Off Topic - Swimming Pool Cake

I just wanted to post a couple of photos of the cake I made for today's Moms Group's 2-year anniversary. The theme was supposed to be pool party, but it ended up being too chilly to swim. But that didn't stop me from making a pool-themed cake.

I've been baking and decorating cakes as a hobby since I was 10 years old. It's a royal pain in the ass (too many ingredients, too many tools, and way too much clean-up at the end), but sooooooo fun and rewarding.

This is absolutely NOT SBD legal.  The cake is a devil's food chocolate cake from this Food Network recipe.  It's absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it.  The frosting is a simple buttercream, and the "water" is Wilton's piping gel with blue food coloring added to it.  The kiddos are gingerbread cookies iced with a simple powdered-sugar-and-milk cookie icing.

Vietnamese Turkey Stuffed Tomatoes

This is based on a Vietnamese favorite of mine growing up. There are as many variations of this as there are Vietnamese moms, and even my version is not exactly like my mom's.  Traditionally this is made with ground pork, but I prefer ground turkey myself.  Serve over brown rice, or whole wheat couscous in the picture below.

Vietnamese Turkey Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil 
• 8 - 10 smallish-mediumish tomatoes (about 4" - 5" diameter)
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• fish sauce
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

• Cut a 2" hole in the top of each tomato and remove all seeds (you can leave the membranes).  Set aside.
• In a large deep skillet, the one you'll use to eventually cook the tomatoes in (you should be able to put a lid on it without squishing the tomatoes, sautee the onion and garlic in a splash of oil, until translucent and fragrant.  Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl, mix ground turkey with the sauteed onion and garlic.  Add fish sauce to taste (I use approx 2 tablespoons).
• Stuff each tomato with turkey mixture.  Over-stuff a little bit to have the pretty seared meat muffin-top (okay, so maybe the words "meat" and "muffin" shouldn't be put next to each other, you get the gist).
• In the skillet you previously used to sautee the onion and garlic, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat.
• Place the tomatoes meat-side-down in a single layer in the skillet and sear for a couple of minutes.
• Once the meat side is nicely seared and brown, turn down the heat to medium, add the water and a few more dashes of fish sauce.
• Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until the meat is thoroughly cooked and the tomatoes are nice and soft but still keep (somewhat) their shape.  (If your tomatoes are bigger, you'll need to add more cook time.)

If you end up having extra turkey mixture after stuffing all your tomatoes, just roll them into little 1" balls and throw them into the pan next to the tomatoes.  They'll cook up nice and tender.

Whole Wheat Crepes

I went out for crepes twice in the last two weeks.  They're a treat for me, they remind me of the semester I lived abroad in France and all the other trips I made there with family as well as for school.  I don't own a crepe maker, nor will I ever, because they're expensive little suckers.  Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered you can make crepes in just a regular ol' pan (non-stick, preferably).

I came across this recipe a while ago and immediately liked it above the rest because 1. it uses whole wheat flour instead of white, and 2. it looked very easy.  I made some modifications from the original recipe to make it as South Beach friendly as possible.  I haven't tried the original version.  This modified version isn't exactly like what you'd find on the streets of Paris, but it is very good and will do when the craving hits.

The original recipe says to use a 7" skillet; I only have a 6" one and a 9" one.  The 6" pan was perfect for the Nutella-banana dessert crepes, but way too small for a ham and cheese dinner crepe, so I used the 9" pan for those. 

Tonight's dinner featured ham and cheddar crepes (with a pile of kale chips on the side), followed by Nutella-banana rolls.  And in case you were wondering, no, Nutella is not an SBD-approved item.  But it's so good.  ;-)

Note: cooking times are very approximate.  You'll need to experiment to see what works with your particular stove set-up and heat source.  After you make a couple, you'll get the hang of how long you'll need to cook them on each side.

Whole Wheat Crepes
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup EggBeaters
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons Smart Balance, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (Optional for making dessert crepes.  Omit for savory crepes.) 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (Optional for making dessert crepes.  Omit for savory crepes.)
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• Your favorite filling ingredients (diced ham with shredded swiss or cheddar, leftover shredded rotisserie chicken with small chunks of brie, Nutella and banana, sliced strawberries, etc.)

Directions:

• With an electric blender, blend the EggBeaters, milk, Smart Balance, salt and optional sugar and vanilla for 15 seconds.
• Sprinkle in the flour and blend for 30 seconds until smooth.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate from 1 to 4 hours.
• When you're ready to make the crepes, place your non-stick pan over medium heat for about 30 seconds, until a light sprinkle of water on it sizzles.
• Stir the batter well.  Pour 2 tablespoonfuls of the batter into the heated skillet and quickly swirl it around so the batter evenly coats the bottom.
• Cook for about 1 minute until the crepe edges are golden brown and separate easily from the pan.
• Flip it over (with your fingers or a spatula) and cook for another 30 seconds.
• While it's cooking on the second side, quickly sprinkle your favorite filling ingredients over half of the crepe.  When it's done cooking after 30 seconds, fold the crepe in half over your filling.
• Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

If you're not eating by yourself and want to be able to sit down and enjoy the meal with others, I recommend transferring each crepe as you make it onto a baking sheet and keeping them warm in a low-heat oven.  Once you've completed the batch, you can plate the warm crepes and serve them all at once.

Bon appetit!

Spinach and Artichoke Orzo

I saw this beautiful little bag of organic whole wheat orzo at the store last week and just HAD to get it.  And tonight it was the perfect accompaniment to my fresh-out-of-the-oven batch of eggplant parmesan.  I'm a happy girl.


Spinach and Artichoke Orzo
Made up recipe based on what was in my pantry/freezer

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat orzo
• 1 can (14oz.) artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1 handful frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• Tastefully Simple Roasted Garlic Infused Oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• juice of 1/4 lime

Directions:

• Prepare the orzo to al dente, per package instructions.  Drain.
• In a large skillet over high heat, combine the orzo with the artichokes, spinach, a couple tablespoons of oil, and seasoned salt to taste.  Toss for a few minutes until everything is piping hot.
• Remove from heat and squeeze on some fresh lime juice. Toss.
• Serve immediately.

If you don't have any Tastefully Simple Roasted Garlic Infused Oil, just sautee a clove or two of crushed garlic in some olive oil before adding in the orzo and veggies.

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola

Love love love this recipe!  Love the crunch.  Love that it's not overly sweet.  Love that it's healthy.  And oh, did I already mention that I love the crunch?  :-)  The tangy dried cranberries go perfectly with the slightly sweet crunch.  It's great as a yogurt topping, or with milk in the morning in place of your normal cereal, or just eaten straight from the container.

I can't seem to find my 9"x9" square metal pan -- I think it's still in one of our storage boxes somewhere.  So I just used my bundt pan; worked just fine.  I could have used my sheet pan, but opted against that since it would have been a little difficult to stir thoroughly without the stuff going overboard the shallow sides.

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola
From this recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked rolled oats
• 1/4 cup whole almonds, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked buckwheat groats
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the dried cranberries.
• Spread loosely into a 9"x9" metal baking pan (or in this case, a bundt pan)
• Bake for 1 hour, stirring thoroughly at 30 minutes.  (I stirred again at 45 mins.)
• Remove from oven and stir in cranberries.
• Stir occasionally while cooling to reduce clumping.
• Cool completely before putting into an airtight container.

Tip: After you add the oil, use the same measuring cup for the honey.  The residual "lube" from the oil will help the honey slide out of the measuring cup much better, no scraping required.

Cucumber and Mango Salad

This salad is best made with baby/persian/pickling cucumbers and green mangoes.

Baby/persian/pickling cucumbers because they're crunchier than regular cukes, have thinner skin, and have no seeds (well, technically they do have seeds but they're tiny and not as noticeable as the ones in regular cukes).

Green mangoes because of the tang and crunch. Pick a mango that has dark green and red skin, but most importantly, make sure it's FIRM. 

Cucumber and Mango Salad

Ingredients:

• 3 persian cucumbers, diced (about 2 cups worth)
• 2 medium green mangoes, peeled and diced (about 2 cups' worth)
• balsamic vinegar
• salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine the cukes, mango, and enough balsamic vinegar to liberally coat everything.
• Add salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste.
• Toss well and let sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy.

This salad keeps well in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days, but any longer than that and it loses its crunch.  It's actually quite delicious if made the day before and left to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Crockpot Roast

This is a spin on pot roast that's cooked in the crockpot. I've done many different variations on this, but here's tonight's version.

Crockpot Roast

Ingredients:

• 2 pound chuck roast, all visible fat removed
•  Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• olive oil
• 5 medium carrots, thickly sliced
• 6 medium red potatoes, cubed (omit if you are strictly following the SBD, or use sweet potatoes)
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 6-oz. packages sliced mushrooms
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, reserve 1 cup of the juice

Directions:

• Liberally season both sides of the chuck roast.  Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sear the meat on both sides.
• In a crockpot, place the carrots and potatoes.  Season with TSSS.
• Place the seared meat on top of the veggies and add a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce.
• Add the mushrooms, diced tomatoes and reserved juice.  Season with TSSS.
• Cook on low heat for 8 hours.  Towards the last hour, stir the veggies with a wooden spoon.

In the past, I've also added a large sliced onion, celery, as well as peas.

Ahi Tuna Sandwich

Another way to prepare and eat fish. I love fish. :-)  The goat cheese gives this sandwich a lovely zing that goes really well with the tuna, but goat cheese is pretty mild, so you'll have to be rather generous with it.

In hindsight, I guess I should have seared the sides of the tuna just for photo presentation purposes.  If you look closely, though, you'll see I did get a nice brown crust on the top of the fish (and on the bottom, too, I promise), if not the sides.

Ahi Tuna Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Orowheat 100% whole wheat sandwich thins
• goat cheese
• olive oil
• fresh Ahi tuna fillets cut into patty-size pieces
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• baby spinach, washed and dried
• tomato slices

Directions:

• Spread goat cheese generously (generously!) over the bottom half of each sandwich thin.
• Place the sandwich thins in the toaster and toast until desired crispiness.  The goat cheese will soften but won't necessarily melt.
• Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat in a large pan.
• Lightly season both sides of fillets.  Place in pan and cook 2-3 minutes on each side until fish is nicely seared on the outside and fully cooked on the inside.**
• Place fillet patties onto the cheesed sandwich halves.  Add spinach and tomato slices and top with the other halves of the toasted sandwich thins.

**Note: unless you are purchasing sushi-grade tuna, please cook your fish all the way through for safety reasons.  This includes all fish purchased at mainstream supermarkets.  If you like seared tuna, where the fish is raw/rare inside, you'll need to buy sushi-grade tuna at specialty stores.

Sauteed Kale and Tomato

Kale.  It's my new favorite green.  Seriously.  It's robust, flavorful, and chewy and crunchy at the same time.  I had some beautiful tomatoes today so I thought I'd sauté them up together.  I loved it.  Hubby didn't care for the tomato part, so I'll try this again another time without the tomato (maybe with mushrooms?).

Sautéed Kale and Tomato

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 3 medium tomatoes, sliced and seeded
• A big bunch of kale, chopped into bite-size pieces, washed and drained
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion

Directions:

• In a large pan, drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
• Add the tomato and sauté on medium-high heat until soft (approximately 5 minutes).
• Add the kale, a few dashes of TSSS and a few dashes of TSOO. 
• Sauté until the kale is soft but still slightly crunchy/chewy (approximately 3 minutes).
• Serve immediately.

We had this tonight as a side to some Simple Snapper and yams.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

I normally would make this with a few cloves of freshly-crushed garlic, but I don't have any on hand at the moment, so I just used garlic powder (I'm also out of Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic - gasp!). Ghetto, I know. My apologies. :-)

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed (I used 1 tablespoon of garlic powder today)
• 2-3 teaspoons of dried rosemary
• a few dashes of Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• 1.5 lb pork tenderloin, all visible fat removed

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, seasoned salt and olive oil so it forms a paste.
• Rub the mixture all over the pork.
• Place pork on a sheet pan and roast until a meat thermometer registers 155 degree F (45 minutes to 1 hour).
• Let the pork rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

I like to add veggies to the pan about 20 minutes before the end of cooking time, so they can roast alongside the pork and soak up any of the yummy juices.  Today's green of choice: Brussels sprouts.  YUM!