Random recipe: Blueberry Spinach Smoothie

Posted by random olio

I never used to enjoy eating my vegetables. They were always so gross to me. My mom usually purchased frozen or canned vegetables and then I truly think she pulverized them. Overcooked, often with added vinegar (um gross), and if lettuce at all it was usually iceberg. I do not blame her, maybe it was all she knew. I was that girl in college that basically ate cereal at every meal, or anything white (mashed potatoes, corn, pasta) — you get the point.

Until Chris.

Yes, Chris changed my vegetable consuming life. Let me just say we rarely have frozen vegetables, and other than canned tomatoes for a potential recipe, I do not think we ever have canned vegetables. Fresh. Always fresh. We live in the perfect state to enjoy local farmers and their tasty bounty. I now crave vegetables, and make sure to have them during each meal of the day.

For at least the last five years I have consumed a green smoothie for breakfast. Usually it is this fruit version, or this chocolate yummy goodness. Lately though we’ve wanted to try new options to put in the rotation. Every version we have must contain spinach or kale. I think of it like having a salad for breakfast without having to masticate every piece. You do not even know you are drinking all the greenness. I found the original recipe on Averie Cooks, but have adapted it to my liking. The pomegranate juice adds a bit of tart in with the sweet blueberries. Oh, and for those of you that are grossed out by adding spinach, you cannot taste the spinach, but you get all the nutrients.

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces frozen blueberries
Large handful of spinach
1 med/large ripe banana
3/4 cup pomegranate juice (can also try blueberry, grape, cherry)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine all ingredients in an amazing blender (my personal favorite is my trusty Vita-Mix and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Serve immediately.

Random recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread

Posted by random olio

I am a fan of banana bread and pumpkin bread. They are almost both impossible to screw up. I have a version that takes sour cream, and a few years ago I found a version that has a crunchier top crust. That has become my favorite because there is a nice juxtaposition of crunchy top with soft insides.

I could hardly wait for this new version to come out of the oven. The smell of cinnamon sugar was wafting through the house. Of course once it came out of the oven it had to cool and I was pooped and ready for bed. I cannot take the credit for this random recipe. It was all Chris. I was working late and he graciously went into the kitchen to make it. Although I guess it is a win-win for him because he gets to enjoy such an amazing loaf of bread.

I would never have thought to put bananas, blueberries, and cinnamon sugar together. It works though.

CINNAMON SUGAR BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAD
Cook time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 overripe bananas
2 large eggs
7 tablespoons sour milk (make sour milk by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar to 6 1/2 tablespoons nonfat milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen, be sure to remove any ice crystals)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x5x3” loaf pan with butter and coat it with sugar. (You do this like you would grease and flour a pan. Grease it first, then add about 2 tablespoons sugar to the pan and move the pan side to side until the bottom and sides are coated with sugar. Do NOT substitute cooking spray for the butter. You can skip the sugaring and just use cooking spray, if you wish.)
Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a hand mixer. Set aside.
Add bananas, eggs, milk, vanilla, and baking soda to a blender jar and blend until smooth.
Pour half the banana mixture into the butter mixture with 1 cup of flour. Mix with hand mixer until just incorporated, then add the remaining banana mixture and flour. Mix until just incorporated. Stir in blueberries. (Make sure that your frozen berries are not overly wet; pat them dry and/or remove any ice crystals or your batter will be too wet.) Pour into prepared pan.
Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. The edges will be a dark brown and there will be a nice crack down the center.
Cool completely before removing loaf from pan, but you can cut slices from the pan after it’s cooled for about 15-20 minutes.

Random Recipe: Black Bean Avocado Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies

Posted by random olio

Some of the oddest mixture of ingredients I have seen in a long time. Who ever thought that black beans and avocado could be put in brownies? I grew up with the cheapest brownie mix possible (do you remember Aldi?) I am always an advocate for a different kind of recipe. One that has little to no white sugar (this one does not fit that bill as it has dark brown sugar) but that also uses ingredients that are good for you, but you might not think about them going into a dessert. Chris made them last night, and they are not bad. His only complaint was that he cooked them too long. The recipe says to bake for 25-35 minutes, and he baked them for 25 minutes, and he felt they were too cakey and he should have baked for 20 minutes, so beware.

Only caveat: they are dark, almost black brownies. Most likely the black beans. Makes for an interesting conversation.

Black Bean Avocado Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies {gluten-free & low-fat}

INGREDIENTS

1 – 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1/2 of a large extra ripe avocado
1 teaspoon coconut or olive oil
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (important to use a VERY good quality powder!)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips of choice, plus 2 tablespoons for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8 inch baking pan.
Place all ingredients besides chocolate chips into blender or food processor. Process or puree until ingredients form a smooth batter. If the batter is WAY too thick and won’t process then add in a teaspoon or two of water. This batter needs to be very thick in order to produce fudgy brownies. Add in 1/3 cup chocolate chips and fold into batter.
Pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of remaining chocolate chips. You can also fold in nuts or swirl in peanut butter. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out somewhat clean and top of the brownies begin to crack.
Cool pan completely on wire rack then cut into 12 delicious squares.

ORIGINAL RECIPE NOTES:

_Vegan version: Use vegan chocolate chip and sub a flax egg for the egg and egg whites.
_These brownies are best once they have cooled. Try them right out of the fridge.

Random recipe: Chocolate Chess Pie

Posted by random olio

My mom was not always the most amazing cook or baker, but somehow I have childhood nostalgia for a few recipes we made as kids. My mom’s recipes had a bit of an early burial. After college my sister purchased a used laptop. This was back in the day when a laptop was as thick as a brick, and cell phones were used in cars for emergencies and also looked like bricks. Not long after she purchased the laptop she decided to transfer all of my mom’s recipes over to the laptop and get rid of the paper versions. Made sense at the time right? Not until the laptop died and she lost everything on the hard drive. This was before we had a zillion ways to back up a computer.

It was a sad day. Over the years I have thought about that laptop and all the recipes we lost. I still have some of my mom’s cookbooks, but the recipes on index cards, worn and used are long gone. A few of the recipes I remember and have not tried to recreate, but there was one particular recipe that I have tried countless times to recreate with no success. I have tried to remember the ingredients and put together what I think were the amounts, and I have tried to find a recipe on the Internet with similar ingredients, with no luck. I have had runny finished products, nasty tasting ones, and ones that were just boring. Chris has given up on me finding it. I am relentless. I will try until I find it.

Recently I found this version on Design Sponge. Still not my absolute favorite but it gets closer to the real deal. We were lazy and purchased a pie crust rather than making it from scratch. For the full recipe click the link below (pie crust included). We also just used ice cream rather than their whip cream. To me a good Chocolate Chess Pie should be served warm with cold ice cream to make the pie congeal. A bit like a warm brownie and ice cream. If you have your own version, let me know – I will try it!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chess Pie (From Design Sponge)

Pie Filling

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk

In a medium bowl, stir together both sugars, the cornmeal, nutmeg and cocoa powder, mixing until completely combined. Stir in the vanilla, butter, eggs and evaporated milk and mix until fully incorporated. When ready to bake, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the pie and cool for at least one hour. Serve with ice cream.

Random recipe: Warm Chocolate Souffle Cakes

Posted by random olio

Sometimes you just need something sweet. It has been a rough week. There have been days this week where by the end of the day I could no longer formulate a complete sentence. In a meeting yesterday I kept starting a thought and was not able to finish it. It was after 5 pm, and someone in the meeting mentioned that it was due to Daylight Savings Time. (I sure hope so.) In any case, sometimes when you just hit your limit you need a bit of warm chocolate to make things better. Like Mary Poppins said: “Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Last night I needed just a spoon full of warm chocolate to make it through the rest of my day.

Warm Chocolate Souffle Cakes (Found in a recent issue of Portland Monthly Magazine)

(Makes a dozen 6 oz cakes)

15 oz bittersweet chocolate (at least 64 percent cacao)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup and 1/2 cup sugar, separated
1 pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter 12 individual baking dishes (6-8 oz) or spray with nonstick vegetable spray. Set a large metal bowl over a saucepan filled with an inch or two of simmering water to create a double boiler. Melt chocolate and butter in bowl over low heat. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2. Place egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. With the mixer on medium speed, add 1/2 cup sugar and a pinch of salt, and mix until yolks are slightly thicker and lighter in color, 2-3 minutes. Then using a spatula, fold the beaten yolks into the chocolate and set aside.

3. Wash and dry mixer bowl. Add egg whites and whisk on low speed, gradually adding half of the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Increase speed to medium, and whisk until whites form soft peaks, 3-4 minutes. Slowly add the rest of the sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, 30 seconds to a minute longer. In three additions, fold the whites into the chocolate-yolk mixture until just combined.

4. Fill baking dishes three-quarters full. Bake until just set and a bit jiggly in the center, 12-14 minutes. Serve immediately. (It’s delicious with vanilla ice cream drizzled with honey.)

Not too hard. We actually cut the recipe in half because we did not think we could eat the dozen mini cakes fast enough, so we only made six. They are so worth the time (and really not a complex recipe at all). I love the congealing that happens with warm chocolate cake-like items with cold vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!