Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sundried Tomato Pesto

This is one of the easiest and yummist ways to make a great pasta dish super quick! Serve it will a great cheese and some Italian bread, maybe a green salad and you have a fantastic meal ready in minutes!

*1 pound of pasta of your choice
*1 medium jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil

*few cloves of garlic
*handful of fresh basil
*olive oil

Boil your water for your pasta. While the water is heating up, combine your sundried tomatoes and garlic and pulse until well mixed. Add the basil and enough olive oil until the mixture is a sauce consistancy. Place in a bowl and add cooked pasta. Stir until well mixed! This is one of the best pestos I have ever had and SO easy to do!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Zucchini Flower Pancakes...

One of my favorite memories as a little girl was sometimes on Saturday mornings, my dad would make us zucchini flower pancakes. This might sound like an odd combination, but it is very delicious, and an age old Italian recipe. Zucchinis have male and female flowers, the females producing the zucchinis, so my dad would pick all the male flowers from our backyard garden for our pancakes. I found these flowers at the farmer's market yesterday, but these had mini zucchinis still attached. That is fine, and we just saved the zucchinis for later to sautee with dinner. Whole foods will sometimes carry the flowers, though they can be very expensive, so I would check at a local farmer's market. I was able to find 8 flowers for about $2.50.
All you need to do is mix up pancake batter (Trader Joes has a great whole grain pancake mix), and coarsely chop 6-8 flowers into the batter.
Cook them just like you would regular pancakes...
And you will have quite a feast! Dave had them for the first time today and loved them! They are great topped with butter and maple syrup and if you are brave enough to try, I love my with a little sour cream, as well.

Pound Cake with Marscapone...


My mom and I have had fun this week watching the cooking channel and getting ideas for dinner and dessert. Here is a delicious recipe we tried after watching Everyday Italian with one of my favorites, Giada de Laurentiis...

Here are the ingredients:
*1 pound cake (store bought or home made - we made one pretty quickly)
*1 8 ounce container marscapone
*1 jar organic apricot preserves
*2-3 teaspoons amaretto
*sliced almonds

Slice the pound cake into 1/2 inch thick slices and place on cookie sheet (we did smaller portions and took each slice and cut it in half). Place cookie sheet under the broiler and toast until lightly brown - these cook fast, so watch them closely. While the pound cake is browning, place the marscapone in a bowl and add the amaretto and stir with a fork (like you see Dave doing! =), until blended. Place a few spoonfuls of the apricot jam in a bowl and microwave until just warm. Take the toasted pound cake and lay one the the pieces on a plate, toasted side down, then dollup a generous mound of marscapone on top and add another slice of pound cake, toasted side out. To top this off, add a spoonful of apricot jam and a sprinkle of almonds. We loved this dessert because it was so easy to do, everyone could participate, including my hubby!!, and it was a light and fragant dessert! Enjoy!!
The finished product...

Friday, March 23, 2007

Everything Chicken...


This is a fabulous chicken recipe that is quick and easy to make and tastes amazing! When making this, it is best to use chicken tenders. Depending on the size of your package, you will need to make a little more of less of the following topping...
* 3 tablespoons coarse sea salt (you can get this at the regular grocery store in the spice section)
* 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
* 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
* 3 tablespoons garlic
* few shakes of dried basil or oregano, or both!
Combine all the above ingredients in small bowl.
Take your chicken tenders and dredge each one (both sides) in the mix and lay on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes, or until done. Serve with your favorite vegies.
These tenders will come out incredibly juicy and full of flavor! Enjoy!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Busy Day Cake

I made one of my favorite cakes, the busy day cake and, well, the cakes came out of the pans great, but the gas stove in this oven burns things that are baked on the far sides of the oven. At first I thought I had a disaster on my hand, but after shaving off the burnt areas and filling the layers with jam, I was able to salvage the cake, remembering that my mom has told me icing can cover almost anything. I used non-stick pans that worked just great and it was easy to put the jam in the middle and lift each layer on.
Frosting was a bit tricky. I had made the frosting and cake a few days ahead, so I had to take the frosting out of the fridge a few hours before I frosted. I popped it in the microwave for about 25 seconds and it softened up nicely. Be very careful if you use the microwave, as you don't want to melt your icing. Because there were a lot of exposed crumbs, I had to glop the frosting on and slide the knife over it. If any crumbs got on the knife, I simple wiped the edge of the knife on the edge of a bowl.
The cake came out great and I added the pansies for the final touch! The recipe for the cake and frosting is as follows:
Busy Day Cake:
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour

In mixing bowl combine all ingredients except flower and beat until well mixed. Add flour and whisk until batter forms. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until done. Make one round 8 inch cake. Recipe can be doubled.

Cream Cheese Frosting (One of my all time favorites!!! My mom uses this frequently on the wedding cakes she makes.)
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups confectionary sugar

Mix until well blended. Will cover an 8 inch cake, but 1 1/2 times the recipe will do an even better job!

Monday, March 5, 2007

My new favorite Nutrition Book...


This book is fabulous! The nutritionist in me loves the detail in the beginning of the book where the cell and it's functions are reviewed and also his discussion on nutrient rich foods. If you don't have time to read this, it can easily be skipped and no harm done. Once you are passed the beginning sections, this book is mostly made up of sketches on fruits, vegies, meats, grains, beans, and dairy products. He takes each item and talks about how to select it, store it, the best way to prepare it including cleaning instructions and recipes, shares the nutritional values, and does a very detailed description of why it is healthy for you. He also includes how many serving of fruits and vegies and other things that you need each day. In additon to this he has a 4 week meal plan to help you learn how to incorporate all the needed items into your diet. Dave and I will start at the end of this week. It is very easy to use and includes all the recipes and items needed for each day. Make meal planning easy and it is full of variety. I think this is the best layout of a nutrition guide I have seen. I can't wait to incorporte it into my kitchen! My goal is to read about 2-3 different foods a day and then try to use them in my cooking. You can get this on Amazon for about $26. I think it is well worth the cost!

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Tropical Fish

Last week, we had a beautiful sunny day, the air was warm and fresh, the sky blue. It reminded me that spring was just around the corner and sent my thoughts toward sunshine and Hawaii. It just so happened there were mahi mahi fillets thawing in the fridge, so I set about to cook up some mahi mahi reminiscent of Hawaii. It came out quite tasty, so I will share it here.

Tropical Mahi Mahi with Salsa
olive oil (I used lemon infused olive oil)
basil
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper
pineapple rings
coconut

for the fruit salsa
2 kiwis
1 mango
olive oil (lemon infused)
balsamic vinegar
honey
ground cloves
salt
pepper

I drizzled the filets with olive oil, sprinkled on the basil, salt and pepper. Then I laid rings of pineapple on top. I baked it at 400 for about 10 minutes. I think broiling it would have been a better idea, but I didn't think about it until half-way through baking. If you try this, try broiling it. About half-way through I sprinkled coconut on top.

For the salsa, I chopped the mango and kiwis. I tossed them with a little olive oil (2 tbsp), balsamic vinegar (1 tbsp), honey (1 tbsp) and the seasonings--just a few shakes of each. As I served the fish, I spooned the salsa on top. It was fresh, flavorful and delicious!