4 posts tagged “healthy”
Catching up on a few things first that I made before my trip to China... I never realized how difficult it would be to get back into blogging once you've taken a long break heh. That plus the fact that using dialup internet to upload food photos is just a pain!
I've always found homemade pound cakes to be incredibly delicious in a way that no store-bought equivalent could match. And it was those rare moments of delight, when a co-worker or friend brought in a homemade pound cake that made me want to try my own hand at it. I have heard great things about the use of sour cream in pound cakes, so I went in search of a simple sour cream pound cake recipe. I was looking for a classic, somewhat dense cake that was moist not but greasy, and rich in that buttery vanilla flavor so typical of pound cake. Of course, the recipes I encountered all seemed a bit on the scary side in terms of the amount of butter, sugar, and eggs that were used, so I tried to find a compromise between taste and healthiness.
By cutting the butter and sugar, and boosting moistness with extra sour cream, I found the results to be a much less guilty deliciousness :) The texture of the cake was a little lighter than regular pound cake, sort of like a combination of pound cake and angel food cake, yet it was still very moist. But it was the rich vanilla butter flavor that remained that pulled everything together for a satisfying experience. I put together an effortless apricot glaze to go with the pound cake, but I actually found it to be most delicious eaten alone, especially when fresh out of the oven, when the outer crust has a light crunchiness, yielding to a warm and soft melt-in-your-mouth cake inside. Oh, it's making my mouth water just to describe it. The cake is still great after it has cooled off, though you want to keep it sealed to retain the moisture, which thus softens the crust. So choose your own adventure... or have it both ways!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream (use fat-free sour cream for less calories, may also substitute with plain or vanilla yogurt)
Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 6 inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and smooth, about 7 minutes. Beat in eggs one a a time, mixing for a minute after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold dry ingredients into creamed mixture just until smooth. Gently fold in sour cream. Spread batter into baking pan.
4. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes in oven. A toothpick poked into the cake should come out mostly clean. Remove from oven and cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, before inverting gently onto a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired. Optionally, make an easy fruit glaze by stirring some fruit preserves with water to reach a glaze consistency, and spoon over slices of pound cake to serve.
Story time! So I'm feeling under the weather this weekend. I thought I was getting another wave of allergies, but then my throat started to feel sore, and pretty soon I was feeling weak and mildly feverish. I realized that I must have a cold of some sort. Since I had slept my way through most of Friday night, I woke up at around midnight thinking about what I could make for a late late dinner / snack that wouldn't drain me of all my energy.
The fridge is mostly empty since I haven't gone grocery shopping in a while. But in my cupboard I had an unopened bag of fine ground corn meal that I bought back when I was getting my wisdom tooth out and thinking of making grits. Well I never did get around to using it, and now grits sounded pretty good to me. Looking online for some good recipes, I noticed that most of them were savory grits, with cheese, gravy, sausage, etc. Unfortunately for me, my fridge was so empty that I didn't even have the usual milk that goes into grits. I did, however, have a single slice of American cheese and a little bit of spam. I discussed the prospect of making spam grits with my boyfriend, who thought it sounded gross and could not find a single recipe for it online. I personally thought I could invent a really cool spam grits dish, but alas, when I went to prepare it, I noticed that my spam was spoiled. Great.
So by this point I was starving to death and really annoyed that I had water boiling for my grits, but nothing to put in it. Finally, I decided that I would make a light grits with garlic and that one slice of cheese, and eat it topped with canned chili, which would provide most of the flavor. I guess in that sense it sort of takes on the role of polenta haha. So let me tell you, this was an exercise in persistence. When my water was at a full boil, I poured in all the corn meal I was going to use, at once, before reaching for tongs to stir with. Bad idea. That corn meal puffed up in a matter of seconds, absorbing all the water and forming these giant clumps with dry corn meal still in the middle. No matter how hard I stirred it and added water to thin it out, the messy clump in the pot was just not edible. So down the garbage disposal it went...
The second time I got smarter and turned down the heat before slowly adding the corn meal while stirring, and everything came out just fine - it was nice and smooth, with no clumps. Plus, my favorite part is that using finely ground corn meal shortened the cooking time dramatically. I was done in just 10 minutes! Now that's a good fast meal I could handle any day :) It's also relatively healthy too, since I don't use any milk or cream for the grits, and the chili is quite good for you with all its beans. I used canned chili here for convenience, but I'm sure it would be even better with home-made chili, if you have the patience that is!
Chili-topped Garlic Cheese Grits (serves 2)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely ground corn meal (it's like a powder rather than little gritty pieces)
2 cups water
1 slice American cheese
1 pat salted butter
onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste
canned chili
chopped raw onion for garnish
Directions:
1. Bring 2 cups water to boil in a small pot. Reduce heat to low.
2. Slowly add the corn meal to the water, while stirring constantly with a whisk to avoid lumps.
3. Cook on low for about 7-10 minutes, stirring often, and adding water as necessary to thin out the grits to your desired consistency (I prefer mine to be on the creamy, lightly viscous side). They absorb a lot of water so I think I added maybe an extra cup's worth of water before I reached a nice consistency. Season with onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste.
4. When grits is finished cooking, stir in a pat of butter and the slice of cheese, torn to pieces, stirring until melted and incorporated. Serve immediately, topped with warm canned chili and garnished with freshly chopped onions if desired.
Last Friday, for the second time in my life, I had the pleasure of trying bread pudding. We were having the usual free Friday lunch at my workplace, and the dessert options are usually fruit or cookies. Well last week the cafeteria decided to give us bread pudding as a special treat, how nice! I was a bit skeptical at first, because it looked a lot like stuffing... but after my first bite I was completely hooked and my first thought was that I must learn to make my own bread pudding! Like no other dessert I've tried before, bread pudding has a mild creamy flavor that simply melts on your tongue, and a unique soft, chewy texture that isn't at all like eating bread. The bread pudding I had that day also had some blueberries baked in, which gave the pudding a wonderful fruity sweetness, since the pudding itself is not too sweet. Just heavenly - my kind of comfort food!
So this weekend I finally went grocery shopping and restocked my fridge (which is why there haven't been any updates this past week... I didn't feel like making more eggless and butterless baked goods). Being a frugal student, I always check the clearance racks at the supermarket, just in case there's anything useful to me. This time I saw a huge loaf of sliced Italian bread on sale for just $1, because its sold-by date was that same day. Well no problem, I could just freeze the loaf and keep it for however long I want - what a steal! I wasn't actually thinking of the bread pudding when I bought the bread, but today the thought came to me and I was simply giddy with the idea that I had the perfect bread for bread pudding. The one thing I didn't have was berries or raisins, which are usually added to bread puddings, so I just used an apple instead. And it being St. Patty's Day weekend, I knew it was the perfect occasion to pull out that Bailey's Irish cream and add a little zing to my bread pudding. The stage was set!
While I was looking up bread pudding recipes, a realization dawned on me - these things aren't so good for you haha. Most recipes called for 4-6 eggs, several cups of milk and heavy cream, and lots of butter. I'm sure it makes for a fabulous bread pudding, but Mah's comment a little while back did remind me that maybe I could make a few modifications for a healthier bread pudding. And I'm proud to report that I did succeed in making a healthier version of bread pudding without sacrificing much at all :) My boyfriend, like the typical guy, was a bit wary of the notion that I'd be making healthy substitutions to a rich and creamy flavored dessert. But after taking a bite of the finished thing, he happily told me that it tasted creamy and custard-y. Success! The secret is in replacing eggs with applesauce, and using low fat milk instead of whole milk and heavy cream. Usually applesauce can be substituted for oil in muffins and breads, but it works great in this recipe in place of eggs because it is not necessary for providing leavening or structure. Of course, I didn't replace all of the eggs... that would probably result in a pretty awful pudding. So remember, no matter what you substitute, try not to get rid of all of it. I used that rule of thumb for my low-fat creme brulee, and it worked really well. Compromise means everyone is a winner right? Haha. Now I share with you how I tweaked the basic bread pudding recipe to get a tasty but not-as-bad-for-you bread pudding :)
Bread Pudding with Apples and Bailey's Irish Cream (serves 4-6) adapted from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
10 slices of Italian bread, or any bread of choice (I prefer a crusty bread)
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and diced
4 tbsp salted butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 cups milk (1%), scalded
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp Bailey's Irish cream
pinch of salt
brown sugar to top
Directions;
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9" diameter round pan, or equivalent square baking pan.
2. Cut bread slices into cubes (don't remove crust). Toss in melted butter, then mix in diced apples. Lay into baking pan.
3. Scald the milk by heating over medium heat until just starting to bubble at the edges (do not let boil!). Remove from heat immediately.
4. Beat together eggs, applesauce, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, and salt. Slowly stir in milk. Add Bailey's Irish cream and mix well.
5. Slowly ladle the milk mixture over the bread cubes in the baking pan, making sure to coat all the bread. The liquid should come up to just short of the rim of the pan. Let bread soak in milk mixture for 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle brown sugar over top and bake for 30 minutes, or until bread bounces back and liquid does not ooze out when pushed with a spoon. Serve warm or cooled, with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.
Having tried the bread pudding both hot out of the oven and later when it had cooled off, I would say that I think I like the texture of the cooled pudding better. That's obviously a personal thing, since I like my bread pudding a bit chewier, whereas others might like it more soupy or soggy. The hot bread pudding certainly has more liquid in it, so it has more of a melt in your mouth, custard-like texture, which my boyfriend really liked. I thought the apples in the pudding were great - they complemented the cinnamon in the pudding, and added a nice little bit of soft crunch and sweetness.
Next time I would add more brown sugar to the top, since it made for a really great crunchy topping. I'd probably also double the Bailey's, since the flavor was subtle here. But I have to say, I couldn't tell at all that there had been applesauce substituting for most of the eggs in this recipe, and I think that the fact that it uses apple as a component hides the applesauce flavor very well. The bread was soft, the flavor was mild and creamy from the milk, and there was just the right amount of sweetness so as to not overwhelm the dessert. It was certainly great with some vanilla ice cream on the side... although I suppose that would negate the strides towards making this dessert somewhat healthy right? Happy eating! ;)
After falling head over heels for the first real creme brulee I've ever had in my life not too long ago, I decided that I would definitely have to take up the challenge of making it myself. People always talk about how creme brulee is a fancy French dessert that can cost a pretty penny at a restaurant and takes skill to make taste good, but after perusing the internet for recipes, I've discovered that making creme brulee is deceptively easy. And that made me very excited to make my own. Probably the hardest part of preparing to make creme brulee was actually getting my hands on a set of small ramekins, because I wanted to make sure that they baked up properly and looked nice. The ingredients were simple and few, and I had fun making a semi-healthy version of creme brulee that tasted identical to the full fat one. I hope you all try it sometime :)
Ingredients:
1/2 pint of heavy cream
1/2 pint of skim milk
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup egg substitute (I used Land O Lakes Egg Lovers, for which 1/2 cup is the equivalent of 2 eggs)
1 small pinch of salt
extra white sugar for the topping
4 ramekins (6 oz. size)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine cream and milk over medium heat until scalded (you will see small bubbles forming at the sides of the pan). Remove from heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, egg substitute, sugar, and salt. Temper in some of the hot cream and stir well before stirring mixture back into the hot cream. Tempering is a technique where you add a small amount of a hot liquid to a colder liquid before combining them, which works well to prevent things like raw eggs from cooking into a solid when it is mixed into a hot liquid. Make sure you remember to do it, because having egg lumps in your creme brulee will pretty much ruin the experience.
4. Stir in vanilla extract. If you want to use a vanilla bean instead, add it into the cream after you initially finish scalding it, to let the flavor release into the cream better. Just remember to strain it out before baking the creme brulee.
5. Arrange the four ramekins into a casserole dish (preferably glass, as it insulates best). Pour in boiling water using a tea kettle so that the water level reaches about 1 inch or so up the ramekins. I stopped when the water level reached the top of the outer ramekin vertical ridges.
6. Ladle in cream mixture into each ramekin until just about filled to the top. I had just enough for the 4 ramekins with maybe a few teaspoons excess. Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes or until just set. When you gently wobble the casserole dish you'll see the creme brulee tops jiggle but it will look like there is a thin film solidified on top. That's when you want to take it out!
7. Remove from oven, but leave ramekins in the waterbath to cool down to room temperature. The heat retained in the water will continue to cook the creme brulee, that's why you want to remove from the oven when it's still jiggly. After cooling, remove ramekins from water and wrap with foil or plastic wrap and put in fridge for at least 2 hours. Overnight is even better. The next morning they should look like this:
8. Now to caramelize the tops! Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp of white cane sugar on top of the creme brulees, to make a thin even layer. Then you have a choice of passing over them with a blow torch until the sugar on top becomes bubbly and browned or you can simply broil them about 6" from the heating element. I don't have a blow torch, so I went the broiler route, which took a while to caramelize the sugar on top and kept burning the rims of the creme brulees (because the heat goes into the ramekin and heats up the edges of the creme brulee the fastest). So I had to stop often before the centers were brown. But still, the sugar melts pretty quickly and bubbles, which is the most important part to forming a good crust on top.
9. Remove from broiler and let cool until the tops are hardened. Serve immediately.
Now, most people serve creme brulee that is cold, with just the tops warm from the caramelization. But broiling them took so long that my whole creme brulee warmed up and I thought that made the flavor and texture fabulous. It was smooth and velvety, the tops were crunchy and sweet with some caramelized sugar flavor, and the insides were creamy and luscious, with just the right amount of sweetness. They were so yummy, you couldn't even tell that half of it was lowfat ingredients. Mmmmm...
Just for your reference, this recipe should have about 340 calories per serving (per 6 oz. creme brulee). For comparison, the full fat recipe is about 570 calories per creme brulee, and the lowfat version has 110 calories per creme brulee. I literally compromised between the two types of recipes so that I could preserve the richness without clogging my arteries too badly...
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