Little things that I love

I am avoiding homework, so I started thinking about little summer treats I love.

Blackberries- I never got blackberries until I moved here. They are so expensive and usually not delicious from the store, but here, where we pick them - AMAZING.

A few things I have done with blackberries:

Balsamic blackberry reduction- I basically covered blackberries in balsamic brought to a boil then reduced to low and let simmer until syrupy. yummy over ice cream.

Black berries in salad. MMMMM.....with a red wine vinegrette and some chevere.

S'Mores - I have recently tried different kinds of smores. I have gotten bored with regular graham crackers and milk chocolate with the plain marshmallow. Here are some I have tried.

Chocolate, marshmallow, graham and STRAWBERRY! mmmm

Chocolate, marshmalllow and Almond Butter cookie

graham, mallow and caramelo

Graham, Malloa and godiva drk chocolate/raspberry bar.

I could go all day with this! I think I will try one different smore each cook out!

Ice cream!
I recently made my own ice cream, it was kinda of an accident. I took heavy whipping cream and whipped it until it was stiff, mixed in brown sugar and maple syrup. I used the whipped cream on some peaches. then I absentmindedly put it in the freezer. The next day it was so delicious, it tasted like real ice cream.

Speaking of whipped cream, I have been trying different types recently to put on stuff.
- Lemon Ginger - lemon zest, grated ginger and pwder sugar
-Maple brown sugar- maple and brown sugar
- Almond liquer- amaretto and pwder sugar
- Orange - orange zest and pwdr sugar
- lime- lime zest and pwdr sugar.

These are so good on fruit!
lemon ginger goes with all berries
Maple and brown sugar on peaches or apple pie
Almond liquer - peaches, plums or cherries
Orange - blue berries or strawberries
lime - pinapple, mango, strawberries or raspberries

The last thing I want to add is an Ice Cream Sandwich

I have been using these Almond Butter Cookies a lot. They are light, crisp and low in fat and sugar. a serving is 140 cal and 4 gs of fat. But a serving is 8 Cookies! I have found that if you put a tablespoon of Skinny Cow Dulce de Leche ice cream between two of those crisps you have a rich, low cal, low fat satisfying dessert! It makes me want to experiment with different types of Ice Cream sandwiches.

I could try all day. I wish I worked for a food magazine or something. I would be fat, but happy. :)

Chilled Avocado/Cucumber Soup

It was cold and rainy out, but I still could not stop thinking of that Cumin & Orange sheep's milk cheese. I could just imagine how delicious it would be with Cucumber. Then I saw the recipe for chilled cucumber soup. Mmmmm....Yeah, its a little too cold for that, but I had to experiment. So off to the grocery store I went. Hmmm....green was the color. So I bought some avocados and cucumbers. Let's look around the produce department...mmmmm lemongrass... delicious. Off to the dairy section I go. I bought some greek yogurt and some vegetable stock. When I got home, matthew and I went to work.

So my list of ingredents is as follows:

1 cucumber peeled and cubed.

2 avocados

2 cups vegetable stock

1/4 c. plain low fat yogurt

1 oz of fresh OJ

1/8 tsp orange peel

some chopped cilantro

1tsp cumin

1/4 tsp lemongrass paste

Sea Salt

Pepper

I combined all the ingredents and pureed with my beautiful kitchen aide hand blender. I LOOOVE it. I had to keep tasting it to make sure I had the right taste. I pureed it until it was smooth and velvety. I let it chill for 1 hour in the fridge. When It was done, of course I put that yummy cumin & orange cheese crumbled on it. Along with some cilantro. It was very good. Matthew, well, he didn't like it as much. Or at all. He did like the olive bread with the lemon rosemary butter I made. He tried to eat the soup, but after 3 bites, he completely gave up.

I went ahead and added some olives to my meal and I was more than content. Wine would of been great, but I opted for minted lemon water instead. It was a fresh day. All I really needed was some warm weather and sunshine.

Pizza fun

Me and Matthew made our own pizza's last night. We used ready made crust, so it wasn't very difficult.

Matthew made good ol Hawaiian Pizza, and I made BBQ...

It was really easy:

BBQ Pizza

1 indvidual pizza crust

BBQ sauce

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1/8 cup mexican blend shredded cheese

1/2 diced chicken breast

Cilantro

Red onion

I just basically used the BBQ sauce as the pizza sauce, and topped it with the toppings...then I threw it on the grill, which really made it yummy.

Then today, Me and Matthew made a crazy pizza. It was a bacon and bleu cheese pizza with carmelized onions and apples. I got the idea from Cali pizza kitchen, but I also LOVE spinach salad with bleu cheese crumbles, bacon and honey mustard, so I thought I would combine the two...

We just put olive oil on the ready made Wheat crust

Then the toppings:

Mozzerlla

Bleu cheese crumbles

Bacon pieces

Chopped spinach

Carmelized onion

Carmelized apple.

I put it in the oven according to the directions. When it was done, I put salad on top if it...

Salad topping:

hand full of baby spinach

Hand full of european greens

bleu cheese crumbles

cranberries

bacon pieces

bleu cheese dressing

I tossed it together and put on the pizza... I would change one thing. I would put honey mustard dressing on it instead. I ended up adding it afterwards and it was just right. Matthew loved it, and even ate the salad part! I love pizza making...but now my apartment is roasting....

Just some pics. :)

Matthew loves taking pictures like this now. He would throw his arms around me and smile for the camera. I was eating it up.

I took this to show how pateint our cat is with Matthew, he is playing cars on her.

This is anti-nadia defense. Nadia keeps jumping on the couch and bothering Matthew when he watches his favorite show, so in an ingenious move, Matthew put his stool on the seat next to him to keep Nadia off. I was impressed, I never thought of that. He has pretty good problem solving skills for his age, or at least it seems like it. :)

My Favorite Egg Bake

I have tweaked this recipe quite a bit to fit our tastes. You can put any breakfast meat or vegetable in this egg bake. I make this quite often and admittedly eat the whole dang tray by myself in about a 2 day time span. MMMMMmmmm cholesterol ;) It may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn't. It's delicious! TIP: use a foil stuffing pan so you don't have to wash cooked cheese out of a casserole dish.

INGREDIENTS
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 small yellow onion
1lb maple sausage
3 or 4 whole fresh mushrooms
1 tsp ground mustard
salt
pepper
2 pieces of bread (wheat, white, doesn't matter)
1 tomato (or 3 roma tomatoes)
8ozs of shredded cheddar

Preheat the oven to 365F. Thoroughly cook the sausage, breaking it up into pretty small pieces. Place on plate with paper towels to absorb some of the grease. Tear the bread into stuffing-size cubes and line the bottom of the casserole dish. Add the sausage on top of the bread. Dice the pepper, onion, and mushrooms. Set them aside. (All the vegetables are optional, of course)

In a large bowl beat together 2 cups of milk and 8 eggs. Add salt, pepper, and ground mustard. Mix well. Add the diced vegetables and mix a bit more. Pour the egg and veggie mixture into the casserole dish, over the sausage and bread. Let the bread soak some of the egg mixture up while you slice up the tomato. Cover the top of the casserole with thin tomato slices. Cover it all with the shredded cheddar.

Bake for 45 minutes. The cheese will be slightly brown and the center of the casserole should have baked up into a little mound. If it hasn't baked up, leave it in for another 10 minutes. When you cut into it there will be a little water, but it should be pretty firm. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes if you can handle the wait. Enjoy! :)

Sweet Potato Caramel Twist Coffee Cake

Most of my cooking lately has been for breakfast or brunch. I found this recipe that is very good. However, it uses pecans on the topping and I know that some of my family do not like nuts very much. One time, when I made some cinnamon rolls that called for pecans, I subsituted chopped apples, and it was a hit with the non-nut eaters. I haven't tried it with this recipe yet, because my husband likes it so much like it is.

Sweet Potato Caramel Twist Coffee Cake

Part I

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Place 1/3 cup butter/margarine in 9" square pan, and melt the butter in the oven.
• Stir in 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I use dark) & 1/3 cup of Corn Syrup.
• Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped pecans (see above note about apples).

Part II

• In medium bowl mix 2 1/2-cups of Bisquick, 1/3 cup of milk & 2/3 cup of vaccuum packed sweet potatoes, mashed. (I buy a 15-oz can of sweet potatoes and divide it in half, you can use it twice, or make a double batch out of 1 can. If there is extra syrup, I save it and use it as liquid in another recipe.)
• Mix until dough forms a ball
• Turn out onto board or pastry cloth* that is dusted with flour or bisquick.
• Lightly knead 10 times.
• Roll or pat dough into a 12-inch square
• Spread dough with 2 tablespoons of softened butter or margarine (I don't measure, I just get a knife and soft margarine and spread it like making a sandwich).
• Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of brown sugar over butter (adjust to your personal taste).

Part IV

• Fold dough into thirds and seal the edges by pinching them together. (it looks kind of like a strudel at this point).
• Cut into 12 one-inch strips.
• Twist ends of each strip in opposite directions.
• Arrange on top of pecans in pan. (It may not seem as if they will all fit, but they do, just push, twist, etc, until the pecans are no longer visible.

Part V

• Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
• Immediately turn upside down on heatproof plate. (I usually use parchment paper over a plate for easier clean-up, today I am trying aluminum foil, so I can wrap up the leftovers and re-heat).
• Leave pan over cake for 1 minute.
• Serve warm. I really like it with butter

Tip: Immediately wash your pan and utensils after using them as the sticky stuff is hard to get off if you let it set.

* In case someone doesn't know about a pastry cloth, they have cloths that you can slip over your rolling pin & ones that you can spread on your bread board instead of putting the dough directly on the board. It makes for a much easier clean-up. I have lost mine, so I just use an old dish towel, the kind that doesn't have any nap on it. For the rolling pin sleeve, you can use an old clean sock (nap-free) that is cut to fit your rolling pin. I usually just use the dishtowel for the board. It used to be so hard to take the board outside to shake off the flour and wash the board, etc.

If anyone tries the apples for this recipe, please let me know. Also, let me know of any other substitutions that might be good.

homemade granola

YUMMY!

I will never buy granola again. Once again this is a take on a foodnetwork recipe. I got the idea from good eats about 2 years ago... So I looked up the recipe, I changed it alot though, to fit what I had available in my cupboard.

My adaptation:

3 cups oats
1/3c. steel cut oats
1/3 c. flax seeds
1 c. shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 c. slivered almonds
1/4 + 2 tbls D. brown sugar
1/4 + 2 tbls Maple Syrup
1/4 canola oil
3/4 salt

Preheat oven to 250.

In a large bowl mix together oats (steel cut and rolled), flax seeds, coconut, almonds, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl mix together oil, maple syrup and salt. Mix the two bowls together until the dry is nicely coated. pour onto 2 baking sheets and bake for 1 hr 15 mins, mixing every 15 minutes.

This was sooo easy! I love to hike, and this will be perfect in a trail mix for the family, and over fruit and yogurt.