Recipe: Healthy Zucchini Bread

Oy vey… So this last week of pre-orientation has been INSANE. 3 hours of sleep and meeting 20 awesome new freshman? No biggy.

Anyways, I’m sorry I’ve been totally neglecting ya’ll with any semblance of foodie goodness. So as a little present, here’s an end-of-summer treat to keep you going to remind you of all the wonders of Summer 2012.

One of my favorite things about being home is baking.  But not just any baking…healthy baking!

Usually with vegetables. Sometimes with chocolate. Always with ridiculous dancing. Hopefully with ultimate deliciousness

H and family have been the best of hosts this summer and have graciously allowed me to use their kitchen, but surprisingly, I’ve done very little baking. With the dog days of summer dwindling though, I’m finding myself propelled to the kitchen to use up the last bits of summer produce and summer free time. This summer has been a bit indulgent (wonderfully so), but now, I’m feeling quite dandy about a healthy treat that feels great and tastes even better.

So here’s to zucchini bread….

Whole grain, protein-packed, vegetable- dotted, moist, light, summery, and most importantly, DELICIOUS zucchini bread.

Healthy Zucchini Bread

Ever-so-slightly sweet with a variation of different textures, this zucchini bread is one of the tastiest things I’ve baked all summer. It’s bursting at the seams with whole grains, protein, and omega-3’s, but you’d never guess it. Lovely either a morning breakfast with coffee or for a late summer gathering with some lemonade, this is a treat you can feel proud to eat.

Inspired by Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life’s Zucchini Bread

Makes 10 slices

Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour** 1 cup rolled oats 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2 eggs 2 tsp chia seeds 3 tbsp milk (I used non-dairy almond milk) 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups shredded zucchini 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

**Regular whole wheat is too heavy. If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and spices., using a whisk to evenly distribute all ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the chia seeds, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and zucchini, and whisk until mixture is even.

At this point, combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently stir to avoid getting a “glue-y” batter, and then, fold in the chopped walnuts.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until the bread is golden on top and cooked in the middle. Allow to cool for 15 minutes (important or you will end up with mushy bread!).

EDIT: A note from my dear mother...Since this bread has a high moisture content from the zucchini and no real preservatives (yay!), it is best kept in the fridge in order to maintain freshness. If you are planning on eating it over a long span of time, slice bread and then freeze + reheat. :)

I was a little bit nervous about this bread turning out dense due to the combination of so many wet ingredients (zucchini, applesauce, eggs, etc.) and whole wheat, but it definitely exceeded my expectations! I modified much of Courtney’s recipe to suit my own tastes, swapping chia seeds for the egg whites and adding walnuts.

The only thing I might try next time is either using quick oats (as originally recommended) or grinding up rolled oats a tad to make them a bit less pronounced in the bread. I really like whole oats in my breads, but I’m not sure if guests would feel the same.

That said, Mom let me know this morning that she “really liked the oat-iness.” Ironic, eh?

I guess it just goes to show you that this bread is a winner all-around!

P.S. Plus, it makes for another great recipe too…. Any guesses?

Single Serving Honey Wheat Pancakes

Last night, I made H and myself pancakes for dinner.

Because breakfast for dinner ROCKS, right?

(Ya’ll are jumping up and down in choruses of yes right now, I presume.)

Beautious.

What were these?

Single-serving honey wheat pancakes (x2) with warm blueberry sauce.

OMG. I decided to “wing it” and was happy that I did. These were absolutely scrumptious. They were dinner but breakfast, breakfast but dessert. And they were AH-FRICKIN-MAZING.

And because you guys have been awesome, I even have a recipe.

Whole wheat pancakes for one?

Well, ain’t that something.

Single Serving Honey Wheat Pancakes

I love my roommate. I also love Fridays. The product of these two facts resulted in me doubling this recipe to make pancakes for two. But if you’re rocking the single lady jam, I totally got your back. By all means, make these pancakes for the sexiest, snazziest, wittiest, awesomest, crazy coolest person you know—namely yourself! Oh, and feel darn good about it because these pancakes are filled with good-for-you ingredients and just happen to be vegan.

Serving: About 5 silver dollar pancakes

Notes: Vegan, if using oil / non-dairy margarine & milk

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour, heaping
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour, heaping
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp warm water, combined (optional, but it helps make these fluffy!)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oil, butter, or margarine (melted)
3/4-1 cup milk of choice (I used soy)

Directions:

1) In a medium mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a whisk, until all dry ingredients are evenly distributed.
2) Make a small well in the middle of your dry ingredients. To this well, add the flax mixture, honey, butter, and milk of choice.
3) Gently stir all ingredients with whisk until no lumps remain. Be very careful not to overmix. (The fluffiness of the pancakes depends on you being gentle with the batter.)
4) In a heated, greased skillet, use a 1/4 cup measure and pour three inch circles of batter. Cook until golden brown on each side.
5) Enjoy!

(Hint: You can make the batter in advance too! Just keep it in the fridge and then take it out about 10 minutes before you’re ready to use it.)

These pancakes are ever-so-subtly sweet and great topped with butter + maple syrup. You can nix the all purpose flour and sub more whole wheat flour and/or the flax meal. However, I would recommend trying it with them first because they both lend to the leavening of the ‘cakes.

Either way, they’ll make you feel awesome on a Friday.

Actually, either way, you are awesome. On every day of the week.

And the best way to celebrate?

Pancakes. Lots of pancakes.

Recipe: Caramelized Banana Bread Rice Pudding

<<Note: This is actually also serving as the Dining Hall DIY sample post that I’m submitting as a part of my Contributing Writer Application for Small Kitchen College!>>

You skip into the dining hall, waltzing with excitement after your latest encounter with “The Cute Boy Who Shalt Not Be Named.” And then you stop in your tracks—hit by the tsunami of sloppy joe aroma that, unfortunately, you know a little bit too well.

Le sigh.

After finishing your dreaded, wannabe (wo)manwich, you stare ruefully at the empty plate before you.

At this point, you’ve come to accept that there is only one type of food that can possible cheer you up: dessert.

Oh yes, dessert—da King Kahuna, the Elvis, the knight in shining armor, the love of your life and perhaps mine as well. But which dessert to pick?

Cake? Not New Year’s resolution approved.

Cookies? You can do better.

Soft Serve? Problem: Nameless cute boy does not dig ice cream mustaches.

Caramelized Banana Bread Rice Pudding? Oh *&%#! Swoooooooooooooooooooon.

Innocently sexy. Gourmet and guaranteed mustache free.

Oh, and did I mention perfect for sharing with “The Cute Boy Who Shalt Not Be Named”?

Lexi is a freshman at Georgetown University, where she is considering an International Business/Management double major and proving that not all business school students have to end up on Wall Street. A nutrition aficioncado and laid-back vegetarian, she is a connoisseur of healthy baked goods, lover of farmers’ markets, and expert in freakishly cheesy puns and one-liners.

Caramelized Banana Bread Rice Pudding

Serves 1

Sweet, gooey, and banana-y, this rice pudding will surprise your friends with its simple deliciousness and impressive nutrition profile. Because it combines whole grains, potassium-rich fruit, and healthy fats/protein, it also makes a wonderful breakfast that will keep both your snobbie inner foodie and stomach going for hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 medium ripe banana, sliced
• ½ cup milk (Note: I use almond or soy milk, but feel free to use any kind you like!)
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon plus extra for topping
• Pinch salt
• 1 tbsp nut butter (e.g. peanut butter), for topping

Directions:

1) In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except nut butter.

2) Microwave for 2 ½ minutes on high. Remove and mash until the mixture is mostly smooth. (Some small banana bits are okay, but try to mash the big chunks.)

3) Microwave for additional 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until mixture is warm and pudding- like. Add an extra drizzle of milk and stir, if the mixture is too thick for your liking.

4) Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nut butter, and enjoy!

When I’m not away at school, most of my rice puddings begin more like this…

The almighty to-go box.

After our family goes out for Asian food of some sorts (usually Thai), we end up with a heaping box full of brown rice leftovers. By that, I mean we always seem to end up with a disproportionate amount of rice: curry.

Thanks family…

And let’s be real now—a girl can only pretend she’s Mulan eating plain rice for so long.

Then again, I guess that means more Caramelized Banana Bread Rice Pudding for me!

Mwhwhahahaha

Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve!

Recipe: Pumpkin-Quinoa Granola

There’s plenty of mornings where breakfast goes something like this:

No time to make oatmeal, no bread to make toast, no willpower to make pancakes.

Then suddenly, a light shines down from the heavens and spells C-E-R-E-A-L.

5.12749 second later, almond milk is whipped out of the fridge and applied to cereal like a category 5 hurricane.

Talk about inclement weather.

But just like pizza, I don’t like any ‘ole cereal. Nope, my bowl of cereal (which is usually a melange of multiple varieties) has to meet some pretty strict requirements.

It has to be:

1. Delicious, duh!
2. Both of good quantity and quality
3. Capable of keeping me as full and energized for multiple hours

I generally gravitate towards “healthy” cereals, but such cereals often a) taste like cardboard and/or b) are full of wacky ingredients that hardly qualify as healthy.

Of course, their sugary counterparts like Lucky Charms and Trix don’t fare much better. Though addictively munchable, these cereals neither offer much in the way of nutrients nor keep me satiated for more than a few minutes.

Then there’s granola. In a wonderful category of its own.

Sweet and oh-so-addicting. Unfortunately, it’s not so impressive in terms of bang-for your-buck, as it can be quite high in sugar and oil. Maybe a good dessert but as for breakfast?

Not so much.

Lucky for you and me, granola is easy to make and unfussy enough that you can tailor it exactly to your own desires. Oh yes, your desires.

I do believe I just made my version of granola sound sexier than a Victoria’s secret fashion show.

Don’t tell me you’ve never dreamt about a good bowl of granola. Seeing as you’re still reading this, I’m guessing you have.

Because how is this NOT seducive:

High protein and low sugar? Check.

Full of REAL ingredients? Check.

Filling, delicious, and charmingly seasonal? Check-check-check.

Sexy? Oh you know it.

Pumpkin-Quinoa Granola

I’m not a big fan of additional “stuff” like nuts and berries in my granola, so I left out the pepitas and cranberries from the original recipe. However, feel free to toss a handful in if you so desire; granola is hardly tempermental. To make this a little bit healthier for a power breakfast, I also reduced the sugar a tad and added quinoa for a whole-grain protein boost. The result is even more addictive and crunchy than store-bought granola, minus all of the ill compromises.

Slightly adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod, originally from Baking Bites

Ingredients:

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup (heaping) pumpkin
• ¼ cup applesauce
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F, and grease a large baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, quinoa, spices, and salt. Mix until all dry ingredients are evenly distributed.

3. Whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, apple sauce, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture, stirring until oats and quinoa are well-coated.Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, and then, remove the pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the granola is golden and crisp (but not hard!). Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Tip: Take the granola out of the oven 1 or 2 minutes before you think its ready—it will continue to cook even after removed, and you don’t want granola rocks.

This granola came together in under five minutes and was delicious both dry and with milk.

It also managed to get me out of bed every morning for a week…which is nothing short of a miracle.

In other words, please go make this.

Before pumpkin falls out of favor (so punny ).

Before you pour that second bowl of Lucky Charms.

Before you’re inclined to go asked Justin Timberlake who’s bringing sexy back.

Recipe: Orange-Yogurt “Tyler Place” Pancakes

I woke up this morning and realized that wisdom was finally upon me.

As much as I would like to say I was spiritually enlightened, nothing of that sort happened.

In fact, there’s very little that is enlightening about the fact that as you read this, I’m uncomfortably squirming in a chair while I get my wisdom teeth yanked.

Thanks…I didn’t want that wisdom anyway. In fact, the only thing I really wanted this morning was pancakes.

Problem: Not allowed to eat breakfast before the surgery.

Solution: You can go make them instead. A wise decision, I promise!

When I was a kiddo, my family used to vacation at a small, family resort on Lake Champlain in Vermont with friends. I can’t remember everything from our trips, but I do remember one thing for sure: I loved it. I loved spending time with my family and hanging out with kids my age, playing games, swimming in an amazing indoor pool, and laughing and running around like a maniac, swimming in the lake, and enjoying some really darn good food.

Oh the food. The “kids’ food” was good, but the “grown-up food” was swoon-worthy. Intricate and gourmet but still home-cooked and prepared with love.

In truth, I don’t even remember all of the food. But I do remember the pancakes.

Ah yes, the pancakes. As if breakfast/brunch wasn’t already my favorite meal, they hooked me in with pancakes. And not just any ordinary pancakes—orange-yogurt pancakes. Heaven on a plate.

A few years later, we stopped going to Tyler Place due to a combination of factors. It was expensive, and my parents wanted to travel elsewhere once we were older.

Tyler Place faded into my memories, and everyone forgot about those delicious pancakes. Until one morning.

I came downstairs to my dad buzzing around the kitchen, a sly grin on his face. Minutes later, I was greeted by a strangely familiar sight: Tyler Place Pancakes.

One bite sent me straight to pancake nirvana, and I quickly consumed my weight in those fluffy cakes. They’re easily my favorite pancakes and probably the favorite of everyone else in my family as well.

Divine. Moist. Dense, yet fluffy with a hint of orange. Always lovingly filled with memories of childhood summers.

Tyler Place Orange-Yogurt Pancakes

These pancakes will forever remind me of their namesake—Tyler Place, a family resort located on the banks of a lake in Vermont. Unlike their buttermilk or blueberry counterparts, these orange pancakes get a perfect hint of fluffiness from the combination of baking powder and soda, while remaining incredibly moist and dense due to the yogurt. If you’re a pancake aficionado like myself, these pancakes are simply a must. Perfectly acceptable for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or really, anytime.

Adapted from Tyler Place

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp fresh orange zest
• 4 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is a must, even if it means juicing 1 orange)
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs (Don’t use a vegan sub. These pancakes really benefit from the eggs)
• 3 tbsp melted butter (or margarine)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1) Combine orange zest, yogurt, eggs, sugar, orange juice, and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until well-combined.

2) In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add yogurt mixture, and stir well just until a smooth batter forms. Do not overmix!

3) Heat a griddle and cook pancakes, flipping once each side is golden brown.

I can just about promise these pancakes will not disappoint. No wisdom required.

Think of somewhere tropical, somewhere homey, somewhere warm and comforting when you eat them. Think of Tyler Place or Dad or Sunday mornings. Or think of me, wriggling around like a Mexican jumping bean and hoping you like these pancakes.

Yes, do that. And cross your fingers and hope that I don’t come back looking like too much of a chipmunk..

At least I’ll still have my sarcasm teeth

Recipe: A Light, Rustic Treat: Whole-Wheat Apple Tea Cake

When I wake up in the morning, I usually find myself already sorting through the options of what to eat. Because breakfast is usually my favorite meal of the day, I take care to consider my options.

Oatmeal, pancakes, smoothies, fruit + yogurt bowls, cereal, an omelet, a bagel?

Truly, the possibilities are endless. 

But to make such a weighty decision as what one is to have for breakfast (serious first world problems here…), brain power is needed.

Uh, that’s the problematic part—brain power…in the morning.

Brain power? Well, that requires food. Fast.

Sometimes, I’ll just munch on a piece of fruit or some cereal, while I plan. And then other times, I’ll mosey over to the cake server that sits in our kitchen and peer inside, as if it’s a crystal ball. A magical crystal ball that tells me what scrumptious delight I’ll be consuming in the next 3.67531 seconds.

3.67531 seconds later, I find myself happily eating a piece of homemade cookie or muffin, or in this case….a square of rustic apple tea cake.

Let’s just call it a breakfast appetizer. Can we swing that?

I’ll take that as a yes.

Whole-Grain Apple Tea Cake

Naturally sweet from the apples and apple sauce, this cake is perfect for an afternoon snack or light breakfast with a cup of tea. My family enjoyed it, but I also forewarned everyone that it was more of snack cake than a sinful dessert. If you would prefer such a dessert, I would recommend a frosting, icing, or perhaps even a scoop of ice cream. As for me, I’ll stick with the breakfast appetizer.

Adapted from "The Realistic Nutritionist"

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (or more oat flour)
• 1/2 cup oat flour (or more whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium apples, finely diced (I left the peel on)
• 1 egg (a flax egg would probably work as well)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp chopped pecans (or other nuts)
• 1/4 cup organic applesauce
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 8-inch baking pan.

2) Whisk flours, baking soda, spices and salt with a whisk in a small mixing bowl.

3) In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, apples, chopped nuts, egg and applesauce. Slowly add in dry mixture, mixing gently just until well-combined. Mixture will be thick.

4) Pour batter in greased pan, and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.