Wordless Wednesday

Is it Mojito time yet?

 

What We Ate with links and recipes…

So I posted a teaser the other day of all f the food that we ate over the Memorial Day weekend but right after that my computer developed a virus and it took me until Friday of last week to get everything figured back out.  I was so lucky and ended up not losing anything but some of the files are different and I had to reinstall some things.  Anyway as promised…

Starting from the upper right hand corner and going clock wise and finishing up in the middle:

  Tzatziki sauce – this is typically used with souvlaki and gyros but we used the leftovers all weekend sometimes even as a salad dressing!!!

 Greek Salad – Really simple dressing that is fresh and quick to make.

 Marinated Shrimp Salad – So simple and the best thing is you make it the night before and allow it to marinate all night.  Then just take it with you the day of the party.

Watermelon infused with watermelon Vodka:  Simply take a whole water melon and cut a hole in the skin just large enough for a funnel to fit in.  Do this about 12 hrs before serving.  Fill the funnel with watermelon vodka and allow the watermelon to absorb it.  Keep doing this until the desired amount is in the watermelon.  Chill and slice immediately before serving.  Place a cork in the whole for transporting to the party!

 Pork Souvlaki:  This is the souvlaki recipe that I got from my friend Peter over at Kalofagas.  It is the best I have ever tasted and made by me at home!

Bread – We bought it from our favorite German bakery and brushed it with garlic infused olive oil and grilled it…

 
Michelob Ultra – Yummmmmm!

Summer Berries with berry reduction and whipped cream (recipe to follow in a day or so)

Happy Summer!!!

Finally my computer is back to normal and “healthy” banana bread!

I have had some major issues going on with my computer and the bank for the past week.  My computer was attacked by a virus and then my bank account was compromised so they cancelled my access…been a fun week trying to get everything back to normal but at least my computer is up and working!!! 

Most of you know that I have been trying to eat healthier and lose some pounds that have been steadily creeping up. Well, I am proud to say that I am now down almost 20 lbs from what I was at the beginning of the year!!!  Feeling much better and liking the way that my body feels and looks!  One of the things I have been doing is not baking so much but when I do to substitute some of the fat for apple sauce, bananas or pumpkin puree.  So the other day when I had some oldish bananas I set to work…

Banana, Strawberry and Chocolate Chip Quick Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup banana, mashed (about 2 medium sized bananas)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour (next time I will try 1/2 of it whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup strawberries, hulled and diced
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks (I used semi-sweet but you can use what you like)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F

• In a mixing bowl mix the apple sauce and sugar.
• Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each one.
• Add the banana and the milk.
• In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the wet mixture until just blended.
• Using a spoon mix in the strawberries and chocolate chips
• Pour into a greased 9X5X3 inch loaf pan and bake in your preheated 350 degree over for about 1 hr and 10 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
• cool for 10 minutes in pan then remove to cool completely on a wire rack.

***Based on 16 slices from the loaf of quick bread this is 3 WW Points

What we ate...

Hopefully I will be able to get a full post up soon...wish me luck!

Oh, and that watermelon? Filled with watermelon Vodka!!!

Watermelon and Blueberry Margarita!

To me the Memorial Day weekend marks the official start of summer!  I know, by the calendar we are still weeks away from the official start but I have always been a summer lover and it sure is stinking hot here already.  With all of the thought about summer and the long weekend I started thinking about drinks that I could serve over the weekend and I remembered one that I had made last year but could not for the life of me find the recipe for it again.

Finally success!  It is a Bobby Flay recipe and it is a true summer time drink…beautiful juicy watermelon, ripe plump blueberries and fresh from your garden mint!  How could it get any better?  TEQUILA!!!!

Watermelon and Blueberry Margarita (recipe by Bobby Flay)

This makes enough for about 8 drinks…

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup water
2. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3. 8 cups diced seedless watermelon (1 pound)
4. 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
5. 1 3/4 cups blueberries
6. 3/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, plus 8 sprigs for garnish
7. 1 1/4 cups silver tequila
8. Ice

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a simmer with the sugar and stir over moderate heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute; let the sugar syrup cool.
2. In a blender, puree the watermelon until smooth. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and strain the watermelon juice, pressing gently on the solids to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the pulp.
3. In a large pitcher, combine the sugar syrup with the lime juice, blueberries and mint leaves. Using a wooden spoon, lightly muddle the blueberries and mint. Add the watermelon juice and tequila. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
4. Pour the cocktail into tall ice-filled glasses. Garnish with the mint sprigs and serve.

Really fast Tilapia in Parchment…

Okay, I could have gotten really fancy there and told you that I made Tilapia en Papilotte, which I did but I really want you to try this and figure this title might not intimidate you and you could see how truly easy this recipe is!

I am submitting this recipe to Marye at The Restless Chipotle who is helping to change the way people think about fast food.  It DOES NOT need to come from a box to be fast food!  To see what she is trying to do and to check out all of the the wonderful entries from her last round of Real Food….. Real Quick up head to her site!

In total I think this took me about 5 minutes to pull together and that included going outside and cutting the herbs for it.

Tilapia in Parchment adapted from and inspired by Heart homecooked

4 Tilapia fillets
4 sprigs each of thyme, oregano (1 sprig of each for each pouch)
1/4 cup packed basil leaves, thinly sliced
8 slices of thinly sliced lemon, 2 for each pouch
4 tsp of butter, 1 tsp for each pouch
coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Wash fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper.
• Place fillets on top of cut parchment paper (ehow.com and latimes.com have excellent "en papillote" step by step instructions) and top with butter, lemon wheel and herbs. Seal the pouch and cook for 10 minutes.

***you can skip the butter if you are watching your weight.  I added about 1 tsp of olive oil to mine instead of the butter and it is a 4 Point recipe based on a 6 oz. piece of fish.

 

Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Syrup

So I woke up bright and early this morning as seems to be my M.O. lately and pulled some bacon out of the freezer.  My thought was that I would make breakfast sandwiches when everyone woke up.  This was one of those lazy Sunday mornings that I NEVER seem to get and I was just planning on enjoying it.  The girl’s woke up and crawled into bed with us (I was reading and Tony was still sleeping).  Dogs climbed in and it got way too crowded for me so I got up to tackle breakfast…

That’s when the plans all changed.  I wanted something fresh and light.  After the requisite 5 minutes of standing in front of my fridge wondering what to do (I know you do it too…), my plan came to me!

Light and Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Strawberry Syrup (adapted recipe from the kitchn)

Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes
makes 8

1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid. We used fresh ricotta from Whole Foods that was pretty dry. If you are using a commercial brand that's runny, you may want to drain it longer (or make your own).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.

Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with butter. Use a ladle or measuring scoop (we used a 1/3 cup measure) to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.

Changes I made: 

Less sugar. I was making syrup and strawberries for these so I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 tsp.

Did not brush the griddle with butter.  I cooked them without any oil or fat and they turned out beautifully.

For the topping all I did was slice up some strawberries and add some sugar to them and let them sit.  How much sugar?  Not sure so just do it to taste (if you want them sweeter add more…).

The syrup I “made” was just a jar of Smucker’s Simply Fruit Seedless Strawberry micro waved for about 40 seconds until it was a syrup like consistency!

***The pancakes on their own are 6 Weight Watchers points add your topping to it and total it out for a total point value.

You may have noticed that it’s been a long while since I last posted.  I am really working hard to change this!  I spent an incredibly busy month doing things for BMX.  We travelled one weekend out of the past month but had another weekend of clinics and then the State Championship in which Kyra is now ranked 8th for 9 year old rookies in the state of FL.  I was just totally uninspired in my cooking through all of this and really didn’t think you would want to see the sandwiches that we were sometimes forced to eat for dinner!  Hopefully I am now back and feeling the inspiration!