Thursday, October 28, 2010

Apricot Pumpkin Pie Yogurt

I picked the first and only pumpkin out of my garden today. I didn't even plant pumpkins. The seed must have been in the compost pile from last year's jack-o-lantern.

Late in May, the pumpkin vine sprouted up in my zucchini patch. Being the incredible gardener I am, I thought the pumpkin was a zucchini so the vine stayed in the dirt.

The zucchinis I planted on purpose didn't do much. But the spontaneous pumpkin vine grew and grew and grew sprouting a green pumpkin larger than my head.

This pumpkin was not ready to be picked. Even so, I ripped my providential squash from my dirt pile to block the messy house that would have showed up in the background of this picture. Yep. I'd rather pick immature squash than clean my house.

The goody that I just had to share with you . . .

APRICOT PUMPKIN PIE YOGURT
This yogurt is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or healthy dessert.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves

Directions
Mix together yogurt, pumpkin, jam, 1/2 walnuts, 1/2 dried apricots, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Serve sprinkled with remaining dried apricots and walnuts.

Serves 5 - 6

CLEAN EATING SUBSTITUTE: Use nonfat plain yogurt, omit apricot jam, and add 1/8 to 1/4 cup honey depending on taste.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Clean Eating Hot Cocoa

Ovaltine is good. Swiss Miss is easy. Starbucks is expensive. None of it is good for you no matter what the chocolate propogandists try to tell you.

Still, after a day of thunder and puddle jumping, a mom has no choice but to bribe her children indoors with promises of hot cocoa.

Feel guilty no more and bribe as much as you want. I've taken the crud out of the cocoa and kept all the healthy antioxidants -  good for those stress wrinkles you get from hopelessly yelling at your kids to keep their shoes dry.

CLEAN EATING HOT COCOA
Ingredients
1 cup nonfat milk
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp vanilla (optional)
sprinkle of ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions
Heat milk (don't boil). Add cocoa, honey, vanilla. Whisk together, pour into mug, top with cinnamon or Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows and enjoy!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Gracious Guest Post

Recently I invested an evening into Facebook catch-up. I say invest instead of waste for one simple reason - I found Tiffany at The Gracious Pantry! Full of tasty sounding/looking recipes that are easy and affordable, The Gracious Pantry quickly became a new favorite.

However, it's not the recipes that won me over. It's Tiffany's coherant and straight-forward description of clean-eating, which can be a hard dietary concept to nail down.

When I asked her to help clean up my notoriously crudy Spooky Dinner coming up on October 31, Tiffany came up with Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows. I'm excited to give them a try and let you all know how I use them at my halloween feast!

Without further ado, I give you Tiffany at The Gracious Pantry!



I would like to start off by saying thank you to Lindsey for giving me the
opportunity to guest post on her fabulous blog! It's an honor to share one
of my recipes with you all.

When I first started my clean eating journey, I was saddened by all the
goodies I thought I would have to give up. I actually put it off for a long
time because it just didn't seem logical to deprive myself of all the
wonderful foods this world has to offer, all in the name of losing a pound
or two.

Thankfully, I discovered very quickly that that doesn't have to be the
case! In fact, one of my main theories about clean eating, is that you
don't have to sacrifice all your favorite foods to do it. I would even
wager a guess that nearly 80-90% of all your favorite recipes can be
"cleaned up". After all, the idea is to actually enjoy healthy foods, not
survive on carrot sticks and rice crackers for years on end. Many of the
recipes I create are simply recipes that I've converted. The following
recipe is no exception. It was inspired by a recipe I found at
VolcanicNectar.com.

Enjoy!


Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

Note: These are purposely made to be very strong in flavor so that they will flavor the drink they are in. If you want to eat these by themselves, cut back on the spice by about 1/2.

Naturally Sweetened Marshmallows (Makes approximately 35 marshmallows, depending on how you cut it)

Ingredients
6 tbsn water
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 cup honey
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (no added sugar)
Cornstarch or tapioca starch

Directions

Prep: Coat a 9x13 casserole dish with cornstarch.

Step 1 - Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl. Place into the
microwave for about 30 seconds.

Step 2 - Next, pour the honey into a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla and
warm gelatin/water mixture.

Step 3 - Now stir in the pumpkin pie spice.

Step 4 - Blend with an electric mixer on high speed for 10-12 minutes. The
mixture should lighten in color and become very fluffy.

Step 5 - Scrape marshmallow mixture into casserole dish and smooth top so
it's level.

Step 6 - Place in fridge for 3 hours.

Step 7 - Remove from fridge and dust the top with more cornstarch. Turn
out onto a surface dusted with additional cornstarch. Slice into desired
size. Be very liberal with the cornstarch. This is sticky stuff.

Step 8 - Remove the excess cornstarch by gently shaking the marshmallows
in a fine-meshed sieve.

Step 9 - Store in a plastic bag.


--
The Gracious Pantry. Recipes for Clean Living.

Blog: www.TheGraciousPantry.com
Twitter: @graciouspantry

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Ode to APIZZA

As a freelance writer for a local magazine, my favorite assignment EVER was a write up on a small town pizza joint.

APIZZA has authentic east coast style pizzas with crispy hand tossed crusts that were just a bit burnt in places (the mark of authenticity) and wonderfully unique ingredients like potato.

My favorite - Steak and Potato Pizza. Thin slices of potato with tender strips of steak and melty blobs of fresh mozzarella . . . pinch me now before a daydream-drool all over my key board and break my laptop.

Do you remember the movie The Princess Bride? Of course you do. Do you remember "The Machine" when the 6 fingered man cranked it all the way to 50 and just about killed Wesley? Who doesn't? Okay then - remember the scream, the gut wrenching, ear splitting, resounding sound that Wesley bellowed as 50 years of life was sucked out of his body?

That is the same sound I bellowed in the parking lot of the gym when I hear that APIZZA is closing their doors. That's right, closing.

AAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAhrg! (That's my Princess Bride scream again, only abbreviated. I'm sure you heard something like it last Friday way off in the distance.)

In an attempt to pay homage to a pizza that was life changing (I can never truly enjoy pizza again because of it), I created Meat and Potato Soup - a shadow of it's inspirational predecessor but fantastic nonetheless.

MEAT AND POTATO SOUP
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
6 - 8 russet potatoes, cubed
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp rosemary, chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
Kosher salt and pepper
water

Directions
1. Brown hamburger in a large pot with rosemary, red pepper flakes, and pinch of salt and pepper. When cooked through, drain fat, remove from pot, and set aside
2. Place onion and garlic in pot. The bit of fat from the beef that sticks to the pot should be enough to saute vegetable in. However, if the onions stick, add a drizzle of canola oil. Saute until onions are translucent and tender.

Add potatoes and about 1/4 cup of water. Cover and cook until potatoes are soft, stirring every minute or so to keep from burning on the bottom. Try to let potatoes brown on the bottom before stirring each time.
3. When potatoes are tender, add meat and just enough water to cover.

Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until you are ready to serve. The potatoes will begin to fall apart a bit and thicken the soup. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper, adding more water as needed to loosen, and serve topped with a sprinkling of green onion. If you are freezing soup for later, add green onion to the soup.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Salad in a Soup Bowl



I'm not talking about needing to do your dishes. I'm talking about taking leafy greens out of the salad and cooking them up in a soup - the perfect fall comfort food.
I've already hit the kale this week with Acorn Squash Kale Soup.

Now it's time for collards.

But before I go too far, I need to thank my mom for making this soup possible.

Mom, thanks for visiting this week to watch my kids while I cooked on Studio 6. IKEA afterwards was a blast and I really needed that pack of napkins and fresh cinnamon roll. Thanks also for cleaning my house and buying me all the things I needed to make a major pot of soup for your dinner party that you were hosting that evening. If it wasn't for you, I would be procrastinating on my housework instead of happily cooking a vat of Turkey Sausage and Collards Soup in a sparkly clean kitchen.

Without further ado, I give you . . .

TURKEY SAUSAGE AND COLLARDS SOUP
This is a mega batch that will yield enough to feed your family, a 6 person dinner party (as an entree), and a family who might need a meal delivered to them after the dad join the army. If you don't have that many people to feed you can either buy some gallon freezer bags or half/third/greatly reduce the recipe.
Ingredients
2 lbs lean turkey sausage (uncooked, nitrate free)
10 cans white beans (rinsed and drained)
2 bundles collards (stemmed and chopped) OR about 16 - 20 cups chopped collards
3 - 4 large onions (chopped)
4 - 6 cloves garlic (minced)
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Kosher salt to taste

Directions
1. In a LARGE pot heat oil over medium/high. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes.

Add turkey sausage and stir in, letting fall apart and crumble as you cook.

2. Once turkey is cooked or near cooked through, add collards in batches. Once the collards have wilted down, add just a bit of water to keep the bottom from burning while you work on the beans.




3. Add about half the beans whole. Mash the other half with your hands (saves you from having to clean your food processor) and plop in. The mashed beans thicken the soup giving it a creamy texture without adding cream or dairy of any kind.



4. Add enough water to cover beans and stir together. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer til ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better is it! Add salt to taste.

Yields approximately 27 cups!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Studio 6 Comfort Food

Today I'm headed one hour north to Portland, OR, home of KOIN's STUDIO 6 - lifestyle show for woman and whoever else happens to be watching channel 6 at 4:00pm in the greater Portland area. Oh yes! I've hit the big time.

For those of you who read my blog or don't turn a blind eye to all the junk in the right hand column of this page, you know that I've been on STUDIO 6  before whipping up "Fast Fresh Sauces." But now that fall has hit, fresh just doesn't sound so appealing. No this is not blasphemy. I still like Fresh Air and Fresh Food when cool weather hits. I just prefer my fresh air heated by the fire place and my fresh food cooked to death -  aka: "comfort food."

Turns out the ladies up at STUDIO 6 are into comfort in October too, like everyone else who is lucky enough to live in a place where sweater weather last most of the year. I love a good sweater.

So instead of tossing a salad, I'm throwing leafy greens in a warm, creamy squash soup topped with chicken sausage. Yes, I said creamy. No, there is no cream! This stuff is actually good for you.

Finish off with a Crimini Crostini and you have a full-on-comfort meal without having to slow cook some big chunk of meat or pour cream-of-whatever-soup over a greasy, cheesy casserole.

Tune in to catch the demo live or check back here (daily) until I post the clip. Then keep coming by daily . . . just because!

ACORN SQUASH AND KALE SOUP with Chicken Sausage
Ingredients
2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
2 cans fat free evaporated milk
1 medium onion
1/2 pound kale, thick stems removed, leaves finely chopped (about 8 cups)
1 cup chicken broth (or water)
6 tbsp canola or olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes.
Kosher salt and pepper (optional)
Chicken sausage, nitrate free, browned (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place acorn squash, cut side down, in a casserole dish with about 1 inch of water. Cover with tinfoil and bake one hour or until tender when pierced with a fork.
2. Meanwhile, drizzle half the oil into large pot. Heat and add onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sauté over medium/high until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. When squash is cool enough to handle, scrape out flesh from squash halves and transfer to a food processor or blender (discard skin) along with onion mixture. Process Add nutmeg and process until smooth adding canned milk to thin as needed.
4. Meanwhile, drizzle remaining oil into pot and add kale in batches, wilting and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
5. Add squash puree and as much milk and broth/water as needed to reach desired consistency. Bring up to just below boiling and simmer about 10 minutes to enhance flavor. Season with salt to taste. Serve hot!

CRIMINI CROSTINI
In meatless meals, mushrooms are a standout. The hearty texture and deep, earthy flavor can make a meal out of crostini, which is after all just fancy toast.

Ingredients
1 small (or 1/2 large) baguette
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for dipping
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, trimmed and coarsely chopped
6 ounces goat cheese, room temperature

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour a few tbsp oil out onto plate or in a dish. Cut baguette crosswise into about 12 slices, lightly touch on side to oil, place on a baking sheet. Toast in the middle of oven until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms; cook, stirring, unilt mushrooms are tender and juices have evaporated, 7 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Spread a pat of goat cheese on top of each crostini; top with a tablespoon of mushroom mixture. Serve warm.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Failure Smells Like Blue Cheese

Either I failed to thrilled the Foodbuzz community,
I failed to impress the big wig judges,
Or
THEY failed to appreciate my genius. Yeah, that sounds good. At least that make me feel a little better.

Seriously though, as soon as I got the "We regret to inform you . . ." e-mail from Project Food Blog, I took a deep breath and laid down for a nap in the sun. My kids' laughter sounded sweeter. The fall breeze felt fresher than it had for a few weeks. And I just relaxed.

Fennel Apple Bisque and Cheddar Cornmeal Biscuit. Recipes will be turning up here soon!
When I woke up, I cooked what I wanted to eat. I called a friend to share it with. I enjoyed my meal hot instead of worrying about the taking the perfect picture, only to get frustrated that I am unable to take a perfect picture, then slurp it cold.

Sometimes, failure is the way to go.

Then again, sometime failure stinks like blue cheese. I'm talking about my attempt at Project Food Blog's Challenge #4 - Picture Perfect: post a picture recipe tutorial with mouth watering photos.

Blue Apricot Brulee


Failure #1: Drizzle skillet with olive oil
Fix: It should have been butter or canola oil at the worst.


Failure #2: Add about 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
Fix: It was too much. Only add a little drizzle.

#3: Dump in thawed apricot halves and their juices.

Failure #4: Arrange cut side up.
Fix: There should be more fruit to fill skillet and keep from slipping around and toppling.


Failure #5: Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp blue cheese into each piece of fruit.
Fix: This was a huge mistake! Take the blue cheese out completely and subsitute milder goat cheese.



Failure #6: Drizzle a bit of honey into each apricot.
Fix: I should have been more generous with the honey. These apricots were tart!


#6: Cover with foil to encourage cheese to melt. Chop hazelnuts and toast while apricots are on the fire.

#7: Cook until vinegar caramlizes and cheese looks melty. Be careful not to let honey burn.


#8: Sprinkle with toasted nuts.
Looks like it could be okay right?


Wrong.

I choked down one, then another, and was just as dissapointed with the second apricot as the first. The third apricot sat cold on my plate before I shoved it down the garabage disposal with the rest of the skillet apricots. Classic case of trying too hard. Oh well.

Quick run to the grocery store for the back up plan. Pretty good!

Now I'm wondering if those voters and judges were on to something . . . nah.

Dinner rocked - Fire Potatoes and Skillet Poached Tomatoe Eggs. Perfect tasting but too dark for those "mouthwatering photos." You'll just have to grow an imagination! (Recipe link coming later)



Hopefully this flop won't put you off FRESH AIR + FRESH FOOD for good, just blue cheese.

If you stay tuned, you'll catch a new recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash with Kale that I'll be cooking up on KOIN's Studio 6 out of Portland, OR. You can check your local listings for the show time (4:00pm on channel 6 locally), or wait for me to post the clip later this week.

Finally, I want to give a BIG OL' THANK YOU to all you who voted for me and became Fresh FOLLWERS of this blog. I am thrilled that I took part in the challenge not only for the incredibly generous comments I've recieved and people that have found me here in the blogosphere, but for the other blogs I've found . . .

Chat N' Chow - Still in it to win it! Hop on over to see her step by step chicken soup.
edible cville  - The best writer in the competition but like me was given the boot! Oh well. Maybe we should both take a photography class and get new cameras together. At any rate, she has a top notch, honest blog that will make you salivate and laugh (so have a napkin handy to wipe off your computer screen when you read).
Runs With Spatulas - Snappy writing, good pictures, and NUTRITION INFORMATION! I don't know how she does it but at the end of each post she grades the recipe, and includes all the nutrition info you need to know. BTW, this blog is still in the running too and deserves your vote. This time she made ice cream!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Poetic Lime Black Bean Soup

Beans, beans, the musical fruit.
The more you eat the more you toot.

I mean . . . .

Beans.
Beans.
They're good for your heart.
The more you eat the more you . . . er . . .never mind.

Beans and Soup.
They'll make you poop. . . .Aw crap . . .



Since this is a food related blog,
and since I am a very polite, non-crude person,
I just won't wax poetic.

Unless,

Black beans and Lime.
It's truely sublime.
Soup and Citrus.
Lindsey just feed us.
For no fee,
here's the recipe!


LIME  BLACK BEAN SOUP

Ingredients
1 lb dried black beans - prepare according to package direction
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 onions diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups water
3 limes, cut into wedges
Hot sauce
Kosher Salt

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large pot, add onion, carrots, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sautee until onions are soft, carrots may still be crunchy. Meanwhile, drain and rinse cooked beans.
2. Add beans to pot and add water until one inch over bean mixture, about 6 cups. Bring, to boil, then let simmer until carrots are soft.
3. Process soup until semi-smooth with imersion blender, blender, or food mill.
4. Serve soup, top with chili sauce, squirt generously with lime, sprinkle with Kosher salt, and garnish with lime wedge.

Makes 6 - 8 servings

After being inspired by black beans today, I decided to link up with a couple blog parties. Check 'em out and be inspired!

Potluck Friday @ Ekat's Kitchen
Inspiration Friday @ Southern In My Heart
The Grocery Cart Challenge
Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum
Friday Favorites @ Simply Sweet Home
Family Food Friday @ Get Healthy Cheap