chocolate muffins

with school starting up again, i'm trying to get back into the swing of things, menu and meal preparedness wise... today i tried out two new muffin recipes. i always try to make them healthy but there's a fine line that i have to balance on because let's face it, the kids still have to want to eat them.

the poppy seed muffin recipe was a bust. even i didn't like it.

the chocolate muffin recipe was great. maybe more great because of the poppy seed muffin failure. we'll see how great it really is the second time i make them. i'm still kind of border line with the chocolate muffins because it is after all, chocolate for breakfast. but they are made with all whole wheat flour and they're lowfat because i used applesauce instead of oil. i'm putting down the recipe the way i made it - with all the substitutions.

chocolate muffins

2 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 C. white sugar (could possibly reduce even more to only 1 C)
1/2 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 1/4 C. skim milk
1 egg
2 T. applesauce (could also use pumpkin puree)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 C. semisweet mini chocolate chips

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2. in medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and powder, and salt. in mixing bowl, combine milk, egg, oil and vanilla. (i got sidetracked and let the kitchen aid go for a while and the egg got a little foamy - not sure if that helped lighten the muffin but they turned out good). mix dry ingredients into wet. beat well. add chocolate chips. stir well.

3. fill muffin cups. (original recipe also calls for nuts - 3/4 c. chopped walnuts added with the chocolate chips and 1/3 c. whole almonds on top of unbaked muffins. the girls don't do nuts well so i left them out.)

4. bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tester inserted into middle comes out clean.

Chicken Zucchini Chili

2 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 (15 oz) can black beans
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (16 oz) jar salsa
1 cup frozen or canned corn
1 medium zucchini sliced in 1/4's
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin

Combine all ingredients in a pot and simmer until zucchini is soft (about 20-30 minutes). Garnish with cheese, avocado, and LIME tortilla chips.

Beef Broccoli and Sesame Noodles

This month, for one of my freezer meals, I put together my grandmother's recicpe for beef broccoli and added a great sesame noodles that I got off the Pioneer Woman website. We love these noodles and they are so easy to make with things we normally have on hand.

Beef Broccoli:

1 lb broccoli (you can either parboil some fresh or used frozen)
1/2 lb steak, sliced thinly (the recipe calls for round steak but you can use whatever you like)

Marinade:
2 t. sugar
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cornstarch
1/8 t. grated ginger
salt and pepper, optional (I usually leave out since soy sauce has plenty of salt)

Marinate meat for 5-10 minutes and then cook until done.

Sauce:
1 beef buillon cube
1 C. water
1 T. cornstarch
1-2 T. soy sauce

Dissolve buillon cube in water. Allow to cool and add cornstarch or dissolve cornstarch in a little cold water. Add soy sauce. Add sauce to meat in pan and cook and stir until thick and bubbly.

Stir in broccoli. If the sauce is too thick, add in 1/4 C. water. If you want it thicker, dissolve more cornstarch in some cold water and add to meat mixture.

To prepare for freezer, combine uncooked meat and marinade in one bag. Prepare sauce and choose the option to allow buillon and water to cool. Add in cornstarch and soy sauce - this goes in another bag. I use frozen broccoli in another bag. Put all a big ziplock so they are all together and easy to grab when you make this meal.

Prepare from frozen by allowing all the ingredients to thaw. Follow the steps above, skipping the marinating time since it already got that while thawing and reincorporate corstarch in the sauce before adding to the hot pan. You might also want to microwave the frozen broccoli if it's not as soft as you'd like to eat it by just thawing.


Sesame Noodles :

12 oz. spaghetti noodles
1/4 C. soy sauce
2 T. sugar
3-4 cloves garlic (the more the better, I say!)
2 T. rice vinegar
2-3 T. sesame oil
4-5 T. canola oil(I usually use half this amount and don't miss it)
3-4 green onions, sliced
2 T. hot water

Cook noodles according to package directions. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over cooked noodles. Toss and serve.

For my freezer meal, I just put all the sauce ingredients, minus the hot water into a baggie. Keep the pasta on hand in the pantry.

Prepare from frozen the same way as above, allowing sauce to thaw first. Add in hot water and whisk sauce before adding cooked noodles.

Herbed Roast Chicken

I saw this one on Rachel Ray and decided to try it. While it was cooking it smelled so good! I loved using all these fresh herbs and it really is a pretty simple recipe.

1 Whole Chicken
Fresh herbs like tarragon, parsley, thyme, etc.
Butter or Olive Oil

Roasting Veggies:
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Fresh Basil (optional)

Rosemary Garlic White Sauce:
3T butter
2T flour
1 C cream or milk
chicken stock
2 bulbs of fresh garlic
about 1/2 C fresh rosemary, chopped

Chop up your fresh rosemary. Slice about 1/4 of the bottom of the garlic bulb off (the rest of the bulb will stay in tact). Smash the side of bulb of garlic that you cut off into your rosemary pile and then drill liberally with olive oil. Wrap it in tin foil and roast it in the oven for about an hour. You will make the sauce with this later.

Prepare your potatoes - if you can find small ones, pour them on the bottom of you roasting pan. If not, cut them into the size of pieces you'd like. Cut the carrots into about the same size as your potatoes. Same thing goes for the onions, if you can find small ones, great, if not cut the onions into the same size pieces as your potatoes and carrots. Mix all this in the bottom of your roasting pan. I also added some fresh basil in the mix.

With the chicken, pull the skin away the meat (around the breast and also the legs) a bit and slip in your fresh herbs in between the skin and meat (I only had fresh tarragon and I loved it). Rachel Ray said to rub your bird down with butter - you probably could use some olive oil - and then salt and pepper. Place it on top of the veggies and cover with tin foil.

Bake at 375 for about an hour or till the juices run clear. Remove the tin foil after about 40 mins to allow the chicken to get some color. (I put my garlic in to roast at the same time as the chicken.)

Once the garlic is done, gently squeeze out the roasted garlic/rosemary into a bowl and set aside for the sauce.

For the sauce:
Melt 3 T butter in a sauce pan. Add about 2 T flour and cook to form a ball for about a minute. Slowly add 1 C of cream (or milk) while stirring. After that, add in chicken stalk until you reach the desired consistency of sauce you'd like. Add the garlic rosemary and stir into the sauce for about another minute.

Prepare:
Remove and cut your chicken into pieces. If you want to add some fresh spinach to your veggies and toss it around for a side salad you can. Top your chicken with the sauce.

Father's Day Steak and Pan Sauce

I made up this pan sauce tonight and it was GOOD. Not just kind of good....double O, capitalized GOOD.

4 Ribeye Steaks - about 1 inch thick
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup beef stock/broth or water
1 tsp mustard -- I used yellow, but I think brown or the "Poupon" would be even better
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Fresh ground Sea Salt and Freshly coarsely ground Black Pepper
olive oil

Add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. You want it HOT. Season both sides of the steak with salt and pepper--however much you like. When the pan is pretty darn hot, add the steak. Don't overcrowd the pan or it will steam instead of sear. I had to do 2 batches of 2 steaks each.

Now, don't touch the steak....Resist the urge. No, No....Hands off. Just leave it alone. It will get a nice sear and crust that keeps the juices in. After 6 minutes for medium rare or 7-8 for medium, flip it over. Then hands off. Don't touch for another 6 minutes for medium-rare, 7-8 for medium. Then take it out, sit it on a platter and don't touch. Let it rest for 10 minutes. It's carry-over heat will make it perfect and the juices will stay in the meat. Repeat for the other 2 steaks if they didn't fit.

After the steaks are done and resting, turn the heat to medium. Add stock/broth or water to pan to deglaze, scraping up the yummy brown bits. Add balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and stir for a couple of minutes until it thickens a bit. Then serve either poured over the steak or on the side for dipping.

Herbed Onion Focaccia with Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

This is from the pampered chef book, which I recently found and became a fun thing to add to pasta meals (like a pizza without all the pizza ingredients), especially cause I've got fresh basil bushes in the back that I LOVE! and some starts of oregano. I recently got some tarragon that I added also. I assume you can experiment with the herbs you want to put on it.

1 loaf frozen bread dough (I don't have this luxury here to I just do a quick pizza dough)
2 t olive oil
1 onion, sliced in rings
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
fresh basil leaves
fresh oregano
1/4 C Parmesan cheese

Saute the onion and garlic in oil until the onion is tender and garlic turns golden brown (I actually like it when the onion are a little caramelized, even looks burnt). Prepare the dough and spread onto a pizza stone. Brush the olive oil over the bread. Spread the onion and garlic mix over the dough and sprinkle the herbs around it also. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese (I actually usually just use a local brand cheese. I bet you could use the cheese of your choice as long as it's not too strong to over power the herbs.) Bake at 375 for 20-25 min. Serve.

I usually use this dressing to dip the bread in:

Basil Vinaigrette Dressing
1 C olive oil
1/3 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 C honey
3 T fresh basil
2 cloves minced fresh garlic

In a bowl whisk together.

Scones and granola

Inspired by Kam's breakfast post, I wanted to share our latest breakfast favorites.

I recently discovered scones. I like them. I like something bread-y but I don't like to wait for bread to rise. These are fast and flavorful. The kids like to eat them with milk in the mornings or as an after school snack (it's a step in the healthy direction away from cookies).

Orange Chocolate Scones
2 C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 C cold butter
1/3 C orange juice
1/3 C + 2 T buttermilk (you can also do this by using regular milk, squeezing 1 T lemon juice in it and let it sit for 5 min)
2 T orange zest
1/2 C dark chocolate chips

Wisk flour- baking soda together. Cut in butter. Combine wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients until moist (Don't pour it all in at once cause sometimes, the flour is not really dry, so it comes out too wet. Add the mixture a bit at a time and mixing it). Stir in chocolate chips. Kneed to combine. Pat the dough into a flat circle and cut into wedges. Bake at 350 for 12-15 min. I keep some of these for the next day and then I freeze the rest. Take out what you want and warm them up in the microwave.

Apple Scones
2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 C cold butter
1 shredded apple
1/2 C milk

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in cold butter. Add the shredded apple. Slowly add the milk until moist. Knead it till mixed and form a circle. Flatten it and cut wedges. After dip the top of the wedge into a cinnamon-sugar mix. Bake at 350 for 12-15 min.

Last, I've started to make my own granola. This has actually become a staple breakfast food, even replacing prepared cereals. It's pretty easy and I like it cause I know what is going into it so I can consider it to really be healthy for my family. It's a fun way to get my kids to eat oats. It also sticks better in our stomach than prepared cereals.

2 C oats
1/2 C flaked coconut
1/2 nuts (I usually use peanuts)
1/8 C sesame seeds
1/8 C flax seeds
1/4 C shelled sunflower seeds (I actually haven't added this in before, but the recipe calls for it)
1/3 C oil
1/3 C honey
1/4 C raisins, dried fruits or chocolate chips/m&m's

Combine oats - seeds (if you don't have some seeds or if you like another kind of seed, use what you have and what you like). Add oil and then in the same cup you measured the oil, measure the honey (this way, the honey comes out of the cup easier). Mix this together. Bake at 300 for 20 min stirring after 10 min. Check on the granola every so often. As it darkens, stir it. Remove from oven. Turn onto a foil and allow to cool. Add dried fruits and chocolate. Store in an air tight container and it'll last for quite some time (even in the humidity of the Philippines!)

We love to eat this with yogurt and banana's (like an acai bowl type thing). We've also eaten this on banana splits. Yum! and it's healthy!