COTTAGE CHEESE FLOURLESS MUFFINS

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Pizzas & Small Dishes by sallybr

Honestly, not sure what to call them… they remind me of the sous-vide egg bites sold at Starbucks, but are more complex in flavor and texture. Low-carb, perfect for a light lunch. Leftovers, kept in the fridge, heat surprisingly well in the microwave, no rubbery texture. Love them!

COTTAGE CHEESE FLOURLESS MUFFINS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

3 large eggs
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bell pepper, seeded, de-veined, chopped small
½ cup spinach, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
dash of nutmeg
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Heat oven to 375F. Spray a muffin tin with oil. Reserve.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, and spices. Whisk very well until everything is incorporated together. Add the veggies and the mozzarella cheese, fold to combine. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 full, sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until all puffed and golden on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I have a slightly problem digesting bell peppers, usually red and orange are not too bad, but when I made them a second time, I used black olives instead of bell pepper, and loved the way they turned out. If bell peppers don’t love your digestive tract, consider that change. I was quite happy with the way they re-heated a couple of days later, when I had them for lunch. Will definitely make this recipe again and again, I hope you’ll give it a try.

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24Apr2025

PEANUT BUTTER ENERGY BARS

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch by sallybr

And now for something completely different! I don’t normally make this type of stuff, but my dear stepdaughter-in-law urged me to give them a try. First, no oven is needed, they require no baking. Second, you can customize them in many different ways. She adds dried fruits, uses maple syrup instead of honey, they always work. I made the recipe exactly as published in my first time but the husband already requested that I add seeds and nuts to future batches. I don’t eat energy bars but must say that after trying a bite of these, I was hooked. Sweet, but not too sweet. Delicious! And a little bit goes a long way indeed, as energy bars are supposed to do.

PEANUT BUTTER ENERGY BARS
(from Erin Lives Whole)

1 1/4 cup oat flour (store bought is best for ultra fine texture)
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1– 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix together oat flour, protein powder, and salt.

Add in peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, and 1 tbsp coconut oil. Mix. It will be very thick, I suggest using your hands to really mix well. It should eventually come together like playdough, but if it’s still too dry add more coconut oil. You want them to be FIRM not soft and too much coconut oil will make them soft. Mix in chocolate chips.

Press into a bread pan (~8×4) and add more chocolate chips on top if desired. Press them into the top.

Let sit in fridge for at least 1 hour before cutting into. Store in fridge.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Check the original post to see all the variations Erin has tried. Apparently these are copycat versions of a popular brand called Perfect Bars. I had never heard of them, but as I mentioned, it’s not something I consume. The husband is more into cereal bars and things of that sort. I will be making them again for sure, they lasted a little less than a week for us, and stayed unchanged in flavor and texture sitting in the fridge. Courtnie, my daughter-in-law says they also freeze well. She likes them with maple syrup instead of honey and with tiny bits of dried blueberries…

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13Sep2023

FETA EGGS WITH ZUCCHINI

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Pizzas & Small Dishes, Vegetarian-friendly by sallybr

Please don’t judge this recipe by its looks, it would be unfair because it is delicious and so very simple! I eat a lot of eggs, my lunch is often a scrambled egg wrapped in a tortilla, or some type of omelette made by the husband, who is a pro at those. I am always searching for new ways to enjoy my favorite lunch item, and this is my newest obsession.

FETA EGGS WITH ZUCCHINI
(slightly modified from Skinnytaste)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated zucchini, squeezed dry
Chili crisp hot sauce, any amount you like (I used this one)
2 large eggs
1 ounce feta cheese
ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste

In a small nonstick skillet, heat the oil and add the chili crisp sauce and zucchini, sautee on medium heat until the zucchini gets soft and starts to get some color. Add the feta cheese evenly over the zucchini and cook until it starts to melt a bit.

Carefully drop in the eggs, season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook on low until the yolks are runny and set, or cooked to your liking. Use a silicone spatula to transfer the eggs to your plate.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I have made it with other cheeses (Cotija and goat cheese), and they all work great. It is such a nice way to enjoy eggs, a slice of sourdough is the perfect way to deliver it to your mouth, but if you want to keep the carb index low, just enjoy the layer of zucchini to give it texture. It gets all crispy and cheesy underneath the egg, giving it that bit of texture that the fried egg by itself lacks. If you don’t have the chili crisp sauce, just use red pepper flakes.

If you love eggs, try this preparation. I imagine it could work well with finely grated carrots, or even some shredded cabbage in place of the zucchini. Worth playing with!

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25Aug2022

BANANA BREAD FROM THE EXPERTS

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Cake by sallybr

This is a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, the folks who test every single variable in a recipe multiple times until they come up with perfection. With the best. Or, as they called this one, The Ultimate Banana Bread. They’ve been known to go after food bloggers who either share their recipes without permission, or tweak their versions. I find the tweaking part a bit funny. Taste is so subjective that adjusting any recipe to suit the palate is what any cook should be doing…

THE ULTIMATE BANANA BREAD

The recipe is available online, so you can get it with a jump here. I actually did not see that review until after making the recipe, but I read it smiling all the way through… It turns out that I removed all the fuss and no major harm was done.

As the folks at thekitchn mentioned, the addition of turbinado sugar on top is brilliant. I actually added it in two installments, first right before placing in the oven…

And the second time another sprinkle just over the bananas when the bread had been baking for 40 minutes. I baked for a total of 55 minutes, in a 9 x 5 inch pan. The other tweaking I did was using frozen bananas without worrying about draining excess liquid. I also measured the amount of mashed bananas that went into the bread, as the fruit varies so much in size: 600g of banana pulp. One single fresh banana was used for the slices on top. Doing that, the recipe is really super simple, two bowls, one for dry ingredients, one for wet. Done.

Keep in mind that going at the sugary crust to peel it off and eat it is considered a faux-pas. Stealing extra slices of banana and running away? Equally distasteful. What you should do is make this recipe, available online in the link I provided or in this cookbook. Tweaking is optional. Your kitchen, your rules!

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10Apr2020

HOT CROSS BUNS

Posted in Breads, Breakfast & Brunch by sallybr

Until this year, I’ve been a Hot Cross Bun virgin, as I had never even tasted one. They did not exist in Brazil as I was growing up, but are very popular in many places of the world, United Kingdom, USA, Australia, New Zealand. They are usually served on Good Friday, to mark the end of Lent. They are marked with a cross to represent the Crucifixion of Jesus, and contain spices that were said to be used to embalm his body. Some point their origin to the year 1361 in a monastery in St Albans, England. But that is debatable. What is not debatable is how delicious they are, and how much I regret having waited so long to make them.

HOT CROSS BUNS
(very slightly modified from Global Bakes)

for the buns:
180 mL milk warmed to 110 degrees F
1 tsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I used osmo-tolerant yeast)
100 grams light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons greek yogurt, at room temperature
70 grams (5 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
460 grams all-purpose flour, divided
40 g dried figs, finely minced)
100 g raisins
zest of 1 large orange

for the flour cross:
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons cold water

for the glaze:
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sugar

Make the Buns
Whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until yeast becomes frothy.

Add to the bowl the brown sugar, butter, yogurt, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and 125 grams (1 cup) of the flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds or stir by hand. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour, the dried fruit, and the orange zest. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. The dough should be a little sticky and soft. If it’s too sticky and not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, mix in additional flour 1 Tablespoon at a time just until it comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead in the machine for about 4 minutes in low-speed, then transfer the dough to a greased bowl and allow it to ferment for 2 hours at room temperature.

Butter a 9×13 inch baking pan. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Weigh the dough and divide it into 15 roughly equal pieces (my pieces were 77g each). Shape each piece into a smooth ball, pinching it on the bottom to seal. Arrange in prepared baking pan. Cover shaped rolls and place in the fridge overnight.

Remove the shaped buns from the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Heat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the cross ingredients, adjusting consistency with water or flour so that it is thick enough to form a stable design. Spoon paste into a piping bag. Pipe a line down the center of each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Five minutes before they are done, make the glaze by boiling milk and sugar until sugar is fully dissolved and the glaze thickens slightly.

When they buns are baked, remove from the oven and immediately brush with the warm glaze. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy still warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Tanya was my source of inspiration, she actually made those for the first time also this year, and I just tagged along. I did not have many different kinds of dried fruits in our pantry, so I used just raisins and dried Mission figs. The whole batch went to the homeless meal that happened to fall exactly on Good Friday, but Phil and I decided to share one because I really had to know how they taste.

I loved it! The bread is soft, reminds me a bit of a cinnamon roll, but not as decadent. I like the addition of baking powder to the flour paste, which I saw in Celia’s blog post of years ago. I think it makes it a bit lighter.

Making them was a very nice, trouble-free process (discreet knock on wood, don’t want to upset the baking gods, as I intend to make macarons in the near future). I hope you give Tanya’s recipe a try, in her site you can see how to do it in a single day.

Thank you Tanya (globalbakes.com), for your constant inspiration! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home… and let’s bake!