All posts tagged: Recipe

Mex-Itali Prosciutto and Guacamole Crostini

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Here’s a quick and flavorful canape perfect for a cocktail party, or something savory for when it’s Girls Night Out at your house.  Try this little gem. Serve it alongside a platter of Kalamata olives with cheese and crackers – it completes the flavor cycle. ♥♥♥ HERE’S WHY I LIKE IT: crunch from both the baguette and water chestnut; creaminess of the cheese; rich, and tangy guacamole, and of course the satiny texture of the thinly cut prosciutto.    Three different flavors, and three different textures, all in one bite-sized appetizer!

Creamy zucchini soup with Parmesan Crisps

Creamy Zucchini and Asparagus Soup served with Parmesan Cheese Crisps

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Fall has definitely arrived – although we were treated to sunny days this weekend, you could definitely feel the chill in the air.  So Soup Season is here.  I love homemade soups and this one is simple to make and ready to eat in under an hour.    I use an immersion blender to finish this soup as I like small bits of the vegetables still in tact, and an immersion blender offers you more control on how smooth, or how chunky you want your soup, as opposed to a food processor. Me, I like it a smidge chunky!

Low Carb Parmesan Chicken

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  This is an adaption of Best Foods “Parmesan Crusted Chicken” .  I deleted the bread crumbs because I want this recipe to be low carb, and added chives and roasted garlic to kick up the flavor a notch. I roasted the garlic in olive oil on Sunday, so I can use in multiple recipes this week – roasted garlic seems milder to me yet far more flavorful.  This recipe took 5 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.  Dinner in 30 minutes and I caught up on my emails while it baked – nice!

Lo Carb Taco Salad

Taco Salad the Lo-Carb Way

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Am back on a Lo-Carb diet for the next few weeks but can’t bear to eat the same food every day (roasted chicken, steak, burgers, etc.)   So last night I made Taco Salad, which took less than 15 minutes to prep and cook – then brought left-overs for lunch today in a portable bento box. No, you won’t find a deep-fried taco shell or even tortilla chips hidden somewhere underneath, as they would take the carb count way beyond what I use in a day (which is 25 carbs or less). This recipe is very simple and quick to prepare; has an abundance of flavor, and I found I didn’t really miss having a taco shell after all.

Strawberry Tart

French Glace Strawberry Tarts

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I like to make a French Glace Strawberry Pie to kick-off summer and then again just when it’s ending, right around Labor Day.  I made the first one mid-June and decided to switch out my batch of strawberries intended for jam this weekend, to making strawberry tarts instead.  Pie crusts can sometimes be hit or miss – sometimes they turn out great and other times they are dry and crumbly – this frustrates a lot of bakers, myself included.

Crispy Hash Browns

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  Hash browns are simple to make, but sometimes they are nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and other times not so much.   If you always want your hash browns crispy like those you get at your favorite pancake house, or the local diner, then you need to prep therm just like they do, and remove the moisture from your potatoes before you start to fry them.  It’s as simple as that – no mystery, just an extra step you may or may not be used to doing.

Labor Day Treat: Strawberry Shortcake with Raspberry Coulis

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Just in time for a Labor Day BBQ or picnic with friends, Strawberry Shortcake!  I picked up oodles of strawberries on the weekend and made this dessert and will be making jam this weekend too.  I love strawberries, and use them throughout the year, but in summer they almost become a staple, same as eating tomatoes on a daily basis. I have made shortcakes from scratch on many occasions – this was not one of them.  Instead I turned to Bisquick and honestly I have to say the texture and flavor is sooooo close to “scratch” that I tend to defer to Bisquick as it is so much quicker!  Also, I prefer individual shortcakes as opposed to making one large shortcake, which is what I grew up with.   Why? Cuz when I make the really large one for 8 or 10 people, it looks terrible after you cut the first slice.   The individual ones look amazing from start to finish.

Jamocha Mocha Mousse with Creme de Cacao

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Jamocha Mocha Mousse is definitely not Low-Carb, but tastes wonderful and I will be bringing it to a Bridal Shower later this week.   There are hundreds of recipes in cookbooks and on blogs for chocolate or mocha mousse, but this is the recipe I have used since I was a teenager.   I think I originally wrote it down when watching one of Julia Child’s TV shows, but have tweaked it here and there over the years, and turned it from Chocolate Mousse to Mocha Mousse as I love coffee-flavored desserts.  

Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin (Low Carb)

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To me Coq Au Vin is the epitome of classic French cuisine – and now I find I can make a low-carb version and enjoy it just as much.  It’s sorta like when you use the holy trinity of French cooking – if you use fresh, good quality ingredients, you have some leeway on making it work for your eating plan. If you look at the true translation of Coq Au Vin, it means “rooster in red wine”, hence the use of Red Burgundy in a typical recipe for this dish.  I made Coq Au Vin the correct way for years, but half the time my sauce would turn the color of purple and even the chicken would have a purple tinge to it.  Mind you it still tasted terrific, but I found it hard to get past my chicken resembling Barney.   So I changed it up a bit and started using white burgundy instead (chardonnay or Chablis) – it both tastes good and looks appetizing as well.

Blackberry Clafouti with Saboyan Sauce flavored with Cointreau

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Clafouti is a traditional French dessert with a flan-like batter poured over black cherries, and a delightful dessert in the warmth and sunshine of summer when cherries are in season.  When you use other fruits, such as pears, peaches, apples or berries, it technically becomes a Flaugnarde – which is harder to pronounce and doesn’t sound nearly as sexy – so I made a Blackberry Clafouti! Raspberries are one of my favorite berries, but when I got to the store I found Raspberries cost $9 for a 12 ounce pack, while the blackberries (which looked luscious) were selling for $5 – it was a bit of a struggle as I went back and forth on which to choose,  but guess which berry won!