A Smitten Kitchen Sunday: One-Dish Strawberry-Rhubarb Bars and Maple-Cardamom-Bran Muffins with Peaches and Rhubarb

Consider this a little dance break from Everyday Favorites (although I wouldn't be surprised if the recipes herein become everyday favorites by next week). I just couldn't wait. Time is of the essence. Rhubarb is only in season for so long!

You see: I did some recipe testing for you. Just in case, you know, Smitten Kitchen Deb's seven years of beautiful, reliable blogging (with one memorable exception - learn from my mistake and the comments of disgruntled others and don't make it!), along with, say, her beautiful, reliable cookbook, hadn't yet won you over. Actually I'm fibbing. I didn't have you in mind at all. I just really wanted to eat rhubarb - the Minnesotan kind! from the ground! which is no longer frozen! - and I've had a near-fanatical muffin-making obsession lately. So, when recipes for rhubarb bars and, subsequently, fruity, hearty bran muffins appeared on SK's homepage in the last couple of weeks, it was just a matter of time. Specifically, time until the season-opener Mill City farmer's market (to get rhubarb, last weekend). Also for some reason it took me several trips to the grocery store before I remembered to buy bran. (A grocery list? What on earth is that? No. Way. That is genius. I'm on it. Next time.)

So I want to encourage you to make the strawberry-rhubarb bars because they are easy and delicious - definitely treat-like, and yet their sweetness is tempered by all those oats and punch of red fruit that's redolent of nothing less than spring - Spring - and all its sunshiny juiciness. They really are one-pan bars (you can even ditch measuring utensils if you use a scale, because Deb always ever so kindly provides weight measurements for her ingredients too). Here are pictures of mine (they aren't quite as tidy as the SK ones):

And here is a link to the recipe, which I followed as written, subbing whole wheat pastry flour for all-purpose.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Bars

I'm storing them in the refrigerator and they taste v. nice cold.

My bran muffins are a little more complicated. I really wanted to not use all-purpose flour and struggled with the fact that this basically means I'm throwing all chances of lusciously domed muffins out the window. With great force. And not for lack of trying.

Whole wheat flour, not unlike gluten-free flours and blends, is tricky to work with. It hydrates differently, it can result in a texture anywhere from sandy to brick-like depending on who knows what all variables, and some people just don't find it tasty. I do find it tasty though, and have been inspired to sort out some 100% whole grain (well, in this case, plus bran) muffins for a couple reasons: (1) while wheat is back in our lives (hooray!), we still avoid barley (an ingredient in all-purpose flour) and anyway I (sometimes feebly) aspire to feed my family less processed/more whole foods; (2) my husband makes a killer 100% whole wheat bread. Have you ever tried that? It is HARD. Most bakeries don't even bother. But he does it week after week, with no dairy or eggs or sugar to help. It's never sandy. It's never brick-like. It tends to dome nicely. I have GOT to be able to manage a muffin then!

OMG. I can't believe you're still reading. Why are we even here anymore?

Because, muffin top or not, these muffins are SO FREAKING GOOD. And pretty healthy. And I am proud of them. I think I have to be proud of them because after I made rhubarb bars and bran muffins, I made more bran muffins. The Blue Sky Bran Muffin recipe just didn't work without the all-purpose flour gluten boost. But with some help from my friends at King Arthur Flour, I figured it out.

If you want a simple recipe with bran + all-purpose flour, go to Smitten Kitchen's Blue Sky Bran Muffin recipe. They look really good.

If you want a 100% whole wheat-fruit muffin recipe (no bran), try out this King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffin recipe. They have domes.

If you want a maple-cardamom spiced hybrid of the two - you've come to the right place! Because, well, while Take 1's muffins were super tasty, their centers sunk (that is the opposite of doming), plus the fruit all pooled to the bottom of the muffins and they ended up having kind of soggy underbellies.

Take 2, however - thank heavens, since it was getting late for this baker, tireless as she may seem - Take 2 resulted in just-enough sweet, structurally sound, perfect-crumbed, evenly-fruited whole wheat-oat bran muffins. They were everything I hoped for (minus the dome).

And I think I'll stop rambling now because it seems about time, doesn't it?

Maple-Cardamom-Bran Muffins with [Fruit of Your Liking]

Yield: 12 muffins

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and King Arthur Flour

Dry ingredients

1 1/2 cups (127 g) oat or wheat bran

1 1/4 cups (156 g) whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour, not whole wheat pastry flour)

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup berries or finely chopped fruit, fresh or frozen (e.g. blueberries + nectarine; rhubarb + peaches)

Wet ingredients

1 1/3 cup buttermilk, or plain or vanilla yogurt thinned with a little milk

1/3 cup oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional, could just use 2 more tablespoons buttermilk or yogurt)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla or - if you can get your hands on it, in which case you should - cardamom extract

Cinnamon sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Whisk together dry ingredients, making sure no clumps of brown sugar or baking soda remain (I used my fingers for this; v. gratifying). Toss fruit with dry ingredients.

Whisk together all wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined. Allow batter to rest for 5-10 minutes (this allows wheat flour and bran to hydrate a little more, making the dough more workable). Give batter one more gentle stir to make sure fruit hasn't sunk to bottom.

Measure out 1/3-cup portions of batter into each muffin cup. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon-sugar if you'd like. Bake for 9 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another 9 minutes. Use a knife to test for doneness. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then remove to racks to cool a bit more. These are delicious warm but I can tell they are moist enough to stay good for a couple days stored in an airtight container, and indefinitely in the freezer. (Microwave frozen muffins for 30 seconds or bring them to work or school frozen and enjoy a thawed, room-temp one a few hours later.)

P.S. As of this evening, I have 28 muffins, 10 mini muffins, and 6 pieces of crumb cake in my freezer. If you're hungry, you should come over. (I also have vegan, nut- and gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.)

P.P.S. Look at this POT OF GOLD I just found!

Everyday Favorites: Red Lentils Gone Perfect

Sometimes, I start with a recipe. There are a lot of good recipes out there, you see. And no desire for newness or inclination towards creativity in the kitchen makes reinventing the wheel worthwhile (imho). There's also all that stuff from the first day of my Everyday Favorites series - that stuff about how trying to be really experimental seems at this point like a once-upon-a-time luxury whose sun set about the time my second child started eating solids. There are other people who actually have the time to be experimental with food and even get paid to do so - all for our benefit!

Here are my favorite places (cookbooks, this time) to find good recipes:

America's Test Kitchen Mega Tome - it's almost, almost full-proof. Good resource for how to do classics right. Sometimes things require a little more time than my typical Everyday Favorites slapdash approach, but always worth it.

The Art of Simple Food.  Exactly what its title promises.

Around My French Table. Shockingly accessible. Uncompromisingly beautiful. Around Dorie Greenspan's French table, it's about skills and quality ingredients and good habits. All in the name of feeding the people you love and basking in the glow of their company. She makes you want to entertain.

The Breakfast Book. Old-fashioned pancakes-and-eggs perfection. It's the stuff bed-and-breakfast breakfasts are made of (and I say this only having had v. positive, albeit few, b&b experiences). This book has been a little neglected on account of our "strict avoidance" throughout the last two years, but as Beckett outgrows some of his food allergies and my husband and I grow a little more cavalier about what we allow him to try (don't worry, we're v. safe about it), I am hoping it will make a comeback.

In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite. Everyone calls this book welcoming, and that's exactly what it is. Melissa Clark (NY Times columnist and covert author of as many as half the cookbooks you own) is the kind of quirky you like in a best friend and the kind of bold you wish were yourself. I like her for all the reasons all the other bloggers like her, and also because I think she and I have strikingly similar palates.

These are all excellent cookbooks. The original recipe for the lentils came from that last one - which I'm going to go ahead and (channeling my inner Melissa Clark) boldly call my favorite cookbook of all time.

Melissa Clark's red lentil recipe is nearly perfect as written. She seasons hers with cumin and paprika, brightens them with a lot of lemon juice and chopped carrots, and includes enough liquid to call them soup. I made them as written several times and loved them (hence the several times). But I like my lentils thicker, less soupy. And as much as I love cumin, I like to mix it up with spices as often as I can (living three and a half blocks from a Penzey's will do this to you), so I messed around until I found my own bright, citrusy-curry assortment of spices. And of course I added a sweet potato and of course I tripled the fresh herbs and of course I threw in the zest of my lemon along with the juice. And of course I now make it this way all the time, because these red lentils are now, of course, perfect.

I make a pot of these early in the week and eat them for lunch for the next few days. They are good piping hot, straight from the pot. Or warm, slathered on toast. Or room temp, spread on a pita, with some fresh feta. Or over some brown rice or quinoa, topped with diced avocado and radishes and a drizzle of olive oil. They freeze well too, so if I'm tired of them after a couple days, I'll put what's left in an old yogurt container and freeze them until I crave them and/or have nothing to eat in my refrigerator.

Spiced Red Lentils with Sweet Potatoes

Makes ~4 cups

2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil

½ an onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

½ cup other veggies you like, chopped (e.g. fennel, bell pepper, jalapeño if you want some heat)

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional, but nice)

1 teaspoon each: ground fenugreek seeds, ground galangal, ground coriander*

½ teaspoon each: salt and pepper

Zest and juice of 1 lime or lemon

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup water

1 cup red lentils

1 large sweet potato, scrubbed clean and cut into ½” dice

Large handful cilantro and/or mint (or, heck! the whole bunch!), finely chopped

* Could substitute either 2 teaspoons curry powder, or 1 teaspoon cumin + 1 teaspoon coriander + 1/2 teaspoon (smoked/hot/whatever you like) paprika

In a large pot, heat the oil over high heat. Add onions, carrot, celery, and other vegetables of choice, and cook for 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, lime or lemon zest, salt, pepper, and spices of choice and sauté for 2 minutes longer.

Add broth, water and lentils. Bring to a simmer, then add sweet potatoes. Add a little more water if necessary – you want just enough to barely cover everything. Return to boil, then lower heat to medium-low, partially cover pot and simmer until lentils are soft, about 20-30 minutes. Give everything a good stir. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Remove from heat. Stir in lemon or lime juice and fresh herbs.

Everyday Favorites: Saturday Smoothie with Banana, Cinnamon, and Sun Butter

Well happy Saturday! Wait a minute. Where did Saturday go? Oh yes. It drowned in the rain we're experiencing this week. My husband told me last night that many meteorologists come from Minnesota because, go figure, there is WEATHER here - dynamic, always-interesting-if-you're-into-that-sort-of-thing, worthy-of-study-and-commentary weather. I haven't fact checked this or anything, but it sounds reasonable, especially in light of a conversation I had with my bff Nicole in Corralitos, California, where their experience of weather is the exact opposite of the kind of weather above-described (and where I grew up, knowing exactly zero people who aspired to be a meteorologist). Especially in recent years, Corralitos and surrounding areas seem to cling to a general forecast of mostly sunny, highs in the low 70s. It's delightful to just be in weather like that: beautiful, fragrant, almost disconcertingly comfortable. As we sat in her backyard, Nicole had an epiphany. She observed that she never realized what the big hype about weather was, until it occurred to her recently that my life is entirely different from her own, largely because of the weather. To which I responded: Yes. We've got an urban/rural distinction too, but it primarily is the weather that gives our lives such different landscapes. Spring cleaning in Minnesota is a real thing. We literally pack up half the stuff we've been using for the last eight months and tuck it into our basements, from snow boots to pizza stones. ("Pizza stones? Why?" you (or Nicole) might ask. Because in the winter, turning our oven to 500 degrees is really just giving our furnace a break. Baking that aggressively in summer while we've got our air conditioner cranked up as high as it can go is just plain evil bad stewardship. See? Weather. It affects everything here. Especially once you move out of that condo...)

I digress. Happy Monday! About that smoothie.

So this is the smoothie I drink every Saturday. You can drink it any day you'd like, but it's fairly high calorie, so I can justify it only on Saturdays, because Saturdays are when I do my extra long workout at the YWCA. This smoothie is so delicious it has almost motivated me to do an extra long workout on other days of the week. But then I remember how nice sitting is and I opt out.

This smoothie is popular with the children and MC too. Once you read the ingredients you will understand. It's a whole bunch of yummy things blended together.

Saturday Smoothie with Banana, Cinnamon, and Sun Butter

Yields: 1 large smoothie

A note on the optional protein powder: I use Tera's Whey or Vega Protein Powder most of the time, which both have a great texture, dissolve into liquid seamlessly, and are slightly sweetened with stevia. If you don't use a sweetened protein powder and/or a sweetened non-dairy beverage and/or if your banana isn't super ripe, a couple teaspoons of honey or maple syrup might be in order. Also, sometimes I throw in a handful of spinach. It totally works. And then you're trendy circa 2007 because you're drinking a green smoothie.

1 cup milk or non-dairy alternative

1 apple or banana

2 tablespoons sunflower seed butter, almond butter, or peanut butter

1 scoop / 2-3 tablespoons vanilla protein powder (optional)

1 teaspoon maca or lucuma powder (optional - these are weird overpriced completely nonessential natural sweeteners; I like them and you can buy maca powder in bulk at the Wedge Co-op)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt if seed or nut butter is unsalted

5-6 ice cubes

Blend everything together until smooth and cold and perfect. Enjoy. Whatever the weather. And hey! Great job on that killer workout!

Everyday Favorites: Blender Waffles (or Pancakes)(gluten-free, vegan, need VitaMix other SuperBlender)

This is what I envision right now: a series of posts called "Everyday Favorites" in which all our family's standards get posted on this site.

This is why: well, first of all, I'm motivated by a big old kitchen failure that occurred yesterday. It was veggie loaf - like meat loaf but with lentils and veggies instead of meat and eggs. It was horrible. Like, took a bite, made a face, spit it out, promptly threw two loaves in the garbage horrible. On Earth Day, no less! Hence a failure on several levels. On the heels of that debacle, I'm reminded, bittersweetly, of how much has changed since I started this kitchen journal, and how I need to sometimes set aside my ambition and just stick to what works. We culinarily-inclined do not find this an easy task. When life hands us lemons (or food allergies or a powerful article on the environmental impact of eating meat and dairy at the rate we do), we make lemonade! Even if our first try tastes like straight-up distilled white vinegar with a shot of flax seed oil and we wonder how all that hard work could be so utterly fruitless, we persevere! A few years ago, if I made a crap veggie loaf, I'd keep trying until I got it right. But times have changed. I have a different kitchen. I have less time. I have more mouths to feed. I work with costly ingredients that I can't afford to waste. If something isn't good to start with, I can't be bothered with it again. The tinkering in my kitchen is going to happen with things that are good to start with, but that I know I can make better, or at least own a little more (i.e. add cilantro).

So my Everyday Favorites series (I've got five things in mind - one for every meal of the day and, yes, I consider our two snacks per day meals) is meant to be my opportunity to share with you some of my most beloved recipes. The recipes that I return to over and over again - recipes that started out decent enough but, over time, after a lot of tinkering, arrived at a place that I'd call perfect.

Today's is the inaugural post, starring our favorite waffles. Perfect waffles, actually.

I mean, right? That's mostly MC's handiwork.

We make them about one night a month, usually two batches at once*; I soak the grains in the morning and make the batter at night while my husband mans the iron (how decidedly gendered of us). We let them cool on racks and then we freeze them, eight per bag, and reheat them in the toaster for quick breakfasts. (I find that all breakfasts with children need to be quick - and we haven't even started our 7:06 am school bus pick-up yet! Oh dreaded Fall 2014...)

I was going to rave about how economical these are but am a little reluctant. The grains, especially if bought in bulk, are super cheap. I figure these cost about $4-5 for 12 waffles, which is half the cost of the Van's gluten free ones. But then there's that VitaMix thing. Total luxury item.

So while they are only a qualified *cheap*, they are an unqualified delicious, they have a great chewy bite but brown and crisp up perfectly around the edges, they store beautifully, and they're made from all whole foods. I've also given you a pancake variation at the bottom, if you like the concept of this recipe (and you have a VitaMix or something comparable), but you are waffle iron-averse. (Perhaps you are like me and have been burned a few too many times attempting gluten-free, egg-free waffles. Pun totally intended.)

Another reason for the Everyday Favorites series: this is a record for me as well as you. This waffle recipe took a fair amount of trial and error. MC and I agree that we have got it d-o-w-n this time. Now I've got the formula stored on the trusty internets for next month!

Other Everyday Breakfast Favorites:

Big Crunch Granola

Carrot Cake Pancakes (another blender recipe)

Baked Oatmeal

For more pictures of what the grains/process looks like, check out this old post.

* When I say we make two batches, I really mean we make two rounds of the same thing back-to-back. Doubling doesn't work because the VitaMix can only accommodate so many soaked grains and cups of fluid. FYI.

Whole Grain Blender Waffles (gluten free, vegan if you want)

Yield: ~12 waffles

1 1/4 cup brown rice

3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, whey, or lemon juice

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1 cup milk, nondairy beverage, or water

1/2 cup applesauce (could substitute: 1 very ripe banana; 1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato or pumpkin)

1/4 cup oil (I've used all of the following with similar results: grapeseed, melted coconut, rice bran, or olive oil)

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

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Spray oil to grease waffle iron

Optional add-ins:

1 cup mini-chocolate chips or 1 grated apple or pear (stir into batter after you've finished with blender)

1 cup fresh or frozen berries (add to blender after everything else is mixed, before adding baking powder - you'll want the berries a little chopped up but not so processed that the batter turns blue or pink)

In a large bowl or measuring cup, cover brown rice and buckwheat groats with water by about 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, whey, or lemon juice and soak for 8-24 hours. 

When you're ready to make your waffles, preheat your waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Drain the grains, rinse them in a fine sieve, and pour them into your blender. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the baking powder, and blend until smooth. Add a little more water, 1-2 tablespoons at a time if you'd like a thinner batter. If you are using berries, add them now and blend until coarsely chopped and evenly dispersed throughout batter. Add the baking powder and blend on low, briefly, until just incorporated. If you are using chocolate chips or grated apple or pear, manually stir it into the batter after the baking powder has been incorporated and you are basically done with the blender.

Spray the waffle iron with oil. Ladle batter into iron. (Note! Err on the side of too little batter during the first go. An imperfect-looking, small waffle is better than a waffle batter mess all over the sides of your iron.) Cook according to manufacturer's instructions. If you plan on freezing them, aim for a little underdone, as the toaster will brown them a little more. Enjoy!

Pancake Variation

Yield: 24ish silver-dollar size pancakes

1 1/4 cup brown rice or oat groats (don't use oat groats if making waffles though! - they won't crisp)

3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats or millet

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, whey, or lemon juice

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1 cup milk, nondairy beverage, or water

1/2 cup applesauce or 1-2 very ripe banana(s)

2 tablespoons oil (I've used all of the following with similar results: grapeseed, melted coconut, rice bran, or olive oil)

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

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Butter or high-heat oil for greasing skillet or griddle

See above for optional additions.

If making pancakes, consider some of the optional add-ins above, but quickly sprinkle them into the pancake batter once it's in your skillet or griddle, before flipping.

In a large bowl or measuring cup, cover brown rice and buckwheat groats with water by about 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, whey, or lemon juice and soak for 8-24 hours. Drain the grains, rinse them in a fine sieve, and pour them into your blender. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the baking powder, and blend until smooth. Add a little more water, 1-2 tablespoons at a time if you'd like a thinner batter. Add the baking powder and blend on low, briefly, until just incorporated.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil or butter in a skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Add pancake batter in 2-tablespoon increments (my batter was thin and spread considerably to make perfect 4" pancakes). Cook for a couple minutes over medium heat and once bubbles begin to form (see picture above), carefully flip and cook another minute or two.