I'm not sure you can beat fresh home-made lemonade. It's so refreshing! Here's the recipe I've been using since I was a kid - very quick and easy :) Fat free and a serving has tons of vitamin C. If you prefer, you can exchange the lemons for limes (equal amounts) to make limeade.
**I labeled this as Vegan - if you would like to make this recipe vegan, please use agave nectar as a substitute since white sugar is not considered a vegan ingredient.**
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups + 4 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar or about 3/4-1 cup agave nectar
Rind of one lemon, peeled (I use a veggie peeler to get nice big pieces of rind - that way, they don't get into the glasses!)
1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
Method:
1. Bring 2 1/2 cups of the water to a boil (I like to use my electric kettle for this. You can do it in a tea kettle or pan on the stove). Meanwhile, pour the sugar into a large glass pitcher. When water has boiled, add to the sugar and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
2. Add the lemon peel and juice to the water and sugar mixture. Add 4 cups cold water to the mixture. Stir well.
You can keep the lemonade refrigerated for up to 3 days. I like to add some slices of lemon to the final product.
Reference:
I used a couple sources for this recipe and came up with this final one based on those. First, I used a recipe which I learned when I was in 7th grade Home Economics (!)... good thing it's easy so I haven't completely forgotten it! I also used the Fresh Lemonade Base recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Cleaning strawberries
Here's a quick tip I picked up somewhere (sorry, forgot the source!) I just thought about it today as I was cleaning some strawberries for one of my Platinum Chef Challenge recipes (coming to a blog near you, this one!, soon!!) :)
To preserve as much flavour as possible in strawberries, do not rinse them under running water. Since strawberries are very porous, they will absorb all that water and lose some of their fruity goodness. You don't want watery strawberries, right?! :) Instead, dampen a paper towel and use it to gently clean each berry. You will have clean fruit with plenty of flavour!
Here's an extra hint - if you only buy a few organically-grown things, make strawberries (and other fresh berries) one of them! The porous nature of the berries makes them not only absorb water when rinsing them, but also absorb the chemicals and pesticides sprayed on non-organically grown produce.
Hope this helps you enjoy strawberry season!
To preserve as much flavour as possible in strawberries, do not rinse them under running water. Since strawberries are very porous, they will absorb all that water and lose some of their fruity goodness. You don't want watery strawberries, right?! :) Instead, dampen a paper towel and use it to gently clean each berry. You will have clean fruit with plenty of flavour!
Here's an extra hint - if you only buy a few organically-grown things, make strawberries (and other fresh berries) one of them! The porous nature of the berries makes them not only absorb water when rinsing them, but also absorb the chemicals and pesticides sprayed on non-organically grown produce.
Hope this helps you enjoy strawberry season!
Taste the Rainbow!
This is the second of my entries for the Platinum Chef Challenge on The Nest. It's a great marinara spaghetti sauce which incorporates tons of different veggies including the zucchini, basil, and tomatoes which were three of the five challenge ingredients. Not the most creative use of the ingredients, but still very tasty! Plus, as the recipe is written, it is suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets.
This sauce is so colorful - a great way to get lots of different vegetables into your diet! Here's the recipe - I just used a basic marinara sauce recipe which I've been using for years and added a few "extras" to it. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup total of chopped bell peppers - I used a combination of red, yellow, and green peppers (about a 1/4 cup of red and the second 1/4 cup was a mix of green and yellow)
1 cup zucchini, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 1/2-ounce can of diced tomatoes (undrained)
2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes (you can just use 2 14 1/2 ounce cans of tomatoes or 4 cups of peeled chopped tomatoes; I just wanted to mix it up a bit)
1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
1/4 cup dry red wine (you can substitute 1/4 cup of water if you don't drink/don't have red wine)
2 tbsp. snipped fresh parsley or 2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. snipped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sugar (to make this recipe vegan, please do not use white sugar as this is a non-vegan ingredient - stevia or agave nectar would work)
1/2 cup sliced green olives
Method:
1. In a large skillet, cook the onion, bell peppers, zucchini, and garlic in hot olive oil until veggies are tender.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Add the wine, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. pepper, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Add in the green olives. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and simmer 10-15 minutes more or until the sauce is your desired consistency, stir occasionally.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve with hot spaghetti or other pasta.
If desired, you can add meatballs and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the finished dinner.
Reference:
The inspiration for my marinara base came from the Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. I added a lot to it but here's the publishing information for the cook book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.
This sauce is so colorful - a great way to get lots of different vegetables into your diet! Here's the recipe - I just used a basic marinara sauce recipe which I've been using for years and added a few "extras" to it. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup total of chopped bell peppers - I used a combination of red, yellow, and green peppers (about a 1/4 cup of red and the second 1/4 cup was a mix of green and yellow)
1 cup zucchini, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 1/2-ounce can of diced tomatoes (undrained)
2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes (you can just use 2 14 1/2 ounce cans of tomatoes or 4 cups of peeled chopped tomatoes; I just wanted to mix it up a bit)
1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
1/4 cup dry red wine (you can substitute 1/4 cup of water if you don't drink/don't have red wine)
2 tbsp. snipped fresh parsley or 2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. snipped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sugar (to make this recipe vegan, please do not use white sugar as this is a non-vegan ingredient - stevia or agave nectar would work)
1/2 cup sliced green olives
Method:
1. In a large skillet, cook the onion, bell peppers, zucchini, and garlic in hot olive oil until veggies are tender.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Add the wine, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. pepper, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Add in the green olives. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and simmer 10-15 minutes more or until the sauce is your desired consistency, stir occasionally.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve with hot spaghetti or other pasta.
If desired, you can add meatballs and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the finished dinner.
Reference:
The inspiration for my marinara base came from the Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. I added a lot to it but here's the publishing information for the cook book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Green Beans Amandine
This is enough for 3 servings.
Ingredients:
1/2 pound green beans
2 tbsp. slivered almonds
1 tbsp. Earth Balance spread or butter
1 tsp. lemon juice
Method:
1. Cut fresh green beans into thin pieces lengthwise. Cook the fresh green beans, covered in a small amount of boiling water for 10-15 minutes or until tender. You can also use a bag of frozen green beans - just cook them according to package directions. Drain the cooked beans and keep them warm.
2. Cook and stir almonds in the melted butter or margarine over medium heat until golden. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Add beans back into pan with the almonds and stir well.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Chocolate-Strawberry Bread
This is a recipe I used for our WC Platinum Chef Challenge (from The Nest). I used a recipe for double-chocolate banana bread (I think the original recipe is on this blog, too) and just changed some things around to make it with strawberries and nuts (two of the challenge ingredients).
Just had a slice of this for "lunch dessert" - wow! It's so worth all the fat and calories ;) I did decide to up the amount of strawberries by just a bit so you get more of the strawberry flavour (especially since that was one of the ingredients in the challenge!)
This was really easy to make and is super-yummy. I'll have to have my fruit-hating husband try it and post about what he thinks. :)
This recipe will make 16 (1 slice) servings
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped (one of those 16-ounce containers)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts
Method:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and oil at medium speed until mixed. Beat in the vanilla extract. (I used my KA stand mixer for this part; if you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer).
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; beat into sugar mixture at low speed until just combined (do not overmix). Use a wooden spoon to stir in the strawberries, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
4. Spoon the batter into a loaf pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a tester inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap the bread in foil and leave it overnight before slicing.
Reference:
This recipe was based on the Double-Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe which can also be found in this blog. The original Chocolate-Banana bread recipe was found in a copy of Cooking Pleasures Magazine which is published by the Cooking Club of America.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Must-Haves - Food Items
Just got the latest issue of Cooking Light (I love that magazine!) and there is this whole section on must-have items! I've been planning on adding this to my blog since I started it but just haven't really had the motivation to get started. I'll put down what CL has for each category then I'll also add my own ideas. Hopefully this will help new cooks as well as seasoned veterans looking for new ideas! :)
Hurray for Cooking Light!
Frequently used cooking staples:
*Oils - olive and canola are the ones you will probably use most. These two are also healthier than things like peanut oil. You will also want cooking spray (Pam - they even have an organic version, now, and one for grilling!), and butter (if you bake, you will want to keep unsalted butter on hand. The regular, salted, stuff if usually called for in savoury recipes).
*Vinegars - I always keep balsamic (I make salad dressings with it on an almost daily basis), white wine, and red wine. In addition, I have just regular old cheap white vinegar (I use it to clean my house and will sub it for white wine vinegar in a pinch!) Vinegar can also be a handy lemon juice substitute in sauces.
*Fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth. I like to get the organic/free range broth. I don't really think it's fat-free, but it is definitely lower-sodium which is the bigger concern in my house.
*Canned tomatoes and beans - you can get the pre-flavoured tomatoes; however, I prefer to just get the plain diced ones. I can then add my own blends of herbs to them depending on whether I'm making a soup, spaghetti sauce, or enchiladas.
*Sauces - soy (lower-sodium), Worcestershire, BBQ (I make my own but it's good to have a bottle if you're in a hurry!), Tabasco or a similar hot sauce.
*Dried pasta and rice. I also like to keep some couscous on hand to change it up a bit.
*Panko - Japanese bread crumbs. I find them so much easier to work with than the breadcrumbs I used to make from a slice of bread! The panko doesn't fall of my food the second I try to flip it! lol
*Wine (red and white) and sherry.
*Spices and herbs - I will come back and add more to this. For now, here are my most used: oregano, cumin, basil, dill, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder/garlic salt (I prefer to just use a clove of garlic, but this is good in a hurry!), thyme, rosemary, parsley flakes, lemon-pepper seasoning, Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning (I mix it into burgers for my hubby), Grill Mates Chicken Rub, chili powder.
*For baking - vanilla extract (I like the pure, alcohol-free stuff), ground ginger, ground cinnamon, honey.
*Flour - you can probably get away with just buying all-purpose and always having a stash of that on-hand. See the list of substitutions on this blog to see how you can use this in place of cake flour.
*Sugar - granulated cane sugar is a must. If you bake, you will also want light and dark brown sugar (also handy if you do a lot of BBQ!) and powdered/confectioners' sugar.
Hurray for Cooking Light!
Frequently used cooking staples:
*Oils - olive and canola are the ones you will probably use most. These two are also healthier than things like peanut oil. You will also want cooking spray (Pam - they even have an organic version, now, and one for grilling!), and butter (if you bake, you will want to keep unsalted butter on hand. The regular, salted, stuff if usually called for in savoury recipes).
*Vinegars - I always keep balsamic (I make salad dressings with it on an almost daily basis), white wine, and red wine. In addition, I have just regular old cheap white vinegar (I use it to clean my house and will sub it for white wine vinegar in a pinch!) Vinegar can also be a handy lemon juice substitute in sauces.
*Fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth. I like to get the organic/free range broth. I don't really think it's fat-free, but it is definitely lower-sodium which is the bigger concern in my house.
*Canned tomatoes and beans - you can get the pre-flavoured tomatoes; however, I prefer to just get the plain diced ones. I can then add my own blends of herbs to them depending on whether I'm making a soup, spaghetti sauce, or enchiladas.
*Sauces - soy (lower-sodium), Worcestershire, BBQ (I make my own but it's good to have a bottle if you're in a hurry!), Tabasco or a similar hot sauce.
*Dried pasta and rice. I also like to keep some couscous on hand to change it up a bit.
*Panko - Japanese bread crumbs. I find them so much easier to work with than the breadcrumbs I used to make from a slice of bread! The panko doesn't fall of my food the second I try to flip it! lol
*Wine (red and white) and sherry.
*Spices and herbs - I will come back and add more to this. For now, here are my most used: oregano, cumin, basil, dill, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder/garlic salt (I prefer to just use a clove of garlic, but this is good in a hurry!), thyme, rosemary, parsley flakes, lemon-pepper seasoning, Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning (I mix it into burgers for my hubby), Grill Mates Chicken Rub, chili powder.
*For baking - vanilla extract (I like the pure, alcohol-free stuff), ground ginger, ground cinnamon, honey.
*Flour - you can probably get away with just buying all-purpose and always having a stash of that on-hand. See the list of substitutions on this blog to see how you can use this in place of cake flour.
*Sugar - granulated cane sugar is a must. If you bake, you will also want light and dark brown sugar (also handy if you do a lot of BBQ!) and powdered/confectioners' sugar.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Freezing Egg Whites
Aw, my first post of the new month! Happy June everyone... there is only a week of school left (I'm a teacher) so I'm pretty excited! I do have to work until the middle of the month just finishing up paperwork (gotta love that!) and writing up my students' learning record reports but then I'm off until August when I got back limited hours (just for staff development, contacting new students, etc). I have tons of plans for summer projects which include lots of new recipes and lots of blogging! Glad I have a laptop so I can blog by the pool ;)
So, I'm planning on making ice cream this weekend - I've had this KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for a couple months and I have yet to use it. I was looking through the recipes and decided to be boring and start with French vanilla (so unlike me to be boring with food, but I know my husband will eat it... lol) The recipe calls for, yikes, 8 egg yolks. I have this great lemon-blueberry meringue pie recipe that I'd also like to try but not for a couple weeks. So, I was wondering if I could freeze the egg whites from these eight eggs and use part of that for the meringue. Turns out yes you can freeze the egg whites (yippee!). Here's the procedure which I found by doing an Ask.com search.
**If you need individual whites (maybe only 1 or 2):
You can freeze them in an ice-cube tray (genius!) so they are frozen individually and don't get all stuck together. They usually freeze overnight. After they are frozen, pop them out of the ice-cube tray and into a freezer-weight zipper bag. Label them with the date and how many whites are in each bag. Keep them in the freezer until ready to use.
**If you need multiple whites (like 6 for a recipe):
Just freeze the necessary number of whites in a container (freezer safe), then pop them out of the container when they are frozen (again, overnight should do it). You could even just freeze as many as you need in the ice-cube tray. You can then either wrap the block in plastic wrap then foil and store them in a freezer-safe container (Rubbermaid or a large zipper baggie). Write the date on the container as well as the number of whites.
The tip I found said you can save them in the freezer for up to 6 months. However; be sure to store long-term frozen goods in the coldest part of the freezer (the back and towards the bottom). I'm not sure I'd ever try to keep them for 6 months, but if you're going to be using them in a couple weeks or a month, I think this is a great option. Much better than wasting food.
To defrost the eggs, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator overnight, just like you would with meats.
So, I'm planning on making ice cream this weekend - I've had this KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for a couple months and I have yet to use it. I was looking through the recipes and decided to be boring and start with French vanilla (so unlike me to be boring with food, but I know my husband will eat it... lol) The recipe calls for, yikes, 8 egg yolks. I have this great lemon-blueberry meringue pie recipe that I'd also like to try but not for a couple weeks. So, I was wondering if I could freeze the egg whites from these eight eggs and use part of that for the meringue. Turns out yes you can freeze the egg whites (yippee!). Here's the procedure which I found by doing an Ask.com search.
**If you need individual whites (maybe only 1 or 2):
You can freeze them in an ice-cube tray (genius!) so they are frozen individually and don't get all stuck together. They usually freeze overnight. After they are frozen, pop them out of the ice-cube tray and into a freezer-weight zipper bag. Label them with the date and how many whites are in each bag. Keep them in the freezer until ready to use.
**If you need multiple whites (like 6 for a recipe):
Just freeze the necessary number of whites in a container (freezer safe), then pop them out of the container when they are frozen (again, overnight should do it). You could even just freeze as many as you need in the ice-cube tray. You can then either wrap the block in plastic wrap then foil and store them in a freezer-safe container (Rubbermaid or a large zipper baggie). Write the date on the container as well as the number of whites.
The tip I found said you can save them in the freezer for up to 6 months. However; be sure to store long-term frozen goods in the coldest part of the freezer (the back and towards the bottom). I'm not sure I'd ever try to keep them for 6 months, but if you're going to be using them in a couple weeks or a month, I think this is a great option. Much better than wasting food.
To defrost the eggs, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator overnight, just like you would with meats.
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