By Megan, on March 9th, 2012 Today I bring to you…chocolate!! I saw a recipe for Red Wine Chocolate Truffles on Sprinkle Bakes website, and decided I absolutely had to try it. But before I did, I got to thinking. What if I tried it with Frangelico? I asked myself. My answer? I better try it out, in order to make the world a happier place! I sacrifice so much for deliciousnes.
 Red = Red wine; White = Frangelico; Yellow = Peanut Butter
I messed around with the ganache recipe, and split it up so I could make one batch with red wine and one with Frangelico. Then, for funsies, I made another batch with peanut butter. I was going to do Nutella too, but I have decided to do that some other day.
For the melted chocolate part, I chose not to bother with tempering chocolate and instead bought Dark Chocolate Wafers from Michaels (which is where I also bought the candy mold, candy decorating pens, and craft brush all in the baking section). All you have to do is melt them in the microwave and you’re good to go! In total I made 42 truffles, and I only went through about 1.5 bags of the chocolate wafers (12 oz each bag). You definitely only need to make one batch of ganache, it will be more than enough. I have a ton left over, I guess I’ll just have to make more!
Make the ganache first. They’re pretty much exactly the same, you can probably try a different flavor if it makes you happy.
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Red Wine Ganache
4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate (in bar form)
¼ cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. dry red wine (such as Chianti)
Finely chop chocolate. In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream until it just comes to a small simmer. Remove from heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until chocolate has melted. Stir in red wine. Cover and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
Frangelico Ganache
4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate (in bar form)
¼ cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. Frangelico
Finely chop chocolate. In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream until it just comes to a small simmer. Remove from heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until chocolate has melted. Stir in Frangelico. Cover and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
Now, the fun part!
Melt the chocolate wafers, 1/2 a bag at a time. Fill each mold about 1/4, and using a clean brush bring the chocolate up the sides of the mold. Let the chocolate set, then repeat (using a little bit less chocolate) to make sure the chocolate mold is completely covered. Repeat one more time, 3 layers in total.
 Chocolate!!! When chocolate is set, spoon a small amount of ganache into the mold, leaving room at the top for the final layer of chocolate. Place in freezer for a few minutes to get the ganache a little more firm.
 Ganache filled! Cover with a layer of chocolate, making sure it is sealed and completely covering ganache. Try to make it as flat as you can. Let chocolate set, and once it’s hard you can gently remove the truffles from the mold. Decorate with candy decorating pens if desired.
 They're so pretty, and tasty, and wonderful
 My attempts to cut them open without squishing them to let you see the inside
By Megan, on March 7th, 2012 When I use recipes, unless they are for baked goods, I tend to use them simply as guidelines. You can always substitute ingredients and play with recipes to make them your own. For example, when recipes call for mushrooms I frequently just use canned mushrooms instead of fresh because I’m cheap and lazy. And it works just fine. When I decided to try my hand at making a frittata recipe I thought it would be more fun to give you a frittata base and then some ideas for the filler.
 The salad was made by my mom, she's a good helper! What’s a frittata? It’s an egg dish, like a fancy omelet or a crust-less quiche. It begins cooking on the stove on low heat, and finishes in the oven (at least that’s how I do it). You should make it in an oven-safe non-stick pan to make your life less stressful. My frittata is a bit on the thin side, but that’s only because of the size pan I used. I could have used a smaller pan, but this is the non-stick pan of glorious amazing fantastic non-stickiness (I used the 12 inch one because the 10 inch pan is still packed somewhere). It makes me happy.
 See, thin but still appetizing! I have the recipe for the egg base below, so for now I will share with you flavoring fun ideas. I like to work with 3-4cups worth of deliciousness. For the frittata in the pictures I chopped one onion, used one can of drained mushrooms, and added a bit from a bag of frozen spinach and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. In total it came out to be about 3.5 cups of uncooked vegetables. This is just what I chose to do because I had these ingredients on hand.
 This is all it takes to make awesomeness happen What can you do? The same thing, or something different. Frittatas are fun because you can play with them. You can add cooked pasta, ham, any vegetable that strikes your fancy, beans, etc. You get the idea. In the summer I’ll probably make it with tomatoes from our garden and fresh herbs. See, you can do whatever the hell you want! Ok, enough chatter, let’s check this out.
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Any Way You Like It Frittata
3-4 cups filling (meat, veggies, cooked pasta, etc)
2 tsp. butter, melted
½ cup milk
4 egg whites (1/2 cup liquid egg whites)
3 eggs
Salt and black pepper, to taste
½ cup shredded cheese, optional (mozzarella, cheddar, etc.)
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 450.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly coat with cooking spray and cook filling ingredients until everything is cooked through and excess moisture has evaporated. Drain if necessary. Remove from pan, and wipe the pan clean. Let mixture cool slightly.
 My filling! Still a little frozen in this shot, but it has potential for greatness. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, milk, eggs, salt and pepper. Add filling, and stir to combine.
Heat the pan over medium-low heat, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Add egg mixture.
 I got bored waiting for the sides to set, so here's a picture. When the edges begin to set (about 4-6 minutes), gently lift edges of frittata and tip the pan letting uncooked egg touch sides of the pan. Go around the frittata doing this at least once. Continue cooking until almost set, about 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and wrap the handle with foil.
Bake at 450 for 8 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let cool at least 5 minutes, and then with a spatula gently remove from pan. Cut into 8 pieces and serve.
 I'm very proud of myself for not breaking it at all 
 Dinner time!
By Megan, on March 2nd, 2012 Hello! Shameless self-promotion is about to commence….
Well, the last few days have been fun! I wanted to update this blog with some new recipes, but then I decided to submit them to recipe contests instead. If you’re looking for new recipes of mine to look at and praise me for, here are the links!
Jell-O Easter Lollipops
Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Peasant Bread
Aren’t they pretty? Go ahead and Like them to help me feel special
Also, I decided to submit my black Bean Brownies to SpicieFoodie.com’s website for their monthly “Your Best Recipe” list. Check out February’s best recipes here!
By Megan, on February 21st, 2012 When I first learned of the possibility of using black beans in a brownie recipe I was first confused, then disgusted, then intrigued. I made a batch of them in my Nutrition class at school and thought they were fantastic. And then promptly forgot about them. As I continue with my diet I’m looking for healthier ways to give in to my cravings without ruining all of my hard work. First I made those cheesecake bars (they do freeze well, btw) and now I’m moving on to chocolatey treats.
For this recipe I looked at tons of different black bean brownie recipes all over the internet, and then as I was putting the info into the myfitnesspal.com recipe calculator I tried my best to keep the calorie and fat content as low as possible. Hence the unsweetened apple sauce in place of any potential oils or butter and the low amount of sugar. Did these come out tasting like brownies? Hell yeah they did! And I even managed to sprinkle them with chocolate chips and keep each brownie to only 84 calories (112 calories if you cut them into 12 pieces instead of 16). I’m just awesome like that.
Before I give you the recipe, here’s a warning: the blend of beans, applesauce, and eggs will smell kind of gross, but once you add everything else it’ll be fine. Trust me. As a tip when buying applesauce, get one of those packs of 4oz cup so that you can set aside the rest for baking with later on.
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Black Bean Brownies
Yield: 16 Brownies
Ingredients:
1 15.5oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 eggs
½ cup (4oz) unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. instant coffee
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350
Lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan.
In a blender puree beans, eggs, and applesauce. Add cocoa powder, sugar, coffee, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and blend until mixed. Pour into baking dish, sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips, and bake for 30 minutes or until set. Let cool before cutting.
Nutrition info per brownie: Calories 84, Fat 2g, Carbs 12g, Protein 3g
By Megan, on February 12th, 2012 People who exercise a lot seem to be obsessed with protein. So here is a high protein, low-calorie, filling, easy, and delicious meal. It was also, conveniently, a good way for me to use up some leftover ingredients
There isn’t much else to say about this recipe other than how awesome it is. Throughout the recipe I used cooking spray when I was changing the ingredients in the pan (you’ll see what I mean) instead of adding a lot of olive oil or vegetable oil because it’s easier to control and you really don’t need all that much oil. And the only time I really used salt and pepper was on the chicken because the soy sauce will add enough sodium for you when it all comes together.
For the brown rice I just used Minute Brown Rice and followed the directions using 2 cups of uncooked rice. You can do whatever you want, which is why I put the amount of cooked brown rice instead of giving you directions on how to cook rice.
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Chicken and Spinach Stir-Fry
Serves: 4
Serving Size: about 1 ¼ cup
Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups cooked brown rice
2 whole eggs, whisked
1 ½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken tenders(or breasts), cut into ½ inch cubes
½ onion, finely chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
8 oz spinach, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp. Sesame oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. Hoisin sauce
1 tsp. vinegar
Cooking Spray
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lightly coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray, and scramble the eggs until cooked through, making sure to break it apart into small pieces. Remove from pan, spray again, and cook chicken until cooked through.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by mixing the sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin, and vinegar in a small bowl.
Remove chicken from pan when cooked. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook until tender. Add the spinach, cooking until wilted, then add the brown rice and stir to thoroughly incorporate it. Add the sauce, stir, and cook for 1 minute. Add in the cooked chicken and egg and heat through.
Nutritional info per serving: Calories 409, Fat 10g, Carbs 39g, Protein 48g
By Megan, on February 11th, 2012 I don’t make desserts for this site all that often, but I decided that in honor of my diet I needed to develop a low-calorie dessert to help me satisfy my rare craving for sweets. This is my first real attempt at making cheesecake and I think I did pretty well! There are a few changes I plan on making next time (don’t worry, I’ll let you know how it goes) because there’s a lot of potential for awesomeness here.
See! They actually worked!
I got the idea for making Lemon Cheesecake bars when I saw this recipe on Pinterest. It looked divine and got me craving lemon cheesecake, however they were a bit too high-calorie for me. So first I decided to change the crust. I went with a crust from a Low-Fat Cheesecake recipe on Food Network’s website. After that, I wanted the filling to be lower in calories as well, and used some measurements from a recipe I found on yummly.com. I made some of my own special changes, and a recipe was developed!
These came out absolutely delicious, especially at only 100 calories a piece. They were a little softer than I wanted them, so I didn’t try making a creme brulee top. Maybe I’ll take one of the ones I put in the freezer (for when the craving hits again) and see if it works better when frozen. Next time, to make them firmer, maybe I’ll try adding some egg whites and less lemon juice.
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For the Crust:
9 whole low-fat Cinnamon Graham Crackers
2 Tbsp. unsalted Butter, melted
2 Tbsp. water
Cooking Spray
For the Filling:
8 oz. Neufchâtel Cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 egg
1 Lemon, zested
¼ cup Lemon Juice
Preheat oven to 350.
In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until crumbled. Add butter, and 1-2 Tbsp water as needed until crumbs are thoroughly moistened. Spray an 8×8 inch baking pan lightly with cooking spray, line it with parchment paper, and spray again. Press graham cracker mixture into the bottom and bake for 8 minutes, or until browned. Let cool for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whip the Neufchatel cheese and sugar until smooth. Add milk, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice and thoroughly mix, scraping the sides. Pour onto graham cracker crust, and bake 20-25 minutes, or until completely set. Let cool, then refrigerate. Cut into 16 pieces, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
 
I know, I really need a new camera, but I did the best I could!
Nutritional info per bar: Calories 100, Fat 5g, Carbs 10g, Protein 2g
By Megan, on January 26th, 2012 A new post! I know you’re wicked excited (I am too). Once again I left you waiting for a long time, sorry. The past three weeks I’ve been trying to eat better and exercise more, it being a New Year and all, so I’ve been making already developed healthy recipes. Mostly I’ve been using The Best of Cooking Light, which is an amazing book. I also have done a lot a research into healthy eating and dieting, revisted my Nutrition textbook, and started keeping a Diet and Fitness Journal. I’ve lost about 7 lbs so far (apparently there is an initial amount of weight-loss awesomeness at first before your body adjusts and makes you work harder), and I’m learning to balance calories and exercise, so it looks like I’m headed in a good direction. I sure as hell will not do any diet that involves any form of starving, because I’d rather be healthy than look like a skeleton.
Why should you care about my health? Well, it means this website will probably feature healthier (and still delicious!) recipes. Not that my recipes were full of lard before, but I wasn’t focused on the overall nutrition of them. Now I want to try for more fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and nuts. It’s saladpalooza up in here.
I’ve been eating a lot of wraps lately, which I find to be fantastic and filling. Multi-grain tortillas are amazing (especially with Tabouli wrapped up in it). I also have been using hummus as a spread in wraps, not an original idea but still a delicious one. I felt like combining my new loves, wraps and hummus, with some fish and spinach. Why not, right? Plus, this fish (just a generic white fish, like tilapia, but not) was a Buy 1 get 2 Free sale at Big Y.
This isn’t really a recipe so much as it is a wrap suggestion. Except for the hummus, here’s a link for my Sun-dried Tomato Hummus. But you could also just buy hummus. Also, my camera is broken so I did the best I could with pics.
First we have the fish. Just a general white fish. I sprayed them with an olive oil cooking spray to get an even coat, and to make sure I didn’t use to much olive oil. Then sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and a generous amount of an Italian Seasoning blend. I figured the Italian Seasoning would go well with the sun-dried tomato hummus.
 Then I baked them at 375 for about 15 minutes, just until they’re white all the way through and you can flake them with a fork.
Meanwhile, I made the spinach/mushroom/onion mix. First I finely chopped half an onion, then cooked it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder until soft. Then I added a can of drained mushrooms. Lastly I added about a 1/2 pound of frozen spinach, and sauteed until heated through.
 Once everything was ready, I assembled the wrap.
Step one: Lay a multi-grain tortilla in a plate.
Step two: Spread some hummus.
Step three: Add some spinach mixture.
Step four: Break apart half a fish and lay it on top.
Step five: Wrap it and eat it.
And you’re done! I used myfitnesspal.com to try to figure out the calories and fat per wrap, and came up with about 195-200 calories and about 6 grams of fat per serving, and I had two wraps for dinner. So it was a good meal, and I am completely full! Although I have to try to avoid the food coma so I can exercise some more…willpower is obnoxious!
By Megan, on September 7th, 2011 So…I haven’t posted anything in a while, do you forgive me? I was a little busy this summer with my internship, but I will try to never again leave you waiting for so long.
Although I will leave you waiting for the recipe due to my usual rambling, so here’s a preview of the actual purpose of this post.
I haven’t been able to check on the garden at my parent’s house very often this summer, but I do know it wasn’t quite as prosperous as last year. There was probably too much rain for some of the vegetables. We still got a lot of tomatoes and green beans, but practically no squash or cucumbers. It was a little sad. We attempted beets and carrots this year too, and it looks like we may have planted them too close together, but it’s ok because we still got some delicious product from it!
Check out these lovely beet greens, and the carrot greens behind them
Tomatoes! You might see these a couple times in this post as a garnish
We did manage to get a ton of herbs, which we smartly planted right outside the kitchen door. I came home from NYC on August 26th, so my mom and I made sure to cut as much of the herbs as we could to save them from Hurricane Irene. It started raining while we gathered, but the hurricane didn’t really get going until much later.
Basil!
We decided to freeze most of the basil. So we cut, picked the leaves, washed them, let dry, then put into freezer storage bags and hoped the hurricane wouldn’t knock out our power (it didn’t). I saved some unpicked bundles in a container of water to use during the week.
I love me some parsley
 We did pretty much the same thing with the parsley, except I kept a lot more unfrozen to make a parsley pesto for dinner.
I know many people make basil pesto. I had a ton of basil, why did I make the pesto predominantly with parsley? Well, because I felt like it. Were you expecting a real reason? And why walnuts instead of the traditional pine nuts? Because we had walnuts in the house, and because they are way cheaper than pine nuts and still delicious.
One more explanation before I present you with the recipe: why did I roast the garlic? That’s an easy one. My parents don’t like raw garlic. Even in a delicious pesto they find the flavor to be too overwhelming. So, I roasted it. A head of garlic might sound like a garlic festival to those who aren’t fond of the tasty morsels, but when you roast it the flavor becomes much more subtle and bearable. Just cut the top off of the head leaving the cloves exposed. Don’t worry, there’s a picture coming later.
Continue reading Parsley and Walnut Pesto, featuring roasted garlic
By Megan, on April 10th, 2011 To prove that there are multiple uses for the Berbere Blend I wrote about in the last post, I thought it prudent to make myself a delicious dinner of grilled chicken over rice and spinach with a Berbere Coconut Sauce. I suffer so much in pursuit of a successful blog! It was fantastic, with the Berbere kick after a few seconds that I absolutely love.
Here’s a teaser for you:
The sauce is a reduction of coconut milk and chicken broth, so do take care to not season too much before it has reduced, or else the concentrated flavors may lead to it tasting way too salty. Because of this, I made sure to use low-sodium chicken broth. Sometimes I make smart decisions. Also, if you’re a wuss, use less of the Berbere Blend for a less spicy experience.
If you’re curious, I marinated the chicken in rice vinegar, oil, Berbere Blend, salt and pepper before grilling it. And yes, it was quite scrumptious.
Not too exciting to look at, but here’s the sauce! At least it’s pretty
If I were in class, in order to thicken the sauce I would probably grab another pan, make a roux, grab a bowl, temper the roux with the sauce, and slowly whisk it in. Well, I wasn’t at school when I made this, and I already was dreading washing dishes, so I just made a flour slurry. It’s simple, put a small amount of flour into a bowl or mug, add some of the reduction, and mix it until it’s smooth. Add more sauce if necessary, then add it back to the sauce pan. See how easy! It worked just fine for my needs.
Continue reading Berbere Coconut Sauce
By Megan, on April 9th, 2011 It’s starting to get warm outside, and this leaves me craving spicy food. Trust me, spicy hot food in the summer and cold food in the winter. It puts things into perspective. And nothing is worse in the summer than warm, melting, sticky, messy ice cream. Let’s leave that for the winter, shall we? Plus there’s also something about food and regulating body temperature and all that good logical reasoning stuff. And of course, once the heat and humidity actually hit I’m going to be desperately trying to cool down with cold cucumber soup and lemonade. But I’m allowed to be hypocritical on my own blog, right?
Because you dealt with my ranting so well, here’s a lovely treat for you! Hint: It’s the topic of today’s post!
For now, let’s go with spicy and a hint of sweetness since springtime isn’t all that hot yet. I decided it would be fun to make a dish I cooked in my Nutrition class. Our groups were assigned different continents and had to come up with healthy meals that reflect the culture in those areas. My group got Africa, and one of the interesting things I found was an Ethiopian spice blend called Berbere. According to The Congo Cookbook, this is the foundation of Ethiopian cuisine.
I could only find whole anise seed, which was awesome since I love using my mortar and pestle
I used this blend to season couscous, and then mixed in raisins (hence the sweetness), and added some toasted slivered almonds for a bit of crunch.
I just cook the almonds in a pan with a little bit of oil until they get nice and brown, like how you see them on the couscous.
 When I was trying to find all the spices so I could make my own bottle of the spice, I had difficulty finding some, and some were just too expensive for me to be able to buy right now. So I just altered the ingredients, and still somehow it came out to be delicious. I’m a genius! I’m also opposed to putting salt and pepper into spice blends, it’s better to be able to control it yourself, so I opted not to include it. And with the couscous, normally the water:couscous ratio is 1:1, but I prefer it 1.5:1, so that’s how I wrote my recipe.
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Berberé Blend
½ tsp. Allspice
¼ tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Cumin
2 tsp. Anise
½ tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Ginger
3 Tbsp. Paprika
1 Tbsp. Cayenne
¾ tsp. Cardamom (optional)
½ tsp. Coriander (optional)
Berberé Couscous with Raisins
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
½ Onion, diced
1 Tbsp. Berberé Blend
1 ½ cups Chicken Broth
¾ cup Raisins
1 cup Whole wheat couscous
Salt and Pepper to taste
Slivered, toasted almonds for garnish
In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions until tender. Add the Berbere Blend and cook about 1 minute. Add broth, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in raisins and couscous, cover and let sit 5 minutes or until broth is absorbed. Fluff with a fork, and top with almonds.
Spicy, sweet, soft and crunchy. And also still tastes good when it’s cold! Is this a winner? Um….yeah it sure is. Duh
Up next: I’ll make a Berbere marinated chicken with some sort of Berbere coconut sauce concoction! It’s going to be delicious! (Well, at least I hope it is since it’s what I plan on having for dinner…)
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