Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Red Beet Eggs

I love beets.  I love pickled beets.  In fact, I love just about any pickled vegetable.  The one non-vegetable thing I can think of that I like, however, are Red Beet Eggs.

"What ARE red beet eggs?" you might be asking yourself right now.

I'll tell you.  They are delicious.

Oh, but that's not a very clear answer, is it.

Well, I believe they are a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe (My dad's from McSherrystown, PA, which is near Hanover, PA); and, basically, they are hardboiled eggs that have been soaked in a jar of pickled beets for a few days.  Somebody can correct me if I am wrong about their origin.  I know my mom's family called the "Pickled Eggs," and my dad's called them "Red Beet Eggs."

Do they sound delicious?  Doesn't matter.  They are.  They are also beautiful, and quite a conversation piece when brought to gatherings not frequented by those who grew up eating them.  But, mostly, they are delicious.

Did I mention how delicious they are?

They are also super-easy to make.

Now, if you want, you can cook your own beets, but I am a busy L.A. mom, so I usually don't.  Here's what I do.

Empty 2 cans of beets into a large, clean jar.

Add:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
about 8 whole cloves
3-4 thick slices of onion (or some onion powder)
a good sprinkle of allspice
1-2 bay leaves
salt & pepper, if desired

Mix it up until the sugar dissolves.

Add:
1 dozen hardboiled eggs (peeled and cooled)

Gently mix it, using your spoon to make sure all of the eggs are dunked down in to the liquid.

Cover your jar tightly and put it in the fridge.  Leave for at least 48 hours.  During that time, you can take out the jar and make sure the eggs are still down under the liquid, so they are getting nice and pickled.

I am not sure how long these keep in the fridge, because Hallie and I tend to eat them up pretty quickly.
I found my latest batch was PERFECT on day 4.

There you have it!  Red beet eggs.

Yum!


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Way Better Pumpkin Muffins

How are they way better?  Um...they have more good-for-you stuff in them.  That means they have less bad-for-you stuff in them.  Oh, yeah, and they taste WAY.  BETTER.

I decided today to venture into the realm of one-armed baking.  Kaia has not been eating much, so I wanted to make pumpkin muffins (one of her favourites), so she would, you know, eat.  I also wanted to pack in as much nutritional value as possible, since she isn't eating as much as she should.

So, I pulled out my old standby pumpkin muffin recipe, and looked over adjustments I had made in the past.  I decided I could do even better.  Use organic flours, sub almond meal for more of the flour than I had before, further reduce the sugar, use almond milk instead of water, use organic, unrefined coconut oil and organic applesauce in place of the whopping 1 cup of vegetable oil called for in the original recipe...

Here's what I came up with.  (Oh, and BTW, I just took the first batch out of the oven and ate one.  They are so tender, sweet, moist and delicious that I had to post this right away.)


INGREDIENTS

    * 1 (15 ounce) can organic pumpkin puree
    * 4 eggs
    * 1/2 cup organic, unrefined coconut oil
    * 1/2 cup organic, unsweetened applesauce
    * 2/3 cup plain almond milk
    * 2 cups organic sugar
    * 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
    * 1 1/4 cups organic whole wheat flour
    * 1 cup organic all-purpose flour
    * 1 cup almond meal
    * 2 teaspoons baking soda
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    * 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
    * 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

DIRECTIONS

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tin with paper liners, or grease and flour them.
   2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, almond milk, vanilla and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, almond meal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
   3. Bake for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven. 

Now, eat them.  Give them to your loved ones and let them eat them.  Just do it.  Trust me.  (And I don't even usually like muffins.)

BTW:  This makes 24 muffins.  Just for the heck of it, I went and calculated the nutritional information, just FYI.


Nutrition Facts
User Entered Recipe
  24 Servings
Amount Per Serving
  Calories192.3
  Total Fat8.1 g
     Saturated Fat4.5 g
     Polyunsaturated Fat0.9 g
     Monounsaturated Fat2.1 g
  Cholesterol31.0 mg
  Sodium220.5 mg
  Potassium102.6 mg
  Total Carbohydrate28.4 g
     Dietary Fiber2.2 g
     Sugars18.0 g
  Protein3.7 g
  Vitamin A56.5 %
  Vitamin B-121.3 %
  Vitamin B-61.6 %
  Vitamin C1.5 %
  Vitamin D2.4 %
  Vitamin E9.0 %
  Calcium3.2 %
  Copper3.9 %
  Folate2.0 %
  Iron4.7 %
  Magnesium4.7 %
  Manganese11.1 %
  Niacin2.7 %
  Pantothenic Acid    0.9 %
  Phosphorus    4.8 %
  Riboflavin5.7 %
  Selenium0.5 %
  Thiamin2.8 %
  Zinc2.1 %


*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.