Strawberry Blossoms

Mine aren't that pretty, but they were really yummy and I nice little decoration for a dinner plate or a great finger food. You could also just make the filling and use it as a dip to dip the strawberries in. There are some beautiful strawberries out there right now.


Strawberry Blossoms

12 large, fresh strawberries, washed

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon sour cream

fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Remove stems from strawberries to form a flat base. Place berries on cutting surface, pointed end facing up. With a sharp knife, carefully slice each berry in half vertically to within a 1/4 inch of base. Cut each half into three wedges to form 6 petals. (Don\'t slice through the base.) Pull petals apart slightly.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and sour cream; beat until light and fluffy. With a pastry bag and star tip or small spoon, fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture.

Notes & Options:

A plastic zipper sandwich bag can be used instead of a pastry bag by filling with cream cheese mixture and squeezing out excess air before sealing. Carefully cut one corner off of the bottom of the bag and squeeze mixture out through the cut.

For added sweetness, you can use strawberry flavored cream cheese instead of plain.

Healthy A to Z Pasta Salad

I made this recipe for Easter dinner. I whipped it up in about a half hour and it has everything from asparagus to zucchini, that's why it's called A to Z pasta :). There's also some tomatoes in there and yellow peppers. Next time, I want to add in some mushrooms in there because mushrooms make everything better in my opinion. The pasta I used was from World Market and it is the cutest Easter pasta with egg shapes, and chicks and bunnies. It was a fun dish and I felt good about eating it.

A to Z Pasta Salad

1 large chicken breast or 2 medium chicken breasts
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 clove garlic, slightly crushed
1 pound penne or other chunky pasta
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends removed and sliced into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 yellow or red pepper, chopped
8 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, halved if large
2-3 tablespoons fresh herbs of choice (I used basil, oregano, and parsley)
          and any other veggies you want
your favorite fat-free Italian salad dressing, to taste
salt and fresh pepper, to taste
optional: sliced black olives, added just before serving

Cut the chicken little cubes. Mix up a marinade of the soy sauce, cider vinegar, water, and garlic. Put the chicken into a bowl or zip-lock plastic bag and pour the marinade over it. Allow it to marinate for at least an hour, up to overnight, turning or stirring the chicken once in a while to make sure it all gets covered.
Remove the chicken from the marinade (discarding the marinade and garlic) and place it on a heated oiled skillet. Cook until done. Place the chicken in a large serving bowl and toss with a little Italian dressing.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. (Add a small amount of salt, if you want.) Once it boils, drop the asparagus and zucchini pieces into it and blanch for exactly 1 1/2 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon into a bowl filled with cold water. Once they have cooled, add them to the chicken.
Use the same pot of boiling water to cook the pasta according to package directions. Once it reaches the al dente stage, drain it in a colander and rinse it with cold water. (Be careful not to overcook; you want it to still have some “bite” to it so that it won’t fall apart in the salad.) Drain it well and add it to the tofu and vegetables. Add the yellow or red pepper, tomatoes, and herbs and toss with enough salad dressing to coat but not drown the pasta. Add salt and fresh pepper to taste, and serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes enough for a crowd!

Healthy Chinese Chicken Salad Cups

There were a lot more of these, but there were only two left that I could take pictures of. These are so cute! They are a little smaller than a muffin in real life. I'm excited about this new recipe!

These were so amazing and a definite keeper. They are so cute and easy to eat. They are packed with wonderful flavor and it is defiantly an added bonus that they are healthy! There is no guilt about eating these. I was thinking that this would be the perfect appetizer to serve at wedding receptions or any type of shower. I actually got this recipe from watching the Today show a few weeks ago and they have constantly been on my mind to make. It's a recipe from Candice Kumai who was on Top Chef. You should try them, you will love it!

(With the red cabbage, it was really expensive at the grocery store I went to, so I just bought a salad mix bag and picked out the red cabbage from that and it was the perfect amount for how much I was making, and it was a lot cheaper that way.)

Chinese Chicken Salad Cups

Servings: 48 cups (I fourthed this recipe and it was the perfect amount for Adam and I for two meals eating it as our side.)

For dressing

1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons dark sesame oil (I used regular sesame seed oil)

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

For salad

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 ounces)

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

48 wonton wrappers

Dark sesame oil (I just used sesame seed oil)

1 1/2 cups chopped Napa cabbage

1 1/2 cups finely chopped red cabbage

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup Asian almonds (optional)

To make the dressing: Place the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat and toast, shaking the pan often, until they're fragrant and golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer the sesame seeds to a medium bowl. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger and whisk to combine. Add the peanut butter and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside.

To make the salad: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Heat a ridged cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Lightly coat with cooking spray. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and grill until both sides have grill marks and the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside until cool.

Press 1 wonton wrapper into each cup of a 24-cup nonstick mini muffin pan (the ends will peek up above the cups). Brush with a little sesame oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes before gently lifting the wonton cups out of the pan. Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers, sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Chop the chicken into 1/2-inch cubes. Place them in a large bowl and add the cabbages, carrot, scallions and cilantro. Toss with three-fourths of the dressing. Fill each wonton cup with 1 heaping tablespoon of salad and top with the Asian almonds and extra cilantro. Serve immediately with the remaining dressing on the side.

Note: When you make salad, be light with the dressing. Save a little to serve on the side — this keeps things light and lets your friends do up their salads with as much or as little dressing as they like. The salad and wonton cups can be made a few hours ahead of time, just hold back on filling the wonton cups until right before serving so they stay nice and crisp.

Sweet Potato Fries

I made these for lunch today and I kind of burned them, so watch out when you bake them. I had it with some yummy fry sauce I made myself.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 sweet potatoes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar (I added more)
salt
pepper
cumin (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. I should have done it a little lower, it just depends on how hot your oven gets. Cut potatoes into fry size pieces or into wedges. Place on cookie sheet and pour olive oil over it and toss around to cover all the fry pieces. Then add brown sugar, salt, pepper, and a little cumin if you would like and mix is around so it covers the fries as well. Make sure there is only a single layer of fries and they aren't piled up on top of each other. Bake for about 10 minutes (make sure to watch!). Then take out and flip the fries over and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. If they are bigger pieces, they will need to go longer, if they are smaller they will need to go shorter.

Dip in ketchup or fry sauce!

Fry sauce

3 tablespoons mayonaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tsp pickle relish (optional)

Mix all ingredients together

Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Salad

1 bag American Blend Dole Salad

4-5 slices Red Onion

4-6 Black Olives

2-4 Pepperochini if you like a sweet pepper you could use a Banana Pepper

1/2 C. Croutons

1 small Tomato Quartered

Parmesan Cheese

Chill one salad bowl in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Place bag of salad in bowl. Place on top of lettuce but red onion, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top.

Dressing

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons Miracle Whip

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

Put everything in a blender with 1-2 tablespoons of water and blend together. 

Eat with:

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

Makes a great soup and salad mix with bread sticks!

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Adam and I went to Utah last weekend and stayed with my Grandma Johnson. She made something like this and it was way yummy. She didn't give me an exact recipe, but I think it was like the one below. 

Fruit Salsa

10 servings

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 apples - peeled, cored

and diced

raspberries

strawberries, sliced

grapes, cut in half

(And any other fruit you may want in it)

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Cinnamon Chips

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, and brown sugar. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Spread butter on each side of each flour tortilla. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. I would spray the cookie sheet with baking spray just in case.

Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Snickers Salad

Snickers Salad

4 green apples
3 Snickers Candy Bar (or more!)
2 Cool Whip
1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt (I have seen it with strawberry yogurt too)

Fold yogurt into Cool Whip. Cut apples and snickers into bite size pieces.  Set some apple pieces and snicker pieces aside to sprinkle on top at the end. Fold remaining pieces into creamy mixture. Sprinkle the extra apple and snickers pieces on top so that it looks nice. Let it sit in the fridge for a while.

Bajio's Sweet Rice

Bajio Sweet Rice

1/2-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 of a white onion, chopped (add more or less to your taste)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1 1/3 cups white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup white sugar

Put a little oil in bottom of pan (maybe about 1/2-1 tablespoon).
Saute chopped onion until translucent. Add the chopped cilantro (no big stems) and saute a minute more.
Add the rice, cooking until it is light brown (being careful not to burn).
Combine the chicken broth and sugar, letting sugar dissolve. Then stir into rice until combined. Bring to a boil.
Cover and let cook on low, med-low until rice is done, about 25-30 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Chef Rick Bayless

Adam and I played games with a few other couples last weekend and they had this amazing salsa there. My friend told me she got the recipe on this guy Rick Bayless's site and how he has some great Mexican recipes. Apparently he lived in Mexico for a while and studied their food and came up with authentic Mexican recipes. I'm excited to try out something he has come up with, but you should check this site out if you love Mexican food as much as I do.

Website:
www.rickbayless.com

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This was kind of our dessert for last night and it seemed like a romantic little snack that we could enjoy. I just found a simple, basic recipe for it and it really was yummy. But you can never go wrong with chocolate covered strawberries!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 ounces white chocolate, chopped
About 20 strawberries with stems

Put the semisweet and white chocolates into 2 separate heatproof medium bowls. Fill 2 medium saucepans with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat; set the bowls of chocolate over the water to melt. Stir until smooth. (Alternatively, melt the chocolates in a microwave at half power, for 1 minute, stir and then heat for another minute or until melted.)

Once the chocolates are melted and smooth, remove from the heat. Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper. Holding the strawberry by the stem, dip the fruit into the dark chocolate, lift and twist slightly, letting any excess chocolate fall back into the bowl. Set strawberries on the parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the strawberries. Dip a fork in the white chocolate and drizzle the white chocolate over the dipped strawberries.

Set the strawberries aside until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

(I put the strawberries in the fridge)

I got this recipe from the Food Network

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

I have made this recipe a few times now and I love it everytime. It's not as wonderful as the real Olive Garden Bread Sticks but it's close! I made and Italian dinner for Adam and I last night for Valentines day and this recipe went perfect with our manicotti and salad. Mine don't look as good as the picture, but I think that's due to my average baking skills.

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

Makes 12 to 13 bread sticks
(We halfed the recipe and it made about 4 breadsticks, so maybe I make the breadsticks too big...)

2 tablespoons gradulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water
16 ounces bread flour (3 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

On Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (we don't have garlic salt, so we sprinkled it with garlic powder instead and then we grinded some rock salt on it.)

1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, or until it becomes foamy on top.

2. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to mix the softened butter into the flour. If you don't have a stand mixer, use a mixing spoon. When the yeast mixture is foamy, pour it into the flour mixture and use a dough hook on your mixture to combine the ingredients and then knead the dough in a covered container and let it sit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it doubles in size.

3. When the dough has doubled, measure out 2-ounce portions and roll the dough between your hands or on a countertop to form sticks that are 7 inches long. Place the dough on parchement paper-lined baking sheets, cover, set aside for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size again.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

5. Bake the bread sticks for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. When the bread sticks come out of the oven, immediately brush each one with melted butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt.
(The first time I baked these, I baked them in the oven with the parchment paper and my whole kitchen began to smoke. So I just put the breadsticks on a baking sheet that I spray with cooking oil and that seems to work our fine. Maybe you'll have better luck with the parchment paper than I did.)

I got this wonderful recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. Great recipe book!

Eat with:
Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup
Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Naan Bread

I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com. I love that website because it includes the ratings others give the recipe and it also includes the nutritional facts. Anyway, this is the best naan bread I have had outside of an Indian restaurant and it was so easy. It goes great with any type of curry dish. We cut this recipe in half and it feeds Adam and I about perfectly.

Naan Bread

Servings: 14

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1/4 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt

4 1/2 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.

4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Outback's Bushman Bread

This is a sweet, moist bread that goes great with any stake or Outback style meal. When Adam and I had it, we had it with mashed sweet potatoes and tri tip. It was way easy and I had all of the ingredients in my cupboard already. The only thing that was hard was letting it rise! That was it! And that wasn't necessarily hard, I just didn't like waiting because the dough tasted excellent. When I did this recipe, it only made four small loaves but that was perfect for us. And I also didn't add the instant coffee. This one is a keeper.

Outback's Bushman Bread

1 1/2 cup water - warmed (you may also try 1 cup of water, and a half cup of evaporated milk for a richer taste)
2 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup of honey
2 cups of bread flour
2 cups of wheat flour
1 tablespoon of cocoa
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of instant coffee (Not needed)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
1 teaspoon of caramel color -- optional
3 tablespoons of cornmeal -- for dusting

Add the yeast to the warm water and let sit until foamy. (About 5 minutes). Mix all the ingredients together inside of your bread machine on the "dough" setting. (I just mixed it together with a spoon in a bowl.) All the ingredients should create fairly sticky dough but this is normal. Unless the dough is unusually wet don't add more flour. After the bread machine cycle is over let it rise for 1 1/2 hours. Then take it out and punch down. You can divide it into 8 small cylindrical shaped portions or 6 ape sized loaves, either way, make them about 2-3 inches wide. Then sprinkle those bad boys with some cornmeal and bake them at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I got this recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.