A couple of Fresh Veggie Recipes ^_^

I have been meaning to get on the blog here and share these recipes with you for a few weeks now. Since I finally got here to post the giveaway, I thought I would share these real quickly as well. Both of them are easy to make and delicious, which makes them a winner in our house! And since we have been trying to eat more yummy veggies, they fit right into our new meal plan.

Although we don't usually ever eat them together in the same meal.

If you aren't already, I encourage you to eat organic veggies: they are so much better for you and taste far better in my opinion, too. Buying local is the best, whenever possible. I am learning to incorporate more local veggies when I can. Among other things, it ensures the freshness and supports your neighbor's businesses. :)
First one: Chicken Salad in a Pita!  Since it's the only pita I really make, it's known simply as "pitas" around here. As in, "It's pita night." I have had this recipe in my box since I was a teenager, but didn't make it until about 5 years ago. It is so refreshing! Nice for lunch or light dinner, especially on these warm days we've been having:

1 cup your favorite salad lettuce

1 cup alfalfa sprouts or pea shoots 

1 cup tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped (or shredded)

1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped

1/4 cup of mayo (or your favorite salad dressing might work nicely)

pita pockets

1 chicken breast, cooked and chopped

As you can see, the most time consuming part of this recipe is all the chopping. If you have a super-duper chopper thingy, it would probably go pretty quickly. But I do it all the old fashioned way, so I try to save time by cooking the chicken while I am chopping all the veggies.

DIRECTIONS are pretty straightforward: just toss it all in a bowl and stuff the pitas with the salad. I highly recommend warming the pita pockets, it makes it sooo yummy when the cool salad is stuffed in the nice warm, chewy pita bread. I usually wrap 3 pitas in a towel and put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Nom nom!

The chicken definitely adds a lot of flavor, but I would say it is optional because I really feel that this could possibly stand alone as a vegetarian dish. Another option: when I made it for a vegetarian guest one night, I just added a little bit of tofu "chikin" and they said it was most acceptable.

Fun to play with this one. You can add whatever you want, basically. Joel likes a little bit of red onion if we have it around. I added some Persian cucumbers the other night and it added some extra Yum to it. :)

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The second recipe is easy-breezy. I make it at least once a week because we like it so much and never seem to get tired of it. :)

 Charity's Greek Salad:

1 tomato, chopped

2 Persian cucumbers, peeled and chopped (I get the organic Persians from TJ's)

~1/4 cup (or 2 oz.) feta cheese, crumbled

Italian dressing

That's it! You can add more or less cheese to your taste. And over time you can fine-tune the tomato/cucumber ratio as well.  

Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

I am so glad it finally started raining. There is nothing quite like the smell of the fresh, clean air after the rain. And there is nothing quite as cozy as a nice bowl of soup or cup of hot coffee, watching the raindrops run down your windowpane.
This is a yummy recipe I just tried for the first time today for lunch and it was delicious!
My brands are shown in parentheses, for anyone who might be interested. :)

Potato Leek Soup

6 Tblsp. butter (Kerrigold unsalted)
1 leek, sliced (from farmer's market)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth (Trader Joe's organic free range)
2 tsp cornstarch
2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced (TJs organic)
1 cup 1/2&1/2 (TJs organic)

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Add leeks, salt and pepper. Cook leeks in butter until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir cornstarch into broth and then pour broth into pot. Add the potatoesand bring to a boil. Pour in 1/2 & 1/2, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. I like to break up the potatoes a bit into smaller pieces.

Enjoy!

She's so granola

The other day I made my first berry salad, inspired by my son.

We were at the store a couple weeks ago in the sandwich bag aisle. He was looking around and suddenly pointed to one of the boxes of zip bags. "Can we bring this one home?" I stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out what my 3 year old thought was so appealing about a box of zip bags.

...Then I realized that there was a photo on the box of the zip bags being used to hold a bunch of berries. Ha! Apparently my child was under the impression that the berries came with the zip lock bags and were in the box, waiting for us to bring them home and eat them. I gave him a diluted lesson in marketing, and explained that, unfortunately, sometimes the photo of what you get doesn't always match what you really get....

But I agreed that the berries looked good and made him a promise that on the next grocery trip we would pick up what we needed to make a berry salad. Together, we studied to zip lock box to determine the ingredients: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. We decided strawberries might be a nice addition.

Here is what we came up with later that week:

Yummmmm...

I've made lots of fruit salads before, of course. But never just berries. It's actually perfect for my little one, because every time I make a fruit salad, he ends up eating around the melons anyway. :) I sliced up some melon and I just mix it in with the berries for me and daddy.

Another fun recipe I just got around to last night was homemade granola. It was my second attempt at the recipe from my friend Christina found here. It is a very versatile recipe and customizable. The first time I made it, I used agave sweetener and added craisins. I liked it, but knew I could do better. I forgot until after I made it that I don't really care for dried fruit in my cereal. heehee. So anyway, I decided this time to use honey and to add sliced almonds. It was de.li.cious. You can go to Christina's site to find the original recipe (hers is Gluten Free!) and more detailed instructions. Here is how I made my version this time:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup sweetened coconut

1/4 cup honey (added a little extra, actually)

1 Tbsp oil

sprinkle cinnamon

Basically, I just mix it up, throw it on a cookie sheet (you can use a baking dish, but I like mine pretty toasty, so I like to spread it out more), put it in the oven - 325 degrees for 30 minutes until golden brown. Every 10 minutes, check and toss to toast evenly.

She suggests it over yogurt, which I agree is really good! I just had some with vanilla yogurt for breakfast this morning. Might go nicely with some of that berry salad. :)

Enjoy

Charity

9/6/11: I think it might need a little more honey, actually. I tried it with milk this morning and it wasn't as good as yesterday with the yogurt. A bit too bland.

I also forogot that the first time I made it, I added a splash of pure vanilla extract, and that was good. I'll try it with the vanilla and a little more honey next time. :)

Holy Guacamole!

I love avocados. I love guacamole. I love easy recipes. This one is super easy. And delish. So easy, actually, that I have it memorized. :)

Take an avocado. Peel it (of course) and slice it into a bowl.
Smoosh with a fork.
Add:
1.5 Tblsp. of sour cream
1 Tblsp. your favorite salsa
At least 1/8 tsp. of garlic powder - more if you like
dash of salt
dash of pepper
splash of lemon or lime juice

Stir/smoosh some more.
Done!

See - easy! And if you need more, it's easy to multiply in your head: just consider the "add" list as "per avocado."
The neat thing about this one is that the salsa does most of the work. And it will automatically parallel whatever your tastes are. For example, as you may know, I don't like a lot of heat. So my favorite salsa is a mild one. Thus my guacamole will be mild, too! :)

We espcially enjoy this with homemade quesadillas. Or chips. My tortilla chip right now is actually Trader Joe's Multigrain Tortilla Chips. Really yummy and a little better for you, because it's made with flaxseed and organic grains. Mmmm.

Enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

So, I know it seems like all fun and games when I start taunting you with meringue pies, but in reality, I've been hard at work trying to fine-tune this recipe. THREE pies later, I think I've found some success.

The pie I've been making for many years was Grandma's Lemon Meringue from allrecipes.com. But it was kind of a hit or miss sometimes, mainly speaking of the meringue part, which as we all know can be very temperamental and quite a test of skill. I decided to try to work on my meringue technique, and see if I couldn't improve on the recipe a bit. I took alot from this article about how to make the perfect meringue, and encourage you to check it out if you are looking for some pointers.

Here's photos of the third pie, so you can follow along if you like, especially since meringue pies can be kind of complex. But I think it turned out pretty well. (And here's a printer-friendly version).

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 (9 inch) pie crust - fully cooked. (I suggest Pillsbury ready-made from the freezer section)

Filling ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
juice from 2 lemons or 8 Tbsp. lemon juice (add some zest too, if you're into that kind of thing) 
2 Tbsp. butter
4 egg yolks

Meringue ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

All items used to mix egg whites into meringue must be very clean and very dry. A large glass bowl is suggested.

First thing: separate the eggs while they are still cool (put whites into your large glass bowl and yolks into any medium bowl), then let the whites sit out for about 20-30 minutes while you gather the rest of the ingredients, allowing the whites to reach room temperature.

Filling prep:
In a medium saucepan (not on the stove yet), whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt.
Stir in water and lemon juice - very gradually to avoid lumps. Set aside.

Meringue:
In a large glass bowl, beat eggs whites with mixer on medium-high until soft peaks form.

Add the cream of tarter, and then the 1/2 cup of sugar very gradually (about a Tbsp. at a time) while you continue beating. Beat on medium-high to high until stiff peaks form. It'll be nice and glossy.

 

Filling:

Bring your sugar/lemon juice mixture to the stove and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until it comes to a boil.

Stir in butter.

Ok, so we're gonna do a little "dance" here. And of course, I didn't get any photos of it. I was too busy "watching my steps." har har. But it's a do-si-do between the sugar mixture and the yolks, as follows:
Lower heat to keep it from burning while you temper the egg yolks as follows. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot sugar mixture into the bowl of egg yolks. Now, turn around and whisk this egg yolk mixture back into the remaining sugar. (This keeps the eggs from cooking into scrambled eggs).

Return to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Mixture will be thick.
Pour filling into pie crust.

At this point you may want to pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.

Put it together:
Give the meringue a few seconds of beating, just to freshen it up a bit. While the filling is still hot in the crust, drop globs of meringue onto the pie. Spread it around the edges first, then fill in the center, to avoid displacing any of the filling. There should be tall mounds of meringue.

Spread around the top of the pie and scrape it down to the very edge of the crust, "sealing" in the filling to prevent bubbling over or the meringue from shrinking.

You may want to add fun little peaks in the top of the meringue, which will toast nicely.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely before serving. May take about 7-8 hours at room temp. or you can cool for about an hour at room temp, then about 4 hours in the fridge.

Of all the complexities and details in making a meringue pie, probably the trickiest and hardest part for me? Waiting for it to cool! :)

This pie came out of the oven at 1:30,
at which point I put it very politely on the stove top and tried to stay busy.
This photo is to document that 1 hour later, it was still in one piece, and I hadn't mauled it yet:

This one was taken at 3:30. I bet it's cool enough, right?
I touched the bottom, and it was still very warm. Drat!

So I put it in the fridge for another 3 hours. Outta sight/outta mind might work better for me here.

...oops. What's this? ;)

Three infinite hours later:

Mmmmm.... Don't mind if I do! (shown with a homemade latte)

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By the way, you may substitute Splenda Granulated for white sugar to create a sugar free version that also has about half the calories. Be aware that, while the taste is still delicious, the height of the pie will be effected. As far as I calculated: One slice (1/8 pie) = 273 calories. One slice of sugar free = 141 calories

So there you have it. There's nothing quite like the sense of accomplishment you get in a successful meringue. Or maybe it's just the pie that's making me feel so good inside. :)

Great recipe for the upcoming warm months - very refreshing.

Enjoy!

A different iced tea

Well, spring has sprung! The warm air these past few days has once again called forth the blossoms from their winter dorms. The bees are buzzing. The birds singing. It sounds cliche, I know. But it's true!

The weather in Chico is usually pretty extreme. In the 7 years I've lived here, we've rarely had a true springtime. It goes straight from 45 degrees one day to 80 and upwards to 100 almost overnight. Usually a night in March, I think. But this week has been nice and mild. Real spring weather - what a treat for us. :)

Here's a funky pic I took with my phone in Bidwell Park during a moment of rapture:

So, to celebrate this glorious weather, I thought I'd make some iced tea. Seems festive. Seems simple. I don't usually drink alot of iced tea, but I think I'll try to more often. It's a nice alternative to the soda pop I grew up on and that I'm trying not to drink anymore. It's also a nice alternative to city water, which has been tasting kind of gross lately, even after filtering.

So - iced tea. Just buy some at the store right? Well... I tried a couple different lipton things. They were OK. But they have this funny aftertaste I can't quite describe. It's almost a fishy something. I wouldn't normally be so picky about things like this. But I wanted to find something really yummy that I wouldn't mind drinking every day. So I continued looking. Maybe I don't like iced tea, I thought. There are alot of flavored drinks on the market, and most of them look tea-ish. But in the whole aisle of tea-ish things, they each and every one had either loads of sugar (which isn't much better than soda, now - is it?) or aspartame. I was surprised not one of them used splenda or anything. How does anything with aspartame even sell these days? But I digress.

Here I was, in a bit of a culinary bind. So I consulted the Contessa. In her book, she suggests a Zinger recipe she says is very good. After spending a week looking for Red Zinger (which is not Raspberry Zinger, by the way) and finally finding it at one of the natural food stores, I rushed home in anticipation. Watched while it brewed. Barely waited for it to chill.

Aaaaand ...it was ok. I don't like apple juice very much. And this recipe calls for apple juice as a natural sweetener. I tried substituting water and just adding a bit of splenda to sweeten. That was actually pretty good, I thought. But I let Joel try it and he said it tasted like old lady. Or potpourri. After considering the ingredients of the Zinger teas, I said - you're probably tasting the rosehips. He agreed that must be it. He didn't like it. Thanks alot Joel - now all I taste is potpourri.

Well, I thought I'd give it a bit more thought. Eventually, it occurred to me that the lipton tea I thought tasted fishy wasn't just TEA, in any pure form, but a real flavor of tea (black pekoe), and maybe I just don't like black tea. And maybe I'm just not very fond of Zingers. But might I try any other flavor of tea over ice and make my own flavor of iced tea? (You may be just starting to realize now how truly awkward tea and I are around each other). But you know, all these hot teas are kept on very different shelves from the "Iced Tea!" in the grocery stores, so it took awhile for me to put it together. Haha. 

My favorite hot tea has been Earl Grey. So I steeped some grey in only half a cup of hot water, then filled the other half with cold water. Ice. Sweetener. It was perfect. Just what I was looking for. Refreshing. Nothing fishy.

I encourage you - if you're looking for a new refreshment this summer - er, I mean spring - why not try your favorite hot tea over ice? :)

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The Contessa's Tea

Recipe can be found here.

My Iced Tea Epiphany

To brew any tea as iced, be sure to reduce the amount of water you usually use for hot tea, since it will dilute over ice. I would say for each bag of tea, steep in 4 oz. hot water for 5-10 minutes, then remove the bag and add 4oz. cold water. Sweeten if desired.

 

One cup at a time - keeps it fresh.

Cheers!

FYI:

I have updated the soup recipe. :)

I think I pretty much got it right on the money...

A taste of Ireland

On a recent trip to the Emerald Isle, we were touring the Ring of Kerry and stopped in a sweet little coastal village for lunch. In a quaint cafe, the toasty warm fire was a welcome relief from the cold winter winds outside, and the Carrot Parsnip soup and coffee I enjoyed was also quite a comfort. I reached a point in the meal where I was actually quite full, but the soup was soooo tasty, I had trouble stopping. Which was unusual for me. For the rest of the trip meals, if I saw carrot parsnip or any other veggie type soup, I opted for that and was never disappointed.

On my return home, one of the first things I did was look for a similar recipe online and was surprised at how few carrot parsnip soup recipes there were. Maybe it's specific to the country. I know I had never heard of it before. Anyway, I found basically two versions, the main difference being that one is made with butter and one with half and half instead. I am sharing the former with you, since it was my favorite. I reworked it a little bit, and now it is very close to the soup I had in Ireland, but not exactly the same. So I plan on perfecting it over the next few months and if I find any improvements I will post them here. :)

Smooth, very "earthy" in the taste of the root vegetables, but the parsnips give it a nice sweetness. Every time I taste it, I am transported back to Cahersiveen and a toasty warm cafe.

Carrot Parsnip Soup
4 Tblsp butter  5 Tblsp butter
1/2 small-medium onion 1 cup chopped onion
~1/2 large baker potato
4 medium carrots
1 medium parsnip 1 large or 2 meduim parsnips
~ 28 oz. of chicken broth (i used reduced sodium)
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop potato, carrots, and parsnip. Chop onion.
Melt butter in saucepan, add onions and potatoes and stir until they are coated with butter.
Cover with lid and sweat ingredients over low heat for 5 minutes.
Add carrots, parsnip, and sweat for another 5 minutes.
Add the stock. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer until veggies are soft. Like falling apart soft.
Liquefy with a blender, hand blender or food processor.
Add salt and pepper to taste. May garnish with parsley.

Enjoy!

Now that's good chili!

I found this delicious recipe recently. I tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes, but the original version can be found here if you're interested.

It's so easy to make, I'm almost embarrassed to share it, but it's really good, very satisfying, and perfect for these last few nights of winter. :)

Darn Good Chili (Charity's version)

1 pound lean ground beef (turkey can also be used)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes ( I get the "petite" kind for this)

1 cup spaghetti sauce ( I usually use a "garlic & onion" version)

1 cup salsa ( I use Pace picante Mild)

2 tablespoons chili powder2 cloves minced garlic
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained

Directions
In a large saucepan or stockpot, cook ground beef, until browned. Drain off excess fat.
Add onion and green pepper, stir and fry for about 5 minutes more, until veggies are tender.

Stir in the diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, salsa, then chili powder and garlic. Lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans just before serving and heat through. Serve with dollop of sour cream or grated cheese. Enjoy!

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You can actually simmer it for up to 1.5 hours before serving (as in original version), and that probably would help all the flavors to blend nicely, but I find it's perfectly edible at 30 minutes or so, and I don't always have enough forethought to start dinner that early. :)

My swedish blood can't take spicy foods, so this is definitely a "mild" version. If you'd like to spice it up a bit, you can add the extra Tblsp of chili powder, and 1/4 cup taco sauce that the original recipe calls for. Maybe even use a medium or hot salsa.

Thanks to "TUGORETZ" for posting this recipe on allrecipes.com

Where did she go??

Well, I know it's been awhile! It seems to me that somewhere along the way, I promised to blog more often. Why did I promise me that? I knew the minute i made that promise I wasn't going to keep it.

But the holidays were quite a whirlwind - besides being The Usual Busy trying to find gifts and making travel plans, I also finished a last minute quilt for my mom, and decided somewhere in there that I wanted to get in touch with my "roots" by studying Swedish Christmas traditions. That was kind of a joke. Oh yeah, and I filled about 15 orders on my Etsy page! Lots of Sock Monkeys. =)

The Swedish thing was a joke because I didn't really think of it until a week before Christmas. That's really not enough time to create straw ornaments or find a good gingerbread recipe and about three weeks too late to observe Advent (which is kind of a big deal there I guess). It was frustrating trying to find an authentic Swedish recipe for anything, and if I did, it was in Swedish! I think you lose something in the translation, and of course they use things there that we don't really have here. Lucky for me, a friend on Facebook 'fessed up to being Swedish herself. She kind of took me under her wing a bit, emailed me some of her family recipes and told me alot of ingredients that you usually wouldn't find in the states can be purchased at IKEA. Ikea!! Why didn't I think of that?? I love that place. We take special trips to Sacramento sometimes, just to go to Ikea! Brilliant.

With the holidays upon me, I was not driving to Ikea. But my friend was sweet enough to stop by my house on the morning of Christmas Eve, just to give me a box of Pearl Sugar and one of Swedish Vanilla. Mmmmm. My mouth is watering all over the keyboard just thinking of it.

All that to say: in an effort to squeeze tradition into a ridiculously busy holiday, I have a distinct memory of sitting with my son on the floor of our kitchen on Christmas morning, eating Risgrynsgrot (Rice Pudding) which I had made quite at the last minute, even as Joel was packing our car for a 3 hour drive to my mom's house. We certainly didn't have time to sit around the table and make it A Thing, but I'm proud of myself for making it happen at all.

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

Risgrynsgrot
3/4c long grain rice
1 1/2c water
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2c milk
1 piece whole cinnamon
Bring rice, water and salt to a boil. Stir, cover, and boil for about 10 minutes over low heat. Add milk and cinnamon and simmer for 30-40 minutes more, until it is nice and thick and the ricec is soft.
I definitely add a little sugar to it. Other toppings options include butter, ground cinnamon, or a little extra milk.
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It's a Christmas Eve tradition all over Sweden. They like to put one whole almond in the pot, and whoever finds the almond in their bowl will have good luck next year... or get married... or win a special prize (whichever you prefer). =>

Well, I'm off for now. I have SO many ideas for the Etsy shop, it really isn't funny. New designs are on the horizon! For some reason (probably the fact that I can't say no), I've also signed myself up for this knit-a-long. It's a sweater with a weird name. I like to call it the Crazy Difficult Cable sweater that Charity will weep over.

One last note, if you haven't already, please visit this Etsy shop: http://www.heartsforhaiti.etsy.com/. 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian Relief. I donated my Sleek Black ipod Cozy for the cause. <3