Rhubarb Muffins, Veggie Burgers & Asparagus Three Ways

I go through cooking phases. Sometimes, I love cooking and I can't get enough of it. Other times I am irritated that I am the only one in the house who seems to know where the kitchen is and I stop cooking for a little while.

Spring is a great time to be in a cooking mood. All the fresh vegetables inspire looking for new recipes and trying out new things. I also generally buy fresh locally grown produce in excess and have no choice but to cook it. (4 lbs of rhubarb? Why not, we haven't had rhubarb in a year.)

Springtime cooking this year has coincided with a bit of a health kick, as these recipes will reflect. Here are some recent winners that I have tried.

*A note about my lack of pictures: sorry, I suck. I am going to try much harder to start including lots more photos with my posts.*

Rhubarb Oatmeal Muffins
One problem that I always have with rhubarb is that it is frequently paired with cups upon cups of sugar. I searched high and low this year to find a rhubarb recipe that wasn't insane in the sugar department. Plus, I love rhubarb for its tartness - why hide that? This recipe is AWESOME. I have made it four times (this has something to do with the quantity of rhubarb I purchased at the Farmers Market last week) and each time the muffins have been seriously worth it.

The original recipe is here. Of course I have tweaked it and my version is below.

1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup safflower oil OR 1/3 cup applesauce (applesauce makes for a more binded, less crumby muffin)
1/3 or any citrus juice - I have used orange juice, juice from canned Mandarin oranges and apple juice with success
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 cup diced fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained

Topping
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsps chopped pecans or walnuts or you can leave the nuts out if you desire
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients; set aside.
In another bowl, combine egg, oil or applesauce, citrus juice and peel.
Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fold in rhubarb.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.
Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over tops.
Bake at 350*F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done

This recipe yields about 9 muffins. I find doubling it and filling the muffin cups more yields nice sized muffins, about a dozen.

Veggie Burgers
I have been craving homemade veggie burgers lately (and brussel sprouts, must be pregnancy cravings). My little brother and his gf came over for dinner one night and we made these veggie burgers. They were fantastic. I would recommend doubling the recipe and freezing some for later use. They are a bit time consuming to prepare so why not make extra and freeze some?

Asparagus, Asparagus, Asparagus
My excitement about rhubarb was shadowed only by my extreme enthusiasm for asparagus. It was asparagus with or for every meal for about a week. My favorite three ways to have asparagus:
#1) Roasted Asparagus. Just toss with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Roast for a few minutes at 425. Note: I think kosher salt is essential when roasting vegetables. You just don't get the same results with table salt.
#2) Asparagus Salad. This recipe is a favorite for its simplicity. The flavors blend together so nicely you will have a hard time not finishing the entire salad. My only regret here is that tomatoes and asparagus are not in season at the same time. But since my 2yo eats tomatoes (even the nasty ones from the store) like there is no tomorrow we always have tomatoes on hand.
#3) Cream of Asparagus Soup. And speaking of simplicity... when you have fresh vegetables it is so wonderful to prepare them simply and really let the flavor shine though. Here is a very simple cream of asparagus soup that comes together in about 20 minutes and it fabulous only with fresh delicious asparagus.

Happy Spring Cooking!

Banana Honey Ice Cream

I know, three posts in one day. Insanity.

Tonight I concocted a new ice cream primarily to give to my daughter as a less sugary dessert. I had a bunch of bananas that were getting pretty spotty so I decided to try and make banana ice cream with them. None of the recipes I found on the internet were what I was looking for so I just made up my own. I really didn't want to use any sweeteners but in the end added some honey because the banana and milk mixture just didn't seem sweet enough. Next time I will actually reduce the honey from 1/2 cup to 1/3 of a cup and see how that works. I froze the bananas before using them to release some more of the banana flavor. Make sure to peel them before freezing and then let them thaw a bit before processing.

6 small previously frozen bananas
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tb vanilla extract
1 tb lemon juice
1/2 cup honey (I used raw local honey)

Allow the bananas a few minutes to thaw and then process them in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well and then place in ice cream maker. Makes about 8 cups.

I give my daughter about 1/8 of a cup of ice cream for dessert on nights that we eat dessert (maybe a couple of times a week). With this recipe there is 1 tablespoon of honey in every 1/2 cup. So in an 1/8 cup of ice cream there is... a little less than 1 teaspoon of honey. I am pretty happy with this in our attempt to reduce sugar intake.

WSJ Article: "What's really in a lot of 'heathy' food"

My father-in-law forwarded me this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. The article is not very detailed but does cover make some good points about our perception of the food we are eating and what we are actually eating. It talks a bit about how many times the marketing comes before the science.

The part of the article that really caught my eye was about chicken. I know, more bad news about commerically raised and processed chicken. Since the article might not be available for more than seven days I am going to copy a portion of it:

"...roughly one-third of the fresh chicken sold in the U.S. is "plumped" with water, salt and sometimes a seaweed extract called carrageenan that helps it retain the added water. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says chicken processed this way can still be labeled "all natural" or "100% natural" because those are all natural ingredients, even though they aren't naturally found in chicken.

Producers must mention the added ingredients on the package -- but the lettering can be small: just one-third the size of the largest letter in the product's name. If you're trying to watch your sodium to cut your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, it pays to check the Nutrition Facts label. Untreated chicken has about 45 to 60 mgs of sodium per four-ounce serving. So-called enhanced or "plumped" chicken has between 200 and 400 mgs of sodium per serving, almost as much as a serving of fast-food french fries.

Adding salt water became widespread when big discount stores began selling groceries and wanted to sell chicken at uniform weights and prices. Plumping packaged chicken helps even out the weight. But that means consumers are paying for added salt water at chicken prices -- an estimated $2 billion worth every year, according to the Truthful Labeling Coalition, a group of chicken producers that don't enhance their products."

I have already been having a hard time eating chicken from the grocery store after the last article I read about arsenic in chicken and this additional information about the salt content is not making the matter better. No wonder Americans are suffering from weight problems - everything we eat is loaded with salt and/or growth hormones. Personally I prefer the taste of pastured chicken myself, and it looks like that is what we will be sticking with in this hosue.

Spring is Here! (Finally)

I know it has been a while since I posted. Besides the whole pregnancy excuse, we have just come through the most uninspired culinary time in Upstate New York: late winter/early spring. It is that time when you go to the market and there is nothing besides fresh lettuce (which is great to have in the winter but you know what I mean). Today was the turning point. At the market this morning I picked up asparagus and rhubarb, two signs that it is now officially spring and I am now officially inspired to cook again.

Most of the asparagus will be used as a dinner side for the week. Roasted asparagus. Need I say more? In the meantime I am looking for a good rhubarb-without-strawberries-and-loads-of-sugar recipe. Rhubarb is really tart so I understand why it is mostly paired with sugar and other sweet food but another spring inspiration is to start eliminating sugar from our diets, whenever possible.

So, sorry for the lapse in posting. But now that spring is here prepare to be overwhelmed!