Cook. Craft. Enjoy.

Blueberry Tart

Looking for a light fruit dessert for the summer?  Look no farther than Eating Well's Blueberry Tart with Walnut Crust.

It was the final recipe I tried from my Saturday cooking spree out of the magazine and we all loved it.  (Well, except Liam and he doesn't care for much.)  It wasn't too sweet and there was just enough of everything to make it great.  (Not only that but it makes a great presentation.)

Strawberry Bread

Last week I bought blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from Costco and while we've eaten most of them, yesterday the rest of the strawberries were looking a little sad and I knew I needed to do something with them before I had to throw them out.  A quick search online and I came across this recipe on All Recipes for strawberry bread.  Perfect!

I did change the recipe a bit (sub'd applesauce for the oil, cut down on the sugar, added vanilla and sub'd chocolate chips for nuts) but I'm sure without my changes it would be just as good.  Travis liked it so well yesterday he had it for a snack after school and then before bed.

Ugly but Good

I belong to several email recipe lists and though I love to look through the recipes that come through there aren't that many that I choose to make.  Earlier this week a recipe came through for Banana-Coconut Pound Cake that looked so good I had to try it.

The batter came together well -- and took about an hour and a half in the oven to cook.  As usual I sprayed the cake pan with Williams-Sonoma nonstick baking spray.  I have always had good luck with it and never had anything stick (even those fancy patterned cake pans).   I guess there's a first for everything, though, and man did it stick.

I scraped the stuck part out and just placed it on top, so while it looks horrible, the taste is good.

Crockpot Wednesday: Not Dinner

After last week's fiasco with not one but two crockpot failures, I wasn't too hip on having a crockpot recipe tonight.  However, since I have this blog and my readers to consider, I decided I had to stick with tradition and bring you a new recipe.

Isn't our model tonight lovely?  Adrienne brought her down to enjoy her dessert with ours.

Most people don't consider making dessert in the crockpot but really it's a great way to do all sorts of warm fruit desserts.  Tonight's came from Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes, Volume 2 and is Peanut Butter-Caramel Apples.  I served it over some ice cream with a few sprinkles of mini peanut butter and chocolate chips.  While I skipped it (I'm not much of a dessert fan), everyone else declared it delicious.

A Quiet Memorial Day

The majority of our day today was spent relaxing.  Adrienne and Liam took some time to blow up some new inflatables and spend about an hour and a half in the pool.  I'm still waiting for the pool temperature to hit 90 before I go in but I'm a wimp.  :-)

We also spent some of the day discussing houses again.  I'm getting frustrated at the "do nothing" stage we're at and have decided that until we get an offer on this house I'm not going to think about it anymore.  Probably make me a little easier to live with anyway.

As usual, I was the first one up this morning.  I always find it relaxing when I'm the only one up on a weekend to bake something yummy.   This past week I had purchased a large bag of cherries and figured I really should do something with them (other than eat them plain) before they go bad.  (Cherries are yet another thing in this house that I'm the only one that will eat.)  What to do about it?  Bake with them of course!

My first thought was to make some waffles.  That's something I haven't had in a while and sounded good.  But then I thought scones.  Yum.  I did some searching for a fresh cherry scone recipe but couldn't find one.  I ended up modifying this recipe and it turned out perfectly.  I'm hoping to have some cherries left after the rest of the scones are gone so I can make some more.

The other great thing is that if I bake with them, everyone else in the house would have a chance of eating them -- and they are so good for you.  Perfect for my submission for this week's ARF/5-a-Day over at Sweetnick's.

Fresh Cherry Scones

• 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and cut into 8ths
• 2 cups flour, plus more for forming
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture is granular in appearance.
3. Mix the sour cream and egg yolk together.  Make a depression in the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture and the cherries.  Stir together gently until moistened taking care to handle the dough as little as possible.
4. Dust your work surface with some flour and turn the dough out.  Pat into a 12 inch circle and cut into 8 wedges.  Place the wedges onto a baking sheet with a little room around for expansion.  Sprinkle with the granulated sugar.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.
6. Drizzle with a glaze made of 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and milk (enough for desired consistency for drizzling).

Polar Bears, Salsa, and Quesadillas

Travis's school trip this past April was to San Diego to coincide with a study on animals in biology.  They went to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World and by all accounts had a great time.  His final project was to create an exhibit of one of those animals and he chose polarbears.  This past weekend I helped him complete it and he turned it in today.  I think it turned out pretty well ... what do you think?

Liam missed school again today for being sick so he was on again, off again with his moods.  After not getting much sleep again last night (I think this makes 6 days in a row now), I wanted something quick and easy to throw together.  I had purchased all the things to make this salsa this past weekend and threw it together this morning -- that way no prep work on that tonight.  I was surprised how delicious it was.  A little on the sweet side but it did balance the habaneros well.  This is my submission to Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day Tuesdays -- with good for you fruit and veggies, it's a winner on the nutritional scale (just stay away from those tortilla chips!)  Head over there tomorrow to see what other good for you food everyone has come up with.

As for the quesadillas, I again used an already roasted chicken as the base.  It's amazing how tasty and reasonable they are.  This time I chopped the breast meat (throwing away the skin), mixed it with BBQ sauce, placed it on half a large tortilla, added sliced red onion, and asadero cheese.  Folded it over and lightly fried it in a small amount of canola oil until both sides were golden brown. See, delicious and simple!

Mango-Habanero Salsa
Tejas Grill and Cantina
Yield: 3 1/2 cups

2 ripe mangoes
2 to 3 fresh habanero peppers (see note)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium red onion, minced
4 tomatillos
1/4 cup honey (see note)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 cup hot sauce (Tejas uses Frank's Red Hot brand)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste

Cut mango fruit from pit; scoop fruit from peel and dice. Place in a large bowl. Mince peppers and onion; add to bowl. Discard papery outer leaves from tomatillos; rinse tomatillos, dice and add to bowl. Add honey, vinegar, hot sauce, salt and black pepper; toss to mix well.

Serve with tortilla chips or as a garnish for grilled fish. Salsa may also be used as a marinade or sauce for grilled chicken.

Per ( 1/4-cup) serving: 48 calories; no fat (no calories from fat); no saturated fat; no cholesterol; 0.5g protein; 11.5g carbohydrate; 10g sugar; 1g fiber; 361mg sodium; 6mg calcium; 112mg potassium.

Note: Use gloves when handling habanero peppers. Honey is used to balance the flavor of the salsa, but can be omitted if hotter salsa is desired. Store salsa in a nonreactive container, such as glass or ceramic.

Easy Strawberry Napoleon

Doesn't this look delicious?  I made this for Don, Travis and I last night.  Don was surprised to find it was actually pretty good for us too!  The strawberries are full of antioxidants and vitamins (hence, I'm submitting this dish to Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-Day Tuesday - can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with!), the filling is actually fat-free, sugar-free cheesecake pudding and the whipped cream is Cool Whip light.  Okay, the layers are puff pastry, but I did good with the rest of it, don't you think?

Easy Strawberry Napoleons

• 1/2 box frozen puff pastry dough cut into 9 squares and baked according to package directions
• 1 package sugar-free, fat-free cheesecake flavor pudding mix
• 2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 container Cool Whip light, thawed
• 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced

Make the pudding mix with the skim milk.  I always put it all into my blender and process for 2 minutes.  Let set up in the refrigerator for at least a half hour.

When it comes to serving, split the baked puff pastry into 3 layers.  Starting with bottom layer, add a spoonful of pudding, a spoonful of strawberries, another layer of puff pastry, more pudding, more strawberries, the top of the puff pastry and top with a dollop of Cool Whip.

Strawberry Pie

You'd think that since I had planned to make this pie since last week the weather would have cooperated with me.  It's been beautiful and in the 80s around here -- perfect spring weather -- until today.  Today it's 55 for the high and it was hailing earlier.  Go figure.  Oh well, I made it anyway.  :-)

I like this pie because it's very refreshing and won't weigh you down on a hot summer afternoon.  Also, this is my submission to tonight's Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day because of the strawberries.  Go over to her site and check out the other submissions -- I'm sure you'll find something yummy to inspire you.

Two Tier Strawberry Pie
(adapted from All Recipes)

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 ounces thawed strawberry Cool Whip
• 1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup grenadine syrup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (today I used 1/2 teaspoon sour salt)
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth and creamy.  Stir in vanilla extract.  Fold in strawberry Cool Whip.  Spread over bottom of pie shell.  Chill.
2. In a saucepan, mix together sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in water until smooth.  Add grenadine and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Allow to cool, then chill.
3. Just before serving, stir together strawberries and cooled cornstarch mixture until evenly coated.  Spread over cream cheese layer.

Berry Good Muffins

Even though I've been down since Thursday evening's surgery, I managed to make some muffins yesterday.  I had quite a few berries that looked like if I didn't either eat them or use them they were going to have to be thrown out -- and that would be a shame.  This is also my submission to Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day.  This is a great recipe for breakfast -- healthy, low calorie, low sodium and delicious.  I would think you could also use bananas in this which I may do next time (I often have more overripe bananas in the house than berries).  This time I used a mixture of blackberries, raspberries and chopped strawberries.

Berry Almond Quick Bread
(courtesy of Eating Well)

• Quick-Bread Dry Mix (recipe follows)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 C nonfat buttermilk (see Tips)
• 2/3 C brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp.s butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp.s canola oil
• 1 Tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ Tsp. almond extract
• 2 C fresh or frozen berries (whole blueberries, blackberries, raspberries; diced strawberries)
• ½ C chopped toasted sliced almonds (see Tips), plus more for topping if desired

1. Preheat oven to 400°F for muffins, mini loaves and mini Bundts or 375°F for a large loaf. Coat pan(s) (see "Pan Options") with cooking spray.
2. Prepare Quick-Bread Dry Mix.
3. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, butter, oil, vanilla and almond extract in a large bowl until well combined.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Add berries and almonds. Stir just to combine; do not overmix. Transfer batter to the prepared pan(s). Top with additional almonds, if desired.
5. Bake until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes for muffins or mini Bundts, 35 minutes for mini loaves, 1 hour 10 minutes for a large loaf. Let cool in the pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Let muffins and mini Bundts cool for 5 minutes more, mini loaves for 30 minutes, large loaves for 40 minutes.

Tips
Store, individually wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
No buttermilk? Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice into 1 cup milk.
To toast walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts, spread nuts onto a baking sheet and bake at 350°F, stirring once, until fragrant, 7 to 9 minutes. To toast sliced almonds, cook in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 215 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono); 41 mg cholesterol; 31 g carbohydrate; 5 g protein; 3 g fiber; 182 mg sodium.  (makes 12 servings)

Pan Options
Each of these recipes will make:
1 large loaf (9-by-5-inch pan)
3 mini loaves (6-by-3-inch pan, 2-cup capacity)
6 mini Bundt cakes (6-cup mini Bundt pan, scant 1-cup capacity per cake)
12 muffins (standard 12-cup, 2 1/2-inch muffin pan)

Quick-Bread Dry Mix
Makes 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces)

• 1 ½ C whole-wheat pastry flour (see Ingredient note) or whole-wheat flour
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ Tsp.s baking powder
• 1 Tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ Tsp. baking soda
• ¼ Tsp. salt

1. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Tips
To make ahead: Stores nicely in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Ingredient note: Whole-wheat pastry flour, lower in protein than regular whole-wheat flour, has less gluten-forming potential, making it a better choice for tender baked goods. You can find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets and natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.

Plum Tart

I made it back from Tucson yesterday safe and sound.  It was such a wonderful trip and way too short.  I saw my good friends while I was there -- we had a stamp party and got to go out to dinner.  We promised we would see each other more often and hopefully that will come to pass.

To get back into my regular schedule, I made a recipe I've been meaning to make for a week now -- Plum Tart.  It's from Ina Garten and in her book Barefoot Contessa Parties!  I love, love, love Ina's recipes because they're usually so down to earth and easy to make (not to mention delicious!).   This recipe proves it ... when I was making it this morning I forgot to add the egg yolk to the crust/topping AND I didn't quarter the plums - only halved them.   Seems not to have made much of a difference, though ... between Don and Travis it's over half gone now.  (I tasted it too and it is good).

I'm also submitting this to Sweetnick's ARF Tuesdays since I know I won't be able to get anything else this deliciously good for you done tonight.  Head over there and check out the other entries tomorrow!

Plum Tart
(courtesy of Ina Garten)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), diced
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 pounds firm, ripe Italian prune plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine the flour, walnuts, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and the egg yolk. Mix, either by hand or with an electric mixer, until crumbly.
3. Press 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2-inch springform or tart pan. Arrange the plums in the pan, skin side down, to form a flower pattern; begin at the outside and work your way in.
4. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture evenly over the plums. Bake the tart for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and the plum juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer the tart to a flat plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.