Twisted Thursday QUICK Snack (when you just gotta have something sweet)

Twisted Thursday
The Twist? Substitute a cereal for Rice Krispies to make 'Rice Krispie Squares'.
This is a great way to use up some items in your pantry, too.
To be honest - I  had a 3/4 full bag of marshmallows that I wanted to get rid of.


I didn't measure because I usually eyeball everything.
I would think it would be impossible to mess up this quick treat

Ingredients:
Shreddies
Mini Marshmallows - a lot
Margarine = 1/4 c or more
Vanilla = 1/2 tsp or more to taste

Into a medium - large saucepan ( depends on how much cereal you want to use) on medium-low heat, throw your margarine and marshmallows ( minis melt quicker)
Stir frequently as the marshmallows slowly melt. When they have blended with margarine add some vanilla.
Remove from heat and then toss in your cereal, a bit at a time. Stir till blended.

Shmear mixture onto wax paper or parchment lined cookie sheet and refrigerate so it will harden a bit.

Deeelicious

Alternatives - to make it extra special add nuts, raisins, Skor pieces/

Desperately Seeking SOMETHING to nosh! (aka PB Cocoa Commando Cookies)

cookie commando has entered the building!

Still trying to eat healthier I wanted something to nosh after dinner last night. I started getting the ingredients ready for my BreadMaker Rice Pudding, but really didn't want to use white rice. So I quickly closed up the butler's pantry and headed back to my cooking island.

These cookies took about 10 minutes to prepare and about the same to bake; not too shabby.
I just grabbed a bunch of ingredients that I figured should go well together and kept my fingers crossed.

Here are the secret details

No sodium

no chocolate

no baking soda

no artificial sweeteners

1 cookie is approximately 73 calories ( I actually did the calculating myself!!!) ---- insert proud moment here X

Yield: 16

Ingredients

1 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
Agave Syrup 1/3 c
cocoa powder
2 tbsp margarine ( I used lite) -- only 35 calories per tbsp.
i egg
1/4 c ground Flax Seed
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp peanut butter ( secret, secret ingredient)

Here's how I did it!

Heat oven to 375 F
cover baking sheet with parchment paper
*in a small bowl mix and blend all the ingredients .
Drop /scrape the oatmeal mixture onto sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

I used my toaster oven so the pan is smaller.

*tip - I hold a knife in one hand and a soup spoon in the other and use them in combination to 'cut in' and blend these ingredients. It's works really well for me.

Note: these are not overly sweet. They are 'sweet enough' and I am trying to find a happy balance between taste and health. By all means add all the margarine, brown sugar and chocolate chips you want!!! 

I'm really trying :)
Enjoy
Roberta

Easy One Pan Cranberry, Apple and Carrot Dessert

This was great because I made it all in one large frying pan ( no frying) and it turned out like a cobbler! My version is a little tart (like me), but you can add sugar.

Ingredients:

3 apples *I used Macintosh* cored and sliced thick
2 cups cranberries or 1 package frozen cranberries
1 tsp lemon juice
2 carrots diced *carrots are optional ( I liked the added colour)
pinch Sea Salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/2 c blanched almonds or slivered almonds
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup granola - low sugar/sodium

How I did it:

Over low setting put cranberries and apples in pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
Add 2 tbsp water to the pan. Cover and stir every 5 minutes until fruit starts to soften. Add carrots, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds and almonds.
Stir and cover.
When the fruit has become soft toss granola into mixture along with maple syrup. Cover and let sit 15 minutes and serve immediately.
Or, if you are making this ahead of time remove the covered pan from the stove and let sit. Reheat later.

By letting the mixture sit it thickens and becomes like a cobbler. Reheats well.

 Enjoy!
~Roberta

Easy Chopped Liver

EASY Chopped Liver -- it really can't get any easier. Really!

Oy. So here I am trying to eat and cook healthy and my husband proudly presents me with a pound of chicken livers - on clearance- as he returned from shopping. It amazes me how cheap chicken livers are.

"So would you like me to make you chopped liver?" 

livers broiling

What I used:
1 pound Kosher chicken livers
3 hard boiled eggs
3 medium red onions, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
Chicken broth or oil for sauté

Heat oven to Broil.
Start boiling your eggs.
Place tin foil or parchment paper on your baking sheet and then spread out the chicken livers so that each one is spread out and does not overlap the others.

I like to sprinkle kosher or sea salt on top of the raw livers. Medium broil your livers on both sides. Keep an eye on them. They are done when they are no longer oozing 'red' and a slightly pasty colour.
In the meantime sauté your onions until they are translucent. I sauté with chicken broth and a little olive oil (maybe 1 tbsp) and NOT the large amount of oil usually called for. I pour in enough broth to cover the bottom of my frying pan, and add more if necessary.

Into the meat grinder I put my livers, eggs and onions. They will mix together easily.

TIP - I added the third onion to increase the moistness of the dish. It really makes a huge difference and I feel much better knowing I was able to drastically reduce the fat content. It is also much lower in sodium. 

I didn't add any salt afterwards, but by all means add salt.
Enjoy!

Raspberry Cobbler Crisp made in a Breadmaker

 Breadmaking machines aren't just for bread!

Toss some fruit into one of these wonderful machines and make yourself a wonderful dessert, or jam, or...


I took a recipe for apple crisp and adapted it to another wonderful fruit also in-season; raspberries!

And of course, there is no reason why you can't adapt this recipe to your own oven if you do not own a BreadMaker.

Ingredients

2 pints raspberries
tsp lemon juice
1/4 c Splenda brown sugar
2/3 c oats
1/3 c whole wheat flour
6 tbsp margarine - approx 1/3 c


How I did it

put raspberries in baking pan and sprinkle lemon juice on top
cover top of pan with tin foil
Set to DESSERT setting
the machine will warm up and start mixing and cooking the berries.

IN the meantime combine your dry ingredients including margarine in a mixing cup and blend them.  I find it's easier to do this in a 'confined' space as opposed to using a larger open bowl.

The machine will 'beep' when it's time to sprinkle your mixtures on top. First remove the tin foil; then put the mixture on .  You don't need to put the foil back on.
In less than an hour your machine will present to you a beautiful warm dessert.
Remember it is REALLY HOT, so remove with caution.

Add a dollop of yoghurt on top in stead of ice cream :) 

Enjoy!

Healthier Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies

I am trying to eat healthier and make substitutions whenever I can.

The substitutions I made for this recipe were:

• Becel margarine for butter

• whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour

• Agave syrup  for corn syrup

• 1/2 c Splenda Brown Sugar for   1 c. brown sugar  

• Sea Salt for regular salt

• Powdered Skim milk and water for liquid milk   

                                        

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar
1/2 cup Agave syrup
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk  ( I used 4 tbsp milk powder to 1 cup cold water; we don't drink a lot of milk in the house so I know I can always make milk if I am baking.)    
1 bag mini chocolate chips - a little less than 2 cups.

TIP: I slide the sheet of cookies off the pan and let them cool on the counter. They cool down much quicker this way

 

I love watching them in the oven

How I did it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and prepare your baking sheets with a non-stick spray, butter, or parchment paper.

Using a blender or mixer, combine margarine with Splenda brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix till blended. Add your eggs and mix till creamy. Add vanilla.
Now in a separate bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add the dry flour mixture and milk to your mixing bowl, but not all at once. Alternate 1/4 dry with 1/3 milk until everything is nicely blended. If you dump all the flour mixture in at once it will be too dry and very hard to mix. Then I stirred in my mini chocolate chips.  I find the minis are MUCH easier to mix in especially when I use my mixer.

Dropping the dough: 

I use a tablespoon from my cutlery drawer ( not a measuring tablespoon). I scoop out a generous portion and plop it on the parchment paper leaving 1-2 inches between cookies to allow for spread. I don't bother flattening them, either.
If you are a generous dropper like me you will wind up with 3 dozen or so cookies.
Let them bake for  18 minutes or until nicely brown edges appear.  The cookies will still look soft, but don't worry.  Just enjoy!

Don't Beat Me Apple Cake

This is my version of another apple cake circulating but I found it needed a few adjustments and of course, it needed more yumminess.

Don't Beat Me Apple Cake

The cool thing about this recipe is that you use a cake mix like Duncan Hines but you don't actually have to 'make it'.

What I Used:
5 Macintosh apples sliced or chopped. The original recipe calls for removing the peel but that's where all the good stuff is ( and I'm lazy).
1/4 c margarine or butter
1/2 c apple juice
1/4 c Skor pieces
1/2 c mini marshmallows
cinnamon
Agave syrup ( natural sweetener)   Alternative: 1/2 c brown sugar or 1/4 c Splenda Brown Sugar.

How I did it

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a casserole-type serving dish ( I used a glass 9x14 dish), place the ingredients in this order:
• 1/2 of the apples along bottom of dish
• 1/2 cake mix to cover the apples
• rest of the apples covering the mix
• rest of the cake mix
• sprinkle cinnamon all over cake
• sprinkle Skor pieces
• sprinkle marshmallows

Using a fork or knife lightly mix the last 3 ingredients into the cake. Some will mix in and some should still be on top or poking through.  There's no right or wrong. I just don't like leaving too many exposed marshmallows because they could start to burn and we only want them to turn a golden brown.

Finally,

• pour the apple juice over the cake
• drizzle Agave over top *I just squeezed the bottle and randomly drizzled. I didn't measure. Sorry. Squirt more or less. YOU judge! :)
• dot the top with margarine.

Bake for 40 minutes total or until golden brown on top.
At 30 minutes check the cake and if you see any cake mix still not baked, just stir it into the mixture. The final 10 minutes of baking will take care of it.

Important Tip - Make sure you eat some as soon as it's cool enough. It won't last long.

Faking the Expert - Serve with a few thick slices of cheddar cheese on the side. Everyone will think you actually know how to cook!


~Commando Cook