Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

Archives for June 2012

Strawberry Shortcake {healthy} pancakes with Chobani sauce.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian 3 Comments

I won’t lie… I adore strawberry season!  We grow them and we still can’t get enough.  I run to pick or just buy strawberries from the farm at least 4 times a week.  Seriously, we have a problem 🙂  When I got home from my run this morning I thought of strawberry shortcake and why not turn that into a pancake?!  How bad could that be.  YES – it turned out fabulously and I made a Chobani banana sauce for the top to enhance these sweet pancakes even more.  The best part… they are very healthy so I wouldn’t blow the efforts of my very hot, sweaty run.  Can’t wait for you to try these!!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
3/4 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour
3 tablespoons of sugar (I used Truvia for way less calories)
2 tablespoons of ground flax seed meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups of milk, almond milk or whatever type you have on hand
1/2 stick of melted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of sliced strawberries (fresh)

Directions:

Whisk together the flours, sugar, powder, flax seed and salt.  Then in my large measuring cup I whisk together the milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry and blend well.  Then add the strawberry and mix until incorporated.

Ladle into hot griddle (sprayed with non stick spray) and flip and cook until golden on each side.

 

Sauce:

1 -6 ounce container of strawberry banana Chobani
2 large ripe bananas
10 strawberries, washed and hulled
1/4 cup of milk

Blend this together with a hand immersion blender.  Pour on top of the pancakes in lieu of syrup 🙂  Enjoy!

— Knead to Cook

Fresh strawberry, banana, Chobani Mango smoothie.

by Filed Under: Beverages, Breakfast, Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, No bake/cooking required!, Smoothies, Vegetarian 2 Comments

We picked 12 lbs of fresh strawberries yesterday.  This morning’s smoothie idea was given!  So easy and such a flexible recipe.  My daughter said this was the best smoothie ever!  Love that!

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh strawberries, washed with tops removed
2 ripe bananas
1 -6 ounce container of Chobani mango yogurt
1 cup of vanilla almond milk
1 scoop of protein powder (vanilla Whey protein powder)
6 ice cubes

Directions:

Blend everything (except for the ice cubes) on high or a smoothie setting on your blender.   Add the ice cubes for the last 30-45 seconds of blending.  Pour and enjoy!

— Knead to Cook

Blueberry Chobani Buckle.

by Filed Under: Desserts, Vegetarian 9 Comments

 

Oh this recipe is THAT good!  Incredible.  Moist.  Delicious.  I really need to stop typing and start eating.

Ingredients:

Cake ~

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
5 tablespoons of butter
1 -6 oz. container or blueberry Chobani yogurt (lemon, vanilla or plain would also work)
2/3 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest from one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
2 pints of blueberries, washed and dusted with 2 tablespoons of flour so they don’t sink in the cake.

Streusel topping:

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of butter cut into 6 pieces

Directions for the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray or grease and flour your 9 inch round pan.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour and powder together.  In your stand mixer with the paddle attached, blend butter, Chobani, sugar, salt and the zest.  Scrape down the sides occasionally.  Then add in the vanilla.  Add one egg at a time, blending well in between each addition.  Reduce the speed to the lowest setting and add the flour mixture.  Scrape down the sides and then mix one additional time.   Remove the bowl from the mixer and add, by hand, the blueberries.  Mix to blend.  Pour into your prepared pan.  The batter will be quite thick in its consistency.

Directions for Streusel:

In your stand mixer, paddle attached, beat the flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt on low.  Add the butter pieces and mix.  Top the cake mixture evenly.
Bake the cake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool and then slice.

 

 

— Knead to Cook

Crispy Crunchy White & Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

by Filed Under: Cookies Leave a Comment

 

 

 

School is out for the summer.  Friends are over and I needed to pull out an oldie but goody recipe for cookies.  These are always a hit!  Crispy and crunchy on the outside, gooey interior.  A sophisticated spin on a traditional favorite.  Packed with flavor!  Get your milk ready kids 🙂

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks of butter (14 tablespoons)
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of rolled oats
8 ounces of white chocolate bar (chopped up)
8 ounces of dark chocolate bar/chips (60% cocoa)
Flaky Sea salt – for sprinkling on each cookie

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl.

In your stand mixer beat butter, sugars until fluffy.  Scrape the bowl down and then mix again.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Scrape down the sides again.  Add the flour mixture and beat again.  Gradually add the oats & white & dark chocolate.  Mix until well incorporated.

With a small scooper, scoop the dough into balls on to your cookie sheet.  Leave about 2 inches in between each ball of dough.  Sprinkle the top of each dough ball with some sea salt flakes.  Bake for 14 minutes or until golden.  Cool on a rack and then enjoy!

— Knead to Cook

For the ♥ of Dad Giveaway.

by Filed Under: Giveaway!!! 17 Comments

And the winner is…………………


Scott Egan

 

Scott, You have 48 hours to email me at robin@kneadtocook.com.  I need your physical mailing address and email where I can email you the igourmet gift card 🙂

 

In honor of Father’s Day on June 17th, I thought it was fitting to do a giveaway for the men out there who do it all, sacrifice, work hard, support and serve, and are undeniably fantastic!  I teamed up with three fantastic vendors to put together an incredible giveaway just for dad.

The giveaway includes:

From igourmet.com one (1) – $40 gift certificate to www.igourmet.com.  igourmet is one of my favorite online food vendors for many, many years.

 

From Mystic Blue Spice Company,  http://www.mysticbluespice.com/ – (1) All Purpose BBQ Rub, (1) Chipotle Adobo and (1)  Southwest Rub.

 

The Deal Girls, http://thedealgirls.com/ –

1-    $5 Starbucks Gift Card
1-    Pack Fire & Flavor Cedar Papers
1-    1.5 oz can of Potlach Seasoning

 

 

 

Here’s some information on igourmet.com:

Founded in 1997, igourmet.com is North America’s leading online gourmet food and gift retailer. Offering over 800 specialty cheeses, thousands of fine foods, and a complete line of exquisite gift baskets, each accompanied by detailed information and useful serving suggestions, igourmet.com is the preferred place to shop for connoisseurs across North America. Founded and operated by industry veterans, igourmet.com is a trusted resource for hundreds of thousands of gourmet food shoppers. In its highly regarded Best of the Web directory, Forbes named igourmet.com the best gourmet food web site in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. For more information about our Forbes Best of the Web honors, please visit Forbes.com.

Since the launch of our web site in May 1997, igourmet.com has been dedicated to providing delicious, high quality, imported gourmet products directly to North American food lovers at the lowest available prices. The igourmet.com web site has many wonderful products but does much more than provide a simple listing with the ability to purchase online. Each product incorporates a large, mouth-watering photograph and a descriptive story about its history, taste and usage. Shoppers can also click on buttons to view related recipes and serving suggestions. As opposed to a traditional “brick and mortar” store, where products are simply placed on a shelf above a small name tag, igourmet is well suited to educate consumers about the merits of its products. Whether shopping to stock your kitchen, prepare for a party or to find that elusive, unique gift, www.igourmet.com is a destination that offers a terrific line of gourmet products that can be reached from the comfort of your home or office.

 

 

And some information on The Mystic Blue Spice Company:

One of my favorites!  I discovered Trish on Facebook and have loved her products ever since.  Here’s her company information:

The Mystic Blue Spice Company is owned and operated by myself and my husband. We are located in the small town of Buckeye, Arizona where we both grew up. I have always loved food, cooking food, looking at food, thinking about food, you name it and I love it when it comes to food. So, with no surprise to my family, this venture started for me some time ago when I started looking for cooking blends that were “just herbs and spices”. I didn’t have a lot of luck with that as many of you probably know already. I just was not a fan of the mystery spices and I wanted to know what I was putting in my food, so I starting making my own blends to use at home.

With much encouragement from my friends and family, I decided to take the next step. That next step is sharing all my wonderful 100% natural blends with all of you. Some are traditional in flavor and others are my interpretation of the traditional, but one thing is for sure….your gonna love them! I never use MSG, artificail flavors, colors, fillers or preservatives and I only use sea salt sparingly in some recipes as a natural anti-caking agent. That being said, since our blends are 100% Natural they will clump after they settle for a bit. Just shake and tap them on a hard surface before you use them. Most folk don’t know that the blends you find in the store contain chemicals that contain a “free flowing agent” to prevent clumping. Also, all products are made in small batches and packaged by me in 4oz wide mouth cobalt blue jars (1/2cup) or 8oz resealable bags (1cup) using single herbs and spices purchased in bulk from a local business here in Arizona, whenever possible.

 

And some information on The Deal Girls:

The best of the daily online deals from all across the web! Including sites like Amazon, Groupon and many, many others!

Okay so here are the details & the not-so-fine print.

1.  The random drawing will take place on Father’s Day, June 17th and announced at 9 PM EST.

2.  To be entered, you must be a fan of Knead to Cook’s Facebook page.  Although not required, we would hope that you would like igourmet, Mystic Blue Spice Company and The Deal Girls Facebook pages as well, as they are so nice to contribute to this giveaway.

3.  The random winner will be selected by 8 PM EST on June 17th.  Therefore, you must be a fan at that time.

4.  The gift certificate from igourmet will be emailed to the winner as it’s an e-gift certificate.  The spices and gift card, grilling papers and seasoning will all be shipped by the individual companies to the winner’s address.

5.  The winner must email robin@kneadtocook.com within 48 hours of his/her name being announced on Sunday, June 17th at 9 PM EST.  If the winner does not contact me, a new winner will be randomly selected and announced Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 @ 9 PM EST.

Pictures above from igourmet & Mystic Blue Spice Company are not actual items for the giveaway.  

— Knead to Cook

Sunday morning Rails to Trails biking.

by Filed Under: Life. 2 Comments

I love lazy Sundays when we load the bikes on my SUV up and head up to Mt. Gretna to bike on the trails.  The trails are all tree-lined, cooler temperatures… just a lovely respite.  I ride along, clear my mind from the endless chatter, get in touch with nature and catch up with my girls as we ride along for miles & miles.  The destination, a cute little cottage-inspired restaurant that has wonderful creations for breakfast.  We indulge and then head back on the trails… more peaks of sunshine, small waterways, an occasional couple riding horses and the sound of my wheels on the trail.  It’s the rejuvenation I needed before I tackle the week ahead.

Incredible sunshine coming through all of the trees.

How I roll.

Bill and Sydney ahead of us.

Kira taking off to catch up…

Horses 🙂

Destination:  Breakfast!

Ahhhh… love Sundays.

~Robin
oxoxo

 

— Knead to Cook

Sweet & Sour Meatballs.

by Filed Under: Beef, Crock Pot 10 Comments

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Two words to describe this dish:  INSANELY EASY!  If that doesn’t get you… they are also very delicious!  In fact I had extra sauce left and my father implored me to make another batch tomorrow!  Okay… so that’s a winner 🙂

This recipe is easy and very flexible.  You add more or less to impact the sauce flavor.  We like it spicy so I made it spicy.  You can cut that back and make it more on the sweet side. Whatever you want.  Awesome party idea too!

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— Knead to Cook