Crantastic!

At work we sell these cranberry orange scones that smell AMAZING when we heat them up. I have always wanted to eat one but knowing the calories in scones and knowing that it isn't IBS safe have stopped me from scoffing it down. So, I turned to my trusty Eating for IBS book by Heather Van Vorous.

SWEET-TART ORANGE CRANBERRY BREAD - Eating for IBS

3 C flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 ts salt

3/4 C granulated sugar

2 tbs cornstarch

1 C vanilla soy milk ( I used plain)

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2 tbs orange zest (from 2 oranges)

1/2 C fresh orange juice
1/4 C canola oil

1 C chopped fresh/dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix soymilk and vinegar and set aside. Mix zest, oil, orange juice and oil together then stir in soymilk & vinegar mixture and mix till blended. Pour wet into dry and stir till just combined. Pour into greased loaf tin and bake for an hour.

I have never tasted a better orange cranberry bread. It's not drastically tart or disgustingly sweet. It's sweet enough to satisfy your tastebuds and the orange zest and juice is so flavorful yet not so drastic that it is overpowering. You can't get any better than that! It's butter free, egg free and dairy free and smells so good while it's baking.

Emm..SPICY

I have been baking bread instead of buying it from the store the past month and quite honestly, so much better for you, so much more satisfying and so much tastier! Out of shear business, most of the time it is just a basic white bread from the breadmaker but I decided to try this Cheddar Jalapeno Bread from Epicurious. Though it definitely takes longer than a breadmachine, it is defintely more worth it. It tastes amazing. It's not burn your mouth hot but it gives it a nice zing in your mouth and pairs extremely well with the savory cheddar cheese. It's is so moist and tender and tastes great just by itself. I omitted glazing it since I wanted it to have a soft crust and having the eggwash would make it IBS unfriendly but without the eggwash it is definitely IBS safe and healthy cause it's made with olive oil. Double points!

Good for you cookies!

I am embarrassed to say, that the only reason that I have not updated my blog is because...I am so ashamed to say it...I have befriended J.K. Rowling...more like her books. I told my managers how ashamed I am that I am checking out Harry Potter books. Honestly, it was so innocent to start off with. I was merely curious about the hype and considering I hated the movies, I figured the books couldn't be any better but since I can check books out for free it seemed worth it. It has been 3 weeks and I am now on my 3rd Harry Potter book. I seriously cannot put it down. I checked this 3rd one out on saturday and read half of it in 2 days. Perhaps the 4th will be chekced out on Saturday. :-) Honestly, I took me a good 3 hours to pry myself from reading just so I could blog. I needed to. It has been far too long and I have some new recipes I tried.

I've been wanting to make the Chewy chocolate chip cookies from King Arthurs Whole Grain Baking for quite some time, but half not wanting to tempt myself into eating the whole batch and the other half not having soy butter in the fridge had prevented me from making them. None the less, this is an overnight recipe and...yeah...pretty darn delicious! The whole wheat definitely gives them a very peanutty flavor. I think I like this being an overnight recipe since you can just scoop it out whenever you want the next day and bake it. I made some substitutions to make it IBS friendly, in parenthesis.

CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES - King Arthur Whole Grain Baking

3/4 C unsalted butter (I used soy butter)
1 C light brown/dark brown sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts espresso powder (optional - I omitted this)
1/4 ts baking powder
1/3 C light corn syrup/brown sugar corn syrup
1 tbs cider vinegar
2 large eggs (I substituted this with egg whites)
2 1/4 C whole wheat flour
3 C semisweet/bittersweet chocolate chips

Melt the butter then stir in the sugar. Heat till it begins to bubble and then transfer to bowl to cool till lukewarm.

Sitr in vanilla, salt, bs, espresso powder, bp, corn syrup and vinegar. Add eggs, beating after each addition, followed by flour, stirring to combine and mix in chips. Refrigerate dough, cover overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F. Lightly grease 2 baking seets.

Drop by tablespoons and bake 12 - 13 minutes, remove and allow to cool on pan.

This makes a good 4 dozen cookies, so there's enough to freeze and save for some other time. What could be better?

Under the Sea, Under the sea...

This is the first sign of spring for us here in Dayton, Ohio. The weather is still bitterly cold, still peacoat weather. Sigh. I got home from work Saturday evening to find beautiful lillies and tulips for moi. :-) I love flowers. I suppose every girl likes to receive flowers even if they say they don't. It's a nice treat once in a while and it sure brightens the room.

So, on my day off today I decided to venture out to "foremost seafoods." Adam, one of my managers recommended this place to me for fresh seafood, and boy was it fresh!!!! They supply to all the dayton area restaurants and it's cheaper to buy from them directly than get it from the grocery store. It's fresh and flown in 6 times a week! YES! Finally, fresh fish! I have been deprived of fresh seafood since I left Oregon.

My favorite fish is Swordfish, so I got 1 lb of that and I got Yellowfin Tuna for Brandon. Next time I think I will get 3/4 lb or less. We just couldn't finish it. These were thickly cut!
The above picture is of the tuna and the one below is the swordfish. I marinaded it in a orange ginger sauce for 3 hours, before grilling it and then sticking it in the oven to finish cooking. I thickened the marinade with cornstarch and served it with a side of roasted asparagus, peppers and onions.
Zoe went to the vet again today and got another parvo shot. We then came home, fed her and took her out for her very first walk! She did great even though she is still getting used to the leash and she prounced around the tennis courts with an empty water bottle that she chased around cause the wind was blowing so hard. She is a cutie. This is her this morning playing with the stuffed cow she stole from me.

Deep fried babies

I made this recipe a couple weeks ago, when I was overly lazy. :-D I made it for Brandon cause all things fried tastes good to him and he loves shrimp, so I thought it would be easy to make him deep fried shrimp using Japanese Panko because the panko doesn't overpower the shrimps flavor like breadcrumbs seem to. Plus, panko really gives fried foods that extra crunch.

DEEP FRIED PANKO SHRIMP

3/4 C panko

1/2 C flour

2 eggs, beaten

oil for deep frying

Combine some pepper and salt with the flour. Drench raw shrimp into flour and shake off excess, then dunk into egg mixture then into panko and cover generously with panko.

Once all the shrimp had been pankoed, heat up the oil in a pot and drop a couple shrimps in at a time and flip them over to brown the other side also. I just waited till the crust was golden brown before I took it out to drain on paper towels. I had to turn down the heat to prevent the oil from overbrowning the rest of the batches.

The shrimp goes really well when you dip it in a sweet chilli sauce.

Cheesy Breadsticks

One of the greatest reasons why I make the recipes that I post up here is because of the memories that they carry with them. Alot of these recipes are from college memories, which I provise on and breadsticks is one of them. I wonder if that's the motivation for other cooks and bakers, but memories and food go hand in hand for me. So, back at Oregon State University, I remember going to Woodstocks breadsticks with a salad. They were SO delicious and of course like everything that tastes good when you eat outside of the home, they aren't always so good for you. ;-) So here is my version of breadsticks with a healthy olive oil pizza dough base. I got this recipe with my bread machine my parents got me for my birthday while I was still in college (wow..it seemed like an eternity ago) and it's from their website.

CHEESY CHEDDAR BREADSTICKS

1 1/2 C warm water

2 tbs olive oil

2 tsp salt

4 1/4 C flour

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp yeast

(makes 2 12" pizzas, or 4 medium sized breadstick rounds)

This is a breadmachine recipe so add the ingredients into breadmaker in order listed above.

Once the dough is ready, remove the dough and divide it into however many rounds you like depending on your size preference and shape/roll each on a floured surface till thin. This dough rises alot once in the oven so it will give a thick crust. Place on floured baking sheets and drizzle with olive oil and make finger indentations all over dough. Sprinkle dough with pizza seasoning herbs, garlic powder and shredded cheese on top.

Bake at 400 degrees F till golden brown.

SINLESS LIGHT SCALLION DROP BISCUITS

I guess I'm one of those people who can't have a satisfying dinner without a nice side of carbs, especially breads. For example, I think I could, I know I could be satisfied eating just breadsticks and salad from Olive Garden without touching my entree. I have always loved the buttery cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster but as we all know, the fat content in those are sky high and obviously with my IBS I can't take it. So I have been in search of a fluffy light, IBS friendly cheese biscuit for weeks but all I could find were recipes calling for bisquick and I HATE using package ingredients. It just seems so...unrewarding in the end. I finally found a recipe from Cooking Light that satisfied my belly. I adapted the ingredients a little bit, which I put in brackets.

SCALLION DROP BISCUITS

2 C flour

2 ts baking powder

1/2 ts salt

1/4 ts baking soda

3 tbs vegetable shortening (I substituted it with Earth Balance soy butter)

1/4 C finally chopped Scallions

(1/4 C parmesan cheese)

1 C buttermilk ( I used 1 C soymilk + 1tbs apple cider vinegar)

Mix soymilk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together.

Cut butter into the flour mixture with 2 knives. Once mixture is crumbly, add in milk (I had to add an extra 3-4 tbs cause it was too dry) and stir till just combined, then add in Scallions and parmesan cheese.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Teeny no more!

I cannot believe how incredibly fast Zoe is growing up. She's quite the ball of energy and it is hard to give her alot of attention when I am at work all the time. She has taken a liking to my huge cow stuffed toy that I got for my birthday from Kels, katie and Kevin back in College. It's 6 times as big as her yet she tackles it like she's a tiger and the cow's a rat or something. She's a girl right????? Oh she is missing a nipple. We found out the other day while I was rubbing her tummy. Random.

'blue steel' dog style

'I'm too sexy for the camera,' look

We were talking about Asian food at lunch the other day at work and Korean food came up, so I decided to pick up some bulgolgi marinade and some short cut ribs. Easy as pie, easier may I add. I just marinaded it for 2 hours and then popped it in the broiler, basting and turning every couple of minutes to avoid burning and viola! Brandon said it was good, so this will definitely be a meal for one of those lazy days when you don't want to think at all.

Fluffilious easter cupcakes

Easter wouldn't be easter without pastel colors. That includes foods too! Especially dessert. I have been on a rampage to find a vegan dairy-free cupcake. I have never made a cupcake before but I don't think I have ever had a real cupcake before. I think it's been literally 8 years since I had a hostess cupcake and honestly I don't even think that you can classify that as a cupcake. Anyways, I was looking through Vegan Cupcakes take the world and finally found THE perfect cupcake. I wanted one that was moist and one that was white in color because I wanted the frosting to be the attention stealer in this easter cupcake. It had all the elements I wanted and I had ALL the ingredients! Score!

CLASSIC GOLDEN CUPCAKES from 'Vegan Cupcakes take the World'

1 C soy milk

1 ts apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 C flour

2 tbs cornstarch

3/4 ts baking powder

1/4 ts bs

1/2 ts salt

1/2 C canola oil

3/4 C sugar

2 ts vanilla + 1/4 ts extra vanilla (cause I didn't have another extract the recipe called for)

I whisked the soy and vinegar together and let it sit while I combined the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Beat the soy mixture, oil, sugar and vanilla together in a mixer and then sift in the flour mixture into the wet mixture.

Then pour batter into lined muffin tins only 3/4 way full at most. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22 minutes.

The frosting was amazing. The recipe came from Cupcake Bakeshop. It was an amazing texture. It's a marshmellow frosting. I could almost just eat the frosting itself. :-D I did a few spoonfuls, that's not cheating right? I separated the frosting into three bowls and colored them teal, yellow and pink. Then I dyed some coconut green for the color of grass and lyed some peanut M&M's on top to resemble the good ole easter eggs.


I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter! We went to early service at 8:30am and it was pretty decently packed for that ealy of a service but it was a good one and the rest of the day I just took it easy while brandon did his thesis. Actually I have started reading Harry Potter, the first book since I absolutely do not like the movies but everyone seems to rave about it, so I decided to give the book a shot. I am actually really enjoying it so far. It is wayyyy different from the movies! Ahh..back to work tomorrow...and so life is back on track again.

Joining the Girl Scouts!

I know I'm no girl scout, never was and never will be. Alas, Brandon asked if I could make Samoas. Outwardly, I said "No problem." Inwardly, I was thinking...how am I going to get this recipe? Thank goodness for the internet! :-D


I started with a basic shortbread recipe from a website I admire so very much The Joy of Baking. The recipes I've made from there have always turned out so perfectly. And that is no joke.


The topping recipe I got from Robbie's Recipes. Though next time I think I will only use 3 cups coconut and use caramel instead of condensed milk and more chocolate on the topping. All in all, it turned out okay as far as I can tell. I can't eat it but Brandon says they're good.

Obsession

It's been a while since I last posted. Probably because caring for a puppy feels as though I actually have a new born baby to take care of, to a lesser degree. The lack of sleep, the fustration, the feeling of doing nothing but taking care of her, working and running errands. On the positive side of things, this is a good transition to "children."

So like I said, I haven't posted in a while but it's not cause I haven't been baking and cooking, just hard to find the time to post but I have been thinking about it constantly. Ever since visiting Scott and Denise in Pensacola, FL I got used to eating a bagel for breakfast in the morning. So there my obsession started. I seem to be obsessed with a particular food and eat only that for a long long time. For example, my obsession with Rice Chex cereal has been ongoing since January. So, I came home and found a great recipe without eggs or milk! Actually I'm most fond of the blueberry bagel but I thought baby steps with plain bagels first. I found a recipe from The Fresh Loaf and it is an overnight recipe and made from a sponge which I had never done before and it turned out wonderfully.

I made 6 cinnamon sugar bagels for Brandon, an herb and 5 plain bagels.



















I was uber excited about the bread bag and twist ties I got from the commissary. Makes them look almost like I could bring those to the Farmers Market! :-D