Apple Cranberry Slaw

Almost a Thanksgiving combination – but this would be good any time. The fresh-or-frozen cranberry option makes a pretty tart salad, so if I made it again, I would use dried, sweetend cranberries. Either way, the cranberries add a bright color and good flavor. I must confess, though, the toasted pecans are my favorite part!

Apple Cranberry Slaw

5-6 cups shredded cabbage

2 cups diced apple (1 large)

1/2 cup diced celery (1-2 stalks)

1/2 cup toasted pecans

1 – 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped or 1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1-2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1-2 tsp. honey

In a large salad bowl, combine cabbage, apples, celery, and pecans, and cranberries. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, and honey. Pour over slaw; stir well to combine. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 6-8 servings

Healthier Recipes

Does anyone else ever “healthify” recipes? It’s usually not too hard, and sometimes you can’t tell too much difference! Here’s a few tips for baking tasty and healthy treats!

(photo courtesy of sxc.hu)

1. We all know that honey is better for us than sugar. But using honey in baking requires a few adjustments. Use only about 1/2 as much honey as sugar is called for in the recipe. Decrease the oven heat about 25 degrees. Except a more cake-like texture in cookie recipes, but it shouldn’t change much in recipes like muffins, quick breads, and cakes. Recipes with honey may require a longer baking, too. Beware of using honey in candies or other recipes that depend on the sugar.

(photo courtesy of sxc.hu)

2. Whole wheat flour can replace white flour in most recipes. I prefer to use soft white wheat or hard white wheat instead of hard red white. A few tablespoons of cornstarch can lighten recipes up some. In yeast bread recipes, a little wheat gluten or vitamin C improves the texture.

3. Experiment with the amount of butter and oil in recipes. They probably can be decreased some, but you can expect a difference in flavor in texture. Pureed fruit can add moisture instead of the oil.

How do you “healthify” recipes?

~Rachel~

I’m sending this recipe to Tammy’s Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays. Head over for more kitchen tips!

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins with Streusel Topping

These are good.

Thanks for the streusel, Corrie. It was amazing…as always.

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins with Streusel Topping

Muffins:

2 1/2-3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 T. cornstarch

2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen, do not thaw before using)

Streusel topping:

7 T. butter, melted

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 T. finely chopped walnuts or pecans

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, combine oil, honey, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in blueberries before batter is completely mixed.

4. For streusel, combine streusel ingredients. =)

5. Spoon muffin batter into 18 greased muffin cups. Top with streusel.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until muffins test done.

7. ENJOY!

I adapted this recipe from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins, and More. Here’s the raspberry version of this recipe.

~Rachel~

Mocha Chip Cheesecake

Merry Christmas, everybody!

This is the cheesecake I made for our Christmas dinner…who would think that a cheesecake could be so easy and so – almost – healthy? Well, not healthy, but closer than normal!

Now…let’s see if I can write down what I did.

Mocha Chip Cheesecake

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 cups 4% cottage cheese (lower-fat cottage cheese would probably work, too)

4 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. instant coffee granules

1-2 T. cocoa powder

2 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 cups miniature chocolate chips, divided

2 T. butter

Graham cracker crust in a 10″ springform cheesecake pan

Combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips and crust) in a food processor and blend until smooth. If it all doesn’t fit, process part of it, remove, then process the other part. Fold in 1 cup chocolate chips. In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt remaining chocolate chips and butter. Stir until smooth. Combine with 1-2 cups cheesecake mixture. Spread the dark chocolate layer on the bottom of the crust. Cover with remaining cheesecake mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until almost set in the middle. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in it for 30 minutes. Don’t open the door. Refrigerate overnight. Yield: 8-12 slices

Note: for an extra touch, garnish each piece with chocolate chips and coffee beans!

Hope you enjoy!

Rachel

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Okay, I know I posted these before, but I’m doing it again because I made these again! Don’t you like chocolate and peanut butter?

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided

4 1/2 tsp. butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 oz. each), coarsely chopped

Colored sprinkles, optional

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. In a microwave-safe bowl or on the stove, melt the remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter, chocolate chips, and milk chocolate bars. Drop scant teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture in 36 paper-lined miniature muffins cups. Top the chocolate mixture with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with remaining chocolate mixture. Refrigerate until firm. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 36 cups

Enjoy! These are really easy and (duh!) yummy!

~Rachel~

Decoupaged Tin

I thought it would be fun to decorate a tin for my homemade peanut butter cups (upcoming post!), and it was! I hope I can decoupage more tins in the future!

I printed up some movie quotes and other quotes (like “happy birthday!”), and tore them into strips. I decoupaged them over the lid, filling in the extras spaces with little strips of paper. For around the edge, I decoupaged on a couple of layers of red tissue paper. For the base, I folded up a strip of red tissue paper and decoupaged it on, then pasted more quotes around the side.

I have a cute little square tin I want to decorate next!

Anybody else having fun with decoupage?

~Rachel~

Mocha Nut Balls

Kind of like a chocolate shortbread…

Kind of like a mocha that melts in your mouth….

I wasn’t sure about trying these unknown cookies. They aren’t like a standard recipe of chocolate chip cookies, you know? But I’m glad I did! They might even be make-again’s. But it’s more fun to try a new recipe than to make one again! I hope you’ll try them out – because you’ll like them! I mean, if you get any cookies made. The dough is really good.

Mocha Nut Balls

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 T. instant coffee granules

1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, and coffee granules; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325 for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Cool on pans for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Roll warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar.

Yield: 4-1/2 dozen cookies

~Rachel~

Sweet Cream Scones with Maple Pecan Butter

Okay…they weren’t REALLY cream scones, but they would have been good if they were.

They were actually soy milk scones.

Or you could call them vanilla scones.

Or biscuits that are shaped like scones. Then, they’d be bones…or sciscuits. Never mind.

But try the Maple Pecan Butter.

Sweet Cream Scones with Maple Pecan Butter

2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

6 T. sugar (or add 3 T. honey to the milk mixture)

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold

1 1/2 cups cream, milk, or soy milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add vanilla to the cream/milk. Mix with flour mixture. Add additional flour as needed. Knead a few times on a floured surface, then roll into a 12-inch circle. Cut into desired shapes – whether scones or biscuits. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Serve warm with Maple Pecan Butter. Yield: 12-15 biscuits

Maple Pecan Butter

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 T. sour cream

2 T. pecans, chopped very fine

1 tsp. – 1 T. maple syrup

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine ingredients well. Chill until ready to serve. Yield: maybe 1/2 cup? =)

Enjoy!

~Rachel~

Black Bean Pumpkin Chili

This is pretty much a family favorite. I made it tonight – ’twas as good as ever.

Black Bean Pumpkin Chili

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium yellow sweet pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. oil

3 cups chicken broth

2 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes

1 can (15 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin

2 1/2 cups chopped turkey or ground beef/beef sausage

1/2 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

2 tsp. chili powder

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

Saute the onions, pepper, and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until heated through and ready to serve. Yield: 8-10 servings

Don’t be scared of the pumpkin…you can’t even taste it!

~Rachel~

Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves

I wanted to make a type of mini-loaf, considered a type of apple loaf, then looked at a bunch of quick-breads in a Taste of Home magazine.

This one looked good. It was.

I could go on and on and on about the texture and taste and all that, but you probably don’t care! You can make them and decide for yourself.

Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 T. chai tea latte mix

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 T. butter, softened

1 T. chai tea latte mix

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

4-5 T. milk

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine cocoa, water, and butter. Microwave on high until butter is melted. Pour into a mixing bowl. Whisk in brown sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, latte mix, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet ingredients; stir until just mixed. Transfer to 3 greased small loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to a wire rack to cool completely. For frosting, combine the sugar, latte mix, vanilla, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Yield: 3 mini loaves (6 slices each)

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Do you have any recipes you’d like to share? I’d love to post some! Just e-mail me (see About page), or leave a comment!

God Bless!

Rachel