Time Out For Smoothies



Strawberry-Basil Smoothie



We are huge fans of documentaries about food (also competitive tv shows about food!) and after watching a few documentaries that strongly advocate the raw food/juicing diet, we decided to give it a try. We've been experimenting a little. Some of our experiments turned out gross, but some have been quite good. I've found the website, Incredible Smoothies, to be very helpful for finding recipes and information. Here are two of my favorite recipes so far:

Grape Beet Smoothie
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small beet, peeled and chopped
1 cup red grapes
1 clementine, peeled and deseeded
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root
4 cups spinach

Strawberry-Basil Green Smoothie2 cups whole strawberries
2 frozen bananas, peeled and sliced
Juice from 1/2 lime
5 fresh basil leaves
4 cups fresh baby spinach
8 ounces of almond milk

Brussels Sprouts and Eggs

Sometimes, simple is just the best. Sauteed brussels sprouts. Fried eggs. Toast. Perfect weeknight dinner.

Thank you to Perry's Plate for the recipe. And to Bill for making it for us!
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3 T olive oil
1 pound brussels sprouts
1 T honey mustard dressing
3 T sliced almonds
2 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste

Prep the brussels sprouts by cutting off the tough stem ends, removing outer leaves, then slicing them in half.

In a large nonstick skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Place brussels sprouts halves cut-side down in the pan and let them cook for 4-5 minutes, without stirring, until the bottoms are medium brown and caramelized. Give them a stir, then add the remaining 1 T oil, honey mustard, and almonds. Stir to coat the sprouts in the mustard and cook for another 3-4 minutes until they're tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, fry eggs in a separate skillet over medium heat to your liking. Serve eggs and sprouts together with toast.

Tres Leches Cake

This is the recipe Andrea used to make tres leches cake back when we were roommates. Guess I should learn to make it for myself now that we're both married and don't often get to cook for one another.

And here is a coconut variation.

Blackberry-Pear Cobbler

When they announced that the Ward Trunk or Treat was to be preceded by a Chili and Cobbler cookoff--I knew I needed to make cobbler!! I spent all week looking at different recipes, trying to decide what kind of cobbler I should make--and they all sounded so good. But, Mom and Dad had another bumper crop of pears this year, and kept trying to send us home with them. So, I decided to make good use of their fruit and went with this recipe for Pear-Blackberry cobbler from Epicurious.com.

Delicious! I was so nervous about the batter rising up around the fruit like it should. But it baked up beautifully and smelled amazing when I pulled it out of the oven. It got a lot of hits at the cook-off and I even overheard several compliments. (I kept coming back to the cobbler table to try juuust one more..)

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Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9x13" baking dish.

4 cups frozen blackberries, NOT thawed
4 cups pears, peeled and chunked
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Cran-Grape juice
3 tsp finely grated orange peel
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Gently toss berries, pears, 2/3 cup sugar, juice, orange peel, cinnamon in large bowl. Set aside.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar in medium bowl. Add milk, melted butter, and cinnamon; whisk until blended.

Spread batter in prepared dish. Place berry-pear mixture atop batter. DO NOT STIR, batter will bake up around fruit.

Bake cobbler until crust is set in center and brown at edges, about 1 hour.

Butternut Mac & Cheese

I was so intrigued when I saw this recipe on the cover of Cooking Light magazine. I even bought the magazine.

I made a few changes to the recipe, mostly just being lazy. But it was easier to put together than I had expected. I think I'd like to try different combinations of cheeses. The original recipe called for Gruyere instead of Cheddar buuuuuut, its kind of expensive and I already had a lot of Cheddar on hand. I think it was a bit too heavy on the Pecorino. Anyway, maybe there's room for improvement there. Still came out creamy and rich.

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3 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1-pound squash)
1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons yogurt
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) grated pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
1 pound uncooked cavatappi
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup panko

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine squash, broth, milk, and garlic in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well. Set aside.

Place the hot squash mixture in a blender. Add salt, pepper, and Greek yogurt. Remove the center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Add Cheddar, Pecorino Romano, and 2 tablespoons of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Blend until combined.

Pour squash mixture over cooked pasta, and stir until combined. Spread mixture evenly into a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Sprinkle panko and remaining parmesan evenly over the hot pasta mixture.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Serve immediately.

See? The cut up squash even LOOKS like Cheddar, doesn't it?

Baby Girl Strawberry Frosting

I really wanted to do strawberry frosting from scratch for cupcakes I made for Angela's baby shower. (Girl. Duh.) I ended up using a mash-up of two recipes; one was the Sprinkles recipe from Martha Stewart's website and the other from a blog called Recipe Shoebox. I made the cupcakes from scratch also, but they came out pretty dry, so I don't think I'll post the recipe I used.
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4-6 whole frozen strawberries, thawed
3/4 cup butter, slightly cold
1/4 cup shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp lemon juice
pinch of coarse salt

In a small bowl, mash strawberries.

In a medium bowl, beat together butter, shortening and salt until fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add powdered sugar until it is the consistency of ice cream.

Add 3 Tbsp of the mashed strawberries, the lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until just blended.

Keeping Apples

I saw this on Pinterest: Cut up an apple into chunky slices, leaving the core in tact, and put a rubber band around it to prevent it from browning while you tote it around or tuck it in your kid's lunchbox for a crispy snack!