Sunday 24 February 2013

Peanut Butter Fudge

Heyyyyyyyyyyyy. Peanut butter! Fudge! Peanut butter fudge! It's delicious. Produce, consume, and enjoy.

Okay so I made this recipe a longggggg time ago without protein powder, and it was tasty... but a little too melty. I never posted the recipe because I was not pleased with the results enough to share. Now I am!

If you want super sweet fudge you should add more sweetener than I've listed in this recipe. Although most of my posts are of baked goods, I don't really enjoy super sweet baked things. I like things to be moderately sweet. I feel like this fudge is very rich and just sweet enough.

A side note: This entire recipe can be made by just microwaving the butter & cream and then stirring in the rest. I prefer the stove-top method because it allows for more control over heat and more even cooking.

Serving Size: 1 piece, makes 24 two-bite pieces
Nutritional Information: 74 cals, 3g of carbs & 1g of fiber (2g net carbs), 6g of fat, 3g of protien

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: ~10-15 minutes
Cooling Time: 1-2 hours

Your Ingredients:

  • 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 cup of smooth or whipped peanut butter*
  • 2 oz of light cream cheese
  • choice sweetener (I used 1/2 cup of Splenda)
  • 2 scoops** of vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder***
  • cinnamon or cocoa (both of these are optional)
* I have used Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter & Dip in previous recipes. I've been told that this is a tough ingredient to track down. Well, I only buy this kind of peanut butter! Just keep in mind that whatever peanut butter you use will likely change the nutritional values slightly.
** ABOUT A DAMN CUP, STINGROO! My scoop says 35g guys so Stingroo wants me to emphasize that my scoop MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME as your scoop!!! By the way, 35g + 35g = 70g. You need 70g of protein powder.
*** I do not have vanilla protein powder... So obviously I used chocolate. It is delicious, I promise. You can't really taste the chocolate that much but who cares. Fudge. 
*** I have also discovered that unflavoured protein powder works as well.

Your Tools:

  • A 1 quart saucepan
  • A wooden or silicone spoon or spatula
  • Some kind of small baking dish. I've used a glass casserole dish that was ~9x5, and a metal loaf pan (8.5x4.5x2.5). I prefer the metal loaf pan.

The Directions:

Step 1 -
Preheat your oven to 350F. Just kidding. We're making fudge! Lightly grease whatever small baking dish you picked out. Or line it with parchment paper. Or both. 
Step 2 -
Cut your 1/2 stick of butter into smaller chunks or slices for easy melting.  Put your saucepan on low-medium heat and begin melting the butter. While the butter is melting go ahead and add a cup of nombutter. I mean peanut butter. Nom. Stir these two ingredients together while melting to create nombutter-butter!
Step 3 -
Ugh this part. Add your cream cheese to the melty pot and groan while you stir it. Complain loudly that cream cheese doesn't melt nearly as quickly or neatly as butter-things. Feel disgusted when the cream cheese starts to melt into chunks. Stir. Stir some more. Is the cream cheese melted yet? Keep stirring if not. 
Step 4 -
Okay, now that the cream cheese is deliciously blended with the nombutter-butter (YUM!) add whatever sweetener you decided to use. I'll dump 1/2 cup of Splenda in there. Stir this up until you're the only one who would be able to tell there was any sweetener in it, and only because you put it there.
Step 5 -
Now add the whey powder. I recommend not adding it all at once, but maybe about half a scoop at a time (then stir). But you can do whatever you want. Add it all at once. Or don't. 
Step 6 -
Pour your melty concoction into the baking dish you prepped earlier. Sprinkle some cinnamon or cocoa on top if you want. I sprinkled cinnamon-Splenda and omgyum.
Toss the fudge in the fridge for an hour or two. Cut and serve, or go at it with a fork. Store fudge in the fridge. Fudgeinfridge
Finshed Product

a slab after cooling in a metal loaf pan (lined with parchment paper)



xo,
Jennifer

Sunday 17 February 2013

Flax Crackers

Second post of the day. Because I can.

Yeaaaah crackers. I got this idea because I always loved Melba Toast smothered in cream cheese. I used my flaxbread recipe the first time and later made some adjustments. I am pleased enough with the results to share.

Serving Size: I dunno, some x number of crackers. This recipe makes ~24 crackers
Nutritional Information per cracker: 50 cals, 2g of carbs & 2g of fiber (~0g net carbs), 4g of fat, 1g of protein

Prep Time: 5-10 mins
Cooking Time: 45-60 mins

Your Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of ground flaxseed (flaxmeal)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup of 100% parmesan cheese
  • choice spices (I used ~1 tsp of garlic salt)

Your Tools:

  • An 8 x 4 x 2.5 inch or 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 loaf pan
  • A 15.25 x 10.25 x .75 or larger cookie sheet
  • A fork, whisk, or mixer (though a mixer isn't really necessary)
  • A spatula
  • A cutting board and a bread knife
  • A medium - large mixing bowl
  • parchment paper

The Directions:

Step 1 -
Preheat the oven to 400F. Line loaf pan and cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease both.
Step 2 -
Put all your ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with a fork (or similar tool).
Step 3 -
Dump the bread batter into the loaf pan and bake for 20 minutes at 400F.
Step 4 -
Don't let the bread cool too long. Take it out of the pan ASAP and transfer it directly to your cutting board. Slice the loaf thinly enough to make ~24 slices. Don't worry if the bread is still moist. It's going back into the oven.
Step 5 -
Transfer all your slices to the lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with any extra seasoning you want. Put the bread in the oven and decrease the temp to about 325F. Bake for ~15-20 minutes and then flip all the slices, baking for another ~15-20 minutes. 
Step 6 -


Top with your favourite things and enjoy.
Finished Product

mmm cream cheese and dark chocolate chips
 
xo,
Jennifer

Crustless Quiche

Helloooo. It's reading week! I am certainly doing a lot of reading.

I've been meaning to share this delicious recipe with you all. I make it a lot, typically two batches at a time so I can make a whole pie for dinner and have personal pies saved for later. This is my favourite recipe for when I have a bunch of ingredients in the fridge that I think might go bad soonish, or if I've made ham or something.

Serving Size: 1 personal pie, makes 4 pies (or) 2 slices, makes 8 slices
Nutritional Information (egg & cheese): 205 cals, 3g of carbs, 14g of fat, 18g of protein
(with egg, cream, & cheese): 405 cals, 7g of carbs, 34g of fat, 19g of protein
Note: you'll have to adjust the nutritional content based on the filling ingredients you use. Recipe calculators are great.
MFP has a user-friendly one.

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Your Ingredients:

Basic Pie

  • 4 whole eggs
  • 1 cup of cottage cheese (I use 4% m.f.)
  • 1 cup of choice cheese (I typically use medium cheddar)*
  • 1 cup of heavy cream**
  • Choice seasoning
*If you want to put a bit of cheese on the top of your pie, you'll want 1 1/4-1 1/2 cups of cheese.

**Heavy cream is totally optional. I've made this recipe both with cream and without it. The results were delicious each time. The difference is how fluffy and moist your quiche turns out. More cream means more fluff/moisture. Less/none means your pie will be pretty sturdy (and still delicious). Not sure which you want? Try just 1/2 a cup of cream!

Possible Filling Choices
  • Bacon, ham, left over pork chops or steak
  • Mushrooms, green pepper, tomato, zucchini
  • Swiss, mozzarella, provolone cheese
  • Pretty much anything you feel like putting in the pie
Fillings I Typically use
  • 1 cup of chopped/diced ham
  • 1 cup of chopped/diced white mushrooms
  • 10 sliced cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup of swiss cheese
  • garlic salt, onion powder, and chili powder

Your Tools:

  • A medium-large bowl & whisk
  • A cutting board & knife
  • A cheese grater & something to hold your cheese
  • A 10 or 12 inch frying pan
  • 1 8 inch pie plate or 4 personal pie plates*
*Personal pies are great for freezing! If you want to make a batch for later, follow this recipe. Once the pies are baked and cooled, just cover the pies with foil and toss them in the oven. Reheat them in the oven directly from the freezer for 40 minutes.


The Directions:

Step 1 -
Preheat your oven to 400F. Chop up your filling meats and toss them in a frying pan at about medium heat. Then chop up your veggies and add them to the frying pan once the meat is roughly cooked. Cover and let the food fry, stirring occasionally.
Left over meat from when I made pulled pork, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes

Bacon and green pepper

Ham and mushrooms

Step 2 -
Grate all your cheese! Eat the chunky bits that don't get grated properly! Yum. Now set the grated cheese aside. In a medium-large bowl beat all four eggs well (add the cream now, too, if you're using it). Oh, don't forget to go back and stir the stuff that's frying. If it looks just about cooked, turn it to low. Now add the cottage cheese to the eggs and whisk those together. Once that is blended, feel free to add whatever spices you want.


Step 3 -
In your pie plate (or personal pies), sprinkle the grated cheese along the bottom to mostly cover it. Don't bother smushing the cheese down or anything. Next, cover the cheese with about half the egg & cottage cheese mixture, making sure to get the edges. When making personal pies I measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture for each pie during this step. 




Step 4 -
Now it's time to add the filling! Turn off that burner and scoop the ingredients onto the cheese & egg mixture already in the pie plate. Top the filling with the rest of the egg & cottage cheese blend. Finally, sprinkle the top with grated cheese (if you grated extra) and any additional spices! I like to sprinkle the top with chili powder. 





Step 5 -
Bake at 400F for 40 minutes. If, while your pie bakes, you think it might explode... it won't. At least mine never has. When you remove it from the oven it will look HUGE, especially if you used cream. The pie will shrink as it cools. Which reminds me - let your pie cool for 5 minutes or so before cutting and serving. 
If you're using personal pie plates, I recommend putting all four onto one cookie sheet to make for easy baking.
no cheese on top!
 Finished Product
This particular quiche was made sans-cream

xo,
Jennifer