Delusions of Grandeur: Baking Misadventures

So we had a hurricane this weekend. Sort of. It was more like a torrential downpour. Regardless, like everyone else in the city, I stayed cooped up at home. After twiddling my thumbs for a while I decided that I felt like baking.

So I pored over websites looking for some kind of inspiration, something that would work with ingredients that I already had lying around. I had a lot of coconut flour lying around. Plus I had a ton of baby carrots that promised to go bad very soon.

Enter a recipe for Coconut Carrot Bread.

Granted this recipe called for the use of 2 cups of all-purpose flour. I, however, high on the success of my last baking endeavor, and feeling pretty darn invincible, decided that I was going to substitute the two cups of all-purpose flour with one cup of coconut flour and one cup of whole-wheat flour. I fancied myself quite the bakeress. I would soon learn the error of my ways - my delusions of grandeur.

I popped the concoction into the oven and 60 minutes later had this...

Hmm. Not too bad, I suppose?

Except, once I took it out of the bread pan, it looked like this...

Um, it looks a little crumbly, no? Maybe it would not crumble once I cut into it.

Alas, it did.

Gah!

Next time I am sticking to the recipe. Or I will read the label on the pack of coconut flour which clearly says to substitute only 20% of a recipe's flour with coconut flour. Not 50%.

On a happier note, it tasted amazing! The crumbly bits actually went went really well in a bowl of milk.

Question: Do substitutions in recipes always work for you? What's the worst substitution-related disaster you have had?

The Carnivore's Delimma

The last few weekends with their excesses and indulgences have left me wanting to turn over a new leaf and do something radical with my diet. I love food too much to partake in juice cleanses. So the next best thing (for me) is to try being a vegetarian for a few days. I am toying with the idea of eliminating dairy also while I conduct this experiment but I'm still on the fence with that, and till then I shall consume all the cheese I want!

So now that I have reconciled with eliminating meat for a few days, how to approach to my meat-loving, veggie-hating husband that we are about to embark upon a 3-day vegan adventure? I decide to skip sugar-coating the facts and just inform him.

We are eating organic vegetables for the next three days.

A look of horror on his face.

Okay, two days, I proffer.

Still some reluctance on his face.

Okay, can we just try it for today, please? 

Okay, he says, let's see how this goes.

Awesome!

So then began the process of choosing a recipe palatable enough to not remind the hubby that anything is lacking.

Carnivores love burgers so I decided to make a veggie burger. I got a bean burger recipe from Kath's amazing website and tweaked it a little, throwing in my own additions. I also decided to make Kale chips as a side. Here are the recipes.

Bean and Pea Burger

Ingredients (Makes 3 burger patties):
1 can of Pinto beans

1/2 can of peas

Whole wheat flour-3 Tablespoons 

Salt (a dash)

Pepper (1/2 teaspoon)

Garlic (1/2 teaspoon)

Red pepper flakes (I overdid this by adding 1 teaspoon. It gave it a real kick, which I liked, but please use less if you do not like food to be too spicy)

1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Mix the beans, peas, flour and spices using a grinder/food processor 

2. Heat a skillet with medium heat and spray some cooking spray.

3. Make patties and place on the skillet.

4.Cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes.

They should look like this

Done!

Place it in a hamburger bun and add whatever garnishes you prefer. I added a slice of lettuce and some ketchup.

They were delicious. Even the hubby agreed! 

Kale chips

Ingredients:

Bunch of kale

Salt to taste

Shredded or powdered parmesan cheese (you can avoid this if you prefer-they still taste amazing)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Wash kale and dry it well. Use a salad spinner if possible. I do not have one and so I employed the meticulous use of kitchen towels. Spoiler: It worked out!

3. Tear the leaves off the stem into chip-sized pieces

4. Spray some cooking spray into a cookie sheet and place the kale chips on to it.

5. Put in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the edges get brown

Done!

These were amazing and the real winner of our meal. The hubby polished off the first batch before the burgers were even ready and so I had to make a second batch. They were that good!

So now that I have shown the hubby (and myself) that we can indeed eat enjoyably and nutritiously without the use of animal products, and Veggie-Day was such a hit, I am already planning our next meal!

Although the hubby did well with this one-day experiment I shall not subject him to any further dietary restrictions! Who knows how long I can keep this up. I know I am not converting into a vegan or a vegetarian any time soon but I do think there is something to be said about how good I felt all day today.

Question: Have you ever gone out of your comfort zone to try a new diet/way of eating? Were you successful or did you soon revert back to old eating habits?

Beignets Down The Bayou and Green Smoothies!

I just got back from a weekend jaunt to Baton Rouge. This was my second visit to Louisiana, the first one being to New Orleans a little over a year ago. While that visit was for a work-related conference my husband and I spent the vast majority of our time scouring the city for its best food. The food in New Orleans is unbelievable. From the Fried Oyster Po Boys at the famed Acme Oyster House to more sophisticated Creole fare like the pecan-crusted Gulf fish with Creole Meuniere suace at the more upscale Palace Cafe, we indulgently savored it all. The highlight of our culinary adventure was a pit-stop at Cafe Du Monde, a coffee-house famous for its chicory-laced coffee and divinely decadent beignets. Beignets are square pieces of fried dough that are generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.



Cafe Du Monde

When one of my closest friends chose Baton Rouge as the location of her wedding I quickly began mapping the distance from Baton Rouge to the French Quarter location of Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. One hour and 10 minutes, according to Google Maps. Totally do-able, right? Not so much when you are there for a wedding. There just was not enough time to make the trip to New Orleans and back and be ready for the 2pm wedding. So I moved onto Plan B. There had to be beignets in Baton Rouge! So began another Google search for the best beignets in Baton Rouge. That is how I came upon Rue Beignet, a cosy little cafe with very friendly servers. The beignets were made fresh, as soon as we placed our order. They were heavenly! Slightly crusted on the outside with chewy moistness on the inside and a light dusting of powdered sugar. I topped that off with a cup of their chicory-laced coffee. Happiness!

Coffee and Beignets at Rue Beignet

The beignets at Rue Beignet in Baton Rouge were amazing, as good as those that I remember having at Cafe Du Monde, and in fact, some online reviewers have reported that they are even better.


Unfortunately, the beignets were not my only indulgence this weekend. The wedding festivities ensured that all guests were well-fed. From a rich crawfish etouffee to moist red velvet cake and a fish'n'chips dinner I am trying not to think too much about, I was not feeling very healthy once I was back at home. I was craving greens so this morning for breakfast I made myself my own version of a green smoothie.

Ingredients (makes 2 large glasses):
2 cups of spinach
1 cup frozen strawberries
A handful of cashews
3 tablespoons of non fat Greek yoghurt
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon of organic honey

One blended it looked like this:

And it tasted pretty good also.
For dinner I decided I was going to continue my healthy eating pattern and so I made yellow split-pea Dal (lentils). Dal is super-nutritious and a staple in South Asian kitchens and this one is my mother-in-law's recipe (albeit with a few deletions on my part to make it a tad healthier!)

Ingredients:
1 cup of split peas
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 chopped tomato
Salt according to taste (I used 1 teaspoon)

Directions:
1. Soak the split peas in water for 1/2 hour, and then discard the water.
2. Add fresh water, (enough to cover the split peas) and bring to a boil.
3. Add the spices and chopped tomatoes and cook until the splits peas soften (I cooked them for about 30 minutes at medium heat)

Done. Super healthy and super delicious! You can eat it with rice, pita bread or even on its own.

My dinner

My husband vetoed my decision to eat healthy and made his own dinner. Boo!

My husband's dinner



My Big Fat Greek Meatloaf!

Hello all. Well, first I think I should acknowledge this glorious weather we are having. Eighty degrees is crazy! The sun is shining, the skies are clear, women have dug out their summer dresses from the depths of their closets and I have finally stripped the Bundle Me from my baby's stroller-he deserves to get some sun too! (For those without babies, see image below). While we are anticipating a few rainy days (maybe even later tonight) this weekend is supposed to give us some more stellar weather. Looking forward.

JJ Cole Bundle Me via Google Images

I am getting ready for a spin class tonight at The Studio (stay tuned for my review later this week) and so I decided to be efficient and cook dinner beforehand. I must preface this with the fact that I am one of those people who learned how to boil an egg.... last year from ...wait for it.....the internet! Yes, I was that useless in the kitchen. Thankfully, "how to boil an egg" brings up many many web entries and even a  few YouTube videos with step-by-step direction for those of us more visually-inclined!

Since having a child I have felt the need to improve my culinary skills, not just because I myself want to eat healthier but also because I want to instill healthy eating habits in my own child. I have experimented with various types of fish, dozens of vegetables and have even discovered my love for baking pies! On the menu today is a favorite of my husband and myself:  Greek Meatloaf. Disclaimer: I did obtain this recipe from the food.com website but have made some tweaks!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
1. 2 lbs ground beef
2. 1 small can of tomato paste
3. 2 tablespoons of oregano
4. 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon of salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
7. 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
8. 2 eggs
9. 1/2 cup of crushed crackers (I used Carr's table water crackers)
9. Feta cheese (although today I used shredded mozzarella instead because I was out of feta but feta is definitely more Greek!)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix ground beef, spices and tomato paste in a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate mixing bowl whisk the eggs and add the shredded crackers. Mix this into the beef mixture.
4. If using feta, mix this into the beef mixture and press into a baking pan
   (If using shredded mozzarella, as I did in copious quantity,as can be witnessed in the image below, then place the mixture into a baking pan and spread a layer of shredded cheese on the top based on how cheesy you want it to be).
5. Bake for 30 minutes, drain the oil, and then bake for another 15 minutes.

Final outcome (my version)

I took a few bites before heading out to spin class and it was de-lish! Enjoy!