100% Whole Wheat Biscuits

Most whole wheat biscuit recipes call for part whole wheat flour and part all-purpose flour.  I made mine with 100% whole wheat flour.  I have written the basic biscuit recipe below.  At the bottom, I've included a couple of variations.  The picture below is of cheddar dill biscuits.

100% Whole Wheat Biscuits
Adapted from this recipe.
Yields 12 small biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Smart Balance, cold
• 1 cup skim milk, cold
• additional whole wheat flour for rolling

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.
• In a food processor, pulse together the first five ingredients.  When the flour has a consistent coarse texture, dump it out into a mixing bowl.
• Add the cold milk to the flour mixture and stir gently with a wooden spoon until everything is just evenly incorporated.  The dough will be very sticky.
• Sprinkle some whole wheat flour onto a clean, smooth work surface.  Turn the sticky dough out onto the flour and form into a large ball.  (Flour your hands to minimize dough stickage.)  You can then roll the dough out to 3/4-inch thickness and cut with a 2 1/2 inch diameter biscuit cutter, or you can pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into 2-inch balls and then slightly flatten them out.  Handle the dough as little as possible to maximize biscuit softness and fluffiness.
• Place the biscuits 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

For garlicky biscuits, add 2 teaspoons garlic powder to the dry ingredients.

For cheddar dill biscuits (as pictured above), add 1.5 teaspoons of dried dill to the dry ingredients.  Then add 1 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese when you add the milk.

Veggie Strata

Stratas are great for the end of the month when you need to stretch that grocery budget because they use inexpensive ingredients that you probably have left over in the fridge anyway.  The base of a strata is bread, eggs and milk.  What you add to that is up to you.  Below is a basic veggie strata recipe using leftover veggies from my fridge today.

I like to make these in 8-ounce ramekins because they're pretty, and it's built-in portion control.  You can also make this recipe in an 8"x8" square baking pan.

Veggie Strata

Ingredients:

• Smart Balance
• 4 slices of 100% whole wheat bread
• 8 large eggs
• 3/4 cup nonfat milk
• salt & pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced into half-moons
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 4 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease 4 8-ounce ramekins with Smart Balance.  Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter the same diameter as your ramekins, cut out 4 circles from the 4 bread slices.  (Put the bread scraps into a plastic bag and throw into the freezer to use later as croutons or bread crumbs.) Place one bread circle at the bottom of each greased ramekin.  Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper to taste (I used approximately 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper).  Pour some egg mixture into each ramekin, just enough to cover the bread.  Set everything aside.
• In a sauté pan, heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add onion slices and sauté until soft, about 7 minutes.  Then add the rest of the veggies, garlic and salt and pepper to taste, and continue to sauté until everything is soft.  Set aside.
• By this point, the egg mixture that was poured into the ramekins should have all been soaked up by the bread slices.
• Top each soaked bread slice with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan.  Add the sauteed veggie mixture, dividing it evenly among the 4 ramekins.  Then pour the remaining egg mixture evenly into each ramekin.
• Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet (this step is important, since the stratas will puff up while baking, and possibly bubble over, making a mess in your oven if you don't use the baking sheet).  
• Bake in the center rack of the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.  (If you are making one big strata as opposed to 4 ramekins, increase the baking time to 40 - 45 minutes.  The strata should be completely set and not jiggle when it's fully cooked.)
• The stratas will puff up while baking, but after they're removed from the oven, they will quickly deflate.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

You can serve these right from the ramekins, or you can take them out.  They should pop out of the ramekins very easily.

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Spinach

I thought I'd posted this already, but it seems I have not.  I used my Goat Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Portabellas recipe and applied it to chicken breasts.  Yummy and versatile.

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Spinach

Ingredients:

• 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 1 log (4 oz.) goat cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
• cooking spray

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butterfly the chicken breasts.  Season outsides and insides with salt and pepper.
• In a bowl, combine the goat cheese and spinach. Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts and stuff inside the butterflied chicken breasts.
• Place the stuffed breasts onto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Stuffed Eggplant

This is soooo good.  The stuffing is killer.  Thanks, Michael's Mom!  I'm thinking the stuffing would be good in giant portobellos, or even bell peppers, too.

I would highly recommend baking the empty eggplant "shells" for a little bit before adding the stuffing, and then continuing to bake once they're stuffed.  The first time I made this following the original recipe, I stuffed the raw eggplant "shells" and they were not quite cooked through when the stuffing was done.  Also, I mixed the chopped tomatoes directly into the meat mixture instead of piling them on top.  YUM!


Stuffed Eggplant
Taken from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 smallish (5" - 6") eggplants
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 pound ground sirloin
• salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small red pepper, diced
• 1 large heirloom tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 additional tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove the eggplant tops and cut each eggplant in half, lengthwise.  Scoop out some of the inside center flesh, leaving a 1/4" shell.  Place the shells, skin side down, on a baking sheet misted with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and set aside.  In the meantime, place the scooped out flesh in a microwave-safe bowl with a couple tablespoons of water and microwave on high for 2 minutes until soft.
• In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sweat the onion until translucent.  Add the ground sirloin, salt and pepper to taste, and minced garlic.  Brown the beef, then drain the fat and transfer the beef to a mixing bowl.
• Add the microwaved eggplant flesh and the rest of the ingredients (except for the two additional tablespoons of Parmesan) to the bowl and combine with the meat.
• Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal parts and spoon into each of the partly-baked eggplant "shells".
• Place the stuffed eggplants back into the oven and bake for another 45 minutes.
• When done, sprinkle the tops with the remaining Parmesan cheese and place back into the oven for a minute until the cheese melts.

Saucy Pork Chops

We spent the day apple picking in Oak Glen.  It was a lot of fun for the toddler.  I was highly disappointed this year, though.  The crops were sparse, and 90% of the apples were infested with worms.  Even the farm folks admitted that the number of damaged apples was higher than usual.  It took us almost 2 hours to find enough non-wormed apples to fill our 2 small bags.  Hopefully next year will be better.

By the time we got home, it was after 6pm and we were STARVING.  I had some pork chops and a package of crimini mushrooms in the fridge.  I wanted something substantial and comforting, so I thought I'd experiment with some sort of gravy for the chops, to be served over brown rice that would sop up all the saucy goodness.  It was so good.

Saucy Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 medium boneless pork chops (1.5 - 2 pounds), all visible fat removed
• salt and pepper
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 8oz. package of crimini mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet.  Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper.  Sear the chops for a few minutes on each side.  Transfer the chops to a plate and set aside.
• Add the sliced onion and chopped mushrooms to the skillet and stir, scraping up all the brown bits.  Sauté for 5 - 7 minutes on medium heat until the onions and mushrooms are soft.  Add the minced garlic and stir for another minute.
• Sprinkle the mixture with whole wheat flour and continue to stir for another minute.  Add in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.  
• Transfer the seared pork chops back to the skillet and nestle them into the sauce.  Cover and simmer on medium-low for 10 minutes, until the chops are cooked through.  Check the flavor of the sauce and add salt and pepper if necessary.
• Serve over brown rice or whole wheat noodles.