Dulce de Leche Apple Bread

   

The other day I was looking for healthy muffins and I remembered my bran muffin recipe using bran cereal.  I made those and then started thinking about using other cereals in baking.  We use a lot of Cheerios and they are considered healthy and good for your cholesterol, so I did a bit of Internet searching.  I found this recipe using Dulce de Leche Cheerios and it looked pretty good. (I changed it a wee bit).  And an apple a day keeps the doctor away, doesn't it?

Dulce de Leche Apple Bread

2 1/2 cups Dulce de Leche Cheerios, divided use
1/2 cup sugar, I used 1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar.   Healthy, remember?
1/4 cup oil  (That's not bad.)
1 cup buttermilk, try to find the low fat kind
1 egg
2 cups peeled and chopped apples, I used 2 Granny Smith
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.  That's what they thought I should use, but that's not enough so I used 1/2 teaspoon!
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.  The Cheerios people didn't call for nutmeg, but I went with the "if you use cinnamon, nutmeg works, too" rule...that I invented...I didn't really measure it, just grated a wee bit.

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray the bottom of a 9X5 loaf pan with Pam.

   

Put 2 cups of Dulce de Leche Cheerios in a Ziploc bag.  Squeeze the air out and seal.  Put the final 1/2 cup in a bowl and set aside. 

   

Use a rolling pin and crush the Cheerios.  Roll to the center of the bag.  I think if you roll a bubble of air to the seams, it might burst and then you would have a mess!  Set aside.

   

Wash, peel and dice the apples.  Small chunks are better than big ones.

   

I use a Kitchen Aid, but use any mixer and blend the oil and sugar.  I switched it to brown sugar and used the Splenda brown sugar.  I like the smoky flavor in baked goods.

Add the buttermilk.  I would have used low fat buttermilk, but didn't know I was going to make this until last night.  Lee was kind enough to go to the local (and close) Dollar General for me. They only have one kind of buttermilk and it is in a big container.  I told Lee we would use up the rest making some blueberry coffeecake I have been thinking about!

   

Add the egg and continue mixing.  Stir in the apples, the crushed cereal and all the rest of the ingredients, except for the reserved Cheerios.  Feel free to leave out the nutmeg.  I just thought of Rachel Ray saying, "Mmm.  What is that?", so I added it!

   

Spread the batter in the prepared pan.  It seemed kind of dry to me and next time I will probably add a bit more buttermilk, maybe a few Tablespoons.  Tomorrow the bread will be very moist from the apples, so maybe that is why they start kind of dry.  Sprinkle with the reserved cereal and gently press them down.  I used the side of a rubber spatula.

Bake one hour and then check to see if it is done with a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean....done.  Mine took about 1 hour and 4 minutes.

 

   

Cool for 10 minutes.  Then turn out onto a cooling rack and let it finish cooling.  Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for 4 days or 10 days in the refrigerator.

Next time I may leave off the Cheerios on the outside.  They made it hard to cut a slice.

Please read Dulce de Leche Apple Bread Part II before making!

Black Beans and Pork

   

Every once in awhile I go through my old recipe box.  I have recipe books galore and magazines and books with recipes.  I also have a stash of recipes I have downloaded from the computer that I will someday organize.  Maybe when it snows or something.  But the box is old and has some things I made a long time ago and never blogged about.  Gotta go through them, too.  I wrote Yum Oh on this one (a la Rachel Ray) so I know I liked it.  I found it in a Family Circle magazine.  Another thing to miss about not being in the library 40 hours a week.  Easy access to lots of magazines.

Because it is cold and this is a Crock Pot recipe it was perfect for yesterday. I set it and did some outside things and then worked in the basement for awhile.  Lee kept working and I got the excuse to quit and hang around in the kitchen.  My kind of labor.

The last time I made it, I cut up the meat and put it in a Ziploc bag with the spices the night before.  I drained the beans and put all the rest, except for the cilantro, in another Ziploc bag.  Both bags went in the refrigerator.  In the morning I dumped both bags in the Crock Pot and went to work.  Even though I was only supposed to cook the recipe for 6 hours on low, it cooked all day and was perfect when I came home.  I called Lee and had him start the rice and everything was done and waiting for me.

Black Beans and Pork

1 to 1 1/2 pound pork loin, trimmed and cut into cubes.  I couldn't find a pork loin small enough, so I just got a pork tenderloin, not the flavored kind.
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cans (15 ounces) black beans
1 can (14.5) ounces tomatoes with green chilies
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cups cooked rice (optional)

   

Pork tenderloin always comes with a long, white, thick membrane that you have to remove.  I don't know why they leave it for the consumer, but they do.  While you are trimming that off, you might as well get any hunks of fat that you can easily remove and take them off, too.  I got a plastic bag from the grocery store that I had saved to recycle and put the wrapping from the tenderloin and all the bits I cut off.  This way they don't gunk up the counter and get in the way when you are cutting up the meat.  Then you can just tie up the bag and toss it.

Because I had three pets watching me intently, I then picked out the bits with more meat than fat and heated them in the microwave.  After they had cooled, I fed them to all three. Cats like pork.  Who knew?   The wee beasties were very thankful and just loved me all day.  Riiight.  Did you believe that?

   

Cut the tenderloin into bite sized pieces, about 1/2 inch square.  Dump the meat into the Crock Pot.  Add the spices and mix thoroughly.  Chop the onions and add them, along with the garlic.  Drain and rinse the black beans and put them on top of everything.  The store only had one 15 ounce can of black beans, so I bought the biggest can they had.  It wasn't quite 30 ounces, but plenty for us.

Add the tomatoes with the liquid.  Then you need to add the water.  I measured out the water and poured it into the tomato can.  A quick swirl and the water went into the Pot.  I like to rinse out cans before recycling them.  This way I got all the bits of tomato, too.

   

Stir everything until mixed and then cover and turn it on to Low.  It will take 6 hours, but, like I said,  mine went 9 hours once and was great.  If you are in a hurry, and by hurry you are fixing it at noon and want to eat it for dinner, you can turn it to High.  It will take about 4 hours.

   

An hour before you serve, make 3 cups of brown rice.  Sure you can make some white rice, but brown rice tastes so much better.  Rinse and chop a big handful of cilantro and mix it in to the Black Beans and Pork.

   

 Serve the Black Beans and Pork over the rice.  If you are watching carbs, leave out the rice and just eat it plain.  It is still delicious.  Hot sauce aficionados may like to add some of their favorite sauce to heat it up a bit.  This is not a spicy hot dish otherwise.