Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

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Ooooo! Popped Corn!

Posted by terrepruitt on August 21, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesIn 2009 I posted a blog post about cooking popcorn in a pot.  I was pretty smug because I could do it.  And it came out really good.  I could use a tiny pot, the smallest one we have, and end up with at least two good sized bowls of popcorn.  I think I jinxed myself!  I have had an almost impossible time popping popcorn in a pot.  Hmmmmm . . . . it just occurred to me that maybe my popcorn is old.  Does that make a difference?  Actually, I should say, my popcorn IS old, does that make a difference? I am not a fan of all the “stuff” they put in microwave popcorn.  Also, I actually not to use my microwave that much.  I use it, it is convenient, but if I can I would rather use another appliance.  But apparently I can’t any longer.  Sigh.  I don’t know what it is.  Probably old popcorn.  Now that I think of that I will have to buy new popcorn.  I have been wanting popcorn though, but not wanting to try to cook it because of my awful results I have had.  Today, I found some microwave  popcorn I thought I would try.

Have you ever gone into a grocery store and thought about buying something, then changed your mind and not bought it.  But then on the way home you are thinking about having it when you get home.  You are looking forward to making it and eating it or opening the package and eating it or whatever . . . just having it.  Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesThen you get home and you realize you didn’t get it?  That is sort of what happened to me.  I was looking at the already popped bagged popcorn . . . ya know like Smartfood or something.  But I didn’t want to buy that because I try to avoid Canola oil.  I saw one that used Olive Oil and I was going to try that, but it said it had pepper in it . . . .and you know (perhaps) that I don’t like pepper.  I knew that it would be too hot.   So then I started looking at the popcorn to see if there was some organic kind.  And I saw the organic popcorn that you microwave.  Really?  Just a few ingredients so I thought I would try it.

It was late, I went out for coffee after my morning Nia class, and I was hungry.  As I was putting my bags in the trunk I looked at one bag that had a few items in it.  Then I looked at my other bag and I thought, “What?  Where is my popcorn?  Did he put all my veggies on the bag?  How is that possible that all of the veggies and that puffy bag of popcorn fit in one bag with room still?”  So I moved the lettuce which revealed the BOX of microwave popcorn and thought, “Well, I guess I won’t be eating any of that on the way home!”

Anyway . . . the popcorn was really good.  I think.  I popped well, and wasn’t greasy.  It didn’t have any “butter” on it.  I liked it.  According to The USDA Agricultural Research Service’s web site there is 31 calories in a cup of air-popped popcorn.  The package from the popcorn I bought says the same thing(-ish).  You can see the rest of the nutritional info from the package in the picture.  The National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference says:

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesNutrient per 3 cups (24 grams)

Energy/kcal     92
Protein     2.88g
Fat     1.01g
Carbohydrate     18.70g
Fiber, total dietary     3.6g

Minerals
Calcium, Ca     2mg
Iron, Fe     0.64mg
Magnesium, Mg     31mg
Phosphorus, P     72mg
Potassium, K     72mg
Sodium, Na     1mg
Zinc, Zn     0.83mg

Vitamins
Thiamin     0.049mg
Riboflavin     0.068mg
Niacin     0.467mg
Vitamin B-6     0.059mg

Cholesterol     0mg

So for a snack food it is relatively low in calorie and high in fiber.  Low in fat and cholesterol.  Of course, cooking it in oil and adding butter adds more calories and fat.  I like it both ways.  Sometimes I want light and salty and sometimes I want a heavier snack so the butter is better.  But, as I said, I haven’t been able to cook it properly in a long time so I have not had it in a long time.

My husband doesn’t like popcorn.  Not even the smell.  So I usually try to have it while he is not home.

What about you?  Do you like popcorn?  Do you microwave it?  How about the grocery store . . . do you think about eating something you were going to buy then didn’t (and forgot you didn’t buy it)?

 

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

My Greens Gone Blue — Finally!

Posted by terrepruitt on August 16, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesOne of the reasons I got a super blender was to consume more vegetables. In addition to more vegetables I also wanted to consume veggies and fruits that I normally wouldn’t eat but that I have come to believe would be a health benefit to me. One food I have come to believe is a healthy benefit to a diet is blueberries. I don’t like blueberries. If you know me and my love for the color blue you might be a bit surprised that I don’t love one of the only blue foods there is. But I don’t. The flavor is not that great to me, but it is really the texture I don’t like. They are mushy and mealy. Not a texture I enjoy. But they are considered a “super food” so something I wouldn’t mind adding to my diet.  But since I won’t just eat them raw and I don’t like baked fruit in desserts, I was hoping to use my Blendtec to get some blueberry goodness into my diet.

According to the website, World’s Healthiest Foods:

“In terms of U.S. fruit consumption, blueberries rank only second to strawberries in popularity of berries. Blueberries are not only popular, but also repeatedly ranked in the U.S. diet as having one of the highest antioxidant capacities among all fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings. Antioxidants are essential to optimizing health by helping to combat the free radicals that can damage cellular structures as well as DNA. We recommend enjoying raw blueberries — rather than relying upon blueberries incorporated into baked desserts — because, like other fruits, raw blueberries provide you with the best flavor and the greatest nutritional benefits.”

I think most fruits that are added to baked goods lose a lot of their nutritional value, if not from the cooking themselves, but it might be considered to be “canceled out” due to the added sugar and fat.  But, as I mentioned I am not a fan of cooked fruit in desserts.

With all of the nutritional benefits in mind I finally bought some blueberries with the sole intent of putting them in a smoothie. I thought I had better go with a mild, yummy green so I would be stacking the deck to help the blueberries. I used spinach.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesI actually made a very yummy smoothie.

I used:

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Blueberry Green Smoothie

1 cup water
1/2 container of blueberries
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 (1/2) frozen banana
10 ice moons
1 scoop protein powder

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It was very good. My husband is pretty amazing when it comes to tasting the ingredients. He tasted the blueberries right off. I knew they were in there and I didn’t seem to taste them.  He pointed out that you can see them.  Little tiny flecks of blueberries were in the smoothie.  And yes, I know the were in there, I made it.  Silly man!

So now that I have tried blueberries in a smoothie and liked them I can try using other greens.  Now that I know they don’t ruin it.  Tee hee.

What about you?  Do you put blueberries in your green smoothies?  What “recipe” might you have to share?

 

 

Posted in "Recipes", Food, Smoothies | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Lemon Cookies

Posted by terrepruitt on August 14, 2014

In regards to diet and food these days there is so much information out there it can be overwhelming.  There are so many schools of thought on what is healthy and what is not.  I follow the school of thought that the less man made chemicals IN the food it is healthier than one full of chemicals.  I also think that less processed foods tend to be healthier than heavily processed foods. Some of the processing – even when the original ingredient – is natural is just a wash of chemicals.  I say all of this because I know that some would argue that some of the recipes I have posted are not necessarily “healthy”.  A banana full of marshmallows and chocolate chips?  No, not something I would deem as healthy, but also not something I eat every day.  The following recipe is not anywhere in the realm of health and fitness . . . one could argue that it has to do with “wellness” if you are one that thinks comforting foods help with well-being.  But I am not trying to disguise this as anything but what it is.  It is a recipe that I used to make with my mom.  It is one she passed down to me.  It is one that when I used to bring the cookies places people would ask for the recipe.  I don’t make them that often any longer because I do not like to eat the ingredients that make up a boxed cake mix.  But I do make them every once in a while because they are easy and people enjoy them.  I made them last week in honor of my mom.  I took them to her Celebration of Life.  They were the best ones I have ever made in my life.

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Lemon Cookies

One box of lemon cake mix
1 egg
3/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 375° F.  Mix all together.  Drop dough onto a cookie sheet using a spoon.  Bake for 10 minutes.

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So . . . . here are some tips.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes

If you have any lemons, squeeze some juice into the dough.  And/or some zest.

DON’T USE ALL THE OIL.  Start out with 1/2 of a cup.  Stir.  If the mixture seems like it needs more, then keep adding until it is a wet dough.  The oil depends on the cake mix.  In the “old days” it was 3/4 cup oil.  But with the cake mixes that have “pudding in the mix” it seems like you can use less oil.

The more oil you use the cookies tend to come out flatter.  They will puff up but one knock of the pan and they deflate.  Or when they cool they deflate.

Placing them close together on the cookie sheet makes them bake “fluffier”.  Farther apart makes them flatter and “crispier”.

WATCH THEM.  Ovens vary and 10 minutes might be too long.  What tends to happen for me is the first few pans seem to take longer than the ones after that.  My oven temperature should not be getting HOTTER, but . . . I don’t know.

I know that these last ones I made were the best ever because I didn’t leave the kitchen.  Normally I put a pan in and I set the timer and I leave the kitchen.  And with the variations I usually bake at least one pan that has brown edges.  But this time I wanted them all to be “perfect” . . . “unbrowned” . . . . so I stayed and watched them like a hawk.  I turned the pan in the oven if I thought I saw one tiny tint of color.  They were the most perfect lemon cookies I have ever made.  I know my mom would have been proud.

I have also made these with a chocolate cake mix.  Very yummy.  I have also used a white cake mix and added chocolate chips.  I have also used a white cake mix and added mint chips (well, the mint pieces from Andes).  I think I made orange ones once.  I think I have made spiced ones.  I have never tried the funfetti cake mix because that came onto the market after I kind of stopped making these.  Most boxed cakes mixes have partially hydrogenated oil in them and I avoid that.  They USED to have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them, but I haven’t seen that on the occasion that I have bought cake mix.

A boxed cake mix is just a bunch of chemicals.  I know.  If I were to make a cake I would do it from scratch.  But the point of these cookies is that they are easy.  But, as I said, I don’t make them often.  They are a treat.

In this case they were in honor of my mom.

I believe that there ARE some boxed cake mixed out there that do not have partially hydrogenated oil in them if you are interested in avoiding that.  Otherwise these are really easy to make and people seem to love them.

If you try making another version besides lemon, let me know.  I am a bit curious about the funfetti . . . .

Have you ever made cookies out of cake mix?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Bruschetta Pasta

Posted by terrepruitt on August 5, 2014

You may have read my post regarding how much I loved Dinner of Herbs eggplant bruschetta recipe. I said I could put the eggplant mixture on anything. Well, I actually bought the ingredients to make the bruschetta, I even remembered the bread! But when I arrived at home I looked in my refrigerator and realized I had some zucchini I needed to use. Plus I had some mushrooms I needed to use. So I decided this would be a great time to put the eggplant and tomato mixture with a little extra over pasta. So I am just adding zucchini and mushrooms to the way I made the bruschetta.  Here is what I made:

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Five-Vegetable PastaDance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes

Ingredients:

–1 medium or large eggplant, cubed (very small)
–4 medium sized tomatoes, cubed
–1 lb of mushrooms, sliced or coarsely chopped
–2 zucchinis, grated
–3/4 of a large onion, chopped (tiny)
—olive oil
—two tablespoons of butter
—garlic powder
—onion powder
—salt
—pepper
—sweet basil
—balsamic vinegar
—Parmesan cheese, as desired
—1 package/box/container of pasta (I prefer linguine)

Heat the oven to 450°F.

Put the eggplant on a baking sheet. (I used parchment paper on the baking sheet.) Drizzle with olive oil. Mix it up, then spread the eggplant evenly, in one layer (the eggplant I used was too large to be one layer), over the baking sheet. After baking for about 10 minutes, move the eggplant around on the pan.  After another 10 minutes, gently stir/toss the eggplant and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake for about an additional 25 minutes. Stirring or tossing if necessary to ensure even roasting. In between roasting the eggplant, spread 3/4 of the tomato out over a baking sheet. (I used parchment paper on the baking sheet.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder. (Tomatoes are too delicate to be mixed as done with the eggplant.) Bake until the edge pieces are browning.  Stirring gently, if you want.  I ended up cooking the tomatoes for about 30 minutes.

Somewhere in between cooking the mushrooms and zucchini as instructed below, you might want to cook your pasta. I prefer my pasta hot. You can plan and cook accordingly.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesWhile the other vegetables are baking, heat some olive oil and 1/2 the chopped onion in a pan. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper as desired (I use garlic salt) and cook to your liking (I like them a little caramelized). Remove from pan and set the mushrooms aside. Add two tablespoons of butter to the pan. Once the butter is melted add the grated zucchini. Cook the zucchini about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Once all the veggies are cooked to your satisfaction put half of the cooked and drained pasta in a large bowl, then add half of all of the cooked vegetables.  Add the basil, vinegar, any additional salt and/or pepper you desire.  Then add the rest of the pasta and cooked vegetables along with half of the raw tomato and onion.  Toss it all.  Taste it to see if you want more basil, vinegar, salt and/or pepper.  Put the rest of the raw tomato and onion on top. Serve the pasta sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

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This is the first recipe I wrote FIRST, then followed.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe as I was cooking, and noted them before posting.  I think layering the pasta, then veggies makes for easier mixing.  Of course, you can mix it anyway you’d like.  I loved this.  I loved the flavor as I did when I made the eggplant bruschetta.  What I would do next time is use 3 tomatoes instead of four.  The flavor of the tomatoes overpowered everything.  I am looking forward to having the leftovers, as I believe left over pasta is often better than the freshly made dish.  The flavors have time to meld.

This is an easy dish, there is nothing complicated about any part of the process, but with all of the chopping it is a bit labor intensive.  The separate roasting of the eggplant and tomatoes makes it a long process.  I didn’t want to roast them at the same time.  But if you chop while things are cooking . . . . .

I will probably make it again.

What about you?  Does it sound good?  Which of the vegetables is your favorite? 

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Melting Instructions Made Me Laugh

Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2014

I really wanted to melt white chocolate properly.  So I thought I would give it another try.  This time I looked up HOW to do it.  I thought I knew how when I tried it last time, but the way it came out — or did not come out — made me realize I needed some instructions.  CLICK HERE for instructions on how to properly melt white chocolate.  I laughed the entire way through reading it.  I think I did EVERYTHING WRONG.  That is why the candy I melted, seized.  The first thing I learned is that white “chocolate” can burn easier than actually chocolate, so I needed to melt is slowly.  I had thought that was part of the problem before . . . but funny enough, as I already mentioned I did a lot more to mess it up.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesThe instructions state the best way to melt white “chocolate” is a double boiler.  I had thought that and so I made one instead of getting mine out of the cupboard.  When that didn’t work, I got mine out of the cupboard.  You can “make” a double boiler.  You just put a heat safe bowl in a sauce pan.  The edges of the bowl should hold the bowl ABOVE the water.  See?  That is the part I got wrong on both my makeshift one and the real one.  I put both the bowl in the boiling water AND the pan.  And that is why my white chocolate started going south so fast.

When it started to go bad I turned up the heat even higher thinking it needed MORE heat to get melty.  The instructions go on to say not to allow any liquid into the “chocolate”.  They say that if you need to add something it must be warm or at least room temperature.  Any chill to the “chocolate” will make it seize.  I don’t often melt chocolate and the one time I did I remember adding butter.  So when my “chocolate” started to seize I grabbed some butter and added that . . . . cold . . . right out of the refrigerator.  As I was reading the instructions and as I am typing this, I am picturing what happened when I did this.  The mess of a “chocolate” I had turned to balls.  I was reminded of Dipping Dots.  I remembering say, “Honey!  I have Dipping Dots in here!  Ahhhh!”

So, I attempted to make the white chocolate strawberries again.  I had forgotten to purchase the champagne.  Since the melting instructions had said that any liquid, cold liquid, added to the melting/melted “chocolate” would make is seize, I decided to forget the champagne and let the strawberries dry well.  Of course, I forgot this when I went to make them at 10:00 pm.  So they didn’t dry as much as I had wanted.  And it is very difficult to dip the strawberries and deal with each one as well as keep the “chocolate” from hardening.  I did a better job this time than last time with melting the candy, but the strawberries were not as pretty.  It actually worked last time to use the gooey “chocolate” and mold it around it strawberry.  They looked better.

Well, I am determined to do this well.  So I will be doing it again.  I am lucky that strawberries and chocolate are something people really like and they overlook the not-so-prettiness of my creations.  I’ll get better.  I will do the “chocolate” better next time with the tips I learned.

–don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl/pan
–low temperature, slow melt
–no liquid
–if you need to add anything (liquid or butter) make sure it is room temperature to warm

I’ll know I will forget by the time we go somewhere else that I want to make these.  Thankfully I have a blog where I can keep my notes.  And, in addition to notes for myself, perhaps help someone else.  But I kind of get the feeling I am the only one that doesn’t know how to melt chocolate.

Do you know how to melt WHITE chocolate?  What about regular chocolate?  What is your preferred method?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Fourth of July Potluck Dessert

Posted by terrepruitt on July 5, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaIf you saw my last post you know that I was going to make something that I had seen on Facebook for a party I was going to.  I thought it would be a really quick thing.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?  Never, when I make a recipe for the first time, is it a quick thing.  Also, I was reminded why I never melt chocolate.  I don’t know how.  I think the hotter the burner/pan/water the better.  NOT THE CASE!  So I attempted to make pretty Fourth of July Strawberries.  Well, I ended up with yummy strawberries, but they were far from the pretty picture I originally saw on Facebook.  Also, they took WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY longer than I thought.  I started later than I wanted which had us arriving at the party WAY later than I wanted.  But . . . . that is what I get.  And I really do know better.  I just thought . . . . wrong, obviously.  So I made Champagne 4th of July Strawberries.  The “recipe” is here along with some things I learned and/or experienced.  Perhaps this will help you when you attempt to make them next year.

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Champagne 4th of July Strawberries

I used:

*A large container of strawberries
*mason jars
*a bottle of sparkling wine/champagne
*about 3/4 of a package of white chocolate chips
*sugar
*blue food coloring

Wash the strawberries.  Put them in the jars, fill the jars with champagne.  Seal the jars.  Let the jars set in fridge at least 24 hours.  When you are ready to make the dessert, take the strawberries out of the champagne and let them dry.  (The dryer they are the better!)  Mix the food coloring into sugar.  Melt your chocolate.  Dip the strawberries in chocolate, then the sugar.  Place on serving tray.

 

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Ok, FIRST of all . . . . one of the best things that comes out of this is strawberry flavored champagne.  Yeah, it is flat, but . . . then it is just like strawberry wine!  (Oh, that reminds me, I have mine to drink tonight—yay!)

So, originally I used chop sticks to remove the Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yogastrawberries because I just didn’t want to stick my fingers in the champagne because I was planning on drinking it later.  Only with the first jar.  Once one jar was empty of strawberries I poured the liquid in it and then just plucked the strawberries out with my fingers of the remaining jars.  I set the strawberries on a paper towel to dry.  I patted them “dry”.  They DID NOT dry.  The chocolate did not really want to stick to the strawberry.

I do not know how to melt chocolate, so something that should have taken a few minutes took forever.  I tried three different methods and the last one . . . .the one I should have started with . . . proved to be the best, but still, as most people know (except me) HIGH heat is not good for chocolate or white “chocolate”.  But I was thinking that it would get hard while I was dealing with each strawberry so I wanted it really “melty”.  Most of you will not have the trouble with the chocolate I had.  I had seen some recipes with frosting instead of chocolate, that does not sound as good to me so I opted for the chocolate.  While I was struggling with the chocolate I kept thinking, “I should have gone with the frosting!  I should have gone with the frosting!”

I ended up having to SPREAD the chocolate on each strawberry.  So I would spread, then stir, then spread, then stir all the while battling my “too hot” chocolate.  After the first tray my husband walked by and bravely said, “Can I do anything to help you?”  And I made him stir while I spread the chocolate on the rest of the strawberries.

I prepared WAY too much sugar.  So that is why I did not give an amount in the above “recipe” because I have no idea.  I later saw something that said 1/4 of a cup.  I think I make 3/4 of a cup of sugar.  Also, I couldn’t find any type of sugar in the store besides powdered, regular, and extra fine.  So I just used regular sugar.

I found that pouring the sugar on worked well.  I used a spoon to pour it on the end of the strawberry.  Although, I think if you properly melted the chocolate and waited a bit before dipping in the sugar, it would be fine.  But with my seized chocolate (see I knew WHAT it was doing, I just didn’t know WHY) the pouring method worked great.

Put the strawberries down where you want them to remain.  Once they were on the tray they were NOT moving.  Again, that could be because of the overheated chocolate.  I will try this again.  In fact, I didn’t use all the chocolate so I am going to attempt it again.  Although I am using my seized, crumpling, leftover chocolate . . . so we will see.

The people at the party were very kind and said the strawberries were pretty.  I think they were admiring the colors not the texture.  And then once a bite was taken it didn’t matter.  Chocolate, whether white, milk, dark, or semi-sweet, on a strawberry is really yummy.  So these were ok.  Not the pretty thing I envisioned, but they were yummy.

And I learned a lot.  I look forward to my next attempt!

So, how was your Fourth of July?  Does a white chocolate dipped champagne strawberry sound good to you?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

What To Bring To That Fourth Of July Party?

Posted by terrepruitt on July 3, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaIt is the Fourth of July . . . .well tomorrow, but if you are going to a Fourth of July party you might have your “dish” decided upon.  Or you might not.  What are you bringing?  Not that you have to bring something, it just seems very traditional to have a BBQ potluck type of thing on Fourth of July.  So I was wondering what you were bringing.  I saw something on Facebook that I want to bring to the party I am attending, but then the hostess has indicated that she is having a “homemade cake that is red white and blue. (Strawberry, blueberry & almond, with stars & stripes inside!)”  That KIND OF is what I wanted to bring . . . . strawberries with red, white, and blue.  So I decided to bring “my” bean salad which is funny because it is really is a recipe from a friend of the hostess.   (Click here for the bean salad recipe.)  That friend is not attending . . . . . whew!  Naw, she wouldn’t mind that I was bringing “her” recipe.  But I really want to bring that “dish” I saw on Facebook, too.  Since I am unable to really think about being creative for a potluck, I am going to bring it.  It is a dessert type dish that needs at least 24 hours to “percolate”.  So we will see how it comes out.  And, I will be sharing about the adventure of it.  Even though it is really simple I have already taken pictures of the first step with the intention of posting about it.  Of course, it will be after the Fourth of July . . . . . but these treats are festive and can be “adjusted” color-wise to make a pretty plate for any occasion.

I needed something simple that I didn’t have to think about.  I have some work to do and I am gearing up for a really busy month of subbing and I am dealing with that “stuff”.  So the post on Facebook was perfect, until I received the menu.  So I did look for other ideas, but was not feeling very inspired.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaEven though I had already purchased the ingredients for the “other” strawberry thing, I was doing a search for things to make that would be festive I found this an “American Flag” made of kabobs of blueberries (as the stars portion of the flag), strawberries, and bananas.  The strawberries and bananas made up the stripped portion of the flag.  It looks so easy to do, and really very pretty and patriotic.  Click over to Menus4Moms to see the full picture and get some ideas on how to do it.  I am providing a tease of it so you will be sure to click over.  I am making a note of it here . . . . . like I often do so I won’t forget about it.  My blog is the easiest place for me to make notes of things.  I use it all the time for my recipes.  And grocery shopping when I want to make the recipes.

So, enough about my Fourth of July potluck party situation . . . . . what about you?  What are you making?  What are you taking?  I am excited to hear.  I know that if you comment and tell me I will be able to refer to it for next year . . . that is if you are doing a “Patriotic Dish”.  If you are doing something yummy, but not red, white, and blue, I can refer to it the next time I want to make something yummy.  So what do you got?

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Beef A Top A Squash

Posted by terrepruitt on June 7, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaAnother quick post.  I often have a vague idea of what I am going to cook for dinner then I forget as the day goes on.  Either I am teaching Nia, learning a Nia routine, or at the moment going through my mom’s stuff.  So I find myself walking into the kitchen and not knowing what to cook.  Yesterday I was on the phone with my husband and it was already past starting-dinner-time and I didn’t even know what to make.  I had purchased some ground beef but had no plan as to what to do with it and I had forgotten about it.  When I looked in the fridge I saw it and the butternut squash I bought.  Ooo!  Stuffed squash.  Actually it is more like Topped Squash.  It is somewhat easy . . . except for making space in squash.  I was trying to do it in a manner that saved the squash innards for roasting (perhaps you will notice the cut up pieces of squash in the picture).  That was the difficult part.  Needing so much concentration I forgot to take pictures.  I emptied out the small portion where the seeds are (easy), but I wanted more room for meat (not so easy).  So I cooked then cut (I would not recommend that).  I would recommend just skipping that part and making room using a spoon before baking it.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga______________________

Beef Topped Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash
olive oil
1/4 of an onion, chopped
1 lb of beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
1 cup of shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 450° F.  Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds and enough of the insides to make a “boat” in which to place the beef.  Coat both sides of each half in olive oil.  Salt both sides of each half.  Place each half face down on parchment paper on pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, heat the oil and onion.  Once the onion is translucent, add the beef.  Add the salt and garlic.  Cook the beef until it is almost completely cooked.  Add the pepper.

When the first 15 minutes are done, turn the squash over and bake for another 15 minutes, salting again, at this time, if that is your preference.  After the second 15 minutes of cooking . . . . check the squash.  If it seems cooked all the way through, salt it again and then fill each half with the beef and top with shredded cheese.  Bake until the cheese is melted.

This is very rich and very filling.

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I didn’t think about how much this was like the stuffed pumpkin I once cooked.  Although the stuffed pumpkin was much more “complicated”, as in it had more ingredients and a bit more complex flavors.  This was very good, I thought.  And since we usually eat ground turkey and not ground beef that much this was very rich.  I feel that beef is more “rich” than turkey.  It was very good.  And, had I not been trying to save the portion of squash that needs to come out to make room for the meat it would have been easy.  So if you are not interested in making nice chunks of squash to roast along side the halves this is an easy recipe.  And very yummy and rich.  Good dietary fiber!

Do you like stuff/topped squash?  What would you top yours with?

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Italian Chicken

Posted by terrepruitt on June 5, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaI recently made lasagna with tomato sauce using the recipe I posted here My First Tomato Sauce Lasagna.  So yes, I use jarred sauce because otherwise I would never make the lasagna because I am kinda not a big fan of tomatoes so I know I would not make a good sauce.  I like this one (pictured).  I didn’t use the whole jar though.  I didn’t measure either.  I just put what I thought was about three cups or more, but I wanted to save a little sauce for pasta.  We don’t usually have pasta with red/tomato sauce, because . . . . well, you know.  But the other night I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner.  I had just cooked ground turkey and if it were just me, I could eat that almost every night, but recently I was told by my husband that he could not.  So . . . . there was chicken in the freezer, but it was not in a marinade bag so . . . .what to do?  Then I remember that ol’ recipe where you pour tomato sauce over the chicken and top it with cheese.  Just like the Salsa Chicken, I had never done that because . . . . well, you know.  So I decided to try it because it would be something new to us even though it is an old recipe.  So I made Tomato Sauce Chicken, I think of it as Italian Chicken.

So easy and so good, just like the Salsa Chicken.  This time I had what I think of as regular chicken breast (instead of the thin ones I had for the Salsa Chicken), but I decided to cut them up into smaller pieces because I was going to serve them over pasta.  I didn’t have that much sauce, but that was fine with me.  After I made it and ate it, I realized that I probably could have been eating something like it all along as long as I hadn’t followed the recipe and drown the meat in tomato sauce.  The little bit I had and used was perfect, to me.

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaItalian Chicken

Two Chicken breast, cut into pieces
Poultry spice
garlic salt
3/4 cup (or so) Tomato Sauce
3/4 cup (or so) Shredded Cheese
Pasta (cooked to you liking)

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Spread out the chicken pieces in a baking dish.  Sprinkle the chicken with the poultry spice and garlic salt.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Take the dish out of the oven and turn each piece of chicken over.  Sprinkle the chicken with the poultry spice and garlic salt. Spread the tomato sauce over each piece of chicken.  If you LIKE tomato sauce use more.  Then top each piece of chicken with cheese.  Bake until chicken is done to your liking.  I baked it for 10 more minutes.  Turned off the oven and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

I served it over linguine.  I put some of the tomatoes and the “juice” on the pasta.

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Yes, this recipe is easy.  And yes, you can figure it out on your own.  You can add and subtract, but sometimes do you just need ideas?  You need a starting point?  I do.  I actually have always thought about trying this but my dislike of tomatoes kept me from doing it.  But now I am more tolerant of them.  I would imagine it would be really good with mozzarella cheese, but we had the Mexican Blend type of shredded cheese.  And that was actually really good.

The chicken we buy from Costco is packaged in twos and they are rather large so we have enough for another meal.  Yeah . . . you probably know I love leftovers as much as you know I don’t really like tomatoes.

So what are you having for dinner tonight?

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Salsa Chicken

Posted by terrepruitt on May 22, 2014

So my niece is learning to enjoy cooking — at least I think she is learning to enjoy cooking.  She keeps telling me about one of her favorite recipes right now.  Salsa Chicken.  I am not sure where she got the recipe, probably Pinterest since she is young and it is all the rage with people right now.  I know I have seen the recipe in the past, but I have never really liked tomatoes enough to try it.  You might be familiar with me and tomatoes.  I have grown a little more tolerate of them.  Also recently I purchased a salsa from the deli section and it was very good.  It was a garlic salsa.  So I was thinking that it would be great in my niece’s recipe.  But, of course, when I went to the store they didn’t have it.  I bought a different one, it was a “medium” salsa and it proved to be too hot for me.  But I just took a little of it off my chicken and it was fine.  Super yummy in fact.  I see why my niece likes this recipe.  It is super flavorful.  It is easy and really yummy.  So here is how I made the Salsa Chicken.
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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaSALSA CHICKEN:

~4 boneless, skinless thin chicken breast filets
~one package of taco seasoning
~two cloves of garlic, minced
~16 ounces of salsa
~1 cup cheddar cheese
~Cilantro (optional)
~Sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.
Place chicken breast in a 9×13 (or similar) baking dish. Season both sides of chicken with taco seasoning.  Sprinkle garlic on chicken.  Cover with salsa.  Bake for 20 minutes, until chicken is almost fully cooked. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until melted and chicken is fully cooked. To serve, top with cilantro and sour cream if desired.

Serve over rice.

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The store I was at only had thin breast filets.  That is why I used them instead of regular chicken breast halves.  So with the THIN filet I cut the baking time from the original “25-35 minutes” to just 20.  Nothing ruins a great chicken recipe like over-cooked chicken.  So, keep in mind that if you are using thicker breasts the time will probably be a little longer than 20 minutes.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaAlso the recipe my niece gave me called for 4 tablespoons of taco seasoning.  I measured out the package and I thought it was only 2.5 to three.  But whatever it was . . . it fully covered the chicken.  So this can be another one of those things that you can adjust to your liking.

I didn’t measure the salsa.  I just put enough on to cover all of the meat.  I had a 20 ounce container and I used most of it.  So I am guessing it was about 16 ounces.  Again, adjust for your tastes.

And since I had imagined using the garlic salsa, I put garlic on the chicken.  Not a necessary ingredient.

I did use the cilantro, but I don’t eat sour cream.  I bet if I did it would have helped cool down the “too hot” salsa.  My hubby loves sour cream and he used it.

My niece said she served the chicken with “FarmHouse Mexican rice and corn”.  I don’t even know what that is.  I just used plain white rice.  I spooned the liquid from the pan onto the rice.  So the rice was salsa-y.

It was very good.  My hubby loved it so now I have another recipe to add to my menu regulars.  It is so easy.

I wanna thank my niece for motivating me to try this.  My husband also wants to thank her because — again, super yummy.  And since it is so easy it will be a regular dish here at our house.

So . . . what’s for dinner?

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga

 

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