Chocolate croissants aka my husband knows the way to my heart

Several weekends ago, I not only got a weekend away with my girlfriends, but I came home to two happy (and alive) kids, a pretty clean house and chocolate croissants, my all-time favorite pastry. These were not only super delicious, they were clean and all-natural too!

Quick story about my love for croissants...when I was in my first trimester pregnant with Liesl, we went on a company trip to St. Thomas. Unfortunately, I was sicker than a dog and sustained myself on chocolate croissants alone. No lie.

Anyway, I LOVE them! I recently bought Matt his dream kitchen tool, a KitchenAid mixer and he used it to make these delectable treats. He said they weren't too difficult to make, but did take a long time to prepare. Just don't get overwhelmed by the length of the recipe; the author gives VERY detailed instructions!

If you ever want me to love you forever (or want to try them for yourselves ;) here's the recipe:

Chocolate Croissants
from Baking Illustrated

Dough
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups cold whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Butter Square
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 
1 large egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)  
To make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk 2 3/4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Add the milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the dry ingredients and turn to the mixer to low, beating until the dough comes together in a rough ball, about 4 minutes.
 
Add the pieces of butter and continue kneading until the butter is completely incorporated, about 5-6 minutes. The dough will still be sticky, but should form a rough ball and mostly clear the sides of the bowl (if you make bread regularly, this dough will be more sticky than you're used to and won't clear the sides of the bowl as fully as a typical yeast bread). If it's too sticky, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap.
 
Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
 
To make the butter square: Place the pieces of butter on your work surface and sprinkle the flour over the top of them.
 
Use a bench scraper to smear the butter/flour mixture back and forth against the work surface.
 
Continue until the mixture is uniform and smooth. Gather in a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 7-inch square.
 
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
 
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into an 11-inch square, lifting and turning as you go to make sure the dough isn't sticking. Place the chilled butter square diagonally in the center of the dough.

Lift each of the four corners of the dough up and over the butter square.
 
It's fine if they don't meet exactly, just pinch them together to seal completely.

Use your rolling pin to gently tap the dough, starting in the center and going outward, until square gets larger and the butter begins to soften slightly. Roll the dough into a 14-inch square, flouring your work surface and rolling pin as necessary to ensure the dough isn't sticking. (no idea why I chose to roll it diagonally over my parchment...)
 
Fold one side of the dough to the center and then bring the other side up and over it - basically, you're folding the dough like you would a business letter. This is also called a "turn" of the dough.
 
Complete a second turn by folding the top half of the dough down to the center and then bringing the bottom up and over it.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Repeat the process above (roll into a 14-inch square and fold like a business letter twice) to complete 2 more turns of the dough. Again, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
 
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and roll into a 20-inch square (flour as necessary to make sure it's not sticking). Cut the dough into 4 equal 10-inch squares.
 
Cut each of those squares into 3 rectangles (about 10 x 3 1/4-inches each) - you should have a total of 12 rectangles.
 
Add about 1 tablespoon (about 1/2-oz) of chopped chocolate to the center of each rectangle.
 
Fold the top of the rectangle over the chocolate and down to the center, then lift the bottom up and over it (again, we're folding it like it's a business letter).
 
Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, seam-side down. Try to keep the croissants horizontal as you move them so the chocolate doesn't spill out the sides. Also, you can see on mine I have a little flap sticking out the side - that flap will get bigger as the croissants rise and puff so you can try to hide it under the croissant a little better than I did to avoid that.

Loosely cover the croissant with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature for 45-60 minutes, or until they're puffy (they won't necessarily double in size). While they're rising, preheat oven to 400 F with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.
 
Brush the croissants with the egg wash then bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they are golden brown, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the halfway point. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the croissants cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. They're best warm, but will keep for a few days at room temperature if tightly wrapped. I zapped mine for 15-ish seconds in the microwave on the 2nd day to enjoy it warm.

Banana Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie

Because girls weekend was in Columbus, I went a night early to spend some extra time with Kathy, Joe and sweet Sebastian. On Saturday morning, Joe made me a delicious smoothie after my run that totally hit the spot. It had just the right amount of sweetness and the oats really made it filling. I could only eat about half of it. 

Joe said he also tried with chocolate chips but found it to be a bit too chunky and chewy for a smoothie. I might try mini chocolate chips to see if that helps. A little cocoa powder or peanut butter would be good too.

Thanks Joe for the great breakfast recipe! Every time I have one, I'll be thinking of you ;)

Banana Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie
Courtesy of The Joseph Wilson

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk

Add everything to the blender or a glass if you're using an immersion or hand blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Honey Muffins

Another breakfast attempt. These turned out good too, except I only got to eat one of them because my stupid dog ate the rest :/ Hence why there is no picture either!! The original recipe called for coconut oil, coconut flour and coconut milk (to make them paleo). I went to Whole Foods to get said ingredients, but once I saw that coconut flour was $14.99 for a tiny bag and coconut oil was $12.99 for a very small container, I decided mine would be just clean and not paleo honey muffins! They were easy to throw together, tasted sweet, but not too sweet and were nice and moist.

Today's Training Plan called for 15 minute run, 30 minute bike, 15 minute run
I did 2 mile run, 5 mile bike, 1.5 mile run

Honey Muffins
Adapted from Civilized Caveman Cooking

3 eggs
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional) 

Preheat oven to 400 Degrees F. Mix together your eggs, honey, oil, milk, salt and vanilla. Sift together your baking powder and flour and then combine with your wet ingredients. Mix your batter well and then fold in your chopped pecans if you are using them. If not, divide your batter into 6 muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes.

Breakfast Taquitos

I know this blog is primarily about food, but it takes both a good diet AND exercise to live a healthy and balanced life. As I've gotten older, I've realized that just because I work out that doesn't mean I can eat anything I want anymore. Even though my running headband says "Eat Hard, Run Hard" doesn't mean I can necessarily do that :P With that being said, I need a little motivation and accountability for a duathalon I have coming up 4th of July weekend. So, I'm going to talk about my exercise each day, in hopes that I will keep up my training schedule since I am going to have to post about it. 

Today, the schedule called for a 45 minute bike ride. I did a 10-mile ride in 41:26. Close enough ;)

I made another attempt at low-carb, low-sugar breakfast with breakfast taquitos. They were excellent! They took some prep time, but it was worth it. I doubled the recipe and froze them all. Makes for an easy and convenient breakfast...take out of the freezer, heat and enjoy!

Breakfast Taquitos

4 Tbs. Butter – Divided

1/3 Cup Yellow Bell Peppers - Chopped

1/4 Cup Onion - Chopped

1/3 Cup Red Bell Peppers - Chopped

8 oz. Hot Italian Breakfast Sausage

6 Large Eggs

¼ Cup Salsa

4 Large Low Carb Tortillas     

1 Cup Sharp White Cheddar Cheese - Shredded (I used mild cheddar because I had it on hand)

Preheat oven to 400°  Lightly oil or butter a baking sheet.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add 2 Tbs. butter, peppers, onion and salt and pepper, to taste.  Saute until tender.

In a separate pan, over medium heat, brown the sausage.  Once the sausage is cooked all the way through, drain excess grease, and combine with vegetables.

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and salsa, and fork whisk.

Add egg mixture to the meat/vegetable mixture and cook until the eggs are scrambled.

Lay the tortillas flat and put a layer of cheese down the center of each one. Next, layer 1/4 of the scramble mixture down the center of each one. Top each one with another layer of cheese.  

Roll tortillas tightly, packing the ends with any extra scramble mixture.  Place on baking sheet, fold side down.

Melt remaining 2 Tbs. of butter and brush on top of the rolled tortillas. 

Bake on the top rack 10-12 minutes.  Flip each roll over, give another light brushing of melted butter and cook for 10-12 minutes more or until nice and crispy on both sides.  Allow to cool and cut in half to serve or freeze in large ziploc bags.

Oats in a Jar

I kept seeing recipes on Pinterest for Oats in a Jar. I love peanut butter and have empty peanut butter jars at least once a week, so I thought oats in a jar would be another good breakfast option.  I've also been trying to learn to like oatmeal, so I decided to give them a try using a recipe I found on Skinnytaste.com. They did not turn out so well :/ On take two, I decided to do my own thing and they turned out much better. Sorry there is no picture, the pictures made oats in jar not very appetizing :)

Overnight Oats in a Jar
empty peanut butter jar
1/4 cup quick oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk)
1 to 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Place all the ingredient in a jar, shake, cover and refrigerate overnight. Add your favorite crunchy toppings such as nuts, granola, etc and enjoy the next day warmed up.  

Next time, I am going to add some mini chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder.