Tangy Honey-Mustard Green Beans

My fiance and I have been doing a lot of experiments with making our own dressings. I've always been picky about buying all natural salad dressings from the store, but it's a fun challenge to make up your own. This honey-mustard dressing took a number of attempts, but I like the final product. It's got a lot of zing! You can tone it down by just adding less to your green beans, or you can sweeten it up with some extra honey.

The green beans and tomatoes at farmers markets are perfect right now! There was no better combo to put my new honey-mustard dressing on.


Tangy Honey-Mustard Green Beans

4 cups green beans, blanched
1/2 cup leeks, sliced thinly
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons fresh dill
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or any other white vinegar)
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons olive oil

Blanch the green beans by cooking them in boiling water for three minutes then rinsing them in cold water. When you add the green beans to the pot of water, do not wait for the water to start boiling again, start the timer right away.

While you are waiting for the water to boil, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Saute the leeks until they are soft, add the tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of the fresh dill. Cook until the tomatoes are just coming out of their skins.

For the dressing whisk together the rice vinegar, mustard powder, honey, salt, and olive oil. Taste and tweak as you see fit. Remember it will not taste as strong when it's spread out over the green beans.

Mix the sauteed veggies, the green beans, and the dress. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of fresh dill onto the dish and enjoy!


Serves 4
125 Calories, 9g fat, 5g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

I did it! At last I made a rice flour waffle that tastes like a waffle and doesn't totally crumble! The secret ingredient? Apple Sauce! I have been working on this recipe for months, so I hope you like it. It is not the healthiest recipe out there, but the extra egg and the oil help keep the waffles moist and cakey.

For those of you who are not bound to a gluten free diet, use whatever flour you want, half the apple sauce, one egg, and no oil. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

1 3/4 cups rice flour (I use a combination of white and brown rice flours)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup apple sauce
water, added 1/4 cup at a time
cinnamon, honey, vanilla, or almond extract

Preheat your waffle maker to your favorite setting.

Mix the rice flour, baking powders, salt, and cinnamon if using it. Add in the apple sauce, egg, and oil. At this time, add any honey or extracts you want. Mix thoroughly, adding a 1/4 cup of water at a time until the batter is smooth and the consistency of pancake batter.

Pour the batter 2 cups and a time into the waffle iron, cook, and enjoy!

Serving: 1 waffle, 1/4 cup of batter
227 Calories, 8g fat, 1g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein

Peanut Butter and Banana Biscuits (aka the Butterless Biscuits)

This biscuit recipe has been in my repertoire for a long time and has taken many forms. I first made it with my friends D and S over a Thanksgiving break. It's great because it's easy and adaptable. After making plain biscuits, I used the same recipe to make sweet potato biscuits, banana biscuits, and lemon poppy seed biscuits. I could go on and on. I always billed them as "healthy" because the recipe calls for yogurt or puree instead of buttermilk or cream, but the stick of butter was always nagging me.

Today I present you with the Butterless Biscuits! I am sorry it's neither vegan nor gluten free, I will have to work on that. But they are a whole lot healthier than any other biscuit I've made. The trick is to use fat free Greek yogurt so you have high protein but less fat. After doing the tallies, the biscuits are officially much lower in fat and calories than their butter filled counter parts and much higher in protein (see the info at the bottom). What's more, they still taste like biscuits. The banana and peanut butter are very subtle.

To make these biscuits even more fun, use different fruit or vegetable purees instead of the banana or try using flavored yogurts. You can also cut back on the yogurt and add more of whatever flavoring you like. I hesitate to completely take out the yogurt though, since the enzymes found in dairy help with the rising. I have made some very flat biscuits in my day, believe me. Anyway, here's the recipe, go to town, and let me know what you think!


Peanut Butter and Banana Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz fat free Greek Yogurt
1 medium banana, mashed
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a medium size bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the yogurt, banana, and peanut butter. Mix and then knead the dough. Add a tablespoon of water at a time as needed until the dough is pliable but not sticky. If you add too much water, just throw in a little extra flour.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 3/4 of an inch thick and use a glass to cut out circles. Place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. The biscuits should be golden and a little brown on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack and eat.

Makes 12 biscuits

114 Calories, 3g fat, 1g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 5g protein

Balsamic Broccoli Rabe with Carrots

When I was in college, my friends and I would host a lot of pot luck parties. For every party, guests would bring desserts or appetizers, so as a responsible host, I started making vegetable dishes for each of the pot lucks. I wanted to make sure my friends were getting a balanced meal. Now veggie dishes are some of my favorite things to make. Vegetables can be very versatile and delicious.

In this picture I used regular broccoli, I was all out or broccoli rabe.

This is a recipe I came up with recently. I am a big fan of broccoli rabe and am always looking for ways to use it. You can definitely make this recipe with any type of broccoli, but I like the broccoli rabe best. The strong flavor does not get over powered by the balsamic. For this recipe you can also dial up or down the amount of garlic and balsamic vinegar to your taste. If you want to add this dish to pasta, add a little more oil and vinegar.

12 oz broccoli rabe
3 oz carrots, julienned
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Blanch the broccoli rabe in the boiling water by putting it in for 2 to 3 minutes. Start the timer as soon as the broccoli rabe is in, the water does not have to return to a boil. When the time is up, drain the broccoli rabe and cut it into sections. I keep the hot water for pasta or rice if I am cooking either of them as well. It has nutrients that have leaked out of the broccoli rabe.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil to medium high in a small pan. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or until it begins to smell good. Reduce the heat to medium and add the carrots, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir frequently and saute until the carrots are a desired softness. Pour the carrots over the broccoli rabe and serve. This can be served hot, room temperate, or cold and tastes great the next day, too!




Serves 3
102 Calories, 9g fat, 3g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 5g protein

Candied Pecan and Pear Cake

Welcome to The Crafty Runner! This blog is about my passion for running, cooking, and all things crafty. I got into blogging through wedding blogs, but it wasn't long before I was reading other blogs, too. I rely on cooking blogs for off-beat recipes and I have learned a lot of tips from running blogs. I decided I wanted to contribute my two cents in the hopes that someone might learn something from me, too. When I added my passions together, The Crafty Runner was born. I hope you add your own comments, tips, and experiences as I write about and explore my favorite hobbies. Thanks for reading!

Candied Pecan and Pear Cake

I recently celebrated a friend's birthday and made this cake for him. He is on a limited diet and cannot have a lot of the typical cake ingredients. This to me is the ultimate challenge. I enjoy cooking with a limited number of ingredients or other specifications. It makes me step out of the box and think more creatively. I put together the list of foods I could use and went to work. It took a couple tries, but eventually I got this cake. It turns out to be a yummy, nutty alternative to the typical birthday cake. Plus it's a tiny bit healthier.

2 cups brown rice flour
1 scant cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4- 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 pear, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1.5 cups candied pecans (see Cafe Johnsonia's recipe, I replaced the butter with oil)
parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 cake pan with parchment paper. I cut out a big square of parchment and then cut slits at each corner so that it would conform to the inside of the pan. (If you are not using rice flour, don't worry about it, you can just grease the pan)

Combine the first 9 ingredients (flour through honey) and stir until just mixed. Add water a little at a time and stir until the batter has the consistency of pancake batter. Add the pear, cranberries, and half the nuts. Mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the lined pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake sit for 10 minutes in the pan before flipping it onto a serving plate. Cover the top with the remaining candied pecans. When ever I can, I will include nutritional information for my recipes at the bottom of the entry. I strongly believe in knowing what you put into yourself.


Serving Size: 1/16th of the cake
264 C, 11g Fat, 25g Sugar, 2g Dietary Fiber, 3g Protein