mixed berry and white wine chicken

I recently paid a visit to the library in Downtown Austin and fell in love with the cookbook section! I literally had to put some back because I couldn't even walk down the aisles due to the weight of all the books I was carrying. When Jose saw me, the first thing he did was laugh; it was a site, a funny one. Anyway, I haven't had a chance to absorb all the wonderful goodness of the many recipe books I borrowed, but there is one book that I haven't been able to put down. It has really great pictures, plus it's so darn cute...it's called Shakespeare's Kitchen! For a degree holder in English and foodie, that's pretty much like heaven in binding! It's a great book, plus it even smells delicious (I feel that each book has it's own wonderful, unique smell that's in a category all its own...). I asked Jose to skim the pages so that he could pick out something we could make for dinner together last weekend, and he chose the Chicken with Wine, Apples, and Dried Fruit...which sounded pretty yummy. Of course, being that I always have to change recipes around in one way or another (well, not always, just most of the time) I went ahead and tweaked a few things here and there, they were very minor changes. The recipe called for whole wheat flour and we didn't have any so I used regular white, and I also changed what dried fruit went into the dish. I'm not much of a date fan, so I decided to add cranberries instead. It's always fun to add in your own personal touch, because in the same way our personalities differ, our taste buds experience flavor in their own unique ways as well. I'll post the original recipe, then I'll add my semi-copy-cat after it :).

Chicken with Wine, Apples, and Dried Fruit
4 chicken legs and thighs
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups dry white wine
1/4 cup currants
1/2 cup dried plums
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 TBSP minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tart apple, cored and quartered, skin on

Here is my mixed berry and white wine chicken
8 chicken thighs (instead of 4 of each)
salt and pepper
1/3 cup white flour
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used a large pan :)
1 2/3 cups dry white wine (I'm not used to cooking with this, so I figured I'd add a little less first)
1/4 cup fresh pomegranant seeds
1/4 cup sweetened, dried cranberries
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg (I used the powder)
1 tsp cinnamon (I always add more of this!)
1 tbsp brown sugar (it counteracts the sourness of the cranberries)
1 sweet fuji apple, cored and thinly sliced w/ peel...because I love fujis!


Instructions (these are basically the same for both recipes):
Cut apart the chicken legs (and/or thighs). Sprinkle the chicken pieces with the salt, pepper and flour (I rolled it in the flour :). Heat the olive oil in large saute pan over high heat and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add 1/4 cup of the wine to the pan and stir to loosen the pan drippings. Add the remaining wine, then the dried fruit, apples, and spices also. Return the chicken to the pan, cover with a lid, and reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes (the book says 30 but I like to make sure it's really cooked :). About 20 minutes into the chicken-cooking process, I sprinkled the brown sugar on top of the meat so that it could have a nice lightly sweetened coat. Remove the chicken and cook the pan sauce for 5-10 minutes, or until it's reduced by half (so it thickens and becomes more rich in flavor).

That's about it! Have fun experimenting with adding your own favorite dried fruits! I think maybe olives would add a nice touch too!

cinnamon walnut squares

The original name for this dessert is Cinnamon Walnut Blondies. I found the recipe in a new brownie cookbook (Blissful Brownies) we bought a few weekends ago. I decided to change it up by making it healthier. Because I used applesauce to replace a good portion of the butter that the recipe called for, the result was a cakey snack/dessert that was light, a little fluffy, but definitely tasty. I'll post the original recipe, then I'll post the new one. I made a few other minor changes here and there, like adding more cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg, but that's just because I love the way those two spices complement each other...and you can never have too much cinnamon! I was happy to recently discover that cinnamon actually has a few health benefits; on top of being tasty, it's also good for you! It can help lower cholesterol levels and just a little more than a teaspoon of it mixed in a dessert can help lower the blood sugar rise following a meal. You can read more about that here.

Here is the original recipe:
Walnut & Cinnamon Blondies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Cinnamon Walnut Squares (altered version)
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 cup applesauce
1/8 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup chopped walnuts

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, let cool for about 5, and then eat them up!

To steam or not to steam?

How many times do you find yourself lathering veggies in butter and/or salt to enhance their flavor which was actually lost during the cooking process? Well, I didn't use butter, but before Jose got me this wonderful steamer for Christmas, I used to spend a lot of time cooking zucchini slices in a pan on the stove; I usually sauteed them in olive oil and loaded them with spices. Sadly, during my pre-steamer days, I rarely made one of my favorite veggies, carrots, because they took too long to cook when boiled in a pot on the stove. I'd have to stand there and stir them in the spice and apple juice concoction they were swimming in; the apple-juice was supposed to naturally replace the sweetness the carrots lost while boiling.

Some studies suggest that cooking vegetables can remove a good portion of their nutrients, not just their flavor, particularly when they are boiled in water. This isn't the case for all vegetables, though, as WebMD points out in this article. Steaming is a great alternative if you're not sure whether to eat your veggies raw or cooked. Generally, when veggies are steamed, they have up to 50% more minerals than when they are boiled. Basically, the less water, heat, and time you use to cook the veggie, the better, as this site explains.

I've noticed that steaming the veggies, rather than cooking them over a stove or even boiling them, brings out their natural flavor so much that they can be eaten without any added spices. I have to admit that a few of them (take squash, beets, and carrots for instance) taste a lot more like a dessert than a veggie...but only when steamed!

So the steamer is a real life-saver, in the sense that I want to eat more veggies which will lead to over-all improved health, and it's even a huge time saver. All I have to do is wash the veggies, cut them up, then throw them in the steamer until they're tender. Now, whenever I make soup, I cook the meat and broth in a pot while the veggies steam separately, then I mix them together in the pot right before serving. The end result is a tastier, healthier meal. That makes my taste buds and the rest of my body very happy.

healthy oatmeal raisin cookies

I actually have a good excuse for the time that's passed since my last post...I got married! Yes, the last couple of weeks leading up to it were a bit hectic, considering my then-fiance-now-husband and I weren't planning on having a ceremony in the first place...but now we're glad we did! It was a very simple but beautiful wedding, and even though I loved the dress, my favorite part was the vow-reading that took place during the ceremony, it was a very memorable moment.

Now, back to the topic of food, a few weeks ago I made some oatmeal cookies. They are a pretty traditional cookie, usually made with a simple recipe...but most of those recipes include about 2 sticks of butter. I hate deceiving myself into thinking that I'm eating something healthy because the word "oatmeal" is included in the list of ingredients of the baked good I'm savoring...so I've tried to improvise and had some success after a few experimental sessions...I traded in 2 sticks of butter for 2 TBSPs and my taste buds don't know the difference!

Inspired by the oatmeal cookie recipe on the traditional Quaker Oats container, I decided to make a healthier version of the delectable treat. Instead of using literally half a pound of butter, which would translate into 2 sticks, I remembered the beauty of applesauce...keeping in mind that with applesauce, at least with baking, a little goes a long way. So for this particular cookie, between 1/8-1/4 cups of applesauce are the magic measurements...but it also depends on what texture you're going for. If you want a cookie with more bite, then about 1/8 cups and 1 tbsp should do the trick. However, if you really like the big soft cookies, then put a little more applesauce, somewhere around 1/4 cup.

Ok...so here's the recipe. A few other changes went into the cookies, but I do have to thank the little Quaker Oats guy for coming up with the initial, though terribly unhealthy and a little less flavorful, recipe.

Improvised recipe (makes a little over 2 dozen, if you make 1 tbsp sized cookie dough servings):
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal (this is one less cup than the original)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-2/3 cups raisins (the golden ones taste so much better!)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (a lot more than the original)
a few sprinkles (about 1/8 tsp nutmeg)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
about 1/4 cup applesauce
2 TBSP Butter

I baked these in a 350 oven for about 12 minutes...note: the more applesauce you use, the longer it takes for the cookie to harden.

P.S. I took these cookies to work, and they were gobbled up completely!

Random Fact: I read somewhere, and I'll find the link one of these days, that applesauce and brown sugar tend to soften things with time. So be careful not to add too much of either, if you don't want your cookies to crumble :).