Puppy Chow

Waaaaay back in October or November I asked some coworkers for suggestions for snacks they would like me to make. Someone asked for puppy chow and finally, 6 months later I'm getting around to making it for her.

I know the recipe is pretty standard but I'm crediting myself with it because I didn't research one to go off. Besides, I doubt many recipes call for refrigerating the mix overnight and adding extra powdered sugar in the morning. Not to mention I put this recipe in the "healthy" category because I made it without butter or oil. Winner.

My "taster" bowl

Regardless, this stuff is dangerously addicting. You've been warned.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Frosting

Mini cupcakes for taste testing. Always a must!

I can be a sneaky person. You see, I organized a little Q1 bake-off at work and marketed it as a way to bring all of us closer together. While that was part of the reason, the main thing was getting people to bring in food which I then eat.

It had so-so results but remember I'm sneaky. So what did I do? Created a "finals" round of course!

The finals start this week and will have three competitors, myself included. I was originally going to make homemade oatmeal cream pies, but in lieu of a coworker transferring at the end of the week I decided to go with something she would enjoy.

Given key lime pie is her favorite dessert and I'm pretty awesome at making cupcakes (not that it shows on here) I created key lime pie cupcakes with graham cracker frosting. I will win based on this frosting alone.

Humble, I am not..... When it comes to cupcakes or frosting.

Chocolate Milk For One

This here is just a quick little recipe that I adapted from a recipe I saw on pinterest a couple weeks ago for homemade Nesquik. I thought it would be a fun project because we love chocolate milk around here, but hate that most brands are made with HFCS. I know there are brands out there that are made with sugar, but this recipe is easy enough to make at home and allows you to adjust the final result according to taste.

My first attempt of this recipe came after a trip to the grocery store in which we purchased some chocolate milk. Naturally we wanted to drink it right away, but I just couldn't get over the first ingredient being HFCS so I quickly threw this together without checking the OG recipe. All I remembered what that there was twice as much sugar as cocoa powder. I took a sip and thought it was pretty good so I handed it off to Mark.

"You're about to ruin chocolate milk for me aren't you?" he said before taking a sip.

He thought it was pretty darn good (and yes, better than the store bought), but needed more cocoa powder. So for the glass I made for myself I doubled the cocoa powder and cut back on the sugar. After tasting the second attempt, we both agreed that it was delicious.

Mark likes his exclusively with cows milk, but I think its amazing with Almond Breeze coconut-almond milk. With either milk this mixture creates an extremely rich, chocolately drink which can and should be enjoyed hot or cold.

I just love the color of the drink. It reminds me of the hot chocolate machine on The Santa Clause (my favorite Christmas movie) and how creamy it came out.

This one is definitely a keeper.

Chocolate Milk For One
Adapted from here

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 cup milk of choice

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1-2 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt, optional

Directions:

Mix together cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a small container and set aside. Warm 1/4 cup of milk in the bottom of a mug in the microwave for about 15 seconds.

Pour cocoa powder mixture into warmed milk and stir until powder has dissolved.

Pour remaining 3/4 cup of milk into mug and mix well.

Enjoy :)

Mini Sweet Potato Muffins

Remember that bag of sweet potatoes I told ya about earlier? This recipe is another product of that bag needing to be used up. Wanting to appeal more to Mark's (sweet) tastebuds this time around and make something that would hold up a couple days, I thought muffins would be a great way to go; Mark is happy they are sweet and I am happy they have vegetables. As for making them mini? That just allowed me to use my brand new mini muffin pan I purchased this weekend. I call that a win-win-win.

Lightly sweetened with some applesauce and a minimal amount of sugar these bite-sized muffins make a tasty afternoon treat. Some would argue *me* that these should even be considered healthy. Consisting of whole wheat flour, fruit, vegetables, and no butter is enough for me to snack guilt free. You should too :).

Banana Bread - As Healthy As I Ever Want It

This past weekend Mark and I were craving french toast but were fresh out of bread. This caused a major conflict for us because we try to only go to the grocery store twice a week, once on Sunday for weekly shopping and once on Wednesday to restock our empty apple inventory... it was Saturday. For normal people just making a loaf of bread to use would probably be an option and a delicious problem solver, but unfortunately I have yet to master the skill of working with yeast. I don't know what it is but nothing ever turns out when I try using yeast. A bread making class is in my future. In the meantime I must get a little creative (or so I think until I do a google search).

Regardless, we ended up happy and with french toast on Sunday morning.

I decided to make a healthified banana bread and use it as the french toast base. Now, I'm not crazy enough to think that lowering the amount of oil and replacing the sugar with honey makes banana bread something I can eat and eat, we wanted a comfort food breakfast and thats what we had. However, in terms of calories and added sugar this recipe is much lower than most while still being tasty (a slice of this has about 100 calories while a slice of Starbucks banana bread has almost 500!). So take it for what you will and remember healthier versions of your favorite treats are still treats and enjoy them accordingly.

Steps off soapbox.

Getting back to this banana bread: I used less sweetener because I made it with very ripe bananas, cut the oil down to just 2 teaspoons, and used half whole wheat/half all-purpose flour. The result was a soft, moist bread that tasted sweet enough to be a dessert and light enough for a snack. It was perfect for the baked french toast I made the next morning (recipe here).

The eggs were for the french toast, not the bread

Yum!

Topped with butter and honey

As for the leftovers? They will be used as peanut butter and jelly sandwich bread for a post workout snack shortly!

Yum.

Banana Bread - As "Healthy" As I Ever Want It

Makes 1 loaf,
Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour (I did 1/2 WW and 1/2 all purpose)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

1/4 teaspoon salt

2-3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup honey (I used a little less)

2 teaspoons oil (coconut or canola)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

In a smaller bowl mix together mashed bananas, applesauce, honey, oil, and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir well to combine.

Lightly spray a 9" by 4" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Pour batter into pan and place in preheated oven.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Enjoy :)

Restaurant Review Restaurant Week Summer 2012 Edition: Meritage

Mark's Zoolander face

As Mark mentioned, when Restaurant Week rolls around we spent copious amounts of time picking out new places to try; however this time around there was one restaurant that was a shoo-in, Meritage in St. Paul. You see, a couple months ago Msp Mag released their "best of the best"restaurants issue and Meritage beat out our beloved Vincent for best french restaurant in the readers poll.

Obviously we had scope the place out for ourselves. The menu looked good, but they had some big expectations to fulfill. For starters, did they have a cool french-looking waiter to give Mark free iced tea?

Due to the fact that the restaurant is all the way in St. Paul (Minneapolis, you feel me?) and Mark had to work all week we went for dinner.  As with most Restaurant Week participants, Mertiage put together a 3-course meal menu for a fixed price of $30. So it's a nice way to try some of the best restaurants in the city for a reasonable price.

Restaurant Week menu

When we arrived it was extremely loud and busy. The place is laid out kind of like a small European cafe (not that i've ever been to Europe, just what I imagine it to be). We were seated in a tiny booth/table with no room between us and the next booth/table. Our waitress came and although she was clearly American she was nice so no strikes were given against her or Meritage. Since we had studied the menu for weeks prior we were able to place our orders right away. This calmed me immensely because it was already close to 7:30, I was starving (the three pieces of buttered bread I inhaled upon arrival did nothing to sooth my hunger pains), and the place was packed with no end of incoming traffic in sight.

Luckily, I remembered to take a picture
before devouring and asking for more

Restaurant Review Restaurant Week Summer 2012 Edition: FireLake Grill

Every time that restaurant week comes around, Tara and I spend hours researching and debating which restaurants we want to visit. This summer, we had narrowed our lunch restaurant down to a few finalists, and the winner was Fire Lake Grill. While Fire Lake isn't one of the celebrated restaurants in the Twin Cities, it had some great choices on the restaurant week menu.

We visited Fire Lake on a weekday. I got off of work, and we walked over to the Radisson hotel. The host showed us to our table where we were seated in generously-cushioned chairs. When our waitress came, we had to specially request restaurant week menus, but she was happy to provide them.

Restaurant week menu

Whole Wheat Strawberry-Banana Muffins

So things got kind of hectic around here last week. One thing after another came up, before I could breath it was Friday and I had about 1/2 lb of VERY ripe strawberries in the refrigerator. My first instinct was to eat them right then and there, but then I remembered seeing a recipe for banana peach muffins earlier in the week that I really wanted to try. So I just replaced the peaches with strawberries.

Problem solved. Q.E.D. (I know that isn't being used correctly, it's an inside joke).

I played around just a little with the recipe by lowering the amount of maple syrup and replacing half the oil with applesauce. Not because the recipe wasn't healthy enough as is, but because I had (still have) some applesauce that needed to be used and I like to play around with recipes to make them my own. Following exact directions is so 3rd grade, am I right?

The result was phenomenal (in my opinion). The nutty flavor of the whole wheat flour and the grainy texture of the thick cut oats mixed with maple syrup, mashed banana, and slices of fresh strawberry.... Muffins make any crazy week infinitely better; I decided.

These are light enough to be part of a breakfast, small enough to be an afternoon snack, and sweet enough to be a dessert.

These also freeze well. Just put leftovers in an airtight container and place them in the freezer. When you crave one, take it out and defrost in the microwave!

It's my new go-to muffin recipe and I can't wait to try them with other kinds of fresh fruit.

Whole Wheat Strawberry-Banana Muffins
Adapted slightly from here

Serves 12-14

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup thick cut oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2-3 ripe bananas, mashed (I always keep frozen ripe ones in my freezer)

1/2-1 Ib strawberries, sliced

1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional but recommended, preferably Saigon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl combine applesauce, oil, maple syrup, mashed bananas.

Mix wet ingredients into dry, then add sliced strawberries and fold gently until barely combined.

Either line a muffin pan with liners or spray pan with cooking spray and fill 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown and the sweet aroma of baking fills your house.

Serve warm or cold. Both are delicious.

Enjoy :)

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Banana Soft Serve

I'm sure I'm not the first to do this, but I just made banana soft serve with cocoa powder and pretzels. I liked it a lot so I am typing it out for memory sake.

For the fans of the sweet & salty combo this snack is for you.

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Banana Soft Serve

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana cut into chunks

1/2-1 tablespoon cocoa powder (depending on how dark you want it)

6 mini pretzels

1-2 tablespoons milk, optional

Dash of salt

sweetener of choice, if desired

Directions:

Place banana chunks and milk (if using) in the bowl of a mini food processor and blend until almost all the banana chunks are smooth.

Add cocoa powder, pretzels, salt, and sweetener (if using) and finish blending until desired consistency.

Spoon into a glass and enjoy with more pretzels :)

Peach Cobbler for Two (Can Be Vegan Friendly)

Looking at a base dinner recipe and cutting it down to 2-3 servings or tweaking it to better fit our preferences is something I am pretty comfortable with. With a little more garlic here or less oil there nothing will go horribly wrong, but baking is a different story. Baking is a science and the reason I appreciate Alton Brown and his precision so much.

But does that stop me from taking dessert recipes and attempting to cut them down?

No.

Sometimes they don't turn out, other times they are meh, but on occasion they just work.

I am really happy when it just works (not because I don't like the experimenting because I love it) because for as many times as Mark (happily) tries and critiques my creations its nice to present him with a dessert that he loves.

This peach cobbler is one of those recipes. I could probably tweak it here or there but its good as is and easy to boot!

Make these with any fruit you have on hand and you should probably serve them with vanilla ice cream.

Just sayin'.

Restaurant Review: Annie's Parlour

Doesn't he look post-vacation fresh?

Ah, it's good to be back.... To reviewing restaurants in the Twin Cities area that is. Not that there was anything unpleasant about the Grand Marais restaurant reviews, but this blog is our way to keep trace of places we have tried, what we've liked, what we didn't like, and everything else of that sort. And I just feel like we hardly ever go to Grand Marais (or on vacation period), so the chances of us forgetting what we enjoyed decreases significantly.

Anywho, one night after dinner I was hit hard with a craving for ice cream. When I get a craving for something so specific I MUST get it otherwise I will get cranky (I imagine this is what pregnancy cravings are like, or so says my cousin Heather). Lucky for me, Mark is ALWAYS down when I want a treat so the crankiness never develops.

Gosh he's a trooper, isn't he? Me making him go get ice cream with me... I can't imagine how much he must have suffered ;)

After some researching on the interwebz, we discovered this place called Annie's Parlour in Dinkytown that was known to make some tasty malts. Even though there were places for ice cream closer, we figured what the heck? We hadn't been to Dinkytown since college so we gave it a go.

We parked a few blocks away, which turned out to be awesome because we found where Al's Breakfast was located. It's one of the restaurants on our bucket list, so it was nice to see its existence in person as opposed to just reading about it.

Restaurant Review Grand Marais Edition: The Rustic Inn

Vacation Swag

This is the last of our Grand Marais posts, which doesn't even seem fitting because this place is neither in Grand Marais nor did we even eat there. But it was a pit stop on our way home so we'll count it.

One of the last items on our mental "bucket list" for our mini vaca was to get some pie. We initially had two places on our radar: Betty's Pies (supposedly the best) and The Rustic Inn. But after talking with our waitress at the Cascade Restaurant & Pub there was no question, The Rustic Inn was where we would be going for pie.

Restaurant Review Grand Marais Edition: Hughie's Tacos

Hanging on the wall at our booth

After our hike up Lookout Mountain and a quick nap our stomachs told us that we had burned off all the energy that our breakfast of donuts had supplied. This made us extremely happy, as we were anxious to try another restaurant on our pre-made list. While driving into town, we settled on Hughie's Tacos for our lunch.

Upon entering Hughie's you walk through the roomy seating area and around their mini gift shop to a small counter to place your order. The order counter kind of reminded us of the one at Jose's Burritos back in Morris.

One of the things I really like about places like Jose's and Hughie's is that the menu isn't long. You have a choice of tacos, burritos, or, salads of which the only difference is the type of meat. It makes my indecisiveness settle down.

Given I hadn't had a taco salad in quite awhile, I went with that. It was a gigantic deep fried tortilla shell filled with lettuce, tomato, refried beans, and cheese with sour cream and salsa on the side. Since I ordered it vegetarian it came with extra beans and corn. It was absolutely delicious, but WAY too big. Even after our run and hike I needed Mark's help to finish it. And it kept me full for the rest of the day. Next time I will probably go the taco route.

My taco salad.... Like I said, huge

Mark ordered the special, which was fish tacos with rice and beans. He was excited to see the taco wrapped in a chalupa-like shell, as the chalupa is what he loves at Taco Bell. His taco came filled with fish, lettuce, cheese, and chipotle sour cream. He thought it was very scrumptous. I did as well, and was a little jealous that I hadn't ordered the same thing.

Tacos aren't very photogenic

Even though we were beyond full, we made the bold move of ordering dessert (hey, we were on vacation). We went with the fried cinnamon tortilla topped with warm cinnamon apples. The tortilla was just like the shell Mark's taco came on and was nice and crisp, but airy. And while it was good, we probably could have skipped it after having the skizzle a few hours prior.

Cinnamon apple tortilla

All-in-all we thought that Hughie's Tacos were good, but nothing spectacular. It fulfilled our craving for "mexican" food, so we left happy campers.


Other Grand Marais Posts:

Grand Marais Part 1

Grand Marais Part 2

Grand Marais Part 3

Dockside Fish Market Review

Cascade Restaurant & Pub Review

World's Best Donuts Review

6.19.12

Restaurant Review Grand Marais Edition: World's Best Donuts

I just want to say that I don't think we had a bad meal during our time in Grand Marais. We did our research before we went and it definitely paid off. That being said, there has only been one food item I have craved ever since we got home... Like seriously jonesing for. That food item would be the donuts from World's Best Donuts. I'm not sure if its just that I NEVER eat donuts (usually don't like them) or if they really are the world's best, but whatever it is I want them on a daily basis.

The day we arrived we had walked past World's Best Donuts where Mark spotted a cutout stand in of a viking look-alike with the word "Skizzle" across his chest. He declared right then, in spite of not knowing what it was, that he was getting one.

We planned on a trip to World's Best Donuts for the morning after we arrived. Being the spaz that I am, I wanted to get there as soon as they opened shop to gobble up the freshest donuts. That meant waking up at 6 am to do a 40 minute run and then driving into town. Either Mark was just as excited as I was for donuts or he loves me THAT much, because he was up and at 'em.

Restaurant Review: Cocoa & Fig

Updated 8.19.12:
Just tried a banana nut cupcake, s'mores cupcake, and an almond caramel cake pop. The banana nut cupcake tasted like banana bread and had a delicious cream cheese frosting; the s'mores cupcake had a homemade graham cracker base with a chocolate chunk filled chocolate cupcake and a homemade torched marshmallow on top. As for the cake pop, it was a gooey caramel almond cake dipped in milk chocolate. Each of them were impressive delicious treats. Seriously give this place a try sometime.

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I am obsessed with cupcakes. I love everything about them. The process, the possibilities, the liners,  and of course eating them. I just think they are perfectly packaged desserts or snacks. Sometimes I even make us head over to Byerly's so I can get a cupcake from their bakery.

Mark fully supports this addiction and will happily get me my fix. And sometimes (usually when I've had a bad day) he comes home with sweet treats from my favorite boutique bake shop Cocoa & Fig. Its a small retail store (part of a catering company) nestled between Neiman Marcus & Saks 5th Ave in Gaviidae Commons.

Not only do they have beautiful cupcakes on display, but they also have flourless cakes, cake pops,  sandwich cookies, and french macarons.

This delightful little buggers were nonexistent
in our lives before Cocoa & Fig. We are forever
in their debt.

Their cake pops and oatmeal peanut butter
sandwich cookie

Restaurant Review: Vincent A Restaurant

Vincent Burger

Back during the winter session of Restaurant Week in Minneapolis Mark and I picked out a French place on Nicollet Mall called Vincent A Restaurant. I have always been drawn to all things French because I took four years of French in high school, and we liked that it was close enough to Mark's building that the walk over wouldn't be too bad. Long story short, we loved it and vowed to be back. We stayed true to that vow and on a gorgeous day in May (5.15.12) we had a lunch date. Luckily we had a seasonally warm winter here and by May the patio was open and we were able to eat outside.

Once we were seated our waiter came over and gave us a basket with a loaf of bread. Unlike the bread at Buca, the bread here is delicious, and we instantly scarfed it down. We also recognized that this was the same waiter we had on our first visit. We were thrilled about this because he was part of the reason we enjoyed our last trip so much.

Microwavable Carob Mug Cake

Carob mug cake with "white" mug cake

Back in my post about Chloe's 3rd birthday I wrote about her carob mug cake we made for her birthday dessert. Here is the recipe:

Microwavable Carob Mug Cake
Adapted slightly from here


Serves 1


Ingredients:


3 tablespoons of flour

2 tablespoons carob powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon applesauce

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:


In a mug stir together all dry ingredients really well.

Add liquid ingredients and mix well again.

Microwave on high for 45-60 seconds.

Notes:


* Can be made vegan by using non dairy milk

Chloe's 3rd Birthday

Chloe at 2 months

As I mentioned before Chloe's birthday is July 5th, which makes the holiday extra special. Unfortunately Mark had to work this year, so we just waited and celebrated after he came home. Since we planned a picnic dinner at the dog park I spent part of the day prepping. I wanted something quick that would travel fairly well. I was thinking chicken but Mark suggested tofu which fit more into the "quick" category (can't beat ready to eat protein).

As I was running I brainstormed what to make with the tofu. Stir fry popped into my head first but that meant turning on the stove, something I was trying to avoid. After deliberating with myself for awhile I settled on tofu kabobs because it was different than stir fry (my go-to), had veggies but wasn't a salad (something Mark appreciated), and didn't require the stove.

Restaurant Review: Sebastian Joe's

***Updated Below***

 As I mentioned before in my oatmeal pancake recipe post, my grandmother recently passed away. The way I understand it, her body was just ready to “go” and she was admitted to something called “comfort care”.

This all took place over a week period in May. During this same time, my Uncle Tom fell ill as well and passed away a few days after my grandmother. Needless to say, I was 700 miles away from family and had a pretty crappy week.

So one night (5.4.12) Mark wanted to get my mind off of everything and took me out for ice cream at Sebastian Joe’s. We had been to their Uptown location once before so we headed over to their Upton Ave location for a change of scenery.

It had been raining off and on during most of the day, but was still seasonable warm so we took our chances. When we arrived it was raining pretty heavily, so we ran inside eager for ice cream.

The first thing we noticed, besides the fact that it was surprisingly busy for a rainy day, was its size. The Uptown location is quite large in comparison to this one. The next thing we noticed was the list of ice cream flavors currently available.

The most daunting task at an ice cream parlor is actually choosing what flavor you want. What makes this even more challenging is that they let you sample as many flavors as you want before making a decision…. And being as indecisive as I am these two things don’t go together very well.

So there we were, up at the order counter sampling all the flavors we had never had before (roasted garlic?!) with a line behind us and I was scrambling to make a decision. I turned to Mark for help because he had already made his decision, but it wasn’t helping. So I did what I usually do in these situations and made the person taking my order decide for me. He scooped me up a mix of 2 of the 3 flavor choices I gave him and said that they should go well together.

I ended up with a cup of Pavarotti & peanut butter chunk. The Pavarotti consisted of a mix of chocolate, banana, and peanut butter and the peanut butter chunk was a chocolate ice cream base with mini reese’s peanut butter cup like candies mixed in. Mark ordered a mix of white orangina, a white chocolate ice cream with orange flavoring, and banana cream pie in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone.

After we paid we noticed that there was no seating currently available and retreated to our car to devour our ice cream.

I was especially happy for the mini reese’s peanut butter cups because I had been craving them for awhile. And obviously the Pavarotti was beyond delicious. I mean…..chocolate, peanut butter, and banana, can you go wrong? The two flavors did mix together pretty well, so thank you to the very patient young lad who decided for me.

Mark instantly knew he made the right choice with the waffle cone upon biting into his ice cream. He hadn’t had one in awhile, but my guess is it’s the way he will go from now on. He loved the banana cream pie ice cream and was thrilled with the huge chunks of pie throughout. However, the white orangina was a bit disappointing. We both agreed that he should have passed on that flavor, but noted that it may be due to the fact that he got the end of the bucket.

Overall, we loved Sebastian Joe’s. The ice cream, atmosphere, and price all come together nicely. So if you love homemade ice cream, give Sebastian Joe’s a whirl.

Vegan Caramel Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting (Twix Cupcakes)

"Twix Cupcakes"

Last week one of our best friends, Daren, and his little brother, Jeff celebrated their birthdays. We got Daren a two year subscription to Motor Trend magazine and we got Jeff a Chicago Bears candy dispenser (I know.....a Bears fan).

Chicago Bears Candy Dispenser

To celebrate we tagged along on their birthday dinner to Daren's favorite restaurant, Buca Di Beppo, where we had fettucine alfredo, pepperoni pizza, chicken parmigana, etc. The next night, we went out to Benihana, which is ALWAYS a good time. But more about that in another post...