Category: Sort of Healthy

Categories
Doughnuts Holiday desserts Sort of Healthy Stuff Your Parents Would Like

Thanksgiving Is Upon Us. You Should Definitely Hide From Me.

Confession time! Last year, I turned into a Thanksgiving psychopath. Maybe that’s a little strong. Last year, I turned into a Thanksgiving lunatic. Ok, so there’s no real way to make that sound pretty. It was bad. What do I mean? Well, I promise I did not become a horrible person. How could I when Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday?  But I did kind of go overboard with the cooking and baking and cleaning and crying. I don’t remember why I cried, but I bet it had something to do with almost driving a Ginsu knife straight through my hand while attempting to whip up sweet potato wedges, turkey samosas, pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin bread pudding simultaneously. I was making all of these things for a post-Thanksgiving party I was hosting for my dearest friends. And it was a potluck dinner. See? Overboard.

Miraculously, all of those dishes turned out pretty well. I’m still damn proud of that cheesecake, and the bread pudding will be seen on this blog very soon, because it ruled. And exhausted as I was, I was also ridiculously happy to be so busy creating new things. One of the reasons I love Thanksgiving so much is the fact that I get to bake like a crazy person and no one can judge me. Someone‘s going to eat it. I also love Thanksgiving because it’s not Christmas. (I’ll explain that some other time. Maybe at Christmas.)

This time around, I kind of feel like the holiday sneaked up on me. I’m pretty sure I was prepping in early October last year, so now I’m feeling a little bit like a slacker. Admittedly, I’ve been distracted and busy. My trip to San Diego was a much-needed vacation where I got to spend some quality time with my bestie and eat my way through a beautiful city (I had an antelope burger! I’ll never eat it again!). I’ve also been…you know…dealing with some stuff or whatever, so I guess I kind of forgot that the best day ever was approaching. Basically, that now means one thing: it’s crunch time. Welcome to my Heaven, and possibly your Hell. My Heaven/your Hell is covered in pumpkin, and involves a stellar soundtrack and me pouncing on anyone who dares disturb my process. Now, I’m being really serious: if you hate pumpkin, you and I might need to be on a break. That’s because a. there are going to be, like, three consecutive posts that feature pumpkin on this blog and b. you buggin’ if you hatin’ on pumpkin. Ready? Ok!

Me, becoming one with the city of San Diego. Actually I'm just a fool.

First up: pumpkin doughnuts! Melinda was kind enough to buy me a doughnut pan while I was visiting, so I vowed to make these babies as soon as I returned. I know the idea of healthy doughnuts freaks you out a tad. It kind of throws me off, too. But ever since I got crazy and threw olive oil into my chocolate chip cookies, I’ve been a believer. It’s fancy and it’s not that bad for you. Promise. I also played around with the recipe a bit and made my own glaze:

Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple Glaze (makes 10 doughnuts)

For the doughnuts

1 3/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat)

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup of turbinado sugar (If you don’t have this on hand, you can just replace with brown sugar)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix or this will become nasty sweet)

1/2 cup of skim milk

For the glaze

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

More confectioners’ sugar for dusting, if you’re feelin’ it

Preheat your oven to 350ºF. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and your spices. In a separate larger bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, pumpkin, milk and vanilla. Slowly fold dry mixture into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It will still be a little lumpy.Yes, I used Hipster App for iPhone again because I am lame and forgot to charge my pretty camera.

Grease a doughnut pan and pour the batter evenly into each pan and bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a doughnut comes out clean.

Can someone lend me a clue as to how to properly mold the TOP of the doughnut? These came out looking a little like sliced bagels 😦

In the meantime, make your maple glaze. Whisk together all three ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until glaze-y and syrup-y. Yep, you’re done. When the doughnuts are cool enough to touch, drench each one in the glaze until completely soaked and covered.

So…I liked these. The thing that troubles me is that my parents would love these. What do I mean? I mean that these are low-sugar whole wheat doughnuts, and they taste that way. I also mean that I am kind of programmed to hate most of the things my parents absolutely love, because they love things like Raisin Bran and Michael Bolton. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to have made them and will probably make them again…for my parents.

Keep a look out for at least one more pumpkin post this week. Yup, it’s like that. I did warn you.

Categories
Chocolate Cheer Easy Baking Grown Up People Desserts No-Bake Recipes Sort of Healthy Strange and Yummy

Bloody Delicious Red Velvet Hot Chocolate. I Like To Call It Angrysauce.

ROAR! I AM MAD SHIBOW!

That was pretty threatening, no? No? Oh. Ok, well, maybe I should just talk about my feelings. That’s supposed to be helpful. So late last Monday I was feeling achy and then randomly starting shivering really badly. Like, teeth-chattering, can’t-type-real-words badly. I left work, went to bed, woke up 13 hours later, and could barely move. I didn’t have a cold, I thankfully don’t have the flu, but I was pretty much crippled by some crazy demon disease that still perplexes me. I was in a world of pain that left me at home alone for two full, horribly boring and mostly TV-less (The light burned my eyes. Maybe I’m a vampire now?) days…and then it was gone. Seriously. Whatever hit disappeared as quickly as it had attacked, which left me a little freaked. On a possibly related note, any recent Stamos sightings in the area?

Being alone makes you sad. Don’t get me wrong, though, I fortunately had some lovely friends and family checking up on me periodically, but still. I spent a good deal of time laying in bed, getting to know the cracks in my ceiling better, and that really sucked. Being alone makes you sad. It also makes you want to paint your ceiling a different color.

I was more than happy to return to work on Thursday, and then MORE than more than happy when my cousin George surprised me Friday morning at the office with a peanut butter and jelly doughnut from Doughnut Plant. Oh. My. Promised. Land.

This isn't even the top of the doughnut. My brain was too focused on which corner to rip into first to turn this thing over.

So nice, right? George didn’t even know about my mystery illness when he brought me this square-shaped (Btw, the shape makes the distribution of jelly throughout the doughnut more even. Genius.) gift of amazing. It would have made my day anyway, but this was exactly what I needed to turn a bad week right around. Cousin, you RULE.

Things started to pick up soon after that. I succeeded in spending exactly five bucks on my Halloween costume yet again, and partied it up with the Sylvapotamus Saturday night, despite the fact that there was snow on the ground AND IT’S OCTOBER. Ridic. My camera punked out, but I was able to get a few snaps of our respective costumes in anyway:

Sylv was a pink slip!
Yes, I did go for the flapper outfit.

I’m still pretty winded from whatever it was that attacked me last week, and I’m also seeing red from all of the frustration that illness provoked. In honor of that, and this especially spooky holiday, I give you Red Velvet Hot Chocolate with a Cream Cheese Icing Swirl.

Ok, so this is something that I pulled out of the sky. I mean, I am sure it exists out there, and a quick Google search would confirm as much, but I’ll leave that up to you. This, I am going to base on my favorite hot chocolate recipe, with tweaks by yours truly.

Before we begin, I should tell you that this is not your typical hot chocolate, and not just because it’s red. This is a thicker hot chocolate with an almost pudding-like consistency. It’s also quite dark and rich, so if you like your hot cocoa Nestle-style, maybe this is a no for you. It should really be a yes, though. Just sayin’.

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate (makes 1 serving)

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of skim milk

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

1/3 tablespoon of cornstarch

1 tablespoon of red food coloring

Combine all ingredients except the food coloring in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture starts to bubble and boil, add the food coloring and stir until blood red. Muahahahaha.

Bloody delicious...

In the meantime, let’s work on our single-serving icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

2 tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar

Mix in a small bowl with a hand mixer until fully whipped. Spoon into an icing decorator if you’re a dork and own one (I’m a dork and own one) or just scoop it into your cup with a regular ol’ spoon.

Pour the contents of your bloody saucepan into an appropriate mug–I’d go for an espresso cup if you’ve got one since these are small but potent servings– and top off with your icing.

So even I was a little shocked at how well this turned out. I was really impressed with how much a simple cup of hot chocolate could be enhanced by a little dollop of icing, but, damn, it could. And it was. I know you can’t really see much, but that’s because I own monstrously large cups for some reason, which makes no sense since I am so small I can barely reach the top shelves on any of my cabinets. Maybe I’m compensating. In any case, have a Happy Halloween, and stay out of trouble, kids.

Categories
Desserts with Fruit Muffins Sort of Healthy

An Open Letter to The Family (Now With Apples!)

Dear Family People,

Hi! How have you been? Quite well, I hope. Thanks for all of the randoms you’ve been sending my way: the random text messages, random concerns, random pictures of random brown dudes chillin’ with their probably-also- concerned random family members. Thanks! But my dad is still not convinced I have the whole “act like a lady” thing down pat. So I’m going to spend the next several (and by several, I mean “around ninety”) years perfecting that, drinking Jameson, being an ordained minister, playing the drums, going to shows and stalking Glen Hansard, blogging about my frustrations and the baked goods that come out of them, and not committing myself to random dudes.

XOXO Best Friends Forever,

Shibow

P.S. Do you like apples? Well I made apple muffins. How d’ya like them apples?

Why doesn't anyone ever text me pictures of this guy and tell me I should marry him?

Yes, I did have to throw a thinly-veiled Good Will Hunting reference in there, because a. I made apple muffins and b. that is a damn good piece of film. So anyway, it appears that the matchmakers of my family have struck again. And no, to the shock of everyone involved, it was not my mom who conceived of this particular dastardly plan to try to get me hitched. In fact, she was the one who called the evil genius individual who dared send me images of a mystery suitor, to set him straight and basically scare the crap out of him. I’m not going to dwell on this one too much, mostly because I’m not that mad and it’s kind of hilarious to imagine my mom yelling at anyone who isn’t me. Love you Mama. Thanks for sticking up for me!

Let’s talk good news: Saturday I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which is a 5K race. Oh, and I actually ran the whole thing. Yes, I can hear you saying “Um, duh, moron, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” which is warranted I suppose. But I was a kid who spent far too many days and nights, including one Christmas, laying in a hospital bed with a stupid nebulizer strapped to my small and adorable face (yes it really was both of those things, hush now), so I’m sorta proud of myself. I’ve since decided to train to become a competitive runner, and my next mission is to complete a triathlon.

That is not true, and will likely never be true. I’m going to leave the hard stuff like triathlons to rock stars like my best friend Melinda. She’s a triathlete with two races under her belt! But I did feel a tiny bit healthier post-run, which led me to try to up the good-for-you factor of these Apple Muffins. Yes, I did borrow from Martha, but I kind of only used her recipe as a guideline and changed pretty much everything about it. I also used more apples because my dad dropped by my apartment and for some reason brought a 3-pound bag of Galas with him. Thanks, pops!

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins That Might Actually Be Sort of Good For You

2 medium Gala apples, peeled and chopped into cubes

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of granulated sugar (I used turbinado)

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

big pinch of salt

bigger pinch of cinnamon

1 large egg

1 egg white

1 cup low-fat buttermilk (I used 1 cup of skim milk with a tablespoon of vinegar mixed in; let sit for a couple of minutes and you’ve got a buttermilk substitute)

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce

So I’d heard from various sources that applesauce can work as a stand-in for butter, but only in small doses. I’ve been experimenting in my lab for weeks now, and decided it was time to really commit to trying this. What better recipe than one already involving apples, right? And anyway, the sauce cuts down on the fat and cholesterol contents, so yay!

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Sift together, then toss the apples in this mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together your egg, egg white, buttermilk, butter and applesauce. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and combine just until completely mixed. Don’t go crazy now– if you mix too much you’ll basically beat the air out of the batter and your muffins will come out heavy and lumpy. And then I will laugh at you. Spoon the batter evenly into your muffin pan, and sprinkle the tops with a bit of brown sugar if you please (I myself did please).

Toss into the oven for 16 to 18 minutes, until the tops look browned. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan before turning them out onto a plate to cool completely. Then go crazy and eat like five of them. That’s totally healthy.

I decided not to take yet another photo of me holding up the baked good in question, mostly because I am starting to get a little self-conscious about my wonky thumb. I’ll tell you all about it later. Maybe that story will ward off all of these weirdos the family’s been trying to set me up with. Anyhoo, I’m pleasantly surprised by these muffins. They’re not overly sweet, but they’re also soft and pillow-y, especially when warm. With a low fat and high fiber content mixture, I don’t really feel too badly about eating them. But I never really feel too badly about eating anything, so I guess I’m not an accurate litmus test. Let’s just leave it at this: they’re yummy, they’re not at all bad for you, even my parents liked them, and no I am not marrying your random friend/cousin/cousin’s friend. Bye!

Categories
Classic Favorites Cookies Sort of Healthy

I Am Sad Shibow. And I Blame Stamos.

And I thought last week sucked.

The past few days have been particularly rough on me. I got super-dissed by a certain someone whom I thought was a solid individual, I am stressing about my future, and I randomly cried the other day because I couldn’t find 51st street. I work in Midtown! How out of it must I have been?! Then I saw this on television, and it all came together:

STAMOS! This man, has, at various points in my short life, conspired with nature and my other enemies (I have many, but I count David Blaine and the cobra from the Bronx Zoo among them) to mess with me. I know you think I’m joking, but I am not. I distinctly remember being an eight year old nursing a broken wrist and watching Uncle Jesse smugly breeze through episode after episode of Full House. He and his perfectly functional arms and ridiculous mullet and creepy half-smile were constantly mocking me. I had one of the worst fevers I’ve ever had in 2006 (I only remember this because that was a BAD year) and recall being curled up on my couch mindlessly staring at STAMOS on an episode of ER. Guess what? That was a 24-hour bug! Really! I also remember weeping over a sad breakup last year to an episode of Glee. I don’t watch that thing anymore, and I bet you all know why. That girl who damaged my back and psyche? She’s probably related to him. The Stamos giveth, so the Stamos must goeth away.

At first I thought that maybe I would bake something with ingredients Stamos is allergic to, so I researched his IMDB page (No, I am not linking to it.). I found out he is a fellow drummer, so I am thinking he is trying to kill me off since I am competition. Then I realized that I was giving him too much power by doing all this research and decided to just make whatever I felt like making. I felt like making cookies. And I felt like making them up based on what I happened to have at my disposal, mostly because bad things happen when you go outside.

I have a bunch of those instant oatmeal packets that I bought last year for a dollar when I was really jobless and really poor. This brand is way too sweet for me, so I abandoned the whole box in favor of other cheap breakfast foods. I don’t believe in throwing out perfectly edible items, but I do believe in making cookies out of them. So I made up a recipe.

Week From Hell Instant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup of butter, softened (I used Smart Balance for baking because it’s all I had. You can make fun of me later)

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of granulated sugar (I used turbinado sugar because I’m classy like that)

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of whole wheat flour

big pinch of salt

3 instant oatmeal packets that you know you have lying in a cabinet somewhere (I used 2 apples & cinnamon and 1 cinnamon spice )

1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips, more if you’re feeling crazy

Preheat the oven (whoa!) to 350°F.

So yeah, as you can see from the ingredients, I tried to make these kind of healthy. They’re delicious though, I promise. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla until mixed. Beat in the egg white, then add the baking soda, flour and salt until fully combined. Stir in each packet of oatmeal and get mixing. Fold in the chocolate chips and you’ve got your batter.

Drop tablespoon-sized portions onto a cookie sheet, and throw them into the oven for 11-13 minutes. 11 minutes exactly worked for me. Let them cool and then dig in. Mine were yummy, obviously. I had a couple as part of my balanced breakfast (I mean, there is oatmeal in them). They really perked me up until I found out that Mark-Paul Gosselaar was getting married to some chick who isn’t me. Yet another dark day.

Are you guys getting tired of my hand yet?

By the way, on Thursday I wiped out on a New York City sidewalk (thanks for stifling laughs while not helping me up, fellow pedestrians), and now my ankle really hurts. I shake my fist at you, Stamos! You’ll never break me.

Categories
Desserts with Fruit Easy Baking Frozen Desserts No-Bake Recipes Sort of Healthy Strange and Yummy

I Will Make You a Popsicle. And Then I Will Marry You.

It’s been a strange couple of weeks. Good things and bad things, sad things and rad things have all happened in quite a short span of time. Here’s a list:

1. I am an ordained minister and am registered with the City of New York! Yes, really! Yes, I’ll marry you! (good/rad thing)

2. One of my favorite coworkers is leaving for something called Utah (Ok, I know what/where Utah is. I found it on my world map shower curtain!). She’s the best. She also subscribes to this blog and always has nice things to say about it. She’s also just generally awesome. I could give you specifics, but then I will cry and this will become a whole different post. I am not happy about this development. (bad/sad thing)

3. Apparently my mom’s been handing out my email like it’s candy (or curry?) to the mothers of random Indian boys looking to wife me up. Inappropriate! (VERY bad/VERY sad thing)

4. I’m running my first 5K in September! It will probably take me all day, but it’s for a good cause, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Support us! (good/rad thing)

So, #4. That’s a very bad thing she did. And I am punishing her by writing about it on this blog. So bad, right? She might as well have posted an ad on Craigslist. Oh, that reminds me of my Craigslist story! But that’s another post. Anyway, I’m on sabbatical from that whole game. Single Shibow. The Lone Wolf. And being The Lone Wolf rules. In short, I’d rather marry other people to each other right now. Unless this guy comes a-proposin’. Ma, quit blowin’ up my spot.

So, in addition to avoiding my mother and very carefully screening my emails, I’ve been trying to think of more light, sweet summer treats that will also help cool me down in this hot-as-an-overbearing-Indian-motha heat. I came across quite a few that have sort of helped, but none that have had quite the impact of these Blackberry Greek yogurt pops. They require a bit of time, love, tenderness, and Michael Bolton (last one’s optional) but they do not require an oven! By the way, I am all about trying those avocado pops at a later date, but if anyone gets to them before I do, please tell me how they are! In the meantime, let’s work on the yogurt ones:

Blackberry Greek Yogurt Pops

– Peel of 1 lemon

– 1/2 cup of water

– 1/2 cup of sugar

– 1 1/2 cups of plain nonfat Greek yogurt (Fage or Chobani are your best bets)

– 2 tablespoons of honey

– 2 cups of fresh blackberries (feel free to sub in your very favorite berries if you’re not a fan of the tartness of these)

To start, make sure you’ve got either a peeler or the hands of a surgeon while going at that lemon. I have neither. I and all nine and a half of my digits (I have a wonky thumb, which I’ll explain some other time…maybe when I tell you my Craigslist story) miraculously survived anyway. Throw the water and sugar into a saucepan and fire it up to medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar’s dissolved and the mixture has come to a boil. Toss in the lemon peel, then lower the heat to a simmer for about five minutes. Let it cool, then strain the syrup through a sieve and refrigerated until chilled.

Mix the yogurt and honey together in a bowl, then stir in the syrup until fully blended. Use your blender if you’re lazy. I did not use mine because I am a different kind of lazy. I do not like doing dishes. Pour a little bit of the mixture into each of your popsicle molds, then throw these into the freezer until the mixture just starts to set, about 40-45 minutes.

Take the molds out and divide your berries evenly among them. Pour in the rest of the yogurt mixture, snap the lids of the molds shut (some of the yogurt will likely splatter and land on or near your face, so feel free to lick it away), and freeze for at least three hours.

Sylvia enjoying her second pop in a row.

So, were these any good? Um…well…YES. I was a little uneasy about these at first because of both the tartness of the yogurt and the tang of the blackberries, but these were pretty phenomenal. My sister was in love, as you can see. This recipe will most certainly be used and tweaked a million times over the next couple of warm, steamy summer months. I see chocolate pops, raspberry pops, avocado pops and booze pops in my future. Lone Wolf baby!