easy as pie - whole grain chocolate hand pies

I take no credit for these

 

I snagged the general idea from my friend Deanna's post on the #chocolatelove blog hop that started on Saturday. My version is way over simplified. I can't wait to make her original version. But in a last minute strike of a sweet tooth, I decided to introduce the small squares of dark chocolate in my pantry to the extra half of pizza dough leftover after I made this for lunch

The chocolate hand pies are nothing more than a circle of my whole wheat pizza dough, rolled flat and folded over two miniature squares of dark chocolate; sealed, sprayed with a bit of oil & sprinkled with turbinado sugar, then baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. (Note: 1 recipe of the pizza dough made the medium pizza shown here + 5 hand pies). 

As an aside, I'm oddly fascinated by the names different cultures give to their folded dough concoctions - calzones, empanadas, hand pies, dumplings. Growing up, my grandmother (my Mom's mom... not "Ween", for those of you who have been around here for a while) used to make fried apple pies. And they are everything you think they'd be. Wretchedly excessive in calories and equally as delicious. 

What about you? What's your favorite folded dough delight?

***

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

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Ingredients 

• 1 cup warm water (around 110 degrees)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon fast rise yeast
• 360g (about 2 2/3 cups) white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions

Pour water into liquid measuring cup; add honey and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.

Combine flour & salt in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add yeast water and mix on low speed until combined. Add olive oil and continue mixing until blended. Knead dough on medium-low speed 5 minutes or until dough forms a smooth, elastic ball.

Place ball of dough into an oiled bowl and turn to coat (or use cooking spray). Cover bowl with plastic wrap or moist dish cloth. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm area free from drafts (a barely warm oven, turned off, with a steaming cup of water inside & door closed works great).

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rosemary "grilled" shrimp skewers

I'm fortunate to live in an area of the country where grilling year-round is pretty much a reality. Unfortunately, our grill is mostly under my husband's purview. I could probably jockey for an assistant grill master role, but I run an entire kitchen solo, so I'm fine to let it be what it is. 

Tonight's dinner was totally grill worthy... but the grill master arrived home today after a long week away, and I decided that we'd keep the meal indoors. A grill pan is great for small grilling jobs, but it's just never worked well for larger meals and especially not for skewers.

I'm in love with my "kabob rack" for skewers. I simply thread/arrange the kebobs, place the entire rack on a lined baking sheet and broil. The rack keeps the food "up" off the pan which helps achieve a roasted/grilled flavor. Clean up is a snap, and it's is an excellent substitute for those nights when grilling is not an option.

I was reminded of how well shrimp and rosemary play together in this post by my friend Deanna over at Teaspoon of Spice. The skewers shown here are a simple combination of shrimp, whole button mushrooms & cherry tomatoes, marinated in olive oil, chopped fresh rosemary, balsamic vinegar, Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper. I broiled the veggie skewers for about 10 minutes on the lower rack of my oven and the shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes on each side on the top rack.

There were no leftovers. That pretty much says it all.

*** 

What about you? Are you lucky enough to grill year-round? If not, have you discovered a kabob rack and used it for indoor "grilling"? 

israeli couscous salad

I like dried fruit. It's...

...portable

...fiber-filled

...anti-oxidant rich

...quick and easy

...satisfies a sweet tooth

Like I said, I like dried fruit. 

But I typically stick with my stand-bys: dried figs, cherries, blueberries & raisins. Our house is never without this assortment (Have I mentioned I like dried fruit? My kids do too.) 

Anyway, when I arrived home yesterday, I found these on my doorstep:

Well, actually I found a sealed box of these on my doorstep, but you probably figured as much. They're Sunsweet's "Plum Amazins" and they're diced dried plums.

This super simple salad is what I did with them  

Israeli Couscous Salad

8 ounces dry Israeli couscous, cooked

1/4 cup diced red onion

2 diced clementines

1 cup chopped arugula

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup "diced dried plums" (or prunes for those of you who aren't afraid of the "old" name)

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients.

***

Super simple, right? 

If you've been around this blog for a while you know I don't typically do product reviews. But when I see something that works well in recipes, provides a taste & nutrition benefit and is minimally processed, I am happy to share. 

A couple of things I noticed from the nutrition info on the package: 

"Diced plums have 50% more fiber than raisins & cranberries & 50% less sugar than raisins & cranberries." This was news to me. 

But here's what I really think makes them a good addition to my kitchen (i.e. why would I ever purchase these if I already have a pantry full of dried fruit?) The fact that they naturally have less sugar than a raisin, for instance, means that in savory side dishes or even entrees where you want just a hint of sweet, these are a great choice. They were perfect in this salad... not so sweet as to turn this into dessert... but sweet enough to play well with the clementines.

I'm not sure how widely available these are yet... or even the price. A good blogger would find out all of those details. I never promised I was a good blogger. I'm just Regan.

Let me know if you've seen these before & what you think of them.

(Disclosure: I received this package and the product inside free of charge, un-requested, with no obligations. The opinions expressed here are my own. I am not being compensated for this review.)

familiar broccoli-raisin salad

So today I was supposed to post a wonderful recipe and discussion of how this month I'd made macarons for the first time. I scheduled to make them... really, I did (albeit a little late on the calendar, but scheduled nonetheless.) Then life happened, and macaron testing/perfecting quickly fell by the wayside.

I don't find my blog the best space discuss the finer matters of my personal life. I'll just say that spending time with folks you care about during the tougher times of their lives is without question more important than testing a new recipe. And I know the lovely ladies who started First on the First agree. So please take a minute to jump over to their recipes and drool over their macarons... see what you're missing on this blog today. 

And then pull up a bowl for this old familiar favorite. I was home with my mother today when she said "I'm thinking about making 'that' broccoli salad. Whatcha think?" 

I think I'll have seconds.

I love this dish... I don't make it nearly enough. 

We sort of improvised based on what we had on hand, but essentially this recipe from my friends over at MyRecipes.com (the BEST source for reliable kitchen-tested recipe) is a match (we left out the sunflower seeds this time... none on hand, but they would certainly be delish.) 

This may not rival the beauty and foodie appeal of a macaron, but some days, something familiar is all you need. 

raspberry custard with a sugar crust

This...

...was supposed to be a Crème Brûlée with Raspberries based on this recipe by the super talented Caroline of Chocolate and Carrots.

But clearly it looks more like a Raspberry Custard with a Sugar Crust by the kitchen-improv-gets-you-into-trouble-sometimes Regan of The Professional Palate, don't you think?

I love being the editor of my recipe titles. It takes what would have been a failed recipe - because really... does that look like your traditional crème brûlée - and allows me to share something delicious, without your expectations clouding the vision around it.

I almost sent this one packing when I realized how much the raspberries had bubbled their juicy goodness into the custard, then realized I didn't have any butane and had to resort to an oven broil (which just doesn't produce the same look for the sugar crust... it's tasty... just not the same). Then I spooned in for a taste. 

So. Good. 

If you don't mind a little juiciness from the berries and are game to just get your brûlée from the broiler, head on over to Caroline's blog. Follow her recipe, adding in your berries before pouring in the custard. Bake and chill as she directs and then if you are butane-less, give it a whirl under the broiler. What you get may not be right to be called crème brûlée, but it's delicious all the same. 

a personal plea to pinterest (and shrimp summer rolls from my pin-menu)

Pinterest... I love you so very much. I've added your button to my site. I've set up multiple boards with you. We've been together for months now. But you aren't perfect. 

***

I recently read and re-tweeted an article that talked about the Top 10 Things Pinterest Should Do Right Now. I agree with a number of the items mentioned, but I also know as a website owner myself, it's not that easy to make every change people think you should make, all at once. 

But the one change that I request, plead, implore and beg Pinterest to make and make soon - give us the ability to rearrange pins. And here's why:

If you use Pinterest in its rawest form simply to pin and re-pin, a sort of One and Done activity, it's not a big deal. But once you embrace the power of Pinterest to organize themes in your personal and professional life, you crave the ability to keep those pins organized. You can't do that with the current format, which I can only assume is arranged by the date/time stamp of when it was pinned. 

I'm no programmer and have no clue what that update would entail. But I would love, love to see it happen. By nature of being a digital pinboard, this platform screams for that functionality, in my opinion. Face it... if you had a pinboard at home or in your office, wouldn't you re-arrange items occasionally? 

If it happened, I would be able to re-arrange the pin that I originally made for the inspiration behind these Shrimp Summer Rolls:

 

I pinned them onto my Pin-Menu board last week, but ended up making them on a different day than I originally intended. Since I'd like to keep these menus as a record of what I'm cooking and definitely go back and revisit them as I plan future menus, being able to edit AND rearrange pins would be so helpful! 

***

Now to the food.

Shrimp Summer Rolls were an adaptation of this recipe from Spa Bettie. 

Here's what I did differently, in case you'd like to try them, too. 

-Used cooked shrimp instead of tempeh

-Used regular sesame seeds (toasted)

-Added sriracha to the sauce and omitted the ginger

-Served the edamame on the side (because we like them so much I knew we'd want more!) 

-Sprinkled with crushed red pepper (because we like extra spicy!) 

They were SO easy. If you've been reluctant to make homemade summer rolls for fear of working with rice paper, don't be. It's no fuss and super fast. And most importantly, quite tasty. 

So what about you???

Anything you'd like to see Pinterest do differently?

Are you a fan of summer rolls - do you make them at home? 

{the recipe redux} 100% whole wheat "cinnabon" muffins

It's a new year and a new season of ReDux. It's only fitting that we set this month's theme as Fresh Starts - basically breakfast done ReDux style (A big thank you to Rebecca @ MeFirst and Gretchen @ Kumquat for the suggestion). 

Most of the time when the monthly theme is set, I know exactly what I want to make from the beginning. This time - not so much. 

It's not that breakfast was hard to come up with an idea... it was hard to come up with only one idea. Breakfast is by far the most popular meal around my house. I'm a morning person (just follow me on Twitter and you'll see... up with the birds, for real.) 

I contemplated another granola or breakfast bowl... even toyed with the idea of a breakfast cookie... but when it came time to turn on the oven, I chose a tried and true favorite - "Cinnabon" Muffins [click here for recipe] (improved with 100% whole wheat for the ReDux.) 

I use the term "Cinnabon" loosely. These are nowhere near as decadent as a real Cinnabon roll. Thankfully, they are nowhere near as high-calorie either. Still on the sweet side, they are delish even without the addition of the sugar glaze. They could certainly be made in mini-muffin tins for a smaller serving, as well. Plus, they are made with 100% whole wheat pastry flour - so tender, but so much better than all-purpose. And really, when has a trip by Cinnabon ever offered a nice dose a fiber in the am?) 

So pull up a cup of smothing warm this Saturday morning and gawk over all the breakfast creations my fellow ReDux members have shared below. If you've already "enjoyed" a lonely bowl of cereal before clicking over our way, take heart that you can start enjoying any these breakfast options tomorrow and make a Fresh Start. 

As the first and only recipe challenge founded by registered dietitians, The Recipe ReDux aims to inspire the food lover in every healthy eater and inspire the healthy eater in every food lover. Thank you for visiting. We hope you enjoy!

(Please note that this is a closed link-up for Recipe ReDux posts only. Any links added to this collection for non-ReDux posts will be deleted.)

1. Liz & Janice @ Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen - Peanut Butter Pancakes	2. Nicole @ Whole Health RD: Fermented Oats	3. Regan @ The Professional Palate - Cinnabon Muffins	4. Cindy Brison, Nutritionknowhow.org Not Your Mama's Pancakes
5. Alysa @ Inspired RD - Banana Berry Green Smoothie	6. Yuri @chefpandita - Strawberry Kiwi Spinach Lime Hemp Smoothie	7. LizOnFood - Avocado Melon Smoothie	8. Cherie @ Grain Crazy - Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones
9. Mary@BrightonYourHealth-Honey Topped French Breakfast Radish Tartines	10. Emma @ The Hearty Heart: Breakfast Bento Box	11. EA @TheSpicyRD: Breakfast Bananas Foster	12. Emily @ The Nutriscientist - Chai spiced bircher muesli with apple
13. Kristina @ Love and Zest - Warm Breakfast Salad	14. Deanna @TeaspoonofSpice - Baked Oatmeal Squares with Cherries	15. Kat Lynch @ Eating The Week - Eggs BeneMex	16. Meg @ Meg's Food Reality
17. Elizabeth @ Don't (White) Sugar-Coat It Teff Porridge	18. gretchen @ kumquat - dk chocolate-raspberry oat muffins	19. Nutrition Budgeteer Berry Oven Pancake	20. Carlene @ Carlene's Figments
21. Kara @ Peace, Love, Food - Roasted Veggie Scramble & Sweet Potato Home Frie	22. Janel @ Eat Well with Janel	23. Rebecca @ MeFirst Blog	24. Karman @NutritionAdventures
25. Ayla Withee @EatSimply	26. Diane@eatwelleatclean.com	27. Rebecca @ It's a Savoury Life	28. Alexandra @ Delicious Knowledge Vanilla Chai Oatmeal
29. Gabriella @GabriellaVRD	30. JeJe@God, Food, Run	31. Meg @ Meg in the Kitchen - Eggs atop baked potato pancakes	32. Avital @ A Slice of Nutrition- Shakshuka Breakfast Burrito
33. Kristen @ Swanky Dietitian-Omelet Breakfast Sandwich	34. healthy bites	35. Jill Melton@therelishdish.com Pecan Quinoa Breakfast Bowl	36. Emma @ Scoop Nutrition - Breakfast Quinoa with Quince Balsamic Berries
37. Danielle @ Food Confidence: 90-second Breakfast

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

pin-menus & a recipe for golden beet bisque with bleu cheese

As I said in my first post this year, I don't make a lot of New Year's resolutions. I mean, I make a ton of plans throughout the year of things I want to do, accomplish, etc., but they sorta come into being rather organically.

That's where my recent idea for a personal pin-menu came from - it's my personal menu planning board on Pinterest. I'm such a Pinterest addict and on there so often, it occurred to me that I needed to use the Power of the Pin to do something constructive for myself and my family, beyond just feeding my penchant for messy hair buns, scarf tying tutorials and beautiful food styling.

I'm going to *try* to update my pin-menu board weekly to keep track of what I have cooked, want to cook and would like to cook again. I have a general board of likes, wishes, etc., but this one I'm assigning days to, to hold myself accountable and to plan out my week better. I'm a slave to a visual workflow... so the idea of being able to see it laid out for me as the week starts just fits me.

Now, on to the recipe.

I pinned my Roasted Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup for today and knew that I wanted to substitute the golden beets and parsnips I had on hand for the sweet potato and carrot in the original recipe.

The result was even better than I had hoped! Golden beets - if you've never had the pleasure of their company - are a much more subtle, sweet beet than their red counterparts. I'm a beet fan all the way around, and love them in a salad topped with bleu cheese. So I thought "why not a soup, instead?"

If you are a beet & bleu cheese fan, you will love this soup (If you aren't, give the sweet potato soup a try. It's delish, too). This version needs a little extra attention to get it to a smooth consistency... but a good hand blender or sturdy blender/food processor does the trick.

What about you?

A beet fan? How about bleu cheese? 

How are you using Pinterest... anything constructive? Or are you like me.... just enjoying the clothes, homes, shoes and cake pops that you'll likely only know in pictures ;-)

whole wheat blueberry powdered donuts

If you're still wondering after my last post whether getting a donut pan is a good idea, what does this tell ya? 

 

These donuts are delish. Simply delish. 

They aren't a substitute exactly for a deep-fried, glazed donut-shop confection. But since I can't typically bring myself to opt for that type of eatery anyway, I'm liking these just fine. 

I used whole wheat pastry flour, which is unbelievably tender in baked goods... much more so than my usual white whole wheat. These are almost too tender and definitely muffin-like. I honestly believe you could take most any flavored muffin batter, bake in these pans, sugar or glaze them, call them a donut and everyone would still love you. 

And if they don't, you'd still have a dozen reasons to love yourself. 

whole wheat chocolate donuts

So the idea of a "healthier" donut is pretty exciting huh?

I've seen lots of them here, but I wanted to try my hand at my own version.

And these are not too shabby tasting, really. I'm not exactly sold that they are the next big thing to run Krispy Kreme out of business... they are a work in progress. But with a few minor changes to this recipe, I'd say they're a good starting point. 

What about you?

Anybody out there had great success with a whole wheat baked donut?

Specifically, I want it to be sweet enough, but not too sweet... and not have the faint whole wheat taste that I love in an oatmeal raisin cookie, but can do without in a donut. 

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