York Peppermint Brownies

After baking these fabulous chocolaty wonders, our apartment smells like Christmas: mint and chocolate. I've seen quite a few recipes for Reeses PB cup brownies, Symphony chocolate bar brownies, and I thought to experiment with York Peppermint Patties. The result: ooey gooey fudgey minty brownies. The mint flavor is apparent, but not overpowering.

I think one of the worst/most disappointing thing to eat is a cakey, dry brownie. If I wanted chocolate cake, I would have asked for chocolate cake. If I'm going to eat a brownie, it should have this texture. Heavy, rich, heavenly.


Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
-2 large eggs
-1 cup sugar
-1 tbsp cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup flour
-3 york peppermint patties

1. Preheat oven to 350, and grease an 8x8x2inch pan.

2. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate chips over med-low heat. Once melted and blended together, set aside to cool slightly.

3. Corsley chop the three patties, and divide into half.

4. In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cocoa, and salt.

5. After cooling for a few minutes, add 1/2 of the chopped peppermint patties to the melted butter/chocolate. Stir to incorporate and melt. Add mixture to bowl.



6. Stir in flour, and pour into greased pan. Sprinkle the second 1/2 of the chopped peppermint patties evenly on top of the batter.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Fauxtatoes

When my husband sat down to eat dinner, he was so exited about mashed potatoes! Little did he know that this poser food had no actual potatoes. I tried to keep from grinning, so that he wouldn't suspect anything. After taking his first bite, his response was, "these taste like the mashed potatoes you make, but they're so much creamier...what did you do differently?" SUCCESS!

This is actually a cauliflower puree dresses up as mashed potatoes. When you eat mashed potatoes, unless you leave on a lot of the skin of a red potato, most of what you taste is the butter and salt. I mean come on, most potatoes are served in the US with butter or oil and salt (french fries, potato chips, baked potato). So, dress up the cauliflower with salt, pepper and a little butter (I use the "light" land o lakes butter with canola oil to eliminate half of the calories). This way, you are going to serve a low fat, high water content, high fiber food that will fill you up without the excess starch.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-3 cups of water (for boiling)
-1 head of cauliflower
-2 tbsp butter
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Floret the cauliflower, and boil for 7-9 minutes, or until tender
3. Drain the water, and put the cauliflower in a food processor. Blend until creamy. Add in the butter, salt, and pepper. Serve, and enjoy...guilt free!

Spinach Pasta

I feel like at this point I should re-name this blog to say, "Ways to Make My Husband Eat Vegetables". This seems to be the trend in what I've been baking and cooking lately. It's all about disguising the vegetables or presenting them in a way that is out of the ordinary. If I put a spinach salad or a glob of sauteed spinach on his plate, he will refuse to eat it. However, if I put it in the pasta (a favorite of his), then he's just curious enough to try it. Make it tasty. Make it pretty. Make it interesting, and they will eat it!

If you've never eaten fresh (I mean, made that day fresh) hand-rolled pasta, you're missing out. If you've never made fresh hand-rolled pasta, don't be intimidated. It only takes three (in this recipe four) ingredients. It's super cheap and very easy. In contrast to boxed dried pasta, fresh pasta is filling and chewy and so much richer. You might never go back to store-bought, so be careful!

This recipe will get you to eat your daily serving of veggies and a good dose of iron, all while spinning pasta around on your fork!

Enjoy!

Recipe (makes 4 servings):
-2 cups flour
-2 eggs
-1 tsp salt
-4 cups fresh spinach

1. In a food processor, blend together the eggs, salt and spinach until creamy.

2. In a bowl, pour the spinach mixture in the bottom and add in the flour 1/2 cup at a time. You will then need to knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until you have created a firm, but flexible ball and all of the ingredients are incorporated. Let rest for 10 minutes.

3. Taking 1/2 of the ball at a time, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface. Cut into the desired shape. (you can do a fettuccini shape, as I did, or a thinner spagetti shape. This would also be good as lasagna sheets, or squares for making ravioli).



4. Boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes. (Fresh pasta doesn't take nearly as long as boxed pasta to cook).

5. Add whatever flavors or toppings you would like. I just tossed it will olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, diced tomatoes, and added a little cheese on top. Benissimo!

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Cake (Very sneaky!)

Lately, I've been in the habit of "lacing" my desserts with a secret, nutritious, ingredient. This way, I know that my husband will actually eat certain foods that he would have previously scoffed at! I've done spinach laced brownies, black bean flourless brownies, and now chocolate cake with (drum roll, please) BEETS! I don't even like beets, so I knew this would be good for me too. When I asked my husband if he could guess the secret ingredient this time, he said, "did you put black beans in this one too?!" When I told him it was beets, he was, once again, totally surprised.

This is a great way to infuse a minimally nutritious dessert with a healthy ingredient. Maybe now we won't feel so guilty about eating an extra slice! The beets aren't noticeable flavor wise, but they are noticeable in terms of texture, because they bring an incredible amount of moisture, without it being too heavy or too rich. I loved it. If I made it again, I would double the recipe, because this cake did look a little on the small side. Now you can have your cake, and eat your beets too.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes two, one inch layers):
-1 cup pureed beets
-1 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 cup cocoa
-1/2 tsp salt
-2/3 cup canola oil
-3/4 cup sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 2 8-inch cake pans

2. Mix together the flour, cocoa, and salt; set in a separate bowl.

3. In a larger bowl with an electric mixer, combine oil and sugar until smooth. Add in egg, vanilla, and beet puree. Mix until creamy. (see picture below...lovely color!)


4. Alternately add in buttermilk and dry ingredients, and mix just until incorporated. Mix in soda/vinegar mix.

5. Pour batter into cake pans, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

*I topped the cake with a cream cheese icing (1/2 cup butter, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, and 3 cups confectioners sugar), and ooooh baby what a good combination!

Cinnamon Granola Muffins

Once again, this recipe came out of a need to use up an excess ingredient: granola! My husband eats granola most days, but I had bought a big box of cinnamon raisin granola that was apparently, "like chewing on sandpaper". So, I wanted to find an alternative way to eat it, since he obviously wasn't going to like per usual.

You can find the basic recipe that I used for these muffins at: http://www.preparedpantry.com/granolamuffin.htm I also added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and used the cinammon granola that my husband refused to eat.

These turned out great, and looked nice with the oat topping. I liked them because it's not your typical overly-sugared cupcake-like muffin which leaves you feeling more hungry than when you started. (*sigh*...the evils of simple sugars). These are great for breakfast or a mid-morning snack that go great with a shmear of peanut butter or almond butter.

Enjoy!