Salmon Burgers

Okay, so we really ate these the way you would a crab cake, but they are really meant to be a burger. You know, with a bun, some mayo, lettuce, tomato... and they would have been even more delicious that way.  But I didn't have the appropriate groceries in stock.

I did have a bag of organic baby yukon gold potatoes, and some broccoli, and so that's what we ate.  Pretty simple.  But I think I'll make these again sometime with some slider buns, some crispy romaine lettuce, some olive oil mayo and tomato slices.  YUM.

Salmon Burgers

1 lb skinned salmon filet, diced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 tsp honey dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko, but I think any will do)

Mix all together, and form into 4 small patties.  Saute in some warmed olive oil on med-high heat until browned, flip and brown the other side.  Serve immediately.

Crostini

We grilled some chicken on the grill one night, so I decided to try out some different flavors on top of  crostini.  Crostini is "little toasts" in Italian.  I bought a loaf of fresh French bread, goat cheese, avacado, and fresh salsa from The Fresh Market.  I also had some fresh blueberries from a local (NC) farm.

I brushed olive oil all around the french bread slices and delivered them to my husband, who grilled them along with the chicken.

The crostini with goat cheese and blueberries tasted like it had blueberry cream cheese, which was yummy, but not what I had expected.

What I really fell in love with was the one with goat cheese, avacado, salsa, and fresh cracked pepper.  I couldn't get enough.  It was so refreshing on a warm spring day.  My 7 year old even loved it!  My 4 year old wasn't quite as adventurous, who stuck with crostini with goat cheese, and blueberries on the side.

What do you love on crostini?

Apple Sausage Sizzle

Tonight I decided to whip up something simple and inexpensive, using staples that I already had in the pantry and/or fridge.  I had 1/2 turkey kielbasa in the freezer.  The other ingredients are always on hand at my house.  Turns out the family loved this meal!

This meal would actually work well for breakfast, too! It would also work well for camping- all of this food can be prepped ahead of time and cooked at the campsite.  Do you tailgate?  This would make a great breakfast tailgate idea!

Choose an apple variety that has sweetness and is crisp, so that it will stay crisp even after warming.  I chose Pink Ladies.

Apple Sausage Sizzle

1/2 lb Turkey Kielbasa, sliced and halved into bite-size
2 Apples (I chose Pink Ladies), sliced
Olive Oil, maybe 1-2 Tbsp
Dried Sage, about 1/2 tsp
Pure Maple Syrup, about 4 Tbsp
1 cup Quick Grits
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Fresh Cracked Pepper, to taste

Cook the quick grits according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, warm up the oil, sage, and maple syrup on medium high heat.  Once it's warm, Add the apples and sausage, mix well and saute until it sizzles and begins to lightly brown, about 10 minutes.  You want your apples to remain crisp.

Serve over the grits, crack some pepper and add a sprinkle of cheese.  Serves 4.

Spring Dinner Outside

We've had ridiculous weather this year, especially over the last couple of weeks.  Crazy heat, roller coaster temperatures, and I think there's been about 10 inches of rain at our house over the last 2 weeks.  But pollen season seems to be long past us, and today was absolutely one of the most beautiful days so far.  It was only 80 degrees outside in the hottest part of the day.  It wasn't humid, the bugs weren't out in full force, and the grass wasn't so wet that we couldn't walk on it.

So needless to say, we fired up the grill, put the umbrella up, tablecloth on and enjoyed dinner outside.

I did a very simple boneless chicken breasts in olive oil, onion powder and Italian seasoning, letting them sit for 20 minutes while the grill was warmed up.  My husband grilled them to perfection, along with the apricots.

 I whipped up a simple mixed greens salad, and some delicious strawberry lemonade.

Strawberry Lemonade

2 cups water plus 2 quarts water
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 pints of strawberries, hulled and rinsed
Juice of 5 lemons (about 3/4 cup)
Ice

First, warm the sugar and zest on high heat with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan.  Boil and stir until the mixture is clear and the sugar is no longer grainy.

Blend your strawberries in a food processor.  Then in your drink pitcher, combine the berries, lemon juice, sugar water, and additional 2 quarts water.  Then add ice to cool it down.

Serve over ice.

Now sit back and enjoy the effort!

Zucchini Pasta

I was reading a recipe on Whole Living lately that was meant to be vegan.  I chose to change it up a bit, to fit our family's style, and thought it may be a way for my kids to actually enjoy zucchini, which has been a hard sell.  When my youngest saw zucchini in the fridge, she got excited and said "Yay, zucchini bread!"  LOL  I had to try very hard not to disappoint.

Before I share the easy way to make this meal, let me tell you about my excitement to hear that Consumer Reports named my food processor, the Breville Sous Chef, the best out there.  I had a nice Kitchen Aid that lasted me for about 13 years, but it was on it's last leg, and so I replaced it late last year.  The Sous Chef makes me happy.

To make the Zucchini Pasta, I took 2 large zucchini and cut them in half lengthwise and also in half the other way.  Then I used my french fry attachment to cut them.  For us, I boiled 1 cup of whole wheat penne.  While that was boiling, I sauteed the zucchini with 1 minced fresh garlic clove and fresh cracked pepper in about 2 Tbsp olive oil, over medium heat.  It took about 12 minutes for both the pasta and the zucchini.  I did cover the zucchini some, so that it would be tender-crisp.  I served with our favorite marinara sauce and some fresh parmigiano reggiano cheese.

What a healthy meal!  The zucchini was good enough to replace pasta, but I have to ease my family in, and there's no harm in a little bit of whole wheat pasta.  The kids ate the zucchini, and even said it was good, and that's good enough for me!

Chocolate Orange Mousse

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my faithful readers!  Have you ever had a Chocolate Orange?  You know, the candy?  So, I've only had it twice, but YUM!  Here's what I whipped up for my family for a Valentine's dessert.  This would be great to serve dinner guests!

Chocolate Orange Mousse

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup whole milk
Zest of 2 clementines plus juice of 1/2 clementine (to equal 1Tbsp of zest/juice)
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

Melt chocolate chips and milk in a warm double boiler.  Stir frequently until chocolate is completely melted.  Cool completely, then completely stir the zest/juice in.  Whip up the cream until stiff peaks form.  Set aside about 1/2 cup cream.  Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture until completely blended.  Put into dessert dish(es) and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.  Serve with a small dollop of the reserved whipped cream.
Serves 8

Veggie Quiche

I grew up knowing this as Broccoli Quiche, but think there's enough veggies in this one to call it a veggie quiche.  I just love it because it's full of veggies, where many quiches are mostly egg.  I usually throw in some extra broccoli because that's just how I like it.

I also grew up with Bisquick in the original recipe.  I don't use the stuff, I think it's scary, at best, and prefer to use ingredients that I know how to say and know what is in them.  That's why I used an Olive Oil Crust recipe.  After eating some, I recommend only using half of the olive oil crust recipe, making for a thin crust layer, but this week I used the full crust (and just didn't eat all of the crust).

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Veggie Quiche

Crust

10 oz (2-3 cups) frozen broccoli florets, thawed

1 bell pepper, diced

1/3 cup onion, chopped or diced

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3 eggs

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper

1 cup milk

Prepare your crust in a pie dish.  Evenly spread out your broccoli, bell pepper, onion, and cheese.  In a separate bowl, blend together remaining ingredients until eggs are well beaten.  (You can use a blender, whisk, beater...)  Pour liquid mixture over the veggies.  Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted in the center.

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I made this for myself to eat for lunches this week, but my 7 year old tasted it and decided that she'd also like some in her lunchbox.  That's my girl!

A great cookbook and incredible dinner rolls

We had a nice quiet Christmas dinner at home.  I made a more formal dinner for the occasion, and made a decision to include homemade rolls on the menu.  Being that it was Christmas weekend, I wasn't able to find time for any yeast breads, so I decided to hunt down a good recipe from my collection of books.

One of the books I perused was Lee Bailey's THE WAY I COOK.  It's a large collection from several of his cookbooks, all combined into one.  My aunt gave me this cookbook many years ago, when she lived in the area, and I'm so thankful to have it in my collection- it is timeless.  I recommend this book to people who want a comprehensive cookbook that will be a standby for years to come.  There are no pictures, so you have to imagine everything.  In the case of our Parmesan Onion Puffs, I'm so glad I imagined... and so was the family!  Even my kids loved these, despite the presence of onion.

The great thing about the puffs is that they are really simple to make, and it makes a lot of them, which is good because you will not be able to keep hands off of them!  The recipe says it makes ~18, but I'd say it was more like 24 or so.  I used my medium Pampered Chef scoop to make life easier.  These would be great for a dinner party.

Parmesan Onion Puffs

Saute 2 cups coarsley chopped onions in 4 Tbsp butter until wilted, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

Next, make the PATE A CHOUX:
1 stick unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 cup sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
4 eggs, at room temperature

Put 1 cup water, the butter and salt into a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Dump in the flour all at once and stir vigorously over medium heat until the paste begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Off the heat, beat in the eggs, one at a time.

To finish the puffs, add in 1 cup freshly grated parmesan and the sauteed onions.  Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets (*I used parchment on mine).  Brush tops with milk and then sprinkle with additional parmesan.  Bake until golden and fluffy, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Simple idea to protect my recipe

Tonight I was working on making Cilantro Lime Pesto for my pasta dish.  The recipe was on a piece of paper.  I work on those clear cutting sheets that are very handy to have around when you don't need a full cutting board!  I realized that I could place the recipe under the cutting sheet, and keep working.  Simple, yet so easy and saves your paper recipes from splatters, wet fingers, etc.

What's for dinner at your house?

Pear and Cranberry Pie

We had a dear friend come for dinner, someone I have known for many years.  I picked up some fresh cranberries and pears, and decided I would make a pie for dessert.  I made a simple olive oil pie crust.  I don't carry shortening in my house, I actually haven't bought any in maybe a decade.  The olive oil crust suits us perfectly, and tastes delicious with the sweet and tart fruit filling.


Pear and Cranberry Pie

1 1/2 to 2 pears, depending on size, cored and sliced
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir the ingredients together in a bowl until the fruit is well coated and looks evenly distributed.  Place in the uncooked pie crust and then put the lattice or crust cutouts on top.  Bake at 325 for 40 minutes.  Keep warm in the oven at 250 until ready to serve.

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Olive Oil Pie Crust

2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp ice cold water

Sift flour and salt into food processor with dough blade attachment.  Gradually pulse in olive oil, then ice water.  Pulse until just blended, no more.  Too much blending will make a tough dough.  Roll out about 2/3 of this ball between sheets of wax paper to make a thin bottom crust, and then use the remaining dough to shape out some lattice, leaves or other decorative top crust.  You could use it to make one thicker bottom crust, but one recipe was plenty for the pie I made.

This crust also makes a delicious savory pie, such as quiche. 

Awesome Buttermilk Waffles

It's not often I post recipes from other websites, but if they turn out fabulous, I'm all for sharing!  We recently had brunch with my family, using someone's new Belgian waffle iron.  (I'm jealous.)  They didn't have a good waffle recipe, so I went upstairs and got on my mom's computer to do a little research.

I knew they had buttermilk and wanted to use it, and so I was on a mission to find a good waffle recipe using buttermilk, and not having any strange ingredients.  Here's what I found, and boy am I glad I found this (note the 5 stars) right on Martha Stewart's website.
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Buttermilk Waffles 

Martha Stewart Living, June 1999

Serve warm with sweet butter and Fruit Syrups.

Yield Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, plus more for waffle iron
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Grease waffle iron with a small amount of melted butter, and heat. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour into dry mixture, and combine.
3. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter.
4. Ladle about 1/3 cup batter onto each section of the waffle grid; spread batter almost to the edges. Close lid, and bake 3 to 5 minutes, until no steam emerges from waffle iron.
5. Transfer cooked waffles to a baking sheet; place in an oven set to low heat, about 200 degrees, while using remaining batter.

Variations

On the TV show, Martha used 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, instead of vanilla extract and baked waffles 5 to 7 minutes.
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These waffles were light and fluffy, and very flavorful!  I made a double batch of my raspberry maple syrup for these. YUM!  Now I'm wanting a Belgian waffle iron to make tall fluffy waffles...

Salmon with Garlic Butternut Squash Sauce

So this is really a semi-homemade dinner, but I had to share for a few reasons.  One, I liked it a lot.  Two, my 6 year old daughter liked it so much she wanted me to make more for her LUNCHBOX (which I didn't actually do because I wasn't sure how to keep that warm).   Three, it's so easy.

I know I have talked before about The Fresh Market.  I've been a fan since childhood.  My mom and I went in there one afternoon while she was here visiting and they were doing some sampling, which spells trouble every time!  I walked out of there with 2 things that were not on my list that day, but both were well worth the extra money.  Here was one of the recipes being sampled: Garlic Sage Pork with Butternut Squash Sauce.  The other recipe was this: Fall Fennel Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette.  Both were delicious.   

Naturally I went home with Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce and some Cuisine Perel Blood Orange Vinegar and fennel!

Anyways, I got creative one weeknight when I knew we were having salmon for dinner but needed to keep my time in the kitchen at a minimum and yet still have a delicious dinner that kept everyone happy. The butternut squash pasta sauce contains roasted red peppers, garlic and onions, and makes for a very tasty flavor!  This is what I did:

Salmon with Garlic Butternut Squash Sauce

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 (8oz) salmon fillets
1/2 cup Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce
1/2 cup organic chicken broth

Saute the garlic in the oil on medium-high heat, until it just starts to turn color.  Add the salmon filets, top down and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Flip and cook for 3 minutes.  Gently stir in the sauce and broth and warm through.  It is ready to serve when your sauce is warm and your salmon is cooked to preference.

Homemade Pizza

I love homemade pizza.  Fresh mozzarella, fresh basil... Tonight I made some pizza sauce, too.  I used to buy some great pizza sauce, but I can't find it at any of the stores here locally.  So I set out to make a sauce that my family could love.  It is so easy to make, I don't know why I haven't done it sooner.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 4-6 pizzas!  I was able to put 2 pints in the refrigerator after making 2 pizzas tonight.  You can refrigerate or freeze any remaining pizza sauce that you don't use right away.

Do you have any favorite homemade pizza toppings?  I love fresh spinach, basil, bell pepper, and sometimes pineapple.  If you're going to do fresh leafy greens such as basil or spinach, it's best to lay it down on the sauce, before the cheese goes on.  It will not smoke or dry out that way. 

Fresh mozzarella that comes in the form of a ball tastes nothing like the block mozzarella, so much so that I hate to even call the block real mozzarella.  It tastes incredible fresh and on pizza, so I really hope you'll make the change.  It really doesn't cost that much more!

Homemade Pizza Sauce

28 oz stewed tomatoes*
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1Tbsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Bring the ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring regularly to heat more evenly.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

*I prefer Pomi brand, which comes in a 28oz box, and is BPA free.

Butternut Squash & Cider Chicken Soup

I did some experimenting last weekend in the kitchen.  Turned out pretty good!  The butternut squash took on a sweet flavor that I thought was much less powerful than the traditional taste.  If I make it again, I think I'd double the parsnips, I just love their taste, and they help cut the sweetness in the broth as you're eating.

I froze this in lunch sized portions.  I had some for lunch on Monday with a hearty whole grain roll.  YUM!

Butternut Squash & Cider Chicken Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small sweet onion
1 cup sliced parsnips
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced in large cubes (3/4 inch or so)
2 cups apple cider
1.5 cups chicken stock
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 tsp cumin
2 cups chopped cooked chicken

Heat the oil and add the onions and garlic.  Saute for a couple of minutes to allow time for slight caramelizing.  Add parsnips, squash, cider, broth, pepper and cumin.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes or so, just long enough for your squash to easily be cut with your spoon.  Add the chicken.  Warm for another 10 minutes, then serve.

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What's cooking up in your house?

Mom's Cherry Squares, Remade

I remember my mom making cherry squares growing up.  I'm not sure how often she made them, but they were dangerously delicious.  They still are.  I decided that they can still be delicious, but be made a little healthier.  I'm not saying my version is healthy (after all, it's still a dessert), just more so than the original.  The taste was not much different!  Did you know that cherries are known for their anti-inflammatory properties?

In my recipe, I tell you how to easily make your own cherry pie filling.  You can make ahead the pie filling if you like, just refrigerate until ready to use.  I recommend this, because with time, the juices come out and create the sauce.  As for pitting fresh cherries, I use the OXO Good Grips Cherry Pitter.  We love it (my husband even helps with pitting cherries)!

 'Sweet Cherry' Pie Filling

4 cups sweet cherries, pitted
juice of 1/2 lemon (1-2 Tbsp)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

In a medium saucepan, stir ingredients and warm on med-high heat until sugar breaks down and dissolves.  Cover and reduce heat to med-low.  Heat them about 20 minutes to heat though and soften, stirring frequently.

Cherry Squares
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the ingredients together.  Spread 3/4 of the mix in a parchment-lined jelly-roll pan (10"x15"x1").  Spoon the cherry pie filling across the pan (on top).  It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just make sure your cherries are somewhat evenly distributed.  The juices/sugar don't have to be evenly spread over every inch, just drizzled around.  Then spoon the remaining bar batter on.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or so.  The center needs to look cooked through before you pull it out.  Allow time to cool, then cut into bars.  Makes 24.

Have a delightful week!  Life is just a bowl of cherries~ just remember to throw out the pits!

Apple Cheddar "Stuffed" French Toast - Your Mouth Will Thank You

On Saturday night, our family picked up a loaf of Panera's Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread, which we had them slice in the 'small' slices.  Our plans were to make French Toast after church.  The idea came to me as I thought about what I could do to add some 'wow' to the french toast.  Then the idea came to me.


So I sliced up some Empire apples, about 1 apple per person, maybe a little extra.  I peeled and sliced them, put them in a dutch oven on medium heat, and covered.  I stirred occasionally, but they only needed about 10 minutes of heat to start breaking down and getting warm.  Meanwhile, I grated about a cup of sharp cheddar cheese.

My husband cooked up our french toast, and it all came together like this:

We topped it off with some butter and a drizzle of organic pure maple syrup.  Delicious!  This would be a great idea for hosting a brunch!

It reminds me of an old bread recipe that I have made a couple of Christmases, Cheddar Apple Vanocka.  It's a traditional Czech Christmas bread filled with a cinnamon apple filling and cheddar cheese.

I love spending time in the kitchen with my family!

Sweet granola

I love making granola.  When my daughter's school had granola on the needs list for their fundraiser breakfast, I offered to make some.  I had already made my Banana Bread for the same breakfast, but there were some items that didn't get signups, so I decided to help some more.

There are a lot of granola recipes out there, and they vary so much.  I will say from experience that I do not recommend using quick oats for your granola.  They make a much starchier taste, and if you're not careful it can also make your granola dry and chewy.

I wouldn't normally make something so sweet for our family.  Since this is for a more general population, I made a sweet, delicious version.  It clumps nicely, but not too much.  I used sweetened coconut, but unsweetened would also work well and would be my personal preference.  Since this was to be served with fruit and yogurt at the breakfast, I chose not to mix in any dried fruit.

Sweet Granola

5 cups whole oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix the above 'dry' ingredients.  Then in a separate bowl/measuring cup combine the following:

1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla

Blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well until the mixture is evenly moistened and not clumpy.  Lay out on nonstick foil in a jelly roll pan. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 40 minutes, stirring once at 30 minutes.  Cool in pan, stirring after 30 minutes to break up into clumps.  Store in an airtight container.  Mix in 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries if you desire!

This would make a great gift for a friend or family member, as long as their diet is not restricted!

Berry Maple Syrup

As you may already know, I try very hard to provide foods that are made from whole foods.  I have not banned processed foods altogether, but I'm getting more and more concerned about what food companies are sneaking into our foods.

About once a week we have breakfast for dinner.  Sometimes it's eggs, sometimes pancakes or french toast.  For pancakes, we usually use my homemade mix that has oats and whole wheat flour in it, but also a favorite is Hodgeson Mill's Whole Wheat Pancake Mix.  In my quest to serve something healthy, I like to experiment ways to serve better toppings.  Anyone remember this?  Enter the berry syrup.

An easy way to introduce PURE maple syrup to your family, which tastes much different from the typical syrups you find on the shelves (most of which don't even contain real maple), is to add berries. 

Try this recipe, which provides fruit for your family along with natural pure maple syrup in the form of the perfect replacement for that-stuff-on-the-shelves-called-syrup.

Take about 1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup (I recommend Full Circle USDA Organic 100% Pure Maple Syrup) and put into a medium saucepan.  Add 1 pint of washed berries, such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries).  Heat on medium high heat just until it starts to boil, then turn the heat off.  Keep it chunky if you like, or use an immersion blender to make it smooth.  Serve warm!

Oatmeal Cookies

Two Saturdays ago, the girls and I weathered the storm, Hurricane Irene, at home.  We were very fortunate to have power most of the day.  It went out about a dozen times through the day, but each time came back on within 60 seconds.  We were in the minority, for sure!

We played games, did some crafts, and baked cookies.  It was a good day of mother-daughter bonding.  I altered a recipe that I have from an old cookbook from The Fresh Market, adding in some whole wheat flour (half wheat, half white), and also changing some of the add-ins.

I split the cookie dough in half and in half I added 1 cup milk chocolate chips with 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, and in the other half I added 3/4 cup dried cranberries, zest of one orange, and 3/4 cup white chocolate chips.

These cookies were really tasty, and I could not tell that they were healthier than the original (which I had made once before).

If you make these, please let me know what add-ins you use, and whether you like them.  What would you add in?

"Hurricane" Oatmeal Cookies

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 cups oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups "add-ins" such as chocolate chips, walnuts, cranberries, white chocolate chips, orange zest or something else!  (I really loved 1/2 milk chocolate chips with 1/2 chopped walnuts!)

Preheat oven to 375.  Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  In another bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl.  Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture in stages.  Stir in your add-ins.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet (recommend covering with parchment paper).  Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

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I recommend baking a dozen or two, and freezing the rest on parchment.  Just put parchment on a cool cookie sheet, put rounded teaspoonfuls on the parchment (not touching).  Place in freezer.  Once frozen, remove from cookie sheet and place in freezer bag.  Next time you want cookies, you take the amount you need out, thaw for 15 minutes, and then bake per the recipe.  No more processed cookie dough from the grocery store!

Strawberry Season 2011 has commenced!

I took a week of "stay-cation" this past week.  One of my favorite springtime activities is picking strawberries, and it was the perfect week, because the weather played out just perfectly for strawberry season to begin on my week off!  I took my oldest daughter with me.  We picked 2 big flats of strawberries.  I froze many of them.  On Friday morning we had whole wheat pancakes with real whipped cream (unsweetened) and fresh strawberries (with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top).  Yum!

Today I made this tart, which I've had in my mind for quite some time.  I think you would love it.  It's light and very springy!  We delved into it after the youngest finished her nap today.  I heard "quite delicious" and "best dessert ever" from the family!  Hope you'll try it! 

I want to share with you two new strawberry tools that I bought recently, both of which were fantastic!  Easy to use and made my workload much lighter!  These tools really sped up the time I spent prepping!

 

The Chef'n StemGem and Sliceter were both awesome tools that I picked up at Sur La Table.  It appears they're also available elsewhere for the same prices.  Hulling the strawberries went much faster than using a paring knife, and only cut out the unnecessary parts.

So without further adieu...

Strawberry Citrus Tart (makes 2)

Tart Cake:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp fresh orange zest
pinch of salt
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
1 pint heavy whipping cream, whipped until stiff
1 jar lemon curd, chilled

Fresh sliced strawberries for top

For cake:
Prepare 2 tart pans (preferably the kind that will make a well in the center when flipped, such as Pampered Chef's) with cooking spray, a circle of parchment, and more cooking spray.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 375.
In a prep bowl, mix sifted flour, salt and orange zest.  Set aside.  Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl until frothy.  Gradually beat in 1/4 cup granulated sugar; beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.
In another bowl, beat egg yolks on high speed with 1/3 cup sugar until thick and lemon-colored, several minutes.  Beat in the vanilla.  Fold the flour mixture into the yolk mixture.  Fold the yolk mixture into the whites.  Spread evenly into the 2 tart pans.
Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.  Center should spring back when you gently push with your finger.  After cooling for 5 minutes, invert to your serving platter.  Cool. 

For filling, gently fold the lemon curd into the whipped cream until well blended.  Spread into the well of each cake.  Top with sliced strawberries and indulge. 

Go on, have a second piece.  I won't tell.