Spork or Foon?

We've Got Tostadaaaaaas, Peopleeeeeeeeeee!!!

That's what I imagine Oprah saying when serving this dish. You see, I found many delicious recipes from a link off of O Magazine about a dinner party at Jennifer Aniston's house.  A dinner party which I was not invited to, but I'll have to talk to Jen about that another time. 

I keed, I keed.

This is my new favorite thing to eat.  And it leaves leftovers for days, so I have been eating it every day. So simple to throw together (don't be scared by all of the ingredients), so healthy, and so fun to eat.  A fantastic salad of red cabbage, corn and black beans is tossed with a wonderful vinaigrette with made lime juice, coconut oil, and cumin and tossed with shrimp or chicken or whatever you'd like, sits atop a cruncy, puffed up tortilla.  Best part about this dish? It's totally ok to eat this with your hands and drop food all over yourself, because that's probably what is going to happen. But don't worry, all the cool kids are doing it. Jennifer Aniston, after eating this dish, was covered in corn and black beans and loved every second of it.

OK, this is how rumors start. Next thing you know, a "friend" will have confirmed to Life and Style that Jennifer Aniston has joined a religion that worships corn and black bean salads.

Corn and Black Bean Tostadas with Spicy Chicken and Shrimp - adapted from O Magazine

12 small corn tortillas

Olive oil , for brushing

Salad: 

1 can (15 ounces) black beans , drained and rinsed

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. ancho chili powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 ears corn (roasted, sautéed, or raw), kernels only

1/2 head (small) red cabbage , shredded

5 plum tomatoes , seeded and diced

2 avocados , peeled and diced

1 bunch cilantro , coarsely chopped

1/2 cup cotija cheese , crumbled

Vinaigrette:

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)

3 Tbsp. coconut oil or rice vinegar

1 medium shallot , finely chopped (about 2 Tbsp.)

1/4 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup canola oil

Chicken:

(2) 4 oz chicken breasts, chopped

Zest of 1 lime

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ancho chili powder

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 serrano chili , minced (optional)

To make shells: Preheat oven to 350°. Brush tortillas on both sides with olive oil, and arrange on a baking sheet. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Let cool in pan; set aside.

To make salad: Put black beans in a large bowl; mix in cumin and ancho chili powder. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add remaining salad ingredients; toss lightly to combine. Put salad in refrigerator until ready to serve.

To make vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, vinegar, shallot, garlic, salt, and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes to dissolve salt and sugar. Add cilantro and cumin, then slowly whisk in oil. Set aside.

To make chicken: Season chicken all over with zest, salt, ancho chili powder, olive oil, and serrano chili (if using). Grill or sauté in a large skillet in batches over high heat, 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove from heat.

To assemble tostadas: Toss salad, chicken, and vinaigrette together. Place baked tortilla shells on a large platter, and add a handful of mixture to each; serve.

Pistachio Pudding Pie - Keepin' it Real

I write this post in fear. In fear that I will loose all credibility. In fear that I will be exhiled from the food blogging community. In fear that if, one day, I ever become a famous baker/cook/food blogger, this very post will resurface and paint me as a fraud.

But I must share this with you.  Because frankly, my friends, I've got to keep it real.

As you may know, last week was my boyfriend Jack's birthday.  I made him a dish of duck confit and date and apricot stuffed gnocchi.  It was a culinary achievement. I was proud.

But Jack has one true love in his world (well... besides me.  And our Australian Shepherd, Remy).  And that love is pistachio pudding.

He has begged and pleaded for me to make him pistachio pudding.  I always promised that I would, but never pulled through. I had never even had pistachio pudding, so I was unfamiliar with where to begin. Even my trusty companion, Google, didn't help. I could not find a recipe for homemade pistachio pudding. Anywhere. So I let it go.

But this year, I really wanted to make his neon-green dreams come true.  So I searched again.  I finally found a recipe for pistchio pudding, but it called for pistachio paste.  I sighed in frustration and began to Google pistachio paste recipes.  I found two - one that used a ton of confectioner's sugar, which I wanted to avoid, and a Pierre Herme` recipe that I just didn't have the time to make.  

In my searches, however, I found several recipes for ways in which to use Jell-o pistachio pudding.  In cake, (mixes) in cupcakes (mixes), and in pies.  I headed to the supermarket and bit the bullet.  I wore a hat and sunglasses and all black, lest I should be recognized, and swept two boxes of pistachio pudding into my cart. I did not make eye contact with the cashier.  I ran to my car and peeled out of the parking lot.

I poured the green... powder... into a bowl and added milk.  The light green... powder... turned a shade of neon, bio-chemical green.  I followed the directions, using a pre-made (the horror) Oreo cookie crust, ground 100-calorie pack chocolate wafers, a bit of light cream cheese, and cool whip.  I assembled my preservative-filled, fake ingredient-having cake and hid it in the back of the fridge for two reasons:  so Jack wouldn't find it, and so I can forget it ever happened.  I then took a shower to wash the shame off of me.

At dessert time, I lit some candles and walked into the dining room. Jack had a look of shock on his face, as he was not expecting a cake. He made three wishes (so cute), blew out his candles, and plunged his knife into the cake.  The glowing green layer caugh his eye.

"Could it be?" he asked, excitedly.

I nodded and smiled.

He took a huge piece and dropped it on his cake, quickly grabbed his fork and shoveled a bit into his mouth.  The largest smile shone on his face.

I couldn't believe this was good. I took a bite.  Huh?  It was not only good... it was GREAT.  I grabbed a piece for myself.  I finished that off and took a bit more.  I never take whole pieces of cake.  I never go in for seconds. But this... I could not resist.  I was prisoner to the power of the green. 

Smooth. Creamy. Cool. Easy. And actually pretty low-cal, low fat, being that the major componenets of this dish were low-fat, no sugar added pistachio pudding, light Cool Whip, and 100 calorie packs.

And I think I'm making it again this week. Don't judge. Just keep it real.

Pistachio Pudding Pie Adapted from Here

1-1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookies (about 100-Calorie Oreo packs)

3 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese (softened)

1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 8 oz. container frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed

1 prepared chocolate crumb crust (such as Oreo or Keebler)

3/4 cup cold skim milk

1 1/2 (4-serving size) packages instant pistachio pudding

Preparation:

Place wafer cookies in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until they become coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar together. Beat in half of the thawed whipped topping. Spoon into prepared crust.

Top with half of the crushed cookie crumbs.

Place milk in another bowl. With a whisk, beat in the pistachio pudding. Beat in the remaining whipped topping. Spoon over the cookie crumb layer.

Top with the remaining crushed cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate 3-4 hours until firm.

Golden Beet Salad

Beets. 

For so many years, I feared beets.

I only knew beets as those circular red things swimming in liquid at salad bars.  You know the ones. With the sneeze guards?

Appetizing.

To me, those beets looked like the cranberries from a can that you eat on Thanksgiving. And I am not ashamed to admit, I would have those cranberries on Thanksgiving no other way.  Cranberries from a can and stuffing from a box.

But I digress.

I first tried my hands at beets sometime last year.  I stared at the root vegetable, trying to figure out its secret. Questions streamed through my head.  Do I leave on the greens? Do I eat the skin? How do I cook these things?

So I turned to my trusty friend, Google.  I learned that the most foolproof method to cooking beets was to roast them in the oven for 45 minutes or so, let them cool, pull off the greens, then peel off the skin. Oh, and some even suggested wearing gloves, as beets will dye fingers.  

And so the attack of the red beets began.

I forged ahead, sans gloves, and suffered the fate of the red beet.  And frankly, after my meal, I still wasn't too crazy about the beet.  So now I was unsatisfied, hungry, and sporting a pair of red hands.

Fast forward to yesterday, Dupont Circle Farmers Market, Washington, DC.  I went with the intention to buy some fruits, but walked out with zucchini blossoms, golden beets, and buffalo meat and... well, no fruits.

I decided to try my (un-dyed) hand at beets yet again.  I wanted a simple dinner with fresh ingredients, and found a fantastic shallot vinaigrette recipe that looked like it would go perfectly with the golden beets.  And it did.  The softer flavored golden beet was complimented by a sweet shallot vinaigrette and a crumble of mild and nutty ricotta salata.  And the best part?

NO RED HANDS.

Golden Beet Salad (Adapted from Epicurious)

• 2 1/2 lb medium golden beets (with greens)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
  
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 oz. ricotta salata, crumbled
•   

• Put oven racks in lower third and middle of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.

  Trim beet greens, leaving 1 inch of stems attached. Tightly wrap beets together in double layers of foil to make packages (2 or 3 per package) and roast in middle of oven until tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Unwrap beets and cool slightly.

  Whisk together shallot, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking.
  

  When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off and discard skins. Cut beets lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and gently toss with 3 tablespoons vinaigrette in a bowl.

  Arrange beets on 6 salad plates and top with ricotta salata.

Shrimp Enchilado

I am traveling (again) this weekend for (another) wedding, so this one will be short and sweet.

The original dish called for lobster tail and crab legs, but this soon-to-be-unemployed-and-moving-back-to-NYC-in-a-down-economy-girl was not going to spend the money on such delicacies. So shrimp it was. 

This stew, of Cuban origin, is basically seafood cooked in a mildly spicy tomato sauce.  It was to be served with rice and fried plantains, but I forgot the plantains.

The amount of traveling I have been doing has sucked out all of my brain capacity.  

This is a solid dish. A rich tomato sauce is flavored with a complex sherry wine, sweet paprika, and briny clam juice and a little bit of heat from the cayenne pepper. 

This is one of those dishes where you'll go back for seconds asking "Please, sir, can I have some more?" in your most feeble Oliver Twist voice.

Or will that just be me next month?  

Shrimp Enchilado - Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 4

• 1 lb uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 4 large plum tomatoes, seeded, diced
• 1 cup canned tomato purée
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 3/4 cup dry Sherry wine
• 2 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•   
  

• Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and chopped bell pepper to pot; sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic cloves, fresh parsley, and paprika and sauté 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes and tomato purée. Cook until juices thicken, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add clam juice, dry Sherry, and bay leaf. Season to taste with salt. Add cayenne pepper. Bring mixture to boil, then shrimp and lime juice.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until lobster meat is cooked through and tender, about 10 minutes.   Serve with rice and fried plaintains.

Mussels in White Wine and Garlic and Living the Life

This past weekend, Jack and I enjoyed an extended weekend at his family's beach house in Long Beach Island, NJ, or LBI for short.  LBI is a fantastic island off of the southern coast of NJ and is part of the famed (or infamous, depending on which reputation you are familiar with) Jersey Shore.  However, this is not the Jersey Shore that you may know of from such programs as "True Life: I Have a Summer Share" (Parts 1 and 2) with orange twenty-somethings who have invested stock in hair gel and wifebeater t-shirts partying at clubs and cursing each other out.  LBI is a family place filled with mini-golf, amusement parks, ice cream shoppes (with an "e"), breakfast places such as Uncle Will's and The Chicken and The Egg, and plenty of fried fish.  When I am in LBI, I have a daily ritual of going running at 8 am sharp while listening to Bob Marley and smiling at every person who passes by (and they smile back! which is an odd experience for a New Yorker). 

We invited two friends to join us and spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house, which is on a pier and has the most spectacular views of the ocean and the boats.  We all joked that the house makes us "old" because we all needed to take naps in the middle of the day to stay up past 11 pm, but the truth of the matter is that this may be the most relaxing place I know.

I can sit in these chairs and stare out at the views for hours.  Tell me they are not calling your name right now.

Views from the balconies.

I was so excited to put the kitchen to good use. The house has the most glorious kitchen that only lives in my dreams, so I am always excited to cook when I get to LBI.

Can't you just picture yourself with your own cooking show in this kitchen? I always do. It is a little weird because I talk to a camera that isn't there.  

Jack, helping me prep.

It's nice to just relax, take in the scenery, and take a dip in the pool every now and then.

Remy jumping in the pool.

Remy desperately trying to get out of the pool.

Remy trying to get back into the pool.

Remy aggressively trying to dry herself off.

And, finally, enjoy a nice, relaxing dinner filled with food, friends, and laughs.

It is always nice to get some really fresh seafood, and these mussels were no exception.  The best part about mussels is that they are a snap to make, which is great when all you want to do is head back outside and enjoy the good life.

Mussels in White Wine and Garlic

2 lbs mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded

2 tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup parsley, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dry white wine

2 1/4" slices lemon

Discard any mussels that are open and/or broken.  

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown and fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add wine, lemon, salt, and parsley and bring to a boil.  Add mussels and cover, cooking for 6 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, remove mussels from broth and place in a separate bowl. Discard any unopened shells. Adjust sauce for seasoning and pour over mussels. Serve immediately.

This is definitely a place where, once you are here, you never want to leave.  Jack, for example, decided to stay the entire week with Remy to relax a bit (he has been a bit stressed in his post-MBA grad life) while I returned to Washington, DC to work.

Booooooo to Jack.

But I guess I can't blame him.

Could you?

Top Chef with Teanna- Steamed Red Snapper with Chanterelles and Rock Shrimp over a Butternut Squash Sauce

Jack and I have decided to do a fun project:  Each week, we will cook a winning dish from Top Chef.

Oh yes, my friends.  We will.

Although we don't have the culinary background to hack it on the line with the likes of Fabio, Stefan, Harold, Hong, Marcel, Tiffani, or Dave (I'm not your bitch, bitch!), I do have the chops to follow a recipe word for word and make something quite tasty!

So we'll pack up our knives and head over to our Top Chef Kitchen, which is NOT furnished by the makers of Glad® and does NOT have glowing appliances by the makers of GE™.

So I guess you don't have to worry about endless product placements. 

We will cook through the winning dishes from Seasons 1-5, with a brief pause when Season 6 comes back on air.  When that happens, we will follow the season, and then resume the remaining recipes when the season is over.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to gaze into Tom's gorgeous blue eyes or stare longingly at Padma's glowing skin.  Gail's effusive smile will not light up our kitchens and guest judges such as Anthony Bourdain cannot provide us with constructive criticism such as "that dish was so ugly, it doesn't even deserve to be prison food".

You will instead receive my witty (I hope) commentary providing a bit of background about the episode and our trials and tribulations about cooking each dish.

Like take this dish, for example.  Jack said he would cook it so that I could photograph it as soon as I got home from work so that I could get a good picture of it in the sunlight. 

Instead, Jack cut off the tip of his finger while making it.

Actually, he cut off a millimeter of skin from his thumb while slicing the butternut squash, called me at work freaking out, so I rushed home to take care of him to find him on the couch watching The Dark Knight with a piece of toilet paper wrapped around it as our dog lay on his lap.  I ran to the couch to see if he was ok, and the piece had magically healed itself. 

I cooked the rest of the dish. 

This amazing, delicious, healthy dish.  Harold Dieterle, the winner of Top Chef Season 1 (and the chef/owner of the restaurant Perilla in New York City) actually won the 1st Top Chef Challenge ever.  The challenge of the episode, titled "Who Deserves to Be Here", was to basically cook a fantastic meal to serve to your peers.  Harold won with this dish - a steamed Thai Snapper atop braised Brussel sprout leaves and a butternut squash puree topped with chanterelle mushrooms and rock shrimp.

Oh YES.  This is going to be fun.

Steamed Thai Snapper adapted from Top Chef Season 1: Episode One

Meat:
1 piece Red Snapper

Sauce:
1 butternut squash
1 cup chicken broth
2 piece garlic
2 shallots
2 oz. butter

Vegetables:
3 oz. brussel sprout leaves (about 1 cup)
1 oz. rock Shrimp
1 oz. chanterelles
1 teaspoon chives 
1 teaspoon parsley

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste.

Directions:

Skin and dice butternut squash for 15 minutes at 375°. 

Sweat garlic and shallots in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat while butternut squash is roasting. When squash is done, add squash meat. Cover with chicken stock and simmer 10 minutes. Blend and add butter.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Peel brussel sprout leaves (from fresh brussel sprouts) from bulbs. Sweat leaves in 1 tablespoon butter over medium low heat until golden brown, add shrimp and chanterelles. Cook 2 minutes. Add parsley and chives.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Season snapper with salt and pepper.  Steam snapper for 5 minutes. 

Chickpea Dip en Fuego

If you haven't been to the website 101 Cookbooks, go there now. 

Well, go there after you visit my website for a little bit.

The site is filled with wonderful recipes that are mainly vegetarian or vegan (like the Jamaican Veggie Patties) but are filled with interesting and creative flavor combinations.

Take this recipe for example.  On her site, it is actually called Hummus en Fuego, but this dip actually tastes nothing like hummus (in my opinon).  It is flavored with a red pepper oil (a brilliant, infused olive oil that I will be sure to keep at home) and ground walnuts.

Yes. Walnuts.

The walnuts impart a deliciously nutty flavor and an amazing texture to the dip and the flavor is rounded out by the deliciously spicy red pepper oil.

If you are looking for something a bit different, then definitely give this dip a whirl.

Get it? Because it is whirled in a food processor?

Ba dum chhhhhh.

Chickpea Dip en Fuego Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off (if you'd like)

2 cups cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans, drained

1 medium clove garlic

juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

1/2 cup hot water

Make the hot pepper oil a day or so ahead of time by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan for a couple minutes - until it is about as hot as you would need it to saute some onions, but not so hot that it smokes or smells acrid or burned. Turn off the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside and let cool, ideally for a day or two - to let the flavor really develop.

To make the dip, give the walnuts a spin in the food processor, just until they are a sandy texture. Add most of the garbanzos, 1 or 2 tablespoons of the red chile oil (oil only, no flakes), garlic, and lemon juice. Now process until smooth. Drizzle in the water a bit at a time and puree more, until the hummus is creamy and billowy. I tend to let the food processor run for a minute or so at this point, it incorporates air into the puree and makes it a nice texture. Taste to adjust the seasoning.

Serve in a shallow bowl, drizzled with plenty of the remaining oil and red pepper flakes. 

Healthy Carrot Muffins

So these muffins were a half-win/half-FAIL. Not an EPIC FAIL, mind you. Just half-fail.

They were light. They were fluffy. They were moist. They were filled with chewy dried cranberries, deliciously sweet pineapple, and wonderful bits of carrots. In a moment of pure genius, I replaced some of the yogurt with carrot baby food to enhance the carrot flavor. And THEY WERE ONLY 131 CALORIES EACH!

So what went wrong, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.

They tasted like nothing. NOTHING. Like light "crumb-air", as Jack described it.

But I will tell you this. This recipe has tons of potential because the texture was absolute perfection. I just have to be a bit more heavy handed on the spices.  If I can get the flavor balance correct, these will be part of my repetoire forever.

Do you hear me, muffins? I'll spice you up, yet!

Healthy Spiced Carrot Muffins adapted from Bloomalicious

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all purpose white flour
3/4 cup all purpose whole wheat flower
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3  teaspoons ground cinnamon
2  teaspoons ground ginger
2  teaspoons superfine sugar
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup plain low or non fat yogurt
1/4 cup carrot baby food
2 tbsp sunflower oil
8 oz canned pineapple chunks in juice drained and whirled in food processor to coarse consistency
9 oz carrots, grated
1/4 cup cranberries
3/8 cup almonds, slivered and whirled for just a pulse or two in food processor

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Oil (or use cooking spray) on muffin pan (12 cup small, 6 cup large) or line with muffin paper liners. 

Combine flours, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and superfine sugar in mixing bowl and stir till blended. 

Whisk egg whites with yogurt and oil  in separate bowl.  Add pineapple chunks, carrots, raisins, and almonds and combine thoroughly but don't over stir.  Add into the flour mixture and combine till just mixed together. 

Divide batter between muffin tin cups.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Stew

I don't know if there is any way to take a photo of this and make it look good.  Perhaps that is why there was not a photo of this accompanying the recipe in May's Bon Appetit.  

Regardless, this recipe struck me right away. I LURVE cauliflower.  It is the ultimate health food for me. High in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, B5, Folate, B6, dietary fiber, protein, phosphorus, niacin, riboflavin, and more! I don't even know what half of those things are good for but I do know they are good for me! And it is low in calories and, most importantly, filling!  Therefore, when I am making a conscious effort to eat healthy, I am not starving and don't want to rip someone's (most likely, my own) head off.

Cauliflower is paired with earthy chickpeas, seasoned with curry powder and simmered in diced tomatoes, lite coconut milk.  Well, the recipe calls for regular coconut milk, but why ruin a good thing with 80,000 calories and 60 grams of fat?.  There is supposed to be cilantro in this recipe as well, but I think cilantro is the devil, so I omitted it. I kept it in the recipe, though, just in case you make like it.

I can't tell you how many times I have made this dish since the day I first tried this.  It may be one of my favorite go-to dishes now, and the best part is, it is so easy to make! It is about 10 minutes of active time. 

Healthy and quick and delicious? Filled with tons of vitamins that I know nothing about but I do know they are good for me? I'm in! 

Curried Cauliflower and chickpea stew - adapted from may 2009 bon appetit

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups chopped onions

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons curry powder

6 cups small cauliflower florets (from 1 medium head)

2 15 1/2-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained

2 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 14-ounce can lite coconut milk

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

• Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add onions and sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add curry powder and stir 20 seconds. Add cauliflower and garbanzo beans; stir 1 minute. diced tomatoes with chiles, then coconut milk; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and boil gently until cauliflower is tender and liquid thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 16 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro; serve. 

Delicious Healthy Brownies???

For reals? 

Yes.  For reals.

Let me give you a bit of a rundown on these brownies:

Typical Brownie Recipe (12 servings): 

295 calories

16.4 fat

46 grams carbohydrates

For Reals? Brownie Recipe (not including walnuts because I hate nuts in my brownies but if you like them, add 16 calories and 1.5g fat per brownie ):

99 calories

0.5 grams of fat

23.4 grams of carbs

'Nuff said.

Now, you may think that these brownies are too good to be true.  "They must taste like low-fat grossness," you say to yourself.

Well, you are wrong.

When I handed these brownies to Jack, he looked at me with confusion and said, "I thought these were low-fat brownies".

Nice!

Since they are low-fat, he uses that as an excuse to eat 3 at a time (which kind of defeats the purpose) but even if he does, it is still 15 less grams of fat per "Jack serving".  And he has super fast metabolism, so he can eat whatever he wants and still be thin.  Sigh.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is no way to imitate the wonderful deliciousness that goes into regular, full fat, butter filled, artery clogging, egg yolk-having, cholesterol-toting brownies.  But these are damn close. For low fat brownies, these are fantastic. 

These are fudgey, incredibly moist, and delicious and taste best (in my opinion) when heated and served with a dollop of whipped cream (if you want to keep it healthy, have it with Cool Whip and only add 25 calories!). A-MA-ZING.  

I'll never look at brownies the same way again.

Healthy Brownies adapted from Maple N Cornbread

Serves 16

1/2 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee granules 
1/2 cup white whole wheat pastry flour 
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray an individual brownie pan or 8 inch square baking pan, with non stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix together all of he dry ingredients. Mix the applesauce and egg whites and gently fold into the dry mixture. Stir only until moistened. 

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until desired texture is reached. Less time will result in a more dense, gooey brownie and longer time will produce a cake like brownie. When cool, cut into 12 pieces.