Healthy Spinach Dip

This is one of my all time favorite dips. It is super healthy and has a ton of flavor. Like most women, I found out from my doctor that I had pretty low iron and so began my search for a tasty spinach dish I would enjoy eating. I tweaked a few spinach dip recipes to make it healthier. You can also vary the ingredients to your liking as well (i.e. add more cream cheese for a creamier dip, use more garlic for a sharper taste, etc)

Recipe:

1 package frozen chopped spinach

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp minced onion

1 1/2 tsp chopped basil

1/2 tbs butter

1 tbs chopped parsley

1 tbs lemon juice

2 oz fat free cream cheese

1/4 cup of shredded Italian cheese

1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

Cook and drain spinach. Over medium heat, add butter and saute spinach for about a minute. Reduce heat to medium low and add remaining ingredients. Heat and stir until all cheese has melted and the dip is at a creamy consistency. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. I like to serve this with baked tortilla chips.

Jake and I are like 3 year olds when it comes to vegetables. If it doesn't taste good, it's just not happening. That's also why you will probably never find brussel sprouts on this blog.. I am all for being healthy and eating well so I do try to make all of our vegetable dishes taste awesome. Or when all else fails add cheese or a healthy dose of Ranch :)

Jake's Take: (will update soon, but I know he likes this dip and appreciates that it is tasty and healthy at the same time. He requests it at least once a week :)  )

This may be the last post of 2010 since Jake and I are off to PA to hit the slopes to ring in the New Year!

12/29/10 Run

Well today was my first post Christmas run. So far this winter I have been going to the gym to run on the treadmill. While I hate the bordem of running on the treadmill, it beats running in windy cold weather any day. Today was different. A high of 47 degrees got me running outside for the first time since Thanksgiving. Yay! Running outside gave me the motivation to get through what might have otherwise been a sucky run.

Jake gave me a Nike Pulse last year and I have taken it out of storage to track my running for training for the 10K. Hopefully I can track my progress with it.

Here is what I ran today:
Miles: 2.3
Time: 21:33

That puts me at about 9:37 for each mile. Hopefully I can bring this time down.

Cheddar Bacon Scones

These scones are a meal in themselves and are great to grab on the go. I mean how can you go wrong with bacon and cheese?

Oh yumm.. you can make these a day or two in advance and are a great addition to a brunch.

Recipe: (adapted from The Pastry Queen)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp black pepper

1 stick chilled, unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

4 green unions, thinly sliced

10 slices of bacon, diced and cooked with fat drained

3/4 - 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

2 tbs water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix first 4 ingredients together. Add butter cubes and mix with a mixer on low speed until mixture is has butter flour bits the size of peas. Add cheese and mix until blended. Add bacon, green onion slices, and 3/4 cup buttermilk. Add 1 tbs of buttermilk if mixture is still too dry and repeat until dough can be formed into ball. Place dough ball on floured surface and roll out until it is 1/2 thick. Cut dough into 10 wedges and place on ungreased baking sheet. Combine water and egg and brush each scone with the egg wash. Bake 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Jake's Take: Thought they were very filling and liked tasting the bacon in every bite. Suggested adding some more cheese on the top. Yumm..

Not Quite Red, Red Velvet Cake

I attempted to make red velvet cake for Christmas dinner this year. You can see the results..

So close to red but not quite! Eh, I tried... Thankfully the cake tasted awesome.

I found this recipe on on the Smitten Kitchen blog (http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/red-velvet-cake/).

The blog has some helpful pointers on making the cake more red. Next time I make this cake, I will use less cocoa powder and that should do the trick. I also topped mine with crushed candy canes to make it more festive. The cake is really delicious and I would recommend it!

Recipe and notes from http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/red-velvet-cake/

Yield: 3 cake layers

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Cupcake variation: Since this has been published, many readers have written in to express that it adapts well to cupcakes. The yield is approximately 35 cupcakes, with the liners filled only 3/4 of the way, and the baking time should be between 20 to 25 minutes, but check in on them 2/3 of the way through in case your oven gets the job done faster.

Cocoa Notes

• Some red velvet cakes have no cocoa, others have up to half a cup. The less cocoa, the brighter the red, and the less food dye is needed to give it the desired hue. This cake has more cocoa and quite a bit of red dye, but as you cans see from the picture, it is a real stand-out red. Feel free to use less, but make sure you dissolve it in 6 tablespoons of water to compensate for any moisture lost.
• Dutch versus Non-Dutched cocoa: This recipe uses baking soda, so it calls for non-Dutch-Processed cocoa. The reason is that Dutch-Process cocoa is neutral and will not react with baking soda, so it can only be used in 1) recipes with baking powder or 2) recipes with enough other acidic ingredients that will compensate for the lack of acidity. However, you’ll notice that this recipe has both vinegar and buttermilk in it, or quite a bit of acidity, leading me to wonder if either kind of cocoa could be used with success. I had non-Dutch on hand, so I used it, but if you only have Dutch and try this recipe, let us know if it works. Personally, I prefer the Dutched stuff because it usually is of a higher quality with a more delicate chocolate flavor.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from several sources

Makes 6 cups

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.

Icing Notes:

• Technique: Cake decorators will always tell you to ice a cake in two batches, first a “crumb layer” and then the more decorative one. Though I rarely bother, in this cake in particular, with its dark hue barely disguised by a thin layer of frosting, it is especially helpful. To do this, place a small amount of frosting on the cake and spread it over the entire surface that will be iced, thereby anchoring wayward crumbs in place so that they will not mess up the final product. A few minutes in the freezer or longer in the fridge will firm this up so that you have an ideal surface to build the real layer of frosting upon.
• Quantity: The recipe here creates an amount of frosting that allows for a thin coat between and over the cake layers. I found it to have the ideal cake-to-frosting balance for this recipe. However, you might want to double the recipe if you prefer a more decadent, padded frosting layer.

Jake's Take: Thought the cake was good and moist. He also likes a more cream cheese heavy frosting which I do too. He liked the crushed candy canes on top and would like them to cover the sides of the cake as well. Note: The crushed candy canes need to be almost in powder form since you don't want anyone biting down on a big piece and hurting a tooth.

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Ever since Jake saw a picture of some green mint cookies on the back of my cooking magazine, he made me swear to him that I'd make them for Christmas.

These cookies are really good and their green color makes them festive for Christmas or St. Patty's Day. You can also add some chocolate chips if you need a better chocolate fix. They would also work well as an ice cream sandwich using chocolate ice cream.  

Recipe:

1 package of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix along with ingredients to make them

3 tbs mint extract

Few drops of green food coloring

1 package of Andy's Creme De Menthe chocolate mints

Prepare sugar cookies as directed. Chop Andy's mints into small pieces. Add mints, extract, and as much food coloring as desired to sugar cookie dough. Mix and form small balls to place on cooking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Makes about 16 good sized cookies.

Jake's Take: Jake loved these cookies and suggested making a "cookie sandwich" with 3 of them... I however I wouldn't recomend this unless you're prepared for a sugar coma. This recipe is great for people that love mint.

Friends With Good Food

My friend Emily recently hosted a holiday girls night while everyone was home in Richmond. Along with lots of wine and laughs, there was also some great food. Below are two posts from Emily and Ann who made dinner and dessert for the night. I love getting and sharing recipes so hopefully these posts will happen more often.

Emily's Peanut Chicken Noodles

Thanks to Emily for making such a great dinner! This dish makes a great dinner since it has a lot of flavor but is still pretty healthy.

Sorry for the bad picture quality! My real camera was MIA for this meal..

Emily's Recipe:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 T soy sauce
2 t minced garlic
1 1/2 t chile-garlic sauce, or to taste

1 t minced fresh ginger
8 oz whole wheat spaghetti (i used a whole 13 oz box and the ratio still seemed okay...up to you- more for leftovers!)
12 oz bag fresh or frozen vegetable medley, such as carrots, broccoli, snow peas, etc.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for pasta.
Meanwhile, place chicken in a skillet or saucepan and add enough water to cover; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Transfer chicken to cutting board. When cool enough to handle, shred into bite size strips.
Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chile-garlic sauce and ginger in a large bowl.
Cook pasta in boiling water until not quite tender, about 1 minute less than specified in package directions. Add vegetables and cook until both pasta and vegetables are just tender, 2 minutes more. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Rinse pasta and vegetables with cool water to refresh. Stir reserved cooking liquid into peanut sauce, then add pasta, vegetables, and chicken. Toss well to coat.
Serve warm or chilled.
Makes 6 servings, 1 1/2 cups each

Ann's Cake Cookies

Thanks to Ann for making these delicious cookies! These cookies are tasty and pretty easy to make. Slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yumms...

Sorry for the bad picture quality (forgot my camera so my cell phone had to make due).

Ann's Recipe:

1 box of devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Powdered sugar

Hershey Kisses

Mix the cake mix, egg, and oil together.
Roll into small balls (smaller than you'd think).
Roll each ball in powdered sugar before you put it on the pan.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 then place a Hershey kiss in middle. Ann used chocolate, but you can use caramel, mint, or peanut butter! Yields about 25-30 cookies.

You can use the same recipe with funfetti cake mix, and that make delicious cookies too.