and melty, move it to a plate and enjoy!



I like thick slices of avocado, but thinner might be easier to handle if you prefer that. I also like wheat bread, but a good sourdough or ciabatta would probably be awesome. Just make sure you have enough seasoning inside the sandwich that the flavors don't get lost in the bread. There are so many cool combinations you could come up with for grilled cheese sandwiches. I may just have to do a dedicated blog on several different combos. I would need a few people to help me eat all the experiments though. ;-)

Baked Oatmeal

Ok. I tried this recipe this morning, or rather last night (I put it together last night for breakfast this morning). I may be a little premature in sharing it with you because I still want to tweak it a bit, but it was pretty good this way. I'd just like to take it to spectacular. Anyway, this is what I've got so far:

3 C. Steel Cut Oats (I think I may want to reduce this a bit to say 2 1/2 C.)
1 C. of my own Homemade Peach Jam (you could also use maple syrup or Agave nicely here, I think)
1 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Vanilla
6T. melted Butter
1 3/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 C. Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
2 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Salt

Mix everything together and pour into a casserole dish, cover and store in the frig. over night. In the morning; remove casserole from frig. while you preheat the oven to 350. Once oven is preheated, enter the casserole. Bake 30 mins. or until it looks browned around the edges.








It came out more bread-like than oatmeal-like, which may not be a bad thing if you like bread, which I do. I spread a little butter on top and enjoyed it quite a bit. The inside was a little more oatmealy (not sure that's a word). I'm thinking that reducing the amount of oats will make it more like cereal. Feel free to play with it and let me know what you come up with.

Choco-Cinnamon Crescents

Okay. I know it's a new year and we're all working on eating healthier. My plan is to transition into the new lifestyle and finish using the holiday pantry items. Besides, my kids are still on Christmas break, so we're still partying a little. :-) This morning I found one last roll of refrigerator crescent rolls in the frig and decided to have a little fun. Choco-Cinnamon Crescents were the result. Here's what I did.








1 tube Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
2-3 T. Unsalted butter, melted
Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon Sugar

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Unroll the crescent rolls and brush inside with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar to your liking over the butter. Place 7 or 8 chocolate chips on the wide end of the crescent and roll up. Pinch the ends and place on the cookie sheet. Brush the tops of the crescents with more melted butter and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Bake for 12 mins. and enjoy!


Needless to say, the kids loved them. For a little bit of redemption, I served them with turkey bacon. Not much help, I know, but the savory flavor of the bacon really complemented the sweetness of the crescents. Just a little something fun and really easy to make. Have a GREAT week! :-)