Kale Chips

I can't explain why total strangers ask for my nutritional advice, but they do.  

All the time.

It mostly happens near the kale.  

Everyone wants to get in on the kale craze but a lot of people aren't sure how to incorporate this 

"superfood" into their lives.  

I tell them that I drink kale (usually baby kale), use it in fresh salads, bake with it instead of spinach and my favourite favourite favourite....

Kale Chips

First try.

I LOVE this picture because while this was her reaction, she actually likes them. She just wasn't expecting the texture/taste. Any time I make a batch she's one of the littles mowing down with me.

You don't really need a recipe to make kale chips, but a little instruction can be helpful. I will pass along my trials and errors and hopefully you won't have to go through them.

Buying Kale

There are quite a few different kinds of kale, so don't be intimidated when you see it at the store. I haven't found a big difference in taste, and they are all equally simple to prepare - so pick whichever one strikes your fancy. Buy all of them and try each one for yourself! Kale is the same as any other fresh veg: you want to avoid brown spots, limp leaves and rubbery feeling plants. Fresh kale will be found in the wet aisle of the grocery store, where you get sprayed if you hang out singing show tunes for too long. Or whistling them - the sprayer doesn't discriminate.

This is my only little person who just doesn't love kale chips. He's tried them with salt, nutritional yeast, sprayed with soy sauce, and with Oh She Glow's "All Dressed" recipe and just can't get into them. Cutting the kale is great occupational therapy for his hands though, so he still helps me make them.

Prepping Kale
I like to prep veggies as soon as I get them home so they are more convenient to eat. I especially like prepping kale in advance so it has a good chance to dry out before baking. Prepping is simple. Remove leaves from stem (the stem is like a tree twig it's so chewy) and cut or tear into small pieces. I'd say a 2 inch square, but sometimes the pieces are smaller because of the shape of the kale. If you have a salad spinner - rinse the kale and spin it. I use a colander and rinse the kale and toss it in the colander over the sink to drain excess liquid. Dump kale onto clean dishtowel and roll up. You can leave the kale in the fridge like this for a few days and it will stay fresh and crisp. Personally, when I know there is kale in the fridge it never lasts a few days - I just can't wait to eat it.

Bake those chips

Low and slow is how you want to bake these, so preheat your oven to 300. What I love about kale chips is that you really only need 1tsp (2 TOPS) of oil to coat a whole head of kale. Put the clean and dry kale in a big bowl and add 1tsp of your favourite oil. I am addicted to nut oils and have been using walnut - but anything will do: avocado, olive, coconut - use what you've got. You'll need to put your hands in the bowl to really get the leaves coated. I tried tossing it a few times but it really just doesn't get the job done. Stick your hands in - it's just oil.

Once the leaves are all coated, lay them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. It may seem like a pain in the tooshie - but use two cookie sheets and give those little pieces of kale lots of space. You don't want them layered on top of each other or you'll have soggy or burnt chips and that's not tasty. After the kale is spread out evenly on the cookie trays pop into the oven for 15 minutes, rotate the pans and stick in for another 10 (25 minutes total). I've found the curlier kale can take up to 35 minutes - so when you take it out of the oven just quickly eat a piece to see if it's dried out or not. It cools almost instantly so there is no mouth burning possibilities. If it's not quite dry pop back in the oven and keep a close eye on it, putting back in for 2 minute increments until perfect.

Once the chips are done baking, let them cool for a minute or two on the tray. This is when I like to season mine. I have tried many kale chip recipes but my favourite is plain old salt. When the chips are cool, pour into a bowl and I dare you not to eat every last bit. If you have leftovers put them in an airtight container and eat within 2 days. Seriously though, who has leftovers?

These two little people are equally as addicted to kale chips as I am. I have to bake 3-4 heads of kale to satisfy the family. 

I also just love the super serious face I'm getting in the top pic. He puts food in the whirly pop, mixes it up and eats it afterward. I swear he does it so it's like he's made it and not me. He's bossy like that.

Full Disclosure

When I first tried kale chips I thought "what a rip off!" They were not chips. They were crunchy pieces of salad with salt on them. I think the word "chips" is what throws a lot of newbies off. I tried a handful (I'm an all or nothing girl) and my face mimicked the face of my daughter in the above picture - but as soon as I was done eating that first handful I just had to have more. It's true. Soon enough the whole bowl was gone and I had eaten an entire head of kale. I'm sure pigging out on anything isn't really healthy, but I don't ever feel bad when I've pigged out on a monstrous amount of kale. So... try it, I know you'll love it - just don't expect it to be a chip replacement.

If you're looking for more tips on kale chips, I found this article to be really helpful. Happy Baking!

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies (gluten free, vegan, low sugar)

Every Friday night my family enjoys what we call "treat night".  

We eat our dinner in front of the tv (horrific I know), and enjoy the treats we have been longing for ALL week!  

As you may or may not know, it is Lent for some of us - which means abstaining from certain chosen things for a period of 40 days before Easter.  Some people choose to abstain from things like Facebook, or television, and chocolate seems to be popular.  

Our family enjoys choosing extreme challenges during Lent - like the three years we cut our grocery allowance to $2.00/day per person.  

Well, Friday night treat night is not exempt from Lent.  I was worried the kids would be sad and not have motivation to achieve the goals I've set for them to be able to participate in treat night, but after our first successful week with these cookies I KNOW they are motivated to make it to next Friday. 

They know the leftovers are in the freezer and are counting down the days

until Friday.  

Who could blame them?

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 6 tablespoons water

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil (do not melt)

1/2 cup almond butter (natural)

1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar

1/3 cup natural cane sugar

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a small dish mix together the flax and water and set aside for a few minutes so it can thicken up. Whisk the flax again once thickened.

In a large mixing bowl (preferably stand mixer) cream your coconut oil until light and fluffy. Continue to add the wet ingredients - sugars, applesauce, vanilla and flax mixture. 

Baking with my little "helpers".  Matilda turned the mixer on high after adding the oat flour and we had an explosion of flour in the kitchen.  Fun times.  

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 cups gluten-free rolled oats, processed into flour (just pulse in your blender for flour)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy free)

Add dry ingredients one at a time.  If your dough is a bit dry, add a little more applesauce. The dough should be moist enough to form balls without cracking, but not super sticky.  Lastly, add the chocolate chips.  

I used my ice cream scoop to measure out my cookies (I use it for everything, I wish I had all the sizes).  I filled it half way each time and that gave me roughly 2tbsp sized balls.  Place on the cookie sheet 2-3 inches apart and press down just a bit so it's more of a disc and not a ball.  Bake for 12 minutes.  

Makes roughly 2 dozen large cookies.  It's hard to say - my little helpers ate a LOT of the dough before I had a chance to put it in the oven.  

No raw eggs = cookie dough pig out.  

These are excellent when slightly warm or when completely cooled.  They are not fragile or difficult to handle like some gluten free cookies, so feel free to handle them like a "normal" cookie.  

Happy Baking!

*This is an adaptation of a DELICIOUS cookie from Oh She Glows.  The original recipe uses more sugar than I'd like, so I doubled the batch and kept the sugar the same adding applesauce to sweeten and moisten.  If you'd like to give the original a try, visit her site and try the other recipes she has - it's a new favourite of mine!*  http://ohsheglows.com/2014/02/27/one-bowl-double-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

Cashew Cookies & Burnt Butter Icing

My sister makes these cookies almost every Christmas.  

The first time she told me what they were - I thought, well cashews are a great way to ruin a cookie!  

And then, I tasted one.
They were delightful.  Yes, they - I definitely had more than one. 

I've realized that nuts, fruits and seeds don't ALWAYS ruin a perfectly tasty dessert - haha. 

Well, that sister is in Haiti until 2 days before Christmas so I'm left to make my own 

delicious, addictive, freezable, share-able, oh-so-tasty

Cashew Cookies!

Preheat oven to 375

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

1/3 cup 0% Greek yogurt (you can use sour cream if that's what you keep on hand)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg, yogurt and vanilla and mix well.  

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 - 2 cups cashews

     I used whole cashews because I knew my stand mixer would break them down.  If you are using your hands, or a hand mixer you will want to use cashew halves. 

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and add to the wet ingredients in thirds until well mixed.  Once dry and wet are combined add cashews and mix again.  

I used my lovely melon baller scoop to make evenly sized 1 inch ball cookies, and baked them for 8 minutes.  If you are using a bigger scoop put the timer on for 8 minutes and have a peek, they may need up to 11 minutes depending on the size.  Bake until just lightly browned.   They will seem spongy but if they're brown they're done :)

Let cookies cool completely before icing.  Don't bother eating a bunch of the cookies without icing, they are ok - but they aren't amazing without the icing.  Trust me on this one.  

1/2 cup butter, browned and cooled to room temperature

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp cream (heavy cream, full fat milk, whatever you have will be fine)

If you missed the post where I made burnt butter icing for my Shortbread Saturns, first of all - you're missing out - http://onlyfitinjustenough.blogspot.ca/2013/10/shortbread-saturns.html   Second of all, to brown butter - place butter in sauce pan on medium high heat.  The butter will melt and as it stays on the heat it will start to brown and smell very much like caramel.  Swirl the pan or stir the butter to ensure the brown bits don't settle and become black bits - and that's it.  Once the butter is a lovely brown colour and smells like heaven, take it off the heat and let it come back to room temperature before making icing.  

Ice the cookies and enjoy!  If you want to store these in the cupboard, let them "dry" on the counter (maybe under a towel) for the night before packing them away.  If you plan on freezing them for Christmas, just line a baking tray with the cookies - pop in the freezer until solid (2 hours) and then transfer to an airtight container.  When thawing, be sure to separate the cookies so they don't begin to stick together.  

Bon Appetit!

Gluten free vs. All Purpose - Oatmeal Cookies

Gluten Free Wins Again!

Gluten free is tricky.  So many things have wheat in them, and for someone who loves baking it can be incredibly difficult to get the hang of.  My little guy is on a gluten free trial to see if it helps some of his medical issues, so I can't just give up because I'm trying it as a diet fad.  My lovely sister is so great with gluten free, she has been accommodating a gluten free child for years and has some great recipes on her blog Bushel and A Peck if you are looking for recipes that mix different flours instead of using a mix like I am in this recipe.  I'm cheap.  There's no nice way to put it, I love saving money - it makes me feel like a superhero.  I have tried mixing flours and all the different ingredients to make gluten free recipes but I usually just end up throwing whatever I've made out because it's completely inedible.  So, in the short term it looks as though mixes can be more expensive - BUT if they make food that I don't have to throw out, it's really the most economical decision.  I've used the same recipe for these oatmeal cookies, one with regular all purpose flour and one with a gluten free mix.  In all honesty, there is no taste or texture difference between the two, and I'm happy to say I have another gluten free recipe under my belt.

Amazing results from the gluten free flour mix - identical tasting cookies!

3/4 cup Butter 
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 

Cream butter, and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg, milk and vanilla and blend well.

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients:

1 cup flour (all purpose or gluten free mix)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Mix dry into wet, and add any extras after well blended.  I made mine plain, but after baking most of the batch added 1 cup coconut and chocolate chips to a few, because, well... I love coconut and chocolate.  

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until the edges just start turning golden brown.  I (again) used an ice cream scoop to get perfectly shaped and similar sized cookies.  

Shortbread Saturns

If you can think of a better name... submit it!

Remember my burnt butter, fried banana banana bread?  If you do, you know I have a sick and twisted brain when it comes to baking.  While baking this weekend I wanted to make something extra special for a cousin who recently had a beautiful little baby.  Enter Saturn Shortbread.

 Melt in your mouth shortbread with burnt butter icing...... 

These sweet little cookies are so easy to make but have a BIG taste.

Shortbread

1 cup of butter, room temperature

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add corn starch and flour and continue to mix well.  It will seem crumbly for a while, but the butter will continue to warm and you will end up with a dough similar to a fondant.  

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  I used a melon baller to scoop out perfect bite sized cookies.  If you don't have one, make one inch balls and gently press down.  This shortbread is VERY crumbly when baked, so don't make your cookies too big or they won't hold together.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until the bottom edges are just brown, in 375 oven.

While cookies are cooling, start the icing.

Brown 1/4 cup butter in sauce pan.  It should look something like this when finished.  

To brown your butter, simply melt butter on high heat and keep on stove until it smells like caramel and is a rich brown colour.  You may need to swirl the pan while browning to avoid burning and to brown evenly.

Let butter cool and add

1 cup icing sugar

This will make a crumbly mixture, to which you can add heavy cream or milk until desired consistency.  I added 1tbsp to make a thick icing that would hold its shape in between the cookies.  

*Makes 12-15 sandwiches*

I miss my Nanny-O

Cooking from Nanny's Favorites

Marjorie O'Neill.  I loved that woman.  She was so sweet to me, even when she had no reason to be.  She taught me how to knit (several times), taught me how to bake but more importantly taught me to be a better person.  To be patient, to listen, to serve others with a happy heart and to show love through baking.  This is one of her recipes I added a trendy ingredient to.  It doesn't make me cry like her Belgium Cookies (renamed Crying Cookies) but I do love opening her cookbook and remembering her in this small way.  

Nanny called this recipe "Chocolate Cookies" which might lead someone to believe they are dark, with cocoa in the recipe.  I renamed it, but the ingredients are the same-ish.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter, shortening*, sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

I make a well in my wet ingredients and blend the dry ingredients in the well before mixing into the wet.  If you want to do that separately (mix dry, add to wet), that's totally cool but you're doing an extra dish. Mix dough thoroughly.

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 tbsp rock salt

Mix chocolate chips and salt into dough so it's evenly dispersed, no mouthfuls of salt once baked - blah.

Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes until just brown on the edges.  I used an ice cream scoop to make even sized jumbo cookies, and 10 minutes did the trick.  

*Do you ever wonder how bakeries make such yummy treats?  It's because they use things you don't normally use.  Shortening, lard, tapioca starch - stuff we don't normally add to our cookies can really make a difference.  If you don't want to use shortening in the recipe, replace it with butter (or any other fat - margarine, coconut oil) - but you eat shortening all the time and don't know it*

Absolutely Bananas Banana Bread

Bananas for Banana Bread

Banana Banana Banana Banana Banana Banana Banana Banana Banana....

Ok, it's officially lost all meaning.  Banana.

Guess what?  I don't think banana bread is "healthy", it's not.  It's full of flour, sugar and dairy.  It is delicious, it is a million times better than "banana bread" flavoured items that come prepackaged in grocery stores but it's a treat - so don't eat the whole loaf yourself!  Share with your family, and if you don't have family - bring half a fresh loaf to your neighbour. Some for you, some for him.  I've brought banana bread to a neighbour who doesn't seem to like me much... or at all... and this really made things a lot friendlier for a while.  Baking is fun.  Sharing is more fun.  

I just finished using my last 3 super ripe bananas for "healthy cookies" - see blog entry October - but was really looking forward to banana bread.  I had mostly ripe bananas, but not insanely ripe only good for banana bread bananas.  An idea came to me.  A sick, twisted idea.  Fry the bananas first.  After smelling the delicious fried bananas, I thought... why use plain old melted butter, when burnt butter tastes oh-so-much-better.  Enter Absolutely Bananas Banana Bread:

4 ripe bananas

Slice bananas in half, length wise, and brown in pan with 1-2 tbsp butter.  They should look like this when done

Let bananas cool before mashing them.  Add:

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup melted (browned) butter

If you've never browned your butter, just turn the heat up on your pan and let it brown a little.  You will smell it browning - almost smells like caramel.  Once the bottom is getting brown and it smells ridiculously good, remove it from the heat and let cool before adding to mixture.  I'd like to suggest doing this to your butter when you make popcorn - there is NO other way to eat butter popcorn.

Mix wet ingredients together until well blended.  In a separate bowl, combine

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (optional) - I only add salt when using unsalted butter

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined - don't go crazy with the mixing.

You may find it is a bit dry because you cooked some of the moisture out of the bananas.  If you find this happens, add small amounts of milk and until it is wet, no more than 1 cup.

Line a bread pan with parchment paper and pour entire batter into pan.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. If you want to do muffins, reduce bake time to 20 minutes. 

I had a tremendously bad week.  You could not, in all your creativity, imagine the week I had.  I make things better with food, so at the 40 minute mark I added Skor bits and 2 tsp rock salt to the top of my banana bread and continued cooking for last 10 minutes.  Was it amazing?  You betcha.  Would the bread be just as amazing without it?  Yes.  I ate the bottom part separately from the top to taste it "true" and it is delightful on its own.  If you are having a particularly hard week - first *hugs* - second, I would mix Skor bits IN to the mixture next time, perhaps 1/4-1/2 cup.  

Biggity-Bon-Banana-Appetit!

Bake your Blues Away... even if you're not blue

Originally Posted 02/24/10

Today was a bake day. I gave myself a few hours in the kitchen and there will be days of food to show for it! I can't say exactly how long it took because I had to break up a few fights between my two youngest, but the baby to sleep, do the dishes a few times, etc. Including all of those things, it took 4 hours from start to finish - but those hours weren't all spent in the kitchen. I pay my own utilities, so to cut down on energy costs I bake as little as possible - cramming as many things into one session as I can. I often freeze things soon after they've cooled so when they're defrosted they taste as fresh as the day you made them.

Please note I couldn't even take a picture without Sol grabbing a pretzel!

First on the list:

Soft Pretzels

2 tbsp Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp softened butter
2 cup warm water

5 1/2 cups flour

Coarse Salt to sprinkle on Pretzels before baking
5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water

Preheat oven to 475 F

Mix sugar and salt with warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let proof for about 5 minutes. Add butter and two cups of flour, mix well, and let it bubble again (another 5-10 minutes).

Add remaining flour one cup at a time until dough pulls from the bowl. Please remember you may not need the amount of flour in the recipe.  Different climates require different amounts of flour.  Turn dough onto floured work surface and knead. Dough should be moist but not sticky.

Allow dough to rise to about double (typically 1 hour)

When dough is risen enough, punch down. Begin to boil water and add baking soda only once the water has boiled. Knead dough a few times, then divide into 12 even sized pieces. If you'd like to make smaller pretzels just keep an eye on them as they bake.

Roll pieces into long ropes (anywhere from 1 - 2 cm thick) and twist the ends two or three times leaving enough room to attach ends to round part.  I had a video on the original post but can't transfer it!  YouTube it if you must :)

Let the pretzels boil for 1 minute, then flip them over with a slotted spoon and boil on the other side for another minute.

Fish them out of the water, let them drip off and place them on cookie sheet. Your cookie sheet needs to be greased or have parchment paper.

Sprinkle the pretzels with rock salt while they are still wet from being boiled.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the pretzels are golden brown.

Bread

While my dough was rising for the pretzels, I began to get a batch of sandwich bread going. I'm not going to share the recipe I used, because I used specialty bread flour and most people bake with all purpose. There are a TONNE of bread recipes online, but I particularly like a recipe from King Arthur Flour website. It's called "The easiest loaf of bread you'll ever bake"

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/the-easiest-loaf-of-bread-youll-ever-bake-recipe

It's rustic looking and beautiful like a baguette. I'll make a few loaves soon and post the pictures.

So, I made three loaves of sandwich bread for the kids lunches. It took no more work than making one loaf, and since bread typically takes an hour to rise and another hour to rise in the loaf pan - the timing will work out perfectly. When my pretzels are done baking I can turn the oven down for the bread and it will be ready to go in. After they've cooled, I'll keep one in the bread box and the other two will go straight to the freezer for when we need them next.

Ever get stuck for lunch ideas? Stuffed bread is AMAZINGLY delicious and quite simple to make. You can substitute the meat in this recipe with grilled vegetables if you prefer, any way you change it - it usually turns out delectable.

This recipe is an adaptation of the "All-American Ham and Cheese Roll" from King Arthur Flour

Stuffed Bread

Crust
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp corn starch
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tsp traditional Italian herbs (oregano, parsley, whatever you'd like. I used the Tapinade mix from Epicure)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or quick yeast
1 cup water (you may need more depending on weather)

Filling
thin-sliced deli meat

thin-sliced cheese

Butter

Mustard

I haven't specified amounts for the filling, because this is entirely to taste. I used enough meat to cover the dough, and only enough cheese to cover one "fold". Today I had specialty turkey (onion and sage flavored) that I bought 50% off and froze. You can use more if you're not on such a tight budget, or even replace the meat with roasted peppers, zuchinni, eggplant, etc. Just be sure to keep the veggies to one layer and not to pile them on top of eachother.

To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients (wet ingredients last), and knead them together until you've made a soft, smooth dough. This is where you may find you need an extra tablespoon or so of water. Allow the dough to rise, covered with a damp cloth or dishtowel, for 1 hour.

Roll the dough into a rectangle until it is roughly 1cm thick. Brush one third with soft or melted butter. Brush all over with mustard, leaving a 1" mustard-free zone all around the edge. Lay your meat (or veggies) out in a single layer across the dough, again leaving a 1" border. If using veggies, you might want to substitute the mustard for hummus (see Hummus recipe). Add the cheese to one third of the dough.

Starting with a long edge, roll the dough into an log. Pinch the long seam closed (or as close to "closed" as you can get) then fold the ends over and pinch them closed too. Curve the log into a horseshoe shape on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Cover the sheet, and allow the roll to rise for 1 to 2 hours; it should look puffy, though not doubled. I only let mine rise for an hour today, because the oven was ready for it and I had a doc appointment coming up.

Score the roll crosswise (you may want to sharpen your knife first), about ½" deep, at 3" to 4" intervals along its length. Bake the roll in a preheated 375°F oven for 35 minutes, until it's golden brown, tenting it lightly with foil if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm, or at room temperature.Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

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