Raspberry Sorbet

I just have to write this recipe down before I forget.  I used to make this all the time last summer and it was so delicious.  And it's healthy too, besides the sugar but raspberries have so much fiber!  Hooray!  Try it with chocolate syrup or chocolate chips.  Oh and it's from July 2010 'Martha Stewart Living'.

Raspberry Sorbet

-1 12 ounce bag frozen raspberries
-1/4 c sugar
-1/4 c water

Put raspberries in food processor, and pulse until they are coarsely chopped.  Keep the food processor on and add sugar and water until smooth.

Matzo Brickle

I've been making this dessert/snack for years.  More than 12 for sure.  I used to make it and put it in baggies and give it to my friends as gifts...and whenever I brought a snack anywhere this is what I brought.  And I still love it to this day.

Recently I was reading one of my magazines, and found that someone decided to make it fancy and sell it.  Why didn't I think of that?!  matzel toff!

Matzo Brickle

-matzah (found in the kosher section of the grocery store)
-1 c butter
-1 c brown sugar
-2 c (or more if you feel like it) semi sweet chocolate chips

Line a cookie sheet (with sides) with aluminum foil.  Cover with matzah.

Melt butter and sugar on medium low heat (You don't want it to be any hotter than this or you will end up with a smelly burnt sugar mess)  Stir frequently until it boils.  Stir continuously for 3 minutes as it boils.  

Pour sugar and butter mixture over matzo.  bake at 450 degrees for 3 minutes. Pour chocolate chips over everything.  Put back in the oven for about 1 minute.  Take out and spread chocolate until it covers everything.

Put in the refrigerator for at least an house until firm.  Break into pieces and store in refrigerator.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This was my first experience making anything with rhubarb.  I was so excited when I finally found in at Kaelin Farm Market in Wexford, PA.  I have recently discovered many farm markets in Wexford and am very excited about this, especially with the summer coming up.  Anyway, I searched around and found a ton of different recipes for strawberry rhubarb pie.  Taking all of these, I combined, added, and got rid of some things to come up with this.  It really was good:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust:

For the crust I used the All butter crust I found on another food blog.  You can find it in my blog Here
and this will also lead you to her blog.  Do not bake the crust before you bake the rest of the pie.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Filling:

-3 c strawberries
-2 c rhubarb
-1/2 c white sugar
-1/2 c brown sugar
-2 tbsp instant tapioca
-1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix everything together and stir until combined.  Pour into pie crust.

Crumb Topping:

I'm not a huge fan of crust covering my entire pie, but I love crumb topping, so I thought I would go this route.

3/4 c flour
1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 c brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
pinch of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients.  If it isn't crumbly enough add a little cold water.

Sprinkle generously over pie.  Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn down to 350 and bake for an hour more.  If it looks like the crust is getting to brown cover loosely with foil.

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

When John and I first got married he was all about Pop tarts and corn syrup laden chewy granola bars (chocolate chip of course).  This made a little bit of sense because he was always eating his breakfast on the go and needed something quick to grab.  Now I have to admit, although I rarely (and I mean very very rare) eat them, I do love myself a good brown sugar cinnamon pop tart.  There's just something about them.  I need to find a recipe for a homemade poptart...I hear they make them at Vanilla Pastry Studio and they are absolutely delicious.  However, I haven't tried them myself.

But anyway,  I wanted to come up with healthy alternatives to grabbing these easy prepackaged, extremely processed breakfast foods.  So our freezer is constantly stocked with homemade Muffins, and these granola bars for John to grab on his way out the door.  It all lasts about a month, and can move them out of the freezer the night before so they are ready to eat in the morning.  Now John says he will never eat a Pop tart again...we'll see.

After looking at several recipes for chewy granola bars, I kinda added different parts of each together and added my own touches, and came up with these:

Chewy Granola Bars

-3 c rolled oats
-1/2 c oat bran
-1/4 c ground flax seed
-3 scoops chocolate protein powder (you can omit this, I just add it for John's sake)
-1/4 c butter
-3 big spoonfuls applesauce
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 tbsp canola oil
-1/4-1/2 c sunflower kernels
-1/4-1/2 c almonds
-1 c chocolate chips
-1 c raisins
-enough honey that it all sticks together and is no longer dry (about 1/2 cup)

Mix all ingredients together.  stir well.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees.  After ten minutes take out, cover with wax paper, put two hot pads on top and press it down.

 Remove wax paper and hot pads and bake for 10 more minutes.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, cut into squares, and cool completely before removing granola bars.

When it comes to the nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips, you can really add whatever you want.  Omit the chocolate chips and add another dried fruit to make it healthier.  Omit the buts all together or try different kinds.  The possibilities are endless.

Pie Crust

So I currently have two strawberry rhubarb pies in the oven which I will probably be writing about later.  Depending on how they taste of course.  However,  I used a pie crust "tutorial" that I found on a blog I use, Smittenkitchen.com.  I've been known to be brought to tears making pie crust.  However I still refuse to buy the store bought.  So I thought I would do a search and see what I could find.  And this is what I found:

All Butter Pie Crust

Now All butter just means with no crisco.  Because really what is crisco anyway?  I know butter is not the most healthy food..but crisco???  Having that in my pie crust kinda disgusts me.  Knowing this is all butter and none of that white stuff that seems very much like vaseline to me is just reassuring.

I probably shouldn't be posting this yet because I haven't even tasted it.  But I just feel the need beeeecause it was sooo easy to make, no frustration or yelling.  Chill in the refrigerator a couple hours and it rolled out perfectly.  really that has never happened to me.  Normally I'm piecing the crust together like a puzzle in the pan but not this one.

I will have to post later how the crust actually tasted but I really have high hopes.

Delicious Asparagus Pizza, Honey Wheat Pizza Crust, Pesto

So I've been loving experimenting with different pizza recipes recently.  When I saw the idea for this I knew I had to try it.  Based on the recipe of the week at Soergels Orchards which is one of my favorite places.  Especially in the fall.

So this pizza can be as simple or as hands on as you want it (store bought crust and pesto, or handmade), but in the end it's all pretty easy.  So here's the basic recipe, with the crust and pesto recipes to follow if you are so inclined.

Delicious Asparagus Pizza

-Pizza Crust (Homemade, Boboli, Trader Joe's Whole Wheat already prepared Dough)
-Pesto
-A big handful of spinach
-3 roma tomatoes
-2 cups chopped fresh (or frozen) asparagus
-Fontina Cheese
-olive oil
-salt and pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Chop up asparagus and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Put in oven until soft (about 5-10 mins)

2. Spread pizza crust with pesto.  Layer Spinach, chopped tomatoes, asparagus, and thinly sliced cheese.

3.  Bake  at 400 F for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

I was afraid that John wouldn't be a huge fan of this pizza because of all the vegetables, but he had half of the pizza, so guess I was wrong.  I love how he isn't picky.  I was also wondering if the tomatoes would get cooked enough, because I love them when they are cooked but raw not so much.  However, the flavors and vegetables blended perfectly and it was a delicious, filling, and semi healthy dinner overall.  Success! 


Honey Wheat Pizza Crust

Pizza crust really is simple to make.  I don't know why I've never done it before.  I will be from now on I can tell you that.

-1 package (1/4 ounce) yeast
-1 cup warm water
-2 cups whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup oat bran
-salt (I just did a couple twists on my salt grinder)
-1 tbsp honey

1. Dissolve yeast in water and let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Mix flour, oat bran, and salt.

3.  Add honey and yeast mixture.  Stir and knead together.

4.  Cover and let sit for a couple minutes to rise.

Roll out on floured pizza pan.  I baked my crust for 5 minutes then took it out added my toppings and baked with them for 15 minutes and it came out perfectly. 

Pesto

I LOVE pesto.  On crackers, on veggies, in pasta, on pizza. I just love it.  I've been making big batches and putting it in the freezer.  It really defrosts well and is great for a quick dinner, for pizza, or when you really want it to dip your crackers in it.

Also, it's a hard recipe for me to write out because I make it all sorts of ways based on what I have.  But I will provide a basic recipe, that is always good.

-1 1/2 cups fresh basil
-1 c spinach
-1/2 cup parmesan cheese
-3 garlic cloves
-1/3 cups pine nuts or walnuts (last time I made it I used sliced pecans and it still turned out delish)
-olive oil
-salt & pepper

Put all ingredients in the food processor, add olive oil and blend until smooth.

Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce

So I'm trying to be good and take pictures to post on here, and I did take some pretty good pictures of this.  However, I am having trouble uploading pictures to my computer.  They keep getting deleted!  How annoying.  So....I do not have a picture for these unfortunately.  BUT they still are delicious!

So these are based on the recipe in the June/July 2011 issue of "EveryDay with Rachael Ray" originally 'Chicken Meatballs with Sweet Peanut Sauce"  However, I made them with ground turkey, and made the sauce more spicy than sweet.  I love peanut sauce!  All the time really.  I would experiment with it all the time in college making some really nasty stuff sometimes. But Now I feel like I've gotten a lot better and haven't failed as much.  Sometimes when I look back at the stuff I made in college for myself I really am disgusted...whaaaat was I thinking?  Anyway, here's the recipe:

Turkey Meatballs
(I used this recipe to serve 2 as a main entree accompanying a salad,  If making for an appetizer I suggest doubling the recipe)

-1/2 lb ground Turkey
-1/2 cup fresh cilantro
-1 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
-2 cloves Garlic minced
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-olive oil

Mix all ingredients together and roll into balls.  Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet, add meatballs and cook through.

Meanwhile make the peanut sauce:

Peanut Sauce

-1/4 cup peanut butter
-2 tbsp soy sauce
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-3 tbsp sesame oil
-A couple splashes hot sauce (to your liking)

Mix all ingredients together.  Microwave until smooth.

Serve meatballs with sauce for dipping.