Healthy Chocolate Quinoa Pancakes

I was starving this morning and decided to make pancakes from scratch.  For the first time.  Actually, decided to make pancakes for the first time ever.  This is coming from someone who never craves pancakes and used to be an expert at cooking with a microwave or ordering takeout (I was spoiled by my mama with her cooking when I lived at home).  But since I had most of the ingredients, I decided to play around some.  I found a pretty easy recipe here that did not call for buttermilk.  I tweaked it based on what I had on hand and ended up making this delicious dark chocolate quinoa pancake using dark chocolate almond milk.

I sprinkled cinnamon and drizzled honey on my pancakes instead of regular syrup and the sweetness was just perfect for my taste.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free flour if you have intolerances)

1 1/4 Silk dark chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons agave sweetene

cooking spray

 

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.

Whisk in melted butter, egg, almond milk and quinoa until combined. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into the hot skillet, about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides and center of each pancake. Flip and cook about 1 to 2 minutes.

Thai Style Chicken Soup

I love Thai food and especially the soup but sometimes, it's so expensive for such a small serving of the Tom Kha or Tom Yum soups so I decided to try my hand at making my own.  

I decided to try this Thai Chicken Soup recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.  The first time I made it, it was a little bit bland tasting because I'd forgotten the shallots, didn't use canned coconut milk (for cooking) and didn't use enough red curry paste.  The second time came out absolutely delicious and the only minor thing I would change is add a little more of the red curry paste for more heat but it came out very tasty. I forget that coconut milk can cancel out some of the heat.  I changed up the recipe a little because I like my soup a bit more chunky so this is more of a Thai style soup instead of an authentic recipe.  Not sure this Chinese girl can make an authentic recipe .  Ha!


3 shallots, sliced
cilantro
crimini mushrooms
thinly sliced chicken (however much you want but I used 5 pieces of the cut chicken breasts)
cooked shrimp without tail (however much you want)
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can sliced bamboo shoots
1 can cut baby corn
2 cans coconut milk
2 cans chicken broth
1 tbs grape seed oil
3 tsp fish oil (found at the Asian market)
2 heaping tbs (or to your taste) of red curry paste (found mine at Wholefoods)
juice of 2 limes
jasmine rice (optional)


Heat the grape seed oil in the pot you are using for the soup.  Cook the shallots and a handful of the cilantro until the shallots are translucent.  Add in the chicken broth and the coconut milk.  When its starts to simmer, add in the crimini mushrooms, water chestnuts, baby corn and bamboo shoots.  In a small bowl, combine the fish oil, lime juice and red curry paste.  Once the paste is not lumpy, stir the mixture into the soup.  Add the chicken in and stir every few minutes to make sure the chicken doesn't stick together and cooks properly.  Once the chicken looks cooked, add in the shrimp.  Simmer for a few more minutes and serve over jasmine rice. 

Just some notes:
The fish oil smells fishy but it doesn't make the soup taste or smell fishy unless you add in the entire bottle.   

I meant to get lemongrass paste too (I can't seem to find fresh lemongrass) to give it a little more Thai flavor but I kept forgetting to get it. 

Lemon Pepper Chicken Stir Fry ( Gluten Free)

I am starting to really like this cooking thing.  I made this very lemony pepper chicken stir fry dish based on this orange chicken recipe I found on Pinterest.  I didn't have oranges on hand but had lemon so I changed it up a little and used Tamari Soy Sauce instead of regular SS to make it gluten free.

I ended up with a little over 2 servings based on what I used below.  You may end up with more or less depending on how much chicken and veggies you add.  The veggies I use were what I had on hand.  You can use whatever you have or prefer.  I would have made it more Asian if I had water chestnuts and cut baby corn :) 

Ingredients:
5 pieces of cut chicken breast, sliced
fresh broccoli florets
green and red pepper (I used frozen as that is what I had on hand)
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tbs of olive oil

For the sauce:
zest of  lemons
juice of  lemons
1 tsp of ground or fresh ginger
2 tbs of rice vinegar
2 tbs of Tamari Soy Sauce (or regular SS if you're not a gluten free diet)
1 tbs of oyster sauce
3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbs of sugar

 In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce.  Pour a little of the sauce in another bowl and add some of the cut chicken to it.  Stir the chicken around to marinate them in the sauce.  Keep adding more chicken and a little more sauce each time until all the chicken is marinated.  Keep in mind, you need most of the sauce for the stir fry so you don't need to let the chicken swim in a pool of sauce :)

Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Add in all the veggies except for the broccoli, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes.  Add in a little bit of the sauce and stir the veggies around to marinate them.  Put the cover on for about 2 minutes to let them "steam" cook.  Add in the chicken and the rest of the sauce.  Stir the chicken around so they are not sticking to one another.  Once the chicken turns mostly white, put the top back on for another minute or so.  Stir the broccoli in and put the top back for another minute.  Check to make sure the chicken is completely done and when it is....Voila!  Your lemon pepper chicken stir fry is ready to be enjoyed!  Serve over jasmine rice and ground up some black pepper over the yumminess!

My Notes:
I don't like my broccoli mushy which is why I add them in at the end and only cook for a short time.  Because the chicken is cut thinly, be sure you don't over cook unless you like your chicken dry.  Blech. 

Update 1/08/13 - I just made this dish again because I was too lazy to go out and do more grocery shopping so I use what I had on hand.  The second time around, I only used 1lemon for the juice and zest (opposed to the 2 I originally used for the recipe) and agave sweetener instead of sugar.  I like how it came out the second time.  The lemony flavor is not as strong and the agave sweetener made it just perfect to balance out the tamari sauce.  

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Ganache Cake

What can I say.  I love chocolate and I love cake.  I found this awesome recipe that I tweaked just a little to suit my tastes.

For the cake:
2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar (I don't like my cake overly sweet but if you do, add in 2 cups)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I make my own)
1 cup of hot, strong coffee (to bring out the chocolate)

For the ganache (original recipe here):
3/4 cup non-dairy milk of choice (I used rice)
1/4 cup soy margarine (I used Earth Balance)
1 bag of  62% dark cacao chocolate chunks (or whatever you want to use)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the 2 loaf pans with non-stick, non-flour spray. 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Add in the oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Stir in the hot coffee last. Split the batter into the two loaf pans.   You want the cake to be done about an inch or so below the pan so you only want the batter to fill it about halfway. 


Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.


Ganache:
In a small saucepan, heat the milk and margarine until the margarine melts.  Add in half the chocolate and stir until melted.  Add in the rest of the chocolate and stir until melted.  Make sure you stir often so the chocolate doesn't burn. Once melted, turn off burner. 

By this time, you should have about an inch or so of space from the top of the pan to the cake.  If you don't, you can cut some of the top off.  Pour the ganache evenly on top of both cakes.  Refrigerate for at least two hours and serve chilled.

My notes and observations:
The first time I made this, I made some cupcakes and poured the rest of the batter into a loaf pan.  I also bake with my toaster oven.  Yeah.  Don't laugh.  I really do.  My regular oven doesn't work and I have more control with my grown-up "easy bake oven".  I put too much batter into my loaf pan so while the top was baked to perfection, the middle and bottom was not.  The longer it stayed in my GUEBO (Grown Up Easy Bake Oven), the beautiful perfection that was the top layer started to burn.  So, I ended up cutting a good bit of the top off so that the rest of the cake would bake. 

I had "frosted" the cupcakes with ganache and tried it warm and it didn't excite me.  Between the cake and the ganache not being too sweet, it did leave me wishing I added some sugar to the ganache.   But I didn't.

I was already running late for work so I just poured in the rest of the ganache on top of the cake (mostly to hide the uneveness of it) and stuck it in the fridge.  And by golly, this must be what it's like to make things by accident! Not only did the cake turn out delicious served chilled but once cut, I loved how the ganache filled in the dips of the cake.
 

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans
1 large carrot, diced
1 can pumpkin puree
2 can of broth (beef, chicken or vegetable)
1 can corn
1 can diced tomato 
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Dump everything into a pot and let it simmer for an hour on low heat :)

I drained the beans and the corn but included the liquid in the tomatoes. I also used beef broth because that is what I had but next time, I am going to use vegetable instead.  

I also like my soup chunky but you can always puree the tomatoes and beans if you like.  If you puree the beans, make sure you have an extra can to add actual beans to the soup. 

Next time, I am going to use dried beans instead as I try not to do canned stuff. 

Tuna Pasta with Garlic and Basil

It never ceases to amaze me when I make up dishes and it actually tastes good.  To give a little background, up until a few months ago, I hated cooking and only cooked basic.  I'm not sure what changed but perhaps it was all the mouth watering recipes I kept seeing on Pinterest and wanted to try.  Even then, if it looks difficult, I won't try it. That being said, I was starving today and did not feel like making a run to the grocery store so as I started looking through my pantry to see what I could put together with what I had, here it is...tuna pasta with garlic and basil.  It's a fairly simple recipe for anyone who cooks regularly but it was a gold mine for me :)

Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic
a handful of fresh basil leaves
olive oil
1 cup pasta (I used spaghetti noodles)
1 can tuna
a pinch of salt
a pat of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil and vinegar salad dressing
1 tablespoon of mayonaisse
1 teaspoon dried parsley (optional)

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  Mince the garlic and throw it in with the pasta.  Add the dash of salt and 1 teaspoon of olive oil.  I chose to add it to the water and also another teaspoon after the pasta was drained.  I don't know why.  But you can do either or both. 

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it.  Add in another teaspoon of olive oil if you want.  Stir the butter in until it's melted.  Mix in the tuna and the basil and then add in the mayo and then finally the olive oil and vinegar dressing. 

And eat it up!  As always, if you have any suggestions for this novice cook who still doesn't really like to cook but is willing to learn, please share :)

Homemade Granola

I made a batch of peanut butter and chocolate chip granola bites the other day.  They came out moist and cakey unlike the store-bought, full of additives granola.  Since I don't have kids or a significant other, I brought the batch in share with my fellow massage therapists.  I was happy to see the container was empty within a couple of hours and that they loved them.

Here's the recipe I followed.  I did add in 3 tbs of cut up flax seed.  Note to self:  get the already grounded flax seed next time so you don't have to chop chop chop, chop chop chop, chop chop chop, etc with a large kitchen knife. 

Horchata Recipe

A couple of years ago, my Mexican coworker, Diana, introduced me to Horchata.  Horchata is a Mexican sweetened rice milk beverage with cinnamon and vanilla flavoring.  To be honest, I wasn't all that crazy about it. What I remembered about it was that it wasn't very sweet and tasted watered down to me.  I've since have had it a few more times but the problem is that I can't remember which Mexican restaurant has the more sweetened version that I liked.  The other day, I stopped by a taco truck on the way home from work and ordered a horchata with my burrito and tacos.  Heaven is all I can say about their horchata.  It was so delicious that I forgot how much I really liked it.  Since that day, I'd been craving horchata so I found this recipe and decided to make my own.  I read through the reviews and adapted the recipe based on my taste and the reviews.

Ingredients:
1 cup long grain white rice
5 cups water
cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you want it less sweet as you can always add more later)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a blender, blend the rice and water for a couple of minutes.  The water will turn an opaque milky white color.  I didn't have a full sized blender so I used my smoothie blender (had to blend the rice and water in two batches) so, for me, the rice didn't get broken up into pieces, which I don't think really matters unless it affects the taste.

After you're finished blending, pour the water and rice combination into a container.  Throw in two or three cinnamon sticks (I used two but ended up adding ground cinnamon to the finished batch because I like it more cinnamony).  If you don't have cinnamon sticks, you can use ground cinnamon but it won't blend well and will end up floating to the top but you will still get the flavor.  The ground cinnamon will change the color of the horchata to more of a brown color.  Let it sit out for at least five hours (overnight would be best) in room temperature (unless the room is really hot and you don't have a/c :) 

Once the mixture is ready, filter the liquid into a pitcher or carafe using a sieve or coffee filter.  I didn't have a sieve so I used my one-cup coffee filter which helped to catch any bits and pieces of rice or cinnamon sticks (I broke my cinnamon sticks into pieces).

I heated up the milk for one minute in the microwave and then stirred in the sugar and vanilla extract.  The heated milk will help the sugar dissolve easier than the room temperature rice water. 

Pour the sugared milk into the rice water and stir.  Serve immediately over ice or chill and serve later.

Tips:
-I found cinnamon sticks in the Latin food aisle at the grocery store for 99 cents a package (for 3 sticks) opposed to $5.49 for 9 sticks at Target and $7.99 at said grocery store.

-I did a taste test and realized it wasn't sweet enough for my taste (I originally added in 1/2 cup sugar and later added in another 1/8 cup) so I poured some of my homemade horchata into a bowl, heated it up for one minute in the microwave and then stirred another 1/8 cup of sugar.  Perfecto!

-I also used the leftover rice instead of throwing it out and made a rice pudding using this recipe.  Read through the comments to get some tips for the rice pudding as that helped me a lot.  I'll try to put up the recipe in another post in a bit to make it easier for you. 

I'm not sure of the number of servings as you can see in the picture, the recipe didn't fill up my carafe but you can always double the recipe.  Since it's just me, this will tie me over for a day or two.  

Hope you guys enjoyed this recipe as much as me :)

Mac and Cheese!

Today, I made mac and cheese from scratch for the first time.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I shared some with my friend/neighbor.  My friend is a foodie and loves to cook so when he took his first bite and told me it was awesome, I was very flattered.  Even after I realized I forgot to add the pepper in.  I know you're thinking "mac and cheese is easy to make!"  but I am still a cooking newbie and with the plethora of mac and cheese recipes, it can be a bit intimidating.  For me, the less ingredients I need to use, the less likely I'll mess it up :)  So, I found this recipe and adapted it a little based on some of the reviews. By the way, my total cost for all the ingredients was around $5.71.  The original recipe is for 6 servings.  One thing I liked about how mine turned out was that it was not that salty and it was creamy.  

1 can of cheese soup.
1 1/4 cup of milk (I used low fat)
1 bag (8oz) of shredded Colby Jack cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 package (16oz) of macaroni

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Cook the macaroni as directed on the package to al dente.  I added a teaspoon of salt to the water to give the mac some seasoning.

While the mac is cooking, mix the can of cheese with the milk.  The cheese will be gloppy so it's okay if it doesn't mix smoothly with the milk.   


Once it's been cooked to al dente, drain and transfer the cooked mac to a casserole dish. 

Mix in the cheese/milk mixture until all or most of the mac is coated.

Add the sour cream.  Again, mix it well into the mac.

Add in half the bag of cheese and mix into the mac.

Take the remainder of the bag and sprinkle generously to cover the top of the macaroni.  

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is browning and bubbly.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin

I don't know what has gotten into me lately but I've been cooking more and more out of my normal comfort zone and I started baking.  In the past, I've usually baked from the "boxed" mixes and it's been over 10 years since I've baked from scratch.  When I was baking from scratch, it was few and far between.  Part of it is because I don't have anyone to bake for and the other part is that I don't have a working oven so baking is done through my toaster oven.  

This week, I've already made nutella cookies and White Chocolate Chip Orange cookies.  Today, I decided to bake banana chocolate chip muffins since I had two super ripe bananas awaiting their demise for a few days now.  I found this awesome recipe from Food.com and basically halved the ingredients since I only had two ripe bananas instead of the 4 it calls for.  I ended up with 10 muffins and they are delish.  Not too shabby for only picking up baking again after a 10 years plus hiatus.  At least now, I can bake for friends and coworkers for birthdays and get-togethers.

Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad

I'm normally a "safe" food eater. Not a foodie at all. I like what I like and tend to order the same things over and over. Not to mention, I can't cook and I am tongue deaf (the equivalent of being tone deaf. Yeah. I just made that up.) So, when I saw that I had avocados and strawberries ripening quicker than I can blink, something clicked. What if I made a strawberry and avocado salad? And also added spinach? So I looked up different recipes and got basic ideas for the dressing since I'm a ranch kinda girl. I'm not brave enough to venture in making my own dressing yet so I improvised and bought ready made olive oil and vinegar dressing. When I got home, I added in a touch or two of honey to sweeten it up. Boy, am I glad I ventured out of my food comfort zone.

The salad consists of spinach (bagged or bunch, your preference. I chose bunched), sliced strawberries, 1 avocado and garlic and herb feta cheese (they didn't have plain). For the dressing, just store bought already made olive oil and vinegar dressing. I poured about a cup of dressing and I stirred in two small dollops of honey to sweeten. Tasty.

I didn't include any specific measurements since everyone's appetite and portion size is different do let me know if something is not clear :)

Vegetarian Goulash

I made the above dish by modifying this recipe I found on Food.com. The author calls it a "Poverty Meal" but some reviewers have said the recipe was similar to a goulash they make so I'm calling mine a Vegertarian Goulash :) Although I eat meat, I don't like cooking with it so I substituted the ground beef with firm tofu instead. Because I work as a massage therapist, I needed some stuff that won't burn through as quickly since I have a high metabolism so I also added in a can of kidney beans. I like squash and corn so that was added too :)

1 tbs of olive oil
1 can can of stewed tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes in juice)
1 can of water
2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 yellow onion - chopped or sliced
1/2 block of firm tofu - cubed
1 cup of pasta (doesn't matter if it's elbows, shells or whatnot)
1 can of corn
1 squash - peeled and cut
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Brown the onion and garlic in a large pan in the olive oil.
Once browned, add in the tomatoes (juice and all) and the water.
Add in the pasta, corn and beans.
Let simmer for about 8-10 minutes but be sure to stir often so that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Stir in the squash. Simmer for about 2 minutes.
Stir in the tofu. The tofu will sponge up the liquid so be sure you don't add it in with the pasta before it's halfway cooked.
Let simmer for another 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Enjoy!

P.S. I don't cook very much so I hope this dish is as tasty for you as it is for me. Feel free to give me any advice :)