What happens if I'm out of sour cream?

As many of my friends and family members have discovered this summer, I like doing unusual things when I cook. Basically, I like experimenting with ingredients--substituting, omitting, adding, etc. So I have found this website to be very helpful, whether I'm trying to make dumb/wacky/questionable ingredient substitutions, or...just forgot to buy sour cream. :)

Low-fat Quiche with Oat Crust

Originally from this site.
I think I’ve found the keeper quiche recipe! Besides, of course, the one that I have from my French cookbook…but that one has a pint of heavy whipping cream and lots of whole-fat Swiss cheese in it. Oh, and bacon. So…while that one is possibly the best-tasting, most melt-in-your-mouth quiche I have ever (and I do mean ever) tasted or made, it’s high-fat content means that it’s…*sigh*…more of a once-in-a-while treat than a good breakfast quiche that happens to be nicely high in protein.
I’ve made this a couple of times now, and have found that you can experiment a bit with the vegetables you put in here. The first time we made it, I used frozen spinach. The second time we used both fresh broccoli and fresh spinach. So…go for it! If you like it, put it in! If, like my brother, you don’t like spinach, try something else. Or just use bacon.

For the Crust

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 tbs. cold, unsalted butter (by the way…don’t use coconut oil to substitute for the butter. Don’t. Please. It makes it super-duper salty tasting for some reason…and not good tasting at all. Be warned.)
• 3 tbs. cold low-fat milk For the Filling
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped (or frozen, or broccoli, or mushrooms, or…bacon…but maybe not 3 cups of bacon.)
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 4 eggs, beaten (can also do 2 egg whites and two whole eggs if desired)
• 1 cup skim or low-fat milk
• 3/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. pepper (or to taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make the crust, put the oats, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the butter and pulse until you get a pebbly-like texture. Add the milk and pulse a few more times to combine.
2. Now you have two options:
1. For individual-sized quiches: Form the mixture into a ball and place it between 2 large pieces of waxed paper. Roll out into a circle about 10 inches in diameter. Cut the circle into 4-5 separate pieces (depending on how many and the size of your dishes) and shape into smaller circles to fit your dishes. Spray each dish with cooking spray and press crust into each dish. Place the dishes on a large baking sheet and bake for about 7-9 minutes. Set aside.
2. For one larger quiche: Butter a 9x9” pyrex baking dish. Press the dough flat into the pan, going about half-way up the sides. (Not any more than half-way, though!)
3. To make the filling, you again have two options:
1. Stovetop: heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the garlic and sautee for about 30 seconds. Add the spinach or broccoli bits and cook until wilted.
2. Easier…: microwave the frozen spinach, if using, until defrosted. Drain well, squeeze the moisture out, and then proceed…
4. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees. Whisk the beaten eggs, milk, cheese, salt and pepper together. (If you did the “easier” method, go ahead and add in about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, leaving out the olive oil all together.) Stir in the spinach. Pour into the dish (or dishes)Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

No-Bake Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Originally from this site.

Yum….these accompanied us on the 11-hour drive from Oklahoma to Indiana, whipped up in about…15 minutes at about 10 o’clock the previous night.

The original recipe calls for oat flour, which you can make by blending the oats in a food processor (as you can read below). However, I had no desire to whip out the food processor and bring its disruption into the almost-sleeping house. So I used all-purpose flour, with a little bit of protein powder. I found that it worked nicely enough, but thought that the texture would be much improved and less…weirdly grainy if you use oat flour instead. However, I did like the taste of the tablespoon of vanilla protein powder (besides the fact that…it’s protein powder, and therefore super good for you, right? ) So I recommend using 1/4 cup oat flour, plus 2 Tablespoons protein powder. As you see below.

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (10g)
• 3/4 cup quick oats (60g)
• 1/4 cup oat flour (or make your own by blending oats in a food processor until they become powder. Measure after blending.) (60g)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar (62g)
• 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil or coconut oil (my sister thought that the coconut oil made it taste too salty. But…I didn’t notice anything. So if you’re very sensitive to salt, use vegetable oil. )
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir very well. In a cup, combine liquid ingredients, then pour wet into dry and stir until incorporated fully. Transfer to a plastic bag and smush into a ball. Now you can roll into smaller balls or fridge until a little firmer. (Note: if you use coconut oil, these cookies will harden when chilled, but they go back to being soft if left out.) You could also bake these if you wish, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs

 

Originally from this site. 

Seriously. These are pretty wonderful and very muchly so amazing. We made them last night for dinner, along with baked sweet potato fries and broccoli. And....then ate them all together on the porch in the lovely evening 75-degree weather. It's times like these that make you realize so strongly that God has blessed us so richly!

So here's the recipe:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup ranch dressing

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

3 or 4 good-sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into 1 inch cubes

Whisk together the sauce. Let it stand while you cut up the chicken, then put them all together in a bowl, cover it, and refrigerate for anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour. If you have wooden skewers, don’t forget to soak them for a while—I think we soaked ours for about an hour. Then preheat the grill, skewer the chicken with a little bit of space in between each piece, and off you go! It took about 10 minutes for the chicken to get done on Scott’s grill.

If you want to, you can bake the chicken with the marinade in a pyrex pan in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes.

Brownies. It’s a keeper.

I think I found the brownie recipe of my dreams. Yup. I mean, black bean brownies are fun, and good, and good for you, and all that. But these...well, they're just great. And wonderful. 

Oh, did I mention that there's no eggs in them? Well, I just discovered that you can use a flax seed+water mixture instead of eggs. So...there's like, no fat in these. Except for a little bit of coconut oil, but you can use applesauce instead, I'm sure, and it would be fine. So...I guess you could call them semi-healthy. Which is what I'll call them. Lower in fat so they're a bit better for you, but not health-nut crazy ridiculous. Plus, you don't have to use the food processor to puree the beans. And it's easier to tell the boys what's in these than it is with the black bean brownies. :)

So here it is! 

Originally from this site. 

Ingredients
1-½ Tablespoon Ground Flax Seed
5 Tablespoons Water
1 Tablespoon Instant Espresso Powder
¼ cups Boiling Water
¼ cups Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
6 Tablespoons Margarine Spread, Melted
1 Tablespoon Oil (I used coconut oil, but I think you can use applesauce instead)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 cup All-purpose Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
½ cups Unsweetened Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
⅓ cups Chocolate Chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small bowl, combine the flax seed together with 5 tablespoons of tap water. Set aside.
In a large glass work bowl, combine the instant espresso powder and boiling water and stir together until dissolved. Then add the chocolate chips and Earth Balance, and stir until melted. To fully melt all the chocolate chips, you may need to place the bowl in the microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring after each interval.
When the mixture has melted and cooled slightly, add in the canola oil, vanilla extract and ground flax mixture.
Add in the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined.
Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8 x 8 inch baking dish and bake for 12-15 minutes, being sure not to over-bake! The middle should still be slightly gooey.
Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes, then slice and eat!
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light 2008.

Pumpkin Doughnuts/Muffins (From Mrs. P.)

Ok, so these are pretty much amazing. I think. :) They're super-duper moist, super-duper pumpkin-y, and...not too terribly sweet! I did have a few that tasted a bit too...much like baking soda. Maybe a mixing problem, and maybe because there's either too much baking soda or not enough sugar. Either way.
I do want to try substituting honey for the brown sugar...just because I like honey, and because I like substituting things. :) So, according to this website, it's a bit up to taste. (By the way, there are 4 Tablespoons in a quarter cup.) I think I'll try a 1/4 cup of honey. Then do a 1/4 cup buttermilk, not a 1/2 cup, reduce the oven temperature to 325, and see what happens! Normally, it says to increase the baking soda in a recipe as well by a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey. However, since this'll be such a small amount of honey, and since I already think it tastes a bit too much like...baking soda...we'll try it without that little addition. :)

"Doughnuts"
Makes 12 very small muffins, but I think they're just the right size. You could...try putting a big spread of nutella in the middle to make them taller...just sayin'. :)
The recipe is from a book called "Deceptively Delicious," by Jessica Seinfeld. Her website is here

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup sweet potato puree

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon soft tub margarine, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a doughnut mold or 12-cup mini-muffin tin (I used regular muffin pans) with cooking spray

In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, pumpkin, and sweet potato purees, milk, egg white, margarine, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spice, and mix until completely incorporated.

If making into doughnuts:
              Pour the batter into a gallon-sized plastic bag or pastry bag, and cut the bottom tip off of one side of the bag. Squeeze the batter through, into the doughnut mold.
If making into muffins:
             Spoon into the muffin tins. Makes 12 muffins.
Bake until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted, 15 to 25 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool. When cool, dust with powdered sugar.

pizza

As I write this, the last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony is playing loud and clear, flowing through the entire downstairs. So glorious! :)

Anyway. This is the pizza recipe I've been using this summer, along with one of our favorite pizza toppings ensemble.
 I've found that while you can make ahead and bake the dough, and then freeze it, it isn't nearly as good as making it right there, same day, and plopping the toppings on it right away. But either way it's still good...


Here is the recipe for the dough: (makes 2 pizzas)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 2/3 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
Put it in the breadmaker on "dough setting." I usually make two batches on one day, freeze one, and put the other in the fridge til I'm ready for it. But--do make sure to take it out of the fridge a while before! Like...half an hour!
Divide the dough in half, and roll out to be about 13"in diameter. Sprinkle cornmeal on the hot pizza stones, then slap the pizza dough on and bake at 500 for only 5 minutes. Do watch it!!

Toppings:
Slice up some Roma or beefsteak tomatoes in the food processor. Then rinse out the food processor, and put in about 3 handfuls of spinach leaves, one handful of basil leaves, two or three cloves of garlic, and about a tablespoon of olive oil, and puree.
Spread the tomatoes on the pizza, and put the basil stuff over the top of that (I've tried it other way around. It's easier, but I think it tastes better with the basil on top of the tomatoes). Then comes your toppings--I like mushrooms, bell peppers, and canadian bacon, and maybe some roasted grape tomatoes...or sun dried tomatoes...or leftover chicken...or really...lots of things. Then the cheese goes over the top...we use mozzarella, but I think a blend of mozzarella and shredded parmesan would be great! Stick back in the oven at 400 for about 15minutes, until cheese is bubbly and turning brown.
Slide onto a cutting board and slice, then slide back onto the pizza stone and serve up! Oh, and don't leave it on the cutting board...it gets soggy. Yuck.

Another topping we've found that's good is to sautee mushrooms, bell peppers, and halved grape tomatoes, then to add a bit of balsamic vinaigrette and some italian seasoning. also yummy. :)
Enjoy! :)