OCD Muffins

As a coach for CSU, I try to go to as many practices/talks/things as possible. Rob recently set up two nutrition talks, basically one talk divided in two (because we all know the attention span of high-schoolers). Sarah, a grad student at UNH, came down to talk about nutrition specifically taylored to highschool skiers. The main point of session 1 (last monday) was that endurance athletes need to break down their food as: 60-65% carbohydrates, 20-25% fat, and 15% protein. This is all fine and dandy, but I was wondering--if I were to sit at home and eat muffins all day, and only muffins, is there a muffin I can make that would have this ratio? Yup. And I made it this morning.

These are by no means sweet muffins; those cake-like things you get at Dunkin Donuts. I suppose they're more "good-for-you" muffins than anything else, but I think they taste delicious. Of course, its a muffin, naturally I think its delicious. I used 3/4 yoghurt to 1/4 oil, to increase the protein percent and decrease the fat (otherwise it wouldn't fit the criteria of being a well rounded food to eat all day). I expected that this might do some funky things to the way it rose in the oven or something, but they turned out fine. Light and fluffy and poofy on top. I based my recipe off of the zucchini-lemon muffins that I like so much, because I figured zucchini is good for you too, so you may as well have it all. So:

The 25-60-15 Muffin

2C flour
1/2C sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2C walnuts
1/2C raisins
1 zucchini, grated in a cheese grater, skin included (unless you don't want little green bits in your muffins)
2 carrots, also grated
zest of 1 lemon
1/2C milk (I used skim, because that is the only milk we have. It always works out)
2 eggs
3 tbs unsweetened yoghurt (once again, I used skim, because its what we have)
1 tbs vegetable oil

So if you add up all of these ingredients, you get 2,310 calories, 64 grams of fat, 367 grams of carbohydrate, and 65 grams of protein. When you calculate the percentages, you get 25% fat, 64% carbohydrates, and 12% protein. I think thats pretty darn close to the ideal 25-60-15. I suppose if you wanted more protein you could replace all the oil with yoghurt, and you would go down in the fat percentage and up in the protein percentage. Here I'm going all OCD again. Enough.

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a big bowl. Then take the grated zucchini in your hands and squeeze it over the sink. Add the zucchini, carrots, lemon zest, walnuts, and raisins to the dry ingredients, mix them around until they are well coated.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl. Make sure the eggs get mostly beaten. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix just enough to combine (you'll fine there is a lot of "stuff" in this muffin--it might take more mixing than you're used to). Grease a muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until they look done. This made 20 muffins for me, so it was two batches. And then you can eat your muffins feeling good about how healthy you are being! woohoo OCD muffins!

Conclusion: You can sit on your couch and eat muffins all day and still get your exact macronutritional requirements for an endurance athlete (but do endurance athletes sit on their couches and eat muffins all day?)

Crab Cakes

Crab Cakes

2 eggs
1.5 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried tarragon
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 tbs butter
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped finely
1 tbs fresh basil, chopped finely
1 green onion
1 small orange (or red) pepper
5 pieces white bread, ripped into little pieces
1 tbs mustard
1 tbs mayo
1 pound crab meat (or imitation
1C breadcrumbs
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

In about a half tablespoon of butter, sweat the onions with the garlic and some salt. Once they are translucent, take them off the heat. In a large bowl, mix two beaten eggs, the paprika, cayenne, dried tarragon, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, basil, and parsley. Mix that together, then add everything else except the breadcrumbs.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, and roll out little balls of the crab mixture. roll it in breadcrumbs to coat it, and then put it on the sheet. I got 17 crab cakes out of it, but depending on size, you'll get a different number. Cover the crab cakes with another sheet of wax paper and chill for at least 1 hr.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, just to make sure that the egg is cooked. I pressed on the cakes with a spatula near the end of that, just to compress them a little more. No idea if this was necessary. After about 10 minutes cooking, turn your oven to broil, and broil the crabcakes until they are brown on top. Flip them over, and broil the other side. We were planning on frying them after we had baked them for a bit, but got lazy. Plus, we didn’t think we had enough butter. Lame, I know. I bet they would be really good fried, but they were damn tasty broiled.

Improvements for next time: I would definitely break up the crab meat into smaller pieces, to keep things uniform. In my case, I used imitation crab, which did have some real crab in it, but was just lots cheaper. Tasted fine… I would probably also put some breadcrumbs into the crabcake mixture, just to hold it together better. These cakes were pretty crumbly once you started eating them, but were still nice and moist. Definitely would like to try making these again, but it did take a fair bit of prep time.

Gazpacho Stakcs

This may be my favoritest salad ever. I really love the flavor and texture combinations, even if you don't make it as a stack. It can save you a lot of grief if you just make a big pile of vegetables and drizzle that with the dressing, because the stacks can be a pain in the neck. But they do look very nice. Caveat - if you are serving stacks, make sure to serve them on a full-sized dinner plate, because a smaller plate will not contain the collapse once your guest (or you) sticks a fork into the stack.

This recipe was taken from "Stacks: The Art of Vertical Food" by Deborah Fabricant.

Gazpacho salad stacks:

Planning ahead:
-prepare and drain all the vegetables the day before. The secret to this salad is uniformly diced and drained veggies
-Prepare the dressing the day before
-Assemble the stacks 2 hours ahead and chill
-Prepare the minced parsley early in the day

Ingredients
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 cups small croutons
1 1/2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes, drained (approx 3)
1 english cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced, and drained
3 whole green onions, diced
6 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Garlic-Lemon dressing
12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped, for garnish (I didn't have any olives, so didn't use them)
1/2 cup capers, for garnish (I also didn't have capers, so skipped them)
6 anchovies, diced, for garnish (I also didn't have anchovies, so didn't use them)


Advance Preparation
Toss the peppers, onion, and celery with vinegar and sugar. Set aside.
Assembly
Spray 6 stack cylinders with vegetable spray and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Layer in the following order: 1/4 cup croutons, 2 tablespoons pepper-onion-celery mixture, 1 tablespoon avocado, 2 tablespoons tomatoes, 2 tablespoons cucumbers, 1 teaspoon green onions, 1 teaspoon parsley. Repeat the layers. Press down firmly and chill for 1 to 2 hours.
To serve, slide a spatula under each stack cylinder and transfer to a serving plate. Unmold and drizzle dressing over and around stack. Garnish with olives, capers, anchovies, and 2 tablespoons minced parsley and serve.

Garlic-Lemon Dressing:
Yield: about 2/3 cup

3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons fresh basil
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

combine the garlic, salt, lemon zest, basil, mustard, lemon juice, Tabasco, and pepper in a food processor and blend well. Slowly add the oil while the machine is running until the dressing is well blended and thickened. Can be made ahead and refrigerated.

Roasted Root Veggies

Roasted Root Veggies



Oven-roasting brings out the natural sweetness of any vegetable, and this is particularly true in the case of roots. The original recipe called for some sugar and some sweeter-type spices, but I was in the mood for something savory. I think they might have browned a little better had they had more sugar to caramelize, but alas. I did not want sweet roots. The original recipe also calls for parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, and carrots—I did not have any of these vegetables, so stuck with what I had. It was good anyway.

1 small sweet potato
1 large beet root
1 medium sized red-skinned potato
2 small purple (blue?) potatoes
1 tbs olive oil
salt
pepper
rosemary
herbs du provence
coriander
anything else you think might taste good

I preheated the oven to about 350. Our oven is less than accurate, so this could be anywhere between 300 and 450. I think it normally runs a little hot. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Mix together olive oil and spices to taste. Make sure you taste this and like how it tastes before adding the veggies.

Slices the roots into French fry-shaped sticks. You could do this in slices too, if you wanted to grill them, but they would take longer to cook. Toss the sticks in the olive oil mixture. I find tossing with my hands works best. Once they are all coated, put down a layer of veggies on the cookie sheet, and stick in the oven for a while. Once the sticks are somewhat soft, broil them the rest of the way. Feel free to toss them every once in a while to keep them from burning. Once they are starting to brown, they are done.

I made these again the other day and used about half as much olive oil, and they were much less oily-looking, but still browned up fine.

Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella Stacks

Taken from the cookbook called "Stacks: the art of vertical food" by Deborah Fabricant

Roasted Vine Tomatoes, Pesto, Mozzarella di Bufala, and Pine Nuts with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette
Yield: 6 servings


Planning Ahead
-Prepare the roasted tomatoes the day before
-Prepare the pesto the day before and chill, covered with plastic wrap
-Prepare the vinaigrette the day before and chill
-Assemble the stacks 2 hours prior to serving and chill

Tip: to cut the mozzarella use a taut piece of dental floss

Ingredients:
8 tomatoes, 3 inches in diameter, sliced into 24 equal rounds, discarding the end pieces
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
24 fresh basil leaves
12 slices mozzarella di bufala, 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
3/4 cup pesto
1 cup sundried tomato vinaigrette
1 tomato, seeded and diced for garnish

Advance Preparation:
Preheat oven to 250. Spread 18 of the tomato slices in 1 layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Reserve the remaining tomato slices for the stack base. Sprinkle the slices with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake 2-3 hours, or until the slices are slightly dried but still moist. Cool.

Assembly
Spray 6 stack cylinders with vegetable spray and place them on a sheet pan. Layer the stacks in the following order: 1 fresh tomato slice, 2 basil leaves, 1 slice mozzarella, 2 teaspoons pine nuts, 1 tablespoon pesto, 1 roasted tomato slice. Repeat the layers beginning with the basil and ending with the third roasted tomato slice. Press down gently but firmly and refrigerate until serving time.
To serve cold, slide a spatula under each stack cylinder and transfer to a serving plate, unmold, garnish with the additional basil and pine nuts, and spoon viaigrette around the base. Spoon tiny dots of additional pesto around the edge of the plate and serve.
To serve warm, place the stacks in a pre-heated oven set at 350 for 10 minutes, or until heated through. Slide a spatula under each stack cylinder and transfer to a serving plate. Unmold, garnish with diced tomatoes, spoon vinaigrette and additional pesto around the base, and serve.

Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette
Yield: about 1 cup

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4 cup drained and diced oil-packed sundried tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

to make the vinaigrette, place the mustard, vinegar, and garlic in a bowl and whisk until blended. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking until blended and thickened. Stir in the parsley, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. The vinaigrette will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for about 4 days.

Shortcut Stacks
-purchase a quality pesto
-purchase a tomato vinaigrette
-use drained oil-packed sundried tomatoes in place of the roasted tomatoes

So this one has its pros and cons. The pros would be that it tastes delicious and it looks gorgeous. The con is that it is very difficult to eat. I mean, there is just no way to cut it. It all falls apart, and then you're left with a slightly messy tomato-mozzarella-basil salad, which tastes really good, but if you served it on a small plate, you would have tomato all over your table. The other con is that it takes eight tomatoes, and at $2.49 a pound, we're talking like $20 of tomatoes. And for cheapskates like me, thats too much money to spend for one dish... sorry. I really should start growing my own tomatoes, I would never run out of things to do with them. Anyway, delicious and pretty, but hard to eat.

Made with Love Nuts

Alas, no picture of the nuts. Next time I make them I'll take a picture. Just a shot of the ride we were on when we rediscovered the barter system to pay each other back for things. "I owe you two pastries for dinner last night, but you owe me three pastries for pulling so long in the wind"... Not that these nuts are pastries, but we biked to Callie's restaurant where they make these nuts. So there is almost a connection.

Made with Love Toasted Nuts
(Thanks to Callie)

1 C pecan pieces
1 C whole almonds
1 C pistachios

1 egg white
1 T curry powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1 C white sugar

Whisk egg white until very frothy. Coat nuts. Blend spices and sugar separately and then coat nuts. Bake in 400 degree pre-heated oven on sheet for ~7-9 minutes (until golden brown).

My suggestion for their use (other than just eating them):

1-3C mixed baby salad greens of mesclun or whatever you like best in a salad
2 tbs crumbled mild feta
3 tbs nuts
1/2 Asian Pear
1-2 tbs maple mustard dressing

The dressing: mix together some dijon mustard, maple syrup, and olive oil. If its too strong, add some water. Adjust the three parts as needed to get a taste you like. As usual, salt the sald before dressing.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

My dad used to scare me as a little kid by threatening to feed me overcooked brussels sprouts. I guess he had some bad memories of them, because we never ate them at home. Then I tried some this year, and I can't get enough. Then again, anything caramelized or crunchy tastes good to me... and I like green things too.

Brussel Sprouts:
1 Lb brussel sprouts
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey (optional)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425F. Cut off the ends of brussel sprouts and cut them in half. Place them in a baking dish large enough to hold them in one layer and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the bottom third of the oven for 20 minutes. Stir, drizzle with honey and vinegar (if using), and roast another 5 minutes. I definitely use the honey and balsamic vinegar.

Edit 5/15/08
I didn't realize other people read this blog. Looking back on this recipe, it is one I took directly from here, and I probably shouldn't have posted the recipe up without a reference, or even posted it at all. However, even if a recipe is printed somewhere in its original form, the internet is a fickle thing, and sometimes blogs disappear (or get deleted). Hopefully nobody will be too offended... This blog is where I play with ideas and kitchen experiments, and I like to post my successes, whether or not I was the one who came up with the idea.

Calorie Bombs (AKA Date-Almond-Coconut Balls)

These things are awesome. They taste even better after they've sat for a day and the cocoa has had a chance to kind of sink into the cookie-part of the balls; then it tastes less bitter but still like dark chocolate cocoa powder. I can't really explain it.

1C shredded coconut
1C whole pitted dates
1C toasted chopped almonds
1 beaten egg
1/2C packed brown sugar
1 squirt of lemon or lime juice (maybe 1 tsp?)
Baking cocoa

In a food processor, chop up almonds. Toast in the oven for a while until they taste toasted. In same food processor, chop up dates as finely as possible. Mix together almonds and dates in a bowl, with your hands. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix together with your hands. Form into little balls, roll in baking cocoa. Bake for 10 minutes, allow to cool before eating. I got about 40 balls out of the recipe.

Coconut - Oatmeal Cookies

Uh, this recipe is straight from the side of the box of oatmeal... but I took out the raisins and added the coconut, and its way better that way. I love oatmeal cookies.

Oatmeal cookies:

1 stick of butter
1/2C brown sugar
1/4C white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4C flour
1/2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp salt
11/2C oats
1/2C coconut

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to egg/butter/sugar combo. Mix well. Add oats and coconut. Bake at 350 until slightly brown at edges. Makes ~24 cookies, depending on how large you like them.

Endive-Walnut Salad

I discovered this salad last winter when endives were really cheap for some reason. Ed picked up an endive and said "I wonder what you use endives for? Lets buy one and eat it". Most of our culinary adventures start this way; we buy a strange food, look it up in the joy of cooking, and then experiment from there. I'll admit, endives aren't all that strange... in fact, they're pretty normal. But we'd never seen them before. So anyway, I think my favorite part of this salad is how the toasted walnuts get kind of light and airy, and the endives are so light and crunchy, the textures just make the salad. Its delicious. But I would probably say that about any salad.

Endive-Walnut Salad

4 Endives
1 Shallot, small
1 tbs white vinegar
3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 C walnuts
1/2 C crumbled feta
1/2 head of radicchio (optional)

Toast the walnuts in a 400 degree oven, on a normal baking sheet. 5-10 minutes should render the walnuts amply toasted. Allow them to cool.

Chop the endives, removing the hard hearts. Place in a salad bowl. Chop the radicchio, add to the bowl. Once the walnuts have cooled, add them as well.

Combine 1 minced small shallot (or half a large one) with the vinegar, oil and salt and pepper. Toss with the endives and radicchio. I find if you salt the salad lightly before you dress it, you end up using less dressing and it tastes much better. Try it. Crumble the feta on top.