Chanteuse Designs

Pesto Pasta Salad

Found this wonderful little ditty on the website of by  Sunny Vegan (dot com) and had to share. Had some spinach I needed to use up and was looking for some creative  ways to serve with out cooking it. The recipe calls for walnuts, which work perfectly, but I did have some pine nuts on hand and decided to toast them up a bit and use instead. Oh, and I also doubled the recipe which I recommend if you are having guests. I was thinking there would be a LOT of good dishes I could make with this incredible pesto. And viola!!

So many ways to serve. Perfect for a cheese platter and even on pizzas. We know how I hate that!!

Here’s all you:

pesto ingredients

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnuts
2 cups packed spinach (stems removed)

1/4 cup packed fresh basil

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt
pepper

For non Vegans add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

(I personally needed a tad bit more garlic! But start small and add if you feel necessary)

Pesto

In a food processor, pulse walnuts into small bits. Then add spinach and basil and blend together.  Slowly pour in olive oil and blend well, add remaining ingredients.

serves 4-6

You can use with pasta, add this on salads, flat breads, top a steak or fish with; or add to some chicken roulade.

Give me a minute and I can come up with some dessert ideas, but you get the picture! It’s healthy, yummy and safe for your vegan loved ones. How happy is that!?

Wore my Napa apron, it never shows stains like these, so whirl away!

Remember, stains are stories!

Bon Appétit!

BBQ Pizza

I had no idea a pizza cooked on the grill would be so incredibly…….well FAST…..but super delicious! I mean super delicious! If you have not had the chance to grill a pizza out in the open, well promise me this is the summer you change all that. With a tiny bit of planning, some home-made dough, a good thick tomato sauce and some basic toppings (or cosmic if you insist), you are in for a real treat. We are talking “get out the hammock” and find a good pillow kind of treat. Simple outdoor goodness. After an outdoor meal like this one it will be hard to go back to oven cooked pizza or even ordered out at your favorite pizza joint!  And can I tell you………. it was so much fun too! Who’d have thought it! ;-)

I just have one word of advice: Make two pizzas. You’re going to need it!

Here is the Pizza dough:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons filtered water

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (some to drizzle later)

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons instant dry milk powder

1 teaspoon brown sugar (thought I would try a tad bit of sugar and YES!)

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order it requires, and place on the dough/pasta cycle. This cycle lasts 90 minutes, so you can prepare your pizza toppings with plenty of time.

When dough is finished, place on lightly floured board and roll out the shape of your desired pizza.  Fire up the grill! On a very hot grill (generally 400˚) brush some olive oil on the grill before placing down the dough. You are going to cook the dough on one side for about 4-5 minutes.

Dough

The dough handles very well and should not be too thin so that it falls through the grate of your grill. I recommend not walking away from your grill and getting distracted. It cooks very fast. As you can see the results are really good. When you turn the dough over to place all of your toppings and sauce on it, I recommend you place the pizza on a board to assemble. Have all of your toppings ready to go by the grill because this is the super fast part! My instruction had me top the pizza ON the grill, but then your veggies don’t get enough time to cook as the dough quickly starts baking and will turn black before any meat or heavy cheese will get melted. So on the already cooked side of the dough, place your sauce and toppings on the pizza, slide back on the grill and cook for 5-6 minutes or until your desired done-ness!!

Honestly, I ate too many slices it was THAT good. The dough is the best crust you can imagine and that bbq outdoorsy cooking just melts in your mouth. It’s just the best. But I am staring to sound a little tad bit biased. You’ll forgive me.

Slice

So get out the sunblock, soak up the sun and enjoy some outdoors pizza. Good friends, good tunes and it is a bona-fide summer meal, even if it’s still only spring.

And while you’re out there, sing to your veggie garden! I hear it likes that a lot. ;-)

As they say, Bon Appétit!!

Asparagus Frittata

It is finally feeling like summer, but never too sunny for a delicious and easy Frittata. Sure do miss my quiches, but when you don’t have the time this Frittata is pretty darn close. Here is the perfect answer to that kind of comfort food. It’s healthy, delicious and takes hardly any time to put together! I have made a few lately but this one is hands down my favorite. You need very little ingredients for a super filling meal. Here’s all you do:

Ingredients:

8 Eggs

1/4 cup half and half

1 teaspoon italian seasoning (always use fresh if you have it)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2-3/4  cup chopped onion

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Asparagus – 5 to 6 stalks, trimmed

3 small tomatoes, sliced in 1/4″ slices

Preheat oven to 350˚.  Grease a pie dish spreading evenly.  Saute onion in a tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside to cool. In a medium bowl mix all the eggs, then add the milk and the spices. Fold in cheese and onions. Pour into prepared pie dish.  Place asparagus stalks around the pie plate, adding the sliced tomatoes in between the asparagus. Place foil on top of the frittata and bake 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on this, as it can brown easily but still be wet in the center. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing. This is BEST right out of the oven and served. But, any leftover is always just as delicious.

Serve with salad or sliced potatoes. Sweet comfort!

Bon Appétit!

Stuffed Peppers

I have been experimenting with my bell pepper stuffing recipes, and I think I found something worthy of sharing. Red and orange bell peppers are so sweet and delicious and thought a suitable veggie and cheese combination would be really tasty. My first attempts were not very pretty or edible without falling apart. You’d need a shower afterwards as well!  And it couldn’t have rice (bad memories there) or meat in it keeping it as vegetarian as possible.  So after a few attempts and some lovely red & white quinoa, fresh asparagus and white wine, I made a lovely Stuffed pepper. Here’s all I did.

First I made a tomato sauce of onions, spices, carrots, herbs and white wine.   I did cheat with some beef broth that I had from the non vegetarian days but it was minimal. Threw in a few other things to clean out the cupboard (some olives), you just want to make sure the sauce is slightly thick.
The trick to this tasty little dish was how I assembled it. After making this lovely sauce which is not too runny all you do is layer it with a cheese combination. Cut small circle on top of pepper to give it a nice bowl effect. Hollow out the seeds and trim down the pith to give you more room for the sauce and cheese. Place the sauce down first, then a layer of cheese and repeat. Generally that is about all the room available!

sauce

Place stuffed peppers into a 350˚ oven for 45 minutes. Cover tops of peppers with some foil so the cheese doesn’t burn. This was so yummy. Great with a salad! Healthy too. If you have some sauce you have made, zip it up in some peppers for a wholesome happy meal.

Peppy

Bon Appétit!

Brownies

I have a horrible weakness for brownies with lots of nuts and coffee ice cream. It’s why I never make brownies because it’s just too painful to pass it up!! But there you have it, a rainy day with friends coming over and I had to “bring on” the chocolate! So, you all know that brown butter brownie recipe flying around the web? Yep, that one. We had to try it and it’s a shame. It’s a one bowl, no mixer, ridiculously easy, decadent and no fuss recipe. I am sooooo in trouble here. Check it out! You won’t have any regrets, just maybe a few pounds heavier…….or more laps around the swimming pool this summer. Either way, it’s ALL good!

From Bon Appétit February 2011

Brownies mixing

Ingredients:

Pam vegetable oil spray

1/2 cup +2 tablespoons unsalted butter (10 T) cut into pieces

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Ohh Yeah

2 large eggs, chilled

1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unbleached AP flour

1 cup slightly chopped walnuts (I used more just because!)

Place rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil (I used glass), pressing foil firmly against pan sides and leaving 2-inch overhang. Coat foil with nonstick spray.

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, and

Batter up

1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot). Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each

addition. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Serve with your favorite ice cream, sprinkle with confectioners sugar or smear  cream cheese icing on them. If you can wait that long!

Batter done

Try not to devour before guests arrive, but if you do go brush your teeth to hide all traces and then be sure to blame it on the dogs!! ;-0)

WORKS Every time!!

Bon Appétit!

Pear Cake

May is quickly becoming the Bundt Month for me! But I have to tell you this is quickly becoming my favorite Bundt so far. This is really easy to throw together and your slightly bruised pears for the gorgeous pie or cheese plate that you can’t use them for is perfect for this dish. No one will Evuh know! The spices give it a subtle ginger type of flavor, even though it has no ginger in it, but you must wait until the next day to dive into this cake. It gets more moist and more subtle with those spices. Just puts a smile on everyone’s faces. Truly a rainy day treat!!

I  have never had success with this beautiful bundt pan until my pear cake. Bought this bundt pan at least a decade ago…give or take……?  I don’t know if that has something to do with my excitement about this cake. Normally I do the grease and flour dance to prep the pan, but I was feeling a bit lazy and only did the Pam spray shuffle. Pam IS the secret when making and baking cakes, and bundts and muffins for sure. So, I don’t know if I just over did my Pam shake or cooled the cake differently (which I did turn it upside down so it wouldn’t continue to cook in that hot pan…..which CAN’T be the reason it came out nicely) but that is truly all I did for this cake to come out of its castle cocoon! If I have a tip, that may just be it. Keep the Pam in the house! This batter is super thick.

The Cake:

3 Cups All Purpose Flour

Pear Ingredients

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
½ Teaspoon Ground Cloves
½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
¼ Cup Molasses

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

Pear mold

3 Large Eggs
3 Cups Diced Pear

The Glaze:
½ Cup Unsalted Butter, melted
¼ Cup Water or Apple Juice
1 Cup Confectioner Sugar
½ Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350˚. Thoroughly grease a large bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and granulated sugar. Mix in brown sugar, breaking up any clumps. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix in oil, eggs, vanilla extract and molasses. The batter will be quite thick. Fold in the diced pears being careful to not break up the fruit too much.

Cake

Spoon the cake batter into the greased bundt pan and spread the mixture evenly. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a

tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes before inverting on to a plate.

While cake is cooling, prepare glaze. Melt butter and slowly add confectioner sugar and cinnamon. Add apple juice (or water) and mix until combined. Strain the glaze to remove any potential lumps. Slowly pour over the cake while it’s still warm.

We are talking practically a one bowl no beaters or mixers mess of a kind of cake!! I LOVE when that happens. As you can tell, I prefer sprinkles versus a bunch more sugar on my cakes, so the sprinkles work but do feel free to make the glaze. Ice cream would work too…wink wink!

Put on some groovy music, wear your favorite apron, dance, bake, be happy! And if your neighbors can’t hear you, for goodness sake sing! And a special thanks to my tulip tree for the most extraordinary spring flowers! They don’t even look real!

Bon Appétit!

WoW Cake

This sounded really, really good and healthy. Plus, since I have never tried a recipe from Weight Watchers I thought it might be fun. Ridiculously easy….literally ridiculous! Since I have a girls night coming up, and we are all terrified of swim suit season, it would be a safe bet to bring this as my contribution!

I would like to thank Versatilekitchen.blogspot.com for sharing this recipe! The chocolate chips so make this cake! Get your game on with this special treat! ….ridiculously…….ridiculously……….;-)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup AP Flour
3 TBSP Unsweetened natural cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup Mini Chocolate chips
1 tsp Vanilla

Spray a 10 cup bundt pan with vegetable oil spray.

wow ingredients

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are!

Pear Coffee Cake

Wanted to make something special for the Whale watching trip that would be easy, yummy and would travel well. Not to mention I had just made this Sour cream coffee cake recently with apples and walnuts, but I got this one step closer to perfection. This is a simple cake, although it is really dense and its tricky thicky trying to spread this mixture. It comes out great, but when making this it seems like there isn’t enough dough to cover your filling. This time also I put in the flour with the filling, which is why the last one was extremely moist on top. This time however, it was moist and crumbly! And it will feed a group happily if you are on a traveling adventure. Even plenty to share with strangers.

Here’s all you do:

Ingredients:
Filling:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 pear finely chopped

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pears

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream or vanilla yogurt (added an additional 1/3 cup to help spread)

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚, spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray until well coated and sprinkle with flour to coat it.

Add butter and cinnamon to a medium bowl and mix with a fork until combined and crumbly. Mix in walnuts and maple syrup and flour.

Cake Done

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  With an electric mixer (paddle attachment if you have one), beat sugar and butter  until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, add in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream, just until blended. (Again, the mixture was really thick and my guess is I needed more butter….still the cure for everything! ;-)

Spoon half of batter into prepared pan. Spoon maple filling over batter. Spread remaining batter over filling and smooth top.  Bake about  30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Transfer pan to rack and cool 15 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Share with new friends, old friends and stray dogs! Nothing more beautiful than a smile!

Bon Appétit!

Almond Cake

Whomever invented almond paste I will be forever indebted to. Forever. Love the stuff. Just think it is the best thing since sliced bread. I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but I don’t or rather can’t resist a superb almond croissant!! That being said, this recipe was on my list to make and finally had the perfect opportunity to splurge on friends. It was fabulous, easy and you must indulge if you’re a marzipan fan. No Doubt about it.  Here’s all it takes:

Pan

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup sugar

8 ounces of almond paste

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Almond Paste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/8 teaspoon orange flower water

6 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch diameter spring form pan, dust with flour, and tap out any excess. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Wet Ingredients

In a food processor, pulse the sugar, almond paste, and 1/4 cup flour until the almond paste is finely ground and the mixture resembles sand. Add the cubes of butter, the vanilla and almond extracts, and the orange flower water. Process until the batter is smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing a bit before the next addition, scraping down bowl as needed.

Add half of the flour mixture to the food processor bowl and pulse a few times. Transfer the batter to a large mixing bowl and add the remaining half of the flour mixture. Mix by hand until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Do not over mix here (I just left it in the cuisinart and folded mine in for fear of over mixing). Pour batter into prepared spring form pan and bake for 65 minutes, or until the top is deep brown and feels set when you press in the center.

Batter

Remove cake from oven and run a sharp serrated knife around the perimeter, loosening the cake from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool completely in pan; once cool, remove sides of spring form pan and invert cake onto rack. Remove bottom of spring form pan and parchment paper from the cake. Carefully turn cake back over and onto a cake plate for serving.

Although I don’t think the photos give it justice, this cake is super moist and super delicious. Hey, six eggs and two sticks of butter gives you an idea. Really, this is perfect for special guests and can be served with sliced fresh strawberries or ice cream and nutmeg sprinkles. Subtle, yet decadent. Nothing beats almond paste. I thank the Marzipan Gods for creating such a perfect, delicate staple in my pantry!

Baked

One last thing, it tells you to slide a knife around the spring form pan 15 minutes after taking out of the oven, but mine literally shrunk back towards the center and was super easy to take off the outer ring. One thing on the next batch, you place the parchment paper on top of the bottom of the pan, and this needs very little butter or oil. I will try leaving out next time, but it was great to take off of the bottom to finish cooling the cake with out continuing to bake it.

Bon Appétit!

Ginger Tea

I have a favorite dish at Thanksgiving that calls for crystalized ginger.  It’s a bit pricey, and I began to ponder how to make such an item. I googled and found this from Alton Brown. (Ya gotta love that guy)  It sounded really easy so I gave it a shot. Yep, it was easy and one thing that was not mentioned that I did, was when you drain the ginger from the purified boiling water SAVE IT !  You get an amazing result. The ginger “tea” is really potent!  In order to make tea with it you have to water it down! But it is a Zinger of a tea. Another side benefit from making crystalized ginger (noted in his recipe) is the sugar residue left over from crystalization. Perfect for putting in your tea or topping off beautiful muffins or cakes. It’s just lovely. Here’s all you do:

Making Crystalized Ginger

Crystalized Ginger

Nonstick spray

1 pound fresh ginger root

5 cups of purified water

Approximately 1 pound of sugar (mine worked out to be much too much, hence the left over)

Directions

Spray a cooling rack with nonstick spray and set it in a half sheet pan lined with parchment.

Sugaring

Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandoline.  Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender.

Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee.

As I mentioned before my Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie calls for it and it is always a major hit, no matter what season you are in. Now that

Ginger Crystal

I have quite the stash, I will be doing some more experiments with this lovely spice.

Ginger also has some wonderful little medicinal benefits. Great for tummy aches, indigestion, diarrhea and cramping, motion sickness and morning sickness,  Ginger’s anti-inflammatory properties help relieve pain and reduce inflammation associated with arthritis, rheumatism and muscle spasms. Ginger’s also known to effectively stimulate circulation of the blood, removing toxins from the body, cleansing the bowels and kidneys, and nourishing the skin.

Share your favorite ginger recipes or medicinal healings. Happy Spring

Bon Appétit!

Coffee Cake

The great gals at Tastespotting are having a sour cream recipe day so this is what I wanted to throw in the ring. I found this on ….Tastespotting of course, but made a few adjustments. I thought the apple would be a sweet addition and I had one in the house I wanted to bake with so in it went.

I got my idea from Miss in the Kitchen and I have to tell you hers looks way more yummy than mine, but this recipe is super quick. Just get that butter at room temperature and it is a breeze. Perfect for breakfast, tea time or snacking on the go.

Dry Ingredients

Sour Cream Apple and Walnut Coffee Cake

Recipe created for Cooking.com by Lisa Zwirn.

Ingredients:
Filling:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (never mentioned where to use this…….smaller amounts may go in this mixture after incorporating all the other ingredients is my guess)

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

Filling

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 small apple finely chopped

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened ( mine needed more butter….)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream or vanilla yogurt

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚, spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray until well coated.

Add butter and cinnamon to a medium bowl and mix with a fork until combined and crumbly. Mix in walnuts and maple syrup. (If your mixture is too runny this is where you should temper with the flour)

Coffee Cake pan

In a small bowl combine flour,baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  With an electric mixer (paddle attachment if you have one), beat sugar and butter  until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, add in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream, just until blended. (My mixture was really thick and my guess is I needed more butter….isnt’ that the cure for everything! ;-)

Spoon half of batter into prepared pan. Spoon maple filling over batter. Spread remaining batter over filling and smooth top.  Bake about  30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Transfer pan to rack and cool 15 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Serve with some confectioners sugar or vanilla ice cream and a big cup a java!!

Bon Appétit!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Reese’s Peanut Butter cups are one of my favorite indulgences. This week I had to have some but didn’t want to buy candy and knew there were plenty of these kinds of cookie recipes on the web. I found this one and wanted to try it. They looked delicious, but the only thing I will change next time is leave out the cocoa. They were delicious, but I think they burnt a little due to the darkness and I wasn’t sure if they were done enough. That aside, they are yummy. And I ALWAYS use chunky peanut butter. Definitely a chunky PB lover! These are great weekend treats! Pour a big glass of milk or hot cocoa, and put on a good flick. ;-)

These are easy too, not too many ingredients, and you can through these together quickly if you are having unexpected guests.

Here’s all you do:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from  Buns in My Oven

Wet Mixture

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Dry Mixture

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used 2 Tbls, but will leave out next time)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Chips

Preheat oven to 350˚.   Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated. Mix in

the vanilla extract. Scrape the bowl to be sure everything is mixed in there.

In a small bowl combine all of the dry ingredients. Slowly add to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and peanuts.

Drop by large spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.

If you place the cocoa into the mixture, I advise only cooking for about 10 minutes. I love

Dough

the creamy color of peanuts, so I prefer them with out the cocoa but if you need a chocolate theme, maybe add a tad bit more sugar as this recipe doesn’t compensate for the cocoa. Don’t get me wrong, love cocoa, just want to make sure you get the goodness!

Bon Appétit!

Sprout Bread

After growing my first batch of Red Winter Wheat Berry Sprouts, I remembered how yummy that sprout bread at the health food store was. So I decided to experiment. And I have to tell you I had better results than I could have imagined. This bread was so moist and delicious that I could have eaten the entire loaf, while the aroma and warmth still permeated the house. Soft and spongy!

First I must tell you how sweet tasting Wheat Berry Sprouts are. The sweetness is such a surprise and you can also tell these are meant to be eaten for medicinal benefits.  Don’t ask me why I know this, you just know these things. It is hard to find this kind of combination. Sweet medicine I’ll call it. Great for salads, but the bread is heavenly! Here’s all you need.

Healthy Sprout Bread

1 cup milk plus 2 tablespoons

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

Seeds

3 cups bread flour

1 cup red winter wheat berry sprouts

2 1/4 teaspoon yeast

1/2 cup pine nuts

Place milk in a small saucepan and heat to just before boiling. Place milk, salt, oil, honey and flour into your bread machine. Then add your final ingredients. I have noticed that when I heat my milk up, by the time I add the additional ingredients, the milk has cooled but keeps a temperature that allows the sugar and the yeast to better interact with one

Day 1-2

another. I sometimes watch the mixture for the first 15 minutes in the event it might be too wet or too dry and adjust accordingly.

This bread is just superb! There is no other way to describe it. You don’t even need butter on it it’s so moist!! Melts in your mouth. And the milk heating process makes an enormous difference in the height of the bread. Finally making some impressive bread!!

You must try this. Not to mention, growing these sprouts were quick and easy.

Day 2-3

As before, you place them in filtered water, rinse them a few times a day, leave them in the dark, and let them do their own magic.

I must admit, somewhere on the planet I heard that sprouts were good in power shakes, but let me share my humble opinion on that one. Keep them safe beside your salad. These do not belong in a power shake. But, if you feel the need to try to hide them in your food, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

For the healthiest bread around, you are on a winning track!! Sooooo good.

Bon Appétit!

Slice of Life

Been at it again with that bread machine of mine. But for the first time instead of making bread, tried to make some pizza dough with it. The ingredients were as basic as it gets and it’s half the time involved. Step on board and I’ll show you how easy and delicious this kind of pizza making can be. Your toppings are all you have to add with some home made or store bought sauce. Either way, it’s a have it your way kinda day. No, that wasn’t suppose to rhyme. But talk about simple.

PIZZA DOUGH:

1 cup of water plus two tablespoons (I use room temp milk)

Dough

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons powdered milk (I use 1 cup milk in place of water and skip this :)

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Place in bread machine in order of your machine’s instructions. Mine is in the order above. Place on dough cycle, which on mine is 90 minutes long. Pre heat oven to 400˚.

Sauce

It is surprisingly quite springy….no pun from yesterday, but it was very malleable. Gives you visions of being in Italy or New York’s Italian districts where they throw and swing the dough. Like a child riding a bike for the first time without her training wheels, it was not pretty! Had to do it! And it was fun, it is a great way to get the dough stretched! I am going to get better at this part for sure.

After stretching the dough out and moving it into place for about 5 minutes you can then begin your creation.

Place your favorite toppings on after some sauce is spread evenly over dough. I made home made sauce with onions, mushrooms, garlic, etc but if you are short on time there are some good brands on the market you just might want to thicken them up a bit. The sauce can get too runny if it’s not thick enough. A little tomato paste added to your sauce will do the trick if needed.

Pepperoni

There are so many ways to top a pizza that you could write a book about it, but staying on the path of healthy I do love mushrooms, peppers,

onions, olives, any vegetable that you can eat raw so that you are not cooking the vitamins out of it. As you can see by my pizza, my girlfriends Karin and Robin “requested” pepperoni, so I added them as well on the bottom first. Order is important, if you add the meat on top of the veggies (whose size and shapes are all over the map), the meat tends to burn and it’s just bumpy. So, try to place your meat on first. Other than that, pile away and top with your favorite cheeses. Mozzarella is the classic, but goat cheese is also fun in combination with other cheeses.

Once you have completed your masterpiece, place in a 400˚ oven for 20-25 minutes or until all of your cheesy goodness has melted but make sure not to burn.

I placed mine on a bakers  stone with some cornmeal sprinkled down first. My recommendation is to place your pizza dough on the stone before piling on your ingredients. The pizza gets a little heavy to transplant after you have weighed it down so much with all that goodness.

Toppings

When your pizza is done and the cheeses are nicely melted, slide it onto a cutting board and slice away. Best served with a home grown salad of sprouts, carrots and just about anything that didn’t make it onto the pizza. Won’t even tell you what we made for dessert! But you get the idea.

This is a dinner made for the movie “Big Night” and if you have a little Rosemary Clooney music hanging around the house, turn it up!

Ay Mambo! Wore my Napa Apron and threw a whole bunch of flour over my shoulder……just because I can!! Who Ha!

Bon Appétit!

Springtime Salad

Remember growing sprouts as a kid? You remember, in a jar and putting some panty hose over the top of the jar to let them breathe? Yes, it was remembering those healthy sprouts that made me want to start to grow my own again this spring. So simple. Let life do its magic and the health benefits can keep rolling on in. Here’s all it takes:

Day One

Soak your seeds in just enough Filtered water to cover them and keep under a lid.

Day 2-3

Then add water and rinse two to three times a day.

Day 3-4

Remember at this time you are still keeping your seeds moist and in the dark!

Day 5

At about this time your sprouts are almost ready for some sunlight.

Day 7

And at this stage you can put your uncovered sprouts in a sunny window for a day and watch them literally turn green, a real green. Your sprouts are now ready for some fabulous sandwiches and salads.

Here’s my favorite Salad Dressing:

1 cup olive oil

1/8 – 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 Tablespoons Italian Herbs, or fresh if you have them.

Shake Well.

Get ready for a clean bill of health!

Bon Appétit!