Monthly Archives: October 2012
Maple Oat Pecan Scones
| October 29, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Breads, Breakfast, Cake and Pastry, Vegetarian or Vegan |
If there’s one thing I’ve been more obsessed with than brussels sprouts lately, it’s maple. It all started with a drive to Vermont to take in the foliage. Along the way, we stopped at one of our favorite chocolate shops, and I picked up a small package of maple shortbread cookies and the most adorable little jug of syrup I’ve ever seen. Since then, it’s pretty much been all maple all the time.
When it came time to pick a recipe to make for this month’s secret recipe club, I crossed my fingers and hoped to find something maple-y. Success! These maple pecan scones from Baking & Creating with Avril fit the bill perfectly, and they’re delicious to boot!
Some scones can be dry and crumbly, but these are just about perfect. They fall apart into large, moist crumb when you bite into them and chopped pecans and pulverized oats give them a great texture and nutty flavor. A simple maple glaze on top gives them a little bit of crunch and an extra burst of maple goodness. The flavor reminds me of my favorite butter pecan ice cream, but with a sophisticated maple twist. Perfect for breakfast or as an afternoon treat with a cup of tea.
The original recipe called for maple extract, but I don’t know where to get that and I didn’t feel like hunting it down. I used extra maple syrup instead and it worked just fine – I’ll happily make them that way again. Actually, the only thing I wold change is that next time I’d make the scones a little small (for a total of 12 or 16) as these were pretty big (think bakery-sized).
Maple Oat Pecan Scones
Serves 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 2 1/2 tablespoon Cold Butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 cup Fat Free Half and Half
- 1/2 cup Chopped Pecans
- 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
- 2 teaspoons Warm Water
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a food processor or blender, finely grind the oats. Mix together flour, oats, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add in maple syrup and butter pieces. Use a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients – it should have a coarse, sandy texture. In a second bowl, beat together egg, cream and maple extract. Pour mixture into flour mixture and mix until combined. Add in chopped pecans and mix just until incorporated.
- Separate dough into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a flattened disk, about 2 inches high and 4 inches across. Place onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cool completely – at least 10 minutes.
- Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup and water all together until smooth in a medium bowl. Adjust water to get to the desired consistency. Drizzle scones with glaze. Let sit 15 minutes before serving.
Chicken Philly Sandwiches with Provolone Sauce
| October 21, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Chicken and Poultry, Quick Weeknight Meals, Sandwiches |
Forgive me for not telling a story to go along with this post. There really just wasn’t one. I hope that the sandwiches speak or themselves.
I roasted a chicken this weekend so that I could use it for quick, easy meals all week. Half the breast was used for these, the other half will go into soup made from the bones, and I’m planning to make enchiladas with the legs and thighs. Who says roast chicken needs to be eaten as a traditional “meat+3″ meal? I’ve found that it’s a cheap, easy way to get a head start on weeknight meals.
I’m also trying out a new program to calculate nutrition and allergen information for my recipes. I had been calculating that all manually, which was kind of a pain. Hopefully this program makes things easier. It’s still in beta, so there might be some kinks to work out, but I think you’ll like it as much as I do! Click on the “L” over on the right to show more nutritional information.
Chicken Philly Sandwiches with Provolone Sauce
Leftover roast chicken – or a store bought rotisserie chicken – is a great shortcut on these sandwiches. The provolone sauce is a labor of love, but worth the effort. The result is a thick, silky sauce that flows like lava and coats the sandwiches with a thick blanket of cheese. Make the the cheese isn’t cold when you add it to the milk; it will seperate and congeal if it is. Work slowly over very low heat for the smoothest sauce.
The rolls pictured here looked just right in the store, but they turned out to be too bready. (I knew I should have gone with a thinner baguette! ) I ended up only eating the bottom half of my roll, which helped a lot. Too much bread and you can’t taste the vegetables.Use smaller hoagie rolls or a soft baguette so you don’t overpower the delicate flavors of the filling.
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
- 1 small Onion, sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic, mined
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced
- 1/2 cup sliced Mushrooms
- 2 Tablespoons Water
- 1 cup Baby Spinach
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 cup Fat Free Milk
- 4 ounces Provolone, at room temperature, shredded or chopped
- 1 roast Chicken Breast, skin removed, chopped
- 4 small Hoagie Rolls or other Soft Rolls, split and warmed
Preparation
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften. Add the red bell pepper, mushrooms, and water. Cook for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Stir in spinach until wilted. Keep warm.
- Prepare the provolone sauce: Melt butter in a small saucepan set over low heat. Whisk in the cornstarch; cook 1 minute. Whisk in the milk. Cook 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring constantly until melted. If needed, return to low heat to help the cheese melt.
- Divide the chicken between the rolls. Top with vegetables and cheese sauce.
Slow Cooker Lentil and Pumpkin Chili
| October 19, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Fall, Light, Mexican and Southwestern, One Pan, Soups and Stews, special projects, Vegetarian or Vegan |
Lentil and Pumpkin Chili
Serves 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 can (15.9 ounce) Black Beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (15.9 ounce) Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (15.9 ounce) Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chiles
- 1 can (15.9 ounce) Pumpkin
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Lentils
- 1 Onion, minced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, finely diced
- 1 Carrot, peeled and finely diced
- 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Chipotle Chile Pepper
Preparation
- Line slow cooker with 1 Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner. Fit the liner snugly against the bottom and sides of the bowl; pull the top of the liner of the sides of the bowl.
- Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or on Low for 8 hours.
- Carefully remove lid; serve.
Asian Pulled Chicken Sliders
| October 15, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Chicken and Poultry, Fall, One Pan, Sandwiches, special projects |
These tasty sliders are so much fun – perfect for tailgating, casual get-togethers, or just as something a little different for dinner. They have a great balance of sweet, spicy, and earthy flavors and are so tender and rich that’s you’ll have a hard time believing that they’re low fat.
You’ll never guess the secret ingredient: Apple Butter! Combined with soy sauce, garlic, and five spice seasoning, it makes an absolutely delicious Asian style barbecue sauce. Throw it in the crockpot with a few chicken breasts and a drizzle of honey – these sliders couldn’t be any easier to make.
Musselman’s is on a mission to make apple butter the next “it” ingredient. I’ve always been a big fan of eating the spread on toast or homemade bread that’s warm from the oven, but I had never considered using it as an ingredient prior to this year’s Big Summer Potluck.
Musselman’s was one of the event sponsors, and I had the opportunity to try tons of unique recipes that included apple butter as a key ingredient. (I couldn’t get enough of the salted caramel peanut dipping sauce. So, so, so good.) I came home with a jar and have been using it on and in everything since – even as a sauce on pizza! When they asked me if I’d be interested in developing a recipe for them to include in their database, of course I had to say yes.
Check out this link for a coupon, or find more unique apple butter recipes here.
Asian Pulled Chicken Sliders
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Musselman’s Apple Butter
- 1/4 small Onion, minced
- 2 Tablespoons low sodium Soy Sauce
- 2 Garlic Cloves, smashed
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 1/2 teaspoon Five Spice Seasoning
- 1 pound boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
- 8 Slider Rolls, or small dinner rolls
- Pickled Jalapenos
- Green Onions, chopped
Preparation
- Combine first six ingredients (through the five-spice seasoning) in your slow cooker. Mix well. Add the chicken breasts, turning so they are coated with the sauce.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Use the back of a wooden spoon to gently shred the chicken. Stir so that the shredded chicken is evenly coated with the sauce. Set slow cooker to warm and let chicken stand for 15 minutes to soak up the sauce.
- Serve the pulled chicken on rolls. Top with pickled jalapenos and chopped green onions.
10 Points+. Nutrition information will vary depending on what brand and type of rolls are used.
Brussels Sprout Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
| October 7, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Fall, Light, Quick Weeknight Meals, Salads, Shawn's Favorites, Sides |
I’m back with more Brussels sprouts! I just can’t get enough – I can already tell that they’re going to be my favorite vegetable of the season this year (last fall, it was cauliflower). For this recipe, I prepared the sprouts as a raw salad tossed with bacon, hazelnuts, and a maple-dijon vinaigrette. Yum!
The first time I ever tried (or even heard of) eating brussels sprouts as a salad was last year when I reviewed the power foods cook book. (It’s still one of my favorites, you can see my review here.) Eating them raw might seem odd at first, but it totally works. They’ll be a little crunchy at first, but the vinegar in the dressing will help soften them up after a few minutes. In the end, the effect isn’t unlike coleslaw – which makes sense considering brussels sprouts are basically tiny cabbages. See? Not that weird.
What is weird? The amount of time and effort that we put into trying to make this dinner happen. Somehow, we decided that the salad would go best paired with potatoes au gratin and slow roasted venison loin. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find game meat right now? We went to two specialty butchers, the co-op, the farmers market, and the supermarket and came up empty handed. We couldn’t even find elk steaks, which would have been my second choice and which are generally pretty easy to find. So disappointing. We ended up “settling” for beef tenderloin, which I dusted with espresso powder and chipotle pepper and pan seared. It was delicious, but not quite what I had been craving.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter because the salad stole the show.
Brussels Sprout Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Brussels Sprouts
- 2 slices Bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped Hazelnuts
- 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 2 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Grainy Dijon Mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Cracked Black Pepper
Preparation
- Prepare the brussels sprouts by cutting off and discarding the stem. Beginning at the stem end, slice into very thin rounds. Discard any tough white centers. Add to a bowl and gently toss with a fork to separate. Add the bacon an hazelnuts.
- Combine the maple syrup, vinegar, mustard, and oil in a small jar. Close the lid and shake well to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad. Let sit 5 minutes. Season with cracked black pepper.
Brussels Sprout Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Brussels Sprouts
- 2 slices Bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped Hazelnuts
- 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 2 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Grainy Dijon Mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Cracked Black Pepper
Preparation
- Prepare the brussels sprouts by cutting off and discarding the stem. Beginning at the stem end, slice into very thin rounds. Discard any tough white centers. Add to a bowl and gently toss with a fork to separate. Add the bacon an hazelnuts.
- Combine the maple syrup, vinegar, mustard, and oil in a small jar. Close the lid and shake well to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad. Let sit 5 minutes. Season with cracked black pepper.
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