Strawberry Sorbet

Description:
Ending up with sore stretched legs after all that strawberry picking was well worth it. I'm wishing I would have picked more so I could make several more quarts of this sorbet to get me through the summer.

This was so delicious and easy, I fell in love with my ice cream maker once again.

I've seen recipes for strawberry sorbet where you strain and remove the tiny seeds. I'm too lazy for that. I didn't mind the seeds at all. The texture was still smooth enough for me.

The next time I make this, which I assure you will be very soon, I will try dissolving honey instead of sugar and see how it tastes.

Ingredients:
Fresh strawberries, washed and stems removed, about 4 1/2 cups
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar

Directions:
Bring the water to a simmer and then remove from the heat.

Stir in the sugar until it is dissolved.

Fill your blender with strawberries and the sugar water and puree.

Chill this mixture, or if you're impatient like me, start off with already chilled berries.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and let the appliance do its magic.

I have a Cuisinart and had perfectly frozen sorbet in only about 15 minutes. It took all my will power to only enjoy one half cup serving and then freeze the rest in a quart container.

Swedish Style Pancakes - Dawn's version

Description:
I adapted my grandmother's recipe, trying to make it more healthy. My mother would make these for us rolling them up with plenty of butter and maple syrup or jam. My sister taught me to roll them with vanilla pudding and whipped cream - YUM!

Getting back to trying to be healthy - I used whole grain flour, almond milk and rolled them with plain non fat yogurt mixed with homemade applesauce. Another great filling is left over sweet potato!

These pancakes, which are like crepes, cook up very quickly, so have your fillings and/or toppings ready to go. I prepare and warm up my fillings/toppings before making the pancakes so everything rolls up warm and toasty.

Recipe easily doubles if you have a crowd.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 1/2 C almond milk
1/2 t vanilla
1 T brown sugar
2 T melted butter
1 1/4 C whole grain flour

Filling/topping ideas (some healthy, some not) - applesauce, yogurt, sweet potato, jam/jelly, maple syrup, pudding/custard, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, banana, chopped dried fruits, nuts.

Directions:
1. Mix together your pancake batter by whisking together the egg, milk, vanilla, sugar and melted butter. Stir in the flour until mixed.

2. Prepare your fillings, warming them if necessary.

3. Heat a non-stick pan with a little pat of butter or non-stick spray.

4. Pour in a few tablespoons of batter and swirl the pan around, spreading out the batter. Swedish pancakes are very thin and cook quickly!

5. After about a minute or so, using a non stick spatula, flip the pancake/crepe over and quickly cook the other side for a few moments.

6. Remove the pancake to a waiting plate, add fillings and roll up.

7. ENJOY!

Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Description:
These came out so delicious but not overly spicy, nice and mellow for breakfasts or snacks. They were very easy to mix together and baked up quickly. They also can be wrapped and frozen, although I think this batch won't last to make it to the freezer!

Ingredients:
1 C fat free milk
1/2 C brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C canned pumpkin
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
2 t baking powder
2 T ground flax seed meal
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375

Whisk together the milk, brown sugar, egg, and pumpkin.
Add the baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.
Stir in the flour and flax seed meal.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and fill muffin cups. This batch makes exactly 12 muffins.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes

Cool on a wire rack

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Description:
I had some left over canned pumpkin to use, and I thought it would taste good in banana bread. It tastes very yummy, and I may just always use pumpkin now when I'm baking banana bread.

Instead of oil I used applesauce and instead of sugar, I used honey. I also used whole wheat flour to make this a more healthy treat option.

Ingredients:
2 bananas, mashed
1 1/3 C canned pumpkin
1/2 C applesauce
2 Large eggs
1/2 C honey

2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 t cinnamon
1/2 C walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan with non-stick spray or grease.
Mix the bananas, pumpkin, applesauce, honey and eggs together in a large bowl.
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and walnuts in a separate large bowl.
Mix together the banana mixture and the flour mixture just until the flour is incorporated.
Scrape the dough into the loaf and pan and bake for 45 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the loaf pan on a wire rack.

Almond Vanilla Granola

Description:
This is going to be my new go to recipe for granola. It was very easy and came out great. You can add dried fruit before serving, but its best to store this granola in an airtight container without the fruit to maintain crunchiness.

Ingredients:
4 C old fashioned oats
1 C chopped almonds
2/3 C honey
4 T butter, melted ~ I used Light Smart Balance with Omega 3 instead
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 C ground flax seed


Directions:
Preheat over to 350. Spread the oats on two jelly roll pans and roast for 10 minutes. Stir the oats and switch the pans on different oven racks, (top to bottom, bottom to top). Roast for 10 more minutes.

In a large bowl mix the chopped almonds, honey, melted butter, vanilla and flax meal. Stir in the toasted oats.

Spray your jelly roll cookie sheets with non stick spray. Add the oat mixture and bake for another 7 minutes. Stir the granola and switch the cookie sheets, (top to bottom, bottom to top), bake for another 7 minutes.

Cool the granola in the pans on wire racks completely before storing in air tight containers.

Frozen Chocolate Yogurt Ice Cream

Description:
I wanted to make a more healthy chocolate ice cream treat. This came out very tasty. Next time I'm adding chopped nuts or peanut butter.

Ingredients:
2 C milk
3/4 C sugar
1 T vanilla
1 C plain non fat yogurt
3/4 C cocoa powder



Directions:
Whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla, yogurt and cocoa powder. Mix until well blended.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze.

I found this frozen yogurt firmed up faster compared to when I made traditional vanilla ice cream using whole cream instead of yogurt.

Chocolate Chip Cookies- America's Test Kitchen recipe

Description:
This is by far, the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten. Perfect consistency and the best flavor I've experienced in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, this technique developed by ATK really is the best.

The only changes I made were to form the cookies smaller, (working on my portion control these days), I used dark chocolate chips rather than the typical semi-sweet, and I added 1 1/3 cup of chips rather than the 1 1/4 cup. I didn't use any nuts either. The ATK original recipe wants you to divide the dough into 16 cookies, but those most be huge.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 flour
1/2 t baking soda
14 T of unsalted butter, (1 3/4 sticks)
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C dark brown sugar
1 t salt
2 t vanilla
1 L egg
1 L egg yolk
1 1/3 C of dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375

Over medium-high heat, melt 10 T of butter, about 2 minutes. Cook the butter another 1-3 minutes, stirring, until the butter develops a light brown color.

Add the melted butter to your metal mixing bowl and stir in the remaining 4 T of butter. Stir until its all melted.

Add the sugars, salt and vanilla and whisk until mixed.

Add the eggs and mix for 30 seconds.

Allow the mixture to rest for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat this process 2 more times.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a small bowl.

Add the flour mixture and chips into the butter, sugar, egg mixture and mix just until combined.

Use a cookie scoop or spoon to form small balls, about a tablespoon big. Bake 2 inches apart for 9-11 minutes.

Pesto Cavatappi - My version of Noodles and Company's

Description:
I love the Pesto Cavatappi at Noodles, and for awhile now, I've thought it couldn't be that difficult of a recipe to replicate at home and save a few bucks. I did a bit of research, and decided to try and make a version with a little less calories than the Noodles version.

I thought this came out wonderful. It wasn't as green as the dish is at the restaurant, but it still tastes delicious. Noodles must add tons of pesto to their mushroom sauce to make theirs that green. I saw the calorie count on the side of the pesto jar and couldn't bring myself to use more than a spoonful. I replaced non-fat yogurt for the traditional heavy cream, although the next time I make this, I may try using non-fat cream cheese.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C cavatappi noodles
1 T olive oil or just enough to coat the bottom of your skillet
1 T Smart Balance spread or use butter
1 1/2 C sliced mushrooms
2 T white wine
2 T non fat plain yogurt
2 T pesto
1 large or 2 smaller Roma tomatoes, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, mashed and diced

Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook your cavatappi noodles according to the packaged directions to al dente

Lightly coat the bottom of your skillet with olive oil and melt the Smart Balance or butter. Add the mushrooms to your skillet and saute. Once the mushrooms are tender, stir in the splash of wine, yogurt, pesto, tomatoes and garlic. Lastly add your cooked cavatappi and stir/toss to coat. Heat until the pasta is once again hot. Sprinkle Parmesan on top if desired.

Pizza Restaurant Style Breadsticks

Description:
These are so easy and taste so good, we'll never buy breadsticks from expensive Pizza Hut or Rocky's again. DH said they really do taste better than what you can get from the pizza chains.

I found the recipe doing a Google search for "Pizza Hut breadstick recipe" but I had to alter the recipe and add more flour to get the right consistency. They come out chewy on the inside, crunchy on the out.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C hot water
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 C non fat dried milk powder
1 T yeast
3-4 C of flour
1/3 C melted butter
Garlic powder
grated Parmesan cheese
oregano or Italian spice blend

Directions:
Dissolve the sugar, salt and dry milk in the hot water. Add enough of the flour to make the mixture a soupy consistency. When the mixture is warm, not too hot, add the yeast and the rest of the flour until a soft dough forms. * I use my Kitchenaid and watch for the dough to begin pulling from the sides of the bowl and ball up on the dough hook. Add flour as necessary to get a smooth, soft dough, just past the point of it being sticky. Knead the dough until is is soft and pliable.

In your baking pan, pour half of the melted butter and coat the bottom of the pan.

Press the dough into your pan, creating a rectangle. Pour the rest of the melted butter on top of the dough and add your seasons to taste.

Using a pizza cutter and or knife, cut your dough into strips.

Allow your breadsticks to rise for 15 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until golden on top. Feel free to add more melted butter and seasons if needed when they're just out of the over.

Serve with hot marinara sauce.

Cranberry Sauce

Description:
If you say you don't like cranberry sauce, its probably because you've always had that awful canned blob. Homemade cranberry sauce is so easy and so much more tasty. There's no excuse not to make it yourself.

Ingredients:
1 C orange juice
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 12 ounce package of cranberries

Directions:
Rinse and drain your cranberries, set aside.

In a DEEP pot, stir together the orange juice and sugars until the sugars dissolve.

Over medium heat, add the cranberries to your orange juice sugar mixture. If you didn't us a DEEP pot, expect to clean up red spots from your stove top. The cranberries will POP open as they heat up.

Stir the mixture with a spoon, smashing the cranberries as they pop open. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Store in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin Yogurt Pancakes

Description:
Modified my whole wheat yogurt pancake recipe in order to use up some leftover canned pumpkin. Very yummy and satisfying. Its a heavier, moist pancake, goes great with leftover cranberry sauce!

Ingredients:
1/2 C canned pumpkin
1/2 C non fat plain yogurt
2/3 C vanilla flavored almond milk
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 C whole wheat flour

Directions:
Stir together the pumpkin, yogurt, milk. Mix together the pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and flour. Combine together until mixed. Batter will be thick. Add more almond milk if you prefer.

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium, high. Add in a pat of Smart balance or butter and dollop batter into the pan, forming a circle or any other shape you like. This batter is very thick so watch for the edges to firm and brown before flipping. (You won't see bubbles break the surface.)

Enjoy with your choice of topping.

Black Bean, Tomato and Corn Stoup

Description:
This is a super quick, pull together stoup. Add water if you want a soup consistency. I tend to like my soups thick, between a stew and soup= stoup.

I used a pint of canned tomatoes from my garden. I could taste summer!

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 pint of tomatoes, with the juice
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 C frozen sweet corn
2 packets of no sodium, no MSG, beef broth powder- (I use Herb Ox brand which uses one packet to make one cup of broth, however I don't add any water.)
2 t cumin


Directions:
Heat the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until its tasty.

Caramel Chocolitas

Description:
This is a bar cookie to rule them all. Wait, who am I kidding. This isn't a bar COOKIE but rather a CANDY bar. Amazing bites of heaven await the person willing to try these. Cut into small pieces or risk sugar overload. They are more than worthy of the exercise it will take you to burn them off.

Ingredients:
2 C flour
1 3/4 C oats
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt ( I omitted this.)
1 C butter, melted
1 14 ounce package of caramels, unwrapped
1/3 C milk
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 C milk chocolate chips ( I used all semi-sweet and it still turned out great.)
1 C chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350

Line a 9 x 13 x 2 pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray

Mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.

Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly

Reserve half of this mixture, about 2 1/2 cups

Press the remaining crumb mixture into your pan

Mix the chocolate chips and pecans and spread over the bottom crust

Melt the caramels and milk in the microwave on 50% power 4-6 minutes

Pour the caramel mixture over the chocolate chips and pecans

Top with the reserved crumb mixture

Bake for 20-25 minutes

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack before lifting out and cutting into bars.

Zucchini Oat Bread

Description:
This came out very satisfying. I love quick breads. Its a "dessert" I feel less guilty about enjoying. I adapted a recipe from BH&G and next time I make this, I'll use two smaller loaf pans instead of the 9 x 5 x 3 pan they originally suggested. My bread expanded out and over the loaf pan. I did have a cookie sheet underneath so it didn't turn into an oven disaster.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C sugar
2 1/2 t cinnamon
2 1/2 C flour
1 C oats
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
3 eggs
1 C applesauce
1/4 C butter melted
1 t vanilla
2 C shredded zucchini
1 C chopped walnuts
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare your bread loaf pan(s)

In a small bowl, mix 1 T of sugar and 1/4 t cinnamon. This will be your topping.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, oats, baking powder,salt, baking soda and remaining cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add the applesauce, melted butter, vanilla and remaining sugar.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg/applesauce mixture. Stir in zucchini, walnuts and chocolate chips.

Pour your batter into your loaf pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar prepared earlier.

Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I ended up baking my giant loaf for 1.5 hours. Your house will smell wonderful!

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before popping the loaf out to cool completely on a wire rack.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup - a quick, easy version

Description:
I was craving my mother in law's chicken pot pie soup but I couldn't find the recipe. I also am recovering from a cough cold so I didn't have a lot of energy to spend in the kitchen. I found a quick cheat recipe online and improvised. It came out tasty enough, although not as good as DMIL's, but what really impressed me, is how fast it all came together. It satisfies that craving for chicken pot pie without having to wait an hour or consume the extra fat and calories from the pie crust.

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the reduced fat version.)
1 can cream of potato soup
2 C skim milk
1 16 ounce bag of frozen veggies (I used peas, carrots, green beans & corn.)
2 C cut up leftover roasted chicken breast (I used a little less. We only had one good sized, cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast left in the fridge.)
Pepper and Garlic powder to taste

Directions:
In your soup pot, whisk together the condensed soups and milk over medium to high heat. Add in the frozen veggies and chicken. Season with pepper and garlic powder to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and reduce heat.

Chocolate Kamut Low Fat cookies

Description:
I experimented today with trying to make a low fat cookie, using whole grains. I ground up organic Kamut flour and rather than use butter or oil, I used non fat plain yogurt. They came out pretty good for a cookie that is healthier than most.

Kamut flour is an ancient wheat type grain that actually has a 40% higher protein content that regular wheat. Many people who can't tolerate wheat, can tolerate Kamut flour.

Ingredients:
1/4 C plain, non fat yogurt
1 C brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 L egg
1/2 c almond milk

2 1/2 C Kamut flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
2 t baking powder


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream together the non-fat yogurt and brown sugar. Add in the vanilla, egg and milk.

In a separate bowl, stir together the Kamut flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined. Do not over mix.

Drop by cookie scoop spoonfuls onto a silicon lined or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. These cookies will not spread out so if you prefer, flatten the cookie balls a bit.

Bake for 7-8 minutes taking care not to over bake them. Allow to cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Making Marinara

These Romas wouldn't wait any longer. I had to make sauce before they went bad. Most of these beauties came from my neighbor's garden. My tomato plants are pretty sad, but my green thumbed neighbors have grown plants that are as big as a human beings, I'm not kidding. I've never seen tomato plants taller than me before.

We've been taking care of their garden while they are on vacation, and they told us to eat whatever was ready. This batch we picked barely made a dent compared to what's still left. I will have to pick another bushel tomorrow. Our neighbor's didn't want the tomatoes going to waste.

I thought I would make up some sauce, even though I don't yet have my canning set. In a few weeks, my mom will visit and teach me all about canning. She's giving me my very own canning kettle and tools for my birthday. We'll probably make and can some applesauce, but if we still have tomatoes, I'll have to can some of those as well. 

I made a simple marinara. Just tomatoes, onions, garlic and celery with herbs. Except for the celery and olive oil, all the ingredients came from our gardens. I love how sweet those fresh tomatoes make it without having to add any sugar at all. My marinara comes out a little more orange than red, but I think that's because I add lots of onions. I almost forgot to snap the final photo before filling up all the jars, but I think you can see it made quite a bit of sauce.

Step 1-  Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pot and sweat out chopped up onion, celery and garlic.

Step 2- Add in your peeled and seeded tomatoes and fresh or dried herbs. I used basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, pepper and a little bit of kosher salt.

Step 3- Simmer for at least an hour if not longer.

Step 4- Blend up your sauce for a smoother consistency, using a stick blender or careful process your sauce in smaller batches in your blender.

In January it will taste like sunshine to open a jar and pour it over fresh pasta. Store bought can't come close.

Chocolate Marble Banana Bread or Muffins

Description:
My husband loves those giant muffins you see in the grocery store, but I knew I could bake something that tastes better, was cheaper and better for us to eat. I've adapted a banana bread recipe I saw in a magazine to use less sugar. I still may tweak it a bit more, but for now, these came out so yummy I had to make a note of them before I lost the recipe.

You can make this into a loaf or make 6 giant muffins. You could also make regular muffins too, but adjust the baking time.

Ingredients:
1/4 C butter, softened
1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium sized)
1/3 C fat free plain yogurt
2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided OR use 1/2 C peanut butter chips and 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the bananas, yogurt and vanilla to the wet mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, the baking soda, salt, cinnamon and 1/2 C of chocolate or peanut butter chips.

Stir the dry ingredients together with the wet ingredients.

In a microwaveable bowl, melt the other 1/2 C of chocolate chips, 30 seconds to a minute, stirring after each 30 seconds.

Remove about one cup of the banana batter and add to it the melted chocolate.

Spray your muffin tin or loaf pan with non-stick spray. Spoon in the original banana batter to your loaf pan/muffin cups, and then spoon on top the chocolate banana batter. Using a knife, swirl the two batters together.

Bake for 40-50 minutes for a loaf pan or super size muffins. Check by inserting a knife in the middle. The knife should come out clean when they are done. Pop out of muffin molds/loaf pan and cool on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies- #11 for the100 Cookies Project

Description:
Peanut butter, chocolate, need I say more to convince you to try these?

Ingredients:
1 C flour (could use pastry whole wheat)
1/3 C cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
1/2 C butter softened (1 stick)
3/4 C smooth style peanut butter
3/4 C sugar, plus 1/4 c
1/2 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375

Mix the dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add in the vanilla and egg. Add in the flour mixture and stir.

Scoop with a cookie scoop or use spoons to form balls of dough. Roll each ball in white sugar.

Bake on a silicon baking sheet or parchment paper for 11-14 minutes.

The cookies are delicate when they first come out of the oven. Carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whole Wheat Yogurt Pancakes

Description:
I love easy and I love healthy. This 5 ingredient recipe is both!

They came out fluffy even though they were made with whole wheat. I used pastry whole wheat flour. Pastry Wheat is made from softer wheat berries. I grind our own flour, but you can buy pastry wheat in health food stores and coops. It doesn't bake up as heavy as regular whole wheat. Pastry wheat is great to use for pancakes, muffins and cookies when you don't want to use white flour. Always store your whole wheat flour in the freezer.

Ingredients:
1 C non fat plain yogurt
1/3 C vanilla almond milk
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 C whole wheat pastry flour

Directions:
Simply mix the ingredients in the above order in a bowl. Heat a non-stick griddle and use a little bit of butter or Smart Balance so the pancakes won't stick. Pour in the batter to the size and shape you like. Wait for the edges to firm up and light bubbles start to break the surface. Flip your pancake to brown and cook the other side.

Serve with syrup or other toppings and enjoy!