SCR: Zucchini Fries

September already? Certainly doesn't feel like it here. Nonetheless, there are several good things that September brings with it mainly football and my birthday. With the change of the month, that means another thing. It is time for the Secret Recipe Club!

My blog assignment this month was Kim's blog Everyday Mom. She describes herself as partial to sweets, but that she's also trying to build her skills in other culinary areas. (Sounds a little familiar to how I would describe myself).

Kim has a fun selection of recipes, and as indicated by her about me, I was immediately sucked in by her baking. This Hungarian Coffee Cake anyone? Sign me up. Nonetheless, as you can tell from my picture, I ended up choosing a savory recipe for the SRC reveal. In fact, these zucchini fries worked perfectly to use up a zucchini that had been living in the crisper drawer for awhile...

So how were they? Really good. The Panko makes them surprisingly crunchy (a word I thought I'd never use with zucchini?). As Kim indicates, they are great on their own, but my favorite was in a white bean and basil hummus. Yum! Definitely a recipe to keep in mind for zucchini season. Enjoy! 

(Printable Recipe)

Zucchini Fries
Adapted from Everyday Mom

Ingredients:
1 lb. zucchini cut into medium-large strips
1/2 cup whole wheat Panko bread crumbs
1/2 Tbsp. (1-1/2 tsp) Italian seasoning 
lemon zest to taste
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp. water 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If needed, grease a baking sheet.

In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Add flour and egg mixture to separate bowls (you will have 3 total).

Dredge each zucchini strip through the mixtures in this order - flour, egg, bread crumb mixture. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bread crumbs start to look golden brown. 

SRC: Watermelon Cucumber Salad

One of the things I love about having a garden is how exciting it is when your plants do well. Our cucumber plants are kicking out cukes like it is their job (guess it kind of is?). This is great because not only do I know EXACTLY where my food came from, but homegrown food always tastes so much better than produce from the store. These cucumbers actually have flavor!

I tell you that to tell you this - the recipe I chose from my Secret Recipe Club blogger this month, Cooking Rookie from Cook Book Trial and Error, could not have come at a better time! Her watermelon cucumber salad is a unique combination of flavors, one that I am certain I never would have come up with on my own. In addition, the recipe is very customizable. Want more watermelon and less cucumber? Go for it. Want to add some mint. Try it. One thing to note is that this salad can get a little watery if you let it set for awhile. We just drained off the liquid after storing it for awhile. Nonetheless, you may want to wait to mix it up until just before serving.

Any way you do it, I would recommend this as a great, refreshing way to enjoy that summertime produce! 

(Printable Recipe) 

Watermelon Cucumber Salad
From Cook Book Trial and Error

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed watermelon (1/2-inch cubes)
1 large cucumber, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup chopped pistachios
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 tsp salt (more or less depending on salt level of your feta)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1-1/2 tsp. olive oil

Combine the above ingredients just before serving. Enjoy!

Quick Whole Wheat Rolls

I am definitely less than prepared for Easter recipes. What can I say? Knowing that I work this weekend, I have not been planning any big meals for the day, and it sneaked up on me.

So, if you haven't planned ahead (like me) and find that you may have used all your eggs for other purposes (hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, omelets for breakfast/dinner), you will be glad to know that you can still make these rolls for Easter dinner. Soft, light, whole wheat, quick. There are lots of adjectives that describe these rolls. The recipe is originally from Finding Joy in My Kitchen. In her post, SnoWhite states that she adapted her hamburger bun recipe to come up with these great rolls.

As you can see from my pictures, I originally made them to accompany a soup we made this past winter, but they'd work equally as well as with any meal. One of the things you'll notice about this recipe is quite a bit more yeast than usual (1 pkt = 2-1/4 teaspoons). Just go with it. I promise. Enjoy and have a Happy Easter!

(Printable Recipe)

Quick Whole Wheat Rolls
From Finding Joy in My Kitchen (adapted from Lynn's Kitchen Adventure)

Ingredients:
1-1/2 Tbsp. yeast
1 cup + 1 Tbsp. warm water
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 cups white whole wheat flour

Place the warm water in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the water. Let sit for 3-5 minutes until the yeast is foamy. Add the oil, sugar, and salt. Mix in the flour, one cup at a time, stirring until incorporated into the dough (may need to add extra flour - add just until the dough comes together).

Remove the paddle attachment and add the dough hook. Knead the dough on low for 3-5 minutes (can also do this by hand if desired) until well formed. Divide the dough into 9-12 sections and roll into balls. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with a towel to avoid drafts. Set in a warm place and allow the rolls to rise for about 20 minutes.

While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on a wire cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Enjoy warm.

Asparagus with Balsamic Tomatoes

I always seem to miss the foodie holidays... Pi day, national pancake day, etc. I really need to get up with it a little more because it always looks like a lot of fun to participate in these days. One thing that I do know is that today is the first day of spring, so here is a "springy recipe" to celebrate :)

Side dishes are something I don't plan for very well... I usually will do okay with having a side of bread with soup but for most meat and casserole-type dishes, I really don't do sides. There are a couple of reasons behind this: 1) I'm already making the main dish and don't want to have to work too hard on another aspect of the meal and 2) I don't want sides that are loaded with calories. It has been a little while since I have made this, but this asparagus recipe meets both of those qualifications. Quick, pretty simple, and it clocks in at 69 calories a serving (4 servings). 

I've talked before about how much we like asparagus, and this recipe is no different. My only swap was feta for goat cheese, as I am not the biggest goat cheese fan. Be sure to use a vinegar you really like here as the balsamic flavor is quite prominent (a bonus in my book). Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Asparagus with Balsamic Tomatoes
Adapted from Cooking Light April 2011

Ingredients:
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add trimmed asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and garlic; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, and cook 3 minutes. Mix in salt. Arrange asparagus on a serving platter on on individual plates. Sprinkle with feta and black pepper.

Club: Baked - Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

I resisted as long as I could, but I am finally admitting that it must be fall. I have had a hard time this year getting "in the mood" for fall. I know it officially became fall on the calendar last weekend and football has been on for several weeks now, but I still am in a summer state of mind. In fact, my husband had to beg me this week to put up our fall decorations. It has started to cool down a little here, and I have been able to venture outside for a couple of outdoor runs. Hoping this will help me get excited for fall and all the seasons coming!

These muffins are our next recipe for Club: Baked chosen by Billie of Chocloate and Chakra. As you may have guessed from above, these muffins were my first venture into anything that could be considered "seasonal cooking," but I think they may have given me the kick I needed into fall cooking and baking. The savory nature of these muffins made them more of a dinner pairing than a breakfast treat in my mind, so I went completely into the fall state of mind and served them with some soup. 

I halved the recipe and ended up with six muffins. One thing to note is that the muffins don't rise very much. I took the advice of some of the other group members and filled the muffin papers pretty full, and it seemed to work really well. While pumpkin and cheddar cheese may not be first two flavors you would choose to pair, we really enjoyed these muffins. The cayenne and black pepper give these muffins a little bit of a kick, and they paired really well with our soup. My husband was even thinking further ahead in the fall season thinking that these would be great for Thanksgiving. We'll see :)

A big thanks to Bille for choosing another great recipe and giving me the kick I needed into fall! Be sure to stop by the Club: Baked page to check out the muffins from the other bakers!

Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad

I know it is ridiculously hot just about everywhere right now, but I still have a love affair with summer. What other time of year is it okay to pile your plate with fresh, in-season produce and call it a meal? I know as the temperature goes up it certainly has me actually craving things like large salads or vegetable combos to get my fill at meal time! 

This is a salad that I adapted from allrecipes.com to use some of the produce that we were getting from our garden. The cucumbers and tomatoes in this are all ours! Sadly, our cucumber plants have since burned-out in the heat, but my yellow bell tomato plant is still producing those little guys like they are going out of style! The salad makes a great side to just about any main dish you are serving - think grilled chicken, steak, burgers, brats, heck even a Mexican-themed meal would go here, or you could mix in a grain and call it a meal. Love it! Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 medium cucumbers, cubed (can peel them or leave it on, your choice)
2 slightly firm avocados, cubed
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
4 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp. red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced 
1/4 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste (freshly ground if you have it)
1/4 lemon, juiced (or about 1 Tbsp.)
1 lime, juiced

In a large bowl, combine cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. Stir in garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon and lime juice over the top and gently stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. 

Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter

While I definitely have more strawberry recipes to share with you, I wanted to interrupt the berry goodness with an easy side dish recipe in case any of you were still looking for something to go along with your Easter dinner. I never really remember eating asparagus prior to starting this blog, but since then, it's become one of my favorite vegetables to prepare. It is great prepared a lot of ways and also cooks relatively quickly. Speaking of asparagus, a couple weeks ago I saw a great tip about how to find where the woody portion ends. Take a spear and bend it towards the bottom. The place where it snaps is the end of the woody portion. You can then use it to roughly measure the other pieces so that you don't end up cutting off too much of the vegetable. I used this when I was trimming some asparagus last week, and it worked great!

This recipe is one that I found in Cooking Light in their section about Meyer lemons. I actually cheated and used a normal lemon, but I'm sure that Meyers would make it that much better. It's pretty simple in that you roast asparagus and then combine it with browned butter (what doesn't get better with the addition of a little bit of browned butter?). Easy. Simple. Delicious.

On a side note, I'm not sure this is "food blog appropriate," but has anyone else ever noticed that asparagus makes a certain liquid that leaves your body smell a little funny? It actually contains a sulfur-like compound that is broken down in your digestive system. Only about half of us actually have the enzyme that creates the smell. So, take a poll and impress your friends with your knowledge - I'm just joking about the poll :)

Jokes aside, this is a side dish that I'm going to keep in my files. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter
From Cooking Light March 2011

Ingredients:
1 lb. asparagus spears, trimmed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt (or scant 1/4 tsp. table salt)
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. fresh Meyer lemon juice (or normal lemon juice)
1-1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. grated Meyer lemon rind (or normal lemon rind)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place asparagus in a foil-lined roasting pan; drizzle with oil. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Bake for 8 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in juice. Drizzle butter mixture over asparagus; toss well to coat. Sprinkle thyme and rind over asparagus. 

Yield: 4 servings

SMS: Irish Soda Bread

Well, it's been several months at best since I've been able to make a recipe with SMS. I have to say that I've really enjoyed participating in the group and getting to know many of you wonderful ladies a bit better. I really appreciate the fact that you've let me tag along while I was finishing school, but if this post means anything, it means that I'm home! In reality, I've been here for about 3 weeks now, and it's been great getting back in my kitchen. We definitely have been eating well =)

This was a fun first recipe to get back in the swing of things. This bi-monthly recipe was hosted by Julie of Little Bit of Everything. I love reading Julie's blog, so check it out if you get a chance! I've never actually had Irish Soda Bread, but it has been one of those recipes that has been on my "to make" list for awhile. I am glad this gave me the little shove I needed. We were having corned beef for St. Patrick's Day anyway, so this fit right in with the theme. 

In her post, Julie mentioned that her bread dough was pretty wet. I noticed this as well and also added a little extra flour. I did bake mine on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and my loaf really spread out when cooking. In fact, the cuts that I made before baking it just opened up rather than staying indented. I also ended up needing to bake it for 6 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe before my toothpick came out clean. The resulting loaf was really good but also really crumbly. I feel like soda bread is traditionally a little bit crumbly, but it went from wet to crumbly really quickly?

Neither of us ever having soda bread, both my husband and a I really enjoyed the flavor of the loaf. Because it was crumbly, it didn't cut into pretty slices, but I've never been one to care much about how my food looks when it tastes good =) Head over to Julie's blog to check out her post and the SMS blogroll to see how the other bakers fared. I know we liked it enough here that I'm already looking for a different variety to test out next year!

Garlic and Lemon Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Sometimes I feel like as food bloggers that we put on a little bit of a front. Not that we aren't really making what we show you, but many of us (myself definitely included) really only post the "winners" of all the things that we make. This doesn't always mean that the recipe went well, but even if the recipe failed us, it is typically still a "good" recipe. For example, my morning microwave oatmeal with applesauce, cinnamon, and a sliced banana when we have nice green ones hasn't yet made the blog (or even earned itself a photo). 

One of the things that I hope to do better in 2011 is to better show you the simpler, healthier recipes we eat on a day-to-day basis. I love a great cookie, but we certainly can't live on cookies alone. Let's face it, we all need a couple recipes that we can turn to when you don't get home from the gym until 7:30 wanted dinner 45 minutes ago =) While I'm definitely looking forward to finally get to permanently move to AZ and having a couple months off, after I get licensed in early summer and start my job, I'm more than likely going to need those simple, healthy recipes too. 

This recipe is one of those simple ones that we've made twice now - for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. In both cases, we were having a smaller meal, and I wanted to keep things on the healthier side. In fact, the recipe comes from Oven Love, and Natalie advertises it as just that, a "healthier alternative to the calorie-laden green bean casserole."  Nevertheless, I'm positive these certainly don't necessitate a fancy meal. With the exception of the brussel sprouts themselves, I bet you already have the rest of the ingredients in your kitchen, and with a shorter roasting time of 25-30 minutes, they'll finish up while you are prepping the rest of the meal. 

P.S. If you are thinking, "Really Tessa, I know it's January and all, but you're actually bringing us brussel sprouts?" then you really have to try these. I promise you that I stay a mile away from the frozen ones that my husband eats out of a bag, and if I can make a believer out of my dad and younger brother, then you just may like them. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Lemon and Garlic
From Natalie at Oven Love

Ingredients:
1 lb. brussel sprouts, rinsed and halved 
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon juiced (I used 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice)
salt and fresh cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (or parchment paper if you happen to find out your husband doesn't have any foil in the house) and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss the brussel sprouts with olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, tossing once, until sprouts are soft and brown in spots. Serve immediately.

SMS 1 Week Rewind: Bosc Pear, Blue Cheese, and Walnut Muffins

Well, it's been quite awhile since I've been in on the weekly SMS bake-alongs, and I'm still not quite there. I was able to make an impromptu trip to Phoenix last weekend over my birthday to see my husband. Exciting, I know!! Unfortunately, it was only after making these muffins that I realized I had forgotten my camera cord. Thus with sincere apologies to Andrea (and to Melissa of Lulu the Baker for not having this week's pie), my muffins are a week late.

Andrea from Nummy Kitchen was our host for last week's SMS. Melissa's muffins seem to have been problematic for the group in the past, and it seems that each of us has fiddled with the recipe to make them a little less heavy and dry. After reading last week's posts, the consensus seems to be substituting sour cream for either the milk or the heavy cream. 

I started out similarly using fat-free plain yogurt in place of the milk, but ended up having to add some milk anyway to thin out the batter. The muffins did turn out quite moist with the addition of the yogurt, so I'm thinking that when we make these again in October that I'll add the yogurt in place of the heavy cream to take advantage of the more liquid milk. On a side note, I halved the recipe, and still ended up with 14 muffins! I'm sure that I added a few more "wet" ingredients than were called for, but I can't believe that I got that many extra muffins!

As far as flavor was concerned, I think my husband enjoyed them. I've never quite been the biggest fan of blue cheese, so I'm not quite sure what I thought. I was definitely more on the fence. Maybe with a different variation and a big bowl of soup I'll change my mind on the whole idea of a savory muffin =)  

A big thanks to Andrea for hosting and to the rest of the group for putting up with my sporadic posting! Head over to the SMS blogroll to check out the others' muffins as well as this week's lemon blueberry buttermilk pie!

Chipotle, Lime, White Bean and Corn Quinoa Salad

Unfortunately, I'm finding myself in that area where I've worked down through most of my saved blog posts, and I find myself saving the ones that I do have so that I don't run through them all in a couple of days. Right now, I am gratefully staying in the same place for a couple of months, so I'm hoping that maybe I'll be able to work in a little bit more cooking because things have been a little sparse around here lately in both my cooking group posts and just regular blog posts =)

Ever since first trying quinoa early this summer, I seem to be on a quinoa kick. I've made these stuffed-peppers several times as well as this stir-fry, and I think I may be obsessed with finding new ways to use it. Fortunately or unfortunately, I can't take any credit for this salad. The recipe comes from Jenny at Picky Palate. I've got tons of recipes bookmarked from her site. She comes up with some pretty creative and delicious looking recipes! In addition to that, my husband actually made this for himself for some easy lunches while in Arizona (he actually stopped to take the pictures too so that I could put it up on the blog). You can't take it from me, but he says it's pretty good.

So, if you're still in the hunt for a salad to take to those Labor Day Weekend barbecues, give this one a try. You may just be the catalyst that causes someone else to find a new obsession =)

(Printable Recipe)

Chipotle, Lime, White Bean, and Corn Quinoa Salad
From Picky Palate

Ingredients:
1 c. uncooked quinoa
1 c. water or low-sodium chicken broth
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt with parsley
1 tsp. adobe sauce (from can of chipotle peppers)
1-1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 can (14 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1/2 c. red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. green onions chopped (the green parts)

Rinse quinoa in fine mesh strainer. Place quinoa in a small saucepan with either the water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, and set aside uncovered.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, lime juice, salt, garlic salt, and adobo sauce. Pour into quinoa and mix in the corn, beans, cilantro, chipotle peppers, bell pepper and green onions. Cover and chill until serving.  

Note: This is pretty spicy as written. Cut back on the chipolte peppers and adobo sauce if you like things a little more mild.

Dorie's Corniest Corn Muffins

Ever have one of those exams where you find yourself wondering if you studied the same material that was on the exam? That was mine today. It was really frustrating for me today because I KNEW this stuff too...

I had been planning all week to bake something this afternoon after I finished with the exam. Unfortunately, I was so frustrated after the exam that I didn't even want to bake. My hubbs talked me into it again, but I didn't get the cookies done in time tonight to get any good pictures of them in the sunlight. I'll try tomorrow and get them up as soon as I can.

On the other hand, these corn muffins were GOOD. As evidenced by the title, these muffins are from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking from My Home to Yours. I've seen several soups around the blogs lately and thought that I would add some cornbread to the mix to go with all of them! It's definitely the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of most soup pairings! 

It's been a couple months since I made these, but the recipe is drastically forgiving. I originally started out wanting to half the recipe because I'm only feeding 2 - well 3 if you count the pup that thinks she needs some too :-) About half way through, I realized that it called for buttermilk. I didn't have any but remembered that you can add 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in a total of 1 cup of milk (milk + lemon juice) as a substitute. But, I didn't half this part and didn't realize my mistake until I already mixed it in the batter. What can I say? I'm only a sleep-deprived student. 

So as it turns out, I made a full batch of muffins. My mistake completely messed up the dry-liquid ingredient sequence, but the muffins turned out great anyway. Turns out Dorie must be student friendly :-)  

Because of my extra batter, I made some of the muffins full size and some of them as mini's. Just cut down the bake time on the mini's to 8-10 minutes. We did freeze the leftover muffins wrapped well in plastic wrap and then in foil, and they were just as good the next time we had soup. If you're making soup to stay warm in this weather, try these out! Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe) 

Dorie's Corniest Corn Muffins
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours

Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. cornmeal
6 Tbsp. sugar
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of nutmeg
1 c. buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp. lemon juice with added milk to 1 c.)
3 Tbsp. (1-1/2 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 Tbsp. canola oil
2 eggs
1 c. frozen corn kernels

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray a regular or mini-sized muffin tin or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Working in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg, and yolk. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients, and with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter equally among the muffin tins.

Bake for 15-18 minutes for regular-sized muffins and for 8-10 minutes for mini muffins or until the tops of the muffins are golden and a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully life each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool. Extra muffins can be wrapped and frozen for about a month.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I was looking around at the dishes we have posted on the blog, and I could not believe this dish had not made it up yet. This is by far the most universally popular and the recipe we have probably made the most over the years. Part of its popularity might be because it is probably Derek's favorite salad/dessert (amazingly, it can serve as both), but at nearly every family gathering we attend, they ask us to bring some flavor of this recipe.

We first tried the recipe back in high school when we were over at Derek's house for dinner one night. His stepfather, Don, made us a great meal and from then on, we were hooked. It is fairly simple to make, but there are a couple very important steps in the recipe. First, it is essential to make a well-packed, solid crust. It does not change the taste, but a good crust makes this dish about perfect. In addition, we try to make it as healthy as possible by using sugar-free jello, frozen fruit with little/no added sugar, and as low fat cream cheese as possible. Stating this, the marshmallow layer does not set-up as well using fat-free cream cheese, so we use 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese instead. Finally, the cooling process for the jello layer is important too. If you pour the jello layer on too soon, it can seep through both the marshmallow and pretzel layers and ruin the entire dish. We place the jello in the refrigerator and allow it to begin to congel, then we stir it up, allow it to congel, stir it up, and then pour on top of the marshmallow layer.

The salad probably takes about an hour to make altogether, but only about 1/3 of that time is active. You can swap in different combinations of frozen fruit and jello for a change in taste. Other favorites we have tried include frozen blueberries/mixed berry jello and frozen raspberries/raspberry jello. So the next time you are heading to a gathering of any sort, try this salad. Odds are, you will not be bringing any leftovers home! 

(Printable Recipe)

Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Recipe from Don Kost
Ingredients:
2 cups pretzels, finely crushed
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup melted margarine
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces cool whip
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 packages sugar-free strawberry jello
2 cups boiling water
10 ounces frozen strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the first 3 ingredients and pat into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Combine cream cheese, cool whip, powdered sugar, and marshmallows. Spread on cooled pretzel crust and place in refrigerator.

Mix jello ingredients and place in freezer until it begins to congel. Pour over cream cheese layer and place in refrigerator until ready to serve. May top with leftover pretzel crumbs.

Hummus Pizza

Pizza time! In all honesty, Tessa and I could probably have a blog devoted solely to our many adventures in pizza making. We enjoy making pizza so much that it is really difficult to convince either one of us that going out for pizza is worth it! The one exception to this rule is Mama's Pizza here in Omaha, but that is a story for another day. 

We received a food processor for Christmas from my parents and the exclamation of Tessa when she opened it paved the way for our latest pizza experiment. To quote Christmas morning, she said "Look Derek, now we can make Hummus!" As previously mentioned, we love Greek and Mediterranean food and hummus is always our favorite appetizer. During the process of trying to find a recipe for hummus on Allrecipes, we ran across this unique pizza.

The recipe called for refrigerated pizza crust and a generic hummus spread. Fortunately, we have an awesome recipe for homemade pizza crust, available here, and we found a good recipe for homemade hummus. After Tessa reassured me that garbanzo beans and chick peas were the same thing, the only thing we changed was using both red and green peppers on the pizza. For anyone looking for a unique, but delicious pizza experience, we recommend trying this pizza!!!

(Printable Recipe)

Hummus Pizza
Ingredients:
Homemade pizza crust
2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pinch paprika
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 cups sliced bell peppers, any color
1 cup broccoli florets
2 cups shredded fat-free Mozzarella cheese

Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Roll out pizza crust and place on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of hummus over the crust. Arrange the sliced peppers and broccoli over the hummus, and top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is golden brown and cheese is melted in the center. Slice and serve.

Black-Bean Smothered Sweet Potatoes

This is another one of the quick meals that I have been enjoying while the hubby is away. When I found this recipe here on Eatingwell.com, the ingredients immediately were added to my grocery store list. We used to make loaded baked potatoes for supper when I was growing up, and the substitution of a sweet potato for a normal one makes it that much better in my book.

This is a pretty quick meal as written, but I have this great microwave baked-potato bag that was given to us for our wedding that cuts the time down to under ten minutes. I don't know where the bag came from, but I can tell you that if you find one you MUST buy it. I can stick two potatoes the microwave and have them completely cooked in about 5 minutes! Perfect for those nights when I work until 9:00!

The recipe is written for 2 servings. I cut everything in half except for the tomato when I made it for myself, and it worked great. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Black Bean-Smothered Sweet Potatoes - adapted from eatingwell.com

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed

1 medium tomato

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil (at most)

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. salt (can leave out - salt with the canned beans!)

2 Tbsp. non-fat sour cream

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Wash and dry potatoes. Put in the microwave bag, and microwave on high for 5-6 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Alternately, can bake at 425 degrees for about an hour or microwave without the bag for 12-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine beans, tomato, oil, cumin, coriander, and salt in a medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave on high until just heated through, about 2-3 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, slash each sweet potato lengthwise, press open to make a well in the center, and spoon the bean mixture into the well. Top each with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Black Bean Avocado Dip

With tailgate season upon us, I thought I'd post this recipe for a great chip dip. We made this recipe a couple weeks ago for a backyard BBQ, but it would make great game day fare! I know that all that we brought home from the BBQ was an empty bowl. This recipe comes from a family friend who is an AMAZING cook - she actually gave me a handwritten cookbook of her favorite recipes for our wedding!

The only thing I might do differently next time is add a few more tomatoes, but that is just personal preference. Make it! You'll like it!

Black Bean Avocado Dip - from Kathy Jones

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (11 oz) mexicorn, drained

2 chopped avocados

1 c. chopped tomatoes

1/2 c. chopped onions

1 Tbsp. chopped jalapeno pepper (we just used 1 medium sized pepper)

1 tsp. lime juice

Dressing:

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. garlic salt

black pepper to taste

Mix first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients; stir well. Pour over bean-avocado mixture. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Serve with chips.

Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad

This is going to have to be a relatively short post. It's starting to get late, and school starts back up tomorrow (sad day).

We first encountered a salad like this at a local deli and liked it so much that I started searching the web for similar recipes when we got back home. This is a little different than the one we had there. I'm pretty sure that the one at the deli did not have any citrus flavors, but they were quite good in this recipe. I've got one more recipe that we haven't yet tried, so I'll let you know which we preferred. I acutally found both of the recipes here on Simply Recipes. Enjoy!


Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad
1 c. brown rice, wild rice mix (I totally cheated here and used a microwave package of Uncle Ben's)
2-1/3 c. water (see package)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter

1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. chopped pecans (toasted or untoasted)
1/4 c. sliced green onions
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. grated orange peel
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Use the amount of water for the rice accroding to instructions on the rice package. For this brow rice, wild rice mix I used a ratio of 1 cup rice to 2-1/3 cups water. Bring rice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, butter, and water to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 50 minutes. Do not stir. Do not uncover. Remove from stove and let sit, covered for 10 minutes. Tehn uncover, fluff up with a fork, and let cool to almost room temperature.

In a medium sized serving bowl, mix the rice, cranberries, pecans, and green onions together. In a separate jar, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, orange peel, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, mix dressing in with the rice mixture. Serve warm, chilled, or room temperature.

Baked Egg Rolls

It is not a big secret my husband likes Chinese food. Really LIKES Chinese food. We've been trying to make more recipes at home, in part, to make them a little bit healthier. We've made a couple of stir-fry dishes that have turned out well for the most part. Some better than others, but hey, you live, you learn.

I was crusing through recipes several weeks ago when I stumbled upon this receipe. I found it here on allrecipes.com, but I think the original recipe came from Taste of Home. I was pretty excited abou this recipe. We both really like egg rolls, but I really can't bring myself to fry anything. By the time I get done cooking with all that oil, I really don't care to eat whatever I was making. After I finally figured out that egg roll dough was next to the fresh herbs in the grocery store (who would know to look there?), we were set to give these a go.

The results were pretty good. You can definately tell the difference between a baked and fried egg roll, but myself, my brother, and my husband we still ate the whole batch. Now next time I just have to remember to get some sweet and sour sauce... Enjoy!


Baked Egg Rolls (Taste of Home)
2 c. grated carrots
1 (14.5 oz) can bean sprouts, drained
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1/4 c. chopped green pepper
1/4 c. chopped green onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2-1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 c. finely diced cooked chicken
4 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 pinch cayenne pepper
16 egg roll wrappers

Coat a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray; add the first seven ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until vegetable are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add chicken; heat through.

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, water, soy sauce, oil, brown sugar, adn cayenne pepper until smooth; stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes; remove from the heat. Spoon 1/4 cup of chicken mixture on the bottom third of one egg roll wrapper; fold sides toward center and roll tightly. Place seam side down on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. Spray tops of egg rolls with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Southwestern Pasta Salad

I've been gone for a week, so it's been awhile since my last post. It's also been awhile since I made this salad but thought that I better get it posted before the 4th of July! Memorial Day, 4th of July... at least I did get it posted =-)

There were actually 4 different kinds of pasta salad at the BBQ that we went to with this recipe. Quite the popular dish. I knew that going in and made this recipe accordingly. It sounded good to me, so I knew that I would have no problem eating the leftovers. Even with the other salads, we came home with less than half the bowl. Not too bad.

I started with the recipe listed here on allrecipes.com but modified it quite a bit. I used less oil, more lime juice, and less chili powder out of necessity. Unfortunately, I ran out of chili powder after about 1-1/2 Tablespoons. In the end, this may not have been a bad thing as it seemed to be plenty spicy at the BBQ. After a day or so, the "spicyness" seemed to fade, and I would have added more to the leftovers had we had any in the house. I also added a can of chopped green chiles to go along with the southwestern flavor. My last change was to use whole wheat pasta.

I made the bulk of the salad the day before to allow the flavors to sit together, but I did not add the tomatotes until just before leaving for the BBQ. I also added just a little bit more lime juice after stirring to make sure that the pasta would not be dry. As pasta salad recipes go, this seems to be a pretty good one. I certainly can say that I enjoyed it!

Southwestern Pasta Salad
1/2 pkg. (box) whole wheat rotini pasta

1/4 c. canola oil

1/3 c. lime juice

1-1/2 Tbsp. chili powder, or to taste

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, rinsed

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can green chiles

1/2 c. diced green bell pepper

1/2 c. diced red bell pepper

1 small bunch cilantro, chopped

1 c. chopped roma tomatoes

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large bowl, combine canola oil, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, salt and garlic. Stir in pasta and set aside to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Stir in corn, beans, green pepper, red pepper, and the cilantro. Chill overnight or until ready to serve. Add chopped tomatoes just before serving.