Holiday Baking: Cranberry marshmallow seed squares November 22, 2008

So, everyone loves cranberries, right? They’re wonderfully tart and seasonal – not only in taste, but colour as well. These super simple squares combine the tartness of cranberries against the sweetness of marshmallow, the saltiness of salted pumpkin seeds, and the wonderful taste of puffed wheat, a very low calorie cereal (less than half the carbs, sugar and calories of rice krispies per cup!!!) finished with some chocolate sprinkles, and not only are these tasty, they look really festive! Cut into small pieces and bring these little squares in as a great treat for your co-workers! Best yet, they’re as easy to make as rice krispie squares.

Ingredients:
32 large marshmallows
1/4 cup butter/marg
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups dried cranberries
1.5 cups salted pumpkin seeds (check the bulk section of your grocery store)
6-7 cups puffed wheat
Brown décor sprinkles

Method:
In a large pot, melt butter and marshmellows, stir in vanilla, mixing very well.
Stir in all other ingredients except sprinkles
Press into a large Pyrex pan, tamping down mixture firmly.
Sprinkle the… Sprinkles over the bars.
Let set. Cut into 1″ squares.
Enjoy!!

Pork Tenderloin Salad November 18, 2008

An easy asian style salad!

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin, sliced into medalions
6 strawberry tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1.5 cups bean sprouts
1 bell pepper, sliced into matchsticks
1/2 head lettuce, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method:
Sauté pork with soy sauce, and liberally dust with curry powder. Once cooked through, set aside.
Chop up all your veggies and toss together.
Combine the vinegar, sesame oil and powdered ginger, pour over veggies.
Top with pork and sprinkle almonds over top.
Yum!

Best Cauliflower Ever November 12, 2008

So most people I know don’t like cauliflower. It tends to be bland. In the words of my friend Rob, it tastes like weeds, and in the words of my friend Marcia, it’s broccoli’s gross albino cousin. However, I’ve always liked the stuff, so I decided to make up a way to cook it that makes a regular person want to eat it, and boy, did I suceed!! This was so good, for the first time in his life, Adam has thirds of cauliflower! If you serve this to company, be prepared to give out the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
2 cups double strength chicken stock (to make, simply dissolve 2 boullion cubes in 2 cups boiling water.)
1 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
1.5 tsp honey

Method:

1. Chop up cauliflower into medium sized pieces, and place into a large sauté pan.
2. Pour chicken stock into pan, and cover with a lid, or if you don’t have a lid, or the pan is too full, use some tinfoil to cover the pan.
3. Loach the cauliflower over medium high heat until it’s tender – about 5 to seven minutes. When you can easily stick a fork in it, it’s done.
4. Fish out the cauliflower with a dotted spoon, put it in a large dish in a hot oven to keep warm.
5. Turn the heat all the way up, and start reducing the remaining chicken stock in the pan.
6. When thestick is halfway reduced, add the mustard. Stir, continue to cook down.
7. When the stock reduces by half again, add the honey, and cook for about one more minute.
8. Remove the cauliflower from the oven, and drizzle the reduced honey mustard sauce over the califlower.
9. Serve with a slotted spoon and enjoy. Serves 4 as a side, or 2 in place of a starch.

Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberries, Roasted Garlic and Herbs November 11, 2008

I love meatloaf. It’s easy to put together, you throw it into the oven and forget about it, and you can make it as fancy (as in this version) or as simple as you want. 

I am also convinced I’ve found the perfect meat for meatloaf – extra lean ground turkey. I picked up a package on a whim at Safeway, since it’s hard enough to find ground turkey or chicken, and to see extra lean ground turkey is even more rare. 

What makes extra lean ground turkey so amazingly perfect for meatloaf is threefold:

1. Much better for you than ground beef
2. Sticks together so well you can dispense with breadcrumbs and egg
3. Doesn’t overwhelm more subtle flavours, like ground beef would

I came up with the basic idea for the loaf while at the gym, and then did my usual highly experimental cooking when I got home to throw it together. I realize most people balk at the idea of serving meatloaf when entertaining, but this came together so well, I would serve this at a dinner party.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic, roasted (instructions to follow)
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/3 packet onion soup mix 
• approx 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries (or fresh, if you have them)
• ground pepper to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350

2. Roast garlic! Take three cloves of garlic and peel them, then put them in a pan and put the pan into your hot oven until the garlic is golden brown – about 10-15 minutes should do it. Check on your garlic a couple of times. Once golden, remove garlic from oven, let cool a bit, then chop/smash into small chunks.

3. In a bowl, combine ground turkey, rosemary, sage, pepper, onion soup mix, cranberries and roasted garlic. Note – if you use fresh cranberries, they will be quite tart. Depends if you like that sort of thing. I do. Mix together until ingredients are well mixed and you can form a loaf that stays together easily. 

4. Put the loaf in the pan you roasted the garlic in, then put that in your 350 degree oven, and bake for about 35-40 minutes until cooked all the way through.

5. Slice and enjoy! Smells divine, tastes like Christmas, and is low in fat and calories for a comfort food like meatloaf – served two ravenous roommates.

Funtime Bonus – to serve this at a dinner party:

• Double the recipe
• Instead of making one loaf, make four mini loaves
• Put a tsp of cranberry sauce into the centre of each loaf before baking
• Garnish with crispy fried sage and prosciutto ham, or wrap each loaf in prosciutto before baking!

Whole Wheat Orange Yogurt Muffins November 9, 2008

So, I don’t bake much. Baking is an exact science, and I can’t resist playing around with a recipe when I make it. This is a heavily adapted muffin – it started out life without whole wheat flour, and with less salt. Not that I am getting all Paula Deen on you guys, it just needed more salt. There still isn’t a ton of it. I also added more fruit flavour, because half the fun of muffins is how fruity they are.
At first this recipe made 8 sort of small muffins, so I doubled it, and it makes 12 huge muffins now.

Supplies:
3 cups whole wheat flour
3.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar or splenda
4 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp oil
2 tsp grated orange rind
2 cups low fat fruit yogurt (I used raspberry)

Method:
1. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
3. Beat eggs and sugar together until very well blended.
4. Add vanilla, oil, orange rind, and yogurt to egg and sugar, and mix until well combined.
5. Add dry ingredients in thirds, stirring well.
6. Divide mixture between 12 muffin tins, each lightly sprayed with non stick cooking spray.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Enjoy! These muffins are low in fat and high in whole wheaty goodness.