Happy 4th of July and Rhubarb Pie

Hi all and Happy 4th of July! Where has this summer gone?

Around the middle/end of June, I spied that my rhubarb plant had taken off and had given me a bunch of nice, new stems. Both of our rhubarb plants caught some sort of blight-like disease last year and we ended up not having rhubarb very long. So when I saw that the plant (only one came back :( ) had given me enough for a pie... I ran out there with kitchen scissors like a mad man (not really, running with scissors is not recommended. But I did get out there pretty darn quick.)

Now I haven't always been a fan a rhubarb, although like many children, I never gave it a chance either. In our first summer of living here, I gave it a shot and I was hooked. This is the recipe I never waver from because it is that good.

Rhubarb really can shine alone without the help of strawberries or other fruits. When you pack it with enough sugar, it evens out the extreme tart of rhubarb and creates a sweet and slightly tart pie that is really good warm, but even better cold in my opinion... which makes it the perfect pie for picnics.

Ready to make your own? You'll need:
• 4 cups of chopped rhubarb. (This is where I waver only a little... I think I had only about 2 3/4 cups of rhubarb when I was all said and done. This makes for a still tasty pie but 4 cups would definitely make for a thicker pie.) This requires a LOT of stems to get to 4 cups - pictured below is roughly 2 3/4 cup.
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter (real salted butter, not margarine)
• A 2 pack of premade pie crusts, you'll use both.

You'll also need:
• a pie plate
• a large measuring cup (up to four cup)
• cutting board/knife
• mixing bowl

First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Chop the leafs off and the wide bottoms off as well. Make sure to discard the leaves properly, especially if you have pets and small children as they can be quite poisonous if ingested... but the stems are good to go.

Rinse them off, pat them dry. Chop the rhubarb into small slices - the smaller the better, as they'll cook down the best this way.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and flour. In in your pie plate, unroll a pie crust and set in the bottom of the pie plate. The pie plate doesn't require greasing before you put your crust in.

Sprinkle about a 1/4 of your flour and sugar mix on top of the crust. This doesn't have to be exactly 1/4 of your mixture, just eyeball it. Heap the rhubarb on top of the mixture in the pie plate, and then sprinkle the remaining sugar and flour on top of the rhubarb.

Take your tablespoon of butter and chop it into little pieces. Dot the butter randomly on top of the mixture. It should look something like this:

Cover with the remaining crust and pinch the sides together. Make some fancy slices in the top to be...well, fancy. (This actually helps some steam escape, but it looks nice too.)

Place your pie in the oven and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes has completed, reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Do keep an eye on your crust... sometimes I have to place some tinfoil around the edges if they start to brown too much. Serve warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream is the best! :)

Thanks for following along! Have you ever had rhubarb pie? Have you had it before but with strawberries in it? Share your stories in the comments and share this recipe with your friends -- or don't and blow everyone's minds with this amazing recipe at your next picnic! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Apple Walnut Cake

Hi all! It's been a quiet May around here and I hope to be posting a little more in June as I get into more of a routine.

Today I am making Apple Walnut Cake, a recipe that I found originally in the Glycemic Index Cookbook. This cookbook is actually one my mother picked up for me at a yard sale, and man, there are some gorgeous low GI recipes that actually look pretty do-able and don't have a million ingredients, AND look yummy.

This recipe was good - just enough sweetness to silence that sweet tooth, but not enough to leave you craving eating the rest of the pan. Does that make sense? Sometimes I feel "I can't get enough!" when something is ultra sweet and I want more... where this recipe is just enough. It's not ultra rich where you feel "bleckk" the rest of the night, either. Although, I highly recommend just a HINT of vanilla ice cream... :)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chopped sliced Granny Smith apples (they said that's two large apples, it took me four.)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar substitute. (I mix my regular sugar with my Splenda-like sugar substitute, so I didn't use just straight up sugar substitute.
4 1/2 tablespoons of margarine or butter, melted. (I used margarine, next time I would use butter.)
3/4 cup fat-free/skim milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

You'll also want:
A large mixing bowl
An 8x8 glass pan
A large Pyrex type measuring cup. I used the 4 cup version.

First, preheat your oven to 350. Just a heads up - this recipe takes 50 minutes to cook, so don't make this recipe if you want "instant" results ;) While you're at it, spray a 8x8 glass pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, apple pie spice and salt in a bowl. Use a larger bowl, as you'll be mixing in this later.

Slice your apples and dump them in the prepared baking pan. Using the large Pyrex measuring cup, beat the brown sugar, the sugar sub, and melted margarine until well blended. My suggestion: once you've got the apples out of the measuring cup, melt the margarine in the measuring cup, then add the sugars. No sense in getting other dishes dirty!

Now, once the margarine and sugars are mixed, whisk in milk, eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth. Then, dump this mixture into your awaiting flour bowl from earlier. Stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the apples. Sprinkle the walnuts over the batter.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes when it comes out. Serve warm, and refrigerate leftovers.

Hope you enjoyed! This makes 9 servings and has 204 calories per serving, 23g of carbohydrates, 12g fat, 2g Saturated fat, 2 grams of fiber. Thanks for following along!

It's Pinspired Friday! {Skinny Chocolate Chip Banana Bread}

Hi all! It's Pinspired Friday!

Today, I'm inspired by this pin from Skinnymom.com.

Skinny Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from Skinnymom.com

And here's what I came up with:

It all started when I had a banana on my toast with some peanut butter this morning and I realized the bananas were starting to look a little sad. And brown. Which only means one thing... it's banana bread time.

But I wanted to continue eating healthy, so off to Pinterest I went in search of a recipe and found this one by Skinnymom. So I gathered my ingredients and gave the recipe a once over to make sure I had everything, or could substitute things that I didn't have.

At first glance, the recipe seemed a little... off. First, we're cooking at 330 degrees, which... okay. It's just an odd temperature. As I'm mixing though, it feels like I'm making a lot... then I notice in direction #9 that it's because the recipe is for 2 loaves. Oy. That's what I get for skimming! (In the end, the mixture really only made enough mix for about a 2/3 full size loaf pan. So if you want two short loaves, go for it, but I put it all in one.). Then... as I'm skimming, I'm making a metal list of the gadgets and bowls I'll need... and I read it as needing four separate bowls for mixing all of the ingredients!

This is kind of how I felt at that point.

Luckily, I actually read (reading is fundamental!) and realized she called for three separate bowls. But, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, I'm not a fan of extra or unnecessary bowls and dishes when prepping food. So I got it down to two. I could have probably done even just one bowl... but I was photographing it for the blog and wanted to make sure it turned out. Ha!

So let's make some chocolate chip banana bread, shall we?

You'll need:

• 2 1/2 - 3 very ripe bananas (I used 2.5)

• 6 oz of vanilla fat free yogurt

• 1 tbsp of I can't believe it's not butter spread, or similar

• 2 egg whites (I used one full egg and 1 egg white)

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour (doesn't matter if bleached or unbleached, but has to be all purpose)

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup splenda granulated sugar (I use about half and half real sugar and splenda, or 1/4 cup of each)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

First off, preheat your oven to 330 degrees, if you're making two small loaves. Otherwise, preheat your oven to 350 for one big loaf. I did the 330 for 1 big loaf and it ended up taking about 45-50 minutes for it to (finally) cook through, along with about 10 minutes using the convection cooking option on my oven... toooo long.

Grease up your loaf pan (or two) with non-stick spray or Crisco.

In a bowl, mash up your bananas. Make sure you're using a bowl big enough for other ingredients. Once you've got them smashed, kind of push them up on the side of the bowl. I'm helping eliminate an extra dish to wash here. ;)

Add the butter/spread, yogurt, vanilla extract, brown sugar and splenda/sugar. Mix those together, trying to avoid mixing in the banana mash initially.

Then, mix the bananas in, along with the egg whites.

Now, in a separate bowl (you can be a rebel here if you want and use the same bowl, I would imagine), add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix.

Now, add the flour mix to the liquid mix. Mix together until blended, but take care not to overmix as it is a very heavy, dense mix. Then, add your chocolate chips.

Transfer the mixture into either a) two loaf pans, which will probably be about 1/3 full in each loaf pan) or b) in one loaf pan. I'm doing one loaf, and you'll see that the loaf pan is about 2/3 of the way full.

For one loaf - bake at 350 for 25 minutes, checking on it in the last 5-10 minutes. You may require more time or less.

For two loaves - bake at 330 for 30-35 minutes, checking in on them in the last 5-10 minutes.

When a butter knife comes out clean, the banana bread is done! :) Sometimes you'll hit a chocolate chip, so it may take multiple times to figure out if the bread is actually done.

And there you have it! As you can see, the middle of mine caved as it was not cooking as evenly as the outside - but it still tastes awesome. :) The yogurt is such a great idea for dropping almost all of the butter and you truly cannot taste the difference. I was pleased that this had such a great taste, especially with using Splenda, as I have had little luck in getting my "desserts" tasting like anything besides plastic when using Splenda only. Of course, because I used half splenda, half sugar it brings the calories up just a bit.

Enjoy!

I'm linking up with these parties!

Parmesan Pepper Roasted Cauliflower

As promised... we're going to chat about Parmesan Pepper Roasted Cauliflower today.  Diets/lifestyle changes are still going strong (woo!), I am down about 5.4 lbs and Mr. LOC is down about 8lbs so we're happy as we've not even been at this for a week yet.

This is a recipe from Bob Harper's "The Skinny Rules" that I modified very slightly. If you're wondering about that fish in that picture... check out my post on roasted chili lime tilapia.

So let's gather our ingredients:
• 1/2 head fresh cauliflower or 1/2 bag of frozen cauliflower florets
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper, freshly ground is my preference.
• Parmesan cheese
• Red pepper flakes

You'll also want:
• A toaster oven or regular oven. I used toaster as my tilapia was cooking at the same time in the other oven. :)
• A pot to boil water in

First, preheat your oven to 425. Then, start boiling water in pot - you need enough water to cover your cauliflower, plus a little more.

If you are using fresh like me, cut up your cauliflower into florets, meaning the heads and the little stems. If your water is boiling, go ahead and drop the florets into the boiling water. Boil them for about 5 minutes, or until they are cooked al dente.

Once the time has passed, drain and move the florets to a baking pan. Drizzle a little olive oil or spray a little olive oil onto the florets, dash a little salt, pepper, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes. The oil olive will help the spices stay on. Remember, we're trying to eat healthy, so don't coat the cauliflower with olive oil... it will make them mushy and not cook right if you put too much.

Your oven should be ready to go, so go ahead and place the pan in the oven and let the cauliflower roast for about 15 minutes. You're watching for the tops to brown slightly.

Those nice crispy parts are in part to the fact that we didn't spray down our pan with cooking spray before hand... you actually want those slightly brown (not burnt!) parts, as they have a great flavor!

Enjoy! We're having them again tonight and I can hardly wait! :)

It's Pinspired Friday! {3-2-1 Cupcakes in a Cup}

It's time for...

I am visiting my parents this week, and Mama LOC showed me this other alternative "few ingredient dessert", similar to my pumpkin muffins. Like the pumpkin muffins, these cupcakes in a cup have only three ingredients, and even better, a simple recipe formula - 3, 2, 1.

So why is this pinspiring? Is pinspiring even remotely a word? I put this in Pinspired Friday as I have seen very similar recipes on Pinterest, but have never given them a try. I've always wondered how they would taste, and I've always thought they would be a good alternative to a whole bunch of cupcakes that I'd just have to eat. ;) Hopefully, you'll share Mama LOC's recipe on Pinterest too so that others can try out the magical 3-2-1 cupcakes in a cup! :)

Here's what you'll need:
•  A box of angel food cake mix
• A box of funfetti cake mix (or any flavor you like...we like funfetti!)
• Water

You'll also want:
• A microwave
• A mug
• A tablespoon

And... that's it! How easy, cheap and awesome is that?

First, dump your angel food cake  mix and funfetti cake mix into a resealable bowl, and mix the flavors well. You can make a LOT of cupcakes in a cup out of these two mixes so make sure you can put your lid on tight to avoid it spoiling. Now, here's where the 3-2-1 comes in.

3 - add three tablespoons of mix to your mug.
2 - add two tablespoons of water to your mug and mix.
1 - cook for 1 minute in the microwave! (Mama LOC's microwave is older - you may find that 45 seconds will be adequate but 3-2-1 sounds so much better than 3-2-45. ;)

Here is the water and mix before you mix it up...

Cook it up (told you the microwave was old! ;)

And presto! A yummy, easy and low fat treat in less than a minute. Now, if you're like me, the angel food smell threw me off when I took it out of the microwave...but the taste is AWESOME...

And it's even better with a little cream cheese on top! :)

Thanks for following along! :) Let me know how these turned out for you! :)

I'm linking up to:

It's Pinspired Friday! {Apple Cinnamon Burritos}

It's...

Hey all! I've got a recipe that is to. die. for. today! My sister-in-law and I were searching for the perfect afternoon snack one day and came across this recipe for Cinnamon Apple Dessert Chimichangas. We wanted something that was easy, and that we didn't have to make a grocery run for! ;)

Enter...Apple Cinnamon Burritos!



Cinnamon Apple Dessert Chimichangas from Juanita's Cocina



We cut the recipe in half because I was low on cornstarch, which is one of those that it seems like you have forever and then poof you are suddenly without! It still made about 10 good sized burritos, which was plenty for everyone to get a taste. Or to sneak two burritos, like my SIL and I did. Ha! :)

So first, let's gather our ingredients:

For the apple pie filling:

• 3 apples, peeled and diced. We used Granny Smith apples.

• 3/4 cup of water

• 1/8 cup of cornstartch

• 3/8 cup of sugar

• 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon of salt

• 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

For the burritos:

• 5 burrito sized tortillas, cut in half

• 1/2 cup of sugar

• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

• Vegetable oil for frying

You're also going to want:
• A saucepan
• A fry pan
• A shallow bowl

First, let's peel and dice our apples. As you can see, a little skin was left on but not much.

Combine the water, cornstartch, sugar, cinnamon, salt and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. We want it super thick, almost like caramel. 

Combined... and now get your mixture to look like this:

Now, add your chopped apples to the mixture and stir them in. Reduce the mixture to a simmer and stir the apples every few minutes. We want the apples to be softened, but not gooey, so about 10-15 minutes.

While this is going down... cut up your burrito sized tortillas in half if you have not already done so. Grab your fry pan and get the oil hot. Also, combine your cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.

Once your oil is hot, and you've let your apples simmer for about 10-15 minutes, let the filling cool slightly so you don't burn yourself, but not cool enough to congeal. We don't want to be putting basically applesauce in the burritos, we want that savory caramel taste and texture. Wrap the burritos with the filling inside, and place into the oil. You'll want to wrap them pretty tightly so the insides don't escape.

Fry them until the tortilla turns brown, flipping it with a spatula or tongs until all sides are browned. We knocked off any excess oil and then threw them in the sugar/cinnamon mix as each one completed, but if you want less oil, you can transfer them to a towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil. The way we did it made the cinnamon/sugar stay on the burrito nicely, so that's what I would recommend.  

Put them all on a platter and ENJOY! These left everyone wanting more! Thanks for following along and thank you to Juanita's Cocina for the inspiration!

Ground Beef Pie

Whenever we have ground beef, I like to jazz it up a little, instead of just cheeseburgers or hamburger helper (don't get me wrong, I love myself some burgers and hamburger helper! Stroganoff hamburger helper anyone? Yummm) but sometimes I just want to try other things with ground beef. I have had this recipe in my dancing teddy bear recipe book for a while now, and have surprisingly never made it.

Just by first glance at the recipe, I knew it was going to need some... jazz. haha. Ground beef is generally sort of flavorless, so are eggs, and so is biscuit mix. Cheese was pretty much the only flavor redeemer here. So I added a few spices and I could have probably added even more.

Let's gather our ingredients:
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup biscuit/baking mix
• (Optional) Frank's Red Hot sauce. We put it on before we ate the pie and it gave it a nice kick in the pants. :)

You'll also want:
• A glass pie plate
• A colander for draining the grease off the beef.
• Measuring utensils are a plus too. ;)
• Some Pam spray. I made it without, and let's just say that the pie plate is soaking now... :(

You might want:
• Some onions or onion powder
• Some chili powder cooked in with the beef

I say this as I could have probably added even more spice to the pie to kick the flavor up even more. Maybe a chili or taco packet added to the ground beef would be good.

First, brown your ground beef. Drain the fat. Spray your pie plate and press your ground beef into the bottom of the glass pie plate. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and oregano over the beef. I didn't mix the spices in, but rather did them as a layer. While you're at it, preheat your oven to 400.

Then, sprinkle your cheese over the beef.


In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, milk and biscuit/baking mix.

Try to get as much baking mix to mix in. I had a little ways to go when I took this picture.

Now, pour that goodness over the cheese/meat.

At this point, you have a plate full of liquid, meat and cheese and you'll think you added too much milk (that's what I thought at least!). Don't worry, it actually cooks in pretty well... just be careful when putting in the oven, it'll want to slosh all over. Before you go putting it in the oven though, take your garlic powder and sprinkle over the top, not mixing it in. This gives this crust a super yummy garlic bread type flavor when it's done. Your oven should be to 400 at this point, so go ahead and put it in for 35 minutes.

After 35 yummy smelling minutes... we've got a ground beef pie on our hands. Do let it cool a bit before gnawing into it - it'll help it set and you'll get better shaped pieces when you go to serve it.

It was pretty good, especially with a little Frank's Red Hot on top of it, and it tasted even better as it cooled. I think I'll be giving this recipe another go, but with sage pork sausage crumbled in the bottom, and maybe a sausage gravy on top! (That'll make it healthy, I'm sure.) ;)

Thanks for following along!

Ground Beef PieOriginal Recipe from Taste of Home

Ingredients
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup biscuit/baking mix
• (Optional) Frank's Red Hot sauce

Directions
1) In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Press into an ungreased (or lightly greased, if you want an easier clean up) 9-in. pie plate. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano and cheese.
2) In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and biscuit mix just until combined. Pour over cheese.
3) Sprinkle garlic powder over the mixture.
4) Bake at 400° for 35 minutes. Let cool before serving and enjoy! Add a few dashes of hot sauce to kick up the flavor.