Mean Mommy?

This dairy free business is HARD. But, to make it even harder, I have now reduced my gluten intake, too...moving from gluten-lite to gluten-free over the next week. So far, no difference in my skin, but I'm ever hopeful. Sigh.

 

Curing a sweet tooth when you're off dairy and gluten is an exercise in frustration. "Oooooh...cookies! Oh, right..." (incidentally, Oreos do not contain any actual dairy. Gross or awesome? You decide). "Score! Froyo!....DAMMIT."

 

So where else do I turn, but Pinterest. This banana "ice cream" has been out there for a while, but I haven't ever been able to make it because we go through bananas at an alarming rate in this house. The kiddo would happily eat a banana for every meal if we let him, and for this dessert concoction, the bananas have to be just past edible-ripe. But our bananas never make it that far. So...mommy had to be sneaky and hide bananas. Mean? Maybe...but I got some dessert out of it at least. 

 

It's really really good! You can dress it up however you prefer, but I like it with just a bit of peanut butter and a few chocolate chips (non-dairy, of course).

 

 

 

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1-2 ripe bananas

Optional additions: peanut butter, nuts, chocolate chips

 

Instructions:

Slice bananas and lay them flat on a tray/plate to freeze slightly - just about an hour. Any longer, and they won't blend smoothly.

 

Put sliced frozen bananas into your food processer and blend until smooth. Blend in your optional additions and top with chocolate chips.

 

Keep it all to yourself and enjoy!





Who moved my cheese?

Dear Readers, I ask for your strength during this trying time. I've decided to give up dairy for a little while, in order to see if it has any effect on my skin. This decision was not made lightly, as I love ADORE all things dairy, especially cheese, but I need to figure this out. I've suffered from eczema since I was a baby, but in the past 2 years, it's gotten progressively worse. No skin ointment, pill, or moisturizer seems to make any difference, so I decided to look inwards, instead of piling things on outward. Apparently, dairy can be the biggest trigger of eczema outbreaks! You should have seen my face when I read that. Sad Beth. But, if it works, I'm willing to try almost anything. Therefore, the next series of recipes will be mainly dairy-free.

I ventured into the online blogosphere of veganism and some parts of it are scary. "Cheese" sauce made from cashews and yeast? "Milk" from soaked almonds? It was too much. So I started with baby steps, and will taste-test my way through this. I think you'll enjoy my first attempt!

What better place to start with than chocolate? I knew this recipe would be good, as I'd attempted something similar a few years ago as part of the Daring Bakers (I really miss having time for that group!). This was whizzed together quickly with some leftover silken tofu and a stash of incredibly indulgent dark chocolate morsels imported from San Francisco, via mother-in-law. The end result was amazingly rich, incredibly decadent and very very satisfying.

Silken Chocolate Tofu Mousse
Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (Generic brands are typically dairy-free, but Nestles and Hersheys are not, so read the labels!)

1 (10 ounce) package firm silken tofu                                                          

1 -2 tablespoon brown sugar or 1 -2 tablespoon honey or 1 -2 tablespoon brown rice syrup, to taste   (I used a splash of vanilla instead)

1 dash nutmeg (I omitted)

1 banana, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions:
Melt the chocolate chips in a small saucepan or double boiler with a tablespoon of water over medium heat. Or, if you're lazy like me, melt them in a heatproof bowl in the microwave, in 45-second spurts, stirring after each round.

Transfer the melted chocolate to the container of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the tofu and process until smooth. Add the brown sugar, honey, or rice syrup to taste, and sprinkle in the nutmeg. Process again until velvety smooth. Stir in the sliced banana, if desired.

Divide the pudding among 6 dessert cups and chill until needed

Hidden Vegetables

 

Serving pancakes for dinner is incredibly indulgent. It's my guilty little trick for when I didn't plan a meal for a particular night, or I don't really feel like cooking anything elaborate. Normally, I'll use the world's best pancake recipe (courtesy of Mark Bittman), but with a growing toddler, I needed a way to lessen my Mommy guilt over serving pancakes instead of a well-rounded dinner. 

You might have seen that I'm a bit of a stalker fan of Smitten Kitchen's food blog. I found this recipe in her archives and, as you can guess, rushed to make them. You know how really really good zucchini bread can taste spicy, sweet and wholesome in the same mouthful? That's how these pancakes taste. You are eating pancakes for dinner (or breakfast!) but you're also eating GREEN VEGETABLES! It's a revelation!

I always double this recipe, so that I can flash-freeze the leftovers and have an easy breakfast for the little dude throughout the week. 

Zucchini Bread Pancakes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen  

Ingredients: 

2 large eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons light brown, dark brown or granulated sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk or 2 tablespoons each of milk and plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (from about 1 1/2 medium zucchini)
1 cup all-purpose flour (half of this can be swapped with a whole wheat flour. Make them even healthier, right?)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
Butter or oil, for coating skillet 

Instructions: 

In a large bowl, combine eggs, olive oil, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Stir in zucchini shreds. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir dry ingredients into zucchini batter, mixing until just combined.

I practice the Alton Brown method of pancake-storage: Place pancakes on a plate and cover with a clean dishcloth to keep warm. It makes for easy taste-testing access while you're cooking more!

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, melt a pat of butter in pan and swirl it around until it sizzles. Scoop scant 1/4-cup dollops of batter in pan so the puddles do not touch. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook another minute or two, until golden underneath. Serve warm.

To flash freeze leftovers: Arrange pancakes in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and place into the freezer for an hour. Once they are frozen, remove pancakes and store them in the freezer in a tightly sealed bag. The flash process will ensure that they don't stick together!

 

Dust it off

Sometimes, the best new recipes are old ones. I received a Southern Living slow-cooker cookbook from my friend many years ago, but never really made anything from it. While the recipes all sounded delicious, they were pretty intricate, which defeated the purpose of slow-cookers! However, I decided to dust it off last month and take another look. I am *SO* glad I did, because I found this gem of a recipe.

It's one of those "throw everything in the pot" recipes that makes slow-cookers a working parent's dream. The sweetness of the coconut milk is absorbed by the vegetables and chickpeas, and the cilantro and curry balance everything out. Serve over rice, and you've got yourself an exotic and healthy dinner.

Chickpeas in Curried Coconut Broth
Adapted from Southern Living Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil 

1 1/2 cups chopped onion       

2 garlic cloves, minced        

2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained                

2 (14.5-ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained                

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk

1 tablespoon curry powder

2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeño pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

6 cups hot cooked basmati rice (any kind of rice will do!)

 

Instructions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. (I have skipped this step the last two times and there was no difference in the final outcome. The onions cook perfectly if you throw them into the slow-cooker as-is).

 

Place onion mixture, chickpeas, and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker; stir well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir in cilantro. Serve over rice.

Kitchen Shame

 

We all have kitchen shames. I know we do.

One of my big ones is that I can not properly boil and peel an egg. I wind up with a shredded egg, shell covered counter, and an increasingly frustrated toddler who was promised an egg 5 minutes ago (eternity in toddler-time).

Another one is that I buy large bags of frozen tilapia fillets. Like the skimpy probably-farmed-in-horrible-conditions fillets that cost $8.99 for 20 servings. It's cheap, it keeps for a long time, and it's a really easy dinner when I am meal planning. I know some foodies are gasping in horror at the grossness of this, but hey - I've got a family that likes to eat every day! The nerve.

One of my favorite ways to cook them is also shamefully easy.You can do it while the fillets are still frozen, if you like, but I prefer to defrost them in a bowl of water beforehand. This recipe even includes vegetables, so you pretty much have a well-balanced meal within 25 minutes. Ain't no shame in that, right?

Easy Tilapia
Adapted from Allrecipes 

Ingredients:
4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia

2-3 tsp butter
Old Bay, to taste (if you don't have Old Bay, you're missing out! But you can use Seasoned Salt instead)
Garlic powder, to taste
1 lemon, sliced
1 package frozen vegetables (I like broccoli or cauliflower)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees F). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Place the tilapia fillets in the bottom of the baking dish and dot with butter. Season with Old Bay seasoning and garlic. Top each one with a slice or two of lemon. Arrange the frozen mixed vegetables around the fish, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
 
Cover the dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until vegetables are tender and fish flakes easily with a fork.

Toddler Approved...sort of

Trying to get a toddler to eat vegetables can sometimes be like herding drunk cats covered in motor oil. He'll scarf down broccoli one day, and then fling it across the table with a loud "NO!" the next. This Pinterest (what else?!) inspired recipe was a big hit...for one day. He picked at it the next day, pulling out and eating the tomatoes, his favorite. But overall, we really enjoyed it. It's a great way to use summer-fresh veggies, and makes a delicious side dish.

Vegetable Tian
Adapted from For the Love of Cooking

Ingredients:
2 TBS olive oil (divided)
1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 russet potatoes, unpeeled and sliced 1/4 thick
1 zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 yellow squash, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 large Roma tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Heat 1 TBS of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 60 seconds. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the greased baking dish.

Layer potatoes, zucchini, squash and tomatoes alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. (I didn't have a round dish, so I just did rows in a rectangular dish. Still tasty!) Season with sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme, to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned. Enjoy.

Back...with CAKE!

So, I took a step back because I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue blogging. However, I miss it! I try new recipes every week, and I miss sharing them with people...so Brina's Kitchen is back!

I have a slew of new recipes and pics to share, and a bunch of recipes that I didn't capture on film, but I know you'll love them anyways.

I'll start as far back as December 2012, when we celebrated Eli's 2nd birthday. I can't believe it, but my little munchkin is growing up - and we have the bins of outgrown clothes to prove it! Eli loves (okay, is obsessed with) trucks and constructions, so we made that the theme of the party. I used Pinterest for inspiration, and was immediately struck with this construction tape striped cake. I don't know why I do this to myself, but once I see a cake challenge, I can't resist.

I found the blog, Fredellicious, and the blogger had kindly put together a step-by-step tutorial. It wasn't hard, per say, but just time consuming. If you're going to attempt this, I *HIGHLY* recommend that you make your cakes from scratch. Fredellicious warned me, but I didn't listen. Box mix cakes are just too soft and fluffy, and they broke often during the construction phase. There were many bad words muttered in Brina's kitchen.

You can use any favorite cake recipes you have in your recipe books, but I've included two of my favorites.

Basically, you bake a yellow cake and a black (dark chocolate) cake, carve them into rings, and then put them back together like a puzzle.

 

When all is said and done (and frosted), the inside of your cake looks like this awesome construction tape stripe. Which, of course is totally lost on the 2-year old guests who were running around, pounding stickers and cake into my carpet. Heathens.

 

 

Construction Cake Layers

Chocolate Cake - adapted from Hershey's

This is the recipe on the back of every can of Hershey's cocoa. It's amazing.

 

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (I used Special Dark Cocoa for the black shade)                       
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder                        

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2  eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

 

Instructions: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.


Yellow Cake
Adapted from Crumbly Cookies and Cook's Illustrated
This is a white cake recipe that will need yellow food gel

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
2¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups granulated sugar (12¼ ounces)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool

Instructions:
Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1½ hours.

Follow the rest of the instructions on Fredellicious's tutorial for the stripes. These can be done in any color! Use the white cake recipe with food color gel and have fun!



Still Under Construction

Well folks, the kitchen is *mostly* completed...however, our new stove has decided to be incredibly uncooperative. It died within the first 7 minutes of use when it was first installed. I'm frustrated because we did our research and bought based on reviews and brand reputation, among other things.

I miss cooking and baking, and I'm sorry I can't post any new recipes!

I don't normally do this, but I'm taking to social media outlets because I'm so frustrated. GE wants to repair the stove, but I do NOT feel safe using it. I'm worried that it's going to spark again and fry my circuits, or worse, cause a fire. Here is the email I sent them. We'll see if I get a response!

I guess my conclusion here is that GE stoves aren't worth the money or the stress. Seriously, not worth it. If I could just rewind 6 weeks, I'd go with another brand. 


Dear GE,
 I'm writing to let you know about my experience with our new gas range (Model #JGBS18DETBB), purchased at the ********, Maryland Home Depot on 9/29/12. My husband and I were incredibly excited to remodel our kitchen, and after doing a lot of research about different appliance brands and models, we decided to purchase all 4 GE models (fridge, stove, dishwasher and microwave). We went with GE because of online reviews, reputation and price.
 The new appliances were delivered on 10/9/12 and installed on 10/10/12. At that point, we'd been without a stove for 2 weeks for the remodel, and I was excited to start cooking again instead of living on take-out! However, after the stove had been running for 7 minutes, I went to turn on the inside oven light and it sparked. It then tripped the circuit breaker, turning off the stove and the fridge. I flipped the breaker back on, and while the fridge came back up immediately, the stove did not. I could light the burners, but the display board was off and I couldn't use the oven.

I immediately called our contractor and Home Depot to report this problem, and HD immediately reached out to you (GE). Each party blamed the other. Our contractor came to look at the stove and said it was a faulty unit. Home Depot and GE blamed the contractor and said it was installation error. Honestly, at that point, I didn't care. All I knew was that I spent $600 on a new stove and it didn't even last 7 minutes.

Over the next 2 weeks, I spent about 1 hour a day on the phone with either GE or HD, going back and forth over who was to blame and who was going to do something about it. No one could give me a straight answer. Finally, GE sent out someone to look at the stove last week. He checked the stove, the electrical outlet and the gas hookup. He then declared that he thought it was unrepairable and that we shouldn't use this one. We should demand a replacement. Well, we tried. Apparently this man was a plumber and not an official technician for gas stoves, so we had to wait ANOTHER week for that person to come out. He was at our house today, and declared that he just needed to replace the display board and we'd be okay. There is no way I feel safe using this stove. NO WAY.

Frankly, GE, I'm beyond frustrated. We spent $600 on a brand new stove and it FRIED ITSELF within 7 minutes. Not only are you NOT replacing it for me, but it will be 3+ weeks before it's repaired. Let me repeat, I DO NOT FEEL SAFE USING THIS STOVE. It fried itself and shorted out my kitchen circuits. It's a faulty stove. Who's to say this isn't going to happen again? Oh, but according to our repair technician, if it does, well, we just call and someone will repair it. No, thank you. I am NOT waiting another 3 weeks when it happens again. Do you need to wait until this causes a fire in my kitchen?

We bought GE because of your brand reputation. We invested $2700 of our hard-earned savings on new appliances and you can't even replace a stove that fried itself within the first 7 minutes? We can't even return this stove because GE won't accept it as an exchange (according to our Home Depot) because you all have now deemed that it's repairable. Would *YOU* feel safe using a gas stove like this?

I want this stove replaced, at no cost to us. We are within our warranty. I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation to want your brand new stove to work properly and not fry your circuits. I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear from someone soon.

Regards,
Beth ********
***-***-****

Keen-what?

 

You have probably seen the trendy healthy food, quinoa, floating around Pinterest or Epicurious over the past year or so. I spent about 6 months searching for it at my local Giant, only to be met with blank stares from the staff as they struggled to pronounce it: "Keen-what? How do you spell it?" Once I found it, and experimented with it, I realized that I didn't like it. I couldn't handle the flavor of regular quinoa. Sad. It seemed to have great health potential. 

Fast forward 2 years, add one toddler and then a mom who is hell-bent on cramming as much healthy food as possible into his hungry mouth. I decided to try Trader Joe's TriColored Quinoa, just as a last-ditch attempt. Lo and behold, this one does NOT have that icky flavor of the regular quinoa, and I actually really like it! My favorite way to make it is with garlic, onions, vegetable broth and some peas, but I decided to branch out and try a new recipe. 

This Chicken Fried "Rice" is a nice, healthy and filling dinner that is toddler-friendly (even if they pick out the peas, call them "yukky" and drop them to the dog). I made a few changes from the original recipe, noted below, to make it easier and a bit more flavorful. 

Lastly, this blog (AND MY KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) are undergoing construction. Our townhouse kitchen is the original from 1985 and it's just about had it. Cabinets fall off the hinges if you open them too many times, the floor is starting to peel up in the corners, and the overall shelf and cabinet spacing is terrible. So, Brina's Kitchen will be offline for a little while - but I'll document our progress with Before, During and After pictures. 

Chicken Fried Quinoa "Rice" 

adapted from Ingredients, Inc. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup quinoa or 2 cups rice
2 tablespoons sesame or canola oil (sesame is better for flavor!)
1 (16 ounce) package frozen baby carrots and green peas
3 green onions, chopped
2 eggs
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 Low sodium soy sauce to taste

Optional addition: Ginger (grated fresh or dried)

Instructions: 

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Note: ALWAYS rinse your quinoa in cold water and cook in broth instead of water for better flavor. 

Cook chicken in a large nonstick pan, in chunks, if it's not already cooked. Set aside. Using the same pan, add 2 tsp sesame or canola oil, and scramble the eggs. Once done, set aside with the chicken. 

Heat the rest of the oil. Stir in carrots, peas, green onions, and ginger; cook about 30 seconds. Stir in cooked quinoa, chicken and eggs; cook 5 minutes more. Add soy sauce, and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

  

  

TWD Baking with Julia

 

After a loooooong hiatus, I'm back! I needed to focus on work and family for a little while, but I missed my food blogging. So I jumped in with both feet and joined the newest TWD group. I really loved being a part of the original Tuesdays With Dorie (Greenspan) group, and this one is probably going to be just as delicious. Maybe a bit more difficult, but I'm still excited. 

We are following Dorie's book, Baking with Julia, published in the mid-90's. I bought my copy used, from Amazon, and it came from a Goodwill shop in California, with "Rosie's Cookbook" written in the cover. I wonder who Rosie is, and I hope she knows her cookbook is being brought back to life!

I've never made popovers before, because I always assumed that you needed the popover pan. FALSE! YOU DON'T! Dorie told me so. You can just use a muffin pan, spacing out the batter to every other tin. Ta-da! Fresh hot popovers on Saturday morning. Loved by husbands and toddlers alike. Try them yourself, using the recipe posted here!

These were good - but not great. I think I'd add something more to the batter next time, maybe a pinch more salt or even a bit of sugar. I guess they are supposed to be a vehicle for butter/jam/clotted cream, but I would like them to have a little more flavor as a stand-alone treat. Lots of fun to get back into it, though, and look out for MORE Dorie/Julia deliciousness! 

Also, coming soon...NEW BLOG NAME and look!