Nectarine & Almond Breakfast Gratin

Nectarine & Almond Breakfast Gratin

Our Advice: Journal as 1 serving fresh fruit + 1 egg without fat + 1 teaspoon peanut butter.

Nectarines and almonds are a classic French combination and in this simple, but elegant dish they are prepared in a gratin. Essentially a thin, crepe-like batter is poured over the nuts and fruits, just enough to make a base that holds them together so they can be sliced. The fruit is dotted with butter, sprinkled with sugar and baked until the batter sets. Serve this warm, accompanied by your favorite breakfast foods.

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces, plus an additional teaspoon
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cup thinly-sliced nectarines
2 tablespoons coarsely-chopped almonds 

• Preheat an oven to 425 °F.
• Using 1 teaspoon of the butter, grease an 8- or 9-inch gratin dish or other shallow baking dish, then sprinkle it with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.
• Arrange the fruit in the dish.
• In a bowl, combine the egg, milk, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the salt and whisk together. When well mixed, gradually whisk in the flour.
• Pour this cream-like batter over the fruit.
• Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, the butter, and the almonds over the top.
• Bake until the batter is set, the butter melted, and the fruit cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

Some recipes I'd like to try

Low Fat shrimp scampi

orecchiette-with-broccoli-rabe-pesto-recipe

orange-chicken-fingers-recipe

chicken-piccata-recipe

salmon-kebobs-with-quinoa-and-grapefruit-salad-recipe

Meyer Lemon Curd

This is not the original site I got the recipe from but it's exactly the same.  I made this last week after an intense urge to make and eat it.  I've never actually had lemon curd but I knew I would love it.  Surprisingly enough, actual Meyer lemons were used in my batch as well.  Meyer lemons are a cross between an orange and a lemon... citrusy but not as acidic as a plain lemon.  Matt picked them up for me at the local co-op and found out that they were grown by the cashier's father on Merritt Island.  Organic and local, my hippy points just went through the roof.



http://sproutedkitchen.com/?p=2246

MEYER LEMON CURD // Makes 1ish Cups
Recipe from David Lebovitz
The sweet to tang ratio is perfect, I wouldn’t change it. He notes that if you can’t find meyer lemons, you can use normal lemons, and use a bit more sugar.
1/2 Cup Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Natural Cane Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
6 Tbsp. Organic Butter
pinch of Salt

Let's start out with the finished product for once... she's beautiful, isn't she?

Step 1: Adding the lemon juice to the sugar & egg mixture. I knew this curdling was going to happen

I got a little nervous here thinking that I had cooked some of my eggs into scrambled instead of curds.  I got sucked into watching a dumb Jackass-esque video made in Italy and focusing on soccer balls.

 

No worries!  It was just butter bits that hadn't melted yet.  Generously, I gave the leftovers to my dad to take home.  Love you, Dad!

Thai BBQ Chicken

We made wings with these last night.  Surprisingly, I didn't change the recipe at all!  I really really really love Thai flavors and this didn't disappoint.  Despite the in yo face ingredients, the chicken was actually quite subtle.  Oh, yes I did make some changes.  I didn't add the chilis so that my brother could eat some.  He's not a fan of hot stuff.  Steve cooked them on the grill - who knew he was such a grill master?!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/thai-bbq-chicken-recipe2/index.html

Ingredients

• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and cut into small segments
• 2 red or green Thai chiles
• 1/2 fresh chicken, quartered
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons yellow curry powder
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Heat a grill to medium.
Using a mortar and pestle, crush garlic cloves, peppercorns, coriander, lemongrass, and Thai chiles into a chucky paste. Using a large spoon, transfer the paste to a large mixing bowl. Add the chicken and the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Put the chicken on the grill, skin side down, and brush with the marinade. Grill for about 15 minutes then flip the chicken over and brush with the marinade. Grill the second side for about 15 minutes. Discard the marinade. When the chicken is cooked and tender transfer it to a serving platter and serve with warm dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce:

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large garlic cloves or 4 small, minced
• 2 teaspoons Thai red chili sauce or Sriracha
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and put on the grill. Stir and bring to a boil. Move the pan to a cooler part of the grill and let the sauce simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will reduce and become thick. Serve warm with chicken.

Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I almost gave up on you.  I believed in you but you failed time after time.  You were too wheaty, too chewy, not cooked enough.  Nothing was ever good enough from you!  I tried using your all white flour counterpart but the wheat guilt was too much for me to swallow. 

I finally found my true love.  Thin crust.  Rolls out easily.  Not too wheaty.  Crispy!  I love you thin crust wheat pizza dough.  I. love. you. 

You truly are amazing.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/amazing-whole-wheat-pizza-crust/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
2. Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
5. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

My tweaks:

• I used organic sugar instead of white sugar.  It didn't affect anything except for my hippy quotient
• I hand kneaded this baby.  It didn't take too long.. about 8 minutes and it was actually fun.

Pineapple Dumpcake

I'm not a huge fan of eating pineapple all by its lonesome and neither are my children.  I needed a quick dessert for 6 kids, 3 moms, and 1 uncle today so I made a pineapple dumpcake.  For some extra spunk I added my homemade peach jelly into the bottom layer.   I got this from another website but I accidentally lost it.  This is not my recipe.

Peach Pineapple Dump Cake Recipe

Ingredients

    * 1 (15 ounce) can sliced peaches in syrup
    * 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple
    * 1 package white cake mix
    * 2 cups brown sugar
    * 1-2 cubes margarine, melted
    * Ice cream (any flavor)

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with butter or margarine. Pour the canned pineapple in an even layer in the baking pan. Over this, pour the canned peach syrup, forming another even layer. Then, sprinkle the white cake mix over the two layers of fruit, evenly and drizzle the melted butter or margarine over cake mix. Sprinkle some brown sugar over this and place the baking pan in the preheated oven. Bake for around an hour and serve with ice cream when it is done.
My changes:

• Instead of peaches in syrup I used homemade peach jam
• Instead of crushed pineapple I used 1 fresh pineapple cut into chunks
• I omitted the brown sugar, just because I forgot.  It was super sweet anyway so I don't think it really needed it.
• I used real butter - 1.5 sticks, melted

Minestrone Soup

I don't think I've ever made minestrone soup at home before.  I had just a few leftover green beans.. not enough to make a batch of roasted green beans with oil, salt & pepper (amazing might I add).  So I found this recipe and man it was good.  Easy, too.  I did not add celery and I chopped up the carrots into itty bitty pieces so that my almost preschooler couldn't detect them with his Carrot Radar.  I also used my homemade chicken stock.  Since this is a low fat recipe I had to mess with it... so I added a dollup of pesto sauce right on top of the soup.  Dynomite!

Ellie Krieger minestrone soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 28-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 15-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• cup elbow pasta
• 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green beans, dried oregano and basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; cook 3 more minutes.

Add the diced and crushed tomatoes and the chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans and pasta and cook until the pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Ladle into bowls and top with the parmesan and chopped basil.

Per serving (2 cups): Calories 260; Fat 8 g (Saturated 2 g); Cholesterol 5 mg; Sodium 560 mg; Carbohydrate 37 g; Fiber 10 g; Protein 15 g

Jamaican Rice and Peas

I'm back!  Sorry for the hiatus in posting.

I love Caribbean food.  My new favorite obsession is The Cooking Channel.  It's what Food Network used to be, you know, cooking shows.  One episode the host made rice and peas, which is just the Caribbean way of saying rice and beans.  Instead of using water for the rice you use coconut milk.  The recipe actually tells you how to milk your own coconut (heh heh milk a coconut)... needless to say I did not follow those directions.  The addition of allspice and I threw in a little clove makes this so addictive.


http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/rice-and-peas-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 1 fresh coconut
• 3 1/3 cups warm water, plus more as needed
• 1 (14-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 hot red chile, preferably Scotch Bonnet, whole and undamaged
• 1 green onion, bruised with a rolling pin

• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 7 allspice berries
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 ounces Basmati rice

Directions

First you will need to break into your coconut. Choose one of the 3 eyes that you are most likely to be able to puncture. Cook's Note: Youll see them at one end. Only one will work.

Try to penetrate the eye with a strong, sharp-tipped knife. If the hole doesnt give, try the others. Pour the coconut water out through its eye and set it aside in a small bowl. Smash the coconut open, and, using a small, sharp knife, lever the coconut flesh away from the shell. Cook's Note: Doing this outside against some concrete is a good idea.

Grate the coconut into a bowl. Pour 2 3/4 cups water over the shreds, and stir. Strain the coconut flesh from the water in fistfuls, and squeeze out all its juices over the bowl. Place the squeezed clumps of grated coconut into a sieve, transfer the coconut water to a saucepan and tip the squeezed coconut back into the bowl. Cover the coconut shreds with the remaining clean water and, once again, lift the coconut flesh up from the water in fistfuls and squeeze out all its juices. Transfer the prepared coconut water to the saucepan, and discard the squeezed-out flesh.

If desired, incorporate the fresh coconut water to the saucepan at this stage. Then, add the black beans, onion, chile, green onion, garlic, allspice berries, thyme, butter, and adjust their seasonings with salt, and black pepper. Bring everything to a boil, cover, and then turn down the heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear. Drain the rice, and then add the rice to the saucepan with the reserved prepared coconut water or base in the saucepan. You may need to add some additional water to bring the liquid about 1-inch above the level of the rice. Season the cooking liquid with salt, and black pepper, bring it to a boil, and then cover the rice immediately. Turn the heat down to its lowest level, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Cook's Note: Don't stir it and don't peek inside!

Once the rice is tender, fish out the chile, green onion, and thyme sprigs, fluff the rice with a fork, and serve immediately.

Vegan Fudge

Placing this recipe here because this was so freaking delicious and I want to eat mass quantities of it.  I can't believe it's vegan, either.  I'm not anywhere near a vegan although we have cut back on our meat consumption mostly to fund my campaign for organic veggies and fruit for my family.  I use a lot of almond and rice milk in my baking so I guess it wouldn't be THAT much of a stretch to go dairy free.....  um, no, not even going there.

The only thing that I don't like about this recipe is the margarine.  I find in some vegan and/or gluten free recipes is that they use a lot of chemically made ingredients.  As a whole I've been moving my family towards a less processed-food lifestyle and using more natural ingredients instead of "fake" ones  - even if they are higher in fat.  Kids and babies need lots of fat in their diets anyway.  It helps build all those little folds in their brain and the more folds = more smarts!  I seriously don't buy into the whole low-fat for kids trend.  If you feed your kids a wholesome and mostly homemade diet full of minimally processed and organic ingredients, there's no need to use low fat everything.  Everybody's scared of making their kids "fat" but you really should be more scared of making your kids "unhealthy."  That's just my totally unprofessionally education medical opinion.  Healthy fats are good for you!

Don't be surprised if you see this in your Christmas gift bag from me.  The 5 minute preparation time is almost too much for me to bear.

The Best Holiday Fudge Ever That Just Happens To Be Vegan

Oatmeal, Carrot, and Apple Breakfast Squares

I got this recipe off of Mothering Magazine.  You can get the free online version of it delivered to your inbox.  I love this parenting magazine.  Not like that other mainstream crap you read. 

Annnnnnyway... here's the notes from the original post:

"....packed into every sweet and wholesome square are 8 grams of protein, 20 % of your daily requirement for fiber, 10 % of your calcium, and over 100 % of your vitamin A. Buttermilk keeps the cake tender, carrots and apples add moisture, and walnuts and coconut combine for a crunchy topping.  This recipe makes enough to feed a dozen, and the squares stay fresh and delicious for days.  And although we call these "breakfast squares," you may like them best as an afternoon or late-night snack."

Makes 12 squares

Butter, for greasing the baking dish
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk
1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cup grated peeled apples

Topping:

2 cups walnut pieces
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat over to 350. Generously butter a 13 x 9 baking dish
2. Place oats, flour, flaxseeds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. Whisk together brown sugar and oil.  Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in buttermilk.
4. Add the oat mixture to the buttermilk mixture and stir to combine. Add the carrots and apples and stir until just blended. Put into baking dish.
5. Place walnuts, coconut, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir to combine and then sprinkle evenly over batter.
6. Bake until the batter has set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour then cut into 12 pieces.. (The squares can be store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days).


Okay now here's my changes:

• I just used regular whole wheat flour instead of the pastry flour. The pastry flour would make it more tender but this cake is tender enough I think.
• I ran out of light brown sugar so I used Demerara sugar which is an unrefined brownish sugar, kind of like Sugar in the Raw which I'm sure you've seen.  Just be sure to mix it with the oil very well.  It makes a great topping because it's quite large and adds some crunchy texture if you're omitting the nuts.
• Obviously, I omitted the nuts.  Nuts and babies are just not a good match.  I really didn't miss it but I'm sure you're losing out on some good protein without them.  
• I added 1/2 cup chocolate chips just for the hell of it. 
• You may have to look for unsweetened coconut in the "health" section of your grocery store.  And thus pay double the price of regular coconut that is sweetened.
• You'll probably find already ground flaxseeds in the same section as the unsweetened coconut.  Or you could buy whole ones and grind them fresh in the blender. 

This makes a HUGE batch so unless you're feeding a big group I might think about baking it in 2 smaller dishes and give half away.  

Veg'd Out Potato Pancakes

These are my new go-to meal.  Easy and quick to make.  The boys love them because they almost taste like french fries.  I like them because they're full of protein and tons of veggies.

This recipe is hard to post because I mostly just wing it.  I add tons more veggies than the original recipe calls for.  It's more of a consistency issue than a set recipe. No matter how much potato, zucchini, carrot or whatever you put in there, you need to balance it with the right amount of egg & flour.

Here's the bowl of the shredded veggies.  About 2 cups potatoes, 1 cup zucchini, 1 cup carrot and about 1/4 onion grated.

This is the secret.  Mush out the water from the vegetables.  Especially the zucchini.  If you don't they won't be as "eggy" as I like them.  More on that later..

Leftover water.  

Oh yeah,  I added some spinach.  Not too much because a certain 2 year old I know deems things inedible depending on how much "leaves" there are in a particular food item.

4 farm fresh eggs.  I ended up throwing in 1-2 more to balance with the extra veggies I added.  I like mine eggy, like I said, more on that later.

Seasonings: thyme, sage, ground bay leaves with a couple of tablespoons of whole wheat flour.  You can add more later if you need it.

This shows you the proportion of solid matter to liquid.  Once you do a test fry you can see if you need to add more flour to make it stick together better.

 

Grab a tablespoon full of the mixture.  See how it clumps together?

 

Put it in the oil (using Canola here) on medium heat and spread it out with the bottom of the spoon into a sort of round shape.

I love this stuff.

Here's the eggy I was talking about.  On the left is the pancakes that I added more eggs and flour.  On the right is the first one I made.  You can see how it doesn't have as much volume to it.. like the edges are just fried potatoes.

The one without enough egg is on the left.  Some may like it like that... more potato-like.  The one on the right is more egg-like.

Eggy goodness

My tester

Someone is always underfoot.

Cautiously guarding his pancake.  I served with greek yogurt for dipping or traditionally it's served with applesauce.  Try both!

 

Made 12 extra pancakes.  Easy dinner... throw in the microwave or the toaster and insta-homemade-dinner.

Beautyberry Jelly

More canning!  Tonight I finally got to canning my beautyberry jelly.  I was able to buy about 2 quarts of beautyberry from The Green Marketplace at Adamson Road picked fresh.  Literally, like the farmer sent me an email (we're so 21st century) and said "Come pick up your beautyberries. They were just picked!" 

A couple people have asked me about canning so I thought I'd do an in depth post on how to do it.  It seems overwhelming at first, but really it's not.  There's just a lot of wrangling to do with pots and whatnot.

So... here goes:

 

The Lovely Ladies.  Isn't the color just gorgeous?  They are a butterfly attractant and it was recently discovered that the crushed berries are AS EFFECTIVE as Deet for mosquito repellent!  It smelled very "herbal" as Matt described

 

This is how they grow - in clusters

5 cups of sugar.  You heard me.  These little suckers are tart

Step 1: Boil the beautyberries.  I got sad to see them losing their beautiful purple color

Boil boil toil and trouble - for 20 minutes

Strain out the berries and plant material to get this "infusion" is what the farmer called it

Add in 1/2 cup of lemon juice - preferably fresh picked from your backyard like mine.  Yay!  Beautiful color is back

This frog thought the smells were just too good to pass up

Add in a packet of Surejell and stir stir stir.  This was interesting to me because I've canned 3 times before and never used Surejell.  Personally, I like my jam a little on the runny side, but this is a whole different beast.  This is jelly.  Jelly is supposed to be jelled - DUH!  The farmer told me that a friend of hers made this exact recipe and it turned into Beautyberry syrup.  It never set.  You could also boil apple peals in the initial boil because apple is a natural pectin which is exactly what Surejell is.  I forgot to, but I think mine is going to do just fine.

This is me stirring the liquid after I put in the Surejell.  You can actually see it getting thicker right before your eyes

See how it's starting to run off the spoon in a long thin line?  That means it's jelling.

Okay, here's my hardware.  On the left is my "processing" pot with boiling water.  I start this before I start cooking the jam/jelly/what have you.  It takes a long time to get that much water boiling.  You need about 1 inch to cover to top of the jars.  In the little pot are my lids.  I boiled it for 5 minutes to sanitize and then turned it off and let them sit in warm water until I need them.  On the right is my jelly cooking.  

In there are my jelly jars sanitizing.  I just run a load on a regular setting with dish soap but nothing else in there. I don't want any food particles landing on my sanitized jars.

Back to the jelly:  After you add the Surejell, bring it to a boil for 2 minutes.  It is starting to foam

Eww, foam.  Ohh, pretty color!

Skim the foam off.  I lost about 1/2 cup from skimming.  I wanted to make sure it was really clear.

All clear!  And ready to start the actual canning procedure:

Ladle the mixture into the jars.  That blue funnel was purchased with a canning kit for about $5.  You need it.

6 jars worth made from 3 cups of infusion and 5 cups of sugar.  Holy diabetic coma, Batman!

Hello my pretties

Wipe off the top of the jars in case you dribbled some liquid. That will affect it sealing.

Another little tool from the kit.  A magnet picker-upper.  So you don't burn your finger-wingers.

Use your finger to pop the top off the magnet.  Don't touch the sides so you don't contaminate the jar with your dirty disgusting bacteria. Just kidding, you're not disgusting. Seriously, though.  Don't touch it.

Screw on the screw part of the lid.  This is just to hold the lid in place while processing in the hot water.  You can and should remove them after you're sure they are sealed.  They may rust.

Tighten the screw lid ... but not too tight.  Not too tight, not too loose.  But JUST right.  Let the Schwartz guide you, my son

Another doohickie from the canning kit.  Pick up the jars and carefully place them in the boiling water.  

See?  You don't need a special canning pot if you don't want it.  It makes clanging noises while boiling and the jars move around while processing so you may be fishing for jars afterwards... but still.  Hardly any new equipment for a whole new cooking activity!

Cover and process.  That just means boil.  I set my timer for 10 minutes.  I completely pulled that time out of my ass.  I figured we needed 5 minutes for the fig jam... heck add another 5!  If they don't vacuum seal you can always reprocess.  You're just making sure you killing off the bacteria.

 

I saved a little for myself to try it out.  It was sweet and tart and berry-y.  Here you can see the jelly falling off the spoon in "sheets."  That means it jelled!  Hooray!

 

nyah nyah nyah.

Here's a video showing how awesome I am: