yum

Recipes, restaurants, just good eating.

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Chocolate Chia Pudding Treat

by

Chocolate Chia Pudding Treat

Alright Mermaid Weekend is over – that ‘diet starts Monday’ attitude has got to go. Besides, that was like 4 Mondays ago! It’s time to get healthy. Can I crave chocolate and still get healthy? It seems I’m not the only person with this question. I got an email from my favorite online health food site which sports a blog called ‘Health Bites’. In this post, Anita talked about her own chocolate fixations, and a vegan pudding treat made with chia seeds. http://blog.vitacost.com/ cooking-recipe/the-cocoa- pudding-cure.html
Hey, I like those little gems too. I soak them in milk and keep them in a jar for a cool after-workout treat. (That is when I workout!) I don’t make them very thick, so they make a great smoothie addition. I like pudding too, but it’s fattening. REAL pudding, I mean. That includes tapioca pudding, which probably is why I don’t find chia’s caviar-like texture offensive. Now, when I say tapioca pudding, I’m not talking about that nasty stuff in a can – yuck! 

I have drifted away from the real center of this conversation – chocolate! This blogess came across a great way to get a cool, chocolate fix in and the health benefits of chia seeds too. I tried it – and worked great! Come on I’ll show you.

Chocolate Chia Pudding Treat

Step 1: Gather the goods.

1-1/3 cup Almond Milk, unsweetened *
3 Tbl Chia Seeds (black or white)
3-1/2 Tbl. Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Chocolate Extract-optional (I keep this around  for extra punch without the junk in chocolate syrup)
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract (even though there’s vanilla in the milk – is there ever too much?)
2 –1/2 Tbl Agave Nectar *(adjust if using sweetened almond milk)
Note: You can go all organic on this one, without the chocolate extract and of course my Watkins vanilla (a mix of real and artificial). Also, you could switch it up for different flavors, and then there’s always c h o c o l a t e almond milk – OMG – overload!

Step 1, gather the goodies

Step 2:

Get a 12oz Ball jar, or reuse your favorite pasta sauce jar – I know you keep them too – and get everything loaded. Stir those seeds as you add them so they don’t stick together too much.

Step 2

Step 3:

Get a lid on it and give it a good shake. It’s like an additional exercise – see, so healthy already! (no, I did not say chocolate shake-weight – don’t go there)

Step 3

Step 4:

Pop it in the fridge, and give it a shake whenever you think of it. I had to laugh at this photo with the kefir and chardonnay right next to each other. Guess who uses this door shelf the most? ME!

Step 4

Step 5:

And the next day – TA DA! Pudding! And it’s super chocolatey and yummy and cool and good! Don’t eat too much…those chia seeds are a powerful protein! 
There’s another recipe that says to put this all in a blender to make it smoooooth. So, feel free to try it.

Finale:

Finale

It’s nice and thick it even stands up on a plate by itself. Well, It did for a bit…then I ate it. I have to test these things you know – you’re welcome.
I think I need to portion control these – my little Weck jars and tiny Ball jars do just the trick (but the Weck one takes better photos)
Now I have yet another chocolate treat. This one the guys won’t mess with. (they’re always eating my diet cookies!) Now – back to that treadmill !

 
Michelle Beal
http://badzoot.com

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Office Cup Cake

by

Cup…Cake

Mug Cake Finale

Mug cakes are not new things. However, over the years, many have lost the simplicity of being able to make a cake in a mug at the office. Too many ingredients, and some are even a packaged deal (yuck!). I’ll use the excuse for making a chocolate treat that it’ll help by being even a little healthy, and keep you from strangling your supervisor. When I worked in an office I would’ve died for one of these at 3:00 in the afternoon! Every office I’ve ever worked at has been like an internment in a walk-in cooler! Fresh-hot-chocolate cake – YES !!! These days, there are as many recipes for these as there are stars in the sky, but one’s too complicated, one’s not sweet enough, one’s got an oily taste,…after a few tries, I thought about two things ; what’s my favorite chocolate cake, and what’s in an office fridge. First answer : Mayonnaise Cake. As a child my Mom would make this uber moist chocolate cake for my birthday every year. The secret? Mayo…it has all the eggs, oil, and salt, vinegar and other binders all in one package. Second question: What’s in the average office fridge? Coffee cream, milk, mayo, mustard, a bowl of misc condiment packets, some butter substitute crap, week old fried rice, hockey-puck bagels, and whatever the office Vegan brought in for lunch (no one would dare touch). Reminiscent of a bachelor pad fridge,…if he was schizophrenic. No, there are NEVER leftover donuts…EVER. 
OK, now let’s look over those mug-cake recipes of the flops…yes, I can rebuild it – make it better – 

Office Cup Cake

Note: Feel free to make up the dry ingredients at home and toss in a tiny Zip-Loc, with the instructions and list of wet additions written on the label.

Step 1:

1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tbl Cocoa Powder, unsweetened dutch process 
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
2-1/2 Tbl Sugar (if you like it ‘sweet’ make it 3 full Tbl Sugar)
1 Tbl Mayo (you can use Vegenaise) – That’s about the same amount in one of those cafeteria squeeze packs. Convenient, no?
1/4 Cup Milk (I think you could probably use some slightly watered down coffee cream too – no fake stuff though)
Get the dry into your coffee mug and mix. 

Mug Cake Step 1
Step 2:

Add in the wet and mix until it’s like cake batter.

Mug Cake Step 2
Step 3:

Pop it in the microwave for 1:15 or 1:30 depending on your oven. Keep an eye on it the first time. It should raise up, but look a bit undone on the top – that’s ok. That cup’s nuclear! It’ll continue to cook. Make sure you’ve got something to set it on, lest you melt your mouse pad! 
Your 3:00 slup is over !! How long did it all take? Well, less time than the guy 3 cubicles down takes for a smoke-break! 

Mug Cake Step 3
Now, if you really want to be the office darling, break out that jar of Nutella that’s hiding in your desk drawer – I know it’s there! Before you nuke your mug, put a dollop of Nutella in the middle of the batter. You don’t have to mash it, it’ll be there warm and yummy, melty goodness, with the cooked cake all around it. Like a Lava Cake only with N U T E L L A !!!!
Yes, I did just make your day better – you’re welcome. Now get back to work!

Mug Cake Finale
Michelle Beal
http://badzoot.com

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Cheeseburger in Paradise

by

Who loves a cheeseburger in paradise?! Yes, me too!! But alas, my backside can’t handle me eating anything with the combination of both ‘cheese’ and ‘burger’ in the name. My guys on the other hand are burger freaks! A bit ago we did up some burgers on the grill and they looked at me with sad eyes of “Aww, you can have just a little one? Can’t you Mom?”, “No, I cannot – you boys enjoy.” , I said. I continued to compile a huge salad and thought,…wait a minute….I put everything else on a bed of lettuce, why not a burger? I brought my unfinished salad to the table and proceeded to top it with tomatoes, onions, and a crumbled up slice of pepper-jack cheese, and yup, you guessed it – a juicy grilled hamburger (just the little one)! Complete with big kosher pickle – hold the draught beer. 

The guys watched on with odd looks as they so often do (you should seen the when I did this with Sloppy Joes). Then I made the dressing,…I took everything I’d normally put ON my burger and put it in a little bowl, whisked it together and poured it over the greens and goodies. 

Cheeseburger Dressing

 

2 Tbl Mayo (or Vegenaise here)

2-1/2 tsp Chili Sauce (ketchup’s spicy cousin) 

1/4 tsp Yellow Mustard 

That’s it. I thought about adding a touch of relish or pickle juice, but that’s just too close to a weird Thousand Island Dressing. No, put that pickle on the salad – good choice. 

Cheeseburger Salad

This was genius !!! It was so good – and I didn’t feel left out of the fun at all. I thought about eating a bun on the side, but I was really feeling good about being so healthy I left it alone. Instead, I had made some foccaia style bread out of some needed-to-be-cooked pizza dough. A little olive oil, some rosemary – done! The salad was so huge, that they’d eaten 2 burgers by the time I’d eaten down my mountain of healthy deliciousness! 

Cheeseburger Salad

Next time, don’t be left out of cheeseburgers in paradise – besides, we have to wear bathing suits in Paradise and I’m hoping to NOT have a backside that resembles a cheeseburger! 

Michelle Beal

http://badzoot.com