Tag Archives: Beet

August 6, 2013

Muffin Monday: Blackberry Beet Choc. Chip

By ritalovestowrite

on tray

[Props go to Megan at HuggingTrees&ShellingPeas who got me started on this particular flavor odyssey with her own Chocolate Beet Muffin recipe. I made some changes here for my twist on her recipe, but you should check out Megan’s original recipe (available at the link above) and make a batch of both muffins for a Chocolate Beet Muffin show down.]

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 Cup Blackberries
  • 1/2 Cup Beets, grated
  • 1 Cup Zucchini, grated
  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup ground Almonds
  • 4.5 tsp Baking Soda
  • .25 tsp Cinnamon
  • .25 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1.5 C Brown Sugar
  • 4 TBLS Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Cup Almond Milk
  • 1 Cup Apple Sauce
  • 1 Cup Crisco, softened
  • 3/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips (Plus additional Mini Chocolate Chips for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prep Muffin tin or Muffin Cups with spray.

2. Grate the Beets. Grate the Zucchini. Hand mash the Blackberries and remove the tough core.

Grated Beets and Zucchini and finger mashed/pitted Blackberries.

Grated Beets and Zucchini and finger mashed/pitted Blackberries.

3. Grind the Almonds in a nut mill, food processor or blender.

4. In a large bowl combine the Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Cinnamon, Garam Masala, Brown Sugar and Cocoa Powder

5. In a smaller bowl combine the Almond Milk, Apple Sauce, and creamed Crisco.

6. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

7. Gently stir in the Beets, Zucchini, Blackberries and Chocolate Chips.

8. Divide evenly into 21-24 muffin cups. Top with a half-dozen extra mini Chocolate chips on each muffin.

Ready to go into the oven

Ready to go into the oven

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the muffins pass the toothpick test. Remove from the oven and let cool in the muffin tin/cups for 15 minutes.

Given that there is 1.5 cups of brown sugar and quite a bit of chocolate in this recipe, I was surprised that these muffins weren’t sweeter. They aren’t. That’s not to say that they aren’t good. Just not on the sweet side.
I had my test muffin plain. One of my testers opted to try his with a bit of ice cream. That serving suggestion seemed to go over well, so if you are looking for a dessert muffin… add a bit of ice cream. However… I really tried to stay away from the diary on this one (Almond milk instead of cow’s milk; Crisco instead of butter; no eggs) adding ice cream kind of makes that a moot point.

These muffins are light and moist. While the Zucchini and Beets disappear once baked the Blackberry texture remains.

Eaten

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4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Muffin Monday, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day

July 29, 2013

Muffin Monday: Beet & Fennel Muffins

By ritalovestowrite

IMG_5748

I know, I know… it sounds like I should be making soup, not muffins, but this combination of special ingredients when paired with our old friends  Zucchini, Almond and  Blueberry made for a nice flavor profile in this week’s Muffin Monday selection.

INGREDIENTS:

  •  1 1/2 cup whole wheat Flour
  • 3/4 cup whole Almonds
  • 1 TBSP Baking Power
  • 1 cup Non Fat Milk
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/2 Stick MELTED Butter
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 1 cup Grated Beets
  • 1 cup Grated Zucchini
  • 1/3 cup chopped Fennel Fronds
  • 2/3 cup slightly mashed Blueberries.

IMG_5739

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the muffin cups by spraying with cooking spray.

2. Grate the Beets and Zucchini. Finely chop the Fennel Fronds.  Gently mash the Blueberries with a fork. Set aside.

3. In a blender process the Almonds until they are finely ground..

4. In a large bowl combine the Flour, ground Almonds and Baking Powder.

5. In the blender (because why dirty another bowl when you’re gonna have to clean that blender anyway) pour the Milk, Vanilla, Eggs, melted Butter and Sugar. Blend until smooth.

6. Add the liquid to the dry and mix well.

7. Gently fold the chopped/grated vegetables and the mashed Blueberries into the batter.

8. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups (this recipe made enough batter to generously fill the standard 12 muffin tin plus two  extra muffin cups).

IMG_5742

9. Bake for 35 minutes until the tops are brown and the muffins pass the toothpick test. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes.

The blueberries and sugar give these veggie intense muffins plenty of sweetness. Tester Maggie S. calls them “Delicious and filling.” There’s a nice firm muffin top and the inside is flaky and light. The texture, says Maggie, is “Perfect.”  Fellow tester Andrew S. agreed, he loved the texture. As for the taste? “The aftertaste was interesting” he said, ” — kind of savory after the sweetness of the berries. And” he added “zucchini is always a good thing.”

Beets, like zucchini, seem to lose themselves in the delightfulness of muffindom. None of us could really point to the muffins and say “Hey, you put beets in there, didn’t you?” The muffins just taste yummy. As for the fennel there is a hint of fennel’s licorice flavor, but it is far from overwhelming.

IMG_5755

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7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Baking, Muffin Monday, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day, Writing

June 26, 2013

Farm Fresh Challenge: Kohlrabi Coleslaw and Polenta Lasagna

By ritalovestowrite

Greetings fresh food lovers. We had another amazing box from Calvert’s Gift Farm CSA this week, and farmer Jack, who knows I love Kohlrabi, surprised me with a special gift of the sputnik shaped veggie in my box! Thanks Jack!

Here’s a shot of what I’ll be working with for the Farm Fresh Challenge. (We had more in the box but this is what I chose to use last night.)

Yellow squash, Kohlrabi, Beets, Spring Onion, Sage, Garlic. (Not shown: Mint)

Yellow squash, Kohlrabi, Beets, Spring Onion, Sage, Garlic. (Not shown: Mint)

I decided to make a three part challenge today, a drink, side dish and main dish. All part of…

[Not associated with the real Chopped, the Food Network or Tim Allen.]

[Not associated with the real Chopped, the Food Network or Tim Allen.]

Round One: Cream Mint Tea

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch of Mint leaves, stripped from the stem

1 Red Bush (de-caf) Tea Bag

4 cups Boiling Water

3 cups Almond Milk

3 cups Ice Cubes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the water to a boil

2. Brew the Mint Leaves and the Tea Bag for 20 minutes

3. Remove the Tea Bag and Leaves. In batches, place  1/3 of the tea, 1 cup of Almond Milk, and 1 cup of Ice Cubes into a blender and process until smooth. Repeat twice more until the tea is complete.

4. Keep chilled. If Tea flattens, pop it back into the blender for a few seconds to froth it up.

Bubble Tea

Round Two: Kohlrabi Coleslaw

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium Kohlrabi

1 bunch of Beets

1 bunch of Spring Onions

1 bunch Radish

1 Fennel Bulb

3 Tablespoons of Mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/2 lemon

Salt and Pepper

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grate  the Kohlrabi, Beets, Spring Onions, Radish and Fennel (use a large whole grater).

2. In a small bowl mix the Mayonnaise, Olive Oil and the juice of the 1/2 Lemon.

3. Toss the grated vegetables with the Lemony Mayonnaise.

4. Salt and Pepper to taste.

5. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This is an excellent Crisper buster. I not only used the super fresh ingredients from the box (Kohlrabi, Beets, Spring Onion) but I used up some ingredients that I hadn’t had a chance to use from last week (Fennel, Radish). If I had celery or carrots they would have made it into the slaw as well. I think some raisins and or nuts would be an excellent add in. 

BONUS to Baltimore readers: The Beets give this a certain RAVENS purple, so its perfect for a picnic if you want to celebrate our Super Bowl Champs… Just sayin’.

A serving of Kohlrabi Coleslaw goodness.

A serving of Kohlrabi Coleslaw goodness.

Round Three: Polenta Lasagna

INGREDIENTS:

1 pre-cooked Polenta “sausage” (my market has this with the rolls in front of the deli counter. It is not refrigerated.)

Polenta

Cooking Spray

1/4 cup of fresh Sage Leaves

1 whole Garlic

1 bunch of spring Onion

4 medium Yellow Squash

4 slices of Provolone Cheese

Grated Italian Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-Heat Foreman Grill to 350 degrees. (You could also use a frying pan)

2. Cut up the Polenta into  1/3″ slices (Warning the Polenta is packed in water…which tends to squirt out when you pierce the plastic wrap.) (Ideally you’ll want to get 15 slices out of the slices — think slice and bake cookies)

3. Spray the surface of the Grill (or pan) and heat the Polenta slices for 5 minutes.

4. Separate the Garlic into cloves.

5. Cut up the Onion and Squash into same size slices.

6. When Polenta is finished cooking remove from grill and set aside. Place the Garlic, Onion and Squash on the grill and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Spray a square glass pan (like a cake pan) and arrange the Polenta. Top with Sage Leaves.
You should be able to fit two row of three slices and a third row of half slices. Put the rest of the Polenta to the side.

8. When the Garlic, Onion and Squash is cooked arrange it in a layer over the Polenta. Top with slices of Provolone.

9. Add a second layer of Polenta. Add extra Sage Leaves, Salt and Pepper and grated Italian Cheese.

Polenta Lasagna

Polenta Lasagna

10. Keep in refrigerator until a few minutes before plating then pop in the Microwave for a few minutes to reheat.

Since you can make this ahead of time it makes for a nice Summer dish. The Polenta Lasagna feeds 3 or 4 adults.

Polenta dinner

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4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Chopped Parkton, Cooking, Farm Fresh Challenge, postaday, Thought of the Day

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