Peanut Butter Pancakes

I am dedicating this blog post to my intense, almost borderline unhealthy, love for all-things peanut butter. I was browsing the web this morning and came across "Posie's Place," a food blog in the same vain as my very own. When I saw this stack of pancakes with peanut butter oozing out, I nearly had a coronary! I knew that, while I hadn't created this recipe, it was well worth the acknowledgment and accreditation on my own page.

I know, you might be saying, "Geez Robin, this certainly is not one of your more 'svelte' recipes...," however, I plan on a very good explanation so hear me out. Like I said, every once in a while, it is absolutely necessary to give in to certain cravings. For me, it seems as if peanut butter is one that cannot be ignored for less than a few days. So, I try to incorporate the relative nutritional value of peanut butter into my diet and lifestyle. While peanut butter certainly contains an arguable amount of fat, the fat content can often (when ambitiously going out of ones way to purchase all-natural peanut butter as opposed to commercial peanut butters like "Jif," "Skippy," etc.) be beneficial in regards to satiety and "good" fats. Unfortunately the commercial brands, while scrumptuously tasty, often go through a process of converting the existing oils into saturated fat, which is certainly not the kind of fat you want to make a habit of ingesting. However, natural peanut butter will contain fat that is healthful, especially if you're an athlete.

One of the perks of eating peanut butter is its amazing ability to fill up the belly with only a small amount. One of my favorite snacks (photos to come in due time) before/after training for intense/vigorous cardiovascular workouts is my specialty of "Peanut Butter & Banana Toast." It's the absolute perfect and rewarding snack for before or after a vigorous workout such as training for marathons and/or triathlons. My sister, who inspired me to train for the marathon, has also given me some great and healthy (while still ultimately rewarding in regard to taste) ideas for snacks and meals during training. This was one of them. It's a pretty self-explanatory snack:

whole wheat toast/wrap-chopped banana-all natural peanut butter!!!!

Anyway, I absolutely adore peanut butter and can/will find any way to incorporate it into any sweet or savory dish. One of my absolute favorite, and quite possibly addictive, takes on peanut butter is frshly ground honey roasted peanut-butter. I get this sinful treat at a wonderful Italian market called Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace on Long Island, but I understand that this decadent treat can be purchased at Whole Foods (more readily accessible to metropolitan New Yorkers) as well. If so, it's a must try!!!!!!!

Well, I know that this was a short post, but sometimes the very BEST things don't need much discussing! Peanut Butter...it's a beautiful thing.

ENJOY!

Brown Rice Salad

And we meet again! However, for this week's escapades, I unite my love for 'all things rice' with 'all things bacon!' The dish I plan on sharing today, while slightly more involved, is one that I got from Alton Brown. He is superb!

However, since my anecdotes are assumingly so well-received and requested at that, I will share another brief one. Ever since I was a little kid, I have adored rice- white, fried, brown, you name it. Unfortunately... (and here comes the portion of my blog where I give a brief nutritional 411 and borderline share too much information while doing so...), rice, along with most other carbohydrates, are known to bind the gastro-intestinal tract- in other words, "sit like 'glue' in your intestines"- or, in fewer words, CONSTIPATE! yes, I said it! It's a fact of life (not the stellar television program!) people, and a very important part being that it regards one's relative comfort. Anyhow, I have digressed from my amazing story about my love for rice...so, since I was little I loved rice (particularly white rice out of convenience and accessibility) but I, more often than not, ran into the ungodly trouble of the aforementioned problema!!! So, as I became older and wiser, I learned that brown rice, which is basically white rice in it's more natural state, contains more fiber. Thus, the GI tract is given some RELIEF from influx of bagels and bread and pasta and, well you get the point....

So, in my whirwind of a journey towards more healthful food choices, I always make a conscious effort to choose brown rice when given the choice, so as not to fall into a "bound" situation.

I was pleasantly delighted to stumble upon Alton Brown's extremely tasty take on brown rice, since I usually just enjoy it plainly. So, check it out...it has bacon...it can, therefore, undeniably be great! Sorry vegetarians, sit this one out!

Brown Rice Salad:
6 slices bacon
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Baked Brown Rice, recipe follows
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

In a 10-inch saute pan over medium heat, fry the bacon until crisp. Drain, crumble, and set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat.
Add the red onion to the pan and cook until translucent, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the vinegar, chicken broth, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper to the pan and stir to combine. Add the bacon back to the pan along with the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed, approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the dill. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Baked Brown Rice:
1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately

And there you have it. I was initially turned onto this recipe (other than the bacon and rice, obviously) due to the use of dijon mustard. Now, I think it says a lot being that I am one who would NEVER (and anyone who knows my food habits can vouch for me) use mustard as a normal condiment on anything! However, this dish used just enough to 'kick it up a notch' without overpowering the overall flavor with mustard. So, don't be "scurrrrred" by the "mustuuuurd!"

Enjoy it!

Spinach Pie

For this week's recipe extravaganza, I have decided to discuss one of my favorite and oldest recipes. The recipe that I plan on sharing with you guys is one that I love so much, largely in part of its anecdotal importance and largely in part of its supreme deliciousness. It is none other than Spinach Pie, often referred to as "Spinach Squares" by my best friends and myself. So, I guess this is where I share the much desired anecdote...

Before, when I said this is one of my oldest recipes, I lied! It is definitely not a recipe reminiscent of childhood, rather the close-knit friendship I have with a group of five other girls I call my best friends...or including myself..."the seis" (meaning 'six' in Spanish...our self-proclamation so juvenile-ly mandated nine years ago). I've enclosed a photo of the six of us just to give you a more intimate look into this story...


Anyhow... one night looooooong, long ago, when the holidays were sneaking up on every high schooler in the America, the 'seis' frequented their favorite bar in Port Jefferson, Long Island. To their complete surprise, they had all drank one too many cocktails and, upon arriving home, found themselves in Jeni's (end top left) basement with insatiable hunger. Luckily, Jeni's mother was prepared for the post-Christmas/pre-NewYear's festivities and mistakenly left her famously delicious Spinach Pie uneaten. To the seis' extreme delight, they discovered this untouched gold, if you will, in the upstairs refrigerator along with all other kinds of holiday foods synonymous with late night binging (or as we 'seis' LOVE to refer to as, "drunk-eating!"). The seis was filled with all kinds of glee as they sank their teeth into Mrs. G's famous Spinach Pie. And so, that night began the many years of decadently over-the-top "drunk-eating" for the 'seis' and "Spinach Pie requests" upon Mrs. G!!!!

To this day, I can't eat/recreate this recipe without a moment's thought in the seis' direction! I love that I always think of these girls when I eat Spinach Pie and will most likely continue to do so for as long as this story remains with me. So, here is the recipe for Mrs. G's insanely good Spinach Pie...

Spinach Pie
2 Pkg. Frozen Spinach (you can use fresh spinach but the frozen honestly comes out great, too!)
1 Cup Bisquick
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 Cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
Dash of pepper
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese


Method: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease rectangular pan (13x9x2). Mix ALL ingredients and spread in pan. Bake approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown.

The relative health/nutritional value of this dish is definitely something I forgot to discuss previously. Of course, spinach is great for you with all of its iron and cheese can and should be enjoyed in moderation. However, this recipe is one that is synonymous with celebrations and holidays for me...often a time of splurging. So, if you are trying to watch your relative fat/calorie intake, this might not be one of those dishes to leave around when you return home from a night of partying with insatiable drunk hunger.

But, I say, do it up! Enjoy

Robin

Roasted Carrots

My apologies, yet again, for last week's brief interjection on that "cupcake splurge!" I think we need to return to some easier and healthier concoctions! So, I have decided to share my incredibly simple and always satisfying recipe with none other than carrots. I was, ultimately inspired to share this recipe because I feel that even if you don't "have a thing" for carrots, you will be surprisingly smitten over this dish. Plus, it's a pretty inexpensive way to eat healthy and not be staring in envy at your neighbors gargantuous plate of french fries.

I was inspired to create this recipe based off of my own personal desire to ingest some of the loving goodness of their immense health value. I was, personally, never a fan of munching on raw carrots until recently, so I thought, "Let's come up with a way to MAKE them taste good!" I immediately thought of good 'ol suppers at my best friend Jax's house and her father's (Sir Pappy) wise words of wisdom regarding vegetables: When in doubt, OVERCOOK a vegetable!!! That's a surefire way to make them tasty. (This is, of course, in regards to roasting/grilling)...

Anyway, I thought, "Thanks, Pap" and pertained that little cooking rule in regards to my little "carrot rendezvous!" I, then, thought of a way to spice up the recipe even more by incorporating one of my favorite fresh herbs, dill. Dill always reminds me of eating my grandmother's fantastic chicken soup while growing up. Plus, it emits this incredibly potent and savory flavor when incorporated to a meal.

So, here is my very own recipe for Dill Roasted Carrots:

Dill Roasted Carrots
1 large bag of carrots
1/2 cup fresh dill
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
fresh ground pepper

Method: Preheat the oven to 450 F. Peel and rinse each carrot. Cut each carrot into thirds. Disperse the carrots onto a baking tray. Rinse and chop the dill- sprinkle it on top of the carrots. Grind enough fresh pepper on top of the carrots until visibly coated (or add extra if you are as keen on 'zest' as I am!). Drizzle enough extra virgin olive oil to evenly coat the carrots (so as not to douse them, while adding enough to create a 'sheen'). Using your hands (washed of course) rub the oil, dill, and pepper into the carrots and place on the middle rack of your oven. Cook approximately 60 minutes or until VERY browned/blackened.

Remember, when in doubt, OVERCOOK those veggies- the crisp factor will never cease to disappoint!

This recipe is SO easy and SO de-lish that even kids would enjoy it. There's something about roasting carrots that creates a sweetness that is, quite frankly, delightful.

Plus, you get a great source of beta-carotene- Hey-o!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy it!