RECIPE Tip of the Day 2/22/07: Coconut

If you've used your noodle, now use your coconut:

Coconuts deserve to be called a "superfood." Coconuts (in particular, its oil) got a bad rep in the mid-20th century. But it's making a comeback. Its lipid profile, though saturated, is similar to breastmilk (so it's common in infant formula), and has antibacterial properties. It is great for athletes as a recovery food. We can't forget its emollient properties either, and its oil is a natural, fragrant, nontoxic alternative to baby oil and baby lotion (which often contain mineral oil, a petroleum product). Coconut meat is high in fiber too.

Add unsweetened, sulpher-free coconut flakes to your yogurt, smoothies, cereal or your baking. Coconut oil is also great alternative to butter or vegetable oil in baking, frying and sauteing (see my famous muffin recipe); it has a higher smoke point than canola and olive oil. Lastly, fresh coconut milk is superior to canned ones, and though a messy endeavor to make yourself, the taste rewards are high (fresh frozen coconut milk is available at Filipino and [I believe] Hispanic food markets).

RECIPE Tip of the Day 2/18/07: Baked Buffalo Wings

Buffalo wings are my favorite finger food, and are usually what I will order on a first visit to a new pub. I am very picky: the wing sections, both the wingette and drummette, have to be fat, otherwise I feel jipped; the skin has to be nice and crispy, with little or no breading (often restaurants overbread or the skin is soggy); the hot sauce cannot be wimpy or too hot, nor should the wings be drowning in sauce or have little at all. It's hard to find restaurants or pubs that meet all my criteria, plus are a good value piece for piece. When I find that diamond in the rough, it usually will become my new favorite restaurant.

That being said, I also like to make my own buffalo wings. I prefer baking over deep-frying, because it's easy to just throw the wings in the oven than hover over them in a fryer and baking creates less mess.

Serves one very hungry person or 2 as an appetizer.

12 individually quick-frozen chicken wing segments* (see Shopping Tips below)
1 tbsp butter or vegetable oil (if I have it on hand, I use macadamia nut oil)
3 tbsp, more or less to taste, cayenne pepper sauce (I believe Frank's Red Hot Original to be the best balance of heat and acidity)

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
2. Arrange wings on a nonstick baking sheet or one lined with greased aluminum foil (I like to use ungreased Reynolds Wrap Release Nonstick Foil for easy clean-up; it's heavy-duty weight too.) Place in oven. Bake for about 45 min to 1 hour, turning once, until skin is crispy and translucent.
3. Towards the end of the baking time, melt butter (if using) in a medium microwave-proof bowl (or just put oil, doing no heating). Whisk in the pepper sauce.
4. Once wings are ready, with tongs, place all in the bowl with the sauce mixture. Toss to evenly coat, then enjoy!

Variation: Teriyaki Wings: replace 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce (more or less to taste) for the pepper sauce.

*Shopping Tips for Chicken Wings: Most of the time I will say fresh is better and food additives are bad, but in the case for chicken wings for this recipe, opt for individually quick frozen wings, water-added. They are convenient to have on hand and taste better than fresh because they add salt and sodium nitrite/nitrate, the latter being a very unhealthy additive, but if you only eat it once in a while, it shouldn't kill you.

RECIPE Tip of the Day 2/14/07: My legendary muffin

Happy Valentine's Day! Smootches to all!

If you are single like me, and are looking for love (or sex) in all the wrong places, try offering one of these muffins to a cute, interesting person you'd like to get to know better.

Chocolate-Chip, Cranberry, Walnut, Oat Bran Muffins
My muffin has made me famous among my mommy circles and co-workers.
*See Shopping Tips below.

Dry Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour*
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour or oat flour*
2/3 cup oat bran, plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling on top*
1 tbsp baking powder (double acting, aluminum-free)
½ tsp sea salt or kosher salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda, if using yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk; omit if using milk

Stir-ins
1 cup chocolate chips (about half of a 12-oz package)*
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Wet Ingredients
2 large eggs (left out for about 30 mins)
¼ unsalted butter, melted*
¼ coconut oil (melted if solid)*
2/3 cup organic sugar or evaporated cane juice or sucanat*
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup yogurt*, buttermilk or sour cream, pref. whole; can also use milk (not ice cold)

1. Preheat oven to 400˚ F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. In another medium sized bowl, toss stir-ins together with 1 tbsp of dry mixture. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk wet ingredients together, fully stirring the sugar to dissolve. Coconut oil may form small lumps if the eggs and yogurt, etc. are very cold.
5. Grease a standard-size 12 count muffin tin.
6. Take dry flour ingredients and stir into the wet ingredients for about 10-12 strokes, until almost all the flour mix is moistened. Add stir-ins with another 2-3 strokes. Do not over stir. Batter will not be smooth.
7. Using an ice cream scoop or a ¼-cup measuring spoon, drop batter into the muffin tin cups evenly. Sprinkle tops with reserved oat bran.
8. Place muffin tin in oven. Reduce heat to 375˚ F—very important!
   
9. Check for doneness in about 18-20 minutes. (Use the “clean toothpick” test.)
10. For cooling, spread a hand towel on the counter and flip the muffin tin, crown side down, onto the towel. Let cool upside down.

*Shopping Tips:

Flours and Oat Bran: I insist on using organic whenever possible. Arrowhead Mills makes organic versions of all of these flours (except oat bran). Bob's Red Mill is another reputable brand for flours and brans, though not everything is organic. The most likely place to find these brands and choices under one roof is Whole Foods Market. (Beware of Whole Foods store brand all-purpose flour because it is not 100% wheat and therefore I could not guarantee the results). Some health food stores offer these ingredients in bulk containers too. They are fine too (support local business!) but give the flour a bit of an inspection before bagging.

Chocolate Chips: I have gotten into reading the ingredients of these bags, and what I have found that the brands that add milk fat in place of cocoa butter, such as Nestlé, Hershey, and generic store brands, are inferior to the ones that just have cocoa (or chocolate) liquor, sugar and vanilla. Baker's has a good chocolate chunk (though they use artificial vanilla). The best for the value is Trader Joe's at $1.79 a bag! (Compare to $2.99 and up for the name brands.)

Butter: European-style butter has less water than conventional butter, which makes it extra delicious in baking (and everything else really). (Get Plugrá coupons here!)

Coconut Oil: Coconut oil, a common cooking oil in tropical countries, has gotten a bad rep for decades in the US for its high saturated fat content and studies in the mid-20th century done with hydrogenated coconut oil. Coconut oil has since made a comeback, as virgin coconut oil (meaning unrefined), but is mostly available at health food/vitamin stores, not the supermarket. I buy mine from the Vitamin Shoppe, which has good sales on health food ingredients. I usually buy Nutiva coconut oil, which by the way, is made in the Philippines (PINOY PINAY POWER!).

If you can't find coconut oil, just use all butter, or vice versa.

Organic sugar, et. al.: Organic sugar is a vague term, because there are various levels of refinement that go into making sugar of any kind. Evaporated cane juice is a generic term for sugar that has minimal processing. Sucanat is a brand name of evaporated cane juice, and is one of the darkest brown ones on the market (meaning it will impart a delicious molasses/brown sugar taste to your foods). All three—organic sugar, evaporated cane juice, sucanat—may be in the bulk section of your local health food store.

Yogurt, etc.: If using whole fat, non-homogenized yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream, remember to stir the contents in the container before using it to evenly distribute the fat. I like Fage, a Greek yogurt, which strains most of the water out of the yogurt before packaging, therefore it is extra-rich.

(I used Fage, as well as oat flour, in my last batch of these muffins, and I think they were my best so far!)

RECIPE Tip of the Day 2/11/07: Veggie Pasta Sauce

Jazz up (and fiber up) your jarred spaghetti sauce with this recipe:

LushMommy's "Get More Veggies in Your Diet" Pasta

Ingredients:
1 bag (12-16 oz) of penne pasta, rotini or your pasta shape of preference (I find long strands of spaghetti too messy with my son. *See more Shopping Tips below.)
1 24-oz jar of tomato-based pasta sauce* (A tip how to open a jar easily: use a can piercer to pry under the lid and break the vacuum.)
Olive oil* (the amount to taste, really; just keep the bottle out)
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped fine
3-6 slices of bacon, chopped (omit if you like; you could use ham too, even the cold cuts kind, pref. smoked)
1 cup of carrots, chopped fine*
1 cup of frozen peas*

1. Start cooking the pasta according to its directions. Put a tablespoon of salt if you wish in the boiling water. Before draining, save about 3-4 tblsp of the hot water (use it to wash out the pasta sauce jar and get out the remaining bits of goodness). Drain pasta well in a colander, but DO NOT RINSE. Coat liberally with olive oil.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat more olive oil on medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Sauté for 2-3 min, until onions are slightly translucent. Add bacon, sauté for about 5 min, until the bacon has sweated out most of its tasty fat.
3. Add carrots, sauté 2-3 min. Add peas, sauté another 5 min.
4. Open pasta sauce jar and pour into saucepan. To the jar, add the reserved pasta water, put back the top and give it a good shake. Add it to the heating sauce.
5. Cover saucepan, lower heat, and let the sauce come to a simmer. Leave it be for 5-10 min (depending on how impatient you and your family are).
6. In a large bowl, add drained pasta and sauce and gently mix. (It’s better to pre-mix so the sauce is evenly distributed.) Serve generously to you and your hungry brood.
   

Shopping Tips:

Pasta: I usually buy whole grain ones, organic if it's on sale. Barilla Plus tastes good; Rozoni Healthy Harvest has an extra-grainy texture and feels like a dead weight in your stomach. Bionaturae and Bella Terra are good organic Italian brands. When looking at price for organic, I can find them on sale for $1.99 or better. If you've paid more than $2.99, you've been jipped.

Pasta Sauce: Classico and Victoria are good brands, the latter though being very pricey. I look that the first ingredient is "chopped tomatoes," not "purred tomatoes" because the latter means water is the real first ingredient. Another ingredient to look for is olive oil, not soybean or canola oil, which usually means it tastes a little better.

Olive Oil: Extra-virgin olive oil is nice, but use whatever you have. I like to buy high-quality single-olive-type oils (Trader Joe's has them for a good value), no matter what country of origin, be it Italy, Greece, or Spain (I hear California has good ones too). Blended extra virgin oil of several different types of olives tend to not taste as fine (it can say it was produced in one country, like Italy, but the olives come from other countries). You and your family can be the judge.

Carrots and Peas: You can save yourself the trouble and just use 2 cups of frozen peas and carrots blend. Add frozen peas and/or carrots to the last 6-7 min of boiling the macaroni for boxed mac and cheese to sneak in more veggies there.