DIY: Granola Bars

I found this recipe a while ago, when looking up treats that featured peanut butter for a LOST party. Before that, I had never realized how easy it was to make your own granola bars. These are great for snacks or a on-the-run breakfast. They will also stay for at least a week if in sealed package. This recipe was a Giada recipe that I slightly altered after reading some reviews:

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Ingredients

-Vegetable cooking spray

-1 Egg white

-1/2 cup Chunky peanut butter

-1/3 cup Brown sugar

-1/4 cup Honey

-5 Tbsp. unsalted butter*, melted

-2 cups Old fashioned oats

-1/4 cup Slivered almonds

-1/3 cup Miniature chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position oven rack in the middle.

2. Spray a 7 x 11 baking pan with the vegetable cooking spray. Lay parchment paper in the pan, allowing excess paper to hang over the sides. Spray the paper lightly with the vegetable cooking spray.

3. In a medium bowl, beat the egg white until frothy. Stir in the peanut butter, brown sugar and honey. Add the melted butter, oats and almonds. Stir to combine, and then add the chocolate chips.

4. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking pan with a rubber spatula. Press lightly to form an even layer. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, when the edges begin to brown.

5. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour. When thoroughly cool, cut and serve.

*If not stated, use unsalted butter in baking recipes. This way, you are controlling the salt in the recipe, not the company that processed your butter.

East Meets West Coleslaw

In my previous post, I posted the recipe that my friend Moira and I created for braised pork to celebrate LOST. Well here is another recipe that I served at the Lost party. This coleslaw was the easiest dish to make and was absolutely delicious. I would definitely recommend it for a summer barbecue.

Ingredients

-1/2 Head of purple cabbage, shredded

-1 c. Slice almonds

-2 pkgs. Ramen noodles, broken up

-1 bunch Scallions, chopped (add to your discretion)

-1/2 c. Vegetable oil

-2 tsp. Toasted sesame oil

-1 Tbsp. Soy sauce

-1/3 c. Sugar

-1/4 c. Rice vinegar

-2 Season packets from Ramen noodles (chicken flavor)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, almonds, Ramen noodles and scallions.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar and Ramen seasoning packets.

3. Pour the dressing over the dry ingredients and toss. Let sit for a few hours.

I didn't take picture of it that night in the bowl, so here's a picture of the leftovers:

Braised Pork for LOST

As huge fans of the show LOST, Doug and I have hosted a few viewing parties for episodes. Well, this past Sunday was the season finale, so we invited our fellow Lost fanatics over and sent the show off in style. My friend Moira and I planned out a whole menu which included items such as: Jin's Steamed Mussels, Mr. Cluck's Popcorn Chicken, Locke's Braised Pork, East Meets West Coleslaw, and Generic Character Rice Pilaf. All week long I food shopped and prepped ingredients, because we would only have about 3 hours to prepare everything. Unfortunately, Moira got called into work and was unable to attend, but luckily enough, we had discussed our menu so thoroughly that I knew exactly what needed to be done. I was stressed out making all of this food on my own, especially in a 3 hour window, but in the end, I pulled it off. It goes to show you that planning and preparation really do pay off. Here's one of the recipes that Moira and I collaborated on to create, based on a braised lamb shank recipe we had. In honor of Lost, we changed it to pork (close to a boar, right?) and used pineapple juice instead of wine as our acid. We also threw in some cinnamon and a splash of rum. Some of the portions of ingredients are estimates and with the all the rushing around, I forgot to take pictures. Try it out and feel free to play with the spices you put in!

Locke's Braised Pork

Ingredients

-Package of sliced bacon

-Pork Shoulder/Butt (I used approx. 5 lb pork butt roast)\

-Salt and Pepper for seasoning the pork

-1/2 cup Carrots (chopped, about 1/4 inch)

-1/2 cup Celery (chopped, about 1/4 inch)

-1/2 cup Onions (chopped, about 1/4 inch)

-1-2 Garlic cloves, chopped

-6 oz. Pineapple juice

-2 Cinnamon sticks

-2 Star Anise

-3-4 Sprigs of Thyme

-4 cups Chicken stock

-1 oz. Rum (I used Bacardi Silver)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a large, oven proof pan (not too big, but large enough to fit the meat and be covered), add the bacon and turn on high heat. When the bacon has produced enough grease to coat the bottom of the pan, remove the strips. Feel free to fully cook the bacon if you are going to use it in something else later one, personally, I discarded mine.

3. While the bacon is cooking, season the pork with salt and pepper. After removing the bacon from pan, put the pork in. Brown all sides of the pork. It is important to get the color that you want during this step because once the acid is introduced, the meat will no longer brown. The browning is also carmalization of natural sugars, so it will add to the flavor of your meat.

4. When the meat is sufficiently browned on all sides, remove from pan and reserve on a dish.

5. Reduce the heat to medium. (If the fat/grease has burned, discard and add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil.) Add in the carrots, celery, onions (which is also known as "mirepoix") and garlic. Sauté for 5 - 7 minutes, until they are lightly browned. Do not allow to burn (add more oil if necessary).

6. Add the pineapple juice and deglaze the pan by scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil.

7. Remove from heat and add the cinnamon sticks, star anise and thyme. Place the pork back in the pan. Add the shot of rum and pour in chicken stock until the pork is 1/2 way covered.

8. Cover and place in the oven for 1.5 hours. If your cover does not seal completely with your pan, place a sheet of aluminum foil under the cover to create a better seal. Remove the pan from the oven, flip the pork and place it back in oven for another 1.5 hours.

9. After the 3 hour cook time, the pork should be done. Use a meat thermometer to be sure, the thickest part should reach 160 degrees. Place on a heated plate and cover with with foil.

10. Pour the juices through a fine mesh strainer and press down with a wooden spoon to extract all juices from the vegetables. Return the juices to pan and place on high heat. Reduce the juices by half, skimming the surface with a ladle or straining spoon to remove any excess fat.

11. Cut up the pork and pour the sauce over it. Enjoy!

Margaritaville

As summer comes closer, I find myself unable to resist the urge to sit outdoors and drink margaritas. Personally, I prefer the original lime margarita on the rocks, although the frozen ones just scream summer. I used to think those were my two options to enjoy a margarita, that is until my book club decided to have a meeting on Cinco de Mayo. Being the baker of the group (by force), I had my heart set on making margarita cupcakes. I wasn't quite sure how I would make them or what they would taste like, but I was determined. After spending a week looking up recipes for the cake and frosting, I could not find a cake made from scratch that sounded good. Almost all of the cupcake recipes I found were based on a box of white cake mix. So finally, I decided to take the lazy way and use the boxed mix. The cupcakes, which I did in mini-muffin pans and add food coloring to, ended up tasting great. They were very light and the lime flavor went nicely with the sweetness. I was originally determined to create my own recipe from scratch, but after eating these and getting numerous compliments, I will probably not change it. As for the frosting, I used a simple vanilla buttercream that I had already made earlier in the week. The next time I make them though, I will use a whipped cream for frosting to keep the cupcake very light. I recommend you try different frostings and see what you like best, mine will probably be one spiked with tequila! Below I provided the cupcake recipe, as well as a whipped cream recipe and pictures. Enjoy!

Margarita Cupcakes

Ingredients

-1 Box of white cake mix (I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme Classic White)

-1 cup Margarita mix (room temp.)

-1/4 cup Tequila (room temp.)

-3 Egg* whites (room temp.)

-2 tbsp Vegetable oil

-Lime zest from 2 limes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare muffin/cupcake tins either with paper cups or by greasing them.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the margarita mix and the tequila.

4. Whisk in the 3 egg whites and vegetable oil.

5. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix with the lime zest.

6. Slowly beat the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Once combined, continue to beat for 2 - 3 minutes (this is where you can add food coloring if you desire).

7. Distribute the mixture evenly amongst the cupcakes.

8. Bake for approximately 18 minutes, or until the cupcakes have puffed up and are a light, golden brown on top. You should be able to poke the surface and have the top bounce back.

9. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.

Homemade Whipped Cream

Ingredients

-8 oz. Heavy cream

-1/4 cup Sugar

-1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a chilled bowl, using a chilled whisk, whisk the cream until it begins to stiffen.

2. Add in sugar, to taste (you may not use the full 1/4 cup) and any flavorings, like the vanilla extract.

3. Whip only until soft peaks start to form. Take care not to over whip.

Half-eaten cupcake at work:

Bad lighting, but yummy cupcakes:
Fun colors for summer celebrations:

*When not specific, eggs in a recipe call for large eggs. Extra large eggs are 25% larger, jumbo eggs are 50% larger and therefore throw of the balance of fat and protein. This doesn't make much of a difference in your omelets, but could impact your baked goods.

Want some 'za?

When it comes to a lazy, quick dinner, pizza is one of the first things I think of. It's so easy to run across the street and grab a slice, but it's also just as easy to make your own - and that's exactly what Doug and I like to do. Normally, if I think far enough in advance, I like to make my own pizza dough on my picture-perfect KitchenAid (a year into my relationship with it and I'm still in love!). However, sometimes I can't wait the hour plus it will take. And that's the mood I was in when we decided to make pizza the other night. So instead, we went to our grocery store and purchased Boboli's large, thin crust whole wheat pizza. Next we had to decide on what we were going to put on our pizza. This is always a pretty long debate since Doug will eat anything and I can't make a decision. Eventually, we decided to make a "sausage and peppers" pizza. So we also picked up some Boboli pizza sauce, an Italian six cheese blend, hot Italian sausage, green peppers and an onion.

Upon returning home, we took out our frying pan, heated it up, dropped some oil in and got ready to brown the sausage. Instead of just slicing the sausage, I decided I wanted it "crumbled" on top, so using a paring knife I sliced open the sausage casing and dropped the meat into the hot frying pan. Then we just used a wooden spoon to mash it up. We turned on the oven and while Doug oversaw the sausage (he thinks meat is the man's job), I chopped up the pepper and onion. Before we knew it, the oven was hot, sausage brown, vegetables chopped. All we had left to do was assemble, put it in the oven and eat!

So on a large, flat cookie sheet, we put our crust down. On top went the sauce, the sausage, the peppers and the onions. Then we added cheese until we were satisfied. We put it in the oven, opened a beer and 10 minutes later...

*When chopping up vegetables for the pizza, you can make them as big or as little as you want them. I prefer short strips of peppers and onions, so after slicing them vertically, I then just cut them horizontally in the middle, making each piece about 1 inch long.

**Upon reflection, I also blogged about pizza back in May of 2009, almost exactly a year ago. If you go to that post, I have a recipe for homemade pizza dough, try it!