Fun With Food: Build Your Own Salad!

The summer is finally here!  Gone are the days of wearing coats and scarves to cubs games and gone are the days of stepping outside into what can only be described as a sauna only to completely melt into the sidewalk before getting to your destination.  Sunny and consistently 80 degrees now for a whole week in chicago?  I'll take it!

A quick and easy way to perk up summer beverages

I don’t drink enough water.  I know that I should be drinking at least 8 glasses a day and I also know why it is so important yet I just don’t do it.  I can blame it on a lot of things but when it all comes down to it it is very simple, I find it boring.

Craziest recipe I have ever tried that actually turned out really well!

 

I have to admit that thanks to my DVR I have become addicted to daytime television.

Artisan Bread Part Two

Remember how excited I was to make bread?  Well... things just got more interesting.

Chicago Stuffed Pizza

I know what you are thinking, and I can explain. 

Fun with Food

In case you didn't know, I am a little obsessed with cupcakes.  Long before Sprinkles and DC Cupcakes I was in my kitchen making tiny masterpieces out of cake and frosting.  Cupcakes are individually portioned tiny treats that are oh so fun to make. 

SUNDAY FUNDAY: Spiked Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day + 1 month!  I had planned on posting this on MARCH 17th but my computer was acting up so here goes!

Fun with Food: Calzones

A calzone is simply a pizza folded in half to make for a neat and easy to eat Italian meal.  Sometimes I buy them and sometimes I make them.  They are much easier than you would think!

Ricotta Part Five- Homemade Ravioli

Yes, I still have a little ricotta left!  (ricotta-part-one-making-ricotta) And yes, this will be the last post using that batch of Ricotta... 

Years ago I  had a pasta maker.  I loved it but when I moved from a spacious suburban apartment with a walk in pantry to a smaller city condo it didn't make the cut. 

A quick substitute for homemade noodles?  Wonton or Egg Roll wrappers.  While Italian cooks may beg to differ, I like to think that the ingredients are pretty similar, flour, water, maybe an egg. 

I have tried several different versions of ravioli using these go-to wrappers and they have all turned out great.  Let's take a look at one that uses my homemade Ricotta:

Ricotta Part Four: Crepes

A few weeks back some friends and I went out for dinner to a restaurant that specialized in crepes.  They were so good that a few weeks later we went back again!  Ever since then I have had crepes on the brain.  Are they hard to make?  Could they be made healthy?  Is it possible for crepes to be "everyday nutrition"?

I think that I tried to make crepes once back in high school after learning about them in french class.  I would venture to say that they didn't turn out well and perhaps I spent a lot of time cleaning my mom's kitchen of crepes gone wrong.

Knowing that savory crepes are usually filled with some combination of cheese, meat and vegetables I thought I would give it a try again and use some of my ricotta, yes, I still have quite a bit left!

So I started out with a simple batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

To make it healthier I used a reduced fat butter.  Mix everything together with a wire whisk (or whisk attachment in your mixer) for 4 minutes.  Let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  Because there are eggs in the batter it will puff up if it is used right away, something that we want in pancakes but not crepes.

The recipe called for brushing the hot non-stick pan with about 1 tablespoon of melted butter for each crepe.  I did this, cringed slightly at the amount of fat that I was adding, but figured it was necessary to avoid having to use a brillo pad  later.  WRONG!  The first crepe turned out horrible, it was impossible to flip and completely broke apart. 

So into my mouth (no sense in wasting batter!) it went and I started over. 

This time I decided to trust my nonstick pan and added no butter, which ended up being the best method and the healthiest!

I poured 1/4 of a cup batter into the center of my hot non-stick ungreased pan.  I then swirled the pan immediately so that the thin batter covered the bottom. 

About 30 seconds later it appeared to be done.  I ran my spatula around the edge of the crepe and flipped it.  You know that the crepe is ready to be flipped when you pick the pan up, shake it and the crepe moves back and forth on its own. 

A quick flip with the spatula, about 20 second on the other side and you are done.  Seriously, so much easier than I thought it would be.

Now for the fillings.

Filling # 1: Chicken and Mushroom

1 can of prepared cream of mushroom soup
1 cup cut up cooked chicken breast
1 cup diced portabello mushrooms

Put all items into a sauce pan and cook until thickens slightly.

Now build your crepes.  Spread each crepe with a few tablespoons of ricotta and lots of the chicken and mushroom mixture. 

 









Roll and serve drizzled with some of the left over filling.

Just like in a french restaurant, right?  :)

And now for dessert...

Anyone who knows me knows of my sweet tooth so this meal would not be complete without a few sweet crepes as well!

Filling # 2: Raspberry Chocolate Crepes

Spread each crepe with 2 tablespoons of ricotta, add raspberries, drizzle with melted chocolate chips, roll, drizzle with a little more chocolate and enjoy!

While these seem indulgent remember that:

1.) We used reduced fat butter
2.) Additional butter wasn't needed to make crepes in a non-stick pan
3.) Creamed soup was used for crepe filling instead of higher fat sauces
4.) The majority of the filling ingredients (chicken breast, fat-free ricotta, mushrooms, raspberries) are healthy
5.) This recipe makes ALOT, 4 dinners to be exact, and saves really well.  I kept the crepe batter and fillings in little containers in the fridge and pulled them out when I was ready for a quick dinner or snack.

So to answer the questions above... NO, crepes are not hard to make, YES, they can be made healthier and DEFINITELY, they are part of everyday nutrition!

12 Days of Holiday Baking

I spend a lot of the year creating and perfecting healthy items to share with family and friends.  During the holiday season however all of my nutritional know-how gets put on the back burner and I use just as much sugar, butter and salt as everyone else.  This doesn't mean that I condone holiday weight gain it just goes to show you that within moderation holiday treats can be part of any diet plan. 

This season presented me with an abundance of holiday parties and events that allowed me to use my culinary skills to treats my friends and family with a variety of yummy goodies.  I started on December 1st shopping, organizing and strategizing my plan and here is how it all worked out. 

Day 1: Infused Vodkas. 

A good friend of mine shared her limoncello recipe with me and from there the idea of infusing vodka took off!  The process had to be started early since the goal of using them for Christmas presents meant that I had to start infusing at least 30 days head.  The process itself was very easy.  1.) open a bottle of vodka and pour a little out  2.) put infusion items in the bottle  3.) Store in a dark place for 2-4 weeks  4.) Strain through cheese cloth and put into pretty bottles. 

 

This years infusions included:  Apple Cinnamon, Pumpkin Spice, Cranberry Apple, Ginger, Jalapeno and Blackberry Vanilla. then in a similar process I made Limoncello, "Lime"cello, Irish Cream and vanilla extract.

Day 2: Glogg (Swedish Mulled Wine)

Day 3: Brownie Trees and Chocolate Mint Cream Filled cupcakes

Day 4: Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins
Mini Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Day 5: Pepparkova (Swedish Gingersnaps)

Day 6:  Coconut Caramel Candy

Mix 1 cup Coconut, 1 cup of White Chocolate Chips, 1 cup of peanuts and 24 unwrapped caramels in a microwave safe bowl until melted, press into a buttered pan and then cut into squares once cooled.  Done and delicious!

Day 7:  Pettit Four Truffles

Day 8:  Sugar Cookies with Rolled Fondant

Day 9: Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies- I often make "regular recipes" gluten free by substituting corn meal for flour in my regular recipes!

Day 10: White Chocolate Covered Oreos

Day 11: Pumpkin Peanut Butter Puppy Treats

Don't forget the dogs!

Day 12: Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!