When it comes to breakfast Ryan and I have two distinct needs. Ryan needs coffee. I need to be full so I’m not hangry (hungry+angry) one hour later. This smoothie does both things. Tasty, filling, and caffeinated. I like peanut butter and banana together, and I know that’s a sandwich combination usually associated with Elvis. I think a catchier name for this smoothie might be something like the caffeinated Elvis. Or maybe jumpin’ Elvis? Whaddya think?

Regardless, it’s such a good combination of foods because the protein from the peanut butter keeps you full and the banana adds a nice sweetness. Frozen bananas are especially delicious and creamy in smoothies and I highly recommend you throw some bananas in your freezer right now. Ok don’t just through bananas in your freezer, but peel them, cut them up into blender friendly pieces and store them in a tightly sealed food storage container. The smoothie also contains yogurt & milk so in one drink we’re getting three food groups. How’s that for a balanced breakfast?! Final bonus, this stores well in the fridge and doesn’t separate like most smoothies. You can drink half one morning and save the other half for the next. Yummy and efficient is the best recipe combination.

Now, I was a little nervous about combining banana and coffee – it seemed weird. And then I remembered I’ve actually had this combination before. Every summer until we moved to London (and pretty much every summer of Ryan’s whole life) we went to the beach in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. In the mornings we’d go to Coffee Talk (because as you might remember from the top Ryan needs coffee in the morning) to get breakfast and on the last day of our trip we’d buy a bag of bananas foster coffee. The delicious sweet, sort of fakey banana scent was intoxicating and the overall flavor was enjoyable and caramel like. We’ve been sad to miss out on Stone Harbor this year. Even worse, my family went to Cape May (the next beach town over from Stone Harbor) at the same time so we double missed out on the beach! This smoothie is my tiny tribute to those beach time coffee runs.

Messy level: Slightly more messy than a regular smoothie only because you have to make some espresso or coffee and then let it cool. Alternatively you could use store-bought canned espresso or coffee, but then you don’t have control of how much sugar is in those drinks. Still, a smoothie is always an easy clean up.

Caffeinated Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 frozen bananas (unfrozen is fine, but frozen gives a creamy texture)
• ½ cup smooth peanut butter
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup espresso, cooled
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)

Instructions

1. Add all ingredient to a blender and blend on high until smooth.
2. Taste. If needed, add further ingredients to suit your taste.
3. Pour into a glass and serve with a draw. Drink and feel happily full and caffeinated.

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Recently I watched Jamie Oliver’s 2010 TED Talk, and I got fired up. Fired up in a good way. Jamie Oliver was talking about getting kids to eat healthy, especially at lunch time. He also spoke about how cooking, which used to be something everyone knew how to do, has started to become a lost art. He dumped out a wheelbarrow full of sugar to demonstrate the amount of sugar that gets eaten in a day. He showed photos of families struggling with morbid obesity. And he talked about how ketchup and french fries are classified as vegetables. It was upsetting and saddening, and generally I felt this is not ok. I got fired up. And I wanted to do something to hopefully make our food world just a tiny bit better. His talk combined a few things I love: cooking, teaching, and working with children. And in it, he reminded me of some of the reasons why I started my blog and wanted to learn to cook.

In my mid 20’s I knew how to cook about four things, which generally suited me fine. But when I started to think about my future, I realized if I ever had a family there was nothing I knew how to cook that could be a family favorite. Nothing that people would love and ask for. So I decided I’d teach myself how to cook, and that way I could feed myself, make healthy food, and make good tasting dishes that my future family would enjoy.

As my cooking skill has improved I’ve started to cook more difficult and random dishes, but Jamie Oliver’s talk reminded me of what I originally set out to do. I’d like to try and get back to that a little bit. There are two specific things that Jamie said that really stuck with me and here they are:

1. If one person teaches three people, then those people teach three more, then eventually everyone will know how to cook.
2. We need to set our children up with the tools to be successful.

So I’d like this blog to help out more with those two points. I want to recommit myself to make easy and beginner friendly recipes. Also, hopefully the recipes will be kid friendly too. I don’t have kids so that is harder for me to promise. In short, I am going to post at least two healthy beginner friendly recipes every month. That’s my promise. If it goes well, I hope to amp is up to one beginner recipe a week. The rest of the recipes will still be the crazy randomness inspired by life, travel, and what’s in my fridge.

I hope through those beginner recipe posts it will help people learn to cook new dishes that they can share with others and pass on. And I hope they will be tasty so that kids can be healthy and hit their day full and happy. My professional passion is to inspire kids to learn and see the world differently through experiences in museums. I figure, what can’t I transfer some of that passion and ambition to what I do with the blog? It’s a big dream for just a few recipe posts, but why not?!  It’s the least I can do. And besides, I think cooking is fun. 

Today’s recipe is good for lunch, for a snack, or even serve as an appetizer when you’re hosting a party. It’s inspired by those green juices I often buy at the store. You know the ones, that sort of look like green sludge but are made up of apples, mint, spinach, and other healthy stuff. I love those drinks and I wanted to see about packing those flavors into one meal. Although there are some scary ingredients in there for kids (almonds and spinach) I thought the inoffensive flavor of the cucumber paired with the sweetness of apples and honey would make it more palatable for kids. Plus, it’s boat shaped and that’s pretty awesome. The other difficult ingredient is curry powder. It’s not going to be spicy at all, but the curry does give it a little heat which nicely balances the sweetness. If kids don’t like it, you can easily leave it out or just save the dressing for the adults. If you don’t want to buy curry powder, don’t do it. You can substitute more pepper, or garlic, or chili powder to give it some kick in a different way.

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Messy level: Since most of this recipe calls for raw ingredients, there’s very little you have to do besides chop and mix. Warning though, eating this is a whole different story. When you take a bite of the cucumber some quinoa salad will fall out. Be sure you have a fork nearby to scoop up any fallen goodness.

Quinoa Salad in Cucumber Boats

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Serves: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 4-6 cucumbers (depending on size)

Quinoa salad

• ½ cup white quinoa
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup chopped raw whole almonds
• ¼ chopped mint
• ¼ cup chopped spinach
• 1 medium (or large) green apple, cored and chopped into bite size chunks

Dressing

• 1 teaspoon honey
• juice from 1 lemon
• ½ teaspoon curry powder
• ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. In a medium pot, combine the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the quiona is tender and the water is mostly absorbed.[Alternatively, you could follow the package instructions]
2. Drain any excess water from the quinoa
3. Once quinoa is cooked put it in a medium bowl and let cool while you prepare everything else.
4. If you haven't yet chopped the almonds, mint, spinach, and apple do it now while the quinoa cools.
5. Take 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and sprinkle it over the apples. This will help keep the apples from browning.
6. Mix the almonds, mint, spinach and apple into the quinoa.
7. Now for the dressing! In a small bowl mix together the honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and curry powder.
8. Pour the dressing over the quiona salad. Alternatively, leave the dressing to the side so people can pour it on as they like.
9. For the cucumber boats, cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise. Using a spoon scoop out the seeds and discard them. Cut the cucumbers into about 3" long pieces. This makes them easier to hold, eat, and pack into a lunch box.
10. Spoon quinoa salad into the cavity of the cucumber boats. Fill as generously or as lightly as fits your taste.
11. Optional: If you want to make a cucumber mast, set aside ½ of a cucumber. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the cucumber lengthwise to make sails. Make as many sails as you have cucumber boats. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make one small horizontal cut on both of the short ends of your cucumber sail. These are just small slits that will allow the mast to stick through. With the remaining cucumber, cut fat matchsticks. These need to be sturdy enough that if you hold them with your thumb and forefinger at the base, the rest will stand up fairly straight and not bend over. Bend a cucumber sail into a "U" and push the mast through the slits you cut. The finished product should look something like the letter "D." Now, in the bottom of your cucumber boats use a knife or a chop stick to stab a hole through the boat. The hole should be big enough to fit the mast you just made. Stick the base of your cucumber mast into the hole in the bottom of your boat. Now you have a cucumber boat! Fill with quinoa!

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When Ryan and I were in Edinburgh we bought a bottle of whisky. Because, you know, that’s one of the things you do (according to the guide books) when you go to Scotland. We picked out a cute shop along the Royal Mile and browsed around. I asked a woman who worked there what she recommended for people who wanted to have some whisky but aren’t regular whisky drinkers. After giving us some helpful advice she showed us a few bottles. We chose the one that she said was light, had a nice flavor, had no burn, and wasn’t too expensive. It was exactly what I wanted. 

Since then, we’ve had some – but not much because in general we aren’t big drinkers. At least, we’re not at the level of having Scotch on the rocks to unwind after a long day at the office (à la Mad Men). So we have this beautiful bottle and I wanted you use it. Mainly, I wanted to see if I could cook with it. I looked up some recipes, found some things, but everyone said don’t cook with single malt whisky because you’re just wasting it. Ugh, fine. 

Finally I stumbled onto a Scottish recipe called cranachan, which is a dessert that uses whisky but doesn’t cook it. Ideal, right? Even better, it’s so easy to make. It’s cream, oats, raspberries, whisky and just a few other ingredients. Blended all together the whisky flavor is smooth and harmonious alongside some honey and vanilla. It was so good that from now on the only way I want to have whisky is with whipped cream and sugar.

In the photos I assembled the cranachan in these cute glass espresso cups – but I also made some in regular disposable clear plastic cups. And if you did that, I think this dessert would be perfect for a barbecue. Simply assemble the cranachan ahead of time, pop them in the fridge, and then whip them out when it’s time have dessert. A sweet boozy treat for your guests, it’s simple and cooling for eating outside, and it looks cute and fun too.

This recipe is adapted from Harper’s Bazaar. The only adaptation is this: they said whip the cream until it comes to soft peaks and I didn’t do that. I totally intended to do that, but I walked away from the mixer for a minute and when I returned it was proper thick whipped cream. I didn’t have another pot of cream, so I went with it. And actually, I’m glad I did. Because after you beat the cream you’ll need to add liquid ingredients to it, which will soften the cream up a bit anyway. If the cream had been soft already, I think adding the liquid would have made everything too drippy. Making the cream thick also means that you can be a little less careful when folding in the other ingredients. All in all, I was pretty pleased that my inattention led to such great results.

Messy level: Pleasingly quick and mess free. Very few dishes are needed, nothing is sticky, and that’s just wonderful.

Cranachan

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Serves: about 6 depending on size of cup

Ingredients

• 60g/3/4 cup of oatmeal
• 200g/about 1½ cups of raspberries, divided (can be more than this amount)
• 1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 600ml/ 2½ cups of double cream
• 4 tablespoons of clear runny honey
• 3 tablespoons of malt whisky
• ½ vanilla pod

Instructions

1. Heat a medium sized skilled over medium heat. Toast the oats for about 5 minutes, or until they start to smell toasty and are a little bit brownish.
2. Measure out 2 tablespoons of oats to use for garnish. Set all the oats to the side to cool while you prepare everything else.
3. Put the raspberries, confectioner's sugar, and a little bit of pepper together in a small bowl. Using a fork, or a potato masher, mash up the fruit until you have a fairly smooth puree. Taste and add a little more sugar or pepper depending on your preferences. Once to your liking, set aside.
4. Put the cream in a large bowl and using a mixer (or your arm!) mix over medium speed until the cream is thick, set, and looks like whipped cream.
5. Cut open the vanilla pod. [Need help? See how to do it here} Using your knife scrape out the insides and dump them into the cream. Gently fold the vanilla into the cream.
6. Add the honey and whisky and gently fold them into the cream.
7. Add the oats to the cream and gently mix them throughout.
8. Finally, add the reserved raspberry puree. Mix it into the cream so you can a gorgeous pink ripple. Don't mix it all the way otherwise the whole thing will be pink.
9. Line the bottom of a clear cup or ramekin with the whole raspberries you set aside at the beginning. Top with your cream mixture. Alternate layers of cream and raspberries until you cup is full. Make sure the top layer has at least 1 or 2 raspberries.
10. Using the 2 tablespoons of oats you set aside at the beginning, sprinkle the oats on top of your cranachan for garnish.
11. Serve and be delighted.

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Everyone, I’m so excited! My friend Charlotte is visiting!! She’s in London, ya’ll. She’s the first friend to visit us this year. I’ve taken two days off of work and am so excited to catch up and do some site seeing with her and her husband Craig. I’m going to visit places I haven’t seen before, revisit some old favorites, and hopefully have lots of new stories to share in future Tourist Tuesday posts. So, as you might be able to tell, I’m really excited to have a long weekend off here in London. To celebrate her arrival, I wanted to make something delicious – and I knew Malted Chocolate Nougat would be just the recipe to try. 

Once upon a time Charlotte lived in the UK, and before I moved here she gave me some advice and most importantly, recommendations about foods to try. She recommended Hula Hoops, which are a sort of crazy shaped potato snack. And she recommended Maltesers, which are spherical sweets with a malted honeycomb center and a chocolate cover (sort of like a Whopper, but these are better). Maltesers are the snack I sometimes buy for lunch, they are the treat I send to Charlotte, and they are overall flipping delicious.

And today’s recipe prominently features Maltesers and therefore is the perfect treat to welcome Charlotte to London. If you don’t have Maltesers, use Whoppers or whatever candy equivalent you have. I got this recipe from Sweets Made Simple, a cookbook that not only has interesting recipes for candy (like lime & chili kisses and maple bacon lolly pops) but also for things like fruit leather. The book also makes me believe I can do difficult/scary things like make my own caramel and pour hot sugar syrup without burning myself.

What I’ve learned from this book is that making sweets takes precision – so you are pretty much required to get a candy thermometer. If that puts you off, don’t let it because you can buy one from Amazon for less than a tenner. Also, making sweets can take attention. For a recipe like this you have to be nearby watching to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn and the eggs don’t become over beaten. Finally a stand mixer or a lovely assistant is going to make this recipe less stressful. The mixer needs to be running sometimes while you’re doing something else. Sure, you might be able to keep one eye on the stove and one eye on the mixer, but when you have to work fast that can lead to frustration, mess, and burnt food.

So, this is not a beginner recipe as it requires some kit and some comfort in the kitchen, but it is worth doing. The actual “work” part takes less than 30 minutes and in the end you will have delicious, fluffy, sticky nougat. It’s delicious and sweet, although it does feel like maybe you should visit the dentist afterward.  Partway through making it, this will smell like the most perfect fresh marshmallows, which is wonderful, but in the end it’s denser and chocolatey like nougat. In short, it tastes like malted chocolate but has the texture of the inside of the Three Musketeers bar. With a sprinkling of Maltesers on top, it’s got the perfect amount of crunch.  Sounds glorious, no?

Recipe from Sweets Made Simple cookbook.

Messy level: Technically you don’t use that many dishes so it’s not that messy. However, this is the most important tip I can give you – clean your sugar pan AS SOON AS YOU FINISH, literally while it is still hot. If you let that sugar cool it will be rock hard and stuck. I have one tiny dot of hardened sugar on my mixer and I cannot scrape it off. If you do wait to clean, just put a little water in your pans and then heat them really hot to melt the sugar again. Seriously though, save yourself the work and try to scrape out and clean your sugar pans quickly.

Malted Chocolate Nougat

 

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Prep time

8 hours

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

8 hours 30 mins

 

Serves: 16

Ingredients

• vegetable oil
• 400g/14oz/ 2 cups sugar
• 100ml/3½ fl oz/ ¼ cup clear honey
• 210 ml/7oz/ ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons liquid glucose
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 50g/2oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled
• 40g/1½ oz/3.5 tablespoons chocolate malt powder
• pinch salt
• 75g/3oz/a big handful of chocolate-coated honeycomb balls like Maltesers or Whoppers

Instructions

1. Prep notes: Before you get started, measure out the egg whites and let them come to room temperature (about 15-20 minutes before starting the rest). Also if you're using a chocolate bar and need to melt it, do this first. Cut the chocolate bar in little pieces. Put in a bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds, stir and continue this until you have completely melted chocolate. Set aside to cool down.
2. Line a 8x8" square tin with tin foil. Lightly brush the bottom with vegetable oil. Then line the bottom with a square of rice or parchment paper.
3. In a large heavy bottomed pan, stir together the sugar, honey, liquid glucose, and cold water. Heat on a medium-low heat to dissolve the sugar.
4. Once the sugar is dissolve put your candy thermometer in the pan. Bring the sugar mixture to boil and allow to bubble until the temperature reaches 125°C/257°F.
5. Meanwhile, while you're waiting for the sugar to come to temperature, put your egg whites in the bowl of a mixer. Turn the mixer on medium-high and whisk until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over beat. If you don't know what stiff peaks looks like, check out these pictures.
6. When the sugar syrup comes to temperature you will have to work quickly. Make sure the mixer is now on low. Take the thermometer out of the pan. Pour half of the sugar syrup from the pan into the egg whites. (This is when it will smell nice)
7. Keep the mixer running and let the egg whites and sugar syrup continue to mix.
8. Return the pan with half the sugar syrup back to the stove. Heat the syrup until it reaches 157°C/315°F. The syrup will become a dark caramel color.
9. Once it come to temperature, slowly pour it into the stand mixer. It will foam up a bit. Turn the mixer up to medium and mix everything for a few minutes (about 3-4 minutes). The mixture will thin down a bit.
10. Now add in the melted chocolate, malt powder, and salt. Mix until incorporated and everything is a nice light brown.
11. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Scatter half of your honeycomb balls over the top. Cut the other half, into halves and press those in around the full honeycomb balls.
12. Cool and leave to set overnight. Have some for breakfast because you deserve it.

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Think what you might about London weather, but this past week has been beautiful. And the coming week is supposed to be wonderful as well. It’s been sunny and warm, people have been wearing sandals, and I wore a dress without tights. Even better, the sun is up when I wake up and it’s still up when I come home from work. It’s been glorious.

It’s the kind of weather where it’s easy to be in love with London and all there is to see and do. This weather makes me want to run to the nearest park lie on a blanket, put my bare feet in the grass and have a picnic. A minor digression, but did you know that here you can buy a tray (about the size of a lasagna) that is a portable and disposable grill? And you can take it with you camping? And Ryan has seen people do this?! It’s amazing. 

So now I have dreams of a picnic with grilled burgers and sausages (Ryan says I won’t find hot dogs) some fruit and lemonade. Warm weather is the perfect weather for lemonade. I love lemonade because it reminds me of being a kid and making it myself from the Country Time container. It reminds me of the beach, the state fair, and baseball games.

I decided to try to jazz up lemonade after listening to a recent episode of the Sporkful podcast. Each week the host, Dan Pashman, has a food theme and explores it – talks about types of food, how to eat it, preferences. It might sound silly, but it’s funny, and interesting and everyone has at least one strong food conviction that it’s easy to relate to. Anyway, recently he had donuts and he had a bourbon blueberry basil flavored one – and I was intrigued by the blueberry basil combination.

I like mint lemonade so why not basil? And after a little internet research, I found blueberry and basil isn’t such an usual combination. I found it in a savory goat cheese pie and in a sweet lemon cake compote. Also, I think basil is very summery. It reminds me of fresh summer tomatoes on a caprese salad. And it reminds me of one summer in New York where my friend Emily and I planted basil in our windowsill herb gardens.

This blueberry basil lemonade is ridiculously easy to make, but feels like one of those fancy drinks you’d get at the farmer’s market or at a posh salad restaurant. The flavor is great because it’s simultaneously sweet and tart, with just a hint of fresh basil herb notes. It’s lovely! Make this, go outside, put on your sunglasses, kick you feet up, and enjoy.

Messy level: For a beverage, this is a little messy. You have to squeeze the lemons – which is one appliance and has the potential to spray everywhere. Then you need the blender. Then you need a strainer. Not at all difficult or labor intensive, but you will have to clean three pieces of equipment.

Blueberry Basil Lemonade

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

7 mins

 

Serves: 5

Ingredients

• ¾ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons)
• 1½ cup fresh blueberries
• 6-8 basil leaves
• 3 cups cold water
• ¼ agave or honey (or more to taste)
• wedges of lemon and blueberries (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Put the lemon juice, blueberries, basil, water, and agave in a blender. Blend on high until the blueberries and basil leaves are cut up into tiny little shreds.
2. Taste and adjust as fits your palate. (You know, add more blueberries or basil or agave as you see fit)
3. Let it sit for 30 minutes so all the flavors can blend and strengthen.
4. Sift out the solids from the lemonade. Do this by putting a fine mesh sieve over a pitcher then pouring what is in the blender through the sieve. You can leave a few bits, but I recommend taking it out because it's a lot and otherwise there will be separation (as you can see in the photo below).
5. If desired, add any extra wedges of lemon or blueberries to the pitcher.
6. Serve in glasses over ice and enjoy the weather

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In December, I got in the habit of stopping by Costa Coffee before work and getting a chai tea and a granola bar. It was a lovely holiday treat (they had these adorable cups that looked like reindeers and elves), but it’s not a habit I can keep. It takes up too much time in the morning so I run the risk of being late. But more importantly, it’s expensive. And on that note why are granola bars so expensive? Even when you buy a box from the grocery store there are only like six in a box! I need more! I love granola for breakfast. I could eat granola for breakfast every day. So I decided to take matter into my own hands and see if could make my own breakfast bars.

I thought this would be an easy project since there are a bajillion recipes out there. But it wasn’t! I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I decided to make my own recipe. Let me tell you, I I had many failed attempts. Bars came out dry, crumbly, and bland. I made one version when I was in Connecticut and my brother asked me what it was, and I said, “I don’t know, nothing.”  Finally, I’ve cracked it. My perfect granola bar is full of protein and fiber, with lots of crunchy bits, is chewy, and some sweetness.

While deciding what I wanted to make, I looked at all kinds of recipes. Some of them had what I consider scary ingredients like wheatgerm or chia seeds. I’m sure they aren’t actually scary ingredients, but I didn’t want these bars to be too out there. I wanted my bars to be fairly healthy and full of stuff, but stuff that is already in my pantry. For the crunchy bits, I stuck to oats, rice cereal, and quinoa. Enough ingredients for the bar to be hearty, but not so much that the bar is dry and weird.

But, the one ingredient I knew I wanted to use above all else was peanut butter. Peanut butter is filling, which is what I need in the morning. I hate having breakfast and then being hungry by 10:00am. I need breakfast that will carry me to 1:00pm.

And then what goes better with peanut butter than jelly? So now, I had my idea: peanut butter and jelly breakfast bars. Or, since I’m in the UK, it’s peanut butter and jam breakfast bars. Jelly is gelatin here. But I digress. PB&J is just a perfect combination that is so comforting and delicious, I could eat it at any time. I eat PB&J for breakfast when there’s nothing else in the fridge. I eat PB&J for lunch when there aren’t leftovers in the fridge. I eat PB&J for a snack. And I eat PB&J for dinner if Ryan and I don’t feel like cooking.

This is a good breakfast bar because it will tick all the boxes and satisfy your breakfast cravings. You can grab a bar and run out the door. It’s chewy so you don’t break your teeth. It’s crunchy so you feel like you’re eating something substantial. It’s got lots of protein and fiber so you’ll feel healthy and pleasantly full. And it’s got jam and honey, so there’s enough sweetness to make this a treat. So for me, problem solved. I’ve got my breakfast bar, now I’ve got to figure out how to make excellent chai tea and I can cut out the coffee shop all together.

Messy level: For a recipe that has a number of sticky ingredients (peanut butter, honey, and jelly) it is surprisingly clean to make. Everything is mixed between two bowls and then pressed firmly into a tray. It’s really very straightforward and you shouldn’t have too many dishes at the end.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Breakfast Bars

 

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Cook time

30 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Cooking is Messy

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup honey
• 1½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
• ½ cup rice cereal
• ¼ cup quinoa
• ¼ cup roughly chopped peanuts
• ⅓-1/2 cup strawberry jelly

Instructions

1. Line an 8x8" pan with parchment paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C.
3. Put the peanut butter and honey in a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir until combined into a thick, pourable sauce.
4. In a large bowl, add the oats, rice cereal, quinoa, and peanuts. Mix until the ingredients are evenly mixed up.
5. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the oats. Stir until everything is coated.
6. Transfer ¾ of the oat mixture to the prepared pan. Use a silicon spatula and press the oats firmly into the pan. You want it to be as tight as possible!
7. Spread the jelly over the oat mixture. Be as even as possible, but you don't need to be a perfectionist about it.
8. Crumble the remaining ¼ of the oat mixture over the jelly. Use the silicon spatula again to press the oats into the jam. This will give you a beautiful look on the top with some jelly peaking through the granola.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
11. Remove from the pan, cut into bars, and serve.

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Today’s recipe is all about the sides. Sometimes the sides are the best part of the meal. I love that in those home style American restaurants there is often a vast array of sides to choose from. If you don’t know what I mean, there are some restaurants where you order something like chicken, and then the dish comes with something like 2-3 sides and the options are numerous. Apple sauce? Green beans? Biscuits? Mashed potatoes? Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff.

My favorite place for sides is Cracker Barrel. For a little while while Ryan and I were dating we lived about an hour away from each other. Half way in between us was York, Pennsylvania and at exit 16A off of I-83 was a Cracker Barrel. If you’ve never been to Cracker Barrel please stop there sometime during your next road trip. It’s well worth it and, I think, an important example of Americana. Anyway, I’d drive north into Pennsylvania and he’d drive south towards the Maryland border and we’d meet at Cracker Barrel and have dinner and then go to the movies. We’d get raspberry lemonade and then something like a roast beef dinner or chicken ‘n dumplings (that’s ‘n not in). Those meals come with a choice of bread and two sides. Yum.

When it comes to sides Ryan and I are likely to choose cornbread and mashed potatoes and that’s why this recipe is so perfect. It’s a cornbread muffin topped with mashed potatoes. I used a piping bag to make the mashed potatoes look beautiful and give the impression of being like cupcake icing. I topped it all with a splash of hot sauce and a chicken nugget. All the best sides combined into one elegant savory cupcake. And let me tell you, it was epic. I thought this combo was going to taste good, but it is better than good. In fact, it is blow your taste buds off good.

I originally got this idea from Pinterest and a pin I saw from Teacher-Chef. However, she used boxed ingredients and I wanted to make this from scratch. The mashed potato recipe is mine and the cornbread recipe comes from Once Upon a Chef. I was initially worried that the cornbread was too sweet, but it was actually perfect. The sweetness of the cornbread matched with spicy hot sauce, creamy potatoes, and a crispy chicken nugget was perfection. Your taste buds will be delighted with a blast of varying flavors and textures. This cupcake will make you so darn happy. Amazing as an all-in-one side with dinner or as a snack while watching football.

Finally, I will admit that I did use frozen chicken nuggets. Making my own seemed like more work than I wanted to take on. If you’re better than me, you can totally make the nuggets from scratch. But, how ever you make the nuggets please PLEASE use the oven. It will make the nuggets crispy (the microwave will make them soft) and the crispiness really heightens the deliciousness of this cupcake.

 Messy level: Unfortunately this is pretty messy. The cornbread needs two bowls and a muffin pan. The mashed potatoes need a pot and a masher. Also piping the mashed potatoes is a messy pain in the butt! If you’re not trying to be fancy, just spread the potatoes with a knife! I ended up removing the bag and just using my finger to push the potatoes through the fluted piping tube. It looked pretty but my thumb was covered in potatoes.

Cornbread Muffins with Mashed Potatoes and Chicken Nuggets

 

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Serves: 12-15

Ingredients

Cornbread

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp honey
• ¾ cup milk

Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lbs potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt

Other

• 1 package of frozen chicken nuggets
• hot sauce

Instructions

Start with the Cornbread

1. Preheat the oven to 350/180°.
2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.
3. Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, break up the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the honey and then the milk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until just mixed. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.
6. Fill each of the muffin cups until almost full.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden.
8. Remove from oven. Let them cool a bit while the potatoes are cooking and being mashed.

Now for the potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes.
2. Cut them in half so they are all about the same size.
3. Put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Salt the water a little bit.
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. The potatoes are ready when they are soft but not breaking up on their own. (Try to get your potatoes cooking while the muffins are in the oven)
5. Drain out the water.
6. In the pot mash the potatoes until there are no lumps (or as best as you can, it's so tough!).
7. Add in 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Use the masher to mix it into the potatoes.
8. Add in the next 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Add a little salt to taste. Use the masher to mix it all together until smooth and creamy.
9. Taste the potatoes. Adjust butter and salt to your liking.
10. Let the potatoes cool a bit so you can handle them. Cook the chicken while you wait.

Finally for the chicken

1. Put the the chicken nuggets on a baking sheet.
2. Bake in the oven until cooked (according to the package instructions).

Assembly

1. Put the mashed potatoes into a piping bag (or just use a knife).
2. Pipe, or spread, the mashed potatoes on top of the cornbread muffins.
3. Splash a little hot sauce over the mashed potatoes so it drips down the sides.
4. Top with a chicken nugget.
5. Stuff your face.

3.2.2807

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But my most impressive braid is this bread!! I am so absolutely proud of it and I’m excited to share it with you. I got this recipe from The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake. I might have mentioned it before, but I’ve become a big fan of the TV show The Great British Bake Off. After every episode I always want to get in the kitchen and make something. So recently I went to the library and checked out the book and went on a baking spree trying out all kinds of things – and the more
complicated the better. 

This bread is just beautiful to look at and so hearty and tasty. The nuts give it a good crunch, the apricots add sweetness, and the whole wheat makes you feel you’re doing something good for yourself. I don’t have a lot of experience with bread, and this came out really nice, so don’t feel intimidated if you choose to try it. I do have two recommendations though.

First, the recipe called for putting a milk wash on the dough before baking it, presumably to make it shiny. Next time, I wouldn’t do this. It makes the bread get dark more quickly and made me nervous about whether the bread was burnt or done or what. Also, I’d knead the dough by hand. I used my mixer and with a mixer it is easy to over work the dough. And, since I don’t have a lot of experience with bread, I don’t have an eye for it, and wasn’t entirely sure when it was sufficiently kneaded. Luckily, I didn’t over work it. But in summation, until I’m an expert bread maker I intend to knead by hand so I can learn it by look and feel.

And now behold my beautiful bread braid. Adapted from The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake. Please note that the measurements in grams are most accurate and for bread that is important. Go with those if you can! The measurements in ounces are my converted approximations.

Ingredients:

100g/3.5oz/.4 cup hazelnuts (If you can buy some skins off then you can skip the first few steps)

500g/17.6 oz/4 cups whole wheat bread flour

1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes, crushed

7g/.25 oz/1.2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tbsp honey

300ml/1 1/4 cups/10.5 oz lukewarm milk

100g/3.5oz/.4 cup dried apricots

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

2. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the skins darken.

3. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven. Turn the oven off. Wrap them hazelnuts in a dishtowel and leave them to steam for 1 minute. Rub the hazelnuts in the dishtowel to rub the skins off.

4. Cut the hazelnuts in half. Set aside.

5. Cut the apricots in quarters. This is easiest to do with kitchen scissors.

6. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and yeast. Make a well in the center. 

7. Mix the honey into the milk.

8. Pour the honey-milk into the flour well.

9. Using your hand, or the dough hook on low on your mixer, mix the flour and milk until you have a soft dough. If it feels dry and there are lots of crumbs, add a little more milk one tablespoon at a time. If it is very wet and sticky, add a little more flour one tablespoon at a time.

10. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. Or knead for 4 minutes using the dough hook on low on your mixer. The dough is ready when it feels very elastic. This can be hard to tell because whole wheat can get firm as it is worked. You want to be able to pull the dough apart and have it stretch a little like putty – not just rip in half.

11. Add the hazelnuts and apricots. Gently work into the dough until evenly distributed. It will seem like too much nuts and apricots but it isn’t. As the dough rises later it will all work out.

12. Put the dough back into the large mixing bowl (so long as it isn’t all dirty). Cover with plastic wrap. Leave it to rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in size. It might take longer than an hour if your kitchen is cool.

13. Punch down the dough and then put it on a floured work surface. Divide into three equal portions (I did this on a scale).

14. Using your hand, roll each third of dough into a long rope about 16 inches long.

15. Pinch one end of each strand together. Then neatly braid the three strands. Pinch the ends together and tuck them under.

16. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Put the braided dough on the baking sheet.

17. Put the dough into a large plastic bag, or cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for an hour. Don’t let it get too big or it could loose the braid shape.

18. Towards the end of rising time, heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF.

19. Uncover the loaf and bake for 30 minutes. It is done when it is darker brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap/knock on the underside.

20. Cool on a wire rack. Then cut and serve!

Messy level: Overall, this isn’t too messy of a recipe. The dough is easy to work with and doesn’t stick too much. But, getting the skin off of hazelnuts is frustratingly messy. No matter how hard the skins get all over the towel, the counter, and on the floor as I try to put the skins in the trashcan. Also, flouring the counter repeatedly led to a lot of scrubbing from me. Still, you won’t have a lot of dishes or anything at the end so that is pretty nice.

The post Hazelnut Apricot Whole Wheat Bread appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

To figure out how much butter I need, I used my scale. I’ve wanted a digital scale for awhile and I finally bought myself one soon after I moved to London. It was on clearance at a nearby department store and I thought, “this is a sign, I’m finally going to get it.” And it’s been totally worth it! All my UK recipes are in grams and this helps measure them. It also helps me convert my US recipes more easily. For example, I know that 1 tbsp of butter equals about 14g but what the heck does that look like? Now I don’t have to eyeball it, I can measure it! It’s awesome. And yes, I know I’m a bit dorky for getting excited about measurements. 

Anyway, if you like banana bread and want something a little more subtle and less sweet this is the recipe for you! It’s yummy and easy.

Adapted from JamieOliver.com

Ingredients:

250g/2 cups self-rising flour, plus a little bit extra for dusting

3 ripe bananas

2 tbsp apple juice

125g/1 cup butter, softened (plus a little bit for greasing the pan)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

50g/ 1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

2. Lightly butter your loaf pan. Then dust the sides of the pan with flour. Tap out any excess flour.

3. In a small bowl, add the bananas and mash with a fork. Mash until it’s a mix of smooth and chunky.

4. Add the apple juice to the bananas and stir.

5. In a different bowl beat the butter until creamy. I recommend doing this with an electric mixer because it will be much easier! It will take 3-4 minutes in the electric mixer.

6. One at a time, add the eggs to the butter. Beat each one well before adding the next.

7. Add in the flour, cinnamon, honey, and banana. Mix until just combined.

8. If using, add the pecans and gently mix them in.

9. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Check if it’s done by sticking a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean the bread is done.

10. Allow the loaf to cool. Cut into slices then serve.

Messy level: This is a one spoon. Even with flour, which usually bumps up the messy for me, this is relatively low maintenance. It’s just dump and stir!

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Wings were a staple of my junior and senior year of college. Every Thursday, my friends and I would race to Cornerstone, our favorite local bar, to take advantage of 25¢ wings. The thing is, you had to arrive before 10pm to get the deal. If you couldn’t get there by 10, we would call in your order to one of our friends who was already there (and if you were first to arrive you usually had to order about half a dozen varieties of wings). But what made wing night so great, is that it was a standing date with my friends. We’d eat a ton, have a vodka cranberry (pretty much all of our drink of choice at the time), and then we’d dance all night. It was a blast, and today wings still remind me of happy times with my college buddies. Below are some college pictures, circa 2007.

And it’s not just college wing night that’s special! Every year when Ryan and I go to Stone Harbor, we go out with all of our friends to the Windrift. And again, we eat a lot, have a cold beer, and dance all night. Wing nights are where the best stories are made.

So, all of that is to say, I love wings. I honestly don’t know why I don’t make wings more, because I should. This recipe is a pretty good one (although I’m going to keep trying more recipes). This recipe turns out some moist and tasty wings – although not especially spicy. The marinade was spicy, but after cooking the wings didn’t have the tingly heat I like.  But, they have a lot of great garlic and honey flavor. That might sound weird, but it works. Also, they are sticky, saucy, and make a huge mess – all of which are a sure sign of good wings.

Adapted from Season with Spice.

Ingredients

12 wings

1 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp hot sauce

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp honey (plus more for glaze, if desired)

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, hot sauce, and chili powder.

2. Place the chicken wings in a rimmed dish (like a Pyrex). Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Pour the marinade over the chicken. Cover the chicken and refrigerate for one hour or up to overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 425°.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the chicken wings on top. Do not discard the extra marinade.

5. If desired, drizzle a bit of honey over each wing. As well, you can add a bit more pepper.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the chicken wings over. Brush the bottoms with remaining marinade. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. The wings should be a bit crispy and a rich brown color.

7. Serve warm with lots of napkins.

Messy level: The cooking part of this is actually pretty straightforward. The eating part however, is hugely messy. Average messy level is about 3 spoons.

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