Wheat Archives - Chattavore

Cranberry-Almond Quinoa Muffins

May 28, 2013

Cranberry-almond quinoa muffins pack some of my favorite flavors into a dense, filling, satisfying muffin, perfect for a weekday breakfast.

Woohoo! Summer Break is finally here. I feel like I’ve spent the last ten months waiting for this….oh wait, I have.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job…I really do. Teaching preschool-and exceptional education-is the kind of work that you don’t keep doing if you don’t love it. It’s super physically and emotionally exhausting, though, and during the school year I spend nights and weekends thinking about tantrums, unmastered IEP goals, behaviors I didn’t “fix”, activities that went awry, what books I need to read, lesson plans, how to increase communication, how to increase social interactions….and so on, and so on, and so on.

That’s not to say I don’t think about those things on summer break. I write lesson plans. I work in my classroom. I read work-related books. I make materials. It’s just that….it’s not so pressing when it’s not right in front of you. Summer break provides a reprieve from the urgency of day-to-day with four-year-olds, or ten-year-olds, or seventeen-year-olds. Every age group, every ability level provides its own pressing issues. People often criticize teachers for the breaks that they get, often asserting that we do it for the breaks. I argue that those people have never been teachers. Summer break provides two months of mental break, two months that I can actually rest my brain, something that is virtually impossible between August and the end of May.

Sorry, that got a little heavy. I didn’t mean for it to; I simply wanted to provide my perspective on why I so look forward to summer break. It’s funny, though….the second summer break begins, the blogging bonanza begins as well. I’ve done more work on my blog since Friday afternoon than I have in the entire last month, starting with an impromptu post about how much money I spend on groceries and including some delicious soda and some fantastic muffins.

I’ve been cooking with quinoa lately. I made it several years ago and haven’t made it since. I had a jar of it in my pantry that I had bought not that long ago and kept meaning to use it. I made quinoa “fried rice” last week and after looking at some oatmeal muffins that someone had posted somewhere (so descriptive, right?) I thought that quinoa sounded like a pretty good fit for a muffin too. Of course, Martha Stewart came through for me with a recipe for quinoa muffins with raisins. I did a little adaptation to the recipe and came up with these whole-wheat cranberry-almond quinoa muffins. They’re heavy (in weight, that is) but surprisingly not overly dense. And since quinoa is a complete protein (making it a vegetarian’s dream) these cranberry-almond quinoa muffins are more filling that your average muffin.

These cranberry-almond quinoa muffins are breakfast perfection.

Whole-Wheat Cranberry-Almond Quinoa Muffins

Print recipe

Serves	12
Prep time	25 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	55 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Milk, Tree Nuts, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Bread, Breakfast, Snack
Misc	Freezable
Website	Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (rinsed-don't skip the rinsing!!)
2 cups white whole-wheat flour-you could also use all-purpose (plus more for flouring pan)
1/4 cup vegetable oil-I used melted coconut oil (plus more for oiling pan)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups brown sugar (preferably dark brown, but light will work as well)
3/4 cups buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, use whole milk)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Large egg
1/4-1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract (you can also use vanilla or orange extract if you don't like almond)

Note

You can substitute any dried fruit or extract in this recipe. You can also substitute other types of nuts, or omit the nuts altogether.

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan with 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-13 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed. While the quinoa is cooking, brush the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with oil and lightly flour, tapping out excess.
Step 2
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. In another container, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, extract, and brown sugar. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry then add 2 cups of the quinoa (if you have extra, set aside for another use. I had just over 2 cups), the oil, and the cranberries (if you don't use coconut oil, you can just whisk it with the liquid ingredients. I didn't want my coconut oil to solidify in the cold buttermilk). Mix with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened, but don't overmix.
Step 3
Divide the muffin batter among the cups of the prepared muffin pan. They will be very full. Top with the chopped almonds. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 4
Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. They are also great for freezing!

Cranberry-almond quinoa muffins back some of my favorite flavors into a dense, filling, satisfying muffin, perfect for a weekday breakfast. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Creamy Cabbage Casserole

March 7, 2013

Show of hands: how many of you “hate” cabbage?

(hand raised)

Okay, really…I wouldn’t say I hate cabbage. However, cooked cabbage tends to be cooked to the point that it turns my stomach, and raw cabbage seems to be most often served in slaw, of which I am usually not a fan. I don’t really recall my mom cooking cabbage as I was a kid, and most of my experiences with cooked cabbage have been extra-stinky cabbage from the kitchen of the small school where I used to work. I’m probably exaggerating here, but it seems like the entire school reeked of sulfur for the entire day and when we trashed the uneaten leftovers (as we were required by the USDA to do) in our classroom trashcans (we ate in the classroom) the classroom would be overwhelmingly smelly for the rest of the day.

As odd as it may sound, I’ve always liked the idea of cabbage. I can remember (very vaguely) eating a raw cabbage leaf as a kid and thinking it wasn’t half bad. A few years back, a St. Patrick’s Day special about Ireland aired on Food Network and a lady made a cabbage dish with butter and just a tiny bit of water to steam it. Not overcooked, it was delicious, and I have tried ever since to find more ways to fit cabbage into my diet. Fish tacos, vinegary slaws, chicken chow mein with Napa cabbage….the more cabbage dishes I make, the more I like it.

One of my assistants recently accompanied me to the Main Street Farmers Market, where we each purchased a head of cabbage. A few days later, she mentioned that she had turned hers into a creamy cabbage casserole. I knew I had to have the recipe, so she brought it to me. I was not disappointed. Creamy, buttery, slightly cheesy, crunchy, and not overcooked, this casserole was just what I was hoping for. There’s no strong, overpowering taste….no stinkiness to contend with. Just delicious goodness. If you’ve been trying to find a way to make this much maligned vegetable pleasing to the palate…here it is.

Creamy Cabbage Casserole

Print recipe

Serves	6-10
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	50 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Side Dish
From magazine	Southern Living

Ingredients

1 Medium cabbage (coarsely chopped)
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (preferably freshly ground)
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano cheese (grated)
1/3 cup panko crumbs (toasted over medium heat in a dry skillet till lightly browned)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the cabbage in a small amount of boiling salted water for ten minutes. Drain well and set aside.
Step 2
Melt three tablespoons of butter over low heat in a large skillet. Add the flour and whisk until smooth then cook for one minute. Gradually add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat until thickened. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cabbage and stir until thoroughly combined.
Step 3
Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish (mine is an 8x8 Pyrex dish). Spread the cabbage mixture into the dish. Top with the grated cheese then the bread crumbs. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and pour evenly over the bread crumbs. Bake for twenty minutes.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

February 7, 2013

Okay, I lied. These are not oatmeal cream pies. They’re oatmeal whoopie pies. Seeing how I’m from Little Debbie Land (McKee Foods is based in Collegedale, near Chattanooga), I feel the need to admit that to you up front. Still, they satisfy a craving without any questionable ingredients and not one. speck. of processed sugar. Seriously.

For the last three weeks I’ve been on a sugar fast. I’m trying to avoid eating any processed sugar during the week besides maybe what’s in a square of dark chocolate once a day (I have to have something). I’ve drastically cut my overall sugar intake, so the only other sugar I’ve been eating during the week is the small amount of honey I put in my coffee and then whatever is naturally occurring in the foods I eat.

This isn’t a “resolution”. I haven’t made a resolution in….ever. It’s just not something that I do. It’s kind of like saying, “The diet starts Monday.” Setting time constraints for when you are going to implement a lifestyle change makes me feel certain from the get-go that I am not going to be successful. My biggest successes as far as exercising, eating well, losing weight, etc., have come from just saying randomly one day, “This starts now.” That’s exactly how this happened. I just decided one day that my sugar intake was a little overboard and wondered if it could have something to do with my out-of-control breakouts. I mean, at thirty-four years of age I should not be breaking out like I did when I was in middle school…something had to give. Two-and-a-half weeks into avoiding sugar through the week and drinking a green smoothie every day, I think I can tell a difference….but it was a bad problem and it’s not going to clear up overnight. Bonus: I’ve lost three pounds. Yippee!

I give myself a little reprieve on the weekend, but when I decided that I “needed” an oatmeal cream pie I decided that it needed to be recreated to not include processed sugar. When I have some sucanat in the house I’d like to try to make something a little more authentic, but this definitely did the trick for the moment and gave me an excuse to use mascarpone cheese I had in the fridge. It’s not the same oatmeal cream pie I loved as a kid (and I’ll admit, still love as an adult) but Philip, who is not an oatmeal cream pie fan (he’s more of a fudge round kind of guy) said mine were better. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Print recipe

Serves	7
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	13 minutes
Total time	43 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly
Website	Adapted from Deliciously Organic

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter (melted)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Large eggs (room temperature (I put them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes))
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup rolled or quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (You could also use pumpkin pie spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
8oz mascarpone cheese (softened (can also use cream cheese))
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with a Sil-pat or parchment paper.
Step 2
Place the oats in a food processor and pulse until they resemble cornmeal.
Step 3
Whisk the melted butter, eggs, applesauce, teaspoon of vanilla, and maple syrup in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour, one cup of the ground oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and five-spice powder.
Step 4
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. If the mixture is too runny (it should be thick enough to be scooped onto the pan without running all over the place) add more of the oat flour. Use a two-inch cookie scoop or a large spoon to scoop out the batter. Bake for 12-14 minutes (it should feel firm but not hard when pressed). Allow to cool.
Step 5
Use a stand or hand mixer to completely combine the mascarpone, butter, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. It will not be smooth like icing but rather will look a little like ricotta. Spread the filling on half of the oatmeal cookies and top with the remaining cookies. Serve immediately. Store uneaten pies in the refrigerator.

Penne with Mushrooms and Whiskey Cream Sauce

January 17, 2013

One of the most recent requests I’ve had regarding my blog is more vegetarian recipes. I promised to try….I can’t promise anything low-fat or free of butter, cream, etc., but I’ll try to curb the bacon use a little bit…or at least make recipes that are bacon-optional. If you are a regular Chattavore reader, you already know that we eat mostly vegetarian in the house…it’s a lot less expensive to eat meatless, so my weekly Link 41 bacon is generally the only meat in our fridge. We are far from being true vegetarians…we eat plenty of meat in restaurants and in other people’s houses. Still, I have no idea why I haven’t posted more vegetarian recipes…so that’s one of my resolutions for 2013, I guess.

Mushrooms are one of the great loves of my life. The funny thing about mushrooms is that I hated them until I started working at Chuck E. Cheese’s and randomly decided to try some on my pizza one day. Of course, looking back now I doubt that I actually hated mushrooms…I just thought that I did. I don’t really remember mushrooms from my childhood, except maybe some cans (only God knows what my mom could have possibly used canned mushrooms for) and the supreme pizzas that my parents always ordered from Pizza Hut.

Once I tried them, it was on. I mean, on. Mushrooms are just so versatile. They’re a main dish! They’re a side! They’re a salad! It’s true. You can’t go wrong with mushrooms. I know lots of people that don’t eat them (it’s a texture thing, I think) but luckily I didn’t marry one of them, so I’m free to cook all the mushrooms I want. I don’t really remember how this pasta dish popped into my head…was I looking at Pioneer Woman’s website and saw it, or did I just remember seeing it at some point? I don’t recall. At any rate, the bottle of Chattanooga Whiskey (keepin’ it local!) in my pantry seemed to be calling to me that it needed to be poured into some cream sauce, and chicken on pasta often seems unnecessary to me….so I left out the chicken, and flipped the proportions of the whiskey and the white wine. Guess what? Perfection.

Penne with Mushrooms & Whiskey Cream Sauce

Print recipe

Serves	4
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Main Dish
Website	Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 Medium onion (halved & thinly sliced)
8oz cremini (baby bella) mushrooms (wiped clean & sliced)
1/4 cup whiskey (I used Chattanooga Whiskey)
1/4 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1/4 cup unsalted chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper (to taste)
10-12oz penne pasta (cooked al denté)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss the mushrooms one tablespoon of olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Roast for 20-25 minutes.
Step 2
While the mushrooms are roasting, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onions until translucent.
Step 3
Turn off the heat and pour in the whiskey and wine. Allow to cook for about a minute then add the chicken broth and cook to reduce liquid for about 2 minutes. Add the cream and cook until it thickens slightly. Stir in the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4
Toss the mushroom cream sauce with the pasta and divide between bowls. Serve with parmesan or Romano cheese for topping if desired.

Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

January 5, 2013

There are many things about my job that I would consider rewarding, with seeing the children make boundless progress over the course of one short school year being, of course, not the smallest reward. While I definitely don’t do my job for the gifts that I get, I was not sad to open this box at my class Christmas party:

The Bread Basket is a locally-owned bakery with locations on Signal Mountain, in East Brainerd, and in Cleveland (my assistant tells me that there used to be one in Hixson, and I can’t remember it for the life of me. They’re on my “list” of places to write about, but it seems that every time I think about it it’s almost closing time (they close at 3:00 on Saturdays). The Bread Basket sells specialty breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, and bar cookies as well as trays and gift boxes.

While the sourdough bread is patiently awaiting me in the freezer, I tore into that apple-cinnamon loaf at 11:30 that night (as I prepared to observe the pre-surgery after-midnight fast). Over the next few days Philip and I ate almost the entire delicious loaf, mostly slathered with butter, liberally sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar (that’s what is in the jar between the loaves), and broiled. We share the same philosophy about cinnamon toast: every centimeter must be covered with butter and cinnamon sugar, broiled until the sugar forms a candy-like crust. We could almost break the layer of cinnamon sugar off in a sheet. It’s a perfect coupling (me + Philip, cinnamon sugar + butter). The apple-cinnamon topping and the sweet glaze just adds to the perfection of the treat.

When we got down to the last third of the bread, Philip was struck with the idea that it would work well in a French toast casserole akin to the eggnog French toast casserole I made a while back. I agreed. Instead of cooking it in the Crock-pot, though, I decided to bake it, riffing on a recipe that I read in The Smitten Kitchen cookbook. The most important part of this recipe? Wait for it…..

Cinnamon. Toast.

That’s right. I spread all those slices of bread with butter. Sprinkled them with cinnamon-sugar. Broiled them till a sugar crust formed on top. Only then did I arrange them in the baking dish, cover them with custard, and bake them until all that lovely, creamy egginess was soaked up in the bread, perfect for drizzling with maple syrup (grade B, of course). Unlike the Crock-pot variety, the baked version is more chewy, crunchy on top from the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle. Perfection on a plate. Seriously.

Please note….I cook for two people, so the recipe that I’ve written below is larger than the one pictured (I halved the recipe…feel free to do so as well).

Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

Print recipe

Serves	4-6
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Allergy	Egg, Milk, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Breakfast
Misc	Pre-preparable
Occasion	Christmas
From book	adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened, plus more for buttering the dish)
cinnamon sugar (I used Wildwood Cinnamon Toast Sprinkle)
1 1/2 cup heavy cream, half-and-half, whole milk, or a combination (I used half-and-half)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2lb apple-cinnamon, cinnamon raisin, or cinnamon swirl bread (sliced. I cut each slice in half to make the arrangement more manageable.)

Note

The 30-minute prep time includes 15 minutes of inactive prep for the bread to soak in the custard.

Directions

Step 1
Liberally butter a 2-quart baking dish. Set aside.
Step 2
Set the broiler to low. Spread each slice of bread with softened butter then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar (I like to completely coat each slice with butter and sugar). Broil until browned, then change the oven setting to 375 degrees.
Step 3
While the toast is broiling, whisk together the eggs and the milk, half-and-half, or cream, and vanilla.
Step 4
Arrange the toast in the baking dish in an even layer-I "shingled" the edges to help them fit-and pour the custard over the bread. Press the slices down into the custard and leave them to soak for about fifteen minutes. Sprinkle the top with more cinnamon sugar.
Step 5
Bake the casserole for about 30 minutes, or until the egg is no longer "liquid-y" when you press on the top. Serve with maple syrup and/or powdered sugar.