Cooking Light Magazine Online Features
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1 pound strawberries, medium diced or 1 pint whole raspberries
2 large avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into large dice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced or 1/2 bunch, minced
1 fresh jalapeno, minced
1/2 cup fresh lime juice or 1 juicy fresh lime, squeezed
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt or sea salt
Combine avocados and lime juice to prevent discoloration/oxidation. Add remaining ingredients and toss gently. Serve the soon the better with home made tortilla chips. Store bought chips also work
Tortilla chips: Preheat oven to 350 and brush small or 4 inch corn tortillas with vegetable oil. Cut into 1/4’s. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt. Bake 10 minutes or till crisp.
I fine tune recipes I love. I don’t like leftover pieces of jalapeno or limes or a 1/4 box of strawberries…..add the whole thing and make it work! This is my 2nd rendition of this recipe originally from Cooking Light.
Granola & Milk, a take along breakfast
Granola, Vanilla Yogurt & Fresh Fruit Parfait shown here with Granola ready for snacking
The crunch in the Banana Crunch Muffin & the Parfait comes from this granola
The granola recipe is below. To make the parfaits layer Dannon Vanilla Yogurt (do not use the Lite variety! It tastes bad & has a brown like color), Toasted Barley & Berry Granola, more yogurt and then top with a mixture of fresh berries. Serve right away or it becomes soggy.
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Place pumpkin and sunflower kernels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 5 minutes. Cool.
3. In a mediuim bowl combine syrup through cardamon with a whisk.
4. Pour barley, toasted kernels and wheat germ into a large mixing bowl. Stir in syrup mixture.
5. Spread barley mixture on 2 large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until slightly light brown, stirring every 15 minutes. Works well to use a large pancake turner to flip sections of the mixture to toast it all.
6. Cool baked granola. Stir in dried fruit. Store in airtight containers. Makes 16 cups.
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, March 2010
NSF 2/2011
Voted most delicious & most easy to prepare salad worldwide!
This is so easy to put together for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks! In a serving platter or bowl place mozzarella and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt, olive oil and vinegar. Toss. Layer basil strips on top and voila! This is a favorite at breakfast brunches! It is also the national salad of Italy, representing the three colors of their flag!
Nina Sanders Frurip 6/2010
Mix in a pot with a whisk using the following proportion: 1 white egg + 1 spoon of sugar + 1 spoon of mascarpone till the mixture becomes uniform and creamy (it’ll take 10-15 minutes). Now wet the Savoiardi cookies in the coffee (it must me cold), better if only from one side for a couple of second (otherwise it’d become too wet). Start to make a layer of wet cookies followed by a layer of cream you’ve already prepared. After 2-3 layers (it depends from the depth of pot you’re using), finish with a last layer of cream and put on the top some ground chocolate (you can even put the chocolate on the top of each layer, as you want). Let tiramisú rest in the fridge for half day, serve cold.
This recipe is from Marco, our friend from Italy. His mother is a chef in Milan. Marco orchestrated an authentic Italian dinner at our home for friends.
Served with Roasted Peppers and Grilled Hamburgers
Combine the following and then mix with the coleslaw:
Combine and serve right away or within 1 day. For more spice, add more jalapeno and lime juice!
NSF 6/2010
This easy to eat finger food is full of protein, iron, calcium and many other nutrients. It has a mild flavor and can be cut into many different shapes to please kids and adults. Cut them into 1 inch squares for a party snack or 2-3 inches as a side or main dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I discovered this recipe while working at Strongbow’s Turkey Inn while I was studying nutrition at Valparaiso University in Indiana. We served it as a 1 bite appetizer at parties and catered events.
1. Set oven to 350 degrees
2. In a 9×13 inch pan melt 3 tablespoons butter
3. Whisk together in a bowl:
4. Combine with your hands in a 2nd bowl:
5. In a saute pan: this step is optional!!!!! I usually don’t add the onion and garlic. It wasn’t in the original recipe. You can also add other spices and flavors if you like
6. Combine the egg mixture with the cheese mixture.
7. Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread evenly.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until edges just start to brown.
9. Cool 10-20 minutes or until spinach feels firm and is cool enough to handle. Cut into squares. Remove them from the pan with a stiff metal spatula while warm so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Makes 24 – 2 inch squares
Spinach Cheese Squares served with broccolini and cherry tomatoes
Batter mixed and ready for baking pan
Melt butter in a 9×13 inch baking pan in the oven
Batter spread into pan ready to bake
Lightly browned edges on the baked Spinach Cheese Squares
Voila!
Add smoked hot paprika to taste
NSF 2010
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is a very forgiving thing to make. If you want a stronger pepper flavor then add less tomatoes. The proportions do not have to be exact. I like a lot of onion and garlic. The tomatoes can be a sauce or crushed or whole. If you have a favorite variety of tomatoes use those.
Blend it all really well with a stick blender or food processor. The sauce should be very smooth. If you want a more chunky sauce I’d add some extra chopped roasted peppers at the end after the bulk of the sauce has been puréed
Another idea is to use this sauce as a soup! You can thin it out a bit with some broth if it’s too thick. I love it!!
Roasted Red Pepper Soup!
NSF 11/09
Mince together 1st 3 ingredients in a food processor or emersion blender. I prefer it chunky and do not process this very much. Slowly add olive oil. If you prefer a thicker spread, omit or use less of the oil. When making a light appetizer, a thinner Olivada will spread like butter. A chunkier Olivada with less oil can be piled on like a bruschetta and even served as lunch with a salad. My neice Irina ate this for lunch through her childhood! Spread on French bread, hearty whole grain crusty bread or crackers.
Nutrition Notes: Olives are a great source of monounsaturated fats which are also found in nuts, olive and canola oils and avocados. Monounsaturated fats improve blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease, and they may help with keeping blood sugar levels in check (potentially helpful for appetite control and reducing the risk for diabetes). A few studies have looked at monounsaturated fats as being beneficial for specifically reducing belly fat, but firm findings are lacking. To take it a step further, replace saturated fats with whole plant food sources of fat instead of refined plant oils which are stripped of their fiber, vitamins, minerals & phytochemical compounds. Whole plant foods rich in mono and poly unsaturated fats are olives, avocado, nuts, & seeds from plants like sunflowers, olives, soybean & safflower.
The olives are high in salt, so balance this with less salty foods thru the day.
nina in the kitchen 