Chocolate Chia Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk, chilled*
• 3 Tablespoons (45 g/1.5 oz) chia seeds
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 packets Splenda (or other no-calorie sweetener of your choice)*

Instructions:

• Add all of the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl.
• Whisk everything together until thoroughly combined (2-3 minutes).
• Refrigerate the bowl for at least 3 hours, preferably 4 or more.
• Once the pudding is solidified, scoop and serve.  Eat immediately.

Makes 2-3 servings.

Nutritional information per serving for 2 servings: 160 calories, 9.25 g fat, 13 g carbohydrate, 11.5 g fiber, 8 g sugar, 6 g protein.

Nutritional information per serving for 3 servings: 107 calories, 6 g fat, 8.75 g carbohydrate, 7.5 g fiber, 5.5 g sugar, 4 g protein.

My Notes:

• You can replace the almond milk with any other non-dairy (or dairy) “milk” of your choice (i.e., soy, coconut, hemp, cow…).  Just note that any changes will impact the nutritional information provided above.
• You can replace the 2 packets of artificial sweetener with another Tablespoon of agave if you’d like; once again, just note that the nutritional information will change a bit.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Pretty low.  (I got the chia seeds at Trader Joe’s, of all places.)
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Rather low.  (Chia seeds are cheap.)
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Can-make-this-with-the-kids low.  (And you should.)  :)
Time Cost (recipe preparation):  Apart from refrigeration time, super low.  (So go play with those kids while you wait for the pudding to set.)
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Awesomely low.  (You can eat your pudding with those kids, rinse a few bowls, and bam – done.)
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.77

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

• I got the inspiration for this pudding from the back of the chia seed package.  The directions provided were pretty vague (“Combine 1/4 cup chia seeds with 1 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup [or less] of honey or agave syrup, and flavors of your choice”), so I took a leap of faith and tossed things together that I thought might taste good and work from a kitchen chemistry perspective.
• Initially, the mixture is very runny.  I wasn’t sure how well it was going to set.
• Happily, after a few hours in the fridge, the mixture became semi-firm.  The texture reminded me of a tapioca-type pudding.
• Each individual portion is pretty substantial size-wise, yet is overall quite healthy (for a tasty dessert, anyway). A win-win!

Stef

Sushi-Inspired Seitan Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (1.5 ounces) frozen shelled edamame
• 1/3 cup (3 ounces) seitan, diced
• One quarter (1 ounce) of a very ripe avocado, diced
• 1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (low-sodium variety if you are watching your salt intake)
• 2 drops pure sesame seed oil (yes, just a mere 2 drops)

Instructions:

• Put the edamame in a microwave-save bowl.  Cover with water, and nuke for 20-40 seconds (or until the edamame are heated all the way through).  Once warm, drain the water and place the cooked edamame in a bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl.
• Stir the ingredients with a spoonula to coat everything evenly.
• Smile.  You just made a meal in literally 2 minutes.  Boom.  Eat, and enjoy.

Makes 1 serving.

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 235 calories, 8.5 g fat, 12.5 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 28 g protein.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): For most people, pretty low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Rather low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Super low
Time Cost (recipe preparation):  Super DUPER low
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Delightfully low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.919

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

I did not intend to make a recipe today.  I came home from yoga class, looked in my fridge, saw that I had avocado and seitan that I needed to use up in the next day or two, and racked my brain for what I could make that was a little different (as I was once again getting kind of bored with my food).  Thinking back to a fun sushi meal I had a few weeks ago, I decided to throw these six ingredients together and see how a dish might turn out – and I was genuinely surprised to learn that things turned out super-well!  This salad is crunchy (from the edamame) yet also creamy (from the avocado); sweet (from the chili sauce) but also earthy (from the seitan); filling but not heavy; and overall quite delicious and satisfying.  I had intended to make this dish just once – but I have a feeling this one might become a new standard in my meal planning repertoire.  Yay for successful experiments!

Stef

Baklava

Ingredients:

• 1 half-pound package of phyllo dough (or half of a pound package)
• 3.5 cups chopped walnuts, pecans, and/or almonds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-and-1/2 sticks melted margarine, divided
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Remove the phyllo dough package from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours to thaw.
• Once thawed, remove the phyllo dough from the fridge 1 hour before using.
• When you are ready to begin actually making the baklava, preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
• Toss together the chopped nuts and cinnamon. Set aside.
• Thoroughly spray a 9″x13″ baking pan with nonstick spray.
• Then, make sure the sheets of phyllo will generally fit the pan (if they’re a little bigger, that’s okay.) If they’re much bigger, just trim them with a sharp knife.
• When working with the phyllo dough, only remove the sheets you immediately need, keeping the other sheets covered in plastic wrap, then a damp cloth.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 1 stick of the margarine.  (Heat the stick for 20-30 seconds, then stir with a fork.  Continue heating in 20-30 second increments [stirring afterwards each time] until all of the margarine is melted.)
• Using a pastry brush (or a BBQ brush if you don’t have a pastry brush on hand), butter the top sheet of phyllo with melted margarine, then grab the just-buttered sheet of phyllo dough and the unbuttered sheet below it. Set the two sheets in the pan, buttered sheet face down. Press lightly into the pan. Repeat this twice more, so that you have six sheets of phyllo in the pan, three of which are buttered.
• Sprinkle on enough nuts to make a single layer. (I ended up using a scant 3/4 cup of nuts in each layer.)
• Return to the stack of phyllo dough.  Butter one sheet of phyllo, grab that sheet and the sheet beneath it, and place them on top of the nuts.
• Add another layer of nuts, then two more phyllo sheets (one buttered, one not).
• Repeat this a couple more times, until you’re out of nuts. (My baklava had a total of 5 nut layers.)
• Top the dish with 4 more individually-buttered phyllo sheets, ending with a buttered top.
• Cut the baklava into squares using a very sharp knife.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the baklava is very golden brown.
• While the baklava is baking, combine one-half stick of the margarine, honey, water, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan.
• Bring the honey mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer until the baklava is finished baking (~20-30 minutes).
• When you remove the baklava from the oven, drizzle half of the sauce evenly all over the top.  (I used a half-cup measuring spoon to spread the liquid sugar over the baked baklava, allow for better control of the sauce flow and placement.)
• Allow the baklava pieces to sit and absorb for a minute, then drizzle on the remaining sauce.  Make sure to pour the sauce both over the top of each piece, as well as to saturate the area in between each of the slices.
• Allow the baklava to cool, uncovered, for several hours. Once completely cool, you can carefully remove the pieces from the pan and serve/eat.

Makes 32 pieces.

Nutritional information per piece (approximates): 185 calories, 13 g fat, 18 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g fiber, 11.5 g sugar, 2 g protein.

Here’s the baklava before I put it in the oven…

…and here it is after 30 minutes of heat, all nice and golden brown.

The first piece.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Very low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Pretty low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Medium
Time Cost (recipe preparation):  Also medium
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Surprisingly low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.973

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

Baklava is not all that difficult to make – I was very surprised!  If you want to read the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of how this recipe came to be, check out this blog post.

Stef

Mushroom Bean Chili

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup (1.5 ounces) diced mushrooms [I used baby portabellas]
• 1/4 cup low-sugar marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) seitan
• 1/4 cup chili beans
• 1 Tablespoon low fat sour cream

Instructions:

• Put the mushrooms in a microwave-safe bowl, and add 1/4 cup of water.  Cook the mushrooms for 60-90 seconds, or until fork-tender.
• Drain the water from the mushrooms.  Then add the marinara sauce, seitan, and chili beans to the bowl.  Cook for another 60-90 seconds, or until hot.
• Add the sour cream to the bowl, and mix well.  You can microwave for an additional 30-60 seconds (if you want the sour cream to get hot as well), or you can eat as-is (if you like the contrast of cool sour cream against hot chili).

Makes 1 serving.

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 205 calories, 4 g fat, 23.5 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 20 g protein.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Very low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Pinch-your-pennies low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): No-need-for-therapy low
Time Cost (recipe preparation):  Week-night-appropriate low
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Do-the-dishes-tomorrow low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.4567

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

• If you like additional add-ins to your chili (think cheese, diced onions, etc.) you can certainly add them to this dish.  [Just note that any added ingredients will change the nutritional information provided.]
• This dish may not look like much from the photos, but boy howdy was it ever tasty!  It was creamy, chewy, filling, and satisfying.
• This chili is a lovely soothing meal for a cold winter night; and given how fast and easy it is to assemble and cook, it’s particularly nice after a harried or stressful day.

Stef

Pizza Eggs

Ingredients:

• 1 baby potato
• 1/2 cup egg beaters
• 1/4 cup low-sugar pizza sauce
• 1 stick low-fat string cheese, cut into thin rounds
• 2 Tablespoons shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

• Bake the baby potato.  (I do this quickly by wrapping the potato in a paper towel, then wrapping around the paper towel with a cloth kitchen towel, then putting the cloth towel bundle in the microwave and cooking on high heat for 2-3 minutes.)  Once the potato is baked, carefully cut it into a small/medium-sized dice.
• Lightly spray a microwave-safe bowl with oil.  Pour the egg beaters into the bowl, then add the diced potato.
• Microwave the egg/potato combo for 45 seconds, then stir, and cook for another 45 seconds.
• Top the now-mostly-cooked egg/potato combo with the pizza sauce.  Then place the string cheese rounds on top of the pizza sauce.
• Cook the bowl of egg/potato/sauce/cheese for 30-45 seconds, or until the sauce is hot and the cheese melts.
• Carefully remove the bowl from the microwave, and top the food in the bowl with the Parmesan cheese.  Eat immediately. (Or, wait a few minutes and allow the food to cool slightly if it’s too hot to bite into right from the microwave).

Makes 1 serving.

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 235 calories, 6.5 g fat, 19 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 6.5 g sugar, 25.5 g protein.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Very low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Very, very low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Still very low
Time Cost (recipe preparation):  Super-low
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Relaxingly low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.314159

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

• This dish tasted like a brunch item that might be served at a pizzeria.  It certainly isn’t a replacement for a proper slice of pizza, but it is good in its own right.
• A side salad (or a serving of some other green vegetable) and a piece of fruit can be added to this main dish to create a fast, well-rounded meal.
• I suspect kids might like this food; could be an easy way to feed the family on a harried week night.
• (Admittedly, this dish is a close cousin of the previously documented Easy Italian Eggs; but I still think it’s good.)  :)

Stef

Chocolate Muffin Tops

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup (210 g) whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup (60 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup egg beaters
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ cup plain (unsweetened) Greek yogurt
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 scant cup hot water, divided
• ½ cup (98 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
• Using a wooden (or large plastic) spoon, mix all of the dry ingredients together (i.e., flour through salt) until evenly combined.
• Add all of the wet ingredients EXCEPT for the hot water (i.e., egg beaters through vanilla extract).  Mix with a spoon until evenly combined.  (Note that the ‘batter’ will be very crumbly at this point; that’s okay.)
• Add half of the hot water, and mix with a spoon for 5-10 seconds.  Add the remaining hot water, and mix with a spoon until the all of the ingredients are blended together.  (Should only take another 10-20 seconds or so.  Resist the urge to over mix.)
• Stir in half of the chocolate chips.
• Grease the muffin top tin with nonstick spray.
• Put a heaping tablespoon of batter into each tin.
• Place 4 chocolate chips directly on top of each muffin top batter.
• Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let the muffin tops cool in the pan for 1-2 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.
• If not eating the muffin tops within 1-2 days, freeze them.  If wrapped well, they will stay good in the freezer for 3-6 months.

Makes 24 muffin tops.

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 95 calories, 1.5 g fat, 19.5 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 11.5 g sugar, 1.5 g protein.

The muffin batter, waiting to be baked and transformed into yummy goodness (I hope).

The baked muffins. They look promising.

As I removed the muffin tops from the tin, I was honestly impressed at how ‘professional’ they looked!

The first muffin I consumed.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Also low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Very low
Time Cost (recipe preparation): Surprisingly low
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Nice and low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.89421

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

• I’m not gonna lie, the batter smelled a little funky.  As I filled each muffin tin, I really wasn’t sure what I was going to get once these guys were cooked…
• Yet when I pulled the baked muffin tops from the oven, I was impressed – they looked really good!  They looked almost perfect, in fact.  But they still smelled kinda strange…how would they taste?
• I tentatively bit into the first muffin top, and….was really surprised!  It was a wee bit less moist and a tiny bit more bitter than the commercial version; but the overall differences were pretty negligible.  I was impressed!  And considering that these homemade muffin tops are considerably less expensive than the store-bought kind, I think we definitely have a winner here.  (And I got to use my muffin top tin, too – so extra bonus!)  :)
• I think I may have to try and recreate some other flavors…

Stef

Homemade Seitan

Ingredients:

For the simmering broth:

• 3.5 cups vegetable broth (approximately two 14.5 oz cans [reserve 1/2 cup of the broth for the seitan {below}])*
• 5 cups water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce*

For the seitan:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 cup cold vegetable broth*
• 1/4 cup soy sauce*
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic

Instructions:

• Fill a stock pot with the simmering broth ingredients.  Cover the pot, then set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix the vital wheat gluten flour and nutritional yeast flakes together until evenly combined.
• In a small bowl, whisk the remaining wet ingredients (i.e., 1/2 cup vegetable broth through minced garlic) with a fork until evenly combined.
• Pour the small bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients, and mix with a large wooden spoon until the moisture has been absorbed by the gluten flour/nutritional yeast.
• At this point, put the covered broth pot on the stove over high heat and bring it to a boil.
• While waiting for the liquid to boil, return to the seitan dough mixture.  Use your hands to knead the mixture for about 3 minutes.
• Then divide the large ball of dough into three equal pieces, and knead each smaller segment for an additional 1-2 minutes.
• When the simmering broth has come to a full boil, lower the heat to a simmer.  Add the three big gluten pieces (use a slotted spoon so you don’t burn yourself), then partially re-cover the pot (so that steam can escape).
• Let the dough simmer for 45 minutes, turning occasionally (once every 15 minutes or so).
• After 45 minutes have passed, turn the heat off and remove the lid from the pot.  Let the seitan sit in the warm broth for an additional 15 minutes.
• Use the slotted spoon to carefully remove the seitan from the broth, and let the seitan rest in a strainer until it is cool enough to handle.  Once cool, slice and use as desired, or refrigerate for up to 5 days.  (Or freeze for up to 3-6 months.)

Makes 7 servings. (2 ounces per serving.)

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 105 calories, 2.25 g fat, 5 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 14 g protein.

This is what the seitan dough looks like after the two rounds of kneading.

Here the seitan simmers in the pot.

The cooked seitan during its 15 minute “waiting period”.

A close-up of the finished product.

My notes:

• When selecting vegetable broth and soy sauce, you can certainly use low-sodium varieties in this recipe.  (I actually encourage it; who needs all that excess salt?)  But if you want to use fully-leaded ingredients, you can; the seitan will work out either way.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Semi low.  (Many mainstream groceries now sell vital wheat gluten flour and nutritional yeast flakes.)
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Quite low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Low
Time Cost (recipe preparation): Medium
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Pretty low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.77

Miscellaneous suggestions, insights, and/or thoughts:

• The texture of this seitan was not as firm as the packaged seitan I usually buy; but I suspect if I kneaded the dough longer, the seitan would get ‘tougher’ (firmer).
• I was disappointed that this homemade seitan is not as high in protein (per calorie) as the commercially prepared product; but I liked the way the homemade version tasted a lot more!  When I eat store-bought seitan I have to consume it with some sort of sauce or condiment (in order for it to taste more appealing to me); this homemade seitan I ate plain, and genuinely enjoyed it!
• All in all, I was very happy with my seitan adventure.  In fact, I think I am going to continue to make it at home instead of buy it from a store.
• The next time I make it, I might try adding some different spices, too.  I imagine if I added some oregano, sage, rosemary, and basil, I could mimic an Italian-flavored ‘sausage’; and if I added some cumin, cayenne, and paprika, I could make some fake ‘chorizo’…
• Now, how do I make soy ‘hamburger’?

Stef