Recipe Day!

I've had some e-mails asking for various recipes of foods I've described in the past few days, so periodically, I'll post a recipe day. I'm not up on posting pictures, etc., yet, so those will have to wait for later. All nutritional info is provided via Sparkrecipes.com. Sparkpeople.com, the parent site for Sparkrecipes.com, is a wonderful, free site that helps us all stay healthier. Please support it if you like the recipes!


From July 4th:

I'm skipping the hot fudge, as I'm not satisfied with it, yet.

Apple Carrot Slaw - this is a wonderful, healthy recipe! I adapted it from one I found on the internet, and now I can't find it again, so my apologies to the cook who created the basics.

Ingredients:
2 cups thinly shredded cabbage
1 raw medium carrot, grated
1 medium apple, chopped
5 TBS nonfat greek yogurt
1 TBS reduced fat mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix together veggies and apple.
2. wisk together dressing ingredients.
3. combine.
4. add salt and pepper to taste

Number of Servings: 6

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 1.0g
Carbohydrates: 9.3g
Calories:55.1
Protein: 2.8g

Pommes A L'Huile, adapted from "Bistro Cooking" by Patricia Wells "Bistro Cooking" by Patricia Wells - This is the perfect summer potato salad, if you like the oil/vinegar type. I could eat this a lot. I could also gain 400 lbs. by eating this a lot!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 shallots, finely minced
1/8 cup tarragon vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
small handful of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. small new red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed

1. Combine oil and shallots in a small bowl, set aside. As the shallots marinate in the oil, they will lose any bitterness.
2. Cook the potatoes in plenty of salted water, until just tender.
3. Meanwhile whisk the vinegar into the oil and shallot mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Drain the potatoes. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, but are still warm, cut into thin, even slices. Toss with the vinaigrette and sprinkle with parsley.

Yield: eight servings

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 6.6g
Carbohydrates: 15.4g
Calories:126.8
Protein: 1.9g

From July 5:


Jen's Peach-Blueberry Cobbler - This is not very sweet, so if you like a sweeter cobbler, add more sugar.

Ingredients:

Filling:
5 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 TBS lemon juice
Biscuit Dough:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
2 1/2 TBS butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
Sprinkle with:
1 tsp sugar mixed with 1/8 tsp cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 400. Spray an 8X8 glass baking dish. Peel and prep peaches and wash blueberries. Mix together with sugar and lemon juice. Microwave for 1 - 2 minutes or until partially cooked.

2. For dough. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender or food processor. Pour in buttermilk. Continue to process or toss with fork until mixture clumps together. Drop by tablespoons on peaches/blueberries. Sprinkle with the sugar-nutmeg mixture. Bake 30 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 4.2g
Carbohydrates: 33.9g
Calories:175.4
Protein: 3.3g

From July 6:

Cucumbers in Sour Cream adapted from "A La Russe" by Dara Goldstein"A La Russe: A Cookbook of Russian Hospitality" by Darra Goldstein I ate this type of thing all the time when I lived in the Soviet Union on my teaching exchange. It rocked!

Ingredients:

2 cucumbers
1 cup reduced fat sour cream (I prefer Breakstone)
2 TBS cider vinegar (white balsamic works well, too)
4 TBS snipped fresh chives (or equivalent number of dried teaspoons)
2 TBS snipped fresh dill (or 2 tsp dried dill)
pepper to taste
2 tsp salt

If the cucumbers have been waxed, peel them; otherwise, washt them well but leave the peel on. Slice the cucumbers very thin and pat them dry with paper towels. Mix together the remaining ingredients, adding vinegar to taste. Stir in cucumbers. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before refrigerating. Serve well-chilled.

Serves 6.

Nutritional info:
Fat: 2.6g
Carbohydrates: 4.5g
Calories:45.6
Protein: 1.7g

Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil from Cook's Country, July 2007 This is absolutely a taste of summer. A little also goes a long way - it's surprisingly rich. Cook's Country is one of my favorite magazines of the moment. It has the same care as Cook's Illustrated, but it's not as fussy and the recipes, to my mind are more fun.

Ingredients:

5 lbs of tomatoes cored and quartered
1 lb. tomatoes, cored and diced
2 onions, chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp sugar, plus more to taste
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped, fresh basil

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine quartered tomatoes, onions, whole garlic cloves, oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp sugar in large roasting pan. Roast, stirring once or twice, until tomatoes are brown in spots, about 1 1/2 hours (I found that it took me only about 45 minutes). Let cool 5 minutes. Working in two batches, process roasted tomatoe mixture in food processor until smooth. (Pureed mixture can be refrigeratoed for up to 1 day).
2. When ready to serve, combine diced tomatoes, minced garlic, basil, and 1/4 tsp salt in bowl and marinate for 30 minutes. Transver to large saucepan, add pureed tomato mixture, and simmer over medium heat until diced tomatoes are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and sugar to taste. Serve.

Number of Servings: 6

Nutritional info:
Fat: 7.7g
Carbohydrates: 16.3g
Calories:133.3
Protein: 2.9g

Jen's Blueberry power muffins - these are very low fat, so they aren't as "crispy" on the outside as some muffins. If you want that crisp outside, reheat them at 350 for 5 minutes right before serving. Again, these aren't very sweet, but the blueberries make them very flavorful!

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries, preferably fresh
1 cup oat bran
1 cup ww pastry flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. preheat oven to 400.
2. spray a 12- muffin pan with cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.
4. in a separate bowl beat eggs, then wisk in the buttermilk and the vanilla.
5. Blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
6. Stir in the washed blueberries.
7. Using a melon baller or other scoop, fill the muffin openings as full as you can.
8. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.
9. cool in pan on wire rack for 2 minutes, then remove, loosening muffins with butter knife, and continue cooling on rack out of the pan.

Number of Servings: 12

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 1.4g
Carbohydrates: 20.0g
Calories:99.4
Protein: 3.8g

As for the Peach Tarte Tatin, it was a waste of eight perfectly good peaches... I have definitely not mastered the art of French baking yet! First off, can anyone tell me why bleached versus unbleached flour would make a difference? And secondly, if anyone actually knows how to flip a Tarte Tatin properly, would they please e-mail me? I'm totally flummoxed!

Cheers!