Choose Your Own Adventure Creamed Spinach

Who said you couldn't make a healthy(er) creamed spinach by substituting butter with avocado and cow's milk with almond milk?  It definitely wasn't me...

So, I had this ginormous bag of spinach sitting in the 'frig, and I didn't want it to go bad because I absolutely HATE to waste food.  That's not kosher, green, or a good way to manage my resources, is it?  Nope.  Back to that bag of spinach -  every time I'd see it, I'd think how good it would be all creamy and silky, but do you know how much fat there is in butter and cow's milk?   Well, I do.  In the words of Sweet Brown, ain't nobody got time for that.

Then, it hit me like a rock, avocado (a healthier plant-based fat) and almond milk (also a healthier plant-based fat) might do the trick.  Some mushrooms would be nice, too.  So, I tried it and I like it.

So, they say you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him/her drink.  Well, folks, this is a choose your own adventure story.  If you like the fat in butter and cow's milk, follow Ree Drummond's recipe to the tee.  If the thought of consuming that extra fat will send you into a tizzy and ruin your day or something to that effect, make the following substitutions:

• 1 stick of butter for one avocado and about 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 cups of cow's milk with 2 cups of almond milk. 

The avocado and flour will clump up initially, but it will dissolve in the milk just fine.  Regardless of how your story ends, I'd suggest adding some sauteed mushrooms:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/creamed-spinach-to-die-for/

GoLean Crunch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

As a fledgling child, my first signature dish was peanut butter cookies.  They were nothing fancy.  In fact, I used the recipe on the back of a Peter Pan peanut butter jar.  The fact that I made food that was edible and other people liked it meant the world to me back then.  Years later, I still yearn for compliments from honest critics so I guess not much has changed, eh?  Not exactly.

These peanut butter cookies are nothing like the sugary, fatty cookies from my youth.  These cookies are filled with fiber and protein.  They're reduced fat and quite delicious.  WhoNu?

These cookies are inspired by this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Granola Cookies from Food and Wine, but they are very much my own.

GoLean Crunch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Kashi GoLean Crunch! Honey Almond Flax Cereal
• 1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Transfer 1 cup of granola to a food processor and pulse until finely ground; transfer to a medium bowl.  Add the peanut butter, egg, salt, and chocolate chips.  Stir the mixture until smooth.  Add remaining granola.

Form cookie dough into balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.  Flatten the ball with the tines of a fork or hand press to about 3-inch rounds.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheet.

In a small saucepan, heat chocolate and almond milk over low heat, stirring continuously, until smooth and melted.  Remove from heat and immediately dip the cookies in the melted chocolate.  Allow chocolate to harden.  Refrigerate if necessary.  

Banana Basil Ice Cream

This past week, I channeled the spirit of Paula Deen Sunny Anderson and made a pot of buttery, garlicky, creamy, cheesy, vegetable stocky, yummy grits.  Take that Daily Double!*  They were luscious, rich, and beautiful.  I even marveled at the beautiful specks in my pot as they went from "gritty" to "creamy" with all the added fat.  They were the perfect vehicle for stir-fried vegetables and shrimp sausage.  Hmmm....

After indulging myself with such a decadent dinner, I knew I had to lighten it up for dessert.  It was the perfect opportunity to use the frozen bananas stashed away in the freezer by making homemade ice cream.  I've made one ingredient banana ice cream in the past and I found it to be a slightly bland.  So, I decided to kick up the flavor with some added vanilla yogurt, almond milk, and basil.  Yes, basil!  Gotta find a way to use up those leftover herbs and the banana and basil flavors perfectly complement one another.  To be completely honest, it was Sarina's Banana Basil Smoothie that first introduced me to this amazing combination a few years ago, and it's something I could easily see on rotation at Capogiro.

This ice cream is luscious right out of the blender/food processor.  I decided to freeze it to see how it would turn out.  It was slightly icy, but I still enjoyed it a lot.  The more fat you add (milk/cream or yogurt), the creamier the final result will turn out.

Banana Basil Ice Cream:

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas

1 tablespoon yogurt

1/3 cup almond milk

2 handful of fresh basil

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until luscious and creamy.  Either eat the ice cream right away or store it in a container with a lid in the freezer to enjoy later.

*This is in reference to a radio ad that I heard on NPR this past week referring to a lettucey, tomatoey, cheesy, mayoey, yum--me fast food sandwich.  I vainly searched across the web for the ad with no luck.  However, I think it was McDonald's Daily Double.