Adjika-Style Salsa - CIC

Bell peppers and apple juice. What do you make with those two? A drink? Hmm, I do want to start drinking vegetable juices. But not this time. How about taking liberties with a Ukranian salsa called adjika. Let me tell you, I have no chips to scoop up this salsa but that hasn't stopped the shovelling.

Adjika-Style Salsa 

Ingredients
1lb tomatoes
1/4lb bell peppers
1/4lb apples
1 small carrot
1/8lb onion
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper
2 tablespoons apple juice
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
pinch of cayenne


Directions 

Process the tomatoes, bell peppers, apples, carrots, onion, and scotch bonnet peppers until coarse and chunky. You may want to do this in batches. Transfer to a pot and add the apple juice and bay leaf. Bring to a quick boil then turn down the heat to low and allow to simmer for an hour.

Add the garlic, oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, red pepper flakes, and cayenne. Let simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Cool and enjoy.

Notes

Slightly adapted from iFoodreal

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Peanut Butter and Banana Parfait - #CIC

This little blog of mine has been seriously neglected and I wish I could say that things would change soon. No time, no time, no time. I feel most guilty when I have to miss or be late for a Crazy Ingredient Challenge. So I am really happy that I was able to make this month's challenge - Peanut Butter and Flaxseeds.

I'm clearly not myself since I didn't bake a crazy pastry or some weird cake with the combination. My brain just cannot handle all of that now. So I present to you a simple parfait. Its more of a guide than a recipe. I wish that I'd used some colourful fruits but that's for another time.

Peanut Butter and Banana Parfait 
Yield: 1 serving 

Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons peanut butter (I used chunky)
honey, to taste
2 teaspoon ground flaxseed (or to taste)
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (or to taste)
1 banana, sliced

Directions
Mix the yogurt, peanut butter, and honey if using. In a small jar layer a third of the yogurt, half the flaxseed, half the sunflower seeds, and some banana slices. Repeat and then top with the remaining yogurt.

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Tofu in Pomegranate Sauce - #CIC

When tofu won one of the polls for January's Crazy Ingredient Challenge, I really wanted to kick myself. I finalize these lists. How could I have put the dreaded tofu on the list? Shouldn't I be rigging these things to suit my preferences. Alas, I don't, so here it is: tofu and pomegranate. Just in case it isn't clear, I do not like tofu. At all.

I'm not going to tell you that I tasted this dish and the clouds parted and the sun shone bright and I licked my plate clean. Nope. It's still tofu. The sauce is delicious and I can't wait to try it with some chicken. But the sauce was not enough to get me to like tofu. My issue with tofu is mainly the texture. There's an underlying flavour that I don't quite like but I can handle that.  I'd have to process the tofu into little tiny bits and hide it in a bunch of stuff in order to not dislike it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what my fellow CIC members did with their tofu because I have some tofu left and I don't want to throw it out. And unfortunately, we are all anti-tofu around here. Maybe someone processed it to smithereens just for me? Let's scroll down to see!

Tofu in Pomegranate Sauce

14-16 oz tofu
salt & pepper to taste (I used a lot of black pepper)
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (plus more for coating tofu)
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 inch ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, mined
dash of salt
dash of cayenne

Directions
Remove tofu from packaging, wrap in paper towels and place a heavy object on top of the tofu. The object is to remove as much of the water as possible. I left mine for longer than a night but I think it takes less time than that.
After the tofu is drained and pressed, slice into cubes and season generously with salt and pepper.

When you're ready to cook, toss the tofu in some cornstarch and set aside.
Dissolve the 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch in two tablespoons of pomegranate juice and set aside.
Simmer the pomegranate juice, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, salt, and cayenne over low heat for about 20 minutes.
Stir in the cornstarch slurry and let the mixture thicken to desired consistency. Remove from heat.

Shallow fry tofu cubes until golden and crispy. Toss in sauce and serve.


Notes
I tried a version of this with honey and no cornstarch. It was stickier and I did prefer that consistency. However, I hadn't gotten the flavour quite right so I decided to stick with this sauce.

An InLinkz Link-up

Bacon and Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Tis the season for all things red and the Crazy Ingredient Challenge is celebrating accordingly with bacon and maraschino cherries.

I decided to make some mini shortbread cookies. They look unassuming and when you bite in, you get that sweet flavour that you expect from a cookie and then it hits you - little bits salty bacon. I've wanted to put bacon in dessert for a long time now. I thought I would have made some cupcakes for this challenge but settled on my nemesis - cookies.  They were quick to make (chilling time excluded) so it was a lot easier than making cupcakes.

Visit the linkup below for other bacon and maraschino cherry treats!

Bacon and Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
2 cups flour
8 maraschino cherries, finely chopped, drained
1/4 cup cooked bacon, finely chopped

Directions 
Cream butter for 1 minute and then add sugar, vanilla, and almond. Beat for another minute then add in the maraschino cherry juice. Scrape down and beat together then slowly add the flour. Mix until it just forms a dough then stir in the chopped maraschino cherries and bacon.

Chill dough for at least four hours then preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Form the dough into tablespoon sized balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies have spread only slightly and have only just started to brown.Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing.

Notes

• Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
• I used a little less cherry juice but I think I'd have preferred it with the full tablespoon so I left that in the recipe.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mocha Beet Smoothie - #CrazyIngredientChallenge

The past week had me on edge. It rained every single day starting at approximately 2 pm each day. And every single day, our street turned into a river. I'm not even slightly exaggerating. Within an hour, water would just be rushing along, cars would be stuck, and brave pedestrians would have to take their shoes off, roll their pants up, and wade through the waters. I didn't need to go through the water. I was on edge because we are in a flood prone area and have been flooded out several times. It usually starts exactly like last week. Heavy rains each day. Earth too saturated. Drains overflowing. And then the next thing you know, the water is rushing into the house. My first experience was when I was 4 years old. I remember being woken up in the middle of the night and placed on someone's back and taken to a neighbour's house. The water was actually coming in through the windows then.  

I needed to write up a post for our Bundt Bakers group last Thursday but I was just too distracted by the flooded roads to sit down and write. Plus, what if it did flood on Wednesday night? I just wouldn't have time to do what was needed on Thursday. I just couldn't get it together. The great news is - the house wasn't flooded and the rains stopped on Friday night. Two days of full sun has been amazing. Outside is still wet and the roads are still full of debris but inside is dry. I hope this is the last of the crazy weather for the year. I think this is the 4th time that we've been sitting around wondering if the water would make it inside. Not fun.

So onto Crazy Ingredient Challenge. This month we're featuring beets and coffee! I wanted to bake a cake and/or brownies so badly but having that much cake around when my self control is at its lowest, was not the best of ideas. So I went with the opposite of cake - a smoothie. I don't recognise myself either. 

The base of this smoothie is one that I often use when I'm in the mood for a smoothie - frozen banana, cocoa, and coffee. I usually add some protein powder too but didn't this time. You can make this with raw beets or you could add some roasted or steamed beets if you have that around. But that's an extra step that I didn't want to take on. 

Mocha Beet Smoothie

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients 

1/2 a beet (about 100 grams)

1 frozen ripe banana

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon instant coffee

dash of cinnamon

sweetener to taste (I used a little honey)

Directions 

Grate the beet then add to a blender with the banana, milk, cocoa, coffee, and cinnamon. Taste and add a sweetener, if needed. Serve immediately. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding with Pineapple Sauce

Sweet potatoes and pineapple won September's Crazy Ingredient Challenge poll. Two relatively sweet ingredients and I, the dessert queen, almost made a savoury dish. Oh the horror. I pictured sweet potato cupcakes with a pineapple frosting, piped all perfectly like a sunflower. Perfect piping? Quite a dream. So why no cupcakes? Simple reason. Jamaican sweet potatoes are a bit different from American sweet potatoes. On the outside, the skin is a reddish colour. On the inside, they are white, yellow, or orange. It's not easy to find the orange ones in my area. The water content is also different. American sweet potatoes are WET compared to ours. With that in mind, I didn't want to try them in cupcakes. I couldn't think of another dessert so I decided to go savoury

Source

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But then I remembered that there is one way that we do use sweet potatoes in dessert. And that's in a sweet potato pudding. The sweet potato is grated - a good a workout for the arm - and then combined with spices, coconut milk and a little flour. Some add rum, cornmeal, and other tubers too. Traditionally, this would be baked over coals and with coals piled on top too. "Hell at the top and hell at the bottom."

This was my second time making sweet potato pudding. The first time, I used American sweet potatoes and that pudding probably took as long as the Thanksgiving turkey to bake. Silly me forgot that the American sweet potatoes had a higher water content and did not compensate. It still tasted good though - just not as firm. If you do try with American sweet potatoes, I honestly cannot tell you how much liquid to use. I'd have to get some and try again. You can find the variety of sweet potatoes that we have here in an international supermarket. In the Cuban supermarkets in Miami, they are labelled "boniato". Other places call them to "batata" and Trudy says she finds them labelled as "Japanese sweet potatoes".

Remember to look at the other sweet potato and pineapple creations below.

Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding with Pineapple Sauce

Ingredients
Pudding
900 grams sweet potato
200 grams brown sugar
120 grams flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
700 ml coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon browning (optional)
Sauce
1 20 ounce can pineapple pieces
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
Maraschino cherries, chopped
splash of rum


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9" pan and line it with parchment paper.

Grate or process the sweet potatoes and set them aside. In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss in the sweet potatoes until they are coated. Pour in the coconut milk, vanilla, and browning (if using). Stir until combined.

Bake 45 minutes or until the pudding is set.

For the pineapple sauce, drain the pineapple and reserve 3/4 cup of liquid. Whisk together the liquid with the cornstarch until well dissolved. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and then ad the sugar and cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring! Let the mixture boil for one minute and then add the pineapple pieces and cherries. Keep stirring until the fruit is warm then remove from the heat and stir in a splash or three of rum.

Serve over pudding.

An InLinkz Link-up

Zucchini Nut Mini Bundts- Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The winning ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge were peanuts and zucchini. Simple enough. I thought of making some sort of salad since I told a friend that I'd try to have a raw meal one day soon. But eating cake always sounds better than eating a salad so I baked a cake instead.

There are people out there who will add zucchini to your desserts and then say, "You would never be able to tell that there's zucchini in here!" Those people are not telling the truth. Now I'll admit that I was not trying to hide the zucchini so I didn't grate it particularly fine. So you will definitely see lots of green in my cake. Even then, when you bite in, you can immediately tell that there's a little something green in there. It's not an overwhelming vegetable taste and you would not immediately go, "Is this zucchini? I taste zucchini!" But you would definitely say, "There's something in here. It tastes...hmm.... What is it?" It's far from unpleasant and since this is, at its base, a spice cake, there are lots of other flavours to tease out. Maybe if tiny shreds of zucchini are hidden in chocolate cake, those people might be telling the truth.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned Picky Nephew in a CIC post. Summary: Picky Nephew only willingly eats eggs and bread.  Everything else is a fight. And don't you dare try to get him to eat while he's watching TV or playing a game. He walked into the kitchen when I was baking, asked a few questions, and complained that I was baking with the peanuts instead of giving him them to eat. I guess he likes peanuts? One can never tell. When the cakes were finished, I offered cake to everyone except him. I hadn't frosted them yet and he will tell you that he likes cake but he will only eat the frosting. I wasn't going to waste my time. He actually looked up from his game and insisted on tasting it too. He knew about the zucchini and didn't mind.

Zucchini isn't easy to find here in Jamaica. It was quite the treasure hunt to find the one man in the market who grows zucchini. I can't wait to get my hands on some more so that I can jump on the zucchini bandwagon that rolls around every summer.

Zucchini Mini Bundt Cakes

Yield: 6 mini Bundt cakes or 12 cupcakes

adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

180 grams flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

56 grams chopped peanuts

200 grams light brown sugar

88 millilitres oil

1 egg

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

280 grams grated zucchini

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 6 one cup capacity mini Bundt pans or line a cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in the chopped peanuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg, and almond extract until thoroughly combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until almost combined. Next, stir in the grated zucchini.

Divide into prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pear and Pepper Scones - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Our winning ingredients for this month of the Crazy Ingredient Challenge is something sweet - pear - and something spicy - red pepper flakes. I've used the pear + pepper combination before so I knew that I would love this.

Two teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes does not make these extra spicy but there are some bites that will have more of a kick than others. Please note that I love spicy food so my tolerance is high.

Pear and Pepper Scones

Ingredients

1 1//2 cups grams flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8T butter

1 pear, chopped

6 T milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.

Mix together flour, sugar, red pepper flakes, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture so that the mixture appears crumbly. Stir in the chopped pear. Add the milk and stir until just combined.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Pat into a 6 inch circle. Cut into 6 wedges and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake 25 minutes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chickpeas in Turmeric, Coconut and Banana Sauce

Ripe bananas and onions. Those are the winning ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge. Bananas and onions. What in the world does one do with ripe bananas and onions? I had to ask Google and some other friends.

Caramelizing onions seemed like a great way to go but that would mean spending 45 minutes babysitting onions. I just don't have the attention span for that. As I searched some more, I came across recipes for curried bananas. Curried bananas? How's that even a thing? And why was I itching to test it out?

I have been craving curried chickpeas for a while so I thought I'd add the bananas to my chickpeas. I could have just sliced the bananas and tossed them in but that didn't feel like I was fully committing to a savoury banana dish. I could just pick the bananas out. I decided to blend the bananas into the coconut milk. Coconut milk is slightly sweet so I figured the sweet banana wouldn't be too far off. It wasn't!  Surprisingly. Just don't add too mucch banana. I tried first with two small bananas and it was way too sweet. One is definitely better. It's subtle and hence not the dominant flavour. You can start with half a banana in the coconut milk and taste the mixture to make sure it's not too sweet for you.

Chickpeas in Turmeric, Coconut and Banana Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup coconut milk
1 small banana
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1  1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup diced carrots
3 cups cooked chickpeas
salt & pepper, taste
escallion, for garnish

Directions

Blend the banana and coconut milk and set aside. 
Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook until softened and translucent. Stir occasionally. 
Add the garlic, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Cook while stirring for a minute then stir in the carrots and chickpeas. 
Pour in the coconut milk mixture. 
Cover and simmer until the sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

An InLinkz Link-up

Spanish-Style Barley - CIC

It's the 20th again so it's time for another Crazy Ingredient Challenge! This month's winning ingredients are barley and salsa. Not too crazy but definitely not two items that you see together often. I always have lofty plans for CIC and then suddenly, it's a couple days before the 20th and I start grabbing all the ideas and choosing the easiest one. Casseroles, burritos, salads, slow cooker dishes. All were tossed in favour of this simple Spanish-style side. Usually with the Spanish style rice, you are chopping onions and garlic and tomatoes and peppers but since we're using salsa, you can skip all of that. Easy peasy and tasty!

I'm a sucker for corn so I stirred some in. Carrots, beans, and peas asked to join the party so I grudgingly let them in. I don't dislike carrots and green beans but green peas are not my friends. When I was a little girl, I convinced myself that they gave me a headache. I could look at a can of green peas and my head would immediately start hurting. I can't even tell you how I made the association between my headaches and green peas but I did. I think I was just looking for a food to hate? Or I just hadn't found the true trigger for my migraines? I do eat them now if they're on my plate but I'd prefer if they weren't. I really can't tell you if it's a flavour thing. Adult Kelly is just siding with her younger self.

Spanish Style Barley

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil 

1 cup pearl barley

1 cup prepared salsa

2 1/2 cups water

salt to taste

1 cup frozen vegetables

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. When oil is hot, stir in the barley. Stir occasionally until barley is toasted - about five minutes. Make sure it doesn't burn!

Add the salsa, water, and salt to taste. You could also use stock but I preferred to use water since the salsa had a bit of salt in it.

Bring to a boil then allow to simmer covered for about 40 minutes. When all the liquid is almost absorbed, stir in the frozen vegetables. Cover and cook until the vegetables are heated through. Barley is ready when it's tender but still has a bit of a chew. If your barley still isn't tender, add a little bit of water and continue cooking.

An InLinkz Link-up

Baked Custard Rice Pudding - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Custard Rice Pudding topped with Ice Cream

I just had the busiest but most fun weekend and need to sleep for about a week to allow my body to recover. This weekend was proof that  maybe, just maybe, I am not as young as I pretend to be. Back in undergrad, weekends like this were the norm. You did it every weekend and felt no different the morning after. But hello, "old age"!

So what did I do? I didn't sleep much on Wednesday night, partly because I became obsessed with a new game but mostly because I was anxious about something. Thursday was a long day of travel and the night was spent at my friend's bridal shower. Fun times but that was another very late night. I think I went to bed around 2am. Friday should have been an easy day but it turned into a lot of running around and another 2 am bedtime. Saturday was the wedding and you guessed it, back to bed at 2 am. Now, going to bed at 2 am wouldn't be so bad if my body wasn't programmed to wake up around 4:30 or so. By the time, I fell asleep again, it was time to wake up for the day. Sunday morning I went to a christening and a brunch then headed home.

A really great weekend that my hurried words don't give any justice to but I am trying to get to the point of this post and this post is LATE. I am blaming it on bad planning and being too busy dealing with my nephew yesterday. He hadn't seen me since Wednesday and he had to make up for all the lost Aunty time.

This month, rice and nutmeg won the Crazy Ingredient Challenge poll. My first thought was rice pudding. I always wanted to try it but I have a bit of a mental block against sweetened rice. I did try horchata and it was way better than I expected so there was hope for rice pudding. I talked myself out of it several times and came up with a few baked dishes that involved my favourite ingredient - flour - but in the end, I had no time so it was back to rice pudding.

I decided to try a baked custard version instead of cooking it on the stove. And I slightly regret that. This custard is not as creamy as I would have liked and I can see the rice grains. I don't want to see the rice grains. I did think of blending the mixture but opted not to. That would have taken care of that issue. The flavour is great though and I just have to overcome my mental block against sweetened rice and seeing the rice grains won't make a difference. Too late to blend them now.

Baked Custard Rice Pudding

Yield - 3 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients

1 cup plus 8 teaspoons milk

1 egg

1/3 cup cooked rice

8 teaspoons granulated sugar

8 teaspoons raisins (soak in rum, if possible)

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

a pinch of salt

a splash of vanilla

a splash or two of rum

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease 3 half cup capacity ramekins.

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into ramekins. Alternatively, you can blend all but the raisins then stir in the raisins.

Bake in water bath for 20 minutes or until the custard is set.

Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream. I topped mine with ice cream. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

This month's CIC is quite a fun one. The winners this month were beer and corn flakes. (Wait, do you type cornflakes or corn flakes? I use them about equally. In the title above, I am playing on the fact that there's also popcorn in the mix - not actually going for the two word version.) When I saw the winning combination, I thought that there would be no way that I would be able to pull off dessert. Beer and cornflakes seemed to scream batter and fry. But I can't fry! Well, sometimes, I can. I was trying to think of dessert bars with cornflakes in one layer. No go. French toast? Last resort. I just kept going back to some chicken brined in beer and then fried. Perhaps a beer dipping sauce too? Maybe make some sliders? I am sure it would be delicious.

I was resigned to a savoury dish when my friend mentioned bourbon and corn flakes ice cream. There was hope for my sweet tooth after all! Ice cream sounds great but I know I wouldn't have time so I decided to throw in some popcorn and go for caramel. My sweet tooth is happy and I have escaped savoury once again.

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

(adapted from Beeroness)

Ingredients

4 cups popped corn

2 cups corn flakes

1/2 cup nuts

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup stout (I used Dragon Stout)

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Combine the popcorn, corn flakes, and nuts in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish. Preheat oven to 300F.

In  a saucepan, combine sugar, stout, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves then let boil for 7 minutes and the mixture has thickened.

Stir in salt. Pour beer caramel over the popcorn mixture. Stir with a greased spoon or spatula to coat the popcorn mixture.

Place the baking dish into the preheated and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the mixture then bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Cool on wax paper. Break up to serve. Store in an airtight container.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cinnamon Mayo Cupcakes with Chocolate Black Bean Frosting - CIC

I know, I know. You just read that title several times. And now you're wondering if I have lost my mind. Yes, yes, I have. However, that's very unrelated to the black bean frosting. I didn't even come up with the recipe. You can find anything on the internet, apparently. So here's how black bean frosting happened.

This month's winning Crazy Ingredient Challenge ingredients are black beans and mayonnaise. There's nothing crazy about that. If the winning ingredients aren't crazy then I usually challenge myself to do something unusual with them. There's a bit of a buzz about black bean brownies. I tried them once and they just did not taste good. I contemplated trying again and then making a mayonnaise based frosting. But I just did not want to try that brownie again.

I had finally settled on just making a savoury recipe. But one night I googled "black bean frosting" and this popped up. I took a leap of faith and tried the tiniest possible batcha and you know what? It wasn't bad! There was no black bean flavour whatsoever. You'd never guess that they were in there. My only complaint was the strong honey flavour. I am not a big honey fan though. I'd try another liquid sweetener or even just powdered sugar next time.

But why put black beans in your frosting? Really, there's no reason to. It's just a fun little experiment that doesn't taste bad. I ate most of it straight from the blender with a spoon so trust me, it's good. And hey, I guess you now have protein in your frosting?

The cupcakes are pretty good too. Very moist. Very delicious. Make them - with or without the frosting.

Cinnamon Mayo Cupcakes with Chocolate Black Bean Frosting

(adapted from Always Order Dessert; yield 12 cupcakes)

Cupcake Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the mayonnaise, milk and vanilla. Mix until combined them pour into the lined cupcake wells.

Bake 17 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Black Bean Frosting Ingredients

120 grams black beans

4 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons cocoa

3 tablespoons peanut butter

pinch of salt

vanilla to taste

enough warm water to get a smooth frosting.

Directions

Blend all the frosting ingredients until extremely smooth. Taste and adjust taste as you feel necessary. Don't use chunky peanut butter, I did and that made making it smooth harder.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Spinach Banana Blueberry Muffins - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Each month we vote for the ingredients that will be used for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge. This means that, some months, the winning combination may be pretty straightforward or it could leave me scratching my head. This month's Blueberries and Spinach combo is closer to the scratching head part of the spectrum. Spinach and blueberries seem to pair naturally in salads. But I definitely did not want to make a salad. People seem to like them in smoothies too. I didn't want that either.

After tossing a few other ideas and realising time was running out, I decided on popsicles. I got the idea in the middle of the night and could picture beautiful two-colour popsicles - maybe even swirls. It sounded great until I remembered that I did not have my popsicle molds. So it was back to my default each month - something with flour.

These spinach, banana, and blueberry muffins aren't bad. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that you cannot taste the spinach. You definitely can!! It's not a strong flavour but it's there - barely masked by the bananas. I could have played with the proportions some more but it's a spinach muffin! I wasn't trying to hide the spinach and it certainly is not an unpleasant taste.

Scroll down to see how the other challengers used the ingredients this month!

Spinach Banana Blueberry Muffin

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4 oz spinach (by weight)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup banana

1/4 cup oil

2 teaaspoons vanilla

1 cup blueberries

Directions

Grease and flour the wells of a muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

Blend the spinach, milk, brown sugar, banana, oil, and vanilla until smooth.

Gently stir into the flour mixture being careful not to overmix. Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin wells.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

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Lemon & Thyme Cookies - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge are lemon and thyme. These ingredients are pretty straightforward to combine so I challenged myself to use them in an unexpected way. Unfortunately, my roller coaster life took an unexpected twist last week and I thought, well, "lemon and thyme" just won't happen. I still had not decided on what to make and I ended up moving to a country where lemons are not easily sourced. We have lots of limes and oranges but lemons are only grown in certain areas. Maybe we just don't like lemons? I am not sure what it is. Thyme, however, is abundant. You will not walk into a kitchen here and not find several bunches of thyme. Sunday through Saturday, we are using thyme.

With all the rushing and figuring things out and trying to settle in, I decided to keep my lemon and thyme ambitions simple. I went with cookies! I keep saying that I am not a cookie baker yet somehow, I keep reaching for cookie recipes when I am in a rut. These were simple and pretty good though. One day, one day, I will be an excellent cookie baker.

Be sure to visit all the other Crazy Ingredient Challengers this month! See what they did below and won't you join us next month?

Lemon Thyme Cookies
Yield: ~36 cookies

Ingredients

2 eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
additional sugar for rolling

Directions

Whisk together eggs and sugar until pale colored, thick and frothy. Pour in the coconut oil, lemon zest, thyme and lemon juice and whisk until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
The dough is sticky so chill until firm enough to handle.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
Take a scant tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Damp your hands if dough starts sticking to them. Roll each ball into sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for about 8 minutes or until very lightly browned.
Cool and enjoy.

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Lentil Molasses Cookies - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Some months the winning combination for the Crazy Ingredient Challenge is not only easy, but far from crazy. Other months, I am left scratching my head until the 19th of the month. This month's winning combination is lentils and molasses. It sounds simple enough but I had absolutely no clue what to make. It didn't help that I had a busy few weeks and not much time to research. Finally, on Thursday night, I started brainstorming with a friend. Fortunately and unfortunately, he is a chef. He had amazing drool-worthy ideas. But some were way beyond my skill set. While for others, I just did not think that I would have time to pull it off.

I got cookies stuck in my head and decided to go with that. As is, this is not the complete dish that I had envisioned. But since I literally just pulled these cookies out of the oven, and need to publish this post within the next thirty minutes, the remaining components will have to wait. Hint: There will be ice cream and bourbon. Yes, I know. I'll get around to it tomorrow. I promise. Well, I hope.

So here I go again stuffing beans where they don't belong. I assure you once again, you do not taste the lentils at all. The molasses and spices overpower any subtle taste that the lentils would impart. All you are left with is a cookie that has a bit more fibre and protein than normal. Note that I did not say healthy. There is still a lot of sugar to go around. But if you want to tell yourself that they are healthy, go ahead. I'll eat them for breakfast with you.

I have no idea what the other Crazy Ingredient Challenge bloggers made this month and I am really looking forward to it. I am crossing my fingers that someone made some form of lentil balls in a molasses-barbecue sauce because I need a recipe! Be sure to scroll down to check out those links in the link-up below. Also, we are always looking for members to join us on this crazy journey so please, join us!


Lentil Molasses Cookies (adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling the cookies
1/2 cup lentil puree (see notes)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Cream together butter and the sugars until smooth. Add the lentil puree, molasses and egg and mix until well combined.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt then add to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. It's a very sticky dough.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Roll tablespoon sized balls into sugar then place at least two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are set. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Notes

The lentil puree should be the consistency of canned pumpkin puree. A good ratio is to 1 cup of cooked lentils to 4 tablespoons of water. Blend thoroughly but it is OK if there a a few pieces of whole lentil still visible. Add water by the teaspoon if necessary to adjust the consistency.
Since the dough is sticky, it helps to spray your hands with cooking spray or drop the tablespoon into the sugar and use the sugar to prevent it from sticking to your hands.

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Chickpea Fudge - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The winning ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredients Challenge are chickpeas and honey. My personal challenge with this  group is to always try to make something different from the standard fare or relatively unexpected with the ingredients. That doesn't always happen of course as all I often want to make is bread. I fought that urge this month and decided on this fudge.

Fudge made with chickpeas just sounds a bit "wrong" doesn't it? I actually made chocolate chip cookies years ago that had chickpeas instead of flour. I don't think I liked it so I'm not sure why I jumped on the fudge bandwagon. While a chickpea fudge may sound unusual to me, it's pretty standard fare in Indian cuisine. They combine chickpea flour with sugar and ghee . I've also seen condensed milk.

The fudge is surprisingly good. You definitely do not taste the chickpeas at all. I thought it needed to be a little sweeter - we're calling this fudge after all - but I stopped myself from adding a lot of extra honey or even sugar. You don't have to show the same restraint. Some chocolate chips would be a great addition too. That would add an extra sweet touch. I haven't crunched the numbers but I think with all the chickpeas and nuts included here, this may work well as a protein snack after a gym session.

Be sure to check out the other chickpeas and honey recipes from the other CIC bloggers below. Additionally, I'll be sharing a really unusual use for chickpeas next week. Look out for that!

Chickpea Fudge

Ingredients
1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Directions
Line a 9" x 5" pan with plastic wrap.
Blend all the ingredients except the walnuts together until it is smooth. Taste and add extra sweetener or spices, if desired. Stir in the walnuts then scoop into the prepared pan. Freeze for at least 5 hours then cut into small squares to serve.

Keep frozen.

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Cocoa Cranberry Swirl Bread - CIC

Things have been quiet around here as I get ready for some major life changes. I've been without my kitchen for a while so even though I desperately needed to make something, anything for my sanity, I couldn't. I also really missed participating in the various groups. I had access to a kitchen yesterday so I quickly kneaded this bread for the last Crazy Ingredients Challenge of 2015.

 It's weird to think that 2015 is over. Anyway, our challenge ingredients this month were cocoa and cranberries. It's not a difficult combination - nothing crazy about it at all. But with all the busyness of the season, I guess it's good to have one less thing to spend a lot of time worrying about. 

I adapted this bread from a Cocoa-Nut Swirl Bread in a cookbook called Chocolate Fantasies. Hope the holidays are treating you well. Be sure to visit the other blogs to see what they made.

 Cocoa Cranberry Swirl Bread
 Dough
 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups flour
 2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg

 Filling
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon milk
3/4 dried cranberries, chopped

 Combine all the dough ingredients and knead until you have a soft dough. You may need to add more flour. You could also use a little less milk. Keep kneading until it's smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled.

 After the dough has doubled, turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out to a 15" x 7" rectangle. Brush it lightly with water. Combine the sugar and cocoa then add just enough milk to form a smooth paste. Spread evenly over the rectangle then sprinkle with chopped cranberries.

 Starting at the short end, roll up the dough, seal and fold the ends under. Place in a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled.

 Bake at 375℉ for 35 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Loaf may be glazed if desired.

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Apple, Cheese and Chive Turnovers

Welcome to another Crazy Ingredient Challenge! This month the winning ingredients were apples and chives. My first idea was to make some apple, cheese, and chives scones but at some point that turned into turnovers. No regrets here! I got to practise making a blitz pastry dough - it’s really easy and really flaky.  It’s faster than traditional puff pastry and quite delicious. I still have scones on the mind though so maybe later this week I’ll make those and post them.

Sorry about the super quick post. It’s only 7 am but it’s already shaping up to be one of those days. Be sure to scroll down to see how my fellow Crazy Ingredient Challengers used apples and chives this month. Sure to be mouthwatering!

Apple, Cheese and Chive Turnovers

Pastry Shell (adapted from King Arthur)
1 ½ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
6 tablespoons sour cream

Filling
1 apple
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2-3 tablespoons chives, finely chopped

Egg for egg wash

Directions

Whisk together the dry ingredients then cut the butter into the flour mixture. You can use a food processor. Leave mixture unevenly crumbly. The largest pieces of butter should be about the size of a pea. Stir in the sour cream.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and pat it into a rough square. It’s OK if it’s a bit shaggy. Roll out into an 8” x 10” rectangle. Dust the dough with flour, if necessary. Starting with a shorter end, fold the dough into thirds as one would a business letter. Turn it over so that the open end is on the bottom.

Once again, roll the dough out into an 8” x 10” rectangle and do another letter fold.  Turn it over so the open end is on the bottom, roll out again to 8” x 10” and do a third letter fold. If the dough is sticking, chill it before doing the third letter fold. After the third letter fold, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

While the dough is chilling, dice the apple into small pieces, shred the cheese and chop the chives.

When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 400F.

Roll out the chilled dough to a 16” square and cut into 16 4” squares.

Place a bit of apple, cheese, and chives on each square. Be careful not to add too much - should be no more than a tablespoon or so of filling.  Fold over each square and use a fork to the crimp and seal the edges.

Place the turnovers on a lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water). Sprinkle on any remaining cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

 

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Coffee Spiked Banana Cashew Bread

I was lucky enough to be home one year when some of my favourite fruits were in season. My brother got me a bounty of fruit including mangoes from our trees and some from friends. Among the fruit, were cashews. It had been several years since I had had cashew banana and I devoured them with glee, setting aside the nuts to be roasted at a later date. I related this to a friend and he was confused. What in the world is a "cashew banana"? Now it was my turn to be confused. What did he mean? Then it hit me that it could just be that some parts of the island may have a different name for the fruit. "Cashew apple," I offered. That rang no bells.To him, a cashew is just a nut. He had no idea that this was actually a seed attached to delicious fruit. I declared him a horrible Jamaican and sent him the picture above. He accused me of making things up.

Cashew Fruit aka Cashew Apple or Cashew Banana

I remembered this story when cashews and coffee won the vote for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge. I briefly thought of getting my hands on some cashew bananas. But even if the stars aligned, and cashews were in season and I miraculously got my hand on some, I had no clue how I would pair it with coffee. I guess it would have had to be a drink. I tossed that idea aside and retreated to my comfort zone - the almighty flour.

It's always exciting every month to see how we used the two ingredients. Look for what others made in the links below! We'd love to see you join us for CIC so be sure to check out information on how to join also.

Coffee Spiked Banana Cashew Bread

Recipe by: Kelly   Adapted from: Alton Brown

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients 1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon hot water.  340 grams banana  210 grams sugar 100 grams oil 2 large eggs, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla 220 grams all purpose flour 35 grams oats, ground to oat flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt  1 cup cashews, chopped

Directions Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan. In a small bowl, mix the coffee, sugar and hot water until the coffee and sugar have dissolved. Set aside. Mash the bananas and the sugar until smooth. Mix in the oil, beaten eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, oat flour, baking soda and salt.  Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Add small amounts of flour at at time and be careful not to overmix. Gently fold in the chopped cashews.  Next, transfer half of the batter to another container. Gently mix the coffee mixture into this half.  Pour the batters into the prepared loaf pan. You can alternate adding scoops the batters then swirling for a marbled effect or you add the batter in multiple layers.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Notes I used about 2 1/2 large bananas.  Be gentle! Don't overmix.

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