3 ½ cups unbleached bread flour, plus more as needed
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Pour the water in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a bread paddle. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand until the yeast is dissolved (2 – 3 minutes). Add the honey, lavender, salt and flour and mix until combined. Knead for about 6 minutes on medium. The dough should be very soft and stick to the bottom of the bowl but should pull away from the sides. If the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl add a little more flour.
Spread the walnuts out on a large cutting board and turn the dough out of the bowl and onto the nuts. Sprinkle the dough with flour and knead until all of the walnuts are evenly combined in the dough. Place the dough in a large mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel. Let room at room temperature for about an hour and a half – until it has doubled in bulk.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust with flour and stretch the dough into a 10 inch square. Fold it in half, apt it out a little, then fold it in half again so that you have a 5 or 6 inche square of dough. Cut that in half. Dusting with flour as necessary, stretch each piece of dough out until it is about 12 inches by 4 inches.
Place the loaves on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, dust with flower and cover with a clean towel and let rise at room temperature for about 45 minutes, until doubled.Bake for 30 or 35 minutes until the loaves are brown and sound hollow when thumped.
Cool on a rack.
Almost German Potato Salad
I love this potato salad and I particularly prefer it for picnics. What says summer fun better than mayonnaise baking in the sun? Yuck. Bring this one. Not that it will stay in the bowl very long anyway.
Ingredients
3 pounds new potatoes, unpeeled, cubed and cooked
½ cup minced Vidalia onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup stone ground mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 slices microwavable bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
In a large bowl combine the cooked potato and Vidalia onion and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper and whisk together. Pour the dressing over the potato and onion. Add the bacon and parsley and toss to combine. Serve warm or cold.
6 large servings
Janette’s Peanut Butter Cookie Makeover
Okay…these were Beth’s cookies but I wanted them to be a little healthier so here’s what I did. I replaced the shortening with pureed zucchini! And I used whole wheat flour. The lecithin improves the texture when you leave out the fat. Barry’s daughter came over and ate one before she knew they weren’t really Beth’s and SHE DIDN’T KNOW they were a makeover! So try them. Lots less fat and lots more fiber.
So go ahead. Eat your vegetables.
Ingredients:
1 cup grated zucchini
4 tablespoons milk 1 cup organic, peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lecithin granules (optional) 2 eggs, beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla 3 ½ - 4 cups whole wheat flour* 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 48 mini peanut butter cups
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Put the zucchini and milk in a blender and puree. Pour into a large bowl and add sugar and brown sugar, lecithin, eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a cookie scoop or teaspoon shape the dough into balls. Roll the balls of dough in sugar and place into the cups of a mini-muffin tin. Bake for 8 minutes. (NOTE: Do not over cook. The cookies should still be soft when you remove them from the oven.) When done, remove from oven and, leaving the cookies in the muffin pan, immediately push one mini-peanut butter cup into each cookie. Let cool and remove from pan.
*For a softer texture use a 50/50 mixture of whole wheat flour and brown white flour.
**You can find lecithin granules at a health food store or a GNC.
Beth’s Peanut Butter Cookies
My niece, Beth, makes the best peanut butter cookies in the world.WAIT ‘til you taste them.And come back soon because I’ll be posting my healthier makeover of Beth’s cookies so you can splurge or not and still enjoy cookies.For now – cut loose and get to baking Beth Bee’s incredible cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup shortening 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs, beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 tablespoons milk 3 ½ - 4 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 48 chocolate kisses or mini peanut butter cups
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and milk.Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt.Using a cookie scoop or teaspoon shape the dough into balls.Roll the balls of dough in sugar and place in a mini-muffin tin.Bake for 8 – 10 minutes.(NOTE:Do not over cook.The cookies should still be soft when you remove them from the oven.)When done, remove from oven and, leaving the cookies in the muffin pan, immediately push one mini-peanut butter cup into each cookie.Let cool and remove from pan.
Hey, I’m a B-FAB - nothing I like better than food!I had a show on the TV Food Network for a while called Lighten Up!I co-hosted and produced it with Christina Deyo who I knew from my Chubb Club days on the Rosie O’Donnell Show.Here’s my philosophy:People always say, “When you want a snack have a carrot.”I reply, “If I wanted a carrot I wouldn’t be fat in the first place.”Now I don’t mind being reasonably healthy.It’s important.I want to live to be 105.But I’m not eating raw vegetables when I want Mac & Cheese.That’s why I created a Mac & Cheese recipe with half the fat and calories that still tastes great.(That recipe is in our book, Embracing Your Big Fat Ass .)
On this page I’ll be doing video cooking blogs and posting recipes.I’ll have my niece, Beth Bee’s, famous peanut butter cookies (as I promised in Embracing Your Big Fat Ass) – I’ll have the recipe but you’ll also get to meet Beth.
If you have a big old fattening recipe that you’d like me to lighten for you – just send it in!
Janette’s Cauliflower Pie
This is a recipe I really made in self defense. My boyfriend, Barry, loves cauliflower and kept steaming it…in the kitchen. And eating it. With a fork. Just like that. NOTHING on it but pepper. And the aroma of steamed cauliflower! Horrifying. Nuff said. Obviously I needed to find a way to make cauliflower palatable. I succeeded so well that this has become one of my most frequently used recipes.
2 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups skim milk
2 Bay leaves
2 tablespoons Molly McButter, plus more to sprinkle
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets and lightly steamed, in chicken stock
6 sheets phyllo dough
Butter Flavored Cooking Spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about a minute. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in the milk stirring constantly. Add the Bay leaf and 2 tablespoons of Molly McB and the nutmeg. Cook, stirring for about 10 minutes until it thickens. Season with pepper.
Place steamed cauliflower in glass pie pan 10 inches wide and 2 inches deep. Pour white sauce evenly over the florets removing Bay leaves.
Open package of the phyllo dough. Carefully unroll phyllo sheets onto a flat, dry surface. Immediately cover with a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper and top with a damp towel. Uncover to remove the phyllo sheets one at a time, laying the first sheet over the cauliflower in the pie pan. Spray the phyllo sheet quickly with cooking spray. Place another layer of phyllo cross ways on top and spray and sprinkle with Molly McButter. Repeat until you have 6 layers of phyllo dough. Fold edges inward forming a round edge to the pie. Lightly spray the top.
Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes until the dough is golden brown. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Serves 4
NOTE: The amount of Molly McButter to use in your Phyllo crust is really a matter of personal taste. Just remember the flavor is very buttery, but also salty.
