peanut butter bites

I made some peanut butter bites this week. Recipe was courtesy of my trainer. I believe he got it from vshred.com.

I changed the recipe a little bit, but only because I thought coconut would be a good addition. Also, I didn't have unsalted natural peanut butter. I bought some previously, but it was incredibly difficult to stir so I ditched it.

This recipe is based on the one he sent to me, which I doubled. This makes 24 peanut butter bites. If you want only 12 bites, just cut this in half.

My calorie count came out to about 150 calories each, which I feel it quite high; however, they're very satisfying and fairly filling. These are great to have when you have a junk food craving and they keep very well in the fridge. Protein is 4 grams and sugar is 6 grams per bite.

4 TB honey
1 1/3 cup unsalted peanut butter (I used regular creamy peanut butter)
2 cups rolled oats (not instant or steel-cut oats)
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut
1 cup ground flax seeds (flax meal)

Combine all the ingredients and then put in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes. This makes it easier to roll them.

Roll them into 24 bites and then store in the fridge or freeze.

happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Aside from that, this post is an excuse to show off my contributions to today's meal:  pie and brownies!

This pie is one I've never made before and I got the recipe from the Pillsbury website.  Here's the recipe:  Almond Macaroon Cherry Pie. The only thing I did differently is I made the pie crust from scratch. (Yes, I'm showing off just a bit...) I can't comment on the taste since it just came out of the oven and is screaming hot. Plus, it's not for my house anyway. But really, how can one go wrong with cherry pie? Not possible!

I also made brownies from scratch. It's not difficult at all and really not much more effort than using a box mix.  I use the King Arthur Flour recipe, which you can find here (the newer version):  Ultimate Chewy Brownies. It's pretty much a no-fail recipe and the brownies are truly chewy with a crackly crust and they're not super sweet, which is why I like this recipe so much. This time I added 1/4 tsp of espresso powder to boost the chocolate flavor. It's not necessary and I normally don't add that, but I have a new canister of espresso powder and figured I'd try it out. It was a definitely a good call! The brownies had an even deeper chocolate flavor than usual.

A note about the brownie recipe linked above:  This is not the recipe I downloaded years ago. KAF has changed it a bit from what it used to be. Below is the actual recipe I use. The difference is that the newer recipe calls for a 9x9 pan instead of 8x8, "baking cocoa" instead of "cocoa powder" (I checked and they are actually the same thing), and adds the optional espresso powder. Also, I DO NOT use Hershey's Cocoa Powder for these brownies. I'm a total snob when it comes to cocoa powder for baking purposes. I find that Hershey's gives this particular brownie a different texture and it's not quite as chewy. I typically use Aristocrat cocoa powder made by Wilbur Chocolate.  It's a highly alkalized dark cocoa power with 22%-24% fat. I can only find it in-person at a particular candy store in Lancaster, PA, so I stock up when I visit my cousin. (You'll see at the link that it's sold in a 50 lb. bag, which is a bit too much for my needs!)  But if you want to buy online in a normal, home cook quantity, I found it on Amazon (of course!).  I also have used natural cocoa powder interchangeably and it worked perfectly fine.

The recipe below is the exact recipe that I use from the KAF website . You can see at the bottom it's from 2002--ancient times!


      King Arthur Flour's Ultimate Chewy Brownies

        3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
        1 stick margarine, melted and cooled
        1/4 cup vegetable oil
        2 cups granulated sugar
        1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
        3 eggs
        1 teaspoon vanilla (or coffee) extract

      Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread mixture in a
      greased 8 x 8-inch pan. Bake at 325°F for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove pan
      from oven and cool for at least 3 to 4 hours, or overnight, before cutting
      and serving.

      Copyright 2002, The King Arthur Flour Company. All rights reserved. KingArthurFlour.com

taste test: Swell Ice Cream

I've tried some of the other high protein, low sugar ice creams, like Halo Top and Enlightened, and wasn't all that impressed. I posted about it last year. 

Recently I found out about Swell. It used to be ProYo, but it has been rebranded to Swell.

I tried three flavors:  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, and Dark Chocolate Toffee. No, I didn't need to buy three pints of ice cream, but someone had to.

Each ice cream averages about 120 calories per half cup serving, 1-2 grams of fat, 9 grams of sugar, 10 grams of protein, and about 19-20 grams of carbs. They also contain sugar alcohols. If anyone is sensitive to that, make sure you take a test bite or two before diving in. Xylitol and cane sugar look to be the sweeteners of choice. 

Here are my thoughts about each flavor.

Mint Chip:  This was my favorite, probably because mint chocolate chip was my favorite flavor for most of my life. Again, good texture and taste. Very minty and there were a good amount of mini chocolate chips that were REAL. 

Dark Chocolate Toffee: I liked this one and would buy it again. It actually tastes like chocolate. There are small bits of toffee, but they're fairly few and far between. I'd like to see more, but I guess if more were added, the calories and sugar content wouldn't be quite as low. Update:  I was enjoying some of this right from the container while writing this and I found a BIG chunk of crunchy, gooey toffee towards the bottom. YUM! It was the only one that wasn't tiny.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip:  I liked this one, too, and would buy it again. I liked the bits of peanut butter. They're very small, but I can actually see them rather than just taste a hint of peanut butter like some of the other brands. Texture is good, too.

Just like the other ice creams I tasted previously, this melts quickly, but I don't care since I'm eating it from a dish and not a cone.  But if you're craving a cone, eat that thing fast. Be warned!

I mentioned sugar alcohols earlier. For some reason, this ice cream doesn't bother me the way the other brands did. I found I was able to eat the serving size and I felt OK.

Just like all the other high protein ice creams--actually most premium ice creams, now that I think about it--it's not cheap. Normal price in my store is $4.99 per pint; however, it happened to be on sale when I bought it so I got it for $3.50. And since this will last me quite awhile, I don't think that's a bad price. I'm no longer sitting down to eat a whole pint at once like I did pre-surgery. (Gotta admit, I really miss that sometimes. I don't miss the 130+ extra pounds on me, though.) One thing I want to mention in regards to keeping it in the freezer for awhile:  I feel like this type of ice cream forms freezer burn faster than regular ice cream, so you might want to lay a piece of plastic wrap over the ice cream (so it's touching the ice cream) after you scoop in order to block the air, and then put the lid on.

Something I like about this ice cream, other than the truer flavor and better texture, is the fact that most if not all of the ingredients are recognizable. For example, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip contains:  skim milk, whey protein concentrate, xylitol, cane sugar, inulin (not sure what this is), semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, butter), peanut butter (roasted peanuts, sugar, peanut oil, salt), natural flavors, and salt.

As a whole, I enjoy this product more than Halo Top and Enlightened. It just more like real ice cream to me. I mean, sure, it's not Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs, but it's good for what it is. I mentioned this previously when I posted about Halo and Enlightened, but it bears repeating:  this is not Ben & Jerry's. The reason I'm mentioning it again is because there's always that one person who will say, "This doesn't taste like Ben & Jerry's. :( "  No shit, Sherlock! That's because it's not. It's high protein ice cream with a lower fat content, somewhat different ingredients, and a lot less calories.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post if I try any other flavors.

homemade goodies, family and lots of snow

Emily enjoying the Christmas tree. Or plotting. Not sure which.

(I give up on trying to format this post to get things in the right spot. It is what it is. LOL)

I've been so bad about blogging lately. Something I said I'd do in the new year is to get better at posting more often. I guess it's better late than never!  The last couple weeks have been pretty busy, both at work and home. Mainly because of the holidays. Lots of cleaning, shopping, preparing, etc., as well as a new project at work, time off among team members and so on.

Last weekend we had our annual family Christmas get-together.  It was a bit smaller this year without my father and brother, plus some people couldn't make it, but it was a good time as usual. We had so much food left over! We had ham, lasagna, crock pot bourbon meatballs, potatoes, pasta salad, carrots, etc. We really didn't need that much food, but that's how it always plays out at the holidays, right?

The family room tree. 

Here are a few things I made last weekend for the get-together (sorry, forgot to take pictures):

• Homemade onion dip:  I've made this before and I love it. People still tend to favor the salty store-bought dip, but that's OK. 
• Shortbread:  I made this for the first time and it was so delicious! Crispy, light and so, so buttery.
• Rum Balls:  Another first for me. The recipe was super easy and made a lot, so this was a win for me. BUT....they are very potent. The recipe uses a combination of rum and bourbon, along with vanilla wafers, honey and pecans. They're supposed to mellow out in the fridge, but they really didn't mellow all that much over the course of a week. Very yummy, though.
• Chocolate Pie:  I've made this several times and it's always a winner. Very, very rich and chocolaty. And my pie crust came out perfect:  very crispy and flaky. Instead of hand-mixing the ingredients I used the food processor. It's so much easier and I think it comes out better since there's really no risk of overworking the dough.

Above is the family room Christmas tree. This is where we put the bigger tree since it's a bigger room. I also reserve this tree for all the modern lights and ornaments. Below is the living room tree. This is always the smaller one, and this is where we use the old-fashioned C9 lights, as well as the ornaments that have a more traditional look. We always get two because we use the family room the most, but we like having a tree that can be seen from the street. Since we normally go cut them down, the cost isn't much at all. This year, however, we had to buy from a lot since the timing just didn't work out right. As you can see, they look nearly perfect. I prefer a tree that looks more natural--fat with uneven limbs--but they're still really nice. This year I skipped using tree skirts. Mainly because I get tired of constantly fixing them--the cats love to lay on them or play under the tree, so they tend to make a mess of the them.

Living room tree. 

We had a white Christmas this year, which was really nice. There wasn't all that much snow, but it was just the right amount. Last weekend, however, we got about a foot and it was officially a blizzard. Oh, and the temperatures were BELOW ZERO! We had the wood stove and fireplace going the whole time since our house is old and drafty. We burned a ton of wood! (And today? The snow is all gone because it was 60 F and pouring rain all day yesterday, and now the yard is flooded.)

And now that it's all over, it's time to clean the leftovers out of the fridge. I really don't think I could look at another piece of ham. let alone eat one. Lasagna went into the freezer, along with the leftover kielbasa. The rest of it is getting tossed; there are only so many leftover potatoes two people can eat. Actually one person, because I haven't had any of them.

All the decorations are down; however, I can't claim they've been put away in the attic. They're sitting either in the hutch, ready to be brought upstairs, or they're upstairs and waiting to be put into boxes. I really want to go through all the boxes and toss whatever is broken or doesn't work, and maybe donate anything I don't want anymore. I know, I say that every single year and I've done it maybe once. Maybe this is the year?

I'll be posting an update about my back pain very soon. It's an ongoing battle, but I think there could be light at the end of the tunnel finally.

cinnamon baked oatmeal

So, I made this while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago:  Cinnamon Sugar Baked Oatmeal. Just click on the name to go to the recipe.

This oatmeal was so yummy and the recipe was so easy! What I liked about it was that it came out more like an oatmeal bar. I'm thinking I could add raisins and pass them off as actual oatmeal bars. Yup, I think I need to try that!

I also liked that it calls for only one banana, as opposed to the three bananas in this recipe I made awhile back for peanut butter brownie oatmeal.  There are times when I forget I'm saving the bananas for a reason and then I end up eating them. So, I'm left with one overripe banana. What does one do with just one overripe, mushy banana? Make this recipe, of course. :)

If sugar is an issue for you, just omit the cinnamon sugar topping. Or you could use an artificial sweetener that scoops like sugar. I kept the real sugar, but was careful to test the waters before eating a bigger piece. The oatmeal itself has only one banana and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, so it has a bit less sugar that the peanut butter brownie oatmeal recipe, which uses three bananas. You could even sub in a different milk, like nut milk that's unsweetened, for even less sugar. I used whole milk this time around, but next time I might use my Fairlife milk, which is half the sugar of regular milk.

So, what baked oatmeal recipe should I make next? I'm thinking something with blueberries, since I have a bunch of fresh blueberries in the freezer. I've also got some unsweetened coconut in the fridge. I have cocoa powder galore. Maybe another batch using the cocoa and coconut. I'm sure if I scour the cabinets and freezer enough I'll find lots more that I can whip into a batch of baked oatmeal!

baked oatmeal: a newfound love

Never in my life had I heard of baking oatmeal until I started following Budget Bytes. I follow her on Facebook, as well as browsing her website from time to time. She has lots of budget-friendly recipes.

A couple weeks ago I saw on her Facebook page a recipe for what looked like a dessert:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.  It looked so delicious! I figured it would be loaded with sugar, but it called for only 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  She has lots of baked oatmeal recipes and most of them use bananas, unsweetened applesauce, or sweet potatoes as the main source of sweetness.

I decided to give it a try since I had all the ingredients on hand and I'd just bought a massive bag of thick-cut rolled oats.  It was really easy to put together. I think the most "strenuous" thing was mashing the bananas, and that only took a minute. The rest just gets tossed into the bowl and mixed, then milk added, then oats. Then you put it in a casserole dish and bake it for about 45 minutes. Baking time depends on the depth of your pan. I used a 2 quart smallish square dish and it took almost an hour to bake.

The results were delicious!! I tried a forkful right out of the hot pan; however, I've discovered I prefer it cold, sliced off like a brownie. The texture is much more like a brownie than it is oatmeal, though you could eat it warm or cold.  It's also very filling, especially for me since my stomach in so small.

One thing to note:  even though most of the sweetness comes from the bananas, it still has sugar. Anyone who is a WLS post-op and has an issue with sugar will need to test the waters as to how much you can eat at once. I find a can eat the standard brownie size, about 2" x 2", without an issue. (Note:  standard brownie size! Not pre-WLS brownie size, which typically meant almost half the pan back in the day.) 

Here's the recipe for the oatmeal I made last weekend:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.

And here are the search results for baked oatmeal:  Baked Oatmeal Search Results.

homemade chocolate pie

This year I did something a little different for my contribution to the family Thanksgiving meal: chocolate pie. It's a staple at our holiday meals.  Normally one of my sisters makes it, but I decided I would try it this year.  But I didn't want to make the standard pie, which is store-bought crust with boxed pudding. Not that that's bad, but I wanted to try my hand at making the pudding and crust from scratch.

It was time-consuming:   there are several steps, with rest periods in between, for both the crust and the pudding.

After mixing the crust, it had to go in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.  Then when I rolled it out and put it in the pie plates it had to go back in the fridge; that's supposed to improve the results and make the crust even flakier. I've made pie crust only once before--earlier this month when I made homemade apple pie--so I don't have a lot of practice yet.  It seemed to go well, though, despite the fact that I don't have a pastry blender; it broke the first time I used it, which was when I made the apple pie.  And I can't seem to do the two-knives thing for cutting the butter into the flour, so I just used my hands and rubbed the butter into the flour.

Here's my baked crust.  It isn't super pretty, but it was flaky.   

Then came the pudding.  I had to mix some of the ingredients in a saucepan, then put it on the heat and add the rest of the ingredients, bring it to a boil, and then pour it over the chocolate, butter and vanilla, and then mix until smooth.  Then it goes through a sieve to remove any lumps.  Then it goes in the fridge for a couple hours to cool. Meanwhile, I baked the crusts, which then had to cool completely.  Then in goes the pudding and the pies go back in the fridge overnight to set up.

Here's the finished product, ready to hit the fridge.

Anyway, I managed it.  And the results were totally worth it:  it tasted like a dark chocolate fudge bar, and I was told that I'm now in charge of the chocolate pies.

By the way, if you're a chocolate pudding lover, skip making the crust.  This pudding is absolutely chocolate heaven!

Here's the recipe, which comes from King Arthur Flour (sorry, it's not my own recipe).  This is a well-written recipe and everything seemed to work just like it should with great results.  Note:  You really need to set aside one full weeknight to do this, unless you can work a lot faster than me.

Chocolate Pie

Crust

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
7 to 10 tablespoons ice water

Filling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Baking Chips)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional; for richer chocolate flavor (I used 1/4 tsp)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 cups milk (I used whole milk)

Directions

Crust:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, and salt.
2. Cut in the shortening until it's in lumps the size of small peas.
3. Dice the butter into 1/2" pieces, and cut into the mixture until you have flakes of butter the size of your fingernail.
4. Add the water, two tablespoons at a time, mixing with a fork as you sprinkle the water into the dough.
5. When the dough is moist enough to hold together when you squeeze it, transfer it to a piece of wax or parchment paper. It's ok if there are dry spots in the pile. Use a spray bottle of water to lightly spritz these places; that way you'll add just enough water to bring the dough together without adding too much or creating a wet spot.
6. Fold it over on itself three or four times to bring it together, then pat it into a disk 3/4" thick
7. Roll the disk on its edge, like a wheel, to smooth out the edges. This step will ensure your dough will roll out evenly, without a lot of cracks and splits at the edges later. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.
8. To blind bake the crust: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9" pie pan that's at least 2" deep. This will make serving the pie easier after it's finished.
9. Roll out the pastry for the pie to a 13" circle. Transfer it to the prepared pan, and trim the edges so they overlap the edge by an inch all the way around. Tuck the edges up and under, and flute them. Put the lined pie pan in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
10. Line the crust with foil or parchment paper, and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and gently remove foil or parchment with the weights or beans. Return the crust to the oven for 10 to 20 more minutes, until it's golden brown all over. If the edges of the crust start becoming too brown, cover them with a pie shield, or strips of aluminum foil. Remove the crust from the oven and cool completely.

Filling:

Place the chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla extract in a 2-quart mixing bowl; set aside.

1. In a medium saucepan away from heat, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt. Whisk in 1/4 cup of cold heavy cream until the mixture is smooth, with no lumps. Repeat with another 1/4 cup of the cream. Whisk in the egg yolks.
2. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and gradually whisk in the remaining cream and milk.
3. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly as the mixture thickens; boil for 1 minute.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture over the reserved chocolate and butter.
5. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
6. Pass the filling through a strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps.
7. Place plastic wrap or buttered parchment paper on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and chill thoroughly.

Assembly:

1. Transfer the cooled filling to the cooled, baked pie crust. Level the top with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.
2. Chill the pie until ready to serve. Note:  Chill for at least 6 hours, otherwise the filling will be loose and it will be messy to slice the pie.

homemade apple pie: putting all those apples to use

I was feeling extra motivated today, so I decided to make a homemade apple pie.  I'm guessing it's because Daylight Saving Time ended (read:  It's Daylight Saving Time, people, NOT Daylight Savings Time) and I have an extra hour today.  I really think this is my favorite day of the year:  I get an extra hour of sleep, although I always wake up at the regular time anyway; I get an extra hour to get things done; and the day goes by very slowly.

So, I'm finally putting my apples to use.  I have many bags of apples in the freezer already; however, since I still have tons of them to peel, core and slice, I decided to use the fresh ones, which will help reduce the amount of apples in the fridge.

I felt so motivated by the longer day that I made pie crust from scratch for the first time!  Plus, I forgot to pie pre-made crust when I was at the store this morning, so I didn't have any choice if I wanted to make pie today. It wasn't difficult to do, but I've always been afraid to make it.  From what I've read and heard, it can be fussy and it has to be worked just right.  In addition, the butter and water must be very cold.  It wasn't difficult to mix, but I had to be very careful not to overwork the dough--that makes a tough pie crust.  I found it difficult to roll it into a circle, but I guess that will come with practice. The bottom crust wasn't very pretty, but the top one came out better.  I made two extra crusts to freeze, so I can throw a pie together much faster next time.

I used a combination of two recipes:  King Arthur Flour's Apple Pie and a recipe from Taste of Home.  I made King Arthur's crust and the filling from the Taste of Home recipe.  Why?  Because I didn't have two of the ingredients for the King Arthur recipe.  (Are you really that surprised?)

I was happy with the results.  The crust was flaky and light, the filling had good flavor, and the apples were still intact.

So, here's the pie before baking:

 And here's the pie after baking:

And here's a slice.  It's a bit of a mess, because I cut it before it was 100% cool.  I ate a small piece, but it's got a lot of sugar so I can't eat much of it.

strawberry cream cheese cobbler

We usually don't make or buy desserts, but since I had strawberries in the freezer that have been there a longgg time, I figured I should use them up as part of my "Eat Through the Kitchen" challenge.

I got this recipe from Facebook (here).   I saw it a few weeks ago and then promptly forgot about it.  But now that I was going to eat through everything in my freezer, I figured now would be a good time to try it.  It seemed very easy and I had everything on hand (that rarely happens).

When I mixed up the batter and then poured it into the melted butter, I was a little skeptical as to how it would bake up.  It just looked very oily and the batter was very thin, not like a typical cake batter.  But I figured if it didn't come out good I didn't waste any money on it.  Sure, I wasted some ingredients that I bought at one point, but it wasn't like I bought these ingredients for this specific purpose.

I was a little nervous about using frozen strawberries since frozen fruit usually gives off a lot of water.  But I wasn't going to buy fresh, so I had to use them.  I defrosted them and drained them as best as I could.  I spread them out on top of the batter and then put the cream cheese on top of that.

The results?  It was really good.  It wasn't soggy like I thought it would be. Although I think if I had used fresh strawberries, the bottom of the crust wouldn't have been so dense.  No big deal though.

I have two bags of frozen mixed berries and I'm thinking about making this again using those berries.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cobbler

1 stick butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup of all Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts whole strawberries, washed and tops off
(Note:  I used 2 pounds of frozen strawberries)
4 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces.

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Melt butter and pour into 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.

In a small bowl mix together the egg,milk,flour,sugar,baking powder, and salt.

Pour the mixture directly over the butter in the baking dish, but do not stir.

Add the strawberries,arranging in a single layer as much as possible. Sprinkle cream cheese pieces over strawberries.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and edges are bubbling. The crust will rise up over the fruit.