We love peanut butter cookies, and when I found this recipe, I wanted to try it right away. When I noticed it was low-cal, and even suitable for diabetics, it really got my attention. I changed it around a bit, but didn’t alter the main ingredients. The cookies turned out very light and crispy—and every bit as good as my traditional recipe—but with just four ingredients that I always keep in my cupboard. The texture is buttery, and when you taste some, I know you’ll be sold on them too.

I prefer to use natural peanut butter because it has no additives. If you’re industrious and have a food processor, you may even want to make your own with fresh peanuts. If you do, you should add a dash of salt to the recipe. For the sugar substitute, I use either Apriva or Splenda—whichever one I find on sale! These both measure out easily, and I think they act more like real sugar than other sweeteners.

There’s no reason to deny yourself or your family the sweet pleasure of some fresh baked cookies if you can make them with fewer calories and no sugar. And if you have children, I know they will like them too, and be better for them.

These cookies are so quick to make, that the next time you crave something sweet why don’t you mix up a batch? In fact, the clean up is so easy that you won’t even need to get your mixer out. You can stir the batter with a spoon. The recipe has only one cup each of peanut butter and sweetener, and only makes about 20 cookies. If you make them larger you’ll get about 12 or 15. If you plan on serving a crowd though, you’ll need to double or even triple the recipe. With a glass of cold milk, real cookie lovers can make them quickly disappear.

 Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C peanut butter

1 C sugar replacement

1 whole egg, slightly eaten

1 t vanilla extract

(If you substitute almond butter, then add almond extract.)

Preheat oven to 350º

In a mixing bowl combine the sugar substitute, egg and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon. Add the peanut butter and stir until it’s completely incorporated. Roll the dough into balls the size of a small walnut and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. With the palm of your hand, flatten the balls. You can place them close together because they don’t spread while baking.

Bake about 10 or 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Cool completely before storing.

Because of the peanut butter texture, this recipe doesn’t allow for substitutes; however, I think that almond or another nut butter might work just as well. Even cashews or filberts would be good choices. Since the texture and oil content of other nuts are similar, I think they would work out as well, and adding some chopped nuts might also be good.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

However, if you prefer a lighter alternative, then read on for a pumpkin dessert without all those needless calories. I came up with this way to bake the filling, and it’s just as delicious and satisfying as a slice of pie. After all, it’s really the creamy pumpkin and whipped cream topping that you mostly taste. The piecrust is just there to hold in the filling. In this recipe, we’re holding it in by using individual ramekins.

The filling recipe is enough for two 9” pumpkin pies. If you choose to use the individual ramekins like I have, you may not need to bake the whole recipe at one time. You can bake as much of the filling as you need to serve, and refrigerate or even freeze the rest for another meal.

Pumpkin Delights

Preheat oven to 350º

Butter as many individual serving ramekins as you are serving.

1-1/2 C sugar

4 large eggs

1 t salt

3 t cinnamon

2 t ginger

2 t ground cloves

1-29oz can pumpkin

2-12oz cans evaporated milk

Measure the spices with the sugar. In a mixer set on the medium speed, beat the eggs and add the sugar mixture. Add both the pumpkin and milk—each a little at a time—and mix well to combine all the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into buttered individual ramekins. Fill each to ¼” from the top. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Your pumpkin treats are ready. Remove them from the oven and cool, or serve while still warm. Top with a small scoop of light whipped cream, and if you wish a light sprinkle of nutmeg.

If you want to serve them warm, mix up the filling the day before and refrigerate until ready to bake. Bring the filling to room temperature and bake them. After all, on a busy holiday morning, you probably have lots of other dishes to get ready for the big meal, and you don’t want to bother with the dessert. If it’s all ready mixed up and ready to bake, it will save precious time.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

I’m used to buying a couple of bunches of fresh spinach and cooking them with garlic and butter. Because they cook up so fast, they make a quick dinner side dish. This past weekend I was planning some sandwiches and a salad for a light lunch. Instead of a lettuce salad, I had some fresh spinach and thought I’d try a salad with that instead. I checked out a few cookbooks and found one that looked pretty good and easy.

The book I found it in is The Silver Spoon. That book is crammed with wonderful recipes for just about any dish you’d ever crave or want to make. It was a gift to me from my dear friend, Geri, who lives in California. She and I share a love of cooking and are always looking for interesting recipes to try. Whenever either of us finds an especially good one, we share it. The next time I see her I’ll tell her about this one.

With just a few ingredients, this spinach recipe was quite simple and also turned out to be delicious. I only modified it by increasing a couple of the ingredients in order to serve more people. In a salad, this is easy to do and does not alter the flavors in any way. My recipe below makes enough to serve six people.

Spinach and Mushroom Salad

2-1/2 C small white mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 lemon, juice only

2 packages prepared baby spinach

½ C pine nuts, lightly toasted

5 T extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small skillet, place the pine nuts and toss over medium heat until they are golden and toasted. Place the spinach in a large bowl.

Toss in the mushrooms. Whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper. Pour over the greens and toss well. That’s it! It’s ready. I like to toss it just before serving it so the pine nuts are crisp.

If you’d also like to try my quick cooking version for sautéed spinach, you can prepare them like this instead. However, because spinach cooks down so much, even for four people you’ll probably want to use at least 4 bags of the spinach.

Sautéed Spinach With Garlic

4 packages prepared baby spinach

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

3 T butter

Salt and pepper to taste

4 T water

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the garlic and sauté just until it is a little soft and golden. Reduce the heat to simmer and add the spinach, water and salt and pepper. As it cooks, with a pair of tongs, toss the leaves so the top ones touch the bottom and the garlic is distributed throughout. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes until the spinach is tender. Serve immediately. You can still get your calcium in this one if you prefer a hot vegetable to a cold salad.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

Attention all mushroom lovers!  The rest of you can move on and read the other articles on this website.  The mushroom fans are invited to stay with me and you won’t be disappointed. 

A simple and delicious appetizer is just a short time away.  Not as heavy as a cheesy or meaty bite, but with probably twice as much flavor.  All the ingredients slowly simmered together with the garlic and wine make these great—not just good.      

Fresh mushrooms are the stars of this dish.  There are many varieties available in grocery stores, and just about any kind you like would work equally well here.  However, if you choose the larger variety—such as a Portobello—you’ll probably need at least four big ones.  Mushrooms alone are a rather bland vegetable, but when combined with other savory ingredients they can really come alive.

Parmesan cheese adds flavor, while the creamy mozzarella topping compliments the toasty bread.  Once you put these down, they will quickly disappear off your appetizer tray.  At our house, even a few guests who normally didn’t care for mushrooms enjoyed these.

Mushroom Bruschetta

12 or 15 fresh white button mushrooms, finely chopped

3 T olive oil

¼ C unsalted butter

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

¼ C white wine

¼ C chicken stock

2 T fresh parsley, chopped

¼ C grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 baguette (French or sourdough) cut into ¾” slices

½ C shredded mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, heat the oil and butter.  Add the garlic and sauté a couple minutes until golden.  Add the mushrooms and cook a couple more minutes.  Stir in the wine, chicken stock, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer about 20 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.  And while you’re waiting for this mixture to cook you can prepare the bread.

Line a large baking sheet with foil.  Cut the baguette into ¾” slices.  Arrange the slices on the pan.  Spray both sides with an olive oil mist.  If you don’t have an oil mister, drizzle a little oil over both sides of the bread.  Bake until barely golden.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Now back to the mushroom mixture.  Uncover the pan and continue simmering a few more minutes until most of the liquid is reduced.  Remove from heat and stir in the parsley and Parmesan cheese.  Cool a few minutes before assembling the appetizers to prevent the hot mixture from softening the toast. 

Preheat your broiler.  (If your broiler is in your oven like mine, use the middle rack to finish these.)  Spread each toast slice with a dollop of the mixture.  Sprinkle with some mozzarella.  Place under the broiler a couple of minutes just until the cheese bubbles and melts.  Remove from oven and serve while still warm.  Either a glass of wine or your favorite cocktail would also be nice with these. 

If you want to make these up for another day, you can prepare the mushroom mixture and freeze it.   When you’re ready to bake them, first warm up the filling in the microwave for a couple of minutes.  Spread it on the toasted bread and finish in the broiler with the mozzarella topping.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

White wine was one of her favorite cooking staples. I remember how she could make an otherwise plain meat dish delicious using a little white wine. If you prefer not to use wine, you could substitute chicken stock, but I won’t guarantee the same flavor without wine.

You could use a whole chicken in this recipe, but I only use the thighs. I think they have more flavor than the white meat. The key flavor ingredients in this recipe are the fresh herbs, garlic and wine. It’s awfully good with polenta, but if you don’t have time to make one, it’s also very good with the potatoes cooked in the same pan, or some crusty French bread on the side.

Herb Chicken with Wine

4 chicken thighs (skinless and boned)

1 T fresh rosemary, minced

1 T fresh sage, minced

1 T fresh basil, minced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 t salt

¼ t fresh ground pepper

4 T olive oil

¼ C water

¼ C white wine

1 large white onion, cut into chunks

2 T cornstarch, dissolved in a little cold water

1 4oz can sliced mushrooms, drained (optional)

2 small white rose potatoes cut into quarters (optional)

For cooking:

4 T olive oil

2 T unsalted butter

Combine herbs, seasonings and olive oil. In a glass baking dish, place chicken pieces and top with herb mixture. Turn pieces over so the mixture is distributed to all the surfaces. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours or all day for flavors to penetrate the meat.

When ready to cook, bring the chicken to room temperature.

In a large pan (with lid) over medium temperature, heat the butter and oil. Scrape off as much of the marinade as possible and reserve it in the baking dish to add to the pan later. Place the chicken pieces in the hot pan and cook a couple of minutes to brown on both sides. Add the onion and potatoes and toss to brown a little.

Now add the reserved herb mixture from the baking dish, the water and wine. If you’re using the mushrooms, add them now. Cover and simmer 30 or 45 minutes turning the chicken once. Test the pieces with a skewer for doneness. Obviously, larger thighs will take a little longer to cook, and breasts will take a little less.

Dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold water and add it to the pan to thicken the gravy. Cook a couple more minutes.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

A few weeks ago I needed to come up with a little dessert for dinner with a couple of friends. My entrée was hearty so I wanted the dessert to stay on the light side. I thought something lemony would be good too, so I began to go through my pie recipes. I found my quick lemon filling recipe; however, I still needed to come up with a crust.

I remembered that a couple of weeks earlier I had bought some wonton wrappers, and they were in my freezer waiting to be used. This was a perfect time to take them out and give them a try—their first test was a crust. After lining a pie pan with the wonton wrappers in a few different ways, I came up with a perfect overlap to prevent the filling from escaping. These wrappers are a great Chinese creation usually used in both savory and sweet to contain some kind of filling . When the edges are dampened and pressed together, they make a perfect container. As such, they can be baked, fried or cooked in soup. And so, with the wrappers I found my perfect pie crust medium.

This lemon pie was a good experiment for the wrappers. The total baking time was just over 30 minutes. I named this recipe Lemon Angel Pie because it was so light, and one slice was hardly enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

I’m planning on using the wrappers again for some other dessert soon. I’m thinking something alone the lines of a fruit tart or turnover. Because they’re so thin and cook so quickly, substituting them for a traditional crust will cut down the baking time of any dessert.

Lemon Angel Pie

16 – 18 prepared square wonton wrappers

Juice of 1 lemon

Grated rind of 1 lemon

3 T flour

1 C milk

2 eggs, separated

1 t salt

¾ C sugar

2 T milk (for brushing the crust before baking)

Preheat oven to 425º

Thoroughly butter a metal or glass pie pan. Line the pan with overlapping wrapper squares to form the crust. Turn under the tops to form a thicker edge around the pie. Brush with a little milk and bake 8 – 10 minutes until pale golden in color. Remove and set aside to slightly cool while you’re making the filling.

Mix together the juice, rind, flour, milk, egg yolks and salt until well blended. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until fluffy and add the sugar. Beat until firm. Gently fold the whites into the milk mixture until fully incorporated. Pour into the pie shell.

Bake at 425º for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375º and continue baking for 25 more minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly before serving.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

We recently traveled to Montreal, and stayed in a lovely hotel that offered a complete breakfast buffet. One of the baked offerings was a deliciously light and moist bran muffin. Not too sweet but nutty and just right. I have never been that wild about bran muffins, but these were so good, they were definitely something worth trying to duplicate when I got home. I wasn’t able to have their recipe because they purchased all their baked goods from a nearby bakery, but decided it wouldn’t be rocket science to come up with my own recipe after a little research into my many cookbooks.

Wheat bran is touted as being nourishing and healthful so having some in muffins might be a good way to eat some of the stuff. After all, anything baked with raisins, walnuts and cinnamon can’t be all bad, but actually good for us with the added bran.

First I went online, and then flipped through several of my cookbooks to see what I could find. I know that using both wheat flour and wheat bran in muffins can result in a heavier batter. Because those were so light, I was convinced that the hotel muffins had no flour at all, so I kept looking until I found a recipe that had only wheat bran for the main ingredient. After combining a few recipes, and adding and eliminating a few of the given ingredients, I think I came up with a perfect bran muffin.

After my first bite, I knew I had an exact duplicate of that little Montreal muffin. But the best part is just how easy it was to make a batch. I doubt you’ll be able to find any bran muffin lighter than this one.

Best Raisin Bran Muffins

2-1/4 C wheat bran

1 t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

¼ t salt

¼ C honey

1-1/4 C milk, low fat or skimmed

2 eggs

2 T vegetable oil

1 t vanilla extract

½ C chopped walnuts

½ C raisins

Line a cupcake pan with baking cups, and preheat the oven to 400º

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

Measure and combine the top ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a hand mixer a minute or so until well blended. Add the nuts and raisins and stir to combine. Fill each cup with the batter and bake 17 minutes. How easy was that?

Remove from oven and serve while still warm.

We like them just plain, but you could always add a pat of butter and some honey or jam.

After I made these, I thought of the many variations possible with this recipe. You could substitute any other nut for the walnuts. You could add poppy seeds instead of the nuts and omit the cinnamon and add some lemon zest. Also, dried cranberries or blueberries would be a good substitute for the raisins. The basic recipe is a good one to make with your family’s favorite fruits and nuts.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

I know you’ve heard how healthful fish is, and we should probably eat more if it.   I used to bake it in the oven or fry it with a panko coating, but this time I was anxious to prepare it a little differently.    With a little lemon juice, oil and butter, pan sautéing was the way to go.   And talk about fast!   Also a lot cleaner and leaner than batter frying, and not as tricky as grilling outdoors.   The fillets were moist and tender and the caper accent was perfect.   Topped with a little fresh parsley, it was time for dinner.

You could probably substitute any firm fresh fish in this recipe.   Even cod, orange roughy, shrimp or scallops would be just as tasty in the butter and lemon sauce.   Fish cooks very quickly, and with few ingredients to prepare, dinner was on the table in a very short time.

Halibut with Lemon Butter

2 halibut fillets (at least 1inch thick)

4 T flour

2 T olive oil

5 T unsalted butter

3 T fresh lemon juice

3 T white wine (or chicken stock)

3 T capers

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh chopped parsley for garnish

In a plastic bag, add the flour and fish and shake until well coated.   Shake off the excess.  

In a large skillet, heat the oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until the butter is almost brown.   Add the fillets and cook two or three minutes until it’s golden.   Turn them over.   Add the remaining butter, lemon juice, wine, capers, salt and pepper.   Cover and simmer a couple more minutes for the fish to complete cooking and the sauce flavors to blend.

Arrange the fish on a bed of steamed rice or noodles and pour the sauce over the top.   Add some fresh chopped parsley on top.

Enjoy!

I made them in my broiler, but if you prefer, you could also cook them on a medium hot grill for a couple of minutes on both sides. The olive oil prevents them from sticking.

Long fresh green beans could be substituted for the asparagus and work just as well. And for a variety to this recipe, sprinkle some grated Parmesan or shredded mozzarella cheese on top before putting them in the oven. I didn’t use any cheese this time, but I have in the past and it tastes pretty good.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Preheat your broiler on low.

8 – 12 fresh asparagus, ends trimmed

8 – 12 slices Parma prosciutto

A little salt

Fresh ground pepper

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 425º

Rub or spray a little oil on a large baking sheet to prevent sticking, or line your pan with foil.

Wash and thoroughly dry the asparagus to remove all moisture. Trim off the white ends. Wrap each spear with a slice of the prosciutto and place on the pan. Drizzle or lightly brush some olive oil across the top. (I prefer using an olive oil sprayer instead of a brush because it allows an even coverage and controls the amount of oil I’m using.)

Season with salt and pepper.

Place your rack in the center of the oven. Bake about 10 minutes, or just until the prosciutto begins to shrink around the spears. Then you’ll know they are ready. Remove the pan from the oven and arrange them on an appetizer plate. If you prefer to sprinkle them with a little cheese after they are cooked, you could do that now while they’re still hot and the cheese melts. They are good served hot or warm.

Enjoy!

© Pauline Boren 2008

And, if you happen to be vegetarian, you could even eliminate the chicken and substitute some chopped tofu for the protein. Just toss the tofu in after the garlic and ginger so it absorbs those flavors. Then proceed with the other steps.

Like most of my original recipes, this one is very easy. If you want to prepare the filling and use it later, you can store it in a sealed plastic container and refrigerate. It can be heated through in the microwave just before you serve the tacos. Because of our warm summer weather, I prefer to do most of my cooking in the morning, and saving the easy final steps for dinnertime.

In this recipe, you can chop the vegetables while the chicken is baking. Then when dinnertime rolls around, you can collect the other ingredients and make up the tacos. With the protein in the chicken and the vegetables in the filling as well as the cilantro and cabbage on top, these tacos are a complete meal.

Asian Chicken Tacos

Filling:

4 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

4 scallions, finely minced

3 t fresh ginger, finely minced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

½ C sliced water chestnuts, chopped

6 large shitake mushrooms (dry or canned) thinly sliced

2 T canola oil

1 T sesame oil

2 T soy sauce

1 T sherry wine

1 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

10 or 12 corn tortillas

4 cups fresh cabbage, shredded

½ C fresh cilantro, chopped

Sauce:

1 t sesame oil

4 T soy sauce

1 t chili garlic sauce

½ C hoisin sauce

¼ C water

Stir all together to blend.

Preheat oven to 400º

Place chicken on foil-lined baking sheet and spray lightly with olive oil. Add a good shake of salt and pepper on both sides. Bake 20 minutes until golden, and then turn chicken over to cook the other side. Remove from oven and when cool enough to handle, cut into 2-inch pieces and chop in food processor until coarsely ground. Set aside.

Chop the cabbage and cilantro and set aside until ready to assemble the tacos.

Combine the pepper, scallions and mushrooms. If using dried mushrooms, soak first for 20 minutes until tender. Mince the garlic and ginger.

Heat the canola and sesame oils in a skillet or wok. Add the garlic and ginger and toss a couple of minutes. Add the mushrooms, pepper and scallions and toss a couple of minutes. Add the soy sauce and sherry and stir to combine. Toss in the ground chicken and stir well to heat through with the vegetables. Remove from heat.

To assemble the tacos, if the filling has been refrigerated, heat it up in the microwave a couple of minutes on medium power. Also heat the sauce.

Place some of the chicken mixture on the tortillas, add some of the cabbage and cilantro and drizzle some of the sauce across the top. Fold the top over and it’s time to eat.