Greek Pasta Salad

I made this easy pasta salad for the annual church picnic today and it was a big hit.  This version has salami in it, but you can leave that out for a wonderful vegetarian option. This recipe makes 20 servings, so you might want to halve or quarter it for a family-size dish.

Ingredients:

1 lb farfalle (bow tie pasta)
1 lb mini farfalle
2 cups fresh organic broccoli florets
1 cup chopped sweet red, orange, and yellow salad peppers
1 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced in half longways
1 cup genoa salami, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled low-fat feta
4 tbs organic balsamic vinaigrette

How I Made It:

Cook the pasta according to the box. With 90 seconds left to go, add the broccoli to blanch (for that bright green color).  Drain the pasta and broccoli in a colander and immediately rinse with cold water.

In a very large bowl (preferably one for which you have a lid) toss the pasta and broccoli with half the balsamic vinaigrette.  Add the peppers, olives, salami, and feta.  Toss again.  Add the last of the dressing, and give it a good final toss.

Keep cool until ready to serve.

How It Turned Out:

Picnic perfect!!

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Rose Ganache

I’ve discovered that I don’t have to use buttermilk in my cakes. Which is good, because buttermilk is gross (I mean, it’s sour milk!).  Instead, I use an equal substitution of low-fat or non-fat greek yogurt, which has twice the protein.

These little cakes have a rich vanilla taste and a moist texture, finished with a fancy white chocolate ganache.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup low-fat plain or vanilla greek yogurt
2 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ganache
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 ounces white chocolate chips
2 tbs Rose’s Grenadine

How I Made Them:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a standing mixer.  While that’s going, sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Then add the dry ingredients, alternating with the yogurt.  When the batter is smooth, add the vanilla.

Fill the cupcake cups three quarters of the way full.  Bake on the center rack for 22 minutes or until a cake tester comes away clean.

While the cupcakes bake, bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a heavy bottom sauce pan.  Slowly whisk in the white chocolate until you have a smooth and creamy ganache. Add the grenadine at the end, whisking to blend thoroughly.  You should have a pale pink ganache.

Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and chill for 45-60 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.  When the ganache has set, beat it into a fluffy frosting with a hand mixer.

Frost the cupcakes with a thin bladed frosting spatula, and decorate with pretty sprinkles or pearls.

How They Turned Out:

Sweet!

 

Strawberry Feast

Summertime is Strawberry Time.  I remember going as a little girl to a local patch with my Nanny and picking strawberries (popping them into my mouth instead of the little bucket she gave me), and relishing in winter the super-sweet strawberry jam she made the summers before.  Maybe this is why I love them so much.

Tonight, when I found myself with 3 quarts of strawberries fixing to round the bend, I decided to make a feast of them.  Two strawberry sauces and one lovely fresh salad later, we had a supper perfect for a summer evening.

Strawberry Salad

Toss organic baby spinach and spring greens with almonds, feta, and sliced strawberries. Dress with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Voila!

Salmon in Strawberry White Wine Sauce

This is a basic packet salmon in parchment recipe (25 minutes in a 400 degree oven). The innovation is a sauce made of white wine (chardonnay is what I had on hand), sliced strawberries, a pinch of ginger, and 1 tbs of honey.  Combine these ingredients in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat, stirring periodically until it begins to simmer and the sauce turns a lovely strawberry pink. Spoon the sauce over the salmon in the parchment (or foil) packet, seal, and cook until done though.

My supper companions said that the fish was moist without being mushy, and flavorful without being too sweet.  Seconds were had, so I’m thinking this concoction was a winner.

Strawberry Pinot Sauce

I also made a red wine sauce with 1 cup of Irony Pinot Noir and 1 cup pureed strawberries, brought to a boil in a saucepan and then slowly reduced. I used this one to finish a pan-cooked boneless sirloin steak.  Also yummy, but not as pretty as the salmon with sauce (hence, no picture).

 

Orange Caramel Cheesecake

This cheesecake is a sweet blend of vanilla, orange, and caramel, just right for Spring.

Ingredients:

1 box Anna’s Orange Thins
1 stick of organic unsalted butter, melted
3 8oz boxes of reduced fat cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup or non-fat plain Greek yogurt
zest of 1 orange
1 tbs vanilla
1/4 cup Hershey’s Caramel Topping
whipped cream (optional)

How I Made It:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the cookies in a food processor and pulse until you have all crumbs.  Add the melted butter and pulse until thoroughly combined. Press the cookie crumbs evenly into the bottom of a spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove and set aside.

In a standing mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat until combined.  Reduce the speed and beat the eggs in one at a time.  Add the yogurt, then the zest and vanilla and beat until smooth and combined.  You’ll have a thinner batter than you usually expect.

Pour the batter into the spring form pan. Knock the pan gently on the counter to release any air bubbles.  Put the pan on a cookie sheet and place it in the center of the oven.  Bake for 40 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center is set.  Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake sit until the oven is cool.

Put the cheesecake in the refrigerator until you are ready to decorate and serve it.  When you are ready to serve the cake, cover the top (filling any cracks) with caramel and whipped cream, if desired.

How It Turned Out:

Yummy!  The lighter cream cheese and yogurt help keep it from being too wicked a treat (just 10 WW points per slice).

Makes 12 servings.

 

Herbed Halibut

This lemon-herb concoction is easy to whip up in a food processor and is great on fish or chicken.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs fresh wild Alaska halibut, cut into 8 fillets
the peel of one lemon
6 sprigs of fresh organic thyme
1 handful of Italian parsley
1 tbs Land o’ Lakes light butter with canola oil, melted

How I Made It:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Line a large baking dish with aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick spray.  Arrange the halibut in the dish.

Because you’re going to use the food processor, you can just peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler.  Combine the lemon peel, thyme, and parsley in the food processor and pulse until it starts to come together in a paste.  Slowly add the melted butter as you continue to process the lemon and herbs.  When you have a lovely fragrant paste, you’re done.

With a silicon pastry brush, cover the halibut with the lemon-herb concoction.  Bake the halibut covered for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 10 minutes or until the halibut is cooked through.

How It Turned Out:

The fish was firm and flavorful, and paired well with a spring vegetable pasta.

 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal No-Bakes

Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you — these are decadent and rich cookies.

Ingredients:                                                                               

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup 2% milk
4 tbs Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup organic no stir creamy peanut butter
3 cups quick cooking rolled oats

How I Made Them:

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the milk, sugar and cocoa powder and stir to combine completely. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in the peanut butter and then the oats.  Stir to combine.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop the cookie batter onto the paper using a large spoon, using the back of the spoon to smooth the cookie into a circle.  Let the cookies set in the refrigerator for 2 hours or so.

They will last for four or five days in a tight tupperware — but you won’t have any left that long after folks get a taste.

 

Lemon Berry Trifle

This berry trifle rests on the very BEST lemon cake recipe I’ve come across — and of course it’s from Ina Garten.

Whip up this lemon cake (I’m feeling lazy tonight, so I’m not retyping it here). Instead of loaf pans, use a sheet cake pan. When the cake is cool, cut it into one inch squares.  In a pretty glass dessert dish, layer the cake with fresh berries and whipped cream (make your own — it’s worth it) and VOILA!