Carrot Apple Smoothie

Friends, hello! Let's have a little refreshing beverage, shall we?

Carrot Apple Smoothie
Makes 5 cups, 3-4 servings

1 apple, sliced (no core)
4 carrots, ends cut, and sliced into 2-inch pieces
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cucumber
10 ice cubes + more if desired
1/2 cup orange juice


In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth. Remember to find the blender's lid and be sure to attach. (I did not.) This will prevent orange cabinets (sticky). Drink and be merry.

• Low calorie, sweet, no added sugar

The cucumber and apple make green and red confetti in the smoothie!

 I'm coming down from the high of graduating and realizing I'm no longer a full-time student. It's strange, really. But -bam- time to find a job. Wish me luck.

Happy eating!
Laurel

LOC Bites

Like I said yesterday, my sweet grandmother was Southern to the bone. One of her signature desserts was Chess Bars. It involved all of the staples for a Mississippi dish--butter, eggs, powdered sugar, and cream cheese. Not exactly for the faint of sweets. Sometimes she added lemon, but rarely. Usually the cake mix crust warrants the prominent flavor--BUTTER--but I thought it might be nice to jazz it up a little for my Waco friends.

I'm spending two weeks in Waco for Capstone class--let's hope these are the last classes of my life. I'm good with life long learning, but I need a break! After these two weeks, I'll present my research project for social work, wait a week, and then (hopefully) snatch up two diplomas. Glory, glory. But back to the sugar. Chess bars...with lime and orange...in mini muffin pans. Can these count as tarts? No, bites is much more technical and approachable.

The flop the first time around. Oops.

LOC Bites (Lemon Orange Chess)

gather 
yellow cake mix (the box)
3 eggs
1 stick butter, softened
1 box of cream cheese, softened (8 oz)
1 lb of powdered sugar
1 orange
1 lemon or lime

base Preheat oven to 350. Grease 24 mini muffin cups. In a bowl, combine a yellow cake mix, one egg, and one stick of margarine. Using a teaspoon, pat one teaspoonful of batter into each cup. Pat down with your fingers--this is the crust.

topper In a second bowl, combine cream cheese, 2 eggs, and 1 box (16 oz) powdered sugar together until smooth. A mixer smooths it out so well.

topper2 Split cream cheese mixture into two bowls. In one bowl, grate an orange and add the juice of less than 1/2 of the orange (2 TB). In the second bowl, add grate a lemon and the juice of 1/2 a lemon (2 TB). Whisk each of the bowls' ingredients separately.

assembly Using a teaspoon, spoon 1-ish teaspoon of the cake mix base in the bottom of each muffin cup. Press down with fingers, like it is a crust. Then, top with either 1 TB of the lemon or the orange filling. Bake for 13 minutes, or until the mini muffins are set and not Jello jiggly. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for 1 hours.

Serve chilled. Share generously. Eat many.

Happy eating!
Laurel

Baked Oranges

Do you ever crave fruit for dessert? Me neither. But I often crave a fruit-based dessert.

You know the kind, taking a perfectly healthy gem from nature and adding sugar and cream and making it less healthy but more fantastic? I know, logic says this is foolish, but tastebuds are very happy about your tomfoolery. And, in the words of the poet DMX, "Y'all gonna make me act a fool up in here, Y'all gonna make me lose my cool up in here." I think he was talking to these baked oranges. What do you think?

Baked Oranges
This dessert is beautiful, compact and perfect for entertaining. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate or caramel, or with a scoop of ice cream on the side (vanilla or rocky road?). Best piping hot out of the oven, but can be reheated for a later indulgence. If you're hosting dinner, just stick these in the oven when you're about to eat, and they'll be ready right after!


4 servings
2 large oranges
4 TB brown sugar (light or dark)
Dash of cinnamon
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse oranges and slice in half. In a small dish, combine sugar and cinnamon. Peel side down, pack 1 TB of brown sugar mixture on top of each orange.

Bake for 30 minutes. Handle with tongs or oven mitts as the oranges are hot! Let cool for 5-10 min and dig in.

(optional) In a microwave-safe dish, microwave the chocolate chips in 30-second increments, stirring in-between until all chips are melted. Drizzle on top of the orange or on the plate right before serving.


I do hope this is a beautiful Saturday for you. My parents and I are having some breakfast together while Matt's at work, and then we'll hit up the Farmer's Market. Yay!


Happy eating!
Laurel

Cucumber Melon Smoothie

In high school, I had the whole set of Cucumber Melon scented everything--body lotion, body wash, bubble bath, hand soap, body spray, etc. It's a nice scent, with hints of cucumber, honeydew and-I think-cantaloupe. Why not recreate into breakfast?

I didn't have any cantaloupe or honeydew on hand, although they're in season right now, but I did have a gallon Ziploc of frozen watermelon chunks. Our 4th of July watermelon was a huge seedless, and I knew we couldn't eat it all in those few days, so I cut it up and froze part of it. And I would use some now. This smoothie is pink and sweet (melon), tangy (orange juice), and has a little bite (cucumber). And the texture is awesome, like softserve ice cream. This makes a great breakfast, a snack, a dessert, or even a great cocktail with a little watermelon or lemon vodka. (I think those exist.)

Cucumber Melon Smoothie
*makes one large smoothie*                      
 2 cups frozen watermelon (or any melon) chunks
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup orange juice

Chop cucumber with orange juice in blender. Next, add watermelon and blend until mixture is smooth and creamy. Devour immediately.

Happy Weekend! I'm working all weekend and don't mind so much. Hope you all have fun plans today and tomorrow.

Low Fat Strawberry-Cornmuffin Bread

 Awkward title, I know. But how else to I explain that this low-fat bread is sweet like a muffin and not savory cornbread? I saw this recipe and hacked away at it. Sorry, Food Network. It was a good idea that you had, though. The one I made is a slice-able bread, uses no white sugar and has a bit more bite because of the strawberries. Also, instead of half cornmeal flour and half white flour, we have a little more fiber and nutrients by mixing it up with cornmeal, wheat flour and white flour. You know how I do.

Anyhoo, on to the food...

 Low Fat Strawberry-Cornmuffin Bread
Makes one loaf, but can easily double OR bake in muffin pans instead

INGREDIENTS
1 cup cornmeal flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup orange juice + 1 TB zest
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 cup chopped strawberries + 2 strawberries for topping
3 TB brown sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon mixed together, for topping

In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients. (cornmeal through baking powder on the list)

In a second bowl, whisk all wet ingredients. (orange juice through agave syrup)
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir well. Fold in chopped strawberry.

Pour dough into a bread pan (I lined the bottom with a rectangle piece of parchment paper.). Top with sliced strawberries and brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from center of loaf. Serve warm and buttered. Yum.

Mahi mahi

We've been eating a lot more seafood lately. I thought it would be more expensive, but when portions are kept at 3 to 4 ounces each, it ends up being the same as we were spending on chicken, pork or beef. Plus, the incredible health benefits from fish make me feel even better--tastes good, good for you. Matt went a little adventurous for a dinner last week and cooked mahi-mahi for the first time. We had just made a trip to Whole Foods in Austin; among our fun findings was a package of cedar papers for grilling.

These are new and amazing. You soak the papers in a dish of water for about 10 minutes, they soften up, and you put your food in them (fish, meat, veggies, whatever), roll the papers and tie them, and grill like crazy! The cedar wrapped around the food allows for amazing taste and scent, and it's a fabulous idea (better than cedar planks, in my opinion). 8 papers were $6, I believe. 

Grilled Mahi-mahi

Matt did an amazing job with the mahi-mahi. I honestly did not know anything about the fish, so I took lots of pictures throughout the process. We bought the fish the same day we were using it (advise I kept seeing in all of my cookbooks). We bought a pound of the fish. Matt laid the fish out (skin side down) and cut them into 4 squares (4 oz each, small enough to fit in the cedar papers). He seasoned both sides with sea salt and pepper, rubbing it in.

It's a really pretty fish, with silver and golden skin.

 Then, he removed the cedar papers from the water (10 minutes of soaking) and placed them on the cutting board.

He placed the mahi in the center of the paper and added shrimp/veggies (recipe below) on and around the mahi.

He secured the papers with string and placed on the grill, 10 minutes on each side.

Unwrap carefully and eat, eat. We served with homemade tartar sauce (although it didn't need it) and couscous.


Shrimp and Veggies (to accompany mahi-mahi)
4 servings
1/2 pound medium raw shrimp, peeled and rinsed
Cut the following into long, thin slices (julienned):
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 zucchini
2 carrots


Combine shrimp and veggies in large bowl. Add:
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 limes
Dash of garlic powder and black pepper
Pinch of sea salt


Mix with hands (or spoon) until evenly distributed onto shrimp and veggies. Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Then top onto mahi when you're ready to grill.

Tartar Sauce
1/2 cup lowfat mayo
Dash of sea salt and pepper
2 TB dill relish
Dash of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of dried rosemary and basil

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and serve immediately.
 
While the grill was still hot, I ran out and added a few pineapple and orange slices. Yum. That was dessert.






Hope you had a great holiday yesterday. Happy grilling!

Pantry Smoothie

Part of the fun of cooking is finding things around your kitchen and creating a delicious meal with them. It's imagination that has no limits! (okay, you can't add the kitchen sink to a meal...) Here was my liquid breakfast this morning, a collection of simple things in the pantry and fridge.

Pineapple Orange Smoothie

1 can pineapple rings or chunks

1 can of mandarin oranges (or 1 fresh orange)

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups ice cubes

Drain the cans and add 1 cup of pineapple (5 rings) or fresh pineapple, if you have it, to the blender. Add the oranges or use a fresh orange. Add the coconut, yogurt, and ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Garnish with orange and pineapple slices.

A note on organic: 

I don't talk much about organic foods because 1)it's so trendy, 2)it can be so expensive, and 3)we don't get much of a variety of organics at our local grocery stores where I live.
HOWEVER, if you can, buy organic!

If for nothing else, you are looking for the most bang for your buck, so a $1.00 giant cookie and a $1.00 organic apple don't compare. Or a $1.00 bag of potato chips and a $1.00 cucumber. You get so many more nutrients from produce in general, compared to packaged and processed foods, so organic produce is a bargain in that sense. Also, the latest studies I've been reading (from journal articles at the library--I know, nerd-o) have shown significant increases in vitamins and nutrients in USDA certified organic produce as compared to the "regular" produce on the shelves. I have not found a study that didn't find many more nutrients in the organic versus the regular.
So, if you're like me, you don't want to be one of those people in the fiber commercials chomping on apples and carrots all day long...why not eat 3 regular meals with a couple of snacks and get all of your daily needs that way? Okay, that's my two cents. Cha-ching.

Easy as Cherry Pie

My sweet husband asked for cherry pie. He doesn't ask for much, so why not? Unfortunately, Susie Homemaker I am not, so I don't have 8 hours to piece together a delectable, gourmet cherry pie. But I do have a thinking cap and can simplify it...

Oatmeal Crumble Cherry Pie
8 slices

1/2 cup water
1 large sweet apple
8 cherries, chopped in half and deseeded
1 can cherry pie filling 
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Dashes of nutmeg
Zest of an orange (optional) 
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup cereal (I used honey-nut cheerios)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 TB margarine or butter, softened
Pie crust--homemade or store-bought


Tools:
Knife + Cutting board
Small pot + Lid
Medium bowl
Spatula 
1 gallon Ziploc bag
Pie pan + Cookie sheet


STEPS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat water in pot on high. Chop apple into small bits using knife, and toss apples into pot. Cover with lid and let apples boil.
2. In the meantime, in the Ziploc bag, add in oats, cereal, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and last dash of nutmeg. Remove the air and seal the bag. Using your fist or the back of a measuring spoon, crush the oats mixture for 30 seconds. (Don't overcrush to crumbs.) Add margarine and seal bag. Using hands on outside of bag, coat oat mixture with margarine.  Set aside.
3. Pour can of cherry filling into medium bowl, using spatula. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 dashes of nutmeg, and the orange zest. Add cooked apples to cherry filling and stir. Using spatula, pour filling into pie pan. Using hands, open the bag of oat mixture and sprinkle crumble on top of pie filling.
   
4. Put pie pan on a cookie sheet to catch possible drips. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crumble has browned and bottom of crust feels baked with a knife tapping the bottom. Eat! Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, and serve with coffee or tea.

 All of this cherry talk reminds me of a quote:

"I never see that prettiest thing, 

A cherry bough gone white with Spring,

But what I think,

'How gay 'twould be,

To hang me from a flowering tree.'"

Let's just hope Dorothy Parker was talking about innocently swinging from a tree and not hanging. Have you ever seen the cherry blossoms in D.C. in the spring? Marvelous!


When I lived in Boston, the street that my apartment was on had incredible cherry blossoms bloom in the spring (which really started in May there). Here's an old pic and a fun memory:

But back to pie. Enjoy, eat, be merry.

 

Orange Cocktail

Well, my last blog post disappeared into oblivion. Sad.

I was going to tell you about this awesome Fruit on the Bottom cocktail we devoured last night...

 I was going to show you that it's really simple to make, both kid-friendly or spiked for grownups.

 

Then I was going to give you the recipe. But it's too late...the post is gone.

 Well, my memory is coming back to me. This sunny treat is too good to let the internet's black hole swallow this blog entry up!

orange bottom cocktail

22 quarts water

juice of 4 limes

juice of 5 lemons 

2 TB chopped mint

small can of mandarin oranges

1/2 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup agave)

amaretto liqueur

151 rum (or whatever you like)

tools:

large pitcher, medium bowl, tall wooden spoon for stirring, 1/2 cup measuring cup, 1 TB measuring spoon, mesh tea infuser, citrus zester, 6-8 glasses for serving

pour water into a large pitcher. add sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.
juice citrus in medium bowl, straining seeds out. zest 1 lemon and 1 lime into bowl.  pour into pitcher. put mint in a mesh tea infuser and drop into pitcher. pour drained can of oranges into pitcher.
chill concoction in fridge for 1-2 hours, allowing mint to infuse with the citrus liquid. serve either virgin or spiked. virgin: pour liquid into 12 oz glasses, spooning a few oranges into glass and garnishing with lime and orange. spiked: pour liquid into 6 oz glasses, adding 2 TB (1 oz.) amaretto liqueur and 1 TB 151 to each glass. stir. garnish with lime and orange.