Peanut-Butter Chocolate Oatmeal, now with (optional) Bananas!

Today's first food experiment was with chocolate and peanut butter, a classic American combination of tastiness.  I'm a fan of the Hungry Girl recipe for "Growing Oatmeal Bowls" of various flavors, but decided to expand on my repertoire of fruit combinations.

A friend was talking about using PB2 powder (a low fat peanut butter powder that can be reconstituted with water) for something else, but I had some in my cupboard and thought it might make for some yummy sweet oatmeal.  And also a sweet treat that is lower sugar and fat than it would be if I used chocolate chips and real peanut butter.    

I made up the recipe below pretty much on the fly and it was tasty!

Makes 1 Serving

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup vanilla light almond milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp. PB2 chocolate/peanut butter powder
• dash of salt
• approx. 1/2 tsp. Watkins peanut butter extract (or more or less, to taste)
• Banana, if desired

Instructions:

1. Combine salt, oats, water, and almond milk in a nonstick pan.  
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer
3. Cook about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until it is thick and creamy
4. About halfway through, add cocoa powder and stir 
5. At the end of cooking, add PB2 powder and peanut butter extract and stir
6. Add slices of banana, if desired.

Zuppa Toscana aka Adventures in Soup and in Kale!

For the month of January, I was in a facebook group for being a bit healthier.  Nothing crazy, but a lot of tasty recipes have been shared.  And a lot of people had recipes that included kale.  I've never really liked kale and haven't been able to figure out why other people do.  It is like super-bitter, crazy-textured spinach or something.  I like spinach, but kale just seems silly.  At one point I mentioned my dislike of kale and how I swapped it out of a recipe and my friend Meg gave me this recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/zuppa-toscana

I'll admit that the kale was fine in the soup.  However, I will also admit to eating the bites with kale first, so that I could eat non-kale bites....sort of like saving best for last.  OK, it was exactly saving best for last.

Changes I made to the original?  I used turkey kielbasa instead of spicy Italian sausage, and it was fine.  But I will try a spicier sausage next time. I also used half-and-half (regular, not low-fat or fat free) instead of whipping cream, and didn't have any cayenne.  Plus, I put in turkey bacon, but I don't think the soup needs the bacon at all, so I've left it off my ingredients list.

Explanation for the sort of weird photos: I didn't double the recipe.  However, I did realize that the only slow cooker I had was my party one, with 3 kinda small ones in one long base. I had to use two of the three for it, but it worked great.

A note on reheating: When I froze some left-overs and reheated in the microwave later on, the dairy was a bit separated-looking, but still tasted good.  Also, I added some shredded cheese and it was tasty all melted in!

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Italian sausage or kielbasa
• 4-6 russet potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 32 ounces chicken broth
• 1/2 bunch kale (or swiss chard), destemmed and cut/torn into bite-sized pieces (really make them small for better eating, I think)
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Brown sausage links in a sauté pan or cook kielbasa
2. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut into slices
3. Place sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat.
   
4. Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft.
5. 30 minutes before serving: Mix flour, salt, and pepper into cream, removing lumps.
6. Add cream and kale to the crock pot and stir.
   
7. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly.

Spicy Cauliflower Nibbles

I have been making a big effort since New Years to cook more.  There are a few reasons reasons.  Purely practically, cooking something from scratch means that I know what is in it and that I can tweak it to make it healthier.  I also actually like cooking and making things, so it is a fun activity.  And then there is the whole I-live-in-Minnesota-and-it-is-really-cold-here thing.  Basically, using my oven or stove is a wonderful excuse to have a warm kitchen and some warm food to enjoy!

Mid-January came around and had a whole conversation about how expensive fresh cauliflower was getting.  So what did I do?  Look for a recipe involving cauliflower, of course!  ARRGGHHH!  Why must fresh, healthy food be so expensive?  In money, in time, and in effort.  OK.  Sorry.  Backing away from that soapbox, as it deserves its own space and time.       

I found a recipe for cauliflower "poppers" over at WeightWatchers.com.  When I hear the word "poppers," I first think of jalapeno poppers...and then other kinds of crazy appetizers like deep-fried mac and cheese poppers, etc....and then I start thinking of pop-tarts and other things you make in a toaster.  Basically, jalapeno, deep-fried finger-foods, and toasters.  Since this recipe isn't any of those things (I even ate the cauliflower with a fork and not my fingers), I have renamed them "nibbles."  Nibbles sounds cute, but also a bit sophisticated.  Or maybe just cute.  But also bunnies nibble--sometimes on cauliflower--so I think it works.  

I would share the original recipe via a link, except it will only let WW members see it and then only when they are signed in.  So, I won't torture you with the original link.  Instead, I'll just give you my version of the recipe.  It is pretty close to the original, except I only cooked up a serving rather than the whole head of cauliflower. 

Ingredients:

• 1  uncooked fresh cauliflower
• about equal parts ground cumin, chilli powder, salt, and black pepper (probably 1/2 tsp or less of each, but more if that's to your taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet (or foil on a baking sheet) with cooking spray.
2. Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and put in a medium-sized bowl
3. Add spices and stir/toss to coat them.  Add more if you like it or change the mix to what you like.  Here's what mine looked like:         
4. Spread cauliflower on prepared baking sheet and bake until cauliflower is tender, but not mushy.  About 10 minutes will do it, but you should stir halfway through. 

 A bit of a warning: I really liked how these turned out, but they cool off fairly quickly.  So, serve pretty much as soon as they are out of the oven!