January 12, 2011

Carb Loading for the Big Race

It seems as though every time cold weather comes around carbohydrates are my food of choice. Not that I don’t indulge in other cold weather comforts such as spicy food, red wine, or coffee, I just find carbohydrates do the trick to fill me up.
This past Saturday morning I found myself out of Bisquick with a carb-loading style craving for pancakes. I am more of a savory breakfast person, however, rather than healthy egg whites or turkey bacon, I though – why not pancakes? I’ll skip lunch. (Cut to me eating a burger and fries around 2PM…)
So while searching my pantry and the web for some sort of Bisquick substitute I came across the below recipe for pancakes from scratch. They were easy to make and certainly satisfied my craving for carbs.
What you’ll need:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly buttered griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
Tips, Tricks, and Mishaps:
There were a few simple things I changed about this little gem of a recipe but not many.
  • I used Splenda rather than sugar. I also used Egg Beaters rather than eggs and skim milk rather than 2%. (Don’t worry I still used real butter. After all, there is nothing that can replace butter. Ever.)
  • The batter is very thick. I added a little bit of water to it prior to the frying pan process to make it more pancake-batter-ish rather than muffin-batter-ish. (Helpful, Kayte, real helpful.)
  • I also must recommend sugar free syrup. While it does not have as thick of a consistency as regular syrup and it does have a higher price to boot, it cuts a lot of the calories, as well as the sugar content of pancake indulgence and tastes just about the same.
Happy Carb-Loading!

January 6, 2011

Muffin Madness

Chicago has finally gotten cold frigid. With snow continuing to fall it's time to share some comfort food recipes. These muffins are simple to make and absolutely delicious. All you need to do is forget you have bananas until they are ripe. (I mean who let's bananas sit on the counter until they are dark brown... nope not me... oh wait... just kidding. Gross.) There were no mishaps or tricks. I honestly wouldn't change a thing! I do, however, highly recommend making the crumb topping. I almost didn't, thankfully, the fat girl inside of me thought more butter and sugar is always better and she certainly was right! 

What you'll need:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon butter
Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375. Grease 10 muffin cups (or line with papers.) 
2.  In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3.  In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter.  
4.  Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. 
5.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. 
6.  In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. 
7.  Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. 
8.  Sprinkle topping over muffins. 
9.  Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes.