"It's All Good".........Sweet Potato & Five Spice Muffins, Millet-Fig Muffins, and Bummer Ba

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Wow.  The hater's be hatin' on Gwyneth's new cookbook so bad that I'm almost afraid to post anything from it.   The reviews have been scathing, condescending and some are downright mean.  And most of them have nothing to do with the quality of the recipes.  Granted, there's really no need to put a "recipe" for a poached egg in a cookbook.  If you don't know how to poach an egg, google that shit.  And, yes some of her comments are a little pretentious.  I know you're rich Gwyn.  Don't care.  But the author's side notes in a cookbook are not why I buy it.  I'm strictly here for great tasting recipes.  

Let's be clear.  I'm not advocating her "elimination diet" and I'm not about to do it myself.  I don't have an issue with gluten, and I'm not interested in being vegan.  And you know she lost me after the first two items that one must eliminate from the diet.....coffee and alcohol.  Oh, Hell to the N. O.  Gwynnie.  And no corn?  The miracle food?  Not happening.  That being said, if something can taste good and be good for me at the same time?  No need to hate on that.  I like quinoa and kale and who's not looking for a few more interesting ways to get a sweet potato into your day.  :)  Or not.  Work with me here.

L to R....Sweet Potato & Five Spice Muffins, Bummer Bars and Millet-Fig Muffins

Since, I had a menopausal night at was wide awake at 4:00am this morning and the never ending rain cancelled my tennis match, I decided to give Gwyneth the benefit of the doubt.  I started with the Sweet Potato and Five Spice Muffins basically because I lurve anything with five spice.  It's got such a warm, er, spicy flavor.  I thought these were delicious.  The sweet potato keeps them moist and the combination of the warmth of the maple syrup and five spice powder these reminded me of Fall.  I'll definitely make these again.

Next, I tried Millet-Fig Muffins.  Don't let millet freak you out.  It's just a grain and Whole Foods carries it, but if you don't have a Whole Foods, you can order it from Amazon.  (What can't you order from Amazon?)  And figs are available everywhere.  And since Fig Newtons were a childhood favorite, I'll always gravitate towards a fig recipe!  These were really good too....loved the combination of the figs, maple syrup and ginger.  And the millet gave them great texture and crunch!  Another winner.  

Another plus for both these muffins is that neither required me to get out my stand mixer.  Yup just two bowls.  Easy and fast.  (The recipes......not Gwyneth.)

 Next up were the Bummer Bars.  If you're like me and think the name is totally lame, just call them protein bars.  The original recipe calls for Quinoa Flakes, but I couldn't find them at WF.  Gwyn says they're a gluten-free sub for oats, so I used oats!.  These also call for brown rice syrup, which I did find at WF, but you can sub in corn syrup.  These are basically a canvas for creativity.  I might throw in some chia seeds next time or a different dried fruit.  I used prunes this time because I like them, but figs or apricots would work and I might use almonds instead of walnuts.

These are great to throw in your gym bag for a little protein punch after a workout, or when you get that 3:00pm hunger pang and your teeth need something to crunch.  Or maybe that's just me.  I think with the right dried fruits, your kids might even like them after school.  

I'm def not hating on Gwyneth's new book.  I was 3 for 3 today and I'm trying the Crazy Good Fish Tacos for dinner tonight and maybe the Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle and Coriander tomorrow.  I'll let you know.



I've done some gluten free baking in the past so I had GF flour on hand.  I use this brand and you can get it at Williams-Sonoma (but I'm sure Amazon has it too), but do some research.  There are tons of GF flours out there.

Here are the muffin and bar recipes:

Sweet Potato + Five Spice Muffins

It's All Good  -  Gwyneth Paltrow

Makes 12 muffins
Vegan

1 large sweet potato
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup good-quality maple syrup plus 2 extra tablespoons for brushing the muffins
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free flour (if the flour doesn't include xantham gum, add 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 deg F.  Prick the sweet potato a few times with a pairing knife or a fork.  Bake until soft (when a pairing knife can cut through with zero resistance), about 1 hour.  Set the sweet potato aside until it's completely cool.

Peel the sweet potato, discard the skin, and mash the flesh in a mixing bowl with a fork.  Whisk the olive oil, almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla into the sweet potato.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour baking powder, baking soda, five-spice powder, and salt.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and evenly distribute the muffin batter among the cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, brushing the tops with the extra maple syrup during the last 5 minutes of baking.  Let the muffins cool before serving.

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Millet-Fig Muffins

Makes 12 muffins
Vegan

2 cups gluten free flour (if the flour doesn't include xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon)
1/2 cup raw millet
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
A big pinch of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup ground flaxseeds
2/3 cup good quality maple syrup
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped dried figs

Preheat the oven to 400 deg F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk the flour, millet, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and flaxseeds together in a large bowl.  In another bowl whisk together the maple syrup, almond milk, and olive oil.  Toss the chopped figs in a small bowl with a spoonful of the dry ingredients (this helps keep the figs from sinking to the bottom of the muffins).  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined, then fold in the figs.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake until the muffins are browned and a toothpick comes out clean.  20 to 25 minutes.

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Bummer Bars

Vegan

1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes (I used oats)
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
A pinch of fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup good-quality maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
1/2 cup chopped prunes or apricots
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.  Line a brownie pan (we use a 9 x 11 inch dish that's 2 inches high) with parchment paper or line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and pour the mixture into the brownie pan, or evenly divide it among the muffin cups.  Pack the mixture down with a rubber spatula.  Bake for 1/2 hour, or until the bars have firmed up and are golden brown.  Let cool before removing from the pan or muffin cups.  If you used a brownie pan, use the parchment to lift the bar out of the pan, and cut into rectangles.  Serve right away or store in an airtight container.

Hummingbird Cake

I found this recipe pasted in Grandma's little book.  I don't know where it came from, but I know she's just reinventing the wheel here.  Hummingbird Cake has been around for ages.  The story goes that the recipe was first submitted to Southern Living Magazine in 1978 by a woman from North Carolina and in the years since has become their most requested recipe.  

Over the years Southern Living has tweaked it, lightened it, made it into a bundt cake and even turned it into pancakes.  The recipe pasted in Celia's book closely resembles the original SL version but it's not exact, so I have to assume this recipe was making the rounds well before 1978.

Theories abound on the origin of the name also, but I like this one....."Bananas and pineapples come from the tropics.  Jamaica's national bird is the hummingbird and since Jamaica is in the tropics......."  And I also like that theory because my 'rents went to Jamaica on their honeymoon.  See....here's my dad doing the limbo on the beach.  Although, I'm sure it wasn't cake he was into before he decided this would be a good idea.  Just sayin.

 I can't believe I've never made this before and I can certainly see why it's so popular.  Like I said, it's got pineapples and bananas in the batter, along with toasted walnuts (although some recipes call for pecans) so it's extremely moist and, yes, tropical tasting.  But I have to be honest and say that what makes it so damn good is the cream cheese frosting.  Because, really......cream cheese frosting can make feet taste good.  Seriously.

As you can see, I made mine into a sheet cake, but next time I'm  making a traditional layer cake because that way there are several layers of frosting instead of just one!

Here's the recipe in Grandma's book, but feel free to check out the Southern Living link above and see all the variations.  Then do whatever floats your boat.  But don't skimp on the frosting.

Hummingbird Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (or melted margarine....which is what I used)

1/4 cup water

3 eggs

1 8 oz can crushed pineapple and its juice

2 medium bananas, chopped

1 cup chopped nuts, toasted  (I used walnuts because I like them better than pecans)

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, sugar, oil, eggs, pineapple and juice by hand in a large mixing bowl.  Add the bananas and nuts and fold together.  Pour into a well greased and floured pan of your choice.....three 9' round cake pans, 13 x 9 baking dish or even a bundt pan.  If you use a bundt pan, you can make a cream cheese glaze to go over it but you'll miss out on the best part of the cake!!  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for approx. 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 8 oz pkg cream cheese, room temp.

1 cup butter, softened

2 16 oz packages powdered sugar (or until you get a good spreadable icing consistency)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped, toasted nuts

Beat together cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer until well combine and smooth, about 3-5 minutes.  Add vanilla and then slowly add powdered sugar.  Ice cake when it's completely cool.  Sprinkle nuts evenly over icing.

Meatless Monday - Pineapple Sweet Potato Quinoa Waffles

There are days when I just can't come up with anything interesting to make for dinner.  On those days that I seem to lack inspiration I inevitably go the "breakfast for dinner" route.  When Barry was little, he would get so excited when he came down for dinner and there were waffles or pancakes on his plate.  There's something a little forbidden and naughty about syrup on your supper, I guess!  Luckily, Hubs still gets excited about it too.

Since I've been having a love affair with quinoa lately, I was a little excited when I ran across this recipe.  This looked like a "good for you forbidden and naughty" breakfast for dinner!  Not only was there quinoa, but sweet potato.  In case you're new to this little nutritional powerhouse, here's what Wikipedia says about it......

Quinoa (pron.: /ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like cropgrown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the true grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds.

Today, people appreciate quinoa for its nutritional value. Quinoa is considered a superfood.^[14] Protein content is very high (14% by mass), yet not as high as most beans and legumes. Nutritional evaluations of quinoa indicate that it is a source of complete protein.^{[27][not in citation given][28]} Furthermore, it is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is also a source of calcium, and thus is useful for vegansand those who are lactose intolerant.^[29][30] Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

So, there you go!!   I posted this Quinoa Granola recipe a few months ago and am still eating it every morning (with modifications to keep it interesting) for breakfast.

If you're feeding this to your kids, there's no need to mention that there's anything "good for them" in there.  All by themselves there's just a tinge of sweetness.  You'll get the nuttiness of the quinoa and whole grain flour and the sweet potato keeps them really moist.  But the best bite is when you get a little nugget of pineapple.  A sweet surprise.  Top these with fresh fruit and a little syrup and you'll fool the littlest diners!  Heck, really throw them off with a light dusting of powdered sugar.  Do what you have to!  


Here's the recipe:

Pineapple Sweet Potato Quinoa Waffles

CHEFS Catalog

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups quinoa flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sweet potato, cooked and mashed
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Directions:
Note:  Quinoa flour can be made at home with a food processor or wheat grinder.  Grind equivalent amount of whole quinoa in the food processor until reaches flour consistency. (I ground mine in the food processor and it takes a good five minutes.  Mine was still a little gritty but completely unnoticeable in the waffles.)

Preheat waffle maker.  Spray waffle plates with nonstick spray or light coat of oil.

In a large bowl, sift together quinoa flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  In a medium bowl, beat together the honey, eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined,  Add mashed sweet potatoes and pineapple, and fold into batter.

Ladle batter into waffle maker, according to manufacturer's directions, and close plates.  Cook 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown.  Continue the same with remaining batter.

Aunt Maxine's Date Cake

Last summer when my mother was here to help hubs and I babysit for Reece and Emma (yes, it took all three of us), I noticed her one afternoon sitting at my kitchen table going through the recipe box she had given me a few years earlier.  I asked her what she was looking for and she said the recipe for date cake.  She found it and proceeded to write it down to take back home with her.  I remember thinking that it must be some kind of cake and made a mental note to give it a try.  Even if it did have dates.

So last week, I was partaking in my usual web browsing of some of my favorite cooking blogs and date cakes kept popping up.  I figured that was a sign, so I dug out that recipe got busy.  While the cake was in the oven, I texted my mother and asked her from whom she stole that date cake recipe!  Charlotte is a great cook but she's not out developing desert recipes in her spare time.  (She's playing pickle ball and drinking wine in The Villages.)

Left to Right:  Ruth and Maxine....rocking their tunics with leggings and boots in about 1930.  Fashionably way ahead of their time!!

Seems the recipe came from my Aunt Maxine.  Maxine is my mom's sister and the oldest of the seven kids.  She just turned 89 on March 14 and she's a total hoot.  I remember being in the kitchen at Maxine's one Thanksgiving and mom going through her recipe file looking for her pumpkin pie recipe.  When she couldn't find it she asked Maxine where she kept it and Maxine said to look in the "O's".  Mom asked why in the heck she kept it under "O"?  She said, with a totally straight face,  that pumpkins were orange.  So I can only assume that she had this date cake filed in the "B's"  

Maxine's youngest daughter, Dell and I were only a year apart so I spent a lot of time at their house riding horses and playing in the barns.  They also owned the local fertilizer company in town and I remember a lot of afternoons hanging out there and climbing all over the huge piles of fertilizer bags.  And then stinking like fertilizer.  This was Richwood, people.  In the late 60's and early 70's.  It's not like we had a local mall to frequent.

Back row:  Denny, Diane, Doug
Center Row:  Sherman and Maxine
Front Row:  Dell and Doreen

My Uncle Sherman passed when I was seven but Maxine took over the fertilizer business and ran it until she was in her 70's.  She's one tough lady with a wicked sense of humor and I admire her greatly.

All the sisters at my parent's wedding.....Emma, Kate, Ruth and Maxine

So......the cake.  I can see why Mom was looking for the recipe.  This is delicious.  Even if it does have dates!  It's incredible moist, not overly sweet and that icing.  Holy cow.  My picky friend, Chad, even ate two pieces.

Here's the recipe:

Maxine's Date Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 tbsp butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups boiling water
2 cups chopped dates
2 /2 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and lightly flour either a 9" square pan or a 9" spring form pan.

Put chopped dates into medium bowl along with the baking soda.  Pour boiling water over dates, stir and let cool.  Cream together the butter and sugar, add in the eggs one at a time and blend until fully incorporated.   Add the cooled date mixture to the batter and then add the flour and nuts.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Icing:
While the cake is baking, combine sugar, dates and water into medium pan.  Over medium high heat, bring to a boil until thick.   Remove from heat and add the nuts.   (I boiled mine for about 5 minutes and it never really thickened up so I took it off the heat, added the nuts and hoped for the best.  It thickened considerably as it cooled.)  Spread on cake when almost cool.

Weekend Links

My bracket is so busted.  Thanks a LOT Harvard!!  I love the fact that you cleared the way for my Buckeyes but you're not winning me any money!!  And Wisconsin.....REALLY???  Needless to say, this is my favorite sports weekend of the year and I can't wait to watch my team play tonight.  O-H

I'm pre-gaming for the Bucks with a little old-school cocktail hour music.  Y'all have a great weekend!

Speaking of March Madness, I've seen this gesture (and yes, it is goofy) several times over the past few weeks.  This explains it, but doesn't excuse it!!!

Tennis news in the unfortunate column.....Jennifer, you're 36.  It's time to get your life in order.

Tennis news in the fabulous column......He's baaaaaack!!

This little stunt is equally spectacular and terrifying.

Because I love you and there is no such thing as too many bacon recipes!

We've all seen William Wegman's fabulous weimaraner photography.  He's created his first GIF.

I'm a huge fan of coconut oil.....put it in my smoothie every day, however I'm not sure about the whole "oil pulling" fad.  Anyone tried it?

I'm in love with this and think it would be perfect out at the pool.  (Hint, hint Hubs!)

I made this tuna recipe this week and it's probably going in the weekly rotation for a while.  Easy and so tasty.

It's his life, but Bon Jovi will let you have it for a mere $42Million!!!

If you're looking to decorate your child's room with some fantastic animal art, these are adorable.

Let's end with maybe the cutest kid ever (except for Reese and Emma!)   I could eat him.

Weekend Links

What's everyone up to this weekend?  We're keeping it low-key here.....enjoying the Spring temps, watching some college bball (can you believe March Madness starts this Sunday with the selection show?) and celebrating this guy's 10th birthday!

Let's start with some "dancing around the kitchen making dinner" tunes.......

Ten You Tube channels you need to check out.  I'm not sure there is anything funnier than that NFL Lip Reading video.  

Just another example of why a woman's girlfriends are so important.

Thirty things that will make you smile.

Nailed it.

I subscribe to lots of blogs, so I'm a huge fan of Google Reader.  Imagine my disappointment when I read this week that it was being shut down.  Here are options for a replacement.

My niece texted me last Saturday, "WHY are there so many honey flavors and how do I know which one to buy."  I answered with, "Because there are so many different flavors of bees?  Buy one with a pretty label."  This is much better advice.

If you don't already have your St. Paddy's Day meal planned, here are several suggestions.

I've been excited about seeing the remake of The Great Gatsby ever since I heard Leo DiCaprio was starring.  Now I'm equally excited to hear it!

I'm not sure which I love more......this corgi or this lab.

Grandma Shields' Marshmallow Ice Cream

That's my Grandma Shields.  The big picture on the left is of her and my mother when my mother looks to be about 10 years old.  That would have made my grandmother about 50.  My mother was somewhat of an "oops" I assume as Grandma would have been 40 when she gave birth to her and in 1940 (sorry to reveal your age Mom!) that would have been a tad past prime child-bearing years.  My mom was the youngest of seven children and as she admits, a little spoiled by her mother.  (Not by Grandpa....he was a grumpy ole SOB.)  The bottom right picture is of Grandma at a much younger age and minus the rather wild hairdo looks EXACTLY like my mother.....right down to the expression on her face.  The picture above that is Grandma and Grandpa and that's how I remember my grandmother looking......old, and always wearing a boldly patterned dress and pearls.  Like she was on her way to church every day, despite being a tireless farm wife.  

Back row:  Kate, Grandpa, Ruth, Grandma
Middle row:  Chuck, Emma, Maxine
Front row:  Tom
(before my mom was born I assume, unless they left her in the coop for the chickens to look after)

My mom always told me that I was Grandma's favorite grandchild.....sorry to my millions of cousins out there, but I choose to believe that she's probably right!!  :)  I mean, why would that not be true??  And since Grandma was such a great cook, and I was the favorite, it only goes to reason that my love of food came from her.  Follow me? 

A couple of years ago, I hounded politely asked my mother to pass down Grandma's recipe book until I finally wore her down she gladly handed it over.

Yup.  That's it.  An old electrical co-op book that she had cut and pasted recipes in over the years.

Ohio farm wives had to be resourceful.  The ones pasted in there that are in her own handwriting are the ones I treasure.

Although some of the newspaper-clipped ones are pretty damn interesting with names like "Roman Holiday", "Mushroom Surprise" and "Gumdrop Salad".  I gotta wonder if she ever served any of those to grumpy Charlie (Grandpa) for dinner.

One of her handwritten recipes was for ice-cream that contained nothing more than marshmallows, milk, cream and "flavoring".  No eggs.  No sugar.  Which meant I didn't have to make a custard!  Boom. 

It required nothing more than melting marshmallows into some milk, adding cream and "flavoring" and freezing.  Even Jenny could do this.  (Inside BFF joke.  We'll see if she reads my blog like she says she does!)

 I decided to keep this simple on the first try and make my "flavoring" vanilla, but this is totally a blank canvas.  I infused one whole scraped, seeded vanilla bean into the warm marshmallow/milk mixture while it was cooling before I added the cream.  I halved the original recipe because I didn't have room for a gallon of ice cream in the freezer, plus my Cuisinart's capacity is just a quart.  The Cuisinart problem proved to be moot, however because this freezes just as well without a machine.  I put half of the cooled mixture into a tupperware container, popped it into the freezer and stirred it every few hours until it was solid and it's just as creamy as the half I froze in the ice cream machine.  Bigger boom.  This is not a sugar-sweaters-on-your-teeth sweet ice cream but its smooth and creamy the way really good ice cream should be.

I can't wait to try this again with other flavorings.....cinnamon, coffee, or some of that out of control mint that I fight with every summer.  Oh, and how about toasting those marshmallows before melting them then adding some chocolate chips and then topping with some crushed graham crackers??  See where I went there?  Endless possibilities.

Marshmallow Ice Cream

Celia Shields

makes 1 gallon

2 lb Marshmallows

4 cups milk

2 quarts cream

flavorings of your choice

Dissolve marshmallows into milk in a pan (I used a non-stick) over low heat.  Remove from heat and cool.  Add in cream and freeze.