apple avocado salsa

Last post for tonight.  This is a salsa I had when we were eating at a friend's house.  I loved it so I got the recipe.  It was so good - spicy from the jalapeno, but sweet from the apples.  Wonderful combination of flavors.  I think I could eat it as a lunch "salad."  Ha ha!

Ingredients

• 2 unpeeled apples, cored and diced (she had used some type of green apple)
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lime/lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
• 1 teaspoon finely minced chopped jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, (about 1 clove)
• dash pepper
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained.

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredient together.
2. Serve with chips.

chia jam

This is probably my favorite way to use chia so far.  But truth be told I haven't experimented much, and most of what I did was before the holidays hit, and before DH started traveling a lot.  I do remember this jam, and made it more than once.  So simple, so tasty, and so healthy.  YUM!  Oh, and I forgot to mention super quick - no slaving over the stove.  You can realistically make a batch at a time when you need it.  Again, thanks to my friend Amoreena who fiddled with this recipe and came up with correct proportions.  This is her favorite combination for strawberries.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup strawberry puree -I just thawed some frozen strawberries and pureed them in my blender or food processor, or with my immersion blender - can't remember which.
• 1/4 cup chia seed
• 2 Tablespoons agave

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a pint size jar (or other container)  
2. Let set until thickened.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze.

Can it possibly get any easier?

You can use any fruit and/or sweeteners, but you need to adjust amounts to suit your tastes.  Strawberry is nice and sweet so it doesn't require much added sweetness.  

Love this on waffles, toast, pancakes, french toast, rolls, bread...

Apple wheat pancakes

I have been wanting to make up a pancake recipe lately using apples and applesauce, and I was checking out Jamie cooks it up when guess what I saw?  Exactly what I was looking for.  We had a few mishaps with these pancakes.  First of all, the first batch looked good, but I was smelling something strange, and smelled the applesauce and it smelled a bit fermented, so out went that batter.  So, we made a second batch with DH and myself dumping in ingredients and he decided to dump in 1 cup of sugar instead of the Tablespoon or 2 they called for.  They got out and I tried a bite and said, wow, these are really sweet - I think he must have confused the cup from the syrup that went with them.  Anyway, we has some seriously sweet pancakes.
We also had some difficulty with the sauce.  DH swears it is because I just tossed everything in the pan and didn't brown the butter, but we've made a similar syrup with buttermilk and I just tossed everything in and it was fine, but it called for a lot less liquid.  This was super runny, so we ended up adding double the sugar.  We also added some vanilla because I thought it would be tasty.
I also made multiple modifications on the pancake recipe, plus my modificaitons on the sauce.  Here is what we did today.  It was super tasty, but I won't make these again with that much sugar in the batter.  I'll probably click on the Jamie cooks it up link and try her syrup following directions next time, but I'm also making the note that my buttermilk recipe is 1/2 cup liquid.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup skim milk
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 apple, finely diced
• 2 Tablespoons sugar (we used 1 cup, but I wouldn't recommend it.)
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 1/4 cup wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Beat all ingredients except apples until smooth.  Stir in apples.  If batter is too thin add a bit more flour, if too thick, add more milk - I added more flour, but put that in the recipe.
2. Heat skillet and spray with cooking spray.  Pour batter in 1/4 cup increments and cook until top stops bubbling.  Flip and cook until done.

Butter sauce

• 1/2 can evaporated milk
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• 2 cups sugar (I may have been a bit shy of 2 cups, but it was at least 1 and 7/8 - probably 2)
• 1 Tablespoon corn syrup 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Mix ingredients in a saucepan and cook until boiling.  Boil until thickened.

buttermilk waffles with buttermilk syrup

I found this recipe on Recipe shoebox.  I decided to try it because I needed to use some buttermilk.  I doubled the recipe, but that seemed like so much butter that I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 applesauce.  I also almost always beat my egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them in, but resisted here, and the waffles still ended up fluffy.  I did however think they were actually a bit eggy.  I used 1/2 egg (4 eggs) and 1/2 egg substitute (had some of that to use as well.)   I liked the pecans in the waffle, but not particularly the waffle.  I'd love to try putting pecans in my favorite waffle recipe -tender sour cream waffles.  Yum.
My final comment is that these were really good with the buttermilk syrup.  That is a 5 star.  Loved it.  The waffles were good with the syrup, but I didn't like them very much with regular maple syrup or plain.

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour (I think I used 1/2 wheat)
• 2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 eggs (I used 4 eggs and 1/2 cup egg substitute)
• 4 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• chopped pecans

Directions

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, beat eggs until light.  Add buttermilk, and applesauce; mix well.  Add dry ingredients and beat until batter is smooth.  Stir in butter.  
2. Cook in waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions, sprinkling with pecans just before closing the lid.  In my waffle iron, that is 2 cups batter, and it beeps when it is ready.  

Buttermilk syrup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 Tablespoon light Karo syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional - I did not use this)

Directions

1. Combine butter, sugar, buttermilk, and Karo syrup in a large saucepan and stir over medium heat until bubbling evenly.   Let cook for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla (and cinnamon if using.)  Stir until blended.

Chicken salad wraps and poppyseed dressing

This is a recipe I found over at Realmom kitchen a bit ago, and stuck it on my things I want to try page.  I planned to make it with pre-cooked chicken that I always keep in the freezer, but unfortunately, I was out and didn't know it. The only thing I had was some that had gotten forgotten on the grill and overcooked.  It was so dry that we shredded it.  Well, that is what got used today.  The recipe was actually good enough that it was still tasty even with the super dry chicken.  Of course, Tavio hated it.  Apparently he now dislikes mayo, sour cream, and cream cheese.  (Oh, but he loves cheese cake and eats lots of things with cream cheese with no complaints - go figure.)  The recipe calls for these to be rolled tightly, wrapped in plastic wrap and stuck in the fridge - we didn't do this part.  We didn't want to wait that long for lunch.  :).  They sere still delicious.  We did use some smaller bake at home tortillas which did make it a bit harder to roll.  I would definitely recommend the larger size tortillas.  

I also refused to buy a bottle of poppyseed dressing at the store.  There were very few ingredients and lots of fat grams, so I found a recipe on allrecipes.com to try and made that subbing 1/2 of the oil with water.  It was still delicious.  :)

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 4 medium green onions, chopped (3 Tablespoons)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped walnuts (we used somewhere in between)
• 1 cup creamy poppy seed dressing (I used the recipe below)
• 1 8 oz. container cream cheese spread (I used reduced fat
• 8 10 inch flour tortillas (we used 12 6 inch plus finished off the salad with wheat thins)
• Leaf lettuce (we used green leaf)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups finely chopped strawberries

Directions

1. Mix chicken, onions and walnuts in food processor bowl.  Cover and process by using quick on and off motions until finely chopped.  Add 1/3 cup poppy seed dressing; process only until mixed.  (I had already shredded chicken, so I just processed away.  it was also dry so I added an additional 1/3 cup dressing to the mix at this time as well.)
2. Mix remaining dressing (for me only 1/3 cup) and the cream cheese spread in a small bowl with a spoon unitl smooth.  Add chicken mixture and combine unitl well mixed.  
3. Spread chicken mixture evenly over the surface of tortillas leaving top inch of the tortilla uncovered.
4. Press lettuce on top of the chicken.  Sprinkle strawberries over chicken.
5. Firmly roll up tortillas, beginning at the bottom and rolling toward the 1 inch tortilla that is uncovered.  As you roll chicken mixture will cover the rest of the tortilla and seal it.
6. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.  cut in half on a diagonal and serve.

Poppy seed Dressing

adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup splenda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon diced onion
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions

1. I think you could probably just blend everything but the poppy seeds in the blender, then stir in the poppy seeds.    I actually blended everything but the water, oil and poppy seeds, then added the oil, let it get nice and white and creamy then added the water, blended for just a second then stirred in the poppy seeds.

Fettuccine alfredo with chicken

I found this recipe a few years ago in a food Kraft food and family magazine.  I am not a fan of fettuccine alfredo, never have been, but I liked this version.  I actually remember using this recipe as a base for another recipe that called for a jar of alfredo sauce.  Today it seemed a little lacking in Parmesan flavor (can't believe I'm the one writing that, but it is true.)  I'm thinking it is because I used the shredded Parmesan and not the Grated powdery stuff.  I should have added more.  Still going to rate it highly because I know when I made it in the past with the right type of Parmesan, it was wonderful.  Oh, did I mention it is lighter than most alfredo sauces as well?  Extra added bonus.  Here is my adaptation..

Ingredients 

• 1 lb fettuccini, uncooked
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips (I used pre-cooked)
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 3 Tablespoons flour 
• 1 8 oz package Neufchatel cheese, cubed  (Next time I think I just add this softened and kind of stirred up a bit.  I had problems when it was added to the sauce with it being lumpy and not wanting to mix with the chicken broth.)
• 6 Tablespoons (3/8 cup) grated parmesan cheese, divided (If using shredded, definitely add more.)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions
2. Meanwhile, cook chicken in a skillet sprayed with cooking spray (Unless using pre-cooked like we did.)  Remove from skillet.  Mix broth and flour in same skillet.  Stir in Neufchatel cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan (probably 1/2 cup of the shredded stuff) garlic powder and pepper.  Cook 2 minutes stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens.  Stir in chicken.
3. Drain pasta.  Add to skillet full of sauce.  Stir to coat.  Serve with the remaining Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  (Can also add parsley.)

I served this with a quick Caesar salad that I made with chopped lettuce, tomato, sliced olives, croutons, parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing.  Yum!

Soutwest pretzels and queso

So we ate our pot roast early then needed something for a lighter dinner and this is what I came up with. The pretzel recipe is from Taste of Home's Simple and delicious magazine, and I found the queso recipe on Taste of Home's website. I thought it was wonderful. I did cut out the cayenne pepper and doubled the cumin afraid that the pretzels would be too spicy for the kids, but they weren't spicy at all that way. I think next time I will try them with the cayenne so I'm including it on the recipe here with what I did in parenthesis. For the queso I did half of what the original recipe called for, changed the amounts of the types of cheeses... so I'm writing that out exactly as I did it. It was the perfect amount of queso and pretzels for our family, but some of the kids didn't like the queso. I thought the queso was very sticky for a dipping queso, but I loved the flavor. I kept it warm in a mini crock pot and just served a spoonful at a time and that worked for us.


Pretzels
Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 pkg (1/4 oz.) quick rise yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin (I used 1/2 today)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I omitted this today)
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (120-130 -mine was 118)
• 1 egg, beaten
• coarse salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, minced onion and spices. Add water. Beat just until moistened. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (I used all 2 cups)
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes (I just left it in my mixer with the dough hook.) Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 16 equal parts. (I made a circle and cut it in pie shapes. I liked that because it seemed to make rolling it out nice and easy.) Roll each portion into a 15-in. rope. (I used parchment paper as a guide. It is 15 inches.) Cover and let rest 10 minutes longer.
3. Twist into pretzel shapes. Place on greased baking sheets (I just put it on parchment.) Brush with egg. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Brush again with egg; sprinkle with coarse salt. (I found that I had to brush them individually then salt them. When I brushed them all and went to salt them, the salt didn't stick because the egg dried to fast on the warm pretzels.) Bake 10-13 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Serve pretzels warm with dip.

Queso
Ingredients

• 3/4 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 4 oz. can (2 ounces) chopped green chilies
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

In a saucepan, saute onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add chilies; cook and stir for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Gradually add small amounts of cheeses and milk; stir until melted after each addition. Serve warm.

Cinnamon French Toast sticks with spicy cider syrup

This is my favorite french toast recipe. It comes from a Gold Medal recipe magazine/book I picked up ages ago. I had thought it was one of my betty crocker or pillsbury ones until I looked today. It is one of my favorites for breakfast. Mine is totally dilapidated. I only thought to get it out because in Trent's weekly e-mail to mom, he asked for a french toast recipe. I was happy, because this was a great breakfast. I ran completely out of regular flour while making the first batch, so the syrup and second batch were made with wheat flour that I had ground. They were still just as tasty, although I think the syrup usually thickens a bit more. I have to remember next time I make this to double it the first time though. Today I added more cinnamon to the syrup and less nutmeg and I liked that lots better than the way I usually make it.


French toast Ingredients (double for a family)

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 10 slices sandwich bread, cut into thirds (I only used about 8)

Directions

1. Heat griddle to 375. Grease with cooking spray.
   
2. Beat all ingredients except bread until smooth. Dip bread sticks into batter; Drain excess batter back into bowl (I don't do this - probably why I only used 8 slices of bread.)
3. Place bread sticks on griddle. Cook about 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
   
4. Serve with syrup

Spicy cider syrup Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 1/2 today and liked it better.)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I used 1/2 of the 1/4 so 1/8 today and liked it better.)
• 2 cups apple cider
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (that was less that the 1 large lemon I squeezed)
  
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine (Oops I forgot this today -I was in a hurry trying to get this done before Tavio had to go to school. I usually put it in but I didn't miss it.)

Directions

1. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg ina 2 quart saucepan. Sir in cider and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. (I didn't stir constantly today I was making the french toast - I stirred occasionally and it was fine.) Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter.
   

cheese sauce

This is the cheese sauce I used for the broccoli tonight. It is from the food nanny book, but is just your basic everyday cheese sauce. Very similar to what we make for tuna biscuit ring only on a smaller scale and minus the dry mustard.


Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded medium cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Blend in the flour, salt and pepper. When the mixture is bubbly, quickly add the milk. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and bubbles.
2. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until smooth.
   

Egg nog french toast

I saw this on Real mom kitchen. But she got it from Recipe Girl. I love French toast, so we tried it for breakfast today. Yum!
I also really like that it was super simple. The egg nog is thick, and already has some spice in it so there wasn't a lot to add to make a good French toast. The egg nog "fat sauce" as we called it was a tasty bonus.

Eggnog French Toast

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup store-bought egg nog
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ¼ tsp. cinnamon + ¼ tsp. nutmeg)
• 12 slices bread
• butter

1. Whisk together eggs, eggnog, vanilla and spices.

2. Preheat griddle. Dip bread in egg mixture, allowing it to soak in slightly. Butter the hot griddle and place soaked bread on griddle. Cook on each side until golden brown. Serve with butter and powdered sugar and/or regular syrup or my favorite eggnog syrup.

Servings: 6 (But I made a second batch for my family. I did end up with 1/2 a batch left over, but I'm sure no one will have trouble helping me use them up.)

Eggnog Syrup

• ½ Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• ¾ Cup store-bought eggnog

1. Melt butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. Mix in sugar until well combined, then mix in the eggnog and bring heat up to medium-high heat.
3. Wisk continually until mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat.
4. Serve warm over french toast and ENJOY!

Whole grain waffles with blueberry sauce

I love the combination of these 2 recipes. Both recipes come from allrecipes.com. (waffles, blueberry sauce) Yum. The waffles flavor was way better than I expected for a whole grain waffle. What I really liked about them was their texture - nice and crispy on the outside, nice and soft on the inside. (even the one I burned was soft on the inside - that's amazing.) I can't say enough good things about the sauce. It was amazing. I did sub out 1/4 cup of the sugar for splenda with no problems the first time I made it, but have also made it with all sugar.

Whole grain waffles

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups skim milk (I use 2 %)
  
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until batter is smooth.
2. Preheat a waffle iron, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.

Blueberry Sauce

• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.
2. In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.

Mini German Pancakes and triple berry sauce

Update 8/11/11
I made this again yesterday, but this time instead of berries I used peaches that I had chopped and frozen.  I also added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the syrup.  I was trying to semi recreate peach puff pancake.  This wasn't as good as peach puff, but it was still quite yummy, and lots healthier, so I recommend experimenting with different fruits in the sauce.  Also, I thought of adding almond extract to the batter and maybe omitting the  orange zest.  I had oranges this time so I didn't, but I figure I'd better write myself this note to try for next time.)

Here is a fun recipe I made for breakfast yesterday. It was such a hit that I ended up making a second batch. I found this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen. She found it somewhere else, but I made it using her triple berry sauce, so I'm putting her link. Hers turned out way cuter than mine. I'll include my pictures so you can see, but click the above link if you want to see some really pretty ones.

Mini German Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Blend first six ingredients (milk through orange zest) in a blender. Be careful to see that any flour clumps get well-blended.
2. Blend in butter a little at a time in order to temper the eggs.
3. Grease muffin tins well and distribute batter evenly between 18-24 tins. Bake for 15 minutes, or until puffy and golden on top.
4. Served with your favorite toppings. (We topped them with triple berry sauce from Real Mom kitchen)

Triple Berry Sauce

4 cups frozen berries
1 cup water
1/2 cup Xagave, agave or honey
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Put berries and Xagave in sauce pan and bring to boil. (If using honey had have to water at this point.) Reduce heat to simmer. Mix cornstarch with water and stir until lumps are gone. Pour cornstarch mixture into berry mixture while stirring slowly. Stir until thickens (about 1 to 2 minutes) and begins to bubble.

I actually had some agave nectar that I had bought for some other recipe. I was actually excited to try it in something. I was surprised at how nice it turned out, and how nice it tasted.


Here are some pictures. The first batch I followed Real Mom's suggestion and used a 1/4 measuring cup. That only got me 14 pancakes. They looked like popovers coming out of the oven. and didn't flatten into cute little bowls, but did end up looking cute enough when filled.
Tavio insisted he was still starving so I made a second batch. This time I filled the tins closer to 1/2 full (to make a total of 18 like Real Mom had) and sprayed the tins with Baker's Joy which is supposed to be grease and flour. I ended up with the last 3 puffing like I figure all of them were suppose to. The ones that puffed came out of the pan quite nicely. The ones that didn't still stuck. In this batch, the ones that didn't puff as cutely did have a lovely cave on the bottom side of the pancake. I turned them over and filled them from the bottom.