Multigrain Pancakes

My husband and I are runners.  He's run a couple of marathons and I have become an avid half-marathoner.  One of our favorite magazines is Runner's World.  Not only does it have great, inspiring articles about running, but it also has recipes each month for different meal ideas that are beneficial for runners.  After I made the devil's food cupcakes last week, I had some buttermilk left over.  My husband was reading the latest RW issue and spotted a recipe by Pam Anderson for "Multigrain Medallions" (aka buttermilk pancakes).  Always looking to cut out pre-made/processed foods, I decided to give this a try.

It was so easy.  We had everything we needed in our fridge or panty already, so I didn't even need to do any shopping!  We make pancakes every few weeks for a weekend breakfast or even a simple dinner, so we very much looked forward to seeing how this would turn out.  The steps were incredibly simple and easy to follow.

When making pancakes, I like to use my trusty electric skillet, so that you know it's cooking evenly (our stovetop always seems to be a bit slanted or the pan is much larger than the burner and it's hard to get things to cook 100% evenly).  It worked perfectly for this.

In the magazine, she gives the basic recipe then has 10 other variations which are supposed to promote different healthy side effects (one is a "muscle motivator" with dates and raisins, another has guacamole to help regulate blood sugar).  We opted to make the basic recipe and then added a few of our favorite toppings, like chocolate chips and blueberries.  Top with real maple sugar from Vermont, and I think we have a new way to make pancakes.  Sorry, Aunt Jemima!

Pam Anderson's Multigrain Medallions (originally published in Runners World magazine, October 2012)

Ingredients
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup each: cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, and old fashioned rolled oats
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup low-fat milk (or water)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for brushing the griddle
1 tsp vanilla


Directions
Heat a large nonstick-skillet or griddle over low heat.
Mix flour, whole grains, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.  (NOTE: white flour is included to provide fluffiness. If you don't have all three whole grains, pick one and use the following ratios: 1:2 whole wheat to white; 1:1 oats/cornmeal to white)
Microwave buttermilk and milk for 30 seconds in a 2-cup measuring cup.
Whisk in eggs, oil, and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients into dry; whist until just mixed.
Return batter to measuring cup.
Increase heat to medium and brush skillet with oil.
When oil starts to spider, pour batter 1/4 cup at a time.
When pancake bottoms are golden brown and tops start to bubble, after about 2-3 minutes, flip pancakes; cook until golden brown on other side.
Repeat, brushing skillet or griddle with oil.
Serve hot.

What's Baking Roundup: Bake Your Happy Place

I had the privilege of hosting this month's What's Baking.  I had to choose a theme, and I opted for something that left the options wide open, while letting us get a little personal with our creations.  I chose "Bake Your Happy Place".  Whether our happy place was a trip we made to an exotic place or being home with our family at our favorite time of year, whatever reminded us that happiness was what we made this month.  Here are all of our Happy Places:

Heather from Books and Cooks brought us on her honeymoon in Hawaii with her Blue Hawaiian Cupcakes.

I'm thinking of planning a trip to Hawaii as it seems to be a popular "happy place".  Eva of Eva Bakes recalled her own Hawaiian honeymoon with her Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Jaida from Sweet Beginnings loves a good Girls' Night, hanging out with friends, sipping a good wine, so she made Blackberry Merlot Cupcakes.

I personally think s'mores should be everyone's happy place, and Jenna from Jenna's Cooking Journey agreed with her S'mores Brownies.

Stephanie from Brownies and Blondies brought us to dinner with her Italian family with her Pasticiotti
.

Ange, the Tiny Tyrant, made us all want to hang out in her backyard with her Zucchini Bread.

Yudith recalled her childhood with these Blissfully Delicious Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

Carrie of Carrie's Sweet Life made us all want to visit Iowa with her Sweet Corn Ice Cream

Kim from Just Baked By Me re-lived a perfect day picking strawberries with her kids in her Strawberry Soda Ice Cream.

Melissa of I was Born to Cook had us all screaming "more Ovaltine, please" with her Ovaltine Brownies.

Ammie from Adventures in My Kitchen made us anxious for fall to get here with her Harvest Muffins.

And you probably saw my post from earlier which brought me back to my wedding with my Devil's Food Cupcakes with Oreo Frosting.

I can't wait to see what everyone makes next month when Jenna from Jenna's Cooking Journey hosts with the theme QuickBreads!

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Oreo Frosting

This month, I had the chance to play host to What's Baking and I had to come up with a theme.  I chose "Bake Your Happy Place".  I chose this over a month ago thinking it would be easy to choose my own happy place.  Boy, was I wrong!  Did I want to make something coconut-y that reminds me of my honeymoon?  Do I want to make something that reminds me of childhood like s'mores or Kentucky Derby Pie (although I grew up in Jersey, there was a restaurant near me that had the BEST derby pie).  Something that reminded me of my summers in Cape Cod growing up?  In my entire 30 years, what makes me the happiest?

(photo credit Matt Rainey)

Here's where I get sappy (I'm a newlywed, I'm allowed!).  My happy place is with my husband.  Whether we're halfway across the world on vacation or in our living room watching TV, he's what makes me the happiest.  When we met we knew within weeks that we were it for each other and were married less than 2 years later.  Never any games, it was always clear that we were meant to be.  But how do I bake this??  Then it hit me - why not re-create our wedding cake?  It was from Palermo's Bakery.  We had two flavors; one was a vanilla cake with raspberry filling, but the other was devil's food cake with oreo cream.  Can we say YUM?!

So I set out to find a way to re-create the cake.  I first went through my cookbooks and found in Craft of Baking the recipe for devil's food cupcakes, but couldn't find anything for the icing.  But then I remembered seeing a post on Tide and Thyme for Oreo cupcakes and decided to use the frosting recipe from there (though the cupcakes themselves also look delish, so I plan to make those at some point, too!).

I had a few speedbumps in my cupcake making, but I turned to The Baking Answer Book by Lauren Chattman which I had picked up on a whim last year.  The first hiccup was when I realized that I forgot to buy cake flour.  I had bread, pastry and all-purpose, but those weren't right.  According to the book, you can use all-purpose flour and cornstarch to substitute for cake flour (1 cup of cake flour = 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp cornstarch) .  The other problem I had (which I always seem to run into) was that my packed dark sugar was rock hard.  I found out from the book that you should break some off (approximate how much you'll use), put it into a microwave safe bowl, cover it with a damp paper towel and then plastic wrap and cook for 30 sec - 1 min and fluff with a fork, it's good as new! (just use it immediately).  Worked perfectly!

The only snafu I ran into while making the frosting is that I originally made a half batch and the consistency was a bit stiffer than I expected.  After asking Laura from Tide and Thyme what she recommended doing, she said "beating the crap out of it with the mixer helps" and then added that if that didn't work, you could always add a splach of milk or cream to the mixture.  When I did a second try, I took her first suggestion and let the mixer run on medium-high speed (6 on my mixer) for a bit, it came out much fluffier than the first batch!

I think it came out pretty darn close to our wedding cake.  The cake wasn't as fluffy as the original, but all in all I'd say this was a success.  Maybe once we have the year-old frozen/stale top layer of our actual cake for our 1st anniversary this October, I'll start the yearly tradition of making these each year!

Devil's Food Cupcakes (from Craft of Baking)

(makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup cake flour

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temerature

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.   Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water together to form a paste; set it aside.

In another bowl, sift together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the brown sugar and the butter on medium speed until they are well combined, with no pieces of butter visible.  Add the cocoa paste, making sure to use a spatula to get all of the cocoa paste into the mixer bowl.  Once this is well combined, add the egg and egg yolk.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  In three additions each, add the buttermilk and vanilla extract, alternating with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling them three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating the tin halfway through, until the cupcakes spring back to the touch and a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.  Invert the cupcakes onto a wire rack, turn them top side up, and let them cool completely.

Oreo Buttercream Frosting (from Tide and Thyme)

(this makes enough for 20 cupcakes)

Ingredients 

8 tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

4 cups powdered sugar (1 lb)

6 tablespoons Oreo cookies, finely crushed

10 Oreo cookies, cut in half, for garnish

Directions

In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) cream the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Add the butter flavoring, and Oreo crumbs; mix well. Frost cupcakes as desired. Top cupcakes with half of an Oreo cookie, for garnish

Gnocchi with Spinach and Gorgonzola

As I said in yesterday's post, when I was freshly out of my dad's and living on my own, the first cookbook I bought was Rachael Ray's Just in Time.  Since I had it out to make the flounder, I decided to whip up another old favorite last night - Gnocchi with Spinach and Gorgonzola.  We usually make this as a main course, but we had bought some salmon the other day and wanted to have that, so the gnocchi ended up being a side for that (which meant more leftovers and a yummy lunch today!)

This is very simple to make, though Rachael Ray says it takes 15 minutes and tries to lay it out step by step so you can be doing 5 things at once.  The way it's written, it's a little hard to tell exactly when you're supposed to start the next step, and usually I was still finishing one thing when the timer for the previous component went off.  In all, it took me maybe 30 min to get everything done and cooked.  To make this kosher, I substituted Imagine No-Chicken Broth for the chicken stock.  Additionally, in my market, the gnocchi only comes in 17oz packages, so we ended up using a bit more than she says.  Oh, and I thought that we had chopped walnuts at home and it turned out we barely had any left, so I used sliced almonds this time around.  Tasted delish, though!
  

Gnocchi with Spinach and Gorgonzola (from Rachael Ray's Just in Time)

Ingredients
2 (10 oz) boxes frozen chopped spinach
Salt
2 (14-16oz) packages fresh gnocchi
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 4 times around the pan
3 to 4 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
Black Pepper
1 cup chicken stock
8 oz gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Directions
 To defrost the spinach, place it on a plate and microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Wring it dry in a clean kitchen towel and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the gnocchi and season it liberally with salt.  Cut open the gnocchi packages and set aside.

Place the walnuts in a small skillet and toss over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes until toasted and fragrant.

In a deep skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic to the warm oil, then add the spinach, separating the clumps as you add it to the garlic oil.  Season the spinach with salt and pepper, add the stock, and bring to a bubble over medium heat.  add the gorgonzola to the spinach and stir until it melts.

While the spinach heats, cook the gnocchi in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes, or until they float to the surface.  Drain, then add to the spinach and toss for 1 minute to coat, then adjust the seasonings.  Serve the gnocchi topped with the toasted walnuts.

Poached Flounder

When I was first living on my own, I decided that I should try eating like an actual adult and cook real meals, so I went out and bought Rachael Ray's Just in Time.  One of the first recipes I tried was her recipe for Poached Flounder.  In the past, I would eat flounder a few times a month, but mostly just put lemon juice and paprika on it and throw it under a broiler for a bit, so I was excited to have a new way to cook it.  It was so delicious that I started making it every few months.  A few months into dating my now-husband, I decided to cook for him and made this dish.  I'm convinced it's one of the reasons he married me.  Even at my bridal shower, they played a game where they asked me questions and I had to guess his answer.  They asked what his favorite dish I made was his favorite, and without hesitating I knew it was this one.  He knows that I've been trying to make new stuff and try new recipes, but every so often he'll put in a request for the flounder.

What's interesting about this dish, kosher-wise, is that it can be dairy, parve, or meat with minor adjustments.  I normally make it dairy, using butter and vegetable stock, but this time decided to make it a meat dish, using soy margarine and chicken stock.  To make it parve, I'd use the soy margarine and either vegetable stock, or (the best invention ever for Kosher cooking) Imagine No-Chicken Broth.  The recipe actually calls for chicken or seafood stock, but I haven't yet found a Kosher seafood stock, so I'm not sure how that would change the flavor profile.

I don't know if it was the chicken stock or the fact that my chopping skills have vastly improved recently (thanks to a knife skills class at The Brooklyn Kitchen) but this was the best this dish has ever tasted!  This recipe will be staying in regular rotation for a long time to come....

Cheryl's Poached Fish (from Rachael Ray's Just in Time)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons drained capers
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken or seafood stock
4 (6-8 ox) fillets of flounder or other white fish
Salt
Black Pepper
1 lemon, sliced
handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Crusty bread for mopping


Directions:
In a large skillet, melt the butter into the extra virgin olive oil over medium to medium-high heat.
Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the capers, Worchestershire, and wine, and allow the wine to bubble up and reduce for a minute, then stir in the stock.
Pat the fish dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
Arrange the fish in the skillet, scatter the lemon slices around the skillet, and poach the fish for 10 to 12 minutes until firm and opaque.
Scatter the parsley over the fish, then transfer the fillets and sauce to shallow bowls or deep plates and serve with bread for mopping.

Balsamic Chicken with White Beans and Wilted Spinach

One of the biggest issues I run into when cooking dinners is usually a lack of time.  Most recipes say that they take a certain amount of prep time, and somehow I end up taking about 5 times as long to get the meal done.  9:00 is the usual dinner time in my home, even when I make super fast meals.  So I've been trying to choose meals that say that they take 30 min or less, knowing that if it takes me an hour, so be it.  This one from Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals ended up in that category.  I'm sure I could have used pre-chopped garlic or other shortcuts, but I'd rather take the few minutes and chop the clove myself.  One time-saver was that I used my mandolin slicer for the onions.

It felt like a complete meal in one dish and even let me be a little fancy with the presentation; though I will admit I added a little more chicken to the plate after taking the picture.  I wanted to serve a complete chicken breast, not just the half that looked pretty :o)

In all, it took almost an hour, but I was also puttering around at the beginning since I had forgotten to buy chicken stock and had to send my husband to the store while I got started.  I waited til he returned to actually start cooking, so this probably would have taken less than 45 min in total otherwise.

Balsamic Chicken with White Beans and Wilted Spinach (from Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals)

4 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp grill seasoning (I used McCormick's Montreal Chicken seasoning)
4 boneless chicken breasts
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
14 oz can cannellini beans
12 oz sack baby spinach
1 cup flat-leaf parsley
juice of 1 lemon


Directions

- In a shallow dish, combine the balsamic vinegar, about 2 tbsp of the extra virgin olive oil, and the grill seasoning.  Coat the chicken breasts in the mixture and set aside to marinate while you start the white beans and wilted spinach.

- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, twice around the pan.  Add the onions, garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are a little brown, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the white wine and chicken stock, bring up to a bubble, and cook for 5 minutes.

- Heat another large skillet over medium-high heat.  When it is hot, add the chicken breasts and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side.  Remove the chicken to a plate, cover loosely with foil, and let rest a few minutes.

- Add the cannellini beans to the skillet with the onions and stir to combine.  Cook for about 2 minutes or until the beans are heated through.  Turn off the heat and discard bay leaf.  Stir in the spinach, parsley, and lemon juice.  Toss and stir until the spinach wilts.

- To serve, place a portion of the white beans and wilted spinach on each serving plate.  Thickly slice each chicken breast on an angle and arrange over the bean and spinach.

Banana-Fig Bread

For this month's What's Baking challenge we were charged with baking with summer fruits.  July kind of got away from me, and as I've been running around enjoying my summer I didn't realize that I was nearing our deadline.  A few weeks ago I was on a business trip and picked up People magazine (my usual guilty pleasure for travel).  On the last page they had a recipe from Ted Allen for banana-fig bread.  I ripped it out, figuring it was something to add to my pile of recipes I'd get around to making one day, although my husband saw it and started asking me almost daily when I was going to make it.  Then as I started doing research earlier this week into what fruits are in season I noticed that figs were on the list.  Much to my husband's delight, I realized that this recipe fit the bill perfectly!

This ended up being a way to spend today's rainy afternoon.  It takes almost an hour of baking time, so it's great for a day when you have to hang around the house anyway.  And, ironically, we ate it while watching tonight's Chopped.

I'm excited for next month's What's Baking when I get to play host!!

Ted Allen's Banana-Fig Bread (originally published in People magazine, July 23, 2012)

Ingredients

1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole-what pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups dried figs, stemmed and diced
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla


Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350

- Bake walnuts 5 to 10 minutes or until golden, stirring after 4 minutes; set aside

- Whisk flours and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; set aside.  Combine bananas and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir in walnuts.

- Fold banana mixture into flour mixture.  Spoon batter into a buttered and floured 9x5 in loaf pan.  Bake 55 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean, shielding with foil if necessary.  Cool bread in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes.  Remove from pan, cool completely.