Eating "healthy" (Oat Applesauce Muffins)

Not too long ago I was on a bit of a muffin kick.  I had a touch of the muffin madness, I was making a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins every weekend.  I even to so far as to roast my own enormous pumpkin after Halloween, puree said pumpkin, and keep pumpkin puree stockpiled in my freezer in case I need an impromptu batch of these little gems.  The madness ran so deep that I bought myself a mega-muffin pan (think Costco size) and a mini-muffin pan (makes 24 mini muffins per batch). 

I hadn't made a batch in a while, but knew I needed to make something yummy to put on this blog for my readers, so I decided to find a muffin recipe that I hadn't tried before.  We have been eating baked oatmeal every weekend, so I have a large amount of oats in the house at any given moment, and I had made a batch of slow cooker applesauce about a month ago and froze the delicious results for future use, so I needed something that incorporated both oats and applesauce.  And VOILA, Oat Applesauce Muffins was the winner!  Allrecipes onces again provided an excellent and easy recipe for a healthly little muffin.

On the topic of buttermilk: I never buy it.  I have purchased it in the past pre-made, and frankly I never use a whole half-gallon, so I always just make my own by mixing a cup of milk with a tablespoon of vinegar.  It thickens, it gets tangy, and I always have milk and vinegar so it saves an unnecessary trip to the store.  I live 5 minutes from Walmart, and still avoid going whenever possible.

Oat Applesauce Muffins (from Allrecipes, posted by Sal)

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1 egg

There are oats in that there buttermilk

Place oats in a small bowl, pour in buttermilk. Let sit for two hours at room temperature. (I actually only did this step for as long as it took to get the rest of the ingredients together, per the recommendations in the recipe reviews)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar. 

Homemade applesauce = bees' knees

Secret ingredients, the vanilla is the homemade whiskey vanilla that I am absolutely obsessed with

Stir in oat/buttermilk mixture, applesauce and egg; mix well. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. (I also added a splash of vanilla and some cinnamon, about 1/2 to 1 tsp. of each is good)

 A big bowl of muffins

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. 


Full disclosure: these are not overly sweet and they are a little dense, and when eaten warm I thought they seemed a little "eh".  I put all of the muffins in a gallon freezer bag and let them sit and cool, and this made them soft and chewy and oh so delicious, so if these aren't your cup of tea right off the bat try the plastic bag trick while the muffins are still warm and you won't be sorry.

Coming up next: slow cooker beef stew, from another Allrecipes recipe.  It is cooking as I type this, and the smell is making me think that this one will be a keeper!  Keep you posted! 

Shark Week (Coca Cola Cake)

No, I don't allude to The Discovery Channel's "Shark Week", this is a delightful new euphemism I use for "Aunt Flo", the "Crimson Wave", and "that time of the month" that I have started using regularly, as it illustrates the delightfulness that is being a woman.  Do you need to know when it's Shark Week in Casa de la Swan?  Probably not.  Am I going to force this information on you anyways.  ABSOLUTELY.  Because now I know the perfect panacea to make the affliction of femininity that much more tolerable.  COCA COLA CAKE.

Sunday the 27th was National Chocolate Cake Day, so I decided to take advantage of the fortuitous cosmic alignment of Shark Week and Chocolate Cake Day by making this Coca Cola Cake.  This is apparently a VERY Southern dessert, but I attempted (and succeeded) in making my own Northern version.

The recipe I used called for mini-marshmallows (that I did have but completely forgot to put in).  The marshmallows probably would have been great, but the finished product was still extremly edible and quite delicious.

I don't make homemade cakes, I usually just use a box of mix and call it good, but I think I might make the exception again in the future for this cake.  It was perfect.  So good, in fact, that it was difficult to photograph due to how fast it got eaten by kids, a husband, and co-workers alike.

Faking the OG (Faux Zuppa Toscana)

I love the Olive Garden's Unlimited Soup, Salad and Breadsticks, although I try not to indulge too often in the real thing.  I've tried my hand a couple times at making my own version of Zuppa Toscana, and Sunday I ended up making a big pot of it with only a little peek at a recipe online (I needed a little guidance on what order to throw the ingredients in).

This is a super easy, hopefully somewhat healthy (what do I look like, a nutritionist?) take on the OG classic, try it out on a week night and be amazed at how fast it is to get on the table!

Faux Zuppa Toscana
7-8 Italian sausages
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
10 c water
3 tbsp chicken base
3 russet potatoes, sliced
2-3 c raw kale, chopped
1 can evaporated milk

I started with a package of Italian sausage, kale, 3 potatoes, an onion and some chicken base (pictured), as well as some minced garlic and a can of evaporated milk (not pictured, because I kind of threw them in last minute.

I pushed the sausage out of the casings while Elora took pictures, and started it browning in the bottom of my Dutch oven. 

I added the onions to the browned sausage, and let them cook until soft. 

Add in the water and chicken base (you can use stock or bouillion, I just keep the base around and love that it dissolves faster than a cube), and bring to a boil.  Add in your potatoes and let cook 20 minutes or so, until potatoes are cooked.

Throw in your kale and let it wilt for a few minutes, then toss in the can of evaporated milk.  This makes a creamy soup but leaves out all the fat that heavy cream would add.  The finished product is quite delightful with some homemade breadsticks (try this recipe if you have a bread machine, they are ridiculously easy and have great Italian flvor) and a big bowl of salad!!!

You Down with AIP? (Yeah You Know Me) (Mexican Chocolate Macaroons)

Angie and I, pre-Celiac diagnosis (and pre-breast reduction, wowza!)

Hello “Swans Eat Everything” fans! My name is Angie Alt & I’m a friend of Mary Rose’s from the way back . . . at least a decade or so. (We used to work the graveyard shift at a trucking co. together. Those were the days . . . ‘er nights.)  I’m also the blogger behind “Alt-ternative Universe.”  Mary Rose & I share a love
of blogging. We also both love food. I have a very interesting relationship with food though. In fact, my interesting relationship is what sparked this guest-blog switcheroo today.

So, a little back story for you. In February of 2012, after an intensely ill period, filled with all manner of scary symptoms, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  Finally, I had a name for the thing that I had been making me sick for over a decade.  Celiac is a genetic disorder that causes the body to mount an autoimmune attack on the small intestine due to gluten exposure. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley & rye. And these days we put gluten in EVERYTHING.

The only way to combat the disease & its debilitating effects is to adopt a gluten-free diet immediately. The trouble with that, was that I didn’t get better. In a person with an autoimmune disease, sometimes things can go really haywire. After a few more months of struggling, I discovered the Paleo diet (I really hesitate to use that word, it is more of a lifestyle) & quickly after that I discovered a version of Paleo that is meant for people just like me. A haywire system requires the AutoimmuneProtocol.

Enter my very interesting relationship with food . . . for the last nine months I did not ever consume the following food groups:

-Grains
-Legumes
-Dairy
-Eggs
-Nuts/Seeds
-Nightshade Vegetables (Tomatoes, White Potatoes, Eggplants & Sweet & Hot
Peppers, which means most spices)

I know what you are thinking. “How the hell does she eat at all? And furthermore, how can she & Mary Rose share a common love of food? You have to eat to love food.” She & I share a common thread though . . . good food, made from scratch."

I actually have an amazing diet now & I eat tons of awesome, fresh, delicious, healthful foods. And I am finally on the road to recovery. Happy, healthy me is returning.

Mary Rose & I thought we’d do a blog trade and I’d introduce all of you to an Autoimmune Protocol dessert. Yep, I still eat dessert!

Mexican Chocolate Macaroons

To make this Autoimmune Protocol, you need to omit the chili pepper and you need to make sure the baking cocoa does not include any dairy or soy. Here’s some step by step for you:

All the ingredients assembled.  The raw honey is produced locally by Amish beekeepers.  Score!

Lots of peeps are confused about coconut oil at first.  It is solid at room temp and is a lot like Crisco.  There is no need to melt it before making these cookies.

Here’s the wet & dry ingredients ready to go.

I mix by hand, since this “dough” is very thick.  Don’t worry my hands were well washed.

Ready to go in the oven.  I actually give them 10 minutes in the fridge before putting them in the oven.

 All done & lovely!  I drizzled a dairy/soy/gluten free chocolate over the top to make them look extra fancy.  

There you have it.  Mary Rose & I are heating up the kitchen from two different perspectives, but we still share that common thread.  Good food, made from scratch.  Someday Mary Rose & I are going to sit down with some nice red wine, a few of these macaroons & I’m going to tell her the story of how she came to be one of my best cheerleaders during one of the toughest parts of my life.  Everyone with a serious autoimmune disorder should be so lucky.  

If you are interested in trying Paleo or Autoimmune Protocol or you want to know more about Celiac Disease, check out my blog.  I promise you can still eat fantastic food! 

Busy Bee (Slow Cooker French Dips, Homemade Hoagies, and Salad Savoy Chips)

Wow, this entry in history is my first TRIPLE HEADER!  Three recipes all in one post?!  That defies all logic, all reason, all knowledge of my self proclaimed laziness!  Well, I have done even more cooking than the triple header title implies.  I made the equivalent of apple pie in oatmeal form for the kids yesterday, which was also breakfast today, and both kids asked for second-servings of day-old oatmeal.  I feel like a culinary queen today!

I made Salad Savoy Chips!  The veg is a combo of kale and cauliflower, and the roasted chips are ADDICTIVE.  If being healthy is as easy as eating roasted savoy chips I think I could become the healthiest person ever.  The roasted flavor is delicious.

(No Picture Available, due to scarfing)

I made Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce to go on my enormous football drumsticks! I made the buffalo sauce with Frank's and butter.  Or "buttah".  Whatever dialect you choose, when you bring those two things to a boil together magic happens.  I won't be buying pre-made sauce ever again.

I made Hoagie Rolls yesterday (these directions are funky, and I put wet ingredients in first, then dry, then yeast to make it bread machine friendly), I got 16 rolls out of 2 batches of dough in the bread machine, and I'm so thankful I did, because my bro-bro John came for dinner Sunday, along with my sister Currey.  The last time I made dinner and didn't make my own rolls for French Dips he gave me a louse 67% on effort.  I still love him, but he's my toughest critic.

And the piece de resistance: Slow Cooker French Dips!  This French Dip recipe might rock your socks off, and if you need socks to keep from getting blisters you should consider yourself forewarned. It is so ridiculously easy, just soy sauce, a touch of beef bouillon (I use beef base, I hate waiting for cubes to disolve), garcic powder, thyme, rosemary, peppercorns and bay leaves.  The au jus that this recipe makes is so good I want to have it transfused into my body, replacing my blood with the rich juiciness.

Originally this post was also supposed to include some oven-caramlized onions that I have been in love with since finding on Mama Loves Food, but they met an untimely end when the cookie sheet was not removed from the oven appropriately and the caramelized onions were more like carcinogen onions.  They do go amazing with the French Dips, and their absence meant my overall John grade was more like a 73%. 

There were no pictures of the finished product, blame it on 4 extra adults over for dinner, 3 extra kids, and 4 growlers of beer that my pal Darin brought over for the playoffs.  I am finding that I am really good at getting pictures of the "during cooking" or the "end product", but so far I haven't been very successful at getting both sets of pictures of one recipe (minus the Savoy Chips, because it was literally two steps to complete).  Something to work on!

Tomorrow I have a guest blog coming up, so check back after 8:00 AM EST and see the deliciousness of my first guest recipe!

Spark of Inspiration (Cranberry Wild Rice Pull Apart Bread)

Happy Wednesday!  Wow, this week has been amazingly long for just being 3 days in, here's hoping the rest of the week just speeds right by.  Things are looking up, I got myself some new boots for Christmas (hooker boots, not cowboy boots) that arrived today, there is a homemade veggie lasagna currently warming in the ol' "housewife's hot box" (the oven), and both kids are too distracted by learning games to demand much of my time at this very minute.  We shall see how long that lasts.

So this last weekend I was so enamored by the Cranberry Wild Rice bread for the French Toast (recipe for the dough HERE) that I told that I was going to make another batch the same day, and he suggested that we try an experiment.  I threw all the ingredients into the bread machine and set the dough cycle and let it work it's magic, and the dough that came out was identical (even better, I would say) than the dough I made with my KitchenAid for the original batch.  Probably got a lot more kneading in the bread machine, which I'm learning is a very important part of the bread making process.

 This bread has risen.....

Once the bread dough was all ready to go Thad completed phase two of the experiment.  Remember the Pull Apart Ranch Bread that I posted a few posts ago?  Thad wondered if we could apply the same technique to the Cranberry Wild Rice dough, rolling it flat, drizzling it with melted butter and a combo of brown sugar and cinnamon, then slicing and stacking into a bread pan before letting the dough rise one more time.

Fully baked, like Amanda Bynes

Wowza!  That about sums up the awesomeness that this bread was.  The slices can be toasted, you can make them into sandwiches if you're a little more meticulous about making the slices as similar in size as possible.

Well, the silent moment for quiet blogging has passed, Elora is throwing a fit of not knowing the letter "u" while spelling out sight words, and if she tells me I'm being mean one more time tonight I'm going to have to fight back a hulk-like desire to show her how much meaner mommy can be.  Calling me mean is like a challenge, and boy, that is a gauntlet I find very difficult not to pick up.

Brunch Date (Cranberry Wild Rice French Toast)

This last weekend was very low-key in Casa Swan.  Lots of laundry was washed and dried, but I didn't put any of it away, so now that I'm home with Colter on a rare "sick day" I will end up folding towels and trying to clean out laundry baskets, all while watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Netflix.  I love L&O:CI, everything about it makes me happy, from Vincent D'Onofrio's genius Detective Goren to the plot synopsis of each crime and it's conclusion.  I can't wait to get to work on folding when I have Detective Goren to keep me company.

Yesterday I invited some pals over for brunch, a couple folks that I haven't seen in a while but enjoy spending time with, so brunch seemed the best way to lure them to my house for a visit.  Thank you, Tanya and Matthew, for your willingness to be my culinary guinea pigs!

I was feeling inspired, and decided to put the inspiration to good use by making something I saw on Drive-ins, Diners and Dives a long time ago, Cranberry Wild Rice French Toast.  There is a little cafe in Minnesota that makes their bread special for this French Toast, using native Minnesotian wild rice and cranberries, and it looked super good.  I'm happy to report, it is just as delicious as it looks above (the top is flat from brushing melted butter on the loaf before baking, an unnecessary step I don't plan to repeat).

The bread dough was incredibly simple to make.  So simple, in fact, that I threw a second batch of the ingredients into the bread machine after brunch and made something doubly delicious with the second batch of bread dough as well.  The longest part of the bread dough prep process: getting wild rice ready.  Fifty minutes to cook, but if you cook quite a bit you can make enough for 2-3 batches of this bread at once.

Once the bread was baked and ready to go you slice it up and then dip the slices in your French Toast ingredients and then let the slices set on a rack to wick away some of the additional egg/milk mixture.  This is where I feel I have been failing on my attempts at French Toast.  You really have to let the slices dry a smidge, otherwise you get really soggy results.  I ended up having a little egg nog in the fridge from the holidays that was still good, so I used this for the egg/milk mixture, and you totally could tell there was a little extra "something" from the spices in the egg nog.  Totally delish.

Brioche

I made a loaf of French Brioche bread dough in the bread machine as well, and this loaf was GORGEOUS, and the first few slices were like heaven, but the inside was just a little doughy at the very top, so it didn't end up making very much French Toast.  But I have made French Toast before with this brioche bread, and I 100% recommend trying it.  Super easy to make, and the results are like a loaf of croissant: light, flaky and rich as hell.  Or like Kim Kardashian (HEY-OH!).

I served this French Toast with baked bacon and turkey bacon I baked in the leftover real bacon grease, which removed all the health properties of turkey bacon.  I will share with you the next use for the Cranberry Wild Rice bread in my next post.... you will LOVE it!