TRUCK STOP Giveaway and Mini Blueberry Muffins

Truck Stop was released just five days ago last Thursday and author, Anne Rockwell, and I have been enjoying doing guest posts and interviews on our blog tour.  So far, here are our stops:

Just A Little Creativity

Kid Focused

A Mom’s Take

The Children’s Book Review

Five Minutes for Books

Susan Heim on Parenting

Kid Lit Frenzy

As They Grow Up

I’m also doing a giveaway of a personalized signed copy of Truck Stop on The Hungry Artist.

On Saturday I did my first signing of Truck Stop at the Greenlight Bookstore in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.  I took part in Artist Battles with Sophie Blackall, Melissa Guion and Sergio Ruzzier.  There was a list of topics, and the kids would choose one for us to draw.  Then they would clap for their favorites at the end.  Whoever “won” would go on to the next round with a new competitor.

Me and Melissa Guion drawing the word “balloons”.

It was all quite stressful and I was sweating profusely, but everyone was so nice.   It was more of a celebration of different drawing styles.

Melissa Guion and Sophie Blackall drawing the word, “battle”

Me drawing a “moose” eating chocolate “mousse”. I didn’t realize I was being watched so closely!

At the signing table afterwards.  Do I looked relieved?  I am!

I also handed out activity sheets from Truck Stop.  Click here to download some for yourself.

This week’s recipe inspiration comes from Flatbed’s Driver’s breakfast:

A Blueberry Muffin!

I love muffins, but I love mini ones even more.  :)

Mini Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Ingredients:

1 cup flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of kosher salt

½ cup butter (1 stick) softened at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup milk

1 ¼ cups fresh blueberries

Topping

1 tablespoon demarra sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray and line with mini cupcake liners
3. Whisk 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Set aside
4. Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add sugar and beat until pale and creamy.
5. Add egg and vanilla.  Beat to combine
6. With lowest setting running, add ½ of the flour, then ½ of the milk.  Mix to combine.  Repeat.
7. Toss blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour to coat in a small bowl.  Add to muffin batter and stir gently with a spoon.
8. Heap tablespoons of batter into cupcake liners.
9. Mix topping ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle about ½ teaspoon on muffin tops.
10. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a tester inserting in center comes out clean
11. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
12. Remove muffins from pan to rack and cool a bit.

Yield: 24 small muffins.

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GIVEAWAY! (Sorry I tried generating one on Punchtab, but having problems with wordpress so I have to do this manually!)
I will be giving away a signed copy of Truck Stop.  The winner can have it personalized to whomever and I will also draw a picture of their choice.  The giveaway closes May 27 at 11 pm.  Then I will pick a winner and announce it in the next post!

To enter, just leave a comment — what is YOUR favorite breakfast item?

For more chances, Like Me on Facebook and tell me you did.

Follow me on Twitter and tell me you did.

Like Anne on Facebook and tell me you did.

Tweet about this giveaway and tell me you did.

Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Protein Bars

I did a fasting blood sugar test the other day.  I knew I was going to be out and about until lunch.  I knew I didn’t want to grabbing something along the way after the test, so I made these protein bars before I left the house.

You can pretty much put whatever you want in them, but this is what I used:  Chocolate Protein Powder (I used Double Chocolate Designer’s Whey because my husband uses it every day), peanut butter, oats, and almond milk.

I mixed the ingredients together in a bowl.

Then I divided the mixture into four parts and shaped each one into a log and coated it with coconut so it wouldn’t be too sticky.

Then I wrapped them up in saran and threw them in the freezer until I was ready to leave.

I ate two after my test, and they held me over until lunch several hours later.

They would be good with nuts or seeds or dried fruit added.  You’d just need to adjust the almond milk (or other liquid) to get the right consistency.  I think these taste WAY better than store bought protein bars, which I think taste either too sweet, artificial, or chalky.  Try it next time you need something on the go!

These are the general values (general because I didn’t weigh the coconut before and after coating — you will have a pile of leftover coconut):

For one bar-

Calories:  106  Fat: 7.4 g  Protein:  14 g   Carbs:  4.4 g  Fiber:  1 g  Sugars:  1 g

With a penny to give you an idea of the size

Coconut Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

1 scoop protein powder (I use Double Chocolate Designer’s Whey) (32g)

2 tablespoons peanut butter (64 g)

1 tablespoon rolled oats

1 tablespoon almond milk or other liquid

¼ cup dried unsweetened coconut (you will have leftover)

1. Mix protein powder, peanut butter, rolled oats together.  Add almond milk and stir until mixture is a thick paste.
2. Spread dried coconut on a plate and dump mixture on top.  Divide into 4 pieces (if you want mini bars) 2 pieces (if you want 2 small bars) or shape into one large log (if you want a large bar).
3. As you shape log, roll in dried coconut (it will help to keep the chocolate from sticking to your fingers) and shape into flat rectangles.  Wrap each piece in saran.
4. Store bars in freezer or refrigerator depending on whether you want them on the crunchy or chewy side.  Note, they will still be somewhat chewy after 24 hours in the freezer, especially if they are larger.  After that though, they get crunchy.  I like to store mine in the freezer so that when I pack them for on the go, they thaw a bit and are ready to eat when I am!

Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bars

Ok, so I meant to post this earlier, but I’ve been completely distracted by the recent events.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to people in the surrounding areas hit by Sandy.  Hats off to the relief effort!  The workers, leaders, and neighbors have been amazing.

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Pre-hurricane, Jamie and I made these granola bars to bring to a play date.  They aren’t the healthiest granola bars — they’re more like healthier Rice Krispie Treats!   Instead of marshmallows and butter, I used peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, brown sugar.  Then mixed it with oats, almonds in addition to rice cereal.  Super easy to make, with no baking required.

I went through about four iterations, and I like this ratio of oats, rice cereal, sweetness and chew the best.  Hope you do too!

Dry ingredients: oats, rice cereal, sliced almonds

Wet ingredients: honey, peanut butter, coconut oil, brown sugar

Pressed into pan.

Cut into bars

Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bars

¾ cups old fashioned oats

1 ½ cups rice cereal

¼ cup toasted, sliced almonds

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or other oil or melted butter)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup peanut butter (I use the natural, goopy kind – TJ creamy, salted)

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix oats, cereal and almonds in a large bowl.  Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter until incorporated.  Pour over dry ingredients in big bowl.  Mix to coat.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Transfer mixture to a 8-inch by 8-inch pan lined with foil or parchment paper.  Press down firmly and pack into pan in an even layer of  granola.  Chill in refrigerator for about an hour.
4. Cut into 10 bars (cut square in half, then into fifths).
5. Wrap each bar in saran wrap.  They are great on the go!

Pumpkin Granola Bars Two Ways: Chewy and Crunchy

Fall is already well underway!  I can’t believe how fast Halloween is approaching.  We’ve been promoting our book, Hush Little Monster,  and doing book signings and readings.  It will continue into November.  For a list of appearances, click here.   We would love to see you if you are in the area during those times!
I was also featured on Kathy Temean’s Illustrator Saturday post over the weekend about my work and process.  Check it out here.
The coming of fall also brings…. pumpkin puree in the stores!

I thought it would be fun to develop a pumpkin recipe, and I was inspired to try making pumpkin granola bars.  I love Kashi’s because they are really crunchy and not too sweet.

I hadn’t known how hard it would be to come up with something that I would be satisfied with! The last couple of weeks have been devoted to this enterprise.  There have been “fails” along the way, but even these have tasted pretty good.  The problem has been getting it to be crunch-worthy and stick together!

Crunchy

I  initially based my ingredients on a peanut butter chewy granola bar that I will share soon in a future post.  I exchanged the peanut butter for pumpkin and applesauce, decreased the sugar, and used pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds) instead of almonds. Unfortunately, this version of granola bar had rice cereal in it and became soggy immediately when it came in contact with the moisture of the pumpkin and applesauce!  I could hear the “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” as I was putting the pan in the oven…  FAIL!  It tasted good, but the texture was like mochi.

In the second round of my quest for crunch, I omitted the rice cereal, upped the oats, and added egg white  thinking this would help the crispiness as in Anna’s Chunky Granola.   The result was a really good, tasty chewy version of pumpkin granola bars.  They are very much like an oatmeal bar cookie.  Jamie loves these and prefers them to the crunchy version.

Chewy with chocolate chips and dried cranberries!

Unsatisfied, I pushed onto a third round.  This time, I omitted the egg white, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries, thinking less chunky ingredients would help make them stay together better when cutting.  I also baked the mixture on a baking sheet in a thinner layer than the one in the baking pan.

The result was a crunchy, tasty granola bar! Finally!  There was some breakage — they are fragile– but the resulting granola is as delicious.  I mixed it with the dried cranberries and chips that I had omitted.  This granola is addicting.

I could eat this all day long.

As a side note, this granola — and their bar counterparts (I break them up) are heavenly with ice cream! Also, Jamie has come up with a novel recipe on his own which he says he will post on his blog, involving the chewy granola bars and cookie butter.   Trust me, it is wonderful.
I could go on experimenting — adding flax seeds, wheat germ, etc., but if I did, I’d end up eating batches more of granola and granola bars, and I wouldn’t be able to fit in my jeans, so I’ll stop for now!

Crunchy?

So there you have it.  Two pumpkin granola bars with similar flavors but different textures.  Which do you prefer?  Crunchy? Or chewy?

Chewy?

Chewy Pumpkin Granola Bars

2 cups oats

¼ cup pumpkin seeds (I used roasted, salted pepitas – they are smaller and have been removed from the shell)

¼ cup pumpkin puree

¼ cup applesauce

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoon oil (see note below)

1 egg white

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon pumpkin spice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried cranberries

¼ cup chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, toss oats and pepitas together.  Set aside.

3.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, applesauce, oil, egg white, honey, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and brown sugar together.  Pour over dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated evenly. Add dried cranberries and chocolate chips and stir to combine.

4.  Pour mixture into prepared pan.  Really press down and pack it in as tightly as you can in an even layer.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, watching closely at the end.  Let pan cool on rack for about 5 minutes.  Run knife around edge, invert pan onto cutting board.  Cut sheet of granola in half, then into fifths, so you have ten bars.  Carefully transfer bars to rack and let cool completely.

Crunchy Pumpkin Granola Bars

2 cups oats

¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas – see above)

¼ cup pumpkin puree

¼ cup applesauce

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon pumpkin spice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, toss oats and pepitas together.  Set aside.

3.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, applesauce, oil, honey, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and brown sugar together.  Pour over dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated evenly.

4.  Pour mixture onto prepared sheet.  Shape into a square shape, and press down and pack it together as tightly as possible in an even layer about 3/8-inch thick. Bake for about 20 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and cut square in half and then into fifths, so you have ten bars.  They are very fragile, so be careful!  Of course any broken pieces can turn into tasty granola though….

5.  Return baking sheet to oven and cook for another 5-8 minutes, watching closely at the end of baking.  Let pan cool on rack for about 5 minutes.  Carefully transfer bars to rack and let cool completely.   They will harden up as they cool.

These can be stored in an airtight container.  If they lose their crispness, after a day or two, just toast in a toaster oven for a minute or two and then let cool completely.  They will be crunchy again!

Note:  I broke my resolve and made another batch today for a play date!  I accidentally forgot the oil (duh!), but they came out OK, and were still crunchy.  So oil is optional.

Healthy Desserts for Kids

Chocolate, banana, spinach smoothie!

Awhile ago, during the summer (those days seem far away!), I had the opportunity to join Katherine Lee of about.com in her kitchen for a fun afternoon of cooking and filming!

Katherine has a wonderful parenting blog on about.com, and she invited me to contribute some healthy dessert ideas for kids.  We made everything in her kitchen and the lovely Meredith filmed us.  It was a blast and such a different experience from what I am usually doing during the day in my studio!  She treated us to a fabulous sushi lunch, and we munched on the desserts we made throughout the day. 

My favorite Double Chocolate Zucchini, Banana Bread with Secret Ingredient is one of the recipes featured.

Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?

Check out the video on how to make it here.

Other super easy, practically-not-cooking recipes are:

Peanut Butter Truffles!  Remember this post?

Video is here.

Frozen Yogurt Grapes:

I never did a post about it, but the recipe is in the video.

Banana Soft Serve (minus the Magic Shell!):

All natural goodness — just bananas and a splash of milk!

Chocolate version seen here in the video.

And last, but not least:  Chocolate, Banana, Spinach Smoothie  

This the one video I never want Jamie to see, because he drinks this all the time!  It is a great after school snack.  The spinach has absolutely no flavor in the smoothie, and he has no idea I sneak it in. I sometimes use frozen spinach which adds to the creaminess of the smoothie along with the frozen banana!

Video and recipe are here.

Hope you enjoy these recipes — they are all really easy to make and are pretty healthy considering they are desserts!

Jamie’s Trailmix and Blog

Well, it’s happened:  My eight year old son asked me if he could have his own cooking blog.  I guess I should have been flattered, but my first thought was, “Oh nooooo!”

To buy some time, I told him he’d have to come up with three original recipes and posts first.  I should have listened to my husband who said he would have made the requirement at least ten posts!

A budding writer (he’s working on a chapter book — part of a trilogy– as well), three posts was a breeze for him.  And he’s always coming up with his own creations when he helps me cook anyway.  Here’s a favorite from the past:

Jamie’s green bean sushi he named “Bean Bean Sushi”

A couple months ago, he and I were standing in line at a store near a display of trail mix meant to encourage an “impulse buy”.  Not surprisingly, he wanted me to buy a package.  To put him off, I told him it was too expensive–that it would be cheaper to make it and it would probably be better because we could put whatever we wanted into it.

Of course when we got home he wanted to make some.  So we did.

This is what he put into his mix: peanuts, roasted salted almonds, cashews, dried cranberries, chopped dried persimmon (from my mom’s trees in California and dried in her dehydrator), dried apricot, dried coconut, and some chocolate chips.  He made a label for the mix:

The good thing about this activity is that he made a healthy snack for himself for the rest of the week.  Also, it tasted really great.  Kids are more likely to eat whatever they make, so it’s a good opportunity to make nutritious food that will get eaten.  Trail mix is the easiest thing in the world to throw together and so much cheaper when you buy the pantry staples in bulk.  Try it!

Back to Jamie’s blog idea— it’s called Food Cultures and is under my name (so all comments come to me), but it’s all him.  He will write and type his own posts, and the only editing I will do is correct some spelling.  He even came up with his own header.

I digitized his sketch and we colored it together in Photoshop.

His first recipe is Reese’s Yogurt.  You can view it here.

We’ll see how long his food obsession lasts….

Easy Trail Mix

Throw into a mixing bowl:

Various nuts, such as almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, etc.

Various dried fruit, such as dried raisins, cranberries, apricots, pineapple, coconut,  mango (chop bigger pieces of dried fruit into raisin sized pieces), etc.

You can add extras like chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, even mini marshmallows, depending on how “junky” or “healthy” you want to skew it.  Have fun!

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www.thehungryartist.wordpress.com

Asian Chicken Salad with Peanut Sauce and Soba Noodles

Last week, we’ve so enjoyed having my mom visit us from California.  She came to celebrate her 82nd birthday.

Denis did not photoshop this photo. His comment: What 82 year old woman has that jaw line!??

Other than when we took her to visit Denis’ lovely parents in Shelter Island, she’s been in our garden weeding, picking up leaves, pruning plants–basically working her green thumb magic on it (which I sadly did not inherit)!

I wish I had “before” pictures to contrast this with! There were less flowers all around, and the rocks and back were covered in leaves and weeds!

We call her the Energizer Bunny.

Instead of eating out, she preferred me to cook “things from [my] blog” for her, so all week, I prepared various dishes for her and revisiting some old recipes.

Lots of smoothies:

High Fiber Smoothie

A ton of sushi, of course (click on each image for recipe):

Inside out rolls

Regular “maki” rolls

Inarizushi “Foxy Pocket Sushi”

With Miso Soup:

For her 82nd birthday which was the same day as Father’s Day, I made Reese’s Pieces and M & M waffles for brunch using our trusty Cadbury Egg Waffle recipe:

I bought a small bag each of Reese’s Pieces and plain M & Ms and scattered them on the batter before cooking in waffle iron.

And Crispy Fish Tempura Bites for dinner:

with Miso Green Beans:

And Rich Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting for dessert:

I used a double amount of  Chocolate Ganache Frosting in place of this frosting

Other meals were quick Chicken Quesadillas using cooked rotisserie chicken (after a long day of shopping–not much time to cook!):

I filled ours with cooked chicken, cheese, onions, and salsa

and Creamy High Protein Avocado Dip:

I discovered I don’t have to spend a lot of time searching for favorite recipes anymore — I can just do a search on my blog!

For her last night here, I decided to make something special and created my version of a chicken salad with peanut sauce, because she had mentioned she had had a great one awhile back during her many travels.  It is a quick and easy when you have leftover cooked chicken! We used more of the rotisserie chicken.  I also used my favorite peanut sauce recipe using roasted peanut flour (if you can’t find this, just peanut butter is fine–use this recipe instead minus sesame seeds) and coated cooked soba noodles and chicken with it (angel hair or vermicelli would work too).  Then I made a salad with shredded Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, shredded carrot, julienned daikon radish, cilantro, green onions, and snow peas.  I topped the salad with the peanut sauce coated noodles and cooked chicken and garnished with more chopped cilantro and chopped roasted peanuts.

It was really good!  We had leftover sauce which I diluted with a bit of rice vinegar and used as a salad dressing over the course of the week –sans mom. 
We miss you obaachan! (Japanese for “grandma”)  Thank you for all your hard work here!!

Asian Chicken Salad with Soba Noodles and Peanut Sauce

Peanut Sauce:

¼ cup peanut butter (or 1 tablespoon peanut butter plus ½ cup peanut flour and 2 tablespoons water)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Salad Greens:

4 cups shredded Napa cabbage

2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

1 cup sliced cucumber

1 cup julienned carrot

1 cup julienned daikon or other radish

1 cup blanched snow peas

2 scallions, sliced

¼ cup chopped cilantro, divided

Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

4 oz. soba noodles

2-3 cups cooked chicken, shredded

¼ cup peanuts, chopped

1. Make peanut sauce.  Process all ingredients (peanut butter to sesame oil) in a food processor until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. Prepare vegetables.  Mix salad greens together in a large bowl, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the chopped cilantro for garnish.  Set aside.
3. Make vinaigrette.  Whisk soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil together in a small bowl.  Toss salad greens with vinaigrette to taste.
4. Cook soba noodles according to package directions.  Drain.
5. Assemble salad.  Toss cooked soba noodles with shredded chicken and prepared peanut sauce (use as much sauce as you want depending on how dry or wet you prefer the noodles—you will probably have some leftover!).  Divide salad greens into four bowls.  Top with noodles and chicken.  Garnish with reserved cilantro and chopped peanuts.

High Fiber Smoothies: From Dumbledore’s “Drink of Despair” to Strawberry Bliss

Strawberry Banana High Fiber Smoothie

These days with the end of school looming and book events (not to mention book deadlines!), I haven’t been cooking anything terribly new or exciting.  I haven’t been baking either.

For my birthday, this past Sunday, I told my husband I wanted to bake my own cake, but I ended up pressed for time and resorted to a box mix! (Hangs head in shame.)

This mix is actually quite good in a pinch. You can make single servings too — 2 tablespoons mix to 1 tablespoons plain yogurt — that’s it!

I don’t have a picture of the final, as it wasn’t particularly drool worthy, but it held the candles fine!

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Quickie breakfasts have been smoothies.  There are so many great smoothie recipes out there, ranging from decadent and dessert-like to healthy green monsters made with kale.  Mine fall somewhere in the middle.

One ingredient I haven’t seen on other blogs which I use regularly in my smoothies is pysillium husk.  That’s right, people, the stuff in Metamuscil.

I buy it in raw, tasteless form at the healthy food store.

I originally tried it when I was pregnant and needed extra fiber.  I didn’t want the added sugar (I was a borderline gestational diabetic) or artificial sweeteners found in Metamuscil– it also has more fiber than Metamuscil (6.7 g unsoluble fiber to 3 g).

The downside is that it doesn’t dissolve as well in water.  And you have to drink a lot of water with it and FAST (or it turns into a gel before your gaping eyes).  The result is a nasty consistency of quicksand.

I used to gag it down as fast as humanly possible.  It was redubbed “my horcrux”, referring to the Drink of Despair in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

After giving birth, the psyllium husk stayed hidden away in the recesses of our cupboards for years.  It made a brief appearance when I tried to pass it onto a friend who was also pregnant with gestational diabetes.  She gave it back to me, saying it was impossible for her to ever drink it after trying once.

Cut to the present.  Ever since I received my beloved blender, I’ve been having smoothies almost every day.  Jamie loves them too, and we often make them for a play date snack.  I let them choose the ingredients. It’s fun to experiment.

I like really thick, creamy ones, and I’ve seen some versions made with a lot of ice and xanthan gum and guar gum to get this effect.  I couldn’t find the guar gum, and I didn’t like the xanthan gum alone, so I decided to try it with my old psyllium husk since it was still hanging out in the pantry.  I was pleasantly surprised by the results!  It thickens the smoothie beautifully.  It’s not “gummy” like the xanthun gum alone.  A side benefit is that it has all the extra fiber too.  So now, it’s become a regular ingredient in my morning smoothies.  I cannot believe it is the same evil “potion” I used to have to force myself to drink!

For my smoothies, I use:

about 3/4 cup liquid (milk, almond milk, water, juice, coconut milk, coconut water, etc.)

about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup frozen fruit (banana, mango, strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, grapes) or raw fruit (apple, orange, raspberries, etc.) or vegetable (baby spinach -haven’t tried kale yet!)

2-3 ice cubes, depending on how much frozen fruit I use

1 tablespoon raw psyllium husk powder

Other occasional extras are: cocoa powder, protein powder, roasted peanut flour, chia seeds, flax seeds, (though not a HUGE fan of using seeds, because bits still get stuck in my teeth even after blending), peanut butter, yogurt, Torani flavored syrups

I’ve also seen smoothies made with nuts (cashews soaked in milk, other nut butters), silken tofu, and avocado but I haven’t tried them yet!

My favorite breakfast smoothies these days are:

• strawberry banana (with vanilla protein powder and stevia)
• peanut butter chocolate (with peanut butter, peanut flour, cocoa powder, chocolate protein powder, and stevia)
• coconut pineapple (coconut milk, frozen pineapple chunks, dried coconut, vanilla protein powder)
• creamsicle (orange juice, milk, Torani French Vanilla syrup, vanilla protein powder)

All are made with some ice and psyllium powder!

To make, put in the liquid first, then the powder(s), nuts and/or nut butters, and seeds, if using, then the fruit, and ice.  Blend until smooth and creamy.

Have fun experimenting!

This is Strawberry Banana with vanilla protein powder, Lactaid, water, ice, psyllium powder, and a pinch of stevia — Sooo creamy and delicious!

Nut Butter Truffles and Chia Seed Granola

“Energy Balls” coated with Chia Seed Granola

I’ve seen various nut butter “balls” or “truffles” all over the blogsphere.  They are really easy to make and so delicious — great for a portable snack and much cheaper than buying an energy or protein bar.

Basically, you can just mix equal parts nut butter with liquid sweetener and two parts powder, such as non fat milk powder.  I have also made them with protein powder and roasted peanut flour with great results.  For the nut butter, I have used almond and peanut butters, but cashew or walnut or macademia nut butters would be divine.  It is easy to make your own nut butter if you can’t find the kind you like.

This is what the ideal texture of the truffle “paste” looks like after mixing together your ingredients:

This is a combination of almond butter, honey, and milk powder mixed by hand.

You then just shape a portion into a ball, similar to making a meatball, and roll and coat in whatever topping you’d like.   Then refrigerate to firm them up for about 30 minutes.  I store them in an air tight container in the fridge.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

Finished truffles

Recently I started experimenting with chia seeds because I keep reading about how great they are for you.  They are full of omega-3s, protein, fiber, and minerals.  They were eaten by the Aztecs and are considered to be a “super food”.  When mixed with water, the seeds become gelatinous.  When eaten, this gelatinous configuration slows down digestion and makes you feel full.

I actually wasn’t crazy about the gelatinous texture (a lot of people eat it in smoothies and oatmeal), so I decided to roast them instead and use them in granola.

I used to make granola all the time and hadn’t for awhile. Granola is great to make with kids too -  it is so easy and is a delicious and healthier snack alternative.

At the store gathering ingredients for granola

When I saw my friend, Anna’s extra chunky granola recipe on her fabulous blog, Cookie Madness, I had to make some.

I had a few “fails” at first.  One was that the pumpkin seeds I used turned out to be stale!  People, always check your ingredients before putting them into whatever you are making whenever possible!  Grrr… This was remedied by me letting my OCD tendencies run wild and I hand picked each one out of the batch.

They look harmless, but I had to throw them out, they tasted so stale.

The other “fail” was that since I used liquid egg whites instead of a fresh egg white, AND I didn’t squish the mixture into a tight slab before baking as Anna’s recipe instructs, my granola did not have the cluster like texture I was hoping for.

Since it was like regular granola (i.e. not chunky), I used some to coat some Almond Butter Truffles and renamed them “Energy Balls” as they are a healthier version of the more decadent ones I had made before.

These were gobbled up at a Memorial Day picnic this past weekend.  I love the crunch the granola adds.  The chia seeds were crunchy, like poppy seeds, so the gummy texture did not happen until in my stomach!

Nut Butter Truffles

Use a 1:1:2 ratio of peanut butter or almond butter or other nut butter, honey or other liquid sweetener, and twice the amount of non-fat instant milk powder.

Mix together, shape into balls, and coat with whatever you like, such as mini chocolate chips, dried coconut, wheat germ, cinnamon sugar, almonds, cereal, granola, etc.

Chill to firm up for about 30 minutes or longer in the refrigerator.  Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Chia Seed Granola, based on Anna’s Extra Chunky Granola

Note: I halved the recipe because I baked it in a Cuisinart toaster oven

I didn’t add the mixed nuts because I didn’t have any — just sliced almonds.  This also worked well with the Energy Balls, because the nuts would have been too big.

Non-stick spray

3/4 tablespoon butter

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil (or other oil)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon honey

1/2 tablespoon maple syrup

pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (preferably not stale!)

1/3 cup sliced almonds

2 tablespoons dried coconut

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 tablespoon liquid egg white (this will make the granola a regular granola texture.  If you want extra chunky, use 1/2 tablespoon fresh egg white, as per Anna’s recipe after halving and press together very tightly in to a thin slab before baking)

1/4 cup chopped dried fruit (I used three dried apricots)

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.

2. Heat butter, oil, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and salt in a small sauce pan on stove.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool.

3.  Mix dry ingredients except dried fruit together in a large bowl.  Evenly coat oat mixture with egg white.  Then pour the sweet liquid mixture over and evenly coat.  Spread in one  layer on baking sheet.

4.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Let cool, and then stir to break up, add dried fruit.

Makes about 10 ounces.

Monthly Lego Build and Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Secret Ingredient

Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?

*Quick note, I forgot to add earlier — after almost two years, I FINALLY figured out how to post my book, SOUP DAY, on the sidebar just days ago!  Yes, I’m kind of technically challenged (or intimidated, shall we say?)  Anyway, if you haven’t already, please check it out — I have almost reached my goal of selling enough copies for the sequel (another cooking related theme)– it’s a fun book for budding cooks! *

OK, back to the regular scheduled blog post:

Yesterday Jamie had a special play date with two friends.  I took the three of them into the city to visit the Lego store at Rockefeller Center where there is a monthly model build every first Tuesday.

Approaching Radio City Music Hall near Times Square. Such city kids.

Each month is a different theme, and each child gets to build the model and keep the original kit (while supplies last).  For the month of May, it was a tulip.

The staff there is incredibly nice and actually let the boys build their own construction using pieces in the bins for sale while waiting for the model build to begin!

Plants v.s. Zombies Zen Garden

If you are ever in the area, the Lego store is a fun visit. There are giant structures as well as fun miniature city scenes all built out of Lego, including Rockefeller Center.  I didn’t take any photos because I had to save our spot in the line.

I wanted to bring a portable snack for the boys to eat on the subway on route, so I made a Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread loaf beforehand.  I cut each slice into cubes and brought it in containers.

This bread is SO moist and full of chocolate flavor, you would never guess it is actually full of nutrients.  It’s also lower in sugar and fat than traditional zucchini bread, because I use applesauce in place of a lot of oil.

Can you guess the secret ingredient yet?  Yep, spinach.  The chocolate masks the flavor completely.  I’ve actually seen chocolate baked goods made with cooked kale, but I haven’t attempted this yet… Kale has a much stronger flavor than spinach, so I am a bit hesitant to try it out.  The spinach, however, works perfectly, I promise.

This bread is an excellent after school snack.  It’s actually good enough in my book to serve for breakfast.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread (with special ingredient!)

Non-stick spray

1 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (23 g)

1 cup frozen spinach, or ½ cup cooked spinach

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small zucchini or ½ medium one)

1 ripe banana, mashed

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a loaf pan with parchment and spray with non-stick spray.  Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder until evenly mixed.
3. Microwave frozen spinach for about 1 minute on high.  Squeeze out extra water and drain.  Process in a food processor with oil until finely pureed.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
4. Into spinach mixture, add zucchini, banana, applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Then add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.  Then stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into lined loaf pan and dot the top with remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.
6. Bake for 1 hour. Test with a toothpick or skewer to see if done.  Let cool in pan on a rack for about 30 minutes.  Cut around edges with a knife and carefully lift out onto cooling rack (don’t invert or the chocolate chips will get smashed).
7. Let cool, cut and serve.