The Food I Cook

I made this bread recently, it was so good, the best I’ve ever made. Not that unhealthy either.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups splenda
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 8oz cans of crushed pineapple

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl, mix well
3. Beat eggs with a mixer at medium speed until foamy. Add splenda, zucchini, oil, egg substitute, and vanilla, beating until well blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in pineapple. Spoon batter into 2 loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.

So I got this recipe out of Cooking Light and tinkered with it a little bit, making it actually healthier. Then, because I felt like experimenting, I used 3 different types of flour. Why? Because I have many different types of flour in the house, and I thought, why not? It certainly turned out awesome so I recommend you follow my lead. With the directions as is I thought the batter was a little thick, well, very thick, for me so I added the juice from the pineapple and added some milk and more oil to get it to a nice consistency. If you’ve made quickbreads like this before you’ll know the consistency you want.

One loaf can be frozen for a month and defrosted on the counter if you like, but man, this bread was awesome, truly, the best tasting bread I’ve ever made. And it gives me something to do with all the zucchinis I get from my garden.

Right now in the oven I have a alternative going. I swapped the 16oz of crushed pineapple for 16oz of maraschino cherries and I added half a cup of dark chocolate (hershey’s special dark) cocoa powder. We’ll see how it turns out.

As I’ve mentioned previously, my wife likes a quick breakfast, and I don’t think shelf bought “protein” “energy” or “power” bars are altogether that healthy with their 20 grams of sugar and whatnot. I know I can do better, and so it was in that spirit that I developed this recipe for super healthy chocolate brownies. These are meal replacement/snack brownies, not dessert brownies.

Before we start, a word on chocolate.

Chocolate is healthy, no seriously, cocoa is very high in antioxidants, protein, and fiber. The fact that it is often mixed with saturated fats and sugar is the problem, but cocoa solids themselves are quite healthy.

To maximize the health of your chocolate snacks always look for the darkest chocolate you can possibly fine, but even though, fats, if not sugars, are necessary, to make chocolate bars or chips of any type.

Ergo, the healthiest way to get chocolate is to find dark chocolate cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is chocolate solids with all the fat removed, but you still get the flavor. Normal cocoa powder isn’t so bad but dark cocoa powder will have 66% less calories, more protein, and more fiber.

Chocolate Super Healthy Brownies

• 1 can Pumpkin Puree, 15oz
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• ½ cup Rolled Oats
• ½ cup Flax Seed Meal
• 1 cup Soy Protein Powder
• 1 cup Hersey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder (or other dark cocoa powder)
• 1 cup Splenda
• 4 tbsp Cinnamon
• 1 cup Egg Beaters or Egg Whites
• ½ cup Light Sour Cream
• 1 cup Skim Milk
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 pkg(16oz-ish) Dark (60% + cocoa) Chocolate Chips (optional)

1. Preheat Oven to 375
2. Mix all the dry stuff (oats, flour, flax seed, protein powder, cocoa powder, splenda, cinnamon, and baking soda) together, really well. Sift it if you want.
3. Put the Egg Beaters in a big bowl, very big, and beat with a hand mixed until nice and foamy and or soft peaks. Normally if making something like an angel food cake we’d be careful now, but we’re not making an angel food cake, so…
4. Add the pumpkin and sour cream into the bowl and mix well, add the milk and vanilla and start adding the dry mixture a little at a time.
5. Meanwhile in another part of the kitchen, if you want it extra chocolately you’ll need to melt the optional chocolate chips in a double boiler or a microwave and then drizzle into the mixture, or just drop the chips in if you’d rather have chocolate chunks in the finished product, your choice.
6. When your mixture has fully come together, stick it into a lubed 13×9 baking dish, it’ll be thick, you should spray the back of a spatula with some non-stick spray to help spread it around. When it is good and even pop it in the oven for 1 hour.

Now, if you cut it into 12 portions, which is typical I think, each one will have:

Without Chocolate Chips: 137 calories, 14g protein, 6g fiber
With Chocolate Chips: 230 calories, 16g protein, 7.5g fiber

Chocolate chips also add sugar and saturated fat. You could also, instead of chips, add chopped nuts, raisins, or something like that. Compare the calorie total of the sans-chip version to any “bar” based food out there. No added sugar, lots of antioxidants and vitamins, lots of protein, and lots of fiber. These brownies are super brownies.

On to the Ingredient Explanation….

I’m not here just to give you recipes, I like to teach why I include certain things in the recipe.

Start with the pumpkin, why do I put pumpkin in this recipe? Well, read the back of your can, see the part that says each serving has 300% of your daily vitamin A needs through beta carotene? That means, that roughly each brownie should end up with 100% of your daily needs, not bad. Vitamin A is a key vitamin but too much of it can cause problems, especially in pregnant women. Beta Carotene though is an entirely safe way to get Vitamin A as your body will manufacture it out of the beta carotene on an as-needed basis, storing any excess still as beta carotene, no chance for overdosing. Beta carotene of course also helps with a myriad of other things.

Whole wheat flour is there for structure, and we’re using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour for added protein, fiber, and nutrients.

Rolled oats add more fiber, especially soluble fiber to lower cholesterol, as well as protein. Oats are a super food, eat more of them.

Flax Seed Meal, another super food, is the highest plant source of omega 3 fatty acids (good cholesterol, like from salmon). It also adds fiber and protein.

Soy protein powder of course adds protein. Protein keeps your body healthy and your stomach feeling full.

The cocoa powder adds surprisingly large amounts of protein and fiber, and of course those excellent chocolate antioxidants.

Cinnamon has one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants of any food known to man, seriously. It also adds flavor without any added calories.

Splenda is our key sweetener, and is of course 0 calorie.

Egg Beaters are just egg whites that have been infused with vitamins and colored yellow. They add protein, the vitamins, and it is necessary to have a little egg in almost any baked good. We are using a lot of them though, because we want a lot of protein in these.

The sour cream adds more protein, and contributes moisture (we’re replacing what would otherwise be oil) to the final product. If you had to omit one thing, this would probably be it, I don’t know if it is so necessary.

The milk is our moisture, protein, vitamin D, calcium, etc.

Baking soda is for making it all rise, vanilla is for flavor, and the optional chocolate chips are, of course, for chocolate.

Whole Grain Cocoa Angel Food Cake

• 3/4 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (dark is better if you can find it)
• 1 1/4 cups of splenda
• 10 Egg whites (no yoke! get the cartoned egg whites).
• 1 teaspoon of Cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon or almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Sift the flour, cocoa, and 1/4 cup of the sugar 5 times. Set aside. Sift the remaining 1 cup splenda into a separate bowl. Set aside.
2. Put the egg whites in a superclean bowl and beat them with a hand mixer, you’ll want an actual hand mixer for this, not a stand mixer (they don’t work as well for whipping whites) and not just a mere whisk (your arm will fall off). Add the cream of tarter and beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks, but are not dry. A stiff peak means you can dip something in the eggs and then pull it up and out and turn it upside down and the white will form a peak and stand up straight.
3. Gently fold in the sifted splenda, 1 tablespoon at a time (you need to be gentle, lest you depress the air bubbles you just made). Add the vanilla and lemon or almond extract. Slowly sift small amounts of the flour mixture over the batter and fold in until all the flour is incorporated. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10 inch straight-sided tube pan (angel food cake pan, 2 part). Bake for 45 minutes. Turn the pan upside down, over the neck of a bottle, and allow to cool. Remove from pan once fully cooled.

In total this cake has around 600 calories, meaning you could eat the whole thing and it’d only be 600 calories. Additionally it has a bunch of fiber and a bunch of protein. To the point where, if you had 1/6th of this cake, you’d have more protein, more fiber, and less calories, than a typical “energy” or “protein” bar.

Serve it plain, with vanilla ice cream, or with a fruit sauce (any type of peeled fruit & berry in a deep skillet on medium heat, add splenda, possibly cinnamon or other sweet seasoning, then a corn starch & water/juice slurry. Simmer until all the fruit falls apart).

Mmm, beer. What real men drink. And yet, how many of you know that beer is an excellent ingredient in the kitchen? In soups, stews, and marinades beer adds dimension like no other liquid. I tell you what, I like cooking with beer more than I like drinking it.

This recipe is a fairly original creation of my own, it is a combination of a few other recipes. I’ve made this numerous times, and every time it has turned out great. I love making it for guests in the summer as well.

Butter Beer Cheesy Pork

• 4 10oz or so pork chops, cubed cutlets, tenderloin steaks, or any other pork steak cut you fancy.
• 1 12 oz bottle honey wheat beer, the stronger the flavor the better.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup green onions, sliced thin
• ½ cup chopped roasted pecans (bake in oven at 350 for 10m to roast pecans)
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp butter
• Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded, to taste (1-2 cups usually).

Alright, step one, pour the first 5 ingredients (through black pepper) into a zip top plastic bag with the pork. Set it into a bowl in case of leaks, and stick it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight, longer is better.

Preheat your grill so that it is hot. This dish also tastes well when smoked. So you could use it with plank grilling (cedar). Take the meat out of the marinade, toss it on the grill (or on the wood plank on the grill) and cook to desired doneness, 30-45 minutes usually. But this will vary greatly depending on what cut of meat you are using.

When pork is about half way done put a saucepan on medium heat on your stove. Melt the butter and then when the butter is melted add the flour and whisk rapidly for 3-5 minutes. Then add the reserved marinade from the plastic bag and bring to a boil.

Once you’ve reached a boil let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, just to make sure it is fully cooked (the marinade was with raw meat after all) then lower the heat to a simmer and start adding the cheese, while whisking constantly.

Here you have decisions to make. How many people are you serving? How much sauce do you need to cover all that pork? I usually end up tossing in another beer into the saucepan, and more cheese, to make more sauce because I like the sauce. Since beer isn’t usually sold in 1 bottle packs, you’re bound to have another bottle in case you need to do the same. If not, water works but isn’t as flavorful. If you need to thicken the sauce more and do not want to add more cheese, make a corn starch slurry (equal parts cold water and corn starch, mixed together in a separate dish, then poured in, it has to be corn starch, flour will not work with cold water like this). Keep tasting the sauce to make sure you like it. The goal here is to make a good, syrup-like thickness, cheese sauce, in enough volume to cover all the meat.

When you’re happy with the sauce and the pork is done, toss in the green onions and chopped pecans, mix, and then pour the sauce over the pork (or, pour it into a bowl and let people serve it themselves).

Is this dish healthy? Sorta, many pork cuts can be very lean, and you’re having relatively small servings of 8-10oz per person. The cheese sauce isn’t as healthy as it could be, but cheese is a very worthy guilty pleasure. The trick though is in the side dishes. Serve this meal with healthy sides like grilled or baked veggies, fresh fruit, and things like that. Don’t serve any bread, pasta, rice, or other starches with it. The pork itself might not be as healthy as it could be, but with good sides the overall meal can be.

This bread is packed with nutrition and makes a great heart healthy snack. It tastes great, you’ll never guess it has no oil, no butter, and no added sugar.

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup Splenda
• 3/4 Cup Flaxseed Meal
• 5 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup Egg Beaters or egg whites
• 1/4 cup low fat sour cream
• 2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9′ x 5′ loaf pan with cooking spray.
3. Mix together Splenda, flaxseed meal, bananas, milk, sour cream, egg whites, raisin, and nuts until well blended.
4. In a different bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.
5. Mix the two bowls together until the mixture is evenly moist, do not overmix.
6. Spoon into your pan and place in oven for 45-75 minutes, cooking times will vary, use a toothpick to test for doneness.

I like beefy flavors, and nothing beats stew on a cold day, plus it is easy to make. But, beef isn’t the healthiest of meats, so what do I do? Use buffalo, just like with my healthy cheese burgers.

Thus, I make beefless beef stew that is still beefy and full of protein. And as I’ve explained in previous posts, lean buffalo (bison) has less fat and cholesterol than boneless skinless chicken breasts. It is a great substitute for beef.

• 1/3 Cup Cornstarch
• 2 Cartons Beef Stock
• 2 Pounds Buffalo Meat, chopped
• 2 cups potatoes, chopped
• 1 very large yellow sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cups carrots, chopped
• 1 10.5 oz can of whole kernel corn
• thyme, bay leaves, garlic
• 2 cups peas, frozen thawed
• 2 beef boulliion cubes (unless you want to cut down on the salt)

1. This is an all day affair, you’ll want to use a large capacity crock pot, 6-7 quarts. Step 1, 2 cartons of beef stock, the good stuff. Pour it into a cold crockpot, then whisk in 1/3rd cup of corn starch. We’re using corn starch as a thickener because unlike flour it will not clump in cold liquids. If you want it thicker add a half cup.
2. Add your onion, carrot, buffalo, and potatoes. Add 2 boullion cubes. Add 2 bay leaves, 2 tablespoons of dried thyme, add 3 cloves of garlic, put the lid on, and let it cook 8 hours. I like little baby red skin golden potatoes, but redskins or yellow skins would do fine, russet potatoes will not work well, learn more here
3. 30m before you want to eat add corn, but drain the excess liquid from the can first, and add the frozen peas. Keep lid off from here on out.
4. Kill the heat, if it isn’t thick enough for you, add some box potato flakes. Fish out the bay leaves, ladle into bowls (bonus points for bread bowls) and serve.

I love to eat beef stew with a crusty yeasty whole wheat bread and butter for dipping. Bread aside, you’ve got a very lean low fat meal with this stew, it is easy to make, cleanup is easy since it is just 1 pot that was used. This recipe should feed 4 people so if you’re just 1 or 2 people you’ll get leftovers as well.

If you want to punch up the flavor consider these additives (liquids requiring additional thickening or in place of some of the beef stock):

• Parmigiana cheese rind (when you buy the nice/real parmigiana reggiano cheese, save the rinds after you use it up, add them to soups & stews).
• A cup or two of red wine.
• Small amounts of balsalmic vinegar or worcestershire sauce.
• A cup or two of beer, a strong full body beer (I like honey wheat) is preferable to a light drinker’s beer.
• Any beef bones you have (always save your bones in the freezer and add them to soups).
• Finely chopped leek.
• Parsely, Basil, or whatever your favorite herbs may be.

No, I did not mistype the title of this post. I am going to tell you how to make a healthy cheeseburger (or hamburger, if you’re a weirdo who doesn’t like cheese).

Most burgers will receive the bulk of their calories from two locations, the bun, and the meat. First let us focus on the meat.

Ground beef comes with varying degrees of fat content depending on which part of the animal it is from. It is usually noted on the package with a fraction such as 87/13 (13% fat) or 95/5 (5% fat). More fat, more juice, more calories, a lot more calories. You can get a difference of a few hundred calories, per burger, between the leanest ground beef and the fattest. The leanest you’ll find is usually ground sirloin, with the 5% fat, the worst is plain ground hamburger, which is made from scrap rather than any specific cut of meat, and has a really high fat content.

Of course, the best option, is to not use ground beef at all, use buffalo.

I’m proud to say I’ve entirely given up ground beef. I don’t need it, buffalo is better tasting and better for you. American Buffalo or Bison are the same critter and were a key component of the Native American diet until the white man came, then there were hunted almost to extinction but have since made a great recovery, there are now herds free roaming and many ranchers raise them for meat.

Unlike cows buffalo have not been domesticated for thousands of years, this has given them more natural evolution and so they’re healthier animals. It is (apparently) illegal in the US to give buffalo hormones or antibiotics, unlike domestic cows which get such injections all the time. So buffalo are, by law, organic. Additionally buffalo have no problem putting on weight so they aren’t force fed super grain or anything like that, they just graze on grass like they always have. Buffalo also don’t get ecoli like cows do.

The thing about buffalo though, is the meat is extremely healthy. It has less cholesterol or fat than skinless chicken breasts, and even some types of fish. You’ll notice this when cooking it, you’re probably used to watching your burgers shrink on the grill as the fat runs out, buffalo burgers do not shrink when cooked because they are lean.

I still use beef for steaks, because I can’t find a local source of buffalo so I have to order it online and it comes frozen and frozen ground meat isn’t a big deal, but I’d prefer fresh and not frozen steaks. Plus, with steaks, I can more easily limit my calories by only ordering leaner loin cuts.

Anyways, I have most recently ordered ground bison from Buffalo Gal, they had a 60 pound deal where the price per pound, even including shipping, was close to ground beef. I have a big freezer in the basement, so I bought it. According to them they use extra lean ground bison and their calories per pound are 600 calories, 11.2 grams fat, 96 grams protein. So, using their bison, a 1/4 pound burger will get you 150 calories, 2.8 grams fat, 24 grams protein. Not bad for starts.

Then there is the bun, a bunless burger would be best, but this post is about making a true cheeseburger and so we need the bun. I recommend a healthy protein infused multigrain bun like my favorite buns. These have only 170 calories per bun, give you 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, thats great for a bread product.

So, here is the recipe.

Assuming you start with a 1 pound package of ground buffalo, decide on how many burgers you want. For health reasons I recommend eating no more than 1 burger per meal. But in anycase if you want to make 4 burgers use the whole package, 2 burgers cut it in half. Or, one thing I do is always plan on making 4 burgers but refridgerate two of the patties to make them to the next day. I don’t mind having them two days in a row, but it does kind of annoy my wife.

So, here is how to make the burgers:

Step 1, start carmelizing onions, this can take 30 minutes or more and will give you time to do the rest.

Disclaimer, I never measure any of the seasonings, I eyeball them, so consider these estimates. I urge you to experiment yourself.

Assuming you’re using half a package (half a pound, 2 burgers) do the following.

Place the meat in a large mixing bowl, I like the big stainless steel bowls.

Add 1 tablespoon of dried oregano.
Add 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Add 2 minced garlic cloves, or 1-2 teaspoons of pre-minced garlic (what I do).
Add 2 tablespoons of very finly minced onion, or just 1 tablespoon of onion powder if you’re feeling lazy.
Add 2 tablespoons of egg whites, better Egg Beaters (if you have them).
Add 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle with salt to your preference (Start with just a teaspoon).

Mix all that up hardcore.

This blog isn’t meant to just be recipes, it is meant to teach you how to cook, so what are all those ingredients for? Well the oregano and garlic are mostly just for seasoning. The Worcestershire sauce seasons as well, but it also adds salt, the salt is also just for salt. The onion adds flavor, but also liquid keeping the burger moist as it cooks (leaner meats can otherwise be dry). Onion powder doesn’t add moisture so it isn’t a perfect substitution. The egg whites or Egg Beaters are meant to help the burger hold together while cooking, and the breadcrumbs will absorb moisture so also help make the burger more moist.

Once that is mixed up well form your patties, you can use burger forming gadgets, or do it by hand with spatulas and make square ones. I like to find a large glass the same diameter as the buns I will be using and flatten the meat out and then cut it out using the glass. However this works best when making 4 patties as then the 4th is always the left over bits I have to form by hand, with just 2 or 1 you couldn’t do it this way.

Now, get yourself some pineapple out. If you have a whole pineapple, check out this video on how to cut one up, stop at the point though where he’s got it into long hot-dog-bun sized chunks, at that point he cuts the core off the inside, and then I would go further and cut ones right down the middle the long way to make skinny 1/8th of the pineapple strips. Plan on atleast 1 of these strips per person. You can put them on kabobs too if you want.

Now, we cook!

If you’re using a grill preheat it and lub it up with a spray or with a little papertowel dabbed in oil, if you’re using a broiler in your over turn it on high and arrange a rack 6-8 inches below it (second highest level usually).

On the grill place the burgers on the bottom rack and place the pineapple slices on the rack directly above. If you only have 1 rack put the slices off to the side as far from the heat as possible but still on the grill. Then, if you have a third top rack put your buns face down on that top rack, if not, run your buns through your toaster. Close your lid and give it 5-10 minutes on medium high. You know how your grill works better than I do though. Flip the burgers once the bottoms have nice brown grill marks, and do the other side. Flip the pineapple once too.

Right before the burgers are done you need to load them up with the onions, put the carmelized onions directly on the burger, then add the cheese. I like sharp (aged) cheddar for this, slices not shredded. White or yellow it doesn’t matter, just that it is nicely aged. You could use fat free cheese here and save half the calories from it, but cheese is my guilty pleasure, I eat healthy elsewhere just so I can eat real cheese. Kill the heat, close the lid or put the broiler pan back in the over, and let the residual heat melt the cheese. We put the onions on first, then the cheese, so that the cheese holds the onions in place, otherwise they’d slip out all over.

Load yourself up with ketchup, and you’re good to go. Healthy buffalo burgers with grilled pineapple. Maybe have a salad too or something. So how do the calories add up?

Meat: 150 calories.
Stuff we added to the meat (Garlic, onions, sauce, egg beaters) lets estimate at 50 calories.
Bun: 170 calories:
Cheese: 90 calories is typical for 1 slice of good cheddar.
Onions: Almost impossible to count, probably 1/4 of a cooked onion, but there is some oil we cooked them in. I’d estimate on the high side and say 50 calories max.
Grilled Pineapple: Well, an entire pineapple has just 227 calories, we’re eating 1/8th of one per person, so that gives us ~29 calories. Heck, treat yourself, have 2 pieces heh.

So, in total, you’ve got 460 calories in the burger, around 40 grams of protein, maybe 8ish grams of fiber. With very little in the way of simple sugars it could keep you full for longer as well. Then the pineapple side only adds 29-58 calories depending on if you have 1 slice or two. You could go and get yourself an ice cream sandwich and still end up with less than 1000 calories in the whole meal. Of course my wife rarely finishes her burger so I usually end up eating 1.3 burgers bumping my total up a little bit.