Still hunkered down, but peeking forward in the forecast

In my last entry, I was sick of being house-bound.  What we ended up doing was eating out all day and doing some window-shopping.  

We split a meal at Big Biscuit in Blue Springs for breakfast (Country Benedict), then hit Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Cliff enjoys small doses of that store.  For the most part, we just look at the nifty kitchen tools you don't always find in other stores.  I bought nothing.  Next stop was Kohl's.  Since Cliff hates that store, he stayed in the car and surfed Craigslist on the Ipad while I looked through Clearance racks for marked-down winter pajamas and a couple of other items.  By the time we were done with those places, Sears was open.  Cliff browsed the tools while I once again checked clearance racks.  

Cliff stopped at Clark's Tool while I played on Facebook in the car; he found an item he'd been looking for; and by that time it was lunch time!  We had gone a long time with no Whopper meal, so that's what we had.  Eating out twice in one day is something we never do, but cabin fever will do strange things to a person.  

Yesterday, with the high temperature in single digits, I fixed a roast in the crock pot.  We don't have roast often, and this one really hit the spot (recipe here, but I wanted mashed potatoes so I didn't put the veggies in).  

Right after Cliff's open-heart surgery, I was really strict about what we ate.  While I have loosened up the rules considerably, I still try for a balance (ignore the eating out twice in one day, that doesn't happen normally).  For instance, if we have bacon and eggs for breakfast, I try to have a dinner that contains very little cholesterol and salt.  I also insist on having vegetables on the side, even when I really don't want them.  Because I think we need vegetables.  I usually serve them naked, by the way.  As much as I love sauces on our green beans and butter on the beets, these days all I do is cook them, heat them up, whatever it takes.  Yesterday morning I knew we would have beef for lunch, probably a bigger serving that we really should, so we had Cream of Wheat for breakfast.  We'll have leftover roast today at noon; I was really wanting bacon and eggs this morning, but I settled for something that tastes sinful but isn't:  Heart-healthy coffee cake, as found in Better Homes and Gardens!
 

HEART HEALTHY APPLE COFFEE CAKE

2/3 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. salt 1 1/2 c. peeled, cored apple (2 large), finely chopped (Jonathan or Granny Smith) 1/4 c. frozen egg product, thawed 3/4 c. sugar 1/4 c. walnuts or pecans, chopped 1/4 c. applesauce 1/4 c. brown sugar, packed 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour 1 tbsp. whole wheat flour 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tbsp. butter 1/4 c. walnuts or pecans, chopped Spray a 9-inch round baking pan with nonstick spray; set aside. In a medium bowl combine 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl toss together the chopped apple and egg product. Stir in the 3/4 cup sugar, the first 1/4 cup nuts, and applesauce. Add flour mixture and stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.FOR TOPPING: Stir together the brown sugar, the remaining all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Sprinkle topping over batter in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick comes clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm. 10 servings.

Cool coffee cake completely. Wrap in foil and place in airtight freezer container or plastic freezer bag. Seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature for 2 hours. Or, reheat by placing frozen, wrapped coffee cake in 300 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

Nutrition Facts (Heart-Healthy Apple Coffee Cake)

• 203 kcal cal.;
 
• 5 g Fat, total;
 
• 0 mg chol.;
 
• 1 g sat. fat;
 
• 37 g carb.;
 
• 2 g fiber;
• 4 g pro.;
 
• 207 mg sodium
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

I've had so many great books to read this winter but I am now rather bogged down reading The Monuments Men.  It isn't an easy read; following several different people around Europe and remembering which one is which works my feeble brain pretty hard, but I do intend to finish it.  I just can't sit and read a hundred pages at one sitting, as is my custom.