Jenn’s Cook Book

The first recipe for Smoothie-licious is also part of my Midnight Snacks series as well. In chapter 1:00 AM: Spa Night, the authors wrote a section called “Lots of Lassis” that features a tradition lassi as well as several variations. Lassi is a tradition Middle Eastern and East Asian beverage with yogurt often mixed with fruit or spices. Some versions are savory, but most are sweet. Below is the general recipe followed by several mix-in variations. I tried the Honeydew and Ginger Lassi, shown above with a sprig of mint.

Lassi Recipe:
1 cup plain non-fat or low-fat yogurt
1 cup skim milk
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a blender and, in the author’s words, ”let ‘er rip.” Pour the lassi in a glass filled with ice.

Variations:

Lemon Lassi: add grated zest of 1 lemon (do not add lemon juice, it will curdle the yogurt)
Indian Spice Lassi: add a pinch of ground cardamom, ginger, cumin, and black pepper
Pistachio and Honey Lassi: blend in 1/2 cup of pistachio and an additional tbsp of honey
Honeydew and Ginger Lassi: Add 1 cup of honeydew cubes and a nickel-size piece of fresh ginger (make sure to peel ginger first) 
Mint of Persian Lassi: add 10 fresh mint leaves
Berry Lassi: add 1/2 cup strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, or blackberries
Mango Lassi: add 1/2 cup sliced, peeled mango (an Indian favorite)

These recipes all make 2 generous servings.

From 5:30 AM: First-Shift Foods, the authors call this chapter “foods to beckon us from bed.” The original recipe calls for coconut, sunflower seeds, and pecans, which I substituted with dried cherries and mini-chocolate chips. The add-ins are open to interpretation as long as you keep the proportions the same, although I would highly recommend keeping the wheat germ, it adds a nutty flavor and gives the granola texture. I’ve posted the original recipe, and then my remake.

2 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins

Preheat oven to 300F and coat a 13×9 baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, toss the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, pecans, and wheat germ.

Combine oil, maple syrup, and salt in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the vanilla.

Pour the syrup over the dry ingredients and toss to coat everything evenly. Spread mixture over prepared baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Add the cranberries or raisins and allow the mixture to cool.

Jenn’s Chocolate-Cherry Granola
2 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup mini-chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F and coat a 13×9 baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, toss the oats and wheat germ.

Combine oil, maple syrup, and salt in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the vanilla.

Pour the syrup over the dry ingredients and toss to coat everything evenly. Spread mixture over prepared baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Add the dried cherries. Add the chocolate chips while the mixture is still warm and stir to melt the chocolate into the granola, or add the chocolate chips after the mixture has cooled to keep in pieces.

Sprinkle granola on top of yogurt and fruit.

Want to give your turkey something a little but extra? Try this maple roasted recipe from Everyday Food magazine. The turkey stayed very moist, without constant basting. I used store-bought stuffing made with chicken broth (use a little extra than the package indicated for moist, more flavorful stuffing). You can add a little homemade touch to your stuffing by adding chopped onions, celery, and/or apples. Apples would also go great with this maple glaze.

1 turkey 12-14 lbs, thawed  
salt and pepper
butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
ready made stuffing

Preheat oven to 350F

Remove neck, giblets, and liver from turkey as package describes. Rinse turkey and pat try. Place stuffing in turkey and secure appropriately. Place turkey on a rack/roasting pan. Pour 2 cups water into roasting pan.

Brush turkey with melted butter and season generously with salt and pepper. Tent turkey with aluminum foil and roast for about 1 hour.

After about an hour, baste turkey with pan drippings or additional butter. Add more water to pan as needed. Repeat this process again in an hour.

After 3 hours, remove aluminum foil and baste turkey with maple syrup. Continue to baste with syrup every 15-20 minutes until turkey reaches 180F (about 3 1/3 to 4 hours). Continue to add water to pan as needed. Let turkey rest 15-20 minutes before removing stuffing and carving the meat.

Let’s keep this on a roll with Turmeric-mania Recipe #5! Here is an interesting update to classic mashed potatoes from Cooking Light magazine, using Yukon gold potatoes with mustard seed, maple syrup, and turmeric, of course. Try pairing these potatoes with steak or pork tenderloin in place of plain potatoes.

2 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and quartered 
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seed
1 cup fat-free milk  
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and return potatoes to the pan.

While potatoes cook, heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cook 2 minutes or until seeds begin to pop. Add milk, syrup, and turmeric, simmer until reduced to about 1/2 cup (about 10 minutes). Add milk mixture, salt and pepper to potatoes and mash with potato masher or electric mixture to desired consistency. Serve immediately.

From the magazine Everyday Food, this sauce works best over grilled chicken or pork. Can be made ahead up to 2 days (store in refrigerator).

1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

 Mix mustard, walnuts, maple syrup, vinegar and thyme together in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over grilled meat.

Here is another quick and simple recipe from my no-bake cookbook:

1 1/4 cups maple syrup
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick oats

In a large saucepan, combine maple syrup with corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue boiling for 3 minutes, stirring.

Remove from heat. Stir in butter until melted. Stir in pecans, vanilla, and oats. Press mixture into a greased 9×9 inch pan. Let stand until firm (couple hours).

This recipe was originally suppose to be drop cookies, but the cookies would not hold together so I pressed them into the baking pan (how’s that for salvaging?). One of the tricky things in baking is that recipes are very exact, so you must measure carefully and following the recipe step-by-step, but no-bake recipes typically have a little wiggle room. Next time, I would add a bit more butter to make the “batter” easier to work with, and also a pinch of salt to balance the sticky sweetness. But in whatever form, these still taste great!

Pancakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 package (1 oz) uncooked instant farina (such as Cream of Wheat)
1 1 /4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)

Syrup:
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp pomegranate juice
2 tsp cornstarch

To prepare pancakes, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 6 ingredients (through farina) in a large mixing bowl. Stir well with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg in a bowl, whisking well. Add to flour mixture, whisking until almost smooth. Fold in banana. Do not over-stir or pancakes will be flat and dense.

Spoon 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto a hot nonstick griddle. Turn when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

To prepare syrup, combine 1/2 cup pomegranate juice and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Combine 2 tbsp juice and cornstarch in a bowl and add to pan. Cook 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat and serve with pancakes.

Garnish pancakes with fresh sliced bananas and serve with milk and a small cup of pomegranate juice.

This is a great recipe I found on the Nestle Toll House website www.verybestbaking.com and decided that it would be perfect for fall.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fluid oz can) Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk (2% low-fat can be used)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups Nestle Toll House Premier White Morsels
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tsp maple flavoring
About 50 walnut halves or pieces (optional)

Line a 13×9 baking pan with foil if using walnut halves. If not, use a 8×8 inch baking pan.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in a medium heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Stir in marshmallows, morsels, walnuts and maple flavoring. Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows and morsels are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan, remove foil and cut into pieces

If using walnut halves: On top of fudge, place nut halves in rows spacing about 1/2 inch apart. Press into fudge and refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares with 1 nut half per square.

Okay, I haven’t actual made this dish yet, but I saw it on an episode of the Food Network’s Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay and have been wanting to try it since. Maybe this weekend…

Blue Corn Pancakes with Orange Honey Butter and Cinnamon Maple Syrup

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish
2 to 3 bananas, peeled and sliced
Orange-Honey Butter, recipe follows
Cinnamon Maple Syrup, recipe follows
Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish

Preheat a nonstick griddle. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a medium bowl until combined, then stir in the melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. If the batter seems too thick, add some of the remaining milk.

Ladle approximately 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until the bottom is light golden brown, flip, and continue cooking for about 30 seconds. Remove to an ovenproof plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Serve 3 pancakes per person with a dollop of orange-honey butter, cinnamon maple syrup, and bananas. Garnish with blueberries dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Orange-Honey Butter:
3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
2 sticks butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt
Place orange juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 tablespoons. Place butter in a bowl and add the orange syrup, honey, and salt; mix until combined. Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Cinnamon Maple Syrup:
2 cups pure maple syrup
2 to 3 cinnamon sticks
Heat syrup and cinnamon sticks over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove and let steep for 1 hour. Remove sticks and pour into a small pitcher.