Calming Cuisine
With the week having been overridden with sleepless nights and sick, sooky kiddos you would think I'd be calling the nearest pizza place. And after a long hard day of wiping noses and listening to the heart-wrenching cry of my baby for hours, I really don't look forward to cooking something up for my little family. But a hatred for spending money unneccessarily coaxes me there and suddenly, I am enjoying myself. You know I've come a long way when you hear me say that I have found cooking to be relaxing! In fact my FB status today was:
At my sister-in-law's advice, I tried this recipe - Tofu Cutlets with Green Olives and Prunes - for supper last night. On my own I probably would not have tried this. Green olives and prunes? Together? Really? It's a good thing I shoved those thoughts aside though because this was good! The only thing I think I'll do differently next time is double the sauce because 1) it was delish and 2) we ate rice with this so a little extra would have been nice to help flavor it. I especially loved how the tofu was breaded with cornstarch and flour! It made a perfectly crispy coating.
Peanut Noodles with Shredded Chicken and Vegetables is now an old favorite for our family. Before finding this recipe I tried a few other peanut flavoured type noodle recipes. This one far exceeds any of them and is so simple to make! It also has a spicy twist to it that is just right! (But isn't too much for the little ones!)
These are the Cranberry Muffins I made for the kids for Valentines Day. Piper loved them so much I've since made another batch but this time substituted in some whole wheat flour. Next, I'll likely start messing with the melted butter or sugar. Thats just my own attempt at a semi healthy muffin but the original recipe is so tasty! Even Taitum is slowly becoming accustomed to the bitter cranberry flavour and is not quite so disgusted by these muffins as she was originally! :)
This is the first cranberry muffin recipe I've ever tried though. Do any of you have a recipe that would be healthier while maintaining a good flavour? I adore the orange flavour that this one includes so I think I'll stick with something similar (as opposed to Lemon Cranberry muffins). But per usual I'm open to trying just about anything!
4 comments:
Ah shoot, I should have mentioned that I doubled the sauce, sorry about that. Next time I think I'll be tripling it. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! How did the rest of the family react?
They all seemed to like it too! Thanks for sharing it with us!
You asked the right person when it comes to cutting back on fat and sugar for the muffins
For ANY recipe calling for 1/2 cup of Margarine or butter--substitute with 3 Tbsp of Canola Oil and 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce. This works great and just double this if the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter.
Or you could use prune puree--to be REAL healthy as this is full of fibre and potassium
You make a batch up and freeze it for other recipes later (even cheaper than the applesauce substitute)
2 cups of pitted prunes (about 36) and soak them in hot water covered for about 5 minutes. Then process in a food processer until smooth (about 1 minute). Will keep in the fridge for 3 months or you can freeze. You would use the Prune Puree in the same quantity as the applesauce, still add the 3 Tbsp of canola too
As far as the sugar---the palm sugar would work perfectly here (buy at the bulk food store)
You could also use 2 egg whites instead of using the full egg with the yolk. This would cut down on the cholesteral.
Hope this helps and if you try this on this recipe--let me know how it turns out--the muffins look amazing.
Happy cooking
Sandi
Great tips Sandi! Thanks for sharing! I'll definitely be trying what you suggested!
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