You might notice something weird about this recipe, which is that instead of eggs, oil, butter, and the like, I have used a pureed can of black beans. I first tried using black beans in brownies for health reasons, but truth be told, I love the texture it creates – super fudgy and rich. Plus, it means these brownies are dairy-free and egg-free, which is helpful for some of the folks I know with dietary restrictions.

Recipe: Fudgy Chocolate Porter Brownies
makes one 9×13 pan

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 15 oz. can black beans
• 1 12 oz. can porter-style beer (I used Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter)
• 1 1/2 cups flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
• Rinse beans in a colander until the water runs clear. Put the rinsed beans in a blender or food processor and puree well. Add a few splashes of the beer and keep mixing until the puree is smooth, about the consistency of cake batter.
• Combine flour, cocoa powder, sugars, salt, and baking powder and stir well. Add bean puree, remaining beer, and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until brownies are mostly cooked through but still a little soft in the middle (they will continue to cook as they cool.)
• Cool in the pan and cut into squares when cool.
• These are best at room temperature with ice cream, and will keep in an airtight container for a couple days.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy…

• Guinness Chocolate Cake 
• Millionaire’s Chocolate Truffle Torte
• Samoas Ice Cream Cake
• Betty Crocker’s Toffee Bars

Over the years, I have figured out quite a few diet hacks to achieve both of these goals. Because that whole “no pain, no gain” thing doesn’t really fly with me. You can eat healthy and still be a hedonist. Here are some of my favorite tricks!

Top Ten Diet Hacks I Use Almost Every Day to Eat Healthier 

1. Grated parmesan cheese is your friend. There are only 30 calories in a whole tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese, and it will do wonders for the flavor of almost anything. Add some to a scrambled egg, some sauteed zucchini or broccoli, or almost anything else. Salty, satisfying umami flavor without a big calorie load.
2. Spices add flavor in place of fat. One of my favorite lunches is to saute cauliflower with tons of curry powder, onions, and garlic, and eat it over just a little bit of rice. The turmeric in your curry powder is full of health benefits, which is an added bonus! Another is to do a broccoli stir fry with coriander, soy sauce, and rice vinegar with sriracha. If you spice and season food more heavily, you don’t miss the flavor you might get from adding oil or fat.
3. Make your own snacks instead of eating chips and crackers. I never in a million years would have thought I would enjoy eating things like kale chips and oven-roasted edamame, but it turns out, when I want to snack, I want salt + crunch – guilt. These fit the bill perfectly. Homemade popcorn is another ideal snack. I add salt and a bit of oil with the unpopped kernels and cook it all on the stovetop. If you use a nut oil like macadamia or hazelnut, it adds a lot of flavor. The popcorn itself is not caloric, so a healthy nut or olive oil is where all of the calories are coming from. Control that and you can control what you’re getting.
4. Add more shellfish to your diet. Did you know that scallops have around 20 calories apiece? You can get full on four or five sauteed scallops pretty easily. Control the oil or butter you use, and you control the calorie count. Shrimp are also super low calorie. Shellfish also have lots of vitamins and some Omega-3s (although not as many as fatty fish like salmon.)
5. Roasted (and toasted) things taste better. Roasting vegetables in the oven is not only easier and less fussy, it also makes things taste better. Whether it’s carrots, soup ingredients, broccoli, or anything else – the oven is your friend.
6. Boost flavor with broth. A cup of chicken broth has around 15 calories–in other words, a negligible amount. But it can do wonders for the flavor without adding more butter or oil. The pouches of chicken broth concentrate you can get now are also pretty terrific. At 20 calories a pop, they can add a flavor boost that turns a healthy meal into something savory and satisfying.
7. Opt for cast-iron or non-stick cookware. You can saute things in a lot less oil with a nonstick or cast-iron pan. A small splash of olive oil will work if you have a nonstick or seasoned pan. For some things, you can even go completely oil-free.
8. Try a cauliflower mash instead of mashed potatoes. OK, so they’re not mashed potatoes, but mashed cauliflower is a great stand-in for your favorite starchy puree. Boil cauliflower and puree it in a food processor with nonfat yogurt and parmesan cheese. Goes great with those scallops, by the way. You can try combining the cauliflower with sweet potatoes or caramelized onions for a different take on it.
9. Eat raw fish at home. This is not for everyone, because some people don’t enjoy raw fish, but if you do, chances are you don’t make it at home. You should! If you don’t cook the fish, you don’t need to use oil or butter to cook it in. One of our favorite dinners is homemade salmon poke or ahi poke – with all the health benefits of fish and none of the butter, oil, or batter we’d need to cook it.
10. Substitute nonfat vanilla yogurt for whipped cream. If you’re like me, the thought of taking a bite of cake with no accompanying whipped cream is pure heresy. Nonfat vanilla yogurt can stand in pretty well. I have tried several brands, and I like the Trader Joe’s version best for this hack.

Here are some of my favorite recipes that use these diet hacks: 

• Easy Oven-Roasted Carrots
• Spicy Soy Kale Chips
• Roasted Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Puree
• Toasted Broccoli Soup with Coriander and Lemongrass
• Roasted Sesame Edamame Pods
• Guiltless Cauliflower Puree with Caramelized Onions
• How to Simultaneously Clean Out Your Fridge, Get Your Vitamins, and Shrink Your Muffintop (Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipe) 
• Ginger Sesame Ahi Poke
• Baked Salt & Vinegar Sweet Potato Chips
• Salmon Avocado Poke with Lime and Mint
• Crunchy Oil-Free Granola Made Exactly to your Liking
• Curry Powder

Now, here is everything I know about juleps:

• The ice must be crushed, not cubed – luckily you can do this in your blender.
• You are supposed to serve it in a sterling silver julep cup; so sue me, I don’t happen to own any of those. I used a glass double-walled Bodum glass because of all the crushed ice and the ensuing coldness.
• If you drink more than one julep you will probably be at the least a little tipsy. They go down nice and smooth, but are really just booze slushies. Which is surprising, because according to Wikipedia, Virginians used to drink them in the morning. Whoa.
• The Hawksmoor, a steakhouse in London, has an entire menu of different kinds of juleps, which is weird, because I don’t usually associate British people with julepry.
• Julepry is not a word, but it should be.

In case you are wondering, my four favorite mixing bourbons are, in no particular order: Four Roses, Bulleit, Buffalo Trace, and Elijah Craig.

Recipe: Blackberry Mint Juleps
makes 3-4, depending on your glass size

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pint blackberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup mint leaves, plus a few extra for garnish
• 3/4 cup good quality bourbon (I like Four Roses, Bulleit, Buffalo Trace, or Elijah Craig)
• lots of crushed ice (buy already crushed, or crush it in your blender)

METHOD:

• Combine blackberries, sugar, and mint leaves in a blender and add about 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth.
• Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the seeds.
• Combine strained puree and bourbon in a cocktail shaker. Shake well.
• Pack glasses with crushed ice and pour shaker contents over, through a strainer.
• Garnish with a mint leaf.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy…

• Raspberry Vanilla Syrup for your Cocktails, Mocktails, Lemonade, & More
• Raspberry Reposado Margaritas
• Strawberry Popper Cocktail

Well, this is a true story with a happy ending, because I made these easy and delicious chicken lettuce wraps. This is a super simple recipe that comes together quickly. You marinade the chicken for 30 minutes or so, and right before dinner, it cooks up in a frying pan in about 5 minutes. The marinade becomes a saucy glaze. Throw some rice in the rice cooker, and serve it all with sriracha or sambal oelek. Put rice, chicken, and hot sauce in a lettuce leaf and eat it like a little lettuce taco.

Dinner crisis averted, once again. As for the legos… I’m afraid you’re on your own.

What are your favorite last minute recipes? I can always use more ideas!

Recipe: Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tblsp brown sugar
• 2 Tblsp mirin, rice wine, or white wine
• 4-5 cloves minced garlic
• 2 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 1 Tblsp sesame seeds
• 3 tsp sesame oil, divided

METHOD:

• Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.
• Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Stir well to dissolve brown sugar. Add chicken, cover, and marinate for 30 minutes (or more, up to 4 hours.)
• Heat a large frying pan over high heat. Add remaining 2 tsp sesame oil. Use a slotted spoon to add chicken in a single layer and cook until browned and cooked through, stirring often, approximately 5 minutes. (You will probably need to do this in 2 batches.)
• When the last batch of chicken is almost done, add marinade to pan and cook until sauce is reduced and glaze-like.
• Serve with lettuce leaves, rice, and sambal oelek or sriracha.

Now if you’re like me, all this has you thinking: I MUST POSSESS A CRONUT AND PUT IT IN MY MOUTH. But being 3,000 miles from New York (and far too lazy to stand in a long line anyway) I figured the only way to get a cronut was to make a cronut. So here we are.

I have now concluded that it is easier and faster to make cronuts at home than to stand in line and buy one. In fact, they are so easy to make that I might have to start making them all the time.

This is not really a recipe, but more of a how-to, because the secret to easy homemade cronuts is buying frozen croissants. Trader Joe’s has excellent frozen croissants so that is what I used. They are made by the same chef who makes the bazillion dollar Williams-Sonoma croissants. They make great cronuts. I opted for an orange vanilla glaze on these, which was fantastic, but you can top them with any glaze you like. Next time I’m trying chocolate!

How To: Easy Homemade Cronuts (with pictures!)
makes 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package Trader Joe’s frozen croissants
• oil for frying – vegetable or grapeseed
• about 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 orange or lemon
• vanilla paste or extract

HOW TO:

• The night before, prepare a pan with parchment paper and cooking spray and place the frozen croissants on it, well spaced. They will grow a lot! Leave out overnight to rise, 7-10 hours. 

• After rising, the croissants should already be roughly in a circle shape but if you would like them to be more perfect, gently shape the dough into an even round.
• Use a cookie cutter or other implement (I used the business end of an icing tip) to cut holes in the middle. Save the holes to use as testers for the oil.

• Prepare a plate or pan with paper towels and place it next to the stove.
• Heat about 2 inches of oil in a heavy pot over high heat. When oil is shimmery, add a hole to test it. The croissant dough will cook and brown incredibly quickly if the oil is hot enough – literally 10 or 20 seconds to done.
• When it’s hot enough, carefully lower the cronuts into the oil in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan.

• Keep a close eye on them as they may brown very quickly. Mine were browned on each side in about 5-10 seconds. When deep golden brown on one side, flip over to brown on the other side to brown.

• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towels. Repeat until all are cooked.

• Make a glaze: Put the zest and juice of the orange, and the vanilla into a bowl. Add powdered sugar and stir until it’s the consistency of Elmer’s glue.
• Dip warm cronuts into the glaze.

• GET IN MY MOUTH.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy…

• Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
• Blueberry Breakfast Cake
• Swinetastic Cornbread

The thinking is this: since you usually want to eat cinnamon rolls in the morning, it makes sense that you would need a recipe that you do mostly the day before so you can pop them in the oven in the morning, right? Well that’s what I thought, but I had a hard time finding a good recipe that let me do that. I will do many things to avoid waking up early, so figuring out a recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls was imperative. So all the hard work is done the day before, and then in the morning they just need 30 minutes to rise and 30 minutes to bake.

I make some plain, some with raisins, and some with pecans so everyone is happy. They have a bit of orange zest in the filling, which I think is key. I like them best when they’re warm and gooey but not too hot, about 20 minutes out of the oven.

Recipe: Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
makes 12 cinnamon rolls

INGREDIENTS

for the dough:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted, divided
• 4 cups flour, plus additional for dusting
• 1 package instant dry yeast
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• zest of 1 large orange
• handful of chopped pecans and/or raisins (optional)
• salt
• Vegetable oil

for the icing:

• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract (optional)

METHOD:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, buttermilk, and 6 Tblsp of the melted butter.
• Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and 1 tsp salt. Mix to combine.
• Add 1 1/4 cups flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. The dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Add more flour if necessary. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl with vegetable oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover loosely with a clean towel and set in a high, warm place in the kitchen to let the dough double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, orange zest and 2 large pinches of salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.
• When dough has risen, use about a fourth of the remaining 2 Tblsp melted butter and a pastry brush to butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into an 18 by 12 inch rectangle.
• Brush the dough with the remaining melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough. Sprinkle chopped nuts and raisins on all or part if desired.
• Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

To bake, ice, and serve:

• Remove the rolls from the refrigerator, uncover, and place in a cold oven on the top or middle rack. Fill a shallow pan (like a 9×13 pan or a roasting pan) 2/3 full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. (It’s easier if you put the pan in the oven first and then pour the boiling water in carefully.) Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.
• Remove and cool on the counter.
• While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

Have you ever bought harissa at the supermarket? It usually comes in a tube and is thin, smooth, and bright red. It is hot, to be sure, but it lacks depth and flavor and is no more exciting to me than any other culture’s version of tongue-numbing red sauce. But the homemade stuff is completely different; it’s a harissa I can really get excited about. It layers the heat from the chili with the flavors of the seasonings. The aroma of fresh toasty spices, garlic, and lemon are all there. Unlike other hot sauces, which are just hot, homemade harissa is both hot and flavorful. It’s easy to see why you’d want to put it on everything!

Luckily, my Dad grows all sorts of chili peppers in his garden and dries them for later use. I mixed and matched, for layers of heat and flavor, and I recommend the same for anyone trying this recipe. I have made this with both dried and fresh chilis, and I think it tastes better with dried chilis so I have used them in the recipe below.

This recipe will make about 2 cups of harissa, which may sound like a lot – but if you like it as much as my husband does, it will be gone in about a week. It lasts for quite awhile in the fridge as long as it’s sealed in a jar. I like to make a double or triple batch, then load it into those cute little quarter-pint canning jars. I would probably be OK just leaving them as is, but to be on the safe side I preserve them before labeling and storing them.

Before getting started, I recommend opening as many windows and doors in the kitchen as possible, because once you process this many chilis, the fumes can be overwhelming. Children, people who are sensitive to hot peppers, or people who have breathing troubles should be sent out of the room. (Seriously.)  I also use latex or rubber gloves to handle this many chilis, as I have had some bad experiences with skin irritation from handling hot peppers. Finally, as my mother once so wisely advised, you should follow this rule of thumb when handling hot peppers: “don’t touch your eyes and don’t touch your crotch.” So you may want to keep that in mind too.

Recipe: Homemade Harissa 
makes about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

Holbox is a fantastic combination of tropical island paradise and authentic Mexican working town. The majority of tourists are from other parts of Mexico, and although the beachfront has lots of little inns and restaurants, it doesn’t have the segregated feeling of some touristy beach towns. Everyone just seems to mix together, and it’s so informal you don’t even need to wear shoes.

In case you’re not quite dazzled yet, let me try to tempt you further…

To reach Holbox, you fly to Cancun and drive about 2 hours through largely forested land to the little port town of Chiquilá. The town of Chiquilá is not terribly picturesque, although its pier at sunset isn’t too shabby a view. From the Chiquilá pier, you catch a small ferry to the back side of Holbox that takes about 20 minutes.

Arriving in Holbox, you will find that the streets are made of packed or raked sand, and that the only transport are bicycles, mopeds, or golf carts. This makes the island even more pleasant.

The town is a little bit funky, and I mean that in the best possible way.

I mean what other towns have you visited that boast a thatched roof pharmacy?

Still, it’s easy to feel you are on an almost deserted island, with water that spans nearly every beautiful hue of turquoise, and lots of places where you can feel perfectly alone.

The food is pretty terrific, too, mostly because you can get incredibly fresh seafood. The restaurants get their fish and lobster from local fishermen daily, so the quality can’t be beat. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you visit a highbrow or lowbrow spot–the food is great almost everywhere.

One of our favorite spots was the beachside Raíces (“Roots”) which consisted of a little shack for cooking, a thatched roof with a bar underneath, some plastic chairs and tables, and a woman scaling and fileting whole fish outdoors in the sand. We couldn’t help laughing when we met the owner and he exclaimed in all seriousness,”This used to be just a casual place, but look at it now, I’ve really expanded!”

We also had a great meal at La Guaya, owned by an Italian chef and featuring freshly made fettucine to go with the seafood. It’s on a pretty patio, and the owner and his wife are incredibly friendly and welcoming.

Even though it’s a little island, there are lots of things to do beyond just drinking beer and eating super fresh seafood (although I highly recommend doing both of those things as much as you can.) First and foremost, Holbox is famous for having whale sharks to swim with between May and September, but they don’t come quite as close to the island as they used to. For the past four years or so, they hang out about 2 hours away by fast, bumpy speed boat. Whale sharks are neither whales nor sharks, just the largest fish in the world. They can be up to 40 feet long, with a 5 foot wide mouth, and weigh up to 40,000 pounds, but they are incredibly gentle and swim close to the surface, so they are easy to snorkel with once you reach them. The chance to swim so closely with these docile giants of the sea is a totally magical experience that makes the arduous boat ride 100% worth it.

There is also a lot of fishing and birding to be done, but those aren’t really up my alley, so I didn’t pay too close attention on those fronts–although I did delight in seeing flamingos and pelicans hanging out together in various inlets and sandbars.

There is a cenote on Yalahau, a nearby island that you can visit by boat. Cenotes are freshwater sinkholes that are a common geological feature in the Yucatan. They are deep, cold, clean, freshwater pools that are said to have medicinal effects. After the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the icy waters of Yalahau were bracing to say the least!

Big, lazy iguanas have free reign of the island and its outdoor spaces, and you may even get to see crocodiles and horseshoe crabs too.

Of course, no one will fault you for just hanging out in a hammock…

Or enjoying one of the gorgeous sunsets. Performances nightly, and admission is free.

We stayed at Casa Sandra, which was lovely but on the pricier side. If we go back, we have our eye on the colorful and comfortable Casa Las Tortugas or the super low key La Palapa. Both have beachfront spots, good restaurants by the water, and central locations.

The answers to those questions, in brief: It’s allegedly the most-requested recipe in the history of Southern Living magazine, and it’s kind of like banana bread, except more cakey and with the addition of crushed pineapple and cream cheese frosting. It’s usually made as a 3-layer cake. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know why it’s called Hummingbird Cake.

But I still had one more nagging question: how and why would someone make a cake that has pineapple, bananas, and pecans in it and not put any coconut in it? Criminal! This combination demands coconut! And I found the original recipe to be severely lacking in spices, so I tweaked that in both the cake and the frosting. Plus, the pineapple amount was far too measly.

And finally, call me old, call me lazy, call me a curmudgeon, but lately I’m just not into massively tall 3-layer cakes, for a variety of reasons. They are hard to make, hard to transport, hard to frost, hard to cut, and hard to eat. (OK, not that hard to eat.) Give me a single layer any day. The fact that I was making this cake to bring for lunch on a friend’s sailboat pretty much sealed its fate as a simple, single layer dessert; a 12-inch tall frosted monstrosity has no business taking an hour-long car ride and then safely settling on a rocking watercraft.

Enjoy this updated twist on a Southern classic!

RECIPE: Spiced Coconut Hummingbird Cake
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

for the cake:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1 2/3 cup clour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp allspice

for the frosting and assembly:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• about 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted in a dry pan
• 1/2 cup coconut, toasted in a dry pan

METHOD:

make the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a springform pan or round cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg and oil together well. Add pineapple and juice, vanilla, and banana and mix well.
• Add remaining ingredients and switch to a spatula or wooden spoon. Mix gently, just to combine.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes, then unmold from pan to finish cooling completely.

make the frosting and assemble:

• Combine cream cheese and butter in a mixer and beat well until fluffy and smooth.
• Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix well.
• Add vanilla and spices, and more powdered sugar, a bit at a time. Mix well after each addition. Add sugar until a thick frosting consistency is reached. If it gets too thick, you can thin it with a bit of milk.
• Frost top of cake in a thick layer (or top and sides, if you prefer.) Sprinkle with pecans and coconut and press gently into the icing. Serve within 4 hours or put in the refrigerator to keep longer. Bring to room temperature before serving.