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Honey Vanilla Peanut Butter

Written on December 19, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

I really like fancy flavored peanut butter and almond butter and all those butters. The problem is they’re usually double or triple the price. Thankfully they’re so easy to make at home. This is a great DIY recipe if you want to make breakfast a little more special, or even a great homemade gift to give a peanut butter lover in your life.

Honey and vanilla go so well together, even better with peanut butter. I got tired of making this in single servings and decided to make a big batch so I could eat it again and again. You can start with peanuts or peanut butter that’s already ground—the recipe’s pretty much the same either way.

Honey Vanilla Peanut Butter

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16oz):

12oz(3 cups) peanuts OR 12oz(1 1/2 cups) peanut butter
1/2 Tablespoon good quality vanilla extract
3 heaping Tablespoons honey

Method:

Put the peanuts into the food processor and blend until it forms a smooth, runny butter(if using peanut butter, omit this step).
Combine the rest of the ingredients with the peanut butter in the food processor and blend until emulsified.
Scrape into a seal-tight jar. Store at room temperature for up to a month.

I somewhat wanted to add more honey to this because it wasn’t quite sweet enough for my taste; then again, I have a huge sweet tooth and would turn everything into dessert if I could, so I’m guessing 3 tablespoons is enough for most people, although judge by taste always.

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Cinnamon Honey Butter

Written on November 28, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

This week is all about Thanksgiving recipes. In some respects that was poor planning on my part, since Thanksgiving won’t come around again for another 51 weeks; but I hope some of these recipes you’ll be able to work in and enjoy for Christmas or other times during the year, like this one.

This was so simple to make it almost didn’t feel like a recipe at all. And yet despite how easy it is, the flavor is rich and complex. You could easily make this to keep around for breakfast on toast or dinner on squash. It’s kind of addicting; before you know it you’ll be slathering this on anything.

This recipe calls for unsalted butter; I think it’s always best to keep that in stock since you can always add salt later on. If all you have is salted butter, just omit the added salt in the recipe and it will still taste great.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
6 Tablespoons honey
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

In a small bowl, work all of the ingredients together until completely mixed together.
Scoop the butter onto a piece of Saran wrap. Roll the butter into a log and place it in the refrigerator to solidify.
Unwrap the butter and put it on a butter dish to serve.

When I made this, I licked the bowl I mixed it in. It was simultaneously the grossest and best part of my day. The end.

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Simple Fruit Sauce For Pancakes

Written on June 15, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Breakfast, Miscellaneous

Have you tried these pancakes yet? I eat them probably 3 times a week for breakfast. If that’s wrong I don’t want to be right.

The thing is, they’re healthy, too. On account of the garbanzo bean flour and egg they have 10g of fiber and 18g of protein. Add a little something sweet and that’s a breakfast.

This fruit syrup is simple—no fuss—and only has a touch of honey for sweetness making it plenty healthy, too. So go ahead, pour it on, and pass it over.

Simple Fruit Syrup

Ingredients:

8oz fresh or frozen fruit(try strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, even mango!)
1 Tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon salt

Cook the fruit in a small pot over a low heat until tender enough that a fork easily glides through.

Mash the fruit until smooth and jelly-like. Alternatively, you could puree the fruit in a food processor or blender for an even smoother puree.

Stir in the honey and salt.

Pour into a serving container and serve. Refrigerate leftover sauce for 2-3 days.

You could eat this on pancakes, ice cream, toast—anything! I like the sauce thicker so you get whole chunks of fruit in every bite. It thickens up as it cools to be more like jelly, so you might want to heat it up depending on how you’re using it. It would taste great warm on ice cream, though I think that goes without saying.

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Honey Recipe Round-Up

Written on May 8, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Recipe Round-Up

I love honey. Like, I really love honey, a maybe-I’ll-stop-after-3-spoonful’s-straight-from-the-jar kind of love. It’s light sweetness is perfect for sweet and savory foods which make it a chef’s best friend. Here are a few of my favorite dishes with honey in them. Hopefully you’ll find something you like enough to make for your honey(aren’t I a hoot?).

January 11th 112

Vegged-Out Quinoa

February 22nd 031

Roasted Squash With Caramelized Onions and Craisins

December 27th 025

Hot Honey Asian Chicken Marinade

January 24th 049

Honey Butter Blondies

Speaking of honey…

It’s the 2nd ingredient and only sweetener in Perfect Foods Bars, and there’s still 2 more days to enter the giveaway, so go do so if you haven’t!

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Honey Cashew Butter

Written on April 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

I’ve probably said this before but I could spend all too much money on something like a fancy nut butter. Even plain almond butter or cashew butter runs a mean price tag when it’s so easy to make at home. I picked up a pound of cashews for $5 from the bulk bin and managed to make 18oz of “gourmet” cashew butter with a few ingredients on hand. I’ll never look back at store-bought again.

Honey Cashew Butter

Ingredients:

4 cups cashews, raw or roasted
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons neutral oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add the cashews to a food processor and start blending on high.

When the cashew butter starts to form a dough ball, add in the honey, salt, and oil and continue processing. Stop sooner for a thicker consistency or blend longer for a smooth and runny cashew butter.

I like my cashew butter a little chunky so I didn’t puree it too much and it came out perfect. On a spoon it almost taste like cookie dough. This could be dangerous.

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Carrots Vichy

Written on March 11, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

I, just like George Washington, can not tell a lie: These are not Carrot Vichy. If you don’t know what Carrot Vichy is, clearly you’ve never googled it. According to Epicurious, it’s thinly sliced carrots cooked in butter, sugar, and Vichy water(whatever the hell that is) and sprinkled with parsley. Instead I made these with honey and olive oil for a lighter flavor, and swapped the herbs for what I had on hand.

(Almost) Carrots Vichy

Ingredients:

1lb large carrots, sliced thin
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon dried herbs
salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Thinly slice the carrots about 1/4-inch thick and put them in a mixing bowl.

Pour in the olive oil and honey.

Next add in the salt and herbs(I used dill; herbs de Provence would also be good here) and mix it all together. Lay out the carrots on a baking tray and cook for about 45-55 minutes or until the carrots are soft and tender.

I don’t care what you call them; these are tasty. Every other time I’ve made roasted carrots they’ve come out tough, but these were actually soft. But I guess since I used tap water these are Carrots Tap?

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Honey-Olive Oil Butternut Squash

Written on February 17, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Even though Winter is ending, I still love eating any squash I can my hands on. They aren’t exactly Spring or Summer fare, but neither are the temperatures, so as long as it’s cold I’m going to figure out how to eat them in new, seasonal ways. Honey and olive oil are a natural pair for any dressing, but it turns out they work together well in this cooked recipe, too. The squash came out sweet and slightly fruity; if I closed my eyes I could almost imagine it weren’t 30 degrees outside.

Honey-Olive Oil Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, halved and deseeded
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Roast the squash by itself for an hour until soft and tender.

Remove the squash from the oven and poke holes in the flesh. Pour on 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and honey on each side of the squash. Put it back in the oven and cook for another 30 minutes.

Pour off the excess liquid and serve hot with a pinch of salt on top.

I was impressed with how strong the flavors of honey and olive oil were even after cooking; they make the squash taste more Summery and less earthy, so it was a nice depart from plain butternut squash. And because it was olive oil and not butter, it felt light.

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Honey Butter Blondies

Written on January 31, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

There is so much right about these it’s hard to know where to begin. Honey butter is a sweet and rich condiment made of 1 part honey to 1 part butter. It’s a great thing to spread on toast, in sandwiches—wherever! It only seemed natural that this would make an excellent blondie, and with chocolate chips(because what do those not make better?). The flavor of honey butter shines through more as an aftertaste. I would have liked these to be a little fudgier but if you like your brownies more cakey then these are for you.

Honey Butter Blondies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup(1 stick) butter(or Earth Balance) at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour(I used Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free)
1/3 cup chocolate or white chocolate chips.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Start by creaming together your butter, sugar, and honey until it’s nice and smooth without any clumps. Add in the egg, extract, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and beat lightly.

Sift in the flour and mix again until the batter is even. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips gently.

Press the batter into a greased 8×8 baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the center has set. Cool completely before cutting in and serving.

The top looked burnt but it wasn’t at all; I can only assume the ingredients cook to be that deep brown color. It actually smelled a lot like graham crackers baking!

I ate mine hot out of the oven and it was amazing. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a pat of honey butter on top. Technically, these were honey margarine blondies since I made mine with Earth Balance, but that doesn’t sound nearly as appealing so we’ll just stick with honey butter.

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Vegged-Out Quinoa

Written on January 13, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Sometimes you just want a lot of warm vegetables, you know? I made this one day that I wanted to bulk up some quinoa and just veg out. It was perfect with some baked tofu thrown on top, and then a few days later as a side dish with roasted chicken. My favorite thing about this is how flavorful it is, and it doesn’t even start with stock. I know vegetable/chicken stock is a great thing to keep in your pantry, but I just don’t. It’s easier that way. And you won’t even notice it’s missing here because there’s already so much to love.

Vegged-Out Quinoa

Ingredients(Makes 4 to 6 servings):

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion, diced
2 large carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or cooking oil
2 cups water
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Start by heating up your butter or oil over medium heat in a large pan.

Chop all of your vegetables and add them into the heated pan. Keep an eye on this and stir for about 10-15 minutes until the onion is translucent and just beginning to caramelize.

While that’s cooking, measure out your quinoa. Rinse and drain it first to remove the saponin.

*If you’re using a rice cooker, add your quinoa and two cups of water in and turn it on to the appropriate setting.

**If you’re using the stove, wait until the vgetables are done coking. Then add the quinoa and water into the same pot and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan and turn off the heat and wait for the quinoa to absorb the water.

Add in your salt, pepper, and parsley right before cooking.

Once the quinoa is fully cooked and the water has been absorbed, add in the honey and spinach and fold them into the mix. Serve hot.

This is sweet, it’s savory, a little bitter and kissed with salt. It has a great flavor all its own and can stand up to any protein on a dish. And it’s a real crowd-pleaser. I think adding all the vegetables just gives you an excuse to eat more because it’s so darn healthy.

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Hot Honey Asian Chicken Marinade

Written on December 30, 2010 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

One of my parents’ favorite things to eat for dinner is chicken. It’s a nice, lean protein(because you know everyone’s always on a diet until the weekend) and it takes on flavors wonderfully. We like to keep things simple here, so a marinade is perfect; you just throw the chicken and sauce together in a bag in the morning and it’s ready to bake that night—no fuss!

This has a fun, savory flavor that’s not too abrasive but definitely not boring. It pairs perfectly with seasoned rice or steamed vegetables.

Hot Honey Asian Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:

1lb skinned and deboned chicken
3 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 tablespoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a large Ziploc bag, combine the sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, water, salt, chili powder, and black pepper. Add in the chicken and shake it so that the liquid mixture covers everything. Put the chicken and marinade in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to rest.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Bake the chicken for 45 minutes in the sauce until it has cooked through.

I love it when a recipe has extra sauce so that you can pour it all over your sides and make it feel like a complete dish. This makes plenty of extra, so pour it on thick and dig in.

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